April 14, 2023 • 27 mins
Tyrese talks about the adversity he faced in the regular season and how he worked to achieve his goals. He discusses the Sixers coaching staff using stats as motivation and how team health and camaraderie is at an all-time high heading into the Playoffs. Tyrese also gives a detailed breakdown of the Sixers matchups vs the Nets, and talks about why this season is "Championship or Bust" for Philadelphia.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dis Maxie, he's on fire, Yo, what's up? This is
Tarres and this is Maxi on the mic. Um. This
is the last show that we'll do before the playoffs,
(00:24):
so I wanted to keep it kind of personal, keeping
nice and sweet. Um. It's about that time that I
like in and get ready for some of the biggest
games of my life, because every playoff opportunity is I
feel like, the biggest opportunity that you have right in
front of you, especially with the team, that we have
an opportunity that we have to go make a deep
run and m Yeah. So we'll talk a little bit
about that the playoffs coming up, talking about the season
(00:46):
and uh, you know, it's been a good little listen
to for y'all. First, I I want to talk about
the season. I want to talk about how the regular
season went and how went for me personally and some
of the lessons that I learned. I think, honestly, I
just I do a quick breakdown from the beginning, middle end.
The beginning of the year. We started out slow as
a team and we picked it back up. But I
(01:06):
started out extremely, extremely fast, and the numbers are extremely high,
and I was playing with a type of confidence that
I just I had. I had a supreme confidence in
myself and my game and the work that I put in,
and my teammates had so much confidence in me, My coaches, staff,
the organization period has so much confidence to me. It
just made me go out there and really show what
I was able to do. So, you know, I had
(01:27):
a forty point game, multiple thirty point games back to back.
I was playmaking well, I feel like defending, doing all
the different things on the court to help us win.
I get hurt. We know that story. Um, you know,
(01:50):
I come back the middle of the year was kind
of rough for me because I missed two months with
an injury, a foot injury that was that was hard
to come back from. Now, basketball all to people basketball
about rhythm and rhythm is hard to get. Once you
get rhythm, now you're feeling good, but once you fall
out of rhythm, it's hard to get it back. Um.
You know, especially when you when you have you lose
(02:11):
your rhythm and you get hurt. So it's like now
it's it's all types of it's all types of difficult.
But I lost my rhythm, got hurt, moved to the
move to the second unit for a little bit um
kind of found my rhythm, went through some adversity, went
through some mental stuff that you know, it's it happens
man's life. Everybody goes through it. I feel like, and
(02:33):
the charles and tribulationship life are very difficult, and the
obstacles that life throws at you, you have to be
able to move around or whether you jump over them,
roll under them, step to the side of them. And
it doesn't matter how you how you move on, but
you have to move on. So that happened, blah blah blah,
that happens. Get back and start lineup, have a talk
with my mom, have talking to my parents, have talking
(02:54):
about people, with coaching staff, everybody, and moved back to
start lineup. And I think my season, our season, it
kind of took off again from there. After we kind
of struggle a little bit in that middle section, but
it took off again from there. I think I started
playing at a higher level, which me playing at a
high level to hust my teammates player at a high level.
I feel like when I'm at my best, when I'm
not even just scoring but being aggressive at making plays
(03:16):
for my teammates, to being a third out there on
the court. It just makes us a lot more dynamic,
and I feel like that's that's really helped us. And
of course we have Joel and Bat and James Harden
and Debise Harris and melt and Tucker, so that's another
reason why we were good. And coach doc Rus, who
I think it has done that making job this season.
So I think that's how I can break it down
(03:36):
from the beginning of the middle to end. And I
think we're pretty satisfied. We're pretty satisfied with where we are,
especially with three, you know, three guys, three of our
top scores missing and I missed twenty games. I think
James missed twenty games, the big Fella missed. Joel missed
about eighteen nineteen games. But I think one thing that
we're really really excited about is we're all going into
the playoffs healthy, the entire roster, where that's the first
(03:59):
unit or the second year that everybody's healthy, everybody's rested,
everybody's ready to go, and it's time for us to
make a playoff flash. You know, it's funny everybody's talking
about howd me being I was top five this year.
I think last y'all was top three. So I'm kind
of upset. But I shot a higher percentage this year
than I did last year. That just means that the
guys are really shooting that thing this year. Man and
(04:19):
Luca nar is funny. I was like, man, I'm my
goal this year. You always set your goals really really high.
That was that's my biggest thing. So my goals this
year or to shoot fifty from the field, which is
which is really good as a guard to do um
to shoot forty five from the three and ninety from
the pre throw line. I ended the year. This is
this is crazy. I ended the year in games that
(04:41):
I started, We'll talk about that. In games that I started,
we looked at the other day. I shot forty nine
point five from the field, forty five from the three.
Three swimctually has the hardest, and I think eighty seven
(05:03):
or eighty eight from the line, and then overall I
shot forty eight from the field, forty three from the three,
at eighty five from the line. So you know, you
always shoot for shoot the highest, and I feel like
that was very capable of me reaching, and uh, you know,
I'm happy with that. I'm happy with that. I feel
like that that helped myself to help our team be
more valuable, our team get better. I feel like I
(05:24):
had to take another step for us to be, you know,
the best that it could possibly be. And I just
feel like for these playoffs coming up to do that again,
you know, and it is what it is. Got to
grow up fast, you know. I had to grow fast.
It's funny, and I went from not really playing my
rookie year to playing a lot last year, playing a
big key role in the playoffs, and not this year.
I had to step it up again. So yeah, I
mean forty three percent. You know, it could have been better,
(05:46):
but we'll live with that. I think we've had a
lot of great moments. Honestly. I think one of my
favorite models on the court was was when we were
wanting four this year, we wanted four. The media was
talking about us. Everybody was saying we should blow the
team up, do all these different things, and everyone was saying,
you know, they will offer, They'll often sent me sixers.
(06:07):
They're off all of us as a team, and it's
so early years one and four, but that's just how
s how I go, especially lived in Philly. Joel sits
out of the game because back to back the next game,
and we're, you know, we just lost to Toronto a
couple of days before we played them again, and we
go out there knowing from the get go that we're
gonna have to be aggressive, we're going to pick up
the slack for Joel, and and I was able to,
(06:29):
you know, start our hot and my teammates kept finding me.
We ran a lot of different plays from me. I
just stayed aggressive, extremely aggressive, because I really want us
to win that game, because I wanted people to know
that this one in fourth start wasn't who we were,
and it just happened. Now, it was so hard. We
had so many different pieces coming in with Daniel House,
Peter Tucker, Danny Milton. Um, that's that's three guys right there,
(06:50):
that just in Montres Herold. That's that's four guys right
there that I just named. And that's getting real minutes.
So it's it's hard, it's gonna be difficult, it's gonna
be extremely difficult to get accommated on the same page.
But I was able to go out there have a
career high night, the window sensational stuff from trees Maxy.
(07:10):
We won that game and won the next game of
back to back in Chicago won, the next game gets
watched it. I feel like that was three games kind
of just turned our season around. I think that was
probably one of my favorite moments on the court. I
think off the court, one of my favorite moments was
Joel got came on the plane at a game and
it was his birthday, and you know we sung him,
had birthday, blah blah blah birthday. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(07:53):
we got on the plane. Everybody's singing, laughing, But that's
just I feel like this year is the closest team
because I've been here in the last three years, so
the last within the last year, I feel like this
is the closest team, the deepest team, and the most
the hungriest team. I feel like everybody on this team
has something to prove. Everybody on this team has their
(08:15):
everybody has their own agenda. Everybody has their own agenda,
and that's that's good. I think that's a good thing.
Everybody has something to prove, and I think we as
collectively have something to prove, which I feel like is
really going to help us throughout these playoffs. And I
just want everybody to go out there and try to
be the best version of themselves. I feel like we
have a team mindset. Everybody knows that we're gonna need
each other. I think Joel knows that he's gonna need us.
(08:38):
We know we're gonna need him. We're gonna fall, you know,
fall alone with him. But I feel like he's trusting
his teammates. This the most type like he's trusted his
teammates because I've been here. He's able to pass the guys,
you know, get guys open, get guys shots, to bake
the defenders in and get guys open shots. Four and
a half assists, those are some long strides. So I'm
(09:01):
just really excited. Man, I'm really excited. I'm reading Dell
Me and Tobias. Tobias has been great for me, man,
Tobias herritage, He's um. I always tell my mom he's
probably one of the best bets I've ever had, that's
on and off the court. He's been great for me.
He kept me really saying my rookie year honestly, because
like I said, my rookie year was hard. I didn't
(09:22):
play much. I saw a lot of guys playing that
I feel like I was better in so if I
felt like if I got the same oportunity, y'all would
put up better numbers, be better for my team and
help us win more. He was saying that you would
get your opportunity. You would get your opportunity one day,
and it would come. And he believed in me. Joel
believed in me. I feel like there was a lot
of guys in that team that really believed in me.
(09:43):
I played really good in the playoffs down the stretch
of that year. And it's funny, they're in the middle
of the season. Tobias was shooting better for me than
three George, James, d Anthony and they all make jokes.
I always tell I'm the best shoot on the team.
So it's like they were like, man, percentage, Why you're
not the best shoot on the team. And this was
we had about twenty probably like twenty games left, and
(10:07):
I just told him, I said, look, before I got hurt,
I was shooting forty two percent. All right, I will
be when I get back going, I will have a
higher percentage than all and then all of you and
George's like, no, there's no way you shoot off the
dribb with threes, you shoot late clock threes, You don't.
I don't need shoot good threes, so I'm gonna have it.
(10:27):
I said, George, trust me, you know, called me like that.
And Tobias was there for that, and he, you know,
he just made a joke about me, saying, like you
shot sixteen percent from three talking about Lauren sixteen percenting
for range possible. That joke just kind of came from Kentucky.
(10:54):
I didn't shoot sixteen there. I shot like twenty nine
or something like that. But he just he just blowing smoking.
And he's always tell me that he's proud of me
for what I've done. So I had the ultimate expect
for him. His pros pro I appreciate them. Our coaches
that have a play development they do this. They have
like this board of like defensive deflections and all that,
(11:14):
and they have like shooting percentage board of free throws
and threes, and they have like our teams three point
in free throws. Like actually, I think this year we
finished first and three point percentage as a team and
first and free throw percentage of a team, which another
I really think that's gonna help us provail in the
playoffs because you gotta make free throws down instructive games,
(11:35):
you gotta go to make open thirties. It's just those
two things are are very critical, especially against the teams
that we're gonna play against them anyways, Yes, we have
it's make friendly competitions. It's just it makes us a
better team. I'm very convinced that it makes us a
better team that we compete who could shoot the best,
who could make the most threes. And it's not like
we're shooting bad shots, which you know, when we get
(11:55):
that shot, we want to be efficient with it because
there's going to be a lot of people double team.
Joe's gonna be a lot of attention joining that, James
gonna be a lot of attention. When I get to
the paint and I kick it out to George's and
the Melts and Tobiases, there's a lot of attention when
Tobias has the ball in the post. So we have
to be able to make those shots, make those threes,
and us for having friendly competition just makes it a
(12:17):
lot easier. All right, let's take a break, but when
I come back, we'll look ahead to the playoffs, look
ahead to this first ROD match up against the Nets.
Probably talk a little bit about some plans uh, talk
about the other conference baby, some predictions, who knows, but uh, yeah,
when we get back dive into the playoffs. Yeah, welcome back, guys,
(12:50):
welcome back from break. I think the first thing I
want to talk about is the team's been raw. I mean,
I feel like this team is extreme. I tell you
that earlier team. We're extremely motivated, and the focus on
our team is there. Uh, you know the first time,
I mean most of the time. When you come back
and you practice the first couple of days at the
regular season, the practice is kind of sloppy, and I
(13:13):
know people are focused, but you know, you have some
time off, so practice kind of sloppy. Or you know, guys,
maybe you know, happy that we're in the playoffs but smiling, laughing.
But I just seem like the team is so late,
like focused for this playoffs. And it's not like a
bad focus or a scared focus. It's more like a
you know, we're just ready to get it on, you know,
like let's get it on. Let's who, let's do this, man,
(13:35):
Let's we've been waiting for this all year. Man, We've
been preparing for this. We have been challenging ourselves, we've
been challenging our teammates, challenging our coach and staff. And
and now we're ready. Man, we want to go out
here and we want to we want to make a
point looking ahead to the nets. I mean, it's it's crazy.
First we're just talking about the transformation of the team.
(13:57):
Like they started to this. It started to season with
the Katie Kyrie Ben Simmons, and now they have a
group of players who are still really good players, but
they have a different dynamic of players. They have Spencer,
Dan Witty, Dorian Finney, Smith, Cam Johnson, Mchall Bridges, and
Nick Claxton. That's there starting five. So that's four four
(14:20):
people who didn't start the year with them. But you
know they've they've meshed really fast. They know how they
want to play. I feel like matchups this series are
gonna be key. We're gonna need myself to be able
to go out there and ball pressure Spencer Denwiddie out
there and make them frustrated, help him pick him up
full court, make him tired. You know, he's one of
(14:40):
the only ball handlers, one of their only true ball handlers.
That's gonna be very key. I think it's gonna be
very key. For us to slow down mcaell Bridges. We've
seen what he's done as of late, very good basketball player.
I feel like he's finally able to you know, in
this in this league, everybody has a role on every
single team. Year. Role can be different, doesn't matter, like
unless you're bona fide superstar, I feel like your role
(15:02):
can change, and like on any given team that you're on.
On the Suns, Mchaale had to be kind of a
three and D guy, kind of a role player. He
got some plays for him here and there. You know,
he still was a talented, talented player. But on this
next team, he's the guy. I mean, he's the number
one option. He's gonna lead them and shot attempts, try
to lead them in scoring, and lead them in usage
(15:24):
and all those different things. So we have to be
able to slow them down. That's going That should be
one of our main focuses is trying to slow him down.
And then you have guys like Dorian Finney Smith. You
have guys like Cam Johnson, guys like Joe Harris, Seth
Curry coming out of the bench who are shooters and
that's what they do. They knock down open threes and
that's what Michael tries to try to get to the
paint draw guys in. Then what he's gonna try to
(15:45):
get to the paint draw guys in because they need
threes to beat us. Also, we can't turn the ball
over against them because they're a long athletic. They're gonna
get open threes and transition and they're the layups and
the dunks and transition are another thing. That another reason
why they can beat this. But if we play solid
defense and we just kind of tone in on our
half court defense and all tendencies and their tendencies and
(16:05):
what they like to try to take all that away,
then I think, um, you know this, this this series
should go well for us, and we're prepared. Though we're
very prepared. The coaches that haven't done a great job,
and for the last two days of practice they have
implemented a game plan that I think we're all on
the same page on and we're ready to get it on.
I mean mentally, right now, I feel as if I'm
(16:26):
in a space where I blocked that all the distractions.
I did that I think maybe twenty games ago, fifteen
games go. I blocked out all the distractions. I focused
on the task at hand. I know how important this
season is for not just myself, but this entire team,
this entire franchise. We have a really talented team. We
have a really a really good chance to do something special,
(16:48):
but we have to go get it. It can't it's
not going to be given to us. Nobody's gonna care.
You know, we probably have more like we have the
MVP on our team. Nobody's gonna care that we have
the MP. They're gonna they're gonna want to get up
to play the MVP. Now that we have, we'll probably
end able to you know, two mbps on our team
with if you include James too. So it's it's gonna
be a challenge. You guys are gonna gonna have to
fight their behinds off, and including myself, we're gonna go
(17:10):
out here and be locked in. And but I think,
not just myself, Missy, but the entire organization menstally isn't
a good place. And you know, I don't want to
say this, this this playoff rule is gonna feel different,
or this team feels different, or the morality around this
team feels different, But like I just feel a togetherness
of this team that we're gonna need and we're gonna
(17:30):
need to come to play. And this is the first
time I feel like, um, we've finished the season the
last three years trending upward instead of trending the other way.
And that's a testimony to our coaches, testimony to our
our front office of putting together a complete team. You know,
we even made some we made some changes at the deadline,
brought in Jamack and he's been great for us and
he's helped us a lot. You know, just everybody brought
(17:52):
into the roads. It's going to be a big key
part as well. Tight or a bus. I think I
think it is tight or a bus for us. Honestly,
with the talent that we have on this team, the
talent that we have, the camaraderie that we have, the
timeshit that we have. Um, we're gonna win. We want
to win now. We want to win now. I know myself,
(18:12):
I'm young, you know, Melt young, Jay Mack. We have
some young pieces, but you know, we also have some
some vets who are ready to do this thing right now.
And like I've been saying, like we have Joelyn Bead
who will probably win MVP this season, we have James Harden,
who's won the MVP in his past. Both of those
guys are hungry for their first title, um James is
(18:34):
looking for. I think James has every other accomplishment there
is when I say I'm serious, MVP, All NBA, multile
Time All Star. It's been in the playoffs every single year,
scoring Champ, assist Champ, went to the final six, like
he has every single acculate that he could possibly have,
(18:54):
but three. And you know that's what he wants. That's
what he's playing for right now. And it's really great
for us right now because James is playing with a
mindset of it's not about him anymore. It's about It's
about the team, you know what I mean. Like in Houston,
it was like kind of his show, and you know,
he was still trying to win there and he did
an excellent job. They did extra dog put pieces around
(19:15):
him too to be successful. But now he's really been
on guys like me, guys like Joel, guys like Tobias,
and helping us become better players and helping us become
more confident, and you know, he's really set us up
to be successful as a playmakers, as a leader, on
this team and uh so yeah, I think it is
tyler of us and uh you know, we're putting the
pressure on ourselves. Um there's other teams are gonna put
(19:37):
the pressure on themselves. And now I would just it's
a toss up. You know who wants it more. We're
gonna go out there and fight, find our tails off,
and put our best effort into the situation. Talk a little.
I want to talk a little about the playing games.
It's because I was up late watching them. I mean,
I will say this, the Hawks surprised me. Didn't think
they were gonna win that game. They came out. I
(20:00):
just feel like they were more ready to play that night.
I mean, it was crazy. The playing game. It's really interesting, honestly,
because as NBA players, you think playoffs, you think serious.
You think a regular season game, you think we lose
this game. We win this game. We got another game
in a couple of days. These playing games, although I
haven't played in one, but these playing games are kind
(20:23):
of serious. They give me big time college vibes, and
it's like NCAA tournament vibes. So like last night when
I'm watching when I'm watching the Lakers versus Timberwolves. It's
just giving me big time March madness vibes and like,
it's very interesting and I'm ready to not saying that
I don't love talking to y'all, but I'm ready to
get off here so I can kind of watch these
(20:44):
Raptors and Bulls because the intensity of these games are
so high level their playoff games, and but it's only
winning game. You can't make any adjustments for game two, three, four,
like you can make adjustments of the quarters. But you know,
I just really want to know what's going through these
these players, in these coaches mind, because this game can
(21:05):
be the difference between either playing or two seed or
one seed, you know what I'm saying. That's I mean
something in certain cases that's a big difference and match
up wide, some playing matchup better with other teams. So
it's really cool to see. I think the NBA has
done a great job of keeping it fresh, keeping it
um you know, very very authentic also, and it's new,
(21:26):
and it's been really good. It's been really cool to
see guys battled out in the plan. And then I
think this last thing I'll say about the playoffs on
the Western Conference side, it's gonna be crazy, man, It's
really crazy. You know, the Lakers are playing against the
Grizzlies in the first round. Like, I wonder how many
people you know have the Grizzlies have the Lakers, Like
I really want to know. Like, I think that series
(21:47):
is a toss up. You have Lebron James on your team.
Does anybody really want to bet against Lebron? Probably not,
But I think that Grizzy team is dangerous with guys
like Desmond Bane, guys like Jan Jackson Junior, and then
of course the head of Snake, John Moran. They don't
have Steven Adams, they don't have um Brandon Clark, who
are two huge pieces to their success. But that Grizzly
team is extremely hungry. Then you have the Sacramento Golden
(22:10):
State series. That's another interesting one. Sacramento has a lot
of young pieces. You have to coach Mike Brown, who
came from Golden State. Sacramentos has I guess, like a
historically lad offense or whatever. Analytically, I don't know analytics,
but that's you know, they have a really good offense
and they're they're the higher sea, they have home court advantage,
but hey, do you really want to bet against the
Golden State Wars. It's like you have so many of
(22:31):
those scenarios. But I'll say this, with the way it's looking,
it's looking it's setting us up for hope. Maybe I
don't know. I don't not worried about the Wedge Conference
last time. I'll talk about any other team but us,
But it's maybe setting us up for a Katie versus
the Warriors type Western Conference finals. And who wouldn't want
(22:52):
to see that for fans? For playing anybody? I would
love to watch and know that that's gonna bring a
lot of drama intention and you know, reality TV stuff
for us to watch. But I would be great though,
I just can't. I can't wait to look forward to it, man,
And it's gonna be great. But when we come back
from break, I will let you know what I'm thankful
for for this season and how I plan to get
(23:14):
one percent better as we head into the playoffs. All right, y'all,
welcome back. You know, I think what I'll say I
(23:34):
am most thankful for from this season is two things.
Health in adversity. I think those two things then just
take my game to another level. But they took like
me as a man as a human being to another level,
(23:54):
being able to fight through adversity. This is the first
type of like I feel like, Okay, I didn't play
a lot of rookie year. That's adversity. But come on,
you're a rookie. Yeah, you gotta expect that this year.
I start out the year fath we already talked about it,
and get hurt, probably on pace to maybe be All Star,
be around that type of you know, talent or organization.
Get hurt, that's big time adversity. Now with a broken foot,
(24:17):
it takes, it takes time to come back. I'm working
extremely hard, I'm doing everything possible and still not be
able to come back and just hit the ground rudding.
You still gotta go through growing pains. It's gonna be
a lot of speed bumps in the road coming back
from an injury like that. So I go through a
lot of different things there. But to be able to
break through, to be able to break through adversity and
(24:39):
and come out here and really helped my team win
games on the after all Star break of this season.
Man if it's a great feeling, it's literally a great feeling.
I'm just thankful. I'm thankful to Guy. I'm thankful for
my parents, thankful for the organization and trust me, I
think for my coaches and my teammates were still believing
in me even when I was when I struggled this year.
I just really appreciate them for that. And also, like
(25:00):
I said, the health part, I mean being healthy, not
just myself, but this entire team for us to be there.
I think this may be the first time we've gone
to the playoffs one hundred percent healthy into a series,
you know, without any nag and injuries, without anything, And
I think that's going to really help us as well.
You know, the playoffs is all about it is about
being lucky, It's about being really good. It's about being healthy.
(25:24):
You know those three things. It's it makes the run
easier if you're healthy, if you're really good, and you're
really lucky. And you know, hopefully we can do that,
we can we can be those three things when it's
all setting done. But next week and starting Saturday morning,
(25:44):
when I wake up to get ready to go to
the center, it was Fargo Center. I just I'm going
to be locked in and I just want to be
the best version of Tires I can be. That's what
I want to be better at in this upcoming week
and this playoffs, this whole entire player off. I want
to be healthy. I want to be aggressive, I want
to be assertive, I want to be disrupted up on defense,
(26:06):
and I want to be the leader I want to be.
I want to build a league. I think this is
my third year. Of course, I'm still the youngest player
that's going to step on the court, probably for both teams,
in both circumstances. But I just have this this thing
about me now that I'm I'm so much more confident
and being vocal. I'm so much more confident in my game.
I'm confident in my abilities, and I'm confident in my teammates.
(26:27):
And I think that's a dangerous combination when it comes
to all of us, and I just I can't wait
to get it on. And last thing I'm gonna say
is I appreciate y'all listening. Man. I have the reviews, y'all.
I love what y'all saying. Man, I love what y'all.
With the feedback that I'm getting, it's been great. It's
been really amazing. It's funny people like not just my
co workers, but people around the league mess with me
(26:48):
about the podcast and asking to get on. It's been
great though, so and I hope everybody's hope everybody's liking it,
and I'm really enjoying doing it. Um y'all like and
subscribe and know what y'all think. I may do a
Q and A after the season and see what y'all
want to hear during the summertime as well. But appreciate
talking to y'all. Appreciate y'all listening Maxio on the mic.
(27:10):
I am out
Dis Maxie, he's on fire, Yo, what's up? This is
Tarres and this is Maxi on the mic. Um. This
is the last show that we'll do before the playoffs,
(00:24):
so I wanted to keep it kind of personal, keeping
nice and sweet. Um. It's about that time that I
like in and get ready for some of the biggest
games of my life, because every playoff opportunity is I
feel like, the biggest opportunity that you have right in
front of you, especially with the team, that we have
an opportunity that we have to go make a deep
run and m Yeah. So we'll talk a little bit
about that the playoffs coming up, talking about the season
(00:46):
and uh, you know, it's been a good little listen
to for y'all. First, I I want to talk about
the season. I want to talk about how the regular
season went and how went for me personally and some
of the lessons that I learned. I think, honestly, I
just I do a quick breakdown from the beginning, middle end.
The beginning of the year. We started out slow as
a team and we picked it back up. But I
(01:06):
started out extremely, extremely fast, and the numbers are extremely high,
and I was playing with a type of confidence that
I just I had. I had a supreme confidence in
myself and my game and the work that I put in,
and my teammates had so much confidence in me, My coaches, staff,
the organization period has so much confidence to me. It
just made me go out there and really show what
I was able to do. So, you know, I had
(01:27):
a forty point game, multiple thirty point games back to back.
I was playmaking well, I feel like defending, doing all
the different things on the court to help us win.
I get hurt. We know that story. Um, you know,
(01:50):
I come back the middle of the year was kind
of rough for me because I missed two months with
an injury, a foot injury that was that was hard
to come back from. Now, basketball all to people basketball
about rhythm and rhythm is hard to get. Once you
get rhythm, now you're feeling good, but once you fall
out of rhythm, it's hard to get it back. Um.
You know, especially when you when you have you lose
(02:11):
your rhythm and you get hurt. So it's like now
it's it's all types of it's all types of difficult.
But I lost my rhythm, got hurt, moved to the
move to the second unit for a little bit um
kind of found my rhythm, went through some adversity, went
through some mental stuff that you know, it's it happens
man's life. Everybody goes through it. I feel like, and
(02:33):
the charles and tribulationship life are very difficult, and the
obstacles that life throws at you, you have to be
able to move around or whether you jump over them,
roll under them, step to the side of them. And
it doesn't matter how you how you move on, but
you have to move on. So that happened, blah blah blah,
that happens. Get back and start lineup, have a talk
with my mom, have talking to my parents, have talking
(02:54):
about people, with coaching staff, everybody, and moved back to
start lineup. And I think my season, our season, it
kind of took off again from there. After we kind
of struggle a little bit in that middle section, but
it took off again from there. I think I started
playing at a higher level, which me playing at a
high level to hust my teammates player at a high level.
I feel like when I'm at my best, when I'm
not even just scoring but being aggressive at making plays
(03:16):
for my teammates, to being a third out there on
the court. It just makes us a lot more dynamic,
and I feel like that's that's really helped us. And
of course we have Joel and Bat and James Harden
and Debise Harris and melt and Tucker, so that's another
reason why we were good. And coach doc Rus, who
I think it has done that making job this season.
So I think that's how I can break it down
(03:36):
from the beginning of the middle to end. And I
think we're pretty satisfied. We're pretty satisfied with where we are,
especially with three, you know, three guys, three of our
top scores missing and I missed twenty games. I think
James missed twenty games, the big Fella missed. Joel missed
about eighteen nineteen games. But I think one thing that
we're really really excited about is we're all going into
the playoffs healthy, the entire roster, where that's the first
(03:59):
unit or the second year that everybody's healthy, everybody's rested,
everybody's ready to go, and it's time for us to
make a playoff flash. You know, it's funny everybody's talking
about howd me being I was top five this year.
I think last y'all was top three. So I'm kind
of upset. But I shot a higher percentage this year
than I did last year. That just means that the
guys are really shooting that thing this year. Man and
(04:19):
Luca nar is funny. I was like, man, I'm my
goal this year. You always set your goals really really high.
That was that's my biggest thing. So my goals this
year or to shoot fifty from the field, which is
which is really good as a guard to do um
to shoot forty five from the three and ninety from
the pre throw line. I ended the year. This is
this is crazy. I ended the year in games that
(04:41):
I started, We'll talk about that. In games that I started,
we looked at the other day. I shot forty nine
point five from the field, forty five from the three.
Three swimctually has the hardest, and I think eighty seven
(05:03):
or eighty eight from the line, and then overall I
shot forty eight from the field, forty three from the three,
at eighty five from the line. So you know, you
always shoot for shoot the highest, and I feel like
that was very capable of me reaching, and uh, you know,
I'm happy with that. I'm happy with that. I feel
like that that helped myself to help our team be
more valuable, our team get better. I feel like I
(05:24):
had to take another step for us to be, you know,
the best that it could possibly be. And I just
feel like for these playoffs coming up to do that again,
you know, and it is what it is. Got to
grow up fast, you know. I had to grow fast.
It's funny, and I went from not really playing my
rookie year to playing a lot last year, playing a
big key role in the playoffs, and not this year.
I had to step it up again. So yeah, I
mean forty three percent. You know, it could have been better,
(05:46):
but we'll live with that. I think we've had a
lot of great moments. Honestly. I think one of my
favorite models on the court was was when we were
wanting four this year, we wanted four. The media was
talking about us. Everybody was saying we should blow the
team up, do all these different things, and everyone was saying,
you know, they will offer, They'll often sent me sixers.
(06:07):
They're off all of us as a team, and it's
so early years one and four, but that's just how
s how I go, especially lived in Philly. Joel sits
out of the game because back to back the next game,
and we're, you know, we just lost to Toronto a
couple of days before we played them again, and we
go out there knowing from the get go that we're
gonna have to be aggressive, we're going to pick up
the slack for Joel, and and I was able to,
(06:29):
you know, start our hot and my teammates kept finding me.
We ran a lot of different plays from me. I
just stayed aggressive, extremely aggressive, because I really want us
to win that game, because I wanted people to know
that this one in fourth start wasn't who we were,
and it just happened. Now, it was so hard. We
had so many different pieces coming in with Daniel House,
Peter Tucker, Danny Milton. Um, that's that's three guys right there,
(06:50):
that just in Montres Herold. That's that's four guys right
there that I just named. And that's getting real minutes.
So it's it's hard, it's gonna be difficult, it's gonna
be extremely difficult to get accommated on the same page.
But I was able to go out there have a
career high night, the window sensational stuff from trees Maxy.
(07:10):
We won that game and won the next game of
back to back in Chicago won, the next game gets
watched it. I feel like that was three games kind
of just turned our season around. I think that was
probably one of my favorite moments on the court. I
think off the court, one of my favorite moments was
Joel got came on the plane at a game and
it was his birthday, and you know we sung him,
had birthday, blah blah blah birthday. Yeah, yeah, you know,
(07:53):
we got on the plane. Everybody's singing, laughing, But that's
just I feel like this year is the closest team
because I've been here in the last three years, so
the last within the last year, I feel like this
is the closest team, the deepest team, and the most
the hungriest team. I feel like everybody on this team
has something to prove. Everybody on this team has their
(08:15):
everybody has their own agenda. Everybody has their own agenda,
and that's that's good. I think that's a good thing.
Everybody has something to prove, and I think we as
collectively have something to prove, which I feel like is
really going to help us throughout these playoffs. And I
just want everybody to go out there and try to
be the best version of themselves. I feel like we
have a team mindset. Everybody knows that we're gonna need
each other. I think Joel knows that he's gonna need us.
(08:38):
We know we're gonna need him. We're gonna fall, you know,
fall alone with him. But I feel like he's trusting
his teammates. This the most type like he's trusted his
teammates because I've been here. He's able to pass the guys,
you know, get guys open, get guys shots, to bake
the defenders in and get guys open shots. Four and
a half assists, those are some long strides. So I'm
(09:01):
just really excited. Man, I'm really excited. I'm reading Dell
Me and Tobias. Tobias has been great for me, man,
Tobias herritage, He's um. I always tell my mom he's
probably one of the best bets I've ever had, that's
on and off the court. He's been great for me.
He kept me really saying my rookie year honestly, because
like I said, my rookie year was hard. I didn't
(09:22):
play much. I saw a lot of guys playing that
I feel like I was better in so if I
felt like if I got the same oportunity, y'all would
put up better numbers, be better for my team and
help us win more. He was saying that you would
get your opportunity. You would get your opportunity one day,
and it would come. And he believed in me. Joel
believed in me. I feel like there was a lot
of guys in that team that really believed in me.
(09:43):
I played really good in the playoffs down the stretch
of that year. And it's funny, they're in the middle
of the season. Tobias was shooting better for me than
three George, James, d Anthony and they all make jokes.
I always tell I'm the best shoot on the team.
So it's like they were like, man, percentage, Why you're
not the best shoot on the team. And this was
we had about twenty probably like twenty games left, and
(10:07):
I just told him, I said, look, before I got hurt,
I was shooting forty two percent. All right, I will
be when I get back going, I will have a
higher percentage than all and then all of you and
George's like, no, there's no way you shoot off the
dribb with threes, you shoot late clock threes, You don't.
I don't need shoot good threes, so I'm gonna have it.
(10:27):
I said, George, trust me, you know, called me like that.
And Tobias was there for that, and he, you know,
he just made a joke about me, saying, like you
shot sixteen percent from three talking about Lauren sixteen percenting
for range possible. That joke just kind of came from Kentucky.
(10:54):
I didn't shoot sixteen there. I shot like twenty nine
or something like that. But he just he just blowing smoking.
And he's always tell me that he's proud of me
for what I've done. So I had the ultimate expect
for him. His pros pro I appreciate them. Our coaches
that have a play development they do this. They have
like this board of like defensive deflections and all that,
(11:14):
and they have like shooting percentage board of free throws
and threes, and they have like our teams three point
in free throws. Like actually, I think this year we
finished first and three point percentage as a team and
first and free throw percentage of a team, which another
I really think that's gonna help us provail in the
playoffs because you gotta make free throws down instructive games,
(11:35):
you gotta go to make open thirties. It's just those
two things are are very critical, especially against the teams
that we're gonna play against them anyways, Yes, we have
it's make friendly competitions. It's just it makes us a
better team. I'm very convinced that it makes us a
better team that we compete who could shoot the best,
who could make the most threes. And it's not like
we're shooting bad shots, which you know, when we get
(11:55):
that shot, we want to be efficient with it because
there's going to be a lot of people double team.
Joe's gonna be a lot of attention joining that, James
gonna be a lot of attention. When I get to
the paint and I kick it out to George's and
the Melts and Tobiases, there's a lot of attention when
Tobias has the ball in the post. So we have
to be able to make those shots, make those threes,
and us for having friendly competition just makes it a
(12:17):
lot easier. All right, let's take a break, but when
I come back, we'll look ahead to the playoffs, look
ahead to this first ROD match up against the Nets.
Probably talk a little bit about some plans uh, talk
about the other conference baby, some predictions, who knows, but uh, yeah,
when we get back dive into the playoffs. Yeah, welcome back, guys,
(12:50):
welcome back from break. I think the first thing I
want to talk about is the team's been raw. I mean,
I feel like this team is extreme. I tell you
that earlier team. We're extremely motivated, and the focus on
our team is there. Uh, you know the first time,
I mean most of the time. When you come back
and you practice the first couple of days at the
regular season, the practice is kind of sloppy, and I
(13:13):
know people are focused, but you know, you have some
time off, so practice kind of sloppy. Or you know, guys,
maybe you know, happy that we're in the playoffs but smiling, laughing.
But I just seem like the team is so late,
like focused for this playoffs. And it's not like a
bad focus or a scared focus. It's more like a
you know, we're just ready to get it on, you know,
like let's get it on. Let's who, let's do this, man,
(13:35):
Let's we've been waiting for this all year. Man, We've
been preparing for this. We have been challenging ourselves, we've
been challenging our teammates, challenging our coach and staff. And
and now we're ready. Man, we want to go out
here and we want to we want to make a
point looking ahead to the nets. I mean, it's it's crazy.
First we're just talking about the transformation of the team.
(13:57):
Like they started to this. It started to season with
the Katie Kyrie Ben Simmons, and now they have a
group of players who are still really good players, but
they have a different dynamic of players. They have Spencer,
Dan Witty, Dorian Finney, Smith, Cam Johnson, Mchall Bridges, and
Nick Claxton. That's there starting five. So that's four four
(14:20):
people who didn't start the year with them. But you
know they've they've meshed really fast. They know how they
want to play. I feel like matchups this series are
gonna be key. We're gonna need myself to be able
to go out there and ball pressure Spencer Denwiddie out
there and make them frustrated, help him pick him up
full court, make him tired. You know, he's one of
(14:40):
the only ball handlers, one of their only true ball handlers.
That's gonna be very key. I think it's gonna be
very key. For us to slow down mcaell Bridges. We've
seen what he's done as of late, very good basketball player.
I feel like he's finally able to you know, in
this in this league, everybody has a role on every
single team. Year. Role can be different, doesn't matter, like
unless you're bona fide superstar, I feel like your role
(15:02):
can change, and like on any given team that you're on.
On the Suns, Mchaale had to be kind of a
three and D guy, kind of a role player. He
got some plays for him here and there. You know,
he still was a talented, talented player. But on this
next team, he's the guy. I mean, he's the number
one option. He's gonna lead them and shot attempts, try
to lead them in scoring, and lead them in usage
(15:24):
and all those different things. So we have to be
able to slow them down. That's going That should be
one of our main focuses is trying to slow him down.
And then you have guys like Dorian Finney Smith. You
have guys like Cam Johnson, guys like Joe Harris, Seth
Curry coming out of the bench who are shooters and
that's what they do. They knock down open threes and
that's what Michael tries to try to get to the
paint draw guys in. Then what he's gonna try to
(15:45):
get to the paint draw guys in because they need
threes to beat us. Also, we can't turn the ball
over against them because they're a long athletic. They're gonna
get open threes and transition and they're the layups and
the dunks and transition are another thing. That another reason
why they can beat this. But if we play solid
defense and we just kind of tone in on our
half court defense and all tendencies and their tendencies and
(16:05):
what they like to try to take all that away,
then I think, um, you know this, this this series
should go well for us, and we're prepared. Though we're
very prepared. The coaches that haven't done a great job,
and for the last two days of practice they have
implemented a game plan that I think we're all on
the same page on and we're ready to get it on.
I mean mentally, right now, I feel as if I'm
(16:26):
in a space where I blocked that all the distractions.
I did that I think maybe twenty games ago, fifteen
games go. I blocked out all the distractions. I focused
on the task at hand. I know how important this
season is for not just myself, but this entire team,
this entire franchise. We have a really talented team. We
have a really a really good chance to do something special,
(16:48):
but we have to go get it. It can't it's
not going to be given to us. Nobody's gonna care.
You know, we probably have more like we have the
MVP on our team. Nobody's gonna care that we have
the MP. They're gonna they're gonna want to get up
to play the MVP. Now that we have, we'll probably
end able to you know, two mbps on our team
with if you include James too. So it's it's gonna
be a challenge. You guys are gonna gonna have to
fight their behinds off, and including myself, we're gonna go
(17:10):
out here and be locked in. And but I think,
not just myself, Missy, but the entire organization menstally isn't
a good place. And you know, I don't want to
say this, this this playoff rule is gonna feel different,
or this team feels different, or the morality around this
team feels different, But like I just feel a togetherness
of this team that we're gonna need and we're gonna
(17:30):
need to come to play. And this is the first
time I feel like, um, we've finished the season the
last three years trending upward instead of trending the other way.
And that's a testimony to our coaches, testimony to our
our front office of putting together a complete team. You know,
we even made some we made some changes at the deadline,
brought in Jamack and he's been great for us and
he's helped us a lot. You know, just everybody brought
(17:52):
into the roads. It's going to be a big key
part as well. Tight or a bus. I think I
think it is tight or a bus for us. Honestly,
with the talent that we have on this team, the
talent that we have, the camaraderie that we have, the
timeshit that we have. Um, we're gonna win. We want
to win now. We want to win now. I know myself,
(18:12):
I'm young, you know, Melt young, Jay Mack. We have
some young pieces, but you know, we also have some
some vets who are ready to do this thing right now.
And like I've been saying, like we have Joelyn Bead
who will probably win MVP this season, we have James Harden,
who's won the MVP in his past. Both of those
guys are hungry for their first title, um James is
(18:34):
looking for. I think James has every other accomplishment there
is when I say I'm serious, MVP, All NBA, multile
Time All Star. It's been in the playoffs every single year,
scoring Champ, assist Champ, went to the final six, like
he has every single acculate that he could possibly have,
(18:54):
but three. And you know that's what he wants. That's
what he's playing for right now. And it's really great
for us right now because James is playing with a
mindset of it's not about him anymore. It's about It's
about the team, you know what I mean. Like in Houston,
it was like kind of his show, and you know,
he was still trying to win there and he did
an excellent job. They did extra dog put pieces around
(19:15):
him too to be successful. But now he's really been
on guys like me, guys like Joel, guys like Tobias,
and helping us become better players and helping us become
more confident, and you know, he's really set us up
to be successful as a playmakers, as a leader, on
this team and uh so yeah, I think it is
tyler of us and uh you know, we're putting the
pressure on ourselves. Um there's other teams are gonna put
(19:37):
the pressure on themselves. And now I would just it's
a toss up. You know who wants it more. We're
gonna go out there and fight, find our tails off,
and put our best effort into the situation. Talk a little.
I want to talk a little about the playing games.
It's because I was up late watching them. I mean,
I will say this, the Hawks surprised me. Didn't think
they were gonna win that game. They came out. I
(20:00):
just feel like they were more ready to play that night.
I mean, it was crazy. The playing game. It's really interesting, honestly,
because as NBA players, you think playoffs, you think serious.
You think a regular season game, you think we lose
this game. We win this game. We got another game
in a couple of days. These playing games, although I
haven't played in one, but these playing games are kind
(20:23):
of serious. They give me big time college vibes, and
it's like NCAA tournament vibes. So like last night when
I'm watching when I'm watching the Lakers versus Timberwolves. It's
just giving me big time March madness vibes and like,
it's very interesting and I'm ready to not saying that
I don't love talking to y'all, but I'm ready to
get off here so I can kind of watch these
(20:44):
Raptors and Bulls because the intensity of these games are
so high level their playoff games, and but it's only
winning game. You can't make any adjustments for game two, three, four,
like you can make adjustments of the quarters. But you know,
I just really want to know what's going through these
these players, in these coaches mind, because this game can
(21:05):
be the difference between either playing or two seed or
one seed, you know what I'm saying. That's I mean
something in certain cases that's a big difference and match
up wide, some playing matchup better with other teams. So
it's really cool to see. I think the NBA has
done a great job of keeping it fresh, keeping it
um you know, very very authentic also, and it's new,
(21:26):
and it's been really good. It's been really cool to
see guys battled out in the plan. And then I
think this last thing I'll say about the playoffs on
the Western Conference side, it's gonna be crazy, man, It's
really crazy. You know, the Lakers are playing against the
Grizzlies in the first round. Like, I wonder how many
people you know have the Grizzlies have the Lakers, Like
I really want to know. Like, I think that series
(21:47):
is a toss up. You have Lebron James on your team.
Does anybody really want to bet against Lebron? Probably not,
But I think that Grizzy team is dangerous with guys
like Desmond Bane, guys like Jan Jackson Junior, and then
of course the head of Snake, John Moran. They don't
have Steven Adams, they don't have um Brandon Clark, who
are two huge pieces to their success. But that Grizzly
team is extremely hungry. Then you have the Sacramento Golden
(22:10):
State series. That's another interesting one. Sacramento has a lot
of young pieces. You have to coach Mike Brown, who
came from Golden State. Sacramentos has I guess, like a
historically lad offense or whatever. Analytically, I don't know analytics,
but that's you know, they have a really good offense
and they're they're the higher sea, they have home court advantage,
but hey, do you really want to bet against the
Golden State Wars. It's like you have so many of
(22:31):
those scenarios. But I'll say this, with the way it's looking,
it's looking it's setting us up for hope. Maybe I
don't know. I don't not worried about the Wedge Conference
last time. I'll talk about any other team but us,
But it's maybe setting us up for a Katie versus
the Warriors type Western Conference finals. And who wouldn't want
(22:52):
to see that for fans? For playing anybody? I would
love to watch and know that that's gonna bring a
lot of drama intention and you know, reality TV stuff
for us to watch. But I would be great though,
I just can't. I can't wait to look forward to it, man,
And it's gonna be great. But when we come back
from break, I will let you know what I'm thankful
for for this season and how I plan to get
(23:14):
one percent better as we head into the playoffs. All right, y'all,
welcome back. You know, I think what I'll say I
(23:34):
am most thankful for from this season is two things.
Health in adversity. I think those two things then just
take my game to another level. But they took like
me as a man as a human being to another level,
(23:54):
being able to fight through adversity. This is the first
type of like I feel like, Okay, I didn't play
a lot of rookie year. That's adversity. But come on,
you're a rookie. Yeah, you gotta expect that this year.
I start out the year fath we already talked about it,
and get hurt, probably on pace to maybe be All Star,
be around that type of you know, talent or organization.
Get hurt, that's big time adversity. Now with a broken foot,
(24:17):
it takes, it takes time to come back. I'm working
extremely hard, I'm doing everything possible and still not be
able to come back and just hit the ground rudding.
You still gotta go through growing pains. It's gonna be
a lot of speed bumps in the road coming back
from an injury like that. So I go through a
lot of different things there. But to be able to
break through, to be able to break through adversity and
(24:39):
and come out here and really helped my team win
games on the after all Star break of this season.
Man if it's a great feeling, it's literally a great feeling.
I'm just thankful. I'm thankful to Guy. I'm thankful for
my parents, thankful for the organization and trust me, I
think for my coaches and my teammates were still believing
in me even when I was when I struggled this year.
I just really appreciate them for that. And also, like
(25:00):
I said, the health part, I mean being healthy, not
just myself, but this entire team for us to be there.
I think this may be the first time we've gone
to the playoffs one hundred percent healthy into a series,
you know, without any nag and injuries, without anything, And
I think that's going to really help us as well.
You know, the playoffs is all about it is about
being lucky, It's about being really good. It's about being healthy.
(25:24):
You know those three things. It's it makes the run
easier if you're healthy, if you're really good, and you're
really lucky. And you know, hopefully we can do that,
we can we can be those three things when it's
all setting done. But next week and starting Saturday morning,
(25:44):
when I wake up to get ready to go to
the center, it was Fargo Center. I just I'm going
to be locked in and I just want to be
the best version of Tires I can be. That's what
I want to be better at in this upcoming week
and this playoffs, this whole entire player off. I want
to be healthy. I want to be aggressive, I want
to be assertive, I want to be disrupted up on defense,
(26:06):
and I want to be the leader I want to be.
I want to build a league. I think this is
my third year. Of course, I'm still the youngest player
that's going to step on the court, probably for both teams,
in both circumstances. But I just have this this thing
about me now that I'm I'm so much more confident
and being vocal. I'm so much more confident in my game.
I'm confident in my abilities, and I'm confident in my teammates.
(26:27):
And I think that's a dangerous combination when it comes
to all of us, and I just I can't wait
to get it on. And last thing I'm gonna say
is I appreciate y'all listening. Man. I have the reviews, y'all.
I love what y'all saying. Man, I love what y'all.
With the feedback that I'm getting, it's been great. It's
been really amazing. It's funny people like not just my
co workers, but people around the league mess with me
(26:48):
about the podcast and asking to get on. It's been
great though, so and I hope everybody's hope everybody's liking it,
and I'm really enjoying doing it. Um y'all like and
subscribe and know what y'all think. I may do a
Q and A after the season and see what y'all
want to hear during the summertime as well. But appreciate
talking to y'all. Appreciate y'all listening Maxio on the mic.
(27:10):
I am out
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