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00:00 OK, so joining me now is Nick Richards from the Charlotte Hornets.
00:03 Nick, you just got done with the Purple and Teal scrimmage.
00:06 How did it go?
00:07 It was good, man.
00:09 Everybody's getting after everybody,
00:11 practicing, you know, working on what we need to work on.
00:13 I think everybody came in the camp really focused this year.
00:17 It should be a good year for us.
00:20 Good. And last time I spoke to you, I was in Vegas last year.
00:24 And at that point, you told me you just started taking golf lessons.
00:27 So I want to know now, at the time you told me that your handicap was probably 100.
00:31 How are the golf lessons going?
00:34 Probably down to a 50 now.
00:35 Hey, that's all right.
00:37 Yeah, it's all right for me.
00:40 Not for someone that's really good.
00:42 I know the Hornets added Patrick Ewing over the offseason as a coaching advisor.
00:49 And I know you picked up basketball maybe later than most,
00:53 but as a fellow Jamaican, is that someone that you kind of were aware of growing up
00:57 or that you looked up to at all?
00:59 Yeah, for sure.
01:00 You know, Patrick Ewing, he was always a big name on the island.
01:03 You know, everybody knows him for being one of the greatest basketball players
01:07 of all time in the US, but also in Jamaica.
01:11 You know, he's also just by his name and, you know, stories of him,
01:17 you know, it's helping the sport grow in the country as well.
01:20 So I feel like it's also my responsibility to help with that
01:24 when it comes to Jamaican basketball.
01:26 So what's it been like?
01:27 You know, have you had much chance to work with Pat yet?
01:29 Obviously, he's not been with the team that long,
01:31 but have you had a chance to work with him much yet?
01:33 Work on the court? No.
01:36 But before every practice, during the practice,
01:39 and even after the practices, you know, he's always talking
01:41 and giving me advice and telling me what he sees on the court
01:44 and sees what I could do to make the team better
01:45 and to make myself better.
01:47 But I think he's, you know, he's been very helpful for me and Mark and I.
01:52 And I feel like, you know, he's going to be like a key part for us
01:56 and for us the whole entire season.
01:59 And what are some of the things that you--
02:01 like what are some of the themes that you're hearing from him
02:03 that he's saying?
02:04 Are there any kind of consistent things that he's saying to you and Mark?
02:08 For me, I don't know what he's saying to Mark,
02:10 but for me, it's just to be more aggressive on the offensive end.
02:14 You know, don't shy away from the ball every time you roll.
02:16 Look for it every time you're the first person down on the floor.
02:20 You know, feel right under the rim and just look for the ball.
02:22 Just try to be more aggressive.
02:24 Yeah. And I looked at this.
02:27 I don't know if you know this.
02:28 Of players who played more than a thousand minutes last year,
02:31 you ranked the fourth most in the entire NBA
02:34 while being fouled while shooting.
02:36 Did you know that?
02:37 No, I didn't know that at all.
02:39 That's a good side.
02:41 That makes you-- that's an elite skill, right?
02:44 You know, you're fourth best in terms of rate by being fouled.
02:47 What makes you so good at drawing content like contact?
02:50 I feel like one-- I feel like one part of it
02:54 is I'm always going for the offensive rebound.
02:56 And once I grab it, you know, a lot of teams,
02:59 a lot of teams, they just found me in the process
03:01 of trying to-- of me trying to go back up.
03:03 But mostly, you know, most of my shots are all coming from left center.
03:08 And I-- most-- and when you get-- a lot of times,
03:11 when you go to the rim, you get contested on the left.
03:14 Sometimes they're going to find you.
03:16 And do you ever get, like, annoyed by how often you're fouled?
03:20 I mean, you're a 75 percent free throw shooter.
03:22 It's not like, you know, you're someone shooting 45, 50 percent
03:26 and they're just fouling you to stop.
03:27 Do you ever, like, look around being like,
03:29 "Why do you guys keep fouling me at all?"
03:31 No, I never do.
03:32 You know, shooting free throws is free throws, you know.
03:36 Yeah.
03:37 And who gives out the hardest fouls you've played against?
03:41 Any hard ones from last year you remember at all?
03:43 No, none that I really stuck out.
03:47 You know, I think there's no--
03:48 in teams that we played, there's no dirty basketball players.
03:51 I think, you know, everybody's pretty clean.
03:52 Everybody's pretty fair.
03:53 -Yeah. -It's what they're doing.
03:54 Yeah.
03:55 Obviously, last season was probably your best as a pro.
03:59 I was curious, like, to what extent is there much competition
04:03 between you and Mark, you know, fighting for minutes,
04:06 fighting for a spot?
04:08 You know, how's that-- how's that been this year?
04:10 Obviously, like, you both had opportunities last year.
04:12 But would you describe it as, like, a healthy competition?
04:16 For sure, it's a healthy competition.
04:17 I don't think we are looking at it as, like,
04:20 you know, we're going to battle each other out for more minutes.
04:24 I think we're just looking at it more as, like,
04:26 we're going to help each other get better individually
04:28 so that we can help the team during the season.
04:31 And by us, you know, going--
04:35 going-- going hard on each other every single day in practice,
04:38 you know, it's helping us individually as well,
04:40 even though we're not looking at it from that perspective.
04:42 Okay.
04:44 And obviously, the first week of training came down.
04:47 I know it's still early, but have you noticed yet
04:49 any defensive scheme differences that might impact,
04:52 like, what style you play this year
04:54 or how you play on the defensive end?
04:56 Or do you think it's pretty similar to what you did
04:58 in the second half of last season?
05:00 Pretty similar to what we did
05:02 in the second half of last season.
05:03 You know, not just me and Mark, but, you know,
05:08 PJ Miles and JT, you know, they're all really good defenders,
05:12 you know, especially really good shot blockers as well.
05:15 So not just the center, but, you know,
05:18 a lot of guys on our team have really good defensive skills.
05:21 Yeah.
05:23 And on media day, I saw you were--
05:25 you were asked about your offensive screen fouls
05:29 and you kind of, like, smiled and looked away.
05:31 And I was curious from that reaction.
05:34 Like, it struck me like it's something
05:36 that you've heard every day for, like, the offseason
05:38 or something like that.
05:39 Was that the reason why?
05:41 Or was there another reason you kind of reacted that way?
05:43 Yeah, I already smiled because I wasn't expecting him
05:46 to ask that.
05:47 Okay.
05:48 I haven't heard about it all summer.
05:51 And then I thought that, you know,
05:54 out of all the things that I showed last season,
05:56 all the improvements that I showed that, you know,
05:58 I thought that he'll ask something more along that line
06:00 than not something like that negative, you know.
06:03 I get that. I get that.
06:05 And you did talk on media day about you were wanting
06:08 to be more consistent.
06:10 I think that's what you said was your goal this year
06:11 because you said that was that middle patch in the season
06:14 where you felt you couldn't play.
06:15 For you, what is it that you think--
06:18 what means consistency for you?
06:19 How can you do that?
06:20 Because it's obviously sometimes like eight to two games,
06:23 it's a lot.
06:24 What do you think you need to do to be able to be consistent?
06:26 You know, from a skill sample or being in shape sample,
06:32 I wouldn't say it's none of those.
06:34 I'd say it's more of, you know,
06:36 there's sometimes where you're--
06:38 there's some games you don't want to play.
06:41 And just, you know, you just have to get through
06:43 that mental-- that mental fatigue part of it,
06:45 you know, kicks in.
06:46 And, you know, you just got to find a way
06:49 to keep fighting through it.
06:50 You got to find a reason to, you know,
06:51 want to go out there and play every single--
06:53 every single night.
06:54 And so I think that's more--
06:57 more the lines of being consistent for me.
07:00 And obviously for yourself, you were--
07:01 you were 22 when you came in the league, right?
07:03 And it took you a couple of years to find your way.
07:06 And last year, you emerged probably as one
07:08 of the best backup centers and could probably start
07:10 on a lot of teams.
07:12 When you look at, you know, I think we have three rookies,
07:15 your freshmen come in this year.
07:18 How is that like learning adjustment,
07:19 even as a 22-year-old for you,
07:21 but for those guys who are 18, 19,
07:23 do you look at that and think it must be even harder
07:25 when they're-- when they're that young?
07:26 No, I wouldn't say that they're hard.
07:29 We have two good rookies that, you know,
07:31 they're willing to learn.
07:33 They take really good--
07:34 they take really good advice from all the vets,
07:36 myself included.
07:38 You know, they're not really hard to talk to.
07:40 They're like a sponge.
07:41 They want to-- they want--
07:42 they want knowledge for everything.
07:43 They want to-- they want to figure out how to make
07:46 the best of their chance in the NBA.
07:47 And I think that they're both going to be really,
07:50 really successful this season,
07:51 not just their entire career, but this season in particular.
07:54 They're going to-- they're going to surprise a lot of people.
07:56 Yeah.
07:57 And then just final question from me, you know,
08:00 after the last season, it's mentioned it's the best season
08:03 of your career.
08:04 Do you have a-- do you feel you have a different level
08:06 of confidence going into this year,
08:08 kind of knowing that you have a role on the team?
08:10 Or are you kind of-- did you always have that kind
08:14 of like self-confidence?
08:15 Is for you nothing changed?
08:16 I've always had the self-confidence in myself,
08:19 but, you know, I think that the more and more games
08:22 I played last season, the more the game slowed down for me.
08:24 I felt like I could be-- I could predict what's coming
08:30 before it even happens.
08:31 And I think that that's one thing that a lot of us know,
08:34 a lot of vets in the league that they have,
08:37 they know what's about to happen before it even happens.
08:39 And I think that's something that's slowly--
08:42 that's slowly coming to me.
08:43 Yeah.
08:44 Well, Nick, thanks a lot for your time.
08:47 Best of luck with the preseason, rest of the training camp,
08:50 and we wish you best of luck for the rest of the season.
08:52 Look forward to watching you.
08:53 Thank you.
08:54 All right. See you, man.
08:55 Yeah.
08:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]