Law Murray: The LA Clippers report that Kawhi… | HoopsHype

Published 2 weeks ago• 4 minute read

. We love the neighborhood we live in. We love our house. My kids are loving Minnesota—and the cold, somewhat—but the snow days, going out there, being able to sled and all that different type of stuff. And from a basketball standpoint, I love playing here. I love playing for coach. Tim, all those guys have been amazing. A-Rod—the support they’ve shown has been amazing as well. So, you know, I love it here.

Now just as you look back on six months here in Minnesota, what were maybe some of the challenges that you didn’t anticipate at that time? And how hard was it just getting your life reorganized from that point? JULIUS RANDLE: I mean, I got a great wife who just makes my job—my life—easier, you know what I mean? Like, she tries to eliminate as much off-the-court responsibilities and all that stuff the best that she can, so I can just focus on basketball and being the best basketball player that I can possibly be. So I’m really lucky in that sense to have her be able to take care of all that stuff. I mean, as far as my kids, they still want dad time, right? You know what I mean? So that’s probably the bigger challenge—just getting them adjusted on a day-to-day basis and spending time with them, and being there to be a dad for them. Because they’re adjusting too. My oldest—he had all his friends in school that he was growing up with. He loved his school, but now he’s adjusting to a whole different life. So that was probably the bigger challenge. But honestly, my wife made it really easy for him.

JAYLEN BROWN: “Nobody really talks trash. The only person that really be trying to do like weird stuff and talk trash is Dillon Brooks.” That’s just his gimmick, though. Some players — you know — they do whatever they need to do to stick in the league. So they like to talk trash, try to get under your skin, try to push you a little bit for no reason — all that type stuff. That’s the only person that’s really done that to me. Nobody else really… nobody else really does that. Maybe a little bit the guy from Indiana — Nembhard — in the playoffs. He was doing a little bit of that. Tried to like tug on your shorts a little bit, or just doing stuff to try to get in your head.”

Draymond Green: And, you know, with Jimmy coming in, our defense has gotten even better. We’ve actually been the number one, number two defense in the league since Jimmy’s been here. So, with that being said, to know that—like, ‘Yo, I can really make a push for this thing’—it’s been extremely motivating. Just going into these games, having that added factor of like, ‘Yo, I really want to accomplish this,’ it’s like I need to lock in and focus on the task at hand. It’s motivated the hell out of me. And like I said, to even be in the running at this point in my career—I’m grateful, man. I’m grateful. I’m grateful for my health, to be healthy enough to compete at this level still. And I’m going to keep making my case.”

Draymond Green: This is Team USA. That’s the best basketball team in the world. And Melo was the go-to scorer. And so I think—just even with that—I’ll never forget. We had a little situation in Brazil, and after that happened, we had like a two-and-a-half-hour meeting. I call Jerry Colangelo “Doc.” So Doc is up there, Coach K says something, and then Doc just keeps going on and on and on, man. And we’re all just sitting there, taking it on the chin. Whole team. Sitting there, quiet, taking it. Finally, after like two hours, Melo was like: ‘Hey Jerry, we got it. We’re all grown men. Let’s move on now. If this happens again, someone’s going to have to go home. You’ll be kicked out of the Olympics.’ And that ended it. That was it. That was the end of it.