I learned from Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh that speed and explosiveness on defense is the way to build a team. Both are difficult for your opponent to assimilate in practice and then in games it is even harder to match.
There are a few moments in every game when I will have to sprint and use my explosiveness to win.
I used my Karate footwork to control the distance, and I use is as a penetration drill that I do, this is my speciality, the way I penetrate on people, the explosiveness and the timing. It all started with Kyokoshin and Sports Karate.
Long, flat expanses of professionalism bother me. I'd rather have a band that could explode at any time.
I'm working on my lower body, my explosiveness.
I'm trying to get a lower center of gravity. I think, when I play at a lower level, it helps my overall game, just my explosiveness to the rim with the ball in my hands. When I play with a lower center of gravity, my legs are always in my shot instead of playing vertical out there where I don't get the same explosion or legs into my shot.
Sometimes I relax on defense and not understand I can't do that. Night in and night out, you're playing some of the best point guards in the world. That's something I'm continuing to work on and continue to develop my lower body, get quicker and more explosive.
Kettlebells are the best for everything. We do snatches and swings with them for explosiveness and hamstring and lower back strength, and we'll also throw them into conditioning circuits where I'll do a burpee holding the kettlebells and transition into a 2-handed snatch.
For me, from day one, I don't think I realized that I was considered undersized, but I knew I was good. I had certain tools in my toolbox that other guys didn't have, like agility, quickness and explosiveness.
Most of my game is not really based on explosiveness, but I've gotta have a little lift on my jumper.
What I do in long jump and track and field, it definitely correlates with what I do as a receiver. With being fast and being explosive and putting my foot down. It's the same mechanics that I use in football and track.
What makes the vault so spectacular is because it's a very athletic type of event, where it needs a lot of speed, a lot of explosive action and, of course, great coordination.
Everybody wants to see this fight. Everybody wants to see these fireworks. They want to see that explosiveness. They want to see me throw Khabib on his back and get that five-point motion with this U.S.A. wrestling. Because if wrestling was easy, it would be called Sambo, my friend. Straight up, I'm going mop that dude up.
