I'm not the strongest, I'm not the fastest, I can't jump the highest, so for me, it's doing it in other ways: changing paces, using your body to get open, knowing your defender. A lot goes into it. You have to study the game.
I enjoyed being a teammate of Deion Sanders. He brings different elements to the game that many people would not even realize, and to watch and witness a superior talent like him and watch him prepare and train, and study the game is truly amazing.
I've studied the game in every different aspect that I can.
I watch basketball all day every day. So when I'm watching the games, I watch it - I just enjoy watching basketball - but when I'm watching other people play, I'm really just watching as a student trying to figure different things out.
It's fun, being able to study the game the entire day.
I like to study everything: the way to be dangerous when you are attacking; what the players should do when you don't have the ball; where they should be. The tactics you tell the players to follow come from all this study.
I watch and learn from old Clipper games.
Any time you add something to your game, you still have to find ways to improve, so I'm still studying the game and trying to find out ways to increase how we use me on the floor. You're not being complacent, not falling back and floating around the perimeter too much, figuring out when to attack. I'm trying to find that balance between attacking and spotting up and things like that.
I'm someone who really thinks the game through, who has an IQ about the game, who studies the game, who knows a lot more than just running and jumping.
So after 11 years you're just picking up all this information. I'm a basketball junky, so I watch old players. The '90s was a great era of basketball. I watched so much of that. That just helped me be a student of the game and pick up any moment. It's the 10,000 hour rule. You're just trying to master your craft.
We watch so much film, calling up pitch by pitch, count by count in order to spot tendencies. Technology is a big part of how I get ready for a game. What's funny is a lot of the NFL guys say they study the 'Madden' game; that's how they learn to read offenses and defenses.
I study history. I study the game. I study the NBA and the team I'm working for very, very closely.
I feel a lot of people working in the media don't know how much of a student of the game I am. They don't know that if we play on a Saturday, the first thing I do when I get home is watch the other games, watch the other leagues.
