I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs, too.
Of all seasons, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother have a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay Lakers), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs, too.
Of all seasons, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother have a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
Of all seasons, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother have a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all seasons, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother have a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother have a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season, in the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, are that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season.
In the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

I still remember when I got the call that I&rsquo;d been traded from New Orleans to Indiana. It was the third time I was traded in my career, and by this point, I was going on 34 years old. I didn&rsquo;t want to leave my guys Chris Paul and David West, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
The silver lining for me was that I was heading to Indiana to join a team with a nice group of young players, including Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert and two rookies named Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
So it made me really happy to see that Lance not only got another shot with Indiana this season, but that <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lance-stephensons-energy-would-make-him-a-perfect-tank-commander-for-pacers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he&rsquo;s made the most of it</a>. This week, Lance dropped 30 on the Nets, and even scored 20 straight points in the game&rsquo;s first quarter. I was so happy for him, just like I was happy for guys like Joe Johnson, Isaiah Thomas and Greg Monroe, to name a few.
G League guys get &ldquo;called up,&rdquo; but some <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/greg-monroe-and-the-brief-case-for-us-to-see-more-nba-veterans-this-season" target="_blank" rel="noopener">veteran players were fortunate to get called back</a>. It&rsquo;s hard to come back to the league after you&rsquo;ve spent a year or two away, but this season, a lot of guys have made it look really easy. They deserve props.
Everyone who loves the NBA owes the guys who are coming in and playing on these 10-day contracts, because the season would have probably been suspended already if it wasn&rsquo;t for them.&nbsp;
But what the whole situation has revealed, to me, is that there are some teams that have faith in their developmental programs, and some that don&rsquo;t.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
When I was coaching in the G League, we approached the situation with our players on the Canton Charge as if we were developing them and preparing them to get called up to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers one day. The G League is the NBA&rsquo;s farm system, and it&rsquo;s supposed to be used as the training ground for the league. Even I am an example of that &mdash; I spent a year with Canton before I was promoted to an assistant coach for the Cavs.&nbsp;
In theory, the same thing is supposed to happen with the G League players.
Like I said, I am happy for guys like Lance, Joe and Isaiah. Someone like Jamal Crawford should still be in the league right now.&nbsp;
But when a team goes out and signs a guy who&rsquo;s been out of the league to a 10-day contract, it does make you wonder a bit.&nbsp;
A guy coming in on a 10-day isn&rsquo;t coming to the team with an understanding of the team&rsquo;s offensive system, the team&rsquo;s coaching staff or any of his teammates&rsquo; tendencies. For the most part, he&rsquo;s being signed as an insurance policy to be available to play a few minutes and to play off of muscle memory. In most situations, he probably isn&rsquo;t going to be incorporated very much into the team&rsquo;s long-term plans.
G League call-ups, on the other hand, should already be familiar with the culture of the organization and the system that his team is running. So if a team has players out with COVID (or for whatever reason) and it finds itself in a pinch, the G League should be the first place to turn to. In some cases, you can look at some of the teams that do things the right way, and see the rewards they get from taking player development seriously.
Look at Miami, for example.
When I was in the NBA, even before there was a G League, Pat Riley and the Heat had a reputation for finding guys with potential and turning them into ballers. I think about guys like Voshon Leonard, Caron Butler, Udonis Haslem and D-Wade, as well as some of the younger guys like Mario Chalmers, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro.
This season, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s name is starting to ring out. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/omer-yurtseven-georgetown-hoyas-nc-state-wolfpack-fenerbahce-ulker-turkey-2020-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Look him up</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Omer Yurtseven now has 10 straight games with 12+ rebounds. That is a new 𝙈𝙞𝙖𝙢𝙞 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙙 breaking Hassan Whiteside's previous streak of 9. Yurtseven is only the 3rd rookie ever to accomplish this feat. Blake Griffin was most recent.<a href="https://twitter.com/MiamiHEAT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MiamiHEAT</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HEATCulture?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HEATCulture</a> <a href="https://t.co/wjLjK9yj0z">pic.twitter.com/wjLjK9yj0z</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Sun: HEAT (@BallyHEAT) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallyHEAT/status/1478951383244197889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

He might not ever be an All-Star or anything like that, but he&rsquo;s just another example of a player that Miami got its hands on and prepared for the big leagues. They&rsquo;ve had guys in and out the lineup all season, and have had to rely on some of their end-of-bench guys and replacement players &mdash; and they really haven&rsquo;t skipped a beat.
That&rsquo;s a developmental culture.
Already this season, there have been over 100 G League call-ups, and what I&rsquo;m really paying attention to is the amount of guys who get called up by the team that their G League team is affiliated with. That kind of continuity, in my opinion, should be the goal. If every team strives to treat its G League affiliate like a true farm system, it will help to advance the game and could continue to help make the G League a more viable alternative for players who might not be good enough to play in the NBA as soon as they&rsquo;re eligible.
While on the subject, I will show some love to the Magic, who have called up five players so far this season, four of them from their affiliate in Lakeland. The Thunder have called up four of their own guys from the Blue; meanwhile, the Lakers (South Bay), Pistons (Motor City Cruise) and Sixers (Delaware Blue Coats) have gotten good mileage out of their G League programs too.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Of all years, if you can&rsquo;t find use for your G League affiliate this season, why bother having a G League affiliate at all? That&rsquo;s the way I see it.
At the end of the day, the NBA is a fraternity. I have a lot of brothers still playing in the league and others who are blessed to be coaching or otherwise working for teams. I&rsquo;m rooting for everyone to succeed, and hope that the league is able to continue to thrive and bring us exciting basketball, in spite of COVID.
I just couldn&rsquo;t help but to think about all the G League players who are hoping to find their own opportunity and get their 15 minutes of fame.&nbsp;
Some guys literally work their entire lives for that one moment, and I hope as many as possible continue to get them this season.
In the long run, the game and the G League itself will both be better off for it.

The pandemic has resulted in over 100 G League players being called up this season. But some teams can't rely on their prospects.

This season, we’re seeing the teams that trust their G League program

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him and Ja Morant dropping 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
&nbsp;
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though he&rsquo;s been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that Porter looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him and Ja Morant dropping 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though he&rsquo;s been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that Porter looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him and Ja Morant dropping 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though he&rsquo;s been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that Porter looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though he&rsquo;s been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that Porter looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, with the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though he&rsquo;s been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that Porter looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep. was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, with the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though Porter's been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that he looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, with the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though Porter's been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that he looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
&nbsp;
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, with the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though Porter's been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that he looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

The game is in good hands.&nbsp;
LeBron and Chris Paul are two of my favorite guys in the league, and the fact that they&rsquo;ve managed to be this dominant for this long is truly amazing.
But both those guys are closer to the end than they are to the beginning, and I know that LeBron was probably thinking about the future this past week when, in back-to-back games, he saw Kevin Porter Jr. going toe-to-toe with him, and then Ja Morant dropped 41 on him and the Lakers.
To me, that showdown with Porter was special, though. For more reasons than one.
Houston became my second home a long time ago, even before Denver traded me to the Rockets in 2002. It&rsquo;s funny; by the time I was traded there, I had already made Houston my offseason home.&nbsp;
Aside from my hometown of Cleveland, it&rsquo;s safe to say that&rsquo;s where my heart is. As a result, I have a soft spot for the Rockets.
When James Harden decided it was time to move on, everyone knew that Houston would be rebuilding, but they already seem to have a few pieces. And on Tuesday night, Porter got a chance to show what he could do. It came in a loss, but he had 22 points, five rebounds and nine assists. Against LeBron, I know it was a special game for him.
Like most others, I first heard about Porter when he was at USC &mdash; people in the league were talking about him. Truth be told, that&rsquo;s not uncommon. There&rsquo;s a lot of scouting going on and a lot of people watching a lot of college games and all that, so when there&rsquo;s someone out there who seems like they have a shot to be good, word gets out. Porter was one of those guys whose name was mentioned.&nbsp;
His rep was that he was an athletic guard who could shoot, create for himself and play above the rim. I saw him play a few times earlier on in his career, and I mostly agreed with the scouting report.&nbsp;
Things didn&rsquo;t really work out with him in Cleveland for whatever reason, but he&rsquo;s been showing what he can do in Houston.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
After being around the league for as long as I have, you get to understand that a lot of the time, guys succeeding and fulfilling their potential has just as much to do with them getting a chance in the right situation as it does their personal talent and motivation. And I&rsquo;ll tell you something else: having someone like John Lucas in your corner definitely helps.
Officially, Luc is a player development coach for Houston, but he&rsquo;s a father figure to the entire program. He does a lot for the organization and its players. He&rsquo;s a player development coach, a mentor, a psychiatrist and someone who has just seen and experienced pretty much everything there is to see. A lot of the time, having that kind of guidance is what makes the difference for a lot of young players coming into the league, and I bet it&rsquo;s made a difference for Porter, too.
I&rsquo;ve known Luc for more than 20 years and he&rsquo;s helped a lot of players learn how to be professionals and understand what success in the NBA requires. Even though he doesn&rsquo;t really get the press and notoriety that he deserves, I can tell you firsthand that he&rsquo;s been a savior for a lot of players, and definitely a few, like Porter, whose careers didn&rsquo;t get off to the best start.
So when I saw Porter going toe-to-toe with LeBron on Tuesday night, it just made me feel good. Even though I don&rsquo;t know Porter personally and haven&rsquo;t worked with him at all, all coaches have this thing in common: we love to see young players put it all together and find success.&nbsp;
The only thing that was better than seeing Porter do his thing against the Lakers was him reflecting on his relationship with LeBron after the game. Porter admitted that it felt good holding his own against his &ldquo;big brother,&rdquo; the King, even if his team fell short in the end.
For a young player trying to find his way, with the support system that Porter has certainly found in Houston, as well as the acknowledgement from older players that he respects &mdash; I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s going to make a big difference for him and take him a long way.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
After tonight's game Kevin Porter Jr talked with the media about his matchup with LeBron James <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonRockets</a> on AT&amp;T SportsNet <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LightTheFuse?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LightTheFuse</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ojx9Dees1l">pic.twitter.com/Ojx9Dees1l</a>
&mdash; AT&amp;T SportsNet SW (@ATTSportsNetSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetSW/status/1476056431342333952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Personally, I never had a relationship with Michael Jordan, but I still remember what it felt like to guard him in an NBA game. I had the honor of going up against MJ while he was in Washington.&nbsp;
Growing up, like most kids, I tried to palm the ball like MJ, shoot the fadeaway like him and mimic his moves. So when I found myself standing in front of him on an NBA court trying to stop him, I was almost in awe. Like, I felt like I made it. He obviously got the better of me (to say the least), but I just felt inspired even being on the court with him.
Even though Porter's been in the league a few years now at this point, Tuesday night&rsquo;s game was really the first time that he looked like he belonged out there playing against &lsquo;Bron, and I think it&rsquo;ll encourage him to keep pushing forward.
Like I said, man, the league is in good hands, and in the not-so-distant future, with Porter seeming like he&rsquo;s found a good situation in Houston, the Rockets might be on to something.

Kevin Porter Jr. has all the tools needed to succeed in the NBA, and James Posey thinks he's going to put it all together in Houston.

Kevin Porter Jr. is going to put it all together in Houston

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to Miami in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship or bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
That happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
That happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/thRAnVbeNOY" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/thRAnVbeNOY" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember, is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/thRAnVbeNOY" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never remember&nbsp; is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

As a competitor in the NBA, you want to go out and win every game. But there&rsquo;s so many of them that it&rsquo;s impossible to focus too much on any single one.
There&rsquo;s a few times each season when you have a date circled on your calendar, though. And in my first year in Miami, back in 2005, that game was our Christmas Day showdown with Kobe and the Lakers.
There&rsquo;s no better feeling than playing on Christmas. It&rsquo;s kind of like the league&rsquo;s showcase for the top teams, and when you play on Christmas Day, you know everyone is going to be watching.
By the time I got traded to the Heat in 2005, I&rsquo;d been in the league for six years, but I&rsquo;d never played on Christmas Day. When the trade happened, I remember being excited. Even though I enjoyed my time in Memphis, I knew that when I got to Miami, the organization had a championship-or-bust mentality. They just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to Detroit in seven games, so they felt like they were really close.
They brought me in along with some other guys hoping that we would help put them over the top, and I knew that those were the expectations going in. I knew I was ready for it.
At that time in the league, Shaq and Kobe&rsquo;s divorce was still fresh. It happened in 2004, and everyone wondered if they&rsquo;d be able to win without each other. Their rivalry immediately became &ldquo;Must See TV,&rdquo; because it was common knowledge that there was a little bad blood. Especially when they played against each other for the first time.&nbsp;
Part 1 happened on Christmas Day in 2004, and everyone saw their cold embrace before the opening tip. Kobe ended up scoring 42, but missed the game-winning shot. You knew he would be looking for revenge.
The next season, my first in Miami, the league matched us up with the Lakers on Christmas Day again. Only this time, unlike in 2004, the game would be in Miami.&nbsp;
Again, this was my first time playing on Christmas.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I&rsquo;m so blessed to have had a long career in the league. Including regular season and playoffs, I played in over 900 games. In the NBA, the games just keep coming, so that&rsquo;s why most players don&rsquo;t put too much stock in one game. There&rsquo;s always another one coming at you really fast.
But honestly, I&rsquo;d be lying if I didn&rsquo;t admit that I was looking forward to that Christmas Day game. And out of all those games I played, this is one of the few that has actually stuck with me. Off the top of my head, I even remembered what time the game started: 3:00 p.m.
In 2005 in Miami, it was hot on Christmas Day, and for me, it was it was so different.
My drive to the arena was a bright, sunny drive that took about 40 minutes. I remember wondering what kind of sneakers Kobe and D-Wade would be wearing. I was also thinking about my former teammates and friends back home and the fact that everyone was going to be watching. I tried to pretend like it was just another game by arriving to the arena at my usual time to workout and warm up, but there was definitely a different buzz that day.
Even though Shaq himself wasn&rsquo;t vocal about wanting to win this game more than any other, he was like a big brother to everyone on the team. We not only wanted to win for him, but we also wanted to win to prove that we were better than last year.&nbsp;
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/thRAnVbeNOY" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
By this time, I&rsquo;d already gone up against Kobe a few times, so I had an idea of what to expect. With players like him, you know they&rsquo;re gonna be coming at you all game long, talking trash and all that. You just hope to make them have to work for their shots and limit their efficiency.
In the end, we won by five even though Kobe dropped 37 points. I did my job, though; he only shot 12-for-30.&nbsp;
Shaq and D-Wade played well, but it was actually Gary Payton who led us in scoring with 21 points off the bench. He also came to my rescue, truth be told.
With about a minute left in the game, we had the ball, down by one.&nbsp;
D-Wade was in the post looking for his shot, but he drew a double-team.&nbsp;
Lo and behold, he looked out on the wing and spotted me. I had a little bit of daylight. He kicked it out to me for a good look at a go-ahead three, but I rushed the shot a little. Even though it looked and felt good, it was a little short. It caught the front rim, but Shaq got the offensive rebound and found GP behind the arc for a corner three.
GP had a really good game to that point. He nailed the shot to give him 21 points, but most importantly, redeemed me for missing. Haha. It put us up for good with just over a minute left.
At that point, we only needed a few stops, and we got them.&nbsp;
On the biggest sequence, GP fought over a screen to defend Kobe on a game-tying three with less than five seconds to go.&nbsp;
And guess who got the rebound?&nbsp;
The shot was well short and I chased it down before getting fouled with about a second left. Fortunately, I made both the free throws to give us a five-point lead and seal the game for us.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I had to go look up the stats and watch a YouTube video or two to remember all the details from the game, but one thing I&rsquo;ll never forget is what it felt like to compete on that stage with those guys.vChristmas Day is the NBA&rsquo;s showcase, and I&rsquo;ll never forget the first time I had the honor of being a part of that.
This year, I&rsquo;ll be looking forward to seeing Steph Curry and Chris Paul go at it, yet again, and I&rsquo;ll certainly be thinking about the memories I have from my day.
Some things, you&rsquo;ll just never forget.

James Posey recalls his first experience playing on Christmas Day back in 2005. And he's sure to never forget it.

The best Christmas Day ever: Playing Kobe Bryant and the Lakers

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their longterm plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter, is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement, and I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their longterm plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement, and I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement, and I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement, and I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember, the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
&nbsp;
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember, the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all. He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember, the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all.
&ldquo;Like, you mean NOOOOO minutes?&rdquo; I remember asking him.
&ldquo;Like, none at all?&rdquo;
Sadly, the answer was no!
He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember, the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA players, guys might not be the most savvy when it comes to the salary cap and some of those things, but one date that everyone has circled on their calendars is Dec. 15.
That&rsquo;s the day when trade season officially begins.&nbsp;
Depending on your specific situation, you&rsquo;re either looking forward to the day or nervous about it. The established superstars know that some of their teammates could be shipped out, while non-superstar players know they could be packing their bags.
Either way, you have that date circled.
Trades are a part of life in the NBA. As we hear all the time, it&rsquo;s a business. As players, we always understood that there was a bit of a double-standard when it came down to it, though. Teams can trade you whenever they want, but as a player, if you make a trade request, people want to say that you&rsquo;re spoiled or entitled or that you&rsquo;re a quitter, things like that.
Sometimes, though, there are valid reasons to request a trade; I know I had my reasons when I asked the Indiana Pacers to trade me back in 2011. They didn&rsquo;t, and I believe it indirectly ended my playing career.
After my time in Boston came to an end, I signed with New Orleans. They were an up-and-coming team led by Chris Paul and David West &mdash; two players I had existing relationships with. I thought I could help get them to the next level, much in the way I helped in Miami and Boston.&nbsp;
At that time, CP was playing at an MVP level, but the Western Conference was no joke. We got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs my first season there, and didn&rsquo;t even make the playoffs my second season. CP missed 37 games the second year, though, which explains that.
Winning those 37 games should&rsquo;ve probably been considered an accomplishment, to be honest with you, and there&rsquo;s no way we would&rsquo;ve done it without Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton. They both established themselves as good young players in the league, but that meant other teams wanted them. Next thing I knew, I was being traded to Indiana with Darren. I was kinda caught in the middle, and that&rsquo;s the part of trades that most fans and outsiders can&rsquo;t really understand.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
A big part of the reason I signed with New Orleans was because of my preexisting relationships with CP and West. I wouldn&rsquo;t really say that the organization recruited me, so to speak, but I also signed there because of the role that I understood I would have. To players, it&rsquo;s not always only about the contract; a lot of the times, it&rsquo;s also about the role and the fit.&nbsp;
But in a really short period of time, New Orleans decided they wanted to try something different, and the deal that came together was one that got them Trevor Ariza. They ended up doing a four-team trade with the Rockets, Pacers and Nets. Indiana sent Troy Murphy out in the deal, and got Darren and me back.&nbsp;
I wouldn&rsquo;t say that Indy didn&rsquo;t want me or value me, but they really made the deal because of Darren. So I packed my bags again.
I wasn&rsquo;t happy leaving New Orleans, obviously, but I was able to embrace going to Indy for many of the same reasons I did New Orleans. They were a young team trying to find their way and they had some young players I enjoyed being around. T.J. Ford and I are good friends to this day, and I had an opportunity to see a young Paul George develop some of the habits that turned him into a superstar.&nbsp;
But man, things changed for me, and fast.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/53e6939c78fa8-image_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="432" />
Our coach, Jim O&rsquo;Brien, was fired after 44 games and one of his young assistants &mdash; a guy named Frank Vogel &mdash; took over.
The organization&rsquo;s leadership decided they wanted to focus on developing the team&rsquo;s younger players and I, at 34 years old, didn&rsquo;t really fit in with their long-term plans. I went from playing 20 minutes a game to not dressing, and I was perfectly healthy and still felt like I could make a difference. It hurt.
I&rsquo;ll never forget the conversation I had with Coach Vogel when he told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing. We were in New Jersey getting ready to play the Nets, and coach straight up told me that I wasn&rsquo;t going to be playing at all.
&ldquo;Like, you mean NOOOOO minutes?&rdquo; I remember asking him.
&ldquo;Like, none at all?&rdquo;
Sadly, the answer was no!
He offered me the opportunity to sit in on the coach&rsquo;s meetings to try to absorb some of his staff&rsquo;s knowledge, but truth of the matter is that I still wanted to play. I knew I could still make a difference.
So I asked for a trade.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was a 34-year-old champion who still had a lot left to offer, but I was on a team that was just at a different place in its developmental cycle. It wasn&rsquo;t a fit, and that happens to a lot of veteran players in the NBA.
Coach Vogel and I had that conversation on Feb. 6, 2011, and it turns out that the trade deadline was on Feb. 24. They didn&rsquo;t have the time to find a trade, I guess, so I sat on the bench, mostly in street clothes. I watched as our team got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, and next thing we all knew, the 2011 lockout happened.
Once the lockout ended, Indy waived me using the one-time &ldquo;amnesty&rdquo; right they got under the new collective bargaining agreement. I wasn&rsquo;t too enthused about signing with a new team and having to move during a lockout-shortened season. Remember, the 2011-12 season was only 66 games, and they were crammed into a shortened period of time.
To be honest, though, by the time the 2012-13 season was beginning, I hadn&rsquo;t gotten the kind of offer I was looking for. Some teams offered me 10-day contracts, which wasn&rsquo;t something I was willing to accept.
And just like that, my playing career was over.
It felt like one minute I was being courted by New Orleans and having an opportunity to join a young MVP-caliber player, and the next minute, I&rsquo;m being told by Frank Vogel that I&rsquo;m not going to play anymore.&nbsp;
It happens fast, and it happens to the best of us, and that&rsquo;s why players have to take their careers into their own hands when they have the opportunity to.
If KG, LeBron and KD never left the Timberwolves, Cavaliers or Thunder, there&rsquo;s no guarantee they would&rsquo;ve ever been able to win a championship. Right now, Damian Lillard is facing a similar situation. Ben Simmons decided that it&rsquo;s time for him to go.
When I began thinking about it recently and look back at my situation in Indy, I only wonder what could&rsquo;ve been if I&rsquo;d requested a trade sooner. Who knows, if I would&rsquo;ve asked earlier, maybe I would&rsquo;ve landed in a better situation. Maybe my playing career wouldn&rsquo;t have ended the way it did.
I never told that story before, but today, on Dec. 15 &mdash; when NBA trade season officially begins &mdash; it seemed appropriate.

As NBA trade deadline season begins, James Posey recalls how an unfulfilled trade request indirectly helped end his career.

How not getting traded by the Pacers pushed me into retirement

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you&hellip; That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor, even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him, the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.&nbsp;
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you&hellip; That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor, even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him, the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.&nbsp;
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor, even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him, the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.&nbsp;
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.&nbsp;
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LEBRON HITS THE THREE AND THE SILENCER 😱👑 <a href="https://t.co/mNp0Uzd6jD">pic.twitter.com/mNp0Uzd6jD</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1463701890428899328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LEBRON HITS THE THREE AND THE SILENCER 😱👑 <a href="https://t.co/mNp0Uzd6jD">pic.twitter.com/mNp0Uzd6jD</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1463701890428899328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he's had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LEBRON HITS THE THREE AND THE SILENCER 😱👑 <a href="https://t.co/mNp0Uzd6jD">pic.twitter.com/mNp0Uzd6jD</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1463701890428899328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he's had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body, and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had. Four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

It&rsquo;s not possible to defeat Father Time. We all know this. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean that LeBron James isn&rsquo;t going to go 12 rounds with him.
At 37 years old, it&rsquo;s incredible that LeBron is able to play at such a high level. He&rsquo;s averaging 25.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game, and has scored over 30 points in each of the Lakers&rsquo; last three games.
The team is on a mission to win a championship, and it starts with King James.&nbsp;
If there is a concern, though, it&rsquo;s about how much longer whether 'Bron is going to be able to hold up, because he&rsquo;s missed more games as he&rsquo;s gotten older.
Just since he joined the Lakers, &lsquo;Bron has had ankle pains, issues with his groin and hamstring, and now this season, his abdomen. He&rsquo;s already missed 10 games due to injury this season, and he's missed a total of 58 games in his first three seasons with the Lakers. In other words, he missed 68 games since he joined the Lakers just over three years ago. Meanwhile, he missed 71 games in his first 14 years in the league, and played all 82 games in his 15th season in Cleveland.
He&rsquo;s going to turn 37 years old in December, so it&rsquo;s only natural that his days of playing 70-80 games come to a close. At this stage, all he&rsquo;s playing for are championships, so there&rsquo;s a balance.
When he does play, though, LeBron is still a problem. It&rsquo;s incredible how he&rsquo;s been able to defy time the way he has.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
As a pro athlete, as you age and the miles on your body add up, you begin to feel it. You notice a lot of little things that aren&rsquo;t necessarily injury-related. The day after a game, you feel soreness in new places. You need to ice more. It takes you longer to recover after playing, and things like that. When you first start to experience it, you might even be in a bit of denial. Father Time taking his toll on you is much different than getting a contact injury.
If a guy hits you or you land awkwardly or something like that and get hurt, it&rsquo;s easy to understand why or how an injury happens. And while I do think there are &ldquo;wear and tear&rdquo; injuries, I think the correlation between those kinds of injuries and the age of a player can be debated. Some guys play into their late 30s without much issue. Meanwhile, lots of 20-year-old players have their careers cut short due to injury.
As you get older you notice that your body breaks down. You lose a couple steps, and you can&rsquo;t get up and down the court as fast as you were once able to. You slowly begin to notice that the players who came after you just get younger and younger. You gotta try to keep up with those guys and slowly begin to notice that you have a harder time keeping them in front of you... That&rsquo;s Father Time.&nbsp;
And I&rsquo;m sure that he hasn&rsquo;t gotten a grasp on LeBron just yet. The proof is in what he&rsquo;s still able to produce on the court.
Based on what we see when he&rsquo;s on the floor &mdash; even though the injuries look like they&rsquo;re taking a toll on him &mdash; the games LeBron&rsquo;s missed over the past few years are more about injuries and load management and about trying to keep him fresh for the playoffs than it is about Father Time catching up with him.
Like I said, they&rsquo;re going to end up going 12 rounds, and by the looks of it, they&rsquo;re maybe in the ninth or 10th.
It&rsquo;s funny that it took all this time for &lsquo;Bron to get &ldquo;load managed,&rdquo; so to speak.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LEBRON HITS THE THREE AND THE SILENCER 😱👑 <a href="https://t.co/mNp0Uzd6jD">pic.twitter.com/mNp0Uzd6jD</a>
&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1463701890428899328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

For as long as I&rsquo;ve known him, he's had an old school mentality of being one of those players who took pride in playing every game. If you look back at his history, you&rsquo;d see that LeBron regularly played 78, 79, 80 games pretty much every year. Him staying healthy all these years is a product of him taking good care of his body, and maybe a little bit of good fortune.
Pretty much every player today can only dream of having the kind of career he's had &mdash; four championships, four Finals MVPs, 17 All-Star selections and 17 All-NBA team selections. He&rsquo;s one of the greatest players ever, and what&rsquo;s been most incredible is his longevity.
When I was coming up, and even up until my last few years in the league, most players took a special sort of pride in playing all 82 games. It was kind of like a badge of honor that told everyone that you were tough and durable. We always felt like the regular season mattered, but I&rsquo;m not sure today&rsquo;s players, as a whole, feel the same way. I know for a fact that many don&rsquo;t. LeBron always has.
We first started hearing about load management with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. When Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were getting up there in age, Pop limited their minutes because he wanted to extend their careers. It seems like it worked. But there&rsquo;s such a big difference between that and teams sitting healthy, young players down because they&rsquo;re afraid of guys playing too many minutes.
It&rsquo;s crazy that it doesn&rsquo;t really seem like that was a concern for LeBron in the early stages of his career and he&rsquo;s lasted so long. He&rsquo;s obviously the exception, though. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s LeBron.
In the end, it makes me wonder how much we can actually control whether guys get hurt by limiting their minutes or if it&rsquo;s as simple as some guys&rsquo; bodies not be able to withstand the punishment they get over the course of a long season. At the end of the day, everybody and everyone&rsquo;s body is somewhat unique, and although Father Time will eventually get the best of all of us, for everyone, it happens on their own clock.
LeBron obviously still has a lot of sand left in that hourglass.

LeBron James has missed a few games this season, but his former assistant coach James Posey doesn't think the King has lost a step.

LeBron James doesn’t seem to be succumbing to Father Time just yet

The Suns are shining, and there&rsquo;s simply no other way to put it. They&rsquo;ve won 16 games in a row and truly look like a team that&rsquo;s on a mission.
I just got two words for you: Chris Paul. His impact on that team and their development can&rsquo;t be denied, especially after last season&rsquo;s run.
Obviously, they&rsquo;re not satisfied.
Anyone who knows me knows that it&rsquo;s no secret that I got love for CP. I made the case for why I thought he should&rsquo;ve been Most Valuable Player last season, but the voters felt differently.
I can&rsquo;t be mad, though, because Nikola Jokic did have a great regular-season run.
The key words, though, are regular season.
I know, I know, the MVP award is for the regular season, but when we talk about Chris&rsquo; legacy, we can&rsquo;t ignore what he was able to accomplish with Phoenix in the playoffs last year.
What I realize after playing in the league for 12 years, and coaching for five, is that your critics are always going to find something negative to say. There are a lot of guys out there who think that the Suns getting to the Finals last year was some kind of fluke, ignoring the fact that injuries have always been a part of the game.
This season, though, Phoenix looks determined to prove that it was no fluke.
Overnight, the argument against CP3 went from being that he never played in an NBA Finals to that he never won an NBA Finals. That&rsquo;s what we call moving the goalposts.
I wonder if those same critics are now gonna try to find a way to discredit the fact that he was named to the NBA&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary Team?
It&rsquo;s been a couple months since I spoke to Chris, and the next time I do, I&rsquo;ll be sure to tell him congratulations. His receiving that honor is a testament to his greatness and, in my opinion, showing that you can become regarded as an all-time great player while playing the point guard position the right way.
In recent times, we began falling in love with the scoring point guards and the shoot-first point guards. Those guys with explosive athleticism and blinding quickness. And that&rsquo;s no knock on those types of players, but from the time I became Chris&rsquo; teammate in New Orleans, I saw firsthand that while he wanted to win, he never really looked at winning as the pursuit of an individual goal.
Chris never really approached the game with an &ldquo;I gotta do this&rdquo; mindset, it was always &ldquo;we,&rdquo; and as a result, he always wanted to make sure he got guys the right shots, put guys in the right positions and executed plays and the game-plan the way they were supposed to. He was never concerned about how many points he scored or the stat sheet. His mindset has always been &ldquo;just win, and everything else will take care of itself.&rdquo;
He was just always the ultimate teammate.
When my time in Boston came to an end after we won the championship in 2008, I was fortunate to end up in New Orleans. New Orleans was coming off a 57-win season, and CP and I already had a great relationship. He already commanded my respect, and everything just fell into place at the right time.
What I remember most about being Chris&rsquo; teammate was how he prepared for every game. He always knew the game plan, always knew the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and truly was an extension of the head coach. He knew his assignments and his teammates&rsquo; assignments and he would usually be the one to help you out if you had trouble executing. He really was a floor general.
The funny thing, to me, is that Chris has really always been the same player. He&rsquo;s always been solid, and everywhere he&rsquo;s gone, he&rsquo;s had success. It seems like he literally had to prove the doubters wrong over and over before people wanted to give him his flowers.
For him to help take that Oklahoma City Thunder team to the playoffs and then the Suns to the Finals&hellip; It just became impossible to try to ignore the way that he&rsquo;s been able to elevate every franchise he&rsquo;s played for. That kind of impact has always been how I define &ldquo;value,&rdquo; which is why I felt so strongly about him as MVP last year.
Some people might argue that a player&rsquo;s legacy should be less about what they&rsquo;re able to accomplish on an individual level and more about what they&rsquo;re able to accomplish from a team standpoint. He&rsquo;s second to none in that regard.
All the talk today is that in order to be a great player, you have to have a championship ring. It used to be cool to be a great player with good numbers who balled out of control, but not so much anymore. In the past, we were really more so concerned with maximizing our individual potential, but the standard has changed. Now, without a ring, it kind of dims the light on what you were able to do in the league, and it&rsquo;s so unfortunate.
With or without a championship, CP is an all-time great and a player that the younger generation should aspire to be like. Especially young point guards.
Now, fortunately, that&rsquo;s becoming clear; it&rsquo;s no longer anything that can be denied.
The 2021-22 season is still pretty young, and the Warriors also look like they&rsquo;re on a mission. It would be a treat to see them and the Suns square off in a playoff battle, but we have a long way to go before we start thinking about that.
What I do know, is that everything has to fall into place for your team to end up being the one that gets the trophy. The Suns are obviously among the few teams that have a legit shot at being the last one standing, but whether they are or not shouldn&rsquo;t impact the way that we view Chris Paul or his legacy.
One of the 75 greatest to ever do it, my brother deserves all of our respect. From New Orleans to Los Angeles, to Houston, Oklahoma City and Phoenix, he&rsquo;s earned it, and then some.
All praises due to the Point God.

The Suns are shining, and there&rsquo;s simply no other way to put it. They&rsquo;ve won 16 games in a row and truly look like a team that&rsquo;s on a mission.
I just got two words for you: Chris Paul. His impact on that team and their development can&rsquo;t be denied, especially after last season&rsquo;s run.
Obviously, they&rsquo;re not satisfied.
Anyone who knows me knows that it&rsquo;s no secret that I got love for CP. I made the case for why I thought he should&rsquo;ve been Most Valuable Player last season, but the voters felt differently.
I can&rsquo;t be mad, though, because Nikola Jokic did have a great regular-season run.
The key words, though, are regular season.
I know, I know, the MVP award is for the regular season, but when we talk about Chris&rsquo; legacy, we can&rsquo;t ignore what he was able to accomplish with Phoenix in the playoffs last year.
What I realize after playing in the league for 12 years, and coaching for five, is that your critics are always going to find something negative to say. There are a lot of guys out there who think that the Suns getting to the Finals last year was some kind of fluke, ignoring the fact that injuries have always been a part of the game.
This season, though, Phoenix looks determined to prove that it was no fluke.
Overnight, the argument against CP3 went from being that he never played in an NBA Finals to that he never won an NBA Finals. That&rsquo;s what we call moving the goalposts.
I wonder if those same critics are now gonna try to find a way to discredit the fact that he was named to the NBA&rsquo;s 75th Anniversary Team?
It&rsquo;s been a couple months since I spoke to Chris, and the next time I do, I&rsquo;ll be sure to tell him congratulations. His receiving that honor is a testament to his greatness and, in my opinion, showing that you can become regarded as an all-time great player while playing the point guard position the right way.
In recent times, we began falling in love with the scoring point guards and the shoot-first point guards. Those guys with explosive athleticism and blinding quickness. And that&rsquo;s no knock on those types of players, but from the time I became Chris&rsquo; teammate in New Orleans, I saw firsthand that while he wanted to win, he never really looked at winning as the pursuit of an individual goal.
Chris never really approached the game with an &ldquo;I gotta do this&rdquo; mindset, it was always &ldquo;we,&rdquo; and as a result, he always wanted to make sure he got guys the right shots, put guys in the right positions and executed plays and the game-plan the way they were supposed to. He was never concerned about how many points he scored or the stat sheet. His mindset has always been &ldquo;just win, and everything else will take care of itself.&rdquo;
He was just always the ultimate teammate.
When my time in Boston came to an end after we won the championship in 2008, I was fortunate to end up in New Orleans. New Orleans was coming off a 57-win season, and CP and I already had a great relationship. He already commanded my respect, and everything just fell into place at the right time.
What I remember most about being Chris&rsquo; teammate was how he prepared for every game. He always knew the game plan, always knew the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and truly was an extension of the head coach. He knew his assignments and his teammates&rsquo; assignments and he would usually be the one to help you out if you had trouble executing. He really was a floor general.
The funny thing, to me, is that Chris has really always been the same player. He&rsquo;s always been solid, and everywhere he&rsquo;s gone, he&rsquo;s had success. It seems like he literally had to prove the doubters wrong over and over before people wanted to give him his flowers.
For him to help take that Oklahoma City Thunder team to the playoffs and then the Suns to the Finals&hellip; It just became impossible to try to ignore the way that he&rsquo;s been able to elevate every franchise he&rsquo;s played for. That kind of impact has always been how I define &ldquo;value,&rdquo; which is why I felt so strongly about him as MVP last year.
Some people might argue that a player&rsquo;s legacy should be less about what they&rsquo;re able to accomplish on an individual level and more about what they&rsquo;re able to accomplish from a team standpoint. He&rsquo;s second to none in that regard.
All the talk today is that in order to be a great player, you have to have a championship ring. It used to be cool to be a great player with good numbers who balled out of control, but not so much anymore. In the past, we were really more so concerned with maximizing our individual potential, but the standard has changed. Now, without a ring, it kind of dims the light on what you were able to do in the league, and it&rsquo;s so unfortunate.
With or without a championship, CP is an all-time great and a player that the younger generation should aspire to be like. Especially young point guards.
Now, fortunately, that&rsquo;s becoming clear; it&rsquo;s no longer anything that can be denied.
The 2021-22 season is still pretty young, and the Warriors also look like they&rsquo;re on a mission. It would be a treat to see them and the Suns square off in a playoff battle, but we have a long way to go before we start thinking about that.
What I do know, is that everything has to fall into place for your team to end up being the one that gets the trophy. The Suns are obviously among the few teams that have a legit shot at being the last one standing, but whether they are or not shouldn&rsquo;t impact the way that we view Chris Paul or his legacy.
One of the 75 greatest to ever do it, my brother deserves all of our respect. From New Orleans to Los Angeles, to Houston, Oklahoma City and Phoenix, he&rsquo;s earned it, and then some.
All praise due to the Point God.

Paul has been a key leader for the Suns on their 16-game winning streak.

All praise due to the Point God: Chris Paul is at it again

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar, as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career, I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road and that he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s business-man like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar, as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career, I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road and that he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s business-man like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road and that he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s business-man like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s business-man like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach, and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach, and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth ring at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category, altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach, and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth ring at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad it didn&rsquo;t last longer, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach, and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth ring at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-nba-is-big-business-and-players-should-be-allowed-to-act-like-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it didn&rsquo;t last longer</a>, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also obviously cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

I&rsquo;ve never taken anything in my basketball career for granted. I give thanks for the journey, for the experiences and for the fact that I can call myself a champion.
I also give thanks to Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers and especially my "Big Three" teammates in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
Earlier this year, those last three guys were each named one of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">75 greatest players in NBA history</a>, and rightfully so. And when I talk about giving thanks for my journey, I look directly at the fact that I was blessed to play with seven guys who made that list.&nbsp;
In Miami, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/thanks-to-3-legends-in-miami-i-learned-how-to-become-a-winner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed me and taught me how to become a champion</a>. And even though the experience in Boston was a lot different, there, I had the chance to put some of the lessons I learned in Miami to practice.
By the time I got to Miami, Shaq had already been there a year, and he was the only guy who had won a championship. Naturally, he sorta became everyone&rsquo;s big brother, for a few reasons. He was already a legend, he was a champion and we still respected him as our top dog.
That wasn&rsquo;t the case for me in Boston.&nbsp;
Even though I&rsquo;d won and Doc and my teammates respected me, I wasn&rsquo;t the team&rsquo;s best player. So even when Doc pointed out that I was a champion and asked me to share some wisdom, I don&rsquo;t think my words carried the kind of weight in Boston that Shaq&rsquo;s did in Miami.&nbsp;
But that&rsquo;s kinda what made the Boston experience so unique.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray went out of their way to build a culture where everyone felt so welcomed and invited and just loved. We never really looked at the team as different classes of players. We all felt like superstars and genuinely enjoyed each other&rsquo;s company so much that we all just kinda formed one big clique.&nbsp;
When you have that kind of dynamic on a team, it makes you want to be better at your job because you actually feel invested. And if you&rsquo;re having an off day or you&rsquo;re not really getting the minutes or the shots you want, it&rsquo;s easy to be happy for whoever is having a &ldquo;good&rdquo; day because you genuinely care about your teammates.
I played for seven different teams over the course of my 12-year career in the league, and nowhere else was able to compare to the situation in Boston. I know it might sound corny, but it was truly a family. It felt like we were all superstars.&nbsp;
KG, P and Ray all made sure of that.
When I reflect back on my time as Ray&rsquo;s teammate, all I can look back and say is &ldquo;ultimate professional.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Ray truly treated his game like a job that he was very serious about, but not in a bad way. His work ethic was just insane, he&rsquo;d always go up and get shots up early before anyone else, and you could just tell that he was motivated to always be ready and to keep his skills sharp.
Whenever me or Eddie House or one of my other teammates beat Ray in a three-point shooting contest after practice, we would be on cloud nine. Honestly, we&rsquo;d be more surprised when he missed a decent look than when he made it. We just expected perfection from him, and he mostly delivered.
(Editor's Note: James Posey and Ray Allen chopped it up on "The Posecast" last season. Watch the full episode below.) 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OtyqvPS02_Y" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Maybe because he left for Miami, people got the impression that Ray was some kind of &ldquo;outsider&rdquo; while he was in Boston, but at least during my one year there, he was just another one of the guys. He was loved, and he loved us back. Maybe that&rsquo;s why those guys took him leaving so personally, but that&rsquo;s just a guess.&nbsp;
As far as Ray is concerned, he definitely approached his craft like it was his calling, and that&rsquo;s the reason he&rsquo;s the all-time leader in three-pointers made. That&rsquo;s why he was one of the Top 75 of all-time. No way we win without him. Ultimate respect.
KG? He was just another type of beast, altogether.&nbsp;
As great as Ticket was, when I look back at our team, he didn&rsquo;t seem to only work hard because he wanted to be great. He worked so hard because he wanted to lead by example and push us all to be the best players that we could possibly be.
Most veteran players pass knowledge and wisdom. KG did, too, but he also led by example.
Before I joined the team, I remember having a conversation with Sam Cassell. He told me that I was gonna love playing with KG because of how hard he works and how much he pushes. Sam was KG&rsquo;s teammate in Minnesota, so he knew what was coming, but even those warnings couldn&rsquo;t prepare any of us for what Ticket was.
Let me tell you this: KG never once mailed it in. Some superstar players might get tired of practicing or if you&rsquo;re about to go on a road trip or whatever; sometimes, they might just go through the motions. Truth be told, we all did&hellip; just not when KG was our teammate haha!
Ticket always gave 125% effort. He did everything with intensity and purpose. He played hard defense, he talked trash and he was out there leading the way &mdash; because he realized that he was helping to prepare us for the real competition. It&rsquo;s no coincidence that we won 66 games that year.
KG never took a day off, and as a result, our team eventually realized that every &ldquo;day off&rdquo; is one less day of preparation.
KG went so hard, that some days, Doc had to order him to take the day off. And yeah, some coaches might send a guy home for disciplinary reasons or throw him out of practice to make a point or whatever. But Doc himself would literally ask Ticket to chill for the day and get treatment sometimes because we all wanted to have a more calm practice.&nbsp;
Ticket didn&rsquo;t know how to chill.
&ldquo;If you step on this court, I&rsquo;m gonna fine you!&rdquo; I remember Doc yelling at him a few times.
&ldquo;Come on, Doc? How you gon&rsquo; be like that?&rdquo; KG said back.
Doc would even ask Ticket to just chill and be a coach in practice, and KG would flat out be like &ldquo;Nah, Doc, I ain&rsquo;t no coach. I ain&rsquo;t no coach right here. But maybe I can be a player-coach.&rdquo;
Crazy, man.
At the end of the day, though, practice was fun and competitive every single day. Some days the white team would win, some days the green team would win. We really looked forward to it and really made each other better. I honestly think KG helped Paul build better and more serious practice habits.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And that brings me to P &mdash; Mr. Celtic himself.
Now, I could be wrong, but from afar &mdash; as much as I respected Paul Pierce, at least early on in his career &mdash; I didn&rsquo;t really think that winning at a high-level was his priority. I wondered if he was one of those players who just wanted to put up numbers, get paid and get respect, but not necessarily win.&nbsp;
Eventually, I think he approached a fork in the road wheree he wanted to prove that he could play the right kind of basketball and actually be a winning player. So when you tie that together with KG being a maniac and Ray&rsquo;s businessman-like example, Paul had some good guys around him that showed him what the work ethic looked like.
He was a great example of a player who, I think, changed his outlook and changed his approach, and was able accomplish the ultimate goal.
By the time we got to the Finals, I knew that we were a better team than the Lakers, but we all knew what we were up against with Kobe. Especially because we were the Celtics and he was looking to prove he could win without Shaq.&nbsp;
But more than anyone else, I think P knew that he came too far to let Kobe get his fourth ring at our expense, and for me, it was a &ldquo;Wow!&rdquo; moment to see him going shot-for-shot with Kobe in the Finals. I knew P was nice already, but for me, his performance during the 2008 Finals put him in a different category altogether.
Same goal, different players, different approaches, different lessons.
It&rsquo;s so crazy that I only spent one year in Boston. I&rsquo;m sad <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-nba-is-big-business-and-players-should-be-allowed-to-act-like-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it didn&rsquo;t last longer</a>, but &mdash; it&rsquo;s obvious since I talk about that team so much &mdash; I loved it there.
From playing cards at Paul&rsquo;s house or getting together with KG and his family and watching games at his house, we were a big family.&nbsp;
We won a championship together, and I know for sure if things worked out a little differently, we would&rsquo;ve gotten at least two.
Regardless, I look back on my time in Boston and cherish the memories. I also, obviously, cherish playing with and learning from three of the greatest to ever do it.

James Posey reflects on what it was like winning a championship as the teammate of three of the Top 75 Players in NBA History.

I’ll always cherish playing with 3 of the greatest ever in Boston

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
&nbsp;
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
&nbsp;
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice, once in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-3, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miamim and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

I still remember back when the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History were named in 1996. And at the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, 47 of the 50 players got together, in my hometown at that.
From Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan to Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson, seeing all of those greats in one place was truly inspiring. As a freshman at Xavier, it made me think about the future possibilities.
It&rsquo;s hard to believe that was 25 years ago, and in those years, obviously, a lot has happened for me &mdash; both personally and professionally. I think back about where I was then and where I am now, and am truly humbled.
For more reason than one.
When it was all said and done, all 50 of the Top 50 players were selected in the Top 75 that was <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/there-were-major-snubs-from-nba-75-just-like-we-knew-there-would-be" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced at the beginning of the season</a>, and when I saw that list, I realized something incredible: I played with seven of those guys, and coached an eighth (LeBron James).
But winning at the highest level, for me, started in Miami. There, I had the honor of playing with Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton.&nbsp;
So I can&rsquo;t really think about the Top 75, the Top 50 or my own career without remembering where it all came together for me. And every one of my teammates there will have at least a story or two about Shaq.
What I remember most about Diesel was how motivated he was to win. Winning three championships in a row is borderline impossible, and there&rsquo;s a reason why nobody&rsquo;s been able to do it since Shaq and Kobe. Most people overlook the fact that the Lakers actually made it back to the Finals in 2004, but they lost to Detroit. Four Finals in five years? Incredible.
Anyway, whatever happened in L.A. happened, but what we all knew was that Shaq saw something special in D-Wade, and wanted to team up with him.
The front office in Miami did what it had to do and traded for Shaq, but the Heat sacrificed their depth to do so, and they ended up falling short in their first year. They couldn&rsquo;t get past Detroit; they lost to them in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2005.
That summer, Pat Riley and the front office down there got real busy. They brought in a bunch of new pieces, including myself, Gary Payton, Antoine Walker and Jason &ldquo;White Chocolate&rdquo; Williams.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
At this point, we all knew that D-Wade had a chance to be a really good player, but Shaq and GP were already legends. There were lessons every single day, but I think the biggest one I took from Shaq was what it meant to be on a mission.
Regardless of what anyone wanted to say about him, Shaq was always a winner, and he was so motivated to prove to everyone that he was capable of winning without the late, great Kobe Bryant. At that time, he was the only player on our squad who already won a championship, so when he spoke, we listened. He wasn&rsquo;t only our leader, he was like everyone&rsquo;s big brother. You looked up to him and didn&rsquo;t want to disappoint him.
Along with Pat Riley (who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/basketball-news-james-posey-as-long-as-pat-riley-is-in-the-picture-the-miami-heat-have-a-shot-nba-championship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually became our coach</a>), we had two great leaders who not only encouraged us to be great or expected us to be great. They demanded that we be great, and they both led by great example.
From the mindset to the preparation, the two of them gave us great confidence to go out there and get the job done, even though we faced some trials and tribulations.
To put it simply, Shaq was our team&rsquo;s leader, and we all trusted him to show us the path because we knew that he&rsquo;d gotten to where we were trying to go. Even in our team&rsquo;s greatest moment of desperation &mdash; when we were down 0-2 to Dallas in the 2006 Finals &mdash; he preached accountability, but more importantly, he encouraged us to stick with the game plan and made us all confident that we would come out on the right side of history. And we eventually did.
Today, he often talks about guy panicking and being confident, and I can tell you: Diesel never lost his cool.
But yeah, Shaq... he was on a mission in Miami. In each our own way, we all were, I guess. But his motivation was different, and it impacted our team in a positive way.
I only spent two years as his teammate in Miami, but Shaq showed me what being a champion looked like. I carried that with me to Boston and for the rest of my career.
Now, one thing about most NBA locker rooms is that cliques form. That&rsquo;s not to say that there&rsquo;s any division within the team or anything like that, it&rsquo;s just natural that guys who have things in common might end up spending more time together than others. Some guys are really into fashion, some are into video games, some guys end up getting close because they have kids that are the same age, whatever.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/2006-nba-champions-miami-heat_1xmxx9x7enf2b10ltxnugv0a83_lg.png" alt="" width="650" height="325" />
In Miami, Udonis Haslem, Antoine Walker and GP were the guys I got close with, and playing with GP was awesome as hell.&nbsp;
At that point in my career, I was mostly regarded as a &ldquo;3-and-D&rdquo; guy, and even though he was at the tail-end of his career, GP had so much knowledge and wisdom that he shared with me.
From the start, GP knew that I wasn&rsquo;t afraid to play defense and that I wanted to guard the guy in front of me. And you know he was known for the gift of gab. I still remember GP teasing me in our very first conversation as teammates.
&ldquo;Here go this long-sock-wearing, harassing, defensive ass dude,&rdquo; he said. 
&ldquo;I like you, because you be all up in a dude face.&rdquo;
Obviously, for GP, being &ldquo;all up in a dude face&rdquo; was a compliment, and I was honestly flattered because I was surprised he even knew that I wore long socks, felt that way about me or knew me like that!
From that first convo, the rest was history. Most of the time we were on the court, we worked hand-and-hand. As a tandem, we were usually trying to stop the other team&rsquo;s perimeter players, and we spent so much time together off the court that working together on the court was actually pretty easy. Riles coached us, of course, but once we were done with practice, GP was always in my ears giving me little nuggets of info. And of course, talking smack.
The truth is I understood why they called him &ldquo;The Glove.&rdquo; He had instincts, know-how and the ability to read and defend actions. Best of all, he had the will and want to pass along his knowledge to a younger player because he saw something in me and trusted me. I think the best lesson I learned from working with him is what it really meant to have faith and trust in another person on the court. And also, what it means to actually make your teammates better and smarter.
In a way, a lot of us on the 2006 Miami team felt like it was GP&rsquo;s last good shot to win a championship. He got to the Finals twice, once in Seattle and &mdash; a lot of people forgot &mdash; he was with Shaq and Kobe on the 2004 Lakers team that lost in the Finals. So he was 0-2, and we wanted to change that.
Together, we did.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
And what can I say about D-Wade?
I think we all remember his first playoff run in Miami and how he was able to put the team on his back in some big moments as a rookie. Shaq saw it, which is the main reason he wanted to go to Miami in the first place. And by the time I got there, they&rsquo;d already gotten to the Eastern Conference Finals. So even though D-Wade was only entering his third year by the time I got to Miami, I knew I had to give him his respect.
He ended up earning it from me, anyway, though.
If there&rsquo;s one word that comes to mind for me when describing him, it would be &ldquo;competitor.&rdquo; I honestly felt like everything he did on the court, he did with such pride. He wanted to be great and it was just inspiring to witness. Despite having all that talent, his work ethic was even crazier. He was literally the first to get to the gym and the last to leave.
D-Wade was actually in the TNT studio when they announced that he made the NBA 75. He said it felt &ldquo;surreal&rdquo; for him to make the cut. He mentioned that he only got three scholarship offers coming out of high school, and thanked Shaq (who was sitting five feet to his right) for coming to Miami and telling him that he had the potential to be great. He thanked the other greats that he had around him and said he made the cut because he was surrounded by greatness.
I can relate to that feeling.
But D-Wade also made the cut because he dedicated every minute of every day to maximizing his ability and striving to become great. It was no accident.
As I advance in my coaching career and even teach my children about perseverance, D-Wade is someone who will always be top of mind, because it&rsquo;s not easy for a 6-foot-4 guard to end up becoming one of the Top 75 players of all-time.
Like GP and Shaq, we can all learn something valuable from D-Wade. I know I certainly have.
As I looked back on my career, I remember the night I was drafted, and even before then, I remember the Top 50 players standing together at the 1997 All-Star Game.
And now, I can proudly say I can look back on my time in Miami and know that I played with three of the greatest ever.
I&rsquo;m better for it.

James Posey recalls when he won an NBA championship with Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade and Gary Payton on the Heat.

Thanks to 3 legends, in Miami, I learned how to become a winner

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
&nbsp;
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Who created the all or nothing way of looking at sports and players? Fans or the media? Let's talk about it. My latest for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> Don&rsquo;t hate <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBA</a> super-teams, hate the &lsquo;rings culture&rsquo; that created them <a href="https://t.co/CR6Nvr5ICs">https://t.co/CR6Nvr5ICs</a>
&mdash; James Posey (@James_Posey41) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_Posey41/status/1443650219111944202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Check out my latest for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> The Nets' Big 3 should follow 2008 Celtics' blueprint for success <a href="https://t.co/yqlrWNv3GS">https://t.co/yqlrWNv3GS</a>
&mdash; James Posey (@James_Posey41) <a href="https://twitter.com/James_Posey41/status/1355294490257281024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 29, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
&nbsp;
On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It's not easy entering an NBA season as the favorite to win it all. James Posey wrote this piece for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> about the pressure and challenges that come with championship expectations. He details his experience on the 2008 Celtics and 2016 Cavs: <a href="https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK">https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1342216272910692354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while, too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It's not easy entering an NBA season as the favorite to win it all. James Posey wrote this piece for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> about the pressure and challenges that come with championship expectations. He details his experience on the 2008 Celtics and 2016 Cavs: <a href="https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK">https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1342216272910692354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scott Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It's not easy entering an NBA season as the favorite to win it all. James Posey wrote this piece for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> about the pressure and challenges that come with championship expectations. He details his experience on the 2008 Celtics and 2016 Cavs: <a href="https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK">https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1342216272910692354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scot Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

Since I decided to take my talents into the media world, I have a newfound appreciation for the craft. But one of the questions I get asked most often is whether my attitude toward the media has changed at all because of it, and it certainly has. Truth be told, most NBA players don&rsquo;t trust many members of the media, and I can&rsquo;t blame them.&nbsp;
Back in 2007, I'd just landed in Boston, and with the roster that was assembled over there, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-james-posey-championship-expectations-boston-celtics-doc-rivers-kevin-garnett-paul-pierce-ray-allen-cleveland-cavaliers-lebron-james-tyronn-lue-miami-heat-pat-riley-shaquille-o-neal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expectations were really high</a>. One day after practice, Doc Rivers called a team meeting and singled me out. I was the only player on the squad who had won a championship.&nbsp;
Doc knew that I knew what it felt like being under the microscope, and he asked me to share some of my insight about distractions and about what it takes to win.&nbsp;
In Miami, we had Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Gary Payton and Alonzo Mourning, and we were coached by Pat Riley. Anywhere any of us went, people were trying to ask us questions and stick microphones in our faces. Shaq had a well-publicized feud with Kobe Bryant, and D-Wade was coming into his own as a young superstar. There was a lot to talk about.
So in Boston, basically, my message to the team was to be careful about what you say, because for the most part, drama is what sells. That&rsquo;s not unique to sports, but it sure applies in that world.
Think about it: When you open up a newspaper or turn on the news at night, so much of what is talked about is about negativity and drama. The unfortunate reality is that the NBA media has become so much about that too. Some people think that it&rsquo;s worse today than ever before. Today, most of the conversations and stories are less about the game and more about free agency, contracts, trades or people getting fired.&nbsp;
As a whole, we just seem to spend much less time talking about and loving the game than we do talking about the dramatic storylines that the game creates.
So that was my message to those guys in Boston when Doc kind of put me on the spot. That&rsquo;s what I said. Part of that perspective came from an experience I had as a young second-year player in Denver. There, I found myself in the middle of a huge controversy because a reporter twisted my words and misrepresented my message.
Lesson learned.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
I was drafted by Denver in 1999, and Dan Issel was my first coach. Coach Issel had worked for Denver for a while and was the coach of the 1994 Nuggets squad that became the first eighth-seeded team to beat the No. 1 seed in the first round. Nobody talks about it, but that team actually took Utah to seven games in the second round before losing, so they overachieved for sure.
At this time, I was a young player coming into the league, trying to establish myself and figuring out how to stick. I had some good vets in my corner and developed some relationships that I cherish to this day, but I learned the hard way to be careful not only about what I said, but how I said it.&nbsp;
Sometimes, things can be misinterpreted, and truth be told, some guys in the media would rather take something you said and put a controversial twist to it than to double-check with you to make sure you meant what you said.
In some ways, it&rsquo;s like they&rsquo;re out to get you.
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/poseyheader_lg.jpg" alt="" width="650" height="464" />
So, the Nuggets made the playoffs in 1994 (where they scored the upset over Seattle) and then in 1995. They missed the playoffs the next four years, and then, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-night-my-life-changed-reflecting-on-my-1999-nba-draft-selection" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I was drafted</a>. Coach Issel came back to the bench that same year. We missed the playoffs my rookie year, so the franchise was trying to get back there as soon as we could.
We had some proud veterans and guys who were competitors on the team, and those kind of guys don&rsquo;t really have the patience for rebuilding. As an older veteran, if you spend a few years on a non-playoff team, the next thing you know, you might be out of the league.
My second year in the league was the 2000-01 season, and we started 10-8, but we went out east on a road trip and lost all four games. Nobody was happy.
Suddenly, we were 10-12 and, coincidentally, were going back home to play the Miami Heat.
Typically, after a long road trip, a coach would give the players a day off, even if they had a bad trip. At the end of the day, guys need time to regroup, rest and collect their thoughts, but Coach Issel had other ideas.
Coach made some comments in the media that were critical of some of our vets, and it rubbed some guys the wrong way. But bigger than that was the fact that, as a team, we were fatigued.&nbsp;
Today, we&rsquo;re so much smarter about sports science and helping athletes take care of their bodies. The league has reduced back-to-back games, for example. When I was in the league, we often had to play four games in five nights, and during the lockout season, every team had at least one situation where they had to play three games in three nights.
In Denver that season, we played 16 games in November, which means on average, we played more than one game every two nights. We played three games the first four nights of the season and the trend continued. We were exhausted by the time we left for our first long Eastern road trip of the season, and to make matters even worse, we were playing all four games in five nights. We had a back-to-back in Miami and Orlando, a day off, then another back-to-back in New York and Boston.
So when Coach Issel scheduled practice the day after we returned to Denver, some of the veterans on the team suggested that we take a stand and tell coach we needed some rest &mdash; we weren&rsquo;t going to be able to break the losing streak if we were too tired to perform come game time.
Now, we&rsquo;re going back 20 years, so I can&rsquo;t directly quote what I said to the reporter who asked a few questions before our first game back after the road trip. But I know for sure that, in context, I never said that we, as the players, were going to boycott that first game and refused to play. I never meant to suggest that we, as the players, were turning our backs on Coach Issel.
First of all, I&rsquo;d never do that, and second, I was a second-year player! Who was I to be the voice of the team?
Regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what was written in the paper that will remain nameless.
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Next thing I know, I&rsquo;m the center of attention. All over the mainstream news across the country, people were talking about the Nuggets players and how we&rsquo;re planning to boycott games and all kind of crazy stuff. And to make matters even worse, I&rsquo;m the one that everyone is looking to with their questions, because I was the &ldquo;money quote&rdquo; in the story that ended up becoming a national headline.
Obviously, our veteran players had my back and spoke to the media themselves and clarified the team&rsquo;s position, but I&rsquo;ll tell you, as a second-year player, that was a lesson learned.
Now, to be fair, I&rsquo;ll say that &mdash; especially back in those days &mdash; a lot of us players didn&rsquo;t really have the same kind of education and savvy when it came to how to approach certain questions and how to choose our words wisely. What was worse back then, too, was the fact that there was no social media and no way for players to control their own messaging and get their own words out.&nbsp;
In a way, we had to rely on the media to get our thoughts and messages out to fans, and that just wasn&rsquo;t ideal, because we didn&rsquo;t necessarily have the same goals as those who were spreading our message.
So in a nutshell, I&rsquo;d say that&rsquo;s the answer to the question. A lot of players (and coaches, too) don&rsquo;t like speaking in public because we feel that a lot of news organizations are more concerned with making headlines than reporting accurate facts.
At least today, with social media and the internet, teams can control their own messages, and players can, too. But for a lot of players, me included back in my day, there was a distrust for reporters that still exists today.
That was the experience I shared with Doc and my Celtics teammates, and I carried that entire experience in Denver with me for the rest of my career. I wasn&rsquo;t treated fairly, and I think reporters who I interacted with at each of my other stops &mdash; including in Boston, New Orleans and Indiana &mdash; paid some of the price for that.
It&rsquo;s ironic now that I work in the media, but having been on both sides of the equation, I think I&rsquo;m smarter for it.
When I look back on my time in Boston, as I&rsquo;ve written before, I wish it could&rsquo;ve lasted longer. But I have some fond memories, and even more so, a hilarious observation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It's not easy entering an NBA season as the favorite to win it all. James Posey wrote this piece for <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@basketbllnews</a> about the pressure and challenges that come with championship expectations. He details his experience on the 2008 Celtics and 2016 Cavs: <a href="https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK">https://t.co/GV0uemEpfK</a>
&mdash; Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexKennedyNBA/status/1342216272910692354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 24, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

On the 2008 team, we didn&rsquo;t really trust reporters or any of the media, to be honest. We didn&rsquo;t really care too much for making headlines or getting any attention. We just wanted to come together, focus and play the game at a high level.
But when you look back at the roster, so many of us went on to work for media companies.&nbsp;
Big Kendrick Perkins is doing his thing at ESPN, and he&rsquo;s become one of their biggest basketball voices. Paul Pierce did some great work there for a while too.&nbsp;
I think everyone who watches TNT remembers that Kevin Garnett had &ldquo;Area 21&rdquo; on Inside the NBA, and Glen &ldquo;Big Baby&rdquo; Davis was a regular on his segment.
Brian Scalabrine is doing color commentary for the Celtics, and even Scot Pollard has found a home in front of the camera. He&rsquo;s done everything from sports television work to radio play-by-play. He was even a contestant on Survivor a few years ago.
And me? I&rsquo;m <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/posey-joining-tina-thompson-at-university-of-virginia-was-20-years-in-the-making" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enjoying life at an assistant coach on Tina Thompson&rsquo;s staff</a> at the University of Virginia. But I&rsquo;m obviously enjoying working in the media, as well.
Funny how life can sometimes come full circle. I&rsquo;m enjoying the view from this side of the fence, but when current and former players express negative attitudes toward the media and reporters, I can certainly understand why.
Maybe I can be a part of the solution, because one thing is for sure: I can understand why today&rsquo;s players feel the way they feel. I lived through a helluva experience in Denver.

James Posey gets why players distrust the media. He details an experience with the Nuggets from his second year in the NBA.

Many NBA players don’t trust the media today, and I can’t blame them

Many of today's NBA superstars want to win at all costs and form super-teams. James Posey shares his thoughts on how we got here.

Don’t hate NBA super-teams, hate the ‘rings culture’ that created them

James Posey describes his close relationship with Tina Thompson and why he took a job on her coaching staff at Virginia.

Posey: Joining Tina Thompson at UVA was 20 years in the making

James Posey picks the four teams who he feels made the best moves this offseason.

4 NBA teams whose offseason moves could pay the biggest dividends

James Posey brings his immense basketball knowledge to BasketballNews.com after an All-American college career and nearly 20 years of NBA experience - both as a player and as a coach. Posey was a first-round pick who played 12 seasons in the NBA, winning two championships as a player with the Miami Heat (2006) and the Boston Celtics (2008). He also won a third ring as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. Posey hosts a weekly podcast for BasketballNews.com (“The Posecast") where he's joined by his former teammates and various friends from around the NBA. He also writes weekly articles for the site.