Titans

Izaiah Brockington couldn&rsquo;t help but lick his chops.&nbsp;
On Dec. 9, 2021, highly-touted 2022 NBA Draft prospect Keegan Murray and his Iowa Hawkeyes were traveling to Ames for an in-state rivalry game. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward was leading the nation in scoring with an average of just under 24 points per game (on a scorching 59.3% clip from the field), and the Hawkeyes were averaging over 90 points per contest at that point.
Through rigorous film study, Brockington observed Murray&rsquo;s favorite spots on the court, where he liked to catch the ball and how he got his buckets. And from the tip, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard followed through. He denied post-entry to Murray time and time again, helped the helper and put pressure on the Hawkeyes on the perimeter.
By the end of the night, Brockington outscored and outrebounded Murray while holding him to the worst game of his season by far (9 points on 4-of-17 from the field), while simultaneously delivering the game's most efficient performance with 29 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
&ldquo;I feel like that was definitely one of my best games of the season. I really came into that game wanting to shut him down,&rdquo; Brockington told BasketballNews.com in a phone interview. &ldquo;I went out there and really tried to take away his strengths and mainly speed him up. I feel like he was really good when he was allowed to play at his pace and when guys were giving him space to work and see what was going on on the floor. So, I really came into that game wanting to lock him down on defense. And then, the 29 points, that was a bonus really.&rdquo;
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Unlike Murray, who&rsquo;s projected to be a lottery pick in most mock drafts (including <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/keegan-murray" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No. 6 overall</a> in <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s latest</a>), you surprisingly won&rsquo;t find Brockington&rsquo;s name anywhere on those big boards. And no, you won&rsquo;t find him partaking in this week&rsquo;s NBA Draft Combine nor the G League Elite Camp. Considering his size at the guard position coupled with his ability to rebound, make <a href="https://twitter.com/SynergySST/status/1507061353076383744?s=20&amp;t=bJGYe1FEeuLkx9hLdfQYuQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high-difficulty shots</a> and, most importantly, defend at a high level, it&rsquo;s a head-scratcher.
Take into account that Brockington spearheaded a 22-win Iowa State program that won just two games the season before, an NCAA-record turnaround, and it just seems like a downright mistake. So, he&rsquo;ll just have to prove that he stands out and find other ways to turn heads &mdash; just like he did last December.
&ldquo;I feel like my work ethic allows me to catch guys that a lot of people deem 'better' or would rank higher [than me]," Brockington said. "I feel like I have the intangibles that other people don't. I have athleticism, and I have the dog mentality &mdash; somebody who just loves to compete and loves to win and isn't gonna let somebody just walk all over them.
&ldquo;I love to compete. I attribute it to being from Philly. We just never back down from a challenge. The intangibles, I feel like, set me apart. And then, with my work ethic, all of these things that people say I don't have, I'm working every day and I'm ready to show everybody that I do [have them].&rdquo;
Having just worked out for the Atlanta Hawks, Brockington&rsquo;s list of interested teams is growing. According to sources, the Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets are lined up next &mdash; and he has five other teams who asked to schedule workouts at Tandem&rsquo;s Pro Day on Friday.
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Brockington&rsquo;s lone season at Iowa State went down as the best of his college career, and he considers it the most fun he had playing basketball at the collegiate level because the roster was brand-new and had something to prove.
As a senior, he averaged 16.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, was named to the All-Big 12 First Team and earned the 2021-22 midseason John Wooden award. Boasting the Cyclones&rsquo; highest usage rate (27.5%), he took on the most responsibility he had to that point and ran with the opportunity.
Defensively, Brockington attributes much of his success (93.2 Defensive Rating) to the players he had to guard along the way. Starting in the Big 12, a conference he refers to as &ldquo;ridiculous&rdquo; in regards to talent, match-ups against Kansas standout Ochai Agbaji and Baylor&rsquo;s Jeremy Sochan and James Akinjo helped iron sharpen iron. The nights were intense and featured high-level basketball.
This past season, Brockington was adept at cutting off catch-and-drives (0.47 points per possession, per InStat) and defending pick-and-roll ball-handlers (0.54 PPP). It&rsquo;s something that he believes carried over his time at Penn State, where he spent two seasons prior to transferring.
&ldquo;We were really big on defense, so it was really about angles over there. And then, going to Iowa State, Coach TJ [Otzelberger] and our whole defensive scheme was non-stop pressure and to get guys to go into our help,&rdquo; Brockington said. &ldquo;But I feel like... you can push guys to your help, but it's better to be able to guard somebody and not need the help. I feel like, yeah, I definitely would try to cut guys off so that it's not forcing us to rotate and create long closeouts. Little things like that just help you stay more compact on defense and just stay more locked on your man.
&ldquo;So at Iowa State, we would drill things like [pick-and-roll defense] &mdash; getting over screens, being able to communicate and getting over and under, and just sticking on the ball-handler, making it tough for them. But, I also feel like I can thrive in an all-switching situation because I have strength and I have explosiveness. I feel like when I get caught down in the post, I can front or just make it tough for bigger guys to get easy position. I feel like I can thrive in either system, for sure."
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The Work Gonna Show🖤✍🏾&hellip;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/iPromise?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#iPromise</a>🙏🏾 <a href="https://t.co/K23fSy995m">pic.twitter.com/K23fSy995m</a>
&mdash; Izaiah Brockington (@TheOnlyiZB) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOnlyiZB/status/1527033907014684682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

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During his two years with the Nittany Lions, he took on different roles and began to blossom under Pat Chambers. Again, there was plenty of talent to face-off against in the Big Ten, such as current Chicago Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu at Illinois, San Antonio Spurs forward Joe Wieskamp at Iowa, Indiana Pacers guard Duane Washington and future NBA Draft pick Johnny Davis at Wisconsin. Stylistically, Brockington believes the Big Ten&rsquo;s physicality helped prepare him too.&nbsp;
At Penn State, Brockington reconnected with his longtime friend Lamar Stevens. The now-Cleveland Cavaliers forward performed night-in and night-out for the team, showing Brockington the consistency and hard work it takes to be successful. Stevens has been in his ear throughout the pre-draft process, sharing what needs to be done and how to stick in the league. Brockington appreciates the support and encouragement, and he's taking every bit of that advice.
(Brockington&rsquo;s collegiate basketball odyssey actually began at St. Bonaventure, the first of three schools he&rsquo;d attend. Playing for Mark Schmidt for one year, he and the Bonnies had a solid season led by seniors Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley. Brockington ultimately transferred to Penn State to be closer to home and ended up sitting out a season, by rule, before suiting up).
As far as translatable skills go at the next level, Brockington states that his defense and rebounding top the list, along with his athleticism and ability to get downhill.&nbsp;
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In addition, Brockington takes pride in being well-versed in any kind of role. At St. Bonaventure and early on at Penn State, he did a bit of everything &mdash; serving as a spot-up shooter, a slasher, a rebounding specialist and a sixth man. He even played spot minutes off the bench at one point.
At Iowa State, he was a go-to guy, a star player and a leader for the first time in his college career, so opposing defenses threw everything but the kitchen sink at him.
&ldquo;Against certain teams &mdash; Texas comes to mind specifically &mdash; [they were], like, face-guarding me. [Texas] Tech would have a guy pressure and they would have dudes sit in gaps and essentially try to force me off of the ball. Seeing double-teams and all of that was new," Brockington said with a laugh. "It was just crazy being guarded like that in college 'cause I'd never had to deal with things like that before. I feel like those things really pushed me to be able to adapt and really try to just make smart decisions."
On the offensive end, Brockington has an appetite for the mid-range. The sly southpaw is able to get to his spots quickly off the ball and fire away with his leaping lefty jumper, and he likes to attack off the catch (with fireworks often following). Though he admits that is the area where he&rsquo;s most comfortable at the moment, Brockington understands the importance of being a three-level scorer.
&ldquo;I've been working on really being a combo guard &mdash; a guy that can use pick-and-rolls and make reads and just really making the right decision every time, a lot of basketball IQ things,&rdquo; Brockington said. &ldquo;And then, just knocking down threes... I've been working a ton and I'm looking to show everybody that I can knock down threes off the kick-out and off the pick-and-roll and off the dribble. I've been working extremely hard on that, and it's been going great.
&ldquo;I mean, [the mid-range] is an underappreciated part of the game. But a lot of analytics guys will tell you that it's inefficient, and that's probably true for most guys. That's just not the case with me. I feel like when I take mid-rangers, I create enough space horizontally and vertically to be able to get a clean look off.&rdquo;
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Despite spending five years in college, Brockington is only 22 years old because he graduated from high school early. Possessing that much experience at his age, he considers it an advantage. At the same time, Brockington says age doesn&rsquo;t have to do with his ability to play the game, pick up new information and improve as a player.
&ldquo;My experience in college has really taught me about consistency and taught me what hard work can do, and it's really about the preparation leading into everything,&rdquo; Brockington said. &ldquo;Games are won way before that time comes. Games are won in the offseason. Games are won in the film room. Games are won in pregame shootaround. So those are things I'll always have with me.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It hasn't been a typical college journey, but one thing that's remained the same is everywhere I go, I put my head down and work. I went out there, I produced and I was out there trying to win."
For Brockington, growing up in Philadelphia, he&rsquo;d always attend his father Antoine&rsquo;s rec-league games and hear stories about him. Antoine was a hell of a pro in his own right, achieving tremendous success overseas after an impressive career at Coppin State, where he won the 1997-98 MEAC Player of the Year award &mdash; and Izaiah looked up to him proudly.
Now, as the pre-draft process begins, it&rsquo;s Izaiah Brockington&rsquo;s time to carve his own path and make him proud.
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Spencer Davies speaks with Izaiah Brockington about his breakout season at Iowa State, unique path and next-level aspirations.

Izaiah Brockington hopes his unique journey culminates in NBA success

The 2001-02 NBA season was Michael Jordan&rsquo;s first with the Washington Wizards, a time when he decided to unretire and return to the league for the second time in his career.
Some would have you believe that MJ&rsquo;s Wizard years &ldquo;diminished his legacy," while others feel that he was still the best shooting guard in the league. Wherever he actually stood, Jordan was clearly still exceptional given his age, production and general persistence.
In that '01-02 campaign, there were plenty glimmers of &ldquo;old&rdquo; Jordan &mdash; as well as old Jordan, who turned 39 that February &mdash; but were they enough to make him a Most Valuable Player candidate at one point? It was at least discussed.
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Around this time 20 years ago, Jordan had just returned from a chronic knee injury that had <a href="http://www.espn.com/nba/news/2002/0225/1340423.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly been bothering him throughout the season</a>. He even came off the bench upon being reinserted to the lineup for the final seven games of the season, and he scored more than 14 points just one time. But before missing 12 games of action between Feb. 27 and March 18, Jordan&rsquo;s comeback season had been a successful one.
When Jordan went down, <a href="http://www.shrpsports.com/nba/stand.php?link=Y&amp;season=2002&amp;divcnf=div&amp;month=Feb&amp;date=23">the Wizards were 27-27 and in the playoff chase</a>, tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference with Allen Iverson&rsquo;s Philadelphia 76ers and Baron Davis&rsquo; Charlotte Hornets. Washington was also just three games behind Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker and the Boston Celtics, who were sitting in fourth. Jordan had been averaging 24.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game on 41.9% shooting from the field and 78.8% from the free-throw line at the time of his injury, which forced an extended absence.&nbsp;
(Just days before the setback, the Wizards were 27-23 and fifth in the East, and that was about three months following a 2-9 start to the season).
There's at least one notable story regarding Jordan&rsquo;s MVP candidacy that you can still find on the internet. Here's an excerpt of an article <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">written by Mike Wise in the New York Times</a> on Jan. 13, 2002, for example.
<blockquote>
Who else besides Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett has been more important to his team? O'Neal and Chris Webber have been injured, and neither Tracy McGrady nor Vince Carter has elevated his team to the top of the Eastern Conference. Allen Iverson, the reigning MVP, is muddling through a disappointing season in Philadelphia.
</blockquote>
By that point in the season, the Wizards were 18-16 and on track to not just make the playoffs, but also match the 19-win mark that the team recorded the previous season that same week. (That's how D.C. ended up with 2001 No. 1 overall pick Kwame Brown).
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Just two weeks earlier, Jordan dropped 51 points against the Hornets and 45 points (plus 10 rebounds and 7 assists) against the first-place (and soon-to-be East champion) New Jersey Nets in consecutive blowout victories. Those were his two highest-scoring totals of the season &mdash; though he did have back-to-back 40-point games in late January in wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Phoenix Suns.
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More importantly, that two-game, 96-point outburst against the Hornets and Nets stemmed from an uncharacteristic 6-point effort against the Indiana Pacers just days earlier. It's a time that our own Etan Thomas, then a rookie teammate of MJ's on the Wizards, specifically recalls.
&ldquo;I remember the media was ripping him to shreds,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;After that, they were like, 'He&rsquo;s too old, he shouldn&rsquo;t have come back, he&rsquo;s tarnishing his legacy,' yadda, yadda, yadda. So I remember going into the locker room, and he was sitting in this chair reading the papers. I remember seeing him rockin&rsquo; and, like, humming and biting his lip, and he was like, 'Uh huh.' So I guess he was just reading it over and over again. He was very intense.&rdquo;
On the 51-point eruption in particular, Thomas highlighted: &ldquo;In that game, it was like magic. It was electrifying, like every move, and he was on fire!&rdquo;
In Wise's aforementioned story, then-Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning had his own <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thoughts on Jordan's aging process</a>.
<blockquote>
"Every player reaches a point in their career where their game starts to decline. Some earlier than others. Look at Michael. He's 38. He's not averaging 30-something points a game like he used to. He's in the low 20's now. Is he still effective? Yeah, he's very effective. Is he the old Michael? Hell no. Far from it, even with those 50-point games now and then.
"I played against the old Michael. I've seen him at that level. But he's made the adjustment. He's learned to cope with his body playing at a certain level and not expecting to play at the old level. He's raised his game in other areas."
</blockquote>
Thomas, though, explains that people didn&rsquo;t realize the severity of Jordan's ongoing ailments. Beyond nearing 40 years old, MJ was simply overcoming more than the public knew.
&ldquo;This is the part that people don&rsquo;t understand: how injured he was. I saw it firsthand,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;Somehow it leaked that he was getting his knee drained, and I was sitting there like, &lsquo;I see him do that every other day!&rsquo; Literally, his knee would swell up like the Elephant Man! I was sitting in the training room getting some treatment or whatever, and he was on the table next to me. I saw it! They came in, and they pulled out this needle and drained his knee. They drained it and this black-tar goo stuff came out and he was in excruciating pain and it looked terrible!
&ldquo;I asked him, &lsquo;Why are you even doing this?&rsquo; He didn&rsquo;t need to prove anything to anybody. And when I said it, the whole training room got quiet, and he just looked at me and kinda shook his head. He didn&rsquo;t give me an answer, he just kinda shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. He was really in pain, he just didn&rsquo;t tell nobody.&rdquo;
In the NYT piece, Sacramento Kings general manager Geoff Petrie &mdash; who won NBA Executive of the Year in both 1999 and 2001 &mdash; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/sports/pro-basketball-inside-the-nba-jordan-lifts-wizards-and-his-mvp-bid.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said Jordan had a shot at MVP</a>, albeit a fringe one, saying he&rsquo;d vote for Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal and Kobe Bryant instead, who then had the Lakers at 26-8.
<blockquote>
"I'd say Shaq and Kobe, who are almost indistinguishable because both are so good. Then [Jason] Kidd, [Tim] Duncan and maybe [Kevin] Garnett. But if the Wizards keep going the way they are, Michael would have to have a shot.
"There is another reservoir of talent there with [Jordan]. He's so driven. I was reading something Grant Hill said recently, about the fact that it's so easy to get caught up in Jordan's athleticism. The level of athleticism has dropped, but the skill level is so high."
</blockquote>
Thomas adds that, while Jordan was nearing 40, you&rsquo;d still often get those glimpses of his true game in practices &mdash; and his competitiveness on a daily basis.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You saw the flashes of him being MJ MJ,&rdquo; Thomas assured. &ldquo;But his game was different, so now, it wasn&rsquo;t that explosive game that you&rsquo;re seeing on all the highlights with him coming down dunking on everybody. He started working the mid-range. And I saw him torch people with that mid-range. We had that little drop play to 'em &mdash; kinda semi-triangle &mdash; but he would work off the elbow and he would just be torching cats with it. So his game changed.
&ldquo;I was there seeing all of that. I was like, 'Man, he&rsquo;s still MJ!' It was just different. It wasn&rsquo;t like, 'Oh, come down the lane and dunk on everybody,' it was just killing everybody with the mid-range. It was like he had everybody on a string! He was making these moves and they could not stop him! They kept going for all of the fakes! And these were all top defenders!&rdquo;
Jordan subsequently finished 13th in MVP voting with 16 voter points. His finished with averages of 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 41.6% shooting from the field and 79.0% on free throws. He led the team in points, assists and steals per game through 60 appearances.
The Wizards finished the season 37-45, but they were 7-15 in the games that MJ missed.
Tim Duncan <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/awards_2002.html">wound up winning the MVP that year in a close race over Jason Kidd</a>. Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal, Tracy McGrady, and Kobe Bryant rounded out the top five.
But when healthy, Jordan was far better than people would have you believe that season.
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Bryan Fonseca revisits Michael Jordan's comeback season with the Wizards, with insight from MJ's former teammate Etan Thomas.

Did you know Michael Jordan was an MVP candidate with the Wizards?

BOSTON (AP) &mdash; Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 31 to help the Boston Celtics stop a rare late-season stumble and beat the Indiana Pacers 128-123 on Friday night.
It was the eighth time this season that &ldquo;The Jays&rdquo; each scored at least 30 points.
&ldquo;We're not trying to take turns. Just playing the game the right way,&rdquo; Tatum said. &ldquo;If he takes six good shots in a row, that&rsquo;s fine with me.&rdquo;
The Pacers lost their sixth straight game despite getting 30 points from Tyrese Haliburton before he fouled out early in the fourth quarter with Indiana trailing 103-101. The Celtics led 124-120 with 40 seconds left when <a href="https://twitter.com/celtics/status/1510075050048688135">Al Horford found Tatum coming down the lane </a> for a dunk that all but sealed Boston's win.
Horford scored 17 points with 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who had won 24 of 28 games before losing to Toronto on Monday night without four of their starters. They followed it up with a loss to Miami on Wednesday &mdash; the first time they lost back-to-back games in two months as they climbed from below .500 to the top of the Eastern Conference standings.
But a loss to the Pacers, a non-playoff team with the fifth-most losses in the league, would have been more concerning.
&ldquo;Credit to them for making it tough on you,&rdquo; Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re playing loose and free with nothing to lose right now. You can tell. At the same time, we&rsquo;re aiding them.&rdquo;
Oshae Brissett and Jalen Smith scored 17 points apiece for the Pacers.
The Celtics scored 11 of the first 13 points in the game before giving up the next nine to tie it. Boston took a 37-28 at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 10 points in the second.
FOULED OUT
Haliburton had 22 points at halftime and had 30 points on 10-for-11 shooting &mdash; including 6 for 6 from 3-point range &mdash; before picking up his fifth foul with 4:27 left in the third quarter on a collision with Boston&rsquo;s Derrick White while going for a loose ball.
Haliburton complained about the call, and got coach Rick Carlisle to challenge it, but it was upheld. Haliburton sat out the rest of the third and the first 3:33 of the fourth, then lasted just 14 seconds before fouling out, drawing jeers from the crowd.
INJURIES
The Celtics, who lost center Robert Williams III to a meniscus tear on Sunday, had a few injury scares against Indiana, but Udoka said everyone is OK.
Brown appeared wobbly after getting hit in the face by teammate Grant Williams but he returned. Williams is OK after stepping on someone's foot. Guard Marcus Smart limped off to the locker room at the end of the first half after a collision with Daniel Theis but returned for the third quarter.
&ldquo;I reaggravated an injury in my right ankle. It scared me for a moment as well,&rdquo; Smart said. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t need to be going down at this time, getting close to the playoffs. But I&rsquo;m fine. Checked it out. I&rsquo;ll be all right.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Before the game, the Celtics honored longtime Pacers director of media relations David Benner. Celtics vice president Jeff Twiss presented Benner, who has worked for the Pacers for 28 years, with a piece of the Boston Garden parquet floor. ... Celtics swingman Nik Stauskas missed the game with a right ankle sprain. ... Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon missed his seventh straight game. ... For '90s night, the Celtics brought back 1991 slam dunk contest winner Dee Brown. ... Tatum had three 3-pointers, giving him 222 for the season, tying Antoine Walker's 2002 mark for the second-most in franchise history.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Host Detroit on Sunday.
Celtics: Host Washington in regular-season home finale on Sunday.
&nbsp;

Jaylen Brown scored 32 points and Jayson Tatum had 31 to help the Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers 128-123.

Brown, Tatum pair up to lead Celtics past Pacers 128-123

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.
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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.
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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.
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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.

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