Loko’ defender told about his summer plans.
- You have prolonged your contract with Loko. Do you like it here in Krasnodar?
- – Yes. And my family also like it here. They were here with me at the beginning of the year. I think they liked it too. It’s a family oriented town, a good family environment, so it was pretty cool for them. I’d say, my wife and son are a little bit more famous than me in Krasnodar. When they left, fans were DMing my wife, and asking where she was, and looking for my son. So they're more famous than me, I think.
- It happened right after the All-Star Game?
- – Yeah, right after the All-Star game. My son was shown on national TV, and after that he got more fame than me, so respect to my son.
- Let’s talk about Loko season. What was the key factor for the boost in playoffs?
- – Just trusting each other, playing hard, just worrying about ourselves and not our opponent. Coaches always talk about that a lot. So we just came in together, had fun and enjoyed each other. So hopefully, I just hope we get to do it again next year, too.
- The way Loko defeated CSKA is legendary. How did you do that?
- – We had lost the first game of the series, actually. So we were pretty focused, you know, locked in, wanted to win. We knew we could do better. And I think we learned from each loss, so that's what helped us through that series.
- And the Game #7 of that series is probably one of the most historic playoffs games in Russian history…
- – Pretty good. A fun game. Overtime game. Four players fouled out of our team. Lots was against us the whole night, and our player stepped up and we won the game.
- In finals, you were playing against Daryl Macon – your college friend. How was it?
- – Never in a million years I would think that, especially when we went to college together as roommates. It's really almost a dream come true. You play with one of your friends, the one you know for a long time, especially in a different country, especially in a country that people think is very not safe, but it's safe. So it's pretty cool. We played in a final against each other, so it's pretty awesome to do that. I think we made history, probably. So it's pretty cool, yeah.
- Did you speak with him after the finals?
- – Oh yeah, of course, of course. I congratulated him, we congratulated each other. He won, I lost. It's no hard feelings, though. He's my brother. I congratulated him. They did a good job at UNIKS. They got a good team. Actually, when I’ll come home, Daryl will probably be at my house later this week.
- What are your plans for summer? What are you going to do back at USA?
- – I have my own AAU travel team. You know, Amateur Athletic Union. Young kids, like sixth graders, vacation, workout. I’m gonna spend time with my kids. Just normal stuff, not too much.
- So you run your own camp?
- – Yeah, I have like a travel AAU team, like travel basketball in the summer, we go to different tournaments, different states, play different teams. So it's fun for the kids.
- No rest without basketball?
- – No rest without basketball.
- No fishing?
- – Maybe swimming sometime, trampoline parks, water parks. Not too much though.
- Will you miss the Russian players during your summertime?
- – Sometimes, just a little bit. They're like my kids. Like little brothers and kids. I've got to keep teaching them lessons every day. I hope they get better this summer and learn from what we did, but enjoy that summer as well. But yeah, I'll miss them a little bit. I can't tell them that, but I'll miss them.
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