The Lokomotiv Kuban alum gave us a quick interview before the concluding game of the NBA Summer League, where his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, will play against the New York Knicks.
- The game against Oklahoma City was your highest-scoring game of the Summer League so far. How would you rate it?
- Yes, it was my highest-scoring game. But... I still want more.
- This was Dallas' second consecutive victory. How much of a focus do coaches place on results in the Summer League?
- The coaches place focus on everyone to test their skills and gain game experience. The outcome doesn't seem to matter, but everyone still wants to win.
- Last game, you were assigned to guard the third overall pick, Cameron Boozer. What was that like? How do you feel about how you handled your task?
- I was a little surprised, since I found out about it right before the game start. Whether I did well or not, I don't know. Boozer scored like two points over me, and I tried to make the rest of the game difficult for him. The coach praised me after the game, so I think I did well in this part.
- After that match, your coach called you an "unsung hero." Have you heard of that?
- Yes, I did. It's pleasant.
- Have you managed to master some combinations with your new teammates yet?
- In the Summer League, any combinations are hard to master. It's either one-on-one, or you just have to figure out the situation: trying to get a feel for how everyone plays, looking who's open and so on.
- Tell us about your alley-oop on Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu in the game against Oklahoma.
- To be honest, the pass wasn't perfect, but Kao is able to jump to the top corner of the backboard, so one just needs to throw the ball somewhere towards the hoop, and he'll grab it out from there.
- How do you find the level of individual competition in the Summer League? Do you often get one-on-one wins? How about stopping your opponents?
- I seem to beat opponents one-on-one quite often. Also, I seem to be able to stop them on defense, too. If someone's shooting well, I try to get close. If my opponent is playing from the drive, I keep my distance; that doesn't seem to be a problem either.
- What do coaches ask you to do?
- They ask me to do the best I can on the court, that's all.
- Your next opponent is the champions, the Knicks. Does that affect your approach in any way?
- For sure, we know the Knicks won the title recently. But we're not facing a championship team, that's gonna be a different team, so we'll treat this like any other game. We'll play to win.
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