When did you decide that you want to start expanding your game out to the three-point line?

I don't think it was the fact of wanting to start, it was more so having the faith in a coach to, you know, say, shoot it, like, he believes in me to shoot it, and that's something I've worked on for the past decade, right, and...

It was cool to come to Philadelphia.

The first year I came to Philadelphia to play on the Knickners, you know, pulled me aside and said, listen, like, I've seen you shoot a three-pointer before, like, just in passing.

Like, I know you can shoot it.

Like, I want you to shoot it.

Like, don't be dumb.

He's like, you know,

yeah and it had to be fun coming on the road too like you're I mean that ended up becoming a home for you at Wells Fargo down there but uh give you a little preview of some things to come there I've got to ask as your as the year winded down did you go into that year thinking you're going to be one and done and that was that was going to be it

No, I mean, all of this was a dream.

Yeah.

All of this was a dream.

I mean, obviously, as a kid, I wanted to be in the NBA.

I dreamed of being in the NBA.

I said I was going to be in the NBA.

What was it like to spend some time with Maury? You

You knew the guy.

I did know him.

DeAndre Daniels was one- I knew him after we got on campus.

I didn't know him prior to declining the offer.

DeAndre Daniels is one of my favorite players that I've played with throughout my career.

He was my best friend on campus, and I still talk to him to this day.

Um, when they asked me, they said, "Hey, well, we can take a guy's scholarship, put him on financial aid, and, you know, give you the scholarship." And I said, "That just didn't sit right with me." Um, I didn't wanna take something from somebody who earned it, you know? So I said, "You know what? I'm gonna sacrifice, and I'm gonna have my mom take this loan out," which was [laughs] very big for her at the time, "and pay for my schooling in hopes that I do make it big and go to the NBA." And God willing, I was one of the first players in UConn history to leave after one year and get drafted.

... shoulder replacements.

it.

So between myself, Reggie, and Blake, You know, we came together that summer like, yo, like, now is the time.

But we know Blake, you know, he was having the knee issues.

Like, if we don't get the best out of him now, like, this is it.

So I think we just had that disposition and that mindset that we weren't going to be denied.

And we just had this level of focus as a team, not even just us three, but as a team, we had this level of focus that, like, now is the time.

Because if we don't do it now, we're all getting fucking shipped out of here.

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