Okay

... to get into it.

Like, we just don't, right? We have nine-day window, and then another nine.

We basically have 20 days this summer, and then you have a couple of weeks in the, in the World Cup, um, year, and then the World Cup.

You don't have the time to get in and, and figure it out, and then, and then you have the trade deadline, you know, y- where you can maybe pull something in to add.

You, you don't have any of this, so you have to build it year over year, right? It's very difficult when you get into the deep waters of a tournament and the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing.

Like, I've been on the court, guys.

You don't get back in.

Mm.

You know, you gotta sometimes, you get, you know, you get doubled by people you can't see.

You gotta throw 'em past, pass it blind, and you, you, you have to know that your teammate's there.

And the only way stuff like that happens is if you're actually together, you know? For a good amount of time.

Trust is growing.

All those things are happening to kind of build a team.

It's not simply just kind of putting players on the floor, right? And, and, and get out there and win.

[laughs]

Yeah.

And so, you know, all of these things affect your ability to win, right? And so for, for us, uh, you know, we, we, we understand that players have many things going on.

Sometimes it's fatigue, sometimes it's injury.

You know, sometimes, uh, there's a contractual situation, especially when we're playing in Junior right up against the NBA free agency in July, you know? Which affects the whole world of basketball, right? Some, you know, you're with your family all year lo- you're with your team all year long, sometimes in the summer you need to bolster the family side a bit, you know? And so they're dealing with all k- sometimes they're getting married, right? They're having children.

There's all kinds of things that are happening in the lives of these players that sometimes despite their want and desire to play for their country, sometimes some of those things have to take precedence, you know? And, and it's tough.

You want all your players, but, um, this is the reality that we live in.

Mm.

It, you know, it's the, the most difficult thing.