00:00The term load management has become such a hot button in the NBA.
00:04I know you're going to talk about that one.
00:06Because you played 80 games a lot. A lot. You played 82.
00:10What do you think of when you hear the term load management thrown around?
00:15Well, it shouldn't be needed, first and foremost.
00:19You know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove.
00:24It was something that I felt like, you know, the fans are there to watch me play.
00:28I want to impress that guy, way up on top, who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket or to get money to buy the ticket.
00:36You really cared about the guy who sat in the top deck at the Palace in Auburn Hills to watch you when you came to Detroit?
00:41Yeah, because I know he's probably yelling at me. I want to shut him up.
00:45He's calling me all kinds of names. I definitely want to shut him up.
00:48You have a duty that if they're wanting to see you, and as an entertainer, I want to show.
00:53Right? So if the guys are coming to watch me play, I don't want to miss that opportunity.
00:59Physically, if I can't do it, then I can't do it.
01:02But physically, if I can do it, and I just don't feel like doing it, that's a whole different lens.
01:08So give me the first time that you came to that fork in the road in your career where you could have sat down and missed a game, but you fought through.
01:15Starting my career, I twist my ankle, and I had a teammate. He says, you twist your ankle, young fella.
01:24Come over and sit with me. You need to... I said, no, man. I'm trying to make a name for myself.
01:30There's no way I can sit. I need to get out there and show what I'm capable of.
01:35I want to play. I want to win. I want to make an impact.
01:39And I twist my ankle. I taped it up, and I went back out, and I played.
01:43I always felt that. I always felt the necessary need that I could never leave my comrades out if I could perform.
01:51Even if I couldn't. Utah, for a great example, everybody said this is the game.
01:56It's game five, which is a very pivotal game.
02:00I was going to find a way to get out there, even if I was a D-core.
02:03Well, once I got out there, you never know how... You're pushing yourself. You never know what happens, right?
02:09So that night you got out there, and you found you could do more than you thought you were going to be able to do.
02:13Next thing you know, the emotions, the situation, the need of the team, all those things catapulted me to, I'm going to gut this thing out.
02:23Back to your point of what load management is, you play basketball two and a half hours a day, three hours a day, right?
02:33That's your job. That's what you get paid to do as an NBA player.
02:36What are you doing the other 21 hours?
02:39To me, that's when you should be preparing for your next day of work or your next challenge.
02:46Now, I'm the worst. Maybe I'm not one of the guys that you would probably model that.
02:53I was going to say, did you do that every time?
02:55But you should think about that in retrospect of what load management really is.
03:00I always felt like, one, it was a sense of pride for the fans that are paying.
03:04Two, is a sense of, you know, making sure that I stay sharp.
03:08You know, I'm not going to lose it.
03:10And three, I want our rhythm as a team to always be there.
03:13It can disrupt that synergy that's happening.
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