Dont rush it perk
We will cover it fot you
just give us that minutes we want during playofs
SLAM: I’ve been good, man. How you feeling right now? How’s the rehab going?
KP: It’s going great, man. I’m going to rehab everyday. It’s getting a whole lot better. I’m walking without crutches and a brace, so things are moving along. I’m not rushing anything, but things are moving at a great pace.
SLAM: Is the rehab painful at all? Do you have to push yourself through it?
KP: It’s not as bad as everybody thinks. It’s difficult, obviously, but it’s not as bad as people think. If you mentally strong, you can get through it.
SLAM: The day after you Game 6—when you went down—it hurt you to talk about your injury. Do you think you’ll ever get over that? Having to miss Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
KP: Nah, I probably won’t get over it. But mentally I’m good, I’m just focusing on this season, and focusing on my rehab and getting back and getting back healthy. Other than that, I really haven’t been worrying about too much more other than just getting on the court and chasing this title.
SLAM: It took you a few years, but you’ve become a productive player in the League. Did you ever doubt that would happen?
KP: I don’t know. (Long Pause). It’s hard to say. The road has been up and down for me in the NBA, and now I’m coming into my own, [becoming] a name in the NBA, so I’m just trying to keep working. I’ve got plans on coming back better than I did before. I think I still can improve. You know, I still could play with a ball, and shoot a ball, and stuff like that. So you know, it’s all good. I’m just staying positive with it and taking it one day at a time.
SLAM: No doubt, that’s the only attitude to have.
KP: For real.
SLAM: What areas of your game do you still want to improve?
KP: Well, I still wanna get better with my footwork, my speed, my quickness, my athleticism. You know, I’m not an athlete or nothing like that, but you know obviously you wanna get better at weakness that you have, whatever they may be. So if you always got a right-hand hook, you wanna get a left-hand hook. You know, so I’m trying to work on my left hand, doing everything left-handing. Driving left-handed. Doing everything pretty much left handed, because I want it to get just as good as my right hand.
SLAM: The last couple of years you’ve had the opportunity to play with Kevin Garnett, a future Hall of Famer. Has he taught you a lot?
KP: He taught me too much. Seriously, man. He’s been great. He teaches how to be a man, and most of all he teaches to respect and love the game, and work hard. That’s the most that I get out of him—the love, passion and respect that he gives to the game of basketball is unbelievable.
SLAM: Do you think you’ve matured since you’ve been in the League? When you came in you were real young, and now you’re a savvy vet.
KP: Well I think I can get better. I try to get better each year. I think that’s what you gotta do in the NBA—get better each year. So I try to work on my game each year and improve, and just keep tryin’ to get better. I mean I feel like I’ve learned a lot, I still got a lot to learn, and I just try to keep picking up. With Shaq on the team, you pick up some things from him.
SLAM: When Tony Allen left the team, he said he kind of felt overshadowed by some of the other stars on the team. Do you ever feel that way?
KP: Nah. I feel like without them, we wouldn’t be in the position that we are in right now. Without the Big Three forming, we wouldn’t get the TV pub that you get, and everything else you get. So it’s kind of hard to say, “overshadowing.” You’re really supposed to be kinda grateful to be in that situation.
SLAM: But do you ever wish that you got more touches or more love?
KP: Nah, not really. That’s not how our chemistry is. You’ve been in our locker room, you know how we roll. There’s only one goal; so at times you want to get better as an individual, but then there’s times that you’ll be in situations you’ve never been in before. Like, there’s not too many times where you could be on a team that has a chance to win the title. So why not take advantage of it? I feel like stats are overrated, because stats—you could have an impact of the game and not have a huge number of stats. I feel like stats are overrated because—they just are.
SLAM: I agree with you, stats are overrated. But they also will get you paid, right? That’s what people look for come contract time.
KP: Nah, not really. I feel like they already know what they want and who they want, and they’re gonna pay who they want. Because certain people who got paid this summer ain’t have no huge stats and they got nice pay-days, you know what I’m saying?
SLAM: True. Everyone got paid this summer, right?
KP: That’s what I’m telling you. So the owners and general managers, they pretty much know two-three years ahead who they got plans on signing or what type of player they’re looking for. It ain’t really about the stats; it’s really about the position and if you can fit for a certain ballclub. That’s really what it’s all about. And to say you got overlooked a little bit—I ain’t trying to go against TA—but without them, people probably wouldn’t even know your name. We wouldn’t be on TV as much, or anything like that. So don’t take situations for granted. That’s why I say you should be grateful for every opportunity.
SLAM: Like you’ve said, I’ve been in the locker room, and sometimes it feels like you guys have little fights. You know Rondo gets upset with you for missing a pass; you get upset with Rondo for missing you on a look.
KP: It’s like that. But the thing is, we all got open minds. So we all willin’ to listen. And that’s one thing Doc that says: “Listen to your teammate. At the time it might not come out how you want it to come out, but listen.” And we got to be able to tell each other what we’re doing wrong. And I think that’s what makes our team different from everybody else. We keep our chemistry on the court. You wouldn’t know if we had an argument in the locker room or not—nobody would know. It wouldn’t show on the court in no kinda way.
SLAM: Talking about on the court, last year, aside from yourself, you guys had a lot of trouble rebounding. Why do you think that was?
KP: Man, to be honest, the crazy thing is that when you look back at the stats, we was like No. 2 in the League in defense—or No. 1, probably. But we were No. 2 in the League in “No Second Chance Points.” So we were giving up rebounds, but we wasn’t giving up nothing for it. So if they was to get offensive rebounds, we would play defense and get it right back. You see what I’m saying?
You gotta understand too, the rebounding was down—KG, he used to give at least 9 or 10 boards a game. But it was his first year dealing with knee surgery, and that bothered him throughout the year. You know Big Baby never was fully healthy throughout the year. Rasheed, he didn’t really come along until right when we needed him to at the end, [and] in the Playoffs. So it all kind of gelled at the right time. But the rebounding did come back to haunt us in Game 7.
SLAM: So you think it’ll be a little different this coming season?
KP: Well, I mean, we didn’t do nothing spectacular. We got Shaq, we got Delonte [West], we got J.O. [Jermaine O’Neal]. But it ain’t like we signed no young Dwight Howards or anything like that. So if anything we just got older. But we still got a lot of talent. So we got older but we got a lot of talent and a lot of experience, so that’s gonna help us a lot. And a lot of guys with chips on their shoulder, so that’s what’s gonna really help.
SLAM: What about you? When you come back, you gonna have a chip?
KP: I don’t have a choice. I don’t have a choice but to have a chip on my shoulder.
SLAM: Aside from the rebounding, at least from my perspective, it seemed always had trouble scoring in the fourth quarter. Why do you think that was?
KP: I don’t know man; I couldn’t tell you. There were different reasons for different games. Who knows? Maybe fatigue was a factor. You never know. You never know.
SLAM: It’s been a good couple years in Boston for you. Now your contract runs out soon. What are you thinking?
KP: Well, I’d love to be a Celtic for life, honestly. But, I know this is a business. So we’re gonna see how this year works out and just go from there. But I wouldn’t want to leave Boston; I love my situation. But we just gotta see and go from there, play this year out.
SLAM: I’m gonna see you on ESPN next summer, “I’ll be taking my talents to…”
KP: Nah, I don’t know man. (Laughs). You know that lockout’s coming. There’s gonna be a lockout.
SLAM: Yeah. Are the players nervous about that?
KP: I’m not nervous. I think the players are willing to all go in and fight. I don’t know, man. It’s gonna be a lockout. It could get crazy.
Topic: 2010 CelticsBlog Draft: Atlantic Division Press Conferences (Read 69424 times)