The Trail: Season 2, Chapter 6: It’s Always Been Written | Portland Trail Blazers Docuseries

The Trail: Season 2, Chapter 6: It’s Always Been Written | Portland Trail Blazers Docuseries

My energy is who I am I want to continue to bring out the best out of people I think the biggest Learning lesson for this season for me is you know what I’ve been doing and that’s controlling what I can control there’s a lot of guys that can

Put the ball in the bucket but there’s not a lot of guys make defense their Hallmark I found myself in a role to impose some of my wisdom on these younger guys we barely TI the edge of the iceberg I love basketball you know and I feel

Like basketball gave me a lot of opportunity and life I think film is important it’s very helpful for me to know what the team need and how I can contribute this is where the magic happens there’s no task too big nothing too small we’re going to get it done

We’re here for you we taking huge steps to putting the Trailblazers on the right path you got a lot of guys here that are wanting to prove who they can be in the league and we’re going to do it together trade deadline was today at noon it is

Over Blazers didn’t do much in the meantime the assessment of the talent continues it’s an exploration season the Blazers looked at where they were here at the Midway point of the Season felt all things considered it was best to make the moves that they did make fine uh very content with how it

Went received lots of offers I think it did make it somewhat more difficult to pry from us because we are happy with who we have and where we’re at we’ve been extremely active and transactional the last two years wanted to give these guys a chance to settle in gel

Connect I want to make sure this is a quality build that is very sustainable I think going into the season we knew there was going to be a lot of ups and downs and I think we’ve seen that but individually seen a lot of positive things throughout our roster

Very happy with the overall growth of our young guys with the sustainable play that our veterans have provided and also happy with how all these individuals are connecting as a group you know that’s what we’re pointing to is the the positives what are we capable of what

Are the good moments what can we build from how can we get more consistent [Applause] but we have a lot of individual development and team development to go through Delano Banton is in the house he’s excited to be here and I’m excited to see what he can do with this young

You we have some really young talented capable guys that we’re seeing good growth from and at the same time we’ve got to learn to play together we’ve got to still get better defining and establishing our style of play in totality I like where we’re headed defensive team Shaden and Scoot getting ready to head to the rising stars game what a way to send them off what’s up Y game just finished against you know Minnesota but to head over to the airport so we’ll catch you guys on the flight what’s up y’ we right now at the

Airport are you ready for this 4our flight wait who is that Indiana to the crib Mel crib you what I’m saying the best weekend of basketball is back for the first time in 38 years the basketball world has descended on the circle city of Indianapolis but the stars are Rising it means a lot to be named a rising star just having the experience and going and having fun with guys there so I just enjoying the moment I think the rocking star game would be awesome you know another accomplishment I played two years in a row with with G leag night and just go in there and showcase our talents as gag night players it definitely would feel a little bit different um to go as NBA Rookie for being the rising stars game I think it’s a step you know to being in um you know the actual NBA Allstar um I feel like all the all the great that’s been in the allstar game um has played in the rising star game so I for me I

Think it’s just you know that next step I think the only thing we could do is just go out there and play like a real game you know I think the allstar game is Allstar is in general just looked at as like you know funny games

But I think you know the fans at most they want to see a competitive spirit and you know it it’s Sparks like that in in the games uh recent years but I think you know all all that we can do as young guys coming up is try to just continue

To have that Competitive Edge yeah I’m very excited to see what scoot you know is going to be able to do in the rising stars just cuz you know he’s a player everybody wants to go see I think it’ll be interesting to see you know what he pulls out the tool box or

The bag welcome to the 2024 Panini Rising Stars tournament and it is going to be a doozy a city guard who Thrills with every dribble drive and dun on the Portland Trail Blazers shanen sh he is basketball in RI City from the Portland Trailblazers Scoot penders and we are off scoot okay

Scoot scoot right into the body of Kesler get to fall scoop gives team Tama the lead Again we are close to the Target score scoop scoop Henderson with the pretty and one with that team jayen advances I think just just learning all my lessons early was very great for me as as an individual and as a point guard um on a young team and ever since you

Know I learned those lessons I try not never to go back to him me understanding that I am who I am you know I am a Dog for young players it’s really you know everything is fresh and new and young guys making their way in the league together that’s really gratifying as well because some of the things that I like doing the most is really kind of getting to know some of these guys and

Then getting to to help our fans understand where they’re from and what makes them tick what are the things that that they’re driven by what’s the path that they walked in order to get to where they are at now I come from a a really big family we grew up in South

Sudan then when we moved to Australia the rest of my siblings were born over there the Republic of the Sudan number 26 are growing up in the refugee camp I was really young and I only remember just certain things you know um but growing up there I wouldn’t say it was

Tough cuz when you that young you don’t really know what’s good and what’s really bad as long as you have some food and as long as you R your family and friends like life is good a lot of good experiences for life you know it just makes you fortunate for

The little things um when I look when I look back at it now W has been huge is a little bit older than the than the rookies because this it’s his first year in the league and he has a mature he has a he has a calm presence about him I

Feel like I’m a very selfless person just play my role that’s who I am too in life you know just play my role and then he has a versatility about him you know offensively that that puts him on the floor he’s he’s a shooting big he’s a

Big that can pop out shoot the ball with confidence and no matter you know who we play you know uh who’s on that opposing team who’s on the floor with us W plays his game and really gets to it every time he’s in there steered away three to

Shoot Reef’s got to get it up he does with one triple he cranks in a triple to oper ready hands I always encourage him I don’t I don’t have much to say to W ever he’s he’s so mature is to continue to do what you’re doing stay focused on

Your bread and butter which is shooting that ball shoot it with confidence and then everything else will take care of itself leads ahead blocks the get out sit down there’s D gath again with a three-point quter it was the oh this the experience I’ve gained over

The years you know I feel like I’ve played all different kind of styles and I feel like my roles I’ve been moved around a lot to every single League that I played in uh dwap wath has been an excellent story at 27 a rookie but obviously earning his stripes playing

Over in China and Lebanon and playing on the Australian league and playing a very high level when in the bronze medal in the 20 Olympics shoots the three very well screen sets can play screen and roll you know that was a nice pickup for the Blazers make the right plays oh

Count that count it I feel like it helped me to be able to come here and just fit into like whatever the system that I got to playing or whatever the coaches want me to do doing the little things you know I love basketball you know and I feel

Like basketball gave me a lot of opportunity in life just having that right attitude whether you playing good whether you playing bad you offer a three-year contract with the Trailblazers the journey he has been on it’s unbelievable nobody deserves it more than him yes sir yes bro yes you know I’m I’m really

Really proud of w and got this far cuz he put that work in Walker finds wath just going ramp to ramp for the anything is possible you know anything can happen the way the right at do your best if it happens it happens if it don’t maybe that’s just not part of your

Journey just keep moving Bri looks him off fires the pill straight away big go you sitting on the bench how how you carrying yourself Rob Bri with his second game of his career over 20 as 24 toight I feel like that’s really important if you want to be a good

Teammate and I also think that when you down bad and you’re not playing well how you reacting to that that really shows a lot about your character [Applause] what’s going on guys yeah buddy good you do you guys good good good man yourself bro good good you guys

Enjoy break yeah yeah good how about you all good man good to see you El too first stop of the day right here Cafe Buell Breakfast of Champions there start hit these lights so we don’t work the do this is where the magic happens so video coordinator is kind of responsible

For all the video scouting prep for the coaches so our main responsibility is say we’re going to play Denver in two days I shoes come on man we got here it’s our job to have everything play called have Personnel ready have an offensive and defensive blueprint ready for everything

And kind of keep the coaches organized and help them generate what going to show to the team so Denver’s game against Sacramento on the 14th and we’ll have all of Denver’s play calls right in here so it’s going to be our job to give them the best information possible going

Into the game and then we’ll help generate a practice plan and this is just a little cheat sheet of plays that we might have if coaches want to draw up diagrams things like that hour or so before we print it out actually you just hit the reprint and then help with the

TV yep I’ll do with that go ahead I got it thank you yeah then practice starts and it’s a cool dynamic in the room my dog come again good everything was good good to see you what’s up baby good shot Jo Jason Ike and I all played in college

So it’s it’s good to kind of get back out there when we can yep they should be in their teams all right in Black you got scoot an jg2 da and white you got Justin t Chris Bari uh and baji you want to tell nobody huh you want to tell nobody I was

Dealing with some technical difficulty right here I don’t know we’re helping ref we’ll jump in and play some defense if we need run drills with guys these guys are pups compared to some of the guys I’ve been around man they’ve been very polite oh don’t [Applause]

Know let’s go let’s go keep playing keep playing they do so much work behind I don’t think you guys know how much like they are living in the gym you guys ran about five extra Sprints today so come on Chris come on Chris come on Chris coach staff man that’s a huge part

They are the definition of clutch time to go down I think for the three of us we love what we’re doing so love of basketball in general and and also belief in what we’re working on on the court there you go W great job job FKS job CHC just good job it’s

Our job to try to think three steps ahead so that everything runs smoothly good job a day that everything looks normal a great day for us and then and then just being available you need some water just seeing things that need to get done and trying to get ahead of them

Job yes we’re here as needed working ahead making sure we get stuff the coaches helping on the for it’s fun for sure we got a good group of guys y yep we just always like to make sure we’re around War more time first yes you have a scoop glasses by

Any chance get it out she got him don’t reminder that’s kind of our main thing is to help wherever we can you have to put out a fire before it happens no I taking out he’s down hold on you have to be engaged at all times

So there is a spot on the floor that is wet you have to be the guy that sees it me I can Jason kind of taged team everything um I think Ike is a little more focused on the defensive side of the ball Jason’s focused a little bit

More on the offensive side of the ball and I’m a little bit of both we work more hand inand with specific coaches so Ike is working hand inand with Roy Jason’s working hand inand with hets right here I work obviously directly with CB take job serious I love the way

That they’ve kind of broken everything down down coach just hit the nail on the head uh this is just a quick and easy tool for you guys okay so the night before it gives video coordinators and assistant video coordinators really good FaceTime with coaches that other places you don’t get which is really

Cool our job is to have the coaches do their job well and be available of the players Player Development is a very uh interesting aspect of the game I miss that one keep playing hard JG first you need to understand what is the develop process this person have been

Through for he grew up in Africa right just like me other than that we get back to it tomorrow right W and baj we have such a big passion all African kids that grow up in the motherland the dream is the same we are want to come to America you share

Goal and a vision and the vision is always to come here make it and go back and help so every time I come across and African I have a a deeper connection with them because of that shared vision and goal you find that you guys have been through similar Journeys whether it

Is your family depending on you your friends back home all the people that you left what you can do with your platform we kind of like find each other in that sense because of that it’s easy to relate II hasn’t been playing basketball for a

Long time so now what I’m doing with him is to give him a really strong fundamental footwork field understanding where to be on the court understanding his role within our team obviously that’s what cach wants this is what we need from you but this is also how we can get

Better for your development within the game why she with you know W he’s been working really really hard and everything that he’s getting he really deserves you know he always said something to me the other day he’s like it’s written I’m like what you mean by that he like man it’s always been

Written I said wow that makes sense R what up there are four games in there so you just whichever one you want what makes a good video coordinator is you got to be organized Jay and Ike do a really good job of helping me stay organized and we hold each other

Accountable to make sure everything’s labeled correctly make sure everything is on Dropbox make sure everything is where it’s supposed to Be behind the Ben you what behind the bench the configuration of the wires and the coordination is all a very very big deal and Jason does a great job with all that and if you see us on all fours or lying down behind the bench we’re usually putting together the DB sport

Which is my monitor that we use for challenges and replays and everything and then the pregame edit to show the team with the message that we want going into the game so we just try to steal moments to try to get ahead and and keep ourselves from falling behind

Just kind of depends on our schedule and their schedule of like the frequency of their fight Final tonight T Wolves win 12891 back I’ve always just been kind of talking about what we can continue to learn from knowing the particular teams and coverages a lot of different things that we could take From although the schedule can be rough and allc consuming it’s like it’s those times that give you little bursts along the way but also just we work with great people right I think anyone would Inspire to work in a building where they love the people they work with you got

To like each other in the job cuz we spend a lot of time together you know there’s no way to do the job without being friends whether it’s off of a backtack where we got in at 3:00 a.m. you know we a good teammates we synergize with each other this job puts

You in a situation to walk with somebody else you can’t walk alone so although the schedule can be tough I think it’s it’s that Community feeling and it makes it a lot easier to come to work when you enjoy what you’re doing if we can do something here in the

Video room that helps a coach or if we can find something on film that will help us in the games it’s encouraging to like keep working might one more specifically with Brooklyn there’s a challenge on a three-point shot and anytime you have a chance to take three points off the board you want

To look really really closely at it Malcolm brogen our vet he sprinted over the bench saying hey I didn’t get him I didn’t get him like challenge it and it worked out well for us been overturned Portland will retain their time out and have the ability for a second challenge

Later in the game I think energy is a big one that goes underappreciated this Relentless consistency with the amount of energy they show up with every day and pour into the young guys and myself included cuz it’s a grind and the seasons are long and for a bunch of the

Rookies they’ve played well over a full season worth of basketball as far as what they’ve experienced so far in their careers I mean it’s not easy but like I keep listening like they told me I got a lot of coaches who help me like to try

To develop how I play it’s good for us too we can learn on them I think film is important when you watch it over again on the film you see how the body language and how everybody reacts off of certain things and it’s very helpful for me to know what the

Team needs and how I can Contribute your job is to be around basketball for a living uh that is such a blessing there’s no task too big nothing too small we’re going to get it done we’re here for You

Follow our Rising Stars and get an inside look at the team’s preparation through the eyes of Trail Blazers video coordinators.

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