\n
Jalen Brunson and the “underdog effect”<\/p>\n
Elise Devlin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Nick Collison, Oklahoma City Thunder forward<\/h2>\n
Best teammate I ever had.<\/p>\n
When you talk about losing yourself in the team, he was the true definition of that. The best thing about Nick was that he never switched up.<\/p>\n
A lot of guys would change throughout the course of the season. When the team was doing well but you weren\u2019t doing well individually, you caught a lot of guys, including myself, with an attitude. That was never Nick. Whether he was getting 20 minutes or zero minutes, he never changed.<\/p>\n
Always positive. Always hardworking. Always looking out for the betterment of the team.<\/p>\n
And when he did hold you accountable, it wasn\u2019t in an aggressive manner. It was just like: \u201cHey, man, we need you, but you\u2019ve got to do better here. I\u2019ve got your back 1,000 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy bad, Nick, I\u2019ve got you. I apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, no. No need to be sorry. We\u2019re in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n
He would run through a wall for you. After I got traded to Oklahoma City in 2011, we matched up against the Lakers in the playoffs in 2012.<\/p>\n
My points weren\u2019t there in game five,\u00a0 but I think I had 13 or 14 rebounds. I remember after the game Nick said: \u201cYou won that damn game for us. Those rebounds didn\u2019t go unnoticed. You played your f\u2014ing ass off, boy. Proud of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was somewhat the leader of that squad with Nick, but right then he didn\u2019t even know what that did for me. I was like: Dang, Nick just gave me props<\/em>. That felt good coming from Nick.<\/p>\nLeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers forward<\/h2>\n
When I got to Cleveland toward the end of my career, I was able to witness greatness at the next level.<\/p>\n
LeBron didn\u2019t do a lot of talking; he barely talked at all, except when we were in the film room. LeBron led by his actions.<\/p>\n
I watched him train at his house before practice, be one of the first people at practice, train again, get shots up before the practice with teammates, be involved with the film session, go ice up after practice, go shoot a commercial and then call me up to come over to his house to watch a game. I watched him get more<\/em> treatment, and in the fourth quarter, he would tell me, \u201cHey man, I\u2019m going to have my driver take you home,\u201d because he was getting ready for bed.<\/p>\nWatching him get treatment at the dinner table of a five-star restaurant, I said, OK, this is why he\u2019s different<\/em>.<\/p>\nYou could never break his routine. His day was already planned; his week was planned.<\/p>\n
All of a sudden, you started to see guys like Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving start to follow suit. Remember, when Kevin Love got to Cleveland, he was a little chubby. He got in shape and learned about his body when he got around LeBron James.<\/p>\n
In 2018, we tied the series up against Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals. We had to go into Boston and win Game 7. I remember Bron said this and he didn\u2019t ever say nothing: \u201cListen, if you don\u2019t believe and you\u2019re not with us, don\u2019t get your ass on this f\u2014ing plane.\u201d<\/p>\n
We usually had a card game on the plane with me, LeBron, J.R. Smith. Well, that plane ride, LeBron didn\u2019t play.<\/p>\n
He sat there with his headphones on and was in complete silence. That was leadership because he set the tone.<\/p>\n
\u2014 As told to Jayson Jenks<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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