At age 35, Chris Paul is more than a decade older than Suns cornerstone players Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. However, the star point guard doesn’t plan to simply be the veteran mentor on a young Phoenix roster — he made it clear during his first media session this week that he also wants to help the team get back to the postseason, as Royce Young of ESPN writes.
“Everyone always talks about what I can teach (Booker) or teach some of these other guys, but they’re teaching me at the same time too,” Paul said. “I’m not James Naismith by no means. First things first, I’m not just coming in here trying to teach everybody. I’m his teammate. We’re here to hoop, we’re here to compete and that’s how I approach this.”
Meanwhile, Booker and Ayton are excited by the opportunity to team up with a 10-time All-Star like Paul, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic, who says both players were shocked when they first heard about the trade bringing CP3 to Phoenix.
“I wanted to do a backflip,” Ayton said. “You ever seen a seven-footer do a backflip? OK. That’s how excited I was.”
Besides getting an opportunity to play with up-and-coming stars like Booker and Ayton, Paul is looking forward to reuniting with head coach Monty Williams, whom he played for in New Orleans for a single season 10 years ago. Williams said this week that he thinks both he and Paul have “grown a lot” in the last decade.
“I think we both were really headstrong, too, back then,” Williams said, according to Young. “I was walking around like a dictator ready to cut somebody’s head off, trying to implement my way and my program. I don’t think I was really good at allowing him to do what the great ones do. There were times I felt like I took the paintbrush out of (Paul’s) hand.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- After chemistry issues helped sink the Clippers last season, head coach Tyronn Lue is confident he’ll be able to hold players accountable in his new role by always being blunt and honest, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. “What I learned from Brian Shaw a long time ago was always tell the truth, whether they like it or not,” Lue said. “Even (back in his playing days) with Kobe and Shaq, just telling those guys the truth. They might not like it, but they respect it.”
- Serge Ibaka‘s friendship with Kawhi Leonard was a factor in his decision to join the Clippers in free agency, he said on Thursday, as Swanson relays in a separate O.C. Register story. “One thing about me and Kawhi is like, there is no ego in our friendship,” Ibaka said. “… I know who he is and he knows as a teammate what I can do for him, for the team and it is make things smoother and easier.”
- Lakers forward Markieff Morris said this week that rumors last month about him potentially teaming up with twin brother Marcus Morris for the Clippers were “just talk,” per Swanson. “They were just trying to scare Lakers fans,” Markieff said.
- Warriors big man Marquese Chriss is confident that there will be plenty of minutes at center to go around around for him, Kevon Looney, and No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman, as Marcus White of NBC Sports Bay Area details.
Scare Laker fans Lol.. It didn’t work!
Lue needs to not give his superstars no accountability. That is what Doc did wrong and let his super stars get away with stuff. Team chemistry starts with nobody getting preferential treatment.
Same as holding players accountable, no?
Dysfunction seems a noteworthy trait of Doc Rivers’s tenure with the Clippers. Teams that could have been great didn’t achieve that level because of said dysfunction.
Very cool acknowledgment by Williams re his coaching style then.
Draymond Green not playing any minutes at C? Under Kerr? Laughable comment, Chriss needs to worry about himself, GSW could easily add a more legit C with the $9.6M ITE to take minutes away from everyone…although they will most likely use that on PJ Tucker.
PJ Tucker is going to play for the Rockets for the rest of his career.
Kieff signed a much more reasonable deal than his brother for a minuscule of the cost.
CP3 and Westbrook both had their chance to win in Houston, but are now stuck playing for two teams without championship aspirations.
Can they break the curse of being an ex-Rocket?
DH12 managed to break the infamous rox curse!
Let’s hope this 2 can also… & Optimus Dime when he manages to escape from there, hopefully very soon!