KF: It’s difficult to say for me, because when I was in the league, I had veterans. So for me, I had great leadership. And people tell me, “You’re a rookie. We’re going to put you through the rookie ringer. Here is your backpack full of stuff. You got to carry this around.” That just gives you that mentality that, okay, I got to do stuff and earn my stripes before I could even talk to the coach or maybe have the confidence that I really need. I got to earn my stripes. It made players compete that much harder because you got a vet that is playing maybe in front of you, or that may be coming behind you off the bench, and if you’re not doing right that vet is going to take your spot. So you got to focus that much, you got to listen to the coach, you got to do the right stuff every day, in order to make your way and be seen.
Now it’s more, there’s only rookies. “We only worried about the rookies, we only worried about the second-year guy, a third-year guy. We’re not worried about him anymore because his contract is over. Now he’s a vet, he should know what he’s doing. Now we’re gonna worry about these other rookies.” The league landscape, you can see how those young rookie mistakes happen. They don’t understand the grind. Everybody in the NBA has talent, but they don’t understand the real grind and keep that talent so that you get better and put your mark on the game.
The players would even speak up to the coaches saying, “Take this rookie out, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, we’re trying to win”. That’s what was the difference. I had moments where I was a rookie starting [and] playing bad, and the coach would instantly not play me no more for the rest of that half. Yeah, I can start the second half. But if I’m playing bad, still, I won’t play for the rest of the game. Because [as a coach, you’re thinking], “Hey, I got a veteran who’s wondering, I know what he’s going to do, and you’re going to make rookie mistakes. You’re not playing the way I want you to play”. That’s what I went through with experience.
And now it’s a totally different landscape. It’s not even like that at all. Like if you make mistakes, it’s okay to let them play through it in some respect. But at the end of the day, you’re just going to keep taking now you’re just going to keep picking up first-round picks, picking frickin lottery picks. And that’s what’s happening.
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