P.J. Washington On Mavs Defense, Playing With Luka And Kyrie, His Love For Dallas | Shan & RJ

P.J. Washington On Mavs Defense, Playing With Luka And Kyrie, His Love For Dallas | Shan & RJ

And the newest Dallas Maverick joining us for the final hour hump day Edition fist pump time live on the fan cam twitch and YouTube Sean RJ and Bobby joined by PJ Washington on the DNM leasing hotline here on 1053 The Fang good morning PJ how are you good morning

I’m good how are you doing well we just are shocked that we could get one of the Mavericks to wake up with us this early how did they convince you to do this you you drew the Short Straw huh no I mean I’m an early morning person so I’ve been

Up so I’m good what what time you usually get up uh I got some more kids so like six seven I’m always up around that time uh all right how many how many kids and what are their ages cuz uh we’re all dealing with that well I’m

Dealing with the the small kids right now how many and and what are the ages I got three three boys One S one two and then one is a one what is on the tele what is on the television the most uh in terms of the kids shows the the one that

You’re sick and tired of hearing uh blue Miss Rachel a bunch of different stuff so those are the main two Bluey dominates still not seeing blue I I might watch blue even when my kids aren’t around such a good show it’s such a quality program now PJ we were looking

Up the bio and all the background stuff you obvious obviously have ties to Frisco but man you’ve like always listed Dallas kind of like as the hometown even your Kentucky bio and stuff you’ve always been proud of the Metroplex talk about that a little bit yeah I mean I’ve

Liv here the longest so um I moved around a lot when I was little I got here in like first grade and then I left in like 10th grade and Dallas is always I’ve always looked at it as home and I’ve always kept it like in a special

Place for me so like my phone number has never has always been a Dallas number I’ve never switched it or anything so for me this is home now when you got traded did you know exactly where you wanted to live like area wise where you’re like h find me a place here or

You kind of listen to the the M’s advice on that I listen to the MAV advice just because I mean obviously I have kids so I wanted to put them in the best area I could so for them um that was that was my main focus with there did you go

Right back to fris I couldn’t right now just because it’s so far but I’m in I’m in a good spot yeah PJ when you got that news and and you knew you were coming back up you know come back towards Dallas what was that excitement like did it feel like oh

Man this is going to be homecoming I’m going to be able to place my roots this is somewhere where I’m going to be able to be comfortable professionally and personally yeah just definitely felt great I mean just coming home coming to an organization that wanted me here uh

Just just felt wonderful and uh to be back in Dallas I mean it it was Full Circle for me and I’m just happy to be here how did you spend your All-Star break I went back to Charlotte and started packing a bunch of things so I

So I can move into my place down here did did you uh did you watch the game or any of the festivities over the weekend I couldn’t get a chance to just because I had so much stuff going on I had movers um just trying to bring a lot of

My different stuff um trying to say my last goodby to my family and my kids and stuff so I I didn’t get a chance to so a lot of the social media media in general fans not happy with the know the the weekend did is is the same sentiment

Being kind of displayed between the players you’ve talked to like it kind of kind of blah how do you fix it um honestly I mean I have no idea I guess uh I don’t know I mean I don’t I don’t know why guys AR aren’t taking it that

Seriously but um I mean I don’t know the problem I think uh there obviously needs to be more competition so I think that’s the biggest issue PJ you know you were a guy we saw who you were you know you had two basketball playing parents everything like that and so so when we

Talk about defense and effort and some of those things that that goes by the way side maybe in the All-Star game that’s something that it seems like you take real pride in is is the way that you play defense and and you know your fundamental game you’re all around game

How important is that aspect to you to say like hey even if maybe I’m not having a good shooting night maybe this isn’t going so well on the offense I know I can still impact the game on the defensive side of the floor yeah for me

I mean I just try to impact the game the best way I can and if one night is shooting it’ll be shooting and defense but for the most part I feel like I can defend each and every night and that just comes with pride and just effort on

That do you remember the first time that you beat your mom and your dad oneon-one well um they they never let me get a chance to beat him but they stopped playing me really early so that’s smart okay that’s smart yeah they start playing me really early how

About the comp I started dunking it was kind of over how about the uh the competitive level amongst the three how would you rank them between you Mom and Dad oh it’s super competitive and it’s always been competitive growing up we will always go outside and shoot and have

Shooting competitions but like like I said now they don’t want to do any of that stuff anymore yeah but who’s the most Cutthroat like who would cheat in a game of Go Fish like Michael Jordan used to do everybody are you gonna be like that with your kids like not letting them win

In the video game or swatting everything over the fence oh yeah those character I’m not going to let him win in anything so see yeah you got you got the the three boys so I mean are you going to have like a is there going to be Lavar

Ball situation or you just like hey these three like I’m I’m going to get these three all up to the NBA we’re they’re going to be a dynasty here I mean hopefully I mean that’s that would be a goal of M one day obviously but I

Mean it’s whatever they want to do and I’m going to stick beside their uh their wishes and aspirations and just try to be the best d i can newest Maverick PJ Washington here on the DNM leasing hotline what did you hear or think about the Mavs organization from the outside

PJ and what’s been the biggest surprise since becoming a Maverick um I I’ve only heard good things about the organization and uh obviously the biggest surprise for me is just the way people are treated here the way they treat me um my family uh just everybody

Um welcome me home in a nice way and just being there for me so it’s all all love and uh just feels like a family atmosphere same question about Luca and Kyrie you know lot of noise around Kyrie since he’s been here seems like he’s been a model teammate not dealing with a

Lot of the controversy from the other stops that he been at and and then also what did you know or think of Luca just outside thoughts and now experiencing Luca and Kyrie as teammates yourself um obviously they’re two of the best skilled players in the league um and just coming from different places

Having to play against them they’re always a tough matchup so just coming here and uh seeing how they work and who they are as people has just been amazing um I think they’re they’re obviously one of the two of the best people to ever played the game so just being alongside

Of that is just open my game up and then helps me in in a bunch of different ways so I’m like I said I’m excited to be here is there someone else that can match Luca that you’ve played or practice with in college any NBA whatever in terms of trick shots like

Every time there’s a highlight of Luca with some crazy trick shot is he is he the goat when it comes to that category yeah I I’ve never seen anybody do anything like that so I definitely think he’s he’s the goat when it comes to that sure uh kind of in the same you

Know genre of that is have you is Kyrie clearly the guy with the best Handles in the league um yeah I don’t I don’t think it’s a debate when it comes to that I mean everybody knows that everybody has known that for years so I mean he’s

Definitely one of the one of the best to ever do it but definitely the best right now so PJ we you know we talked about your commitment to defense and the things that you do over there so from a defensive perspective I’m curious we always talk about like when you look at

Luca just as as you know in a box and look at how he is as an athlete and everything else people would look at and go like you wouldn’t necessarily expect that he’d be the most one of the more dominant offensive players in the league and I know Kevin Durant talked about the

Way that he plays with pace and can slow things down is what makes him like really difficult to guard what would you say as a Defender like if you’re going to give the scouting report on what Luca donic does well and you’re communicating people what is it that he does as an

Offensive player that makes him as good as he is um he does everything at a very high level he can shoot the three he can shoot the mid-range he can pass very very well so and he can finish in the paint so I mean he’s a three- LEL scorer

That with amazing um playmaking ability so it’s definitely hard to to guard him um you got to just force him to take contested shots but even then I mean he’s bound to make most of them so he’s he’s a force to be reckon with and he’s definitely hard to cover we always uh

Ask this question to football players after they’re traded about the Playbook talk to us about picking up Jason kids plays like you guys just thrown out there on the floor pickup street ball you and Gafford um you know coming on over like how many plays do

You have to learn how H how does that progression work coming over to a new team uh for me I mean I’ve always been locked in at plays and stuff like that just coming from uh my parents have always instilled that into me so for me

It’s not really that hard um I say it’s a lot of the same stuff just with different name calls so um really is just about spacing and being in the right spots and knowing what you do B off uh somebody else so it’s just playing re honestly PJ Washington here

On 1053 The Fan who was your favorite player growing up uh Kobe Bryant okay uh now you have uh some pretty big names connected to your basketball story so we’re just going to ask for your best story about each one everyone has a legendary MJ story so what is your best

MJ story from Charlotte um when I first got drafted um we were doing a little an event for the community and he addressed Everybody by their name and then I had first I had walked in he kind of hit me on my chest and said what’s up rook and I just

Started kind of laughing I was like okay so everybody does that now now did you did you play or practice with him at all no he never uh he never got to practice with us um but he was definitely in there a couple times watching us so it was definitely uh

Surreal just having him around and obviously it was great for the organization now could you like all access did you have the phone number could you could you send text messages if you wanted yeah definitely he was definitely around and definitely uh was a a mentor for all of us all

Right what about Coach Cal I know that there’s that the the thought in the college game as soon as he starts referring to his players as my guys that’s when he really likes them but any great Coach Cal story um I don’t know if I have any

Great stories but I know uh definitely he was one of my biggest supporters and to this day he still reaches out to me and uh we still talk so just having a guy like that in my corner has been great for me and I’m just happy to uh to

Even have a relationship with him I mean he’s one of the best coaches of all time and uh just my time there at Kentucky I had a great time and uh I just wish nothing for the best for him going forward was his recruitment of you very

Easy like was it quick snap decision or was it tough for you because he seems like he’d be the the best recruiter ever yeah I mean I think uh people so many people go there is just because of the fact he doesn’t lie to you he says U

You’re going to have to work for everything we’re not giving you anything when you come here so I mean I was the only school that told me that and I just kind of ran with it and wanted to go there off off uh off RI honestly so we talked about Michael Jordan John

Calipari what about your aaou coach Penny Hardaway you got any good stories about him or or just in general your thoughts on on how he was to play for uh I love coach Penny um he actually um is is related to me my mom’s my grandmother grandmother’s brother is his

Dad so we’re definitely related and definitely uh real close and um just for him to be able to Mentor me at that age meant the world to me just being able to play with his team uh I spend nights at his house just trying to get better and

All type of stuff so for him just uh I don’t know I think he’s just one of the best mentors I’ve had so far did you have to study up on his highlights or you were familiar with his game from back back in the Orlando days no I was

Familiar uh my parent definitely show me all these highlights at the young age PJ uh thank you so much for joining us man we appreciate you uh well you were up for two hours watching Bluey anyway but W welcome back home successful and healthy second half of the season and we

Look forward to seeing you all in the playoffs thank you yes sir appreciate it

The newest Dallas Maverick P.J. Washington joins Shan, RJ, & Bobby to talk about joining the Mavs, his love for Dallas, his defensive effort and the team as a whole, what makes Luka so great, Kyrie Irving, and much more!

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