OKC Thunder: Chris Paul praises teammate ‘I love playing with him man’
Chris Paul exalts in the closeness of this OKC Thunder group
Speaking to Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles of the Knuckleheads podcast, Chris Paul discussed the closeness of his new squad with one teammate earning high praise.
The OKC Thunder are the fourth team Paul has played with over his 15 years as a pro. The Point God spent six seasons with both the New Orleans Hornets and LA Clippers and two seasons with the Rockets.
Paul spoke of the closeness of his New Orleans club and admitted he didn’t appreciate how much fun the Lob City group was having until much later. As for the Rockets, Paul touched on his long time relationship with “Tuck” (PJ Tucker) and referred to Trevor Ariza as the glue noting his departure was a massive loss. The lack of additional reminiscing (read: Harden) may speak to the residue of resentment over the trade and negative comments he dealt with.
Miles hints at the unrest in Houston that led to Paul’s trade.
"I don’t want to skip steps but like you one of those players that – – absorb the history, you absorb the game like every experience that you get. That experience in Houston did that make this year so much easier and better, it’s like you seen it a little bit more, you gained some more knowledge?"
CP3 doesn’t fully take the bait, however, his response lets us know he heard what was being said about him…
"Umm, I don’t know if it made it easier, it’s just made –it’s part of just competition. That’s the thing for me, the drive. I don’t want to say I hear every (pauses) I don’t want to say I pay attention to everything – – but I hear everything"
Earlier this season we learned Rockets GM Daryl Morey promised Paul he wouldn’t be traded to the Thunder days before the trade happened. The guard noted the toughest part for him was whether he was going to bring his family with him.
"“So when it happened, it was like alright, it’s another page, you know what I’m saying, and I can control what that look like. If I come in here and play half-ass and look like a bum or something like that than I am a bum, right? But I’m too competitive for that”"
This portion of the podcast feels like the trio is letting us in on some behind the scene secrets. Perhaps I’m on an island, but it sure feels like there is much more to this situation than was made public.
The Knuckleheads call this one of Paul’s best overall seasons. The duo credit Paul for creating the club’s identity and his leadership while also pointing to the pure joy he appears to be playing with. All impressive accolades considering the shade he received in the offseason.
It’s common knowledge of the vet’s fondness and mentorship of youngsters Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Darius Bazley. He’s called Steven Adams the nicest, most polite person you’ll ever meet. Danilo Gallinari cited Paul as the best leader he’s played with, suggesting he should be in the MVP conversation.
And, while we’ve heard and witnessed how much CP3 enjoys this group his reference to one particular player is telling.
"We sort of just bonded like with our whole team too, you know what I mean? Like Dennis Schroder, right, so he another guard who is cold, who is nice. And what I love about Dennis is we always on different teams in practice. And me and Dennis, be at it, we be at it! But guess what I love playing with him, like I love playing with him man. And so it’s been fun for me and that’s why I want to get back to playing. Like I really want to get back to playing because our team man, I’m not just saying that, we got such a good group."
The coincidence of Dennis Schroder being the player CP3 isolates as loving to play with is noteworthy. Just as Paul entered the season with questions regarding his ability to get along Schroder also suffered the same criticisms in Atlanta particularly when he was relegated to the bench behind starter Jeff Teague.