(Editor’s Note: This diary was written before Paul George’s injury in the U.S. national team’s intrasquad scrimmage, which Hardaway Jr. did not play in.)
My time with the Select Team in Las Vegas is over and, on an individual level, some of the biggest lessons I learned came on the defensive end from Team USA’s assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, which I touched on in Thursday’s diary entry.
As I fly out of Vegas, looking back I’ve got to say this was a great experience. I feel like I accomplished a lot throughout these past couple of days.
I know we gave it our best shot while we were out there. We competed and we made each other better and made the USA team a lot better. That’s all we focused on: making it a competitive atmosphere.
Even though Coach Thibodeau mostly addressed the national team, I know myself and a lot of my select team teammates were definitely paying attention to his defensive teachings.
It was great to have a coach of that caliber come in and teach us. That’s one thing I really took away from USA training camp.
From a defensive standpoint, it was all in the details: keeping the ball on the side of the court, having your man squared, making sure that your hand was maneuvering with the ball so you could try to get deflections, high hands, active feet and just giving all-out energy while you were playing.
That’s what I was really keying on with what coach Thibodeau was preaching. These are all things I’m looking forward to taking with me into training camp with the Knicks in October.
You always want to get better and learn different ways to play the game, and I accomplished that during my time in Vegas.
Looking at guys who played my position, players such as James Harden, Demar DeRozan, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver — I was just reading those guys and seeing how they play, how they come off down screens to shoot, how they come off ball screens and create for themselves. It was just a great way to learn.
Between Summer League and USA Basketball, I’ve spent a lot of time in Vegas this month. I was lucky enough to stay indoors for most of it, since it was so hot out here, as high as 111 degrees on Tuesday.
Off the court, I hung out with guys like Doug McDermott, Draymond Green, Trey Burke, Chandler Parsons, John Wall and Kenneth Faried.
We didn’t do much other than hang out and walk around. For me this was more of a business trip than a vacation.
The rest of my summer includes attending a friend’s wedding, spending time with my family back in Miami and obviously working out more before Knicks training camp.
I also will be at Citi Field Monday to speak to kids and throw out the first pitch before the Mets game.
It’s something I have definitely wanted to do — throwing out the first pitch for a major-league game is incredible.
It has been that kind of summer so far, and I’m really looking forward to getting back to work for the Knicks.