The Washington Wizards acquired CJ McCollum as part of the Jordan Poole trade, and the 34-year-old guard is expected to be one of the team’s elder statesmen this upcoming season.
During the Washington Wizards’ Media Day, McCollum revealed his advice to the team’s youngsters, particularly for Tre Johnson, who was the sixth overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft.
“I was telling him, ‘What else do you do besides play basketball?’ He was like, ‘I just sleep.’ I was like ‘Bro, you gotta find something else. You don’t play video games?’ He was like ‘No, all I do is hoop.’ I said ‘That’s great, that’s important, and that’s the type of mentality you gotta have. But you need an escape. This is about to be 82 games, practice every day, you’re only off once every six days. We’re gonna be in new cities every night. You’re gonna need something to do on that off day that’s not basketball,” McCollum shared via Chase Hughes of Monumental Sports Network.
“I said, ‘It’s 24 hours in the day, you need some hobbies. I’ll send you some books, I’ll send you some stuff. But you gotta find something else that helps you escape the game. If you don’t have an escape, you’ll go crazy.’ That’s what I’ve noticed in this sport. Without balance, there’s chaos,” he added.
Washington Wizards News: Tre Johnson names Kevin Durant as his basketball idol
Tre Johnson revealed during the Washington Wizards’ Media Day that Kevin Durant was a huge influence on his game growing up. Johnson and Durant are both from Texas.
“Growing up, I kind of just watched Kevin Durant,” Johnson told ClutchPoints’ Joshua Valdez. “I was taller than everybody, thinking I was gonna be as tall as he was. I learned at a young age how to use my size, shoot over players.”
“Everything I do is basketball-related. I just got a book, so I’m trying to expand a little bit into reading,” he continued. “But everything is basketball-related unless I’m listening to music, on the phone with friends, or sleeping. That’s about it.”
