 Kevin, first of all, you survived David Letterman's questions there. How did that go that guy's a character? I couldn't believe you had a straight face the whole time. Yeah, I thought you'd crack. I've learned to keep a straight face. You pulled it off brilliantly. You did hand it very nicely, Kevin. Kevin, I think the probably the biggest gift that Nets fans feel like they got this off-season was you signing that long-term extension to stay here. What about your experience thus far and the fit made you feel like, yes, this is where I want to be for these next five seasons of my career. Yeah, I like the environment that that the organization, you know, presents to us players, you know, we come in and they make sure everything is perfect for us to work on our games to get better as players and I love the city of, you know, the barrel of Brooklyn and the city of New York as a whole and, you know, I just want to be here and want to commit to the my teammates first and, you know, my coaches and organization, so looking forward to the future. Kevin, we're thrilled you're here. And when Ruko says Nets fans, we're speaking for for us as well. It felt like a gift. Yeah. But with that being said, we've been talking with everyone today and about this season and championship aspirations. But can you take us back to the summer? We were watching you in the Olympics, earning a gold medal, thinking about the way the postseason finished for you. How much what's your process of reflecting on that, using that and also what you bring into this year in regards to the way things closed out? I kind of look at my whole career and keep building from there. I mean, last year was a it was a weird year for us, you know, for our team, you know, a lot of guys in and out the lineup, especially in crucial points of the season. But I think we learned a lot as well as an organization, you know, what level we need to be at to be a championship caliber team and going through a tough, tough seven game series. And a lot of first, you know, guys played in their first game sevens last year. So I think that experience helped us out a lot. And looking forward to building on that. And but also understanding that that season is over with. And for me individually, you know, I got to keep getting better from where I was last year and get more comfortable with my teammates. So I'm looking forward to grinding the whole year as a process to get to where we want to be. And, you know, it starts from day one of training camp. Kevin, we always when people talk about you, they always talk about, you know, this guy loves the game. Kevin Durant loves basketball. How would you describe your relationship with the game of basketball? I mean, there's been a it's been a rocky road, you know, when you when working out and trying to get better is tough, you know, when you grinding every single day doing things you're not really good at and trying to perfect your weaknesses and, you know, build on everything that you've done is tough, you know. So in some days I love being in, you know, playing in front of crowds and having great games and working out. But, you know, when you go through a tough relationship with something like basketball, it's going to be some ups and downs. And, you know, I'm excited about every journey that I've taken as far as such far in this basketball journey. So, you know, just keep building. That's what I'm really about every single day matters. What about talk about you and you as an individual, but collectively, this team in this group, we've sat down with so many of your teammates and everyone talks about what it does for their game playing with you on the floor. When you look at this roster, look at the versatility, the depth, what do you anticipate just in coming together and trying to acclimate and integrate with one another early on? Yeah, I look forward to us building a level of play that can adapt to anything, any situation we got. We can go big line-ups, small line-ups, we can play different schemes on offense and defense. So I'm looking forward to coaches, the coaches throwing everything at us and seeing how we handle it. You know, it's always exciting when you can play multiple ways as a team and I think we got the personnel to do so. What was it like for you being back on the floor with James last season, Kevin? It was fun. I mean, just seeing his career since he left OKC and seeing how he's grown as a player and the experiences that he's been through as a player now, a veteran in this league, it's good to get back on the court and collaborate on what we've learned so far in this league and we start together. So to see it come forward circle is sweet. So we got a lot of work to do to get where we really want to go. But it's good to be on the floor with him again. Kevin, what about Steve Nash and just your impressions of him first taking over where he was at by the course of the end of the season and just now as you head into the season with him having more experience in that role? Yeah, that's always good for a coach is to go through the experience of a season. He had to deal with so much with injuries and COVID protocols and having to readjust the lineup so many times. I think he did such a great job of keeping everybody on the same page and his voice was strong throughout the whole season and we listened to everything that he told us and his practices were efficient. So I think he did a great job and I know he's only looking forward to getting better and he's always thinking about ways to adjust and you know that's to think about Steve and then being a point guard that he carries that all the time and it's always about development with him. So we're looking forward to building. When we were talking with Patty Mills earlier, he said that when it came to deciding to go to Brooklyn with you know teams like the Lakers and Warriors also really after him, he said probably the first thing that stands out to him that helped convince him was a conversation he had with you. I'm wondering Kevin, what were you trying to get across to Patty about coming here and how important it was for him to be a net for you guys to accomplish what you want to? Yeah, Patty's a basketball junkie so we just talked about schemes and how he can fit in with the team and you know different ways he wanted to play and I'll just let him know. We play a free-flowing type of game and everybody touches the basketball. I think we were top five and assists when we were on the floor at some point so I mean when everybody's touching the basketball, that's a good environment that you want to be in and him coming from San Antonio where they preach that every day. I think it'll be an easier transition for us to come in for us because we played sort of the same way but guys got freedom and he wanted that as a for his next stop and you know he's seen how we play also throughout the playoffs as well so I'm glad he's a part of the group. And saying that about Patty Blake even when he was describing us how it seems like everyone thinks the same way in some regard about how to play and the basketball IQ of this group yourself obviously but James you go down the list how would you characterize just the savviness or the basketball IQ of this group as a whole and how much that impacts the play on the floor not just the skill and talents but just the understanding of the game. Yeah I mean we got guys that love to play historians of the game so they've seen the evolution of the game and they really respect the evolution of the game so when we're going through sets and on defense and offense you know everybody's giving their input but it's not too much you know I think everybody's giving the proper input on what they see and how they can help and when you got guys policing themselves it's always good it's easier for the coach as well and you know Steve trust us trust our voice you know he sees that you know he's seen that we've been through a lot in this league so far and then we add more guys with experience like Paul and Patty and the Marcus is back and James Johnson so we get more and more guys that can help with that dialogue throughout the season is only going to help us. All right Kevin before we let you go I just got to say I was listening to you when you were on the out office boardroom podcast with Rich I didn't realize you were getting into baseball the way that you were and diving into stats and everything all right you helped me out man. Well you know what I'm happy to hear that what's your biggest takeaway thus far from your experience consuming baseball this summer. I've always been a baseball fan but to notice small details a little bit more now it's been pretty cool I really respect their grind those guys don't stop every day they're down there working on their game so it's something I could take away from it it's been exciting going to the ballpark seeing the men's game for sure. Nice well Kevin we appreciate the time. Happy early birthday. Is it tomorrow? Is it no 29th or what's today? Wednesday. I don't even know what day it is. Kevin I have a three week old. I have no idea what day it is. Kevin happy early birthday and safe travels to San Diego.