	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 26, 2016

Brice Johnson

Los Angeles, California

Q. You don't see a lot of players playing four years in college, but when you see them, they seem to make a pretty good impact. Take me through your time in Summer League, how your experience helped you in Summer League and how you hope to take that to the regular season.
BRICE JOHNSON: It was definitely an up-and-down road for me in college. I went from not playing as much to being a star player my senior year, so it was pretty crazy. We didn't win a lot of games freshman year, but by the end of the year we were playing the national championship game. It was a great experience, and it definitely has helped me throughout this process, and it's made me into the player that I am today.

Other than that, the Summer League, didn't start the way I wanted to. I played probably one of the worst games of my life in the first game, and then I really bounced back in a great way. It was definitely a learning experience for me, and I didn't know what to expect. It was my first time actually playing since the national championship game. It was all pretty good for me. It was just, I had to get adjusted to it, that's for sure.

Q. I spoke to you a little bit earlier and told you we're both from the same home state, South Carolina. It's a totally different experience out here for you. You're coming out here, you're new. So how are you adjusting to the new environment, the lifestyle, and what are you expecting out of this season?
BRICE JOHNSON: Man, it's definitely been an adjustment. I mean, I'm from a small town, and Chapel Hill is not very much bigger than my hometown. It's different. I've never been in a big city like this, and I'm just trying to get adjusted to all the traffic. It takes you 30 minutes to get five miles. It's crazy. But other than that, it's been a good adjustment. Lately I've been just trying to stay in the gym and work on my game and try to just get better to help this team out. Other than that, off the court, I kind of just go home, kind of just chill out. Eventually I'll find some things to do and probably open up a little bit more and adjust a little bit better, but right now it's just basketball time right now.

Q. How is your family taking the new adjustment? Are they excited, proud of you?
BRICE JOHNSON: My family is definitely proud of me. I wish I was a little -- not going to say I wish I was. I do wish I was a little closer to them because I am very close to my family, so it is going to be kind of tough not having them at my games anymore. But I know they're very proud of me and I know they're going to be watching from home. I'm just looking forward to it.

Q. Brice, you're on a team with a lot of veterans, and especially at your position. What do you think you have to do to get just some playing time?
BRICE JOHNSON: Play defense. That's probably the biggest thing. I'm going to have to be a great defender and be able to show how versatile I am and show them that I can guard at all the positions I need to. That's probably the biggest thing for me right now. We have a lot of guys that can score the ball and I don't think they need any more scoring on this team. Other than that just going out there and being the rebounder I was in college. Going out there and getting 20 boards like in college. That's impressive. I've got to be able to translate that and bring it to this game. Doc said we need to do a lot better at rebounding. That's probably one of the reasons he brought me here. I'm a very good rebounder, I just have to go out there and do it.

Q. What did you learn from Roy Williams on and off the court and how to get yourself prepared for the next level and then being coached by a great coach like Doc Rivers?
BRICE JOHNSON: Off the court, just being a man. I mean, with all that stuff going down with him and all the academic stuff that was happening over the last couple years, just seeing the way he handled it and the way he carried himself and the way he was honest about everything that he said, it taught me to just be a man, be up front with everything. That's probably the biggest thing that I've learned from him.

And then on the court, just the quote he always used to tell me, he used to say, "Rome wasn't built in a day, it was worked on every day." You can't just expect results to happen in one day, you've got to go out there and work on it every day and your results will show.

Q. This year for the NBA.com rookie survey, you found your name on quite a lot of the answers among your peers, your rookie peers. What does that mean for you personally to be so acclaimed by your rookie peers, and also, what do you think you can bring to this Clippers' team based upon your skill set?
BRICE JOHNSON: I mean, it means a lot. It means I'm thought of highly. More than that, it doesn't really mean anything to me. It's just other guys, they've seen me play over the last year, and I've really done a lot of great things. I am a very athletic person, so that's probably one of the things that probably showed up on there. Other than that, it's just -- like I said, I'm just highly thought of. I'm a really good player, and I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. I thank them for it, but at the end of the day, I can't really do anything about a rookie survey. I've just got to go out there and help my team. But being athletic and being a great rebounder in college and being a great shot blocker is probably the biggest thing that's going to help me help this team, because like I said earlier, Doc has been saying we need to rebound the ball better, so I've got to go out there and show them that I can do that. Just got to go out there and help them get as many rebounds as I can.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297