LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 19, 2020

Rodney McGruder

Press Conference

Q. Rodney, I want to ask you, aside from the painting "Black Lives Matter" on the court, allowing players to wear the slogan on their jerseys, what else do you think the NBA should be doing to fight for this initiative, the Black Lives Matter initiative?

RODNEY McGRUDER: I believe the NBA is doing everything possible to just show their support, coming out with different statements and allowing us to have this platform to use our voices at the game or even with the statements on the jerseys, so I believe they're doing the utmost for us to use our platform to let our voices be heard.

Q. A couple weeks ago the renowned shooting coach "Lethal Shooter" put up some footage of you and him working together and your shot looked nice. What can you tell us about the work that you did, how long you spent with him and the progress you may have seen from that?

RODNEY McGRUDER: I seen a lot of progress from it, just little teaching habits like he just rewired the way that I learned how to shoot the ball. That was very beneficial. We spent a lot of time together, approximately about three weeks after things got cleared. He got tested, I got tested to make sure we were negative so we didn't affect one another. So after that we've just spent a lot of time just texting or on the phone, just chatting talking about basketball. He's actually from Washington, D.C.; me and his brother went to high school together. It's just a small world, and we just reconnected and built a bond, and he's still reaching out to me now making sure that I'm working on the things that we were working on before the season started back up.

Q. Obviously Noah has gone through quite a journey to be where he is with you guys right now. What are you seeing from him off the court and also on the court? What are you seeing in practices?

RODNEY McGRUDER: The once Defensive Player of the Year? He's just bringing that energy every day. That's something that I'm learning from him, and it's just the intensity and just the persistence that he plays with on the defensive end, how you always hear his voice; he's always yelling, he's always talking. There's just a lot of things you can pick up playing with someone that won that award. That's a high award to win. Just his approach to the game I'm picking up and just how he is as a teammate.