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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS v WARRIORSJune 8, 2016Vince CarterCleveland, Ohio: Game Three Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everyone, for joining us this evening, for the presentation of the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. I will turn it over to Shane for the official announcement. SHANE BATTIER: Good evening, everybody. Thanks for coming out. It's my great honor and pleasure as a former Twyman-Stokes Award winner, which recognizes the top teammate in the entire NBA, to present this award to a guy that I grew up idolizing and watching and playing against. I'm proud to call him a peer, and I am super proud to call him a fellow winner of the Twyman-Stokes Award, Vince Carter (applause). Vince, any words? VINCE CARTER: Well, it's definitely an honor. You go through your career trying to establish yourself as an NBA player, and you want to be the best player you possibly can. As you wind down and become a veteran -- not an older player, but I'd like to say a veteran that's well-seasoned -- you want to help the next generation. And that's just something that comes naturally to me. Something I enjoy doing, and it's just an honor to just be recognized for that, because it's not something that I do for recognition. It's something I want to do to help younger players kind of fulfill their dream and kind of really just put their path together who they want to become, first of all. First and foremost, I think you have a lot of young guys today that struggle with understanding or realizing who they are or what they can be. And I just want to help them the best that I can. I'm just very thankful for this award. JAY TWYMAN: I'm Jay Twyman, representing the Twyman family and the Stokes family. My father passed away four years ago, and I really want to thank the NBA for instituting this award, keeping the memory of my father and Maurice Stokes alive. My dad said that he'd be winking down at us when he passed away, and I tell you, he would really be smiling to see that Vince Carter won this year's award, and Shane Battier won it a couple years ago. It's just really great that the NBA keeps this award going, and it really is what sports really should be all about. It's all about teammates. It's also about life lessons. He would just be very proud of Vince being the recipient this year. Thank you. Q. Vince, when in your basketball life do you feel like you opened your eyes to the value, the real value of being a teammate, and was it one or two guys along the way that kind of showed you the ropes in the NBA? VINCE CARTER: For sure in high school. Quick story, when I was a junior in high school, I scored more points than in my senior year. And I remember reading some of the blogs that they said, Oh, maybe he's not the scorer we thought he was. But in my mind, I wanted to up my rebounding and my assists, but also feature some of the other guys on my team so they get an opportunity to go to college. That's where it started. For whatever reason, it wasn't something that somebody told me. It was something I wanted to do. And I had appreciation for everybody on the team really fulfilling their dreams and getting that equal opportunity, whatever level that would have been. So that's where it started. Coach (Dean) Smith definitely instilled that into us during my college time. It's just something that's always been a part of me. Q. Along those lines, when you were coming into the league, who were some of the older guys, some of the veterans that you looked up to and thought, this is the way or this is how I want to become? VINCE CARTER: I was fortunate, my first couple years I had Charles Oakley, who played with Michael Jordan. I had Kevin Willis, who played with Dominique Wilkins. I had Dee Brown, who played with Larry Bird; Doug Christie, who played with Magic Johnson; and Antonio Davis, who played with Reggie Miller. It doesn't get any better than that. I had these guys around me to show me what it was like. In media scrums this is how you handle yourself. This is what you should talk about. This is what you should say. On the court, how to prepare myself each and every night. It helped me. As a rookie, I felt like I had played against some of the best players in the world prior to my rookie year. So it's just something that's always been a part of me. And once I kind of learned that and got to see what it did for me, it was something I always wanted to do for the next generation of guys, even guys who were actually rookies or older than me at that time. Q. Vince, you're a newcomer in Memphis, your second year now. With a group that's been together as long as that core had been, how did you navigate and become a leader on that team? VINCE CARTER: They just allowed me to be me. Like I said, they've been around. For me, I like to sit back and just analyze and pick my spots, because I'm not coming in there to dominate and try to be the voice. But once they got to know me, I got to know them, whenever guys had questions or whatever, we were just talking and I'd just share my opinions on different situations in games. After a while, it became second nature for everyone. So it's just a timing thing more than anything. And I didn't want to step on any toes. The coaching staff allowed me to say, Hey, if you have anything to say, if you see anything, by all means, step in and say something. Every now and then if you go back and look at some clips, you'll see me walking behind Coach, saying whatever it may be. But at the same time, I didn't want to step on any toes. Q. With the Warriors and Cavaliers in The Finals, how did the two teams manifest your understanding for sportsmanship? VINCE CARTER: I think that they all play together. They all play for each other. And that's what it's all about. You see a lot of guys who when they step on the court, it's all about their numbers. And it is, What can I do to get my numbers? When you get this deep, and you're playing for what they're playing for, that's when all of that is weeded out. These guys, as far as sportsmanship and teamwork and playing for each other, I think the two teams that are featured in this Finals are the epitome of that. Q. One of the great qualities of being a great teammate is making sacrifices. For the past years you've gone through the transition from a great superstar who did the high-flying dunks to a veteran who comes off the bench and still comes in and contributes. Could you describe the mindset changes in the past few years? VINCE CARTER: I'll say this, it's difficult. It's tough to do, but I've played for some great coaches who have given me opportunities. I had to do some more work and just understand how I can still be the player that I am, and I know that I can be, while still doing what I need to do coming off the bench. Once you learn that, it was easy. I mean, I watched the Ginobilis of the world. I watched the Jason Terrys of the world. The first person I actually looked up and studied was Vinnie Johnson. He was one of the best sixth men to play this game outside of some of the ones today. Once I kind of learned that, I was able to kind of curve my game to make it work and still be effective. Q. Have you had to show your highlight tape to any of these young guys to make sure they knew what you could do in your prime? VINCE CARTER: Not yet, but we're getting there. We're getting there. It's close. Three or four more years I'd probably have to say, "Yeah, I did play. I was somebody at one point. I promise. I promise I was." Not quite yet. Q. Vince, you look back in your playoff career, you had some really nice runs with three different teams, four different teams I'm thinking of. What was the closest you ever felt you got to playing in a Final? And how much is that something that's still important to you in a couple of years or three years you might be playing? VINCE CARTER: I don't know about three. Nice try. It's definitely important. It's fun. It was Orlando. We played Boston, and we lost in six. I mean, it's a great opportunity. It's important to me. I want to have that opportunity. I mean, Shane has a wonderful one here today. I looked at it and I was like, man, I just wanted the opportunity to play there. It's just I've been around. I've seen a lot -- wins, losses, so on and so forth. Just to get that opportunity to play in The Finals is something I'm looking forward to. If I stick around long enough, hopefully I'll get to actually play in it. But being here is pretty awesome as well. Just the intensity. I watched it, I studied the game, I know a lot about it, so it's one thing, of course. Watching it is one thing, playing it is another. Hopefully one day. I've never been to a Finals before. It's tough when you get knocked out and sometimes as a player, you just don't want to watch it (laughing). But at the same time, when it's over with, you say, Yeah, at least we lost to the champions. We could say that last year losing to Golden State. So I'm honored to be here. Q. I just wondered, when you first got the news, what was your reaction? And considering you've talked a lot about the transition from superstar and then you put the work in and you keep surviving in this league and thriving as long as you have, is this in that genre in that category? VINCE CARTER: Of MVP? For sure, I was excited. I remember midseason they talked about it, and it was like, Oh, you've been nominated, and you say okay. And here are the past winners and so on and so forth. Oh yeah, I remember, that's cool, that's cool. You go throughout your season, and you kind of forgot about it. Then when I got the phone call, it was like, Oh, are you serious? And so like I said, I'm very thankful for it, and appreciative of the award. It's just who I am. I just try to be a great teammate and a helping hand. Just like I said, it just opened guys' eyes. These guys are veterans -- look at our team in Memphis. These guys are veterans, they've been around and seen a lot. But every now and then you may say, Hey, check this out or think about this or try this. Just as a heads up. It's been appreciated for a long time, and I'm thankful for that. SHANE BATTIER: If I may, this is a really special award for a lot of reasons. The award embodies the relationship between Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes, which if you haven't heard the stories, it's truly an amazing story of brotherhood and teamwork. Maurice Stokes suffered a debilitating injury and Jack Twyman became his caretaker and his guardian. So this award embodies what the ultimate teammate is all about. But it's also one of two awards voted on by your peers. It's special to be voted on by the media, obviously. Great basketball minds in here. But it's also really special to be voted on by your peers, the guys you lace them up against every single day, to say, "You know what, we think you are the best teammate in this league." That shouldn't be forgotten. Q. It's obviously been a long time since 2001. What did you think watching the Raptors' run this year? VINCE CARTER: It was awesome. It was awesome. I reached out to Kyle [Lowry] and DeMar [DeRozan]. I'm not really big on doing the whole reaching-out-through-social-media, so-everybody-sees-it type thing. It's just not my thing. You know, we talked. I just told them, I was like, "You guys are the best," and they should hold their head up high. Because not only did they make history, they actually changed a lot of minds of a lot of people. Everybody thought they could be here. So I think they had a heck of a run, and I was just proud to read about it, to listen to people talk about it. Where it was like at one point they weren't even talking about them in The Finals and next thing you know, the Raptors could possibly do it. It was great to see it, and to know at one point I was part of that and to see your record go down, I mean, all records are broken at some point. We're seeing a lot of history this year throughout the NBA, and it's great to see, because that's why we play the game. All these young kids that are growing up are now in their minds thinking they want to make history and beat the records that are being set today. So it was awesome. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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