October 3, 2023 • 10 mins
Dwight & Chad get an exclusive interview with the Trail Blazers newest member, DeAndre Ayton. He talks about growing up in the Bahamas, what went wrong in Phoenix, and his fresh start in Portland, 10-2-23.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Rip City Drive with Dwight and Shad. We're here at Trailblazer Mediaday getting ready
for a brand new season and we'vegot a brand new player in the building
right now, DeAndre Aden, newestmember of the Portland Trailblazers. What's up,
da, Welcome to Rip City.Hey, thank you, thank you,
Thank you, dude. It's gotto be nice for you. The
fan base is going crazy excited tosee you in a Blaze uniform. What's
you like to see all the lovecoming in? There's a lot of love,
as you know. I can't evenreally put words together to describe it.
(00:23):
I'm just really fortunate in to youknow. That's how a new start
end. Have a team in acity that wants me to be here,
you know, and all I coulddo is just give you, guys my
best I want to talk to youabout before we get into port I want
to talk to you about your summer. The Bahamian national team won the Tournament
of America's right behind you. That'sa big deal, isn't it for the
Bahamas? Yes, sir, youknow it was me, Buddy and Eric
(00:46):
Gordon, you know, just teamedup to you know, just to give
back to our country a little bitand you know, try to put a
little respect. Hum, you know, our country is naming this basketball world.
Just a tad bit and one morestep before you get him into the
Olympic, yes, or one moretournament to go this summer. Yeah,
that's great coming up. Who's thegreatest Bahamian basketball player ever? I would
(01:07):
say, Michael Thompson. Okay,you got to write hand because I'm reporting
back to him. Well, youknow, one thing, it's exciting talk
to me about the basketball court.From my understanding where you where you grew
up, and that's how like therewere some areas around you that weren't necessarily
so good. You know, maybea guy's getting into it at the park.
So your dad created a basketball courtfor you, which ended up being
(01:27):
the park basketball court because everyone came. But how many hours did you put
in on that court at your homethat your pops built for you. I
put on a lot of hours,to be honest. I was the one
who found the wood to chop upto make the backboard, and shure,
I think I was the one whofound the broken ring behind the school.
You know, you know, justmy dad just putting that ring back together
(01:48):
with the little fire and heating itup, heating up the medal and things
like that. And yeah, Ibrought all the supplies. He just did
all the hammering and extra things likethat. But I definitely brought the supplies
and it will help him. Ithink the hole as well, to put
the pole down and make sure itwas dirty. But you know, once
that thing was up a month in, everybody started, you know, pulling
up in front of the yard.Whether we were home or not. You're
(02:09):
just seeing random kids just you know, just playing basketball in front of your
yard. Okay, from a Bahamasyou go to Arizona for well, first
of all, you watch to highschool in Florida. Yeah, I think
Florida, right, You know Iwent to high school in uh San Diego
out Arizona. Yeah yeah, andthen you ended up at Arizona for college.
Most so you got a taste ofthe West Coast there and the western
(02:30):
United States. How do you likeit out here? I do like it
out here a lot, because it'sa green you know, it's less brown.
You know, I like rain.You know, I'm from a tropical
island where you know it'll be sunnyout And he just starts pouring, but
it gives that vibe where you know, it just family bonding time and indoor
activities and things like that. I'mnot an outside person. I just stay
(02:51):
inside and I like looking at theviews from from the indoors. I'm I'm
not type of dude, and Ilike my family around me. So it
definitely this weather and stuff give thattype of energy. You know. For
those that don't know, I thinkyour dad may have introduced you to the
game. But there's a gentleman,Jeff Rogers. He's got a big camp
over there in the Bahamas. Howimportant was he in your basketball life as
(03:12):
you were growing up and learning howto play the game. I mean,
he wasn't really in my life.It was just his camp I attended.
You know, my mom wanted toget me, get me away from bad
company and not you know, beoutside as much following things. I'm not
supposed to follow it. You know, she would work every summer, you
know, whether it was summer,every holiday, she's working, and you
(03:32):
know she's just for her mind tobe at ease. She just wanted to
be occupied or not at home.I did awful in the camp. I
was just the tallest kid there andthat's how I got some type of recommendation
with being over six foot that twelveyears old, and then I got the
opportunity to just you know, Ihave a school, a scholarship, going
to school without picking up a basketball, just being tall. You know,
(03:54):
you had a pretty good ride withher sons. You guys got to the
finals and all that was mendous year. As I look back on it,
what what happened there? What wentwrong? To me? I just feel
like it was almost, uh,miscommunication at the utmost worst times of basketball,
(04:15):
and you know, I think eaglesand stuff started to kick in,
you know, and you when youhit this certain wall, and you know,
that's that's what I've seen at theyoung age, you know, finally
winning games coming out the bubble.And the first place we went through was
the dagn Finals, and you know, just understanding how we got there was
togetherness, but at the same timeit got challenged and you know kind of
(04:36):
like fell apart. It was thefirst time we had that team together,
but eventually it just broke apart wherewe didn't have enough, you know,
in terms of motivation, DeAndre,because I was really impressed and blown away
that year. You went to thefinals with the Suns. In terms of
your willingness to do whatever was askedof you, even if it impacted your
numbers. You did what the teamneeded to win. But then on the
(04:59):
flip side, the negotiations for themax extension didn't come together, and I
was like, wait a second,We're gonna ask a guy to sacrifice,
but then you're not gonna take careof him, and then you have to
sign the offer sheet, which costsyou a year. To me, that's
just nonsense. But for you,like, how much motivation does that give
you moving forward? Because I throughmy eyes, I can only speak from
what I see. I thought theydid you wrong. I mean, the
(05:19):
way I can do it is just, you know, I'll let my agents
and stuff, do you know,handle what they can hand, and I
handle what I can handle. Thethings I could handle was my numbers,
like you said, and just beinga coachable player. That's the things I
could have handled. Things like that, the check that you cannot take my
checklist away. Things I've checked theboxes and you couldn't take those away.
(05:39):
And that was my control. OnceI felt like I was so confident,
and I believe that the type ofplayer I was, and the type of
player I became, being a sacrificialplayer in understanding winning that it don't means
III means we you know, wegot challenged to that and the only thing
I could have done is just showmy true professionalism and understand that this is
(06:00):
you know, it's a business andit's not in my control and I need
to go sit my eyes down somewhereand go keep working. And then my
agents handle that, and you knowthat's what happens, and eventually things start
to fall through. I bet iton myself. We're looking for an arfur
sheet. It was the worst feelingin the world, you know, not
having your team believing you and youhaving to go balance yourself and realizing the
whole rest of the league wanted you. And then you come back and show
(06:24):
him that you know, you're thistype of player, and it mess ups
a lot of chemistry and you know, things that you built and created when
once you challenge that trust and yourealize they don't have your back, you
know, just on your own afterthat, so it got weird and you
know, here I am the day. What do you think it's gonna be
like playing with Scoot Hatterson? Ohmy God, it should be fast lot
(06:46):
passes. Yeah, it should bepretty fast. He's a great facilitator.
And that kid getting me play.You can tell he's hungry, he's gritty.
He's a big body too as well. He's not again, he's not
no just no push over for theduds first year coming up. You could
test tale by his side as in, you know, just his physique and
you like getting up a down incourt, right, I'm known for run
him, man, That's that's mything. Yeah, that's my thing.
(07:06):
What about Robert Williams coming in there? Oh, you know, you guys
gonna provide a little force in themiddle of it. Looks like I love
that. You know, he's atruthtector as well at presence as well on
the defensive end to really anchor ourdefense. You know, I should be
pretty fun to see him do histhing as well. How well did you
know Chatsy Billups before you got toPortland? I knew John Seasons I was
(07:27):
in high school. I think hewas one of the coaches uh for the
adida's nations way back and he hadthe loaded squad, you know, against
the international team, and we wegave them an asshoping and the way how
he just let us go out andjust do our thing. You know,
it felt like he was out therewith us, you know, just letting
us play. And you know,just having a x NBA player as a
(07:49):
coach was pretty lit. Just hearingthe type of terminology and type of players
and schemes they run. You know, it was fun just him showing us
a little taste of that. Hasshe talked you, yeah, about what
you might expect to be asked todo here. Most definitely it was just
really this defensive anchor, you know, just being is that that's very patience
with his with his young fellas andyou know, just helping these guys and
(08:11):
just understanding that they're learning. AndI'm completely on this because I'm learning every
day, you know, so Iunderstand that point where you know, things
things aren't going to be rushing aroundhere. It's going to be a learning
process and a learning thing and I'mall for it. I'm all in.
You know, it's things I wantto recreate and you know, rebrand myself
(08:31):
as as well. So it's agood start. It's a good a restart
for me as well, is itkind of? Yeah, the restarted get
a fresh team that you know thatwants you like, that's got to be
invigorating. I'm telling you, Isaid it from when I got landed.
It felt like I just got drafted, you know, just feeling the love
and the welcoming thiss like I haven'tfelt that since I walked off the stage
shaking h mister Silver's and so yeah, what what what do you think you
(08:56):
can recapture here in Portland that maybeyou didn't get a chance to do in
Phoenix. I'm just finally show theseshow the fans that I'm a player that
they can rely on and depend on. It's including my teammates and coach.
You know, I'm a good dude, man. I'm gonna do with a
big heart, and uh, youknow, I'm a very emotional player when
it comes to the love of thegame, you know, And uh,
(09:18):
I just try to try to trymy best to just you know, share
my energy. You know, Iknow my energy is big weather, my
shoulders are up or down. Youknow, people can sense all of that
stuff. So I try to notonly be that you know that that dominating
on the court, but try tobe a good person off the court as
well, and just try to helppeople leave leave the mark with some some
people as well. A final questionfor your godre is your mom gonna be
(09:41):
in town? Because we were toldlast week that your mom every Sunday puts
together in the feast. That's likethe greatest thing in the world. And
uh, and I'm curious, whatis your favorite dish before you go on
chat to be sure? Now,Mark Spirits told us that Mark. Now
see Mark said when he's in townthat we're going over with him to your
mom on Sunday night because Sunday nightis the night for the big dinner,
(10:05):
big facts. Every Sunday, mymom does a thing and throw it down.
It could be two people. Shelooks like she's cooking for a whole
village, it don't matter, likeshe's gonna cook for everybody. She can't
wait to cook for the dam I'mlike, hold on, now, you
gotta slow down. You don't knowwhat these boys eating and you don't know
what type of that slowed down becauseI ask coach to see if it's okay
at least. But no, that'sher thing every Sunday, you know,
(10:26):
no matter no matter what day is, if the day is given, she
that's her just you know, justher appreciation towards everything that's going on.
Just you know, her doing apart. All right. DeAndre at and
the newest Trailblazer here for me dDay getting ready for brand new season.
Man, we're excited to have youand watch you ball mants on being on
your opportunity here for the watching.It's super excited. Thank you guys so much
Rip City Drive with Dwight and Shad. We're here at Trailblazer Mediaday getting ready
for a brand new season and we'vegot a brand new player in the building
right now, DeAndre Aden, newestmember of the Portland Trailblazers. What's up,
da, Welcome to Rip City.Hey, thank you, thank you,
Thank you, dude. It's gotto be nice for you. The
fan base is going crazy excited tosee you in a Blaze uniform. What's
you like to see all the lovecoming in? There's a lot of love,
as you know. I can't evenreally put words together to describe it.
(00:23):
I'm just really fortunate in to youknow. That's how a new start
end. Have a team in acity that wants me to be here,
you know, and all I coulddo is just give you, guys my
best I want to talk to youabout before we get into port I want
to talk to you about your summer. The Bahamian national team won the Tournament
of America's right behind you. That'sa big deal, isn't it for the
Bahamas? Yes, sir, youknow it was me, Buddy and Eric
(00:46):
Gordon, you know, just teamedup to you know, just to give
back to our country a little bitand you know, try to put a
little respect. Hum, you know, our country is naming this basketball world.
Just a tad bit and one morestep before you get him into the
Olympic, yes, or one moretournament to go this summer. Yeah,
that's great coming up. Who's thegreatest Bahamian basketball player ever? I would
(01:07):
say, Michael Thompson. Okay,you got to write hand because I'm reporting
back to him. Well, youknow, one thing, it's exciting talk
to me about the basketball court.From my understanding where you where you grew
up, and that's how like therewere some areas around you that weren't necessarily
so good. You know, maybea guy's getting into it at the park.
So your dad created a basketball courtfor you, which ended up being
(01:27):
the park basketball court because everyone came. But how many hours did you put
in on that court at your homethat your pops built for you. I
put on a lot of hours,to be honest. I was the one
who found the wood to chop upto make the backboard, and shure,
I think I was the one whofound the broken ring behind the school.
You know, you know, justmy dad just putting that ring back together
(01:48):
with the little fire and heating itup, heating up the medal and things
like that. And yeah, Ibrought all the supplies. He just did
all the hammering and extra things likethat. But I definitely brought the supplies
and it will help him. Ithink the hole as well, to put
the pole down and make sure itwas dirty. But you know, once
that thing was up a month in, everybody started, you know, pulling
up in front of the yard.Whether we were home or not. You're
(02:09):
just seeing random kids just you know, just playing basketball in front of your
yard. Okay, from a Bahamasyou go to Arizona for well, first
of all, you watch to highschool in Florida. Yeah, I think
Florida, right, You know Iwent to high school in uh San Diego
out Arizona. Yeah yeah, andthen you ended up at Arizona for college.
Most so you got a taste ofthe West Coast there and the western
(02:30):
United States. How do you likeit out here? I do like it
out here a lot, because it'sa green you know, it's less brown.
You know, I like rain.You know, I'm from a tropical
island where you know it'll be sunnyout And he just starts pouring, but
it gives that vibe where you know, it just family bonding time and indoor
activities and things like that. I'mnot an outside person. I just stay
(02:51):
inside and I like looking at theviews from from the indoors. I'm I'm
not type of dude, and Ilike my family around me. So it
definitely this weather and stuff give thattype of energy. You know. For
those that don't know, I thinkyour dad may have introduced you to the
game. But there's a gentleman,Jeff Rogers. He's got a big camp
over there in the Bahamas. Howimportant was he in your basketball life as
(03:12):
you were growing up and learning howto play the game. I mean,
he wasn't really in my life.It was just his camp I attended.
You know, my mom wanted toget me, get me away from bad
company and not you know, beoutside as much following things. I'm not
supposed to follow it. You know, she would work every summer, you
know, whether it was summer,every holiday, she's working, and you
(03:32):
know she's just for her mind tobe at ease. She just wanted to
be occupied or not at home.I did awful in the camp. I
was just the tallest kid there andthat's how I got some type of recommendation
with being over six foot that twelveyears old, and then I got the
opportunity to just you know, Ihave a school, a scholarship, going
to school without picking up a basketball, just being tall. You know,
(03:54):
you had a pretty good ride withher sons. You guys got to the
finals and all that was mendous year. As I look back on it,
what what happened there? What wentwrong? To me? I just feel
like it was almost, uh,miscommunication at the utmost worst times of basketball,
(04:15):
and you know, I think eaglesand stuff started to kick in,
you know, and you when youhit this certain wall, and you know,
that's that's what I've seen at theyoung age, you know, finally
winning games coming out the bubble.And the first place we went through was
the dagn Finals, and you know, just understanding how we got there was
togetherness, but at the same timeit got challenged and you know kind of
(04:36):
like fell apart. It was thefirst time we had that team together,
but eventually it just broke apart wherewe didn't have enough, you know,
in terms of motivation, DeAndre,because I was really impressed and blown away
that year. You went to thefinals with the Suns. In terms of
your willingness to do whatever was askedof you, even if it impacted your
numbers. You did what the teamneeded to win. But then on the
(04:59):
flip side, the negotiations for themax extension didn't come together, and I
was like, wait a second,We're gonna ask a guy to sacrifice,
but then you're not gonna take careof him, and then you have to
sign the offer sheet, which costsyou a year. To me, that's
just nonsense. But for you,like, how much motivation does that give
you moving forward? Because I throughmy eyes, I can only speak from
what I see. I thought theydid you wrong. I mean, the
(05:19):
way I can do it is just, you know, I'll let my agents
and stuff, do you know,handle what they can hand, and I
handle what I can handle. Thethings I could handle was my numbers,
like you said, and just beinga coachable player. That's the things I
could have handled. Things like that, the check that you cannot take my
checklist away. Things I've checked theboxes and you couldn't take those away.
(05:39):
And that was my control. OnceI felt like I was so confident,
and I believe that the type ofplayer I was, and the type of
player I became, being a sacrificialplayer in understanding winning that it don't means
III means we you know, wegot challenged to that and the only thing
I could have done is just showmy true professionalism and understand that this is
(06:00):
you know, it's a business andit's not in my control and I need
to go sit my eyes down somewhereand go keep working. And then my
agents handle that, and you knowthat's what happens, and eventually things start
to fall through. I bet iton myself. We're looking for an arfur
sheet. It was the worst feelingin the world, you know, not
having your team believing you and youhaving to go balance yourself and realizing the
whole rest of the league wanted you. And then you come back and show
(06:24):
him that you know, you're thistype of player, and it mess ups
a lot of chemistry and you know, things that you built and created when
once you challenge that trust and yourealize they don't have your back, you
know, just on your own afterthat, so it got weird and you
know, here I am the day. What do you think it's gonna be
like playing with Scoot Hatterson? Ohmy God, it should be fast lot
(06:46):
passes. Yeah, it should bepretty fast. He's a great facilitator.
And that kid getting me play.You can tell he's hungry, he's gritty.
He's a big body too as well. He's not again, he's not
no just no push over for theduds first year coming up. You could
test tale by his side as in, you know, just his physique and
you like getting up a down incourt, right, I'm known for run
him, man, That's that's mything. Yeah, that's my thing.
(07:06):
What about Robert Williams coming in there? Oh, you know, you guys
gonna provide a little force in themiddle of it. Looks like I love
that. You know, he's atruthtector as well at presence as well on
the defensive end to really anchor ourdefense. You know, I should be
pretty fun to see him do histhing as well. How well did you
know Chatsy Billups before you got toPortland? I knew John Seasons I was
(07:27):
in high school. I think hewas one of the coaches uh for the
adida's nations way back and he hadthe loaded squad, you know, against
the international team, and we wegave them an asshoping and the way how
he just let us go out andjust do our thing. You know,
it felt like he was out therewith us, you know, just letting
us play. And you know,just having a x NBA player as a
(07:49):
coach was pretty lit. Just hearingthe type of terminology and type of players
and schemes they run. You know, it was fun just him showing us
a little taste of that. Hasshe talked you, yeah, about what
you might expect to be asked todo here. Most definitely it was just
really this defensive anchor, you know, just being is that that's very patience
with his with his young fellas andyou know, just helping these guys and
(08:11):
just understanding that they're learning. AndI'm completely on this because I'm learning every
day, you know, so Iunderstand that point where you know, things
things aren't going to be rushing aroundhere. It's going to be a learning
process and a learning thing and I'mall for it. I'm all in.
You know, it's things I wantto recreate and you know, rebrand myself
(08:31):
as as well. So it's agood start. It's a good a restart
for me as well, is itkind of? Yeah, the restarted get
a fresh team that you know thatwants you like, that's got to be
invigorating. I'm telling you, Isaid it from when I got landed.
It felt like I just got drafted, you know, just feeling the love
and the welcoming thiss like I haven'tfelt that since I walked off the stage
shaking h mister Silver's and so yeah, what what what do you think you
(08:56):
can recapture here in Portland that maybeyou didn't get a chance to do in
Phoenix. I'm just finally show theseshow the fans that I'm a player that
they can rely on and depend on. It's including my teammates and coach.
You know, I'm a good dude, man. I'm gonna do with a
big heart, and uh, youknow, I'm a very emotional player when
it comes to the love of thegame, you know, And uh,
(09:18):
I just try to try to trymy best to just you know, share
my energy. You know, Iknow my energy is big weather, my
shoulders are up or down. Youknow, people can sense all of that
stuff. So I try to notonly be that you know that that dominating
on the court, but try tobe a good person off the court as
well, and just try to helppeople leave leave the mark with some some
people as well. A final questionfor your godre is your mom gonna be
(09:41):
in town? Because we were toldlast week that your mom every Sunday puts
together in the feast. That's likethe greatest thing in the world. And
uh, and I'm curious, whatis your favorite dish before you go on
chat to be sure? Now,Mark Spirits told us that Mark. Now
see Mark said when he's in townthat we're going over with him to your
mom on Sunday night because Sunday nightis the night for the big dinner,
(10:05):
big facts. Every Sunday, mymom does a thing and throw it down.
It could be two people. Shelooks like she's cooking for a whole
village, it don't matter, likeshe's gonna cook for everybody. She can't
wait to cook for the dam I'mlike, hold on, now, you
gotta slow down. You don't knowwhat these boys eating and you don't know
what type of that slowed down becauseI ask coach to see if it's okay
at least. But no, that'sher thing every Sunday, you know,
(10:26):
no matter no matter what day is, if the day is given, she
that's her just you know, justher appreciation towards everything that's going on.
Just you know, her doing apart. All right. DeAndre at and
the newest Trailblazer here for me dDay getting ready for brand new season.
Man, we're excited to have youand watch you ball mants on being on
your opportunity here for the watching.It's super excited. Thank you guys so much
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