Jabari Walker is Ready for Year Number Two

Dwight & Chad talk to Jabari Walker and discuss his rookie season, the ups and downs and how he manages that, and what it's like seeing Colorado get tons of media attention with Coach Prime, 10-2-23.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, Rip City Drive withDwight and Chad. We're here at Terrible
Blazer Media Day and we're joined byBlazers for Jubari Walker, Jubori Welcome,
It's great to have you on theshow. Thank you, thank you for
having me. So. How excitedare you for year number two? I
would imagine getting a year under yourbelt and having an understanding of how things
operate. You come in with morecomfort, Yeah, more comfort for sure,
more confidence, kind of familiar withhow things work, what's expected,

(00:22):
and just how it is to beout there and play. What's the biggest
steal in terms of learning this leagueon the court or off the court?
That's a great question, and Ithink it's off the court. You know,
last year I didn't I spend moretime off the court than on the
court. So what did I dowith that time? After games? We'll
go back to the gym, watcha lot of film, getting my mind

(00:45):
right, reading a bunch of books, just so that you are ready for
that little time that you are onthe court. And what was the biggest
advice you got from your father maybesomebody else in terms of how to deal
with that free time to make sureyou stay focused on the most important things.
Yeah, I think I heard acouple of times just don't get too
high or get too low. Therewas great moments throughout the season, and
there was a lot of low momentsfor me personally throughout the season. And

(01:08):
just staying uh even at it andjust uh staying optimistic, it was was
big. How about on the courtthis season? How different is it going
to be for you playing? What'sgood playing that up tempo style that it
looks like you guys are gonna play. Yeah, it's gonna be fun.
I'm a highly energetic person. I'ma highly energetic player. I think that

(01:29):
compliments me as well as some ofthe young guys here. And we was
gonna show how much we bond andhow much we enjoy playing basketball with each
other. So that'll be fun.And what did you learn about these new
guys? I mean, what's yourtakeaway going through uh, you know,
camp in summer league and and tothe point now where you getting ready for
new season. What do you thinkabout the new group? Yeah, I've
learned that these guys just they wantto win. They're very competitive, they

(01:53):
want to play the right way.We have a bunch of unselfish guys,
and it shows they just they justwant to play the right way and have
fun. Who's the most impressive youngplayer you've seen at the practice facility.
I'm gonna go shade and sharp.When when he's on, he's on,
he's very hard to guard. Ithink I've learned kind of what to say

(02:15):
to get him activated. But whenhe's in that competitive mode and he's in
the mindset of I want to dothis, and it's it's hard to stop
him. You know, there's anumber of guys who have done this.
I was curious for you. Ithink you went to Campbell Hall High and
in LA and then you went toCompass Prep down in Arizona. How did
that year of you know, prepschool, Like, how did you enjoy
that and what did that do foryour game? Yeah, that was one

(02:36):
of the best decisions I made.I think I went to an academic school
before that. I took basketball serious, but just taking that leap of just
having basketball every day and having collegecoaches giving you feedback on what they saw
and just it just kind of showedme where I was at and what I
needed to work on. And Iwas around some NBA guys as you guys
know, if you see the rosterand some a bunch of d one guys.

(02:59):
So I was able to compare myselfto them. Now the leadership part
of this, you're big leader.Dame is gone. Who's gonna fill that
void? How are you guys gonnahandle that? I think it's gonna be
a couple of people, Honestly.Dame was a big voice, and I
don't I don't think we have anotherDamian little it right now as far as
just from energy and voice. ButI do see some people growing into that

(03:21):
role, some of the other guys, but I see it being a more
of a group name. Now,what have you gotten from coach Billips in
terms of your role and what heexpects from you and what he's looking for
you from in year two? Yeah, he's told me what what do you
expect from me to get on thecourt? A bunch of that is energy,
the intangibles. I realized what thatwhat that is? Now me and
him are getting a better relationship andit's kind of clear cut for me.

(03:46):
What's your summer like, what doyou how many days off did you have?
I know you're in the gym alot. I hear that from people.
How many days off did you haveand what did you do when you
weren't playing basketball. Yeah, Ihad a good amount of days off,
but days off physically, I saydays off mentally. I didn't really have
any days off. Mentally. Itwas something whether it was reading or bonding
with my friends or having conversations.I was always intentionable about my days off

(04:11):
and what that meant for me.Whether I was stretching, doing hot tub
yoga, my days off were justwere very important. I was drinking water.
I was just spending it useful.I wasn't messing around. How much
of you adjusted your nutrition over thelast year based on when you first came
to the league, I would imagineit's probably changed because you learned from some
of the vets and other guys andtrainers and what works. Yeah. Completely.

(04:33):
I cut out red meat for along time. Recently started eating it
again, but as time goes on, I want to cut that out again,
just to took out several things frommy diet, trying things, seeing
what how my body reacts to certainthings, and just getting getting more of
a more of a routine and knowingwhat my body likes and understanding myself more.

(04:55):
Did you feel better without the redmeat? Yeah? I did.
I felt more, I felt moreenergetic. It's hard, though, I'm
not gonna lie. It's hard toget that out, especially going to certain
places. But my body feels betterwhen I'm just eating salmon and whitefish and
stuff like that. You know,you were talking about the highs and the
lows. I you know, especiallyyounger in my radio career, when I'd
have a bad show, I'd belike, dude, they're gonna fire me,

(05:15):
they don't want me. I can'tdo this, And you start to
have these doubts that what's it likefor you when you have an outing where
you go out there and you feellike you played like garbage and you're frustrated,
and I mean you're just waiting forthe next game, or how do
you walk through that? Because it'stough, man, getting when you start
getting inside your own mind. Yeah, it is tough. Yeah. I
mean the people around me know knowhow tough that was for me. But

(05:36):
I think being that young and beingthat unexperienced, I handled it really well.
I know it was tough because youdidn't know when your next opportunity was,
and it seemed like when you madea mistake. The whole world was
watching, and yeah, sometimes youdidn't. You didn't know what the organization
felt about you. You're not talkingto them every day, so it's like,
do they think I'm this way?It's just it's it's tough for a

(05:57):
young kid. I'm not gonna lie. But I had to write people around
me, and I became cometable whoI was as a person, and if
something happened, then it happened.But I did all the right things to
set myself up for the position thatI'll be in. Does it help having
you know your dad? I watchyour dad play. I mean, does
it help having your father who hadbeen through that experience to kind of you
can he can walk you through that, going through the highs and lows himself.

(06:17):
Yeah, most definitely. I meanit helps, and it hurts because
my dad has his own experience andit's not your experience, it's not my
experience, so he can only takeme so far to a certain extent before
it's like, okay, all right, Dad, this is a little bit
different because I feel this way andit's not necessarily how you feel. We're
two different people. And then sometimeshe's adamant about it being a certain way

(06:40):
when I may see it a differentdifferent way because we have two different lives.
So it's definitely a blessing, butsometimes if you don't balance it right,
it can be pretty stressful. I'mcurious when you're feeling that way,
kind of down and everything. It'sjust something you can do during the day,
aside from practice and everything else.Is there anything that you do,
an activity or something that you dothat brings you out of that box?
I box now, and that bringsme out of it. Yeah, that's

(07:03):
that's probably my main thing right now. I'm not gonna lie. Did you
get that from Dame or where didyou get that? I didn't. I've
seen it before. It was alwaysin the back of my mind. I
didn't pay too much attention to itwhen Dame was doing it, but it
always brought a curiosity to me,and I think I just kind of explored
it on my own, like watchingYouTube videos and understanding the science and like
the mind behind it, how youcan take that and actually use it to

(07:25):
hurt an opponent, and it's justit's a sweet science. I just love
it. How do you think thattranslates to the basketball floor. Yeah,
I think it's it's a chess game. You don't realize because boxing moves so
fast that it's a counter to everything. And me doing that, even if
it's just pad work right now,it allows me to be I think,
a step ahead of my opponents.Okay, he does this, right,

(07:46):
I'm a counter and do this,or I see this, this punch coming
before this. It's just you're likeon your feet. Is there a boxing
gym and portal that you can goto? I'm not familiar with that.
Yeah, I actually go to thesame same guy Dame went to it,
same gym. That's Jim boxing orgym boxing gym something. His name's Jim,
but it's gym's boxing gym. It'ssomething that's perfect. Yeah. No,

(08:09):
but I like that. Now yourteammates will come to you. So
if someone on another the team startsto get lippy and things are about to
go sideways on the floor, they'llbe like, all right, you got
it, you part. I don'tknow if that's the I don't know if
that's the intention, but I stillthink. You know, there's people I
don't do boxing that can fight orprobably hold their own. But that's awesome.
What do you want to improve onthe most this year looking back at

(08:31):
film and going over your first year, like, where are you looking to
make strides? Yeah? I justwant to be more patient, more calm.
I want to be able to helppeople around me more. Now that
I kind of know where I'm at, I start to prove that. But
help people how like on the floor, Yeah, like just mentally if they're
having tough tough time or you know, I consider myself a mature young guy.
So if they're still guys that needhelp in certain areas, the younger

(08:52):
guys, and I want to beable to help them in that area.
Yeah, tell me your favorite restaurantin Portland. I swiggle grew really yes,
nice? Yeah, they got somegood eats right there. All right.
I used to live in Colorado.You went to a boulder, See
you. I got family that wentthere. Like through your eyes, what
coach Prime and Colorado is doing?How dope is that? Yeah? It's

(09:13):
crazy. I see people with seeyou jerseys now and I'm like, how
do you? How do you knowabout that? But I think I'm like,
oh man, this is this nationaltelevision now it's not the same as
it was. But they weren't therewhen you were there, man, Yeah,
it's crazy. It just feels goodto be an original. Did you
enjoy being up there with the Imean it's beautiful here, but you know,
Boulder's a whole different set with themountains. Oh my goodness, is
crazy. I just went back thissummer and it's it's just beautiful like when

(09:33):
I left. Wow. Yeah,summertime weather there was nice too. It's
crazy. Cask for anything better besideshere this, this one, this one
is a little bit better. Whatwou'd you do with your time? I
mean it was Shane, you know, I heard talking about this once where
it's like you used to playing ballat the time. Then you get in
the league and all a sudden yougot the off season and you got free
time. It's good. It's gotto be kind of mind blowing. Yeah,

(09:54):
you know, that is one thingA lot of people don't realize that
we do have a good amount offree time until we don't. You know,
what must a trive and stuff likethat. So it's on paper we
do, but you know, mentallyyou're tired or exhausted. You got family,
all this stuff. But with thatfree time, I did try to
go back to school recently, takeclasses, take classes and awesome, what
are you studying? What's your majorgonna be in? Communications? Yeah?

(10:16):
So he's coming after his god father. Yeah, they all do. Yeah
that's great. So how how manyhow many more credits do you have?
I forget the numbers, but you'regonna get to agree. Yeah. Yeah,
at some point, I did twoyears of college. Did you promise
your mom or is this something you'redoing for yourself? Or I didn't?
I didn't promise her. I don'tthink I did. Hopefully I can't remember,
but yeah, I definitely wanta doit for myself. Good for you,

(10:37):
man, that's awesome. How wasthat you didn't Did you actually go
to class or was this remote learning? What did you do? Yeah?
It was remote learning? But letme finish. I signed up for a
class, the books didn't come ontime. I realized that it was gonna
be a lot harder than I thanI thought it was gonna be. So
next seme messed. I'm gonna tryagain. I'm gonna try to have everything

(10:58):
set in order and get a planbefore. But that's the that's the thing
I want to do in the future. Gosh, that's great. I do
you enjoy remote learning? I wouldn'tsay I enjoy it, but if it
needs to be done, I'll getit done. Hey school was still school.
Yeah yeah, yeah, that's great. Jabbari Walker Jabbari Walker getting ready
for a brand new season. Secondyear with the Trail Buzzer. Jabari Man,

(11:20):
good luck this year. We're lookingforward to watching you and your energy
and uh and your strides this season. Thank you. I can't wait to
get out there.