Skylar Mays Is A Grinder

Dwight & Chad talk with Skylar Mays on media day and discuss his opportunity in Portland following his great opportunity to showcase his skills at the end of last season, 10-2-23.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, Rip City Drive withDwight and Chad live here from Trail Blazers

(00:02):
Media Day and very happy to bejoined by Skott the Maze part of the
Trail Blazer Skyler, welcome back,man, It's great to have you back
with the team. Thank you.I'm super excited to be here. Ready
to get started. Scotta, whatwas it like to come here last year
and get the kind of minutes thatyou got, you know, be able
to show what you can do.It's such limited minutes in Atlanta, it

(00:23):
seems yeah. I mean, well, first of all, I'm just super
thankful for you know, Joe andCharlotta giving me the opportunity to come in
and get a chance to play.I didn't know that I was going to
get that many minutes off the Rip. Obviously, there was there were things
going on to where I had anopportunity and I just wanted to take advantage
of it. So I'm just superthankful. I'm glad I, you know,

(00:44):
took advantage of it, and I'mlooking to build off of it.
Skyler. The che League has beensuch a great tool for a lot of
players out there. What's your experiencebeen in terms of the opportunity to play
and development and then get a chanceto jump up and get some big league
minutes. Yeah, I think thebig thing about the league is staying ready,
and you know, I think theintention of every player in there is
to get out. So you know, you come with a certain sense of

(01:07):
hunger and uh, you know,you just try to stack good days and
hope you give yourself a chance toyou know, play at the highest level
once you do your business there.So it worked out well for me.
I think I got a lot ofexperience out of it as far as just
getting time to play on the courtand play in different NBA sets. So,
you know, once I got hereon the ten day, I felt

(01:29):
kind of comfortable. We were runningsimilar actions, So, uh, it
worked out really well. You know, I was curious about a tremendous assist
to turnover ratio here last year andyou also shot the ball. Well are
you point guard? Are you anoff guard? Are you a combo guard?
What do you think of that?Just put me on the court man.
You know, I think I'm aplaymaker. I make things happen.

(01:49):
Uh. You know, my assistto turnover ratio is something that I've always
taken huge pride in I think Ishowed that I feel pretty comfortable with the
ball in my hands and and thatI can also space the court. So
you know, I'm a guy who, you know, uh who takes probably
in being sort of a Swiss armyknife. Uh within my you know,
within my realm, and you know, I just try to play hard and

(02:13):
make place. How did you enjoyyour experience playing SEC basketball for LSU?
I loved it. You know,I'm from Baton Rouge, so I've been
a part of it my whole life, as whether it be watching or actually
you know, getting to do fouryears of it. So uh, you
know it's a different style from thePAC twelve. I'm sure y'all watch a
lot of that out there, butuh up here. But you know,

(02:35):
it was really great for me,and I think it prepared me for the
athleticism of the league for sure.Have you had a chance to talk to
Chauncey yet about what kind of rolethey see you win for this season?
Uh? I have it, butyou know, I think, uh I
showed a lot last season and youjust want to build off it. You
know, that's not something that uh, you know, you can completely control,

(02:57):
you know, you just kind ofwant to come in and put good
days of working and be available whenready. You mentioned available. I'm sorry,
No, it's okay, it's allright. How helpful is that for
you to be back with the sameteam, where now you have an understanding
of the coaching staff and their styleof play and an idea of what you
want to do in terms of development. I would imagine it you think less
and you know exactly what to dowhen you get out there. Absolutely,

(03:20):
that's I think that was what alot of the summer was about. You
know, I spent a good chunkof time up here just learning the staff
further and getting more eyes on me. You know. Obviously that ten day
was you know, kind of quick. So you kind of just want to,
you know, build equity off ofthat and uh, you know,
keep learning, uh you know theschemes here and uh, you know,

(03:42):
try to give yourself a chance tohelp the team. You know, you
had some time in the summer here. What do you think of the city
of Portland. What did you findsome good restaurants you like or things to
do? Get tell me your takeon Portland. It's beautiful, man,
like the you know, just howgreen it is. The air is uh.
You know, I've loved it uphere. It's quiet. I'm more

(04:02):
of a reserve guy, so I'vehad a great time up here. The
food is great. I spent plentyof time downtown. You know, I'm
really excited. I'm excited to learnmore. I'm I want to get on
the water a little bit pretty soon, but I know it's getting cold.
Well, Skyler, congrats on theopportunity. We look forward to see you

(04:24):
in a Blazer uniform. I knowthe fans were excited to see you back
after last year. So thank youfor your time. Thank you so much.
Happy to be here.