Candid Damon Stoudamire Interview

Grizzlies Media Day was Friday. I'm going to share a very candid interview that Damon Stoudamire gave to the local media that I thought was worth posting. In the interview, Damon discusses his leadership ability last year, his thoughts on his role on the team, and what he did after hearing Mike Conley's name called during the draft.

Wes Pounds at 730ESPN has the audio for the interview. He also has more audio from Media Day. Clink the link and go listen.

I'm transcribing all the following from the audio on 730ESPN. I apologize for any mistakes. I may leave out some of the filler words, such as, "um, "like", "and", etc. And I'm also trying not to change any double negatives or incorrect grammar. Caveat Emptor.

Damon begins...

The thing that I don't think people really understand, is that I'm not the future of this team. You know? Two, three years from now is not about Damon Staudamire. I think that I understood that, so it really wasn't a thing with them drafting Mike, or even with Kyle here. I understand that today is today, and today is when Damon Staudamire can help this team.

Next, Damon talks about draft day and what happened after he found out the Grizzlies selected Mike Conley...

To be honest with you, and you can ask him, when they drafted Mike Conley, the first person I called was Kyle Lowry and I asked him, was he alright. The reason I did that was, that I've been in this league for 13 years, this will be my 13th year, and I asked him was he alright from the standpoint that he was the 1st round pick the year before and then they bring in a point guard. Now in hindsight that would hurt my feelings. You know what I mean? If I was in the same position. So I picked up the phone and I just thought about how I would've felt in a similar situation. I asked him, was he alright? He said he was alright. He just wanted to battle and let it fall the way it may. I was cool with that.

Damon continues...

This right now, this situation that I'm in right now, is really a win-win situation for everyone involved. I'm not the future, but maybe I can be the present. You know? To help these guys out.

Do you think the Grizzlies are young this year? Ya...so does Damon...

It's so crazy. Because I've talked to alot of my friends in the league, guys I've played with in Portland. I've never been in a situation like this. I'm looking around here, and all of these guys are babies to me. None of them have really been through what I've been through. None of them have won a playoff game. None of them have really been in what is called a war. So to speak. It's crazy.

Damon then talks about himself being a teacher this year...

This year, I just look at it as an opportunity. Help alot of these guys out. In certain ways that maybe they haven't been helped out before. With Iavaroni and his coaching staff, and the conversations that we've had, they'll allow me do that.

Next is a very insightful look on Damon's thoughts on his leadership last year...

The biggest thing, to be honest with you, is that I feel 100%. It's like I tell people. Last year, I couldn't say nothing in the locker room. You can't say nothing when you're not playing. You can't say nothing when you're not 100%. Players want to see, what's going on, on the floor. But if you're out on the floor and you have the credentials that I have, to go along with the plan, it speaks for itself. The way I feel right now, I feel like now I can go to these guys and tell them the things I might have seen. I seen alot of things last year, but I couldn't really say it the way I wanted to, because hell, I wasn't playing. I was playing here, might play this game, sit out this game.

I'll wrap this up with Damon talking about how much off a crossroads this summer was in his career...

For me, it was a sense of urgency. This summer, for me, was really, Damon, you going to push yourself to the limit. You're going to push this knee to the limit to see exactly where this knee is at. Because if the knee don't respond the way you want it to this summer, then it's time to give it up. That's just how it has to be. The knee responded the way I wanted it to.

Great stuff from Damon. Love his honesty. Even the inflection he throws in while talking would emphasize the honesty of his words. Like the way he said, "I seen alot of things last year, but I couldn't really say it the way I wanted to, because hell, I wasn't playing.

In broader Grizzlies news...

The Grizzlies just had their first practice. I can feel my anticipation and excitement (which was the word of the day during Media Day interviews, everyone said they felt excited) rising. Evidently, the first practice was open to the media for a while. All the nightly newscasts showed video and interviews from the first practice. Noteworthy was the drill where the team had to score 100 points in 2 minutes. They barely missed the mark, but Coach Iavaroni said it was their body language before and during the drill that he was focused on. Iavaroni also mixed it up in the paint during some post drills.