no need to preface this interview. Enjoy:

SMUSH:

On what went wrong for him this year:

“Some days I lost motivation, it wasn’t fun. The game wasn’t fun anymore. I love to play basketball and at times I felt like I wasn’t able to do so.

On his time with the Lakers:
“ The Lakers definitely gave me a great opportunity and I didn’t want to let that opportunity slip through my fingertips. It was fun. It was a fun ride, starting for most of two seasons. They allowed me to show I could play at this level of basketball.

“I did what I could. There are somethings I could’ve done better, then there were things I had no control over.

On his role the last two months:

“The last month or two, I felt honestly that the situation between me and Phil Jackson was blown out of proportion. I really didn’t have a problem with Phil Jackson. Me and him spoke about that. I really didn’t have a problem with him, but the media made it out to be that. Obviously, I guess it did take it’s toll mentally on not only myself but on the team and on Phil Jackson.

I knew when it was happening that it was taking its toll. Whether I wanted it to happen or not, a thing like that will bother anybody.

That situation wasn’t to blame for why we lost or why we were losing. It was just blown out of proportion.

On his relationship to his teammates:

“I don’t have any beefs with my teammates. Me and Phil talked about how I could’ve been more outgoing, but that’s just not in my personality. I could’ve done some things to make my relationship with my teammates stronger, but like I said to Phil Jackson, I’m a loner, I like to be by myself, I’m very observant and I’m quiet, so I might be standoffish at times and at times, a trait like that isn’t so good when you’re trying to build a team and build friendships between teammates.

“I told them that the way I went about being a friend to my teammates was subtle. I’m not the Ronny type where I’m jumping up and down, giving high fives and dancing. I was doing little things behind the scenes.

On whether he’d have done things differently:

I don’t live life with regrets. Everything is a learning experience. I’ve learned definitely from this experience as a Laker and I’m a stronger person because of it.

On Phil Jackson:
Everybody knows that Phil Jackson has a lot of layers. He’s a very deep person and he has his own methods of doing things, his way of life and his thinking. He’s the Zen master, but not everybody in here believes in Zen. … I like Phil Jackson. I love him as a coach. He’s a good guy. He’s quiet, like myself. He’s not a loud, outspoken person. All I said was I stopped trying to figure out why he did certain things. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him or his coaching style. I wasn’t trying to figure him out, I was just trying to play for him and be the point guard he wanted me to be.