Here’s Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford explaining why he could have been better during his short time with the Chicago Bulls.
(via Dallas Mavericks):
Reporter: “How did you view your experience in Chicago? I know it wasn’t a long time or anything, but do you feel like you made the most of it? Anything you didn’t do? How do you look back on that?”
Gafford: “I feel like all in honesty, where my work ethic is now, most definitely could have been literally like a lot better in the area when I was here, in all honesty. I felt like I took a lot of stuff for granted when I was here. I felt like I didn’t get the job done whenever I stepped out on the floor. I felt like I was always fidgety. I felt like I was always not ready, not locked in. So taking that next step once I got traded was something that I wanted to get better at, for sure. It helped me build my character, it helped me build my mentality. Just come out every night and always be ready, for sure.”
Reporter: “Just talking about your focus on the game kinda?”
Gafford: “Yeah. It’s like I kinda fell out of love with the game, and I kinda like had to reevaluate myself. So once I got traded to Washington, I took a step back and figured out how to bring myself back into loving the game, for sure. It was a lot when it came to just me mentally here in Chicago. I wanted to be better than what I was, of course, but with this business, you just have to be ready for anything, in all honesty. And when I was here for the year-and-a-half that I was here, I felt like I wasn’t in that position when it comes to just being ready for anything.”
Reporter: “Was that because of the losing?”
Gafford: “I don’t think it was necessarily because of the losing. In all honesty, I think it was just me wanting to be the player that I wanted to be, and I wasn’t making any step to be that player. So, I had to do a lot of reevaluation. I had to do a lot of soul searching, too. It was just a lot of stuff that kinda like I would say pulled me out mentally with it. I wanted to be way better than what I was playing, and it’s just like I couldn’t really make that push, because I was being lazy, for sure. So I had to take another step into the responsibility of being a better player, being a better player off the court, on the court, taking care of my body, taking care of my mental. Just a lot of stuff that I had to take the next step into being better at, for sure.”
