NBA D-League Players Roundtable — Routines, Favorite Movies and Goals
With the NBA D-League All-Star break looming, Upside & Motor reached out to some of the prominent players in the league to ask the hard-hitting, crucial questions that NBADL fans need to know! First, though, let’s meet the panel.
Dakari Johnson (@DakariJohnson) plays for the Oklahoma City Blue as a draft rights player after the Thunder selected him with the 48th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. After a relatively slow start, the 20-year-old out of Kentucky has really come on as of late. He enters the break averaging 12.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in just over 28 minutes per game.
Josh Magette (@joshmagette) is the head of the snake for the Los Angeles D-Fenders. This is his second go round in the D-League, and he’s making the most of it with averages of 10.1 points, 8.6 assists and 2.5 steals. He’s leading the league in assists and steals, and really should have been an All-Star this year.
Toure’ Murry (@toure_murry) is the wily veteran of the group with 56 games of NBA experience with the Knicks, Wizards and Jazz under his belt. He runs point for the Texas Legends and is a lock down defender. He’s averaging 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists through 29 games with Texas this season.
Ronald Roberts Jr. (@RonaldRoberts5) holds down the paint for the expansion Raptors 905. This is Roberts’ second season in the D-League, though he’s already played more games this year than he did all of last season. He enters the break as an All-Star with averages of 18.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks on almost 62 percent from the field.
The guys were awesome enough to take their time to answer these questions, so we hope you enjoy.
What does your team do on road trips to pass the time?
Dakari Johnson: On road trips me and my teammates usually just go out to dinner together, go to the movies, or the mall we usually explore the cities that we are in.
Josh Magette: Dominoes. One of our trainers brings a set and we play on every road trip.
Toure’ Murry: What my team does for fun are playing card games (mostly spades) and video games — we play Mortal Kombat and NBA 2K16. A lot of times a group of guys link up to eat at restaurants too.
Ronald Roberts Jr.: The main thing my team does for fun is look for the best place to eat. We always go down to lobby soon after we check in and try to eat at the most popular restaurant in the area. It’s always a fun time eating as team, especially when were always clowning on each other. Most of time after we eat, we’ll be in one room just talking about everything and anything which goes from the season, funny stories and girls. It’s always a variety of topics, so there’s never a dull moment when we’re bonding.
What do you eat on game days?
Johnson: On game days usually the team providers us with a pre-game meal, which consist of baked chicken and some vegetables, and I personally usually drink around 3-5 bottles of water to just hydrate myself.
Magette: I usually try to get some sort of grilled chicken and pasta on game day.
Murry: My go-to meal would be chicken parmesan or some type of pasta.
Roberts: My go-to game day meal is definitely some type of pasta, whether its chicken or some type of fish. My main focus is to get as many carbs and protein before the game so I can use it as energy.
Name your three favorite movies. Don’t think — just answer!
Johnson: Law Abiding Citizen, The Waterboy and Training Day.
Magette: Superbad, Shawshank Redemption, The Dark Knight.
Murry: Friday, Goodfellas and Life.
Roberts: Paid in Full, He Got Game, Space Jam.
If you could travel anywhere in the world for a week long vacation, where would you go and why?
Johnson: Hawaii would be one place I would like to travel to for a week. I haven’t been before but I know it’s beautiful and one day would like to visit.
Magette: Australia. It looks like it would be a good time.
Murry: For a week long vacation I would go to Jamaica. The food is amazing and all the people there have great vibes and also the weather is beautiful.
Roberts: If I could travel anywhere in the world I would go Trinidad to meet most of my family members from my dad side that I never got the chance to meet.
Which city (not your team’s) has been the most fun to visit this season?
Johnson: The best city we traveled to this year for me would have to be to L.A. I have a lot of family that lives out there and that’s the place I trained at before the draft, so I’m very familiar on places to go and visit. There’s also a lot of different things to do out in L.A., plus the weather is nice.
Magette: Santa Cruz. Love playing in front of their crowd and the city is cool to walk around.
Murry: McAllen, Texas. (The Rio Grande Valley Vipers play here).
Roberts: My favorite city to visit is definitely Newark, Delaware mostly because I went to school in Philadelphia and it gives me the chance to take a 45 minute car drive to see my old coaches and teammates. Also living in Delaware last year makes it really comfortable to come back and see my old coaches and all the good people in the Carpenter center.
What are some goals you have for the second half of the D-League season?
Johnson: My goal for the second half of the season is just to keep on improving day by day as a player, stay on my daily routine and keep taking care of my body. Also as a team just growing together and keep pushing each other everyday.
Magette: Win as many games as possible while we make a playoff push and continue improving as a player.
Murry: Continue to stay consistent and enjoy the love of the game.
Roberts: My goal for the second half of the D-League still remains the same from when I decided to join the league. Ultimately, I want to get signed by any team for the rest of the year. Two or three 10-days is a very great achievement too.