Tyrone, you are in Frankfurt now for almost four weeks. How well have you been integrated into the team so far?
I start feeling comfortable in the team. I have not been playing very aggressive. I wanted to be respectful against the established players like Robert Garrett or Pascal Roller and left the court to them. That is why I did not took so many shots and concentrated on passing. After the second game in Austria Pascal, Robert and I sat down and we had long discussion. They encouraged me and said: "Play your game. That is why the OPEL SKYLINERS chose you."
And how would you describe "your game"?
I play to win. I do not care whether I score 8 or 28 points. When I am scoring good - okay. When I can hand out a lot of assists - okay. When I am playing strong defense and can take the best player of the opponent team out of the game - okay. God gave me the ability to jump high. For sure I like dunking the ball - that is fun. But I am not slamming because of the show. I do not yell around like other players, after I dunked. Dunks are just a regular part of the game for me. You can score and win the game. And that is what this is all about: my team wins.
So you are no ego-maniac, who just cares about his stats?
Not at all. I just want to win. Look, when I am scoring 30 points, but my teams lost the game, that is bad for me, too. That is what happened to BJ McKie last season. He scored a lot of points but his team was not good. I want to have a successful career. Teams do not want losers but winners. My goal is the NBA. When the OPEL SKYLINERS do not play well, I can not fulfil my goals.
You became MVP in Finland. How important is that for you?
Primarily I am happy that we won the cup. Robert Garrett earned the MVP title, too. Of course it is nice to be approved that way. But becoming the MVP of the BBL or the ULEB Cup would be even more nice (smiles).
You scored over 100 points in every single game. Have the opponents been too weak?
It is very important for us to play games against assumed weak teams. You can look very bad playing a "weak" team with the wrong attitude. So when we can beat a team by 20 or 30 points - so what? Let´s do it. Even if the other team is not so good you have to manage to hit your jumpers, pass the ball and do your thing.
How do you get along with the other guys off the court?
Very good. Especially with Pascal and Robse Garrett. The fans will have a lot of fun with the three of us. At least two of us will have a big night every game. When a team will concentrate on me in their defense - well, than Pascal or Robert can do their thing. As a trio it will be hard to stop us.
