Rookie forward Caleb Swanigan, who the Trail Blazers selected with the 26th overall pick during the 2017 NBA Draft, was a guest on the June 29 edition of The Jim Rome Show on CBS Sports Radio. During the interview, Swanigan discusses what it was like waiting for his name to be called during the draft, playing positionless basketball, overcoming homelessness and obesity and his mindset going into his first season in Portland. You can listen to the entire interview below...

On not playing a tradition position in the NBA...

Caleb Swanigan: "Right now, basketball is really about one position: the guy who is going to bring the ball up the court. That’s the point guard, the guy that has to get you into everything. You’ve got to have your biggest guy on the court that’s going to beat up and play on the boards, but the other three positions, they all do a lot of the same things on the court. They run in transition, they shoot, they pass, they do all those other things in those in between positions. That’s really all it is, you’ve got to know the plays at different positions. You could find yourself on the court doing anything."

On what it took to overcome adversity...

Caleb Swanigan: "Mainly just the opportunity, really. That’s all I ever wanted in my life is just the opportunity. When I came out here (Roosevelt Barnes) broke it down really simple, he said ‘Get your grades, do this and I’ll do anything for you and give you everything then.’ He was holding his end of the deal up, he’s like ‘All you have to do is work hard.’ To me, that seemed simple from where I come from, as you said, just moving around, things like that. All I have to do is work hard and I could do whatever I wanted, have anything I wanted. Having that part of it really helped me a lot."

On his mindset now that's he's made it to the NBA...

Caleb Swanigan: "It’s just been a good one so far. The thoughts right now is just it’s a long journey. It’s back to the bottom, back to that 2011 summer. That’s the mindset I’m in right now where everything has to be earned again."