Around 7, I go and grab breakfast. I try to have a bigger breakfast, because I’ve usually burned so much from the night before. After breakfast, I’ll come back and handle anything that’s needed at home, which puts me around 9:30. At that point, I'll start getting ready for the game itself. I’ll look at any kind of NBA memos that came out from the previous night, and I’m also looking at different rules, interesting plays that may have happened in any of those games.

Around 11, we have a day-of-game meeting, and that’s typical in both the G League and the NBA, where we get together, talk about what we need to do, go over our fundamentals, and begin bonding as a crew. We’ll typically all go out and get something to eat for lunch, and I’ll have something light—maybe a caesar salad. Then I’ll go back to my room, iron my clothes for the arena, and take a nap. I also like to meditate to get my mind calm and ready for what I have to undertake in the evening for the game. Around 5, we leave for the arena as a crew, and when we get to the locker room, it’s just business as usual. Stretching, doing our check-ins, going over what we went over earlier in the day.

There’s a lot going on there, starting with you waking up at 4:45 in the morning. How long has that early wakeup time been part of your routine?

I’ve always been a morning person. When we did two-a-days in college, they started at 5 or 5:30. I’ve just kept that going. I wanted to add more hours to the day. By getting up that early, I’ve added, on average, another two or three hours for things I need to get done. And I like having the gym as the first thing I knock out.

Also, a lot of times when I’m going city to city, I usually catch the first flight out of the city I’m in. What that usually means is a 6 a.m. flight, which puts me up super early anyway. It’s a combination of both of those things, but it’s definitely the norm now.

What about the days when you’re not working a game?

It differs a little, but I still get up at 4:45 and hit the gym pretty soon after that. The rest of the daily preparation is pretty similar too. You never know what may have occurred the night before in a game, any kind of memos that may have come out, and you want to stay sharp with that stuff. You’re always learning in this profession. If you’re not trying to get better and learn, the game will get so far ahead of you.

I’m curious how the rigors of playing basketball compare to reffing it. What are you doing during the game to stay physically and mentally sharp, and what’s your post-game plan?

You’re pretty tired during the game. I try to drink at least one bottle of water in the first and third quarters, as well as halftime. In the second and fourth quarters, I’ll usually mix it half-and-half with Gatorade. After the game, I continue to hydrate and watch tape in the locker room. Sometimes, the crew will go and have dinner together; I try to have a pretty heavy meal at that point, because I ate light earlier in the day and want to replenish what I’ve expended, since we usually run around for 2-4 miles per game. After that, I head back to the room, watch a little more tape, and get ready for the next city.