Me: Is that especially important for Dejounte Murray or some of the other rookies, to be made to feel comfortable?

PM: Rookies, for sure. But it’s everyone. When you look around the room, you have so many guys that have unique stories, that are so interesting, that you want to find out more about it. It’s rookies, yeah. But you have [Davis] Bertans’ story, you have Jon Simmons’ story, LaMarcus’ story, Pau (Gasol), D-Lee (David Lee), you go around the room. For me, I want to learn about everyone. So it’s great to sit around different tables and find out about them.

Me: It seems you have such a different bench this season than in years past -- much more athletic.

PM: It is. Not only athletic, but I guess it’s the energy factor, you know? And what we’ve said is no matter how the first group starts, whether they start great or not, we’ve got to be able to bring that consistent energy, no matter what the score is. I think we grabbed hold of that earlier on, to know we can play throughout that juice and energy level.

Me: Are you more in playmaking mode than in years past?

PM: To be honest, and I said it earlier, that leadership value that I’ve focused on a little more, and trying to get guys to understand the culture and buy into the system -- whether it’s learning the offense or the terminology, or the defense, whatever it may be -- I think that’s kind of automatically put me in that mode. Which is good. And I definitely am trying to make the most of it at the same time.

Me: What did you take from the town hall meeting last week with Cornel West and with Dave Zirin of the Nation?

PM: I loved it. I loved it. I related to my situation, with the indigenous people back home, and just tried to see what I could pick from (West’s) brain, and how he carries himself, and put it into that situation. ‘Cause I guess there is that concern. Although we are a commonwealth country and we are completely different, it’s America. And Americans have that influence, whether it is good or bad, on the rest of the world. So I guess that concern, the stuff’s been said, how’s Australians going to react to it? Does that give them the freedom of speech to say certain things, and if so, how are we indigenous going to handle those sorts of things? That’s definitely the concern, and hopefully we can handle it the right way.

Me: Have you gotten past Rio yet, or does it still bug the hell out of you?

PM: To be honest, I haven’t. And although I’m teammates with one of the guys (Gasol, as ever, starred for the Spain team that beat Australia in the bronze medal game), it hasn’t come up. That’s going to sting for a little bit more.

Me: So, you’re definitely playing in ’20?

PM: Yeah, for sure. There’s no doubt about it. To know that we were that close, we’re not satisfied one bit at all. So we’ll have another shot at it.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

When the Thanksgiving Meal was too good the night before #BelowTheRimpic.twitter.com/hJy3PVOg3o — Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) November 26, 2016

-- Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30), Saturday, 4:03 am, after his sojourn to the front of the rim against the Lakers Friday night in L.A. ended unsuccessfully.

THEY SAID IT

"That was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs. They had some guys out. We had some guys out. But they had a lot more out than we did. I felt we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent. A very pathetic performance at both ends of the court, both in execution and in grunt, fiber and desire. It was an awful performance."

-- Gregg Popovich, after his Spurs played the Mavericks Tuesday night in Dallas. Did I mention that the Spurs beat the Mavericks, won -- won -- Tuesday night over Dallas, 96-91, to give him his 1,100th victory as a head coach.

"This team has a lot of Cowboys’ fans. Blake kind of goes with whoever the team’s in first, and he actually says that, so at least he’s honest about it. But Chris and DJ and Woody, I don’t understand how they all became Cowboy fans, but they are."

-- LA Clippers Coach Doc Rivers, on why his team opted to stay in Dallas last Thursday after beating the Mavs on Wednesday -- and with a game upcoming in Detroit on Friday -- to attend the Cowboys-Redskins game on Thanksgiving afternoon at AT&T Stadium. The Clippers left for Detroit after the Cowboys’ 31-26 victory.

“Like I tell everybody, I’m going to give you a three-joke maximum. You’ve got three jokes. They better be good. After that third one, I’m going to be on you.”

-- Miami Heat center Udonis Haslem, explaining why he confronted a heckling fan in Detroit on the sidelines in the waning moments of the Pistons’ blowout win over the Heat last Wednesday. Haslem said the fan began ripping on him from the moment he entered the game in the fourth quarter, and that he remained in the arena even after supposedly being removed by security.

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Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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