'I see him work everyday on his game': Gary Trent Jr. on trusting Christian Koloko to hit shots

Toronto Raptors guard Gary Trent Jr. discusses the trust he has in his teammates, what he's learned about Juancho Hernangomez and what was shown during the pregame film session before Toronto's win vs. the Suns.

Video Transcript

[INDISTINCT CHATTERS]

GARY TRENT JR: I see you. I know you was there.

- Gary, big night for you scoring. But you play to Christian in the corner for that 3. Can you just take us through that and what you saw, and what gave you the confidence to set him up for that play at that moment?

GARY TRENT JR: I see him work every day on his game. Whether it's different stuff, whether it's finishing around the rim, catch and shoot 3s. Just having a certain trust in my teammates and believing he can knock down the shot and make a play. I feel like anybody of us on our team can at any given time. But really just was driving, they collapse, and he was wide open. So because I'm knocking that big shot down.

- What do you think [INAUDIBLE]

GARY TRENT JR: Good shot for me. Yeah, that's what he do.

- He said he thank you afterwards. That must have been a nice moment in the timeout.

GARY TRENT JR: It was cool. Again, just having a certain trust. Again, I see him work every day. I see what he comes in, and what he does, and what he can do. So that's just another shot I seen him shoot every day.

- How have you kind of been able to stay pretty steady? Coming of the bench, you've been very productive. And you get a chance to start again tonight. A few more minutes. A few more points. How have you been able to kind of keep getting [INAUDIBLE] regardless of the role?

GARY TRENT JR: Just staying ready. Obviously, when I first came into this league, I was in a suit. I wasn't even in a jersey. So there's a point in time where I wasn't playing at all. I was hoping just to put a jersey on and get on the bench. So me to come out here and have the opportunity to go out there, I got to stay ready no matter what. You'd be out this league quick.

- Christian was saying that he's had shots in the past that he hasn't taken. And teammates have been telling him to shoot it because they've seen him practice it. Have you been one of those guys?

GARY TRENT JR: Any time I see somebody's got open shot, I tell him to shoot it. Whether make or miss, it's going to be what it's going to be. I'm going to shoot it as well. Make or miss, whatever it's going to be. So whoever it is on the team, whatever they're going to do, go out there and play a game, and do what you work on.

- Yeah, I wanted to ask you about Juancho. How are you-- how are you seeing him now, especially at this point of the season?

GARY TRENT JR: Yeah. Juancho, when he first came to the team, I didn't really know much about him. But his personality, how he acts, he's always joking a lot in the locker room. He's funny. He's loud.

He'd be listening to his Spanish rap when he's doing treatment and stuff out loud on his phone. So that's just one chill. Cool people. Cool guy. I'm glad I had the opportunity to be around him and get to know who he is.

- Have you-- has he made you any joke?

GARY TRENT JR: Any jokes that I can remember? Not off the top of my head. But I'd know he always saying something, and he always joking or doing something always.

- Is he giving you any acting tips?

GARY TRENT JR: Say that again.

- Is he giving any acting tips?

GARY TRENT JR: No, he ain't giving no acting tips. We're hooping.

- Gary, Nick was telling us before the game about the 20-minute film session or a speech that he was giving the team before the game about last night. What were the takeaways from that and sort of the focus going into the game after what happened last night?

GARY TRENT JR: Just be accountable. Be better. Can't accept it. Anything, the performance that we put on yesterday, it was a must win. Today, it was been must wins for us. So just continue to keep going and continue to follow coach's game plan. That's what he says, believing what he's saying. And it's going to lead us to the right direction.

- Gary, I don't know if are you trying to add even new things today to the game team. If we saw what kind of things.

GARY TRENT JR: Really just anything I can to help this team win, whether that's getting stops, whether that's knocking down open jumpers, whether that's just playing hard, being a body out there. Whatever we can to get the victory, I'm going to try to add to do

- Thanks, everybody.

- Thank you.

- Thanks, Gary. Happy new year.