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How unhappy players can affect NBA locker rooms

On the latest episode of "Strictly Hoops," C.J. Miles explains how players who are no longer interested playing with a franchise can impact NBA locker rooms. Full episode can be found on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

CJ MILES: Let's just say you the All-Star on my team. And like you-- you got everything-- it seemed like everything catered to you, from my perspective. So like, you know, there's going to be a little-- little way to that. Like we can't not acknowledge those feelings. And ain't nobody going to say it out loud. Nobody going to start no fights or nothing like that over it. But it's just like, hey, man, like I'll play. If you don't want to play, I'll play.

And then you got just the situation of if it not feeling together. Like you know what I mean? You're not. Because you're like, is he really going? Like is he-- is he just trying to get out of here? Or is he just playing? Like say a guy, you know, is trying to get everybody revved up. Ahh, trying to get everybody-- it's like, you're just doing that, because everybody watching type. You know what I mean? Like you don't want nobody to think you--

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: --you're not being genuine. You don't want that.

AMIT MANN: Do you think fans, media, and so forth read a little bit too much into body language within a game?

CJ MILES: I think sometimes it gets taken out. Because like sometimes you got to remember these dudes-- we always call-- you hear guys call each other brothers.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: They argue like brothers. They act like brothers with each other. Like they not-- like we're looking at it from the outside. They're not taking that offensive.

AMIT MANN: Sure.

CJ MILES: Like you know what I mean? They arguing over a thing that they're trying to get right. They trying to get a solution. Like it's just-- it's a passionate thing most of the times. It's not them. It's not no sign that I don't like him, or I want to fight him, or I want-- it's like, no, we want to win this game.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: And we trying to get the points across. And he-- like he might have must have been on a rotation. And something might have happened kind of out of textbook that not allowed him to be in rotation. And I'm like, why wasn't you there? And he's like, well, this, this-- you know what I mean? It's just trying to get through it.

AMIT MANN: But if he communicated, it would have been fine. [LAUGHS]

CJ MILES: And now, you communicating this way. It just don't look good. So, you know, but that's usually what it is, though.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: It's usually guys trying to get each other right or a vet trying to get a young'un right, one or the other. And sometimes you got to respond that way. Because you've been responding to them the nice way, and it don't always resonate. You don't want to like sun nobody or embarrass nobody either. But you just want to make sure you're assertive. So you can be like, hey, this is important.

AMIT MANN: Yeah. Constructive criticism.

CJ MILES: Yeah.

AMIT MANN: Right? That's what we all want. Just want to be yelled at.

CJ MILES: Yeah, you should want it.

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: I said, I wouldn't want people to not like blindly follow me or blindly empower me. Like don't just tell me what I'm good at all the time--

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: --when I got one thing that's bad that could outdo all of the good I'm doing, that could ruin everything I'm doing. Like tell me about that. Like tell me--

AMIT MANN: Yeah.

CJ MILES: Tell me I'm good. But tell me what can make me great.