CDR and the Soul Tones - Chris Douglas-Roberts Thread

[fatlever]

i like this part

CDR: This is the best lockeroom I’ve been in so far. It reminds me of a college atmosphere. Everybody is genuinely happy for one another. There are no egos. It’s all about winning and it transfers to the court. Special energy in our lockeroom.

[HornetJail]

i like this part

CDR: This is the best lockeroom I’ve been in so far. It reminds me of a college atmosphere. Everybody is genuinely happy for one another. There are no egos. It’s all about winning and it transfers to the court. Special energy in our lockeroom.

This is underrated. I personally think it's a big reason as to why we are where we are.

[catch20two]

Good interview. If our locker room morale look great to me just from looking at it on TV then I can only imagine the true camaraderie to be a player in it. Nice to see CDR touch on that. That's amazing to see him say that it's the best locker room he's been a part of because he's been a part of more than a few.

[Lottery_Mafia]

s/o to one of our fellow posters, 'Lottery_Mafia', for landing this interview/editorial

Thanks Knowitall, I stopped posting on her for a while as I got a warning from mods for advertising my own site, had to take a little respectful step back. I appreciate you sharing my interview though, happy you guys got to read it.

[mrknowitall215]

Profile Paroxysm: Sitting down with Chris Douglas-Roberts, Part 1: Pressure

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Hardwood Paroxysm

Ed. Note: We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to bring you a one-on-one interview with Chris Douglas-Roberts. Longtime friend of the site, Fred Katz, had a lengthy chat over the phone with CDR this week. We’ve broken it up into three parts; this is the first part.

Here’s a little bit about Fred: Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade, but he maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work at Bleacher Report, RotoWire and ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.

Fred Katz: Does Michael Jordan ever practice with you guys?

Chris Douglas-Roberts: [laughs] Nah. We don’t see Mike in practice. He might just show up at a game. Tremendous pressure playing in front of Michael Jordan.

Katz: What’s that like playing with the greatest watching you?

Douglas-Roberts: Subconsciously, you feel some type of way about playing in front of him. You can’t really explain it. You know what I mean? Because it’s like, “That’s Michael Jordan.” To me, he was a perfect player. So is he watching dissecting your every move? You want to know what he’s thinking, but then again, you don’t want to know what he’s thinking.

Katz: You’ve got some pretty original hair. What’s the name of your hairstyle?

Douglas-Roberts: The CDR. [laughs]

Katz: We’re calling it the CDR?

Douglas-Roberts: That’s what we’re going with. It’s like dreadlocks on top and it’s even all around. I’ve always been this type of guy. I just don’t really care [what people think], you know?

Katz: How often do you have to get it styled to maintain it?

Douglas-Roberts: Once a month. I got a haircut today, but it’s just to keep me clean around the edges. But once a month, actually. It’s the dreadlocks.

Katz: It’s almost like the dread flat top.

Douglas-Roberts: Yeah, yeah. Have you ever put into Twitter “Chris Douglas-Roberts hair”? If you ever want to do that for a laugh, do it. People either love it or hate it. More people, I think, hate it.

Katz: What’s the funniest reaction you’ve seen anyone have to your hair?

Douglas-Roberts: Somebody on Twitter put my face on Dave Chappelle when he’s playing Reggie in the Nutty Professor. They put my face on him. It was hilarious. They do all kinds of stuff. I’ve heard all the jokes about my hair. In Miami, they were calling me Prince, the guys in the front row…The fans are brutal. Opposing team’s fans are brutal, man. It’s funny, man. I laugh at it. I can’t act like it’s not funny. I mean, the guy called me Prince. That’s funny to me.

Katz: Who has the best hair in the NBA?

Douglas-Roberts: I have to go with my teammate, Josh McRoberts. He spends time on it. He’s very aware of it, and he’s always styling it. He’s always asking me, “How does my hair look?” before games. So I have to go with Josh. And then, it’d have to be me.

Katz: Josh McRoberts asks about his hair before games?

Douglas-Roberts: Yeah, right before the games. [impression] “Hey, hey, hey. How does my hair look?” It looks great, Josh.

Katz: He’s got the perfect beard complement, too.

Douglas-Roberts: Oh yeah. Josh McRoberts is wavy, man. He’s a wavy guy. He’s a one-of-one. He’s special.

Katz: With that hair, he looks like Jason Schwartzman.

Douglas-Roberts: [laughs] Yeah. He says he’s never cutting it, too. I told him, don’t. Don’t cut it.

Katz: He couldn’t look more different than he did when he was at Duke.

Douglas-Roberts: I know. But Duke is not having that. He broke loose after Duke. That’s the real Josh McRoberts we’ve got here.

Katz: LeBron dropped 61 on you guys the other night. I know Michael Kidd-Gilchrist was on him most of the night, but you had to guard him a little bit. What was going through your head as he was on the way to 61?

Douglas-Roberts: Actually, you kind of know. You kind of know when guys are in a rhythm. He was in 10 times more of a rhythm than he’s usually in. You just know that being a player. And I know Bronny. I’ve known Bronny since I was in high school. So I’ve been watching him so long that I can kind of just tell the game is coming too easy for him. You know what I mean?

It wasn’t because of our defense. We were playing the best defense that we could. But when he’s making jumpers, you can’t do anything. That’s what happened. He started out making jumpers. He was hitting tough jumpers. He was hitting threes. He was hitting tough threes. And you can’t do anything about that. I got my first piece of him in the fourth quarter, and he was really aggressive. But to be honest, it was fun to me. He already had 56 or whatever. At that time, he was already out of his mind. Luckily, I can say he got four on me. You know, now I can tell my son, “He only had four.”

http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/03/05/ ... -pressure/

Profile Paroxysm: Sitting down with Chris Douglas-Roberts, Part 2: Appreciation

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Hardwood Paroxysm

Ed. Note: We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to bring you a one-on-one interview with Chris Douglas-Roberts. Longtime friend of the site, Fred Katz, had a lengthy chat over the phone with CDR this week. We’ve broken it up into three parts; this is the second part.

Here’s a little bit about Fred: Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade, but he maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work at Bleacher Report, RotoWire and ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.

Fred Katz: You were out of the NBA for the lockout season. What did you do in that year?

Chris Douglas-Roberts: I was in Italy. I went during the time guys were going [overseas]. At that time, I was so naïve. I was a young player. I didn’t even care about what the NBA was doing. I just knew that we would possibly miss half of the year. And at that time, it was just about basketball for me. I’m confident that I would’ve gotten picked up when it all came back because a lot of teams were scrambling, and they were pretty much picking anybody up. But I just wanted to go play basketball, and I didn’t care where it was. In the end, it wasn’t about the money either, because it was actually one of the lower deals I got. I just wanted to play, man. I was over there hooping.

Katz: What did you learn from being away from the league?

Douglas-Roberts: I learned to be more appreciative. Honestly, when I was a kid, I always felt I would be in the NBA. Then I had the college career that I had. And then I had the transition to the league. So I almost felt like this is just the next step instead of really understanding how much of a blessing it is to actually play in the NBA. I just had the mentality like “I’ll be there one day.” So my time off really made that clear.

Playing in the NBA is a dream for everybody. You can’t take it for granted a little bit and I can say that I did. Being over there showed me, you know, we’re traveling by bus. You’re staying in a small apartment. You don’t have hot water some days. You might not have a washer and dryer some days. I kind of took life as an NBA player for granted and that brought it to light.

Katz: What was the hardest part of being in Italy?

Douglas-Roberts: Being the foreigner. I have so much more respect for people from other countries now. Not speaking the language, man, that’s a handicap. If I want to know something, I can’t say it. That’s the hardest part, just feeling kind of handicapped.

Katz: What has coach Steve Clifford done for you specifically to help you make your way back into the league in Charlotte?

Douglas-Roberts: First of all, he just gave me another opportunity. It’s funny how things work. When he was in LA and I was in the training camp with LA before they let me go, we built a relationship. I didn’t know that he would end up a head coach. But he saw me everyday just going hard on Kobe. Fighting teeth and nails every practice. And he’s the one who ended up giving me an opportunity. So that’s the biggest thing. That’s all you can really ask for, a coach who gives you an opportunity and is confident in you. You have to do the rest.

Katz: Did you work a bunch on your shot, because your three-point shooting numbers are better than ever?

Douglas-Roberts: I was in Frisco, Texas this summer, where I live, and I have an everyday routine there. Two times a day, with my trainer Rafael Barlowe and his brothers James and Cam. We get a bunch of threes up. We get a bunch of shots up. A bunch of threes. All types of threes. And I really wanted to make that improvement because I was just labeled a scorer, like “he needs the ball in his hands.” I just worked on all my flaws. “He can only score.” So now I’m seeing the floor, making passes. “He needs the ball in his hands.” Well, now I’m making spot-up threes at a high clip so I just wanted to keep on improving all of the flaws that people thought I had and that was one of them. So you’ve got to respect that. If a guy is shooting 40 percent from three, you have to respect that.

http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/03/05/ ... reciation/

Profile Paroxysm: Sitting down with Chris Douglas-Roberts, Part 3: Respect

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Hardwood Paroxysm

Ed. Note: We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to bring you a one-on-one interview with Chris Douglas-Roberts. Longtime friend of the site, Fred Katz, had a lengthy chat over the phone with CDR this week. We’ve broken it up into three parts; this is the third part.

Here’s a little bit about Fred: Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade, but he maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work at Bleacher Report, RotoWire and ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.

Fred Katz: Who did you model your game after growing up?

Douglas-Roberts: I kind of always just had my own game, but I feel like it was a lot of the bigger guards from Detroit. You know, the prototypes. Steve Smith, Jalen [Rose], George Gervin. Everybody who’s tall, lanky, skinny, but can handle the ball and has a little bit of flair to their game. It just kind of happened like that. Those are the guys I kind of looked up to coming up.

Katz: Has that changed as you’ve gotten older? When you look at your game now, is there anyone you say you would compare your game to? Is there someone you might watch to replicate or learn from?

Douglas-Roberts: Well, now that I’m older and I’m in the pros, you have to be who you’re asked to be by the coach and your teammates. So right now, I think I’ve shot more threes than twos this year. I think I’m around 40 percent from three this year, and that’s the highest I’ve ever been. Right now, that’s my role. So I’m taking this role as seriously as I can everyday. But things do change. I’ll probably have another answer for you next year. So that’s the best answer I have. I’m just doing what I have to do right now.

Katz: About roles on a team, you were a big-time star when you helped take University of Memphis to the NCAA Championship in 2008. Now, you’re more of a role player. Is there a mindset change you have to have there?

Douglas-Roberts: I call that being a professional. Right now, this is what I have to do. I always feel confident. My confidence never wavered. You know, I’ve had pretty big nights in the league. But right now, I have to make these threes. I have to defend. And I just have to make the most of my opportunity when I’m out there. I always look at guys like Gerald Green, who went from not playing in Indiana and now he’s in Phoenix, and he’s playing a huge role. You know, he’s the starting shooting guard over there. But it took him maximizing his opportunities in a smaller role. So that’s how I approach it. Take it a day at a time. That’s my mentality. Take it a day at a time and maximize every opportunity.

Katz: You’re mentioning aspects of the analytics of basketball. Are you a big stat guy?

Douglas-Roberts: Yeah, I take this seriously. I watch film. I treat this like somebody would treat a 9-to-5. I spend those eight hours on my game, whether it’s working out, whether it’s film, whether it’s just studying. True shooting percentage and all that is very important. You have to go along with the game and that’s what the game is turning into. When you’re a free agent, they’ll put these numbers up against you so it’s only right to adapt, and be like those guys, too.

Katz: What’s your favorite stat that you use to evaluate yourself or other guys?

Douglas-Roberts: Points per possession. Scoring the ball almost every possession they get it. That’s important, especially when you’re a defender. The great thing is they have Synergy now so you can really go and watch a guy’s every move. I think more of us should take advantage of that. True shooting percentage is also very important to me, because it’s what it says. It’s your true shooting percentage. So I look at stuff like that.

Katz: What’s your favorite NBA moment that you’ve had since coming into the league?

Douglas-Roberts: Well, I have two. My first ever NBA game in the preseason was against the Heat and we were in Paris. I had 17 points and it’s like, you’re on the scene. It was against D-Wade. It was like you belong.

And then there was my first game against the Celtics when they had Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen and all of those guys. They welcomed me to the league. They said congratulations, welcome. And that moment really stood out, because those guys didn’t have to do that. And KG is the opposite of that, you know? KG hates you. So that meant a lot to me.

Katz: Playing against KG, that can’t be fun.

Douglas-Roberts: Honestly, man. It’s very fun to me, because I understand it. He’s just getting himself going. This is how he gets himself going and you have to respect it. He’s going to set hard screens and he’s going to talk bad to you, but in some ways, you have to respect that. He’s ultracompetitive and as a basketball player, you’ve got to respect that.

http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2014/03/05/ ... 3-respect/

[mrknowitall215]

Can we consider CDR a 3-point threat? He's now shooting 43% from beyond the arc on a decent clip of attempts, and has made as many total as Henderson in less than half the amount of games & minutes since signing with Charlotte. CDR is currently 4th on the team in 3-pointers made this season behind Tolliver, Kemba, & McRoberts

[catch20two]

Let's just say that I'd take 10ppg from CDR with the ability to spread the floor making 3s and handle the ball over 14ppg on 40% shooting of selfie fadeaways from Hendo as defenses cramp the lane to stop Jefferson and Kemba. I like the way CDR has been playing for us. Not only is he making 3s but he's playing solid defense and making friends in the locker room. I hope we bring him back after this season. He won't be asking for much money. He just want to be in the league.

[Snidely FC]

It's downright enjoyable to root for a team that sports guys like Tolly, McBob & CDR, who have reinvented themselves as thorough professionals and quirky characters, giving the team what it needs on and off the court.

[Snidely FC]

spacing on offense sure has looked a lot better with CDR on the court compared to with Hendo
9//14 from 3 last 3 games & 45% from 3 on the season, nice

[amcoolio]

We got senitmental with Henderson giving him that stupid contract. CDR is just as servicable. For all Henderson gives us on D, he loses it with not being able to hit 3's and taking bad contested shots for no reason. I think we should stick with starting CDR the rest of the season. I know its only been two games but the first unit has looked so cohesive and great with him than with any other player

[HornetJail]

We got senitmental with Henderson giving him that stupid contract. CDR is just as servicable. For all Henderson gives us on D, he loses it with not being able to hit 3's and taking bad contested shots for no reason. I think we should stick with starting CDR the rest of the season. I know its only been two games but the first unit has looked so cohesive and great with him than with any other player

Agreed with the CDR part, but Gerald is a 6M/year player who will give you production on both ends. The contract was just fine, but given the way this team has played this year, Kemba, Jefferson, McRoberts, defense, and floor spacing is all we really need. Gerald has become the odd man out because of his playing style.

[mrknowitall215]

I think starting CDR with Henderson as the 6th man should be the ideal adjustment. The unconventional part is if Clifford is wiling to entrust Neal to play spot minutes at PG, and take Ridnour out of the rotation

[HornetJail]

I think starting CDR with Henderson as the 6th man should be the ideal adjustment. The unconventional part is if Clifford is wiling to entrust Neal to play spot minutes at PG, and take Ridnour out of the rotation

It only gets unconventional if Pargo plays over both Ridnour and Neal. Which he should.

[Snidely FC]

CDR really has transformed his style of play from just a few months ago to where he now fits what we need.
I really like the new version, Chris Dagger Roberts!

[catch20two]

I was totally excited when we called CDR up from the D-league as much as I was when my now defunct NJ Nets drafted him. He's got his legs underneath him now and showing the player he can be. The crazy thing is that he has more to offer than he's currently showing and he will display it as he get more comfortable with the team and the speed of the NBA again. I hope we bring CDR back after this season and I also hope we keep giving him minutes. I've said many of times that I would start him over Hendo but that's a ballsy controversial movement that I doubt we'd do.

[mrknowitall215]

CDR is proving his worth, and has if you ask me has made Jeff Taylor's return from injury next season even more expendable

[mrknowitall215]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/449158877788258304[/tweet]

Zach Lowe aka The Basketball Bible to some, has spoken

[Eoghan]

I was totally excited when we called CDR up from the D-league as much as I was when my now defunct NJ Nets drafted him. He's got his legs underneath him now and showing the player he can be. The crazy thing is that he has more to offer than he's currently showing and he will display it as he get more comfortable with the team and the speed of the NBA again. I hope we bring CDR back after this season and I also hope we keep giving him minutes. I've said many of times that I would start him over Hendo but that's a ballsy controversial movement that I doubt we'd do.

He does look like he's getting his legs under him, I noticed that too. I'm totally on board with starting CDR over Hendo, have been for a while. Hendo is just such a ball movement killer.

[mrknowitall215]

Steve Clifford On Chris Douglas-Roberts:

It was all about opportunity. When he first came, because of injuries he was getting chances to play regularly. When Mike (Kidd-Gilchrist) came back, we were rotating more with Anthony Tolliver playing the three. At the end of the day, CDR’s an off guard because of his size. Then when Gerald got hurt, he played so well that there was no way we could keep him out of the line-up.

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2014/03/2 ... portunity/

[LamarMatic7]

Zach Lowe aka The Basketball Bible to some, has spoken

you sound salty.