Maxime Raynaud shares how he'll improve after strong rookie Kings season
Kings rookie center Maxime Raynaud speaks to reporters during Sacramento's postseason press conference on Monday at Golden 1 Center.
Maxime Raynaud shares how he'll improve after strong rookie Kings season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Hey, Max.
this summer, we talked a little bit like a punch list of things you might wanna improve on this summer.
Have you started to put together sort of a list of things that you really wanna focus on?
de-definitely.
I also have my meeting with, coaches in Scotty in, like, two hours, so we'll, we'll know a little bit more then.
But, I think the main line will be, improve on everything physical related, your body, you know, being a little bit more explosive, a little bit stronger, you know, go side to side a little faster, have a better second jump, that kind of stuff.
I think that will be the baseline.
And then skill-wise, improve on what I've started to improve on at the end of the season, you know, keep shooting threes, tighten up a little bit ball handling, that kind of stuff.
And then as the summer progress, being able to include all the skills a little bit better in like, you know, team action and team play.
so I think this is what, you know, came up with me and my PD, over the last couple of games.
But, as I said, we'll, we'll have the meeting after and officially write down what we need to work on.
Max, two for you.
Do you plan on staying here in Sacramento to work on those things, or do you think that you'll go back and forth between here and France?
I'll be, I'll be probably here for the most part.
obviously, if there's some national team, events that I may partake in, I will have to go there.
But, I think the main idea is to probably stay here.
you know.
You know the facilities, you know the coaches.
It's, like, close to my new home, I guess.
So, it'll be a little simpler.
but, yeah, once again, everything's an asterisk, you know.
Totally.
final one is, when you look back on the season, what's your welcome to the NBA moment for yourself?
My handshake with Shaneen, definitely.
What- We can show you guys after.
It was pretty high level.
Um- What was so great about it?
It's, it's a really cool one, actually.
But, no, I think my welcome to NBA moment, there were many.
I think I, I was very, you know, starstruck when, you know, first met Debo, Zach, Domas, Russ, when he got signed.
that followed up with the Spiderman backpack, you know, being reminded you're a rookie on the daily.
And then, I don't know, probably a couple plays where you just still feel like a child and you're like, "Okay, I don't know if I'm all the way ready for this."
But, just the, the whole, the whole experience, the whole first six months was, was a lot.
What would-- what do you think you'll remember most about, about the year overall?
It's a good question.
all the firsts.
I think, you know, you, you-- the first time you, you step on the court, the, the first time you, you train in the NBA facilities, your first points, the, the first meetings, all that.
and also understand how your body and mind work.
I think I've never experienced that many games in my life, that many up and downs, too.
So being able to, you know, look back on that and be able to prepare for next year a little bit better, you know.
I know you have kinda, like, dips in energy, like, right before All-Star break, something that, you know, I've never experienced before at that level.
So being able to prepare for that a little bit better, that's something I'll try to take away.
But mostly, I'll just try to remember the positive, you know, and, all the amazing people we met, all my vets and all the people that, you know, helped us make that possible, whether it's, like, equipment people, whether it's, like, PR, whether it is, you know, the weight room, the cleaning people, our chefs, like, everything, right?
So, yeah.
Do you-- You mentioned the constant reminders of being a rookie.
Did that ever kinda go away at any point, given the productivity that you showed and just kind of the daily grind?
Did it ever get to a point where you're like, "I don't feel like a rookie anymore"?
no.
I would say it actually became even worse once your productivity went up, 'cause then they wanna remind you, like, "Oh, you think you're cool 'cause, you know, you had a good game, but no, no, you're not."
it's not, not really.
I do think you-- the way you behave, like, you know, in, like, the, the workplace, if I can call it like that, or, like, your team, outside of the court, really doesn't matter if you're averaging, like, forty or if you're averaging, like, zero, right?
it's more about, how you interact with others, kinda like the duties you have to have.
Like, you know, carrying bags, being kinda like at the service of, like, the older guys.
and then also understanding that there is also some kind of, like, a pecking order in the team, and that, like, guys with more experience, like, their voice matter more, and that's completely fair.
So that's more what I meant by it.
but then obviously on the court, the, the, you know, pretty maybe unsure, rookie that came into the, the year, is, is much different than, the player that ended the season here, who is, like, I would say much more confident and, like, understand his role a bit better.
But yeah, when I, when I meant rookie, I meant more non, non-court stuff.
Max, was-- Not, like, the moment where you had your NBA moment, but was there a moment where you felt like, "I think I belong here, and I, I think I can do this"?
I remember, like, two games, one of them being Utah, the beginning of the year.
Not the first one, but the second one.
First one there, where-Roz just went up to me, it was the fourth quarter, and he was like: "Look, like, I, I just need you to, like, be confident, like, when I'm gonna pass you the ball.
Like, really, like, shoot it.
Like, be confident with it."
And I think I had like, like, twelve points straight in the fourth.
And then the very next game, we go to Houston, and I think I had, like, twenty-five against, like, someone like the strongest big I've ever played against.
So these kinda like back-to-back really like boosted my confidence, and was like, "You know what?
Like, after all, maybe I belong here."
But it's only really once I started being able to produce more consistently over like a longer period of time that I was like, "Okay, maybe now I understand what I'm able to produce."
but at no point I ever was, "Okay, I'm there.
I've arrived to this initial I wanna be.
Like, I can just rest, and, like, this is good enough."
I do feel like once you start to, like, settle a little bit, that's when it comes back and, like, kicks you in the, in the butt.
So, yeah, that's, that was around that time.
Max, m-many Kings fans were introduced to you earlier this year at the Rookie Talent Show, where you got on top of the scorer's table and were dancing to, "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson.
to go from that to being everyday starting big man, you led the league in double-doubles for a rookie, and to have the season you had on the court, when you look back at your journey from that Rookie Talent Show to where you're at now, how do you describe that?
a lot of happiness and a lot of, like, enjoyment.
I do think that being able to enjoy the process and enjoy those, like, little things like the Rookie Show, is what made the experience like that co- that much cooler.
obviously, when results on the court follow, it makes it so much better.
But at the end of the day, like, I always say it, but I get paid to play with a orange basketball in front of thousand and thousand of people, which is ridiculous to me.
But, you know, I'm very serious about my work, but I'm very unserious about myself, and I think that's what really helped me go through that.
but it was a lot of unexpected stuff.
obviously, you know, team had injuries, and that, as, you know, as sad as it is, it also, like, opened up opportunities for me.
So a lot of stuff I did not expect turned out good on my end, right?
So just, just happy it turned out that way, and my goal is to, like, try to keep enjoying for as long as I can.
Hey, Max.
Apparently, it's the new thing to cape for yourself in, in the season awards and things like that.
So I'm gonna ask you, would you like to take this opportunity to make your, make your, you know, your reason for All-Rookie team or anything like that?
I mean, I don't, I don't really think I need to sell myself in the sense that, you know, season is over.
You can just look back and, and look at it.
I think your colleague, like, just mentioned I led the rookies in double-doubles, led them in rebound per game as well.
I think if you see the improvement, especially, like, post-All Star break, like, probably the only rookie that, you know, trended that way the whole year.
and yeah.
I believe I'm what?
Like, second in efficiency or something like that.
I do think if you just, you know, look at the numbers and look at the games that I've had against, like, bigs of my, my class that may be competing with me for, for first team, I think that showed that I was better, or at least I produced more.
So that is what it is.
I think the Western Rookie Conference of the Month - Western Conference Rookie of the Month, sorry, in March was like, you know, the kinda like the summary of this.
And, it's not an end goal, obviously.
It's not because you have a good rookie season, then you'll be good afterwards.
But, I do think I've showed a lot, especially in the last couple of months.
So I hope that will be enough.
But at the end of the day, like, I'm not the one who votes.
Like, I don't even know who votes actually.
But whoever votes, like, that'd be great.
Love it.
But, at the end of the day, like, you j- you guys are professional.
You know what to do.
the only one thing that will always kinda be against me and that I cannot really control is, like, it's a little less sexier when you have end-of-a-second-round guy that makes first team instead of, like, your usual, like, top five, top ten lottery guys.
that's the business of the NBA.
That's also how it works, right?
But I do think it would also be, like, a beautiful story, and people could take advantage of it, so Part two g- of that question.
When you kinda look at the growth of your career, you know, just your rookie season from where you started and to kind of getting some playing time and starting to produce and things like that, how much confidence does that give you into going into next year and this off-season?
like you said, you said you were a late round pick, but to kind of continue to surprise folks and be mo- even more than that and potentially even All-Star one day.
Yeah.
well, to the second part of your question, I mean, definitely, I guess I have, like, a little bit more of a chip on my shoulder just because there were, like, more people that were ahead of me, and I believe I, I do belong in those conversations.
So in that sense, I am a, I am very motivated to, you know, work hard and, and come back better.
But the flip side of that is also, you had a good rookie year, so now expectation are probably gonna be a little higher.
scouting report are gonna be a little tighter on you.
So, you have to understand that, and you also have to understand that, you know, this is just-Your first year into your career, and there's no chance to just settle with this.
so my goal is just to try to, you know, go back to this like, you know, like humble and like hungry mentality and just, redo all the things that I did to get me there, but do them at a, you know, higher level and with like more attention to details.
and hopefully that will have me improve for next year and therefore help the team improve for next year as well.
So, yeah, I think it's just my be- best interest to, you know, be happy about what happened, but at the same time just understand that there's so much more to go.
Apologies for, being blunt, but what was it like this season for you dealing with the amount of losses that you guys had and then also sort of compartmentalizing that and, and still managing to focus on, on yourself?
well, it's hard.
It's hard.
You're a competitor.
You don't wanna lose.
I was mentioning that to I don't even know who I was mentioning that to, but, it kind of starts to make you feel bad when like your friends start to tell you like, "Oh, I'm so sorry for today."
Like, "Dude, like don't be sorry.
Like this is my job.
Like I'm supposed to like win that game.
I'm supposed to like do more to win this."
And then once people start saying like they feel sorry for you, like that's just such a bad place to be in.
Like you don't wanna be that guy.
so naturally it's, it's tough, but then the flip side of it is also, and once again, like we had a lot of injuries, like no one's happy about that, but it also gave us young guys an opportunity to like, you know, hoop, improve, and hopefully that'll set us, put us in a better situation than most of the young guys in other teams for next year.
so it's kind of having like, you know, two rookie years into one.
Like I don't think many rookies, you know, end up like starting that many games, even for, you know, Dylan being able to, for example, like go from a two-way to a standard or like Nick ended up starting like a lot of games at the end of the year.
So that is the advantage of it.
But then, as a competitor, I mean, you, you, you're not here to lose, right?
I feel like winning kind of solves everything, makes you guys' job easier, makes me proud of myself, make the city proud of their team.
you know, that fills up the stands too.
So that's the goal.
that's what we tend to.
Obviously, it's the beginning of a cycle.
but yeah, it's hard.
It's not great.
it's just Yeah.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Max, and you were holding your own all through the season too, but if you were to say there was, a toughest opponent, you know, one-on-one or opponents, who would that be?
And, and would you, you know, wanna go against them again and again and again, and why?
I mean, tons of guys, honestly.
Jokic was, was unreal.
I think that was one of the first big we played last year.
I mean, I guess this year, last year, whatever.
so he was one of the first guy that really like, you know, really impressed me by, by his play and also by his composure.
So, it's-- what's really awesome is you-- every night you get to play against, you know, former All-Stars, All-Stars, Hall of Famers, MVPs, and, it just reminds you how, how far you are from that level still and how much more there is for you to work on.
So obviously I would be, you know, really excited to play against him next year and, look forward to see how I'm doing, after a year and a little bit more experience.
but yeah, every single matchup that I've had this year, like I wanna go back to them next year and be like, "All right, I wanna do better than I did, and I wanna be able to win that matchup."
So, that, that goes without saying.
But yeah, we have some absolute monsters in this league, and the goal is to, you know, become one yourself.
