Miami Heat-140, Washington Wizards-117
Q. How do you feel like you've been playing lately as you are kind of looking towards the end of the season?
BUB CARRINGTON: I feel as though I've been playing maybe slightly freer. I think I've been playing pretty much the same basketball. Just different line-ups, different personnel. So it requires different things from me.
Q. On that note, Coach Keefe said you've been playing a little bit more off the ball, and he said they can arrange you up and down, stuff like that. How is that going for you, and how would you compare it to playing more on the ball?
BUB CARRINGTON: I think it's been going pretty well for me. Coming into the league, I prided myself on being able to do both. So comparing the two is, you know, ships in the night for me, but like you said, I'm happy to do it.
I feel like it's been working out well for me, especially when I have certain guys like Sharife or even Will at times setting me up to succeed at those things, so yeah.
Q. Bub, you talked about playing with more freedom, more versatility. How have, you know, you had to test yourself these last couple of games as more of a lead option?
BUB CARRINGTON: How do I test myself? You've got to be in shape, I guess. I've been, like, doing, like different breathing things on the court, because I'm just naturally more tired, taking more shots, trying to be more aggressive for the team. So I'd say that's the only thing.
Q. Bub, I want to throw a stat out for you. You are one of five players before 21 to connect on 300 three-pointers in your career. What is that like being such an elite shooter early in your career?
BUB CARRINGTON: I'm working to be an elite shooter. That's a crazy stat, though. I mean, that's a testament to my team and the opportunities I've had.
You know, I've been blessed enough to play in every game, and in every game I've been blessed to play, like actually play. You know, the team trusts me to shoot shots. I trust myself obviously. So when the opportunity presents itself, I'm ready to let it fly.
Q. Bub, Bilal has been playing really well recently. What kind of growth have you seen from him in general over the last two years?
BUB CARRINGTON: His confidence. Like, he's super free, super confident, and he's playing like, you know, we all -- he's not doing anything different. We all know he can do everything that he is doing. He's just finally telling himself to go do it. It's working out for him.
Q. You were recognized before the game for your community work. What does that honor mean to you? Especially getting that two years in a row and then also the donation that goes back to your alma mater.
BUB CARRINGTON: That was the most important thing for me tonight. Being recognized for by the team for the city, that's special to me, especially because it's because of me helping the city or helping my city, whatever the case may be, whatever you guys want to call it.
It means a lot to me, like I said. Being able to help people and get recognized for it, I'm not doing it to get recognized for it, but to show the rest of my teammates that might not even have known about stuff like that, this matters. People care about it. They vote on things like this, and you can get recognized for things like that, so I think that was a big thing tonight.
Q. Bub, you've been playing off ball and on ball throughout the entire season. Have you grown to have a preference on either/or? Like either you want to play more off ball or --
BUB CARRINGTON: You're good, man. You're good. No (laughing), I'm good.
Q. Bub, what do you attribute your elite shooting to, and how much of a role does just getting stronger as you get a little bit older have in terms of helping you get improved?
BUB CARRINGTON: Yeah, like I said, that's the biggest part. Just having that strength or stamina to do such, because we're all .001 percentile. We all can shoot. It's just do you have the confidence, do you have the work and discipline to do the same thing every single time to get the same result, and that's what the greats, the elite shooters have, and that's what I'm striving to be. I know I can do that here.
Q. Over the last year and a half it seemed like out of everyone on your team your role has kind of changed the most. You've been a little bit inconsistent in terms of what role you'll be playing in. What makes that a little bit more difficult when you kind of have to adapt and play different based on what the team feels like is best for you at that time?
BUB CARRINGTON: What makes it difficult is I guess how other teams guard you. I mean, it's not -- I can say, like, no, different annoyances maybe I guess that I could have, but this is my job to go out there and play basketball and to play it to the best of my abilities no matter what they put me at.
Like I say, I told them that I pride myself on that. Put me anywhere, and I'll be good. I think I'm a versatile player. So I would say the most difficult thing is one night you got a guy like Amen Thompson guarding you and then the next you don't. So I would say that's probably the most difficult thing.
Q. Is it a little bit more matchup-dependent, or would you say there's a threshold? If you are playing in a certain role five straight games, do you start to feel comfortable in that? Is there a threshold for that, or is it different night to night for you?
BUB CARRINGTON: It's different night to night, because even when I was playing those different roles, I would be starting, not starting. Like, you got to find your own rhythm how you find it, and it comes when it comes, and it goes away when it goes away.
I haven't found a consistent threshold, as you would say, but I'm pretty confident in my abilities to just give me a quarter, give me a quarter, and I think I'll figure it out.
Q. What pride, if any, do you take in approaching 82 of 82 for the second straight season?
BUB CARRINGTON: It's all pride at this point. I'll just tell you that. It's all pride at this point, so just telling myself. I got to, because you definitely feel it.
But, no, no, seriously, like I said a little earlier, my best ability is being available, and especially I'm now getting into these, I don't know what you call it, lists I guess of people that, you know, have played X amount of games, I like that. You know, I like to see I'm doing something in this league, you know? I'm not just here.
Like I said, it's all pride at this point.
Q. Then a few games ago Head Coach Capel was here, his first chance to see you and JC play in person, and I asked him going back to the recruiting days if he saw this for both of you, and he said for you it took him a month of you on campus. Going back to that month and now being in your second season about to close out 82 of 82 again, have you been able to really take in what the last couple of years have been like for you?
BUB CARRINGTON: That's funny you say that. Me and Justin was just talking about this actually before the game. We were just talking about how, like -- because we were talking about what we were going to do this summer and things like that, and we wanted to go back to Pittsburgh. We were talking like we were really at that terrible, cold, rainy city. We made it, you know, to the league. Testament to our coaches. Capel definitely helped us a lot.
Thinking back on that, it's wild, because it wasn't even that long ago, but I wouldn't change it (laughing).
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports