Tag: green room

Brandon Miller talks about working out with Michael Jordan ahead of the NBA draft

Brandon Miller shares hilarious story of trash talking Michael Jordan

The day of the NBA draft has finally arrived as [autotag]Brandon Miller[/autotag] and [autotag]Noah Clowney[/autotag] attempt to become the first Alabama teammates since 1995 to both be selected in the first round. Both of the former Crimson Tide standouts will be in the draft’s green room this evening as they are two of only 20 players to have received that invite.

For Miller, he likely won’t be waiting around for long as it is widely expected that he will be taken with the No. 2 overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets. Miller would tie Antonio McDyess of the 1995 team as the highest Alabama player ever drafted.

The Hornets are currently owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan, but earlier in the week he began the process of selling the franchise. Despite that, Jordan will still have the final say in who Charlotte selects, and it sounds as if he is a fan of Miller. He checks all of the boxes of the modern-day NBA, at 6’9 he can control the ball like a guard, he has the ability to be an elite defender at the NBA ranks and shoots just under 40% from three-point range.

During the draft process, Jordan hosted Miller for two one-on-one workouts where he trash-talked Miller and tested his mental resolve. Anyone who knows anything about Jordan knows he wants tough guys in his locker room and it seems like Miller was able to take it, and even dished a little out too.

At one of the workouts, Miller recalls Jordan saying, “I was just a shooter, just shooting threes, but I know my talents, my abilities. You can’t really let Jordan get in your head. I kinda talked some trash back to him. I witnessed him airball a free throw too.”

The interviewer immediately wanted to know what led up to air-balling a free throw to which Miller laughed and said it was just him being old.

The panel chuckles and the interviewer responds by saying, “You better hope he sells the team or you might be on the bench there.” To which Miller only replied, “Lace ’em up.”

Roll Tide Wire will monitor Brandon Miller all NBA draft day.

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4 NFL Draft players still left in green room after 2023’s first round, including Will Levis

Some big names left in the green room, including Kentucky’s Will Levis.

Several of the soon-to-be NFL rookies who were in attendance in the Kansas City green room didn’t have to wait long to hear their names called on Day 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft.

But for a handful of the 17 prospects waiting, they never heard their names called at all on Thursday, which means they could be coming back on Friday’s Day 2 for more waiting.

It’s a bummer for all four of the players below, but maybe — like others who have had to sit through a draft as they dropped — it’ll give them motivation on the field to show that it was a mistake to let them sit there:

Also check out:

Mark Ingram reflects on uncomfortable wait in NFL draft green room

Mark Ingram reflected on his uncomfortably-long wait in the NFL draft green room, which led up to an ‘amazing opportunity to share’ with his family

Mark Ingram achieved a storied career with the New Orleans Saints on his way to winning the team’s rushing records, and it was worth the wait. But it would have been hard to convince him of that on a night that left him feeling camera-shy. Ingram spoke about his experience on a recent NFL Network roundtable with other players.

“Man the draft day was great,” Ingram said, looking for the silver lining of what turned into a tense evening. “Woke up, go to the draft and walked the red carpet, got my mom, three of my sisters, my grandma with me. Go into the green room. I go to the draft because they told me there’s no way I stay past 20, maybe top 15. I’m like cool, I can wait that long.”

But his wait ended up running longer than expected. Ingram continued: “So we get to the draft room, you know the first 10 picks go by, not there. Next five go by, not there. I’m like, every time the camera’s on me. Every time the next pick comes up the camera’s on me. I’m like, shoot, I might have to take a little walk real quick. I walk to the bathroom, come back, still not picked. And then it gets past 20, not picked. 25, not picked. And then 28 comes up, I’m like, dang. And then a 504 number calls me.”

Ingram sighed, shaking his head and grinning.

“I had been training in New Orleans, so I’m like, who’s messing with me right now?” He asked in disbelief. “They should know not to call my phone right me now. Pick it up, it’s Mickey Loomis, we just traded back into the first round to get you, we’re in here going crazy. He puts Sean Payton on the phone, he says ‘Man everybody’s excited, we traded back in the round to come get you.'”

It was an expensive move — the Saints traded their 2012 first-round pick to move up from their second rounder at No. 56 in order to get Ingram. For his part, he’s just grateful things worked out as well as they did. Once he finally got that phone call, all he had in front of him was emotional catharsis.

But it’s Ingram’s story, so we’ll let him tell it: “So I walk to the draft stage to get my hat, get my jersey. My father actually was incarcerated at the time, and the lady who was introducing me, she had a note from my father. I’m like, how do you have a note from my father? I thought it’s a prank. She read the note to me, I’m crying, it’s an amazing opportunity to share that time with my loved ones.”

Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions. But things worked out in the end. Ingram overcame some early-career struggles in New Orleans to win the team’s records for rushing yards and touchdown runs, returning to (possibly) close out his time in the NFL in a 2021 trade. He’s said he hopes to continue playing as long as a team will have him, but we’ll have to wait and see whether any offers materialize now that he’s a free agent again. Regardless of where his path leads him next, let’s hope his NFL career ends as it began: wearing black and gold.

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