EDINBURG — Willie Cauley-Stein had a huge smile on his face after the first day of RGV Vipers training camp.
“The energy was crazy, and I called my wife and was telling my boys and I was lit up and smiling,” Cauley-Stein said during the Vipers’ media day Monday. “They were like, ‘We haven’t see that (smile) in a while.’ I told them it’s different down here. It’s business but it’s more basketball than business.”
Cauley-Stein was the No. 6 picks by the Sacramento Kings during the 2015 NBA Draft out of Kentucky. The 7-footer has played 422 NBA games, starting in 256. He played four seasons with Sacramento, three with Dallas and one each with Golden State and Philadelphia (albeit just for two games).
His best years statistically came during a two-season span from 2017-19 when he averaged 12.3 points (52.8% FG), 7.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 27.6 minutes per game.
Now he’s in the G League working his way back. He brings an abundance of talent and even more experience that can help the younger players attain their career goals.
“I come to work every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s the NBA or the G League. I come to work with a good attitude and try to get better,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where I get better — here or in the parking lot or a dust bowl, it doesn’t better. I just want to get better and elevate myself to another level and be better than yesterday.
“I’m the first one here in the morning. I’m the last one to leave late. That’s what the League is about, so if you have aspirations of playing in that, you can’t be the first one out, or not get shots after practice and you can’t not warm up before practice. That’s what separates the League from the NBA — all the little ‘get betters.’”
The four-time NBA G League champions have a style of basketball that Cauley-Stein said “is a lot different that everybody else plays” and he’s focusing his efforts toward being a key contributor within that offensive system.
“Scrap everything you’ve heard about me, and everything you think my skill level is, and let me gel with what you’re already doing,” Cauley-Stein said about his mentally thus far with the team. “I’m learning how to integrate into that to fit in, so when I step on the court, it’s no different than what they’re used to playing. Don’t change it, but let the skill level develop so the other four guys on the floor aren’t feeling different than what it has been.
“I stay after practice trying to learn the triple drive and do little things like that to really get involved in the offense to help make it more cohesive.”
The Vipers open the season at 6 p.m. Sunday at the Mexico City Capitanes. They play their home opener at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, against Birmingham at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg. There will be a presentation that day as the Vipers will be given their G League championship rings.
Cauley-Stein, who has been featured online and in publications for the plethora of tattoos he wears, said fans should expect some face-paced basketball, no different than what the Vipers have been known for en route to those four championship rings, last year’s being the most recent.
“I move better than most bigs. I can handle it better than most bigs and I can shoot better than most bigs so we have to take advantage of that,” he said. “Expect us to play really fast with tight, aggressive defense.
“From the time I got here, the raw energy these guys have is different than anything I’ve been a part of in the league — there’s a hunger here in the G League. The high energy is amazing to be around. It’s refreshing. It’s so in abundance, I don’t know if we know where to put it yet. This team is all go. Put that into the details of basketball and I think the sky is the limit for where we can take this team.”