Chris Mihm Interview.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Talking with: Chris Mihm, Part I

It's pretty common for NBA players to talk about anxiously awaiting the opening of training camp.  And save perhaps Kobe Bryant, I'm willing to assume every member of the Laker roster shares such sentiments.  But nobody might be champing at the bit more than Chris Mihm.  To say the least, dude is making up for some lost time.  Back in March of 2006, Mihm suffered a seriously horrific ankle injury after coming down on the foot of then-Sonics forward Rashard Lewis.  The original diagnosis was a severe sprain.  Eighteen months, two surgeries, two intensive rehab stints and countless bouts with aggravation later, Mihm is finally ready to resume playing again.  How effective he'll be after missing so much time or how many minutes he can snag away from Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum remain to be seen, but he's willing to put himself to the test.  I caught up with Mihm this afternoon in El Segundo during a strength workout break and we discussed topics ranging from this injury's trials and tribualtions, the offseason issues between the front office and Kobe and his predictions for a season many have already written off as a tumultuous disaster.  Here's part I of what he had to say.     

Andrew Kamenetzky: Between the surgeries, the setbacks, a pretty grueling rehab, then having to reestablish faith around the league in yourself, what's this experience been like for you?

Chris Mihm: It was frustrating.  When I found out the full extent of the injury in November (2006), that I would have to have reconstructive surgery on the ankle and realized the scope of time that it would take me to get back and get this ankle healthy, it was really tough.  I've never missed any period of time like that my entire athletic career, whether it was basketball or any sport I've ever participated in.  It was a real learning experience and depressing at first, especially the first couple of months when I was basically couch-bound, watching games.  But I decided to try and find positives out of it.  Try to work on making it make me more mentally tough.  Working on other parts of my body, my upper body.  That's all I did until I was able to start rehabbing the foot was upper body weights.  I just found a way to be active and stay positive.  It's been a learning, growing experience for me.

AK: When you talk about it trying to find positives from it, do you mean learning about yourself?  Your will?

CM: Yeah.  There was a time, the end of November-early December, that was a pretty depressing time for me.  Coming in and having the two best years of my career, I kind of proved to the league what I could do and was really ready to have a blowout contract year.  I'd set myself up, worked hard, done everything right and have a freak injury accident like that.  I thought it was impossible for me to hurt my ankle as bad as I did any more.  I'd rolled it so many times, I didn't even think it was possible.  Around early December, I was real down, kind of sulking around.  And I finally said to myself, "Look, you can either sit around here and feel sorry for yourself or you can get off your ass, find a way to be productive, be positive and work hard, work your way back into the player that you were."

AK: This was pretty soon after you realized your ankle had been originally misdiagnosed?

CM: I found out around early November and I had the surgery right away.  I had the surgery November 14th.

AK: Because when you came into camp last season, you were very certain of being able to play.

CM: Yeah, I was.  From everything I was told, it was (okay).  We'd cleaned up the scar tissue in the ankle.  We knew it was going to be a little unstable, but I rehabbed all that summer to strengthen up the foot.  The foot felt stable, it felt strong, but the main problem the whole time was that I'd torn the posterior tib tendon in the back of my ankle in two different spots.  It was something that wasn't going to heal itself. It would only have gotten worse and eventually could have been something that would have been a potential career-ending injury.  I'm thankful the way things worked out.  I caught it in enough time that I was able to be healthy, work out this summer and show people that I could still play.  If I would have waited any longer and kept trying a way to play, I'd still be in the early rehab stages right now.  I've always been a firm believer that things happen for a reason.  It's hard for me to understand why this happened last season. (laughs)

AK: I was about to ask.  Any clue?

CM: I've always had love for the game, but it really showed me how much I love this game.  Going into my eighth season, I still love playing this game. I still want to be out there. I still want to do the training, the hard work, the intense rehab that it took to be on that floor and be a part of a great organization like the Lakers.  I took a lot out of it, actually.  I'll be a much stronger, mentally tougher player from it, I think.

AK: You mentioned how this could have eventually turned career threatening.  How concerned were you that you might not ever play again?

CM: I never let that creep into my head.  That was one focus of mine.  I always kept the mindset that my body has always healed well.  I knew after that first surgery, the time we'd given it, the amount of rehab I'd done and the intensity of the rehab I'd done, I knew when it still wasn't right that something was dramatically wrong.  My body has always healed.  I always kept the mindset that if what was wrong was corrected, I'd heal.  I'll be able to come back just as strong.  That's part of the positive thinking, part of the mindset that I'd kept.  Even from the first time I saw the foot after that second surgery.  It was pretty frightening, with the foot realignment.  It was easy to look at it and think some pretty bad thoughts.  But I had a great doctor, Mark Meyerson, out in Baltimore.  He's the same guy that did the final surgery on Grant Hill that got him healthy.  He got Terrell Owens back to the Super Bowl.  He's got a really good track record.  He's the top guy in the country for foot and ankle injuries.  He was completely confident in the fact that it had to be repaired and I would be full-go and ready to go.  It was just gonna take time.

AK: Where do you consider yourself at now physically?   

CM:  Somewhere at 90-100% right now.  My main focus these last couple months has been crushing my legs in the weight room, really trying to get my leg strength back.  My explosiveness.  My pop.  That was a big part of my game.  My first step.  My quick leaping.  My explosiveness.  Even when I was doing those workouts in July, it was the biggest thing that I noticed.  15-20 minutes into a workout, my legs were the first thing to go.  I felt like I was running in sand.  So along with working on conditioning, we've been trying to get my legs to the point where I can sit in the post and smash and bang and go at it full speed.

AK: Before the injury and even in the midst of these career seasons, one of the problems you did experience was a fair amount of foul trouble.  Are there any concerns in terms of mobility or strength, any carry over from the injury that might affect that issue?

CM: Right now, I feel like I'm moving just fine.  We'll see.  Training camp is certainly going to be big for me.  I'm sure I'm going to have some little steps, some little hurdles that I gotta get through.  But I feel like I'm moving great.  I really feel like I've got my explosiveness back.  I feel like I'm jumping as well as I ever was, so I don't really worry about that.  The foul deal, I think it was more stubbornness on my part than anything.  We weren't playing good team defense.  We were letting a lot of guys have free drives to the hoop and I've always been stubborn in the fact that I have a hard time giving up a free lay up to anybody.  So I was challenging a lot of shots that I shouldn't have been.  At some point, I had to realize that I can't block everything.  If a guy's got a direct line basket drive, I've gotta make it tough on him, but...

AK: The injury happened in the first place because you were trying to block (Seattle forward) Chris Wilcox's dunk.

CM: Yeah, and Rashard (Lewis) walked me under.  That's true.  So it's something that I'll just concentrate  on.  That was something I was trying to work on and was getting better at toward the latter part of that season.  Just realizing that I can't cover everything.

AK: And as far as the strength required to body up in the post, no concerns?

CM: Not a problem at all.  I have no worries about the foot.  It really has been amazing.  Even a month or two ago when we started going full speed basketball work on the floor, I was really amazed.  I kind of expected to be a little bit cautious on the foot, a little bit hesitant on certain stuff, but I was just so ready to go after the amount of time that I was out.  I really haven't thought of the foot.  I haven't been having pain in it, so it hasn't been a mental issue for me.

AK: Having been off the court for so long, are you thinking about specific aspects of your game to improve?  Or is it more about showing that the entire package is back before you focus on specifics?

CM: You know, basketball is basketball.  I've been doing it for so long.  I know what I'm capable of and I know where I'm going to have my game back.  I don't worry that I'm not going to able to do stuff I used to do.  This season I got a chance to watch a lot of games.  Sometimes when you're in the games, you watch video and stuff, but you don't really get to see the way things flow on the court like you do sometimes watching it.  I watched every game last season.  I watched the offense a lot.  I really tried to study where I could find openings, get shots, that kind of stuff.  Where balls came off when other guys were shooting.  Where rebounds were coming off.  That kind of stuff.  Like I said, I tried to find a way to find any kind of positives in a way where I could try to better myself.  That was one of them.  I'd sit in the video sessions with the guys this year every once in a while, just to feel like I was still part of the team, but also to keep a fresh understanding of the triangle and what we're trying to do.

AK: Do you think you might understand the game itself a little better now as a result?

CM: Yeah, I think so.  I've been a real visual person.  As much as running through the physical aspect of learning something, I've always done well learning visually.  So watching those games, watching what were good plays, what were bad plays, when guys were in position, out of position, it kind of allowed me to watch and understand how the triangle flows a little better and where I need to put myself.

AK: When you worked out for these other teams before re-signing with the Lakers, did it feel like "auditioning?"  Especially for a guy about to enter his eighth season in the NBA.

CM: It was frustrating.  I had two big-time years, set myself up, proved myself, and to end up where I was in July this summer, a lot of it reminded me of before I was drafted, coming in as a rookie.  Teams knew what I could do.  I was a proven player in a lot of aspects, but at the same time, no one was real sure what was the deal with the ankle.  No one really knew what was the full story with the ankle.  No one knew the full extent of the damage or how well the surgery had gone.  I don't know if (the feeling) was as much "auditioning" as really just showing people, "Hey, I'm still here.  I'm going to be a hell of a player.  I'm not worried about myself being back out on the floor.  I'm not worried about making it through a season."

AK: Don't bury me just quite yet.

CM: Yeah.

AK: Is it a humbling experience?

CM: More than humbling, it was frustrating.  I was frustrated, a little bit pissed off that I was having to go through that whole process again.  It was something that I never figured I'd have to be doing again.  So it was definitely frustrating.  But at the same time, looking at this from the other side of things, I had a major ankle injury and in this business, questions arise in a lot of ways.  I've got to go and prove to people that I'm still out there, that I'm still going to be a force in this league.  I just took it as another challenge.  Nothing's really ever come easy for me in my whole career.  I've had to work for it.  I've always set goals and risen to challenges, so this is just another one that I had to fight through. It's nothing new.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Talking with: Chris Mihm, Part II

The last eighteen months have been anything but a picnic for Chris Mihm, who's just now ready to resume his playing career after suffering a brutal ankle injury in March, 2006.  In part I of our interview last Friday, Mihm detailed what it's taken for him to get back on the court.  The second half focused on this offseason's madness, why things went bad for the Lakers down the 2007 stretch, and Mihm's predictions for himself and this Laker squad for 2008.  Here's what he had to say.

Andrew Kamenetzky: What do you see as your role this season?  Having been out for a while, do you have expectations for playing time?

Chris Mihm: As far as I'm concerned, we're going into training camp and there's maybe one or two positions, starting-wise, that are filled.  Other than that, it's going to be a competitive training camp.  I'm going in there just like I did the first two years I was here, before I got hurt.  Just like I did my four years before that.  Come in and earn that starting spot.  That's where I want to be.  I definitely want to start, but at the same time, I want this team to be a winner.  I want to win.  I want this team to be successful.  I think it can.  I'm not one to be a cancer on a team, but I'm certainly not going to relegate myself without a fight.

AK: One of the guys you'll be competing with is Andrew Bynum.  There's always a lot of talk surrounding him, both with his potential and, especially during this offseason, as a guy to possibly move for help.  How do you see Andrew, in terms of his strengths, his potential, what he's still learning?

CM: I think Andrew's a phenomenally talented kid.  He's still a young kid, though.  People have to understand.  He's the youngest kid to ever come in and play in the NBA and the two hardest positions to come in and play in this league are the point guard and the center.  Center, the physicality.  Point guard, understanding how to run a team.  I think Andrew's still growing into his body in some ways.  I think he's still learning how strong he is.  How to use his body.  How to make things easier on him.  And that will come in time.  He just needs time to figure it out.  But there's no doubt in my mind that the kid is going to have a great career and he's a really good talent.

AK: Obviously, there were also plenty of offseason headlines about the issues between Kobe and the front office.  Did that concern you at all as you were deciding to resign?

CM:  I think I know Kobe over these last three years and I know that Kobe wants to win.  He doesn't want to settle for anything other than winning.  I think, in his mind, he was just trying to show concern, that he wanted to make sure that we changed some things up on this team to try to make this a better squad and have the pieces that we do have mesh better.  That's the way I always looked at it and I honestly don't foresee a lot of problems with it.  I think Kobe's always been a professional.  I think we'll come in, go through training camp and it'll be another one of these things that will be forgotten in time.

AK: When all of this is happening, is it hard not to get caught up in it?  Do you ignore it?  Do you try to find out more information?

CM: Well, obviously I tried to find out what was going on, but luckily for me, after the season ended and we lost to Phoenix, I stayed here for about three and a half weeks and continued my rehab intensely until I felt could go home and take a little of time.  I went home and took about two and a half weeks to see my family and luckily, that was right around the time when all this stuff came out and the whirlwind was going on out here in L.A.   I wasn't in L.A. at the time, so it was kind of a good thing.  I wasn't getting hounded with questions and all that.  But at the same time, I was making phone calls and trying to find out what was going on, because it was obviously a media storm for a while.

AK: Plus, you're debating if you're comfortable stepping back into this situation.

CM:  Yeah, I know.  Obviously, when I realized I was going from looking at signing a long-term deal to probably signing a short-term deal after this ankle injury, I really wanted to try to find a team that I was going to be a good fit.  A team that I was really gonna have a chance to mesh playing styles and have the best chance to succeed and show people what I could do.  I love this team that we have here.  I agree, there were some pieces that needed to be moved around, but I love this team.  I love the coaching staff that we have.  This organization wants to win. I have no doubt about that.

(At this point, Sasha Vujacic emerged from the weight room, saw Mihm and I talking and stopped by to say hi.  He then attempted a shot specifically for me, but bricked both tries.  Before anyone gets too discouraged, they were hook shots from around half court at the sideline.  Not exactly a gimme.  Sasha's still sporting the self-described "Cali-style" long hair he grew out this summer.  I wouldn't have dreamed it was possible for him to look even younger, but the kid managed to step up to a challenge and knock it out of the park.)

AK: You were with the team last season, but to some degree, you were also on the outside looking in when it came to your direct involvement.  Everyone from Mitch Kupchak to Phil Jackson to Kobe talked during their exit interviews about eroding chemistry in the locker room and on the court as the season wore down.  From your perspective, was there anything noticeable you could put your finger on, in terms of why things went bad?

CM: It's tough to say.  I just know that I've seen a little bit of everything since I've been in the league.  I've had terrible seasons in Cleveland.  I was there the "Lose for LeBron" year where it was just a constant revolving door of ten-day contracts that they brought in.  We had no chemistry, no nothing.  An 82 game regular season, that's a lot of games to play when you're losing.  It's real easy for tempers to start flaring.  It's real easy for little things to start coming to a head.  We had so many injuries last year, it was to the point of ridiculous.  Just when things look like they were clicking, one guy goes down.  Then when he gets back, another goes down.  At one point, myself, Luke (Walton), Lamar (Odom) and Kwame (Brown) were out.

AK: Maybe even Vlad (Radmanovic) during that time, too.

CM:  Yeah.  We had a walking wounded crew.  We went from really jelling at the beginning of the year- which was cool for me to see.  I really felt we were getting that chemistry, that feel- to when we had so many injuries like that.  We started losing games.  Dropping games we shouldn't have dropped.  I think that's when certain guys started butting heads.  It was tough for me to watch the end point of the year.  The wheels kind of came off at the end, right before the playoffs.  The playoffs were tough to watch, too.

AK: Did you try at all to smooth that mood over with certain people?  Is there a limit to what you can do, since you're not playing?

CM: A little bit of both.  When you're not out there on the court, there's (only so much).  I tried talking to our bigs, especially.  Kwame, Andrew.  All the guys that I could when I had some one on one time with them.  Just to keep them positive.  Keep them upbeat.  Tell them what I saw that they were doing good, bad.  Just try to convince guys to stay positive and find a way to keep things together.  But like you said, when you're not playing out there, when you're out a whole season like that, technically I was on the team, but I was in (the weight room) everyday.  I would come out and watch practice, but I was on my own schedule.  I was on my own rehab schedule.  I wasn't traveling with the team.  I took one long road trip with the guys just to be with them and support them, but it's a tough situation when you're not playing.  You kind of feel a little bit like an outsider.

AK: How tough is it to feel like, "I'm on the team, but for all intents and purposes, I might as well not be?"

CM: Like you said, there's only so much I can do.  I tried to just be a positive guy in the locker room when I was around.  I tried to be around as much as I could.  I was in here rehabbing seven days a week and I just tried to be a positive influence when things weren't going so well.  That seemed to be my way to help the team, because obviously, on the floor, I wasn't able to do anything.  I just tried to watch games and work with Andrew, tell him where he could make things easier on himself.  That kind of stuff.  But it's different.  In my career, I'd always seen guys like ('05-'06 Laker) Laron Profit, who sat out the year before with the Achilles injury.  I'd seen guys sitting out for that kind of period of time.  And you realize that it's tough on them, but until you go through it, you don't really realize the whole scope of it and what it takes to keep yourself in the right frame of mind.

AK: There's been a lot of media speculation that from the moment training camp opens until the end of the season, it's just going to be a tension-filled season.  Not much success.  A mess in the making.  Can lowered expectations like that ever help a team in terms of providing focus?  Unity?  Motivation?

CM: If we don't have motivation already with what's happened in the playoffs the last two years, motivation to try to come out and take this team in a different direction, then yeah, it's gonna be a long season.  I think we have the right pieces.  People can look at our lineup and say this and that, they're not going to be very good.  But with the style that we play, the triangle offense, a lot of it is a mental game.  Understanding how to play the game.  Where to move.  How to get open.  How to get other guys open.  Our biggest deal, if we can just play as a unit, play as a team, not be concerned with who's scoring what or what's doing what on a given night.  If one guy scores 20 one night and another 20 the next night, that's the way it should be.  That's the way this offense works.  If we do that, we're gonna be a good team.  We're gonna surprise a lot of people.  That's what I anticipate.  We've got some new guys coming in.  We've got some guys with more experience, that understand a little bit better.  I foresee good things this season.  I think we can once again surprise a lot of people.  Put us where you want.  The preseason ratings, all that kind of stuff, it's never meant anything to me.  It's where you end up in the end.  And like I said, if we don't have some motivation to make some changes here and make some noise in the playoffs this season, then we're starting off on a bad foot.

AK: Do you expect any butterflies when you take the court for the first time this season?

CM: Maybe.  Not as much butterflies, but I'm gonna be so excited the first time that I get out there in those preseason games, I kind of anticipate being in what I call "fast forward."  The NBA game is funny.   There's nothing quite like playing in game-time situations and when you haven't had it in a little while, even with injuries in the past where I sat out even three weeks, the first game or two when you come back, you feel like you're going a million miles per hour.  You feel like everything's moving real fast.  Then gradually, everything slows down again and you get that feel, that groove.  I anticipate being excited, being amped up, jacked, ready to go.  I'm sure I'll have some moments in the preseason, the butterflies.  But I've played for so long, I'm just excited and anxious to put on a uniform and play.

AK: Is there a certain amount of reassurance that will come from just finally being on the court?  Even feeling confident about your health, do you still need to go against an actual opponent in a non-practice situation?

CM: Without a doubt.  And I'm ready for that.  When you're out here practicing, I work on everything.  I visualize everything. I try to put myself mentally in game situations when I'm training, but until I can get out there and really do it against someone, really feel that feeling, feel that success again, that's what really gets your inner confidence and your inner game going.



Sounds promising.