Up Close With John Salmons

Let me preface this interview by saying this was before Chicago's recent win at home over the Charlotte Bobcats, when John Salmons led the team with 27 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field. Before that game, Salmons was shooting a team-low 29.6% from the field, so he and I talked about the slump and what he was doing to bust out of it. Salmons is a pretty self-kept guy, but it was interesting to see how much he opened up after such a successful game.

I know it's been a bit of a slow start for you this season, especially in terms of field goal percentage, so what's been behind it?
"I've been working on getting a ton of extra shots up every day to try and get a rhythm. All I can is just keep working on it and have faith."

Is it a confidence thing, or a flow of the game thing, or what?
"I don't know. I just haven't been able to make shots. It hasn't been anything specific. My shot just hasn't been as hot as it's been in the past, and I'm trying to get better."

Mentally, what does a guy do to break himself out of a slump? All athletes go through some sort of downtime and some point in their careers, but how does John Salmons go about it?
"For me it's just keeping my faith in God and putting all my worries on him. I'll go out there and play hard, give it my best, and pray for a good outcome."

What's it like being such a mild-mannered, soft-spoken guy on a team full of so many strong personalities?
"It's fun, man. There really are a lot of strong personalities on this team. There are so many guys that want to speak their mind, and it's always fun to be around a group like that."

How different is the culture of this team and the expectations of this team versus what the culture and expectations may have been had you started another season off in Sacramento?
"Yeah, but regardless of where you're at—Chicago or Sacramento—you still want to be professional. When I was in Sacramento I was coming into every game with the expectation to win. I'm still trying to win games here. It'd be the same in both places."

You had such a good year last season averaging a career-high in points with over 18 a game—what kind of pressure do you feel has been put on you, either by fans, media, or yourself—to come out here and duplicate that?
"I'm just trying to help my team win as many games as possible. If I just play basketball I think I'll be okay."

That one game against Charlotte bumped up Salmons's shooting percentage by five full points, and they're going to need more games like that if they hope to get their relatively low team scoring up. He's supposed to be a significant chunk of Chicago's post-Ben-Gordon offense, so Saturday night was a huge step in the right direction.



(hoopsworld.com)