It’s late July 2019 and Blazer5 Gaming’s dominating 14-2 second season is coming to a sudden halt in the first round of the NBA 2K League playoffs. After the series, a pair of regular season MVPs Mama Im Dat Man (Season 2) and OneWildWalnut (Season 1) sat quietly in the studio watching the postseason action continue on without them. Anyone in attendance could tell by the looks on their faces that they were busy contemplating what could have–perhaps even should have–been. But beyond that, it was clear that they were also already planning on how to make it right in 2020. A record-setting regular season wasn’t enough to hang their hats on, and the desire to rise above this latest round of big-game adversity bled through that evening. 

Fast forward to the offseason and Mama Im Dat Man has been busy preparing for a new-look B5–one that will have a new head coach for Season 3–and grinding out 2K20 strategies. He’s laser-focused on what’s at stake for the franchise come next year and how to best position himself and his team to step up in moments that matter most.

NBA2KLeague.com checked in with the energetic star to capture his thoughts on roster changes, meshing with a new coach, 2K20 and how Blazer5 Gaming can earn that ever-elusive championship.

Q: You had a wonderful season personally, but for Blazer5, despite a great year and a tremendous win streak, you got to the playoffs, but fell short in the early rounds. How are you decompressing from that and how are you using this offseason to look back and reflect to put it behind you?

Mama: I would say this year was a wake-up call. When we lost the first year, we just looked at it as bad luck, things didn’t happen in our favor. Dayne (OneWildWalnut) hit the back of the backboard and all things considered, the Knicks were riding a hot streak and ended up winning it all. When it came to this year, again we dominated throughout and when we got to the Playoffs, we fell short again. I wouldn’t say we weren’t prepared, I think we got a little complacent towards the end of the season. We need to trot out new lineups and have a different gameplan going into this season whether we are dominating or not. Hopefully, we clinch Playoffs later on in Season 3. We clinched playoffs during Season 2 a bit early. Hopefully by next year, I’ll be able to try different lineups down the road, that way people can’t get a good read on us and know exactly what we are going to do and also, just in case an emergency situation happens like last year, we can go to a different lineup and try something different. I think the trade for Majestic, I’ve known him for a long time and I think that’s someone I’m really comfortable on the court with. I think this year is our year. I think this year is it. If we don’t get it done this year, it’s going to hurt a lot.

Q: We’ll get to Majestic here in a second, but I’m all about the unspoken, unseen side of things with auroras and momentum along with the mental side of things. Where is the conflict for you guys between regular season and playoffs and tournaments? Is it a mental thing? Have you guys just gotten unlucky? Is there a weird shift for you guys?

Mama: I think it’s the pressure that comes with it. Sometimes when we get into these Playoff moments, teams don’t gameplan as strong as they should in the regular season as they would in the Playoffs, so I feel when we enter the Playoffs, they hone in on me. It’s a guard-oriented game so they knew they had to hone in on me. On top of that, I think I demand so much out of myself every time we play, so when I put that kind of pressure on other guys, sometimes it hinders what they can do because they feel like they have to play perfect. I never meant it to be like that and it’s something I have to work on. I hold myself to a different type of standard compared to somebody else who is playing the game. I want perfection, so sometimes it can come off the wrong way. When it comes to the Playoffs, we made a couple mistakes and now everyone is looking around for me to do something and if they are honed in on me, then someone else has to make a play. That’s something that I’m going to preach throughout the season this year is that we’re going to be working on everybody else and getting everyone comfortable so when that time comes and I’m struggling, someone else can pick up the slack and we can keep pushing.

Q: What factored into the decision to pick up Majes7ic in the offseason trade with Heat Check Gaming?

Mama: If you look at Majes7ic, I’ve known him for a long time and he’s been in the community for even longer..7,8 years. I know how good he is on the secondary ball-handler, that’s what he used to play before the league and that’s always what he’s wanted to play and never really got the opportunity to. We glorify people like ZDS and other sharps in the league that perform well who get fed by their PG like Fab or Radiant, who really set them up nicely. I know what Majes7ic can do and I believe he’s better than a lot of the sharps in the league. His IQ is off the charts. The biggest thing that I’m going to preach is trust, I trust him when I give him the ball. When he makes a mistake, I’m not going to get mad because I know he won’t repeat the same mistake. He doesn’t need me to get on him repeatedly to tell him what to do and what not to do. At the end of the day, he’s going to put in just as much work with me, if not more. That’s what I like about Majes7ic.

Q: What were the pros and cons of self-coaching? You’ve done that the past 2 seasons, but you’re now looking to hire a coach to take the burden off of you for Season 3. What was it like to self-coach?

Mama: We’ll start with the pros, I believe I’m an alpha, I like to lead and that’s just how I am. I feel like if I’m on my Ps and Qs then I think everybody else will follow. I think I have the attention of my peers when it comes to being on my team. When we talk, I think we respect each other like men and all that good stuff. Being a self-coach, it actually boosts my game in my opinion. When I have the respect of other people when we’re on the court, we’re going to do what’s right and we’re going to know what’s wrong and push through it. That’s why I think our regular-season record is so good. Another pro is having control and having that type of relationship with my teammates that other point guards don’t have. They come to me if there is a problem, if something’s not right and they want to change it, they come to me and talk about it. I feel like it only makes our relationship stronger and I hope that is something that I don’t lose come Season 3 when we hire a coach. I don’t think I will because I’m always talking to my teammates, but I just always hope that they continue to come to me when it comes to those things. It’s what made our team so strong and it helped gain trust throughout the whole team. A con is definitely all the pressure. When I don’t play well, it’s hard for me to focus on myself and somebody else and play the game at the same time. That’s probably the biggest thing. Hopefully when we get a coach, that coach will demand the same amount of respect that I do and we’ll be locked in when we come to practice. Since we didn’t have a coach, practice was sometimes taken lightly. I’m hoping Season 3 will be a whole different vibe and we’ll be locked in, get those couple hours in and then get out. I don’t think there are too many problems with the team, but practice is one of the biggest reasons we’re getting a coach.

Q: Do you think getting a coach is going to get Blazer5 over the hump next year?

Mama: I hope so! We have a group of guys who have strong personalities and the coach needs to gain their respect and trust. If he doesn’t do that, it’s going to be hard to coach them. One thing that is going to help us a lot is that in-game during close situations, when I’m looking to shoot that last shot, he’ll bring me back down to Earth and say, “Look, this is the situation, we have this many fouls and this many timeouts, here are your options…” so we can kind of reset. Sometimes when it gets hectic on the court and we’re all screaming and you guys know we love to talk, a coach will reset us. He’ll help keep us smart and mindful because sometimes our late game decisions weren’t the best, for example, at THE TICKET tournament vs. the Heat. I hope the coach really comes through for us and puts us over the hump, but at the end of the day, he’s not the one playing the game. We have to actually put that effort in and work as a cohesive unit because if we don’t, we’ll probably end up like we did last year.

Q: Are YOU ready for there to be a coach on this team? You’ve been the lead dog for 2 years. How are you preparing yourself for that guy coming in?

Mama: First things first, if me and the coach, whoever it may be, if we have that sort of connection where we can look each other in the eye and have conversations for hours and hours talking about what we need to do and how we need to accomplish things… At the end of the day, I’m not going to be someone who’s going to be hounding him, that’s not who I am. I feel like Blazer5 in general, most of the info that we’ve had in-house has stayed in-house and that’s something that we’ve really prided ourselves on is that even if there is a problem, we’ll never show it to the public. We’ve had countless arguments that nobody knows about and everyone was like, “Wow Blazer5 is 12-2 or 11-3!”, but people really don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I feel like it’s not going to be a problem. I know he is going to change things, but hopefully, me and him have a good enough relationship where I can sit down with him constantly and vice versa and we can talk about things and continue to win.

Q: Your and Dayne’s relationship has really become…it’s Stockton-Maloneesque…it’s one of the founding pillars of the NBA 2K League so far, but on a personal level between you two, why do you guys vibe so well? What made you guys click so quickly off the bat?

Mama: We’re both pretty goofy! When I met him six years ago, we were on super goofy on XBox. We were the kids that were really good at the game, but everyone hated playing against us because our voices were high and we were just looking to make a fool out of you. When we got to know each other more and more…he lived in Cali, I lived in Cali…we just started talking constantly. We’re just two guys that really don’t care what other people think. When we do these wild things in public and everyone is looking at us like, who are these kids?, it’s just how we are! I think that’s how we really clicked. What’s crazy is that when Dayne is down, I can tell right when I see him where his energy is at. With me, when I wake up mad, he knows I’m mad, it’s weird! It’s telepathic and all this weird stuff, but that’s my guy. That’s my brother. At the end of the day, we see eye-to-eye on a lot of things and we always handle our business like men.

Q: Is there something to be said about the lasting chemistry for Blazer5? We’ve talked to a couple players who have jumped teams, guys who haven’t played multiple seasons with the same team and here you guys are going into Year 3 together.

Mama: We’re just a group of guys who fit together and value loyalty. Ever since Day 1, we just came in here and we always preached, “Everything stays in-house. Nothing leaves the facility, whatever happens, happens.” I feel like us sticking together only helps not only on the court, but it also helps the brand, the people who support us. I just feel like we’ve always preached that family culture and we take a lot of pride in that.

Q: You and Dayne have now each won an MVP, but you haven’t captured that elusive championship. What would a championship mean to you this season?

Mama: The MVPs were great and of course, when the years go by I’ll look back and say ‘Wow, we actually won MVPs,’ but at the end of the day, we want a championship. It’s long overdue. We should have had it the first season. Last season, we were pretty solid. We were going to make some noise. I really believe that this is our season. This season is shaping up perfectly for us. We’ve got people moving around, trying to create super teams and all that. I got my secondary ball-handler, I got my big man, I think I have it all. This season, this championship, it’s going to mean a lot to us. I’ve had a lot of dreams of us winning the championship, so hopefully it comes to fruition.

Q: We’ve talked about a ton of different topics…chemistry, Majestic, coaching…the one thing we actually haven’t talked about is the game that you actually play! Through 2 seasons you’ve been a very ball-dominant PG. How do you see 2K20 changing how you guys play and what the league will be like in Season 3?

Mama: I have a theory. We don’t change how we play 2K, 2K changes how we play the game. The first season, Dayne dominated the paint and he absolutely killed it. Now, the mashing kinda went away last year, it was more guard-oriented play. Now, the guards are killing it, but this year I think there is a little more balance. I don’t wanna make any guarantees or anything like that because we’re not focused on it this season, we want a championship this season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the MVP come back to Portland again. We’re not going for it this year, but I know that we’re going to be dominant again. I feel like this is the best I’ve been at 2K, I really like the game a lot. I think that Dayne’s going to be a lot more motivated this year than he was last year. He kind of came off slow in SZN 2, we were just kind of used to winning. When you get used to that feeling of winning, you kind of take people lightly. You don’t get up for every game, but this year is going to be a whole different plan. I think our aurora is going to be up, everything is going to be there and I’ll let the game style our game. I think everyone is going to be a force this year, I can’t wait.

Q: Going into the draft, personality and skillset wise, what are you looking for to help fill out the Season 3 roster?

Mama: We have two draft picks, a 2nd and a 4th. We just want to fill it with someone who is going to want to come in and work. I feel like last year when we made the picks, they came into Blazer5 with that swag like “Yea, I’m on the best team from last year.” I want someone who’s going to come in and really be hungry, really want to prove themselves to not only the organization but also to his teammates. I want somebody who is going to come in and want to work. We’re going to pick high character guys that want to come in and flat out work.