Coming off an outstanding first NBA season, Spurs guard Dylan Harper talks about what he wants to accomplish next in an interview with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson. Harper, a first-team All-Rookie selection, said losing to New York took away much of the thrill of reaching the NBA Finals. He’s been focusing on rest, film and training this summer as he prepares for another shot at a ring.

“I took … took a few weeks off after the season,” Harper said. “Allowed myself to gather my thoughts. Just … assessed the whole year plus the Finals and just understand moving forward what I have to do and what I need to do for myself and for the team for us to get over that hump.”

Harper only started four games as a rookie as he was stuck behind veteran point guard De’Aaron Fox on the depth chart. While he appears ready for a starting role, Harper shot down any speculation that there might be a feud brewing between them.

“Fox basically took me under his wing my whole first year and helped me and allowed me to grow in this space. And my thing is, me and him never had a problem,” Harper said. “… I’ve never seen a problem playing with two to three ball-handlers on the floor. Everyone last year said that it was not going to work, this, that and the third, but I think it worked pretty fine this year. I think we exceeded expectations a lot. …  I don’t have anything bad to ever say about him because, at the end of the day, he’s taught me so much. And he’s taught me so much about the league and how to grind and just … take control of the game. And it’s like … it’s little things, like I’m close with him … every time I see his son, every time I see his family, like, we’re all super close. So it’s like me and him have a great relationship where it’s like, that’s kind of my — I joke with him all the time, it’s kind of my uncle. He kind of like — he just teaches me things that I don’t think anyone else that hasn’t been in his position could teach me.”

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