Garrett Temple says the secret to lasting 16 years in the NBA is being low maintenance “I think it goes back to what we talked about earlier. Just understanding your role. I think it’s more difficult for highly touted guys, or guys that are just very talented, that can do a lot of good things and don’t get that opportunity right away. I think they may not be able to be adaptable.” “The talent level is immense. But the ability to be professional, and that’s general, but that means be on time, have a work ethic, be low maintenance. I think that’s the big thing now.” “Being low maintenance, which means not having anybody have to worry about you, or asking for too many things, or you being a prima donna, or things of that nature.” “Just being somebody that’s under the radar. I call it the ‘What do you need, Coach?’ player. When you can be that guy, and then once you get on the court you produce, especially on the defensive end, offensively you can make shots, miss shots, but if you produce defensively and you cause no problems, you only bring positivity to the team, it’s hard for coaches and GMs to get rid of you. It’s very hard.” “Those are all things you can control. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Because you get in your head. ‘I was this dude, but you go three games without playing. The dude in front of me not even playing well. What are you doing?’” “The ego is so big in professional sports. You have to have one to get to a certain level, but you literally have to be able to turn it on and off.” “And once your mindset is about winning, the team winning, you can focus on doing whatever the team needs you to do to win. That’s the biggest thing that allows people to stay in the league.”