We spoke to Justise Winslow about his love of art and smashing video game controllers

NEW YORK -- It’s not even noon on a Monday morning in New York and Justise Winslow has already lost track of how many interviews he’s done. “Four, maybe five,” he says as he sits at a conference room table in the 11th-floor Manhattan office of Roc Nation, the agency representing him.

A few months ago Winslow was cutting down the nets in Indianapolis after helping Duke win a national title. Now, he’s a few days from hearing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver call his name in the draft early Thursday night. Most mocks have Winslow going early in the lottery.

Whether Winslow’s game is ready for the league is the question. He averaged 12.6 points and 6.5 rebounds and shot 42 percent from behind the three-point line in his lone season in Durham, but scouts still question his offensive game. What they don’t seem to question is his defense, which is why our Kevin O’Connor had Winslow as the No. 2 prospect on his big board when the NCAA Tournament ended.

Winslow sits here in dark jeans and a black t-shirt, with a black hat perched upon his signature hair. He’s surrounded by handlers from Roc Nation and AXE, who are working together to set up these interviews, and it’s clear that he’s ready to start the life of a professional athlete.

Here is an edited transcript of our conversation.

SB NATION: What’s the question you’re sick of being asked, or don’t want me to ask you?

JUSTICE WINSLOW: Who do I want to draft me. Don’t ask that.

SB: You practice your non-answer answer for that?

JW: Yeah, I got it down.

SB: So I understand you’re really into art? Did I read that right?

JW: Yeah, you did read that right. It’s just something that during my time at Duke, I just found I had -- not a passion, but a lot of respect for those guys. Whether it’s an artist or a musician, guys that spend a lot of time practicing their craft like I do, I have a lot of respect and admiration for that. And then just a lot of visual art: drawings, paintings, stuff like that. A lot of modern contemporary stuff has been stuff that I’ve been attracted to recently.

SB: Where does that come from? You generally don’t hear much about contemporary art from young NBA hopefuls.

JW: It came kind of from a documentary called “Banksy Does New York,“ kind of a street art-type documentary. The other one, the music side, came from the movie ”Whiplash.” I thought that movie was pretty cool. It gave me a lot of respect for different artists.

SB: Do you collect art?

JW: I’m not at that point yet where I can afford to collect art. But eventually, maybe, when I have enough knowledge of it and the right guidance on it to make smart investments on different artists, then I will.

SB: How did your Duke teammates generally react when you tried to talk art?

JW: Well it’s something that didn’t come around till kind of late in the year. But different guys like it, different guys would probably like to go to an art gallery with me. But generally in the locker room we’re talking basketball.

SB: You visit any art museums or studios while in New York this week?

JW: Yeah, I went to the MoMA [Museum of Modern Art]. I haven’t been to the Whitney [Museum of American Art] yet. But I really want to. I’ll probably go this week.

SB: What’s something else people would be surprised to learn about you, something that you haven’t spoken about before?

JW: That my hair is natural. It’s all natural. It’s just me.

SB: So you wake up and it’s like that.

JW: Just wake up.

SB: What about Thursday night? You going to spend any extra time on it?

JW: Nah, it will know how to perform.

SB: Has it ever not performed when you needed it to?

JW: Yeah, it’s had some bad days. But for the most part, it usually cooperates with my lifestyle.

SB: You’re probably being asked a lot of questions about your hair now, too.

JW: Yeah, a little bit. Different questions like ‘How do you do it’ and ‘What products do you use’? But I usually keep the secrets to myself.

SB: You grew up in a house in Houston with four older siblings, and you all played sports. Was it really competitive in there?

JW: Definitely. I think that’s something that kind of led to me being the competitor that I am today. My physicality and mental toughness and the mentality that I bring to the basketball court is because I was always the youngest. I was always getting beat up on a lot and I had to figure out ways to survive. That’s always something I’ll be thankful for -- that I grew up in a house of athletes.

SB: Is there one story you can tell that shows how competitive you are?

JW: I’ve had times where, you know, you lose a game and cry as a little kid. Or playing video games and throwing the controller at the wall. Or times when you lose and say you just never want to play that video game or board game again. I’ve never hurt anyone because I lost. Just the controllers. I’ve broken a good amount. NCAA Football and NBA Live used to get me.

SB: What other hobbies do you have?

JW: I like sports. Anything to be active, to be outside, that lets me enjoy the weather. I’ve been walking around Central Park and Bryant Park a bit since I got to New York. I like fashion. I got to team up with GQ and AXE, working with AXE’s white label collection, using their products. That was really cool. So fashion and style are things I’m kind of into.

SB: Do people recognize you as you walk around?

SB: You’re about to become pretty rich -- any big purchases you’re planning on making?

JW: I’ll probably buy myself a home in whatever city I end up. I think that’s a pretty important purchase. A place to live.

SB: Are you planning on purchasing any big things that you don’t necessarily need? Anything you’ve been dreaming about for a while? Any toys?

JW: No, I don’t think I’m ready to buy a toy yet. I just probably need to buy some clothes that fit and a home. Those are probably the first two things I’ll buy.

SB: You said style -- you working on what you’ll be wearing Thursday night?

JW: Yeah, GQ dressed me, and AXE was there, too. A lot of blue in my suit for Thursday. Playing on the Duke experience.

SB: The biggest obstacle you ever overcame was ...?

JW: Probably being able to write like a 20 page research paper. That was pretty tough.

SB: What was it on?

JW: It was on Michael Jackson for my African American [studies] class at Duke. It was on the evolution of music, Michael Jackson’s affect on it, different things, just black music in general and the effect it had on the community and how it can kind of stimulate a revolution or invoke change in society.

SB: But you’re into school, though, aren’t you?

SB: OK, let’s talk basketball. Defense is your thing -- does the ability to guard come naturally to you? Do you have specific tricks you use?

JW: I think just, like I said, being in a family of athletes at a young age I had to figure out a way to stay competitive and, you know, at that age I wasn’t really able to score the ball, but I could kind of defend. So whether it was fouling my older siblings or playing tough and physical and finding a way to defend them because I couldn’t score at that age, playing defense was something that I had to do and it’s kind of stayed with me up until this point.

SB: The thing you have to work on most for the NBA is ...?

JW: Probably just the adjustment to the space and speed. To play at a faster pace and speed against strong and really physical guys is something I’ll have to adjust to.

SB: Your three-point percentage was really good last year, despite that being considered a weakness of yours coming out of high school. Did you do anything specific to fix that?

JW: No, it’s more repetition. Getting up more shots, building that muscle memory. That’s pretty much all it was, nothing really mechanical.

SB: But when you say muscle memory, does that mean you were teaching yourself something new?

JW: No, just getting up shots, teaching your body correct form.

SB: We’ll end with a few quick ones. Favorite movie:

JW: “Friday Night Lights”

SB: Favorite TV show?

JW: “That ‘70s Show”

SB: Favorite food?

JW: Chicken and waffles.

SB: Favorite musician.

JW: Um, let’s go ... Jay-Z. [smiles]