Sunday Q&A with Zach LaVine, Wolves guard

Zach LaVine received plenty of attention as a Timberwolves rookie last season after winning the NBA slam dunk contest. This summer, he's working on improving his overall game and this past week hosted a youth basketball camp at St. Thomas Academy. At the camp, LaVine chatted with the Star Tribune's Michael Rand on a variety of subjects:

Q What got you to do a camp out here?

A I play for the Timberwolves, so I know I have a good support and fanbase. I think I'm going to have one out in my hometown by Seattle and another one in L.A., too. But the main thing is I used to go to a lot of camps growing up and I felt like it helped my development a lot. Being in a team setting, being able to learn from different players and coaches — that was a lot of fun, and I wanted to be able to share some of my experiences.

Q What are you telling these kids?

A The main thing is that it's a bunch of different age groups, so you have to really watch them. I tell them to play hard and cheer each other on. We're working on individual skills like jumpers, fundamentals, dribbling and learning how to play defense in the right way. Then we play games, and that was my favorite part about camps because of the competition. You win some prizes, play 1-on-1 against me and I get to dunk on some of the kids. I enjoy it.

Q Were there famous players at the camps you went to?

A There were a couple of NBA dudes, but mostly college guys. I went to a lot of college camps when I was younger. … You just admire those players because they're at a higher level than you at that time. [These kids] are looking at me and some of my buddies in college the same way. So it's really cool to see how the role is reversed.

A I'm working and certainly not to the peak of my career. The main thing is trying to get my shot to be more consistent. I want to come back as a whole new player. I have very high goals for myself. I want to be an All-Star in the next couple years, so it's definitely a work in progress to get stronger and continue to do the things that I do well.

Q What's the biggest thing you learned going through one NBA season?

A That the travel is ridiculous. The grind of 82 games, the travel. You can never take a day off because there's an All-Star on every team. You just have to work at it. There are going to be good days and bad days … and you have to learn to fight through that.

Q Are you excited about getting this No. 1 pick in a couple of weeks?

A Yeah, this is building toward the future, and that's best for us. We have a bright future.