51�Թ�

Best of all, he could afford to focus on the exquisitely crafted and increasingly ambitious art — supercharged with bold patterns, bright colors, poetic messages and mesmerizing textures — coming out of his studio in upstate New York, near the town of Hudson, where he lives with his husband, artist Rune Olsen, and their children, 9-year-old Gigi and 5-year-old Phoenix.

He is joined by Joey Olsen, who praised McRee for his veteran leadership.

“I just really take a lot of the stuff he does and learn from him — just how to be a professional, how he runs routes, how he blocks, his physicality,” Olsen said.

Olsen is doing his part to separate himself by doing extra work and film study, giving extra effort during practice and doing extra reps outside of practice.

Times feature writer Mark Olsen, Fast Break reporter Summer Lin and former De Los staff writer Alejandra Molina contributed to this report.