Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition All the Smoke. Jack was good, cooler,
Speaker 1: my brother. I'm hurting because you know, I'm back on
Speaker 1: that court. A little bit kind of wounded, but you know,
Speaker 1: ready to get back. Get back to work, man, get
Speaker 1: this thing going. Got a dope show. What's your game
Speaker 1: looking like these days? Still him? H I m capital
Speaker 1: Still him? Yeah, still him? But but how do you?
Speaker 1: How does him? How does him feel after him's done him?
Speaker 1: Don't feel like I don't feel nothing but broken bones
Speaker 1: and bruises. I can't lie to you, Matt. When I
Speaker 1: get back, the first thing I have to do is
Speaker 1: sitting the tub, and I gotta lay down because I'll
Speaker 1: be so hurting that I can't even eat. No way, Hey, well,
Speaker 1: thankfully man. Our next guest is one of the young Guns,
Speaker 1: young bright stars in the NBA over there in Memphis,
Speaker 1: part of the Grizzly Family Man. Welcome to the show,
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson Jr. How are you today? I'm good, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm just happy to be here. This is the legendary show. Um,
Speaker 1: It's always on my TV the Homies and what I mean,
Speaker 1: we I'm happy for y'all, how far y'all care, just
Speaker 1: because I mean, this is it now? Like you you
Speaker 1: this is it now? Now y'all get to watch your
Speaker 1: episode though. That's just gonna be dope, man, I can't wait.
Speaker 1: Go ahead. Jack born in Plainfield, New Jersey. You moved
Speaker 1: around a few times. Talk about your upbringing. Yeah, born
Speaker 1: in Plainfield. Was there for hot second. Um, I mainly lived.
Speaker 1: I lived in Virginia, Maryland. Really came up in Indiana though,
Speaker 1: Like basketball wise, that's really what made me, you know, Uh,
Speaker 1: I bet y'all know good coaching out there, like good
Speaker 1: high schools, like you know, people moving the ball. Uh.
Speaker 1: That's just kind of where I really found myself basketball wise,
Speaker 1: before I was really playing. I'll play with some dudes
Speaker 1: who go to Villanova now, Brandon Slater justin Moore. We're
Speaker 1: really good coming up. But uh, I mean really finding
Speaker 1: that group and thinking that I could do it and
Speaker 1: for the rest of my life. I found that in Indiana.
Speaker 1: So that was really where I found it. And I transferred.
Speaker 1: I was going to a school Indiana called part Tutor,
Speaker 1: and I transferred to another school of prep school called
Speaker 1: Lalla Mere, and I played with Jordan Pool, Brian Bowen,
Speaker 1: Tiger Campbell's I mean playing now in college so with
Speaker 1: the Bruins. Yeah, how was how was Jordan's pool and
Speaker 1: prep school? Because he's a killer now starting to find
Speaker 1: this groove. Yeah, that's my roommate. Okay, that's my dog.
Speaker 1: Like uh, I mean at first, I remember we used
Speaker 1: to just like go at each other, like we we
Speaker 1: would talk so much trash to each other in practice
Speaker 1: and his boarding school. So we went right back to
Speaker 1: the dorm and we would just sit there some times
Speaker 1: early on and we wouldn't saying nothing to each other.
Speaker 1: I just we'll just be thinking about how we're gonna
Speaker 1: kill each other next time whatever. We talked the whole time,
Speaker 1: and like we love bringing that out of each other.
Speaker 1: Um because because at the end of the day, like
Speaker 1: he worked so hard, I just know how he was
Speaker 1: always going to be this special. I always knew that,
Speaker 1: and I mean he instilled that in me a little bit.
Speaker 1: Like we would always go to the gym. He always
Speaker 1: waked me up early to go to the gym. That's
Speaker 1: that's one thing about him though. I never liked that
Speaker 1: what time he went like that was that was like,
Speaker 1: you know, like what are we doing? Yeah, like I
Speaker 1: love it, but like we could I could totally just
Speaker 1: do this later, like I was planning on doing this later.
Speaker 1: Totally done this later. But I mean he was trying
Speaker 1: to get up early. That's my dog though. Like man,
Speaker 1: talk about Indiana, I was, I played there around the
Speaker 1: Peyton man in time and just to just to go
Speaker 1: touch on what you said, Indiana had paid Manning at
Speaker 1: the top at the top of his career and they
Speaker 1: still was behind the paces and in the Indiana who
Speaker 1: was just like basketball is everything in Indiana. Man. So
Speaker 1: I so I know what you're talking about. But growing up,
Speaker 1: was there any other sports she was interested in? And
Speaker 1: how did you find the game of basketball? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean my mama hated football for me. She didn't want
Speaker 1: all that. She didn't, you know, Mama scared. So I
Speaker 1: was swimming. Actually early on I was swimming. I was good.
Speaker 1: But then we started to train outside the water, which
Speaker 1: was like I didn't love it. I clearly didn't love
Speaker 1: it to do all that. So I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe like I was always hooping, Like I always hooped,
Speaker 1: like even if I'm hooping for fun and for for real,
Speaker 1: like I'm always hooping. So I'm like, you know, I organically,
Speaker 1: I just fell in love with it. And my you know,
Speaker 1: I see like my dad played, so you would think, like,
Speaker 1: you know, he's gonna push me into it whatever, and
Speaker 1: he's definitely happy it all worked out that we love
Speaker 1: the same game. But he never pushed me into it,
Speaker 1: Like if I didn't want to do it, he would
Speaker 1: have just he would have been cool for whatever. Like
Speaker 1: he he just wanted me to have that level of
Speaker 1: my own. So, I mean I had the love. I
Speaker 1: didn't even find the Indiana. I had it. I just
Speaker 1: had it the whole time and didn't know it, Like
Speaker 1: I just didn't know it. And then in Indiana, I
Speaker 1: just kind of learned like the discipline of it all,
Speaker 1: like the discipline to work, like the real when it's
Speaker 1: not fun per se, you know, like the other things.
Speaker 1: So I just be in Indiana and like, you know,
Speaker 1: you got the Hoosiers down there, So the Whosiers all
Speaker 1: the fans go to the Pacer games. So that's why
Speaker 1: it gets loud, like they're still loud. I was going
Speaker 1: to Pacer games watching Danny Granger. I was watching PG
Speaker 1: back com PG was like a real four, like a
Speaker 1: real four or five. Indeed, Dan Granger was hooping and
Speaker 1: George Hill and Lance like I would go all those games, um,
Speaker 1: and I mean it was always rocking. You get to
Speaker 1: produce fans. I was recruited by I you, Purdue Butler,
Speaker 1: Xavier Michigan, Michigan State, and so yeah, like mid West.
Speaker 1: I was real mid West dude at that point. So
Speaker 1: I mean Indiana bred me. Yeah, you're coming from two
Speaker 1: parents that's tied into the game. Your pops played, won
Speaker 1: the championship of course with San Antonio Spurs, and it's
Speaker 1: still coaching this day in the G League. He was
Speaker 1: born in your your dad won the ring. Talk, do
Speaker 1: you do remember anything from that time and what kind
Speaker 1: of game that your dad is stealing you, you know
Speaker 1: from first hand from being the NBA player and being
Speaker 1: the NBA champion. Yeah, well no, I don't remember nothing.
Speaker 1: I was calling around and in the whatever room. And
Speaker 1: I was born the same year he won the ring.
Speaker 1: So then the next couple of years after that, like
Speaker 1: the Spurs was the team that really I mean had
Speaker 1: his back for real, like you know, had him for
Speaker 1: like four years and then you want to ring with
Speaker 1: that team. And then you was there like right right
Speaker 1: after your point guard was Your point guard was Tony
Speaker 1: Parker and his was Avery, so like right right around
Speaker 1: that time and uh malics burning. I know he was
Speaker 1: one in Agetown. So I mean I didn't find out, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I was. I was in Santon. I remember, Shoot,
Speaker 1: you could cook eggs outside it's hot, Spanish little things
Speaker 1: like that, like, but I mean I was. I was
Speaker 1: a nice little for my family, Like you know, you
Speaker 1: always remember that from my family, and I mean that's
Speaker 1: always a special place. My mom live living there too,
Speaker 1: So Santoni, I mean both your parents are in the game.
Speaker 1: Uh your mom. Terry is the uh the director of
Speaker 1: the u w n b p A and it's done
Speaker 1: a lot of amazing things across the league, like negotiating
Speaker 1: higher salaries, protesting finds really having the backs of the
Speaker 1: women in the w n b A. So does that
Speaker 1: you know how in tune to are you to what
Speaker 1: she's doing? And and and the growing support of the
Speaker 1: w n b A. It's crazy. I used to I
Speaker 1: used to watch my mom like we started this. We
Speaker 1: used to have a pretty big house. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie like Chief really did it? Thank God for Chief,
Speaker 1: and like that's my dog. So but my mom used
Speaker 1: to hide in the workout room and film these videos
Speaker 1: of what she wanted to accomplish. She would say, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I wanna it was always pro women, Like
Speaker 1: we always when we didn't make fun of her around
Speaker 1: the house, we're like, man, you love women, but like
Speaker 1: she literally would do you know whatever for for women,
Speaker 1: Like she's always in that mode. So I've seen her
Speaker 1: work at a u U d C and she all
Speaker 1: and where she's at now is kind of exactly what
Speaker 1: she used to say on those videos, like exactly what
Speaker 1: she wanted to do. So she's she's just she's really
Speaker 1: doing and I'm proud of how far she's come. She's
Speaker 1: I mean, she ain't hoop by no means she ain't whop.
Speaker 1: And she got a free throw shot, that's it. So
Speaker 1: just like in tune, she is with women in sports
Speaker 1: just because of the human aspect of it, Like she
Speaker 1: gets that real. Well, um, I'm just that's like a
Speaker 1: real big part of our family too. And she's the
Speaker 1: reason why we moved to Indiana. Funny enough, we didn't
Speaker 1: even move for hoops. We moved because she was working
Speaker 1: for the n c a A. So that's really why
Speaker 1: it happened. And were like cool, like we know you're
Speaker 1: grinding and we didn't even question it. Really all right,
Speaker 1: we can get out of here, even though who knows
Speaker 1: if we wanted to leave her and I ended up
Speaker 1: working out for everybody. That's what's up. Um. Obviously both
Speaker 1: your parents connected to basketball so much. What kind of
Speaker 1: fans are they within their crowd? Are they quiet? Are
Speaker 1: they yelling? Do they embarrass you? What kind of what
Speaker 1: kind of fans are your parents? Yeah? Well, as I
Speaker 1: get older, I'm realizing like back then, I'm like dango,
Speaker 1: but you love that now like I love that now
Speaker 1: they're screaming, like my mom's screaming. My mom got a
Speaker 1: high voice, so very like you know, piercing, likes to
Speaker 1: clap like with her hand, like perfectly on her other hands.
Speaker 1: So it's it's loud, and everything's real loud. And my
Speaker 1: dad's just you know, having fun. His voice is loud too,
Speaker 1: so he don't even he might not even know he's loud.
Speaker 1: But I mean they just get real active and they
Speaker 1: still do that now, Like it's funny, Like I know
Speaker 1: where they sit at my games now, um, and you
Speaker 1: can I can hear it, like I can hear little
Speaker 1: things my mom says, butter when I make a free
Speaker 1: throw still today, screamed it show yell out like come
Speaker 1: on thirteen. Like I'm like, yeah, but I hear you know,
Speaker 1: you know your mom's voice, though you can hear it
Speaker 1: through the whole stadium. I think I used to say
Speaker 1: calm down maybe once when I was growing up, and
Speaker 1: I think after a point, I was just like, you know, clearly,
Speaker 1: there's just no stopping this. So you know what you
Speaker 1: got it like, go hand like I love it, embrace it.
Speaker 1: There you go. You and I both shut up. Mcdowne's
Speaker 1: all American experience, you know. For me, it was a blessing.
Speaker 1: Uh talk about Um, how do you felt about being
Speaker 1: chosen and being one of the best players in the
Speaker 1: country of high school and also being able to rub
Speaker 1: shows with some of the elite. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: was never even going into that summer. It's like your
Speaker 1: last summer before everything. So it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: your last summer to prove everything. Hey, you your circuit,
Speaker 1: you're trying to go ham. I was probably ranked like
Speaker 1: eightieth and I didn't like trust me. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I ever set a bar for myself this whole time.
Speaker 1: I think I was just in it. I just was
Speaker 1: in it. So like eightieth we started playing, I was
Speaker 1: playing on Specs and like circuit happed to thirty. At
Speaker 1: the end, I was eight and I'm like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: probably gonna make it. So I made it UM with
Speaker 1: my teammate Brian Bowens, so we both made it together.
Speaker 1: With was dope, Like it was crazy, and I mean
Speaker 1: getting picked for that Jordan's Hoops Summit that was like
Speaker 1: a dream. Like I didn't really feel it at the
Speaker 1: time because like you, you don't you you never really
Speaker 1: thought maybe. But when it realized and I realized all
Speaker 1: the names I'm associated with, even just nominees when the
Speaker 1: nominees came out, it's just crazy to think, like you
Speaker 1: made it out of that um. But it's a long
Speaker 1: day at McDonald's. People, midda McDonald's, man, that is a
Speaker 1: long day. It is not. It ain't like you're there
Speaker 1: and you you don't want to complain because you're there.
Speaker 1: You don't want to complain because then you're just donna
Speaker 1: feel bad like you look in the mirror, like, why
Speaker 1: am I complaining about this? But man, you're going there
Speaker 1: and you signed ten thousand basketballs. Hey for me? Man, Hey,
Speaker 1: I know what you I know how you felt for me.
Speaker 1: They could have took everything out instead of going to
Speaker 1: the hospital. I think I enjoyed going to the hospital,
Speaker 1: talking to the kids at the at the McDonald's Children's Hospital.
Speaker 1: That's I think that's the only part I enjoyed, besides
Speaker 1: playing all the other stuff in the middle. They could
Speaker 1: have counted yeah, because it was a human thing. Other
Speaker 1: stuff was pressing, smiling and photo op and go here
Speaker 1: and do this, and and honestly, even practice is weak.
Speaker 1: I don't even know we're doing. I think we did
Speaker 1: a layup drill. I was. It was funny. We we were, uh,
Speaker 1: like you watched the other team practice, You're on different court,
Speaker 1: the we're the West something. I don't even remember what
Speaker 1: we were. I was a trade Young and Michael Porter.
Speaker 1: We're looking over at the other team. They scrimmage in
Speaker 1: the whole time we're looking at our coach, like, man,
Speaker 1: can we scrimmage? This man is having us doing full
Speaker 1: court layup drills. And then at the very end, Trade
Speaker 1: missed the layup just like just missed it and we
Speaker 1: had like nineteen try and get the twenty made us
Speaker 1: do it again. We're like, man, we didn't even scrimmage in,
Speaker 1: Like what are we doing? Like where everyone's trying to
Speaker 1: be Everyone's Premia Donna. Now everyone's Premia Donna coming out
Speaker 1: because everybody nice. So it's it was funny. I think
Speaker 1: we kind of laughed at that later because I mean
Speaker 1: we've seen each other place since, like we're twelve, and
Speaker 1: now it's all of us here again. And then at
Speaker 1: the draft we could look back at it too. We're
Speaker 1: laughing about that then. But I was crazy, man, McDonald's
Speaker 1: was lit. Some of the other guys to cut you off.
Speaker 1: You you mentioned Trey Young and Michael Porter Jr. So
Speaker 1: who was the other guys in that game? Yeah, Mo
Speaker 1: bamba um DeAndre Aman was in that game. When del
Speaker 1: Carter was in that game at Big in that game,
Speaker 1: Um trailer was like the guard Trayvon Duvo was in
Speaker 1: that game. Uh shoot pretty sure. Billy Preston, Jared Vanderbilt, Um,
Speaker 1: yeah it was. It was. I don't know if Bill
Speaker 1: was in there, but it was always good though. But yeah,
Speaker 1: like it was, it was I mean for sure, and
Speaker 1: I mean Marvin Bagley would have been in it, but
Speaker 1: you know, transferred whatever he did to get to the
Speaker 1: whatever he did, he just wasn't in the game like
Speaker 1: some people just don't. But it would have just been
Speaker 1: all big dudes for real, and it was funny. And
Speaker 1: we ended up winning two, which was hype, Like, I'm
Speaker 1: so glad we want Yeah, I got, I got a
Speaker 1: quick coote. We start by McDonald's game. You talked about
Speaker 1: high team two teams. Yeah, yeah. The scrimmage, well it's
Speaker 1: foot I got footage that I put on my Instagram.
Speaker 1: But I was going through Shooter Rogers walk through and
Speaker 1: real Pammington guard Kobe and we was just to walk
Speaker 1: through Kobe, get the bad, drive me down, lay dunking
Speaker 1: hard like we're playing for speed. So instantly after that,
Speaker 1: coach like we just walked over, Code was like, no,
Speaker 1: let's get after. Let's get after. So we ended up
Speaker 1: playing four quarters bro full practice because of Kobe wanted
Speaker 1: to go hard bro, So I know what you're talking
Speaker 1: about because the other team was just chilling. Yeah, for real,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you and I'm glad y'all had Kobe anger
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean. I'm glad. Y'all got
Speaker 1: to do that too. That's the side gart nothing, do nothing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that was Yeah, that's so dope for real.
Speaker 1: Heah too. College recruitment process was your parents pushing you
Speaker 1: to go to Georgetown, but that the teams reached out. No,
Speaker 1: they weren't pressuring me. Uh you know, maybe my dad hoped,
Speaker 1: but at that point, so many schools that reached out,
Speaker 1: and he realized that it was gonna be I was
Speaker 1: gonna have a lot of options that I mean, you
Speaker 1: just gotta make the right decision. Um, a lot of
Speaker 1: pretty much everybody in the big term reached out Canadas,
Speaker 1: we reached out, um, North Carolina, and then my final
Speaker 1: five was noted Dame Michigan, Michigan State, Georgetown in Maryland.
Speaker 1: That was my final five. Um yeah, and I shoot,
Speaker 1: I know how it was like getting all those calls,
Speaker 1: everyone's buttering you up. I mean, to keep it real,
Speaker 1: like schools was lying. There were schools that were lying,
Speaker 1: for shure, it just were lying. Like I'm glad I'm
Speaker 1: here now able to say that like that because I've
Speaker 1: never really been able to say that, because I usually
Speaker 1: just say something else. Like thank you, but people were lying.
Speaker 1: They were saying, you know, you don't get the ball
Speaker 1: every time you're gonna do this. You don't have the
Speaker 1: keys to this here is you don't have anything you want.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, like, I hate it when schools like
Speaker 1: because I'm like, man, y'all will probably get me if
Speaker 1: y'all just said less, like I'm probably more into y'all
Speaker 1: than y'all know. And y'all damn the bush. Yeah, y'all
Speaker 1: ruining it for me, y'all just But then Michigan State
Speaker 1: they then he pissed me off. They would call me
Speaker 1: after games and tell me I played horrible, Like what
Speaker 1: am I doing? Like get on me? And then I
Speaker 1: remember at first I was like mann, and then like
Speaker 1: I sat down, I thought about it. I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: it's probably something to this, Like it's probably something. It's
Speaker 1: probably something to this, like why are they doing this?
Speaker 1: They know that everybody wants me to go there, like
Speaker 1: why are they doing this? And they would end up
Speaker 1: telling me like man, we just want you to be
Speaker 1: good period, like we don't care where you go. We
Speaker 1: don't care at all, like none of that. They would
Speaker 1: never promise me anything, is I was like, man, you
Speaker 1: don't have to work for real. I'm like, all right, cool,
Speaker 1: so let's do it. Like I was like I took
Speaker 1: out a challenge, which it was for sure, it was
Speaker 1: an adjustment early, but it was like it's what I
Speaker 1: wanted and what I needed for sure, Like it just
Speaker 1: it works so well, like it was like a perfect
Speaker 1: fit for me. So so you chose it because he
Speaker 1: kept me funking with Yeah, he kept it real and
Speaker 1: he was real like that's o g right there, Like
Speaker 1: he really like he cares like so deeply about like
Speaker 1: the game and how players develop and how they go
Speaker 1: on and live their lives and just how how much
Speaker 1: you give compete, Like you know, he remember, I remember
Speaker 1: I got to I got to the program. We had
Speaker 1: practice and he was like, all right, all right, we're
Speaker 1: gonna gonna run here and co get the ball, run
Speaker 1: full court and catch the corner. Three. I ran for court.
Speaker 1: He said, Yo, what is that? I said, what do
Speaker 1: you mean? Like He's like, is that your run? I'm
Speaker 1: like I'm like I ran and he's like, yo, Kyle,
Speaker 1: he said, Carle, show him how to run this man.
Speaker 1: Kyle ran like like it was the last time you
Speaker 1: ever gonna run. I'm thinking, like I gotta run to
Speaker 1: get the three. So I'm thinking I'm gonna run and
Speaker 1: get in rhythm. That's not what he wanted. He wants
Speaker 1: me to run full speed stop on a dime and
Speaker 1: take this three. But like the point of it, like
Speaker 1: I get he get with that. It was hard, But
Speaker 1: the point of is like he knew it was hard,
Speaker 1: Like he knew early on it was gonna be difficult,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, like it pays
Speaker 1: off later, like may not even be paying off for
Speaker 1: that exact drill, but like the mentality, you build the
Speaker 1: mentality enough for everything else you're doing. And like, I
Speaker 1: don't know people, don't people be missing that? People be
Speaker 1: missing that? Man's like at the next level, what man,
Speaker 1: I got a quick story. I don't think you know
Speaker 1: Tom iszo why he will go? Um. I was doing
Speaker 1: First Things First and right after the show he called
Speaker 1: Chris Carter on FaceTime, and Uh, all he was saying
Speaker 1: was how much he loved our show Tom and coach
Speaker 1: coach Tom really so shout yeah, so shout out coach Tom.
Speaker 1: Is this was maybe last year. I think around last
Speaker 1: year when I was doing First Things First, and he
Speaker 1: FaceTime Chris Carter just to tell us about Yeah, that
Speaker 1: with our shows. So that's dope. That's the dope, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. We had Draymond on the podcast.
Speaker 1: Remember outside of arguing with is Oh, he said, I
Speaker 1: mean he had nothing. But I've never heard anything bad
Speaker 1: about coach yourself, So it's never will. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: it's just so real some of the obviously he's teaching you.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it wasn't about the shot it was.
Speaker 1: It was just about instilling principles that you hustle while
Speaker 1: you're on the basketball court, and it's always going to
Speaker 1: add to the bigger picture. But what is the best
Speaker 1: advice you recall him giving to you? Best advice m
Speaker 1: hm hm uh probably, I mean first probably was to
Speaker 1: leave school. He really made me here you go. That's
Speaker 1: what's really funny because there was rumors. I remember that.
Speaker 1: I love rumors, like they're so off because there was rumors.
Speaker 1: I remember if they say that it was trying to
Speaker 1: keep me in school. I'm like, how does that? How
Speaker 1: does that work? How did you? How would y'all know that?
Speaker 1: He's literally I walked in his office after we're done,
Speaker 1: like everything's over and I actually signed up for like
Speaker 1: the the summer trips and like the weird stuff in college,
Speaker 1: like the weird stuff. I signed up for it for
Speaker 1: the next year, and people are asking me if I'm staying.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hell yeah, I'm staying next year. About to
Speaker 1: be crazy, I go in there. I'm like all right.
Speaker 1: So he's just like, so what are we talking about here?
Speaker 1: Like I'm like, what do you mean. I'm just like,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna stay for? I'm like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: because I like school. He's like that's that's a horrible reason.
Speaker 1: And then and then he was like he was like
Speaker 1: he ended up telling He told Draymond I was thinking
Speaker 1: of He drove me to class, and he was like,
Speaker 1: like he puts out on my shoulder as if like
Speaker 1: it's the last time you finn to seeing me. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, man, like I'm not thinking that. And then
Speaker 1: he told Draymond, and Draymond called me and cut me out.
Speaker 1: Because there that's how Michigan State be, Like everybody on
Speaker 1: each other, like we don't care generation generation, there's no gap,
Speaker 1: like everybody knows everybody very well. So Draymond calls me,
Speaker 1: I don't even know Draymond like that, like we're not
Speaker 1: that cool yet, Like we're cool, but we're not that
Speaker 1: cool yet. So he's calling me, not even introduced himself.
Speaker 1: He's just calling me and saying, what the fund is
Speaker 1: you doing? I'm like, who is this? He's like, no,
Speaker 1: this is and I'm as drama, all right, what's up? Bro?
Speaker 1: Like I know how you'd be. He's like, why are
Speaker 1: you in the stay? There's no reason? How how you
Speaker 1: want to go? How how you want to go? One?
Speaker 1: You want to go? One? Huh? How high? Like what's
Speaker 1: the point all this? Da? Da da dada. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, bro, like dang, it ain't like I didn't
Speaker 1: even thought about it all yet, like man, I could
Speaker 1: have let like who knows? And then I sat down
Speaker 1: and really looked at it. And then my dad finally
Speaker 1: decided to talk to me about it because he was
Speaker 1: waiting to give me space, and he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's probably shaping up, you know what. You know what's
Speaker 1: funny about that is as I was about to ask
Speaker 1: you about Miles Bridges next, but I particularly remember since
Speaker 1: you brought Draymond up. Draymond was having conversations with Miles
Speaker 1: and his parents while we were on getting ready. We
Speaker 1: were I think we're in the Western Conference finals. We
Speaker 1: might have been in the finals. I'll sitting right next
Speaker 1: to him, and he was really going back and forth
Speaker 1: with with with Miles and his parents about staying not staying.
Speaker 1: I think Miles wanted to come out, and I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if his parents didn't want him or something like that.
Speaker 1: But it was funny you said that because he was
Speaker 1: on the phone with Miles too. And obviously you guys
Speaker 1: UH playing together. Thoughts on his uh Man arguably could
Speaker 1: be most improved player UH this year in the NBA.
Speaker 1: What kind of relationship do you guys have and and
Speaker 1: and are you surprised that the leap he's made. I
Speaker 1: don't know, I'm not surprised. Um. Kind of like the
Speaker 1: same thing with Jay Pool. He just worked so hard.
Speaker 1: There's like levels, like you work too hard. I know
Speaker 1: eventually something's gonna sink for you. Eventually you're gonna work
Speaker 1: double as hard as someone else like you're going against
Speaker 1: and it just adds up enough. So I mean, I
Speaker 1: just see how he works. I know his mentality. He
Speaker 1: don't you don't give a damn about anybody in front
Speaker 1: of him. You he going at you and he's gonna
Speaker 1: laugh about it. Like it's just this is joy, Like
Speaker 1: it's pure joy, is coming from real place. So I know,
Speaker 1: like if you have that, I have more confidence in
Speaker 1: like anything you're going to do in the future. So
Speaker 1: I mean, Plus he's my roommate too, that's my dog. Like,
Speaker 1: were working out together. We worked out in the summer
Speaker 1: right before the draft. Uh what we were still in
Speaker 1: Michigan before we left and I went to l A,
Speaker 1: so I knew what he was on and um, I
Speaker 1: mean just to see the leaps. Yeah, we worked out
Speaker 1: with Chris Johnson this summer, so and shout out, yeah,
Speaker 1: Chris is Yeah, he works he works out by twins.
Speaker 1: I was I was never shocked at how when he
Speaker 1: was gonna go. I think I was shocked on how
Speaker 1: he adapted so well to probably shooting, just because that
Speaker 1: was probably the only thing that like people say, like
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know, he's super athletic and drive
Speaker 1: all that. Now, I mean, you really got to put
Speaker 1: a hand up like he could shoot. So I mean
Speaker 1: I'm just happy for him, you know, whatever whatever they do.
Speaker 1: I mean, Charlotte's on the five game winning Street right
Speaker 1: now as we speak right now, and I know him
Speaker 1: and Mellow I have like a crazy connection right now.
Speaker 1: They're really doing it, so they got it. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: You you clasp of the draft Ineen, you get drafted
Speaker 1: number four by the Grizzlies. Talk about that experience. Yeah,
Speaker 1: draft process. Uh only did three workouts, ironically, none of
Speaker 1: them for the Grizzlies. It was Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix
Speaker 1: because I was going for the number one pick and
Speaker 1: I actually wanted to a funny thing. I actually asked
Speaker 1: Phoenix to be like a group workout for the number
Speaker 1: one pick, which honestly was pretty weird. No one does that,
Speaker 1: Like everyone said, everyone said no, but no one wanted
Speaker 1: to do it. But it was okay, Like I still
Speaker 1: worked out for them, um and yeah, Like at the time,
Speaker 1: we had a whole different front office, a whole different team,
Speaker 1: and the Grizzlies. Uh, you know, the agency process angle
Speaker 1: you in different ways, and I didn't really know much
Speaker 1: about any of the places. I was just happy to
Speaker 1: go anywhere. When I knew I was going one through
Speaker 1: five or one through ten, I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just make sure I'm ready for whatever comes
Speaker 1: and I pretty much knew draft morning where I was going.
Speaker 1: You never know, but like you knew to go, aid
Speaker 1: My agent told me Austin Brown to go, and he
Speaker 1: were at the draft table, and everyone thought I was
Speaker 1: going to Atlanta. So everyone's looking at me for Atlanta
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, no, it's not I'm trying to
Speaker 1: tell people like no, and then they think I'm mad,
Speaker 1: Like as soon as it happens, I'm like, no, I knew,
Speaker 1: and they try to put the camera on me for
Speaker 1: my like explosive reaction or whatever. I'm like, no, it's cool.
Speaker 1: And then uh. I went to Memphis and immediately, I
Speaker 1: mean I just felt different, Like as soon as my
Speaker 1: name was called, I just felt different, partly because you
Speaker 1: go right to the media circuit and it's like you're
Speaker 1: getting asked questions like you was on the team for
Speaker 1: your whole life, What do you want to bring to
Speaker 1: the city. How does the city treating you? I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: I ain't get there, but like but like I'm just
Speaker 1: I was immersed. You're immersing in community. Like as soon
Speaker 1: as you get there, everybody is so excited to see you,
Speaker 1: like it's crazy, Like it's like they ain't they don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, Matt no to like they just more how
Speaker 1: do they asked? But like they on everybody. It's like
Speaker 1: if you come for the team, they on you, but
Speaker 1: they on your ass too, So it's like it's both
Speaker 1: and it's like real, like you know it's real, you know,
Speaker 1: it ain't nothing like it's not a bunch of people
Speaker 1: just going to the game not know what's going on. No,
Speaker 1: they love I mean, because it's really all they got
Speaker 1: out there, you know what I mean. So I was
Speaker 1: obviously a competitor with the Clippers, and we battled them
Speaker 1: in the playoffs for a few years. But then once
Speaker 1: I went there, it was like they love you. They
Speaker 1: embrace you. And I wasn't even the number four pick,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, you're you're a lottery pick. So
Speaker 1: I can only imagine the love um that they showed
Speaker 1: you when you arrived, because it's it's really a real
Speaker 1: basketball town, like they really care about their Grizzlies. It
Speaker 1: was a lot of love. I went to a baseball
Speaker 1: game first off through a pitch like no sleep, like
Speaker 1: coming straight from the draft, like had a had like
Speaker 1: a bunch of my people at the drive night before,
Speaker 1: really not sleeping at all, Like it was crazy, and uh,
Speaker 1: flew right there and met everybody. We're a VET team,
Speaker 1: though heavy VET team. We're not like we are now.
Speaker 1: Who was still there? Who? Who? Who was there when
Speaker 1: you were draft it. I started with Marshawn Brooks, Shelton
Speaker 1: Mack Dylan Brooks was probably the youngest, and Mike Conley, Mark,
Speaker 1: Jamichael Green, Umri Caspy, Garrett Temple was on our team.
Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson. Yeah, Uh the age was the like the
Speaker 1: the whatever age was high. So I'm like, um, it's funny. Oh,
Speaker 1: Wayne Seldon my brother. It was crazy like I was
Speaker 1: Rooke for real, like it was. It was funny in
Speaker 1: the locker room, Like it's it's funny to see how
Speaker 1: the locker room has changed. But I mean I really
Speaker 1: had O G s Like I really g who had
Speaker 1: a lot of different experiences, knew a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the league, and I would I remember, I would
Speaker 1: say stuff and they'd be like, you have no idea.
Speaker 1: I had Chandler, I had Chandler. You had Chandler on here,
Speaker 1: I had Chanl. Yeah. I was gonna ask because I
Speaker 1: think I left the year before I I went. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was there the year before, and then Chandler came
Speaker 1: the year I left. So that's why I's gonna ask.
Speaker 1: I think Chandler was on that team too. I was
Speaker 1: a good root too. They know it too. I was good.
Speaker 1: Like what I learned about the rug duties is like
Speaker 1: the only way you get hard rook duties if you
Speaker 1: don't do the easy ones. So I was always like tiles,
Speaker 1: the showers, look like the food for the plane. Like
Speaker 1: everything I was on point with. I never missed ever.
Speaker 1: And they treat you right. That's what they don't like.
Speaker 1: They're gonna give you something, give your ms, give you
Speaker 1: our per damn that we would have had you on
Speaker 1: blunt runs, alcohol runs, what else, jack rubbers, rubbers all that,
Speaker 1: but she didn't use those. That's why I said, we
Speaker 1: wouldn't say they know. But like I literally had two
Speaker 1: am you ready? One? Am you ready? You just gotta
Speaker 1: be ready, Like if you just are considering with it,
Speaker 1: they leave you alone. But I remember Chandler Chandler. Funny
Speaker 1: thing about Chandler. Chandler had me he was like all right,
Speaker 1: he keeping my bag like off the plane, like get
Speaker 1: the bag, his bag and bring it home and bring
Speaker 1: it to the gym the next day, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is so odd. This is like the just so
Speaker 1: he can get right to his car, don't have to
Speaker 1: wait for the bag. Yeah, I'm like, all right, fine,
Speaker 1: I just didn't care, So I did it. I bring
Speaker 1: his bag home. I bring his bag in my crib
Speaker 1: and I'm like, dn, this bag is huge, but it's
Speaker 1: so light, and I'm just thinking to myself, like, what's
Speaker 1: I don't even feel like being that dude, but what's
Speaker 1: in this bag? Bro? So I'm just like Maro, all right,
Speaker 1: I'm opening your back. I opened the bag because this
Speaker 1: joint don't make sense. And there's just one pair of
Speaker 1: jeans in there. It's just a huge bag and just
Speaker 1: a pair of jeans in there. I'm like, I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: what I'm just so confused now. I just I just
Speaker 1: bring it to him. I just bring it next day
Speaker 1: and I never say anything about it. I didn't never
Speaker 1: tell him. But I'm just like, bro, and he's like,
Speaker 1: good rook. I'm like, yeah, you know, damn well, there's
Speaker 1: just some jeans in here. This is the most random thing,
Speaker 1: Like what is the point of this? Like you got
Speaker 1: this big gas bag for what was your welcome to
Speaker 1: the NBA moment. We all got one. Uh, just that moment,
Speaker 1: just that moment when you're like, damn, I'm really here,
Speaker 1: I'm in the league. I'm here, I'm in the building.
Speaker 1: I feel like mine was the first preseason game because
Speaker 1: we played the Rockets and we were playing Chris Paul
Speaker 1: and James Harden. I played, I mean I played a
Speaker 1: lot of two K, So two K was getting really good.
Speaker 1: Two kids getting really good, Like I know the rituals,
Speaker 1: the intros, and we're going through like warm ups. I'm
Speaker 1: coming off the bench and I see like the little
Speaker 1: Chris Paul where he jumps on hits the pad, James
Speaker 1: Harden hits the pad, does like this. I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: this is like exactly like two I'm like, it's exactly
Speaker 1: like two kids. My first game playing somewhere, Chris Paul
Speaker 1: gets attacking like the first three minutes of the game
Speaker 1: for nobody's the first preseason game of the year. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right. So then I get out there and they
Speaker 1: really literally run the same play ten times in a
Speaker 1: row and just get me on the switch, and I
Speaker 1: so and take a hundred dribbles back and forth and
Speaker 1: just do a step back and then or they just
Speaker 1: tried to drive by me and like I wasn't getting baked,
Speaker 1: but they hit some and then like I remember one time,
Speaker 1: James having just was staring in my eyes, like staring
Speaker 1: at me and like laughing as he's doing this dribble
Speaker 1: because he knows I'm this is the first time I'm
Speaker 1: out here and I'm about to barbecue man. And he
Speaker 1: stepped back, and I remember I tried to contest. I
Speaker 1: kind of stepped under him and he fell and they're
Speaker 1: like hey, like they were freaking out, like on the
Speaker 1: rockets bench, like he stepped under him. And then Chris
Speaker 1: Paul was like hey, man, like, don't even He told
Speaker 1: the bench calmed down because I don't even know. He
Speaker 1: knows I don't know what's going on right now, like
Speaker 1: he knows, I have no idea. I didn't even know
Speaker 1: what they were mad about. I was like, what's up?
Speaker 1: Like the dude just hit me with eight moves combos
Speaker 1: and stepped back like I don't know what y'all what
Speaker 1: y'all want? You want me to not contest? Like y'all,
Speaker 1: I don't even but he that was was probably a
Speaker 1: moment um playing against Brian that season was crazy. I
Speaker 1: just remember for it was the first time for everything.
Speaker 1: So like it's anyone that didn't did anyone dunk on
Speaker 1: you that season? You get dunked on him? Bout anybody? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a shot, He's a shot blocker. That's what I'm saying. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because that's why, No, he'd be going up and contested.
Speaker 1: That's why I'm saying. It's only you know, it's a
Speaker 1: matter of time. You're gonna blocking up, but you're gonna
Speaker 1: get dunked onto. Yeah. Probably it's probably something I can't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't remember them. It's hard for me
Speaker 1: to remember him. And I ain't even bullshit because I
Speaker 1: really would say, I really really because I do block
Speaker 1: a lot. So it is gonna happen. But when it happens,
Speaker 1: it's just like I'll just be I'll be forgetting it.
Speaker 1: Ain't it can't be. Oh, I mean I don't even
Speaker 1: want to. I mean, belief, Belicia Felicia dunk. Yeah. See
Speaker 1: it's the one you wouldn't expect. It's not the high flowers. Yeah.
Speaker 1: In the Sacramento I banged on him the first half.
Speaker 1: I went and left banged on him. Talking crazy my bench,
Speaker 1: I'm talking crazy. And then in the fourth quarter she
Speaker 1: comes down the lank and gives me and the whole
Speaker 1: crowd remembers and they're going crazy. And then I got
Speaker 1: subbed out. Right then, I'm like, that's the worst it was,
Speaker 1: and one oh, and you got subbed out. I got
Speaker 1: subbed out for like the nine minutes. I got stubbed
Speaker 1: out so long that they put me in to like
Speaker 1: be on the ball at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: Like I got subbed out for a minute that game randomly,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, man, like, damn, but I remember.
Speaker 1: I think that's why I remember that one. That one
Speaker 1: was weird. March twenty nine, two nineteen. You're shut down
Speaker 1: for the remainder of the season. Um, what is that
Speaker 1: like for you? You're in the league now and you're
Speaker 1: shut down? How was that mentally for you? Understanding that
Speaker 1: you know, damn, this is a part of the game.
Speaker 1: The worst Funny enough, I had I had literally just
Speaker 1: gotten hurt and I was coming back from injury and
Speaker 1: I was a game away, so it was the next
Speaker 1: game I was about to play, and I'm like, really,
Speaker 1: like all right, so then we shut down and I
Speaker 1: mean at first, I didn't know what the thing because
Speaker 1: I didn't think it would be a long time. But
Speaker 1: when I realized, like what what was really going on
Speaker 1: around the world, I was like, man, it kind of
Speaker 1: just made me grateful for everything. Definitely great for everything,
Speaker 1: Grateful for playing the game, playing competitively around people, like like,
Speaker 1: obviously I ain't gonna lie I was. I was going
Speaker 1: to the gym always, like I found a way to
Speaker 1: get to the gym. But even then, like it's different.
Speaker 1: You just different. You're not around like even the people
Speaker 1: at the coaches, like the video dudes, like people training,
Speaker 1: like anything, like the relationship there is, it's just not there,
Speaker 1: and you're just you're just getting better on your game
Speaker 1: waiting for that time to show it again. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like you're in a cocoon or something. But I
Speaker 1: mean it was just more. It was just more like
Speaker 1: you're kind of everybody's on the same playing field for
Speaker 1: some reason. Like it's hard to say, but like everybody's
Speaker 1: in the same boat. You know, everybody's probably thinking around
Speaker 1: the whole world because everybody's just sitting there waiting. Everybody's
Speaker 1: just kind of making do Everybody's just kind of um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's less about basketball for once, Like it's
Speaker 1: always about basketball, but it's finally less about basketball, and
Speaker 1: that's weird, like it's usually all about that. Yeah, it's life.
Speaker 1: The following season, the end of the year, in December,
Speaker 1: you dropped a career high forty three with nine threes,
Speaker 1: tying the franchise record with Mike Miller. What was that night? Like, Uh,
Speaker 1: who was big? Who was real big? Like, I don't
Speaker 1: know what. I didn't do anything special before the game.
Speaker 1: I think it was a regular game. I knew I
Speaker 1: was playing your honest, so I was hyped and people were,
Speaker 1: you know, excited about that matchup of me finally getting
Speaker 1: the taste of that. And I just realized that day,
Speaker 1: I mean for a while, like my shot for him,
Speaker 1: like it would just not have people contest and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, I could get away with a lot. So
Speaker 1: I knew I could shoot and I had a confidence
Speaker 1: to shoot, and they weren't playing up on me at first.
Speaker 1: So my first four, when I hit my first four
Speaker 1: in the quarter, I was kind of like, all right,
Speaker 1: I just like, no matter what, I'm gonna take probably
Speaker 1: five or six more just because I deserve it now,
Speaker 1: Like I felt comfortable like doing it, so my team,
Speaker 1: my teammates were finding me. I hit one one time.
Speaker 1: I remember I played the whole court. I was so gass.
Speaker 1: Coach was running a play for me to get it
Speaker 1: at the elbow, and I was so gassed. I kind
Speaker 1: of just like ran to the ball, like at the
Speaker 1: top of the key, just to give me the ball,
Speaker 1: and like cleared everybody out and took like a forty
Speaker 1: footer off the glass. And I was just like, Wow,
Speaker 1: this is crazy. I don't even know what's going on. Like,
Speaker 1: I like, I hit seven. I probably had seven in
Speaker 1: a quarter in the third and then ended up hitting
Speaker 1: nine for the game. But the third quarter was the
Speaker 1: third quarter was unreal, Like I didn't know what was
Speaker 1: going on, and I had to lay up in that.
Speaker 1: I had a couple of laps in that quarter where
Speaker 1: they finally closed out on me and I drove off.
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, I'm gassed, But this is a
Speaker 1: dream right here. This is crazy. Whatever you want, Uh,
Speaker 1: you guys, go to the bubble. What do you remember
Speaker 1: about that? I mean, whether it be playing or just
Speaker 1: in that environment. Uh, what sticks out to you the
Speaker 1: most about that time. I'm an only child, so pretty
Speaker 1: much like growing up again, just being by yourself and
Speaker 1: hooping and coming back like a long tournament. And it
Speaker 1: was like we was a AU team, roommates going to
Speaker 1: each other's room every day, hanging out, playing video games,
Speaker 1: listening to music like all the I just remember everything
Speaker 1: being so open. There's just no one there. You can
Speaker 1: do whatever you want, and then you just go and
Speaker 1: play these games. Um, I got hurt there too. What sucked.
Speaker 1: I got hurt there too, That's what really. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was like my first real getting hurt experience, like surgery. Um,
Speaker 1: and I remember I got hurt there, My boy Justice
Speaker 1: wins all got hurt there. So we're pretty much hanging
Speaker 1: out with each other until we had to leave the bubble,
Speaker 1: And I mean that was kind of a blur. I
Speaker 1: ain't gonna lie up until that point, it was a blur,
Speaker 1: But that experience was I think we were just so
Speaker 1: excited to play again that we weren't as mad about it.
Speaker 1: But then again, you're away from your friends and your family,
Speaker 1: it kind of gets to you a little. And I
Speaker 1: mean people wanted to leave for sure. People want to leave.
Speaker 1: Man keep a hundrer air like people wanted to get
Speaker 1: out but it's like it's testing basketball is all. We
Speaker 1: know what you're gonna do, leave and do what like
Speaker 1: not who uh you guys get your first taste of
Speaker 1: the playoffs in um although losing to the Jazz and
Speaker 1: for one, what did that teach you personally? And what
Speaker 1: did that teach your young team about? What this what
Speaker 1: this playoffs like? Is like yeah, I mean there's no
Speaker 1: fouls in the playoffs. You can you can off ball,
Speaker 1: name somebody, you can punch somebody in the face, cutting
Speaker 1: somebody out, so crazy ribs the lower rib areas open season.
Speaker 1: You can set a crazy screen and and like you
Speaker 1: can get away with a lot which they knew. And
Speaker 1: it was funny, Like my first cut in game one.
Speaker 1: I remember we were running a like we got the
Speaker 1: tip and I was supposed to just it was a
Speaker 1: bluff cut, Like I wasn't even part of the play really,
Speaker 1: I cut Royce O'Neil checks me going through like checks
Speaker 1: me like harder than we have all year. We played
Speaker 1: them four times. I'm like, alright, alright, alright, playoffs Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: I see where're on And then uh, I mean, moving
Speaker 1: the ball is just so important. That's what you really
Speaker 1: learned playing against the Jazz, like moving the ball. Every
Speaker 1: possession matters. That like no one's crashing, everyone's getting back.
Speaker 1: There's just slow half court basketball, Like it's like chess.
Speaker 1: You're just playing chess. Everybody knows everybody real well. Every
Speaker 1: tendency is known, so it's just about mismatches and knowing
Speaker 1: everything about your opponent. That's when, like, um, I started,
Speaker 1: I mean, we I had nothing else to do but
Speaker 1: play the Jazz, So like what I kind of thought,
Speaker 1: I was like, man, I got nothing else to do
Speaker 1: with play this team, and this is what we work
Speaker 1: for the whole time, I cut everybody off, like no
Speaker 1: one could get to no one could talk to me,
Speaker 1: like no friend, no, nothing, like you couldn't talk to me.
Speaker 1: Um for the most part, I mean, and then I
Speaker 1: was just I ended up looking at weird stuff about
Speaker 1: the Jazz, like where the players were from, and I
Speaker 1: ended up looking at little interviews there that they had
Speaker 1: just to kind of I didn't know when I would
Speaker 1: use that info, if I would, or at all, but
Speaker 1: like I just wanted to get a feel for more
Speaker 1: of who they were, just to just to just cause
Speaker 1: I had nothing else to study the Jazz I'm just like, man,
Speaker 1: all right, I might as well, Like I'm on my computer,
Speaker 1: I'll just be like, all right, I look up Donovan
Speaker 1: talking about this, or I know Donovan from New York.
Speaker 1: Like maybe I say about New York to him one
Speaker 1: day in the game. Just throw him off, maybe just
Speaker 1: make him miss he missed two more shots. I don't know.
Speaker 1: He might miss too much shots, man, those and it's Donavans,
Speaker 1: so it's like, you know, he's gonna take a bunch
Speaker 1: if he misses too and that's what helps us winning.
Speaker 1: I don't know. But we only want one game, so
Speaker 1: only on one. So, I mean, you see how that went.
Speaker 1: They're a great team. They definitely taught us a lot well.
Speaker 1: I mean we I'm glad we got there, got that experience.
Speaker 1: What do you know about the green and grind era.
Speaker 1: What I really know is, I mean, it's self explanatory,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, it's really mental. That's what
Speaker 1: you really don't see much Like obviously everybody's physical, you grinding,
Speaker 1: diving on the floor, but those things are given, like
Speaker 1: that's what you should do. You should dive on the floor,
Speaker 1: you should you should do all these things for your teammate.
Speaker 1: Like I hope you do because then because they're gonna
Speaker 1: do it for you. But like the mental side, like
Speaker 1: being locked in every game, being locked in ready to
Speaker 1: play every game is tough, like you really gotta be
Speaker 1: on UM. And that's like the what people don't see,
Speaker 1: the preparation UM, the pedigree that comes from it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you had t A. T A is still Ta was
Speaker 1: always around, Mike Tayshawn works for our team, so I
Speaker 1: mean everybody looms around, Zach still goes to all the games.
Speaker 1: You still have that that love, that family aspect kind
Speaker 1: of and they pass it down. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: they just they shared a lot of their stories to
Speaker 1: share it and you can see on how they play, um,
Speaker 1: how connected they were. Just it comes from the crowd too.
Speaker 1: I mean everybody around here embodies that like all the time.
Speaker 1: So it's it's something real special, Like I can't even
Speaker 1: explain it, and we still kind of had that it
Speaker 1: don't it don't They don't go nowhere like it really
Speaker 1: don't it don't. You guys are just a newer version
Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, we're next GM. They allowed us to
Speaker 1: be next Gen because they want us to have our
Speaker 1: own thing. But Green Grinds has never gone and it
Speaker 1: will never go away. It's just that's just what you
Speaker 1: are at the end of the day. Explain jobs in
Speaker 1: one word, um, electrifying, box office, box office, electrifying him
Speaker 1: bright for real, really him. And I always say this,
Speaker 1: I always say it about jocks. I love seeing this.
Speaker 1: I get better, I get better ceased than all y'all
Speaker 1: to see this because I'm right there seeing this, And
Speaker 1: most of the time we don't even really know what
Speaker 1: we're seeing until we back up and really think about
Speaker 1: we're seeing some crazy stuff right now. Like I'll go
Speaker 1: down to history and yeah, like he'd probably have a
Speaker 1: lot of people's highlights of their career in the game.
Speaker 1: It's really funny, Like he gets some loud Bucky. It's
Speaker 1: like you'll he'll he'll have thirty, and you'll be like,
Speaker 1: that's about right. I probably thought he had fifty the
Speaker 1: way he was what he was doing, and when he
Speaker 1: has fifty, it's like, man, what kind of But I mean,
Speaker 1: you see it, man, you see it now right in
Speaker 1: l a back. Dude, I didn't seen them out do
Speaker 1: y'all hang out up the court any Yeah, that's my brother.
Speaker 1: I mean we were kicking. We have a lot of common. Uh,
Speaker 1: we jail really quick, like when he got here, because
Speaker 1: we just read as we had a lot in common,
Speaker 1: and we knew how Also we also knew how important
Speaker 1: it was for us to be on the same page.
Speaker 1: So it kind of gave us a little extra motivation
Speaker 1: to just kind of jail and get to know each
Speaker 1: other because we knew there was a chance, like you know,
Speaker 1: a higher chance we'd be around each other alive. All
Speaker 1: goes well, and if we do know each other, it
Speaker 1: probably would go better. But I mean, now it's just organic.
Speaker 1: I mean, we just we're just we syncd up in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. Um, you're right. He's chilled. He's
Speaker 1: very humble, very laid back. He doesn't change, like that's
Speaker 1: one thing. That's one thing everybody knows about twelve. You
Speaker 1: don't change for nobody, like the situation whatever is going on,
Speaker 1: Like he's gonna be him, and he looks out for
Speaker 1: his family, his family, He looks out for his friends,
Speaker 1: he looks out for his teammates. He really cares about
Speaker 1: other people, Like, I mean, all the time he puts
Speaker 1: on from me, all the time, he he'd be saying,
Speaker 1: I'm Defensive Player of the Year. He'd be saying, I'm
Speaker 1: All Star. Always say that's like, I mean, he says
Speaker 1: it for everybody, like he makes sure he puts on everybody,
Speaker 1: and um, I mean, I just that's just how he's built.
Speaker 1: That's how he's raised, raised from good people. So that's
Speaker 1: what you that's what you get, man, that's that's a
Speaker 1: real dude, real dude. What's this? What's this? Craziest highlight
Speaker 1: to you so far? Craziest highlight to me probably the
Speaker 1: the little the fifty point game where he had a dunk,
Speaker 1: he dunk off two from outside the paint and then
Speaker 1: after called a full court passed and shot it over
Speaker 1: the backboard at the buzzer. That or or like awesome,
Speaker 1: real ship like the game winner against Phoenix was unreal,
Speaker 1: because that's like real bucket, Like he he faked the handoff,
Speaker 1: turned the corner and hung in the air for like
Speaker 1: eight seconds and shot it. He went left, but shot
Speaker 1: it with his right hand off the wrong leg, off
Speaker 1: the glass, Like that's like too to hit that at
Speaker 1: that time, Like I kind of knew he was gonna
Speaker 1: shoot that because that's what he likes, but everyone else
Speaker 1: don't know. So to them, it's like, wow, that's a
Speaker 1: ridiculous shot, but it's also a shot he works on,
Speaker 1: and shot he likes. It's a I mean, there's so
Speaker 1: many though, man, Like I forgot about them. Man, I
Speaker 1: gotta like look at his highlights and see like like
Speaker 1: one time we looked. I was on the plane and
Speaker 1: he was just looking at his highlights and I was
Speaker 1: just looking over his shoulder at it, and he was like,
Speaker 1: usually when we look at each other's shoulder at I pass,
Speaker 1: we're usually watching the film of the game. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about it. He's a bro, uh you go, this is
Speaker 1: just my mix. I'm like, Bro, I know I'm about
Speaker 1: to watch this. This is fire. This is like this
Speaker 1: is I'm telling you like you're you're doing it and
Speaker 1: I just watched it and I'm looking at this own
Speaker 1: damn twelve. Do you see this right now? I'm not
Speaker 1: sure you're seeing this? And I like, well, I would
Speaker 1: like hit his iPad, hit his hand out the way
Speaker 1: and rewind that, Like, bro, look at this, Bro, do
Speaker 1: you see this? Bro? And obviously he's laughing, but I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: you need to know. Man, you're clapping your hands on
Speaker 1: layups like this's not normal. Like a lot of this
Speaker 1: stuff ain't normal. So Katie said it best. He has
Speaker 1: a lot of great players, Like oh that he's a
Speaker 1: lot of great players all wrapped in one. Like he's
Speaker 1: he's different. You guys are coming down the home stretch
Speaker 1: heading into the playoffs. What's the environment like around your
Speaker 1: team right now? I mean, you guys got a taste
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Now you guys have moved yourself up
Speaker 1: to the two seed in the Western Conference. What's the
Speaker 1: vibe and energy like around the team right now? We're
Speaker 1: super focused. We're thankful that we're the two seed. We
Speaker 1: don't take it for granted, but like we're really we're
Speaker 1: reflecting a little bit, like man, good job, Like like
Speaker 1: I'm glad we're in this comfortable position because last year
Speaker 1: we're fighting for playing and every game was not stressful,
Speaker 1: but you just were thinking about it a lot. And
Speaker 1: now we're just kind of thinking about putting ourselves in
Speaker 1: the best position, but knowing that we're most likely gonna
Speaker 1: be in there, um and then we're we're also knowing
Speaker 1: how much we gotta lock in and understand this is
Speaker 1: new for us, Like having a target on your back
Speaker 1: is new, having people look at you. No one's gonna
Speaker 1: You're not surprised at anybody. No one's happy for you.
Speaker 1: You know you're not. You're not happy for a one
Speaker 1: or two seed. You're not. You don't care, You're just
Speaker 1: trying to knock them off. So I mean just us
Speaker 1: knowing that us locking in every game, trying to be
Speaker 1: there for each other because it's new to all of us.
Speaker 1: So we're trying to right Like I'm trying to make
Speaker 1: sure my dog over here is good so he can
Speaker 1: make sure someone else is good, so everybody can lean
Speaker 1: on each other, because you don't want to feel like
Speaker 1: you know, you just don't want to feel like you're
Speaker 1: lost out there in in a new space. So and
Speaker 1: just making sure you locked in. Like if we're not
Speaker 1: in the plan, then we get a week off. Just
Speaker 1: making sure we keep that focus and keep our energy
Speaker 1: and practice is important. You're not a legal league practice
Speaker 1: we need and practicing that much. So the practices we
Speaker 1: have now we actually practice pretty hard today. They're important,
Speaker 1: Like every practice important, were learning and every rep is important.
Speaker 1: Just to get our chemistry up, guys in and out
Speaker 1: of the lineup. That's what it is. UM you're one
Speaker 1: of these new stretch forwards that can shoot threes and
Speaker 1: get to the basket, finish, do it all. But you're
Speaker 1: also someone who leads across the majority of the defensive
Speaker 1: categories all season. Where did that defensive mindset? Um? Or
Speaker 1: when did that defensive mindset click in? And really know,
Speaker 1: when when did you make that a part of your game? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I always had it, um, It's just guards got better,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh. When I was really young, like you
Speaker 1: could just let a guard go to the rim so
Speaker 1: I can bocket because guards only knew one hand side
Speaker 1: of the layups, like one hand to use. They had
Speaker 1: no game, no flare. And then as we got older,
Speaker 1: they start getting some some tricky ship they you know,
Speaker 1: and then I had to get better on mine and
Speaker 1: kind of and but what helps for me is, like
Speaker 1: I work on a lot of the things guards worked on,
Speaker 1: So I start to remember how I would want to
Speaker 1: shoot a shot against me. Like I started to think
Speaker 1: about that when the guard's driving, and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: if a guard's driving, I know he's not coming all
Speaker 1: the way. I know he's about to shoot this floater,
Speaker 1: So I'm about to jump even earlier. So I jumped
Speaker 1: even earlier, and then I know he's about the ball fix,
Speaker 1: so I'm just not biting yet, and then try to
Speaker 1: jump in time the right and it's a whole game.
Speaker 1: It's like a chess match. And I think I really
Speaker 1: picked it up this year, Like being able to play
Speaker 1: against Gobert in the playoffs last year as a five
Speaker 1: more really kind of gave me a test on how
Speaker 1: to be like an anchor. And you gotta talk. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of talk. It's direction here. You can see everybody.
Speaker 1: You're just trying to give instructions and at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like your gifts are cool, but like
Speaker 1: you shouldn't just think about blocking the shot because then
Speaker 1: it takes you out of everything else. The block is
Speaker 1: like the last piece. Like if you block it, cool,
Speaker 1: but you're supposed to make it tough on everybody. You're
Speaker 1: supposed to make a hard These are great players, So
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're in the league, you're nice, You're
Speaker 1: gonna make some shots. You just gotta make it hard.
Speaker 1: And if I block it cool. But you know, I'm
Speaker 1: growing all the time. I grew year the year, like
Speaker 1: my arms is growing, so that also helps. I can't
Speaker 1: lie you mentioned earlier your teammate has been very outspoken
Speaker 1: as far as he thinks you should be defensive player
Speaker 1: of the year. Uh, do you think you're defensive player
Speaker 1: of the year. Of course I do. Yes, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. I think, um, state your case
Speaker 1: right now. If for the world, the world is about
Speaker 1: to hear this, state your case to why you think
Speaker 1: you're defensive player of the year. Yeah, I mean, first off,
Speaker 1: always back yourself period. If you don't get that, you
Speaker 1: don't get it. Second, I mean, I just think the
Speaker 1: things I have to do besides blocking shots always separates
Speaker 1: me from people who be blocking shots like I have to.
Speaker 1: My responsibility isn't just that it just so happens that
Speaker 1: I'm very good at that. But I'm able to switch
Speaker 1: on the guards contain. I'm able to, um, just be
Speaker 1: a presence other than blocking a shot to change the shot. Um.
Speaker 1: My timing, I think is just better on trying to
Speaker 1: time the type of blocks I'm getting our own ball.
Speaker 1: It's not just a guard shooting the lap and not
Speaker 1: knowing them. They're all block a shot and the half
Speaker 1: court on ball. And just figure it out myself while
Speaker 1: guarding the dude who's shifty and all that type of thing. Um,
Speaker 1: as well as what my responsibilities are on offense and
Speaker 1: what I've had to do offensively this year. I mean
Speaker 1: it's just been picked up. Especially. I mean there was
Speaker 1: a time when job was out for a little bit
Speaker 1: and everybody had to pick up their stuff, and I
Speaker 1: mean that just puts a lot of stress. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: you have more offensive duties, your defense can slack off
Speaker 1: and you kind of you might not be there mentally
Speaker 1: for that. You might just think it's about scoring for
Speaker 1: a second. But I know that never happened to me.
Speaker 1: If anything, my defense is picked up and I was
Speaker 1: just able to to do more. I was just more active, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and all the analytics and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: That's cool, but that's for everybody else. You know, that's
Speaker 1: not my job. At the end of the day. That's
Speaker 1: cool to hear and see. I'm just out there too,
Speaker 1: do whatever I can to win. And we've won games.
Speaker 1: I think I've what I've done is impact. It has
Speaker 1: impacted winning. So that's another difference than like previous years
Speaker 1: when we weren't really winning as many games. We're still
Speaker 1: in games and doing we gotta do but now we're
Speaker 1: a two seed, and no one thought we were gonna
Speaker 1: be that, so all right, okay, they might take that
Speaker 1: in consideration. We'll have to see. Ask me the best
Speaker 1: of luck on that he just dropped the album suddenly
Speaker 1: debut album. When did you start doing music and what
Speaker 1: got you well? I mean, of course we all know
Speaker 1: music and sports go hand in hand, but when did
Speaker 1: you officially say, you know what I'm dropping, I'm dropping
Speaker 1: music during the season. Yeah, Um, I mean freestyle rapping.
Speaker 1: I've always been doing that since I was younger, and
Speaker 1: my friends always just wrapping the crib. That's just easy.
Speaker 1: And at Michigan State me and j Pool really did
Speaker 1: it as roommates. And at Michigan State, Me and Miles
Speaker 1: did it every day like we were wrapped. Every day
Speaker 1: we come up and practice, put on a beat in
Speaker 1: the kitchen, we make some food and just wrap like
Speaker 1: we just wrapped, wrap, And eventually you do it enough
Speaker 1: stuff starts to sound a little fire. You're like, okay, damn,
Speaker 1: all right, and then I think, uh, when we would
Speaker 1: be on the plane rides, like I think around time
Speaker 1: I was I was hurt or maybe before that, I
Speaker 1: would just sometimes write a verse, and I would not
Speaker 1: even have a beat or anything, just write a verse
Speaker 1: randomly for fun. Probably be pretty trash, but what ever,
Speaker 1: probably be something. And then I remember just one day,
Speaker 1: just decided to go to the studio and we're on
Speaker 1: the road. I was in New York, and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, let me try it. And going to the studio.
Speaker 1: It's funny like when you go to the studio, it's
Speaker 1: a lot different than just rapping. Like you can stop,
Speaker 1: you can pause, you can stay a line, and and
Speaker 1: you realize it's more about creation and just more about
Speaker 1: um sound like a bunch of stuff. And uh, I
Speaker 1: just was into that, Like I was just I always
Speaker 1: listen to music. I listen to so much music that
Speaker 1: I you know, it goes hand in hand. You're playing
Speaker 1: stuff in the locker room, you're playing stuff when we
Speaker 1: wake up, go to bed, you shower or anything like,
Speaker 1: you have different stuff. So I was just like, man,
Speaker 1: if my favorite artist ain't gonna drop, i'mna just make it.
Speaker 1: And I just was like, I'm I'm gonna start making it.
Speaker 1: And then I ended up getting in my house, so
Speaker 1: I got still upstairs and my homies come through and
Speaker 1: they like my homies to do music professionally, like they
Speaker 1: come through and they make their albums up there with
Speaker 1: their producers, and um, they'll go hand, they'll go crazy.
Speaker 1: And then when I go in there, I usually just
Speaker 1: did it as therapy, like we'd just be kicking it
Speaker 1: and if I felt something, I just wanted to say something,
Speaker 1: I just get in there, and then you eventually figure
Speaker 1: out how to record, and it's a process. But now
Speaker 1: it takes probably like thirty minutes to make a song
Speaker 1: just off the top of your head, whatever you're feeling,
Speaker 1: and and those are the songs that came out so eventually,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, man, I always just made songs
Speaker 1: from my homies. I never thought I was really gonna
Speaker 1: I just didn't think of it like that. And then
Speaker 1: dudes are just like, man, you should put it up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, Well, I was never really that
Speaker 1: into it. A year went by and then I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, all right, maybe, and then I just ended
Speaker 1: up doing it randomly, Like the concept for suddenly in
Speaker 1: the concept for it all that came a week before.
Speaker 1: I was just like, you know, I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: put it out over break and we're just in the
Speaker 1: crib talking like like yeah, all right, I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: it out. And then we just picked the songs. They're
Speaker 1: already done, We already listened to them all the time.
Speaker 1: We just picked the ones we liked and put them
Speaker 1: on there. And it's funny, like I wanted to pick suddenly,
Speaker 1: like suddenly. The name was important to me because I
Speaker 1: usually will write a bunch of stuff down if I'm
Speaker 1: like if I'm coming home after the game and I
Speaker 1: can't sleep, I'll write down like something, how I'm feeling
Speaker 1: right now, I'll just right. And one time I wrote
Speaker 1: down like suddenly, like you always have to be ready
Speaker 1: because suddenly the opportunity is gonna come and you don't
Speaker 1: want to have to prepare to get ready. You're always ready.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it will happen like suddenly a door will open.
Speaker 1: That's really what it comes from. And I saw that
Speaker 1: written down, I'm just like, I want to call it suddenly.
Speaker 1: Also for dudes like you ain't hear it. I don't
Speaker 1: want you to like hear some whack name and be
Speaker 1: like man, I'm not like to play it or like
Speaker 1: some goofy like at first, like everyone calls you call
Speaker 1: you like a unicorn, and I was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna name it dark. I was gonna a dark twisted
Speaker 1: Unicorn and put the unicorn as the Kanye thing. But
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, that won't age. Like I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: to walk in the rooms and be like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: wrap beat. What's the name of it, dark twisted unicorn? Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: uh huh yeah. So like suddenly, like you don't even
Speaker 1: know what said lead means to the point where you
Speaker 1: gotta listen to it just too, just figure it out.
Speaker 1: This is vibe seventeen minutes long. Um, I made it
Speaker 1: short because people got stuff to do. I work too,
Speaker 1: so I get it. I wanted something I could listen
Speaker 1: to fully on the drive to work, and he man,
Speaker 1: it's fine. I love it. Step five man, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, you know what I mean. I heard your
Speaker 1: stuff even got on here. Yeah you had to. You
Speaker 1: had a freestyle on a French record. I saw that
Speaker 1: you had the bed to using the uh oh man,
Speaker 1: you had the scene, the classical scene, you know, the
Speaker 1: people people wake up out of the bed like like
Speaker 1: I'm rapping, but I was asleep, Like, man, I was
Speaker 1: number I had number time in Milwaukee. I wasn't playing,
Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to set foot on that court. I
Speaker 1: was ready to get traded. So in the meantime between time,
Speaker 1: take these bars. Yeah, take these bars. Who was the
Speaker 1: best known rapping in the NBA? Two? Well you heard Miles, right,
Speaker 1: you've heard yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well he's no, he's elite.
Speaker 1: I'll say, mm hmm, Brandy English, Brendan English, pretty good, Um,
Speaker 1: he's pretty good. I have a song on Obama. You
Speaker 1: do not want me to put it out? I only
Speaker 1: I only. I only respect athletes that actually dropped their music,
Speaker 1: like I was dropping to three mix tapes, ther seasons
Speaker 1: and and doing shows. So what's the point of doing
Speaker 1: and selling dope on the side, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Whatever else it took Matt, you know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: to get a record, so hey. But but now I
Speaker 1: respect athletes that put their music out, man, because that
Speaker 1: mean not it's not only a hobby, but you believe
Speaker 1: in your music. And a lot of people try to
Speaker 1: put us in the box just because our contracts, our
Speaker 1: rages and our money is guaranteed. They tell you just
Speaker 1: play basketball, stick to basketball. But rappers can act, you know,
Speaker 1: and everybody else can do everything, but they try to
Speaker 1: put us in the box. So I always salute athletes
Speaker 1: that get behind their music and stand up and and
Speaker 1: and and put it out. So I salute you for that. Bro. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a deep concept. Why though, Like, uh,
Speaker 1: I mean, people my age don't really get this. So
Speaker 1: I mean, this is a good lesson for people my age.
Speaker 1: But like when you when you're when you're in passing,
Speaker 1: like if you're in hospice, like people who are in hospice,
Speaker 1: people are going to pass, Like the biggest thing they
Speaker 1: think of is regret, Like that's what kills and that's
Speaker 1: what people say, like regret kills you, Like you'll die,
Speaker 1: but regret kills you. And you don't want to sit
Speaker 1: there and like everything you do should be about that moment,
Speaker 1: like when you look back, like that you did it. Here,
Speaker 1: you did this, you did that right, Man, this joint,
Speaker 1: I'm in the crib, like, man, this joint, drop this joint.
Speaker 1: I don't really like at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 1: we got everybody out here and then I put it
Speaker 1: out and it was fine. Everybody liked it. It was
Speaker 1: what's up? So we know you're a big anime fan.
Speaker 1: What's anime? Found him? Like an NBA. People don't really
Speaker 1: be people. People don't really be tapped into anime. It's
Speaker 1: like an acquired taste or you gotta have it before
Speaker 1: and I get honestly, anime really just teaches you lessons
Speaker 1: if you really pay attention. Behind all the flash and
Speaker 1: like all the like Japanese like you know, there's a
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff that will throw you off right if
Speaker 1: you're not really looking at it, but like it teaches
Speaker 1: you lessons, like it's a message in all of it.
Speaker 1: I got an eight year old, so I watch it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty like it's a lot of like goofy ship,
Speaker 1: but like there's a lot of stuff that like when
Speaker 1: you when you watch long enough, you'll be like damn,
Speaker 1: Like these people are going through it and it kind
Speaker 1: of makes you look at your own stuff, like you know,
Speaker 1: maybe I am going through it, but one I'm not
Speaker 1: going through it like this, And like let's just show
Speaker 1: an Attack on Titan. Very good, probably one of the
Speaker 1: best ones on Hulu, And like it's about humanity, like
Speaker 1: how it's like how we let's say we're living in
Speaker 1: humanity and there's these giants around that at any point
Speaker 1: could just wipe us all out. So we have to
Speaker 1: protect ourselves from these giants. And that's what life is about,
Speaker 1: protecting ourselves these giants while living day to day the child,
Speaker 1: the child wipe us out and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, like I mean, you look at people losing
Speaker 1: like they're they're they're family, their cousins, their friends, their brothers.
Speaker 1: Like when you see that, yes, enemy, But if you
Speaker 1: have some weird problem, like if you have a problem
Speaker 1: with your girl, if you have a problem with your homie,
Speaker 1: if you have a problem with your mind, like you
Speaker 1: can fix that. You can't fix losing someone. There's things
Speaker 1: that aren't fixable. Like, so you gotta kind of like
Speaker 1: a problem is only a big problem to you because
Speaker 1: it's you. Like if you step out and really look
Speaker 1: at the whole perspective of it, it ain't no problem
Speaker 1: and it's a problem, but it shouldn't ruin your focus
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Definitely shouldn't ruin your focus on
Speaker 1: court perspective. Yeah, okay, you received the community system ward
Speaker 1: and very important of giving back to you young girls sports. Uh.
Speaker 1: I fell in love uh with girls sports from watching
Speaker 1: Kobe and his passion with his daughter, and uh, I
Speaker 1: was I started the first UM female high school showcase
Speaker 1: that was headlined by NBA player in Memphis, right right
Speaker 1: there in Memphis. But when did you get your love
Speaker 1: to and your and your well as I say, uh,
Speaker 1: what's the word I'm looking for, Matt and your passion?
Speaker 1: Thank you, my brother, your passion for giving back to
Speaker 1: women's sports. I mean, definitely few fuel through my mom.
Speaker 1: But just overall, being a good person is important and
Speaker 1: it's just a human thing to do. You speak out
Speaker 1: for people who may have not not a problem, but
Speaker 1: you speak up for people who you who could always
Speaker 1: use a little more in terms of getting their voice
Speaker 1: out there. So I just view that as something that
Speaker 1: was close to me, important to me. I have a
Speaker 1: lot of cousins and I have a lot of girls
Speaker 1: in my life who play sports, and you know, I
Speaker 1: know that they can be overlooked at times and ways
Speaker 1: like that, and that is definitely We've came a long way,
Speaker 1: like for sure come a long way with that in
Speaker 1: that area. But I always want to make sure I'm
Speaker 1: making a difference for them. Um, It's just it's just
Speaker 1: the human thing to do. It comes natural Uh, nothing.
Speaker 1: I can really put my finger on on why. But
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful thing. Plus I love being around I
Speaker 1: love being around kids and just pushing the youth new heights,
Speaker 1: um and just making sure everybody's giving the having their voice. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, so that Wayne thing, he said, a boy, Wayne,
Speaker 1: this is off topic because you know that was deep
Speaker 1: in love. But that Wayne thing, I have a crazy
Speaker 1: quote by Wayne. I always keep with me. It's the
Speaker 1: craziest thing. Was he was sitting like, because Wayne, Wayne,
Speaker 1: you know, Wayne smoke his ass off, so he's just
Speaker 1: be in the clouds. He'll say the most poetic thing
Speaker 1: and then never remember it. But I quote by Wayne
Speaker 1: I have in my notes, and like it's only that
Speaker 1: quote in the notes. That's how you know it's bad.
Speaker 1: He said. He said, work hard, be somebody, Be something
Speaker 1: more than what you see in the mirror. Let the
Speaker 1: world be your mirror. Don't let them judge you, because
Speaker 1: the mirror can't judge you. You judge what you see
Speaker 1: in the mirror. Crazy crazy I was. I heard that, like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this man just I wasn't even sure
Speaker 1: what's going on, but I was it. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that should mean, but it sounds good when you
Speaker 1: say that, was it? Like Wayne is a beast? All right?
Speaker 1: We have quick hitters man, first thing to pop in
Speaker 1: your mind. Let us know top five current NBA rappers
Speaker 1: in your opinion? Meles dialogue, dialogue, dialogue, Miles Bridges, Um, oh, damn,
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard, Marvin Bagley, Um, yeah, and I'll say, Brandon Clark,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, my brother, you ain't even check it out.
Speaker 1: His stuff ain't even out yet, but you don't. He
Speaker 1: don't count. All right, Well then then I'm I'm gonna
Speaker 1: throw Uh, I'm gonna throw mm hmm me twice, me
Speaker 1: twice Miles, Marvin and Dame because Dame appreciate you put
Speaker 1: yourself first. How you put yourself first? And everybody's got
Speaker 1: in lane like Dame is you know, poetic. You know
Speaker 1: he's he's rapping that reel, you know that real like
Speaker 1: he and the barbershop with like and with it like
Speaker 1: he'll play it on the boom box like over his
Speaker 1: head like Miles really from Flint. If you ain't from
Speaker 1: Flint or Detroit, you don't know, then you just don't know.
Speaker 1: And then me just a lot of swag, a lot
Speaker 1: of good sounds. I feel good. You know some girls
Speaker 1: may like it as you post posted to rapping for
Speaker 1: the women, because if you wrap for the women, the
Speaker 1: good guys gonna come and exactly. And then Marvin got
Speaker 1: songs like Tory Lanes. He like a you know Marvin
Speaker 1: out here, so shout out Marvin Man. He was really
Speaker 1: doing it. I think he's signed. He signed straight up
Speaker 1: on some that ship stuck on the island with three
Speaker 1: shows and movies. What you're watching ozark Um, Snowfall, thank you?
Speaker 1: And oh I'm watching any of the Batman movies. I'm watching,
Speaker 1: like the The Dark Knight, the New Ones, Hard the
Speaker 1: Dark Knight, or the one with Bain. I'm much you
Speaker 1: want to know, just give me in that mode. Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Toughest matchup you've had up to this point in your career.
Speaker 1: Mh probably Anthony Davis um in ways, Oh, Steven Adams
Speaker 1: before he was on my teeth. That's a strong motherfucker,
Speaker 1: ain't it. Yeah, it's it's a whole it's a whole experience.
Speaker 1: It's like playing it's like playing it back to back
Speaker 1: in one game. And uh, I'd probably say uh um.
Speaker 1: I mean just when you play Steph your garden him
Speaker 1: as a team man. He's shooting fifty shots. Everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: get a few. So that's that's definitely a shared experience
Speaker 1: playing stuff. Five five dinner guests dead are alive mm
Speaker 1: hmm um five is Heath Ledger mm hmm um yeah right. Uh,
Speaker 1: I would say Juice World Rist is soul as well.
Speaker 1: Um m, it's funny like all the old old head
Speaker 1: basketball players I knew growing up from all those little
Speaker 1: legends brunches, and they used to be all funny like
Speaker 1: I used to like they used to grab my head
Speaker 1: and grub my forehead and grab my head a time
Speaker 1: like I used to already already dealt with them. So
Speaker 1: like um mm hmm Kobe mm hm for sure, mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson and uh dinner, I guess. And then maybe
Speaker 1: I want to meet somebody like weird, like I want
Speaker 1: to put like somebody who did something like a criminal
Speaker 1: or something, some type of criminal. That last spot is
Speaker 1: some type of criminal. I need you got to spice
Speaker 1: it up. Ain't no way like we gotta have something
Speaker 1: like what did you like somebody really messed up, you know,
Speaker 1: so that spot is open. I ain't got no name
Speaker 1: for that. But if you really messed up, you're coming
Speaker 1: to dinner. I mean, I like you. But that's the
Speaker 1: whole point, you know, we had dinner. Strike that conversation. Uh.
Speaker 1: If they're passing you, if you're controlling the music in
Speaker 1: the locker room before the game, what's one song you're
Speaker 1: gonna play. We're playing a lot of young boy, young boy.
Speaker 1: We're playing an off side by young boy. We're playing
Speaker 1: some baby. Probably gonna hear gang signs by little baby.
Speaker 1: You're prior how you did that? By gonna Uh, you'll
Speaker 1: probably hear popping by yeat you guys. Just something, you guys,
Speaker 1: just something a boy, go ahead and do that. When
Speaker 1: we're done, I promise you'll say something. But yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: your head, that's the dude, man, real do right there?
Speaker 1: Yeah all right man, if you can have one guests
Speaker 1: on All the Smoke, who would it be? And who
Speaker 1: would it be? But before you answer the question, you
Speaker 1: have to help us get your answer on our show.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, I gotta help you. Yep, uh m hmm.
Speaker 1: Floyd Floyd been Hugh No, Floyd Floyd. I think hey,
Speaker 1: look Floyd, look, come to All the Smoke, right now
Speaker 1: come to all the smoke. You you're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: feel You're gonna feel cozy, and you're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: not want to do it because you're gonna say some
Speaker 1: stuff you really feel. But I think it's by the
Speaker 1: time you say some stuff you really feel. Right, you
Speaker 1: got all the money, you got eight chains on. I
Speaker 1: saw the Cubans from the one pick. It was I
Speaker 1: was written, Yeah, that was ridiculous. It looked like a
Speaker 1: little mini Mr Tea. Yeah, yeah, he was everybody that
Speaker 1: he was bugging. But you know, like I mean, shoot,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, he does a lot of like exercises.
Speaker 1: You never know how how it was weighing him down
Speaker 1: or anything like that, vvs to them or not in size.
Speaker 1: So I'm proud of you. They were good, Jaren Jackson. Man,
Speaker 1: We appreciate your time. Wish you the best of luck
Speaker 1: the remainder of the season, man, and we'll be checking
Speaker 1: out the playoffs man, So thank you for your time today.
Speaker 1: Appreciate legendary. Appreciate your brother. That's a rap Jaren Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Look for him and his Memphis Grizzlies coming to the
Speaker 1: playoffs near you. Very soon. You can catch this a
Speaker 1: Showtime Basketball YouTube and the I Heart platform Black Effects.
Speaker 1: We'll see y'all next week. Yeah, this is all a smoke,
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