Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris Johnson. Allen and Chris
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
Speaker 1: entertainment in the strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
Speaker 1: TEO thing the kJ Live Today's guests from the show.
Speaker 1: There's a former u c l A. Bruce who was
Speaker 1: named first Team All packed ten in the two thousand
Speaker 1: and five He was drafted in the second round with
Speaker 1: number by the New York Knicks. He spent thirteen seasons
Speaker 1: or something like that playing overseas as a bona fide pro.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite dudes, Dijon, Welcome to kJ Live.
Speaker 1: What's up? But thank you man, I appreciate that one.
Speaker 1: You said, you said my name actually right to end
Speaker 1: it off, man, De john that's you know, it's that
Speaker 1: he gets dragged out a lot lately. But you know this,
Speaker 1: m but appreciate, appreciate the welcome. Welcome to be here, man,
Speaker 1: No doubt, man, no doubt. Man. I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of cats on on the show since I started doing this,
Speaker 1: a lot of our U c l A brothers as well,
Speaker 1: and we kind of kind of dive into the background
Speaker 1: of the person and you know, find out the journey
Speaker 1: that made the man who they are. UM. I want
Speaker 1: to educate our audience on you and sort of just
Speaker 1: start in your childhood and where you're from, what neighborhood
Speaker 1: you grew up, be like, where were you born at? Um?
Speaker 1: I grew up in Englewood. UM spent some some time
Speaker 1: growing up with my great grandmother. She stayed off of
Speaker 1: eighth Adam Vernon. UM My mom and they kind of
Speaker 1: went to Crenshaw and then they moved out to Pasadena
Speaker 1: area and graduated from your and then we came back
Speaker 1: down to the Crenshaw to the Englewood area, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of where I grew up. My mom and dad
Speaker 1: they worked at North ropp And Grooming at the time,
Speaker 1: it was tr W and then they went to North Grooming.
Speaker 1: So that's how I was able to get the permit
Speaker 1: and found my way into Redondo Beach in the high
Speaker 1: school area. But um, I grew up in the l
Speaker 1: A area Inglewood. Yeah, like a lot of us. Bro
Speaker 1: like a lot of us. What a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't realize about the l A area is south central Inglewood.
Speaker 1: Wats all that's like ten fifteen minutes from each other.
Speaker 1: Inglewood South Central is really close. It's like you hit,
Speaker 1: you go, you know, Hyde Park, hit a couple of backstreets,
Speaker 1: and you right over, you know, in the thick of things,
Speaker 1: and you might be in the sixties hood over here
Speaker 1: and then you you hit, you hit the cut you
Speaker 1: over here in the in the in the bloodhood, like
Speaker 1: the hell's going on? Was there anything as far as
Speaker 1: the gang activity? And I know you're a little younger,
Speaker 1: younger than I am, because the gang stuff was real
Speaker 1: huge for us and we were growing up. Was the
Speaker 1: gang or the streets? Was there any a lord of
Speaker 1: that when you were coming up in Inglewood? Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, it didn't go nowhere. I
Speaker 1: mean it was always around growing up. You know, you
Speaker 1: just have vivid memories. Even we stayed on Cranshaw at
Speaker 1: the time time and it's doing the riots. You know,
Speaker 1: it's growing up during that time, and it's it's funky
Speaker 1: around there. And I mean game is an't going nowhere.
Speaker 1: You always grew up in it and growing up in
Speaker 1: that l a, it's it becomes second nature. Really, I
Speaker 1: mean you numb to it. You see it. You you
Speaker 1: you know where to go, We're not to go but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's always around and I was down the street.
Speaker 1: Like you said, when did uh who start to become
Speaker 1: something that you figured out and you wanted to do. Seriously,
Speaker 1: that's crazy because I don't really have the that traditional
Speaker 1: like I grew up with the ball or you know,
Speaker 1: I was always playing basketball. That wasn't necessarily to me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was always playing basketball at schools and parks and stuff.
Speaker 1: But my family wasn't really an athletic family. I had
Speaker 1: maybe had an uncle that played some baseball, um, but
Speaker 1: I was really the first generation as far as you know,
Speaker 1: taking basketball or sports um to another level, so that
Speaker 1: that background wasn't there. Everything was green from me and
Speaker 1: I was just learning on the fly type of things. So, um,
Speaker 1: it was just playing at school and um, probably about
Speaker 1: the sixth grade, fifth grade, you know, you got your
Speaker 1: your your peers or your friends saying we in this
Speaker 1: league and why you're not playing? And why am I
Speaker 1: not playing? You know, And at that time, you know,
Speaker 1: my mom was single parents. She ain't had time to
Speaker 1: do all that, you know, So it was just at
Speaker 1: the school and that's it. But you know, once my
Speaker 1: stepdad came along, um, it was way more time for that. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know he was able to take me to everything
Speaker 1: and really get involved and dive into it and really
Speaker 1: get a liken to it. Oh man, how old were
Speaker 1: you when your stepfather came into the picture? Ah? Man,
Speaker 1: he was there from the beginning. Um so so as
Speaker 1: you could remember what school, what what elementary school or
Speaker 1: what like park? Like I was talking to um Stays
Speaker 1: Bowsman and I know you know who Stays is, and
Speaker 1: he was talking about how he came up at jesse
Speaker 1: O and so it was called Sportsness Park and then
Speaker 1: he was at St. Andrew's and hooping with all this
Speaker 1: what park did you come up back? So that's crazy,
Speaker 1: Like it's like like I don't have that that story
Speaker 1: to where I was always out like that, you know,
Speaker 1: like basketball, it came alik and it was like natural.
Speaker 1: But you know, I will go to the park. I
Speaker 1: go to Holly Park down the street. That okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's bad. Nads go to Holly Park. You know, you
Speaker 1: wasn't really allowed to go to Raleigh, so it was like, well,
Speaker 1: just stopped at Holly Park. So I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: Riley Park and Gardenia. It was always Holly Maybe simmar
Speaker 1: On Park because my uncle stayed like literally like right
Speaker 1: around there. So I was in that area. When at
Speaker 1: what point or how old were you when you kind
Speaker 1: of knew that you were better than do when you
Speaker 1: played against I'm like, when did it sink into you?
Speaker 1: For me? Like I started to get that bug like
Speaker 1: four fifteen years old, I started, you know, giving dudes
Speaker 1: numbers and feelings that about myself. How old were you?
Speaker 1: What age was that? Oh man, it's probably about ninth grade,
Speaker 1: you know, I started. I started to really get on
Speaker 1: that circuit that that real circuit with the with the
Speaker 1: killers is that, you know, the ninth grade I'm playing
Speaker 1: with that with Sports Express, they brought me on Who's
Speaker 1: on your team? Who's on your team? I got guys
Speaker 1: like Brandon Heath, uh, we got Chad Bell, Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had Chuck Hayes, my guy, my desk though Lefty Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: we had a mom Marcus Williams uh wait with Marcus
Speaker 1: left lefty, Lefty, Crenshaw, Craig Man, Yeah, squad. It was fun.
Speaker 1: It was fun. So around that time you start, you
Speaker 1: start measuring yourself against this type of competition and got
Speaker 1: against guys that have you know, grew up in the gym,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's like all right, I can hang
Speaker 1: you know, I'm still fresh, still learning, Like, oh, these
Speaker 1: guys are fine around here, but I kind of I
Speaker 1: adjust to quit learning on the fly. Like I said,
Speaker 1: who did you kind of hold yourself to like the
Speaker 1: standard of that type of guy? Like when we were
Speaker 1: coming up in my era, it was like Charles O'Bannon, Chuck.
Speaker 1: It was like everybody was, you know, trying to rock
Speaker 1: with Chuck. Chuck was the man was there? Who who
Speaker 1: in your era was that kind of like that guy? Man,
Speaker 1: that's a good question, Like I was a weird one. Man.
Speaker 1: Like it's like basketball was just like I just like basketball. Um,
Speaker 1: like you said, ninth grade year, Like that motivation starts
Speaker 1: coming you. I went to high school like a damnime.
Speaker 1: Marcus Moore he was our point guard, Andrew's on these
Speaker 1: guys were at the time they were getting letters. You
Speaker 1: see him walking across the lunch quad with letters, Nike shoes, everything.
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I need all of that. How do
Speaker 1: I get to that level? Like how I I need
Speaker 1: all of that? I need them letters, I need all
Speaker 1: of that. So to answer the question, like for somebody
Speaker 1: to meet looking at somebody growing up like I really didn't.
Speaker 1: Basketball was just basketball to me, and I'm just hoping,
Speaker 1: like it's just fun. Where did you like find or
Speaker 1: draw upon for your competitive spirit, like the competitive side
Speaker 1: of things, because you know, as hoop is man, we're
Speaker 1: not just go let people bust our asses. And I
Speaker 1: know you might have not been at the park, but
Speaker 1: I'm sure when you did go to the park, you
Speaker 1: was trying to win. Where did you Where did you
Speaker 1: get that con headed a spirit from that made you elite? Uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's that's my mom and my dad really, I
Speaker 1: mean it's yeah, it's it's once you start something, you're
Speaker 1: gonna do it at your best and give it your best.
Speaker 1: And it's that that's where that competitive is come in.
Speaker 1: And it's uh, just the streets. You know. I've always
Speaker 1: always played and had friends that were older than me.
Speaker 1: You know that that was kind of my I never
Speaker 1: really played with people my age. It was always hanging
Speaker 1: out with people older than me. So I'll go around
Speaker 1: the corner with my friend Troy and was older than me.
Speaker 1: He had handles. He kind of baptized me. It was
Speaker 1: just like, damn, I need to I need to step
Speaker 1: it up a little bit. So it was it was
Speaker 1: always with my older friends being around them and and
Speaker 1: and kind of learning the ropes like that that's the
Speaker 1: best way, man, uh, because I kind of like you, bro,
Speaker 1: I didn't grow up in the gym as all them
Speaker 1: dudes that we ended up playing with either. You know,
Speaker 1: you know how everybody knew each other when they was younger.
Speaker 1: Now I came in late fifteen sixteen, it was calling
Speaker 1: me the fat boy with the curly top, the fresh
Speaker 1: the fresh prince of bel air, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But what I had was a lot of experience playing
Speaker 1: against my dad one on one. Broh. So imagine back.
Speaker 1: So when you say you had your cousin or the
Speaker 1: home around the corner that was beating up on you,
Speaker 1: my dad was doing the same thing. He was trying
Speaker 1: to make a comeback to the league. So he used
Speaker 1: me as the one on one, like, what's up with
Speaker 1: your ones? I gotta guard him. I gotta do all
Speaker 1: that when I'm fourteen and fifteen, and so the leve
Speaker 1: of physicality he induced me to it just made it
Speaker 1: so that when I played against dudes my age, I
Speaker 1: just was not tripping on nobody. And that's why that
Speaker 1: older that that's where that playing against older dudes thing
Speaker 1: comes in. Sometimes you ain't gotta play on the circuit
Speaker 1: as long as you're getting that good work. And it's
Speaker 1: that like you you got it. Yeah, I was always
Speaker 1: finding some good bump. I mean yeah, yeah. So your
Speaker 1: your recruitment. Um, you have ver Dondall Union. Were you playing?
Speaker 1: Who was that Reggie? Reggie Mars? Was Jim Nielson? Okay,
Speaker 1: Jim Neilson was there? You big? I remember andrews On
Speaker 1: from hoop my hoop Master's days. He played with Josiah
Speaker 1: or his brother. I forgot who which one it was.
Speaker 1: He had a brother, right, it's a couple of them.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Um, your recruitment, so you got a nice crew.
Speaker 1: You kind of you know, getting off a little bit. Um.
Speaker 1: Who are some of the schools that were looking at
Speaker 1: you early on? That kind of got you excited. I
Speaker 1: had this weird, if like factuation with Syracuse. I don't
Speaker 1: Syracuse just had that that that that notoriety at the time,
Speaker 1: you know, in the nineties, and you know, North Carolinas
Speaker 1: was like I gotta go to Syracuse. I like the Orange,
Speaker 1: I like the jerseys. Jerseys was sweet, you know. And
Speaker 1: then once you start, once I started to get more
Speaker 1: deeper into basketball, I'm like snow like I'm from l A,
Speaker 1: like snow like I ain't I'm not going there, like
Speaker 1: nah off the snow like nah like because because I
Speaker 1: didn't really go nowhere, I didn't really travel nowhere like
Speaker 1: basketball took me everywhere, like I probably want to travel.
Speaker 1: I probably have been. You know somebody from LA that
Speaker 1: has never been nowhere anywhere. So um so yeah. Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live in Syracuse. And then so
Speaker 1: senior year came down to Yukon Arizona, and U like
Speaker 1: my top three schools okay, okay uh, Jim can who
Speaker 1: Calhoun came to it, came to my house to home visit,
Speaker 1: loved him, loved you. Colma East Coast is saying I
Speaker 1: ain't really been nowhere. And then at that time it's
Speaker 1: like it's not for me. I've been Gordon damn all right, cool,
Speaker 1: So Arizona, I go to my trip on Arizona loved it.
Speaker 1: Richard Jefferson's my host. End up hanging out with Gilbert
Speaker 1: probably the whole time. Hey, what would your visit like?
Speaker 1: You and r J, y'all two light skins. What was
Speaker 1: y'all getting off in Arizona? Don? I can't imagine what
Speaker 1: Listen been the same. He's been the same. He's been
Speaker 1: the same guy as you see him now. Man, he's
Speaker 1: the same guy. J Don like J from Phoenix down
Speaker 1: the street, you know, just like, Hey, it's Tucson, you
Speaker 1: know this Arizona, trying to show me the way. And
Speaker 1: then you know you come across guild. Who's Gilbert the
Speaker 1: same Gilbert? Come over here with me, young Feller, were
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna show you the rope. So ended up
Speaker 1: hanging out with Gilbert more than than than Richard. But
Speaker 1: you know, it was it was fun. I had. I
Speaker 1: had a really good time, really good trip. Um Andrew,
Speaker 1: who I played with, was a freshman going into his
Speaker 1: freshman year at that time, so I had a little
Speaker 1: comfort there for my high school teammate. Um, it just
Speaker 1: was in l A. It just wasn't l A. Ludolson
Speaker 1: was amazing, Like if they was in l A. I
Speaker 1: probably have sawn there, But it just was in l A.
Speaker 1: What was it about? It wasn't the thing you didn't
Speaker 1: want to leave home. Man, You're so comfortable just in
Speaker 1: your surroundings in l A that leaving l A just
Speaker 1: kind of not frighten you, but it kind of gave
Speaker 1: you a little pause, kind of like, man, I ain't
Speaker 1: trying to dip from the city. Is that how he
Speaker 1: went down for you? A little bit? A little bit?
Speaker 1: But I mean you grew up in l A and
Speaker 1: you still you see the prestige that you see l
Speaker 1: A god and you still you see the banners and everything.
Speaker 1: I mean that spoke for itself. And you got laugh
Speaker 1: coming in and you know, talking and seeing the family
Speaker 1: and being at every game and you know, being live.
Speaker 1: I mean it was it was an easy sale for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when back in that era of lab Man, when you
Speaker 1: say being laugh Steve Laughing, who was just named the
Speaker 1: new head coach at University of San Diego and who
Speaker 1: we both played for, we can both testify to that
Speaker 1: this guy is one of a kind. He's one of
Speaker 1: the probably know in my opinion, just as far as
Speaker 1: his ability to speak and work a room and you know,
Speaker 1: sell somebody's mom on trusting that person with their child
Speaker 1: for the next four years. Like please, it doesn't get
Speaker 1: too much better than that, I say, laugh Caliparie type
Speaker 1: of dudes, man, like those dudes that come from the
Speaker 1: same cloth. So so so you got a laugh so
Speaker 1: laugh got you. Who was your other guys that came
Speaker 1: in with you as freshman? Uh? Came in with another
Speaker 1: Actually I wasn't saying they were all Los Angeles natives
Speaker 1: Man Bosman, Yeah, um, Andre Patterson. Yeah. That was that
Speaker 1: was our crew right there. That was a nice crew. Man.
Speaker 1: That was a nice crew. Long. You guys were long,
Speaker 1: very athletic. Uh. One thing that could be said for
Speaker 1: probably every team that played at u c l A
Speaker 1: under lab and all that, at least one team or
Speaker 1: two teams twice, you were pretty much underachieved. We didn't
Speaker 1: live up to our potential as a as a team,
Speaker 1: as a as players. When do you attribute those lapses
Speaker 1: two back at U c l A. I've always tried
Speaker 1: to figure that out because we would have so much talent, man,
Speaker 1: and the summertimes you probably ran and what gets the
Speaker 1: pros with the us A crew and y'all probably was
Speaker 1: getting a lot of wins and looking great. What was it? Man?
Speaker 1: What happens? What happened to U? C l A. As
Speaker 1: far as the underachieving part, that's a good question, man.
Speaker 1: It's UM. I think it comes down to just building
Speaker 1: teams and everybody's standing there and you know, you've got
Speaker 1: guys is leaving year after year and new guys coming in.
Speaker 1: That it's it's hard to build that camaraderie and that
Speaker 1: that uh, that grid, that winning, that winning mentality. So
Speaker 1: I think that's uh, I kind of where it hurt.
Speaker 1: When I was playing. Um, I played with two coaches,
Speaker 1: so it was Lave for two years and then been
Speaker 1: Holland for two years, uh the next two years. So
Speaker 1: that coaching change could be, um a monkey wrench in itself. UM,
Speaker 1: just because it's just new. It's different, uh, two coaching styles,
Speaker 1: um Ben Holland coming from the East Coast and coach
Speaker 1: Lave more West Coast style and more free oriented. UM.
Speaker 1: So that that that was just a little different. It
Speaker 1: just kind of just throws you off your your your
Speaker 1: you know, what you're used to and what you're seeing
Speaker 1: for the first two years. So I can say that.
Speaker 1: I mean it's just just keeping the team together. Building
Speaker 1: a team, a good group of guys that's gonna stay
Speaker 1: together for the you know, for four years, three years,
Speaker 1: or however long it takes. Yeah, man, building a program,
Speaker 1: building the culture, it takes time, and take guys sticking around,
Speaker 1: Like we had guys that stayed off four years back then.
Speaker 1: So you know it was Ed and Tires and George Zedek.
Speaker 1: Those are our guys. Those are our saying. We won one.
Speaker 1: We won one, and there was no doubt with the
Speaker 1: talent you guys had, um because coming there, So wait,
Speaker 1: you weren't there for Moisa and Dan? Were you? I
Speaker 1: was there for Dan, not Moisa. So I had Matt
Speaker 1: Campono Yeah yeah and really rest in peace, Billy Billys
Speaker 1: in peace. Um. Yeah, I had a lot of older
Speaker 1: guys there. Yeah, good team. We lost on Sweet six
Speaker 1: team that year. Yeah, was you see l a everything
Speaker 1: you thought it was gonna be. I don't know what
Speaker 1: it was gonna be, you know, Like I was so
Speaker 1: green with the basketball. I was learning on the fly,
Speaker 1: like I I didn't really have that that um, I
Speaker 1: guess experienced sort of supportive experience, you know that that
Speaker 1: could just be like okay, look out for this took
Speaker 1: out for that. It was ill learn on the fly.
Speaker 1: So UM, I don't know what. I didn't know what
Speaker 1: to expect. It was it was fun like I enjoyed
Speaker 1: every minute of it. I enjoyed it. I wouldn't if
Speaker 1: I had to go back and change school, I wouldn't.
Speaker 1: I still choose you, so it, yeah, I would to Um.
Speaker 1: I had a few schools that were, you know, knocking
Speaker 1: down my door. Washington State with Calvin Sampson, Arizona State
Speaker 1: with Bill Freeder, um Cornell out in the Ivy League.
Speaker 1: But you know, nothing nothing. I'm glad I went to
Speaker 1: u c l A. But I kind of wonder what
Speaker 1: my life would have been like had I went to
Speaker 1: like a Utah and played for Rick Majeris and had
Speaker 1: the rock in my hand, you know, not running. You know,
Speaker 1: do you sell a high posts and where you could
Speaker 1: kind of develop a little more and handle and things
Speaker 1: like that. I always think about it, but you know,
Speaker 1: not really tripping on it. Uh. You know, hindsight is
Speaker 1: always twenty. If you were all packed ten, Uh, you're
Speaker 1: last year U c l A. And now take me
Speaker 1: through the draft process. So you're coming, you're projected. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know where they had you. But I know
Speaker 1: that at your size, your height, your skill set at
Speaker 1: that time, uh, you seem pretty primed to you know,
Speaker 1: to do well in the draft. Now you get picked
Speaker 1: fifty second round. How take me through the workout process
Speaker 1: for you, the pre draft process. If you can remember
Speaker 1: and talk about the moment that your name got called.
Speaker 1: I always tell people that was probably like that whole
Speaker 1: process was I hated that process. Like I hated that
Speaker 1: whole process. It's um, I don't know that my my nature,
Speaker 1: my style of play and going going out workout after workout,
Speaker 1: having to like prove yourself. Yeah, I could do it,
Speaker 1: but that that wasn't my thing. I'm more of a
Speaker 1: gamer like I. I like to show my my my
Speaker 1: game throughing just game play, so that you having to
Speaker 1: fight every every trip, every work I was like, damn,
Speaker 1: these guys is hungry. But I think we'll kind of
Speaker 1: threw it off a little bit. My senior year, I
Speaker 1: played the four p Uh that's just where we needed
Speaker 1: to I need to be for the team to to thrive,
Speaker 1: or that was only position that that was open at
Speaker 1: that needed feeling. So I played. There was a stretch
Speaker 1: for so going into the draft. In that pre draft process,
Speaker 1: like I was going against a lot of fours in
Speaker 1: my work, and I'm just like, that's not but it's
Speaker 1: not my position. But you know, I was able to
Speaker 1: do it and it was successful at a little bit.
Speaker 1: But these guys are a little bit heavier than me.
Speaker 1: You know, on against like Ryan Ghnes, it's like twenty
Speaker 1: pounds te five pounds more heavy than me, thirty pounds
Speaker 1: Jason Max. Still, I'm like Jason Max sill these guys
Speaker 1: on the block. I can't do nothing with this man.
Speaker 1: These guys was physical. Who's that time? The game was
Speaker 1: more physical. It was who's your agent? D who's your agent?
Speaker 1: Real quick? Who's your agent? At that time, I was uh,
Speaker 1: I had signed with Todd. I was with Todd. It
Speaker 1: was it was his first go around with the Life
Speaker 1: Sports Agency. So the year before that, Trevor had went
Speaker 1: to the draft. He had Trevor and then I had
Speaker 1: I was going to go to the draft my junior years.
Speaker 1: So we both me and Trevor went to pre draft together.
Speaker 1: Trevor stayed. Then I went back to school. Wait, um,
Speaker 1: I went through my whole senior year, had a better
Speaker 1: senior year, which I was like, yeah, you go ahead
Speaker 1: and Trav like worked out for him, um, but end
Speaker 1: up going back to school and doing the pre draft thing.
Speaker 1: But Todd was my agent when I signed, and so
Speaker 1: Todd had so I guess I was supposed to have
Speaker 1: Todd on him last week. I guess I'll ask him
Speaker 1: when he gets on. I'm asking why the hell he
Speaker 1: sent you the pre draft workouts with force and didn't
Speaker 1: have no god dang shooting guard workouts. And that's that's
Speaker 1: for another discussion. I'm gonna asked Todd on my own
Speaker 1: because I want to get the bottom of that, because
Speaker 1: that will make no damn sense. But but Dijon, it's so,
Speaker 1: it's so funny how we have a lot of parallels.
Speaker 1: So you just talked about your pre draft experience and
Speaker 1: have playing before right to stretch four. So my whole
Speaker 1: senior year, Bro, I played the stretch four. And I'm
Speaker 1: not tall as you, so I'm bigger, but I'm not
Speaker 1: as tall as you. I'm six five playing the stretch four.
Speaker 1: So I and then when I get to the pro
Speaker 1: situation in Arizona and Chicago and all that, they me
Speaker 1: in the in with the twos, So I was I
Speaker 1: wasn't like I would have been. I would have rather
Speaker 1: have been in with the Force. But they put my
Speaker 1: they put my big slow. I was too forty six
Speaker 1: five to forty. I'm trying to stay in front of
Speaker 1: you know, Earl Boykins in them, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: it was just it wasn't Anthony Carter. You don't remember
Speaker 1: a Carter, but please he's coming in along. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to guard. And you know how it
Speaker 1: is once you when you play a position for an
Speaker 1: extended period of time at a very high level, like
Speaker 1: a four, when you try to translate the that skill
Speaker 1: set that you have been used to playing into the
Speaker 1: end into the pro setting where guys have been playing
Speaker 1: their natural positions and this, and that you're gonna always
Speaker 1: be at a disadvantage. I'm really um, Actually, the fact
Speaker 1: that you got drafted after working out against Force, it
Speaker 1: really says a lot about probably how you stuck out
Speaker 1: and how you how you showed up in those workouts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I definitely did the best thing I could
Speaker 1: um in those workouts. UM My trainer, you know, Rico Hanes, Uh,
Speaker 1: he definitely prepares you, um those type of workouts. Pro workouts,
Speaker 1: and and that was what ten fifteen years ago. You know,
Speaker 1: people are just now starting to see Rico now, but
Speaker 1: he was doing that ten twenty years ago the workout,
Speaker 1: so and it was probably harder than like he's probably
Speaker 1: lighted up now because he's can't move as much as
Speaker 1: and you know, getting older like we all. But they
Speaker 1: were tough. They prepared me. I was. I was definitely
Speaker 1: prepared in all the workouts. Um it just the way
Speaker 1: the game was, the game, the way the game evolves now.
Speaker 1: I think if I was playing now to be a
Speaker 1: little bit better for me to stretch forward, it's not
Speaker 1: really a stretch Forward's best players out there. Yeah, you'd
Speaker 1: be a three, three and D guy, you know, they'd say,
Speaker 1: or I mean if you, I mean, it's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that are playing and flourishing in the NBA
Speaker 1: right now that I can see somebody with your skills said,
Speaker 1: because you have the skill set that that's the most value.
Speaker 1: But we do both. Do that jumper, that that pro
Speaker 1: deep ass jumper. Okay, that jumper put me in a
Speaker 1: game right now, my jumper I am pulling like these
Speaker 1: motherfucker's is pulling everybody pulling d it's all good to
Speaker 1: pull from be now. Remember remember we had to be
Speaker 1: edited because we could always shoot from there. But then
Speaker 1: you had to get a look if we pulled up,
Speaker 1: people looking at you, mad at you. And so I
Speaker 1: try to tell folks, man, it's a totally different game now,
Speaker 1: and it's not. It's not just because of what guys
Speaker 1: can do or where they can shoot. It's the attitude
Speaker 1: towards a five to seven dribble combo, a dude just
Speaker 1: playing ice ball. It's the attitudes by the coach and
Speaker 1: the other teammates that has changed the most of my opinion.
Speaker 1: Think about how we let everybody get this off. Now,
Speaker 1: remember you, man, that some of these shots broke, I'd
Speaker 1: be wanting to fight. I would have been wanting to
Speaker 1: fight these You're like, man, what you're doing? God, where
Speaker 1: are you showing that? Nowadays it's like good shot, bro
Speaker 1: good shot. Let me ask you this though, and be
Speaker 1: be to percent honest. Being a second round pick by
Speaker 1: the next number fifty four, were you satisfied? Were you
Speaker 1: happy with that? Or were you like disappointed that you
Speaker 1: spent a large portion of your life probably wanted to
Speaker 1: be a first rounder. Now you get draft in the
Speaker 1: second round. What were your emotions, Like, I remember, like
Speaker 1: it was yesterday. It was sitting in Todd's office. Uh,
Speaker 1: family was there. It was stressful. It was just like damn,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's like everybody's draft experience. You know,
Speaker 1: you're saying you're about to get drafted. Here that that
Speaker 1: pig past, You're like, all right, the next couple of pigs,
Speaker 1: and you start, you know, you start going down the
Speaker 1: list and the opportunities. The window starts closing. But once
Speaker 1: I heard that name, it was like a big relief.
Speaker 1: Oh we it was like yeah, you know, even though
Speaker 1: it's fifty four, I was like, yeah, it was. It
Speaker 1: was a great feeling. Honestly, it was a great feeling.
Speaker 1: And it was just like it's time to get to work.
Speaker 1: You know, it's talking to work. It was. It was
Speaker 1: a chip on my should, it was. But I was
Speaker 1: happy that I was happy to get drafted. One out
Speaker 1: sixty players in the world to get drafted, man, And
Speaker 1: and I tell myself now, just like one out of
Speaker 1: sixty one sixty man, your name called so bro, make
Speaker 1: no mistake, that is that is amazing. That is an
Speaker 1: amazing accomplishment to be drafted to have your name on
Speaker 1: the board, for an organization to believe in you enough
Speaker 1: to invest the draft pick in you. Okay, because I
Speaker 1: didn't get drafted. I'm sitting on the board. I'm sitting
Speaker 1: watching the thing, and you watched the whole thing. My
Speaker 1: stomach heard, you know, the tears is flowing. It's like dang.
Speaker 1: So any So, everybody that comes on here that has
Speaker 1: been drafted or anything like that, I always talk about
Speaker 1: this because I love hearing it. I love hearing people's
Speaker 1: perspective on whether or not they were happy some people.
Speaker 1: Some people were you know, weren't happy with their second
Speaker 1: round pick, like you know, told me wasn't too happy
Speaker 1: with that. Hey dog, I'm sure we're first round. You know,
Speaker 1: I should have boats after my first few year. So
Speaker 1: we get into all that type of conversations. So if
Speaker 1: it's good to hear that you were rolling with the
Speaker 1: four pickers, I know that we were. Um, what do
Speaker 1: you remember what stands out the most about your first
Speaker 1: NBA training camp as a rookie. God, So I got
Speaker 1: drafted by New York, but I was traded to Phoenix.
Speaker 1: So my first year was in Phoenix and training camp
Speaker 1: was at Tucson. It was at you have a So
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, cool, I know this arena.
Speaker 1: I didn't play here for years. I know the baskets,
Speaker 1: I can you know, I'm cool. But that Phoenix system
Speaker 1: man with Steve Nash, that eight seconds, seven seconds or less,
Speaker 1: you get in that, You're like good. They are flying
Speaker 1: up and down this court. Like it was hard to adjust.
Speaker 1: It was really hard to adjust to to really get
Speaker 1: in that mold, to just throw up anything up there
Speaker 1: on that just throw up the shot, just get it up.
Speaker 1: And that wasn't my style of game. Like in your mind,
Speaker 1: you like anybody wants to play in that style, but
Speaker 1: that's not for everybody. Everybody don't have that mindset. Everybody
Speaker 1: don't have that conscience. So it was it was difficult
Speaker 1: for me. You know. It was times to where it
Speaker 1: was like yeah, I could hang, I could ball. Had
Speaker 1: moments where it's like I stood out, but it was
Speaker 1: it was tough. It was tough to really crack that
Speaker 1: D'Antoni lineup, and that was and that was gut wrenching,
Speaker 1: you know, to get to to experience that um because
Speaker 1: they sent me down to the D League. That they
Speaker 1: sent me down to the D League. My my my
Speaker 1: rookie year, and I was like, damn already. So let
Speaker 1: me just break this down. So, how many games into
Speaker 1: the season before D'Antoni and them sent you down to
Speaker 1: the G League. It was off top, It was off top.
Speaker 1: It was Yeah, it might have been kind of more
Speaker 1: so off top because the D League was starting to
Speaker 1: get developed in it was they were still trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, get that implemented and acclimated. So it was
Speaker 1: they were still testing it out, so they needed players.
Speaker 1: So it was like perfect, boom, send them down there.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't long. So it was after training camp
Speaker 1: and then had to do a D League training camp.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I just came from training camp.
Speaker 1: I gotta do another one. So this is word coach Cooper,
Speaker 1: Michael Cooper, he was my coach at the and he
Speaker 1: was like DT. He's like, I know, you just did
Speaker 1: training camp. He's like, I ain't gonna kill you like that. Man.
Speaker 1: He's like, you gotta do some stuff, but I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna kill you like that. That's wrong. Cool. So he
Speaker 1: looked out for me and I was. I loved it
Speaker 1: down there, man. I played probably about two or three
Speaker 1: games Max killed him and they called me right back
Speaker 1: up and I was like, yes, play Like yes, Nah,
Speaker 1: let's sit right back on this bench out like let
Speaker 1: me go back down the album Querty Like it was
Speaker 1: fun down there. We had Tony Bland, I had Joe
Speaker 1: jip Ed. You came down and played like I had
Speaker 1: my l a guys down there with me. So it
Speaker 1: was fun for me and he was winning. Coach Cooper,
Speaker 1: I loved it. So when you you go down to
Speaker 1: the G League, who did you come back up? Phoenix?
Speaker 1: What they called you back up because somebody got hurt
Speaker 1: and they needed a roster, a roster spot to field,
Speaker 1: or they wanted you to come in and actually play,
Speaker 1: and you did. Did you get into the opportunity to play?
Speaker 1: Is what I want to get at. I didn't get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to play. I think somebody was sick. Bar
Speaker 1: Bolsa made it got sick or cold or something, so
Speaker 1: they needed an extra body up there. I really thought
Speaker 1: I was about to play now because I proved myself
Speaker 1: in the Dally I could put up some numbers. So
Speaker 1: but yeah, it just didn't. It just didn't happen that way.
Speaker 1: It just didn't happen that way and then uh, probably
Speaker 1: about February March. I ended up having knee surgery. Had
Speaker 1: microfractury in my rookie season. Rookie season. That was a
Speaker 1: gut punch. Um That same year, March start Tomorrow had
Speaker 1: his microfracture, so he had had his right out of
Speaker 1: training camp. So I was watching him, seeing him go
Speaker 1: through his rehab all year, and then once the team
Speaker 1: the doctor said I had one, I was like, oh no,
Speaker 1: amor designed he was hand a million dollar contract. I
Speaker 1: was still sitting on this drink and I like, oh,
Speaker 1: this ain't a good look for me. This ain't a
Speaker 1: good look. But I was like, no, I can't go
Speaker 1: out like that. I had to. I had to rehab,
Speaker 1: get better and came back. I came back full strength,
Speaker 1: so good. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
Speaker 1: lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Speaker 1: Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app search f s R to listen live. At
Speaker 1: what point, though, did you decide in your head like
Speaker 1: I'm tired of chasing this league stuff. And you know,
Speaker 1: I because as ball players that are elite, and you
Speaker 1: have an actual opportunity to try out for the NBA
Speaker 1: and if you could do it year after year, because
Speaker 1: I did it like four or five straight years where
Speaker 1: I was going to training camps and all that. At
Speaker 1: some point I was like, man, funk all that ship.
Speaker 1: I'm done. I'm tired of this, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'm just tired of being a body and training camp,
Speaker 1: tired of not getting a real look even though I'm
Speaker 1: killing these dudes in training camp. I'm tired of this feeling.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get go somewhere where I'm loved with a
Speaker 1: you know, Cris Cris Joe whe you know, they said
Speaker 1: your name real loud. At what point did that realization
Speaker 1: happen for you? D Jones? I think it was. I
Speaker 1: can't remember. It was. I was coming back from my
Speaker 1: knee injury. Uh, I gotta call up. Came back to
Speaker 1: Phoenix rehab the whole year when started the D League,
Speaker 1: got called to Atlanta Hawks, played there for a two
Speaker 1: ten day contracts. The Numbers game happened, So I'll go
Speaker 1: back finish the rest of the season in the D League.
Speaker 1: That following summer, um, I think I have a training
Speaker 1: camp with the Cleveland Cavaliers. I go into that training camp,
Speaker 1: the mini training camp, played really really well and end
Speaker 1: up making the roster for for Vegas whatever. I was
Speaker 1: probably the third guy on that team. You had, uh
Speaker 1: you got Daniel Gibson on that team and um uh Shannon,
Speaker 1: I'm blanking on his last thing. But they were two rookies.
Speaker 1: They were two rookies at the time, so they were
Speaker 1: they were. There were some of leagus for the rookies,
Speaker 1: you know, the guys that didn't really get to play,
Speaker 1: and they was coming to They saw more season to
Speaker 1: the time for them, and I was probably the third
Speaker 1: guy outside of them as far as on the floor
Speaker 1: and as far as touches and getting a notoriety. But hey,
Speaker 1: they took all the shots, so I was like, cool,
Speaker 1: I gotta figure it out. But still played well within
Speaker 1: the minutes. So after that, they're like, I come to
Speaker 1: training camp basically for no money. That's when I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I gotta make a business decision. My
Speaker 1: agent at the time, Sam Go for the He was
Speaker 1: just like, man, this is a business man. Let's let's
Speaker 1: just go get some money. How about that. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, You're right, let's go get some money overseas, man.
Speaker 1: So that was that was my once they once they
Speaker 1: once I played well in summer league and you know,
Speaker 1: they didn't even want to give me no money to
Speaker 1: kind of training camp. That's when I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: it's it's that's not right. Yeah, that hurts, man, It hurts.
Speaker 1: And it shows you, Joe, how they they treat you. Man,
Speaker 1: if you're not one of them guys, you know you're
Speaker 1: not one of their guys, and look, it's all up
Speaker 1: to them. I don't I don't hate the NBA. I
Speaker 1: don't hate the people that made the scouting decisions that
Speaker 1: they made or the choices they made. But you know,
Speaker 1: you look back on it, you just kind of sometimes
Speaker 1: you think. I wonder if you think sometimes like man,
Speaker 1: I wish I just had one more shot, or I
Speaker 1: wish I had a real legitimate chance to play where
Speaker 1: I was getting shots, or or if I actually got
Speaker 1: time and my numbers called. You see it in the
Speaker 1: league today, Man, some of these guys, like the Clippers,
Speaker 1: they got a guy named a Mirror Coffee. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've seen a Mirror Coffee play. This dude
Speaker 1: had thirty five thirty seven dog like, like he just
Speaker 1: needed some minutes do you feel like he was one
Speaker 1: of them guys that just you didn't. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's minutes his opportunity. It's timing. I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: lot of area was coming to it. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: do believe I was talented enough to be on the
Speaker 1: floor and and get major minutes. Of course, I think
Speaker 1: I was that skilled enough. Yeah, sure you gotta be
Speaker 1: that skill And talk about now your first real overseas experience.
Speaker 1: So Sam tells you, hey, let's go get some money.
Speaker 1: What was the first job that he brought to your table,
Speaker 1: and just talk about that country, that city, that team.
Speaker 1: Uh first job was in Germany, Berlin, so that the
Speaker 1: city was amazing. Um, it wasn't the most warming experience
Speaker 1: because i mean, first time overseas, you just like, you know,
Speaker 1: here the lights, you just like a deer in the headlights,
Speaker 1: Like what the hell? The ambulance is different. First time
Speaker 1: I'm experienced jet lag, I'm like, what you gotta wake
Speaker 1: up in like two hours to do a physical where
Speaker 1: they're gonna have you running on the treadmill. So I
Speaker 1: remember calling my mom. I'm like I ain't about to
Speaker 1: make it at this time. You got Skype was I
Speaker 1: mean it was Skype, but you had to get you
Speaker 1: had to have calling cars. I remember buying like a
Speaker 1: pack of calling cars mobile car card right before I
Speaker 1: left from my homie because I was like, man, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna all kind of man. That was the lick. That
Speaker 1: was the list the homie had to call and car
Speaker 1: that the call. I spent O fifty getting fifty bucks,
Speaker 1: so I had calling card dial to me. I remember
Speaker 1: calling my mom like I ain't gonna make it, like
Speaker 1: I'm tired. I can't even go to sleep. I gotta
Speaker 1: get up and run like I ain't gonna pass that.
Speaker 1: She's like, how you'd be all right, you know, just
Speaker 1: just try to go to sleep, you know, calm me down.
Speaker 1: But played in Germany, Berlin before a serving coach out
Speaker 1: the gate and I had a Serbian too, I have, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got baptized out the gate um. So it was
Speaker 1: it was tough. It was tough on the basketball side.
Speaker 1: This the city kind of saved me as far as
Speaker 1: you know, entertainment, you know, just stuff to disconnect from basketball,
Speaker 1: because the the narrative from for a serving coach, they
Speaker 1: could take they could take the fun out of basketball. Man,
Speaker 1: they're gonna drill you, run you and it's it's very militant,
Speaker 1: you know. So it was Berlin City saving. Yeah, speaking that,
Speaker 1: that's fascinating because I played for a Serbian coach when
Speaker 1: I was in Lebanon Um and he was a little psychotic,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like he was on one
Speaker 1: uh he always, he used to tell me because he
Speaker 1: had coached Darryl Armstrong and Greece. Remember Daryl Armstrong. He's
Speaker 1: like he was trying to give me to play like Armstrong,
Speaker 1: like dog, I can't play like GARYL. Armstrong. Man, that's
Speaker 1: a whole another type of dude. I'm gonna do me,
Speaker 1: Bro this turnaround jumper and this mid post like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do me. So he was. But but the thing
Speaker 1: he loved about me because you know I had I
Speaker 1: had a crazy work ethic. So I was there. I
Speaker 1: was getting to the gym like at six, like before
Speaker 1: the nine o'clock morning practice. I was already like an
Speaker 1: hour and a half, two hours, sweaty. I was stay
Speaker 1: in the whole facility all day. So he loved he
Speaker 1: he was rolling. He knew what time it was with me.
Speaker 1: So I was like, bro, I'm gonna give you this
Speaker 1: fifty ball, like, don't even talk to me about none
Speaker 1: of this nothing, Okay, I don't want to hear nothing.
Speaker 1: D you know when when you go overseas and you
Speaker 1: ball out and you know you have that that thing
Speaker 1: that they love. Yeah, you can call your own shots, Britt. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I hadn't been on both sides of the spectrum. Man.
Speaker 1: You can beat a man and you know, call your
Speaker 1: shots and being the last gun on the bench. So
Speaker 1: it's over. Excuse it was a great career, man, I
Speaker 1: loved it. Like you said a serving coach, he he
Speaker 1: killed us, but he actually he actually primed me for
Speaker 1: the rest of my career, to be honest, like that
Speaker 1: mental toughness and and new it ticks that grind like
Speaker 1: it was no surprises after that, Like I knew what
Speaker 1: to expect from every team and I and I that's
Speaker 1: how I just performed after that. It was just like
Speaker 1: straight like m like now I ain't messed around like he.
Speaker 1: So I give it to him. He helped him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought you were you had achieved or been honored
Speaker 1: with like all euro Cup selections overseas, did you You
Speaker 1: guys want to champion? You want championships over there. Uh
Speaker 1: one in Ukraine? Uh shout out to Ukraine. Uh did
Speaker 1: win a championship? U claim to marry you people? Uh
Speaker 1: so my blessings go out to them. Um, that was
Speaker 1: the only place I really want, like a championship in
Speaker 1: the cup and stuff for the for the euro Cup.
Speaker 1: We've made it to the final four. We we really
Speaker 1: just had a really good team, underdog team and really
Speaker 1: made it to the to the final four against some
Speaker 1: really really top team. So that was a really good
Speaker 1: year for me. Actually, what's what's the country of Ukraine?
Speaker 1: What is it like out there? How are the people?
Speaker 1: What was you know? Just described it or talk about
Speaker 1: it a little bit? I mean, be honest, is what
Speaker 1: you see on TV Ukraine hasn't really changed from when
Speaker 1: I when I was playing, Um, it's it's very underdeveloped.
Speaker 1: The it's the money. They don't really put money back
Speaker 1: into the city. It's very poor. Um. I remember playing that.
Speaker 1: The closest McDonald's to me was like an hour away,
Speaker 1: and I was looking for that McDonald's, Like we're looking
Speaker 1: for McDonald's overseas And it's crazy to say, but we
Speaker 1: are thirsty for McDonald's overseas as a mill like because
Speaker 1: we know what what to expect, so hour away and
Speaker 1: we would have to fly out of that airport. So
Speaker 1: you just I just remember loading up on apple pies
Speaker 1: on the bus, like I'm going back to my city
Speaker 1: of our white cheeseburger so I could eat them a
Speaker 1: little bit later. Like but yeah, Ukraine it was cool,
Speaker 1: like we want to chip. The culture was there, loved it.
Speaker 1: It was just the city was just crazy. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: that's how my experience in Russia was. So. So I
Speaker 1: was in Moscow for a little bit, and then I
Speaker 1: was in Saratov, which is like near Siberia. It's like
Speaker 1: way in the in the cut. Uh yeah, Like like
Speaker 1: you said, I was there in so the economy had collapsed,
Speaker 1: like the ruble wasn't worth nothing, and so people was
Speaker 1: out there just really hungry, thirsty. You know. They were
Speaker 1: trying to get me to throw a game. On to
Speaker 1: throw the game. They were trying to get me to
Speaker 1: throw the game. The Russian old school Russian come talk
Speaker 1: to you on the side and they were trying to
Speaker 1: get you to throw the game. Like I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I can't do all that. I'm trying to hoop bro,
Speaker 1: like I don't even get down with the throw the game,
Speaker 1: you know. But but anyway that it was, it was
Speaker 1: crazy experience. I'll never forget though Russia. I went to uh,
Speaker 1: these nightclubs out there, and I'll never forget this scene. Bro.
Speaker 1: I'm walking in behind like two big gass like Serbian
Speaker 1: Bosnian looking dudes, right, and so they just started pulling
Speaker 1: out heaters and they had like a little cubicle where
Speaker 1: they were checking in. They gave the dude the ticket,
Speaker 1: they checked in the gats like before they got to
Speaker 1: the club. Okay, here ever set it here, they checked
Speaker 1: it in and they got a ticket for the I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, it's one of them. I get inside
Speaker 1: the club and there's nothing but Tupac being bumped for
Speaker 1: two hours, two straight hours of pock stuff I've never heard.
Speaker 1: I was. I couldn't believe I was. I was just like,
Speaker 1: what the hell was going on? I got a big
Speaker 1: day of service steak. I got a big as steak
Speaker 1: in this spot. Need just to say I had. I
Speaker 1: had a pretty solid experience in Russia. Um thirteen years overseas,
Speaker 1: right yea? Than uh? I mean the way I think
Speaker 1: about longevity overseas, I feel like and and tell me
Speaker 1: if you feel like this. I feel like when you're
Speaker 1: going that long, typically it's what seven six, seven months
Speaker 1: on four or five months back at the house. When
Speaker 1: you're going that long, you you you miss out on
Speaker 1: a lot of things. Do you feel like over those
Speaker 1: thirteen years when you came back after you retired, do
Speaker 1: you feel like not? Has it been an easy transition
Speaker 1: to come back to the States into sort of the
Speaker 1: real world after being a pro internationally for thirteen years. No,
Speaker 1: it's never easy. It's it's it doesn't matter where you are.
Speaker 1: Transition is never easy for nobody. You know, you used
Speaker 1: to doing something for thirteen plus years, ten plus years,
Speaker 1: however long somebody plays. It's it's never easy. You. Um,
Speaker 1: so being over there that long, I missed out on
Speaker 1: a lot of things. Um. One of my close friends,
Speaker 1: he would always say, just press play when you get
Speaker 1: back this, press play, man, we missed all on stuff.
Speaker 1: But we're not. We're over there working, we're doing what
Speaker 1: we'd love to do. But so we didn't really miss
Speaker 1: out on a lot, but we missed. You missed out
Speaker 1: on connections, you missed out on network, missing out on
Speaker 1: you know, just that that feel, that that texture, just
Speaker 1: that engagement. So it's when you stop, you got to
Speaker 1: reconnect all over again. Like, oh, you know, now you've
Speaker 1: got social media, you can't have social media that that,
Speaker 1: you know, so it's hard to keep up with folks.
Speaker 1: And I don't really have that much social media, so
Speaker 1: it's it's really hard to keep up with me as well.
Speaker 1: But transition is hard. It's it's hard, but you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's why you you go to U C. L
Speaker 1: A for the network and got guys like you. I
Speaker 1: could call all big brothers, you know, band everybody that's
Speaker 1: that's that's been down that journey and kind of you
Speaker 1: know kind of guys. You would just be that lighthouse
Speaker 1: rightly young, you know. So a lot of guys have helped.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not easy, but everybody goes through it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just feel like, you know, it's it's it's good
Speaker 1: to talk about it with other people that have gone
Speaker 1: through it too. I felt like when my time overseas
Speaker 1: like I missed out on a lot. When I say
Speaker 1: missed out, I mean obviously talking about the family and
Speaker 1: kids and things like that that are close to you,
Speaker 1: but I was talking to more about like professionally it's
Speaker 1: like you you spent eight years hooping, so you're equipped
Speaker 1: to come back home and do something in the field
Speaker 1: of basketball. Now, the jobs that pay in the field
Speaker 1: of basketball, typically in the college and the program um,
Speaker 1: those jobs are far and few between. There are not
Speaker 1: a lot of those jobs. Those jobs are already kind
Speaker 1: of spoken for, and plugs and hookups and you know,
Speaker 1: nepotism in the whole nine. So being overseas for eight
Speaker 1: years and then coming back and then trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: find your way into the coaching industry or the television
Speaker 1: game or or these different games where people have been
Speaker 1: grinding while you were gone overseas eight years. You're short
Speaker 1: of behind the eight ball. You have a they got
Speaker 1: a hit start on you, and so now you gotta
Speaker 1: get you gotta bone up real quick. You gotta get
Speaker 1: up to speed real quick. Uh. I think it's necessary
Speaker 1: for guys that played internationally overseas that when they come back,
Speaker 1: they have to get some type of certification. So like
Speaker 1: whether it be real estate, whether it be an accounting license,
Speaker 1: whether it be something you gotta get be able to
Speaker 1: get into the game with some type of certification that
Speaker 1: puts you on a level where somebody feel comfortable hiring you,
Speaker 1: or you can make your own bread legally and do
Speaker 1: it in a way like real estate. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Where you your own boss. Um, it's a
Speaker 1: tough game, bro, It's a tough game. Dog. The only
Speaker 1: I mean, you just gotta just you know, we as men,
Speaker 1: you just gotta keep stepping up. You's gotta keep waking
Speaker 1: up every day, man, and trying to go get that,
Speaker 1: go get it, no matter how old you get. Ship,
Speaker 1: I'm almost fifty, bro, So you know I met you.
Speaker 1: We was young, and you know, I was way more handsome.
Speaker 1: You still handsome, and Ship, I was way more handsome.
Speaker 1: But Joe, that's facts, Bro, That's yeah, that's that's real man.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's just being an athlete. I mean you,
Speaker 1: it's it's funny you say that that were behind the
Speaker 1: eight ball and a lot of things, but we're not
Speaker 1: in a way because we have characteristics that a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't have. And that's that grit. Going overseas,
Speaker 1: you gotta have grit. You gotta have discipline, You gotta
Speaker 1: be patient, resilient. You got that ain't for everybody. So
Speaker 1: to be able to survive overseas and come back like, yeah,
Speaker 1: the transition is hard, but we, like I said in
Speaker 1: the beginning, we built for it. We built for We're
Speaker 1: not gonna stop with competitive You're gonna tell us no,
Speaker 1: We're gonna figure out another way how to figure it out,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, yeah, we missed out
Speaker 1: on some things, but we have a lot of other
Speaker 1: traits that a lot of people don't have either. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important that we we uh, we
Speaker 1: give ourselves those props. We recognize those traits. You know,
Speaker 1: that's my brotherhood and and things like that are so important, man,
Speaker 1: just to be able to talk to cats that went
Speaker 1: through the same experience as you and they have sources
Speaker 1: of inspiration and motivation, you know, because our our motivation
Speaker 1: ain't gonna be the same like as everybody else is.
Speaker 1: Like you know, so we got a certain type of
Speaker 1: dudes get motivated us, Like we got to hear from
Speaker 1: you know, a certain type of dude like, look, I
Speaker 1: ain't trying to listen to all this motivation. I'm one
Speaker 1: of these dudes that motivate. I need somebody way up
Speaker 1: here motivate me, bro. And and that's just how it is.
Speaker 1: Dog us you this. What's the last time you've been
Speaker 1: in the gym? Man, who I was in the gym Saturday?
Speaker 1: A matter of fact, you coach it. Yeah, but it's yeah.
Speaker 1: But I mean to answer the real question, man, I'm
Speaker 1: not in the gym like that, honestly, Man, I'm I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to pick it up here and there so
Speaker 1: I don't get all stiff and stuff. But yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: never thought about working with anybody man, working with some
Speaker 1: of these youngsters man on that on their own jumper
Speaker 1: and game. I mean you you would be first of
Speaker 1: all from a demonstration standpoint, just seeing you shoot around
Speaker 1: and stuff. I mean, I mean, I'm just man, I'm
Speaker 1: listening to Dog, I'm watching shoot I'm listening. Bro. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I ain't. I ain't never never really looking forward.
Speaker 1: But i mean somebody asking, you know, approach me with Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm always open to health of you. That's dope. That's dope, man,
Speaker 1: that's dope. Man. That's a good place to be in. Man.
Speaker 1: I still try to get help out when I can, Bro.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, help out when I can. Well, Man, listen,
Speaker 1: It's been a great conversation. Brother. I appreciate you for
Speaker 1: coming on the platform and sharing your story, sharing your
Speaker 1: basketball journey with us. Man. Um, you got any shoutouts? Man,
Speaker 1: I don't do the shoutout things. Shout out to everybody. Man,
Speaker 1: do you see it? That community? Everybody gonna start up.
Speaker 1: Everybody just just love. What's up with your startup? What's
Speaker 1: up with your startup? Bro? Dont we try to get
Speaker 1: that in? Don't we try to snick that in? What's
Speaker 1: up with the start try sneaking in? I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the reason why I'm not really you know, doing
Speaker 1: the basketball or in the gym, Like that's the transition
Speaker 1: is to start up into the tech space just dealing
Speaker 1: with data, you know, biometric data. So it's that's more
Speaker 1: of a challenge. I like the challenge. The startup life
Speaker 1: is collaborative, is still team oriented, and yeah it's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Man's dope, Man dope. I lived that life for about
Speaker 1: seven years from two thousand and eleven to about two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen. That was with a company up by US Saslito, California,
Speaker 1: right outside of San Francisco. This dude he designed this
Speaker 1: app that made that made it easy to scout right
Speaker 1: so we were just we were collecting data with the iPhone.
Speaker 1: We gotta serve, we gotta server in the cloud. We
Speaker 1: shoot it up to so no man, if you ever
Speaker 1: want to chop it up about any of that experience
Speaker 1: or whatever, Man, my phone is always open to you. Brother. Again, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on the show. Uh, ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: the John, I appreciate it, y'all. Peace,