WEBVTT - KJ Live - BONUS CONTENT - Bob Myers 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:10.320 This is kJ Live with Chris john Silis and Chris 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.680 is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:21.120 entertainment in the stray. Now here's Chris Johnson. Good afternoon everyone, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.960 This is Chris Johnson. You are now tuned into kJ Live. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:29.320 Today's guests on the show. Three time NBA Champion executive, 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:34.320 two times NBA Executive of the Year, the President of 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.960 Basketball Operations and general manager of the Golden State Warriors, 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:42.760 none other than Bob Myers is in the building. Bob, 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.320 what's going on? Man, it's a it's a pleasure and 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.080 honor my friend. Uh never thought I'd be doing a 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.239 podcast with you. I mean, it's a long day. It's 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.000 a long way from our days back at u c 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.720 l A lockers next to each other, and you always 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:01.040 complained about stuff I was doing in life. But uh, well, 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.480 we'll touch on that in a little bit. That later. 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:06.320 We'll touch at a little bit, Bob. So, So, I 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:08.080 wanted to start the show off, like I do with 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.120 all of our guests. Okay, we want to give our 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.440 audience and our listeners an idea of who the person is, 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.560 the foundation that made the man or the woman for 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.240 that matter, souse. I've had female guests on the show 0:01:18.360 --> 0:01:21.160 into the person they are today. UM, I just want 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:24.360 to know where you're born, city, the neighborhood, and how 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:28.080 did that community impact you sort of who you worked 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:32.600 are today? Um? So yeah, born and raised East Bay. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:34.440 We were joking before I came on. I was a 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:37.800 Warrior's fan growing up. So that's uh, that's a little 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.039 known factor, maybe well known. I grew up in a 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:46.840 nutshell Chris white, middle class, you know, basic basic two parents, 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.200 parents still together, fifty years married, and backyard with a 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:54.960 basketball hoop and the pool. And you know why is 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:59.960 that relevant? It's not really. Um. The longer I've lived, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:06.400 of the more I appreciate the saneness of my upbringing, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.760 the normalcy, the more people I meet, even when you 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.040 want to talk about the locker, we're skipping a step. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.480 But sitting next to you and and judging how you 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.400 would act after practice and who you were, I've realized, like, 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:23.560 that's not fair, Um, because I presumed you were raised 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.320 like I was, which was dumb, right, that was naive, 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:30.040 But no one you now and and stuff we've never 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:34.120 even talked about. Um. I have a better understanding of 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.960 people and you and kind of like for me to 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:42.560 think people get to have what I had is really, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:47.000 um pretty dumb on my part. So I had for 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.760 the people listening, I didn't have, you know, nothing was 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.160 given to me professionally, and I wasn't born into a 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.160 bunch of wealth. But as far as a chance to 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.880 succeed in life, I had that, you know, and and 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.000 and haven't gone into play is just like saying, Quentin 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.320 and played with those guys and basketball and seeing hearing 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:11.600 a little bit about their upbringing makes you really um 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.400 appreciate what I have and it also wakes you up 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.360 to life and that what I had is not you know, 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.960 my idea of normal. Many people don't have that. But Bob, 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.560 you only know what you know. You know, so you 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.480 can't blame You can't blame people like yourself that grew 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.480 up a certain way because that's where you live, just 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:31.160 like you can't blame folks that grew up, you know, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:34.320 on the other side of tacks. But they get blamed, Chris, 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.960 that's the difference. Though. They get blamed, you know what 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.000 I'm saying, And we can go down at a different time. 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:43.000 But that's where I agree with you. But but you 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:46.080 may have a better understanding of that than I even do. 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.720 You may not blame him, but speaking from like what 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.280 I the stuff I'm around, like people do understand like 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.160 when we give a prisoner a chance to former inmate, 0:03:56.080 --> 0:03:58.720 that could call our game. I don't if you saw, um, 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:00.960 we let a guy that about of San Quentin, which 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.160 was which was great. Um. A lot of people wouldn't 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.960 say it publicly, but we're going, why would you do that? 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:07.920 Why would you help X? And why would you help 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.000 a convict get a start back in life? There's many 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.600 people that would say that and judge like, why would 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:15.800 you help somebody? And somebody asked me, I said, why 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.760 can't anybody get a second chance or a third? You know? 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.800 So anyways, we're going off the script, but any that 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:25.200 my upbringing matters for that reason. That's at what point 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.760 growing up in Danville, did you fall in love with 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:31.159 the game of basketball? Because I know you're you're you know, 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.320 you did a bunch of stuff. You're an athlete, Bob, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:38.440 I mean not like you. I um, I love basketball, 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:43.320 uh and I basketball even to this day. I don't 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.240 know how you feel. I know you love basketball too. 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:49.840 If I'm driving anywhere or walking around a bike, and 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.520 I see the game being played by a ten year old, 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.120 the thirty year old, the fifty year old inside outside, 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:59.039 I have to look right. I'm not an alcoholic like that, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.839 Like if an alcoholic sees a drink, they're just drawn 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.279 to it, you know. So for me, I would pull 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:08.840 over if I could. If I had a life where 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:11.000 I could just stop and jump in every pickup game 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:13.200 that existed in the world, I would pull over, and 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:14.760 I would do it for free, and I would do 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.960 it as long as I could. Um. So basketball is 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.200 the one pure known of my life, Like the only 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:24.640 thing I've ever known cold was that I love basketball, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.960 and I think that won't change, and that hasn't changed 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.920 for me. It's a little harder Chris in the position 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.720 I'm into just love it purely, I know too much. 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:34.839 Like if you and I went to watch a movie 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.680 and you directed it and produced it and started it, 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.520 you can't watch it the same way I can't. I 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:42.400 walk out and I go, Chris, that you're unbelievable, and 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:44.000 you go, you have it. They couldn't pay me much 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:45.840 that I'm supposed to get paid, and they cut out 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.520 that one. Yeah, like I wouldn't have done a different ending, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.400 it would have been better. So I can't watch the game, 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:54.880 at least the pro game. That's why when we can 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.640 talk about U c l A. My best moments of 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.880 just happiness was watching U c l A this year 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.680 because I didn't have a say and who they recruited 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.599 and what plays Crowing was calling. I didn't want to know. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:07.799 I want to watch it basketball in my whole life. 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:10.840 Um longs backs that can remember love the game. The 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.560 Bruins were unbelievable this year, and we're going to talk 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.320 about them, Um a little bit later. What I read 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.360 a story somewhere where you were actually trying to follow 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.960 someone's footsteps and rowing somewhere, and then laugh got with 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.080 you and said, hey, maybe you know you can help 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.680 us here. Talk about how you got introduced to u 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.839 c l A basketball. Yeah, so I didn't my um 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:36.720 A A. You was just starting, right, I mean you 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:38.360 might have played in it, but down in the Bay 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.680 Area up here it was pretty new, right and so 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.119 and so was the internet. It was non existent really, 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:46.719 so I wasn't very good until my senior year. I 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.520 was okay my senior year of high school, and I 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:53.479 played in AH like a local all star game, and 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.839 the coach of a Dabla Valley junior college said, hey, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:06:58.920 I wasn't getting recruited anywhere. He said, hey, you want 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:00.760 to play for us. If you played for US and 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.880 play well, maybe I could get you into Oregon State 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.240 or some some some packed twic And I said, you know, look, 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:08.280 I got good grades. I don't want to go to 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:10.120 junior college. I just want to go to college if 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.200 I could play basketball grade. So I went and visited 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:15.680 a bunch of schools and even some IVY leagues and 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.400 looked at them in other schools and said, maybe I 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:21.560 can play basketball here. But nobody looked at my tapes, 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.040 so nobody cared, which was fine. So I decided I 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:25.640 was going to pick the school I want to go 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:28.480 to and forget about basketball. So I was touring around 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:31.520 U c l A's athletic department with my dad, and 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.440 my brother was a rower at University of Washington up 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.440 there in Seattle. So I thought, you know, i'd like 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:40.840 to do something in college. Maybe i'll try that. I've 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:47.560 never done it, and I stumbled upon lavin where in 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.880 the cubicle and the cubicle which they don't even have. 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.560 They had totally redone, you know, the athletic department. Um. 0:07:54.600 --> 0:07:58.560 But he had a picture of John Wooden because Lab 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:01.880 was an assistant to Purdue. You remember a graduated system 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:05.120 and he was assistant for Gene Katie. John Wooden tend 0:08:05.120 --> 0:08:08.440 to Purdue or play to Purdue, I think. And my 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.400 dad went to produce. So we were walking and he 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:13.480 saw a lab and and lab, you know Lab. He 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.800 starts up a conversation with whoever is walking by, what 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:18.280 are you guys doing here? And I said, I was 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:21.160 walking around, you know, and my dad said you Purdue. 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.240 I went there and said John wyn and then laugh 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:24.400 said what do you what do you are you going 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:28.600 to school here? And I said yeah, And I said, um, 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.080 you know, yeah, I'm looking for the recruit coach rowing. 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:32.800 He said, I don't even know if we have that 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.800 program here and I said, well, he said it might 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:37.760 be a club sport and a club sport people listening 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.080 is it's not really affiliated with the school. They just 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.000 have a tangential relationship. But it's not really school sponsor interview. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.360 It's not even it's a little step of but it's 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.360 in between that right in between. So he said, what 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.720 about basketball, because I'm six six? And I said, I 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.640 don't think I could play here, and and he said, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.520 what do you mean? Because if you look at the 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:01.960 guy and he's six and I look more athletic than 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.040 I'm not athletic. I'm not an athletic, but I'm not athletic. 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:07.320 Just being honest, And don't don't correct me there, because 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.679 I know what I am and what you can do. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:16.080 Practice okay, but that's nothing special for somebody that's sticks anyways, 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:20.800 Let's just move off my athleticism. So so so I said, um, 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:22.840 I said the last he said, I said, what if 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.439 I was a manager? But could I manage on the team? 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.120 And he said, well yeah, but why don't you try 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:32.360 to walk on? And I said, uh, well, I don't 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.160 think I can play. I don't you know. I you know, 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.160 I'm not. I'm not. This is the best basketball school 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.199 I got into, Like this is the lead. If I 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.000 wanted to play basketball walk on, I would have picked 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.880 any other school. I basically gave us I'm gonna go 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.080 to u C. L A. They're the best basketball school 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:49.040 by far. I just want to go to school in 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:55.080 l A. So you had no intention, you had no, Chris, none, none. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.880 So so then he says walk on and then I 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.400 said okay, and he said you can condition with a team. 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.199 And you were you were year younger, so you weren't there. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.280 So what we did was for a month, and you 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:08.760 know my personality, and we could do a long podcast 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.440 for a month. I conditioned with Ed and all these 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.000 Charles and Cameron and all these guys. But I didn't 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.800 talk to anybody, and I wasn't in a recruiting class 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.600 to anybody. You know, Charles and Cameron, you know they're 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.680 duced and the whole deal I was. I was like, 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:23.760 you know, I don't know what I was. I don't 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:25.520 think they cared about me one or the other. I 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:27.600 was just there and I wasn't talking to anybody. I 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.600 wasn't bothered anybody. So but my buddies that I went 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:34.000 to college with, anybody I ran into, I was asking 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:35.439 me like, where are you going? And I'm going to 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:37.880 condition with the basketball team. And they said, what, You're 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:39.640 not gonna play basketball? U c l A. And I 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.960 kind of said, well, I probably not, but I figure 0:10:42.000 --> 0:10:44.599 i'll try. And they said this is They're kind of 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.040 laugh at me like a friend would like, Chris, what 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.280 do you do? But but not mean spirit. It just 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:50.880 kind of like you're wasting your time man, like this 0:10:50.920 --> 0:10:52.640 is U c l A. And I didn't push back. 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:54.719 I was like, maybe, but let's you know, I might 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.880 maybe I could walk on. Long story, I try out 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.679 and here shows up our coach and it's it's in 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.600 a men's gym, no, sorry, the Wooden Center, and there's 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:09.040 like guys and there's one spot and we watched for 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:11.120 a little while and I'm just the tallest guy there. Right, 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.240 I'm sick. There's nobody six six decent because those guys 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.480 play basketball somewhere, like they go to schools. Eric watched 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.480 it in ten minutes and he gets it from his chair, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:24.199 you know him calls me over congratulations son. And then 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:25.400 and then I didn't know what he was talking. I 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.720 couldn't process what he just told me, which was I 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.120 basically made the team as a walk on. I didn't 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:33.440 tell my parents, I didn't tell anybody because I didn't 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.840 believe it. I thought this is some kind of joke. Um, 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.000 but yeah, it was real. And then and then I 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:42.079 found out either gonna let me travel, and I think 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.800 what makes it interesting to me? In hindsight, Chris, is 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.240 when something's unexpected or you achieve something that you didn't 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.240 think possible, there's a level of appreciation. Like I look 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.319 at somebody like you. You got recruited. I don't know 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.280 how many different school You just knew you were gonna 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.600 play bass on college. You knew you were probably concerned 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:04.880 about what number you're gonna have and what shoot. You know, 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:07.320 I had it. I had from a basic level, like 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:10.480 I get to play basketball with these great players and 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.600 my first practice I was scared and it wasn't football, right, 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:15.400 it's basketball. I wasn't gonna get beat up, but I 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.640 was scared and I remember it and the players were 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:21.720 so much more athletic and faster and stronger and better. 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:27.319 But you know, over time I became, you know, decent, right, 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:29.599 like okay, enough to kind of help the team a 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.959 little bit. And uh, what you play one? I wanted 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.680 the post? Why? Why why do you think that was Bob? Like? 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:37.640 What what about your mentality? Because a lot of guys 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:39.440 could have been thrown in that position and just wilt 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.720 it because you know how we were. I know, you know, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.520 i'd go act you. It's a lot of talking. It's 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.040 a lot of disrespectful stuff, so wing out there on 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.160 the court. So some guys you know aren't gonna be 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.439 able to take that. You know, what did How did 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:53.160 you prepare yourself mentally to deal with the athlete, high 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:56.120 level athletes like that on the court competing against them. Yeah, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:01.360 well I think I just had it. Sounds cliche, but 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.560 I just had to do the best I could. Like 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.080 in life, I think we're most pleased when we give 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.440 our best effort. Right, if you're being honest with yourself, 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.520 you fail a test, you don't get a job as 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.480 long as you know you kind of left it out 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.760 there a game. That's why players, I think, always have 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.880 it the best, even the position I'm in now, because 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.360 they get to compete, you know, they get to lose, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:23.079 and they get to be spent on the court and 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:24.760 they put it out there. So when I put it 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:27.640 out there in practice. But the things I love too 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.800 was like even you, I got to play basketball, and 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.160 I always remember how good you were and how how 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:36.240 how the touch you had around the rim and your 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.120 hands and your ability to move and just to just 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:42.120 to be around somebody. It was that good at something 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.840 I loved was was something for me you know, it 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:46.400 was something for me to be like, I'm getting to 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:50.560 play with these guys. And when you surround yourself with 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.080 people that are that much better than you, inevitably you 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.640 you'll get better. So that was the fun thing. It 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:57.880 was never about starting or playing. It was like, I'm 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.199 getting better at something I love. That was good, that's 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:02.520 that's that's amazing. I didn't even know that part of it, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.400 to where you started off conditioning. I thought it was 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:07.880 already a done deal on the wall, and I didn't 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:09.600 know you have to earn it. And so now it 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.120 helps me understand looking back on it, just your whole 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.600 disposition towards every ye. It was because you remember used 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:17.920 to leave you when you were taking that one economics 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.800 class or something. Remember used to like leave halfway through 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.920 practice to class. I remember. I remember. I think I 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.400 was the only guy on the team that knew I 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.960 wasn't going to the NBA like that. I remember. I 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.840 remember I would bring my books to the because you'd 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.960 be working out pre pre practice and then I'd be 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.080 like reading my big whatever the hell book it was economics, 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.400 and you'd be like, what are you doing, Chris, Chris, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.360 I'm not gonna make a career of basketball, like I 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.520 know it, it's over true story and so but anyways, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.440 it was yeah, man, I it was great, fun times, 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.560 good times. Ninety We want a championship with ninety five together, 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.200 but ninety four. I wanted to just touch on a 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:00.800 moment that happened after you on the team that lost 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.560 to Tulsa. Uh in the locker room, I know ed 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:07.840 it was pretty disappointment. Talk about just how sort of 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.480 catapulted the momentum of U c l A basketball, the 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.840 end of nine catapulted us into and the run that 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.280 we eventually went on. Yeah, I mean people in abandon 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.840 is one of my favorite people. Um you know him, Chris, 0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:23.440 and I think you probably feel the same way in 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:28.120 the world because of his humility right in its great 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:33.440 talent like what a and um soft spoken, nice heart, 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.520 like great human being giving all the things that are 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.440 pretty hard to find these days or in any day. 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:45.000 But we that championship running ninety five started in at 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:48.440 halftime of the lost a Toulsa like that. That's when 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.040 it started. And I know you weren't there, but you 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.640 would have loved it because we go through life and 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.760 I'm older enough, like top five most vivid memories was 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:01.840 him and halftime and and literally the people in life 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.440 like you're you know, you've lived now and we've seen 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:08.280 things and done things. It's the it's the stop spoken 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.160 ones You've gotta be a little careful around. It's the 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.200 ones that don't raise their voice very often. And Ed 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.960 was that and he did and oh my god. That So, 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.040 so what happens is the halftime, the coaches they huddle, 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.200 as you know, and then they talk about what they're 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:24.680 gonna tell the team and then they come in. So 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:26.880 the team's in there alone for a minute at halftime 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:30.840 of even the NBA. So so that's the moment where 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.000 you yell at me and Sam and an idiot like 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:35.800 why did you? Why did you get that rebad? That's 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.720 when all that ships happened. So Ed Ed Ed came 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:43.600 in and picked up a chair and just fired it 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.080 across the room and and was like, I can't if 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.080 and go back to l A. I can't. I'm embarrassed. 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:50.920 And we were down twenty in half, right and we 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.160 were four and they were thirteen. I think, oh no, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.720 we yeah, that's right, that's right. And so it was bad. 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.640 And so but here's the the point of it. What 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.520 And then the coaches started walking in and they just 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.520 stopped and walked out because they knew this, this moment 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.560 needed to happen, like without them and like they needed 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.200 to let this moment happen. And it was ten minutes 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:17.760 to add just embarrassed, like at the highest level of 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:24.040 appear like frustration, rage, passion um. And it wasn't against 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.640 it was him too, like he was owning the failure 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.119 in the moment, like not just you did this, you 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.320 didn't do that. And it was the truth, right, that 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:36.720 team had a softness to it that they got exposed, 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:39.280 bottom line, like and and a lot of people don't 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.080 want to hear the truth, but we did. And so 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:46.199 for me, you came the following year and when he 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.520 made sure he was first in every sprint, and he 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:50.320 made sure he didn't miss a practice, and he made 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:54.080 sure his team on every drill that championship run. And 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:59.879 you were there when we were down against Missouri Emboise, right, 0:17:59.920 --> 0:18:03.080 were down one pot and four point eight seconds. Everybody 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:04.840 knows what Tis did the second round of the tournament. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.679 So one time in my life where I actually thought 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:13.400 professionally at least this isn't how it's supposed to be. 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.760 Like this team can't lose right now, This can't happen, 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:19.320 Like this cannot happen like this, that makes no sense, 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.240 Like everything I've learned in my entire life about doing 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.840 things the right way, acting the right way, putting the 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.920 work in, failing then succeeding. In that moment when we 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:33.399 were down, I could not fathom We're gonna lose. This 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.520 is gonna be any of our season. And I know 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.240 a lot of people say that, like there's other people 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.760 that that played college but something didn't go the way 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.720 it was supposed to go. But this one, for real, 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:45.920 I knew were there um and then obviously Tias makes 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:47.280 a shot and we win it. But it was all 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.880 part of Like I said that the one yard line 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:55.080 going the other way on the field was halftime at Tulsa. 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.800 And then culture was already set. You said basketball when 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.520 I arrived, you know it was. It was a hierarchy 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:04.600 and you just knew what time it was around there. 0:19:04.880 --> 0:19:07.800 Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.800 the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.000 Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:18.160 search f s R to listen live. What was your 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.359 favorite memory of just not necessarily during the season, but 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:27.439 if our championship celebration, I should remember and look, l A. 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.560 You know you're you're in l A. You know, born 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:32.560 and raised guy. U. L A loves a winner. Man. Yeah, 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:34.520 they don't love. They don't have much else, but they 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:37.840 love a winner, and so they treat when they treat 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:40.400 you like royalty if you win. It's not many better 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.520 places to win in l A. Maybe New York too. 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:47.800 But I remember not going to class and my class 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.040 not to not to knock on anybody out, but my 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.480 classes were real applied to show up. I couldn't not 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.800 sh up for class. And so I remember walking into class. 0:19:58.200 --> 0:20:01.080 This class had started three weeks ago and I hadn't 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:05.280 been and I walked in and I remember just being 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:09.000 like a barratt, I hungover whatever. And the teacher said, 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:11.119 in front of the whole class, he's like, I was 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.240 wondering if you're gonna show up. I wondering when you're 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.600 gonna show up, like and then but he started laughing, 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:17.960 he said in a nice way, you know, but that 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:21.639