Speaker 1: Drafted as a production of tree Fort Media, Clutched Sports
Speaker 1: Group and I Heart Radio. It's it's in Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Drafted, where we're following two elite basketball players on
Speaker 1: their personal journeys to the NBA. I'm keeking Michael Key
Speaker 1: and we're less than one week away from draft day.
Speaker 1: Right now, we're at the Godby Road Gym on the
Speaker 1: south side of Atlanta. Top NBA prospect Anthony Edwards, his
Speaker 1: uncle Drew, and his trainer Justin Holland wrap up a
Speaker 1: workout and discuss his training plans for the upcoming NBA season.
Speaker 1: Maybe two forty by Sailors say, if I do lay
Speaker 1: at work, are you gonna maybe two? And you're gonna
Speaker 1: be too for within the name three years saying I'm
Speaker 1: the lose weight, thank and you think about it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna put me on the me man. Yeah, I said,
Speaker 1: when you they're they're growing away, they're growing out way.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you I'm not gonna be and you're still
Speaker 1: ruing what still? But I'm trying to Ninety year old
Speaker 1: Anthony is six ft five, carries two hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: five ish pounds and he's definitely not done growing you gonna.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you right now. I'm just telling you
Speaker 1: don't trick him up, but you have me. I ain't
Speaker 1: say all that you say your bro he doesn't trim
Speaker 1: him up, but your your heart is a rock. Say so,
Speaker 1: I'm after that. Get work out, God, work out. Wait
Speaker 1: a little bit you want. I'm try I'm trying to
Speaker 1: figure ot what you're gonna litle it. Lets you go
Speaker 1: and lets you go all vegan that vegetables as it over.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna make me live like that Lebron with two.
Speaker 1: You don't work out, I say, now, Lebron two f two,
Speaker 1: But he was seeing that when he came in the league.
Speaker 1: The wan to thirds damn two. Yeah he's put on weight,
Speaker 1: no weight. Yeah, but I'm saying I'm not gonna try
Speaker 1: to put on I don't think you trying to put
Speaker 1: on weight. You see the difference of Lebron when you
Speaker 1: go in personally. Yeah, how you want me? No, I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like Lebron wasn't big, got to live. I'm trying to
Speaker 1: tell the old already and I'm young. The older you get,
Speaker 1: you're gonna put on ron away. On average, people gain
Speaker 1: the most weight during their twenties, roughly two pounds a year.
Speaker 1: Even pro athletes tend to fill out during that decade,
Speaker 1: like Justin and Uncle Drew's example of Lebron putting on
Speaker 1: ten to twenty pounds since he started in the league.
Speaker 1: And you're gonna be sixing two parters, but since two
Speaker 1: you don't nest you want over those thirty Yeah, I
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna be third, starting off way about two
Speaker 1: and two. Problem, it's the starry eight straight, right. Someone
Speaker 1: saying built better million dollars that they won't gain weight
Speaker 1: is usually worth ignoring. But Anthony will likely make over
Speaker 1: six or seven million dollars a year if he's drafted
Speaker 1: in the top five. So if he's serious about that beat,
Speaker 1: he can actually back it up. It ain't being wrong
Speaker 1: when they went next back. Yeah, you're you're playing with
Speaker 1: probably two thirty five two point when you get two points, like, damn,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta run. Yeah, they all see you, right,
Speaker 1: two point. Let me out here, run at gonna say this,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make the most, gonna do that. It's gonna pairt.
Speaker 1: I'm selling that. Maybe looking like that, we don't we
Speaker 1: don't win up two thirty, a lot of proteins, maybe
Speaker 1: dread a whole lot of protein. Heat differently do that.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you look like you look like you're lighter
Speaker 1: than your wolves three months ago. But you hear you,
Speaker 1: You know what, muscle muzzle. He's always been bigger and
Speaker 1: stronger than the competition. Back when Anthony was in the
Speaker 1: ninth grade, he was already six ft two and weighed
Speaker 1: over two hundred pounds. Around that time, he was starting
Speaker 1: to not so quietly destroy the A A U circuit.
Speaker 1: Here's coach Rob Allen, another core member of Anthony's tight
Speaker 1: knit circle, who began working with him around that time.
Speaker 1: When I first moved to Atlanta, I started doing AU coaching.
Speaker 1: First time I met and he played with the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Express AU team. They were on the circuit and I
Speaker 1: got to meet went Frey Jordan, who's over the Atlantic Express.
Speaker 1: And then they they were practicing and coach Jordan was like, Hey,
Speaker 1: I got this sixteen year old team. Do you mind
Speaker 1: training them for thirty minutes for me so they can
Speaker 1: get some skill working. So I said, okay, I'll do that.
Speaker 1: So I'm watching this kid and he's just going through drills,
Speaker 1: real smooth, and I had never heard of before. And
Speaker 1: he was dunking, knocking down shots and he said his
Speaker 1: name is Anthony Edwards. And I never forget I said, well,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have a chance. But Justin would always tell
Speaker 1: him and I had to get him credit for this.
Speaker 1: He told me when he was in the tenth grade.
Speaker 1: He said, Rob, I believe he could be a Lebron
Speaker 1: James type talent. I didn't believe him at first. I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't know about that. We were in
Speaker 1: Indianapolis at the on the on the circuit. I never
Speaker 1: forget it. They played against the Illinois Wolves. I sat
Speaker 1: there right there with him and scored thirty points in
Speaker 1: one quarter. So I said thirty you know we I mean,
Speaker 1: these guys were literally double and triple team man. And
Speaker 1: he scored thirty points. And this was timh grade year
Speaker 1: and I just couldn't believe it. Here's Anthony and his
Speaker 1: teammates after the game. What treaty point I'm telling him?
Speaker 1: And him the Fish State. He became the number one
Speaker 1: college basketball recruit in the class of twenty nineteen, receiving
Speaker 1: scholarship offers from premier programs like North Carolina, Kansas, and Kentucky,
Speaker 1: and despite his Florida state prediction, Anthony ended up narrowing
Speaker 1: down his choice to two other schools. Decision came down
Speaker 1: with when in Kentucky and Georgia. I was gonna go
Speaker 1: to Kentucky. But you know, everybody that I loved and
Speaker 1: cared about was in Atlanta, So I felt like Athens
Speaker 1: was just an hour wait. And most of my people
Speaker 1: was like, Georgia be a good idea staying home and
Speaker 1: being near friends and family at the University of Georgia
Speaker 1: versus going to perennial contender and modern day NBA factory Kentucky.
Speaker 1: That was the decision, along with which top coach to
Speaker 1: play for, Kalapari or Cream. Well, it's the Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: Friend Academy in the heart of Atlanta, and sitting next
Speaker 1: to me is a nation number one player in the country, Anthony.
Speaker 1: Yet and he is ready to announce his college choice,
Speaker 1: and you know, you're finally got in Georgia. We're stay
Speaker 1: in Kentucky. Nothing both sides. I mean the process of
Speaker 1: a pretty difficult on time were coming in and our
Speaker 1: school every night on coaches school, I mean, it was different.
Speaker 1: Decision came to wait where we in alf I'll be
Speaker 1: attended house basketball at the University Georgia. Anthony chose Georgia,
Speaker 1: staying true to his heart, or as he puts it,
Speaker 1: not following the wave. I felt like Georgia was the
Speaker 1: best I did for me, and post Crane played a
Speaker 1: huge role in my decision to Georgia because of just
Speaker 1: his past and who he's coached, and you know how
Speaker 1: his player development has grown over the years. So I
Speaker 1: just felt like that was the right thing to do.
Speaker 1: Bottom line is we had a lot of things in place.
Speaker 1: This is University of Georgia head coach Tom Crean. He's
Speaker 1: close to home, his family could continue to be around them,
Speaker 1: His coaches and the people that were most important in
Speaker 1: his life didn't have to get in an airplane or drive,
Speaker 1: you know, hundreds of miles to be in his life.
Speaker 1: They could go literally down the highway to be in it.
Speaker 1: And so his life was going to change at some
Speaker 1: point at a young age. It didn't have to change
Speaker 1: this quick as he was making his transition. So those
Speaker 1: were selling points. But with all that being said, the
Speaker 1: fact that he knew he needed to get better, that
Speaker 1: he wanted to get better, that he bought into the
Speaker 1: fact that we had made people that he looked up
Speaker 1: to better, like Dwyane Wade and Victor Eladipo, I think
Speaker 1: played into it. Coach Crean helped mega stars Dwyane Wade
Speaker 1: and Victor Eladipo go from mid level recruits to NBA
Speaker 1: All Stars. So even though Anthony arrives in Athens, Georgia
Speaker 1: at a more developed stage, he wants to make the
Speaker 1: same kind of leap they did. I think when you
Speaker 1: see somebody that's got that level of talent, with the
Speaker 1: accolades and the pageantry that's around him, and then you
Speaker 1: get to know him, and the way he took to
Speaker 1: what we were trying to tell him in the sense
Speaker 1: of what he needed to get better at it was
Speaker 1: this is where you got improved. If you're going to
Speaker 1: be in college for a short period of time, all right,
Speaker 1: this is where you absolutely have to get better. Because
Speaker 1: my goal always as a coach is not for somebody
Speaker 1: to get draft. My goal is for them to be
Speaker 1: ready to play and have that NBA team be talking
Speaker 1: about that second contract as early as they possibly can be,
Speaker 1: because because NBA ready is completely different than being an
Speaker 1: NBA drafting and he was going to be drafted. No
Speaker 1: matter where he went. It became where is he going
Speaker 1: to be ready from? Then he started to realize, like
Speaker 1: this is for real, as good as I am all right,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things I don't know, or a
Speaker 1: lot of things I gotta get better at. And then
Speaker 1: he started to see the improvement and and then it
Speaker 1: took off even more. We'll be right back well. Anthony
Speaker 1: was wrecking the A A U circuit. Another star was
Speaker 1: making his way into the top of the same recruiting class,
Speaker 1: a fast, energetic guard named tyrees Maxi. Tyrese received twenty
Speaker 1: two offers from elite college programs, but he always knew
Speaker 1: where he'd be going. Honestly, I'll tell my friends and
Speaker 1: my family in the eighth grade, I'm gonna be a
Speaker 1: mcdonal's All American and I'm gonna go to University of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: And it was simple, like you know in eighth grade, seven,
Speaker 1: eighth grade, you know, your friends and other people, adults
Speaker 1: looking at you like for mans, like pouring three chance
Speaker 1: that all that stuff that you're saying is gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Everybody in the in the world, every eighth grade of
Speaker 1: that played the basketball in the world is saying the
Speaker 1: same thing you're saying. Like I was like, no, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play for the coach Cow. Coach Cow has had,
Speaker 1: you know, Derrick Rose, John Wall, Darren Fox, Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: Brandon Night. I'm I want to be a part of
Speaker 1: that legacy and I'm going to be a part of
Speaker 1: Legs and that like that was I had my mind
Speaker 1: made up in the eighth grade, and you know, my
Speaker 1: family supported. They said just go get it. Work extremely hard,
Speaker 1: and go get it. So I wanted to go to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Since then, Tyrese turned this middle school vision into a reality,
Speaker 1: and in his very first college game in Kentucky, he
Speaker 1: slated to play the number one ranked Michigan State Spartans
Speaker 1: at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the mecca,
Speaker 1: one of the most revered sites in all of basketball.
Speaker 1: So last year, on my birthday, well you know, our
Speaker 1: birthday is on November four, and our first game against
Speaker 1: Michigan State, numb one team in the country at Madison
Speaker 1: Square Garden was on November five. So we're having our
Speaker 1: last practice, you know, at Joe Kraft in Kentucky before
Speaker 1: we get on the plane to go to New York
Speaker 1: City to get ready to play, you know, no one
Speaker 1: team in the country. So we're practicing, going along, good practice,
Speaker 1: and I'm playing, you know, point guard on our call
Speaker 1: and play. But one of my teammates, Killan Brooks, didn't
Speaker 1: hear me. He doesn't hear me, but everybody else on
Speaker 1: the court heard me. So Keian messages like he he
Speaker 1: messed up the play, and then like, coach ka, play
Speaker 1: my bad, Coach, I didn't hear what we said. So
Speaker 1: Coach Kyle turns to me and said, you're not You're
Speaker 1: not ready. You're not playing. It's a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: he told me. He tells, you know, the other guys
Speaker 1: on our team, the other two guards that we had
Speaker 1: man you and Ashley, said y'all get ready to play
Speaker 1: forty minutes. Because he's he's not ready to play. He's
Speaker 1: not playing the marrow at all. He's not getting the
Speaker 1: game one second. I don't care what anybody says. I'm like,
Speaker 1: bro like, I'm not gonna play. Bro Like all the
Speaker 1: work that I've done, I was getting up at six
Speaker 1: am there working out with four practice, four weeks or
Speaker 1: four class, you know, doing what I had to do
Speaker 1: on the court. Doing I'm not doing the classroom, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not gonna get in the game. And
Speaker 1: this is my this is my birthday, my nine team birthday,
Speaker 1: first birthdayway from home. I'm like, bro, I'm not even
Speaker 1: gonna get in the game. So like I'm I'm like
Speaker 1: just sitting there. Like the rest of the day, I
Speaker 1: was like, A, I don't know how long the flight
Speaker 1: was in New York, but has the nice house flight?
Speaker 1: Get to New York, have meetings, eat and it's still
Speaker 1: my birthday, so like I still should be excited. I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna get in the game. Like it's still hurts.
Speaker 1: I don't care who you are, I don't care how
Speaker 1: great of a teammate you are. For this, for the
Speaker 1: coach to tell you when when you expect to get
Speaker 1: in the game and you expect to play, expect to
Speaker 1: do well, for here to tell you're not gonna play,
Speaker 1: was like devastated. But I talked to my mom later
Speaker 1: on that night, and you know, she gave me a
Speaker 1: little encourage and talk. But you know, I just went
Speaker 1: to sleep and I got an opportunity to play. I
Speaker 1: got an opportunity to play the next day and the
Speaker 1: rest of history. Max. She look at this first of
Speaker 1: speed up and in deep rot for MAXI three four
Speaker 1: ft behind the line. Oh oh you serious? How do
Speaker 1: you sewious? Coxy? You're a huspers your first game? Are
Speaker 1: you for real? Oh man? Are you serious? Look at
Speaker 1: that swa, Look at bet Swan. Oh man, it's the Kliparry.
Speaker 1: You got a storm. It's to you. Gotta storm Tyrese
Speaker 1: MAXI making a name for himself in his very first game,
Speaker 1: Kentucky upsets top ranked Michigan State. Tyrese scores twenty six
Speaker 1: points to go along with his five rebounds. Coach Calipari's
Speaker 1: motivational tactic worked exactly as planned. If he planned it
Speaker 1: at all, I don't remember it, but you know, uh,
Speaker 1: I don't think I maybe I did. I've done many
Speaker 1: things to make kids tougher. You know what I say
Speaker 1: to him, even that situation. If you can't take me,
Speaker 1: the guy that loves you and his whole life is
Speaker 1: trying to get you and your family right. If you
Speaker 1: can't take me, how the world are you gonna take
Speaker 1: the opponent? You must conquer yourself first before you worry
Speaker 1: about conquering anybody else. Basically, I'm saying time to grow up,
Speaker 1: time to be a man, time to be responsible. And
Speaker 1: I may have said it, and there are things that
Speaker 1: you know I'll I'll be tough on kids to get
Speaker 1: them to understand. Now you think about it, that's coming
Speaker 1: from someone who loves you, and it's for you. If
Speaker 1: you can't take that, you how are you tough enough
Speaker 1: to go in the game and compete in Madison Square
Speaker 1: guard against Michigan Stay. So maybe I did do it.
Speaker 1: Here's Tyres again. He knew what my potential was. You
Speaker 1: know what my potential is, and ha ha am I
Speaker 1: sailing it that you know I could reach if I
Speaker 1: put it in the work, and I'll keep my head low.
Speaker 1: So and like I said, I really appreciate for that.
Speaker 1: He pushed me so hard that, uh, nothing can phase
Speaker 1: me now. In eleven years of Kentucky coach, Kellipari has
Speaker 1: turned out three number one overall selections, twenty one lottery picks,
Speaker 1: thirty one first rounders, and forty one total players taken
Speaker 1: in the NBA draft. John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, an almost endless list of league
Speaker 1: corner stores, so he knows what it takes, perhaps better
Speaker 1: than anyone. Tyreech could have gone other places and solely
Speaker 1: had the ball more we had Ashton Hagan's. You know,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Emmanuel quickly we played with three
Speaker 1: point guards. But guess what we did it with Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray too, and Jamal wanted the ball more. Well, he's
Speaker 1: got it more now and you look at him. You know.
Speaker 1: They had to be a great teammate here because they
Speaker 1: had to share one about one or two guys shooting
Speaker 1: all the balls. I mean, you don't have to be
Speaker 1: a volume shooter in college. You have to develop professional habits.
Speaker 1: You have to develop a pro mentality and in those
Speaker 1: kids and Tyrese come on now, Uh, he sacrificed and
Speaker 1: gave up, But I learned to play without the ball.
Speaker 1: This became evident on January seven, when Kentucky faced off
Speaker 1: against Georgia, where Anthony Edwards waited for him once again.
Speaker 1: On their way up, tyres and Anthony played each other
Speaker 1: in various circuits and then committed to Southeastern Conference rivals
Speaker 1: Georgia in Kentucky. Now they go into a much hyped
Speaker 1: head to head matchup the number eight ranked Wildcats playing
Speaker 1: a tenant for Georgia team contending for the conference lead,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Edwards, arguably the best player in the country,
Speaker 1: would be facing his toughest test yet. Anthony would lead
Speaker 1: all scorers with twenty three points in five rebounds, and
Speaker 1: on an infamous play with Tyrese guarding him, he drives
Speaker 1: to the basket, overpowering his friend for an easy two points.
Speaker 1: Maxi falls to the ground and Edwards makes a taunting
Speaker 1: gesture indicating Tyrese was too small to guarding. The announcers
Speaker 1: say it should have been an offensive follower. Social media
Speaker 1: calls Anthony an unstoppable scorer. After the game, Tyrese has
Speaker 1: his own thoughts, Yeah, we don't have to have a
Speaker 1: really conversation about that. I probably will call him as
Speaker 1: soon as I get have to play, so you know him, Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to have a conversation about I
Speaker 1: did say he probably did, but it's okay. I mean
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the day, I think
Speaker 1: we had one points to him, So it's okay. You
Speaker 1: guys are friends and he played up. He played against
Speaker 1: each other in high school. How it play on this stage?
Speaker 1: It was amazing. I mean, especially on the road in
Speaker 1: front of their home crowd. We had a lot of
Speaker 1: slower can really talked during the game, you know, but
Speaker 1: after the games, what's up, my man? After the game,
Speaker 1: you know each changed. We're I hugged each other. Say
Speaker 1: keep doing what you're doing and see him in a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks or in a week. He's great. He's
Speaker 1: really took the guard, especially when he had the green
Speaker 1: light like that. Um, he has to make play for
Speaker 1: that team to win, and she really hard to guard him. Proud, Um,
Speaker 1: keep working on his game. Kentucky wins by nine. Maxi
Speaker 1: ends up with seventeen points, eight assists, and seven rebounds,
Speaker 1: approaching a triple double. But maybe even more impactful was
Speaker 1: his defense. He had four blocks and a steel to
Speaker 1: go along with his offensive output, and spent a large
Speaker 1: portion of the night helping guard Edwards, harassing him into
Speaker 1: a night of eight for seventeen shooting. The performance highlights
Speaker 1: Tyree's as one of the top defenders in college while
Speaker 1: revealing how much more Anthony and Georgia still needed to improve.
Speaker 1: Here's coach Crean speaking to what he saw. We got
Speaker 1: caught in the hype of that game after beating Memphis
Speaker 1: on the road, and I think it was almost more
Speaker 1: it was the pageant try. It was almost like we've
Speaker 1: forgot just all hard Kentucky plays, right, and and not
Speaker 1: only how talented Kentucky is, but how hard they play.
Speaker 1: And you can't make mistakes, whether your home road or
Speaker 1: in a parking lot in Alaska, playing against them, you
Speaker 1: can't make those mistakes. So I do think there's some
Speaker 1: learning that came from that game, no doubt. Just two
Speaker 1: weeks later, Kentucky and Georgia play once more. The Wildcats
Speaker 1: get the better of the Bulldogs yet again, holding Edwards,
Speaker 1: still hyped as the best guard in the country, to
Speaker 1: sixteen points. By March, Kentucky racks up wins and the
Speaker 1: number eight ranking in the country, putting them in position
Speaker 1: for a high seed in the n C Double A tournament. Well,
Speaker 1: Georgia drifts with sixteen wins and sixteen losses. The Bulldogs
Speaker 1: need to win their conference tournament to make the final
Speaker 1: bracket of sixty eight teams, which likely means another high
Speaker 1: profile matchup with Tyrese in Kentucky. Then suddenly the season
Speaker 1: is canceled. March Madness is canceled. The coronavirus unravels plans
Speaker 1: across the globe. When this thing ended, some of the
Speaker 1: guys who were a little more outgoing than others, I
Speaker 1: think some of them were just stunned, like stunned, like
Speaker 1: what in the world this is coach Calipari once again.
Speaker 1: So you know, we had a couple of guys cry.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he was one of them. I
Speaker 1: do know when we arrived back on campus, they played
Speaker 1: five on five, just the last time to be together.
Speaker 1: The basketball world has turned upside down, along with the
Speaker 1: rest of society. Anthony and Tyrese both realize their next step.
Speaker 1: Beckons the NBA is calling. Well, I wasn't worried about
Speaker 1: him going. I think I knew he'd be fine. I
Speaker 1: thought that if we had finished the season, it would
Speaker 1: have been better for him. But I still thought, you know,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be a lottery late lottery most but um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I never had any doubt that he was trained for
Speaker 1: that moment, and he was ready. You're good, You're good
Speaker 1: to go with classes and basketball called off, Tires goes
Speaker 1: to Los Angeles to train for how long. He doesn't know.
Speaker 1: What started as a few weeks turns into the entire summer.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Here's Tyres again with his uncle Brandon,
Speaker 1: after just finishing another session at the gym, still waiting
Speaker 1: in limbo, still imagining what life would be like as
Speaker 1: a pro. I mean they go crazy. They go crazy.
Speaker 1: If you at the crib now they go I said,
Speaker 1: they're going crazy if you have to crib. Now when
Speaker 1: you go somewhere for being like dad, they crib. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Now, just imagine you want to go
Speaker 1: somewhere and grab something, eat or something. That's the crazy
Speaker 1: part about it's like really over bro chick week, Oh
Speaker 1: my god. And that's what l A taught us to most.
Speaker 1: They did how to move, how to move as a
Speaker 1: professional as I don't move, you move, you different, absolutely
Speaker 1: go down. They come with chicken, you working on my
Speaker 1: as doing you know what we're thinking about. If it
Speaker 1: was in dallasall this whole time, well we would be
Speaker 1: so confused and so so yeah, it didn't come out here, dude,
Speaker 1: this to be like damn, y'all, you donta do it
Speaker 1: like I don't know what you know. It was so
Speaker 1: funny because I went with Chris Paul when he was
Speaker 1: in his hometown and he was dropped because he was
Speaker 1: he drops at the camp, but he came to the hospital,
Speaker 1: came to the hospital. Bro. It was just like that
Speaker 1: went to Chick fil a orderful? Who Chris, Chris? Who?
Speaker 1: He said, Just Chris put it the window. I knew
Speaker 1: who was you? Chris Paul. I'm like to that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but he was cool. I mean, ain't it ain't crazy?
Speaker 1: Oh shoot, I left my wallet? Oh god, what I got?
Speaker 1: Eight dollars? Eight dollars? My wild Can we do? What's
Speaker 1: you gonna do? Apolicies? What he put it back? Bad
Speaker 1: job and that and that Polinasia did, as we heard
Speaker 1: in the last episode. All the time in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: has given Terres a chance to focus and train, well
Speaker 1: as teach him how to navigate life off the court
Speaker 1: as a pro athlete. Then the draft gets rescheduled a
Speaker 1: second time from mid November, and neither he nor Anthony
Speaker 1: have played a real game since March seven. That's eight
Speaker 1: months straight without being in a situation where teams can
Speaker 1: evaluate the progress of these young players, and that's a
Speaker 1: huge deal. For a player like Tyrese. The question marks
Speaker 1: about his game and when and where he's going to
Speaker 1: be taken. Are all still up in the air. I
Speaker 1: would say to you that no other draft class has
Speaker 1: been through this. No other draft class was a crap
Speaker 1: shoot like this draft class because they didn't get to
Speaker 1: dam they didn't get to have their normal workouts, they
Speaker 1: didn't see him in the n State Tournament. They didn't
Speaker 1: see guys play their best when it really mattered. So
Speaker 1: this was one of those let's take a guess draft
Speaker 1: um and and you know, I felt for the kids.
Speaker 1: I called each of our kids, do you need my help?
Speaker 1: There's seven months without anything, They're on their own. I
Speaker 1: just checked in with them mainly like do you need
Speaker 1: my help? How are you making it now? Maybe their
Speaker 1: agent helped, maybe their family was what But I'm calling
Speaker 1: them to say, do you need me to help? You
Speaker 1: tell me? Because you know, no one they're they're they're
Speaker 1: in a in flux. They don't no one knew what
Speaker 1: was going on. So yeah, it's it was a rough run.
Speaker 1: Facing these challenges, Clutch Sports comes up with a new
Speaker 1: idea to showcase their clients. Here's Omar Wilkes, head of
Speaker 1: their basketball division. Obviously, given COVID, things were going to
Speaker 1: be different, So we were tinkering with the idea of
Speaker 1: a pro Day. This was before they were going to
Speaker 1: allow via team to join, Like could we stream it
Speaker 1: and send it to each individual team? Um, you know,
Speaker 1: how can we get creatives? You know? Through this pandemic.
Speaker 1: Eventually it was okay that certain team personnel could come
Speaker 1: to Pro Day, but not everyone could come or there's
Speaker 1: limited numbers, and so we're like, all right, after we're
Speaker 1: joining with the streaming idea, Rich thinking outside the box,
Speaker 1: was like, forget to streaming it. Why don't we see
Speaker 1: if we can get it televised, Like, why don't we
Speaker 1: try to put it on ESPN. They urged Tires and
Speaker 1: Anthony to try something no one has ever done before,
Speaker 1: their own televised Pro Day, just the two of them
Speaker 1: on ESPN for an hour with Lebron James, Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: Trey Young and some of the best players in the
Speaker 1: world sitting in the crowd. All eyes will be on
Speaker 1: Tyrese and Anthony next time undrafted. It's crazy because people
Speaker 1: ask them how different it is, But this is all
Speaker 1: we know. This is all I know, Like this is
Speaker 1: the only time being in the draft process though the
Speaker 1: zooe is all we know. What is this over nineteen
Speaker 1: that everybody's talking about and Rudy Gobert has it, is
Speaker 1: Rudy gonna die? Like I think initially nobody was really
Speaker 1: thinking about basketball at that point. We're not allowed to
Speaker 1: have fast, all right, cool? Then the NBA canceled that
Speaker 1: same day. If they're not going to play, there's no
Speaker 1: way that we can play well doing the pandemic. What
Speaker 1: what you find out real fast is the plan is
Speaker 1: there is no plan. Somebody can say what you think
Speaker 1: about a hundred million dollars and only ten million of
Speaker 1: it is guaranteed, So what are you talking about? So
Speaker 1: we had been planning on having a pro day twenty
Speaker 1: two minutes on a nationally broadcasted channel to just kind
Speaker 1: of introduce them to the world. In his workouts when
Speaker 1: I'm nearly watching workout or when he's talking to me,
Speaker 1: he's always got a chip on his Showlder Terris Maxe
Speaker 1: is a prime example. He's gonna be a good pro
Speaker 1: for a long time. Drafted as a production of tree
Speaker 1: Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The
Speaker 1: executive producers are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Eric s A.
Speaker 1: Loot Sean to Tone l Key and me Kegan Michael Key.
Speaker 1: The series is produced and written by Eric Weiner. Jared
Speaker 1: Brom is our coordinating producer. Trey McCain is our associate producer.
Speaker 1: Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited
Speaker 1: by Steven Johnson, additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen,
Speaker 1: and Hayley Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more
Speaker 1: information on Drafted, go to tree Fort dot fm. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the i Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.