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Speaker 1: Hey, what's up, everybody. I'm Jamelle Hill and welcome to politics.

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Speaker 1: And I heard podcasts and unbothered production. Time to get spolitical.

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Speaker 1: Do you know who the single most important player is

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Speaker 1: in this year's NBA Finals. It's Paul George. Now he's

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Speaker 1: the reason both the Pacers and the Thunder are in

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Speaker 1: the finals. Now, equal value for a superstar often hasn't

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Speaker 1: been a thing in the NBA, But in the case

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Speaker 1: of both of these teams, they flipped Paul George like

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Speaker 1: the Barkstales used to step on the package. Now, before

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Speaker 1: I break down exactly how that happened, realize that this finals,

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Speaker 1: and really the last four NBA Finals, are perhaps representative

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Speaker 1: of a new era in the NBA, an error in

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Speaker 1: which super teams are no longer the wave and you

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Speaker 1: no longer need a generational superstar in order to win

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Speaker 1: a championship. From the twenty fourteen fifteen season to the

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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen to twenty nineteen season, there were two teams

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Speaker 1: who were primarily appearing in the finals, the Golden State

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Speaker 1: Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now, Golden State won three

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Speaker 1: championships in those five seasons. The Cavs appeared in four

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Speaker 1: straight NBA Finals during that span, winning an NBA title

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Speaker 1: against Golden State in twenty sixteen, that infamous three to

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Speaker 1: one comeback that is arguably the most impressive feat on

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Speaker 1: Lebron James's extensive resume. But when the Raptors beat the

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Speaker 1: Warriors in six games in the finals in twenty nineteen,

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Speaker 1: that was a fourth in the row, and ever since then,

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Speaker 1: a different team has won the NBA Championship every year.

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Speaker 1: This is not exactly how things have worked throughout NBA history.

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Speaker 1: The league has largely been defined by super teams and dynasties.

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Speaker 1: Since the NBAABA merger in nineteen seventy six, there have

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Speaker 1: been forty nine NBA champions The Celtics and Lakers have

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Speaker 1: combined to win seventeen championships since that time. Six other

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Speaker 1: franchises have won more than two. The Bulls won six,

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Speaker 1: the Spurs won five, and the Warriors have won four.

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Speaker 1: But there was a significant change that has taken place

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Speaker 1: in the last collective bargaining agreement, making it far more

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Speaker 1: expensive to keep superstar heavy teams together, allow the Boston

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Speaker 1: Celtics to enter the chat now next season. The Celtics

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Speaker 1: have one hundred and ninety seven million dollars committed to

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Speaker 1: five players, and that payroll, combined with the luxury tax penalty,

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Speaker 1: means their total spending next season could exceed five hundred

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Speaker 1: million dollars fifteen million dollars and don't you thank you

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Speaker 1: getting up, Chelsea Clinton. The Phoenix Suns, who may have

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Speaker 1: put together one of the most disastrous super teams of

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Speaker 1: all time, have the special distinction of becoming the first

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Speaker 1: NBA team in league history to reach four hundred million

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Speaker 1: in combined team salary and luxury tax during the twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four twenty five season. If the Suns don't blow

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Speaker 1: this team up, their combined salary and luxury tax bill

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Speaker 1: for the next season will be an estimated five hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty six million dollars. That's tricking, even if you do,

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Speaker 1: got it. This change in the seat has created a

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Speaker 1: new winning formula and possibly killed the NBA dynasty. The

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Speaker 1: last few champions, as well as this year's Finals participants,

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Speaker 1: have all been built in similar ways. A couple superstars

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Speaker 1: or franchise level players who are surrounded by depth youth,

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Speaker 1: and some blue guys who have championship or deep playoff experience.

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Speaker 1: Indiana center Miles Turner said this after Game six against

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Speaker 1: the Knicks, in which the Pacers clinched their path to

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Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. I think it's a new blueprint for

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Speaker 1: the league.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: I think the years of the super teams as stacking.

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Speaker 1: It's not as effective as it once was. Since I've been.

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Speaker 2: In the league. This NBA is very trendy. It just shifts.

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Speaker 1: But the new trend now is just kind of what

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Speaker 1: we're doing. Ok Se does the same thing. Young guys

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Speaker 1: get out and run and defend. So it's no longer

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Speaker 1: about this.

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Speaker 3: But we also know you three Kings came down here

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Speaker 3: to win championships, not one championships, Lebron, tell us about that, not.

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Speaker 2: Two, not three, not four, not five.

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Speaker 4: Not fix.

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Speaker 2: It's more about this, and let's check it with Nick.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Chris, Isaiah.

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Speaker 4: You guys went on that massive eighteen and nothing run

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Speaker 4: in that third quarter. What's happening out here when you

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Speaker 4: guys are totally in tune like that?

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Speaker 2: Oh man, We're just playing together as a team, right.

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Speaker 3: We played with energy, we play hard, we played for

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Speaker 3: each other, and we think that's the recipe for success.

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Speaker 3: And so we're gonna keep rolling that way executing the

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Speaker 3: game plan floor threes.

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Speaker 4: For you tonight, and you seem to get them in

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Speaker 4: so many different ways, And I just wonder, you know,

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Speaker 4: how have you managed to expand your menu from the

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Speaker 4: three point line?

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Speaker 2: Hello?

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Speaker 3: Dan, Hello, I mean just being fronts of time contained,

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Speaker 3: does a really good job of finding me when I'm open.

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Speaker 3: So I'm out there trying to make plays, play off

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Speaker 3: the catch and do what I'm supposed to do.

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Speaker 4: Eight guys in double figures tonight. It's only the fourth

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Speaker 4: time it's happened ever in Okay see history. What's it

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Speaker 4: feel like on the bench and on the floor when

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Speaker 4: you I have so many guys going.

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Speaker 3: Like I said, the ball has energy, and when they

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Speaker 3: have energy on the floor to bench, hat's energy. So

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Speaker 3: it's fun all the way around, no matter where you're at.

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Speaker 2: Would you like to enjoy the game?

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Speaker 3: We do this every single day, so why not enjoy it?

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Speaker 5: You clearly do enjoy it. Thanks you look good man.

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Speaker 1: Man shout out to the sideline, reported Nick Gallo, who

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Speaker 1: remained composed despite the collegial shenanigans of this Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: Thunder team.

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Speaker 2: Now that's a pro.

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Speaker 1: Now in today's NBA, it's about the Mini and that's

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Speaker 1: how Paul George became the most important player in these

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Speaker 1: NBA finals. That's happened to the delarea and go back

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Speaker 1: to twenty seventeen when the Pacers traded George, a perennial

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Speaker 1: All Star, to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipot

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Speaker 1: and Domatized Sabonis. Now to get this next part, you

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Speaker 1: might need to break out an organizational chart, so do

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Speaker 1: your best to keep up. Oladipot became an All Star

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Speaker 1: with the Pacers, as did Simonis. The nia issues prompted

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Speaker 1: the Pacers to deal ola Depot to Houston in twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty as part of a fourteen trade that edit the

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Speaker 1: Pacers Karris Lavert and a pair of second round picks.

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Speaker 1: One of those second rounders became the thirty second overall

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Speaker 1: pick in the twenty twenty three draft, which the Pacers

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Speaker 1: package along with the number twenty nine overall pick in

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Speaker 1: the same draft, or a twenty twenty four first round

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Speaker 1: draft pick from guests who the Oklahoma City Thunder. That

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Speaker 1: pick was one of the two first round draft picks

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Speaker 1: that Indiana sent to the Toronto Raptors in January twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four for Pascal Siaka, who just won the Eastern

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Speaker 1: Conference Finals MVP. The Pacers flip Karris Lavert, which led

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Speaker 1: to Andrew Nimphard and Ben Sheppard. And remember how I

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Speaker 1: said Indiana got both Oladipo and Simonis. Well Sibonis became

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Speaker 1: Tyrese Halliburton, who the Pacers traded for in twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 1: So for those scoring at home, trading, Paul George got

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Speaker 1: the Pacers four quality players Halliburton, Siaka, Nimhard, and Shepherd.

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Speaker 1: But Paul George wasn't done building one potential championship franchise.

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Speaker 1: He built another one in the Oklahoma City Thunder and

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Speaker 1: helped deliver the Thunder another MVP player. Paul George had

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Speaker 1: just spent two years with the Thunder before he was

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Speaker 1: traded in twenty seventeen because the Clippers desperately wanted another

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Speaker 1: All Star in a pair with Kawhi Leonard. Okay, see

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Speaker 1: said cool and ran the Clippers pockets. They traded George

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Speaker 1: for Shay Gilgris, Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. And not one,

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Speaker 1: not two, not three, not four, not five, Okay, I'll

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Speaker 1: skip to it. They got seven draft picks by the way.

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Speaker 1: If you're the Clippers, how does it feel to give

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Speaker 1: up that many draft picks when you had an MVP

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Speaker 1: right there on your roster? Now that truly is some

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Speaker 1: Clipper shit. One of those fifty eleven draft picks got

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Speaker 1: the Thunder Jaylen Williams, and also because of that deal,

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Speaker 1: in this year's draft, the Thunder half picks fifteen, twenty

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Speaker 1: four and forty.

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Speaker 2: Four a Milwaukee.

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Speaker 1: Are you listening Forget about trust the process, trust trading

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Speaker 1: Paul George. The NBA is trying to mirror the NFL,

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Speaker 1: which has now thrived off parody for decades. You will

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Speaker 1: always need a great player to win, but now I'm

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Speaker 1: not so sure if you need a generational player to win,

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Speaker 1: and trying to recreate the banana increasingly seems like a

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Speaker 1: flawed plan. Here's the new recipe for success. Build around

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Speaker 1: a great franchise or superstar player. Then pick up or

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Speaker 1: draft in Alice Caruso, get you a Check Holmgren and

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Speaker 1: og Annobi, a Malie Beasley, a Jade McDaniels, get you

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Speaker 1: some young guys who can guard multiple positions.

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Speaker 2: And then trade Paul George.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm kidding, unless you have Paul George, then you

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Speaker 1: should probably trade them. But in all seriousness, if you're

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Speaker 1: a fan of the Thunder or the Pacers, enjoy this

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Speaker 1: moment because in today's NBA another championship run is definitely

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Speaker 1: not promised. I'm Jamel Hill, and I approve this message.

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Speaker 1: I'm extremely excited about today's guest because I am in

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Speaker 1: the company of a basketball legend, basketball royalty. She's won

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Speaker 1: at every level, high school, college, the Olympics.

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Speaker 2: And the WNBA.

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Speaker 1: She was the first woman to ever dunk in an

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Speaker 1: NCAA tournament game. She is the only WNBA player to

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Speaker 1: win Rookie of the Year an MVP in the same season.

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Speaker 1: She won multiple wn NBA championships with different franchises, and

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Speaker 1: as a result, she will have her jersey retired by

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Speaker 1: two different teams. On top of her accomplished basketball career,

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Speaker 1: she's become one of the best basketball analysts on television

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Speaker 1: and right now, she has an incredible book out called

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Speaker 1: The Can Do Mindset. That's a perfect title because there

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Speaker 1: is literally nothing this woman can do.

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Speaker 2: Coming up next on Spolitics, Candace Park.

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Speaker 1: Candice, I'm going to start this episode of s Politics

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Speaker 1: by asking you a question I ask every guest that

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Speaker 1: appears on this podcast, and that is name an athlete

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Speaker 1: or a moment that made you love sports.

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Speaker 6: I remember sitting on the couch in nineteen ninety eight

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Speaker 6: and watching Jordan cross up Russell and him like doing

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Speaker 6: that bounce after he hit the pull up jump shot

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Speaker 6: where everybody knew he was going to hit it, And

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Speaker 6: I was already loving sports, but I wasn't in love.

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Speaker 6: And at that moment, I feel like I was in

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Speaker 6: love because I wanted to be the person that was

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Speaker 6: able to take that shot. I wanted to be the

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Speaker 6: person that worked to be on that stage, and it

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Speaker 6: just kind of set the tone of like the expectation

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Speaker 6: of winning. And the Chicago Bulls did that, you know.

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Speaker 5: Six times in the nineties. It was just wild.

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Speaker 6: So yeah, that was the moment I remember vividly watching

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Speaker 6: and loving.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I'm not surprised with you being from you know,

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Speaker 1: basically right outside of Chicago, that you would pick a

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Speaker 1: Bulls moments as your moment, but it is interesting that

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Speaker 1: you already had some sense that you wanted to be

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Speaker 1: that kind of player for your own particular team as

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Speaker 1: you pursued you know, a lot of sports for you

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Speaker 1: were growing up, when did you realize you were good

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Speaker 1: and not just good, but like the type of good

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Speaker 1: that could be special.

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Speaker 6: I don't know if I ever stopped to kind of

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Speaker 6: realize I was good. I just always knew I wanted

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Speaker 6: to be good. And so when people would put limitations

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Speaker 6: on what I was doing, and by limitations, sometimes it

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Speaker 6: was a compliment.

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Speaker 5: Like sometimes people would come.

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Speaker 6: To me and be like, you could be the best

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Speaker 6: soccer player on the team, and I'd be like looking at.

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Speaker 5: It, like I don't want to be the best soccer

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Speaker 5: player on the team.

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Speaker 6: I want to be the best in the state, or

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Speaker 6: I want to be like, you know whatever. And so

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Speaker 6: I would say my brother's journey where he was going

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Speaker 6: through college and he got drafted in nineteen ninety seven,

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Speaker 6: that kind of opened my eyes to like basketball being

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Speaker 6: a vehicle of seeing the world but also being able

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Speaker 6: to experience, you know, winning on a big stage and

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Speaker 6: as a career. And so I would say when I

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Speaker 6: started realizing I could be good would be around eleven

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Speaker 6: or twelve years old.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 1: One of the one thing, one of the many things

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Speaker 1: I love about your book. Let me hold it up

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Speaker 1: nice and clear so everybody can see it. The can't

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Speaker 1: do mindset is that you. I mean, I think anybody

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Speaker 1: who's watched you for any stretch of time knows that

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Speaker 1: you're very competitive. But getting the insight it sugges how

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Speaker 1: competitive you are was really fascinating. And you mentioned like

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Speaker 1: once you figured out, like, hey, this is what I

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Speaker 1: want to do that and everybody might have had their expectations,

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Speaker 1: but yours were different. It reminds me of that part

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Speaker 1: where you wrote about what it means to have Molly

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Speaker 1: goals and Molly expectations. And Molly was, of course somebody

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Speaker 1: that you played soccer with correct not seemingly no shade

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Speaker 1: to Molly wherever she is not very good and you know,

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Speaker 1: finally got to score a goal as you were playing soccer,

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Speaker 1: and you know your dad quick very quickly taught you

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Speaker 1: the lessons like, yeah, other people going to have certain goals,

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Speaker 1: but your goals are way higher than that.

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Speaker 2: Now that you're in retirement and you've.

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Speaker 1: Accomplished all these things, good lord, you have won at

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Speaker 1: every single level. How have you been able to keep

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Speaker 1: the Malli goals versus the Mally expectations in retirement?

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Speaker 6: What I did and realize from a young age of

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Speaker 6: what my parents were doing was they were building my mindset.

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Speaker 6: And I think a mindset is something that you can

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Speaker 6: shift no matter what you're trying to accomplish. And Mollie

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Speaker 6: Goals wasn't just for soccer, Like there are some things, yes,

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Speaker 6: you do, you know in your spare time, art, or

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Speaker 6: you do for fun or whatever. But something that you're

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Speaker 6: deciding to do and you want to be great in, like,

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Speaker 6: there's a certain mindset and expectation that has to go

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Speaker 6: into it. And it's doing the little things. It's you know,

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Speaker 6: obviously relinquishing the results and falling in love with the process.

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Speaker 6: And I talk about that all the time throughout the book.

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Speaker 6: Is my parents were building that. So whether it was school,

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Speaker 6: the expectations were, was it my best? Did I do

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Speaker 6: everything possible to succeed? And because of that, I think

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Speaker 6: now that the ball isn't bouncing, that mindset doesn't change.

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Speaker 5: Like I want to be in the rooms.

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Speaker 6: Where there were people that look like us in those rooms,

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Speaker 6: like I want to be sometimes the only and you know,

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Speaker 6: basically go through the doors that others fought to walk through,

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Speaker 6: Like I don't know, it's just a it's a it's

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Speaker 6: not a shift that you can do when you're doing

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Speaker 6: one thing or another. I think it's something that just

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Speaker 6: is over time, it's over everything, and I'm just grateful

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Speaker 6: for my parents and my environment that I grew up in.

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Speaker 1: So now that you're at the stage where you're you know,

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Speaker 1: you're retired.

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Speaker 2: What does it just been two years?

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Speaker 5: It's been a year year?

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Speaker 6: Crazy? Okay, but yeah, it's only been a year. This

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Speaker 6: is the second year.

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Speaker 2: This is the second year.

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Speaker 1: So now to some degree we're a little bit in

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Speaker 1: the Canvas Parker celebration and reflection mode of your career.

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Speaker 1: And you know, a lot of people here we're in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, were so excited to see that the Sparks

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Speaker 1: are retiring your jersey. And in this book you really

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Speaker 1: lay out a lot of the growing pains that you

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Speaker 1: and they both had together. So how does it feel,

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Speaker 1: knowing everything you've been through with this organization to have

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Speaker 1: your jersey be retired here?

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Speaker 6: Well, that's family, right, like we all have family that

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Speaker 6: you go through the ups and downs, the highs and lows.

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Speaker 6: I think your most authentic self, good or bad, with

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Speaker 6: the people that you love and respect. And when I

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Speaker 6: put on that La Sparks jersey, I never anticipated wearing

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Speaker 6: another one, and I think it was a difficult process

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Speaker 6: to decide to go back home to Chicago and to

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Speaker 6: leave an organization that essentially raised me. I mean, I

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Speaker 6: was twenty two years young when I got here, hadn't

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Speaker 6: even had Leila yet, and she grew up in La

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Speaker 6: La is home, and so to be able to come

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Speaker 6: back now, it's full circle to.

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Speaker 2: It.

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Speaker 6: Never it never changed. La was always home. The Sparks

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Speaker 6: were always home.

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Speaker 5: You know.

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Speaker 6: If I were to close my eyes and envision myself

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Speaker 6: in a jersey, it would be an La Sparks jersey.

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Speaker 6: It would be a number three. And I don't know,

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Speaker 6: I just think that it's super special for me. Every

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Speaker 6: day I would look up in those rafters and obviously

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Speaker 6: at first I would see those championships and that's where

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Speaker 6: that's the banner and.

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Speaker 5: Where I wanted to hang first.

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Speaker 6: And now to kind of just look up there and

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Speaker 6: see the Kareem's and the Lisa Leslie's and go Lee

319
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Speaker 6: pile Gasol and the Kobe Bryant, I mean, just Shaquille O'Neal,

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Speaker 6: and to know that like my jersey's going to be

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Speaker 6: next to them, I think it's it's surreal, and it

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Speaker 6: was definitely something that you know, you you hope for

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Speaker 6: and you wish for. But to now have this moment,

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Speaker 6: I mean, time flies.

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Speaker 5: It's nuts.

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Speaker 1: They say time does heal, though, and obviously there had

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Speaker 1: to be some healing that took place on your end.

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Speaker 1: So what I guess, Finn or fences had to be

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Speaker 1: mended for this to happen.

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Speaker 6: I've always been extremely close with the ownership. I mean,

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Speaker 6: Eric Hollman has been so influential and not only my

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Speaker 6: basketball career and winning a championship in twenty sixteen, but

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Speaker 6: on the business front, like he was the first person

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Speaker 6: that really talked to me about business and investments and

335
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Speaker 6: gave me advice and all of those things. And so

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Speaker 6: I don't think that that relationship changed. I think there

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Speaker 6: was some hurt there that I would leave. But at

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Speaker 6: some point, and throughout the book, I have to find

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Speaker 6: I have to try to make myself happy, and at

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Speaker 6: that point in time, I felt like I could not

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Speaker 6: be at my best here, And just in terms of

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Speaker 6: the alignment with coaching with the general manager, you know,

343
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Speaker 6: when you wake up and you're fighting every single day

344
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Speaker 6: and I am obsessed with basketball, I would challenge anybody

345
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Speaker 6: to love the game more than I do. And I

346
00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 6: would wake up every day and not want to go

347
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Speaker 6: to practice and not want to go to play on

348
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Speaker 6: the road, and it just became I felt like I

349
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Speaker 6: was fighting, you know, myself, I was fighting the organization

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Speaker 6: and I just needed a change. And I think over time,

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Speaker 6: the Sparks have understood that, and you know, we have

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Speaker 6: continued to connect and I wish the organization nothing but

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Speaker 6: the best. And now that the years over where I

354
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Speaker 6: was in mourning from retirement, I'm I want to go

355
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Speaker 6: to some games and I want to watch and you know,

356
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Speaker 6: and and and support an organization that has been near

357
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Speaker 6: and dear to my heart.

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Speaker 1: But nevertheless, though I wonder, did you go through, you know,

359
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Speaker 1: moments where you thought this was probably not going to

360
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Speaker 1: be possible.

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Speaker 6: One hundred per yeah, a hundred. I went through moments

362
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Speaker 6: like that. But at the end of the day, I

363
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,000
Speaker 6: think we're always working towards what's right. And I think

364
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Speaker 6: there are so many situations on the men's side where

365
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Speaker 6: people don't finish their career where they started. It's very

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Speaker 6: few people that finish a long career where they started,

367
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Speaker 6: but they are still going to be in the raptors,

368
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Speaker 6: and I think it definitely takes an emotional toll on

369
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Speaker 6: the organization, on myself in that we envisioned. You know,

370
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Speaker 6: I'm hanging up my sneakers and you know, walking off

371
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Speaker 6: the court for the last time in a Sparks Jersey.

372
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Speaker 6: But sometimes your plans don't always line up with what

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Speaker 6: the reality is. And I think what was best for

374
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Speaker 6: us both was the separation. And now I think it's

375
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Speaker 6: going to be beautiful, and you know, I have hope

376
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Speaker 6: to have a relationship with the Sparks for a very, very,

377
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Speaker 6: very long time.

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Speaker 1: In the book I would describe this, I would put

379
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Speaker 1: this book in the category of radical transparency. And a

380
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Speaker 1: lot of times people who have your stature, who accomplish

381
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,560
Speaker 1: what you've accomplished, they write a book and they don't

382
00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 1: tell the truth like you told the truth. And I

383
00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:14,640
Speaker 1: didn't think you told the truth in a hurtful or

384
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Speaker 1: salacious way, but you were very accountable for your role

385
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:25,240
Speaker 1: in whatever situation you talked about, personal or professional. I'm wondering, though,

386
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Speaker 1: because you know, you compare the Sparks relationship to like

387
00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,560
Speaker 1: being like family, right. I know I went through this

388
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Speaker 1: with my memoir. There were some people in my family

389
00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,159
Speaker 1: who were not happy with what I wrote. Were you

390
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,320
Speaker 1: at all concerned, given how candidate you were with the

391
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Speaker 1: situation with former general manager Penny Toler with Derek Fisher,

392
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 1: who is your coach, were you concerned at all that

393
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:53,080
Speaker 1: maybe you shouldn't be this transparent about that situation.

394
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Speaker 6: My intention going into writing this book was that I

395
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,679
Speaker 6: didn't want to tell a story that was no mine

396
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 6: to tell, and by that I mean I don't want

397
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,159
Speaker 6: to tell for gossip. There was a reason in every

398
00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,359
Speaker 6: single detail and every single thing I told in this book,

399
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 6: and I say that and it had a hand in

400
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 6: who I became, who I didn't want to be. And

401
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 6: I feel like I took responsibility for a lot of

402
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:27,280
Speaker 6: the relationships conversations, what I should have done differently. However,

403
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:31,440
Speaker 6: those are huge parts in my life, and I think

404
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,879
Speaker 6: there are issues that people deal with on a daily

405
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:41,120
Speaker 6: basis in the business world, in relationships at home, in

406
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,919
Speaker 6: coworkers that you don't get along with, and so I

407
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:46,239
Speaker 6: think it was all relevant and why I shared it

408
00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:52,560
Speaker 6: the intention to really be truthful, be transparent, but not

409
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,199
Speaker 6: in like a gossip like, let me tell you this

410
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 6: extra information that doesn't need to be told Penny told her,

411
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 6: and I did not get on. We still don't. I

412
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,919
Speaker 6: have not spoken to her. I don't wish to, and

413
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,600
Speaker 6: I think that that's okay. I think I I have

414
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:13,440
Speaker 6: moved past that point in life. But at some point

415
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:14,960
Speaker 6: you have to look in your mirror and say, like,

416
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:17,960
Speaker 6: I'm not crazy. And I laid my head down on

417
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:21,280
Speaker 6: my pillow every single night knowing, yes, there are things

418
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 6: that could have been better. But where I'm at right now,

419
00:22:25,359 --> 00:22:27,800
Speaker 6: I'm going to take that lesson and make sure that

420
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:32,840
Speaker 6: I apply it to other situations. And with that being said,

421
00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:34,679
Speaker 6: I don't ever want to be a part of a

422
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Speaker 6: culture in which people talk to each other like that.

423
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I have to say that was very eye opening.

424
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Speaker 6: I just I never want to be a part of

425
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Speaker 6: a situation and I will not stand there and allow.

426
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Speaker 5: Somebody else to do that to others.

427
00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 6: It's just not and and it's crazy because we always

428
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 6: look from the outside end and say if I was

429
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 6: I would never allow that, or like that would never

430
00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,040
Speaker 6: be and then you're in it and you're like, oh wow,

431
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 6: so like I've let this go for this many years now,

432
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:07,440
Speaker 6: people are telling me this is crazy and I don't

433
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,119
Speaker 6: even I don't even see it crazy, you know.

434
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Speaker 5: So I think it was a little bit of like.

435
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,359
Speaker 6: I use parenting as an example of, like I tell

436
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,720
Speaker 6: my daughter, you are never letting anybody disrespect you, You

437
00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:24,400
Speaker 6: never do all this stuff, and then you're doing it.

438
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 6: And so that's kind of what I came to. I'll

439
00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:30,679
Speaker 6: never be in a situation like that ever, ever, ever, again,

440
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 6: And I think the story needed to be told.

441
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,199
Speaker 1: I mean, I honestly I had never you know, we

442
00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,320
Speaker 1: hear about all especially as sports journalists, that you hear

443
00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:41,840
Speaker 1: about all manners of situations.

444
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:43,960
Speaker 2: I can say across my multi.

445
00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: Decade career, I'd never heard of a team executive coming

446
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,320
Speaker 1: into a locker room taking off on players, dropping all

447
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 1: kinds of expletives and all that kind of stuff.

448
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,439
Speaker 2: And I just was like, is this That was like,

449
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 2: I know, this is very unusual for that. And you know,

450
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,480
Speaker 2: even with if you think about it.

451
00:24:05,359 --> 00:24:08,679
Speaker 1: You actually handled that way better than a lot of

452
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:13,920
Speaker 1: athletes in your position would have. So when you reflect

453
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 1: on it, like you just said, you'll never be in

454
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,280
Speaker 1: that situation, are you at peace with how you handle it.

455
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 6: I was always taught as a kid, just no, but

456
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 6: I was always taught as a kid to take a

457
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,800
Speaker 6: deep breath before, Like, as much as you can separate

458
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 6: a situation from your emotions, the better your reaction is

459
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 6: going to be. Now, could I have gone off and

460
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 6: exploded and went crazy.

461
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 2: And it would have been well within your right, and it probably.

462
00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:42,520
Speaker 6: Would have been well within my right, But it's not

463
00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,919
Speaker 6: who I am. That's not a reflection of what I

464
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 6: want to be a part of I think all in all,

465
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,639
Speaker 6: like the situation worked out the way it should have.

466
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 6: I think I was hurt because, you know, sometimes when

467
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,200
Speaker 6: you're going through something, you need some other advocates.

468
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 5: And the same thing with Derek Fisher.

469
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,919
Speaker 6: I didn't go off in the locker room afterwards, you know,

470
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,239
Speaker 6: And I think to some extent, like the questions were

471
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,600
Speaker 6: kind of softballs to him after the game in which

472
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 6: we got swept by the Connecticut Son but all that

473
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 6: was going on at the same time, you know.

474
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:22,720
Speaker 5: And so.

475
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 6: One of the biggest arguments Chelsea Gray and I ever

476
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 6: got into was like, I would never let somebody do

477
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 6: that to you. I know you're young, I know you're

478
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,280
Speaker 6: you know you're new, but I would never sit there

479
00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 6: and be silent if somebody were to do that to

480
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 6: you or speak to you in that way or whatever.

481
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 6: And I mean, she's one of my best friends to

482
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 6: this day, and I think we grew closer and I'm

483
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,639
Speaker 6: proud of the way that she is now because I

484
00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 6: think she went through that situation. So all in all,

485
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,679
Speaker 6: I think that we're all where we're supposed to be.

486
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:58,879
Speaker 6: And I'm by all, I mean all of us are

487
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 6: where we're supposed to be, right, all of us are

488
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:04,600
Speaker 6: where we are supposed to be.

489
00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 2: You can read that one pretty clearly. Everybody.

490
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,439
Speaker 1: Now, you know, everybody knows you're going to Chicago you

491
00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:16,040
Speaker 1: win this championship, and I am told that they will

492
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 1: also be retiring your jersey as well, two professional teams

493
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:24,920
Speaker 1: retiring your jersey. LA sort of became home professionally, and

494
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: you know, personally, Chicago is home. What is that like

495
00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,760
Speaker 1: for you to have Chicago also be retiring your jersey?

496
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 5: It's surreal.

497
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 6: I think that if I were to write a story

498
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 6: of being able to have people in Chicagoland see me

499
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 6: first pick up a basketball for the first time, and

500
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,439
Speaker 6: then win a championship in front of those very people,

501
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,440
Speaker 6: I mean I would have told you you were crazy.

502
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,920
Speaker 5: But because of that, I.

503
00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 6: Think I felt the moment, like I felt the impurtance

504
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 6: of it, and we had like a perfect group. I

505
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:08,639
Speaker 6: mean Cullia Copper, I couldn't be more proud of like

506
00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:12,080
Speaker 6: who she became in that process. I mean slew Alley

507
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 6: just I mean across the board. It was just a

508
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 6: fun environment to be to win in, I would say.

509
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 6: And it wasn't easy. It was like we were sixteen

510
00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,399
Speaker 6: and sixteen. I like one hundred rolled my ankle to

511
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:29,520
Speaker 6: start the season. We lost seven in a row. Then

512
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,479
Speaker 6: you know, we come back, we kind of get it together.

513
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 6: Like it wasn't it was this season. But I think

514
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 6: the events of the past prepared me to be able

515
00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 6: to be in those situations and not run from the

516
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,439
Speaker 6: tough conversations and not run from the fact that, like

517
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 6: you have to be a leader not when things are

518
00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,680
Speaker 6: going great, but when things are falling to pieces.

519
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 5: And so I think I'm.

520
00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 6: Most proud that my jersey's going in the rafter because

521
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 6: I know all of the stuff that you know, had

522
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,720
Speaker 6: to happen for for that to happen, if that makes sense.

523
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: Now, Typically when I'm interviewing somebody like you who's had

524
00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: such a story career, you know, I try to remove

525
00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,119
Speaker 1: myself from it because people want to hear from you

526
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: that they don't give a shit about how I feel.

527
00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:18,200
Speaker 1: But one thing I personally want to definitely ask you about,

528
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 1: and you talked a little bit about it in the

529
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,399
Speaker 1: book because I often refer to this happening. I believe

530
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: your rookie year. You know, I'm from Detroit. So when

531
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:28,679
Speaker 1: you got into it with the shot, I was like,

532
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 1: did they just.

533
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:30,080
Speaker 2: Try to kill o Kyness?

534
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 5: Mark Many?

535
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, Pierson, Oh my gosh, what happened? Like I need

536
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,239
Speaker 1: to hear it because I of course I read it.

537
00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:42,680
Speaker 1: I was watching it when it happened.

538
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 6: You know what's so crazy is the fact that I'm

539
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 6: one that like and this was what was so difficult

540
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:53,160
Speaker 6: about Like USA basketball was like, when we are competitors

541
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 6: and you are not on my team, I don't like

542
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 6: you like to he he and ha ha and all

543
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,520
Speaker 6: this stuff. Now, mind you. Michael Cooper was one of

544
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 6: my favorite coaches, right, he didn't like Bill Lambier.

545
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 5: So guess what was that? Just ob I don't like

546
00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 5: billym Beer.

547
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 6: Yeah, like the Lakers Detroit bad Boys, he's trying to

548
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 6: hurt people.

549
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 5: I watched basketball in the nineties.

550
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 6: I got hyped up with Michael Cooper, so like we

551
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 6: did not like each other, the head coaches didn't like

552
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 6: each other.

553
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 5: Lisa's like that.

554
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 6: Lisa Leslie's like that, like we just you know, Cheryl

555
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 6: Ford and Tweety.

556
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 5: Tweety actually was my teammate overseas.

557
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 6: I did like her, but you know, you talk about

558
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 6: Planette Pearson and all that, and that had been I

559
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 6: mean the game, the whole game, it was just physical

560
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:38,239
Speaker 6: and the refs didn't get in under control and it

561
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,200
Speaker 6: was just honestly building. And I remember being at the

562
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 6: free throw line and Lisa Leslie looked at me and

563
00:29:44,040 --> 00:29:47,600
Speaker 6: was like being your knees and Planette came in and

564
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 6: then it was kind of like, you know, you're not

565
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,400
Speaker 6: gonna punk me, so I kind of, you know, like

566
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 6: kind of whipped around or whatever and went to go

567
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 6: get on top. I got a little licking, and then

568
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 6: Tweety Nolan, who is strong younger than strong, you know,

569
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 6: she kind of pushed me this side a little bit.

570
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 5: But what's so funny is that Check.

571
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 6: I think it was like after like Fika and like

572
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,600
Speaker 6: everything that was taken out of Check. I really after

573
00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 6: the suspension and the fine and all I think my

574
00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 6: check was like twelve dollars and seven cents or something crazy.

575
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 6: To this day, I wish I would have taken a picture,

576
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,200
Speaker 6: but you know, it was like social media wasn't like that,

577
00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 6: but yeah, it was like something crazy, like yeah, so anyway,

578
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 6: got fine, got you know all that.

579
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 2: And any was there any lingering beef after that?

580
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 3: Oh?

581
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 6: I thought I was Bill Lambier myself until I think

582
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 6: it was like WBA All Star when they hosted it,

583
00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,400
Speaker 6: him and I still were kind of just like looking

584
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 6: at each other crazy.

585
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 2: You know.

586
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 6: It's something that I think as competitors you can't turn

587
00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 6: on and turn off. And yeah, like if you were

588
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 6: in the other jersey and I'm with them and they

589
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 6: don't like you, guess what, I don't like you either.

590
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: So just as part of you, how do you giving

591
00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 1: what your experience was like as a rookie. I'm sure

592
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: obviously watching Caitlin Clark you heard a lot of people saying, oh,

593
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,080
Speaker 1: just being targeted, Oh, they're being too rough with it,

594
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: all these things.

595
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 2: I'm sure you had to be laughing your ass off,

596
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:18,880
Speaker 2: like y'all want to see targeted?

597
00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 1: Literally, show me what and it wasn't even targeted. It

598
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 1: was just competitiveness. I say all that to say is that,

599
00:31:26,280 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: you know, great growth in the WNBA and everything like that,

600
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: But it still feels like people haven't wrapped their minds

601
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 1: around the fact that women in this league compete just

602
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 1: as hard, if not harder than men. Like there's still

603
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,360
Speaker 1: a lot of people who have not been able to

604
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 1: understand or cannot.

605
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 2: Lose the stereotypes about how women compete.

606
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 6: When you are a generational talent, and I say that

607
00:31:54,800 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 6: in you know, Diane and A Maya, myself, Brianna Stuart,

608
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:11,480
Speaker 6: Kaylen Clark, Asia Wilson, you're gonna You're gonna experience the physicality,

609
00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:14,760
Speaker 6: Like the scouting report is to stop you and a

610
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 6: lot of it is to be physical.

611
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 5: Do you take a couple extra licks from people? Yeah? Like,

612
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,760
Speaker 5: was I the rookie coming in and got shot?

613
00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,600
Speaker 6: You know, different shots taken at me or hard fouls

614
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,400
Speaker 6: or oh yeah, for sure, that's a part of the game.

615
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,880
Speaker 6: I think the problem is now it's a it's a

616
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 6: balancing act act of society and the expectations of women

617
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,400
Speaker 6: versus what is necessary in sports. And for so long

618
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,920
Speaker 6: they were conflicting in that women in society were supposed

619
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,240
Speaker 6: to be strong, but not too strong where you know,

620
00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:56,040
Speaker 6: like your muscles. Like I remember not wanting to go

621
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 6: up and wait in college power clinging because I'm like, oh,

622
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,720
Speaker 6: my shoulders in the dress are looking kind of muscular,

623
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 6: and now I'm like, you know what, I'm a bench, Like,

624
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 6: who cares You're gonna see my muscles. So I think

625
00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 6: it's a different generation of players that are willing to

626
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 6: take on society's problems with women head on. And as

627
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,480
Speaker 6: a result, I think now we're seeing social media explode

628
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 6: and more followers wanting to follow women because we are

629
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 6: so dynamic and what we can do on and off

630
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 6: the floor. But yeah, I think that we still are

631
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 6: gonna have We're gonna have problems because of those expectations.

632
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 5: It's like be competitive. I mean, love and Basketball.

633
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 6: I talk about it in the book like Love and Basketball,

634
00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 6: Monika writes hot head, Quincy's over here, like, you know,

635
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 6: acting this way and it's fine. I've seen the double

636
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 6: standards in live and in color as well as portrayed

637
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,400
Speaker 6: in movies. I mean, look at the sports movies for women.

638
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 6: It's ridiculous. You know, it's always got to be we

639
00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 6: gotta have a love interest. We got to like, you know,

640
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 6: what is it the base, the Twins, the Twins movie,

641
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 6: Oh my gosh, what's the name of it?

642
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 5: Double time or whatever?

643
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 2: I know what you're doing about you.

644
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,280
Speaker 6: Time she pump fis and travels the last go ahead

645
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,560
Speaker 6: shot like it's embarrassing. So it's just like, you know,

646
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 6: we don't have the remember the Titans and all that

647
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 6: stuff to portray what being a female athlete is, and

648
00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:23,320
Speaker 6: so we have to fight the stereotypes of society.

649
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 5: But also we have to stay true of like we're

650
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:26,640
Speaker 5: just hoopers.

651
00:34:26,680 --> 00:34:29,319
Speaker 6: We're just we just want to play sports and go

652
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,319
Speaker 6: out there and and not be critiqued and judged for

653
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:33,080
Speaker 6: everything else.

654
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, because the conversations around Angel Rees and Kitlin Clark,

655
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:41,480
Speaker 1: they can It's supposed to be a fun rivalry, but

656
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,719
Speaker 1: it has gotten very top toxic in a in a

657
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,239
Speaker 1: lot of ways. But looking at Angel Rees, because you,

658
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,760
Speaker 1: I mean, granted you weren't like a traditional big because

659
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:55,840
Speaker 1: you were among the sort of new wave of positionless basketball,

660
00:34:56,280 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 1: but looking at her game, let's just have a basketball

661
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 1: conversation about angel If you were her coach, what would

662
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:04,840
Speaker 1: you tell her to focus on?

663
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,759
Speaker 6: Well, for me, first and foremost, I think that she

664
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,600
Speaker 6: has the correct coach for her. Tyler marsh is one

665
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 6: of the best coaches I have ever played for. He

666
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 6: was an assistant coach in Vegas. He's the most knowledgeable person.

667
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 6: He's a great skill developer. I mean, he almost single

668
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 6: handedly turned Jackie Young's shot into what it is. And

669
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,480
Speaker 6: I say that in I think she's in a great situation.

670
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:31,040
Speaker 5: For me.

671
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,800
Speaker 6: The improvement comes from figuring out what you're going to

672
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,320
Speaker 6: be great at, and we already know she's going to

673
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 6: be a great rebounder. But I think it's really mastering

674
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:43,200
Speaker 6: like what spots. A lot of people come in and

675
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,800
Speaker 6: try to get better at everything. I'm a shoot threes

676
00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:47,680
Speaker 6: and I'm gonna come down and do this, this and this,

677
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,280
Speaker 6: but you forget that. It really is like the little

678
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:54,800
Speaker 6: tiny things, like you know, you know when you're guarding

679
00:35:55,360 --> 00:35:57,839
Speaker 6: Chelsea Gray, she's gonna get to her spot on that

680
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 6: right elbow. That's the spot that she's going to try

681
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 6: to get to and she's going to be successful seventy

682
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 6: percent out of one hundred going to that spot. My

683
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,640
Speaker 6: thing is what is Angel Reese's spot and what is

684
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,799
Speaker 6: her go to and then you master that And from

685
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,160
Speaker 6: that standpoint, I think tuning out the noise. I think

686
00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:21,880
Speaker 6: in terms of basketball IQ we've even talked about her

687
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 6: on the defensive end, I think she could be a

688
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 6: problem just with her length, activity, athleticism. So I just

689
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 6: think that it's like comparing apples and oranges Cayveen Kart

690
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:31,439
Speaker 6: and Angel Reese.

691
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 5: It's like, what are we doing?

692
00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:35,920
Speaker 6: At least they they like doing the like Magic and

693
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:39,399
Speaker 6: the Bird comparison, Well, they played similar positions, like Bird

694
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 6: one a point guard, but he played the guard position.

695
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:45,880
Speaker 6: Like they at least kind of match up this like

696
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 6: what are we doing? So I just I'm not falling

697
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 6: into that. I'm not into the comparison. I think that

698
00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 6: there are a number of things that Angel can improve

699
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 6: on will improve on in the situation she's in. And

700
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 6: I think Kaylen Clark has done that even in her

701
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,239
Speaker 6: first year in terms of, you know, being able to

702
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 6: be that floor general. Her and Aliah Boston's connection has

703
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 6: really improved. And I think the thing about Caitlyn, yes

704
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 6: she can shoot from the logo, but she makes her

705
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:13,919
Speaker 6: team better. And so I think just in terms for her,

706
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,800
Speaker 6: it's going to be moving. What are you doing without

707
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 6: the ball in your hands? And I think it's going

708
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 6: to be taking care of the ball for her those

709
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:21,040
Speaker 6: two things.

710
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, because she always thought to her as much as

711
00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,400
Speaker 1: she was now for the logo, the reason all that

712
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: it's her passing control the game just very just freakish

713
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 1: floor vision. So once's recording this, she's obviously injured, so

714
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,640
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see what she's like when she's

715
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: come when she comes back, because I know she had

716
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:42,080
Speaker 1: that ten turnover game.

717
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:44,520
Speaker 5: Yeah, Yeah, that's like a learning.

718
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:46,759
Speaker 6: I think all of us young turn the ball over,

719
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 6: and especially when you're the focal point of the entire defense,

720
00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:53,400
Speaker 6: you know you're going to have more turnovers, You're going

721
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 6: to have more live ball situations, and the competitive element

722
00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:00,239
Speaker 6: of you you do tend to take chances early on,

723
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:03,720
Speaker 6: and you learn that sometimes it might be a highlight,

724
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 6: but seven out of ten times it's probably gonna be

725
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:08,360
Speaker 6: a turnover. And I had to learn that because I

726
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,920
Speaker 6: was you know, some of the biggest things with Pat

727
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 6: was like offensive rebounding and me turning the ball over.

728
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:15,400
Speaker 5: So those are the two things. I get it.

729
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:19,640
Speaker 1: You had some really sharp observations in your book about

730
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:23,000
Speaker 1: the WNBA and where they are You see them now,

731
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,280
Speaker 1: you see the explosion in growth and they're experiencing something

732
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:32,760
Speaker 1: very unprecedented. What do you think the WNBA has gotten

733
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:37,000
Speaker 1: right as they try to really capitalize on this moment

734
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 1: right now.

735
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:44,279
Speaker 6: Well, I think that the WNBA, in terms of their

736
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:50,279
Speaker 6: star players, like really focusing on the stars, because in

737
00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:52,239
Speaker 6: the NBA, that's what it is. I mean, if we're

738
00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 6: going to compare, let's compare and really compare something that

739
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,479
Speaker 6: we can actually apply in our game. And I think

740
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,160
Speaker 6: now in terms of the notoriety and the attention, it's

741
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 6: matching up with what the WBA needs to do in

742
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,360
Speaker 6: terms of how you are focusing on the matchups and

743
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 6: the rivalries. And I say that not just in Caitlin

744
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 6: Clark and Angel Rees. I say that in Asia Wilson

745
00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 6: and Brianna Stewart to the best to ever play the

746
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 6: game of basketball, focusing on that New York Aces rivalry,

747
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 6: making sure that those games are lined up with, you know,

748
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 6: times where people are going to have eyeballs. And for

749
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 6: a long time, I feel like the Stars came to

750
00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,480
Speaker 6: the league and then the league kind of diminished the

751
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:36,040
Speaker 6: light a little bit and didn't allow fans to really

752
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 6: the biggest thing I think the WBA has gotten right

753
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:41,600
Speaker 6: right now is taking the stars back to where they

754
00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 6: played in college. I didn't understand why we didn't go

755
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:48,359
Speaker 6: back to Knoxville for a preseason game. And, to be

756
00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:52,120
Speaker 6: honest with you, similar to way the NBA does preseason

757
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 6: games or regular season games in other countries, the WBA

758
00:39:56,280 --> 00:40:00,799
Speaker 6: should do games in you know, at Notre Dame as

759
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:04,239
Speaker 6: a regular season game. But I think that you know,

760
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 6: there are a number of things that the WNBAS has

761
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:09,200
Speaker 6: changed and are doing right as a result of the

762
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,200
Speaker 6: number of eyeballs. I hate to say the Twitter fingers

763
00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:15,560
Speaker 6: that are able to make comments and hold the wa accountable.

764
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,719
Speaker 5: But where I'd like to see it go is I

765
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:19,560
Speaker 5: would like it.

766
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,960
Speaker 6: To become player first, and I think it's becoming that

767
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:26,320
Speaker 6: we look at the NBA. Adam Silver has a conversation

768
00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:31,000
Speaker 6: Chris Paul Lebron James constantly about any changes they are

769
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,160
Speaker 6: thinking about making anything. Adam Silver texts me when I

770
00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,080
Speaker 6: got the Amazon job. He texts me when I had

771
00:40:38,080 --> 00:40:38,520
Speaker 6: my son.

772
00:40:39,239 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 3: You know.

773
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,799
Speaker 6: So, I think that there's a level of player first mentality.

774
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:46,319
Speaker 6: Relationships matter because when you all have a common goal

775
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:48,200
Speaker 6: and you all are on the same page, it's just

776
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,680
Speaker 6: going to work. And so I think we just all

777
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:54,920
Speaker 6: have to get on the same page with front office management,

778
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:57,480
Speaker 6: you know, all that down to the players.

779
00:40:57,840 --> 00:40:59,200
Speaker 2: Since you brought up player first.

780
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:03,759
Speaker 1: One of the things that people will probably find very

781
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: startling reading your book is one of your main motivations

782
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:10,920
Speaker 1: while you spent that last year in Las Vegas is

783
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: because of their facilities and because Mark Davis is definitely

784
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:18,240
Speaker 1: one of the more progressive, if not the most progressive

785
00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:21,359
Speaker 1: owner in the WNBA. The aces have their own facilities,

786
00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: and it was to me this is where the WNBA

787
00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:28,000
Speaker 1: should be absolutely ashamed. This is the first time in

788
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:30,400
Speaker 1: your professional career where you had your own locker.

789
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:34,320
Speaker 2: That is crazy.

790
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,919
Speaker 1: So you mentioned like some of the areas with player

791
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:39,880
Speaker 1: or care that they could improve on.

792
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:43,319
Speaker 2: Were some of these missteps? I think they have it now.

793
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:46,799
Speaker 1: They have maternity, They do have paymentniality now, I think right,

794
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,360
Speaker 1: But they didn't have it when you were in the league.

795
00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,520
Speaker 1: Was this a matter of the WNBA a lack of

796
00:41:54,640 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 1: want to or not being able to?

797
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 6: It's both, but I think the lack of want to

798
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 6: made it, not made them not be able to, if

799
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 6: that makes sense. And that scared money doesn't make money.

800
00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:17,359
Speaker 6: You need money to turn things around. I mean, it's

801
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:20,759
Speaker 6: an investment, that's what it is. And for such a

802
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 6: long time, I think they undervalue the importance of investing

803
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,440
Speaker 6: in players and the player experience. I talk about this

804
00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:31,560
Speaker 6: quite a bit in the book about practice facilities matter.

805
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:35,560
Speaker 6: You know, you talk about having food after practice that matters.

806
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:37,399
Speaker 6: You talk about not having to wake up at six

807
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 6: am to fly out of a city after playing till

808
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,720
Speaker 6: ten pm, finding something to eat after the game, getting

809
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:45,799
Speaker 6: two hours of sleep, then coming back, then going straight

810
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 6: to the practice facility, practicing, then going home, going to sleep,

811
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,200
Speaker 6: and then getting ready for a game the next day.

812
00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:54,400
Speaker 6: But having to like figure out when practice is because

813
00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:56,799
Speaker 6: you don't, you're not able to control it. So you

814
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 6: just have to take what you can get. And with

815
00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,279
Speaker 6: that being said, I mean we said a long time ago,

816
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:04,359
Speaker 6: yes the WBA is great.

817
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 5: Yes, it's you can support. I hate that word. It's

818
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 5: not a charity.

819
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:11,080
Speaker 6: So if you're in this just because it feels good

820
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:14,279
Speaker 6: and whatever, I think the shift came when it became

821
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 6: a business and when business minded people bought into it.

822
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:21,240
Speaker 6: I talk about Clara Wusai, and I talk about Mark Davis,

823
00:43:21,840 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 6: and you look at the similarities of that Johnny Buss,

824
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,680
Speaker 6: Doctor Buss, and you look at the similarities between Red

825
00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 6: Auerbach at Boston. He wanted what he had and I

826
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,840
Speaker 6: think it was similar the New York Liberty and Vegas.

827
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 6: I think they made the league better because they had

828
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 6: these non negotiables.

829
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:43,000
Speaker 5: Obviously it helps to have.

830
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:45,920
Speaker 6: Billionaires and not millionaires, but at the same time, they

831
00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:48,359
Speaker 6: invested in the things that needed to invest they needed

832
00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 6: to invest in, and guess.

833
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,719
Speaker 5: What then, now they're leading the league in attendance. It's

834
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 5: no surprise.

835
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,880
Speaker 6: And so I think we were able in the WNBA

836
00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:01,240
Speaker 6: to get billionaires in, but business might people that looked

837
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,279
Speaker 6: at it as a business and wanted to invest in

838
00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:05,720
Speaker 6: things that would allow it to grow.

839
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:10,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, because sometimes I tend to think it's the just

840
00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: didn't want to, which they tend to do with a

841
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:13,440
Speaker 1: lot of women's sports.

842
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:13,640
Speaker 2: You know.

843
00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,000
Speaker 1: Obviously, wasn't that long ago, a couple of years ago

844
00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:19,080
Speaker 1: when the NCAA got embarrassed about the weight room situation

845
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:23,120
Speaker 1: between what the women's players had in the bubble in

846
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: the tournament versus what the men's players had, and the

847
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:30,520
Speaker 1: women they have like a half a billion dollar contract

848
00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,920
Speaker 1: right with the ESPN, so they could have given them

849
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:34,480
Speaker 1: a weight room.

850
00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:36,640
Speaker 2: They just didn't want to.

851
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:39,680
Speaker 1: And that, to me is the insulting part is that

852
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:43,879
Speaker 1: a lot of the things that we're seeing the WNBA, unfortunately,

853
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:47,080
Speaker 1: it feels like they're still in that mindset that they

854
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:48,840
Speaker 1: have to be shamed into it as.

855
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 2: Opposed to being proactive.

856
00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,399
Speaker 1: Luckily, now there are more owners, I think more new

857
00:44:53,400 --> 00:44:55,440
Speaker 1: owners that are in the league, so it's making the

858
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:56,560
Speaker 1: situation a little better.

859
00:44:56,719 --> 00:45:01,279
Speaker 6: But the limitations that society has continuously on women, it's

860
00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 6: been on full display forever. I mean, just think about

861
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,960
Speaker 6: where women's tennis is now if not for Billie Jean

862
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:12,120
Speaker 6: King deciding like this is bullshit, We're not going to

863
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 6: just take this, you know, I mean you look at

864
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 6: down the line. I mean, it's always been taken advantage of.

865
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 6: But I think social media and NIL changed the game

866
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,480
Speaker 6: because now numbers don't lie check the scoreboard. We can

867
00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:28,719
Speaker 6: look at the insights and the clicks and the purchases

868
00:45:28,800 --> 00:45:31,840
Speaker 6: based off of what you're seeing on social media. And

869
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,280
Speaker 6: now you can't say that women can't sell and can't

870
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 6: draw and can't get eyeballs. And so it's one of

871
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 6: those things where it's now what I'm fearful of is

872
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 6: the way to take women's sports to the next level

873
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:45,719
Speaker 6: is to have women that have been involved and know

874
00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:49,920
Speaker 6: it be a part of that. So now if everybody

875
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,080
Speaker 6: in their mama wants to buy a team, and you're

876
00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:54,840
Speaker 6: giving it to everybody and their mama, that's lining up

877
00:45:54,840 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 6: because it's the hot thing. I don't know if it's

878
00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 6: going to be successful, and I would like to see

879
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 6: more women at the forefront of leading these organizations and

880
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:08,359
Speaker 6: leading these teams to be successful because we know what

881
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:11,680
Speaker 6: we came from. You know, we know that it's not

882
00:46:11,719 --> 00:46:13,239
Speaker 6: one of those things where you just roll the ball

883
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,600
Speaker 6: out and it's the same in the same market of

884
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,040
Speaker 6: an NBA team and a WNBA team, you know, and

885
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 6: I do think that it is important for us to

886
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,359
Speaker 6: stand on our own two feet, and WSL has done that.

887
00:46:24,360 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 5: They're not affiliated with MLS.

888
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,920
Speaker 6: I think it has helped the WNBA to be affiliated

889
00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 6: with the NBA one hundred percent. But at this point,

890
00:46:31,719 --> 00:46:34,520
Speaker 6: what part of it is going to continue to be

891
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 6: a benefit? You know, Like you look at the TV contracts.

892
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 6: You know, we're signing alongside the NBA, but there's only

893
00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:47,839
Speaker 6: so many great prime spots that we can really fight

894
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,359
Speaker 6: for and there's only so much we can really do

895
00:46:51,680 --> 00:46:55,760
Speaker 6: on our end. If you're still going to the meeting

896
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 6: with the NBA, you know what I mean. So it's

897
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:00,600
Speaker 6: just there are so many other things I'd like to

898
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 6: see more WNBA teams and non NBA markets, you know,

899
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 6: I think that's important to establish its own fan base.

900
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 6: And it's not a copy and copy and paste situation.

901
00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,719
Speaker 6: But I could go on on, but I think the

902
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:14,640
Speaker 6: WNBA is in.

903
00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:15,360
Speaker 5: A great place.

904
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:20,080
Speaker 6: I would like to see, yes, more teams, but there

905
00:47:20,120 --> 00:47:24,040
Speaker 6: are very there's a handful of players that can carry

906
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 6: franchises and B one A and one B options.

907
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:28,600
Speaker 1: I actually don't finish that thought because I do have

908
00:47:28,600 --> 00:47:31,440
Speaker 1: to take a quick break, and I because that's exactly

909
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:34,279
Speaker 1: what I what I want to ask you about is expansion,

910
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,200
Speaker 1: because you had some very pointed comments about that in

911
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 1: your book. But we'll all take a very quick break

912
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:41,480
Speaker 1: and we'll be right back with more with Candae Parker.

913
00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:54,000
Speaker 1: All right, before we took a break, you mentioned expansion,

914
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:58,000
Speaker 1: and as I said, in your book, you were in

915
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 1: favor of adding more roster spots before adding more teams.

916
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:07,560
Speaker 1: But obviously they have chosen. You know, you got a

917
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:13,080
Speaker 1: team in San Francisco. Now Toronto's coming Portland as well,

918
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:17,359
Speaker 1: and there are rumors there will be more. I don't

919
00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 1: know what. Well, why do you think that the roster

920
00:48:23,360 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 1: spots should come before the expansion.

921
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:28,400
Speaker 6: I think there are a handful of players in the

922
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:31,360
Speaker 6: league that can carry a team, and by carrying a team,

923
00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:37,319
Speaker 6: it is winning. Like I always used to say this,

924
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 6: like somebody on a team has to score twenty and

925
00:48:39,840 --> 00:48:42,200
Speaker 6: somebody on a team has to get ten rebounds, right,

926
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:46,040
Speaker 6: But what follows that is what really determines the value

927
00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:49,040
Speaker 6: of the twenty and ten. It's a W or an L.

928
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:50,960
Speaker 6: So if you get in twenty and ten and you're

929
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:56,560
Speaker 6: taking l's consistently, I think that you know, obviously sometimes

930
00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,319
Speaker 6: you're young, and it's the pieces around you. But I

931
00:48:59,320 --> 00:49:02,520
Speaker 6: think there are a handful of handful of players in

932
00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:08,120
Speaker 6: this league that can be that one option consistently on

933
00:49:08,160 --> 00:49:12,480
Speaker 6: a nightly basis. And by expanding now you're taking from

934
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:16,600
Speaker 6: an already handful of a group and putting them in

935
00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 6: situations that I think stretches thin. I think it's the

936
00:49:20,320 --> 00:49:24,719
Speaker 6: development of players. You're seeing the investment of the development

937
00:49:25,360 --> 00:49:26,880
Speaker 6: of players in Vegas.

938
00:49:27,040 --> 00:49:28,280
Speaker 5: Jackie Young was not.

939
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:32,759
Speaker 6: This great her rookie year, but because of the investment

940
00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:36,479
Speaker 6: by Vegas to grow her and expand her. I mean,

941
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 6: the NBA has an entire league based off of development,

942
00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:44,680
Speaker 6: and by not having thirteen or fourteen or fifteen players

943
00:49:44,719 --> 00:49:50,319
Speaker 6: on a roster, you're I think stunning the growth of

944
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,960
Speaker 6: what players that could be contributors could be. Look at

945
00:49:54,000 --> 00:49:57,760
Speaker 6: Alex Caruso. Can you imagine like in the WBA Alex

946
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:00,040
Speaker 6: Cruzo would have been gone? He would he would I

947
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 6: had a nine to five, there's no way. But because

948
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,680
Speaker 6: of his development, he's been able to be a main

949
00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 6: contributor on a championship team and on another one possibly.

950
00:50:10,760 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 6: And so with that being said, I think it's we

951
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:18,920
Speaker 6: owe it to the eleventh, twelve, thirteen player on the

952
00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:20,600
Speaker 6: team to be able to have a chance to grow

953
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:22,959
Speaker 6: and not be fighting for your life every single year.

954
00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:26,120
Speaker 6: And so I think that with the expanded roster spot

955
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,320
Speaker 6: you're able to then really truly lean into developing your roster.

956
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:33,120
Speaker 1: I'm a pivot a little bit and talk about your

957
00:50:33,160 --> 00:50:37,120
Speaker 1: family life. You have three kids, a girl, hey, two boys,

958
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:41,440
Speaker 1: a girl. I know right, they are keeping you quite busy.

959
00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:45,479
Speaker 1: And you talked a lot about how that going through

960
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:50,320
Speaker 1: that motherhood Jennery journey with your daughter, who's your oldest

961
00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:54,160
Speaker 1: With lay I marveled at reading all the things that

962
00:50:54,239 --> 00:50:57,840
Speaker 1: you went through and playing overseas, playing in the WNBA,

963
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:01,800
Speaker 1: like managing all that as a young mother. How often

964
00:51:02,080 --> 00:51:04,320
Speaker 1: or how much do you look back at that and say,

965
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:06,319
Speaker 1: I can't believe I actually got through that.

966
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:10,560
Speaker 6: I didn't realize all that was going on with motherhood,

967
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,880
Speaker 6: that didn't have anything to do with motherhood until my

968
00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:18,359
Speaker 6: wife and I had our son and there was this

969
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:21,880
Speaker 6: like calm where like I woke up in the morning

970
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:25,480
Speaker 6: and made coffee and we walked, and we took the

971
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:26,839
Speaker 6: dogs for a walk, and we went to the park

972
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:27,239
Speaker 6: and whatever.

973
00:51:27,360 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 5: Like I didn't really have that with Layla.

974
00:51:30,719 --> 00:51:34,759
Speaker 6: And when you talk to other mothers of like mastitis

975
00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:37,920
Speaker 6: and it's like, oh, you had mass titis, and I'm like, yeah,

976
00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:38,200
Speaker 6: you know.

977
00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 5: It's where your your.

978
00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:45,120
Speaker 6: Milk duck gets infected and you sometimes get or stocks

979
00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,680
Speaker 6: stopped up and you get a fever sometimes and you'd

980
00:51:47,719 --> 00:51:50,800
Speaker 6: start feeling terrible. Well, I was in Russia playing USA

981
00:51:50,840 --> 00:51:52,839
Speaker 6: basketball when I got messitis, and I had one hundred

982
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,200
Speaker 6: and three fever and was like trying to figure it

983
00:51:56,200 --> 00:51:58,600
Speaker 6: out overseas, like how do I get meds?

984
00:51:58,600 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 5: How do I like?

985
00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:04,160
Speaker 6: So my my vision of like all these motherhood things

986
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 6: is so different because it was like the balancing act

987
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:09,680
Speaker 6: of like, Okay, well I can't play the day because

988
00:52:09,680 --> 00:52:11,840
Speaker 6: I have one hundred and three fever, but tomorrow, hopefully

989
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:14,200
Speaker 6: my mass titus is better and I can suit up

990
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,960
Speaker 6: for the you know, the USA team. So it's just

991
00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:20,960
Speaker 6: I look back and I'm like, one, I'm super grateful

992
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 6: for the baby and who Leila is because she is

993
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:29,640
Speaker 6: the calmest, most patient, most like mommy. She's like pro

994
00:52:29,640 --> 00:52:32,080
Speaker 6: mommy and everything I do. I messed up a couple

995
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:35,080
Speaker 6: of times, like didn't know, you know, what's a feeder

996
00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 6: for first food. She's still pro mommy, like you know,

997
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 6: sometimes she's taken a nap on the side of the court,

998
00:52:41,160 --> 00:52:42,200
Speaker 6: she's still pro mommy.

999
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:43,919
Speaker 5: Like I'm grateful for her.

1000
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,759
Speaker 6: But I also look and I say, what if I

1001
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:51,239
Speaker 6: would have done it differently during that time, you know,

1002
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:55,440
Speaker 6: because it's such a special moment. I wouldn't have I

1003
00:52:55,440 --> 00:52:57,440
Speaker 6: would do it over again one hundred times. But I

1004
00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:01,000
Speaker 6: just think back to like, if you are a mom

1005
00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:03,239
Speaker 6: and you don't want to do that, you should have

1006
00:53:03,280 --> 00:53:07,560
Speaker 6: that choice, and it's difficult for me because I do

1007
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:10,040
Speaker 6: think I played a part in making strength be.

1008
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:13,919
Speaker 5: Coming back in fifty three days.

1009
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:18,000
Speaker 6: Which is nursing nursing her at halftime, Like I made

1010
00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 6: that strength.

1011
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:20,759
Speaker 5: And so then what's the alternative of weakness?

1012
00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,440
Speaker 6: Like, no, it's not taking, like weakness is not taking

1013
00:53:24,200 --> 00:53:27,239
Speaker 6: is not taking maternity leave, like take the mattorney leave,

1014
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 6: Like take your time, do what fits for you. And

1015
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:36,040
Speaker 6: I think Layla has like she's made me grow up

1016
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:39,040
Speaker 6: and we've grown up together. I've made mistakes, missteps, but

1017
00:53:39,920 --> 00:53:42,200
Speaker 6: I'm super grateful to be able to have her throughout

1018
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:42,680
Speaker 6: my career.

1019
00:53:43,239 --> 00:53:46,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, as I mentioned in the first half of this podcast,

1020
00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:49,239
Speaker 1: like one thing that separates your book I think from

1021
00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:52,120
Speaker 1: others is like the depth of honesty that's there. And

1022
00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,840
Speaker 1: you were extremely honest and forthright about what happened in

1023
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:59,880
Speaker 1: your in your first marriage and even the process of

1024
00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:03,160
Speaker 1: coming out now in your second marriage. I want to

1025
00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:05,880
Speaker 1: ask you about that process because you were married for

1026
00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:10,680
Speaker 1: two years before you actually came out, So what was

1027
00:54:10,719 --> 00:54:14,799
Speaker 1: that navigating that part of your life, like, because you've

1028
00:54:14,800 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 1: been through it before where your personal life becomes the headline,

1029
00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:22,120
Speaker 1: and then the second time around, here you are, you're

1030
00:54:22,160 --> 00:54:25,879
Speaker 1: coming out. So there's layers to this. So for you,

1031
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:28,759
Speaker 1: what did what did that time in your life feel like?

1032
00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:33,160
Speaker 6: As you figured out, I realized I was anxious all

1033
00:54:33,239 --> 00:54:33,720
Speaker 6: the time.

1034
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:36,120
Speaker 5: And I always tell.

1035
00:54:37,520 --> 00:54:39,800
Speaker 6: You, know, my nephews, I'm really close with my nephews,

1036
00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:42,600
Speaker 6: and I always tell them, like, as an adult, you

1037
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:45,720
Speaker 6: should never have to lie, Like that's your telltale sign

1038
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:48,560
Speaker 6: as an adult when you're making your own decisions, you're

1039
00:54:48,560 --> 00:54:51,200
Speaker 6: paying your own bills, you're doing all of these things, like,

1040
00:54:51,239 --> 00:54:52,280
Speaker 6: you shouldn't.

1041
00:54:51,840 --> 00:54:53,919
Speaker 5: Have to like lie.

1042
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:56,680
Speaker 6: And I felt like I was waking up every single

1043
00:54:56,760 --> 00:54:59,920
Speaker 6: day and like not only lying to everybody else, but

1044
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:03,480
Speaker 6: lying to myself and in saying that I was just

1045
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,440
Speaker 6: going about things because I was private, like no I was.

1046
00:55:07,160 --> 00:55:10,360
Speaker 6: I wanted to withhold that information because I was scared

1047
00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:13,600
Speaker 6: of the scrutiny of the perceptions, of the looks that

1048
00:55:13,640 --> 00:55:17,440
Speaker 6: people would be like almost like disappointed, or you know,

1049
00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:21,239
Speaker 6: those type of things. And I was super proud of

1050
00:55:21,239 --> 00:55:23,560
Speaker 6: my family. I was super proud of what I was building,

1051
00:55:25,160 --> 00:55:28,200
Speaker 6: but I was scared of the way that others would

1052
00:55:28,200 --> 00:55:30,759
Speaker 6: portray me, or what the comments would look like or

1053
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:34,000
Speaker 6: all of those things. And when you're operating from a

1054
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:36,400
Speaker 6: place of fear. I feel like it's like you're anxious

1055
00:55:36,440 --> 00:55:38,960
Speaker 6: every single day. You know, you're anxious when you just

1056
00:55:39,000 --> 00:55:42,359
Speaker 6: go out to a family dinner and like, you know,

1057
00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:45,200
Speaker 6: my wife would like fix take something off my face

1058
00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:47,000
Speaker 6: and it would just be like, okay, who's around.

1059
00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:49,239
Speaker 5: It's like, you can't live like that, man, you know.

1060
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,239
Speaker 6: And I never wanted my son to be able to

1061
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 6: even think that I wasn't proud of his mom or

1062
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:59,080
Speaker 6: proud of our family, and that I didn't love her

1063
00:55:59,200 --> 00:56:01,560
Speaker 6: more than anything. And so with that being said, like

1064
00:56:02,239 --> 00:56:05,319
Speaker 6: I think it's a process everybody goes through when you

1065
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:08,120
Speaker 6: are unsure of what the next step or what the

1066
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:10,440
Speaker 6: next phase of life is going to look like. I

1067
00:56:10,560 --> 00:56:13,320
Speaker 6: never envisioned being with a woman. I'll just be honest,

1068
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:16,479
Speaker 6: Like when I close my eyes at night every night,

1069
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:20,320
Speaker 6: I was like I need to find my prince charming,

1070
00:56:20,520 --> 00:56:23,799
Speaker 6: Like it was never a princess Like that never entered

1071
00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:27,400
Speaker 6: into my mind. But you know, as I learned, sometimes

1072
00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,719
Speaker 6: life gives you things and wrapped into package that you

1073
00:56:30,760 --> 00:56:35,640
Speaker 6: didn't expect it. And that was just you know, and honestly,

1074
00:56:35,680 --> 00:56:38,200
Speaker 6: it took me a long time to be okay with myself.

1075
00:56:38,239 --> 00:56:40,279
Speaker 6: It took Anya a long time to be okay with

1076
00:56:40,320 --> 00:56:42,440
Speaker 6: the situation, and.

1077
00:56:42,360 --> 00:56:44,319
Speaker 5: We had to give grace to others around us to

1078
00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:44,600
Speaker 5: do that.

1079
00:56:44,719 --> 00:56:48,200
Speaker 6: And so I think the timing while as I wish,

1080
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:50,200
Speaker 6: I was just like unapologetic and just came out and

1081
00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:53,200
Speaker 6: was like listen, but we did it at our own

1082
00:56:53,239 --> 00:56:57,240
Speaker 6: process and at our own speed. And yeah, it seems

1083
00:56:57,280 --> 00:56:59,160
Speaker 6: like I can't even imagine that was just three years

1084
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 6: ago that we didn't know about our family.

1085
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 2: I have to be honest, that does not seem like

1086
00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:05,080
Speaker 2: the case.

1087
00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:07,960
Speaker 1: I mean, it just feels like so much you know

1088
00:57:08,120 --> 00:57:12,040
Speaker 1: longer than that, but you hit on something important before

1089
00:57:12,920 --> 00:57:14,239
Speaker 1: you move up and wrap it up.

1090
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:16,200
Speaker 2: Here about how like it took you a while to

1091
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:16,800
Speaker 2: accept it.

1092
00:57:16,840 --> 00:57:20,480
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you guys were overseas together, You're playing

1093
00:57:20,640 --> 00:57:23,880
Speaker 1: and you're growing closer, Like, was there a moment or

1094
00:57:23,880 --> 00:57:25,840
Speaker 1: maybe a string of moments where you're like, I think

1095
00:57:25,880 --> 00:57:28,919
Speaker 1: I actually want to be with this person and build

1096
00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:29,760
Speaker 1: a life with this person.

1097
00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:34,800
Speaker 6: One hundred percent I think that there were moments where

1098
00:57:34,800 --> 00:57:35,560
Speaker 6: that happened.

1099
00:57:36,960 --> 00:57:39,640
Speaker 5: I am a nerd, like.

1100
00:57:40,680 --> 00:57:44,600
Speaker 6: So I geek out on everything and yeah, like museums,

1101
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:47,800
Speaker 6: I will go for six hours to whatever museum. I

1102
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:50,280
Speaker 6: was in Memphis a couple of weeks ago covering the NBA.

1103
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:53,280
Speaker 6: I was at the you know, I'm always like that,

1104
00:57:53,480 --> 00:57:56,280
Speaker 6: And it was during those moments I think where.

1105
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:59,680
Speaker 5: I was like, I really really really really love her,

1106
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:00,520
Speaker 5: like I.

1107
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:02,760
Speaker 6: Really I don't know what it is, but I just

1108
00:58:03,200 --> 00:58:07,400
Speaker 6: feel connected to her and her grace and her honesty

1109
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,680
Speaker 6: and her accountability. My brother said something in our wedding speech,

1110
00:58:11,160 --> 00:58:14,160
Speaker 6: you know that I hang on too. He's like, cann

1111
00:58:14,200 --> 00:58:17,760
Speaker 6: this needs somebody that is strong enough to tell her no,

1112
00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:24,080
Speaker 6: but sensitive and pure enough to be the shoulder that

1113
00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:26,160
Speaker 6: she will cry on, Like you know what I mean,

1114
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:28,600
Speaker 6: Because I'm rough, I'm tough, I'm like, you know, all

1115
00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:32,240
Speaker 6: these things. But to be able to be vulnerable and

1116
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:37,240
Speaker 6: you know, be truthful and honest in every step, I

1117
00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:38,840
Speaker 6: think that that's valuable as well.

1118
00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:39,560
Speaker 5: And so to be.

1119
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:42,960
Speaker 6: Able to have her now I realize, like how much

1120
00:58:43,000 --> 00:58:44,960
Speaker 6: I want to work on myself, and she does hold

1121
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:47,400
Speaker 6: me accountable to those things, and so I think there

1122
00:58:47,400 --> 00:58:49,800
Speaker 6: were a number of moments where it was like we

1123
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:51,640
Speaker 6: were ether at a museum where she would tell me

1124
00:58:51,680 --> 00:59:00,120
Speaker 6: I was wrong and I'd be like, dang, I am.

1125
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:01,720
Speaker 1: A quick I had some good question for I get

1126
00:59:01,760 --> 00:59:04,680
Speaker 1: you out of here, so you know everybody knows the

1127
00:59:04,960 --> 00:59:07,640
Speaker 1: integral role that past some it played in your life.

1128
00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:10,680
Speaker 2: Past someone I think she would have been.

1129
00:59:10,640 --> 00:59:16,680
Speaker 1: Seventy one, seventy five, actually seventy five, Okay, if pat

1130
00:59:16,680 --> 00:59:18,360
Speaker 1: were still here, you think she'd still be coaching.

1131
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:23,760
Speaker 5: She's got grand babies now, No way, no way, no way.

1132
00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:27,120
Speaker 6: I think Coach would have. I think Coach would have

1133
00:59:27,160 --> 00:59:31,320
Speaker 6: hung it up and really enjoyed. I think she was

1134
00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:33,680
Speaker 6: getting to a point in time where, like she wouldn't

1135
00:59:33,680 --> 00:59:36,200
Speaker 6: have missed Tyler's kids and being a part of their

1136
00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:40,040
Speaker 6: life and all that. And I think I would have selfishly,

1137
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:42,600
Speaker 6: one hundred percent wanted her to be come out here

1138
00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:47,360
Speaker 6: and you know, spoil our kids as well. I think

1139
00:59:47,400 --> 00:59:50,680
Speaker 6: coaching was in her blood and a huge part. But

1140
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:53,840
Speaker 6: like Coach, never wavered in her who and her what

1141
00:59:54,400 --> 00:59:56,760
Speaker 6: coaching was what she did that was not who she was.

1142
00:59:57,480 --> 00:59:59,960
Speaker 6: And as much as she loved basketball and loved impacting

1143
01:00:00,160 --> 01:00:03,320
Speaker 6: young women's lives, I think she would have loved to

1144
01:00:03,440 --> 01:00:06,520
Speaker 6: enjoy the fruit of her labor and being able to

1145
01:00:06,560 --> 01:00:09,880
Speaker 6: have the freedom to like enjoy the people's lives that

1146
01:00:09,920 --> 01:00:10,640
Speaker 6: she impacted.

1147
01:00:11,080 --> 01:00:13,080
Speaker 1: Because I look at one of your least favorite people,

1148
01:00:13,160 --> 01:00:15,880
Speaker 1: as you know, are seventy one. So that I was like,

1149
01:00:16,880 --> 01:00:19,040
Speaker 1: it made me wonder that. All right, I end every

1150
01:00:19,040 --> 01:00:21,600
Speaker 1: podcast with a messy question. This is what could make

1151
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:24,080
Speaker 1: the blogs. Candice's gonna be all over the shape.

1152
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:24,840
Speaker 5: Let's do it, let's do it.

1153
01:00:24,880 --> 01:00:28,800
Speaker 2: All right, here's a messy question. Start bench cut.

1154
01:00:28,960 --> 01:00:33,400
Speaker 5: Oh gosh, yeah good, that was.

1155
01:00:33,400 --> 01:00:34,000
Speaker 2: The whole point.

1156
01:00:34,080 --> 01:00:41,440
Speaker 1: Start bench cut, Shamika holes claw, Tamika catchings, you start

1157
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:41,880
Speaker 1: bitch cut.

1158
01:00:42,320 --> 01:00:47,480
Speaker 6: Well, I am not without them. So I feel like

1159
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:53,960
Speaker 6: when you're the blueprint, like if everybody's trying to be you,

1160
01:00:54,720 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 6: then like that you're the best.

1161
01:00:59,320 --> 01:00:59,480
Speaker 2: Right.

1162
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:01,840
Speaker 6: That's why I think Jordan is the goat, because everybody

1163
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:06,160
Speaker 6: was trying to recreate what Jordan was. So I say,

1164
01:01:06,160 --> 01:01:09,920
Speaker 6: Shamika Holstkla was like what Tamika went to Tennessee to be.

1165
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:14,720
Speaker 6: I went to Tennessee to be Tamika and Shamikua. So

1166
01:01:15,080 --> 01:01:20,120
Speaker 6: I'd have to cut myself. Yeah, I have to cut myself.

1167
01:01:20,480 --> 01:01:24,680
Speaker 6: I'd have to cut myself. I'd have to start shamik Will.

1168
01:01:24,720 --> 01:01:26,040
Speaker 5: I have to start Shamikahlestkla.

1169
01:01:26,360 --> 01:01:30,080
Speaker 6: I have to I'd have to bench Tamika However, I

1170
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:33,760
Speaker 6: think professionally it would be flop flopped. I would have

1171
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:37,000
Speaker 6: to bench Shamikua and start Tamika.

1172
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:39,320
Speaker 2: So here you're still starting.

1173
01:01:41,160 --> 01:01:43,920
Speaker 6: I was always trying to be that, So you can't.

1174
01:01:44,360 --> 01:01:46,920
Speaker 6: How are you cut or how do you cut something

1175
01:01:46,960 --> 01:01:47,640
Speaker 6: you're trying to be?

1176
01:01:48,600 --> 01:01:49,160
Speaker 5: Do you know what I mean?

1177
01:01:49,400 --> 01:01:51,560
Speaker 1: So look at that. Yeah, and that is why you're

1178
01:01:51,640 --> 01:01:56,920
Speaker 1: the president of Also, good luck on the job with Amazon.

1179
01:01:57,000 --> 01:02:00,919
Speaker 1: I appreciate, of course, as a broadcaster. It's very few

1180
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:05,360
Speaker 1: players who wind up having a broadcasting career. I won't

1181
01:02:05,360 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 1: say it's successful because you want a lot of shit right,

1182
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:11,760
Speaker 1: but certainly somebody who has become like one of the

1183
01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:14,280
Speaker 1: best broadcasters that we have out there. It's very hard

1184
01:02:14,320 --> 01:02:17,240
Speaker 1: to do both. So congratulations to you and everybody out there.

1185
01:02:17,280 --> 01:02:20,600
Speaker 1: Make sure you get the can do mindset. Buy some books.

1186
01:02:20,760 --> 01:02:21,560
Speaker 2: Very important.

1187
01:02:21,800 --> 01:02:24,439
Speaker 1: It's a wonderful book. I only got to a tenth

1188
01:02:24,480 --> 01:02:26,440
Speaker 1: of my questions. I could have literally talk to you

1189
01:02:26,480 --> 01:02:29,120
Speaker 1: about this book for two hours. Very well done from

1190
01:02:29,160 --> 01:02:30,640
Speaker 1: one author to another.

1191
01:02:30,720 --> 01:02:31,240
Speaker 2: So well.

1192
01:02:31,280 --> 01:02:33,200
Speaker 6: I respect the hell out of you, and I appreciate

1193
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:37,120
Speaker 6: you having me on. I mean, what we're doing in broadcasting.

1194
01:02:37,160 --> 01:02:40,000
Speaker 6: I think a lot of it was set by you

1195
01:02:40,400 --> 01:02:45,600
Speaker 6: and your ability to remain true to who you are consistently,

1196
01:02:45,720 --> 01:02:50,080
Speaker 6: regardless of what the narrative is, what the comments are, whatever,

1197
01:02:50,240 --> 01:02:52,800
Speaker 6: You've always done that and stay true. And I think

1198
01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:56,040
Speaker 6: that that's the mentality I kind of took on as

1199
01:02:56,040 --> 01:02:58,200
Speaker 6: a broadcaster, is like, you can't worry about all that

1200
01:02:58,240 --> 01:02:59,160
Speaker 6: other stuff you got to do.

1201
01:02:59,240 --> 01:03:00,760
Speaker 5: You appreciate you for that.

1202
01:03:00,760 --> 01:03:02,800
Speaker 1: And you're able to do that and get and getting

1203
01:03:02,840 --> 01:03:03,960
Speaker 1: in a lot less trouble than me.

1204
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:06,080
Speaker 5: So hey, listen, there's time.

1205
01:03:08,160 --> 01:03:11,240
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. One more segment to go, coming

1206
01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:12,680
Speaker 2: up next, The Final Spin.

1207
01:03:21,880 --> 01:03:23,680
Speaker 1: All right, time for the Final Spin, where I give

1208
01:03:23,680 --> 01:03:25,760
Speaker 1: you the topic, the Spin, and then the truth.

1209
01:03:26,000 --> 01:03:29,680
Speaker 2: Today's topic NBA Finals ratings. The Spin.

1210
01:03:30,280 --> 01:03:34,680
Speaker 1: The NBA is upset, supposedly because the two small market teams,

1211
01:03:34,760 --> 01:03:39,760
Speaker 1: Indiana and Oklahoma are in the NBA Finals. Now the truth,

1212
01:03:40,160 --> 01:03:43,720
Speaker 1: the NBA doesn't care no why that check from the

1213
01:03:43,760 --> 01:03:46,920
Speaker 1: television networks who pay for the rights to broadcast games

1214
01:03:47,080 --> 01:03:49,920
Speaker 1: has been cash. The networks paid for the rights upright,

1215
01:03:50,000 --> 01:03:51,680
Speaker 1: So it doesn't matter who is in the finals.

1216
01:03:51,920 --> 01:03:52,600
Speaker 2: For the NBA.

1217
01:03:52,760 --> 01:03:56,080
Speaker 1: It's not about who, though, but how long. The longer

1218
01:03:56,120 --> 01:03:58,680
Speaker 1: the series lasts, the better it is. For these teams

1219
01:03:58,840 --> 01:04:02,840
Speaker 1: because a longer series means more tickets sold, more concessions purchase,

1220
01:04:02,920 --> 01:04:05,520
Speaker 1: more jerseys purchase, and a flood of money just built

1221
01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:09,040
Speaker 1: around the games themselves. Here's what I don't understand about

1222
01:04:09,040 --> 01:04:10,720
Speaker 1: some of you so called NBA fans.

1223
01:04:10,920 --> 01:04:12,920
Speaker 2: You complain that the NBA is rigged.

1224
01:04:12,640 --> 01:04:15,640
Speaker 1: To favorite big market teams like LA New York Boston,

1225
01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:17,960
Speaker 1: and now that you have two teams who represent a

1226
01:04:18,000 --> 01:04:20,560
Speaker 1: new era in the NBA from a small market, now

1227
01:04:20,600 --> 01:04:23,360
Speaker 1: you're complaining about what the ratings might look like. If

1228
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:26,400
Speaker 1: you're a basketball fan, you care about matchups and getting

1229
01:04:26,400 --> 01:04:30,360
Speaker 1: the best possible series. Who gives a shit about the ratings?

1230
01:04:30,640 --> 01:04:33,880
Speaker 1: Pick a struggle, all right? I love hearing from you all.

1231
01:04:34,360 --> 01:04:36,680
Speaker 1: Really always look forward to your feedback, So make sure

1232
01:04:36,720 --> 01:04:39,200
Speaker 1: you get at me on social media or email.

1233
01:04:39,240 --> 01:04:40,080
Speaker 2: I'm at Jamail Hill.

1234
01:04:40,080 --> 01:04:43,640
Speaker 1: Across all social media platforms, Twitter, Instagram, Fan based, Blue Sky,

1235
01:04:43,840 --> 01:04:47,240
Speaker 1: and threads, please use the hashtags politics. You also have

1236
01:04:47,280 --> 01:04:49,680
Speaker 1: the option of emailing me as Politics twenty twenty four

1237
01:04:49,760 --> 01:04:52,640
Speaker 1: at gmail dot com. You can also veo me if

1238
01:04:52,640 --> 01:04:54,919
Speaker 1: you have a question, but please make sure it's thirty

1239
01:04:54,920 --> 01:04:55,720
Speaker 1: seconds or less.

1240
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:57,320
Speaker 2: Don't forget to follow and subscribe.

1241
01:04:57,320 --> 01:05:01,560
Speaker 1: To Politics on iHeart and followspolitics PI on Instagram and TikTok.

1242
01:05:01,920 --> 01:05:04,320
Speaker 1: Politics is spelled s p O l I t i

1243
01:05:04,520 --> 01:05:07,720
Speaker 1: c S. A new episode of Politics drops every Thursday

1244
01:05:07,720 --> 01:05:11,479
Speaker 1: on iHeart Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This

1245
01:05:11,640 --> 01:05:15,240
Speaker 1: is politics, where sports and politics don't just mix, They matter.

1246
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:21,600
Speaker 1: Politics is the production of iHeart Podcasts and The Unbothered Network.

1247
01:05:22,000 --> 01:05:26,240
Speaker 1: I'm your host Jamel Hill. Executive producer is Taylor Chakoigne.

1248
01:05:26,680 --> 01:05:30,240
Speaker 1: Lucas Hymen is head of Audio and executive producer. Original

1249
01:05:30,320 --> 01:05:34,160
Speaker 1: music for Spolitics provided by Kyle Visk from wiz FX