Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris Johnson. Allen and Chris
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
Speaker 1: entertainment in the strange. Now here's Chris Johnson. We're now
Speaker 1: team in the JJ Ride. I'm your host, Chris Johnson.
Speaker 1: Today the anniversary of work Chamber, had you plant game.
Speaker 1: You have a very special yes in the building, the
Speaker 1: founder director and regarded as one of the most influential
Speaker 1: men in the history of grassroots basketball. Atop Emma is
Speaker 1: in the building atop what's good man? What up? What up?
Speaker 1: What up? I love the introduction. I don't know if
Speaker 1: it's all that, but well, I mean, you gotta sometimes
Speaker 1: you gotta keep it real. I heard when I listen
Speaker 1: to you talk, I hear you talk a lot about
Speaker 1: flowers and giving people flowers, and you need to be
Speaker 1: introduced the right way at some point. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like how we as we've gone old there, we think about,
Speaker 1: you know, the accomplishments of ball players that have that
Speaker 1: we've you know, watched and been a part of, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't hit you right away how good them dudes
Speaker 1: were until kind of like later on down the road.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like you man, we start looking at
Speaker 1: your track record, brother, all these guys that you don't
Speaker 1: sit to college, and now you're making major headway into
Speaker 1: the league. But first, atop, I wanted to just get
Speaker 1: a quick thought on one of the game's most dominant players.
Speaker 1: If we've ever seen Wilt Chamberlain hundred points in the game,
Speaker 1: seven one, a triple jumper, a high jumper, do you
Speaker 1: think Wilt would have dominated today's game? You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's really hard to answer that. With the way
Speaker 1: the spacing is in the NBA now, and that would
Speaker 1: be my I mean, obviously in his size, I mean,
Speaker 1: he probably might have figured that out, um, but it's
Speaker 1: hard to translate it with with the space and he
Speaker 1: would have been good obviously, But um, obviously the spacing
Speaker 1: and and driving and the way the game is and
Speaker 1: and be to shoot the three. You know, all those
Speaker 1: things kind of in today's game are a little more
Speaker 1: important than they were back then. So, um, do I
Speaker 1: think you've been as dominant? Probably? I don't know how
Speaker 1: it would have looked though, Yeah, I'm not that's a
Speaker 1: good question. But so I had the same sort of
Speaker 1: questions to and you know, I self, immittedly hadn't gone
Speaker 1: back and watched a ton of Wilke footage from his
Speaker 1: early years at Kansas and then with Globetrotters and then
Speaker 1: the first couple of seasons in the league, and which
Speaker 1: stood out about the guy. Man. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: seven one and he was leading the break. I saw
Speaker 1: him doing no look a turnaround jumper. I saw him
Speaker 1: doing Magic Johnson jump in the air, fake fake pass.
Speaker 1: So I'm seeing all this stuff and I'm just kind
Speaker 1: of like, I saw him do like step through, up
Speaker 1: and under. I saw him, and then I really then
Speaker 1: they're showing me the videos. Man, all his game was
Speaker 1: bank shots, Like he had this one of the sickest
Speaker 1: bank shots in the history of basketball before the skyhook.
Speaker 1: It was the will Like fade away, funny style fade away,
Speaker 1: but it was shot up Taylor bro Hey with no grip.
Speaker 1: I wonder if he taped his ankles with no grip
Speaker 1: with the thing flipping up. I mean, come on, man Hey,
Speaker 1: but that But listen, when we talk about big men,
Speaker 1: and we talked about the evolution of big man, we
Speaker 1: got to talk about Evan Moble and this is a
Speaker 1: kid that was in your program since day one. Talk
Speaker 1: about Evan as the front runner for the Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year, his development and what he can be, if
Speaker 1: that that makes any sense at all. What he can be,
Speaker 1: he's already something, but what he can be as far
Speaker 1: as upside of potential tone. So, you know, I had
Speaker 1: plenty of arguments early on with people about what I
Speaker 1: thought he looked like moving forward. Um, people didn't see it.
Speaker 1: Um people. Um, I remember, I felt that he's too soft,
Speaker 1: people felt too skinny. People thought, I mean, it's whatever
Speaker 1: you come up with too, you know, argued the case
Speaker 1: that he wasn't gonna be as good as ever as
Speaker 1: we thought he was gonna be. Um. As soon as
Speaker 1: he hit the end of his freshman year. In his
Speaker 1: sophomore year, I knew exactly what it was, and I
Speaker 1: started putting the word out, start telling everybody, all the writers,
Speaker 1: the Paul being cardis the boss's you know. They didn't
Speaker 1: mean we saw it because the time, you know, remember
Speaker 1: he had had that huge grossburt. He was short, not short,
Speaker 1: but eighth grade. Eighth grade was it eighth grade? The
Speaker 1: ninth grade? Grade six four? And I don't remember, I
Speaker 1: don't remember if you remember a kid named Ben Todd,
Speaker 1: So we had we had Ben Todd on our team.
Speaker 1: And now Ben Todd was already six ten in the
Speaker 1: eighth grade and he was a number player in the
Speaker 1: country and everyone was about six four and nobody, you know,
Speaker 1: nobody knew who everon was. But um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's crazy. And how like he got hurt his freshman year,
Speaker 1: hurt his foot and after that that we started seeing
Speaker 1: some things and and and the first thing that that
Speaker 1: that I he noticed he could always he always is
Speaker 1: a shooter. So right now the NBA hasn't seen what
Speaker 1: he used to do, and they will eventually because that
Speaker 1: will come back to him. But you know, he started
Speaker 1: off as he was a great jump shooter. He's a
Speaker 1: three point shooter. And that's what he did. He shot
Speaker 1: and then throw and became explosive. Um that's when, um,
Speaker 1: you see all the things that he's had going on
Speaker 1: now because the explosion that one of the beauties of
Speaker 1: what he was doing and made it easy for me
Speaker 1: to evaluate was the quickness of his jump. And when
Speaker 1: that one of that as a sophomore, his first and
Speaker 1: second jump, I thought of Sean Marrion, but he's seven feet,
Speaker 1: you know, Sean Marian was was lethal. But his second
Speaker 1: jump one of the quickert second jumpers in the NBA.
Speaker 1: And you jump like that, no no matter what's your size,
Speaker 1: no matter what it is, you're gonna be have some
Speaker 1: value in the league. And he just jumped so quick.
Speaker 1: So he started getting to the the rim. I see how
Speaker 1: fast you get to the rim, And I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: it would just be like boom boom boom. You know,
Speaker 1: his quick twitch was crazy quick quick. Yeah, so, oh man,
Speaker 1: this is a problem. I got the number one point
Speaker 1: in the country, you know what I mean, because I
Speaker 1: knew like he had already he had got the size before.
Speaker 1: He was already a great shooter. He already had great
Speaker 1: perimeter acumen, you know what I mean, even though he
Speaker 1: didn't have to use it, because like when he got big,
Speaker 1: he stopped using it. So you know what happened. He
Speaker 1: got big, and his junior year playing for US, he
Speaker 1: shot um in the Indenis League. He shot eighty percent
Speaker 1: from the floor, dumped everything like they couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: He shot dam an average eighteen and nine shots a game.
Speaker 1: So he was crazy. But it was because he like
Speaker 1: no one could stop him to the rim, so he
Speaker 1: stopped but he stopped doing his perimeter stuff. All he
Speaker 1: did was catch and make plays around the rim because
Speaker 1: it was that easy for him. What are you attribute
Speaker 1: most ah to his growth and development as as far
Speaker 1: as an all around game, I'll tell you simple. It's
Speaker 1: his dad and mom because what they needed to do
Speaker 1: with them is like, you know, his dad wouldn't just
Speaker 1: have him doing cones stuff. You know these cone guys.
Speaker 1: His dad would have him playing against grown asks man
Speaker 1: in twenty our fitness, both him and his brother. That's
Speaker 1: why you see they their I cus or high. They
Speaker 1: know how to play because it's like, you know, their
Speaker 1: development wasn't all just you know, jump in there and
Speaker 1: play do cones. Like they had a whole, well rounded
Speaker 1: regiment and they live that regiment seven days a week.
Speaker 1: They weren't. They weren't wavering, like they weren't doing it
Speaker 1: just for like show. Yeah, I mean like they're really
Speaker 1: out here believing. Once they got to the point, they
Speaker 1: were out here believing where they're going. And you know,
Speaker 1: the kids love the hoop. They both loved the hoop.
Speaker 1: That's another thing too, some people don't like they love
Speaker 1: the hoop. And just because Evan don't talk Evan loves
Speaker 1: the hoop. That's what makes this scary because he loves
Speaker 1: the hoop in regiment. By the time he gets done,
Speaker 1: I don't know what it's gonna look like. I mean,
Speaker 1: he could be it would be a KD be honest,
Speaker 1: k D mix, you know what I mean. We I
Speaker 1: don't know what the game. It would be anything because
Speaker 1: he's he's got the discipline to work and he loves
Speaker 1: the hoop. Man the k D hold on the k
Speaker 1: D the honest comparison, the kgbrid that's a scary animal.
Speaker 1: So we're in Vegas, uh for the I believe for
Speaker 1: the no. I was in Vegas for the Summer League
Speaker 1: and I just got a chance to watch um Evan compete.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so yeah, that's where I saw. I was
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what was at the time. But
Speaker 1: but so we were there and we saw Evan. I
Speaker 1: watched him. I think what my takeaway was him on
Speaker 1: the defensive end, his ability to guard show. I mean
Speaker 1: he could pretty much do anything on perimeters and big yeah,
Speaker 1: he can. He switched one people. It's unbelievable. It's unbel
Speaker 1: and his ability to to to to to to close
Speaker 1: out on shooters and then recovered to the rim make
Speaker 1: a play on the ball, as we've seen in the league. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know if it's a surprise. Are
Speaker 1: you surprised at all by how well he's done so quickly,
Speaker 1: how how quickly he's adjusted, or did you kind of
Speaker 1: figure that it wouldn't be a problem. The funny thing
Speaker 1: is this, I didn't know until summer league. So I
Speaker 1: went to summer league and I saw the way Cleveland
Speaker 1: was utilizing them cold bigger staff and that coaching staff.
Speaker 1: They were already used I don't know if you remember,
Speaker 1: they were already using him like they used him now.
Speaker 1: They were using them on the elbows, on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: initiating offense. They were doing a lot of ship with
Speaker 1: him in the summer league. And I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: if they play him like this, oh he's about to
Speaker 1: Because the thing about like if he could have went
Speaker 1: somewhere else and the coach would have not really believed
Speaker 1: in them stuck him on the box, it might have
Speaker 1: not been like this, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 1: might have been as fast as this, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But confidence, a confidence to develop. No, But
Speaker 1: what I will say is this, this is the and
Speaker 1: things that everybody underestimated in college. So I don't know
Speaker 1: if you saw that earlier the season they start charting
Speaker 1: that stat about um shots that he altered but he
Speaker 1: didn't block or something or whatever that I don't forgot,
Speaker 1: But remember like Evan doesn't he's just out there hooping
Speaker 1: and bawling. Like defensively, he's really good. Most guys in
Speaker 1: the NBA they're not gonna, you know, rush the shooters
Speaker 1: or do the things that he's doing to play defensively.
Speaker 1: The reason Cleveland had a great turnaround too. Obviously, Darris
Speaker 1: Garland has been unbelievable. Um, some of the other kids
Speaker 1: have done really well, but I think like with Jared
Speaker 1: Allen and and and Evan, defensively they've posed a lot
Speaker 1: of problems. People have a hard time. That's there's so
Speaker 1: much length, you know what I mean. And Evan is
Speaker 1: not just trying to block shots. He's going after everything.
Speaker 1: Even if you're running the perimeter, he's chasing you. You know,
Speaker 1: he's chasing everything. So he don't know no better yet
Speaker 1: like these other dudes who to sit around and don't
Speaker 1: play like he's playing. He's trying to chase shooters, he's switching,
Speaker 1: he's doing all the things that you know most guys
Speaker 1: in the league don't do. Now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: your team is good. Yeah, And I've seen Cleveland go
Speaker 1: big at times when they throw marketing out there. And
Speaker 1: so you have Alan mobile marketing, three seven footers on
Speaker 1: the perimeter or garden, everybody covering ground, covering space. Man.
Speaker 1: I mean it's true. I expect Evan. I think he
Speaker 1: will be in contention for a Defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year at some point. I mean, obviously this year, I
Speaker 1: feel like he's gonna he's the front runner for the
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year. We got to see how that
Speaker 1: vote turns out. But I wanted to talk about another
Speaker 1: big that came through your program that is actually playing
Speaker 1: well in the league. And I wouldn't say going under
Speaker 1: the radar, but nationally kind of flying under the radar
Speaker 1: in my opinion. Top On necka down in Atlanta, talked
Speaker 1: about Anca Man and what's what he's been doing? So
Speaker 1: funny man, So he I wasn't. I was in Austin.
Speaker 1: I got I was in Austin UM yesterday and uh
Speaker 1: he face times me and one in the morning, right,
Speaker 1: and I'm like keep doing because they're playing Boston, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, something like is he doing? And
Speaker 1: you know, obviously he's been playing well. Man, some people,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he gets snuff for that Rising
Speaker 1: Stars game. I think you should have been in it.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are saying that thing, you should
Speaker 1: have been that game. But that's that's been his mantres.
Speaker 1: We ain't tripping, like we're just we're gonna follow his journey.
Speaker 1: And and you know with him, I'm i'm I'm I'm
Speaker 1: very involved in his life obviously. Um. But he called
Speaker 1: me at one thirty in the morning with some grown
Speaker 1: man talk man talking about like real estate, like you know,
Speaker 1: like the kids, like I think he's twenty years old.
Speaker 1: He might be, but uh, you know, I'm just I'm
Speaker 1: very very proud of his evolution and his growth out
Speaker 1: and off the court or you know, miss Unfortunately his
Speaker 1: father passed away recently, you know, and um, you know
Speaker 1: it's just with those kind of things, you know, kids
Speaker 1: dropping down. But um, he is in a very very
Speaker 1: comfortable place and on the floor on the team, very
Speaker 1: comfortable place. Like so I don't know if you see
Speaker 1: like his numbers like whenever, whenever, it depended on his minutes.
Speaker 1: His minutes are up, his numbers are up, like they're like,
Speaker 1: you know, are not even seventeen seven and three, you know,
Speaker 1: seventeen point seven rebounds, three blocks and one thing. I
Speaker 1: always like. I talked to him that night. I'm like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you gotta rebound better. I told him, I said, you
Speaker 1: gotta rebound better because you know, obviously you got to
Speaker 1: tell him that team to calor rebounds everything. He goes, yeah,
Speaker 1: tell rebounds on the paint. I said, yeah, but he
Speaker 1: go he goes, yeah, told, he goes. But I'm I'm
Speaker 1: running all over the place. I'm switching one of five,
Speaker 1: I'm switching screens, I'm playing D. I'm playing crazy D.
Speaker 1: He goes half the time, I can't get to the rebound.
Speaker 1: So but I'm always on the about the rebounds because
Speaker 1: I said, look, man, I said that rebounds that for
Speaker 1: you is is a money maker. Like that's the one
Speaker 1: that like it's gonna really you is when you try
Speaker 1: to re up from this next you know, in year four,
Speaker 1: when you're trying to get this contract, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So we talked about it. He's in a
Speaker 1: really good place, man, He's comfortable, he knows who he is,
Speaker 1: he knows what he's doing. Obviously, we want to expand
Speaker 1: on that, and we will in the summertime. But he's
Speaker 1: in a very very very good place. Yes he is.
Speaker 1: And and you said it best as far as his
Speaker 1: comfort in his role. When I've watched the Hawks play
Speaker 1: and I've watched him in the game, I mean, he
Speaker 1: strikes me as sort of he has a veteran type
Speaker 1: demeanor out there, and I think that speaks to him
Speaker 1: embracing his role. Um you know what. Else when he
Speaker 1: had this in again, it's just like Evan, him and
Speaker 1: Ever both like they're out there and they're both playing defense,
Speaker 1: like like defense, Like he knows that that's his calling
Speaker 1: card there, so like he takes pride in that, like
Speaker 1: he wants like everyone to think of him like you
Speaker 1: know what, Okay, that's a defensive guy. So he takes
Speaker 1: pride in d And like you know, he'll tell you sometimes,
Speaker 1: tell something, Tell me I'm tired, man, Like you know,
Speaker 1: my in my in my in my little minutes that
Speaker 1: I'm playing, I'm tired. I'm running around like crazy, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So he's really pushing himself defensively,
Speaker 1: which I don't believe a lot of guys in the
Speaker 1: NBA do. I feel Evan does the same. I feel
Speaker 1: they both do the same um and that's a good
Speaker 1: uniqueness about those two young players that are gonna really
Speaker 1: give them a chance moving forward because their offensive games
Speaker 1: will evolved as well, you know what I mean. Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. Do you guys confident magic
Speaker 1: do things or have like emphasis on defense, or do
Speaker 1: you bring in people to kind of show pros or
Speaker 1: anything like that when you work with Biggs while they're
Speaker 1: in your program, or is it something because I've noticed
Speaker 1: if you look at, you know, some of your top
Speaker 1: guys right that are either in the NBA or college.
Speaker 1: I throw two names out there in college that I
Speaker 1: was about to but go ahead, go ahead, Ariy and
Speaker 1: Jalen Clark bas the two I was gonna talk about
Speaker 1: because you're talking, You're you're talking about to arguably two
Speaker 1: of the most underrated players in America and two of
Speaker 1: arguably two of like the most impactful players in all
Speaker 1: of the country talking about Jalen Clark for a second.
Speaker 1: When he came in in u c l A. The
Speaker 1: expectations of him were still kind of in the air.
Speaker 1: People didn't really realize the full spectrum, the full scope
Speaker 1: of what this kid has the offer. Now we get
Speaker 1: to see it. I want to know about his mentality.
Speaker 1: Why is he such a dog? Then he's a dog
Speaker 1: and always has been broke? Has he? He? And about
Speaker 1: Jay Rock? Bro about Jay Rock? I ride with Jay Rock.
Speaker 1: Let me let me look, man. I had to tell
Speaker 1: Mick Cronin. I told Mick, I said, Mick, this guy
Speaker 1: is your type of God. Trust me. When they were
Speaker 1: they're recruiting him, kind of you know, it was up
Speaker 1: in the air, wasn't so they weren't so sheriff because
Speaker 1: remember you know they didn't sign him too late and
Speaker 1: senior year and I but I was pressing him the
Speaker 1: whole time, like Jalen and you are matchmate in heaven.
Speaker 1: He's a Cincinnati guy, you know what I'm saying, Hey guy?
Speaker 1: So you know, finally they did their homework and research
Speaker 1: and it worked out. And um, I'll tell you this man,
Speaker 1: and I was talking, I was in error Zona. Two
Speaker 1: weeks ago with Daylyn, me and Dyln were having dinner. Me,
Speaker 1: Dalen Ray r V two and his brother Andy were
Speaker 1: at dinner and weird I was talking about how it's
Speaker 1: crazy because on that team they played together. Remember so
Speaker 1: I don't know if you know, but that year Van
Speaker 1: got hurt at USA basketball. It was his back. Evan
Speaker 1: didn't play in that summer. He played, didn't play at
Speaker 1: all in the summer. So our team we were without
Speaker 1: Edam Mobili and without Johnny Jus. So our headliners were Daylyn, Terry,
Speaker 1: Jalen Clark, Taboozo Agbo who's that Texas Day And we
Speaker 1: had to move a bunch of the young kids up.
Speaker 1: We moved up Dyaling, we moved Dylan Andrews up, he's
Speaker 1: the ninth grader. We moved on U C. L A. Obviously,
Speaker 1: So with my point in telling you that that team
Speaker 1: early when when Evan played the spring, I think we lost.
Speaker 1: We were twenty two and one. We only lost one
Speaker 1: game that spring, so we were on track of being
Speaker 1: the best team in the country again. Or remember the
Speaker 1: year before was the undisputed year with On Yucca and
Speaker 1: Jared Lucas and everybody else. We still had. We had
Speaker 1: most of those players back. We had a lot of
Speaker 1: them back. We had him, we had Daal, and we
Speaker 1: had Clark because Clarks on that team. To those guys
Speaker 1: are all back, jusang he was back. Those guys are
Speaker 1: all coming back. So we expected to have the similar
Speaker 1: type of year. Evan goes down, Johnny um uh Re
Speaker 1: classes goes through Kentucky UM. So we have what we
Speaker 1: have now. People don't understand we had an unbelievable run
Speaker 1: that summer with those kids, Like we only lost one.
Speaker 1: You know, we lost two games that summer. We lost
Speaker 1: in the Leade eight two team loaded in Virginia and
Speaker 1: UM in um Birmingham, and then we lost to Southern
Speaker 1: Assault in the championship with Harrison Harrison Ingram because we
Speaker 1: lost to them in the championship by one point. We
Speaker 1: had the ball with ten seconds to go, Chabouzo lost
Speaker 1: his shoe. All hate to do is get foul. Are
Speaker 1: are the shot we should want that? But what my
Speaker 1: point is this, we were one We were one bad
Speaker 1: possession away from winning it from winning it again back
Speaker 1: to back without Evan and without Johnny, because they're both.
Speaker 1: That's what I was talking to Dalon about that because
Speaker 1: that shows to you how good those two were really were.
Speaker 1: So listen, we we go to the championship, we lose
Speaker 1: the championship by one. Then we go to Dino's this
Speaker 1: tournament that has other Nike teams, Um Expressions and and Rotary,
Speaker 1: and we win that. We blow everybody out in the tournament.
Speaker 1: We won that term we blew everybody out like we
Speaker 1: played one team. Um, I'm not even say that. I
Speaker 1: don't want embarrass them, but um, that had two guys
Speaker 1: that are in the NBA right now, one who's a
Speaker 1: lottery pick. We wont buy thirty game like that. That's
Speaker 1: how Jalen Clark and j and we only have seven players.
Speaker 1: I had a whip Jalen Clark, and this shows how
Speaker 1: good those two really were. And that's what we talked.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine something like they're playing against the best
Speaker 1: guys in the country and they were supposed role guys
Speaker 1: or whatever else, but they're smacking everybody. Yeah, but it's
Speaker 1: but that's that style to those dudes. They have size,
Speaker 1: then they play a certain type of game too, as
Speaker 1: far as they go hard when you have energy and motor.
Speaker 1: And then two couple that with lytticism length like you.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's like, man, you stand out. I mean
Speaker 1: the thing that stands up to me about Jalen also
Speaker 1: is when I'm seeing them up so you know, during
Speaker 1: the course of the game, you say, like basketball game,
Speaker 1: you'll see him work down wall, You'll see him work midposts.
Speaker 1: You'll see him not down at three or two. You'll
Speaker 1: see him running the pick and roll up high. I
Speaker 1: don't know if I've ever seen I tried to say,
Speaker 1: you know, I know I was pretty first of all,
Speaker 1: but the pick and roll up high part where he's
Speaker 1: bringing the ball up full court initiating the offense during
Speaker 1: the course of the game, that's unbelievable. I mean, he
Speaker 1: does literally everything and they're defensively tope. You see him
Speaker 1: out there guarding the point, He'll pin some stuff on
Speaker 1: the glass. He's I mean, he's been really an exciting
Speaker 1: revelation for you sell a basketball and it is a
Speaker 1: Compton Magic. Dude, do you feel like you're guys that
Speaker 1: have that played for Compton Magic. You feel like they
Speaker 1: played with a sort of a sense of pride or
Speaker 1: extra bit of a chip that they're actually they're representing
Speaker 1: where they come from. Compton Magic. I think I think so,
Speaker 1: and I really think that all the guys were talking
Speaker 1: about at some point in their career were undervalued. And
Speaker 1: that's the thing, Like I'm telling you even Van was undervalued.
Speaker 1: I'm just being honestly on Yaka was undervalued. Those guys
Speaker 1: I know are blue chip players in high school. But
Speaker 1: remember when they first came was and I was talking
Speaker 1: to I was in the SC game last night. Before
Speaker 1: the game, me and the cole Mobili were talking about this.
Speaker 1: Me and the Cole Mobili were talking about how when
Speaker 1: the kids were young, when they're in the eighth ninth grade,
Speaker 1: they were nobody's all of them, like none of them. Remember,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you who the guys were. When those
Speaker 1: guys are coming up Cash just Stanley, Cody, Riley, those
Speaker 1: were the top ranked kids. They were number one, you know,
Speaker 1: those those are the blue chippers, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Our kids were the second group of kids. So it's
Speaker 1: like they've all been in a place of being severely
Speaker 1: undervalued at some point. And I think that's a good driver.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, fact fact, And I think
Speaker 1: that I mean again, and remember too, you know, we
Speaker 1: have a lot of connective tissue on social media, so
Speaker 1: our kids motivate each other, like all those kids, like
Speaker 1: they're watching what everyone's doing, and everybody loves each other.
Speaker 1: But it's even though they love each other, you know,
Speaker 1: he's doing this, I'm trying to do this like you know,
Speaker 1: even when I was in there, I was in Arizona
Speaker 1: State to see them. I played U C l A
Speaker 1: and I ran into Neil at a breakfast spot and
Speaker 1: Dayalen had just played well and they were talking about
Speaker 1: how he's the ultimate blue guy in the country. And
Speaker 1: I was telling Neil before you know, before Geno exploded.
Speaker 1: I was like, look, Neil, like this is like Daylas
Speaker 1: laying the blueprint for us too. Like Jayleen is gonna
Speaker 1: get to the NBA the same way now maybe I mean,
Speaker 1: like the same way he's gonna get there, Like he
Speaker 1: can do the same thing that Daylas doing. Daylans made
Speaker 1: it sexy, did not I have to score? It's crazy,
Speaker 1: It's crazy. That's amazing. It's amazing that the NBA guys
Speaker 1: love daln Lo Hun Like it's gonna get interested. Who
Speaker 1: they who do they compareing to her? Who do they
Speaker 1: give you kind of a comp when they talk about
Speaker 1: when they ask you, when they talk about dayling to you,
Speaker 1: who do they come from to do? To them? They
Speaker 1: don't even have that yet, like they're just trying to figure.
Speaker 1: They just go like where this he's came out of nowhere?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? And I think it's kind
Speaker 1: of like for me, could it be Rande House Jefferson,
Speaker 1: But I mean it's not too. I don't think so,
Speaker 1: because I know I know Rande too, and I know
Speaker 1: Daylyn because Daylyn, listen, remember we played Dale at the point,
Speaker 1: Dale the point guard. They don't point. He played point
Speaker 1: for us strictly point like nothing else like they play
Speaker 1: him on. They play him kind of just as a
Speaker 1: as an all over god over. But like Daylan's that's trade.
Speaker 1: He's a great passer. He's on his hands great you
Speaker 1: you know, so, I think um, and I think they
Speaker 1: show they show enough of that where people can see
Speaker 1: that a little bit. But that's really a strength, Like
Speaker 1: his strength is, you know, with the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: seeing people, finding people, and obviously being all those great
Speaker 1: glue traits, being a great teammate, being a great kid
Speaker 1: is length. And now the thing that I think is
Speaker 1: really intrigued people as he's become more explosive. Mm hm, oh,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, So it's it's it's
Speaker 1: exciting these kids, man, both those kids. I get so
Speaker 1: excited about both of those kids because I feel like
Speaker 1: I saw that coming. I didn't see it. Daylon's coming
Speaker 1: as soon and Jalen's coming as soon. I knew Jalens
Speaker 1: would come when all these dudes left, you see legs.
Speaker 1: I think I thought next year Jalen would just go
Speaker 1: crazy because he'd had the roadway with the other guys gone,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Yeah, a longer leash. But
Speaker 1: you know, as glad that wick Mick saw the light,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, quick and early. You're now
Speaker 1: he's getting super burned. But she still. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: Isaiah Mobley at s C, who was one of the
Speaker 1: you know, best all around talents in all of college basketball.
Speaker 1: Timmy Allen down in Texas Jusang obviously U c l A.
Speaker 1: So I mean, do you feel like, with so many
Speaker 1: guys in college that eventually make the league, do you
Speaker 1: feel like people view you you guys sort of have
Speaker 1: a bulls eye now on your chest that you might
Speaker 1: have not had before the summer ten thousand and eighteen
Speaker 1: or is it the same? Remember I'm gonna go back.
Speaker 1: So two thousand and ten, we were we had Johnny Carson,
Speaker 1: gave York, Isaiah Austin, Norville Pale, Wesley Saunders, a Skia booker,
Speaker 1: Mike Caffey, and our team was the best team. Well
Speaker 1: there's two teams. It was us in the open Soldiers.
Speaker 1: So everyone wants to see that game because because they
Speaker 1: had Nick Johnson, they had um, oh gosh, I can't
Speaker 1: I can't remember the kids they had, but they had
Speaker 1: they had um, Aaron Gordon, I want to say Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon at the time. But they had a whip to like,
Speaker 1: so they had like six or sept that We had
Speaker 1: our group. They had their group, and you know, obviously
Speaker 1: we were dominating in Indidas. They were dominated Nike, and um,
Speaker 1: we were we were tagged back then, I mean like
Speaker 1: we were. We were just remember we're coming off we
Speaker 1: had that year. The year before we had Alan Crab
Speaker 1: and Bryce Jones, Richard Solomon. The year before we had
Speaker 1: Joe Burton, Xavier Thames. So that that two thousand eight
Speaker 1: year submitted we made the championship. That year we would
Speaker 1: triple overtime against grass Roots Canada with Tristan Thompson, Brady
Speaker 1: has slip Um, Dwight pale Um. So we that year
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight when we made the championship and
Speaker 1: that game with the triple overtime, that was the point
Speaker 1: where I feel like we became March. Then two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: crab Um Kareem Jamaar Deonte Burton, Like, we have three
Speaker 1: Conference players of the Year on that team, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, the Whack Player Year, the Big Sky
Speaker 1: Player of the Year, in the PAC twelve Player of
Speaker 1: the Year, and you had three. I thought I saw
Speaker 1: somewhere you had three at the top leading scorer in
Speaker 1: the Pack and the PAC ten one year Roberto joh
Speaker 1: and one more player. You had like one, two and three.
Speaker 1: We're all kinds and like we're already having like it
Speaker 1: down when we were holding it down. Is like the
Speaker 1: underdog cute team. You know, we're kind of still the underdog,
Speaker 1: but we put the work. Yeah, we had great players.
Speaker 1: Though we had great we were we were we were
Speaker 1: on the Pack twelve. We had to pack to a
Speaker 1: Freshman of the year, pack to a player of the year.
Speaker 1: You know, we were we were doing some noise in
Speaker 1: the pack swell back then with some some of our guys.
Speaker 1: But you know, I would say back to your original
Speaker 1: question with um the way our guys go back to
Speaker 1: that question again, so I can I can, ye know.
Speaker 1: It was just like, I mean, you feel like people
Speaker 1: coming at you guys more now or less or is
Speaker 1: it are you in different Were they coming at you
Speaker 1: with the same Veracini furiosity as they were now? They're
Speaker 1: crazy because now we're social media. Back then there wasn't
Speaker 1: my social media, so now it's like social media. But
Speaker 1: the reality of it is, Chris, we got a formula, man,
Speaker 1: like the people ain't just me. It's like I got
Speaker 1: people in my group like that. They all have their
Speaker 1: own context too, and and everyone is really working their
Speaker 1: ass off for kids. So you'll see me like last
Speaker 1: night I was a senior night with Timmy Allen, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like and then not last night,
Speaker 1: night before last, and then last night I fly back home,
Speaker 1: I go straight to the game with Dalen and Isaiah.
Speaker 1: But my point to you is that there's things that
Speaker 1: we're doing, um functionally behind closed doors that I feel,
Speaker 1: uh helps our kids once they get to college. See,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of guys in AU they play games,
Speaker 1: they go and listen. I'm never gonna fall anyone for
Speaker 1: helping kids, you know what I mean, anyone who is
Speaker 1: helping kids, I'm with that. Like, I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: different level of helping kids, right, anyone's helping kids, I'm
Speaker 1: great with that. Like whether you're a lower level team,
Speaker 1: a high level team, whatever it is. But like, I think,
Speaker 1: the one thing that really really separates what we are
Speaker 1: compared to most. I'm not gonna say, oh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say most, is that as soon as the ball stops
Speaker 1: for them in high school, we're just as involved in
Speaker 1: their transition in college as we are as they are
Speaker 1: in high school. And that's why you see a lot
Speaker 1: of our kids are successful. How So, talk about how
Speaker 1: you're involved, how you get involved with your guys after
Speaker 1: they're done whooping. So it's like this, So imagine me.
Speaker 1: So if I'm in Texas and how many times have
Speaker 1: I been Timmy's game this year? I don't know. I've been.
Speaker 1: I was in Texas Gonzaga, I was in Texas Texas Tech.
Speaker 1: I've been in Austin at least three or four times.
Speaker 1: But Obviously when you're doing that, when you're going to
Speaker 1: shoot around, when you're at team meal, you're developing relationships
Speaker 1: with those coaching staffs organically. So like at that point,
Speaker 1: are they rooting for you? Yeah? Probably, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? When that code Like at the at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like if if if all things
Speaker 1: are given equal, what's gonna happen? You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So is your kids gonna get a little more rope? Probably?
Speaker 1: You know, But it is all those relationships building exercises
Speaker 1: that are going on. However they're going on, whether it's
Speaker 1: on my dime, however it's happening, or whether it's due
Speaker 1: to my experience that I've been around forever and known
Speaker 1: these dudes forever, and they feel comfortable, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Um, but that experience, those level of relationships
Speaker 1: definitely helps the kids when they go to those coaches,
Speaker 1: Like I've known mc cronin since remember mccronin coach Ellis
Speaker 1: Miles of Louisville in two thousand three. Me and Mick
Speaker 1: ain't the first row I've known Mick forever. That's that
Speaker 1: that you bring up a good point about relationships, cultivating
Speaker 1: relationships and then when you say on your own dime,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people don't realize that a lot
Speaker 1: of what you accomplish in basketball, it's a lot of
Speaker 1: it's based on your own dime, Like you gotta go
Speaker 1: out and get it. Like you look at some of
Speaker 1: the top scouts in the world, they are playing for
Speaker 1: trips to look the way there. They're paying their own
Speaker 1: way to rush you to go see some guys to
Speaker 1: think right up about, you know, put out there on
Speaker 1: their own time. So that part of it, I feel
Speaker 1: like is is you know, to be commended. I also
Speaker 1: noticed and see a lot of activity that you do
Speaker 1: in the community and on social media, And why is
Speaker 1: that such an important cause for you? Because you seem
Speaker 1: that seems to be one of your true passions outside
Speaker 1: of basketball, right am? I right on? That are my
Speaker 1: main passion apply more than basketball? I just you know what, man,
Speaker 1: As you get older, like I felt like, I think
Speaker 1: when I got my mid forties I'm fifty two now.
Speaker 1: When I got my mid forties, I felt like we
Speaker 1: had done pretty good at basketball. I felt like we
Speaker 1: were close to being like you know, hey, we've done
Speaker 1: a good job of kids, and we had our machine
Speaker 1: is rolling, and I really felt like, you know how
Speaker 1: much like when I die, like how people are gonna
Speaker 1: remember me? Like what you know how it is men
Speaker 1: Like like people been dying, Like a lot of people
Speaker 1: in my life been dying, and it's kind of like, Um,
Speaker 1: you go to the funeral, you know, you cry, you know,
Speaker 1: and then um, ship people just move on, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like, Um, I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: I want people to lastly remember me, but I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to have something that people say, you know,
Speaker 1: ship man, that dude made a difference. And I feel
Speaker 1: like that's really hard to do. I feel like having
Speaker 1: people feel like that, it's really hard to do. Like
Speaker 1: I feel like you have to do a lot of
Speaker 1: work for someone to say like that that guy was impactful,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And that's my drive behind
Speaker 1: the community work is my personal legacy, you know, even
Speaker 1: though it's it's obviously it's a coupled with count of magic,
Speaker 1: and it's coupled with hopefully my kids are successful enough
Speaker 1: for me to have a bigger voice right are, for
Speaker 1: me to be able to attach more resources somewhere. It's
Speaker 1: a men's it's a it's a it's a means to
Speaker 1: an end, right, So it's like, can I hopefully attached
Speaker 1: these recent versus and do more work in the community
Speaker 1: outside of basketball, Like there's so many things that like
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to do obviously that I can't afford
Speaker 1: to do at this point, but I'm I'm working on
Speaker 1: it um to promote that legacy and create that legacy. Man,
Speaker 1: It's just it's just and it's an ongoing war. I
Speaker 1: called because it's like, you know, the war is is
Speaker 1: to get people in places that me nor you usually
Speaker 1: can get to to invest in our communities. They you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So do you don't know? Listen,
Speaker 1: community work doesn't necessarily mean you need money because there
Speaker 1: we do a lot of community projects that don't call
Speaker 1: for funding. You know, still things you can do that
Speaker 1: can help your community without funding. Like we've done diaper
Speaker 1: drives where we just put on social media like hey,
Speaker 1: like can you donate diapers and we get like fifty
Speaker 1: tho diapers the community organization and Compton. But we've done
Speaker 1: all kinds of unique book drives, you nique, things that
Speaker 1: didn't cost much money, but they're still like, you know,
Speaker 1: the the goal would be I feel to to to
Speaker 1: get a nice um bag of resources to be able
Speaker 1: to cultivate your your legacy play in the community, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's obviously an ongoing battle for anybody trying to
Speaker 1: do community work. And but I've seen you, um you
Speaker 1: had you had the Adida's legacy situation a few years ago.
Speaker 1: I've seen you do food drives. Yeah, I'm still going.
Speaker 1: I've seen you do different food drives around the holidays,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if it was a Turkey giving away.
Speaker 1: You're giving away clothes, you're giving away all types of stuff,
Speaker 1: and you're passing out stuff. But the thing I love
Speaker 1: about it you get all your kids involved, all the
Speaker 1: guys in the magic get an idea, in a sense
Speaker 1: of perspective of what it's like not to have. You're
Speaker 1: now balancing this life of glorious a you high level
Speaker 1: hoops with a dose of reality on occasion. Why do
Speaker 1: you feel like that's important to expose the kids too
Speaker 1: to well, I want to say something. I hope you
Speaker 1: can see this. I don't know it gonna work. If
Speaker 1: I do this, you're just showing to the to the screen.
Speaker 1: We can probably see it. Happy to be home, Happy,
Speaker 1: to be with us, you know, helping out the Salvation Army.
Speaker 1: I am. The kids are competent, born and raised. Baby, yes, baby,
Speaker 1: look at look at Asaiah, look at your yes on
Speaker 1: the on the screen. We have a video of some
Speaker 1: community where they took the competent managed it. Look you
Speaker 1: every ninth grade Salvation Army. That's a competent Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Now that's good stuff to look Brade, that's
Speaker 1: good stuff. No, absolutely that and that it's our kids
Speaker 1: have been there, like it's not like we're just talking
Speaker 1: it like that's a video when those kids were young.
Speaker 1: Those kids were like in the ninth grade, nine, eighth,
Speaker 1: ninth grade back then, and their families were there. They
Speaker 1: were there, and I think even regardless of nowadays, I
Speaker 1: don't feel like I feel like most of our kids
Speaker 1: aren't in those type of situations. They're just not right.
Speaker 1: So it's really important that they see it. My initial
Speaker 1: competent kids were all in that situation when I was
Speaker 1: first and competent, I everybody was in that situation. And
Speaker 1: then obviously, um as we graduated to the more current times, UM,
Speaker 1: I feel like most people are in a little bit
Speaker 1: better situations, um um, but still it's it's very important
Speaker 1: that you remind them of how fortunate they are, whatever
Speaker 1: level of fortunate they are, you know. Always, Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. You've been in the game
Speaker 1: a long time time, my man, and you're responsible sitting
Speaker 1: a lot of kids to college. You've been dealing with
Speaker 1: these coaches and the recruiting side of things, UH since
Speaker 1: the nineties and probably earlier than that. Actually, I don't
Speaker 1: want to date you, but um, what do you think
Speaker 1: about Let me ask you this. Do you think that
Speaker 1: the n i L, the transfer portal and the ability
Speaker 1: to reclassify is is good for the game or it
Speaker 1: is hurting the game college basketball? I don't know the
Speaker 1: answer to that. Obviously, the pandemic is changed the landscape
Speaker 1: immensely because obviously teams want to be older, you know.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I watched UH Texas Baylor the
Speaker 1: other night and Baylor won a national championship last year,
Speaker 1: replaced their backcourt with a Ken Joe and the other
Speaker 1: kid who so John the green hair for him too.
Speaker 1: And there's another backcourt kid who came from a smaller
Speaker 1: school who's really ninety in that game. But we really
Speaker 1: replaced their back court and are capable of having a
Speaker 1: run again. Absolutely, Now can you do that high school players?
Speaker 1: They got Kiante George coming in possibly, but probably the
Speaker 1: answer is, I don't know. You know, so that portal
Speaker 1: has made a lot of the bigger schools and the
Speaker 1: schools that would normally recruit a top level high school
Speaker 1: player or even get a high school player late, like
Speaker 1: those high school players have no opportunities. At the end,
Speaker 1: you're gonna see prep schools blossom. You're gonna see all
Speaker 1: that happened because dude is going to be older. Basically,
Speaker 1: the high school kid that the super the senior, the
Speaker 1: five star senior is looked at a little bit uh
Speaker 1: less favorably than say an older kid that has some
Speaker 1: college basketball experience, or a prep school kid that is
Speaker 1: a little bit older nineteen and has a year again
Speaker 1: on the prep circuit. Why why those kids? Why is
Speaker 1: that better? I don't think I don't think it's affective
Speaker 1: that the the elite, the super eleague kid. I think
Speaker 1: it's the kid below that, right, the super eleague kid
Speaker 1: from one of twenty I think is still fine. The
Speaker 1: guys are gonna do that. But when it gets to
Speaker 1: the level below that, it gets dicey, because who are
Speaker 1: you gonna pick from a portal guy who's averaged twenty
Speaker 1: and been through it at the college level or a
Speaker 1: high school guy who's questionable and in his transition, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like that's that? I mean, like
Speaker 1: you're gonna go with the older guy, you know, and
Speaker 1: that before like Juco guys you know obviously aren't sexy.
Speaker 1: Portal guys are when you can transfer to bionable right away,
Speaker 1: like you you can really watching guys better work at
Speaker 1: whatever school he was. You see a lot of these
Speaker 1: lower level guys that lower Division one schools that are
Speaker 1: transferring up and having huge success because they're fucking good players,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, two players all over the place,
Speaker 1: and they probably are better than some of the players
Speaker 1: you recruited that you just didn't see it. You know,
Speaker 1: there's so many of them, Like I'm gonna use a
Speaker 1: kid for example, like he's gonna go to New Mexico's
Speaker 1: names Donovan Dent and Donovan dn plays for Corona Centennial
Speaker 1: and Donovan Dent a bad dude, like he's gonna go
Speaker 1: to New Mexico and impact right away, Like he's gonna
Speaker 1: be on the floor right away, and people are gonna say, well,
Speaker 1: who the hell is that? And that happens, you know,
Speaker 1: but how do you how do you discern the right fit?
Speaker 1: I mean as a as as the director when you're
Speaker 1: when you got your guys that are getting recruited, how
Speaker 1: do you sit down with them guys and what does
Speaker 1: the conversation go like when you're talking about fit in
Speaker 1: a particular school, coaching style, etcetera. So you know, for me,
Speaker 1: it depends on your level of talent. But my selfis
Speaker 1: like I had a meeting with one of the better parents,
Speaker 1: is a kind of a freshman on Sunday night, and
Speaker 1: I was recruited and I had a little computer. I
Speaker 1: was talking to him and um, you know my I said,
Speaker 1: listen for me. Like, as I'm recruiting a kid, I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, like you, I feel like he has a
Speaker 1: chance to be one of the pillars of our program.
Speaker 1: And the pillars of our program have all been getting drafted.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I mean like that, that's how me.
Speaker 1: Having this conversation with you lets you know that you're different,
Speaker 1: because I and I feel that you're different. And my
Speaker 1: speech to him was like, listen, it's like we have
Speaker 1: a group of kids and we're trying to we're trying
Speaker 1: to get the most we can out of everybody's brand
Speaker 1: one through nine, one through eight, one through nine, whatever
Speaker 1: that is. And selfishly, you're gonna make wanna make sure
Speaker 1: that your kid gets what he needs to get you wanna.
Speaker 1: You're gonna want to maximize everything he can give you,
Speaker 1: whether it's he's gonna be a high level college player
Speaker 1: or a high level pro whatever it is he's gonna be,
Speaker 1: whatever it is his talents are gonna take him to.
Speaker 1: We want to be able to maximize that, right, And
Speaker 1: there's so many things that go into that equation. Parents
Speaker 1: don't quite understand that. They think it's just like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go play and my kids nice. No, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm on the phone with like Paul being Cardi and
Speaker 1: Eric Bossi and giving you that lane just in case
Speaker 1: that lane opens up for you. Right then, hopefully you're
Speaker 1: a kid who will have choice, and by choice, I
Speaker 1: mean when you go to college, you want to go
Speaker 1: to school where whatever level that is, where you have
Speaker 1: a chance to play right away. If you're not playing
Speaker 1: right away, it's tough. It's tough. I'm not saying going
Speaker 1: against not you. You know you're fighting and all that.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm cool, but but but you do wanna All
Speaker 1: the things that we're doing are to leverage you to
Speaker 1: get on the floor as fast as you can. That's
Speaker 1: the player right unless you're ever Mulbi. Now I'm trying
Speaker 1: to play you in the league. Like there's different levels
Speaker 1: of this, but you have to have these conversations early, Prince,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean that is there special and
Speaker 1: do you have the conversation with these elite kids about
Speaker 1: leads like the G League overseas or the Overtime Elite
Speaker 1: League as a potential option to continue their basketball playing career.
Speaker 1: Having that, we have a kid in called Pete right
Speaker 1: now who's gonna who I believe will be number I
Speaker 1: believe in my experience, he's like Tod's gotta get better
Speaker 1: and he's got to work like everybody else. But I
Speaker 1: believe has a chance to be one of the top
Speaker 1: players regards to class. Where is he from Hawaii? From Arizona, Arizona. Okay,
Speaker 1: and you're saying, so what you're saying that he has
Speaker 1: some opportunities or you have this conversation with him, because
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be the best player in the country
Speaker 1: regards the class. That's who it is. He continues to
Speaker 1: develop at the rate he has been developing, like he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a super special player and already happen those
Speaker 1: conversations with his parents and what's that? I mean, what's
Speaker 1: what's that? And they got a guy like yourself. What
Speaker 1: is your sort of advice or how do you advise
Speaker 1: parents that are in that position? That's a unique position.
Speaker 1: You have a league that's paying high school kids a
Speaker 1: hundred thousand, You got the G League. I don't know
Speaker 1: what there to more than that, more than that depending
Speaker 1: on who you are. And then you have college for
Speaker 1: you know, you can get your education paid for. How
Speaker 1: do you direct or how do you advise? I'll say advice.
Speaker 1: The problem with him is he's on he just turned fifteen,
Speaker 1: he's fourteen yea and we just turned fifteen. But he's
Speaker 1: six eight to twenty athletics. Hell, he's like he's special.
Speaker 1: So the problem is is that Obviously when you're that good,
Speaker 1: everyone's calling them already like the people are already like happening,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, it's you've got to get
Speaker 1: ahead of it. That's not I mean, like all those
Speaker 1: people that you're talking about business for them, for me
Speaker 1: like a glorified hobby that I've been able to do
Speaker 1: and survive. For them, it's like their job, right, So
Speaker 1: they're trying to get ahead of this thing I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna name, like all the other people, like the agencies
Speaker 1: and the money guys and all these type of things,
Speaker 1: like it's it's already happening if you don't jump ahead
Speaker 1: of it. It's like you know, in a n i
Speaker 1: L has gave those guys the roadway for that to
Speaker 1: be okay, and it isn't fascinating. It's fascinating to see
Speaker 1: that how the n i L has been working, especially
Speaker 1: for these big, big agencies and certain companies that are
Speaker 1: allowed to have an n i L sort of wing
Speaker 1: or section in their agency as the grooming ground obviously
Speaker 1: to try to retain some of the services. So that's fascinating.
Speaker 1: But to as we're talking about all this stuff, you know,
Speaker 1: college basketball, I'm thinking back to what two thousand nineteen
Speaker 1: to college basketball scandal. Do you feel like the fallout
Speaker 1: from the scandal has changed the way businesses operated in
Speaker 1: college basketball or is it relatively unaffected despite the two
Speaker 1: thousand and nineteen scandal. I'm bothered by because you know,
Speaker 1: obviously Tony Blinds a friend of mine to coach my
Speaker 1: team this year day eighteen. Yeah, Like for me, it's
Speaker 1: like it's like you did that. All that happened because
Speaker 1: they spent so much money. I'm trying to catch somebody,
Speaker 1: like they're trying to bait everybody, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And then now it doesn't matter, like those guys all
Speaker 1: lost their careers and lives. Nothing really changed for a
Speaker 1: year later. It's a mean nothing. That's it's terrible. It's terrible.
Speaker 1: And I know Book and all the guys are it's terrible,
Speaker 1: Like irregardless of of how people look at what happened,
Speaker 1: it's like them singling out those four black dudes and
Speaker 1: and and when come on, man, like just come on.
Speaker 1: And then now a year later, everything is legal, like
Speaker 1: they you can pay a player. Yeah, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's a it's it's almost surreal. It's almost surreal because
Speaker 1: this is because I had a book on the show,
Speaker 1: and and you know book, you know, he's a straight shooter.
Speaker 1: He was just talking about how he was just trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, do what he could to take care of
Speaker 1: the kids, help and these are kids that were going without.
Speaker 1: It's not like these are kids that just had surplus
Speaker 1: of three sources and their daddy playing in the league
Speaker 1: and they got all this type of money and books
Speaker 1: want to us. Absolutely, he's he's a real He's what
Speaker 1: about all these other guys, Like, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: It's like, come on, bro, Yeah, yeah, that they picked
Speaker 1: the they picked, they picked the dudes. It's just it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's crazy, man, I just it's it's really unfortunate.
Speaker 1: It is it is time means everything really unfortunate. Um.
Speaker 1: The great thing is is Tony show clauses up in
Speaker 1: a couple of in a year and I had like,
Speaker 1: you know, Tony will get back in Um yeah, he
Speaker 1: just he just won uh the section championship at St.
Speaker 1: Bernard's Right. Oh, he's awesome, man, He's an awesome, awesome dude.
Speaker 1: At the end of the day, man, he's gonna be
Speaker 1: a shiny star. I don't think that's gonna I don't
Speaker 1: think it might be. It might have been at the
Speaker 1: time of Crutch, but you know, maybe at as he
Speaker 1: moves forward, it will be a blessing. And finally, and finally, finally,
Speaker 1: my man, I just wanted to I know, I know
Speaker 1: you've got a million things to do. I got you
Speaker 1: on here a little long, but I wanted to ask
Speaker 1: you about the n C Double A Tournament March Madness
Speaker 1: and just get your You know, I know you've got
Speaker 1: a lot of guys in the tournament, so we won't
Speaker 1: hold your answer against you. Who you like to make
Speaker 1: it to the final four this year? The teams? Who's
Speaker 1: your final four? Hey, Arizona, Texas, U C l A,
Speaker 1: Texas and USC that's my four? And get and guess
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna be the Chris Johnson correspondent. Hey, we
Speaker 1: are excited about that. Last year I asked locker Rooms,
Speaker 1: Third Dinners inside a Chris Johnson Live, Toby Toby and
Speaker 1: Chris Johnson Live. Hey, wait, baby, you're looking forward to it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be popping this March atop. Thank you so much,
Speaker 1: my man, for joining the show. Bro appreciate you, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna get it cracking. This march Man is my correspondent.
Speaker 1: I say something, no, brother, Chris Johnson fans, Hey, y'all
Speaker 1: gotta give my guy his flowers. Chris Johnson. I'm so
Speaker 1: proud this dude and how post she's become and just
Speaker 1: taking this whole platform from really from no thing. I
Speaker 1: think he was in his apartment just like pandemic, you know,
Speaker 1: like talk And I told Chris, I said, yo, I said,
Speaker 1: you're like you got a career, Like you're good, Like
Speaker 1: you need to be on TV or something. I know
Speaker 1: you used to be on T You're on TV. You
Speaker 1: were doing something a little bit a little bit on TV.
Speaker 1: But like I really saw your talent in this, even
Speaker 1: though I think you just did it because you loved
Speaker 1: it and you did it because you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do something different and make a difference or whatever.
Speaker 1: But like, kudos where you're bringing this thing, man, because
Speaker 1: I think you got a real big future in this.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, my brother, ladies and gentlemen. He took
Speaker 1: ludu Emma