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Speaker 1: Hey, welcome in. I'm Doug Gottlie. This is the All

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Speaker 1: Ball podcast, All Basketball, all the time. Look, I could

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Speaker 1: I could get lost in some needless conversation about the

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Speaker 1: Lakers or about college basketball. We got plenty of time

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Speaker 1: to get to that. I told you that one of

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Speaker 1: the things I wanted to do with this podcast. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, if it's your first time listening, thanks

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Speaker 1: so much for making as part of your podcast rotation.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget to download, subscribe, and rate this podcast. By

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Speaker 1: the way, I guess if you're listening to it, you've

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Speaker 1: already downloaded it, so subscribe and rate. During the season,

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Speaker 1: we'll have all the people that you want. I got

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Speaker 1: great commitments to having some other interesting people throughout this

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Speaker 1: off season, which is very short, very condensed, because there

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Speaker 1: seems to be no real off season outside of August

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Speaker 1: in basketball. But I'm committed to bringing people stories in basketball.

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Speaker 1: If you're listen to this, you probably love hoop, right,

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Speaker 1: you just love it. I would hope you have a

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Speaker 1: ball in the back of your car and some shoes,

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Speaker 1: actually two pairs of shoes. If you're a baller, you

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Speaker 1: got a basketball in your car. Actually check that, two basketballs.

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Speaker 1: In your car, need indoorball in your outdoorball and you

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Speaker 1: need indoor shoes, need outdoor shoes. You probably need some socks,

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Speaker 1: although let's be honest, a baller can play with no socks,

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Speaker 1: or a baller can play with some dress socks. It

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Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. The shoes are far more important than

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Speaker 1: the actual socks, regardless of which. You're a ball guy.

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Speaker 1: That's why you're listening to this. So with that in mind,

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Speaker 1: I brought you Chris Beard a couple of weeks ago.

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Speaker 1: Got some great commitments upcoming, and I really wanted to

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Speaker 1: share with you Mike roll story because look, it's real basketball.

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Speaker 1: He is a professional basketball player. I'm not gonna ask

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Speaker 1: him how much money he makes, but it's well into

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Speaker 1: six figures. Heck, might even be close into seven at

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Speaker 1: some point. The point is he makes a healthy living

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Speaker 1: as a tremendous basketball player, having played at U C.

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Speaker 1: L A for five years, a part of three Final

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Speaker 1: four teams playing for Ben hallen Uh suffered an injury,

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Speaker 1: missed the season, got a medical red shirt, came back,

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Speaker 1: and his last year was a year in which the

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Speaker 1: bottom fell out, but he had a tremendous season. Has

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Speaker 1: part laid that into a spectacular foreign career. Does he

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Speaker 1: want to come back to the States. We'll get We'll

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Speaker 1: get with that. Uh. Does he think he should have

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Speaker 1: been drafted in the NBA. We'll have him take us

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Speaker 1: through the pre draft process of the workouts he had,

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Speaker 1: the things he does to work out now, the things

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Speaker 1: he does to his body in terms of eating and

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Speaker 1: working out, and what he would have done if he

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Speaker 1: went back to high school. But I do I do

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Speaker 1: want to start with this one story out of the NBA,

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Speaker 1: and then I'll get to one thing at a college

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Speaker 1: basketball then we'll get to mic role. Channing Fry, of course,

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Speaker 1: was on a different podcast and he said, hey, look,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to play with Lebron because Lebron likes vets

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Speaker 1: to where he can walk in and go, you're a shooter,

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Speaker 1: you're a pastor, you're a driver, you're a rebounder. These

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Speaker 1: are your rules. So it's gonna be interesting to see

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Speaker 1: what the Lakers because that's how Lebron's always played. On

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Speaker 1: the other hand, I do think that the Lakers, if

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Speaker 1: they're smart, gonna challenge Lebron for Hey, Lebron two point

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Speaker 1: o or three point o or four point oh. It's

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Speaker 1: probably more four point oh than anything. Should be a

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Speaker 1: guy who can who can take a breath at times

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Speaker 1: during the game and let other people play, can be

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Speaker 1: more of a facilitator, which is a skill that doesn't

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Speaker 1: go away. Like the skill of going by everybody and

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Speaker 1: taking on a team like that, you lose that that

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Speaker 1: that first step ability. Now. I do think they'll playim

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Speaker 1: at some small ball five. He has the size to

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Speaker 1: do it. He's a sneaky shot blocker, he's a good

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Speaker 1: enough rebounder, and it'll find him the mismatch. But more

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Speaker 1: than anything, I don't think anything Shanning Fry said wasn't accurate.

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Speaker 1: It's not always easy to play with a superstar. It's

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Speaker 1: not always easy to work with a superstar. And the

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Speaker 1: idea this is not a bad thing when he's paying

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Speaker 1: the picture of Hey, he likes guys and roles. I

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Speaker 1: work with Colin Cowherd Colin Coward as a way in

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Speaker 1: which he preps every day, and if you fill in

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Speaker 1: for him as I do on his show on Fox

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Speaker 1: Sports Trade or do my own chow from twelve to

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Speaker 1: three Pacific time three to six Eastern time, there's a

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Speaker 1: way in which I do things that somebody who fills

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Speaker 1: in for me has to do. Lebron James wanting to

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Speaker 1: know shooters, passers, drivers and let them know all their roles.

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Speaker 1: That's no different than a rock group. And you know

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Speaker 1: one guy likes all green eminem's in his dressing room, right.

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Speaker 1: He wants his his his ear is volume level in

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Speaker 1: his ears to be just so. He wants to play

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Speaker 1: golf every morning. Like that's that's what musicians do. That

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Speaker 1: what actors do. That's part of their process in preparing them.

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Speaker 1: And even though I am not a Lebron is the

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Speaker 1: greatest player ever guy. I'm absolutely willing to put him

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Speaker 1: in the top five greatest players I've ever seen play

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Speaker 1: basketball conversation. But I don't view it as a negative.

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Speaker 1: I view it as really interesting. The other point that

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Speaker 1: Channing Fry made, which was something I've said on radio,

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Speaker 1: it's completely different when you're playing with Lebron in terms

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Speaker 1: of how much people prepped for you. Right, Look, Lebron

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Speaker 1: come into town. Go and look at all of these

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Speaker 1: different teams and their websites or their Twitter Twitter handles.

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Speaker 1: When the schedule came out, the Dallas Mavericks, check out

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Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks schedules and the two games we play

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Speaker 1: at home against Lebron and the Lakers, you're everybody's biggest game.

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Speaker 1: There are lots games in the NBA where guys are

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Speaker 1: second night of a back to back and they went

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Speaker 1: out when they landed in town and they're not taking

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Speaker 1: it as seriously. That's not the case when the Lakers

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Speaker 1: come to town. So the challenge to these Lakers will

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Speaker 1: be can they play the same system they've played against

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Speaker 1: a higher level of competition with a heightened amount of

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Speaker 1: detail and do it while working in Lebron James, who's

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Speaker 1: played in his own system for the entirety of his career.

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Speaker 1: I think it's fascinating. In college basketball, what I'm fascinated

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Speaker 1: by is the Duke Blue Devils. I know Kentucky played

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Speaker 1: in the Bahamas, and I've watched those tapes as well,

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Speaker 1: but everyone is I don't know everyone. A lot of

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Speaker 1: people are freaking out over Zion Williamson making some jump

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Speaker 1: shots and frankly looking great and there foreign tour against Canada.

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Speaker 1: First thing is um R J. Barrett obviously is the

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Speaker 1: better talent, and as good as Zion was, he was

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Speaker 1: even better. The second thing is let's also catch our

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Speaker 1: breath and realize that they're playing against massively inferior competition.

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Speaker 1: They just weren't. They weren't The Canadian teams they're playing

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Speaker 1: against weren't. They weren't really even Division one teams. So

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Speaker 1: it's great for Duke and for Kentucky to promote their

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Speaker 1: players to get some run, to get some cohesion so

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Speaker 1: that when they hit the ground running early in November

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Speaker 1: and playing He's made for TV games, They've already played together.

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Speaker 1: They don't have to, and they're they're the verbiage that

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Speaker 1: they have to learn and some of the defensive slides

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Speaker 1: and adjustments they have to make. The questions for Zion

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Speaker 1: Williamson being at six ft five pounds, I just I

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Speaker 1: don't see playing at that weight is a good idea.

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Speaker 1: Like if I'm advising Zion, I'm telling him, a dude, look,

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Speaker 1: you look great there, and you have an incredible burst.

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Speaker 1: You can chase dudes down and block shots. But we

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Speaker 1: gotta try and get you in the two sixties. I

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Speaker 1: gotta try and get you in the two six. You've

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Speaker 1: got a couple of months to do. So it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be about diet. It's gonna be how we change your body,

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Speaker 1: how we train you. Because Zion Williamson's ability to make

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Speaker 1: it in the NBA and stick in the NBA. Yes,

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Speaker 1: has to make jump shots, but it's can he play

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Speaker 1: eighty two games? And can he guard laterally five five positions?

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Speaker 1: You know physically with long arms and a thick body,

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Speaker 1: there's not a ton of posts. He won't be big

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Speaker 1: boy that much. But can he guard these guys out

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Speaker 1: in the perimeter? One he hasn't always played hard defensively,

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Speaker 1: and two he's gonna have to change his body as

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Speaker 1: much as he's an absolute tank and a physical FREAQ.

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Speaker 1: When he plants his his his jump foot and he

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Speaker 1: flies all around, I think he's got lightened up. And

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Speaker 1: when you're sometimes we we we gotta watch the game backwards.

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Speaker 1: Can he defend point guards on switches? Can he guard

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Speaker 1: on the perimeter? Is he tough enough underneath the basket

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Speaker 1: playing against bigger players to box out to rebound? Because

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Speaker 1: the reason Traymond Green is not a great athlete. Remember,

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Speaker 1: Drink can't jump up and do anything that the Zion

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Speaker 1: can do. And frankly, Zion right now is going to

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Speaker 1: progress towards being a better shooter um in. Draymond Green

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Speaker 1: granted very early, and he's gotta put in massive represence

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Speaker 1: against inferior competition. But Draymond played without a jump shot

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Speaker 1: last year. Draymond Green is Raymond Green because his ability

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Speaker 1: to pass, He's ability to play five positions on offense,

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Speaker 1: but more than anything, because he can guard defensively. That's

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Speaker 1: the challenge design Williams. All right, let's get to the

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Speaker 1: to our special guest in the All Ball Podcast names

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Speaker 1: Mike Role played at U C l A. Well, I

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Speaker 1: was great catching up with Mike. Uh. I'll tell you

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Speaker 1: quickly my story of landing in Russia. So I was sometime.

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Speaker 1: I'll go through the whole process and tell this story again,

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Speaker 1: but here's what I remember. I was in Salina, Kansas,

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Speaker 1: playing with the Salanta Rattlers, and it was a short

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Speaker 1: term deal because I knew I was going to get

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Speaker 1: a call to play overseas. And an agent at the

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Speaker 1: time called me and said, hey, do you want to

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Speaker 1: go to Russia? And I was like sure. So we

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Speaker 1: packed up our stuff from Salina. I dropped my wife

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Speaker 1: off in Oklahoma City at our apartment in Ocala. Uh. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think at our parents house and she was going

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Speaker 1: to join me in a couple of weeks. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we had apartment in Oklahoma City, and so we dropped

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Speaker 1: off in an apartment in Oklahoma City, like a four

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Speaker 1: hour drive or so. I fly from Oklahoma City to

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Speaker 1: New York City. New York City, have to go to

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Speaker 1: the Russian consulate and then overnight I fly on air

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Speaker 1: float too Russia. I land in Moscow and when you

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Speaker 1: land in Moscow, you don't speak in English. And at

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Speaker 1: the time, this is two thousand and one January two

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Speaker 1: thousand one, snowing outside, everybody's smoking. Everywhere you land, you

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Speaker 1: go through, you get your bags, you got all your

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Speaker 1: lifely possessions, and all there was was a sign in

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Speaker 1: Russian with a basketball. This guy could have been at

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Speaker 1: axe murder. Right. You've ever been on that road from

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Speaker 1: from the Cancun airport to Plia del Carmen and it's

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Speaker 1: like a two lane road each way, and there's nothing

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Speaker 1: along the road, and you're like, if somebody murdered me

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Speaker 1: right here, no one would ever know for months. That's

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Speaker 1: the feeling. When I got into the car in Russia,

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Speaker 1: I was super groggy because I traveled again to New

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Speaker 1: York City and then overnight and I yet to master

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Speaker 1: flying on red eyes and whatever, and smoke really bothered me.

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Speaker 1: We stopped to eat at a Russian restaurant. I didn't

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Speaker 1: speak English. The guy ordered for me to smoke everywhere.

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Speaker 1: We drank tea afterwards, and I passed out in the car.

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Speaker 1: And here's my my most distinct memory, in addition to

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Speaker 1: the fact that the guy just had a sign and

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Speaker 1: didn't speak in English, who was driving me from one

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Speaker 1: Moscow airport to another? If you've been to Russia and

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Speaker 1: you didn't fly just in the Moscow to stay, you

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Speaker 1: knew you had to go to a different airport. I

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Speaker 1: was so tired. It was like a spy movie where

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Speaker 1: somebody I was like b a baracus in the A

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Speaker 1: team right where they gave me a shot, and I

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Speaker 1: was like in and out of consciousness. I remember waking

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Speaker 1: up and seeing like we're pulling in, We're pulling by

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Speaker 1: Red Square, We're like a mile out. And then I

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Speaker 1: woke up again and we're right next to Red Square.

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Speaker 1: And then I woke up again and Red Square was gone.

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Speaker 1: But I remember seeing Red Square in the towers and

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Speaker 1: all the look and I'm like I could not believe

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Speaker 1: growing up in the eighties watching Red Dawn, Wolverades or

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Speaker 1: Rocky four. Boys can change, and youth can change. We

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Speaker 1: all can change that. I was in made Russia, but

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Speaker 1: I was, and then I passed out and I woke

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Speaker 1: up and I'm at another airport. And there weren't sheep

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Speaker 1: and goats and chickens and pigs that got on my

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Speaker 1: flight to parm Russia, but it sure felt that way.

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Speaker 1: And I remember the seats on that air flow plane.

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Speaker 1: If you nobody was sitting in there, you could push

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Speaker 1: it forward. They would almost fold down, like it was

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Speaker 1: like being on a on a weird bus. Only we

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Speaker 1: were flying and people are smoking and drinking vodka and koonak.

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Speaker 1: You drink koonak to uh to take a shot to

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Speaker 1: for a famous war for stalling goodad they got done

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Speaker 1: and gooead and they drink excessively. We land in perm Russia,

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Speaker 1: and I remember getting off and it was one of

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Speaker 1: those they they bring the stairs right to the plane

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Speaker 1: and he walked down the stairs and you realize that

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Speaker 1: you landed on like a foot thick piece of ice

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Speaker 1: because it's that cold. What's the point of what's the

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Speaker 1: point of going back and getting the ice when it's

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Speaker 1: that cold every day at a park on and some

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Speaker 1: gloves on and a beanie on and a scarf on,

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Speaker 1: and all you can see is my face and my breath.

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Speaker 1: And I had like an Oklahoma State park on the bags.

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Speaker 1: Come in outside and again this time I walk outside

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Speaker 1: and there's a lady who does speak some broken English.

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Speaker 1: They put me in a van that has the basketball

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Speaker 1: logo on the van, and they take me to my apartment,

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Speaker 1: which is on the ninth floor. And I remember like

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Speaker 1: walking up the stairs or going up the elevator, getting

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Speaker 1: to the ninth floor, opening opening the door and looking

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Speaker 1: around and thinking to myself, this is either the start

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Speaker 1: or the end of my basketball career that's playing overseas.

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Speaker 1: That's what's really like. No food in the apartment. Had

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Speaker 1: to go and pick out stuff. Learned that the word

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Speaker 1: this is at the so i'd walk around the we're

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Speaker 1: go at the at the at the at the which

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Speaker 1: is pleased by jallatt by jasta. And I didn't know

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Speaker 1: that Russians don't really say please and thank you that much,

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Speaker 1: so they could pick me out that, in addition to

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Speaker 1: the fact that I couldn't speak Russian. I was saying please,

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Speaker 1: then thank you a lot. Anyway, there's my Russian story

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Speaker 1: for the day. Guy picking me up, doesn't speak English,

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Speaker 1: holding a sign driving me across Moscow, stopping for dinner,

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Speaker 1: to which he made the mind do you want to eat?

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Speaker 1: And I said yes. I still don't know what I ate.

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Speaker 1: It was quite gross. I drank tea. I fell asleep.

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Speaker 1: I woke up. I was another airport. More smoke, more drinking, land,

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Speaker 1: sheet of ice, baggage van, close the door to van,

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Speaker 1: ninth floor. I'm in my apartment. I passed out, woke

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Speaker 1: up the next day and play ball. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: welcome in my girl, who, of course start at U

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Speaker 1: C l A and now is a star with one

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Speaker 1: of the elite teams in all of professional basketball. He

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Speaker 1: plays from Akabi Tel Aviv. Kind of have to spend

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Speaker 1: some time with this year. In the All Ball podcast, Mike,

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Speaker 1: how are you? How are you? I'm good? Um, so

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Speaker 1: look at the time of this recording, I believe you

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Speaker 1: leave for Israel tomorrow, right, yeah, alright, the thirty hours

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Speaker 1: uh between now and the NonStop flight to Tel Aviv.

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Speaker 1: I wanted if if you don't mind, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: go down kind of memory road, and because I think

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Speaker 1: your path is amazing. It really is. From high school

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Speaker 1: when you're supposed to go to ucs B, to go

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Speaker 1: into u c l A, play on some final four teams,

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Speaker 1: and then you know, kind of fighting your way up

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Speaker 1: the ladder in professional basketball to play for you know,

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Speaker 1: Beshi toash Now Maccabi Tel Aviv, you know, being a

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Speaker 1: Turkish League All Star before you come over to Israel.

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Speaker 1: Like that. That's the climb that I don't think a

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Speaker 1: lot of people in the state's get a chance to

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Speaker 1: hear from um. Let's let's start. Let's start with with

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Speaker 1: high school and recruiting. You're highly touted out of mission

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Speaker 1: via HO and you're supposed to go to UCSB. Why

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Speaker 1: the chain in going to u c l A. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So the recruitment from uh L A was a late thing.

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Speaker 1: I went through the whole recruiting process, you know, I

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Speaker 1: fell in love with a couple of schools, ultimately chose

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Speaker 1: Santa Barbara. I wanted to stay a little bit close

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Speaker 1: to home, and then I had verbally committed and I

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Speaker 1: was really excited about that. And then shortly into the

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Speaker 1: beginning of my senior year. I believe it was UM

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Speaker 1: coach Allen called me. Uh he offered me a scholarship

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Speaker 1: right there on the phone, and I was just something

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Speaker 1: too good for me to pass it up, and luckily

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Speaker 1: I took it. Yeah, I remember. It's it's interesting because

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Speaker 1: um I obviously also grew up in Orange County. I

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Speaker 1: remember I was at tested in high school. My my

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Speaker 1: sister was a cheerier U C. L A. My brother

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Speaker 1: went to school there, and they didn't offer me. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't late. They didn't have me till summer before my

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Speaker 1: senior year, and I kind of held it against them, right.

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Speaker 1: I was like, dude, like you've known me since I

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Speaker 1: was knee high. I used to be a ball boy

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Speaker 1: when when Walt Hazzard was there, and uh, like it was.

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Speaker 1: It felt like a perfect match. Although maybe I had

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Speaker 1: to kind of blow up at abc D camp before

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Speaker 1: I could get there. So how did you process the

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Speaker 1: idea of like, hey, I could go to u C.

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Speaker 1: S B and maybe start for four years plus if

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Speaker 1: you haven't been, if somebody hasn't been, I would. I

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Speaker 1: would put down u C. SPS campus is the best

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Speaker 1: in California, even better than Pepperdine because Pepperdine overlooks the water,

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Speaker 1: whereas U c s B is literally on the water. Um,

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Speaker 1: and it's like a better it's a party town. It's

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Speaker 1: like it's a cool place to go to school. How

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Speaker 1: did you process the idea of going to ucs B

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Speaker 1: and being a star as opposed to being part of

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Speaker 1: an ensemble cast at u c l A. Yeah, So

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Speaker 1: my dad originally was so against the idea of me

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Speaker 1: going to u c l A for exactly what you said. Uh.

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Speaker 1: He thought I would be the bigger fish in the

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Speaker 1: small pond at Santa Barbara, and the small fish and

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Speaker 1: the big pond at U c l A. Um. Benny

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Speaker 1: Hellen had just got there. He had really recruited some stars. Um.

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Speaker 1: The class before me was in my position with Aaron

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Speaker 1: and Falo, and the other guard was Jordan Farmer Are

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Speaker 1: and Josh shipped the talented crew. Um. So at first,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was a little bit hesitant because of

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Speaker 1: what my dad said. Um. But after that, you know,

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Speaker 1: I thought about it. I believed in myself and you

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Speaker 1: shall add basketball and all the law and everything about it.

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Speaker 1: You know, I just wanted to be a part of

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Speaker 1: that brotherhood, that community and I just ultimately took the jump.

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Speaker 1: But like you said, Santa Barbara, that campus, while unbelievable,

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Speaker 1: I already knew a bunch of friends that we're going

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Speaker 1: to go to school there. You know, I'm familiar with

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Speaker 1: Santa Barbara and not being that far. So that that

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Speaker 1: part it was tough because I was like traffic in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles, you know, the whole school, Like I'm in

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Speaker 1: love with the whole Santa Barbara. You skateboard, you biked,

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Speaker 1: the class, can serve on the weekends. So that part

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Speaker 1: it was a change of mentality and ultimately for me,

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Speaker 1: I love groups and that's where I wanted out. All right,

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Speaker 1: So you go to u c l A. You show

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Speaker 1: up and your your first team at U c l A.

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Speaker 1: Who was on it, uh was Cedric Bosman, Ryan hollwand

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Speaker 1: Aarona Flanlo, Jordan Farmer, Josh Ship My my class was

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Speaker 1: there and call us In Luke and Ball Mute and

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Speaker 1: two other talented freshmen. We were a very star studded teams,

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Speaker 1: very good teams ended up making the final four. We

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Speaker 1: won the pack ten. Wow, it was great. What was

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Speaker 1: it about Howland that allowed you? I mean, look, you

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Speaker 1: guys had you just named off seven NBA players right

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Speaker 1: outside of yourself, um, and and Josh Ship, who I

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Speaker 1: don't think played in the league, but I know he

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Speaker 1: played overseas. So he got seven NBA players and you

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Speaker 1: being a uh, like a European League All Star Like

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Speaker 1: those are some that's elite level of talent outside of

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Speaker 1: the talent, which which was important. And as soon as

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Speaker 1: Howland got the job, he hit the ground running in

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Speaker 1: recruited l a hard. Uh. What what was it allowed

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Speaker 1: that allowed him to be successful coaching wise? From your perspective, Yeah,

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00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:03,159
Speaker 1: he's he's uh. He demands physicality and toughness and be

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Speaker 1: prior to him coming at usual. I think that's what

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00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,600
Speaker 1: everybody was lacking there. Um, he he got the most

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Speaker 1: out of our talent with that toughness. You know, he's

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Speaker 1: playing hard makes up for a lot of mistakes. And

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Speaker 1: we were all just able to believe in what he

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Speaker 1: said in that sense, and we just played, you know,

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Speaker 1: every night and gave everything and we made up for

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Speaker 1: a lot of his small details that the mistakes that

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Speaker 1: you make in basketball by just overcoming with your your

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Speaker 1: power and your will. Yeah, And I brought some of

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Speaker 1: that mentality from his time is interesting kind of the

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Speaker 1: ties that bind, right, like he was he started his

390
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Speaker 1: career at UCSB, worked his way around to the East

391
00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:39,720
Speaker 1: Coast and brought some of that kind of East Coast

392
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Speaker 1: back to u c l A. Um, your second year,

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Speaker 1: you go back, you go back to the final four,

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Speaker 1: and you didn't you face Florida again? Right? Wasn't that

395
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Speaker 1: the You played him again and kind of the same

396
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,240
Speaker 1: thing happened, right, he used You guys used to hedgehard,

397
00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,440
Speaker 1: almost a double team ball screens and you would always

398
00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:58,879
Speaker 1: post double and it was like the one team in

399
00:19:58,920 --> 00:20:01,480
Speaker 1: college basketball that you could not play that way against.

400
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Speaker 1: It felt like the same game play in the second

401
00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:08,280
Speaker 1: time around. Yeah, looking back on it, Uh, it definitely hurts. Uh.

402
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:10,840
Speaker 1: You know, they had two twin dours down there, Joakim

403
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,720
Speaker 1: Noah and Al Horford, and yeah, we we like to

404
00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 1: double the posts. We believe that, you know, bad pastors

405
00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,679
Speaker 1: can't pass out and good players you need help. So

406
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,960
Speaker 1: we kind of went with a similar game plan, and

407
00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,280
Speaker 1: you know, they had really good pieces to that. Troy

408
00:20:25,359 --> 00:20:28,640
Speaker 1: Humphries was out there, um or Lee Humphries, I think

409
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,320
Speaker 1: it was was out there just knocking down wide open threes.

410
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 1: How bad did you have double? How bad did you

411
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,040
Speaker 1: want to be that guy? Right? Lee Humphreys, Like they

412
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,360
Speaker 1: had all those plays, Like, dude, if I went to Florida,

413
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:42,240
Speaker 1: that would be me. Yeah, exactly. Uh two twin dours

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Speaker 1: Corey Brewer on the Wink Tory and Green was a

415
00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,760
Speaker 1: very solid point guard for them. Uh. He just had

416
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:52,439
Speaker 1: open looks. And I mean at that level, it's cash money, Okay.

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00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 1: So look, you play with all these different dudes. Russ

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00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 1: comes in, right, you got DC, Darren Collison, Drew Holiday,

419
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,880
Speaker 1: you play with Kevin Love of those in college? Did

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00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: you know Russ would be Russ? Did not know Russ

421
00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,160
Speaker 1: would be Russ. Uh. I knew he had a crazy

422
00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,919
Speaker 1: work ethic. But when he came in, if you go

423
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,560
Speaker 1: back and look at the pictures, he's this gangly, skinny freshman. Uh,

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00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:19,720
Speaker 1: you can tell he's really athletic, but you don't know

425
00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:21,560
Speaker 1: if he's gonna be able to put it all together.

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00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: He slowly fills out a little bit more a sophomore year,

427
00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,399
Speaker 1: and the best thing to happen to him was that

428
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: Darren Collison got hurt at the beginning of the year.

429
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,000
Speaker 1: We had to slide Russell over to the point guard

430
00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,840
Speaker 1: and that's where he got his feet wet. Uh. He

431
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,159
Speaker 1: was very turnover prone at the time. I think he

432
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 1: was learning the point guard position. But you could just

433
00:21:42,840 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 1: see flashes of brilliance his athleticism out there. He could

434
00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:51,880
Speaker 1: really play defense. His his rebounding was elite. And after that,

435
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: I mean he just shot up the Yeah. But you

436
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 1: also he had Remember he had that dunk against cal

437
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,119
Speaker 1: that was just phenomenal. But I just it was he

438
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,960
Speaker 1: had one against brother was But I mean, like, look,

439
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: he just such a freak. But you usually wasn't known

440
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 1: to have a great strength program, Like you didn't have

441
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,119
Speaker 1: guys that. Did his body change naturally or was it

442
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,159
Speaker 1: working with your guys? He work somebody? How did he

443
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: go from nine minutes a game as a freshman to

444
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,640
Speaker 1: the fourth pick and such a freak athlete? Yeah, that's

445
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,400
Speaker 1: it's amazing to see. For one, But I think Russell

446
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: is just naturally gifted, um to be what he is now.

447
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,080
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to have a really a god

448
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:37,439
Speaker 1: given body and talent. He's worked hard, but what he

449
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,240
Speaker 1: has I think is not natural for many humans. Okay,

450
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: what about Kevin Love? When you Kevin Love, I was

451
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,640
Speaker 1: always told like, dude was a star. But but there

452
00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: were a lot of people that didn't like Kevin Love.

453
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,840
Speaker 1: There was some about his personality. What was his personality

454
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,639
Speaker 1: like when he first showed up in Westwood. Yeah, you

455
00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,639
Speaker 1: could tell that he loved basketball immediately. I loved that

456
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,399
Speaker 1: about him. He was always wanting to play. I always

457
00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:07,000
Speaker 1: wanted to work. Uh, super skilled, like far more skilled

458
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: than any big that we had. What works spin moves

459
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,720
Speaker 1: his field for the game. Where how does guys? While

460
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,399
Speaker 1: his feeling ability downlow was unbelieved. We played Stanford his

461
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 1: freshman year and they had the too Lopez to end

462
00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:23,840
Speaker 1: at the time, and I think he outstanded both of

463
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,160
Speaker 1: them combined. He's just feeling them right under the paint.

464
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:29,400
Speaker 1: They're a little taller than he is, they can't block

465
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,240
Speaker 1: his shot because he's so good with his body. Uh.

466
00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,880
Speaker 1: He was a really nice guy. So his time there

467
00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 1: it was really enjoyable. Okay, So Drew comes in there,

468
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 1: and um, when you came back from injury after your

469
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,919
Speaker 1: medical redshirt year, ye're behind Drew, And of course d

470
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 1: C chose to not go pro, so they were kind

471
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: of you Drew one to play the point. Hallan probably

472
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,400
Speaker 1: promised him played the point, only he played the two.

473
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:54,480
Speaker 1: They didn't seem to get along. What was what was

474
00:23:54,560 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday like to play within college? Yeah, Drew's uh

475
00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:05,000
Speaker 1: a quiet guy. Um, he's very good. You could see

476
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 1: that also the minute he stepped on the campus. The

477
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: thing that struck me for Drew was his left hand.

478
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: He's always going back to the left hand. He prefers that.

479
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,240
Speaker 1: So many guys you know, think that he's right handed.

480
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: He's always trying to get that and he could just

481
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,920
Speaker 1: easily get by people because they're not used to that. Um.

482
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 1: But he's very nice. And yeah, he wanted to play

483
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 1: the point, but DC was such a good college point guard.

484
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 1: He ran it exactly how Ben Hallen wanted, how we

485
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,960
Speaker 1: wanted to play defense. So it was like he got

486
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,000
Speaker 1: a give and take at the time for both coach

487
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: and for both of them. You know, one of the

488
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,200
Speaker 1: things that that impressed me about your career in college

489
00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,119
Speaker 1: was through all of this, through all these NBA talents,

490
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 1: all Americans breeding brought in one and done, two and

491
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,880
Speaker 1: done whatever like it, it felt like you kept working,

492
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 1: whereas a lot of guys they get mad and they

493
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: transfer so they can play or you know, they just

494
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: kind of accept their role and almost shut it down.

495
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 1: What was really going on behind the scenes? You, your dad,

496
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 1: you and your friends. Uh you just internally, how did

497
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: you process kind of fighting for every scrap in terms

498
00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: of playing time and sometimes not being rewarded with it. Yeah,

499
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,359
Speaker 1: that's that's exactly what it was. It was a battle inside.

500
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,120
Speaker 1: I heard, you know, all the rumors of who they

501
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: wanted to bring in. At first, it was they were

502
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: really recruiting Chase budd Inger hard and my trainer was like,

503
00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 1: I don't understand they have you. Why did they want

504
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:31,920
Speaker 1: another guard? There was always something who was going to

505
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,280
Speaker 1: transfer in, but I was already behind in an NBA

506
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,520
Speaker 1: player and Aerona Flo. So for me, every day it

507
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,520
Speaker 1: was just trying to get better. You know. I didn't

508
00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: know who they were going to bring in, and I

509
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,040
Speaker 1: told myself I couldn't worry about that anymore. I just

510
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: I was there. I was living the uh l A dream.

511
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,320
Speaker 1: We were really good. I had a chance to be

512
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 1: a pro and I figured that out when I got

513
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,879
Speaker 1: to college. So for me, it was just trying to

514
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,640
Speaker 1: improve and trying to scrape as many minutes as possible.

515
00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: I knew we were one of the more loaded teams

516
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: at the guard position in the whole country. We had

517
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,199
Speaker 1: to call it scouts nearly every day at practice. So

518
00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,399
Speaker 1: it was a great opportunity. And as soon as I

519
00:26:09,440 --> 00:26:13,160
Speaker 1: got in that mode, in that mode attacking all the time. Uh,

520
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: you could see my improvement every year and I was

521
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: gaining more and more minutes. And by the time that

522
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,719
Speaker 1: I was, you know, my fourth in my fifth year, Um,

523
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,600
Speaker 1: I was one of the leaders of the team. Yeah.

524
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: He lad keemen scoring and I believe in assists. Um. Uh.

525
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: You know in your in your season season and of

526
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,320
Speaker 1: course you played like a hundred and forty seven games there.

527
00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: Nobody knows more about used to play in U c

528
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 1: l A basketball games in mic role who joined us?

529
00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 1: All right, so here's the here's the part that that

530
00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,239
Speaker 1: I really want to get to you get because so

531
00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: many people can can use this as useful information, whether

532
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,520
Speaker 1: it's high school kids, a you kids or coaches, college

533
00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:49,919
Speaker 1: kids as well and listen to the or or just

534
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 1: people that want to know about basketball. Your career gets

535
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,359
Speaker 1: done at U c l A. Yeah, you play in

536
00:26:55,400 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 1: the Reese's All American Game at the final four. Uh,

537
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 1: take me through the process of you had summer League,

538
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 1: you had the draft, you have overseas basketball. Did you

539
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: sign with an agent right away? What? What? What? What happened? First?

540
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,920
Speaker 1: Take me through the succession of events. So I'm graduated

541
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 1: my senior I'm playing the Reese's All Star Game. That

542
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 1: was a really fun experience. I'm kind of gauging what

543
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 1: everybody else is doing, who they're talking to, agent wise,

544
00:27:22,800 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: what their next steps are. Uh. I decided to go

545
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,440
Speaker 1: with Chris Emmons from Octagon. He is my agent, um,

546
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,239
Speaker 1: the only real agent that recruited me basically, so I

547
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: was happy with that. We started training at the at

548
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,480
Speaker 1: the a P Facility, which is in Carson, California. Athletes

549
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 1: performance for the pre draft. We're in there six days

550
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: a week all the way from the time that I

551
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 1: graduated into the pre draft. So I'm thinking, Okay, let's

552
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 1: get these workouts in. I think I had eight to

553
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 1: ten workouts. Um when I went. I killed the workouts.

554
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: But the nomenclature against me, and I'm a white guy.

555
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:03,240
Speaker 1: They think I'm slow just because I'm whiteness the basketball. Uh,

556
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 1: they think I'm strictly a shooter. I get to the workouts,

557
00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: I showed that I can handle a little bit. I

558
00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:11,359
Speaker 1: can still get pass guys, but it's not enough to

559
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 1: get me drafted. Um. I'm I'm realistic. I didn't think

560
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:16,439
Speaker 1: I was going to be. I just thought I had

561
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,879
Speaker 1: to get a shot, maybe at a camp deal or

562
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: something like that. So I go, I have a great

563
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,440
Speaker 1: summer league. Hold on, hold on, hold away, Let's go back.

564
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: Let's go back to the workout. Let's go back to

565
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:27,960
Speaker 1: the workouts. Give me some give me somebody. You killed

566
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:32,160
Speaker 1: the workout. That that's that's something. You killed the workout. Okay,

567
00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not gonna say I killed, but okay,

568
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,640
Speaker 1: there was Um. I got to go up against one

569
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: on one session with Paul George in the Valley was

570
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,440
Speaker 1: Danny Ainge there. It was just him and I have

571
00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,040
Speaker 1: more than held my own. That was a very eye opening.

572
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:49,480
Speaker 1: I got to go up against Gordon Hayward for the

573
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 1: Warriors up in up in the Bay is very well there. Um.

574
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: And then the other group sessions, it was most of

575
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 1: them were just shooting skills and I was well prepared

576
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: training with mile assignment for the pre Droft that was

577
00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,520
Speaker 1: an elite shape. So I was just out running everybody.

578
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 1: I handled everything that they threw at me, and so

579
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: as the word kind of got out that, you know,

580
00:29:12,200 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: I was a little bit better than what I was

581
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,520
Speaker 1: able to show. Ut uh l A, I kept getting

582
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,640
Speaker 1: more calls to come work out, and it was better

583
00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:21,640
Speaker 1: for me. You know. It's it's interesting you bring up

584
00:29:21,680 --> 00:29:24,320
Speaker 1: the like the so often times we don't discuss it

585
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: enough and radio and TV is the idea that hey, look,

586
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: you're a white guy and so sex second you walk

587
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 1: in the gym, the shooter right, shooter um in these

588
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: and look one on one it doesn't doesn't matter as much.

589
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 1: But how much of it did you try and prove

590
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,520
Speaker 1: people wrong? And how much of it did you just

591
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:43,880
Speaker 1: try and play your game right? Because that's what they

592
00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:45,840
Speaker 1: say that pros do what they do well and don't

593
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: do what they don't do well. On the other hand,

594
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 1: you do want to prove like, hey, dude, I got

595
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 1: a good first step. I am a really good athlete.

596
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: How did you handle that in your workouts? Yeah, that's

597
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: that's a great point. So because me, I'm I'm great

598
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 1: in a system. You know, I have a great feel

599
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: for the game five on five. I can make reads,

600
00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 1: I can cut off other people. So I'm a lot

601
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 1: better in that sense. But in the workouts it's one

602
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: on one, two on two, so you want to show

603
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: everything that you can. You know, on the one on

604
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: zero you're trying to do these crazy down show that

605
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,440
Speaker 1: you can jump more than they think. Like you said,

606
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: they think I'm a shooter immediately, they think I'm probably slow.

607
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,959
Speaker 1: So as I'm going up against you know, my fellow

608
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 1: classmates and I score, whatever happens, they're kind of looking

609
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: at me like, Okay, this kid can play a little

610
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: bit more than I expect. That's just how it is

611
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: when you're a white basketball player coming up. That's just

612
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 1: how it goes. So try to do everything as much

613
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:44,560
Speaker 1: as you can, as best as possible, just to show that,

614
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,080
Speaker 1: you know, it's not just you're strictly a shooter. All right.

615
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 1: So you you decide to go to Toronto for the summing,

616
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,120
Speaker 1: you go undrafted? What's that like? By the way, like,

617
00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 1: let's go back to the two draft. Did you watch? Yeah?

618
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,960
Speaker 1: I did watch. I watched the probably the fifteen picks,

619
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: and then after that it was just taking too long. Um,

620
00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 1: Chris had not called me saying there was any buzz,

621
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: so I just figured that I wasn't going to get drafted,

622
00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: and I wanted to just hear from him the next

623
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,200
Speaker 1: day to see if we could get a camp deal

624
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: or what was the next step. Uh, every day with

625
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: Landry Field. So I was really excited for Landry because

626
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: I had a feeling that he was going to get drafted,

627
00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: And as soon as I found out that the Knicks

628
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: picked him, um, it was it was just a good

629
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 1: night for that and we were all happy. Most a

630
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: lot of guys, A lot of guys who I think

631
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: they should get drafted fire their agent right after the draft, right, Like,

632
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 1: that's that's the whole thing. Everybody's I'm late first early second,

633
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: and you want to be somebody's second agent, because in

634
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 1: order to land you as their client, they have to

635
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: tell you that they're going to get you drafted. Uh

636
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: that was That wasn't the case with you and Chris correct, No,

637
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: absolutely not. Um. I just wanted to have a good situation,

638
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 1: whether it was trying to get a camp deal or oversea.

639
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: You know, I had a couple of friends already that

640
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 1: played overseas basketball. They liked it, So I was definitely

641
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,800
Speaker 1: open minded to going to Europe and going that route.

642
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: So how did it come to be that your first

643
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: gig end up being in Bornova in Turkey. Yeah, So

644
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,920
Speaker 1: I go to Summer League with the Raptors. We have

645
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,680
Speaker 1: like a mini mini training camp up in Toronto prior

646
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 1: to going out to Las Vegas. And that's when a

647
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 1: bunch of those guys were young, Demard Rose and Sunny Weems,

648
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: Joey Dorsey, um, Jared Jack was up there for the camp,

649
00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 1: although he was not a part of that. He was

650
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 1: just out there shooting. We had a great camp. I

651
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: definitely raised some eyes there, but again nothing happened. I

652
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,880
Speaker 1: think their team was already filled. So I Chris came

653
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: to me, said, I got this good deal in Turkey.

654
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:50,080
Speaker 1: The Turkish League is really good. If you go show

655
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:52,360
Speaker 1: that you can play there, then you could really move

656
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,040
Speaker 1: up the ladder from Europe in a hurry. So I

657
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: decided to take that jump, and and that's where I signed. Okay, way,

658
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:01,960
Speaker 1: let's go. Let's go back to when you're when you're

659
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: in Toronto. UM my summer league experiences with the Lakers,

660
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 1: and I remember walking to the building and the first

661
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,360
Speaker 1: like week I walked into the building, I was I

662
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,280
Speaker 1: felt like a foreigner, like I didn't belong there. You

663
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 1: look up and there's posters. You know, there's there's Kareem,

664
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: and there's Will and there's at the time, Shaq and

665
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: Kobe are playing there in the winning championships, and like,

666
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 1: what the hell am I doing here? And then like

667
00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:24,400
Speaker 1: you know, a week and a half in, you start

668
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 1: to know everybody at the facility. You start to feel

669
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 1: like you put on the jersey. It doesn't feel foreign

670
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,440
Speaker 1: to you, and you have to have some sort of

671
00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,360
Speaker 1: confidence that you can play. As much as you were

672
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,080
Speaker 1: raising eyebrows, was there a moment to which you're like, dude,

673
00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make this thing, only to have it have it?

674
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: Have it worked the other way when they came in

675
00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 1: and told you we're gonna We're gonna let you go

676
00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 1: and and keep an eye on him. Yeah, we played

677
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:48,720
Speaker 1: I think it was we played the Knicks in the

678
00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 1: summer League. I think it was maybe the first or

679
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,080
Speaker 1: second game, and I hadn't been playing too much and

680
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,800
Speaker 1: then they gave me a huge opportunity in the second half. Um,

681
00:33:57,840 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: I really made some nice buckets. I think it was

682
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:01,840
Speaker 1: like team points in the second half. And after that,

683
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, they're gonna give me a real chance

684
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: from here on, now, this and that, and then it

685
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,479
Speaker 1: kind of just didn't go my way after that point

686
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,319
Speaker 1: and get as much playing time. They told me that

687
00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: they were already stacked at the guard positions, so they

688
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 1: weren't looking for another one. And that's when it was

689
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,480
Speaker 1: like kind of like a blow, you know, to the stomach.

690
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 1: As much as I didn't think I was going to

691
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: be able to make the NBA my first year round it,

692
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:28,880
Speaker 1: it still hurts to hear, no, no, no question. I

693
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 1: think the other thing is your college career, because you

694
00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: had so many different roles, actually probably prepares you to

695
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,080
Speaker 1: be a role player in the NBA better than other guys, right,

696
00:34:39,160 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: Like most guys. The hardest thing I think that most

697
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,440
Speaker 1: players adjust struggle to adjust to is you know, from

698
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,360
Speaker 1: the time they're eight years old until the time that

699
00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,560
Speaker 1: they're drafted in the NBA, they start, they play three

700
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:54,960
Speaker 1: quarters or more of the minutes, and so now you

701
00:34:55,040 --> 00:34:58,320
Speaker 1: get to a higher level of competition with harder rules,

702
00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,480
Speaker 1: further shots, fewer touches, and you're supposed to play better,

703
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: you know, play play more efficient basketball, which is, by

704
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 1: the way, what you had had to do to get

705
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,160
Speaker 1: on the court at U C. L A limited shots,

706
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 1: limited opportunities, and be more efficient even than starters during

707
00:35:12,760 --> 00:35:15,720
Speaker 1: that time. Like the crazy part about it is, because

708
00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:17,759
Speaker 1: of your various roles at U C l A, you're

709
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,840
Speaker 1: actually probably more prepared to be a bench player in

710
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,319
Speaker 1: the NBA than many more elite athletic talents or how

711
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,600
Speaker 1: they perceived to be better prospects that you couldn't have

712
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:28,960
Speaker 1: put that in a better way. A lot of these

713
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 1: guys growing up, you know, obviously they're spoon fed so

714
00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:34,760
Speaker 1: many things from so many people telling them they're the best.

715
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,000
Speaker 1: They still think that they have that killer mentality. But

716
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: when you get to the m b A, it's a niche.

717
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 1: There's only a few superstars on the team that get

718
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: the ball so many twenty times a game, or more

719
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: so everybody that they're looking for. You've got to find

720
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:51,480
Speaker 1: your niche in the league. It's a specialty. So for me,

721
00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,080
Speaker 1: I could easily accept that role willingly. I've done it before.

722
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,440
Speaker 1: I would be happy to do it then. But a

723
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,239
Speaker 1: lot of these guys are not willing to maybe take

724
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,040
Speaker 1: a step back in their eyes to further their career,

725
00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,600
Speaker 1: to make their career longer. So like you said, I

726
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 1: could have easily filled that that that role for a

727
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 1: long time compared to others. Yeah, man, I'm looking at

728
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 1: some dudes that got drafted in two thousand tens. Some

729
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:17,239
Speaker 1: of these names aren't gonna sit well with you, you know.

730
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: Like look land Stevenson right behind Landry. He's still in

731
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,759
Speaker 1: the league. But like Andy Rautins, I know his dad

732
00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 1: was a great player. He's a good shooter at Syracuse,

733
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 1: but come on, man, he didn't do the things all

734
00:36:26,360 --> 00:36:30,320
Speaker 1: the thing. I mean, tiny Gallen guy, he's he's stunk.

735
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: Willy Warren, a couple of Oklahoma guys. He he There's

736
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,160
Speaker 1: some guys that ever even got I love these guys.

737
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,680
Speaker 1: They're not even playing anymore. It makes you wonder, like

738
00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:42,360
Speaker 1: did they even love basketball? Where they're willing to work,

739
00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:45,239
Speaker 1: it's just because maybe they had a better situation in

740
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 1: college or had more opportunity on a lesser team so

741
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:51,359
Speaker 1: they got a better look. But if you look at

742
00:36:51,480 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: who I was playing with every day, it was it

743
00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,120
Speaker 1: was like an NBA team already, no question, no question.

744
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 1: Daniel Orton, who didn't even play at Kentucky. He got

745
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 1: drafted by Orlando uh in the first round, and I

746
00:37:01,719 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 1: mean never really Sniff. The NBA. Mike Role is our

747
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 1: guest here on the All Ball Podcast. What do you

748
00:37:06,760 --> 00:37:10,439
Speaker 1: remember about your the first flight from Orange from Southern

749
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,799
Speaker 1: California from l a X to to Turkey. Uh, it

750
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,759
Speaker 1: was a harsh landing I got there. I had never

751
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 1: been to Turkey before. Um. I had to use the

752
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:23,040
Speaker 1: restroom immediately when I got off the flight. So I

753
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:26,919
Speaker 1: go in inside the airport. Uh, there's no toilets. It's

754
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,200
Speaker 1: the hole in the ground and it's extremely hot. I

755
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,920
Speaker 1: don't speak Turkish. I'm super flustered, like what am I

756
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,320
Speaker 1: doing here? So I have this moment. I'm thinking to myself,

757
00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 1: I need to lock it up. I need to get

758
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: it together. But it's just all coming at me. It's surreal.

759
00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: I'm in a completely foreign country. I don't know how

760
00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: to communicate with these people. I don't know who's picking

761
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,919
Speaker 1: me up. I have no idea where to go. I'm

762
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,000
Speaker 1: sweating profusely because I have all these bags. It's already

763
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:57,880
Speaker 1: super hot. It's like I grew up in a great

764
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 1: location in southern California, and here I am. Why am

765
00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 1: I doing this? You when you landed, where did you

766
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: Where did you? Where did you let na Istambol because

767
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,600
Speaker 1: because like Bornova, that's a different like you gotta take

768
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 1: another flight, right, So when you got uf Bornova is

769
00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 1: in Ismir, so I had to make a connecting flight

770
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: down to ismuir Um. Well, now that I'm familiar with

771
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,800
Speaker 1: the Ismir is a beautiful place in in uh in Turkey.

772
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 1: But at the time I had no idea, and I

773
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: didn't know that the bathrooms were like that. I didn't

774
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: know about the rayer calls going on. It was all

775
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,600
Speaker 1: just hitting me like uh, like I was wide eyed. Okay,

776
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,239
Speaker 1: so uh you land because I so I remember my

777
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:39,080
Speaker 1: first flight to to Russia. Okay, so you land and

778
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 1: the yeah, the the having them pick you up like again,

779
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:43,759
Speaker 1: now it's not as big a deal because now you

780
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,879
Speaker 1: have I mean probably you're you're still it's like cell

781
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: phone and text message or whatever. But you you finally

782
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 1: walk out of that restroom and what was there a

783
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: guy with a sign that had a basketball on it.

784
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,080
Speaker 1: It was written in Turkish? Is that about right? So

785
00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 1: you would think the guy wasn't even there to pick

786
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,239
Speaker 1: me up on time. So I go out. I have

787
00:39:01,320 --> 00:39:03,759
Speaker 1: all these bags, I have no idea where to go,

788
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 1: so I just sit on this bench, and he's like

789
00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:08,759
Speaker 1: forty minutes late to picking me up. He comes in

790
00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: with a piece of paper, says Michael Roll, and I'm like,

791
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,440
Speaker 1: oh wow, thanks for being on time, thanks for letting

792
00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: me come from half way across the world, and this

793
00:39:16,760 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 1: is what you have to do. So I was already upset.

794
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: I was already you know, really flustered, and so he

795
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 1: picks me up and and then it just goes downhill

796
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:27,799
Speaker 1: from he So then, so then where you go? Did

797
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: you go right to practice the facility? Did you go

798
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:33,120
Speaker 1: to your new apartment where he took me to my

799
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:35,320
Speaker 1: apartment or what I thought was going to be in

800
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: my apartment, But it was a disaster. The bed frames

801
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:43,640
Speaker 1: were broken, there was nails hanging out, the freezer was

802
00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: already iced over. They hadn't cleaned it and since the

803
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 1: end of last season, so like three months prior. The

804
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 1: windows were all close. So it just smelled so bad

805
00:39:54,200 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: and I just couldn't handle it. Was I'm not I'm

806
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:59,399
Speaker 1: not sleeping here, what is this? And so he said, okay,

807
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:01,520
Speaker 1: so he it took me to a different apartment that

808
00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,799
Speaker 1: they had. We spent the night and then I went

809
00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 1: to training camp the next morning. So so you go

810
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: to training camp and again, like you've played in all

811
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,799
Speaker 1: these teams and all these parts of the state. Do

812
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,960
Speaker 1: you remember did anything stick out to you about about

813
00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 1: your first training session in training camp? You know, I

814
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:22,200
Speaker 1: thought it was I thought it was going to be

815
00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:25,960
Speaker 1: strictly basketball. But over there, you know, they play soccer

816
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:30,480
Speaker 1: to warm up. Sometimes we played tag. We played partner

817
00:40:30,520 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 1: tag where you have to hold a hand, then you

818
00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:35,000
Speaker 1: have to go tag another two people. It was like

819
00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 1: they were just punching the time card. We weren't there

820
00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:40,319
Speaker 1: to play basketball and get better. It was like just

821
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: just fun for them. It was just really strange. It

822
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 1: was really strange. Did you have to do the Cooper

823
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:46,360
Speaker 1: test for the conditioning. I remember having to do the

824
00:40:46,400 --> 00:40:47,759
Speaker 1: Cooper test. We have to go out and run on

825
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:52,000
Speaker 1: the track right and there's like an optimal time. And

826
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: like I remember, like you're hanging out with vet Americans

827
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,560
Speaker 1: and VET Americans like, man, this ship doesn't matter, whereas

828
00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 1: like I'm sitting here like dude, I'm trying to make

829
00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:03,040
Speaker 1: the team. I'm spritting the whole way. What was your mentality? Yeah,

830
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: exactly like that. You know, as a rookie, I'm like, oh, man,

831
00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 1: I better be first, I better finished. I want to play.

832
00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,440
Speaker 1: Coach needs to like me. So I'm like spring hard

833
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,680
Speaker 1: doing all these the dumb drills, and the couple of

834
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 1: vets on my team are just laughing, laying in the back,

835
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: just just kind of slowly getting in shape them. So

836
00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:24,880
Speaker 1: how did the season go? Uh? I didn't even end

837
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,080
Speaker 1: up finishing the year there. Uh. It was going fine

838
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 1: while I was there, and then I ended up, um

839
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,920
Speaker 1: going to a different team in Belgium because they started

840
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 1: to have some money issues. Um, dudes, we were getting

841
00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:41,360
Speaker 1: paid late. So yeah, I went to Belgium about January

842
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,759
Speaker 1: of that season. Okay, but so when when you let

843
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:46,319
Speaker 1: you leave Turkey and you go to Belgium, But you

844
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 1: went to one of the better teams. Wasn't Antwerp one

845
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,279
Speaker 1: of the better teams in Belgium? Yes? And and I

846
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 1: think like you guys even got to the finals. What

847
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:58,160
Speaker 1: was the level of competition? Like compare and contrast playing

848
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,520
Speaker 1: in Turkey to playing in Belgium. So the level in

849
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 1: Turkey it's higher. Um, there's a bigger budget teams, um,

850
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: some really good foreigners there. Belgium is more of a

851
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: smaller league. Um. But it was still very good competition,

852
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:16,879
Speaker 1: still some pros throughout there. So it was a lot

853
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:21,719
Speaker 1: easier living um wise in Belgium more similar to the States,

854
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:23,880
Speaker 1: really really clean. When I've been there has been super

855
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:28,120
Speaker 1: super clean. Yeah, it's an amazing country. I couldn't have

856
00:42:28,239 --> 00:42:31,200
Speaker 1: enjoyed my time more. I made friends that I still

857
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,799
Speaker 1: have to this day while in Belgium, and I mean

858
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,040
Speaker 1: there's just memory stick out and I would love to

859
00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,839
Speaker 1: go back anytime. Okay, so you get done, you lead

860
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:42,840
Speaker 1: them to the finals. Uh, and you had some huge games.

861
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,480
Speaker 1: So you start your you start in Turkey, you end

862
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,120
Speaker 1: in Belgium. You get back home to the States, and

863
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,920
Speaker 1: what's your agents saying? Uh? He's he's asking me if

864
00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:54,880
Speaker 1: I want to do the summer league route again. Um.

865
00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 1: And at that point, it's already June, and I'm thinking,

866
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,840
Speaker 1: holy cow, like my summer is already about to finish

867
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,319
Speaker 1: and I just got home. So he's telling me, these

868
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,839
Speaker 1: couple of teams are calling, an Italian team is calling.

869
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:09,160
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I've heard about basketball in Italy. I've

870
00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:12,080
Speaker 1: heard it's great. Um. You know. The process goes on,

871
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,239
Speaker 1: but I end up resigning with Antwerp for my second year.

872
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,760
Speaker 1: I got some some fairly good money at the time,

873
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,239
Speaker 1: and you know I just wanted to go with that.

874
00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:23,400
Speaker 1: So you go back, Um, how did how did it

875
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:27,080
Speaker 1: come about that you end up in Zaragoza? So after

876
00:43:27,280 --> 00:43:31,759
Speaker 1: my second year in in Belgium, I played great that year, Um,

877
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,520
Speaker 1: just the Spanish team the following season they wanted me.

878
00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 1: I signed the one plus one contract and I ended

879
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 1: up playing two years there. Okay, Zaragoza is in the

880
00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 1: A c B. It's arguably the best, the best league

881
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,279
Speaker 1: outside of the NBA. Right is that? That's not a

882
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 1: that's a fair like I know some of the top Okay,

883
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:54,080
Speaker 1: So now tell me about the flight from the States

884
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,160
Speaker 1: to Spain to Zaragoza in comparison to the one you

885
00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,680
Speaker 1: told us about in Turkey. By now you've traveled overseas

886
00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 1: a but you laying there is there a is there

887
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,000
Speaker 1: a ticker tape parade? Is there a bunch of dudes

888
00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:06,000
Speaker 1: Minia or are you waiting on the curb again like

889
00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: you were in Turkey. So immediately prior to me leaving,

890
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 1: they tell me exactly what's happening. I'm catching this flight.

891
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 1: We've already set up a taxicab to pick you up

892
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,759
Speaker 1: in Madrid take you to the train station, you take

893
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 1: the high speed rail to Zaragoza. It was all very organized.

894
00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 1: There was already people waiting for me when I got

895
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:29,240
Speaker 1: off the train station in Zaragosa. It was it was great.

896
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 1: They were very welcoming and they were ready for my arrival.

897
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 1: So that that was awesome. So you got to play

898
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:36,840
Speaker 1: against some of these players that are now in the States,

899
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,279
Speaker 1: many of they are still starting overseas. Who's the best

900
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:45,399
Speaker 1: player you ever playing against in Spain in Spain? Um, well,

901
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:47,800
Speaker 1: first of all, last year, Luca don Chet's was very good.

902
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:51,360
Speaker 1: I will definitely say that. But at the time, maybe

903
00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:55,840
Speaker 1: Sergio Yule, he plays for Real Madrid. He is fantastic.

904
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,440
Speaker 1: I think the Houston Rockets have his rights, but I

905
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:00,960
Speaker 1: think he's just gonna stay in Spain for his whole career.

906
00:45:01,080 --> 00:45:03,319
Speaker 1: Then you went back to Turkey, spent two years in Spain.

907
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,759
Speaker 1: You went back to Turkey second time, and I played

908
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:09,800
Speaker 1: for two different actually three or four different clubs in Turkey,

909
00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: like are you and and then when did you get

910
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:14,879
Speaker 1: Tunisian citizenship? That was one of those deals right where

911
00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,400
Speaker 1: you gotta paid like twenty grand to get Tunisian citizenship.

912
00:45:17,480 --> 00:45:19,600
Speaker 1: So you you call, you call if I write like

913
00:45:19,640 --> 00:45:23,120
Speaker 1: you're you're you have no Tunisian background, are you? I

914
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:26,560
Speaker 1: do not? But so I played with salom Mezri who

915
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,399
Speaker 1: plays for the Mavericks East Tunisian. I played with him

916
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 1: in Belgium and they can nationalize one player for the

917
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:36,879
Speaker 1: afro Basket and the Olympics. So I spoke with him

918
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 1: and the coach and I was able to get that

919
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:41,600
Speaker 1: done and that has been a real blessing and so

920
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 1: much fun. Okay, so you get to play with the

921
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:50,160
Speaker 1: Tunisian national national team? What is that? Like? That? Wow?

922
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:53,160
Speaker 1: What an experience? I uh I first played a couple

923
00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,360
Speaker 1: of years ago at the Afro Basket UM in Tunis,

924
00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:00,640
Speaker 1: Tunisia actually, and we the winner was able to go

925
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:02,640
Speaker 1: to the Olympics the following year. So we had a

926
00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: really good chance. We're a very good team. We did

927
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,960
Speaker 1: come up short. We lost in the semifinals to Angola

928
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 1: UM and then we ended up winning the bronze the

929
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:16,000
Speaker 1: third place team. Okay, what's what's what's what's Tunisia like?

930
00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:20,680
Speaker 1: Tunisia is it's a lot like Grief. It's a beautiful country,

931
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:26,920
Speaker 1: it's a coastal uh water is very clear, they speak French, Arabic.

932
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:30,240
Speaker 1: Uh it's it's really a great place. So I suggest

933
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:32,879
Speaker 1: anybody go up they can. Okay. So when you when

934
00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,279
Speaker 1: you go to Tunisia and you being you know, having

935
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:38,440
Speaker 1: Tunisian citizenship, what do you do? They speak English to you?

936
00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:40,040
Speaker 1: Do you know French? Now? How do you? How do

937
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:44,000
Speaker 1: you function? So the coach really cool guy. He speaks

938
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:47,240
Speaker 1: many different languages. He would speak French to the guys

939
00:46:48,120 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 1: and either they would break it down for me, um,

940
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:53,759
Speaker 1: for the few French words that I didn't know, or

941
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:56,560
Speaker 1: he would just speak to me in English. Um, I

942
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:59,040
Speaker 1: me you know the things that I didn't need to understand.

943
00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:02,520
Speaker 1: If you were just talking to everybody else, then they

944
00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:04,839
Speaker 1: would just let it fly by. But otherwise they would

945
00:47:04,840 --> 00:47:07,040
Speaker 1: break it down to me. However I wanted you mentioned

946
00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:09,640
Speaker 1: the calls to prayer. Of course, playing all these years

947
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 1: in Turkey, playing as a member of the Tunisian national team,

948
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 1: you're playing in countries which are either partially or predominantly Muslim.

949
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,880
Speaker 1: How how have how have you been treated as an

950
00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:25,160
Speaker 1: American playing in these foreign countries? When uhh, you know,

951
00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:29,320
Speaker 1: when there's there's this perception of a divide internationally between

952
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:34,120
Speaker 1: Muslims and Americans. Yeah, so there's that perception, but through

953
00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:37,359
Speaker 1: the basketball lines, it doesn't happen. I've been treated great.

954
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:40,280
Speaker 1: As soon as I mentioned you know, I'm here for basketball.

955
00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 1: I play for this club. Everything is fantastic. They welcome

956
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 1: me with open arms. There. They always have so many questions,

957
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 1: you know, what's America? Like, Oh, you're from California. Oh

958
00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:52,680
Speaker 1: I want to visit there? Is it like the TV

959
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 1: show that oc It just goes on and on. But

960
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:58,319
Speaker 1: everybody is very friendly and it's been great. It is

961
00:47:58,320 --> 00:47:59,960
Speaker 1: like the TV show. See right, do you say that's

962
00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:02,279
Speaker 1: exactly what it's like. It's actually a lot like nine

963
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,200
Speaker 1: O two one. Oh, that's exactly. Uh, that's exactly what

964
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 1: it's like where I grew up, very similar. Okay, this

965
00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:11,000
Speaker 1: year you end up going to Israel playing for Maccabi

966
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,520
Speaker 1: tel Aviv and look, you played for best toash, we

967
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 1: mentioned you played in Spain. Um. Maccabi tel Aviv to

968
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:18,959
Speaker 1: people who don't know, is one of the premier clubs

969
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:22,680
Speaker 1: in all of of FIBA. Uh, I gotta I gotta

970
00:48:22,719 --> 00:48:25,720
Speaker 1: first ask you when you sign with Maccabi tell Aviv

971
00:48:25,800 --> 00:48:27,920
Speaker 1: and you go through customs like one of the things

972
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 1: that does set off an alarm is when you have

973
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 1: Arabic on your passport, and obviously and you have a

974
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 1: Tunisian passport, which is an Arabic country. Was there any issues?

975
00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:38,879
Speaker 1: Did they give you any pushback when you first showed

976
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:44,120
Speaker 1: up at Maccabi tel Aviv? No? Absolutely not. First of all,

977
00:48:44,160 --> 00:48:48,840
Speaker 1: I'm presenting my American passport. Um. But I think Maccabi

978
00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:52,600
Speaker 1: tel Aviv is such a huge brand throughout Israel that

979
00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:55,080
Speaker 1: they know all of the players as soon as they

980
00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:57,919
Speaker 1: signed them. So I land and it's nothing but love.

981
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,719
Speaker 1: They're excited for the new season. Um. They know that

982
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:03,840
Speaker 1: I already played for the team, which I did not

983
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,799
Speaker 1: know at the time. You know, everybody's already knows knows

984
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:10,960
Speaker 1: everything about me. It seems like it's just pure love. Okay.

985
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,080
Speaker 1: So you're playing with MacCabe Telva and people didn't follow

986
00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:15,040
Speaker 1: you guys season. You guys had kind of up and

987
00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:18,680
Speaker 1: down your curial season. Um, and you end up when

988
00:49:19,040 --> 00:49:22,040
Speaker 1: the Cup and the league championship, which was in doubt

989
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:25,799
Speaker 1: for a good portion of the season, playing for a

990
00:49:25,840 --> 00:49:29,799
Speaker 1: team that is you're basically the lakers of the country. Right.

991
00:49:29,800 --> 00:49:31,960
Speaker 1: That's not a that's not an overstatement, right, Like, you're

992
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:34,319
Speaker 1: expected to doing everything, You're expected in every game, You're

993
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:36,560
Speaker 1: expected to get to the final four, and they covered

994
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:38,400
Speaker 1: on the on the nightly news, they get all the

995
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:41,719
Speaker 1: news stations cover everything. That's that's kind of your first

996
00:49:41,760 --> 00:49:44,560
Speaker 1: experience since u c l A of playing for a

997
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:49,759
Speaker 1: dominant franchise, right, Is that fair? Yeah? Absolutely? So what

998
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:52,040
Speaker 1: was it like for you to play inside that fish

999
00:49:52,040 --> 00:49:55,160
Speaker 1: bowl while you know, learning how to play in Israel?

1000
00:49:56,560 --> 00:49:59,399
Speaker 1: You know, for me, it was fine. Um, I'm I'm

1001
00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:02,440
Speaker 1: very much all about the hoop when I when I'm

1002
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:04,520
Speaker 1: playing during the season, you know, I take care of

1003
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:07,160
Speaker 1: my body. I'm not going out at night, and I

1004
00:50:07,280 --> 00:50:10,439
Speaker 1: live in this wild lifestyle. So for me, whenever I'm

1005
00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 1: out and people are saying something, you know there, it's

1006
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:16,719
Speaker 1: just we're wishing you look. But like you said, as

1007
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:19,280
Speaker 1: soon as we lose a game, it's like the world

1008
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 1: is upside down. How could we lose to them? We're

1009
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:26,080
Speaker 1: not supposed to lose any games, So it was definitely

1010
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:28,839
Speaker 1: everything was very magnified. But as soon as I got

1011
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:31,279
Speaker 1: used to that, you know, it's totally great and I

1012
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,000
Speaker 1: learned to appreciate it. You're working on here, your eighth

1013
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:39,839
Speaker 1: season as a as a professional, on my ninth going

1014
00:50:39,840 --> 00:50:42,080
Speaker 1: on your nice sorry we're working your ninth season as

1015
00:50:42,120 --> 00:50:46,640
Speaker 1: a professional, and I guess you mentioned taking care of

1016
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: your body. Let's let's go from you're in college, you

1017
00:50:50,719 --> 00:50:52,960
Speaker 1: go through the pre draft process, you work with Miles

1018
00:50:53,000 --> 00:50:57,040
Speaker 1: and and those guys that athletes performance, UM to now like,

1019
00:50:57,200 --> 00:50:59,680
Speaker 1: how do you do you do you keep working on

1020
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 1: the same things. Do you try and add something to

1021
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:05,520
Speaker 1: your game? What's your process been like in the off season? Yeah,

1022
00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:08,600
Speaker 1: so every summer is a little bit different as far

1023
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:11,840
Speaker 1: as what I want to add. Um, I've definitely tightened

1024
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,520
Speaker 1: my hand handle over the years, a lot more things

1025
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:17,759
Speaker 1: have becoming off the balance and through the pick and roll,

1026
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,560
Speaker 1: so that has definitely been added to my game. Um.

1027
00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,080
Speaker 1: I've added strength over time, and you know, I've had

1028
00:51:25,080 --> 00:51:28,080
Speaker 1: to play different roles for every team. So as soon

1029
00:51:28,120 --> 00:51:30,279
Speaker 1: as I find out where I'm going and what what

1030
00:51:30,360 --> 00:51:32,040
Speaker 1: kind of role I'm going to be playing, and that's

1031
00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:34,279
Speaker 1: kind of what I year the summer towards. How much

1032
00:51:34,280 --> 00:51:36,640
Speaker 1: easier is it playing a second year with the same club.

1033
00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: You did it in in Belgium, you did it in Spain,

1034
00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:42,680
Speaker 1: and now you're doing it with Maccabi Tel Aviv. One

1035
00:51:42,719 --> 00:51:44,760
Speaker 1: of the things I think that guys I personally struggle

1036
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:46,839
Speaker 1: with is like, you know, it takes you a good

1037
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 1: amount of time to kind of learn the surroundings, learned

1038
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 1: the coach. Every country has a different style of basketball. Uh,

1039
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:55,680
Speaker 1: you played in Turkey for a good amount of time. Um,

1040
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:58,239
Speaker 1: is that part of your thought process which is like, hey,

1041
00:51:58,280 --> 00:51:59,880
Speaker 1: maybe I can go out and search the extra do

1042
00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:02,400
Speaker 1: or somewhere else, but I'm more likely to have success

1043
00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,480
Speaker 1: going back to the same place because I know everything. Yeah,

1044
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:08,399
Speaker 1: basketball is a basketball, so you know there's a few

1045
00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:12,040
Speaker 1: minor differences, but as soon as you get on the court,

1046
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,400
Speaker 1: you know, everything's pretty similar. But if the off the

1047
00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,960
Speaker 1: course stuff that makes you feel comfortable and being in

1048
00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:21,200
Speaker 1: a foreign country so far away from home, the more

1049
00:52:21,200 --> 00:52:25,160
Speaker 1: comfortable yard, the better you're gonna play. So as I'm

1050
00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:28,359
Speaker 1: familiar with where to go to get my groceries, where

1051
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:30,839
Speaker 1: to get my hair cut, you know, every little thing,

1052
00:52:30,920 --> 00:52:33,960
Speaker 1: every detail of it, it comes easier. I feel more

1053
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:37,319
Speaker 1: comfortable and things just go better on the court. How

1054
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:39,920
Speaker 1: do you maintain contact with the States? You know, I

1055
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:42,080
Speaker 1: think one of the things it's easier now obviously and

1056
00:52:42,120 --> 00:52:45,319
Speaker 1: in Israel. You can watch ESPN and and you can

1057
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:48,200
Speaker 1: you can feel like it's but it's it's not America,

1058
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:51,279
Speaker 1: right like, and you do still like you want to

1059
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:53,200
Speaker 1: watch football on a Saturday. You want to watch football

1060
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:55,319
Speaker 1: on a Sunday. You want to still feel like you

1061
00:52:55,360 --> 00:52:57,480
Speaker 1: know that. How do you how do you how do

1062
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:02,080
Speaker 1: you maintain the balance of home all being abroad this long. Yeah,

1063
00:53:02,400 --> 00:53:04,560
Speaker 1: you you have to do it as best as you can.

1064
00:53:04,719 --> 00:53:07,560
Speaker 1: But you know, there's there's technology. I have a swing

1065
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:10,480
Speaker 1: box which connects to my my TV in America, so

1066
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:14,600
Speaker 1: I you keep the same television shows, the same sporting events.

1067
00:53:14,600 --> 00:53:18,240
Speaker 1: I even get the same commercials. Um. You know, obviously

1068
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:21,840
Speaker 1: FaceTime is a huge thing with your friends, I message,

1069
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:24,319
Speaker 1: so you just gotta balance it. You know, a lot

1070
00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:28,600
Speaker 1: of things happen so late at night Israeli time compared

1071
00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:31,080
Speaker 1: to what's going on in the States for sporting events.

1072
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:34,680
Speaker 1: So a lot of times you'll record something and stay

1073
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:36,920
Speaker 1: up the next and watch it the next day, so

1074
00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:39,839
Speaker 1: you're not staying up all night. Um. You know, you've

1075
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:41,719
Speaker 1: got the group chats are always going off in the

1076
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,360
Speaker 1: middle of the night because it's their their evening time.

1077
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 1: You have to, you know, just pick and choose what

1078
00:53:46,600 --> 00:53:50,280
Speaker 1: you want to deal with. What about your diet. Diet

1079
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:54,319
Speaker 1: is is strong, a lot of vegetables. The older I get,

1080
00:53:54,400 --> 00:53:58,920
Speaker 1: more more greens, more veggies. Try to stay chicken and fish,

1081
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:01,120
Speaker 1: stay away from from the red meat as much as

1082
00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:05,880
Speaker 1: I can. Um having good starches, you know, sweet potatoes, kingwaw,

1083
00:54:06,080 --> 00:54:08,319
Speaker 1: brown rice, things like that, So you really have to

1084
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:10,200
Speaker 1: stay on top of it the older you get. Is

1085
00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:11,640
Speaker 1: it fair to say that there are a lot of

1086
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,880
Speaker 1: guys that maybe have more athletic pure athletic talent that

1087
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:20,520
Speaker 1: have fallen by the wayside, either going out, Uh, they

1088
00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:23,080
Speaker 1: couldn't adjust to like what you did in Turkey right,

1089
00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:25,359
Speaker 1: show up, they don't know anybody, they freak out, Dude,

1090
00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:28,399
Speaker 1: I gotta go home, or or the diet Like look,

1091
00:54:28,480 --> 00:54:31,040
Speaker 1: diet can can undo you just as much as anything else.

1092
00:54:31,080 --> 00:54:32,759
Speaker 1: Because you're not eating right, your body is gonna break down.

1093
00:54:32,800 --> 00:54:34,719
Speaker 1: You're gonna get hurt and not perform at the same level.

1094
00:54:35,040 --> 00:54:37,719
Speaker 1: It's some of these, some of those ancillary things which

1095
00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:40,160
Speaker 1: leads guys like we mentioned into two thousand ten draft

1096
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:42,080
Speaker 1: to not be playing as opposed to here you are

1097
00:54:42,160 --> 00:54:45,320
Speaker 1: thirty one years old going on your ninth year seemingly

1098
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:48,480
Speaker 1: getting better and getting paid more money. Yeah, now that's

1099
00:54:48,480 --> 00:54:50,399
Speaker 1: the thing. At first it's you know, they don't want

1100
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,080
Speaker 1: to go away from home, but then it's once it

1101
00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:55,880
Speaker 1: comes down to after that, it's it's basketball. It's taking

1102
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:59,239
Speaker 1: care of your body. Um, the less sleep you get

1103
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,200
Speaker 1: if you go now more if you're eating McDonald's you

1104
00:55:02,200 --> 00:55:05,000
Speaker 1: know on the weekly. Uh, some guys I've seen doing

1105
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:08,480
Speaker 1: on the daily, they'll tara hamstrings, be out six weeks,

1106
00:55:08,880 --> 00:55:11,520
Speaker 1: try to recover, come back, hurt their ankle. That you

1107
00:55:11,960 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 1: do that one season, you're liable to either get a

1108
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:18,360
Speaker 1: very bad job the following year or be done. So

1109
00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:22,839
Speaker 1: it all adds up in the diet just becomes more

1110
00:55:22,920 --> 00:55:25,640
Speaker 1: evident to later you get in your career. What about

1111
00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:28,279
Speaker 1: the NBA dream? Have you been up on it? I

1112
00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:31,560
Speaker 1: have not. Um, I'm not so much chasing it because

1113
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:35,120
Speaker 1: I make a very good salary playing in Europe now.

1114
00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:37,440
Speaker 1: But you know, the past couple of weeks I've been

1115
00:55:37,520 --> 00:55:40,680
Speaker 1: running with the Lakers up in Elsa Gundel. Um, I

1116
00:55:40,719 --> 00:55:44,440
Speaker 1: can still play with those guys. I'm still doing great. Um,

1117
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:48,160
Speaker 1: it's definitely evident. But to have a team want to

1118
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:51,759
Speaker 1: take a early to mid thirty year year old white

1119
00:55:51,760 --> 00:55:55,160
Speaker 1: guy as a rookie. It's not likely. I know that,

1120
00:55:55,239 --> 00:55:57,959
Speaker 1: but of course I would love to be in the show. Yeah,

1121
00:55:57,960 --> 00:56:00,400
Speaker 1: but I mean, don't you fit? Don't you it? Like,

1122
00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:02,920
Speaker 1: let's just say the Lakers, right, isn't that what they

1123
00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:05,720
Speaker 1: should want if they want to compete for a championship?

1124
00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:08,560
Speaker 1: Is a guy who I'm not gonna say, fat girl

1125
00:56:08,600 --> 00:56:10,040
Speaker 1: the problem, just happy to be there, but a guy

1126
00:56:10,120 --> 00:56:12,560
Speaker 1: who understands how fortunate you are to be there, to

1127
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:14,920
Speaker 1: come off the bench, being able to play five minutes

1128
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:17,959
Speaker 1: or thirty five minutes. And you know, like you said,

1129
00:56:18,040 --> 00:56:19,680
Speaker 1: you're all about hoop. You know how to play. If

1130
00:56:19,680 --> 00:56:21,200
Speaker 1: you get the ball and you're open, you make a shot.

1131
00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:22,879
Speaker 1: If not, you can move the ball and play within

1132
00:56:22,880 --> 00:56:25,600
Speaker 1: the system. Shouldn't Like I've always thought if I was

1133
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:28,080
Speaker 1: running a team, those are the guys that I want

1134
00:56:28,080 --> 00:56:30,480
Speaker 1: to fill out my bench with because they've been pros.

1135
00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:34,400
Speaker 1: They completely understand how to play, and and the older

1136
00:56:34,440 --> 00:56:36,360
Speaker 1: you are, the more shots you make, the smarter the

1137
00:56:36,400 --> 00:56:38,680
Speaker 1: passes you make. I mean, I guess with the with

1138
00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:41,640
Speaker 1: the with the perception be the defensive end, and the

1139
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:45,440
Speaker 1: ability to guard people. I mean, you hit it right,

1140
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:48,600
Speaker 1: on the head. Uh No, nobody said all these um

1141
00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:53,560
Speaker 1: upper office people were the brightness humans. But I know

1142
00:56:53,640 --> 00:56:56,439
Speaker 1: how to I know how to play. I know who

1143
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:58,879
Speaker 1: needs to get what shot. I can easily knock down

1144
00:56:58,920 --> 00:57:01,200
Speaker 1: the open shot and create a little bit. Yeah. I

1145
00:57:01,239 --> 00:57:04,680
Speaker 1: mean maybe it's it's the defense. Um you never know.

1146
00:57:04,760 --> 00:57:07,399
Speaker 1: But I've been playing great with the Lakers the last

1147
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:10,440
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Um, so I'm already friends with Luke Wallen.

1148
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:13,200
Speaker 1: So that's that's where that connection is. And you know,

1149
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:16,160
Speaker 1: we joke about it, but you know it's at the

1150
00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:18,600
Speaker 1: NBA now, I think it's just going more towards the

1151
00:57:18,680 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 1: younger player with the more potential. Yeah, I don't. I

1152
00:57:21,360 --> 00:57:23,080
Speaker 1: don't know though, but I feel like at the top

1153
00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:26,040
Speaker 1: level it's more about skill than it is athleticism. Right

1154
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:28,919
Speaker 1: that skill has come back. Skill shooting and passing has

1155
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 1: come back into the game, um as people have gone

1156
00:57:32,680 --> 00:57:34,720
Speaker 1: along with analytics like oh wait a second, your ability

1157
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 1: to make a shot. Now you also have to be

1158
00:57:36,440 --> 00:57:39,200
Speaker 1: able to defend multiple positions. But that's not always I

1159
00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 1: think some people think it's about athletic ability. I think

1160
00:57:42,120 --> 00:57:45,320
Speaker 1: it's about you know, internal toughness, right, because you just

1161
00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:48,080
Speaker 1: can't get punked and you can't allow yourself to get

1162
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:50,480
Speaker 1: put in a bad spot. And even hey, sometimes you

1163
00:57:50,520 --> 00:57:52,479
Speaker 1: can play great defense in the NBA and you're playing

1164
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,080
Speaker 1: against better players and they just make shots. But I

1165
00:57:55,600 --> 00:57:58,280
Speaker 1: actually think I think there are there is, there are

1166
00:57:58,320 --> 00:58:00,280
Speaker 1: some young players, but those guys get stuff away in

1167
00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:02,480
Speaker 1: the G League, and for the teams that really want

1168
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,200
Speaker 1: to win, they want skill, they want shooting, they want passing.

1169
00:58:06,120 --> 00:58:09,920
Speaker 1: Now you're you're absolutely right. Um, So like the dream

1170
00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:13,240
Speaker 1: is still there. Whether it's going to be pursued next

1171
00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:16,120
Speaker 1: season or not, I mean that's to be determined, so

1172
00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:18,160
Speaker 1: we'll see. Okay, I want to ask you about Luke

1173
00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,440
Speaker 1: Luca don Check. What's he like? To describe him as

1174
00:58:21,480 --> 00:58:25,840
Speaker 1: somebody who's played against him, Yeah, he's incredibly skilled. Uh,

1175
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:28,880
Speaker 1: he sees the game, you know, a couple of plays

1176
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:31,880
Speaker 1: ahead of what's happening. He's got a great feel. Whether

1177
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:34,880
Speaker 1: it's passing, he can really shoot it. He's a really

1178
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:38,080
Speaker 1: big guard. So I think he's gonna do just fine.

1179
00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:41,080
Speaker 1: And the more experience he gets in America, the better

1180
00:58:41,080 --> 00:58:43,760
Speaker 1: he'll do. You mentioned playing against the Lakers. The Lakers

1181
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:47,680
Speaker 1: have this interesting confluence, right, they have these older guys

1182
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,680
Speaker 1: the Rondo's de Lan Stevenson's the Javels, and of course Lebron,

1183
00:58:50,760 --> 00:58:53,040
Speaker 1: and then they have the younger guys who though they

1184
00:58:53,080 --> 00:58:55,320
Speaker 1: weren't really successful in terms of wins and losses, they

1185
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:57,360
Speaker 1: started to win some games last year and they want

1186
00:58:57,400 --> 00:59:00,640
Speaker 1: to kind of play Luke system. And Luke come from

1187
00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:04,480
Speaker 1: not just triangle with with Phil Jackson, but also you

1188
00:59:04,560 --> 00:59:07,640
Speaker 1: know Bald movement. A lot less is a lot less

1189
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:10,520
Speaker 1: pick and rolls from from Golden State. How do you

1190
00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:14,160
Speaker 1: see that playing out? I think they're gonna be great,

1191
00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:17,360
Speaker 1: to be honest, I think they're there are two units,

1192
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,920
Speaker 1: all incredibly talented. They can really go, they can score.

1193
00:59:21,920 --> 00:59:25,280
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna let Lebron maybe take a lesser

1194
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:28,040
Speaker 1: role the first, you know, forty minutes of the game

1195
00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:31,080
Speaker 1: so he's not so tired, and then once it comes

1196
00:59:31,080 --> 00:59:34,480
Speaker 1: down the crunch time. I mean they have the trump card. Basically,

1197
00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:37,760
Speaker 1: he's he's amazing. Obviously you give the ball to him

1198
00:59:37,760 --> 00:59:39,400
Speaker 1: at the end of the game and anything, he's tight.

1199
00:59:39,520 --> 00:59:41,480
Speaker 1: They're they're are the winning are very good. What do

1200
00:59:41,520 --> 00:59:46,320
Speaker 1: you think of brandon Ingram? Wow? Crazy talented. I didn't

1201
00:59:46,320 --> 00:59:49,680
Speaker 1: know he was that long. I mean, he's just like

1202
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:52,640
Speaker 1: he's I don't know, like a tarantula out there. Everything

1203
00:59:52,640 --> 00:59:56,720
Speaker 1: he does, he shot is pure so skilled. I mean,

1204
00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:59,280
Speaker 1: as soon as he can get more weight on himself

1205
00:59:59,400 --> 01:00:02,800
Speaker 1: and and learning the game more, he's gonna be even better. Obviously,

1206
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,080
Speaker 1: Josh Hart blew up at Summer League. You think can

1207
01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:09,080
Speaker 1: he be an NBA starter? Yeah? Absolutely, He's really good,

1208
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:15,120
Speaker 1: very strong, can really shooting easy, crazy strong, right, Mike

1209
01:00:15,160 --> 01:00:18,240
Speaker 1: crazy strong? Isn't he like he's like in the conversation

1210
01:00:18,240 --> 01:00:20,280
Speaker 1: of strongest guys on that team. I think last year

1211
01:00:20,280 --> 01:00:23,000
Speaker 1: he was the strongest guy in the team. Yeah. I

1212
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:24,800
Speaker 1: mean you could just just look at him. You see

1213
01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:27,280
Speaker 1: a super built But the way he plays, you know,

1214
01:00:27,280 --> 01:00:30,160
Speaker 1: he gets his shoulder into somebody and he's knocking them back,

1215
01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:33,680
Speaker 1: creating space for himself. I think he's going to play

1216
01:00:33,720 --> 01:00:36,360
Speaker 1: a great year. Uh, Kuzmo, what do you like about

1217
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:38,320
Speaker 1: his game? I mean, obviously he blew up as a rookie,

1218
01:00:38,320 --> 01:00:41,080
Speaker 1: twenty two year old rookie. Seemingly he was better as

1219
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:43,160
Speaker 1: an off the bench for than he was his starting

1220
01:00:43,200 --> 01:00:48,000
Speaker 1: corps um. What what what's his game like? Uh? Well,

1221
01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:50,920
Speaker 1: I just love that he was always there super early

1222
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:53,880
Speaker 1: and staying late. He's another guy that loves it. He's

1223
01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:58,240
Speaker 1: working super hard um in the in the games, his

1224
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,200
Speaker 1: motor is just incredible. He's, you know, right at you.

1225
01:01:01,280 --> 01:01:03,120
Speaker 1: He doesn't matter who's in front of him. He's going

1226
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:06,760
Speaker 1: at them trying to get buckets, and he's just really

1227
01:01:06,760 --> 01:01:09,040
Speaker 1: good slashing and getting through there. All right, now, we

1228
01:01:09,040 --> 01:01:11,200
Speaker 1: talked a little bov diet. We talked about your your

1229
01:01:11,200 --> 01:01:13,560
Speaker 1: own kind of progression into being a star player in

1230
01:01:13,600 --> 01:01:17,040
Speaker 1: Europe and obviously playing with the Cove Tel Aviv. If

1231
01:01:17,080 --> 01:01:18,560
Speaker 1: you could go back and you were to tell your

1232
01:01:18,640 --> 01:01:21,280
Speaker 1: high school self, because there's a lot of this just

1233
01:01:21,400 --> 01:01:24,520
Speaker 1: all about basketball. Guys, you're listening to this, what would

1234
01:01:24,520 --> 01:01:28,000
Speaker 1: you do on a daily basis in order to if

1235
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:30,080
Speaker 1: you're like going to work on your game, how would

1236
01:01:30,080 --> 01:01:33,400
Speaker 1: you go about it if you were back in high school? Yeah,

1237
01:01:33,400 --> 01:01:35,800
Speaker 1: I would take it a little bit more serious at

1238
01:01:35,840 --> 01:01:38,880
Speaker 1: a younger age. You know, I tried to, you know,

1239
01:01:38,920 --> 01:01:41,600
Speaker 1: not just go out there and play and you know,

1240
01:01:41,720 --> 01:01:44,520
Speaker 1: just you know, mess around with your friends, but try

1241
01:01:44,600 --> 01:01:46,960
Speaker 1: to try to be a little more serious with it.

1242
01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:51,560
Speaker 1: Try to envy our emulate the guys in the league,

1243
01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:54,640
Speaker 1: so see what the NBA wants and try to work

1244
01:01:54,640 --> 01:01:57,040
Speaker 1: on those skills every day. Well well, well, was there

1245
01:01:57,080 --> 01:01:59,200
Speaker 1: a number of shots per day that they should make

1246
01:01:59,280 --> 01:02:01,960
Speaker 1: that they should tell amount of time that you that

1247
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:04,320
Speaker 1: they should like, there's there is a limit to which

1248
01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:06,120
Speaker 1: you don't want to burn a dude out. But like, look,

1249
01:02:06,160 --> 01:02:08,360
Speaker 1: if you say you love ball, get in the gym,

1250
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:11,680
Speaker 1: how many shots today? How long should you be working out? Yeah?

1251
01:02:11,720 --> 01:02:13,720
Speaker 1: I mean if you if you love hoop and you're

1252
01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:16,640
Speaker 1: not gonna get burnt out? I mean the minimum every

1253
01:02:16,720 --> 01:02:20,160
Speaker 1: day I think should be at least minimum to fifty

1254
01:02:20,680 --> 01:02:25,080
Speaker 1: making or taking taking. Um, the older you get, you know,

1255
01:02:25,120 --> 01:02:27,720
Speaker 1: the more makes you're gonna have. So the younger kids

1256
01:02:27,720 --> 01:02:30,400
Speaker 1: at least take two fifty and then just just play

1257
01:02:30,440 --> 01:02:32,840
Speaker 1: as much as you can, whether it's the camps in

1258
01:02:32,880 --> 01:02:35,640
Speaker 1: the summer that you get invited to, or you know,

1259
01:02:35,720 --> 01:02:38,120
Speaker 1: the pick up runs at night after dinner, whatever it

1260
01:02:38,160 --> 01:02:41,160
Speaker 1: may be. What about au team? Would you play with

1261
01:02:41,200 --> 01:02:43,760
Speaker 1: the bigger team to which you have to share minutes

1262
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:45,360
Speaker 1: and share the ball, or would you play with the

1263
01:02:45,400 --> 01:02:48,560
Speaker 1: team to which you get to be the guy? Uh?

1264
01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:52,200
Speaker 1: For me, we were a smaller team, So I would

1265
01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:54,920
Speaker 1: say just just go to where you can play and

1266
01:02:54,920 --> 01:02:57,120
Speaker 1: and you can plays as much as your game as

1267
01:02:57,160 --> 01:02:59,960
Speaker 1: possible so people can see it, which is kind of

1268
01:03:00,040 --> 01:03:01,680
Speaker 1: counter dope. While you went to U C l A though,

1269
01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:03,520
Speaker 1: I want to point that one out right, I guess

1270
01:03:03,320 --> 01:03:06,960
Speaker 1: that is true. Um, but as soon as I was seen, um,

1271
01:03:07,000 --> 01:03:08,920
Speaker 1: you know, then I really believe in myself and then

1272
01:03:08,960 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: I could could be seen at any point. At that point,

1273
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:18,680
Speaker 1: I have John Bart. How do you dear? Debart Tabelloe?

1274
01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:21,520
Speaker 1: John de Bartlomeyo is going to join us as well

1275
01:03:21,520 --> 01:03:24,360
Speaker 1: on the on the pod. He's an amazing story, a

1276
01:03:24,480 --> 01:03:27,520
Speaker 1: complete unknown. Um. The other area that I lived in

1277
01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:30,480
Speaker 1: for a couple of years, Westport, where where he's from. Like,

1278
01:03:31,320 --> 01:03:34,040
Speaker 1: is he the guy? He's got one of those guys

1279
01:03:34,040 --> 01:03:35,960
Speaker 1: to which I had literally like, look, I've been doing

1280
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:39,160
Speaker 1: this covering sport for fifteen years. I've never heard of him,

1281
01:03:39,200 --> 01:03:40,720
Speaker 1: and like you go to Israel, like have you ever

1282
01:03:40,720 --> 01:03:43,840
Speaker 1: seen him play? No? Check him out. He's awesome. He's

1283
01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:45,360
Speaker 1: one of those stories of a guy that you didn't

1284
01:03:45,400 --> 01:03:47,280
Speaker 1: know of and now all of a sudden he's a really,

1285
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:50,040
Speaker 1: really talented player. How often do you come upon guys

1286
01:03:50,040 --> 01:03:53,000
Speaker 1: like that? Yeah, it's it's a rare. His story is

1287
01:03:53,040 --> 01:03:55,840
Speaker 1: definitely rare. He he's another guy that loves hoop and

1288
01:03:55,920 --> 01:03:59,080
Speaker 1: his work ethic is insane, and that's his reason for

1289
01:03:59,160 --> 01:04:03,200
Speaker 1: being here. His game is incredible, and I'm so happy

1290
01:04:03,240 --> 01:04:06,040
Speaker 1: that he's my teammate. Listen, we listen, We wish you

1291
01:04:06,080 --> 01:04:09,960
Speaker 1: save travels uh to Ben Gurion Airport. I hope you're

1292
01:04:10,080 --> 01:04:12,240
Speaker 1: now your apartment overlooked? The water is that? Are you on?

1293
01:04:12,320 --> 01:04:14,560
Speaker 1: Are you on the beach? Very close? I'm a five

1294
01:04:14,600 --> 01:04:17,440
Speaker 1: minute walk to the beach. Now have you have you

1295
01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:18,920
Speaker 1: broken out? Do you have a board there? Can you

1296
01:04:18,920 --> 01:04:23,000
Speaker 1: surf there? I don't surf there just because, uh, you know,

1297
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:24,760
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to get hurt throughout the season, so

1298
01:04:24,840 --> 01:04:27,080
Speaker 1: I keep that for the summertime. Your favorite surf spot

1299
01:04:27,080 --> 01:04:31,000
Speaker 1: in southern California is what Salt Creek Beach where Salt

1300
01:04:31,040 --> 01:04:35,120
Speaker 1: Creek yep um waves have to be. How big before

1301
01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:37,160
Speaker 1: you you get excited and go down to Salt Creek,

1302
01:04:37,640 --> 01:04:41,600
Speaker 1: Oh man, anything three to six ft in that's ideal

1303
01:04:41,640 --> 01:04:44,280
Speaker 1: for me. Three to six ft is ideal. You are

1304
01:04:44,280 --> 01:04:46,360
Speaker 1: when you first your place that this is where I

1305
01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:51,760
Speaker 1: grew up playing pick up basketball was where um Main Beach,

1306
01:04:51,840 --> 01:04:54,160
Speaker 1: Laguna Main Beach, Laguna at the half court to three

1307
01:04:54,200 --> 01:04:56,200
Speaker 1: on three, which they've redone. Do they still play down there?

1308
01:04:56,200 --> 01:05:00,720
Speaker 1: I've I've been back in here. What what days they play?

1309
01:05:00,800 --> 01:05:04,040
Speaker 1: Early Saturday mornings? And last I heard it was Wednesday night.

1310
01:05:04,400 --> 01:05:06,840
Speaker 1: Wednesday nights. All right, still time to get it in. Uh,

1311
01:05:07,200 --> 01:05:11,640
Speaker 1: next week, last thing, and uh this is kind of

1312
01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:14,880
Speaker 1: the the most the most important thing. Jordan or Lebron.

1313
01:05:16,280 --> 01:05:21,880
Speaker 1: Jordan's why I grew up watching him, and I think

1314
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:25,120
Speaker 1: he started it for everybody fair enough. It's the tiger

1315
01:05:25,160 --> 01:05:28,640
Speaker 1: of Tiger effective of basketball. Hey Man, safe travels. Thanks

1316
01:05:28,680 --> 01:05:30,240
Speaker 1: so much for telling us your story and joining us

1317
01:05:30,280 --> 01:05:33,720
Speaker 1: on the All Ball Podcast. Thank you very much. Thanks Mike,

1318
01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:38,400
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Many later. I hope you enjoyed the

1319
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:40,480
Speaker 1: All Ball Podcast. I'm dougl