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Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black

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Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Hey man,

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Speaker 1: we got a special guest today, Man North of the Border,

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Speaker 1: Toronto Raptor NBA Champ Fleet Man, Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 1: Bro Yes, sir, thanks for having me. Man, glad to

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Speaker 1: be here. Man, appreciate your time. Bro Jack, let's get

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Speaker 1: to it. Let's go right to bleat. Just decide this tide.

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Speaker 1: My homeboy said, been bleated, been bleat? What is French?

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Speaker 1: Is that French? I think it's Dutch, but I really

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Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah that somebody told me it was Dutch.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna go with that. It's fancy playing the game.

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Speaker 1: And when he scored and we say ben bleat, ben bleat,

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Speaker 1: here we go back. So how the season going so far? Uh?

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Speaker 1: And what does it like have to see I come back?

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Speaker 1: The season going good? I mean we started off decent um,

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Speaker 1: we just lost so not so good right now. But

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Speaker 1: just having Pe back, getting him back in the flow.

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Speaker 1: I think he missed the first teen games. Uh. He's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a big part of what we do obviously,

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Speaker 1: So just getting him back, working him back in and

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Speaker 1: seeing kind of how the chemistry and the rotation is

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Speaker 1: gonna go from there. Um, but I think we got

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Speaker 1: a shot the team. Now half of the best gone.

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Speaker 1: You know, you have Litry gone, you got the Mark gone.

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Speaker 1: And it's a big change. But you been you know,

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Speaker 1: like you said, coming from the bottom and now having

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Speaker 1: that role as being a leader. You know, it took me,

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Speaker 1: I think what eight years to my career time became

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Speaker 1: a captain of a team when I wasn't going to

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Speaker 1: stay with Matt. But having that role now, what what

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Speaker 1: what changes for you? And what's your approach? Your approach different,

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Speaker 1: It's a little different. I think I'm just kind of

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Speaker 1: more mindful, like what I'm doing when I'm not talking,

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Speaker 1: you know what i mean. Like I've always been vocal,

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Speaker 1: since I've been playing, since I've been getting minutes, I

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Speaker 1: was always vocal. But I think now like I'm just noticing,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's more eyes and they're kind of watching

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Speaker 1: your body language and things that you do when you're

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Speaker 1: not speaking, Like all eyes is on you at all times.

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Speaker 1: And it's different because like you said, we don't really

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Speaker 1: got vets, you know what I mean. It's me Pascal.

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Speaker 1: And then I think it's tragic and that's it. So

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Speaker 1: it's like I'm teaching guys how to do layup lines

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Speaker 1: and teaching them to plays and you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: So it's like, it ain't just on the court, it's

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Speaker 1: it's everything and on the court off the court. And

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Speaker 1: that's been probably the biggest challenges, just pulling guys along

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Speaker 1: that don't really have uh point of reference or nothing

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Speaker 1: to compare it to. This is really their first experience

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Speaker 1: in the league. Yeah, Matt. Matt said it all the time.

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Speaker 1: It's it's not the it's not what we came into.

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Speaker 1: We came in league. It was a lot of vets,

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Speaker 1: We had a lot of guidance, We had a lot

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Speaker 1: of guidance. How did you find your game? You know,

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Speaker 1: what made you fall in love with the game and

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Speaker 1: who did you out of Lize Growing up? I was

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Speaker 1: five years old when I first started really playing, and um,

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Speaker 1: my dad was a hooper and then my brother, my

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Speaker 1: older brothers three years older than me, so he got

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Speaker 1: into basketball right before me. Um, so I was watching

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Speaker 1: them and we would just you know, we would go

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Speaker 1: out and playing the driveaway things like that. Um. And

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Speaker 1: then like my first memories was. Um. I think it

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Speaker 1: was the Lakers uh Sixers finals. You know, I was

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Speaker 1: a little boy, and I just felt I just fell

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Speaker 1: in love with Coke and fell in love with the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: and it was It was all she wrote after that.

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Speaker 1: So Um, I really only was ever like a fan

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Speaker 1: of Kobe growing up. Um, And as I got older,

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Speaker 1: I started to to add different things from everybody. So

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Speaker 1: I used to I used to get the Slam magazines

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Speaker 1: and put them on my wall. You know, they had

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Speaker 1: the big cutout, so I have Jay kidd Um, Kobe, Ai,

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Speaker 1: uh d Will, all the like, all the guards, chaunts,

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Speaker 1: all the guards that that. I felt like I could

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Speaker 1: take something from that game. And I just put them

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Speaker 1: on my wall in my bedroom and I watched the

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Speaker 1: game go outside practice, you know what I'm saying, and

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Speaker 1: just try to add as much as I could. And

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Speaker 1: it's just funny because I don't really have like the

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Speaker 1: body type of an NBA player, but like I was

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Speaker 1: adding the footwork and the and the angles and things

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Speaker 1: like that, you know, the whole time. Born in Rockford,

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Speaker 1: about ninety miles out of Chicago, What was it light

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Speaker 1: growing up? You mentioned you had an older brother, What

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Speaker 1: was your childhood, Like my childhood was split, so like

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Speaker 1: my dad was killed when I was five, UM, so

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Speaker 1: then it was just it was just me and my

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Speaker 1: mom and my brother. We grew up kind of like

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Speaker 1: on the white side of town. And then my mom

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Speaker 1: met my stepdad when I was like ten, UM, and

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Speaker 1: then we moved over to the other side of the town. UM.

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Speaker 1: And my stepdad was a cop. So like I had,

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Speaker 1: I had. I had both worlds. Like my biological dad

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Speaker 1: was in the streets, my stepdad was a cop. So

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Speaker 1: it's like I got to experience a lot of different

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Speaker 1: things at an early age, and I've seen a lot,

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Speaker 1: done a lot UM. But you know, the one thing

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Speaker 1: that was always constant was just basketball. I just try

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Speaker 1: to stay out the way. UM. And as I kept

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Speaker 1: kept growing up, like I was safe at home. I

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Speaker 1: always tell people I was safe at home. Home was

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Speaker 1: was safe for me. But when I went outside, you

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Speaker 1: know what I mean, I still had to manage and

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Speaker 1: get it on my own. And so that's kind of

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Speaker 1: like where my stripes as far as just life and

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Speaker 1: being a man um growing up. You know, seeing fourteen

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Speaker 1: year old boys getting killed like that, that was normal

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Speaker 1: at that time. UM. And then as I got older,

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Speaker 1: I started to look back like, damn, that show was

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Speaker 1: sucked up. But at the time, you really don't know

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Speaker 1: no better, you know what I mean. So I just

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Speaker 1: always focused on on the game. And my parents they

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Speaker 1: couldn't afford for us to go to school, so they

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Speaker 1: just told us play basketball, get a scholarship, and go

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Speaker 1: from there. But I always wanted to be in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: You know, as early as I can remember. Talk to

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Speaker 1: a little bit about your stepfather. Uh, you know, kind

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Speaker 1: of his guidance your guys early morning workouts. Uh, and

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Speaker 1: what he kind of steal did you from that kind

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Speaker 1: of standpoint. Yeah, So he was, uh, he was like

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Speaker 1: a military nut, you know what I mean. Like he

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Speaker 1: was he joined military like nineteen, then he went boxing

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Speaker 1: in the military, came back, started being a police officer. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so he was real strict like and still in

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Speaker 1: discipline and respecting morals and values and things like that.

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Speaker 1: So a part of that ended up being, um, you

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Speaker 1: know these basketball work grass, once we start taking basketball seriously,

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Speaker 1: I'll wake us up, take us to the gym. And

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Speaker 1: he didn't really know too much, but he was learning

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Speaker 1: on the fly, like he was getting DVDs and all

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Speaker 1: the things back then. We would watch the DVDs and

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Speaker 1: learn the drills and go to these different camps and

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Speaker 1: try to build just our our our knowledge up. And

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Speaker 1: he really just took the time out for all of

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Speaker 1: us boys. It was four boys in the house and

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Speaker 1: he would just put us through the ringer. We was

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Speaker 1: doing all types of workouts and you know, whether it

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Speaker 1: was like doing just doing push ups to the setups

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Speaker 1: or doing cone drills. We played one on one with

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Speaker 1: waite vests on full court, and I was I was

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Speaker 1: the you know, the little brother with my two older

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Speaker 1: brothers because my younger brother he wasn't really into it

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Speaker 1: like that, but the older two and they just be

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Speaker 1: me up. We'll be fighting, you know, fist fighting. And

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Speaker 1: that's just how I went. And that's that's kind of

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Speaker 1: how like I got my toughness. Talk about your high

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Speaker 1: school days at Auburn High School and Rock, Illinois. You

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Speaker 1: have alburn to a twenty two game win streak, which

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Speaker 1: was outing in the school's first Illinois High School Association

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Speaker 1: findal forces nine to seventy five. How was it in

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Speaker 1: high school? High school was cool? So again, like I

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Speaker 1: come in, you know, I'm like the best talent in

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Speaker 1: the city I come in. I got a great high

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Speaker 1: school coach, old fashioned, uh coach, you know defense first

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Speaker 1: teach you how to play man and man all of

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Speaker 1: that stuff. In my ninth grade year, I thought I

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Speaker 1: was supposed to be playing varsity. Hedn't let me play varsity. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: So like I had to deal with all that, and

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Speaker 1: my older brothers was both on the varsity team. I

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Speaker 1: ended up playing varsity like halfway through the year and

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Speaker 1: just just went from there. But it's a smaller town,

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Speaker 1: so like the you know, the eyes ain't really on

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Speaker 1: it like that. Everybody just go to Chicago UM to

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Speaker 1: kind of, you know, get the talent. So we always

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Speaker 1: had that chip and UM I just always just focused

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Speaker 1: on winning and and we want a ton of games.

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Speaker 1: I was able to take them down state uh my

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Speaker 1: senior year like you said, and um, I was just

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Speaker 1: trying to get in school and also help help all

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Speaker 1: my guys that I was playing with get in school

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Speaker 1: as well. You stay loyal to your au team, the

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Speaker 1: rock your rocker team. You don't want to You could

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Speaker 1: have had an opportunity to go to the biggest team

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Speaker 1: a you team in Chicago, what you child to child

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Speaker 1: to stay lawal. A lot of people don't do that,

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Speaker 1: but me, I was big on laws as well, knowing

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Speaker 1: that I could have won other places. I went to

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Speaker 1: Okaire my senior year. But a lot of people don't

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Speaker 1: understand how how important it is and how the love

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Speaker 1: you've been with people, especially people that you start with,

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Speaker 1: and to give some success and leave them, that's just

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Speaker 1: something that we don't do, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: So what was your thought process we were staying loyal

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Speaker 1: to your rocker team? Man? You said it, like it's

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Speaker 1: just who I am, you know, as a man. And

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Speaker 1: like I think I grew up really fast, so I

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Speaker 1: was kind of more mature at that age. So like

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Speaker 1: when they came and dropped the big bag, the big

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Speaker 1: Defel bag with all the shoes and gear and all that,

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Speaker 1: like that didn't really move me. Like I wasn't gonna

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Speaker 1: go leave my guys just because y'all have some fresh

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Speaker 1: shoes and uniforms and they're really What it boils down

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Speaker 1: to the most is two things. Number one was we

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Speaker 1: was competing with them, Like when we go to the tournament,

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Speaker 1: this team that I got, we were playing in the

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Speaker 1: same championship game now win to lose whatever, the same

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Speaker 1: scouts they beat there on them sundays watching them championship games.

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Speaker 1: The schools come to see the championship Brackett, and we

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Speaker 1: was always in those games. So I'm like, all right,

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Speaker 1: even if y'all are better than us, y'all ain't that

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Speaker 1: much better than us. So I'm not leaving. And then

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Speaker 1: number two was these are the guys that I'm rubbing

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Speaker 1: shoulders where every day. It's one of my guys, Like

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Speaker 1: I ain't gonna say his name on here, but this

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Speaker 1: is this is the guy who was pulling pistols out

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Speaker 1: for me. Like, how I'm gonna leave him? You know

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Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like we walking out of school, How

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Speaker 1: how can I leave him when we gotta walk these

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Speaker 1: same hallways and you know, I'm dropping him off, you know,

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Speaker 1: at his house, and he come pulling up to my house.

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Speaker 1: I can't. I ain't gonna be there, look at him

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Speaker 1: in his face if I'm leaving and going down the

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Speaker 1: street to play for just a bigger name. When my

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Speaker 1: goal was always the NBA. My goal wasn't to go

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Speaker 1: to a power five school or a big school like

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Speaker 1: I just was like, where can I go to play

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Speaker 1: and get to the NBA? And it worked out for me.

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Speaker 1: What college was recruiting you any member of stories from

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Speaker 1: college recruitment. Yeah, So I had a lot of like

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Speaker 1: mid majors early on my first couple of years. Um,

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Speaker 1: I remember I went, I had two experiences, So I

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Speaker 1: was getting I was getting those questionnaires that that they

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Speaker 1: I don't know what they do now, but um, when

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Speaker 1: I was in high school, they would sending these, uh,

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Speaker 1: these questionnaires and you would get the letter and the

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Speaker 1: letter would had a school name on it. So my

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Speaker 1: first couple of ones was like Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Illinois. So

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Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I'm lit Like, I'm thinking this is

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Speaker 1: an offer, so I'll never forget. I go to I

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Speaker 1: go to Illinois for a visit. It's like it's like

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Speaker 1: eight other guys there on a visit with me something

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Speaker 1: looking like man, I thought this was just for me,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like eight other kids there,

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Speaker 1: So we're cool. We go, we go to the little

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Speaker 1: cookout and then Wisconsin. We went to Wisconsin and it

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Speaker 1: was like fifteen guys on that visit and I never

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Speaker 1: even talked to I think bo Ryan was a coach there.

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Speaker 1: I don't even think I even talked to him while

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Speaker 1: I was there. I talked to the assistant and then

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Speaker 1: I just remember me and my mom, we was going

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Speaker 1: we were supposed to go to the football game, um,

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Speaker 1: and we just kind of we wasn't feeling the vibe.

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Speaker 1: So we just told, all right, we're gonna go to

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Speaker 1: the bathroom, and me and my mom we just did.

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Speaker 1: We got in the car and we went home like

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Speaker 1: we was like, we're cool, Like we're not We're not

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Speaker 1: rolling like that. So after that, that was like my

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Speaker 1: freshman year of high school. After that, I just started

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Speaker 1: focusing on the schools that was really interested in me.

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Speaker 1: So it boiled down to like Wichita State, Colorado State,

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Speaker 1: and a few others, and then I committed early because

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Speaker 1: I didn't like the recruiting process. So once I committed,

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Speaker 1: and that's when like some other schools came along, Kansas

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Speaker 1: and Virginia things like that, but I was already locked

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Speaker 1: in with what you've been read. It did with the

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Speaker 1: resurgence of Wichita basketball. I actually remember watching your your

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Speaker 1: two thousand, twelve and thirteen seas and I was like, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: who's this little light skinning European cat because I hear

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Speaker 1: your last name and I obviously didn't know you couldn't

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Speaker 1: respect this nig is out here killing. But y'all with

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Speaker 1: thirty one and ooh uh for the first time Indivisional

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Speaker 1: one history, you left them and assist. Like you said,

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Speaker 1: it was never really about the big name. Your goal

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Speaker 1: was to get to the league. So what was your

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Speaker 1: college experience like? Because you put in a lot of

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Speaker 1: work in college. Again, my college experience was great. And

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Speaker 1: it's crazy because it's like it's the same pattern everywhere

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Speaker 1: I went from high school, college and the pro. So

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Speaker 1: when I when I went to Wichita, I was like

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Speaker 1: a top one hunter recruit, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: I'm like the biggest recruit they had there. And I

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Speaker 1: get there and the start of point guard was like

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Speaker 1: I was eighteen from Malcolm Armstad, he was twenty three,

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Speaker 1: He had just transferred from Oregon. He was like a

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Speaker 1: fifth year senior, one of them type of guys and man,

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Speaker 1: he used to bust my ass every day, like every day,

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Speaker 1: and that was humbling for me because like I'm not

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Speaker 1: ready yet, not ready yet, But I just kept working.

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Speaker 1: I locked in with him. I learned a lot. Um

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Speaker 1: and Greg Marshall, who was who was a great coach. Um,

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Speaker 1: he taught me a lot about just you know, how

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Speaker 1: to play the game the right way and how to win.

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Speaker 1: And um, you know, I was able to learn that

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Speaker 1: at an early point, you know, eighteen nineteen years old.

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Speaker 1: So by the time I did get my chance that

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Speaker 1: next year where I could run the show, I was sharp.

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Speaker 1: I was already ready to go. And and it was

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Speaker 1: you know, all she wrote after that, which is how

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Speaker 1: I stayed is good at recruiting my sister. My sister

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Speaker 1: was probably the top ten in the country, and she

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Speaker 1: saw which stayed. Then they they recruited me and I

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Speaker 1: almost went there. But one thing about that school, they

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Speaker 1: do great. They do a good job at recruiting. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a it's a hell of an atmosphere and there's

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Speaker 1: no football. Um, it's really nothing else. Like the basketball

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Speaker 1: team is like a ProTeam. They really treated like a

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Speaker 1: pro team in which it's all ten thousand, five hundred

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Speaker 1: people come out, sell out every night, preseason, exhibition, it

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Speaker 1: don't matter. Um. And that's what drew it to me

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Speaker 1: when I went on my visit. I went there and

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Speaker 1: I could just feel the community. You know, they fly

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Speaker 1: chartered like it's really like a big time program. Um people,

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Speaker 1: you just gotta go there to see it, because when

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Speaker 1: you think of Wichita, Kansas, you think of like Tumbleweez

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Speaker 1: and Coyle Boys and stuff like that. Right, it really

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Speaker 1: is not like that. Once you go on your visit there,

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Speaker 1: it's it's decent. Jack, You know, goddamn well, you wasn't

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Speaker 1: going to know, mother, I was going to which state

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Speaker 1: because I was in junior college at the time, So

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Speaker 1: it made it look good. And we had we had

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Speaker 1: a lot of junior college guys too. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of the time, you know, I got a

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Speaker 1: chance to go to u C. I think a lot

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Speaker 1: of the time. To knock on these divisions are that

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Speaker 1: you guys really don't play anybody during the regular season,

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Speaker 1: who whoa, whoa. But then you guys get into the

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Speaker 1: into the tournament and your team particularly made a run

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Speaker 1: to the final four. What was that? What I mean,

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Speaker 1: what was it like getting in the tournament and really

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Speaker 1: starting to play these bigger teams and knocking them off. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's a double edged sort. So it is true, like

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Speaker 1: the talent level is a big gap in a talent level, like,

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Speaker 1: let's not I I'm not gonna sit up here in

325
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Speaker 1: a live But at the same time, the coaching is

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Speaker 1: better and the attention to detail is better because it

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Speaker 1: is less talent. So we were putting ourselves through the

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Speaker 1: grinder all year with less talented teams. But like we

329
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Speaker 1: were in every conference game, the other team know every

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Speaker 1: player you're gonna run, they know all your tennessee'es, they

331
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Speaker 1: know you scott a report like, it's just much more intense.

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Speaker 1: So by the time we got to the tournament, man,

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Speaker 1: we're playing these big power five teams and we we

334
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Speaker 1: usually undersize. They got these big guys, they can't guard.

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Speaker 1: They soft. You know what I'm saying. The coaching is

336
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,360
Speaker 1: not the game plan is not what it should be.

337
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Speaker 1: So we're super locked in. When it's time to go,

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Speaker 1: it's time to go. We're hungry because we've been waiting

339
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Speaker 1: on this, Like we can't get these teams to schedule

340
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Speaker 1: us during the regular seas and nobody wants to play

341
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Speaker 1: us during the regular season, so in the tournament you

342
00:15:46,560 --> 00:15:49,120
Speaker 1: can't run. So you know, we're just waiting on this

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Speaker 1: all year. And add to the fact that we had

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Speaker 1: a good collection of talent, especially in my four years there.

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Speaker 1: You know, we have a few NBA guys, so um,

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Speaker 1: we just we just relies on the moment and really

347
00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,480
Speaker 1: just went out there like, you know, play like we

348
00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:06,800
Speaker 1: needed it because we did. Did it ever cross your

349
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,880
Speaker 1: mind to to to leave early? Or was four years

350
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Speaker 1: kind of I'm gonna take these four years and see

351
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Speaker 1: what happens after. No, if like knowing what I know now,

352
00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:18,800
Speaker 1: I would have been left. But I didn't really understand

353
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Speaker 1: how it worked. So my sophomore year, I had a

354
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Speaker 1: decent year, UM, and I remember I think it was

355
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Speaker 1: me and uh Tyler Ennis and we had like identical

356
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Speaker 1: stats and he was at Syracuse and I was at

357
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Speaker 1: Wichita and he ended up getting drafted, I think in

358
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:35,280
Speaker 1: the first round. But um, I really wanted to leave

359
00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:37,520
Speaker 1: after my sophomore year. That was the first time scouts

360
00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,240
Speaker 1: and agents started to come around. But I missed a

361
00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:44,280
Speaker 1: buzzer beater against Kentucky UM in the tournament, and I

362
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:45,960
Speaker 1: was just like, man, I can't let that be the

363
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:49,600
Speaker 1: end of my college career, Like that's crazy. So UM,

364
00:16:49,640 --> 00:16:52,360
Speaker 1: I end up coming back. UM, and then my junior

365
00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,440
Speaker 1: year again I wanted to leave again, but I was

366
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Speaker 1: I was the man at Wichita, like I was living

367
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Speaker 1: really good in school. We had a great program, and

368
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Speaker 1: I just wanted to make it back to the final Force.

369
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Speaker 1: I end up staying um all four years just because

370
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Speaker 1: my experience was so um fun and good in college

371
00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,320
Speaker 1: and I didn't really want to leave that to go, uh,

372
00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, to take a chance at the league when

373
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Speaker 1: I wasn't sure should I feel that I was at

374
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Speaker 1: U c L. I felt like I took a pay

375
00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,359
Speaker 1: cut because I went to the league and then got

376
00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,879
Speaker 1: cut and went to the it went to the motherfucking

377
00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:30,800
Speaker 1: D League. I'd rather be at Westwood and this bulls exactly.

378
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:43,240
Speaker 1: You said, it's for real. You declapped the draft in

379
00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,439
Speaker 1: sen you went undrafted. I know what that's like. I

380
00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:48,520
Speaker 1: got I got drafted second to last pick and got

381
00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,359
Speaker 1: cut and meet it. Didn't even get a chance to play.

382
00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,280
Speaker 1: So I know it is that. Like you turned two,

383
00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,280
Speaker 1: you turned down two offers to the D League too

384
00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:58,760
Speaker 1: for two years. What was your mind frame doing all that? Like?

385
00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:01,119
Speaker 1: Were you thinking like I still got a lot to

386
00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,240
Speaker 1: prove on Maybe it's not for me. No, I was

387
00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,159
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out an angle to get in

388
00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:07,920
Speaker 1: the door, Like I saw, so you know I did.

389
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:10,280
Speaker 1: I really was just mad at my agent, to be honest,

390
00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,960
Speaker 1: because I did eighteen draft workouts, you know what I'm saying.

391
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,040
Speaker 1: So it's like I went into eighteen different teams in

392
00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:19,199
Speaker 1: thirty days. So I was on the road for a

393
00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,040
Speaker 1: whole month just trying to get a crack at it.

394
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:22,800
Speaker 1: And then like the day before the draft, he's like,

395
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,639
Speaker 1: you know, you might not get a drafted, right, And

396
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,320
Speaker 1: I'm like, what the funk did I just do all

397
00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:30,400
Speaker 1: that for? So, uh, we had to we had to adjust,

398
00:18:30,600 --> 00:18:32,480
Speaker 1: and it was just a matter of like finding a

399
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,840
Speaker 1: good summer league team UM and seeing somewhere rock a

400
00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,840
Speaker 1: showcase and and and get it off at UM. That

401
00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,560
Speaker 1: team ended up being Toronto, and they was up front.

402
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:44,440
Speaker 1: They was like, listen, you know you got a chance

403
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,160
Speaker 1: to make the team. We're gonna bring you the training camp.

404
00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:49,760
Speaker 1: You're gonna get a shot. And we're like, alright, bet

405
00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,600
Speaker 1: that's it. That's all I need. And then everything just

406
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,560
Speaker 1: kind of kind of fell fell into my lap after that,

407
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,919
Speaker 1: you know, unfortunately for him, but fortunate for me. The

408
00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,080
Speaker 1: lone Wright had got hurt in summer league. You tore

409
00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:04,200
Speaker 1: shoulder up, so he was out like six months. UM.

410
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,639
Speaker 1: Coach Casey he liked to keep three point guards, so

411
00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,200
Speaker 1: I ended up being a third point guard UM at

412
00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,400
Speaker 1: the time. And then once I got the training camp,

413
00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: it was it was a rap after that because I

414
00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,120
Speaker 1: was too I was too hungry, and at the same time,

415
00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:20,320
Speaker 1: they needed somebody to push Kyle, and I just ended

416
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:22,200
Speaker 1: up being that guy to come in the door first

417
00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,040
Speaker 1: day and just you know, I was. I was at

418
00:19:24,119 --> 00:19:27,080
Speaker 1: kyle neck and I think he respected it and everybody

419
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:30,920
Speaker 1: else respected it. You hear about how hard, how hard

420
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,120
Speaker 1: Kyle works, and uh, you know what kind of leader

421
00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:37,480
Speaker 1: he is. What did you learn UM under him? UM

422
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,159
Speaker 1: as you were under not under him like that, but

423
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,639
Speaker 1: you like under his kind of tuledge as a young player,

424
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:43,800
Speaker 1: because like I said, he's known around the league for

425
00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:45,760
Speaker 1: you know, the work he puts into, how hard he plays,

426
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:47,720
Speaker 1: and I love to hear from day one he was

427
00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,639
Speaker 1: at his neck. Yeah, so like he was just the

428
00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:53,879
Speaker 1: the ultimate pro in terms of that guy who is

429
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,199
Speaker 1: gonna do everything that you think you're supposed to do.

430
00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,080
Speaker 1: He gonna do that and something. So like I was always, uh,

431
00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,680
Speaker 1: you know, apolished, come come in early, state late kind

432
00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,040
Speaker 1: of guy. So I just remember, you know, training camp.

433
00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,120
Speaker 1: I get there like two hours before practice. He already

434
00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:11,480
Speaker 1: done working out with the Norman tech on his legs,

435
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,040
Speaker 1: so he hadn't been in there three four hours early already.

436
00:20:14,080 --> 00:20:16,440
Speaker 1: So I'm like, damn, okay, that's what it taken. Now.

437
00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:18,000
Speaker 1: He wasn't working the harder and camp, you know what

438
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:20,000
Speaker 1: I mean. He was a vet, but he would come

439
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,439
Speaker 1: in super early, get his work done, and then you

440
00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 1: know he would chill. So. Um, I just learned like

441
00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:28,040
Speaker 1: everything everything that I know really in the league. Like

442
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,800
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from Kyle, and not not really

443
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:32,960
Speaker 1: about my game, but just y'all know how to go

444
00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:38,800
Speaker 1: like how to move um, business things, family things, um.

445
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 1: You know how to work out, just your your routine,

446
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:45,240
Speaker 1: you know how to how to recover. Um. He just

447
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: he just taught me so a lot and taught me

448
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:49,800
Speaker 1: so much. And it was him and him and DeMar

449
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,280
Speaker 1: so I kind of had like dying and na Yang

450
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:56,080
Speaker 1: because the Mars is totally different from Kyle um, and

451
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:58,040
Speaker 1: I just got the best of both worlds with both

452
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 1: of them. I think what you said there's important though,

453
00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,880
Speaker 1: because I kind of feel like, you know, as you're

454
00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:04,640
Speaker 1: like a vet on the team. Now, although you learn

455
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,159
Speaker 1: from some O G s, the game doesn't have that

456
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,000
Speaker 1: very much anymore. And you said it wasn't someone about

457
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:10,919
Speaker 1: your game, it was everything else. And I feel like

458
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:12,720
Speaker 1: that's what gets sucked up and missing from some of

459
00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 1: these young players. They don't get a chance to learn

460
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,359
Speaker 1: everything else, how to care yourself, how to recover what

461
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: dudes and don't, how to move. And I feel like,

462
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 1: you know, Jack and I brought it up earlier in

463
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,359
Speaker 1: the interview, I feel like that's kind of what's missing.

464
00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:24,640
Speaker 1: So it's dope that you've got to learn under two

465
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:28,720
Speaker 1: pro pro and two bets. Yeah, it is what's missing.

466
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the guys who's making these

467
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: decisions they don't know. So it's like these front office

468
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:37,040
Speaker 1: people they really don't understand that aspect of the locker

469
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:40,359
Speaker 1: room um, and they don't really care, like at the

470
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 1: end of the day, because they are they're gonna let

471
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: you trip and stumble and fumble. They're not even gonna

472
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:47,520
Speaker 1: say nothing. They're just gonna sit back. They're gonna they're

473
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 1: gonna sit back and watch like, al yeah, he's an idiot,

474
00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:51,879
Speaker 1: and then they're gonna cut you when it's time to

475
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,280
Speaker 1: cut you or not extend you, you know what I'm saying.

476
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:57,400
Speaker 1: So they moved towards with the two way contracts and

477
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 1: and they're moving towards giving these young guys opportunity, which

478
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,720
Speaker 1: is good as well, but there's a huge part of

479
00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:07,560
Speaker 1: the game that's missing, which is like teaching these young

480
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 1: kids how to be men and teaching them how to

481
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,720
Speaker 1: be mintside the n b A and um, I'm seeing

482
00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:15,080
Speaker 1: it obviously because we have a really young team. But

483
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: I'm just happy that I did have that. Like I

484
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:19,360
Speaker 1: had a lot of vets when I when I came

485
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:21,879
Speaker 1: into the league, when you gotta signed with the Raptors

486
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 1: after some of the and uh did you ever think

487
00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: you have to go play in the D League? Yeah,

488
00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 1: so they told me like that was you know what

489
00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:30,399
Speaker 1: I mean. So this high was presented, like fifty thousand

490
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 1: for the training camps. I'm like, all right, cool, fifty gez,

491
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 1: I'll take that. You know, no problems like fifty If

492
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: you get cut, then you're gonna run the G League team.

493
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:40,879
Speaker 1: In my head, I'm like, I'm not even gonna make

494
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,720
Speaker 1: it that far. I'm gonna make the team. So I

495
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,680
Speaker 1: didn't I didn't really think that far ahead. But when

496
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:48,040
Speaker 1: the opportunity came, I'm like, all right, man, I'm gonna

497
00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,440
Speaker 1: go down here, I'm gonna kill I'm gonna shoot thirty

498
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 1: times and then I'm gonna come back. But we had Stacked.

499
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 1: Stack was our coach. Stackhouse was our was our coach.

500
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: So when I went down there, it was like I

501
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,680
Speaker 1: went back to college, you know what I mean. Stack

502
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 1: wasn't He wasn't just letting me rock out, like shoot

503
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,200
Speaker 1: the ball a hundred times and just get to shoot

504
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: off like. He was like, no, you're gonna play the

505
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: right way. And um, me and him had you know,

506
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 1: our back and force, and our relationship grew, and he

507
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: just taught me a lot as far as like you

508
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 1: know how how that era y'all era of basketball see

509
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: the game. And he come from a long line of

510
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 1: lineage of great coaches and people that he's played alongside.

511
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,080
Speaker 1: So I just got to soak up all of that game.

512
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 1: But it made me sharp, like the G League made

513
00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:34,239
Speaker 1: me made me. Uh that's really what made me like

514
00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:36,680
Speaker 1: go play like I don't give a funk about nothing

515
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,720
Speaker 1: because I hadn't been down there. And when you're down there,

516
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,719
Speaker 1: you have to have that mentality like you can't you

517
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 1: can't go down there trying to be cute and and

518
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: and just get through the game because it's you can't win.

519
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,159
Speaker 1: Like if you go down there, you play the right way,

520
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,120
Speaker 1: you had ten points, thinking like, man, you only had

521
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: ten points. If you go down there and you score forty.

522
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: They being like it was the G League, you know

523
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,400
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, like that, so it's the way over.

524
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,960
Speaker 1: So that that kind of made my mind even more sharper.

525
00:24:02,119 --> 00:24:04,000
Speaker 1: It just made me like, when I get my chance,

526
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: I'm gonna just go for it. Yeah, I mean I

527
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 1: had to experience that. Like I said, I got drafted

528
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: and went to the it was the D League. Back

529
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: in that ship was fucking terrible. I mean, there was

530
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,360
Speaker 1: already that chip of but I'm thinking I'm talking back

531
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 1: oh too. So we were busting everywhere, nasty hotels, eating

532
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 1: horrible and I'm just like, this is not for me.

533
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 1: And that was like the all the fire I needed,

534
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,440
Speaker 1: Like after that funk that I was on mission, you

535
00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: know what I mean. It ended up, you know, playing

536
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,600
Speaker 1: fourteen years in the league. But it's sometimes it takes that,

537
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it takes that fire that fuck

538
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: you either me or you, And you know what I mean.

539
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: That's that's that's what made me appreciate everything. Like I said,

540
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 1: I love you because I could tell you play every

541
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 1: game like it's your last because you you had to

542
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 1: get it out the mud. You weren't a lottery pick.

543
00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 1: You weren't. It wasn't sweet for you, you know what

544
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:52,679
Speaker 1: I mean. And that's really for all of us on

545
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: on on this screen right now, is the way we

546
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 1: play was because of the way we brought up in

547
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: this game. You know what I mean. I'm not even

548
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,600
Speaker 1: talking about childhood, but I'm talking about like it wasn't

549
00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,439
Speaker 1: handed to us at the beginning. So that's why we

550
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 1: can surpass some of these number one picks or lottery

551
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: picks or first round picks because they're not hungry. They

552
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,959
Speaker 1: don't know what that other side is like exactly now

553
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: you you said it and I got that. It's crazy

554
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 1: because like, um, I never met an NBA player or

555
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: seen an NBA game until I was THEMN there in

556
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: my twenties, you know, when I was in college, so

557
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,120
Speaker 1: like I just had to study everything that I could

558
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: get interviews, um DVDs. I remember they used to have

559
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 1: an NBA Crossover DVD. I used to have that, UM,

560
00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,359
Speaker 1: And I just remember I was a real young kid

561
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: and I seen a I do an interview and he

562
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,199
Speaker 1: was talking about, like, you know, at the end of

563
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: the day, I could live, you know, knowing that I

564
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 1: did in my way, And he said that, and then

565
00:25:44,280 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 1: he also said, I go out there and play every

566
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,879
Speaker 1: game like it's my last. And like I remember, I

567
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,359
Speaker 1: couldn't have been none but like eight or nine years old,

568
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,200
Speaker 1: but like that's stuck with me to this day, and

569
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,600
Speaker 1: I really try to try to play like that. So, UM,

570
00:25:57,640 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 1: I think that that makes a big difference when you're

571
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 1: out there, because you're not you're playing it with a

572
00:26:02,119 --> 00:26:04,399
Speaker 1: pure heart and you're really leaving it all on the line.

573
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:07,320
Speaker 1: And UM, it's not that many that do that, you

574
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: know these days, but the ones that do that, those

575
00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: those are the special ones. They stand out. What was

576
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 1: what was your welcome to the NBA moment? I had

577
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 1: a few, but the first one was UM preseason, preseason. UM. Again,

578
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 1: I was trying to make the team. It was like

579
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: our second to last preseason game. We're playing the Clippers,

580
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: uh CP Blake and all them. I was like, like

581
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 1: I said, I was the third point guard. So you know,

582
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,480
Speaker 1: I usually ain't checking into like the second half of

583
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 1: the game, and me and Kyle we're not really that

584
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: that close at this time, so I didn't know he

585
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:42,840
Speaker 1: wasn't playing. You know, a guy's don't play all the

586
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: preseason games. So we're standing in the huddle, um case,

587
00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: drawing up to play, and he write my name on

588
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,480
Speaker 1: the board just before the tip off, and I'm looking

589
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,639
Speaker 1: like fun, like, yeah, y'all, I wasn't gonna tell me

590
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: I was starting. So so I'm I'm taking I'm taking

591
00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: my warm up is stuff all. You know what I'm saying.

592
00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:02,399
Speaker 1: I'm trying to get ready. So I'm like, all right,

593
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: bet So now I'm out there. I'm nervous as hill

594
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,119
Speaker 1: and this Chris Paul. You know what I'm saying, this

595
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,199
Speaker 1: is this is CP for me. This is like this

596
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: as good as it gets. So, man, he wasn't even shooting.

597
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: I think he had like thirteen points at halftime. He

598
00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 1: was double crossing me, spinning me around. They used to

599
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:20,720
Speaker 1: run uh a little high the little high double drag

600
00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: at the top Blake in DJ, and he was rejecting.

601
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: I was trying, man, I was spinning around. I was

602
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: so lost, and I just remember being in the locker

603
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,119
Speaker 1: room at half time. I was just like, yeah, this

604
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: is this is a different level right here. He wasn't

605
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: he wasn't even like trying to killed, but he knew

606
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,639
Speaker 1: that I was a rookie, so he was like he

607
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:45,560
Speaker 1: was letting me know, you know what I'm saying that,

608
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,200
Speaker 1: And it wasn't. It wasn't that many guys that's dummy

609
00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,960
Speaker 1: like that, but CP definitely he got me. So outside

610
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:55,879
Speaker 1: of your team, I mean it may be what you

611
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,159
Speaker 1: just said, but outside of your teammate, any of your

612
00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,280
Speaker 1: teammates who were you and off when you first came

613
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 1: in the league. Definitely Um, Definitely, Brian Um, Definitely Katie Um,

614
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:20,200
Speaker 1: Definitely Steph Kyrie. Um. Yeah, those those guys. But it's

615
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: like it was really my first half of my rookie

616
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,760
Speaker 1: year because I was on the bench. So when I

617
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:27,760
Speaker 1: was on the bench and I knew I wasn't playing,

618
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,959
Speaker 1: I could just I could just enjoy the game, like

619
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:31,719
Speaker 1: I ain't you know what I'm saying, I ain't even

620
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,359
Speaker 1: really in compete mode, Like when I'm on the court,

621
00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 1: I'm hating on everybody like man mass movement. I was

622
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,000
Speaker 1: like you know what I'm saying, I'm hating. But when

623
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,960
Speaker 1: I'm on the bench I'm watching, I'm like, yo, like

624
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:46,080
Speaker 1: these dudes they big, bro, Like this is like real giants.

625
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: That was Portzingis when Portzinger still had his his buzz

626
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,920
Speaker 1: around him in New York. Um, just like seeing how

627
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:56,280
Speaker 1: big guys was and just how actil and just how

628
00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,160
Speaker 1: special they was to touch. Um yeah it was, Uh

629
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:01,960
Speaker 1: it was. It was a lot of guys early on.

630
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:03,880
Speaker 1: But then once I started playing out, you know, I

631
00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: didn't really look at it like that. Mm hmm nineteen,

632
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 1: what was the team? Like headed into that season, we

633
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 1: was all kind of like, uh, still trying to figure out,

634
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: you know, what it was gonna be because up until

635
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: that point, like all we had heard was obviously we

636
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: traded themar which was a big deal. You know, this

637
00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: is this is the martest is the realist dude that

638
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: I've ever met in this world in terms of you know,

639
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,840
Speaker 1: the basketball world and professional world. Like this is a

640
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 1: real dude. He gets it. Um we trade him. So

641
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, damn, like how this this is how this goes?

642
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 1: Like this the dude, this is the this guy dedicated

643
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,840
Speaker 1: his world to this team. And y'all trade him like that,

644
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: and then the only thing we've seen was, ka, I

645
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 1: don't want to come. You don't want to be here.

646
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: You don't want to be here. So you know me,

647
00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:53,600
Speaker 1: I'm looking like, what ship we don't want you? Damn bro,

648
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: you don't want to be here? Like it is what

649
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: it is, you know what I'm saying. But again, we

650
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: didn't know. We never spoke him, I never met him.

651
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 1: When he came, it was all love. He came and

652
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: he worked his butt off. He was He's a special,

653
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: special talent and special individual. And from the day, first

654
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:13,760
Speaker 1: day of training camp, we knew we had a chance

655
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:16,239
Speaker 1: to win the championship. Like when you know, you just

656
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:18,720
Speaker 1: know it's just a filling in the gym. Everybody know it.

657
00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:21,280
Speaker 1: The trainers know it, you know what, the coaches know it,

658
00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: that the staff know it, and I think everything just

659
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,800
Speaker 1: aligned to that. And I think we made the trade

660
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,880
Speaker 1: for mircosol like halfway through, so that just added a

661
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 1: little bit more um. But yeah, that was that was

662
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 1: one of them things where it's like we just had

663
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: to make it to the end because we knew we

664
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 1: had a chance from the outside looking in. Jack got

665
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: to play with the young Kauai. I never got to

666
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 1: play with him. I got to play against him. What

667
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 1: does he like when you actually in practice and in

668
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,360
Speaker 1: the locker room and that kind of ship because he

669
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 1: gives off one persona kind of similar to how Kobe was.

670
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,719
Speaker 1: And then when I got a chance to really know Kobe,

671
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,880
Speaker 1: it was night and day of what everyone thought of him. Yeah, no,

672
00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 1: same the same thing. You got it. Like, like Kauai

673
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 1: was super regular. He was super regular. Like now he

674
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 1: ain't to do what that's gonna walk in the room

675
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 1: and dap everybody, Hell, what's up y'all? What's going on? Like,

676
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,400
Speaker 1: he ain't doing that. But if you if you go

677
00:31:09,480 --> 00:31:10,959
Speaker 1: to him and try to bust it up with him,

678
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,160
Speaker 1: he's gonna have a convo with you. And he's actually

679
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: he's super funny. He's super regular. He liked to do

680
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 1: all the ship that we like to do. He just

681
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 1: don't tell nobody about it. He don't play social media

682
00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,040
Speaker 1: and he don't he don't like doing a bunch of interviews. Um.

683
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I took from him was

684
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: that he would come in and he would do his workout.

685
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: And that's the only time that I saw like the

686
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 1: robot thing where like he would I would see him

687
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:41,920
Speaker 1: take thirty pull up jumpers going right at the same speed,

688
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: like like clockwork, clockwork, clockwork. He going the same speed.

689
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. He's not going fast, He's

690
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 1: just going at his page. He's getting to a spot,

691
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 1: he pulling up. He going to a spot, he pulling up.

692
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: He's not missing. So I'll just I used to just

693
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 1: sit on the side and just watching work out, just

694
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: to see like what this process was. He didn't practice

695
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: a lot, you know what I'm saying. It wasn't a

696
00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: big shoot around guy, practice guy. But when it was

697
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 1: trying to play man, he was. He's on a different

698
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 1: level like and and the thing that I took from

699
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,480
Speaker 1: him the most was he put fear at everybody's heart

700
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,360
Speaker 1: on the other team. So when when we walk in

701
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: that gym, we knew we had the best player on

702
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: the floor almost every single night. And it's only probably

703
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: one or two guys that I've seen felt like they

704
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:28,480
Speaker 1: had to, you know, have that edge with him. Um.

705
00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 1: But other than that, like he put fear in a

706
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: lot of people's hearts. Who a lot of people think

707
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: it's big dogs co I put fear in their hearts

708
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,720
Speaker 1: and I've seen that, you know what I mean. Early

709
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: So social media was buzzing when when posting the postseason

710
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 1: when he was bawling and you had your son, I know,

711
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: that's what that's the reason we do it was that

712
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 1: what what was your feeling doing that? I know that

713
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 1: was extra motivation for you. But you know, social media

714
00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: was going crazy around the time. Yeah. So like I

715
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: was struggling before that in the Philly series. You know,

716
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:01,480
Speaker 1: the Philly was a big a team. My minutes got

717
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 1: poured down. I wasn't making I was getting like two

718
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: shots a game. I wasn't making them. So now I'm

719
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,800
Speaker 1: like over fourteen in the playoffs. Yeah, you out of

720
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 1: the rotation. So I struggled that series. We ended up

721
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:14,520
Speaker 1: winning this series. Um, my girl and my family was

722
00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: at home because we had I had my daughter in Toronto,

723
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: but I had my son you know, at the crib,

724
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,480
Speaker 1: So they was in the States and I was in Toronto.

725
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 1: So around that time when he got ready to come,

726
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 1: I was able to go home be there for the birth. Um,

727
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: you know, see my baby girl, see my family, and

728
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 1: it just it just put me at ease. So when

729
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,440
Speaker 1: I went back. It was just time. It was time

730
00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: for me to play good obviously, but I think just

731
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,719
Speaker 1: mentally it put me at ease. And once once I

732
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: got hot, it was it was over. And then it

733
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 1: was like a perfect moment because up until that point,

734
00:33:46,440 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: I don't think really co I was really chusting us

735
00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: like that because we wasn't giving him a real reason too.

736
00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 1: So once I started making shots his trust group, then

737
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,040
Speaker 1: he started drawing. He started like driving the pass instead

738
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,560
Speaker 1: of driving the score and drawing the d defense saying

739
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 1: kicking out, and you know I was knocking him down.

740
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:08,799
Speaker 1: And that's really when we took off. Before you got

741
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,360
Speaker 1: to the finals, you played the sixes. What what was

742
00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:14,040
Speaker 1: going through the mind of Kauai put up that final

743
00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: shot in game seven? Like we all knew he was

744
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: taking a shot. We knew the ball was going to him,

745
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,799
Speaker 1: but the job. Did you expect him to force it

746
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:26,080
Speaker 1: like he did? Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah we knew,

747
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 1: We knew what we knew what it was. Uh we

748
00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: he liked that right baseline, Um getting to that spot.

749
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,720
Speaker 1: I was more so surprised that they let him get

750
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:36,440
Speaker 1: that far, you know what I'm saying, Like I was

751
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 1: thinking they was gonna trap him. He was gonna have

752
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: to try to shoot over a double team. I pass it,

753
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:42,160
Speaker 1: but he ended up getting all the way over there.

754
00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: I was like on the bench when he shot at

755
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 1: and um, it looked like it was off at the

756
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 1: like from my angle when they bounced a couple of

757
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:50,840
Speaker 1: times and went then it was just for me. In

758
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 1: my head, I'm thinking, like, yes, I get another series

759
00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,000
Speaker 1: to redeem myself. If this ship would have ended here, boy,

760
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,719
Speaker 1: that would have like my whole my whole trajectory would

761
00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:01,560
Speaker 1: have ain't you know what I'm saying. As far as

762
00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 1: like that would have been my playoffs experience, I would

763
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 1: have never got the chance to have a great series

764
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 1: of Milwaukee have a great finals. Like you know, we

765
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 1: might not have be calling me NBA Champ today if

766
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,480
Speaker 1: if we don't get out of that series. So, um,

767
00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:16,479
Speaker 1: I was just happy. I think everybody was just happy

768
00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 1: because that was a tough, tough, tough Philly team. Um

769
00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: and he made that shot and again that's a that's

770
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,800
Speaker 1: a special dude, I special m hm. So you definitely

771
00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:28,040
Speaker 1: get to get a chance to find your rhythm. Now

772
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 1: you're in the finals against the Dynasty and someone you

773
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 1: looked up to coming to lead the Golden State Warriors.

774
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,040
Speaker 1: What was your mentality at that point, Well, the conversation

775
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: going into it, because I had guarded stuff a few

776
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,839
Speaker 1: times before, like in the regular season, and had like

777
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 1: some success. And when I say success, like I got

778
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:46,640
Speaker 1: him better than most people guard him, I still ain't.

779
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna sit up here and I locked I

780
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,440
Speaker 1: locked stuff up. I ain't gonna say that, but I

781
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 1: guarded him better than most people do. Like I'm not

782
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,960
Speaker 1: gonna I'm not gonna go under when it's when I

783
00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:00,080
Speaker 1: need to go over. I'm not gonna fall asleep and

784
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 1: let him get a while open shot. So like, um,

785
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 1: they came to me like you're gonna you're gonna guard stuff.

786
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: That's gonna be your assignment. Just do the best you can.

787
00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 1: Like all right, bet, And I watched a ton of

788
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:12,799
Speaker 1: film I've seen where guys go wrong. We had a

789
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,160
Speaker 1: great game plan. Obviously Kevin wasn't out there, so that

790
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,919
Speaker 1: changes things. Now we're really gonna load up, and then

791
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: you know when Clay went down, Now we're really gonna

792
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,360
Speaker 1: load up. And and if you could beat if you

793
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,440
Speaker 1: could beat us by yourself, you deserve it. Bro. But

794
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 1: I don't think that that that team that we had,

795
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,760
Speaker 1: it wasn't like one person that could have beaten. So, um,

796
00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 1: I just try to lock in on my assignment. And

797
00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 1: me being so locked in defensively it made me more

798
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,239
Speaker 1: aggressive on offense because I was working too hard. So

799
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:42,879
Speaker 1: when I got the ball, I'm like it, I gotta

800
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 1: get my shirt off because I'm working way too hard

801
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:51,160
Speaker 1: on these things. Hey, so you mentioned, uh, you know,

802
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 1: k d being out, but then he comes back. I

803
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: forget what the game is for and he came off,

804
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: came in, you know, and he was cooking, you know,

805
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:00,880
Speaker 1: like he had never been injured. With your guys mindset

806
00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: knowing that game that Katie came back started playing one

807
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:05,279
Speaker 1: than obviously he went down a game, But what was

808
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 1: your guys approach knowing that? Okay, man, they got they

809
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:09,839
Speaker 1: got another weapon back this game. Yeah, but we had

810
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:12,960
Speaker 1: to adjust a little bit as far as game plan goes, obviously,

811
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:18,080
Speaker 1: but um me personally, I was just like, now we

812
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:20,680
Speaker 1: got a special dude. This dude is special to to

813
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:22,759
Speaker 1: go from. Not I think he came out, he made

814
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: like four threes in a row. We knew he wasn't

815
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: a hundred percent, so we was gonna test him when

816
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,800
Speaker 1: he switched. We was gonna drive him, like test his

817
00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:32,360
Speaker 1: leg out things like that, and I think that's actually

818
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,840
Speaker 1: how he end up getting hurt blows out on Surge

819
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,400
Speaker 1: and surge you know, attack them. Um. So we were

820
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 1: just trying to test him and make sure that, you know,

821
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: if he was gonna be out there, we're just gonna

822
00:37:41,239 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 1: make him work. Um. But nah, he gave him a

823
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,880
Speaker 1: boost in that game five, uh that they needed and

824
00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:52,520
Speaker 1: they end up winning that game obviously. But no, Kevin, Yeah,

825
00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: he's he on a different level for sure. Just yeah,

826
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: he's a he's an animal. Yeah. So you guys end

827
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: up taking a series for the two and bring the

828
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 1: first championship back to Toronto? What was that feeling? Like?

829
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: It was crazy? It was like that all the emotions

830
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: that you can think of, you know what I mean,

831
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:11,759
Speaker 1: when you win one and just you go from like

832
00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: your personal journey to you know, your childhood to everything

833
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: you've been through up to this point to professionally. Um,

834
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: I had struggled, you know what I mean. I was

835
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,480
Speaker 1: on social media when I was struggling, So I was

836
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: getting like all the death threats and you ain't ship

837
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: and all the comments and all that, and then to

838
00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:31,919
Speaker 1: be able to turn it around and and to win one,

839
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: like you know, you just feel like you proved everybody

840
00:38:34,200 --> 00:38:38,080
Speaker 1: wrong in life. And um for a city like Toronto

841
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,399
Speaker 1: where we come home to the parade and there's two

842
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,520
Speaker 1: million people or whatever, it is like it's just it's

843
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,400
Speaker 1: just like stuff that they make movies about. And just

844
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,399
Speaker 1: to be in that moment and to be a part

845
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:50,040
Speaker 1: of it, not to just be in it, but to

846
00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:52,960
Speaker 1: be a part of it, to score in the fourth quarter,

847
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 1: to make the big shots, to big plays. Like coming

848
00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 1: from where I come from, that was that was crazy

849
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: and it's something that I never get And it's like,

850
00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:03,799
Speaker 1: you know, I'm trying to work so hard so I

851
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 1: can get back and do it again because it was

852
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:09,480
Speaker 1: such a such a crazy moment. M hm. So you

853
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:11,480
Speaker 1: guys are able to close out into the bay, you

854
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: guys get off to Vegas to enjoy yourself, then head

855
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:18,239
Speaker 1: home to the parade. Uh. Any stories that stand out

856
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,440
Speaker 1: to you that you can share, I know some stories,

857
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:27,280
Speaker 1: can't you can share it with us? Yeah? I mean yeah,

858
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: like when we just just from the parade standpoint, like

859
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,320
Speaker 1: I just remember, it was it was like a morning

860
00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,279
Speaker 1: parade like a nine. We got on the bus at

861
00:39:35,320 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 1: like eight or nine o'clock and um, you know, we

862
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 1: really was only going, like you know, on the regular day,

863
00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 1: maybe what ten minutes, you know what I mean, from

864
00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 1: where we started at to where we get to end

865
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,839
Speaker 1: up being like a four hour trip. You know, they

866
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,000
Speaker 1: had to stop the bus. People was running on the street.

867
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: We're drinking, and before you know, we get onto the

868
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 1: stage for the thing and it's just only like one

869
00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 1: o'clock or something like that, and we wasted. Like I'm like, damn,

870
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 1: I ain't even know you could like you know what

871
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I don't even know you could do that

872
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:07,240
Speaker 1: much in that little time. But we're on the bus

873
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: and it's just like it's funny, man, because that's why

874
00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,400
Speaker 1: I keep like a lot of my close friends and

875
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,280
Speaker 1: family around from when I was a little boy, because

876
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,919
Speaker 1: they keep me grounded. So it's like coming from where

877
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 1: I come from to be on the bus with it's me, Kyle, Lowry,

878
00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: Drake and Kauai. You know what I'm saying. I got

879
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: my girl, I got my my girls, my mother in law,

880
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,160
Speaker 1: I got my brother. Like we on that's that's the

881
00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:30,880
Speaker 1: bus that we on you know what I'm saying, And

882
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 1: it's just like, man, you can't you can't make that

883
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,120
Speaker 1: stuff up. And you know, just enjoying it, man, because

884
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:38,839
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to do. It's real hard to do.

885
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:42,120
Speaker 1: Like a championship parade, man, we all, we all had

886
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,800
Speaker 1: a chance to experience that championship parade. I I vividly

887
00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:50,040
Speaker 1: remember me still being drunk from the night before after

888
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:51,920
Speaker 1: the game, so I don't even remember too much of

889
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: the parade because I was hung over my body. I

890
00:40:55,239 --> 00:41:01,440
Speaker 1: still have my uniform onto. It's nothing like it, man.

891
00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: That's that's probably one of the best best moments you

892
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 1: know of my life. For sure. You mentioned being on

893
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,120
Speaker 1: the on the bus of Drake just for a moment.

894
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,439
Speaker 1: How important is he to not only the team and

895
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,200
Speaker 1: and and and funking with y'all, but just the city overall.

896
00:41:17,239 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 1: I don't think we've seen a person be such an

897
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:23,200
Speaker 1: ambassador for one place like we've seen Drake. And he's

898
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: got his hands with your team. I've seen him just

899
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:27,840
Speaker 1: called out of I called Adam Silver out said he

900
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 1: wants a w NBA team, Like what what what is

901
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: it like being around him? In the energy he brings

902
00:41:32,040 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: to you guys, he's just an icon. He's just an

903
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:37,480
Speaker 1: icon really like in the world. And I think that

904
00:41:37,520 --> 00:41:39,800
Speaker 1: he's so much of a nice dude and just a

905
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,440
Speaker 1: genuine dude that when you're around him, you don't really

906
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: notice it, you know what I'm saying, Because he really

907
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,000
Speaker 1: a fan for real, like and not in a bad way,

908
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:49,720
Speaker 1: Like he really is a fan of the game. Um,

909
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:51,840
Speaker 1: he's a fan of his team. He comes from this city,

910
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:53,319
Speaker 1: Like you could see the you know what I mean.

911
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,279
Speaker 1: This dude got his he got his owl right here

912
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,520
Speaker 1: like on the on an NBA team, Like he got

913
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,719
Speaker 1: a core, he got a jersey, like you know what

914
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,439
Speaker 1: I'm saying, that's that's unheard of. And Um, to come from,

915
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:08,359
Speaker 1: you know, the hometown where he comes from, to do this,

916
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:10,920
Speaker 1: and to do it with his team and his family

917
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:12,799
Speaker 1: and his friends that he that he grew up with,

918
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:15,520
Speaker 1: Like it's just inspirational for me. I think it's the

919
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:17,640
Speaker 1: blueprint for what a lot of guys should be striving

920
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 1: to do. Um. And he goes out into the world

921
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,600
Speaker 1: and he reps it, and um, he's just a huge

922
00:42:24,640 --> 00:42:27,840
Speaker 1: ambassador for not only the game, but obviously for this

923
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: city and for Toronto. And I think I I caught

924
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:33,240
Speaker 1: the wave like at a great time in my first

925
00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: six years because I could see the growth, you know,

926
00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:38,880
Speaker 1: from year to year. Um, they did the Slam magazine

927
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 1: with DeMar and Kyle, and then it just it just

928
00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:43,719
Speaker 1: started building and building from there, and I just kind

929
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 1: of been in the middle of it. In the championship

930
00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 1: was like the peak of that. And then you know

931
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,120
Speaker 1: at the games, he just he wilding out. He's a

932
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 1: he's a fan man. He over He's trash talking, talking

933
00:42:53,880 --> 00:42:56,840
Speaker 1: crazy to the players, to the revs. He rubbing you know,

934
00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:59,120
Speaker 1: Nick shoulders during the game, like he just he just

935
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: having fun. So like he just he just enjoyed him

936
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 1: and just like like a playground friend. So the following season,

937
00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,760
Speaker 1: Kauai announces he's not returning, He's gonna join the Clippers.

938
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:21,080
Speaker 1: Where you got surprised at all? Did you kind of

939
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 1: know what the vibe was with him posted you know

940
00:43:23,800 --> 00:43:26,440
Speaker 1: he's gonna be in and out. Um, No, we was

941
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 1: following it, like y'all. Like again, I wasn't a dude

942
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,600
Speaker 1: like me and Coole. I wasn't really like super tight,

943
00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 1: So I wasn't the guy who was gonna like keep

944
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,719
Speaker 1: chasing him like Hey, what you're doing. What's going on? Bro?

945
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,160
Speaker 1: I just respected him. We had a mutual respect him

946
00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,960
Speaker 1: and Cole was a little bit closer. Um, So we

947
00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:44,880
Speaker 1: was following it like everybody else. I knew he was

948
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:46,800
Speaker 1: meeting with us, he was meeting with the Clippers. It

949
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:48,879
Speaker 1: was a couple of things. I couldn't see him going

950
00:43:48,920 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 1: to the Lakers, but I could see the Clipper thing happening. Um.

951
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:54,239
Speaker 1: And I think I was in the club. I think

952
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,920
Speaker 1: it was my best friends bachelor party or something. I

953
00:43:57,960 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 1: was in the club like the night before for a

954
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,840
Speaker 1: and see. And we got a text. We got a

955
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 1: group text, you know, from Kauaio. Ay, y'all, I'm you know,

956
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: I'm going home. Was like, alright, bet. Thirty seconds later

957
00:44:13,200 --> 00:44:15,040
Speaker 1: the tweet star coming out that he was going to

958
00:44:15,080 --> 00:44:16,840
Speaker 1: the Clippers, Like all right, I mean, you can't do

959
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:18,840
Speaker 1: nothing but respective, man, thank you for you know what

960
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: I mean, the year that you gave here. He was

961
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: number professional. He carried us a lot, you know what

962
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:28,000
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And I learned a lot. Yeah, I learned

963
00:44:28,000 --> 00:44:30,000
Speaker 1: a lot from him. And you just gotta keep it

964
00:44:30,040 --> 00:44:32,239
Speaker 1: a hunted at all times. Man. He was. He was great.

965
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:34,759
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. You can't be mad at him for that.

966
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:36,759
Speaker 1: I think that if he did would have came back,

967
00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:38,839
Speaker 1: we would have won a couple of them, like at

968
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:42,399
Speaker 1: least a back to back for sure. But the first

969
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:44,239
Speaker 1: thing I thought about was all right, best time to

970
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 1: get paid now. I don't have to like try to

971
00:44:46,760 --> 00:44:49,640
Speaker 1: try to like, oh yeah, I gotta play my role

972
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,520
Speaker 1: for a winning team. No, it's time to take a

973
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,279
Speaker 1: step up. Like he's leaving. It's time for me to

974
00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:55,920
Speaker 1: take a step up and grow. So um, it's nothing

975
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,839
Speaker 1: but love for Kauai always. I want to take us.

976
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:00,840
Speaker 1: I want to take a step back though, because, like

977
00:45:00,920 --> 00:45:03,360
Speaker 1: you said, you spoke to our brother about our brother Damar,

978
00:45:03,560 --> 00:45:06,120
Speaker 1: and I think he gave so much to that franchise

979
00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,400
Speaker 1: and it just happened to be, you know, he gets traded.

980
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,920
Speaker 1: You guys win, but before you guys win this championship

981
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 1: and he gets traded, what was the energy like and

982
00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:19,799
Speaker 1: what was your thought process, because you're fairly young in

983
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 1: the process, like, what was it like? Because you said

984
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:23,960
Speaker 1: he was a consummate pro, someone you looked up to,

985
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:26,040
Speaker 1: someone you so game up from, someone that did so

986
00:45:26,120 --> 00:45:28,279
Speaker 1: much for that franchise. What was it like when he

987
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:30,520
Speaker 1: was actually traded, well, I was hurt, you know, I

988
00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,040
Speaker 1: mean personally, like I was hurt, Like I really you know,

989
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 1: I'm one of those guys who like I you know,

990
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,520
Speaker 1: I told you like my high school stories and all,

991
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:39,879
Speaker 1: like I put my heart into this for real every day.

992
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 1: And the guys that I get close to, like the

993
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 1: is gonna be my guys for life, is not just

994
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 1: for fake or for work, because we play together, like

995
00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:50,560
Speaker 1: so that's really my guy, Like that's really my big brother.

996
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,680
Speaker 1: So and I was with him invaded, so like some

997
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 1: of the stories that he told about how I went down,

998
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:57,719
Speaker 1: I was with him like for some of that, you

999
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:00,239
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So when that happened, it was

1000
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:02,440
Speaker 1: just like damn, Like it's a cold game, you know

1001
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:04,680
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And at the same time, I missed

1002
00:46:04,719 --> 00:46:06,480
Speaker 1: this dude because he did a lot for me. He

1003
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:08,000
Speaker 1: did a lot for me and I learned a lot

1004
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,760
Speaker 1: from and I felt like it really wasn't his funk,

1005
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Like I'm not I'm not

1006
00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,799
Speaker 1: a big trade guy, and maybe I'll get there as

1007
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:17,799
Speaker 1: you know, I get older in this league, but I'm

1008
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:20,799
Speaker 1: not really big on trades like that because there's so

1009
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,520
Speaker 1: much going on in the business of basketball that it's

1010
00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:26,239
Speaker 1: easy to just point out one player or you know,

1011
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:29,480
Speaker 1: a player and say we need to trade. So I

1012
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:32,040
Speaker 1: wasn't a fan of the trade. Um, obviously it worked

1013
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,200
Speaker 1: out and they looked like genius is after the fact,

1014
00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:37,480
Speaker 1: But no, I was. I was just I was upset,

1015
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I was hurt behind that

1016
00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,080
Speaker 1: because this is this is, this is the guy for us,

1017
00:46:42,200 --> 00:46:44,279
Speaker 1: and he was so much of a real dude that

1018
00:46:44,880 --> 00:46:46,640
Speaker 1: it was just like, damn, how could you? How could

1019
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 1: you trade him? But you know what I'm saying, we

1020
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,200
Speaker 1: end up winning championship off of it. So when you

1021
00:46:51,239 --> 00:46:53,880
Speaker 1: look back, um, you have a different memory of it.

1022
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:55,680
Speaker 1: But in that moment, yeah, I was. I was a

1023
00:46:55,760 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 1: little funked up behind album. Yeah, yeah, it makes I

1024
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:04,719
Speaker 1: know you're worth. November twenty twenties, you signed eighty five

1025
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:07,920
Speaker 1: million dollar deal for four years. You made history by

1026
00:47:07,920 --> 00:47:13,480
Speaker 1: signing the largest contract and undrafted players ever received. Un rich, bitch,

1027
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:16,880
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Run it up. What was

1028
00:47:16,880 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: your feeling? What what was your feeling that day? Because

1029
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,200
Speaker 1: I know, like I said, we we as Hooper was

1030
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:24,359
Speaker 1: we can remember, you know, certain instances of situations in

1031
00:47:24,360 --> 00:47:27,400
Speaker 1: our life, you know, where we get that call and

1032
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:29,520
Speaker 1: saying we got that money, that we signed our line,

1033
00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: our name on the contact, and we when we know

1034
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:33,279
Speaker 1: we got the money. What was your feeling like the

1035
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:36,400
Speaker 1: day you got the eighty five millions out of contract? Man?

1036
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: Like I was in heaven like like like it was

1037
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 1: just an out of body experience. Um, knowing what I

1038
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:46,440
Speaker 1: put into the game and all the sacrifices that I

1039
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:48,919
Speaker 1: made and just doing it with integrity and just trying

1040
00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:51,879
Speaker 1: to be a real soldier like all the way through.

1041
00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:53,320
Speaker 1: Like it was a lot of times I could have

1042
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,239
Speaker 1: done a lot of sucking ship that I never did.

1043
00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:58,480
Speaker 1: So it was like to be rewarded for that, Like

1044
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:01,719
Speaker 1: that's something that that made you feel proud of myself,

1045
00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:03,719
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Like I don't really give

1046
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,560
Speaker 1: myself a lot of paths on the back because I'm

1047
00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:07,839
Speaker 1: so focused on where I'm trying to get to. But

1048
00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:10,480
Speaker 1: I was just I was just like there was an

1049
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:12,360
Speaker 1: out of body experience, you know what I'm saying. I

1050
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 1: had all my boys with me. We drove up, we

1051
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:19,080
Speaker 1: met him in Chicago and we signed the paper. UM, yeah,

1052
00:48:19,120 --> 00:48:21,319
Speaker 1: it was. That was It was a crazy moment and

1053
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:24,520
Speaker 1: just negotiating process. You know, I learned a lot as

1054
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:26,600
Speaker 1: far as how free agency goes and how they even

1055
00:48:26,640 --> 00:48:29,760
Speaker 1: get to those numbers and things like that. So, um,

1056
00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:31,800
Speaker 1: I know my worth and I felt like I was

1057
00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:34,239
Speaker 1: worth a lot more. So I also had to I

1058
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 1: also had to have that you know realization where we

1059
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,160
Speaker 1: see a lot of guys you know, strike out because

1060
00:48:40,160 --> 00:48:42,319
Speaker 1: they're thinking like that ain't the number right. So it's

1061
00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 1: like you know what I'm saying. I had that moment

1062
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 1: where it was like I can't, I can't say no

1063
00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:49,520
Speaker 1: to this, like we'll we'll worry about the number on

1064
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:53,239
Speaker 1: the next one. So as I signed it, and you know,

1065
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:55,840
Speaker 1: that was like the biggest day of my life for

1066
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,760
Speaker 1: for me and my family and just having that generational wealth.

1067
00:48:58,800 --> 00:49:01,520
Speaker 1: You know, I got two children, I got a big family.

1068
00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 1: I take care of a lot of people. So I

1069
00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:05,600
Speaker 1: know what I could do with that money, and I

1070
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,480
Speaker 1: know what that money means for my city, for my

1071
00:49:08,600 --> 00:49:12,640
Speaker 1: family and going forward for generations, Like I know, I

1072
00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:14,760
Speaker 1: know what that's gonna do. And it just it allowed

1073
00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:17,480
Speaker 1: me to be like a real NBA player now because

1074
00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:20,800
Speaker 1: up until that point. I was just I was just grinding, grinding,

1075
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:22,440
Speaker 1: grind and trying to get a big deal so I

1076
00:49:22,440 --> 00:49:24,160
Speaker 1: could like relax, you know what I'm saying, so I

1077
00:49:24,200 --> 00:49:27,080
Speaker 1: could sleep at night because what I got before it

1078
00:49:27,160 --> 00:49:28,960
Speaker 1: was like it was cool. But you know, this is

1079
00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:31,200
Speaker 1: the first time I felt like I got my due

1080
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:36,120
Speaker 1: respect and um, you know, my appreciation, and they showed

1081
00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:38,680
Speaker 1: that with the with the deal. So I mean it's

1082
00:49:38,680 --> 00:49:40,839
Speaker 1: almost been a year. I mean we did November now

1083
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,400
Speaker 1: you know it was when you signed it. But I'm agetting.

1084
00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:46,520
Speaker 1: Like I said, being a fan of you when your

1085
00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:49,560
Speaker 1: approach and not really knowing your upbringing in your grind,

1086
00:49:49,600 --> 00:49:51,759
Speaker 1: it made me feel that much better now even knowing

1087
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:53,640
Speaker 1: what you went through that you got that bread, because

1088
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 1: like I said, there's there's always the underdogars, and rarely

1089
00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,759
Speaker 1: do the underdogars to get to eat the way you ate,

1090
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:00,160
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So we just definitely want

1091
00:50:00,160 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 1: to give you a shout out and the congratulations man,

1092
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:06,640
Speaker 1: because you're your journey is more attainable than the Lebron

1093
00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:09,000
Speaker 1: James or Kevin Durant type journey. Like you were a

1094
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:11,480
Speaker 1: real blue collar grind you got it out the mud

1095
00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:14,160
Speaker 1: type motherfucker, and you can be very inspirational for a

1096
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,239
Speaker 1: lot of people. Man. So again, we wanted to congratulate

1097
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 1: you on that money, man, because like you said, that's

1098
00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:20,040
Speaker 1: that's like tarm wealth and that's just the first one

1099
00:50:20,160 --> 00:50:23,759
Speaker 1: you got. At least another another two coming up. Yeah, facts, now,

1100
00:50:23,880 --> 00:50:25,600
Speaker 1: that's that's what it is. And it's just like I

1101
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:27,200
Speaker 1: do this for a lot of people. You know what

1102
00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I don't really speak for everybody or like

1103
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:32,640
Speaker 1: you know, my story is not for everybody, but the

1104
00:50:32,719 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: people that it is for like this is you know,

1105
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:37,839
Speaker 1: it's it's the motivation and it's the inspiration to just

1106
00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,000
Speaker 1: keep doing it this way and trying to do it

1107
00:50:40,040 --> 00:50:41,759
Speaker 1: the right way. And just like it is light at

1108
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:44,040
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, because I mean, you guys

1109
00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:46,399
Speaker 1: know how this game is. It's a dirty game, and

1110
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:48,239
Speaker 1: you could get mixed up and caught up in a

1111
00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:51,480
Speaker 1: lot of the the bullshit, and you know, it was

1112
00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:53,520
Speaker 1: just it was just a blessing. It's just a blessing. Man.

1113
00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:57,200
Speaker 1: I wake up every day. I'm super blessing and humble

1114
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:00,319
Speaker 1: to be in this position. But again, like you know,

1115
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:02,600
Speaker 1: I'm very ambitious and I want to I want to

1116
00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:05,399
Speaker 1: do a lot more personally and you know, as far

1117
00:51:05,440 --> 00:51:07,719
Speaker 1: as family and just you know, winning more and doing

1118
00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:10,520
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of more ship. Do you ever reflect

1119
00:51:10,600 --> 00:51:14,720
Speaker 1: back on your draft party now where you were passed

1120
00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:18,480
Speaker 1: over in two different rounds, not really getting the respect

1121
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:21,200
Speaker 1: or opportunity and now kind of look back like yo,

1122
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:23,800
Speaker 1: Like like you said, I think sometimes as players in

1123
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 1: the moment, I think you said earlier, we never really

1124
00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,880
Speaker 1: get to appreciate what we accomplish, what we go through

1125
00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 1: because we're so caught up in the moment. But were

1126
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,719
Speaker 1: you able to just kind of take a step back, like, Yo,

1127
00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:34,920
Speaker 1: I know I'm here and I've made it. I got

1128
00:51:34,960 --> 00:51:38,000
Speaker 1: a lot more to do, but I just did some ship. Yeah,

1129
00:51:38,080 --> 00:51:41,879
Speaker 1: it's just like confirmation. Like it's just like um validation,

1130
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:43,759
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Because when you that guy

1131
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:46,640
Speaker 1: that's getting looked over your whole life, you always thinking like, man,

1132
00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:48,920
Speaker 1: they don't know what they're talking about. Man, they they

1133
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,359
Speaker 1: need to look at me. Like you always think that,

1134
00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 1: but you never really know until you prove it. So

1135
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:56,080
Speaker 1: when I go back and I look at that draft class,

1136
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 1: in my head, I'm like, how did they not know?

1137
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,080
Speaker 1: Like how did they not see that? You know what

1138
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:03,800
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I deserve to be one of these sixty

1139
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:06,520
Speaker 1: guys Like it was sixty guys. Bro Like, it's not

1140
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,719
Speaker 1: sixty guys better than me, you know what I'm saying,

1141
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,560
Speaker 1: And um, it was it was. You know, you just

1142
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:13,080
Speaker 1: take it with a grain of salt. And if I

1143
00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:14,879
Speaker 1: could go back and do it again, I wouldn't change

1144
00:52:14,920 --> 00:52:16,800
Speaker 1: the thing like I would do it all over again

1145
00:52:16,840 --> 00:52:20,279
Speaker 1: because all of those things they may who I am

1146
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:22,560
Speaker 1: and you know, it's all just a part of the journey.

1147
00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:24,919
Speaker 1: But definitely, for sure I looked back like I knew

1148
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:27,680
Speaker 1: I was right the whole time, you know what I'm saying,

1149
00:52:27,680 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 1: But you feel crazy in the moment because you want

1150
00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 1: that validation from from somebody else. And so I would

1151
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:37,480
Speaker 1: just tell people just to you know, if that's what

1152
00:52:37,560 --> 00:52:39,800
Speaker 1: you believe, you just gotta believe it intil you know

1153
00:52:39,840 --> 00:52:41,360
Speaker 1: what I mean, til the end. There's nothing else you

1154
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 1: could do. Mm hmmm. Now we're gonna do a little reflecting,

1155
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:48,360
Speaker 1: uh for you. But you're the first player in Raptors

1156
00:52:48,400 --> 00:52:52,080
Speaker 1: history to scored thirty and ten in a playoff game.

1157
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:54,160
Speaker 1: What does that mean to you? I mean, Vince Carter,

1158
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:58,960
Speaker 1: Damar Kauai, Kyle. None of them ever did that. When

1159
00:52:58,960 --> 00:53:00,480
Speaker 1: you hear that you're the only one, what does that

1160
00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:03,960
Speaker 1: mean to you? Again, I'll be so caught up in

1161
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,040
Speaker 1: my own world, I don't even be paying attention to

1162
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:08,480
Speaker 1: some of these things. Like I just you know, I'm

1163
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:10,480
Speaker 1: just trying to win the game, Like I'm trying to

1164
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:13,360
Speaker 1: win the game by any means necessary. And you know,

1165
00:53:13,480 --> 00:53:15,799
Speaker 1: I'll be able to look at the accomplishments when I'm

1166
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,319
Speaker 1: older and sit back and tell my kids about it,

1167
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:21,399
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, things like that. But um,

1168
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:23,920
Speaker 1: the only one that I really was was stuck on

1169
00:53:24,040 --> 00:53:27,440
Speaker 1: was the fifty four because uh, because I knew I

1170
00:53:27,480 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 1: watched the Mars. I think he had fifty two, So

1171
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:31,440
Speaker 1: I watched him have fifty two, and I'm like, damn,

1172
00:53:31,440 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 1: I remember watching him like dam I don't want to

1173
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,920
Speaker 1: do that one day, and so I remember that one.

1174
00:53:35,960 --> 00:53:38,520
Speaker 1: But the yeah, I don't know, man, I just I

1175
00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:40,359
Speaker 1: just go out there and try to try to win

1176
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,120
Speaker 1: every game and and play my ass off. Sometimes I do,

1177
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:46,560
Speaker 1: sometimes I don't. M And then one more. I mean,

1178
00:53:46,560 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 1: obviously you mentioned the franchise scoring mark at fifty four,

1179
00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:55,160
Speaker 1: but you also had a three point thirty nine consecutive games. Again,

1180
00:53:55,239 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 1: probably didn't pay too much attention to it, but to

1181
00:53:57,400 --> 00:53:59,840
Speaker 1: to to really have that kind of streak, I mean,

1182
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:01,239
Speaker 1: all that ship is dope, and like you said, you

1183
00:54:01,239 --> 00:54:02,600
Speaker 1: can you can sit back and look at it a

1184
00:54:02,680 --> 00:54:07,840
Speaker 1: later time, but definitely understand and appreciated the moment as well. Yeah,

1185
00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:10,960
Speaker 1: probably just more so like the work, because like I

1186
00:54:11,080 --> 00:54:13,560
Speaker 1: really do the same thing, like every day, you know

1187
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:15,920
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, off days, no days, Like I come in,

1188
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:18,360
Speaker 1: I got my work routine, I come in before practice,

1189
00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:22,200
Speaker 1: I work out, get my treatment, practice whatever, shoot around.

1190
00:54:22,200 --> 00:54:25,000
Speaker 1: So like just the constant work in the hours that

1191
00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:27,200
Speaker 1: I put in in the off season, Like I ain't

1192
00:54:27,320 --> 00:54:30,040
Speaker 1: not running around doing a bunch of wild ship, Like

1193
00:54:30,080 --> 00:54:32,720
Speaker 1: I'm really working on my craft and trying to get better.

1194
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:35,320
Speaker 1: Um and I think it's one thing that keeps me ahead,

1195
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:37,719
Speaker 1: especially at my size, is like I just gotta keep

1196
00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:40,680
Speaker 1: sharpening up my tool set and and just keep trying

1197
00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:42,799
Speaker 1: to get better each year because you can, like when

1198
00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:45,640
Speaker 1: you get when you sign that eight five, Like there

1199
00:54:45,719 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 1: was a there was a few days where I just

1200
00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:52,480
Speaker 1: sat back like shoof, like I'm good good, Like I

1201
00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:54,759
Speaker 1: can average zero points for the next four years. They

1202
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:58,080
Speaker 1: can't rip that contract up, bro, like they they got

1203
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:01,200
Speaker 1: to play on the first and fifteen. But um, you know,

1204
00:55:02,000 --> 00:55:03,920
Speaker 1: there's just something inside of me that just wants to

1205
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:07,160
Speaker 1: keep getting better. So when I do these accomplishments, it's

1206
00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:09,759
Speaker 1: more so like it makes me feel good because I

1207
00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:12,759
Speaker 1: know I worked on these things, um to get there.

1208
00:55:13,880 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 1: M hm. Obviously you're someone that could people could look

1209
00:55:17,040 --> 00:55:19,440
Speaker 1: up to with your journey, as we touched on earlier,

1210
00:55:19,719 --> 00:55:21,720
Speaker 1: but what kind of advice would you give to someone

1211
00:55:21,760 --> 00:55:25,480
Speaker 1: who's been on your path? Just to keep going? You

1212
00:55:25,520 --> 00:55:27,600
Speaker 1: gotta be you gotta be a sick oh man. You

1213
00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 1: gotta be like you gotta have the You gotta be

1214
00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:32,279
Speaker 1: that guy that people talk bad about, like who do

1215
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:35,000
Speaker 1: he think he is? Why do he think he's so good?

1216
00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:37,200
Speaker 1: Like why does he had that much confidence? You have

1217
00:55:37,280 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 1: to be that guy and you can't. You know, I

1218
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:41,400
Speaker 1: don't I don't advise nobody to be an asshole, but

1219
00:55:41,840 --> 00:55:44,960
Speaker 1: I think that you should definitely be confident and be

1220
00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:47,759
Speaker 1: respectful in the same breath. But you gotta just had

1221
00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:51,359
Speaker 1: his own waiver and feel And you know, for me,

1222
00:55:51,520 --> 00:55:53,880
Speaker 1: I get validated by the work, like I said, because

1223
00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:56,239
Speaker 1: when I step on the court, it's I know, it's

1224
00:55:56,239 --> 00:55:58,359
Speaker 1: not too many guys that worked harder than me. So

1225
00:55:58,520 --> 00:56:00,719
Speaker 1: when I'm on the court with Katie, yeah, i feel

1226
00:56:00,760 --> 00:56:02,239
Speaker 1: like I'm the best player on the court. Now, I

1227
00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:04,719
Speaker 1: might be crazy, but guess what, that's gonna allow me

1228
00:56:04,800 --> 00:56:07,440
Speaker 1: to even compete in the same breath and have some

1229
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:09,480
Speaker 1: of them same moments. So when I'm when I'm matched

1230
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:12,279
Speaker 1: up on stuff, yeah, i feel like I'm just as

1231
00:56:12,320 --> 00:56:15,160
Speaker 1: good as him. And that's just that's just my mindset

1232
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:17,160
Speaker 1: when I'm on the court, and we can argue about

1233
00:56:17,160 --> 00:56:19,480
Speaker 1: it all day after the fact, but for them two

1234
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:21,439
Speaker 1: and a half hours, when you in between the lines,

1235
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:23,759
Speaker 1: you've gotta have that type of belief and and that

1236
00:56:23,840 --> 00:56:25,840
Speaker 1: type of dog and you otherwise you don't stand a

1237
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 1: chance out there. Facts, not at all. Me and Matt,

1238
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:34,600
Speaker 1: we've consider ourselves as being as real as possible because

1239
00:56:35,239 --> 00:56:37,680
Speaker 1: it's not really a situation that in life, especially as

1240
00:56:37,680 --> 00:56:39,960
Speaker 1: an athlete, that we haven't been through, we haven't touched on,

1241
00:56:40,480 --> 00:56:42,200
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, from making mistakes to all

1242
00:56:42,200 --> 00:56:44,759
Speaker 1: the good things to fatherhood, you know what I mean.

1243
00:56:44,920 --> 00:56:47,840
Speaker 1: And and and balance in life. We both contested that,

1244
00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:51,920
Speaker 1: tell me, how do you balance life and we know

1245
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:54,520
Speaker 1: we're also being a father, but also you know, trying

1246
00:56:54,520 --> 00:56:56,759
Speaker 1: to perfect the crab every day and get better. It's

1247
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:59,919
Speaker 1: a it's a process. It's a process. Man. I ain't

1248
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:02,680
Speaker 1: definitely having figured it out in terms of, you know,

1249
00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:05,880
Speaker 1: making sure that everything straight all the time. Like I stumbled.

1250
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,120
Speaker 1: I had my ups and down just like anybody. But

1251
00:57:08,480 --> 00:57:10,719
Speaker 1: I think I just pride myself on being a real

1252
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:14,000
Speaker 1: man first and foremost, Like just being a man first

1253
00:57:14,080 --> 00:57:18,520
Speaker 1: before anything, a father first before anything, and then everything

1254
00:57:18,560 --> 00:57:20,960
Speaker 1: else after that. I could figure it out. So I

1255
00:57:21,000 --> 00:57:23,760
Speaker 1: got a great support system. Um, you know, my girls

1256
00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:25,360
Speaker 1: should take care of the house, take care of the

1257
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:29,440
Speaker 1: kids flawlessly. I got a great family. Um you know

1258
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:31,680
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I keep my brothers and my friends

1259
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:34,200
Speaker 1: and my homies real tight. We got a real tight circle.

1260
00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: So I got a great support system. I don't have

1261
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:39,280
Speaker 1: too much you know, bullshit that I gotta deal with

1262
00:57:39,600 --> 00:57:43,880
Speaker 1: as far as distraction goes. Um, and they understand everybody

1263
00:57:43,960 --> 00:57:46,320
Speaker 1: play their position. But like I've always been a leader

1264
00:57:46,440 --> 00:57:49,000
Speaker 1: so ever since I was a little kid, I've always

1265
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:51,320
Speaker 1: been a leader. So I kind of got that part

1266
00:57:51,320 --> 00:57:54,040
Speaker 1: of my life like in order. So when stuff do come,

1267
00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:56,360
Speaker 1: our way we can handle it, how we handle it.

1268
00:57:56,800 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, I go out there, when

1269
00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:00,360
Speaker 1: I go to work, I'm at work. I take care

1270
00:58:00,360 --> 00:58:02,080
Speaker 1: of my business. I'm gonna take this ship as far

1271
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:05,440
Speaker 1: as I can take it by being myself, and you know,

1272
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:07,600
Speaker 1: we'll we'll live the rest of it however it go.

1273
00:58:07,800 --> 00:58:10,600
Speaker 1: But I really got it zipped up in terms of

1274
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:14,360
Speaker 1: like just the organization and like I'm able to have

1275
00:58:14,440 --> 00:58:16,720
Speaker 1: these conversations. That's the biggest thing I would say is

1276
00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:19,840
Speaker 1: just being able to be a man allows me to

1277
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:25,000
Speaker 1: communicate and have real conversations with people that are uncomfortable.

1278
00:58:26,400 --> 00:58:29,480
Speaker 1: You've been known for your crossover. That's something you've been

1279
00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:33,440
Speaker 1: doing since you were young as a As time passed,

1280
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:35,920
Speaker 1: as your game grew, you just act start adding it

1281
00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:38,360
Speaker 1: to your to your game now. I always had that

1282
00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:40,520
Speaker 1: used to be way more wild. Like I told you,

1283
00:58:40,560 --> 00:58:43,240
Speaker 1: I grew up. I was an AI guy, Kobe Gut

1284
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:46,320
Speaker 1: the super Big Left the right Um, Me and my

1285
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:48,080
Speaker 1: brothers we used to watch and One. We had the

1286
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:50,880
Speaker 1: N one mix tapes. We had the N one mixtape.

1287
00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:53,240
Speaker 1: Will plug the and one mixtape and watch it go

1288
00:58:53,320 --> 00:58:56,439
Speaker 1: in the backyard practice all the moves come back out

1289
00:58:56,600 --> 00:58:58,720
Speaker 1: go back in and watch it, you know, and practice

1290
00:58:58,800 --> 00:59:00,640
Speaker 1: so like I used to be a lot more like

1291
00:59:00,720 --> 00:59:03,600
Speaker 1: street ball to me. But um, as I got older,

1292
00:59:03,640 --> 00:59:05,680
Speaker 1: I started trying to polish it up a little bit more.

1293
00:59:05,760 --> 00:59:07,920
Speaker 1: And you just gotta have you guys, gotta have a

1294
00:59:07,960 --> 00:59:09,880
Speaker 1: lot of tricks in your bag at my size, man,

1295
00:59:09,920 --> 00:59:12,640
Speaker 1: And you know you keep the fundamentals and the footwork

1296
00:59:12,920 --> 00:59:15,560
Speaker 1: with the feet, but um, you know, I just try

1297
00:59:15,640 --> 00:59:17,760
Speaker 1: to just try to keep adding things and having different

1298
00:59:17,760 --> 00:59:21,280
Speaker 1: tools to be able to get that separation. How tall

1299
00:59:21,360 --> 00:59:27,200
Speaker 1: are you? I'm six ft six one with shoes on. Yeah, crafty,

1300
00:59:27,320 --> 00:59:31,240
Speaker 1: crafty man. What if Steve Nash say when you call

1301
00:59:31,320 --> 00:59:35,520
Speaker 1: him crafty, is that another word for just calling me white? Basically?

1302
00:59:37,160 --> 00:59:39,360
Speaker 1: You know, Rico, Rico, Rico, you said all the time,

1303
00:59:39,400 --> 00:59:41,600
Speaker 1: you gotta have some crafty. You gotta have some crafty.

1304
00:59:42,040 --> 00:59:45,240
Speaker 1: You got to you got to. Man. Ship is playing

1305
00:59:45,280 --> 00:59:47,040
Speaker 1: up there with all them trees and them giants. Man,

1306
00:59:47,080 --> 00:59:49,360
Speaker 1: you gotta figure something out. You're gonna be over there

1307
00:59:49,360 --> 00:59:53,439
Speaker 1: with a suit and tie on. But you guys, uh,

1308
00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:55,360
Speaker 1: you guys picked up one of my homeboys, one of

1309
00:59:55,400 --> 00:59:57,800
Speaker 1: my brothers, on your coaching staff this year, Earl Watson.

1310
00:59:57,840 --> 01:00:01,600
Speaker 1: He was my U c l a point guard, great career. Uh,

1311
01:00:01,760 --> 01:00:03,680
Speaker 1: but to me, one of the best basketball minds in

1312
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:05,720
Speaker 1: the game. Have you got to sit down and kind

1313
01:00:05,720 --> 01:00:09,080
Speaker 1: of develop a relationship with him yet? Yeah? Me and

1314
01:00:09,120 --> 01:00:11,800
Speaker 1: Earl Man, we we communicate every day. I'm chasing him

1315
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:15,360
Speaker 1: around the gym, like, yo, yo, tell me what's up man?

1316
01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:17,400
Speaker 1: What I need to be doing, Like where I need

1317
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:19,240
Speaker 1: to get to it. He's telling me different things that

1318
01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:21,400
Speaker 1: I never that I never heard before, you know what

1319
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:24,960
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Twenty seven years old, I'm still learning, Like, Yo,

1320
01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:27,440
Speaker 1: just get to this angle on the floor. No, when

1321
01:00:27,440 --> 01:00:29,440
Speaker 1: you get here, turned this way and you could score

1322
01:00:29,480 --> 01:00:31,800
Speaker 1: at this spot on the floor. Like just different little

1323
01:00:31,840 --> 01:00:33,880
Speaker 1: simple things that he got. You know, he's got a

1324
01:00:33,920 --> 01:00:36,600
Speaker 1: great wealth and knowledge that that he's giving me the game.

1325
01:00:36,640 --> 01:00:39,280
Speaker 1: And he's not loud, you know what I'm saying. And

1326
01:00:39,360 --> 01:00:42,480
Speaker 1: him we talked, but no, he's been great for me,

1327
01:00:42,560 --> 01:00:44,080
Speaker 1: and I think that he really gonna help me take

1328
01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:46,280
Speaker 1: my game to the next level because I'm a guy

1329
01:00:46,360 --> 01:00:48,720
Speaker 1: that I want to be coached, like I want people

1330
01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:51,160
Speaker 1: to tell me when I'm doing something wrong or tell

1331
01:00:51,200 --> 01:00:53,800
Speaker 1: me where I could be doing something better at From

1332
01:00:53,840 --> 01:00:55,720
Speaker 1: the day he got here, I went straight to him.

1333
01:00:55,720 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 1: I said, listen, but I don't know who you coached before,

1334
01:00:57,760 --> 01:00:59,840
Speaker 1: but you can come to me tell me everything that

1335
01:00:59,880 --> 01:01:02,320
Speaker 1: you see, because because I want to learn it all.

1336
01:01:03,040 --> 01:01:04,680
Speaker 1: I think that's dope because he had that the same

1337
01:01:04,760 --> 01:01:07,760
Speaker 1: relationship with Devin Booker. Booker still to this day credits

1338
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:10,959
Speaker 1: Earl for his development in his mind set. In Earls

1339
01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:12,800
Speaker 1: one of those real sharp minds man. So I hope

1340
01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:14,439
Speaker 1: you enjoy them, because I have a feeling he's gonna

1341
01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:16,919
Speaker 1: get another head coaching job soon. But it definitely suk

1342
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:19,240
Speaker 1: up the game where you can from him. You know

1343
01:01:19,400 --> 01:01:23,320
Speaker 1: for sure he's sharper Ship. Yeah, um, I mean Ship,

1344
01:01:23,320 --> 01:01:25,680
Speaker 1: you're only six years in, but you're a vat Uh

1345
01:01:25,720 --> 01:01:27,960
Speaker 1: do you have a young player you enjoy watching now?

1346
01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:32,240
Speaker 1: And it's so who is it? And why um in

1347
01:01:32,280 --> 01:01:35,880
Speaker 1: the league? You know how? I like? I like LaMelo man.

1348
01:01:36,120 --> 01:01:39,080
Speaker 1: I like LaMelo man like, and there's not really nothing

1349
01:01:39,120 --> 01:01:41,240
Speaker 1: to do with his game or anything. I just like

1350
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:44,400
Speaker 1: his swag, Like his swag is crazy, like LaMelo. I

1351
01:01:44,440 --> 01:01:48,040
Speaker 1: love LaMelo And uh, what's the other boy? Uh Anthony

1352
01:01:48,120 --> 01:01:52,240
Speaker 1: Edwards in Minnesota? Like they swag is just so crazy, man,

1353
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:54,280
Speaker 1: That's what I was speaking about like they don't care

1354
01:01:54,320 --> 01:01:58,400
Speaker 1: about nothing. They do their interviews, they talking how they

1355
01:01:58,440 --> 01:02:01,200
Speaker 1: talk in real life, and they reviews, They carrying it

1356
01:02:01,320 --> 01:02:03,320
Speaker 1: every day and it's like nothing you can do but

1357
01:02:03,440 --> 01:02:05,600
Speaker 1: respect it, you know what I'm saying. And I think

1358
01:02:05,640 --> 01:02:08,240
Speaker 1: that with that talent and you know the way that

1359
01:02:08,280 --> 01:02:10,120
Speaker 1: the game is going, I think it's just gonna keep

1360
01:02:10,160 --> 01:02:12,840
Speaker 1: getting more better and better. Um, But there's a lot

1361
01:02:12,880 --> 01:02:14,840
Speaker 1: of guys I actually you know, obviously, I'm gonna give

1362
01:02:14,840 --> 01:02:17,959
Speaker 1: a shout out to my rook, Scotty Barnes, who who

1363
01:02:17,960 --> 01:02:21,320
Speaker 1: has Yeah, he's been bawling in his first you know,

1364
01:02:21,400 --> 01:02:24,040
Speaker 1: ten of eleven games, and just the spirit and the

1365
01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:26,240
Speaker 1: energy for the game that he has. He's a really

1366
01:02:26,280 --> 01:02:28,640
Speaker 1: good kid and he really loved the game and he's

1367
01:02:28,680 --> 01:02:30,800
Speaker 1: just happy to be here. And I hope that that's

1368
01:02:30,800 --> 01:02:33,960
Speaker 1: something that he never loses because his talent level is crazy.

1369
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:38,520
Speaker 1: Love it now. Question you mentored, Anthony Edwards? Can you

1370
01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:40,520
Speaker 1: give me and Jack your point of view? And he

1371
01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:46,200
Speaker 1: dunked on your teammate, My goodness, Hey, where's your teammate now?

1372
01:02:46,440 --> 01:02:49,800
Speaker 1: Is he alive? The first thing, the first thing is

1373
01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:52,320
Speaker 1: Nicky did was rubbed his head and rubbed his eyes like, oh,

1374
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:56,800
Speaker 1: ship go. So so I'm gonna do this as best

1375
01:02:56,840 --> 01:02:59,600
Speaker 1: as I can, because because because you is actually my man.

1376
01:02:59,840 --> 01:03:01,840
Speaker 1: You know, I'm real hard on him, but he my man.

1377
01:03:01,960 --> 01:03:05,480
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna tell you. I've been telling them, Yo,

1378
01:03:05,640 --> 01:03:09,080
Speaker 1: you gotta be early outside the box when you go

1379
01:03:09,400 --> 01:03:11,720
Speaker 1: be the help on the low. Man, you got to dog.

1380
01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:14,000
Speaker 1: You can't keep waiting what you're waiting on. You gotta

1381
01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:16,760
Speaker 1: meet him outside the box because when these motherfucker's jump,

1382
01:03:17,080 --> 01:03:21,120
Speaker 1: they're not coming down, man. And so I have been

1383
01:03:21,120 --> 01:03:23,520
Speaker 1: telling them. So I was on the I was, you know,

1384
01:03:23,720 --> 01:03:25,840
Speaker 1: for the COVID rules. They spread the bench out so

1385
01:03:25,920 --> 01:03:28,800
Speaker 1: I was actually behind the goal so I couldn't see,

1386
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:30,720
Speaker 1: but I was looking up. I was looking up at

1387
01:03:30,720 --> 01:03:34,640
Speaker 1: the jumbo trying man. They threw that there. Man, that

1388
01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:38,560
Speaker 1: boy jumped over him so hard, and I was just like, damn,

1389
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:40,240
Speaker 1: I thought he like broke his neck or something. I

1390
01:03:40,280 --> 01:03:43,720
Speaker 1: was looking and I just just like I was just

1391
01:03:44,040 --> 01:03:46,560
Speaker 1: shaking my head, like, man, I told you, I told

1392
01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:48,800
Speaker 1: you gotta be early. You got a right early. So

1393
01:03:48,880 --> 01:03:50,840
Speaker 1: we we you know, we joked with him all the

1394
01:03:50,880 --> 01:03:53,080
Speaker 1: time about it. He was a good sport and he

1395
01:03:53,160 --> 01:03:54,960
Speaker 1: was like shout I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep

1396
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:58,880
Speaker 1: going every time. That's what he said. I respected. I

1397
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:01,640
Speaker 1: respect that you're yeah, you got your as dunked on,

1398
01:04:01,760 --> 01:04:08,360
Speaker 1: but I respect all right, man, Well here we go. Man,

1399
01:04:08,360 --> 01:04:10,120
Speaker 1: we're winding down to the end of the interview. Let

1400
01:04:10,200 --> 01:04:11,320
Speaker 1: you get on with the rest of your day. We

1401
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:14,320
Speaker 1: got quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Let

1402
01:04:14,400 --> 01:04:18,920
Speaker 1: us know toughest player you've had a guard to date, Kyrie. Oh,

1403
01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:22,760
Speaker 1: you're call nice, nice one. I'm probably my favorite. Uh,

1404
01:04:22,920 --> 01:04:28,320
Speaker 1: top five guards of all time, point guard, point guards,

1405
01:04:28,680 --> 01:04:31,000
Speaker 1: top five point guards all time. Yeah, my bad. Let's

1406
01:04:32,960 --> 01:04:37,400
Speaker 1: and so I'm gonna say this first before I give

1407
01:04:37,440 --> 01:04:39,439
Speaker 1: you my answer. I'm not going that far back because

1408
01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:42,520
Speaker 1: I'm a young I'm a young guy. Like I'm not going.

1409
01:04:43,320 --> 01:04:46,520
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say Isaiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons,

1410
01:04:46,520 --> 01:04:51,520
Speaker 1: Isaiah Thomas, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say, uh, I'm

1411
01:04:51,520 --> 01:04:55,800
Speaker 1: gonna say CP three mm hmmm, I'm gonna say steph

1412
01:04:56,760 --> 01:05:02,840
Speaker 1: mm hmmm. I'm gonna say uh damn. I'm gonna say

1413
01:05:03,000 --> 01:05:11,880
Speaker 1: uh oh, y'all killing me with this one. I'm gonna say,

1414
01:05:12,120 --> 01:05:16,640
Speaker 1: uh yeah, yeah too. I would put a on their

1415
01:05:16,680 --> 01:05:20,400
Speaker 1: AI two, I ain't eating the point Guard. Um, I'm

1416
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:24,280
Speaker 1: gonna put uh. I'm gonna put Chauncey Billups in there,

1417
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:29,440
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna put uh, I'm gonna probably put I'm

1418
01:05:29,440 --> 01:05:34,080
Speaker 1: gonna probably put Jay Kidd in there. Yeah, sila'na probably

1419
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:36,280
Speaker 1: put Ja Kid in there. I'm not putting Magic in there,

1420
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:38,960
Speaker 1: Magic six nine, I love Magic. I'm not putting them

1421
01:05:38,960 --> 01:05:41,560
Speaker 1: on my point Guard list. Um, but he definitely on

1422
01:05:41,640 --> 01:05:45,880
Speaker 1: the greatest all time list, but not not my point guardless. Yes, nice.

1423
01:05:46,560 --> 01:05:49,000
Speaker 1: What album can you listen to and repeat with no

1424
01:05:49,200 --> 01:05:59,959
Speaker 1: skips album? Probably some Rose I'm gonna say, Rick Ross Uh,

1425
01:06:00,080 --> 01:06:04,520
Speaker 1: tough on don m nine about to drop another album

1426
01:06:04,520 --> 01:06:08,800
Speaker 1: soon too. I can't wait coming out risk. So five

1427
01:06:08,880 --> 01:06:29,920
Speaker 1: dinner guests dead are live? Five dinner guests? Yeah, Prince Um, Tupac, Muhammad, Ali, Nice, Um,

1428
01:06:29,960 --> 01:06:41,720
Speaker 1: Malcolm x Uh. That's four right, any one more? Um,

1429
01:06:41,800 --> 01:06:45,440
Speaker 1: Kobe Man, that's the main one. That's man. That's probably

1430
01:06:45,440 --> 01:06:47,560
Speaker 1: one of our best ones right there. I'm gonna I'm

1431
01:06:47,560 --> 01:06:50,280
Speaker 1: gonna bring the weed. We're gonna enjoy that dinner. Yeah,

1432
01:06:51,600 --> 01:06:56,439
Speaker 1: that's gonna be nice. You're gonna learn something. Uh, this

1433
01:06:56,520 --> 01:06:58,960
Speaker 1: is a title I used to hold, but I passed

1434
01:06:59,000 --> 01:07:02,080
Speaker 1: it on to my young fellow. Top three hairlines in

1435
01:07:02,120 --> 01:07:05,080
Speaker 1: the NBA right now. Jason Tatum said, you're in his

1436
01:07:05,200 --> 01:07:09,400
Speaker 1: top three? What's your top? He's definitely top three? Yeah,

1437
01:07:09,600 --> 01:07:14,920
Speaker 1: me Tatum and DJ Augustine. Oh you know what's out

1438
01:07:14,920 --> 01:07:17,960
Speaker 1: throwing there? DJ? I'll played with DJ Augustin. He take

1439
01:07:18,000 --> 01:07:25,200
Speaker 1: his ship serious, ye, Paul George, No, no, no, c DJ,

1440
01:07:25,520 --> 01:07:29,600
Speaker 1: we got the same, Barbara Houston, DJ takes his hair serious, bro.

1441
01:07:29,880 --> 01:07:35,560
Speaker 1: He official official, Paul Hey, Paul George hairline still sitting

1442
01:07:35,560 --> 01:07:38,480
Speaker 1: on his eyebrows though. Yeah, that's all I can't put.

1443
01:07:38,520 --> 01:07:41,080
Speaker 1: I can't put p G in there because it's too low,

1444
01:07:41,200 --> 01:07:43,040
Speaker 1: like he don't gotta get that much work, like he

1445
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:46,720
Speaker 1: could just keep it. Yeah, anybody could ask that up.

1446
01:07:51,440 --> 01:07:56,240
Speaker 1: All right, last question, man, if you can have one

1447
01:07:56,280 --> 01:07:59,680
Speaker 1: guest on All the Smoke, who would it be before you?

1448
01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:02,200
Speaker 1: And sir you have to help us get your answer

1449
01:08:02,280 --> 01:08:04,880
Speaker 1: on this show. He looks just like you. He's the

1450
01:08:04,920 --> 01:08:09,280
Speaker 1: ambassador of your team. Just go ahead. They called him

1451
01:08:09,320 --> 01:08:11,600
Speaker 1: the boy and calling the boy. Yeah, I'm gonna tell

1452
01:08:11,680 --> 01:08:16,800
Speaker 1: Jake to do it. I'm gonna tell him. I can't

1453
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:19,040
Speaker 1: guarantee he gonna do, but I'm not. You ain't gotta

1454
01:08:19,040 --> 01:08:22,240
Speaker 1: guarantee it. Yeah, that's all we are. I'm I'm I'm

1455
01:08:22,240 --> 01:08:25,800
Speaker 1: gonna shout out, shout out Nico and shout out Rocks. Hey,

1456
01:08:25,920 --> 01:08:27,960
Speaker 1: they both didn't hit me the last two weeks. I

1457
01:08:28,040 --> 01:08:30,080
Speaker 1: talked to both of them, So I'm using all my

1458
01:08:30,160 --> 01:08:32,800
Speaker 1: poor I'm going through you. I'm going through Rocks and

1459
01:08:32,840 --> 01:08:36,960
Speaker 1: I'm going through Nico. I'm passing. I'm gonna pass the

1460
01:08:37,000 --> 01:08:41,560
Speaker 1: word Alonge Man. Yes, sir, well fred Man. We appreciate

1461
01:08:41,600 --> 01:08:44,000
Speaker 1: your time. Brother, We look up to, we admire you.

1462
01:08:44,080 --> 01:08:45,960
Speaker 1: Were happy for you man. Keep leading the way you

1463
01:08:46,040 --> 01:08:48,400
Speaker 1: keep doing it the right way and the best to

1464
01:08:48,439 --> 01:08:50,320
Speaker 1: luck the rest of the season. Help me, no doubt.

1465
01:08:50,400 --> 01:08:54,679
Speaker 1: Thank you. Appreciate you Man, Appreciate you, bro. Yeah that's

1466
01:08:54,680 --> 01:08:57,800
Speaker 1: a rap. Fred Van Fleet. All the smoke you can

1467
01:08:57,840 --> 01:09:01,120
Speaker 1: cass us a Showtime Basketball YouTube in the I Heart

1468
01:09:01,160 --> 01:09:07,080
Speaker 1: platform Black Effects. We'll see y'all next week. This is

1469
01:09:07,120 --> 01:09:09,760
Speaker 1: All a Smoke, a production of The Black Effect and

1470
01:09:09,840 --> 01:09:12,320
Speaker 1: Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime