Speaker 1: Drafted as a productive tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. Well we're back at the crib
Speaker 1: worked out this morning. The crib looks crazy. It's boxes
Speaker 1: everywhere now, sitting right here, about to start cooking. News people,
Speaker 1: ESPN people. That's fixing the house up, dog barking. It's
Speaker 1: a lot going on. Hey, how are you to nice
Speaker 1: to meet you my man? Yes, sir, it's reason thanks
Speaker 1: for having Thank you all for being here. We really appreciate.
Speaker 1: Nice to meet you, my man. I might feel nice
Speaker 1: to be shall but yeah, yeah it is man. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. A lot of hard work. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to Drafted. I'm kicking Michael Key and you just heard
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxie talking about all the commotion currently happening at
Speaker 1: his house in Garland, Texas. Tyrese is only twenty four
Speaker 1: hours from the NBA Draft. Crews are setting up and
Speaker 1: getting ready for tomorrow's broadcast. His parents and uncle Brandon
Speaker 1: are occupied to a long list of tasks, and now
Speaker 1: Tyrese is just waiting. I think one of my biggest
Speaker 1: hardest jobs was making sure Tyrese didn't go do some
Speaker 1: crazy workout. This is Clutch Sports agent Mark Murray, a
Speaker 1: member of the team representing Tyrese. He wanted to work out,
Speaker 1: he wanted to get in the gym, wanted to list,
Speaker 1: wanted to run, wanted to shoot. And I think part
Speaker 1: of a Rich and I's job was, Hey, relaxed, enjoy
Speaker 1: the day. Obviously made it this far. We don't need
Speaker 1: you getting hurt, and let's just relax, tick your feet up.
Speaker 1: So that was the first task of the day, was
Speaker 1: keeping Tyrese out of the gym or trying to him
Speaker 1: he probably still gotta work out in his room. Sitting
Speaker 1: still is not one of Tyree's Maxie's strengths. He's been
Speaker 1: doing three workouts a day, shooting hundreds of thousands of
Speaker 1: jump shots, and pushing himself in countless drills, all leading
Speaker 1: up to this moment where all he can do now
Speaker 1: is wait one more day until he finds out where
Speaker 1: he'll be living and what team he'll be playing on,
Speaker 1: and his NBA future finally begins. I'm sure what to
Speaker 1: do now. He goes to play with his dog, Zoe
Speaker 1: the dog acting crazy boy, but hey, you come away,
Speaker 1: so come hey, what are you acting so crazy? He's oly,
Speaker 1: Come on, Oh, you can't go back here either you
Speaker 1: ain't got on toys and play with get down, Get
Speaker 1: down here. You've been linked in my face. Well, Tyrese
Speaker 1: tries to take his mind off the draft. His agent,
Speaker 1: Rich Paul, called Tyrese's dad to touch base before the
Speaker 1: big day. Tyrone sounds surprisingly calm and collected given what's
Speaker 1: at stake. He primarily just wants to know if Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan's will draft his son. Have you talked to MJ.
Speaker 1: I talked to MJ for a long time yesterday. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had nice things to say about Tyree's. But they're
Speaker 1: just in the top three. So maybe they move up
Speaker 1: to one, maybe they keep three. I don't see him
Speaker 1: moving back. So I've talked to a lot of teams
Speaker 1: in the top fifteen. His range isn't gonna start to
Speaker 1: about twelve. He's anywhere from Twitter. He's bunched up right
Speaker 1: there with a with a ton of teams that like him,
Speaker 1: and two of the guys that's how they kind of
Speaker 1: say it, you know, he's one of three us Situational
Speaker 1: is position things of that nature. You know, you just
Speaker 1: never know, Like I tell all these guys that the
Speaker 1: people that's that's choosing players on humans and not robots.
Speaker 1: So you know, sometimes they make mistakes. That's just how
Speaker 1: it goes. In fact, sometimes NBA executives make mistakes that
Speaker 1: haunt them for decades. In Michael Jordan was taken third
Speaker 1: overall after Hachem Eli Jahwan and Sam Bowie. Elijah Wan
Speaker 1: turned into an all time grade and although Sam Bowie
Speaker 1: had a solid tenure career, choosing him over Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: is often regarded as the worst draft decision of all time,
Speaker 1: and this kind of mistake happens somewhat frequently. Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: was selected overall. MVP Steph Curry was picked seven. M
Speaker 1: v P. Janice Enterton Compo went, Unless you're drafting Lebron James,
Speaker 1: making a top pick could be an extremely inexact science.
Speaker 1: Here are Rich and Tyrone again, I tells you're gonna
Speaker 1: be one of four fifty. Okay, So in the great spot, man,
Speaker 1: I'm just shouldn't should a man trying to take a nap,
Speaker 1: But you don't said it's gonna be tough to take
Speaker 1: a nap. Instead of feeling stressed about preparations for the
Speaker 1: draft party and all the pressure of the moment, Tyrone
Speaker 1: seems completely in control. Maybe that's because, like his son,
Speaker 1: he's also spent most of his life preparing for this moment,
Speaker 1: and just like Tyrese, he's not really sure what to
Speaker 1: do now that it's finally here. We'll be right back. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: in the Edwards Camp in Atlanta, Anthony works out one
Speaker 1: last time as an amateur at the gym on god
Speaker 1: Be Rode. He's with his trainer Justin Holland, coach Rob Allen,
Speaker 1: and Uncle Drew. After all the years together on this court,
Speaker 1: the four of them may not be back here as
Speaker 1: a group for a long time. Once Anthony gets trapped
Speaker 1: to the vibe is a little more nostalgic than normal.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just thought about you got doom hord
Speaker 1: than one that you all we're working out of here.
Speaker 1: That's a pre pair of covid y. I ain't no,
Speaker 1: you ain't no more cob don't you're not hard? You
Speaker 1: know what funny? I had one pair of Jordan my
Speaker 1: whole life. I would like it to feel great. I
Speaker 1: had one pair of Joined my whole life. Yeah, I've
Speaker 1: literally only wore one pair of Jordan my whole life.
Speaker 1: You will do it, I got Yeah, they can't like
Speaker 1: some weeks ago. That memory of Anthony asking his mom
Speaker 1: for a pair of Jordan's as a kid and the
Speaker 1: family not being able to afford MJ shoes holds extra
Speaker 1: significance today because now companies send boxes and boxes of
Speaker 1: free unsolicited shoes, hoping he'll sign an endorsement deal with
Speaker 1: them as one of the top picks. Tomorrow. He'll go
Speaker 1: from a kid who couldn't afford to buy the latest
Speaker 1: shoes to getting paid to wear them. Well, my first hospitals,
Speaker 1: my mom. Yeah, I just thought about that what my
Speaker 1: dad and everybody was not saying. I say, prob my dad,
Speaker 1: my dad, my dad. He weren't he weren't he weren't.
Speaker 1: Sue warn't his shoes because of first it was sewer
Speaker 1: and then shoeshow balled him out to work in the
Speaker 1: showerl and greenbra right across stree from mom, and any
Speaker 1: word in the shoe show about about your being it
Speaker 1: was no, I ain't I want a friend, don't my dad?
Speaker 1: That's a I like the I'm just stayed with shoes show.
Speaker 1: Shoe That's all that's all I had with shoes show.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just Jordan's that were too expensive. Everyone reflects
Speaker 1: on how they could only afford to shop at Shoe Show,
Speaker 1: a discount shoe store on the south side of Atlanta
Speaker 1: where Justin's dad worked, Niket and Stow. Don't don't win
Speaker 1: the Niket that everybody wolf Man crying. I've been crying,
Speaker 1: crying my weather keeping going. Coach Rob asks if Justin's
Speaker 1: been crying because a few days ago they got some
Speaker 1: tragic news. A young player who was a member of
Speaker 1: the gym and they're small, tight the community lost his life.
Speaker 1: Here are Justin and Rob again talking about what happened.
Speaker 1: You know, people didn't go back to their regular lives.
Speaker 1: You go back to a life of person. It was
Speaker 1: like that my mother broke up and they're like, all right,
Speaker 1: that was a dream right then. Like I saw at
Speaker 1: that time, my dad, he was myself like he just
Speaker 1: I can't even. I couldn't like I'm just talking about bad.
Speaker 1: I'm just thinking about bad. I'm hurting with the kid.
Speaker 1: I could have imagine if I'm hurting it bad mad
Speaker 1: at the moment, you know what I mean. Justin describes
Speaker 1: the events from a few nights earlier, like the weekend
Speaker 1: before the draft. I woke up to maybe like twenty
Speaker 1: or thirty misscalls, and uh I finally answered the phone.
Speaker 1: I called. I woke up that morning about six o'clock
Speaker 1: and I called my cousin back and he told he
Speaker 1: asked me how I heard, and I was I asked him,
Speaker 1: I hadn't heard. What he was like, jay Sean got
Speaker 1: killed last night. And my first question was Jayson who
Speaker 1: because Jayon, the only jay Sean I know is the
Speaker 1: twelve year old, twelve year old kid from my gym,
Speaker 1: Jay Sean. And he says, jay Sean from the gym,
Speaker 1: and I just I just kind of lost it because
Speaker 1: I've probably been knowing the kids since he was about
Speaker 1: six or seven years old, and he grew up in
Speaker 1: the gym. He was he was a gym baby, you
Speaker 1: know what I means. And when I say gym baby,
Speaker 1: he's one of the kids that's literally always in the gym.
Speaker 1: He was a great athlete, one of the best athletes
Speaker 1: that we had, UH in an organization. You know, he
Speaker 1: was really good at football, really good at basketball. If
Speaker 1: anyone comes in the gym and he's in the gym,
Speaker 1: you would know him because he you know, he kind
Speaker 1: of had like a cocky type attitude and he's gonna
Speaker 1: play you one on one. He's gonna say, you wanna
Speaker 1: play one on one because I can beat you. You know,
Speaker 1: He's played multiple games with it, like and you know,
Speaker 1: he was one of the ants biggest fans, and he
Speaker 1: would always tell it like coach Justin, I want you
Speaker 1: to train me once you get fish within man. You know.
Speaker 1: So even when I was told and and it it
Speaker 1: was just it was, you know, they were like, hold on,
Speaker 1: not this Jay Sean, because you know, she was like
Speaker 1: that He's always d M and me and he's always
Speaker 1: in the gym. And even them like they haven't registered
Speaker 1: that a kid this young got killed. That was that
Speaker 1: was That was just hard. That was hard everybody because
Speaker 1: because kids aren't supposed to die and it came out
Speaker 1: of nowhere, and uh, that was just something that really
Speaker 1: that really hurt me. And so everything for me leading
Speaker 1: up the draft was better sweep and and really it's
Speaker 1: still it still kind of is. Justin's wife, Jeanine Holland
Speaker 1: explains why her husband's commitment and relationship to kids like
Speaker 1: Anthony and Jay Shawn runs so deep and why this
Speaker 1: gym that God be roaded is such an important place,
Speaker 1: the gym that he worked at, it's it's not in
Speaker 1: the best part of town at all, um. It's actually
Speaker 1: in a really really rough area. And some of the
Speaker 1: kids don't have maybe a mom in their life, maybe
Speaker 1: they don't have a dad, maybe they don't have either. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know, they weren't they weren't taken care of. And
Speaker 1: so a lot of nights there would be kids left
Speaker 1: at the gym past nine o'clock, which is their closing time,
Speaker 1: and Justin would have to take them home. And they
Speaker 1: might be six, or they might be you know, ten, um,
Speaker 1: whatever the age is. And I don't even you know,
Speaker 1: he doesn't doesn't even think twice about that, you know,
Speaker 1: he just he just does it. Sometimes he does it
Speaker 1: because no one else will, and sometimes because there is
Speaker 1: no one else, Justin steps in to help the way
Speaker 1: he did with Anthony and with Jay Sean and the
Speaker 1: dozens of other kids like those two kids who, as
Speaker 1: he puts it, need guidance, structure, and somebody just to
Speaker 1: be there for them, even if it's just for some advice,
Speaker 1: even if it's just a hug. When we got the
Speaker 1: call about Jay Shawn, you know, Justin immediately started bawling,
Speaker 1: and you know, he told me that he had gotten shot,
Speaker 1: and I just I could not understand a thirteen year
Speaker 1: old kid dying to you know, dying the gun violence.
Speaker 1: It just didn't make any sense to me. And he
Speaker 1: was so torn up about it. What do I do? Now?
Speaker 1: Where do I go from here? I've I've been with
Speaker 1: this kid since he was itty Betty and and now
Speaker 1: they're just not here anymore. We'll be right back. With
Speaker 1: all the excitement leading up to draft day and the
Speaker 1: pride everyone felt with Anthony going to the NBA, this
Speaker 1: is an especially devastating for the group. If the God
Speaker 1: be roady gym. Here are justin coach Robe, Uncle Drew
Speaker 1: and Anthony in the gym again talking about what happened.
Speaker 1: Right man, that was like six years old. I'm saying, bro,
Speaker 1: I can't even like every time I'm walk into the
Speaker 1: coach Chester Coachester. You can't beat me one on one
Speaker 1: like you want them kids like walking j You don't
Speaker 1: need him like that. You can't beat me one on
Speaker 1: one hand checked up like that kind of heat, that
Speaker 1: kind of kid that I shown was like, remember him?
Speaker 1: You want to be in the gym, Yeah, you don't
Speaker 1: want like he gonna walk up to you and you're
Speaker 1: gonna be looking no more kid like that's hand. Now
Speaker 1: he's gonna walk up let me one on one. That's
Speaker 1: kind of kid. You will if I really can't shake
Speaker 1: it like I thought I was good. Yes, sir, I
Speaker 1: can't shake you, understand like I don't even try to
Speaker 1: definitely going wrong. I don't try trying to shake you.
Speaker 1: You don't do them to make it work, like you
Speaker 1: got to hear, bro, he just ain't pulled it. That
Speaker 1: man is so tough man like finals like he like
Speaker 1: like if we'll be down, and we'll be down, if
Speaker 1: one kid I know be out there still fight like man,
Speaker 1: we can win the game. You're gonna be ill like
Speaker 1: you gotta keep you well. Justin is doing his best
Speaker 1: to keep it together. His voice gives away just how
Speaker 1: shaken he is by this loss, because about it's about
Speaker 1: like what you leave on like you know, try to
Speaker 1: gotta say next ye about what I say that Like
Speaker 1: it's kind of like then when you realize but basketball
Speaker 1: just small punt is way more than basketball. I think, well,
Speaker 1: a lot of these kids, not just Anthony in particular,
Speaker 1: a lot of basketball players I don't think you know,
Speaker 1: people understand that they come from struggles outside of basketball.
Speaker 1: This is coach Rob Allen again, who spent his entire
Speaker 1: life entrenched in the basketball community. And that's part of
Speaker 1: the country. You know, people they only look at these
Speaker 1: kids as entertainers athletes and not looking at where they're
Speaker 1: coming from. And all the kids want to do is
Speaker 1: play basketball, but you know they have to go back
Speaker 1: home to a bad environment or a bad situation. Coach
Speaker 1: Rob has seen it up close his whole life. His
Speaker 1: dad was a streetball legend in Selma, Alabama. His cousin
Speaker 1: was an All American at Auburn. He was the top
Speaker 1: point guard growing up playing at Temple University for legendary
Speaker 1: coach John Cheney, and he has been coaching ever since.
Speaker 1: As much as anyone, he knows kids like Anthony and
Speaker 1: Jay Sewn at every level and where they come from
Speaker 1: and how they end up at places. Like god Be wrote,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard just to see what these kids have
Speaker 1: to deal with on a day to day basis. Somebody
Speaker 1: like Anthony situation anybody other else's. That's why you gotta
Speaker 1: have a strong circle. And it was a blessing that
Speaker 1: he was able to meet the people that admit to
Speaker 1: help him get out of this situation. Because every day
Speaker 1: is something new. Some our kid is dying, a personally dying,
Speaker 1: somebody's getting robbed or things of that nature. Is baffing me.
Speaker 1: But we have to as a community and try to
Speaker 1: take in and keep it because guess what, it's going
Speaker 1: to be another Aunt come around in that community. So
Speaker 1: that's why you know, seeing somebody like Aunt being able
Speaker 1: to make it out as a as a as a
Speaker 1: success story for kids coming up. This is why the
Speaker 1: story of Anthony Edwards is a story about this gym,
Speaker 1: and why it's a story about Justin coach robbed, Uncle
Speaker 1: Drew and all the other people helping in their community.
Speaker 1: It's not just about Anthony's achievement or his personal journey.
Speaker 1: It's also about the next Anthony Edwards and the next
Speaker 1: Jay Shaun and all the kids will come after them.
Speaker 1: It's about how sports can play a major role in
Speaker 1: changing people's lives, and not only for the star athletes
Speaker 1: to make it to the pros. I think too many
Speaker 1: times we look at success as guys making it out
Speaker 1: going to the NBA or going to the NFL, or
Speaker 1: being rappers or things of that nature. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it's good that you make it to
Speaker 1: the NBA, but not everybody's gonna play in the NBA.
Speaker 1: If Anthony made it or if he didn't, it's still
Speaker 1: that relationship. And when at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: all we care about is a kid just making it out,
Speaker 1: being able to have a family of their own, being
Speaker 1: able to be an important person to society, being able
Speaker 1: to get a job. I think that's the main thing
Speaker 1: even for us, Like we love the guys that are
Speaker 1: going to the NBA, but I mean, to be honest
Speaker 1: with your thing. That kind of makes me the most
Speaker 1: happy as guys that train with you, and they didn't
Speaker 1: even come basketball players. There's something else and them to
Speaker 1: come to you and say, hey man, which I appreciate
Speaker 1: you helping me understand what hard work was throughout playing basketball.
Speaker 1: You know, I didn't make it as a player, but
Speaker 1: I made it as something else. In twenty four hours,
Speaker 1: Anthony will define near impossible odds and become a top
Speaker 1: pick in the NBA draft. And throughout his whole journey,
Speaker 1: even up to this very last afternoon, he and Justin
Speaker 1: and Coach Rob and uncle Drew continue working out in
Speaker 1: the gym on god Be Road, the same gym they
Speaker 1: brought Michael Jordan's to the gym. They met Jay Sewn
Speaker 1: in the gym where they put up shots late into
Speaker 1: the night, working towards their dreams and the promises to
Speaker 1: their loved ones, where they keep the doors open in
Speaker 1: case that next hurt or confused twelve year old wanders
Speaker 1: in looking for some guidance or just a safe place
Speaker 1: to be a kid. Hopefully this will be a wake
Speaker 1: up call for the community to come together and try
Speaker 1: to help these kids as much we can. Man because
Speaker 1: in in it to day, this is way bigger than basketball.
Speaker 1: This is about life. Of course, you love you love
Speaker 1: the CEOs, you know, holding the number one jurors and things,
Speaker 1: But the end of the day, it is bigger than basketball.
Speaker 1: It's just trying to help society. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day. Next undrafted, it's draft night. I'm about to
Speaker 1: get drafted, tollright, We're going to the NBA to night
Speaker 1: and we're still moving couches. I mean, look, if we're
Speaker 1: talking pure talent, it's Anthony Atwards all day long. So
Speaker 1: this is where when you get picked and you start
Speaker 1: doing the NBA media, like you'll be in front of this.
Speaker 1: We had that curveball of the ESPN article saying that
Speaker 1: he didn't love basketball. The actual clickbait or SoundBite that
Speaker 1: everyone used came out that day of the draft, like
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna cry, but he's like I
Speaker 1: might cry, you know, And I'm looking over in but
Speaker 1: his eyes are kind of welding up with tears. People
Speaker 1: start coming out of woodworks with their conspiracy theories and thoughts.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be a little nervous. Aston cried, and I
Speaker 1: think beck ed Drew and Drew just is bling number one.
Speaker 1: Anthony alwis drafted as a production of tree Fort Media,
Speaker 1: Clutch Sports Group, and I Heart Radio. The executive producers
Speaker 1: are Kelly Garner, Lisa Ammerman, Eric s a Lot, Sean
Speaker 1: to Tone l Ki, and me Keegan Michael Key. The
Speaker 1: series is produced and written by Eric Winer. Jared Brom
Speaker 1: is our coordinating producer. Trey McCain is our associate producer.
Speaker 1: Tom Monahan is our senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited
Speaker 1: by Steven Johnson. Additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen,
Speaker 1: and Hayley Mandelberg. For transcripts of the show and more
Speaker 1: information on drafted, go to tree Fort dot fm for
Speaker 1: more podcasts. For my heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.