Speaker 1: Not to say she's not.
Speaker 2: But again, Asia Willison, No, no, he said more than
Speaker 2: angel Ree's you know. To me, I'm thinking she's already
Speaker 2: had all these accomplishments. Why hasn't it happened already? It
Speaker 2: should have already happened. We all agree that she should
Speaker 2: have her own shoe. If we're looking at Nike, maybe
Speaker 2: Nike's not the movement.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Unplug our weekly.
Speaker 2: Look around, and there was a lot to look around
Speaker 2: at Jack. A lot of fun stuff happened over these
Speaker 2: past week Denver Recap. We had a good time, went
Speaker 2: out there and messed with our coach, Prime and Shador
Speaker 2: and then I see you rocking. You came back loaded.
Speaker 2: Huh bro I headed the school shot.
Speaker 3: But prom say, you got some packages on the way
Speaker 3: for us, so we got more coming.
Speaker 1: Also.
Speaker 2: Man caught up with Jake the Snake Plumber and his
Speaker 2: mushroom farm and got a chance to meet Dale and
Speaker 2: this whole team.
Speaker 1: Man, we had a blast up there. Can't wait for
Speaker 1: you guys to see that. Yeah, I'm fresh out my lines. Maine, Man,
Speaker 1: you've been psilocybin duck. No, lie, man, they got no
Speaker 1: psilocidin oh Lion's Maine.
Speaker 2: I think you said, fresh off your lines, I didn't
Speaker 2: know what was the boot.
Speaker 1: To know what's going on over here. I just want
Speaker 1: to know this thing.
Speaker 2: Reminder, we're going on tour. The first two leads of
Speaker 2: our tour Detroit June third and Chicago June fourth, Man,
Speaker 2: b Square, go to our page for tickets.
Speaker 1: Uh, it's definitely going down. Man.
Speaker 2: We'd love to see you guys there again Chicago Detroit
Speaker 2: where when we said who do what city should we
Speaker 2: come to?
Speaker 1: They represented the most. Man.
Speaker 2: So again, this is the first two stops. I think
Speaker 2: we got like six more. So keep throwing your cities
Speaker 2: in there. Man, we want to come see you guys.
Speaker 1: Please come to the show.
Speaker 2: You sounded like Bob from Martin. Thank you, cowboy Bob.
Speaker 2: Ryan Garcia shocked the world. Man dominated heini. Obviously you're
Speaker 2: the expert in the boxing field. Actually, we were all
Speaker 2: in what Jake gave us on the FaceTime and also
Speaker 2: a little bit of cannabis because that was four twenty
Speaker 2: as well, so we all kind of watched the fight
Speaker 2: together from different parts of the country.
Speaker 1: But man, what did you see in that Hainey Garcia fight?
Speaker 3: I had peete with Ryan. His mindset was when he
Speaker 3: came into the way in three pounds over. You know,
Speaker 3: Ryan had no plans to even.
Speaker 1: Make hi weight.
Speaker 3: He knew the last experience he had in a big
Speaker 3: fight like that with Tank we he had to make
Speaker 3: weight and he didn't come in the weigh he didn't
Speaker 3: come in to fight strong as he felt as he
Speaker 3: normally feel. So he felt like, you know what, I
Speaker 3: pay that one point five. I probably make thirty forty
Speaker 3: million off the fight. That one point five ain't nothing,
Speaker 3: and fuck them belts. I don't even want the belts.
Speaker 3: I just want to get the money and beat you
Speaker 3: and get to win. And he went in there and
Speaker 3: did that. He was a bigger fighter, He was a
Speaker 3: stronger fighter. Devin punches didn't affect him at all. Ryan
Speaker 3: went in there and did what he told everybody he
Speaker 3: was gonna do. People thought he was crazy, but he
Speaker 3: went in there and fought the fight. Now, I will
Speaker 3: say this, Matt, three pounds mean a.
Speaker 1: Lot, especially in those lighter divisions and weight training all
Speaker 1: all that matters.
Speaker 3: So I would I would like to see the fight
Speaker 3: with the way yeah and no with with uh Ryan
Speaker 3: making weight.
Speaker 2: But I'm saying it would probably be a catch like
Speaker 2: one forty five, then he wouldn't he he already said
Speaker 2: he's not going back to one forty no matter what.
Speaker 2: So maybe a catchway he said he wants to fight
Speaker 2: one forty seven.
Speaker 1: Maybe a catch at one forty five. Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna happen. I think I think he
Speaker 1: moving on.
Speaker 3: I think he didn't beat devn he just and he'd
Speaker 3: beat Devin in great fashion.
Speaker 1: They got to run that back, Jack, I mean, I mean.
Speaker 3: A lot of and a lot of we're saying it,
Speaker 3: but I don't think Ryan will you know, Ryan and
Speaker 3: Ryanan called our boots.
Speaker 1: Was was not a great move. He's calling the other fighters.
Speaker 3: I honestly think Matt, I honestly think they're gonna move
Speaker 3: on because Ryan is not fighting for belts. The only
Speaker 3: way he fights, uh uh, Devin Haney again for belts
Speaker 3: at a catchwaight, it's for the belts, and Ryan is
Speaker 3: not fighting for belts.
Speaker 1: He's fighting for money and he's fighting just because he
Speaker 1: loved the sport. M I don't know.
Speaker 2: I think they're definitely gonna I think they got they
Speaker 2: got a running back the one I mean, I mean
Speaker 2: what I saw is I mean, just explosive hands. You know,
Speaker 2: obviously Hainey Haney, Haney got one of the best jazz,
Speaker 2: but like you said, his punches weren't really doing nothing
Speaker 2: to Ryan. And I want to say, I think it
Speaker 2: was the seventh round that ref was on some bullshit. Man,
Speaker 2: that ref was on some bullshit, the extra long counts
Speaker 2: getting in the way, letting the holding go. Like I
Speaker 2: really thought that Ryan had a chance to, uh to
Speaker 2: finish Haney. But Jack, you and I discussed before. I thought,
Speaker 2: I mean, I like Haney a lot. I thought Lumba
Speaker 2: Chenko beat him. He did, yeah, you know, I mean
Speaker 2: I thought Lumba Chanko beat him. But it was only
Speaker 2: a matter of time.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: He ran into Garcia Pops. You know, what's it, Bill Haney, Right,
Speaker 2: that's his name.
Speaker 1: Bill. I just didn't. I mean, and we're we're we're fathers,
Speaker 1: so we get it.
Speaker 2: But he was just talking real, real, real greasy out there,
Speaker 2: and uh it was you know, at some point I'm
Speaker 2: just like, damn, like you know what I mean, this
Speaker 2: is between them.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you know, it
Speaker 1: made a fight.
Speaker 2: Everyone thought Ryan was crazy, you know, every thought everyone
Speaker 2: thought Ryan went off the deep end and he was
Speaker 2: doing all this and I and it was funny because
Speaker 2: I made a comment like three or four days ago
Speaker 2: and I forgot what what paide. I was just like,
Speaker 2: if this this dude's doing a hell of a job
Speaker 2: of selling the fight.
Speaker 1: I hope he's there mentally and to find out, this
Speaker 1: whole ship was a plan. Man.
Speaker 2: So he did a great job because he did everything
Speaker 2: he do to sell the fight and then went out
Speaker 2: there and performed and shocked to perform everybody. And I
Speaker 2: and I don't I don't know if this is but
Speaker 2: I read this morning too that he bet two million
Speaker 2: on himself in that fight and went twelve off the
Speaker 2: betting side too. So if that, if that is true,
Speaker 2: that's super dope man. Happy for him, you know, definitely
Speaker 2: happy for m because there's kind of been a you know,
Speaker 2: he's a social media rapper or a boxer and he
Speaker 2: can't do this and he's not doing that and he's
Speaker 2: not focused, and he this dude went out here and
Speaker 2: did it his way in one So it'll be interesting
Speaker 2: to see, you know, who is next opponent, if it's
Speaker 2: a rematch with Tank, if if there's other people in
Speaker 2: the mix.
Speaker 1: I mean, what do you see? It won't be tanked
Speaker 1: in for them already.
Speaker 3: Ryan is not gonna do a rehab vision clause again,
Speaker 3: so that's not gonna fight and it makes no sense.
Speaker 1: I mean, tankeding already beat him.
Speaker 3: Ryan getting better, So a lot of guys gonna start
Speaker 3: ducking Ryan, trust me, because of that speed, his size
Speaker 3: at that weight class, it's just dangerous and he and
Speaker 3: he got so much power. So I would like I
Speaker 3: would like to see him fight either Pitbull Cruise or
Speaker 3: Chaquelle Stevenson to see where he really at, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. And then I think if he wought
Speaker 3: chakor Stevenson, I think that'd be a great uh tune
Speaker 3: up for Chaquelle Stevens in the tank.
Speaker 2: Tank just announced he's gonna fight Frank Martin and Ben.
Speaker 2: The videas will be the Cole Maine June fifteenth in Vegas. Yep,
Speaker 2: fight Town Fight Way with Horror is fight Town coming back?
Speaker 1: Jack? You got something to share with us, I'll let
Speaker 1: you introduce her that she was already introducing. It just
Speaker 1: sounds good here.
Speaker 2: You said, no, I mean I want to know. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 2: fight town is back. Something you started over at Showbox
Speaker 2: and you know, now that we're doing our own thing,
Speaker 2: we've been able to you know, talk to some people,
Speaker 2: to know some people that owe some people. Get it back,
Speaker 2: you know, get get the lines back working. But tell
Speaker 2: us about it and who you're working with.
Speaker 1: Fight Towns, We're back.
Speaker 3: Shout out the DraftKings, Shout out to bad my guy
Speaker 3: who always making shit happen. Fight Times back Man show
Speaker 3: boxing show. We started the showtime, you know, but we
Speaker 3: wen brought it over here. Now we're finna get it back.
Speaker 3: We're going to Miami. We're going to link up with
Speaker 3: UH David Bennabdez, Roy Jones and UH and Tank and
Speaker 3: UH and talk to them, you know, for the right
Speaker 3: before the big fight. But having Roy Jones on, we're
Speaker 3: possibly uh even bringing on the great andre Ward. So
Speaker 3: just to just to have those two great minds, UH
Speaker 3: a part of a part of this company and this
Speaker 3: new ventually starting with Fight Times and in our new
Speaker 3: boxing company. Matt, I'm excited, man, because you know, I'm
Speaker 3: a big fan of boxing and Uh. I love going
Speaker 3: to these guys hometowns learning more about these boxes because
Speaker 3: I admire the.
Speaker 1: Way they stay in shape, you know, the.
Speaker 3: Things they go through, the ups and downs in the
Speaker 3: boxing RNE, the the punch and the bullet. No like,
Speaker 3: all this stuff. I admire because I'm a warrior and
Speaker 3: my damn self. But I ain't a worry to that
Speaker 3: to that damn extent, you know what I'm saying, not
Speaker 3: to that extent. So yeah, I admire those guys. So
Speaker 3: I'm glad we back. Shout out b D again.
Speaker 1: Definitely shout out BD.
Speaker 2: You know, as you said, we're you know, and in
Speaker 2: close conversations with andre Ward the Great andre Ward and
Speaker 2: Roy Jones, Jack. We've been working, man. People don't know, man,
Speaker 2: we're you know, we're in the boxing space now. We
Speaker 2: got some MMA stuff cooking, we got some football stuff cooking.
Speaker 1: We got we cooking. You know, we over here, man,
Speaker 1: So dream team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, it's been fun to be able to you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, we're getting we're creating great content, getting paid
Speaker 2: like we're still athletes, but then also opening up doors
Speaker 2: for other people and bringing more people on the roster.
Speaker 2: Obviously shout out everyone who's on the roster right now.
Speaker 2: More big names coming, but more important, man, great content.
Speaker 1: You know it's coming.
Speaker 2: From a good place, and you know, we're blessed to
Speaker 2: be able to continue to build our company and do
Speaker 2: what we love.
Speaker 1: Jack.
Speaker 2: Now we want to welcome to the show one of
Speaker 2: our brothers, Brandon Jennings, one of your Oak Hill comrades.
Speaker 1: BG. All right, BJ, whatever, Bro? What what up? What up? Y'all?
Speaker 4: What's up?
Speaker 1: How's life? How's everything going right now? Good Man?
Speaker 4: Good up this morning?
Speaker 5: Got the podcast in a couple of hours, So I
Speaker 5: just wanted to chat with my boys.
Speaker 1: Well, appreciate you spending a little time with us. Jack.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna let you kind of run it because you
Speaker 2: guys just had your Oak Hill reunion of sorts, your
Speaker 2: jersey was retired, and you guys got a little project coming.
Speaker 1: So let's talk to us. What's going on?
Speaker 3: Yeah, shot out, my little bro, Man, one of the
Speaker 3: realist men I've met.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: We played together in the league and Milwaukee together as
Speaker 3: somebody who I consider a real brother, Bro.
Speaker 1: So thank you for coming on today. Man. We went
Speaker 1: to Okill together. You know, got putting in the Okay
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3: Such an honor that man, you both appreciated and wonted
Speaker 3: because so many great players come up out of there.
Speaker 3: We went down there, we got the OKILL Doctor is
Speaker 3: out now you can catch it all Smokeroducts YouTube. We
Speaker 3: had a great time, man. I think the experience all
Speaker 3: the players wasn't there, but a nice group of players
Speaker 3: that we were inducted with. And then to be back
Speaker 3: to OKILL was a great feeling. Talk about your experience
Speaker 3: being there, man, Okay.
Speaker 5: Man, I remember getting there at sixteen, Man, definitely a
Speaker 5: culture shock coming from la you know, coming from Domingus
Speaker 5: actually Compton, and then you know, just I think, you know,
Speaker 5: I got to get the credit to my mom, man,
Speaker 5: because being sixteen and her even just having the confidence
Speaker 5: in me just to go away all the way from
Speaker 5: California to Virginia and you know, play basketball was a
Speaker 5: huge step in my life for me and also a challenge.
Speaker 5: So I got to give it all of up to
Speaker 5: my mom for that. But the experience was great, man.
Speaker 5: I was able to, you know, work on my game
Speaker 5: every day. You know, Steve Smith, you know the schedule
Speaker 5: that we played, you know, we was always playing against
Speaker 5: eight against five. You know, the challenges, the different you know,
Speaker 5: everybody on the team was going D one and just
Speaker 5: you know, just the experience. Man, just being able to
Speaker 5: focus on basketball was something I needed at sixteen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, bro.
Speaker 3: When I mine was kind of similar my mom. She
Speaker 3: believed in Steve Smith too. I know if I didn't leave,
Speaker 3: I was I was going to either be dead or
Speaker 3: in jail. But I knew I could play basketball, and
Speaker 3: to be there away from everything, focusing on basketball and
Speaker 3: still being traveling there to all these terms, being able
Speaker 3: to be seen everything I needed because not only did
Speaker 3: it show me that the geam of me making it
Speaker 3: to the next level could really happen, but it also
Speaker 3: it made me appreciate the game. It made me appreciate
Speaker 3: Steve Smith and being at okill in the position it
Speaker 3: put me in.
Speaker 1: So it did the same for me.
Speaker 4: I mean the structure. Let's talk about the structure of
Speaker 4: the school. You know, you know we had Saturday schools.
Speaker 4: You know, we had to go to church. You know,
Speaker 4: we had to wear uniforms a certain way.
Speaker 5: You know, we had to wear uniforms, and we only
Speaker 5: had like six or seven people to a class. So
Speaker 5: we got the attention far as like education wise, and
Speaker 5: then you know, you just played basketball every day. So
Speaker 5: it was kind of like, I don't know it was
Speaker 5: like I don't know, it was like the first europe experience.
Speaker 4: I guess just playing basketball.
Speaker 2: I don't know if this younger generation appreciates just the history,
Speaker 2: because you know, this younger generation is not so much
Speaker 2: on history. But just to have you know, forty five
Speaker 2: NBA players come through there at one point, from Carmelo
Speaker 2: kd Rondo Stackhouse, Rod Strickland, Josh Smith, Michael Beasley.
Speaker 1: To name it.
Speaker 2: I know you guys have a list of guys, but
Speaker 2: just the history of that program and Steve Smith and
Speaker 2: not only how it was a positive influences on your
Speaker 2: basketball life and career and journey, but like you said,
Speaker 2: be off the court and you know, taught you discipline
Speaker 2: and and structure and you know how to do the
Speaker 2: above and beyond, which is really dope. Why do you
Speaker 2: guys feel this kind of a joint question that kind
Speaker 2: of structure on and off the court is so important
Speaker 2: to continue. Why is it for that important for that
Speaker 2: story to continue to be told.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the way social media is today,
Speaker 5: I think it's probably needed way more for kids just
Speaker 5: to focus because we're seeing a lot of things and
Speaker 5: you know, the internet is like it's a fake place.
Speaker 5: So you know, kids get these highlight tapes and they
Speaker 5: think they're you know that it's on, and it's like like,
Speaker 5: you know, you got to get back to the grid
Speaker 5: and grind of it and just being away, man, like
Speaker 5: just being away like you're not I mean, you're not
Speaker 5: really missing much. I mean, you know, if you can
Speaker 5: dedicate your life to basketball for you know, from from
Speaker 5: from sixteen to eighteen and just focused on strictly that,
Speaker 5: I mean, I think the outcome is gonna be insane
Speaker 5: for you.
Speaker 3: I think I think to b for me, o'kill still
Speaker 3: gives you that old school high school field. You in
Speaker 3: a small town, the whole town comes out to every
Speaker 3: home game, and it's just about basketball there. You know,
Speaker 3: it's not about nothing else, it's not about no politics.
Speaker 3: It's about basketball. And you're gonna and you're gonna work
Speaker 3: on your gaming and become a better man. I think,
Speaker 3: like you said, social media and some money being involved
Speaker 3: in so much going on with kids bouncing around playing
Speaker 3: even in high school, not just in the portal kids
Speaker 3: doing that in high school in the aa U circle too,
Speaker 3: bouncing around playing from team to team to getting paid.
Speaker 3: So I think places like Okill. It's very important if
Speaker 3: kids want to just be a high school kid, grow
Speaker 3: up in high school, play basketball the right way, but
Speaker 3: also be seen the way you need to.
Speaker 5: And also to piggyback on that is like you're also
Speaker 5: playing with other great players, right, so how to play
Speaker 5: with great players?
Speaker 1: So when you played, I.
Speaker 2: Was gonna ask not to cut you off, like what
Speaker 2: are those practices? Like, I mean, you guys had you know,
Speaker 2: d one NBA players in high school, so what were
Speaker 2: those I'm sure those practice sometimes is really in the
Speaker 2: games a lot of the time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean for me crazy, I mean no, I
Speaker 5: played as long as like Nolan Smith, Alex Legion, Julian Vaughn,
Speaker 5: Trey Thompson, and you know, every day it was a battle.
Speaker 5: But like like I said, my team was so good,
Speaker 5: so being able to play with good players was always
Speaker 5: easy for me. That's why au me and Kevin Love
Speaker 5: you know what I'm saying, we went thirty eight No,
Speaker 5: because just playing with o'kill every day, like you know,
Speaker 5: you learn how to play with great players, and in
Speaker 5: the NBA, you know that's how it's gonna be anyway.
Speaker 3: And Steve Smith was good at teaching man he'll probably
Speaker 3: our practices started. He'll he'll go through some stuff, teach,
Speaker 3: teach for about a good ten fifteen minutes. The rest
Speaker 3: of the practice is all scrimmaging. He wanted to live,
Speaker 3: he wanted to do practice with he teach live, so
Speaker 3: we he didn't do too much talking. We did a
Speaker 3: lot of playing in practice.
Speaker 2: Fellas, We're gonna play a quick game right here with
Speaker 2: the start of the NBA playoffs, and and there's you know,
Speaker 2: always a lot of overreactions in this space.
Speaker 1: So you guys tell me if it's gonna breathe in
Speaker 1: or breathe out? Are you fucking with it? Are you not?
Speaker 2: Adidas is stomping Nike in the signature shoe game right now.
Speaker 2: Uh ant Man just released his debut Love Low Tops.
Speaker 2: Harden came through with his heat, Dame came through with
Speaker 2: his firing Game one on the flip side right now.
Speaker 2: Obviously Giannis didn't play. I think bronze shoes have gotten
Speaker 2: a lot better now that they're more sleek and and
Speaker 2: and you know, kind of up to the newer kids
Speaker 2: with the kids like fashion. Obviously, kd uh d book
Speaker 2: jaws on the sidelines, and I'm seeing a lot of
Speaker 2: guys and.
Speaker 1: Kids now too wearing this Sabrinas.
Speaker 2: So with all I just said, is Adidas the top
Speaker 2: signature line for basketball right now?
Speaker 3: No, and and and and they never will be. But
Speaker 3: they got some fresh air coming out there. I think
Speaker 3: I think the ant Man's are super dope. I would
Speaker 3: rock them if I could, you know, shout out to
Speaker 3: Jordan Brand, but uh uh it's stupid. Uh, They're definitely
Speaker 3: doing their thing. Bro Uh they did. I think. I
Speaker 3: think I think Nike. The reason Nike lost their tame
Speaker 3: is ever since they lost Kyrie. If you went to
Speaker 3: every every AU tournament because I got sons, I got
Speaker 3: my daughter, Matt, you got sons, y'all got your kids
Speaker 3: playing basketball, beach and everybody.
Speaker 1: You go to these tournaments, it ain't nothing but Pg's
Speaker 1: and Kyrie's and Kobe's. Yeah, you're sprinkling through Bron's in
Speaker 1: there now. You know. With my daughter, I'm going, I'm going,
Speaker 1: I'm going.
Speaker 3: I'm seeing the Kyries, the Sabrinas and the and broar
Speaker 3: so like. But with not since they lost Kyrie, it
Speaker 3: ain't been the same for him. And I think too,
Speaker 3: you know, Adida's got the young players. You know some
Speaker 3: of the young players and guys that's really making noise
Speaker 3: right now too, Matt, along with their shoes coming out.
Speaker 3: So if you if you're putting up numbers, your team winning,
Speaker 3: when you're dropping shoes, it all makes sense absolutely for me.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna say Adida, say is running it right now?
Speaker 5: You know, I love I love the layout that they
Speaker 5: did it. You know, the hardens the ant Man's especially
Speaker 5: Ant becoming one of the faces of the league. I
Speaker 5: think with Nike, you know when you said when they
Speaker 5: lost Kyrie, that was huge, but I think them missing
Speaker 5: job huge job.
Speaker 1: He was supposed to be.
Speaker 2: He was supposed to not have to cut you off,
Speaker 2: but he was supposed to kind of and I was
Speaker 2: going to soften the hit that Kyrie left.
Speaker 1: I agree with you one thousand percent.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So you know, losing losing I mean not losing job,
Speaker 5: but job being hurt right now and not being on
Speaker 5: the floor hurts him a lot. So I'm gonna go
Speaker 5: with Adidas right now. But then you know, you know,
Speaker 5: you got Curry Grant coming up. They just signed Curry,
Speaker 5: you know, the Fox, And then you know, I'm working
Speaker 5: on some stuff in that Darmer. So we'll see you know,
Speaker 5: we'll see, get.
Speaker 1: Your creative hats on and tell us about it.
Speaker 5: But also kind of new stuff is fired too, so
Speaker 5: you know he decided to over there like his new
Speaker 5: line is fired to they start buying.
Speaker 1: His new line fire ye the way, I judge, all
Speaker 1: this is what am I seeing the AU tournaments.
Speaker 2: Although I definitely think Adidas is making waves in the
Speaker 2: league right now, does that transition into dollars with the public,
Speaker 2: and you see, you guys, know you see the Kobe's,
Speaker 2: you see uh, I see a lot of Sabrinas. Now
Speaker 2: you know, you you still see a majority of Nike.
Speaker 1: So they finished up buying the Caitlyn's and the Wimby's.
Speaker 4: And then you know, and then Juju, I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean, it's definitely gonna be a lot of girls.
Speaker 1: You're definitely gonna be next. You know.
Speaker 2: Interesting you said that, you know, we with the conversation
Speaker 2: of ladies, you know about Caitlyn Clark getting her signature
Speaker 2: shoe and how come Asia Wilson doesn't have her signature shoe?
Speaker 2: And I wanted to kind of toss that around real
Speaker 2: quick with both you guys and hear your thoughts.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean you know, you know my thoughts. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's just there's no reason for her not to have one.
Speaker 3: I mean, she's won back to back, she's won the MVP,
Speaker 3: she's won all the wats, has been the best player
Speaker 3: of MVP, defensive player. And the three players that got
Speaker 3: signs shoes are all white. You know what I'm saying
Speaker 3: like that, that's crazy and it ain't being racist. These
Speaker 3: are just the facts, you know what I'm saying. I mean,
Speaker 3: but look, even to go further, you had four black
Speaker 3: women that went number one. They never got paid what
Speaker 3: Kayla's getting paid.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. So, like I wasn't aware
Speaker 1: of those numbers.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, she getting seventy eight. Alil
Speaker 3: Boston that went to Indiana last year, number one pick
Speaker 3: she got. She she's the second closest to her, she
Speaker 3: got seventy six.
Speaker 1: But yump. So I mean it's to scale up if
Speaker 1: youy chair.
Speaker 3: But still, you know what I'm saying. I'm just saying,
Speaker 3: these are the facts. You know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 3: no question, Asia deserves her shoes.
Speaker 5: No diagree everything you said. Her accomplishment, but is she
Speaker 5: moving the needle like that?
Speaker 4: Like like like these young girls are.
Speaker 5: Coming in from college, like you know, I mean, their
Speaker 5: numbers are just crazy, like I mean the game, like,
Speaker 5: you know, can't she move the needle like that?
Speaker 3: I think you know As is definitely moving neither.
Speaker 2: I will call you no, but I mean Jack not
Speaker 2: to say she's not, to say she's not. But again
Speaker 2: to me, no, no, he said more than Angel Reese,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. To me, I'm thinking, she's
Speaker 2: already had all these accomplishments. Why hasn't it happened already?
Speaker 2: It should have already happened. We all agree that she
Speaker 2: should have her own shoe. If we're looking at Nike,
Speaker 2: maybe Nike's not the move. Maybe it's Steph. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: you know, Steph and his brand. Maybe it's it's Adidas,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. So I'm thinking. But at
Speaker 2: the same time, and I saw an interesting fact, and
Speaker 2: I want to say, I don't know if Kannas Parker
Speaker 2: she had her own signature shoe with Adida, so I'm
Speaker 2: not mistaken. I don't know she still does. But the
Speaker 2: way I was looking at is you can't hold that,
Speaker 2: you know, obviously, seeing three white women that have their
Speaker 2: signature you can't hold that against those women.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 2: I'm not people's issues with Nike, and I don't like
Speaker 2: that people are trying to discredit Kaitlyn Clark because she
Speaker 2: has a shoe before she's even stepped in the WNBA.
Speaker 2: Because for the reason that Brandon just said, she moves
Speaker 2: the needle. She is a movement in herself. So all
Speaker 2: these people that kind of feel a certain way about
Speaker 2: Caitlyn coming in the league, or she hasn't done nothing,
Speaker 2: or players kind of saying they're a little slick ship
Speaker 2: that we've been seeing them say, they should all be
Speaker 2: happy because she's bringing eyeballs with her. She's bringing in
Speaker 2: the whole ecosystem with her. Like they said, Jack, she
Speaker 2: sold one mergers in one day. Then your team sold
Speaker 2: in the whole entire year.
Speaker 1: The Cowboys, the Cowboys. We were just talking about Nike
Speaker 1: falling off, right, Yeah, I don't know falling off, but yeah, I.
Speaker 3: Mean yeah, but yeah bye bye by not by not
Speaker 3: by not having the signature shoes, right because they the
Speaker 3: singing shoes are not popper, right, So you're saying, how
Speaker 3: many players with Nike they have signature shoes right now, that's.
Speaker 1: Not moving the needle. I don't know, you'd have to look.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to say we just talked about it.
Speaker 1: We just talked about it. Who who are you talking
Speaker 1: about a lot.
Speaker 3: Of those players that got Signey shoes were talking about
Speaker 3: the das has passed them and people are not wearing
Speaker 3: those shoes. Right, They're not moving the needle, but they
Speaker 3: still got they still got Signy shoes. You're saying, were
Speaker 3: Asia Wilson moved the needle. She is moving the needle.
Speaker 3: She's winning the championship. But you got guys in the
Speaker 3: NBA that ain't moving any of that.
Speaker 1: But it's still different, Jack.
Speaker 2: I mean, a w NBA championship is not set, with
Speaker 2: all due respect, it's not celebrated like an NBA championship.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that. I'm not comparing like that.
Speaker 2: Her accolades obviously in her league, in her league, she
Speaker 2: is that.
Speaker 1: She's she's she's the one, she's her in her league.
Speaker 5: I mean, if I'm Nike, if I'm Nike, honestly, I'm
Speaker 5: giving Juju a signature shoot right now in college.
Speaker 1: Off the risk question.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying like that, But but that's
Speaker 4: why you got to go.
Speaker 5: With it, Clay Caitlen Clark right now, because she's moving
Speaker 5: the needle and that was gonna move.
Speaker 1: Nobody's denying that. Nobody's denying that. Nobody's denying that. But
Speaker 1: Asia deserves that too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you also got to think I think Asia
Speaker 2: kind of missed obviously, like Jack we taught had her
Speaker 2: on the show, she missed that ni l ship. You know,
Speaker 2: she said she would have been showing up with minks
Speaker 2: like Frank Lucas. So with this nil stuff, these girls
Speaker 2: are coming into the w n B A bigger than
Speaker 2: the w n B A yeah, you know what following
Speaker 2: in their brands and their visibility and their market you know,
Speaker 2: you mean, the way they can market themselves. Now, so
Speaker 2: all these women that are in the w NBA, you
Speaker 2: could sit, we're all hoopers. We can kind of sense
Speaker 2: the slick shit that is being said, but they should
Speaker 2: all appreciate it because they're all all these the top
Speaker 2: seven picks are all coming in, top ten picks are
Speaker 2: all coming in with built in So my whole question,
Speaker 2: fellas was with that excitement and the storylines from college
Speaker 2: basketball translate to the w because if it does, it's
Speaker 2: gonna change the game.
Speaker 1: It's definitely gonna change the game.
Speaker 2: And obviously they're going to go back after this year
Speaker 2: and go back to the tables and redo their negotiations.
Speaker 2: And there's some new TV stuff in the works for them,
Speaker 2: and there's a big sponsor coming in, so contracts and
Speaker 2: salaries are definitely gonna be up. But I just love
Speaker 2: the fact that we're having these type of conversations because
Speaker 2: that means the game is growing, whether you know people
Speaker 2: like it or not.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's society right now. Don't get get better
Speaker 4: and better.
Speaker 5: So I mean the WNBA is gonna have to do
Speaker 5: their job, make it bigger, you know what I'm.
Speaker 3: Saying, regards what somebody else do, regardless what you do,
Speaker 3: if you if you be, if you go score thirty
Speaker 3: and you coming in my league and you and you
Speaker 3: big regards what you done, what you do. I know
Speaker 3: what I've done in this league. So yeah, you deserve
Speaker 3: what you what you've done and what you're coming into.
Speaker 1: But I deserve it too. No one's arguing with that.
Speaker 1: No one's arguing with that.
Speaker 2: But like I said, I just think these younger women,
Speaker 2: I think I feel like Caitlyn is taking heat, you know,
Speaker 2: similar to where Agel was taking heat a while back
Speaker 2: for different reasons.
Speaker 1: But you can't be mad at Caitlyn because she has
Speaker 1: a big ass deal, not at all, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm trying to tell these people, like you
Speaker 2: can't be It's not her fault, right, It's her fault
Speaker 2: that she hooped and did because it's not like she's
Speaker 2: just you know, some great white like she's a hooper.
Speaker 2: I think she benefited off the Steph Curry effect, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. People love the way Steph kind
Speaker 2: of changed the game as a whole, along with Clay
Speaker 2: and some other guys. But that she shoots the ship
Speaker 2: from half court with without effort, and she's carrying a
Speaker 2: with all due respect, not a you know, not a
Speaker 2: super talented team, to the team to the Final four
Speaker 2: and to the championship. So her game speaks for itself.
Speaker 2: So I just I just don't like the negative attention
Speaker 2: that any of these women are getting because at the
Speaker 2: end of the all these women are gonna help build
Speaker 2: this game more and take it to the next level.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, we could I be negative again.
Speaker 3: How do you feel about how do you feel about
Speaker 3: Caitlin Clark and her team that didn't win the national
Speaker 3: championship get invited to Saturday Night Live, her whole team,
Speaker 3: but the national championship actually didn't.
Speaker 4: Because I'm moving the needle.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Don Stanley not moving the needle, not like she
Speaker 2: definitely is moving the needle.
Speaker 1: Don Staley is definitely moving the needle.
Speaker 3: I am trying to make I ain't trying to make
Speaker 3: this racial. Don't think I'm just speaking the facts. Bro,
Speaker 3: I'm not making it racial because people try to twist
Speaker 3: my words.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just I'm just asking our question. I'm speaking.
Speaker 1: I'm mad at that. I'm not mad at the question.
Speaker 2: But I think what b Jenny said, bros moving and
Speaker 2: Don Staley is definitely moving the needle. But nobody, I
Speaker 2: would argue that nobody right now, in this little last
Speaker 2: month is moving the needle like Kaitlyn Clark period, not Lebron,
Speaker 2: not nobody like Kayln Clark has fascinated and captured the
Speaker 2: entire world. So no one is moving the needle like her.
Speaker 2: So I get I get the Saturday Nights Year, I
Speaker 2: get the Nike deal.
Speaker 1: I get it. Now he gonna have to come and
Speaker 1: prove that shit, though, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So moving on, James Worthy, the great Hall of Famer,
Speaker 2: friend of the all the smoke praying, and he said,
Speaker 2: Yokic is a combination of magic and Kareem. He said
Speaker 2: to me, Yokic is magic and Kareem on the floor
Speaker 2: at the same time. He's a guard who makes great
Speaker 2: decisions and is a hell of a passer. But when
Speaker 2: you need, he wants to be Kareem. He goes down
Speaker 2: in the post and dominates. Question to you, guys, if
Speaker 2: Yokic wins a chip in an MVP this year, where
Speaker 2: do you have him on your all time list? Not
Speaker 2: all time sinners, we'll talk about that too. Where do
Speaker 2: you have him in the all time? Is he cracking
Speaker 2: the top ten fifteen, twenty, Brandon, I'm gonna start with you.
Speaker 4: He cracking the top thirty, Okay, Like I get him
Speaker 4: top thirty.
Speaker 1: Still it's too early, so accolades are heavy. Game is heavy.
Speaker 1: But he's in your top thirty, Yeah, top thirty?
Speaker 4: Right now?
Speaker 1: Where do you have him on your top centers of
Speaker 1: all time? Is he top ten there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's top ten for sure, He's top ten. He's
Speaker 4: creeping off the bench right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, so around six seven he's off the bench. Six
Speaker 1: I might put him higher. Jack, where's Yoki chat for you? Well, one,
Speaker 1: you can't.
Speaker 3: You can't never go against what Jane Worth is saying
Speaker 3: because he played with Magic and Korean, so he knowing
Speaker 3: better than anybody. And that's a great comparison because you
Speaker 3: can see a lot of both of them and them.
Speaker 3: I think for me, I got him on the all
Speaker 3: time list. I got Yokish top ten, topki skim me,
Speaker 3: top fifteen, top fifteen, top twenty, top fifteen somewhere or up.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And my all time center list, I got him top five. Ooh, okay,
Speaker 3: I think I'm gonna agree.
Speaker 1: I definitely. I don't know where he's at.
Speaker 2: I don't have time to knock a list down right now,
Speaker 2: but I feel like he's in my top twenty players
Speaker 2: of all time and he's still got you know, more time,
Speaker 2: and they got something really good going over there right now.
Speaker 2: And then as far as centers, yeah, I put him
Speaker 2: up there, man. I mean to me, it is the
Speaker 2: greatest center of all time. And then you you know,
Speaker 2: you look at Kareem and then you know, people say
Speaker 2: Wilt and Russell, but I'm throwing Yoki right up in
Speaker 2: that mix is TOUGHI is tough. So we shall see.
Speaker 2: Are we seeing a passing of the torch in front
Speaker 2: of our eyes? As far as the new wave of
Speaker 2: the n.
Speaker 1: B A H. Steph didn't make it.
Speaker 2: Kd and and and his boys are up against the
Speaker 2: next face of the league, Anthony Edwards Lebron. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be uphill sledding to see if they even get out
Speaker 2: of the first round this year. But you look at
Speaker 2: that ant man Uh Luca. I don't know if they're
Speaker 2: gonna get out the first round, but we all know
Speaker 2: what lucas about.
Speaker 1: And then Jokic. Are we seeing a passing of the torch?
Speaker 1: Fellas hell? I think so?
Speaker 3: I think so for the simple fact that you know,
Speaker 3: you know, when when when you start to see, you know,
Speaker 3: the guys that was that was carrying the torch starting
Speaker 3: to be in the play in every year, that's the
Speaker 3: big sign. And and and you're seeing guys like Shai
Speaker 3: the youngest team in the NBA be number one in
Speaker 3: the Western Conference when Western Conference is normally the toughest conference.
Speaker 3: That's that's that that's starting to say a lot. So yeah,
Speaker 3: the passing of the torch is definitely here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the passing of the torches here, and the lead's
Speaker 5: gonna be in a good hands man.
Speaker 4: Man, Luca, your kids, you got tit on, you got shy.
Speaker 5: You know, you got a bunch of young guys man
Speaker 5: that can that can hold their own, and you know
Speaker 5: they're not playing together.
Speaker 4: They're all like, you know this this thing like they
Speaker 4: want to an act man.
Speaker 5: You know, he definitely want to go against everybody. So
Speaker 5: just his demeanor, you know, his or and what he
Speaker 5: brings to the game. Man, I think you know, the
Speaker 5: lead's gonna be in a good in good hands.
Speaker 2: These young boys not really trying to team up? Is
Speaker 2: this Are they going to bring that wave back of
Speaker 2: not really trying to because it was a it was
Speaker 2: a Big three era for a minute that we all
Speaker 2: you know, we're part of and and played in and
Speaker 2: it doesn't necessari but obviously all these guys are young
Speaker 2: and they haven't got there. You know, they're coming some
Speaker 2: of them are still coming off their first deals. But
Speaker 2: do you think this next wave is going to kind
Speaker 2: of take it back to what it used to be.
Speaker 1: But we're not teaming up.
Speaker 2: We may get one guy, but that's about it and
Speaker 2: we try to we go on to each other's.
Speaker 4: Next I could see it. I mean the money too.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Supermax, you know the way the
Speaker 5: way the money is going in there. You know, the
Speaker 5: way first team, second team, third team is is kind
Speaker 5: of like, you know, it's kind of like you stay
Speaker 5: over there. I just said, you know, at this time,
Speaker 5: and I mean, and the way guys are just putting
Speaker 5: up numbers too, you know, it's just crazy, like they're
Speaker 5: so young and and you know, the way Minnesota has
Speaker 5: already built their team, it's kind of like, you know,
Speaker 5: they have their they have their guys, they have him
Speaker 5: and Cat, and you know they have a vet in
Speaker 5: Mike Conley. So you know, some of these teams are
Speaker 5: well put together. They just got to add just like one,
Speaker 5: one or two, you know pieces.
Speaker 1: I just want to see it from okayce in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I love that they got there. We all know the
Speaker 2: regular season is a little bit different than the playoffs.
Speaker 2: But right as of now, although man, OKAYC went down
Speaker 2: to the wire last night with that was a really
Speaker 2: good game with New Orleans, you know, obviously minus Zion,
Speaker 2: But I just want to see it from these young teams.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously, Jack, we spoke.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a change in the guards from you know, okay,
Speaker 2: season number one in the West now and so they
Speaker 2: finished third, but I got to see it in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: One thing that also drew my attention was the ship
Speaker 2: that Anthony Edwards was talking to KD, and KD loved it.
Speaker 2: KD loved it obviously, KD, you know, being uh Ant's
Speaker 2: favorite player, and it's you know, it's when your idols
Speaker 2: become your rivals, so to speak. And and out of
Speaker 2: all these young players, and there's a lot of young players,
Speaker 2: I just love Anthony Edwards energy and his game backs
Speaker 2: it up. What was going through you guys mind when
Speaker 2: you've seen him talking shit to KD like that.
Speaker 1: I loved it.
Speaker 3: Bro put us up the fact that he already He
Speaker 3: already then came out millions of times saying Kate is
Speaker 3: his favorite player.
Speaker 1: Dog.
Speaker 3: So when you get a chance in the playoffs to
Speaker 3: go up against your favorite player, one of the best
Speaker 3: players of all time, to prove yourself, it's no better
Speaker 3: feeling than that, Matt, There's no better feeling than that.
Speaker 3: When even though were the same age, when I got
Speaker 3: a chance to play against cobD in the playoffs after
Speaker 3: they had three pet it and beat them to go.
Speaker 1: Win the championship. Doll, that was the best feeling in
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 3: So when you you know, I looked even I looked
Speaker 3: up to Cobe even though it was the same age,
Speaker 3: just because how good he was. But I get it.
Speaker 3: That's the best fit in the world. And Katie embracing it,
Speaker 3: you know what I'm saying. He's not taking it the
Speaker 3: wrong way. He loved the competition as well. But it's
Speaker 3: good to see that you got players coming back that's
Speaker 3: ready to compete like that and give the game what
Speaker 3: we want to see.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it just talked about.
Speaker 5: It just shows his passion and this is why he's
Speaker 5: about to be the face of the league. This is
Speaker 5: what the league wants. This is what the NBA is about. Like,
Speaker 5: you know, this is what you know, This is what
Speaker 5: the dogs. You know, this is when the dogs come out,
Speaker 5: and you know, this is when you take your game
Speaker 5: to the next level. This is something that everybody dreams of.
Speaker 5: You know, everybody dreams to play against the favorite player
Speaker 5: on the court, give him thirty or being that big game,
Speaker 5: hit that big shot, against them, So I mean that
Speaker 5: just shows his passion and the love for the game.
Speaker 4: So I'm rooting for the young gain.
Speaker 2: The great Detroit Mercy point guard who knocked UCLA out
Speaker 2: in the tournament.
Speaker 1: I think it's my freshman year.
Speaker 2: Rashad Phillips on Twitter said, Katie smiles at like a
Speaker 2: proud father as he watches a generation he helped build
Speaker 2: have their moment in the midst of the battle. This
Speaker 2: is beautiful. As you get older, you will understand what
Speaker 2: I mean. KD is one of the greatest of all times.
Speaker 2: So I thought that was a beautiful, beautifully said by
Speaker 2: Rashade Fillips because like like I said, I mean, we're
Speaker 2: seeing it. And I hope now people are appreciating what
Speaker 2: KD has been able to do for this game, what
Speaker 2: Steph has been able to do for this game, what
Speaker 2: Lebron has been able to do for this game. Because
Speaker 2: these guys, you know, two three years, they might not
Speaker 2: be here after that. So you know, I love when
Speaker 2: when in an era where everyone loves to talk shit
Speaker 2: and be disrespectful and critique everything, I hope that these
Speaker 2: people just appreciate what they've been able to see the
Speaker 2: last twenty years. From Lebron and seventeen from KD And
Speaker 2: I think Steph's at fifteen or sixteen. So I just
Speaker 2: hope these people appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: One last thing before we get out of this. A
Speaker 2: man said he's the best two guard in the league
Speaker 2: over Booker. We don't leave that out there. We're gonna
Speaker 2: leave that out there.
Speaker 4: I'm a Clippers, right, I'm not.
Speaker 2: I ain't even argue. I'm just gonna throw it out there.
Speaker 2: I know book Go has to say. And that's the
Speaker 2: best part about it is.
Speaker 1: You're playing each other in the playoffs right now, right,
Speaker 1: Clippers veteran savvy can it? Can it? Can it win? Obviously?
Speaker 2: Can you guys think he can get them, get them
Speaker 2: out of the West? I mean minus Kawhi? They went
Speaker 2: took Game one versus Dallas Westbrook integral part off the bench,
Speaker 2: smart doing it on both ends, defensively and offensively. James
Speaker 2: Harden in his bag twenty eight and twenty eight and
Speaker 2: eight six for eleven from deep this supporting cast. I
Speaker 2: haven't even mentioned PG and what he brings to the game.
Speaker 2: Do you guys think that this team has a chance
Speaker 2: to get out of the West?
Speaker 4: Man?
Speaker 5: I mean the West is tough, man, you know, especially
Speaker 5: without Kawhi. Leonard is definitely going to be tough. But
Speaker 5: they're definitely gonna have to use Westbrook a lot and
Speaker 5: let him, you know, do his thing and you know,
Speaker 5: beat him. But yeah, man, I mean, you know, the
Speaker 5: West is so stacked.
Speaker 4: Man, it's it's I don't know.
Speaker 2: And we're not even saying they gonna get out the
Speaker 2: first round. Just up one nothing on Dallas. This I
Speaker 2: mean that the series, you know what I mean, the
Speaker 2: series is just getting started. But Jack, do you feel like,
Speaker 2: uh with if Kawhi is able to come back, can
Speaker 2: this team come out of the West.
Speaker 1: That's my thing, Matt. I love the Clippers.
Speaker 3: I love the coach I loved I love the way
Speaker 3: they put James and Russ and Kawhi and Parr together.
Speaker 1: I love that whole little thing.
Speaker 3: But I know Jason Kidd, I know Kawhi, I know
Speaker 3: Luca Donci is the leading scorer in the NBA this year.
Speaker 1: They gonna come back. Real this is far from over.
Speaker 3: This is far from over, yeah, because you know, you know,
Speaker 3: you know how Luclan had some amazing games there in
Speaker 3: the playoffs. So my thing is they can tie the
Speaker 3: series up now they have homecome home court advantage, So
Speaker 3: I don't we've seen We've seen James do this and
Speaker 3: and I love him James playing well because it's just
Speaker 3: the game is just more exciting when he getting his
Speaker 3: threes and doing his io, the game is way more exciting.
Speaker 3: But he hasn't sustained that on no team he's been
Speaker 3: on to get them, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: To the championship out of the Western Conference.
Speaker 3: So with with with Kawhi coming back, there's less shots
Speaker 3: with a lot of these guys too, So how this
Speaker 3: is gonna look when he come back. I don't know
Speaker 3: if the Clippers can do it, but I know they
Speaker 3: will see a different Dallas team come Game two.
Speaker 2: I mean I kind of feel like, I mean, Clippers
Speaker 2: have been my pick from the beginning, and I agree
Speaker 2: with you know, James has been great, you know in
Speaker 2: flashes of the playoffs, but hasn't been consistent. But I
Speaker 2: think this team is different from a standpoint if he
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be him every single night, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean, Like, you know, PG could be him.
Speaker 2: You know, Russ can come off the bench and still
Speaker 2: be him. If they're able to get Kawhi. We already
Speaker 2: know Kawhi's resume when it comes to playoffs in the finals,
Speaker 2: so I don't feel like there's as much pressure. And
Speaker 2: I don't know if pressure was the reason why he
Speaker 2: wasn't playing well at times, but those have always been
Speaker 2: kind of the James Harden shows with with with you know,
Speaker 2: with the Rockets obviously, and then him and Embiid and
Speaker 2: that didn't really mix too well. But I just don't
Speaker 2: feel like there's a lot that as much pressure on him,
Speaker 2: and I feel like he's definitely gonna do his thing.
Speaker 2: But I do agree there's no telling if they're going
Speaker 2: to get out of this series if they don't have Kawhi,
Speaker 2: and I don't know if they can make it through
Speaker 2: the West uh without Kawhi.
Speaker 1: But there's still my pick.
Speaker 2: I can't go back on my pick, and I hope
Speaker 2: that Kawhi is able to come back BG before our
Speaker 2: BJ Before we get you out of here, man, we
Speaker 2: wanted to you know, obviously, your game speaks for it self.
Speaker 2: We're definitely looking forward to having you come on of
Speaker 2: all the smoke soon, but we wanted to touch on
Speaker 2: just tough crowd and what you've been able to build
Speaker 2: and your brand and your partnerships and and and and
Speaker 2: what's kind of in the future for you there if
Speaker 2: you don't mind breaking it down for us as I'm interested,
Speaker 2: but I know our fans are institting here too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Tough Crowd is a brand I started when I took
Speaker 5: a trip to China. I think it was my last
Speaker 5: year playing basketball, and I was just looking at how
Speaker 5: big our culture was over there, so you know, far
Speaker 5: as hip hop and fashion, and when I came back,
Speaker 5: I was just like, I want to start a brand.
Speaker 4: Uh So started a brand.
Speaker 5: Sat on the name Tough Crowd for for a while,
Speaker 5: and tough Crowd is just for anybody that's like an
Speaker 5: entrepreneur or anybody that's you know.
Speaker 4: Wanted more in life.
Speaker 5: And you know, at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 5: life is just a tough crowd because we always got
Speaker 5: to prove ourselves and you know, it's always haters and doubters.
Speaker 4: So that's like the meaning behind it a tough crowd.
Speaker 5: And the reason why I put tough Crowd on the collar,
Speaker 5: uh was because back in the day, you know, they
Speaker 5: had the selfie era, right, so so you know everybody
Speaker 5: was taking selfie so I was doing that to use,
Speaker 5: uh to get the brand out there and use marketing.
Speaker 5: So it was like a cool little marketing way to
Speaker 5: get everybody to see the brand first.
Speaker 2: So I know you if I'm not mistaking, I follow
Speaker 2: you on. I g I know you have a gym,
Speaker 2: a hoop gym that this brand. You've also did a
Speaker 2: partnership with your brother Steph Curry. Uh, and you were
Speaker 2: one of the early under Armour guys.
Speaker 1: Mar Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was the first one to sign the un Armour.
Speaker 5: Then Curry came over and so me and Curry, we
Speaker 5: have a a lot of relationships with people from an Armor.
Speaker 5: So it was just dope the fact to be able
Speaker 5: to do that collab go back to my home gym
Speaker 5: in Raleigh Park where I grew up at actually where
Speaker 5: I first started basketball three. So doing that for the
Speaker 5: community dropping the collapse was dope, man, And it was
Speaker 5: actually one of our biggest moments so far.
Speaker 1: He man.
Speaker 3: He also made our Hall of Fame jackets for our
Speaker 3: old kids ceremony too.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. They hooked everybody up.
Speaker 1: That's what's up. That's really good.
Speaker 2: And again we're gonna dig a little, you know, get
Speaker 2: into more of your story once we have you on
Speaker 2: the show. We just want to give you all a
Speaker 2: taste of what our guys giving you right now. But
Speaker 2: before we get you out of here Gil's Arena. Yes,
Speaker 2: in one year, you guys have done amazing things. You
Speaker 2: guys just had a live show. Shout out to the
Speaker 2: whole team, man. I think it's a beautiful thing, the
Speaker 2: way you guys have been coming together. I feel like
Speaker 2: there's just that we all know there's a huge shift
Speaker 2: in media right now. And when I was on Paul
Speaker 2: George's podcast here there, I was like, I don't look
Speaker 2: at any of my brothers as competition. I feel like
Speaker 2: all moving the needle, we're all pushing, we're all changing
Speaker 2: the game. And there's enough money for all us because
Speaker 2: there's at least some good money out here. But tell us,
Speaker 2: you know how that you know how you guys kind
Speaker 2: of came about and what that experience it has been
Speaker 2: like for you guys.
Speaker 4: Man experiences been great.
Speaker 5: First, I want to shout out Gil Man forgiving me
Speaker 5: the opportunity and given you know, Rasha Keing, Lexi Brown,
Speaker 5: Josiah you know, uh, you know it's called everybody, Tim
Speaker 5: Steve everybody over there, Paolo, and you know, coming being
Speaker 5: from la you know, you know l A and I
Speaker 5: gotta be real.
Speaker 4: You know, a lot of us we don't do business together.
Speaker 4: So you know, fortunately, you know the fact that.
Speaker 5: Gil, you know, as a o G you know, gave
Speaker 5: me an opportunity to be on the show definitely has
Speaker 5: opened up a lot of doors for me outside of it,
Speaker 5: you know.
Speaker 4: Speaking engagements for the NBA.
Speaker 5: You know, getting back with the Bucks has been tremendous, so,
Speaker 5: you know, just the whole experience and just being able
Speaker 5: to talk about the game and my life.
Speaker 4: You know, it's been great, man, it's been great. It's
Speaker 4: been awesome.
Speaker 2: I think that shit is dope because you gouts, it's different,
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, like you bring your energy. Gil
Speaker 2: brings his energy. Rad Is Burnt over there, he brings
Speaker 2: his energy. K Mart and you know all the people
Speaker 2: you guys have rotating as well, other Joe Siah, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Joe's our dog.
Speaker 2: You know, I went to college with Joey, playing on
Speaker 2: the same hoop team. But I just really love but
Speaker 2: quick story, Jack, I don't I don't think I've never
Speaker 2: told this story. So a podcast was pitched to me
Speaker 2: before I came up with this idea for me and
Speaker 2: Kmart and this dude from Vice Sports pitched it to me.
Speaker 2: I don't even know if Kmart knows this story or not.
Speaker 2: I want to ask him one day. But the dude
Speaker 2: that was doing it died. The dude that had the
Speaker 2: idea and was was taking the device.
Speaker 1: It died. And then really yeah, and.
Speaker 2: Then maybe like six months later is when I hit
Speaker 2: you up, like yo, let's let's do this thing. But
Speaker 2: it was pitched to me originally to do something with Kmart.
Speaker 1: That's my boy. Yes, our dog ye came came out
Speaker 1: and that's my brothers.
Speaker 2: Man. I like I said, I love the energy in
Speaker 2: the mix, the mix of Burton we were talking for humor. Yeah,
Speaker 2: how was how was your We're gonna start doing a lot.
Speaker 2: We've done a few live shows. Were going on our
Speaker 2: live tour the summer. But how was it you guys
Speaker 2: you know sold out the l RA right to hundred people.
Speaker 2: I think, L right, what was that experience?
Speaker 1: L Ray was great?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 5: And the thing about the live show, like your fans
Speaker 5: come so they just being a rowdy, like they just
Speaker 5: asked the question. They just be shouting out stuff, you know,
Speaker 5: even going back and forth. The questions are you know,
Speaker 5: the questions are kind of intense, but I mean just
Speaker 5: overall man like, just to be out of the element
Speaker 5: of like playing in the you know, like in the
Speaker 5: arena and you know.
Speaker 4: Having life after basketball and doing something different.
Speaker 5: It's just like dang, like we still stars, like we
Speaker 5: still like, you know, still got it.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: Congratulations man, and again, thank you for coming on our
Speaker 2: show today, and we look forward to you coming and
Speaker 2: sitting down with us and really chopping it down for
Speaker 2: show man.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Stack, Thank you, Matt love five you know
Speaker 3: that always always five heys.
Speaker 1: And I love to the bros over there too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: y'all tell everybody we said whatever.
Speaker 4: I love y'all.
Speaker 1: Jack.
Speaker 2: Right now, we want to welcome to the show. Uh.
Speaker 2: When when this idea was pitched to me, I loved
Speaker 2: it instantly, you know, once I looked up who he
Speaker 2: was and what he had going on, and then obviously
Speaker 2: who his sister was, like all this through this dope,
Speaker 2: but he also has his own story, not to mention
Speaker 2: you know what he's doing with coach cal So. Right now,
Speaker 2: welcome to Unplugged Craig Robinson.
Speaker 1: Craig, how you doing, man.
Speaker 6: I'm doing fine. So happy to be here with you, brothers. Man.
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, man, We appreciate you making some
Speaker 2: time for us. Former Division one coach two time has
Speaker 2: some game of his own. Jack two time IVY League
Speaker 2: Player of the Year over at Princeton, worked in the
Speaker 2: front office with the Bucks and the Knicks. Recently launched
Speaker 2: a new podcast with Coach Cal which I'm definitely looking
Speaker 2: forward to catching up on.
Speaker 1: Craig. What's going on, man? I just do a lot
Speaker 1: at you, But what's going on with you right now? Currently?
Speaker 6: Listen?
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 6: I'm currently the executive director of the NABC, which is
Speaker 6: the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Two years ago we
Speaker 6: launched our own media content creating company called Coach Plush
Speaker 6: and and part of that, we've done three documentaries and
Speaker 6: we've launched this podcast called Ways to Win with Coach
Speaker 6: Cal and. Uh. I can't tell you how thrilled I
Speaker 6: am to be doing that, uh, and then to be
Speaker 6: on here with you guys. I am a huge fan
Speaker 6: of your show, was a fan of you guys while
Speaker 6: you were playing. Even though I'm older than you, I
Speaker 6: know all about I coached in the Pac twelve, so
Speaker 6: so Matt, I came to Oregon State right after you left,
Speaker 6: a little bit after you left. So I coached against
Speaker 6: Drew and and Westbrook and that that team that just
Speaker 6: you know, we were eating the pants off folks. So Steven,
Speaker 6: I'm i'm I'm a big fan of yours because I
Speaker 6: like both of you all because you're like me. You
Speaker 6: like big guys who can play guard, but you you
Speaker 6: also can guard people both sides.
Speaker 2: That's how I was both sides of the ball. Tell
Speaker 2: us how this pod with coach Cal came about? What
Speaker 2: should we be expecting? And then obviously the whirlwind. You know,
Speaker 2: your good friend is leaving Kentucky where he you know,
Speaker 2: set down at you know, set the presidents for the
Speaker 2: one and done and all the pros that he's turned
Speaker 2: out and he's off to Arkansas. So tell me how
Speaker 2: the pod came about, you know a little bit about
Speaker 2: your guys' friendship and what we should expect from the podcast.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I've known Cal for a long time and
Speaker 6: he was always really nice to me when I got
Speaker 6: into coaching, and uh, and we've sort of stayed connected
Speaker 6: and then once I got this job. He was on
Speaker 6: the board, and I pitched the board on using our
Speaker 6: coaches to start a content creation company where we use
Speaker 6: our coaches and we tell stories about coaches, about coaching,
Speaker 6: about ball. And then we had this idea to do
Speaker 6: a podcast about lessons learned on the court, on the
Speaker 6: field that can translate into regular life, the business world, uh, teaching, leadership,
Speaker 6: that kind of thing. And we were trying to figure
Speaker 6: out who would be good to be on and so
Speaker 6: I talked to a couple of coaches and I talked
Speaker 6: to Cal, and Cal, of course, you guys know how
Speaker 6: Cal is. He raised his hand, he was like, podcast, Yeah,
Speaker 6: I'm in, And that's how we that's how we got it.
Speaker 6: And obviously we launched it right before the start of
Speaker 6: the NCAA tournament. So we're doing shows and then he's uh,
Speaker 6: plays in the tournament and then and then leaves Kentucky
Speaker 6: crazy and that's where we are. But it's it's it's been.
Speaker 6: It's been chaotic for him, I'm sure, but as you
Speaker 6: guys know, in this business, chaos makes for good stories.
Speaker 1: Right and and and it don't last long.
Speaker 3: And one thing about Cal I know from from watching
Speaker 3: for them from afar.
Speaker 1: He hadjust quickly, you know.
Speaker 3: What I'm saying, Yeah, he adjust real quickly, right right.
Speaker 6: And you know, I I listened to your last episode
Speaker 6: it might not have been your last one, but a
Speaker 6: recent one where you had Boogie on talking about cal
Speaker 6: and talking about how the effect on him is like
Speaker 6: when you have two parents who get divorced, right for
Speaker 6: for for his players, they're they're riding with them one
Speaker 6: hundred percent, but they're still loyal to Kentucky. So I
Speaker 6: find that as a as a really interesting dynamic with
Speaker 6: all this going on. But you know, this is the
Speaker 6: business that we're in. You know, you get hired, you
Speaker 6: get fired, and you know, my my question was to Kentucky,
Speaker 6: who you gonna get?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 6: That's a hard act, that's a hard act to follow,
Speaker 6: and and you know, I represent all the coaches in
Speaker 6: our organization, so I'm happy for Mark Pope. But that's
Speaker 6: that's a hard job, hard fans, hard shoes to fill.
Speaker 6: I mean, come on.
Speaker 1: Ye, it's gonna be a hard job.
Speaker 3: You were you were a four year starter at Princeton
Speaker 3: under the Great Peter Carrol Carill pe carea excuse me,
Speaker 3: peop career.
Speaker 1: And he was also a long time a king's assistant.
Speaker 3: Did Can you say that the offense at Princeton taught
Speaker 3: you about life?
Speaker 6: Oh? Absolutely, Steven, I will tell you it. It not
Speaker 6: only taught me about life, but it taught me how
Speaker 6: to play too, right, because you know, I'll start with
Speaker 6: that part first. You know, now, all the stuff you
Speaker 6: see run in the NBA, that's all former Princeton offense stuff. Pistol,
Speaker 6: uh you know, back cuts off a chin, you know,
Speaker 6: all that stuff got started. I was doing that when
Speaker 6: I was in college. And uh so I learned how
Speaker 6: to play from Coach Carell. But you know, there were
Speaker 6: a couple of things when I think about some of
Speaker 6: the life lessons I learned from them, because there were many,
Speaker 6: but the ones that stick out were, first and foremost,
Speaker 6: everything is important. He preached that all the time because
Speaker 6: we were you know, we were Princeton, right, we weren't
Speaker 6: McDonald's all Americans, and when we had to play folks
Speaker 6: like you, in order to win those games, which we
Speaker 6: want our share of, you had to do everything perfectly.
Speaker 6: And so what that taught me was that everything you do,
Speaker 6: whether people are looking at you or not, is important.
Speaker 6: How you come to work every day, how do you
Speaker 6: be a professional, How you hit the weight room, how
Speaker 6: you hit the books in school. All of that contributes
Speaker 6: to being good enough to beat the Stephen Jackson's of
Speaker 6: the world. Right, you can't beat the Stephen Jackson's of
Speaker 6: the world. You just come show off for a game.
Speaker 6: The second thing I would say is, you know, in
Speaker 6: the Princeton offense and in basketball generally, you know if
Speaker 6: you give yourself over to the tea team and the
Speaker 6: process in the game. So being unselfish you get further
Speaker 6: ahead than if you are selfish.
Speaker 1: Thanks.
Speaker 6: So when you make a cut and you know you're
Speaker 6: not going to get a pass, but you know that
Speaker 6: cut's gonna open up the guy behind you. A lot
Speaker 6: of guys don't learn that these days playing basketball with
Speaker 6: their one on oher worker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't know how to play off the ball
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 6: They don't know how to play off the ball, and
Speaker 6: off the ball is teaching you how to sacrifice for
Speaker 6: the for the good of the team. Those are Those
Speaker 6: are a couple of things man, that I took with me.
Speaker 6: And you know, I spent before I got into coach,
Speaker 6: and I spent fourteen years in corporate America and investment banking,
Speaker 6: and and those were the lessons that got me to
Speaker 6: move up the corporate ladder.
Speaker 1: What what kind of person was coach? Off the court?
Speaker 1: Coaching coach? E?
Speaker 6: Well, you guys, you guys got the good coachy in
Speaker 6: the in the NBA. I always used to laugh when
Speaker 6: I used to go visit him in Sacramento. I was like, coach,
Speaker 6: you're way nicer to these guys than you were up
Speaker 6: I used to tell people he was hard on us
Speaker 6: and he coached by character assassination, right, So he had
Speaker 6: a sharp he had a sharp tongue and what he
Speaker 6: did guys, And I tried to do this with my coaching,
Speaker 6: only without the acidity. Every day we called it going
Speaker 6: down the line. Every day after practice, you know where
Speaker 6: you stood because he would go down the line and
Speaker 6: tell you what you did well and didn't do well
Speaker 6: at practice every day. So if you were the fifteenth
Speaker 6: guy on the roster, you knew what it takes to
Speaker 6: get to be number one. It was no it was
Speaker 6: all accountability. You knew why the number one guy was
Speaker 6: number one, and you knew why you were fifteen. And
Speaker 6: if you were the number one guy, you knew why
Speaker 6: you were number one, and you knew why what the
Speaker 6: other guys had to do to come take you from
Speaker 6: being number one? That daily accountability not most people can't
Speaker 6: take it, and most athletes can't.
Speaker 1: Take especially this day.
Speaker 6: So in this day and age, oh, forget about it. Man,
Speaker 6: It's just it's it's you know, you have to handle
Speaker 6: these these kids with kid gloves and and like you,
Speaker 6: I'm coaching my my two youngest in AAU and I
Speaker 6: barely even open my mouth these days because I'm scared
Speaker 6: I'm gonna shatter somebody's future dreams.
Speaker 3: I dealt with it coming in with Greg Popovich, but
Speaker 3: it was the best thing for me. You know, Greg,
Speaker 3: Greg was hard on me, but when I seen him
Speaker 3: treat Tim Duncan the same way he was treating me
Speaker 3: and was hard on the best player, it was easy
Speaker 3: for me to take because you're talking to the best
Speaker 3: player like that.
Speaker 1: So I needed that and that was definitely beneficial for me.
Speaker 6: Well Jack, you know, And and it's it's really interesting
Speaker 6: because I was late to the NBA game when I
Speaker 6: when I started working in the front office, and it
Speaker 6: amazed me how many times that that didn't happen. Right,
Speaker 6: Like I'm with you. You know, I visited with Pop
Speaker 6: a lot before I went to the NBA to see
Speaker 6: if it was something I wanted to do, and.
Speaker 1: He was. He was.
Speaker 6: He reminded me of coach career, only just a mile
Speaker 6: a milder version. But the ability to hold your best
Speaker 6: players accountable and the ability of your best players to
Speaker 6: allow the coach to hold you account is so big
Speaker 6: in in winning and and to me it's a good
Speaker 6: it's a good example of why it's so hard for
Speaker 6: these teams to win on a consistent basis because they're
Speaker 6: changing out the coaches so much. You're afraid the whole
Speaker 6: guy's accountable because you're trying to hang on to your job.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, your sister, the former First Lady, Miss Michelle Obama,
Speaker 2: obviously wanted to to shout that out and real quick
Speaker 2: what was she like as a sister. But then I
Speaker 2: want to get to those those pickup games and here,
Speaker 2: if you had any good pickup games with Brock.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, my and I are close and continue
Speaker 6: to be close today. And you know, she was the
Speaker 6: people don't realize she was like a really good athlete.
Speaker 6: But she came along right at the time, right before
Speaker 6: folks started pushing girls into sports. And even if she
Speaker 6: was her her personality, she's she didn't. She was more
Speaker 6: of why do we have to keep scoring? Why does
Speaker 6: there have to be a winner? And I was like, well,
Speaker 6: that's the whole point of competing some people, But she,
Speaker 6: she was was. She was a good sister to have
Speaker 6: because we're like twenty months apart. So when I was
Speaker 6: playing basketball, she was playing basketball. When I was playing softball,
Speaker 6: she was playing softball. When I was playing football, she
Speaker 6: was playing football. I played ice hockey at our park.
Speaker 6: She played ice hockey at the park. So she was
Speaker 6: She was my first competitor, and my dad was my
Speaker 6: first coach. So so we've been close ever since and
Speaker 6: continue to be so I appreciate you asking about her.
Speaker 6: And then the pickup get Well, you guys have heard
Speaker 6: I don't know if you've heard this story. I've told
Speaker 6: it so many times about my sister asking me to
Speaker 6: take Barack to play pick up basketball and she was
Speaker 6: first dating. You guys haven't heard that story. All right,
Speaker 6: let me share it with you. So my sister, who
Speaker 6: you know, she had her shared dates and she went
Speaker 6: to Princeton too, so you know she she she was
Speaker 6: popular on campus and had boyfriends, but they never lasted
Speaker 6: too long. So we get out of college and I'm
Speaker 6: I went overseas, played, came back, started working. She meets
Speaker 6: this guy and she says, he fashions himself a basketball player,
Speaker 6: and well, what do you want me to do about it?
Speaker 6: And she said, I want I know how you and
Speaker 6: dad always talk about you can tell a guy's personality
Speaker 6: and character by pick up basketball, because my dad used
Speaker 6: to well and you guys know, you guys know these
Speaker 6: dudes to be calling files. He's like a jerk on
Speaker 6: the he's a jerk, and pick up he's a jerk
Speaker 6: in real light. And so my sister's like, would you
Speaker 6: take him to play? Iff was like, no way. First
Speaker 6: of all, I play with real dudes, you know, Like
Speaker 6: I'm in Chicago, I'm playing you know, Michael Jordan plays
Speaker 6: in our summer league, Tim Hardaway. I mean, I'm like
Speaker 6: a I'm a bona fide player. I'm like, he'll get killed. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I'm a real hooper. And She's like, come on, please,
Speaker 6: and just kept begging me, and I was like, finally, okay,
Speaker 6: I'll do it. And I was like, but I'm not
Speaker 6: gonna be your bad guy. You if this dude turns
Speaker 6: out to be a jerk, you gotta I'm not saying,
Speaker 6: you have to say it. So I put together a
Speaker 6: group of my friends. A couple of my friends Aren'tie Duncan,
Speaker 6: who you guys probably have heard of, was former secretary
Speaker 6: of Education, and John Rodgers, who runs a mutual fund
Speaker 6: in Chicago, and Marty Nesbitt and some other guys who
Speaker 6: are friends of mine. And we put together this game
Speaker 6: and we're playing, and Brock comes and you know, we're playing,
Speaker 6: and to my surprise, he wasn't that bad. But you know,
Speaker 6: not like us, not like the three of us. And
Speaker 6: I'm I'm I'm taking some liberties, including myself. But but
Speaker 6: but he he could hold his own in a pickup game, right, So,
Speaker 6: and and so I had to report back to my
Speaker 6: sister and she said, would you think? And I said, well,
Speaker 6: it was actually pretty good. Like he passed the ball
Speaker 6: when he should have passed, he took shots when he
Speaker 6: should have taken it. And I said, most importantly, he
Speaker 6: didn't try and suck up to me, like passing the
Speaker 6: ball to me. And just because I'm your sister, it's
Speaker 6: like it was like you know he was not noticeable.
Speaker 6: It was a good game, and that was how that
Speaker 6: he passed that test and the rest is history. We
Speaker 6: had no idea the guy was the guy was going
Speaker 6: to be present.
Speaker 2: Socause so pretty much so because of you is how
Speaker 2: the union formed.
Speaker 6: Is what you're saying, it's absolutely because, it's absolutely because
Speaker 6: it because I could have just been like, the dude
Speaker 6: can't play. I don't know why you do this, little skin.
Speaker 1: Guy loving basketball is a beautiful thing. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: The state of college sports right now, the transfer portal, nil,
Speaker 2: the emergence of women's basketball. Let's start with the transfer portal.
Speaker 2: Seeing that you're first and foremost a father, so I
Speaker 2: know you're teaching your kids. You know when when tough,
Speaker 2: when adversity hits, you got to stand it and get
Speaker 2: through it. But then you've also been a coach, and
Speaker 2: I know a lot of coaches like getting those experienced
Speaker 2: players into portal.
Speaker 1: So talk to us about the portal.
Speaker 6: Well, I would say that the way the portal's currently constructed,
Speaker 6: along with the fact that they're doing nil and it
Speaker 6: started at the same time, it's not working the way
Speaker 6: they thought it was gonna work. It's turned into pay
Speaker 6: for play, right, And to your point about folks sticking
Speaker 6: it out when they have a tough time, it's too
Speaker 6: easy to just chase the money. So and the second thing,
Speaker 6: and most importantly, and folks are not talking about this enough,
Speaker 6: is that when you go into the portal, it's not
Speaker 6: like Steven Jackson Matt Barnes going to the portal, y'all
Speaker 6: gonna get picked up. It's Joe Blow. I'm not even
Speaker 6: gonna say Craig robinsons. Joe Blow from ex University with
Speaker 6: no prospects, and he's hoping somebody's gonna pick him up,
Speaker 6: and so he loses what he he loses his bird
Speaker 6: in the hand, go for two in the bush, and
Speaker 6: then he's out. And most of these see what they're
Speaker 6: not reporting on are the people who get stuck in
Speaker 6: the portal and don't have a home to go to.
Speaker 2: Well, they also said, I mean not to cut you off.
Speaker 2: There's over fifteen hundred kids in the transfer portal and
Speaker 2: a little bit over three hundred and fifty Division one
Speaker 2: program opening, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's just like, what are we the number? What
Speaker 1: are we doing?
Speaker 6: It's a numbers game, and so so here. You didn't
Speaker 6: cut me off because you're going right where I'm going
Speaker 6: with this. In addition to that, when you transfer, and
Speaker 6: you guys know this with your own kids and just
Speaker 6: reading the papers, these schools have different admissions policies, so
Speaker 6: not all your credits transfer. So so what I liked
Speaker 6: about having to set out a year, you all the
Speaker 6: all the athletes got ahead because you got taught to
Speaker 6: work on the on the work, and you had some
Speaker 6: time to get it, and then you got ahead, so
Speaker 6: you could you go to school in the summer and
Speaker 6: next thing you know, you're working on your graduate degree.
Speaker 6: All that's going to go out the window. And they're
Speaker 6: not talking about that because it's too soon to have
Speaker 6: any data on it. And I'm so sick of this
Speaker 6: whole data thing. I shouldn't say that, but you also
Speaker 6: got sick. But you also got to think.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know, on the basketball side, they're not
Speaker 2: going for that anyway, you know, which it's just a
Speaker 2: whole differ. And I remember Jack went straight to the pros.
Speaker 2: But I remember, you know, I was kind of the
Speaker 2: end of an era.
Speaker 1: You know, ninety six guys started going pro, ninety five
Speaker 1: scars started going pro. I'm ninety eight.
Speaker 2: So we went for the reasons you said. Obviously we
Speaker 2: you know, you couldn't tell us we weren't going to
Speaker 2: the pros. But we also went to get a degree.
Speaker 2: But those days are long gone. If you stay in
Speaker 2: the in college basketball, if you stay past two years,
Speaker 2: there's a problem with you.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So it's just a whole different mentality and thinking what
Speaker 2: You can't fault the kids for thinking this way, because
Speaker 2: that's what that's what's going on.
Speaker 1: So they had that matt.
Speaker 6: To you, to you to your point. There are four
Speaker 6: hundred and fifty jobs in the NBA. And really I
Speaker 6: always tell people after I worked in the NBA, because
Speaker 6: I was like, so, we're all the good players, they're
Speaker 6: all in the NBA. So and you you cut off,
Speaker 6: like the top eight guys are the ones who play.
Speaker 6: So that's eight times, that's two hundred and forty guys.
Speaker 6: The rest of the guys are expendable g league might
Speaker 6: get in, might not. So we're talking about a small
Speaker 6: chance of making it. And all these guys are putting
Speaker 6: putting all their eggs in one basket.
Speaker 4: I just don't like the way it is.
Speaker 6: And we're and we at the NABC are trying to
Speaker 6: help with the coaches that are trying to help the
Speaker 6: n C double A come up with a better way
Speaker 6: for it. So I like the idea of folks being
Speaker 6: able to have some freedom. But the way this is
Speaker 6: currently constructed, it's it's not doing it's doing a disservice
Speaker 6: to the student athletes. And then there's one other point here.
Speaker 6: I don't think these are just student athletes trying saying
Speaker 6: all right, I'm gonna raise my hand and go in
Speaker 6: the portal. You know these these there are agents and
Speaker 6: handlers who are telling guys, oh, I can get you
Speaker 6: this amount of money, and they really don't have an offer.
Speaker 1: Or just like guys, go ahead, Jack. Yeah. I just
Speaker 1: want to give you two examples of the points you're making.
Speaker 3: You talked about credits and credits not transferring over to
Speaker 3: certain colleges.
Speaker 1: Don Staley had to create.
Speaker 3: She had to create not not She had to create
Speaker 3: a what's the word I'm looking for, Matt major. She
Speaker 3: had to create a major just to get this, just
Speaker 3: to get this player, and have the school create a
Speaker 3: major just where they can get this player. Until your
Speaker 3: other point, Prime Deon SAMs even said his daughter jumped
Speaker 3: in the transfer portal, and he called it dumb because
Speaker 3: to your point, why jump in the transfer portal when
Speaker 3: we don't have a school to go to?
Speaker 1: It makes no sense, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So that I just want to make points two great
Speaker 3: points of what you said, because Deon just said that
Speaker 3: to us when we had him on the show.
Speaker 1: The emergence of women's basketball.
Speaker 2: You know, I was someone who played D one and
Speaker 2: played the tournament and I still feel like there's nothing
Speaker 2: like March Madness.
Speaker 1: But I feel like in the.
Speaker 2: Last two years, the women's March Madness has been bigger,
Speaker 2: uh and had more stars than the men's. Uh.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about that as as a former division
Speaker 1: player and the.
Speaker 6: Coach, yeah, I will, and as a parent of adult. So,
Speaker 6: my my second oldest played at Princeton, got drafted, you know,
Speaker 6: went to the NCAA tournament, got drafted, got she got
Speaker 6: cut when Overseas played a couple of years now, she's
Speaker 6: working in finance, right. I think just it's it's it's
Speaker 6: just a matter of time the women the women's game
Speaker 6: has it's not the men's game, right, but it's caught
Speaker 6: up from a media it's catching up from a media standpoint,
Speaker 6: like it's getting enough attention from folks like you, folks
Speaker 6: like ESPN. That's all they needed is a little bit
Speaker 6: of that. And then I always said they needed those
Speaker 6: storytellers to tell the drama of what's going on in
Speaker 6: the women's game because as a sports fan, like you know,
Speaker 6: I watched football, I was a baseball fan growing up.
Speaker 6: You don't just root for your team. You root against
Speaker 6: the teams you don't your team doesn't like. And yeah,
Speaker 6: and I'm from Chicago, I'm rooted against the Packers I like.
Speaker 6: And now I live in Wisconsin and I'm like, oh
Speaker 6: my god, I must have done so they only know.
Speaker 6: But but I think that the attention that the game
Speaker 6: is getting is helping people. It's it's awakening people to
Speaker 6: another former competition that they weren't paying attention to because
Speaker 6: they it just wasn't being seen. And I'm really excited
Speaker 6: for what's going on because it's basketball for me, Like
Speaker 6: you know, I was made privy to a stat that
Speaker 6: I did not know the bulk the number one demographic
Speaker 6: of the fans who go to see the w n
Speaker 6: b A are black males. Really, yes, your reaction, it
Speaker 6: was my reaction if.
Speaker 1: They didn't expect that. But interesting, I.
Speaker 6: Didn't expect it either. I didn't expect it either. You know.
Speaker 6: I was thinking they would say something like LGBT something
Speaker 6: or other. But it is straight black male. And when
Speaker 6: you think about it, when I want to take my
Speaker 6: kids to a game that that's affordable, and I want
Speaker 6: to sit down.
Speaker 2: In front of the key word affordable.
Speaker 6: To a w NBA game, right. And then my two
Speaker 6: younger sons who are in eighth grade and sixth grade,
Speaker 6: they grew up watching their sister who and and I
Speaker 6: have an older son who played Division III college, but
Speaker 6: they all watch their sister play and she's their role model.
Speaker 6: It's like it's just a different time from women and
Speaker 6: it's it's happening. I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: For I love it. I love it. I love the growth.
Speaker 2: I love words going, the fact that at the top
Speaker 2: of the conversation, the fact that people are getting big
Speaker 2: time shoe deals now, and I definitely think.
Speaker 1: It's good overall for the growth of the sport.
Speaker 2: Last question before we get you out of here, your
Speaker 2: thought on being again a former player and coach on
Speaker 2: the college landscape. The former professional NBA and particularly NFL
Speaker 2: guys that are coming back and starting to coach.
Speaker 1: College.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I love it. I love it for a couple
Speaker 6: of reasons. One is, so many times, like when I
Speaker 6: was growing up, I never thought I could coach for
Speaker 6: a living, right, Like that wasn't that wasn't on my
Speaker 6: list of things, right, it was like be a teacher.
Speaker 6: You know, my families are full of teachers and cops
Speaker 6: and firemen, and you know, city workers and laborers and
Speaker 6: things like that. So just having the opportunity for young
Speaker 6: particularly African Americans as as a as a way to
Speaker 6: to get in the game is fantastic. And then secondly,
Speaker 6: you know what I what I learned in the NBA,
Speaker 6: and I'd love to get you guys take on this,
Speaker 6: But what I learned is the most important person in
Speaker 6: a pro franchise is the person who has the ability
Speaker 6: to connect with the players.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and and.
Speaker 6: And then sometimes that's becomes threatening, but that's another that's
Speaker 6: for another show.
Speaker 2: Because most of the time those are the assistant coaches,
Speaker 2: and those.
Speaker 6: Are the guys who can get through to the players
Speaker 6: and help your team win and and and so the
Speaker 6: more guys who have pro experience, who can get in
Speaker 6: on the game and learn the coaching profession because a
Speaker 6: lot of people don't realize you can't just like come
Speaker 6: out and blow whistle and just say, okay, let's have
Speaker 6: two lines for layups and then scrimmage right like, it's
Speaker 6: a real profession. The more who can learn that profession,
Speaker 6: the better it is for our game, and the better
Speaker 6: it is for the players are student athletes, especially the players,
Speaker 6: because most of our players are not going to the NBA,
Speaker 6: they're not going pro. So hearing from the guys who
Speaker 6: know how hard it is to do it. If you
Speaker 6: if you want to sign up for that, that's great.
Speaker 6: And if you don't, you understand what other stuff you
Speaker 6: can do?
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely one thing I mean people don't understand. And
Speaker 2: as we were talking earlier, the transfer portal and the
Speaker 2: likeliness are going pro. Ninety nine percent of student athletes
Speaker 2: don't go pro in sports. They may go pro in
Speaker 2: another profession, but not in sports. So it's it's a
Speaker 2: crazy number if you really think about the end of
Speaker 2: the day. But Craig, we want to thank you man
Speaker 2: for your time, best lessen the pod and everything else
Speaker 2: you have going on. Give coach cal our best man.
Speaker 2: And come back. We want to catch up with you again.
Speaker 6: Absolutely absolutely, and we want to have you guys on
Speaker 6: so you can share some of your your life lessons.
Speaker 1: You guys learned anytime? Have you any time?
Speaker 6: Thanks, guys, really appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Thanks Craig.
Speaker 2: We want to thank our guest today, Craig Robinson and
Speaker 2: our brother Brandon Jennings. So, Jack, it was a good
Speaker 2: one today, man, covered a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: Good luck. What's next for you? Well?
Speaker 3: Next, I got coaching the Alans game. And shout out
Speaker 3: to my son Steve Jr. He made the classic. It's
Speaker 3: gonna be dope for him. A lot a lot of
Speaker 3: Cup Player, Cooper Flag and Mercy master Piece Sun, a
Speaker 3: lot of those guys supposed to be there. And shout
Speaker 3: out to AI and Bobby and all of them. But uh,
Speaker 3: I'll see you in Miami.
Speaker 2: I'll be in Atlanta before that, thumb. I'll be in
Speaker 2: Atlanta the weekend before with the Twins.
Speaker 1: Au Oh, I'll be there pulling up straight up.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 2: You can catch this unplugged on the Draft Kings Network
Speaker 2: and all the all the Smoke Productions YouTube.
Speaker 1: We'll see you guys next week