Speaker 1: Drafted is a production of tree Ford Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio Cold Drew trying to get some
Speaker 1: working any baby walking in the weight room right now.
Speaker 1: We're going on time doing alright, So I welcome back
Speaker 1: to Drafted. I'm keeping Michael Key and you're hearing from
Speaker 1: Justin Holland and Uncle Drew, two critical people supporting Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards rise from unknown South Atlanta talent to potential number
Speaker 1: one pick in the NBA. Hey, I'm are you ready,
Speaker 1: bab nah lifeealthing issue. They're only six days away from
Speaker 1: the NBA Draft and the reality of the moment is
Speaker 1: starting to sink in, especially given how far Anthony has.
Speaker 1: I think about it all the time, like, man, it's
Speaker 1: motherfucker boy. I always knew it when you were yawn,
Speaker 1: But I didn't think you're gonna focus like I was
Speaker 1: gonna be a superstar and you was gonna be good.
Speaker 1: That's Anthony talking while he lives waits at the gym
Speaker 1: on god Be Road, his home base for the last
Speaker 1: five years in a tough Atlanta neighborhood. You don't understands,
Speaker 1: shouldn't you always had? He was like, you know, I
Speaker 1: always knew you was gonna be good at sport, but
Speaker 1: supert and you got on the stand. Should listen, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm the stands out. You will yawn. You used to
Speaker 1: be good, bro, and you will. Boys sitting in episode one,
Speaker 1: we told you about the near impossible odds of any
Speaker 1: kid becoming an NBA lottery pick and how much more
Speaker 1: likely it was for Anthony to become a dark statistic instead.
Speaker 1: But Uncle Drew had an even more specific reason for
Speaker 1: why he didn't think Anthony would make it here to
Speaker 1: the cusp of NBA stardom. So get what if you
Speaker 1: stop bullshit? No, I need to cut you out. Bro.
Speaker 1: When you stop bullshit and you buy in, Shaw, you
Speaker 1: can be here. You're still coming out of bullshit. Get
Speaker 1: the ball here we go. What that you guys say?
Speaker 1: I'm bullshit like you like once you buy in like
Speaker 1: man the man it would buy. You don't own the problem?
Speaker 1: Are you bout in? Their argument is about Anthony not
Speaker 1: practicing hard enough as a kid, and how he wouldn't
Speaker 1: buy into the work it takes to become great, and
Speaker 1: that he only tried his hardest during games. Uncle Drew
Speaker 1: was his youth football coach back then, so he had
Speaker 1: the clearest look at Anthony's shortcomings in sports. Why they're
Speaker 1: making me right? Man got the practed late. I got
Speaker 1: school and man got a prcted late. I got through
Speaker 1: all the running and then run down here. I said
Speaker 1: that the man too small. Phone don't good that point
Speaker 1: you make me mad? Right, that shouldn't make me mad?
Speaker 1: Wrong like man don't get it rough? He was could
Speaker 1: be mad though. I don't know no better you did.
Speaker 1: You did know better. You knew what you would. You
Speaker 1: knew better, bro, you knew better because you know what
Speaker 1: stop I was act like he was. See the mentality head.
Speaker 1: Anthony avoided the most grueling parts of practice, the intense
Speaker 1: hitting drills or the extra hill runs or anything that
Speaker 1: would push his limits. So, in my opinion, I called
Speaker 1: a knoa head yeah ahead the skills, just the discipline
Speaker 1: pot or for the work ethic when we was younger.
Speaker 1: You know one thing, If you got a kid that's
Speaker 1: a knockahead in a good way, and you put that
Speaker 1: discipline in them, you can create a master in a
Speaker 1: positive way. So how did Anthony go from lacking the
Speaker 1: discipline and the work ethic he needed to become this
Speaker 1: laser focused nineteen year old prodigy. Here's uncle Drew and
Speaker 1: Anthony still in the weight room. To be honest, basketball stuff.
Speaker 1: Of course I was get what of course I was
Speaker 1: banging on the football when I came to the third game.
Speaker 1: Y'all play somethingbody, I'm like a lot. They ain't really
Speaker 1: work with him. But once I say you played basketball,
Speaker 1: yeah you gotta shot. I course I think you'd be
Speaker 1: dead good. Yeah, what do you think I'll give the superstar?
Speaker 1: You can tell me, bro. Why does Anthony insist on
Speaker 1: hearing that other people doubted him? Does he use it
Speaker 1: as motivation to gain an edge or is he also
Speaker 1: stunted that he used to find the odds and it's
Speaker 1: now being talked about as the number one pick in
Speaker 1: the NBA. I'm telling, why the hell you think I
Speaker 1: was so close to y'all? You didn't had a discipline,
Speaker 1: you didn't had to work, anth you're looking at on
Speaker 1: the top of the hill. Way, No, your mom can't say,
Speaker 1: and you know c common you know seven rey hare,
Speaker 1: Come on, manlazy man. They rolled the ball. I didn't
Speaker 1: play and they want to pray what I'm talking? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had to let him how to hear somebody feel
Speaker 1: a you start level red the matt. Let's tell what
Speaker 1: you gotta do. Run run, you gotta gonna get it. No, no, y'all,
Speaker 1: no no no no, no, no no no, don't run
Speaker 1: for real, act like you want to run. You gotta
Speaker 1: come pushing around and feel like a little baby. And
Speaker 1: ship get what looking at it? Looking up the hell
Speaker 1: and ship wanted mama can't say you know what here
Speaker 1: we're going? And that he would dodge these extra drills
Speaker 1: and then try to convince his mommy vet to get
Speaker 1: him out of practice. I hate it. Let me tell you.
Speaker 1: I hate free to think called free games so much rain.
Speaker 1: It's I used to get the practice round six fifteen
Speaker 1: six on purpose. So I know they've done like no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, get dressed super get dressed super slow.
Speaker 1: But I'm so good now made me do that, SI,
Speaker 1: So look we get down practice. We gotta run a
Speaker 1: lot again. I got down. I run a regular ship.
Speaker 1: But once when they started doing at ship, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: all right, right doing that? I get what to do?
Speaker 1: You're looking on let's look at looking doing My time
Speaker 1: is star eight teen, my MoMA, I'm like, you're ready
Speaker 1: to do? Well? What and a your team. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm doing talking to him? You do stand right
Speaker 1: on here with j like, oh, I don't know. Counting
Speaker 1: my mom to save him didn't always work out his
Speaker 1: planet though, my mom, she's pushing everybody. This is Anthony's
Speaker 1: older brother Anthony three years is elder and better known
Speaker 1: as Bubba to those closest. One time, I think Aunt
Speaker 1: was having a bad day in football game. It was
Speaker 1: a football game. He was kind of playing a little sluggish,
Speaker 1: and like halftime, she pulled him over and talked to
Speaker 1: him like my mom was very aggressive. I can say that.
Speaker 1: So you didn't want to play around with my mom,
Speaker 1: But my mom didn't want to play around with us.
Speaker 1: So even to just hear her voice, it's like motivating
Speaker 1: to any one of us, any one of my siblings.
Speaker 1: If you hear her voice, you're gonna want to do
Speaker 1: whatever you're doing ten times harder. So she was a
Speaker 1: support and the motive that we actually I used to
Speaker 1: drive ourselves to do what we want to do. As
Speaker 1: far as force see anything in life, she was out
Speaker 1: rock for real man, So yeah, that would be the
Speaker 1: main force for me. Uncle Drew again, Miss Mama. She
Speaker 1: babied him as far as that's my son. But when
Speaker 1: it came to a pet in the sports, she didn't
Speaker 1: play that. It wasn't no baby that, it was none
Speaker 1: of that. We we had the green light too. If
Speaker 1: we want to run a the time, we're gonna run
Speaker 1: aft the time. She wasn't solve at all. She didn't
Speaker 1: miss no games. She did she had to do to
Speaker 1: get him, give him a pregnant. She was allowed as
Speaker 1: once you know, everybody knew was mother wall. She had
Speaker 1: the jerkor's on some type of pair that everybody know.
Speaker 1: You know, there's my baby, there was my boy. If
Speaker 1: anybody on the sideline started talking trade, she's gonna talk
Speaker 1: trash back. She was a diehard. She had a lot
Speaker 1: of son. Uncle Drew and Anthony's mom both knew he
Speaker 1: needed to be pushed, and since Anthony's mother and grandmother
Speaker 1: primarily raised the kids on their own, it often fell
Speaker 1: on Uncle Drew to get on his star running backs case.
Speaker 1: Here they are in the weight room, still debate what
Speaker 1: happened back then you knew, you knew what you were doing.
Speaker 1: Doesn't mean they need practice though, so much better. They
Speaker 1: just blow on and then how you come by that practice?
Speaker 1: Great bullshit? How you On some level, Anthony was also right.
Speaker 1: He didn't need to practice at that age. He was
Speaker 1: that much better than everyone else. Who y'all depended on
Speaker 1: in the game beside we had a good team. Who
Speaker 1: y'all depending on days and the hole? Yea looks like
Speaker 1: you to come out of that bullshit? Who y'all depending
Speaker 1: on during game time? If it rain ain't working, tone
Speaker 1: ain't working? Who y'all giving the ball? To remember that
Speaker 1: game you played in the snow? What comes? Time to do?
Speaker 1: And I'm rare where airplane? What I do to the
Speaker 1: house to the house, to the house, to the house,
Speaker 1: to the house, to get that ForSight game? And I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get you by a time you remember the Reliving
Speaker 1: those touchdowns proves his point. What kind of kid scores
Speaker 1: eight touchdowns in a game without practicing hard? The differences.
Speaker 1: Uncle Drew wasn't worried about Anthony's success as a nine
Speaker 1: year old football player. He wanted to instill the discipline
Speaker 1: and work ethic for when Aunt got older and other
Speaker 1: kids physical abilities caught up, especially before it became too late.
Speaker 1: So you done got understanding. But their starts down you
Speaker 1: bought in. I don't buy an hold. You bought in
Speaker 1: being good. You bought in and got I want to
Speaker 1: get better. I want this is what I want to be.
Speaker 1: You bought into it and I wanted to be best.
Speaker 1: But you want work a line in him? No, I was,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, before I start picking up. Maybe take hard,
Speaker 1: we'll maybe take great, maybe take greater down right, working
Speaker 1: on the focus and work ethic emerged in ninth grade,
Speaker 1: when Anthony's entire life changed forever. We'll be right back.
Speaker 1: Here's justin Holland again. I was a recreation coordinator, so
Speaker 1: I worked at the rec center and and pretty much
Speaker 1: a low income neighborhood. The rec center he's talking about
Speaker 1: it is the gym at god to Be Road in
Speaker 1: South Atlanta, the one that's played such an important role
Speaker 1: in Anthony's story. I have a passion for just kids
Speaker 1: and in the youth, especially the kids that grew up
Speaker 1: in our communities, and they really need guided, structure and
Speaker 1: somebody just to be there for him, even if it's
Speaker 1: just for some advice, even if it's just even it's hell,
Speaker 1: if even if it's just a hood. You know, kids
Speaker 1: need those types of people around them. When I met him,
Speaker 1: um he had just lost his mom and his grandma
Speaker 1: within six months of each other. Anthony's grandmother, Shirley, was
Speaker 1: someone he described as their family backbone. He once said
Speaker 1: she would help pay the bills, keep the lights on
Speaker 1: where they didn't have the money, that she would always
Speaker 1: come through in their time of need. Grandma Shirley had
Speaker 1: been battling cancer for years when her daughter, Anthony's mom, Yvette,
Speaker 1: lost her own fight with the disease only a few
Speaker 1: months later, surely passed two shortly after that. Justin first
Speaker 1: met Anthony, that was even a part of the introduction
Speaker 1: of my buddy, Heir who brought him to me. He
Speaker 1: was just kind of like this kid, like he just
Speaker 1: needs somebody good in his life. And I know you're
Speaker 1: a good person. I know you have him on the
Speaker 1: basketball court, and like I said, he's special, just not
Speaker 1: on the court. And I think I tell him this
Speaker 1: all the time as well, because I think if I
Speaker 1: was dealt the same cards that he was dealt, I
Speaker 1: no doubt in my mind, I wouldn't be in a
Speaker 1: position that he's in right now, like I would be
Speaker 1: a statistic because it's so easy to be a statistic
Speaker 1: and losing you know, losing losing his mom and grandma
Speaker 1: so young, and and his brothers and sister being so
Speaker 1: young and just kind of being left to figure it out.
Speaker 1: You know, that's something that that's really hard, and I
Speaker 1: just kind of wanted to present myself as stability. If
Speaker 1: you need anything for me, I'm always here for you,
Speaker 1: regardless of what it is. And like I said, I like,
Speaker 1: I'll always be your stability with whether you need it
Speaker 1: or not, and being that like that mentor and just
Speaker 1: being available to give insight and information to throughout life,
Speaker 1: just for life, because you know, life is just so
Speaker 1: much more than basketball, because one thing I understand, like
Speaker 1: the basketball eventually stops bouncing, and it's who you become
Speaker 1: after that. Justin entered Anthony's life at a critical moment
Speaker 1: when he was just an eighth grade kid fourteen years old,
Speaker 1: facing the loss of the two most important people in
Speaker 1: his life, both to cancer, both within six months. Here's
Speaker 1: Anthony's older brother, Anthony, about the relationship with his mom
Speaker 1: and grandmother. My grandmother, she's she's very caring, so she
Speaker 1: doesn't like the yellow line. So she was more up
Speaker 1: the calm motivator. That's what I would call her. Become motivated,
Speaker 1: laid back motivating like like she would she would like
Speaker 1: give you a speech or something like, put you to
Speaker 1: the side and talk to you. Very loving person though.
Speaker 1: And then there was his mom basically, and my mom
Speaker 1: was like best friends. We all best friends with my mom,
Speaker 1: and she was always a person that picked us stuff
Speaker 1: when we needed a shoulder, lean on the shoulder, the
Speaker 1: crowd on anything like that. She basically supported us throughout
Speaker 1: anything we wanted to do or we believe that we
Speaker 1: could do so. And those were two queens right there.
Speaker 1: His mom and grandmother pushed and pulled and carried the
Speaker 1: entire family through life. The impact of their loss goes
Speaker 1: beyond saying goodbye to the two people Anthony loved most.
Speaker 1: His whole life was upended since they were also his caretakers.
Speaker 1: Suddenly Anthony and his simple things were on their own.
Speaker 1: Here's justin again. They've always kind of been a close
Speaker 1: knit family and they're still to this day. They're still
Speaker 1: really close. But like I said, at the time that
Speaker 1: I met him and his mom and grandma passed, they
Speaker 1: were they all were young, like they were. I think
Speaker 1: his older brother Antoine may have been with his older brother,
Speaker 1: his older brother was one, so so they all were
Speaker 1: so young. So I think just as a community, as
Speaker 1: a whole, I think everybody kind of came together and
Speaker 1: just helped everybody out and kept everybody focusing and definitely
Speaker 1: kept and kept them even closer. Anthony internalized everything he
Speaker 1: was thinking or feeling. He could only watch as his
Speaker 1: former reality collapsed around him. Here again, his uncle Drew.
Speaker 1: He never not one time, not one time at all,
Speaker 1: even if they had the funeral, we were sitting in
Speaker 1: the church and stuff all now, I was sitting to
Speaker 1: my scene. He came walking in with his siblings. He
Speaker 1: helped them together. He didn't, he didn't, you know, he
Speaker 1: didn't break down. If he were, you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: do what you gotta do. Everybody deal with different but
Speaker 1: he held it together even that day when you know,
Speaker 1: thirteen fourteen years old. You know, I always to ask
Speaker 1: myself like that they came the past of the mother.
Speaker 1: I just kind of sat back and out like, well,
Speaker 1: asked myself, who's really gonna step up right now? Who's
Speaker 1: really gonna do what they gotta do for their kids.
Speaker 1: Despite having his own family and kids to raise, Uncle
Speaker 1: Drew felt an obligation to get involved. I think it's
Speaker 1: his mother had some more respect from him, just knowing
Speaker 1: that I was deaf for the best centers of him.
Speaker 1: She would text me sometimes she would send me a
Speaker 1: long test man's just saying, you know, thank you coach
Speaker 1: Ruth for doing this. Blod they didn blod to that,
Speaker 1: and that right there, just that was all the validation
Speaker 1: I needed to step up, do what I had to do.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna make it happen. You need you need
Speaker 1: this in your pocket, you need shoot, you need a TV.
Speaker 1: It was nothing. It was just like I said, I
Speaker 1: don't know why I could have got through. I had
Speaker 1: a treat like you want to mind, I had to that.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I could do it. You fucking
Speaker 1: get your sheep. I'm coming to get your clothes. You
Speaker 1: come and stay with me. He didn't, He didn't push
Speaker 1: back at all. You know he needed that. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give his face because I know how to deal with.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna be his face. I ain't gonna be
Speaker 1: I ain't even to play that role like I'm your daddy.
Speaker 1: I'm just a person to respect you, to respect me.
Speaker 1: It just it's just tough love. And then I'm doing
Speaker 1: what I gotta do. I told your mom'nna do what
Speaker 1: I gotta do, point blank. Anthony split time between his
Speaker 1: siblings and uncle Drew, sometimes staying for long stretches at
Speaker 1: his old coach's house. I think, down inside, I kind
Speaker 1: of feel like it was my dude to do what
Speaker 1: I had to do to beat the phone, because you
Speaker 1: gotta have somebody. You gotta have somebody else. They don't
Speaker 1: want them for you. Just Janine Low, you know, I
Speaker 1: want to see the kid be great. I won't see
Speaker 1: him make it like I said it won those secret.
Speaker 1: I treat him just like one of my own. I
Speaker 1: had to get on his ass, I had to beat
Speaker 1: up phone if I had to do what I had
Speaker 1: to do out there, so I would feel like I
Speaker 1: was just I was just acent the whole, and he
Speaker 1: kind of knew that too. That relationship and their dynamic
Speaker 1: is still the same in many ways even now, because
Speaker 1: they continue lifting in the weight room and get into
Speaker 1: another heated back and forth. I think he wants you
Speaker 1: to be like I'll bringing my own water. Drew has
Speaker 1: just called out Anthony, or getting in his ass as
Speaker 1: he calls it. They're arguing over water. Specifically that Anthony
Speaker 1: doesn't want to drink it. But that isn't what it's
Speaker 1: really about at all, the way married couples fight about
Speaker 1: dinner when they actually are upset about something else entirely.
Speaker 1: I say, and man, I'll mail listen to are you
Speaker 1: this is said you got some water? I said not,
Speaker 1: you got get away and water. Just give me the
Speaker 1: I think he wants to be sooth the initiative to
Speaker 1: bring you a whole water? What I don't get away?
Speaker 1: People say you got one? No, if you ask a lot,
Speaker 1: don't you just give it to him? I'm never got
Speaker 1: water got the water? Like I got a protein drink?
Speaker 1: I don't want to ask some or you got a
Speaker 1: water water? Let's but I haven't had an action. He
Speaker 1: just give it to you? Are you ask so you don't?
Speaker 1: You don't get abou You see what I'm saying. I'm
Speaker 1: drew back the water. You just give me the water
Speaker 1: and Drew you have protein? Drew know you just give
Speaker 1: me pronching to drink. He goes for water I got
Speaker 1: like if I bring if if I bring you a dollar,
Speaker 1: dollar about you you're gonna say you better dollar? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I don't know any but you
Speaker 1: gotta get to get with exactly. And I got whatever
Speaker 1: you need me exactly. Come on the only time on
Speaker 1: bro so always about lookout, look out, look out. Hey listen, listen.
Speaker 1: He helped you know, You're not like I told you before,
Speaker 1: anybody in this big only bigger wather. He don't even
Speaker 1: know you. Don't ad me, but it is a outside
Speaker 1: of him. Don't ad nothing, no no opinion on go
Speaker 1: what's that body with the employ It ain't talking the
Speaker 1: important and this is what they're really fighting about. Drew
Speaker 1: feeling like Anthony isn't relying on him enough, not asking
Speaker 1: for help with the most important issues, especially as Anthony's
Speaker 1: whole life is about to change. Absolutely, I'm talking about
Speaker 1: civil life, growing up, being a manas didn't that mean nothing? Hey?
Speaker 1: What what? What? What? What I came here said about
Speaker 1: my paper is sent to the po box giving yours
Speaker 1: about it. I ain't tell what I'm about. You don't listen.
Speaker 1: You gotta keep out everybody I'm telling I said, I said,
Speaker 1: I said, I said, I said from now I went
Speaker 1: up to myself. Now, everything that I do, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get it, said to my po bay, I'm sort. You
Speaker 1: don't know what's coming, We'll be right back. What's coming
Speaker 1: in ten days is somewhere between six and eight million
Speaker 1: dollars a year, along with fame an immense pressure because
Speaker 1: in ten days, Anthony will become a top pick in
Speaker 1: the NBA. He'll be moving to his new city and
Speaker 1: starting his new professional life with his new team. His
Speaker 1: entire reality will be turned upside down once again, hopefully
Speaker 1: this time for the better. But Uncle Drew still sees
Speaker 1: a teenage kid who needs his help, who doesn't know
Speaker 1: how to avoid the pitfalls that likely await him. He
Speaker 1: still needs those same people that were there for him
Speaker 1: before he got his circle. Now he put it together.
Speaker 1: You know who they all for the love, and you
Speaker 1: know who they all for the for the fame and
Speaker 1: all that. So I'm just gonna continue to bust to day.
Speaker 1: They're not gonna change with me because I won't run
Speaker 1: from the boy for him to be successful. So uh,
Speaker 1: I feel like it was my duty to do all
Speaker 1: I had to do to to beat their phone. Just
Speaker 1: makes you links to see no matter what he did
Speaker 1: in life basketball, even if you want to go, we're
Speaker 1: gonna go to the military. If you want to just
Speaker 1: be a regular person working nine of five. I just
Speaker 1: feel like I had to beat the phone. I just
Speaker 1: tell the MoMA, no matter what, I'm gonna make sure
Speaker 1: you get you know what I mean. I make a problem,
Speaker 1: I'll do what I gotta do them or to get
Speaker 1: him now. And like I said, he never knew this.
Speaker 1: Uncle Drew made a vow twe that that he would
Speaker 1: be there, that he'd help Anthony the young football start
Speaker 1: with his pads or rides to practice or with a
Speaker 1: place to sleep over, and a promise that years later
Speaker 1: he'd still be in the weight room trying to warn
Speaker 1: Anthony the teenage basketball start about the dangers of money
Speaker 1: and fame lurking around the corner. Of course he knew
Speaker 1: it now, but that's why it went so hard. I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, in the pain that he went through, he
Speaker 1: never broke He never, you know, he never he never
Speaker 1: made an excuse. Never. Man, I lost my mama, I
Speaker 1: lost my grandmama. Why me? Why this is why? This? Never? Never? No, No,
Speaker 1: he just locked in. Once they passed, he took that
Speaker 1: that discipline and just put he put their they head
Speaker 1: into it. And you see what you put everything you
Speaker 1: head into it. Anthonis work, ethic and determination changed after
Speaker 1: that life defining loss. He found the discipline because, like
Speaker 1: Uncle Drew, he made a promise he was no longer
Speaker 1: just playing a game or just playing for Anthony, coming
Speaker 1: from somebody who's you know, lots of parents, especially your mom.
Speaker 1: It's just things you have to focus on outside of
Speaker 1: you know, yourself, another Anthony's coaches and a trusted friend,
Speaker 1: Rob Allen. You're gonna be hurt, but you have to
Speaker 1: know that those people that they looked out for you
Speaker 1: and they want to see you do great. So the
Speaker 1: main thing for you is continuing that legacy. So each
Speaker 1: and every day when I do something or I help,
Speaker 1: I helped somebody, or or I'm doing something, I'm thinking
Speaker 1: of my mom because I know how she was. She
Speaker 1: was a giver and help her. So I think Aunt
Speaker 1: knows that as well. That his grandmother and his mama
Speaker 1: and his mother, you know, they were people that liked
Speaker 1: to help other people and they always wanted him to
Speaker 1: keep going. And so you just had to focus on
Speaker 1: something bigger than yourself. It became something much bigger than
Speaker 1: only Anthony Edwards. That tragic passing of his mother and
Speaker 1: grandmother also changed the lives of those around him. Justin Holland. Again,
Speaker 1: no one everything that he that he's you know, been
Speaker 1: through and goes through, he always had a smile on
Speaker 1: his face, like regardless of what was going on. I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever really seen him like upset or
Speaker 1: angry and not with a smile on his face. And
Speaker 1: anybody that's dealt with, you know, the level of trauma
Speaker 1: to that kid has gone through book, and I always
Speaker 1: found a reason to smile and find and find the
Speaker 1: brightness in any situation. You know, anything I'm going through,
Speaker 1: I go. I ever go through his minor and I
Speaker 1: always keep that with me. And I feel like he
Speaker 1: channeled a lot of his frustrations into the game of basketball.
Speaker 1: And I know a lot of his passion and will
Speaker 1: definitely comes from you know, his mom and grandma, No
Speaker 1: doubt about him. He definitely plays for them, but he
Speaker 1: gives it all. And that maybe a reason why I
Speaker 1: learned a lot from him to that's uncle Drew, just
Speaker 1: seeing how he dealt with it too. I kind of
Speaker 1: learned a lot from him. If he can maintain, if
Speaker 1: he can hold it, he can keep a composure and
Speaker 1: continue to live his life and duty gotta do. Nobody
Speaker 1: really should make no excuses either, you know. So that's
Speaker 1: why I always when he needed me to do something,
Speaker 1: he needed me to, you know, come through the form.
Speaker 1: I never made no excuses. I don't I don't care
Speaker 1: what I had going on. I could have been out
Speaker 1: of town. I could have been out kicking it in
Speaker 1: the streets if he called me, if you had to
Speaker 1: text me out with dead form. So I just always
Speaker 1: feel like I had to be the asan whole phone
Speaker 1: no matter what, because, like I said, he never made
Speaker 1: no excuse. He never wanted about to feel sorry for me,
Speaker 1: never would come and crown about his shoulder and say
Speaker 1: why me, why me? Why? He never he was just
Speaker 1: different like that. He just he just never he never
Speaker 1: used there for an excuse. He was there for motivation,
Speaker 1: you know So I really really really respect him for that.
Speaker 1: He just I could have made, you know, lose my mom,
Speaker 1: my mom, and my grandma at the age of four,
Speaker 1: and I'm telling that I think it just it just
Speaker 1: puts him to another level, really just push into another
Speaker 1: loan and just put them to another love After they
Speaker 1: never really talked about what happened, not to Uncle Drew
Speaker 1: or with Justin or any of those closest to him,
Speaker 1: not even to his siblings. After the funerals, one of
Speaker 1: the only things he said was, I'm going to make
Speaker 1: them proud. I feel like any person, any human being,
Speaker 1: has been through what I've been through at the age
Speaker 1: of fourteen, fourteen fifteen, If if you can get through
Speaker 1: that and just you know, cope with yourself, shouldn't nobody
Speaker 1: or anything be able to, you know, make you mad.
Speaker 1: I can't nothing change my smile. You can't do nothing
Speaker 1: to me to make my smile go away. My MoMA
Speaker 1: and grandma they're always happy. So I made sure I'm
Speaker 1: always happy. Yeah, I ain't never seen that when they
Speaker 1: wasn't happy, Like even when they was here, they was
Speaker 1: always happy. So I just made sure I'm always got
Speaker 1: a smile on my face. To represent him as a
Speaker 1: devastated kid, he kept all the hurt and pain inside,
Speaker 1: using it as a few will to excel on the court.
Speaker 1: Now he makes the choice to carry with him all
Speaker 1: the happiness his mother and grandmother have inspired. And you
Speaker 1: can take my basketball career way, oh everything, fame, everything,
Speaker 1: but you can't take my happiness away. So I feel
Speaker 1: like that's the only thing they left me here with
Speaker 1: you next Undrafted, you guys have anything specifically looking for
Speaker 1: I can tricker inventory level if you are nah, not
Speaker 1: not checked, Yeah, trying to complete an outfit. I think
Speaker 1: the attention to detail for to reason is exceptional. But
Speaker 1: as soon as I step on the court with these
Speaker 1: guys that are in the NBA or in whatever position
Speaker 1: they are, I feel perfectly fine. I feel like this
Speaker 1: is where I belong. Let's talk about some things that
Speaker 1: people don't talk about. Let's talk about the manipulation, because
Speaker 1: you're actually are attempting to take their job. But it
Speaker 1: is time to think, sue l a start the new
Speaker 1: journey man. This kid, it is a superstar person. And
Speaker 1: when you got that, times is work at the time,
Speaker 1: and the skill set times is man. It's dangerous. Brom
Speaker 1: Drafted is a production of tree Fort Media, Clutch Sports Group,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. The executive producers are Kelly Garner,
Speaker 1: Lisa Ammerman, Eric s a Lot, Sean to Tone l Ki,
Speaker 1: and me Keegan Michael Key. The series is produced and
Speaker 1: written by Eric Winer. Jared Brom is our coordinating producer.
Speaker 1: Trey McCain is our associate producer. Tom Monahan is our
Speaker 1: senior audio engineer. Mixed and edited by Steven Johnson, additional
Speaker 1: production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen, and Hailey Mandelberg.
Speaker 1: For transcripts of the show and more information on Drafted,
Speaker 1: go to tree Fort dot fm. For more podcasts. For
Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.