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Speaker 1: Welcome back to all the smoke. Jack. We got a

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Speaker 1: good one today, man. Uh. Two guys that have been

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Speaker 1: through some real life adversity, real ones, and.

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Speaker 2: You gotta stop using that word loosely too, because everybody

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Speaker 2: ain't real ones. Like if you use the word but

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Speaker 2: everybody ain't real, you know what I'm saying. It's more

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Speaker 2: of just saying the words the action, and these guys

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Speaker 2: are actually proving that they are slid.

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Speaker 1: You actually said the word. I didn't, but thank shit

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Speaker 1: made it through their adversity to reach obviously their ultimate

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Speaker 1: goal and beyond. And really excited to learn about what

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Speaker 1: you guys have come together to do. Welcome to the show.

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Speaker 1: Fourteen year NBA pro bat, two time All Star, twenty

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Speaker 1: eleven champ, currently assistant coach on the Miami Heat, Koran

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Speaker 1: Butler and Larry Miller, former president of the Portland Trailblazers,

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Speaker 1: currently leading to Jordan Brand. Welcome to the show. Fellas.

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Speaker 3: We appreciate you because my dog I.

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Speaker 1: Want to start Koran with something that that was It

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Speaker 1: touched me and I think I d M you or

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Speaker 1: text you. A younger player on the Heat had for

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Speaker 1: some reason last year there was a span of just

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Speaker 1: the Clay disrespect and it was ridiculous something that happened.

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Speaker 1: And you did something after the game where you brought

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Speaker 1: your young player over to Clay and you have to

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Speaker 1: tell us what was said, But what prompted you to

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Speaker 1: do that?

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Speaker 3: It's crazy.

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Speaker 4: I remember that, uh that DM also with Stack as well,

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Speaker 4: and I was watching in real time, and you know,

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Speaker 4: it's a it's a respected game clause that that existed

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Speaker 4: in the fabric of my DNA, and I saw some

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Speaker 4: ship that was just like unconventional, and I was like, bro,

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Speaker 4: all right, get your ship off, compete at a high level.

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Speaker 4: Let's get this win. But at the same time, like

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Speaker 4: this is a dude that you should be like shadow of.

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Speaker 4: Like you know what I'm saying, Like, this is a

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Speaker 4: proven champion, He's done a lot in this association.

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Speaker 3: So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go down here.

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Speaker 4: And make sure that he understand that it was all

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Speaker 4: a fair game of competition. But the ain't nobody, no bitches,

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Speaker 4: ain't nobody no holes. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like,

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Speaker 4: that's that's law. And after we understood that, we was good.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was really dope because again, there was.

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Speaker 1: There was a string of dudes John, a couple other

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Speaker 1: people that just kind of felt like the disrespect Clay

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Speaker 1: was cool after again, like you said, all the work

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Speaker 1: he's put in his game, Come on, man, I think

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Speaker 1: it's important to have guys like you and other guys

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Speaker 1: that have obviously been in the game but still in

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Speaker 1: touch with both sides, this younger generation. And you played

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Speaker 1: in you know, we played in the older league, so

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Speaker 1: I thought you weren't so loosely. Yeah. I thought it

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Speaker 1: was just great for you to kind of be that

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Speaker 1: vet you've always been and been able to put that

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Speaker 1: young boy together and just explain the importance of what

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Speaker 1: he was doing.

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Speaker 4: I think the most important thing too, is that after

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Speaker 4: the fact, he was super receiving. You know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 4: He wasn't trying to fight the education of like damn,

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Speaker 4: that is one of the all timers right there. Maybe

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Speaker 4: I was tripping and I violated a little bit so

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Speaker 4: and it helped him, you know, going forward now still,

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Speaker 4: you know, I know you had a situation with one

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Speaker 4: of the guys with the Warriors Pas like not shortly

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Speaker 4: after that he got another situation as well, But it

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Speaker 4: was just all like competition. It wasn't like disrespect and

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Speaker 4: we can live with that. But it is like the

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Speaker 4: words yeah you can't.

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Speaker 1: Do that is good money. He ain't soft. That's what

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Speaker 1: I love about it.

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Speaker 3: Definitely adult.

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Speaker 1: Let's go through your individual individual journeys. We'll start with

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Speaker 1: you there.

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Speaker 2: How does someone get charged with second degree murder.

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Speaker 1: And ended up leading the NBA team.

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Speaker 5: As it was a hell of a journey. So going

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Speaker 5: back to the beginning to the murder charge. So I

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Speaker 5: grew up in Philly, in the streets in Philly and

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Speaker 5: joined the gang when I was twelve thirteen years old,

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Speaker 5: in and out of trouble, in then out of jail.

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Speaker 5: When I was sixteen, drunk one night, shot a kid

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Speaker 5: and killed them. Ended up pleading guilty the second degree

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Speaker 5: murder was charged as an adult at sixteen years old.

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Speaker 5: Pleaded guilty. The second degree murder was since the four

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Speaker 5: and a half to twenty years Then the four and

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Speaker 5: a half got out, back to the same neighborhood, same community,

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Speaker 5: same stuff, ended up back in jail the last time

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Speaker 5: I had five arm robbery charges the last time I

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Speaker 5: was arrested, ended up beating a couple of them and

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Speaker 5: got since to four to ten years this time. And

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Speaker 5: when I got to the penitentiary this time, I was like,

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Speaker 5: I was ready to change my life.

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Speaker 1: You know.

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Speaker 5: I was like, Man, this ain't this ain't this ain't

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Speaker 5: what I want to continue doing. Plus my young my

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Speaker 5: oldest daughter had been born. I'm like, I want to

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Speaker 5: be there for her. So I was thinking about I

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Speaker 5: wanted to change my life, but I didn't know what

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Speaker 5: to do. I didn't know how to do it. And

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Speaker 5: when I got there, I realized they had a college program.

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Speaker 5: I could take college classes inside the jail. And then

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Speaker 5: they had a program where they had trailers parked outside

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Speaker 5: the jail wall and you could live in those trailers

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Speaker 5: and leave every day and go to school and just

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Speaker 5: have to be back by eight o'clock at night. When

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Speaker 5: I heard about that program, I was like, if I

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Speaker 5: got to do time, that's that's how I want to

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Speaker 5: do it. But I ended up working my way into

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Speaker 5: that program, and uh but and got my associate's degree

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Speaker 5: while I was going back and forth to jail.

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Speaker 1: Got but also the valedictorian of that program, well.

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Speaker 5: You know that was earlier and so forth. Yeah, that

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Speaker 5: was before when I was when I when I so

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Speaker 5: when I did the four and a half for the murder.

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Speaker 5: I was at a place called Camp Hill, which was

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Speaker 5: like a juvenile penitentiary and UH and I took the

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Speaker 5: GED exam while I was there and after I remember

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Speaker 5: after I took it, I was in myself. A dude

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Speaker 5: who administered the exam came down and I said, say, yo,

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Speaker 5: man I saw I look. I say, hey, did I pass?

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Speaker 5: He said, not only you passed, but you got one

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Speaker 5: of the highest grades I seen. He said, we want

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Speaker 5: you to be the valedictori. And I was like, man,

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Speaker 5: I get the fuck out me.

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Speaker 1: I'm not.

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Speaker 5: And did. I talked to some of my crew. They

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Speaker 5: were like, man, you should do that. Shit will help

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Speaker 5: you write the speech. So I ended up doing it,

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Speaker 5: and I remember the last line of my speech was, uh,

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Speaker 5: let's not serve time. Let's let time serve us.

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Speaker 1: Uh.

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Speaker 5: And and so I got when I so when I

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Speaker 5: came home, I already had my GVD. So then when

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Speaker 5: I went back, I was able to take the college

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Speaker 5: classes because I already had my GED. Got my associates

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Speaker 5: degree through that program. UH ended up moving to a

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Speaker 5: halfway house in North Philly and transferred my credits to

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Speaker 5: Temple University, UH and started at Temple as a junior

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Speaker 5: in the accounting program. So I ended up getting my

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Speaker 5: bachelor's degree in accounting at Temple. When I was about

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Speaker 5: to graduate, there was at the time, there was what

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Speaker 5: was called the Big eight accounting firms, right, and if

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Speaker 5: you were graduating with an accounting degree, that's where you

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Speaker 5: wanted to work for them. And I had kind of

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Speaker 5: zeroed in one that was called Arthur Anderson. So I

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Speaker 5: end up going there spend the whole day interviewing with

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Speaker 5: a bunch of people, and all day, in the back

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Speaker 5: of my mind, I'm like, should I share my story

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Speaker 5: with these folk? Because all they knew I was just

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Speaker 5: a young black man about to graduate with honors. They

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Speaker 5: were interested, I was interested, So we were kind of vibing.

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Speaker 5: But finally I get to the last guy, who was

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Speaker 5: like the hiring manager, and I'm like, I'm gonna share

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Speaker 5: my story with this dude. So I start to tell

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Speaker 5: him my story, and as I'm talking, I could see

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Speaker 5: his face changing, like not in a good way. Finally

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Speaker 5: I got done, he said, Wow, that's an interesting story,

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Speaker 5: and he reached his pocket and pulled down an envelope.

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Speaker 5: He said I got an offer letter here that I

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Speaker 5: was all ready to give you, but I'm sorry I

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Speaker 5: can't give it to you now, he said, I wish

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Speaker 5: you the best. But and at that point I got

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Speaker 5: all this stuff going through my head. I'm like, man,

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Speaker 5: this is wasting my fucking time. I should be you know,

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Speaker 5: I'm spending money, wasting time. They never gonna let me

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Speaker 5: build any kind of professional career with my backup ground.

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Speaker 5: But I was like, you know what, I ain't gonna

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Speaker 5: give up. But I made a decision at that point

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Speaker 5: that I wasn't gonna share the information anymore. I wouldn't

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Speaker 5: lie about it when denied if it came out, but

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Speaker 5: I wasn't gonna volunteer information. And that's how I built

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Speaker 5: my career from that point on. Man, I just never

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Speaker 5: never brought it up, and it never came up people

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Speaker 5: I'm close to MJ folks. I remember before the story

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Speaker 5: came out, I had I had a list of people

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Speaker 5: that I wanted to share if wanted to hear from me,

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Speaker 5: and he was one of them. So I ended up

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Speaker 5: calling him. I said, hey, man. Kind of later, he said,

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Speaker 5: you know what, I knew something about you, real recognized real,

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Speaker 5: He said, real recognized me. I knew it was something

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Speaker 5: about you, but so I had an MJ was on

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Speaker 5: the list, Phil Knight was on the list. A bunch

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Speaker 5: of people that I wanted them to hear directly from me.

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Speaker 5: And it's been it's been an amazing lift off my

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Speaker 5: You know, I was walking around for thirty forty years

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Speaker 5: worrying about this to come out somehow and ruin everything

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Speaker 5: that I that I built up to that point I had.

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Speaker 1: Was your daughter instrumental on helping you.

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Speaker 5: If it wasn't for her, I would have never shared

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Speaker 5: the story because she was over years. She kept like,

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Speaker 5: pot dad, you need to know. I was like now now.

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Speaker 5: Finally she convinced me that I should share the story,

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Speaker 5: and then her and I worked on it together. We

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Speaker 5: wrote the book together.

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Speaker 1: Okay, we would.

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Speaker 5: Get together like and just you know, I tell stories.

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Speaker 5: She asked questions and she would record it and then

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Speaker 5: she'd go back and transcribe it. And at the end

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Speaker 5: we had like all this information, but it wasn't a book.

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Speaker 5: So we ended up connecting with a ghost writer and.

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Speaker 1: Put all the book. Yeah you also said something. Really

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Speaker 1: I got to watch a little piece on you a

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Speaker 1: little fifteen minute thing as I was kind of doing

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Speaker 1: my research and you said something to the tune and

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Speaker 1: correct my numbers if I'm wrong. Seventy seven incarcerated people

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Speaker 1: end up going back, only it drops down a thirty

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Speaker 1: percent if they find the trade, six percent if they

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Speaker 1: get their bat and zero percent of them go back

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Speaker 1: if they get their master degrees, basically saying education is

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Speaker 1: the key keeping these people out of trouble.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, that was so one of the things when the

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Speaker 5: book came out, Harvard Business School called me said, hey,

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Speaker 5: we want to do a case study based on your

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Speaker 5: So I was cool. So they built a lot of

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Speaker 5: contexts in that chart you're talking about came from Harvard

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Speaker 5: Business School. But it showed that at the time the

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Speaker 5: recidivism rate was seventy seven percent, so like seventy seven

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Speaker 5: percent of people get out and within two to three

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Speaker 5: years they system. But it showed that if people are

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Speaker 5: able to learn some type of marketable skill set or

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Speaker 5: somewhere the way, they can get a decent job. That

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Speaker 5: dropped the thirty percent the bachelor's degree to six percent

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Speaker 5: when the master's it was at zero. So you know,

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Speaker 5: that's why we've been pushing education. We've been pushing creating

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Speaker 5: opportunities to teach people marketable skill sets so that they

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Speaker 5: can come home and have an opportunity, you know, not

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Speaker 5: just to survive, but to thrive.

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Speaker 2: Right you and you you were smart, you know you

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Speaker 2: you was able to to bottle your story up so

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Speaker 2: people can see you as a human being person, not

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Speaker 2: what you've been through.

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Speaker 3: It's so many people that we know.

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Speaker 2: That come from out of there that they automatically a

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Speaker 2: booked at is what they've done. Not even understand that

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Speaker 2: these are some of the smartest people that you can

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Speaker 2: ever meet.

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Speaker 5: No question, I say this all the time, but some

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Speaker 5: of the most some of the smartest, most creative people

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Speaker 5: I've ever met, I met inside inside the penitentiary. But

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Speaker 5: you know what, what what happened. So when I was

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Speaker 5: going to work for the Travelers, so I uh went

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Speaker 5: through the whole interviews, interview with Paul Allen, the whole bit,

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Speaker 5: and they decided they're going to offer me the job.

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Speaker 5: And this was a guy named Todd, like Wiki Todd was.

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Speaker 5: He he ran what was called Bulcan Sports and Entertainment,

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Speaker 5: which was Paul Allen's company, and he was the one

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Speaker 5: who hired me. He was the one that you know

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Speaker 5: I interviewed, wouldn't have. So when the story came out, Uh,

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Speaker 5: he sent me a text he said, Hey, the next

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Speaker 5: time you're in Seattle, I want to take you to

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Speaker 5: breakfast and I want to share something with you. So

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Speaker 5: I'm in seattleman him, go to breakfast and he said.

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Speaker 5: He starts to tell me that when they were looking

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Speaker 5: to hire me and doing the background check, they had

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Speaker 5: the NFL security do the background check. These cauts went

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Speaker 5: down to Philly, went in the city hall, went in

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Speaker 5: some old backrooms and found all these old manual records

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Speaker 5: with all my criminal stuff in it. So they get

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Speaker 5: back to Tide with it, and they share this information

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Speaker 5: with Tide. Now he's conflicted because he still wants to

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Speaker 5: hire me, but he's concerned that if he says this

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Speaker 5: information with Paul Paul Allen, that paula knix it. So

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Speaker 5: he said he called David Stern. He called David Stern

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Speaker 5: and he asked Stern. He said, he shared the information

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Speaker 5: with Stern, And he asked Stern, do I have to

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Speaker 5: share this with Paul Allen? And Stern said, yeah, you do.

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Speaker 5: You can't notice hire this person and not have shared

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Speaker 5: this information with the owner. So he said he called

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Speaker 5: Paul and he kind of starts to tell Paul about,

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Speaker 5: you know, what he found and stuff. He said, Paul's well,

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Speaker 5: I got one question. You said, what's that? He said,

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Speaker 5: how long ago was this? So they said, don't worry

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Speaker 5: about it. So they hired me anyway, knowing my stuff,

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Speaker 5: but never told me. So I'm still walking around nervous

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Speaker 5: and scared that they might find out. And they knew

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Speaker 5: all the time, but never Stern never said anything to me.

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Speaker 5: Paul Allen never said anything to me, and Ti, I

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Speaker 5: never said it.

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Speaker 1: But that was causing you health issues, right, it was?

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Speaker 5: It was because I was I was having recurring nightmarees

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Speaker 5: stressing migrants. I ended up in the er a number

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Speaker 5: of times for migrants because I was always word round

283
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Speaker 5: and I would go talk to like talk to young

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Speaker 5: people and stuff. And I was always felt like I

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Speaker 5: was cheating them because I'm telling them how my career,

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Speaker 5: but I'm not telling them the full story. And to me,

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Speaker 5: that was the most important part of the story, the

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Speaker 5: fact that I was able to overcome that stuff to

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Speaker 5: do what I was doing. So uh. Once once the

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Speaker 5: story was out, man, it was it was like a

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Speaker 5: major burden was lifted off.

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Speaker 1: I can imagine I want to backtrack a little bit

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Speaker 1: with you two Kuran. Obviously, you know, we know your

294
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Speaker 1: accolades which you accomplished, accomplished in the league. But you know,

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Speaker 1: as a child, by the time you were fifteen, you

296
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Speaker 1: were in and out of detention centers, in juvenile hall

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Speaker 1: and stuff nearly ten to fifteen times. What was your

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Speaker 1: wake up call, I guess so to speak to kind

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Speaker 1: of get you on track and eventually get you to

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Speaker 1: Yukon and the rest is history.

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Speaker 3: That's a great question.

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Speaker 4: I think initially when I went to jail the last

303
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Speaker 4: time where I had to do the two years age

304
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Speaker 4: were you fourteen and a half fifteen? Yeah, I got

305
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Speaker 4: waived to adult court. The governor waved me back, ended

306
00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,040
Speaker 4: up doing two years as well, so two months in

307
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Speaker 4: adult facility sixteen or eighteen months and Julie and that

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Speaker 4: was just like the ultimate wake up call because it

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Speaker 4: removed me out of my village, my community. And when

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Speaker 4: I got subtracted out of the community, a lot of

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Speaker 4: motherfuckers got subtracted while I was gone, like no longer here.

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Speaker 4: So it was just like in real time you saw

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Speaker 4: dudes that you ran with, that you jammed with, that

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Speaker 4: you bus moves with, that you writing, you know, sending

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Speaker 4: you know, these kites to and they.

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Speaker 3: No longer hear. So it was just like a process

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Speaker 3: of like when.

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Speaker 4: I'm getting out what I'm getting out to, and I'm

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Speaker 4: gonna inherit some of this animosity and these these beefs

320
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Speaker 4: because some brothers from another side took the life of

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Speaker 4: the people that I was hanging with, or I'm gonna

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Speaker 4: try to like really tap in into this talent.

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Speaker 3: You know, I was already six four, you know, big

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Speaker 3: as hell.

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Speaker 4: I had a physicality about myself, a certain disposition. And

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Speaker 4: it was this Muslim brother by the name of Jamie

327
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Speaker 4: Laguari who was running a community center and he also

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Speaker 4: had the backing of Nike. Now that's a huge thing.

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Speaker 4: I mean now you see it all over eybl everything.

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Speaker 4: It's programs everywhere. But it was only probably two in

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Speaker 4: the entire state of Wisconsin. And for me to be

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Speaker 4: invited to this program not to have to worry about

333
00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,280
Speaker 4: car was taco dinners or anything to raise capital. It

334
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:11,880
Speaker 4: was just like, dude, all you got to do is

335
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Speaker 4: just play basketball. Had a bracelet on that shit was embarrassing,

336
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Speaker 4: But every tournament I just went out there and rocked

337
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Speaker 4: out and made sure I had everything that I need,

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Speaker 4: and it just like opened up a whole nother lane

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Speaker 4: for me.

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Speaker 3: Changed my life.

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Speaker 1: Because they say, I mean, obviously, you know, you can't

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Speaker 1: be one foot in, one foot out. You gotta be

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Speaker 1: all the way either way, whether you're in the streets

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Speaker 1: or whether you're hooping. So what was that like? Obviously

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Speaker 1: you made the decision, but was it easy to kind

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Speaker 1: of let go of your past and move on to

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Speaker 1: what was gonna be more beneficial for you.

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Speaker 4: Here's the crazy thing. It's like I had you have

349
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Speaker 4: expectations when like I never ran to go get motherfuckers

350
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Speaker 4: like I was the motherfucker they came to get when

351
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Speaker 4: stuff happened. So I always ran to situations whether I

352
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Speaker 4: was or not. You know, it was just like, hey,

353
00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,359
Speaker 4: that's outside burst its own. We explained that shit later,

354
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:12,359
Speaker 4: and I had to have like an unlearning adjustment in

355
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Speaker 4: my life to be like, you know what, I ain't

356
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Speaker 4: on that time no more. I already had a child too,

357
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Speaker 4: So it was just like, and I'm gonna continue to

358
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Speaker 4: put myself in these tricky and these fucked up situations

359
00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,760
Speaker 4: or I I'm just gonna just try something different and

360
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Speaker 4: see if I can capitalize on this opportunity of a

361
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Speaker 4: lifetime because I knew I had the talent. I knew

362
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Speaker 4: I was on the circuit before, and I seen some

363
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:39,440
Speaker 4: of the talent out there that existed, the Corey mcghetty's,

364
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,560
Speaker 4: the guys like that, and I was just like, damn,

365
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,840
Speaker 4: like they cold, but I put me up against anything,

366
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Speaker 4: and I'm like, damn, I can make it if I

367
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Speaker 4: just like kind of lock in, yeah, and this kind

368
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 4: of scale back a little bit and trim the fatle

369
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Speaker 4: in a couple of situations. So I just said, fuck it,

370
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Speaker 4: I'm gonna just go all in in this space and

371
00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:58,280
Speaker 4: see what happened.

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Speaker 1: And what was the recruiting process like, because obviously you

373
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Speaker 1: missed some core years of your high school playing because

374
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Speaker 1: you were behind bars, So what was that mean?

375
00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:11,520
Speaker 4: Obviously it kind of happened quickly. Nothing in the recruited

376
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Speaker 4: recruitment process. This is strange. It was more of an

377
00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,359
Speaker 4: interview process, like how we get drafted to the league.

378
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,600
Speaker 4: It wasn't It was nothing about basketball, where you want

379
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:26,800
Speaker 4: to play, what type of system with? It was like

380
00:18:27,119 --> 00:18:29,840
Speaker 4: you gonna get in trouble again. Like that's basically what

381
00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:31,919
Speaker 4: it was. Just like what like, so if you in

382
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,800
Speaker 4: this situation, what would you do if? And that's all

383
00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 4: it was. So I was just like, dude, I'm on

384
00:18:37,359 --> 00:18:39,640
Speaker 4: smart time. Like I was on demon time, then I'm

385
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,159
Speaker 4: on smart time. I experienced that it didn't take me

386
00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:46,240
Speaker 4: to go through anything else outside of you know, paying

387
00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,359
Speaker 4: my debt to society and getting out and just getting

388
00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,639
Speaker 4: that traction and that momentum behind me. So once I

389
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,560
Speaker 4: like pivoted into this space, I was like, man, all

390
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,480
Speaker 4: I need is another opportunity to create another opportunity to

391
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Speaker 4: create another.

392
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Speaker 3: So it was just like they just need to see that.

393
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Speaker 1: What was it about Jim Calhoun in Ukon?

394
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Speaker 4: He was the first. He was the first coach that

395
00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:09,520
Speaker 4: came I'm gonna say, I'm take that back. He was

396
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:12,360
Speaker 4: one of the He was the second coach that came

397
00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:14,280
Speaker 4: into our household.

398
00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,879
Speaker 3: That uh that didn't approach with a bag.

399
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:18,400
Speaker 1: Now.

400
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,760
Speaker 4: I know that's hard to believe now with eybl and

401
00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:23,800
Speaker 4: everything in I L and all this shit, but he

402
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:28,919
Speaker 4: came from just an empathy standpoint. He came from just

403
00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:32,840
Speaker 4: you could be invited into this family and you're gonna

404
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,080
Speaker 4: be family forever. Uh, we're gonna do these things. We're

405
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:38,359
Speaker 4: gonna move the needle in your process. You're gonna be

406
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,399
Speaker 4: a better version of yourself, and we're gonna help you

407
00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,800
Speaker 4: down that path. Everyone else they came with a with

408
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:47,600
Speaker 4: a number, and I always felt like if you could

409
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:50,160
Speaker 4: be bought, you could be sold. So I didn't have that.

410
00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,440
Speaker 4: I didn't. I didn't like feel that energy. I was

411
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Speaker 4: just like, man, I need somebody to really like help

412
00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 4: me grow in these spaces and get me prepared for work.

413
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Speaker 3: I think I see myself.

414
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:02,439
Speaker 1: That's big.

415
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Speaker 5: When you talked about one foot in, one foot out,

416
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 5: that's so true. When I first came home the last time,

417
00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:12,880
Speaker 5: I was still kind of straggling a little bit because

418
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,280
Speaker 5: I'd hang out. I'd go to work, but then I'd

419
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,080
Speaker 5: go and hang out with my crew, and uh, I'll

420
00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 5: never forget. They a couple of my guys said there

421
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:23,480
Speaker 5: was a brother named Jabar that they wanted to meet,

422
00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,399
Speaker 5: who I knew from in the penitentiary with him. So

423
00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:27,600
Speaker 5: I was like, all right, I'm gonna take you all

424
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,359
Speaker 5: down to meet Jabar because they wanted to do some

425
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,840
Speaker 5: deal with him. I take him down and he had

426
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Speaker 5: a pool room that he was hanging out in. So

427
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,679
Speaker 5: we go in the pool room and I just they

428
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,240
Speaker 5: started talking. I was like, I don't belong here no more.

429
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,360
Speaker 5: You know what I mean, this ain't And you're absolutely right.

430
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:44,960
Speaker 5: You can't be half in and half hours. That's that's

431
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,560
Speaker 5: the recipe to get yourself killed, you know what I mean.

432
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Speaker 5: So I was like, you know what, I'm gonna wait

433
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,760
Speaker 5: for y'all outside, And I walked outside and sat wait

434
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,639
Speaker 5: and I drove him down. I said wait. When I

435
00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,159
Speaker 5: drove him home, I was like, I ain't in that

436
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,720
Speaker 5: world no more. That's when I really knew that. I

437
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,640
Speaker 5: was like this, I ain't about this no more.

438
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:05,119
Speaker 1: How old were you at that point?

439
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:06,720
Speaker 5: This is when I can't well, this is when I

440
00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:12,120
Speaker 5: came home. I was twenty. I was twenty nine, twenty nine,

441
00:21:12,560 --> 00:21:16,120
Speaker 5: and I was like that with that realization, because it's

442
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,639
Speaker 5: just standing there, I'm like, fuck, I don't blog he

443
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 5: no more. I was working for Campbell Soup at the top.

444
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:23,800
Speaker 5: I'm like leaving my job as an accountant that I'm

445
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:26,320
Speaker 5: coming down. I'm like, so to your point, I had

446
00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:28,280
Speaker 5: to make a decision. It's like either I'm gonna be

447
00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:31,000
Speaker 5: in or I'm gonna be out, and I decided to

448
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,440
Speaker 5: be out. But that was that was the point when

449
00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,160
Speaker 5: I was like, I know I'm done with this that Matt.

450
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,320
Speaker 4: You know you got two extremes here because you have

451
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 4: my extreme where everyone already knew what I went through, right,

452
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:46,440
Speaker 4: so every room I walked in I had to say

453
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,320
Speaker 4: I was arrested. You know, It's like before I even

454
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 4: I'm corying up. Your reputation got there before I gotta

455
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:58,040
Speaker 4: get all this out for whereas your extreme was, you

456
00:21:58,119 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 4: were still trying to keep it.

457
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 5: Yeah, because I believed that that was the only way

458
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,400
Speaker 5: I was going to be able to build it kind

459
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 5: of professional career. I just felt like if they because

460
00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 5: when when dude turned me down, I was like, if

461
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,480
Speaker 5: I tell these people my story, I might as well

462
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 5: not even be trying to do this, especially the.

463
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 1: Color you are.

464
00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, both is extremely stressful.

465
00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that Nike Jordan's how did that happen?

466
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 5: So I was working for when I moved to Portland

467
00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 5: to work for a company called Jansen. They make swimwear sportswear,

468
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:37,880
Speaker 5: and I started there in the accounting area and by

469
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:39,440
Speaker 5: the time I left there, I was the president of

470
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,400
Speaker 5: the company. I was running it, but I was sitting

471
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 5: around with some guys one day. We were kind of

472
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,280
Speaker 5: talking about how we could grow our business, and uh,

473
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:50,440
Speaker 5: somebody said, man, we should do a competition swimwear because

474
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:52,040
Speaker 5: we were doing like the stuff you were on the

475
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,399
Speaker 5: beaches and it's mostly women swim where we were doing.

476
00:22:54,640 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 5: And uh, that wasn't a bad gigwim swim swim when

477
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:04,480
Speaker 5: the swimwear wasn't I had to pick models.

478
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: Job.

479
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:06,359
Speaker 3: Yeah.

480
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,960
Speaker 5: Well, so we talked about like, hey, we're gonna, uh

481
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,640
Speaker 5: you know, we should get into competition. Where So I said,

482
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 5: you know what, we should talk to Nike because, uh,

483
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,719
Speaker 5: Janson's in Portland. I said, we here, Nikes here, we

484
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:23,479
Speaker 5: know how to make swimwear. They got the athletic, authentic brand,

485
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 5: so maybe there's an opportunity here to work together. So

486
00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 5: I went to the guy who was the president and

487
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 5: company at the time, and I kind of shared that

488
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 5: idea with him. He said, man, that's that's Nike ain't

489
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:34,960
Speaker 5: gonna never do that. I said, well, at least let

490
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,760
Speaker 5: me reach out. Reached out. I found out Nike was

491
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 5: actually looking for somebody to partner with to do swimwear.

492
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 5: So timing out and long story should I ended up

493
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,400
Speaker 5: putting together a team. We put a presentation together, went

494
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 5: over and presented to Nike, and they had been talking

495
00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:54,880
Speaker 5: to a bunch of different brands, and I heard that

496
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,520
Speaker 5: there was a guy that named Stephen Gomez who was

497
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,199
Speaker 5: running apparel Global Apparel for Nike, and I heard that

498
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,280
Speaker 5: when we left the presentation, he said to the rest

499
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 5: of the Nike team, he said, hey, y'all can keep looking,

500
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,800
Speaker 5: but it don't get no better than that. So we

501
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 5: ended up doing that deal, which is actually still in place. Really,

502
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 5: Janson is still doing Nike swimwhere. But through that this

503
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,959
Speaker 5: guy Steven, him and I kind of started to because

504
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:25,400
Speaker 5: this was something that was one of the first licensing

505
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 5: deals that Nike did, and because it was a big

506
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,119
Speaker 5: deal for Janson, him and I agree we were going

507
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,360
Speaker 5: to make sure we nursed it kind of through the process,

508
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 5: and we would get together and go to dinner every

509
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,960
Speaker 5: now and then and talk about the business. And I

510
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 5: remember the last time at dinner, I'm riding home like, man,

511
00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,240
Speaker 5: I feel like I just got interviewed. And sure enough,

512
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 5: he called me a couple of weeks later and said,

513
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:47,440
Speaker 5: would you ever have any interest in coming to work

514
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:51,040
Speaker 5: for Nike. So I did. My first role at Nike

515
00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:55,439
Speaker 5: was head of Apparel in the US vice president head

516
00:24:55,480 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 5: of apparel in the US, which was like a billion

517
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,360
Speaker 5: dollar business at the time. And I found this out

518
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,200
Speaker 5: when I got there. I was the first black vice

519
00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 5: president in the history of the company when I got

520
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,920
Speaker 5: to Nike, and that I didn't find that out till

521
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 5: I got there. But that added a little more pressure

522
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 5: because now I'm like, I gotta succeed, I gotta I

523
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,960
Speaker 5: gotta make this work because I'm opening the door for

524
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,080
Speaker 5: other people. And so I ended up doing that job

525
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 5: for about a year and a half. And the first time,

526
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:23,160
Speaker 5: I'll tell you, the first time I met MJ. Right, so,

527
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 5: I had been in the apparel job. I was talking

528
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 5: about how I thought we had an opportunity with the

529
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 5: Jordan because Nike wasn't doing shit with Jordan at the

530
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,600
Speaker 5: time other than footwear. So I was sharing that that idea.

531
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,399
Speaker 5: So somebody said, well, MJ's gonna be in Seattle. The

532
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 5: Bulls is playing the Sonics. You should call meet. When

533
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 5: I'm like, all right, I drive up to Seattle and

534
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 5: I walk in the hotel suite. It's like thirty forty

535
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 5: people in there, and and as soon as I walked

536
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,879
Speaker 5: in the door, MJ said, Yo, l M, what's up.

537
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,879
Speaker 5: I'm like, yo, MJ. But and he just greeted me

538
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 5: and welcome me in and then I'll never forget this week.

539
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,359
Speaker 5: So there was a bunch of people there meeting him,

540
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:08,879
Speaker 5: showing him product and stuff, and he was holding the

541
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:10,720
Speaker 5: shoe in his hand, and he was you know, they

542
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,919
Speaker 5: were talking to about the shoe, and I'm in the

543
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 5: back of the room. I'm like, I'm the new guy

544
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,880
Speaker 5: on no shit, but I think that shoe would look

545
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,399
Speaker 5: better if the tongue was black on it.

546
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 3: But what do I know.

547
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,360
Speaker 5: MJ's looking at the shoe, And finally he said, can

548
00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:24,639
Speaker 5: we make the tongue black on this?

549
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 3: I'm like yes.

550
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 5: And then I ended up sitting down and talking with

551
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,240
Speaker 5: him and sharing my idea about what I wanted to

552
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 5: do with a pail and he said, uh, I forget

553
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 5: what I was done. He said, man, we've been trying

554
00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 5: to do that shit for the last twenty years. The

555
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,520
Speaker 5: fuck make you think we can do it now? I said, hey,

556
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 5: I got a plan, I got an idea. I think

557
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 5: so He's by the time we were done. He said, look,

558
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 5: if you can pull that off, I'm in. But before

559
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:52,160
Speaker 5: we could do that, then I ended up. Nake decided

560
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 5: to set Jordan up as like a separate division insided,

561
00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 5: and they asked me to run run that and put

562
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 5: a team together to do that cold and I when

563
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,920
Speaker 5: we started the business was about one hundred and forty

564
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,720
Speaker 5: hundred and fifty million dollars and it will be about

565
00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:11,880
Speaker 5: eight nine billion this year.

566
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,159
Speaker 1: So we did, all, right, how many years it's been

567
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:17,600
Speaker 1: time it's been spot.

568
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 5: So I was So. I was at Nike for ten

569
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,719
Speaker 5: years and then I left, went to the Trailblazers for

570
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:27,719
Speaker 5: five years, and I've been back now since twenty twelve.

571
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 5: I came back in twenty twelve. And the reason I

572
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 5: came back is, uh, they reached out and said, hey,

573
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 5: we'd like you to come back and run the Jordan

574
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:41,000
Speaker 5: brand again. And I was kind of I was kind

575
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,360
Speaker 5: of ready to leave the Blazers at the time because

576
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,000
Speaker 5: I felt like my my goal was to win a

577
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,400
Speaker 5: championship and I didn't feel like that was the goal

578
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 5: of it was trash go to that said trashy talent, No, no, no,

579
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,119
Speaker 5: I was ready, Yeah, talent that was it when I

580
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,080
Speaker 5: got there. Our first my first draft, yeah was Greg

581
00:28:01,119 --> 00:28:04,679
Speaker 5: oldin which that didn't work out. But my last draft

582
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,959
Speaker 5: was Dame Lillard, so that kind of balanced it and

583
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 5: balanced it out.

584
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 1: But I think, and I just ran into Greg and

585
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,159
Speaker 1: Arizona not too long ago, I think he gets a

586
00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,679
Speaker 1: bad raft. He was so fucking talented U was, and

587
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 1: he just his body gave out. He gave Yeah.

588
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:25,240
Speaker 5: So so we before we drafted Greg, you know, he

589
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:29,640
Speaker 5: had hurt his wrists and in the tournament, so we're

590
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 5: gonna do m I I on his wrist to make

591
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,080
Speaker 5: sure it was cool. And when he was in the

592
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 5: MIM machine, the doctor said, you know, let's take a

593
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:40,719
Speaker 5: look at his knees just to make sure the report

594
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,240
Speaker 5: comes back on his knees pristine condition. Don't get no

595
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,160
Speaker 5: better than that fact. Greg, before he even played a

596
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 5: game for US, he had micro surgery, microfracture surgery. And

597
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 5: he set out the whole first year. Over the five

598
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:56,640
Speaker 5: years that he was with the Jordan Bryant, I mean

599
00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,280
Speaker 5: with the with the Trailblazers, he played eighty two game,

600
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 5: so one season out of the five. But Greg any,

601
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 5: great dude, great guy, dude.

602
00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 1: But when he was healthy. He was a twenty ten dude.

603
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 5: No no, and then we're gonna put him with Brandon

604
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 5: Roy and LaMarcus. We we thought we had, you know,

605
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 5: and Brandon to me was one of the best that

606
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:18,000
Speaker 5: we put on Past Sneakers.

607
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:19,560
Speaker 3: Man. We say that all the time.

608
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,080
Speaker 5: Let's talk about b Roy because skipped over one of

609
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 5: the best ever put on past sneakers. Cold. We usedt

610
00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,920
Speaker 5: to drain his knees before almost every game because he

611
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 5: came into the league with bad knees and then it

612
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,000
Speaker 5: just kind of got kind of got progressively worse. But

613
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 5: uh he he he helped turn that franchise around between

614
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,920
Speaker 5: him and La Marcus. Bringing them in really kind of

615
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 5: turned that franchise because before that we were the jail Blazers.

616
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: That's all my homies. Yeah, we just she.

617
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 5: That's my guy, man, that's homie that we just talked.

618
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: We just actually did something with the jail Blazers for Netflix.

619
00:29:57,720 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 5: I saw it. I saw it. I saw that.

620
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about this new owner. That's

621
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: that from the outside looking in respectfully, looks like he's

622
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: cutting corners a little bit. When you see stuff like

623
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:16,240
Speaker 1: that and understanding and Karan and Jack. You know, players,

624
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 1: the organizations that just allow the players to play basketball

625
00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 1: and just focus on that normally are the teams that win.

626
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: But then when you get to start nitpicking with little

627
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 1: ship here and there, it's kind of when it's a

628
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:31,040
Speaker 1: reflection and it'll trickle down. So when you see stuff

629
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: like that for an organization you used to work for,

630
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 1: what you think.

631
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 5: One of the things about Paul Allen is he was

632
00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:40,600
Speaker 5: willing to spend money and he understood that in order

633
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 5: to bring Portland's a tough place to get players to

634
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:47,800
Speaker 5: want to come play, and in order to get in

635
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,000
Speaker 5: order to get players to come there, we had to

636
00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 5: you know, he had he realized he had, so the

637
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,840
Speaker 5: team playing was the best in the in the in

638
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 5: the league. I mean, just stuff like that that he

639
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 5: would do and just see it now kind of going

640
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 5: the other direction. I'm not that involved with the Blazers anymore.

641
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: I don't.

642
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,560
Speaker 5: I just kind of observe from as from a distance.

643
00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,200
Speaker 5: But from what I'm hearing, it sounds like, you know,

644
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:14,320
Speaker 5: he's trying to say he's trying to save some money

645
00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 5: and cut costs.

646
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:16,040
Speaker 3: League in the league.

647
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 2: Now, I would think I'd be trying to get the

648
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:19,880
Speaker 2: Portland's best tree in the league.

649
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: No way out here.

650
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 3: Only got some good tree bro.

651
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 1: But it's not California.

652
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 4: They got some talent over there too, though they do

653
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,360
Speaker 4: from personnel stamp. Yeah, a lot of talent they got.

654
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 4: They got some players over there, they do, they do.

655
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:34,480
Speaker 4: It'll be interesting to see how that plays out, because,

656
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 4: like you said, jumping in this business, and obviously I'm

657
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 4: far from my owner, but trying to cut corners and

658
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,200
Speaker 4: expenses is not the way you get free agency. It's

659
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 4: not the way you get right coaches, It's just not

660
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 4: the way you're going.

661
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:45,320
Speaker 1: To be able to win.

662
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,760
Speaker 4: Everybody's going to be eating though. What September, everybody get

663
00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,600
Speaker 4: the huge check from the Life.

664
00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 5: Expansion, well and the tv TV, the National TV deal.

665
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:03,640
Speaker 5: Whether you play one game or twenty games, you still

666
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 5: get the same amount. If you're national on the National

667
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,120
Speaker 5: TV deal, that money gets gets distributed equally across all

668
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:10,560
Speaker 5: the teams.

669
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 1: Yep, big money. Gon. Take a look at this clip

670
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:15,640
Speaker 1: that Dirk had said about you.

671
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 6: I got hurt right around Christmas time, and then so

672
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 6: I was out. I was hurt, and then New Year's Day.

673
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,240
Speaker 6: I'll never forget. We're in Milwaukee. That's where Karan is from.

674
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,280
Speaker 6: And I'm sitting out in a suit because I'm not playing,

675
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 6: and Kuran goes up for a rebound and just screams

676
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 6: and lays on the ground and I'm so, we're all

677
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 6: rushing over there, and I see literally he tore his

678
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 6: patel attendant and his kneecap had dislocated, so it sat

679
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 6: it sat up top on his thigh. I'm like, I'm

680
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,240
Speaker 6: trying to dry heath. It was nasty, and so our

681
00:32:49,280 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 6: trainer was like, oh my god, we need wheelchair, wheelchair

682
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 6: And that was one of the toughest things I was saying.

683
00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:58,479
Speaker 6: I mean, Kuran's pretty tough. So he heard wheelchair and

684
00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,240
Speaker 6: he's from Wisconsin. His ground mother was there, his family.

685
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 6: He's like, I'm not I'm not getting out of here

686
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 6: in a wheelchairs.

687
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:06,640
Speaker 3: So he's like I.

688
00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:11,320
Speaker 6: Watched him push his kneecap down by himself, and he

689
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 6: gets up and starts how you know how in the

690
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 6: old Milwaukee arena that was to go back to the

691
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 6: locker room. He walked out on his own power. I

692
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 6: said this, this guy, this guy is built different. And uh,

693
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 6: but then you know, here we go again. We think

694
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,960
Speaker 6: in our our windows closing you know, losing up. He

695
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 6: was probably our second best scored. I think he was

696
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,320
Speaker 6: our second best score the year, and so we're like,

697
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 6: oh god, here it goes again. Right, It's just a

698
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 6: bunch of bad luck. And but I would say that

699
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 6: he motivated us, inspired us the way he wanted to

700
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,040
Speaker 6: come back and fought and attacked rehab. I mean he

701
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,560
Speaker 6: was almost ready to play in that in that final

702
00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 6: series in eleven.

703
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 3: I mean he was. He was a beast.

704
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,240
Speaker 6: And every day watching him, how he how he handled himself,

705
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 6: how he attacked that rehab, that really motivated and that

706
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,680
Speaker 6: inspired us for that ten to eleven run.

707
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 1: When you see something like that from Dirk, Obviously, to me,

708
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,880
Speaker 1: I always kind of stamp things on how your peers

709
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 1: and your teammates speak on you and respect you, and

710
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,839
Speaker 1: to me, that's an ultimate respect. But the other part

711
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 1: to the question was how tough was it to have

712
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,000
Speaker 1: to sit there. You're one of the best three men

713
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 1: in the game at that time, to have to sit

714
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 1: there and watch your team win a championship.

715
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,760
Speaker 3: It was so this, this is crazy.

716
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 4: The penitentiary prepared me for this, like I'm not It's

717
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 4: like you can trap my body and can't trap my mind.

718
00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,440
Speaker 3: So it's like that was my process.

719
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 4: So I'm on the side and I'm just looking like, Okay,

720
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,279
Speaker 4: I can be real selfish about this shit and just

721
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,120
Speaker 4: like stay away, stay detached from the team, or I

722
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,759
Speaker 4: can just like pour into this team more than I

723
00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,400
Speaker 4: ever have. So I dove into that space and I

724
00:35:00,480 --> 00:35:04,040
Speaker 4: was just like, whatever y'all need from me, Like, if

725
00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 4: I see some shit, if Rick can't say it, I'm

726
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 4: gonna say.

727
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:07,840
Speaker 1: It to you.

728
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,399
Speaker 4: You tripping on the coverage, Look at me, dog, I'm

729
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 4: fucked up over here. I do anything to be out there,

730
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 4: you know. And it's just like it was just like

731
00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 4: a trickle down effect from the energy that they felt like, damn,

732
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:20,000
Speaker 4: we can't let them down.

733
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:22,440
Speaker 3: We got we gotta do our coverages. We got to

734
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 3: do our job.

735
00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 4: And most importantly, that's when I knew I wanted to

736
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,359
Speaker 4: pivot into coaching, because I start realizing that you can

737
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:36,320
Speaker 4: have a profound impact on the outcome of basketball games

738
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,239
Speaker 4: without physically being on the court. But your mind can

739
00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 4: be instituted in all these individuals and you can move

740
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,840
Speaker 4: the needle in that process. But it's like the ultimate

741
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:50,120
Speaker 4: like homage when you know Dirk arguably one of the

742
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 4: greatest players ever, obviously, but to get that type of

743
00:35:54,440 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 4: stamp from your peers, even y'all like y'all credible people space,

744
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,840
Speaker 4: that's why you're successful on these platforms and y'all messaging

745
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:08,000
Speaker 4: and y'all words carry, and to see y'all talk about

746
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 4: certain issues, particularly about you know, me coaching and pouring

747
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,719
Speaker 4: into these young men, it's like, damn, that mean a

748
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,120
Speaker 4: lot coming from y'all, whether it's just like some random

749
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 4: mass whatever, because y'all know me. Y'all been on the

750
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,640
Speaker 4: battlefield with me. We competed, we know real shit, yep,

751
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:26,880
Speaker 4: and we was teammates.

752
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,200
Speaker 3: And we locked and we locked forever.

753
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 4: So it's just like, damn like that mean a lot

754
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,239
Speaker 4: when your peers watch you and identify what you're doing

755
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,319
Speaker 4: and they know you're doing some real shit, I.

756
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:38,400
Speaker 2: Mean everything, talk to us about how how is it

757
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,200
Speaker 2: coaching Underspoe and being around Pat Raley.

758
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,160
Speaker 4: You know, when I first got over there, I was

759
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:45,880
Speaker 4: I was I was thinking about, okay, all right, what

760
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 4: is this going to look like?

761
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,319
Speaker 3: Because I got hired, obviously, I was.

762
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,839
Speaker 4: In the media space, I was doing you know, all

763
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,520
Speaker 4: my shit, you know, this globe trying and uh spoke

764
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:58,520
Speaker 4: called me in the middle of COVID and to say, hey, man,

765
00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:01,839
Speaker 4: I've been listening to you you on television. I love

766
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:04,000
Speaker 4: your messaging, I love what you're talking about. I think

767
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:08,440
Speaker 4: that you would just have a huge impact in this space.

768
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,160
Speaker 4: And I was like, damn, all right, what that looks

769
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:15,320
Speaker 4: like because Miami heat, I know they strict, and you know,

770
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 4: I ain't put on like eighty pounds the big as fuck.

771
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,040
Speaker 4: Like at this point, I'm like, can I even like

772
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:23,759
Speaker 4: move around with these young boys? And I know the

773
00:37:23,760 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 4: messaging gonna hit, but can I like be active? You

774
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. I remember I hollered at you

775
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 4: one time. He was like, see what you doing. I

776
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 4: was like, bro, I went on the walk in the

777
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 4: mountains and I'm just He's like, I'm gonna try that.

778
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:37,399
Speaker 4: So I'm just like chilling like on my old man shit.

779
00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 4: And I get over there, and you know, it's all

780
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:43,839
Speaker 4: about culture, Like not only the players getting waiting body

781
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,879
Speaker 4: factor play, the coaches are too.

782
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: Yeah.

783
00:37:46,840 --> 00:37:49,960
Speaker 3: So Godfather he like he got a certain standard and

784
00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:51,560
Speaker 3: I'm like, damn, So.

785
00:37:51,480 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 4: I tapped into that, started losing weight, Uh, you know,

786
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 4: tapping into being a better version of myself physically mentally,

787
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:03,080
Speaker 4: but the proximity of the information, like I consider myself

788
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,839
Speaker 4: going into I looked at it like college, like I'm

789
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:07,280
Speaker 4: going to a four year university.

790
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 3: I've been there six years.

791
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,560
Speaker 4: So I feel like I got a masters degree in

792
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 4: basketball now because I was just in basketball school under

793
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 4: the Godfather and Underspoe, I just learned so much. I

794
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,200
Speaker 4: learned how to apply information from a player development standpoint

795
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:26,440
Speaker 4: for strategic planning offensively, defensively putting, putting together game plans.

796
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 4: Being a head coach of the Summer League, you know,

797
00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:35,360
Speaker 4: being entrusted with some of these these talents like Jimmy

798
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:39,160
Speaker 4: Butler to Bam to your Donna's, you know, just working

799
00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:41,600
Speaker 4: on my craft, trialing error and just figuring shit out

800
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 4: on the fly. Like I've learned so much, and now

801
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 4: that I've had that experience, I'm ready to make that step.

802
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,319
Speaker 1: Forward as a head coach, you have to hear that.

803
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 5: You're ready to take that next step.

804
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 2: Lark created the Jump Program explaining what that's about and

805
00:38:59,040 --> 00:38:59,840
Speaker 2: how the NBA.

806
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:02,160
Speaker 5: Is and I guess spent about two three years ago.

807
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,359
Speaker 5: I met a brother named Ken Oliver, and Ken and

808
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,359
Speaker 5: I kind of had a similar experience Ken did, I

809
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 5: think twenty three years in California system and got out

810
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 5: was doing well working for you know, working for the

811
00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 5: organization together for a re entry kind of organization. We

812
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:24,680
Speaker 5: kind of talked forbid and realized that we would thinking

813
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,880
Speaker 5: the same way in terms of how we could help people,

814
00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:30,719
Speaker 5: how we could help provide opportunities for people coming out

815
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,280
Speaker 5: of the system. And so we put together this organization

816
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 5: called JUMP, which stands for Justice and Upward Mobility Project,

817
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 5: and it's basically it's really about providing opportunities for people,

818
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,640
Speaker 5: like I said, to come home and not just survive,

819
00:39:43,719 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 5: but to thrive, and providing educational opportunities, providing you know,

820
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:53,279
Speaker 5: job training opportunities, leadership training opportunities, and again to me,

821
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:56,160
Speaker 5: you know, like I said, it's some of the most

822
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 5: intelligent people I ever met, a people that can't you know.

823
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,920
Speaker 5: There's a quote that I to use all the time

824
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 5: when I talk about this, and the quote says that

825
00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:09,319
Speaker 5: in this world, talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.

826
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,759
Speaker 5: And if you think about it, that's absolutely the truth.

827
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 5: You can go anywhere in the world find talented people,

828
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:19,319
Speaker 5: intelligent people who just because of their situation don't have

829
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:23,840
Speaker 5: the opportunity to express that creativity and intellect in a

830
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,799
Speaker 5: positive way. So we're trying to create opportunities for that.

831
00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 5: We're working with the NBA Social Justice Coalition and we've

832
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 5: worked We've created an apprentice program with them where we're

833
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 5: working in four different cities now, four different teams, and

834
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 5: the idea is to expand that and go well beyond that.

835
00:40:41,200 --> 00:40:46,600
Speaker 5: And our goal is to how do we use sports entertainment,

836
00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:51,200
Speaker 5: corporate uh, you know, corporate world to help support this

837
00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,200
Speaker 5: because the reality is it's gonna take resources to do it.

838
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 5: It's gonna take money, it's gonna take you know, intellect,

839
00:40:57,640 --> 00:40:59,440
Speaker 5: and so we're trying to figure out how we can

840
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:03,120
Speaker 5: pull together those groups to make sure that that you know,

841
00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:05,920
Speaker 5: we're looking at how we can provide those resources to

842
00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 5: get people, uh, those opportunities.

843
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:09,880
Speaker 2: I say this, I say that all the time when

844
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:11,880
Speaker 2: I'm talking a whut I'm explaining people the difference between

845
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,359
Speaker 2: me and George Floyd just the opportunity from the same area,

846
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,600
Speaker 2: but I have more opportunity. He was an athlete, all American,

847
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:21,279
Speaker 2: all that, but just the opportunity was Yeah, and that

848
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 2: is simple. It is, It's that simple. We'd like, we say,

849
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,480
Speaker 2: the best athletes in jail, some of the smartest people.

850
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 2: But it's just that opportunity that we got that one

851
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 2: coach came to my neighborhood and looked for me, so

852
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:32,480
Speaker 2: it didn't go to his neighborhood.

853
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.

854
00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 3: And it's that simple, and people don't understand that.

855
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 5: No, it is, and that that I mean again to me,

856
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 5: that's that's what we're about. We're trying to figure out

857
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 5: how we can provide those opportunities for people. And uh,

858
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 5: you know it's uh, it's it's been a challenging, but

859
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 5: it's been rewarding so far. I mean for me. You know,

860
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,880
Speaker 5: for years, like I said, I hid from my past,

861
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,640
Speaker 5: but I always felt like I wanted to help. I

862
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 5: wanted to do something. But if I was afraid if

863
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:01,840
Speaker 5: I put myself out there, then that I'm exposing myself. Now,

864
00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 5: you know, I'm at a point where one of the

865
00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 5: things I realized there's a lot of people, a lot

866
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:10,760
Speaker 5: of organizations out here that are trying to help folks

867
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:14,279
Speaker 5: to come back come home from the system. So you know,

868
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 5: we're trying to add an element to that that wasn't

869
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 5: there that can we think could really help provide these opportunities.

870
00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 2: There's a lot of grass our organizations out here that's

871
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 2: trying to help.

872
00:42:26,080 --> 00:42:28,719
Speaker 1: They don't get the support exactly. That's why exactly I

873
00:42:28,760 --> 00:42:29,600
Speaker 1: will say like.

874
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 4: You, like you was a trailblazer in this, like and

875
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 4: you sparked this with the NBA Coalition because you think

876
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 4: about prior to your brother piece to be.

877
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:42,239
Speaker 3: Upon them, like.

878
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:50,480
Speaker 4: It wasn't nothing established, and when that tragedy happened, you

879
00:42:50,680 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 4: sparked the interests and from a bipartisan space like.

880
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:57,919
Speaker 3: It wasn't left, it wasn't right.

881
00:42:58,560 --> 00:43:01,040
Speaker 4: It was just like real empathy in real time where

882
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:05,719
Speaker 4: everyone saw universal wrong and you was the face of it,

883
00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,240
Speaker 4: to face, the voice the messenger. I remember like turning

884
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:13,319
Speaker 4: over and I watched it on social and I saw

885
00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:15,360
Speaker 4: you and I was just like, damn, I can't touch you.

886
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:17,879
Speaker 4: I can't do this. I can't be there for you,

887
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 4: like physically right there. But we're going to use our

888
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:26,279
Speaker 4: resources in the association and this rally behind you. And

889
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,440
Speaker 4: that's what happened in real time. And James know the story.

890
00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:32,200
Speaker 4: The rest is history. But the NBA Coalition was formed,

891
00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:38,279
Speaker 4: these conversations, was had these policies, these voter registrations, this,

892
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 4: like the whole recitizensm everything, like everything just took a

893
00:43:43,600 --> 00:43:48,520
Speaker 4: shift because of your movement. And you sparked that, and

894
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:50,440
Speaker 4: I want to give you your flowers. I appreciate it,

895
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 4: but that was that was heavy.

896
00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 2: Anyway, anyway we can help and support what y'all got going,

897
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:55,440
Speaker 2: Please keep in.

898
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:59,600
Speaker 1: Mind, whether it's whether it's promoting what you're doing or

899
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 1: having people come see behind the scenes and how to

900
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:04,279
Speaker 1: build this kind of stuff. I mean, we're here for that.

901
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:06,879
Speaker 4: Yeah, I appreciate me locked on from you, but bro,

902
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 4: for real, it was crazy because we talked to the

903
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:13,000
Speaker 4: commissioner and he was like, all right, shit, all right,

904
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:16,399
Speaker 4: take the platform, start having these conversations, start educating, start

905
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,319
Speaker 4: executing this and it just like it took a life

906
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:23,400
Speaker 4: of his own, but it didn't exist before you, you

907
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:25,520
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. So it's just like you need

908
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:27,319
Speaker 4: to hear that and understand that because I know, like

909
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,160
Speaker 4: shit be happening and shit moving fast. You got this

910
00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:33,040
Speaker 4: institution that y'all built is crazy. But it's like, bro,

911
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,799
Speaker 4: you did a lot of shit.

912
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 2: I would say that's being involved in that was the

913
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,080
Speaker 2: biggest thing I ever did in my life because it was selfish.

914
00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:41,799
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I was just standing for

915
00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:43,840
Speaker 2: black people. I was standing for right you know what

916
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 2: I'm saying. Not just right period, you know what I'm saying.

917
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:48,200
Speaker 2: And it felt good to being able to do that.

918
00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:51,160
Speaker 1: Bro, the biggest protests in the world's ever seen ever

919
00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:54,759
Speaker 1: before we get out of here. How did this partnership

920
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:56,360
Speaker 1: in friendship come about?

921
00:44:56,680 --> 00:44:59,879
Speaker 5: I know it was. It was an instant, like something

922
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:03,240
Speaker 5: out this project. I mean, we we just we just connected.

923
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:09,360
Speaker 3: I knew it wasn't on it. It wasn't on the

924
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:09,920
Speaker 3: golf course.

925
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:13,000
Speaker 4: I think, uh, I think somebody had actually told me

926
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:17,280
Speaker 4: a snippet of like it's about his history and stuff,

927
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 4: and and I just like gravitated to him like even more,

928
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:23,719
Speaker 4: and we just started having conversations and he told me

929
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,160
Speaker 4: what he was into, and we just started like peering

930
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 4: up and start doing together.

931
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:28,880
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, he was.

932
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,879
Speaker 5: He was on one of the people on the top

933
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:33,920
Speaker 5: of my list when I wanted to make sure I

934
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 5: shared it.

935
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,120
Speaker 3: He was m J.

936
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 5: Phil Knight cor.

937
00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:40,879
Speaker 3: Do that ship.

938
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 1: That's a good company to be in.

939
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 5: And then both of them told me the same thing.

940
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:50,200
Speaker 5: I remember, uh, I sent both of them a text

941
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:52,600
Speaker 5: say Hey, something person I want to talk to you about,

942
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:55,919
Speaker 5: and uh, Phil Knight got right back to me, Hey,

943
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:57,799
Speaker 5: can we do it over? And m J kind of

944
00:45:57,880 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 5: drug his feet little bit. I think the last time

945
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:01,719
Speaker 5: I told him that I was leaving to go to

946
00:46:01,719 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 5: the Blazers, so I think he was trying not to

947
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:06,279
Speaker 5: hear what I had to say. But I ended up

948
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,280
Speaker 5: talking to Phil Night first and went through my story,

949
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:13,360
Speaker 5: and when I was done, he said, he said, you know,

950
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:16,800
Speaker 5: when you said something personal, I didn't know what to expect,

951
00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:18,319
Speaker 5: he said, but I could tell you for sure it

952
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,759
Speaker 5: wasn't this, he said, But I think your story is

953
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:26,080
Speaker 5: not only inspirational, but it's aspirational as well, and I'll

954
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 5: support you and help you however I can. And then

955
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:32,319
Speaker 5: the next day I talked to MJ. Sot, I'm on

956
00:46:32,360 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 5: the phone. I kind of go through it with him,

957
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:36,440
Speaker 5: and when I was done, it was like silence on

958
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 5: the other end of the phone. For it's only a

959
00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:40,160
Speaker 5: couple of seconds, but it felt like a couple of hours,

960
00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 5: and he said, I agree with your daughter. You need

961
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,120
Speaker 5: to share this story and whatever I could do to

962
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 5: help and Niki and the Jordan MJ, they've all been

963
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:51,600
Speaker 5: extremely supportive throughout this whole product project.

964
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:53,799
Speaker 4: And I was just thinking too, Like you said, the

965
00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 4: difference between you and your brother is like you got

966
00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:00,600
Speaker 4: the chance to get out of there.

967
00:47:00,840 --> 00:47:01,160
Speaker 3: Now.

968
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,040
Speaker 4: I don't know what chance that was for you to

969
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:05,879
Speaker 4: make a change in your life, but shit, I had

970
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:06,879
Speaker 4: like twenty I.

971
00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:08,680
Speaker 5: Had chances, you know what I'm saying.

972
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 3: So it's just like, shame on up.

973
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:14,359
Speaker 4: We if we have these platforms and these resources and

974
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,360
Speaker 4: access to all these different things and we're not like

975
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:19,680
Speaker 4: speaking truth to power and just trying to like connect

976
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:22,960
Speaker 4: the dots to make opportunities happen for people, and then

977
00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:26,839
Speaker 4: giving the education to the new young wave that got

978
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,080
Speaker 4: way more paper, you know what I'm saying.

979
00:47:29,120 --> 00:47:32,480
Speaker 3: No bigger institutions now they can keep that thing going.

980
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 1: So that it's important, is mandatory we do that.

981
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:36,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's all Before we.

982
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,600
Speaker 1: Get the quick hitters, shout out to the Larry O'Brien

983
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:40,760
Speaker 1: trophy sitting behind us, and thank you for the NBA

984
00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 1: for bringing it back through the absolutely a ight phelad.

985
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 1: You guys can answer as a group or individually. Quick hitters,

986
00:47:50,239 --> 00:47:53,000
Speaker 1: rank these three in your order. I'm gonna go with

987
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:56,319
Speaker 1: you first. Larry MJ Kobe Lebron. Three, Do I have

988
00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: to h two and three for you?

989
00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:00,720
Speaker 5: Kobe Lebron?

990
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, Kobe, Mike Bron.

991
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:10,520
Speaker 1: Five dinner guests, dead or alive? You know why he said, Kobe,

992
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:14,719
Speaker 1: just how he understands what's up? Uh?

993
00:48:15,520 --> 00:48:24,040
Speaker 5: There Live plus five Muhammad, Ali, Nelson, Mandela, Michael Jordan's

994
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:32,400
Speaker 5: actually Phil Knight Night Night. I was throwing there and Butler, boy,

995
00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:34,600
Speaker 5: you're five.

996
00:48:34,840 --> 00:48:37,080
Speaker 4: So the three gonna be me, Larry and my wife

997
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:41,080
Speaker 4: first and then I'm gonna have Nelson, Mandela and Malcolm X.

998
00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:42,800
Speaker 1: That's gonna be nice.

999
00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:44,840
Speaker 2: One album you can listen to and repeat.

1000
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:46,879
Speaker 5: Now you first, what's going on? Marvin Gay?

1001
00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:47,439
Speaker 1: I'm gay?

1002
00:48:48,239 --> 00:48:52,600
Speaker 3: What you got an album? Let's see? Uh, I would

1003
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:53,520
Speaker 3: say mcabelly.

1004
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:57,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, Guilty Pleasure.

1005
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:02,000
Speaker 4: I love road skate really like old school for four wheels.

1006
00:49:02,520 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 4: That's right, Yeah, Midwest let me find out. I haven't,

1007
00:49:06,680 --> 00:49:09,440
Speaker 4: but I need to get with uh Waiters. I need

1008
00:49:09,480 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 4: to get with him. Yeah, I heard of your rock

1009
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:14,760
Speaker 4: all that.

1010
00:49:16,719 --> 00:49:23,360
Speaker 5: Guilty Pleasure. Judge, Judy, Judge, Judy.

1011
00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:25,440
Speaker 1: You can laugh all you want, but you know how

1012
00:49:25,520 --> 00:49:26,279
Speaker 1: much money she used to.

1013
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:29,839
Speaker 5: On TV?

1014
00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 1: She was making like what forty to sixty million years.

1015
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 1: It was something stupid.

1016
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:35,360
Speaker 5: She don't take no ship, that's why.

1017
00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:37,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, childhood crush.

1018
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:39,200
Speaker 5: So y'all, y'all ain't gonna be down with this one.

1019
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 5: But Pam Grid what you mean?

1020
00:49:40,760 --> 00:49:41,239
Speaker 1: What you mean?

1021
00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 5: Yeah, old enough to real.

1022
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,360
Speaker 1: Pa Brown did not have seen her in their twenties,

1023
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:51,439
Speaker 1: but we know who you're talking about.

1024
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 5: I saw her in the twenties.

1025
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:56,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the good one.

1026
00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say, CALLI from Saved by the Bill. That

1027
00:49:58,840 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 4: was my that's my little thing.

1028
00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:15,000
Speaker 1: I know. I know her stage name and her name real.

1029
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 1: If you can see what guests on All the Smoke,

1030
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:20,319
Speaker 1: who would it be?

1031
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 3: But you have to help us get your answer on

1032
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:23,480
Speaker 3: the show.

1033
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 5: See I would Originally I would have said Howard White,

1034
00:50:27,680 --> 00:50:31,880
Speaker 5: but y'all already had already had White, so MJ.

1035
00:50:32,520 --> 00:50:33,960
Speaker 3: I was just about to say that. I didn't talk

1036
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:34,560
Speaker 3: him about it.

1037
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:41,280
Speaker 1: So hopefully, well, Larry and Kuran, thank you guys, congratulations

1038
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 1: on creating this program. Again. If we can utilize our

1039
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: platform or our resources to help continue to push the

1040
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:50,640
Speaker 1: message along and help these people transition out of incarceration,

1041
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 1: we're here.

1042
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:53,799
Speaker 5: We were definitely gonna take advantage of that and and

1043
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:56,320
Speaker 5: look to partner with you guys on helping.

1044
00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:58,759
Speaker 1: Us to do this totally. That's a wrap all the

1045
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,160
Speaker 1: smoke you can catch us on Yeah, all the Smoke productions, YouTube,

1046
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 1: and and Draft Kings. We'll see y'all next week. M m.

1047
00:51:14,719 --> 00:51:15,080
Speaker 4: M hm

1048
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 1: H