Speaker 1: H m hm.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm mm hmm.
Speaker 3: Welcome back all the smoke Atlanta. It's been a good
Speaker 3: trip so far.
Speaker 2: Bro.
Speaker 3: Yeah they ay time shouting were in here day two?
Speaker 3: Uh we got all Star.
Speaker 1: Fifth year, six year.
Speaker 2: This is my six year old bro. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Man, welcome to the show. De John Ty Murray. Appreciate
Speaker 3: your time.
Speaker 1: Man. Let me connect you for a minute. So I'm
Speaker 1: glad we've done got uh got you locked in DJ
Speaker 1: on the couch? Man. Huh what's been supposed to have one?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been going back and forth them on the
Speaker 3: d M for a minute. We two trying to catch up. Lit'sten,
Speaker 3: you know, schedules, they're busy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, got the star. Welcome to the show man. How's life?
Speaker 1: What's going on? How how are you adjusting to Atlanta? Man?
Speaker 4: It's first of all, life is great, bro. Uh you
Speaker 4: know where we come from, you see another day. It's
Speaker 4: a blessing, right, you know. And obviously to be in
Speaker 4: the situation I'm in in life in general, just you know,
Speaker 4: be able to try to find that peace, you know,
Speaker 4: some happiness and doing the right thing.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, so life's great. Uh, you know, as far
Speaker 4: as adjustingentlan ship. I'm trying to. I'll be inside, bro
Speaker 4: be outside. You know I've been chilling. I like to
Speaker 4: be in my own bubble, uh, locked in, uh with
Speaker 4: my family.
Speaker 2: So I'm adjusted to it. I know they get lit
Speaker 2: up here.
Speaker 3: So I think you just so now you have you
Speaker 3: got another one on the way. Yeah, how's that? What's
Speaker 3: that feeling like?
Speaker 1: Right? You got a girl? Dad? But what's that? I mean,
Speaker 1: what's that feeling? Like? Explained fatherhood to us in your opinion?
Speaker 2: I mean, uh, you know I grew up.
Speaker 4: You know, I always had uncles, aunt tis, my grandmother,
Speaker 4: my mother, and my father. You know, uh it was around,
Speaker 4: but my mom I ain't really grow up with that
Speaker 4: that that relationship like mom son dad son, you feel me.
Speaker 4: So it was more like a I call it like
Speaker 4: a group home, but it was love. It was me
Speaker 4: and all my family and raising my grandma's house. So
Speaker 4: it's like, uh, you know it kind of it hit
Speaker 4: different for me knowing that, like I ain't had a
Speaker 4: taking me to school, taking me to activities, waking up
Speaker 4: with breakfast, lunch, dinner, all that, like you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. So having my daughter is it's easy because
Speaker 4: it's what I'm supposed to do.
Speaker 2: I always tell people I love or people.
Speaker 4: That don't know me that see you know me being
Speaker 4: a father, Like, don't praise me for something I'm supposed
Speaker 4: to do. You know what I'm saying. So you know
Speaker 4: it's it's crazy. I got another girl in the way.
Speaker 4: My daughter's excited. I'm excited. Uh you know, but fatherhood
Speaker 4: everything to me come first.
Speaker 5: I got five girls, so I know the feeling. Speaking
Speaker 5: of your father, I saw recently before I go to
Speaker 5: my quest, I saw you you talk about you went
Speaker 5: and raised when I saw you reached out to your
Speaker 5: father and the bottom of truck and still kind of
Speaker 5: men died that relationship. Talk talking a little about it
Speaker 5: because that that means a lot. I did the same
Speaker 5: thing for my father died like he stayed five minutes
Speaker 5: away from him, but wasn't there. But as I became
Speaker 5: a man and had kids, a boy, other women, I
Speaker 5: understand how it could be difficult. Yeah, I could not
Speaker 5: just be his fault, and I reached out to him
Speaker 5: and built our relationship before he passed. So talk about
Speaker 5: it because I saw you did the same thing for
Speaker 5: your popper. Sure you was just manute you pulled up
Speaker 5: with a truck for him.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, nah, I mean, you know, I love my dad,
Speaker 4: Like I think the difference that we have is I
Speaker 4: don't be trying to tell him like you were dead,
Speaker 4: be like I ain't on that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Like for me, it's the times I needed you, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. I just wanted answers. You could
Speaker 4: have told me like you know, I wasn't right. This
Speaker 4: was going on like I'm grown that I ain't a
Speaker 4: little boy. So it's like we can have them conversations.
Speaker 4: So it was like it was really you know, obviously
Speaker 4: I didn't grow up living with him, but I remember
Speaker 4: being around him and all that, and you know, we
Speaker 4: just bumped heads, I think from my teenage from being
Speaker 4: what eleven eleven all the way to you know, like
Speaker 4: seventeen eighteen, and I always ask them like let's just
Speaker 4: have a conversation, like I want you to get to
Speaker 4: know me, like I ain't the innocent little kid that
Speaker 4: he was used to being around. Because we want a
Speaker 4: long time not seeing each other, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: Even to this day, you know, we're still bumping hiss.
Speaker 4: But I'll be telling them like I love you like
Speaker 4: I brought you to high school games, college games, the draft,
Speaker 4: you know, trying to build that relationship with him. Cause
Speaker 4: it's not easy, but it's not hard, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. And it ain't about the materialistic things for me,
Speaker 4: like none of that movement you feel me.
Speaker 2: But I just know from a kid that he always
Speaker 2: liked the tahoe you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And I ain't really did nothing for him since I
Speaker 4: made it, because my main thing being let's build that
Speaker 4: father and son relationship and all that extra stuff could
Speaker 4: come with it, you know what I'm saying. But I
Speaker 4: want to build that like I want that like I'm
Speaker 4: in the league, bro, Like I want you to be
Speaker 4: able to be at the games. I want to be
Speaker 4: able to talk after the games, like with my father
Speaker 4: and my mother. So it's like for me and him,
Speaker 4: we still just it's still hard, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: But me remembering since a kid that he liked tahoes
Speaker 4: and knowing that the family. You know, he's living in
Speaker 4: Hawaii right now with his wife and three of my
Speaker 4: little sisters. So knowing that you know their family, I'm like, Damn,
Speaker 4: he got cars he ain't got no truck. So that's
Speaker 4: just me always thinking to my people. Bro, I'm a giver,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So you know, it wasn't
Speaker 4: even about the truck or nothing. It was just something
Speaker 4: that I wanted to do and just help him and
Speaker 4: let him know, like I love you.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, No matter what, Like I.
Speaker 5: Love you, You're gonna always be blessed for that mentality
Speaker 5: and attitude. Last Junie, you got traded by the Spurs
Speaker 5: to the Hawks. How did you find out?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 2: I think I was in New York. I was in
Speaker 2: New York.
Speaker 4: Uh, just chilling, working out my homies and shit, and
Speaker 4: me and Pop was talking. I was in a bunch
Speaker 4: of like it started heating up. I was in trade talks,
Speaker 4: but it was always BS. You know, Pop, you been
Speaker 4: around and it was BS. He'll call me like it
Speaker 4: ain't nothing.
Speaker 2: It ain't nothing.
Speaker 4: Then it started heating up. And then I started asking
Speaker 4: questions though, because I'm in the gym every day. Like
Speaker 4: I stayed in San Antonio. I didn't leave for the summers,
Speaker 4: go back home, go la, none of that. Staying San Antonio. Yeah,
Speaker 4: And you know, I'm just curious to where we're going,
Speaker 4: what we're doing, you know what I mean, because not
Speaker 4: alone that I'm growing, but we're drafting younger guys and
Speaker 4: it's like it ain't fair to them, and it ain't
Speaker 4: fair to me because you know, I'm doing this and
Speaker 4: they just getting here, and you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So I always I wasn't a selfish type to be like, oh,
Speaker 4: we got to get better players, We got to do
Speaker 4: this because they all talented. You here for a reason,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. But for me, I just
Speaker 4: explain to popping them guys like it's just ain't fair
Speaker 4: for them trying to develop and then me, you know,
Speaker 4: reaching the levels on your reach and got years ahead
Speaker 4: of them and just figuring out what we're doing. And
Speaker 4: you know, they asked me, you know, teams that I
Speaker 4: like to play for, and you know, Atlanta was a
Speaker 4: team not only you know, because of Trey Young, but
Speaker 4: just you know, the culture, our people's out here, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, And I love it. We played
Speaker 4: there last year before the All Star Game. We came
Speaker 4: here and played and I just felt the vibe. I
Speaker 4: felt the atmosphere and it was something I want to
Speaker 4: be a part.
Speaker 1: Of that's dope. I know. I mean me playing in
Speaker 1: San Antonio.
Speaker 5: I know like I left twice, and I know how
Speaker 5: that situation could hole players back. I went through it
Speaker 5: because while I went through it, I became a better
Speaker 5: player once I left. I appreciate the opportunity because I
Speaker 5: got a chance to play with Tim and Day win
Speaker 5: the championship and all that.
Speaker 1: But that's it.
Speaker 5: That system is not for everybody, and I saw that
Speaker 5: with you. You know, same thing I said with Kawhi
Speaker 5: was true when I got there with Kawhi. I see
Speaker 5: the same thing with DJ Bro. I say, it's about
Speaker 5: to happen. He's gonna get tired because he's not growing
Speaker 5: as a player. They wanted to continue to stay in
Speaker 5: that system. But he's not gonna be the best hymn
Speaker 5: in that system, am I right?
Speaker 2: Of course you witnessed it.
Speaker 1: You was there.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, So you could see between
Speaker 4: all that to fake all of it, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean?
Speaker 2: So, of course, and.
Speaker 5: It's professional, don't get me real. Professional is a great
Speaker 5: organization to be a part of. But if you're not
Speaker 5: Tony Parker, Gerobli, Tim Duncan, that's not.
Speaker 1: A place where you have longevity.
Speaker 5: So I was glad to see you leave, and I
Speaker 5: was glad to see popping them send you somewhere where
Speaker 5: you could you know what I'm saying, where you can
Speaker 5: flourish immediately, because they will send you to somewhere where
Speaker 5: you'll disappear, especially if they know they got to play
Speaker 5: you again, you know what I mean. And that's one
Speaker 5: thing about my second time. He didn't want to send
Speaker 5: me the Clippers. He just cut me so I couldn't
Speaker 5: sign with nobody el because the players were about to start. See,
Speaker 5: I get it. I wouldnt want to see me either,
Speaker 5: but I wouldn't want to let me either. The league, everybody,
Speaker 5: me living here in Atlanta, everybody was excited to see
Speaker 5: you and trade together. How's it Phiel been on the
Speaker 5: corporate trade right now? Building that chemistry.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's a process, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And I'm trying to put that through his head the
Speaker 4: rest of the team's head, like it's a it's a journey.
Speaker 4: It's a process, and what we want don't come overnight.
Speaker 4: It ain't easy. This league's a monster. As we know,
Speaker 4: you guys. No former players like the talent's off the roof.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. So, uh, you know, obviously
Speaker 4: I like playing with him, just he could pass the ball,
Speaker 4: he could screw the ball. And I try to tell
Speaker 4: a lot of people like just around me, like I
Speaker 4: don't think he gets the credit that he deserves far
Speaker 4: as being his height and what he does. You know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like I'm six or five, bro, Like,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. So, no, I'm not gonna
Speaker 4: say easier, but six foot six five, that's a big
Speaker 4: difference in his league, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So to see him being able to.
Speaker 4: Be a thirty and ten guy like at his size,
Speaker 4: I don't think he even realized it how impressive it is,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But we're still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm somebody I don't want nothing easy, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm Bill Fradversy. I try to tell them like, we
Speaker 4: don't want nothing easy because at the end we're gonna smile,
Speaker 4: you know, we're gonna laugh, joke everything. But all the
Speaker 4: hard times, you gotta grind it out. You want it,
Speaker 4: and you don't you know what I'm saying. So, I mean,
Speaker 4: I like playing with them.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, like I said, it's a journey, it's a process.
Speaker 4: So you gotta just these are things that you just
Speaker 4: gotta sit and just watch, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: But see, that's that's another thing with San Antonio. See
Speaker 5: you coming from San Antonio, you have more years of
Speaker 5: experience than you do years of playing from here. But
Speaker 5: they teach you so much over there. You know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying. You your your basketball IQ grows there and
Speaker 5: that's good for this team because the team has some
Speaker 5: ups and downs before you got here.
Speaker 1: They got high the back low again.
Speaker 5: And for you to be coming there to let you
Speaker 5: guys know, hey, we got a new team, but we
Speaker 5: you know, we're still growing, that's important. Bro, That's important
Speaker 5: because look at Boston. It's just on the half of Boston.
Speaker 5: They drafted that and it's just starting to happen. So
Speaker 5: the fact that you're coming in being a leader speaking
Speaker 5: like that.
Speaker 1: That's good for your squad. Bro.
Speaker 2: No, for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: Born and raised in Seattle. Uh, incarcerated at a young age.
Speaker 3: How did that shape your point of view once you
Speaker 3: left that situation.
Speaker 5: That's why I love him, That's why I fell in
Speaker 5: love with him. Because I knew his story.
Speaker 4: Now you know, it's love both of y'all shit. But
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, that was my environment.
Speaker 2: Like my mom.
Speaker 4: My mom, she grew up in prison, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. Like she was in out of prison, in
Speaker 4: and out of jail all the time, you know, from
Speaker 4: a kid juvenile all the way to county to prison.
Speaker 4: And my dad he was you know, he was a hustler,
Speaker 4: uh you know, but he didn't really do no time
Speaker 4: like that. He'd been in jail, in and out, but
Speaker 4: he didn't really do no time like my mom. So
Speaker 4: that was my environment. You know, you're just a product
Speaker 4: in your environment. You just go with the flow. You're
Speaker 4: trying to make it to the next day survival, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. And I had to. That had
Speaker 4: to be my mindset at ten years old, eleven years old,
Speaker 4: you know right away, even before that.
Speaker 2: But I always had good people.
Speaker 4: Like uncles, my grandma and you know, all the aunties
Speaker 4: and stuff that looked after me.
Speaker 2: We just as bad kids running around the neighborhood, run
Speaker 2: around the house. You know.
Speaker 4: Whereas it got to ten eleven years old, is you
Speaker 4: know when I started getting active. You know what I
Speaker 4: mean always was around older people, and you know, first
Speaker 4: time juveniles eleven, eleven, and then thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and
Speaker 4: I think the last time was fifteen. I knew I
Speaker 4: was always talented in basketball, and the judges always had
Speaker 4: something for me. It was like it was already written
Speaker 4: from God, or like I was always getting smacks on
Speaker 4: the wrist, you know what I mean. And I'm watching
Speaker 4: my homies get thirty years, forty years, fifty all the
Speaker 4: way to eighty years. Partners I talked to till this day.
Speaker 4: Every day. You know what I'm saying. And I remember
Speaker 4: the last time I went. It's a story I never
Speaker 4: told nobody. I told people around me. But I'm fifteen
Speaker 4: and I'm in juvenile and they detained me. They keep me,
Speaker 4: they keep me in for an extra thirty days. I'm
Speaker 4: thinking I'm getting out, MAYI. I'm supposed to be at practice.
Speaker 4: I'm supposed to be at school. So there's a big
Speaker 4: game coming up. It's Reyner Beach versus Botho. Zach Lavine
Speaker 4: went to Bothel So the whole city they knew I
Speaker 4: was younger and he was older, getting ready to go
Speaker 4: to UCLA. But they knew the talent was there, so
Speaker 4: they was hyping the game up. Right at SPU when
Speaker 4: ma All have his crossover rat and they hyping this
Speaker 4: game up.
Speaker 2: I'm in juvenile.
Speaker 4: I missed the game, biggest game of the year, biggest
Speaker 4: game in the city. And for me, it wasn't because
Speaker 4: they was hyping the game up. It just was, you know,
Speaker 4: opportunity to go out showcase myself, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: and showed that I'm I'm ready to be the next guy.
Speaker 4: Knowing that Zach's head in the college and then you know,
Speaker 4: obviously the NBA. So I'm in there and I'm just thinking, like, bro,
Speaker 4: this ain't the life I want, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 4: this is not the life I want, you know what
Speaker 4: i mean, Like even if it ain't basketball, Like I
Speaker 4: got to figure it out. And obviously I had a
Speaker 4: great support system. You know, my uncles, you know, they
Speaker 4: built the plan for me. They like we about to
Speaker 4: move them out the hood. Were about to move them,
Speaker 4: you know, with my auntie rest in Peace was one
Speaker 4: hundred seven years old. I lived with her, and they
Speaker 4: was like, we're gonna move him out the way. We're
Speaker 4: gonna homeschool them, and you know, the rest was history.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: I got out, moved away, moved away from my family,
Speaker 4: the hood. Everything it was like I was ghosts. I
Speaker 4: was gone Jim House, Jim House every day for three years.
Speaker 4: So with his senior year, and I just seen you know,
Speaker 4: them tables turning when you start doing the right thing.
Speaker 4: I feel like God bless you, and God start blessing
Speaker 4: me each and every day.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 3: Rainier Beach High School three times champ guys such as
Speaker 3: Doug Christy, Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Kevin Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: What did that mean?
Speaker 3: Seeing all the dudes before you make that next jump,
Speaker 3: not only at the college, but have successful careers in
Speaker 3: the league.
Speaker 4: I mean it speaks, It speaks volumes of uh you
Speaker 4: know the high school. Uh you know what we what
Speaker 4: we represent. Uh shout out coach Mike Theah. Uh he
Speaker 4: been the coach there, the coach, all them guys all
Speaker 4: the way up to right now. And UH, for me,
Speaker 4: it just it just motivated me, you know, seeing them
Speaker 4: guys being around them, guys playing against them, guys getting
Speaker 4: to pick their brain. But more so, uh, you know,
Speaker 4: I took all their situations and just use it for
Speaker 4: what to do and not to do. Uh, you know,
Speaker 4: because we got a lot of guys, so even you know,
Speaker 4: Terrence Williams, he went there.
Speaker 2: He was nice to nice, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And for me, like I just I just utilized all that, Bro,
Speaker 4: I just I took advantage of it. You know, I
Speaker 4: didn't play with like I said, when I changed my
Speaker 4: life and I was like, I'm gonna do the right thing.
Speaker 4: I was to take advantage of everything good, bad, but
Speaker 4: mainly the good and and you know, all them guys
Speaker 4: played the part in where I'm at today. You remember
Speaker 4: do named Doug Rin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my cousin.
Speaker 1: That's your cousin.
Speaker 2: That's my blood cousin, Bro, Doug, blood cousin.
Speaker 3: Cool, so talented, bro, but was always in some ship,
Speaker 3: always used to play together in Au. Doug was so
Speaker 3: fucking cool, bro. Yeah tell him, I said, what up,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you.
Speaker 1: That was my home.
Speaker 3: He's still crazy, Yeah he was, but but stat he
Speaker 3: had so much game, bro, and went to the dug.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I got a chance to meet you at Jamal
Speaker 3: Crawford's wedding and we know what kind of obviously, what
Speaker 3: kind of basketball had Jamal is so Jamal doesn't tell
Speaker 3: none of us this shit.
Speaker 1: So we get there the first day. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing.
Speaker 3: I'm jumping off the bus or I'm jumping off the plane,
Speaker 3: going to smoke drinking. Okay, I got a couple of
Speaker 3: days off the chill. Jamal hits us, we got some
Speaker 3: shit to do at midnight. It was like midnight, what
Speaker 3: you're talking about?
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna play some basketball, Like come on, what
Speaker 1: you're talking about?
Speaker 3: Like huh. So we end up going to where he
Speaker 3: has this program at. When I tell you that shit
Speaker 3: was sold out at midnight Jack like six thousand people
Speaker 3: in that thing packed. Little skinny dude with a curly tops.
Speaker 1: I didn't know who he was.
Speaker 3: This motherfucker killed had like almost fifty. He was only
Speaker 3: maybe a sophomore at junior high school.
Speaker 2: What I was a junior junior. I was going to
Speaker 2: my junior I believe.
Speaker 1: When I tell you, stole the show.
Speaker 3: Like no one was playing super serious until they saw
Speaker 3: how hard he was going. And then him and Jamal
Speaker 3: started going out. I was like, yo, who is he's
Speaker 3: He's going to the pros go. That's that's the little homies.
Speaker 3: He's nice, he's supposed to go to you, dub. I'm like, damn,
Speaker 3: this little nigga's cold. But you know me, I was
Speaker 3: trying to chill. This dude just came in the gym
Speaker 3: killing but that was.
Speaker 5: Always one of the hungry niggah man.
Speaker 3: But that was Jamal's like that, that's his bachelor party
Speaker 3: playing basketball.
Speaker 1: I was like, what are we doing in here?
Speaker 3: But that's when I got a chance to meet him
Speaker 3: and just saw and ever since then, I just kind
Speaker 3: of started phone him and just continuing to see his growth.
Speaker 3: And obviously, you know, Seattle is a hot bed for talent,
Speaker 3: and like you said, everyone played a part and you
Speaker 3: kind of making it. But speak to the importance of
Speaker 3: what kind of mentor Jamal Crawford has been to you
Speaker 3: and meant to you.
Speaker 2: I mean, uh, you know, Mal was the mall. Was
Speaker 2: the first pro that I ever met.
Speaker 4: And I remember it was like sixth grade and at
Speaker 4: this time that was a time where I was being
Speaker 4: a knucklehead but still playing aau ball and uh. He
Speaker 4: got a close friend, coach, teammate he played with, but
Speaker 4: their close friends. His name is Dave King, uh and
Speaker 4: Dave told him like, man, you got you gotta look
Speaker 4: look out for Terry's nephew. Terry's my uncle that grew
Speaker 4: up with him, and he's like, you got to look
Speaker 4: out for his nephew.
Speaker 1: He cold.
Speaker 2: He's sixth grade, but he cold.
Speaker 4: And to me, they like Jamal Cafford come to your game,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, I don't care going to hoop, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, Like I didn't know the importance
Speaker 4: of positive successful people.
Speaker 2: Like all I knew was my environment, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So it's like I ain't care to take photos, autographs,
Speaker 4: none of that, you know what I mean. But obviously
Speaker 4: I knew who he was, and that was somebody always
Speaker 4: heard of and stuff. So I remember meeting him sixth grade.
Speaker 4: I think I scored like forty points that game, and
Speaker 4: he came up to me after and he's like, you
Speaker 4: got it, you know what I mean, and we locked in,
Speaker 4: and ever since then it was more like, you know,
Speaker 4: just him teaching this teaching that allowed me to be
Speaker 4: in the gym with them, bringing y'all back a bunch
Speaker 4: of you guys in the pros and allowing us to
Speaker 4: be around pros and see what it's like to be
Speaker 4: a professional. Not the money, not the fame or even
Speaker 4: your profession. Just you know, mean, see how y'all carry y'allself.
Speaker 4: See how true y'all real y'all that could still come
Speaker 4: and be around the youth, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So just just by him doing that, Uh, you know,
Speaker 4: they speak values and you know, I forever salute him
Speaker 4: just for taking me under his wing when he ain't
Speaker 4: have to. There's a million other kids that you could
Speaker 4: have chose, you know what I'm saying. So just having
Speaker 4: somebody like that, you know, be in my corner. Uh,
Speaker 4: you know, it's all love. And like I tell him,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm forever in debt with you, I'm always
Speaker 4: stankful and grateful, famam fam.
Speaker 1: Obviously the Sonics growing up? How many times does he
Speaker 1: tip with you a day? Yeah? How many times?
Speaker 2: Are crazy?
Speaker 5: Bro?
Speaker 3: What what was it like getting a chance to be
Speaker 3: a part of his uh his pro am league again,
Speaker 3: seeing those guys come through such as Lebron and you
Speaker 3: name it.
Speaker 1: Everyone's been through that league. But what was a part
Speaker 1: of What was it like growing up and being a
Speaker 1: part of it.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's it's powerful because obviously the
Speaker 4: Sonics is gone, you know, what I'm saying, So he
Speaker 4: don't have to do that. Obviously he took it along
Speaker 4: and put it on the weight on his shoulder from
Speaker 4: Doug Christy.
Speaker 2: But he don't got to do that.
Speaker 4: You know, you play and then you know, in the summers,
Speaker 4: y'all both players, So y'all know, time go by like this,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So for him, he give
Speaker 4: his twelve months a year to basketball, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. He was playing in the league seven eight months.
Speaker 4: Then the rest he was coming to, you know, proing
Speaker 4: and proing and proing. So to see it grow from
Speaker 4: Rainer Beach High School to it was at the Vista
Speaker 4: and now he's at you know, SPU where it's a
Speaker 4: bigger venue. And just to see it grow and watch
Speaker 4: all these guys come there and just seeing the love
Speaker 4: that it gets just proves that we need a team,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So always say like when.
Speaker 4: We get a team, I feel like they got to
Speaker 4: give him the credit he deserved, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: because just what he does every summer. You know, obviously
Speaker 4: we all play a part in it, but you know,
Speaker 4: he's the He's the main point of it. And he's
Speaker 4: the man behind it, and you know those are flowers.
Speaker 4: I give him to this day, and I'm gonna give
Speaker 4: him after this day, you know what I mean? Just
Speaker 4: knowing that we don't got a team and you bring
Speaker 4: pros to the city, right.
Speaker 3: You've been very vocal on social media talking to your
Speaker 3: NBA brothers about coming out and playing and whatever program is,
Speaker 3: just to get fans an opportunity to see you. Where
Speaker 3: did that come from? Is that from growing up in
Speaker 3: it pretty much and seeing what it does to the city.
Speaker 4: I think just growing up from it, but also just
Speaker 4: who I stand for, who I am as a person,
Speaker 4: Like none of this money fame like it don't move
Speaker 4: to Jonte bro like for real life, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, Like I know who I am, I'm true
Speaker 4: to who I am, and I remember being that kid
Speaker 4: on that side, you know what I'm saying, and not
Speaker 4: thinking like I ain't never gonna meet.
Speaker 2: Him pro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: I never thought I'd me a pro even when I
Speaker 4: heard of Jamal and Jason or them guys, I'm I
Speaker 4: ain't never gonna meet them, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So just knowing that I made it this far, and
Speaker 2: I made it to this.
Speaker 4: I know it ain't nothing for us to go play,
Speaker 4: you know, for free, but in front of the youth
Speaker 4: or just low income people that can't afford to see
Speaker 4: us play.
Speaker 3: You got into a back and forth with another up
Speaker 3: and coming out of your way, Polo during the summer,
Speaker 3: and it got physical and it got real, and I
Speaker 3: liked it because I, like I said, I think that
Speaker 3: basket of that type of basketball is gone. But was
Speaker 3: that just competitive? Did you guys have a little bit
Speaker 3: of funk or was it just on the court and
Speaker 3: it was cool?
Speaker 4: The thing about me, bro, like you said, I love
Speaker 4: it like I wish the league right now is more
Speaker 4: like auld grab you could ri rah rah. You know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like that's where I come from, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. So I love it me personally,
Speaker 4: but a lot of people can't really take it. So
Speaker 4: with Polo, like I love Polo, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: Like Polo is he's the one. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 4: Ain't no competition in my head with none of us,
Speaker 4: the guys that already made it and the ones that's
Speaker 4: made it and the ones that sept trying to make it,
Speaker 4: but for me with him, like it was competitive, Like
Speaker 4: I don't talk one thing about me. I don't talk
Speaker 4: when I play basketball because I know that I played
Speaker 4: the game how it's supposed to be played, and I
Speaker 4: played hard. So it's like I'm gonna get the best
Speaker 4: of you, you know what I mean. And I'm gonna
Speaker 4: do my thing regardless. So you know, with that, they
Speaker 4: start ro Ryan you know what I mean. Uh, it
Speaker 4: was it was it was it Zken and the zekend.
Speaker 4: I ain't gonna get no pros. I'm like, I'm bringing
Speaker 4: a couple of my brothers from the hood, you know,
Speaker 4: a bunch of these guys, you know, some of the
Speaker 4: dudes that's trying to go overseas or some of the
Speaker 4: ones in college that need opportunity. That's what I'm going
Speaker 4: to get. I was the only pro And that was
Speaker 4: like the topic. Everybody was saying. All the top teams playing, Uh,
Speaker 4: they like, oh, baby boys, team just got he got
Speaker 4: a bunch of hood this and that he ain't got
Speaker 4: no they ain't gonna win nothing, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So I'm hearing all my omies is telling me, and
Speaker 4: I ain't tripping, So we get to the game and
Speaker 4: the sideline's talking crazy, like when I don't go outside,
Speaker 4: so when I travel, like we don't play that, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, Like we move how we're supposed
Speaker 4: to move. So I got all my people with me,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, and they just watched me.
Speaker 4: Who they enjoying it, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 4: they just ruying. They just yapping.
Speaker 2: It started with the bench and it started with the players.
Speaker 4: Then a lot of disrespectful things that I won't get
Speaker 4: into details start happening, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 4: I'm more was shocked the line got crossed. That line
Speaker 4: got crossed. You feel me like even seeing like I
Speaker 4: don't follow the media.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: You can say good things about me, bad things about me.
Speaker 4: It ain't gonna move me. It ain't stopping what I'm
Speaker 4: doing or who I am. But it's like I'm looking
Speaker 4: at a lot and it's like I feel like the
Speaker 4: world is like it's kind of like soft, like you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, Like it's moving to where a
Speaker 4: lot of people is just entitled but sensitive, like they
Speaker 4: can't take nothing. And I ain't saying nothing about nobody.
Speaker 4: But it's like if you know me, or you watch me,
Speaker 4: you will see that I don't ride with nobody like
Speaker 4: even in the league, bro, I don't rib riding none
Speaker 4: of that because I know ain't nobody about to fight,
Speaker 4: Ain't nobody about to do none of that. You feel
Speaker 4: me like, I ain't wasting my time, bro. So it's
Speaker 4: like that that game they was rying. It started with
Speaker 4: his partners on the side, like and they young boys,
Speaker 4: they nineteen twenty, like everybody hang with twenty eight thirty something,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like, and we really from it,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So when they start crossing
Speaker 4: the line talking street stuff, talking money, Oh you suck
Speaker 4: or this or this and that, I'm about to turn
Speaker 4: this motherfuck up.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Because even my mama on the side like, yeah, you
Speaker 4: know what to do. Turn it up, you feel what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. And all I did was turn it up.
Speaker 4: That's all I did. And then for me, he went
Speaker 4: to the internet and said what he said, but was
Speaker 4: said I didn't like because once you show me, once
Speaker 4: you show me a certain way for who you are,
Speaker 4: then I ain't got time to be trying to frame
Speaker 4: you again or none of that like, I ain't got.
Speaker 2: Time for that. You cross the line, you cross the line.
Speaker 2: I want you to stand on that.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. Obviously, who can get the
Speaker 4: you know, emotions get the best of us. But the
Speaker 4: things that I was said, it wasn't It was like
Speaker 4: something that being wanted to be said.
Speaker 2: You feel me.
Speaker 4: It was personal, dog like and I don't bother nobody.
Speaker 4: I show all them love, bro. You feel I'm saying
Speaker 4: all of them, love all of them. I want them
Speaker 4: to be better than me. That's how I real I am, Bro,
Speaker 4: you feel me. I want you to make more money
Speaker 4: to me. I want you to have more success than me,
Speaker 4: because I know it's enough for all of us. And
Speaker 4: I'm a good person at the end of the day.
Speaker 4: You feel me, So with that, that's that, Man, it happened.
Speaker 4: We don't talk. Me and him don't talk. You know
Speaker 4: he still feel a way. But for me, my phone's
Speaker 4: always available. I'm always available because I know it ain't
Speaker 4: really it ain't really nothing. It's gonna come down to
Speaker 4: me and him meeting like this. I don't want to
Speaker 4: talk on the phone, bro, I don't want to be
Speaker 4: on the internet. See me in real life.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 4: Let's have a conversation. Because I love you. I'll let
Speaker 4: you come to my open gyms. You want the rebound
Speaker 4: for me as a kid, all that I told you before,
Speaker 4: all them guys, You're gonna be somebody. You was the
Speaker 4: number one pick all my brothers.
Speaker 1: We was in LA.
Speaker 4: I jumped out of my chair getting a haircut, getting tattoos,
Speaker 4: bro screaming, you know what I mean. So it's like,
Speaker 4: I love that kid, bro, and I'm not surprised at
Speaker 4: what he's doing right now, you know. But it's like
Speaker 4: when that happened, I seen the change and a lot
Speaker 4: of people, bro, Like I've seen a lot of people,
Speaker 4: even from my city, they know they couldn't throw no
Speaker 4: salt on my name because they know, you know how
Speaker 4: authentic I am and what I stand for and I'm
Speaker 4: never in drama. But when that happened, like you start
Speaker 4: seeing true colors, like I start hearing all type of stuff, bro,
Speaker 4: former pros, seeing people try to pick a side. Ain't
Speaker 4: know side of the pick. We're supposed to be together,
Speaker 4: you feel me, but you start seeing the real you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. So that's why I just you know,
Speaker 4: I back off. But even so, I still watch his games.
Speaker 4: I support him. You asked me the Rookie of the
Speaker 4: year him. Ain't nothing changed with me, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But it is what it is.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 4: A lot of them got mad because we we came
Speaker 4: and we did. We did, and I ain't had no pros.
Speaker 4: BRO beat them right, we won the whole thing. I
Speaker 4: T had like seven pros.
Speaker 1: We blew that.
Speaker 2: We blew them out. I'm telling you when I turned
Speaker 2: when I turned up.
Speaker 4: That semi semi finals game, versus pollowing them, I said, yeah,
Speaker 4: we're not leaving Tacoma without the trophy, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying.
Speaker 2: And we're gonna let y'all know. Like I'm getting calls
Speaker 2: from prison, they like, Bro, why'd you do that to
Speaker 2: I T? And why y'all doing that?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like, and it was there's more statement like I was chilling, bro,
Speaker 4: Like you know, because in the summer, you want to
Speaker 4: protect yourself, so you ain't really trying to go that hard.
Speaker 1: You feel me.
Speaker 2: But it's like when I start feeling that, you know,
Speaker 2: they start playing. They brought it out of me. I'm
Speaker 2: looking at Mom, I'm looking at the homies. They like,
Speaker 2: turn up y'all FU, And that's how I haven't you know.
Speaker 5: University of Washington, you played one year and went to
Speaker 5: the draft. How was your process with going into the
Speaker 5: draft and how many things did you work out?
Speaker 1: For?
Speaker 4: Bro?
Speaker 2: I left.
Speaker 4: I was so in love with college, Bro, I can imagine,
Speaker 4: just to just to know, I went sophomore, the senior year,
Speaker 4: really freshman. Really all four of my years, I really
Speaker 4: wasn't in class. Freshman year I was I was stuggn Bro,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I was only going to practice.
Speaker 4: I was literally going to practice, and it was back
Speaker 4: to the block, or it was back in the trap
Speaker 4: with my brother's Like I swear that That's exactly what
Speaker 4: my life was. My environment was so sophomore, junior, senior year,
Speaker 4: I start branching out. It started being the gym, like
Speaker 4: I said with my great aunt. Then I'm going to
Speaker 4: All American camps. Now I'm getting ranked, Now I'm getting letters.
Speaker 1: Now I'm this.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm doing the right thing. So I go
Speaker 2: to you, Dug.
Speaker 4: I didn't get accepted right away, so I told coach Romar,
Speaker 4: Like Romar, if I don't get accepted, it's over. I
Speaker 4: ain't doing the juco none of that. Like it's over.
Speaker 4: I get accepted, like probably like a month after I
Speaker 4: arrived on campus, Romar called me, he's crying. Then I
Speaker 4: just start crying because it's like that was the last thing.
Speaker 4: I'm like, Bro, I know I'm a person. If I
Speaker 4: stand on something, I'm gonna stand on it. Since a kid,
Speaker 4: That's just how I was raised. And I knew if
Speaker 4: I didn't get accepted, I wasn't doing no more basketball
Speaker 4: is a good dude.
Speaker 2: Great dude, bro, great dude, Like I love him to death. Bro.
Speaker 4: And when I got accepted, it was on the popping
Speaker 4: because now it's like, okay, I'm mapping it all out.
Speaker 4: I wasn't thinking about the league because I know, like
Speaker 4: I'm about to lock in. I got everything I need
Speaker 4: around me from the weights to the trainers everything. So
Speaker 4: this is going for me to just show up, go
Speaker 4: do your thing. But for me, it's like, damn, I'm
Speaker 4: about to enjoy college.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: I'm about to enjoy being in class again. Like I
Speaker 4: ain't been in classes eighth grade with students. You feel
Speaker 4: what I'm saying. It's four years that I was around
Speaker 4: no students. So when I get to college, I'm tripping
Speaker 4: three hundred people in one class.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I'm like, bro, what this is?
Speaker 2: I made it?
Speaker 4: I'm telling I'm calling home, like even though homes thirty
Speaker 4: forty minutes away, but I'm like, bro, I made it, Bro,
Speaker 4: I made it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: And then just being around all of that, and you know,
Speaker 2: obviously I locked in.
Speaker 4: I said I'm gonna go to like three four parties
Speaker 4: in the beginning because you know, football seasons early, and
Speaker 4: then they start ending when basketball starts, I'm like, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go to like three four parties.
Speaker 2: Went to like three four parties.
Speaker 4: After that, I'm like, when the season start, I'm locked
Speaker 4: in the gym, practice, school games.
Speaker 1: That's it. Time go by.
Speaker 4: I ain't even think about the league, bro, I promise you.
Speaker 4: I'm just I'm high off life. I'm happy to be there,
Speaker 4: like I'm enjoying all of it. And now they just
Speaker 4: start I start hoping. I'm hooping, hooping. I see one
Speaker 4: scout next week, tenuts next practice, twenty scouts. Because we
Speaker 4: had Marquez Chris two. He went number eight in our draft,
Speaker 4: and I'm like, this should becoming a reality bro, Like
Speaker 4: it's all right here. So I'm trying to stay focused.
Speaker 4: You got in the newspaper, the news. You going around
Speaker 4: campus now, can't go to no class, there's nothing, and
Speaker 4: it's just like NBA. He's gonna go to NBA. He's
Speaker 4: gonna leave, He's gonna leave.
Speaker 2: Mini. This was never a thought, bro. I thought I
Speaker 2: was about to go to school for at least three
Speaker 2: four years.
Speaker 4: And it comes to a point where it's like January
Speaker 4: and I'm like, I'm getting the information information and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you're gonna go top ten from former pros all the agencies,
Speaker 4: You're going top ten.
Speaker 2: So when when I heard that, I'm like, obviously you
Speaker 2: want to win. But it's like.
Speaker 4: At that moment, my mom was house to house, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, Like hotel, just my my whole family,
Speaker 4: like the cycle, the whole was all messed up, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So for me, I'm thinking for my family.
Speaker 4: Even to this day, I think for my people because
Speaker 4: I feel like God gave me that blessing to where
Speaker 4: he put all the weight on my shoulders to carry
Speaker 4: because you know I can handle it.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like.
Speaker 4: I told Romar in January, like yeah, Romar, I ain't
Speaker 4: gonna tell the team because I don't want my teammates
Speaker 4: to start feeling the type of way or you know,
Speaker 4: any selfish any of that. So I'm like, Romot, I
Speaker 4: think I'm gonna go. And from that point I stopped
Speaker 4: going to school. It was just practice and Romar, you know,
Speaker 4: he knew we had that relationship to where I could
Speaker 4: go do that and tell him, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And when we got to like what I think, March,
Speaker 4: we went to the n it we lost, and after
Speaker 4: that I let my teammates know all my brothers, like,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm to the league. But even them, they're
Speaker 4: like dog go because they knew my story. You know,
Speaker 4: they seen it, They seen the pain, they seen all
Speaker 4: of it. They see my family, how deep they came.
Speaker 4: I had the whole family, the whole hood that you done.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Like it was so crazy.
Speaker 4: They used to the security used to tell me, like, man,
Speaker 4: tell your family to chill out.
Speaker 2: They two turts. They leave it at halftime, trying to
Speaker 2: come back in Like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You know, come on, man. So it's like when I.
Speaker 4: Get to the point where I'm like, yeah, I'm out
Speaker 4: of here, and then I chose the best. I wouldn't
Speaker 4: visit like three four agencies. But Rich Paul was just
Speaker 4: too He was too authentic for me, Like he felt
Speaker 4: like he was phrased, you know what I mean. Before
Speaker 4: I even knew his story, before I moved to Cleveland
Speaker 4: to understand, you know, where he's from, his block, his neighborhood,
Speaker 4: you know his story. Like I just since that because
Speaker 4: you know, real recognize real for real. We could see
Speaker 4: through real fake all that. So it's like when I
Speaker 4: first met him, bro, I was like you one of us. Bro,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I ain't meet with nobody else. Like I'll
Speaker 4: be in Cleveland and April Raiders start my draft process,
Speaker 4: you know. So we get out there more to Cleveland
Speaker 4: with my uncles and we're there for like what three months,
Speaker 4: and I worked out I even go to Combine. I
Speaker 4: worked out for seven six seven teams. All them teams
Speaker 4: promised me, majority of them they all promised like and
Speaker 4: they was like, don't go to Combine. Rich was like,
Speaker 4: I don't think it's a good idea to go to
Speaker 4: combin just from the information he had and the thing
Speaker 4: about me that bothers me to today and showed me
Speaker 4: the business of it.
Speaker 2: But how cutthroat this is? Like I was honest with him.
Speaker 4: They went the information they was going to get on me,
Speaker 4: the league, They went everywhere, as you guys know, they
Speaker 4: went everywhere. They went to middle schools, high schools, janitors, juveniles,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. Random people. I had so
Speaker 4: many random people come up to me like, Yo, they
Speaker 4: came up to me. The janitor at you Doug when
Speaker 4: I made it and came back to go work out,
Speaker 4: he like, they came and they're asking me like, did
Speaker 4: you ever disrespect Did he ever disrespect you?
Speaker 2: Was he mean? Was he nice with what?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 4: Like, So that's when I started realizing that it's really federal.
Speaker 4: They really investigated, you know what I'm saying. So when
Speaker 4: when I get to Cleveland stuff, you know, I work
Speaker 4: out for them, teams, interviews, all was smooth. They always
Speaker 4: blown away like yeah, he got the work ethic, he
Speaker 4: just needed a chance. Great person and he was honest
Speaker 4: because they asked me. Obviously I ain't speaking on a lot,
Speaker 4: but you asked me certain things like you know, I'm
Speaker 4: telling y'all what y'all need to know, and you don't
Speaker 4: need to know what you don't need to know. But
Speaker 4: it's like I was honest with my upbringing, you know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like I was honest about everything they
Speaker 4: asked him out he was juvenile four time? Yes, I was,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, just honest about everything. And
Speaker 4: I just remember the majority of them like, oh, we're
Speaker 4: picking you, whether it was nine, Milwaukee, ten, eleven, twelve,
Speaker 4: up all the way to fourteen. So we get to
Speaker 4: the draft. I brought everybody in New York. Dudes ain't
Speaker 4: even been on the plane before. They in New York.
Speaker 2: So we in my room.
Speaker 4: I'm getting dressed, and a lot of weird things start happening. Bro,
Speaker 4: Like I'm getting calls now, like yo, the Fed is
Speaker 4: the Fed is looking at a lot of people in
Speaker 4: his entourage.
Speaker 2: Bro, this is what a team's calling. I ain't gonna
Speaker 2: say they name with a team called, like the FED
Speaker 2: is looking at him a bunch of people in his entourage.
Speaker 2: I'm like, huh.
Speaker 4: Then a lot of weird other stuff start happening. So
Speaker 4: now I'm looking at Rich like we ain't even got
Speaker 4: to the table yet, you know what I'm saying, I ain't.
Speaker 4: I'm still getting dressed, smiling, playing music, and were getting
Speaker 4: ready to get to the green room. And when we
Speaker 4: get to the green room, now a lot of weird
Speaker 4: stuff start happening, bro, Like a lot of teams start
Speaker 4: texting Rich like.
Speaker 2: His background.
Speaker 4: Oh he was in the game all this, like the
Speaker 4: stuff I seen, and somebody did some foul some foul,
Speaker 4: foul business, bro. And like both of y'all gonna be
Speaker 4: disappointed when I tell you off record, like what they did?
Speaker 4: You feel me like they did some foul business, bro,
Speaker 4: that spread it Rest in peace. Paul Allen told him
Speaker 4: something spread it around the whole league, like, and it
Speaker 4: wasn't something they already didn't know. It's just like that
Speaker 4: person was like trying to stop me from making it.
Speaker 4: I don't know if they seen me as a threat,
Speaker 4: seeing me as whatever, but they was like, man, we
Speaker 4: got to slow this down, like nah, let's spread this around.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. And that shit hurt me
Speaker 4: because I love that person. You feel me like I
Speaker 4: love that person and that weak and that was my
Speaker 4: that was my process. So I'm sitting at the table,
Speaker 4: mind you said Antonio was they all came to Cleveland
Speaker 4: to meet with me. San Antonio is trying to trade
Speaker 4: up for me. They had the twenty ninth pick, yep,
Speaker 4: but knowing the information that they had from all the teams, like,
Speaker 4: he's not going past fifteen. So san Antonio told me,
Speaker 4: like in the interview, like, we can't let you go
Speaker 4: nowhere else. But san Antonio like, we got to trade
Speaker 4: up to the lottery to get you, Like we're about.
Speaker 1: To do that.
Speaker 4: So I'm in the green room. I'm like, shit, I
Speaker 4: ain't even might. I don't care about going lottery.
Speaker 1: None of that.
Speaker 2: I'm just bro. I'm about to shake the commissioners in.
Speaker 1: Bro, I'm about to get in.
Speaker 4: I'm about to get in the dough, like you know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Like, so I promise you, bro. Like
Speaker 4: even people said I look mad at the draft, they
Speaker 4: don't know. I was mad at text messages I was
Speaker 4: seeing that was spreading around the league.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, That's what I was mad about.
Speaker 2: But do you not know that the hope that I gave.
Speaker 4: My city, my neighborhood, my family, my brother's in prison.
Speaker 4: I got thirty four people that I talked to in
Speaker 4: prison to this day. You feel what I'm saying, and
Speaker 4: they get to see that Bro, like BRO made it,
Speaker 4: I can get out of prison, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: My family's like BRO made it. My mom like my
Speaker 2: son made it, no excuses.
Speaker 4: I could go be whatever I want to be, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying, because they know I come from
Speaker 4: exactly where they come from. So it's like that process, Bro,
Speaker 4: it was a blessing. Like at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: first round twenty ninth, and I didn't know a lot
Speaker 4: about it, Like me going The difference from me going
Speaker 4: what twelve to twenty nine was money that if you
Speaker 4: work hard, stay true to yourself, be a good person,
Speaker 4: you're gonna make that money.
Speaker 2: You gonna make it back. And then you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. So that was the only difference.
Speaker 4: Obviously you got the hype that come with it, the
Speaker 4: politics that come with being a top ten pick or
Speaker 4: late first round, second undraft, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So for me, I was in the door when I
Speaker 4: shook the commissioners in. You gotta think this wasn't no
Speaker 4: video game. This was real life, like you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, and the rest was history.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 5: What's your first impression of the Spurs when you get there,
Speaker 5: because you know when Pop told me he wanted to
Speaker 5: sign me. The first thing he told me, Look, I
Speaker 5: know you smoke weed. We're gonna sign you, but you
Speaker 5: can't smoke weed. And you know me, sure, Pop smoke
Speaker 5: ever again in life, smoke couple. I was left right,
Speaker 5: But they know everything about you before you even set
Speaker 5: foot in there. Your first impression when you got to
Speaker 5: San Antonio?
Speaker 4: My first impression, bro, I just was like, first of all,
Speaker 4: the Spurs was hell of boring to me growing up.
Speaker 5: Like San Antonio is a leading city for obesity for
Speaker 5: women in Texas. Let me throw that out there. You
Speaker 5: get that I lived there. All they do is eat
Speaker 5: and don't work out.
Speaker 2: And my barber he knows about that. He for the
Speaker 2: tone you.
Speaker 4: Know life, Hey, But when I mean when I mean boring,
Speaker 4: it's like when I was growing up and they was winning, Like.
Speaker 2: You know how we play like we were like a
Speaker 2: I you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Oh, Like they was past cut screen away Like I
Speaker 4: was like, I don't watch the Spurs, bro, Like they're
Speaker 4: born you know what I mean. But greatness, don't never
Speaker 4: get it twisted. I won't never get it twisted. Greatness,
Speaker 4: that ship don't work for sure, for shure, none of
Speaker 4: that swing swing.
Speaker 1: Hey, look, none of that works without.
Speaker 4: And that's what I said when I was young watching
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, winning, You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So first impression on I get there. Obviously I know
Speaker 4: my history. So one thing about me, I always like,
Speaker 4: bef I meet somebody or you know, obviously the NBA.
Speaker 4: I love basketball, I love studying it. So it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, I knew they were different. There was always
Speaker 4: a team that was never loud, you know all that,
Speaker 4: not flashy, not flashy. So even me, I'm like, damn,
Speaker 4: the way I play, even though I play the right way,
Speaker 4: I'm like, I still got some shit to me, Like damn,
Speaker 4: going to San Antonio, all right, I'm about to take
Speaker 4: advantage of it.
Speaker 1: So I go.
Speaker 4: It's like a roller coaster. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: It's a roller coaster. Bro Obviously I know I'm not
Speaker 4: about to play right away. Like our starting lineup was
Speaker 4: Tony Danny kawhi uh, the Marcus Audrige para Gasol brom
Speaker 4: not about to play, Like what about to.
Speaker 2: Go Wave Towns? You need some Gatorade, g League, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So for me, Popp didn't even like he ain't even
Speaker 4: talked to me when I first got there, I'm tripping.
Speaker 2: I'm like, MONU didn't talk to me, popped and talked
Speaker 2: to me. TP ain't talk to me.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm like, damn, these motherfuckers like me, like
Speaker 4: they like me or what they don't like me?
Speaker 2: Like what's going on?
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. So I'm like, man, I
Speaker 4: ain't tripping. I'm rocking with Kawhi, Danny Green, we had
Speaker 4: Jonathan Simmons. He's from Houston, solid, solid, real one. You
Speaker 4: know Kyle Anderson. So I'm I'm rocking with him, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. I'm rocking with my guys. And
Speaker 4: as times start going, I made an impression like I'm
Speaker 4: about to lock shit up. I'm about to play defense,
Speaker 4: get every rebound, every loose ball, everything.
Speaker 2: And because you know, we don't practice it lot. We
Speaker 2: don't practice.
Speaker 1: Quickest way on the court in San Antonio is.
Speaker 4: Playing d We don't practice. So I'm like, I gotta
Speaker 4: utilize because these guys is older, like.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So when I get my.
Speaker 4: Chance, it's training camp and that's it. And now you
Speaker 4: just got to hope somebody rest that get the game
Speaker 4: or you know, obviously you don't never want to see
Speaker 4: nobody hurt, but you get hurting an opportunity to the
Speaker 4: next person, next man up, you know. So for me, Bro,
Speaker 4: the impression was really different. It was like something I've
Speaker 4: never been around, you know what I'm saying, Like, and
Speaker 4: it was a roller coaster for him.
Speaker 2: I used to go home mad.
Speaker 4: I had my uncle living with me, and I used
Speaker 4: to go home mad Bro just from not understanding, Like
Speaker 4: when we come from you won't understand what they're putting
Speaker 4: you through, you know what I'm saying, Like I didn't
Speaker 4: understand nothing, Like like they'll throw me in the fire,
Speaker 4: then they'll make me. They're like, you're not I'll come
Speaker 4: to the arena. They're like, you're not dressing up today.
Speaker 4: I don't even got a sports jacket. They trying to
Speaker 4: give me a big ass sports jacket, like now you
Speaker 4: could wear palkasas sports jacket. Like so for me, I'm
Speaker 4: like there's a lot being thrown at me, Bro, and
Speaker 4: I'm like, man, I don't like this, bro, Then I'm
Speaker 4: going home. I'm telling Unk like Unk's older, he's just
Speaker 4: enjoying it, like he having fun.
Speaker 2: You know, his nephew made it and he out there
Speaker 2: with me.
Speaker 4: I'm going home, like, Man, I'm busting Tony's ass and practice,
Speaker 4: I'm busting Patty Miller's ass and practice, I'm locking them up.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: I'm like, damn, like, give me five minutes, give me
Speaker 4: seven minutes, like then they send me to the G League.
Speaker 2: Then that's time start going bro.
Speaker 4: Like they bringing a point guard from Argentina that's close
Speaker 4: with Manu playing in front of me and Minam. I'm
Speaker 4: behind Tony Patty. But they playing these mind games. They
Speaker 4: trying to see if they could break me, not knowing
Speaker 4: you can't break.
Speaker 1: I want you to break yourself.
Speaker 4: They want you to break yourself, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And they doing that though I'm at home tripping punched holes,
Speaker 4: you know what i mean. I'm rob Ron, my uncle's vinn.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: But a lot of just more start they playing other
Speaker 4: guys that was second round picks, undrafted in front of me. Now,
Speaker 4: I'm just like, bro, what's going on. I'm hitting rich.
Speaker 4: I'm hitting Rich. I'm like, Bro, I gotta get traded.
Speaker 4: He like he ain't got no value, you feel me.
Speaker 4: I'm like, man, Bro, this is too much.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: I'm like, what if they put me through? Bro, I
Speaker 4: don't understand. I start hearing your name, Steve jack went.
Speaker 2: Through a lot of BS. Obviously we know you.
Speaker 4: I know you cod so you gotta tell you come on, bro,
Speaker 4: And it's like a lot of people like I start
Speaker 4: get building relationships, like you know, my barber from there,
Speaker 4: we seven knowing.
Speaker 1: I went through because I used to go in that
Speaker 1: same shot.
Speaker 2: You feel what I'm saying, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So like I start building relationships with you know, people
Speaker 4: from there, not a lot like he really don't like
Speaker 4: you know, he's solid, you know, and brought him alone
Speaker 4: with me today because he's solid, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But like even him like he brought up you.
Speaker 4: He's like, man, Steve Jackson, you remind me of Stephen Jackson,
Speaker 4: his uncle, all of them. They like you remind me
Speaker 4: Steve Jacks like he was going through the same, you know,
Speaker 4: vincing mad d da da da. And now it's like
Speaker 4: people don't realize, bro, I went through so much there,
Speaker 4: Like I was there six years.
Speaker 1: You feel I'm saying, like, you don't seem like he
Speaker 1: was there that long either.
Speaker 2: It doesn't.
Speaker 1: But it's like.
Speaker 2: I feel like, really like and they know I feel
Speaker 2: this way. I feel like they really like they drafting me.
Speaker 4: But they feel like the stuff that was going around
Speaker 4: the air of me coming from the hood and not
Speaker 4: out of die, that I was gonna make it. And
Speaker 4: on too Roge thirty people smoking, drinking and articles about
Speaker 4: fighting just ruining their reputation to what they stand for
Speaker 4: as a spurs. You know, I think that's what they thought,
Speaker 4: but they never said that, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: just from the stuff I had to go through. And
Speaker 4: when they seem like he needed a chance, and this
Speaker 4: motherfucker be in the gym, like they start having to
Speaker 4: kick me out the gym, Like when they say you
Speaker 4: got access twenty four hours every day, knowing I wasn't playing,
Speaker 4: so I'm like, uh, lace him up, like we took
Speaker 4: the gym gym, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I was just every day and obviously.
Speaker 4: I started growing first year go by, you know, throwing
Speaker 4: in the fire in the playoffs versus the Rockets. Then
Speaker 4: my second year, they see I come back obviously getting stronger,
Speaker 4: getting better. And then I was the year I took
Speaker 4: the job from Tony popped about us in the office.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean, He told Tony Tony ain't
Speaker 4: like it.
Speaker 2: I know he ain't like it.
Speaker 1: You know he ain't.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Like for me, I love real, Like keep it up, buck,
Speaker 4: when you keep it a hundred, bro, I'm gonna love
Speaker 4: you for that, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: And I know he didn't like it.
Speaker 4: You feel me because if he liked it, he would
Speaker 4: have mentored me the way he should have. Right, he
Speaker 4: wouldn't have went to Charlotte. He would have stayed right there.
Speaker 4: You feel I'm saying, And that's me. You're gonna get
Speaker 4: the real just how y'all all the small y'all, Yah, yeah,
Speaker 4: the real.
Speaker 5: See it's not funny he say that, bro, because I
Speaker 5: know the type of person Tony is. You know what
Speaker 5: I'm saying, great player, gonna go down the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 5: But he's very selfish. He's been selfish. We would have
Speaker 5: had more championships and more success if it wasn't for
Speaker 5: him being so selfish. But he was told as the
Speaker 5: sixteen seventy year in France that he was this. He
Speaker 5: come to the NBA starts as a nineteen year old,
Speaker 5: and you know what I'm saying, But he had a
Speaker 5: rude awaken him because once we got to the playoffs,
Speaker 5: it was Stephan Marlberry.
Speaker 1: It was he's a kid.
Speaker 5: He couldn't handle them, so we had to pay Speedy Claxton.
Speaker 5: So I know the real Tony. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: He can fool everybody else, but he is one of
Speaker 5: the most selfish players I've ever played with.
Speaker 1: And I'm just they ain't got nothing to do with
Speaker 1: what he's saying, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: He's one of the most selfish players I've ever played with,
Speaker 5: bro because it's all about him, And I don't know
Speaker 5: how he made it in that system so long, you
Speaker 5: know what I'm saying, because that's a system for everybody
Speaker 5: that that they want. They want everybody to yeah to
Speaker 5: everybody sh But at the same time, I don't know
Speaker 5: how he waited that long because Genobili was totally different
Speaker 5: as far as a teammate.
Speaker 1: That's definitely one of the best teammates I loved in
Speaker 1: my life.
Speaker 2: I love money, you know what I'm saying. So it's
Speaker 2: like to pick up for my second year taking that job.
Speaker 2: Pop told us. So now it's like I see everything.
Speaker 2: I observe.
Speaker 4: I'll watch everything, like even now like I watch there
Speaker 4: would be I'll watch a game and I won't even
Speaker 4: look at the Maid dunk the Maid three. I look
Speaker 4: at the bench to see who's clapping and who's sitting
Speaker 4: there looking mad, Like that's the type of stuff I
Speaker 4: look at because.
Speaker 2: I want to see, Like you a team guy, you
Speaker 2: want you feel what I'm saying. Not for real, bro, Like,
Speaker 2: So it's like my second year. Now I'm doing this.
Speaker 4: I make all defensive team, youngest since Kobe rest in
Speaker 4: piece of Kobe. Uh. Now it's like it's on the popping.
Speaker 4: So now I'm like I got a taste of it.
Speaker 4: Like now I'm starting. I get to go into the
Speaker 4: summer healthy. I know I'm coming back starting, ain't looking,
Speaker 4: ain't looking over my shoulders. So now I'm about to
Speaker 4: go to your three. I get hurt, come back, get hurt.
Speaker 4: Preseason and that was the year, like every scout, every coach,
Speaker 4: that was the year we got well, that was year
Speaker 4: we got Tomorrow. We had themar They'll all tell you
Speaker 4: who looked like the best player training camp. I came
Speaker 4: back with like, yeah, yeah, I ain't here to step
Speaker 4: on those toes, none of that.
Speaker 1: But I'm here to be me.
Speaker 4: I'm here to be me. And now I got that confidence.
Speaker 4: And you guys know, when you get that confidence in
Speaker 4: this league, it's over.
Speaker 1: It's over.
Speaker 2: It's over.
Speaker 4: Then I feel like I got it, Like I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 4: I got it, because now they're calling people. I got
Speaker 4: people back home calling I ain't even know, knew this
Speaker 4: certain person in the organization, Like, you know, they say
Speaker 4: you look like a monster, and training can they say
Speaker 4: you look like a monster. You made a statement. So
Speaker 4: now it's like, yeah, I'm ready get hurt. Damn one
Speaker 4: thing I could say about them. They see me in
Speaker 4: the gym eleven months straight, six days a week, and
Speaker 4: they did reward me, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like.
Speaker 4: It's it's if he is this is that, But it's
Speaker 4: like I could always love him for that, appreciate them
Speaker 4: for that. It ain't about the money. But it's like, bro,
Speaker 4: you know you get hurt, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So it's like you go on to year four. I'm
Speaker 4: back playing year five and back playing. But now they
Speaker 4: got they drafting people. They really got me competing, Like
Speaker 4: they really got me competing with Derek White, because now
Speaker 4: they draft Dereck White and he played well in the
Speaker 4: playoffs the year I was hurt.
Speaker 2: So now they're like, damn, should we make Derek the
Speaker 2: point guard or dejonte?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: But they they can't just say that because now they
Speaker 4: paid me that summer, you know, and he was only
Speaker 4: what his first year or whatever second year, but they
Speaker 4: really got us competing. And I feel like I love Pop,
Speaker 4: but it's like I feel like he cited with Derek
Speaker 4: more than me because I wasn't a yes man, not
Speaker 4: saying Derek's none of that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I love Derek, great teammate. We talked to this day
Speaker 2: and we'll get late, we'll get down to that later.
Speaker 4: But it's like I feel like he sided with him
Speaker 4: because you couldn't play with me like pop, you know, Pop,
Speaker 4: Like you couldn't rob rob with me and be disrespectful
Speaker 4: like if I ain't really do nothing now if I
Speaker 4: like did something wrong, stop turning them up, fucking ball over.
Speaker 4: Your teammate was open, like I'm cool with that, but
Speaker 4: getting personal, like you can't play with me like.
Speaker 2: That because I'm a at the end of the day, bro,
Speaker 2: you know. And then I got a daughter, like, so.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to get a coach in LA for that.
Speaker 3: I got traded as soon as the trade deadline happened
Speaker 3: twelve oh two. I was out of there because he
Speaker 3: just you could talk shit to me and yell at
Speaker 3: me here for bad play, but don't disrespect me as
Speaker 3: a man.
Speaker 4: As a man, don't play that game, because are you
Speaker 4: gonna do that outside of these cameras, in these facilities.
Speaker 5: And the situation Pop puts you in, he know how
Speaker 5: you're gonna respond. Before he put you in that situation.
Speaker 1: He did it to me.
Speaker 5: He asked me to say that Genoble and Danny Green
Speaker 5: was better than me right before the playoffs started, because
Speaker 5: he knew I was gonna blow up.
Speaker 1: But you know, I walked up, went off on the walked.
Speaker 5: Up as I'm before he even asked me that Tracey
Speaker 5: McGrady at yeah, he had landed the same day before
Speaker 5: he even asked me. So he knew what he was
Speaker 5: doing and he knew I was gonna respond like that.
Speaker 5: So Poppa is very smart, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5: But they do their hardwork and they expect the worst
Speaker 5: from certain players, like when they get guys like us
Speaker 5: on the team. But in all actuality, the ownership has
Speaker 5: been in the meet, in the media, in the news
Speaker 5: for more ship than any players ever played there.
Speaker 2: You need that.
Speaker 3: Kawhi as a teammate. We don't get to see much
Speaker 3: of that. He had him as a young fella.
Speaker 1: He was a vet to you. Speak to what Kawhi
Speaker 1: is like as I just off the court, cool locker
Speaker 1: room dude, and a mentor to you, man.
Speaker 2: Kawhi dope.
Speaker 4: And the thing I love about him is like when
Speaker 4: you when you comfortable in your own skin, you gonna
Speaker 4: get way more love like facts then you even expect,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. And for Kawhi, he's like, Bro,
Speaker 4: I want to be on the internet. Bro, I don't
Speaker 4: want to be in the media like I want to
Speaker 4: live my life.
Speaker 2: I want hoop.
Speaker 4: I want to hoop that motherfucker be in the gym,
Speaker 4: Like you know what I'm saying. So it's like he's like,
Speaker 4: I want to hoop. Be in my family, my boys
Speaker 4: like that shit, but I want to hoop, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. So for Kawhi, it was like he's
Speaker 4: really part of the reason why, Like I made that
Speaker 4: defensive team second year, Like he came to me, He's like, bro,
Speaker 4: don't worry about trying to get fifteen twenty points. He's like,
Speaker 4: go make the all defensive team. He told me that
Speaker 4: your two training camp. He's like, go make the all
Speaker 4: defensive team. I guarantee you if you make that, Now
Speaker 4: you get on the court. Like you said, defense, get
Speaker 4: you on the court, especially in San Antonio. So he's like,
Speaker 4: go make that defensive team. Now you stamp yourself. He
Speaker 4: could play d So now they got to have you
Speaker 4: on the floor. So if you're on the floor, your
Speaker 4: ass is gonna.
Speaker 2: Have to be able to play offense too, you know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So it's like I took that, and I just other
Speaker 4: than that, I took watching him show up every day
Speaker 4: off days, game days, practices, before all of that, putting
Speaker 4: in work twenty twenty thirty minutes. It's sharpened over there,
Speaker 4: getting right after we practice back on the court like
Speaker 4: that's all he wanted to do. That's all he wanted
Speaker 4: to do. So for me, I'm like, damn, like this
Speaker 4: motherfucker finals MVP. I already won the finals, Dvison player
Speaker 4: of your All Star, you know, made money all that, like,
Speaker 4: but he's in the gym like he don't got none
Speaker 4: of that, Like he's trying to please these dudes like
Speaker 4: to make it, to make the team.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, bro, I got no excuse. Bro, I
Speaker 2: already love a game though, I don't need that to
Speaker 2: like motivate me.
Speaker 4: But that just put in a whole different perspective for me,
Speaker 4: Like yeah, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You see it, and that's that's That's what it was
Speaker 2: with him. We talked to this day. We laughed about
Speaker 2: all type of ship, joke about all type of ship.
Speaker 1: We made the West Conference finals.
Speaker 5: But soon as pop scene, I say, Jack, hold up
Speaker 5: after practice.
Speaker 1: Got to get him out of there. You gotta get.
Speaker 3: So, I mean, obviously, you you told us your upbringing
Speaker 3: the ups, the downs, the juvenile detention centers, the dead homies,
Speaker 3: the homies in prison. Twenty nineteen, you signed a sixty
Speaker 3: four million dollar contract chain to me, that's just the beginning,
Speaker 3: because you're gonna get the one hundred plus next up.
Speaker 1: But what did that mean to you? Knowing what you've
Speaker 1: been through up to that point? Man?
Speaker 2: You come from, you come from just the struggle. You
Speaker 2: come from the hood.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 2: They say money don't mean nothing, but Bro, that should
Speaker 2: mean something. That shuit means a lot where I come from.
Speaker 2: You feel I'm saying, y'all can relate, Bro, Like are
Speaker 2: you feel me?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: I remember eating top running four months straight and.
Speaker 5: Putting hot dogs in it one day, all that sent
Speaker 5: it the next day, all the different meals, a ram,
Speaker 5: the noodles.
Speaker 1: They don't know nothing about that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: They don't know Like we really competing in the house
Speaker 4: who make the best noodles? Chicken, the beef man, we
Speaker 4: had every kind shrimp, beef, chicken.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, with chicken out hell yeah.
Speaker 1: But for me, Bro, it was it was like.
Speaker 4: It was like, damn, this shit is real. Like I'm
Speaker 4: still like tripping out where I'm at. It's not like
Speaker 4: I can continue to say I say this. Everybody around me.
Speaker 4: No money, fame, success, it don't mean nothing to me. Bro,
Speaker 4: it can't move me to make me feel like I'm
Speaker 4: better than you.
Speaker 2: I'm better than you.
Speaker 4: We all equal, you know what I'm saying. Obviously some
Speaker 4: got more than others. That's life, bro, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. But for me, when I signed the deal,
Speaker 4: it was like when the process is going, like I
Speaker 4: had my brothers with me because that was the year
Speaker 4: I was rehabbing, so like I had a couple of
Speaker 4: my brothers with me and just always engaged with my
Speaker 4: family everybody, And I think just when it happened, it
Speaker 4: shocked everybody, you know what I mean, because, like I said,
Speaker 4: everybody know where I come from, what I did, like
Speaker 4: what I had to do for money, Like so it's like,
Speaker 4: damn he legal, Damn he did that, Like you feel
Speaker 4: me Like, So for me, it's like I get to
Speaker 4: take care of my people and take care of my
Speaker 4: people as I'm.
Speaker 2: Maturing and growing.
Speaker 4: It's always not hunt here's one hundred thousand, here's fifty thousand,
Speaker 4: there's ten thousand.
Speaker 2: It's not always that, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Putting them in rooms with certain people, being able for
Speaker 4: them to call me if they got questions, if I
Speaker 4: don't know the answer. We're gonna go get the answer,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So for me, it just
Speaker 4: was a blessing, bro like it Obviously it made our
Speaker 4: life better, you feel me. It made our life better,
Speaker 4: not just me. It made our life better knowing that
Speaker 4: at the end of the day, we got each other.
Speaker 4: But God put me in this situation. I got us
Speaker 4: because I know how to handle it. Though you feel me,
Speaker 4: you was made for Yeah, I know how to handle it.
Speaker 4: So it's like, you know, you see dudes go broke,
Speaker 4: Dudes blow money, Like I was dealing with money in
Speaker 4: the hood, so I know how to deal with money. Obviously,
Speaker 4: not no millions you feel I'm saying, But I know.
Speaker 2: How to deal with money.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 2: You feel me, We was playing with that, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. So it's like this is just another level.
Speaker 4: But when you know the bigger picture, in me, I
Speaker 4: love basketball, So it's like knowing that all this come
Speaker 4: with basketball, it only turned me up even more.
Speaker 2: It made me more hungry, you know.
Speaker 4: What I'm saying, Like, what's next? Go get more, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, Go get bigg you know all that.
Speaker 4: So it's like, at the end of the day, I
Speaker 4: believe in God. I'm thankful, I'm grateful, but I also
Speaker 4: like I believe that it was written. Bro, Like I
Speaker 4: believe it was written because I watched everybody. I watched
Speaker 4: all my peoples. We ain't had nobody successful just to
Speaker 4: go to college. Bro, you feel mean, like like he.
Speaker 1: Was really excited when he was explaining in one year,
Speaker 1: like I made it. That was dope.
Speaker 2: That was dope, dope. So it's like, you know, signing
Speaker 2: that it was it was a blessing, bro.
Speaker 4: You know, obviously, start learning more on the business side now,
Speaker 4: you know, learn about the investments all that stuff. So
Speaker 4: you know, now it's just for me, Bro, It's like,
Speaker 4: continue to be a great person, but continue to work
Speaker 4: and get your all out of it, Like, don't be
Speaker 4: that guy, Like damn, I wish I would have did this.
Speaker 2: I would have did that when I retired.
Speaker 1: You feel me.
Speaker 4: So I'm trying to get everything out of it. I'm
Speaker 4: one hundred and ten percent invested in New Balance.
Speaker 1: What was that process like? And how's it been? Another
Speaker 1: check man?
Speaker 4: That's the reason why with them, Like obviously you know,
Speaker 4: like we all grew up Jordan, we want Jays, we
Speaker 4: want Jay want we want the.
Speaker 2: Max is the forces. Like.
Speaker 4: So it's like I was with Nike my first first
Speaker 4: three years and then obviously that year three I got hurt,
Speaker 4: and Nike they offered me something but nothing.
Speaker 2: You all know how they get down if you're not
Speaker 2: one of the guys.
Speaker 4: You feel me, get new balanced, New Balance. Like I
Speaker 4: was with Nike and they was talking to Risk like, man,
Speaker 4: we like him. We don't know his story, but the
Speaker 4: things we hear and what we see how you carry himself,
Speaker 4: Like we want that because at the point they got Kawhi,
Speaker 4: they just got Kawhi and obviously you know Kauhi my dog, Like,
Speaker 4: so I'm talking to him through that process like you
Speaker 4: rocking New Balance? They cool da, Like I'm not worrying
Speaker 4: about oh how I'm gonna look, bro, I got swagged,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna put it together.
Speaker 1: It ain't you feel me?
Speaker 4: So it's like yeah, yeah, you know a lot of
Speaker 4: people gonna be like man, that shit uglier or this
Speaker 4: or that, like nah, I ain't wearing that, Like we're
Speaker 4: gonna figure it out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you feel me, so New Balance. I'm loyal, bro.
Speaker 4: They was loyal to me, and they weren't even paying
Speaker 4: me a dollar or sending me no merch like they
Speaker 4: was loyal. They was showing me that they wanted me.
Speaker 1: Why it was hurt.
Speaker 2: They're like, we want you to represent our brand, like
Speaker 2: we want you.
Speaker 4: To be a big part of it like Kawhi and
Speaker 4: for me, like just the way they was reaching out,
Speaker 4: reaching out, reaching out, then start sending gear, sending gear
Speaker 4: like told Rich like, Bro, I want to go a
Speaker 4: new Balance.
Speaker 2: Bro.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying. I want to be different.
Speaker 4: I don't want to follow no trends and never been
Speaker 4: the guy to follow no trends, no ways. I'm like,
Speaker 4: we're gonna turn them balance up. I signed with New Balance,
Speaker 4: the whole city and New Balance, wholehood and New Balance.
Speaker 4: You feel me, my whole family, New Balance. Now I'm
Speaker 4: seeing people everywhere I go. I see New Balance, you
Speaker 4: know what I'm saying. So it's like at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, Bro.
Speaker 1: They got some dope, especially all the way, Yeah.
Speaker 4: They got some dope shit, but they also got some
Speaker 4: like the designers that they got came from Nike, Adidas,
Speaker 4: all the mother you know, the brands and just putting
Speaker 4: it together.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what I mean, first time All Star.
Speaker 1: What did that mean to you?
Speaker 2: Unbelievable? I know that felt great, Bro, it was unbelievable. Bro,
Speaker 2: even though like I feel like because I think we
Speaker 2: was in like the ninth place, ninth place, I believe,
Speaker 2: So I feel like I should have got voted in
Speaker 2: like when it happened, and I didn't get like voted in.
Speaker 4: Like I was at the house, like my family hot.
Speaker 4: You already know how them households get like they hot
Speaker 4: because they announcing it. You know, some family they all
Speaker 4: came out to San Antonio and we all I just
Speaker 4: got back.
Speaker 2: I just got back home, and I just.
Speaker 4: Remember, like they ain't call my name, has nothing nothing
Speaker 4: the reserves, they ain't call my name.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 2: I was hot. I was hot. My family was hot.
Speaker 4: Like I see I see my brothers crying like they hot,
Speaker 4: like you know, like they trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2: I'm like, bro, it ain't nothing.
Speaker 4: You know, we're gonna We're gonna get there, like because
Speaker 4: God got us, you feel me, but he got me,
Speaker 4: like I work hard, great person. So it's like it's
Speaker 4: bound happened, Bro, sooner or later. I thinks a couple
Speaker 4: of days go by. Obviously you had guys hurt. I
Speaker 4: go to the gym, and you know how Pop is
Speaker 4: Pop smart, he already know I'm in. They vote, they
Speaker 4: got me in, Adam Silver put me in. But it's
Speaker 4: I have no clue. I'm just going to practice, go
Speaker 4: to practice. After I'll leave, Pops like I have a
Speaker 4: great day.
Speaker 1: Da da da dah.
Speaker 2: I head home.
Speaker 4: The family still there, and he just, uh, he just
Speaker 4: randomly called me like can you uh can you come
Speaker 4: back to the facility. I'm like for what, Like I'm
Speaker 4: gonna see you tomorrow, Like what you need me for
Speaker 4: the facility for He's like, man, just come to the facility.
Speaker 2: I get to the facility, I go solo.
Speaker 4: As soon as I walk in the door, like congratulations,
Speaker 4: all start bro.
Speaker 2: It's like I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: What.
Speaker 4: Then obviously it starts blowing up the the text message
Speaker 4: to cause all that.
Speaker 2: I start breaking down, crying, bro, Bro.
Speaker 4: I start breaking down crying, bro, Like I'm like this
Speaker 4: this shit crazy, Bro Like nah, this ain't true, bro
Speaker 4: an all star, this sh it ain't true, bro, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So I go home.
Speaker 2: Obviously, I hug all them guys.
Speaker 4: I hug all of them the staff, everybody coaches, everybody
Speaker 4: front office. And as soon as I get home, bro,
Speaker 4: whole family crying.
Speaker 1: Bro, the whole they already knew it, you.
Speaker 4: Or they already knew because they started getting out. They
Speaker 4: just knew I was leaving to go to the gym.
Speaker 4: So I walk in the door, I walk in my house.
Speaker 4: Everybody crying. Bro Like, but it's like tears of joy.
Speaker 4: Like that motherfucker used to be in the rain at
Speaker 4: five years old by himself. I was in the snow
Speaker 4: by myself, no backboard, just the rim. I was in
Speaker 4: the house getting the laundry, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 4: all that, getting the hangers, pull them on the door,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: All that, And that's what you've seen, like and from
Speaker 2: all my.
Speaker 4: Family, and I think what really made it hit difference
Speaker 4: is we lost my sister not too long from that.
Speaker 2: My sister was killed like months before that, and.
Speaker 4: Our family was kind of in a you know, like
Speaker 4: a head down, like sad man, like just a revenge mode,
Speaker 4: you feel what I'm saying, Like because she was killed,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, by her boyfriend. So it's
Speaker 4: like brought some positive, some positive to to the family.
Speaker 2: Again. They're like, reborn this, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And it just was.
Speaker 2: It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: Like even still like I still feel like I ain't
Speaker 4: did none of it. I still want to get better.
Speaker 4: I still want my coaches people to criticize me to
Speaker 4: get better, to be better, like so I can make
Speaker 4: it again, make it again, you know. But it's like
Speaker 4: it's a blessing, broen you able to do that? Like
Speaker 4: obviously basketball sports team, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 4: obviously we play basketball, so it's a team game. You
Speaker 4: can't win without the team. But you got your individual things.
Speaker 2: You feel.
Speaker 1: Me it's say you was a top twenty four player
Speaker 1: in the league that year.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: That's unbelievable. Bro, you feel unbelievable. That's unbelievable. So it's
Speaker 4: like that I'll never go over my head, you know,
Speaker 4: forever gonna be be be thankful for that, bro.
Speaker 2: And for me, it's like, get gotta get you to
Speaker 2: get back. You know you don't want to be no
Speaker 2: one here, wonder I gotta get back.
Speaker 3: Very humble, grounded family basketball. Outside of everything you told
Speaker 3: us so far, who were you off the court?
Speaker 1: What do you like to do. I mean, obviously fatherhood
Speaker 1: is big for you, but what do you like to
Speaker 1: do just in your spare time? Bro?
Speaker 2: For me, I like bowling, bowling. I love bowling. I
Speaker 2: love bowling.
Speaker 1: It'd be nice.
Speaker 4: I'd be like, bal let's go bowling. Already, wavery, you know,
Speaker 4: let's go bowling. It's raredmly go bowling. Because for me,
Speaker 4: it's like I grew up in parties, bros and clubs
Speaker 4: at thirteen. I was in twenty one over clubs thirteen,
Speaker 4: fourteen years old, you know what I'm saying. So it's
Speaker 4: like to make it to where I'm at now, I
Speaker 4: have no interest in that. Like a lot of these dudes,
Speaker 4: like older dudes, young dudes, it's new to them. They
Speaker 4: just now being able to get a taste of it
Speaker 4: off the porch lake. I was already doing that, you
Speaker 4: feel what I'm saying. I was already dealing with a woman.
Speaker 4: I was already you know what I'm saying. I was
Speaker 4: already in clubs everything, have money, cars, everything, Bro. So
Speaker 4: it's like, now I'm at this point in my life,
Speaker 4: it's like it's just basketball for me. But also because
Speaker 4: I already did so much in the early stage, I
Speaker 4: have no interest to do things that already done.
Speaker 2: You feel what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So a lot of people, like my brothers, even when
Speaker 4: I was a San Antonio, they used to tell them
Speaker 4: guys like man, get them out the gym, like, tell
Speaker 4: them to go take a vacation, tell them to go,
Speaker 4: I don't know, do something else.
Speaker 2: Get basketball off of his mind.
Speaker 4: But it's like if you ain't grow up like me,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, Like you can't relate to me,
Speaker 4: like you don't understand where I'm at, where I'm at.
Speaker 4: And also I know how I was judged in that
Speaker 4: draft from the things that I did or I was
Speaker 4: around as a kid, and I don't want that to
Speaker 4: be the reason that, you know, they boot me up
Speaker 4: out of here.
Speaker 2: And I feel like my chance is knowing they know
Speaker 2: my story. I feel like my chances ain't.
Speaker 1: Like get a lot of fuck ups.
Speaker 2: I feel like I only got one.
Speaker 4: Soon as I make that one, it's curtains, it's over
Speaker 4: Seattle or wherever you're going, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So for me, like, bro, it's really fatherhood, my family.
Speaker 4: I like bowling, but I really be inside, bro, like
Speaker 4: I really be inside and I have fun doing it, though,
Speaker 4: and I try to tell like my brothers, even dudes,
Speaker 4: I mean to lead, bro, I try to tell them
Speaker 4: cause they even my teammates from your want of San
Speaker 4: Antonio to year seven now in Atlanta, they see our
Speaker 4: own party brong drink on smoke and they see that
Speaker 4: and they're like, bro, why Like you know what I'm saying, like,
Speaker 4: go have fun? You are you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: But I'm having fun. And I try to tell them, like,
Speaker 4: don't let me affect what you do, bro, regardless, I'm
Speaker 4: be good regardless, but I'm comfortable who I am. I
Speaker 4: have fun sitting at home watching six games at a
Speaker 4: time with my daughter, my family, my girl, on FaceTime
Speaker 4: with my family, you know what I mean? Like I
Speaker 4: have fun doing that, answering prison calls over and over,
Speaker 4: chopping over with them. That's my life right now. When
Speaker 4: I'm done, I'll probably start doing more. But right now
Speaker 4: I just know for like it's it's messed up. That
Speaker 4: is this way that I got to think like this,
Speaker 4: But it's like I feel like I go to the
Speaker 4: club or something, You're not about to play with me,
Speaker 4: you feel what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like in a position.
Speaker 2: Why I put myself in that situation, bro? That position?
Speaker 2: Why I could just be at home.
Speaker 1: Bro, because they do a lot of they're doing a
Speaker 1: lot of playing outside.
Speaker 4: They're doing a lot of playing, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: And we don't play like that. It's hard to stay
Speaker 4: out the way. It's hard to stay out the way, bro,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So it's like for me,
Speaker 4: I'm just focused.
Speaker 1: I know what I want. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: But also, like I said, I don't I don't want
Speaker 2: to be on the headlines for no negativity. Bro.
Speaker 1: Too hard.
Speaker 2: I work too hard, bro. And I know you take
Speaker 2: away me. You take away a lot of village.
Speaker 1: Bro. Yeah, you feel me.
Speaker 2: You take away a village, a lot of people. You
Speaker 2: feel me. So it's like I'm cool, Bro, I like chilling.
Speaker 2: I really be with the kids for real.
Speaker 5: That that that that that says a lot about you
Speaker 5: and how how important your family and your village is
Speaker 5: to you. Because a lot of people can be selfish.
Speaker 5: I want to do this, it is my life. I
Speaker 5: want to do this and not care about the people
Speaker 5: that's dependent on them.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. A lot of people like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3: You spoke to Rich's loyalty and the relationship you've built
Speaker 3: with him. Have you been able to build a relationship
Speaker 3: with Bron knowing that that's obviously family as well?
Speaker 2: Man, I talk to him all the time. For me,
Speaker 2: I just he I mean, like we talk who But
Speaker 2: more so like knowing that that was my.
Speaker 4: Favorite player growing up, Like Bron was my favorite because
Speaker 4: I love to play the game that way. Like obviously
Speaker 4: I grew up watching Ai Kobe them dudes, is like
Speaker 4: I'm going to eat buckets. Yeah, fuck all that, I'm
Speaker 4: going to get buckets blank. But with Bron, Broun's doing everything.
Speaker 4: That's why you look up.
Speaker 2: You look up after game. It's like he got thirty.
Speaker 4: One, nine and ten, Like he did everything, you know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying. So that was my favorite player from
Speaker 4: when he first got to the league, when he first
Speaker 4: year rookie year. I remember, I'm like, that's my favorite player.
Speaker 4: He played a game the right way and obviously he
Speaker 4: was special. He's still special, right, you feel me? So
Speaker 4: it was like he invited me to his camp. I
Speaker 4: think I was what sixteen seventeen, right when I start
Speaker 4: blowing up. I think it became like a top thirty
Speaker 4: recruit at the time. So now I'm going all the
Speaker 4: All American camps and he invited me to. It was
Speaker 4: like twenty players, and I was want of the guys
Speaker 4: to go. And then we on the team with each other,
Speaker 4: and obviously, you know, Maul told him about me and
Speaker 4: all that, and uh, we was able to have conversations
Speaker 4: at his camp, and then obviously I signed with Rich
Speaker 4: and Clutch and that just made us tighter. And it's
Speaker 4: like now, Bro, like I know his love's genuine, like
Speaker 4: when I go around him, like you good that hug
Speaker 4: that you know, I love you, little bro. But more
Speaker 4: he be checking on me too though, like happy Holidays
Speaker 4: and you know, seeing them play with my daughter like
Speaker 4: all the kids everything like and just to know that
Speaker 4: to have a great person like that, not just basketball
Speaker 4: like person Louis he's doing. He's a great person, but
Speaker 4: Louie's doing off the floor. Like like, Bro got a school.
Speaker 4: He have a school. I think that's the biggest flex
Speaker 4: more than anything else. He has a school. And that
Speaker 4: ain't either that ain't you know.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying, especially being African American.
Speaker 1: Bro, it ain't easy.
Speaker 4: So for me, like when I tell you the money,
Speaker 4: the fame and all that championships, Like I look at
Speaker 4: him as like, Bro, he have a school because that's
Speaker 4: something that like I would want to do because I
Speaker 4: speak who you are as a person and what you
Speaker 4: really care about, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: So the relationships thpe, Bro, you're.
Speaker 1: A great one. Bro.
Speaker 5: What's one player that's musty TV for you to write?
Speaker 5: Now when you're watching games at home? One player?
Speaker 2: May y'all know who Jay?
Speaker 1: He?
Speaker 4: Crazy? He crazy? He crazy? Yeah he is, Bro, He
Speaker 4: a motherfucker. He's musty TV.
Speaker 2: For sure.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I know, I know I love it to be everybody.
Speaker 4: If it ain't, I don't know who is what you're watching,
Speaker 4: what you're watching, what player bring the best out you?
Speaker 2: I think I feel like everybody because now I'm getting
Speaker 2: in that and you.
Speaker 1: Got you got that? So you want to kill everybody?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's that attitude.
Speaker 4: But like even now, like being in Atlanta, Bro, I'm
Speaker 4: still trying to figure out, Like you know, it's a
Speaker 4: it's a new role, it's a new situation, it's a
Speaker 4: new team. So now I'm like I'm trying to figure
Speaker 4: it out like you know what I'm saying. But for me,
Speaker 4: it's like I want to destroy everybody. I want to
Speaker 4: take the ball from you number one, So you better
Speaker 4: call that screen. You know what I'm saying, Like that's
Speaker 4: just my mentality, Like I want to get the best
Speaker 4: of you on both ends, but more so is everybody
Speaker 4: because like I said, you want to play the best, Bro,
Speaker 4: you don't. You don't want nothing easy, you knowe what
Speaker 4: I'm saying. So every night like you got dudes, the
Speaker 4: league is so crazy now. Who look at Houston? Yeah,
Speaker 4: them up with Kevin and Jalen. They could both get
Speaker 4: thirty years.
Speaker 1: The record ain't shit, but they could play.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm saying. But all they need is some
Speaker 4: veterans and you know, right, y'all know what they need, Jabari.
Speaker 4: They just need the right But I'll be trying to
Speaker 4: tell people because a lot of people like you lose
Speaker 4: the you lose one of them younger teams that's you know,
Speaker 4: not mature or got that experience, Like bro, the league
Speaker 4: is at that it's that talented. You could lose to
Speaker 4: a team that got eleven wins or the team like
Speaker 4: Boston with thirty wins. You could lose any given night
Speaker 4: night and ain't know they know, Oh you're about to
Speaker 4: blow these guys out by thirty forty and the bench
Speaker 4: about to be able to play the last three four minutes.
Speaker 2: It ain't like that no more.
Speaker 1: Bro, You know what I mean, talent.
Speaker 4: So it's like, you know, I love, I love playing
Speaker 4: against everybody, man, I love I love watching the game,
Speaker 4: and just love competing with the best.
Speaker 5: We were kind of in the area where we started
Speaker 5: the two way player because we was guys that put
Speaker 5: so much pride in playing defense. We talked about you
Speaker 5: getting it from San Antonio. But then again I would
Speaker 5: say the same thing. But one thing I can't give
Speaker 5: them credit for is I cared about stopping the man
Speaker 5: that I'm guarding.
Speaker 2: That's not no credit to them for that, No credit
Speaker 2: to zero.
Speaker 5: And it's not a lot of that in the league
Speaker 5: right now. Na, What is it in you that makes
Speaker 5: you take pride and defense? Because it's a scoring league
Speaker 5: right now, they want buckets. That's when very pride in defense.
Speaker 5: What is that in you that's making you different than
Speaker 5: a lot of guys in league right now?
Speaker 4: Growing up playing with the older guys, being five years old,
Speaker 4: playing with My uncle's fifteen, seventeen eighteen, and we're playing
Speaker 4: twenty one.
Speaker 2: The only way you get the balls you get a stop.
Speaker 4: Better take the ball, you better get a stop, you
Speaker 4: better get a rebound. I'm five years old, bro, Yeah,
Speaker 4: five years old. These dudes is about to be eighteen
Speaker 4: years old. I used to get frustrated, like because it
Speaker 4: was times I didn't get the ball, and I used
Speaker 4: to get so mad, like I.
Speaker 2: Gotta figure this shit out, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So that's where it comes for me, like playing with
Speaker 4: my uncles and then obviously start branching out to the
Speaker 4: neighborhoods and start playing, you know, in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: And now it's like I'm not getting.
Speaker 4: Embarrassed one you know what I'm saying, But damn shot,
Speaker 4: I know there's only one way for me to get
Speaker 4: the ball, and that's to stop you. So it's a
Speaker 4: pride thing, but it's a hard thing, dag. Like you know,
Speaker 4: like some dudes just don't care. Yeah, they weren't taught that.
Speaker 4: They all they think offense is the end goal or
Speaker 4: whatever defense wins championships, games, or however.
Speaker 2: You want to put it.
Speaker 4: You feel what I'm saying, so that's that's that's where
Speaker 4: it comes from me. I credit all my uncles and
Speaker 4: all their friends, bro, Like they ain't give me nothing easy.
Speaker 4: They made it hard on me from day one. When
Speaker 4: they seen that I was having the ball in my
Speaker 4: hand at one two years old, They're like, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1: By the time, you know what I mean, slapping that
Speaker 1: out your hand. Yeah. Yeah, So that's where that comes from.
Speaker 5: Last season, you had a string of tweets in the
Speaker 5: chef say he's top ten. Ever, I mean, I can't
Speaker 5: disagree with you, but to talk about that, by Steph's greatness,
Speaker 5: he differed, bro, totally.
Speaker 1: Let me say this. I was never when they drafted him.
Speaker 1: I Jack didn't believe in Steph.
Speaker 5: So I was there, bro, and I'm similar to how
Speaker 5: you was when Santana go up. I'm damn there, thirty
Speaker 5: five thirty something. I don't want you, but I did
Speaker 5: not know Steph. I'm gonna say it every time I
Speaker 5: get on. I'm sorry, but I had no idea who
Speaker 5: you was gonna be. Bro, No idea, Bro, But you know,
Speaker 5: it's so crazy.
Speaker 4: When I seen him play that run he had at
Speaker 4: Davidson the last year before he left, to the league.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: It was like I remember, like we could be going
Speaker 4: to get food, or we could be just going somewhere.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I gotta get to a TV. I gotta
Speaker 4: watch this dude from Davison play. That's how crazy. That's
Speaker 4: how crazy it was when I seen that. I'm like, bro,
Speaker 4: he could shoot.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: I'm like, this dude if he gets to the league,
Speaker 4: because I think he was in the time where like
Speaker 4: I wasn't into the mock drafts or I ain't know
Speaker 4: nothing about that.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I just know, like, get to the league.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we get to the league though, Like it ain't easy, bro,
Speaker 4: but they be having you know the guys they hype up,
Speaker 4: and they weren't hyping him up. I feel like, but
Speaker 4: obviously he may put him unnoticed. And I'm like, Bro,
Speaker 4: that dude get to the league and get opportunity, he's
Speaker 4: gonna go crazy.
Speaker 2: I didn't say he was gonna be this.
Speaker 1: Nobody knew that.
Speaker 2: I didn't say none of this.
Speaker 4: I just seen the way he shot the basketball off
Speaker 4: the dribble, you know what I mean, all pinned downs
Speaker 4: like catch and shoot.
Speaker 2: I'm like, that dude's gonna be somebody.
Speaker 4: So it's like now, Bro, just seeing it, Like you
Speaker 4: got to credit his his hard work, his dedication, bro,
Speaker 4: Like you know what I mean, Like when I hear
Speaker 4: about his workouts, like hearing stories from people, like they're
Speaker 4: no joke.
Speaker 2: He is who he is for a reason. God blessed him.
Speaker 2: But he got that hard work working.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know what I mean, that dedication, that focus,
Speaker 4: that drive, Like, Bro, I gotta keep going until I'm
Speaker 4: just done, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So for me, Bro, he's I mean what he got,
Speaker 2: he got it. I don't know what else he gotta do.
Speaker 1: He got it.
Speaker 4: And he changed the game though, Like he changed I
Speaker 4: feel like when you changed the game, not too many
Speaker 4: guys can say they did.
Speaker 1: A handful handful changed the game. He changed the game,
Speaker 1: changed it on all levels. You know.
Speaker 3: Obviously I coached my kids at a younger Look, they
Speaker 3: come in as soon as they put their shoes on,
Speaker 3: they start shooting from half court.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what about just nah Dad? Nah?
Speaker 2: Dad?
Speaker 1: Like that he changed the game for real.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, Like I remember the shooting
Speaker 4: fade away Kobe. Now it's Steph shoot him half. Like
Speaker 4: you said, he changed the game, not just men's women's too,
Speaker 4: change everything. He changed the game.
Speaker 1: He did absolutely.
Speaker 3: You know, quick hitters coming down the home stretch. First
Speaker 3: thing to come to your mind. Let us know three
Speaker 3: artists in your pre game rotation.
Speaker 4: Mm hm three artists, bro. Uh, I really listened to
Speaker 4: what I could relate to. I don't care about your
Speaker 4: personal life. You make good music. You make good music, Bro,
Speaker 4: I don't know you as a person. You feel me
Speaker 4: so if I could relate to it, and it gives
Speaker 4: me chills from ship I have seen dead been through,
Speaker 4: like that's what's in my play with some substance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you feel I'm saying, let.
Speaker 1: Me get an example, but.
Speaker 2: The ones Dirk, Dirk's the one. He's the one.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, He's the one.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? That's you jam and constantly.
Speaker 2: He's the one.
Speaker 5: Bro.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel it like you give me chills, Bro,
Speaker 2: you feel me give me chills.
Speaker 5: That's that's probably scarface for me. Scarf Mamas, Tupac Tupac
Speaker 5: can't go.
Speaker 1: Players of all time Top Top five man, Man, Man,
Speaker 1: it's funny.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to hear your list because we just had
Speaker 3: Charles Barkley's list and it was good, but it was
Speaker 3: it was he's older.
Speaker 5: It was a dope list. Yeah, three of them got
Speaker 5: to come up out of three of his list.
Speaker 1: They got to come up out of there man, three
Speaker 1: of his list.
Speaker 5: Three people on his list. They had eight teams when they.
Speaker 1: Was playing his list ship.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I can't go I can't go back.
Speaker 1: That far's no need to cook.
Speaker 4: I can't go cook Man. It don't gotta be like
Speaker 4: card five man, Bron, M J. Kobe Shack. I'm throwing
Speaker 4: tim in there.
Speaker 1: Bro, that's my five. I have magic ten, but that's
Speaker 1: my five. That's my five. We got the same five
Speaker 1: that so is so so is with that order, Bron,
Speaker 1: M J. Cole For you, that's your top three?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you you didn't ask for you.
Speaker 1: No, I'm asking you. I'm asking you. You want to
Speaker 1: do or the three? Just those three? Who who's your order?
Speaker 1: Were those guys in your order?
Speaker 3: I don't care if they're one, two or three in
Speaker 3: the world, And those three were Who's one, Who's two?
Speaker 1: Who's three? Bron, M J.
Speaker 5: Kobe Okay, Yeah, absolutely absolutely, I'm obviously round m J.
Speaker 1: Cole.
Speaker 2: Bron that he was a killer. He was bucket them.
Speaker 1: Three, them three one show or movie you could watch
Speaker 1: on repeat.
Speaker 2: Martin Easy, come on, man, come on man, yeah, two
Speaker 2: three in the morning. You know it's so you gotta
Speaker 2: watch that. That's man too, little Rodscop. That's crazy, that's
Speaker 2: crazy world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, oh man.
Speaker 5: Any course our game to rewatching the past? Which one
Speaker 5: would it be? Any game you could be courtside to
Speaker 5: games in the past, any pass game. MJ era, Cobe
Speaker 5: era early Brian Dathan Davidson, M.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 4: Any game I could be, it will have to be
Speaker 4: Jordan bro It will have to be I think the
Speaker 4: game versus Utah Flu game, the Flu.
Speaker 5: Game and that one All sixty three in Boston. They
Speaker 5: lost that game, rookie year right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And the reason why I say MJ because and it
Speaker 4: hurts me bro that I didn't get to meet Kobe
Speaker 4: bro Like, and he invited me to his little Top
Speaker 4: twenty of young up and coming players before he passed
Speaker 4: to come to his camp.
Speaker 2: That was when the first time I met him.
Speaker 4: Because he retired when I got to the league twenty sixteen,
Speaker 4: and that really hurt me, bro Like, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean, his mentality, the way he carried himself.
Speaker 2: The way he played the game, like different. That was
Speaker 2: somebody that because I'm not big or I want to
Speaker 2: meet people like you know what I mean. If I
Speaker 2: meet you, I meet you.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And I respect my elders, Bro, So you don't got
Speaker 4: to be best player in the world. You could be
Speaker 4: on the side of the road, my elder. You feel me,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna respect you. But it's like Kobe was somebody that,
Speaker 4: like I had to meet Bro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So like knowing what happened like that hurts me, you
Speaker 4: feel me. But I got to see Kobe play. I
Speaker 4: got to see Bron play. I'm playing against Broun now, MJ.
Speaker 4: I didn't get to see playing. So it's like all
Speaker 4: you hear is the old heads. They're like, Bron your
Speaker 4: number one man, you tripping, you tripping, and they say
Speaker 4: it passionate though you feel me, And it's like I
Speaker 4: wanted to see it in person.
Speaker 2: And that's why I said that game.
Speaker 5: You should have seen us. When we was going to
Speaker 5: interview Kobe, we were like two kids going.
Speaker 1: That was my teammates, Like we was teammates.
Speaker 3: I've seen him all the time, but it was still
Speaker 3: just that aura about him and the way he carried himself,
Speaker 3: in the way you felt like you learned something when
Speaker 3: you're just having a regular conversation with him. I mean,
Speaker 3: he sat us in his office before we start the interviewing.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to be known for my
Speaker 3: last twenty years. I'm like, nigga, you cold what you mean.
Speaker 3: It's like, now, I want to be known for what
Speaker 3: I'm about to do and look at this when I'm
Speaker 3: writing this book and no, no, no. So it's just
Speaker 3: that mentality. Just he applied it to all aspects of
Speaker 3: his life. So it was it was special to see.
Speaker 5: That was my classmate and I was in awe every
Speaker 5: time I talked to him and seeing him, I was
Speaker 5: just like like, this is this nigga real?
Speaker 1: His nigga real?
Speaker 4: So I get it, man, And I think that's what's
Speaker 4: crazy though, Like knowing like you just said, bro, like
Speaker 4: youkvid like you can't right you feel me? But to
Speaker 4: know that like he didn't get to do like we
Speaker 4: give our all the basketball, especially him, like everything he
Speaker 4: gave his all.
Speaker 1: Bro.
Speaker 4: He was away from his family more than you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. Like, so to see him to start
Speaker 4: branching the you know, being with his daughters.
Speaker 1: You know, she want to.
Speaker 2: Hoop for real.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'm about to coach you like and like you
Speaker 4: just said, doing other things like in the fact he
Speaker 4: didn't get to do that, Like that's the type of
Speaker 4: stuff that that that messed with me.
Speaker 3: Rest in peace, man, five dinner against that are.
Speaker 4: Alive five dinner guess huh uhh Like I said, brown't
Speaker 4: really caring to meet people.
Speaker 1: But h jay z.
Speaker 5: M J.
Speaker 1: Uh should you gotta put cobD on there? Kobe?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, Kobe hm already have one bron so he
Speaker 4: can't go and he can't come to this one. He
Speaker 4: can't come to this one. Uh well, I say that,
Speaker 4: said jay z m J. Kobe Ai, I'm tripping Ai.
Speaker 1: You get a chance to meet him.
Speaker 2: I met him three times.
Speaker 5: Put put put somebody in your list for your fifth
Speaker 5: that's somebody that you admire that's dead and gone, that
Speaker 5: you would like to get to know, that I get
Speaker 5: to know.
Speaker 2: Uh mm hmm. Yeah, that's a tough one. There's so
Speaker 2: many people, bro, that's a tough one. Mm hm.
Speaker 1: Oh No, that one had always said for me.
Speaker 5: I don't want to meet Marcus Garvin because of what
Speaker 5: he was. You know what I'm saying. He was one
Speaker 5: of the first black men to start teaching financial literacy,
Speaker 5: financial financial literacy and teach people how to get bank
Speaker 5: accounts and involved with banks and try to get black
Speaker 5: people to start their own banks and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: So that's somebody, That's what I mean. I'll give you
Speaker 5: an example of somebody like that. I've always wanted to meet.
Speaker 5: Marcus Garby.
Speaker 4: I think it's starting to obviously young Gage like always wondering, like, bro,
Speaker 4: why is there Martin Luther King everywhere in every hood,
Speaker 4: like every you know, like black area. Like, so I'll
Speaker 4: probably say Martin Luther King. And I'm not saying that
Speaker 4: because the MLK days here. But when I say, it's
Speaker 4: a lot of people that I could have put in
Speaker 4: that fist, it was a lot of people because even
Speaker 4: though it's four like those people I want to learn from, admire,
Speaker 4: learn from, you know what I'm saying, good bad, But
Speaker 4: just to take it away from sports Martin Luther King,
Speaker 4: just to understand that, you know, his message, he can't
Speaker 4: go wrong with that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I say, yeah, they definitely went wrong with that
Speaker 1: new statue we got in Boston. I just see it.
Speaker 1: It's crazy over.
Speaker 5: If you can see one guessarry out, if you can
Speaker 5: have one guest on All the Smoke, who would it be?
Speaker 5: But before you answer, you have to help us get
Speaker 5: your answer.
Speaker 1: On the show. So gotta be someone you talked to,
Speaker 1: like a Quai Brandon Roy like just whoever you want
Speaker 1: to see on the shore.
Speaker 2: You got to the yah Yah, y'all had the more
Speaker 2: yet Yeah, say, brother, that might be doing. He don't
Speaker 2: rock with a lot of NBA players. He ain't the
Speaker 2: NBA player to you. That's my brother.
Speaker 1: I love like that.
Speaker 2: Wasn't everybody swearter God.
Speaker 1: We don't work.
Speaker 4: I don't want to hang out, work out nobody, No
Speaker 4: disrespect to you.
Speaker 6: It's all love my brother. Okay, y'all had him. Uh man,
Speaker 6: we're waiting on the calr.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get the calck.
Speaker 1: Me and you both can work on that. Now.
Speaker 4: We're getting the club we get now that's done deal.
Speaker 4: We're gonna work on the car as soon as we're
Speaker 4: done today.
Speaker 1: I'm calling them, Yeah we need it.
Speaker 4: I ain't rocking with your calus All the Smoke, Dad,
Speaker 4: because I don't do a I don't do interviews. When
Speaker 4: they said y'all call You know, y'all, you know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying, and you know it's love. Like even so
Speaker 4: like I want y'all to know, like I appreciate y'all
Speaker 4: what you stand for. You feel me a message y'all
Speaker 4: putting out.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Like y'all trying to make
Speaker 2: a change, bro, But y'all doing it the authentic way.
Speaker 4: Ain't nothing fake about it. I watch everyone, appreciate everyone
Speaker 4: what I'm saying the legendary Bro.
Speaker 1: You've been told me that though you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I watch everyone, But I appreciate your time from a
Speaker 3: standpoint of obviously during season, during season first and foremost,
Speaker 3: but just getting this in.
Speaker 1: Like you said, you don't talk to very many people.
Speaker 3: So for your fans, for our fans to get an
Speaker 3: in depth understanding of who you are as a man,
Speaker 3: like fuck the basketball side, like we get to see
Speaker 3: you every night, We're blessed see you every night, but
Speaker 3: to see your morals, your principles, your values, what you
Speaker 3: stand for, how important family is, how important being a
Speaker 3: father is. Like that kind of shit is dope to
Speaker 3: me because we wouldn't get that conversation.
Speaker 1: We went to dinner.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, Like we got to get
Speaker 3: in depth and dig into it. So again, man, we
Speaker 3: appreciate your time. Like Jack said, especially during the season.
Speaker 3: We got some shit for you over here. We got
Speaker 3: some merch for you.
Speaker 2: All merch, Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: All the Smoke Dot Store.
Speaker 5: And if you want to look as fresh as us
Speaker 5: guys up here on.
Speaker 1: The stage, you have to go to All the Smoke
Speaker 1: Dot Store and get your gear. All the Smoke that.
Speaker 3: Store, man, dejontey Man, we appreciate you. That's a wrap,
Speaker 3: de Jontay Murray.
Speaker 1: All the Smoke.
Speaker 3: You can catch us on Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the
Speaker 3: iHeart platform like effects.
Speaker 1: All the Smoke that Store, bitch. We'll see y'all like yes,