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Speaker 1: Hey, when to welcome in on dog Gotti. This is

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Speaker 1: all fall. We got a great guest for you. Several

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Speaker 1: prior series we're going to do with Darren Hollison of

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Speaker 1: course at a wand to high school UCLA, onto the

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Speaker 1: NBA and then man, I can't wait till you hear

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Speaker 1: our discussion about he was supposed to come back with

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. He thought he was going to come back

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Speaker 1: with the Lakers. He didn't come back with Lakers, and

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Speaker 1: he tried to make a comeback and then he got hurt.

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Speaker 1: And oh yeah, by the way, now he runs one

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Speaker 1: of the elite training programs in the entire country, and

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Speaker 1: he focuses on this time of the year getting guys

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Speaker 1: ready first for the draft and then for their rookie

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Speaker 1: season before going back to college guys all summer and

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Speaker 1: pro guys all summer, and then high school and younger

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Speaker 1: kids during the regular year. So Darren Collinson Part one

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Speaker 1: upcoming on the pod. A couple of other thoughts. One

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Speaker 1: loved that John Caliperry said, Hey, this is pretty easy.

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Speaker 1: Let's just make everybody go back to sitting here. I agree.

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Speaker 1: Grad transfers as well. You want to transfer, that's fine.

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Speaker 1: But you're gonna have to sit out of here. And honestly,

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Speaker 1: guys that transfer and sit out of here. I can

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Speaker 1: speak to this personally. It helps you, helps you been

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Speaker 1: sure as a player, as a person. If you really

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Speaker 1: really want it's got to you have to have some

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Speaker 1: reason to hold you back from really one to leave

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Speaker 1: a place. Otherwise it's just like, yeah, just go play

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Speaker 1: one place, don't play another place. Don't play another place.

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Speaker 1: So it's not a punishment. You're still getting your degree.

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Speaker 1: He said nothing about taking away nil. I would say,

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Speaker 1: you can't get anil to you play for the team.

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Speaker 1: But regardless of it, there does seem to be some

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Speaker 1: sort of push when John Caliperry says it, that's that's

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Speaker 1: a big big name talking about the transfer portal. Additionally,

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Speaker 1: I did want to say this about the news of

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Speaker 1: the day is all the free agency in the NBA

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Speaker 1: free agent movement, and it's just not smart to comment

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Speaker 1: on it midway through at the time of this recording

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Speaker 1: free agency, it just started. You know, Bruce Brown signed

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Speaker 1: for forty five million two years at the Indiana Pacers, right,

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Speaker 1: So when Bruce Brown said, hey, it's time to get paid,

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Speaker 1: he meant it and that's a gigantic loss for the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: And let's see what they're able to add, because they're

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Speaker 1: going to need somebody to come in off the bench

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Speaker 1: and do have the versatility of skills that he has.

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Speaker 1: That's a major mage change for the Nuggets moving forward.

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Speaker 1: He played a big role this year for them. Remember

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Speaker 1: they only played seven guys most of the playoffs, and

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Speaker 1: he was the guy who commanded most of the minutes

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Speaker 1: off the bench, and he gives them a completely different look.

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Speaker 1: So it'd be dumb for me, like, let's see where

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Speaker 1: the dust settles. Let's see what happens if the Sun's

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Speaker 1: trade DeAndre, Let's see it's Reelle Harris gets Let's see

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Speaker 1: you know wherever. But I do think that you know, look,

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Speaker 1: there's a couple of different things going on here. There's

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Speaker 1: the new salary cap structure in luxury tax structure, which

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Speaker 1: is causing people to shed tracks that after next year

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Speaker 1: are not great contracts. And those guys suddenly you'll find

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Speaker 1: themselves on the move, some of these younger players, you know,

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Speaker 1: Kyle Kusma signed to a big deal with the Washington Wizards.

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Speaker 1: You know, there's also like a higher floor, so you

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Speaker 1: have to pay some guys to find the guys you

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Speaker 1: want to build around and pay them and try and

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Speaker 1: keep them. And then what the Celtics do with Jalen Brown,

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Speaker 1: maybe not this year, but maybe next year. In terms

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Speaker 1: of next year is when his new contract to be

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Speaker 1: signs it would go live, and you're talking about close

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Speaker 1: to three hundred million dollars. So I think that's a

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Speaker 1: big reason. You're like, why did the Celtics, Like, it's

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Speaker 1: just about the you know, it's just about where you

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Speaker 1: are in the luxury techs and nothing else. And trying

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Speaker 1: to play that game of in a year, you know,

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Speaker 1: who's going to have a bad contract in a year,

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Speaker 1: what are we going to look like? It's it's hard.

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Speaker 1: And then you have younger teams that are trying to

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Speaker 1: load up on draft picks, but they also have to

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Speaker 1: get some of these contracts under their belts in order

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Speaker 1: to get above the floor the salary cap. So it's

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Speaker 1: a really interesting kind of math puzzle, if you will.

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Speaker 1: Other than that, it doesn't appear as of right now,

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Speaker 1: like Damian Lillard's going to be moved. But I also

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Speaker 1: think that you know, you don't if you're a Lillard's agent,

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Speaker 1: you don't call a meeting after the draft unless you're unhappy,

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Speaker 1: but you're just unwilling to pull the trigger, right. And

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of it is like it's kind

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Speaker 1: of like a divorce. You know, you can agree to

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Speaker 1: it that it's probably a good idea to get divorced.

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Speaker 1: Nobody wants to be the person to file, do they right?

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Speaker 2: You know?

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Speaker 1: I'm like, well you filed, do you you did?

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Speaker 3: Like?

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Speaker 1: No, we kind of agree now. And I think that's

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Speaker 1: what's happening in Portland is that he wants a divorce

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Speaker 1: but doesn't. It's bad for his brand to be the

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Speaker 1: guy who asks for a trade and they don't want

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Speaker 1: to be the team that trade away. Kind of an

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Speaker 1: all time great in Portland trail Blazer or history, even

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Speaker 1: if it's probably better for both parties. Last thing is this,

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Speaker 1: there's going to be some changes on at ESPN you've

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Speaker 1: seen and the way it relates directly to all Ball

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Speaker 1: because one, when I have all these guys on two,

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Speaker 1: I'm a former ESPNOR and you know, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what that place would be like to get fired. I

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Speaker 1: mean when I left, I had a five year contract

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Speaker 1: waiting for me. So and I think all of everybody

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Speaker 1: I've seen who's been let go today, those are big

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Speaker 1: time people, right, There's zero that I like bad guys

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Speaker 1: or not good at their job or whatever. But man,

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Speaker 1: I'm surprised over the jeff En Gundy thing. I think

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Speaker 1: he's awesome. I think he's just great at doing games,

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Speaker 1: and I'm really surprised by it. You know, here's a

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Speaker 1: guy called the NBA Finals and now is out of work.

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Speaker 1: And I do realize that there's a possibility that NBC

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Speaker 1: gets back in with the NBA. If they do. That's

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Speaker 1: one of the calls that you make Doctor versus out there.

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Speaker 1: He was very good before he went back into coach

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Speaker 1: when he went to coaching, you know, the first time

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Speaker 1: he came back out after he got fired with the

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Speaker 1: magic and he was good again. So there's no reason

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Speaker 1: to think that Doc Rivers wouldn't be really good. And

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Speaker 1: then oh yeah, by the way, his son Austin has

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Speaker 1: been working doing some work for ESPN, So it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty obvious tie there. Obviously, tn T can hire jeff

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Speaker 1: En Gundy, put him at his brother, put him himself.

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Speaker 1: His work stands on the stone. But that's right, that one,

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Speaker 1: that one's the really surprising one. You know. It's one

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Speaker 1: of those like nothing really surprised you, except that one

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Speaker 1: really surprised just because you know, guys that called championship

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Speaker 1: games are usually relatively untouchable unless their contract demands are

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Speaker 1: too great, unless you know, there's something off the floor,

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Speaker 1: or if there's another offer out there for him, you know,

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Speaker 1: and you think about the people who call championship games

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Speaker 1: in the NBA and the NFL and college BASKETBA, like

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Speaker 1: all of those guys are virtually untouching. It's a it's

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Speaker 1: a position where you're kind of night it and that's

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Speaker 1: the that's the big stunt. But it also brings to mind,

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Speaker 1: like I've talked to a lot of people in regards

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Speaker 1: to coaching, and so many, so many coaches listen to

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Speaker 1: this podcast and they're driving around, they're like, man, this

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Speaker 1: is really great coach. And you know our Jason hooton podcast.

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Speaker 1: I can't tell you how many coaches reached out like Ben,

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Speaker 1: that was great stuff. And the thing that's interesting to

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Speaker 1: me is how many people think that their industry is

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Speaker 1: the only tough industry, right, man, Coaching tough industry.

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Speaker 2: It is.

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Speaker 1: It's cutthroat, it's tough, you know, I would say that

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who rightfully point out that

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Speaker 1: the only unforgivable sin in coaching is losing. Right There's

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Speaker 1: been guys that have been caught cheating before that they

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Speaker 1: get plenty of opportunities. With the guys that don't win,

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Speaker 1: even they do it the right way, they don't like

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Speaker 1: all that's fair. But I would say that if you

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Speaker 1: think coaching is the only screwed up industry, I give

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Speaker 1: you Jeff Van Gundy, Lafonso Ellis, who's like like one

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Speaker 1: of the world's greatest dudes, right, like the Fonzols is

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Speaker 1: in the in the mount rushmore of good people that

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Speaker 1: you work with, right Like Hubert Davis was like this

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Speaker 1: until he went into coaching, and Clark Kellogg is like this.

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Speaker 1: I'm just kind of vamping off the top of my head.

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Speaker 1: There's lots of good people. Jordan Cornead was let go

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Speaker 1: from ESPN. There's a guy who was an innings eater,

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Speaker 1: did college basketball, hosted, you know, was an analyst, did

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Speaker 1: radio really good and also a really good dude. But

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Speaker 1: Fons is like next level awesome human being and very

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Speaker 1: much surprised that decision was made. Now again, We don't

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Speaker 1: know what goes into it. We don't know if everybody

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Speaker 1: was told, hey, you gotta take twenty five percent off

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Speaker 1: the top. If you do, you can come back, and

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Speaker 1: he just just like, I don't want to do it.

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Speaker 1: That's all together possible. And there are some of those.

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Speaker 1: And you know, at some point you got a draw

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Speaker 1: line in the standing like this is what it's worth,

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Speaker 1: you know, this is what it's worth for me to

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Speaker 1: get on a plane and go fly all over the

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Speaker 1: country and be you ish my family. But my point

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Speaker 1: is that if you want to tell me that your

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Speaker 1: industry is a bad industry, I'll understand. I'll listen to you,

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Speaker 1: and I might even agree with you in the short term.

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Speaker 1: But it's pretty obvious that every industry, especially the media,

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Speaker 1: can be a tough one. Which is why I want

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Speaker 1: to send you to Darren Colson, because this is the

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Speaker 1: part of my job that I like the best, talking

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Speaker 1: to great people, meeting them, catching up with them. And

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Speaker 1: I've become friends with Darren. I watch how he works

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Speaker 1: with guys. I marvel at his thoughtfulness, even when working

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Speaker 1: with the youngest kid in basketball, Like that's a special

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Speaker 1: thing for a guy who's achieved everything he's achieved in Hooper,

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Speaker 1: so that further ado. Here's former UCLA brewin longtime NBA

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Speaker 1: led the NBA in three point prohooting percentage, Darren Colson. Darren,

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Speaker 1: Let's start when you're a kid. Okay, so I think

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Speaker 1: most people know like the kind of fly by version,

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Speaker 1: like your parents, for both athletes, both were track stars,

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Speaker 1: right yeah, yeah, what what level did they compete at?

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Speaker 4: So my mom and my dad they both they met

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Speaker 4: in college and that's when they started running track. My

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Speaker 4: mom she ran the one hundred two hundred, My dad

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Speaker 4: ran the two hundred four hundred, and they my mom

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Speaker 4: made it to the Olympics. So she ran into the Olympics.

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Speaker 4: I was in Los Angeles. I think it was like

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Speaker 4: nineteen eighty four.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So like my dad, I think my dad kind of

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Speaker 4: he stopped doing it, like probably after college a little

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Speaker 4: bit after and got into boxing. But my mom was

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Speaker 4: the one that went a little bit further. She kind

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Speaker 4: of like pursued her little track dreams too.

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Speaker 2: After.

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Speaker 1: So when you're a little kid, did they want you

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Speaker 1: to be a track star? Did your dad wanted to

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Speaker 1: be a boxer?

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Speaker 2: Like? What was man made? Day Man?

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Speaker 4: That was one of the biggest hurdles that I had

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Speaker 4: to do, no pun intended that I had to do

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Speaker 4: for myself, because they had mapped out that I was

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Speaker 4: going to be this track star athlete. Like they I mean,

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Speaker 4: they would take me to all the track events and

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Speaker 4: like they would give me with like personal trainer coaches

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Speaker 4: that you know that were really good with track athletes,

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Speaker 4: and every little everything that I did sports wise was

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Speaker 4: how to do something with track, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 5: And so like we were do relay races.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I would be at events practices, and I

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Speaker 4: think for them, they were just like they didn't see

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Speaker 4: like the same amount of passion that I had for basketball,

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Speaker 4: and so they kind of switched gears with me. But

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Speaker 4: they definitely wanted me to be like a track athlete.

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Speaker 1: What what's your first memories of playing hoop? Where was it.

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Speaker 2: My first mayor playing hoop?

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Speaker 4: I was in the second grade and Ranch cooka manga

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Speaker 4: at a youth league. And the funny story to that

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Speaker 4: was my first two baskets of.

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Speaker 5: The game, wasn't the wrong hoop?

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Speaker 4: So so yeah, that was that was my start to

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Speaker 4: my journey.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing. It's amazing. Now you were your parents, Jehovah's witnesses.

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Speaker 4: No my none of my none of my family members,

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Speaker 4: our Jona was witnesses. Just me myself. I started, you know,

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Speaker 4: becoming a witness. I think I probably I want to say,

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Speaker 4: like why Right before I got into the NBA, I

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Speaker 4: started studying a little bit more and I just got

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Speaker 4: a hook.

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Speaker 2: Is just started making me a better person.

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Speaker 4: And you know, it was one of those things, it's

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Speaker 4: like if it ain't broke, don't fix it type thing.

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Speaker 1: What was what was what was there background?

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Speaker 5: What?

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Speaker 1: Like what part did religion play growing up in your household?

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Speaker 4: So my mom, she was a church goer, so like

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Speaker 4: we would always go to church, like every Sunday, you know,

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Speaker 4: we had our pastors, like you know, going to our

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Speaker 4: pastor hearing their talking the sermon and stuff. So my

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Speaker 4: mom was really bit. She her faith was really really good.

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Speaker 4: I mean still is and my dad not so much.

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Speaker 4: But you know that's when that faith kind of instilled

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Speaker 4: in me. Like what I realized it wasn't just about

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Speaker 4: what you did, like as far as like being a

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Speaker 4: basketball player or anything else. Like you know, your faith

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Speaker 4: is just as much as important as anything else, and

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Speaker 4: that helps you to become a better person, which is

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Speaker 4: key and everything you do.

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Speaker 1: Like you said, your mom and dad are track stars,

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Speaker 1: that's their push. Your dad gets into boxing, he's into that,

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Speaker 1: so it's not like he's taking you down to the

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Speaker 1: park to work with you. Who is who is the

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Speaker 1: guy who helped you kind of start to really evolve

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Speaker 1: as a player.

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Speaker 4: And d That's such a tough question because like growing up,

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Speaker 4: I played on like different teams like every year because

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Speaker 4: the youth league, like you just you couldn't play it

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Speaker 4: on the same team, so like they'll switch it up

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Speaker 4: every year. I didn't play au basketball till like I

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Speaker 4: was like in a third or fourth grade. So maybe

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Speaker 4: if I say, the first person that kind of influenced

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Speaker 4: like my competitive like fire was probably Ron Austin.

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Speaker 2: Out of the Atlanta Empire.

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Speaker 4: He that was like my first coach, like AU wise,

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Speaker 4: and he was the one that would take me down

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Speaker 4: to LA and I believe we were like one of

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Speaker 4: the first inland teams that would do that, like and

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Speaker 4: we didn't at that time.

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Speaker 5: We didn't have no jerseys. We wear shirts for our jerseys.

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Speaker 4: And we would go down to like the most dangerous

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Speaker 4: parts of LA and who like they have tournaments, and

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Speaker 4: I think that's when I really started to fall in

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Speaker 4: love with the competitive spirit and just playing against all

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Speaker 4: like the best players at that age in that area.

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Speaker 4: So it kind of is still something different than me

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Speaker 4: and I and from there, I just kind of took off.

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Speaker 1: High school what was it? What what AAU team? Were

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Speaker 1: you on.

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Speaker 5: A team?

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Speaker 4: I was on the LA Empire Basketball Program team iv

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Speaker 4: P with Keith Howard, who's also too in the Al

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Speaker 4: Empire as well, So he was he was very instrumental

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Speaker 4: because I was working with keys not just through high

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Speaker 4: school but in college and a little bit in the

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Speaker 4: NBA as well. And he's he's done a lot for

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Speaker 4: me too, you know what I mean. He would take

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Speaker 4: me to u c l A to go play in

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Speaker 4: Arico Runs. I mean he would take me to all

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Speaker 4: the like the ABCD camps at the time, anything like

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Speaker 4: that was meaningful to go to, like he would make

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Speaker 4: sure that I was there, and so he was definitely inflential.

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Speaker 3: Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in

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Speaker 3: the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio

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Speaker 3: dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to

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Speaker 3: listen live.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting and I want to We'll circle

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Speaker 1: back around to it. But now as you work out

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Speaker 1: with it, work out you know, anything from little kids

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Speaker 1: to pros. Your your approach, where do you where do

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Speaker 1: you drawing it from? How do you how do you

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Speaker 1: put together how you want to be kind of an

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Speaker 1: elite performance coach?

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Speaker 5: You know?

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Speaker 4: For me, D I always felt like the development side

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Speaker 4: of basketball is such a huge part of this case game.

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Speaker 4: It was a huge part in my game. I'm so

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Speaker 4: locked into it. I had a crazy worth that think

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Speaker 4: myself that I believe in it, and I believe if

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Speaker 4: you really work hard, you can pretty much achieve anything

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Speaker 4: you want in this game.

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Speaker 5: And not ain't just working hard but working on the

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Speaker 5: right things.

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Speaker 4: Like everybody works hard, but don't unlessary work on the

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Speaker 4: right things. So for me, it was like, Okay, I'm

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Speaker 4: going to make sure that these kids work hard, but

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Speaker 4: they have the tools that they need for the next level. So,

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Speaker 4: whether you're in junior high and you're trying to get

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Speaker 4: ready for high school, high school, trying to get ready

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Speaker 4: for college, college, get up for the pros, I've experienced

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Speaker 4: so many different you know, pitfalls and success at each

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Speaker 4: level where I kind of just want to give that

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Speaker 4: up to them, and a lot of times it helps

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Speaker 4: for them, you know what I mean. And my success

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Speaker 4: goes through them now, like when they do well in

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Speaker 4: high school or you know they you know, some kids

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Speaker 4: that are not so good but they make a varsity

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Speaker 4: team may not be such a big deal. Or one

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Speaker 4: of our top rank kids gets the offer that he wants,

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Speaker 4: Like that makes me feel good, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 4: And I just think it just comes through hard work

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Speaker 4: and just trying to instill the right character ristics.

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Speaker 5: That they need to move forward. And I'm big on

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Speaker 5: the mental side of things.

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Speaker 1: But it's interesting, it's like you were part of It

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Speaker 1: feels like you're part of kind of the both generations,

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Speaker 1: right my generation, Don't get me wrong, you would work out,

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Speaker 1: you know, with your coach, you'd go shoot, you'd work

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Speaker 1: on your game, but usually the summer and downtime was

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Speaker 1: spent in pickup ball, right going back to the Rico

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Speaker 1: runs or back when I was coming up, UCLA just

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Speaker 1: had all their open runs and the men's gym, right

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Speaker 1: and you're just going kind of around the area looking

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Speaker 1: for a place to hoop, whereas now it feels like

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Speaker 1: everything is about everything is about your workout, guy, your workout,

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Speaker 1: and like sometimes guys don't even pros don't play a

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Speaker 1: ton of five on five of any in the off season.

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Speaker 1: Let's go back to like when you're in high school

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Speaker 1: and you're developing in your downtime, were you playing pickup

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Speaker 1: or you were you working, you know, in a gym

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Speaker 1: by yourself?

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Speaker 5: Doug, No, you're right. You know what's so crazy.

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Speaker 2: I didn't start.

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Speaker 4: I was playing more pickup in high school, but it

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Speaker 4: wasn't until a college where I started like.

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Speaker 5: Trying to train more.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, and I would train, man, I thought having three

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Speaker 4: or four workouts a day was good. But you know

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Speaker 4: some sometimes you know it's not all the time, just

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Speaker 4: just like on your body in terms of like just

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Speaker 4: working out so much and not playing. But it's funny

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Speaker 4: you say that because I was just talking to Kyrie

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Speaker 4: last weekend.

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Speaker 2: And I asked them, I said, what where's the gray area?

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Speaker 5: Where?

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Speaker 4: Like where do you where do you draw the line

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Speaker 4: of working out too much versus playing? And he was

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Speaker 4: just like, look like when I work out, I apply

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Speaker 4: what I work out in.

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Speaker 5: Terms of playing picked up.

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Speaker 4: So he's like, I do both, and that's kind of

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Speaker 4: what you see, Like great players.

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Speaker 2: They do both.

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Speaker 4: It's not just working out every single day. It's like

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Speaker 4: working out playing working out playing, Or you can get

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Speaker 4: into a habit where you're just playing pickup and you're

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Speaker 4: not training or you're not working out getting better.

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Speaker 5: So you definitely need a mixture of both. And so,

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Speaker 5: like I'm a.

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Speaker 4: Big advocate of like telling our players, like, look, it's

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Speaker 4: nice that you're training with us four or five times

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Speaker 4: a week and you're trying to get better, but two

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Speaker 4: or three times out the work you need to be playing.

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Speaker 4: You need to go out there and playing and showcasing

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Speaker 4: your skills to see what works. Because a lot of

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Speaker 4: the things that we give you may work for you,

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Speaker 4: may not work for you.

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Speaker 5: It may work for Doug, it may not work for me.

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Speaker 4: So whatever you do and whatever you're working on, you

402
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,760
Speaker 4: got to be able to apply in a pickup game city.

403
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Speaker 1: Well, I totally agree there is a mixture, and you know,

404
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:42,280
Speaker 1: somebody's just you just kind of got to play and

405
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,280
Speaker 1: figure it out, figure out who you are as a player,

406
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,480
Speaker 1: and you know all that stuff, all that stuff that

407
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Speaker 1: guys work on. It doesn't matter if you can if

408
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Speaker 1: you can't apply it at the right time and you

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Speaker 1: can only apply it at the right time if you

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Speaker 1: see it, and you can only see it if you

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Speaker 1: It's a volume of volume of basketball kind of touches

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Speaker 1: if you will. Okay, So you're in high school. You

413
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,919
Speaker 1: get to Atwanda. What were you like at a freshman?

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Speaker 5: I was skinny small.

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Speaker 1: What was skinny meaning? How much? How big were you about?

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00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:13,240
Speaker 2: I don't know.

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00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,440
Speaker 4: I think I was maybe a buck forty, a buck

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Speaker 4: fifty if.

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Speaker 2: That five nine five ten.

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Speaker 5: Man, you bring it up.

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Speaker 1: Like, look, that's aw that small? So so you were okay,

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Speaker 1: and you were the right age I.

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Speaker 4: Was, though, yet no, I was definitely the right age.

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Speaker 4: There was no hope back at that time. Yeah, I

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00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:37,800
Speaker 4: was small, though Doug, I was small and skinny. So

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Speaker 4: like for me, it was more of like, okay, quickness

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Speaker 4: and try to play defense as hard as I can

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Speaker 4: because long enough to you know, get anybody to the rim,

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Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I had to be skilled.

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Speaker 4: I had to shoot the ball. I wasn't a really

431
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Speaker 4: good shooter. My mechanics around that time was horrible, so

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Speaker 4: there was a lot of my game.

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Speaker 5: I was just like extremely brock.

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Speaker 1: So your freshman year did you play JV? Did you

435
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Speaker 1: play freshman team.

436
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,360
Speaker 5: You play so so freshman year.

437
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,720
Speaker 4: Dang, you know what, Doug, I never told this part

438
00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,320
Speaker 4: of this story, and I've always come back to this,

439
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,680
Speaker 4: but I just never told this part. My freshman year,

440
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:17,920
Speaker 4: I wasn't even gonna make the freshman team. I was

441
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:23,119
Speaker 4: probably like I was probably like the second to last

442
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:25,000
Speaker 4: pick to make the freshman team.

443
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 2: So we had a freshman tryout and.

444
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:29,920
Speaker 4: I think it was going on for like three days

445
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,439
Speaker 4: or so whatever, and for whatever reason, my coach at

446
00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,200
Speaker 4: the time didn't take notice of anything I'll do. Maybe

447
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 4: I wasn't that good or not, but they were picking

448
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:43,199
Speaker 4: the players. And the only reason why I got picked

449
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:46,080
Speaker 4: is because of my peers, the guys that I was

450
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,159
Speaker 4: playing with. They were like, no, Darren is good, Like

451
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 4: you got to give them more of an opportunity. And

452
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,119
Speaker 4: it was just and it was literally between me and

453
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 4: another guy for the last spot for the freshman team.

454
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:59,240
Speaker 4: And so one of my friends he was laughing at

455
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 4: the time because he like, yo, this is not real

456
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,400
Speaker 4: or whatever because we have him played on the same

457
00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,399
Speaker 4: AAU team and the coach had no idea, so he

458
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,040
Speaker 4: they ended up picking me for like the last spot.

459
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:10,400
Speaker 2: They didn't really play that.

460
00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 4: Much my first three four games, like I will come

461
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,399
Speaker 4: in the last two minutes, last two minutes of a

462
00:22:18,400 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 4: ball game and I would just put up, like I think,

463
00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 4: like a quick ten points in a freshman game.

464
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 2: And then the JV coach took notice of me.

465
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 4: I called up later on in the year as a

466
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:31,680
Speaker 4: freshman on varsity for CIF.

467
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 1: And it's interesting because it's like you want to avoid,

468
00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,560
Speaker 1: like this is my It's really funny. You want to

469
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:45,119
Speaker 1: avoid that dreaded freshman team because usually they keep too

470
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,160
Speaker 1: many guys. Right, you're not playing against great competition. You're

471
00:22:48,160 --> 00:22:51,800
Speaker 1: not playing with great competition, so with great players, so

472
00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 1: you kind of get it. It's a lot like school, right,

473
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: Like if you go to school and you're in the

474
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,639
Speaker 1: ap classes, you're on a college trajector, right, It's all

475
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:02,680
Speaker 1: about your trajectory. Well, if you're in the freshman team,

476
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: your trajectory is that to JV, that to you know

477
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,680
Speaker 1: what I mean. And like, once you get the opportunity

478
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: with JV, you're obviously played it. I'll play an AAU. Additionally,

479
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,359
Speaker 1: you're playing with better players, and so it's gonna make

480
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:19,400
Speaker 1: you kind of for sure inherently look good. So it's

481
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 1: like a really I talk to kids all the time,

482
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:23,919
Speaker 1: like go to a place to where you're not going

483
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,480
Speaker 1: to get stuck, you know, at that lower level thing,

484
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 1: because then once you're stuck there, you're it's very very

485
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 1: hard to break out of, very hard to break out of.

486
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,760
Speaker 4: Yeah, dog, now, I look, dog, now that you say it,

487
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 4: like I didn't really look at it that way from

488
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 4: the freshman side of things, Like, but you're right, though,

489
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 4: you can get lost in the shuffle because the freshman

490
00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 4: teams have about like fifteen to twenty players on one

491
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,960
Speaker 4: team right right, and it's so hard to evaluate or

492
00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:48,960
Speaker 4: to like pick to see like who can like move

493
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:50,760
Speaker 4: forward and stuff like that.

494
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 5: No, you're absolutely right.

495
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,520
Speaker 1: Well, and oh you by the way, like let's just

496
00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: be honest, like the JV coach is usually the right

497
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 1: hand guy to the varsity coach, whereas the freshman coach,

498
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,800
Speaker 1: which is almost always a really young guy who's just

499
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,919
Speaker 1: trying to figure out if he likes coaching, he doesn't

500
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,879
Speaker 1: like coaching, it's something to do whatever, like all of

501
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: those things, you know. I mean, but I mean, I look,

502
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: it's the it's the and and and honestly, like my

503
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,560
Speaker 1: business is the same it's way harder at the lower

504
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 1: level of TV and radio. You're working with a low

505
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 1: lower level of producer and whatever, and so you know,

506
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: you may all have the same goals, but you know

507
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,159
Speaker 1: it's it's way more work, it's way harder, and you

508
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,639
Speaker 1: got to get you kind of get type casts. So

509
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:36,640
Speaker 1: you got to get out of that. Okay, So you're

510
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: your first year starting your sophomore How good was so?

511
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,480
Speaker 2: I was? I was good. I was I was solid,

512
00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:45,120
Speaker 2: you know what I mean.

513
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:47,159
Speaker 4: I still have room to grow, but I was a

514
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,119
Speaker 4: little bit better than I was my freshman year, which

515
00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 4: was dope. I felt like every summer I always wanted

516
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,159
Speaker 4: to be better. So by the time my coach saw me,

517
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 4: I have something to proved to be one of the

518
00:24:58,320 --> 00:24:59,639
Speaker 4: best players in the program.

519
00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,440
Speaker 5: So that my goal. Sophomore year, I was really good.

520
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 4: Team wise, I think we were okay a little bit,

521
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 4: But it wasn't until like my next couple of years

522
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 4: where I was just like okay, like I can do

523
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,080
Speaker 4: some stuff, you know what I mean.

524
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:15,119
Speaker 5: Still didn't get like.

525
00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 4: I wasn't like highly ranked or anything. My sophomore year,

526
00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:22,480
Speaker 4: junior year, I wasn't highly ranked as well. I don't

527
00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:24,240
Speaker 4: even think I was highly ranked my senior year too,

528
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 4: like the reason why I got an OPPORTUNTNY at U

529
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 4: c l A, which I'm sure is like your next

530
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:33,480
Speaker 4: question is you know we happen to play a high

531
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:39,719
Speaker 4: school tournament at the Riverside and one of the US

532
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 4: coaches was there watching. I think he was watching somebody

533
00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,720
Speaker 4: else at the time, and then he ended up taking

534
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 4: note of me, and I ended up having one of

535
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,160
Speaker 4: my best high school games, and from the from there

536
00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 4: the rest is history.

537
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 1: Wait, wait, so where in Riverside were you playing?

538
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 2: We were playing a tournament at m ok Okay.

539
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,199
Speaker 1: So had m Okay by the way, for people don't know,

540
00:25:58,240 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: that's that's Kawhi's high school?

541
00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 2: Yeah for sure.

542
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:02,600
Speaker 5: Yeah?

543
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 1: And then where how old was? Who else was? Who

544
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: else was in your class?

545
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:08,679
Speaker 2: I don't know who.

546
00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,679
Speaker 4: I can't remember who else was with my class? On

547
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:16,760
Speaker 4: my team we had, I want to say we had

548
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 4: about like two or three D one guys, David Carter,

549
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 4: Jeff Pannograph, who's Jeff Airs right now? And then for

550
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 4: shot Austin I think went D one two as well.

551
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 2: So we had about like three or four players. I

552
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 2: went D one.

553
00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 5: But this game in particular.

554
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:38,119
Speaker 4: I mean it was I mean, obviously playing a lot

555
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 4: of high school games, but this one high school game,

556
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 4: I had one of my best games ever and I

557
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 4: didn't even know the US coach was even at the game.

558
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 2: And then he calls, you know, the Kerry Keen.

559
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 4: Yeah, and Kerry Keen's there, and then he's he's taken no,

560
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 4: and then he reaches out to my parents and he

561
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 4: was just like, look, I love his speed this that,

562
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 4: and I'm thinking, like, okay, maybe he just wants to

563
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,640
Speaker 4: check in, Like I don't know, like, you know, maybe

564
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 4: because I'm not highly ranked, you know at this point,

565
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:12,920
Speaker 4: like like.

566
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,280
Speaker 5: I'm good, but you still lay good.

567
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:17,120
Speaker 4: I'm like, I don't know, like I believe I could

568
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,359
Speaker 4: play it anywhere, but in terms of like you know,

569
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 4: high school's politics when it comes to rankings. And then

570
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,399
Speaker 4: come to find out Krriy Keaton's dad, the guy that

571
00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:30,360
Speaker 4: recruited me, was my mom's coach at our Depfai University

572
00:27:30,359 --> 00:27:34,439
Speaker 4: when she was running track, so we had that connection too. Yeah,

573
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,920
Speaker 4: so like everything just came full circle with that and

574
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,080
Speaker 4: they brought me in. I met Ben Holland, and then

575
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 4: obviously Ben Hollend came and more of my games, and

576
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 4: then he was like, they just offered me a scholarship.

577
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:51,879
Speaker 1: What was it like? Cause I'll tell you my so

578
00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,919
Speaker 1: my senior year, so I get offered a scholarship by

579
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,119
Speaker 1: shild Like my sister was a cheerleader there. My brother

580
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:03,919
Speaker 1: went there and that year they actually won the national championship.

581
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,919
Speaker 1: My senior in high school ninety five and I ended

582
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,959
Speaker 1: up going taking a Notre Dame offer instead, And I

583
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: often like wondered what it would have been like to

584
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: be a UCLA signee and play right that that Like

585
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 1: we know that basketball in LA when you guys were

586
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: playing there, that was about probably peak of the last

587
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,880
Speaker 1: twenty five years in terms of the attention you guys received. Right,

588
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: Lakers are good. You guys were good. USC football was

589
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: like everybody, but it's not like other places where you

590
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: go to college towns and that's all they care about. Right,

591
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: But if you're it's a little different, if like you're

592
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: a UCLA signee and right then you kind of had

593
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: a rolling What was that? What was that experience? Like

594
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: your senior year.

595
00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 4: Man, Doug, for one, it's it's one of the best

596
00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 4: feelings and like I think you said it best. It's

597
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 4: like you slay and the Lakers like those are like

598
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,320
Speaker 4: really good notoriety places for you as a player that

599
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 4: to experience it's like a dream, right Like growing up

600
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,400
Speaker 4: in California, growing up in southern California, those were the

601
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 4: teams that you wanted to play for.

602
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 5: US to l A was just the team, you know

603
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 5: what I mean that if you.

604
00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 4: Got recruited by usleg I got a offered by UCLA

605
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 4: like you were the guy, you were the man.

606
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:23,240
Speaker 2: And it comes.

607
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:24,880
Speaker 4: With that comes with a lot of pressure too as well,

608
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 4: and responsibility too.

609
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,360
Speaker 5: So I remember when I first signed.

610
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 4: The first game I get back, I had players talking

611
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 4: crazy to me, like talking trash. Oh you're supposed to

612
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 4: go to U SLA, Like all right, we want to

613
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 4: see something like that type of But I've never had

614
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 4: that before because nobody really cared about where I went

615
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 4: at the time. But as soon as I signed UCLA,

616
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 4: every single game somebody had something to say to me.

617
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 4: And so that even built my competitive spirit even more

618
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 4: because I had to prove to them that I belong,

619
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. I think at that time

620
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,080
Speaker 4: I was like I was skinny still, you know what

621
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,040
Speaker 4: I mean. Everybody thought that was going to Russhret my

622
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 4: my first year there at used to La, So I always.

623
00:30:02,680 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 2: Had to ship on my shoulder that I belonged and

624
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:05,440
Speaker 2: it helped me.

625
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: What was your high school coach like with you?

626
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 2: Dave plucked me.

627
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 4: Yeah, the best hospite coach out there in my opinion,

628
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 4: because he was always big on fundamentals, like he can

629
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,600
Speaker 4: have a skilled player, but like it didn't matter to

630
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 4: him if you didn't know how to play the game

631
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:25,880
Speaker 4: the right way or you didn't play defense, you weren't

632
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:26,840
Speaker 4: going to play for him.

633
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 2: And he kind of instilled that in me.

634
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 4: And for me as a player growing up, I always

635
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,240
Speaker 4: felt like, Okay, I needed fundamentals to be good, because

636
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 4: when you're small, you need everything to work in your

637
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,800
Speaker 4: favor and not just be skilled like you can't just

638
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 4: I wasn't gonna just go up and just dunk on you.

639
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 4: I'm six foot, you know what I mean? Probably if

640
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,120
Speaker 4: that's shorter and smaller and skinnier. So for me, I

641
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 4: relied on fundamentals and he helped me to see that.

642
00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 1: You show up at you Sila and the year before

643
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: you got there, how good were they were? They found

644
00:30:58,120 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: four you before you got there?

645
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 4: So I think the year before I got there, Jordan

646
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 4: Farmer are and Follow were there, and.

647
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 5: I think I don't know if they I think they know.

648
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 4: I don't know if they made to the tournament or

649
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:16,080
Speaker 4: not before I got there. Either they made it to

650
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 4: the like the first round, I'm not sure, but I

651
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 4: know they didn't make it far. They had a good

652
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 4: cord with Jordan Farmer and Follow Josh Shipp and so

653
00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 4: my my job coming in was kind of like, okay,

654
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 4: like the spirit Jordan Farmer, come in, come off the bench, be.

655
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:34,960
Speaker 2: A spark plug, and just kind of go from there.

656
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,400
Speaker 4: And then I think my freshman year, we end up

657
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 4: having a good run and we end up making it

658
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:39,840
Speaker 4: to the championship.

659
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, to the final four.

660
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: Yeah, so okay, before we get there, Okay, you show

661
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: up at you show up in. Who else is in

662
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: your class?

663
00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:54,040
Speaker 4: Your recruiting class, My recruiting class, we had Mic Role.

664
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 2: Uh.

665
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 4: We had Luke ma Boute, which I'm sure you got no, Alfred,

666
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 4: a boy who's from Cameroon to this well, and Ryan

667
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 4: Wright who's from Toronto.

668
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,360
Speaker 1: It's interesting, like role he just stopped playing, right, I mean,

669
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:14,440
Speaker 1: like yeah player, I know, and of all the guys

670
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,000
Speaker 1: like you could make the argument outside of the NBA guys,

671
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,920
Speaker 1: he had the best career of the non NBA guys.

672
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 1: I mean, he had an incredible career playing overseas.

673
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 2: No for sure, like Mike Mike Is Mike Is. I mean,

674
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 2: you can make darkument.

675
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 4: He's probably one of the best shooters to come out

676
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,120
Speaker 4: of USULA too as well, Like he was a phenomenal shooter.

677
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,640
Speaker 4: I think I would say, yeah, no, you might be

678
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 4: right him and him and Josh Shift to me are

679
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 4: the most intriguing guys that could have did some things

680
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 4: in the pro level.

681
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 2: But you know, I have some good cookers.

682
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,800
Speaker 1: So you walk in. But it's like kind of already

683
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 1: made team. What what was what? What was it like? Like?

684
00:32:47,200 --> 00:32:49,480
Speaker 1: What was u c l a basketball that was the

685
00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,000
Speaker 1: first of three straight Final four?

686
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:51,200
Speaker 2: Yea?

687
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: What was that?

688
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:52,959
Speaker 5: Like?

689
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,520
Speaker 4: I mean it was it was a phenomenal feeling. But

690
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 4: I think we all had a chip on our shoulders

691
00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 4: because it was like it was weird because it's like

692
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:03,760
Speaker 4: even we were going to UCLA, we all had a

693
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 4: chip on our shoulders that we had to prove ourselves

694
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 4: because we none of us were highly ranked. Every time

695
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 4: the season started, you know, we weren't like number one

696
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 4: in the country, so we had to literally clar our

697
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:21,720
Speaker 4: way up to the you.

698
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,000
Speaker 2: Know, top to prove ourselves.

699
00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 4: And so like I think with that mix and the

700
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,719
Speaker 4: players that we were all surrounded with, it made out

701
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,240
Speaker 4: for a good recipe for success.

702
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:35,640
Speaker 1: What was Howland like, I mean that was that was

703
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: during the kind of the peak of the u c

704
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 1: L A run for him? What would he like to

705
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: play for?

706
00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 4: I mean Van Allen was another defensive guy. You know,

707
00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,360
Speaker 4: he was big on defense too. If you if you

708
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 4: couldn't play defense, you couldn't.

709
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 2: Play for him.

710
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 4: And I think that kind of instilled a lot of

711
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,160
Speaker 4: our defensive principles from there too. But you know, for

712
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 4: me coming from high school and being with Dave Kluckner,

713
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,480
Speaker 4: that was already inside me, but with Ben Hallen.

714
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:06,280
Speaker 2: Was at another level. It was at the next level.

715
00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 4: So you know, if you go back to some of

716
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 4: our games, our games is literally like thirty two to

717
00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 4: thirty one, we'll win.

718
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 2: In the thirties, you know, low thirties, mid thirties, we.

719
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,239
Speaker 4: Weren't scoring a lot of points, and we had a

720
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 4: lot of players that end up doing well in pro

721
00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 4: or it became really, really good scores in the NBA,

722
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 4: So defensively was just always something that we hung our

723
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 4: had on.

724
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:30,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, but what was it like to you as a freshman.

725
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 2: He was really big on using my speed.

726
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 4: He always told me like, okay, my parents' friend track, like,

727
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 4: you should be the fastest player in the country.

728
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 2: So he was big on me with that. He was

729
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 2: big on me.

730
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 4: Obviously with defense, and he was just like, you got it,

731
00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 4: and then when you drive, you got to make sure you.

732
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:52,960
Speaker 2: Have your dribble low.

733
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 4: He was like, you're never going to make it to

734
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 4: the NBA if you don't know how to do these

735
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 4: things as a guard. So he was really really tough

736
00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 4: on me, which I appreciate even to this day because

737
00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 4: you know, I did want to be an NBA guard,

738
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:06,839
Speaker 4: but you know, he will remind me, if you want

739
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:08,719
Speaker 4: to be NBA guard, this is what you had to do.

740
00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 4: And so he was big on that. But I think

741
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 4: the biggest thing was his defense. Doug, Like, you know,

742
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:17,399
Speaker 4: his thing was like you're so quick and you can

743
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 4: pressure and he was one of the reasons why I

744
00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 4: enjoyed playing full court defense because he was big on

745
00:35:23,719 --> 00:35:25,880
Speaker 4: that stuff. He was like, this disrupts a lot of

746
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:29,400
Speaker 4: the team's offense and how they start their their offense,

747
00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:33,160
Speaker 4: and you can be the a prime component of that,

748
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 4: Like if you pick up full court and you disrupt

749
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,720
Speaker 4: them offensively, like it could really help our defense.

750
00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,560
Speaker 2: And we already had a bad, good you know backbone.

751
00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,560
Speaker 4: Behind us, you know, with Luke ma Boute who was

752
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,600
Speaker 4: probably like six or eight long. You got Russell Westbrook

753
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,879
Speaker 4: who who can shut down any guard to back there.

754
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,279
Speaker 2: So I mean me picking up full court definitely helped out.

755
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 1: What do you remember about your first turnam though.

756
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, so my first ANTA term, I do remember. I

757
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 2: don't remember much.

758
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,799
Speaker 4: I just remember coming to the game and I think

759
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,600
Speaker 4: I only played like with My role was like ten

760
00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,600
Speaker 4: to fifteen minutes and just come in and just be

761
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 4: like a little spark plug and defensively and disrupt.

762
00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 2: And that was my role.

763
00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:15,800
Speaker 4: And I loved it, you know what I mean, because

764
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,080
Speaker 4: it was just like, you know, this was a niche

765
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 4: that I knew that I can help the team with

766
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 4: that nobody else can do. So I remember just playing

767
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:28,760
Speaker 4: against every single good guard when I get a chance,

768
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 4: you know, coming off the bench and just trying to

769
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,479
Speaker 4: prove myself to him with such a short period of time, and.

770
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:36,440
Speaker 2: Then we did.

771
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:38,920
Speaker 4: We didn't end up making a run. Everybody likes to

772
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,120
Speaker 4: look at the gun Zaga when we came back. That

773
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 4: was my freshman year. Was a really good game. Adam Morrison, Batista,

774
00:36:47,239 --> 00:36:51,920
Speaker 4: who were really good players, and.

775
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:52,959
Speaker 2: You know, I was fortunate to be in that game

776
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:54,760
Speaker 2: to try to make a little bit of a spark.

777
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 1: But yeah, okay, so let's let's go to that game. Okay,

778
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,279
Speaker 1: cheer that game. You guys were down? How many was

779
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:03,359
Speaker 1: what was the worst you were down?

780
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 2: I want to say we were I know we were

781
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:08,760
Speaker 2: down fifteen plus.

782
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:10,440
Speaker 4: I don't want to say twenty, but I think it

783
00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 4: was like around like between ten and fifteen points. But

784
00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,280
Speaker 4: we were literally down the whole entire game. Like there's

785
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:19,480
Speaker 4: I remember that first half we played horrible and we

786
00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:23,760
Speaker 4: just can't make any shots. And beginning of the second

787
00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 4: half it was kind of like the same thing. We

788
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,520
Speaker 4: didn't really turn it on to like the last I

789
00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:31,000
Speaker 4: would say eight minutes or so, and I'm just thinking

790
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 4: to myself, like, dang, like this is really how we're

791
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,439
Speaker 4: going to end our season because we had made such

792
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 4: a good run up until that point, and we didn't

793
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 4: play our best basketball against one of the best teams

794
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,759
Speaker 4: in college basketball. So we just started making a run

795
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:48,120
Speaker 4: little by little. Next thing, you know, it's a fifteen

796
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,440
Speaker 4: comes out of ten. Ten comes down to, you know,

797
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 4: six point game. Six point game comes down to a

798
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,319
Speaker 4: two point game with like, you know, definitely like a

799
00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:00,680
Speaker 4: minute left. And then you know, as you see the video,

800
00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:04,840
Speaker 4: you know, Jordan makes a steal past the loop. We

801
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,680
Speaker 4: go about one and ask somewhere as it starts crying,

802
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 4: like the whole game was just crazy because it was

803
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 4: it was a tail or two has one half. We

804
00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:15,840
Speaker 4: just did not play well in the second half. We

805
00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,400
Speaker 4: finally came on and started playing our best basketball.

806
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,400
Speaker 1: All right, that's it for part one of Darren Collison.

807
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,040
Speaker 1: You got the end was the Gonzaga game. We'll get

808
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 1: to the final four, We'll get to the subsequent final fours.

809
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:33,960
Speaker 1: What happened to Ben Holland in Westwood? What happened with

810
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,200
Speaker 1: Ben Holland and Drew Holiday, Right, that's kind of what

811
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,400
Speaker 1: led to some of the dysfunction in Westwood. And of

812
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,719
Speaker 1: course we got lots of NBA questions. If you like

813
00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,680
Speaker 1: the All Ball Podcast, feel free to download, to rate, review,

814
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:48,280
Speaker 1: and be sure to send us a note on Twitter,

815
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 1: on Instagram or on the Facebook Doug GATLETPHO fan page,

816
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 1: so that others can see that you like what you hear.

817
00:38:54,880 --> 00:39:12,239
Speaker 1: I'm Doug Gottleib. This is all ball