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Speaker 1: fan duel sports book makes it easy. What's up, everybody?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. This next guest, um,
Speaker 1: I feel like this is supposed to happen a long
Speaker 1: time ago, but it's finally happening. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm from Saginaw, Michigan, as most of you
Speaker 1: may know, and Sagonall happens to neighbor a city that
Speaker 1: goes by the name of Flint. Now we're not directly
Speaker 1: next to each other, but we're close enough. And this
Speaker 1: next guest, hells from Flint, Michigan. Got that Flint Saginaw
Speaker 1: connection is different than you only understand that if you're
Speaker 1: from there. Nonetheless, as you know, we got high standards
Speaker 1: on this show, and this man is definitely a champion.
Speaker 1: Welcome Kyle Kuzman to the show. What's up, my brother?
Speaker 1: Appreciate the generous introduction. Appreciate that no doubt. Man, I
Speaker 1: must say, um, if you see my outfit, I had
Speaker 1: on some nice pants, having a nice D R T shirt,
Speaker 1: some nice kicks, and I looked out the window and
Speaker 1: the only reason I was dressing like that because I'm like,
Speaker 1: Cool's gonna come in here, you know how he comings
Speaker 1: rast so but I'm gonna throwing something to look halfway decent.
Speaker 1: And then I looked out the window as I was
Speaker 1: getting dressed, and I said, oh, man, Cool's dressed down.
Speaker 1: I could get comfortable. So you know, I got you
Speaker 1: saying I'll come to your house keeping this real simple
Speaker 1: and chill. I appreciate that, you know, but you you
Speaker 1: got a certain standard and a certain expectation when they come.
Speaker 1: It's not bad. But I thought she was about to
Speaker 1: come in this motherfucker with a big sweater, you know what.
Speaker 1: I'm some kids with the glasses, you know, So I
Speaker 1: appreciate that trying to step it up I wasn't gonna compete. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a competition. It was just so I could
Speaker 1: sit next to you and not look like that's not compete. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't want that competition. I know the battles I
Speaker 1: can win. I know the battles. So I appreciate that problem.
Speaker 1: How your summer going, Oh man, I'm going great, man.
Speaker 1: A lot of travel, um, a lot of focused on
Speaker 1: my craft and my body getting better, a lot of
Speaker 1: business things. Life's good right now. I can't complain. You've
Speaker 1: done something that I've noticed, not that I want to
Speaker 1: do it, but I have a huge appreciation for And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what it is as someone and you
Speaker 1: just mentioned travel, as someone who loved to travel, being
Speaker 1: on the West Coast, you know, and during the season,
Speaker 1: I'm in San Francisco, obviously, off season, I'm in l A.
Speaker 1: You missed the Caribbean because it's so far to get there.
Speaker 1: So what do you do if you're on the West coast?
Speaker 1: You pop down the Cabo if you're going on the trip.
Speaker 1: For me, I'm gonna probably go to Europe if I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go all the way over there, and so that
Speaker 1: that's but still far, so I've been watching you. You've
Speaker 1: been popping down to that Caribbean now that you on
Speaker 1: the East coast. Talk to me about that, because that's
Speaker 1: a that is a totally different thing that most people
Speaker 1: around that watched the NBA don't quite understand the Caribbean
Speaker 1: or the travel aspects. Just like how how different your
Speaker 1: life is now that you're playing on the East Coast
Speaker 1: as it is when you're playing on the West coast. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean everything across the board, like you know, like
Speaker 1: me being in l A for four years, those are
Speaker 1: the West coast trips are long, Like you gotta go
Speaker 1: play in Dallas, that's three hours, You got to play
Speaker 1: in New Orleans that's four like some pushes. But when
Speaker 1: you're on the East coast, you know, we may play Philly,
Speaker 1: that's a twenty minute flight New York, forty minute flight,
Speaker 1: go down to Charlotte. Our flight Chicago hour and a half.
Speaker 1: So travel is just so much more easier to get
Speaker 1: to And then you talk about offseason traveling like I'm
Speaker 1: never ever in the Caribbean, like when I when I
Speaker 1: was on the West Coast, and Grant, like my girlfriend,
Speaker 1: she is no cribbying herself, So it makes it look
Speaker 1: easier to get there, but even to get to Europe,
Speaker 1: like this is my first summer going to Europe, the
Speaker 1: first summer. You would never know that. But it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't want to travel twelve hours and miss out
Speaker 1: on training. But now this flights six hours. I could
Speaker 1: still finago the time zones, maybe catch your FaceTime, live
Speaker 1: with my trainer or something. It's just so much more easier. So,
Speaker 1: you know, travel, it's so much better. Honestly, it's it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful thing. I always I like to focus on
Speaker 1: those things sometimes, um and humanizing the athlete, you know,
Speaker 1: I think sometimes we live in this world as athletes
Speaker 1: where people put you on a pedestal and treat you like,
Speaker 1: oh man, you're like this superhero figure, only to do
Speaker 1: one of two things. The moment you then start to
Speaker 1: act like you're that superhero figure that they treat you
Speaker 1: like they crush you, and to complain as if nothing
Speaker 1: in your life has issues, like oh man, you play basketball,
Speaker 1: you make a lot of money. There's not a lot
Speaker 1: of issues. And I mean this this may sound a
Speaker 1: little privilege, and it is. People are giving you that
Speaker 1: privilege of you know that that that entitlement to that
Speaker 1: privilege because out like you said, you get held to
Speaker 1: a pedestal, right, but if you do one thing wrong, Oh,
Speaker 1: we need to cancel this dude because he doesn't eat
Speaker 1: post serial. Like what what are we talking about right now?
Speaker 1: You know? And and that's the thing that it's a
Speaker 1: new aide and you do you talk about it the
Speaker 1: best out of anybody. You know, you have the whole
Speaker 1: new media, who boo whatever, but like like just normalizing
Speaker 1: that we're humans, like we're not like the old nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty the nineteen nineties athlete that was nothing about but
Speaker 1: it was only basketball. You could not do anything. Them
Speaker 1: dudes was getting getting it in doing whatever they wanted
Speaker 1: to do. You just didn't see it, and and and
Speaker 1: people weren't sold. Maybe and I can't speak because I
Speaker 1: wasn't in those times, but maybe not as obsessed with
Speaker 1: the athlete unless it was like a m J. You know,
Speaker 1: a Jeeter, somebody of that magnitude that was so overbearing,
Speaker 1: over powerful, beyond just like how we of social media,
Speaker 1: like anybody can be famous now. Back then it was
Speaker 1: totally different. So you know, that's something that it's not
Speaker 1: talked about enough. You know, just like for humans, we
Speaker 1: do things, we make mistakes that you're criticizing me for this,
Speaker 1: but you're getting yelled at for taking the trash out
Speaker 1: or something. Absolutely, know what I'm saying, That's an issue
Speaker 1: in your life too. We have issues, bro, Absolutely taking
Speaker 1: trash is issue. But you know what I'm saying. No,
Speaker 1: for sure, I like the act as if there's never
Speaker 1: anything that can be off or wrong with us. You
Speaker 1: know for sure? I think, Um, when you look at
Speaker 1: like the guys that came before us, the everything around
Speaker 1: us is just bigger now, Like we're more noticeable because
Speaker 1: of the TV, Like you're on every TV. Every game
Speaker 1: that an NBA player plays, it's on television at the
Speaker 1: time that it's happening. Like you even think the NBA
Speaker 1: Finals used to be tape delayed and so all of
Speaker 1: those things. It definitely asked to it, which this takes
Speaker 1: me to Who's hit me? Last week? And he said,
Speaker 1: you know, I got a question for you. He said,
Speaker 1: why is nicknames not as big today as they were
Speaker 1: back in the day? Like you and and you think
Speaker 1: of uh the big Aero style with shock or diesel
Speaker 1: Um the truth? Uh the answer like your areness Eric
Speaker 1: Jordan's like and and the names go on the Black Cat,
Speaker 1: like the nicknames go on and on and on back then,
Speaker 1: but not so much today, Like you don't necessarily get
Speaker 1: nicknames today. And we were saying, why is that? And
Speaker 1: you have some interesting thoughts on it. I would love
Speaker 1: to hear, and it's it's actually even more interesting. I
Speaker 1: saw Austin reeves Um who's on the Lakers, come out
Speaker 1: the other day. It's like he's to share two nicknames,
Speaker 1: and it's like, brother, you have not done enough in
Speaker 1: your career to be trying to share nicknames that people
Speaker 1: gave you. I was. I was really blown away when
Speaker 1: he said that, like, brother, you should take those nicknames
Speaker 1: and try to run with her. And I definitely understand
Speaker 1: the thinking behind the A R fifteen one, But I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone's like hearing the words A R fifteen
Speaker 1: on the basketball court and thinking weapons. I personally don't
Speaker 1: think that personally, Hell Billy Kobe is lit. You better
Speaker 1: embrace that one care of me. Any any Kobe Kobe,
Speaker 1: you should be running with that. Like, by the way,
Speaker 1: if I'm him and they're calling me hell Billy Kobe,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be in the next white man can't jump.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to really run with that. I'm making that
Speaker 1: my mantra. I'm coming arena, I'm doing everything. Hell, Billy
Speaker 1: standpoint straight up absolutely like that's that's where the game
Speaker 1: is today. And I feel like you you can you
Speaker 1: can talk to me more about that than I can
Speaker 1: talk to you, because I feel like you and what
Speaker 1: are you? I think you're five years younger than me,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of where the errors are starting to flip.
Speaker 1: And I feel like y'all understand. And initially when things
Speaker 1: first happened, everybody always say it's a negative. So initially
Speaker 1: you always get crushed for like having a photographer. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, all of the things that go around Brandon.
Speaker 1: Young guys are getting crushed for it. Now it's the
Speaker 1: way And I feel like you can talk to me
Speaker 1: more about that than I can talk to you, because
Speaker 1: I feel like you young guys have taken the Brandon
Speaker 1: thing and taken into new heights and Harris Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: trying to throw his away get it. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: get it. You know, I think you know from I
Speaker 1: can only speak from my my example. First, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm coming into the NBA from Michigan than from Utah
Speaker 1: than to l A. Right, I have a different type
Speaker 1: of route than you ever had. I grant you won
Speaker 1: championships earlier, so many championships, everything right, But from a
Speaker 1: brand perspective, I feel like I was thrust it into
Speaker 1: this spotlight out here, and as you know, this is
Speaker 1: you know, this can make you break you, make you
Speaker 1: a star, and throw you to the curve whatever. So
Speaker 1: for me, I had to get on it right away
Speaker 1: because I've seen it. And then I'm a very inquisitive person.
Speaker 1: I asked questions I go out. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many times I've called you in the past
Speaker 1: just for whatever, you know what I mean, having relationships colde,
Speaker 1: having relates when bron comes, and understanding and seeing what
Speaker 1: a brand really is. So for me, I took it
Speaker 1: right away, like coming in it was kus Mania, it
Speaker 1: was like this man, who the hell is this dude? Whatever?
Speaker 1: I ran with it. My first year we made Merch
Speaker 1: T shirts for Cuzmania T shirts. I was a twenty
Speaker 1: seven pick. I made one point three or one point
Speaker 1: four million dollars on my rookie salary. Right through Merch,
Speaker 1: I made like seven offer me wow this first year,
Speaker 1: but like that's I see ship, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I'm about my business. You know, I want to
Speaker 1: make money, you know, because from Flint, you know, from
Speaker 1: sagging all. So if I see something, I'm an opportunists.
Speaker 1: So I feel like every year you've taken the fashion
Speaker 1: side of things to a new level as well. And
Speaker 1: I must, I must admit I feel like since you're,
Speaker 1: since you're a woman has come into your life, it's
Speaker 1: went even further. And I appreciate it because with her
Speaker 1: being a model, I feel like she's turned you one
Speaker 1: were not only to a model, but like how to
Speaker 1: work to me, And this is just the outside looking
Speaker 1: and I could be totally wrong, but it looks like
Speaker 1: you're working with these brands more and that is of
Speaker 1: what models do. And so I that's again. I just
Speaker 1: sit back and I watched, and to me, it went
Speaker 1: from like oh man, he's dressing, Wow, he's dressing more,
Speaker 1: to like, now he's working with these brands, he's partnering
Speaker 1: with these brands, he's doing looks for these And I
Speaker 1: feel like there was kind of a more of a
Speaker 1: push once your lady came on that front. Just what
Speaker 1: it was like, and it's a different vibe, right, Like,
Speaker 1: let's talk about industries. For example, our industry is different
Speaker 1: than their industry, completely different, and for them it's a
Speaker 1: certain way of how to operate and also to get
Speaker 1: things done and build those type of relationships. So if
Speaker 1: I'm wearing a certain type of brand, right like A
Speaker 1: nine times, I would tend like those are my people
Speaker 1: and those are people I rock with, right, But that's
Speaker 1: how you get through and connecting that world, right. But
Speaker 1: also with her, It's just it's made me more because
Speaker 1: I've already been in tune with fashion, but maybe more
Speaker 1: into the what I need to do. And when I
Speaker 1: see her and what she does with her brand being successful,
Speaker 1: it just makes it easy for me to you know,
Speaker 1: copycat in the sense you to you know, maybe ask
Speaker 1: your questions, what do you what do you? What do
Speaker 1: you do about this? Or for me, I can just
Speaker 1: watch you and then see what you do and just
Speaker 1: try to replicate it into my own. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's made me ten times more into it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, just locked in a like the little
Speaker 1: things I need to do to keep elevating in that space. Uh,
Speaker 1: what what's your end goal? Um as far as fashion goes.
Speaker 1: I know, for me, I had a like like I
Speaker 1: I always say I don't like fashion, but I like
Speaker 1: his style, Like I like to look nice, I like
Speaker 1: to dress nice, I throw a fit together, I'm cool.
Speaker 1: I don't need to look like I'm trying to dress
Speaker 1: for g g Q or nothing like that. I just
Speaker 1: want to feel good about myself. And so for a
Speaker 1: while I had a stylus and m HM and I
Speaker 1: and I got to the point where I was like,
Speaker 1: what am I doing this for? Right? Okay, so I'm
Speaker 1: spending this amount of money, but what do I want
Speaker 1: this to equal out too? In the end, it was
Speaker 1: nothing like it was literally just like, I just want
Speaker 1: to feel good when I get dressed. So I got
Speaker 1: to the point where I'm like, I don't need that anymore.
Speaker 1: What's the goal for you? Because I feel like you
Speaker 1: give a lot of effort to it and it shows
Speaker 1: because I think you're great at it. But what's the
Speaker 1: end goal on the fashion front for you? Man? It's
Speaker 1: so hard to always think of things like that because
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure out my end go basketball, Like,
Speaker 1: like I want to keep building, you know, whatever that
Speaker 1: legacy may be whether that's all stars, more championships. Like
Speaker 1: Cold always told me, you know, you gotta keep the
Speaker 1: main thing the main thing, right, So for me to
Speaker 1: all my other interests, it's tough to always say, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what I envisioned. Because one, I'm so damned spontaneous.
Speaker 1: I can say this one day and then I could
Speaker 1: be like, Okay, I think I like this direction a
Speaker 1: little bit more, right. But for me, I'm just I
Speaker 1: love art. That's my biggest thing in fashion, Like we're
Speaker 1: talking about it's just a style and clothes and whatnot,
Speaker 1: but like fashion is art. You know, Like I wore
Speaker 1: a big gass pink sweater this year, right, that's an
Speaker 1: art piece. That's not that's not clothing, not wearing that
Speaker 1: to the story, not wearing that to a plane, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's a piece of art. And I just
Speaker 1: put the art on to show people like, yo, this
Speaker 1: is That's what it is. It's not just me, no,
Speaker 1: just wearing clothes, and yeah, I feel good. I do
Speaker 1: the same thing like I wear you know to what
Speaker 1: you or someone else may think it's crazy, that's your
Speaker 1: reference point. My reference point is Joe, this is dope
Speaker 1: and it makes me feel amazing. So it's it's all
Speaker 1: the same. But you know, I'm just so creative as
Speaker 1: a person, um, you know, definitely designing or definitely that
Speaker 1: like you know, collaborating with the top brands. That's that's
Speaker 1: a big thing, you know. I just love to create
Speaker 1: and show and express myself through other things. So that's
Speaker 1: that's And part of the reason when you signed with
Speaker 1: Puma was so you can do more in that lane
Speaker 1: as oh all day like you know, and being being
Speaker 1: with Nike, which is a unbelievable brand, you know, but
Speaker 1: like from a creative standpoint, they're not letting their athletes
Speaker 1: do things anymore like that. And unless you're like a
Speaker 1: top guy, a top done, then you get the shoes,
Speaker 1: you get the merchencings, you want to do this that
Speaker 1: fourth Puma, I'm just in my own lane. And I've
Speaker 1: always been in my own lane. Like I'm not a follower.
Speaker 1: I don't follow people, and I do things that want
Speaker 1: to I don't want to make me happy. But also
Speaker 1: maybe money too, And no, Puma is just so great
Speaker 1: because they're just they're so flexible and they understand, they listen,
Speaker 1: and they want to you know, make not only make
Speaker 1: me feel good, but make me want to feel like
Speaker 1: the partner I want to be. And anytime you have
Speaker 1: that type of love between two mutual things, great things
Speaker 1: are always gonna happen. So no doubt your top five.
Speaker 1: Give me, give me your top five, not including yourself.
Speaker 1: I know you will put yourself in the top that
Speaker 1: you're not in. Um, what do you mean by it?
Speaker 1: Like the guys in the leash who you like that's
Speaker 1: doing it's not like, uh, just because they're not in
Speaker 1: your top five, they're not dressing, but that your top five. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't even say top. I would say who I
Speaker 1: like like? Who I like I like? Obviously George Clarkson
Speaker 1: like his sway because it's him, it's himself. And when
Speaker 1: when I first came into the NBA, he was on
Speaker 1: my team, so I got in first hand, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is a dude that's in fashion that I think
Speaker 1: it's flying. Like I'm looking up to him in certain
Speaker 1: situations because coming in I'm a rookie heat heat, a
Speaker 1: four fifth year player, and say him, uh, Frank Jackson,
Speaker 1: Frank Jackson, you know I'm not just a top guy.
Speaker 1: You know, I see him and it's just him it's organic,
Speaker 1: it's himself. You know. I love books and book swag
Speaker 1: because it's him, you know. You know, it's certain guys
Speaker 1: in the league. You see they just put onto the
Speaker 1: the designer and they stick it all over themselves, you know.
Speaker 1: Or is it it's it's everybody wants to dress like
Speaker 1: Travis Scott. Now, everybody wants to do to the street stuff.
Speaker 1: But like, like, what's your swag? I want to see
Speaker 1: your swag? So I got those three. Chris Paul is
Speaker 1: very clean. He keeps a real casual, very very very
Speaker 1: very mature. Like I like that fib is tough. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of guys, a lot of guys. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of guys. I feel like there was a rookie.
Speaker 1: I like, yeah, Jathen Green. I like what he's doing
Speaker 1: in the past world. He was out in Paris, he
Speaker 1: was out in Parish for his first time and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I just watching him Brandon what shows he
Speaker 1: went to. He's doing the right thing too. So I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say, I'm gonna say those five. I respect that.
Speaker 1: That's a good why you know, you know, who get
Speaker 1: left out of people five? Though, I have a huge
Speaker 1: appreciation for it's p J Tucker. P J. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: p J. Yeah. PJ is there to PJ just a
Speaker 1: fly like PJ just get it money, Hey, just get it?
Speaker 1: He just get it. Man, I don't like PJ is
Speaker 1: there for me? No, p J two and But it's
Speaker 1: like it's so subjective it is, you know, like I
Speaker 1: could say my five, but I'm like, oh, well, shoot,
Speaker 1: I love p J two, but I just didn't put
Speaker 1: them there for sure. So I can dig that. UM
Speaker 1: and and continuing in business software core because we'll get
Speaker 1: to the owner court. But uh, I see you post
Speaker 1: a lot drink bar Code. Talk to us more about
Speaker 1: the drink while you got into it, how it came about.
Speaker 1: Just tell me more about about that. Yeah. So bar
Speaker 1: Code is a drink that I co founded UM with
Speaker 1: another partner of mine. And you know, for me growing up,
Speaker 1: not not necessarily growing up, but within my NBA world,
Speaker 1: you know, you're doing beverage deals with UM, the Gatorades
Speaker 1: or these other companies, right, but it's not necessary you
Speaker 1: you know, it's not really authentic to yourself. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like a here's the money, and take the money
Speaker 1: and then do it for six months and then your
Speaker 1: term's done. You know how it goes. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not really into short time things. You know, Like
Speaker 1: if I if I want to put my my all
Speaker 1: into something like I have to be like into it
Speaker 1: has to be authentic, genuine to me. And that's what
Speaker 1: Barcode is. Like Barcode were extremely healthy. We have like
Speaker 1: two grams of sugar. Name of a sports drink, lifestyle
Speaker 1: drink that has that not really gonna find it. Um,
Speaker 1: we have adaptations in it for recovery, mushrooms in it.
Speaker 1: We have magnesium, vitamin D. How many drinks by vitamin D?
Speaker 1: And then everybody in the world, probably of the world,
Speaker 1: is vitamin D deficient, you know I'm saying. So it
Speaker 1: just ties into who I am as a person. And
Speaker 1: I take care of my body just as much as anybody,
Speaker 1: Like like I care about myself and what I in
Speaker 1: take because that's that's my career, Like that's how I
Speaker 1: make money. I don't take care of my body. I'm
Speaker 1: not making money. So um, you know, Barko has been
Speaker 1: just a great journey for us building it out, and
Speaker 1: you know the best is to come. So and what
Speaker 1: what have you learned? I know I've I've done. I've
Speaker 1: been involved in some business ventures where I'm like, oh man,
Speaker 1: I learned to turn from that and made a lot
Speaker 1: of money. I didn't learn much, but I made money.
Speaker 1: I learned a bunch but lost money. You know, like,
Speaker 1: what's that learning process been for you? With this deal?
Speaker 1: Some some things that when you look at this deal,
Speaker 1: you're like, I did this, like I think I did
Speaker 1: this well. And then something that you look at you
Speaker 1: know where you are and there drinking, like I could
Speaker 1: have did this a little bit better, and now I'm
Speaker 1: tweaking that for this for a ticket, but also as
Speaker 1: I continue to move forward in business, this is a
Speaker 1: mistake I made that I know I won't make this
Speaker 1: one again. Well, I think it's all about patients, Like
Speaker 1: we don't have patients as athletes, because I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm speaking for myself at least, because you know,
Speaker 1: I want things now I wanted right away, like like
Speaker 1: I want to be great tomorrow, boo and forth. So
Speaker 1: I have that mentality with everything, but not everything is
Speaker 1: on that type of type of time. And one of
Speaker 1: the things I've learned with Barcode is just like you
Speaker 1: have to have patience with things, like you think like
Speaker 1: just because it's yours and it's your name, that it's
Speaker 1: gonna be easy to getting the whole foods easy to
Speaker 1: get on Amazon, on god Puffs, so it's on delivery
Speaker 1: and stuff. And you know, it's all about, you know,
Speaker 1: just having the right management and team in place for
Speaker 1: whatever business endeavor you have, you know, because it all
Speaker 1: starts with that. Because it could be the best idea
Speaker 1: in the world, but you don't have the right management
Speaker 1: correlating everything, it doesn't matter. That's that's super dope. I
Speaker 1: think that's actually what I was getting at is the distribution,
Speaker 1: and you hit on it, So I appreciate that. That's good.
Speaker 1: That means you know what you're talking about and you're
Speaker 1: you're really into the business, which I think is is
Speaker 1: a great thing. But switching gears many seven pick like
Speaker 1: I said earlier, from Flint, Michigan, but coming from Utah.
Speaker 1: But take me back to before you even get to Utah.
Speaker 1: Growing up in Flint. You don't go to Michigan or
Speaker 1: Michigan State. You end up at Utah. I talked to
Speaker 1: me about your recruiting journey and how it ended up
Speaker 1: being Utah for a kid that's it's going on to
Speaker 1: be who you are. Yet you didn't end up at
Speaker 1: a state a state school. Yeah, and you know that's
Speaker 1: a big deal of Michigan for you guys that don't
Speaker 1: know anything about Michigan. Like you grow up, if you're
Speaker 1: a basketball player, your dream is to play at Michigan
Speaker 1: State or Michigan And I know, for damn sure that
Speaker 1: was mine. But you know, my journey didn't work out
Speaker 1: that way. You know, I was, and I still am,
Speaker 1: a late bloomer to a cent, to an extent, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up my freshman year in high school, I was
Speaker 1: five eight, you know, all my friends in Monte's, the Miles,
Speaker 1: a couple of other guys. You know, by the time
Speaker 1: you're a freshman sophomore and you know, like you already
Speaker 1: had offers, you already had uh college letters all that.
Speaker 1: I didn't get my first college letter until my junior year.
Speaker 1: I didn't get my first offer until the summer of
Speaker 1: my junior going into my senior year. So I've always
Speaker 1: been behind the eight ball. But you know, growing up,
Speaker 1: I had a passion for basketball. It's all I ever
Speaker 1: cared about. My mom um if she was working, couldn't
Speaker 1: drop me off at our y m c A. You know,
Speaker 1: I would take the bus there, I would walk them
Speaker 1: out just to get there. I'd be there all day
Speaker 1: until eight nine o'clock when she got off of work,
Speaker 1: because I really had nowhere else to go if I
Speaker 1: wasn't playing basketball. I was always a good kid, and
Speaker 1: I never want to disappoint my mom or any any
Speaker 1: family member. I didn't want to be that person got
Speaker 1: in trouble. So you know the y m c A.
Speaker 1: That was my safe haven. That was basketball in my
Speaker 1: safe haven. And um, I'd a hell of a journey.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I look back, is just funny
Speaker 1: because it's like that's the reward in life, Like that's
Speaker 1: why I got from winning championship. Like the championship, it's
Speaker 1: not really the reward. It's like us talking right now
Speaker 1: and I'm reminiscing on these million thoughts of uh not
Speaker 1: having money one time to eat subway, you know, while
Speaker 1: I'm at the YM, say for ten hours, Like that's
Speaker 1: that's a that's a laughing moment I can have for
Speaker 1: myself and I can keep myself forever because of that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So, um, yeah, my journey
Speaker 1: is it's wow. Wow, for sure, no, it's I think
Speaker 1: it's I agree with you when when we want our
Speaker 1: recent championship, I don't even think I touched the trophy
Speaker 1: on the stage. I don't think I touched the trophy
Speaker 1: to its time for picture because afterwards, like it's not
Speaker 1: about the trophy, it's it's the journey. Like I'm sitting
Speaker 1: there and I'm looking at like I intentionally stood to
Speaker 1: the side, and I'm just watching guys like interact and
Speaker 1: like it's always a big deal for me to see
Speaker 1: the first time guys and like how they because you
Speaker 1: went that first one and it's like amazing, and then
Speaker 1: everyone after that is like they're incredible, but you never
Speaker 1: get that feeling again that you've got the very first
Speaker 1: time I did it. And so for me, the thing
Speaker 1: that I get the most enjoyment from is watching the
Speaker 1: first time guys and how they react and like just
Speaker 1: the excitement they have. And for me this time, it
Speaker 1: wasn't even about that, Like I'm just standing to the
Speaker 1: side and I'm like just thinking about the journey, about
Speaker 1: Clay coming back, and like the day he'd come back,
Speaker 1: I go down with a back injury, not knowing if
Speaker 1: I'll be able to play, again that year. I worked
Speaker 1: my way back from that and the day I got back,
Speaker 1: Steph got hurt. So then we're going into the playoffs
Speaker 1: and like our starting five hasn't played any minutes together,
Speaker 1: Like no chance we went. It's like we haven't played together.
Speaker 1: But what I and as I stood there on the
Speaker 1: side and I'm looking, it's like, oh, it's the journey.
Speaker 1: Like the journey is what you feel you feel good about.
Speaker 1: The journey is what keeps you going. It's not oh, man,
Speaker 1: I need to get another championship, it's I need another championship. Journey,
Speaker 1: that's what keeps you going. And so to hear you
Speaker 1: speak on your journey, like I admire your journey. You
Speaker 1: like when you went to Utah, Like that's not people
Speaker 1: aren't just going from Michigan and Utah had no offer.
Speaker 1: I had no offers. That's it. That was had Utah.
Speaker 1: I had Penn State. And the reason why I picked
Speaker 1: Utah was because Larry Kristoviak he was the coach share
Speaker 1: at the time, and you know, he just had an
Speaker 1: NBA pedigree and I'm like, yo, if I that's where
Speaker 1: I want to go, I gotta go to him because
Speaker 1: this other coach. I don't know, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I'm just blind faith, Like, Okay, this dude has
Speaker 1: been where I want to go. I'm gonna see if
Speaker 1: I can learn whatever the funk I can learn from him,
Speaker 1: and let's see where it goes. It worked out, Wow,
Speaker 1: I mean I was crazy. I think he didn't go
Speaker 1: to Penn State because he didn't want to play against
Speaker 1: Michigan State. But that's a story for another day. Um
Speaker 1: just that's the green and white of me. But so
Speaker 1: you're drafted seven pick. It was a sleeper, by the way, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone was expecting you to not only
Speaker 1: be a first round pick, but then to come in
Speaker 1: and produce the way you produced from the beginning. I
Speaker 1: felt like that, like that caught everybody off guard. What
Speaker 1: was that process like? And you hit on it a
Speaker 1: little bit. Not only are you coming in the seven pick,
Speaker 1: but you're coming in with the most story franchise and
Speaker 1: probably in sports history, but definitely in It's like a movie. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's a movie. Like I tell us people all the time,
Speaker 1: it's a movie. Like I wasn't supposed to be drafted,
Speaker 1: like I got drafted twenty seven because I was killing
Speaker 1: in workouts. I was killing the combine. Like you know,
Speaker 1: the under advisory committee, right, you called them right before
Speaker 1: you decide, okay, don't want to test the waters, don't
Speaker 1: want to declare you want to come back. They called me.
Speaker 1: I called. Well, however, when I called, they called, and
Speaker 1: they go, okay, So we got your feedback from your
Speaker 1: past season. Nineteen NBA teams believed that you should be
Speaker 1: picked around fifty to sixty, and then the other eleven
Speaker 1: said that you would go undrafted. So take this information
Speaker 1: with what you want. Because I know year of eligibility,
Speaker 1: but I was graduating, so I was like, why the
Speaker 1: hell am I in school right now? I just got
Speaker 1: a degree that makes no damn since back school, and
Speaker 1: I know I'm way better than fifty sixty people in
Speaker 1: this draft. I don't wagh better than fifty sixty people.
Speaker 1: I gotta be right, So I go out. I tested.
Speaker 1: I tell my coach, I'm like, coach, I'm leaving. And
Speaker 1: after knowing all this, everybody's like, yo, you're making a
Speaker 1: terrible mistake, Like why are you doing this? Nobody thinks
Speaker 1: you would get drafted. Why don't you come back? Potentially
Speaker 1: be a first round pick coach, I'm out of here, bro.
Speaker 1: Like for me, I just had this blind infidence to
Speaker 1: myself and everybody sees it. I work wild clothes whatever. No,
Speaker 1: that's really me, Like I really got the most utmost confidence.
Speaker 1: There's a saying for that. It's called irrational irrational. I
Speaker 1: wish I had irrational confidence, by the way, But you
Speaker 1: have a certain type of confidence in yourself though to
Speaker 1: be who you are to go on this you're saying
Speaker 1: some crazy things sometimes but but definitely, But it's irrational
Speaker 1: confidences is a different thing like irrational confidence. Like what
Speaker 1: what I have very strongly is I have a very
Speaker 1: strong will and so like I can will myself through
Speaker 1: some stuff, just like willing myself through it. Like, but
Speaker 1: irrational confidence is something that I wish I had because
Speaker 1: irrational confidence, like will, it takes you to a different
Speaker 1: place because you never waiver on confidence, Like I waiver
Speaker 1: on confidence that time my shooting the promise that like
Speaker 1: I've waivered on confidence in my shootings. No I know
Speaker 1: exactly what now, but guess what money on the line
Speaker 1: I can wield myself to knock. Do you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying? Like, And so it's it's two different things.
Speaker 1: But I have like like Steph has irrational confidence, you know,
Speaker 1: and I have when steps like that, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: it's honestly funny for him, Like I know, I feel
Speaker 1: this way. It has to be for him. If he's
Speaker 1: in a slump or he's in the game and let's
Speaker 1: say he's shooting one for seven, one for eight from three,
Speaker 1: he's probably laughing at this point, like he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is I don't know why the fox is not
Speaker 1: going in, you know what I mean. But for you,
Speaker 1: you're like, funk. I'm like, I don't know if I'm
Speaker 1: about to take this next one, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But no, that's that's something something I definitely have. So
Speaker 1: I go into the Combine old to Combine only played
Speaker 1: a half and I had like seventeen and a half.
Speaker 1: My agents like, oh, you gotta get the hell out here.
Speaker 1: You shut it down. So I shut it down at
Speaker 1: this point. And at the time I didn't even have
Speaker 1: no draft workouts. Only draft workout I had was Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz because I was the local kid, right, So most
Speaker 1: of the time in the draft process, I would say,
Speaker 1: guys probably work out for what eight teams? Maybe, yes,
Speaker 1: but you and me are on the same page. I
Speaker 1: worked out for uh twenty teams and there was only
Speaker 1: twenty five teams that had draft picks. So I had
Speaker 1: to just come in and the same thing. You had
Speaker 1: to come in and slay every every workout. Everybody that
Speaker 1: was ahead of you. It was like, yo, this guy is.
Speaker 1: I made it a point where it was like I
Speaker 1: was the best person every single workout. There's no chance
Speaker 1: there's nobody more in shape than me. There's nobody that's
Speaker 1: playing is harder, more locked in whatever. That's like. That's
Speaker 1: what my minds it was. But that also helped me
Speaker 1: in my career beyond too, because it's easy just to
Speaker 1: come to l A and be like, oh, I'm a Laker,
Speaker 1: I'm chilling whatever, right, but I'm coming in summerly, like yo,
Speaker 1: y'all about to know who I am, Like like I'm
Speaker 1: a kid from Flint, Like I have nothing to lose.
Speaker 1: I'm playing with house money. At this point, I'm still
Speaker 1: playing with house money. You know what I'm saying, Because
Speaker 1: you know where I'm from. You playing with house money. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: absolutely no, it's I mean, that's that's that's how I
Speaker 1: approach it. I was never supposed to be here. And
Speaker 1: that's why I told everybody when I told him after
Speaker 1: we wanted it, like, this was never supposed to happen
Speaker 1: for me. And in their eyes, though in my eyes
Speaker 1: it's always no, this is this is exactly what I
Speaker 1: said happen. But in their eyes, this was never supposed
Speaker 1: to happen for me. So I like, that's what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: You get to the Lakers and and you're able, You're
Speaker 1: awarded the opportunity by coming to the Lakers to build
Speaker 1: a relationship with Covid. How do talking irrational confidence, that's
Speaker 1: the irrational confidence King, by the way he worked, and
Speaker 1: that irrational confidence just became a part like you just
Speaker 1: became a part of who he is. But that's the
Speaker 1: irrational confidence King. How did that relationship help you, especially
Speaker 1: early on in dealing with like y'all was getting y'all
Speaker 1: ask it your stance do not handle that? Well? How
Speaker 1: did that relationship help you continue to do what you
Speaker 1: were doing and deal with the ship that people are
Speaker 1: starting to say, you know, the biggest thing he always
Speaker 1: ever said was keep the main thing, the main thing right.
Speaker 1: That was one thing and too just like that was
Speaker 1: like my north star. You know what I'm saying. You
Speaker 1: may never get there whatever, but it's it's what you
Speaker 1: get out of, it is what you're trying to reach, right,
Speaker 1: So the awesome professional take care of your body, playing
Speaker 1: every single game, having this type of mentality like you know,
Speaker 1: like I'm here for a reason, this is my purpose.
Speaker 1: Like my purpose tonight is to killed. My purpose tonight
Speaker 1: is to go out and help my team win. Like
Speaker 1: having somebody like that early on my career, I mean,
Speaker 1: change everything for me. You know, I could say the
Speaker 1: same thing about you know, Bron coming a year two
Speaker 1: and seeing it from a player perspective, because you know,
Speaker 1: Cob was here, he was going retired at this point,
Speaker 1: so it was just like you know, word of mouth,
Speaker 1: but like Bron, I'm really seeing it too, So you know,
Speaker 1: just having that relationship with Cobe, it was man, it
Speaker 1: was everything. Like I still have the text messages like
Speaker 1: we just had never delete them, you know, just like
Speaker 1: just things to go back on, things to think of,
Speaker 1: like like he was just so he was just so
Speaker 1: smart man about just everything putting you on game, just
Speaker 1: of of things you don't even think of, like the
Speaker 1: attention to detail, that he had a basketball, he had
Speaker 1: a life, he had in business, he had in relationships,
Speaker 1: and like, that's what I want for my life. So,
Speaker 1: speaking of bron coming here, when Brian came, the Lakers
Speaker 1: traded a lot of pieces, and I remember during that time.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people don't, but I remember
Speaker 1: during that time, it came down to like what pieces
Speaker 1: were they going to trade? Because it was you, it
Speaker 1: was it was be I was Jordan Clarkson, Um, it
Speaker 1: was the list, josh Hard Alonzo, the list goes on
Speaker 1: and on, and it comes down to what pieces are
Speaker 1: we going to trade? And they ultimately decided to stick
Speaker 1: with you and trade Brandon Ingram And that time, I'm
Speaker 1: not even sure you realized that was going on at
Speaker 1: that time in the business because you were so young.
Speaker 1: I realized it was going on. But if you did
Speaker 1: realize that that was going on, what did that do
Speaker 1: for your confidence? That they essentially chose you. I mean
Speaker 1: that they believe that I'm a winning player and I'm
Speaker 1: somebody that can bring a championship to this organization. I mean,
Speaker 1: what more? And and none of this was never said, right,
Speaker 1: It's just I'm reading your actions, your actions to tell me.
Speaker 1: You believe in me because you didn't trade me, right,
Speaker 1: and you think whatever role I may put in, whatever
Speaker 1: you think that's going to help y'all win the championship. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: So that just gave me even more confidence, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? And ship it worked out, and it
Speaker 1: definitely did. I think the thing that people don't realize
Speaker 1: is when you make decisions like that. And so some
Speaker 1: people who don't understand winning and basketball to a certain thing,
Speaker 1: but definitely don't understand winning, will say, oh, man, but
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram has been an All Star, so that was
Speaker 1: the wrong move. But if you understand winning, what I
Speaker 1: say is, but they won a championship, and so regardless
Speaker 1: of what your thoughts could be on that topic, they
Speaker 1: won a championship and that automatically umps everything. And it's
Speaker 1: funny because I was telling Travel earlier. You know, Trav
Speaker 1: Travis is my trainer. I was telling Travel earlier. I said,
Speaker 1: Cool's coming to there. He's like, oh, Cool's this coming
Speaker 1: to day? I forgot him, Like yeah, He's like, damn,
Speaker 1: that's dope. And then he goes into this whole he
Speaker 1: goes into this whole spill about your your time with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and and he starts discussing that move and
Speaker 1: and the reality is the one thing that we discussed
Speaker 1: and you said it, I'm not sure that team still
Speaker 1: wins if they keep be all over you because of
Speaker 1: the skill sets, like all of these pieces have to
Speaker 1: fit in, and what you brought to that team. You
Speaker 1: were like you and Casey people the shooters like y'all
Speaker 1: had Danny Green. Danny was kind of up and down
Speaker 1: that year, but you and k C P were the
Speaker 1: conscience and shooting. And I'm not sure, especially at that
Speaker 1: point in the career, like by now he had knocked
Speaker 1: it down right, but at that time he was getting
Speaker 1: it and driving right. And I don't think people realize
Speaker 1: how impactful that move was. Because if that never happens
Speaker 1: and this team doesn't win that that y'all team don't
Speaker 1: win a championship? What does that look like for Bron?
Speaker 1: Are the Lakers as an organization still honorable to Bron?
Speaker 1: You know what does that look like for a d
Speaker 1: It's like are they crushing him because they haven't won
Speaker 1: a championship yet? And I don't think people realize how
Speaker 1: moves certain moves play into that, like they will never
Speaker 1: give you credit for that championship, but I recognize it.
Speaker 1: I recognized how you went from oh man, I need
Speaker 1: to score, score, score score, to passing up shots. I
Speaker 1: recognize how you went from doing so much off the drill.
Speaker 1: It's like, Nope, my role is to shoot this bottom.
Speaker 1: I recognized the winning plays and I hit you and
Speaker 1: I said, yo, I'm watching you play. You've changed like
Speaker 1: it was a total three sixty. And I would imagine,
Speaker 1: and you can tell me. I'd imagine Brian and his
Speaker 1: tut religion learned from him has something to do with that. Well,
Speaker 1: I think for me, like you can kind of hit
Speaker 1: on the head. Right, you can put we're talking about
Speaker 1: winning championship right now. You know the average fan, you
Speaker 1: know they look at the ship on paper. Right, paper
Speaker 1: don't tell the whole story. Chemistry is chemistry and fit
Speaker 1: are the most important things to win championship? Right? Wrong?
Speaker 1: What did you say? Right? It's more important than talent.
Speaker 1: You have to have talent you can put you don't fit,
Speaker 1: don't matter. You could you could put four all stars
Speaker 1: on team and on paper it looks like, oh, ship,
Speaker 1: they're gonna win a championship. But how do you know
Speaker 1: is that that third or fourth all start that you
Speaker 1: bring in. Is he willing to now act like a
Speaker 1: fourth option? You know what I'm saying? Like me, I
Speaker 1: was willing my first two years. In my second year league,
Speaker 1: I was nineteen and five. Like that's loud numbers for
Speaker 1: a second year players, right, But I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: play basketball for that ship. Like I play ball to
Speaker 1: win and win games and whatever role I got thrust
Speaker 1: with one, I'm gonna do it because when I'm on
Speaker 1: the Lebron James team, let's keep it a hunt it
Speaker 1: right now, Like you're on that team, you see that
Speaker 1: man in him being a professional, Like you're gonna fall
Speaker 1: in line because it's a certain excellent standards and you
Speaker 1: don't want to let somebody down that cares so much
Speaker 1: about winning and this, Like you want to be part
Speaker 1: of that too, right or wrong? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So you know for me, I don't you know, I
Speaker 1: always feel a certain type of way. I did feel
Speaker 1: a certain type of way. I'm at peace now. I
Speaker 1: don't care. You know, you don't. You didn't win, you
Speaker 1: didn't do this. I was the third leading square on
Speaker 1: the NBA championship team. Some people saying that not many
Speaker 1: but granted me being selfless and having no ego in
Speaker 1: that situation, because it could have been easy. I could
Speaker 1: have just just ran with the excuse, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: they don't give me a fair shot, and I didn't
Speaker 1: do this and I do that. But if you know
Speaker 1: me and you know me personally, I'd tell you that
Speaker 1: was the best thing to ever happened to me in
Speaker 1: my career. I was a player that all I looked
Speaker 1: like you said. At first, I was looking to score.
Speaker 1: I was to get a bucket, do this that, But
Speaker 1: I didn't do it else didn't want to defend. You know,
Speaker 1: I didn't really put too much effort rebound, even though
Speaker 1: I was a really good rebounder in college, didn't mill
Speaker 1: was made the right past tunnel vision. But going through
Speaker 1: that situation that made me a better basketball player, and
Speaker 1: everybody in the world saw that last year I was
Speaker 1: doing everything, you know what I mean. So I always
Speaker 1: look at things from a positive stand point, because there's
Speaker 1: no point to dwell on ship. There's no point. And
Speaker 1: that was probably one of the best things that ever
Speaker 1: happened to me in my career, Like just being in
Speaker 1: that situation. Lakers keeping me me realizing oh, there's more
Speaker 1: the basketball and than just this, and then ultimately win
Speaker 1: the championship with the Lakers. That's history. You're then traded
Speaker 1: to the Washington Wizards, which you just finished your first
Speaker 1: year there. Um, how how was how was your first
Speaker 1: year with the Wizards and moving to the Eastern Conferences overall?
Speaker 1: How was that for you? You know, it was it
Speaker 1: was a lot different, you know, going from you know,
Speaker 1: organization as the Lakers magnitude to another organization. That was
Speaker 1: my first time ever get traded, being in that type
Speaker 1: of situation, so not really knowing what to expect, and uh,
Speaker 1: there's always the bumps in the road and things you
Speaker 1: have to adjust to, you know. But um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it was a great learning here from me,
Speaker 1: Like like people look to me as like, you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted me and k CP. We came there, we
Speaker 1: won a championship. We're only winners on that team, and
Speaker 1: you know, to go there and and and people like
Speaker 1: respect what you say. You're not saying people in l
Speaker 1: A didn't on the team. But you know, I'm the young,
Speaker 1: young dude, you know what I'm saying, Like I got
Speaker 1: too much respect from like just an o G standpoint,
Speaker 1: and it was hard for me a little bit too,
Speaker 1: Like you know, maybe get on bron, get on Rondo,
Speaker 1: you know, say something to a d These are fucking
Speaker 1: people I grew up watching, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But to come to this situation, it's like who is
Speaker 1: what you think? You know what you think about this?
Speaker 1: The physical? What are we doing? You know, what's what's missing?
Speaker 1: Like those type of things like that's invaluable to have.
Speaker 1: That's that's more important than anything to me, because like
Speaker 1: I would love to feel a part of things, and
Speaker 1: you know, just learning and taking everything I've implemented in
Speaker 1: my career from you know, those learning situations, but also
Speaker 1: now being to show myself and show my ass off.
Speaker 1: It was a success, but there's more. That was a
Speaker 1: small win, but there's more big wins to accomplish, you know,
Speaker 1: because losing touchs you know, be honest with you, Like
Speaker 1: we had a Yeah, you know, losing is not fun,
Speaker 1: you know, so I'm optimisticly taking that for a win
Speaker 1: for myself, but it still didn't sit right because you
Speaker 1: don't win. If you don't win, you don't get the playoffs. Yo,
Speaker 1: it's a shitty season. Nobody wants to be done in April,
Speaker 1: you know, but we'll figure it out. You know, doub what, um,
Speaker 1: But I absolutely know what losing feels like. We won
Speaker 1: fifteen games two years ago. Everybody destroying. I definitely get it.
Speaker 1: But what what needs to happen, um for y'all to
Speaker 1: change that? Like you know, brought in the point guard
Speaker 1: in monte who very good point guard, and this leave
Speaker 1: Brad coming back healthy signing this new deal. Congrats to Brad.
Speaker 1: I always talk about my brother Brad Bill real one
Speaker 1: to see guys get their money, like you go through
Speaker 1: a lot in this business, a ton of money being made.
Speaker 1: Love to see guys get their dude. So congrats to Brad.
Speaker 1: You got obviously you coming back in with another year
Speaker 1: under your BELTU Persingers who y'all bought in last year,
Speaker 1: who I thought I thought rediscovered himself quite a bit. Um.
Speaker 1: I think he'll You know that that will be a
Speaker 1: huge health y'all. But what needs to happen to kind
Speaker 1: of bring that all together and and start competing in
Speaker 1: the East for y'all. You know, it's all about chemistry.
Speaker 1: You know, we're starting that early. We're having a mini camp,
Speaker 1: you know, we're getting together like that ship is important
Speaker 1: and that's all I know, because like, once you win,
Speaker 1: that's all you really know. And I know from you know,
Speaker 1: when we want to championship with the Lakers, everybody was cool,
Speaker 1: everybody was close. You know, we had amazing chemistry and
Speaker 1: that's one of the most important thing. And too, we
Speaker 1: just gotta stay healthy. Like you know, at the point
Speaker 1: in time for most of the season we were like,
Speaker 1: you know, top eight in the East. But then we
Speaker 1: had a lot of injurgies, a lot of situation, a
Speaker 1: lot of trades happen, you know. But if we can
Speaker 1: get Porsenius to be healthy, Brad to be healthy, Brad
Speaker 1: played about fifty games. Um, you know, we miss Rudy
Speaker 1: for thirty five games. So we have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: do something and it should be a lot of motivation.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of hungry dudes, like Brad just
Speaker 1: got paid and he wants to show the world that
Speaker 1: he's a winner. You don't think he's sick and tired
Speaker 1: of being Everybody's saying like, oh, he's just in d
Speaker 1: C for the money. Oh he wants to win, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Monte coming over, he wants to
Speaker 1: show that, oh I can, I can take another step,
Speaker 1: Like I'm not just a backup. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I got steps, prosingis KP, he got yo, I can
Speaker 1: stay healthy. So like I feel like when you have
Speaker 1: a situation like that where it's guys that have something
Speaker 1: to prove, the care factors higher, no doubt, and going
Speaker 1: into your six year six crazy and fly by fly
Speaker 1: I'm going to year eleven. I got drafted yesterday, crazy
Speaker 1: like it, fly By, But going into your six year,
Speaker 1: what's some of them goals? Personal goals that you want
Speaker 1: to reach the biggest things. I just want to lead
Speaker 1: and I want to make others better, make others happier.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like this summer has been great
Speaker 1: for my mental You know, it's not about putting expectations
Speaker 1: on yourself. It's about controlling what you can control. And
Speaker 1: I know that I can make others better. I know
Speaker 1: I can make people, make people feel good, and also
Speaker 1: I can lead. So if I can do that, everything
Speaker 1: that I want, it's naturally going to happen, you know,
Speaker 1: just organically. So you know that's that's just my focus.
Speaker 1: All right, this media talking to not none of these
Speaker 1: old media people that will be talking. I don't give
Speaker 1: me the bullshit political asset. Not give me some of
Speaker 1: the personal goals. That's a person. That's what I need,
Speaker 1: some personal goals. What's this mark I'm trying to get.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be an All Star. I want to
Speaker 1: be all definite need that. I don't want to be
Speaker 1: defensive player to y'all that the war. I got my
Speaker 1: name written all over because I should have got it
Speaker 1: this year, but I got sucked up, so you know,
Speaker 1: but like I need some of them going. I definitely
Speaker 1: need that All Star for sure. I need that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I gotta ring. So if I'm an All Star and
Speaker 1: a champion, where are you gonna tell me you think
Speaker 1: that we're crazy? Now, boy, that sounds familiar. Don't let
Speaker 1: me win be a fucking All Star. I'm telling you
Speaker 1: right now. As you should, by the way, appreciate that,
Speaker 1: as you should approach everything like that. I think you do.
Speaker 1: But I have an appreciation for guys in this league,
Speaker 1: like I feel like you come in this league and
Speaker 1: you're kind of taught to back down, like you're taught like,
Speaker 1: oh man, there's this hierarchy and you need to respect
Speaker 1: that hierarchy, like I remember me coming like fun that
Speaker 1: like last year, don't let me win a championship, and
Speaker 1: I'm telling y'all, we're gonna win a champion ship. I
Speaker 1: have a huge appreciation for guys like standing in and
Speaker 1: standing on who they are, you know, and like I
Speaker 1: told you from the very beginning, you in fashion like
Speaker 1: it speaks, but like like you said, it's art um,
Speaker 1: it talks for you, but I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: if I feel like you know that. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: know that, but it does. And as someone like like
Speaker 1: I told you, I admire it because not many people
Speaker 1: have that confidence that like, oh no, this is what
Speaker 1: I'm doing and and it's cool. I mean for me,
Speaker 1: it's just like I just I'm a man, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like I was always taught like yo,
Speaker 1: you gotta stand on what you believe in and what
Speaker 1: you do. You know, if if you don't, what else
Speaker 1: you're gonna stand on? So you know, that's just what
Speaker 1: I come from. So like the things that I do,
Speaker 1: the things that I want to do, like it's what
Speaker 1: I want to do. It's not what you want to do.
Speaker 1: It's not what you want me to do you know,
Speaker 1: Because that's not gonna make me happy. You're not going
Speaker 1: to the grave of me. So why do I care
Speaker 1: what you think? Or why am I backing down or
Speaker 1: or closing my light off? Because you're not comfortable with
Speaker 1: for sure. And before I get you out of here,
Speaker 1: I feel like this thing is all over the place today.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I recently put out a tweet and
Speaker 1: it was number one. How do you feel about comparing errors?
Speaker 1: This error is oblivious. It makes no sense. I think
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous. It makes no sense because like you cannot
Speaker 1: compare the sixties. And granted I did see what Jerry
Speaker 1: West said, and I love Jerry West. He's an o
Speaker 1: G and he's a savage for what he said, because
Speaker 1: that's that's some real ship. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You got it, you got it, And nobody's saying back
Speaker 1: to logo you definitely no, no, sir, But there's certain
Speaker 1: things you can't prepare. Like I'm not trying to disrespect nobody,
Speaker 1: but like the point guards of today are unbelievably talented.
Speaker 1: They're way more elite than any point guard in the
Speaker 1: history of any Like you know what I'm saying from
Speaker 1: an athletic standpoint man. Granted, you know Matgic Johnson. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's coming in this area and he's whooping ass. Any
Speaker 1: area he's whooping as Isaiah Thomas, he's whooping ass. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean, he's whooping. It's all relative. So
Speaker 1: you're just you're just thiving the joy out a lot
Speaker 1: of things when you just compare and you want to
Speaker 1: like do that, like it doesn't make no sense. Like
Speaker 1: like I saw your tweet you talked about the game
Speaker 1: was from the free throw lining in right. Absolutely, y'all
Speaker 1: just gonna pack the paint right, and you're just gonna
Speaker 1: be on the string defensively, right, But what are they
Speaker 1: gonna grant? They're gonna have a game, game plan and
Speaker 1: scheme too. But y'all have seen that, y'all understand and
Speaker 1: know how to play that day in the nineties that
Speaker 1: would never see playing four point line defense. I've never
Speaker 1: seen that before. You guys seen it. So that's already
Speaker 1: the advantage in my in my eyes at least, I
Speaker 1: agree one like you know people who have been it's
Speaker 1: a it's a three part statement actually, and the first
Speaker 1: part being I don't understand why people compares. But when
Speaker 1: they do, I had a question do they take into
Speaker 1: account the difference in styles, because there's no way they
Speaker 1: can be taken into account the difference of styles because
Speaker 1: I am sitting here watching and I was literally sitting
Speaker 1: I watched the entire game five of the Finals, Chicago
Speaker 1: Bulls versus Utah Jazz, and I'm sitting here watching the game,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, Robman is incredible. M J is amazing,
Speaker 1: Pip incredible, Calm Alone insane. John Stockton, John Stockton, they
Speaker 1: had his bottled up something crazy. Him and Hornesseid had
Speaker 1: no chance. They had no chance. But and I'm appreciating
Speaker 1: all of their greatness, right, but I'm watching it and
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but say, I just don't understand how
Speaker 1: you can compare us to this team. Not that Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan isn't great or the greatest place however you wanna
Speaker 1: slice it. It's not taking anything away from that, not
Speaker 1: one bit, but just the style of basketball alone. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a guy catching it at the free throw line
Speaker 1: and got cut into the corner and the guy flashed
Speaker 1: into the post. There's no spacing, and so I'm watching
Speaker 1: that and I'm like, the point that I was making
Speaker 1: was you see what I'm saying, will beat this team
Speaker 1: by twenty and will beat them by forty. The actual
Speaker 1: point that I was making is and that's why it's
Speaker 1: dumb to compare. It's dumb. And then it's also play
Speaker 1: styles and it's officiating. What are we gonna play with handshacks?
Speaker 1: Are we're gonna play freedom of movement? Right? There's certain
Speaker 1: teams that can't get away with certain things, like I
Speaker 1: believe if the the Showtime Lakers, they would dominate this
Speaker 1: era because they were man, I was watching Magic in
Speaker 1: the eighties, just highlights like earlier in the summer. People
Speaker 1: don't realize, you know, he was fast as ship. You know,
Speaker 1: he was fast as hell, like he was getting the
Speaker 1: rebounds up the court in and three dribbles And that's
Speaker 1: the NBA now right, right or wrong kill. But certain
Speaker 1: teams might have been a little different. Great, you have
Speaker 1: great players. Whatever, Jordan being this area, he's averaging crazy
Speaker 1: numbers to regardless, even crazier numbers right now. It might
Speaker 1: be a different type of of if Jordan playing this area,
Speaker 1: it might be like yo and nobody touching them. You know,
Speaker 1: from from uh point standpoint, A championship standpoint, But you
Speaker 1: can't compare it. It's just it's just too tough. That's
Speaker 1: my whole sentiment. I hope people one day I understand that.
Speaker 1: Do you remember AO L? Are you? Yeah? Yeah? Of course?
Speaker 1: Dial up? Can you compare a O L too to
Speaker 1: high speed internet today? That chance was a O L
Speaker 1: great when we used it, the internet great, amazing, But
Speaker 1: just because the Internet great doesn't mean a O L
Speaker 1: wasn't great when it when it was being used. Right,
Speaker 1: you can't compare a messenger to D M S. Why
Speaker 1: in the fun can we do that with basketball? Right?
Speaker 1: It does? You do not have to MINIMIZEE. Michael Jordan's
Speaker 1: greatness for Lebron James to be great. You don't have
Speaker 1: to minimize Lebron james greatness for Steph Curry greatness. And
Speaker 1: it pisses me off that people do that with basketball.
Speaker 1: They don't do that when it comes to a founder
Speaker 1: of this company and the founder at that company. They
Speaker 1: don't do that. They only do it when it comes
Speaker 1: to sports, and you know who do it when it
Speaker 1: comes to sports. These lousy asks, click baiters, that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff for click bait that's making terrible comparisons, so
Speaker 1: they got something to talk about tomorrow. I'm sick of it.
Speaker 1: And it's crazy because the only thing they talked about
Speaker 1: today was the comparison I made, and you actually miss
Speaker 1: the entire point. They start comparing immediately when I said it,
Speaker 1: and I knew they would, which is why I framed
Speaker 1: the statement the way I did a question, a crazy
Speaker 1: ass statement like y'all do, and then the message, and
Speaker 1: they missed the question and the message and just saw
Speaker 1: the crazy ass statement. So, my brother, I want to
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on to the show. That that
Speaker 1: right there is the new media. Y'all hate it, but
Speaker 1: you better love it. Don't get stuck on the wrong side,
Speaker 1: because I'm telling you a lot of these guys are
Speaker 1: getting caught on the wrong side of it. And you
Speaker 1: can come over now before we close it down. My dog,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming. Appreciate you. By the way, Whu's
Speaker 1: CU's is launching the podcast. He got too much ship
Speaker 1: to say, y'all, CU's the young old g and y'all
Speaker 1: don't get to hear him off then because he just
Speaker 1: give you a little bit. Then he just slide to
Speaker 1: the back and keep watching. But Coul's got a podcast
Speaker 1: coming for y'all because he got a lot to say,
Speaker 1: Young old g cous book, y'all gotta watch you off
Speaker 1: for them guys. They know a lot and they just
Speaker 1: be trying to play you all like y'all look out
Speaker 1: for couls podcast. It's gonna talk about fashion, it's gonna
Speaker 1: talk about basketball, it's gonna intertwine all of those things.
Speaker 1: Couse Podcast coming coming on the show brother Man and