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Speaker 1: I mean, one of these days, you and I are

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Speaker 1: going to have a not a three point shooting contest,

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Speaker 1: but a free throw shooting contest, all right, because let

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Speaker 1: me just say this, I can shoot the rock. I

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Speaker 1: can shoot I can shoot the rock. In case you're

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Speaker 1: not aware, I know, I know you're a basketball fan.

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Speaker 1: I I don't know your level of skill, but you

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Speaker 1: are saying you want to challenge the ninth best free

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Speaker 1: throw shoot of all time. I just want to put

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Speaker 1: that out there. I just want to know. I want

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Speaker 1: you to know what you're getting into here. Brian, Hey,

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Speaker 1: this is JJ Reddick, fifteen year NBA vett, former Duke player,

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Speaker 1: host of The Old Man in the Three podcast. I

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Speaker 1: go on TV sometimes to talk about basketball, and I'm

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Speaker 1: here to tear the show up. Hello everybody, and welcome

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Speaker 1: back to Off the Beat, another sports edition today with

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Speaker 1: me your host, Brian Baumgartner. Today's guest, as you just heard,

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Speaker 1: is none other than professional baller, sportscaster and podcaster extraordinaire

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Speaker 1: J J. Reddick. Now. JJ started his unbelievable career at Duke,

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Speaker 1: where to this day he is the all time leading scorer,

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Speaker 1: and when he graduated, he went on to play in

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Speaker 1: the n b A for the Orlando Magic, the l

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Speaker 1: A Clippers, the seventies Sixers, among others, for an insane

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Speaker 1: fIF teen seasons. He's a true A C C legend,

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Speaker 1: and during his career, he even broke the record for

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Speaker 1: most points in the conference. Now, funny enough, j J

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Speaker 1: and I have something else in common. I'm not talking

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Speaker 1: about just our basketball skills. During JJ's playing years in

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Speaker 1: the NBA to this day, he has hosted his own

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Speaker 1: podcast called The Old Man and the Three, all about

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Speaker 1: the NBA. He's also an analyst for ESPN, and so today,

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Speaker 1: well I'm going to help the sports analyst analyze himself.

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Speaker 1: Might as well get started. Everybody here. He is the

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Speaker 1: very funny and always insightful j J. Reddick, Bubble and Squeak.

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Speaker 1: I love it Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and Squeaker cooking

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Speaker 1: at every month, left over from the nut before. J J,

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Speaker 1: how are you? I'm great. I had a it was

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Speaker 1: a rainy day here in sag Harbor, but I had

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Speaker 1: a great golf lesson this morning and then beat some

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Speaker 1: balls for about forty five minutes afterwards. So now, but

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Speaker 1: I just worked with with one of your people here

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Speaker 1: on a project in Los Angeles. And I understand you

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Speaker 1: were taking up golfing. This has become a new, a new,

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Speaker 1: fairly new passion for you, right yeah. I mean I

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Speaker 1: had golfed, I had played, I had played rounds of

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Speaker 1: golf prior to last summer. But I got into it

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Speaker 1: shortly after my last season ended. I started taking lessons

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Speaker 1: and I knew that it was going to be the

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Speaker 1: thing in retirement. Like I I got bit and I'm

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Speaker 1: an obsessive person. I like to deep dive on everything.

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Speaker 1: And I mean, we can talk about golf for an

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Speaker 1: hour and a half here if you want. But but

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Speaker 1: it is you have to understand I I spent so

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Speaker 1: much time in gymnasiums and hotel rooms and planes and

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Speaker 1: buses for the last twenty years of my life, and

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Speaker 1: so for me to be able to go walk for

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Speaker 1: four and a half hours outside, it's it's a spirit

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Speaker 1: chill experience. I I just there's nothing I mean other

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Speaker 1: than you know, bad shots, But there's nothing I I

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Speaker 1: don't enjoy about about the game. It's it's just incredible. Well,

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Speaker 1: it's interesting to hear you say that. I haven't specifically

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Speaker 1: ever heard someone say that in the same way that

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Speaker 1: I do. I started very similarly. I was doing theater

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Speaker 1: at the time, right, so in dark rooms with no windows,

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Speaker 1: you know, either rehearsing or performing at night. And yeah,

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Speaker 1: for me, it was a reason, an ability to get

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Speaker 1: outside and just smell the grass and be outside and

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Speaker 1: walk and and try to compete with myself in a

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Speaker 1: new way. And that's how I fell in love with

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Speaker 1: it too. So that's interesting. You you don't really think about,

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Speaker 1: you know, you as a as a college and professional athlete,

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Speaker 1: not getting to be outside. But I guess basketball is

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Speaker 1: kind of the same play, Yeah it is. And and

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Speaker 1: even in the off season, I I just was so

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Speaker 1: regimented and so diligent about my work that most of

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Speaker 1: my day, you know, I was I was. I was

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Speaker 1: a Monday to Friday, Saturday off, Sunday. Back in the gym.

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Speaker 1: I didn't like to take more than a day off

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Speaker 1: at a time. So even in the off season, so

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Speaker 1: much of my day was spent inside. And I would

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Speaker 1: mix it up in the in the summers, I'd go

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Speaker 1: find a turf field and do conditioning, or I'd go

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Speaker 1: to a high school track. But you know, by and large,

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Speaker 1: I'm working inside a gymnasium. I'm working inside a weight room,

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Speaker 1: hours and hours and hours of doing that. And so

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Speaker 1: when I got done with that, I didn't have I

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Speaker 1: didn't have four hours to go play around a golf

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Speaker 1: I wanted to spend that time with my wife and

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Speaker 1: my kids, and it just all of a sudden, this

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Speaker 1: new world opened up for me where I had I

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Speaker 1: had time to actually and by the way that this

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Speaker 1: this summer, I've actually gone to the driving range, which

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Speaker 1: is a new thing as well, because last summer getting

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Speaker 1: into the game, it was more just I want to

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Speaker 1: play as much as possible, and I got some incredible

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Speaker 1: invites that I got to play some great courses, but

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Speaker 1: it was more about just playing. And now it's like

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Speaker 1: it's back to the mentality I had as a player,

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Speaker 1: where you're trying to master a craft, and so I

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Speaker 1: really really enjoyed just days like today where you don't

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Speaker 1: play around and you go you take a lesson and

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Speaker 1: then you go work on a specific thing for forty

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Speaker 1: five minutes or an hour. That's interesting. I just like

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Speaker 1: to play, I'll be honest with you. I'd just like

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Speaker 1: to play. I'll figure it out out there. But I, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I I love it Now? Are you still you're you're

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Speaker 1: retired now? I mean we're starting at the end. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna go back in a second. But are you still

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Speaker 1: working out? Are you still going to the gym? Are

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Speaker 1: you still shooting shots on Sundays? Are you you're really

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Speaker 1: you're relaxing that a little bit. I made it a

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Speaker 1: point to give myself a break over the last year,

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Speaker 1: and it's been liberating to not feel obligated, like I

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Speaker 1: have something hanging over my head every day that I've

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Speaker 1: got to be in the gym. So I've I've not

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Speaker 1: gained any weight, but I've lost a lot of muscle tone,

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Speaker 1: if you know what I mean. I actually my wife,

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Speaker 1: my wife, I've I've done pilates. Plot is the one

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Speaker 1: thing that I've been consistent about because I started doing

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Speaker 1: that when I was in college and I maintained that

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Speaker 1: throughout my career. But I went and did a reformer

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Speaker 1: class with my wife, and I generally do classical pilates,

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Speaker 1: but this was like a very ab intensive, lunge intensive

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Speaker 1: reformer class on Saturday morning with my wife and my

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Speaker 1: two sisters. And I'm still very sore from that because

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Speaker 1: I have not activated those muscles in quite some time. Well,

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Speaker 1: good for you. Just you and the ladies working out now. No,

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Speaker 1: there's no more testosterone. It's just you and the ladies

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Speaker 1: doing reformer pilates. We should mention. I just want to mention.

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Speaker 1: I want to get this out of the way at

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Speaker 1: the top, so that the colleague of mine that you,

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Speaker 1: uh you mentioned a few minutes ago that that was

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Speaker 1: Jason Gallagher, who worked with you on I believe a

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Speaker 1: commercial you had just shot in Santa Monica. And you know,

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Speaker 1: we call it we call we call them, we call

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Speaker 1: them branded shoots. We don't call them commercials. We call

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Speaker 1: them branded shoots. It sounds yeah, that's fine, that's fine.

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Speaker 1: So my colleague was doing a branded shoot with you

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Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, Jason Gallagher, who is our

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Speaker 1: head of production at our at our company, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know if he conveyed this to you, but he is.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure you get this all the time. He is

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Speaker 1: the biggest office fan in the world, and it was

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Speaker 1: it was such a thrill for him. I was just

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Speaker 1: with in Vegas last week. We were shooting some stuff

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Speaker 1: while I was at Summer League, and it was just

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Speaker 1: such a thrill for him to work with you, so

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Speaker 1: hopefully he did all right, hopefully, Well, thank you know.

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Speaker 1: He was great. It was I could not have been easier.

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Speaker 1: In fact, having a branded shoot and an hour early

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Speaker 1: is something that is very rare and that happened. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I was very I was very happy with it. He

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Speaker 1: was a great guy, was great, and I think I

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Speaker 1: think the spot is gonna be great. But I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to talk about right now what it was war,

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Speaker 1: all right, j J. Let's go back. You were born

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Speaker 1: in the great state of Tennessee, moved shortly thereafter to Virginia,

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Speaker 1: So you grew up in Virginia. You were a big

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Speaker 1: baseball fan, I understand, and a baseball player. In fact,

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Speaker 1: you baseball was your first love. Is that right? It was?

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Speaker 1: And and some of that has to do with the

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Speaker 1: fact that I have older twin sisters and I basically

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Speaker 1: did whatever they did. And so one of them, Katie

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Speaker 1: was was with me this past weekend in sag Harbor,

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Speaker 1: and we had this long conversation on Thursday night at

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Speaker 1: dinner about just our childhood in general. And it's so

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Speaker 1: funny because so my sisters rode horses, they competed, they

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Speaker 1: you know, in equestrian or whatever the sport is called.

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Speaker 1: And so I learned how to ride a horse because

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Speaker 1: they rode horses, and they saved up. They'd work summer jobs.

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Speaker 1: They were a little bit of entrepreneurs. They worked summer

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Speaker 1: jobs from like eight years old, bond so they could

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Speaker 1: save up and buy a horse. And we bought a horse,

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Speaker 1: and for all of us, all the kids on one

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Speaker 1: of five, we all were faced with a decision around

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Speaker 1: the age of twelve or thirteen, where our parents came

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Speaker 1: to us and they were like, choose something. You can't

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Speaker 1: do everything. There's too many kids, so every kid can't

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Speaker 1: play three sports, so choose something. And I didn't know this,

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Speaker 1: but my I knew. My dad came to me when

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Speaker 1: I was going into seventh grade and said, you gotta

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Speaker 1: choose between baseball and basketball. But he said the same

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Speaker 1: thing to my sisters. You gotta choose. You gotta choose

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Speaker 1: between softball, which is why I started playing baseball. You

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Speaker 1: gotta choose between softball, basketball or horse riding. And they

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Speaker 1: chose basketball. Had they chose something else, my life path

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Speaker 1: may have been very different. I'm going to be completely

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Speaker 1: frank with you. I was. I was decent at basketball,

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Speaker 1: but I very much wanted to play because they played,

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Speaker 1: and I want to do everything they did, and and

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Speaker 1: you know, we would go play games of twenty one

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Speaker 1: out in the backyard and they would beat the ship

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Speaker 1: out of me. But I was always like, I gotta

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Speaker 1: get to the point where I can beat my sisters.

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Speaker 1: And then, you know, for me, that came at a

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Speaker 1: pretty early age. But you know, they they were they

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Speaker 1: were like my role models. And so some of the

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Speaker 1: baseball stuff was just because they started playing softball and

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Speaker 1: I got into trading cards. That was my very first obsession.

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Speaker 1: I talked about obsessions a few minutes ago, but that

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Speaker 1: was my very first obsession was baseball trading cards, and

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Speaker 1: that that's what really got me to the sport, was

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Speaker 1: them and being able to collect. Right, how much older

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Speaker 1: were they than you? I like to joke that they're

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Speaker 1: five years older, but they they they really are four

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Speaker 1: and a half years older. If you're being technical technical, Okay,

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Speaker 1: well that makes sense. So they're so you're like kind

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Speaker 1: of a whole high school behind them, right, so that

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Speaker 1: you would look up to them and think that they

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Speaker 1: were cool and that their friends were cool, and that

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Speaker 1: makes sense. So they chose basketball, and so then you

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Speaker 1: chose basketball, and then baseball was everything else was done.

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Speaker 1: Dad made you choose. Yeah, I mean, and I did

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Speaker 1: think they're cool. Their friends were cool. They came back

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Speaker 1: for fall break their freshman year and I was in

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Speaker 1: eighth grade, and that was the first time I was

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Speaker 1: ever served a beer, and and their friends came over

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Speaker 1: and we had a few, a few pops, and I was,

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Speaker 1: I was, I couldn't believe that I was having a

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Speaker 1: beer with you know, Lauren and Robin. I thought they

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Speaker 1: were the coolest kids in the world. You know, they're friends,

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Speaker 1: So I think I just don't the whole sense was,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was just like I idolized my sisters

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Speaker 1: and and I don't know if you know the background,

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Speaker 1: but I don't have initials that equal JJ. It's Jonathan Clay.

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Speaker 1: So they said everything at the same time as kids,

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Speaker 1: and so everything came out j J. What's his name?

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Speaker 1: J J? Who's your brother? J J? Hey? J J.

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Speaker 1: And that's really what stuck my summer. Before my seventh grade,

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Speaker 1: I was a really good baseball player. I was a pitcher,

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Speaker 1: and that was the first year my my local AU

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Speaker 1: team had qualified for the National AU tournament. So we

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Speaker 1: flew out to Salt Lake City for two weeks we

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Speaker 1: competed out there. I flew back on Sunday, and I

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Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know how knowing me, I don't

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Speaker 1: know how I forgot this. But my baseball team, my

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Speaker 1: literal leagal star team, was in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: state tournament. And so I flew back Sunday and my

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Speaker 1: Dad's like, your coach's daughter is going to drive you

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Speaker 1: out across the state four and a half hours to

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Speaker 1: Portsmith to play. And I was like, okay, whatever. So

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Speaker 1: we drove through the night. I get there at three

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Speaker 1: am in the morning, and um, luckily we had a

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Speaker 1: rain out the next day. I pitched Tuesday morning. I

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Speaker 1: had thirteen strikeouts. We went extra innings. I had to

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Speaker 1: I had to pitch the extra two extra innings. We

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Speaker 1: won the game. And I got back from that tournament

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Speaker 1: and I was just exhausted, and my dad was gave me.

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Speaker 1: It wasn't an ultimatum. It was just like, Hey, here's

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Speaker 1: the situation with our family, and I don't think it's

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Speaker 1: fair to your teammates in basketball or your teammates in baseball.

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Speaker 1: You're good at both, but I don't think it's fair

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Speaker 1: for you to just basically be distracted and not be

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Speaker 1: all in on one or the other. So please choose.

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Speaker 1: And to be honest, it was a fairly easy decision,

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Speaker 1: and I did yet to hit my growth spurt. I

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Speaker 1: was about five six at the time, But I often think,

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Speaker 1: you know me now at thirty eight years old, what

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Speaker 1: it would have looked had looked like had I stuck

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Speaker 1: with baseball. Would I have crapped out in single A

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Speaker 1: but I've made the big leagues? Would I be working

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Speaker 1: on my third Tommy John surgery. I don't know. I

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Speaker 1: don't know your life path. Your life's path could go

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Speaker 1: in so many different directions based on one decision that

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Speaker 1: you make as a as a twelve or thirteen year old. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that is so fascinating. It's like that movie. I've talked

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Speaker 1: about it a couple of times, and I think I

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Speaker 1: need to go back and watch this movie because I

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Speaker 1: keep referring to it. You ever see the movie Sliding Doors.

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Speaker 1: I mean I've seen it, it's been a long time,

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Speaker 1: but that that the idea of it refers to my

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Speaker 1: recollection is is like the sliding doors of a subway,

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Speaker 1: and what might happen to your life if you if

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Speaker 1: you made it through before the doors closed, or if

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Speaker 1: you're still stuck right there, and that those little decisions

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Speaker 1: how they impact you. Now, I think for most people

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Speaker 1: those decisions in terms of their life and career might

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Speaker 1: not be quite as catastrophic. So you go all in

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Speaker 1: in basketball. Now, I'm gonna tell you a story I was, um.

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Speaker 1: I mean, one of these days you and I are

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Speaker 1: going to have a not a three point shooting contest,

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Speaker 1: but a free throw shooting contest, all right, because let

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Speaker 1: me just say this, I can shoot the rock. I

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Speaker 1: can shoot I can shoot the rock. In case you're

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Speaker 1: not aware, I know, I know you're a basketball fan.

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Speaker 1: I I don't know your level of skill, but you

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Speaker 1: are saying you want to challenge the ninth best free

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Speaker 1: throw shoot of all time. I just want to put

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Speaker 1: that out there. I just want to know. I want

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Speaker 1: you to know what you're getting into here. Brian one

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Speaker 1: one take thirteen in a row free throw line extended

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Speaker 1: wearing work shoes and a sport coat on national television.

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Speaker 1: That's even more impressive. Now, let me just say I

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Speaker 1: I don't think you can do it. I don't think

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Speaker 1: you could do it one take thirteen in a row.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna try. One of these days. We're gonna try.

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Speaker 1: That's my challenge to you. So back in in my

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Speaker 1: younger days, when I was focused on basketball, and I

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Speaker 1: read a story about the hoop that you had in

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Speaker 1: your yard and it's not the grounds, not always even,

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Speaker 1: and there's trees in the way. And I remember for

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Speaker 1: myself one summer between years of playing basketball, I dedicated

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Speaker 1: myself to it. And I remember those nights being out

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Speaker 1: getting called in for dinner and it's basically dark outside,

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Speaker 1: and I'm still trying to hit shots. I'm still trying

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Speaker 1: to work on stuff. I can only imagine for you

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Speaker 1: the time and effort in dedication it put in. Was

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Speaker 1: that fairly instantaneous once you make the choice that it's basketball,

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Speaker 1: that you give yourself fully to basketball. It was, but

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Speaker 1: it also had more to do with love. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: just about something I was good at. And I I

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Speaker 1: think we all have talents, and some talents we don't nurture,

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Speaker 1: and maybe some of the reason we don't nurture them

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Speaker 1: is because we don't love it as much. And basketball

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Speaker 1: and baseball even because We had a little shed in

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Speaker 1: the backyard, and I painted a square at the bottom

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Speaker 1: of the shed where the concrete was, and the hill

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Speaker 1: adjacent to the shed naturally rose like a mound. So

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Speaker 1: I could go out there by myself and try to

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Speaker 1: throw strikes. I can go out and shoot a basketball

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Speaker 1: by myself. I I I've always enjoyed autonomy. I've always

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Speaker 1: been self motivated to do things. And so basketball in

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Speaker 1: the backyard was very much like a singular personal pursuit.

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Speaker 1: And and because of the love the dopamine hit you

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Speaker 1: get from watching you know this, watching you watch the

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Speaker 1: ball switched through the net, and you get a little

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Speaker 1: dopamine hit. Now you do that five times in a row,

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Speaker 1: ten times in row, fifteen times in a row, all

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Speaker 1: of a sudden you just you love it. And and

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Speaker 1: so for me, it was about the love. And it's

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Speaker 1: funny you bring up shooting in the dark, and I

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Speaker 1: would go. I would shoot all day in the backyard.

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Speaker 1: And I was homeschooled, so a lot of times I

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Speaker 1: would get done with my work at eleven or eleven

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Speaker 1: thirty in the morning and I'd just go outside for

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Speaker 1: hours and shoot. But it didn't matter if there was

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Speaker 1: a snow storm and ice storm. The the literally the

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Speaker 1: net could literally be frozen where I'd have to knock

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Speaker 1: the ball out after every make, and I would go

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Speaker 1: put on mits and the mits that I could still

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Speaker 1: feel the ball, and I'd go shoot, and i'd go

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Speaker 1: out after dinner. We didn't have like floodlights on the court,

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Speaker 1: so I would go after dinner. I would take my

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Speaker 1: dad's lawnmower and i'd put it at the top of

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Speaker 1: the key. And then he had this lamp with a

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Speaker 1: with a clamp on it, and I clamped the lamp

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Speaker 1: to the top of the lawnmower and i'd shine it

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Speaker 1: on the court. And we had an English Springer spaniel, Maggie,

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Speaker 1: and she would sit out there with me till ten

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Speaker 1: thirty eleven o'clock at night. And if my ball went

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Speaker 1: in the trees after a maker miss, you know, she'd

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Speaker 1: helped me go find it. So yeah, it was it

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Speaker 1: was more about the love. It wasn't like I knew

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Speaker 1: right away I was going to be great. It was

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Speaker 1: just I I loved playing and the other part part

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Speaker 1: of that I loved about it. And I'm curious about

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Speaker 1: your own experience as an actor and working on set

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Speaker 1: and working with different casts. What I loved about it

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Speaker 1: was a camaraderie. It wasn't so I got the autonomy

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Speaker 1: of work by myself, but when it came time to performance,

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Speaker 1: it was very much a collaborative effort. And the joy

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Speaker 1: that I got even as a ten year old, and

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Speaker 1: I certainly got that a lot as a thirty six

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Speaker 1: year old when I retired. That that experience of going

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Speaker 1: through something with friends and people that have the same

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Speaker 1: goal as you, that's what I really and really really

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Speaker 1: came to love about it, And honestly, it's what I

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Speaker 1: missed the most about it. Yeah, no, I very that's

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Speaker 1: very similar to me and my experience. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: think what what you may not know about me was

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Speaker 1: I had decided early on, just like you, I was

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Speaker 1: gonna be a professional baseball player. That was that was

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Speaker 1: my and very specifically, I was going to be the

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Speaker 1: first baseman for the Atlanta Braves. Um that was my

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Speaker 1: was my my singular goal. And it's so funny you're

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Speaker 1: talking about painting the the strike zone. I wasn't really

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Speaker 1: a picture, but I would I would pitch occasionally, and

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Speaker 1: I did the same thing as you marked it off

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Speaker 1: did the thing again, but mine was against the garage

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Speaker 1: and I don't know how old it was, but apparently,

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Speaker 1: you know, you get stronger as you get older. And

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Speaker 1: one one pitch that went into dented like put a

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Speaker 1: hole in the garage. That that was done for me,

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Speaker 1: I did. I never was able to do that again.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't find another spot. But yeah, that that team.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's why I think teams boards specifically is

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Speaker 1: so important as a kid to have that experience, that

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Speaker 1: collective experience about working together to try to achieve some goal.

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Speaker 1: And I think that you know that for sure. As

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Speaker 1: I began doing theater, was a part of it. Loved

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Speaker 1: the ensemble nature of it, that collective experience, the idea

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Speaker 1: of going out and performing in front of other people,

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Speaker 1: but but really having each other's back. And I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, I've said many times for me, the reason

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Speaker 1: that The Office became so successful was the nature of

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Speaker 1: how the show was shot, which is very similar to

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Speaker 1: what you're talking about about being on the basketball court.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it was all of us in one room

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Speaker 1: by and large for hours and hours and hours together

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Speaker 1: and learning quite frankly, just like you know, you know

401
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,760
Speaker 1: where a certain player likes the ball on the blocks

402
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 1: or on the post. You know, you're throwing it to

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Speaker 1: his left hand or his right, and and how he's moving.

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00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,120
Speaker 1: You know that in terms of all the comedy styles

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00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:08,040
Speaker 1: and all of the specific skills for the people who

406
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,800
Speaker 1: were on the office, for example, just knowing I could

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Speaker 1: say something or give a look that was going to

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00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,679
Speaker 1: elicit a certain response that was going to be successful

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Speaker 1: from somebody else. I think. I think they're very There

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00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: is very much a correlation between those those two things.

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Speaker 1: Idea of teammates. Yeah, the best the best teams I

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Speaker 1: was on. You could say things without verbalizing them, that's right,

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Speaker 1: whether whether that was body language or nod a wink,

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Speaker 1: you know, and and that that when you have that

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00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: level of connection in an arena, that's really special. You know.

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Speaker 1: I used to when you have those moments, I used

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Speaker 1: to get chills. I'd be on the court and I

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Speaker 1: get chills when we would execute something at that high

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Speaker 1: of the level. This is a random question. I I

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Speaker 1: don't want to date you. Were you were you a

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Speaker 1: Sid Bream fan? Were you were you? Think? Well, I

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00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 1: remember I certainly remember the moment where Sid, Yes, where

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00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:34,480
Speaker 1: Sid slid across home base traveling at about eight, I

424
00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 1: think rounding third in the playoffs there against the Pirates. Yes, yes,

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00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 1: I remember for sure. That was a that was a

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00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: big that was a big sports moment in my childhood.

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00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:47,719
Speaker 1: I think that was the that was the second year

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00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:52,479
Speaker 1: they made the world. That was ninety two was like

429
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: all of my first sports memories. So I don't remember

430
00:23:56,320 --> 00:24:00,120
Speaker 1: Jordan's versus the Lakers, but I remember Jordan's versus the Blazers.

431
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 1: I don't remember Duke beating U N l V in

432
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: the final four and then beating Kansas, but I do

433
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,159
Speaker 1: remember them beating Kentucky and ninety two. So and I

434
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: remember that night actually when Sid Bream slid into home

435
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:20,119
Speaker 1: plate to beat the Pirates on Francisco Cabrera's single. I

436
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 1: was told to go to bed and we we We

437
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:25,800
Speaker 1: lived in a in a in a small house. Again,

438
00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:27,440
Speaker 1: it was seven of us. I think the house is

439
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,159
Speaker 1: about eight square feet, and you could hear anything that

440
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: was going on. And there was one room that had

441
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:37,720
Speaker 1: the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, and a

442
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 1: wood stove. Because we didn't have central air, so everything

443
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: came you know, all our heat came from the wood stove,

444
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: so everybody would congregate in that room, and they were

445
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,920
Speaker 1: watching the game that night, and I kept creeping over

446
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:52,760
Speaker 1: the balcony to look down and listen in because I

447
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,919
Speaker 1: knew it was a close game. And finally, in like

448
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 1: the eighth inning, my mom and dad said, fuck, just

449
00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 1: come downstairs and finished watching the game. You're already up late.

450
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 1: So I got to watch that live, and I just

451
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: that's that's one of my earliest sports memories. That it

452
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 1: you you mentioned first baseman for the Atlanta Braves. That's

453
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: why I bring that up. Yes, well, my dad long

454
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:21,159
Speaker 1: before you. My dad is a graduate of Duke University,

455
00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:25,639
Speaker 1: and I understand you're one of your first favorite You

456
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:30,040
Speaker 1: just mentioned it. Later are hitting the shot against Kentucky

457
00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 1: in the Elite eight game to move them to the

458
00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: Final four. A big moment for you, A big moment

459
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:37,919
Speaker 1: for me as well. I had it on tape on

460
00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:42,200
Speaker 1: a v CR tape for many many years and would

461
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: go back and watch the last seven minutes of that game.

462
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,120
Speaker 1: Is just about as good as you can possibly get

463
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: of any basketball game. Ever. I'm told you knew very

464
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:59,119
Speaker 1: early on that you wanted to go to Duke, and

465
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:02,840
Speaker 1: in act, when you were sixteen years old before your

466
00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,160
Speaker 1: junior season of high school. If this correct, you committed

467
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 1: to go to Duke to play basketball, that's correct. Yeah,

468
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:13,280
Speaker 1: at the time, I was the earliest commitment in Duke

469
00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: basketball history. I I turned to my family when Latern

470
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 1: hit that shot and said I'm gonna play at Duke someday.

471
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 1: They all thought I was out of my mind, probably,

472
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: and I would get you know, starting in towards the

473
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: end of eighth grade, and you know, definitely by the

474
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: fall of my freshman year in high school, I was

475
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: getting recruited. I would get letters in the mail. My

476
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,160
Speaker 1: first scholarship offer was from Wake Forest University my freshman

477
00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: year of high school. But it was always about Duke,

478
00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:48,040
Speaker 1: and you know, the by my sophomore in junior year,

479
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,200
Speaker 1: the FedEx guy and the UPS guy would come up,

480
00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 1: you know, our our dirt road come to the top,

481
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 1: and I would be waiting for him after school and

482
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,560
Speaker 1: he drop off thirty letters, forty lever letters, whatever it was,

483
00:27:01,600 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 1: and I would just immediately sift through them as fast

484
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 1: as I could, looking for that Duke logo. And Coach

485
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: k has a very specific and recognizable form of handwriting,

486
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:16,639
Speaker 1: so I knew also the handwritten ones versus the stock ones,

487
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:19,120
Speaker 1: and I would try to get to those handwritten run

488
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,000
Speaker 1: ones as soon as possible. And I let all the

489
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,920
Speaker 1: schools know. I you know, I was a hometown kid.

490
00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,160
Speaker 1: I had a sense of loyalty. I grew up in Roanoke,

491
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 1: but I also lived in Charlottesville from ages three to seven.

492
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: So I had a sense of loyalty to u v A.

493
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:37,160
Speaker 1: And my high school coach was obsessed with Billy Donovan.

494
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: We ran a lot of the stuff that Florida ran

495
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: at the time that my my coach, Billy Hicks had

496
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,160
Speaker 1: gotten from Marshall when when Billy Donovan was there, and

497
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:48,440
Speaker 1: so I was very interested in Florida. I wanted to

498
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:51,000
Speaker 1: go to UVA, but it was always about Duke. It

499
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,600
Speaker 1: was like, if Duke offered me, how how can I

500
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: turn this down? I could never turn this down. So

501
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 1: I told all the schools in the fall, before my

502
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:00,560
Speaker 1: junior year started, I said, I I'm gonna take some

503
00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: unofficial visits. You should treat them as official visits. I'm

504
00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,439
Speaker 1: gonna make my decision before my junior season starts. I

505
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,359
Speaker 1: went to u v A. It was a great visit.

506
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: I go to Duke the next week, Coach K gets

507
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,280
Speaker 1: me in the room. It's a it's a room adjacent

508
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,959
Speaker 1: to the locker room where he basically closes the door,

509
00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,120
Speaker 1: no parents, no other coaches, and he lays it out

510
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: for you and he said, you can commit. We're ready

511
00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 1: for you to commit. You have a scholarship. And uh,

512
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 1: I went home. I thought about it for a couple

513
00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:30,040
Speaker 1: of days. I was supposed to go to floor to

514
00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: the following weekend with my sisters who older sisters and

515
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 1: not my parents, and it was gonna be a good time.

516
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: And and uh, it got to like Tuesday night, Wednesday night,

517
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,960
Speaker 1: and I just I said to my mom and dad,

518
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:44,719
Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, I don't want to waste anybody's time.

519
00:28:44,720 --> 00:28:46,280
Speaker 1: I don't want to waste Billy Donmond's time. I don't

520
00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 1: want to waste their assistant coaches time. I know where,

521
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 1: I know where I want to go. And it's funny

522
00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 1: thinking back, because we we talked about that decision that

523
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:56,959
Speaker 1: I made at twelve or thirteen to give up baseball

524
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,000
Speaker 1: and focus on basketball, but even more so the decision

525
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 1: him to go to Duke For me. At the time,

526
00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 1: it was very much about wanting to play for coach K.

527
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 1: And wanting to be a Duke basketball player. And now

528
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: that was in two thousands, so twenty two years later.

529
00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,040
Speaker 1: I had no idea of the life benefit that I

530
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 1: would get from making that decision other than marrying my wife.

531
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: Going to Duke University was the best decision that I've

532
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 1: ever made, bar none. And I made that decision. It's

533
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 1: sixteen years old. It's fascinating to think about that. When

534
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:34,360
Speaker 1: talk to me a little bit, you know, I said,

535
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,520
Speaker 1: my dad went to Duke. I grew up in Atlanta,

536
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: and our next door neighbors actually the ones the basketball who,

537
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,680
Speaker 1: quite frankly, was theres that I'm sure I annoyed the

538
00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:48,680
Speaker 1: hell out of them, dribbling it late at night. He was.

539
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: He had season tickets to Georgia Tech, but every year

540
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: we would get the Duke tickets when they came into town.

541
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,959
Speaker 1: We saw Duke play quite a bit. I went to

542
00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: one of the final four. Is that was before you

543
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 1: with my dad as well? The first time you meet

544
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 1: coach k was that in the room? Was that there

545
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,120
Speaker 1: when you did your visit or had you met him

546
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: prior to that? So he he had come to my

547
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:19,959
Speaker 1: high school that September, And I want to say, my

548
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,360
Speaker 1: uv A visit was around September twenty three, give or take.

549
00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,720
Speaker 1: My Duke visit was around September thirty, give or take.

550
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: And I committed in October five. So prior to me

551
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: going to Duke, he had driven up from Durham There's

552
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,200
Speaker 1: about it's about a two and a half hour drive

553
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 1: with Chris Collins, who I was his first recruit. He

554
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,719
Speaker 1: had played at Duke but was at Seton Hall had

555
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 1: coached the w n B A and and gotten the

556
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: job that summer, and they came up and my coach

557
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: used to do this thing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Billy

558
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 1: Hicks used do this thing on Tuesday and Thursdays where

559
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,800
Speaker 1: we would have open gym, but we would start with

560
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 1: sixteen stations and the stations would be like wall sits

561
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 1: or defensive slides with the forty pound played on you,

562
00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 1: or you know, thirty seconds of as many rim grabs

563
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: as you can do. So I did that whole workout,

564
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: and then we played open gym, and then coach watched

565
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 1: me work out individually right after, and there was such

566
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: a buzz in the school because it got out that day.

567
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: So I'm sitting you know, I'm in whatever class I'm

568
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:19,760
Speaker 1: in at that time. I don't know. I think I

569
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: took physics senior year, so I'm probably in chemistry junior year. Yeah,

570
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: chemistry junior year. Im in chemistry class. And everybody's talking

571
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,960
Speaker 1: about Coach K coming to visit that day. It was

572
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: a big deal, you know, for our high school to

573
00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: have Coach K there. And we we chatted briefly at

574
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,000
Speaker 1: the time. I don't know what the rules are now,

575
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 1: but the time you could basically say hello and that's it.

576
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: And you know, they were very strict back then about

577
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: contact with recruits prior to their senior year. So I

578
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of time with him that day,

579
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: but if I was on campus, I could spend time

580
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 1: with him. So really it was that room because Battier

581
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,520
Speaker 1: and Dunlevy had taken me to the football game that

582
00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,920
Speaker 1: Saturday when I went to visit, and then it was

583
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 1: after the game that I went and got in the room,

584
00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 1: and that was really my first sit down with him.

585
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:07,160
Speaker 1: And what was so striking about that, and what is

586
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: held up now for twenty two years, is just how

587
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 1: brutally honest Coach K is. He's He's a truth teller,

588
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:17,880
Speaker 1: and you need truth tellers in your life, and he's

589
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: always been that to me. He's somebody that, you know,

590
00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 1: outside of my father. Um, he's someone that I've leaned

591
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:28,840
Speaker 1: on as much as anyone whenever I'm making life decisions.

592
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: You know, when I retired, and there were really two

593
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 1: people outside of of course, I called my agent and

594
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: I you know, I told my best friend, and I

595
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 1: told my wife, and I told my kids. But you know,

596
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: outside of those people I called made two phone calls.

597
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,560
Speaker 1: I told Coach k Uh and I told Chris Paul.

598
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: Those are the only two people I told before I announced. Um,

599
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 1: that's just the level of relationship that I've had with

600
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 1: him for over two decades now. Yeah, it's unbelievable. I mean,

601
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: his legacy, I don't I don't need to go through

602
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 1: it is. How shitty is it, though, Brian? How shitty

603
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,360
Speaker 1: is it that I can't you and see fan can't

604
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: Will forever be able to hold this over us. I

605
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,040
Speaker 1: can't because they win his last game in Cameron and

606
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,640
Speaker 1: then they win his last game period. It's just it's disgusting,

607
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: that's what it is. Makes me want to puke. It's disgusting.

608
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:28,600
Speaker 1: Before you go to Duke. I just heard the story.

609
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 1: You're playing for the state championship and you're hurt, and

610
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: your doctors say you're about to go to do simmer down,

611
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:41,640
Speaker 1: young young buck, you need to sit out. You know

612
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: this game, and you don't want to. You go to

613
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: a doctor at Duke. Is this right? Who gives you

614
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 1: the go ahead to be able to play? It's it's

615
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:55,800
Speaker 1: partially right. So there there's actually two injuries. So about

616
00:33:56,320 --> 00:34:00,960
Speaker 1: about I don't know. Ten games into my senior year,

617
00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,120
Speaker 1: we had played in a bunch of national tournaments where

618
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 1: we're playing nationally rank high schools. We were a small

619
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,800
Speaker 1: public school in Virginia. So we we get off to

620
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,600
Speaker 1: a slow start. We you know, we're losing against Christ

621
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: the King from Queens and Oxen Hill from Maryland, and

622
00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,680
Speaker 1: Mercer Island from Seattle. We're losing against these teams cal

623
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: Poly from Long Beach, and we start winning some district games.

624
00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 1: Once we get back home after January and it's a

625
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: tie game. We're playing Halifax County. We're at Halifax and

626
00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,480
Speaker 1: I grabbed the ball on a on a my my

627
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 1: bottom of my feet have been killing me for weeks.

628
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 1: I grabbed a loose ball in the corner and I

629
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:37,640
Speaker 1: turned to run up court and I feel this pop

630
00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:39,839
Speaker 1: in my foot, And initially I thought somebody had thrown

631
00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: a battery and hit me in the back of the foot.

632
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,720
Speaker 1: So coach calls time out, draws up a play, and

633
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 1: I'm in the huddle and I'm realizing what just happened.

634
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, ship, like something just popped in my foot.

635
00:34:51,600 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 1: My senior years over. I'm devastated. I wanted to win

636
00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: a state championship and we had had a shot the

637
00:34:57,239 --> 00:35:01,040
Speaker 1: year before and and come up short. I'm like basically

638
00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,839
Speaker 1: crying in this huddle. Everybody's looking at me like what

639
00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 1: are you? What are you doing? Randomly, I go out

640
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,439
Speaker 1: and I hit a game winning three with like three

641
00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,759
Speaker 1: seconds to go and get back on the bus. I

642
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 1: tell coach what's going on. So I go see a

643
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: doctor in Roanoke and he's like, look, you should boot

644
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:19,399
Speaker 1: it up. Uh, it's sixty eight week recovery. You've got

645
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:21,920
Speaker 1: a full tear of the planner fashion was right at

646
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: the literally middle of my bottom of my foot. It's

647
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: full tear. And I'm like, all right, So I think

648
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,279
Speaker 1: my senior season is over. The Duke coaches advised me

649
00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:33,319
Speaker 1: to go see Dr Mormon, a duke. So I go

650
00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:36,759
Speaker 1: down there. He tells me, let's be aggressive with this thing.

651
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:40,080
Speaker 1: Let's boot it for two weeks, get on some anti inflammatories.

652
00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 1: When you're not in the boot, you should be doing

653
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,879
Speaker 1: manual therapy rolfing, which I didn't know that was a thing,

654
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,480
Speaker 1: and I discovered what rolfing was. I wouldn't recommend it

655
00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 1: to anyone. The most painful thing in the world, especially

656
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,440
Speaker 1: if you have a tear of of of fashional injury.

657
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,560
Speaker 1: So I do that for three weeks, literally three weeks

658
00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: to the night I play my senior night, I hit

659
00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 1: nine threes, thirty eight points. Coach ks and house. I

660
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: have a dunk, which I wasn't known for dunking, but

661
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: it was. It was a good night. And we roll

662
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,840
Speaker 1: through the playoffs. I mean, we're we're now like battle tested.

663
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: The team had to play games without me. We had

664
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: played all these nationally rigged teams, and I really feel like, oh,

665
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 1: we got a chance. So we get to we get

666
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 1: to the state semifinals that we're playing Hayfield, which is

667
00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:21,439
Speaker 1: from Northern Virginia, their number two team in the state.

668
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,360
Speaker 1: And I'm killing We're up twenty at the end of

669
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:27,759
Speaker 1: the game and I get a breakaway. I go to

670
00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:30,479
Speaker 1: I go to dunk it. This is off my left foot.

671
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,560
Speaker 1: My right foot had been injuring. I go to dunk it.

672
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 1: My foot just gives out and I feel this terror

673
00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 1: again in my left foot. And this is at the

674
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,320
Speaker 1: insertion point. So this is on this side of the

675
00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 1: foot where the planner fascia inserts to your ankle bone.

676
00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: But that's torn. So I'm limping around after the game.

677
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,239
Speaker 1: I'm limping around the next day. I don't tell any

678
00:36:50,280 --> 00:36:52,479
Speaker 1: of my teammates. The only person knew was coach Hicks.

679
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: I didn't want to put any doubt in my teammates minds,

680
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 1: like it's okay, we got it this far. JJ's hurt,

681
00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,200
Speaker 1: We're not, you know whatever. So I'm just like, I'm

682
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: not gonna tell anybody. So I go to our trainer

683
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,480
Speaker 1: for the next twenty four hours and I'm like, let's

684
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,680
Speaker 1: work on some tape jobs. So he figures out a

685
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 1: way to have this tape job that fully takes all

686
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,880
Speaker 1: the pressure off my planner fascia on that side of

687
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:22,600
Speaker 1: my foot, so I'm essentially pain free. When that tape

688
00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,279
Speaker 1: job is on, so he tapes it up before the

689
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,800
Speaker 1: game and I go out and you know, I had

690
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 1: the state record at the time at forty three points

691
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 1: in the state championship. We win the state championship, and

692
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:37,240
Speaker 1: I was naive to think that storybook endings happen in life.

693
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 1: But storybook endings apparently do happen in life, because this

694
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:45,440
Speaker 1: this was about of an incredible experience. I mean, I

695
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: had watched Hoosier's fifty times as a kid, and to

696
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,960
Speaker 1: have that moment at seventeen years old was just it

697
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: was incredible, Brian, it was incredible. That's so awesome. Yeah,

698
00:37:55,640 --> 00:38:00,279
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, forty three points, state championship, go out

699
00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,960
Speaker 1: on top? Now, was was this just random? Have you

700
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 1: had issues since then? So? I think part of part

701
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 1: of the issue was I was a sneaker head at

702
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:18,560
Speaker 1: the time before they were sneaker heads, so I was

703
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 1: changing shoes. I wore the team shoes in the game,

704
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: but I was changing shoes every day in practice. I

705
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 1: would wear Rebox, I would wear Deeds, I wear Nikes. Sometimes.

706
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 1: I get ahold of the pair of shoes that were

707
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,120
Speaker 1: a size twelve and I thought they looked cool, so

708
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:35,440
Speaker 1: I'd wear them in practice, So I think it was

709
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: more about that, and I learned that from that year,

710
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:40,480
Speaker 1: and then when I was in college in a pro

711
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:43,840
Speaker 1: I would find one shoe that didn't hurt my feet

712
00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,880
Speaker 1: for that year, and I'd order if many pairs of

713
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,720
Speaker 1: shoes as possible, and I just I'd wear those forever.

714
00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:51,719
Speaker 1: So it was more It wasn't random. It was more

715
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,239
Speaker 1: about I think I was just switching shoes too much,

716
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,280
Speaker 1: and so the the the insoles and all that stuff.

717
00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,759
Speaker 1: It just it didn't work for me. It didn't work

718
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:05,320
Speaker 1: for physiology or anatomy or whatever. Yeah, you go to duke.

719
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: You described a little while ago at being the other

720
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,520
Speaker 1: than your wife, the best decision that you you ever

721
00:39:13,560 --> 00:39:18,200
Speaker 1: made your freshman year. In the two thousand and three

722
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:24,800
Speaker 1: a CC Tournament championship game, you you explode. You explode,

723
00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 1: I mean the signature moment I would say of of

724
00:39:27,880 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 1: definitely your first season. You scored twenty plus points in

725
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 1: the last ten minutes the game, You hit a bunch

726
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,880
Speaker 1: of threes. You end up crushing NC State and winning

727
00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,320
Speaker 1: the a c C Tournament. Do you feel like that

728
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:48,800
Speaker 1: game is what is what really cemented you as as

729
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:55,400
Speaker 1: well as a duke mainstay. Well, that game was a

730
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:58,840
Speaker 1: game that you could dream about in the backyard because

731
00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,760
Speaker 1: I had played that tournament the backyard. I had played

732
00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 1: the a SEC tournament. I had done three rounds. I've

733
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,080
Speaker 1: been out there for three and a half hours, and

734
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: I'd go through every shot. So I had lived and

735
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:13,720
Speaker 1: visualized that moment as a fantasy. To have it become

736
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:19,520
Speaker 1: a reality was really special, and I think it be

737
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:25,040
Speaker 1: it cemented my status in Duke because it it was

738
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: like a marker on my legacy. You know, to score

739
00:40:28,719 --> 00:40:31,720
Speaker 1: twenty three points, you're you're down fifteen with ten minutes

740
00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: to go, and to score twenty three points in the

741
00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 1: last ten minutes of an a CEC championship game against

742
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 1: a rival, hey, it's it. It It gave me a

743
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: mark on the legacy. And I was by the way

744
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,319
Speaker 1: I was slumping. I mean, I had gotten off to

745
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:48,960
Speaker 1: a great start my freshman year and had gone through

746
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,919
Speaker 1: probably a four to five weeks stretch before that game

747
00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: where I had I had struggled and hadn't played particularly

748
00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,239
Speaker 1: well going up to that ten minute mark, and then

749
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 1: I just I got a couple open looks back to

750
00:41:02,000 --> 00:41:04,279
Speaker 1: back possessions to cut it to nine. I had back

751
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,240
Speaker 1: to back threes, and then it was like the flood.

752
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 1: The floodgates open, and it was I was hitting ridiculous

753
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:14,319
Speaker 1: shots and running around the court, probably holding my follow through,

754
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,960
Speaker 1: probably talking shipped to the n C state bands, probably

755
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 1: head bobbing, you know whatever whatever antics eighteen year olds do, right,

756
00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:44,080
Speaker 1: That's that's what I was doing. Your sophomore year, you

757
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,719
Speaker 1: become well either next in line or at the top

758
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:53,839
Speaker 1: of the list of of hated duke players. I mean

759
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 1: I was reading, when I was reading about you, I

760
00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:00,000
Speaker 1: think that my my sense is that Latener would hold

761
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:03,759
Speaker 1: number one. I guess it's been said you you held

762
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:06,480
Speaker 1: the number one position there as as being most hated

763
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: duke players. I mean, that's what sports fans, if you're

764
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,759
Speaker 1: not a duke fan, you love to hate duke and

765
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 1: everybody seems to find a player. Do you think that

766
00:42:15,560 --> 00:42:18,960
Speaker 1: that a c C Championship game is what cemented that

767
00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,960
Speaker 1: for you? I didn't want to use the word hater before,

768
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 1: but do you think that that it was a response

769
00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:26,920
Speaker 1: to that and then your continued success your sophomore season.

770
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:29,640
Speaker 1: You can you can label it however you want, Brian,

771
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,399
Speaker 1: I've done enough therapy over the other years that I can,

772
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:36,680
Speaker 1: I can talk about it openly. I actually don't think

773
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:38,920
Speaker 1: it was that. That is that a Sency Tournament game

774
00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,160
Speaker 1: against AC State. No, because you know I I've said

775
00:42:42,200 --> 00:42:44,520
Speaker 1: this before. My freshman year, we played our first ten

776
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:48,279
Speaker 1: or eleven games either at home or on neutral site.

777
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:51,240
Speaker 1: So we had played U. C. L A In in

778
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 1: Indiana for the John Wooden Classic. We had played Ohio

779
00:42:54,760 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 1: State in Greensboro for the Big ten A CEC Challenge Challenge.

780
00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:01,240
Speaker 1: It wasn't until we go to Clemson for our first

781
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,319
Speaker 1: road game and I walk out on the court and

782
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:09,920
Speaker 1: I'm like, what is happening? I did I do something wrong?

783
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: Why is everybody getting on me? And then this is

784
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:17,960
Speaker 1: my freshman year, and it got worse and worse and worse,

785
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,840
Speaker 1: and then my sophomore year. You know, partially was probably

786
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:27,000
Speaker 1: the bad haircut. I didn't take particularly good care. I mean,

787
00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:28,440
Speaker 1: I look like a frat kid. I look like a

788
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:30,760
Speaker 1: fraud saying I look like a frat kid. I acted

789
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,440
Speaker 1: like a frat kid, and I was given I was.

790
00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:36,520
Speaker 1: I was giving people buckets and and people didn't like that.

791
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:38,359
Speaker 1: And I played for Duke on top of that, which

792
00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: made it exponentially worse. My sophomore year was dark. Man,

793
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,880
Speaker 1: it was dark. You know. I I thought about quitting

794
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:51,320
Speaker 1: in December. I'll put it this way. You see Laterner

795
00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:55,400
Speaker 1: hit that shot against Kentucky. I'm three, three months before

796
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:58,360
Speaker 1: my eighth birthday. I'm seven years old. I commit to

797
00:43:58,400 --> 00:44:03,680
Speaker 1: Duke at sixteen, I get on campus and for two years,

798
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 1: everyone hates me. People hated me after that too, Let's

799
00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:11,200
Speaker 1: be clear, but everyone hates me. And I'm like, this

800
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,279
Speaker 1: is not what I signed up for. This is not

801
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:20,759
Speaker 1: what I envisioned. This is not the joyful competitive thing

802
00:44:20,880 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 1: that I wanted for my whole childhood. It's it's a drag,

803
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:29,799
Speaker 1: It's an energy drainer. I'm not secure enough in my

804
00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,279
Speaker 1: own ego at eighteen and nineteen years old to process

805
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:38,000
Speaker 1: what is happening. So I starting in my sophomore year

806
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,319
Speaker 1: and through the rest of my time in college, and

807
00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:42,560
Speaker 1: I go off and on. I've actually got a call

808
00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:46,880
Speaker 1: with my therapist after this, Brian. I've I've I've sought

809
00:44:46,920 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 1: out someone to talk to. And at the time at Duke,

810
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:55,680
Speaker 1: from my sophomore year on, that was very intensive. You know,

811
00:44:55,840 --> 00:44:59,480
Speaker 1: that summer after my sophomore year, I had hit a

812
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:03,960
Speaker 1: real low point, and I had told I had gotten

813
00:45:04,719 --> 00:45:07,200
Speaker 1: really bad grades. I didn't go to class. I had

814
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 1: gotten incomplete in one of my classes, the History of

815
00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: New York, which, by the way, I live in New

816
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:16,239
Speaker 1: York City. If I if I had any sense of

817
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: like normalcy at the time, I would have loved that class.

818
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Anyways, I got incomplete in that class.

819
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:27,000
Speaker 1: So I tell Duke, I'm like, I'm going home to Roanoke.

820
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:30,200
Speaker 1: I'm not doing summer school. I need a break. I

821
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,040
Speaker 1: tell my parents I'm staying in Durham and going to

822
00:45:33,040 --> 00:45:36,000
Speaker 1: summer school to complete my incomplete. The reality was I

823
00:45:36,040 --> 00:45:38,479
Speaker 1: was hanging out on a buddy's couch for a couple

824
00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,280
Speaker 1: of weeks. This is early May. Finally the team tracked

825
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 1: me down and they brought me to Coach K's office

826
00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 1: and we had this seminal moment in my life where

827
00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,759
Speaker 1: he said, you know, we're gonna get you the help

828
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 1: you need. You're clearly struggling, and we're gonna put you

829
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,319
Speaker 1: on a plan. We're gonna surround you with people that

830
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 1: will assist stew We're gonna make it. We're gonna make

831
00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,239
Speaker 1: you great. And Coach Collins specifically said something that has

832
00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,040
Speaker 1: stuck with me forever, and that's, you know what really sucks.

833
00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:13,839
Speaker 1: We'll never know how good you can be. We'll never

834
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 1: see the best version of yourself. And that was two

835
00:46:18,840 --> 00:46:20,879
Speaker 1: years into my due career. I played two more years,

836
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 1: in fifteen years in the n b A. I can

837
00:46:23,239 --> 00:46:25,440
Speaker 1: honestly say, you saw the best version of me. I

838
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:27,640
Speaker 1: couldn't have been any better than I was. And if

839
00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 1: it wasn't for that conversation, it would never would have happened.

840
00:46:31,560 --> 00:46:33,760
Speaker 1: And so they I still have the sheet. There's a sheet.

841
00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:36,560
Speaker 1: It's in my basement down here. There's a sheet I

842
00:46:36,640 --> 00:46:40,480
Speaker 1: have with my schedule for that summer, hour by hour

843
00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: wake up time, check in time, therapy times, class schedule, weights,

844
00:46:46,080 --> 00:46:50,400
Speaker 1: running basketball workouts, dinner, every meal I was. I was

845
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:53,239
Speaker 1: required to carry a juggle water around at all time.

846
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:55,719
Speaker 1: I got very serious about my nutrition, about what I

847
00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:58,200
Speaker 1: was doing about my sleep and all that. So I

848
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,760
Speaker 1: end my sophomore year, I'm like two teen. I start

849
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:05,000
Speaker 1: my junior season at one two and like four percent

850
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:09,600
Speaker 1: body fat, and I'm winning every conditioning drill. And that

851
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: was the that was the change that made me who

852
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:18,000
Speaker 1: I am because that carried over into my pro career tenfold.

853
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 1: I got more I got more strict, I got more regiment,

854
00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: I got more detail oriented, and I just became obsessed

855
00:47:24,239 --> 00:47:27,640
Speaker 1: with the process. You know, I was always obsessed with basketball.

856
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:32,280
Speaker 1: I got obsessed with the process of trying to become great,

857
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,920
Speaker 1: of really putting everything into something. And if it wasn't

858
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,720
Speaker 1: for that summer and for that meeting, whatever would happened.

859
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:43,360
Speaker 1: And so that's also why I have such a strong

860
00:47:44,040 --> 00:47:48,680
Speaker 1: sense of loyalty and friendship with coach is because in

861
00:47:48,800 --> 00:47:51,239
Speaker 1: my darkest moment, and I had a dark moment my

862
00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:54,280
Speaker 1: last year in the NBA too, being away from my family,

863
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:58,719
Speaker 1: being essentially quarantined in an apartment in New Orleans by myself,

864
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: hurt and all that. But in my darkest moment, like

865
00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:06,160
Speaker 1: he was there for me. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean

866
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 1: I can't imagine, as you know, as a young person

867
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 1: nineteen years old and the experience of being at the

868
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:21,560
Speaker 1: absolute top level of college sports. But you're still a kid. Man,

869
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:25,719
Speaker 1: You're still a kid, and you know what you have

870
00:48:25,880 --> 00:48:32,640
Speaker 1: to endure being in that spotlight. Just yeah, it felt

871
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:34,239
Speaker 1: at the time, it felt like I was in a

872
00:48:34,280 --> 00:48:38,640
Speaker 1: fish bowl. Looking back, duke basketball in this grand scheme

873
00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:41,480
Speaker 1: of things professional sports and the gram scheme of things like,

874
00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:44,799
Speaker 1: there's way more important things, don't get me wrong, But

875
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:47,760
Speaker 1: at the time, it was so important, and it felt

876
00:48:48,880 --> 00:48:54,799
Speaker 1: like I was being watched and viewed. And again I

877
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:57,360
Speaker 1: go back to the ego structure. I didn't have a

878
00:48:57,400 --> 00:48:59,799
Speaker 1: healthy ego structure. I didn't know who I was. I

879
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:01,920
Speaker 1: was comfortable with myself. I was trying to be somebody

880
00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 1: I wasn't and I had to I had to work

881
00:49:05,600 --> 00:49:09,880
Speaker 1: through that. It was tough. Yeah, when you're the guy

882
00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 1: catching the ship right when you're on the villain list,

883
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:18,400
Speaker 1: Are you talking about that in the locker room? Is

884
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:21,359
Speaker 1: it a part or is everybody trying to ignore it?

885
00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,920
Speaker 1: That's my that's my question, Like is it like I

886
00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:27,879
Speaker 1: don't know the picture, who's got a no hitter going

887
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 1: and you're not supposed to talk about Like are you

888
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:33,080
Speaker 1: talking about it? And is it is? Is there banter?

889
00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:35,239
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it had a deep effect on you,

890
00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,840
Speaker 1: which I'm not minimizing that at all. I just wonder

891
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 1: if it's being acknowledged or if everyone's just trying to

892
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:44,200
Speaker 1: ignore it. At the time, my teammates and I didn't

893
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:47,080
Speaker 1: talk about it, and again I, that's not a that's

894
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:50,320
Speaker 1: on a knock on me not addressing it or them

895
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:52,600
Speaker 1: not addressing it. It was more so Again, we're eighteen,

896
00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:55,040
Speaker 1: nineteen years old, twenty years old, and we've got our

897
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:58,680
Speaker 1: own ship going on, and you know, uh, maybe one

898
00:49:58,719 --> 00:50:01,120
Speaker 1: guy's worried about his playing time. I'm maybe another guy's

899
00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:03,719
Speaker 1: worried about his shots. Maybe another guy's worried about going pro,

900
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,879
Speaker 1: Like they're not worried about me. It wasn't until later

901
00:50:06,920 --> 00:50:08,279
Speaker 1: in my career when you get to the n b

902
00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:13,200
Speaker 1: A and you kind of see everything and everything if

903
00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:14,600
Speaker 1: if you're on a good team and you're a good

904
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:17,319
Speaker 1: locker room, everything gets addressed. Now, Coach k would bring

905
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:19,879
Speaker 1: it up. He would bring it up. He would bring

906
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:22,719
Speaker 1: it up in in in team meetings occasionally, and he

907
00:50:22,719 --> 00:50:24,440
Speaker 1: would bring it up with me as well, Like we

908
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:28,319
Speaker 1: talked about it a ton, but within our team he

909
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: was like, never discussed. And it's funny to think about

910
00:50:30,520 --> 00:50:32,520
Speaker 1: it now. Had I lived through that in an NBA

911
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:35,040
Speaker 1: locker room, oh my god, the banter on that would

912
00:50:35,080 --> 00:50:38,480
Speaker 1: be fucking hilarious. It would be so good. It would

913
00:50:38,480 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 1: be so good because a guy like Blake Griffin. I

914
00:50:40,080 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: mean guy like Blake Griffin, Like he doesn't let anything go.

915
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,640
Speaker 1: He sees everything, you know, Joel Embiid sees everything. So

916
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:49,640
Speaker 1: those guys they you'd have to deal with the game

917
00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: and the opposing crowd, and then you'd have to deal

918
00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 1: with Joel in the locker room afterwards, you know, because

919
00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 1: he's he's gonna give it to you too. Yeah. Uh,

920
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:04,359
Speaker 1: you end up when you leave Duke after your four

921
00:51:04,440 --> 00:51:10,440
Speaker 1: years all time leading scorer in Duke history, and just

922
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize this until I started looking at it.

923
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:20,040
Speaker 1: Just one year later. You get your jersey hung up

924
00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:23,920
Speaker 1: there in the rafters at Cameron Indoor Stadium. You've talked

925
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:27,280
Speaker 1: a lot about what Duke means to you in terms

926
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:30,600
Speaker 1: of your life, but tell me a little bit about

927
00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:34,320
Speaker 1: the experience of going back there and seeing your jersey

928
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:39,160
Speaker 1: hanging up there next to Latner and Hill and Ferry

929
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:44,440
Speaker 1: and Dominski and Hurley and Jason Williams all the guys.

930
00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about going back there. You

931
00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:49,840
Speaker 1: have to take it back to when I was seven

932
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:53,200
Speaker 1: and what Duke basketball meant to me and who meant

933
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:55,920
Speaker 1: to my life and meant to my family, And I

934
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:58,360
Speaker 1: remember the first meeting I ever had with coach k

935
00:51:58,520 --> 00:52:01,319
Speaker 1: on campus when I when I matriculated as a as

936
00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,359
Speaker 1: an incoming freshman, I started summer school when he met

937
00:52:04,360 --> 00:52:07,040
Speaker 1: with all the freshmen. We talked for an hour. But

938
00:52:07,080 --> 00:52:08,880
Speaker 1: one of the questions he asked me in that meeting

939
00:52:09,040 --> 00:52:14,120
Speaker 1: was what do you hope to accomplish individually at Duke?

940
00:52:15,320 --> 00:52:18,839
Speaker 1: And I said, this is my speech when my when

941
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 1: I got retired, but I'll say it again. I said

942
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,440
Speaker 1: to him, I want my jersey to hang in the rafters,

943
00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:25,680
Speaker 1: and I want to be the all time leading score

944
00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:27,880
Speaker 1: at Duke. Because in my mind, I was like, I'm

945
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:30,200
Speaker 1: I'm playing four years here. It wasn't I did it would.

946
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:33,320
Speaker 1: I had no aspirations at the time to leave earlier

947
00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:34,839
Speaker 1: to play in the NBA. It was a pipe dream

948
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:38,279
Speaker 1: at the time. And for me to do those two

949
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:40,480
Speaker 1: things that was individually. Of course, I wanted to win

950
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,680
Speaker 1: national championships and I didn't win one, and that that

951
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:46,680
Speaker 1: still irks me to this day. But for me to

952
00:52:46,760 --> 00:52:50,280
Speaker 1: do those two things and to see that that jersey

953
00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:52,759
Speaker 1: and the rafters, it's special, man. And I take my

954
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:57,160
Speaker 1: kids back now. And you know, we we walked through Cameron,

955
00:52:57,600 --> 00:53:00,200
Speaker 1: we see the jersey and the rafters. We go in

956
00:53:00,239 --> 00:53:02,600
Speaker 1: the back hallways up to the practic facility, or by

957
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:05,719
Speaker 1: the locker room or by coach Ks and you see,

958
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:08,240
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not going to say it's a shrine,

959
00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:11,160
Speaker 1: but you see a shrine for all the great players

960
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:14,520
Speaker 1: that played at Duke and I'm one of them. It's it.

961
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:19,399
Speaker 1: It never ceases to amaze me. It's still a pinch

962
00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:22,600
Speaker 1: me moment, and it's it's a pinch me moment when

963
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:24,840
Speaker 1: I think about my relationship with Coach k. It's a

964
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:27,520
Speaker 1: pinch me moment to think about the experiences that I

965
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:30,319
Speaker 1: got to have on a basketball floor in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

966
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:35,800
Speaker 1: It's really it's really remarkable. Like, you know, I hope

967
00:53:35,840 --> 00:53:38,000
Speaker 1: that you feel the same way in some sense. I

968
00:53:38,280 --> 00:53:40,279
Speaker 1: know you didn't end up being a first baseman for

969
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:42,879
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Braves, but I hope in some way you

970
00:53:42,960 --> 00:53:45,640
Speaker 1: get the sense like I'm living out my dream. I

971
00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:49,560
Speaker 1: never took that for granted. Thirteen years into my pro career,

972
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:52,760
Speaker 1: twelve years in fourt whatever, I never took it for granted.

973
00:53:53,040 --> 00:53:58,480
Speaker 1: I always was like, holy shit, this fucking idiot from

974
00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:02,319
Speaker 1: from the holler in tennis, you know, they grew up

975
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:06,319
Speaker 1: with nothing like I'm doing this right now. It's it

976
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:09,320
Speaker 1: was always special to me, and and those Duke years

977
00:54:10,040 --> 00:54:13,120
Speaker 1: and the accomplishments that I got to achieve their they

978
00:54:13,120 --> 00:54:15,479
Speaker 1: will always be special to me. And my kids now

979
00:54:16,400 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: get a sense of that. They just got into basketball.

980
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:20,759
Speaker 1: They're eight and six, but they really have gotten into

981
00:54:20,800 --> 00:54:25,040
Speaker 1: basketball in the last year and they're starting to appreciate

982
00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:28,520
Speaker 1: who their dad was as a player, and it's so

983
00:54:28,719 --> 00:54:31,680
Speaker 1: it's so cool to me. It's so cool. Were you

984
00:54:31,719 --> 00:54:38,719
Speaker 1: there for Coach K's last game? Unfortunately? Yes, unfortunately did

985
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:42,920
Speaker 1: you go? Did you I did not go. No, there

986
00:54:42,920 --> 00:54:45,239
Speaker 1: there was an opportunity. I did not go. I was

987
00:54:45,280 --> 00:54:49,640
Speaker 1: traveling at the time. But all of the guys, I mean,

988
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 1: I was just blown away with how many of the

989
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:57,880
Speaker 1: guys showed back up for that for that game. That

990
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:02,280
Speaker 1: was so cool. We uh we We had a room

991
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: in the back, which is basically the players lounge, and

992
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:09,320
Speaker 1: so they had set up some drinks and waters and

993
00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:12,480
Speaker 1: and snacks before the game back there. We were all

994
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 1: supposed to meet back there before we went out of

995
00:55:14,960 --> 00:55:18,520
Speaker 1: the court together. There was ninety six of us, and

996
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:20,799
Speaker 1: so we spent some time together back there. And there's

997
00:55:20,800 --> 00:55:24,840
Speaker 1: different generations. There's the early eighties, the pre Johnny Dawkins teams.

998
00:55:24,920 --> 00:55:28,400
Speaker 1: Then there's you know, the Johnny Dawkins Final four team.

999
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,520
Speaker 1: There's that those teams that had that stretch from eight

1000
00:55:31,880 --> 00:55:34,720
Speaker 1: to ninety two where they make five straight final fours.

1001
00:55:35,200 --> 00:55:37,840
Speaker 1: Then there's the late nineties guys, the two thousand guys,

1002
00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:40,080
Speaker 1: all the one and done guys. Everybody's kind of mingling

1003
00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:42,399
Speaker 1: with each other. And we go out on the court

1004
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:44,239
Speaker 1: and we form a line for Coach k and he

1005
00:55:44,280 --> 00:55:47,640
Speaker 1: comes out and gets introduced, and we take a picture

1006
00:55:48,239 --> 00:55:50,160
Speaker 1: and Woe Joe and I had seats next to each other.

1007
00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:52,160
Speaker 1: See Wowsky and I had seats next to each other,

1008
00:55:53,160 --> 00:55:56,120
Speaker 1: And we're walking up to our seat, and he's like, man,

1009
00:55:56,840 --> 00:55:58,920
Speaker 1: how cool is this that we get to be a

1010
00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:05,080
Speaker 1: part of this, were somehow a part of this man's legacy.

1011
00:56:05,400 --> 00:56:08,520
Speaker 1: And again, I I hate to use the same word again,

1012
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,359
Speaker 1: but there's just such a deep appreciation I have. And

1013
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:16,040
Speaker 1: so while we did lose that game, that entire day,

1014
00:56:16,080 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: that entire experience was so surreal um to be able

1015
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:24,520
Speaker 1: to celebrate coach, of course, but all also all the

1016
00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:27,640
Speaker 1: teams and all the players that he has coached. Was

1017
00:56:27,719 --> 00:56:31,920
Speaker 1: just it was remarkable, and we have like this. I

1018
00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:33,920
Speaker 1: don't know if it's a recruiting tool, but you know,

1019
00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:36,840
Speaker 1: we call it the brotherhood or whatever. I could honestly

1020
00:56:36,920 --> 00:56:38,920
Speaker 1: say it goes back to what I was talking about

1021
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:42,440
Speaker 1: with my decision to go to Duke. I can honestly

1022
00:56:42,480 --> 00:56:46,319
Speaker 1: say that that that is real. Like I have a

1023
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:51,200
Speaker 1: great relationship with so many different former players, whether that's

1024
00:56:51,560 --> 00:56:54,839
Speaker 1: Quinn Snyder or Billy King, or Shane Batty or Mike

1025
00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:57,840
Speaker 1: I didn't play with any of those guys. We have

1026
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:03,840
Speaker 1: this incredible shared experience that that immediately forms a bond,

1027
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:06,319
Speaker 1: and then of course all the other stuff is just

1028
00:57:06,760 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 1: it's just added. Yeah, you end up getting drafted eleventh

1029
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:38,840
Speaker 1: to the Orlando Magic. There go to NBA finals. I

1030
00:57:38,880 --> 00:57:43,600
Speaker 1: think this this status insane to me that for twenty

1031
00:57:43,640 --> 00:57:47,320
Speaker 1: one years in a row, from high school to college

1032
00:57:47,840 --> 00:57:53,120
Speaker 1: to the NBA, you make the playoffs, and oftentimes in

1033
00:57:53,160 --> 00:57:56,040
Speaker 1: the NBA, by the way, with teams that are not

1034
00:57:56,240 --> 00:58:00,600
Speaker 1: used to going to the playoffs. Let's be honest, um,

1035
00:58:00,640 --> 00:58:04,280
Speaker 1: that is just such an incredible accomplishment. Obviously, you go

1036
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:08,240
Speaker 1: to the finals with Orlando lose to my Lakers. I'm sorry,

1037
00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:10,920
Speaker 1: about that still, though I don't know why I'm apologizing

1038
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:16,200
Speaker 1: your time in Orlando there early in your career, before

1039
00:58:16,240 --> 00:58:19,960
Speaker 1: you leave and startling traveling around a little bit, talk

1040
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:24,000
Speaker 1: to me about the experience there of playing in Orlando. Yeah,

1041
00:58:24,040 --> 00:58:27,080
Speaker 1: I mean, at the time, Orlando felt like a very

1042
00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:31,080
Speaker 1: big city. I didn't have neighbors growing up, and so

1043
00:58:31,120 --> 00:58:33,400
Speaker 1: the first time I ever had a house next to

1044
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:36,120
Speaker 1: the house that I lived in. I mean college, you're

1045
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:37,840
Speaker 1: in a dorm, that doesn't count, but a house next

1046
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:39,160
Speaker 1: to the house I lived in was when I was

1047
00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:40,880
Speaker 1: rookie in Orlando. Was the the first time I lived in

1048
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:43,640
Speaker 1: a neighborhood. Um was first time there was like a

1049
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:48,080
Speaker 1: real downtown with restaurants and UH clubs, and I was

1050
00:58:48,160 --> 00:58:51,160
Speaker 1: on my own, and you know, I had to navigate

1051
00:58:52,240 --> 00:58:57,040
Speaker 1: being a two year old douche bag along with UH,

1052
00:58:57,800 --> 00:59:00,760
Speaker 1: along with like everybody I I talked about this with

1053
00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:03,160
Speaker 1: Grant Hill in my podcast recently, Like everybody on my

1054
00:59:03,200 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 1: team hated me because I went to Duke and I

1055
00:59:05,160 --> 00:59:07,479
Speaker 1: got there and they gave me ship all the time.

1056
00:59:07,520 --> 00:59:10,920
Speaker 1: So it was like it was a hard experience. Early on.

1057
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:13,840
Speaker 1: I think a couple of things happened. I think I

1058
00:59:13,880 --> 00:59:17,160
Speaker 1: grew up as a person. That was probably most important.

1059
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:20,520
Speaker 1: I met my wife during that time. We started dating

1060
00:59:20,520 --> 00:59:23,560
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, right before my third year started,

1061
00:59:24,080 --> 00:59:27,360
Speaker 1: and we've been together, you know, ever since. And and

1062
00:59:27,400 --> 00:59:32,640
Speaker 1: then I I just went into survival mode. And I

1063
00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:37,720
Speaker 1: always loved the game. I always loved competing, but at

1064
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:43,920
Speaker 1: some point it became about survival and complete ownership of

1065
00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:48,080
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do. And so I had to

1066
00:59:48,120 --> 00:59:52,760
Speaker 1: cross a barrier. And I talked about this all the time,

1067
00:59:52,840 --> 00:59:57,520
Speaker 1: like there are basketball players, and there are basketball fans.

1068
00:59:58,320 --> 01:00:01,360
Speaker 1: They're basketball coaches and basket well front office people and

1069
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:04,720
Speaker 1: people that work in the media that talk about basketball,

1070
01:00:05,120 --> 01:00:09,320
Speaker 1: and those people are fine, like they do find then

1071
01:00:09,360 --> 01:00:17,280
Speaker 1: there's then there's sickos, basketball sickos, true junkies, true psychos.

1072
01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:21,080
Speaker 1: And I had to become that to survive. And I'm

1073
01:00:21,080 --> 01:00:25,840
Speaker 1: fucking glad I did. Uh. But you know, I look

1074
01:00:25,880 --> 01:00:29,000
Speaker 1: back at my sophomore year somewhere between between my sophomore

1075
01:00:29,000 --> 01:00:31,320
Speaker 1: of our junior year that it was a very similar

1076
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:33,960
Speaker 1: process between my second year and my third year in

1077
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:35,800
Speaker 1: the NBA, And it didn't pan out right away. My

1078
01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:37,280
Speaker 1: third year, I still was in and out of the

1079
01:00:37,360 --> 01:00:41,560
Speaker 1: rotation at times I didn't play every night, but it

1080
01:00:41,600 --> 01:00:44,720
Speaker 1: was it was like a full commitment. I thought I

1081
01:00:44,760 --> 01:00:47,440
Speaker 1: had made a commitment, and then it became no, I'm

1082
01:00:47,440 --> 01:00:50,400
Speaker 1: gonna take it to the next level. And you know,

1083
01:00:50,400 --> 01:00:52,760
Speaker 1: a lot of that was changing my body. A lot

1084
01:00:52,800 --> 01:00:55,360
Speaker 1: of that was just all the extra work I did.

1085
01:00:56,040 --> 01:01:00,680
Speaker 1: And so those early years in Orlando were about survive there,

1086
01:01:00,680 --> 01:01:04,080
Speaker 1: about gaining stand Van Gundy's trust. If I look back

1087
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:09,560
Speaker 1: at the later years in Orlando, I sometimes think specifically

1088
01:01:09,560 --> 01:01:11,600
Speaker 1: after my fourth year I signed a contract with the

1089
01:01:11,680 --> 01:01:14,080
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls to be a starter. I would have played

1090
01:01:14,080 --> 01:01:16,280
Speaker 1: with Derrick Rose and Joke and Noah and Lull Dang

1091
01:01:16,400 --> 01:01:20,360
Speaker 1: and that team that following year after I signed, Orlando

1092
01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:22,520
Speaker 1: match my offer. So because I was restricted, so I

1093
01:01:22,560 --> 01:01:24,560
Speaker 1: didn't get to go to Chicago, but that team won

1094
01:01:24,640 --> 01:01:26,640
Speaker 1: sixty one games, was the number one seed in the East.

1095
01:01:27,440 --> 01:01:30,080
Speaker 1: Like to me, I was ready to take that next step.

1096
01:01:30,320 --> 01:01:32,720
Speaker 1: And so those later years in Orlando I was. I

1097
01:01:32,760 --> 01:01:35,440
Speaker 1: was still coming off the bench. I'd spot start sometimes

1098
01:01:35,440 --> 01:01:37,400
Speaker 1: if guys got hurt, but it was kind of like

1099
01:01:37,720 --> 01:01:40,560
Speaker 1: two or three wasted years where I was ready to

1100
01:01:40,560 --> 01:01:43,640
Speaker 1: take the next jump in my career. And thankfully you know,

1101
01:01:43,680 --> 01:01:46,800
Speaker 1: I got to a perfect place for me after my

1102
01:01:46,880 --> 01:01:49,000
Speaker 1: seventh year and I signed with the Clippers. I mean,

1103
01:01:49,040 --> 01:01:50,960
Speaker 1: I didn't become a full time starter un till my

1104
01:01:51,000 --> 01:01:54,480
Speaker 1: eighth year in the NBA. I really had I really

1105
01:01:54,520 --> 01:01:57,360
Speaker 1: had to work. And it's crazy to think because I was.

1106
01:01:57,920 --> 01:02:00,000
Speaker 1: I was twenty nine when I signed with the Clippers,

1107
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:03,600
Speaker 1: and I was hurt a lot of that year because

1108
01:02:03,640 --> 01:02:06,080
Speaker 1: I I had gotten pushed out of the air and

1109
01:02:06,120 --> 01:02:07,840
Speaker 1: I broke my wrist. I fell on my back out

1110
01:02:07,840 --> 01:02:09,800
Speaker 1: of back injury, had to recover from the erist injury.

1111
01:02:10,000 --> 01:02:11,560
Speaker 1: So I missed a lot of that year. But my

1112
01:02:11,640 --> 01:02:14,120
Speaker 1: best years in the NBA were on the other side

1113
01:02:14,120 --> 01:02:17,600
Speaker 1: of thirty and as a six four, what most people

1114
01:02:17,640 --> 01:02:20,800
Speaker 1: think is a very unethletic person. To have my best

1115
01:02:20,920 --> 01:02:23,400
Speaker 1: years in the n B A on the other side

1116
01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:26,160
Speaker 1: of thirty, I think is is pretty It is pretty amazing.

1117
01:02:26,320 --> 01:02:29,640
Speaker 1: And again that that's because I went into that mode

1118
01:02:30,160 --> 01:02:31,760
Speaker 1: of just like, no one's gonna out work me, no

1119
01:02:31,800 --> 01:02:33,480
Speaker 1: one's gonna be in better shape with me, no one's

1120
01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:35,400
Speaker 1: going to study the game more than me, no one's

1121
01:02:35,440 --> 01:02:37,800
Speaker 1: gonna talk more than me, no one's gonna, you know,

1122
01:02:38,040 --> 01:02:40,000
Speaker 1: team dynamics like if I have to figure out a

1123
01:02:40,040 --> 01:02:42,840
Speaker 1: relationship on a team, if I have to mend something

1124
01:02:43,080 --> 01:02:45,240
Speaker 1: between two people, I'm gonna be that guy. And so

1125
01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:49,280
Speaker 1: I just I just everything became all consuming, and I

1126
01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:52,040
Speaker 1: feel bad at times for my wife, and it's part

1127
01:02:52,080 --> 01:02:55,480
Speaker 1: of the reason I retired. It was because it just

1128
01:02:55,800 --> 01:02:58,960
Speaker 1: it took up everything. You know, my entire day was

1129
01:02:59,040 --> 01:03:03,720
Speaker 1: about bad sketball. And I've told this story before. I remember,

1130
01:03:04,520 --> 01:03:06,080
Speaker 1: I think it was my second year in l A.

1131
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:10,000
Speaker 1: Her family came in town, her parents, and it just

1132
01:03:10,040 --> 01:03:13,520
Speaker 1: so happened her aunts and uncles were visiting her cousin

1133
01:03:13,560 --> 01:03:16,080
Speaker 1: who lived in Newport Beach, and we were in Manhattan Beach.

1134
01:03:16,840 --> 01:03:20,400
Speaker 1: So we had a Sunday game nationally televised against the

1135
01:03:20,480 --> 01:03:23,480
Speaker 1: Rockets the next day, and we go to this Mexican

1136
01:03:23,520 --> 01:03:26,560
Speaker 1: restaurant and I don't think I spoke at the dinner,

1137
01:03:27,080 --> 01:03:30,200
Speaker 1: and so we get home and Chelsea's like what the funk? Man, like,

1138
01:03:30,240 --> 01:03:32,600
Speaker 1: why why are why are you acting like that at dinner?

1139
01:03:33,000 --> 01:03:35,360
Speaker 1: And I'm like, huh, She's like, why are we You

1140
01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:38,400
Speaker 1: didn't speak and I was like, oh, sorry, I was

1141
01:03:38,440 --> 01:03:48,600
Speaker 1: just thinking about Garden James Harden tomorrow. Oh gosh, I

1142
01:03:49,200 --> 01:03:53,440
Speaker 1: killed that was awful. I feel so bad for her,

1143
01:03:53,520 --> 01:03:57,440
Speaker 1: but I also totally get it. You talked about your

1144
01:03:57,440 --> 01:04:01,000
Speaker 1: relationship with Chris Paul earlier and him being one of

1145
01:04:01,040 --> 01:04:03,720
Speaker 1: your calls other than coach k when you decided to retire,

1146
01:04:04,480 --> 01:04:07,600
Speaker 1: um talk a little bit about why he's so important

1147
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:09,400
Speaker 1: to you or became so important to you through your

1148
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:15,120
Speaker 1: playing career. We're different people, but we're like minded. Chris

1149
01:04:15,200 --> 01:04:21,320
Speaker 1: is a very intense competitor, and I think he's He's

1150
01:04:21,360 --> 01:04:25,680
Speaker 1: probably not as abrasive now as he was with the Clippers,

1151
01:04:25,720 --> 01:04:29,960
Speaker 1: but as a leader, he could be abrasive. And I

1152
01:04:30,080 --> 01:04:33,480
Speaker 1: never had an issue with that because I could see

1153
01:04:33,480 --> 01:04:35,440
Speaker 1: what his number one agenda was, and that was to

1154
01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:43,200
Speaker 1: win a basketball game. And everything that he did materialized

1155
01:04:43,520 --> 01:04:46,120
Speaker 1: out of that agenda. I want to be great and

1156
01:04:46,160 --> 01:04:49,760
Speaker 1: I want to win, and so I saw the work

1157
01:04:49,800 --> 01:04:52,760
Speaker 1: he put in. I saw his commitment to his family.

1158
01:04:53,240 --> 01:04:56,160
Speaker 1: And he had had little Chris prior to me getting there,

1159
01:04:56,320 --> 01:04:59,360
Speaker 1: and Cam at the time was was a toddler. But

1160
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:01,760
Speaker 1: you know, when Chelsea got pregnant, he was one of

1161
01:05:01,760 --> 01:05:04,640
Speaker 1: the guys that, you know, gave me life advice about

1162
01:05:04,640 --> 01:05:07,439
Speaker 1: being a dad. He was so great with Chelsea during

1163
01:05:07,440 --> 01:05:11,040
Speaker 1: her pregnancy and so like it was just like this

1164
01:05:11,040 --> 01:05:15,560
Speaker 1: this shared experience, but you know, a shared commitment to

1165
01:05:16,360 --> 01:05:19,640
Speaker 1: our values, and so we bonded on that. And Chris

1166
01:05:19,720 --> 01:05:20,960
Speaker 1: was a guy that I mean, in the middle of

1167
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:24,360
Speaker 1: a game, like I he could motherfuck me and I

1168
01:05:24,400 --> 01:05:27,960
Speaker 1: could motherfuck him, and you know what, we were secure

1169
01:05:28,040 --> 01:05:30,320
Speaker 1: enough in our relationship to go grab dinner after the game.

1170
01:05:30,680 --> 01:05:33,600
Speaker 1: We were secure enough. At the time. There was a

1171
01:05:33,640 --> 01:05:38,400
Speaker 1: TV show I think it was a scandal, Yeah, yeah, yeah,

1172
01:05:38,600 --> 01:05:41,400
Speaker 1: scandal on on ABC, and like I'd go, we'd go,

1173
01:05:41,680 --> 01:05:43,720
Speaker 1: Chelsea and I would go to Jada and Chris's house

1174
01:05:44,400 --> 01:05:46,400
Speaker 1: every Tuesday night or whatever it was that it aired,

1175
01:05:46,400 --> 01:05:48,240
Speaker 1: and we'd watch it together and like it didn't matter.

1176
01:05:48,360 --> 01:05:50,120
Speaker 1: The day before we had yelled at each other. I

1177
01:05:50,160 --> 01:05:53,080
Speaker 1: didn't care because I knew what he was about. And

1178
01:05:53,280 --> 01:05:57,520
Speaker 1: uh I I called him when I retired, and it

1179
01:05:57,600 --> 01:06:00,480
Speaker 1: was only only teammate I called, just like, hey, dude,

1180
01:06:00,480 --> 01:06:03,760
Speaker 1: I'm retiring. I'm announcing tomorrow. And the reason why is

1181
01:06:03,760 --> 01:06:06,960
Speaker 1: I called him because I'm like, I'm like, dude, I

1182
01:06:06,960 --> 01:06:10,520
Speaker 1: I'm going through this and thinking about all the teammates

1183
01:06:10,520 --> 01:06:15,360
Speaker 1: I had, all the opportunities on great teams to maybe

1184
01:06:15,400 --> 01:06:18,640
Speaker 1: win and it never happened. And I know you haven't

1185
01:06:18,640 --> 01:06:21,760
Speaker 1: won either, And I just want you to know. If

1186
01:06:21,800 --> 01:06:24,880
Speaker 1: I could win a championship, there's one teammate that I

1187
01:06:24,880 --> 01:06:28,120
Speaker 1: could win a championship with that I wanted it for

1188
01:06:28,520 --> 01:06:31,200
Speaker 1: as bad as I wanted for myself. It would be you.

1189
01:06:32,160 --> 01:06:34,120
Speaker 1: That's how I feel about him. So how I feel

1190
01:06:34,120 --> 01:06:36,720
Speaker 1: about him, that's awesome. He and I have had the

1191
01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:38,880
Speaker 1: opportunity to cross paths a number of times. I have

1192
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 1: nothing but great things to say about him. You hold

1193
01:06:42,840 --> 01:06:47,360
Speaker 1: another distinction, I mean, an amazing career, but clippers. Eventually,

1194
01:06:47,600 --> 01:06:50,680
Speaker 1: then you you have a few runs there with the

1195
01:06:50,720 --> 01:06:56,360
Speaker 1: seventies sixers, but you also become the first NBA player

1196
01:06:56,760 --> 01:07:02,600
Speaker 1: with a podcast and the own the podcast that is

1197
01:07:02,640 --> 01:07:07,200
Speaker 1: allowed inside the bubble. Once we hit well, once we

1198
01:07:07,280 --> 01:07:11,800
Speaker 1: hit the bottom, once the bubble happened because of this

1199
01:07:11,840 --> 01:07:14,640
Speaker 1: little thing called the coronavirus that's been going on the

1200
01:07:14,720 --> 01:07:18,040
Speaker 1: last few years. Why why did you start the podcast?

1201
01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:21,320
Speaker 1: What was your idea about it? Initially I will mention

1202
01:07:21,520 --> 01:07:26,760
Speaker 1: called the JJ Reddick Podcast. Now it has morphed into

1203
01:07:26,920 --> 01:07:29,600
Speaker 1: The Old Man and the Three. I'm wondering if you're

1204
01:07:29,640 --> 01:07:34,200
Speaker 1: the Old Man or the Three now that you've maybe retired.

1205
01:07:34,200 --> 01:07:35,760
Speaker 1: I don't know why. It's the old man of the three.

1206
01:07:36,240 --> 01:07:39,840
Speaker 1: We should we should change it. Why Why was that

1207
01:07:39,880 --> 01:07:42,240
Speaker 1: important to you? What was your idea about starting the podcast?

1208
01:07:42,680 --> 01:07:45,360
Speaker 1: I had no idea what I was getting into, if

1209
01:07:45,400 --> 01:07:49,760
Speaker 1: I'm being honest. So so Adrian Woodarowski was working at

1210
01:07:49,800 --> 01:07:51,880
Speaker 1: Yahoo at the time, and he signed this deal with

1211
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:54,360
Speaker 1: Yahoo and he sort of got his own platform called

1212
01:07:54,400 --> 01:07:56,560
Speaker 1: The Vertical and they were gonna they were gonna run

1213
01:07:57,000 --> 01:08:00,960
Speaker 1: stuff online, you know, print online, and they're gonna do podcasts,

1214
01:08:00,960 --> 01:08:03,480
Speaker 1: and so initially came to me it was very much

1215
01:08:03,600 --> 01:08:07,000
Speaker 1: a player's tribune style format. Hey can you write eight

1216
01:08:07,120 --> 01:08:09,800
Speaker 1: things during the season, What it's like to be traded

1217
01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:11,919
Speaker 1: at the trade deadline, you're on a long road trip,

1218
01:08:12,000 --> 01:08:13,560
Speaker 1: what it's like to be on a long road trip,

1219
01:08:13,960 --> 01:08:16,720
Speaker 1: stuff like that, And I just I was like, whoas Like,

1220
01:08:16,760 --> 01:08:20,400
Speaker 1: I'm getting flashbacks to uh that class of New York history.

1221
01:08:20,439 --> 01:08:23,600
Speaker 1: Were like, I don't think I'm gonna be able to

1222
01:08:23,600 --> 01:08:25,439
Speaker 1: deliver on this one. So he came back to me

1223
01:08:25,439 --> 01:08:26,680
Speaker 1: a couple months later it was like, hey, well you

1224
01:08:26,720 --> 01:08:28,960
Speaker 1: do a podcast. You can have your own podcast, And

1225
01:08:29,280 --> 01:08:31,360
Speaker 1: at the time was a very novel thing. I think

1226
01:08:31,360 --> 01:08:35,080
Speaker 1: there was one other active athlete that had a podcast,

1227
01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:39,439
Speaker 1: and there were just a few people in general that

1228
01:08:39,560 --> 01:08:42,000
Speaker 1: had podcasts that were there were former athletes, and so

1229
01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:44,360
Speaker 1: I was the first active NBA player to have one.

1230
01:08:44,760 --> 01:08:46,639
Speaker 1: And at the time it was such a novel thing

1231
01:08:46,680 --> 01:08:48,679
Speaker 1: because I was I was peeling back at the curtain,

1232
01:08:48,840 --> 01:08:50,200
Speaker 1: you know. It was You're you're gonna fly on the

1233
01:08:50,200 --> 01:08:53,200
Speaker 1: wall and you're having a conversation with Kyle Korver about

1234
01:08:53,200 --> 01:08:56,719
Speaker 1: shooting mechanics. You're having a conversation with Donald Foil about

1235
01:08:57,120 --> 01:09:00,559
Speaker 1: finances when you're a pro athlete, and so we're like, oh,

1236
01:09:00,600 --> 01:09:05,640
Speaker 1: this is new and different. And along the way, I

1237
01:09:05,720 --> 01:09:11,320
Speaker 1: got really comfortable asking questions. And I was always curious,

1238
01:09:12,200 --> 01:09:16,800
Speaker 1: but I got comfortable asking questions and I developed into

1239
01:09:17,280 --> 01:09:22,200
Speaker 1: a better interviewer. And my last year with The Ringer,

1240
01:09:22,320 --> 01:09:24,120
Speaker 1: so I did did the Yahoo thing for a year.

1241
01:09:24,160 --> 01:09:26,120
Speaker 1: I did Ringer for three years. My last year with

1242
01:09:26,160 --> 01:09:29,439
Speaker 1: The Ringer, I had a co host named Tommy Alter,

1243
01:09:29,520 --> 01:09:31,200
Speaker 1: who's my business partner now and the old man in

1244
01:09:31,280 --> 01:09:33,400
Speaker 1: the three and three or four two productions. But we

1245
01:09:33,439 --> 01:09:37,280
Speaker 1: started discussing just ownership, like we why this is around

1246
01:09:37,320 --> 01:09:40,080
Speaker 1: the time the Ringers selling to Spotify. Barstool Sports is

1247
01:09:40,400 --> 01:09:43,160
Speaker 1: selling to the Churning Group and are out to pen

1248
01:09:43,280 --> 01:09:45,200
Speaker 1: Sports and the Turning Groups in their investor. I'm sorry,

1249
01:09:45,200 --> 01:09:47,479
Speaker 1: but uh so all this stuff is happening, We're like,

1250
01:09:47,520 --> 01:09:49,800
Speaker 1: why why don't we just own it? Like, you know,

1251
01:09:50,479 --> 01:09:54,080
Speaker 1: we shopped it around. Bill made an offer he wouldn't

1252
01:09:54,120 --> 01:09:56,320
Speaker 1: let us own it, and and so we we started

1253
01:09:56,520 --> 01:09:59,280
Speaker 1: our own thing. And it just so happened that our

1254
01:09:59,320 --> 01:10:03,639
Speaker 1: contract with the Ringer ended on August one and Games

1255
01:10:03,640 --> 01:10:06,960
Speaker 1: in the Bubble started August one, Like it was just

1256
01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:11,120
Speaker 1: dumb luck so that we that we just so happened

1257
01:10:11,400 --> 01:10:16,000
Speaker 1: to be the one podcast amongst current players that was

1258
01:10:16,080 --> 01:10:18,840
Speaker 1: broadcasting out of the bubble. And on top of that,

1259
01:10:18,960 --> 01:10:22,559
Speaker 1: we got really lucky because for our show, uh you know,

1260
01:10:22,600 --> 01:10:26,240
Speaker 1: we can operate now we built up a decent audience

1261
01:10:26,240 --> 01:10:28,000
Speaker 1: where we can operate just the two of us, or

1262
01:10:28,040 --> 01:10:30,840
Speaker 1: we bring in our correspondence like Alex Caruso mckel bridges

1263
01:10:31,040 --> 01:10:34,400
Speaker 1: like week to week it's fine, but you know, primarily

1264
01:10:34,400 --> 01:10:36,680
Speaker 1: our our show is guest driven, and it just so

1265
01:10:36,800 --> 01:10:41,400
Speaker 1: happened that we come out of the gates with Stacy Abrams,

1266
01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:45,559
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard, Joel Embi, Jayson Tatum, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durray,

1267
01:10:45,640 --> 01:10:48,760
Speaker 1: and it's like, holy fuck, this is awesome, and so

1268
01:10:48,960 --> 01:10:52,120
Speaker 1: we just kind of hit. It was all timing and

1269
01:10:52,160 --> 01:10:55,080
Speaker 1: we worked and I work at it, but a lot

1270
01:10:55,120 --> 01:10:57,559
Speaker 1: of it was just dumb luck and timing, and so

1271
01:10:57,720 --> 01:11:00,160
Speaker 1: we were able to get you know, whether it was

1272
01:11:00,200 --> 01:11:01,920
Speaker 1: YouTube or audio. We were able to because we were

1273
01:11:01,960 --> 01:11:04,120
Speaker 1: starting from zero because we restarted the podcast. We had

1274
01:11:04,120 --> 01:11:06,479
Speaker 1: no RSS feed because we gave it, we gave it

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01:11:06,520 --> 01:11:08,800
Speaker 1: to the Ringer. We had no YouTube subscribers because everything

1276
01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:11,120
Speaker 1: else was on the Ringer, and so we started from zero,

1277
01:11:11,200 --> 01:11:13,840
Speaker 1: and within two months we had built an audience. And

1278
01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:17,000
Speaker 1: we've worked really hard over the last you know, basically

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01:11:17,040 --> 01:11:20,240
Speaker 1: two years, uh to to continue to build that audience.

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Speaker 1: And I tell people all the time, I'm like, I

1281
01:11:23,280 --> 01:11:25,240
Speaker 1: want to put out good content. I want to put

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01:11:25,240 --> 01:11:28,280
Speaker 1: out great shows and great interviews, and I have a

1283
01:11:29,120 --> 01:11:32,679
Speaker 1: built in sort of credibility with my peers and former

1284
01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:35,120
Speaker 1: teammates and players I compete Pete against. The only thing

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01:11:35,120 --> 01:11:38,040
Speaker 1: that matters to me is building audience. Because everything else

1286
01:11:38,080 --> 01:11:40,360
Speaker 1: you could ever want from a show. I mean you

1287
01:11:40,160 --> 01:11:42,760
Speaker 1: you know this from having worked in theater or television,

1288
01:11:43,080 --> 01:11:45,400
Speaker 1: Like if you have an audience, good stuff will happen.

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01:11:45,680 --> 01:11:49,040
Speaker 1: That's all that matters. No, You're absolutely right. I have

1290
01:11:49,160 --> 01:11:52,120
Speaker 1: enjoyed your stuff for quite a long time now. By

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01:11:52,120 --> 01:11:56,880
Speaker 1: the way, he's been doing this since twenty sixteen, and

1292
01:11:56,960 --> 01:12:00,600
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, the first active player to have one.

1293
01:12:00,840 --> 01:12:04,040
Speaker 1: Congratulations to you. Thank you for talking to me. You know,

1294
01:12:04,080 --> 01:12:07,639
Speaker 1: I am such a duke basketball fan, have always been

1295
01:12:07,640 --> 01:12:13,360
Speaker 1: a fan of yours. I appreciate your your form when

1296
01:12:13,360 --> 01:12:17,559
Speaker 1: you're out there shooting. I am the challenges live, by

1297
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:19,320
Speaker 1: the way, and I think that's what it needs to be.

1298
01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:22,640
Speaker 1: I could have a free throw shooting contest with the

1299
01:12:22,720 --> 01:12:25,519
Speaker 1: ninth best free throw shooter in the history of the NBA.

1300
01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:28,160
Speaker 1: But I think putting you in a coat and a

1301
01:12:28,320 --> 01:12:33,680
Speaker 1: tie and and shoes and work pants thirteen in a row,

1302
01:12:33,760 --> 01:12:36,840
Speaker 1: that's what that's that's the challenge. If can you do it,

1303
01:12:37,640 --> 01:12:42,120
Speaker 1: I will accept that challenge. My only request, because I

1304
01:12:42,160 --> 01:12:45,639
Speaker 1: am a big fan of Eric Anders laying in random

1305
01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:49,680
Speaker 1: golf club, Okay, my only request is whether that's on

1306
01:12:49,800 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 1: his channel or my channel. You and I have some

1307
01:12:54,439 --> 01:12:56,280
Speaker 1: sort It could be a nine hole match, could be

1308
01:12:56,320 --> 01:12:58,400
Speaker 1: an eighteen hold match, but we have some sort of

1309
01:12:58,439 --> 01:13:02,920
Speaker 1: golf match. The shooting contest. You're debt. You're dead in golf.

1310
01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:06,760
Speaker 1: You're dead in golf. There's no question about that. I'll

1311
01:13:06,840 --> 01:13:09,639
Speaker 1: do that. I'll do that tomorrow. Are you kidding me?

1312
01:13:10,000 --> 01:13:12,799
Speaker 1: Whatever you want, I've heard about your game. I'm ready.

1313
01:13:13,200 --> 01:13:17,080
Speaker 1: Let's go. Let's coming. It's coming along, Brian, It's coming along,

1314
01:13:17,240 --> 01:13:21,160
Speaker 1: It's coming along. Eric. Eric is a great guy. Always,

1315
01:13:21,560 --> 01:13:24,599
Speaker 1: always love those videos with him. This is gonna be fun.

1316
01:13:25,240 --> 01:13:28,719
Speaker 1: J J. Thank you so much for talking to me today.

1317
01:13:28,920 --> 01:13:33,759
Speaker 1: Good luck in all of your future endeavors. And uh yeah,

1318
01:13:34,160 --> 01:13:38,040
Speaker 1: let's do it. Challenge accepted. I love it and double Brian,

1319
01:13:38,080 --> 01:13:52,640
Speaker 1: thanks for having me on man, I appreciate it. Wow.

1320
01:13:52,760 --> 01:13:56,200
Speaker 1: J J. Thank you so much for joining me. This

1321
01:13:56,280 --> 01:14:00,120
Speaker 1: was so great. And yes, I cannot wait for our

1322
01:14:00,280 --> 01:14:05,040
Speaker 1: free throw competition golf. You have no chance. It's done

1323
01:14:05,240 --> 01:14:10,080
Speaker 1: already before we even start. I can't believe it's Thursday already. Listeners,

1324
01:14:10,400 --> 01:14:13,719
Speaker 1: I'm going to see you very soon on Tuesday again

1325
01:14:13,840 --> 01:14:17,000
Speaker 1: for another episode of Off the Beat. I hope you're

1326
01:14:17,120 --> 01:14:22,160
Speaker 1: enjoying these sports interviews as much as I love doing them,

1327
01:14:22,200 --> 01:14:24,360
Speaker 1: so be sure to let me know your thoughts on

1328
01:14:24,400 --> 01:14:28,519
Speaker 1: our Instagram page at Off the Beat and I Will

1329
01:14:28,640 --> 01:14:45,360
Speaker 1: see you on Tuesday. Off the Beat is hosted an

1330
01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:50,799
Speaker 1: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner alongside our executive producer Langley.

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01:14:51,160 --> 01:14:55,559
Speaker 1: Our producers are Diego Tapia, Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and

1332
01:14:55,640 --> 01:15:00,360
Speaker 1: Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and

1333
01:15:00,439 --> 01:15:04,839
Speaker 1: our intern is Sammy Cats. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak,

1334
01:15:05,120 --> 01:15:08,920
Speaker 1: performed by my great friend Creed Bratton, and the episode

1335
01:15:08,960 --> 01:15:10,840
Speaker 1: was mixed by Seth O'landskip