Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallen and Chris
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
Speaker 1: entertainment in the Strait. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
Speaker 1: tuned in to k J Long. Today's guests on the show.
Speaker 1: Who's the head coach? King Drew Boys Varsity Basketball? They
Speaker 1: were CIF City Open Division finalist last year, took a
Speaker 1: tough one of Fairfax almost won the championship. We got
Speaker 1: Lloyd Webster in the building, coach. What's good with you? Man?
Speaker 1: All a? Well, Man, I appreciate you for having me
Speaker 1: man in a long time coming. Man, you know in
Speaker 1: on here with a l A city legend, man, somebody
Speaker 1: that I have a great deal of respect for it
Speaker 1: and look up too. So and I'm just I'm streaming
Speaker 1: humble today. Well man, I appreciate you, brother for making
Speaker 1: the time. Bro, I've been watching you. We we we
Speaker 1: we reconnected. Uh several years ago. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you remember Man University High School. I think it was
Speaker 1: might have been a um, you know, hoop master's situation
Speaker 1: up there. I don't I don't know what it was,
Speaker 1: but we had reconnected it. I think my son was
Speaker 1: like a sophomore or junior in high school. But it
Speaker 1: was fun to reconnect with you. I was kind of
Speaker 1: there before you had got the King Drew job. Man.
Speaker 1: I was always interested because you always were a basketball dude. Man.
Speaker 1: Your knowledge of the game, your command of the game,
Speaker 1: and just you knew everything we were talking about. Man,
Speaker 1: you knew about everything that I that I knew about
Speaker 1: I was wondering. Man, just talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: your background, your beginnings, you know, the foundation of Lloyd
Speaker 1: Webster in this in this hoop game. Yeah, Man, you
Speaker 1: know I started out like most guys planning at the
Speaker 1: planning at the park, you know, and a lot of
Speaker 1: older guys you're like, Man, you don't mind thinging, you
Speaker 1: know down there, down low, and you you know, you
Speaker 1: sacrifice the body a lot. You know, you might, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to go play a little higher level, man, trying
Speaker 1: for the squad or something. By the time, man, I
Speaker 1: was living in Compton and my grandmother lived in Rental, Diminus.
Speaker 1: But back back then, you know, there was a lot
Speaker 1: of invisible lines that would keep you going to a
Speaker 1: secular school. So where she lived that when my mom
Speaker 1: ended up moving to that school, was banning, so we
Speaker 1: can only go to banking. But my mom at the
Speaker 1: time was working for the district, so she ended up
Speaker 1: getting me and permitted to It's in Carson High School.
Speaker 1: So that was when my boys in middle school. Would
Speaker 1: you know, they would be like, hey, man, the bees
Speaker 1: and seeds are trying out. You know, let's go see
Speaker 1: if we can get on the bees and see squad
Speaker 1: and you know that we can make that. We know
Speaker 1: we can get on the tape before, you know, because
Speaker 1: we were hearing all of this stuff about dudes and Carson.
Speaker 1: I think at the time they had like Rudy Washington,
Speaker 1: Kyrie stay and lead, you know, eyes up there, so
Speaker 1: you know we'll be hearing about it. Like man, you
Speaker 1: know six and eleven. Back then, I was probably like
Speaker 1: five ten. I wasn't here. I was nowhere near six
Speaker 1: ft yet. So I'm like, man, you know, this dude's
Speaker 1: a giant. Let me make sure I'm ready for that,
Speaker 1: you know. But you know, and you know how it
Speaker 1: is in there, But guys are gonna pump you up
Speaker 1: the making thinking the next Jordan, and you're like, man,
Speaker 1: you know, so try that out with the bees and
Speaker 1: seas as an eighth grader and coach was like, man,
Speaker 1: you don't need to be here, you guys need to
Speaker 1: try out with the j B at varsity. Ended up
Speaker 1: doing that. Uh that was like you know in the
Speaker 1: early nineties three and UM made the JV squad And yeah,
Speaker 1: that was my first beginning of playing who you know
Speaker 1: at Carson and then you know, got in some trouble
Speaker 1: at Carson. Um I had to you know, got an
Speaker 1: o t out fitt stuff in Narbonne recruited to go
Speaker 1: to the Mingus Hills by coach you know, yeah getting
Speaker 1: you know what, I was not a classroom guys. I
Speaker 1: not have grades. One of the reasons why I had
Speaker 1: to leave Carson because all I did was playing ditch.
Speaker 1: I mean, what what what's going on? But why I
Speaker 1: want to know why. There was about five or five
Speaker 1: thousand students of Carson, and I mean like Carson was
Speaker 1: like a mini Balling Hills man or you know, you know,
Speaker 1: like man, you know the influx of over there in
Speaker 1: that area. I mean, I'm gonna tell you, man, some
Speaker 1: of the finest of dimes man coming through there. So
Speaker 1: and and let me you know, it's very easily influenced
Speaker 1: at Carson at that particular time. You know, there was
Speaker 1: a lot going on. The football was blowing up one
Speaker 1: in the ninety four. That was actually when I had
Speaker 1: to transfer out. So you know, I played my my season,
Speaker 1: my JV season there and ended up finishing out playing
Speaker 1: War and Norvine after my transferred. So but still would
Speaker 1: still late you know, Chris Song Dorsey and yeah, still
Speaker 1: did all of those things. And you know, there was
Speaker 1: so much talent back there. Man, basketball was so different.
Speaker 1: I sell the kids all the time. You had six
Speaker 1: ten centers in high school and I played what I mean,
Speaker 1: you had real true position players. The city was kind
Speaker 1: of like how everybody glorifies the Southern Section that was
Speaker 1: city basketball, Like everybody had a future pro. Everybody had
Speaker 1: a future All American. Yeah, it was that it was loaded,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I think like at the time,
Speaker 1: I didn't really recognize the college smiths that I had
Speaker 1: made to even just be a recruit in the area.
Speaker 1: I kind of downplayed that, like away was it be
Speaker 1: one man that was nothing, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I kind of just you know, I took it
Speaker 1: for granted and I went to Juco route. You know,
Speaker 1: played a couple of years of Juco Harbor, West l A.
Speaker 1: And and then you know what, I was done playing
Speaker 1: juco um a referee at the time my mom was dating,
Speaker 1: was like, hey man, you know, if you if you
Speaker 1: don't love a sport like that anymore, you don't have
Speaker 1: anything to get to it. Just stop playing. And that
Speaker 1: kind of got me to thinking, like, do I really
Speaker 1: love this game the way I you know, I think
Speaker 1: I do? Or do I just really do it because
Speaker 1: you know it's fun? And you know which which one
Speaker 1: was it? Though? Did you did you love the game?
Speaker 1: I mean, because obviously you let the game because you're
Speaker 1: you're a coach, So did you you just didn't like
Speaker 1: the Was it the process of being a player? The commitment,
Speaker 1: the expectations? Talk to me? Yeah, I think that as
Speaker 1: a young man, you know, if I could look back,
Speaker 1: you know, and and and really reflect, I didn't have
Speaker 1: the guidance that a lot of guys had. They had
Speaker 1: that father figure that reminded them that all opportunities you
Speaker 1: have to take advantage of. And for me, I was
Speaker 1: always one of those guys, like because of that whole
Speaker 1: pressure that you get as a young black male in
Speaker 1: the inner city community, you kind of get that pressure
Speaker 1: like you gotta be top or nothing. You don't get
Speaker 1: the opportunity to be second place. So, you know, D
Speaker 1: two n ai A opportunities like that, they didn't really like,
Speaker 1: nobody really cared about I have. But he's walking away
Speaker 1: from those all the time and choosing other avenues. That's
Speaker 1: that's wild because you would think that somebody that's coming
Speaker 1: out the hood, that people were big up the fact
Speaker 1: that he's continuing his education, that he's going to college.
Speaker 1: Never mind you if it's a D two n i
Speaker 1: A or Juko, why do you think that mentality was
Speaker 1: so prevalent in your in your neighborhood. You know, when
Speaker 1: I think about it, I think a lot of it
Speaker 1: have to do with the pressure of the community, because
Speaker 1: you know, the press of the community is always you know,
Speaker 1: if you don't if you don't make it to the
Speaker 1: top level athlete, then you kind of failed. You know,
Speaker 1: you didn't you kind of let the neighborhood down and
Speaker 1: let yourself down, and let your family down because there's
Speaker 1: so many people that are that's and then you and
Speaker 1: with that pressure comes the pressure to perform. And a
Speaker 1: lot of times it was the times when you didn't
Speaker 1: perform to your best that you started to be believed like,
Speaker 1: well that that's what D two is, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Like when you didn't, when you weren't on the level
Speaker 1: of someone who was going to be the one that
Speaker 1: was gonna go, that was when you was kind of
Speaker 1: looked at as you know, you you're the failure in
Speaker 1: the area, like you was used as the person that
Speaker 1: people were saying on all you remember someone so man,
Speaker 1: they underachieved, they didn't get it done. A lot of
Speaker 1: guys in the community like that, they had the potential
Speaker 1: to be something great but instead kind of kind of
Speaker 1: got you know, second and third place, and they eventually
Speaker 1: got subbed out because they just didn't want to keep
Speaker 1: going because they couldn't handle you know, all of the
Speaker 1: scrutiny that was around. You know, you go to the
Speaker 1: local barber shop on what you're doing now, man, I'm
Speaker 1: going up in you. Oh man, you man, you were
Speaker 1: supposed to be doing this man, while you're not. And
Speaker 1: when that So that's what led me to the coaching.
Speaker 1: But end up happening was and it's a crazy little
Speaker 1: you know, life's are tripped men. You know, it's just
Speaker 1: a crazy twiss to how things came about the coaching.
Speaker 1: But my I was seeing a dating the ref at
Speaker 1: the time. I was kind of figuring out, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: transfer playing the little Jewicoke did a little Jewicoke thing, um,
Speaker 1: and I ended up transferring along Beach State. At the time,
Speaker 1: it was it was right after so Morgan coach Morgan
Speaker 1: Hromycuse from Syracuse coach Morgan coach Bargain was the assistant coach.
Speaker 1: Um there was and I know the other two because
Speaker 1: what I'm gonna take you What end up happening was
Speaker 1: I transferred there and a buddy of mine said, you
Speaker 1: need to become a pete you know, a kininesiology major,
Speaker 1: but just like an exercise science major. Hard major for sure. Right.
Speaker 1: So I'm taking these classes. Um, everything's doing great. Uh.
Speaker 1: And I would notice that a lot of times the
Speaker 1: guys were practicing the gold mine. You know, I'll come
Speaker 1: by boxing. Man. I started copping in the pickup with him,
Speaker 1: man whooping, and the guys was like, man, I mane,
Speaker 1: you can hoop. And I made a lot of friends there,
Speaker 1: and through those friends, those friends led to networking in
Speaker 1: Long Beach Unified in place like that. So my first uh,
Speaker 1: stop was at Mayfair High School. So I started at
Speaker 1: Mayfair with with the with the children's brothers there. You know,
Speaker 1: I want to say one was and one wasn't think
Speaker 1: one that graduated. And I started out there on frosts
Speaker 1: off and that was when my my mom's reference said, hey,
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity for you at L. A. Marshall. So
Speaker 1: when I went to L. A. Marshall at the time,
Speaker 1: it was it was a coach there. His name was
Speaker 1: Rod Tangent. Rod Angie was the head coach at Guardina
Speaker 1: where we played. He was actually the Asian guy that
Speaker 1: was at Gardena when we played, and he actually was
Speaker 1: assistant coach with coach and I at the need Hills.
Speaker 1: So when I shared the story, he says, okay, I
Speaker 1: remember coach and I recruiting you in high school. We
Speaker 1: had a little connection there. I was with him for
Speaker 1: about four years in the Northern League, which is like
Speaker 1: Franklin Marshall, Lincoln Wilson, Eagle Rock on that side of town.
Speaker 1: So you you understand where I was at. So I
Speaker 1: got a lot of my you know, coaching fundamentals and
Speaker 1: background from coach Coach TANGI was still on my staff.
Speaker 1: So so you're come from that Davia Night tree, come
Speaker 1: from that tree, from that tree, um, you know, and
Speaker 1: coach and I is very much connected in that community
Speaker 1: where I you know, being at Fremont uh during that time.
Speaker 1: And then of course guys have had a lot of offsprings,
Speaker 1: you know, nephews and cousins and they're all connected. And
Speaker 1: he's actually come in a few times and actually assisted
Speaker 1: with the program as laid you know so foundation and
Speaker 1: has helped us out, um you know, just mentoring the guys.
Speaker 1: So he's coming in several times and mentoring our guys.
Speaker 1: And uh, the likes of Fidelis Sokarak who's at birth
Speaker 1: Ridge now, Coachyakamatu is at Santa Clara, Haleb leccown who's
Speaker 1: at Eastern Carolina. We got ethelberta Num who's at uh Talladega,
Speaker 1: which is an Alabama it's top n Ai n Ai school.
Speaker 1: And I know exactly who Ethew Burn is because he
Speaker 1: played He played in the real Run this summer and
Speaker 1: I was and I was actually I did a couple
Speaker 1: of games on the mic over there, and I remember
Speaker 1: that name, so I saw ethel Berg get down a
Speaker 1: little bit. I was wondering where he came from. So
Speaker 1: if you remember Ethel Bird, he's the one that that
Speaker 1: that hit the buzzer beater UH for the championship in
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen when we won that Van Nuys
Speaker 1: against Van Eyes, the moment hit, the hit the he's
Speaker 1: the He's the all time hero, that's right, no matter
Speaker 1: where when he shows up, the King Drew you know,
Speaker 1: you know whatever. I'm yeah, legendary man and UH one
Speaker 1: of the most excited games I have a coached in
Speaker 1: my career. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
Speaker 1: lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Speaker 1: Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app search f s R to listen live. Well,
Speaker 1: let me ask you this, all this experience and mentoring,
Speaker 1: you hear about it a lot. You hear about coaches
Speaker 1: that are you know, come from or stem from a
Speaker 1: certain treat. Just talk a little bit with more specifics
Speaker 1: about the influence that UM you and I and coach
Speaker 1: you worked with their Gardina had on you as far
Speaker 1: as for your basketball philosophy, game planning, program building, or
Speaker 1: any of those type of basketball related items. I think
Speaker 1: the thing that I liked about UM the way that
Speaker 1: they kind of taught our me coming under them and
Speaker 1: their umbrella was the fact that they spent a lot
Speaker 1: of times um character assessing the kids. They were big
Speaker 1: on kids that played basketball outside of you know, practice,
Speaker 1: But we do, right. The rat that is what they
Speaker 1: call it, you know, the first thing they say about
Speaker 1: a kid when they assess him, and so he's not
Speaker 1: a rat because when you're a rat, you find ways
Speaker 1: to win games. You know, you are hustle a guy,
Speaker 1: you are muscle a guy. You out you you play
Speaker 1: with a guy's head. You know, you understand that talking
Speaker 1: is a part of the game. So you talking to
Speaker 1: the guy all the time, and the guy's not used
Speaker 1: to it because he's never seen a player like that.
Speaker 1: That's a rat just around again, you just out of
Speaker 1: like being a street guy. You can't take a guy,
Speaker 1: you know, some guy in the area where there's no
Speaker 1: crime and take him to an area with his crime.
Speaker 1: He's gonna vote, he's not gonna be able to understand
Speaker 1: what's going on. So it's kind of similar to like
Speaker 1: taking a guy that's a rat and then introducing them
Speaker 1: to a guy that has no experience. You know, that's
Speaker 1: just no substitute for a guy that's a rat, and
Speaker 1: it helped them. But they're teaching because a guy that's
Speaker 1: a rat, he gets it right away. Oh the same
Speaker 1: on Ballline. Oh you just show me something now, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get all these steals. A rat is gonna you know,
Speaker 1: a guy that knows the game and can I set
Speaker 1: the game, He's gonna understand that right away because he
Speaker 1: has a field. You know, this is not a great field. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that that's where coach and n i success
Speaker 1: came when he was at the Medias Hills for all
Speaker 1: those years. Um, and even with coach Tang, we've had
Speaker 1: our success because he was also able to recognize a
Speaker 1: kid that actually had it. You know, you either have
Speaker 1: it or you don't. And that's the problem with sports.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of times we can see something
Speaker 1: and we can say, wow, you know that kid could
Speaker 1: be something. But how many times have that that Have
Speaker 1: we've seen a guy like that? Well a lot of times.
Speaker 1: You know these kids, You see a kid, you see
Speaker 1: something in the kid, but he doesn't see it in himself,
Speaker 1: so he doesn't necessarily believe in it. But you see it,
Speaker 1: We see it. We're basketball people, and then he doesn't
Speaker 1: have the as you mentioned earlier, sometimes that guidance man,
Speaker 1: the guidance that voicing his ear to to kind of
Speaker 1: keep him on the right path. A lot of times
Speaker 1: dudes lose motivation because they don't have that. You know,
Speaker 1: Bundini Brown, if you will, you know Mohammad Ali's hype man.
Speaker 1: You know, you always need that hype guy, that that
Speaker 1: makes you believe, believe in yourself, believing your game. Man,
Speaker 1: it sounds like, you know, people in the neighborhood that
Speaker 1: you grew up in, they it was a double as source.
Speaker 1: So you know why, when the going was good, they
Speaker 1: make you feel great. But when the going gets tough
Speaker 1: a little bit, they're gonna be your biggest detractions. And
Speaker 1: that's okay, I feel like, and you tell me from
Speaker 1: wrong here. Did that type of surrounding an atmosphere, man,
Speaker 1: Did that make you stronger in the sense that you
Speaker 1: you feel you feel like you could pretty much take
Speaker 1: anything or deal with anything. Yeah, you know what it did,
Speaker 1: because at some point you have to realize that you
Speaker 1: can't let people control you, you know, you know, they
Speaker 1: can't rest spacing your head, you know, And that's exactly
Speaker 1: what was happening at that time. And like I said,
Speaker 1: a lot of that happened because uh, lack of a
Speaker 1: father figure. You know, I didn't have a mail, and
Speaker 1: you know, of course my mother would tell me, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, but when you listen to your mom, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, you're saying, Mom, you don't really understand, because
Speaker 1: these dudes really coming hard. You know, you know she understood.
Speaker 1: But you know a lot of times where we think
Speaker 1: when we're young, is I'm the one doing this. I'm
Speaker 1: the one running these laps and running these seventeens and
Speaker 1: playing in these games where I relied on to get
Speaker 1: twenty and thirty and you know what I mean, And
Speaker 1: and you know, get this look and this opportunity because
Speaker 1: I remember I ended up going to Superstars camp as
Speaker 1: a bar yeah, as a junior, going to be a singer,
Speaker 1: and you know that was where everybody was at, you know,
Speaker 1: and and that's when you start to realize, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, I'm not as good as I thought
Speaker 1: I was. You know what I'm saying, Man, it's a trip.
Speaker 1: It's a trip when you go and see all how
Speaker 1: many ball players are really out there, and it's and
Speaker 1: this dudes that be good that you never heard of.
Speaker 1: They'd be good. They're tall. He's like, God, damn, who
Speaker 1: is this? You know this crazy? Shoot? Good shoot? I
Speaker 1: remember I went to Superstars cap Man. It was this
Speaker 1: dude named Sean Pennington from Hayward, California. Bro. He looked
Speaker 1: like l J. Larry Johnson. Bro. He was out here
Speaker 1: when million he had to. He had the s curl
Speaker 1: like Tommy Davids back in the day. He had the
Speaker 1: nice s curl. This dude was up in here win million.
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely turned it out. But it opens your
Speaker 1: eyes and let you know, it gives you a good
Speaker 1: gage on where you stand. And for me, I know
Speaker 1: when I got back to the crib and I was
Speaker 1: running hills, I was doing all kind of stuff working
Speaker 1: out on the track, I was extra motivated because of
Speaker 1: that experience right right, and and I think that that
Speaker 1: did that for me. But it also bought a reality
Speaker 1: that you know, maybe I need to be more realistic
Speaker 1: about my basketball journey or I'm at it's a tough.
Speaker 1: That's a tough. That's a tough And that was that
Speaker 1: was that was kind of an eye opener. I think
Speaker 1: that what I tell the kids now that they have
Speaker 1: that we didn't have. Is that opportunity only came once.
Speaker 1: Now every year you look forward to AU season where
Speaker 1: you have this four or five six months just you
Speaker 1: see everybody. If you want to see him, you have
Speaker 1: a choice. Just that was you know what we call that.
Speaker 1: It was a suicide mission. He was going there one
Speaker 1: way and you was gonna come back another way. I
Speaker 1: mean it was either gonna go there and be that
Speaker 1: be him or he was gonna come back and be
Speaker 1: a fan like because you know my boy who passed
Speaker 1: away and he was solid in high school, Jason Hodges.
Speaker 1: You know, you know there's a buddy of mine with
Speaker 1: the Pedro right after Raymond Tuch, he came. His roommate
Speaker 1: at camp was Jason Terry j And that was when
Speaker 1: I started to say, danger is that If that's what
Speaker 1: high major is, I need to go work my ass off.
Speaker 1: I got a lot of work to do. And j
Speaker 1: t ended up doing some great things as we all
Speaker 1: we both know. And uh, after l. A. Marshall, where
Speaker 1: did you move on to or what was your next
Speaker 1: stop in your coaches coaching journey man? Great question? Um.
Speaker 1: After Marshall, I ended up getting the teaching job so
Speaker 1: at the time, man, it was so crazy because it
Speaker 1: was kind of like when that you know, it was
Speaker 1: like that stage where that was when they just started
Speaker 1: to just drag teachers, you know, you know, especially in
Speaker 1: l A Unified. Oh you know, oh, a lot of
Speaker 1: underachieving students, yeah scores and you know, they were making
Speaker 1: teachers take two years extra bits. Uh And I think
Speaker 1: they still do that. But it was just a lot
Speaker 1: of crazy things went on, and there were not a
Speaker 1: lot of jobs. So you know, when there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of jobs, where do you go to the roughest area.
Speaker 1: I went right over there to Sampedro and Imperial and
Speaker 1: uh I put my term my resume and the goppers
Speaker 1: and uh got a job there in uh oh six
Speaker 1: oh seven. And when I got the job there, I
Speaker 1: served the year before I sewed, before I actually um
Speaker 1: got the job. There's a guy there by the name
Speaker 1: of Mr Curry. He's a legendary guy, k c that's
Speaker 1: what everybody called him. And he used to coach a
Speaker 1: verb and he knew d d A d A knows
Speaker 1: coach very well. And he had a little connections and
Speaker 1: he told me that he had an opportunity for us
Speaker 1: of Holly Hollywood High School. So we ended up I
Speaker 1: ended up coaching the year at Hollywood. While I'm coaching
Speaker 1: at Hollywood. At the time, they had a tournament at
Speaker 1: Washington they used to have coach j used to put
Speaker 1: it on and Locke was there. So Lock seeing me,
Speaker 1: and somebody kind of introduced me to the coach at
Speaker 1: the times named Stephen Mennicks, and he said, man, you
Speaker 1: you the teacher that I've heard heard about the teachers
Speaker 1: that college that coaches. He's like, man, I'm ready to
Speaker 1: resign here, and they're gonna make me the a b
Speaker 1: over Green Dot because at the time Locke was turning
Speaker 1: into Green Dot and going away from the district and
Speaker 1: returning the charter. Like, they're gonna make me a d
Speaker 1: over these charter schools, and I'm gonna need somebody to
Speaker 1: replace me. He's like, hop on with me for a
Speaker 1: year and then I'm gonna, you know, give you, you know,
Speaker 1: handing the job. So I coached with him after Hollywood
Speaker 1: from o eight to oh nine, and then I was
Speaker 1: at Hollywood from I mean Hollywood. I was at Locked
Speaker 1: from that time oh eight oh nine all the way
Speaker 1: to two thousand and fourteen. While I resigned and that
Speaker 1: was when I had day Beyond Draper at a lock
Speaker 1: who ended up playing at FIU and at Low Valley.
Speaker 1: It was a big time star. Man six seven PG
Speaker 1: was recruited by s c CAL Washington State, Oregon State
Speaker 1: came in my practice. Man, I was crazy bring having
Speaker 1: those coaches. Ben Johnson who was assistant at Washington State
Speaker 1: at the time, he came down to practice. Uh So,
Speaker 1: Man Draper was a big time Draper actually plays in
Speaker 1: Brazil now. He's been a proteer now for about six
Speaker 1: seven years, so he's he's doing great. So that was
Speaker 1: like my first star player in the Coliseum League. It
Speaker 1: was I had Draper there who ended up in f
Speaker 1: I had Michael Shavers who ended up playing at UH
Speaker 1: Eastern Illinois. And then when you when look when you
Speaker 1: talk like to have players. I want people in my
Speaker 1: artists to understand this and understand where Locke is, to
Speaker 1: understand what Gompers is. Understand just kind of the type
Speaker 1: of guys were talking about. It's on the east side
Speaker 1: of Los Angeles, so it's it's in probably one of
Speaker 1: the most destitute areas of the city. It's a school
Speaker 1: that is under resource underserved obviously, and you and you
Speaker 1: took a job at a school without a lot of resources.
Speaker 1: How difficult was that to coach, to develop players and
Speaker 1: to build a winner. In a situation like that, it
Speaker 1: brings me, It brings you, It brings you back to
Speaker 1: what we talked about in the beginning. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like I've really discovered how I really love a game,
Speaker 1: and therefore it gave me this certain love for those
Speaker 1: kids because I just wanted to see them succeed. So
Speaker 1: it kind of like I just became they became like
Speaker 1: my offspring in a sense, because I just wanted to
Speaker 1: see them be successful when I've seen the potential and
Speaker 1: I told them, hey, have you fore we follow this blueprint,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a honest success, and you're gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of success because guess what, people on this
Speaker 1: side of town, they're not supposed to get out. And
Speaker 1: those kids took that conversation and they motivated them, and
Speaker 1: they just took it and ran with it. You know.
Speaker 1: Don Weppo had a son who played a door seat,
Speaker 1: and I had a kid on the team in two
Speaker 1: thousand uh two thousand and ten, two thousand eleven. His
Speaker 1: name was uhlp uh Edward Talbert and he had never
Speaker 1: dunked in the game and uh Don's son was big time.
Speaker 1: End up playing in lamar Man. This kid picks up
Speaker 1: a loose ball, goes down the floor and Don's son
Speaker 1: jumped and he jumped and he dumped on his son.
Speaker 1: And they came up with me after the game. He said,
Speaker 1: who is that kid? And I said, that's Edward. They're like, man, well,
Speaker 1: what are you doing over here? And that was you know,
Speaker 1: and that was just simple, just let's get in the
Speaker 1: weight room. That's work. Let's work. Let's work, because we've
Speaker 1: got to outwork people. And I think that the kids
Speaker 1: had that David and Gelive approach like but people don't
Speaker 1: understand about David. And the story of David is that
Speaker 1: before he even fought Goliath, he had already killed the
Speaker 1: lion and the bear. So killing the liab with the
Speaker 1: sings sling shode was nothing. He had already killed two
Speaker 1: other beasts, but you know with the sling side. So
Speaker 1: I'm really big on mental, you know, the mental aspect
Speaker 1: of the life. Nobody can attack your peace unless you
Speaker 1: let them. And each of those kids that everything is
Speaker 1: starting in their mind and they got to play with
Speaker 1: their hearts. That's just what I preached. I don't care
Speaker 1: about who we have to go take down, who we
Speaker 1: have to play. I think that if you can teach
Speaker 1: kids that they have to be have a mental approach
Speaker 1: and play with their heart. Man, if you don't have
Speaker 1: those type of guys, then't you know it's hard to coach. Well,
Speaker 1: you're you're developing mens. You give them some skills, tools
Speaker 1: that they can use for the rest of their life.
Speaker 1: So it's not just about this game or the sport.
Speaker 1: What you're teaching them is hard when the time, when
Speaker 1: times are tough, the tough get going, and that is
Speaker 1: it sounds like a cliche, but that's just the reality
Speaker 1: of the people that make it. In the people that don't,
Speaker 1: it's it's either you do or you don't. So either
Speaker 1: like you say, like people, you know, someone's gonna control
Speaker 1: your thinking or control your circumstances, tell you what you're
Speaker 1: gonna be, or you're gonna be who you want to be.
Speaker 1: And that's that's just the bottom line with with with
Speaker 1: it all. Man. When you at Lock, when you guys
Speaker 1: had that success and you started getting players, were were
Speaker 1: their thoughts at any point in that journey at Lock
Speaker 1: where you're like, man, I need to move on something bigger.
Speaker 1: My talents will be already to sort of graduate onto
Speaker 1: something else. Was there a time with that or or
Speaker 1: would you had been contented standing a lot twenty some years?
Speaker 1: You know, Man, that's a great question because basketball, but
Speaker 1: it comes down to coaching. It's so political. Um because
Speaker 1: for me it's hard because I'm a teacher, so I've
Speaker 1: got I've invested so much time in the l A unified.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of you know, I'm kind of on defence
Speaker 1: at times because I'm like, if I leave this community
Speaker 1: and I gotta deal with starting all over with tenure
Speaker 1: and what if I don't what if they don't like
Speaker 1: me there? And now I get fired and now I'm
Speaker 1: only scrambling and I left fifteen years of service behind.
Speaker 1: So yeah, at at the time then I would think
Speaker 1: that a lot. But but the problem was that when
Speaker 1: I say a lot, the first thing people think I was, Oh,
Speaker 1: you were with the bad kids or you were kids
Speaker 1: that don't listen. How would you work with these great kids?
Speaker 1: You probably would be too tough on them. M You know,
Speaker 1: it looked at me more as a villain instead of
Speaker 1: an asset. So I interviewed for several jobs, but when
Speaker 1: I would mention where I was coming from, they kind
Speaker 1: of would kind of ton of death there to it
Speaker 1: because they thought that I worked with gang members, guys
Speaker 1: that you know. Even when I was mentioned to them players,
Speaker 1: they were missing to me, like, oh, coach, we heard
Speaker 1: about that player. We heard he had, you know, some
Speaker 1: behavior problems. We heard about the time when you guys
Speaker 1: had the Royal Rumba with Crimshaw. Because while I was
Speaker 1: there in my chair, we had a water coach water Coach.
Speaker 1: I remember the video. I remember the video. Somebody had
Speaker 1: the video. Yeah, yeah, we had the Royal Rumba with
Speaker 1: with we have with with Crisshaw. So I had a
Speaker 1: lot of things going, you know with so Bob Rappy
Speaker 1: Tayson was out there as the you know, because the
Speaker 1: other day somebody mentioned that because we had a little
Speaker 1: thing going on at Westminster where when the king Do
Speaker 1: kids tried to get half and I didn't move, and
Speaker 1: they said, oh man, and ain't the that ain't the web,
Speaker 1: That ain't the lock web. He would have been clearing
Speaker 1: the floor out, you know, running all over the place
Speaker 1: for those days and past you know, so going into
Speaker 1: some of these opportunities that I thought I shouldn't have
Speaker 1: should have got it, I didn't because you know, I
Speaker 1: had this reputation of, you know, being kind of like
Speaker 1: a no nonsense, in your face type of guy that
Speaker 1: would challenge not only uh my players, but even the opponent.
Speaker 1: You know, when I kind of thought that they were
Speaker 1: on the line, you know you could have you know,
Speaker 1: you could you know, you kind of I would tell her.
Speaker 1: You know I have problems with coaches where I would
Speaker 1: tell them, you know, you kind of created this because
Speaker 1: you could have kind of let you know, kind of
Speaker 1: could have let up off. You know, you know, you
Speaker 1: got the kids chief shotting. You don't think these kids
Speaker 1: from the East Side go cheap. You know, you bring
Speaker 1: that to them. You know, you bring that over there,
Speaker 1: You're gonna get what you come for. So it was
Speaker 1: tired and that was it. You know, so you understand
Speaker 1: how I go. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
Speaker 1: talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
Speaker 1: at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Speaker 1: But where where Isn't it a trip? Though? That if
Speaker 1: you take us when we grew up our era. We
Speaker 1: grew up in the person you just described. Somebody that's
Speaker 1: in your face, somebody that was passionate about his job,
Speaker 1: didn't take stuff, you know, that type of I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say disciplinarian, but that type of mentor. That was the
Speaker 1: mentors that I grew up with, a Crenshaw that I
Speaker 1: was around my entire life with my dad, his friends,
Speaker 1: people here, you know, people that you know, talk to
Speaker 1: me sternly in my face, told me the truth and
Speaker 1: didn't pull no punches. But it's it's such it's such
Speaker 1: a trip to see that that type of mentor would
Speaker 1: be viewed as a villain nowadays or you know in
Speaker 1: the future. You know that type of person now or
Speaker 1: your personality it's just too tough. You know, you you
Speaker 1: don't acquiesca enough. You don't like, you know, fit in
Speaker 1: with the crew. I mean it's like, wait a second,
Speaker 1: hold on, man, Like, do you want to what do
Speaker 1: you want in this position? Do you want somebody that's gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, basically be a yes minute. Do you want
Speaker 1: somebody that's gonna stand on his own and his awn't
Speaker 1: own too, and believe and stand for something? Uh? So
Speaker 1: so anyway, I find that really want I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you about that because it's kind of off
Speaker 1: the subject, but I want to give a different assessment
Speaker 1: of what you're saying, and it's kind of goes to
Speaker 1: the NBA level. Break it down, let's talk about it
Speaker 1: real quick, because I think that it even happens because
Speaker 1: like sometimes I think in my you know, with the
Speaker 1: background that I have and some of the success I've
Speaker 1: had and being around a lot of good people like
Speaker 1: you uh eto uh d a uh like people that
Speaker 1: have really in this basketball world. You know, they know
Speaker 1: what's going on and know what time it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: are in the rooms with these people that make some
Speaker 1: of these decisions to give people opportunities to make you know,
Speaker 1: good money. Fact, they go to that guy when things fail.
Speaker 1: They searched for that guy. You know, you ever watch
Speaker 1: those movies where that guys were tired, that used to
Speaker 1: just kill stuff like a Rambo over there somewhere in
Speaker 1: a in a in a cabinet and just chilling. When
Speaker 1: things go bad, they fine get him the kind of
Speaker 1: like Boston, you know, when Brad Stevens couldn't get things
Speaker 1: done because they're six seven guys looking at him like, man,
Speaker 1: you ainte telling us not to control those dudes. Look
Speaker 1: what happens They bring in the guy that can see
Speaker 1: what seven you know, God, that's in your face. Then
Speaker 1: on the back side, he had other issues. That's the
Speaker 1: thing that I look at. I'm flawed. I come with
Speaker 1: stuff and can't you accept that when I come through
Speaker 1: that door? Are you willing to say, hey, we we
Speaker 1: know that you do X, y Z, but we're willing
Speaker 1: to tolerate that if you can get us to this level.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of time that's where we kind
Speaker 1: of get that, you know, the whole down, you know,
Speaker 1: the kind of like no, don't we get we get
Speaker 1: lets they say they play us down. He's capable, but
Speaker 1: this is what you have to deal with. So then
Speaker 1: you get pushed to the left. Although I feel like
Speaker 1: I am able and capable to do some of these
Speaker 1: high profile jobs, I think that I still have to
Speaker 1: work on other aspects of my professionalism just to at
Speaker 1: least be able to tolerate some of the things that
Speaker 1: come with those jobs. Yeah, there are things that come
Speaker 1: with those jobs that you have to be able to
Speaker 1: look at except and then kind of turning back on
Speaker 1: you know, and not have kind of like a voice
Speaker 1: on it, you know. No, Yeah, and that's that's part
Speaker 1: of it, is maturity, and the other part of it
Speaker 1: is figuring out if that's you know, what you want
Speaker 1: to you know, be involved with, Like do I want
Speaker 1: to be that guy that spent twenty years here, turned
Speaker 1: my head and a bunch of stuff, had to adjust
Speaker 1: and edit my personality pretty much beat somebody that I
Speaker 1: wasn't for twenty years, just so I can hold onto
Speaker 1: this check, get this little notoriety, have these accolades, get
Speaker 1: this retirement. I mean, it's just it's it's it happens
Speaker 1: all the time. It's a choice that people make. You've
Speaker 1: seen people O. G. S people before us, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna be people after us, and then everyone has to
Speaker 1: make that choice, you know what I'm saying with absolutely,
Speaker 1: So getting back to what you were talking about with
Speaker 1: me being a lock, you know, when I was at Lock,
Speaker 1: when I was getting ready to leave, was how I
Speaker 1: got connected to who you know very much well, one
Speaker 1: of your guys, one of your dogs that was in
Speaker 1: the fight back then, the Maria Jones. You know, I
Speaker 1: was able to connect the Maria with of course, how
Speaker 1: did you get connected to the Maria. So you know,
Speaker 1: you know another Chris saw Krueger who would probably getting
Speaker 1: mad if I mentioned it. So I'm just gonna say
Speaker 1: his initials on here because he he doesn't like to that.
Speaker 1: Everybody doesn't like to take credit for things with d H. Okay,
Speaker 1: So d H is the one. Okay, that's what I
Speaker 1: called my neighborhood here bro find me this local talent
Speaker 1: to me. So d H brought the mar to me
Speaker 1: and me and the Maria, you know, we established a
Speaker 1: really good relationship while I was at Lock, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know he we ended up being able to bring
Speaker 1: him over to Narbonne when I resigned, because although I resigned,
Speaker 1: I resigned because I had a family matter to having.
Speaker 1: My grandparents had passed apart, and that was my mom's
Speaker 1: parents and she was going through it and I had
Speaker 1: to be there for her family and things like that.
Speaker 1: So I didn't want to still be connected coaching, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to help Themorrow. So I went to Narbonne
Speaker 1: for those three years and we had some success were
Speaker 1: you know, actually came with us. Remember I don't know
Speaker 1: if you remember that. Yeah, I love it. I love
Speaker 1: I love that team Jamal Hicks. That's it was, y'all beefy.
Speaker 1: But for those that are familiar with Maria Da Maria
Speaker 1: Jones went to um Or Roberts, so he and Juco.
Speaker 1: But god, that guy's story is so was so amazing
Speaker 1: because remember De Mario had some initial challenges academically, overcame them,
Speaker 1: became was eligible. Was like city player of the year
Speaker 1: just came out of nowhere. One year varsity basketball absolutely
Speaker 1: turned it out. And then with the Juco route and
Speaker 1: then you know, I looked then I look up. I
Speaker 1: swear man, it was like I hadn't heard what was
Speaker 1: doing for a couple of years and I look up
Speaker 1: and he had grabbed seventeen rebounds in the battle. I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, it was like, you know, Farl Roberts.
Speaker 1: I was like, DeMar, yeah, man, one of my all
Speaker 1: time favorite kids. Man, one of my all time favorite
Speaker 1: kids and was a part of us. Some great things
Speaker 1: have happened there with all the n C double, a
Speaker 1: run with the team, you know, the first title, so
Speaker 1: things that will always be there twenty years, thirty years,
Speaker 1: forty years. And he got his degree. I mean he
Speaker 1: got his degree and and about to get up a
Speaker 1: Master's anybody to get a masters in the veggest, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, come on, you don't get no
Speaker 1: better than that story. That's the story. I need to
Speaker 1: get his but on here because that's the bottoms of
Speaker 1: the forties. Man to the to the top of the
Speaker 1: hill and still and truly someone that came from from that,
Speaker 1: straight from that without the mud mom, truly trut out
Speaker 1: the mud dad, straight out the mud man. Lost both
Speaker 1: of them lost still, but still kept it moving. He's
Speaker 1: still stud tall, you know. And uh, does it give
Speaker 1: you a special sense of satisfaction when you were able
Speaker 1: to influence the lives of somebody like a Maria or
Speaker 1: somebody like a Fidelist or any any of your players? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Doesn't really? Is that why you do it with? You know,
Speaker 1: I do. I do it for that, but I also
Speaker 1: do it for the satisfactor. And I'm knowing that. You know,
Speaker 1: I've always felt like you earn your stripes here because
Speaker 1: it's temporary to get to the next level, which is
Speaker 1: you know, we we we know having our hell you
Speaker 1: know you are, how you live here is how you
Speaker 1: graduate to the next level. And I just believe in
Speaker 1: services kJ That's why It's always loved when I see
Speaker 1: you because your service at a point, you service to Mario.
Speaker 1: You've helped out with his recruitment and getting them connected
Speaker 1: to and I hope I can say this on here.
Speaker 1: You know, of course, of course you did him connected
Speaker 1: to laughing and and and being being kind of like
Speaker 1: a vessel for an underdog. You know, a kid that
Speaker 1: kind of got this service through this thing. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you motivate me because if I don't have
Speaker 1: that connection to you, or we don't have that type
Speaker 1: of love for each other, that never happens. You see
Speaker 1: more guys that turn their death ear on those type
Speaker 1: of situations than guys that are winning to chump in.
Speaker 1: We talked about that with like guys Carl Lewis or
Speaker 1: people turn their back on those potential great grade success stories,
Speaker 1: then they then they gravitate towards it. And that's why
Speaker 1: I'm still a Kingdre. People don't know a lot about Kendrew.
Speaker 1: You know, I gotta say this on the air here.
Speaker 1: One thing is you don't get a recruited Kendrew. You
Speaker 1: get a ninth grader. So the only recruit you can
Speaker 1: really get is a a top ninth grader, which is
Speaker 1: very difficult to get in this air. And why can't
Speaker 1: you get a recruit into Keydrew siver on the like
Speaker 1: laces they go off system where if you are not Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have you have to have sibling credit. Um,
Speaker 1: you have to you have to be in a cohort
Speaker 1: as a come into school and leave the school. The
Speaker 1: same answer. So it's very rare that you can be
Speaker 1: a tenth grader enter the core because you missed a
Speaker 1: portion of what they have. Whether there are better in
Speaker 1: their curriculum being a medical magnet, wow, we don't. So
Speaker 1: the success that we've had and I'll tell these tell
Speaker 1: the kids, and being able to even get a kid
Speaker 1: to be a Division one player is far very difficult.
Speaker 1: There's no athletic period there, there's one gym there, there's
Speaker 1: not multiple ways to develop, you know, the way I
Speaker 1: would like to. So, so let me ask you this.
Speaker 1: So it's a medical magnet school? Is the curriculum, King Drew?
Speaker 1: Is it? So? The ones of your players, the classes
Speaker 1: that they're taking. It's pretty difficult in a sense because
Speaker 1: that very rigorous. Uh damn. Most of the students you know,
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're gonna definitely be academically inclined, not necessarily
Speaker 1: athletically incline. If you can get and athletically and academic
Speaker 1: student student in that school, it's probably a kid that
Speaker 1: probably wouldn't have went to like Harvard, Westlake or because
Speaker 1: that's how academically is there. You know, Like, I have
Speaker 1: a kid there and I'm not gonna say that he's struggling,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna say he's being a child less if
Speaker 1: that makes sense? Where you know, where he can go to?
Speaker 1: Maybe I would say Narva and just probably just sit
Speaker 1: here and I'll be like, man, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: You know? You know there it's kind of like you know,
Speaker 1: did you do? You know? As a as opposed to
Speaker 1: he's not doesn't have enough work, he has too much work.
Speaker 1: He if he doesn't stay on top of it, it's
Speaker 1: gonna pile up and it's gonna basically overwhelmed him. You know.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's difficently So tell you the story for
Speaker 1: that is so Kirk, here's a primary example. But that's
Speaker 1: what Kirk. When he was a senior Stanford call, he
Speaker 1: was playing out of his mind. You know, remember how
Speaker 1: you talking about the two hand volleyball blob. Remember how
Speaker 1: he was this plan this, he was playing his mind.
Speaker 1: Then we went on that state run. Well we ended up.
Speaker 1: Then they're coming with him one game of going to
Speaker 1: Sacramento and then the COVID hit right that hit. It
Speaker 1: made him recruitment blow up because everybody started thinking about
Speaker 1: the what if you know, what if this? What if that?
Speaker 1: You know? So because they because Reggie wanted to take
Speaker 1: him on the y not team at the time, it
Speaker 1: called me and said, hey, well but we you this
Speaker 1: thing don't play out. I want I want Fadellas. So
Speaker 1: Stanford called and to tell you about the how crazy
Speaker 1: it is if Fordellas was at Washington with the Stanford
Speaker 1: because it's transcript with a body probably been crazy. All
Speaker 1: a's maybe a couple of bees. Kim Drew he had
Speaker 1: too many seeds. He had a p classes but he
Speaker 1: had seeds like man because we love to touch him.
Speaker 1: But he got too many seeds. The school won't a
Speaker 1: man because in order for Stanford the Gaina Scholarship, you
Speaker 1: have to be admitting into the university. So then guess
Speaker 1: what coach Gibb you know it sounds that Navy he
Speaker 1: called because they were thinking King Drew. This is a
Speaker 1: kid that's gonna have uh, you know, immacing and transcript
Speaker 1: and touch him. That's how he ended up in north Ridge,
Speaker 1: you know. Uh and the same thing. You know, we're
Speaker 1: dealt with the you know, we dealt with that with
Speaker 1: Kocy a little bit. The academic rigor. You know, we're
Speaker 1: dealt with that with You have to take those type
Speaker 1: of classes to be take there like that. Remember how
Speaker 1: I was telling you the core, Oh, the Core. So
Speaker 1: you're you're signing up to take the class. You know,
Speaker 1: can you slapping? Yeah, telling you man, it's slapping up there.
Speaker 1: You you can play around with it, you know. You
Speaker 1: you give your food because it's kind of like a
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a public private school because you know,
Speaker 1: you got the uniform, you got the nice academic rigor,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's and it's not in the greatest area,
Speaker 1: but the school is safe. They have a no tolerance
Speaker 1: for everything, you know, drugs, fighting, you know, you do
Speaker 1: anything out of here, there's no Oh, you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna give you another chance. You fight, yaut It called
Speaker 1: doing this y'all. So you know, it's just in that regard,
Speaker 1: any kid could go there because if you don't follow
Speaker 1: the guidelines you know you're going. So I just wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure that I said that on this, you know,
Speaker 1: on your show, just letting people know the success we
Speaker 1: had has just been it's been really really a Keen
Speaker 1: Drew kid. It hasn't been he went and got this guy.
Speaker 1: That not not not that I'm knocking any coach that
Speaker 1: has that, you know, amenity to do that. Fox Sports
Speaker 1: Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Speaker 1: Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot
Speaker 1: com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
Speaker 1: s R to listen live. Now, we're not not we're
Speaker 1: not knocking that. But there's also something special about developing
Speaker 1: a kid from ninth grade on. It's spending those every
Speaker 1: day for four years and then you guys are winning
Speaker 1: the championship. You guys are you know, close to winning
Speaker 1: the City Open Division championship with kids that are basically
Speaker 1: homegrown talent, right that have that have been all together.
Speaker 1: So there's a special sense of satisfaction to that. We
Speaker 1: don't knock you know, the guys that go get them dogs.
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure that. But we're big up,
Speaker 1: but we're big up the Lloyd Websters of the city,
Speaker 1: of the state of the country that are able to
Speaker 1: do more with less. So and that's something that I
Speaker 1: saw firsthand, Lloyd. So look, man, when you first got
Speaker 1: the job at King Drew, was it two thousand seventeen seasons?
Speaker 1: So that season, so I remember, I was doing the
Speaker 1: real Run Fall League with d ed Linwood, and I remember,
Speaker 1: you know King Drew. I had never heard of the school.
Speaker 1: I knew you were coaching, so I was trying to
Speaker 1: load you up with matchups. You're bringing through the whole program,
Speaker 1: varsity h j V. I think, you know, maybe and
Speaker 1: then freshman, yeah, I did. Yeah, if we were and
Speaker 1: we were more three courts. But I what I remember
Speaker 1: about you in that program, you had already were instilling discipline.
Speaker 1: You guys were creating sort of a reputation, in forming
Speaker 1: an identity for yourselves. Even back then some of them,
Speaker 1: you know, you get blown out a lot of the games,
Speaker 1: but then there's then later like week three, you guys
Speaker 1: were starting to get in games. Stuff was like you
Speaker 1: know that that that margin was closed and closed. Then
Speaker 1: you start snapping some foods, you start knocking off, chipping
Speaker 1: off some foods like yeah, heat over there at all
Speaker 1: and act like, yeah, you know it wasn't because the
Speaker 1: second week was now now heat over there. Man. It
Speaker 1: was a great fight. That was That was man, you know.
Speaker 1: And that's why I say, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: the building of the program came with the resources and
Speaker 1: the and the networking and the good friends and I
Speaker 1: made over the years. I don't think that that that
Speaker 1: just suc sess comes with without having people that kind
Speaker 1: of like appreciate what you do and they think of
Speaker 1: you when they want good sound people to come around it,
Speaker 1: because you know, that's a great venue you guys actually
Speaker 1: had there, and we didn't want people that are gonna
Speaker 1: come in and create a great environment in that venue.
Speaker 1: You don't want people are gonna come and tear it down.
Speaker 1: And that's what I appreciated about, you know why when
Speaker 1: you were there and the things that you were doing,
Speaker 1: and you and d A and Coach Crow and that
Speaker 1: he still does. You know, those environments, man, those make
Speaker 1: guys they understanding and then and it builds a great
Speaker 1: reputation that will last a lifetime. And that's why I
Speaker 1: was so adamant about getting on this show, just because
Speaker 1: you know, we have a relationship man, and stands back
Speaker 1: beyond the Marier. You know Mac Compton magic movie over there,
Speaker 1: with with with with you, with you, with your son,
Speaker 1: that some great things, you know. Proud of that young
Speaker 1: man as well. Has you know, been on a nice
Speaker 1: little journey of his um and uh, you know, like
Speaker 1: I said, man, I just his his props. Man, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Proud of you, man, But I'm
Speaker 1: proud of you and I appreciate that where but I'm
Speaker 1: proud of you. Man. I wanted to just just talk
Speaker 1: about the satisfaction man of and I know it was
Speaker 1: a little bit of sweet last year because to get
Speaker 1: all the way to the mountaintop and then not to
Speaker 1: not to achieve the ultimate goal. But you guys didn't.
Speaker 1: You guys had an amazing showing throughout the entire situation.
Speaker 1: Talk about though the kids Caleb account was was there
Speaker 1: was there a disappointment or was there a sense of
Speaker 1: satisfaction after losing in the city championship last year? You know,
Speaker 1: calib Accounms is really just a special player. He's like
Speaker 1: a once in a lifetime type of player. You know,
Speaker 1: he came there highly touted. You know, the King Drew
Speaker 1: and I was just blessed to have him for four years.
Speaker 1: I just I just can't say enough about him. You know,
Speaker 1: he's not one of those you know, you know our coaches,
Speaker 1: they oh, he's just I'm not about to say he's
Speaker 1: he's he does he did everything right. But I talked about.
Speaker 1: What I talk about is like our relationship, like we
Speaker 1: had a certain level of understandings or whatever I needed
Speaker 1: for him to do, even if it was something that
Speaker 1: was gonna hurt him, he knew that it was gonna
Speaker 1: be in his best interest, so he trusted. Those relationships
Speaker 1: are just so much better than the ones we have
Speaker 1: to struggle with somebody because they don't believe what she's
Speaker 1: said is true. And that's the only reason why I'm
Speaker 1: thinking the end we had that success because I want
Speaker 1: to those type of coaches where you say to me,
Speaker 1: and we were in a championship, I'm gonna say to you, well,
Speaker 1: let's go do it, and I'm gonna do everything in
Speaker 1: my power to put you in position. So Canna put
Speaker 1: the work in as a player, and I put the
Speaker 1: work in as a coach, And my job as a
Speaker 1: coach was to make those other guys believe in his vision.
Speaker 1: And once they realized, oh he is the one, this
Speaker 1: is the way that we need to go. I think
Speaker 1: that what happens though, And you know this as a player,
Speaker 1: you've been in these positions. I just you know, I've
Speaker 1: I've watched you. You know, as a player, you know, um,
Speaker 1: somebody else has a step up. There's always another long hero.
Speaker 1: You know, if you talk about the Lakers, you're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Shack and Kobe, but then you're gonna bring
Speaker 1: up Fisher. Sorry, sorry, So I think that that's what
Speaker 1: happened this season. We just never had another guy that
Speaker 1: was gonna separate himself from to be the next guy
Speaker 1: or the guy that was gonna you know that that
Speaker 1: guys will remember him, but you gotta remember that kid
Speaker 1: in the championship. It's just gonna always be came of
Speaker 1: accounting what didn't happen. You know, we had a couple
Speaker 1: of guys step up periodically, but never to the point
Speaker 1: of where we would have been able to take that
Speaker 1: championship without Caleb. Happened like forty or something crazy, and
Speaker 1: then that's having a crazy defensive game. You know what
Speaker 1: we did come back and he was capable of the
Speaker 1: definitely capable, But you know what happened during that game,
Speaker 1: but I don't remember. I don't remember. There was a
Speaker 1: kid and he's gonna be really good that about three
Speaker 1: year his name was Donald Thompson. Light skinned. Kid hit
Speaker 1: about two three threes in the corner when he had
Speaker 1: about end up, but he ended up with twenty. It
Speaker 1: was a portion of the game. He probably hit like
Speaker 1: two back to back threes and we cut it to
Speaker 1: like probably like about eight. It was about four or
Speaker 1: thirty four left, and Jacob came down caleus brother and
Speaker 1: he tried to go underneath instead of kicking it back out,
Speaker 1: and that would have put us down five for the
Speaker 1: warning because the momentum, you know, basketball, is that moment.
Speaker 1: They would have went down and they would have felt
Speaker 1: that pressure as they used to say that booty get tight.
Speaker 1: It would have ended up doing something crazy and we
Speaker 1: would have went back and cut into two. What she
Speaker 1: cult of the two and you gotta start like the
Speaker 1: count you know what time? You know, that's when we
Speaker 1: kid the whole time. All of those games came down
Speaker 1: to the fourth quarter. He at his age, we was
Speaker 1: down six with about three thirty left, right, I said,
Speaker 1: you know what, man, it's been a great season. Man,
Speaker 1: I love you guys. Garless. That little dude said what
Speaker 1: we he was we what came out? Stole the ball?
Speaker 1: He went down like he was gonna go to the basket.
Speaker 1: Pomp back out, three down, came back down again, deal,
Speaker 1: come back down down the three ball tied it up.
Speaker 1: Now we tied up. Crowd how his own hushbold, what
Speaker 1: just happened? And guess what that was? Like two thirty
Speaker 1: left to go in the game and its signed up,
Speaker 1: So it's like zero zero. Here we go. Now that's
Speaker 1: still lay up. Step back for another three, go up,
Speaker 1: it's over. He's start, he's around there. We do you
Speaker 1: know we have to go over the town. Oh they
Speaker 1: dick A J. Johnson and and the big lefty you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was cold and they had another little nothing little
Speaker 1: slicer and diicer. Oh. I'm like, man, you know, let's
Speaker 1: see what happens. You know, they come out on fire
Speaker 1: twelve on't run boom, they pin pinned down a j.
Speaker 1: They crowd said, who's King Drew? Who's King Drew? Sudden
Speaker 1: he started do you high screening? They seen anohing woom.
Speaker 1: He started looking at them talking to the boom doing
Speaker 1: the Kobe. The know he comes, they see y'all know, man,
Speaker 1: I got me up six three to go. Then we
Speaker 1: went up twelve. We got crazy. They were so concerned. Man,
Speaker 1: we came up at a point. I mean, once we
Speaker 1: reversed the ball, guys can just walk to the basket.
Speaker 1: We just had guys, they just got They had like
Speaker 1: three guys trying to guard. He need just out there
Speaker 1: and then he just you know, he's a point guard.
Speaker 1: So he just cutting cut through the your gap and boom,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna got cutting him. Yeah. Man, that was the
Speaker 1: number one seed seed. But I don't think people talking
Speaker 1: about enough is we took out the number one seed.
Speaker 1: People would never really understand that cage. How difficult that
Speaker 1: we didn't take it. We didn't meet at the house
Speaker 1: at the house house there. They were number one seed
Speaker 1: and we took them out at their house. That's a
Speaker 1: huge win. In front of the head coach from Cow
Speaker 1: that's a huge win. Yeah, he was there. He's like, man,
Speaker 1: you got tough man. You know. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you know that guy used to be at Georgia. Yeah, Mark,
Speaker 1: Mark Fox, there you go, that's his name. That's it.
Speaker 1: So So how do you after last season's sort of
Speaker 1: just hyes, how do you come down to earth and
Speaker 1: prepare for this season life without Mr lacun Bro. How
Speaker 1: do you again get back to where you were last year?
Speaker 1: Win the commers in the league and then win or
Speaker 1: at least making fun of for the city. Man, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be tough. It was tough last year. It's never easy.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not easy. It's it's there's no but man,
Speaker 1: I lay my hat on what Floyd Mayweather and and
Speaker 1: and you know, and Baltimore Ravens and and all these
Speaker 1: other top top you know, teams that live their legacy
Speaker 1: behind defense. I lay my hat on that. I don't
Speaker 1: believe that you when it comes down to a war,
Speaker 1: it's them dudes is willing to get dirty. It's nothing
Speaker 1: more dairy than defense. Hardcore. You can you can, you can.
Speaker 1: You can turn a lot of guys off being physically
Speaker 1: defensively on this old school like that. Man. I remember
Speaker 1: Chris all games. Man. You know what, when I remember playing,
Speaker 1: we played the time to play Christial you know that
Speaker 1: would be on the schedule. I tell kids back when
Speaker 1: we play, we only played seventeen games a year. You know,
Speaker 1: I've got to get to play twenty eight. They don't
Speaker 1: believe that. Like if you try the kid kJ that
Speaker 1: you want to play seventeen games. Actually, how did you
Speaker 1: get to u c L A player? Don't even saying
Speaker 1: that's how we was hoping. That's how we was hoping.
Speaker 1: We was hoping. That's even team game was in blood
Speaker 1: like he was doing. So what I remember all the
Speaker 1: time is how much you heard after those games as
Speaker 1: it was physical. And I tell the kids all the time,
Speaker 1: I said, that's what people remember after the fight, the recovery.
Speaker 1: Think about it when you're fighting. It's when you wake up.
Speaker 1: That's what you said. I want to fight that dude
Speaker 1: no more. I hope I don't never see him again,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But you don't think about
Speaker 1: that when you're fighting. You know what I mean, You're
Speaker 1: just trying to win. It's after you start saying, damn,
Speaker 1: I gotta not right here, Hey, I gotta no not
Speaker 1: back here, start feeling stuff. You didn't know, my arm
Speaker 1: kind of feel kind of funny, man, swinging it were
Speaker 1: wrong way, you know. So that's the type of things
Speaker 1: that I tell the kids. If it hurts, you know,
Speaker 1: you've been effective. That's not hurt you. Then you didn't
Speaker 1: do anything. You just out there going through the motions.
Speaker 1: If you don't hurt after a basketball game, kJ, you
Speaker 1: didn't do that, what did you do? Like if you
Speaker 1: don't feel no pain, you don't gotta scratch, you don't
Speaker 1: got a little not you don't got a little You
Speaker 1: didn't really get in the fight. Yeah, you're not doing something.
Speaker 1: You're you're not in the mix. And that's the hardest
Speaker 1: thing to tell these players. Now, you want to know
Speaker 1: the hardest thing it is to tell these guys as
Speaker 1: a coach, you can never ever ever that's your effort.
Speaker 1: You can't measure it. You can't measure effort because your
Speaker 1: effort in my effort is different, your idea of effort, year,
Speaker 1: your idea, you know what I mean. Like everybody has
Speaker 1: this perception of I'm doing hard. You are to play
Speaker 1: with a dude like that, and you are not going hard.
Speaker 1: You are you are not. You will tell you they
Speaker 1: go to stop it, dude, you already know you know
Speaker 1: you just had to do. They used to just hang
Speaker 1: out right there at the top and just guard the
Speaker 1: top so you can take off a I'm kidding out here, Bro,
Speaker 1: you ain't doing nothing. You know what you're doing this
Speaker 1: standing in front and let the guy go by. We're
Speaker 1: playing all the d you know, So just saying I
Speaker 1: just say that the same like kids just believe they
Speaker 1: play so hard. Now, man, I bet you if you
Speaker 1: talk to some of these guys after these games and
Speaker 1: you interviewed them, he say, hey, let me talk to
Speaker 1: for hello on the on the scull of one and tea,
Speaker 1: and how hard you think you played? I guarantee you
Speaker 1: they're gonna say a team. They're not gonna And if
Speaker 1: you tell them but I'm getting you're five, man, they're
Speaker 1: gonna say, are you crazy? Man? Hater? You're hating hut
Speaker 1: out to like Mikey or tell that to these guys
Speaker 1: that are Feenis Man, they think you're crazy, you know.
Speaker 1: And and and a lot of people will say, man,
Speaker 1: don't they just don't believe a lot of these guys
Speaker 1: play hard. You know, they just don't. I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't really see kids playing as hard as I used to.
Speaker 1: You know, I used to see kids that really really
Speaker 1: played hard. They may have not has been as talented,
Speaker 1: but they definitely played the game hard. Yeah, I can
Speaker 1: agree these guys nowadays, they got all the bills and whistles,
Speaker 1: they got the skill set, they got the between the legs,
Speaker 1: behind the back step back trip. But but but but
Speaker 1: they you know, do they are they tired? Are they
Speaker 1: do they have to come out? Do they have to
Speaker 1: come out the game because they are just going so
Speaker 1: hard that they just need to blow or they coming
Speaker 1: out the game because you know they just chilling. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what. The kid, a kid that plays hard.
Speaker 1: H this kid, Marcus Adams out of North Bonne. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you see he plays hard. He plays hard.
Speaker 1: Absolutely that that kid plays hard. Bro Man, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you right now. And he's dangerous. And I had
Speaker 1: to call Coach Hill the other day and uh say, man,
Speaker 1: you know Coach Hill have been riding the raven about
Speaker 1: himself somebody right because you know he he had he
Speaker 1: had left it came back. I saw that. So you know,
Speaker 1: he'll been telling guys about him, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: the E took a liking to him early, you know,
Speaker 1: because you know that you know He'll and the are
Speaker 1: pretty close, and he took a liking to him early
Speaker 1: and saying, you know, you know, coach, I believe it,
Speaker 1: and you know the rest is history. So the A
Speaker 1: gonna laugh. You know, yeah, the A already knew what
Speaker 1: time it was. You know what I'm saying something, And
Speaker 1: you're talking about a guy that you know, no nobody
Speaker 1: has done more in the community than than d A. Man.
Speaker 1: Shout out the d A. Anthony Linkston. Yes, sir, the
Speaker 1: man big time in the community. Yeah, he loves he
Speaker 1: does it for the love man. He he doesn't care.
Speaker 1: He didn't care about anything but helping. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: a he's a great influence. He's somebody that we all
Speaker 1: looked up to, a big old g that does things
Speaker 1: the right way and keeps it real at the same time.
Speaker 1: That's what I love about d A all the time, man,
Speaker 1: all the time. Man. And guess what, man, all right,
Speaker 1: A man of his word. Facts you're not don't don't
Speaker 1: don't don't don't don't, don't don't go at d A.
Speaker 1: If you're not a man of your word, Yeah, get
Speaker 1: the shout. I'll tell you guys out there, man, let
Speaker 1: let the O g B. If you're not a man
Speaker 1: of your word, let the use We all let you go.
Speaker 1: Sure we keep that you know all right, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah for sure, Man, protect the a well coach Webb. Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you taking the time today brother to hop
Speaker 1: on kJ live. Man. It's been a true honor blessing
Speaker 1: to talk to you today. Bro. I love this conversation
Speaker 1: and uh, I love what you're doing. Man. I love
Speaker 1: the commitment that you have to teach you that you
Speaker 1: have to the game and that you have to catch
Speaker 1: to help him the next generation kids. Man, It definitely
Speaker 1: it definitely resonates and you we can really sense that
Speaker 1: you truly mean every word you say, my brother, Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate the conwerse kJ Man. Thanks for having me, Man,
Speaker 1: and you know already know, Man, I'm a sieve you
Speaker 1: down on line champion, Yes, sir, I appreciate you, ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen. Lloyd Webster signing off Man, much love, peace,