Speaker 1: Episode two, all the smoke. Welcome back myself, Jack, Jack.
Speaker 1: Hope you guys enjoyed the episode zero and episode one.
Speaker 1: About a week and a half into the season, and
Speaker 1: I couldn't be more excited. Man, just getting started, Baby,
Speaker 1: just getting started. It's gonna be fun. Zion is about
Speaker 1: about six weeks out. We found out, you know, about
Speaker 1: a week and a half ago that, uh, meniscus. I'm
Speaker 1: not surprised at all. I wouldn't be either, Uh to me,
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's overhyped. I think they're trying
Speaker 1: to paint a crazy picture early on that he's too
Speaker 1: big and he's to this and he's too that meniscus
Speaker 1: is an injury that can happen to anybody, like a
Speaker 1: sprained ankle. But I will say I I do think
Speaker 1: in the scheme of things, when he starts to kind
Speaker 1: of understand what the rigors of the NBA are about
Speaker 1: how many games, what the travels like, I think he
Speaker 1: will need to come down to probably about two sixty
Speaker 1: two sixty five. I think that zone will probably be
Speaker 1: the best zaleon for the league because of how long
Speaker 1: the season is and you know, the travel and how
Speaker 1: much they're gonna depend on him. His body. Everybody knew
Speaker 1: it was gonna be a problem or be an issue
Speaker 1: coming into the season. You mean an issue in in
Speaker 1: a negative way. Yeah, because it's the difference between looking
Speaker 1: like a grown man and playing with grown man. It's
Speaker 1: a totally big difference. You know, he was bigger than
Speaker 1: all the kids, but the wear and tear, the wrestling
Speaker 1: with those stronger guys. The court is way more open
Speaker 1: in the NBA, so he's gonna get easier dunks in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and he did in college because he's playing
Speaker 1: with better players and make better plays for him. So
Speaker 1: I knew his body. I knew it was. It was
Speaker 1: a plus that he was big like that, but I
Speaker 1: also knew it was a minus too because not having
Speaker 1: a muscle structure type body and being such an athlete.
Speaker 1: I knew somewhere down the line he was gonna have
Speaker 1: some problems before he lost that weight, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I knew he. I knew it was gonna
Speaker 1: be a point where it's got the force in a
Speaker 1: losing weight. I wish it wasn't y because I wanted
Speaker 1: to see him, but I knew it was gonna be
Speaker 1: something like that that was gonna happen for him to
Speaker 1: have to lose or force him to lose weight because
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna do it on his own. Well take,
Speaker 1: but it's not like when when we say, like wait,
Speaker 1: it's not like he's fat or out of shape. He's
Speaker 1: just a big gass kid. But you know when you're
Speaker 1: getting basketball shaped like Lebron's huge, but he's lean. He's
Speaker 1: still got a lot of baby fat on. He got
Speaker 1: a lot of baby fat on. But I think that
Speaker 1: also comes to what were you doing in eating at nineteen?
Speaker 1: You gotta we we gotta remember he's still a teenager,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So I think him coming
Speaker 1: into the league and understanding what the league is about.
Speaker 1: I think that maturity and having more of an understanding.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I don't really like it could be
Speaker 1: some baby fat, but he's just a big kids in
Speaker 1: the South. I can imagine, you know, in pounds and
Speaker 1: crawfish pride, poach chops. I want some of them right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we go ahead, lick that ship real quick. Excited? Yeah
Speaker 1: all right? But like I said, I think what would
Speaker 1: experience maturity, you know, changing his diet and just having
Speaker 1: a better understanding of what the game is about. But
Speaker 1: I think this kid is gonna be fine, will be.
Speaker 1: I had a similar injury into thousand and ten with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, uh, you know, a meniscus where they had
Speaker 1: to take thirty percent out, and I think the biggest
Speaker 1: thing coming back is obviously trusting it. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to take him some time to kind of trust
Speaker 1: the knee, although I heard he's had two prior surgeries
Speaker 1: on his knees, so he's out now. I think it
Speaker 1: takes us to a deeper story to where I think
Speaker 1: kids are playing too much basketball at early age. You know,
Speaker 1: But it's a catch twenty two because if you don't
Speaker 1: work out and you don't play, you get behind the
Speaker 1: eight ball. You definitely see results. Um. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: coaching my kids and they're about to be eleven, and
Speaker 1: there's kids that work out four to five days a week,
Speaker 1: and obviously they're more skilled and talented. But to me,
Speaker 1: I want the twins to steadily improve and peak at
Speaker 1: the right time. To me, there's no point in being
Speaker 1: the best eleven and twelve year olds. Kids to be
Speaker 1: kids too exactly, and I think that's what's lost in
Speaker 1: the mixes today parents and and sometimes it's the kids
Speaker 1: want to do it too, but they're you know, they
Speaker 1: kind of get that tunnel vision and and you know
Speaker 1: they're forced. I don't want to say the word force.
Speaker 1: It might not be forced, but guided in to just
Speaker 1: locking in and almost making it a job. At the
Speaker 1: early age, it's kind of crazy that you try to
Speaker 1: put that work hard. You have to do this mentality
Speaker 1: to a kid that's from eight to fourteen years old.
Speaker 1: I think it really makes no cent at that point,
Speaker 1: since at that point you gotta let them be a kid.
Speaker 1: You gott let them understand how to be a teenage.
Speaker 1: You gotta let him go through puberty. You gotta let him,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, go through Yeah, I got
Speaker 1: a lot of ships to do, I don't. I think
Speaker 1: when you get to the point where kids like gets
Speaker 1: to the eleven twelfth grade where they can understand what
Speaker 1: working is or to understand why why why he's putting
Speaker 1: in this work and the guys that he's competing with
Speaker 1: what they're doing, you know, they'll understand it then. But
Speaker 1: at that age from middle school to like tenth grade,
Speaker 1: it's it's hard for them to really comprehend. It's too much,
Speaker 1: too fast, too young, you know. I mean like when
Speaker 1: we were growing up, we played outside, we did other
Speaker 1: shops to dude, we you know, I mean, we have
Speaker 1: fun with your kids. Now, kids, if you allow them
Speaker 1: to be kids, they get behind the eight ball, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So I think it's a steady
Speaker 1: line of you know, slowly applying, you know, working out
Speaker 1: to them and understanding and discipline and with just let
Speaker 1: them be kids. Because you know, we're talking about this
Speaker 1: before the show started today. Like I didn't work out,
Speaker 1: and obviously, you know, I made my way, and you know,
Speaker 1: I understand what I was in the NBA, but I
Speaker 1: didn't work out for the NBA until I was in
Speaker 1: the NBA, right, you know. I mean I played football, baseball,
Speaker 1: basketball track in high school. Besides that, I was I
Speaker 1: was doing whatever I was doing. So it was never
Speaker 1: a time where I was like working out for a
Speaker 1: particular sport because I was always in another sport. You know.
Speaker 1: Now kids are working out, like I said, four or
Speaker 1: five six days a week at a young age, and
Speaker 1: I just think eventually these kids are gonna burn out.
Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't working out for the NBA to
Speaker 1: NBA had practice, I didn't do nothing to I walked
Speaker 1: into the NBA practice facility. What were you doing during
Speaker 1: the party in rock Starr And you know me, you've
Speaker 1: always been a NIMES banging a part time part time.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't all over the place the part time. No,
Speaker 1: But like I said, now, it's just a different time,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and unfortunately leading to
Speaker 1: zai and not saying that the wear and tear this
Speaker 1: is the reason, but it could be, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Kids are playing fifty to sixty games. Sometimes
Speaker 1: some kids are playing on two or three AU teams
Speaker 1: during the summertime. A teenage kids, and not especially a
Speaker 1: kid in middle school should not have a trainer. I
Speaker 1: understand teaching them the fundamentals, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: but they can't really comprehend what they're working for and
Speaker 1: what working means. When they can get older, like I said,
Speaker 1: eleven twelfth grade, then I understand around that time they
Speaker 1: can understand who they're, who they're who they're competing against,
Speaker 1: what they're working for, and what's they go As a
Speaker 1: teenagers in the middle school, you don't know what your
Speaker 1: goal is, you don't know where your life going. So
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff be for other people, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, And that's what not, that's that's
Speaker 1: not fair to the kid. You gotta let kids be kids, man. Parents,
Speaker 1: parents vicariously living through their kids to you know, push
Speaker 1: them into something to to make them be great. I
Speaker 1: think for a financial game, you're not saying some of
Speaker 1: them not even really thinking about the child. They're thinking
Speaker 1: about the four financial game. What I actually kill how
Speaker 1: they feel if they even want to do it. But
Speaker 1: if you think about it, I mean, like I said,
Speaker 1: we're talking about all these games and how talented kids are,
Speaker 1: because kids are real talented and you know, coming into
Speaker 1: the game this year, but I really feel like if
Speaker 1: they're fortunate enough to be those one percenters that make
Speaker 1: it to the NBA. You know, all these younger players
Speaker 1: in the last but maybe eight to ten years, you know,
Speaker 1: the top picks have had lower extremity injuries, too much basketball,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. From Ben Simmons to Joel Embiide,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, Michael Porter Jr. Greg Odin, Lake, Blake Griffin, Um,
Speaker 1: Julius Randall, you know what I mean. And this is
Speaker 1: there that next generation there's where it wasn't as publicized,
Speaker 1: so to speak. But those kids started playing a lot
Speaker 1: of au you know what I mean. So once you
Speaker 1: get to the league, it's just like, okay, now we
Speaker 1: really got to play, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: although they're young and they can bounce back faster, I
Speaker 1: just really feel like there's a lot of wear and
Speaker 1: tear on these kids at an early age. And and
Speaker 1: and it's unfortunate. You know, it's a crazy system that,
Speaker 1: like I said, if you don't do it, you don't
Speaker 1: stay in the chance. But if you do do it,
Speaker 1: it's almost like it's gonna be a burn out. Is
Speaker 1: make sure everybody's doing it for the right reason. This
Speaker 1: is what the kid wants to do, Okay, Dad, I
Speaker 1: want I'm serious about this. Can you get me a
Speaker 1: trying to make you keep the kid involved, but don't
Speaker 1: think you know everything that's best for him, because the
Speaker 1: kid might not want to do it, but they have
Speaker 1: to do it exactly. And I think that's a good point,
Speaker 1: you know. I took the twins. I surprised the twins
Speaker 1: last year for their tenth birthday and took them out
Speaker 1: to Orange County and worked out and worked and Kobe
Speaker 1: worked him out for their birthday, and I was telling
Speaker 1: Code before we got up there. He's like, you know,
Speaker 1: we're the boys into how much they work out. And
Speaker 1: to me, like, I've never been one to make them
Speaker 1: do ship. Like if you want to work out, cool,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like you have all the
Speaker 1: resources to be ten times better than me and and
Speaker 1: be and be successful and everything, because you know I've
Speaker 1: provided that. But if you want to run and playing
Speaker 1: your iPad, pay and your iPad. But your boy, your
Speaker 1: boy is different because they've seen a lot. They got
Speaker 1: a high basketball a que and they seen it bro
Speaker 1: on and off the court. They got championship ring. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they know what I'm saying. So you've seen a lot.
Speaker 1: They got a high b ball i Q and I
Speaker 1: think that's what's got them to this point. But as
Speaker 1: far as skill, they're not where some of their teammates are,
Speaker 1: some of the kids in their in their class. But
Speaker 1: to me, like I said, it goes back to my point.
Speaker 1: Until they were ready, I wasn't gonna force them, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And right when we walked to Jim,
Speaker 1: he's little motherfucker to playing on their iPads. And then
Speaker 1: and then they see Kobe and lose their mind because
Speaker 1: it was a surprise. And then he's you know what
Speaker 1: you guys been up to? And I'm just like playing
Speaker 1: on their iPads. And then he's like, well, were you
Speaker 1: guys going to college? And they both said u c
Speaker 1: l at the same time, said yeah, you guys to
Speaker 1: go to u c l A, but not to play basketball.
Speaker 1: And they looked at him like, huh. It's just like,
Speaker 1: you gotta work, crazy, you know what I mean, you
Speaker 1: gotta work. And now since then, it's been a steadily
Speaker 1: progression of you know, dad, you know, let's let's let's shoot,
Speaker 1: or let's go dribble in, let's do that. And I
Speaker 1: love it. You know, when they're when they're ready to
Speaker 1: do it, I'll work and I'll get them some outside help.
Speaker 1: But like you said, until they want to do it,
Speaker 1: making them do it five six days a week, making
Speaker 1: it the job at this age I think is the
Speaker 1: wrong thing. That he's crazy. I got a story to
Speaker 1: Kobe's farewell to a last game in Atlanta. I was
Speaker 1: at to bring my son, my third teen year old,
Speaker 1: and that changed his life. Kobe because all the people
Speaker 1: waiting on Kobe, he stood then talking to myself about
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes and you know how many people waiting on
Speaker 1: and it touched my son, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: and let him know how much he had to work
Speaker 1: in that. That is the goal is touched. Was reached
Speaker 1: me now by talking to Kobe Bryant, So you know,
Speaker 1: shout out to Kobe for that. He did the same
Speaker 1: thing for my boy, you know, to speak to that.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I think what's got my boys bound
Speaker 1: is their i Q. And the best part of my
Speaker 1: career was the end of my career because the boys
Speaker 1: were old enough to understand the game. So they're in
Speaker 1: the locker room with Kobe and Pal and those teams
Speaker 1: when they're really little back. You can't buy that. And
Speaker 1: then they graduate and get a little older, and then
Speaker 1: I'm with CP and Blake and DeAndre and j J
Speaker 1: and all these guys in doc rivers, so they're soaking
Speaker 1: that up. And then my favorite part was my last
Speaker 1: season with Golden State where coach kurb was so cool.
Speaker 1: During the playoffs, He's on there on the team playing
Speaker 1: with us during the hotel. We're in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: Finals against against the Houston Rockets, and Isaiah and Carter
Speaker 1: having a shootout against KD. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: like that kind of ship you can't pay for, you
Speaker 1: can't you know, teach. It's just that kind of experience,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I think we didn't
Speaker 1: have that growing up. Hell nothing. So it's just like
Speaker 1: I said, we give them all the opportunity, but to me,
Speaker 1: making a process, let your kid excel and peek at
Speaker 1: the right time. They peeked too early with the point
Speaker 1: and let them have an input. Let them have an
Speaker 1: input on the six Wars. It's their life, I would say.
Speaker 1: So rookies, like I said, with the season just going, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, some impressive rookies. What was rookie life like
Speaker 1: for you? Because we had different paths, Like you say,
Speaker 1: we weren't the parade decorated draft picks and instant money,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? What was your what was
Speaker 1: your rookie experience? Like? Well, after after bouncing around, breaking
Speaker 1: both of my feed overseas and all kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: when I got finally got to my rookie season, it
Speaker 1: was two thousands, two thousand and one, things new Jersey nets.
Speaker 1: I started my first game. But what was what was
Speaker 1: good for me was I was on the team with
Speaker 1: the number one draft pick, Kenyan Martin. We both were
Speaker 1: from Texas. We knew each other, so that was perfect
Speaker 1: for me. My first year I was with him. He
Speaker 1: had my back, and you know when you number one pick,
Speaker 1: you come in the league, you do everything you want.
Speaker 1: So my rookie year was real smooth. When I had
Speaker 1: stuff on my bury too, they really held me down.
Speaker 1: The sad part about my rookie year was at All
Speaker 1: Star Break, at the rookie season, I was leading all
Speaker 1: rookies and scoring It's like ten ten ten, almost eleven
Speaker 1: points all rookies and scoring. Make the Rookie All Star Game.
Speaker 1: Come back from the rookie my rookie also game, and
Speaker 1: don't play no more like Byron Scott just stopped playing me.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows why to this day, he just stopped playing.
Speaker 1: And that's how my rookie year ended. You never got
Speaker 1: to ask him. I don't think it won't go like,
Speaker 1: it won't go like this ship. I love Byron Scott,
Speaker 1: but if you tell me the wrong thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I clicked spret well I'm not gonna spret welling. I
Speaker 1: don't don't I'm not a choker. I got hand, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not a choker, but now but now,
Speaker 1: I never understood it. I never asked Byron, you know,
Speaker 1: I've never seen him, but uh. And the reason why
Speaker 1: I never asked him because the next year I went
Speaker 1: to San Antonio ended up beating him in the finals.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't no Neme was good. It's a process, man,
Speaker 1: you know, coming into the game. People think once you
Speaker 1: get here, you know what you make it and and
Speaker 1: and it is what it is. But there's just such
Speaker 1: a learning curve in the game as a rookie to
Speaker 1: your second year to your third year. I kind of
Speaker 1: feel like people don't have to play basketball obviously, but
Speaker 1: you don't understand the NBA game and go into like
Speaker 1: your third year, right, And that's on and off the court.
Speaker 1: You know. My experience was some of the years bouncing around,
Speaker 1: you know, and then finally getting a chance with the
Speaker 1: Clippers in two thousand three, two thousand and four and
Speaker 1: just realizing like it's either me or them, so I'm
Speaker 1: gon have to do whatever it takes to stay, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I think we both we have
Speaker 1: the same attitude, right regardless. That's why I kind of
Speaker 1: like low key funk with you, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it was either me or them, and
Speaker 1: it was it was a similar path, you know, we
Speaker 1: had to and we never really got to take a
Speaker 1: to exhale, Like it was always a grind for us
Speaker 1: and I always have something to prove. I mean, every
Speaker 1: game was an audition for your team in the rest
Speaker 1: of the league. You mean, so every night you've got
Speaker 1: to go out there and play like at your last
Speaker 1: but all right, was Zion down for about six more weeks? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, gives us a chance to touch on some
Speaker 1: of the talented rookies. Uh, you know, there's a handful
Speaker 1: of them, Like these kids are coming and ready to
Speaker 1: play more and more. And I think that's too because
Speaker 1: the league is younger. You know, there was always used
Speaker 1: to be a learning process and do you throw them
Speaker 1: throw them to the fire early. But I think that
Speaker 1: the But that's back when there was a lot of
Speaker 1: veteran year old guys, guys in their thirties. To hear
Speaker 1: the steps the oldest player on the wars that thirty
Speaker 1: is crazy, you know what I mean. But I think
Speaker 1: it's like that that that's a shift in the NBA
Speaker 1: and and it's it's allowing the league to be younger
Speaker 1: so that the incoming rookies are are are are more
Speaker 1: suitable to play because they're playing with against younger guys.
Speaker 1: So you know someone like John Morant, you know someone
Speaker 1: I really like, someone's very skilled, kind of came out
Speaker 1: of nowhere into the draft, but a real leader, super confident,
Speaker 1: love it, but but a crying confidence, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. He just goes out I think, gets the
Speaker 1: job done. And he's someone to me, it seems like
Speaker 1: he can do whatever needs to be done for the team,
Speaker 1: whether it be score, whether it being assist He's all around.
Speaker 1: You know, his solid shoes on to a solid one too,
Speaker 1: the NBA one to ten more pounds, ten NBA pounds.
Speaker 1: He's all star. Who would you compare him to? And
Speaker 1: then b now, but people who don't know him, that's
Speaker 1: tough because he's I would say he he's super explosive,
Speaker 1: does a lot of things with the ball. I would pass. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would say he reminds me of a thinner Russell
Speaker 1: west Brook. I was thinking Russ, But what to me?
Speaker 1: More advanced shooting than Russ had? Yes, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, But but Miran is a monster, can attack
Speaker 1: the basket. But like you said, Russ was bigger and stronger,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Moran is little doing getting bigger. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So you're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to hit the ground too many times that at
Speaker 1: Morant side a game wise game us, he's gonna be scary. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, someone like r J Barrett who coming into
Speaker 1: the draft. You know, at the beginning of last college season,
Speaker 1: he was the you know, I think unanimous number one pick,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, everyone thought r J was
Speaker 1: going to be the number one picks. I kind of
Speaker 1: stole that light during the season. But to me, he's
Speaker 1: NBA ready. Body can do a little bit of everything. Um.
Speaker 1: Kind of reminds me of a lamar Odom type. Obviously
Speaker 1: r J had has a better jumper than Lamar had
Speaker 1: it at at that point. But someone who's big, they
Speaker 1: can do everything. To me, he could be better than
Speaker 1: lamar Odom, and lamar Odom was a hell of a talent.
Speaker 1: Lamar was changed the game with it with the way
Speaker 1: he played and being six eleven out there being able
Speaker 1: to do absolutely everything on the court. Was so saying that,
Speaker 1: you know, people may not understand Lamar, but saying that
Speaker 1: he could be left bel lamar odom is as a
Speaker 1: hell of a goal. Yeah that's that's a great comparison.
Speaker 1: I mean, Lamar Lamarges did it all at six ten,
Speaker 1: six and eleven. You know, but they got the same
Speaker 1: type of lefty game, used a body well, you know,
Speaker 1: cause both good playmakers. Unfortunately he plays for the Knicks,
Speaker 1: So yeah, sorry r J. We wanna be talking about
Speaker 1: too much. He should have a great year, and y'all
Speaker 1: they're not gonna win. But lamarom is good comparison. Darius
Speaker 1: Garland Cavaliers shoot the light shot. Yeah, he's one. He's
Speaker 1: probably the best shooting the draft. The Lakers really wanted
Speaker 1: he's gonna he's gonna be good Cleveland. You know, you
Speaker 1: get to play against some experience. But I would have
Speaker 1: loved to see him with double teams on a D
Speaker 1: and Lebron and have him out the shoot. This kid
Speaker 1: can shoot the lights. Rich Part. Rich Part introduced me
Speaker 1: to him as a good kid. He's a shooter, so
Speaker 1: you got to compare him to a shooter, not down shooter.
Speaker 1: I would say he reminds me of let's see, he's
Speaker 1: not a clay. He's not a clay. He's more of
Speaker 1: c J. Mcculor type. He's one. Would you say c
Speaker 1: J is more of a bucket getter or a Shooter's
Speaker 1: a bucket getter. Yeah, he's more of a bucket getter
Speaker 1: than the shooter. You're right, You're right, he's more of
Speaker 1: a bucketgain But Darius Darius has those same things too,
Speaker 1: Like he I'm saying he's a shooter. But the kid
Speaker 1: can flat out play DeAndre Hunter the Atlanta Hawks, three
Speaker 1: or four, real talented, you know, high energy guy. He
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of Geral Wallace. Yeah, he blockshots, rebound. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got a lot of on the tournament. That's when
Speaker 1: I really found him was it wasn't the tournament. You
Speaker 1: could do a little bit of everything. So I was
Speaker 1: really impressed with him. Um, someone I really like is
Speaker 1: uh Tyler Hero, the kid out of Kentucky, the one
Speaker 1: and done shoot it, handle it plays at his pace.
Speaker 1: I was very impressed because I didn't really know. I
Speaker 1: heard about him coming out of high school and you know,
Speaker 1: the one year in college. But to be able to
Speaker 1: step on the up on this level and although it
Speaker 1: is the preseason, you could just tell the kid, knowing
Speaker 1: I like him, Butler too, Yeah, you know, he's gonna
Speaker 1: he gonna learn how to play, and he's gonna play
Speaker 1: more too, because you know they suspended theon Waiters, so
Speaker 1: he's gonna play more now too. So you know, if
Speaker 1: they could get all those guys together with the ways,
Speaker 1: they're gonna look good. Tyler, he's shown in preseason that
Speaker 1: he belongs in the NBA. Hems with Devin Booker. You
Speaker 1: think he's got that. They got the same type of game,
Speaker 1: come off screens, real moving, sweet like he reminded me
Speaker 1: of Devin book is one of the best, to me,
Speaker 1: the best peer scores in the game. He's gonna be
Speaker 1: like that for a long time. So it might not
Speaker 1: win ship, He's gonna be good. I've been saying he's
Speaker 1: got to get out of Phoenix with that bumass owner.
Speaker 1: They got over their server, just wasted his years. Shout
Speaker 1: out to they get my boy j J the job though.
Speaker 1: Shout out to j J. J J. Johnson. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: James Jones gotta run the team now, good basketball. How
Speaker 1: many championships do he have? Just come along and play
Speaker 1: your role, perfect example, play your role, play your role,
Speaker 1: someone who didn't always get your role right, Like that's
Speaker 1: DC rivership. That's what I lived by. But whenever he
Speaker 1: was called upon, he was ready to play constant professionals.
Speaker 1: So it's good to see that. You know, they're making
Speaker 1: some some decent management decisions over there. Ain't enough considering
Speaker 1: who the owner is. Ain't enough like trash Kobe White,
Speaker 1: anytime you got the name Kobe, that's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1: Playing in the North Carolina, he was a leader, you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's just he's just like Jamarette, confident, ready to go,
Speaker 1: can play one and two. You know. In Chicago, he's
Speaker 1: gonna play a lot of minute too. Yeah. I like
Speaker 1: his his mentality. He looks like a killer, you know,
Speaker 1: it looks like he's already. He belongs there, he's been there.
Speaker 1: I always like to see that of a rookie, little
Speaker 1: guy that just scores it. It reminds me of Jah
Speaker 1: Wall really fast. Yeah, he reminds me. He shoots better
Speaker 1: than Jah Wall, but he reminds me of Joah Wall.
Speaker 1: He reminds me John Wall, someone else that I really
Speaker 1: like and probably to me, is one of the most
Speaker 1: talented players we've seen in the last couple years. Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Jr. You know what I mean, he got a
Speaker 1: red shirt. You're in the NBA. Um. You know, hopefully
Speaker 1: he can stay healthy. But he's someone that I see
Speaker 1: is six nine, versatile, can handle the ball like a guard,
Speaker 1: shoot the ball, midrange, athletic, dumb athletic. But and and
Speaker 1: someone too has who has a pure jumper, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So I think he's a big X factor.
Speaker 1: Um if he could stay healthy. Um to you know
Speaker 1: for having Denver fight for that West Carson Edwards someone
Speaker 1: that impressed the hell out of me in the tournament. Man,
Speaker 1: this kid shot the ball, uh and really had his
Speaker 1: team over achieving a tournament. Someone who shot the lights out.
Speaker 1: He shows gonna be too many shots in Boston. There
Speaker 1: may be though, you know, I mean where the boy
Speaker 1: just got the extension. Yeah, he just got that hundo
Speaker 1: and some change, so he gonna be shooting the ball.
Speaker 1: Kimberdon showed up. He jacking for beats, got Tatum, he
Speaker 1: got to prove himself. He didn't he kind of went
Speaker 1: back was last year, so I don't know. And then
Speaker 1: you got Gordon. He's gonna beato many bullets in the
Speaker 1: gun for him, bro, you know, second shooting blanks, second unit.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get some looks. But like I said, someone
Speaker 1: who's small something they could do with all it's far scoring.
Speaker 1: It's tough for little guys to make a living. But
Speaker 1: now that it's more of a less of a physic
Speaker 1: physical game and more of a you know, spread open
Speaker 1: skill shooting game. You know he fits in the game.
Speaker 1: Although he's small, I don't know him. That small guy
Speaker 1: that I just that was just dropped dead cold to me.
Speaker 1: Earl Boy and Nate Robinson. That's the two small guys
Speaker 1: that would just get buckets on anybody. Yeah, both of them,
Speaker 1: both up them. Nate was a killer still is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's someone that should have definitely found a job. We
Speaker 1: gotta have him on the show because he's very entertaining.
Speaker 1: You know, Nathan character gotta find name. Shout out Nate,
Speaker 1: Shout out him and booze. They got a podcast to
Speaker 1: shout out the podcast. Yeah yeah, fuck Nate. Quick story
Speaker 1: with Nate is we was in New York together in
Speaker 1: my brief stints and uh, we all were just going
Speaker 1: back and forth and this motherfucker put some kind of
Speaker 1: itching ship in my in my tights, had me fucked No, No,
Speaker 1: that's the crossing be fucked up on the court, so
Speaker 1: that I mean he had a better prank. No, I
Speaker 1: mean I got him back. I pulled a bunch of
Speaker 1: salt all over his ice cream and he ate he
Speaker 1: But it's not even close to what he did to me.
Speaker 1: That's why fucking Nate straight up. Oh my goodness, that's
Speaker 1: my dog. That we played a little flag thing together
Speaker 1: last two years ago or something like that. But super talented,
Speaker 1: super talented. Don't contest that as a little three time
Speaker 1: champion super athlete, one of the best athletes we've seen.
Speaker 1: I called him a walking biceps like kids just walk
Speaker 1: one muscle, just walked them down the street. Ugly. It
Speaker 1: can be well midnight U Contentially, that's what we look like.
Speaker 1: Carson Edwards got afraid at the moment. Someone We had
Speaker 1: a really big preseason. Um, so I'm looking forward to him,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously soaking up game from from Kemba and
Speaker 1: someone who is a smaller guard like itself really learned
Speaker 1: at an early age. And I think that's something that's
Speaker 1: really important for rookies, is finding that veteran leadership or
Speaker 1: if it's not if it's a young team, just finding
Speaker 1: someone who has experienced and really, like I said, learning
Speaker 1: the game, because a lot of these kids are very talented,
Speaker 1: but it's it takes some time to learn what it learned,
Speaker 1: what it's supposed to be like to be a professional
Speaker 1: on and off the court. Experience is always the best teaching.
Speaker 1: And I think too, is where the game has changes.
Speaker 1: When we came in the game, there used to be
Speaker 1: the o g s, the vets that would put their
Speaker 1: arm around you and talk you through things. Um, who
Speaker 1: wasn't I Chris Webber Smith. Yeah, so you know, just
Speaker 1: two Detroit dudes, you know, the great dudes and kind
Speaker 1: of saw how they moved on and off the court.
Speaker 1: But I really feel like the game has lost that now.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's such a competitive atmos fear that
Speaker 1: if the older dude puts his arm around a younger dude,
Speaker 1: he doesn't because you know, they could be competing for minutes.
Speaker 1: And I think that kind of the o g s
Speaker 1: on the team and kind of like the mentors, that
Speaker 1: it's a dying breathe with this new generation because everyone
Speaker 1: is scrapping for minutes and and and it's more competitive,
Speaker 1: I think than it used to be, because, like I said, that,
Speaker 1: the league is shifting to a younger league. I remember
Speaker 1: getting getting a call to my room from Gregg Popovich
Speaker 1: in Seattle. I was coming off the bench. Steve Smith
Speaker 1: was starting, and that was my guy. Like I was
Speaker 1: at his house. His wife was cooking for me, like
Speaker 1: they he treating me like a little brother. Everything, taught
Speaker 1: me everything I know about preparing for the game and everything.
Speaker 1: And him and Tim was in the room and probably
Speaker 1: like you're starting to night. We're gonna start you tonight.
Speaker 1: And the whole time I'm thinking was how I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell Steve Smith, Like, you know, I don't feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: I'm young, so I'm not knowing this is a job,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. This is my second year
Speaker 1: in the league. Something I'm I care about. My relationship
Speaker 1: with Steve Smith. Wouldn't not care about starting, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But the good thing about it, we're
Speaker 1: talking about vets and what they do. I walked in
Speaker 1: the locker room my head down because I know Steve
Speaker 1: right there, and as I passed him, he grabbed me
Speaker 1: a Tim around like look, go out there and do it.
Speaker 1: It's not personal between me and you. You know, go
Speaker 1: out there, my little brother, go out there and do
Speaker 1: what you want to. Don't feel no type of web
Speaker 1: about it. That helped me go out there and play.
Speaker 1: That was I'm telling that was a life saving for me.
Speaker 1: But he didn't have to do that. But then, I'm
Speaker 1: just going to test what you're saying about the O
Speaker 1: G s. They don't do that. The more we needed that,
Speaker 1: they needed now to they definitely now they just don't
Speaker 1: have it. I remember early on, like I said, my
Speaker 1: thing was being a Laker fan, growing up big time
Speaker 1: Laker fans. Still a Laker fan, but I was living
Speaker 1: in Sacramento, Um, going to u C. L A. And
Speaker 1: this is when the Kings and and and Lakers had
Speaker 1: that you know, it was a rivalry. They were the
Speaker 1: top two teams in the Western who used to everyone
Speaker 1: that was gonna win the finals. Um. So just you know,
Speaker 1: being a huge fan. And this is probably you know,
Speaker 1: after my first season, after my first season the league.
Speaker 1: So I'm going er every summer being able to work
Speaker 1: out a sea web white chocolate. You know, paigea back
Speaker 1: in their Hey they Bobby Jackson. Um, so I'm supposed
Speaker 1: to sign go back and sign him. I think it
Speaker 1: was a two year deal with the Clippers. I end
Speaker 1: up you know, talking to Rick Adaman during the summer
Speaker 1: and he asked me what I had going on, and I,
Speaker 1: you know, really said nothing. I was super excited to
Speaker 1: try to play for the Kings. So I ended up
Speaker 1: signing to deal with the Kings. Um. And then that's
Speaker 1: when they traded Chris Webber to Philly. And I was
Speaker 1: just a throwing at the time, so I went with Chris.
Speaker 1: So it was my first time finding out on ESPN
Speaker 1: that I was traded. Uh. And then I was traded
Speaker 1: with Chris and with a big deal because he meant
Speaker 1: so much to that city. Uh. He ends up going
Speaker 1: to Philly. I go with him, and we were just,
Speaker 1: you know, miserable, and it was just something completely different
Speaker 1: than when we were accustomed to at least I was.
Speaker 1: And he that's when he really kind of took me
Speaker 1: under his arm and and taught me how to, you know,
Speaker 1: work hard even though I wasn't playing, and what I
Speaker 1: need to be doing and kind of kept my head
Speaker 1: in the game. Some of that I, like I said,
Speaker 1: I really leaned onto this day. Who who like I said.
Speaker 1: It was a big brother and and someone that really
Speaker 1: got me through some of the toughest times because I
Speaker 1: could have possibly been on my way out and he
Speaker 1: used always just you know, you got games, keep working
Speaker 1: on your game. He actually gave me his shooting coach.
Speaker 1: You know, that's when I started to work on my
Speaker 1: change my formula. It's still my form was still fucked up,
Speaker 1: but I learned how to make that funk up for
Speaker 1: him going to basket you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it was and it was off, but it's no. But
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said, vets, I mean back to
Speaker 1: the point. You know, vets are important, man, and I
Speaker 1: wish there was still that kind of veteran leadership in
Speaker 1: the league. Like I said, there's few and far between. Uh,
Speaker 1: what guys doing that this year? Every team needs at
Speaker 1: least one or two vets every team, and even if
Speaker 1: they don't play, you know what I mean, obviously it plays,
Speaker 1: it helps, but just to kind of give these younger
Speaker 1: guys just a little bit of an understanding of what
Speaker 1: to expect on what's going on. All right, So we're
Speaker 1: in the balls now. Just an intriguing family overall, and
Speaker 1: they've been in and out the headlines for the last
Speaker 1: you know, two or three or three or four years.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously there was something that we saw grow
Speaker 1: in front of our eyes on Instagram and the internet,
Speaker 1: and and that's the Ball family. Um, interesting family, interesting dynamic.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, first of all, shouts out to
Speaker 1: the LaVar for you know, raising and being a part.
Speaker 1: There's such a stigma and you got that. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to unshout out him to it at the Indio Comperence. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no question, said, I like to put it on
Speaker 1: easy before I dig in shout. I'm definitely gonna have
Speaker 1: to dig in on them. But like I said, being there,
Speaker 1: you know, raising three men and and being an integral
Speaker 1: part of their life. But to start back on the
Speaker 1: on the brand as a whole, and it's kind of
Speaker 1: crumbled in front of our eyes of late, and it's
Speaker 1: it's been interesting to kind of sit back and watch.
Speaker 1: I thought they had a chance when when when the whole,
Speaker 1: When when uh Zoe was coming out of U c.
Speaker 1: L A. Going to the Lakers, LaMelo is doing his thing,
Speaker 1: Jello is doing his thing, and in high school they
Speaker 1: had a chance to really change the game. I think
Speaker 1: with the with the Triple B brand got up to
Speaker 1: the right start. But but but I think before it
Speaker 1: even got out, Yeah, it had the foundation because the
Speaker 1: boys are so talented, But I think when they came
Speaker 1: out with the ridiculous price points that I think from
Speaker 1: from that day when it hit. Although they got some sales,
Speaker 1: I think, to me, in my head, I'm just like, damn,
Speaker 1: they missed the boat. They had a real chance because
Speaker 1: to me, if you make a reasonably price shoe, you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta think at the time you could buy two
Speaker 1: pair of Lebrons for the cost of one zoe. You know,
Speaker 1: you could buy two pair of mics to barri kadies
Speaker 1: two five pair of stuffs. I'm playing shout out staff.
Speaker 1: You know, I like the boy, but you know, just
Speaker 1: like I said, but to have an unproven, somewhat player
Speaker 1: for the Lakers a lot of pressure. But but you
Speaker 1: missed the boat. You're charging four d five payer pair
Speaker 1: of shoes. You charge eighty dollars and have some reasonable slippers,
Speaker 1: and you've got two more boys coming down the pipeline.
Speaker 1: They could have changed the game. Dad was doing too much,
Speaker 1: I mean, and that that brings me to the unshout
Speaker 1: out part. Yeah, Dad, Dad was doing entirely too much,
Speaker 1: Like okay, we we went from man, uh, what's that name?
Speaker 1: Bar Man? We love LaVar to going to the barbershop.
Speaker 1: You here, man full man, I can't staying that motherfucker.
Speaker 1: I think like a month span wasn't even long. It
Speaker 1: wasn't even that long. But I think that he had
Speaker 1: everybody's support for a second question when it was genuine
Speaker 1: when he started opening his mouth saying dumb ship like
Speaker 1: he would beat Jordan's and saying they say something my
Speaker 1: magic is not a Hall of Famer and all kind
Speaker 1: of stuff he was saying that had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with his son's career, that funked up the whole operation,
Speaker 1: but at the same time putting a target on all
Speaker 1: his son's backs, you know what I mean, because they're good,
Speaker 1: quiet kids and just go about playing, and then that
Speaker 1: their dad is just that ship. It's out in the
Speaker 1: i e. It's deep, it's out that way. But to me,
Speaker 1: I I think the bigger thing is when the light
Speaker 1: hit LaVar. You mean, when he realized like what this
Speaker 1: new social media famous era was about, is when he
Speaker 1: kind of came about him. Yeah, And like I said,
Speaker 1: I think it's shifted from these are my boys to
Speaker 1: look at me, you know what I mean, I'm the
Speaker 1: star and it's really kind of gone downhill sent you
Speaker 1: know what I mean with whatever the brand is doing.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I think the price point was crazy,
Speaker 1: so the brand didn't do what it had the capabilities
Speaker 1: of doing. And then for then the sons came out
Speaker 1: and said the shoes was trash dog ship those studies,
Speaker 1: changing them every single quarter. I mean, and you know,
Speaker 1: because you were in protegyst some protege dog. You remember
Speaker 1: my whole bottom of the first game, you jab stepping
Speaker 1: on your soul came off. It was my first signature
Speaker 1: shoe too protege ed Walmart Stack the first jab step.
Speaker 1: I'm in the painting my soul at the three point line,
Speaker 1: I'm like, what the So I go get a new path,
Speaker 1: hit somebody with a nice move. My piggy toe sticking
Speaker 1: out like oh man, I had to call out like
Speaker 1: this ain't gonna I want to support the brand, bro,
Speaker 1: this ain't it. And that's what people don't understand. You know,
Speaker 1: you see, you know, you see LaVar talking about Zoe
Speaker 1: thinks he's not going to be with Big Black the
Speaker 1: shoe with some bullshit, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: and Zoe has already had some ankle problems. All the
Speaker 1: brand bullshit, that's what big beat you know brand To me,
Speaker 1: I understand of growing the brand and making family money,
Speaker 1: but you gotta think your feet. You only get one
Speaker 1: pair of feet, you know. And I had a situation where,
Speaker 1: you know, I had a funked up tope from football
Speaker 1: coming into college to so I will always have messed
Speaker 1: up feet. So I remember when I was with the
Speaker 1: Clippers brand black. I think that's what it's called. You know,
Speaker 1: we're talking to me and Jamal market and and I
Speaker 1: put the ships on, and you know when she was
Speaker 1: just a bullshit when you could like pull them hella
Speaker 1: tight and both sides come all the way together. That's
Speaker 1: what you do with the payless shoes used to do.
Speaker 1: You know, you used to get three pay less That's
Speaker 1: what them ships did. I was just like, man, my
Speaker 1: foot is already sucked up. To me, the money is
Speaker 1: not worth it. And I think that's where you know, Zoe,
Speaker 1: being someone who's been injury prone, laced the Nike's up, brof.
Speaker 1: If you could hear this, if you see this where
Speaker 1: the nikes. Fuck that trip will be because you have
Speaker 1: a career to worry about. And if you can hear this,
Speaker 1: I've seen you had on the undefeated Kobe's man I need.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm trying to find them, bro, let me get.
Speaker 1: Let me get some how, I let me. I need
Speaker 1: the undefeated package. You know you've seen this three pair.
Speaker 1: I need all of them on the stand. So I'm padm.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely on that level. Let okay, I play for
Speaker 1: That's why they called me Stack. That's why they call
Speaker 1: you this. It's not a game. They called me stack
Speaker 1: for a reason. Keep a stack on me now, y'all
Speaker 1: want to know why they called me stack, bro, because
Speaker 1: I keep a stacking on It's not no games telling
Speaker 1: everyone earlier, don't call you Stephen, don't call me stevens
Speaker 1: my look. My stepdaughter at home says Steve when she
Speaker 1: want to make me mad. My name. No one needs
Speaker 1: to call me Stephen. I'll say my Stephen, Jesse Jackson
Speaker 1: unless you the popo, and I don't plan on having
Speaker 1: a popo call my name no time soon. So Stack
Speaker 1: is my name? A right man? Focus? Focus? Are we
Speaker 1: back to Zoe and to me? Touching on Zoe. The
Speaker 1: best thing that could have happened to him, whether it
Speaker 1: was a trade or not, was getting out of l A.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. I think here it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: to see and we don't know the inside, but from
Speaker 1: the outside looking in, it really looks like there's a
Speaker 1: conflict of you know, Zoe want to be his own
Speaker 1: man and LaVar trying to hold on, like you're gonna
Speaker 1: do this family brand thing. But like I said to me,
Speaker 1: because I was very talented, your dad cannot be speaking
Speaker 1: against your organization in the media. Brow How how how
Speaker 1: are you doing what's best for your son when you're done,
Speaker 1: when you're talking down on the organization he's playing for
Speaker 1: in the media, talking bad about the players. Everything you
Speaker 1: you You went from the father that everybody loves to
Speaker 1: the father everybody hates. Like shut the funk up. Yeah, Like, come,
Speaker 1: your son is talented. He got a great opportunity to
Speaker 1: play at home in l A for the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: you want to overshadow it by the thing that you
Speaker 1: want to say, Yeah, that's terrible, that's terrible. And I
Speaker 1: think they got one more come down the pipeline who
Speaker 1: could be possibly be the number one pick. Listen, I
Speaker 1: think as all Hoopers, we need to come together and
Speaker 1: hire security team to keep Laval away from the youngest son,
Speaker 1: because the youngest son is the one. Okay, he got game,
Speaker 1: he got everything. All the time he out the overseas
Speaker 1: working doing this thing. We cannot let LaVar mess up
Speaker 1: this kid career. This kid got it, he definitely got
Speaker 1: he got it. He got it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And like I said, it's to me, it's being a
Speaker 1: father raising twins in this space. You have sons that
Speaker 1: are in this space. To me, the second you start
Speaker 1: making it about you and not about them is where
Speaker 1: you miss me. Because I'm more critical about father than anything.
Speaker 1: Like father is the best thing in the world to me,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So so, like I said,
Speaker 1: at first, I shouted in the mouth for being there
Speaker 1: and doing and raising. But to me, now that the
Speaker 1: light is on him and people are saying his name
Speaker 1: and he's doing too much, man, you got to sit
Speaker 1: down and play the back. And then the other other cat,
Speaker 1: what's his name? You don't want to lose your kids, man,
Speaker 1: you know. And then I just seen Alan Foster on
Speaker 1: I don't know what the fun's own but it was
Speaker 1: on Instagram talking about Zoe has torn ligaments and his
Speaker 1: ankles and it's not the shoes fault and he needs
Speaker 1: to get Man, sit your motherfucking ass down. Stole a
Speaker 1: bunch of he's allegedly stole like over a million dollars,
Speaker 1: whether it was him, and then some people are saying
Speaker 1: that had something to do with the dad. But you
Speaker 1: need to be looked at dad. You are to worrying
Speaker 1: by his dadd You need to be trying to find
Speaker 1: him and look at him, shake his ass down, turn
Speaker 1: him upside down and see where that money's at. Man.
Speaker 1: But you out here saying that the kid has torn
Speaker 1: ligaments and we'll see how the season goes. Man, sits
Speaker 1: your motherfucking as down. That's that's the perfect example. You
Speaker 1: can be up here. But as soon as somebody has
Speaker 1: their own agenda, as soon as you start doing stuff
Speaker 1: that's not best for the whole family, as soon as
Speaker 1: you start getting your personal games, everything go down here
Speaker 1: real fast. And unfortunately, I said, because they had a chance,
Speaker 1: we can't let that happen to the young one. I
Speaker 1: want to see the young one in the league for
Speaker 1: a long time. He got games, excited six. He keeps
Speaker 1: getting bigger too. That's a wrap man. Episode two, My guy,
Speaker 1: good working with you. Man again, enjoyed it. So we
Speaker 1: gotta do some of these micro because they sucking up
Speaker 1: our handshake. We don't look like we got no swag
Speaker 1: with our ship. Man come around, Yeah, man, man, should
Speaker 1: we got soul? Was your hand in your pocket or something?
Speaker 1: That's you're so sweaty man, I'm I got low moister
Speaker 1: Mayah Man baby, y'all all that look nice. They can't
Speaker 1: even tell you smoke black anyway. Shout out to four
Speaker 1: and I don't smoke black. Four smoke black anyway. Man.
Speaker 1: Episode to hope you enjoyed it. You can find us
Speaker 1: at Showtime Basketball, YouTube channel, Get That radio dot com,
Speaker 1: and all major podcast platforms. We everywhere find us, man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what he said, You can find us there here, over there, everywhere.
Speaker 1: We find him in the trap yep. All the smoke
Speaker 1: we know. M h