WEBVTT - All Ball - Pt. 2 NBA Trainer Mike Procopio on Kobe Work Ethic, Earning Respect, Unique Relationship 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:11.560 Hey, what um dog gotta leave? This is all bull. Um. 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:13.160 What we're gonna do is, well, we'll go through all 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:15.800 the draft picks. Um. I might even go guy by 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.400 guy on part three of Mike Pecorio. Um, but pro 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:23.520 this is a great pod. I do want to point 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:27.520 this out. I would have taken Jabari Smith one. I 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.240 thought he's the best prospect. But if we all knew 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:33.959 that Chad Holmgren was going to why wouldn't it Why 0:00:33.960 --> 0:00:37.360 wouldn't Orlando work out Pala Bancarro? Like, why why would 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:39.840 you buy a car side unseen when you can test 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.800 drive it right? Why would you? Why would you do that? 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.160 I don't It doesn't make any sense to me. Additionally, 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.239 if you did decide on Pala Bancarro, couldn't she have 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:52.920 done a Danny ainge and traded down to three and 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.760 gotten more picks. It just it feels like it feels 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:00.880 like Orlando missed a great opportunity, even though they claim 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:04.040 they got the guy that they wanted to get. So 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.160 I'm not sure if I'm starting this podcast by you know, 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:11.759 ripping on John Hammond, who does a tremendous, tremendous job. 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:13.640 He did a good job when he was in Boston. 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.360 But I don't really understand how you go how you 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:21.080 don't work a guy out and if he does become 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.320 the guy and everybody knew Chet was going to you 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.840 at least kicked the tires to is Houston going after Jabari. 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.200 If they are, then you can make a trade and 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.080 get more assets. It just doesn't make any sense to me. 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.520 All Right, more on the draft to come. Let's let's 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.080 catch up. This is Mike Procopio, who of course joined 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.280 us on our last pod. Part one was really interesting, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.360 getting into the business, chasing around Rick Pettino, turning down 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:51.320 Rick Pettino. Here's part two of our talk. So anyway, 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.000 so I work out Kobe. He does the whole look 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.320 me up and down thing, but like I was just 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:00.400 amazed at the simplicity of his work and pension in 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.440 detail and all the ship's real. It's not fake like 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.280 a lot of NBA players have this persona. It's not 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:10.720 fucking fake and it's just like that. So anyway, so 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:14.880 I worked for Grover. I stay in Chicago. Grovers get 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.519 like season tickets of the Bulls. I go to games. 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.800 We have we have passes to go in that hallway 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.120 like in the back where all the agents and stuff 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:24.720 hang out after games. So I get to know Kevin 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:29.040 McHale pretty well through age and being around Boston. When 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:31.120 you use in Minnesota. They have this nickname for me, 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.440 sweet Chuck from police Academy and fucking um in the eighties, 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:36.160 right because I used to get my ass kicked for 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.520 being a wise ass back and tracking back in my 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.080 days in Boston. So McHale would tell me like three 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.400 times a year, when are you coming to my house 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.639 and hanging out? And I never hung out with Kevin McHale, 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.480 And I mean, I'm I have no idea. I love 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:53.280 Micheal bad, no idea. So I'm like, finally, goes Mike. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:55.359 He stopped me after the game. He said, you're coming 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.720 to my fucking he doesn't square, but you're coming to 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.720 my house in like a month. I want to set 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.440 it up, gonna go for like a week. You're just 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.679 gonna hang out, you know, come to practice, we'll talk, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.480 oop whatever. Whatever. I'm like, well, funk, let's do it. 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.680 So I do it. And in the middle there, like 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:13.360 a month before in the New York Times, they wrote 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.560 about how Darryl Moray, which I worked for, worked with 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:21.200 in Boston. Um, like, has this scouting report that he 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.799 gave to Shane Battier through analytics how to guard Kobe Bryant. 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.640 So one team that quote unquote shuts down Kobe Bryant. 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:33.000 Now they don't shut him down, but statistically it wasn't 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.040 that efficient. So I get a call. I'm half I'm 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.880 staying McHale going to his practices and stuff, going to 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:41.640 his games, and Grover hits me up. He goes, well, 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.440 Kobe's gonna call you today, And I'm like, the fund 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.000 is Kobe called me for today? He goes, well, did 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:49.800 you read this article in in the New York Times. 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.480 I'm like, yeah, I read it. Yeah, I definitely that it. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.840 He goes, well, he's you know, he wants to know 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.240 because he doesn't like that ship when white people's get 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.240 something on him. He's gonna ask you to like do 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.640 some investigation. I'm like, god, I whatever. So he called 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:06.920 he Actually I think he emailed me and he was like, Mike, look, 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.520 I don't like when anybody has anything on me. I 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.440 want you to investigate all these scouts, all these coaches, 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:15.480 and I want, you know, I want you to get 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.880 how people guard me. What what's the what's people thinking 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.920 when they prepare to play to play me? Because this 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:24.720 Houston thing, you know, I don't like it. I'm like, 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.200 all right, cool. So I talked to my friends who 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.320 are advanced scouts, head coaches. I talked to McHale, talked 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.320 to assistant coaches, and they all gave me the same 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.280 idea in that same answer, well, you just gotta force 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.840 him into tough shots, blah blah blah. And I'm like, well, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.000 if I come back to Kobe with that fucking answer, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.360 I'll never hear from the dude again. I wasn't trying 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:44.960 to work for him. I just want to try to 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:48.159 service a client. Because uh Grover was working with Kobe 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.680 about you know, service in his knee. It was like 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.240 two thousand and eight, and I was like, all right, 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:55.440 I said, I'm not gonna do that. But what I'm 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.640 gonna do is I'm gonna get on synergy. I'm gonna 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.880 break down film of like seven games to seven games 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.839 that he played against Houston. So I broke it down 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.159 and I watched and literally, like batty Age just stayed 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.080 on his feet. Most disciplined defender I've ever seen. You know, 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:14.120 It's like Kawai Leonardish like stayed at his feet, contested 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.159 every shot, hand to the face, doesn't follow him, stays 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.240 on his feet, funnels on the yell ming, which you 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.000 know is it's just this big, hulking seven five guy, 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.000 you know, So it's like he takes awful shots. They 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.640 collapse the whole defense. He funnels him in the yeah 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.119 instead of trying to pass the ball, tries to dunk 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.200 on yallae score on yell every time. And I'm like, 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.080 this is fucked up, Like all right, not only is 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:39.880 this a problem, and this is how they're playing him. 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.159 He got Lamar, You've got You've got Trevor Reason, which 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.680 isn't a great player, but there's a good catch and 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.480 shoot player. He can't isolate, but you can get him 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.720 in that right corner after everything collapses, straight line drive 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.159 it you got pall gasol that he relocates on every drive. 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:57.599 You never passed to him. So not only that I 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.520 give him the scouting report, but I also gave him 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.200 like a three page what the what's he doing wrong? 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.880 Why isn't he you know, why isn't he like, you know, 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:09.240 giving the ball to these teammates in these types of situations. 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.240 So I was a little not nervous about doing it 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:13.880 because it's the only way I know how to do 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.120 it is tell him the truth. So I do it. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.480 I tell Michale what I'm doing. He goes, Dude, that's 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.240 the smartest thing to tell a guy like that to 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.440 do that. He sleeps, laugh and busted my balls. I'm like, yeah, 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:26.840 fuck it, I said, it's not like Brian scalad Green. 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.599 He's asking me for this advice is fucking Kobe Bryant. 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:32.479 I might as well go for it. And so I 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:34.919 give him all this and he goes, all right, great, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:38.200 and I tell him, like, look, you gotta like force 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.039 y'all to get out of the pain. He goes in 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.760 the paint. You got no fucking chance. But when he 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:44.440 gets out of the pain, he's got send up blocks 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.760 for legs. He can't move. You gotta move in side 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:48.600 to side, so you gotta get him out of there. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.520 And then you gotta move inside to side. Don't try 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:53.200 to jump over him, but go around him. So anyway 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:57.440 they play, he has this unbelievable game thirty plus and 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:01.720 in the last thirty forty seconds minute, maybe pick a 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.760 roll up top y'all. Switches out. He instead of jumping 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.240 over and he goes around him, scores so fucking me 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.800 and McHale fucking laughing about it, goes to hellle her 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.680 hair from again. I go, fuck no, I'm not gonna 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.480 have for him again. It's a one and done. So anyway, 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.720 I gave this whole scouting report. Deal. Well, he gets interviewed. 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.080 About a minute later, I get a text on my phone. 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.680 We got San Antonio tomorrow. I want the same thing, 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:30.160 and literally, Doug, I would break down every opponent for him, 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:33.200 the players that will regarding him, and the players would 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:38.320 be guarding started, backup, backups, back up video strengths, weaknesses, 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.360 stat's scouting report, plan of attack. I would give it 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.560 to him at seven am every morning, his time. He 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.600 would go to shoot around, then start emailing me about 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.920 twelve o'clock. From twelve to about seven off and on 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.080 off and on his nap. But we would talk probably 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:57.160 all the way up to about forty five minutes before 0:07:57.200 --> 0:07:59.400 game time. And then what he would want is he 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:03.160 wanted him after the game, and you would want um 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:04.880 and you would want to break down of what he 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:06.680 could have done better in the game to being more 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.240 efficient and I go, why the funk are you doing 0:08:09.280 --> 0:08:11.280 this for? Well? Why why are you having your work? 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:14.160 He goes, You're one of the only guys probably besides 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.760 you know, Phil Jackson and Grover to tell me the truth. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:18.920 He goes, everybody else is afraid to tell me the truth. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:21.480 No one has ever spoken to me like that in 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.600 a long time. And I like it, and I'm like, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.920 fuck it, that's what I like to do. So that's 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.440 what I would do for him every year. How do 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:34.679 you decide what you're gonna be compensated for this? It's 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:37.360 a good question because that's that's a lot of them. 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:39.880 That's a lot of work, right, no doubt, no doubt. 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.160 You know that's a lot of work for one client. Well, 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:47.920 well I didn't get paid. He offered He offered me 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.640 three times. He offered me three times, and I'm fucked up, Doug, 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.800 no doubt about it. A couple of things here, Hey, 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.199 I wanted to learn from the best, and I was 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.280 getting paid by Grover, so I'll getting my bills paid. 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.600 I'm good. My wife's a veterinarian doctor. She's like, we're 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:07.640 doing okay. I'm not married yet, but we're fine. So 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.880 like I wanted to learn from the absolute fucking best. 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.640 And I thought once I started getting paid, which is 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:16.600 the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard in my life, 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.720 But that was my reasoning back then. If I thought 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.719 I was getting paid, then I'm expendable because now if 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.839 something goes left or right, I wanted him to know 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:29.680 that I was there for him, not for anything. I 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.360 told him this my first email back and forth when 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:34.360 he decided he want to do this, and we're not 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.839 going to be friends. I'm not gonna be hanging out 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.600 with you. I'm not gonna be asking for your favorite 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.000 movie is. I'm not taking pictures of you. I'm not 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:44.480 fucking asking you for shoes, tickets, anything like that. I'm 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.320 gonna stay in Chicago and do this. I want. I 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.600 want to be able to go back and forth with 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:52.760 you and argue with you, and if I feel as 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.840 though if we get close, I won't be able to 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:57.560 do that. And that's just so to how it was. 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.559 And he asked me like three times. He asked me. 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.679 Then he asked me like at the end of the 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.679 Phoenix series when they went to the finals of Boston 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.520 and ten and he asked me one more time and 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:12.920 I think that's why, fucking you know, we got along 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:15.680 so well. Hey, I wasn't cost him any money, but 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.200 he knew that all I wanted to do was fucking 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.680 learned from him. I wanted to be able to work 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.000 with the best, and I wanted to know how he 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.120 prepares for stuff, because not how to teach people how 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:30.360 to play like Kobe Bryant, but teach people how to 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.520 prepare like Kobe, and what he did in certain situations. 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.720 And I don't think there was a guy that spent 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.680 more time talking to him than me, and like we 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:40.599 he would find me out a couple of times to 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.520 work him out. I think I remember doing it in 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:44.600 two thousand and eleven, and then when he came to 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.800 Chicago when he had extended period of time, if he 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.720 came to Chicago and state for a few days. But um, 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:55.800 we had an unbelievable back and forth about questions about 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:59.240 the game, talking about old players, you know, breaking down 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.200 filmable players, and just sort of the way his brain works. 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:05.840 I think that that's worth more than any type of 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.960 compensation I could have ever gotten, because you know, and 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:10.679 again I probably should have got paid. He gave me 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.720 a championship ring after two thousand and ten. That's pretty 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.360 freaking cool to be honest with you, Doug. If I 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.559 if I got paid eighty grand a year, ninety grand 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:22.560 a year, whatever, like, it's given me so much more opportunity. 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:26.160 Like if I wasn't working for Kobe, you know, it 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:29.160 doesn't matter how good I am. Development players like Mark 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.199 Keaton would have never hired me. The only reason why 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:33.800 you hired me is because Adrian will Geranowski and a 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.520 few other people did huge stories on me after the 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.880 oh nine Intent Championship about my work with Code because 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.319 a no one's ever done that with a player at 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:46.640 that stature and like that type of service. And it 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.240 was a great story to be honest with you, a 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.160 guy who scored four career high school points, who's a 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.080 fucking grotesque mutant, it's fucking has the air of one 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.440 of the most intense winners in our fucking generation. And yeah, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.520 it was pretty fucking cool be honest with you. And 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.080 I'm not that fucking bright. I graduated with a two 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.120 point oh one. It shows right now about how fucking 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.520 dumb I was. I probably should asked, but I just 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.880 saw where the training business was going. I saw these 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:17.079 guys hanging out with these players. I saw see them, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.240 like taking pictures of them the clubs. Like the whole 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.760 internet social media thing really didn't take off yet, but 0:12:23.800 --> 0:12:25.839 you started to see it. And I'm like, I don't 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:29.240 like that look right there. Because Grover taught me. We 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.720 serviced the client. He goes, We're like the Navy sales. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.719 No one sees us, no one hears this, No one 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.760 fucking talks to us. We do our job and we 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.440 move the funk on. It's like the unit like that 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.200 that showed the unit. It's like that. You're like Jack 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.160 Bauer and that's what that's what Kobe called me. It's 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.040 Jack Bauer. And like he goes, motherfucker, he goes, you 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.440 get intel that I've never seen before. And I'm like, well, yeah, 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:54.880 all right, that's what you paid me to do and 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:56.560 not paid me to do, but that's what I do. 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.120 And uh, that's what he calls me Jack Bauer. And 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:02.280 I actually had Jack Bower in my phone for him 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.520 um when he would call me. And what happened is 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.559 he fucking haunted my dreams for years because, like I would, 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.679 he would text me like four in the morning and 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.080 I had the night Rider. You know the swoosh from 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:19.440 Night Rider, that's his ring tone. And my wife would 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.640 just roll her fucking her eyes. God for big give 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.040 things to saying that. But like she goes, what's he 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.920 want now? It's four in the morning, what's he want? 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:29.920 And he would want to know about pick a roll 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.040 coverage of like Phoenix or you know how how did 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:36.680 Tracy McGrady like use his fade away against Detroit in 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:39.199 this year? And I would have to hunt it down 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:44.000 for him. It was unbelievable. M Um, you go to 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:51.120 Dallas in what year? Two thousand and thirteen? Okay, what 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:56.480 what was? What was that organization? Like the support staff 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:01.520 is some of the best I've ever seen. Um kay, Well, 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.840 Casey Smith easily is the best trainer I've ever been around. 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.960 I mean he he's got presents with the players. He 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:10.680 knows that he's doing. He's very well thought out, he's 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:15.360 very you know, he's very focused on the job at hand. Um. 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.400 Jereedy Holstsouple if their strength coach is one of the 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:21.360 best strang coaches I've ever been around. He builds bodies, 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.680 he doesn't give a funk, He just does his job. 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:26.040 He's focused at that he'll go back at the player 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:28.920 if he needs to. I really like working with him. 0:14:29.000 --> 0:14:33.680 Don Coxtein sports psychologist. Now most sports psychologists again like 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:36.560 shooting coaches I've been around or completely full of ship. 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:42.720 Don Coxtein by far like he had more as far 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.360 as he off the court development players. He had more 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.360 influence on my career than almost anyone else I've ever 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.880 been around, because we we what happened was, you know, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.040 you know, after they won the championship in Aleven, they 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:57.360 sort of get bit of guys and you know whatever, 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:59.880 they're sort of like they're sort of wandering around the 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.000 as it right with their roster and how they're doing, 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:07.160 and they're young players were sort of dying on the vine, 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.720 you know, Like I think the guys that developed before me, 0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:13.920 Brandon Wright did okay. You know, he he was sort 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.360 of they sort of got him away from Golden State 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:19.840 and he did okay for them. Um and we see J. J. 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.440 Barea because they gave a lot of minutes he developed. 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:28.280 Who's the big guy that uh Yana MEHEMI actually developed 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.320 him a little bit. He was okay, But like for 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.640 like a two or three year period, their their young 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.960 guys are dying on the vine, and so what they 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:37.720 wanted me to do is come in and help the 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:41.280 development of those guys to to turn their young players 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.960 in the assets. So, you know, I was really good 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.520 on the court. I was really good talking to players. 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.160 I loved it because it was a time of the 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:53.160 NBA where it wasn't five thousand coaches that don't do anything. 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.040 We had a really small staff. Most of them wanted 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:58.720 to do game prep and they didn't want to work 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:01.240 with the young players. Not and not nothing against them, 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.400 it just wasn't what they like to do. So I 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.200 loved it because now any young player I could just 0:16:06.240 --> 0:16:08.640 get to work with. Nobody was sort of standing over 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.520 my shoulder. And we had guys like Jay Crowder, we 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.680 had Bernard James, we had we had some young guys 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:16.440 that were you know that they had a chance to 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.800 be pretty good. So yeah, I started working. But Don 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.120 coxtein what we would talk about, and he had a 0:16:23.160 --> 0:16:27.080 baseball background as well, and how to shape a development 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.480 program to turn these guys into professionals where because we're 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.960 developing these guys for us as somebody else, and our 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.560 job is to turn these guys into from you know, 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.600 we had about eighteen months to do it by for 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.520 each player by turn them into a serviceable player that 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.080 we could either sign long term or trade for value. 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.440 And we had we implemented things that no other team does. 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:50.360 We had a rule where, you know, young guys, because 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.560 young guys, from what I was told before I got there, 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:55.600 we're coming to practice eight, ten, twelve minutes before practice, 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:57.840 lacing his shoes up and going. I said, that can't 0:16:57.840 --> 0:16:59.800 fucking work. So we had a rule that they had 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.720 am in ninety minutes before practice, but we would find 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:06.960 them the largest amount of money we could, which is bucks. 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.320 And why we did that is we wanted them to 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.960 come into the gym, get their breakfast and stuff, get 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.760 to the locker, but like like see the trainer to 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.199 get you know, to help with the injury stuff, go 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:22.000 to the strength coach, get a workout in, get shots 0:17:22.040 --> 0:17:24.600 up at the development coach, watch film with coaches, and 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.760 then also you know a grumpy coaches are like now 0:17:27.800 --> 0:17:30.160 the head coach like Carlisle would come in ride the bike, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.359 but I wanted them to see him in the gym 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:34.440 or at the locker an hour and a half before 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:36.680 practice or an hour gouil practice. Like why the fund 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.440 is this guy here so worldly, this is great, Like actually, 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.840 like this guy must care a little bit. So that's 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.320 sort of what we wanted to do to start this 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.679 professionalism by each player to develop being a pro, because 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:51.119 if they get traded with us after year two or 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.400 three to a team that has nothing invested in them, 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:56.359 we want them to just carry that torch right away. 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.280 Where they're coming early every day, they're knowing people's names, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.240 they work with, coaches are coachabo, they watching film and 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:04.760 all that. So we started doing that, and we started 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.240 turning out some really good fucking players. You know, Jay Crowder, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.520 you know, we trade for Rondo, which ends up bringing 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:14.760 us Dwight Powell, who developed into a really good fucking 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:18.960 role player, borderline starter, decent starter for Dallas. You know, um, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.879 you know we developed him Dorian Finney Smith, you know, 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.680 brought Dorian and and you know, Dorian was a funny story. 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:29.200 One of my best friends is an eighty year old 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:33.920 agent named Frank Katapano, Boston guy from New York. Originally 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.560 he had Dorian and his stable of players, and you know, 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.840 like I remember Draft night, we had a second round 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.000 pick in the forties, and I really liked him, right 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.080 off the bat. I thought he could have been Michael Cooper. 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.520 He just needed to develop a shot. He had the size, 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.280 he had the length, He was very coachable, very sort 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.720 of tunnel vision and stuff, and like I was the 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.399 only guy who raised his hand in the in the 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.880 draft room, I remember wanting the draft. In the second round, 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.960 he got red flat for something, some small thing. We 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.760 ended up taking a J. Hammon, a J. Hammond's and 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.320 I'm like, what the fuck? But thankfully, like right after 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.600 the draft, now, Frank told me that Miami and New 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.920 Orleans had like summer league deals for Dorian already in place. 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.160 So I get on the phone with him and I said, Frank, 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:20.159 I think he could be really good here. I'll be 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.760 here with him every day while watch over him. So 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.080 I knew if he went to Miami he'd be a 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.240 fucking star. I knew it's not a star, but he'd 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.480 be really good. Yeah. I knew if he goes to 0:19:31.560 --> 0:19:33.600 New Orleans he'd probably get lost in a shuffle. They 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.040 weren't very good in development plays. So I'm like, we 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:37.840 need him. He goes all right, Well, he's got like 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.040 a hundred thousand dollar guarantee or seventy five from Miami. 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.040 I said, if he could match that or more, we'll 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:46.439 we'll do it. I'll have to be more. So Cuban 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.600 stepped up, paid him, and then we took him in. 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.160 You know, that fucking guy worked hard every day, ends 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.600 up getting a shot. We hired her shooting coach Peter 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:59.040 Patton from Minnesota, who ended up working with him at 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.680 a shot really helped him and really brought him along. 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:04.480 And we just sort of had this stable of good 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:10.080