Speaker 1: Welcome to this League Uncut in the world of twenty
Speaker 1: four hour NBA news. This is you, Chris Haynes. It's
Speaker 1: so telling Bert Stein, it's so time This League Uncut
Speaker 1: is underway and on fire.
Speaker 2: It should be a good one.
Speaker 3: Everybody, welcome to another episode of this League on Cut
Speaker 3: feature and myself Chris Haynes and my brother Mark Stein.
Speaker 3: You know, every now and there on the show, we
Speaker 3: like to highlight new talent, new up and coming talent
Speaker 3: that you're probably gonna be familiar with within the NBA
Speaker 3: as early as next season, probably two years from now,
Speaker 3: you never know. But this kid that we're bringing on
Speaker 3: right now, he's definitely on the cuts of doing something
Speaker 3: special and it's gonna be a name that you're going
Speaker 3: to hear about in the near future. And without further ado,
Speaker 3: I like to introduce to you Tyler Smith, who played
Speaker 3: in the Overtime Elite this past few years and now
Speaker 3: he's taking his talents to the g League Ignite. And
Speaker 3: you know about that program that's produced some of the
Speaker 3: top NBA rookies and future NBA stars, you know over
Speaker 3: the last I don't know, four or five years, and
Speaker 3: now Tyler has taken his talents there and he's he's
Speaker 3: one more step away from being in the NBA, a
Speaker 3: league that me and Mark Stein has covered for countless
Speaker 3: decades between the both of us. So, Tyler, I want
Speaker 3: to say thank you for having us, I mean thank
Speaker 3: you for having us on like this is Joe Show,
Speaker 3: thank you for coming on our show. Tyler, just first
Speaker 3: of all, we want to get to know you, want
Speaker 3: to get to know your background, so you know, when
Speaker 3: you do make that lead to the NBA, you do
Speaker 3: hear your name called, people will have a clue of
Speaker 3: where you came from and what you're about. So Tyler,
Speaker 3: tell me just a little bit about your path to
Speaker 3: getting to this point. And congratulations by the way.
Speaker 4: Oh appreciate it. Appreciate it. So started off in Houston
Speaker 4: High School at Georgia Bush. Then I went to overtimeing
Speaker 4: lead for the last two years and played good over
Speaker 4: there my last season, and I'm here with Ignite.
Speaker 3: So can you tell me about you know you've taken.
Speaker 3: This is two unconventional paths by a top prospect like yourself,
Speaker 3: choosing to go to overtime and then G League at night.
Speaker 3: Can you tell me take me back to high school?
Speaker 3: At that point. So you're what fifteen or sixteen when
Speaker 3: you made that decision.
Speaker 2: Yeah, got over yep, sixteen.
Speaker 3: Tell me about the thought process of making that move.
Speaker 4: The thought process was planning for the NBA scouts early,
Speaker 4: like just so I could showing my skill set and
Speaker 4: stuff like that. The stuff that was telling me, like
Speaker 4: NBA scouts at practices at games, so you wasn't gonna
Speaker 4: get them high school because they really couldn't come to
Speaker 4: our games unless you went to a campus some and
Speaker 4: the caupsil just during the summer, so all season I'll
Speaker 4: said why not?
Speaker 5: So obviously the basketball reasons to go the overtime route
Speaker 5: and now to join the ignit. I mean, we could
Speaker 5: list twenty five basketball reasons. But when you're fifteen and
Speaker 5: you're leaving high school, just how hard is that to
Speaker 5: do and leave the social part of high school behind.
Speaker 4: It wasn't really that hard for me because I was
Speaker 4: in the COVID year, so I was already used to
Speaker 4: being like away from everybody. So at that time, I
Speaker 4: was just like, man, we have to wear masks in
Speaker 4: the games and stuff. So I'm like, nah, I just
Speaker 4: got to do something.
Speaker 5: Nelse and what age were you when you kind of knew,
Speaker 5: you know what, I don't want to go to college route.
Speaker 5: I want to try these other avenues to get ready
Speaker 5: for the NBA draft. How old you would you pinpoint
Speaker 5: yourself is when you knew that you were going to
Speaker 5: go these new modern paths that are available to young
Speaker 5: players like yourself.
Speaker 4: I remember ninth grade. I was like fourteen, I'll see
Speaker 4: Ignite then come out. That's what I said I wanted
Speaker 4: to do instead of college. So I've been to I
Speaker 4: wanted to go to Ignite. So when I was fourteen
Speaker 4: to ninth grade, that's when I really wanted to go.
Speaker 5: And people in your life, what did they say when
Speaker 5: you're like, hey, at fourteen, I mean that that that
Speaker 5: probably works in your favor that you knew at such
Speaker 5: a young age what you what you wanted to do.
Speaker 5: But like, how did people react when you told them?
Speaker 4: It was just with me, Like my mom, she was
Speaker 4: always with me in that situation. Like I was doing
Speaker 4: good in my game and stuff.
Speaker 2: I was going like.
Speaker 4: Developing at a high rate. So it was already like, man,
Speaker 4: I don't want to go to college, I want to
Speaker 4: go pro.
Speaker 3: So so Tyler tell let everybody know, like what's what's
Speaker 3: your height right now? What's your height weight? If you
Speaker 3: want to, but give everybody the physical tools of yourself
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 4: I'm six ' ten twenty two, well like with a
Speaker 4: seven one wing spand.
Speaker 5: Wow, you know what they say, Chris Haynes. You know,
Speaker 5: he this young man is a Texan and he's a lefty.
Speaker 3: I do you're gonna say that? I know you, I
Speaker 3: know you were going there.
Speaker 5: You know who they compare him to. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: and it's you know, it's it's obviously it's a great thing,
Speaker 5: but also it's a you know, it's a tough thing.
Speaker 5: But you know, the Chris Bosh comparison gets thrown around
Speaker 5: a lot. How how have you dealt with that? I
Speaker 5: mean that that you know, I'm sure you're it's flattering
Speaker 5: on some levels and then it's probably challenging on some
Speaker 5: levels too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I like it.
Speaker 4: You know, I've been watching him since junior year, just
Speaker 4: people realizing that. Uh, I take bits and parts of
Speaker 4: his game and I'm showing them in the games and
Speaker 4: they realize it.
Speaker 2: So it's pretty good for me, that comparison.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 5: Have you had a chance to meet him yet?
Speaker 2: Not not yet. Hopefully one day though.
Speaker 5: And I'm sure you'll I'm sure you'll cross paths with
Speaker 5: him soon.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you'll get there eventually, uh, Tyler. So when you
Speaker 3: look at again, we're here with Tyler Smith playing, going
Speaker 3: to be playing with the G League to night. He
Speaker 3: will be NBA Draft eligible for the twenty twenty four
Speaker 3: NBA d And just for context, Stean like this G
Speaker 3: League in nineteen you know, I was speaking speaking with
Speaker 3: some people from the G League. Tyler is going to
Speaker 3: be one of seven players that are going to be
Speaker 3: draft eligible for next draft. So this is the deepest
Speaker 3: talented pool they've had since, you know, since this program
Speaker 3: has started. So, Tyler, when you when you made your decision,
Speaker 3: like what went into like because you're playing against you're
Speaker 3: playing with I gat other players that had the same
Speaker 3: goals as you, and you know it coulde it could
Speaker 3: get kind of competitive too. So how do you expect
Speaker 3: this season to to shape up for you and your teammates?
Speaker 4: I mean, this season should go really good for everybody.
Speaker 4: You know, Coach puts is in the right positions. Not
Speaker 4: too many of us really play the same position. We
Speaker 4: do different things on the court, so our uses are different,
Speaker 4: so I mean it's been working out good. We went
Speaker 4: to Singapore and we've seen all the young guys play
Speaker 4: because some of our events was hurt or like not playing,
Speaker 4: so that stuff worked out good for us.
Speaker 2: Everybody was eating, everybody was eating.
Speaker 3: It was something you said about the G League Knight
Speaker 3: and Stein and Tyler. I have to admit, like whenje
Speaker 3: Leaguan Knight first started, I thought it would take time
Speaker 3: for UH, for players to really consider it and make
Speaker 3: it a legitimate, you know option, But it took off
Speaker 3: right away. And you said yourself like you was fourteen
Speaker 3: when it came about, and he was like, that's where
Speaker 3: I wanted to go. Was so if the G League
Speaker 3: Knight didn't, say, say, ge Leagan Knight didn't surface as
Speaker 3: an option, you saw players going choosing to go overseas,
Speaker 3: Australia and whatever, you know, before they got went to
Speaker 3: the NBA. What what you think you would have done
Speaker 3: if the ge League Knight wasn't an option.
Speaker 4: I probably would have went to college or Australia because
Speaker 4: I've seen people like Arjie Hampton and I'm going over
Speaker 4: there in Lamellow ball, So that was another option for.
Speaker 3: Me too, so this kid, Tyler Stein, Tyler was he
Speaker 3: was about his business. He was He's about whatever it
Speaker 3: takes to get to that NBA as soon as possible.
Speaker 5: I was hoping, I was hoping to hear cal State
Speaker 5: Fullerton was on his list. But he went right, he
Speaker 5: went right. I don't think option, Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's heard of a school.
Speaker 5: That's all right, that's all right. I'm not gonna take
Speaker 5: it personal, Tyler. I actually listened to a couple podcasts
Speaker 5: you did with Rafael Barlow, who's a good friend of
Speaker 5: mine who runs NBA Big Board, and he you told
Speaker 5: him about this summer playing a lot at U C
Speaker 5: l A and not just you, a bunch of the
Speaker 5: ignite guys, And could you just paint a picture for
Speaker 5: us what that was like. Who are some of the
Speaker 5: NBA guys you went up against, and how do you
Speaker 5: think you fared when you were on the floor with
Speaker 5: NBA guys.
Speaker 4: I think I did really good, like making open shots
Speaker 4: even blown by some of the NBA defenders. It was
Speaker 4: Jalen Green in the gym, Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, Uh,
Speaker 4: the seventy six ers, the Clippers teams and the Bucks.
Speaker 4: So I feel like I messed up pretty well with them,
Speaker 4: especially for my position, blocking shots at people that's at
Speaker 4: the NBA level and do that's in them games.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was pretty good.
Speaker 5: How competitive are those games from your perspective?
Speaker 2: Oh, it's definitely competitive, especially we're younger than everybody.
Speaker 4: They don't want us to like show them up and stuff,
Speaker 4: so they're going hard against us every time, and you know,
Speaker 4: they put us and you go to the third court
Speaker 4: over there, everybody trying to get to the main court.
Speaker 4: So it's really competitive over there. You got to win
Speaker 4: to get to the next court.
Speaker 3: So so that's how it is. So it's there's a
Speaker 3: winning court, so you keep winning, you advanced to that
Speaker 3: main I didn't know.
Speaker 5: That three three three courts at UCLA every every day
Speaker 5: pretty much in the summer, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I didn't know. How's the physicality, Tyler? How how
Speaker 3: how you manage that?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 3: What do you thought about it?
Speaker 2: Going overseas was more physical than here?
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie, but like here, I gained like
Speaker 4: twelve pounds, so I mean the physicality hasn't really been
Speaker 4: that like that tough to me out here, but you know,
Speaker 4: still need some getting.
Speaker 2: Used to because they know some tricks and stuff.
Speaker 4: They've been the Eleaite for a minute, and people that's
Speaker 4: been here for a minute know what to do, especially
Speaker 4: if somebody that's younger to have had no experience for real.
Speaker 3: Stan, I know you love to hear that him say,
Speaker 3: is more physical playing overseas.
Speaker 5: Actually, I'm really I'm really hung up on this the
Speaker 5: UCLA Summer League because I mean, I haven't lived in
Speaker 5: southern California forever, but you know, in my younger days,
Speaker 5: I used to go to some of those games, but
Speaker 5: I haven't been. I haven't been to some you know,
Speaker 5: summer pick up at UCLA for ages. I mean, were
Speaker 5: there any NBA pros who who helped you, mentored you
Speaker 5: or is it kind of like, hey, the young guys
Speaker 5: really have to prove themselves and just kind of figure
Speaker 5: it out on their own. What what is that dynamic?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 2: Nah?
Speaker 4: There was definitely helping us after the game, like they'll
Speaker 4: give you respect, especially past Asiakam, Like I was guarding
Speaker 4: on full court the whole game. After the game, he
Speaker 4: was giving me some pointers on what to do and
Speaker 4: why not to do office and defense stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So pretty good.
Speaker 3: Tyler. Who would you patter your game after in the
Speaker 3: NBA if if somebody had to give you a uh,
Speaker 3: if somebody asked you about comparison, who would you say
Speaker 3: your closest line to a.
Speaker 2: Comparison right now in the league.
Speaker 4: Yes, I'll say like j Smith something like that, or
Speaker 4: Carl any Towns.
Speaker 3: Okay, the stretch, that's you know, that's what people talk about,
Speaker 3: your ability to stretch the floor A stretch five four?
Speaker 3: What do you consider your position? What is your position
Speaker 3: stretch for? Okay, so when you when you're looking at
Speaker 3: when you're looking at I guess trying to prove that
Speaker 3: you can hit that shot on a regular basis, be consistent.
Speaker 3: I saw defensively man, you know, I looked at you know,
Speaker 3: looks at some of your game film from the past
Speaker 3: few years, and you got a quick second jump that
Speaker 3: a lot of people don't have. Like if somebody gets
Speaker 3: you up in the air, they think they got you,
Speaker 3: and you come right back up and get the get
Speaker 3: that block. What do you think is from day one,
Speaker 3: like when you're drafted, what do you think day one
Speaker 3: you're going to be able to present present to an
Speaker 3: NBA ball club? Uh?
Speaker 4: Definitely my length, defensive impact in spacing. You know in
Speaker 4: the NBA you need that. Now you get paid a
Speaker 4: lot of money and make a corner three and play
Speaker 4: some defense. So I feel like I bring that to
Speaker 4: the table early.
Speaker 5: Tyler Smith from the G League Night is our guest
Speaker 5: here on this league. On cut, you know, Chris mentioned
Speaker 5: that you guys have a bunch. There are a bunch
Speaker 5: of players on this year's G League A Night team
Speaker 5: that are hoping to get drafted just this next summer.
Speaker 5: So how hard will it be you think for you
Speaker 5: guys to kind of put that aside so you can
Speaker 5: form a team bond and it's not competition amongst yourselves
Speaker 5: kind of worrying about your draft stock.
Speaker 4: Nobody really even bring that up because we've been on
Speaker 4: each other for a couple of years now, like growing
Speaker 4: up in high school and stuff like that. The dudes
Speaker 4: that come from overseas, we mess well with them too.
Speaker 4: Like everybody's together, so we don't really worry about that. Like,
Speaker 4: let's play as a team and trying to win, because
Speaker 4: this year we're trying to make the first thing nineteen
Speaker 4: to make playoffs, So everybody locked in on that.
Speaker 5: And then something else that's really interesting about the Ignited
Speaker 5: is that I know, you guys are taking classes and
Speaker 5: you know, learning things about the off court life. What
Speaker 5: kinds of things do they work with you when when
Speaker 5: when you're in a classroom setting and they're trying to
Speaker 5: they trying to give you tips about, you know, off
Speaker 5: the court, managing your life off the court.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's just showing the stuff what not to do
Speaker 4: and what to do like some of the stuff that's
Speaker 4: been going with some of the NBA players. Like they
Speaker 4: give us examples of that and not like try not
Speaker 4: to do that or make sure that you keep everything
Speaker 4: low key that you do, don't post it to the public. Uh.
Speaker 4: They teach us how to probably speak to people, you know,
Speaker 4: because some people don't really learn that in college. They
Speaker 4: just like grow super fast and like just do whatever.
Speaker 4: So that's what we learn style.
Speaker 3: He says something that that's interesting as well about being
Speaker 3: the first G League Knight team to make the playoffs.
Speaker 3: And I guess the reason is it's kind of hard
Speaker 3: to get there from the League Knight because it's mostly
Speaker 3: young players and then you're you got you got veterans
Speaker 3: sprinkled around to kind of show the youngsters the ropes
Speaker 3: and so Tyler, you talk about trying to get to
Speaker 3: the to the playoffs. I mean, that's that's an interesting
Speaker 3: goal right there, Like, that's a team oriented goal in
Speaker 3: a in a probably the most pivotal year for all
Speaker 3: of for a lot of you guys, Like this year
Speaker 3: means a lot up to you guys. To to Stein's point,
Speaker 3: how could you how can you try? Like what does
Speaker 3: this team focus come in at at this this upcoming season?
Speaker 2: What is the focus?
Speaker 3: Yeah, like how do you how do you come to
Speaker 3: that focus? And this and this crucial part where this
Speaker 3: is like a real pivotal for year for I commend you.
Speaker 3: I've been saying, like where where does that come from?
Speaker 4: I mean, we have a lot of good players from
Speaker 4: top to bottom, especially young players that got a lot
Speaker 4: of ask the thing so like once one player gets tired,
Speaker 4: we have another.
Speaker 2: Player in the same position to come in and cook.
Speaker 4: So everybody could score, everybody can play defense, and I
Speaker 4: feel like we have the best team to do that
Speaker 4: this year.
Speaker 5: Just when you look at your own game, what are
Speaker 5: the one, two three things that you want to do
Speaker 5: better this season than you did last season?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 4: Some more of my defensive presence more I could switch
Speaker 4: on guards and just be more consistent on my jump
Speaker 4: shots and get into the rim.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's one. That's one thing I saw on the
Speaker 3: pick and roll, being able to switch. I've seen a
Speaker 3: lot of people praise you. You for that. You know
Speaker 3: that that'll take you a long way as a guy
Speaker 3: your size that can be able to stay in the game.
Speaker 3: You know, regardless of whatever matchup, you can stay in
Speaker 3: the game and you can defend those matchups. What did
Speaker 3: you you played with the Thompson Twist. What is your
Speaker 3: relationship with them?
Speaker 2: Man?
Speaker 3: What what do you think? What do you think? How
Speaker 3: you think their game is to transition into the NBA.
Speaker 2: I mean, you see what they're doing right now. They're
Speaker 2: putting up double dobles and stuff.
Speaker 4: Already I managed had like an under the basket winmill yesterday.
Speaker 4: I mean, it's pretty easy for their transition. They're athletics,
Speaker 4: six seven guards. I can see over defense and stuff.
Speaker 4: So their game gonna translate pretty easy. Our relationship with them,
Speaker 4: I've been with them for the last two years. Also
Speaker 4: been to the gym at night time to like one am,
Speaker 4: sometimes like almost slipping the gym with them.
Speaker 2: So yeah, pretty good basketball related mainly.
Speaker 5: So I haven't had a I have not had a
Speaker 5: chance to meet the Thompson Twins yet. But when you're
Speaker 5: as old as me, the Thompson Twins, you know that
Speaker 5: that was a that was a whole different thing in
Speaker 5: the eighties. Do you are the are the NBA Thompson
Speaker 5: Twins aware of the Thompson Twins banned from the eighties?
Speaker 5: Does that ever come up in giving those guys a
Speaker 5: hard time?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 3: You lost me to even.
Speaker 5: You don't know the Thompson Twins.
Speaker 3: What Thompson Twins? What?
Speaker 5: Wow? I know, I'm I know I'm old and I'm
Speaker 5: way older than Tyler, but I'm not that much older
Speaker 5: than you.
Speaker 3: What Thompson Twins? Tell me? Who?
Speaker 5: Who? Forget it? Man, forget forget it.
Speaker 3: You're dating yourself style your date yourself.
Speaker 5: It's an eighties I mean I said, it's it's an
Speaker 5: eighties man. I know, I mean, I know I'm ancient,
Speaker 5: but I couldn't resent, I couldn't resist asking forget forget that.
Speaker 5: I wasted your time with that one. I apologize.
Speaker 3: I was born as Yeah, I'm unfamiliar with myself. Did
Speaker 3: you Tyler, when you when you were working like the
Speaker 3: Thompson twins. Did you know that they were? Like did
Speaker 3: you know they were this good? Like any of this surprising?
Speaker 3: Or did you did you see a jump in them?
Speaker 3: Like did you see a year like where you say,
Speaker 3: my damn, like their development took off? Like what did
Speaker 3: you see about how they progressed to get to that point.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. The our first summer at overtime
Speaker 2: like it was real skinny.
Speaker 4: Next summer they came back like swall all of and
Speaker 4: then they just got ways stronger doing the same stuff.
Speaker 2: So I'm like, dang it, just it's just crazy, like
Speaker 2: they're different. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 5: In all seriousness watching them both get drafted so high.
Speaker 5: I'm sure you tuned into the draft. What what was
Speaker 5: that like for you? And I'm sure you're you know,
Speaker 5: imagining your own turn that's coming up.
Speaker 2: This Yeah, I was actually at the draft this year.
Speaker 4: I was actually at the draft this year, So that
Speaker 4: gave me motivation just to be able to get invited
Speaker 4: to the green room and just steal my stuff this
Speaker 4: year so I could get invited there.
Speaker 5: So what do you think? What do you think of
Speaker 5: what do you think of the chaos that is the
Speaker 5: NBA Draft.
Speaker 4: I mean it's a lot we went in the back
Speaker 4: rooms after. It's a lot after like taking pictures, doing interviews.
Speaker 4: So I mean, I mean it's a blessing to get
Speaker 4: there though, So I mean, they at least they're here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like when you think about okay, let's talk about
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty four NBA draft. If you do what
Speaker 3: you set out to do this coming up season team wise, individually,
Speaker 3: where do you think your draft range.
Speaker 2: Is right now?
Speaker 4: I'll say, like anywhere from like fourteen to twenty fourteen
Speaker 4: to twenty right now.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, so we're talking we're talking backup lottery, yeah
Speaker 3: to twenty. Uh So let's let's talk about that. You know,
Speaker 3: there's always star level players who are drafted in that area,
Speaker 3: even drafted later late, you know, late first round.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: When when you when you think about your NBA career,
Speaker 3: hopefully you're blessed with a long NBA career at the
Speaker 3: end of the day, what do you think you're capable
Speaker 3: of doing at your prime in the NBA?
Speaker 4: Uh just being one of the best scorers in the
Speaker 4: league and one of the best defenders and hopefully being
Speaker 4: an All Star caliber player as really.
Speaker 5: So when you talk about your draft range as your
Speaker 5: going through this process, is that something you want to
Speaker 5: keep track of, what the mock drafts are saying, what
Speaker 5: draft analysts are saying about you or tuning it out?
Speaker 5: What is your personal approach to kind of paying paying
Speaker 5: attention to that or not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, at first it was getting to me, like, especially
Speaker 4: like before some of our games this year, I was like, man,
Speaker 4: why am I not like up here? But I got
Speaker 4: to like show like more in front of people, like
Speaker 4: I just have to stop looking at that stuff. It
Speaker 4: was getting me like tight sometimes, but like now I
Speaker 4: don't even look at it no more.
Speaker 3: I was going to ask something long Tyler, like when
Speaker 3: you going to overtime and even maybe the a little
Speaker 3: bit of extent with the G League at night. You know,
Speaker 3: once February comes around, March comes around, everybody's kind of
Speaker 3: focused on college basketball and they're getting that exposure and
Speaker 3: that that love did. Did any of that bother you
Speaker 3: at any point? So do you think that that will
Speaker 3: bother you? Because it's always people are always prisoners of
Speaker 3: the moment. You know, if anybody does anything great at
Speaker 3: that time, they're kind of praising them and calling them
Speaker 3: the next great thing because they're in the spotlight right now.
Speaker 3: And I think that's probably the one advantage college probably
Speaker 3: has over peoples. Like during that time of year, it
Speaker 3: gets all of love. How are you able to manage that?
Speaker 3: Or how you think you're going to be able to
Speaker 3: manage that and stay focused.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's gonna be easy to manage it.
Speaker 4: Just play basketball and just be the best of my position, really,
Speaker 4: and then in the draft workouts too, you got to
Speaker 4: show what you could do.
Speaker 2: Also, you can surprise scouts. So I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: really too worried.
Speaker 4: I've been having talked with my people that stuff really
Speaker 4: don't matter right now all what you do on the court.
Speaker 3: Do you have a NBA mentor NBA player that has
Speaker 3: been in your ear like giving you a guidance throughout
Speaker 3: this time, or you know a current NBA player, form
Speaker 3: NBA player, anybody significance in your ear that we would know.
Speaker 4: No, not really, just like TJ. Ford been opened me
Speaker 4: out stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So okay, Texas, yep.
Speaker 5: You know you spoke about trying to make the playoffs
Speaker 5: and trying to be the first Ignite team that gets
Speaker 5: to the G League. Playoffs, but not with the veterans.
Speaker 5: I realized the veterans joined the group later. But but
Speaker 5: the young guys on the team in your age bracket,
Speaker 5: You guys have played a fair bit together this summer,
Speaker 5: So what I mean you've gotten a You've gotten a
Speaker 5: head start on really the rest of the G League.
Speaker 5: When you ask people what and what your coaches are
Speaker 5: telling you, how feasible is it that you guys could
Speaker 5: be that first team to make the playoffs? What what
Speaker 5: do the coaches say about your chances?
Speaker 2: I mean, we already played five games together.
Speaker 4: We know what we need to work on as a team,
Speaker 4: so I mean, you know it's easy fixes And they
Speaker 4: say in the G League, it's like I'm not gonna
Speaker 4: I'm not gonnay the resident bad, but like like sometimes
Speaker 4: the risk can make back calls and stuff. So sometimes
Speaker 4: the game is gonna be with us, or we're gonna
Speaker 4: be within the game because they call a lot of
Speaker 4: thousand and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be winnable games for us a lot.
Speaker 3: So who are you who are you closest with on
Speaker 3: a G League in night team?
Speaker 4: I'll say everybody, But really I bail him for two
Speaker 4: years also at overtime.
Speaker 3: So that's right, that's right, that's the easy one. I
Speaker 3: saw that I should have I should have knew that
Speaker 3: from from the beginning. So I don't know, ty like,
Speaker 3: I don't know if you like Stott mark Stein. Just
Speaker 3: to give you his credential style, this is your what
Speaker 3: year covering the NBA?
Speaker 5: This is gonna be my thirty first season. But I
Speaker 5: think I've already I think after asking my musical question,
Speaker 5: I think everybody gets it. I'm I'm just an old
Speaker 5: old man, and you know what i am. When I
Speaker 5: meet the Thompson Twins, I'm not gonna be able to
Speaker 5: resist asking them that same question. I will embarrass my
Speaker 5: I will embarrass myself again.
Speaker 3: I think you'll get to say, and Detroit.
Speaker 5: Is actually in Dallas early or not? Detroit is the
Speaker 5: only is the only is the MAVs only preseason game
Speaker 5: in Dallas. So I will soon get my chance with Stein,
Speaker 5: half of the Thompson Twins.
Speaker 3: Stein's based in Dallas and I'm based in California. By
Speaker 3: I'm all over the place. So I'm the guy. You know,
Speaker 3: I'm an NBA reporter about twelve years. In thirteen years
Speaker 3: in I'm also the sideline reporter for T and T games,
Speaker 3: So if you watch the TNT games, you'll see me
Speaker 3: interviewing the players at the end of the game on
Speaker 3: the court. But uh, I think like when you think
Speaker 3: of the let's let's okay, so let's say a year
Speaker 3: from now, exactly a year from now, at that point,
Speaker 3: what do you think will be if somebody asked you
Speaker 3: a year from now, Tyler, what was the one thing
Speaker 3: you did, What was the one crucial decision you made
Speaker 3: that got you to this point? Or who was the
Speaker 3: most inspirational or integral you know or you know, just
Speaker 3: just person that was really an integral peace to how
Speaker 3: you got to this stage. What would be your answer.
Speaker 5: The most important decision besides coming on this podcast?
Speaker 2: He meant, Oh, probably my mom? My mom?
Speaker 3: How how much was that was that mom that was
Speaker 3: hooking up everything before you came up, before you came home. Okay,
Speaker 3: shout out to moms right there, still still doing things
Speaker 3: for the baby right there. Uh, tell me about tell
Speaker 3: me about your mom's part and just allowing you to
Speaker 3: try to chase your dreams. Just you can you just
Speaker 3: give me a little glimpse into mom's.
Speaker 4: My mom she's like my manager too, so I mean
Speaker 4: she handles everything on and off the court for me,
Speaker 4: puts me in the right situations just like this right now,
Speaker 4: just helping me and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: So she knew everything.
Speaker 3: No, that's dope, man. And you know, Tyder, I probably
Speaker 3: got like one more question on those Stein has one more.
Speaker 3: But you know one thing, you know again, we're talking
Speaker 3: with Tyler Smith. You'll check him out. Remember the G
Speaker 3: League ignite. He's going to be draft eligible for the
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four NBA draft. You know he can go
Speaker 3: somewhere lottery, you know he he's saying somewhere fourteen to
Speaker 3: twenty range. But we know how one year, one season
Speaker 3: can change a lot. Workouts can change a lot, so
Speaker 3: it could be potentially higher. This is a sixteen to you,
Speaker 3: eighteen or nineteen eighteen eighteen, sixteen, eighteen years old, two
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty pounds, athletics, left teams of the ball
Speaker 3: left most important. If you ask Steyn, he's a left y.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Tyler does every August on left hand on International
Speaker 5: left Handers Day, I put I put out the all
Speaker 5: lefty team. It's unofficial, but I like to pretend it's official,
Speaker 5: I put out five starters and a sixth man. So
Speaker 5: will soon you will soon be you will soon be
Speaker 5: a contender for a spot on that team.
Speaker 3: So will he be eligible for next August team? Because
Speaker 3: he would just have been playing well, he would have
Speaker 3: played some league, He would have some league under his belt.
Speaker 5: Even if he's the number one pick, he cannot be
Speaker 5: eligible till he plays in the NBA. But once he
Speaker 5: plays in the NBA, he will be eligible.
Speaker 3: My last question for you, Tyler, when I guess when
Speaker 3: it's all when it's all set and done, Man, when
Speaker 3: it's all set and done, you finally reach that goal,
Speaker 3: what are you going to think about? What do you
Speaker 3: think is going to come to your head? Because you
Speaker 3: were at the NBA draft and you've seen how lives
Speaker 3: changed at that one moment. What's going to be circling
Speaker 3: around your mind at that point?
Speaker 2: Talking about right after the draft?
Speaker 3: Yep, after the draft? I mean your name, Carl, what's
Speaker 3: going to be circling in your mind?
Speaker 2: Really? Like the work just be young for that?
Speaker 4: Like just all my life been trying to go to
Speaker 4: the league, and I'm here, so I gotta work even
Speaker 4: harder now.
Speaker 3: Mm it works to stop yeah, it works still stop
Speaker 3: and I lie to you, Todd. This is my last question.
Speaker 3: What is something that people may not know about you
Speaker 3: that that probably will surprise most if they heard about it.
Speaker 4: I'm really a simple person. I don't really do nothing
Speaker 4: ab outside or nothing like that. So I mean, it's
Speaker 4: nothing too crazy. I'll just like chilling in the house
Speaker 4: my brother, stuff like that, playing the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, all right, well it stein you good? Stan.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I'm really glad that we got this chance
Speaker 5: to meet you. And look, I haven't seen him for ages,
Speaker 5: but if I somewhere, and I'm sure Chris will do
Speaker 5: the same. If if somehow someway we run into Chris Bosh,
Speaker 5: we will we will tell him. We will tell him
Speaker 5: about you and tell him to find you.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, for sure that this is Tyler Smith. Tyler,
Speaker 3: we appreciate you coming on this League Uncut podcast. Man,
Speaker 3: we wish you you know nothing but the best this
Speaker 3: season to G League tonight and I'll be at the
Speaker 3: NBA Draft of twenty twenty four. I'll probably see you
Speaker 3: before then. I'll come to a couple of night games.
Speaker 3: But man, we wish you the best of luck and
Speaker 3: most importantly, thank you for coming on.
Speaker 2: Man, thank you for having me.
Speaker 5: Good luck to you, Tyler, Thanks Amil, Thanks.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 1: This league uncutage and iHeartRadio production
Speaker 2: Christ Haines and Mark Stein,