Speaker 1: M hm hm. Welcome back all the smoke Atlanta. It's
Speaker 1: been a good trip so far. Bro. Yeah they times
Speaker 1: shouting were in here day two. Uh we got All
Speaker 1: Star fifth year, six years, it's my six years, bro. Man,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show. Dejon T. Murray, appreciate your time. Man,
Speaker 1: let me a minute. So I'm glad we got uh
Speaker 1: got you locked in. But DJ on the couch man,
Speaker 1: Huh what's been posted? Yeah, I've been going back and
Speaker 1: forth them on the d M for maybe be too
Speaker 1: trying to catch up. Let's say, you know, schedules they're busy,
Speaker 1: are you know? But welcome to the show. Man. How's life?
Speaker 1: What's going on? How how are you adjusting to Atlanta? Man?
Speaker 1: First of all, life is great, brouh you know where
Speaker 1: we come from. When you see another day, it's a blessing. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, And obviously to be in the situation I'm
Speaker 1: in in life in general, just you know, be able
Speaker 1: to try to find that peace, you know, some happiness
Speaker 1: and doing the right thing. Uh. You know, So life's great. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know. As far as adjusting Atlanta, ship, I'm trying to.
Speaker 1: I'll be inside, bro, be outside. You know, I've been chilling.
Speaker 1: I like to be in my own bubble, uh, locked
Speaker 1: in uh with my family, so I'm adjusted to it.
Speaker 1: I know they get lit up here. So I think
Speaker 1: you just now you haven't you got another one on
Speaker 1: the way an evaculation. Yeah, how's that? What's that feeling? Like? Right?
Speaker 1: You got a girl? Dad? But what's that? What I mean,
Speaker 1: what's that feeling? Like? Explained fatherhood to us in your opinion?
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, you know I grew up. You know,
Speaker 1: I always had uncle's aunties, my grandmother, my mother, and
Speaker 1: my father. You know, Uh it was around, but my
Speaker 1: mom I didn't really grow up with that that that
Speaker 1: relationship like mom son dad. So you feel me. So
Speaker 1: it was more like a I call it like a
Speaker 1: group home, but it was love. It was me and
Speaker 1: all my family and raising my grandma's house. So it's like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it kind of it hit different for me
Speaker 1: knowing that, like I ain't had taking me to school,
Speaker 1: taking me the activities, uh, waking up with breakfast, lunch, dinner,
Speaker 1: all that, like you know what I mean. So having
Speaker 1: my daughter, it's it's it's easy because it's what I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to do. I always tell people I love for
Speaker 1: people that don't know me that see you know me
Speaker 1: being a father, Like, don't praise me for something I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to do, you know what I'm saying. So you
Speaker 1: know it's it's crazy. I got another girl on the way.
Speaker 1: My daughter is excited. I'm excited. Uh you know. But
Speaker 1: but father was everything to me. Come first. I got
Speaker 1: five girls, so I know the feeling. Speaking of your father,
Speaker 1: I saw recently before I go to my question, and
Speaker 1: I saw you, um you talk about you were raised.
Speaker 1: When I saw you reached out to your father and
Speaker 1: bottom a truck and still kind of kind of mentor
Speaker 1: that relationship to talk talking a little boy, because that
Speaker 1: that means a lot. I did the same thing for
Speaker 1: my father died like he stayed five minutes away from it,
Speaker 1: but wasn't there. But as I became a man and
Speaker 1: had kids by other women, I understand how it could
Speaker 1: be difficult, how could not just be his fault. And
Speaker 1: I reached out to him and built our relationship before
Speaker 1: he passed. So talk about it because I saw you
Speaker 1: did the same thing for your pa. You were just man,
Speaker 1: you pulled up with a truck phone. Yeah, no, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I love my dad, Like, I think the
Speaker 1: difference that we have is I don't be trying to
Speaker 1: tell him like you were, Dad, be like I ain't
Speaker 1: on that, you know what I'm saying. Like for me,
Speaker 1: it's the times I needed you, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I just want to answer you could told me like
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't right. This was going on like
Speaker 1: I'm grown that I ain't a little boy. So it's
Speaker 1: like we can have them conversations. So it was like
Speaker 1: it was really you know, obviously I didn't grow up
Speaker 1: living with him, but I remember being around him and
Speaker 1: all that, and uh, you know, we just bumped his
Speaker 1: I think from from my teenage from being what eleven
Speaker 1: Levin all the way to you know, like seventeen eighteen,
Speaker 1: and I always asked them like let's just have a conversation,
Speaker 1: like I want you to get to know me, like
Speaker 1: I ain't the innocent little kid that he was used
Speaker 1: to being around because we were in a long time
Speaker 1: not seeing each other, you know what I mean. Even
Speaker 1: to this day, you know, we're still bumping heads. But
Speaker 1: I'll be telling them like I love you, like I
Speaker 1: brought you to high school games, college games, the draft,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to build that relationship with him, because
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's not easy, but it's not hard,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And it ain't about the
Speaker 1: materialistic things for me, Like none of that moved me,
Speaker 1: you feel me. But I just know from a kid
Speaker 1: that he always liked the Tahoe you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I ain't really did nothing for him since I
Speaker 1: made it, because my main thing, then let's built that
Speaker 1: father and some relationship and and all that extra stuff
Speaker 1: could come with it, you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: I want to build that, like I want that like
Speaker 1: I'm in the league, bro, Like I want you to
Speaker 1: be able to be at the games. I want to
Speaker 1: be able to talk after the games like my father
Speaker 1: and my mother. So it's like for me and him,
Speaker 1: we still just it's it's still hard, what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: but me remembrance as a kid that he liked to
Speaker 1: hoos and knowing that the family, you know, he's living
Speaker 1: in Hawaii right now with his wife and uh three
Speaker 1: my little sisters. So knowing that you know they are
Speaker 1: a family. Uh, I'm like, damn, he got cars, he
Speaker 1: ain't got no truck. So that's just me always thinking
Speaker 1: to my people, Bro, I'm gonna give her, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So you know, it wasn't even about
Speaker 1: the truck or nothing. It was just something that I
Speaker 1: wanted to do and just help him and let him know,
Speaker 1: like I love you, you know what I mean, No
Speaker 1: matter what, Like I love you, You're gonna always be
Speaker 1: blessed for that map, for that mentality and attitude. Last June,
Speaker 1: you got traded by the Spurs to the Hawks. How
Speaker 1: did you find out? Yeah? Man, Uh, I think I
Speaker 1: was in New York. I was in New York. Uh,
Speaker 1: just chilling, working out homies and ship and uh, me
Speaker 1: and Pop was talking. I was in a bunch of
Speaker 1: like it start heating up. I was in trade talks,
Speaker 1: but it was always BS. You know, Pop you being
Speaker 1: around and uh it was BS. He would call me
Speaker 1: like it ain't nothing, it ain't nothing. Then they start
Speaker 1: heating up. And then I started asking questions though, because
Speaker 1: I'm in the gym every day. Like I stayed in
Speaker 1: San Antonio. I didn't leave for the summers, go back home,
Speaker 1: go l a, none of that. Staying in San Antonio. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I'm just curious to where we're going,
Speaker 1: what we're doing, you know what I mean, because not
Speaker 1: alone that I'm growing, but we're drafting younger guys and
Speaker 1: it's like it ain't fair to them, and it ain't
Speaker 1: fair to me because you know, I'm doing this and
Speaker 1: they just getting here. And you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So always I wasn't a selfish type to be like,
Speaker 1: oh we gotta get better players, We gotta do this
Speaker 1: because they all talented. You here for a reason, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. But for me, I just explain
Speaker 1: the popping them guys like it's just ain't fair for
Speaker 1: them trying to develop and then me, you know, reaching
Speaker 1: the level beach and I'm got years ahead of them
Speaker 1: and and just figuring out what we're doing. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they asked me, you know, teams that I
Speaker 1: like to play for, and you know, um, Atlanta was
Speaker 1: a team not only you know, because of Trede Young,
Speaker 1: but just you know, the culture are people's out here,
Speaker 1: and you know what I'm saying, and I love it.
Speaker 1: We played there last year before the All Star Game.
Speaker 1: We came here and played and uh, I just felt
Speaker 1: the vibe. I felt the atmosphere and it was something
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of. That's dope, I know.
Speaker 1: I mean me playing in San Antonio. I know like
Speaker 1: I left twice, and I know how that situation could
Speaker 1: the whole players back. I went through it because while
Speaker 1: I went through it, I became a better player once
Speaker 1: I left. I appreciate the opportunity because I got a
Speaker 1: chance to play with Timid Dave, win the championship and
Speaker 1: all that. But that's it. That system is not for everybody,
Speaker 1: and I saw that with you. You know, the same
Speaker 1: thing I said with Uh was true when I got
Speaker 1: there with K. I see the same thing with DJ Bro.
Speaker 1: I said, it's about to happen. He's gonna get tired
Speaker 1: because he's not growing as a player. They wanted to
Speaker 1: continue to stay in that system, but he's not gonna
Speaker 1: be the best him in that system. Am I right?
Speaker 1: Of course? You you you witnessed it. You was there.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, So you could see between
Speaker 1: all that to be able to fake all of it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So of course, and it's professional,
Speaker 1: don't give me it's professional. Is a great organization to
Speaker 1: be a part of. But if you're not Tony Parker, Genoboli,
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan. That's that's not a place where you would
Speaker 1: have longevity. So I was glad to see you leave,
Speaker 1: and I was glad to see popping them seeing you
Speaker 1: somewhere where you could you know what I'm saying, when
Speaker 1: you can flourish immediately, because they will send you to
Speaker 1: somewhere where you disappear, especially they know they got to
Speaker 1: play you again, you know what I mean. And that's
Speaker 1: one thing about my second time. He didn't want to
Speaker 1: send me the Clippers. He just cut me so I
Speaker 1: couldn't sign with nobody else because the players about to start.
Speaker 1: I get it, I wouldnt want to see me either,
Speaker 1: But I get I wouldn't want to let me. Even
Speaker 1: the league, everybody, me living here in Atlanta, everybody was
Speaker 1: excited to see you in trade together. How how has
Speaker 1: it Phil been on the corporate trade right now? Building
Speaker 1: that chemistry? I mean, it's it's uh, it's a process,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And I'm trying to put
Speaker 1: that through his head the rest of the team's head,
Speaker 1: like it's a it's a journey. It's a process, and
Speaker 1: what we want don't come overnight. It ain't easy. This
Speaker 1: league's a monster as we know, you guys know former
Speaker 1: players like the talents off the roof, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So you know, obviously I like playing with him,
Speaker 1: just he could pass the ball, he could screw the ball.
Speaker 1: And I try to tell a lot of people like
Speaker 1: just around me, like I don't think he gets the
Speaker 1: credit that he deserves far as being his height and
Speaker 1: what he does. Know what I'm saying, Like, I'm six five, bro,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean. So I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: say easier, but six ft six five, that's a big
Speaker 1: difference in this league, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: to see him be able to be a thirty and
Speaker 1: ten guy like at his size, I don't think he
Speaker 1: even realized it how impressive it is, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Um, But we're still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm somebody I don't want nothing easy. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm bill for adversity. I try to tell them like,
Speaker 1: we don't want nothing easy because at the end we're
Speaker 1: gonna smile, you know, we're gonna laugh, joke everything. But
Speaker 1: all the hard times you gotta grind it out. Do
Speaker 1: you want it to you, don't you know what I'm saying. So,
Speaker 1: I mean I like playing with him. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's a journey, it's a process. So
Speaker 1: you gotta just these are things that you just gotta
Speaker 1: sit and just watch, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: that's that's that's nothing from San Antonio. So you're coming
Speaker 1: from San Antonio. You have more years of experience than
Speaker 1: you do years of playing here. But if they teach
Speaker 1: you so much over there, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: You your your basketball are you grows there? And that's
Speaker 1: good for this team because the team has some ups
Speaker 1: and homes. Before you got here, they got high, your
Speaker 1: back low again, and but you have be coming there
Speaker 1: to let this guys know, hey, we got a new team,
Speaker 1: but we you know, we're still growing. That's important, Bro,
Speaker 1: that's important because look at Boston. It's just on the
Speaker 1: half of Boston. They drafted that and it's just starting
Speaker 1: to happen. So the fact that you're coming in being
Speaker 1: a leader speaking like that, that's good for your square. Bro.
Speaker 1: No for sure. Uh. Born and raised in Seattle. Uh.
Speaker 1: Incarcerated at a young age. Uh, how did that shape
Speaker 1: your point of view? Once you left that situation. That's
Speaker 1: why I love him, That's why I fell in love
Speaker 1: with him because I knew a story. Now you know,
Speaker 1: it's love both of y'all. Ship. But I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: that was my environment. Like my mom. My mom, she
Speaker 1: grew up in prison, you know what I'm saying. Like
Speaker 1: she was in, out of prison and out of jail
Speaker 1: all the time, you know, from a kid juvenile all
Speaker 1: the way to county of the prison. And then my
Speaker 1: dad he was you know, he was a hustler, uh
Speaker 1: you know, but he he didn't really do no time
Speaker 1: like that. He'd been to jail in and out, but
Speaker 1: he didn't really do no time like my mom. So
Speaker 1: but that was my environment. You know. Uh, when you
Speaker 1: just you just probably get in your environment. You you
Speaker 1: just go to flow. You're trying to make it to
Speaker 1: the next day survival, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: I had to that had to be my mindset at
Speaker 1: ten years old, eleven years old, you know right away,
Speaker 1: even before that. But I always had good people like uncles,
Speaker 1: my grandma and you know, all the aunties and stuff
Speaker 1: that looked after me. We just a bad kids running
Speaker 1: around the neighborhood, running around the house. You know, as
Speaker 1: it got to ten eleven years old, is you know
Speaker 1: when I started getting active. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: always is around older people, and uh, you know, first
Speaker 1: time juvenile was eleven eleven, and then thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,
Speaker 1: and I think the last time was fifteen. I knew
Speaker 1: I was always talented in basketball, and the judges always
Speaker 1: has had something for me. It was like it was
Speaker 1: already written from God, or like I was always getting
Speaker 1: smacks on the risk, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: I'm watching my homies get thirty years, forty years, all
Speaker 1: the way to eighty years. Partners I talked to till
Speaker 1: this day. Every day, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: I remember the last time I went. It's a story
Speaker 1: I never told nobody. I told people around me. But
Speaker 1: I'm fifteen and I'm in juvenile and they detained me.
Speaker 1: They keep me, they keep me in for extra thirty days.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking I'm getting out. My upposed to be at practice,
Speaker 1: I'm supposed to be at school. So there's a big
Speaker 1: game coming up. It's Raynard Beach Verse botho Zach Lavine
Speaker 1: went to Bathe So the whole city they knew I
Speaker 1: was younger and he was older getting ready to go
Speaker 1: to u C. L A. But they knew the talent
Speaker 1: was there, so they was hyping the game up right
Speaker 1: at SPU when all have his cross over at and Uh,
Speaker 1: they're hyping this game up. I'm in juvenile. I missed
Speaker 1: the game, biggest game of the year, biggest game in
Speaker 1: the city. And for me, it wasn't because it was
Speaker 1: hyping the game up. It just was, you know, opportunity
Speaker 1: to go out showcase myself, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: and and show that I'm I'm ready to be the
Speaker 1: next guy, knowing that Zack's head in the college and
Speaker 1: then you know, obviously the NBA, so I'm in there. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I'm just thinking, like this ain't the life I want,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, this is not the
Speaker 1: life I want, you know what I mean, Like even
Speaker 1: if it ain't basketball, Like I gotta figure it out.
Speaker 1: And obviously I had a great support system. Uh you
Speaker 1: know my uncle's you know, they built the plan for me.
Speaker 1: They're like, we're about to move him out the hood.
Speaker 1: We're about to move them, you know, with my anti
Speaker 1: arresting peace. He's a hundred seven years old. I lived
Speaker 1: with her, and they was like, we're gonna move him
Speaker 1: out the way, We're gonna home school them, and you
Speaker 1: know the rest was history. Bro. I got out, moved away,
Speaker 1: moved away from my family, the hood. Everything it was
Speaker 1: like I was ghosts. I was gone Jim House, gym
Speaker 1: house every day for three years, sophomore the senior year.
Speaker 1: And I just seen you know what, them tables turning
Speaker 1: when you start doing the right thing. I feel like
Speaker 1: God bless you, and God start blessing me each and
Speaker 1: every day. Uh, Rainier Beach High School three time champ
Speaker 1: guys such as Doug Christie, Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, Kevin
Speaker 1: Porter jr. Um. What did that mean? Seeing all the
Speaker 1: dudes before you make that next jump, not only the college,
Speaker 1: but have successful careers in the league. I mean it speaks,
Speaker 1: It speaks volumes of uh you know the high school.
Speaker 1: Uh you know what we what we represent. Uh shout
Speaker 1: out coach Mike there. Uh he'd been a coach there
Speaker 1: to coach all them guys all the way up to
Speaker 1: right now. And UH, for me, it just it just
Speaker 1: motivated me, you know, seeing them guys being around them,
Speaker 1: guys playing against them, guys getting to pick their brain.
Speaker 1: But more so, uh, you know, I took all the
Speaker 1: situations and just use it for what to do and
Speaker 1: not to do. Uh, you know, because we got a
Speaker 1: lot of guys, uh, even you know Terence Williams, he
Speaker 1: went there nice, you know what I'm saying. And for me,
Speaker 1: like I just I just utilized all that, Bro, I
Speaker 1: just I took advantage of it. You know, I didn't
Speaker 1: played with like I said, when I changed my life
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm gonna do the right thing.
Speaker 1: I was to take advantage of everything good, bad, but
Speaker 1: mainly the good. And you know, all them guys played
Speaker 1: a part in where I'm at today. You remember your name,
Speaker 1: Doug Ran, Yeah, that's my cousin. That's your cousin. That's
Speaker 1: my blood cousin. Bro, that's my cousin. So talented, bro,
Speaker 1: but always was always in some ship, always to play together.
Speaker 1: And then you Doug was so fucking cool. BROA tell
Speaker 1: him if what I'm gonna tell you, he's still crazy.
Speaker 1: He was crazy, but but that he had so much game, bro,
Speaker 1: and went to the dog. Yeah. Yeah. So I got
Speaker 1: a chance to meet you at Jamal Crawford's wedding and
Speaker 1: we know what kind of obviously, what kind of basketball
Speaker 1: had Jamal is. So Jamal doesn't tell none of us
Speaker 1: this ship. So we get there the first day. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm doing. I'm I'm jumping off the bus.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm jumping off the plane, going to smoke, drinking. Okay,
Speaker 1: I got a couple of days off. The chill hits us.
Speaker 1: We got some ship to do at midnight. I was like, midnight,
Speaker 1: what you're talking about? Yeah, we're gonna play some basketball,
Speaker 1: Like come on, why what you talking about? Like huh.
Speaker 1: So we end up going to where he has this
Speaker 1: proram at. When I tell you that ship was sold
Speaker 1: out at midnight, jack like six thousand people and that
Speaker 1: they packed little skinny dude with the curly tops, I
Speaker 1: didn't know who he was. This motherfucker killed had like
Speaker 1: almost fifty. There was only maybe a sophomore junior. What
Speaker 1: I was a junior junior. I was going to my junior,
Speaker 1: I believe, when I tell you, stole the show. Like
Speaker 1: no one was playing super serious until they saw how
Speaker 1: hard he was going. And then him and Jamal started
Speaker 1: going there. I was like, yo, who is he's He's
Speaker 1: going to the projec. That's that's the little homie. He's nice.
Speaker 1: He's supposed to go to you, douve. I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: this little niggas cold. But you know me, I was
Speaker 1: trying to chill and this dude just came in the
Speaker 1: gym killing. But that was always went a little hung man.
Speaker 1: But that was Jamal's like that. That's his bachelor party
Speaker 1: playing basketball. And then I was like, what are we
Speaker 1: doing in here? But that's when I got a chance
Speaker 1: to meet him and just saw and ever since then,
Speaker 1: I just kind of started phoning him and just continuing
Speaker 1: to see his growth. And obviously, you know, Seattle is
Speaker 1: a hotbed for talent, and like you said, everyone played
Speaker 1: a part and you kind of making it. But speak
Speaker 1: to the importance of a kind of mentor Jamal Crawford
Speaker 1: had been to you and meant to you. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Maul was the mall was the first pro
Speaker 1: that I ever met. You know, I remember it was
Speaker 1: like sixth grade and at this time that was a
Speaker 1: time where I was being a knucklehead but still playing
Speaker 1: a U ball and uh, he got a close friend, coach,
Speaker 1: teammate he played with, but their close friends or his
Speaker 1: names Dave King Uh, and Dave told him like, man,
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta look out for Terry's nephew. Terry's
Speaker 1: my uncle that grew up with him, and he's like,
Speaker 1: you gotta look out for his nephew. He cold, he's
Speaker 1: sixth grade with he cold. And to me, they like
Speaker 1: Jamal Cawford come to your game, and I'm like, ship,
Speaker 1: I don't care, like I'm going to hoop, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like I didn't know the importance of
Speaker 1: positive successful people. Like all I knew was my environment,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So it was like I
Speaker 1: ain't cared to take photos, autographs and none of that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But obviously I knew who
Speaker 1: he was and that was somebody always heard of and stuff.
Speaker 1: So I remember meeting him sixth grade. I think I
Speaker 1: scored like forty points that game, and he came up
Speaker 1: to me after and he's like, you got it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? And we locked in and ever
Speaker 1: since then it was more like, you know, just him
Speaker 1: teaching this, teaching that allowing me to be in the
Speaker 1: gym with him, Uh, bringing y'all back a bunch of
Speaker 1: you guys and the pros and allowing us to be
Speaker 1: around pros and see what it's like to be a professional.
Speaker 1: Not the money, not the fame or even your profession.
Speaker 1: Just you know what I mean. You see how y'all
Speaker 1: carry yourself, See how chew y'all real y'all that could
Speaker 1: still come and be around the youth, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So just just about him doing that, you know,
Speaker 1: it speaks volumes in you know, I forever salute them
Speaker 1: just for taking me under his wing when he have
Speaker 1: to a million other kids that you could have chose,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So just having somebody like that,
Speaker 1: you know, be in my corner. Uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: all love. And like I tell him, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: forever in debt with you, I'm always thankful and grateful
Speaker 1: famam um. Obviously the Sonics growing up? How many times
Speaker 1: does he take of you a day? Yeah? How many times?
Speaker 1: A crazy bro? What fingers? Uh huh? What was it
Speaker 1: like getting a chance to be a part of his
Speaker 1: his program? Lead again, seeing those guys come through such
Speaker 1: Lebron and you name it, everyone's been through that league.
Speaker 1: But was a part of What was it like growing
Speaker 1: up and being a part of it. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's it's powerful because obviously the Sonics is gone,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, So he don't have to
Speaker 1: do that. Obviously he took along and put it on
Speaker 1: the weight on his shoulder from Doug Christie. But he
Speaker 1: ain't got to do that. You know, you play and
Speaker 1: then you know, in the summers, y'all both players, So
Speaker 1: y'all know, time go back like this, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So for him, he gives his twelve months
Speaker 1: a year to basketball, you know what I'm saying. He
Speaker 1: was playing in the the league seven eight months. Then the
Speaker 1: rest he was coming to you know, pro and prom
Speaker 1: and promo. So to see it grow from Rayner Beach
Speaker 1: High School too, it was at the Vista and now
Speaker 1: he's at you know, SPU were it's a bigger venue.
Speaker 1: You know. Just to see it grow and watch all
Speaker 1: these guys come there and just seeing the love that
Speaker 1: it gets just proves that we need a team, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So always say like we get
Speaker 1: a team. I feel like they got to give him
Speaker 1: the credit he deserved, you know what I mean, because
Speaker 1: just what he does every summer, you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: all play a part in it, but you know he's
Speaker 1: the he's the main point of it, and he's the
Speaker 1: man behind it. And uh, you know those are the
Speaker 1: flowers I give him to this day, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give him after this day, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: just knowing that we don't got a team and you
Speaker 1: bring pros to the city. You've been very vocal on
Speaker 1: social media talking to your NBA brothers about coming out
Speaker 1: and playing and whatever problem is it just to give
Speaker 1: fans an opportunity to see you. Where did that come from?
Speaker 1: Is that from growing up in it pretty much and
Speaker 1: seeing what it does to the city. I think just
Speaker 1: growing up from it, but also just who I stand for,
Speaker 1: who I am as a person, Like none of this
Speaker 1: money fame, like they don't move to jon Bro like
Speaker 1: for real, Like you know what I mean, Like I
Speaker 1: know who I am, I'm true to who I am,
Speaker 1: and I remember being that kid on that side, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, and not thinking like I ain't
Speaker 1: never gonna meet a pro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I never thought I would meet to pro even when
Speaker 1: I heard of Jamal and Jason all them guys. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I ain't never gonna meet them, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So just knowing that I made it
Speaker 1: this far and I made it to this, I know
Speaker 1: it ain't nothing for us to go play, you know,
Speaker 1: for free, but in front of the youth, for just
Speaker 1: low income people that can't afford to see us play.
Speaker 1: You got into a back and forth with another up
Speaker 1: and coming out of your way, Polo, during the summer,
Speaker 1: and and it got physical and it got real, and
Speaker 1: I liked it because, like I said, I think that basketball,
Speaker 1: that type of basketball has gone. But was that just competitive?
Speaker 1: Did you guys have a little bit of funk? Or
Speaker 1: was it just on the court? And it was cool?
Speaker 1: The thing about me, But like you said, I love it,
Speaker 1: Like I wish the league right now was more like
Speaker 1: a grab you could r rock, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like that's where I come from, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I love it me personally, but a lot of
Speaker 1: people can't really take it. So with with Polo, like
Speaker 1: I love Polo, you know what I mean? Like Polos
Speaker 1: he's the one, you know what I'm saying. It like,
Speaker 1: ain't no competition in my head with none of us
Speaker 1: the guys that already made it and the ones that
Speaker 1: made it and the ones that's trying to make it.
Speaker 1: But for me with him, like it was competitive, Like
Speaker 1: I don't talk one thing about me. I don't talk
Speaker 1: when I played basketball because I know that I played
Speaker 1: the game how it's supposed to be played, and I
Speaker 1: played hard. So it's like, I'm gonna get the best
Speaker 1: of you, you know what I mean. And I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do my thing regardless. So you know, with that, they
Speaker 1: started Rob Ryan, you know what I mean. Uh, it
Speaker 1: was it was it was I t Zeken and the
Speaker 1: Zeke and I ain't gonna get no pros. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm bringing a couple of my brothers from the hood,
Speaker 1: you know, a bunch of these guys, you know, some
Speaker 1: of the dudes that's trying to go overseas or some
Speaker 1: of the ones in college that need the opportunity. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm going to get. I was the only pro
Speaker 1: And that was like the topic everybody was saying. All
Speaker 1: the top teams playing, Uh, They're like, oh, baby, boys,
Speaker 1: team just got he got a bunch of hood this
Speaker 1: and that ain't got nobody. They ain't gonna win nothing,
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm saying. So I'm hearing all my
Speaker 1: armies just telling me and I ain't. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: ain't triping. So we get to the game and the
Speaker 1: sideline is talking crazy like when I don't go outside,
Speaker 1: so when I travel, like we don't play that, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like we move how we're supposed
Speaker 1: to move. So I got all my people with me,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, and they just watched me.
Speaker 1: Who they enjoying it, you know what I'm saying, And
Speaker 1: they just run. They just yapping. Started with the bench,
Speaker 1: then it started with the players. Then a lot of
Speaker 1: disrespectful things that I won't get into details start happening,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And I'm more with shocked.
Speaker 1: The line got crossed. That line got crossed. You feel
Speaker 1: me like even seeing like I don't follow the media, bro.
Speaker 1: You can say good things about me, bad things about me.
Speaker 1: It ain't gonna move me. It ain't stopping what I'm
Speaker 1: doing or who I am. But it's like I'm looking
Speaker 1: at a lot and it's like I feel like the
Speaker 1: world is like it's kind of like soft, like you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like it's moving to world a
Speaker 1: lot of people is just entitled but sensitive, like they
Speaker 1: can't take nothing. And I ain't saying nothing about nobody.
Speaker 1: But it's like, if you know me or you watch me,
Speaker 1: you will see that I don't ride with nobody, like
Speaker 1: even in the league, bro, I don't rid rod none
Speaker 1: of that because I know, ain't nobody about to fight.
Speaker 1: Ain't nobody about to do none of that. You feel
Speaker 1: me like, I ain't wasting my time, bro. So it's
Speaker 1: like that that game they was Ryan it started with
Speaker 1: his partners on the side, like and they're young boys
Speaker 1: the nineteen twenty, Like everybody ain't with thirty something, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like, and we're really from it,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So when they start crossing
Speaker 1: the line talking street stuff, talking money, oh you suck,
Speaker 1: or this and this and that, all right, I'm about
Speaker 1: to turn this motherfuck up, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Because even my MoMA on the side like, yeah, you
Speaker 1: know what to do. Turn it up, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And all I did was turned it up.
Speaker 1: That's all I did. And then and then for me,
Speaker 1: he went to the internet and said what he said,
Speaker 1: but what was said, I didn't like because once you
Speaker 1: show me, once you show me a certain way or
Speaker 1: who you are, then I ain't got time to be
Speaker 1: trying to friend you again or none of that. Like,
Speaker 1: I ain't got time for that. You crossed the line.
Speaker 1: You crossed the line. I want you to stand on that.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Obviously we who can get them,
Speaker 1: you know, emotions get the best of us. But the
Speaker 1: things I was said, it wasn't. It was like something
Speaker 1: that being wanted to be said. You feel me. It
Speaker 1: was personal, dog like and I don't bother nobody. I
Speaker 1: saw all them love bro, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: all of them, love all of them. I want them
Speaker 1: to be better than me. That's how I really am. Bro.
Speaker 1: You feel me. I want you to make more money
Speaker 1: to me, I want you to have more success to
Speaker 1: me because I know it's enough for all of us.
Speaker 1: And I'm a good person at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: You feel me, So with that, that's that. Man, it happened.
Speaker 1: We don't talk. Me and him don't talk. You know
Speaker 1: he still feel away. But for me, my phone is
Speaker 1: always available. I'm always available because I know it ain't
Speaker 1: really it ain't really nothing that's gonna come down to
Speaker 1: meet him, meeting like this. I don't want to talk
Speaker 1: on the phone, Bro, I don't want to be on
Speaker 1: the internet. See me in real life, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Let's have a conversation. Because I love you.
Speaker 1: I'll let you come to my open gyms. You want
Speaker 1: to rebound for me as a kid, all that I
Speaker 1: told you before them guys, you're gonna beat somebody. Use
Speaker 1: the number one. Pick all my brothers. We was in
Speaker 1: l A. I jumped out of my chair, getting the haircut,
Speaker 1: getting tattoos, bro, screaming, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's like I love that kid, bro, and I'm not
Speaker 1: surprised at what he's doing right now, you know. But
Speaker 1: it's like when that happened, I've seen the change and
Speaker 1: a lot of people, bro, Like I've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of people, even from my city, they know they couldn't
Speaker 1: throw no salt on my name because they know, you
Speaker 1: know how I think I am and what I stand for,
Speaker 1: and I'm never in drama. But when that happened, like
Speaker 1: you start seeing true colors, like I start hearing all
Speaker 1: types of stuff, bro, former pros, seeing people try to
Speaker 1: pick a side, you know, side of the pick. We're
Speaker 1: supposed to be together, you feel me, but you start
Speaker 1: seeing the real you know what I mean. So that's
Speaker 1: why I just, you know, I back up. But even
Speaker 1: so I still watch his games. I support him. You
Speaker 1: asked me who the rookie of the year him. Ain't
Speaker 1: nothing changed with me, you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: it is what it is. Man. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of them got mad because we we came and we
Speaker 1: did we did and I had no pros. Bro, we
Speaker 1: won the whole thing. I T had like seven pros.
Speaker 1: We blew that. We blew them out. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: When I turned when I turned up that similar semi
Speaker 1: finals game versus following them, I said, yeah, we're not
Speaker 1: leaving Tacoma without the trophy. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna let y'all know. Like I'm getting calls
Speaker 1: from prison, they're like, bro, why did you do that
Speaker 1: to I T? And you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 1: it was there's more a statement like I was chilling, bro,
Speaker 1: Like you know, because in the summer you want to
Speaker 1: protect yourself, so you ain't really trying to go that hard.
Speaker 1: You feel me, But it's like when I started feeling that.
Speaker 1: You know, they started playing. They brought it out of me.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at Mom, looking at the homies, they like,
Speaker 1: turn up fault. This happened, and that's you know, the
Speaker 1: University of Warston. You played one year and went to
Speaker 1: the draft. How was your process um with going into
Speaker 1: the draft from how many things did you work out? For? Bro?
Speaker 1: I left. I was so in love with college, Bro,
Speaker 1: I can imagine just to just to know, I win
Speaker 1: sophomore of the senior year, really freshman, really all four
Speaker 1: of my years, I really wasn't in class freshman year,
Speaker 1: I was I was stugging, Bro, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I was only going to practice. I was literally going
Speaker 1: to practice. And it was back to the block. I
Speaker 1: was back in the track of my brothers. Like I
Speaker 1: swear that That's exactly what my life for was. My
Speaker 1: environment was so sophomore, junior, senior year, I start branching
Speaker 1: out and start being a gym like I said, with
Speaker 1: my my, my, my great aunt. Then I'm going to
Speaker 1: All American camps. Now I'm getting ranked, Now I'm getting letters.
Speaker 1: Now I'm this. I'm like, I'm doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: So I go to you Dub I didn't get accepted
Speaker 1: right away, so I told coach Romar, like, Romar, if
Speaker 1: I don't get accepted, it's over. I ain't doing the
Speaker 1: Juico none of that. Like it's over. I get accepted,
Speaker 1: like probably like a month after I arrived on campus,
Speaker 1: Romar called me, he's crying. Then I just started crying
Speaker 1: because it's like that was the last thing. I'm like, Bro,
Speaker 1: I know I'm a person. If I stand on something,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stand on this since a kid. That's just
Speaker 1: how I was raised. And I knew if I didn't
Speaker 1: get accepted, I wasn't doing no more basketball dude, bro,
Speaker 1: great dude, Like I love him to death, bro. And
Speaker 1: when I got accepted, it was on the popping because
Speaker 1: now it's like, okay, I'm mapping it all out. I
Speaker 1: wasn't thinking about the league because I know, like I'm
Speaker 1: about to lock in. I got everything I need around me,
Speaker 1: from the weights to the trainers everything, so it is
Speaker 1: going for me to just show up and go do
Speaker 1: your thing. But for me, it's like, damn, I'm about
Speaker 1: to enjoy college. Now. I'm about to enjoy being in
Speaker 1: class again. Like I ain't even classes eighth grade with students.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It's four years that I
Speaker 1: was around no students. So when I get to college,
Speaker 1: I'm tripping three people in one class. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm like, bro, what this is? I made it?
Speaker 1: I'm telling I'm calling home, like even though homes thirty
Speaker 1: forty minutes away, but I'm like, bro, I made it, Bro,
Speaker 1: I made it, you know what I mean. And then
Speaker 1: just being around all of that, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously I locked in. I said I'm gonna go to
Speaker 1: like three or four parties in the beginning because you know,
Speaker 1: football seasons early and then they start ending. When basketball starts,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna go to like three or four parties.
Speaker 1: Went to like three or four parties. After that, I'm like,
Speaker 1: when the season starts, I'm locked in the gym, practice,
Speaker 1: school games. That's it. Time go by. I ain't even
Speaker 1: think about the league. But I promise you, I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm high off life. I'm happy to be there, like
Speaker 1: I'm enjoying all of it. And now they just started.
Speaker 1: I start hoping. I'm hoping, hoping I see one scout
Speaker 1: next week, ten scouts next practice, twenty scouts because we
Speaker 1: had marquees Chris too, he win number eight in our draft,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this should becoming a reality, bro, Like
Speaker 1: it's all right here. So I'm trying to stay focused.
Speaker 1: You got in the newspaper, the news. You're going around campus.
Speaker 1: Now I can't go, no classes, nothing, And it's just
Speaker 1: like NBA. He's gonna go to the NBA. He's gonna leave,
Speaker 1: he's gonna leave money. This was never a thought, bro.
Speaker 1: I thought I was about to go to school for
Speaker 1: at least three or four years. And it comes to
Speaker 1: a point where it's like January and I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: getting the information information and they're like, yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 1: go top ten from former pros, all the agencies, You're
Speaker 1: go on top ten. So when when I heard that,
Speaker 1: I'm like, obviously you want to win. But it's like
Speaker 1: at that moment, my mom was house to house, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like hold till just my my
Speaker 1: my whole family, like the cycle, the whole was all
Speaker 1: messed up, you know what I'm saying. So for me,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking from my family. Even to this day, I
Speaker 1: think from my people because I feel like God gave
Speaker 1: me that blessing to where he put all the weight
Speaker 1: on my shoulders to carry because you know I can
Speaker 1: handle it, you know what I'm saying. So it's like
Speaker 1: I told Romar in January, like yeah, Romar, I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna tell the team because I don't want my teammates
Speaker 1: to start feeling the type of way or you know,
Speaker 1: any selfish any of that. So I'm like Roman, I
Speaker 1: think I'm gonna go. And from that point I stopped
Speaker 1: going to school. It was just practice in Romar. You know,
Speaker 1: he knew he we we had that relationship to where
Speaker 1: I could go do that and tell him, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And when we got to like what
Speaker 1: I think March, we went to the n I t
Speaker 1: we lost and after that I let I let my
Speaker 1: teammates know all my brothers, like you know, I'm to
Speaker 1: the league. But even then they're like dog go because
Speaker 1: they knew my story. You know, they seen it, they
Speaker 1: seen the pain, They've seen all of it. They see
Speaker 1: my family, how deep they came. I had the whole family,
Speaker 1: the whole hood that you do, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like it was so crazy. They used to the security
Speaker 1: used to tell me like, man, tell your family to
Speaker 1: chill out. They too tirt. They leaving at halftime, trying
Speaker 1: to come back in, like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: you know, come over. So it's like when I get
Speaker 1: to the point where I'm like, yeah, I'm out of here,
Speaker 1: and then I chose the best. I wouldn't visit like
Speaker 1: three or four agencies. But Rich Paul was just too
Speaker 1: He was too authentic for me, Like he felt like
Speaker 1: he phraises, you know what I mean, before I even
Speaker 1: knew his story, before I moved to Cleveland and understand,
Speaker 1: you know where he's from, his block, his neighborhood, you
Speaker 1: know his story. Like I just sensed that because you know,
Speaker 1: real recognized real for real. We could see through real
Speaker 1: fake all that. So it's like when I first met him, bro,
Speaker 1: I was like you one of us. Bro, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I ain't meet with nobody else. Like I'll be in
Speaker 1: Cleveland in April ready to start my my draft process,
Speaker 1: you know. So we get out there. Uh, moved to
Speaker 1: Cleveland with my uncle's and we're there for like what
Speaker 1: three months, and I worked out. I even go to Combine.
Speaker 1: I worked out for seven six seven teams, all them
Speaker 1: teams promised me. Majority of them, they all promised like
Speaker 1: and they was like, don't go to Combine, Richard. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's a good idea to go to combine,
Speaker 1: just from the information he had and the thing about
Speaker 1: me that bothers me to today and showed me the
Speaker 1: business of it. But I cut throat this is like
Speaker 1: I was honest with him. They went the information they
Speaker 1: was going to get on me, the league. They went everywhere,
Speaker 1: as you guys know, they went everywhere. They went to
Speaker 1: middle schools, high schools, janitors, juveniles, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Random people. I had so many random people come up
Speaker 1: to me like, Yo, they came up to me. The
Speaker 1: janitor at you doub when I made it and came
Speaker 1: back to go work out. He like, they came and
Speaker 1: they're asking me like did I did you ever disrespect
Speaker 1: did he ever disrespect you? Was he mean? Was he
Speaker 1: nice with what? You know what I mean? Like? So
Speaker 1: that's when I started realizing that it's really federal. They
Speaker 1: really investigated, you know what I'm saying. So when when
Speaker 1: when I get the Cleveland stuff, you know, I work
Speaker 1: out for them, teams, interviews always smooth. They always blown
Speaker 1: away like yeah, he got the work ethic, he just
Speaker 1: needed a chance, great person, and he was honest because
Speaker 1: they're asking me obviously I ain't speaking on a lot,
Speaker 1: but you asked me certain things like you know what
Speaker 1: I'm telling y'all what y'all need to know, and you
Speaker 1: don't need to know what you don't need to know.
Speaker 1: But it's like I was honest with my upbringing, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like I was honest about everything
Speaker 1: they asked him out he wasn't juven Now at four times, Yes,
Speaker 1: I was, you know what I mean, just honest about everything.
Speaker 1: And I just remember the majority and them like are
Speaker 1: we picking you? Whether it was nine Milwaukee, team, eleven, twelve,
Speaker 1: all the way to four team. So we get to
Speaker 1: the draft, Um, I brought everybody in New York. Dudes
Speaker 1: ain't even been on the plane before they in New York.
Speaker 1: So we're in my room. I'm getting dressed, and a
Speaker 1: lot of weird things start happening, Bro, Like I'm getting
Speaker 1: calls now, like yo, the FEDS is the FEDS is
Speaker 1: looking at a lot of people, uh in his entourage. Bro,
Speaker 1: this is what a team's calling. I ain't gonna say
Speaker 1: their name with a team called like the fans just
Speaker 1: looking at a bunch of people in his entourage like huh,
Speaker 1: and a lot of weird other stuff start happening. So
Speaker 1: now I'm looking at Rich like we ain't even got
Speaker 1: to the table yet, you know what I'm saying, I
Speaker 1: ain't even I'm still getting dressed, smiling, playing music, and
Speaker 1: we we were getting ready to get to to the
Speaker 1: green room. And when we get to the green room,
Speaker 1: now a lot of weird stuff start happening, bro, Like
Speaker 1: a lot of teams start text and Rich like oh
Speaker 1: his background, Oh he was in the game. All this
Speaker 1: like the stuff I've seen. And somebody did some foul
Speaker 1: some foul, foul business, bro. And like both of y'all
Speaker 1: gonna be disappointed when I tell you off record, like
Speaker 1: what they did? You feel me like they did some
Speaker 1: foul business, Bro, that spread it? Rest in peace. Paul
Speaker 1: Allen told him something spread it around the whole league, like,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't something they already didn't know. It's just
Speaker 1: like that person was like trying to stop me from
Speaker 1: making it. I don't know if they seen me as
Speaker 1: a threat, seeing me as whatever, but it was like, man,
Speaker 1: we gotta slow this down, like nah, let's spread this around.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. And that ship hurt me
Speaker 1: because I love that person. You feel me like I
Speaker 1: love that person and that and that was my that
Speaker 1: was my process. So I'm sitting at the table mont
Speaker 1: you said, Antonio was they all came to Cleveland to
Speaker 1: meet with me. San Antonio trying to trade up for me.
Speaker 1: They had the twenty ninth pick, but knowing the information
Speaker 1: that they had from all the teams, like, he's not
Speaker 1: going past fifteen. So san Antonio told me, like in
Speaker 1: the interview, like we we can't let you go nowhere else.
Speaker 1: But san Antonio like, we gotta trade up to the
Speaker 1: lottery to get you, Like we're about to do that.
Speaker 1: So I'm in the green room. I'm like, I ain't
Speaker 1: even I don't care about going a lottery, none of that.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm just bro. I'm about to share the commissioners in. Bro,
Speaker 1: I'm about to get in the dough, like you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, Like, so I promise you, bro. Like
Speaker 1: even people said I look mad at the draft, they
Speaker 1: don't know. I was mad at text messages I was
Speaker 1: seeing that was spreading around the league. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, that's what I was mad about. But do
Speaker 1: you not know that the hope that I gave my city,
Speaker 1: my neighborhood, my family, my brothers in prison. I got
Speaker 1: people that I talked to in prison to this day,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, and they get to see
Speaker 1: that Bro, like BRO made it, I can get out
Speaker 1: of prison, you know what I'm saying. My family's like
Speaker 1: BRO made it. My mom like my son made it.
Speaker 1: No excuses. I could go be whatever I want to be,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, because they know I come
Speaker 1: from exactly where they come from. So it's like that process, Bro,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a blessing. Like at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, first round twenty nine, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know a lot about it, Like me going the difference
Speaker 1: from me going what twelve the twenty nine was money
Speaker 1: that if you work hard, stay two yourself, be a
Speaker 1: good person, you're gonna make that money. You're gonna make
Speaker 1: it back. And then you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: that was the only difference. Obviously, you got the hype
Speaker 1: that come with it, the politics that come with being
Speaker 1: a top ten pick or late first round, second undrafted,
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm saying. So for me, I was
Speaker 1: in the dough so I shook the commissioners and you
Speaker 1: gotta think this wasn't a video game. This was real life,
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean, and the rest was history. Bro.
Speaker 1: What's your first impression of the Spurs when you get there,
Speaker 1: because you know when Pap told me he wanted to
Speaker 1: sign me the person that you told me. Look, I
Speaker 1: know you smoke weed, We're gonna sign you, but you
Speaker 1: can't smoke weedin' you know me? Sure smoke ever again
Speaker 1: in life, smoke couple. I was laughing, right, But they
Speaker 1: know everything about you before you even set foot in there.
Speaker 1: Your first impression when you got to San Antonio. My
Speaker 1: first impression, bro, I just was like, first of all,
Speaker 1: the Spurs was ella boring to me growing up Like
Speaker 1: Santonio is a leading city for obesity for women in Texas.
Speaker 1: Let me throw that out there. You get that there
Speaker 1: all they do is eat and don't work out. And
Speaker 1: my barber you know about that for the tone, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, But when I mean when I mean boring,
Speaker 1: it's like when I was growing up and they was winning,
Speaker 1: Like you know how we play like we were like
Speaker 1: a I you know what I'm saying. Oh, like it
Speaker 1: was past cut screen away, Like I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't want watch bro like they're born, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. But greatness don't never get a twisted I
Speaker 1: will never get a twisted greatness that for Shure, for Shure,
Speaker 1: none of that ship swing swing and look and none
Speaker 1: of that. And that's why I said when I was
Speaker 1: your watching, Yeah, you know what I'm saying. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So first impression on I get there.
Speaker 1: Obviously I know my history. So one thing about me,
Speaker 1: I always like fr meet somebody or you know. Obviously
Speaker 1: the NBA. I love basketball, I love studying it. So
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, I knew they were different. There
Speaker 1: was always a team that was never loud, you know,
Speaker 1: all that, not flashy. So even me, I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: the way I play, even though I play the right way,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I still got some ship to me, Like damn,
Speaker 1: want to send Antonio all right, I'm about to take
Speaker 1: advantage of it. So I go. It's like a roller coaster.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It's a roller coaster. Bro.
Speaker 1: Obviously I know I'm not about to play right away.
Speaker 1: Like our starting lineup was Tony, Danny, Kauai, the Marcus
Speaker 1: Audress pas Bro I'm not about to play Like what
Speaker 1: by they go wave towels, You need some gatorade, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So for me, Pop didn't even
Speaker 1: like he didn't even talk to me when I first
Speaker 1: got there, I'm tripping. I'm like, Mono didn't talk to me,
Speaker 1: popped and talk to me, t P didn't talk to me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, damn, he's he's motherfucker's like me,
Speaker 1: like they liked me or what they don't like me?
Speaker 1: Like what's going on? You know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, I ain't triving. I'm rocking with Kauai, Danny Green,
Speaker 1: we had Jonathan Simmons. He's from Houston, solid, real one,
Speaker 1: you know, Kyle Anderson. So I'm like, I'm rocking with him,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I'm rocking with my guys.
Speaker 1: And as times start going, I made an impression like
Speaker 1: I'm about to locks it up. I'm about to play defense,
Speaker 1: get every rebound, every loose ball, everything, And because you know,
Speaker 1: we don't practice a lot. We don't practice because we're
Speaker 1: on the court in San Antonio is about playing D.
Speaker 1: Playing D. We don't practice, So I'm like, I gotta
Speaker 1: utilize because these guys is older, Like you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So when I get my chance, it's training
Speaker 1: camp and now you just gotta hope somebody rests that
Speaker 1: getting the game or you know, obviously you never want
Speaker 1: to see nobody hurt, but you get hurting an opportunity
Speaker 1: to the next person, next man up, you know. So
Speaker 1: for me, Bro, the the impression was really different. It
Speaker 1: was like something I've never been around, what I'm saying, like,
Speaker 1: and it was a roller coach from I used to
Speaker 1: go home, man, I had my uncle living with me
Speaker 1: and I used to go home mad. Bro just from
Speaker 1: not understanding like where we come from. You won't understand
Speaker 1: what they're putting you through, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't understand nothing, Like like they'll throw me
Speaker 1: in the fire. Then they'll make me. Uh They're like
Speaker 1: you're not I'll come to the arena. They're like, you're
Speaker 1: not dressing up today. I don't even got a sports jacket.
Speaker 1: They're trying to give me a big as sports jacket,
Speaker 1: Like now you could wear power gasaw sports jacket. Like,
Speaker 1: So for me, I'm like, there's a lot being thrown
Speaker 1: at me, bro, and I'm like, man, I don't like this, Bro.
Speaker 1: Then I'm going home. I'm telling Unk like Unk's older,
Speaker 1: he's just enjoying it, like he having fun. You know,
Speaker 1: his nephew made it and he out there with me.
Speaker 1: I'm going home like, Man, I'm busting Tony's ass in practice,
Speaker 1: I'm busting Patty Millers as in practice, I'm locking them up,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I'm like, damn, like, gave
Speaker 1: me five minutes, give me seven minutes. Like then they
Speaker 1: sent me to the G League. And as time start
Speaker 1: going bro like, they bring in point guard from Argentina.
Speaker 1: That's close with Manu playing in front of me and
Speaker 1: my yamba. So I'm behind Tony Patty. But they're playing
Speaker 1: these mind games. They're trying to see if they could
Speaker 1: break me, not knowing you can't break yourself. They want
Speaker 1: you to break yourself, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: they're doing that though I'm at home tripping um punched holes,
Speaker 1: you know what i mean, Right Ryan, my uncle's venting,
Speaker 1: you know. But a lot of just more start they
Speaker 1: playing other guys that was second round picks undrafted in
Speaker 1: front of me. Now, I'm just like, bro, what's going on.
Speaker 1: I'm hitting rich, I'm hitting Rich. I'm like, bro, I
Speaker 1: gotta get traded. He's like, you ain't got no value
Speaker 1: you feel me. I'm like, man, bro, this is too much. Bro.
Speaker 1: I'm like, what if they put me through? Bro, I
Speaker 1: don't understand. I start hearing your name, Steve jack went
Speaker 1: through a lot of BS. Obviously we know you got
Speaker 1: you cold, so you ain't gotta tell me come on,
Speaker 1: And it's like a lot of people like I start
Speaker 1: building relationships, like you know, my barber from there seven
Speaker 1: because I used to go on that same shot. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. So like
Speaker 1: I started building relationships with, you know, people from there,
Speaker 1: not a lot like he really don't like you know what.
Speaker 1: He's solid, you know, and brought him alone with me
Speaker 1: today because he's solid, you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: like even him, like he brought up you. He's like, man,
Speaker 1: Steve Jackson, your mind, Steven Jackson is uncle. All of them.
Speaker 1: They like your mind me, Steve jack like he was
Speaker 1: going through the same you know, venting mad And now
Speaker 1: it's like people don't realize, Bro, I went through so much.
Speaker 1: They're like, I was there six years, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like you know what I'm saying that he
Speaker 1: was that either it doesn't, but it's like I feel like,
Speaker 1: really like and they know I feel this way. I
Speaker 1: feel like they really like they drafted me. But they
Speaker 1: feel like the stuff that was going around the air
Speaker 1: of me coming from the hood and not out of diet,
Speaker 1: that I was gonna make it and entourage thirty people smoking,
Speaker 1: drinking and articles about fighting just ruining their reputation of
Speaker 1: what they stand for as a Spurs. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that's what they thought, but they never said that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, just from the stuff I
Speaker 1: had to go through, Like and when they seem like
Speaker 1: he needs a chance, and this motherfucker be in the gym,
Speaker 1: Like they start having to kick me out the gym,
Speaker 1: Like when they said you got access twenty four hours
Speaker 1: every day, knowing I wasn't playing, so I'm like lash up,
Speaker 1: like we to the gym, Jim, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: That was just every day and obviously I started growing
Speaker 1: first year go by, you know, throwing in the fire
Speaker 1: in the playoffs versus the Rockets. Then my second year,
Speaker 1: they see I come back obviously getting stronger, getting better,
Speaker 1: and the hours the year I took the job from
Speaker 1: Tony popping about this in the office. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, he told Tony Tony ain't like it. I
Speaker 1: know he ain't like it. You know he ain't. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Like for me, I love real,
Speaker 1: like keep it a buck when you keep it a hunter, Bro,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna love you for that, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? And I know he didn't like it.
Speaker 1: You feel me because if he liked it, he would
Speaker 1: have mentored me the way he should have a right,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't have went to Charlotte. He would have stayed
Speaker 1: right there. You know what I'm saying. And that's me.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get the real just how y'all, all the
Speaker 1: small y'all, Yeah, the real You didn't see It's not
Speaker 1: funny he say that, bro, because I know the type
Speaker 1: of person Tony is. You know what I'm saying, great player,
Speaker 1: gonna go down the Hall of fame. But he's very selfish.
Speaker 1: He's been selfish. We would have had more championships and
Speaker 1: more success if it wasn't for him being so selfish.
Speaker 1: But he was told at the sixteen seventy year old
Speaker 1: in France that he was this. He come to the
Speaker 1: NBA started as a as a nineteen year old, and
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But he had a rude
Speaker 1: awaken him because once we got to the playoffs, it
Speaker 1: was Stephon Marbury, it was Jason Kidd. He couldn't handle them,
Speaker 1: so we had to pay Speedy Claxton. So I know
Speaker 1: the real Tony. You know, he can fool everybody else,
Speaker 1: but he is one of the most selfish players I've
Speaker 1: ever played with. And I'm just they ain't got nothing
Speaker 1: to do with what he's saying, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: He's one of the most selfish players I've ever played with,
Speaker 1: bro because it's all about him. And I don't know
Speaker 1: how he made it in that system so long, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Because that's a system for everybody
Speaker 1: that that they want they want everybody to Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: everybody shot. At the same time, I don't know how
Speaker 1: he waited that long, because you nobody was totally different
Speaker 1: as far as the teammate that's definitely one of the
Speaker 1: best teammates. I love my life, I love mother, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it was like to PIF
Speaker 1: for my second year of taking that job. Pop told us,
Speaker 1: So now it's like I see everything. I observe. I'll
Speaker 1: watch everything, like even now, like I watch there would
Speaker 1: be I'll watch a game and I won't even look
Speaker 1: at the May dunk the May three. I look at
Speaker 1: the bench to see who's clapping, who's sitting there looking mad,
Speaker 1: Like that's the type of stuff I look at because
Speaker 1: I want to see, like, you're a team guy. You
Speaker 1: wanted you know what I'm saying. Not for real, bro. Like,
Speaker 1: so it's like my second year, now I'm doing this.
Speaker 1: I make all defensive team younger since Kobe rest in
Speaker 1: piece to Kobe. Uh Now it's like it's on the poppet.
Speaker 1: So now I'm like I got a taste of it.
Speaker 1: Like now I'm starting I get to go into the
Speaker 1: summer healthy. I know I'm coming back starting at looking
Speaker 1: over his shoulder, ain't looking over my shoulder. So now
Speaker 1: I'm about to go to your three. I get hurt,
Speaker 1: come back get her preseason and that was the year,
Speaker 1: like every scout, every coach that was here, we got
Speaker 1: that was here, we got. The more we had, the
Speaker 1: more they'll all tell you who looked like the best player.
Speaker 1: Training camp I came back with like, yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: ain't here to step on no toes, none of that,
Speaker 1: but I'm here to be me. And now I got
Speaker 1: that confidence. And you guys know when you get that
Speaker 1: confidence in this league's over. It's over. Now feel like
Speaker 1: I got it, Like I'm like, yeah, I got it,
Speaker 1: because now they're calling people. I got people back home
Speaker 1: calling that I even though I knew this certain person
Speaker 1: in the organization, Like you know, they say you look
Speaker 1: like a monster. And training camp they say you look
Speaker 1: like a monster. You made a statement. So now it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm ready get hurt. Damn one thing I could say
Speaker 1: about them. They see me in the gym eleven months straight,
Speaker 1: six days a week, and they did reward me, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it's like it's it's it's
Speaker 1: if he is, it's this is that. But it's like
Speaker 1: I could always love him for that, appreciated them for that.
Speaker 1: It ain't about the money. But it's like, bro, you know,
Speaker 1: you get hurt, like you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's like you go on to year four, on back playing,
Speaker 1: year five and back playing, but now they got they
Speaker 1: drafting people. They really got me competing, Like they really
Speaker 1: got me competing with Derek White because now they draft
Speaker 1: Derek White and he played well in the playoffs the
Speaker 1: year I was hurt. So now they're like, damn, should
Speaker 1: we make Derek the point guard or de jonte? You know?
Speaker 1: But they can't just say that because now they paid
Speaker 1: me that summer, you know, and he was only what
Speaker 1: his his first year or whatever second year. But they
Speaker 1: really got us competing. And I feel like I love Pop,
Speaker 1: but it's like I feel like he cited with Derek
Speaker 1: more than me because I wasn't yes man, not saying
Speaker 1: Derek's none of that, you know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: love dere great teammate. We talked to this day and
Speaker 1: we'll get later. We'll get down to that later. But
Speaker 1: it's like I feel like he sided with him because
Speaker 1: you couldn't play with me like pop, you know, Pop,
Speaker 1: Like you couldn't rob rob with me and be disrespectful,
Speaker 1: like if I didn't really do nothing. Now if I
Speaker 1: like did something wrong, stop turning them up, sucking ball
Speaker 1: over your teammate was open. I'm cool with that, but
Speaker 1: getting personal, like you can't play with me like that
Speaker 1: because I'm a man at the end of the day, bro,
Speaker 1: you know. And then I got a daughter like I'm
Speaker 1: more so I almost had to get a coach in
Speaker 1: l A for that. I got traded as soon as
Speaker 1: the trade deadline happened twelve o two. I was out
Speaker 1: of there because you could talk ship to me Yellow
Speaker 1: be here for bad player, but don't disrespect me as
Speaker 1: a man play because are you gonna do that outside
Speaker 1: of these cameras, these facilities. Any situation Pop put you in,
Speaker 1: he know how you're gonna respond. Before he put you
Speaker 1: in that situation. He did it to me. He asked
Speaker 1: me to say that Jenoble and Danny Green was better
Speaker 1: than me, right for the playoffs started, because he knew
Speaker 1: I was gonna blow up. But you know, I walked,
Speaker 1: I went off on and walked up as I'm before
Speaker 1: he even asked me that Tracey McGrady, yeah, he hadn't
Speaker 1: had the same day before he even asked me, so
Speaker 1: he knew what he was doing and he knew I
Speaker 1: was gonna respond like that. So Papa is very smart,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But they do it hardor
Speaker 1: and expect the worst from certain players, like when they
Speaker 1: get guys like us on their team. But in all actuality,
Speaker 1: the ownership has been in the meeting and the media
Speaker 1: and the news for more ship than any player that's
Speaker 1: ever played there. You need that Kauai is a teammate.
Speaker 1: We don't get to see much of that. He had
Speaker 1: him as a young fella. He was a vet to
Speaker 1: you speak to what Kauai is like as I just
Speaker 1: off the court, cool locker room dude, and a mentor
Speaker 1: to you, man, Kauaii dope. And the thing I love
Speaker 1: about him is like when you when you're comfortable on
Speaker 1: your own skin, you're gonna get way more love like
Speaker 1: facts then you even expect, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And for Kauai, he's like, Bro, I want to be
Speaker 1: on the internet. Bro, I don't want to be in
Speaker 1: the media, Like I don't want to live my life.
Speaker 1: I want to hoop. I want to hoop that motherfucker
Speaker 1: be in the gym, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like he's like, I don't want to hoop
Speaker 1: being my family, my boys like that ship, but I
Speaker 1: don't want to hoop, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: for Kauai, it was like he's really part of the
Speaker 1: reason why, Like I made that defensive team my second year.
Speaker 1: Like he came to me, he's like, bro, don't worry
Speaker 1: about trying to get fifteen twenty points. He's like, go
Speaker 1: make the all defensive team. He told me that you're
Speaker 1: too training camp. He's like, gonna make the all defensive team.
Speaker 1: I guarantee you if you make that. Now you get
Speaker 1: on the court. Like you said, defense get you on
Speaker 1: the court, especially in San Antonio. San Antonio, So he's like,
Speaker 1: gonna make that defensive team. Now you stamp yourself. He
Speaker 1: could play d So now they gotta have you on
Speaker 1: on the on the floor. So if you're on the floor,
Speaker 1: your guy's gonna have to be able to play offense too,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So it's like I took that,
Speaker 1: and I just other than that, I took watching him
Speaker 1: show up every day off days, game days, practices, before
Speaker 1: all of that, putting in work thirty minutes, the sharpened
Speaker 1: over there, getting right after we practice back on the court,
Speaker 1: like that's all he wanted to do. That's all he
Speaker 1: wanted to do. So for me, I'm like, damn, like
Speaker 1: this motherfucker finals MVP. I already won the finals. D's
Speaker 1: a player to your all star, you know, made money
Speaker 1: all that, like, but he's in the gym like he
Speaker 1: don't got none of that, Like he's trying to please
Speaker 1: these dudes, like to make it, to make the team
Speaker 1: sothing Like, bro, I got no excuse. Bro, I already
Speaker 1: loved a game though, Like I don't need that to
Speaker 1: like motivate me. But that just put in a whole
Speaker 1: different perspective for me, Like yeah, like you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. You see it, And that's that's That's what
Speaker 1: it was with him. We talked to this day. We
Speaker 1: laughed about all the type of ship, joke about all
Speaker 1: the type of ship, and made the worst of conference finals.
Speaker 1: As soon as Pop saying say Jack hold up after practice,
Speaker 1: got to get him out of there. You go get him.
Speaker 1: So I mean, obviously you you you told us your
Speaker 1: upbringing the upstar down, the juvenile detention centers, the dead homies,
Speaker 1: the homies in prison. Two thousand nineteen, you sign a
Speaker 1: sixty four million dollar contract ch chain. To me, that's
Speaker 1: just the beginning because you're gonna get the hundred plus
Speaker 1: next up. But what did that mean to you? Knowing
Speaker 1: what you've been through up to that point? Man, when
Speaker 1: you come from, when you come from just the struggle,
Speaker 1: when you come from the hood. Man, they say money
Speaker 1: don't mean nothing, but Bro, that should means something. That
Speaker 1: should mean a lot where I come from. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, y'all can relate, bro, like you feel me?
Speaker 1: Like I remember eating top running four months straight. I'm
Speaker 1: putting it and putting hot dogs in the one days
Speaker 1: in it the next day, all the different meals around
Speaker 1: the noodles. They don't know nothing about that, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. They don't know Like we're really competing
Speaker 1: in the house who make the best noodles? Drinking the beef. Man,
Speaker 1: we had every con shrimp, beef, chicken, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, but chicken out. But but for me, Bro,
Speaker 1: it was like it was like, damn, this ship is
Speaker 1: really like I'm still like tripping out where I'm at.
Speaker 1: It's not like I keep continue to say I say this.
Speaker 1: Everybody around me, no money, fame, success, It don't mean
Speaker 1: nothing to me. Bro. It can't move me to make
Speaker 1: me feel like I'm better than you. I'm better than you.
Speaker 1: We all equal, you know what I'm saying. Obviously something
Speaker 1: got more than others. That's life, bro, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But for me, when I signed the deal,
Speaker 1: it was like when the process is going, I had
Speaker 1: my brothers with me because that was a year I
Speaker 1: was rehabbing, So I had a couple of my brothers
Speaker 1: with me and just always engaged in my family everybody,
Speaker 1: and I think just when it happened, it shocked everybody,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, because, like I said, everybody
Speaker 1: know where I come from, what I did, like what
Speaker 1: I had to do for money, Like so it's like,
Speaker 1: damn illegal, Damn he did that, Like you feel me Like,
Speaker 1: So for me, it's like I get to take care
Speaker 1: of my people and take care of my people as
Speaker 1: I'm returned and growing. It's always not hunt here's a
Speaker 1: hundred thousand years, fifty's ten thousand, it's not always that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, putting them in ruins with
Speaker 1: certain people being able for them to call me if
Speaker 1: they got questions if I don't know the answer, We're
Speaker 1: gonna go get the answer, you know what I'm saying. Like,
Speaker 1: so for me, it was it just was a blessing,
Speaker 1: bro like it Obviously it made our life better, you
Speaker 1: feel me. It made our life better, not just me.
Speaker 1: It made our life better knowing that at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, we got each other. But God put
Speaker 1: me in this situation. I got us because I know
Speaker 1: how to handle it. Though, yeah, I know how to
Speaker 1: handle it. So it's like, you know, you see dudes
Speaker 1: go broke, Dudes blow money, Like I was dealing with
Speaker 1: money in the hood, so I know how to deal
Speaker 1: with money. Obviously, not know millions, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: But I know I deal with money. Bro you feel me,
Speaker 1: We was playing with that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's like this is just another level. But when
Speaker 1: you know the bigger picture and me, I love basketball,
Speaker 1: So it's like knowing that all this come to basketball,
Speaker 1: it only turned me up even more. It made me
Speaker 1: more hungry. Like what's snakes, Go get more, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Go go get big, you know all that.
Speaker 1: So it's like, at the end of the day, I
Speaker 1: believe in God, thank for him, grateful, but I also
Speaker 1: like I believe that it was written, bro, Like I
Speaker 1: believe it was written because I watched everybody. I watched
Speaker 1: all my people's We ain't had nobody successful just to
Speaker 1: go to college, bro, you feel me, Like like he
Speaker 1: was really excited when he was explaining your one year,
Speaker 1: Like I made it that that was dope, dope. So
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, signing that it was it was
Speaker 1: a blessing, bro. You know, and then obviously start learning
Speaker 1: more on the business side now, you know, learn about
Speaker 1: the investments all that stuff. So you know, now it's
Speaker 1: just for me, Bro, It's like, continue to be a
Speaker 1: great person, but continue to work and get your all
Speaker 1: out of it, Like, don't be that guy, Like damn,
Speaker 1: I wish I would have did this. I would have
Speaker 1: did that when I retired, you feel me. So I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get everything out of it. I'm a hunter
Speaker 1: and Tim Percon invested in New Balance. What was that process?
Speaker 1: Like the how has it been? Man? That's the reason
Speaker 1: why I with them, Like obviously you know, like we
Speaker 1: we all grew up Jordan, we want James, we want Jay,
Speaker 1: we want we want the max is the forces. Like
Speaker 1: so it was like I was with Nike my first
Speaker 1: first three years and then obviously that year three I
Speaker 1: got hurt and Nike they offered me something but nothing.
Speaker 1: You all know how they get down if you're not
Speaker 1: one of the guys. You feel me New Balance, New Balance,
Speaker 1: Like I was with Nike and they was talking to
Speaker 1: Risk like, man, we we like him. We don't know
Speaker 1: his story, but the things we hear and what we
Speaker 1: see how you carry himself, Like we want that because
Speaker 1: at the point that he's got Kauai, they just got
Speaker 1: Kauai and obviously you know kau my dog. Like, so
Speaker 1: I'm talking to him through that process like you Rock Balance.
Speaker 1: They cooled out of that, like I'm not worrying about
Speaker 1: oh how I'm gonna look, but I gotta swag, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I'm gonna put it together. And
Speaker 1: you feel me. So it's like yeah, yeah, And you
Speaker 1: know a lot of people are gonna be like, man,
Speaker 1: that ship uglier this or that, Like no, I ain't
Speaker 1: wearing that, Like we're gonna figure it out. You feel me,
Speaker 1: so New Balance. I'm loyal, bro. They was loyal to
Speaker 1: me and they weren't even paying me a dollar or
Speaker 1: sending me no merch like they was loyal. They were
Speaker 1: showing me that they wanted me. Why I was hurt.
Speaker 1: They're like, we want you to represent our brain, like
Speaker 1: we want you to be a big part of it
Speaker 1: like Kauai and for me, like just the way they
Speaker 1: was reaching out, reaching out, reaching out, didn't start sending gear,
Speaker 1: sending gear like told risk like, Bro, I want a
Speaker 1: little new balance. Bro. You know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: want to be different. I don't want to follow no
Speaker 1: trends and never been the guy to follow no trends,
Speaker 1: no ways. I'm We're gonna turn new Balance up. I
Speaker 1: signed a new Balance, the whole city and new balance,
Speaker 1: the whole hood and new balance. You feel me, my
Speaker 1: whole family, New Balance. Now I'm seeing people everywhere I go.
Speaker 1: I see new Balance, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: it's like at the end of the day, Bro, they
Speaker 1: got some dope ship special Yeah, they got some dope ship,
Speaker 1: but they also got some like the designers that they
Speaker 1: got came from Nike, Adidas, all the mothers, you know,
Speaker 1: brands and just putting it together. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: First time All Star. What did that mean to you? Unbelievable?
Speaker 1: I know that felt great, Bro, it was. It was unbelievable, Bro,
Speaker 1: even though, like I feel like because I think we
Speaker 1: was in like the ninth place, ninth place, I believe,
Speaker 1: so I feel like I should have got voted in
Speaker 1: like when it happened, and I didn't get like voted in.
Speaker 1: Like I was at the house, like my family hot.
Speaker 1: You already know how their households get like they hot
Speaker 1: because they announcing, you know, So my family, they all
Speaker 1: came out to San Antonio and we all I just
Speaker 1: got back. I just got back home, and I just remember,
Speaker 1: like they didn't call my name, has nothing, nothing, not
Speaker 1: the reserves. I didn't call my name. Bro. I was hot.
Speaker 1: I was hot. My family was hot. Like I see
Speaker 1: I see my brother's crying like they're hot, like you know,
Speaker 1: like they're trying to figure it out. I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: it ain't nothing. You know, we're gonna we're gonna get there,
Speaker 1: like because God got us. You feeling me, but he
Speaker 1: got me, like I work hard, great person. So it's
Speaker 1: like it's bound to happen, Bro, sooner or later. Thinks.
Speaker 1: A couple of days go by, obviously had guys hurt.
Speaker 1: I go to the gym, and you know, how Pop
Speaker 1: is Pop smart? He already know I'm in. They vote,
Speaker 1: they got me in, Adam Silver put me in. But
Speaker 1: it's I have no clue. I'm just going to practice,
Speaker 1: go to practice. After I'll leave Pops. I have a
Speaker 1: great day. Out of that, I head home, the families
Speaker 1: there there, and he just, uh, he just randomly called
Speaker 1: me like can you uh can you come back to
Speaker 1: the facility. I'm like for what, Like I'm gonna see
Speaker 1: you tomorrow, Like what you need me for? Real? Silly
Speaker 1: for He's like, man, just coming facility. I get to
Speaker 1: the facility, I go solo. As soon as I walk
Speaker 1: in the door, like congratulations all star, Bro, It's like
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute. What Then obviously
Speaker 1: it start blowing up the phone, the text message, the cars,
Speaker 1: all that. I start breaking down crying, Bro, Bro, I
Speaker 1: start breaking down crying, Bro, Like I'm like this this
Speaker 1: ship crazy. Bro, Like, no, this ain't true, bro Star,
Speaker 1: it ain't true. Bro, you know what I mean? So
Speaker 1: I go home. Obviously I hug all them guys. I
Speaker 1: hug all of them, the staff, everybody, coaches, everybody, front office,
Speaker 1: and as soon as I get home, bro, the whole
Speaker 1: family crying. Bro the old already knew or you told,
Speaker 1: they already knew because it started getting out. They just
Speaker 1: knew I was leaving to go to gymeral quick. So
Speaker 1: I walked in the door. I walk in my house.
Speaker 1: Everybody crying, bro Like, but it's like tears of joy,
Speaker 1: Like that motherfucker used to be in the rain at
Speaker 1: five years old by himself. I was in the snow
Speaker 1: by myself, no backboard, just the rim. I was in
Speaker 1: the house getting the laundry, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: all that, getting the hangers, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: and all that, and they that's what you've seen, like
Speaker 1: and from all my family, and I think what really
Speaker 1: made it hit different is we lost my sister not
Speaker 1: too long from that. My sister was killed like months
Speaker 1: before that, and our family was kind of in a
Speaker 1: you know, like a head down, like sad man like
Speaker 1: just a revenge mode, you know what I'm saying, Like
Speaker 1: because she was killed, you know what I mean, by
Speaker 1: her boyfriend. So it's like brought some positive, some positive
Speaker 1: to to the family again. They're like reborn this, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And it just was it was unbelievable, bro, Like,
Speaker 1: even still like I still feel like I ain't did
Speaker 1: none of it. I still want to get better. I
Speaker 1: still want my coaches people to criticize me, to get better,
Speaker 1: to be better, like so I can make it again,
Speaker 1: make it again, you know. But it's like it's a blessing, Bro,
Speaker 1: you're able to do that. Like obviously basketball sports team,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, obviously we play basketball,
Speaker 1: so it's a team game. You can't win without the team.
Speaker 1: But you got your individual things. You feel me it's
Speaker 1: top playing in the league that year. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, that's unbelievable. That's unbelievable. Bro. If you don't unbelievable,
Speaker 1: that's unbelievable. So it's like that will never go over
Speaker 1: my head, you know, forever gonna be be be thankful
Speaker 1: for that, bro. And for me, it's like get back.
Speaker 1: You get back. You know you don't want to be
Speaker 1: no one hit wonder. I gotta get back, very humble,
Speaker 1: grounded family basketball. Outside of everything you told us so far,
Speaker 1: who are you off the court? What do you like
Speaker 1: to do? I mean, obviously fatherhood is big for you,
Speaker 1: But what do you like to do just in your
Speaker 1: spare time? Bro? For me, I like bowling, bowling. I
Speaker 1: love bowler. I love bowling. It'd be nice. I'll be like,
Speaker 1: let's go bowling. Really way, you know, let's go bowling.
Speaker 1: It's rarely go bowling because for me, it's like I
Speaker 1: grew up in parties, brows and clubs. At thirteen, I
Speaker 1: was in one over clubs thirteen fourteen years old, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So it's like to make it
Speaker 1: to where I'm at now, I have no interest in that.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of these dudes, like older dudes, young dudes,
Speaker 1: it's new to them. They just now being able to
Speaker 1: get a taste of it. I was already doing that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I was already dealing with
Speaker 1: a woman. I was already know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: was already in clubs everything. You have money, cars, everything, bro.
Speaker 1: So it's like, now I'm at this point in my life,
Speaker 1: it's like it's just basketball for me. But also because
Speaker 1: I already did so much in the early stage, I
Speaker 1: have no interest to do things that are already done,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So a lot of people,
Speaker 1: like my brothers, even when I was in San Antonio,
Speaker 1: they used to tell them guys like man, get him
Speaker 1: out the gym, like, tell him to go take a vacation,
Speaker 1: tell him to go, I don't know, do something else,
Speaker 1: get basketball off of his mind. But it's like if
Speaker 1: you ain't grow up like me, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like you can't relate to me, like you don't understand
Speaker 1: why I'm at where I'm at. And also I know
Speaker 1: how I was jugs in that draft from the things
Speaker 1: that I did when I was around as a kid,
Speaker 1: and I don't want that to be the reason that
Speaker 1: you know, they boot me about it here, and I
Speaker 1: feel like my chances knowing they know my story, I
Speaker 1: feel like my chances ain't like don't a lot of
Speaker 1: I feel like I only got one. Soon as I
Speaker 1: make that one its curtains, it's Ober back, Seattle or
Speaker 1: wherever you're going, you know what I'm saying. So for me, like, Bro,
Speaker 1: it's really fatherhood, my family. I like bowling, but I
Speaker 1: really be inside, Bro, Like I really be inside and
Speaker 1: I have fun doing it though, And I try to tell,
Speaker 1: like my brothers, even dudes, I mean to leave, Bro,
Speaker 1: I try to tell because they in my teammates from you.
Speaker 1: One of san Antonio the year seven. Now in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: they see our own party. Bron't drink, I don't smoke,
Speaker 1: and they see that and they're like, bro, why Like
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, go have fun? You
Speaker 1: are you know what I'm saying. But I'm having fun.
Speaker 1: And I try to tell them, like, don't let me
Speaker 1: affect what you do. Gona be good regardless. But I'm
Speaker 1: comfortable who I am. I have fun sitting at home
Speaker 1: watching six games at a time with my daughter, my family,
Speaker 1: my girl, on FaceTime with my family, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like I have fun doing that, answering prison
Speaker 1: cars over and over, chopping up with them. That's my
Speaker 1: life right now. When I'm done, like I'll probably start
Speaker 1: doing more, but right now, I just know I feel
Speaker 1: like it's it's it's messed up. That is this way
Speaker 1: that I gotta think like this, But it's like I
Speaker 1: feel like I go to the club or something, You're
Speaker 1: not about to play with me, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like I put myself in that situation, bro,
Speaker 1: that position. Why I could just be at home, bro,
Speaker 1: Because they've done a lot of they're doing a lot
Speaker 1: of playing outside they're doing a lot of playing, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, And we don't play like that.
Speaker 1: It's hard to stay out the way. It's hard to
Speaker 1: stay out the way, bro, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So it's like for me, I'm just focused. I know
Speaker 1: what I want. You know what I mean. But also,
Speaker 1: like I said, I don't I don't want to be
Speaker 1: on the headlines for no negativity. I work too hard, bro,
Speaker 1: And I know you take away me. You take away
Speaker 1: a lot of village. Bro. Yeah, you feel me. You
Speaker 1: take away of village a lot of people. You feel me.
Speaker 1: So it's like, I'm cool, Bro, I like chilling. I
Speaker 1: really be with the kids for real. That that that
Speaker 1: that that says a lot about you and how important
Speaker 1: your family and your villages to you. Because a lot
Speaker 1: of people can be selfish. I want to do this,
Speaker 1: It's my life. I want to do this and not
Speaker 1: care about the people that's depending on them, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. With a lot of people like that.
Speaker 1: For sure, you spoke to richest loyalty and in the
Speaker 1: relationship you've built with him, Um, have you been able
Speaker 1: to build a relationship with Broun knowing that that's obviously
Speaker 1: family as well. Man, I talked to him all the time.
Speaker 1: For me, I just he I mean, like we talk
Speaker 1: who But more so like knowing that that was my
Speaker 1: favorite player growing up, Like Bron was my favorite because
Speaker 1: I love to play the game that way. Like obviously
Speaker 1: I grew up watching Ai Kobe, them dudes is like
Speaker 1: I'm going to bucket, yeah, funk all that, I'm going
Speaker 1: to get buckets. But with Bron braun is doing everything.
Speaker 1: That's why you look up. You look up after game.
Speaker 1: It's like you got thirty one nine teen, Like he
Speaker 1: did everything, you know what I'm saying. So that was
Speaker 1: favorite player from when he first got to the league.
Speaker 1: When the first year rookie year, I remember that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's my favorite player. He played the game the right
Speaker 1: way and obviously he was special. He's still special, you
Speaker 1: feel me. So it was like he invited me to
Speaker 1: his camp. I think I was what sixteen seventeen, right
Speaker 1: when I started blowing up. I think I became like
Speaker 1: a top thirty recruit at the time. So now I'm
Speaker 1: going to all the All American camps and he invited
Speaker 1: me to It was like twenty players and I was
Speaker 1: one of the guys to go and then we're on
Speaker 1: the team with each other. And obviously you know, Mall
Speaker 1: told him about me and all that, and uh, we
Speaker 1: was able to have conversations at his camp and then
Speaker 1: obviously I signed with Rich and Clutch and that just
Speaker 1: made us tighter. And it's like now, Bro, like I
Speaker 1: know his love is genuine, Like when I go around him,
Speaker 1: like you could that hug that you know, I love
Speaker 1: you a little, Bro, but more he'd be checking on
Speaker 1: me too though, like happy Holidays and you know, seeing
Speaker 1: them play with my daughter like all the kids everything
Speaker 1: like and just to know that to have a great
Speaker 1: person like that, not just basketball, Like look what he's doing.
Speaker 1: He's a great person, but Louie's doing off the floor. Like, like,
Speaker 1: Bro got a school. He has a school. I think
Speaker 1: that's the biggest flex more than anything else. He has
Speaker 1: a school. And that ain't easy either, that ain't you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, especially being African American, Bro, it
Speaker 1: ain't easy. So for me, like when I tell you
Speaker 1: the money to fame and all that, championships, like I
Speaker 1: look at him as like, Bro, he has a school,
Speaker 1: because that's something that like I would want to do
Speaker 1: because that speak who you are as a person and
Speaker 1: what you really care about, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So the relationships, dope, bro Uh he's a great one. Bro.
Speaker 1: What's one player that's musty TV for you right now
Speaker 1: when you're watching games at home? One player? Now, y'all
Speaker 1: know who that joy. He's crazy, He's crazy, He's crazy.
Speaker 1: He is bro here, motherfucker, he's musty too, for sure.
Speaker 1: I love it. I know you. I knew I was
Speaker 1: gonna be everybody. If it ain't, I don't know who
Speaker 1: it is you watching what you're watching? What player bring
Speaker 1: the best out you? I think I feel like everybody
Speaker 1: went because now I'm getting in that and you got
Speaker 1: you got that? So you want to kill everybody. It's
Speaker 1: that attitude. But like even now, like being in Atlanta, Bro,
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to figure out. Like you know, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a new role, it's a new situation, it's
Speaker 1: a new team. So now I'm like I'm trying to
Speaker 1: figure it out, like you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: for me, it's like I want to destroy everybody. I
Speaker 1: want to take the ball from you, number one. So
Speaker 1: you better call that screen. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: like that's just my mentality, like I want to get
Speaker 1: the best of you on both ends, but more so
Speaker 1: is everybody because like I said, you want to play
Speaker 1: the best, Bro, you don't. You don't want uneasy, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So every night like you got dudes?
Speaker 1: The league so crazy? Now? Who look at Houston? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Kevin and they could both get thirty years. The record
Speaker 1: ain't ship, but they could play. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But all they need is some veterans. And you know that, right,
Speaker 1: y'all know what they need, Jabari. They just need the
Speaker 1: right But I'll be trying to tell people because a
Speaker 1: lot of people like you lose the you lose one
Speaker 1: of them younger teams, that's you know, not mature, got
Speaker 1: that experience, like Bro, the league is at that, it's
Speaker 1: that talented. You could lose to a team that got
Speaker 1: eleven wins or the team like Boston with thirty wins.
Speaker 1: You could lose any given night night and the ain't know.
Speaker 1: The ain't know you're about to blow these guys out
Speaker 1: by thirty forty and the bench about to be able
Speaker 1: to play the last three four minutes. They didn't like
Speaker 1: that no more, bro, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, I love I love playing against everybody, man,
Speaker 1: I love I love watching the game, and just love
Speaker 1: compete with the best. We were kind of in the
Speaker 1: area where we started the two way player because we
Speaker 1: was guys that put so much pride in playing defense. Um,
Speaker 1: we talked about you getting it from San Antonio, But
Speaker 1: then again I would say the same thing. But one
Speaker 1: thing I can't give them credit for is I cared
Speaker 1: about stopping the man that I'm guarding. That's not no
Speaker 1: credit to them for that. And it's not a lot
Speaker 1: of that in the league right now. What is it
Speaker 1: in you that makes you take pride and defense because
Speaker 1: it's a scoring league right now, they want buckets, pride
Speaker 1: and defense? What what is that in you that's making
Speaker 1: you different than a lot of guys in league right now?
Speaker 1: Growing up playing with the older guys, being five years old,
Speaker 1: playing with my uncle's fifteen, seventeen, eighteen, and we're playing one.
Speaker 1: The only way you get the balls, you get a stop.
Speaker 1: Take the ball. You better get a stop, you better
Speaker 1: get a rebuild. I'm five years old, bro, Yeah, five
Speaker 1: years old. These dudes is about to be eighteen years old.
Speaker 1: I used to get frustrated, like because it was times
Speaker 1: I didn't get the ball and I used to get
Speaker 1: so mad, like I gotta figure this out, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So that's where it comes for me,
Speaker 1: like playing with my uncles and then obviously start branching
Speaker 1: out to the neighborhoods and start playing, you know, in
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. Now it's like I'm not getting embarrassed one
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, But damn shot, No, there's
Speaker 1: only one way for me to get the ball, and
Speaker 1: that's to stop you. So it's a pride thing, but
Speaker 1: it's a hard thing, dog like, you know, like something.
Speaker 1: Dudes just don't care. They weren't taught that. They all
Speaker 1: they think offenses the end goal or whatever defense wins
Speaker 1: championships games or ivery want to put it, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So that's that's that's where it comes
Speaker 1: from me. I credit all my uncles and all their friends. Bro.
Speaker 1: Like they didn't get me nothing easy. They made it
Speaker 1: hard on me from day one. When they seen that
Speaker 1: I was having the ball in my hand at one
Speaker 1: two years old, They're like, okay, yeah, I was slapping
Speaker 1: out your hands. Yeah, so that's where that comes from.
Speaker 1: Last season, you had to string a tweet praising the chef,
Speaker 1: saying he's top ten. Ever, I mean, I can't disagree
Speaker 1: with you, but to talk about that by STEP's greatness,
Speaker 1: he different, Bro, totally let me say his Bro. I
Speaker 1: was there when they drafted him. Jack didn't believe in Stef.
Speaker 1: I was there, Bro. I'm similar to how you was
Speaker 1: in same time. My mom, I'm damn the thirty thirty
Speaker 1: something I don't want. But I did not know Steff.
Speaker 1: I'm saying every time I get I'm sorry, but I
Speaker 1: had no idea who you was gonna be. Bro, no idea, Bro.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's so crazy. When I seen him
Speaker 1: play that run he had at Davidson the last year
Speaker 1: before he left to the league, Bro, it was like
Speaker 1: I remember, like we could be going to get food
Speaker 1: or we could be just going somewhere. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: gotta get to a TV. I gotta watch this dude
Speaker 1: from Davidson play. That's how crazy. That's how crazy it was.
Speaker 1: And when I've seen that, I'm like, Bro, he could
Speaker 1: shoot Bro. I'm like, this dude if he gets to
Speaker 1: the lead because I think he was in the time
Speaker 1: where like I wasn't into the mock drafts or I
Speaker 1: didn't know nothing about that. I'm like, I just know, like,
Speaker 1: get yeah, we get to the league though, Like it
Speaker 1: ain't easy, bro, but they'd be having you know, the
Speaker 1: guys they hype up, and they were hyping him up.
Speaker 1: I feel like, but obviously he made to put him
Speaker 1: on nottice And I'm like, Bro, that dude get to
Speaker 1: the league and get opportunity, he's gonna go crazy. I
Speaker 1: didn't say he was gonna be this. Nobody knew that.
Speaker 1: I didn't say none of this. I just seem the
Speaker 1: way he shot the basketball off the dribble, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, all pinned downs like catch and shoot.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that dude's gonna be somebody. So it's like
Speaker 1: now bro, just seeing it, like you gotta credit his
Speaker 1: his hard work, his dedication, bro, Like you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like when I hear about his workouts, like
Speaker 1: hearing stories from people, like there's no joke. He is
Speaker 1: who he is for a reason, God blessed him. But
Speaker 1: he got that hard work working, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: that dedication, that focus, that dry like bro, I gotta
Speaker 1: keep going until I'm just done, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So for me, Bro, he's I mean with what he got,
Speaker 1: he got it. I don't know what else you gotta do.
Speaker 1: That mother got it. And he changed the game though,
Speaker 1: like changed. I feel like when you changed the game,
Speaker 1: not too many guys could say they did handful handful changed.
Speaker 1: He changed the game, changed it on all levels. You know.
Speaker 1: Obviously I coached my kids at are younger that they
Speaker 1: come in as soon as they put their shoes and
Speaker 1: they start shooting from half court. I'm like, what about
Speaker 1: just shot something? Nah? Dad, na Dad? Like that. He
Speaker 1: changed the game for real, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I remember the shooting fadeaway Kobe. Now it's Steph
Speaker 1: shoot him half Like you said, he changed the game.
Speaker 1: Not just men's, women's too, change everything. He changed the game.
Speaker 1: He did absolutely you know, quick hitters coming down the
Speaker 1: home stretch. First thing to come to your mind. Let
Speaker 1: us know three artists in your pregame rotation. Three artists, bro, Uh,
Speaker 1: I really listened to what I could relate to. I
Speaker 1: don't care about your personal life. You make good music.
Speaker 1: You make good music, but I don't know you as
Speaker 1: a person. You feel me. So if I could relate
Speaker 1: to it and then give me chills from some ship
Speaker 1: at seen did been through? Like that's what in my
Speaker 1: playlofts with some substance. Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Let me make an example that. But the ones Dirk,
Speaker 1: Dirk's the one. He's the one, Bromm, He's the one.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, that's your jamming constant. He's
Speaker 1: the one. Bro. I feel it like you give me chills, Bro,
Speaker 1: you feel me? Yeah, give me chills. That's that's probably
Speaker 1: scared face for me. Scarfriend, Mama's Tupac Tupac can't Top five,
Speaker 1: top five man, Man, Man, it's funny. I'm excited to
Speaker 1: hear your list because we just had Charles Parker's list
Speaker 1: and it was good, but it was it was he's older.
Speaker 1: It was a dope list. Three of them got to
Speaker 1: come up out of three of his list. They got
Speaker 1: to come up out of there, man, three of his list.
Speaker 1: Three people on his list, they had eight teams when
Speaker 1: they was playing on his ship. Yeah, I can't go.
Speaker 1: I can't go back that far. I don't need to.
Speaker 1: I can't go cook Man and don't gotta be like
Speaker 1: order guard, No, just give man, Brian, m J. Kobe shack.
Speaker 1: I'm throwing tim in there. Bro, that's my five. I
Speaker 1: have magic and send it him. But that's my father,
Speaker 1: that's my five. We got the same five. That's so,
Speaker 1: it's so, it's so. It's with that order, Bron m J.
Speaker 1: Cole For you, that's your top three? Yea, no, you
Speaker 1: you didn't ask for I'm asking you. I'm asking my
Speaker 1: order at you want to do the order? Just those three?
Speaker 1: Who are who's your order? Who are those guys in
Speaker 1: your order? They don't I don't care if they're one,
Speaker 1: two or three in the world in those three were
Speaker 1: Who's one? Who's two? Who's three? Bron M J. Kobe Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, I'm obviously around m J. Cole Brown. That's good.
Speaker 1: He was a killer. You bucket them three? Them three? Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: one show or movie you could watch and repeat Martin easy,
Speaker 1: come on man, come on man, Yeah to three in
Speaker 1: the morning, you know yea yeah, little rodscope that's crazy,
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Yeah, oh man. Any course that game there
Speaker 1: we watching the past? Which one would it be selling?
Speaker 1: Any game you could be courtside to games in the past.
Speaker 1: MJ era, Cobe era early Brian Stephid, Davidson, M Man.
Speaker 1: Any game I could be, it will have to be
Speaker 1: Jordan bro. It will have to be I think the
Speaker 1: game versus you tak Flag, the Flu game and that
Speaker 1: one All sixty three in Boston. They lost that game
Speaker 1: the rookie year, right. Yeah. And the reason why I
Speaker 1: say MJ because and it hurts me, Bro that I
Speaker 1: didn't get to meet Kobe bro Like, and he invited
Speaker 1: me to his little Top twenty of young up and
Speaker 1: coming players before he passed to come to his camp.
Speaker 1: That was when the first time I met him, because
Speaker 1: he retired when I got to the league, and that
Speaker 1: really hurt me, bro Like, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: his mentality, the way he carried himself, the way he
Speaker 1: played the game, like that was somebody that because I'm
Speaker 1: not big on all, I want to meet people like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. If I meet you, I
Speaker 1: meet you, you know what I mean. And I respect
Speaker 1: my elders, Bro, So you don't gotta be the best
Speaker 1: player in the world. You could be on the side
Speaker 1: of the road. You're my elder. You feel me, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna respect you. But it's like Kobe with somebody that
Speaker 1: like I had to meet bro, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: So like knowing what happened like that hurts me, you
Speaker 1: feel me. But I got to see Kobe play. I
Speaker 1: got to see Braun play. I'm playing against Broun now,
Speaker 1: m J. I didn't get to see play. So it's
Speaker 1: like all you hear is the old heads. They're like
Speaker 1: brin yo number one man, you're tripping. You're tripping and
Speaker 1: they say it passionate though you feel me and it's
Speaker 1: like I wanted to see it in person, and that's
Speaker 1: why I said that game. You should have seen us
Speaker 1: when we was going to interview Kobe. We were like
Speaker 1: two kids going and I was my teammates, like, well
Speaker 1: that with his teammates. I've seen him all the time,
Speaker 1: but it was still just that aura about him and
Speaker 1: the way he carried himself in the way you felt
Speaker 1: like you've learned something when you're just having a regular conversation,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He sat us in his
Speaker 1: office before we started the interview, was you know, I
Speaker 1: don't want to be known for my last twenty years.
Speaker 1: I'm like, n you code what you mean. It's like
Speaker 1: now I want to be known for what I'm about
Speaker 1: to do and look at this and I'm writing this
Speaker 1: book and then that. So it's just that mentality just
Speaker 1: he applied it to all aspects of his life. So
Speaker 1: it was it was special to see that was my
Speaker 1: classmate and I was in awe every time I talked
Speaker 1: to him seeing them, I was just like like, this
Speaker 1: is this nigga real? So I get it, man, And
Speaker 1: I think that's what's crazy though, Like knowing like you
Speaker 1: just said, Bro, like you Kobe, like you can't you
Speaker 1: feel me? But to know that like he didn't get
Speaker 1: to do like we give our all the basketball, especially
Speaker 1: him everything that he gave his all. Bro, he was
Speaker 1: away from his family more than you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 1: so to see him to start branching the you know,
Speaker 1: being with his daughters. You know she want to hoop
Speaker 1: for real, Okay, I'm about to coach you like and
Speaker 1: like you just said, doing other things like the fact
Speaker 1: he can't get to do that, Like that's the type
Speaker 1: of stuff that that that messed with me. Man. Five
Speaker 1: dinner gainst that are alive? Five dinner guess huh uh?
Speaker 1: Like I said, Brown really be caring to meet people.
Speaker 1: But jay Z m J H. Should you gotta put
Speaker 1: code on there, Kobe Ye. Yeah, Kobe already had one bronze,
Speaker 1: so he can't go on this. He can't come to
Speaker 1: this one. He can't come to this one. Uh West,
Speaker 1: I said, jay Z m J. Kobe Ai, I'm tripping Ai.
Speaker 1: You get a chance to meet him. I met him
Speaker 1: so three times, Bro, put put put somebody in your
Speaker 1: list for your fifth that's somebody that you admire, that's
Speaker 1: daydn't gone, that you would like to get to know,
Speaker 1: that I get to know. Uh mm hmm. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a tough one. There's so many people, Bro, that's a
Speaker 1: tough one. Mm hmm. I don't know. That was hard.
Speaker 1: Always said for me to meet Marcus Garfin because of
Speaker 1: what he was, you know what I'm saying. He was
Speaker 1: one of the first black men to start teaching financial literacy,
Speaker 1: financial financial literacy and teach people how to give bank
Speaker 1: accounts and involved with banks and try to get black
Speaker 1: people to start their own banks and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So that's somebody. That's what I mean to give you example,
Speaker 1: somebody like that. I've always wanted to meet Marcus Garfin.
Speaker 1: I think starting to obviously young gage like always wondering, like, bro,
Speaker 1: why is there Martin Luther King everywhere in every hood,
Speaker 1: like every you know, like Black Area, Like, so I'll
Speaker 1: probably say Martin Luther King. You know, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that because the m l K days here. But when
Speaker 1: I say, it's a lot of people that I could
Speaker 1: have put in that fists, a lot of people because
Speaker 1: even though it's full, were like those people. I want
Speaker 1: to learn from Meyer, learn from you what I'm saying
Speaker 1: good bad, but just to take it away from sports
Speaker 1: Marla the King, just to understand that, you know, his
Speaker 1: message can't go wrong with that, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: So I said, yeah, they definitely went wrong with that
Speaker 1: new statue we got in Boston homes and I just
Speaker 1: see it's crazy. Um, if you can see one guests
Speaker 1: one out of you kind of if you can have
Speaker 1: one guest on all the Smoke, who would it be?
Speaker 1: But before you answer, you have to help us get
Speaker 1: your answer on this show. So gotta be someone you
Speaker 1: talked to, like a quiet Brandon Roy, like, just don't
Speaker 1: sake whoever you want to see if you gotta out
Speaker 1: them up. Yeah, y'all, y'all had the more yet yea
Speaker 1: brother yeah, Hey, that might be doing Hey, I don't
Speaker 1: rock with a lot of NBA players. He ain't an
Speaker 1: NBA player, to ask my brother. I love like death.
Speaker 1: Everybody swear the guy. We don't work. I don't want
Speaker 1: to hang out, work out nobody, No disrespect to you.
Speaker 1: It's all loves marks my brother. Okay, y'all have him.
Speaker 1: Uh man, we're waiting on the claw. We're gonna get
Speaker 1: the cloth. Me and you both can work on that.
Speaker 1: Now we're getting the car. Now that's done. Deal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna work on the claw. Sooner we're done today,
Speaker 1: I'm calling him. Yeah, we need it. I ain't rocking
Speaker 1: with you, clau. Y'all get on all the smoke, man,
Speaker 1: because I don't do Hey, I don't do interviews. When
Speaker 1: when they said y'all call you know, y'all know hen
Speaker 1: so like I want y'all to know, like, I appreciate
Speaker 1: y'all what you stand for. You feel me message y'all
Speaker 1: putting out. You know what I'm saying, Like y'all trying
Speaker 1: to make a change, bro, But y'all doing it the
Speaker 1: authentic way. Ain't nothing fake about it. I watch everyone everyone.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. The legendary bro. You've been
Speaker 1: told me that. I mean, I'll watch everyone. But I
Speaker 1: appreciate your time from a standpoint of obviously during season,
Speaker 1: during season first and foremost, but just getting this and
Speaker 1: like you said, you don't talk to very many people.
Speaker 1: So for for your fans, for our fans to get
Speaker 1: an in depth understanding of who you are as a
Speaker 1: man like suck the basketball side, Like we get to
Speaker 1: see you every night. We're blessed to see you every night,
Speaker 1: but to see your moral's, your principles, your values, but
Speaker 1: you stand for how important family is, how important being
Speaker 1: a father is. Like that kind of ship is dope
Speaker 1: to me because we wouldn't get that conversation. We went
Speaker 1: to dinner, you know, like we got to get in
Speaker 1: depth in and dig into it. So again, man, we
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. Like Jack said, especially during the season.
Speaker 1: We got some ship for you over here. We got
Speaker 1: some merch for you. Merch for sure, all the Smoke
Speaker 1: Dot Store. And if you want to look as fresh
Speaker 1: as us guys up here on the stage, you have
Speaker 1: to go to all the Smoke Got Store and get
Speaker 1: your gear. I'll the Smoke Dot Store. Man. Man, we
Speaker 1: appreciate you that's a rap. De gen s Murray. All
Speaker 1: the smoke you can cass us on Showtime Basketball, YouTube
Speaker 1: and I Hart Platform Black Effects. I don't smoke, gastarre bit.
Speaker 1: We'll see y'all later, so