Speaker 1: Shooting a basketball is one form of therapy for me,
Speaker 1: preferably in an empty gym or a deserted park. It
Speaker 1: can be flow state, pure bliss when my shots are falling.
Speaker 1: Problem is a'mount of talented shooter. I never was a
Speaker 1: real hooper, so plenty of days there's zero consistency and
Speaker 1: zero flow. So last year I posted my frustrations on
Speaker 1: Instagram at a whole bunch of comments suggested that only
Speaker 1: at lethal Shooter could salvage my jumper. Now he's the
Speaker 1: most famous, most sought after basketball skills coach on the planet.
Speaker 1: He's tutored NBA and w n B A grades and
Speaker 1: a collection of superstars from all over the entertainment world
Speaker 1: who just want to shoot better. He's made it an
Speaker 1: art form to put a nine and a half inch
Speaker 1: ball through an eighteen inch rim ten ft off the
Speaker 1: ground from twenty two feet away and makes it look effortless.
Speaker 1: Lethal Shooter is Chris Matthews, and his story will inspire
Speaker 1: and motivate you. Chris has faced obstacles and setbacks, disappointments, heartbreak.
Speaker 1: He chased his long shot dream all over the globe
Speaker 1: for years and always refused to quit. He was driven
Speaker 1: to never let down the people who believed in him.
Speaker 1: His discipline and focus are summed up by his motto
Speaker 1: stay locked in. There was so much fun to get
Speaker 1: locked in on all kinds of topics, Chris's unique path
Speaker 1: of success, how he coaches basketball legends and celebrities, and
Speaker 1: even video analysis of my shaky jump shot. Today, I've
Speaker 1: got Chris lethal shooter Matthews. Well, Chris, I'm grateful for
Speaker 1: your time. Millions of people know your shooting skills. Most
Speaker 1: of them probably know your credentials as a as a
Speaker 1: world around shooting coach. I think less people probably know
Speaker 1: your story. So from being a survivor and persevering and
Speaker 1: pivoting and grinding and creating for yourself a career and
Speaker 1: a life where there was zero blueprint for that before
Speaker 1: you came along. What's the headline? Will start with that
Speaker 1: and get to some other stuff. The headline of your story?
Speaker 1: Do you think people need to understand on an essential level?
Speaker 1: Just basically, you know, if you want to be successful
Speaker 1: in life, it's going to be a rough route. You
Speaker 1: know you're definitely gonna hit walls in life. Um, and
Speaker 1: don't get distracted. I feel like I am where I
Speaker 1: am in life because the people that instilled to me
Speaker 1: that just they made me understand that my surroundings wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna dictate my outcome. So I grew up in the Washington,
Speaker 1: D c. Area. Um, I grew up in a rough neighborhood. Um,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of things going on, but those are
Speaker 1: things that I didn't get involved with. Those are things
Speaker 1: that I didn't distract me. UM. And I didn't allow
Speaker 1: those things to stop me because I always knew when
Speaker 1: my goal was in life, but I didn't know what
Speaker 1: I wanted. You know, I thought I was gonna play basketball,
Speaker 1: though I was gonna be a teacher. I thought there
Speaker 1: was so many things going through my mind. And once
Speaker 1: I figured out what I really wanted to do in life,
Speaker 1: you know, once it was a clear picture, I just
Speaker 1: went after it. But it wouldn't have started if I
Speaker 1: didn't have the right people around me that gave me
Speaker 1: the foundation to just understand in life, you know you
Speaker 1: are gonna fail. Just stay focused. You're gonna have distraction
Speaker 1: in life, but stay focused and don't allow your community
Speaker 1: or the things around you to stop you. Because you
Speaker 1: you know you're a special one. You call them walls.
Speaker 1: Walls can be pretty thick and pretty high and pretty
Speaker 1: impenetrable and pretty hard to break through. What was it
Speaker 1: inside of you? I know you got help and yet
Speaker 1: good mentors, What was it inside of you that helped
Speaker 1: you break through those walls when they were sharing right
Speaker 1: at you? Just basically a lot of my mentors that
Speaker 1: helped me, Um, they weren't really successful in their goal,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. So the reason why they were
Speaker 1: so good to push me and to teach me is
Speaker 1: because they let me know where they stopped, They let
Speaker 1: me know where they failed. They let me know, um,
Speaker 1: how they've made mistakes. So that's why I was a
Speaker 1: would skip a few steps to not make my mistakes
Speaker 1: in life. So when I did hit a wall and
Speaker 1: I did, UM want to quit? Um, I used. You know,
Speaker 1: I think about coaching nut, I'll think about my dad.
Speaker 1: I think about semi on different coaches that instill the
Speaker 1: toughness in me because they were honest with me, you know,
Speaker 1: especially my my dad that raised me. Like you know,
Speaker 1: I would have been this if I had kept up
Speaker 1: with this, So I would have been that if I
Speaker 1: wouldn't allow this, you know, stay away from drugs, stay
Speaker 1: away from alcohol. So I feel like those type of
Speaker 1: things definitely still to this day with me being the
Speaker 1: age I am with my family, I still and still that,
Speaker 1: you know, with myself and my and my kids. So
Speaker 1: you were a pretty damn good shooter early. Thus the
Speaker 1: name lethal, right, that's not a marketing thing, that's not
Speaker 1: about branding. That's the name you got really young from
Speaker 1: somebody who was really important in your life. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So when I was younger, my dad used to call
Speaker 1: me lethal, but it wasn't lethal shooter. Uh And when
Speaker 1: I was coming up with this Instagram name, I was
Speaker 1: just confused. I didn't know what type of name I
Speaker 1: wanted to use. You know, back then, probably you're probably
Speaker 1: coming up with her name is. I was confused, So
Speaker 1: I said, when I was just coming up with lethal
Speaker 1: shooter because my dad used to always call me lethal,
Speaker 1: and it's just an honor to have that name. He's
Speaker 1: he's called me that since like middle school. And I
Speaker 1: definitely don't take a uh lightly because when my dad
Speaker 1: used to come to my games, I was always trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, just make him happy, and I felt, I
Speaker 1: felt that the best games I always plays when he
Speaker 1: was there because I was able to look at him,
Speaker 1: and I was able to get that like connection with
Speaker 1: my dad to know, like, I'm doing this for you
Speaker 1: and I'm doing this for us, and I appreciate you
Speaker 1: for always believing in me. So you know, everything I
Speaker 1: do to this day, shooting videos, training clients, anything has
Speaker 1: to do with basketball, I'm thinking about my dad because
Speaker 1: you know, I go back to all the way to
Speaker 1: like St. Gabriel's when my dad was with me elementary school,
Speaker 1: helping me with basketball. St. Botoventure was your second college.
Speaker 1: You shot lights out, but I'm told like you were
Speaker 1: always a born coach, whether it's in high school on college,
Speaker 1: you would look at other guys shots. You would always,
Speaker 1: besides developing yourself, had that kind of innaid ability to
Speaker 1: sort of help other people out, and they they sought
Speaker 1: you out. As I've heard coaching be called a calling,
Speaker 1: you know, and you you kind of always seem to
Speaker 1: have that calling. Yeah, absolutely, But you know I really
Speaker 1: didn't recognize until, like you know, when you get older,
Speaker 1: you know. Um. The person that really brought it to
Speaker 1: my attention. Rest in Peace was coach John Thompson. One
Speaker 1: time we were at Georgetown working out with the players
Speaker 1: and a few guys were making mistakes on my team,
Speaker 1: but I was just telling them how to fix the
Speaker 1: jump shot because I wanted to win the pick up games,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, something like, hey, you know,
Speaker 1: do this, do that when you shoot, do this, do
Speaker 1: this to that. And that's when he he pulled me
Speaker 1: to the side and say, hey, I want you to
Speaker 1: help one of our guys with the artist shooting. And
Speaker 1: if you ever want to come here to help, to
Speaker 1: be on staff, you can be on staff. And Georgetown
Speaker 1: is one of the first places that actually gave me
Speaker 1: opportunity if I wanted to be a coach. And then
Speaker 1: when I started realizing that my life, playing in France,
Speaker 1: playing in high school, playing at AU, I was always
Speaker 1: that guy that was trying to help my teammates, not
Speaker 1: because I wanted to be a coach, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I was just trying to help them because
Speaker 1: they were on my team. So now that I'm able
Speaker 1: to help professional fleets, you know, help celebrities and and
Speaker 1: just to help people in general, the art of shooting,
Speaker 1: it just comes natural because I love basketball and I
Speaker 1: love helping others learn new things. Use that phrase art
Speaker 1: of shooting, not science, not anything else art. How do
Speaker 1: you define the art I'm shooting the ball. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: define as the art because it's something that I take
Speaker 1: very seriously. You know, my clients can tell you. Of course,
Speaker 1: the stuff I post on Instagram and I'm just having
Speaker 1: a good time when I'm posting celebrities and stuff. But
Speaker 1: when I trained my real clients like Sa Bonus and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and Grayson Island, Bobby Portis, etcetera. List goes on.
Speaker 1: I take it very serious because it is an art.
Speaker 1: It's something that starts from your toes all the way
Speaker 1: to your brain. You know, if you can't be an
Speaker 1: elite shooter like Steph Curry or Clay Thompson or Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: if every single piece of your body doesn't understand what
Speaker 1: to do when you shoot the basketball, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just like somebody that's a good at pitching or Tiger
Speaker 1: Woods that's good in golf, like he can literally control
Speaker 1: everything when he's when he's hitting that ball. And that's
Speaker 1: why it's an art because once like move, once like blank,
Speaker 1: that's wrong. If you don't breathe the right way, you
Speaker 1: can miss. And that's why the best of the best
Speaker 1: and they they're able to control everything from top to bottom.
Speaker 1: And and that's why I feel like it's the art
Speaker 1: because it's just like a piece of artwork. You know,
Speaker 1: when somebody paints something, it starts from from top to bottom.
Speaker 1: They don't just just put anything on the canvas. You
Speaker 1: work with kids, you mold jump shots from scratch, you
Speaker 1: work with beginners, You work with celebrities who are the elite.
Speaker 1: But you also work with the elite shooters in the
Speaker 1: world and offer ideas and tweak shots that are already good.
Speaker 1: So which part of that it's more satisfying to you?
Speaker 1: I would say all of it, you know, I would
Speaker 1: say the most is the kids. Um when when I
Speaker 1: post doing stuff for the community, because you know, it's
Speaker 1: nothing like putting a smile on somebody's face, And I say,
Speaker 1: you know, growing up, while I was growing up, I
Speaker 1: was blessed to have mentors to be there for me.
Speaker 1: But a lot of my friends that I grow with,
Speaker 1: a lot of people that I know in the communities
Speaker 1: that I grow with, they didn't have mentors to help
Speaker 1: with basketball. So that saw I'm always trying to take
Speaker 1: the time to help you with the artist shooting. Most importantly,
Speaker 1: just to put a smile on their face. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's fun, you know, seeing people's numbers go up, you
Speaker 1: know as a blessing. You know, training people in the
Speaker 1: next year, like Grant Williams, Like I had Grant Williams
Speaker 1: last season and he finished like top five in the NBA.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a blessing. That's fun. But I feel
Speaker 1: like helping the youth is what it's all about and
Speaker 1: giving back to the community. Yeah, we'll talk more about that,
Speaker 1: because I think you do a tremendous job of using
Speaker 1: your fame and your platform and the fact that you're
Speaker 1: looked up to by so many kids to give messages
Speaker 1: that a way beyond basketball. I definitely want to hear
Speaker 1: about that. When you watch you do shoot ball, how
Speaker 1: long does it take to say this, this, and this
Speaker 1: gotta be better, this needs to be fixed. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about people who are already accomplished shooters and maybe aren't
Speaker 1: that used to feedback, aren't that used to being told, hey,
Speaker 1: you gotta fix this, because they're already making a lot
Speaker 1: of money and they're already making shots. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: when when it comes to those type of players, you
Speaker 1: know you have to understand where they come from. You know,
Speaker 1: if I was training you and then right after you,
Speaker 1: I had to train Grason Island, you guys are two
Speaker 1: different people. And that's what that's what we have to
Speaker 1: do with trainers. What what I'm saying, Like every every
Speaker 1: single person with my training, I don't teach everybody the
Speaker 1: same way. So the one thing I do a good
Speaker 1: job is once I see somebody do something, I'll say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, Chris Um, when you shoot the basketball,
Speaker 1: you love to jump left. What you do love to do,
Speaker 1: you know, So the one thing I want you to
Speaker 1: do be more cognitive Chris, when you instead of jumping left,
Speaker 1: I want you to do this, So I want you
Speaker 1: to do that. Then when I see your your learning capacity,
Speaker 1: what I do is, if you're a really high volume learner,
Speaker 1: I'll attack your mental really really fast with with multiple things.
Speaker 1: If I feel like I have to be tactful in
Speaker 1: my teaching, I'll give you two small pieces so so
Speaker 1: your brain can consume all this. Because the reason why
Speaker 1: people muscle memories can change even at the early age,
Speaker 1: is not somebody can't do something. It's the way that
Speaker 1: somebody teaches them so that brain can understand how to
Speaker 1: do something repetitively, and that's why you're really good at
Speaker 1: what you do, because when the camera cuts them, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: this is this is that, blah blah bah blah. But
Speaker 1: a lot of people, if they wasn't taught something the
Speaker 1: right way, they can be sloppy in certain areas. And
Speaker 1: that's where I can come into place. As soon as
Speaker 1: I see somebody shoot, as soon as I see their
Speaker 1: learning capacity, as soon as I see their ability to
Speaker 1: consume what I'm saying, I know how to strategically attack
Speaker 1: their mental So as soon as they wake up in
Speaker 1: the morning, they I'm they're they're waking up to my voice,
Speaker 1: and that's what I want. I would assume if they
Speaker 1: come to you, that's funny they come to you, that
Speaker 1: there's a need. They respect you, they know your reputation,
Speaker 1: but doesn't mean that they're gonna take to tweaks and
Speaker 1: changes what they've done for a long time. So there's
Speaker 1: got to be a push pull with these guys who
Speaker 1: are so accomplished who you know. I hear you, but
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I buy it, And I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta work through it myself and see results. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love that because you know, NBA players are professionals, they
Speaker 1: are very arrogant and sometimes and I'll give you a
Speaker 1: good example. Um after the Lakers season, me and Danny
Speaker 1: Green started. He's one of the best shooters of all time,
Speaker 1: and he hired me to help him with the corner three.
Speaker 1: And I said, hey, man, these are things I want
Speaker 1: to change with the corner three. And he was like,
Speaker 1: I don't, I don't. I don't like that. So I said,
Speaker 1: let's do this. You shoot twenty your way and then
Speaker 1: we'll shoot twenty with my way. And then he did
Speaker 1: his way, then my way, and he was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'll stick to your way. So it's more when I
Speaker 1: trained certain guys, and I feel that tension a good
Speaker 1: Another good example was Bloody Hills as well, when I
Speaker 1: had him UH two a year ago as well. We
Speaker 1: were in the gym and he was like, I don't
Speaker 1: like this. I don't like that, and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: you shoot like this and we shoot twenty five my way.
Speaker 1: And a good thing about results you allow somebody to
Speaker 1: sometimes revert to what they like and then you say,
Speaker 1: you know what, do it my way and let's see
Speaker 1: what what results are. Higher, and then once they see
Speaker 1: that your results are better. You know something, these guys
Speaker 1: and women are fools. They're gonna always go with it.
Speaker 1: But the one thing and the reason why they're the
Speaker 1: best is because they have that eric and attitude, because
Speaker 1: they're they're really tough on themselves. And sometimes when you
Speaker 1: have clients who have that type of mental I love
Speaker 1: it because we're stimulating each other. I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: just want to client. When I'm telling them something, they're
Speaker 1: not asking questions, they're not feeding and picking my head.
Speaker 1: You know. A good example is Grace and I trained
Speaker 1: Grayson Island uh last week for about five days. Every
Speaker 1: time I trained him, he's picking my head. So why
Speaker 1: do you tell me how to do this? What is
Speaker 1: that for? And I'll say, hey, this is for that,
Speaker 1: this for this, this is fat Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: And that's the type of people that I'm stimulated by.
Speaker 1: And that's why I don't train a lot of people
Speaker 1: because a lot of people can't take that type of teaching.
Speaker 1: Any great teacher or coach demands that pay attention, giving
Speaker 1: me feedback. Do not be like a spectator in your
Speaker 1: own education, right, a participant in it and then you,
Speaker 1: but you're talking about some guys who are very high level.
Speaker 1: You guys are speaking the language in terms of shooting
Speaker 1: mechanics and not that many people are familiar with. But
Speaker 1: I think that's that's cool. And I've I've heard you
Speaker 1: say that as a coach is not affiliated with one team,
Speaker 1: you know you're not going to get a team championship ring.
Speaker 1: But when you work with the guy and you've helped
Speaker 1: him improve his shot and you see him collecting a
Speaker 1: ring or collecting a nine figure contract, and you know
Speaker 1: you played a role that it's a it's it's a
Speaker 1: huge blessing. You know. A good example is I wasn't
Speaker 1: able to train him as much this season because I
Speaker 1: was with the Bonus so long. But two years ago
Speaker 1: I started with Kateavis called with Pope and I was
Speaker 1: with him last year and they won the ring two
Speaker 1: years ago in the bubble, and it felt like I
Speaker 1: want the ring, you know what I mean? Because I
Speaker 1: understood how much work he put in. He almost broke
Speaker 1: Kobe's three point record playoff record, But people don't understand
Speaker 1: how much work he put in. And when he signed,
Speaker 1: he just resigned. And it feels good. Of course, like
Speaker 1: you're saying, I'm not rich. I'm not getting uh, seventy
Speaker 1: five million dollars or fifty million dollars. But to help
Speaker 1: other people feed their families and to get generational wealth
Speaker 1: and to help somebody reach their full potential, it feels
Speaker 1: like fifty million dollars, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: another good example was is Bobby Porter. It's two years ago.
Speaker 1: He hired me. The first year he shot forty seven
Speaker 1: percent from three, he was like top three in the NBA.
Speaker 1: They wanted the year that I started with with Bobby,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and when Bobby won
Speaker 1: that ring, seriously, I really mean this, I felt like
Speaker 1: I want to ring. I don't need to be there.
Speaker 1: I don't need to touch the ring. I don't need
Speaker 1: to go to the parties after your team goes out
Speaker 1: because I'm not here for them. I'm here to just
Speaker 1: be your coach. But like you're saying, that's the whole
Speaker 1: part of being a coach, it's about helping others succeed
Speaker 1: and push them to a level that they didn't know
Speaker 1: they can reach. So it's priceless. I love that, man.
Speaker 1: It's it's the process. It's not the spoils that you're
Speaker 1: in it for. It's not the glamour and the accolades necessarily.
Speaker 1: You know, and the person you've helped knows in a
Speaker 1: in a quiet way, what you did for them, and
Speaker 1: that I respect that all of this off is a
Speaker 1: long way where you were. I want to backtrack now
Speaker 1: and get your journey. You know from Saint Bonaventure um
Speaker 1: you were going to make the league and that couldn't
Speaker 1: have been an easy message. I don't know what you
Speaker 1: figured your chances were, but you didn't give up on
Speaker 1: basketball and you pursued it around the world. It's one
Speaker 1: of the craziest pass I've ever heard of in in
Speaker 1: terms of the different places that you played around the
Speaker 1: run down the places that that that basketball took you. Man.
Speaker 1: I played in Russia, I played in China. I played
Speaker 1: in Iceland. I played in Switzerland. I played in Mexico.
Speaker 1: I mean, I've played everywhere, but like you're saying, nine
Speaker 1: point nine out of tend I've played in Bolivia, I've
Speaker 1: played in Peru, I played in Brazil. But every single
Speaker 1: place I have a story that is an injury or
Speaker 1: something that happened that I thought didn't happen. And I
Speaker 1: feel like all of those moments are the reason why
Speaker 1: I'm the coach I am today, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Those those failures, those injuries, those not doing well helped
Speaker 1: me become the coach I am today. And that's why
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm so good Because I could watch
Speaker 1: a client shoot bro right, and if I haven't seen
Speaker 1: him in like three weeks, I can tell you if
Speaker 1: he formed shooting, he's been working out or not because
Speaker 1: I know what I used to do, I know what
Speaker 1: I didn't used to do, I know how somebody's concentrats
Speaker 1: is supposed to be. And I feel like my path
Speaker 1: in life has helped me become the coach I am today.
Speaker 1: And that's why I'm always real big on telling people
Speaker 1: don't be afraid of your path, you know. Like you
Speaker 1: said on my page, I'm always letting people know everybody's
Speaker 1: path in life is helping them to get to their
Speaker 1: to their main goal, if that makes sense, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So like, all those places have definitely
Speaker 1: molded me, especially Saint Bonaventure. Man Like when I first
Speaker 1: got the Saint Bonaventure from Washington State, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is a small town, Like I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do what I want to do with this college because
Speaker 1: I came from big time Pac ten, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I got to that school. Man, they were
Speaker 1: pushing me so hard mentally, they were pushing me so
Speaker 1: hard in the weight room with coach. Coach Schmidt was
Speaker 1: in my life. He was just pushing me so uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, man, like, this is this
Speaker 1: is what I need to do to take it to
Speaker 1: the next level. And that's why my senior year, I
Speaker 1: was top five UH in the nation and three's made
Speaker 1: and I was number one in Atlantic ten and threes
Speaker 1: made and number one is shooting percentage. But it wasn't
Speaker 1: because of me. It was because my coaches were just
Speaker 1: so hard on me. And it's crazy. I still use
Speaker 1: those philosophies from like Coach Schmidt and Coach Moore and
Speaker 1: and all those guys all my players today because I
Speaker 1: know when somebody's putting in the work and when somebody's
Speaker 1: not putting the work. And I'll be I don't care
Speaker 1: if you're making a hundred ms. If I get in
Speaker 1: the gym with you and you're half asking me, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna let you know Yeah, you use the word uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: which is a word that a lot of people are
Speaker 1: not comfortable with, and that's a shame because you can't
Speaker 1: grow unless you get uncomfortable. And I think it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: You were pushed that way in college and and took
Speaker 1: that lesson all those stops Chris along the way. It
Speaker 1: can be glamorized, but you talked about sort of like
Speaker 1: obstacles and lessons every time. So you know, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: meeting players from all over the world, getting exposed a
Speaker 1: lot of different types of basketball. You're growing as a
Speaker 1: person away from the court. But it's also got to
Speaker 1: be lonely. I mean, you're over there, and whether it's
Speaker 1: an injury in Peru or something in China, all of
Speaker 1: these things are had to be a number of low
Speaker 1: points where you thought, man, I don't know, I don't
Speaker 1: know where this is going. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: going anywhere. Yeah, but but that's what life's all about,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're in that lonely state. I think
Speaker 1: I did a good job of always having a plan B,
Speaker 1: a plan C, a plan D. It's kind of weird
Speaker 1: to me when people say, oh, don't have a plan
Speaker 1: b because that means you're already determining failure on plan A. No,
Speaker 1: in life, of course, go after plan A, but always
Speaker 1: have other options as well, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And the most successful people they don't just do one thing.
Speaker 1: If you look at people like, um, anybody Lebron James,
Speaker 1: Lebron James a basketball player, but he's doing filth, he's
Speaker 1: doing schools, he's doing stuff in the community. Like, but
Speaker 1: that's what life is all about. And all those low
Speaker 1: moments like you're saying in China and but live be
Speaker 1: a I'm not gonna lie like I wanted to quit,
Speaker 1: but I realized this isn't for me, Like like I
Speaker 1: said before, this is for all the mentors that sacrifice
Speaker 1: for me, all the coaches and my parents that uh
Speaker 1: you know sacrifice you know, certain stuff that they wanted
Speaker 1: so I can have it. You know. I was the
Speaker 1: first person in my family to get a college degree.
Speaker 1: So it was like, I'll be letting down so many people,
Speaker 1: including myself if if if I if I stopped. So
Speaker 1: if anybody's watching this and you are lonely, and you're
Speaker 1: and you're you're ready to give up, not saying keep going,
Speaker 1: and you get too old and you can't go after
Speaker 1: that craft. But always have a plan B. Always have
Speaker 1: a plan see and continue to grow. But giving up
Speaker 1: is definitely never an option. In between truck going around
Speaker 1: the world and persevering and trying to make your way
Speaker 1: and then the career have now, I know, there was
Speaker 1: some more tough time, so you had to had to
Speaker 1: collapse so long you had to deal with I mean,
Speaker 1: money was really scarce. I don't know if you knew
Speaker 1: where next month's money was to come from. What, what
Speaker 1: got you through that and what when you reflect back
Speaker 1: on that, do you see it as the depths or
Speaker 1: do you just see it as another growing experience? Yeah,
Speaker 1: just another growing experience. It was called paul Daria diema.
Speaker 1: So like, um, it's just my lungs collapse. I couldn't
Speaker 1: move my legs for like a month. I couldn't do
Speaker 1: it number two by myself for like three weeks. I
Speaker 1: was just my whole body shut down. But the one thing,
Speaker 1: like I was saying before, like it's crazy, like I
Speaker 1: still wasn't gonna give up, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: And but you're saying that stuff like that's a matter
Speaker 1: of fact. You just listed off some stuff that people
Speaker 1: would freak people out. You couldn't move your legs for
Speaker 1: a month. It's not just routine adversity. Christ you know that, right, Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: for sure. But I think the people that molded me
Speaker 1: and my mental for my goal, it would have took
Speaker 1: a little bit more for me to like just shut
Speaker 1: all the way down. Was I hurt, absolutely, brother, because
Speaker 1: I felt like every time I was getting to that,
Speaker 1: each of my game, something would happen. Like I remember
Speaker 1: when I played in the G League right the D
Speaker 1: League at the time, and my coaches told me, hey, man,
Speaker 1: you know, don't leave, don't go to Mexico because Blake
Speaker 1: Ahearn is gonna get a call up. And I was
Speaker 1: just I'm like, no, I'm leaving. I'm gonna I'm going
Speaker 1: to Mexico play because I need the money. As soon
Speaker 1: as I go to Mexico, Blake a Hearn get the
Speaker 1: call up. But that was the lessons that I learned.
Speaker 1: You gotta be patient when you want greatness, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. So I literally used every situation of my
Speaker 1: life for the next step. When when I used to
Speaker 1: get hurt, I didn't think of like, oh man, no,
Speaker 1: I'm like you know what. I fractured my ankle or
Speaker 1: I I sprained my knee or something now and I
Speaker 1: gotta go harder now and I gotta stay focused. I mean,
Speaker 1: how bad I want greatness, God would have to take me,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense, So it's not too much. I
Speaker 1: have it on film too. I got poked in the
Speaker 1: eye and NBL Canada. I couldn't played for two months.
Speaker 1: I was blind for a week and a half. I
Speaker 1: was messed up, bro, Like it was like the worst
Speaker 1: pounding headache in my in my head. But I was like, bro,
Speaker 1: if I gotta shoot one eye, it is with it.
Speaker 1: Like that's how determined I was to continue to go.
Speaker 1: You got people listen to this right now thinking yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean people are listening right now thinking I think
Speaker 1: I've got some resolve. I'm resilient, but I don't know
Speaker 1: describing what you're describing. I don't know how I would
Speaker 1: do in that situation. I mean, everybody, I guess you
Speaker 1: don't know your own strength until your force to sort
Speaker 1: of find it and midst all that stuff. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: and the good thing about that, Chris, all of us
Speaker 1: has that in all of us have that in us.
Speaker 1: But it's just you, You, not not somebody else. Somebody
Speaker 1: can mentor you, somebody can help you. But as you
Speaker 1: continue to take that step in the right direction, as
Speaker 1: you've been consistent in your craft, is you going to
Speaker 1: sleep on time? Is you waking up early? And is
Speaker 1: you understanding that nobody can stop you but yourself? So,
Speaker 1: like you know, all of us have greatness in this
Speaker 1: is Is everybody gonna be famous, everybody's gonna have the
Speaker 1: big house and hidden hills. No, but if you know
Speaker 1: you gave it all, you're all Chris and and and
Speaker 1: and even if you don't get to the top of
Speaker 1: the mountain, you know you gave it draw you'll sleep
Speaker 1: better at night. Powerful man. Hey, So you begin to
Speaker 1: work with coaches, broke with players. As a coach, you
Speaker 1: got being famous clients. Is White Howard a guy that
Speaker 1: sort of like comes to mind, and and he's he's
Speaker 1: kind of listed as money one of your first, you know,
Speaker 1: big time clients where you gotta taste of what it
Speaker 1: might be like to to to coach shooting at that level. Yeah.
Speaker 1: At the time, Um, what happened was I was with
Speaker 1: Kevin Seraphan in Paris for UH for the summer and
Speaker 1: the White hit me up and saying, hey, man, I
Speaker 1: need you to help me with my free throws. And
Speaker 1: then um when he when I was helping with his
Speaker 1: free throws, he started breaking so many records that year.
Speaker 1: You give what I mean he was, he was breaking
Speaker 1: so many records. But at the time, I wasn't looking
Speaker 1: at us like, oh man, what the White Howard. I
Speaker 1: was just looking at it. Bro I'm hungry, Like I'm
Speaker 1: not like you get real coming from I'm trying to
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be successful, if that makes sense. So
Speaker 1: when I was with the White, I wasn't really looking
Speaker 1: at It's like, oh my gosh, what the White Howard.
Speaker 1: But it started hitting me like we went to Vegas,
Speaker 1: we were He's the I went to China with him
Speaker 1: on the Peak tour. Then I saw like all this,
Speaker 1: you know how everybody was with him. I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: it's of course I know I played the same class
Speaker 1: as the White. If I played against him, ay you,
Speaker 1: But I never had a big time client didn't start
Speaker 1: hitting me like man, like wow, like I'm training Dwight Howard.
Speaker 1: And that's when I started like realizing, like all right,
Speaker 1: now I gotta take it to the next level, like
Speaker 1: I take it to the next level. Then I started
Speaker 1: helping other teams, and then you know, God is good
Speaker 1: and I look at me now you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So it's just, you know, it's just it's hard to explain.
Speaker 1: It's just it's it's a blessing. Man. Yeah, you never
Speaker 1: know from day to day. I guess who's gonna who's
Speaker 1: gonna cross your past, know who you are, whether it's
Speaker 1: a celebrity, whether it's what Martin Lawrence. I mean, different
Speaker 1: guys who have meant something to you, have come to
Speaker 1: you and said, hey, I'm not in the league, but
Speaker 1: I want to shoot better. Can you help me? I
Speaker 1: know you take it deadly serious, but that's gotta be
Speaker 1: fun too, man, It's so fun, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Of course, when i'm training, I'm I'm kind of serious.
Speaker 1: But when when all that said and done, I'm having
Speaker 1: great conversations with them, I'm laughing like they're saying, I
Speaker 1: was blessed to train Martin about a month ago. Two
Speaker 1: weeks ago, I trained Mark Cuban. I'm able to train
Speaker 1: people like Drake and um I'm about to do something
Speaker 1: with p Diddy next week. So it's just like I
Speaker 1: never thought, you know, being I've always knew because the
Speaker 1: way my dad, you know, speak life into me when
Speaker 1: I was younger, but I never threw it. I never
Speaker 1: knew it to get this big and for it to
Speaker 1: continue to go where it's going right now. I'm very
Speaker 1: humble and um, it's just a blessing that people of
Speaker 1: that stature, even people like you, want me just just
Speaker 1: just talk to me, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: I definitely don't take this lightly. So just to have
Speaker 1: those type of people reach out to say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: like I've been watching you bro, like like, let's let's
Speaker 1: get some shots up. I'm like, all right, it sounds
Speaker 1: good to me, man, let's let's let's get some shots up.
Speaker 1: So I want your coach, Mark Cuban, and here he
Speaker 1: is owning your team with the elite players. I mean, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: is he hooper? Mark Cuban is a little crazy. So
Speaker 1: we uh, we were supposed to train for forty five minutes,
Speaker 1: but he's so locked in and he's so hungry to
Speaker 1: be great. We trained for like two hours and fifty minutes,
Speaker 1: and I kind of knew he was a little crazy
Speaker 1: when he started doing stuff that I do so like
Speaker 1: he would miss a shot and he'll have certain emotions.
Speaker 1: I was like, this guy has the tick that I have,
Speaker 1: or I have the tick he has because he's older
Speaker 1: than me. And that's when I started really getting into
Speaker 1: a train and I saying I love training people like this.
Speaker 1: So I stopped pushing them and pushing his mental and
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, Mark, take a water break
Speaker 1: and Marcus, I don't want the water man. You we
Speaker 1: we got we gotta work. I'm like, it's eleven o'clock
Speaker 1: at night, but let's start realizing. This is why people
Speaker 1: like like Mark Cuban are the best. This is why
Speaker 1: he has the dry he has because if he's gonna
Speaker 1: learn something, he's not gonna havelf acid. And I would
Speaker 1: say training him was probably one of the best moments
Speaker 1: of my life because I'm a huge fan of what
Speaker 1: Mark stands for, and most importantly, to have somebody like
Speaker 1: him to just want to be around me and shoot
Speaker 1: a basketball. Brother, It's just I never thought my life
Speaker 1: would be be where it is right now, So definitely
Speaker 1: shout out to Mark Cuban. He text me the next
Speaker 1: day and like six in the morning, it was like, man,
Speaker 1: I can't stop thinking about what you told me what
Speaker 1: to do my feet. And I said, hey, man, that's
Speaker 1: how the type of this type of teacher I had
Speaker 1: to give you because you're he was forcing me to
Speaker 1: teach him like he was Luca. So I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, man, I'm coming at you. You gotta be ready,
Speaker 1: and he was. He was taking it in and he
Speaker 1: didn't quit. Man, he's a he's a hard nosed guy. Man.
Speaker 1: I love his vibes. Yeah, I've crossed paths a little bit.
Speaker 1: That does not surprise me your story, because that's why
Speaker 1: he is where he is, because he brings that kind
Speaker 1: of energy and intensity probably everything that he does. What
Speaker 1: about the other actors and rappers, So they are they
Speaker 1: all universally like driven that way or some of them
Speaker 1: just want to have a good time. And you got
Speaker 1: you gotta like y off of that. And and I
Speaker 1: know absolutely, like I'll say nine out of ten are
Speaker 1: always what Mark is on. I say, a person that's
Speaker 1: a little a little crazy as well as I trained
Speaker 1: Fleet from Red Hot Chili Peppers. And when I when
Speaker 1: I trained him, I have to train him like he's
Speaker 1: Bobby Porters. I got to train him like he's a
Speaker 1: bonus because he's looking to get pushed to the basket
Speaker 1: and he's looking to not like he wants that stimulation.
Speaker 1: And when we first started training and he would do that,
Speaker 1: I was like, is this guy really serious? Then I
Speaker 1: realized this is why he's the best of what he
Speaker 1: does as well, And then I started realizing, like to
Speaker 1: train these type of people, it's a blessing, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. They're not NBA players and not WBA players,
Speaker 1: but I still have to come with them like an
Speaker 1: NBA player or w NBA player because they are successful
Speaker 1: in their field, if that makes sense. So when I
Speaker 1: when I when I trained Fleet, he's just so hungry
Speaker 1: to learn. He's just so hungry to get better. And
Speaker 1: he's so energetic. Brother, Like, there's no way gettinghim tired.
Speaker 1: So I try to make him sprint, I try to
Speaker 1: make him do stuff. He's still just he wants to
Speaker 1: keep going. Man. So definitely shout out to my guy
Speaker 1: Flee as well, him and and Drake Man Drake Um.
Speaker 1: About three weeks ago, Drake was in l A before
Speaker 1: Mark Cuban trained and we went over some stuff and
Speaker 1: then the next day I think he flew to New
Speaker 1: York and shot the pill out of the ball. But
Speaker 1: those type of guys, man, it's just it's it's a
Speaker 1: blessing to help them. I'm a Chili Peppers fan and
Speaker 1: even seeing one of their shows, know that Flee has
Speaker 1: got a lot of energy, that those are great stories.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Well. When you get people like Mark
Speaker 1: Cuban and other players as well, I know the invitations
Speaker 1: that come along Chris, to hey, come join our team,
Speaker 1: be exclusive to us, be a part of our organization,
Speaker 1: and you've resisted that you haven't taken what some would
Speaker 1: say is kind of an obvious path. Yeah. You know,
Speaker 1: when I first started, I'm not gonna lie, you know,
Speaker 1: saying Chris, like I really wanted to be a shooting
Speaker 1: coach on the team, Like I was hungry. Like then
Speaker 1: I started realizing, like I didn't know all this was
Speaker 1: gonna come with what I was doing with my business,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I'm doing speaking Rances, I'm I just
Speaker 1: came back from Egypt, Chris, two weeks ago, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: doing something for speaking at Harvard. And then just two
Speaker 1: days ago, Chris, I was at Howard University helping them
Speaker 1: do something. So it's just like you know, I never
Speaker 1: knew that God was going to have this big plan
Speaker 1: for my life. And if I was to take a job,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't I feel like I wouldn't be doing my
Speaker 1: due diligence on earth to to reach as many people
Speaker 1: as I can reach if I was just on the staff.
Speaker 1: So definitely shout out to all the teams that have
Speaker 1: offered me to be on the teams in college and
Speaker 1: UM in the NBA and UM n B A, uh,
Speaker 1: to be a part of staffs. But you know, just
Speaker 1: just doing what I'm doing right now, and I think
Speaker 1: I think it's God's plan. I do think once I
Speaker 1: foundation is set with everything I'm doing, uh with with
Speaker 1: my businesses and stuff, I think I really want to
Speaker 1: be on the staff because I wanted, like you're saying,
Speaker 1: I want to I want to win a championship ring. Well,
Speaker 1: that's you're gonna have all kinds of options. I mean, basketball,
Speaker 1: to see is global, but yeah, they'm more global than
Speaker 1: basketball is shooting a basketball because you don't have to
Speaker 1: be part of an organized team. You don't have to
Speaker 1: have a full you know, people with the ball and
Speaker 1: a rim at all corners of the globe, and and
Speaker 1: and it's cool. I know you were just in need
Speaker 1: in Egypt shooting jumpers like right by the base of
Speaker 1: the Pyramids, which I don't think it'd been done before,
Speaker 1: which is cool. So, yeah, there's a whole wide world
Speaker 1: of opportunities out there that I'm sure you're just scratching
Speaker 1: the surface of. Yeah, an office shure, man, it's definitely
Speaker 1: definitely all guys playing. And you know when when uh,
Speaker 1: you know, when Ray Bull came to me with being
Speaker 1: the first person to ever to shoot in front of
Speaker 1: the Pyramids, I didn't think it was real, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So we pulled up, Uh it was
Speaker 1: about you know, three weeks ago. We pulled up before
Speaker 1: in the morning. It was dark and I saw the Pyramids.
Speaker 1: Bro like took my heart. I was like, whoa, this
Speaker 1: is this is crazy, man. So, you know, just to
Speaker 1: just to have companies, just to have people want me
Speaker 1: to be a part of moments like that, brother's just
Speaker 1: a testament that, like, you know, everybody's not gonna make
Speaker 1: it to the NBA, everybody's not gonna make it on ESPN,
Speaker 1: and everybody's not gonna make it to the w n
Speaker 1: B A. But if you stay creative, if you stay
Speaker 1: diligent in your craft. You know, those spaces will make
Speaker 1: room for you, if that makes sense, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like I'm not in the n b A,
Speaker 1: but that I'm still involved with doing stuff but in
Speaker 1: the n b A. Like, so whoever is watching this,
Speaker 1: you know, if if if you want to become a
Speaker 1: lawyer and it didn't work, stay diligent in your craft.
Speaker 1: You know you can still find yourself doing something in
Speaker 1: that field. It's still become successful. You're not in the NBA,
Speaker 1: but you're an NBA two K, which is uh almost
Speaker 1: as cool. Yeah, now it's a blessing. Man, It's I
Speaker 1: don't know when this comes out. I don't know if
Speaker 1: I could talk to what I want to talk, but
Speaker 1: you know, definitely everybody stay tuned, man. And in about
Speaker 1: three weeks we got a huge announcement. Man, it's just
Speaker 1: these type of things. Like I said before, Chris Man,
Speaker 1: I never have, I never, I never, but my dad knew.
Speaker 1: Like you know, my dad passed like twelve years ago,
Speaker 1: and and he will always tell me, you know, what
Speaker 1: he thought I was gonna be in life. You know,
Speaker 1: if your dad, I hear you, Dad, Yeah, whatever. But
Speaker 1: now it's just like, you know, him just speaking into
Speaker 1: my life now, and I see why he was so
Speaker 1: hard on me and why he was making sure I
Speaker 1: was doing my homework, and why certain times I couldn't
Speaker 1: go outside and different things I couldn't do at a
Speaker 1: young age. But he was doing that, so I can
Speaker 1: understand what it takes to be a man. I know
Speaker 1: what that's like. I lost my dad when I was
Speaker 1: a kid. You don't have that relationship with him as
Speaker 1: an adult. He doesn't get to see what you go
Speaker 1: and do, but you feel a presence and it still
Speaker 1: drives you. In those words and the example that he said,
Speaker 1: I think that's that's powerful. Shooting a basketball is obviously
Speaker 1: part of the game. You must have heard this, Chris.
Speaker 1: You're teaching people to shoot shoot you, but that's not
Speaker 1: the complete game. And your kids can't believe that you're
Speaker 1: shooting the ball is going to be a ticket to success. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like a lot of people see my page
Speaker 1: just say, oh, you know, you're just teaching threes. But
Speaker 1: people don't understand that's just the glamour of Instagram, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? When I like, a good example
Speaker 1: is me and Grayson just did a post yesterday, Grayson
Speaker 1: Islands pulling like one step across half court. But that
Speaker 1: was like a dessert for Grayson, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: You know, take this dessert because I just made you
Speaker 1: make four hundred mere range jump shots. So you know,
Speaker 1: you know, people think the artist shooting is just shooting
Speaker 1: so far, but people don't understand about my teaching and
Speaker 1: my philosophy. I don't even allow my clients to shoot far,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And it's just like in life,
Speaker 1: how can you do certain things and start far? You
Speaker 1: have to start close and and if you want to
Speaker 1: train with me and and get out to the three
Speaker 1: point line, you gotta show me that the philosophies that
Speaker 1: I'm giving you and the mental that I'm expecting from you,
Speaker 1: that you deserve to go to the three point line.
Speaker 1: And I feel like, you know, God is good that
Speaker 1: I was taught a certain way and I was able
Speaker 1: to shoot in certain ways. So I know what I'm
Speaker 1: looking for, and I could be I could be very
Speaker 1: meticulous on just the type of concentration that I'm looking for.
Speaker 1: Then I can say, you know what, Chris, you or
Speaker 1: you know what's a bonus? Now you can step out
Speaker 1: to the three point line. So like, you know, people
Speaker 1: might see my training. It was crazy because like people
Speaker 1: might see me training somebody, but oh, that person is
Speaker 1: not really shooting the three. Good Yeah, because the team
Speaker 1: didn't hire me to be there, to hire me to
Speaker 1: have them shoot three. The team hired me from midrange
Speaker 1: jump shots. So it's certain things that people do don't understand,
Speaker 1: but they just see on Instagram and think when it
Speaker 1: comes with somebody hires me, I'm turning them into Clay Thompson.
Speaker 1: You get what I'm saying. Yeah, you're you're a good sport.
Speaker 1: To look at a couple of videos as set you
Speaker 1: because I thought we could have a stunt. You know,
Speaker 1: I I I gave you uh an at on Instagram
Speaker 1: when I was really struggling because I was I was
Speaker 1: shooting outdoors. I'm not. I'm not a hasman. I'm never was.
Speaker 1: When it came to if I never played competitive. My
Speaker 1: career pretty much ended when I shredded my knee playing
Speaker 1: intermural basketball in college and you know, four knee surgeries later. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm working to touch the rim. But
Speaker 1: you took a look at a video. I didn't send
Speaker 1: you videos where I'm breaking shots. I mean it's heavily ended.
Speaker 1: But uh, if you were to get something like that
Speaker 1: totally amateur, what what would the critique be? Well, a
Speaker 1: good thing about your shot. You're not a bad shooter,
Speaker 1: you know, I would say I could tell you you
Speaker 1: could be a little bit more calm. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you have a head Did you have headsets in? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Definitely definitely don't shoot with your air buds in because
Speaker 1: you you want to. You want to hear the sounds
Speaker 1: of the ground. You want to feel the air. You
Speaker 1: want to be able to breathe and and feel the game.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna go on the golf course Chris and
Speaker 1: put air buds and try to hit a hole in one.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Um, I would say, uh,
Speaker 1: I love your your your follow through, your fall through
Speaker 1: is beautiful, your guy hand. I think I think there
Speaker 1: was something wrong with the reception there. I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: Repeat repeat that, Chris, No, you're you got your file.
Speaker 1: Your fall through is beautiful. But there's when I when
Speaker 1: I when I get to New York or something, I
Speaker 1: gotta come see there's things that we're gonna change with
Speaker 1: your guy hand. That and um, your footwork and the
Speaker 1: way you jump, We're gonna change that to make the
Speaker 1: shot fluent. Because you're not far off. Brother, I say,
Speaker 1: out of a ten, I'm not saying this because I'm
Speaker 1: on your podcasts. No, seriously, I'm not trying to say
Speaker 1: your Steph Curry. I'm not trying to say you can
Speaker 1: make a hundred three in a row. But if I'm
Speaker 1: going off form somebody who hasn't been taught the right way,
Speaker 1: out of a ten, I'll give you a six, bro,
Speaker 1: I'll take a six. I was like I was at
Speaker 1: two at the start of the summer. I went into
Speaker 1: the gym and it's at sixty shot an hour a day.
Speaker 1: And by the way, in the earbuds is is like
Speaker 1: zen meditation. I'm not listening to music sometimes just to
Speaker 1: block out the screaming kids in the gym that I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it helps me focus because it's just
Speaker 1: like different like tones and chanting and stuff. I'm not
Speaker 1: listening to my my my heavy metal workout playlist, but
Speaker 1: I'm trying to shoot a Basketballn't worry about that. I'll
Speaker 1: take it, you know, I listen. I got no kind
Speaker 1: of game, but I do like the meta tative experience.
Speaker 1: I'm just being in the gym. Hopefully it's kind of
Speaker 1: chilling and just shooting the ball. I'm sure. I'm sure
Speaker 1: a lot of your people you work with can relate
Speaker 1: to that. It can be a happy place, even if
Speaker 1: you're no kind of hooper and you know you're not
Speaker 1: even consistent, but just the act of doing it, I
Speaker 1: find therapeutic. So you're generously it's definitely stimulating, brother. And
Speaker 1: like you're saying about the celebrities, right, so like let's
Speaker 1: do a future. The times that I training future, it's
Speaker 1: because you know, sometimes they might be in the studio
Speaker 1: too long. And the basketball court is that, like you said,
Speaker 1: it's therapeutic, and it's relaxing to the mind so that
Speaker 1: you know everybody is watching this. If you know, some
Speaker 1: people like to go swimming, and some people like to
Speaker 1: go for walks, you know, like you're saying, go to
Speaker 1: the local park and get some jump shots up um
Speaker 1: and and it it definitely relaxes and a good thing
Speaker 1: about it, Like you know, Chris, your blood flowing, you
Speaker 1: get what I mean, And and your body's moving and
Speaker 1: and your limbs are moving. So that's that's good because
Speaker 1: when I was watching those three videos you sent me,
Speaker 1: I could tell you're you're in the place that you
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get distracted. I could tell how you
Speaker 1: were shooting. It's just you the room. I think one
Speaker 1: of the videos you sent me was people behind you
Speaker 1: shoot on the other side. You don't even care about them.
Speaker 1: But that just shows how focused you are to use
Speaker 1: this time to just take your mental to the next level.
Speaker 1: So that was those some good videos. I like them. Well,
Speaker 1: you're being really nice, you're being over I could do one.
Speaker 1: I could focus because I didn't know you, I would
Speaker 1: tell you because focusing is what I gotta do from
Speaker 1: my job, so I focus on on a thing. Isn't
Speaker 1: the issue. It's just it's just lack of athleticism and mechanics.
Speaker 1: But like I said, yeah, you're you're you're very very generous.
Speaker 1: When when you when you watch a game, do you
Speaker 1: watch just basketball like other people? Are you always watching
Speaker 1: like shooting form? Like the NBA is just getting started here?
Speaker 1: Are you gonna be tuning into games to see what
Speaker 1: guys have been doing in the summer? Is that? Is
Speaker 1: that the way that you view a game through that?
Speaker 1: Lens Man absolutely and it sucks, you know, Man, I
Speaker 1: can't even watch the game. Yeah, I can't even just
Speaker 1: watch the game hang out with the homies like I'm
Speaker 1: like because the one thing I understood, understand I like
Speaker 1: to Let's let's say, let's say Chris, you played for
Speaker 1: the Nets right when if you used to hit me
Speaker 1: and say hey, man, I need your help. I want
Speaker 1: to instantly say you know what. I already know what
Speaker 1: you was doing wrong? You was And that's what I
Speaker 1: do to everybody. So if you ask anybody that train
Speaker 1: with me before, as soon as I get with them, um,
Speaker 1: I'll tell them every spot where something of this spot
Speaker 1: and that spot and they're like, oh damn, that is happy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. I've been watching. I've been taking notes, you know.
Speaker 1: I have a little notepad and stuff like that. Until
Speaker 1: you gotta you got a catalog of everybody in the league,
Speaker 1: Like you know, guys that have never called, you've never
Speaker 1: you still know like the ins and outs of their
Speaker 1: shottle know, it's a red note pad. Um. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say every single person, but definitely the top tier and
Speaker 1: the people that we say can't shoot. I know I
Speaker 1: have exactly what what needs to be done. To fix
Speaker 1: those jump shots because the one thing I understand too,
Speaker 1: and you understand, I can't get a phone call from
Speaker 1: somebody saying, hey, we need you to help with the
Speaker 1: artist shooting. What is this person doing? And I'm not prepared.
Speaker 1: I'm always prepared, you know. And and a good example,
Speaker 1: like I said, I'll use Grant Williams. When Grant Williams
Speaker 1: called me and saying, bro, what you see out there?
Speaker 1: I said, And then he was like that is wrong,
Speaker 1: So I said it, look, spend the summer with me, brother,
Speaker 1: And when he spent the song with me, you know
Speaker 1: the results, the results have shown. And it's just like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm one of those guys like you know,
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want something to happen, and then
Speaker 1: I and then I go after I want to I
Speaker 1: want to be prepared for the moment. And that's that's
Speaker 1: just the way I was molded. So you know, just
Speaker 1: like tonight, it's like, you know, when when the Celtics
Speaker 1: are playing, I'm gonna be taking notes not just on
Speaker 1: people that I've helped, but I'll be taking notes on
Speaker 1: everybody because I'm just I don't know how you are
Speaker 1: when you watch other people uh, do TV shows or
Speaker 1: something like that. But I know you noticed everything. You
Speaker 1: get what I'm saying absolutely. I mean, no one wants
Speaker 1: to watch a game with another announcer and I with
Speaker 1: your buddies. You must be a pain in the ask
Speaker 1: to watching the NBA game. Yeah, it's the worst. Let
Speaker 1: me ask you this because whatever the sport is, you've
Speaker 1: got guys who are really successful and productive. They don't
Speaker 1: have perfect form. Not every quarterback throws of all the
Speaker 1: same way Mahomes doesn't have classic form. I covered tennis.
Speaker 1: Even legends of the game don't hit shots perfectly. Do
Speaker 1: you see guys in the NBA who make shots but
Speaker 1: they don't look good doing that and the form is
Speaker 1: not good? And can you live with that? I absolutely can.
Speaker 1: You know, if you have a high shooting percentage and
Speaker 1: you can go left with the defender on, you go right,
Speaker 1: step back, left, step back, right side step left side,
Speaker 1: step right, pull up in transition, make a mid range
Speaker 1: jump shot, run full speed to a spot and pull up.
Speaker 1: And you don't have an ideal form, keep it. But
Speaker 1: if you have. If you don't have the ideal form
Speaker 1: and you can't do those things, you have to change
Speaker 1: your jump shot real live bit in an era where
Speaker 1: people are delusional, um to two bad things. If you
Speaker 1: have a bad habit and it's not working, change it.
Speaker 1: If you have a bad habit, Uh, when I say habit,
Speaker 1: I mean like not the ideal Clay Thompson form. So
Speaker 1: let's say that not a bad if you don't have
Speaker 1: If you have a bad hat it and it's and
Speaker 1: it's at working, you have to change it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. You can't say, Chris, I'm a bad
Speaker 1: announcer because uh what what what do we give people
Speaker 1: excuses for shooting? We say, um, oh, it's it's it's mental.
Speaker 1: I can't say I'm a bad announcer because I'm having
Speaker 1: a mental block. That means I'm not a good announcer, right,
Speaker 1: So that means I have to figure out how to
Speaker 1: fix those things. So I feel like with anybody out
Speaker 1: there that's doing anything in life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: If you feel like you can't do something because of
Speaker 1: your mental you gotta start stimulating yourself in that crab
Speaker 1: so when your moment comes, you can attack it. If
Speaker 1: that makes sense, like you, I don't know if you
Speaker 1: do it, but like, like I hosted something for Netflix
Speaker 1: for Adam Sandler and Lebron about two months back. Bro
Speaker 1: I stood in front of the mirror and was like,
Speaker 1: what's going on, Lebron? How does it? I literally did
Speaker 1: all the questions that Netflix sent me looking in the mirror,
Speaker 1: and then when when I went to the red carpet,
Speaker 1: bro it was like my swag was crazy. But it
Speaker 1: took so much practice. And I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people have to understand if you really on something, it
Speaker 1: just takes a lot of practice, and it's not just mental.
Speaker 1: Is you being diligent and consistent on your craft? Because
Speaker 1: if you're consistent, your mental is gonna be high because
Speaker 1: you're confident. Why am I not surprised? You still in
Speaker 1: the mirror and rehearse your part with to be ready
Speaker 1: for that because you don't think that would acre to
Speaker 1: a lot of people. But I mean that's that's why,
Speaker 1: that's why you're where you are. That's cool. You know
Speaker 1: the question will come up. I'm sure you get it,
Speaker 1: like who do you rank as Maybe not on percentage,
Speaker 1: but who's got the Swedish shot? Who's got the best
Speaker 1: current shots in the NBA? Are you allowed to say that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I don't care. Yeah, I think the best shooter of
Speaker 1: all time, you know, Um, you know, I give it
Speaker 1: to myself. Man, I put a lot of works right now,
Speaker 1: but all I think Steph Curry has just I feel
Speaker 1: like if it wasn't for Steph Curry, I don't even
Speaker 1: think people will understand how crazy I am about shooting.
Speaker 1: You know. Of course, Clay Thompson is a great shoot.
Speaker 1: Of course, Trey Young, Kevin Durrant, Everybody's made. But I
Speaker 1: feel like if Steph Curry wasn't doing when he was
Speaker 1: doing the videos I post, people wouldn't realize how hard
Speaker 1: they are. And I feel like Steph Curry has taken
Speaker 1: the artist shooting to such a level where it's like,
Speaker 1: man like, how do you even do this? So definitely
Speaker 1: shout out to my guys Steph Curry, um, and continue
Speaker 1: to just break barriers man, because what he's doing with
Speaker 1: that basketball, man, it's different. Yeah, he's a transcendent player.
Speaker 1: He's changed the way basketball has played. He's changed the
Speaker 1: way that thought about it. Not everybody can shoot like
Speaker 1: nobody can quite shoot like him, but everybody thinks that's
Speaker 1: now the way to play, which may not may or
Speaker 1: may not be a good thing. It puts. It puts
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, work your way because everybody
Speaker 1: needs to improve the well. I definitely want the NBA
Speaker 1: to staying in this direction for a few more years.
Speaker 1: Make a few hours. Bro. So you have used your
Speaker 1: your Instagram not just to show your shooting exploits, are
Speaker 1: working with clients. But I love the messages you send
Speaker 1: and your stories daily talk about hard work and sacrifice
Speaker 1: and self esteem and things that you know young followers
Speaker 1: are yours can absorb. Yeah, man, you know, I feel
Speaker 1: like if you have a big platform, it's your job
Speaker 1: to let people know the truth. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: People might see my page man luth so successful. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be like lethal. Yeah, you can be
Speaker 1: like me. But when you fail, keep your head high.
Speaker 1: When you fail, keep going. When you feel, um, understand
Speaker 1: that there is something else. You know what I mean? Um, Um,
Speaker 1: don't allow social media to pull you down, you know,
Speaker 1: use social media to uplift others. Um, you know, listen
Speaker 1: to your parents, you know what I'm saying. Listen to
Speaker 1: whoever your caregiver is. Stay away from drugs, stay away
Speaker 1: from alcohol. And I try to use my platform for that.
Speaker 1: Has a lot of people don't get that at home, Chris.
Speaker 1: So it's more like I'm just trying to just use
Speaker 1: my platform to keep people educated on the real as
Speaker 1: well as far as the sport. So if I can
Speaker 1: continue to inspire people with shooting, maybe I can inspire
Speaker 1: somebody to not to turn down drugs or turned down
Speaker 1: alcohol or not continue to just hang on the block
Speaker 1: and go after it goes. So that's why I feel
Speaker 1: like God put me here. I feel like you put
Speaker 1: me here to not just help people with the artist shooting,
Speaker 1: but help people in life because I understand how tough
Speaker 1: life is, because because the route that I had to
Speaker 1: take absolutely Man, And as your brand grows and the
Speaker 1: number of followers grows, the platform even gets bigger. So
Speaker 1: when when you look at head, because as I said
Speaker 1: at the top, there is no blueprint for what you've done,
Speaker 1: there is no plan, there's no linear path where you're going,
Speaker 1: and and if you look forward, there is neither. So
Speaker 1: where where does this take you? Are? You? Are you
Speaker 1: still hoisting jump shots when you're I don't know sixty
Speaker 1: beyond that and what else you're gonna be? You know,
Speaker 1: using sort of this this platform skill set with Man,
Speaker 1: same thing man, I just pray, you know, like you're
Speaker 1: saying sixty years old, the way you're moving to the
Speaker 1: videos you sent me, for you to be sixty, for
Speaker 1: Mark to be the age he's at. If I'm moving
Speaker 1: like that, I'm good, bro. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to do it as long
Speaker 1: as you know, God says, you know what, keep shooting
Speaker 1: at basketball, you know what I mean. Do I want
Speaker 1: to be uh teaching the artist shooting at sixty? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1: You know, I feel like at sixty, I might want
Speaker 1: to be doing what you're doing, you know, on T
Speaker 1: and T or something, or just maybe doing something different
Speaker 1: in my craft. But you know, that's a long time
Speaker 1: from now. But I can see myself trying to take
Speaker 1: a turn in that area. And that's why, you know,
Speaker 1: I love watching people like you. I love watching like
Speaker 1: you said, Dorisburg. I love watching Shaquille O'Neill and different
Speaker 1: people on TV. Because you guys don't get in up credit.
Speaker 1: That's a hard job. But you know, watching you guys
Speaker 1: and watching stephen A, I really can see myself doing
Speaker 1: that as well. If I don't take that coaching job,
Speaker 1: like I really want to take that turn and and
Speaker 1: just I could talk all day about basketball, I could
Speaker 1: talk all day about life. So I definitely want to
Speaker 1: try to take that turn as well. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that there are no limits because if you take the lessons,
Speaker 1: you've already applied everything else in your life, just being
Speaker 1: tough and resilient and and never quitting and using everything
Speaker 1: as an opportunity for growth. Um, there's no where you
Speaker 1: can't go. And I think it's I want to leave
Speaker 1: with this because, um, you said that you hear your
Speaker 1: dad's voice, and I think that it must be pretty
Speaker 1: cool when you ally yourself to think about how he
Speaker 1: would view what you've become. And it's it's just an
Speaker 1: incredible It's a long long way from where you grew up,
Speaker 1: in a long long way from not having a place
Speaker 1: to stay not that many years ago to our your
Speaker 1: out armed moum. And that's got that's powerful stuff. Absolutely, man.
Speaker 1: Like you said, brother, like, this ain't for me, This
Speaker 1: is forever everybody that sacrifice for me, especially my mom
Speaker 1: as well. You know what I mean a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't know. I didn't grow up with my biological parents.
Speaker 1: So for me to be right I am today is
Speaker 1: just a testament that that God had a plan for me,
Speaker 1: and I'm not about to let him down. I'm not
Speaker 1: about to let my dad down. I'm not about to
Speaker 1: let my mom down, because like you're saying, like this,
Speaker 1: this this is for them, every every every time I
Speaker 1: wake up and do something, it's everybody that believed in me.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this for the I'm doing this for everybody
Speaker 1: that comes from them tough situations that they want to
Speaker 1: give up. I'm doing it for for everybody that you know,
Speaker 1: nothing was given to him, they had, They had to work,
Speaker 1: you know, work their asses off to get where they at.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm gonna continue to do what I do,
Speaker 1: just like how you do what you do. You know,
Speaker 1: when I'll be watching you, you could tell you study
Speaker 1: your notes, you can tell your diligence, your craft. But
Speaker 1: they don't just come by you just waking up, jump
Speaker 1: on TV. You know what I mean. It's just it's
Speaker 1: a lot of hard work that goes into it. And
Speaker 1: I'm willing to put the hard work, to put the
Speaker 1: hard work in to continue to show how great of
Speaker 1: a teacher I am, how great of a mentor I am,
Speaker 1: and just basically just you know, let my followers, No,
Speaker 1: I got their back. I really enjoyed getting to know
Speaker 1: Chris a little bit. What impresses me is that he
Speaker 1: never forgets his DC roots. He gives back in so
Speaker 1: many ways, or mentoring kids in his clinics, working with
Speaker 1: companies to renovate courts and deliver backpacks, and even thanksgiving
Speaker 1: turkeys to families, and he's just getting started. If you
Speaker 1: haven't already, check out his Instagram at Lethal Shooter. He'll
Speaker 1: be blown away by his shooting demos, plus fun stuff
Speaker 1: with the players and celebritities, coaching, and plenty of reminders
Speaker 1: to stay locked in on whatever path you're forging. As always,
Speaker 1: I'm grateful to my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster and
Speaker 1: the team Octagon for editing the podcast. I'll talk to
Speaker 1: you soon. But more new episodes of season five, and
Speaker 1: please check out our many archived episodes