Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallen and Chris
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
Speaker 1: entertainment in the strain. Now here's Chris Johnson. You're now
Speaker 1: see down the kJ Live. Today's guests on the show
Speaker 1: is a professional basketball player by the name of Curtis Hollerd.
Speaker 1: Now I had a chance to watch, observe, and coach
Speaker 1: against Curtis and the j b A back in the day. Curtis,
Speaker 1: what's up, my man? O man, great to see you too, brother.
Speaker 1: I mean I when when we connected, you had tweeted
Speaker 1: something out about the Dominican Republic and Uh, it's funny
Speaker 1: because I had said something back, and it just kind
Speaker 1: of reminded me though. Our interaction reminded me of the
Speaker 1: j b A days. Man, it was. It was funny
Speaker 1: because we're on opposite teams. I was coaching with Seattle,
Speaker 1: you were on with You're on Houston with Rick and
Speaker 1: all them, and uh, and you were kind of like
Speaker 1: that dude, man, the first dude kind of in the
Speaker 1: league on an opposing team that I you know that
Speaker 1: just you know, even spoke to me, you know, even
Speaker 1: even said what's up. You're cool man, You're humble. You know,
Speaker 1: you always gave it up. Man. You always said what's up?
Speaker 1: So I always like I always remembered you, always like
Speaker 1: kept the eye on you because I'm like, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a that's a solid dude right there. Man. But thinking
Speaker 1: about the j B A, bro, before we uh, kind
Speaker 1: of go back in time man and kind of get
Speaker 1: the beginnings of your story fresh off the j B, A,
Speaker 1: may just talk about just the experience in the j B. A.
Speaker 1: Did you think that you know, LaMelo would end up
Speaker 1: doing what he did and how how did the league
Speaker 1: and that experience help you in your career in shaping
Speaker 1: your journey. First, I mean my experience with the j
Speaker 1: B it was amazing. You know a lot of people
Speaker 1: have maybe make signals, but you know, I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: I got the pretty good and you know what I mean. Um, So,
Speaker 1: you know, for a lot of different reasons. But to
Speaker 1: answer your second question about Melo, um, it probably me
Speaker 1: playing with him to really figure it out. And we
Speaker 1: went and played in the j B. AU was safe
Speaker 1: for the people that don't know. We went overseas Lavart
Speaker 1: took the best probably ten people, and we went to
Speaker 1: like valuy By twenty five different countries, so he was
Speaker 1: just hopping places playing against high level players. So when
Speaker 1: I played against when I played with Mellow, is when
Speaker 1: I really figured out, like, okay, like, yeah, he'll be
Speaker 1: where he's at. He obviously is an all star, you know,
Speaker 1: but like for the different reasons of the fact that
Speaker 1: he was sixteen in and um, we were going to
Speaker 1: playing growing men professionals like first division and second division
Speaker 1: you know, all over. But he's getting triple doubles, Like
Speaker 1: he's helping me get off, he's helping Jello get off,
Speaker 1: and then he's going to do it himself. And for
Speaker 1: people that played basketball, like that's really hard to do,
Speaker 1: like get people involved and keep everybody involved and then
Speaker 1: go score and do your thing too. So you know,
Speaker 1: I've been around a lot of guys like before I
Speaker 1: got into j b A, so I've seen what they
Speaker 1: look like, and I knew instantly when I played with him,
Speaker 1: you know he was gonna be legit. Um. Also, the
Speaker 1: j b A Like in terms of mark career, it
Speaker 1: really boost like it really is the reason I have
Speaker 1: a professional career. We're just gonna be an honor person, honest,
Speaker 1: because um, I got picked up from a team in
Speaker 1: Germany playing in j b A. So really, the whole
Speaker 1: time I went into j b A with the plan.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people just kind of hopped
Speaker 1: in and just you know, wanted to play. But I
Speaker 1: knew I was losing my origibility. So I'm like, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm one them all in and two. If I don't
Speaker 1: make something out of this, I'm gonna be jobless. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be out of school. Like I gotta really
Speaker 1: do something, you know. So um, like I said, it,
Speaker 1: really it really made my career, you know. And I've
Speaker 1: been playing now for four years, you know, professionally, So um,
Speaker 1: it did a lot for me. I got picked up
Speaker 1: playing in the j b A show. Yeah it was
Speaker 1: great for me. Man, that's dope. Man. But let's rewind
Speaker 1: a little bit. Man, Let's talk about before the j
Speaker 1: b A. Before all that. Man, where are you born
Speaker 1: and raised? Like, where did you get your basketball foundation?
Speaker 1: So I'm born. I was born in Dallas, Texas, raised
Speaker 1: in Arlington, Texas. So I really got got my foundation.
Speaker 1: You know, I tell people I think my brother, like
Speaker 1: just being around. I have an older brother that's two
Speaker 1: years older than me. So I Philip, Philip Polish and
Speaker 1: my dad's named Philip too. So my brothers a junior,
Speaker 1: my dad as a senior, but just my brothers two
Speaker 1: years older than me. So you know, growing up, we
Speaker 1: played every sport like we did everything, you know. So
Speaker 1: I played football, basketball, baseball, swimming, track like I did everything. Um.
Speaker 1: But just being around my brother um and just me
Speaker 1: like I was the kid that would go shoot at
Speaker 1: half time at this game, you know, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So just being around him and just stuff like that,
Speaker 1: I think that's really how I started to love it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Because, like I said, he
Speaker 1: was older, So I wasn't really playing you at the time.
Speaker 1: Like I was maybe five, maybe six, maybe four, and
Speaker 1: he's like seven seven eight, you know. So I'm seeing
Speaker 1: him and just you know, experiencing with the ball, like
Speaker 1: I said, playing at half time, just you know, playing around,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like Okay. Once I start getting older
Speaker 1: and older, I started to really love it. So yeah, no, man,
Speaker 1: I came from a big family, man, you know, gang
Speaker 1: of brothers, but I was I was the old this
Speaker 1: and so and so my big brother in a sense
Speaker 1: was kind of my dad, you know, who played in
Speaker 1: the league and at the time I was growing up,
Speaker 1: he was trying to make a little comeback. So he
Speaker 1: kind of treated me. Sounds like, how Philip did you
Speaker 1: where I was kind of the test dummy, And yeah
Speaker 1: I played against him, but I get beat up, you know,
Speaker 1: man handled, you know, posted on duct. I don't know
Speaker 1: Philip was ducking on you, because you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: live with it. But my dad, my dad was ducking
Speaker 1: on me, you dog, And I'm like thirteen fourteen and
Speaker 1: stuff in the front yard right wasn't money. But now
Speaker 1: all that to be said, I understand how that how
Speaker 1: that older influence kind of kind of you know, definitely
Speaker 1: kid can help you and get you going. So talk
Speaker 1: talk talk to him. What happened? Man? When when when
Speaker 1: do you remember saying to yourself, I want to get
Speaker 1: serious about the game, like I could do something here. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you were on any paths of
Speaker 1: going the wrong way with stuff, but when did you
Speaker 1: When did everything click for you? What age? And you
Speaker 1: know what moment made you kind of open your eyes?
Speaker 1: So it was definitely after my freshman year, and it
Speaker 1: was really kind of going through it because, like you said,
Speaker 1: you know, I was kind of doing a bunch of stuff.
Speaker 1: Like I had an older brother, so I came in
Speaker 1: as a freshman. He's already a junior, so you know,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of already lit going in, you know, like
Speaker 1: I know everybody, like every I was moving too fast,
Speaker 1: you know. But probably after that night grade summer because
Speaker 1: I played in the U Y b L. Like a
Speaker 1: team came and found me and they were just like listening,
Speaker 1: which is pro scie leader still around. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: but a guy named George Play he came and found
Speaker 1: me and he was like, listen, I see your talent,
Speaker 1: Like come try out, come work with us and see
Speaker 1: how it goes. So I ended up playing with Trey Young,
Speaker 1: which is actually crazy. That year I was fifteen, and um,
Speaker 1: I started seeing him blowing up. I'm like, whoa, Like
Speaker 1: he's getting everywhere. All was like that. He was like
Speaker 1: that back then. Man, what how he played now? He
Speaker 1: played then? Like bro, it's wow, it's wow. Because I
Speaker 1: was just talking to somebody about just his like his frame,
Speaker 1: his body, like when you look at him, it's like damn,
Speaker 1: he's so skinny. And they looked a little but it's nothing.
Speaker 1: What do you is he super strong. I mean, what
Speaker 1: is his biggest kind of key to his success. I
Speaker 1: think the kudos is to his dad, his father, because
Speaker 1: his father ray ray for young man. He used the
Speaker 1: grilled trade I'm talking about. Like I tell people this
Speaker 1: story all the time, Like I went to Pangos camp, right,
Speaker 1: so I'm just my first time really seeing it. I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, cool, like I'm here for the experience. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to get in one of the top games.
Speaker 1: I end up getting the top forty. But you know,
Speaker 1: Trey was hord to cover to he was top five,
Speaker 1: top whatever point guard coming coming in. So you know
Speaker 1: his pops played at the University of Oklahoma played Oh
Speaker 1: she's a little bit, so he's seen what it takes,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So trade one game, he
Speaker 1: just went at forty, you know, going crazy, right, so
Speaker 1: we're on the right back. I'm like, all right, cool,
Speaker 1: like trying a good job, you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: I like his pop. Really, man, you ain't got up, like,
Speaker 1: you ain't assisted. You look bad. He's like horrible shots
Speaker 1: and I'm just like he just had forty. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what are we doing? So it was at that moment
Speaker 1: where I was like, Okay, I know why he's gonna
Speaker 1: be great. You know what I mean. He just kept
Speaker 1: going up that trajectory, you know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: one I will say, you always had talent, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. He's always been really talented. He could
Speaker 1: always really shoot the ball. But like that mentality that
Speaker 1: was drilling him, plus continuously working, you know, just stuff
Speaker 1: like that. Um, I feel like he's the reason why,
Speaker 1: He's the reason year today. So yeah, he seems like
Speaker 1: he you know, from when I've watched him. My son
Speaker 1: was at Oregon and Oklahoma came. They played up in Portland.
Speaker 1: He Trey had a forty ball and Brayton Pritchard. But
Speaker 1: from what I saw, you know, I mean, his his
Speaker 1: his i Q was is incredible. And then and then
Speaker 1: like he just has a unique ability to know how
Speaker 1: to get his shot off before you can block it.
Speaker 1: Like I just know, like like he just his release
Speaker 1: is always right before you get there. It's just no
Speaker 1: matter what I'm like, dang, because you think you always
Speaker 1: go get it, but it's like no, because it's real quick.
Speaker 1: It's real quick. Man. Uh So you played on the
Speaker 1: E Y b O with Trey, you earned it out.
Speaker 1: So so you got on people's scouts. So let let
Speaker 1: me just break this down. Let me just break this
Speaker 1: down real quick. So for those out there that don't know,
Speaker 1: and this is kind of was my scouting report on you, Kurt,
Speaker 1: back when you were playing in the j b A.
Speaker 1: I mean I I classified you at the time as
Speaker 1: as a slasher wing kind of guy that could create
Speaker 1: handle for its own shot. The jump shot was at
Speaker 1: times a little inconsistent, but you know, we didn't want
Speaker 1: you to get warm. We didn't want you to hit
Speaker 1: a couple because once you can hit a couple, we
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, you could, you know, you would
Speaker 1: go off. Then you'd be eight nine in a row. Um,
Speaker 1: you're on the glass a little bit. You defensively is
Speaker 1: where I saw a lot of NBA potential from you. Uh,
Speaker 1: you hadn't put it all together at the time, but
Speaker 1: you were still giving a lot of effort. You were
Speaker 1: still giving the effort. But it was like one of
Speaker 1: those things where I felt like, hey, man, if this
Speaker 1: guy gets in the right situation and this is this
Speaker 1: is as a pro if this guy gets in the
Speaker 1: right situation, you know, in the right kind of place
Speaker 1: where coaches are gonna development and believe in him and
Speaker 1: he could be an NBA player. Let's rewind back to
Speaker 1: the y b L. What was the scouting report then
Speaker 1: on Curtis house Man. That's exactly That's exactly what it
Speaker 1: was like, you know all the other stuff, like they're
Speaker 1: creating all that I didn't even have back then, you know.
Speaker 1: So really I was a late bloomer. I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be real, like I just was. But I know how
Speaker 1: to slash, you know, to the fen. I know how
Speaker 1: to get guys involved. Like I was kind of like
Speaker 1: that glue, you know what I mean. And that was
Speaker 1: just natural for me. Like I was always athletic, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So that that's what it was like. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, like that next year I played seventeen U
Speaker 1: I b A right, So that's what I was. You know.
Speaker 1: I was a slasher, a guy that could rebound, like
Speaker 1: I know, but no no players drawn up for me,
Speaker 1: but I would end up with twenty you know that
Speaker 1: type of guy, you know. So yeah, that that's what
Speaker 1: That's what that happened for sure. Okay, and then what
Speaker 1: schools kind of pain we're in the mix as far
Speaker 1: as recruiting, you colleges coaches. So I'm gonna be real.
Speaker 1: I you know, I had a lot of schools, Like
Speaker 1: I played A U, I B L. You know, like
Speaker 1: like that was great for me. You know, high school,
Speaker 1: I did my thing. You know. The biggest thing for
Speaker 1: me was you know, the great situation. And what happened
Speaker 1: with that is I didn't really figure out, like I said,
Speaker 1: I was late blooming. I didn't really figure out about
Speaker 1: the clearinghouse, what you had to have a specific d
Speaker 1: p A and all that to like my junior year,
Speaker 1: and it was late. It was late by that, you know,
Speaker 1: I was just going by getting seventies, you know, to play.
Speaker 1: So that was the biggest thing. Like because your coaches,
Speaker 1: your coach, your coaching, your coaches and stuff. You didn't
Speaker 1: have counselors or anybody like that. That was like, yo, man,
Speaker 1: this is the move and nothing like I wish. And
Speaker 1: I was talking about that about this the other day.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, like I wish, that's what you know.
Speaker 1: I wish somebody would have really pulled me to the
Speaker 1: side of even my parents. This was like this how
Speaker 1: it goes like this is the navigation, Like I was
Speaker 1: navigating everything I've gotten to this point by myself, you know.
Speaker 1: So that's what that's that was the toughest part, you know,
Speaker 1: just figuring that out. So all right, man, and then
Speaker 1: the grades were issues. So now the j b A
Speaker 1: opportunity rises. How did you hear about the j b A? Like,
Speaker 1: how did you hear about that? So it was really
Speaker 1: it was really my best friend his name is kJ kJ,
Speaker 1: but he really was just hearing about it, like on
Speaker 1: Twitter and all that. He was like, Yo, they're having
Speaker 1: to try out in dollars, like you should come. And
Speaker 1: it's crazy because I was at junior. I was at
Speaker 1: my junior college like basically just for listening the season,
Speaker 1: and I'm just thinking in my head, I'm like I
Speaker 1: want I'm not. I've always been a guy who doesn't
Speaker 1: really want to miss out of opportunities because you never
Speaker 1: know and you never want to go back and just
Speaker 1: be like, man, I'm what if I would have did that?
Speaker 1: You know? So I figured it out. I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, just this for real. So I called my mom.
Speaker 1: I was like, yo, like this is what's going on.
Speaker 1: Put me up flight home. I'm gonna come try out,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna literally go back to school. I went
Speaker 1: back to school like that night. It was crazy. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's how that that's how I came. But at
Speaker 1: the time, did you were you aware? So when you
Speaker 1: knew about the opportunity, you knew that this was a
Speaker 1: professional opportunity, that you you would get probably get paid,
Speaker 1: you would get paid, and that you would have to
Speaker 1: give up your remaining college eligibility. I wanted to talk
Speaker 1: to you about just sort of that process of thinking
Speaker 1: that you know, that thought press us, what made you
Speaker 1: want to make that decision. It wasn't a gang of money,
Speaker 1: and you know, and and conventional wisdom could have said, hey,
Speaker 1: a guy like you, you would have got your stuff
Speaker 1: situated at the jukeco man anothering, you could have transferred
Speaker 1: two years to a legitimate spot, uh possibly at a
Speaker 1: Power five conference, got on the radar of NBA scouts
Speaker 1: off top. So then you, if you're a little bit patient, right,
Speaker 1: you may get there talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: choices and why you made it. So really, like I said,
Speaker 1: like I was navigating on my own, Like I didn't
Speaker 1: have anybody telling me. I didn't have anybody say listen, Curtis,
Speaker 1: to sit down. You know, this the visual one is
Speaker 1: what it looks like to the NBA teams, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, it looks very different, you know, And
Speaker 1: I just I didn't know that. And like what happened
Speaker 1: with the thought process was really after the trial, maybe
Speaker 1: like an hour later, I got a call from LaVar
Speaker 1: ally right, and they're like, listen this what's going on.
Speaker 1: This will be doing We're going offseas like it's legit,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I knew they were putting
Speaker 1: mellow in Jello in it, so I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm Tinto's in. Like I always wanted to be a professional,
Speaker 1: so that was really intriguing to me. And just you know,
Speaker 1: like I felt like I could really make a name
Speaker 1: for myself, like because Nomelo and Leangelo over there in
Speaker 1: LaVar you know, like that league was huge, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So and I end up doing that,
Speaker 1: But definitely, like I'm not gonna sit here and say, like, man,
Speaker 1: I regret anything, because you know, like life is life,
Speaker 1: you know. But definitely, if if I would have known
Speaker 1: like a lot of different stuff back then, like I
Speaker 1: probably would have made a different decision to be on
Speaker 1: one hundred percent honest with you, because like I said,
Speaker 1: I had every school coming in. I put any r
Speaker 1: B L obviously, like you saw my talent, a lot
Speaker 1: of other people saw my talent too. And really going
Speaker 1: through those times, like when I was in Juka was
Speaker 1: really developed, Like I was really developing. I started watching
Speaker 1: film like understanding, so my game was really starting to expand,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So that's really what the
Speaker 1: thought thought pressure was was. I really didn't have any
Speaker 1: understanding of the Division one process and how big it
Speaker 1: would be, like with what NBA teams looked for in
Speaker 1: that platform and just all that stuff, like I had
Speaker 1: no idea. Yeah, you that's why it's up. Yeah, it's man,
Speaker 1: that's a wild because we're taking for granted. We're taken
Speaker 1: for granted, and but you understand why, you know, the
Speaker 1: certain decisions are made. Fox Sports Radio has the best
Speaker 1: sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our
Speaker 1: shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and within the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Speaker 1: So as we as we talked about it, now when
Speaker 1: we get to the j B A. Man, the j
Speaker 1: B A was. I think the setup was nice. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it. I enjoyed the setup Um, I know, fake. Look,
Speaker 1: the games were televised on Facebook Live m We traveled
Speaker 1: it was eight teens. We traveled to about ten or
Speaker 1: eleven cities. Man, we're going, you know, coach, and the
Speaker 1: music was nice that summer to some jams, so we
Speaker 1: were we was on the jams. Um. From the basketball perspective,
Speaker 1: how important do you think it was for like LaMelo, yourself,
Speaker 1: other guys with the professional aspirations to play in under
Speaker 1: the setup of the j b A which was four
Speaker 1: quarters forty eight minutes and LaVar had this thing. Man,
Speaker 1: we wanted to push the basketball. We wanted the scores
Speaker 1: to be high run, run, run, And how important was
Speaker 1: that style for you as you went onto other jobs
Speaker 1: and you know, as as you played in Germany as
Speaker 1: a pro, then that style helped prepare you. I mean
Speaker 1: definitely because one I mean, I want to say, like
Speaker 1: for me coming in, I had never really had my
Speaker 1: own life team, Like I had never really had to
Speaker 1: figure out how to get guys involved, you know, make
Speaker 1: people better, you know, then score on my own and
Speaker 1: I'm playing a whole game, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like and like you said, it's fast paced. So really
Speaker 1: that was a big challenge for me, like just really
Speaker 1: figuring that part out and understanding like and we weren't
Speaker 1: winning like all the games at first, we started winning,
Speaker 1: so I was like, man, well I gotta figure it out,
Speaker 1: like I'm trying. So that really helped me a lot.
Speaker 1: Adrey start thinking the game and watching basketball like really
Speaker 1: deeper and all that, so that really helped me out
Speaker 1: a lot. And then you know, obviously like in terms
Speaker 1: of professional like how that really helped, Like, you know,
Speaker 1: I took it and ran with it because like LaVar
Speaker 1: used to talk to me crazy, I'm gonna be honest,
Speaker 1: Like he used to talk to me crazy when he
Speaker 1: was playing over there because I could get maybe fifteen
Speaker 1: the first game. He was like, Bro, you're doing He
Speaker 1: was like, why are you passionate? We need you scoring
Speaker 1: forty or or we're gonna lose, like you and Jello
Speaker 1: have to have forty on the wing or we're gonna lose. Period.
Speaker 1: And like I used to go up trying to lay
Speaker 1: people up, people like bro, you saw people like Bro,
Speaker 1: you're trying to you you laying people? Let me all this,
Speaker 1: don't even dunk on nobody. I start punching on everybody,
Speaker 1: like I started throwing it on everybody. So that's really
Speaker 1: you know, it was really the bar like you know,
Speaker 1: just really enhancing me and just really challenging me. So
Speaker 1: that really, you know, that was glued to my head,
Speaker 1: like I don't know how to play one way, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So that a lot. I bet
Speaker 1: it did. Man and LaVar was the head coach on
Speaker 1: that team, right and you go and you guys, the
Speaker 1: level of competition, how would you describe the level competition
Speaker 1: of the European teams you're playing against? It was, it
Speaker 1: was really all level. Like we played a couple of
Speaker 1: teams in LKL First Division. We played Chisca and my
Speaker 1: scouting they wanted multiple times. We didn't play their their
Speaker 1: early team, but we played their their farm team, and
Speaker 1: they bring the guys down, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Really they really We beat them on their soil, like
Speaker 1: you did. They didn't. They did not like that. They
Speaker 1: did not like that we beat them on their show.
Speaker 1: We'd beat sent it the sentence in the ear league too,
Speaker 1: right now, beat them on their soil. Okay, okay, we
Speaker 1: was playing legit teams like we were, and we was
Speaker 1: playing legit pros. You know what I mean, so we
Speaker 1: were playing a different way. Also, like we were playing
Speaker 1: American style. We wasn't playing slow pick and roll like no, no, no,
Speaker 1: We used so they couldn't keep up. They was like whoa,
Speaker 1: Like what is this attack and just getting it out
Speaker 1: and attack, Yeah, pushing, throwing a full court trapping the
Speaker 1: whole game like that. They didn't they didn't know what
Speaker 1: to do with that Jello ball Man. I've always felt
Speaker 1: like Jello was the purest score obviously, of of the
Speaker 1: Ball brothers, the most the codest kind of assassin shooter,
Speaker 1: like I mean, I know, I know other guys are
Speaker 1: really good, but Jello is like, you know, I've seen
Speaker 1: Jello do some unbelievable stuff in his career. I know
Speaker 1: in that championship game we ended up losing to the
Speaker 1: l A team, I think he had fifty eight on us,
Speaker 1: but it was just like you know, thirty in a
Speaker 1: row or something crazy dog and we're really I'm sitting,
Speaker 1: we're sending the double teams, we're trying to guard bro.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like that's what I knew that that game
Speaker 1: is what I was like, Oh man, Jello is that dude?
Speaker 1: Like I had a whole we had a whole game
Speaker 1: plan for Jello. Man and then and man, he just
Speaker 1: lit us up. What do you think when do you
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be time or he's gonna get that
Speaker 1: opportunity to play in the league. I mean I tell
Speaker 1: people like, I just feel like if he just stays
Speaker 1: on the course, stays consistent, you know, because I've always
Speaker 1: told everybody Joe's play to me, like kind of like
Speaker 1: you've experienced. I played with him, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I know for sure what he can do, and
Speaker 1: I know for sure he can shoot the hell out
Speaker 1: the basketball, like the hell out of it, like I've
Speaker 1: seen I've seen really good shooters. He's easy to talk to,
Speaker 1: shoots i've ever seen in my life. And he's strong,
Speaker 1: so we can guard him paint. You know, he can
Speaker 1: guard big if you got to switch physical guy. You know,
Speaker 1: UM really confident, you know what I mean. He's growing
Speaker 1: up with LaVar ball, so you better be confident, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So I feel like everything everything
Speaker 1: is in order for him, you know, like he's been
Speaker 1: he's with Charlotte, you know he Yeah, I think he
Speaker 1: did a really good job. He's really professional. Like there's
Speaker 1: some games maybe he didn't play, but he stayed with
Speaker 1: the course, you know what I mean. So I just
Speaker 1: feel like the biggest thing is with him is just
Speaker 1: staying consistent. Just keep showing and showing and keep working
Speaker 1: on this game, and eventually I feel like he'll get
Speaker 1: a real opportunity. Yeah, I think he will. Man, he's uh,
Speaker 1: he's he's a really unique player, man. I mean he
Speaker 1: has when you have Pettigreen, like the Ball Brothers and
Speaker 1: that family, I mean, you just got a belief now.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it was a crazy thing when
Speaker 1: LaVar first came out with all this and was telling
Speaker 1: everybody from Jump Street what time it was gonna be
Speaker 1: ten years now. I know it was crazy for people
Speaker 1: to believe. But as we see, please never lost and
Speaker 1: he's spoke everything into existence. Literally, dog, he got too
Speaker 1: pap three picks as sons. That's the other thing that
Speaker 1: people don't realize. They was already paid bro Yo, I
Speaker 1: didn't want to say that, but Jello, I think Jim
Speaker 1: Man Jello was like showing his bank account or he
Speaker 1: was doing something on the floor. I saw the Olds Bros. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, he bought his own house right next to
Speaker 1: LaVar Man without even playing in the league or NBA.
Speaker 1: Uh see, I love his nuts. Man. Man, Think when
Speaker 1: when you think about LaVar, man, what is what's his
Speaker 1: best quality? Dude? What was his best quality? Man? There's
Speaker 1: so many, but I just feel like the genuineness and
Speaker 1: the real the realness of him. I think those with
Speaker 1: his two I said too, but I think those his
Speaker 1: main two qualities because I feel like that's what really
Speaker 1: makes from him. But one, he's so real, like he's
Speaker 1: show that's all he knows, Like whether he like you
Speaker 1: or not, he gonna tell you the truth. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, you all you can do is respect it.
Speaker 1: But at least it's the truth. And he's on genuine,
Speaker 1: Like if you show him you're a good guy, he's
Speaker 1: gonna he's gonna be nothing but love positive. You know,
Speaker 1: he's not out the gates gonna love you, you know,
Speaker 1: like I will, I will say that. But you know,
Speaker 1: once you start showing him and he's showing the loyalty
Speaker 1: and all that, like he's an amazing guy. Amazing guy.
Speaker 1: You gotta earn lavars respect, and yeah, you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta earn it. Brouh man. I but I just felt like, man,
Speaker 1: that and this is kind of the last thing on
Speaker 1: the j b A. Man, I just felt like it
Speaker 1: was a great, great thing, man for to give young
Speaker 1: men an opportunity to be pros. Some guys that may
Speaker 1: have had, you know, certain type of issues that prevented
Speaker 1: them from playing whatever. Those might have been playing Divisional
Speaker 1: one or wherever. But now you have a home. Now
Speaker 1: you have a place to go, and out of the
Speaker 1: j b A. After the j b A, you see
Speaker 1: other leagues kind of popping up and things on as
Speaker 1: as we see now there's two or three there's two
Speaker 1: or three leagues now that kind of have a j
Speaker 1: b A like structure, man, And so it was always
Speaker 1: honored to kind of be the trailblade on the trailblaze
Speaker 1: in front of that um and you got a job
Speaker 1: out of that. I think that's pretty sick. But talk
Speaker 1: about that job, man, who what's the name of the
Speaker 1: team that signed you? And how many games you play
Speaker 1: and how was that experience? Yeah, it was great And
Speaker 1: like even like last speak on the j b A, like,
Speaker 1: I feel like it was great for you. And you're
Speaker 1: a choice too, because y'all had Seattle. Y'all was legit. Listen, here.
Speaker 1: I'm telling my team, I'm like, bro, listen, bro, these
Speaker 1: dudes is real, Like they're not coming to play. Remember
Speaker 1: one time we had a practice maybe and we got
Speaker 1: into it a little bit. Yeah yeah, listen, I hope
Speaker 1: you already bro like rail not playing with y'all. Bro,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, we had hitters,
Speaker 1: we had hitting, you had you as a as a coach.
Speaker 1: You know y'all have abandoned like yeah, legit, legit. People
Speaker 1: over there like so that that was it was great man.
Speaker 1: But um, the team I went to was a Dragon's
Speaker 1: ruin doorf in Germany, so that they're actually partnered with
Speaker 1: a BB team was the first division in Germany and
Speaker 1: it's Telecom Bast's Bond, so that's their farm team. And
Speaker 1: actually it's kind of crazy. They have a guy to
Speaker 1: playing the Vision one from that team. He goes his
Speaker 1: name seem sclekozis he liting Winnian kid who goes to
Speaker 1: the Butler University. But he had a great years year.
Speaker 1: He's a freshman. He's gonna be NBA player, I believe
Speaker 1: because and he came from there. So what happened was
Speaker 1: a guy named Yassin came. He's Dominican now, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a German national player, played with Munich, play with
Speaker 1: Albert Berlin, you know, the German national team. So he's
Speaker 1: a legendist, you know what I mean. And so yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: So what happened was he came and saw me playing
Speaker 1: and I was just like I said, I was at
Speaker 1: a forty game. That game, I think I like forty,
Speaker 1: like forty and five games in a row or something,
Speaker 1: but I had forty. He was going crazy, right So
Speaker 1: after the game, uh, he came up to me and Alan,
Speaker 1: I mean in LaVar. He was like, listen, you have
Speaker 1: a lot of talent. Like he was like, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: really talented, but you're doing everything off raw Town, Like
Speaker 1: you just killed us off raw Town. And he's like,
Speaker 1: I could see you if you haven't, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, you just aren't playing. So he's like, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with a different club next year and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come bring you. And that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 1: And man, the testament to him as a person and
Speaker 1: what they really did to help me develop, like is amazing,
Speaker 1: Like I learned so much over there. Tell me about
Speaker 1: described this the detail detailing for me, man, Like what yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, just like just like me coming in as
Speaker 1: an American, I was maybe I've never been overseas, never
Speaker 1: understood it, didn't understand what it took to be a
Speaker 1: high level player really even a professional. Let's just be real,
Speaker 1: because I went over there, you know, I go to practice, like, okay,
Speaker 1: let's try and get through this, you know, go through
Speaker 1: the motions. They wasn't having that. You're going a hundred
Speaker 1: percent hard every single day or you'll go home. And
Speaker 1: then I had practiced for two hours and I had
Speaker 1: to work out, so basically I worked out three times
Speaker 1: to day. I'm lifting, I got individual skill practice, and
Speaker 1: then I had a practice with the team and we're
Speaker 1: pointing one time a week, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So I was really getting it in, really developing, and
Speaker 1: like he broke down how to watch film, he broke
Speaker 1: down my game, Like what am I looking at on
Speaker 1: the floor? What? What? What? You know? What I mean?
Speaker 1: My game slowed down so much, and it's crazy what what? What?
Speaker 1: What the development was from after year one, after month one,
Speaker 1: two months six, and I started realizing because when I
Speaker 1: was watching myself, I'm like, yo, like I'm getting better,
Speaker 1: Like I'm seeing all this stuff, like I'm learning how
Speaker 1: to play the picking role, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm learning how to play real defense. I'm learning how
Speaker 1: to you know, really work as a professional and what
Speaker 1: it takes. So you know, that's just the ultimate testament
Speaker 1: to him. And he didn't have to do that, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, but he really saw something in me.
Speaker 1: And um, you know, like like I said, he's another
Speaker 1: reason I'm I'm continuing. I'm going on year four, not
Speaker 1: like so you know, it's been great. That was great,
Speaker 1: And what you describe sounds like you figured out that
Speaker 1: hard work is kind of that secret to success. That
Speaker 1: magic quote unquote formulas is doing the stuff that you
Speaker 1: above and beyond at an you know, and it's all
Speaker 1: the time. So it's like when you don't feel like
Speaker 1: I heard somebody Shaheen Holloway to the new head coaches,
Speaker 1: Uh Seton Hall. Was that Peter he was talking? He
Speaker 1: tweeted out this note that said something to the effect of,
Speaker 1: you know, successful people, uh keep appointments when they don't
Speaker 1: feel like doing it. You know, unsuccessful people, you know,
Speaker 1: won't won't show up somewhere because they in a bad mood. Yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: but that if that ain't the realist thing I ever heard.
Speaker 1: And it's like it's crazy because like I used to,
Speaker 1: like you know, like I thought, like I said, I
Speaker 1: thought I was a professional. I've always been a worker.
Speaker 1: I've always been working because I always knew, like listen,
Speaker 1: I'm at the bottom. I gotta get to it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Even when I was in the
Speaker 1: y b L. You know, I wasn't on top of
Speaker 1: the player, but you know I always stood out and
Speaker 1: knew how to do that. I've always been that. But
Speaker 1: it's just another level of work, like in another level
Speaker 1: of speed, and like it's just different and you go
Speaker 1: over sieves, especially in Europe, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like these coaches are crazy, you know, so you gotta understand,
Speaker 1: like you know, it's not personal. They want you to
Speaker 1: be better, and like I said, like Americans, you know,
Speaker 1: like no disrespect to Americans, how we are. I'm American myself,
Speaker 1: But the training and stuff isn't really the level like
Speaker 1: over there, you know. I mean that's why these kids
Speaker 1: are so good at such a young age, because they
Speaker 1: really trained O D like a young Well also, Curtis,
Speaker 1: you overseas in Europe. In those places, they take basketball
Speaker 1: a little differently, so they take courses, they have degrees.
Speaker 1: So some of these coaches, we have a degree in coaching,
Speaker 1: so they studied on a on a high on a
Speaker 1: really high level. Um. It's funny when you talk about
Speaker 1: how the coaching style and the work, it reminds me
Speaker 1: of when I was in Turkey and I was in Russia.
Speaker 1: I had similar experiences with three days, uh we three
Speaker 1: or three days doug morning shooting middleweights, wait in in
Speaker 1: the afternoon, then practice in the evening. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. We was conditioning and ridiculously that they're taking
Speaker 1: us up to the mountains and turn you we gotta
Speaker 1: run three miles in the mounds with these big roaches
Speaker 1: and stuff. I mean, it was all kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: But my fondest memory dog of that and the work
Speaker 1: was actually in Qatar, the Quatars, you know, the Middle East.
Speaker 1: It's right next to Dubai, you know. But it was
Speaker 1: cracking when I was there. But I had an Egyptian
Speaker 1: coach man and it sounds like your guy, but he
Speaker 1: believed in me, man. I mean this. I had a
Speaker 1: Quatarian head coach but my Egyptian head coach was the
Speaker 1: guy that worked me out all the time. He put
Speaker 1: me through these individual workouts, bro, we do yo, throwing up.
Speaker 1: I'm throwing up yo. The no rest like you just
Speaker 1: like you can't see like he was, and they just
Speaker 1: looking like are you gonna finish the workout? Like come on?
Speaker 1: And the toughest nails, they don't have no sympathy. They
Speaker 1: look like But I tell you what, man, when I
Speaker 1: got to the game and I was dropping, you know,
Speaker 1: hitting the leven ten, eleven threes, and it was just
Speaker 1: wet ball city like a robot right Like It's like yo,
Speaker 1: It's like yo, I'm like controlling myself out here like
Speaker 1: like that. It was crazy. I'm like, yeah, I'm on
Speaker 1: another level, like this is wow, this is what really happens.
Speaker 1: And you know, like another really thing, like kind of
Speaker 1: crazy story I'll tell you about that is like I
Speaker 1: was going, I was getting you know, obviously like the NBA,
Speaker 1: they have people everywhere, right, So NBA team came in
Speaker 1: right a scout. Yeah, so this is like a big
Speaker 1: lesson that I learned. You know, I came in you know,
Speaker 1: I just went to practice. You know, we had practice
Speaker 1: went harder individual cool. So this practice over, I take
Speaker 1: my stuff, you know, all right, let's go right. So
Speaker 1: my GM calls me like maybe an hour or two after,
Speaker 1: he's like, yo, Courtish, you know the NBA team was
Speaker 1: in there for you, right. I'm like, yeah, how did
Speaker 1: what they think? What they say? He said, they don't
Speaker 1: think you're serious? And I was like, why what? I
Speaker 1: was going hard in there? Said as soon as practice over,
Speaker 1: you took yourself off in lest I said, whoa, I
Speaker 1: didn't even think of that. They want to see you
Speaker 1: get some extra word. They know you can, They know
Speaker 1: you can. They want to see if you're gonna work extra,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna ask to get some development. And that's
Speaker 1: just a little of stuff like that. You would never
Speaker 1: know that has to happen to you to understand, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like even was even with some
Speaker 1: college players might be able to take from this because
Speaker 1: that's the little stuff they look at like. They come
Speaker 1: in knowing that you can play. They come in knowing
Speaker 1: what you look like. They want to see the little
Speaker 1: stuff to see light. Can can we really take a
Speaker 1: risk on him? Does you want to be better? Does
Speaker 1: you want to be great? Better? Himself, so that that
Speaker 1: was probably just such a huge big thing for me,
Speaker 1: you know, and every single time, like after practice, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm getting an extra work before practice, getting extra work,
Speaker 1: And that's what it takes to be great, you know.
Speaker 1: Like in the NBA's a little different because people are
Speaker 1: playing with millions, so not everybody loves the game now,
Speaker 1: everybody wants to be great, but the ones that are
Speaker 1: all stars and the ones that are you know, a
Speaker 1: hundred million to a million are working like that, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. So that really helped, Like that
Speaker 1: changed my whole perspective of a lot of things. And
Speaker 1: it stucks that it had to happen, but I'm glad
Speaker 1: that it did happen. Yeah, and they came back to yeah,
Speaker 1: I know they did, I know what they did. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like, listen, we understand you don't know. We're
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna tell you, and we're gonna come back
Speaker 1: and we're gonna tell you once. They're gonna tell you once,
Speaker 1: and then they didn't tell me. They talk about GM
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and you got to
Speaker 1: think of it like as a scout man, if I'm
Speaker 1: going overseas and I'm looking at you as a player. Oh,
Speaker 1: I got on you really is film. I did my research,
Speaker 1: I talked to people about you, but I really don't
Speaker 1: really know a lot about you other than what I
Speaker 1: see right now in the gym. I can tell a
Speaker 1: lot about a dude if he's out there working after practice.
Speaker 1: You don't say if you see like you we see
Speaker 1: somebody that stays after practice, you just kind of look
Speaker 1: you might be leaving, but you're looking at him kind
Speaker 1: of like over your shoulder, like that he's getting his
Speaker 1: work it, you know where it was like, mama, guilty,
Speaker 1: There'll be all right over there, like we not just
Speaker 1: go through the same practice like he look crazy exactly.
Speaker 1: But those are the ones. Those be the ones, man,
Speaker 1: them ones that make it bro. That's Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch
Speaker 1: all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com
Speaker 1: and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f s
Speaker 1: R to listen live. And so after that that season, um,
Speaker 1: the second season, right, what happened you go? Year three? Now?
Speaker 1: Where did you go after that? So it was this man,
Speaker 1: my monster was crazy. So I went I entered the draft. Really,
Speaker 1: that's what happened and what happened. Was I hit it?
Speaker 1: I went to as soon as soon as COVID is
Speaker 1: so I'm already behind the ball because I'm playing pro
Speaker 1: be in Germany. We got kids from Dog and all that,
Speaker 1: you know, Um, and then I'm dealing with COVID. So
Speaker 1: there wasn't any any person workouts. There's none of it.
Speaker 1: I'm doing everything virtual. No. I mean, I had a
Speaker 1: lot of feedback, but you know, it just it was
Speaker 1: tough because they couldn't see me in person, and it
Speaker 1: was really it's really hard. You know, when you see
Speaker 1: somebody on film, when you see me in person is
Speaker 1: a bits different, you know. So so I didn't get drafted,
Speaker 1: and then, um, so I had a couple of teams
Speaker 1: that were interested, like yo, we're gonna bring you in,
Speaker 1: you know, I just want to see you developed, like
Speaker 1: see how you are, like in Miami Heat. There was
Speaker 1: one of them was Gota Keith Askins. I'm sure you
Speaker 1: know Keith. Yeah, you know he's he played with under
Speaker 1: pat Riley and all that. So we worked with Miami
Speaker 1: right now. So he was like, listen, I see a
Speaker 1: lot of like talent in you, Like we want to
Speaker 1: bring you in. So they end up the g Leaue Bubble.
Speaker 1: That's what happened with that. So I didn't even they
Speaker 1: didn't even end up going. You know, there's like five
Speaker 1: or six team that didn't go, So so I didn't go.
Speaker 1: You know, I was going through the draft process for months,
Speaker 1: you know, like going through that. Then the draft finally hit.
Speaker 1: You know, they kept backing it up, it finally hit.
Speaker 1: Didn't get drafted, didn't and now they didn't a team.
Speaker 1: I supposed people didn't even go to the Gili Bubble.
Speaker 1: So granted, I'm like out of a job basically, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. It was late. So what I
Speaker 1: happened was I went to the Dominican Republic because one
Speaker 1: of my friends was playing out there, and I just
Speaker 1: was like, man, I'm not playing, like, let me just see,
Speaker 1: like you know, like I want to see how it
Speaker 1: is over there. I always knew about Europe, I didn't
Speaker 1: know anything about South America, so I just went. I'm
Speaker 1: a visual learning yo. I went over there and saw
Speaker 1: how how they was living in what they was getting,
Speaker 1: and just how the basketball was. I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: how would you describe the basketball over there? What's the
Speaker 1: style of play? So they do it differently. The infrastructure
Speaker 1: in South America is different because it's not eight months,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. They they are a month
Speaker 1: and a half. Some leagues are longer, you know, like
Speaker 1: maybe at the most you're gonna play three much and
Speaker 1: then you don't have another season. But the basketball is
Speaker 1: high level, like they have the Dominican national team players,
Speaker 1: Puerto Rican national team players, Argentina, like all the South
Speaker 1: American countries, they have really high level players and they
Speaker 1: go and play these leagues like the l m b
Speaker 1: P Mexico. Puerto Rico is really big right now. Um,
Speaker 1: the d R is really big right now, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, So the argent like you know, the
Speaker 1: South American countries, it's it's high level basketball. How much
Speaker 1: how much NBA? How much NBA presence is down there?
Speaker 1: Oh it's a lot, a lot, a lot, especially in
Speaker 1: the Puerto Rico. And the d R is being there too.
Speaker 1: Like Keen Christmas is playing in there right now. He
Speaker 1: played in the NBA. Um, you know a lot of
Speaker 1: guys are playing, and I guess from a scouting a
Speaker 1: scouting perspective, people coming like the NBA scouts coming down
Speaker 1: there checking guys. I'm not exactly sure, Like as far
Speaker 1: as I know, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if they're not even even watching, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like because like I know Puerto Rico for sure,
Speaker 1: Puerto Rico l M. P. Peters, NBA scouts for sure,
Speaker 1: for sure, because Michael Basy playing in the last year
Speaker 1: at the end. So there's NBA. You know, I know,
Speaker 1: there's gout in Paris bats. He was actually on the
Speaker 1: Lakers D League team this year. He played in the
Speaker 1: Dominican Republic play in Puerto Rico, went straight to g
Speaker 1: Now he got on a couple of ten days with Phoenix,
Speaker 1: Like so he's he's from d R from Puerto Rico straight,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like that's where he got
Speaker 1: his name and really made it. So it definitely is
Speaker 1: possible for sure. So your current the way you think
Speaker 1: about it, you're saying you want to go through the
Speaker 1: d R route. Do you ever think of trying or
Speaker 1: vying for European route or maybe so like a G
Speaker 1: League round? Oh definitely, Like that's obviously I tell everybody,
Speaker 1: Like the NBA's where I where I feel like I
Speaker 1: should be and where I want to be like that's
Speaker 1: always gonna be to go from me. I'll never not
Speaker 1: change that until I get there. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: just a matter of like kind of like resources and
Speaker 1: you know, me knowing other people, like you know, how
Speaker 1: that stuff goes. Like I was actually with Santa Cruz
Speaker 1: for the training camp for about three weeks. I was
Speaker 1: like the last one cut actually, but you know I
Speaker 1: had to deal with a couple, you know, some stuff
Speaker 1: like that, and that's how it goes. But it was
Speaker 1: a great opportunity for me and I got to meet
Speaker 1: some great people and I made my way in you know,
Speaker 1: like I went to a try out and everything, like
Speaker 1: I went and I had to do all that, but
Speaker 1: you know, they saw something, so it was great for
Speaker 1: that and um but you know, like obviously I would
Speaker 1: love to go play in Europe. I would love it.
Speaker 1: You know. I just got to find the right agent
Speaker 1: that can really help me make that happen. But I
Speaker 1: would love to go play over there because I know,
Speaker 1: like I know what it is in Europe, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like obviously it's longer. You know. I
Speaker 1: love the the d R in Puerto Rico and South
Speaker 1: American countries because like I said, it's not long and
Speaker 1: it's not far, you what I mean. So I can
Speaker 1: go play two months to get a really nice bag,
Speaker 1: go home for a week or two, and then come back,
Speaker 1: you know, go somewhere else, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: You can't really do that in Europe, Like they're not
Speaker 1: playing that. You know, they like what holiday and don't
Speaker 1: don't play that. They don't play so you know, like
Speaker 1: for me, it's just about being comfortable. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I'll be playing overseas my whole career, so you know,
Speaker 1: it's only just for now, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I've been making my way up, so I'm starting
Speaker 1: to really played a high level over there, and I'm
Speaker 1: not a really high level places are calling me so like, um,
Speaker 1: if I'm not in the n b A or if
Speaker 1: I'm not in the G League, you know, I have
Speaker 1: a really good, you know, situation to go to. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, man. How how much longer do you see
Speaker 1: yourself playing, like to try to make it to the NBA,
Speaker 1: Like do you put a year on it? Like do
Speaker 1: you say, if I don't make the league in five years,
Speaker 1: shut it down and think about something else or what? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just feel like now like I'm kind
Speaker 1: of at the point to where like I'm at that point.
Speaker 1: I'm only twenty three, which is the crazy part about
Speaker 1: all this. I started that's a good thing. That's a
Speaker 1: good yeah. I know, I start playing professionally young, so
Speaker 1: I've been hit. I've learned so much, you know, at
Speaker 1: a young age. A lot of these guys don't understand
Speaker 1: that learn this today like thirty three, you know, So
Speaker 1: I have a long like I have a really you know,
Speaker 1: like advantage, you know what I mean. And now I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm at the highest level to where like
Speaker 1: you know, if I don't, if I'm on the NBA,
Speaker 1: I'll be playing at a really high level. So I'll
Speaker 1: be okay you know with that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So you know, obviously like the goal, like I said,
Speaker 1: I want to shoot to um you know, till I'm
Speaker 1: in the NBA. But right now, like at this point
Speaker 1: and probably next year, if I'm not playing in the NBA,
Speaker 1: like I'm at the highest level, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So i feel like I'm okay with you know, like
Speaker 1: not being there and just you know, keep pushing to
Speaker 1: get there. And like obviously like guys come from overseas
Speaker 1: all the time, you know. So with my game and
Speaker 1: how I am, my skill set, I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: kind of prototypical NBA players. So I just feel like
Speaker 1: if I just stay consistent, keep killing, eventually it's gonna
Speaker 1: happen for me. But you have faith in your skill set,
Speaker 1: you you have faith in your work that your game
Speaker 1: in his current phase, in his current stage, it's ready
Speaker 1: right now for the NBA. Yeah, because I'm played with
Speaker 1: NBA players. I played with all Stars, Like I said,
Speaker 1: I played with Trade and I play with Deer and Fox.
Speaker 1: I play with Mr Robertson. I play with DeAndre A
Speaker 1: and I play with him mellow Ball, I play with
Speaker 1: Ka Gunningham like the list goes on, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And I've been at these guys like I've
Speaker 1: been in the mix, like one of the top, Like yo,
Speaker 1: I'm one of the better ones, you know what I mean. So,
Speaker 1: and like I said, I watched so much basketball. I'm
Speaker 1: a basketball junk. I'm a basketball head, so I understand
Speaker 1: what it takes, you know what I mean. Like I know,
Speaker 1: maybe I'm not gonna be a guy to come in
Speaker 1: and be able to shoot all the shots, but I
Speaker 1: can come in and lock lock them up. I can
Speaker 1: come in and rebound, So there's value for me, Like
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I feel like there's really
Speaker 1: value for me, like in any role. And then eventually,
Speaker 1: once I'm in there, I'll be able to expand and
Speaker 1: you know, do all the other stuff when it comes.
Speaker 1: But just to get in there, and I understand what
Speaker 1: it takes, you know what I mean. Like I had
Speaker 1: to be a role player when I was playing sixteen
Speaker 1: U seven t U I B. I've had that and
Speaker 1: I've had to be a star. So I have kind
Speaker 1: of both in my game, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I understand both those sides of it. Yeah, man, man,
Speaker 1: I love here you talk about it because it's it's confidence. Man.
Speaker 1: You gotta know, you gotta know that you can play
Speaker 1: in the league. You gotta know why that you can
Speaker 1: play in the league, because nobody else's go tell you
Speaker 1: that that you can play in the league. But you
Speaker 1: know that's like the number one fan. Your number one
Speaker 1: fan has got to be you, bro, And so that's
Speaker 1: what I always I've always told, like my son and
Speaker 1: my brothers when they were coming up, hoping, Man, just
Speaker 1: your belief in your game has got to be in
Speaker 1: a solid place, right, right, can not have you know,
Speaker 1: these these questions about yourself when you're out there against
Speaker 1: in the world man, because especially like and it's like
Speaker 1: you already kind of behind the ball, you know. But
Speaker 1: it's like, I'll give it a testament. You're just really
Speaker 1: just me and my character and everything I've been like
Speaker 1: growing up because I've always been this way. Like I
Speaker 1: I said, I only know how to play one way,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And it's just like I've
Speaker 1: always had to be at that pedestal and you know,
Speaker 1: standing out because I haven't. I didn't go to college.
Speaker 1: I didn't get I didn't get the luxury of coming
Speaker 1: into a different situation of averaging five, you know, not
Speaker 1: being a standout, not showing a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: So now I'm so wired in my brain and how
Speaker 1: I play like I only know how to play it
Speaker 1: one way, you know what I mean. So that you no,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, And so you take that and
Speaker 1: now you're you're fine tune in different parts throughout of
Speaker 1: your game. Because you watch so much film, You've added
Speaker 1: that aspect of scouting yourself, of being your worst critic
Speaker 1: and then you're training now with Ashton Benney. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: with Ashton and um also with Tim Martin sometimes you
Speaker 1: know Tim coach me UM. So yeah, you know I
Speaker 1: was last summer, I was with John Luke's the third
Speaker 1: eason was with the Lakers, uh staff, So I was
Speaker 1: out there in l A with him. But you know,
Speaker 1: I just like I said, you know, I've always I
Speaker 1: played with so many guys. I've been around so much
Speaker 1: I played and I'll be I've doil a great relationship
Speaker 1: for people and that really helps me a lot because
Speaker 1: you know, I've been able to really call people and
Speaker 1: ash like, Yo, what can I come trained? Can I
Speaker 1: come to do this? You know? I mean I didn't
Speaker 1: think these guys are gonna turn into that actually know
Speaker 1: something I did. But you know, you know, for the
Speaker 1: most problem, like, Yo, these guys made as a league,
Speaker 1: like I can really call them in you know, like
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't have those, you know options,
Speaker 1: So that that's another thing like that's that's a testament
Speaker 1: of me and just you know how the person I
Speaker 1: am like always being kind, you know, never known anything.
Speaker 1: So that's just helped me out a lot. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's the right approach, the humility and you have.
Speaker 1: You've always been a humble cat. You've always carried yourself
Speaker 1: with a lot of like you respect, you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of respect man when you walk around. And I've
Speaker 1: always appreciate that about you. Man, I hope that you
Speaker 1: get an opportunity. Dude, you been the kind of guy
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, could help somebody. You got
Speaker 1: the right mentality. You're not. You know, you've been through
Speaker 1: and you've got a great story. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: good there's a lot of good stories now in the
Speaker 1: NBA of guys that are similar to you. The six
Speaker 1: six seven had to playing like five different leagues. I
Speaker 1: know why. Scotne Anderson. Hey, I'm telling you. It's a
Speaker 1: lot of dudes that I'm seeing in the league that
Speaker 1: that you Curtis at twenty three, which just blew me,
Speaker 1: blew my mind right now because I'm like, damn, I
Speaker 1: thought she was older, but you only. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: So just stay of course, keep working, man, don't never change, man,
Speaker 1: And it's gonna happen for your brother. And when that
Speaker 1: opportunity does happen, man, I think you're gonna be ready
Speaker 1: for it this time around, man, wholehearted. Like it's like
Speaker 1: even like like I said, I'm a basketball head, so
Speaker 1: like even the NBL, the euro League, like some of
Speaker 1: these leagues overseas. I'm like, yo, like these would be
Speaker 1: crazy to play and like I would be in awe,
Speaker 1: Like you know, obviously the money is great, but it's
Speaker 1: just the league, like the professionalism, how they do stuff.
Speaker 1: Like I've always wanted to be a pro. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna s always be like yo, I want
Speaker 1: to be NBA and b A and b A like
Speaker 1: that kind of came later, but me being a professional
Speaker 1: was always what I want to be. So I'm living
Speaker 1: my dream. Like I'm extremely blessed, like I'm going through
Speaker 1: this like like kind of like just an emotion, like
Speaker 1: I'm just like yo, you know, but I also have
Speaker 1: appreciation of like what it really takes in. Like you said,
Speaker 1: I've been through a lot, so I have a lot
Speaker 1: of experience and so yeah, it's a lot, it's a lot,
Speaker 1: but I just you know, I'm happy. Well, man, I
Speaker 1: wish you the best of luck. Brother. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming on the day and sharing your story. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Man. Always know that ladies and gentlemen Curtis Hollis,
Speaker 1: Oh my guy,