Speaker 1: What's up? This is the professor. We're here on eating
Speaker 1: while broke, and today I'm gonna break down my meal
Speaker 1: that got me through a time when I was broken broke.
Speaker 1: All right, So when I went broke late two thousand eight,
Speaker 1: early two thousand nine, somewhere in there, I have a
Speaker 1: lot of money, and I never really learned how to
Speaker 1: cook either, So we had to make it work a
Speaker 1: bare minimum, and we got the Tyson's Looney Tunes TV dinners. Okay,
Speaker 1: now these earlier talking there's no nutritional value or anything
Speaker 1: in these, but they got it done. You know, I
Speaker 1: feel like the reason why you chose this was because
Speaker 1: of the whole dessert. That was a big part. I mean,
Speaker 1: I like est dinner on it was it was the cheapest.
Speaker 1: You know, you got the Marie calendars, like the luxury
Speaker 1: TV dinner you got. I don't know, hungry is a
Speaker 1: hungry man? Yeah, the tyson the Looney Tune ones, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Super cheap. So so I haven't
Speaker 1: had a TV dinner in ages. So what do you
Speaker 1: want to try and eat? First? So we everyone, we're
Speaker 1: eating the chicken nuggets, mac and cheese corn and this
Speaker 1: is supposed to be a brownie even everyone. Yeah, when
Speaker 1: I got it back in the day, that was always
Speaker 1: a big part of it was it was like, actually
Speaker 1: a fudge brownie. This is kind of like a brownie
Speaker 1: slopping stop. Probably still pretty good. Let let's try it.
Speaker 1: Start with the nuggets. Let's start with the nuggets. Do
Speaker 1: you do catch up? I'm going to try. And always
Speaker 1: was your soggy on one side back in the day
Speaker 1: too easily could have been let's do it. That was
Speaker 1: my whole thing. Always like I didn't like to spending
Speaker 1: time in a kitchen, you know what I mean, So
Speaker 1: I'm always just trying to get it done. You didn't
Speaker 1: try to get like a girlfriend and just feed you
Speaker 1: in spurts. You get a girlfriend, you'll be like, what's
Speaker 1: your cooking skills? Like spurts. It is why I got
Speaker 1: kicked at the curb. You know. So you said back
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine, what
Speaker 1: was the last time you actually ate this dish or
Speaker 1: even stop for a TV dinner? Two thousand tens Probably
Speaker 1: the last time at least this TV dinner. I might
Speaker 1: have got a Marie coulendar, like if I was in
Speaker 1: a road or something, like here and there, but yeah,
Speaker 1: for the most part, like like being broke just to
Speaker 1: make it work. Yeah yeah, yeah, definitely. Now what were
Speaker 1: you going through at that time? Two and that's that's later. Yeah, So, um,
Speaker 1: I started playing professionally for the and one mix stape
Speaker 1: Tour two thousand three. The company the same day we
Speaker 1: were on the cover of The Sports Illustrated two thousand
Speaker 1: and six is the same day that the company actually
Speaker 1: got bought out, and that was by Sequential or something. Right, Uh,
Speaker 1: it's American Sporting Goods. But since then it's been bought
Speaker 1: out three or four times, so the one you're saying
Speaker 1: is probably somewhere along the line. But uh yeah, two
Speaker 1: done six got bought out by American Sporting Goods. And
Speaker 1: at the time, you know, I was only years old.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what a company by. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know what that is, first off, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And then I didn't know how that would
Speaker 1: affect business moving forward, you know. So I remember asking
Speaker 1: one of my O G teammates. I was just like,
Speaker 1: so we still we still got a job, we still
Speaker 1: gonna play ball, and they're like yeah, So I was
Speaker 1: like all right, cool and that's all I thought out
Speaker 1: of it. But they I think they had two years
Speaker 1: left on the production ESPN deal and they fulfilled that
Speaker 1: and then after that the tour was over. They didn't
Speaker 1: put any money into street Ball as their advertisement. But
Speaker 1: I think what those owners didn't know and I think
Speaker 1: rest in peace and they passed away since but they
Speaker 1: didn't know that the company was based on street Ball,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean that's what fuel of the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So they tried to go like this traditional route where
Speaker 1: it's like, uh, lower tier NBA players, which is who
Speaker 1: they could afford at the time, right be you don't
Speaker 1: have the Nike money lower tier NBA players uh to
Speaker 1: to brigade the way. But it's just not the same
Speaker 1: if you don't have superstars or like a niche like
Speaker 1: how we had with the and One mixtape tour. It's
Speaker 1: tough to survive in basketball, you know. Yeah, So when
Speaker 1: you were doing the whole and One thing where they
Speaker 1: breaking guys off, like was it like salaried or was
Speaker 1: it like here's a sign on bonus manager money. Well,
Speaker 1: so I think my first deal I ever signed, I
Speaker 1: think with sixty I thought it was rich. You know,
Speaker 1: I was eight team or no, I was actually seventeen
Speaker 1: when I signed that deal, graduated young se that turned
Speaker 1: eighteen like a couple months later or whatever. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought my money wouldn't run out to move out
Speaker 1: and get our own apartment. But what did your parents
Speaker 1: say when you got that check? So my parents actually
Speaker 1: fully supported everything. Um, I actually played one year junior
Speaker 1: college and uh kind of had to decide whether I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go back to school or play professionally. But they
Speaker 1: knew that, like they had invested everything into my hoop dream,
Speaker 1: you know, like like sneakers, trainers, clinics, camps and you Oh,
Speaker 1: they supported me so heavy. That's the reason I am
Speaker 1: doing what I do today. So I think they looked
Speaker 1: at it like, hey, you know, this is an opportunity
Speaker 1: to play pro. The funny thing is I actually barely
Speaker 1: played college basketball. I got cut from three community colleges
Speaker 1: and then I walked on to my local community college,
Speaker 1: like the one I didn't want to go to because
Speaker 1: I wanted to go out of town. Um. I always
Speaker 1: had offensive skills, but I looked like I was like
Speaker 1: twelve years old, and so I think a lot of
Speaker 1: coaches it really trust me, like like from a defensive standpoint,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of hard to imagine you're getting cut
Speaker 1: at a community level though. That's the crazy part. Like
Speaker 1: I had skills. I remember one of the community college
Speaker 1: trials I went to. I remember I played like five
Speaker 1: games and like I literally scored. We're playing games and
Speaker 1: seven I was scored at least four or five buckets,
Speaker 1: if not all each game. But they still wouldn't let
Speaker 1: me get a shot. But literally, if you look at
Speaker 1: somebody's twelve years old, it's hard for you as a
Speaker 1: coach to say, this is my guy, but you're competing
Speaker 1: at a community level at twelve, Like I just looked
Speaker 1: like but but yeah, I was, you know, seventeen, trying
Speaker 1: to trying to watch your your games you look yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: so just trying to get on And I think that
Speaker 1: that's what made it tough. It's like what separates the
Speaker 1: street baller from the NBA player. There's two different goals.
Speaker 1: So so with street ball, obviously very competitive, you want
Speaker 1: to win every game, but you know people are paying
Speaker 1: to see an exhibition. You know, it's more about that
Speaker 1: game there, So we want to like strip entertained the most.
Speaker 1: So we're like kind of like shooting for the craziest highlight,
Speaker 1: but we also want to win, whereas like the NBA,
Speaker 1: it's really about efficiency. If somebody gets a highlight, that
Speaker 1: happens by default. Yeah, do you think NBA is more
Speaker 1: team player friendly in uh, street balls more like you said,
Speaker 1: like more flashy, because I feel like street balls almost
Speaker 1: like a form of art. But street ball in its
Speaker 1: purest form is really just summertime basketball. It's really like
Speaker 1: a summer pro am league. You know, guys that played overseas,
Speaker 1: some college players, the best high school players in the
Speaker 1: summers um would come play and it's just like a
Speaker 1: way to get a run. It's just basketball in the summer.
Speaker 1: There's less structured because coaches aren't really like putting their
Speaker 1: all into summertime basketball. But then when when companies like
Speaker 1: and One got involved, it really became about selling tickets
Speaker 1: and making it about the exhibition. So we so we
Speaker 1: amped up the highlights, you know what I mean. It
Speaker 1: became more about the entertainment um. But I think it
Speaker 1: was always a looser style game with showtime, even even
Speaker 1: in pierst form before companies got involved. But I think
Speaker 1: the stakes got hired. So it's like you strive to
Speaker 1: put on more of a show. Yeah, you know, as
Speaker 1: as like the ANI one Mix Safe Tour and things progressed. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you when do you when you start to run
Speaker 1: out of the money, which is you know, now you're
Speaker 1: getting consistent money. How many years were you getting the
Speaker 1: consistent money? Yeah. My whole run from AND one from
Speaker 1: two thousand three to two thousand eight probably made a
Speaker 1: few million dollars and I spend it all, blew it off.
Speaker 1: You didn't invest any of it. Um. When the recession
Speaker 1: came two thousand nine, I'd take out my savings and
Speaker 1: I was like living off the savings for a while,
Speaker 1: and that ran lowd next to you know, that was
Speaker 1: gone to Yeah, but but I didn't say yeah. I
Speaker 1: didn't say well, I didn't have like a six figure
Speaker 1: at the time, so it was like a little bit.
Speaker 1: But yeah, then it was TV dinners and a lot
Speaker 1: of people might not know this. For me to make
Speaker 1: ends meet during two thousand nine, I actually kept a
Speaker 1: box of like seventy five of my AND one jerseys,
Speaker 1: like game jersey. I don't even know, like I gave
Speaker 1: a good share away, but for some reason I would
Speaker 1: always keep them often and do them a box, and
Speaker 1: then I actually ended up selling them on eBay anonymously,
Speaker 1: and I made ends me like that for about six months,
Speaker 1: for more than six months because some of them were
Speaker 1: they were going from like three to seven hundred dollars
Speaker 1: a couple of thousand. So yeah, and you were personally
Speaker 1: doing this personally. Yeah, I love to hear that. That's
Speaker 1: how you know the struggle was real. It was really, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was real. I only kept like I think I
Speaker 1: only kept two and one jersey, like my first one.
Speaker 1: I had a game, win a shot in medicine square guard.
Speaker 1: I kept that jersey and I kept my very first one.
Speaker 1: Did you ever offer to like sign it for more?
Speaker 1: Did you ever spill the tea that hate? This is
Speaker 1: the Yeah. So what happened with the very first one
Speaker 1: I uploaded? I didn't do it anonymously. It was like
Speaker 1: asked me. You know, I was holding it, but then
Speaker 1: I just like I was like I was like branding
Speaker 1: wise and just don't look right, you know. I was
Speaker 1: like in my room holding it up. Remember I told
Speaker 1: some girls take the photo like this one. You know.
Speaker 1: It's like when digital cameras first came out, photos like
Speaker 1: Dusty Doll I was like, now you're gonna do this
Speaker 1: no more? Or so because I saw other people were
Speaker 1: selling the same jerseys. You know, they sounded like seven
Speaker 1: hundred bucks, and I was like, oh, you don't need
Speaker 1: a face to that. You know, maybe I could have
Speaker 1: put a face when sold it for more, but I
Speaker 1: wasn't about any risk at that time, like my hands smart,
Speaker 1: make our money. You thought a short term and long
Speaker 1: term and that you were like, so, then how did
Speaker 1: you pivot out of the whole TV dinner state? Because
Speaker 1: obviously it was the last time you ate this meal
Speaker 1: l okay for sure, so you've you've pivoted out. What
Speaker 1: was the pivot to get you out of the hole. Well,
Speaker 1: two thousand nine was a pivotal a year for me
Speaker 1: because I actually started my YouTube channel. So today I'm
Speaker 1: most known for my YouTube channel social media. Yeah, praise guy.
Speaker 1: I was looked out, but now at the time, yeah,
Speaker 1: I started my YouTube channel. My whole YouTube channel became
Speaker 1: business like overnight, I had a video did forty two
Speaker 1: million views. You said overnight, but this was when YouTube
Speaker 1: had first peaked. You jumped on right, Well, YouTube actually started,
Speaker 1: so a lot of people know YouTube started two thousand four. Yeah,
Speaker 1: YouTube started, oh four, I wish it would start. Reverend started.
Speaker 1: But then by about two thousand nine, I actually knew
Speaker 1: five people who were making ten grand a month on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and so I remember I asked, when you know you
Speaker 1: can you show me how to do it or whatever?
Speaker 1: I end up signed with this agency. He showed me
Speaker 1: a few things, and then uh about had some viral
Speaker 1: content like this. This one video did six million views
Speaker 1: in a week. And then my channel with remember I
Speaker 1: had seventeen thousand views and it went from seventeen thousand
Speaker 1: to six hundred fifty thousand subscribers in one week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like a business overnight. Literally, So you were like,
Speaker 1: and then what was it like in at first check? Now?
Speaker 1: It it it was YouTube that sents you to check right Google? Google?
Speaker 1: Were you? Were you shocked? Did they call you and
Speaker 1: tell you it wasn't just a check arrives in your mailbox?
Speaker 1: You're like, what is this? Oh? Just check arrives? You know,
Speaker 1: I mean their payroll If you look at Google's payrolls
Speaker 1: and nuts like, I have five point five million subs
Speaker 1: and I'm like the biggest channel on YouTube. Ye up,
Speaker 1: So but what was it like in that check. Getting
Speaker 1: the check as thrilled, you know. I mean I was
Speaker 1: learning some hood department in a Canoga park and you know,
Speaker 1: still kind of trying to make ends meet. We had
Speaker 1: we had a we had a salary deal with ball up,
Speaker 1: so it was like stinny, you know. I mean I
Speaker 1: was actually comfortable at the time, but check was nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I'm so you handled your money and looked at
Speaker 1: everything so much more differently. Oh man, Yeah, I learned.
Speaker 1: You learned a lot losing a few million dollars you should,
Speaker 1: you know, So I learned a lot with that, and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I just saved. I don't even know that
Speaker 1: I really explurged on any that. I probably aoust clothes
Speaker 1: in there, but that was about it. Yeah. So there
Speaker 1: was no like real dark moment where you were like
Speaker 1: almost like I've had moments where I've like literally called
Speaker 1: on her desk and called a mentor like, oh, this
Speaker 1: company's it's done, it's going it's going down, and I'm
Speaker 1: going down with it. Like yeah, it was dark. I
Speaker 1: mean he got really dark. My best friend actually passed away.
Speaker 1: He was he was my teammate. He was he was
Speaker 1: like this big dude actually had a heart attack, rescue,
Speaker 1: peace of my homie escalates. So um, yeah, for me,
Speaker 1: like with that whole his death, me gonna broke. That's
Speaker 1: definitely like a pivotal time in my life for sure.
Speaker 1: Did you go into the feel sorry for yourself mode?
Speaker 1: And I hate to say that but for lack of
Speaker 1: better word, And then like what was the thing that
Speaker 1: carried you out of the storm? Um? I mean for me,
Speaker 1: it's like a faith thing, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I actually actually became Christian at his funeral. At his funeral,
Speaker 1: so that was that was big for me. Um. And
Speaker 1: then yeah, I think there's probably like feeling sorry for
Speaker 1: myself and they kind of like wondered how opportunity, how
Speaker 1: I learned, like how fleeting fame could be, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's like I used to have hired
Speaker 1: security with that one if I would go to like
Speaker 1: a basketball event or like something like that, and then
Speaker 1: what I would go to basketball events after and one
Speaker 1: ended like one person might recognize me maybe, And that
Speaker 1: taught me a lot of it was just like what
Speaker 1: And then I was just shocked because I always get
Speaker 1: calls for you know, bookings and games, and the companies
Speaker 1: call me. I'm like, well, there's too many things to do.
Speaker 1: I can't find hardly anything from work other than like
Speaker 1: maybe like training somebody for an hour and showing some
Speaker 1: ball him and stuff, which I you know, going from
Speaker 1: like TV show fame, you don't really want to be
Speaker 1: a trainer. Yes, So I have to ask and I
Speaker 1: have to go there. So you know, when you think
Speaker 1: of balling and street balling, you think black people. You know.
Speaker 1: I have to ask though, Like you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: you've heard people compare you to like the Eminem of
Speaker 1: basketball maybe my whole life. How did that make you feel? Oh? Um?
Speaker 1: I just had like a sense of gratitude because I
Speaker 1: worked so hard at basketball for so long, and you know,
Speaker 1: come eighteen years old, didn't look like it was gonna
Speaker 1: pay off, you know, but all all of a sudden
Speaker 1: that you know, preparation meets opportunity moment happened for me,
Speaker 1: you know, to be able to plan and make same
Speaker 1: tour and then so whatever came after that, I don't
Speaker 1: even care. I was just I was just grateful to
Speaker 1: have have a gig then have like an audience. You know,
Speaker 1: so they say eminem street ball or I mean technically
Speaker 1: eminem is one of the greatest rappers of all time. Like,
Speaker 1: you can't say you're top ten in hip hop without
Speaker 1: saying eminem. You forget eminem. You quickly go back and
Speaker 1: you say, wait, wait, let me swap out somebody else.
Speaker 1: So to be compared to someone that can handle that industry,
Speaker 1: it's it's it is a huge compliment. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: consider a compliment blessing growing up beyond repeat repeat, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean for me, yeah, I was always trying to
Speaker 1: just resting gratitude for the opportunity to So what is
Speaker 1: the one lesson that you've learned from like when you started,
Speaker 1: So like a lesson that you carried to date, or
Speaker 1: even just one pivotal lesson that you carry with you
Speaker 1: that you always tell yourself you always have to reprove yourself.
Speaker 1: So like a lot of times people will talk to me, now, man,
Speaker 1: you're a legend, you know what I mean, Like you've
Speaker 1: done it, you know. But the funny thing is, every
Speaker 1: time you're in a game or a situation, you always
Speaker 1: have to like reprove yourself for that to keep going.
Speaker 1: So I've had a career like eighteen years long, but
Speaker 1: it was always a series of like ups and downs
Speaker 1: like a big roller coaster, but always have to like
Speaker 1: reprove yourself that you belong in that slot, you know,
Speaker 1: similar to like eminem right, he had like crappy album
Speaker 1: to three albums ago slander and hate, but then he
Speaker 1: like bounced back with the okay, solid one and then
Speaker 1: he had like a banger and now back to the legend.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, it's always a roller coaster.
Speaker 1: So I think always knowing that you have to re
Speaker 1: reprove yourself again and again it's good for like longevity.
Speaker 1: But when you think about m or you or you know,
Speaker 1: like people hear the professor are like, oh, oh, we
Speaker 1: know who that is. You know, so it's like to
Speaker 1: see to see reinvent yourself or what did you say
Speaker 1: was read always had to reprove yourself yourself. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think always staying dedicated craft and having that preparation is
Speaker 1: the way you can bring out like you said that
Speaker 1: diamonds there. It takes. It takes hardwork and dedication all
Speaker 1: the way through. You can never feel like I made
Speaker 1: it and kick your feet up. Yeah, you know, that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of the truth. But what do you say
Speaker 1: to the kid that you know Aspires loves basketball. Either
Speaker 1: he's too short or he's too you know, he's just
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the skills quite yet. And you know,
Speaker 1: right now it's like he's getting past on every team.
Speaker 1: Do you know what can you say to that kid
Speaker 1: that's like, don't you know? What I would say is
Speaker 1: there is no such thing it's too short. It's just
Speaker 1: that the smaller and height and the and the less
Speaker 1: strength you have, the more skilled you'll have to be.
Speaker 1: That's a general rule. So there's no sense. So when
Speaker 1: parents will often say, oh, little Mike, he's trying to
Speaker 1: make it, but he's too short, I'll be like I would,
Speaker 1: but I was watching, but it was like, how tall, Lizzy.
Speaker 1: You know it's nice? Right, So so yeah, you you
Speaker 1: can be short, but a lot of skills the will
Speaker 1: have to come into that. But I would say, you know,
Speaker 1: persistence of sticking with some something is huge. I think
Speaker 1: Jay Z had a good quote. They asked him, they
Speaker 1: were like, what's the most genius thing you ever did?
Speaker 1: And he just said like he never gave up. And
Speaker 1: I think that's big because office people who stick with
Speaker 1: something the longest end up winning because everybody's always kind
Speaker 1: of like trying to find where they fit in or
Speaker 1: what they want to do. But people try things out
Speaker 1: and they go do something else. They try things out
Speaker 1: something else, whether it's like you know, whether in viteography, music, sports,
Speaker 1: or anything like. If you can actually just stick with
Speaker 1: it consistently home the craft, then you might find a
Speaker 1: lot of success. But it might be way down the road.
Speaker 1: So for that kid who's getting cut from his team
Speaker 1: or not not sitting right now, I would just encourage
Speaker 1: if it's your passion and you have fun and you
Speaker 1: love doing it, I would say, oh, definitely stick with it,
Speaker 1: you know, because there's opportunities even now with YouTube. The
Speaker 1: YouTube basketball communities like a building thing. So technically if
Speaker 1: you couldn't play college, you couldn't play pro, there might
Speaker 1: actually be a slot for you. Just depends, like if
Speaker 1: you can get an audience, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So to get your ball handling skills at the level
Speaker 1: that you have yours, because I would never even dream sure,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna go. I would never even dream
Speaker 1: of trying to go up against anybody with your ball
Speaker 1: handling skills. But um, to get them at that level,
Speaker 1: what do you take on? Like the hardest player and
Speaker 1: say mentor me, or like, how do you get those skills?
Speaker 1: While you answer that, I'll eat a nugget. I think
Speaker 1: elite training is actually very important. So I had a
Speaker 1: great trainer round in fifth grade. Shout out to Rodney Howard.
Speaker 1: He taught me some really foundational ball handling skills, what
Speaker 1: literally what I wasn't like. Actually the fourth grade first
Speaker 1: taught me like in and out, in and out crossing,
Speaker 1: you tell me, like the Allen Iverson Crossover. And I
Speaker 1: mastered to Allen Iverson Crossover when I was in fifth grade,
Speaker 1: and I could like cross grown Man, Like I was
Speaker 1: literally as tall as this table right here, but I
Speaker 1: could like cross grown Man and like crowds would go crazy.
Speaker 1: So having that elite training at a young age was big.
Speaker 1: You think the younger the better. I think, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: I think if you're like super little, you should just
Speaker 1: learned to like the game, because if you're gonna make
Speaker 1: it, it it needs to be your passion. You need to
Speaker 1: really enjoy just just the whole culture of it, you know,
Speaker 1: playing the game everything. So I learned to just enjoy.
Speaker 1: I think by about middle school you should try to
Speaker 1: get some elite training the cool thing is if your
Speaker 1: parents can't afford it. What's what's different now than when
Speaker 1: I was growing up. It's like everything is that your fingertips.
Speaker 1: Like all the tools for greatness in anything is really
Speaker 1: like on YouTube itself. You know, like if you want
Speaker 1: to be a great basketball player, there's no instructions you
Speaker 1: go get this, not on YouTube, Like, but if you
Speaker 1: pay a trainer, you know, you get in one one
Speaker 1: spots like proven school. But I'd say for the kids
Speaker 1: who can't afford trainers longer on YouTube and just like
Speaker 1: emulate great players. There's players in the NBA now who
Speaker 1: didn't have great training when they were younger. They just
Speaker 1: the craft, but they can play amongst themselves. You still
Speaker 1: have to go up against someone that's like a really
Speaker 1: good defense, right, Oh totally. I mean you gotta play
Speaker 1: a lot, you know, I was encouraged people get a
Speaker 1: lot of one on ones, a lot of two on two,
Speaker 1: a lot of five five, play whenever you can. And
Speaker 1: then you know, if you have the opportunity to play
Speaker 1: with great players who are way better new than you
Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, I'd say you always need a good balance.
Speaker 1: Some people will say always play with better players, but
Speaker 1: if you keep getting your butt kicked all the time,
Speaker 1: it's not always good. You need a balance. You need
Speaker 1: like guys who you feel like you can you're at
Speaker 1: the same level. You can put in working and then
Speaker 1: also play with the elite players who kind of like
Speaker 1: bust you up because you learned a lot from that.
Speaker 1: That's what I always did. It was like a good balance.
Speaker 1: And I've seen you do other interviews where you talk
Speaker 1: about heart and all that stuff. To have heart in
Speaker 1: those moments, I think it's really about preparation. You know,
Speaker 1: how can you trust yourself taking the game when he
Speaker 1: shot in the fourth quarter if you didn't put the
Speaker 1: work in. But if you feel so prepared and it's
Speaker 1: like you feel like you know you put in all
Speaker 1: this time, then I think you're more likely to trust
Speaker 1: yourself in those big moments. And then that will come
Speaker 1: out and people like, oh he had heart, But I
Speaker 1: think a lot of it was just like preparation. He
Speaker 1: was ready for the moment. Did you ever end up
Speaker 1: getting to meet Alan Iverson? I actually got to play
Speaker 1: with Alan Iverson twelve um. There was like an exhibition
Speaker 1: tour in China and he played three games with us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a great time. Yeah, like what, oh it
Speaker 1: was awesome. I mean I remember seeing the flyer. They
Speaker 1: sent us a flyer just be an email before the event.
Speaker 1: It was like me and my homie Bone Collector and
Speaker 1: then Ai, you know, pick picture Ai on there and
Speaker 1: I was just like, man, that's a trip, because you know, hey,
Speaker 1: I was my first well Michael Jordan was my first inspiration,
Speaker 1: but hey, I was right there. He was the player.
Speaker 1: I felt like I could relate to the books. Being
Speaker 1: a small guy, you know, I could play like he played.
Speaker 1: So for that to come full circle and get to
Speaker 1: play with them as it's pretty cool. Yeah. He was
Speaker 1: super cool. You know when we sat around, like in
Speaker 1: our off time, he hung out with us. You know,
Speaker 1: you didn't have to, you know, but like now he
Speaker 1: hung out with just talk hoops and shared some like
Speaker 1: you know, he shared some legendary stories behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: But now it was cool. He shows his love. Like
Speaker 1: every time I see Allen, he'll go out of his
Speaker 1: way to be like, oh, what's up, my bro? You know, yeah,
Speaker 1: so who has better ball handling hot sauce or Allen Iverson? Who?
Speaker 1: You know? This is tough because they're both these are
Speaker 1: both some of my idols. You know, a lot of
Speaker 1: people actually think that like Hot Sauce and I are
Speaker 1: like the same era, like rivals. The truth is House
Speaker 1: ten years older than me. So like when I when
Speaker 1: I was in high school, Hot Sauce like emulating, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. By the time I got on
Speaker 1: a mixtape tour, uh, you know, then he's like my teammate. Book,
Speaker 1: But to get on we had to kind of like
Speaker 1: go back and forth. Um, so yeah, that's tell that's
Speaker 1: my two idols right there. And and to be honest,
Speaker 1: I can't even really say one no, no, you don't
Speaker 1: get to the interview does not end. That's why we
Speaker 1: made sure that these questions were extremely tough, and we
Speaker 1: know that everyone's gonna have something to say about the
Speaker 1: answer to this question. If I had to say, who's
Speaker 1: better in the Hall of Fame, yeah, I think so
Speaker 1: you're you're you're in the On the basketball court, you
Speaker 1: have to line up your team, you have to choose
Speaker 1: between the two. Well, it's different levels, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So yeah, I would go with Allen Iverson.
Speaker 1: But but I do believe that like some my teammates
Speaker 1: like House, Sauce and them below in the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame too, and my personal pain. Yeah, so and maybe
Speaker 1: they will I don't know, but they're both idle, so
Speaker 1: not taking anything away from So for the for the records,
Speaker 1: you're gonna nervous. Okay, who from the NBA would be
Speaker 1: a great street baller? Oh, Kyrie Irving. Everybody thought you
Speaker 1: were going to say that. Behind the scenes, they were
Speaker 1: all gonna say, Steph Curry, Yeah, I feel like it's
Speaker 1: such a great shooter. But ball Hanley Wise, you think, oh,
Speaker 1: you're a great ball handley skills too, Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: I think um Trey Young Jamal Crawford's not in me
Speaker 1: this year, but he would be a great There's a
Speaker 1: lot of guys, but yeah, I mean Kyrie Irving, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the most skilled players of all time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: who would you like to play one on one in
Speaker 1: the NBA? Who? Um? You know what? People always say that,
Speaker 1: but like I would A lot of some guys who
Speaker 1: don't make the NBA can't wait to play somebody one
Speaker 1: on one because they want to like prove how good
Speaker 1: they are. But like it's not really about that for me.
Speaker 1: I mean, like I know how I met up with
Speaker 1: the NBA. You know I fly, I worked out with
Speaker 1: NBA players, play nexhibition game. How do you feel you
Speaker 1: match up? Oh? Good? I like, here's the thing as
Speaker 1: a competitor, if you're lacing them up and you're an
Speaker 1: elite hooper, like you should never not think you're going
Speaker 1: to perform well and now but like I'm going back
Speaker 1: and forth, like I'm saying I was dominating, but but yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get moves off. I would say, I would say,
Speaker 1: like Lebron, it would be cool to play one, like
Speaker 1: I'll just like see how he holds me defensively fun
Speaker 1: N six nine, you would go up against Lebron, well,
Speaker 1: not not in efference to say, like, I'd like to
Speaker 1: feel the defense. Though I think I get moves off off.
Speaker 1: You think, well, I'm not saying to win, but yeah,
Speaker 1: shake somebody and score. I don't think anybody could stop
Speaker 1: me a whole game and not get any moves off
Speaker 1: the score. I think we need to make a personal
Speaker 1: we want to see the and maybe Lebron could do
Speaker 1: it right. I ain't never played that good of a finger,
Speaker 1: you know. I think if you were to like do
Speaker 1: a video of you versus Lebron, it would probably go
Speaker 1: to like one of the most viral video the Internet. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I love they need a great you know Lebron steph Kyree.
Speaker 1: Just be fun just to see how that goes down.
Speaker 1: But like, I don't think I could beat any of
Speaker 1: those three, but I think it gets moves off to see. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: If I had to choose the sport, it would only
Speaker 1: be basketball. I like that. Yeah, Um, I would hope
Speaker 1: so and then uh, but if I had to choose
Speaker 1: a team, no loyalty to the market or anything, I
Speaker 1: always will say Golden State because they have the clay,
Speaker 1: they have, they have stuff, they have everybody that would
Speaker 1: be entertaining and they're all just on one squad. So yeah,
Speaker 1: especially man so good change the game of basketball. And
Speaker 1: when you watch some they kind of do fall off,
Speaker 1: And I'm all about the hero's journey hence eating while broke,
Speaker 1: and I feel like when you watch Golden State, they
Speaker 1: always have like they fall off in the middle of
Speaker 1: the game and they always come back right the true
Speaker 1: story and even now with the injuries, you'll be a
Speaker 1: ridder with the injuries, they've kind of like fallen off,
Speaker 1: like they're only like one superstar away from being right
Speaker 1: back to title contenders you know, exactly know the next
Speaker 1: couple of years, get healthy, acquired another Star championship exactly.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for taking time out of your
Speaker 1: busy schedule to bless us with a TV dinner dinner dinner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I couldn't pick out a more high end
Speaker 1: uh we had, you know what, So thank you, Professor
Speaker 1: for another episode of Eating While Broke. For more Eating
Speaker 1: while Broke from I Heart Radio and The Black Effect,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, app, a podcast, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Eating while Broken, Broke, Broke,