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Speaker 1: People don't realize the size of some of these guys

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Speaker 1: that are moving around. That's that's the number one thing

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Speaker 1: that people tell me when they see me, when they've

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Speaker 1: never met me before and they recognize me, that oh wow,

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Speaker 1: I didn't know you were that tall. So yeah, I'm

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Speaker 1: I'm six four, six ' five and I'm the small guy.

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Speaker 2: That's you look small to me. Yeah, you look small

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Speaker 2: to me, So I could take it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I got that guy. Give him my fade away

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Speaker 3: fade away jumper. Hi.

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Speaker 1: I'm Alex Caruso and I am a professional basketball player,

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Speaker 1: golf savant, an overall good guy.

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Speaker 3: Hi everybody, thanks for joining me today for another episode

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Speaker 3: of Off the Beat. This is your host, Brian Baumgartner,

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Speaker 3: And as you just heard, today's guest is none other

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Speaker 3: than NBA star are Alex Caruso, or maybe you know

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Speaker 3: him by one of his many many nicknames, Bald Mamba,

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Speaker 3: Bald Eagle, Caru Show, or as Lebron James likes to

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Speaker 3: call him the Goat. And even if you don't regularly

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Speaker 3: watch the NBA, you're missing out by the way, you

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Speaker 3: have undoubtedly seen Alex as well a meme, an internet meme.

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Speaker 3: He's a presence to say the least. Alex in college

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Speaker 3: was a part of one of the most memorable comebacks

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Speaker 3: in March Madness history, a game I still remember when

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Speaker 3: his Texas A and m aggis defeated Northern Iowa in

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Speaker 3: twenty sixteen. He then went on to sign the first

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Speaker 3: ever two way contract in NBA history with the Los

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Speaker 3: Angeles Lakers. Now this means he played for both the

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Speaker 3: NBA and the Development League at the same time. Alex

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Speaker 3: slowly worked his way onto the NBA roster, and he

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Speaker 3: helped the Lakers take the championship back in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: After that, he moved to the Bulls and just this

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Speaker 3: year he was named to his first NBA All Defensive

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Speaker 3: First Team. Today, we're going to dive into Alex's career,

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Speaker 3: from his high school days in college station to his

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Speaker 3: taste of victory with the Lakers, to his well social

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Speaker 3: media popularity and his favorite nickname. He's been called an

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Speaker 3: underrated player, but well, he's one of my favorites. Here.

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Speaker 3: He is the goat Carusio Alex Caruso.

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Speaker 4: Bublon Squeak, I love it Bubl and Squeagano, Bubble and

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Speaker 4: Squeaker cook it every month left over from the ninety.

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Speaker 2: Four what's up, hey, Ry, what's going on?

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Speaker 3: What's up? White Mamba?

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Speaker 2: Not much? Not much. This is the this is the

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Speaker 2: calm before the storm part of the year for me.

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Speaker 3: Calm are you where are you right now?

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Speaker 2: I'm back in Chicago.

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Speaker 3: Are you working out? Are you preparing? How does this

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Speaker 3: work right now?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, most professional athletes will say, like,

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Speaker 1: the work never really stops.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: It's been a long summer because we didn't have a

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Speaker 1: great year last year. But we just started getting in

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Speaker 1: the gym for a couple of weeks, been working out

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Speaker 1: here at the facility, like you said, just getting ready for.

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Speaker 3: We are moments away from your first preseason games for

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Speaker 3: the twenty three to twenty four season. Have you started

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Speaker 3: officially practicing together yet or no?

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Speaker 2: No, not yet. Monday we leave.

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Speaker 1: We're actually doing training camp in Nashville this year, which

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Speaker 1: is you know, absurd destinations. You're obscure, I guess not absurd.

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Speaker 1: But we'll start practicing on on Tuesday next week.

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Speaker 3: All right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Are you excited? Excited for the season to start.

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Speaker 1: I'm always excited for the season to start. But training camp,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's a different. That's a different question.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: Those things takes you back to college practices where it's

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Speaker 1: two two and a half hours and you're getting after

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Speaker 1: it every day.

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Speaker 3: That's actually what I was just about to ask you.

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Speaker 3: Is it like a lot of running, Like do you

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Speaker 3: do they still have you do that? Are you still

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Speaker 3: doing the what is it called where you have to

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Speaker 3: touch the back suicide? Do you have to do suicides?

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Speaker 2: No, No, it's not.

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Speaker 1: It's not quite to the level of that, right, But

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Speaker 1: I mean most of it, like we it's we're working out, right,

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Speaker 1: so we're playing pick up a couple of times a week.

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Speaker 1: We're having one day where it's just running conditioning. But

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Speaker 1: that's kind of the that's kind of like the expectation

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Speaker 1: as you come into camp and in a certain kind

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Speaker 1: of shape. That's like the professionalism of it. Okay, but yeah,

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Speaker 1: thank god, dude, I hated those. Those Those were never

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Speaker 1: I don't think there's a single person like it was

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Speaker 1: a coach his favorite thing just to make you run suicides,

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Speaker 1: and all the players just hated it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I know, well they because they don't have to

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Speaker 3: do when they just are watching you run suicides. Dynamic,

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Speaker 3: it's just like exactly. Yeah, go run all right, Well,

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Speaker 3: let's go back to your childhood. Now, your dad, I learned,

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Speaker 3: played basketball at Creighton College ball and was still is

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Speaker 3: associate athletic director at Texas A and M. Is that right?

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Speaker 1: What was was he's retired now, okay, good for me

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Speaker 1: and my two sisters graduate from A and M all

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Speaker 1: within a six year span and then once we once

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Speaker 1: all the kids are gone. Him and my mom both

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Speaker 1: couple of years shortly after retired. But yeah, he was

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Speaker 1: at A and M for thirty years working in athletic department,

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Speaker 1: and my mom worked in human resources at A and M.

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Speaker 1: And still she still does some office of admission stuff

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Speaker 1: on the side now just to stay busy. But yeah, dude,

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Speaker 1: we're we've been drinking the kool aid from a young age.

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Speaker 3: Right, So growing up there, because not only did you

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Speaker 3: go to A and M for college spoiler alert, you

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Speaker 3: went to A and M consolidated high school as well. Now,

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Speaker 3: so basketball, this was a part of your DNA from

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Speaker 3: the very beginning.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, honestly, sports in general was just because, like I said,

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Speaker 1: my dad was one of the associate athletic directors and

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Speaker 1: he basically ran all the home sporting events from the

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Speaker 1: big hitters from football and basketball down to like track

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Speaker 1: and field, equestrian, like the ones that have just you know,

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Speaker 1: even a couple hundred to a thousand fans, And I

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Speaker 1: would tag along anytime I could. And obviously basketball was,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of the main stay, and then football

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Speaker 1: just growing up in Texas. But yeah, I mean for

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Speaker 1: the most part, growing up, I was I was heavily

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Speaker 1: involved in sports and just kind of outside at any

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Speaker 1: given time of the day.

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Speaker 3: Were you was basketball always the sport that was like

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Speaker 3: your sport or did it start with something else?

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Speaker 2: No, that was always the one. I want to say.

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Speaker 1: I started playing in first or second grade, you know,

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Speaker 1: just like city league kind of competition stuff like everyone

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Speaker 1: gets a trophy at the end of the year. The

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Speaker 1: type played flag football fifth and sixth grade, and then

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Speaker 1: you know, regular school tackle football from seventh to ninth grade.

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Speaker 1: And then after my ninth grade year, I made I

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Speaker 1: made varsity as a freshman basketball, and once I got

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Speaker 1: a taste of that, I was kind of like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I liked playing basketball a whole lot more than I

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Speaker 1: like waking up at six am and putting pads on

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Speaker 1: and hitting people in a hundred degree heat, So I

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Speaker 1: was I hung it up. I retired, But then I

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Speaker 1: just got bored later in high school and I would

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Speaker 1: do I did high jump and track and field my

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Speaker 1: junior and senior.

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Speaker 3: Year because it was that at the end of the year, it.

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Speaker 2: Was in the spring and I had nothing to do.

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Speaker 3: I was getting nothing out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was playing travel ball, but other than that,

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Speaker 2: just bored.

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Speaker 3: You just mentioned you made varsity basketball your freshman year.

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Speaker 3: I assumed you were never cut from the team. So

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Speaker 3: four years, at the end of your high school you

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Speaker 3: were a four star recruit, a top one hundred national recruit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah fringe, but yeah.

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Speaker 3: Well third best shooting guard in Texas and fifteenth best

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Speaker 3: shooting guard in the nation according to ESPN and ninth

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Speaker 3: according to scout dot com. So you probably like them better.

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Speaker 3: Were you recruited to multiple schools or was it just

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Speaker 3: a done deal that you were gonna go.

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Speaker 1: To A Yeah, that's a great question, because it was.

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Speaker 1: It was really kind of wacky the way it happened,

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Speaker 1: Like I was a late bloomer as far as like

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Speaker 1: college recruiting, Like I played on varsity all four years,

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Speaker 1: but my freshman sophomore year we weren't very good, and

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Speaker 1: that's kind of what helped me stay on the team.

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Speaker 1: Was just like I was good enough to be on

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Speaker 1: our average teams, and then I kept getting better and

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Speaker 1: kept getting better. And then after my junior season, going

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Speaker 1: into that spring between junior and senior year was like

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Speaker 1: the last year that you play AAU basketball. And I

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Speaker 1: had a couple really really good tournaments in Vegas and

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Speaker 1: in Denver, kind of the same same way I play now,

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Speaker 1: where I had a couple of highlight dunks, and then

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Speaker 1: the rest of my game was just really like based

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Speaker 1: on heart and playing hard and making the right plays,

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Speaker 1: and nobody really knew who I was, and so I

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Speaker 1: got I mean, I got calls from just about everybody,

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Speaker 1: and that was the big question a lot of them had,

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Speaker 1: was you know, is it worth our time with a

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Speaker 1: you know, nine months left in this guy's recruitment to

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Speaker 1: even even call him because he's from college station, dad

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Speaker 1: works and Flake department. But I tell people all the time,

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Speaker 1: I was really really close to going somewhere else, and

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Speaker 1: the only other places I considered was Colorado, Okay. Tad

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Speaker 1: Boyle was the head coach, Mike Rohan was an assistant

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Speaker 1: coach who was at A and M previously when I

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Speaker 1: was in middle school, and I had actually played basketball

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Speaker 1: with him at the park before, like we'd played one

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Speaker 1: on one, like three drouble one on one and seventh

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Speaker 1: grade and then he moved on. But I just got

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Speaker 1: a great vibe from you know, the coaching staff, and

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Speaker 1: then they took me to Old and like, you know,

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Speaker 1: the beginning of September when it's perfect and you know,

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Speaker 1: there's snow, and it was like, you know a college

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Speaker 1: scene out of a movie where there's just you know,

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Speaker 1: people playing frisbee in a big field and people like

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Speaker 1: laying on panky. Yeah, yeah, yeah, real American pie vibes.

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Speaker 1: It was just like, yeah, this is great, but yeah

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Speaker 1: that that was it.

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Speaker 3: How close was it?

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Speaker 2: It was close?

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Speaker 1: I think I think just at the end of the day,

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Speaker 1: I had grown up such a big fan of A

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Speaker 1: and M. Like, I don't think I was gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to look back on it and not regret passing

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Speaker 1: up the opportunity.

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Speaker 2: I thought. I thought I'd had to take it, whether.

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Speaker 1: It was you know, the right decision or wrong decision,

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Speaker 1: just to have the have the chance to go to

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Speaker 1: A and M. For me, it was was a pretty

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Speaker 1: special thing. But Colorado was close. Man, I really liked Colorado.

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Speaker 3: You and Dion apparently.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a I was the first one. You know,

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Speaker 2: I set the trend.

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Speaker 3: You mentioned AAU ball. I know you played for the

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Speaker 3: Texas Ambassadors, So talk to me a little about this.

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Speaker 3: And I know basketball is so nuts with these side

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Speaker 3: camp and the tournaments and the AAU ball on all

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Speaker 3: of the traveling, I mean, all of that investment that

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Speaker 3: these parents are are putting in that may or may

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Speaker 3: not work out. Do you feel like for you playing

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Speaker 3: high school basketball versus the AAU stuff, what what for

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Speaker 3: you was more valuable or what do you think is

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Speaker 3: more valuable?

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Speaker 1: I think the AAU is more valuable just from an

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Speaker 1: aspect of like, if you're not a top forty recruit

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Speaker 1: in the country, I don't think coaches really come to

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Speaker 1: your high school games.

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Speaker 2: Like if you you.

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Speaker 1: Know, you're not one of these heralded guys that that

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Speaker 1: people already know about. You have to go to these

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Speaker 1: tournaments and you have to play against good competition or

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Speaker 1: the guys that they say are the guys right in

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Speaker 1: front of these coaches and in front of these people

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Speaker 1: who run you know, the websites, the Scout dot com,

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Speaker 1: the ESPN dot com, just to write, you know, gain

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Speaker 1: some favor, some attention.

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Speaker 3: And when you're there because you see, I don't know,

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Speaker 3: I feel like I've seen, you know, the video on

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Speaker 3: the ESPN or Fox Sports or whatever of some of

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Speaker 3: these games and you look up in the stands and

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Speaker 3: there's like Shashchevski and Patino and all of the old

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Speaker 3: school coaches are like, are like taking a look. Did

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Speaker 3: you experience that? Like, were you suddenly there and seeing

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Speaker 3: some of these coaches at these universities that you respected.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely that was part of the experience for me.

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Speaker 1: That was kind of cool. It was just like I

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Speaker 1: told you, I jumped onto the scene late. So I

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Speaker 1: had a couple of those tournaments where I played in

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Speaker 1: this one called the Eastern Classic in Vegas, which was

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Speaker 1: a big one which had a bunch of the big

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Speaker 1: Power five schools, and whether it was the head coach

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Speaker 1: or one of the assistants, I knew who these people were.

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Speaker 1: And they all wear a team polo, so you know

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Speaker 1: who they are.

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Speaker 3: They want to make sure you know, yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.

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Speaker 1: And it was one of those things where like the

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Speaker 1: more tournaments and games I played in and played against

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Speaker 1: these really good players. I was holding my own and

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Speaker 1: I was just as competitive in doing things that I

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Speaker 1: maybe didn't even know I you know, had the capability

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Speaker 1: of doing, and that you know, kind of helped me

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Speaker 1: break out of my shell to just be who I

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Speaker 1: really am, which is a really competitive guy at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day.

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Speaker 2: Right, you know, and it only gets more and more.

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Speaker 1: Went to these camps and then got invited to a

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Speaker 1: camp called the Pengos All American Camp, Yeah, which is

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Speaker 1: like a big, big West Coast one. And then I

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Speaker 1: got invited to the NBPA Top one hundred camp, which

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Speaker 1: is like, you know, the one that the NBA puts

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Speaker 1: on to host people. And I got to see NBA

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Speaker 1: guys coaching me and like have this interaction and just

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Speaker 1: have like my foot in the door to this space

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Speaker 1: that I never thought was possible. And then from there,

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Speaker 1: like I said, I'm just wildly competitive and you know,

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Speaker 1: almost naive to the fact that like these guys are

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Speaker 1: supposed to be better than me and just go out

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Speaker 1: there and play.

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Speaker 3: You go to a and m your dad's there, your

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Speaker 3: mom's there. You grew up a fan. Is this a

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Speaker 3: college career. Is this a college activity or when did

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Speaker 3: you begin thinking about life.

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Speaker 2: Beyond professional sports.

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Speaker 3: I know you studied sports management, or did you just

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Speaker 3: feel like you wanted to be involved in sports and

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Speaker 3: maybe following your dad's footsteps and you know, be at

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Speaker 3: college or professional working in management.

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Speaker 2: Man.

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Speaker 1: To be honest, I you know, the entry to college

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Speaker 1: was like I had no idea what I wanted to do,

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Speaker 1: you know, I was just excited to go play basketball. Like,

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Speaker 1: if I'm being completely honest, school has never been a

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Speaker 1: very high priority for me, whether I was going to

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Speaker 1: be a professional athlete or not. My sisters still make

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Speaker 1: fun of me to this day because I was the

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Speaker 1: kid in high school like didn't put stuff in binder

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Speaker 1: and folders. I just like put loose papers in my

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Speaker 1: backpack just enough to get by and like made it

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Speaker 1: work and kind of just freeballed it. But once I

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Speaker 1: got to college, man, I was just I was like

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Speaker 1: I knew, I knew my dad did the whole sports thing,

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Speaker 1: and sports management kind of fell into that same realm.

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Speaker 1: And I'm just like I said, growing up, I played

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Speaker 1: many different sports and saw so many different sports being

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Speaker 1: played that I was always just I was always kind

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Speaker 1: of pulled towards it, so I kind of thought I

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Speaker 1: would start there and from there I just kept doing

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Speaker 1: it because it was something that got me by and

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Speaker 1: something I was somewhat interested in. But throughout the course

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Speaker 1: of my college career, it just I kept getting better

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Speaker 1: and kept getting better. And then one of my assistants,

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Speaker 1: Kyle Keller, who was head coach at SFA, he was

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Speaker 1: the one who recruited me to A and M, and

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Speaker 1: he sat me down one day he like, did this

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Speaker 1: really cheesy kind of mock up on a on a

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Speaker 1: piece of printer paper, and like half of it was

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Speaker 1: like video games and like hanging out with my friends

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Speaker 1: and you know, stuff that was distracting from basketball. And

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Speaker 1: then one side was like you know, a private plane

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Speaker 1: and a big house and like other stuff that was

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Speaker 1: like basically like if you take this seriously, like you

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Speaker 1: can make a living off of it, and you can,

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Speaker 1: you can have a really good career. And he asked me,

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Speaker 1: it's like, what do you want to do with basketball?

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Speaker 1: It's like I'm a play in the NBA. And he's like, no,

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Speaker 1: it's like you have to be more concrete about it.

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Speaker 1: And I told him I was like I want to

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Speaker 1: play ten years in the NBA, and I want to

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Speaker 1: have a decade long career, Like I feel like that'd

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Speaker 1: be a really good goal to strive for. And looking

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Speaker 1: back on it now, about to go into year seven,

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Speaker 1: and you know, knock on wood, you know, stay healthy

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Speaker 1: for as many years as I can and play like

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Speaker 1: it looks like an attainable goal.

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Speaker 2: Just a really really kind of cool, full full circle moment.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, towards the end of my career, I mean

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Speaker 2: they were starting. It was kind of like high school.

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Speaker 1: It was crazy how it the two kind of parallel,

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Speaker 1: where I just kept getting better and kept getting you know,

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Speaker 1: being competitive with myself. And then into my junior year,

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Speaker 1: I have a really good game in the SEC tournament

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Speaker 1: where we played Missouri, and I had like a career game,

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Speaker 1: like I was like twenty eight points, seven rebound, seven assists,

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Speaker 1: like five steals.

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Speaker 2: It was nuts, played like the whole game.

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Speaker 1: Then some discussions started happening from pro scouts the same

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Speaker 1: way it happened with the high school scene, and kind

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Speaker 1: of turned the same thing. I went through my senior

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Speaker 1: year and now it was you know a real possibility

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Speaker 1: to where I was going to be able to play professionally.

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Speaker 1: Maybe not the NBA, but at some level, right there

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Speaker 1: is interest. And for me that was music to my ears.

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Speaker 1: Like you tell me I can I can just play

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Speaker 1: basketball and I don't have to like actually, you know,

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Speaker 1: work work, like I don't have to do a real job.

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Speaker 2: That sounds sounds pretty good to me.

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Speaker 3: I know your senior year, you guys were pretty darn good.

357
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Speaker 3: You end up getting a three seed in the NCAA tournament.

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Speaker 3: What game do you remember the most from that senior year?

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Speaker 1: I think it's a two part answer, because there's one

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Speaker 1: answer that is the two Kentucky games. Honestly, we played

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Speaker 1: Kentucky at home and we won on a tip in

362
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Speaker 1: and I think it was an overtime, and that basically

363
00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:43,119
Speaker 1: that win like got us a share of the regular

364
00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:45,359
Speaker 1: season SEC title, so we all got a ring and

365
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Speaker 1: got to cut down the nets on senior night.

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Speaker 2: That was really cool.

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Speaker 1: And then we played them again in the tournament and

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Speaker 1: it was like a redemption game. We're playing in Nashville,

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Speaker 1: I believe, you know, Kentucky's got like eleven thousand, five

370
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Speaker 1: hundred of the twelve thousand seats and we got like

371
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Speaker 1: two hundred. And then there's like a mix of random people.

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Speaker 1: And it was another one. I think we went to

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Speaker 1: overtime or double overtime, and it was just there're such

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Speaker 1: good games that I'll always like, I still have photographic

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00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,160
Speaker 1: memory of certain plays and certain events just because those

376
00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,280
Speaker 1: games are so cool. And then, you know, first NCAA

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Speaker 1: tournament game, we had the comeback against Northern Iowa that

378
00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,680
Speaker 1: to this day, you know, is one of the most

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00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,240
Speaker 1: asked questions people asked me about. It's like, dude, you

380
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,959
Speaker 1: remember that game you had. It's like, yeah, no, I

381
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:30,680
Speaker 1: remember we had Remember that time, remember that thing you did.

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Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, that was my life I lived.

383
00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:36,680
Speaker 1: But yeah, that comeback game to get us into the

384
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Speaker 1: sweet sixteen. It was probably probably those two events.

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Speaker 3: For those of you listening who don't remember or remember

386
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:47,240
Speaker 3: the specifics. Forty four seconds left, they're down twelve points

387
00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,919
Speaker 3: and end up coming back with a layup and a

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00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,320
Speaker 3: free throw at the buzzer.

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00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:56,280
Speaker 1: Basically people forget to just interject we went to double

390
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,359
Speaker 1: overtime after that? Yeah, no, I know, yeah, we didn't

391
00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:01,639
Speaker 1: win the game, Like, we just got to overtime and

392
00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:02,520
Speaker 1: then they kept throwing.

393
00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,080
Speaker 2: It was just the Haymakers Haymakers.

394
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,040
Speaker 1: Haymakers, and then finally they missed a couple of shots late.

395
00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,640
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was just nuts.

396
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,840
Speaker 3: The NCAA tournament is it gets so much attention, it's highlighted,

397
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,560
Speaker 3: and that game, for you, I still remember what an

398
00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,560
Speaker 3: amazing game it was, what a just an improbable comeback,

399
00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 3: and you're you're obviously your play in that game. Do

400
00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:30,000
Speaker 3: you think that game got people's attention?

401
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:33,160
Speaker 1: The broad answer is like, of course, Like that's it's

402
00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,800
Speaker 1: just such a crazy turn of events. I mean, it's

403
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:40,800
Speaker 1: it's the greatest comeback, mathematically greatest comeback in NCAA history

404
00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:44,439
Speaker 1: for sure the tournament, if not the entire history of

405
00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,560
Speaker 1: college basketball. So like that's just insane to start with.

406
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:52,480
Speaker 1: But for me, I mean it's it's kind of looking

407
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,920
Speaker 1: back on the NCAA Tournament, I thought I played decent

408
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:56,920
Speaker 1: in the first game. I thought I played really well

409
00:19:56,920 --> 00:19:58,800
Speaker 1: in the Northern Iowa game kind of kind of helped

410
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,280
Speaker 1: us carry us to get to the end. And then

411
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,560
Speaker 1: a couple of other guys, Daniel House and Jayleen made

412
00:20:03,600 --> 00:20:05,960
Speaker 1: some place in the overtimes, and then even then I

413
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,160
Speaker 1: thought I played good. The next the Sweet sixteen game

414
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,359
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma, we just didn't play well as a team

415
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 1: and came up short. But that's actually where I met

416
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:15,960
Speaker 1: or at least my parents were introduced to my current

417
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,119
Speaker 1: agent and agent i've had, Craig Lawrence since I've been

418
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,159
Speaker 1: a professional, was in Anaheim at the sweet sixteen. So

419
00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 1: I mean that might be the answer right in itself,

420
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,440
Speaker 1: like that that might have been enough to be like, well,

421
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:30,160
Speaker 1: we might as well talk to the kid and talk

422
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,920
Speaker 1: to his parents and see what's see what's going on.

423
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 3: But I feel like that, I don't know, it feels

424
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 3: like the embodiment for me of like you and your identity,

425
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:46,240
Speaker 3: that it's like we're gonna work hard, We're gonna come

426
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:50,600
Speaker 3: back and manage to win an exciting fashion. It feels

427
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,439
Speaker 3: to me like that has to be a part of

428
00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,240
Speaker 3: it in people's minds, whether they remember the specifics of

429
00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:56,919
Speaker 3: that game or not.

430
00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's I don't think you're off base

431
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,479
Speaker 1: at all. I think I think a lot of you know,

432
00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,680
Speaker 1: like you're like, you're alluding to me getting to professional basketball,

433
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,919
Speaker 1: even it's based off of me, you know. Kind of

434
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:11,960
Speaker 1: that same attitude I had when I said I was

435
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,000
Speaker 1: almost naive to the fact that like these high school

436
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,480
Speaker 1: kids are supposed to be better than me, and I

437
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,120
Speaker 1: go in there and just compete and dig my way into,

438
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:21,359
Speaker 1: you know, a spot in divisional basketball. It's kind of

439
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:23,520
Speaker 1: the same thing. Like I just always have had this

440
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:28,320
Speaker 1: wildly competitive, you know, never say die, like you the

441
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,879
Speaker 1: game's got to end before you're gonna beat me attitude,

442
00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,399
Speaker 1: and some of that I think I can attest to

443
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,520
Speaker 1: watching some A and basketball games growing up and just

444
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,440
Speaker 1: like I said, drinking the kool aid, Like I think

445
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: I think this saying is like we didn't lose the game,

446
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 1: like time just ran out, you know, we ran out

447
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,280
Speaker 1: of time right right, And that was that was always

448
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,439
Speaker 1: my mentality, was like I'm gonna I'm gonna fight and

449
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:54,199
Speaker 1: even if you know you might you might beat me,

450
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:55,880
Speaker 1: but but as long as there's time on the clock,

451
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make you work.

452
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:57,040
Speaker 3: You know.

453
00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:58,440
Speaker 2: That's just kind of how I've always been.

454
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,679
Speaker 1: And I don't even think I really tapped into that

455
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 1: until I got out of college to like have the

456
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 1: awareness that I was that competitive and then almost to

457
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 1: like lean into it and make it my advantage.

458
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,440
Speaker 3: You get some attention obviously because of that and because

459
00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:33,040
Speaker 3: of your play your last couple of years. You don't

460
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 3: get spoiler alert. I don't know if you remember what

461
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,640
Speaker 3: happened to you. You didn't get drafted out of college,

462
00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,040
Speaker 3: research research you you went played for the seventy six

463
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,240
Speaker 3: years in the summer league.

464
00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: Then play is a generous word. I was on the team.

465
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,440
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, then you get a contract. How about that

466
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 3: with the thunder and then get way.

467
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,680
Speaker 1: The good story to tell actually that yeah, people probably

468
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 1: don't know is I went to So I went to

469
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:01,480
Speaker 1: Summer League with seventy six series and I went to

470
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:03,880
Speaker 1: Summer league, didn't play a lot, and even when I played,

471
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,199
Speaker 1: didn't play very well. Just a completely new new world,

472
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: new you know, new basketball as far as systems and

473
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:11,959
Speaker 1: schemes and all that.

474
00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 2: So I had a learning curve you go through.

475
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: And there was a week in August before that season

476
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 1: that I had gotten an offer to go to Poland

477
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,679
Speaker 1: and play. Okay, that was like Monday, and then like Wednesday,

478
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: my agent called me. It was like there's a there's

479
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,199
Speaker 1: a euro Cup team, there's a German team, and he's like,

480
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,359
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I talked to the coach, this Canadian coach.

481
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,000
Speaker 1: I talked to him on Wednesday, and then Friday I

482
00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 1: get another call from an agent and he's like, Oklahoma

483
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:42,640
Speaker 1: City wants you to play on their g LE team.

484
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 1: You can sign an exhibit in make some money here.

485
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,160
Speaker 1: Played the whole whole year in the G League and

486
00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: so like, in a week span, I went from Poland

487
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:53,280
Speaker 1: to you know, six hours north to Oklahoma City and

488
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: I actually went up there, took a tour of the facilities,

489
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:57,679
Speaker 1: saw where I was going to live and all this.

490
00:23:57,720 --> 00:23:59,800
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this is this is pretty good,

491
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 1: Like I could its better than college. It's not great,

492
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 1: but it's better than living in with four other guys

493
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,439
Speaker 1: in an apartment. And then from there I started my

494
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,040
Speaker 1: journey and that was just unparalleled. I feel like in

495
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,160
Speaker 1: a week span, I went through a lot of different

496
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:19,399
Speaker 1: thoughts and emotions to begin my professional career.

497
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,199
Speaker 3: For you, was it about playing basketball or was it

498
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,679
Speaker 3: about making the NBA? I mean, it has to be

499
00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 3: about making the NBA. But like, would you have been

500
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:33,440
Speaker 3: content playing in the G League or the Development League

501
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,080
Speaker 3: for an extended period of time?

502
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 1: I mean I kind of did, even with you know,

503
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 1: I played the first year with the Oklahoma City Blue

504
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: and then signed a two way contract for two years

505
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:46,560
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. And majority of probably fifty percent of

506
00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:48,840
Speaker 1: both years I was in the G League playing. So

507
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 1: it's hard to give an accurate answer to what I

508
00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:54,600
Speaker 1: think I would be if I was just playing the

509
00:24:54,600 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: G League for three years without the two way contract

510
00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 1: and getting a taste at least, because once once I

511
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: got a taste, it was kind of, you know, like

512
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 1: I said, I have this weird there's these weird parallels

513
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 1: from each kind of level of basketball in my life.

514
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,919
Speaker 1: And once I got to the G League, I was like, oh, okay,

515
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 1: I'm just as good as all these guys. If not,

516
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 1: I think I'm a little better than most of these guys.

517
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: And then the next year I get into training camp

518
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 1: again with the NBA team playing the Summer League, I'm like,

519
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: all right, I'm definitely better than most of these guys.

520
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 1: And then I get into actual NBA games and I

521
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: have a couple of plays where I'm like, oh, I

522
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 1: was like I could I could do this, Like I

523
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 1: just gotta get a little bit better. I gotta get

524
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,120
Speaker 1: a little bit better. And then you know, now we're

525
00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: looking six years later, I'm first team All Defense, I've

526
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: been on a championship team. I wish I had more

527
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,399
Speaker 1: words to describe it other than just it's not blind luck,

528
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: because I put a lot of work into it. But

529
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of just there's a lot of

530
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,679
Speaker 1: me just ignoring noise, you know, and just just putting

531
00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 1: my head down and competing and working really hard, and

532
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 1: you know, luck has found me in the process.

533
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,159
Speaker 3: I've read some common that you made about Sam Presti,

534
00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,840
Speaker 3: who obviously greatly respected. Obviously you made relationships there in

535
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:10,200
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City and other places. When you sign for the

536
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 3: Lakers summer league and end up with a two way contract,

537
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,919
Speaker 3: you're still playing down Is there something about the Lakers

538
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:22,040
Speaker 3: or the people there at the time where there was

539
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:25,520
Speaker 3: a shift for you that you began to feel like

540
00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:28,400
Speaker 3: there may be a place for me here.

541
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the So the whole two way contract

542
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,320
Speaker 1: another another fun facts for anybody. I'm the first person

543
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: I ever sign a two way contract in the NBA. Yeah,

544
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: So put put that in your your next game night

545
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,159
Speaker 1: or you're yeah, there you go your.

546
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:43,560
Speaker 2: Sunday watching sports with somebody.

547
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: The front the front office for the South Bay Lakers

548
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,840
Speaker 1: just had an, you know, unwavering love and appreciation for

549
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,880
Speaker 1: how I played basketball, and they they just they gave

550
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,119
Speaker 1: me all the confidence my uh my coach, and in

551
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 1: South Bay Kobe Carl did the same thing where he

552
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,199
Speaker 1: kind of recognized how good I could be, and he

553
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,720
Speaker 1: tried to get me to think in different ways that

554
00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:10,159
Speaker 1: I wasn't you know, I wasn't accustomed to, which I

555
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: think helped helped my development as well. But the longer

556
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,919
Speaker 1: I played in LA, especially once Bron got there his

557
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 1: first year, when I was on my second way or

558
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: to my second year of the two way contract, and

559
00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,480
Speaker 1: I got time to be around him in games and

560
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: in practices, I started realizing that, oh, I'm seeing, you know,

561
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:30,560
Speaker 1: some of the stuff that he's seeing. And then he

562
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: kind of opened my eyes to other stuff that I

563
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 1: wasn't seeing at the same time and understanding about the game.

564
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: And then from there my confidence just grows.

565
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:38,919
Speaker 2: You know.

566
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:41,399
Speaker 1: I had some really good games at the end of

567
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,000
Speaker 1: my first year on two way contract, kind of got

568
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 1: cut in mud when I didn't get my two way

569
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: contract upgraded. But the time I didn't see the business

570
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,480
Speaker 1: of it. Why would you upgrade this guy when you

571
00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 1: can still get him for the same amount.

572
00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,320
Speaker 2: You know, It's just the business of basketball.

573
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,199
Speaker 1: And I got caught in mud a little bit at

574
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: the beginning of my second year on the two way,

575
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 1: when I was in the g League, because I knew

576
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: that I wasn't going to get any better playing in

577
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:05,720
Speaker 1: the GLEE, like I needed to play against guys in

578
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: the NBA. I had gotten to that point where I

579
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,959
Speaker 1: was like, I need I need live reps at that speed,

580
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,240
Speaker 1: that physicality, that intensity to get better. And then, like

581
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: I said, me, me and Lebron had really good chemistry

582
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:17,800
Speaker 1: at the end of that first year, and I think

583
00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:19,760
Speaker 1: that helped, you know, kind of get me back in

584
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,280
Speaker 1: the same spot. And then even then, like I had to,

585
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: I had to kind of earn my way on that

586
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,240
Speaker 1: championship team. I got a d n P the first

587
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:29,320
Speaker 1: night of the season, didn't play a minute against the Clippers,

588
00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: just being a good teammate. And then from there, like

589
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: you know, kind of same thing I've always I've always done.

590
00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:35,879
Speaker 1: It sounds like a broken record, but I was just

591
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: competed really hard and then just worked my way. Took

592
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,360
Speaker 1: my five minutes in the game, turned it into eight minutes,

593
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 1: turned that into ten minutes, and then all of a sudden,

594
00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, we got to have this guy out

595
00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: on the court. He's helping us win games, and he

596
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 1: is helping our best players have success. So yeah, it

597
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: was it was a slow process, I think for me

598
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: to understand it. But I think once I saw it,

599
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, there's there's a place for

600
00:28:58,240 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: me in the organization.

601
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 3: You said something about Lebron helping you to see and

602
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,600
Speaker 3: feel and understand the game at that level in a

603
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 3: new way. Is this is it? Are these conversations that

604
00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,480
Speaker 3: happen often with Lebron and others about the game and

605
00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 3: how it's played.

606
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think I wish I would have asked

607
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 1: more questions, you know, looking back on it, I wish

608
00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,760
Speaker 1: I would have tried to steal more more knowledge and

609
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,680
Speaker 1: more stuff about it. But the Lebron and Rondo, two

610
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: of the smartest guys I've ever played with and probably

611
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: ever will play with. Two basketball minds have been around.

612
00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 1: They know everybody's tendencies in the league. They know who

613
00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: likes to go left, they know who likes to go right,

614
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: they know they know everything. And that was something to

615
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:43,160
Speaker 1: me that I was like, Oh, there's a level of

616
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 1: detail that you can go into that I'm capable of

617
00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 1: knowing as well. But I need to learn it, and

618
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: I need to I need to have, like I said,

619
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: the reps in the years to gain it and then

620
00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: to solidify it so it's just second nature, but then

621
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 1: just live action in game. There was a play I

622
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: remember specifically we played against Toronto in Toronto and I

623
00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: ran a ball stream where he set it open side

624
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,600
Speaker 1: on the wing and I came off and I think

625
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,720
Speaker 1: it was Jeremy Lynn guarding me and I don't know

626
00:30:08,720 --> 00:30:10,680
Speaker 1: who was on him, but he got clipped a little

627
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:12,640
Speaker 1: bit and I came off hesitated and then just walked

628
00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,360
Speaker 1: to the front of the rim, made a layup, got

629
00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: an in one, and he immediately like, we're not making

630
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:20,560
Speaker 1: a playoff. So we got our two way guy playing

631
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 1: with Lebron. Lebron's just playing because he loves to play

632
00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,720
Speaker 1: basketball at the end of the season, and the intensity

633
00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: of him telling me, like, you see what they're doing,

634
00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 1: They're not coming off of me. You can just walk

635
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:32,200
Speaker 1: to the front of the rim and shoot layups. And

636
00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, you're right. Like that, that's an

637
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 1: in game read where it's like just learning how teams

638
00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: are playing against you, how they how they played him.

639
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:43,960
Speaker 1: And then once I realized, you know, the gravitational pool

640
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: that he has on the basketball court. From there, it

641
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: was it was easier for me to decipher and make

642
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: reads and make plays and put guys in positions before

643
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,640
Speaker 1: the play happens, to take advantage of stuff.

644
00:30:55,840 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 3: I'm asking because I'm truly, truly curious, because you mentioned

645
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,960
Speaker 3: and you mentioned Lebron and these guys with one great

646
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 3: basketball minds and experience in the league. How is the

647
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 3: insight that they give you better or different than what

648
00:31:11,680 --> 00:31:14,680
Speaker 3: a coach can see by studying film.

649
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's just it's just experience, you know,

650
00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:22,280
Speaker 1: being in the fire being Yeah, because there's a certain

651
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 1: there's a certain difference of what you're thinking about how

652
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: you're physically moving through the play and through the action

653
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,280
Speaker 1: then than just what you know the coach sees on

654
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: the sideline and can tell you what to do. It's

655
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 1: not to say that the coaches aren't more than capable.

656
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: We have a we have a great staff. But there's

657
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 1: a difference between being on the court and seeing it

658
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: and feeling it and understanding, you know, how fast you

659
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: know the desperation this guy has to not let me

660
00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:51,800
Speaker 1: get the ball. It's like, Okay, I'm gonna come up

661
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna tell him, Hey, next time, I'm gonna

662
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: fake and I'm gonna go back door and it's gonna

663
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:56,920
Speaker 1: be wide open. Coach might not be able to see

664
00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:59,640
Speaker 1: that or feel that, versus you being in the in

665
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 1: the in the heat of the battle and you know,

666
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: feeling the momentum of the court and how the game's moving.

667
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 3: There's a lot of discussion, I feel like in football

668
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 3: about schemes, how an offensive coordinator works, what their plan

669
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 3: is defense the same thing having to make that adjustment.

670
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,719
Speaker 3: Is that similar? Do you think in basketball? I mean,

671
00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:25,120
Speaker 3: I feel like what people think about in basketball is

672
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,160
Speaker 3: like you've got game or you don't, and you can

673
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 3: more easily walk into another system. But how have you

674
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,960
Speaker 3: found or watched with other guys coming in and trying

675
00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,880
Speaker 3: to learn a different offense or a different a different

676
00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,320
Speaker 3: way of approaching the game.

677
00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I think I think to the untrained eye,

678
00:32:43,360 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: it looks like basketball is just go out there and

679
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:47,120
Speaker 1: make more shots or.

680
00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:49,600
Speaker 2: Put up the other team right than the other team.

681
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 3: But that's just the All star games.

682
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:57,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's at your local lifetime. There's so much detail

683
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:02,560
Speaker 1: in timing go into the schemes of basketball that that

684
00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,080
Speaker 1: people just they probably don't see as much because there's

685
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: less players, you know, which which is kind of a

686
00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of almost backwards. You think it'd

687
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 1: be easier to see with less players. But football they

688
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 1: have such defined roles too, Like you know, the linemen

689
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,880
Speaker 1: are gonna block, and there's different schemes for them to move,

690
00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:20,920
Speaker 1: you know, you know with the quarterbacks that they're going

691
00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: to do with the timing and the receivers and stuff

692
00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,960
Speaker 1: like that. But for basketball, it's just it's so free flowing.

693
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: You have to understand what you're trying to do to

694
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 1: such a such a high level that you're not thinking

695
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,280
Speaker 1: while you're out there playing. Because if you're out there

696
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:38,600
Speaker 1: thinking while you're playing in the NBA, you're you're getting

697
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: beat because guys are too good, they're too fast, they're

698
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: too athletic, they're too smart. It's the peak of professional basketball.

699
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 1: It's so detailed people don't really understand, and it's probably

700
00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 1: hard to have that conversation unless you have a certain

701
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 1: level of basketball intelligence because there's just you know, you'd

702
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 1: have to break down so much and talk about so

703
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: many things, and it just moves so fast.

704
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 2: Man.

705
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:06,440
Speaker 1: People don't realize how fast the NBA game moves. You know,

706
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:08,920
Speaker 1: it looks slow on TV, and the guys don't look

707
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,719
Speaker 1: that big. They're monsters out here that are moving.

708
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 3: Oh it's oh, it's yeah. You get in the building

709
00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:19,719
Speaker 3: and you see it instantly. How fast? How physical?

710
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, the speed of it is.

711
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,240
Speaker 1: How fast, how physical? And people don't realize the size

712
00:34:25,280 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: of some of these guys that are moving around. That's

713
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,399
Speaker 1: that's the number one thing that people tell me when

714
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 1: they see me, when they've never met me before and

715
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,600
Speaker 1: they recognize me that oh, wow, I didn't know you're

716
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:36,680
Speaker 1: that tall. Yeah, I'm I'm six four six ' five

717
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:38,399
Speaker 1: and I'm the small guy.

718
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 3: That's you look small to me.

719
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks small to me, So I could take it.

720
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,839
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got that guy, give him my fade away

721
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 3: fade away jumper. When you're watching a game on TV,

722
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:56,400
Speaker 3: are you breaking it down? Are you looking and watching

723
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,040
Speaker 3: at what they're trying to do to the other players. Yeah.

724
00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:01,839
Speaker 1: I can't watch for like pure entertainment anymore. I just

725
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,040
Speaker 1: my brain doesn't work like that. Like I've lost the

726
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: ability to just sit down and watch a basketball game.

727
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 1: All I do is see the flaws of what they

728
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 1: should be doing, knowing actually like what teams like to

729
00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,880
Speaker 1: run in certain plays and being like defense didn't push

730
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 1: them to the right spot. It's very analytical, but that's

731
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:21,799
Speaker 1: kind of my job.

732
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:27,280
Speaker 3: So I do you put yourself there, like, are you like, okay,

733
00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:33,719
Speaker 3: I'm him and imagine yourself moving within either an offensive

734
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:35,960
Speaker 3: or a defensive play. Do you go that far?

735
00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:37,320
Speaker 2: Yeah?

736
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,239
Speaker 1: For the most part, Yeah, especially defensively, just because that's

737
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:43,240
Speaker 1: kind of how my brain's wired. I get really upset

738
00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 1: watching certain guys in the league because they do their

739
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:48,319
Speaker 1: patent move whatever it is.

740
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 3: You know.

741
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,440
Speaker 1: I know that if they're in their left hand, they're

742
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: gonna go between the legs and step back, or it's

743
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:54,480
Speaker 1: in their right hand, they're gonna go downhill.

744
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 2: And I'm like calling it out.

745
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:57,879
Speaker 1: I'm like, he's gonna go right, he's gonna go right,

746
00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 1: and then the guy gets blown by right. It's just

747
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,520
Speaker 1: it's it's hard to watch, but that's that's the perfectionist

748
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,040
Speaker 1: and the competitor in me was like, I just don't

749
00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:07,839
Speaker 1: see anything else.

750
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 2: Uh.

751
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 3: By twenty nineteen, you're playing pretty damn well. You are

752
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 3: the only other Laker besides mister James to get a

753
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:23,240
Speaker 3: game thirty points, ten rebounds, five assists. Did you feel

754
00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 3: walking into Staple Center how much everybody loved you? Uh?

755
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure?

756
00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 3: Why did they? Aside from the fact that you're good.

757
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:34,560
Speaker 2: Just to start?

758
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:40,439
Speaker 1: Staple Centers is like Staple Center in the Garden, those

759
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 1: two places. It's it's different than everywhere else because they

760
00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 1: it's almost like the court is lit up, you know,

761
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,799
Speaker 1: like like a like a like a performance, you know,

762
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 1: like it's a stand up comedy special or it's a

763
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,400
Speaker 1: it's a concert. Like it's dark. It's dark in the crowd.

764
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,520
Speaker 1: All the lights are pointing towards there, and there's this

765
00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 1: atmosps fear about it that that just makes it special

766
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,399
Speaker 1: to begin with, So that that already you know, gets

767
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:07,840
Speaker 1: the juices flown as a basketball player in general.

768
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:09,560
Speaker 2: And and then.

769
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 1: I'm fighting for my life at this point, right I'm

770
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,640
Speaker 1: on I'm on two way contract. And the way that

771
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,600
Speaker 1: I viewed it, like a lot of guys, you know,

772
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,759
Speaker 1: they might get a two way contract or they might

773
00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:21,879
Speaker 1: get you know, the even the first deal I got

774
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 1: in LA it was a two year, five and a

775
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:24,520
Speaker 1: half million dollar deal.

776
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:25,760
Speaker 2: I had.

777
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 1: I had the awareness to understand, like this isn't a

778
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,719
Speaker 1: guarantee into the league, like this is still like you

779
00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:35,000
Speaker 1: get you gotta you gotta prove it contracts. And so

780
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: every time I played, like I already have the mindset

781
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 1: of being super competitive just because I like to play

782
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 1: like that and I just love basketball. But now I

783
00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:47,439
Speaker 1: have like almost a back against the wall mentality going

784
00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: into it as well, to where it's like, all right,

785
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: I have to perform or else I'm not going to

786
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 1: be here, like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna have

787
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 1: a job. And you mix those two things together and

788
00:37:56,600 --> 00:37:59,000
Speaker 1: you just had you had me playing it at a

789
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,880
Speaker 1: high level that I think a lot of NBA players

790
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 1: don't play yet every night, and I was taking advantage

791
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: of guys taking plays off. And then even once you know,

792
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 1: I had the reputation, I think it was still like

793
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: a there was a lot of guys in the league

794
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 1: that didn't believe that I could play a little bit,

795
00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:16,960
Speaker 1: and it was still one of those okay, you got

796
00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:19,719
Speaker 1: to prove it things, And so my motivation just kept

797
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: moving and changing, and I think, you know, Lakers fans

798
00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,280
Speaker 1: are one of the more spoiled fan bases in pro sports.

799
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 1: With as much success as they've had you know, but

800
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:33,359
Speaker 1: they they have high expectations and they just we talk

801
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 1: about A and M.

802
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:35,879
Speaker 2: We drink the kool Aid Lakers fans drink the kool

803
00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 2: Aid hard.

804
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,359
Speaker 1: And and they are they if you go out there

805
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 1: and you play to win, and you play and you

806
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,399
Speaker 1: play hard, they just have a certain appreciation for it.

807
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: And this was you got to remember the time this

808
00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:48,759
Speaker 1: was for the franchise, right, this is coming off of

809
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,480
Speaker 1: after Kobe left. There wasn't a lot of success. They

810
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,440
Speaker 1: had young players and they were trying to find teams.

811
00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 2: It was it was a really low period.

812
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,880
Speaker 1: They're bringing big names Bronze in a, DSN, Rondo's and Dwight,

813
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:03,440
Speaker 1: all these guys, the whole the whole team. And then

814
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:05,480
Speaker 1: you had me that was just you know, kind of

815
00:39:05,480 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 1: sprinkled in there on top, and it's like who's this.

816
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: Who's this crazy white guy that's out here just running

817
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:15,799
Speaker 1: around dunking on people, getting steals, like playing with this

818
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,880
Speaker 1: fiery energy. In my opinion, I think I represented, you know,

819
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 1: what a winning culture and winning is about, and I

820
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,880
Speaker 1: think that they recognize that and appreciated it.

821
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was it was certainly fun. You win the

822
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,640
Speaker 3: championship in twenty twenty with the Lakers, unfortunately not in

823
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,600
Speaker 3: front of the Stable Center crowd.

824
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,720
Speaker 1: Still mad we didn't get a parade.

825
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:40,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's true.

826
00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 1: That's it's probably good to be honest, that's probably that's probably.

827
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 3: Yeah. What was that feeling like for you?

828
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:51,879
Speaker 2: Oh?

829
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 1: Man, I haven't experienced anything like it. It's just the euphoria,

830
00:39:56,480 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 1: the relief. I think those two words probably describe it

831
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:02,640
Speaker 1: the most. But you know, the sense of accomplishment, like

832
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 1: there's there is nothing quite like it. And I didn't

833
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:08,719
Speaker 1: understand it. Like I had guys on the team, you know,

834
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,520
Speaker 1: obviously Brown and one Rondo and one Danny Green, a

835
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: couple other guys, and they just talked like, there's nothing

836
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: like winning the championship.

837
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,240
Speaker 2: There's nothing like win in a championship, and.

838
00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:20,360
Speaker 1: Like you hear it, but you don't know until you're

839
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:24,399
Speaker 1: present in that moment and you've been locked in for

840
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: four series in a row, which is just such an

841
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:33,319
Speaker 1: emotional and stressful toll on you mentally, you know, and

842
00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: then you get to the physical part where it's just

843
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:39,200
Speaker 1: such intense, fast, strong, physical basketball.

844
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:44,160
Speaker 3: I mean going through all those rounds, those playoff rounds

845
00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:48,440
Speaker 3: of high intensity, no plays off are you in pain,

846
00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 3: Oh for sure.

847
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. But that's I mean, that's that's part of

848
00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: like like what you said, like when I said there's

849
00:40:56,719 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: relief in euphoria. It's that sense of relief of like,

850
00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:01,759
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, it's over, and oh my gosh, we

851
00:41:01,800 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: did it because it's like I don't have to I

852
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,200
Speaker 1: don't have to try and block out this. You know,

853
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:10,879
Speaker 1: this wrist injury and my knee hurting that that's been

854
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,920
Speaker 1: that's been bugging me for the last two weeks. You

855
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:15,560
Speaker 1: just got to turn a blind eye to it and

856
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 1: just act like it's not there because you're trying to win.

857
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:18,879
Speaker 2: I think we won.

858
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,280
Speaker 1: And then afterwards we all there was like a little

859
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 1: restaurant in the middle of the Disney property that that

860
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 1: we hosted everybody that was still.

861
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:25,280
Speaker 2: In the bubble.

862
00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,760
Speaker 1: And I remember walking around and I was my legs

863
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 1: were so tired, so tired, and I was so excited.

864
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 1: It was just such like I was just battling myself.

865
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,480
Speaker 1: But man, nothing nothing like winning the championship, Nothing like

866
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,839
Speaker 1: being the last person standing that you know, nothing else

867
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:45,920
Speaker 1: anybody can say like you you've won, nothing like that,

868
00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:49,400
Speaker 1: And I'm chasing that desperately now. It's something that I

869
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 1: need to get need to get that feeling back again.

870
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:56,880
Speaker 3: Yeah, It's it's interesting too because in a way, I

871
00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:01,839
Speaker 3: think for that Lakers team who you mentioned, there had

872
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 3: been a number of years since Kolbe had left and

873
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:07,600
Speaker 3: the last few years he was there, where there had

874
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,400
Speaker 3: not been a lot of winning. It felt like the

875
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 3: joy was back, both at Staples Center and from the

876
00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:23,080
Speaker 3: team itself having won, and you being a two way

877
00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,759
Speaker 3: G League player, you know, who has come in and

878
00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:30,280
Speaker 3: made such a meaningful contribution to that is a huge

879
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 3: part of why there was joy.

880
00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 2: Yeah.

881
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:37,000
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I'm sure everyone that's won a

882
00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:40,279
Speaker 1: championship or won a championship, like your phone afterwards just

883
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:44,200
Speaker 1: blown up with people congratulating you from every walk, every

884
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 1: walk of life. And that was something for me that

885
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 1: was just really cool that I remember being really present

886
00:42:49,600 --> 00:42:53,440
Speaker 1: for was so many different walks of life and people

887
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,520
Speaker 1: that you know, had no expectation of me making it

888
00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,480
Speaker 1: to the NBA and winning a championship that were just

889
00:43:00,520 --> 00:43:03,560
Speaker 1: so happy for me. And it was just so cool

890
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,480
Speaker 1: to see, you know, even people from from high school

891
00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:12,720
Speaker 1: to you know, au college, people that family friends, family

892
00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 1: friends we had grown up with that that I that

893
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,680
Speaker 1: I know, just that were so happy for me. And

894
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,840
Speaker 1: it wasn't like you could tell. It wasn't oh my gosh,

895
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: so happy for your you know, basketball accomplishment. It was

896
00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:27,560
Speaker 1: just like, we're so happy for your success, you know,

897
00:43:27,600 --> 00:43:30,440
Speaker 1: as an individual, and and that made it, you know,

898
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:32,279
Speaker 1: that made it even a little more a little more

899
00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:32,880
Speaker 1: special for me.

900
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,120
Speaker 3: You mentioned before that it's a business. Why do you

901
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:57,879
Speaker 3: feel like the Lakers after that championship didn't just try

902
00:43:57,920 --> 00:43:58,680
Speaker 3: to bring it all back?

903
00:44:00,440 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 2: You know, that's a good question. I don't know.

904
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:06,760
Speaker 1: I don't know if I've ever actually thought, like tooking

905
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:09,840
Speaker 1: the time and sat down and thought about it, because

906
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:13,279
Speaker 1: like you said, it's just, you know, everything's on go

907
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,120
Speaker 1: where you've got to move. And like you said, once

908
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:17,799
Speaker 1: I left, I was all in in Chicago and trying

909
00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 1: to focus on that. But we had a couple of

910
00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 1: older guys on the team. But the amount of people

911
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: that didn't come back was probably more surprising to me,

912
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 1: just because I thought they were I thought they were

913
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,600
Speaker 1: still really good pieces that you know, you need on

914
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 1: a championship team that that I thought they could they

915
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:40,359
Speaker 1: could use from that team. But that's kind of you know,

916
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:45,319
Speaker 1: it's it's I think it's more uncommon for teams to

917
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,359
Speaker 1: stay together like that just because of, like you said,

918
00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:51,400
Speaker 1: the business of it. Once you win, everybody gets paid.

919
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,239
Speaker 1: That's kind of how it is an NBA Like winning,

920
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 1: winning gets you paid. So I know, I got a

921
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,280
Speaker 1: new deal out of that. I want to say Rondo

922
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,399
Speaker 1: got a deal out of it, that Javail Goat got

923
00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:06,120
Speaker 1: more money out of that. Everybody got somewhat upgraded, you know,

924
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,280
Speaker 1: for whatever point in time they were in their career.

925
00:45:09,160 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 1: I think that was just kind of the move that

926
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:14,040
Speaker 1: that management decided to make. I wish, I wish that'd

927
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:16,160
Speaker 1: be a great fly on the wall question for for

928
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 1: them if anybody ever gets to interview them to to

929
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,759
Speaker 1: figure out why. But yeah, we were obviously bombed too

930
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:24,279
Speaker 1: because we we had such we had such good team chemistry.

931
00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 1: Like we did multiple team events where you know, one

932
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:30,960
Speaker 1: through fifteen were there, and that's that's not as uh

933
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,800
Speaker 1: not as common in the you know, current NBA landscape

934
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:37,360
Speaker 1: with just how many different moving pieces there are and

935
00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: people and interests. So it was it was unfortunate to

936
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:42,799
Speaker 1: see because you know, we were all excited because we

937
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:45,440
Speaker 1: just won. Two months later, you know, we didn't even

938
00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:47,200
Speaker 1: get a full off season to enjoy it, and then

939
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:50,239
Speaker 1: it's new team, new season, go. So that was a

940
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: little disappointing. But you know, I think i'd you know,

941
00:45:54,560 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: I trade the championship and being on on that team

942
00:45:57,080 --> 00:45:59,520
Speaker 1: then you know, four more years with no championship.

943
00:46:00,280 --> 00:46:05,160
Speaker 3: Right. Your current team, the Bulls, you signed a contract with,

944
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:12,240
Speaker 3: You've been a force for them. NBA All Defensive First

945
00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:15,480
Speaker 3: Team this year. Why is defense? You mentioned it before

946
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:18,080
Speaker 3: when you were watching games. Why is that so important

947
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:20,880
Speaker 3: for you? Are you just better than everyone else?

948
00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:23,399
Speaker 1: Well, that's part of it is like I'm really good

949
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: at it, Like it's it's it's kind of an it's

950
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:28,840
Speaker 1: it's a natural trade for me. I've always been, you know,

951
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:32,320
Speaker 1: pretty good at anticipation and seeing place before they happened

952
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,359
Speaker 1: in basketball. Okay, I think there's a big influence on

953
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:39,920
Speaker 1: it with like some of my early basketball coaches, Billy Gillespie,

954
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:42,200
Speaker 1: there's a name for you, that coach at Texas A

955
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:46,240
Speaker 1: and M yep, that his teams were just so tough.

956
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 1: You know, that was back when college basketball games were

957
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,360
Speaker 1: like maxing out at fifty to fifty five points.

958
00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:54,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say it was like forty

959
00:46:54,520 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 3: eight forty three.

960
00:46:56,400 --> 00:46:58,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, like when A and MB Texas, I want to

961
00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: say it was like forty six forty three. A claw

962
00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:03,839
Speaker 1: hit this like final shot, and so that that kind

963
00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:07,400
Speaker 1: of grit and toughness and defensive mentality I saw firsthand

964
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:09,200
Speaker 1: because I was a ball boy and I was like

965
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 1: literally watching it courtside. And then my high school coaches,

966
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:17,640
Speaker 1: Russy Siegler and Rick Jermyn were both in the passing lane.

967
00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,280
Speaker 1: We hold guys to fifty points, We're gonna win the game, coaches.

968
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,200
Speaker 1: And so for me, I always just kind of naturally,

969
00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:29,319
Speaker 1: you know, fall followed obviously coaching, but I was trying

970
00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: to win games and that was the recipe they set

971
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:31,680
Speaker 1: up for, so.

972
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:34,239
Speaker 2: I went for it. Yeah, I mean there was a point.

973
00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:36,040
Speaker 1: There was a point in time. I remember going to

974
00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:38,759
Speaker 1: a Texas A and M Elite basketball camp when I

975
00:47:38,800 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: was in sixth grade, for like sixth, seventh, and eighth graders,

976
00:47:41,600 --> 00:47:43,600
Speaker 1: and I was so nervous. I was like I had

977
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:46,840
Speaker 1: never done anything like this and played with like really

978
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:49,439
Speaker 1: really good players, and I was still I was still

979
00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:51,239
Speaker 1: I was a skinny kid. I hadn't really hit a

980
00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:54,440
Speaker 1: gross sper yet. And I remember trying to guard guys

981
00:47:54,440 --> 00:47:56,880
Speaker 1: and just just getting torched.

982
00:47:57,719 --> 00:47:58,280
Speaker 2: It was bad.

983
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:00,719
Speaker 1: And I think from there that's when I kind of

984
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:02,600
Speaker 1: got really competitive with it, where I was like, I

985
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,680
Speaker 1: can't do that again, Like I can't have that feeling

986
00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:05,720
Speaker 1: of embarrassment again.

987
00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:09,840
Speaker 3: Have I ever told you my embarrassing basketball story.

988
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,480
Speaker 2: No, I'd love to hear it. I feel like it's

989
00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:13,239
Speaker 2: gonna be a good one.

990
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:17,399
Speaker 3: It still sticks with me to this day. So I

991
00:48:17,480 --> 00:48:22,280
Speaker 3: went to elementary and junior high school, but it ended

992
00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:27,279
Speaker 3: in eighth grade and there was another school that I

993
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,640
Speaker 3: knew at that point I would be attending the next

994
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:35,400
Speaker 3: year for ninth grade high school. Now it went elementary

995
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:40,120
Speaker 3: school through high school by the way Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.

996
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:46,160
Speaker 3: And I'm playing the I am the starting center for

997
00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:48,800
Speaker 3: I guess I. You know, when I talked to athletes,

998
00:48:48,960 --> 00:48:51,359
Speaker 3: when when did you grow? When did you When were

999
00:48:51,400 --> 00:48:53,120
Speaker 3: you one of the tall kids?

1000
00:48:53,719 --> 00:48:55,880
Speaker 1: I think starting in high school for me, Like I

1001
00:48:55,920 --> 00:48:58,080
Speaker 1: think I think my freshman year I had three months

1002
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:00,560
Speaker 1: where I grew an inch, like September, October, November.

1003
00:49:01,080 --> 00:49:03,680
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I I think I was. I think

1004
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:07,600
Speaker 3: I must have been early because I was. I was

1005
00:49:07,800 --> 00:49:10,840
Speaker 3: the center. I mean, I am like six two sixty three,

1006
00:49:12,640 --> 00:49:15,319
Speaker 3: but I feel like I was that tall then. I

1007
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,640
Speaker 3: don't know if that's true. I didn't dunk even then,

1008
00:49:17,719 --> 00:49:21,040
Speaker 3: let's be clear, but I was the center. I was

1009
00:49:21,040 --> 00:49:23,919
Speaker 3: playing against the school. So all the guys out there

1010
00:49:23,960 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 3: eighth grade there, you know, junior high team, and there's

1011
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 3: a free throw happening, and I'm I'm there in the lane.

1012
00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,200
Speaker 3: They're shooting a free throw and I don't know where

1013
00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:44,360
Speaker 3: my brain went, but he misses. I jump into the lane.

1014
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 3: I felt like, without even touching the ground, I put

1015
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:54,279
Speaker 3: it right back up and in for them because they

1016
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:58,760
Speaker 3: were shooting the free throw, and it was My memory

1017
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 3: is so clear still of like yes to like what

1018
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:11,400
Speaker 3: did I just do? In like a millisecond, but I

1019
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:15,320
Speaker 3: felt the yes at first, and then saw one face

1020
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:21,480
Speaker 3: and then saw laughter from their team, and I was like,

1021
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:26,280
Speaker 3: oh my god. And then just running back to court

1022
00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 3: to go on offense, even though I just scored, just

1023
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 3: feeling like feeling like I imagine you if somehow one of

1024
00:50:38,520 --> 00:50:41,280
Speaker 3: those dreams right where you end up naked at school

1025
00:50:41,400 --> 00:50:44,480
Speaker 3: or something, just feel like running back down the court

1026
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:46,279
Speaker 3: like what did I just do?

1027
00:50:46,560 --> 00:50:50,240
Speaker 1: That's probably one of the more common middle school basketball plays.

1028
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:52,600
Speaker 2: I think that is it. I think that happens a

1029
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:53,799
Speaker 2: lot more often than you think.

1030
00:50:55,560 --> 00:50:57,800
Speaker 3: Man, it feels like I'm the only one that I ever.

1031
00:50:57,600 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 1: Feel like I've seen plenty of those. That's a tough one.

1032
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,719
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. That's a tough one. I don't

1033
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:07,719
Speaker 1: even have words for condolence. It's just you know, next play.

1034
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:10,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that's the only thing you can do is

1035
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:11,400
Speaker 3: just keep going.

1036
00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:14,920
Speaker 2: Is it really is? You just have to ignore it.

1037
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 3: I did it home game laughter. I mean adults laughing

1038
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:24,640
Speaker 3: at me as an eighth graders on the side, just laughing.

1039
00:51:26,719 --> 00:51:29,560
Speaker 3: It's awful, awful.

1040
00:51:29,560 --> 00:51:31,359
Speaker 1: If you play, you play the game long enough, you're

1041
00:51:31,400 --> 00:51:32,719
Speaker 1: gonna get embarrassed eventually.

1042
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:35,120
Speaker 3: Really, what's the most embarrassed you've ever been?

1043
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:38,960
Speaker 1: I mean, I've I've I'm pretty sure I airball a

1044
00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:40,080
Speaker 1: free throw in high school.

1045
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:41,440
Speaker 3: That's not that.

1046
00:51:41,480 --> 00:51:44,120
Speaker 1: I don't really get embarrassed too much anymore, because there's

1047
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:46,200
Speaker 1: kind of like that chip on my shoulder of like

1048
00:51:47,400 --> 00:51:50,400
Speaker 1: even if it's one play like last year, Jalen Brunston

1049
00:51:50,440 --> 00:51:52,600
Speaker 1: crossed me bad, like probably the worst one I've had

1050
00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:55,640
Speaker 1: in a while, like an break Yeah, yeah, like I

1051
00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 1: touched Earth and and it was like the end of

1052
00:51:59,200 --> 00:51:59,480
Speaker 1: the game.

1053
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:00,960
Speaker 2: It was like a dagger.

1054
00:52:00,680 --> 00:52:04,200
Speaker 1: Shot where it was just like that one sucked. But

1055
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:06,799
Speaker 1: then I was just like, yeah, well, I'm guarding the

1056
00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:08,640
Speaker 1: best players in the league, and I know I'm gonna

1057
00:52:08,640 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 1: get embarrassed probably once a night. It might not be

1058
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:12,600
Speaker 1: as bad as that, but like there's gonna be one

1059
00:52:12,600 --> 00:52:14,439
Speaker 1: play where it's like they make a really good move

1060
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 1: and the crowd just goes.

1061
00:52:16,080 --> 00:52:19,239
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, like that.

1062
00:52:20,040 --> 00:52:22,920
Speaker 1: I got such short term memory now, like that stuff

1063
00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:25,759
Speaker 1: doesn't really even phaze me. It's more so just like,

1064
00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:28,719
Speaker 1: all right, let's make sure we don't compound these mistakes

1065
00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:30,880
Speaker 1: and get more oos and on us.

1066
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:37,000
Speaker 3: The ones that I feel like elicit laughter ish in

1067
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:42,000
Speaker 3: a stadium now, like when I'm there, would be would

1068
00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:43,759
Speaker 3: be if and if you've ever done this, and I'm

1069
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,840
Speaker 3: not talking about one that's contested, that's that's different. And

1070
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,000
Speaker 3: sometimes people laugh at that and I'm like, shut up,

1071
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:54,799
Speaker 3: you can't even dunk is a wide open grim dunk? No,

1072
00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:00,440
Speaker 3: I could just just but I mean, like a break away,

1073
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:03,720
Speaker 3: did you see it occasionally.

1074
00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 2: And just as it go way too hard and.

1075
00:53:06,200 --> 00:53:10,640
Speaker 3: Background into the stands? Yeah, always like that would be

1076
00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:11,440
Speaker 3: have you done that.

1077
00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:14,200
Speaker 2: I haven't done that.

1078
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:15,759
Speaker 1: I'm gonna knock on a wood two because I'm gonna

1079
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:19,360
Speaker 1: mess around and do this this year, I miss. I

1080
00:53:19,360 --> 00:53:21,719
Speaker 1: haven't done that professionally, I don't think. But I've had,

1081
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:23,959
Speaker 1: I mean I've had. I've had something along those lines

1082
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,719
Speaker 1: where like there's a game in college where I was

1083
00:53:26,760 --> 00:53:28,440
Speaker 1: actually had a really good game and this is like

1084
00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,040
Speaker 1: late in the game, I get a breakthrough steel and

1085
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:33,200
Speaker 1: I'm going down and I just took off just a

1086
00:53:33,239 --> 00:53:36,200
Speaker 1: little too far away, a little too far away for

1087
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:37,960
Speaker 1: what time of the time of the game it was,

1088
00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:40,920
Speaker 1: and I got hung and I was just like, oh,

1089
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,399
Speaker 1: just you know, just immediate defeat. Luckily it was at home,

1090
00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:46,040
Speaker 1: so like I didn't get I didn't get clown too

1091
00:53:46,040 --> 00:53:48,160
Speaker 1: hard and we didn't win, and so I didn't with

1092
00:53:48,239 --> 00:53:48,480
Speaker 1: it like.

1093
00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:50,960
Speaker 3: A front a front rim jam jam job.

1094
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:53,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, like I just I just babied it and didn't

1095
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 1: didn't finish it all the way and just like one.

1096
00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:58,400
Speaker 2: Of those ones where like it halfway rolls on the

1097
00:53:58,440 --> 00:53:59,319
Speaker 2: rim and rolls back.

1098
00:54:00,160 --> 00:54:00,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.

1099
00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:02,359
Speaker 2: It was not great.

1100
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:06,080
Speaker 3: Even called the most underrated player in the NBA, is

1101
00:54:06,120 --> 00:54:06,720
Speaker 3: that true?

1102
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:10,319
Speaker 1: I don't think so I think I am probably a

1103
00:54:10,320 --> 00:54:14,560
Speaker 1: little underrated, But I mean there are guys that people

1104
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:17,319
Speaker 1: don't talk about that are still my two. My two

1105
00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:19,799
Speaker 1: go to guys who were like most underrated before this

1106
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:21,839
Speaker 1: last year, which I don't think I can count them

1107
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:25,040
Speaker 1: as underrated anymore because they both got all NBA selections

1108
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:30,080
Speaker 1: was Drew Holliday and Shay gild As Alexander m Hm,

1109
00:54:30,440 --> 00:54:34,440
Speaker 1: because man, those those guys just they they Drew Holliday is.

1110
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:36,440
Speaker 2: Just a super complete basketball player.

1111
00:54:36,239 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: Like he he if he wanted to be, he could

1112
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:41,719
Speaker 1: be First Team All Defense every single year. He just

1113
00:54:41,760 --> 00:54:44,640
Speaker 1: has to score twenty points and give, you know, dishout

1114
00:54:44,640 --> 00:54:47,920
Speaker 1: eight assists a nit, which he does right. And then

1115
00:54:48,120 --> 00:54:50,600
Speaker 1: Shay Man, I mean he he once he got traded

1116
00:54:50,600 --> 00:54:52,840
Speaker 1: to Oklahoma City. That almost like jump started his career.

1117
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,560
Speaker 1: And you don't see a lot of news out of

1118
00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:56,719
Speaker 1: Okay See over the last couple of years, just because

1119
00:54:56,760 --> 00:55:00,200
Speaker 1: they've been kind of average and it's Oklahoma City, so

1120
00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:02,960
Speaker 1: it's as small market as it is. But he man,

1121
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 1: he doesn't predetermine anything. He just makes reids on offense

1122
00:55:06,680 --> 00:55:08,440
Speaker 1: and then sneaky good hands on defense.

1123
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:09,839
Speaker 2: He's a really good player too.

1124
00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 3: Last season you played more than you ever had, more minutes,

1125
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:18,400
Speaker 3: more starts, more games. Do you think you're going to

1126
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:19,359
Speaker 3: break that this year?

1127
00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:21,319
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I do.

1128
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,000
Speaker 1: I think I can do it pretty easily, to be honest,

1129
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:27,359
Speaker 1: you know, I say easily easily is a relative term

1130
00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:29,600
Speaker 1: because it's a really really hard thing to do. I

1131
00:55:29,600 --> 00:55:32,319
Speaker 1: think I played sixty seven games last year, and I

1132
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:35,360
Speaker 1: missed I missed a handful because of my foot, and

1133
00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:37,600
Speaker 1: then a couple others just from miscellaneous stuff. But I

1134
00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:41,040
Speaker 1: think I think a seventy plus game season is very doable.

1135
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:44,719
Speaker 1: And then I mean the minutes and the starts kind

1136
00:55:44,719 --> 00:55:47,960
Speaker 1: of have to deal with how our season goes with personnel,

1137
00:55:48,440 --> 00:55:50,560
Speaker 1: you know, like if Lonzo is here, I probably don't

1138
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:53,040
Speaker 1: have as many starts as I do now. But I

1139
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,840
Speaker 1: mean all those all those things is just being prepared

1140
00:55:55,840 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: and being being ready with my opportunities is called and

1141
00:55:58,680 --> 00:56:00,640
Speaker 1: that's kind of what my kind of my whole career

1142
00:56:00,680 --> 00:56:03,120
Speaker 1: has been based on. Just when the opportunity is ready,

1143
00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:05,359
Speaker 1: heard arises that that that I'm ready to go.

1144
00:56:06,320 --> 00:56:13,280
Speaker 3: Caru show the bald eagle, bald Mama mamba.

1145
00:56:14,080 --> 00:56:14,360
Speaker 1: Uh.

1146
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:17,440
Speaker 3: Even Lebron called you the goat. Do you have a

1147
00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:18,240
Speaker 3: favorite nickname.

1148
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,759
Speaker 1: I'm a really I'm a really big fan of Carus show.

1149
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:24,400
Speaker 1: I think that one's I think that one is the

1150
00:56:24,440 --> 00:56:29,080
Speaker 1: most most fluid and also just I really like the

1151
00:56:30,040 --> 00:56:30,719
Speaker 1: I like the name.

1152
00:56:31,400 --> 00:56:33,840
Speaker 3: You and I we have something in common. We have

1153
00:56:33,920 --> 00:56:38,319
Speaker 3: a lot of memes, Yeah, we do.

1154
00:56:39,120 --> 00:56:41,080
Speaker 1: Yours are a little more iconic, I think. But but

1155
00:56:41,120 --> 00:56:43,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm how do you feel about it? I

1156
00:56:43,880 --> 00:56:47,080
Speaker 1: I think it's fun, man, I mean hopefully you know.

1157
00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:50,000
Speaker 1: Now We've had a couple of conversations, like, I'm a

1158
00:56:50,040 --> 00:56:52,839
Speaker 1: pretty easy going guy. My uh, I got a group

1159
00:56:52,880 --> 00:56:54,840
Speaker 1: text with a handful of buddies from from when I

1160
00:56:54,880 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: grew up, and our love language is making fun of

1161
00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,840
Speaker 1: each other. That's that's how, you know, Like we're checked

1162
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:02,200
Speaker 1: in and we care about each other.

1163
00:57:02,239 --> 00:57:05,759
Speaker 2: It's like they keep me very humble. We'll keep it

1164
00:57:05,800 --> 00:57:06,040
Speaker 2: at that.

1165
00:57:06,719 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, they still treat me like I'm you know, they're

1166
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:12,319
Speaker 1: their friend from fifth sixth grade. But yeah, yeah, so

1167
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:15,439
Speaker 1: we I mean, I'm I said this before, like I'm

1168
00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:18,680
Speaker 1: seeing the memes and and the videos. You know, they're

1169
00:57:18,680 --> 00:57:20,640
Speaker 1: sending them to the group chat before I even have

1170
00:57:20,680 --> 00:57:23,680
Speaker 1: a chance to see him firsthand. So they do a

1171
00:57:23,720 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 1: good job of keeping it light, but I also I also.

1172
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:26,880
Speaker 2: Prefer it that way.

1173
00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:29,280
Speaker 3: How's a golf game, man?

1174
00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:29,959
Speaker 2: Golf games?

1175
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,600
Speaker 1: Actually, it took a really really big step forward this summer.

1176
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: I got into I got into my club, Spanish Oaks

1177
00:57:36,680 --> 00:57:40,360
Speaker 1: in Austin. I got I got hot into June beginning

1178
00:57:40,360 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 1: of July, which makes me even more upset. I couldn't

1179
00:57:43,520 --> 00:57:45,360
Speaker 1: play in the tournament this year. I had had a

1180
00:57:45,360 --> 00:57:47,000
Speaker 1: buddy get married on that Saturday.

1181
00:57:47,600 --> 00:57:49,200
Speaker 3: Oh no, yeah.

1182
00:57:49,040 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 2: Dude, just just it's still hard to talk about, because.

1183
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:55,280
Speaker 3: Why did you go to the wedding? A wedding?

1184
00:57:56,640 --> 00:57:58,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, looking back on it, maybe should have

1185
00:57:58,600 --> 00:58:00,760
Speaker 1: flipped a coin. But he's a good friend to me

1186
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,160
Speaker 1: for a long time, so I felt I needed to

1187
00:58:04,320 --> 00:58:05,880
Speaker 1: represent him very well and be there.

1188
00:58:06,480 --> 00:58:07,840
Speaker 3: Did you stand up at the wedding?

1189
00:58:08,520 --> 00:58:10,280
Speaker 1: I had a good time. No, I wasn't in the wedding.

1190
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:11,160
Speaker 1: I wasn't in the wedding.

1191
00:58:11,480 --> 00:58:12,600
Speaker 3: Oh you just attended?

1192
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:17,040
Speaker 2: Yeah nice, I'm a nice guy. But golf game.

1193
00:58:17,080 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 1: And we had a stretch into June beginning of July

1194
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:22,520
Speaker 1: where I think I got my handicapped down to a three,

1195
00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:24,200
Speaker 1: and it was it was, it.

1196
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:27,720
Speaker 3: Was like it was it was.

1197
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:32,360
Speaker 2: It needs to get updated because I played.

1198
00:58:32,160 --> 00:58:35,560
Speaker 1: In this live pro am event last Thursday, and I

1199
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:37,840
Speaker 1: had a good day. But it wasn't it wasn't anywhere

1200
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:38,880
Speaker 1: in three territory.

1201
00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:46,680
Speaker 3: Well, best of luck games starting in the association coming

1202
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:49,840
Speaker 3: up here just about a month the end of October.

1203
00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:53,320
Speaker 3: Best of luck to you this year, Best of luck

1204
00:58:53,520 --> 00:58:55,760
Speaker 3: to the Bulls. You're gonna make the playoffs this year?

1205
00:58:56,280 --> 00:58:58,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to, I have to not an option

1206
00:58:58,600 --> 00:59:00,440
Speaker 1: should have made it last year. We gave away a

1207
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:02,200
Speaker 1: lot of games, so we we we should have a

1208
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:04,800
Speaker 1: little bit of a chip on our shoulder and definitely

1209
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:05,160
Speaker 1: get there.

1210
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:05,760
Speaker 3: For not.

1211
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:09,240
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be I'm gonna be hibernating because I'm I'm

1212
00:59:09,480 --> 00:59:11,040
Speaker 1: just pissed and embarrassed and upset.

1213
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:13,320
Speaker 3: So well, good.

1214
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:15,520
Speaker 2: I don't want you hybrid playoffs.

1215
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:17,560
Speaker 3: I don't want you. I don't want I don't want

1216
00:59:17,600 --> 00:59:20,480
Speaker 3: you hibernating. I'll see you in the playoffs. If not before,

1217
00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:25,200
Speaker 3: I'll uh, I'll try to make it there and see you,

1218
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:28,120
Speaker 3: uh see you play a home game. Thanks for coming on,

1219
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:31,080
Speaker 3: and seriously, good luck this year. Let's make uh let's

1220
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,320
Speaker 3: make all NBA defense again.

1221
00:59:33,360 --> 00:59:36,439
Speaker 2: All right, that's always a goal, man. I appreciate it all.

1222
00:59:36,400 --> 00:59:51,680
Speaker 3: Right, Thanks bud Alex, thank you so much for coming

1223
00:59:51,720 --> 00:59:56,040
Speaker 3: on here and carouse showing me what you're all about.

1224
00:59:57,080 --> 01:00:00,200
Speaker 3: Not that great, uh. I can't wait to watch you

1225
01:00:00,560 --> 01:00:04,520
Speaker 3: this season as always, and here's hoping that you and

1226
01:00:04,560 --> 01:00:09,160
Speaker 3: the Bulls make the playoffs this year. Great news, everybody,

1227
01:00:10,200 --> 01:00:13,280
Speaker 3: breaking news here on off the beat. If you haven't heard,

1228
01:00:13,880 --> 01:00:18,760
Speaker 3: the writers strike is over. That's right. The WGA reached

1229
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:21,480
Speaker 3: a deal with the studios. So now the writers of

1230
01:00:21,560 --> 01:00:24,600
Speaker 3: all of your favorite movies and television shows, they're now

1231
01:00:24,640 --> 01:00:29,960
Speaker 3: going to be back creating content while being fairly compensated

1232
01:00:30,440 --> 01:00:34,400
Speaker 3: for all their work. It is important to note, however,

1233
01:00:34,880 --> 01:00:40,120
Speaker 3: that my union sag after just yesterday, after two months

1234
01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:45,120
Speaker 3: on strike, it should be noted, began negotiations with the

1235
01:00:45,160 --> 01:00:49,080
Speaker 3: studios on their new contract. Now. My hope is that

1236
01:00:49,280 --> 01:00:52,080
Speaker 3: the two sides can come to a fair resolution in

1237
01:00:52,160 --> 01:00:55,760
Speaker 3: a timely manner. The time is now to get all

1238
01:00:55,800 --> 01:00:59,080
Speaker 3: of Hollywood back to work. So here's hoping that the

1239
01:00:59,120 --> 01:01:02,640
Speaker 3: studios take all of the issues seriously and they negotiate

1240
01:01:02,680 --> 01:01:07,640
Speaker 3: in good faith and that an agreement is close at hand. Now.

1241
01:01:07,680 --> 01:01:09,720
Speaker 3: I know we've talked a lot about that here on

1242
01:01:09,760 --> 01:01:12,400
Speaker 3: the podcast, so I wanted to give you that very

1243
01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:16,160
Speaker 3: exciting update with a word of caution that we're all

1244
01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:20,320
Speaker 3: not quite out of the woods yet. Stay tuned for,

1245
01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:25,360
Speaker 3: hopefully very soon more good news. Oh and one more

1246
01:01:25,400 --> 01:01:28,040
Speaker 3: piece of good news for you. I'll be back next

1247
01:01:28,080 --> 01:01:31,880
Speaker 3: week for another episode of Off the Beat. Until then, everybody,

1248
01:01:32,520 --> 01:01:41,560
Speaker 3: have a great week. Off the Beat is hosted and

1249
01:01:41,680 --> 01:01:47,280
Speaker 3: executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Langlee.

1250
01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:51,520
Speaker 3: Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes,

1251
01:01:51,640 --> 01:01:55,560
Speaker 3: Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan

1252
01:01:55,880 --> 01:02:00,160
Speaker 3: Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Saheed. Our

1253
01:02:00,240 --> 01:02:03,920
Speaker 3: theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and

1254
01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:05,400
Speaker 3: only Creed Bratton.