Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / Let's Talk – Stephen Verplanken: From Belgium to the Pros, NBA Draft Eligibility Debate, and Chris Johnson's ALS Battle

Transcript

Let's Talk – Stephen Verplanken: From Belgium to the Pros, NBA Draft Eligibility Debate, and Chris Johnson's ALS Battle · WCHS Network Podcasts

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta work.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: You gotta work, cry Shan. It's mine gotta show. Everybody
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: is my time. Can't you gotta work? Cry Shan? Another
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: mind Saga Dogs.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Welcome to Let's Talk with Carl Lee and frequent guest
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  Speaker 3: hosts Hollis Lewis and Lisa Odie, where sports culture and
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  Speaker 3: community intersect. Join the crew as they dive into engaging
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  Speaker 3: conversations with guests from all walks of the sports life.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Let's Talk as proudly presented by Attorney Frank Walker. Real talk,
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  Speaker 3: real experience, real results. Let the conversation begin on Let's Talk.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, This is Carlly with Let's Talk.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I have in the building Lisa Odie and Hollis Lewis.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Hell hell and uh So, we have a pretty special
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: guest today that you're going to introduce, and I just
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: wanted to make sure that pay attention tonight just to
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: hear what's going to be said and all of that
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  Speaker 1: kind of good stuff.
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  Speaker 2: So at least to go ahead and introduce him.
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  Speaker 4: For yes, Yes, we have a special basketball athlete with
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  Speaker 4: us tonight, guys. He was born in the Dominican Republic
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  Speaker 4: and raised in Belgium. He went to Tays Valley Christian
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  Speaker 4: School here in West Virginia and received his high school diploma.
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  Speaker 4: He had college experiences to include Glenville State here in
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  Speaker 4: West Virginia, which is a D two. He was there
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  Speaker 4: from twenty nineteen to twenty. He then went to Southern
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Illinois and ended up graduating from college from Weber State
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty four, which is both of those Southern
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  Speaker 4: Illinois and Weaver State are D one's. You can his
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  Speaker 4: playing career. He has had professional basketball experiences in the
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  Speaker 4: Dominican Republic, Iceland, Spain, and most recently in France for
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  Speaker 4: the Champagne Basket. He is a professional basketball player I
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  Speaker 4: believe maybe transitioning into coaching. Welcome to the podcast, Steven Verplankin.
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  Speaker 5: Hey, guys, thank you so much for having me on.
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  Speaker 4: As a long introduction, you have so many accoults, you
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  Speaker 4: have so many accomplished accomplishments.
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  Speaker 6: Steven, it took a minute to get through all those.
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  Speaker 5: That's not a bad thing. You know, that's not a
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  Speaker 5: bad thing.
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  Speaker 1: So tell me when you hear that. Okay, you hear
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  Speaker 1: that introduction, you hear those things, tell me a little
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: bit about how that makes you feel because and I'm
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  Speaker 1: asking this question because I think success, when you had
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  Speaker 1: your level of success and and and those types of things,
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  Speaker 1: I think there's a special appreciation to that that you
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  Speaker 1: have for yourself that I'd like other people to at
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  Speaker 1: least try to feel what you're feeling.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, So, like the first thing that came to mind
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  Speaker 5: was really how to work never fails, you know, right
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  Speaker 5: when you were through when you went through all these stops.
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  Speaker 5: I'm like, I remember myself and the type of mindset
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  Speaker 5: I was, well, my habits were daily, was you know,
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  Speaker 5: the things that got me that success. And it's just
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: you know, I have a saying that the work is undefeated,
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  Speaker 5: and I feel like that like when you when you
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  Speaker 5: talk about my journey, my summary, that's really that That's
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  Speaker 5: what's got me there. And you know, also very rewarding
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  Speaker 5: just because you know, I'm a care from a small
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  Speaker 5: town Domnicare Republic and be able to see all these
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  Speaker 5: places in the world, be able to impact so many people,
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  Speaker 5: inspire so many people. You know, I'm truly, truly blessed
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  Speaker 5: to have you know, lived this life and still live
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  Speaker 5: in this life.
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  Speaker 1: I hear you so, and I just want to make
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  Speaker 1: sure we were correct on it. And I don't know
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  Speaker 1: if Lisa had said this or not, but are you
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  Speaker 1: coaching now?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah? So I finished playing my season I think about
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  Speaker 5: three in the beginning, and just right in front of me,
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: right in front of Jumi, apologies and I got a
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  Speaker 5: you know, it was a tough year overseas. Overseas grind
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  Speaker 5: is really tough in months eleven months away from home. Really,
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  Speaker 5: you know, Yeah, it's just different. You got to do
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  Speaker 5: it to understand it. And in that time this year,
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: around like January February, I was thinking about more like
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  Speaker 5: what is you know, I could still keep playing, I
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  Speaker 5: could still could have got another contract, but I was
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  Speaker 5: thinking what is my next step? Like, what is my
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  Speaker 5: next step? K what does God want me to be?
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  Speaker 5: You know? And in that process, I was like, you know,
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  Speaker 5: I alway knew I was going to be involved in basketball.
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  Speaker 5: And then I was like, you know, let's let's start
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  Speaker 5: this college coaching thing. I always knew I wanted to
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  Speaker 5: be a college coach or an NBA assistant, and uh yeah,
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  Speaker 5: just through LinkedIn and my connections, I found an opportunity
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  Speaker 5: at the University of Louisville to start as a graduate
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  Speaker 5: assistant player development coach and I started about three four
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  Speaker 5: weeks ago and it's been amazing. Man. It's been for fit,
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  Speaker 5: long days, but fulfilling and very rewarded.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, congratulations man, Yeah, thank you, thank you.
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  Speaker 6: So Steven.
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to go back to when you a little
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  Speaker 4: while ago, when you were at the age of sixteen
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  Speaker 4: and you left Belgium to move to West Virginia to play,
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  Speaker 4: you know, basketball at Tays Valley Christian. What was your
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  Speaker 4: biggest culture shock coming from Europe to the Mountain state.
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  Speaker 5: Wow, this is not gonna sound funny. It was the refills.
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  Speaker 5: The refills. Well, I remember I was sitting at my
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  Speaker 5: with my host family. I was sitting at like a
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  Speaker 5: Mexicano restaurant straight from the airport. I'm flying like at
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  Speaker 5: ten pm, long day, the at this Mextro restaurant in Nitro.
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  Speaker 5: I think, and I like, I drink half of my cup.
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  Speaker 5: I think it was like oh no, it was like
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  Speaker 5: a sprite or something, and the lady comes and grabbed
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  Speaker 5: my cup before it's done, and I'm like yo yo,
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  Speaker 5: like I'm not done yet, and I hold that. My
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  Speaker 5: host was like, oh no, no, they're going to refill it.
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  Speaker 5: For you, And I was like, well, do I have
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  Speaker 5: to pay for another one because I won't try to
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  Speaker 5: pay for no. One's like no, no, it's free.
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  Speaker 2: It's free.
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  Speaker 4: And whoa, no way, Oh my goodness, that's hilarious.
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  Speaker 2: So so no, you go ahead, go ahead.
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  Speaker 5: No, No, that's that's why I said, if you call
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  Speaker 5: that a culture shock, I said, that's one.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably not a good culture shot. We probably need
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  Speaker 2: to stop doing.
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  Speaker 7: But I want to go back to just kind of
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: moving up the timeline with your college days, you know,
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  Speaker 7: because Lisa alluded to you played high school ball here
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  Speaker 7: at Taye Valley Christian, then you get to then you
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  Speaker 7: played your first stopping collegiate basketball was at Glenville, which
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  Speaker 7: is a Division two school here in the state of
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  Speaker 7: West Virginia, and then you go on to Southern Illinois
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  Speaker 7: and we were state So what was the transition like
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  Speaker 7: playing Division two ball and then going to Division one ball?
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  Speaker 7: Because again we have we have we're hear a lot
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  Speaker 7: of you know, negatives about the transfer portal and different
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  Speaker 7: things of that nature, but it actually you took advantage
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  Speaker 7: of it and it worked out for you.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, So I mean the transition, don't get me wrong.
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  Speaker 5: So when I we had a really good team in
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  Speaker 5: high school, top twenty five. We had like won an
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  Speaker 5: NBA player on the team, multiple like Division one players,
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  Speaker 5: and you know, for some reason, like I wasn't getting
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  Speaker 5: any the Vision one looks. And coach Cawbos at the time,
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  Speaker 5: I head coach at Glenbow, He's like, come over here,
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  Speaker 5: you're a Division one player. I'm unlock this in you
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  Speaker 5: and y'all come over here. Help me win. You'll get
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: the hoop and you'll transfer up. So when I went
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  Speaker 5: to Glenville, it was an amazing experience, Like I really
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  Speaker 5: loved that as just true college experience. Like I knew
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  Speaker 5: everybody on all the teams you have, you know, the
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  Speaker 5: dorms that that every It's such a small community, but
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  Speaker 5: it's truly special go to small college. And when I
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  Speaker 5: to be totally honest, I didn't want to leave. I
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  Speaker 5: was like I had a play first year and I
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  Speaker 5: was like, I'm gonna just stay here. I'm comfortable. You know.
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  Speaker 5: Coach coaches like my guy, like we rock with each other.
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  Speaker 5: And then my my peers, you know, my my mentors
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  Speaker 5: are like you had such a great year that it
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  Speaker 5: will be stupid to stay in a sense, uh, and
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  Speaker 5: you're going to sell yourself short. So when I started
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  Speaker 5: to leave, actually cried. Man, I didn't want to leave,
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  Speaker 5: but I it was the best I know, it was
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  Speaker 5: the best thing for my future if I wanted to
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  Speaker 5: play pro and you know, have have the accolades I have,
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  Speaker 5: and I'll be I'll be honest. When I left Glenville
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  Speaker 5: to go to soun Lnoid, that first six months it
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  Speaker 5: was probably, I say, top three toughest toughest periods in
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  Speaker 5: my life. I adjusted him to. First of all, you
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  Speaker 5: go from being the best on the Division two team
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  Speaker 5: and all of a sudden, you're just a guy. You're
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  Speaker 5: not the guy. You're just a guy. And I don't
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  Speaker 5: think people understand how much of a difference that is
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  Speaker 5: that you're not like the focal point in the office.
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  Speaker 5: You don't touch the ball every time. I went from
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  Speaker 5: playing on the ball constantly to you know, be more
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  Speaker 5: of a three and D guy. But I wouldn't change
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  Speaker 5: it for anything, because after I had those hard six months,
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  Speaker 5: you know, a lot, a lot of a lot of
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  Speaker 5: late nights in the gym, early mornings. I made sure
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  Speaker 5: I was the hardest worker every day because I needed
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  Speaker 5: to earn that coach's trust because he was he took
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  Speaker 5: a chance on a Division two kid, and I was like,
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  Speaker 5: I gotta I gotta make sure if he puts me in,
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  Speaker 5: he has the trust to keep me in on the floor.
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  Speaker 5: So I went from not playing. I remember my first
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  Speaker 5: Division one game, I money to play ten minutes and
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  Speaker 5: I've always been someone that plays top three minutes on
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  Speaker 5: the team. And I was like, how can I bring
• 9:16
  Speaker 5: value if I'm not going to play on the ball,
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: How can I bring value? How can I, you know,
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  Speaker 5: turn the struggle into something better for the team for myself.
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  Speaker 5: And I was like, if you can shoot, you can play,
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: and if you can guard, you can play. And at
• 9:27
  Speaker 5: the time, you know or my coach is a really
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  Speaker 5: defensive minded coach, so I would go I would ask
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  Speaker 5: him to do extra I literally would go to this office.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: Let's work out with the head coach of the Division
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  Speaker 5: one basketball team and that doesn't have oftome. He will
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: give me the time, work me out for a hour.
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  Speaker 5: We'll do extra defensive drills. We'll do extra defensive drills
• 9:43
  Speaker 5: like him on offense. I'm going to him, We'll do
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: shooting drills. And I was like, if I can shoot
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  Speaker 5: about forty from the three, and I can at least
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  Speaker 5: keep my man in front of me. I'm gonna play
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: and then, you know, it's crazy. I always think God
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  Speaker 5: opens the doors when you're ready. Around Christmas that time,
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: after COVID, we had a couple of guys that had
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: COVID and one of our best players, one of my
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: best friends, got injured, Marcus the Mask. He had like
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: a foot injury, and that was kind of my you
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: know what, everything going on, the injuries and the sicknesses,
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: and it was like, we're going to We're going to
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: and we were going to Indiana State to play doubleheader
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: and coaches like you're starting. And from then I never
• 10:21
  Speaker 5: looked back, like I took my opportunity. I was ready
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  Speaker 5: for it and I started the rest of the year.
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  Speaker 5: The second year also started for the most part of
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: the year, so it was you know, challenging transition with
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: the athleticism the physicality division one. But at the end
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  Speaker 5: of the day, like I believe, if you truly love
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  Speaker 5: the game and do the right things, is gonna come
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  Speaker 5: back to you.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: And yeah, and man, I truly believe in the idea
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: of being ready, like you have to be ready when
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: that opportunity comes. I got an opportunity to play because
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: a guy decided he didn't want to play because his
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: ankle was kind of still bothering him, and that that
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: was my way in to playing. And I and I think,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I think young athletes need to understand that when there's
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: that opportunity, it's so important.
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  Speaker 2: To be ready. And that's the key thing is being ready, man.
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  Speaker 5: I agree on especially the higher you climb, the higher
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: the level you play at, those opportunities get slimmer or slimmer,
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: you know for sure one that one comes, like when
• 11:23
  Speaker 5: not gonna comes, you gotta make sure you're ready and
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: grab your two hands. And then you know, A big
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: thing I think I struggled with early was sometimes I
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: was scared of the moment early in my career. But then,
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: like I said, matured, I was actually craving the moment
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: more than you know, being scared. And I think that's
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: a that's a big thing for grabbing those opportunities.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: And and and and I'm glad you said that because
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that when you have that fear of when I get
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: the opportunity, if I get the opportunity, and I get
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: nervous because I got it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you can.
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  Speaker 1: You have to get rid of that man, because I mean,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: you just got it. You can have to assume that
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: I'm going to dominate in this moment like I'm gonna
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: be I'm going to be a guy that they're not
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: even gonna like they're gonna say, oh, we we stepped
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: up more than we dropped with him.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: In the game.
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  Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, And you know, I'm really you know, opened
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: by my career and I struggles. I've struggled a ton
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: with performance anxiety. I've struggled a ton with like, you know, fear, uh.
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: And I think you know, when people realize that fear
• 12:28
  Speaker 5: is just like another feeling. I think we label fear
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: as a bad thing. And I think once I learned
• 12:33
  Speaker 5: the label fear as just another feeling, like, I just
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: got accept it. The more I fight it, the more
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  Speaker 5: it's gonna grow. So I just got accept that. I
• 12:39
  Speaker 5: got to be you know, practice acceptance. And then another
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: thing that really helped me a lot in those moments
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: is your body. Your body is going to believe what
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: you tell it, you know, So if you like, you
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: know what I'm saying, if you're having that fear of
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: anxiety on all those things. If you're feeding into that,
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: like oh oh, I'm I'm gonna miss my first side,
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna go down, you know, then it's gonna go bad.
• 13:00
  Speaker 5: Boom boom. I learned that you your body's gonna again
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: believe what you tell us. So instead of telling yourself
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: that to I'm gonna make a shot, I'm am a
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: great player, I'm gonna have a great impact. And I
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: think I got to the point I psyched myself out
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: so much as walking around on the core and then
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: a warm up day and we played at eight thirty
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: game PM. I would be just walking around anytime I could,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: just telling meself the positive things because at the end
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: of the day that what you tell yourself is what
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: everybody's going to do.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, that's good that.
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  Speaker 6: I like that.
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to use that, I think in my
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: daily life. Steven, I'm gonna steal it. So I'm going
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: to ask you a little bit about comparing basketball in
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: Europe with the way it's played in you know, in
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: in the United States.
• 13:43
  Speaker 6: Uh, you know, it tends to.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Be a little more tactical, while you know, in the
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: United States basketball is more physical and fast paced can
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: you break down the biggest you know, on court differences
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: you had to adapt to in transitioning from here to there.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so I think I think there's a couple of
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: things that are major difference. I think first of all,
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: you're playing like your amount the amount of minutes you play.
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: In the States, you know, if you're one of the
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: top guys on the team, you're always playing above thirty
• 14:16
  Speaker 5: at least twenty eight.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: You go to Europe, you're not playing more than twenty
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: five on a good night. Everybody everybody slits minutes. So like,
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: for example, like on my Spanish team, I was the
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: leading scorer, but then I only played, oh sorry, a
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: game of spring. I only played about twenty two minutes,
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: and I was the leading the leading you know, the
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: leading minute the leading minutes guy. And it didn't make
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: sense in my head. But at the same time, that's
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: the way, like tactical, how they are. Coach wants to
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: match you up. You know, the other team does the
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: same thing. Play twenty play, just got twenty minutes, play
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: the other guy twenty minutes. So he wants to match
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: you up with the guy you think you have the
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: best chance of. You know, succeeding a guest, which is
• 14:57
  Speaker 5: something I had to learn Todjust second thing. Second thing
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: is just that's way more team oriented and uh in Europe,
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: like I remember I got to Spain. I was coming
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: off Iceland twenty points a game of college, like I
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: would take at least twelve shots a game most of nice.
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: You go to Spain, six shots is a lot.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Wow, shoot six.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: They'd be like, you gotta pass the ball, buddy, And
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: I was, you know, that was an adjustment, how how
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: effishing cannot be in those six to nine shots. I
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: got a game which was you know, that's a that's
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: a definitely adjustment, but you you learn how to do it.
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: You got to make sure you I think, the more
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: likable of a guy you are in the locker room,
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: the more you get away with some jacking.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: And uh.
• 15:43
  Speaker 5: That was that was a big thing. And then the
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: last thing, especially this year in France, was physicality. Probably
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: the most physical league I played in. I played this
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: in the WIS, but also like pushing each other, shoving
• 15:56
  Speaker 5: like I was like we getting away with murder every possession.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: That was really the first, the first time that I
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: had to deal with that. I wasn't really ready for
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: I struggled in my first few months there because of it,
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: but after that, once I figured it out, I was
• 16:09
  Speaker 5: in uh, I was in good shape.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: So wow, you got something.
• 16:16
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I was just gonna say, just taking it off
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: the court again. You you got your degree from we
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: were saying. But also, and it's funny that the timing
• 16:25
  Speaker 7: of this, Like I was reading the study and it said, like,
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: you know, two three percent of the people in the
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: world speak more than like two languages, and you speak
• 16:34
  Speaker 7: up to four. So you English, Spanish, Dutch and a
• 16:38
  Speaker 7: little bit of French. So is that something you study
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: or you just kind of you're a good look I
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: can't even say the word help me out.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Least looks we can't speak English.
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we have over here English lessons.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: I can really speak.
• 17:02
  Speaker 5: No, I think I got I got blessed again. My
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: I've grown up in the DR. I speak Spanish was
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: my first language, and then I learned a little bit
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: of English because it's in DR. I went to school
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: where it was half a day English half a day Spanish,
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: which is unique, but it was good. And then when
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: we moved to Belgium, Belgium is also split. Belgium is
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: half Dutch half French, and me and my parents lived
• 17:31
  Speaker 5: in the Dutch part, so I picked that up really naturally,
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: like my first summer in Belgium, and then at school
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: you also get French, and you know a lot of
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: people speak just bilingual in Belgium. My friends was never
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: don't mater I could have a conversation, I understand, but
• 17:45
  Speaker 5: I wouldn't be like super confident in it. But after
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: this year and playing in France, I'll say, my friends
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: is like fully now like I can go up I'm
• 17:53
  Speaker 5: feeling with someone on the street and have a full
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: French conversation.
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: That's awesome, man, that is awesome. I can't even imagine.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: I bet he would appreciate my French when I was
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: speaking French in our last podcast.
• 18:06
  Speaker 6: I don't think my French accent I should.
• 18:09
  Speaker 7: But and that just highlights for me, like the kind
• 18:12
  Speaker 7: of the beauty of sports, because oftentimes when we think
• 18:15
  Speaker 7: of like playing professional or even collegiate and in high
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: school in your case, it's one of the you know,
• 18:22
  Speaker 7: basketball is taking you literally all around the world, from
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: Iceland to American to France.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: So that's just a beautiful thing.
• 18:28
  Speaker 7: And I think that you know, more like, you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 7: basketball journeys like this probably need to be highlighted just
• 18:34
  Speaker 7: to emphasize the point that, you know, you're not limited
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: just to the you know, the NBA.
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, absolutely, And I think now, you know, you
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: guys see college and NBA. The game is as international
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: as it's been. I think that's only going to grow.
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: And I think, you know, I think in America would
• 18:50
  Speaker 5: grow up a lot of them as tally NBA or bust.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: And I mean, yeah, the NBA. You know, I'm not
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: seeing New York visiting my best friend that plays in
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: the NBA. The NB. Yeah, you know, an amazing platform,
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: amazing lives that you have, but like you can still
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: make a lot of money playing a game you love,
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: going overseas, you know. So I think more and more
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: guys are starting to realize that when in the past
• 19:12
  Speaker 5: that would I feel like people would look down on
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: those opportunities.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: And I think too, the moment that you say you
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: play overseas automatically there becomes this like oh okay, but
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: you don't know until you actually get there. If you
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: haven't been into that experience or heard or talked to
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: somebody that's playing in that league, you don't have any
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: idea of how good, how great the players are.
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, absolutely, And it's crazy because like I didn't
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: know nothing about like the Icelandic League. People were like,
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: it's probably more of a stepping stone league. But I
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: go there and there you have I think you had
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: three guys that have played in the NBA before, and
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: then you have I think we had two guys played
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: in the EuroLeague, which is like the NBA from Europe.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: And it was just really really crazy to me how
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: in every corner of the world you're gonna find somebody
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: that you offer high level players regardless of what you're thinking.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: I hear you.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: Did you just say that you were in New York
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: visiting a friend.
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: At Yeah, that's what.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Okay?
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: Are you okay?
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: So this is a serious question for you, Stephen, very serious.
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Are you ready for it? You might want to sit down.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: Are you going to Taylor Swift's wedding?
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: You know, I didn't even know wedding rumor?
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: Right, that's the rumor. Anyway, that's the rumor.
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: I can get an invite.
• 20:38
  Speaker 6: I'll go though, for sure, for sure take pictures for us.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: So I wanted to ask you about your YouTube channel.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: I came across fro when I was doing some research
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: on you, Steve, and it's called the Different And I
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: guess you could say it root or route.
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: What do you prefer?
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: A different route?
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: Okay, different route?
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: And so you had all of these blogs kind of
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: you know, record in your journey throughout all these different
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: countries playing basketball. Tell us a little bit about your
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: YouTube channel.
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: So I started it right as I graduate of college.
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: One of my one of my best childhood friends from
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: Belgium plays he plays in the bl which is the
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: African NBA. He started recording actually when his second or
• 21:19
  Speaker 5: third professional year in Germany. And I remember me and
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: my fiance always used to look forward to his videos
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: and I was like, you know, I was just finishing college.
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: I was like, you know, I'm about going this journey.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: What if I'm documented? And you know, my thing has
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: always been like we're going, you know, from the Belgium
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: to the US and then chick Lenville and so forth.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: My journey's always been kind of like a different route
• 21:39
  Speaker 5: I have. I have a tattooed on my wrist and
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: I was like this they'll be this will be cool,
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: you know, like let's start this journey. And honestly, it's
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: just been like life changing. The amount of people being
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: able to touch the amount of people that have messaged me,
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: you know, show or support, but also asking for help,
• 21:55
  Speaker 5: asking for different things, and you know, like yeah, just
• 22:00
  Speaker 5: be able to inspire. It has been amazing. I'm I
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: know most people know I'm transitioning to coaching now and
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: I'll probably have to leave that behind, but like I'm
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: gonna post one or two more videos, but I think
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: it's important to understand people like, if you are genuous,
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: if you are genuine and authentic and show your real
• 22:19
  Speaker 5: struggles now to try to paint a picture that life
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: is just amazing all the time, how many people will
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: show you support and get inspired by your journey. Like
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: I mean, I think I might got seven K and
• 22:29
  Speaker 5: I haven't posted a video in a while, and I
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: had a really good you know following and grow for
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: a while. And it's just because I'm authentic, you know,
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: like I inspire people like you can have an audience
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: as long as you as long as they see your
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: real true self, and they'll they'll find like I said,
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: inspiration in it.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: And you know, as I listened to you as a
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: as an athlete. I can hear your confidence, and I
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: can and I can and it, and it sounds it
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: sounds good. We're everybody else could actually maybe try to
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: assume that it you know, that he's over confident or whatever.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: But to me, it sounds fitting to your journey and
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: how you have found success and satisfied with your level
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of success to the point to where you've moved on
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: over into coaching. And I'll ask this question in the
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: coaching realm, is there a goal there? Do you have
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: something set for yourself in the back of your mind
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: that you can say out loud where you want to
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: go in the coaching aspect of it.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: Yeah, So I mean to pick you back off your
• 23:39
  Speaker 5: little part first part. First, I mean the confidence I
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: feel like, you know, I'll try to just like have
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: that like true confidence, genuine confidence confidence because you know,
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: I'll be the first one, like if you if you
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: sit down me, I'll be the first one to talk
• 23:54
  Speaker 5: about my flaws, talk about you know, how I dealt
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: with fear and anxiety. But that's those going through those things.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: It gives you that natural confidence of like I can
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: overcome this, I can step into this room and have
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: conversations with people on, you know, have like I feel
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: like I have an impact, you know, besides that and
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: the coaching thing. Uh, you know, I'm like I said,
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: I'm kind of at peace to leaving it, leaving my
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: playing career. How it is, It's funny. I I was
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: eating with my aunt today and she's like, are you
• 24:18
  Speaker 5: really not going to miss it? Like, are you donna
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: wake up? You're itching for her? I'm like, I wake up.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: Life is amazing. I'm working out my best friend that
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: just want one second NBA championship in two years, and
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: I'm working him out. He trusts me enough to do that.
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: I'm at school with a great, great style. I'm like,
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: I'm at peace. I feel fulfilled helping others, you know,
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: like I don't feel like I have to do with
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: myself no more. But then what the coaching thing is?
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: I want to be either a high major assistant. I
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: don't know. I don't have the bug you have to
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: be a head coach. Maybe I'll develop that. I want
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: to be a high major assistant and if not, also
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: just like the NBA assistant one of the two. I
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: don't know exactly what route is still early to decide that,
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: but those are probably two avenues out pursuit.
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: Steven.
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: You cannot drop hints like that and not tell us
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: who the best trend is that just won the NBA
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: Championship that you are hanging with in New York or
• 25:12
  Speaker 4: is it top secret?
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: No?
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: As a as a Dylan Jones, he was. He was
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: a first round raft pick college teammate. Once. Thank you
• 25:26
  Speaker 5: one thing? How this came on ticket? Sorry? Uh, his
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: name is Dylan Jones was my college teammate that we
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: were stayed for two years. One of my best friends
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: got drafted first round out of you know, a mid major.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: We were stayed again and uh, spend a year with Okay,
• 25:41
  Speaker 5: see want a chip with them?
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Then?
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: And then this year was on a two way deal
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: with the with the Knicks.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Isn't it Yeah, that's great.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, isn't it cool to be able
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: to to sit down take a trip with a guy
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: that's in the same with you and it's there's no
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: there's no dislike because somebody made it or any of
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Somebody that you can actually just
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: actually talk to about anything that you're going through.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: No, And that's the thing I think me and him
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: have chose a general relationship, you know how like sometimes
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: you always say, like there's a friend that envies you
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: for how your life has gone or the achievement. I
• 26:26
  Speaker 5: think it's the opposite. Like I just hope he has
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: as much success as he can have. You know, I
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: have respect for him because you know, I was never
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: the most physically talented guy like Dunkan or Spending, but
• 26:37
  Speaker 5: like I was always the hardest work. I was obsessed
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: with it, and he's the one person that I feel
• 26:41
  Speaker 5: like is at my level even higher, you know what
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: I'm saying. So I was like, like I said, I
• 26:47
  Speaker 5: actually want more things to come his way because he
• 26:49
  Speaker 5: deserves it. He's also one of the you know, sitting
• 26:52
  Speaker 5: here with him, he's actually just one of the most free, willing,
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: genuine people. Like he takes care of like everyone like
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: around him, make sure everybody's good before he's good. And
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: I think that's a trade that I got from him, that, uh,
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: you know, be able to help people out even when
• 27:06
  Speaker 5: you well you don't think well you don't think you
• 27:09
  Speaker 5: got it, or you're struggling, like you can always help
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: somebody else out of their situation.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Well, we we won't hold you any longer, but man,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: we appreciate it and we wish you the best of
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: luck going forward and man, and like as you moved
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: through your journey coaching, don't be a stranger, man.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Feel free to come back and call. We want to
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: hear Mary.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we would love to have you back on anytime.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: You know, you find yourself, you got something you want
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to say, Hey, let us know.
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, our season picks up, Let's let's have
• 27:40
  Speaker 5: a second call. I'll tell you a little bit about
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: the season and how the journey is going. And then
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: I'll be in West Virginia and probably here's to him,
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: since only three hours from Louisville. So yeah, I would
• 27:49
  Speaker 5: love to hop on and maybe even you'd be a
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: guest of the show. Man. I always want to start
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: my own podcast.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Definitely will from sitting we would with us.
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: Thank you, So I'll take I'll take Lisa when I'm
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: a wish.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: You have to do it all right, your trip, Thank you, Steven,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: thank you.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Thank you. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be right back.
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: Let's face it, bad things happen to good people seriously
• 28:22
  Speaker 8: injured in a car accident, trucking accident, or even wrongfully arrested.
• 28:25
  Speaker 8: Life happens, and when it happens to you, you will
• 28:28
  Speaker 8: need sound legal advice and aggressive representation. That's when you
• 28:31
  Speaker 8: call Attorney Frank Walker at three zero four four one
• 28:34
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• 28:37
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• 28:48
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• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Let's Talk with Carl Lee as presented by Attorney Frank Walker.
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• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Carl Lee. Now back to the conversation.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: All right, ladies and gentlemen, we are back.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: So hollis I think we're we're going to have a
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: discussion and good luck on.
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: The name.
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: So we got an Auburn basketball player he's uh Nasia.
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: I think it's Na Sessa Nongoi. He was selected by
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: the LA Clippers in this in last week's NBA draft
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: now as part of his draft and stash agreement, which
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: I think that's an agreement basically says that you can
• 29:55
  Speaker 7: go back to college even though you declare for the draft.
• 29:57
  Speaker 7: Back in the day, we remember, it wasn't like that.
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: Once you declare was he had to go either get
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: drafted or play professional or your college career was over.
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: But anyway, he got drafted, I believe in the first
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: round by the LA Clippers. He made a post, he
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: thanked them, and I'm assuming he didn't like either the
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: team or the position or whatever.
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: But he chose to go back to college.
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: So he'll be playing for the Auburn Tigers in the
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: twenty six twenty seventh season instead of going to the NBA.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: So what do you guys think about that?
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: Well, let me let me make sure I understand everything correctly.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: So don't you have to declare yourself eligible for the
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: NBA when the draft happens, or you declare yourself Okay,
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: So he declared himself and then he was drafted, and
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: then he decided yes, I don't like.
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: This team, so I'm going to go back to he.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Didn't like the team.
• 30:46
  Speaker 7: Maybe now I believe you can, like I want to say,
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: as long as you don't hire an agent and do
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: all those sort of things, which a lot of guys
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: they're moving away from agents anyway.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah they are. But again, under the.
• 30:58
  Speaker 7: Old rules, once you did Claire and you like you in,
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: the time period is over, particularly once you get to
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: the draft day and you're done, you would have to
• 31:07
  Speaker 7: can't go back.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: But that's not the rules anymore.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, See, my my my problem is if Hollis, if
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: I draft you first round, second round, third round, whatever
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: I'm putting my I'm investing in you, and then all
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: of a sudden you're telling me you want to go back.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: You're not going to play like because you don't whether
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: you didn't want to go third, third round or you
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: didn't want to come play on our team.
• 31:33
  Speaker 7: Second round and he was just not to cutch off.
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: But he's the fifty seven pick in the second round.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: So okay, So wherever I'm wherever you got drafted, and
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: you decide you don't want to be that draft pick
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: or that team, I don't think that.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: I don't think that you can do. I don't think
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: that's okay.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: I think when you when you apply or a state
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: that you want to be part of this year's draft,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: whoever gets you, they got.
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: You chips forward.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Yes, I don't think that you. I don't think that
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: you can be able to decide to go back. I
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: don't think that's okay to me. That's just you know,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: that's me. I don't know what you guys think.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: But well, I mean my issue it's more like what's
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: going to happen in the future, because we really haven't
• 32:20
  Speaker 4: heard of this in the past. First of all, because
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: it really wasn't It wasn't legal, wasn't legal, and it
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: just wasn't, you know, something that was common with players.
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: They were actually elated to be drafted to the NBA.
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: Regardless of what position. It's still good, Yeah, it's still good.
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: But is this going to be a precedent for well,
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: let me give me your players.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Let me say this.
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: I think I may have got I think what happened
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: was is that since Nagoya's turning twenty two this summer,
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: he was automatically eligible for the NBA draft and therefore
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: can maintain his college eligibility despite being selected in contrast
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: to some other players in this but in this part
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: of the Clippers plan to treat Nongoing has a draft
• 33:06
  Speaker 7: and stash player. So essentially what it is they own
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: the rights to him, why he's at Auburn sort of
• 33:11
  Speaker 7: like a baseball situation?
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: Is that call? I mean, is that something that happens
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: all the time.
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: Not necessarily in the NBA. Remember in baseball. In baseball
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: it was like that. Remember back in the day, you could,
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: you would get drafted, that team would own your rights,
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: you would play the summer link for them, but you
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: would play at you could play at your college. So
• 33:28
  Speaker 7: I think basketball is moving in that direction. And these
• 33:33
  Speaker 7: are international players, so again the rules are maybe a
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: little different because they don't have the same like collegiate
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: and like high school system as we do.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: So I don't know if it was.
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: He's going to Auburn, right, he's gonna play He's gonna
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: play basketball Auburn this coming season and then he will
• 33:54
  Speaker 4: go to that team, He'll go to the Clippers after
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: he's committed.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: So is he going to be considered their first round
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: pick in the necond round, second round? He's the second
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: round pick.
• 34:03
  Speaker 7: Again, I think he just owns the rights to him basically,
• 34:06
  Speaker 7: and from the article, it says uh Nongo is considered
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: the first player in modern in the in the modern
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: NBA to opt to play college basketball immediately after being drafted.
• 34:18
  Speaker 7: So he did have the option to say I could
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: go to the NBA or I could go to college.
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: So it's kind of a weird situation.
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: He signed a contract or he will he will, he
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: that he will be committed. Like let's say he goes
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: to Auburn and he can't go and re declare himself
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: for the draft again for the next year, like he
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: can't complete complete That's the part.
• 34:40
  Speaker 2: I don't that's actually a good question. That's the part
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 34:43
  Speaker 7: I'm guessing that's the right right because draft and staff,
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: so they own his rights quote unquotes, Yeah.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: I would because if the go ahead, I was gonna say,
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: the only reason I would be okay if I was
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: the organization is is that I know he's ultimately coming,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: and he'll be coming the next year. But if he's
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: if there's any kind of opening or opportunity for him
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: to end up being somewhere else, I just I'm not
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be good with.
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: That, but I mean it's the second again, the second
• 35:14
  Speaker 7: round of the NBA draft is like a seventh round
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: football player.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: It's you know what he's saying, I'm a seventh round
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. It's like that. But no,
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: in your day, you had twelve rounds. No no, no, no, no.
• 35:28
  Speaker 7: In his in his day, yet twelve rounds, you actually
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: the middle pick.
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: You know, you gave it the right round, so I
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: figured I get on.
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: So it's like it's like, you know, it's like being
• 35:38
  Speaker 7: the last pick essentially, like once you go to the
• 35:40
  Speaker 7: second round and stuff like that. So he's not a
• 35:42
  Speaker 7: high draft pick. But my thing is, I love this.
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: I love that you have the options. I love that
• 35:49
  Speaker 7: you know you don't have to be committed. And I
• 35:52
  Speaker 7: think to your point, Lisa, like I said, this is
• 35:55
  Speaker 7: this is the first. This is a precedent being set.
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: So I like that players have options. So if I if,
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: I you know, And the thing about it is is
• 36:03
  Speaker 7: that you can make I ain't saying just as much money,
• 36:05
  Speaker 7: but you can make money in college, so you can
• 36:08
  Speaker 7: make six figures, you know, being a collegiate athlete now
• 36:11
  Speaker 7: at a high Division one school. So if you don't
• 36:14
  Speaker 7: like the position, if you don't like the team, if
• 36:16
  Speaker 7: it's not gonna work for you, then I like the
• 36:18
  Speaker 7: option that you, Hey, I'm just gonna go back to college.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna do this.
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: I see the look.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: What's coming.
• 36:27
  Speaker 7: Baseball players have been doing this forever. Yeah, They've always
• 36:30
  Speaker 7: had an option if you don't like to set up.
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: Now I can go back and play and or at
• 36:35
  Speaker 7: least I can, like maybe I go play football and
• 36:37
  Speaker 7: go play baseball in the spring. So the fact that
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: these kids now have an option is good. You shouldn't
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: be just limited to that that one thing, you know.
• 36:51
  Speaker 4: I mean, I kind of I kind of I'm sort
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: of agreeing with Hollis to a point, but I also
• 36:58
  Speaker 4: feel like, make sure that it's not one of those
• 37:01
  Speaker 4: things where you know, he's weighing the options of am
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: I making more money at Auburn this year? Am I
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: going to make more money in the NBA? Which is
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: probably what it came down to.
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: Basically.
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: I'm sure Auburn has given him a nice lucrative nil
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: deal for him to stay there rather than to go
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: on to the NBA. But like I said, my concern
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: is is this something that's going to happen a lot
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: in future drafts? You know, are players just going to oh, okay,
• 37:28
  Speaker 4: the water test the water?
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean I.
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: Understand it for the player's sake, for their career, like
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: I said, to a point, but I think it's also
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: a little I don't know, just kind of muddies the
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: waters between amateur and professional in my opinion.
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: Oh the MODI the waters is dirt, mud and waters
• 37:47
  Speaker 7: are the same. Now there is there is no amateur professional.
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: The college is not considered professional.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: There's a professional.
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: Well they are, but we don't call them that.
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: We don't call them that, don't call them. But they
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: are and.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: They're not and and unfortunately or fortunately for them, they
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: can get paid as a professional athlete as that that.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: Being their job. My problem, my problem with this is.
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: I think if you want to go to the league,
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: and you want to go early, then you you okay,
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: if you want to go, you can go, but you
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: have but but you can't go and then realize, uh,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: oh I'm.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Not really not good? Why not? Why not?
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Because I don't get the opportunity to do that. I
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: played my four years, I get I get drafted seventh round.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: As we talked about I'm I've gotta I gotta fight
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: to make it.
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: That's you, and and and and and I'm not because.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: I'm I think that the fight to to be successful
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: or to to make a team a professional team, I
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: don't think.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: I never knew anybody who wanted the easiest way. It's
• 39:03
  Speaker 7: not the easiest way. You're going back to college, I'm say.
• 39:07
  Speaker 7: But what I'm saying is like, what in what realm
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: of society don't we have options? If you don't like
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: your job, now you have the option to look for
• 39:16
  Speaker 7: another job, and then once you find another job, you
• 39:18
  Speaker 7: can resign you if you don't like your spouse, you
• 39:22
  Speaker 7: you have options in life. But my situation with that is,
• 39:26
  Speaker 7: then if if if you don't think that you're ready, don't, don't,
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: don't get in the don't don't get in the market.
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: Well let me let me let me clarify that.
• 39:35
  Speaker 7: If because him being twenty two, because he's of now
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: this is where it gets convoluted. Him being twenty two,
• 39:43
  Speaker 7: he's automatically a team can has.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: The right to draft him.
• 39:48
  Speaker 7: Right, So if so, if he entered the draft like
• 39:51
  Speaker 7: at twenty and then there would be no at least
• 39:55
  Speaker 7: prior to this, there wouldn't be no room for him
• 39:57
  Speaker 7: to say, Okay, well now I want to go back.
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: He would be stuck. So because of his age.
• 40:02
  Speaker 7: Now again that's a different argument that he's old in college, right,
• 40:05
  Speaker 7: But because of his age, he's like automatically entered into
• 40:09
  Speaker 7: the draft, so he has the option. Where has it
• 40:12
  Speaker 7: like if I'm nineteen or twenty and I entered the draft,
• 40:15
  Speaker 7: I have to go that way. I don't have the
• 40:17
  Speaker 7: option to go back. That doesn't really make sense to me,
• 40:20
  Speaker 7: but that's the current rule.
• 40:22
  Speaker 4: Well, let's let's play I'll play Devil's advocate here, I'll
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: go along with this. So let's say he's going back
• 40:27
  Speaker 4: to Auburn. He wants to finish, you know, his career,
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: his collegiate career with Auburn. And he has a horrible
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: year or he has a catastrophic injury. What happens then?
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: I mean, are the Clippers, you know, are they down
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: to them? Yeah? Do they have to take the player
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: or is it part of the contract. I mean, I
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: just think there's so many different aspects to this that
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: I don't think are being explored before we jump into
• 40:53
  Speaker 4: to this kind of.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: And and to your point, I think what happens in
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: what's happening in sports, when these first ever situations pop up,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: we're apt to go with them before before we really
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: truly think through them and see what it's going to
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: ultimately get to.
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: Because I think scenarios, because there's so many.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: There's so many different kinds of scenarios that you could
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: that this could happen.
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: That I just don't. I just don't like.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: I don't like the idea of changing the system until
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: you have really gone in and figured out.
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: But you don't.
• 41:36
  Speaker 7: But you can't figure that out unless you do it.
• 41:38
  Speaker 7: There is no scenario on which you're going to say
• 41:40
  Speaker 7: we want to change the system and then let let
• 41:42
  Speaker 7: me try to figure it out a long way. It's
• 41:44
  Speaker 7: like somebody has to jump off the porch for it
• 41:46
  Speaker 7: to actually Yeah, we can talk about it.
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: But here's the thing.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: You could have a player who decides he wants to
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: he wants to he wants to go to the pros,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: so he he gets ready to go, and then all
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, let's say let's use a quarterback, and
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden he realizes that in the draft
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: that the top quarterbacks are already going somewhere, and the
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: team he might go to might be Tom Brady there.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: So now am I able to say, no, I don't
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: want to go.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: You should be see I think go back? Why not? See?
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: To me, I'm saying, if you made all these choices,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: you don't get to also now try to pick where
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: you go?
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: Why not? And where your competition?
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: Why?
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 42:34
  Speaker 7: Why don't why don't I get to pick? Even to me,
• 42:38
  Speaker 7: and this is just my personal opinion, I think the
• 42:40
  Speaker 7: draft is cool. It makes a lot of money, you
• 42:43
  Speaker 7: know what I'm saying, It has all these things. But
• 42:45
  Speaker 7: what are we going to Because I believe it's going
• 42:47
  Speaker 7: to get to a point where I say, look, man,
• 42:49
  Speaker 7: I'm not inner the draft. I just want to sign
• 42:51
  Speaker 7: with that team. Why why do I have to go
• 42:53
  Speaker 7: through this scenario? Why do I have to go through
• 42:55
  Speaker 7: this charade?
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean?
• 42:57
  Speaker 7: At some point this is about equity, and we cannot
• 43:01
  Speaker 7: continue to say like, these kids just don't have a
• 43:05
  Speaker 7: choice to do anything. They're bound to this, They're bound
• 43:07
  Speaker 7: to that, They're bound to that when everybody else is
• 43:09
  Speaker 7: making money, when everybody else's has choices, When you have
• 43:12
  Speaker 7: college coaches leaving their school before the season ends, when
• 43:18
  Speaker 7: you have all these things happening around you, and then
• 43:21
  Speaker 7: you're saying, well, I don't get a choice. That doesn't
• 43:23
  Speaker 7: make sense to me.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: Our okay, and I get that, and that makes total sense.
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: But I'm not okay with the coach leaving midterm, but
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: he gets to do it. It's about what I'm saying
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: is it's about choice. And if you got a choice,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: I got a choice. So we can't cherry pick who
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: gets to do what. In my opinion, I don't necessarily
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: think it's that, but I was.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: Just gonna say they do have a choice. They have
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: a choice whether or not they want to declare themselves
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: eligible for the draft.
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: I mean, that's my opinion.
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: I don't think you just, you know, like you said,
• 43:54
  Speaker 4: test the waters and say, oh, I'll just throw my
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: name in the hat and see where it comes out,
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: and then you know, if I don't like where I
• 44:00
  Speaker 4: come out, I'll just go back to where I am.
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: I think I think, what, no, Because let's look at
• 44:04
  Speaker 4: this a little deeper. What about his teammates at Auburn.
• 44:08
  Speaker 4: What about the way they view that? Like, Okay, you
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: were going to do about.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: That quarterback and I'm thinking I'm gonna play now because
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: you're gone, you have the option to go to now,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: So you.
• 44:17
  Speaker 4: Don't think that messes up the chemistry, like if he's
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: a leader, like saying, oh, you know, if I can,
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: if I can go on to the NBA, And I.
• 44:22
  Speaker 7: Think the nature of where we're at in sports, when
• 44:26
  Speaker 7: you have a different roster every year, the chemistry thing
• 44:29
  Speaker 7: is way overrated. It's overrating now it's not it's the
• 44:33
  Speaker 7: same thing. It's like time of possession. Once you got
• 44:35
  Speaker 7: away from running the ball, time of the possession in
• 44:37
  Speaker 7: football doesn't mean what it used to mean. So chemistry
• 44:40
  Speaker 7: is way overrated. If you you that's why I don't
• 44:42
  Speaker 7: think it's chemistry.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: I think continuity, chemistry, whatever I think I think. For
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: me to decide to stay with a team, even if
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: we have all of those adjectives, I want to go
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: because of whatever the reason is.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: But if you, if if me, if the three of
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: us are.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: All on one team and one of us wants to
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: leave the team to go elsewhere, I'm I'm okay with that, right,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: I would be okay. But that if that's if, that's
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: gonna be good for you. But I also can be like, well,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: you know, why didn't Hollands let us know you know?
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: Or why you know? What was what? What was there
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: a problem? What did we need to do for you
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: to keep you?
• 45:30
  Speaker 7: This ain't about that, though, this is like that that.
• 45:33
  Speaker 7: I think those sort of things thought are not coming
• 45:35
  Speaker 7: into play. I think all his teammates understand that he
• 45:37
  Speaker 7: had a professional option, he didn't really like to look,
• 45:40
  Speaker 7: or he wanted to go back to school, whatever. I
• 45:42
  Speaker 7: think that's understandable in the in the climate that we're in.
• 45:45
  Speaker 7: As far as like the whether we just interviewed he
• 45:49
  Speaker 7: would play the three different collegiate teams. He's played five
• 45:52
  Speaker 7: different professional leagues in five years. So the nature of sports,
• 45:56
  Speaker 7: particularly a sport like basketball, it's fluid. It's it's no
• 45:59
  Speaker 7: longer all that chemistry. Then no, no, that doesn't really
• 46:02
  Speaker 7: mean anything. You have to have a strong coach, a
• 46:04
  Speaker 7: strong system, and then you can sort of fill in
• 46:06
  Speaker 7: the gaps whether you may so.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: Again, I I just like the option.
• 46:10
  Speaker 7: If we're gonna give everybody options, if we're gonna give
• 46:13
  Speaker 7: everybody equity or the coaches, management, presidents and all the owners,
• 46:17
  Speaker 7: then everybody gets it. You don't get the cherry pick
• 46:20
  Speaker 7: who has freedom of movement and who doesn't.
• 46:23
  Speaker 4: Well, in my opinion, then the NBA needs to address
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: the draft period because this is.
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: Going to become more and more frequent.
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: I think so too.
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: I think and and you know whatever, you know, it
• 46:32
  Speaker 4: kind of just lessens the whole meaning of the draft
• 46:35
  Speaker 4: when you know these players are being called to go wherever,
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: you know, to Lakers or to the Nuggets, and then
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: they say, oh, by the way, I don't like their deal.
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: I'm just gonna go back to college.
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: So that just you know, the NBA probably needs to
• 46:46
  Speaker 4: look take a close look at how they handle the draft,
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: in my opinion, and.
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: And and Holly said, you had somewhat said the same thing.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: The question the question that I would have. Okay, so
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: we're going to change the draft. If we think we
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: want to do something with the draft, what do we do?
• 47:06
  Speaker 7: Just sign players you signed? I think the idea the
• 47:10
  Speaker 7: draft is ridiculous. I think like, for example, the Dallas Mavericks,
• 47:15
  Speaker 7: they trade Luca a generational talent, right, so he gets
• 47:19
  Speaker 7: traded from the Dallas Mavericks, made he went to the
• 47:21
  Speaker 7: he took him to the led him to the NBA Championship.
• 47:23
  Speaker 7: Is a generational talent for you know, over European probably
• 47:29
  Speaker 7: once it's all said, and that's gonna be one of the.
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: Greatest European players ever.
• 47:32
  Speaker 7: They trade him from Dallas to the Lakers and then
• 47:35
  Speaker 7: Hila Dallas gets the first pick. Now again, I'm not
• 47:39
  Speaker 7: I don't have my ten foil hat on, so I'm
• 47:42
  Speaker 7: not stating conspiracy theories. But come on, So I think
• 47:47
  Speaker 7: situations like that not to say again, you just have
• 47:53
  Speaker 7: to bid for the player that you want. I don't
• 47:56
  Speaker 7: think the idea of you know, just having this charade
• 47:59
  Speaker 7: of a draft and doing all this stuff and letting
• 48:00
  Speaker 7: this ship fall where they make just signed players out.
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: Of college just like you. Yeah, they do love you.
• 48:07
  Speaker 7: Just recruit like how you were recruit out of college,
• 48:10
  Speaker 7: except for as the NBA. I think, you know, so
• 48:12
  Speaker 7: that way, I know where I'm going and if I
• 48:14
  Speaker 7: don't like the situation, I'll just go back to college.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: I think that I think that the how that may sound,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: I don't see how that would would would would work
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: because now what what it's going to come down to.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: So I come to I come to your house, Lisa
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: comes to your house. I'm going to give you ten dollars.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: Lisa is going to give you.
• 48:40
  Speaker 7: The same way as working for one hundred years in
• 48:42
  Speaker 7: college football is no different. Same thing you recruit, how
• 48:47
  Speaker 7: we have you traditionally recruited collegiate athletes is gonna be
• 48:50
  Speaker 7: the same thing at a professional level.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: It's no different. It's not a novel idea. I don't,
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: I don't. I don't see the NFL doing that. I don't,
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: I don't, I don't see I.
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: Don't think the NFL hasn't. I mean, they don't have
• 49:06
  Speaker 4: an issue like this, right.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: This is the NBA.
• 49:10
  Speaker 7: The NBA is different because again, one player can one
• 49:14
  Speaker 7: player can be being the difference between playoffs and not
• 49:16
  Speaker 7: one player can mean the difference between championships. So the
• 49:19
  Speaker 7: NBA is a little The structure of it is different.
• 49:21
  Speaker 7: I think in the in the NBA, the players hold
• 49:24
  Speaker 7: the power as opposed to NFL is totally different. So
• 49:27
  Speaker 7: I could see it happening.
• 49:29
  Speaker 6: Mm hm, we shall see.
• 49:31
  Speaker 7: Yeah, So we're gonna we'll close out with more of
• 49:35
  Speaker 7: a on a somber note. And uh, and I'm sorry,
• 49:38
  Speaker 7: I'm getting emotional now thinking about it. Chris Johnson, he
• 49:43
  Speaker 7: was a just he rushed for two thousand yards with
• 49:46
  Speaker 7: the Titans some years back, and he has a l S.
• 49:51
  Speaker 7: I recently learned about a LS this past legislative session. Uh,
• 49:56
  Speaker 7: we actually passed the law here in West Virginia in
• 49:58
  Speaker 7: which we would have there's a fund created which would
• 50:01
  Speaker 7: retrofit people's homes who needed that assistance because and also
• 50:08
  Speaker 7: it would you know, sort of circumvent all the hospital
• 50:12
  Speaker 7: visits to make it more streamlined. So because when you
• 50:16
  Speaker 7: have this disease, there could be like five or six
• 50:18
  Speaker 7: doctors you would have to see, So with martial health,
• 50:22
  Speaker 7: it would be more of a streamline service. And then
• 50:24
  Speaker 7: and forgive me, the bill number escapes me, but it
• 50:28
  Speaker 7: was a you know, presented by Delegate Kayla Young, and
• 50:33
  Speaker 7: ALS is one of those diseases in which, once you
• 50:37
  Speaker 7: get it again, there's not necessarily at least in a lease,
• 50:41
  Speaker 7: correct me if from wrong, there's not necessarily. They don't
• 50:44
  Speaker 7: know what causes it. There's the science is still developing
• 50:47
  Speaker 7: on it. It's pervasive amongst professional athletes, particularly in military personnel,
• 50:53
  Speaker 7: so they do know that. Now what what causes it
• 50:57
  Speaker 7: they don't know. But it's a progressive disease that moves
• 50:59
  Speaker 7: pretty rapidly once you get it, and it's one of
• 51:03
  Speaker 7: them things that just affects your motor skills, your your movement,
• 51:06
  Speaker 7: your ability to talk, but it doesn't affect sort of
• 51:09
  Speaker 7: your mental capabilities. But it's like one of them things
• 51:12
  Speaker 7: that once you have it, it can really really really
• 51:16
  Speaker 7: move quick. Almost immediately upon being diagnosed, they tell you to,
• 51:20
  Speaker 7: you know, get your affairs in order. And again, Chris
• 51:23
  Speaker 7: Johnson former, you know NFL running back when the fastest
• 51:27
  Speaker 7: people I've ever seen move, he has it, and he
• 51:30
  Speaker 7: has it to a progressive point where his his very
• 51:33
  Speaker 7: very limited mobility and I believe he does not have
• 51:35
  Speaker 7: the ability to speak anymore.
• 51:37
  Speaker 2: To use the I don't know the name of the
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: it's some type of.
• 51:40
  Speaker 4: A yeah, of a machine that you know that helps him,
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: you know, be able to communicate because he's lost the
• 51:48
  Speaker 4: ability to verbally express, you know, his his thoughts. But
• 51:54
  Speaker 4: I think the saddest part of it is, you know,
• 51:56
  Speaker 4: als doesn't discriminate with age. He's only thirty nine years
• 51:59
  Speaker 4: old and has a wife, and I believe he has children,
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: and you know, it was just it was a really
• 52:06
  Speaker 4: hard thing. I watched it on Good Morning America this morning,
• 52:09
  Speaker 4: and you know, it brought tears in my eyes. I really,
• 52:13
  Speaker 4: you know, I just hope that someday we can get
• 52:16
  Speaker 4: some treatment for this horrible disease that you know, takes
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: away your physical ability to you know, move, move and
• 52:24
  Speaker 4: live and and but leaves your your mental capacity completely fine.
• 52:28
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's just a really cruel disease.
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: You know, and then you have then you have you know,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: CT which takes the whole mental piece of it, and
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: it destroys you from that side of it. It's you know,
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: it's one of those kind of situations where and again
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: it's inside of sports, I think, is which makes it,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: I don't want to say makes it worse, but it's
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: it's limited. You know that it's in the house of players,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: you know, and you you know when you've seen I
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: was Unfortunately, I had ran into a guy who I
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: knew super well and I've probably told this story before
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: and went up to speak to him, and when I
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: spoke to him.
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: Like, I could tell he didn't really know who I was.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: And there's zero.
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: Chances of how that could happen. Joey Browner. And you know,
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: when when you see it and you and you you
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: realize what it is because of you know, the nature
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: of the sport. It's it's devastating and gut wrenching to you,
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: and you can't you can't ever forget it.
• 53:49
  Speaker 7: Yeah, and again we don't and I understand what you're saying,
• 53:52
  Speaker 7: but we don't want to compute. We don't want to conflate. Yeah,
• 53:55
  Speaker 7: we don't want to conflate CTE with a LUs two
• 53:57
  Speaker 7: separate different different things.
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: And my piece of it was the.
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: Basic results of where it goes and how it how
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: it impacts the people around that person. You know, I
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: think they have the same type of reaction.
• 54:20
  Speaker 4: And still it's still hardly Yes.
• 54:23
  Speaker 7: Yes, like I said, it's just one of them things
• 54:25
  Speaker 7: that hopefully we can you know, find some resolution, find
• 54:28
  Speaker 7: some medication around that, you know, we can help, yeah,
• 54:32
  Speaker 7: cure there you go. We can help individuals who have
• 54:35
  Speaker 7: this just physically, you know, debilitating the disease or at
• 54:38
  Speaker 7: least get some warning signs, you know, the same thing
• 54:41
  Speaker 7: like we're doing around ct where we're trying to develop
• 54:44
  Speaker 7: you know, those warning signs and you know, take preventative
• 54:47
  Speaker 7: steps if nothing else.
• 54:48
  Speaker 2: As early as possible.
• 54:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: So all right, Well that we didn't we didn't end
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: on a bright note today, But the press to.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: His family in him. Yes, yes, for sure.
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: All right, ladies and gentlemen, We're gonna be back again
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: next week and we will see you.
• 55:03
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• 55:07
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• 55:30
  Speaker 2: Anything could be a win, yup, even defeat.
• 55:32
  Speaker 7: They say, shit's a bath for you wise visitary Sweet
• 55:35
  Speaker 7: couldn't play with big kids.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: I had to sit in the street and watch from
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: a distance. But over time I grew. If I put
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: in the work, in.
• 55:42
  Speaker 7: No time, I'm doing everything that I worked and prayed.
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: I moka. If you asked me, how did I do?
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: What I'm gonna say, you gotta work