Latest / Bleacher Report / Trey Murphy III on Shai Foul-Baiting, Haliburton Overrated Label, Ant s S--t Talk _ Taylor Rooks X

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Trey Murphy III on Shai Foul-Baiting, Haliburton Overrated Label, Ant s S--t Talk _ Taylor Rooks X · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Tarry Murphy. I'm so excited you're here.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you having me.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Of course, this is going to be a fun one,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: you know. I have to say. Diving into just your
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: life has been really interesting learning so much more about
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: you as I prepped for this. But one thing stuck
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: out to me. We have something very special in common.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Both of our first jobs were Chick fil A.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Really, yes, you know, I could see it for sure.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I could see it from you. Actually, I can see
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: it for you too.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: How many interviews did you have to go through? Because
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: what I tell people is like getting that Chick fil
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: A job is serious business?
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Really yeah?
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: How many did you do?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Miles?
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Pretty simple? They I think they just saw me on
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: the first interview and like, yeah, he's perfect for the job, so.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: We need him.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: I had three different but it was like everyone we
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: did a group interview all together, and then you had
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: three different stages and you got narrowed down to like
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to be able to work at Chick fil A.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Oh no, this was this like the first Chick fil
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: A or something that most in Georgia. That makes more sense. Yeah,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Minles wasn't care North Carolina. They didn't care as much
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: about quality of the service.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I guess, yeah, but you're very much of the Chick
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: fil a mold. They said, this guy will work.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, back then I was very nice and innocent, sweet kid.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: So it worked out.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: No longer nice, innocent and sweet.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: That changed complete the fifth.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: You're just a new person now.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't sell that, but I have a little I
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: have a little bit of that a few few those
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: tennessees still.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: But yeah.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Well, something else that you were talking about as I
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: was listening to some of your your shows is that
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: you do feel like there is a very distinct difference
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: between Trey off the court and Trey on the court.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: What are those differences, I would say, so growing up,
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: like it's probably up until I got to like college,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: I was so like super serious, super stressy, and like
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: just anxious like when I played basketball because I just
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: really wanted to be like so good, so bad.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: And then once I got into like Virginia and then
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: into the NBA, I have kind of like stopped stressing
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: as much. And once I stoped stressing, I more laid back.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I feel like my game grew a lot more. I
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: was able to blossom, and I feel like you know
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: the old me that there was like two separate type
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: of you know personalities. Like off the court, I'm the
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: most chill person ever. I really don't be doing too much.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: I'd be you know, going with the win. But then
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: on the court, I'm very like like focus and like
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I'm still focused, very intentional, and then I work really
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: hard on my game. But also I try to have fun.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: Like that was a big thing growing up. It's like
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: I was just so worried about like getting better, doing this, this,
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: and there I was forgetting to have fun. And once
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: I got older, I started having a lot more fun
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: playing basketball.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And growing up there was it seems like such
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: a focus on your body. You had, you know, all
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: these growth spurts, but for a minute you were smaller
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: or shorter, and then there was this focus on Okay,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: is he big enough to be a pro, he needs
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: to gain weight and all of these sort of things.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Whenever I hear things like that, I'm always curious how
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it shapes how you view your body and not seeing
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: it through the lens of how others see you.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Wow, that's actually really it's a really good question right there.
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: I will say, you know, there's times where I even
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: to this day, there's times where I struggle with like,
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: you know, body image to an extent, like I'll look
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: at myself like all right, I'm too skinny right now.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Or there's been times like even during the season where
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: it's like I don't even want to step on the
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: scale because I don't want to see how skinny I've gotten.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Because you know, I have times where I might struggle
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: eating because you know, just the season wears down on you.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: But you know, it's something that you try to overcome.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: It's a long season and you have to deal with
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: those ebbs and flows, and I feel like a lot
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: of NBA players you know, go through that but don't
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: really talk about it as much. So, yeah, it's something
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: I've been dealing with as well too.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I would. I would think that in some ways, Unfortunately,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: it's like ingrained in it because your body is so
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: picked apart because it is your tool. But I guess
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: no one really talks about the ways that that that
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: does then seep into your own image, if that makes sense, and.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Then also to you know, how you know, just society
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: in general, everybody loves to talk about, oh, you're so
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: skinny or so skinny. But then if I say, oh,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: but you're fat, then it's like, now I'm the bad guy.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're like, but you can talk about my body exactly. Yeah,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: So how do you you talked about the overcoming of it?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: How do you overcome it when there's a time Okay,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you're maybe a little bit nervous to step on the
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: scale or you think that I lose too much weight?
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: What's your process there?
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Really is just continuing to eat, not really just trying
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to think about it too much, and you know, just
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: taking your off days like very seriously. I feel like
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: once you really take your off days serious is like
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: really give yourself time to recover, get sleep, drink water,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: like just do a lot of different healthy things that
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: you know help your body. You start to get back
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: to your normal self. When you're in the season, sleep
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: is like second, you don't really get to sleep as much,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: and then you know, you get dehydrated from working out
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: so much. So it's it's just a lot of different
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: things that you know accumulate during the season that you
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: have to you know, fight against, especially on those off days,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: try to bring yourself back to normal.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, that's that's super super enlightening me. I always
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: we just are talking so often about athletes as just
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: this thing, like what they have to go and do that.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Of course, if you're hearing things about yourself all the time,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: it would have some level of effect. But what stuck
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: out to me about you working at Chick fil A
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: is that it's very rare that you even hear that
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: an NBA player had a job before. Most NBA players
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: have not done anything except for who even when they
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: were young. You don't have a first job. Is that
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: your experience.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna give a little bit of a disclaimer because
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I only worked there for like a month, so like,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know for sure if I really count this.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Went and got a job though.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: I did ye because and the reason why is because
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: I liked buying shoes, and my mom was like, if
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: you want to buy more shoes, you need to get
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: a job. And that was the closest restaurant in my
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: high school. So yeah, I would go to I would
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: leave school, go work for a couple of hours, to
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: come back and work out.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: So that was really my little routine. I could buy
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: more shoes.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: But you realize it is unconventional in terms of people
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: that make it to the NBA, they normally don't have one.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, And a lot of times I say
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: I haven't had a real job because it was like
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: I said, moth.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know what shoes you get, ah, A bunch.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Of different shoes.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: I got the anniversary elevens, I got some fire at five.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Like I was a big sneaker. I mean I still
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: am to this day. But yeah, you know I used
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: to buy a lot of Jordan's back in the day.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you at one point were on a hunt for
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: PG one's. Did you get them?
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Oh? Wow, you really do your research.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I do.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: I actually talked to PG about that as well, because
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: it was like one summer league I saw him and
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I was like, brod need some more of the PG ones.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: I know, you got a parent and he wears his
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: size thirteen and a half. I'm like, I can't even
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: get no more now because when only wear the same
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: size and nobody else sells at fifteen anymore. So yeah,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: I got a few, but it's it's hard. It's hard
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: to come by now.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would imagine shopping is a lot harder when
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: you wear the size fifteen. Yeah, there's not many places
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: that you can go.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I go in the store and I asked for my size,
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: and I just look at me. I'm just like, all right,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: I already knew, like it's okay.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: So you now have many jobs, of course, one of
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: them being podcaster, and I would like to get your
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: thoughts overall on active NBA players podcasting. Shout out to Tommy,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: we love young man in the three. I of course
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: think it is just a very asinine thought to think
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: that somebody can't podcast and play basketball. It's such a
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: ridiculous idea that I'm not going to ask you about that.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: But what I am curious about is when you go
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: into podcasting and doing media as an active player on
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: a team, what are the things that you say to yourself? Okay,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: I will discuss this. I won't discuss this. What happens
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: in the locker room is off limits. Like, what are
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the kind of rules that you made for yourself when
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you get in front of the mic.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: I haven't really made specific rules, but you know, I
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: have a pretty good like radar of like, all right,
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: I should probably stay away from this topic. And also
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I have a pretty good sense of what people are
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: trying to lead me into and obviously there's certain things
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: with my team, there's no there's actually a number of
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: things that you could talk about or try to ask
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: me about, try to pry some type of quote, and
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I'm just not going to give you that quote. You know,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Like that's why that's why I try to, you know,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: stay away from its just trying to give people, you know,
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: clips and quotes, because you could there could be like
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: a whole fifty minute interview and if somebody clips fifteen
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: seconds an interview, they'll miss the entire point of.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: The whole podcast. And you know that's the that's a
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: bad part about it.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: But I mean it's a part of you know, one
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: to speak your mind that people, you know, understand where
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: you're coming from on different things in the podcast world.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I guess yeah.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I interviewed Chris Paul and he was talking about this
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: idea of you know, everyone getting in front of the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: mic and talking about what their experiences are. And he said,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: when he is in the locker room, he is thinking, Okay,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: I said this. In ten years, is somebody going to
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: bring up on a podcast that I said this. I'm
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: just curious your take on this idea of what can
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and can't be said and sort of the time limit
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: on when it's said.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's no statute limitations in in podcasts me,
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: they bring it up. They bring it up, and also
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: for me, like whatever I say, like I stand fully
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: behind it, like I'm not one that's going to hide
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: behind you know, anything that I said. If you want
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: to confront me about it, please, by all means do
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: and I'll explain to you what I was exactly thinking,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: because I speak pretty intentionally and I think about things
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: pretty carefully before I say them, so you know, if
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: somebody wants to question that, then I'll be able to
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: bring you down my thought process on why I said what.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Do you feel a different level of power or ownership
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: over yourself and your career and your story being that
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: you have an outlet like a podcast.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: To an extent, yes, I feel like people are able
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: to see what I'm thinking. And I feel like, you know,
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: things happen on the court, and fans want to be
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: able to, you know, be in the moment, and if
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: you're able to tell a story and tell them what
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: exactly happened, they're able to you know, see that as
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: well and enjoy it more. And I know, for myself too,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: Like coming into the league, I watched a ton of
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: podcasts and it also helped me, you know, learn more
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: because they're giving out game for free.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: It's on YouTube.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Like I'm able to learn all these different things, to
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: pick up on things that I might not learn un
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: till later on in my career if I didn't listen
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: to that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: So I think it's helpful.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: And one of the things that I try to do is,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: you know, give back game to the younger kids and
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: younger generations that are coming into the NBA. So if
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: I'm able to do that from talking a little bit
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: for you know, YouTube, I'll do that.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, help the kids set their goals. I love it
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: kids man. Yeah. Okay, speaking of recent quote from you,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I will without a doubt be on the twenty twenty
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: eight Olympics team. When you think about those Olympics, what
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: do you see?
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, just watching the twenty twenty four Olympics in Paris,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: it was just old special, Like, I like, it didn't
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: really hit me when obviously twenty twenty was different, or
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one when they were you know, it was COVID,
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: and then twenty twenty sixteen, I was like youngin but
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: now like since I'm in the NBA, Like I see
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: these guys, I can see myself in their shoes. It's
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: like I want to be a part of something special
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: like that, especially to be able to represent your country
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: and be named as one of the twelve best NBA
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: players in the league, Like, like, why would I not
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: want to be a part of that. Especially It's just
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: it's also fighting for a goal bigger than yourself too,
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: And I feel like I, you know, try to do
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: that and try to you know, take my own personal
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: like goals and you know, achievements out of it and try.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: To you know, do stuff for the team. So I
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: would really want to be a part of that.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: So you, of course you did the Select Team, and
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I know that you didn't participate, you were in the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: middle of negotiations, but you were there. And for those
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: that don't know, of course, the Select Team is a
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: team that plays against Team USA as the other team,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: So you're running their actions, you're doing all these all
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: these sort of things. But what did you take away
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: from not just practicing against them, but seeing how Team
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: USA prepared Steph KD all those guys.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the biggest thing.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Because also since I wasn't playing, I was staying after
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: to workout, and so I would have to watch them
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: work out and then get off the court, so then
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: I could you know, proceed with my workout. And you know,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: it was just routine, and that was something that you
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: Donne's has them. He's he lives in my I mean
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: he was in Miami two years ago obviously with the
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: with the heat, and I live in Miami during the
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: off season, so we crossed paths and he was just
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: one of the things he used to harp on is
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: just keeping.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: A routine and having good habits.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: And you see that with you know the greats, like
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: they're all working on their you know, whatever workout they have,
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: they're still doing that summertime getting prepared for Olympic basketball,
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: and it's probably the same thing they do during the season.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: So just staying sharp and staying in routine. The biggest
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: thing that I've seen from you know, the.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Great one tell me to post practice routines you saw
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: that most surprised you or that you took something from
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: mm hmm.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Surprised me is a tough one because you know, I
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: feel like myself, I worked pretty hard and I feel
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: like I've known a good amount, but I would say that,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: you know, Ant was one of the guys that I
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: saw that really worked on his game, like it was
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: working hard, like after a two hour practice of playing
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: like he's still going through like live drills having defenders
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: guard him.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: And it just shows you.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: How, you know, how much how hard you have to
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: work in order to get to you know, where these
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: people are. And he's younger than I am, so you know,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: it just shows that you don't you have to really,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: you know, step.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Your game up.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and anything you took away enough from an but
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: from any of the routines that you incorporated into yours.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: I mean obviously watching stuff. There's a few shooting drills
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: that he would do that you know, I you know,
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: picked up on. He would do a lot of like
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: running and running and shooting, not just like stand still shooting.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: So he shoot a three in the corner, run to
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: the other corner, like the opposite corner, and then run
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: down shoot another three, And it just simulates a game
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: because you're not gonna get five catcher shoot shots within
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: five seconds in a game, so you know, you got
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: to be prepared to be out of rhythm. As well
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: as out of breath and still knockdown shots.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: How do you use that time in that moment of
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: being around that team. It's almost like a measuring stick.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Do you leave away saying Okay, this is the gap,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: this is how I can close the gap. How do
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: you get I don't want to say inspired, but you
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: at least understand, like this is what it looks like
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: and this is what I want to be.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing is just picturing myself within
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: that environment. Like just seeing those guys, seeing what they're
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: doing is like, all right, I know for sure I
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: can do this, I can do that, and I know
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: that's why I'll be able to help with my skill set,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: you know, if I'm able to be on that twenty
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: twenty eight Olympic team. And I think it's also, you know,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: somewhat inspiring when the guys are like recognizing your game,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: especially because me, I wasn't highly touted in high school.
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: I went to Rice University first at six offers coming
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: out of high school, Like I wasn't this like super
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: high recruit. And so now the guys that I was
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: watching growing up, they're watching me now and they're like, yeah,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: like you got game like that, it means a lot
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: to you. So it makes you, you know, just keep
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: going and continue to keep working hard.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: When you talk about them recognizing your game, you obviously
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: have been having some stellar years. But when did you realize, okay,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: your respect level was different. Was there something a player
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: said to you in a game or Team USA where
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: you said, all right, I'm being seen in a different
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: light than I was before.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I would probably say, you know, the times that Katie
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: is show has show love because obviously it's been one
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: of my favorite players growing up in any tall wing can
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: do everything on the court, and then whenever he was
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: like all right, like this kick and hoop and he
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: like recognized that, it's like, all right, might I'm I
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: might be all right at this, like I might be
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: going places because this is somebody that I've looked up to,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: you know, taking pieces of his game and tried to
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: implement some mind and he's recognizing that. So he was
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: probably one of the ones like early on that I
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: was like, all right, I know what I'm I know
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: what I'm doing.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: And this was Katie showing love like online or on
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: a show where he had.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: One in the game.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in the gain, Hey, tell me about it. What
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: he said.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know how much I can say about it, but.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Katie says, you can tell me.
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: But no, it's just I mean no, this was was
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: after it was after the game, my rookie year, I
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: want to say, and he was.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: Just dapped me up and he was like, yeah you
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: can hoop.
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: He said, keep going, like just keep working hard and
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: like Scott's limit almost and it's just like damn, like
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: this is Kevin Durant, like especially me, twenty one year
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: old kid and just now getting too the league.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: It was It's a really dope moment.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: I love that. Okay, So going back to you know,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: being around that team, I want you to fill in
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the blank for me. I walked into Team USA Select
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: thinking Cooper flag was blank, and I left thinking Cooper
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: flag was blank.
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: I walked into Team USA selecting Cooper flag was good,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: and I left thinking that he's really, really good. And
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: I think the biggest reason why is his mentality. Like
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: the first day he was a little you could tell
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: he was seventeen. He was trying to find his way,
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: and then the next day he was probably the best
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: player on the Team Select. For the Select team and
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: he was just super aggressive and he didn't have any fear,
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: and especially eighteen years old. Seventeen years old, you're going
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: against guys that are, you know, the best in the
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: entire NBA, and he didn't back down. He was attacking them,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: he was playing great defenses. It just shows a level
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: of like, all right, he has he has confident himself,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: and that's the biggest thing. If you're going to be
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: in the NBA and you want to be a great
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself,
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: almost like an irrational confidence in order to be you
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: know where you want to be.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: So when you all are watching Cooper flag that next
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: day where he comes in and he's just hooping, what
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: are the conversations that you all have about Cooper?
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing is just like giving him
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: his props.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of people nowadays, especially players, I
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: wouldn't say nowadays. Now, I feel like players are more
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: willing to, you know, give others their flowers because we
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: understand some brotherhood and we also know like he's going
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: to be in the.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: NBA in the next two years, like it's.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: Just going to happen as inevitable and so you know,
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: there's no there's no need to hate. We're all really
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: trying to you know, we have one goal of winning
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: and then another goal of you know, feeding our families.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: So we're not really trying to you know, hate on
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: next man in order.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: To do that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, for sure. I didn't know if there was
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: like a conversation of like, oh, he's for real, Like
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: there is something to seeing somebody be good right in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: front of you, yeah, versus watching him play against college kids.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: I mean you're saying that he came up the next
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: day and was one of the best on the team.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: It has to be like a different realization of what
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: he can be.
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And I mean I saw him early on. I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: saw him the summer before at Nike Skills Academy, and
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: once again he was dominant there playing against you know,
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: college kids other high school kids are highly rated, and
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: then seeing them in the Team USA Select scene, I
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: had no I was not surprised of what he did
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: this year in college. And it's tough to have all
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: those expectations on you going into Duke and being the
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: number one player in the class and all odds are
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: you used to perform like that's pretty pretty remarkable.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: How do you define generational talent or generational prospect? What
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: does that term mean to you?
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: I feel like he's thrown around pretty loosely right now.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: But you know, generational talent doesn't always have to be
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: like the most athletic person or like the most.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Like just gifted person.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: A lot of times it can be mentality and how
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: they care themselves. But a lot of times like they
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: all have like a combination of you know, mentality, skill level,
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: and an athleticism.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's so interesting because you said you think
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: it's like thrown around, but I feel like your definition
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: could be so many people can be.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they can be for sure, you might have called
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: me there, but but no, I mean for me and
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: my judgments of where you know, generational talents are, you know,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: those three criteria, it's not the easiest to yeah, for
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: me to point.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Out, Okay, and you're like, it's ticking all of those
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: boxes at a certain level, which then translates to absolutely
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and being a generational talent. Okay, I'm excited to watch
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Cooper in the league, But you do you are you
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: excited for this draft class specifically?
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: No?
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think it's a really, really good draft class obviously,
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: Like I'm a I just want to watch basketball, Like
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: I'll watch high school basketball, WNBA, watch college like it
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: doesn't really matter to me. And so like I'm pretty
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: familiar with a lot of guys gaming. I feel like
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of young guys are going to be
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: able to make a difference on their teams, like as
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: soon as they step in day one.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Ace Bailey thoughts good.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Now he's gonna be a really good young kid as well, tall,
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: lanky shooter, can score the ball, his tough shots and
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: what you've seen in the playoffs is a lot of
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: tough shot making. And you know he's going to come
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: in day one and he's gonna have experience with that
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: in college, so he doesn't get to the right situation
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: or to be able to do that. But I think
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: it'll also be pretty good, pretty id prosserate.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Would you welcome the idea of letting a college player
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: on the Olympics team again? I think with the last
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: time was twenty twelve, like right after a d led
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Kentucky to a championship, Blake Griffin got hurt, he came
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and he played. Would you like a college player on
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: the Olympics team.
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: If they're worthy, then yeah, I'm not gonna say like, oh,
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: because he's in college, he's not worthy. If he's one
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: of the best twelve players from the United States, then
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: by all means, let them play. I'm not going to
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: be coach car order and Bess this is strict, like
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: you gotta do this, that and the third like that's
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: not my I'm not gonna make a you know, assessment
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: about that for sure.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, so let's talk some conference finals fun time in
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: the NBA right now. You said multiple times that Shay
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: was the hardest player for you to defend. What does
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: it take out of you to guard Shay?
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: A lot of it is just like not getting frustrated,
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: especially because how can I work this without get in
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: trouble with the referees.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: You just have to be patient.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: And also you can't get frustrated because he's he's gonna
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: get those calls like he's gonna get you know, touch
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: files some time to time.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: But that's just how it's always been.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Like guys that are the top three guys that are
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: going to get a favorable whistle because that's just you know,
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: the respect they've earned and you know, he makes it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: A lot tougher because he drives.
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: More than almost anybody in the entire lyag Like he
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: gets to the basket at in the serve rate. So
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: you're defending a lot of a lot of contact, and
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: so you gotta find ways to try to stop them
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: in the biggest thing is just not trying to give
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: him angles, because you know he lives in eating up
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: space and get into the basket.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: But for you, when it comes to this conversation around
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Shay right now, do you see is your philosophy okay,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: this is foulbating or is your philosophy this is a
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: skill that you use to score points and play the game.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: I mean it's a part of the game. Yeah, I
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: mean he can't you can't blame him for what is
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: in the game. Like if the NBA was like, all right,
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: you can't do this, then it's like it's different. But
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: like it's almost like with James Harden, Like he's he's
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: almost like exploiting, exploiting a rule to an extent, but
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: you know you still have to be skilled enough to
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: do it. But also too, like dos be fouling him too? Though,
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: Like I'm not gonna add like he's not getting.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: He's not flopping to an extent, but they're watched Game one,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't flopping.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: I mean everybody flops.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I do too, like from time time, I do too,
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Like is what it is like, I'm I'm not going
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: to just let people just keep grabbing me a hold
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: of me, Like, I'm not just gonna let that happen.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: So it's just like you have to, you know, play
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: the game within the game. I think that's what he's
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: doing at a really high level. And then he drives
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: at even higher level, so he's getting defended like that
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: more than the average NBA player for sure.
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I just always think it's interesting and I get why
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: this happens, but that the focus always becomes, you know,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: Shae the offensive player. But the conversation isn't about what
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the defender needs to do or not do against Shay
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: when it's Shay that is playing his game. So now
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the defender needs to figure out how to then exploit
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: that game or to at least avoid, you know, getting
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: those calls.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: I mean also too, it's not baseball, like great offense
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: is going to beat great defense every single time.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Right, But I also think that when you're a defender
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: and you know how Shaye plays the game. There are
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: ways to try to avoid it. You do not agree.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: I mean it's easier sett than done.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: I mean, he avers just thirty some points, so it's
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: not like he not doing this to every single player.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: So you gotta you know, you gotta tip your hat
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: off to him. Just make it tough. That's the biggest thing.
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: Trying to make it tough and understand that if he
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: gets to his spots and he makes his shots, like,
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: there's not really much you can do about it. And
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: there's just certain players in the league that there's not
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: gonna be a lot you can do about stopping what
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: they want to get to.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, it'll be hard getting to him to
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the basket. I am talking about specifically fouling him. He
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: averages thirty points. That means he's going to score on
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: anybody that's in front of him exactly. But this is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: about getting to the line. I'm saying this about getting fouled. Yeah,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: but you're like, well, there's some things you can't help.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: No, it's not. I mean, he keep drops in the basket.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: He's like, I mean, one of these times, I'm gonna
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: have to end up fouling him because he keeps scoring,
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: Like you gotta foul at least one of these times.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: You've talked too though about the cadence that Cha has.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Why does his cadence make him difficult to guard?
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Because it's not regular. His cadence isn't like other people.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: He moves kind of like Slythery is a different He
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: has a different movement pattern than like a lot of
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: different guys. And honestly, I don't think there's a moving
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: patter you can really like compare him to in the
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: way he and the way he moves like people say,
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: like a modern day Kobe, But it's just like maybe.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: But I mean, I feel like he's just himself. There's
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: not really anybody else you can really compare him to.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: So he just doesn't move like other people.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's just different.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: So explain that all of us we learn that we're
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: not going to be in front of shade, you know
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: what you mean to Just tell me more in detail
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: what you mean about why that cadence is different, and
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: also what you have to do to prepare for that cadence.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for an example, I remember this was
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: too playoff series last year, our first round game and
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: the first game he didn't play as great as game,
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: Like I guard him a few times and I, you know,
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: did well. He didn't scoreine the next game he scored
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: every time, and it was because he was doing things
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: that you would think he's gonna do. And then he
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: counter again, so like I feel like I had an answer,
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: he had another counter to my answer, and so it's like,
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: all right, Like now he's just playing a mind game
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: at this point. There's a point, there's one point where
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: he had backed up and went forward at the same time.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Doesn't make sense, but he did what Yeah, he backed
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: up and went forward at the same time. It doesn't
• 27:27
  Speaker 3: make sense, but once you watch it, you're like, yay,
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: he backed up and went forward at the same time
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: he dribbled, he drove back and then went forward like
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: basically simultaneously.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: In real time. Are you like, what was that?
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Yes?
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: And then they showed it on filming. It's like, why
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: you let him go by? I'm like, what do you need?
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: Why let him go by? Do you want to try
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: to guard this? Like I promise you I'm not trying
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: to let him.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Go by me, Like he backed up and I'm gonna
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: have to look at this.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: I did find a clip and you'll see.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: I remember once you're telling this story about a really
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: bad defensive performance that you.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Had against the Lakers. Against the Lakers, this was my
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: third year.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you had to sit you down and say, I
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: need you to help me. Yeah, how did you change
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: after that conversation as a defender?
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Really it was just about pride, Like I was just like,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: I can't I can't go out like that, and a
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: lot of a lot of the mistakes I was making
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: was like just a lack of toughness, a lack of
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: like strength, and you know, you just can't have those plays,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: and you know, when that stuff happens, it tests your manhood.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: And I knew from that point on I didn't want
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: to feel like that, especially after a game like I
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: just felt really disappointed in my performance and how you know,
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: I played defensively, So I want to make sure I,
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: you know, change that for the rest.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: Of the year.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you feel like you've taken those steps to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: do that. You obviously are a much better defender, but
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: do you feel like that was really important for you
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to hear to be able to become the defender that
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: you are now.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, And even if I didn't hear like, I knew, Oh,
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: I'm pretty self aware of on you know, if I
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: play well or play bad, and so I knew that
• 29:04
  Speaker 3: was a really bad one, and I knew I have
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: to make a change. And also to my dad, he
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: is really large critic critic of mine. So yeah, he
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: had many things to say, and I didn't really feel
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: like hearing him for the rest of the year.
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: So I had to make sure I locked in.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Every time you get to stop, this is for you, Dada, exactly,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: And every time he would be like, I don't remember that,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: but he'll remember the ones where I messed up.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: So I love that.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: So what Shay and the Thunder obviously going against Ann
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: in Minnesota? How much shit does Ant talk out there?
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Is he a big shit talker?
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: A lot?
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he talks a lot, and whether that is to
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: the crowd, whether it's to his teammates about another person
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: on other team, either to the other team, Like, he
• 29:46
  Speaker 3: talks a lot, and he's very very expressive person. But
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: you know, all he can do is respect it because
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: he backs up you know what he talks about. So
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of guys in the league that talk,
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: we don't back it up. So it's like like, all right, bro,
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: you say what you want, Like we're not really listening
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: to what you're saying. Ants out there getting buckets and
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: telling you about it, and it's like all you can.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Do is respect that.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, have you been on the other side of an
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: ant shit talk?
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: Oh sort of kind of not really though, like not much,
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: not anything I can really speak about here, but but.
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nothing is crazy.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: And honestly, like people don't really say a lot to
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: me from time to time, Like I'll get a few
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: guys that like to talk, like I don't really be
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: saying much on a court.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I'll just be like if I talk, Like, if I talk.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: I'm normally talking to my teammate, and it might be
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: something that might be referring to a person on the
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: other team where I'm telling my teamate, yo, don't close
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: out at him, he can't shoot, like, and then they
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: might get offended. They might say something to me. So
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: then like it's one of those type of things. But
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: for the most part, like people, I ain't really be
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: saying much out there.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: You were half joking all the times that you said this,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: But something you say a lot is that you're a
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: hater at heart.
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: I'm not joking about what is?
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: So what is? Tell me a little bit more about that.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Why are you a hater at heart?
• 31:08
  Speaker 3: It probably started off and like one of my parents meet.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: My parents met when they were like twenty four and
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: twenty five, and both of them are haters, and then
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: they created me, and.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: I had no choice was born.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had no choice but to be a hater. So, yeah,
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: I've grown up like that.
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: They've always been the you know, good job, that you
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: could do better type of category, and I think it's
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: you know, made me to the man that I am today.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Really, how genuinely, how has that sort of shaped you?
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: They don't let me get complacent, Like I'm never complacent
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: where I am always trying to strive for more, always
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: trying to do better, trying to be a perfectionist, almost
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: like there's something I could do right.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: I'm still trying to figure out, all right.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: What is there one little thing that I did wrong
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: that I could fix and try and make better. And
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: I think that is from the you know hating.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it fuels me, it does.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: And that's why I love playing on the road because
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: all I hear is a bunch of hating, and now
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: I want to prove them wrong.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: I will say, I don't know if you remember this,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: but there is a time in Phoenix I brought my
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: dad to the game and the Sons were playing the Pelicans,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: and we were right next to your bench, and you
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: did do a lot of like talking. It wasn't that
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: you were talking to the players. I mean you were.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: You enjoyed the being away of it all.
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: I will say that's the one thing I miss the
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: most of talking to like the fans and the like
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: the court side people.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: Those are the ones that really get me amped up.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: Like I like, I really thoroughly enjoy when people on
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: the sidelines talk trash me because and I was like,
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: all right now, now these next five threes, I'm about
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: to hit his on you, and I'm gonna tell him
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: it's your fault too.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah, I know the story where there was a
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: fan that was talking to you a lot, and then
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: you all won the game and you said that's your fault.
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Has there been any other time where you can directly
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: say a fan led to an elite performance from Murphy.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: M Let me go down the book catalogs.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Let's see, or are is there a fan base that
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: you really love Angering?
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: Oh you're really trying to get me see there you
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: go again. This is my is my media training kicks
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: in just question?
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: No? Well, there obviously is an answer. There is a
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: fan base that you like Angering.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: There's a few that come to mind, and honestly, but Warriors?
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Who else? Oh?
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Why the Warriors?
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: I don't like keep I mean, I bring it up,
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: but you know, teams that drafted before me, like any
• 33:46
  Speaker 3: team that was, you know, in the draft, and they
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: picked guys ahead of me. I still think about that.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: It's like, oh, you thought this guy was better than
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to show you that he's not. So I
• 33:56
  Speaker 3: would say that's one of the reasons why the Warriors
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: was one of them, especially because I had a few
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: workouts with them. Thought I did pretty well. But you
• 34:02
  Speaker 3: know that's when what's the fan base you were thinking of?
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I really didn't know. I just think I knew that
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: you had an answer because of how you reacted to
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: my question.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, you know there's I'm okay making anybody bad, honestly. So,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: but I will say the first one that had started
• 34:16
  Speaker 3: with was the Lakers.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: Though.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: This is my rookie year, okay, and my rookie was
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: very sporadic, like one of the more like stressful years
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: I've had playing basketball. And we're playing the Lakers at home,
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: and we really need this game in order to like
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: have a chance to make the plan. We're down like
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: twenty at halftime. I check into the third quarter and
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: Willie tells me, He's like, you know, just just go
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: out there and just go hoop, all right, cool? So
• 34:43
  Speaker 3: I go out there, I started hooping, I get a
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: I get dunk, and of getting a tech because I
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: looked at Wingne Gabriel, Tony Brothers gave me a tech.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: Love Tony, but come on, dog, like, come on, man, anyway,
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: got a tech for that. And then there's a Lakers
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: fan court side talking trash and I'm just like, bro,
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: you're in my crib talking and shit with a Laker
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: jersey one. So then I ended up scoring like I
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: want to say, like eighteen points in the quarter, and
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: especially during that time, I wasn't really playing a lot,
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: So then like that got me amped up. And then
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: after the game, like the dude like he even comes
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: to the games to this day and he's a Pelicans
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: fan now because of because of that game.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: No way, I'm so serious.
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: That's a nice little story. Are you like his friends?
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: That's my dog every time I see him in the
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: game or dap him up, like, that's my dog.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: And that's another thing too, is like the fans, like
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: it's never any hard feelings. Like even the guy that
• 35:37
  Speaker 3: I told you about or I said about the.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah this was your fault.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is your fault. He's actually a friend of
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: another player.
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah he was Jimmy's friend.
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he's Jimmy's friend. And I saw him somewhere else.
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: He was like, yo, bro, Like I hope, Like it's
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: I'm like, bro, is basketball. I promise you anything outside
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: of those ninety four feet Like, I promise you it
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: was cool, Like as long as you don't step over
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: that line and be disrespectful, like I promise, I'm never
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: gonna take anything to heart.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah I love that. Okay, So I want to revisit
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: what you said because I find it fascinating when players
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: talk about their draft and like people the one before them. Obviously,
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: Trey loves being a Pelican, loves New Orleans. That is
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: not what I'm asking, but were you surprised that the
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Warriors did not pick you.
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, to an extent, I'm not gonna like I wasn't.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: I feel like I had two pretty good workouts with them,
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: and you know, it felt like it was no good
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: chance that I would go there. I mean, it was
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: between either of them or the Pelicans in my opinion,
• 36:35
  Speaker 3: and you know it didn't happen. But I mean, everything
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: happens for a reason, and so I know I was
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: led to be a Pelican for a reason, and you know,
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: I've seen the fruits of that as well, So I'm
• 36:47
  Speaker 3: thankful for that.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: But also I'm not gonna like I forgot for sure.
• 36:50
  Speaker 3: Like and then I remind I remind Dremond about that too,
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: because he was one of the ones that said, all right,
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: draft this guy. And it's just like, all right, cool,
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: I'll remind you that's what you said too.
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: So that's nice. And I know, I know Draymond got
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: something to say back every time.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Every time I will say, that's one of the funniest dudes.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: In the entire Draymond is great because I mean, yeah,
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: to your point, what you're talking about, this is not
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: trade specific. Every guy is always talking about the draft
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and who went before them. When do you think that
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: gets let go? If ever?
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know because CJ still talks about it now.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: He's old as dirt, so talking about it.
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he talked about Sacramento to this day and he
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: thirty three going on thirty four, Like yeah, so I know,
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: it just depends. Like obviously it's all like you know,
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: like it's it's whatever, because you know there's a bunch
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: of what ifs, but you know you still think about
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: that because like, the draft is one of the most
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: special nights of your entire life, and it's so out
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: of your control, so it's the most stress It's like
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: one of the most stressful nights I've ever been a
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: part of because it's not in my control. But I
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: know this is when I my life like really changes.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I love the draft though, because it's it's very
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: rare that you literally watch your dream come true. Yeah,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: and just being there is always so special. Like I
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: can't even imagine the emotions that would come with hearing
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: your name, knowing that all this is paid off, like
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's wild.
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: Insane, like the wave emotions I got when he called
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: my name, like I was with family too, and it's
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: just like when he said my name, and because like
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: actually my agent called sixteenth pick, I was like, all right,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: Pelic's gonna pick your seventeen.
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: I was all right, cool, and I was like chilling,
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: like I was like, all right, like this, I'll be
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: over with now.
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: But then when he said my name, it was just
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: like all the memories of me being in the front
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: yard my dad cussed me out him, you know, punishing
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: me for not playing well. All the different times I
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: cried about this, like the injuries and all that stuff.
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: Is like it finally he's worth it, Like this is
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: my dream come true? And then I cried like a baby.
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: I can't lie as you should, ugly cry. It wasn't good.
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: I'm glad I wasn't in New York for people to
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: see that ugly cry.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I was gonna say, wait, but your draft happened
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: like normal, that wasn't there.
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: Had less players.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: But but yeah, because I was there the year you're drafted,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: but you weren't there because I interview everybody after.
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I wasn't too happy about.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: That, honestly, And I mean, there's a lot of things
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: that you hear from guys as they wish they would
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: have just done it with their family, because the minute
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: you get drafted, you're pulled in so many different directions.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: You don't necessarily get to enjoy it with the people
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: that you came with. You have media, you have other obligations,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: but when you spend it with your family, you're just
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: with the people that that you want to be with.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: But I get you always want the thing that you
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: didn't didn't get to do. Yeah, absolutely, yeah, I get it.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I get it. So another question for you, do you
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: do the anonymous player survey. I'm not asking who you
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: voted for, but you do it. Do you think that
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: people glean anything from knowing who everyone believes is the
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: most overrated player?
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: I mean yeah, like they want to know we were thinking,
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: but also to like a lot of times, like even
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: for me with the whole when they asked me that
• 40:11
  Speaker 3: I've I couldn't even really think of anybody because it's
• 40:14
  Speaker 3: like everybody in the league is good, Like we're the
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: best in the world. So it's like you compare us
• 40:21
  Speaker 3: to a player that is, you know, overseas or and
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: no disrespect for anybody overseas, but it's just like the
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: NBA is just different, like is the best of the best,
• 40:31
  Speaker 3: And so it's like you think about somebody that's overrated,
• 40:33
  Speaker 3: it's just like if you compare them to anybody else,
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: like they're.
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: Probably better than that person.
• 40:38
  Speaker 3: So, you know, I didn't agree with the Tyrese Haliburn
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: being overrated, uh comp And obviously he's lighting a fire
• 40:46
  Speaker 3: to that right now in the playoffs, and so you know,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: I'm a happy for him, especially one of the guys
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: I work out with, So you know, I'm glad they
• 40:52
  Speaker 3: would prove them wrong.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, nice little's got nice little contingent.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: He got some guys.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: Yes, I know that you and Tyrese obviously are close.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: You work out together with Juwhanlin. What is it about
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: you think Tyrese's game that would lead people to believe
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: that he's overrated, whether that's fans or players, Because I've
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: had I've had a number of conversations with Tyrese, but
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: he was so aware last year that people believed him
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: and them to be a fluke, Like he knew it
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: even then. And I remember going into this year him
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: just telling me that that is. It is irritating, but
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: it's also motivating. But I just him. I'm curious why
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: he specifically sort of gets this tag on him.
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: I think it's probably a combination of his game being
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: so unorthodox and you haven't really seen on a shot
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: like his that goes in that frequently, and then to
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: him being so comfortable with himself. When you have like
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: both of those where he's like almost like unrattled to
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: an extent that then people find ways to, you know,
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: be like, all right, they gotta find a way to
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: hate on it because obviously he's living his truth and
• 42:03
  Speaker 3: he's loving himself. We gotta find ways to try to
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: bring him down and he's just not really budgeting.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I love how open he is
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: about it. He's like, okay, overrate that, Like I think
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: you kind of have to make these things your story.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: He's a little bit of.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: A hater too, I see, Yeah, I see, I see
• 42:20
  Speaker 3: a little bit of hating his hardest.
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: I know you game recognized game.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Yes, that is so funny. I love it. Okay, So
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: you of course had shoulder surgery in March. Any updates
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: you can give us? Where are you at?
• 42:33
  Speaker 3: I'm moving pretty well, I've been you know, recovering well
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: actually eight weeks was today. Start of eight weeks is today,
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: And you know, it's a slow burn process, especially with shoulders,
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: especially shooting shoulder. But everything's been moving really smoothly, and
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: you know, it could have been a lot worse, for sure,
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: and so I'm just thankful it wasn't worse than that.
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: And also too we weren't you know, in the playoff
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: hunt and I get hurt like that, it really would
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: have crushed me. So yeah, you know, I know things
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: once again happened for a reason, so I know I'll
• 43:03
  Speaker 3: be all right.
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: How did you deal with sort of this feeling of
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: your body kind of betraying you.
• 43:10
  Speaker 3: It's weird because like, probably like a couple of games
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: before that, I could I could feel like my body
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: like going through it, and I was just like, it's
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: gonna be tough to make it through these next thirteen games.
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: And then literally like I ended up getting hurt, and
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: obviously getting hurt sucks, but like it could have been
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: a lot worse, especially for what had happened, because you know,
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: I didn't have any rotator cuff tear, and if I
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: would have had that, it would have been a little
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: bit of a longer process.
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: The rehab on that is a lot worse.
• 43:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, I dislocated my shoulder and ended up having
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: to pop it back into place like during the game,
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: and so like it's traumatic obviously, as like when it happens,
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: but like you know, it already happened, so like all
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: I can do is just keep moving forward.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: And so when you think about the season, I mean,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: there's really no other way to say this except for
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: to put it bluntly, but Pelicans won twenty one games.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: What motivates you when you are a losing team.
• 44:16
  Speaker 3: During this season is just the disrespect and how people
• 44:20
  Speaker 3: feel like there's gonna walk in and get like an
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: easy win. And you know, the whole idea of you know,
• 44:26
  Speaker 3: teams are like so called tanking as never from the players,
• 44:30
  Speaker 3: Like the players go out there and try to win
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: every single game. So like when that stuff builds up,
• 44:37
  Speaker 3: it's really it's really tough. It's hard to deal with.
• 44:40
  Speaker 3: Like there was a point in the season, like we
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: play the Knicks in December in the Garden and we
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: probably score like twenty nine points in the first half
• 44:49
  Speaker 3: or something like that, and it's like it's just something
• 44:52
  Speaker 3: you really don't want to you really hate you really
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: hate that feeling, and so you know it it's important
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: because I feel like, you know, once we go into
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: next season, we're just gonna be like, look, we cannot
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: feel like this again. We cannot go into this season
• 45:05
  Speaker 3: thinking that last year is acceptable. And so that's when
• 45:09
  Speaker 3: you you know, have that pain that you felt and
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: you take it into the next season.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: How do you stop it from changing how you view yourself?
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: That's a good question. You know.
• 45:24
  Speaker 3: Something that I was like not struggling with, but definitely
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: cognizant of, is how the whole empty stats you know
• 45:32
  Speaker 3: discourse that people talk about when you're on a team
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: that's losing but you're putting up good you're putting the
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: numbers and stuff like that, and you know, I like,
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: I really don't like it because I feel like, you know,
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: I was trying to play winning basketball. It wasn't like
• 45:46
  Speaker 3: a just chucking up shots and just playing a bad
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: brand of basketball. Like I was really trying to win games.
• 45:52
  Speaker 3: It just that it just didn't happen. And so you know,
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: it makes you, it makes you really want to win more.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: And there are a lot of games two that were
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: really close, and I had good games, and it's just
• 46:02
  Speaker 3: like if we won that game, it's like discourse would
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: be different about these empty stats. And it's a lot
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: of times it was against good teams too, so you know,
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: it's just something that you think about it and just
• 46:13
  Speaker 3: move on to the next next year.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: It's interesting to hear you talk about this, though, because
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: I do think fans kind of have this idea that
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: you know, when you're playing in the NBA and you're
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: making a lot of money and your job is that
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: you get to play basketball, that losing doesn't feel the
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: same as it does and maybe college or something, but
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: that absolutely hasn't been your experience. How does losing just
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: generally affect you. It seems like it means something not
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: really to be losing, but to not be winning.
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: You know, it sucks. Losing sucks just in general.
• 46:45
  Speaker 3: Like I compete on you know, I compete with my
• 46:48
  Speaker 3: GPS on getting to a place and see if I
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: can beat the time that's there.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: So it's like I try to win everything.
• 46:54
  Speaker 3: And so you know, going through a whole season and
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: there's a point where five and thirty something like that sucks,
• 47:00
  Speaker 3: like it really does basketball. Once you are in the game,
• 47:04
  Speaker 3: you lose yourself into the game and you just go
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: back to being a little kid playing. But after the
• 47:10
  Speaker 3: game when you felt that, like, no, it's not fun
• 47:12
  Speaker 3: at all, and like you you try to find different
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: ways to you know, keep the sanity at the end
• 47:20
  Speaker 3: of the day, you're playing basketball. But I will say
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: like the whole like, oh, like you make a ton
• 47:25
  Speaker 3: of money, Like yes, like I got a contract extension,
• 47:28
  Speaker 3: and you know, I think I probably play a little
• 47:32
  Speaker 3: less stressed, you know, at times, because I know, like
• 47:37
  Speaker 3: the way I play isn't going to affect what I'm
• 47:39
  Speaker 3: gonna make and how I'm able to you know, feed
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: my family. But I don't think about my contract when
• 47:44
  Speaker 3: I'm trying to win a game, Like it's just not
• 47:46
  Speaker 3: even not even like that's not even thought process. My
• 47:49
  Speaker 3: thought process is all right, how I'm gonna attack this,
• 47:51
  Speaker 3: How am I going to try to help my team win.
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: You don't think about, oh, yeah, I got my extension,
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: so I don't really care for when I lose.
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: That's not even closely out.
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: I think you're like, I'm out here to win, ye,
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: so that's what I'm trying to do. You, of course,
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: your teammates with Zion Williamson, who was obviously and undoubtedly
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: one of the best players in the league when he's healthy.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: But how is playing with Zion formed or defined your
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: perspective on health in the NBA.
• 48:20
  Speaker 3: It's super important, especially because you know there's so many
• 48:23
  Speaker 3: people that talk about like, oh, like so and so's
• 48:25
  Speaker 3: always injured, like this, like they gotta do this, they
• 48:29
  Speaker 3: gotta do that. Like there's a lot of times in
• 48:30
  Speaker 3: the NBA like it's out of control. Like the game
• 48:33
  Speaker 3: that we play is faster than it's ever been. Players
• 48:36
  Speaker 3: are better, offenses are better, and there's just more space
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: on the court.
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: So you're moving at high speeds.
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: You're cutting it really high speeds, like you're gonna have
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: muscile injuries because you know, our bodies are going through
• 48:47
  Speaker 3: an eighty two game season and having back to back
• 48:51
  Speaker 3: is not having a lot of sleep. You know, probably
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: a few unhealthy things that you do. You know, outside
• 48:56
  Speaker 3: of that that normal human beings do, going to add
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: up to injuries from time to time. Like you try
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: your best to, you know, mitigate that, but you know
• 49:05
  Speaker 3: you can only do so much. And so, you know,
• 49:07
  Speaker 3: I feel for him, and especially I want to say
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: my second year after he got hurt and it was
• 49:13
  Speaker 3: basically like a season injury, season ending injury, and I
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: just tried to be there for him, because once you're hurt,
• 49:18
  Speaker 3: you're kind of like you feel like you're alienated from
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: the team because you're not on the court, you're not
• 49:23
  Speaker 3: able to help, and so you know, you just got
• 49:25
  Speaker 3: to really reeling back in as well.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I mean, I I want to see a
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: healthys Eyeon season because when it's there, it's unreal. Yeah,
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, yeah, what makes you say it like that?
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: What have you seen?
• 49:42
  Speaker 3: Like it's weird because there's so many times like like I,
• 49:45
  Speaker 3: like I said before, I I'm a hater, Like I
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: don't get impressed by a lot of stuff. But he's
• 49:49
  Speaker 3: in the game and he's like contorting his body, like
• 49:51
  Speaker 3: throwing the ball up from like the ground, laying the
• 49:54
  Speaker 3: ball up, and it's just like, I don't I don't
• 49:55
  Speaker 3: understand how you do that that. And then when we
• 49:58
  Speaker 3: played against Minnesota at home his first game back, he
• 50:00
  Speaker 3: three sixty windmills.
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: It's like, pro, you're not supposed to do.
• 50:04
  Speaker 3: That, Like you're not Yeah, you know, you're not supposed
• 50:07
  Speaker 3: to do that, Like you're not supposed to be that
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: athletic that nimble at that size and that strength, Like
• 50:12
  Speaker 3: it don't make any sense, but he's one of one.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I love it. Okay, I want to ask you
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: just a little bit more about your journey before we
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: let you go. Describe your rookie season in your words,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: it's a way of things.
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: That I think about. Yeah, but.
• 50:30
  Speaker 3: I would say it was probably probably the most important
• 50:33
  Speaker 3: season I've had, because, like I've always dealt with adversity,
• 50:38
  Speaker 3: but this is a different type of adversity, especially because
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: you know, I wasn't the best player on the team always,
• 50:45
  Speaker 3: but I at least played, and my rookie is the
• 50:48
  Speaker 3: first one I experienced like dressing up for a game
• 50:51
  Speaker 3: and not playing and going into a game knowing I'm
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: not gonna play, and it drove me insane, especially when
• 50:58
  Speaker 3: there's times where you feel like, you know, I can
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: go out there and I can help the team.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we weren't winning.
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: So it's like it's a combination of just like not winning,
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: I feel like you can play, not being able to
• 51:11
  Speaker 3: play in showcase your talent, and then there'd be times
• 51:14
  Speaker 3: where I'll go out there and you know, I'm not
• 51:15
  Speaker 3: playing to my standards, So you know it it took
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: a lot, like it took a lot out of me.
• 51:20
  Speaker 3: And then also you know, being the first round pick
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: gets sent to the G League and it wasn't a punishment,
• 51:25
  Speaker 3: but it's just like you don't think that's gonna happen,
• 51:28
  Speaker 3: and you know, just dealing with all the ups and
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: downs of that, it was it was tough. But you know,
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: I'll say Corey Brewer, it was my player development coach.
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: He him and Teresa Willis Felming. Those are the two
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: that really like stuck with me my rookie year and
• 51:42
  Speaker 3: helped keep me saying because there many times I thought
• 51:45
  Speaker 3: about crashing out, but I know they use that term loosely,
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: but I was very close to still I was very
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: close to crashing out many times, but they definitely kept
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: me saying and you know, helped me get through my
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: rookie year and then ended up like the end in
• 52:00
  Speaker 3: my rookie year was amazing, Like.
• 52:02
  Speaker 2: You know, I play a lot better.
• 52:03
  Speaker 3: In the back half of the season, probably like march On,
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: play good and then play well in the play and
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: played solid in the playoffs.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: So it was it was great.
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: You know, you of course can only speak to your experience.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: But I wonder if it is more like mentally taxing
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: to start your career with a high floor or a
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: low one.
• 52:25
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
• 52:28
  Speaker 3: I'll say you high floor, and I'll tell you because
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: I dealt with that because Summer League First Team All
• 52:34
  Speaker 3: first Team All Summer League, preseason, I played great. So
• 52:39
  Speaker 3: from Virginia where I wasn't even supposed to play to
• 52:42
  Speaker 3: playing doing well, becoming the first round pick, playing well
• 52:46
  Speaker 3: Summer League, playing well preseason, I'm like, oh, well, shoot,
• 52:49
  Speaker 3: I'm about to get Rookie of the Year. Like it's
• 52:51
  Speaker 3: like this was next, it has been, was next. Yeah,
• 52:54
  Speaker 3: and then going to playing one minute in the month
• 52:56
  Speaker 3: of January, Like do you understand how crazy is to
• 52:59
  Speaker 3: play one in the whole month of January? Yeah, Like
• 53:02
  Speaker 3: that's that's hard to deal with. And so, you know,
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: my my parents were a big support system of mine,
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: as well as, like I said, corporate and Tresa Asland.
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: There's obviously been this different shift of conversation of wrongly
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: maybe people thinking Okay, you're going to be a great
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: role player, and that has been you know, whenever we're
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: talking about roles in the league and you specifically it's about, Okay,
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: what's he going to be a great role player? But
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: I wonder at what point it was actually you that
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: had to say to yourself that you weren't a role player.
• 53:37
  Speaker 3: Like for me, I would say my second year, especially
• 53:41
  Speaker 3: when a lot of guys that you know were down
• 53:43
  Speaker 3: with injury, I had to play a lot more. I
• 53:45
  Speaker 3: had a lot more scoring responsibility, and I saw like
• 53:48
  Speaker 3: I was able to do a little bit more. I
• 53:50
  Speaker 3: showed flashes of like being able to handle you know,
• 53:54
  Speaker 3: a bigger you know, bigger play. And then once I've
• 53:59
  Speaker 3: really started.
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: Working or Drew, he.
• 54:02
  Speaker 3: He doesn't He coaches mentality, and that's been the biggest
• 54:06
  Speaker 3: thing that, you know, I've gotten from him. Like obviously
• 54:08
  Speaker 3: the skill work is great and he does a phenomenal
• 54:11
  Speaker 3: job with that, but I think half the battle is
• 54:13
  Speaker 3: really your mentality, like I've mentioned many times before, and
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: you know, he just he doesn't allow you to think
• 54:20
  Speaker 3: small of yourself, like you have to think of yourself
• 54:22
  Speaker 3: as you know, the best player in the world.
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: Almost.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So yeah, I love that. Drew is great. I
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: got his book. I'm very excited to read it. Are
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: you in it?
• 54:31
  Speaker 3: Uh? No, I don't think I am I don't think
• 54:33
  Speaker 3: I am. Yeah, I'm he talks about once he makes
• 54:37
  Speaker 3: the next cut, once he makes the next one. If
• 54:39
  Speaker 3: I'm not in there, then we'll have a conversation.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: Oh I love it. Okay, three more questions and I'll
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: let you go. I want to talk about your shooting.
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: You are not a reluctant Shooter's great?
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: No, not shot, I love it.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: Put it up there. I want you to build a
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: perfect shooter. So you're going to pick a player and
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: you're going to give them an attribute. So a player
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: for balance, a player for form, a balance, a player
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: for release, a player for mentality. Build it for me. Okay,
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: and you can say yourself that I was going to.
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: Now you know I'm saying you can't.
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: I can.
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: You have to say someone else. We know Trey Murvey
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: wants to pick. I'll give you one, but only one.
• 55:15
  Speaker 3: That's fine, okay, all right, So I'll get myself out
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: the way. Now we're gonna say Range trade mur for
• 55:19
  Speaker 3: you the.
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: Third, got it, Range Trader, the third?
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: Cool?
• 55:25
  Speaker 3: I would say for balance, we're gonna go. We're gonna
• 55:32
  Speaker 3: go Kyrie a lead balance form.
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: What makes Kyrie's balance special?
• 55:40
  Speaker 3: Because all right, so like This is where I kind
• 55:43
  Speaker 3: of like nerd out a little bit. If for like,
• 55:45
  Speaker 3: right handed basketball players, like pulling up going right as
• 55:49
  Speaker 3: a little bit harder because you have to turn your
• 55:52
  Speaker 3: body a little bit to the left because that's when
• 55:54
  Speaker 3: your shoulders in line. And Kyrie does that. It's like
• 55:57
  Speaker 3: one of the hardest shots is like pulling up going right,
• 55:59
  Speaker 3: especially three, And he does that at a rate that nope,
• 56:03
  Speaker 3: like almost nobody else does.
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: And he's always on balance.
• 56:06
  Speaker 3: He's always you know, shooting the same shot every single time,
• 56:10
  Speaker 3: and it's.
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: Beautiful to watch.
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's it's crazy. His skill is unfathomable.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. He's probably the most skill in.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: My opinion, Kyrie balance. And I like the nerd out.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: Feel free to nerd out or your selections. So Kyrie Balance.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: Who else we got.
• 56:25
  Speaker 3: We're gonna say form, We're gonna say kadi because you
• 56:28
  Speaker 3: can't touch that shot, like yeah, he's just not get
• 56:31
  Speaker 3: into that. We'll say We'll say overall, just like I
• 56:40
  Speaker 3: guess mentality, but I like to call it fuck it.
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: That's my who gets your fuck it?
• 56:46
  Speaker 2: Uh? Probably stuff? Probably stuff?
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, Just a difference to you between range
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: and fuck it?
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: No, because it's two different Yeah.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: No, I'm saying explained.
• 56:58
  Speaker 3: Do you have to have a little bit of fuck
• 56:59
  Speaker 3: it to shoot those shots? So because there's a lot
• 57:02
  Speaker 3: of times, like my coaches, they'd be like, look like
• 57:04
  Speaker 3: you don't your first shot doesn't have to be from
• 57:06
  Speaker 3: thirty feet. But a lot of times I don't know
• 57:09
  Speaker 3: it's that far. I just see the rim, yeah, and
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: I'm just like all right, I'm gonna just get it there.
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah. But then they'll.
• 57:14
  Speaker 3: Showed on a film like, damn, that was far, Like
• 57:17
  Speaker 3: I was that, But you know I can make that shot.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: I work on that shot. Yeah, definitely, definitely it was
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: you ain't okay? Oh yeah, yeah my fault.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, last two shot creation? And what did we miss that?
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Just give me a shot creation. You didn't tell me
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: that were damn it?
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: Maybe take away? Yeah, shot creation? Oh James Harden.
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, simple, good pack. Yeah, good pack.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: That's an elite player right there.
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you still read before games?
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: Not as much time of time though.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: What's the last book you read before a game?
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: What was the last book I read before the game? Damn,
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: You're reading The Alchemist last I checked.
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I think Drew's book was the last book
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: I read before.
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: Oh that's how it.
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't want to give him no props right now,
• 58:10
  Speaker 3: but I guess.
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: Free promo bro, I'm gonna have to talk to him
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: about that, all right.
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: We ask everybody this at the end of every episode.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: Tell me who was giving you the biggest assist off
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: the court?
• 58:24
  Speaker 3: The biggest ass is off the court. CJ McCollum want
• 58:28
  Speaker 3: to see, so I'll say too. Whence he first got
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: to the team, I was not a big fan of
• 58:31
  Speaker 3: c J McCollum. He introduced himself, he not introduced meself.
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: He asked me the same question three times, so I
• 58:37
  Speaker 3: know he was not listening. But then after that we
• 58:40
  Speaker 3: became cool. And he's helped me grow as a man
• 58:44
  Speaker 3: and you know, helped me move you know a little,
• 58:48
  Speaker 3: you know, more professionally and just be just like punctual,
• 58:52
  Speaker 3: like I always tell people like, I've learned more from
• 58:55
  Speaker 3: him off the court than I have on the court.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: And I've learned a lot from on the.
• 58:58
  Speaker 3: Court, just based off Hopper professionally is But c J
• 59:01
  Speaker 3: McCombs my guy that I would say.
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: I love that power of a good vet, beatiful answer,
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: shout out to CJ. He's great and shout out to you.
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on the show, jaded this time
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: your fun, enjoyed it and happy that you're doing while
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to see you healthy and thriving next season.
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely