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Reese's.

1:02

Peanut

1:04

buttercups.

1:06

So,

1:23

I right? Mr. Jason Gallagher

1:25

joining me, Trey, is a

1:28

game. I love this conversation

1:30

because I thought Duncan was the

1:33

perfect person to interview Austin

1:35

just given sort of they, you know,

1:37

they both have this this sense

1:39

of, you know, having to really overachieve

1:41

and a lot of people

1:43

overlooking them early on in their

1:46

career. So it was really fascinating. I

1:48

thought that it was really

1:50

interesting given they're both

1:52

have such interesting, you know,

1:55

mental outlooks on their careers and

1:57

I thought that you know Austin has this

1:59

like confidence this calmness that

2:01

that's really awesome and then look

2:04

from two different perspectives so yeah

2:06

I totally agree we should add

2:09

this episode is a special episode

2:11

which we did in partnership with

2:13

our partners at NBA 2K we've

2:16

you know have supported us for

2:18

years and they have they work

2:20

with Austin as well it was

2:23

cool for for me this is

2:25

our first Laker You know, since,

2:27

and we get into all things,

2:30

Jay-J on the F. I think

2:32

it's, you know, we'll get to

2:34

this with, you know, Jay-J on

2:37

the show at some point, but

2:39

it's, it's funny to hear from

2:41

him the perspective of like the

2:44

two of them being together now.

2:46

Totally. Because this is a thing

2:48

that was like, they were, you

2:51

know, friends from when we did

2:53

the show with somebody every day.

2:55

And you know as you guys

2:58

will see what it sounds like

3:00

is the relationship is only strengthened

3:03

Yeah, yeah, I love that they

3:05

discuss, you know How they get

3:07

to know each other, you know

3:10

off the call. This is We're

3:12

recording this the night after JJ

3:14

got a mini freak out on

3:17

Austin on the court. I don't

3:19

know if you saw that but

3:21

yeah, it's great stuff. It's great

3:24

stuff So this episode, we taped

3:26

this last week in LA, and

3:28

it goes about an hour 20

3:31

or so, and then we have

3:33

a bunch of special content from

3:35

it that we're gonna be putting

3:38

on social with the 2K folks.

3:40

And so I think with that

3:42

note, let's get to Austin and

3:45

Duncan. Hello and welcome back in

3:47

to the Young Man in the

3:49

Three. Your guest host here, Duncan

3:52

Robinson. Tommy Alter of course in

3:54

the flesh, that's a fantastic jacket.

3:56

Let's get to Austin and Duncan.

4:00

Hello and welcome back in to the

4:02

young man in the three. Your guest

4:04

host here, Duncan Robinson. Tommy Alter, of

4:06

course, in the flesh, that's a fantastic

4:09

jacket if you're watching on YouTube. And

4:11

we got Austin Reeves, Laker legend, Hill

4:13

Billy Bogie, I believe. Yes, sir. AR-15.

4:15

Do we retire that one? They are

4:18

15. Uh, you can call me whatever

4:20

you're going to be honest. But yeah,

4:22

Lake or Legend, Austin here. We're in

4:24

beautiful Los Angeles. But thanks for joining

4:27

us, man. Appreciate you. No, for sure.

4:29

Appreciate you all for having me. No,

4:31

this is, it's fun to be here.

4:33

Fun to be back, hosting a podcast.

4:36

I do a little hiatus here and

4:38

there, a little guest appearance here. But,

4:40

no, Austin, thanks for taking the time,

4:42

man. Obviously you guys have had a...

4:45

And up and down season, some good

4:47

moments and bad moments, one thing that

4:49

has remained consistent is I feel like

4:51

you've taken another step, you know, with

4:54

your game, being somebody that Jay-J, a

4:56

friend of all of ours, has come

4:58

to rely on. What have you kind

5:00

of felt this year? You know, you've

5:03

kind of stepped into from a leadership

5:05

perspective on the court, ball handling responsibilities,

5:07

all that sort of stuff. Shreeks, we

5:09

bounced back really well, you know, when

5:12

we played jawlin' in Miami. That was

5:14

probably our worst game of the season.

5:16

and I think we lost by what

5:18

40 and then after playing that one

5:21

though so yeah well it doesn't matter

5:23

on the score sheet but yeah it

5:25

was a that was you know a

5:27

down point in the season we go

5:30

to Atlanta we played better we got

5:32

beaten over time and then after that

5:34

I think we won four or five

5:36

straight so you know just battling to

5:39

get back on those you know high

5:41

roads I said this to Jay Jay

5:43

before we did the Pao with you

5:45

last year and he obviously knows it

5:48

now and I think I've said this

5:50

to you as well at various points.

5:52

You guys are extremely similar people in

5:55

a lot of ways, almost remarkably similar.

5:57

What was your first reaction when you

5:59

started to get the sense back in

6:01

the spring that this was a possibility

6:04

that... this is happening. I was very

6:06

excited, you know, just doing the pot

6:08

with y'all in San Antonio, you know,

6:10

kind of getting to know him. Like

6:13

you said, I felt like we had

6:15

a lot of similarities. Also, both loved

6:17

to golf, so we spent, you know,

6:19

many rounds before the season, you know,

6:22

talking about what we could do to

6:24

be successful, but it's kind of just

6:26

the same mindset. It's really, it's really

6:28

about winning. And, you know, that's one

6:31

thing I love about. golf round look

6:33

like with you and Jay-J? Who's like

6:35

initiating that? How many rounds are we

6:37

talking here? What are the games looking

6:40

like? I'm pretty familiar with your game

6:42

because I've watched some of your content.

6:44

I've actually never played with Jay-J, but

6:46

I've seen footage of a swing. I've

6:49

talked golf with him before, for whatever

6:51

that's worth. But what does that sort

6:53

of look like a pre-season round or

6:55

an in-season round for that matter? Yeah,

6:58

it was, we played a lot pre-season

7:00

a little bit before the season. We

7:02

haven't played as much since the season

7:04

started, but if we're in a place

7:07

where, you know, it's warm, we have

7:09

time, you know, either one of us

7:11

is texting the other, like, let's go

7:13

play. And usually he gets like, I

7:16

want to say 11 shots. So he

7:18

always takes my money. I think I've

7:20

beat him. Sounds like a sandbagger. Exactly.

7:22

But he always like, oh, I stay

7:25

with the gin app. And I'm like,

7:27

whatever. But you can plug anything into

7:29

that. But it's a lot of fun.

7:31

You know, you get him out there.

7:34

You just, you know, become closer. And

7:36

the golf is obviously fun. I was

7:38

going to say, when you get in

7:40

the rhythm and flow of an NBA

7:43

season. I find this with my coaches

7:45

and my teammates a lot. Anytime there's

7:47

an opportunity to humanize them in a

7:49

setting that's not basketball, I feel like

7:52

it's beneficial to our relationship. I feel

7:54

like golf is an incredible setting for

7:56

that to happen because so often we

7:59

get in this. them in flow of

8:01

like, all right, shoot around, prep, workouts,

8:03

practice, games, yelling at you at halftime,

8:05

you miss this assignment, that, and you

8:08

kind of lose sight of the human

8:10

dynamic of spending so much time with

8:12

somebody. I mean, that's just, I find

8:14

incredibly unique for you to have that

8:17

experience where you're able to do it

8:19

in such an organic setting. How has

8:21

that elevated escalated your relationship? Yeah, I

8:23

think it's just, like you said, becoming

8:26

closer. I mean, he can say anything

8:28

to me. He can, you know, if

8:30

it's the middle of the game, he

8:32

could sit there and cuss me out

8:35

if he wants, and I know it's

8:37

coming from a good place because, you

8:39

know, I've spent so much time with

8:41

him, you know, like you said, just

8:44

on a human. level. So it's really

8:46

that and he's told me multiple times

8:48

if there's a situation where I need

8:50

to cuss him out he was like

8:53

go ahead like I'm not going to

8:55

hold anything against you he's like we're

8:57

both competitors and we both want to

8:59

win so that was really the the

9:02

main thing is like we can always

9:04

be honest with each other. What do

9:06

you think you mean you know Jay

9:08

Jay well we've obviously all worked together

9:11

you know in terms of intangibles. of

9:13

a coach, knowing him, you've played against

9:15

him, but also seeing what he's like,

9:17

just as a, you know, someone running

9:20

a business, somebody running a show, everything

9:22

like that. When, and we talked about

9:24

it a little bit, you talked about

9:26

it a little bit, you talked about

9:29

it with him a little bit, obviously,

9:31

but when you knew this was a

9:33

thing that was a possibility, your thoughts

9:35

about him, even before these guys started.

9:38

like an endearing way. I think we

9:40

all strive to be like overachievers. You

9:42

would say that. Yeah, capable of all

9:44

those things that made him that as

9:47

a player translate seamlessly to any profession,

9:49

whether that's that's podcasting, whether that's showing

9:51

up every day and, you know, debating

9:54

Stephen A. Smith, or that's, you know,

9:56

trying to get the the the Lakers

9:58

into a top five deep. Like so

10:00

much of that stuff translates just from,

10:03

all right, there's an opportunity here, how

10:05

do I maximize it? And turning over

10:07

stones, finding ways, resources to get there,

10:09

to get to that point. I mean,

10:12

he's just, he's a maniacal worker,

10:14

which I think cuts across so

10:16

many different industries. And I think

10:18

you see how competitive he is,

10:20

I think. You obviously see it

10:22

in a much different way than

10:25

we see it. Tommy, you probably

10:27

have some very good insight into

10:29

that. But when I see him

10:31

like snapping clipboards and stuff and

10:33

going to that level, I think

10:36

he's now found a way, and you

10:38

would maybe speak to this, but

10:40

to harness that into positive

10:42

energy. Yeah, for sure. I think

10:44

he's still learning in that aspect.

10:47

because he's such a competitor and

10:49

I personally couldn't do it as

10:51

a coach like I would spaz out

10:54

every chance I get. And you

10:56

see situations where he's about to

10:58

and he reels it back because he

11:00

knows everything isn't going to be

11:02

perfect. Like as long as he

11:04

always just says as long as

11:07

we're competing our ass off. then he

11:09

can live with any result. But it's just

11:11

when we aren't competing as hard as we

11:13

should, then that's what really, really bothers him.

11:15

I was going to ask you this. I

11:17

mean, one of his favorite words is sicko.

11:19

You use it all the time on the

11:21

show and a private, and I think part

11:23

of why you guys are so similar as

11:26

you both are wired that way. And like

11:28

we're saying before, in a lot of similar

11:30

interests, but then also in different places as

11:32

well. How are you learning to harness this

11:34

energy yourself? both with him but just

11:36

in general in terms of of of

11:38

of your natural competitiveness and your natural

11:41

spirit versus like as a teammate you

11:43

know you have you can't always you

11:45

can't always pass yeah it's a it's

11:47

a work in progress like I said

11:49

with him like you want everything to

11:52

be perfect but you're never going

11:54

to go through a full game

11:56

practice anything where everything is perfect

11:58

that would be nice but in

12:00

situations, you just kind of got to

12:02

read the room. You got to be

12:04

able to understand. And I think that's

12:07

where the real relationship stuff comes in

12:09

with not just like the coaches, the

12:11

players. There are certain people that you

12:13

can talk to in a different way

12:16

than you talk to others. So I

12:18

think it's really good to learn your

12:20

teammates and learn how to communicate with

12:22

them if it's one on one or

12:25

if it's addressing them in front of

12:27

the group, whatever way gets to them.

12:29

you know, better. Because there's, you know,

12:31

there's some guys that you don't need

12:33

to address in front of the group,

12:36

and there's some guys that you can

12:38

say whatever, you know, you want to

12:40

them in front of the group, and

12:42

they'll take it a different way. So

12:45

it's really just about, you know, having

12:47

those relationships with the guys to be

12:49

able to do that. I'm actually curious,

12:51

your perspective, your perspective, the intangibles of

12:54

a good coach. Obviously they're all different

12:56

in their own ways, but what do

12:58

you think they all have in common?

13:00

Oh, what do they all have in

13:02

common? I mean, I can only speak

13:05

to my NBA experience of having played

13:07

for Spoe, which is obviously a luxury.

13:09

I haven't played in one spot from

13:11

one coach. Especially when you see like

13:14

the current climate of how coaches are

13:16

treating them. There's just so much turnover.

13:18

With Spoe, I think the non-negotiable is...

13:20

the work ethic, the preparation. You have

13:23

to have some level of that as

13:25

a staff, as a leader, because ultimately

13:27

that's what kind of bleeds down to

13:29

your team. Is your team prepared? Is

13:31

your team organized? And as I was

13:34

in saying, basketball is an imperfect game.

13:36

You're never going to go through the

13:38

course of 48 minutes and do everything,

13:40

execute everything exactly right. But if it's

13:43

done with intent, everyone's at least on

13:45

the same page, and there's a will

13:47

to compete. you're like stepping in the

13:49

right direction. That's like non-negotiable. I think

13:51

what Spoe has really tried. to capture

13:54

with us and when I've been on

13:56

good teams and had good stretches, it's

13:58

so much more than just like the

14:00

excess and owes and execution. It's not

14:03

like what set are we gonna run,

14:05

but more of like how do you

14:07

get everybody to buy into this? Like

14:09

we're all super ambitious people that have

14:12

our site set on, you know, getting

14:14

accolades, making money, you know, all these

14:16

sorts of things. How do you get?

14:18

12 individuals, 13 individuals, whatever it is,

14:20

to buy into something bigger than themselves.

14:23

And I think it becomes increasingly harder.

14:25

Like high school basketball is one thing,

14:27

right? Like there's no egos, no agents

14:29

telling you this is that or whatever,

14:32

but the higher you get up, the

14:34

more challenging that becomes. So I think

14:36

learning as a leader what buttons to

14:38

push, that's where it really makes a

14:41

difference. And like you've been on stretches

14:43

of teams where things where things... everything's

14:45

coming together things look right come and

14:47

then all of a sudden something can

14:49

change and it cuts both ways right

14:52

it can be like sometimes the games

14:54

where we look the most disorganized or

14:56

whatever like we are so far away

14:58

from being a good team something flips

15:01

and changes and it's more often than

15:03

not not the basketball stuff that's been

15:05

my experience no that's that's a fact

15:07

I think that's right though the main

15:10

thing for a coach is to get

15:12

everybody to buy into the end goal

15:14

and that's when it and I was

15:16

was spoke for two months with the

15:18

USA stuff I can tell he's very

15:21

intense as well you know every scout

15:23

he has he had his paper rolled

15:25

up in his hand kept hitting his

15:27

hand yelling I enjoyed my time well

15:30

now he's great and he's he's found

15:32

a way I think also when you've

15:34

been doing it for so long you

15:36

learn different groups required different sort of

15:39

tactics and I think that's like one

15:41

reason why JJ is going to be

15:43

such good coach in times because he's

15:45

not going to relent like he's always

15:47

going to try to find all right

15:50

this isn't working like we're pivoting we're

15:52

playing we're going to figure out what's

15:54

next When talking about group dynamics and

15:56

some of the teams you've been a

15:59

part of, we talked a little bit

16:01

earlier about how this is now like

16:03

a leadership sort of opportunity for you.

16:05

Obviously you have guys that are our

16:07

senior to you and AD LeBron. Obviously

16:10

those guys are maybe like the leaders,

16:12

but how have you found? your voice

16:14

coming in as like an undrafted player,

16:16

because this is something that I've sort

16:19

of dealt with, but you start to,

16:21

you know, there's a target on your

16:23

back now a little bit more, you're

16:25

showing up on skarding reports, how do

16:28

you be a leader in that setting

16:30

while still, you know, passing it down

16:32

to young guys, but then also maintaining

16:34

a level of accountability and trying to

16:36

push forward, you know, this, this Laker

16:39

agenda, if you will. Yeah, for me,

16:41

I think it's just trying to be...

16:43

a coach on the court. You know,

16:45

you're not always going to be able

16:48

to, JJ's not always going to be

16:50

able to control everything from the sideline.

16:52

So for me, it's being able just

16:54

to have us organized as much as,

16:57

you know, I can, because I feel

16:59

like when we have bad stretches, is

17:01

when we get, you know, disorganized and

17:03

it starts turning into random basketball. And

17:05

that's when we're, you know, at our

17:08

worst. So it's really just, you know,

17:10

you know, keeping keeping us organized. And

17:12

like I touched on just having good

17:14

relationships with everybody, being, you know, a

17:17

person that the 14th man can come

17:19

talk to, Max Christie can come talk

17:21

to, Rui can come talk to at

17:23

any moment. Like I said, having those

17:26

relationships with those guys to just help

17:28

them, because at the end of the

17:30

day, you know, if everybody's not, you

17:32

know, playing up to their standard, we're

17:34

not going to be as good as

17:37

we need to be. And that's really

17:39

it. But obviously, like you said, we're

17:41

browning a brown and A. those are

17:43

big dogs and you know they got

17:46

the loudest voice in the room you

17:48

know it's good to hear from somebody

17:50

else you know even if like I

17:52

said Max you know will stand up

17:54

Gabe you know Gabe Gabe is you

17:57

know very smart has a you know,

17:59

good IQ for the game, when he,

18:01

you know, speaks, people listen just because

18:03

we know that he's bought into the

18:06

right things. Do you feel like you,

18:08

I'm curious your answer on this too,

18:10

do you feel like you have a

18:12

specific point in your career where you

18:15

went from, you know, everybody knows your

18:17

story, and we can touch it some

18:19

of it later, but like everyone knows

18:21

your backs, where you went from being

18:23

kind of the underdog and the guy

18:26

that was slept on a little bit

18:28

until... to hear the dude on the

18:30

Scout. You know what I mean? Like

18:32

no one cares anymore. Now it's like

18:35

we're prepping for us. Was it was

18:37

it the Memphis series or was it

18:39

before that? I don't think it was

18:41

before that. I think I was on

18:44

the Scout, but it was, I mean,

18:46

I think to be honest, for a

18:48

long time it was, you know, how

18:50

do we disrupt LeBron and AD? And

18:52

if you could do that, then you

18:55

could beat us. But I think after

18:57

that, you know, playoff run, going into

18:59

my third year, I think that's when

19:01

it became, you know, more evident that

19:04

the, uh, the other team's best guard

19:06

was gonna guard me, um, because when

19:08

we moved Delo to the bench, um,

19:10

yeah, I think it was my third

19:13

year, probably started my third year into,

19:15

uh, the middle of my third year.

19:17

Kind of going off of that just.

19:19

from your own kind of like psyche

19:21

of how you approach the game, how

19:24

have the goalposts shifted in terms of

19:26

what you view as playing well? Like

19:28

I remember when I was first starting

19:30

out, you know, you're like very locked

19:33

in on a box score, oh, I

19:35

had this, I did this, but like,

19:37

you kind of maybe knew, all right,

19:39

well, like, I made that shot, but

19:41

like, maybe my box score is showing

19:44

better than how I actually played, you

19:46

actually now. how responsibility that I don't

19:48

have, which is you're like very much

19:50

an engine of the whole team on

19:53

both ends. You're a lot of times

19:55

guarding the best player, your usage is

19:57

higher. How have you shifted how you

19:59

view your actual? performance versus just saying

20:02

oh you know I shot 60% from

20:04

the floor and I made you know

20:06

whatever half my threes. Yeah I

20:08

think it's just affecting the game

20:10

in a positive you know outcome

20:12

I don't get really caught up

20:14

into you know all the stats I

20:16

think it's really just the feel

20:18

of the game like I've had

20:21

games this year where I had

20:23

19 and 7 and 5 and

20:25

I genuinely felt like I didn't

20:27

play good and I think for me

20:29

is just feeling good about the

20:31

game afterwards. You know, my, this is

20:33

the lowest percentage I've shot from

20:35

the field in my three years

20:37

that I've been in the league, thinking

20:40

about like 44 or something like that.

20:42

And like, I want to be an

20:44

efficient, you know, player, I want to

20:46

shoot, you know, high 40s, if not

20:48

50 from the field. And I haven't

20:50

done that, but I wouldn't say since

20:53

I haven't done that, then I haven't

20:55

been playing a good. Like I said,

20:57

I think it's just the feel of

20:59

the game. If I come out of

21:01

the game and I have 10, 5

21:04

and 5, but I've impacted the winning

21:06

basketball, then I chalked it up as

21:08

a win. So with that being said,

21:10

a lot of narratives are shaped around

21:13

media. A lot of those

21:15

narratives are also shaped around in

21:17

my opinion, sometimes lazy reporting.

21:19

A lot of that box

21:21

score watching that we're talking

21:23

about. How do you... create

21:26

peace of mind, especially in this

21:28

bubble that is Laker Nation,

21:30

where national media, local

21:32

media, like everyone's eyes

21:34

are on what you guys are

21:37

doing. One, because it's the Lakers

21:39

too, because you have LeBron, like

21:41

quite honestly. How do you create

21:43

like sort of a sacred space

21:45

and not letting that

21:47

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best idea yet. Nonsense and noise. Yeah,

22:55

I just, and I've thought this for

22:57

a long time even going back to

23:00

college. Like, I feel like people just

23:02

don't really know basketball. You can be

23:04

one of the biggest media guys. I

23:07

still genuinely don't think that you know

23:09

basketball. And I'm not saying specific people.

23:11

I just don't think that people really

23:13

watch the game in an aspect of

23:16

did you help the game? I think

23:18

people go to the paper to the

23:20

box score and just say, oh, he

23:23

went five for 17. He had 14

23:25

points and seven assists, four turnovers. And

23:27

then they just go off that. There's

23:29

been many games like I spoke to

23:32

or I haven't shot the ball well

23:34

from the floor but I impacted winning

23:36

and If you want to call some

23:39

people out, I don't know. But it's

23:41

got some stuff to let them. But

23:43

it's been like that since my rookie

23:45

year like. Obviously I didn't have the

23:48

responsibility then and. Like I was more

23:50

of a plus minus guy at that

23:52

point, like if I was, you know,

23:55

in the positive and plus minus, I

23:57

was having... happy, wasn't shooting the three

23:59

good, shot, I think I shot 33%

24:01

and everybody's like, oh, you can't shoot.

24:04

And it's like, y'all don't know how

24:06

the rhythm of the game, like you

24:08

go six possessions without touching the ball,

24:11

and then you gotta catch and shoot

24:13

one when you're wide open or you're

24:15

just checking the game, you haven't played

24:17

in 20 minutes. Like I feel like

24:20

they don't, if you haven't really played

24:22

in the league or you really don't

24:24

have a good like aspect. or you've

24:27

never played in big games. I feel

24:29

like you just don't really understand, so

24:31

therefore I don't really care. Like, you

24:34

can say whatever you want about me.

24:36

I've had it, you know, said before,

24:38

I'm not supposed to be here. Like,

24:40

I didn't get recruited out of high

24:43

school that much. I mean, I respect

24:45

the hell out of the perspective. I

24:47

think it's challenging. I've been here since

24:50

I was 17 years old, so why

24:52

should I start caring now? What do

24:54

you think? I mean, I respect the

24:56

hell out of the perspective. I think

24:59

it's challenging because We also live in

25:01

a world where the narratives actually tend

25:03

to materialize sometimes in terms of contracts

25:06

and money in like in real things.

25:08

So it's sometimes hard to remove yourself

25:10

from it. I will say that's one

25:12

area of growth that I've definitely experienced

25:15

over my time. And I'm not here

25:17

saying that I don't let it affect

25:19

me. Like I said, you hear all

25:22

of it. Exactly. Anybody that says, I

25:24

think what I'm hearing from you, which

25:26

is super impressive, is it's impossible to

25:28

never not hear it, but to not

25:31

let it take the next step and

25:33

let it impact or affect you. That's

25:35

where you experience that compounding effect, which

25:38

I've gone through. Like I remember after

25:40

I signed, resigned in Miami. like first

25:42

two months and I remember going into

25:44

those first two months being like oh

25:47

like I have this new way of

25:49

confidence I'm like this new dude I

25:51

got paid like and I don't mean

25:54

I'm like I got paid like I'm

25:56

stun on people but I'm just like

25:58

this actually should be this should help

26:00

my confidence and it's a fine line

26:03

because it can but when it starts

26:05

to go the other way it can

26:07

compound the other way and start to

26:10

feel like it's an avalanche coming down

26:12

on you. And then having to like

26:14

unpack that and get back to a

26:17

place of neutral and be like, all

26:19

right, back on solid ground, how do

26:21

we move forward? That's what I've been

26:23

through, which is, you know, for me,

26:26

it's like the most challenging thing I've

26:28

been through from a basketball perspective, but

26:30

it's the most I learned also going

26:33

through that. Should a friend of all

26:35

of ours Alex Crusoe and okay see

26:37

and he said some health stuff, but

26:39

like Alex is gone You know when

26:42

he's been playing he's gone two weeks

26:44

without scoring But he's like he's got

26:46

paid, but he's also it's a fine

26:49

line because it can But when it

26:51

starts to go the other way it

26:53

can compound the other way and start

26:55

to feel like it's an avalanche coming

26:58

down on you and then having to

27:00

like unpack that and get back to

27:02

a place of neutral and be like

27:05

all right back on solid ground. How

27:07

do we move forward? That's what I've

27:09

been through, which is, you know, it's,

27:11

for me, it's like the most challenging

27:14

thing I've been through from a basketball

27:16

perspective, but it's the most I learned

27:18

also going through that. How much of

27:21

this is also, you know, Lakerroom's culture,

27:23

I mean, I give you sort of

27:25

a specific example of this, this year,

27:27

I just saw sort of friend of

27:30

all of ours, Alex Crusoe, and okay,

27:32

and he said some health stuff, but

27:34

like, Alex is gone. You know, when

27:37

he's been playing, he's gone two weeks

27:39

without scoring. But he's like, he just

27:41

got paid, but he's also happy. And

27:43

it's a really good team, but he's

27:46

like, he knows what he has to

27:48

do. He works his ass off, he's

27:50

all over the place. And so if

27:53

you're someone who, you know, is looking

27:55

at the box score, and you look

27:57

at Thunderbox scores, you'll be like, Alex

28:00

who's having a horrible season. Yeah, you

28:02

know, and anyone who's around the Oklahoma

28:04

City Thunder is going to tell you

28:06

the opposite. And so there's a lot

28:09

of examples of that, but I think,

28:11

I guess my question is like, how

28:13

much of this is not just personal

28:16

confidence, but also the confidence of the

28:18

locker room overall to lift up guys,

28:20

you both have had teammates who have

28:22

been in that spot. And well, like

28:25

you said, you look at the box

28:27

score, you had two points, three rebounds,

28:29

three assists, 20 minutes. but you know

28:32

never slide it to the side where

28:34

you see he's got three steals a

28:36

block plus minus is plus 16 so

28:38

I think it's just you know those

28:41

little things that you know I set

28:43

a foundation for myself here and you

28:45

know it's kind of just grown from

28:48

there just having the trust of you

28:50

know obviously the brown and a d

28:52

but also like the front office and

28:54

the coaches as well. What was the

28:57

the process of kind of getting like

28:59

getting like getting like stamped by those

29:01

guys and what that meant for you.

29:04

We're talking about feeling confident, getting votes

29:06

of confidence that kind of pushes you

29:08

forward, how much, I gotta imagine that's

29:10

been a big needle mover in terms

29:13

of your own mental of like looking

29:15

over there being like, oh, he wants

29:17

me to kind of get to mind,

29:20

like what that does for like your

29:22

psyche. Yeah, it does a lot. Obviously

29:24

when you have two guys of, you

29:26

know, their caliber, but I think it

29:29

just goes, I've always had a really

29:31

good relationship with them both. I think

29:33

it's, like I said, because of, you

29:36

know, the things that I came in

29:38

and did was affecting, you know, we

29:40

weren't winning, but I was playing winning

29:43

basketball and they knew it was someone

29:45

that they could trust to go out

29:47

there. not shoot a lot but do

29:49

all the little things and it's just

29:52

grown since then and then in the

29:54

Memphis series game one when you know

29:56

I took over in the fourth was

29:59

the first that I was like, holy

30:01

shit, like, I remember Brian, I

30:03

think I told this, when I was

30:06

talking to you, Jay, Jay, in San

30:08

Antonio, I remember it was the

30:10

fourth quarter, probably five minutes

30:12

ago or something, and I

30:14

had got a bucket or two, and

30:17

I think Delo got the rebound and

30:19

out let it to Brown, you know,

30:21

run into the corner, like, Brown's got

30:23

the ball. So I'm taking off running

30:26

and I hear him, and I hear

30:28

him, he's like, he's like, I gotta

30:30

do something good because if not everybody's

30:32

gonna be looking at him crazy so

30:34

therefore they're gonna look at me crazy.

30:36

And then I think I got a bucket but

30:38

ended up you know taking over that game

30:41

win a game one and then from there

30:43

I think that's when it you know really

30:45

took off with the the confidence that

30:47

they had in me not to just

30:49

you know play the right way but

30:51

just to take over games and dominate

30:53

games and win games for us so

30:55

it does a lot and it's you

30:57

know obviously a lot easier when they're

30:59

on the court because. I would be

31:01

much more worried about LeBron and A.D.

31:03

than I would be me. He said

31:05

he think he got a bucket. You

31:07

got like 12 straight. Yeah, don't hold

31:09

the bucket. Because a play. A loud

31:11

bucket too. That was like, let you

31:13

know, but I remember we were, we

31:15

were in Milwaukee. You know how they

31:17

got in the training room back there.

31:19

Those TVs. Y'all get the shit out

31:22

of them too. No, I think, I

31:24

think, I think, I think, I think,

31:26

no. Yeah, maybe it was. All right,

31:28

so we won't get one. Yeah, my

31:30

fault. Or maybe that was game three.

31:32

I don't know. They're all Monday together.

31:34

I think it was one. But I

31:36

remember, I remember watching that fourth quarter.

31:39

And yeah, I mean, that was like, it was

31:41

such a loud moment for everybody. And

31:43

also, like, there's so many fans

31:45

that don't tune into like regular

31:48

season basketball and then they just

31:50

turn on the TV and the

31:52

playoffs come. So like, that must

31:54

have felt like an I've arrived

31:56

But I think what's interesting is

31:58

you reference all these. that happened prior

32:00

to get to that point, because that

32:03

moment doesn't happen without you having the

32:05

body of work and earning the trust

32:07

and developing over time, which all those

32:10

other moments actually aren't, you know, getting

32:12

to a pick and roll and hitting

32:14

a mini, it's like you said, it's

32:17

getting on the ground for a loose

32:19

ball, it's taking a charge, it's making

32:21

a correct rotation, making an extra pass.

32:24

So I think they're just. in like

32:26

basketball media and I hate to do

32:28

like the narrative on like today's times

32:30

and I'm an old head or whatever

32:33

but people tend to get worried about

32:35

the wrong shit in that thinking that

32:37

it's just that moment happens in a

32:40

bottle in a vacuum where really it's

32:42

like it's this this compounding effect of

32:44

all these things you build up to

32:47

to have that moment and that's like

32:49

I mean it's testament to you man

32:51

like the work that you put in.

32:53

You know opportunity from from your coaching

32:56

staff and trusting in you and you

32:58

know you're able to have that experience

33:00

and that's able to be a springboard

33:03

for for so much more for sure

33:05

What um what advice have you given

33:07

to Dalton? Really just to be him?

33:10

And don't overthink things like he's a

33:12

hooper at heart like he knows how

33:14

to get a bucket If anything it's

33:17

more just how to you know Be

33:19

effective defensively no one angles sacrifice in

33:21

your body You know he's he's on

33:23

an elite level shooting the ball when

33:26

he's shooting it confident not thinking about

33:28

it You know we seen you know

33:30

what do you have like 38 in

33:33

the preseason game in Phoenix? His shot

33:35

making ability is very high off screens

33:37

You know we run a lot of

33:40

ATOs for him because of his shot

33:42

making ability. He's, you know, 6-8, has

33:44

a high release. Might not be 6-8,

33:47

might be like 6-7, I don't know,

33:49

but he has a high release. But

33:51

it's really just for him to be

33:53

a self. I think that when he

33:56

does get his... from trouble. It's when

33:58

he's, you know, trying to think too

34:00

much. But I mean, you know, we've

34:03

played a lot of pick up in

34:05

the summer. You know, I've seen what

34:07

he's capable of doing. I see how

34:10

hot he can get from three, but

34:12

you know, he can get to the

34:14

Rams, he's athletic, something that I know

34:17

me and you wish we had. I'm

34:19

jealous every day. I see him go

34:21

dunk one. I'm just like, man, I

34:23

wish I could do that. I wish

34:26

I could do that. But like I

34:28

wish I wish I could do that.

34:30

I wish I could do that. I

34:33

wish I could do that. Yeah, well

34:35

I'll say it's funny you say that

34:37

because I'll see you know Jay Jay

34:40

runs a lot of those Sets that

34:42

I mean everyone kind of runs him

34:44

to get a shooter open you know

34:47

slip a screen come off a pan

34:49

whatever it is and I mean he's

34:51

like he's like kind of playing like

34:53

me all watching you guys on TV

34:56

it's kind of playing like me he's

34:58

like in the handoff he's shooting and

35:00

then I like back cut like scratching

35:03

back and talking I don't Oh, that

35:05

was a collieur. That was, oh, oh,

35:07

was it? That was an elite pass.

35:10

I was like, people say he can't

35:12

pass. That's cap. Because that's a pass

35:14

right there. I think it was. Yeah,

35:17

yeah, yeah. It was inside. Yeah, that

35:19

was. I mean, colliells like seven one,

35:21

he has a 40 inch vertical. That's,

35:23

yeah, it was him. I just kind

35:26

of put it right away. But I

35:28

think he has a potential to be

35:30

obviously a lot more than that certainly

35:33

a lot a lot better than You

35:35

know my prototype as a player just

35:37

given his athleticism and what he can

35:40

do Once again another older guy coming

35:42

in jucco. What's he 23 probably I

35:44

think so I personally think that? Those

35:46

guys tend to get undervalued when you're

35:49

talking about the evaluation of guys coming

35:51

in and helping teams win teams win

35:53

They might not be the 19 year

35:56

old that's jumping out of the gym.

35:58

and has all this potential, but if

36:00

you're talking about winning basketball and trying

36:03

to contribute to winning, I think there's

36:05

value there for sure. We did adapt

36:07

with Desmond Bain over the weekend, and

36:10

he said this, and I'm just curious

36:12

for you guys to, because you have

36:14

your own version of this. Do you

36:16

think the league's bias against older players?

36:19

100%. You're saying in the draft process,

36:21

like why does this keep happening? I

36:23

mean, I know Jeff happy for you

36:26

and Jay, but like, why is he

36:28

there? I don't know. That's a great

36:30

question. I didn't think that there was

36:33

many, many people in this draft that,

36:35

I mean, I just, you go back

36:37

to what he did. I think you

36:40

average, what, 22, 23? I don't know.

36:42

It's a great question. I think that

36:44

they just always get into the potential

36:46

stuff and think it's... I think teams

36:49

try to hit a home run too

36:51

much instead of just taking a guy

36:53

that can help you be successful now.

36:56

I don't know. I wouldn't draft it.

36:58

I don't know. I think the home

37:00

run point is a good one. I

37:03

think there's something invaluable and I've never

37:05

learned this, but I know you have

37:07

in college. You learn something when you're

37:10

the best player on a team. And

37:12

a lot of times these one and

37:14

done guys are not necessarily the best

37:16

player on their team. Watching you play

37:19

in college at Oklahoma, the responsibilities that

37:21

you're tasked with. Now, what some scouts

37:23

would maybe look at is say, all

37:26

right, well, he's not gonna have the

37:28

ball in his hands like that. But

37:30

it's not necessarily, it's what you're doing

37:33

in its entirety to impact the game

37:35

and how you're moving your team forward.

37:37

was not what it was in Oklahoma

37:40

day one when you got to the

37:42

NBA. But now you've gotten to the

37:44

point, I mean, maybe not the same

37:46

level of... of usage rate, but you're

37:49

basically playing the same way you played

37:51

your senior year. So, and you look

37:53

at Jalen, Bronson, for example, you know,

37:56

everybody was like, all right, well, he's

37:58

posting up guards in college, like he's

38:00

not gonna do that so cold. Yeah,

38:03

and now you're watching him do that

38:05

exact same thing, you know, in MSG

38:07

every night. So it's like. I think

38:10

some of it's people trying to overthink

38:12

it and over forecast and hit a

38:14

home run and do that sort of

38:16

thing. But I think it's also like

38:19

you have to evaluate the entirety of

38:21

the game and not just saying, well,

38:23

he's not gonna have that usage rate.

38:26

All right, yeah, his usage rates high

38:28

in college, which is maybe why he's

38:30

putting them numbers, he's the best player

38:33

on his team, but what else is

38:35

he doing within the context of that

38:37

game? Did those pieces translate? You know,

38:39

it's also why there's a revolving door

38:42

of front offices and coaching staffs and

38:44

You know, no one's got this this

38:46

figured out is not a science. I

38:49

wanted to ask about the the Braun

38:51

and Bronnie moment Just for you on

38:53

a personal level. It's obviously an just

38:56

an insanely cool thing for I think

38:58

for everybody to see At this point,

39:00

you know with your relationship with the

39:03

Braun, you know having played for him

39:05

just can you put into perspective what

39:07

it meant for you as like a

39:09

as an active observer, someone who is,

39:12

you know, not in the family, but

39:14

has seen this growth happen over time?

39:16

Yeah, it was, it was a really

39:19

cool moment. You know, I get the,

39:21

I get the opportunity to see dad

39:23

and teammate and, you know, it all

39:26

kind of just blends together. You know,

39:28

they do a really good job of,

39:30

just being themselves. But that first, the

39:33

first game when, you know, they subbed

39:35

in. I was so locked in on

39:37

the game, I didn't know what was

39:39

going on. Crowd started going crazy and

39:42

I'm looking around like, what just happened?

39:44

And then I seen Brody. But just

39:46

to be in that moment, you know,

39:49

I talked to Brown a lot, I

39:51

asked him a lot of questions and

39:53

after the game, I just, I was

39:56

like, that folks. good and he was

39:58

like yeah that was that was special

40:00

so just to see you know that

40:03

be done for the first time and

40:05

you know just you know it's just

40:07

cool because you see all the brown

40:09

puts in the game to be able

40:12

to even you know have that opportunity

40:14

it was just special that I think

40:16

that's like a moment in NBA history

40:19

that does will never Like when you're

40:21

watching it, I think there's like so

40:23

many publicators of like, oh, this is

40:26

what, nepotism, this, that, whatever. I don't

40:28

know that that will ever get repeated

40:30

or will ever exist again. We talk

40:33

a lot about like records that won't

40:35

be touched. I know it's a different

40:37

sort of record, but like the way

40:39

the game's trending, like the way the

40:42

game's trending, like even stuff, is going

40:44

to get astronomical. I don't know that

40:46

the longevity. of what he's done. I

40:49

mean, so to this day, his dunk

40:51

he had the other night with the

40:53

left hand. I'm like, I'm like, that

40:56

is, here I am, I turned 30

40:58

last year, I'm like, wait, I'm like,

41:00

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm

41:03

like, just his habits, like, does it

41:05

jump off the page in terms of

41:07

like how he handles himself, body, diet,

41:09

diet, like, everything? No it definitely does.

41:12

I mean he's he's the first one

41:14

that in the gym getting treatment most

41:16

of the time the last to leave

41:19

and like I said I ask him

41:21

a lot of questions so I think

41:23

we were coming back this was from

41:26

our first like road trip this early

41:28

in the year we were coming back

41:30

from like a six game road trip

41:32

and we had an off day and

41:35

I basically was just like what what

41:37

are you doing tomorrow like we're getting

41:39

in late it's like two o'clock in

41:42

the morning three whatever and he was

41:44

like well i'm gonna go i'm gonna

41:46

go play like two or three games

41:49

of Madden was like it's three and

41:51

he was like i got to get

41:53

a couple games in so i was

41:56

like cool so like what tomorrow look

41:58

like he was like oh wake up

42:00

eat breakfast probably get a massage then

42:02

get treatment and then he was like

42:05

I'll you know hang out with the

42:07

family for you know two or three

42:09

hours and then it's like probably like

42:12

five at that time so I'll get

42:14

more treatment for probably hour and a

42:16

half two hours and then ate dinner and

42:18

go to sleep and so but it was

42:21

just like he went by step by step

42:23

by step and I was just like that's

42:25

a lot like yes but it's every

42:27

day though like it doesn't it doesn't

42:29

matter Um, he doesn't, you know,

42:31

he doesn't skip days. It's,

42:33

doesn't matter if it's off day, if

42:36

it's not off day, you know, my

42:38

whole, this is funny, my whole

42:40

goal, my whole goal, my rookie

42:42

year when we figured out that

42:44

we were bad, and we wasn't

42:46

gonna make the playoffs. I was

42:48

like, I'm gonna just beat him

42:50

to a game. Like, I was like,

42:52

I'm just gonna be the first one

42:54

at the arena. So I was like,

42:57

I'm just gonna be the first one.

42:59

2.30 or 3 or whatever at the

43:01

first time. I get there, I'm

43:04

pulling up and I see a

43:06

scar. I'm like, shit. So next

43:08

game, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna

43:10

get there at 1.30. And the

43:13

closest I ever got, I seen

43:15

him driving down the tunnel. And

43:17

after that, I was like, I'm

43:19

not getting to the game this

43:22

early anymore. Like I'm just

43:24

sitting back here, bored of

43:26

shit. It's very impressive. Give a little

43:28

more insight if you don't don't mind

43:31

into your routine outside of the active

43:33

recovery of playing some golf. What else

43:35

are you doing on and off day

43:38

to kind of like get your body

43:40

right whether it's going to get shots

43:42

or I know it's probably nuanced depending

43:45

on you know if you played a

43:47

couple back to back whatever but what's

43:49

it what are some like staples of

43:51

your routine? Yeah I mean it's it's

43:53

always it's different for me a lot

43:56

just depending on how I feel. You

43:58

know, like you said, there's back to back.

44:00

There's, you could, some days you get

44:02

three days in between. But like today,

44:04

got up like 8.30, went to the

44:07

gym, eight, shot for probably like 25

44:09

minutes, 30 minutes, got a massage table

44:11

and then had some active recovery at

44:13

the golf course. It's more a way

44:16

to flush out the lane. Exactly, I

44:18

know. Yeah, it just gets a move

44:20

in a little bit. It's better than

44:22

laying in bed all day. That's basically

44:25

the day it changes up a little

44:27

bit here and there just like if

44:29

it's not a massage it's some type

44:32

of treatment in the training room if

44:34

it's some type of cupping on whatever's

44:36

bothering me but it's active recovery is

44:38

mandatory. Have you changed yours at all?

44:41

Yeah it's definitely like shifted in change.

44:43

It's interesting that some of the changes

44:45

have been they feel kind of like

44:47

minor. in the moment and then how

44:50

things like progress. You're like, oh, that's

44:52

kind of like working, like I'm gonna

44:54

keep doing that. And then all of

44:57

a sudden you're whatever, three months down

44:59

the line, you're like, oh wow, like

45:01

almost have like an entirely new routine.

45:03

There have been consistencies that I always

45:06

do, especially on like game days. It's

45:08

not like superstitious, but there's just like

45:10

a rhythm and flow to a game

45:12

day. All game days feel the same

45:15

for the same for me. Yeah. Like

45:17

I always joke with you know friends

45:19

and family of like there's no days

45:22

of the week for like an NBA

45:24

player at all. There's game day there's

45:26

an off day there's a practice day

45:28

and like that's it so it might

45:31

be a Monday if we're off like

45:33

I'm treating like a Saturday like that's

45:35

just like how it is but like

45:38

finding a rhythm and flow I think

45:40

to game days is important I think

45:42

where I've probably changed the most on

45:44

off day routines is finding ways to

45:47

create a little bit of balance and

45:49

like just get away like a little

45:51

bit. Obviously I'm still gonna have my

45:53

shooting stuff, I'm still gonna have the

45:56

treatment stuff, getting on the table, especially

45:58

as I get older, it's actually trending

46:00

more towards that that it is like

46:03

hard on the court time. to pick

46:05

up a ball, smell a gym, whatever.

46:07

But like finding the active recovery of

46:09

like being outside and like just getting

46:12

like some son. We're very fortunate individuals.

46:14

We live in Miami and LA. Like

46:16

we have that luxury. So like who

46:18

are we to not take advantage of

46:21

it? Like you got to do it.

46:23

So just like it's changed I should

46:25

say over time, but the kind of

46:28

body of it. kind of exists and

46:30

so it's the same. Are you a

46:32

nap guy? Yeah, oh sure. How long

46:34

do you know? I mean it depends

46:37

if we have shoot around, if we

46:39

don't have shoot around, sometimes we meet

46:41

at the arena, you know, four hours

46:43

before, but yeah. Let me ask you

46:46

this, because I want to hear about

46:48

the nap, but do you prefer shoot

46:50

around or walk through? I think it

46:53

just, I think it always, it just

46:55

goes back and forth with sorts, whatever

46:57

it's working, whatever it's working. You know

46:59

we were we were doing walk, you

47:02

know walk through is at the arena

47:04

around like 4-4-30 but it's 730 and

47:06

we were winning at the time and

47:08

then lost a couple so now it's

47:11

like let's let's try shoot around so

47:13

my nap is hour and a half

47:15

two hours it's all yeah it's good

47:18

it's a ram cycle get out exactly

47:20

everybody is it's a player that is

47:22

not a nap guy I don't think

47:24

D loves a nap guy at all

47:27

oh I, if you are, I'm sorry,

47:29

but I don't think so. I don't

47:31

think so. I mean, just because of

47:33

how, like schedule-based, how like sleep deprived

47:36

we all are based off of travel,

47:38

I find it, I'd almost go as

47:40

far to say like, I wouldn't trust

47:43

somebody that doesn't take nips. Like, seriously

47:45

though, like we, and we actually. Our

47:47

travel schedule is crazy because we are

47:49

at least two hours from everywhere. Outside

47:52

of Orlando, like that's our closest flight.

47:54

But literally every other flight is two

47:56

hours. So like we're constantly getting in

47:58

2 a.m. 3 a.m. So like if

48:01

you're not napping, it's like East Coast

48:03

too. The craziest sleep schedule I've seen

48:05

and started to put you on bus

48:08

is Kyle Lowry. He would get in

48:10

at 3 a.m. and he would be

48:12

up at 6 a.m. And I'm like,

48:14

dude, how do you function? I would

48:17

die. And he would play 18 holes

48:19

and then go to practice. I'm like,

48:21

dude, like nothing's wrong with him. And

48:23

he's been doing it for 17 years

48:26

or whatever it is. I'm like, I

48:28

don't know. I've never felt more. Like

48:30

a human then when you get in

48:33

it through him you have to wake

48:35

up at eight you get like five

48:37

hours of sleep You got to go

48:39

practice whatever So naps are crucial basically

48:42

two hours of that's that's good feedback.

48:44

That's that's I'm actually a little bit

48:46

shorter than I try to be like

48:48

45 But sometimes adventures into like the

48:51

the 90 minute range. Yeah. Have you

48:53

guys changed your information diet? Your mental

48:55

in terms of your mental. Information diet.

48:58

That's a nice. That's a nice turn.

49:00

I need a little clarification on that.

49:02

It's like like the and this can

49:04

be basketball and or you know, whatever's

49:07

going on in the world. I mean,

49:09

even this has been a crazy, you

49:11

know, week for you guys. Obviously, there's

49:13

been a time going on. So it's

49:16

it's an exception to the rule. But

49:18

you also, we were talking about before

49:20

before before we started about getting yourself

49:23

ready to play. and how you how

49:25

you what you look at what you

49:27

watch what you read you're talking about

49:29

you read everything but the same point

49:32

you can't read everything especially in the

49:34

playoffs because you need to be locked

49:36

in so in terms of just how

49:38

you are how you can manage your

49:41

focus to be at a place where

49:43

it needs to be I feel like

49:45

I'm very simple I just feel like

49:48

when it's time to play is it's

49:50

time to play like I can just

49:52

shut all of it off and you

49:54

know just enjoy basketball regardless, you know,

49:57

good, bad, indifferent. I enjoy playing basketball

49:59

and when it comes to just hoping,

50:01

you know, I could be, I could

50:03

be dead tired 20 minutes before a

50:06

game and then you get out there.

50:08

the lights are shining. Stadiums going crazy

50:10

regardless home away. You know, it doesn't,

50:13

it doesn't take much for me to,

50:15

you know, figure out the moment just

50:17

whooping. You know, I could be, I

50:19

could be dead tired 20 minutes before

50:22

a game. And then you get out

50:24

there to the lights are shining. Stadiums

50:26

going crazy regardless home away. You know,

50:28

it doesn't, it doesn't take much for

50:31

me to you know, figure out the

50:33

moment and just go play. I just

50:35

enjoy basketball. In terms of, that's a

50:38

great answer, first off. And there is

50:40

a, there is a part of that

50:42

that really resonates with me in terms

50:44

of, I've had games where I go

50:47

in, and I'm like, man, my body

50:49

feels terrible, this, I would, but then

50:51

like something happens and you get lost

50:53

in the actual play of the game

50:56

and you don't even realize like, oh,

50:58

this was hurting or this. Now. I

51:00

wish I could get to that place

51:03

all the time because sometimes there's games

51:05

where like your body's still barking as

51:07

you, you know, halfway through the second

51:09

quarter and you're like, damn, this is

51:12

really hurting. In terms of information diet,

51:14

I think the biggest thing is I

51:16

try, keyword try. I try to go

51:18

through like little cleanses of like, if

51:21

I'm catching myself being a little bit

51:23

too dependent opening this app or that

51:25

app, Twitter. I'm off entirely just because

51:28

Twitter's like X-R. I don't even have

51:30

it. I don't even have it. I

51:32

haven't had it since I was like

51:34

12. I'm off that entirely. I just

51:37

think it's like a cesspool, no disrespect.

51:39

I know it's like great informationally or

51:41

whatever, but like there's so much noise

51:43

out there. And it's just an echo

51:46

chamber of nonsense. I'm like, I'm off

51:48

that. Instagram can be equally as damaging

51:50

I think. Just go into that app

51:53

a little too autonomously. I'll just delete

51:55

it for, you know, whatever, 10 days,

51:57

two weeks on a local. right now.

51:59

But yeah, so like we'll just I'll

52:02

just like clear it out of sight

52:04

out of minds and then you realize

52:06

actually when you do that is sometimes

52:08

you'll just like open your phone and

52:11

then your your body will just like

52:13

go to where the app was. I'm

52:15

like damn I really was addicted that's

52:18

a good thing I deleted that. So

52:20

just finding like little ways to just

52:22

kind of like get it out because

52:24

I think it's important. I think any

52:27

time you like start giving too much

52:29

acknowledgement to that noise and like worrying

52:31

about the wrong shit like it really

52:33

is I wish it was always as

52:36

simple as like just going out and

52:38

hoping the reality is it's it's not

52:40

sounds like maybe with you it is

52:43

which I wish I could channel that

52:45

a little more yeah like I said

52:47

I've I've been hearing all the same

52:49

stuff since I was 17 years old

52:52

so it's like I beat it then

52:54

like I'll just continue to do the

52:56

same thing and like one thing I

52:58

tell myself all the time is probably

53:01

I would say like 99.5% of anybody

53:03

almost in the world would like trade

53:05

positions with both of us right now

53:08

if you ask like you could have

53:10

somebody tweet something if they had a

53:12

question like would you switch lives? I

53:14

guarantee you they would say yes like

53:17

we live the best life you could

53:19

live like obviously there's other sports and

53:21

people love other sports and they're doing

53:23

what they love but like we're in

53:26

a really really good place like why

53:28

am I you know self-sabotage of myself

53:30

yeah that's a it's actually a point

53:33

that Spoe is makes to us to

53:35

like give a little perspective which has

53:37

always really resonated with me is that

53:39

for whatever reason as NBA players like

53:42

we're all living our dreams but generally

53:44

speaking it's like a league of misery

53:46

where like everybody is like I don't

53:48

have I don't have this opportunity or

53:51

you know, I should be having this

53:53

or that. And it's like if you

53:55

just take a moment to like take

53:58

a step back and be like. Man,

54:00

like this is a child's child game

54:02

that I get to play and get

54:04

this opportunity and make money and what

54:06

it like whatever it is that you

54:08

you care about love at the game like

54:11

I think about the fact that

54:13

I've had a basketball season every

54:15

single winter since I've been eight

54:17

years old like that to me

54:19

is remarkable like and not to

54:21

like a loose sight of that because. It's

54:23

easy. It's kind of easy to like if you

54:25

just kind of get into this default mode of

54:28

just like all right next game this whatever like

54:30

it's easy to fall into that and it can

54:32

be a dangerous place to be Because it's not

54:34

doing you any favors your team any favors.

54:36

It's and it's just also like we all

54:38

want to live a happy life for you

54:40

know. Well, I'm curious. I'm curious about that

54:42

I was going to ask both you guys

54:44

about the league overall having a negativity problem

54:46

and this is something and you know we don't

54:49

have to get into too specific we don't want

54:51

to but Jay Jay got into this a little

54:53

bit a couple weeks ago and this has been

54:55

a complaint I think with a lot of the

54:57

TV networks but it does feel like there

55:00

is a sense of it there's a lot

55:02

of bitching all the time there's bitching about

55:04

three pointers there's bitching about this and it's

55:06

just like Enjoy the game. You don't

55:08

see this with football, you don't see

55:10

this with baseball, you don't see this

55:12

with golf. There's a celebration of the

55:14

Masters and it feels like increasingly there

55:17

is a level of saltiness that is

55:19

coming from all sides of the spectrum

55:21

which makes it, I don't have to

55:23

imagine, I mean, it's exhausting for me

55:25

and I'm not playing. It's very exhausting if

55:27

you're like, oh, I'm gonna ask you about

55:29

the Christmas thing in a second, but you're

55:31

like, oh, I have a game winner on

55:33

Christmas, I have a game winner on Christmas,

55:36

I can't control them.

55:38

I can't control what

55:40

people say. I don't know.

55:42

I don't get it. I think

55:44

as a, you know, whole, the

55:47

NBA is, you know, more skilled

55:49

now than it's ever been.

55:51

So I don't understand what

55:54

the problem is. You

55:56

know, maybe we do shoot too

55:58

many theories. Maybe they think

56:01

that some of the, you know,

56:03

purity of the game is gone,

56:05

but I think it's just, we're

56:07

playing the game how we think

56:10

it's the best to win. Like

56:12

at the end of the day,

56:14

that's all that matters. We're trying

56:16

to win. And analytics, people talk

56:18

about analysts all the time, Jay

56:21

Jay is big. Analytics, like, I

56:23

don't care about the analytics. I

56:25

have a feel for the basketball.

56:27

And to be honest if you're

56:29

not making threes right now, you're

56:32

not going to win. If you're

56:34

not taking them, you're not going

56:36

to win. So you have to

56:38

at this point. I know Braun

56:41

doesn't like it, but we need

56:43

him to make threes. But as

56:45

far as all this stuff with

56:47

JJ and whatever, I don't even

56:49

know what was said to be

56:52

honest, but he loves the game

56:54

of basketball. I

56:56

think that that's where his frustration

56:58

comes from is, you know, he

57:01

actually enjoys the game of basketball

57:03

and doesn't understand why, you know,

57:05

people have to always say bad

57:07

things. I think it's there's a

57:09

couple points I want to make

57:11

to that. Let's just go back

57:13

to launching trees. I think it's

57:15

there's a couple points I want

57:18

to make to that. One of

57:20

them is I don't know shit

57:22

about ratings. I see what I

57:24

see what I see in terms

57:26

of this is down whatever. In

57:28

2025, I think just painting a

57:30

picture of what cable television is

57:32

telling us around the popularity of

57:35

the league seems a little misguided

57:37

to me. I don't know in

57:39

terms of like general popularity, fan

57:41

engagement, how people are becoming fans,

57:43

to just say that let's just

57:45

basis. off of turning on a

57:47

TV and watching the entirety of

57:49

a game, that just feels wrong.

57:52

Like, most fans, and it is

57:54

what it is, they're still fans,

57:56

are Fox Square watching, Highlight watching,

57:58

watch this 10 minute recap of

58:00

this game, Austin had 32 against

58:02

Sacramento, whatever. Parlays. Yeah, parlays. That

58:04

is also driving a lot of

58:06

this too. Fox Square watching for

58:09

parlays. Back to, back to IG.

58:11

I'd probably say 98% of my

58:13

dams are you sold my parlaid.

58:15

Like that's all I get. With

58:17

that being said, the other side

58:19

of the actual competitive product, the

58:21

problem is when you have a

58:23

team like Boston that just won

58:26

a championship and they're shooting 53's

58:28

a game, you have to shoot.

58:30

What maybe 40 or maybe you

58:32

don't shoot 50, but if you're

58:34

going to try to you're not

58:36

going to hold them to 85

58:38

points This isn't the You know

58:40

2004 pistons like you're just not

58:43

going to be able to do

58:45

it. So You have to shoot

58:47

at least 43's now what you

58:49

sometimes get as a messaging of

58:51

a coaching staff is all right.

58:53

We got to shoot 43's Maybe

58:55

not everybody that's shooting those three

58:57

should be shooting them, but there's

59:00

got to be some learning curve

59:02

with some of these teams of

59:04

like all right this guy should

59:06

be this guy shouldn't be and

59:08

let's be honest not every team

59:10

this year when we started the

59:12

NBA season is trying to win

59:14

a championship that's just how the

59:17

nature of the league is so

59:19

I think I agree with what

59:21

you're saying it's ultimately teams are

59:23

trying to win like no one's

59:25

out there like trying to lose

59:27

games especially with now you know

59:29

how tanking is sort of kind

59:32

of been avoided but I think

59:34

it's ultimately the skill level is

59:36

as high as it's ever been

59:38

and when you see the best

59:40

teams playing a certain style You've

59:42

got to kind of get with

59:44

the times or you're not going

59:46

to have an opportunity to compete.

59:49

I want to get your perspective

59:51

on Christmas on that moment. You've

59:53

had a lot of great moments

59:55

so far. This just felt especially

59:57

with Steph going crazy on the

59:59

other end Your your thoughts in

1:00:01

the in the in real time

1:00:03

and then you know in sort

1:00:06

of the weeks to follow it

1:00:08

Obviously, it's just a you know

1:00:10

blip in the season, but it

1:00:12

is also a Christmas game against

1:00:14

the Warriors. So just your sort

1:00:16

of your perspective overall on it.

1:00:18

It's probably my favorite memory I

1:00:20

have in the league so far,

1:00:23

other than maybe going to the

1:00:25

Western Conference Finals. That was a

1:00:27

team aspect, which was, you know,

1:00:29

a lot of fun competing at

1:00:31

that high of a level. But

1:00:33

it was really, you know, to

1:00:35

be honest, I was shooting the

1:00:37

ball horrible. I wasn't making shots

1:00:40

that I normally make. 80 went

1:00:42

out. You know, so when you

1:00:44

have a guy like that go

1:00:46

out, you have to find something

1:00:48

else to... you know, fill what

1:00:50

he does for us. And it's

1:00:52

not just going to be one

1:00:54

person. We have many people step

1:00:57

up in that game. Brom was

1:00:59

obviously amazing. Like you said, I

1:01:01

think it was just a really,

1:01:03

really good basketball game. Steph was

1:01:05

making shots that nobody but Steph

1:01:07

makes. But just, you know, those

1:01:09

last five seconds, or well, we

1:01:11

could go back probably to like

1:01:14

20 seconds or 17, whatever it

1:01:16

was when Steph had that last

1:01:18

three to tie it. I completely...

1:01:21

Fucked up the whole switch and

1:01:23

gave the best shooter that's ever

1:01:25

stepped foot on this earth a

1:01:27

wide open three it was from

1:01:29

35 feet But as soon as

1:01:31

he caught it. I was like

1:01:33

shit. It's going in But after

1:01:35

that it was really just Let's

1:01:37

not go to overtime like let's

1:01:39

win the game now. There's no

1:01:41

need to you know play more

1:01:43

basketball on Christmas. Let's go home

1:01:45

see our family and the play

1:01:47

was for Braun They did a

1:01:49

good job. They jumped switched it.

1:01:51

I think Steph was guarding the

1:01:53

impounder. He denied him. Drake Mom

1:01:55

was being really physical as always.

1:01:57

And we didn't have any. time

1:01:59

out to the time. So I

1:02:01

told Max if Ron wasn't open,

1:02:03

then I was going to, you

1:02:06

know, pop and get the ball

1:02:08

and really just basketball instincts took

1:02:10

over. I don't know why Jonathan

1:02:12

Camingo was a garden ruby out

1:02:14

of balance, but thank you. But

1:02:16

yeah, just, I mean, and then

1:02:18

obviously, us going crazy, you know,

1:02:20

on the court, you know, having

1:02:22

that moment, it was very special.

1:02:24

That was definitely a. a special

1:02:26

moment. I think it's also in

1:02:28

today's NBA, very rarely do you

1:02:30

see, obviously you're a star player,

1:02:32

this isn't a shot at you,

1:02:34

but like you don't see a

1:02:36

not maybe first option, get an

1:02:38

opportunity to take a game winner.

1:02:40

The way it goes is now

1:02:42

it's like going to be an

1:02:44

ISO or some sort of coming

1:02:46

to the top to get the

1:02:48

ball and pick and roll or

1:02:51

something. So I always think it's

1:02:53

it's special. broken play, you know,

1:02:55

LeBron's denied, you have an opportunity

1:02:57

like that. It's cool. I mean,

1:02:59

that's like what you, you grow

1:03:01

up, I mean, everyone grows up

1:03:03

watching Christmas Day games in the

1:03:05

NBA. So for you to have

1:03:07

a game winner, like you said,

1:03:09

I mean, it's as special of

1:03:11

a moment as you've had. For

1:03:13

sure. It's also Bronze's deaf. I

1:03:15

mean, it's like, those two. You're

1:03:17

the cherry on top of that

1:03:19

I mean. Everyone. It was an

1:03:21

elite basketball game, like back and

1:03:23

forth. We had an opportunity to,

1:03:25

you know, kind of put it

1:03:27

out of reach. I think we

1:03:29

were up seven or something with

1:03:31

a couple minutes left and then

1:03:33

Steve had a ridiculous corner three

1:03:35

where he didn't even shoot it.

1:03:38

He kind of just threw it

1:03:40

at the rim and I'm under

1:03:42

the rim. It don't look like

1:03:44

it's going in, but it just

1:03:46

like somehow, you know, rims in

1:03:48

and then he hit the one

1:03:50

to tie it. But it was

1:03:52

just overall a really good basketball

1:03:54

game. Curious is from both of

1:03:56

you guys getting back to the

1:03:58

sick of things. for a second.

1:04:00

Do you think you can coach

1:04:02

or teach competitiveness or it's just

1:04:04

natural? I think I'll say I

1:04:06

think some people have it more

1:04:08

than others. I think you can

1:04:10

instill it into a group, therefore

1:04:12

you have to. Like you can't

1:04:14

be or you don't want to

1:04:16

be the only guy that doesn't

1:04:18

play hard. If you have a

1:04:20

whole team that's bought into what

1:04:23

you're trying to do, compete in

1:04:25

every possession, you I mean, you

1:04:27

probably aren't going to play if

1:04:29

you're not that, if you're that

1:04:31

guy that isn't competing. So I

1:04:33

think that there's things that you

1:04:35

can do to help with that.

1:04:37

But I don't, I mean, obviously

1:04:39

there's some guys that have it

1:04:41

more than others. I would say,

1:04:43

teach is challenging. I would say

1:04:45

inspire competitiveness as possible. I think

1:04:47

that can come from another teammate,

1:04:49

doing something to taking the charge.

1:04:51

You're looking at yourself, why can't

1:04:53

I do that or get on

1:04:55

the floor. And I think that

1:04:57

that goes from a player's perspective

1:04:59

and a coach's perspective. I think

1:05:01

a coach can inspire, you know,

1:05:03

his team to be competitive. For

1:05:05

sure, but like you said, there's

1:05:08

there are some guys that just

1:05:10

have a have a predisposition to

1:05:12

doing so. I feel like this

1:05:14

is we, I mean, it's the

1:05:16

thing that we've talked about a

1:05:18

lot and has become, you know,

1:05:20

almost a cliche in certain ways,

1:05:22

but some of the stuff with

1:05:24

heat culture is this. It is

1:05:26

like it is just a like

1:05:28

no matter who you put out

1:05:30

there. I mean they are the

1:05:32

it's it's a you do go

1:05:34

to the finals with you know

1:05:36

It's it's a it's a rag

1:05:38

plumbers in account That's competitive. That's

1:05:40

competitive at division three players and

1:05:42

24-year-old rookies to make it out

1:05:44

it do it twice for sure

1:05:46

No, that's great man. Austin, we

1:05:48

appreciate you coming, taking some time.

1:05:50

I know you got a busy

1:05:52

schedule, so this is awesome. No,

1:05:55

for sure. Appreciate y'all for having

1:05:57

me. Thanks to Duncan for joining

1:05:59

us for that great conversation. Here's

1:06:01

Austin and I. some of the

1:06:03

ratings updates from 2K's latest cover,

1:06:05

which they released on January 10th,

1:06:07

with Shea Goto-Salaxander. And we're back,

1:06:09

Mr. Austin Reeves. NBA-2K partner is

1:06:11

a great partner to both of

1:06:13

us. We wanted to run through,

1:06:15

season four kicked off on January

1:06:17

10th, and they released their new

1:06:19

ratings updates. And so we wanted

1:06:21

to run through some of these

1:06:23

jumps, because some of them were

1:06:25

pretty interesting. And so I'm gonna

1:06:27

read them off, I think, and

1:06:29

then maybe just get your perspective on

1:06:31

them as competitors, friends, guys, just what

1:06:34

you think about, some of these things.

1:06:36

The first one, their cover star, SGA,

1:06:38

is now up to a 98. He's

1:06:40

plus one, up to a 98, to

1:06:42

a 98, tied with Janus and Jokage,

1:06:45

the only three 98th. He's a stone

1:06:47

coat killer. I think, I don't really

1:06:49

have to explain myself. He's, you know,

1:06:51

they've got one of the best

1:06:53

records in the NBA and

1:06:55

he's the head of the state

1:06:58

efficient. You know, like I said,

1:07:00

he's a killer. Here's my question. So

1:07:02

we did an Epp with Jay

1:07:04

Len, with Jay Dub on Saturday

1:07:06

and I was asking him about

1:07:08

Shea, just about his pace and

1:07:10

how he is not. You can't.

1:07:12

speed them up, you can't slow

1:07:14

them down. So you guys are, you

1:07:16

know, you may play them in

1:07:19

the playoffs, you guys have had

1:07:21

a couple battles with them already.

1:07:23

When you're approaching somebody like this

1:07:25

who's just so smooth, what is your,

1:07:27

like, how are you gonna stop them?

1:07:30

But like, what's your advice with

1:07:32

somebody like this just to even

1:07:34

budge them off track in a

1:07:36

certain way? Yeah, it's, it's tough because

1:07:38

you, you usually say just make

1:07:40

it hard, like, like, make their

1:07:42

shots hard, you know, be physical

1:07:45

with him, but he's so good

1:07:47

at drawing fouls. He's a tough

1:07:49

shot maker. So even there's even,

1:07:52

you know, possessions where you think

1:07:54

you guard him well, if he

1:07:56

gets to his mitty or his

1:07:58

or his punch, you know, side step

1:08:00

to the right, there's a good

1:08:02

chance that's going in. So you just

1:08:05

try to be as disruptive as

1:08:07

you can. Like you said, you're not

1:08:09

gonna speed him up or, you know,

1:08:11

slow him down. He's gonna play

1:08:13

at his pace regardless, but you have

1:08:16

to guard him with everybody on

1:08:18

the court, not just one person. He

1:08:20

caught one, you know, I think

1:08:22

everybody tries to be physical with him,

1:08:24

bump him off his spot. He

1:08:26

caught one a little bit, probably the

1:08:29

second hash on the right side

1:08:31

last night, and I was just like,

1:08:33

I'm gonna give him a nice shoulder

1:08:35

to the back. He spun off

1:08:37

me so fast, I look crazy, but

1:08:40

shoots the ball at a high

1:08:42

level. Defensively, it's not even close. He

1:08:44

disrupts everything better than anybody in

1:08:46

the league. So, you know, he's deserving

1:08:48

for that 95. It's also funny,

1:08:50

it's funny, we were just talking about

1:08:53

just competitors and just guys with

1:08:55

some shit to them. And, you know,

1:08:57

I've, you know, we've had him on

1:08:59

the show and I've seen him

1:09:01

a bunch last year and this year.

1:09:04

I was at their game at

1:09:06

MSG and Christmas, you know, where he

1:09:08

went off and Kale went off

1:09:10

and he was pissed. after he's like

1:09:12

he's not he is a guy

1:09:14

he wants it he's for sure he's

1:09:17

completely locked in and so it's

1:09:19

just scary when you have that level

1:09:21

of skill set and the mentality no

1:09:23

he's you can tell he's dedicated

1:09:25

to the game and what he has

1:09:28

to do to keep his self

1:09:30

healthy I think I've seen something earlier

1:09:32

this year that he said and

1:09:34

he might have said it might have

1:09:36

been someone close to him was

1:09:38

like guys that he looked up to

1:09:41

before he doesn't really necessarily like

1:09:43

them that much anymore because they don't

1:09:45

truly love basketball. And that's, I mean,

1:09:47

I don't know how old he

1:09:49

is. Is he 20? Is he 20

1:09:52

yet? I think he's 19. I

1:09:54

mean for somebody to just even have

1:09:56

that like thought process. Yeah, that's

1:09:58

special. Yeah, Dearen Fox, Dearen Fox and

1:10:00

Evan Mob, actually three of them.

1:10:02

De Aaron Fox, Evan Mobley, and our

1:10:05

boy, Jarin are all up to

1:10:07

89 plus one. De Aaron might be

1:10:09

one of the hardest people to guard

1:10:12

in the league. He's fast, you

1:10:14

know, if you look at him, he

1:10:16

doesn't look like he's strong, but

1:10:18

once he gets to that, you know,

1:10:20

10 foot area, his little bump

1:10:22

fades, bump floats, you know, it's got

1:10:25

to be, you know, around the

1:10:27

best in the best in the best

1:10:29

in the best in the best

1:10:31

in the league. what Evan Mobile is

1:10:33

doing for that squad over there in

1:10:36

Cleveland with the best record in

1:10:38

the league. He's shooting the ball really

1:10:40

well this year, which gives them

1:10:42

more space to play. I think last

1:10:44

year, he didn't shoot it as

1:10:46

good, so teams were able to, you

1:10:49

know, heavy shift off him, but

1:10:51

with him shooting the three good now,

1:10:53

it's tough to guard them because

1:10:55

they got two guards that can get

1:10:57

downhill, play make, and then defensively. It's

1:11:00

like. shooting over the Twin Towers.

1:11:02

It's tough to have, you know, one

1:11:04

seven-footer down there when you have

1:11:06

another one, it just makes it even

1:11:08

harder. It's funny, I mean, Jay-J

1:11:10

said it after you guys played them

1:11:13

here a couple weeks ago, he's

1:11:15

basically like, you got to basically play

1:11:17

a perfect game to beat them.

1:11:19

Yeah. Which is, which is, you know,

1:11:21

scary and really attribute to the jump

1:11:24

that they've all sort of made.

1:11:26

I feel like individually. Yeah, I think,

1:11:28

I think more so that they've

1:11:30

just bought in to just bought in

1:11:32

to. you know what that coaches

1:11:34

stuff is asking you can see the

1:11:37

joy that they have playing alongside

1:11:39

one another everybody feels good everybody's playing

1:11:41

good and they compete at a

1:11:43

high level. I remember we did an

1:11:45

at I think our third or fourth

1:11:48

we ever did was with DeWade

1:11:50

and he was talking about De Aaron

1:11:52

and he said De Aaron was

1:11:54

the Not the poor words paraphrase. The

1:11:56

errand is the reason why he

1:11:58

retired. I think I've seen that. Because

1:12:01

it's crazy. He's like, try to

1:12:03

catch up with him on the court.

1:12:05

He's like, yeah. I can't do

1:12:07

it. Well, Dewaite, I've had that problem

1:12:09

the whole life. I can't catch anybody.

1:12:12

because he's a guy's the one

1:12:14

defensive player of the year since he's

1:12:16

coming to the league he's always

1:12:18

been you know a force over there

1:12:20

your year since he's coming to

1:12:22

the league he's always been you know

1:12:25

a force over there your friends

1:12:27

with him you played USA with him

1:12:29

but he's now doing it all

1:12:31

yeah I think just unlocking and having

1:12:33

space on the offensive end. I think

1:12:36

they brought in a couple new

1:12:38

coaches this year that they instilled a

1:12:40

different, I think, system, which has

1:12:42

helped him a lot. But, you know,

1:12:44

anybody, he shoots a ball really

1:12:46

well. You had to find him in

1:12:49

transition any time he's trailing the

1:12:51

place because he like those trail threes.

1:12:53

And then he gets to that

1:12:55

left hand and it's automatic, which is

1:12:57

weird because he's right-handed. Uh, no, he's,

1:13:00

like you said, even defensively, he's

1:13:02

a monster on that end too. A

1:13:04

couple guys, one vet that are

1:13:06

on here that are interesting, one vet

1:13:08

and one rookie that have both

1:13:10

jumped up to 81's, Russell in Detroit,

1:13:13

and Russell Westbrook in Denver, and

1:13:15

then Alexsar in Washington, you know, they

1:13:17

do completely different things, but they've

1:13:19

both. really been hoop in the last

1:13:21

month or so. And so, have you

1:13:24

guys played Denver recently? Trying to

1:13:26

think about your schedule. We played them,

1:13:28

it's probably been a month. What

1:13:30

do you think about just what he

1:13:33

and Yokech have been able to

1:13:35

unlock together? Ah, it's beautiful basketball. They

1:13:37

both passed the ball at a

1:13:39

high level. You know, I feel like

1:13:41

any time I opened my Instagram

1:13:43

map, it's, it's, yoke just throwing him

1:13:46

a backdoor cut and he dunking it.

1:13:48

But it's, you know. being around

1:13:50

rush for I think it was a

1:13:52

year and a half, unbelievable teammate,

1:13:54

unbelievable guy. Yeah, great. I mean, so

1:13:57

genuine. I had COVID, my rookie

1:13:59

year in Minnesota, I was stuck and,

1:14:01

you know, he text me two

1:14:03

or three times in the three days

1:14:05

I was there asking if I

1:14:07

needed anything. So to see a guy

1:14:10

like that, you know. Go be successful

1:14:12

and be an engine of that

1:14:14

team Is very cool to see and

1:14:16

then the rookie like you said

1:14:18

he's I haven't watched a lot But

1:14:21

from what I have seen He's

1:14:23

made a big jump from what I

1:14:25

seen from what I seen in

1:14:27

summer league. They just have You know,

1:14:29

they may not win a ton

1:14:31

of games this year, but the allows

1:14:34

another one They got a bunch of

1:14:36

young athletic dudes who play defense

1:14:38

who it's it just feels like they're

1:14:40

building that thing the right way

1:14:42

for sure Two, well we talked about

1:14:45

De Aaron already, two guys who

1:14:47

are getting close to the 90s, you

1:14:49

know, and maybe all soldiers here

1:14:51

in the East, Cade Cunningham is in

1:14:53

89, and Darius is in 89,

1:14:55

both have had unbelievable seasons. Yeah, I've

1:14:58

been a big fan of Cade's game

1:15:00

since college. He came to Norman,

1:15:02

gave us 40. I don't forgive him

1:15:04

for that, but... He's a player

1:15:06

that can do everything, score three levels,

1:15:09

pass it the ball really well,

1:15:11

you always, and he's got size. He

1:15:13

affects winning in multiple ways. And

1:15:15

I've been a fan of his, just

1:15:17

his game, he's smooth, he doesn't

1:15:19

get sped up. And like I said,

1:15:22

he's really physical, and uses his size

1:15:24

to his advantage, and then DG

1:15:26

is. doesn't have that much

1:15:28

size, but Manny's quick and he's

1:15:30

got every move, you know, got

1:15:33

the ball on a string, shoots

1:15:35

the ball really well, passes it

1:15:37

well. So those guys are, I'd

1:15:39

say they're gonna be 90s before

1:15:41

too long. We did an app

1:15:43

with Jared Allen about a month

1:15:45

or two ago and we were

1:15:47

talking about DG and at that

1:15:49

point I don't know what the

1:15:51

number is now. That point he

1:15:53

was shooting like over 70% on

1:15:55

floaters. Yeah. And I was asking

1:15:58

Jared. It's almost impossible because... You

1:16:00

have Jared Allen behind that. So

1:16:02

if you're the big and you

1:16:04

step up, he goes to the

1:16:06

wild. What he does is he

1:16:08

changes his pace in that floater

1:16:10

zone really well. He baits the

1:16:12

big up and he'll get the

1:16:14

assist and then next time the

1:16:16

big don't want to come up.

1:16:18

And he kind of fakes and

1:16:20

fades. Yeah. That's when he gets

1:16:22

to that floater. Glass, no glass

1:16:25

is like you said a very

1:16:27

high person in a shot. So

1:16:29

before we wrap, there's some top

1:16:31

13 movers that I want to

1:16:33

talk about. I'm actually excited to

1:16:35

talk about some of whom are

1:16:37

your teammates, but younger guys that

1:16:39

are making to jump up. Jaylon

1:16:41

Wells is up 11, up to

1:16:43

a 79. I was talking about

1:16:45

him with Dez and Jared the

1:16:47

other day. They were basically like,

1:16:50

what they've been most impressed by

1:16:52

as a rookie is they. They

1:16:54

decided about a month ago, we're

1:16:56

putting him on our best player

1:16:58

every night. And he goes and

1:17:00

does it. He doesn't say anything,

1:17:02

this is a complaint, and you

1:17:04

know, he makes life difficult for

1:17:06

them. For sure. And you know

1:17:08

how hard that is as a

1:17:10

rookie. Yeah, no, it is. I

1:17:12

mean, especially to do that every

1:17:15

single night. He seems like he

1:17:17

is an older rookie. Yeah, I

1:17:19

could be completely wrong. 21. It's

1:17:21

not young, but it's not old.

1:17:23

But he, every single game, he

1:17:25

knows his job and he knows

1:17:27

what he's out there to do.

1:17:29

And he does it very well.

1:17:31

He's physical. Guards the ball well,

1:17:33

but also shoots the ball really

1:17:35

well. You can't help off of

1:17:37

him. He's gonna make you pay

1:17:39

and it's not like he's just

1:17:42

a shooter either. He can get

1:17:44

to the rim. He's got some

1:17:46

floaters. I've been very impressed with

1:17:48

this game. Two rookies, Jared McCain.

1:17:50

Hopefully he gets better soon, but

1:17:52

was following before. You went off

1:17:54

on you guys, right? Did he?

1:17:56

I don't remember. I don't remember.

1:17:58

I don't remember the one. I

1:18:00

remember the thing he put his

1:18:02

YouTube. caption about yeah he was

1:18:04

yeah he was he was cooking

1:18:07

I didn't watch a lot of

1:18:09

him in college I don't watch

1:18:11

it a lot of college basketball

1:18:13

but I knew who he was

1:18:15

and he was he was getting

1:18:17

to it I think it took

1:18:19

him like a week or so

1:18:21

we're probably like five ten games

1:18:23

to you know kind of figure

1:18:25

it out I don't know how

1:18:27

long it was but once he

1:18:29

did every time I looked at

1:18:32

you know or watched a game

1:18:34

he was he was killing so

1:18:36

Yeah, hopefully he gets, you know,

1:18:38

you know, I think that I

1:18:40

think I've seen the other day

1:18:42

that he was out for the

1:18:44

season. So, but, you know, once

1:18:46

he gets back healthy, I don't

1:18:48

expect anything else. Two other rookies,

1:18:50

two bigs, Missy and New Orleans

1:18:52

is up to an 80 plus

1:18:54

10 and Zach, also Memphis is

1:18:57

up to an 80, you know.

1:19:00

His ability to get jaw open

1:19:02

is probably, other than rebound him,

1:19:04

probably his, for, as an outsider,

1:19:06

watching what I'm most impressed with,

1:19:08

because anytime you can get jaw

1:19:10

downhill against a five, you're going

1:19:12

to like your chances. And then

1:19:14

in New Orleans, he's got a

1:19:16

motor, plays hard. Every single possession.

1:19:18

Those guys, I mean, Trey's been

1:19:20

playing great for them. They got

1:19:22

so much. They got so much.

1:19:24

talent there. I mean part of

1:19:26

this and we didn't get a

1:19:28

chance to talk about this with

1:19:30

Duncan but like the West is

1:19:32

just so good for sure. I

1:19:34

mean they've been unlucky. You know

1:19:36

they've been lucky they have a

1:19:38

ton of health stuff. But it's

1:19:41

also like you are and there's

1:19:43

just you just have no margin

1:19:45

for error. So if you're them

1:19:47

and you're missing B. I you're

1:19:49

missing Murray for a while like

1:19:51

there's no there's no one in

1:19:53

the West who's who's rolling over.

1:19:55

No. I mean even when. Even

1:19:57

when those guys weren't playing I

1:19:59

think we played them in New

1:20:01

Orleans. And I think it might have

1:20:03

just been, I think at one

1:20:05

point their whole starting five was

1:20:08

hurt. And I think B.I. just

1:20:10

came back and it was a

1:20:12

dog fight. Those guys played really

1:20:14

hard. Yeah. Two role guys

1:20:16

who played different positions but have

1:20:18

been great in the East. Boy,

1:20:21

Ty Jerome up to an 81

1:20:23

overall plus nine. And then Dyson

1:20:25

Daniels is plus eight to an

1:20:28

82, which I'm, you know, I'm

1:20:30

curious about, he's, you know, maybe

1:20:32

the best defensive wing in the

1:20:35

NBA this year. It feels like

1:20:37

that should be higher, but we'll

1:20:40

talk to Matt about that. No,

1:20:42

he's a, Dyson's a problem defensively.

1:20:44

And then, you know, just his

1:20:46

activity. his anticipation is second to

1:20:49

none. Anytime you can't frame a

1:20:51

pass against him. You almost have

1:20:53

to look the other direction because

1:20:55

he's got a wing span I

1:20:57

would assume is up there and

1:21:00

plays really hard. I think when

1:21:02

we played them, they got probably

1:21:04

six turnovers and I probably

1:21:06

had a good you put you just

1:21:09

you just beat him here. Yeah, that

1:21:11

was that that was that game. Well,

1:21:13

I was out in Atlanta. I didn't

1:21:16

play that was in the Miami trip.

1:21:18

Yeah, and the game here, I think

1:21:20

I had six turnovers and I think

1:21:23

he had like five steals of them.

1:21:25

So, very disruptive. And then who was

1:21:27

other words? Ty, he can hoop. Pace,

1:21:30

can shoot it. Yeah, he's he's got game.

1:21:32

I will close on this one. We

1:21:34

got a chance to talk to Duncan

1:21:36

about this as well. Your boy, your

1:21:38

rook, Dawn Connect, plus six, 77 overall.

1:21:41

Our hope is that that keeps going

1:21:43

up for sure. Your just thoughts on

1:21:45

him and the game and overall. Yeah,

1:21:47

I think you know, he's going through

1:21:49

the ups and downs of being a

1:21:51

rookie. I think everybody goes through that.

1:21:54

I definitely did. Just his his shot

1:21:56

making ability, what he brings, you know,

1:21:58

you know, you know, team we

1:22:00

need. Like we talked about with

1:22:03

Duncan, you know, you have to

1:22:05

make threes in this league now.

1:22:07

And, you know, he's probably our

1:22:10

best shooter that we have. You

1:22:12

know, even if it's off the

1:22:14

dribble, catch and shoot, whatever it

1:22:17

is, if you can get him

1:22:19

any, you know, daylight, you know,

1:22:21

he has a very high opportunity

1:22:24

to make the shot. So I

1:22:26

can't wait to, you know, continue

1:22:28

to watch his growth. Good. You

1:22:31

know, you're better off as a

1:22:33

team and you want to see

1:22:35

them succeed. I think it's a

1:22:38

good way to close it. NBA

1:22:40

2K, season 4, get it now.

1:22:42

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1:22:45

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