ATS is back with a must-watch episode as Toronto Raptors star guard Fred VanVleet joins the guys. VanVleet opens up about his crazy journey from going undrafted to winning the NBA title to signing a massive contract. Plus, he talks current state of the team.
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Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Hey man, we got a special guest today, Man North of the Border, Toronto Raptor NBA Champ Fleet Man, Welcome to the show. Bro Yes, sir, thanks for having me. Man, glad to be here. Man, appreciate your time. Bro Jack, let's get to it. Let's go right to bleat. Just decide this tide. My homeboy said, been bleated, been bleat? What is French? Is that French? I think it's Dutch, but I really don't know. Yeah that somebody told me it was Dutch. So we're gonna go with that. It's fancy playing the game. And when he scored and we say ben bleat, ben bleat, here we go back. So how the season going so far? Uh? And what does it like have to see I come back? The season going good? I mean we started off decent um, we just lost so not so good right now. But just having Pe back, getting him back in the flow. I think he missed the first teen games. Uh. He's gonna be a big part of what we do obviously, So just getting him back, working him back in and seeing kind of how the chemistry and the rotation is gonna go from there. Um, but I think we got a shot the team. Now half of the best gone. You know, you have Litry gone, you got the Mark gone. And it's a big change. But you been you know, like you said, coming from the bottom and now having that role as being a leader. You know, it took me, I think what eight years to my career time became a captain of a team when I wasn't going to stay with Matt. But having that role now, what what what changes for you? And what's your approach? Your approach different, It's a little different. I think I'm just kind of more mindful, like what I'm doing when I'm not talking, you know what i mean. Like I've always been vocal, since I've been playing, since I've been getting minutes, I was always vocal. But I think now like I'm just noticing, you know, it's more eyes and they're kind of watching your body language and things that you do when you're not speaking, Like all eyes is on you at all times. And it's different because like you said, we don't really got vets, you know what I mean. It's me Pascal. And then I think it's tragic and that's it. So it's like I'm teaching guys how to do layup lines and teaching them to plays and you know what I'm saying. So it's like, it ain't just on the court, it's it's everything and on the court off the court. And that's been probably the biggest challenges, just pulling guys along that don't really have uh point of reference or nothing to compare it to. This is really their first experience in the league. Yeah, Matt. Matt said it all the time. It's it's not the it's not what we came into. We came in league. It was a lot of vets, We had a lot of guidance, We had a lot of guidance. How did you find your game? You know, what made you fall in love with the game and who did you out of Lize Growing up? I was five years old when I first started really playing, and um, my dad was a hooper and then my brother, my older brothers three years older than me, so he got into basketball right before me. Um, so I was watching them and we would just you know, we would go out and playing the driveaway things like that. Um. And then like my first memories was. Um. I think it was the Lakers uh Sixers finals. You know, I was a little boy, and I just felt I just fell in love with Coke and fell in love with the Lakers, and it was It was all she wrote after that. So Um, I really only was ever like a fan of Kobe growing up. Um, And as I got older, I started to to add different things from everybody. So I used to I used to get the Slam magazines and put them on my wall. You know, they had the big cutout, so I have Jay kidd Um, Kobe, Ai, uh d Will, all the like, all the guards, chaunts, all the guards that that. I felt like I could take something from that game. And I just put them on my wall in my bedroom and I watched the game go outside practice, you know what I'm saying, and just try to add as much as I could. And it's just funny because I don't really have like the body type of an NBA player, but like I was adding the footwork and the and the angles and things like that, you know, the whole time. Born in Rockford, about ninety miles out of Chicago, What was it light growing up? You mentioned you had an older brother, What was your childhood, Like my childhood was split, so like my dad was killed when I was five, UM, so then it was just it was just me and my mom and my brother. We grew up kind of like on the white side of town. And then my mom met my stepdad when I was like ten, UM, and then we moved over to the other side of the town. UM. And my stepdad was a cop. So like I had, I had. I had both worlds. Like my biological dad was in the streets, my stepdad was a cop. So it's like I got to experience a lot of different things at an early age, and I've seen a lot, done a lot UM. But you know, the one thing that was always constant was just basketball. I just try to stay out the way. UM. And as I kept kept growing up, like I was safe at home. I always tell people I was safe at home. Home was was safe for me. But when I went outside, you know what I mean, I still had to manage and get it on my own. And so that's kind of like where my stripes as far as just life and being a man um growing up. You know, seeing fourteen year old boys getting killed like that, that was normal at that time. UM. And then as I got older, I started to look back like, damn, that show was sucked up. But at the time, you really don't know no better, you know what I mean. So I just always focused on on the game. And my parents they couldn't afford for us to go to school, so they just told us play basketball, get a scholarship, and go from there. But I always wanted to be in the NBA. You know, as early as I can remember. Talk to a little bit about your stepfather. Uh, you know, kind of his guidance your guys early morning workouts. Uh, and what he kind of steal did you from that kind of standpoint. Yeah, So he was, uh, he was like a military nut, you know what I mean. Like he was he joined military like nineteen, then he went boxing in the military, came back, started being a police officer. Um. And so he was real strict like and still in discipline and respecting morals and values and things like that. So a part of that ended up being, um, you know these basketball work grass, once we start taking basketball seriously, I'll wake us up, take us to the gym. And he didn't really know too much, but he was learning on the fly, like he was getting DVDs and all the things back then. We would watch the DVDs and learn the drills and go to these different camps and try to build just our our our knowledge up. And he really just took the time out for all of us boys. It was four boys in the house and he would just put us through the ringer. We was doing all types of workouts and you know, whether it was like doing just doing push ups to the setups or doing cone drills. We played one on one with waite vests on full court, and I was I was the you know, the little brother with my two older brothers because my younger brother he wasn't really into it like that, but the older two and they just be me up. We'll be fighting, you know, fist fighting. And that's just how I went. And that's that's kind of how like I got my toughness. Talk about your high school days at Auburn High School and Rock, Illinois. You have alburn to a twenty two game win streak, which was outing in the school's first Illinois High School Association findal forces nine to seventy five. How was it in high school? High school was cool? So again, like I come in, you know, I'm like the best talent in the city I come in. I got a great high school coach, old fashioned, uh coach, you know defense first teach you how to play man and man all of that stuff. In my ninth grade year, I thought I was supposed to be playing varsity. Hedn't let me play varsity. Um. Yeah, So like I had to deal with all that, and my older brothers was both on the varsity team. I ended up playing varsity like halfway through the year and just just went from there. But it's a smaller town, so like the you know, the eyes ain't really on it like that. Everybody just go to Chicago UM to kind of, you know, get the talent. So we always had that chip and UM I just always just focused on winning and and we want a ton of games. I was able to take them down state uh my senior year like you said, and um, I was just trying to get in school and also help help all my guys that I was playing with get in school as well. You stay loyal to your au team, the rock your rocker team. You don't want to You could have had an opportunity to go to the biggest team a you team in Chicago, what you child to child to stay lawal. A lot of people don't do that, but me, I was big on laws as well, knowing that I could have won other places. I went to Okaire my senior year. But a lot of people don't understand how how important it is and how the love you've been with people, especially people that you start with, and to give some success and leave them, that's just something that we don't do, you know what I'm saying. So what was your thought process we were staying loyal to your rocker team? Man? You said it, like it's just who I am, you know, as a man. And like I think I grew up really fast, so I was kind of more mature at that age. So like when they came and dropped the big bag, the big Defel bag with all the shoes and gear and all that, like that didn't really move me. Like I wasn't gonna go leave my guys just because y'all have some fresh shoes and uniforms and they're really What it boils down to the most is two things. Number one was we was competing with them, Like when we go to the tournament, this team that I got, we were playing in the same championship game now win to lose whatever, the same scouts they beat there on them sundays watching them championship games. The schools come to see the championship Brackett, and we was always in those games. So I'm like, all right, even if y'all are better than us, y'all ain't that much better than us. So I'm not leaving. And then number two was these are the guys that I'm rubbing shoulders where every day. It's one of my guys, Like I ain't gonna say his name on here, but this is this is the guy who was pulling pistols out for me. Like, how I'm gonna leave him? You know what I'm saying, Like we walking out of school, How how can I leave him when we gotta walk these same hallways and you know, I'm dropping him off, you know, at his house, and he come pulling up to my house. I can't. I ain't gonna be there, look at him in his face if I'm leaving and going down the street to play for just a bigger name. When my goal was always the NBA. My goal wasn't to go to a power five school or a big school like I just was like, where can I go to play and get to the NBA? And it worked out for me. What college was recruiting you any member of stories from college recruitment. Yeah, So I had a lot of like mid majors early on my first couple of years. Um, I remember I went, I had two experiences, So I was getting I was getting those questionnaires that that they I don't know what they do now, but um, when I was in high school, they would sending these, uh, these questionnaires and you would get the letter and the letter would had a school name on it. So my first couple of ones was like Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Illinois. So I'm like, oh, I'm lit Like, I'm thinking this is an offer, so I'll never forget. I go to I go to Illinois for a visit. It's like it's like eight other guys there on a visit with me something looking like man, I thought this was just for me, you know what I mean. It's like eight other kids there, So we're cool. We go, we go to the little cookout and then Wisconsin. We went to Wisconsin and it was like fifteen guys on that visit and I never even talked to I think bo Ryan was a coach there. I don't even think I even talked to him while I was there. I talked to the assistant and then I just remember me and my mom, we was going we were supposed to go to the football game, um, and we just kind of we wasn't feeling the vibe. So we just told, all right, we're gonna go to the bathroom, and me and my mom we just did. We got in the car and we went home like we was like, we're cool, Like we're not We're not rolling like that. So after that, that was like my freshman year of high school. After that, I just started focusing on the schools that was really interested in me. So it boiled down to like Wichita State, Colorado State, and a few others, and then I committed early because I didn't like the recruiting process. So once I committed, and that's when like some other schools came along, Kansas and Virginia things like that, but I was already locked in with what you've been read. It did with the resurgence of Wichita basketball. I actually remember watching your your two thousand, twelve and thirteen seas and I was like, Yeah, who's this little light skinning European cat because I hear your last name and I obviously didn't know you couldn't respect this nig is out here killing. But y'all with thirty one and ooh uh for the first time Indivisional one history, you left them and assist. Like you said, it was never really about the big name. Your goal was to get to the league. So what was your college experience like? Because you put in a lot of work in college. Again, my college experience was great. And it's crazy because it's like it's the same pattern everywhere I went from high school, college and the pro. So when I when I went to Wichita, I was like a top one hunter recruit, you know what I mean. I'm like the biggest recruit they had there. And I get there and the start of point guard was like I was eighteen from Malcolm Armstad, he was twenty three, He had just transferred from Oregon. He was like a fifth year senior, one of them type of guys and man, he used to bust my ass every day, like every day, and that was humbling for me because like I'm not ready yet, not ready yet, But I just kept working. I locked in with him. I learned a lot. Um and Greg Marshall, who was who was a great coach. Um, he taught me a lot about just you know, how to play the game the right way and how to win. And um, you know, I was able to learn that at an early point, you know, eighteen nineteen years old. So by the time I did get my chance that next year where I could run the show, I was sharp. I was already ready to go. And and it was you know, all she wrote after that, which is how I stayed is good at recruiting my sister. My sister was probably the top ten in the country, and she saw which stayed. Then they they recruited me and I almost went there. But one thing about that school, they do great. They do a good job at recruiting. Yeah, it's a it's a hell of an atmosphere and there's no football. Um, it's really nothing else. Like the basketball team is like a ProTeam. They really treated like a pro team in which it's all ten thousand, five hundred people come out, sell out every night, preseason, exhibition, it don't matter. Um. And that's what drew it to me when I went on my visit. I went there and I could just feel the community. You know, they fly chartered like it's really like a big time program. Um people, you just gotta go there to see it, because when you think of Wichita, Kansas, you think of like Tumbleweez and Coyle Boys and stuff like that. Right, it really is not like that. Once you go on your visit there, it's it's decent. Jack, You know, goddamn well, you wasn't going to know, mother, I was going to which state because I was in junior college at the time, So it made it look good. And we had we had a lot of junior college guys too. Yeah, I think a lot of the time, you know, I got a chance to go to u C. I think a lot of the time. To knock on these divisions are that you guys really don't play anybody during the regular season, who whoa, whoa. But then you guys get into the into the tournament and your team particularly made a run to the final four. What was that? What I mean, what was it like getting in the tournament and really starting to play these bigger teams and knocking them off. Well, it's a double edged sort. So it is true, like the talent level is a big gap in a talent level, like, let's not I I'm not gonna sit up here in a live But at the same time, the coaching is better and the attention to detail is better because it is less talent. So we were putting ourselves through the grinder all year with less talented teams. But like we were in every conference game, the other team know every player you're gonna run, they know all your tennessee'es, they know you scott a report like, it's just much more intense. So by the time we got to the tournament, man, we're playing these big power five teams and we we usually undersize. They got these big guys, they can't guard. They soft. You know what I'm saying. The coaching is not the game plan is not what it should be. So we're super locked in. When it's time to go, it's time to go. We're hungry because we've been waiting on this, Like we can't get these teams to schedule us during the regular seas and nobody wants to play us during the regular season, so in the tournament you can't run. So you know, we're just waiting on this all year. And add to the fact that we had a good collection of talent, especially in my four years there. You know, we have a few NBA guys, so um, we just we just relies on the moment and really just went out there like, you know, play like we needed it because we did. Did it ever cross your mind to to to leave early? Or was four years kind of I'm gonna take these four years and see what happens after. No, if like knowing what I know now, I would have been left. But I didn't really understand how it worked. So my sophomore year, I had a decent year, UM, and I remember I think it was me and uh Tyler Ennis and we had like identical stats and he was at Syracuse and I was at Wichita and he ended up getting drafted, I think in the first round. But um, I really wanted to leave after my sophomore year. That was the first time scouts and agents started to come around. But I missed a buzzer beater against Kentucky UM in the tournament, and I was just like, man, I can't let that be the end of my college career, Like that's crazy. So UM, I end up coming back. UM, and then my junior year again I wanted to leave again, but I was I was the man at Wichita, like I was living really good in school. We had a great program, and I just wanted to make it back to the final Force. I end up staying um all four years just because my experience was so um fun and good in college and I didn't really want to leave that to go, uh, you know, to take a chance at the league when I wasn't sure should I feel that I was at U c L. I felt like I took a pay cut because I went to the league and then got cut and went to the it went to the motherfucking D League. I'd rather be at Westwood and this bulls exactly. You said, it's for real. You declapped the draft in sen you went undrafted. I know what that's like. I got I got drafted second to last pick and got cut and meet it. Didn't even get a chance to play. So I know it is that. Like you turned two, you turned down two offers to the D League too for two years. What was your mind frame doing all that? Like? Were you thinking like I still got a lot to prove on Maybe it's not for me. No, I was just trying to figure out an angle to get in the door, Like I saw, so you know I did. I really was just mad at my agent, to be honest, because I did eighteen draft workouts, you know what I'm saying. So it's like I went into eighteen different teams in thirty days. So I was on the road for a whole month just trying to get a crack at it. And then like the day before the draft, he's like, you know, you might not get a drafted, right, And I'm like, what the funk did I just do all that for? So, uh, we had to we had to adjust, and it was just a matter of like finding a good summer league team UM and seeing somewhere rock a showcase and and and get it off at UM. That team ended up being Toronto, and they was up front. They was like, listen, you know you got a chance to make the team. We're gonna bring you the training camp. You're gonna get a shot. And we're like, alright, bet that's it. That's all I need. And then everything just kind of kind of fell fell into my lap after that, you know, unfortunately for him, but fortunate for me. The lone Wright had got hurt in summer league. You tore shoulder up, so he was out like six months. UM. Coach Casey he liked to keep three point guards, so I ended up being a third point guard UM at the time. And then once I got the training camp, it was it was a rap after that because I was too I was too hungry, and at the same time, they needed somebody to push Kyle, and I just ended up being that guy to come in the door first day and just you know, I was. I was at kyle neck and I think he respected it and everybody else respected it. You hear about how hard, how hard Kyle works, and uh, you know what kind of leader he is. What did you learn UM under him? UM as you were under not under him like that, but you like under his kind of tuledge as a young player, because like I said, he's known around the league for you know, the work he puts into, how hard he plays, and I love to hear from day one he was at his neck. Yeah, so like he was just the the ultimate pro in terms of that guy who is gonna do everything that you think you're supposed to do. He gonna do that and something. So like I was always, uh, you know, apolished, come come in early, state late kind of guy. So I just remember, you know, training camp. I get there like two hours before practice. He already done working out with the Norman tech on his legs, so he hadn't been in there three four hours early already. So I'm like, damn, okay, that's what it taken. Now. He wasn't working the harder and camp, you know what I mean. He was a vet, but he would come in super early, get his work done, and then you know he would chill. So. Um, I just learned like everything everything that I know really in the league. Like I learned a lot from Kyle, and not not really about my game, but just y'all know how to go like how to move um, business things, family things, um. You know how to work out, just your your routine, you know how to how to recover. Um. He just he just taught me so a lot and taught me so much. And it was him and him and DeMar so I kind of had like dying and na Yang because the Mars is totally different from Kyle um, and I just got the best of both worlds with both of them. I think what you said there's important though, because I kind of feel like, you know, as you're like a vet on the team. Now, although you learn from some O G s, the game doesn't have that very much anymore. And you said it wasn't someone about your game, it was everything else. And I feel like that's what gets sucked up and missing from some of these young players. They don't get a chance to learn everything else, how to care yourself, how to recover what dudes and don't, how to move. And I feel like, you know, Jack and I brought it up earlier in the interview, I feel like that's kind of what's missing. So it's dope that you've got to learn under two pro pro and two bets. Yeah, it is what's missing. But at the same time, the guys who's making these decisions they don't know. So it's like these front office people they really don't understand that aspect of the locker room um, and they don't really care, like at the end of the day, because they are they're gonna let you trip and stumble and fumble. They're not even gonna say nothing. They're just gonna sit back. They're gonna they're gonna sit back and watch like, al yeah, he's an idiot, and then they're gonna cut you when it's time to cut you or not extend you, you know what I'm saying. So they moved towards with the two way contracts and and they're moving towards giving these young guys opportunity, which is good as well, but there's a huge part of the game that's missing, which is like teaching these young kids how to be men and teaching them how to be mintside the n b A and um, I'm seeing it obviously because we have a really young team. But I'm just happy that I did have that. Like I had a lot of vets when I when I came into the league, when you gotta signed with the Raptors after some of the and uh did you ever think you have to go play in the D League? Yeah, so they told me like that was you know what I mean. So this high was presented, like fifty thousand for the training camps. I'm like, all right, cool, fifty gez, I'll take that. You know, no problems like fifty If you get cut, then you're gonna run the G League team. In my head, I'm like, I'm not even gonna make it that far. I'm gonna make the team. So I didn't I didn't really think that far ahead. But when the opportunity came, I'm like, all right, man, I'm gonna go down here, I'm gonna kill I'm gonna shoot thirty times and then I'm gonna come back. But we had Stacked. Stack was our coach. Stackhouse was our was our coach. So when I went down there, it was like I went back to college, you know what I mean. Stack wasn't He wasn't just letting me rock out, like shoot the ball a hundred times and just get to shoot off like. He was like, no, you're gonna play the right way. And um, me and him had you know, our back and force, and our relationship grew, and he just taught me a lot as far as like you know how how that era y'all era of basketball see the game. And he come from a long line of lineage of great coaches and people that he's played alongside. So I just got to soak up all of that game. But it made me sharp, like the G League made me made me. Uh that's really what made me like go play like I don't give a funk about nothing because I hadn't been down there. And when you're down there, you have to have that mentality like you can't you can't go down there trying to be cute and and and just get through the game because it's you can't win. Like if you go down there, you play the right way, you had ten points, thinking like, man, you only had ten points. If you go down there and you score forty. They being like it was the G League, you know what I'm saying, like that, so it's the way over. So that that kind of made my mind even more sharper. It just made me like, when I get my chance, I'm gonna just go for it. Yeah, I mean I had to experience that. Like I said, I got drafted and went to the it was the D League. Back in that ship was fucking terrible. I mean, there was already that chip of but I'm thinking I'm talking back oh too. So we were busting everywhere, nasty hotels, eating horrible and I'm just like, this is not for me. And that was like the all the fire I needed, Like after that funk that I was on mission, you know what I mean. It ended up, you know, playing fourteen years in the league. But it's sometimes it takes that, you know, I mean, it takes that fire that fuck you either me or you, And you know what I mean. That's that's that's what made me appreciate everything. Like I said, I love you because I could tell you play every game like it's your last because you you had to get it out the mud. You weren't a lottery pick. You weren't. It wasn't sweet for you, you know what I mean. And that's really for all of us on on on this screen right now, is the way we play was because of the way we brought up in this game. You know what I mean. I'm not even talking about childhood, but I'm talking about like it wasn't handed to us at the beginning. So that's why we can surpass some of these number one picks or lottery picks or first round picks because they're not hungry. They don't know what that other side is like exactly now you you said it and I got that. It's crazy because like, um, I never met an NBA player or seen an NBA game until I was THEMN there in my twenties, you know, when I was in college, so like I just had to study everything that I could get interviews, um DVDs. I remember they used to have an NBA Crossover DVD. I used to have that, UM, And I just remember I was a real young kid and I seen a I do an interview and he was talking about, like, you know, at the end of the day, I could live, you know, knowing that I did in my way, And he said that, and then he also said, I go out there and play every game like it's my last. And like I remember, I couldn't have been none but like eight or nine years old, but like that's stuck with me to this day, and I really try to try to play like that. So, UM, I think that that makes a big difference when you're out there, because you're not you're playing it with a pure heart and you're really leaving it all on the line. And UM, it's not that many that do that, you know these days, but the ones that do that, those those are the special ones. They stand out. What was what was your welcome to the NBA moment? I had a few, but the first one was UM preseason, preseason. UM. Again, I was trying to make the team. It was like our second to last preseason game. We're playing the Clippers, uh CP Blake and all them. I was like, like I said, I was the third point guard. So you know, I usually ain't checking into like the second half of the game, and me and Kyle we're not really that that close at this time, so I didn't know he wasn't playing. You know, a guy's don't play all the preseason games. So we're standing in the huddle, um case, drawing up to play, and he write my name on the board just before the tip off, and I'm looking like fun, like, yeah, y'all, I wasn't gonna tell me I was starting. So so I'm I'm taking I'm taking my warm up is stuff all. You know what I'm saying. I'm trying to get ready. So I'm like, all right, bet So now I'm out there. I'm nervous as hill and this Chris Paul. You know what I'm saying, this is this is CP for me. This is like this as good as it gets. So, man, he wasn't even shooting. I think he had like thirteen points at halftime. He was double crossing me, spinning me around. They used to run uh a little high the little high double drag at the top Blake in DJ, and he was rejecting. I was trying, man, I was spinning around. I was so lost, and I just remember being in the locker room at half time. I was just like, yeah, this is this is a different level right here. He wasn't he wasn't even like trying to killed, but he knew that I was a rookie, so he was like he was letting me know, you know what I'm saying that, And it wasn't. It wasn't that many guys that's dummy like that, but CP definitely he got me. So outside of your team, I mean it may be what you just said, but outside of your teammate, any of your teammates who were you and off when you first came in the league. Definitely Um, Definitely, Brian Um, Definitely Katie Um, Definitely Steph Kyrie. Um. Yeah, those those guys. But it's like it was really my first half of my rookie year because I was on the bench. So when I was on the bench and I knew I wasn't playing, I could just I could just enjoy the game, like I ain't you know what I'm saying, I ain't even really in compete mode, Like when I'm on the court, I'm hating on everybody like man mass movement. I was like you know what I'm saying, I'm hating. But when I'm on the bench I'm watching, I'm like, yo, like these dudes they big, bro, Like this is like real giants. That was Portzingis when Portzinger still had his his buzz around him in New York. Um, just like seeing how big guys was and just how actil and just how special they was to touch. Um yeah it was, Uh it was. It was a lot of guys early on. But then once I started playing out, you know, I didn't really look at it like that. Mm hmm nineteen, what was the team? Like headed into that season, we was all kind of like, uh, still trying to figure out, you know, what it was gonna be because up until that point, like all we had heard was obviously we traded themar which was a big deal. You know, this is this is the martest is the realist dude that I've ever met in this world in terms of you know, the basketball world and professional world. Like this is a real dude. He gets it. Um we trade him. So I'm like, damn, like how this this is how this goes? Like this the dude, this is the this guy dedicated his world to this team. And y'all trade him like that, and then the only thing we've seen was, ka, I don't want to come. You don't want to be here. You don't want to be here. So you know me, I'm looking like, what ship we don't want you? Damn bro, you don't want to be here? Like it is what it is, you know what I'm saying. But again, we didn't know. We never spoke him, I never met him. When he came, it was all love. He came and he worked his butt off. He was He's a special, special talent and special individual. And from the day, first day of training camp, we knew we had a chance to win the championship. Like when you know, you just know it's just a filling in the gym. Everybody know it. The trainers know it, you know what, the coaches know it, that the staff know it, and I think everything just aligned to that. And I think we made the trade for mircosol like halfway through, so that just added a little bit more um. But yeah, that was that was one of them things where it's like we just had to make it to the end because we knew we had a chance from the outside looking in. Jack got to play with the young Kauai. I never got to play with him. I got to play against him. What does he like when you actually in practice and in the locker room and that kind of ship because he gives off one persona kind of similar to how Kobe was. And then when I got a chance to really know Kobe, it was night and day of what everyone thought of him. Yeah, no, same the same thing. You got it. Like, like Kauai was super regular. He was super regular. Like now he ain't to do what that's gonna walk in the room and dap everybody, Hell, what's up y'all? What's going on? Like, he ain't doing that. But if you if you go to him and try to bust it up with him, he's gonna have a convo with you. And he's actually he's super funny. He's super regular. He liked to do all the ship that we like to do. He just don't tell nobody about it. He don't play social media and he don't he don't like doing a bunch of interviews. Um. And the one thing that I took from him was that he would come in and he would do his workout. And that's the only time that I saw like the robot thing where like he would I would see him take thirty pull up jumpers going right at the same speed, like like clockwork, clockwork, clockwork. He going the same speed. You know what I'm saying. He's not going fast, He's just going at his page. He's getting to a spot, he pulling up. He going to a spot, he pulling up. He's not missing. So I'll just I used to just sit on the side and just watching work out, just to see like what this process was. He didn't practice a lot, you know what I'm saying. It wasn't a big shoot around guy, practice guy. But when it was trying to play man, he was. He's on a different level like and and the thing that I took from him the most was he put fear at everybody's heart on the other team. So when when we walk in that gym, we knew we had the best player on the floor almost every single night. And it's only probably one or two guys that I've seen felt like they had to, you know, have that edge with him. Um. But other than that, like he put fear in a lot of people's hearts. Who a lot of people think it's big dogs co I put fear in their hearts and I've seen that, you know what I mean. Early So social media was buzzing when when posting the postseason when he was bawling and you had your son, I know, that's what that's the reason we do it was that what what was your feeling doing that? I know that was extra motivation for you. But you know, social media was going crazy around the time. Yeah. So like I was struggling before that in the Philly series. You know, the Philly was a big a team. My minutes got poured down. I wasn't making I was getting like two shots a game. I wasn't making them. So now I'm like over fourteen in the playoffs. Yeah, you out of the rotation. So I struggled that series. We ended up winning this series. Um, my girl and my family was at home because we had I had my daughter in Toronto, but I had my son you know, at the crib, So they was in the States and I was in Toronto. So around that time when he got ready to come, I was able to go home be there for the birth. Um, you know, see my baby girl, see my family, and it just it just put me at ease. So when I went back. It was just time. It was time for me to play good obviously, but I think just mentally it put me at ease. And once once I got hot, it was it was over. And then it was like a perfect moment because up until that point, I don't think really co I was really chusting us like that because we wasn't giving him a real reason too. So once I started making shots his trust group, then he started drawing. He started like driving the pass instead of driving the score and drawing the d defense saying kicking out, and you know I was knocking him down. And that's really when we took off. Before you got to the finals, you played the sixes. What what was going through the mind of Kauai put up that final shot in game seven? Like we all knew he was taking a shot. We knew the ball was going to him, but the job. Did you expect him to force it like he did? Oh yeah yeah yeah yeah we knew, We knew what we knew what it was. Uh we he liked that right baseline, Um getting to that spot. I was more so surprised that they let him get that far, you know what I'm saying, Like I was thinking they was gonna trap him. He was gonna have to try to shoot over a double team. I pass it, but he ended up getting all the way over there. I was like on the bench when he shot at and um, it looked like it was off at the like from my angle when they bounced a couple of times and went then it was just for me. In my head, I'm thinking, like, yes, I get another series to redeem myself. If this ship would have ended here, boy, that would have like my whole my whole trajectory would have ain't you know what I'm saying. As far as like that would have been my playoffs experience, I would have never got the chance to have a great series of Milwaukee have a great finals. Like you know, we might not have be calling me NBA Champ today if if we don't get out of that series. So, um, I was just happy. I think everybody was just happy because that was a tough, tough, tough Philly team. Um and he made that shot and again that's a that's a special dude, I special m hm. So you definitely get to get a chance to find your rhythm. Now you're in the finals against the Dynasty and someone you looked up to coming to lead the Golden State Warriors. What was your mentality at that point, Well, the conversation going into it, because I had guarded stuff a few times before, like in the regular season, and had like some success. And when I say success, like I got him better than most people guard him, I still ain't. I ain't gonna sit up here and I locked I locked stuff up. I ain't gonna say that, but I guarded him better than most people do. Like I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go under when it's when I need to go over. I'm not gonna fall asleep and let him get a while open shot. So like, um, they came to me like you're gonna you're gonna guard stuff. That's gonna be your assignment. Just do the best you can. Like all right, bet, And I watched a ton of film I've seen where guys go wrong. We had a great game plan. Obviously Kevin wasn't out there, so that changes things. Now we're really gonna load up, and then you know when Clay went down, Now we're really gonna load up. And and if you could beat if you could beat us by yourself, you deserve it. Bro. But I don't think that that that team that we had, it wasn't like one person that could have beaten. So, um, I just try to lock in on my assignment. And me being so locked in defensively it made me more aggressive on offense because I was working too hard. So when I got the ball, I'm like it, I gotta get my shirt off because I'm working way too hard on these things. Hey, so you mentioned, uh, you know, k d being out, but then he comes back. I forget what the game is for and he came off, came in, you know, and he was cooking, you know, like he had never been injured. With your guys mindset knowing that game that Katie came back started playing one than obviously he went down a game, But what was your guys approach knowing that? Okay, man, they got they got another weapon back this game. Yeah, but we had to adjust a little bit as far as game plan goes, obviously, but um me personally, I was just like, now we got a special dude. This dude is special to to go from. Not I think he came out, he made like four threes in a row. We knew he wasn't a hundred percent, so we was gonna test him when he switched. We was gonna drive him, like test his leg out things like that, and I think that's actually how he end up getting hurt blows out on Surge and surge you know, attack them. Um. So we were just trying to test him and make sure that, you know, if he was gonna be out there, we're just gonna make him work. Um. But nah, he gave him a boost in that game five, uh that they needed and they end up winning that game obviously. But no, Kevin, Yeah, he's he on a different level for sure. Just yeah, he's a he's an animal. Yeah. So you guys end up taking a series for the two and bring the first championship back to Toronto? What was that feeling? Like? It was crazy? It was like that all the emotions that you can think of, you know what I mean, when you win one and just you go from like your personal journey to you know, your childhood to everything you've been through up to this point to professionally. Um, I had struggled, you know what I mean. I was on social media when I was struggling, So I was getting like all the death threats and you ain't ship and all the comments and all that, and then to be able to turn it around and and to win one, like you know, you just feel like you proved everybody wrong in life. And um for a city like Toronto where we come home to the parade and there's two million people or whatever, it is like it's just it's just like stuff that they make movies about. And just to be in that moment and to be a part of it, not to just be in it, but to be a part of it, to score in the fourth quarter, to make the big shots, to big plays. Like coming from where I come from, that was that was crazy and it's something that I never get And it's like, you know, I'm trying to work so hard so I can get back and do it again because it was such a such a crazy moment. M hm. So you guys are able to close out into the bay, you guys get off to Vegas to enjoy yourself, then head home to the parade. Uh. Any stories that stand out to you that you can share, I know some stories, can't you can share it with us? Yeah? I mean yeah, like when we just just from the parade standpoint, like I just remember, it was it was like a morning parade like a nine. We got on the bus at like eight or nine o'clock and um, you know, we really was only going, like you know, on the regular day, maybe what ten minutes, you know what I mean, from where we started at to where we get to end up being like a four hour trip. You know, they had to stop the bus. People was running on the street. We're drinking, and before you know, we get onto the stage for the thing and it's just only like one o'clock or something like that, and we wasted. Like I'm like, damn, I ain't even know you could like you know what I'm saying, I don't even know you could do that much in that little time. But we're on the bus and it's just like it's funny, man, because that's why I keep like a lot of my close friends and family around from when I was a little boy, because they keep me grounded. So it's like coming from where I come from to be on the bus with it's me, Kyle, Lowry, Drake and Kauai. You know what I'm saying. I got my girl, I got my my girls, my mother in law, I got my brother. Like we on that's that's the bus that we on you know what I'm saying, And it's just like, man, you can't you can't make that stuff up. And you know, just enjoying it, man, because it's it's hard to do. It's real hard to do. Like a championship parade, man, we all, we all had a chance to experience that championship parade. I I vividly remember me still being drunk from the night before after the game, so I don't even remember too much of the parade because I was hung over my body. I still have my uniform onto. It's nothing like it, man. That's that's probably one of the best best moments you know of my life. For sure. You mentioned being on the on the bus of Drake just for a moment. How important is he to not only the team and and and and funking with y'all, but just the city overall. I don't think we've seen a person be such an ambassador for one place like we've seen Drake. And he's got his hands with your team. I've seen him just called out of I called Adam Silver out said he wants a w NBA team, Like what what what is it like being around him? In the energy he brings to you guys, he's just an icon. He's just an icon really like in the world. And I think that he's so much of a nice dude and just a genuine dude that when you're around him, you don't really notice it, you know what I'm saying, Because he really a fan for real, like and not in a bad way, Like he really is a fan of the game. Um, he's a fan of his team. He comes from this city, Like you could see the you know what I mean. This dude got his he got his owl right here like on the on an NBA team, Like he got a core, he got a jersey, like you know what I'm saying, that's that's unheard of. And Um, to come from, you know, the hometown where he comes from, to do this, and to do it with his team and his family and his friends that he that he grew up with, Like it's just inspirational for me. I think it's the blueprint for what a lot of guys should be striving to do. Um. And he goes out into the world and he reps it, and um, he's just a huge ambassador for not only the game, but obviously for this city and for Toronto. And I think I I caught the wave like at a great time in my first six years because I could see the growth, you know, from year to year. Um, they did the Slam magazine with DeMar and Kyle, and then it just it just started building and building from there, and I just kind of been in the middle of it. In the championship was like the peak of that. And then you know at the games, he just he wilding out. He's a he's a fan man. He over He's trash talking, talking crazy to the players, to the revs. He rubbing you know, Nick shoulders during the game, like he just he just having fun. So like he just he just enjoyed him and just like like a playground friend. So the following season, Kauai announces he's not returning, He's gonna join the Clippers. Where you got surprised at all? Did you kind of know what the vibe was with him posted you know he's gonna be in and out. Um, No, we was following it, like y'all. Like again, I wasn't a dude like me and Coole. I wasn't really like super tight, So I wasn't the guy who was gonna like keep chasing him like Hey, what you're doing. What's going on? Bro? I just respected him. We had a mutual respect him and Cole was a little bit closer. Um, So we was following it like everybody else. I knew he was meeting with us, he was meeting with the Clippers. It was a couple of things. I couldn't see him going to the Lakers, but I could see the Clipper thing happening. Um. And I think I was in the club. I think it was my best friends bachelor party or something. I was in the club like the night before for a and see. And we got a text. We got a group text, you know, from Kauaio. Ay, y'all, I'm you know, I'm going home. Was like, alright, bet. Thirty seconds later the tweet star coming out that he was going to the Clippers, Like all right, I mean, you can't do nothing but respective, man, thank you for you know what I mean, the year that you gave here. He was number professional. He carried us a lot, you know what I'm saying. And I learned a lot. Yeah, I learned a lot from him. And you just gotta keep it a hunted at all times. Man. He was. He was great. I enjoyed it. You can't be mad at him for that. I think that if he did would have came back, we would have won a couple of them, like at least a back to back for sure. But the first thing I thought about was all right, best time to get paid now. I don't have to like try to try to like, oh yeah, I gotta play my role for a winning team. No, it's time to take a step up. Like he's leaving. It's time for me to take a step up and grow. So um, it's nothing but love for Kauai always. I want to take us. I want to take a step back though, because, like you said, you spoke to our brother about our brother Damar, and I think he gave so much to that franchise and it just happened to be, you know, he gets traded. You guys win, but before you guys win this championship and he gets traded, what was the energy like and what was your thought process, because you're fairly young in the process, like, what was it like? Because you said he was a consummate pro, someone you looked up to, someone you so game up from, someone that did so much for that franchise. What was it like when he was actually traded, well, I was hurt, you know, I mean personally, like I was hurt, Like I really you know, I'm one of those guys who like I you know, I told you like my high school stories and all, like I put my heart into this for real every day. And the guys that I get close to, like the is gonna be my guys for life, is not just for fake or for work, because we play together, like so that's really my guy, Like that's really my big brother. So and I was with him invaded, so like some of the stories that he told about how I went down, I was with him like for some of that, you know what I'm saying. So when that happened, it was just like damn, Like it's a cold game, you know what I'm saying. And at the same time, I missed this dude because he did a lot for me. He did a lot for me and I learned a lot from and I felt like it really wasn't his funk, you know what I'm saying. Like I'm not I'm not a big trade guy, and maybe I'll get there as you know, I get older in this league, but I'm not really big on trades like that because there's so much going on in the business of basketball that it's easy to just point out one player or you know, a player and say we need to trade. So I wasn't a fan of the trade. Um, obviously it worked out and they looked like genius is after the fact, But no, I was. I was just I was upset, you know what I'm saying. I was hurt behind that because this is this is, this is the guy for us, and he was so much of a real dude that it was just like, damn, how could you? How could you trade him? But you know what I'm saying, we end up winning championship off of it. So when you look back, um, you have a different memory of it. But in that moment, yeah, I was. I was a little funked up behind album. Yeah, yeah, it makes I know you're worth. November twenty twenties, you signed eighty five million dollar deal for four years. You made history by signing the largest contract and undrafted players ever received. Un rich, bitch, you know what I'm saying, Run it up. What was your feeling? What what was your feeling that day? Because I know, like I said, we we as Hooper was we can remember, you know, certain instances of situations in our life, you know, where we get that call and saying we got that money, that we signed our line, our name on the contact, and we when we know we got the money. What was your feeling like the day you got the eighty five millions out of contract? Man? Like I was in heaven like like like it was just an out of body experience. Um, knowing what I put into the game and all the sacrifices that I made and just doing it with integrity and just trying to be a real soldier like all the way through. Like it was a lot of times I could have done a lot of sucking ship that I never did. So it was like to be rewarded for that, Like that's something that that made you feel proud of myself, you know what I'm saying. Like I don't really give myself a lot of paths on the back because I'm so focused on where I'm trying to get to. But I was just I was just like there was an out of body experience, you know what I'm saying. I had all my boys with me. We drove up, we met him in Chicago and we signed the paper. UM, yeah, it was. That was It was a crazy moment and just negotiating process. You know, I learned a lot as far as how free agency goes and how they even get to those numbers and things like that. So, um, I know my worth and I felt like I was worth a lot more. So I also had to I also had to have that you know realization where we see a lot of guys you know, strike out because they're thinking like that ain't the number right. So it's like you know what I'm saying. I had that moment where it was like I can't, I can't say no to this, like we'll we'll worry about the number on the next one. So as I signed it, and you know, that was like the biggest day of my life for for me and my family and just having that generational wealth. You know, I got two children, I got a big family. I take care of a lot of people. So I know what I could do with that money, and I know what that money means for my city, for my family and going forward for generations, Like I know, I know what that's gonna do. And it just it allowed me to be like a real NBA player now because up until that point. I was just I was just grinding, grinding, grind and trying to get a big deal so I could like relax, you know what I'm saying, so I could sleep at night because what I got before it was like it was cool. But you know, this is the first time I felt like I got my due respect and um, you know, my appreciation, and they showed that with the with the deal. So I mean it's almost been a year. I mean we did November now you know it was when you signed it. But I'm agetting. Like I said, being a fan of you when your approach and not really knowing your upbringing in your grind, it made me feel that much better now even knowing what you went through that you got that bread, because like I said, there's there's always the underdogars, and rarely do the underdogars to get to eat the way you ate, you know what I mean. So we just definitely want to give you a shout out and the congratulations man, because you're your journey is more attainable than the Lebron James or Kevin Durant type journey. Like you were a real blue collar grind you got it out the mud type motherfucker, and you can be very inspirational for a lot of people. Man. So again, we wanted to congratulate you on that money, man, because like you said, that's that's like tarm wealth and that's just the first one you got. At least another another two coming up. Yeah, facts, now, that's that's what it is. And it's just like I do this for a lot of people. You know what I'm saying. I don't really speak for everybody or like you know, my story is not for everybody, but the people that it is for like this is you know, it's it's the motivation and it's the inspiration to just keep doing it this way and trying to do it the right way. And just like it is light at the end of the tunnel, because I mean, you guys know how this game is. It's a dirty game, and you could get mixed up and caught up in a lot of the the bullshit, and you know, it was just it was just a blessing. It's just a blessing. Man. I wake up every day. I'm super blessing and humble to be in this position. But again, like you know, I'm very ambitious and I want to I want to do a lot more personally and you know, as far as family and just you know, winning more and doing a whole bunch of more ship. Do you ever reflect back on your draft party now where you were passed over in two different rounds, not really getting the respect or opportunity and now kind of look back like yo, Like like you said, I think sometimes as players in the moment, I think you said earlier, we never really get to appreciate what we accomplish, what we go through because we're so caught up in the moment. But were you able to just kind of take a step back, like, Yo, I know I'm here and I've made it. I got a lot more to do, but I just did some ship. Yeah, it's just like confirmation. Like it's just like um validation, you know what I mean. Because when you that guy that's getting looked over your whole life, you always thinking like, man, they don't know what they're talking about. Man, they they need to look at me. Like you always think that, but you never really know until you prove it. So when I go back and I look at that draft class, in my head, I'm like, how did they not know? Like how did they not see that? You know what I'm saying, I deserve to be one of these sixty guys Like it was sixty guys. Bro Like, it's not sixty guys better than me, you know what I'm saying, And um, it was it was. You know, you just take it with a grain of salt. And if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't change the thing like I would do it all over again because all of those things they may who I am and you know, it's all just a part of the journey. But definitely, for sure I looked back like I knew I was right the whole time, you know what I'm saying, But you feel crazy in the moment because you want that validation from from somebody else. And so I would just tell people just to you know, if that's what you believe, you just gotta believe it intil you know what I mean, til the end. There's nothing else you could do. Mm hmmm. Now we're gonna do a little reflecting, uh for you. But you're the first player in Raptors history to scored thirty and ten in a playoff game. What does that mean to you? I mean, Vince Carter, Damar Kauai, Kyle. None of them ever did that. When you hear that you're the only one, what does that mean to you? Again, I'll be so caught up in my own world, I don't even be paying attention to some of these things. Like I just you know, I'm just trying to win the game, Like I'm trying to win the game by any means necessary. And you know, I'll be able to look at the accomplishments when I'm older and sit back and tell my kids about it, you know what I mean, things like that. But um, the only one that I really was was stuck on was the fifty four because uh, because I knew I watched the Mars. I think he had fifty two, So I watched him have fifty two, and I'm like, damn, I remember watching him like dam I don't want to do that one day, and so I remember that one. But the yeah, I don't know, man, I just I just go out there and try to try to win every game and and play my ass off. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. M And then one more. I mean, obviously you mentioned the franchise scoring mark at fifty four, but you also had a three point thirty nine consecutive games. Again, probably didn't pay too much attention to it, but to to to really have that kind of streak, I mean, all that ship is dope, and like you said, you can you can sit back and look at it a later time, but definitely understand and appreciated the moment as well. Yeah, probably just more so like the work, because like I really do the same thing, like every day, you know what I'm saying, off days, no days, Like I come in, I got my work routine, I come in before practice, I work out, get my treatment, practice whatever, shoot around. So like just the constant work in the hours that I put in in the off season, Like I ain't not running around doing a bunch of wild ship, Like I'm really working on my craft and trying to get better. Um and I think it's one thing that keeps me ahead, especially at my size, is like I just gotta keep sharpening up my tool set and and just keep trying to get better each year because you can, like when you get when you sign that eight five, Like there was a there was a few days where I just sat back like shoof, like I'm good good, Like I can average zero points for the next four years. They can't rip that contract up, bro, like they they got to play on the first and fifteen. But um, you know, there's just something inside of me that just wants to keep getting better. So when I do these accomplishments, it's more so like it makes me feel good because I know I worked on these things, um to get there. M hm. Obviously you're someone that could people could look up to with your journey, as we touched on earlier, but what kind of advice would you give to someone who's been on your path? Just to keep going? You gotta be you gotta be a sick oh man. You gotta be like you gotta have the You gotta be that guy that people talk bad about, like who do he think he is? Why do he think he's so good? Like why does he had that much confidence? You have to be that guy and you can't. You know, I don't I don't advise nobody to be an asshole, but I think that you should definitely be confident and be respectful in the same breath. But you gotta just had his own waiver and feel And you know, for me, I get validated by the work, like I said, because when I step on the court, it's I know, it's not too many guys that worked harder than me. So when I'm on the court with Katie, yeah, i feel like I'm the best player on the court. Now, I might be crazy, but guess what, that's gonna allow me to even compete in the same breath and have some of them same moments. So when I'm when I'm matched up on stuff, yeah, i feel like I'm just as good as him. And that's just that's just my mindset when I'm on the court, and we can argue about it all day after the fact, but for them two and a half hours, when you in between the lines, you've gotta have that type of belief and and that type of dog and you otherwise you don't stand a chance out there. Facts, not at all. Me and Matt, we've consider ourselves as being as real as possible because it's not really a situation that in life, especially as an athlete, that we haven't been through, we haven't touched on, you know what I mean, from making mistakes to all the good things to fatherhood, you know what I mean. And and and balance in life. We both contested that, tell me, how do you balance life and we know we're also being a father, but also you know, trying to perfect the crab every day and get better. It's a it's a process. It's a process. Man. I ain't definitely having figured it out in terms of, you know, making sure that everything straight all the time. Like I stumbled. I had my ups and down just like anybody. But I think I just pride myself on being a real man first and foremost, Like just being a man first before anything, a father first before anything, and then everything else after that. I could figure it out. So I got a great support system. Um, you know, my girls should take care of the house, take care of the kids flawlessly. I got a great family. Um you know what I'm saying. I keep my brothers and my friends and my homies real tight. We got a real tight circle. So I got a great support system. I don't have too much you know, bullshit that I gotta deal with as far as distraction goes. Um, and they understand everybody play their position. But like I've always been a leader so ever since I was a little kid, I've always been a leader. So I kind of got that part of my life like in order. So when stuff do come, our way we can handle it, how we handle it. And you know, I mean, I go out there, when I go to work, I'm at work. I take care of my business. I'm gonna take this ship as far as I can take it by being myself, and you know, we'll we'll live the rest of it however it go. But I really got it zipped up in terms of like just the organization and like I'm able to have these conversations. That's the biggest thing I would say is just being able to be a man allows me to communicate and have real conversations with people that are uncomfortable. You've been known for your crossover. That's something you've been doing since you were young as a As time passed, as your game grew, you just act start adding it to your to your game now. I always had that used to be way more wild. Like I told you, I grew up. I was an AI guy, Kobe Gut the super Big Left the right Um, Me and my brothers we used to watch and One. We had the N one mix tapes. We had the N one mixtape. Will plug the and one mixtape and watch it go in the backyard practice all the moves come back out go back in and watch it, you know, and practice so like I used to be a lot more like street ball to me. But um, as I got older, I started trying to polish it up a little bit more. And you just gotta have you guys, gotta have a lot of tricks in your bag at my size, man, And you know you keep the fundamentals and the footwork with the feet, but um, you know, I just try to just try to keep adding things and having different tools to be able to get that separation. How tall are you? I'm six ft six one with shoes on. Yeah, crafty, crafty man. What if Steve Nash say when you call him crafty, is that another word for just calling me white? Basically? You know, Rico, Rico, Rico, you said all the time, you gotta have some crafty. You gotta have some crafty. You got to you got to. Man. Ship is playing up there with all them trees and them giants. Man, you gotta figure something out. You're gonna be over there with a suit and tie on. But you guys, uh, you guys picked up one of my homeboys, one of my brothers, on your coaching staff this year, Earl Watson. He was my U c l a point guard, great career. Uh, but to me, one of the best basketball minds in the game. Have you got to sit down and kind of develop a relationship with him yet? Yeah? Me and Earl Man, we we communicate every day. I'm chasing him around the gym, like, yo, yo, tell me what's up man? What I need to be doing, Like where I need to get to it. He's telling me different things that I never that I never heard before, you know what I'm saying. Twenty seven years old, I'm still learning, Like, Yo, just get to this angle on the floor. No, when you get here, turned this way and you could score at this spot on the floor. Like just different little simple things that he got. You know, he's got a great wealth and knowledge that that he's giving me the game. And he's not loud, you know what I'm saying. And him we talked, but no, he's been great for me, and I think that he really gonna help me take my game to the next level because I'm a guy that I want to be coached, like I want people to tell me when I'm doing something wrong or tell me where I could be doing something better at From the day he got here, I went straight to him. I said, listen, but I don't know who you coached before, but you can come to me tell me everything that you see, because because I want to learn it all. I think that's dope because he had that the same relationship with Devin Booker. Booker still to this day credits Earl for his development in his mind set. In Earls one of those real sharp minds man. So I hope you enjoy them, because I have a feeling he's gonna get another head coaching job soon. But it definitely suk up the game where you can from him. You know for sure he's sharper Ship. Yeah, um, I mean Ship, you're only six years in, but you're a vat Uh do you have a young player you enjoy watching now? And it's so who is it? And why um in the league? You know how? I like? I like LaMelo man. I like LaMelo man like, and there's not really nothing to do with his game or anything. I just like his swag, Like his swag is crazy, like LaMelo. I love LaMelo And uh, what's the other boy? Uh Anthony Edwards in Minnesota? Like they swag is just so crazy, man, That's what I was speaking about like they don't care about nothing. They do their interviews, they talking how they talk in real life, and they reviews, They carrying it every day and it's like nothing you can do but respect it, you know what I'm saying. And I think that with that talent and you know the way that the game is going, I think it's just gonna keep getting more better and better. Um, But there's a lot of guys I actually you know, obviously, I'm gonna give a shout out to my rook, Scotty Barnes, who who has Yeah, he's been bawling in his first you know, ten of eleven games, and just the spirit and the energy for the game that he has. He's a really good kid and he really loved the game and he's just happy to be here. And I hope that that's something that he never loses because his talent level is crazy. Love it now. Question you mentored, Anthony Edwards? Can you give me and Jack your point of view? And he dunked on your teammate, My goodness, Hey, where's your teammate now? Is he alive? The first thing, the first thing is Nicky did was rubbed his head and rubbed his eyes like, oh, ship go. So so I'm gonna do this as best as I can, because because because you is actually my man. You know, I'm real hard on him, but he my man. So I'm gonna tell you. I've been telling them, Yo, you gotta be early outside the box when you go be the help on the low. Man, you got to dog. You can't keep waiting what you're waiting on. You gotta meet him outside the box because when these motherfucker's jump, they're not coming down, man. And so I have been telling them. So I was on the I was, you know, for the COVID rules. They spread the bench out so I was actually behind the goal so I couldn't see, but I was looking up. I was looking up at the jumbo trying man. They threw that there. Man, that boy jumped over him so hard, and I was just like, damn, I thought he like broke his neck or something. I was looking and I just just like I was just shaking my head, like, man, I told you, I told you gotta be early. You got a right early. So we we you know, we joked with him all the time about it. He was a good sport and he was like shout I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna keep going every time. That's what he said. I respected. I respect that you're yeah, you got your as dunked on, but I respect all right, man, Well here we go. Man, we're winding down to the end of the interview. Let you get on with the rest of your day. We got quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Let us know toughest player you've had a guard to date, Kyrie. Oh, you're call nice, nice one. I'm probably my favorite. Uh, top five guards of all time, point guard, point guards, top five point guards all time. Yeah, my bad. Let's and so I'm gonna say this first before I give you my answer. I'm not going that far back because I'm a young I'm a young guy. Like I'm not going. But I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say Isaiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons, Isaiah Thomas, I'm gonna say. I'm gonna say, uh, I'm gonna say CP three mm hmmm, I'm gonna say steph mm hmmm. I'm gonna say uh damn. I'm gonna say uh oh, y'all killing me with this one. I'm gonna say, uh yeah, yeah too. I would put a on their AI two, I ain't eating the point Guard. Um, I'm gonna put uh. I'm gonna put Chauncey Billups in there, and I'm gonna put uh, I'm gonna probably put I'm gonna probably put Jay Kidd in there. Yeah, sila'na probably put Ja Kid in there. I'm not putting Magic in there, Magic six nine, I love Magic. I'm not putting them on my point Guard list. Um, but he definitely on the greatest all time list, but not not my point guardless. Yes, nice. What album can you listen to and repeat with no skips album? Probably some Rose I'm gonna say, Rick Ross Uh, tough on don m nine about to drop another album soon too. I can't wait coming out risk. So five dinner guests dead are live? Five dinner guests? Yeah, Prince Um, Tupac, Muhammad, Ali, Nice, Um, Malcolm x Uh. That's four right, any one more? Um, Kobe Man, that's the main one. That's man. That's probably one of our best ones right there. I'm gonna I'm gonna bring the weed. We're gonna enjoy that dinner. Yeah, that's gonna be nice. You're gonna learn something. Uh, this is a title I used to hold, but I passed it on to my young fellow. Top three hairlines in the NBA right now. Jason Tatum said, you're in his top three? What's your top? He's definitely top three? Yeah, me Tatum and DJ Augustine. Oh you know what's out throwing there? DJ? I'll played with DJ Augustin. He take his ship serious, ye, Paul George, No, no, no, c DJ, we got the same, Barbara Houston, DJ takes his hair serious, bro. He official official, Paul Hey, Paul George hairline still sitting on his eyebrows though. Yeah, that's all I can't put. I can't put p G in there because it's too low, like he don't gotta get that much work, like he could just keep it. Yeah, anybody could ask that up. All right, last question, man, if you can have one guest on All the Smoke, who would it be before you? And sir you have to help us get your answer on this show. He looks just like you. He's the ambassador of your team. Just go ahead. They called him the boy and calling the boy. Yeah, I'm gonna tell Jake to do it. I'm gonna tell him. I can't guarantee he gonna do, but I'm not. You ain't gotta guarantee it. Yeah, that's all we are. I'm I'm I'm gonna shout out, shout out Nico and shout out Rocks. Hey, they both didn't hit me the last two weeks. I talked to both of them, So I'm using all my poor I'm going through you. I'm going through Rocks and I'm going through Nico. I'm passing. I'm gonna pass the word Alonge Man. Yes, sir, well fred Man. We appreciate your time. Brother, We look up to, we admire you. Were happy for you man. Keep leading the way you keep doing it the right way and the best to luck the rest of the season. Help me, no doubt. Thank you. Appreciate you Man, Appreciate you, bro. Yeah that's a rap. Fred Van Fleet. All the smoke you can cass us a Showtime Basketball YouTube in the I Heart platform Black Effects. We'll see y'all next week. This is All a Smoke, a production of The Black Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime