From Daniel Gibson. How's everybody doing. I'm a former tenure NBA veteran Houston Rockets analyst, and I want to welcome you into NBA rookie life with Brian Holland. When we take a deep dive into the NBA's future, NBA's best, We're gonna talk with some old heads and get an in depth ut into these rookies life. Listen, man, I got a very very special guest here today. He was a All NBA G League Third Team or last year All NBAG League All Rookie Team, National Collegiate Player of the Year. Okay, two time consensus first team All American, Pete Newell big Man Award winner twice, Kareem winner twice, John R. Wooden Award winner, Luke Osan flat out on one of the most decorated collegiate basketball players that we have ever seen play the game. He was the fifty second pick in the twenty twenty one draft. His number is already retired, the Iowa State Hawk at that point now retired already. Okay, y'all know who this is. No none of that. My dog Luca Garza Garza hand pain. What's the playing the back to Garza another rainfall swash us Luca, what's up with your boy? My man? How are we doing? Look, I mean seriously, Luca, Like, I like, I'm running the list and I'm like, this is crazy, this is crazy, and Luca, man, shout out to you. Man, appreciate you coming on. Man, You're my guy from day one. But the biggest thing with you, Luca, I love your story. Why you're only one of the most decorated collegiate basketball players ever. You end up going fifty second pick in the draft and I remember we talked at the Final four when I first met you, and I couldn't believe for this kid that had all his talent on ESPN every day, you know, face of college man, he would you were humble, You asked questions, you like you wanted to learn, and people don't understand that success at other levels doesn't always translate to the NBA and a lot of us are just glad to have been here. But you are one of the most fun individuals to be around. What is that like Before we dive into your rookie day, we got to address that, man, And I think if you can give a message from you specifically, so how hard it is just to make it to the NBA and kind of your journey just in a short nutshell, and then we're going to break into your draft day because we want to hear what that was like. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean for me, the journey to the NBA wasn't always clear. I always wanted to become the best basketball player I could be, But when I was younger, when I was growing up, I wasn't really highly recruited. I went to a small, little private school in DC called Murray. We had five hundred kids K through twelve, five hundred kids, so it was a tiny school, not really in sports school. You know. Obviously the DC area is huge with a bunch of big time programs that are big basketball programs around the nation. So for me, it took a while to kind of get to a point where I could actually CBNBA coming along. And for me, the whole point of what I was doing was just my passion for the game. I love the game of basketball. I wanted to become as good as I could add it, and I always had a bunch of great role models around me, you know, with my father who played basketball. My whole family is pretty much a basketball family. My uncle was a professional basketball player, and my mom. I got three cousins overseas right now, So I always saw it growing up. And you know, the same thing that aligned with all of them was hard work and work ethics. So I just kept that close to me and I kept doing that throughout my whole career. And you know, my junior year is really when I started believing that I could actually make it to the NBA. You know, out of nowhere, I was put into National Player of the Year conversation. So I started thinking, like, what does that look like next? And and uh, you know that that's where my mind kind of first went to actually being able to achieve my lifelong dream and become an NBA player. And you know, when I was drafted, it was a special, special moment, but I knew that was just you know, part of the start of the journey. I started my next journey. Man, I love your humility. It was pretty cool there. But Luca, man, what was draft day for you? Where were you? Where did you go? I remember I was a fifty of picks brother. You you want to rare guys, I got beat, I got you my two picks, man, And I'm gonna hold on to that normally, you know those other guys went way before. But take me through that morning, the process where you chose to go, who you're with, and then kind of like the business of basketball behind the scenes of you know, you're getting numbers of where you could potentially be drafted, and I keep you not Luca, my draft range was from ten to fifty. I know, it's crazy. It was like, you could be the tenth pick, you could be the fifteenth pick or the fiftieth, but you might not go Lord in fifty and I went there. So talk me through that day kind of the expectations and the teams that came into playing in a mix with you. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh. You know, I was back in Washington, DC, where my agency is and where I'm fun. So in the morning, I just gotta and I had to give my mind off. I was nervous, so I just got to work out in try to take up as much time as I could before we kind of got to the draft. I knew it could be a long night, so I wanted to kind of take up my mind as much as I could. I wasn't just sitting there thinking about where I was going to be at and you know, I felt good knowing that I did everything I could in the pre draft process, you know, throughout that did like twenty workouts. I felt like I killed them all, everybody who I felt like they put in front of me. I showed that I was, you know, better than in a lot of ways, and showed what I could do stretch the floors, going to inside and all the other things that I've been working on. It. Wait, twenty workout. So you telling me you worked out for pretty much two thirds at the NBA. You did twenty workouts, dude, Yeah, I worked out for give amount of teams. It all kind of came in all in July, like late June and July. It was just I was going everywhere every couple of days. You know, you're literally taking commercial flights, you know, somewhere to somewhere to somewhere. I'm going across country, you know, back to backs. You know, I got a to the NBA lifestyle, you know, going back to back. I'd go to a Sacramento, then I'd be in Detroit, and then Detroit to New Orleans. I was pretty much everywhere, and I had a couple of teams that I knew that stuck out to me. Detroit was one of them. There were a few others, and you know, my range was anywhere in the thirties to lay second round. And you know, obviously I felt like I did enough to be picked in the thirties or earlier than I was. But for me, I just wanted to land somewhere, and you know, it was definitely stressful. I feel like during draft night you kind of heard my agent getting a lot of calls. In the beginning, he stops picking up his phone as often, so I'm kind of just sitting there, like what's going on. But in that moment, at least, you know, I can look and know that, you know, I did everything I could. You know, all these workouts, I know that I was playing some of my best basketball in front of these people and performing the way that I knew I could. And towards the end, you know, it was a couple of teams. I think Philly was another team. They had a fifty third pick, and you know, teams were asking me to drafting stats. I think a couple of teams were calling, like the Lakers, saying they'd give me a two way after the draft, I chose to go on drafted because at that point a lot of people don't know when you're a late second round drafted kind of choice to make you know, the teams there can't specifically offer you a contract. They can maybe say they'll give you a two way. They can maybe say, you know, they can draft the stash and put you in Europe for a year and you can come back, or you know, you can choose to not be drafted and get a two way or something else from a different team. For me, you know, I think I had too much pride for the latter option. You know, I felt like I worked my entire life and at that moment, I was like, if I don't end up, you know, being successful in the NBA, I still I want to know that I was drafted. I want to know that my name was called. That was important to me. It was important to my family and all the work that I had put in. And so, you know, Detroit, like I said, was one of the teams I thought I had a good chance of going, and they ended up drafting me. I was definitely excited, but excited for a moment and then you know, realizing, you know, I didn't really have a contract, I didn't know what the next steps were. They just kind of said, will if you play well in Summer League, will give you a chance. So that that was pretty much and I love that, you know, Troy Weaver was honest, you said, you know, if you play well in summ League, will make room for you. That's a you know, an exact quote. And so I kept that in my mind, and so it was definitely a celebration for about five minutes, an immediate focus to the next step and knowing what I had to do. So I went into Summer League with you know, a chip on my shoulder I wanted, with determination I knew, and I was comfortable. You know the story of my whole career. You know, I was the number one hundred recruit going into college and I ended up leaving the best player. So for me, it's always been something that's similar in my journey, somewhere where I'm kind of under rated, under the radar. I have to prove myself to get what I want. And so obviously I ended up getting two way contract about four or five days into Summer League after playing pretty well. I ended up being the second team All Summer League that year, and then a week before training came. My contract was converted to a two year deal, which was, you know, what I wanted from the beginning. So it took a little longer to get where I wanted, but I was able to get there. And I'm very thankful for Detroit and the opportunity they gave me to kind of prove myself and get what I want. And you know, people don't understand like you just say it. Sometimes it's better to go undrafted. And I love like that that fighter, that that instinct came and it was like, nah, man draft me. How hard was it? I got to touch on this again to not fight those feelings are like, man, I just killed all these dudes in college. Man, Like I just worked the dudes open. And then keep the perspective, the crazy balance you have to have. It's I'm the best dude in this on the planet. And then like you gotta be humble to say, you know, I got work to put in, Like how did you fight those emotions? You know, my agent told me to keep it small. He used to train me and coach me when I was younger, so he's someone who I trust very much. So he was very honest with me. He was just keep your family and friends around you. So it was just my mom, dad, my sister, my girlfriend. So that was pretty much it. So I kept a small, just family, so more comfortable in that setting. You know, I feel like some people make the mistake for bringing too many people and then they're waiting to get drafted and all these people are waiting and feel that pressure. For me, it was it wasn't much pressure because you know, it was just my family, was who I'm around every day, was who I go to the gym with. It's all of that stuff. So it was really easy for me in that moment. But yeah, you know, I mean for me leaving college, and you know, the first thing I'm kind of hearing from my agent is like I got to completely change my body, and for me, it made sense, and I did it. I lost thirty pounds from me. You know, I was two seventy two seventy five in college and at the combine I waited in at two forty three. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I'm gitted to making a change and I knew that would help me, especially when NBA teams. Knowing that first of all, he can make a change like that, he can like humble enough and you know, dedicated enough to understand that, you know, he has to shift his game, he has to change to be successful at this level. And you know, I think I got a little bit too low. I think two forty three was a little bit too of me. Now now I'm sitting around two fifty and I feel better than I've ever felt. So it's been a long journey to get to this point. But you know, it was all worth it. Talk to me about you know, because a lot of people don't know. It goes in face. You get trafted, you come into workouts and you've got Summer League, and then like right before the first day of training camp, some of these vets pouring. You know, what was it like actually seeing the real team, the real deal? Like, you know, did you have that you know so most famous that welcome to the league moment where or dude bust you up in practice or in the game. You're like, man, I didn't know he could do that. Man, that's a surprise to me. Like, dude, I gotta get it together. Yeah, I know, there's there's a few moments that I could speak of, but no, it's completely different. You show up to summer league. You're still kind of with the summer league rosters. So it's all the young guys from the team that you're going to plus some other guys who are just trying to get some showcase to everybody. So it's still some guys that you've seen in college and different things like that. So it's still upsetting. You're pretty much comfortable, and you know it's no one crazy. It's no Crazy Vets here. There's no Lebron James on the court. You know, it's summer league. It's a little bit different. You know, you're facing the top talent from the draft, obviously some other young guys, but it's a lot different. So when you show up for those first few workouts when training came, starts to hold different thing. That's when you got the whole squad there. You know, Kelly Olinok was pretty much my fat so he was a there that first of all, I wanted to learn from because he was just a guy that I saw a lot of similarities in my game with you how skilled he is and how well he can shoot the ball in space the floor. So just being around him and you know, it was fun for me to go out those guys and stuff like that. But my welcome to the NBA moment happened three games into the season. We were playing that as Philadelphia, and I wasn't in the rotation, so I was just kind of sitting there, not expecting to play in the first half. You know, maybe if you know, something happens, I can get going in there. But I'm counting the fouls. You know, I think if you're like a third big of all the fouls on everybody, you know, oh, I can't. I think Isaiah Toward got three, Okay, if Kelly gets three, I got a chance to. So it happened. You know, Kelly, I think I got a third foul, and you know, I have my name called, And so I went in there, and uh, you know, I'm guarding Joel Embiid, and so as soon as I walked on the court, you know, he looks at me. In the first play, he looks at this point guards like like running this post. And for the next five minutes he you know, pretty much it was isolation. Every time down on the block. I think, you know, I think I had like three thousand on him in five minutes. But you know, it was a little nervous obviously, and he scored a couple of times, and he started, you know, talking a little bit, so go can't get the second third time the arm for Joe. So then I went down and I hit the three, and I started talking back at sixers up seven and Garza with his second triple of this first time nine one sixers run and the whole back in front, Garza putting up the three all square at thirty nine. Yeah, getting like an office a rebound dunk, and he screamed and then he got a technical. So that was, you know, probably my welcome to the NBA moment. I hit two threes in that five minutes, but I think he you know, I think it was six points from me to like ten points from him four from the line. You know, he had a couple of layups too, so you know it was you know after, you know, when I'm sitting at halftime, I'm just like, did that just happen? Like I'm just going back and forth with one of the greatest big man to ever play the game, and uh, obviously one of the best bags in the game right now. So that was definitely my welcome to the NBA moment. Just knowing that I'm here now this is you know I've gotten to this point. Well you can feel a little better. I think he's still welcoming guys to the NBA for a long time. That'sn't bad man, right there. Um, Luca Man, we got to address the elephant in the room. This podcast probably gonna come out a little later, but you are selected as a captain in Utah. You are with the G League, you know, doing your thing there. Talk to me about this, man. You're taking full advantage of this G League experience. You're in Minnesota now, you are doing everything you can. So let me know what's going on in the game tonight. How do you plan on picking? How's this set up? You're one of the captain's here, man, break it down, and especially for those of us listeners who're gonna check out the game later but don't know that the ins and the ounce and you know, give us some of that inside of info. Man, let us know what we can look forward to, you know, because we're gonna see this a little later. And that's some Luca sauce tonight. Man. That that other dude, the real Luca Man. Absolutely well, you know, so to set it all up. Me and Scoot Henderson are the team captains, so he's captured of his own team. And then I was the number one vote getter in the G League for this All Star game, so I get the number one pick and I'm also a captain. So for me, it was pretty easy choice. I had a couple of guys that I knew. I was familiar with my point guard from last year and Detroit saban Lee was my first draft pick. You know, that's one of my best friends and obviously one of the best players in the G League and now, you know, being a rotation guy for the Phoenix Suns. So it's very valuable when you see someone on the list that you know, and especially as a point guard, you know it's a big man. Yeah, that's my guy, Peter Rock. It was a pretty easy choice to me. I you know, I picked a couple other guys. School has a great team as well, so he's gonna be familiar with those Guys's gonna be comfortable with those guys. But for me, you know, I'm taking my team. We got more talent than he does. You know, we got a bunch of guys who who are dominating the G League. Right now on their own right and everybody's doing their things, So it's gonna be fun and especially led by me and Statment, we're gonna be able to run the show and garybody involved. Now, speaking of All Star, I want to ask you this, man, do you have a favorite All Star moment? We think of Michael Jordan in that fade away over Sean Mary in one of his last games, dunk contests, Vince Carter doing a three sixty win bill he turned it out, Kobe Bryant throwing it off the backboard, dunking at himself, Steph Curry and the three point contest. Do you have any moments that like you sit back and like, man, that's my favorite moment right there? Yeah, I got two, I can say I think one when I was a kid. I actually got to go to one in Los Angeles. I think it was twenty eleven, so I was able to go for the dunk contest to three point contests and I was sitting the way up in the nose. Please. I mean half the time I was turning around looking at Kareem's retired jersey because I thought that was how old were you? How old were you at the time? I think guy twenty eleven, so I was probably twelve or twelve year old. Look at Garza, huh, I'm looking for I'm seeing all these jerseys up here because I'm at the top those Staple centers and all the retired jersey, all the banners and stuff like that. So that was special. But that was when Blake Griffin jumped over the car? What are they bringing out that card? You gotta be a car? Do you believe you can do this? Like? Do you believe you can do this? Believe? That was crazy? Just like you know, especially with the dunk contest, you have to create that dunk that gets everybody involved. And seeing somebody jump over a car in a dunk conscious is not something you're a customed seeing. So you know, that was pretty special. Obviously, that's one of the dunks gonna be remember forever and people are forget. Javaille McGee had a crazy dunk contest that year. He arguably could have won it with if it wasn't for the car, he probably would have been the favorite to win it. Um, So that was special. I think the other one, Um, you know, obviously I wasn't a timberwolf last year for watching Karl Anthony Towns when the three point contest was he as a center, as a guy who shoots threes, as someone who thinks I can compete with all the guards when it comes to shooting contests. I'm always trying to get in with those shooting contests with all the you know, the guys who are three point specialists and stuff like that. So, you know, that was special. I think he's the first center to ever win it. I think he had the highest odds. He was, like, you know, ever to come and win that contest. So that was big, not only for centers but just for the game. It just shows how much has changed over time for somebody like that to set up and set the record. Man, that's good stuff right there. Man. I was excited when kay Love wanted you know, former UCLA got k Love, and shoot, you're a little bigger than k Love, But I see a lot of similarities in his game and yours. And I remember one time, you know, Kevin was telling me, he said, hey, dude, you know you got all the hops, but you know eighty to ninety percent of these rebounds are caught below the rim, right, So that's how I'm getting these double doubles and another double double monster. All right, well, looka we like to do something fun here, man, and we're gonna step into the NBA rookie film role. And let's see if we can grab a clip from your rookie year and have you break it down. Give us the ins and outs of what you see in this clip. Stanley gives it up. Garza working against jack Landale school. Well, the first thing is going through my mind is, you know, I'm playing forty minutes this game. This is a COVID period. You know, I'm finally getting out that one. Go out and show what I gotta do. So I got jack Landale guarding me. I cashed the ball in kind of the mid coast area, and I make a move to the middle. You know, like you said, I'm a forward guy. I gotta be able to create an ankle to get a shot off. So I went back with a shimmy back to the baseline. He jumped for it, and you I went back to my babyhood. That's probably one of the moves I like the most. It's my favorite move, one of the most comfortable with. And you know, it's it's easy money. When I get to that left shoulder. See when I would do the move, they never went for the fake, so I just end up jumping over the guys. But you get guys to sell out on these fakes. What are you thinking on the fake? I know some people teach you know, head shoulders, what is your mindset? And you know, what are you looking for? Because he's convinced right now you're going back to the baseline. Yeah, it's a lot of things, you know, Like you said, it's head shoulder, feet, but it's also the ball. You know, you got to do all. He has to be able to see it, has to be able to feel like you're going that way, and you got to set it up, you know, And that's the biggest thing. So you know, in a game, I'm always trying to find a way to set my guy up to get back to my left shoulder. You know a lot of guys you see that with whoever shot they're most comfortable with. You know, you can't just go right to it every time. They're going to be able to guess what you're doing. So you know, maybe you go left one time in the possession before to set them up because you know the next time you're gonna fake it like you're going that way. So you got to be able to play that mind game to be able to get that shout out, especially for a guy like me who doesn't have much lift off the floor. And I really do have to be creative with how I get these shots off. Luca, Man, I could have used you, bro, if we could have met like halfway, you know, to give you some bounce, give me some footwork. I could have got ten more years out this deal. That would have been nice for me. I promise see that. No, Luca, well, fun stuff, man, appreciate you coming, man. I'm so humble for your time. Man. But before we get you out of here, you know, Luca, obviously we can support you do your thing in the All Star Games at night. All right, go ahead and get busy. Give us one of them shitty specials, a couple of threes. You know. I don't know, Luca, you have anything else in store, you know, big fella. I know you got some sauce. I didn't see it, a little bit of it. I got some old cool sauce. I pulled it out for the first time a couple of games to go against the Jazz. But I've were working on the skyhook or working on the kareem shot. And I shot one in my career high performance against the Jazz and my whole family and my grandpa, my dad, everybody was calling me after the game excited, and that's something I've been working on. And then I think it's one of the most unguardable shots. So hold on, man, Luca talked me through this. You're not gonna just gloss past this. You shot a skyhooking the game in two and twenty three. Yeah, like there, tell me what you did in this moment. Who was it against? Man? It was against Walker Kess of Utah Jasara. They'll take time. We smashed up a couple of times this year, and I attempted it earlier than the year and I didn't get enough space on it. He actually blocked it, and you know, it's tough to block a sky hook, and so As just shows you how how great of a player he is. And in this moment, you know, I think it was off a pick and Pop actually hit four or threes that game, so he was closing up a little bit tirer to me, and you know I was able to drive by him, and you know, again I set it up like I was going left and he kind of went down a little bit too deep and I was able to create the space and turn back to the middle and you know, sky hook it up. And so it felt really good in a moment, and uh, you know we got there was a foul like a possession later and I told him that I had to get him back for blocking the first one. So it was a special, special moment for me, special shot for me, and something I'm trying to add to my repertoire to be a consistent shot. Well, I'm looking at the clip right now. The footwork is stupendous. Brother, My goodness. You went from the baiting hook given goal. You're showing go off the DHL to the lefty back to the counter skyhook. That's different, man, that's just dirty. Manu, We'll shoot look at listen um. Where can we find you on social media? Where can we support you? Do you have any cause there's one thing on NBA Rookie Life we give back your family here, man. Where can we follow you? Where can we support you? Got any causes that we can get behind? And you know you can bring awareness too, absolutely so. On Twitter, it's El Garza Underscore fifty five on Instagram, It's Luca g Underscore fifty five. I'd say stay tuned on all my social media. I got a couple of things coming out soon, so I'd say just go to there and you'll figure it out from there. We know, once I'm set to announce some of the things I've been doing, well, I'm gonna drop. I'm gonna, you know, give it a little bit of our relationship too, man, NBA broadcaster. You you were in there doing your thing, we got to talk, so, you know, after you didn't run all the years off this career. In the next twenty years, we'll you know, maybe some broadcasts and maybe some broadcasting, but we'll stay tuned. That's that's the goal. That's the goal. I think I'm working on doing some stuff soon, a podcast or something like that to kind of stay in that area before I actually fully go over to the the broadcast. So definitely stay tuned to that. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Okay, we'll shoot Luca. I appreciate your brother. Get back to the festivities, go enjoy All Star Week, and my brother I could not be more happy. You know, I'll be seeing you soon. I'll be tapping in man, and keep up the good work man for real, Keep it up, brother,

From Daniel Gibson. How's everybody doing. I'm a former tenure NBA veteran Houston Rockets analyst, and I want to welcome you into NBA rookie life with Brian Holland. When we take a deep dive into the NBA's future, NBA's best, We're gonna talk with some old heads and get an in depth ut into these rookies life. Listen, man, I got a very very special guest here today. He was a All NBA G League Third Team or last year All NBAG League All Rookie Team, National Collegiate Player of the Year. Okay, two time consensus first team All American, Pete Newell big Man Award winner twice, Kareem winner twice, John R. Wooden Award winner, Luke Osan flat out on one of the most decorated collegiate basketball players that we have ever seen play the game. He was the fifty second pick in the twenty twenty one draft. His number is already retired, the Iowa State Hawk at that point now retired already. Okay, y'all know who this is. No none of that. My dog Luca Garza Garza hand pain. What's the playing the back to Garza another rainfall swash us Luca, what's up with your boy? My man? How are we doing? Look, I mean seriously, Luca, Like, I like, I'm running the list and I'm like, this is crazy, this is crazy, and Luca, man, shout out to you. Man, appreciate you coming on. Man, You're my guy from day one. But the biggest thing with you, Luca, I love your story. Why you're only one of the most decorated collegiate basketball players ever. You end up going fifty second pick in the draft and I remember we talked at the Final four when I first met you, and I couldn't believe for this kid that had all his talent on ESPN every day, you know, face of college man, he would you were humble, You asked questions, you like you wanted to learn, and people don't understand that success at other levels doesn't always translate to the NBA and a lot of us are just glad to have been here. But you are one of the most fun individuals to be around. What is that like Before we dive into your rookie day, we got to address that, man, And I think if you can give a message from you specifically, so how hard it is just to make it to the NBA and kind of your journey just in a short nutshell, and then we're going to break into your draft day because we want to hear what that was like. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean for me, the journey to the NBA wasn't always clear. I always wanted to become the best basketball player I could be, But when I was younger, when I was growing up, I wasn't really highly recruited. I went to a small, little private school in DC called Murray. We had five hundred kids K through twelve, five hundred kids, so it was a tiny school, not really in sports school. You know. Obviously the DC area is huge with a bunch of big time programs that are big basketball programs around the nation. So for me, it took a while to kind of get to a point where I could actually CBNBA coming along. And for me, the whole point of what I was doing was just my passion for the game. I love the game of basketball. I wanted to become as good as I could add it, and I always had a bunch of great role models around me, you know, with my father who played basketball. My whole family is pretty much a basketball family. My uncle was a professional basketball player, and my mom. I got three cousins overseas right now, So I always saw it growing up. And you know, the same thing that aligned with all of them was hard work and work ethics. So I just kept that close to me and I kept doing that throughout my whole career. And you know, my junior year is really when I started believing that I could actually make it to the NBA. You know, out of nowhere, I was put into National Player of the Year conversation. So I started thinking, like, what does that look like next? And and uh, you know that that's where my mind kind of first went to actually being able to achieve my lifelong dream and become an NBA player. And you know, when I was drafted, it was a special, special moment, but I knew that was just you know, part of the start of the journey. I started my next journey. Man, I love your humility. It was pretty cool there. But Luca, man, what was draft day for you? Where were you? Where did you go? I remember I was a fifty of picks brother. You you want to rare guys, I got beat, I got you my two picks, man, And I'm gonna hold on to that normally, you know those other guys went way before. But take me through that morning, the process where you chose to go, who you're with, and then kind of like the business of basketball behind the scenes of you know, you're getting numbers of where you could potentially be drafted, and I keep you not Luca, my draft range was from ten to fifty. I know, it's crazy. It was like, you could be the tenth pick, you could be the fifteenth pick or the fiftieth, but you might not go Lord in fifty and I went there. So talk me through that day kind of the expectations and the teams that came into playing in a mix with you. Yeah. Absolutely. Uh. You know, I was back in Washington, DC, where my agency is and where I'm fun. So in the morning, I just gotta and I had to give my mind off. I was nervous, so I just got to work out in try to take up as much time as I could before we kind of got to the draft. I knew it could be a long night, so I wanted to kind of take up my mind as much as I could. I wasn't just sitting there thinking about where I was going to be at and you know, I felt good knowing that I did everything I could in the pre draft process, you know, throughout that did like twenty workouts. I felt like I killed them all, everybody who I felt like they put in front of me. I showed that I was, you know, better than in a lot of ways, and showed what I could do stretch the floors, going to inside and all the other things that I've been working on. It. Wait, twenty workout. So you telling me you worked out for pretty much two thirds at the NBA. You did twenty workouts, dude, Yeah, I worked out for give amount of teams. It all kind of came in all in July, like late June and July. It was just I was going everywhere every couple of days. You know, you're literally taking commercial flights, you know, somewhere to somewhere to somewhere. I'm going across country, you know, back to backs. You know, I got a to the NBA lifestyle, you know, going back to back. I'd go to a Sacramento, then I'd be in Detroit, and then Detroit to New Orleans. I was pretty much everywhere, and I had a couple of teams that I knew that stuck out to me. Detroit was one of them. There were a few others, and you know, my range was anywhere in the thirties to lay second round. And you know, obviously I felt like I did enough to be picked in the thirties or earlier than I was. But for me, I just wanted to land somewhere, and you know, it was definitely stressful. I feel like during draft night you kind of heard my agent getting a lot of calls. In the beginning, he stops picking up his phone as often, so I'm kind of just sitting there, like what's going on. But in that moment, at least, you know, I can look and know that, you know, I did everything I could. You know, all these workouts, I know that I was playing some of my best basketball in front of these people and performing the way that I knew I could. And towards the end, you know, it was a couple of teams. I think Philly was another team. They had a fifty third pick, and you know, teams were asking me to drafting stats. I think a couple of teams were calling, like the Lakers, saying they'd give me a two way after the draft, I chose to go on drafted because at that point a lot of people don't know when you're a late second round drafted kind of choice to make you know, the teams there can't specifically offer you a contract. They can maybe say they'll give you a two way. They can maybe say, you know, they can draft the stash and put you in Europe for a year and you can come back, or you know, you can choose to not be drafted and get a two way or something else from a different team. For me, you know, I think I had too much pride for the latter option. You know, I felt like I worked my entire life and at that moment, I was like, if I don't end up, you know, being successful in the NBA, I still I want to know that I was drafted. I want to know that my name was called. That was important to me. It was important to my family and all the work that I had put in. And so, you know, Detroit, like I said, was one of the teams I thought I had a good chance of going, and they ended up drafting me. I was definitely excited, but excited for a moment and then you know, realizing, you know, I didn't really have a contract, I didn't know what the next steps were. They just kind of said, will if you play well in Summer League, will give you a chance. So that that was pretty much and I love that, you know, Troy Weaver was honest, you said, you know, if you play well in summ League, will make room for you. That's a you know, an exact quote. And so I kept that in my mind, and so it was definitely a celebration for about five minutes, an immediate focus to the next step and knowing what I had to do. So I went into Summer League with you know, a chip on my shoulder I wanted, with determination I knew, and I was comfortable. You know the story of my whole career. You know, I was the number one hundred recruit going into college and I ended up leaving the best player. So for me, it's always been something that's similar in my journey, somewhere where I'm kind of under rated, under the radar. I have to prove myself to get what I want. And so obviously I ended up getting two way contract about four or five days into Summer League after playing pretty well. I ended up being the second team All Summer League that year, and then a week before training came. My contract was converted to a two year deal, which was, you know, what I wanted from the beginning. So it took a little longer to get where I wanted, but I was able to get there. And I'm very thankful for Detroit and the opportunity they gave me to kind of prove myself and get what I want. And you know, people don't understand like you just say it. Sometimes it's better to go undrafted. And I love like that that fighter, that that instinct came and it was like, nah, man draft me. How hard was it? I got to touch on this again to not fight those feelings are like, man, I just killed all these dudes in college. Man, Like I just worked the dudes open. And then keep the perspective, the crazy balance you have to have. It's I'm the best dude in this on the planet. And then like you gotta be humble to say, you know, I got work to put in, Like how did you fight those emotions? You know, my agent told me to keep it small. He used to train me and coach me when I was younger, so he's someone who I trust very much. So he was very honest with me. He was just keep your family and friends around you. So it was just my mom, dad, my sister, my girlfriend. So that was pretty much it. So I kept a small, just family, so more comfortable in that setting. You know, I feel like some people make the mistake for bringing too many people and then they're waiting to get drafted and all these people are waiting and feel that pressure. For me, it was it wasn't much pressure because you know, it was just my family, was who I'm around every day, was who I go to the gym with. It's all of that stuff. So it was really easy for me in that moment. But yeah, you know, I mean for me leaving college, and you know, the first thing I'm kind of hearing from my agent is like I got to completely change my body, and for me, it made sense, and I did it. I lost thirty pounds from me. You know, I was two seventy two seventy five in college and at the combine I waited in at two forty three. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so I'm gitted to making a change and I knew that would help me, especially when NBA teams. Knowing that first of all, he can make a change like that, he can like humble enough and you know, dedicated enough to understand that, you know, he has to shift his game, he has to change to be successful at this level. And you know, I think I got a little bit too low. I think two forty three was a little bit too of me. Now now I'm sitting around two fifty and I feel better than I've ever felt. So it's been a long journey to get to this point. But you know, it was all worth it. Talk to me about you know, because a lot of people don't know. It goes in face. You get trafted, you come into workouts and you've got Summer League, and then like right before the first day of training camp, some of these vets pouring. You know, what was it like actually seeing the real team, the real deal? Like, you know, did you have that you know so most famous that welcome to the league moment where or dude bust you up in practice or in the game. You're like, man, I didn't know he could do that. Man, that's a surprise to me. Like, dude, I gotta get it together. Yeah, I know, there's there's a few moments that I could speak of, but no, it's completely different. You show up to summer league. You're still kind of with the summer league rosters. So it's all the young guys from the team that you're going to plus some other guys who are just trying to get some showcase to everybody. So it's still some guys that you've seen in college and different things like that. So it's still upsetting. You're pretty much comfortable, and you know it's no one crazy. It's no Crazy Vets here. There's no Lebron James on the court. You know, it's summer league. It's a little bit different. You know, you're facing the top talent from the draft, obviously some other young guys, but it's a lot different. So when you show up for those first few workouts when training came, starts to hold different thing. That's when you got the whole squad there. You know, Kelly Olinok was pretty much my fat so he was a there that first of all, I wanted to learn from because he was just a guy that I saw a lot of similarities in my game with you how skilled he is and how well he can shoot the ball in space the floor. So just being around him and you know, it was fun for me to go out those guys and stuff like that. But my welcome to the NBA moment happened three games into the season. We were playing that as Philadelphia, and I wasn't in the rotation, so I was just kind of sitting there, not expecting to play in the first half. You know, maybe if you know, something happens, I can get going in there. But I'm counting the fouls. You know, I think if you're like a third big of all the fouls on everybody, you know, oh, I can't. I think Isaiah Toward got three, Okay, if Kelly gets three, I got a chance to. So it happened. You know, Kelly, I think I got a third foul, and you know, I have my name called, And so I went in there, and uh, you know, I'm guarding Joel Embiid, and so as soon as I walked on the court, you know, he looks at me. In the first play, he looks at this point guards like like running this post. And for the next five minutes he you know, pretty much it was isolation. Every time down on the block. I think, you know, I think I had like three thousand on him in five minutes. But you know, it was a little nervous obviously, and he scored a couple of times, and he started, you know, talking a little bit, so go can't get the second third time the arm for Joe. So then I went down and I hit the three, and I started talking back at sixers up seven and Garza with his second triple of this first time nine one sixers run and the whole back in front, Garza putting up the three all square at thirty nine. Yeah, getting like an office a rebound dunk, and he screamed and then he got a technical. So that was, you know, probably my welcome to the NBA moment. I hit two threes in that five minutes, but I think he you know, I think it was six points from me to like ten points from him four from the line. You know, he had a couple of layups too, so you know it was you know after, you know, when I'm sitting at halftime, I'm just like, did that just happen? Like I'm just going back and forth with one of the greatest big man to ever play the game, and uh, obviously one of the best bags in the game right now. So that was definitely my welcome to the NBA moment. Just knowing that I'm here now this is you know I've gotten to this point. Well you can feel a little better. I think he's still welcoming guys to the NBA for a long time. That'sn't bad man, right there. Um, Luca Man, we got to address the elephant in the room. This podcast probably gonna come out a little later, but you are selected as a captain in Utah. You are with the G League, you know, doing your thing there. Talk to me about this, man. You're taking full advantage of this G League experience. You're in Minnesota now, you are doing everything you can. So let me know what's going on in the game tonight. How do you plan on picking? How's this set up? You're one of the captain's here, man, break it down, and especially for those of us listeners who're gonna check out the game later but don't know that the ins and the ounce and you know, give us some of that inside of info. Man, let us know what we can look forward to, you know, because we're gonna see this a little later. And that's some Luca sauce tonight. Man. That that other dude, the real Luca Man. Absolutely well, you know, so to set it all up. Me and Scoot Henderson are the team captains, so he's captured of his own team. And then I was the number one vote getter in the G League for this All Star game, so I get the number one pick and I'm also a captain. So for me, it was pretty easy choice. I had a couple of guys that I knew. I was familiar with my point guard from last year and Detroit saban Lee was my first draft pick. You know, that's one of my best friends and obviously one of the best players in the G League and now, you know, being a rotation guy for the Phoenix Suns. So it's very valuable when you see someone on the list that you know, and especially as a point guard, you know it's a big man. Yeah, that's my guy, Peter Rock. It was a pretty easy choice to me. I you know, I picked a couple other guys. School has a great team as well, so he's gonna be familiar with those Guys's gonna be comfortable with those guys. But for me, you know, I'm taking my team. We got more talent than he does. You know, we got a bunch of guys who who are dominating the G League. Right now on their own right and everybody's doing their things, So it's gonna be fun and especially led by me and Statment, we're gonna be able to run the show and garybody involved. Now, speaking of All Star, I want to ask you this, man, do you have a favorite All Star moment? We think of Michael Jordan in that fade away over Sean Mary in one of his last games, dunk contests, Vince Carter doing a three sixty win bill he turned it out, Kobe Bryant throwing it off the backboard, dunking at himself, Steph Curry and the three point contest. Do you have any moments that like you sit back and like, man, that's my favorite moment right there? Yeah, I got two, I can say I think one when I was a kid. I actually got to go to one in Los Angeles. I think it was twenty eleven, so I was able to go for the dunk contest to three point contests and I was sitting the way up in the nose. Please. I mean half the time I was turning around looking at Kareem's retired jersey because I thought that was how old were you? How old were you at the time? I think guy twenty eleven, so I was probably twelve or twelve year old. Look at Garza, huh, I'm looking for I'm seeing all these jerseys up here because I'm at the top those Staple centers and all the retired jersey, all the banners and stuff like that. So that was special. But that was when Blake Griffin jumped over the car? What are they bringing out that card? You gotta be a car? Do you believe you can do this? Like? Do you believe you can do this? Believe? That was crazy? Just like you know, especially with the dunk contest, you have to create that dunk that gets everybody involved. And seeing somebody jump over a car in a dunk conscious is not something you're a customed seeing. So you know, that was pretty special. Obviously, that's one of the dunks gonna be remember forever and people are forget. Javaille McGee had a crazy dunk contest that year. He arguably could have won it with if it wasn't for the car, he probably would have been the favorite to win it. Um, So that was special. I think the other one, Um, you know, obviously I wasn't a timberwolf last year for watching Karl Anthony Towns when the three point contest was he as a center, as a guy who shoots threes, as someone who thinks I can compete with all the guards when it comes to shooting contests. I'm always trying to get in with those shooting contests with all the you know, the guys who are three point specialists and stuff like that. So, you know, that was special. I think he's the first center to ever win it. I think he had the highest odds. He was, like, you know, ever to come and win that contest. So that was big, not only for centers but just for the game. It just shows how much has changed over time for somebody like that to set up and set the record. Man, that's good stuff right there. Man. I was excited when kay Love wanted you know, former UCLA got k Love, and shoot, you're a little bigger than k Love, But I see a lot of similarities in his game and yours. And I remember one time, you know, Kevin was telling me, he said, hey, dude, you know you got all the hops, but you know eighty to ninety percent of these rebounds are caught below the rim, right, So that's how I'm getting these double doubles and another double double monster. All right, well, looka we like to do something fun here, man, and we're gonna step into the NBA rookie film role. And let's see if we can grab a clip from your rookie year and have you break it down. Give us the ins and outs of what you see in this clip. Stanley gives it up. Garza working against jack Landale school. Well, the first thing is going through my mind is, you know, I'm playing forty minutes this game. This is a COVID period. You know, I'm finally getting out that one. Go out and show what I gotta do. So I got jack Landale guarding me. I cashed the ball in kind of the mid coast area, and I make a move to the middle. You know, like you said, I'm a forward guy. I gotta be able to create an ankle to get a shot off. So I went back with a shimmy back to the baseline. He jumped for it, and you I went back to my babyhood. That's probably one of the moves I like the most. It's my favorite move, one of the most comfortable with. And you know, it's it's easy money. When I get to that left shoulder. See when I would do the move, they never went for the fake, so I just end up jumping over the guys. But you get guys to sell out on these fakes. What are you thinking on the fake? I know some people teach you know, head shoulders, what is your mindset? And you know, what are you looking for? Because he's convinced right now you're going back to the baseline. Yeah, it's a lot of things, you know, Like you said, it's head shoulder, feet, but it's also the ball. You know, you got to do all. He has to be able to see it, has to be able to feel like you're going that way, and you got to set it up, you know, And that's the biggest thing. So you know, in a game, I'm always trying to find a way to set my guy up to get back to my left shoulder. You know a lot of guys you see that with whoever shot they're most comfortable with. You know, you can't just go right to it every time. They're going to be able to guess what you're doing. So you know, maybe you go left one time in the possession before to set them up because you know the next time you're gonna fake it like you're going that way. So you got to be able to play that mind game to be able to get that shout out, especially for a guy like me who doesn't have much lift off the floor. And I really do have to be creative with how I get these shots off. Luca, Man, I could have used you, bro, if we could have met like halfway, you know, to give you some bounce, give me some footwork. I could have got ten more years out this deal. That would have been nice for me. I promise see that. No, Luca, well, fun stuff, man, appreciate you coming, man. I'm so humble for your time. Man. But before we get you out of here, you know, Luca, obviously we can support you do your thing in the All Star Games at night. All right, go ahead and get busy. Give us one of them shitty specials, a couple of threes. You know. I don't know, Luca, you have anything else in store, you know, big fella. I know you got some sauce. I didn't see it, a little bit of it. I got some old cool sauce. I pulled it out for the first time a couple of games to go against the Jazz. But I've were working on the skyhook or working on the kareem shot. And I shot one in my career high performance against the Jazz and my whole family and my grandpa, my dad, everybody was calling me after the game excited, and that's something I've been working on. And then I think it's one of the most unguardable shots. So hold on, man, Luca talked me through this. You're not gonna just gloss past this. You shot a skyhooking the game in two and twenty three. Yeah, like there, tell me what you did in this moment. Who was it against? Man? It was against Walker Kess of Utah Jasara. They'll take time. We smashed up a couple of times this year, and I attempted it earlier than the year and I didn't get enough space on it. He actually blocked it, and you know, it's tough to block a sky hook, and so As just shows you how how great of a player he is. And in this moment, you know, I think it was off a pick and Pop actually hit four or threes that game, so he was closing up a little bit tirer to me, and you know I was able to drive by him, and you know, again I set it up like I was going left and he kind of went down a little bit too deep and I was able to create the space and turn back to the middle and you know, sky hook it up. And so it felt really good in a moment, and uh, you know we got there was a foul like a possession later and I told him that I had to get him back for blocking the first one. So it was a special, special moment for me, special shot for me, and something I'm trying to add to my repertoire to be a consistent shot. Well, I'm looking at the clip right now. The footwork is stupendous. Brother, My goodness. You went from the baiting hook given goal. You're showing go off the DHL to the lefty back to the counter skyhook. That's different, man, that's just dirty. Manu, We'll shoot look at listen um. Where can we find you on social media? Where can we support you? Do you have any cause there's one thing on NBA Rookie Life we give back your family here, man. Where can we follow you? Where can we support you? Got any causes that we can get behind? And you know you can bring awareness too, absolutely so. On Twitter, it's El Garza Underscore fifty five on Instagram, It's Luca g Underscore fifty five. I'd say stay tuned on all my social media. I got a couple of things coming out soon, so I'd say just go to there and you'll figure it out from there. We know, once I'm set to announce some of the things I've been doing, well, I'm gonna drop. I'm gonna, you know, give it a little bit of our relationship too, man, NBA broadcaster. You you were in there doing your thing, we got to talk, so, you know, after you didn't run all the years off this career. In the next twenty years, we'll you know, maybe some broadcasts and maybe some broadcasting, but we'll stay tuned. That's that's the goal. That's the goal. I think I'm working on doing some stuff soon, a podcast or something like that to kind of stay in that area before I actually fully go over to the the broadcast. So definitely stay tuned to that. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Okay, we'll shoot Luca. I appreciate your brother. Get back to the festivities, go enjoy All Star Week, and my brother I could not be more happy. You know, I'll be seeing you soon. I'll be tapping in man, and keep up the good work man for real, Keep it up, brother,