KJ Live - Nate Jones

Let's welcoming into the show something Nate, what's up? How are you doing, k J. I'm doing great man, Happy and honored to have you on the show. Brother. I followed you on Twitter for thirteen years or something stupid since since you're you remember the early days and Twitter, talk a little bit about how NBA Twitter has sort of evolved over the years. Dude. First of all, Twitter is just this whole life, this whole basketball life that

I've lad is surreal. Like people don't know I grew I grew up in l A. But people don't know, Like how big U c l A Basketball, Cringshaw basketball was in l A coming up in the nineties, and like this dude is was one of the dudes like anyone that was younger was looking up to coming up because he was in the paper. He was going to u c l A. He's taking a shot of the

city championship. People don't know. They gotta get they gotta give the O g s the ones that led it, you know, for us, Um they're flowers, man, coming up. I grew up in mid City, uh, you know, up the street from Midtown Shopping Center, rolling Wills right and on my on my street, there's a there's a cat name Marlon Garnett. Come on, come on, all right, and

that's what got me heavy in the basketball right. So it's just crazy to see that, Like every everyone that I either looked up to or you know, younger than me or coming up before whatever, it is like they're all on this Twitter platform and we all kind of interact with each other, like even like a guy like Clarence Gains, like people that don't know who he is, like everyone that is anyone in the basketball world, from you know, in the league to marketing to college, high school.

There's kind of that community there. So I feel real at home there. But the ear the early days were it's interesting. It's just people were just people were just having fun. Yeah, agenda, no agenda, and that you know, then it became like, you know, they're obviously there's finances attached to Twitter, and it's a platform for getting your you know, content off and whatever goals you have going there. And also I think it's just the way social media works.

We have you know, outrage culture where everybody is like everyone's looking for something to be upset about and like tweet a thread every day versus just like you know, keeping it light, interacting with people and learning something. We think people are so outraged today. I mean we you know, we grew up in a time where obviously things were sensitive and things were sensitive nature, but it seems like things have increased. Nate, Why do you think that is?

Is it because we hear about it more? Has it? Is it happening just as much as in the past where we hear any about it more? Now? Well, I just think it's like it starts with the way the platforms are designed. You know, the engagement aspect of it. You see how much is retweeted, you see the um you know, engagement on likes, comments, all that stuff, Like the big thing on Twitter now is oh, you got ratio, Like everybody is like why do you like? Why does it?

I just think of the platform was never designed that way where there were never any like that consumer facing stats in terms of like what's happening with your content, and people are incentive biased to kind of like get those numbers up. I think the platform will be a lot different, a lot different when you look at the NBA right now and the play in and excitement with the playoffs. Man, I mean, this is our favorite time

of the year. What what do you how do you view the plane or how did you view the plane when Silver introduced it last year? I mean last year was great. Lebron Stead, you know, we had a hit her what were your thoughts on it? Initiative? And I loved it because, you know, I think people will always complain about change, but changes is inevitable. The NBA now is the NBA. The three point line is a key part of basketball now. And you know, it was kind of like the gimmick and the A B A and

now it's a key part of basketball. But it took someone having you know, the forethought to like or and the guts to to push something forward, you know, and and do something different. And I think that's what it's going to take in the NBA. We got to look at everything from UM the way fouls are called to you know, replayed UH time out to UH structure of

the playoffs. Maybe there's a mid season tournament, maybe there is uh, you know, all kinds of different things to go about, to go about um changing the way we look at the game, even even rules. Maybe we change the way they the three pointer. Is that everybody now that the corner three is like a lady, it's so easy. Yeah, maybe you take the corner three away like there's you've gotta constantly evolve. Otherwise we would still have the same

game we had when Mike and those guys were playing. Yeah. No, And we don't want to necessarily regress like that. Do you think the NBA should make sort of a I call it drastic, a drastic move, kind of like the NFL did to protect quarterbacks. Do you remember when the NFL kind of had that new rule and just you know, the one year I was watching the NFL, everything changed. I was like, they can't hit nobody no more, they

cant do. Do you think the NBA should adopt something similar, like he's like we saw it with Marcus Smart, Steph Curry, Mark spart making a clean play or whatever. He's diving for the ball going out the knees. You think the NBA should penalize plays that injured players or take that out? Was that too much of a fine? That's that's tough because number one, how do you even judge that? Right? Right? The intent of it onto, the intent of it all.

And you know, we're taught from the time we first started playing basketball, if the balls on the floor, balls on the floor, go dive for everything on the floor. And if you don't, if you don't, and it's in practice, you on the line, right like, that's that's that's what you're that's a problem, right, Like, so where how do you go from that to two, Oh, you can't do that. We're gonna find you for that. And how rare are

these occurrences of someone getting hurt? Like that was just like a freak situation, and you know, it's what it is now that the I think the deals with protecting players, um, you know, putting their feet under um players when they're

going for jump shots. Now that's something I you know, completely understand the issue with the issue that you have when you're getting at this level of basketball, in my opinion is you have basketball geniuses and they're doing nothing but focusing on how to manipulate the game constantly, Like people are on Harden and all hardened. Is like, this game is hard. I'm trying to figure out the best

way to be my best self. I see the ways that I see the different ways that I can exploit the game, and I'm gonna go for it because this is about this is about winning in any way that I can win, I'm gonna go for it. And if people don't adjust, why is it my fault? I heard Chris Paul explained that the other other day, the same thing.

The other day. He was talking about the rip through and he's like, I barely ever get Key goes, I barely ever get caught on the rip through foul because I know it's coming and I know what not to do. He goes, how come all these other players can't study you know the setup of what's coming where you know, okay, don't put your hand here. The us is most likely it's going to be a ripped through foul. That's what you do as a professional, you're just trying to exploit

those situations. So it's hard for me to to knock what's going on. You see it in all walks of life. Every time something changes, someone figures out a loophole with it. Um. I mean, you've seen it with agents that have negotiated contracts that have blown basically blown up the c b A. You know, they used to bird's rights used to be acquired after one year in basketball, and they got to get rid of that because people figured out, okay a lot,

just tell the loophole. I'll go there and play for play for the league minimum, and next year they're gonna be my bag, like I got the birth rights right like. So that's that's just the way life is generally constantly that pushing pool in that regard. So I can't really knock those guys for that. And I can't really not you know, the direction of Adam Silver and these ideas.

Like first when I heard it, you know about all the in season tournament and and you know, the play, and I was like totally turned off, dude, I was like, what is going on? But then after experiencing it last year now this year, I was I was super excited about it. I mean it was like, I don't know, wow, I was so excited about it this year. But we had some great matchups. Man, I feel like it's great for the last I mean, I guess what we're used

to saying that last part of the season. NBA kind of gets a little tricky, you know, you know with the games scores and things, you know, guys playing and people sitting and this and that. This now incentivizes guys and teams organizations to compete to very basically extends the life of of the season. If you're gonna you know, you can have a debate about if they should continue

a t eighty two games or not. Um, but if they're going to continue down the a two game route, you've got to figure out a way to make it. Some people that some teams and players organizations are are uh still locked in all the way as many teams as possible are locked in till the end of the season.

I think it's it's done its job there. You have teams that were are vine for that that uh uh, you know, tense spot, whereas before it's like, okay, you know, it's eight I don't really have a shot let's pack it up, let's try to get that lottery pick. And and the funny the interesting thing about um, the play in two is you can still be a playing team. And if you don't make the if you don't like win the play in and get a playoffs plot, you

still are a lottery team. So you're it's not like you're it's not like you're losing out, so you might as well go for it, right, Um, pretty cool, right there? Right? So, like I think, wait, so if they so, if they make it, they win to play in, there's still a lottery team where they're not they're playing. So it's it's if you qualify for the playoffs, you're still outside the lottery. But if you if but I'm saying, if you're let's say yeah, if you're a tense seed, you might as

well make the play in. Get inexperience of a one game playoff. And even if the odds are like look at a look at a team like Charlotte, look at a team uh like um uh who's playing in the West Uh San Antonio. Right, those two teams the odds of them winning and making make winning two games and making the playoffs, you know it wasn't. The odds were pretty low. So at the end of the day, they get that experience of playing into playing, get the reality

of you know, I watched Charlotte last night. It's like, okay, major, major reality check. Like LaMelo is, LaMelo is is as the goods to be a superstar, but the rest of the team, the reality is they might not be as good as everybody's hyping them up to be. So do you go down that road you pay the miles bridges of the world. Do you pay all these guys and continue down that road, or do you say, all right, let's have a heart heart reset around LaMelo, Like we

we figured out that this isn't gonna work. We need to get a big in there. We need to we need to we need to be defensive oriented. We're not that right now. Um, okay, the funds to reality reality reallocate, the funds, reassess it, and like having that, you know, to two years of playings has basically told them what

they showed them what they needed to know. Um and san Antonio already kind of knew where they were at, but at least they got the experience of playing in a high pressure situation in New Orleans, Like, I was actually impressive. They came back a little bit less. I turned the game. I was pretty I said, I'm going to bed, like CJ is killing these guys are about to fold whatever, And they didn't. They came back in the second half. So I was actually impressed with that.

Hung around so that you know, those experiences you can't, um, you know, you can't really just like that. You just regard those, you know, it's it's a it's a huge experience. So and I like the one game I mean, you you have the experience as the highest level of n C Double A. With the one game situation, there's a lot on them. There is a lot on the line. There is nothing like that. There's nothing like that experience.

And if there's a way, you know, over the course, I think it's tough because over the course, you know, there's nothing like a seven game series. Because over the course of seven games, unless there's injuries, you know who the better team. It's like the better team is gonna win out. And there's no debate about that. But the excitement of that one game situation, um, you know they can't run. No, it's how its gonna say, it's like the wild Card. It's like the Baseball wild Card in

a sense, which especially with the Clippers in Minnesota. I mean the energy U with that game. I felt like I was watching like Baseball wild Card in October, you know, because when pat Ben went off and he did what he did in the moment, you know, part of me was like, damn, he really he really turned up and I started really thinking about it and letting it digest. It's like, wait a minute, man, we're kind of being whacked with this whole thing about coming down on cats only,

like you can only celebrate championships. What are your thoughts on just that that aspect of our culture right now? Man? Context is everything in life, and I think that people are m We get hyped and we get win a big winned pickup game, right like like yeah, the environment, the environment at in Minnesota where they ain't been in the playoffs and you know, they've only been the playoffs once and how many years and now this team is actually you know, it's a homewor own team. They're winning.

The crowd is on fire, and they came back, they were they looked like they were out of it out. That's the whole I think the way that the reason it was so turned up because Cat fouled out, so it's like it's over. It was hopeless. I mean, you're not thinking that's about to be a w bro. No wait, PG and them, you know they at there just they were balling. For me was p PG is is you know, outstanding when he's when he's got it going. So it was fun to watch. And and I don't knock those guys.

I get I get why people made fun of it, because it's just you know, Twitter at the end of the day, like people like to get their jokes off and whatever else. But in terms of like the serious like if people were being serious about it, that that is just like come on, man, like let these guys live, let them have their let them have their moment, let

them have their you know, excitement. And the fans, the fans, if the fans, if the fans were just like not hyped and those guys are getting that way, I can see it. But like the fans were going crazy. It was a big moment for that organization. It's always about, like I said, it's about context. The context is it's one of the worst organizations performance wise in all of the NBA history, right, like for them to have that moment, give them that, give those fans that it's okay and

it was good TV. It's it wasn't just good it's great TV. Yeah, great TV, great content, all that stuff. So I don't get that. I don't get why you would knock that. You see Pat dev you know, in the media room after and that was that was you know, seeing it within itself. Yeah, I always enjoy it. Kind of brings me to my next My other question I wanted to know about from you were on Twitter and you know you're you're outspoken about you know, how the NBA is doing it as far as pushing the media

out the locker room. Why why is it so important for the media and players to have like this really like close close relationship. I don't know if you can describe as that. I would say I'm proof positive of it. I was basketball junkie, loved the game, love you know, I was never good enough to be you know, Division one player or anything like that, NBA potential pro any of that stuff. But I played the game in my entire life and I consumed every single piece of content.

And you know, it's before the Internet and The way I got to know players was through pieces in s I and Sporting News on UM Sunday conversation and what you know, list goes on, right, Like that stuff came through Ship Curn's halftime interviews. People don't know, like he used to interview TV right, right, so he was interviewing the players from the other team the road. To imagine a home announcer interviewing the players from unheard of, but

he was doing. That's how I learned about players. That's how I learned about the game, Like I was constantly consuming that and that comes from media people, from reporters. The truth is, I think social media is awesome. I think some players do social media well, but for the most part, we know what it is. Social is just like flossing, right, like his players they're gonna they're gonna post a fit pick and have a you know, you know, rapidly caption under it, some bars under it, and that's

social media. Like you're supposed to get to know a player through that. No, Like you're not gonna you're not getting to know anything. You need a professional actually questioning them and you know, doing pieces on them and um, you know, even like this year Uh, you know, I've been working with Damarta Rosen his entire career. Our firm has been working with Damarta Rosen his entire career, and it's been awesome to see him, you know, get his flowers because people kind of wrote him off, UM, but

it opened the door for UM. You know, some of the coverage this year, some pieces that have been done on him are like unbelievable, and it's it's coming from writers, writers that that sat down with him, or Taylor Rooks interviewing him. You know, Marine Fader did a piece on him like list goes on or you have these amazing UM storytelling pieces where you're getting know this athlete in a way that allows fans to connect with them. UM. And if you take that away, how is that going

to happen? And I think people just get caught up in the like rumors and the rumors and gossip stuff, and you know a lot of that stuff is just it's it's uh, they just kind of like picking that out of like larger stories. It's the aggregation machine. It's right, like UM being counters. Yeah. Yeah, you know what's interesting though, have you have you been UM are you up on the ball sack sports deal man. I don't know who the dude is, but I think it's the dopest thing.

It's it's it's like, it's incredible. It proves a point about how bad I think a lot of times when players hate media, they don't hate the media, they hate the aggregators. They're mad at the aggregators. The aggregators are the ones that not the people in the locker room. The aggregators are taking a piece of something, taking a quote, putting it, you know, stylizing it in um, you know, whatever the format is for a graphic and putting it up and making it look official, real whatever else. And

that's what the players getting mad at. You know, the uh that stuff is what gets retweeted, legion hoops, all this stuffs and stuff. That's the school trick. But it's achool Internet Like remember if they used to do that. What they used to call that back in the day. I forgot the term. But it's like the old school internet trick where you just like on the fake me out catfish on the It's like the oldest trick in

the book. It's getting on ESPN, it's getting on major networks, got major talking it literally spewing out something ball sec put out with the fake quote like he did the one with Dame. He had something at the bottom. I forgot what he wrote, but it was just like no one read the box. Yeah, and then he you know what what I liked was he went back and he said, like basically doing this to prove a point and show that y'all will buy anything. There's no real investigation, Like

none of this stuff is actual news. It's just you know, aggregating drama and packaging it in a way that again, like we talked about before, it's gonna get you. That gonna get you that engagement. So that's that's that's what's funny about it. But I think if players had an understanding that a lot of times they're getting upset at

the aggregators more than they are the reporters themselves. Which is also funny because I feel like a lot of the players follow all the aggregators they do, and they're always comment yeah, actually I see. I'm like, yeah, they don't notice this dude right here because some and the funny thing about a lot of the acreators is there's no one behind there's no face to it, no no one that has to answer for. It is just someone

at all, right, and they're creating havoc. Okay, they are causing issues like it's also um when you see um on on uh the internet. We were on Twitter, and not only the fake quotes, but to your point about

the media, I'm sorry, I was. I lost my thought that it's the the media guys when they're in the locker room and some of those quotes and those interactions and those moments, those are some of the biggest drivers of content on Twitter, like that part, not just when I'm just specifically, not even not even the big pieces and all that the post game, the quote, just that what just posting what someone just said in the in

the press conference. I know, I look for that stuff and I gained I gained a lot of that, especially when the coaches talk like that's a high level piece of information. I think people are taking for granted that they could be really you know, gaining knowledge and data and understanding what really what time it is with that particular team and you know, have a real finger on the postle things, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, most

reporters are Most reporters are pretty good, man. I think I think that it's just the idea of what a reporter is has been. And I'm not talking about just in media in general, but I'm talking about within sports and in the NBA particular. I think most of the most of media are pretty good. Um you know, sometimes there's there's there uh reporters that are out of bounds, and we all know who they are, right and players know who they are and what it is what it is.

But I think throwing everybody under that bust and putting everyone in that bucket is not fair. And then I also think it's just a part of what I you know, when I talk about the NBA family, I like, no matter what role I'm in, I am pro NBA family, right, So not just obviously I represent and work with players, so I'm gonna be on their side. But if all of us are only looking out for our own interests, we don't have a league. So if players say all right,

we're done immedia, we don't want them around. Like whatever, there's a negative, there's negative consequences to that. Like, um, you know, thinking about those things I think is important and having an education of how everyone is important to

one another is a part of it. Right, like if there's a mutual mutual respect understanding how everybody like at the end, everyone likes to talk about them being partners your media partners, the players and partners with owners like all that stuff, but at the end of the day, they're there if you're not treating each other as true partners in these in this situation, you just look at someone like like like like there's some kind of an and that like why not to deal with this dude,

like whatever, Like the behavior, the behavior is so unprofessed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So those those are things that I think that I

think people just have to consider it. Um yeah. But and you know, sometimes it's and I'm not saying that everybody has to be Michael Jordan's But what I like about MJ is MJ realized what he was and what he what his responsibility was when he was playing, and then as um as he's retired now he's like, I'm showing up, I'm flying in right before whatever I gotta be too, I'm doing the minimum and I'm out of

there and back on the golf course. But while he was playing, he's like, I'm in the face of the league, and um, I'm gonna make sure that if anyone ever runs into me, they haven't experienced that is of a certain level. I'm gonna talk to media and treat them with a certain respect, and you know all of that stuff.

And um, I think if if we started to have if more players and teams and everything else had that mentality versus just like we don't have to do that, or we have the power to get away from this or get out of this or whatever else, you know, do I think the league would be better off for that. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app

search f s R to listen live. In this year's playoffs, though, do you think of most best equipped to make the finals? One team out the West is in one team on the East, Um, you know the out the West. I would say Phoenix is is to me is a well oiled machine. Book is like it's it's so interesting seeing Book and Chris Paul together. Um, because it's like Chris Paul obviously we if you've been around him or or um watched him, even if you're just watching him play,

you know he wants to win more than anybody. And Book has that in him too, but people kind of doubted it because of the team that he had around him and and he's kind of been and holding that in for years, and like, you know, he has a list. He probably has a list, like and even if it's not officially written down, like man, this person said this about me or whatever else. And now he has a squad and he's he's ready, like he's going for blood. So um, I love seeing those two to play together.

And I also think about the Lakers had a trade for Chris Paul, so you're gonna get see Kobe and Chris Paul play together. And there was kind of some doubts, you know, even in my own mind, like can these guys can needs to get along? And they figure it out.

They're both headstrong individuals. But when I see Book and not to say Book is on Kobe's level, but when I see Booking and CP together, it's almost like we got a little taste of that, right, like, uh, you know, two dogs, two competitors that you know in the game was crunch time. They know how to get it done. So it's been fun to watch that. And then out East, Um, the East is a little tougher. I think if Robert Williams didn't go down, I would have the Celtics coming

out of the East. Oh man, I mean if you want. I think it's hard for people because you know, once you get it's just like anything in life, once you get branded, that's that's what people are gonna think of you. Right. So the Celtics earlier in the year, obviously we're struggling. People are saying, oh, he maybe maybe over his head, maybe Jayson Tatum and and Jalen can't play together all

that stuff. They shook up the roster and they locked in and defensively they are just based like what you know, especially when Rob, when Rob Williams is healthy, they're just they're switching everything. Nothing throws them off. Um, you know, Dallas ended up beating beating, uh, the Celtics and the and the game the Celtics and MAVs played like a few weeks ago. But Rob Williams was switching out on Luca, like Lucas he's gonna still, he's still, he's gonna do

his thing because he does his thing versus everybody. But like usually a center or a power forward coming out and switching on Luca is going to be like they have zero shot like that type, that type of versatility. And then I think having you know, high octane scores and Jason and Jalen. Uh, Marcus Smarts found his home

as a point guard. I think he's um, you know, uh like that's the position he probably should have been playing the whole time versus just kind of being either a backup point guard or a shooting guard next to a point guard. Um, he's doing his thing. And uh, I like I like the trade with getting Derek White. Um. I like their squad a lot um and I think they're you know, having Horford and Williams, that they're healthy when they play and home court and when they play Milwaukee.

That's a good um. You know, that's a good package to be able to try to go at you honest with. UM. Now, if Williams isn't available, I don't know if they're stopping like that's well, I don't know if anybody can stop, be honest. But because you know brook back, you know, that's that always changes the dynamic for the Bucks. Yeah, I just don't know how healthy Brooke is. That's what I'm on. That's what I'm wondering about like coming back from we saw it with surgery BAKA last year, Like yeah,

he like he wasn't. He wasn't the same after that back surgery. So wondering how much book Brooke could could provide because Brooke is people don't realize, like I think they again, brand stick with you, Right, So when Brooke first came to the league, you weren't thinking of him as a defensive like player at all, not at all. But you weren't and you weren't thinking of him as a three point shooter not at all. Completely revamped his game. That's what do you do. That's what he defended. Guy,

I can't believe it. Look Brooke when he was at Stanford, I think they played at Stanford. Dude, I would have never thought in a million years that Brooke. I think he had a hundred threes last year some something insane for something footer, but I would have never thought. But that's just a testament to him figuring it out, figuring out what was gonna make him stick and working on

that stuff. Man, breaking you know, breaking that foot a few times that like I think that woke him up, Like all right, I probably got to figure this out. You know, if I'm stick in the league, I gotta revamp my game. The the game is changing. This is the probably a way to do it. And he's he's

skilled enough to pull it off. And then defensively, him and Yannice together, Brooke is such a good uh anchor that allows Joannice to be this ultimate romer where Yeah, so see what we saw last year, especially in the finals, when Yannest was able to do when he's a roamer. You see it on the biggest stage. He's up there and square on folks on that week side. You know what I mean that exactly. So if you know, if Robert Williams doesn't come back, I think I have. I

think I got Milwaukee coming out of the East. So it really is going to depend on if Robert can come back and and and really impact the game like he was before he got hurt. Because that Celtics. I dont think people realize how good the Celtics. I forget where they were ranked like for the first half of the year, but they weren't close to first, and they finished first, like way above everybody else in defense, Like that's how good their defense got. You think Philly hasn't

you don't think Philly has a chance at all? Or what do you think going on out there? Man? Because no one is really picking Philly at this point. Well, you know, I think it's very hard to put it all together after a mid season trade to begin with um and and also you know, wonder I don't think James Harden has watched up like some people have been saying. I think, if anything, I think he might be still

struggling with his hamstring injury. We kind of saw the same thing happened with Chris Paul a few years back, where people, you know, his last year in Houston, people were like, I don't know, man, he might have he lost the step, you don't have it anymore. And really, you know, he disclosed it like he just was dealing with that hamstring injury that he first injured out in uh, that he injured in Houston during the Western Commerce Finals the year before. So like he comes back from that,

but he's not. You know, he hasn't changed. He hasn't fully changed his diet, his workout routine, all that stuff. So he had to reset everything, and you kind of saw that new, new and improved Chris Paul for Oklahoma City in the first two years in in UM in Phoenix, and he's been like m DP level type player over that time, like one of the best point guards in the league over the last three years. And four years ago people were saying he was washed. So I think

he might be. Hamstring is no jokes. I think I think I think that, um, you might be seeing that, which because you don't go from we saw James last year when he first got to Brooklyn before the hamstring injury, and he was explosive as hell, like he's still still getting moving, get into the basket, doing his thing. He had not you don't just go from that to struggling with and we know he has a hamstring injury. So

I think that's a part of it. So I'm wondering if you know, a summer where they're able to figure out their whole roster around them UM and and give James time to really put himself together, because it's hard to like it's hard to re engage your body like that mid season, you know, or in the middle of the season, the playoffs all that stuff. So that's my main concern with them is just you know, if if James is able to and maybe he's just maybe he was is coast and he's about to turn on the

switches about to turn on and we don't. It's not a hamstring thing, and we'll we'll see it. But you know, I don't think a player of his caliber just loses a step like that or slows down like that within a year just doesn't happen. There's something else going on. So UM be interesting to see. But yeah, I think I still have UM. I think they have, like the tow two of the best players in the East. UM, just like Brooklyn has two of the best players in

the East. But you gotta have a full team. I don't know if they have the depth and the versatility that UM both Milwaukee and and uh Boston have when they're fully healthy. Yeah, the depth, the depth really stands up. And then it's just that they don't. They just get thin and and not a lot of contributions. But would Joel and be playing probably gonna well, everybody's saying Yoki, but he you know, he should have got some Maybe people for sure you got yo Ki, you got dunk Chick.

Don't look at duncan not just name how far is the gap widening between like the top players in the league being international and like the next star that's born in American soil, Like who is the next American player that can unseen one of these three guys in your opinion the book, I mean, who was like next coming down the line that could be potentially in conversation for the n B A man you us wise, like you know you got you still look if step didn't if

step didn't go down, you still were gonna have like Steph was gonna be in the mix. You know, I always think like I always think by guy Dame's gonna have a chance. Kauai is Kauai. If he's healthy, he's gonna have a chance. Lebron the team situation is was jacked up. But if he's help. But if the team is healthy and Lebron has the year he has, he's in the conversation. Um, I think, you know, Chris Paul could should be getting m VP consideration tomorrow. The year

he had in Chicago before all the injuries went. You know, he's he still consistently played the same way. But the team starting to fall off because you know, their defensive backbone fell apart right, Um, due to all those injuries happening, but you know, he had a unbelievable year. Like there's so there's a ton of US based players, but I just think situationally, um and and also like the time and time and uh years into their career, like Yokich

is a young player. Donchers is a young player too, But I mean correlatively speaking, right, yea, Janice is Janice is a young player to me, is the best player in the league right now to me, if if people, oh and obviously Kevin obviously Kevin durant Is is is m VB candidate every year. But again, these guys have to stay on the biggest issue, especially when you have the miles on you, is staying on the floor and your team being one of the you know, better teams

in the league. So I guess my point is kind of on the lines of your point about these guys being so young they're VP level. They got like basically the top three spots right there in the argument for the top three spots year for the next ten, twelve, fift He's like, who do who? Who do? Who's going to see these dudes? Man Zion, Like what superstar I'm trying to think of manage there another and I'm not saying damn, but like a young younger girl young, well,

I think this. I think this crop that just came in for the two thousand twenty one draft class of special I think talent wise, Jalen Green is out of this world. He just has he just has to figure out how to play at the NBA level. But like, talent wise, that is crazy. Um, Kate Cunningham is like he's like a mini Dunchet in a lot of ways, right, so,

like he's gonna be He's gonna be good. It's and it's kind of ironic that he's out in Detroit as like that was like Grant Hill stopping grounds another like point forward type. Um, so they're getting a new, smooth, new version, you know, not nothing to like flashy or whatever else. He just nice, just nice and knows how to play the game. And he's he's he's obviously not

as big as Dontres dontress is. I saw do move Drew how I don't think people realize how much of a rock Drew Holiday is and he he just moved through Holiday like it was nothing. I've always been amazed that Donte's strength and size bro, Like how he just able just he'll get when he was getting your shoulder, Like the first couple of years he was doing this move, he was just hitting dudes with the shoulder. But dudes like whoa, you know what I'm saying and hitting you

with the step back. But that part of it is crazy. Man. These guys don't real understand how strong NBA players are. Man. Yeah, man, so you know Dontress is a big dude. But but um, I think Kate has a lot of his game to him. Evan Mobley, he hasn't even figured out offense yet. Like he's just he's he's like that help defender type that and you know to be a to be uh first year player and have defense kind of figured out on that help side and he's gonna be He's gonna be phenomenal. Um.

Scotty Barnes, Scott Barr, Scottie Barnes. You know what's interesting about Scottie Barnes, He's got a lot of Scottie Pipp into his He's got a lot of Scottie Pipp into him, Like he could be that type of that type of guy like a bit like so I love watching him play basketball. That Toronto is actually pretty good. It's Philly. Better not sleep on Toronto. They beat him. Hey, I like to if any team's gonna upset anybody, I know, I know the Nets. Everyone is expecting Nets ups maybe

you know, possibly uh beating this. Yeah, because they have because they got kept. I mean I'm talking about like the general audience, not like the real audience, because because they have Kyrie, you can't ever doubt Kyrie and Katie and those those guys are you know they can they each can put up fifty anytime they want, right, Um, But Toronto real deal. They just play modern basketball at

a high level. You know, tons of tons of length, ability to switch has been Yako has been killing our guy to Todd rappers are every time I shouted you let him know. Right. But yeah, but but they kind of doubted Sam coming into the year and he's he's completely showed everybody that he's still a real deal. Scottie

Barnes doing his thing. It's crazy that they have. You know, usually teams just want one player like that, that, that long, versatile guy they could do multiple things, and they think they got two of them, you know, like just very unique. So they're they're fun to watch. Um, you know, Jalen Sugs we didn't even get to really see, like he's in Orlando, so he's kind of under the radar. I still, you know, I liked him coming in, so I'm interested to see what he's going to be able to do.

What about trade? What about tred Oh you're talking about ye trade? Yeah, I was just talking about this year's class. But Trey Young is is fantastic. Um. You know, I'm it's sometimes super tough with with guards that are as small as him to like figure it out. But I wonder how he does it. Like I'm always one of those dudes that amazes me. Every game I've seen him, he'll do something like damn, you really hit that? Like

every time. It's in him. You know, he's is his dad you know, played Division one and worked with him and you can tell he loves the game and he just has a natural feel for it and it's in it. Man, It's just like, what can you do? That's a high, high, high skill level. He's he's taking advantage of mistakes and he's been he's built for it. You've been preparing for it his entire life, and that's that's what you're seeing. But yeah, there's a there's a lot of you know,

Trey Young. The other thing about the m v P two is, you know, guy like Trey Young, you think

about it. A lot of it has to do with the situation that they're in though, right Like if Trey, if Atlanta doesn't ever pick up or get a chance to be a real championship competitor, competitor, it's gonna be hard for Trey Young to win an m v P. Like, you gotta be for the most part, you gotta be in the mix unless you have like you know, you have a season like yokich where like they don't have any of their other like complimentary players star as whatever,

and he's just going crazy still and he's the main reason they're winning. Um, it's gonna be hard for media, fans, etcetera. To recognize you in that way. So I think that that as much as the talent of the player, has a lot to do with it. Um, how well you agree with your kiss MVPN this year? Um, you know, I I think that there are I think that there are so many different avenues to go down, Like I think if Yo kich One, I don't know how you

can argue against it. I don't um if inbid one, I don't know how you could be like, well he shouldn't be m v P. Well yeah, he's put up MVP numbers. Be honest, the team fined, they're in the there in the third seed, and they had injuries the key players throughout the year, and he still did his thing like he to me, he's like modern day shack um don Ch. Obviously, like they had a slow start and we're figuring it out, but you know that pours the end of the year, they had a chance that

they had a chance to get potentially get the third seed. Um. So, I think you can go about in a variety of different ways. But I think people because Yokich is not, like he's not interested in any of the media, marketing, any of that stuff. Like he's just low key a hooper and trying to get and trying to get to his horses in Serbia in the summer. You don't care about none of this, um dog. So that's that's what

I call him. I call him Larry Joe Yoki because to me, he plays like he People say that Don Chech plays like bird and I'm like, that's lazy man. He don't. To me, he doesn't. He doesn't play like Bird like they have way more stuff than Bird. To me, yeah, Donke is just off the bound though, like Bird. You know Bird, I mean Bird had a little handle. But when I see what I know of Lucan, when I see Luca, I'm always seeing him on the pill bringing it up and get some dudes, you know, having to

shake off the fenders. So that that's for Rakes, that comparison to me, what are your thought though? Yeah, he Luca plays like Luca plays like James Harden with the up and under like you know what I'm saying, Like they play the exact same way, except Luca. You look what goes in the lane and it has the up and under moves and all that, like he gives. He's

giving you that. James ain't doing that. James is like I'm euro step in or I'm I'm your euro stepping going to the cup, or I'm doing a floater in the lane. But that or throwing a lob like that's that's his game. So um. But but lucas a lot of the same stuff, except he's he's you know, he gets in the lane, he's gonna give you a little he's giving you the post move, he's giving the up

and under all that stuff. Um and then Yo kich Yo kich is just like man, he's he's like playing chess out there, man, And it's just he's a definitely savant man. And and he has this move he does where he's so interesting because um, Magic used to have a go to pass that I would be like, damn,

how the hell does he do this? And and and so Magic would come down like he like he was he was going like free throw line extended, come down slow, and then all of a sudden he would throw like two men are coming and throw the pass through two people into the post perfectly. The worthier to to kareem like lay up everything. Like I think people just look at it like, oh, it's not that difficult. It's almost like Lebron finding the corner, like turning the corner. He's

turning in the corner and he's finding a corner. Three shooter open and your life. And I think the average person is looking at that, Oh that he just made like a simple pass and that's like unbelievable off off hand, left handed pass, like there's nothing He's fighting the corner boom,

no problem. And then Yokich has this thing where he's in the post and as soon as he sees the double coming from the from the corner three, he's throwing this unbelievable like the past, that only baseline, that only he, that only he, that only he can make, the only he can make, Like he's so fun to watch. Like honestly, I wish I had a chance to market Ki because I think I could do things that are figure out ways to like tell his story and do funny stuff

um to get people interested in him. But like if he like, let's put it this way, if he played for the Lakers, people would be hyping the hell out of him. If you play for the Lakers and Knicks, Celtics, any of those teams, he would be getting hyped like crazy beyond Like right now, I think people just think he's like a hipster MVP vote or media m v P vote and they don't realize how good he is,

like Brod's next level. I don't know if I've ever seen like somebody like with his limited physical ability that is so dang on effective, Like I just have not seen that, like the way because you remember like I think it's probably first or second year. I mean I was looking at him like, dang, like he's a project. I thought I thought it was a project, bro. But but then all of a sudden, he hit an he turned the corner, and he start getting more Burton. Then

he just start turning stuff out. He's a natural. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app search f

s R to listen live. It's it's you know, how we how we think about you know, how we think about Lebron in terms of like I think people are like, man, Lebron, Like, Lebron is not one of those drills guys where you're like, oh yeah, he's like like Kobe, Like Kobe was very much uh like I'm in the gym and I'm working on these moves and He's got every every move, every counter,

every like whatever. And Lebron is like, obviously he works on his game and continue to improve over his you know now going into his twentieth year, but he's more of a natural player. And Yokich is one of those guys like he's like a great comparison. That's a great comparison. Like he's he's a he is a natural like this, It's just comes to him. He sees things when he reads everything so freaking quick. That's what I noticed about him. It's like before like the ball of being the air

on the post, He's already saw out the periphery. Dude is coming. So when he touches his hand, he's like

already flipping it. I'm like, dag, yeah, it's it's it's in that like I said that Larry Bird, that Larry Bird magic h Lebron like natural feel for the game ability, Like you see a guy like Yannice, like Janice worked his way into being this, Like like obviously he's a freaking nature athletically, but he had to he had to develop his game like this dude, yo kitchen is like he's had big, big soft hands and touch and and

peripheral vision and feel for the game. Like as soon as he got on a basketball court, I think people don't coming down just you just you just some people just have it. Lebron was diving people up, like even though he was a freaking nature in high school, people are like, damn, how did he learn in the past like that he didn't learn he's that's a natural. That's a gift, that's a God given gift, is what it is, right, So that's that's kind of that's kind of the way

I look at Yo. But I can't really take his m vps away from him at all that because dude, I watched I watched this. I watched the Blazers and Nuggets like every single game during the playoffs last year, And you know, I know Dame's mentality, you know, pretty closely working with him and get you know, getting a

very good understanding. I already knew what he was coming within that that pivotal Game five of that series, and you know, he dropped fifty like making crazy three is doing Like he was like, this is this this game is the series. So I'm putting it all on the floor right now, Like if we lose this game, it's gonna be very hard for us to win this series. So I'm I'm going for the kill. And that's what he left out there. But what people people see Dame's

performance was unbelievable. But the reason they didn't win that game is because they had zero answer for Yoki Zero, like and I'm not just scoring, diving. He's doing everything crazy threes, He's hitting, He's hitting threes. And the past that I told you about the dagger for the game was that past he hit somebody in the corner and it was like like Covington was coming down for the help and as soon as he saw coming to move for a second he hit, he hit the corner and

it was that was it. Like, yeah, man, these playoffs are gonna be live as heck man, all these matchups, dude, I'm totally looking forward to it. Man. Yeah, I don't really have a team either way. I want the Bucks to win. I like the Bucks. I mean, yeah, I'm forbish reasons you know, of course, Bro, I ain't rolling with the Bucks. Okay, they were retiring my dad Jersey. They flying this out there, rolling with the Bucks, Bro, Man, I respected the last three family looked out. Huh yeah, man,

the whole crew over there. So it's like I'm rolling with the Bucks. So that's kind of where I'm going. But my man, Nate, I love chopping up the game with your brother. But yeah, man, I want to talk about you're the company you co founded, Movement Souls. Yes, sir, the inspiration behind it. Talk about the copy. I want to chop it up about that. It's crazy everything that's everything that's good that's happened to me. Um, you know that's good in my professional life has come from a

love of the game. I love basketball, and um you know that interest, that intrigue, all of that has kind of built my career. And a lot of my best friendships and things like that have come from playing basketball teammates all that stuff, camaraderie in in that space. And this was born of the same thing I was I was hoping. I had like I was dealing with like a what do you call it, like a hip flex

or injury. So I didn't hoop for a while, and then I got back to it, like, man, I'm about to I'm about to be going hard, got new gym membership, everything, and I would starting and play crazy. And then I had like my like my feet were killing me, like planet fasciitists, and it just kind of it kind of how to you know, make a light bulb go off

in my head? And I started thinking about, wait a minute, Um, you know, how do I remember when you know this player had this issue and they you know, they were fitted for like customer orthotics, so they found an over the counter orthotic for them or in soul for them. And you know, this is like generally, when I think about it, most of the players in the league, we don't wear their shoes out the box. They wear UM. They have either customer slotics or like you know, some

kind of like premium in soul. And then when you go down the line, um, you know, I would. I never really was looking for it before, and I never really thought about it for myself. But I'm like, man, I've been playing ball in my whole life. No one's

really marketed like this type of product to me. Um. And then I've been marketing to you know, the crowd that's you know, influenced by these players for fourteen years now, and I don't I've been in all kinds of footwear meetings with brands and things of the nature, and the INSOL has not been on the on the the agenda for or the even the product roadmap for the consumer roadmap for how they interact a retail. So I was like, damn, man,

like untapped, my unchartered. And then you know what's happening in business A lot is you know, do you have these boomer brands been around forever and they kind of have aged out with that boomer generation. Um. You know, you look at like in the market that I'm man. I don't consider them a competitor because they market the

different people. But like Dr Schulz brand, it's the brand of record, uh, you know for my grandmother, my grandmother's generation, you know, everybody, it's like and when you think when you think of Dr Schulz though, you know, obviously it's a hundred year old brand. It's old, sleepy distributed through CVS all that stuff. But UM Trim to Fit looks like a medical product. There's nothing aspirational about it at all, you know, studying the whole global marketplace and understanding how

professional athletes work. You know, some of my investors have worked with UM. You know, one of my investors used to do the Run the Mountain de Tour and he was telling me every single skateboarder, pro skateboarder has insuls and orthotics. Just the kids that that aspire to be like them have no idea. And then the same thing, you know, basketball, same thing, football, same thing, so like go across the go across the board, Tennis, same thing. So I see an opportunity to kind of come in

as a new age brand that understands that consumer. UM bring a you know, great product to the market, not a superficial product. The products we've developed have been done in conjunction with the top UH pro Sports UH poietry firm out there, firm called Footcare Express out in Florida. Almost all the fellas that have customer orthotics, but they go exactly the teams. The team. They might not know they have them from there, but that's that's who's doing

them for them. UM. So we built an over the counter product that you know, for the I would say for about eight of the population of athletes is gonna work UM for them. The sock liners that they put

in shoes are completely inadequate. And when you think about athletes and the journeys that they're on now, even guys that don't really have a chance, you know, guys and girls that don't have a chance to make the pros or even Division one, they're still on these journeys where they're paying, they're playing all these hours starting at an earlier age. You know, you're playing more basketball than ever. Um. You know, even though they're indoors now and a lot

of us were outdoors playing. They're playing way more. They're playing way more hours, way more games. They got trainers, they're doing all kinds of stuff, and you're seeing uh this preponderance of overuse injuries. Right, So, UM, the amount of time that they're playing is not going to change, but what could change is UH knowledge on how they

prepare their body and how they protect their bodies. So our brand is all about that, and eventually we want to become Dr Schulz the generation Y and z UM so that includes like casual, We have a casual product eventually coming out. There's a whole deal. UM honestly have been. We we launched December one, UM, you know with with product and UM opened up our website. Director, I've totally

been blown away by the response so far. I knew it was gonna be I knew we had you know, we have a long road ahead of us, but I did not expect us to have um the reaction that we've had to date. So it's been fun. I mean to the reaction I think has a lot to do with you know, it's it's a useful product that hasn't like we you have to go through a process to get authotics. I know you used to have to get

the mold and it cost a ton of money. So for you guys to create this situation where you can like walk in and you get them quick and that whole situation, that that is just beautiful, That it is magnificent. And then something I don't know, I know you guys have thought about it, but something that I took from this as a former athlete is that the earlier you start wearing authotics and balance yourself out, all that you don't have to worry about later down the line having

that funny walk. I got the funny walking, now the funny hit walk with all the game. You don't have to worry about different issues with your back or you you won't have uh, those issues as much if you if you're balanced out these are athotics or in your life at an early age. Yeah, So that's that's what's so interesting. When you talked to the players and talked to most of the guys, they go, I didn't know

anything about this. UM like we just did. Dame was just doing media from move like earlier this week with three different outlets. UM. Hopefully that stuff is gonna gonna drop soon. But he was. He was talking about like I didn't really think about this or no any of this stuff until like I got to a certain level and then I started to deal with particular injuries and then I had to start thinking about it. But because like I wish I would have known any of the guys,

they all say the same thing. Chris Paul swears by swears by orthotics, right, and you know he's he's like, I wish I would have known this at an earlier age. And and someone like him who's probably more invested in the grassroots basketball than any like active player right now, Um, he's the perfect platform for him to like, you know, use the knowledge he has and bring it down to

those kids that he influences. So yeah, that's that's that's really what we're trying to do is provide that that pro level knowledge and access and products that um, you know, uh could really help these younger athletes. But you know that's gonna be the hard that's I think we're I think a lot of our business so far has been We've got a lot of kids and younger athletes purchasing it, but the easier cell has been to people that are familiar with UM in Souls and orthotics, like they like

our product because they think it's the best. They've try it and they love it and they rave about the reviews on our side are amazing. But the hard part is going to be getting those younger a younger generation to where like, we know you're familiar with made Hoops, which is really really interesting because chat chat is chat. That's my dude. It's so awesome to see because you you see all the former pros out there with their kids now, so like your guy Matt Barnes is out

there with this Twins coaching up. So so like the Twins have move In Souls now because we we we did UM we did a partnership with Made Hoops where for their West Coast and East Coast championships may all the champs from each division pairs of insuls. So it was just awesome to see the kids interacting with them get the positive response. A lot of the kids ended

up following us after like just all that. So that's the hard The hard work is going to be educating the parents and the kids around why they need the product and UM going forward that way, Well, I think you guys are doing doing it the right way. I mean you signed Jaded Williams, who's one of the top high school talents going to u C l A to

n I L partnership. I believe she's she's endorsing it. Uh. You guys were at the Classic and Damien also, which is something that I noticed and this is just me seeing and it and I'm like, yeah, okay, Nick, Yeah, and then just all just all the dog on Hi selfish. You've got dudes taken and posted man testimonials real not like paid anything, real life. Yo. Man, my feet feel great. I'm posting this tell by the way they're posting bro

that people really love. Yeah. You know, it was so crazy so that I had somebody accused me of like not disclosing that was somewhere and I was like, bro, I didn't, I am not. I don't operate that way. So we had So there's a there's a cat named Dwayne Washington that went to Yeah, he went to Sierra Canyon in Ohio state and he's actually he just signed a full deal with He was on a two way but now he's got his full contract. He got the full Yeah. Yeah, this country signed right at the end

of the athlete. Yeah, that's that's a real dope. But the interesting thing is Um during one of the guys that I um, you know, it's just it's just years and working. It's I'm kind of cashing in on um, my name, my reputation, my contacts, all of that within the basketball space. A trainer friend of mine that trains

uh uh Dwayne named von Compton. Out in Phoenix, I was out shooting Chris paul Um for our brand shoot for for a Move, and Vaughan kind of helped us set up the gym that we use for for Chris um amazing home gym out in Scottsdale. The gentleman owns. Uh. Guy's name is Brett Hart, a big, big time huh. No, No,

we were. We were making jokes about us, like the best best was, but yeah, no, it's it's it's he he's a uh he's made I don't want to say how much money he's made because I would be guessing, but I'm sure it's pretty substantially based on his house and stuff like that. He uh made his fortune in staffing like staffing for State Farm, like State Farm and stuff like that. But he's a big basketball fan and had this has this gym that Vaughan often uses the

train players. So we shot Chris Paul there. I gave him all the all the uh uh crew, production crew, everybody there. I was giving them insuls to try out. I gave Von insuls for him to try out. He wears the same size as Dwayne. Dwayne comes to train with him during All Star break and goes, man, my feet are killing me. He's ad. Vaughan's like, oh man,

I got something for you. I think you wear the same size, and he gives them to him and he Dwayne hits Vaughan like, yo, I'm like loving these whatever. I see a picture, h I'll I'll send it to you. But it's the picture of him walking to the bus and he's got a package our insults in his hands. So I posted that on Twitter and someone was like, man, why don't you disclose when you paying these dudes to do whatever? And I'm like, I did not pay this dude.

He this was a completely organic thing. He's walking in with it because so what it is. You know, after the fact, I reached out to him, I sending more product, but I've never paid him. He's not one of my guys. It's just organic, you know, organic things. So just just trying to figure it out, man, And I think we have a real potential to build something special. And it's been fun. Man. Yeah, I think the testimonials will go

a long way for you guys. I mean, I think, you know, really getting to like the grassroots, the high school kids. On the educational tip, Like, dude, I went like when I and I'm just gonna tell you, when I finally got some insuls in college, Bro, I started dunking, Like I went dunking before you know what I'm saying it, Like I went from not doune to being able to like two foot jump stock really but just doing stuff fast, getting back quicker, moving quick. I'm like, what the hell

is going on? You have this revelation and you've been your body, You've been playing kind of off ballance your whole life. Yeah, you get these dog so yeah, but man, I'm I'm excited about that, man, And uh, I wish you the best with that, brother than you that's your You're one of the good guys in the industry. My man. You hear yourself at a very high level. Bro, You somebody respect and somebody that you know is gonna just

be very, very successful whatever you do, man. And likewise, it's it's just it's just so interesting how like I said, man, stuff comes full circle. I used to watch obviously I watch you that uh the watch Crunshaw games. But I would read about in the paper and then I would see you at u c l A, watch you at u c l A watch games. Then people don't know about the men's gym. You didn't grow up in LA

in the nineties, you don't know about the men's gym. Um. Obviously there's still NBA workouts and things like Rico Hynes hosts, right, but it's not the same as when it was open to everybody, and you know, you would come there on a Saturday or or during the summertime, during the week, and on the court on the left side, it's just you know, random high school players or whoever was trying

to get a run. The same thing on the court far court, on the right side, the middle, middle court was we were all watching y'all with probably funny that was everybody that was on the U c l A team. And then you know former current pro so you you would get everybody from Reggie Theist to to Magic to uh, you know guys, and then Kobe and Kobe would be there with his two sisters. Hey with came through though. That's when it got it got ugly. Kobe came through

use because he started off. He came first. He came to the Wooden Center. Yeah, and it kind of did work over there, you know, just just monstering us. And then he's like, moved it over to the Med's gym. They're like Christian because I didn't come the day he came the first day, like, man, you need to come play against Cobe. Man, this dude. So I finally get down there, man, and so we're in the middle court.

It's magic Kobe. I think it's like, uh, who else Don McClain, you know, you know, but I'm matched up against Kobe, so you know, play happens. Kobe tips dunks on me. My dad is actually in the gym, he said. Dad used to always be in the gym. Your dad used to be working out Josiah and then working out the time. Yeah, so my dad, my dad sees it. I look at my dad. I'm all embarrassed. He's like he looks at me like like you know, you're like, get into it with Kobe a man, du the next thing,

I know, Magic gotta break it up. But it's just that just growing up in that man, being around that Nate and understanding you're watching you been just in that atmosphere, bro, because it's like it was like it was just it was surreal. Yeah, man, it's so so you know, the point I was trying to make is just like everybody had, Like you're a part of the influence on me as a as a you know, basketball fan, basketball consumer, uh, you know, businessman in the basketball space. So you know,

I appreciate your contribution to the game. I think not enough people give all the people that have influenced them, you know, credit. So it's great to see. It's great to see your Daggett and his flowers. It's great to see you getting your flowers. It's great to see Joe popping off. Like everybody that I know in the basketball space, I love seeing everybody win. So um yeah, man, it's it's it's cool. But the Kobe thing, people don't realize

that Kobe used to roll in with his sisters. Man, he's his sister seems to go everywhere with him, yeah, man, rolling in with his sisters. Man. So yeah, it's it's uh because you forget he was really like he's literally a kid old yeah man, so um but yeah man, it's it's it's been good knowing you over the years and and wish you much success. And I appreciate the platform to talk about all this stuff. And I'll call

on anytime you want. Oh man, I'm definitely gonna have you back, my brother, you know, man, Ladies and gentlemen. Nate Jones