¶ Hoops Journey
Just two Murph's talking hoops . The journey to June continues . We are in September , we got two weeks or so until NBA training camp starts , so we're a little bit of a hiatus . So what I thought I would do this week , I think we're going to change it up a little bit , and today we're going to bring in a special guest .
It is not just the coach I'm about to bring in , we also have with us with the coach Caden Neves Welcome to the show , Caden and Coach Murph . Good to see you , man .
Nice to see you too .
I can't contain myself . I did , I contained myself . You see that I can barely burst in baby Caden in the house . Big cat in the house , let's go . He's sitting right next to me baby .
This is a first on Just Murph's Caden . Okay , we started this podcast back 2020 , right before the pandemic . It used to be just Just Two Murph's talking sports , but then we realized what we really want to talk about hoops , so it changed up . It's been this journey to June .
Obviously we're self-expand you know that we're getting into that but it's been pretty NBA heavy . The whole idea is getting fans on from different parts of the country Get their take . It's been great . But the reason why this is a first we have never had a real hooper An actual hooper on the show for the first time . I don't even know what to do here , man .
I don't even know where to start , coach , you know what to do .
Just keep . I know a lot about this guy . You just go . This is my guy . I've worked with hundreds , not thousands , of student athletes . He might be just the best I've ever worked with . So this is history in the making . This man , this young man , is going to the NBA and I'm so excited to be part of this journey . It's just Kayden , we had a great day .
Paul , go ahead and ask your question .
So , Caden , why don't you just jump in man , kind of just introduce yourself , tell us your story a little bit , and then we'll go from there , if that works .
So my name is Caden and I am originally from Weymouth , Massachusetts's . So I was born in the South Shore Hospital and so I lived here most of my life until what was it ? Almost a year ago , around October , I moved to Indiana . We moved to Indiana because it was going to benefit my mom in a good way , financially and like- .
We got some moms . She's an incredible woman , strong , awesome woman , and we're blessed to have our moms , aren't we ?
Yes , sir , continue . And so we went to Indiana , thinking it was going to be a very good experience , but , I mean , it turned out really differently than we thought .
So after that we decided that it would be best to move to Michigan , since they have different rules in Indiana , because I reclassed my freshman year and so Indiana only has a rule where you can play four years of high school , but in Michigan it doesn't matter how many years you play , unless you're 19, . But I graduated at 18 .
Yeah , you're class of 2025 , right , you're 16 ? Yeah , sweet man . So right now , obviously , you're here in Massachusetts . You started your journey in Massachusetts , but you played for Fishers right In Indiana . Yeah , had a good time over there , but now you're in Michigan , is that right ?
Yeah , I wouldn't say Fishers was the best time for me , but I mean it definitely taught me a lot of life lessons . It taught me not everybody's going to be on your side and you have to work against people that aren't the same community or office as you . You know what I'm saying . So I basically got there . In Boston we played different .
I would say our body language is a little different than Fishers . I mean , I came in with a different play style . I like to pass the ball . I move it , try to they try to pass it like probably eight times for a player it's not like that , but it's like a lot .
And in Boston it's like if you have like an open shot , like you're going to take that shot . Yeah , because that's basketball , like it's faster pace .
But you dealt with adversity there and you have to have that in life .
What brought you over to Fishers Is that ? Forgive my ignorance , this is all new to me . Is that a prep school ? Like what ?
brought you over to . It was a public school .
Gotcha . So you just kind of moved to Indiana , and that's what brought you there , gotcha .
Okay , Because my mom she researched Fishers , so she's like okay .
I gave big off some moms . They're a dynamic duo .
She was like oh , is it a good program , basketball , the workout a lot , it looks good . And for academics they're like 700 or 700 in the country . So for academics and basketball she's like this is going to be like a way better opportunity for you to academically answer basketball and I was honestly excited to go at first .
So yeah , you never know right . You got to test the words . You got to take that chance like you did . Let's go backwards before we go forwards . So when you said they passed a lot and instead of letting you be aggressive , talk to me about your experience in Boston , in Massachusetts , and were you more the go-to guy ?
And then you felt like you were kind of hampered when you moved on , or I want to say I was really a go-to guy but I feel like I really got kind of my fair share with the ball . You know what I'm saying . Like , if I got a shot , I'm going to take it . I'm not going to pass up a good shot for a great shot .
But sometimes that's really what you have to do . But in that case they were passing up too many shots for what they thought was a better shot . But it didn't really turn out to be like that .
That sounds like the Celtics . We need to go to a guy like you on the Celtics . It just wasn't a good fit there .
Yeah , it's part of his journey . Moving forward , he learned his learning lesson I always done Michigan , and I know he's vibing down there . Let's just move on to Michigan . That's in his past now , sure .
Before we do that , I want to know a little bit more about you , who you are . As far as a basketball player , I think , what you're a shooting guard Is that your position ? Yeah , and what you think about 6'5" .
Yeah , 6'5" , 6'6" Awesome . I really like shooting the ball . I mean I think that's really one of my biggest strengths because I mean my handle is pretty decent , it's pretty good . It's not crazy . I can put the ball on the floor , I can take it to the hoop .
But what I really look forward to doing when I'm playing is just really catching shoot 3s or maybe a may range if I get cut off from a 3 . So you got good range , yeah .
So that's a silky smooth shot dude .
Sweet man , who are some of the guys that you pat in your game after that ? I would know .
There's a couple guys , my trainer . He put me onto some people , but I think I've watched a lot of Harrison Barnes .
Mm Harrison Barnes , Nice .
And there was somebody else I watched . I kind of forget his name .
He's on the Kings right , sacramento Kings right now .
Harrison . Yeah , I watched a lot of Keelan Martin too Cool , because he's like 6'7" . He's not a big man , he's like a shooting guard . So I like Keelan's game a lot . He goes to . He's like a floater . From what I've really seen , he's a great midi . He could shoot the three balls as well .
That gives me a good idea of your style , man . That's awesome , man . So you just moved to Michigan . What's the name of the high school you're going to be playing for over there ?
Granville High School .
OK .
Yeah , it's definitely going to be a good year this year , for sure .
And I guess what are we looking at as far as the start of the season in high school , I'm going to guess games start in December . So the actual practice and all that , what like October or even November ?
right , yeah , I mean we have some open runs now , but I think we start working out , practicing and lifting and stuff and I think maybe about a month .
Got it .
So right now we've just had a few workouts a week in some open gyms
¶ Discussing Future Basketball Opportunities
.
So what brought you back to Massachusetts ? What are you doing over there now , man ?
My mom came here for a work event . So I'm really just down here kind of seeing where I grew up , kind of seeing the places again . What did we do today . I mean , today we went back to my old house before our moves and honestly kind of felt relieved because I feel like I had so much like , oh , I miss Boston , I miss Boston .
And I kind of got relieved today that I could really go back and just see where it all started here .
We went back to his own apartment . We ran in there . This was nice , he's right .
Yeah , what else did we do ? And then after that we went to the Norah Athletic Club , lifted a little bit , played a little bit of basketball , went into the steam room sauna , and then went and floated in the ocean for a little bit . It was kind of hard Nice .
Oh , we went to Ducksburg , yeah , because , lee , we were in post-Horricane waves . It was really awesome man . It was for real . We had a day today , man , and I haven't seen him in a year , so he means a lot to me . I'm happy because I literally grew . When I first saw him , I was like he literally grew like an inch , but he grew .
I was watching him play on the court . His physicality , he's grown and he's only 16 . And Kobe would say I stunk at 16 . He doesn't stink at 16 . But he's in this . We all know about this growth period .
Michael Jordan , he didn't what he didn't make his high school year as an athlete in high school he was awesome , and that's what's just going to happen to him .
I can see it Awesome man .
And he's maturing . It's all mindset . But his game and he's got a better vibe . He's feeling a better vibe down there in Michigan where we're talking about . He's got a good friend , he's got a good coach looking out for him and he's a leader in the making . Right , we're all , that's it right there . I'm stoked for this guy .
It's going to be the breakout season Because he deserves a B in that top 10 . Talk that top right Doug , yeah for sure . So he's very humble and cool . That's why I make a good team , Because you know me , Crazy Wild . He's the cool , calm cat . We call him the big cat , the cool cat , but he's going to grow .
There's no reason why he wouldn't be top 50 after this season .
After this season ? Yeah , for sure he's going to drop double , doubles on every night it sounds like at the other school .
I mean , there's too much passing . If you don't have the ball in your hand , you can't show what you can do , that's not helping right ?
Yeah , that's not going to get your stock up .
I mean I feel like at Fishers it was really more like what the coach wanted instead of really kind of how the players wanted to play , and I mean that's understandable , but it was too much about running the play instead of scoring the basketball , because at the end of the game , at the end of the day , you're going to have to put the ball in the hoop
there's no passive 40 times and get a turnover , throw it out of bounds or miss a shot , don't get the rebound . And they were more focused on defense and they're saying defense wins games , which is true , but at the end of the day , like I said , you need to put the ball in the hoop and not many people on that team are doing that besides Jalen , yeah .
So with that type of talk that you want to move up the ranks . I'm guessing basketball is your full-time sport 365 , like you're just working out all throughout the year . This guy's going on the NBA .
This is like a . This is a special human being that people don't know about . This is history in the making . I've seen him I when I was working with Novak Djokovic , nobby said he'd be number one . When I was working with one of the best hand-spreaders in the world and I saw he has the shine .
He has the God gift given gifts and talents and he just needs to work on them , like we all do . It just needs to shape them . Yeah , like , like . Who's going to say I just had to deal with adversity in Indiana . He knows he needs to learn from that . He's humble , has humility . When I talk to him , he's like yeah , yeah , yeah , right .
He doesn't say get defensive , you know , we got to remain teachable and he's just going to grow . And he's we haven't seen wait . And then senior year , boom , and then he's going to get paid to play some college ball right , of course , bam See that .
Of course you know it's funny when you say that that is new . At college they do pay you . What does it call it ? What do they call it ? The NIL NIL , thank you . Yeah , that's fairly new , but they actually pay you in college . That's great .
Right here we're on our show Best kept secret . It's going to be history . I'm going to go back how does that work ?
Can you educate me on that with the NIL ? Like , what type of player gets that type of money ? I mean you don't have to be like top 10 . I'm sure you can be what top 100 ? Or I mean , how many people are getting that money ?
I think it's more like like your publicity , I would say , or like how well you're known . Mm Politics , yeah , like .
Or how much you kind of like bring to the team , because if you're benched on a team you're definitely not going to get a lot , but like if you're like a big factor in the team , I think for that that's something like you can consider like getting a lot of money , but I think it's more just like publicity and how well you're known , regardless of like rank ,
and then I think from there it just goes out to like how they pay you . Awesome I know , I think I'm not sure , but I think Jaylin is talking about something , and I am not sure , though I don't know if that's correct or not , so don't don't take my word for it . I mean , he's definitely going to get one in college . It's going to be a big paycheck .
I was just reading up on him . It looks like he had a . Well , he was the point guard , right . Yeah yeah , good guy , good player .
Yeah , he's a very good player . He works very hard there in practice and game . He loves the game a lot . That's it .
What about these ? I guess the top two right now , or sorry , not top two , but this probably goes . What you said with publicity is because it's Carlos Boozer's sons , right ?
They go to politics .
I know you're with those guys . Yeah , I'm familiar with them yeah , yeah , you can't get much more publicity than that right Obviously NBA dad , you know .
Well , look at staff , look at , look
¶ Preparing for the Basketball Season
at . We're going to keep ripping off names like like who Mahomes his father was ? Oh , there's Yankee .
Yeah , yeah , yeah .
They had the whole lineup . They've been around that too , and I love we're going to hear the amazing story . Your mom's name is Amber , by the way . Say , not just the moms like , but them too Like . I know it's like written all over them . They're going to , they're on a journey , just like the just two morphs on the journey .
And you can , I can see it , man . They both shine . That's exciting , man , grinding and struggling and going through it . This isn't easy , man . When I was his age I was so distracted I was gone so I could not , and I was one of the best athletes around . I could . No way was I were he is .
But we all just needed each other to help one another and it's been great . He taught me to stop . Today , personal stuff helped me out , cause I can be too verbal . I was like don't do that , don't do that .
Too much .
Do that , just do that , just do that little hard , do that thing .
Even the coach , he's a little coach .
I need to certainly do , but we had fun today and that's why I tell him to . In the song I was like you got to be joyful . It turns into this job , into this business . It's just a game at the highest level . Man and his body language he was . He was compared to JT today , jason Tatum and a go , which is an incredible right .
But also , why do I knock it a little bit ? I'm not knocking JT , I'm wearing am I wearing his T-shirt right now ? Am I ?
Am I wearing this ? Yes , you are .
And he said I'm humbly one of the best players in the world , because it's true , but what do I don't like sometimes , and not just him , a whole bunch of guys .
Like they don't believe in this stuff .
No , but what else ? What am I just saying in the car today ? The body language and the complaining . We can get stuck into that mindset where it's just this pre-Madonna body language . No , we got to break that habit .
You know what's awesome Getting ready for the pod today , because here's the thing , back to what this pod is kind of about more like NBA , right , we're like in this slow time right now because training camp doesn't start for a couple of weeks , so I haven't really been paying attention because there's nothing really going on .
But I went on to Twitter today KG and the Truth . They have a podcast and they had Tony Allen on and it's funny about you guys talking about today working out right , getting ready for the year , and you're the coach , you're the player . So there was a video of Paul Pierce , paul Pierce and Tatum working out in the gym , but what they were ?
Talking about is what Tatum needs with his next development is the mentality . He's missing that mentality Kind of like we're talking about Kayden , where that past past versus take the ball and just shoot it , man Right .
Yeah , he's growing into that leadership role , but he's growing in his IQ too . He's already got the foundation , he's just going to grow more . You know what I mean out there . But it's like , of course I am a prima donna , but I have to bite my tongue . With my body language I'm so reactive , I have to not go sulk because it's self-centeredness .
During the game , if there's no whistle , there's a whistle blow that I can stop , but no , no whistle blow that you continue to go . Whether you fall down , you get tripped , you get fouled , it doesn't matter , because that means you're stopping the game . The game goes on . You're missing it . You had an opportunity to get back to the court .
Down the court , get the board . No , it's selfishness and it's not mature . You're going to grow , you got the jersey on .
We all need to mature . No , he's growing to messy .
It's incredible . We all have our stuff , but we need to grow into that , build that habit of responding . You're playing all the time with the rest and we don't get our call . Yeah , and that's it . Man , just play through , that's all . I like that gritty toughness and it's hard , so we're going to work it out .
So , kaden , when you get back , are you ? Is it like tryouts right now ? Where are things at as far as the team and getting ready and as far as just the calendar for you ?
Yeah , for working like tryouts . I think they're in a couple of weeks , so I'm definitely still preparing for that . What are we ?
talking about for your preparation , like what did I say today .
It's like mindset and really kind of just keep going at it Like don't go through the motions , like do the full thing . So what I really need to do is kind of get in the gym more , get my mind right , recover , and from there I think I should be fine . I mean , I'm not really worried about it .
He's got a agility , quickness , no worries , Like like . He's strong man , big , and he's learned how to do it . We're lifting . We did that lift in benching , squatting , lunging . But more lightness for him , more quickness in the develop .
So , being a three point shooter and being more of a shooter how many is that like a daily thing , Just getting up tons of shots every day ? Or how do you get ready for the season as far as getting your rhythm down ?
Well , I think in the past I will work on my shot like a lot more , because last year , when I was at Fisher's , I go and shoot every single morning , Like there's probably like one to two mornings . I couldn't make it because of whatever happened .
I mean I would literally go every single day and use the gym as much as I possibly could , and how many shots are you getting up when you say that every single morning ? Probably like 500 to 2000 .
Wow .
Yep Around that number yeah .
We worked it , man . We worked it today . Sweet , but we were tired before the- .
But you felt doing it every morning that might have been a little too much . So now , what does that look like for you ?
Well , it wasn't a little too much , but I think , as of right now , I think there's some some things in my game where I need to get better , Like I can . I can handle the ball decently . It's just kind of when decision making , like when I should put it on the floor or if I should pass it or not .
But I mean , that's something I'll have to learn and I'm learning pretty fast right now .
No , he's a quick learn , bro , like I showed him an exercise that takes a while to pre-bill to learn . This is going to go up high but it's going to lock it and it exercises in an exercise .
It's well , this is what's exciting for just two nerves . Oh , now we have another thing to talk about on the pod as the season goes , this journey to June . For us , it's all about the NBA . It's definitely about our Celtics . Right , that's how it started . But now we got another journey to watch .
Oh , you're going to see your journey , kayden , and if you don't mind , as things are going , we'd love to get you back on the pod , maybe mid -season definitely the end of the season to check in and see how things are going for you , have you also Love that idea .
And I'd love to be back on this too . I mean , I just kind of want to get my name out there and I feel like this season is really like a statement season , where people should really like know what type of player I am and like just know my name . So they will right , of course . Yeah , Awesome man .
Some triple doubles . Being the leader , I don't always want to ask him , but I want to know if you know a little bit more about AAU . Want to tell Paul a little bit about AAU basketball , high school basketball a little bit maybe .
Yeah , I mean AAU and high school is really different . I mean , and it's kind of different in the East Coast . East Coast and Midwest . I mean for AAU and the Midwest they don't do fall , and out here I'm like mass and like surrounding towns or whatever , or cities , cities , this is fall AAU .
But I mean there's really you don't really get exposure during fall AAU , so I don't think most people do it . But in the Midwest there's no like fall AAU , it's just spring and summer , and so I mean it's different . It's kind of
¶ AAU Basketball and Its Cultural Impact
different everywhere . I mean here in Boston mass , whatever AAU team I play for , we've always had AAU practices . We've always had workouts to get better , just to kind of get to know your team more and actually like win games .
But I think in the Midwest it's really just like you show up and you play and you get exposure , because I don't think I've ever been so far to practice for a team . I mean we've had some mini camps , but like that's really about it , like we would just go all week without playing each other and then just play a game and hopefully we win .
I mean look at this face . Look at this face . It's more handsome than us . This guy's got the whole thing , man , he's the whole package . Two other shows , not on TV . We're going to get that level . That's another level . Once we get that million dollar contract , who's going to get it first , us or you ?
Let's go , baby , probably both of us , I don't know yeah .
That's right . So before we had a day in Paul like we worked hard , right , I went all the way to Boston to get them . We went around , we're doing this and that we worked out , and what do we do to get ? I came back to the park when we ate some food . We took a hot shower after the water .
After the cold dunk in the ocean .
Yeah yeah , we chilled , watched a little ballers . I don't know if we can say that . We can say whatever you want .
Do whatever you want . Whatever you want , dude the rock ballers , it's your pond .
Yeah , what am I thinking ? Come on , coach Murph . See , coach Murph gets a little insecure sometimes too , it's okay . So , anyway , we had our food and we're in a food cone like oh no the pod , I'm tired . So what I do ? I got some almonds , some Brazilian nuts , some walnuts and I sprinkled it with some chocolate syrup . Yes , boom .
Probably the best thing I've ever eaten .
But you have nutritional application . Those are organic , really good . Nuts man , Brazilian nuts , walnuts , almonds .
I love it .
We had the chocolate sauce . They ain't gonna kill you , it's good for you too . Now we got a little more juice , don't we ? Yeah ?
There you go , sitting in the seat for two hours .
There was ultimate part in those waves too . That was hard . Oh my goodness , the riptide was crazy .
Like eight feet , eight to ten feet oh damn .
But he does what I tell him to do for the float therapy and his recovery in the water and he's doing it , man . But I hope you guys don't mind , but it's time , it's time .
What's the time ? Are we doing a quiz ?
It's time , man . The AAU quiz . The AAU quiz .
Oh man , I didn't know we were gonna throw in a coach's quiz with our special guest . Here we go , there we go , there we go Frisbees chocolate covered cocoa beans .
What was that ? Was that eating the caffeine ? Remember I was having those coffee beans chocolate covered coffee beans . Here we go , yeah , yeah yeah , that was a little bit and too much with those ones . All right , here we go . Baby , are you guys ready for this ? Of course I'm ready , of course these right .
So you can answer whenever you want and it doesn't matter , and if you're wrong you shush up . That's it , if I'm wrong and the other guy can try to answer . Okay , what does the AAU , the association , the AAU ? I shouldn't even say that I'm being an idiot . What is the stamp for AAU ? What is the stamp for ?
Amateur Athletic Club . Oh wait , no , no , no , AAU .
I didn't hear you say that that was fudge .
You didn't say , that was something .
Amateur , american Amateur Undergrads AAU , I should know that .
It's three words guys .
Can't look at that .
Yeah , you almost had it . Say it again back to Kaden , you had it . What was it ? It's AAU .
Amateur Amateur Athletic U .
What do we need to do to be the AAU Divide ? Oh yeah , fuck-ass . Bald is his show , I just am the sidekick . Look the U . What happens if we were divided as a nation ? What do we need to be together If we're going to make this happen ? You're going to make it happen . What do we need to have ? Unification , union , the union .
There we go . Damn it , we're not starting out good here . Don't even know that , all right .
People didn't know that anyway , I bet it started when 1885 . Holy moly , did you look this up ? No , come on , that's incredible , that's incredible .
I don't even have guesses .
No , but he didn't guess . Come on , paw gaspaw , was that off the dome or did you look something up ?
No , that's when I was born .
Okay , it wasn't it , but it's close . 1885 or 1985? .
He said 1885 . He was close , he wasn't right , but go ahead .
He was close , come on 1885 . But darn close 1889 . I'm sorry , the prime time Coach , prime says darn , not darn .
Darn , darn Close 1888 . What did you say Paw Gaspaw 1889 .
Oh Paw Gaspaw 1897 .
It started the continued tournament .
This is the AAU basketball tournament . It started in 1897 and has continued until present . How ? cool Most finals have been played in a single final format , apart from some occasions in the winners tournament have been decided by a round robin format .
Major professors , players like Duncan David Robinson might have heard that he was a big time player center in San Antonio Spurs back in the day . This was way before big C's time , but he's become a student of the game recently , more learning the older game . Larry Brown , greg Popovich were crowned champions of the AAU .
Popovich and Robinson represented the US armed forces . Remember that ? All stars ? Yeah , remember all that . What about years were some of the strongest basketball teams in the United States ? That was between AAU teams ? Yeah , between 19 . It's the 1900s , they say we were the strongest .
He's getting deep .
He's getting deep , I'm gone deep I'm not even gonna lie , I don't even know it . It's okay .
They say 1920 to 1950 , but I was like , uh , I don't know , but that's when all the sponsorships started to come into the 20th Century Fox , all that good stuff . But this is the way it goes all the way back to the 30s guys . Aau covers all the sports , man , and it's pretty cool , you know , and it's just , that's a little quiz , a little something .
You guys , ah , lost it all , but it's okay because it was so different from Usually . Podcasts ball , you all stop .
I think more . The point for me with AAU is it's a culture .
Now , Right Back to what you were just saying promoting your brand and all that Like what you hear .
Anyway , with all the NBA players I follow now these guys are all but like for me and Coach , we're like old school , we go back to like the 80s right now Like old school .
We are old school baby .
Well , right now , the show I'm watching , that I'm all into and I wasn't into season one , but I'm definitely into season two is winning time . And it's all about the 80s Lakers and the 80s Celtics . Those guys they just like I don't know . It was like real competition . They all kind of seemed like they hated each other .
Where the talk about the players today is Because they're all nicey , nicey . They all know each other because they've been playing together since they were like eight or nine years old in AAU . So that was more . I think . My questions around AAU is how much it's like part of the culture of basketball . Now , right , I think you kind of nailed it .
This league was a union , was established before the NBA .
It's cool , very cool . But you just kind of nailed it , kayden , when you played in Massachusetts you were doing it right Outside of just the regular high school stuff .
You're doing AAU and you're doing it now , so you're just going to naturally get to know guys that you don't play high school with or compete against , that are there in AAU and other kind of areas and you become friends right .
Exactly , you have to build relationships . I love how you said culture . I love that man . Yeah , I was . Just you could ask them some stuff about winning time . If you want , I had something for you . What do you know about Go ahead ? Paul Caswell . What does he know about burb ? What does he know about magic ?
Yeah , we don't need to get any time .
I'd much rather he knows who matters , I'd rather get into the current events .
Man , yeah , exactly Like , do you ? I mean , I'm guessing , if you're a Hooper and you want to go to college and then , eventually , the NBA , you got to watch the NBA game , right , yeah yeah , are you being from Boston , you a Celtics guy ?
Of course I'm a all Boston . He's from the South Shore , oh right , I just want to make sure . Oh , our man , I knew he moved to the Mid-West .
He's from the South .
Shore . When he was home , he was like I feel at peace , I'm like this is where you're from , this is your home , baby .
I didn't know , now that you live in Michigan , that you're like a Chris Weber guy Learning about the Fab Five at Michigan or something like that . I don't know , man . No , you're all Boston Of course , yeah . Okay .
I still watch the Celtics Pats Bruins Red Sox whatever . The team they have here . I watch it .
All right . What are you thinking about this year's squad Now that they changed it up , got rid of Marcus Smart and got poor Zingas ? How you feeling about it , man ? I ?
don't know , I don't know why they didn't keep him . I mean he was like he was a native , like he's been here for a minute , like ever since . I was like what . I don't even know how young I was . I was like young , young , he's been there since the start .
So I mean I feel like kind of trading him was a wasn't a good , good move for them , Because he's kind of like a leader on defense , like he takes pride in his defense and they already have scores .
So I think he played a huge role on the like the defensive part for that team and I mean Chris House for Zingas is pretty good , but I mean I think at the end of the day , you just needed to keep Marcus Smart .
Man man you feel that ?
way . All right , you're not a .
Derrick White guy huh , whoa , whoa , whoa Whoa . This interview is getting a little weird all of a sudden .
I know , I told you .
Derrick White's , our guy man , I told you .
He has controversial feelings , which is good , that's okay , he's not the only one that feels that way . He doesn't not the only one .
I know , We'll see , you know .
I have my issues with this team . I'm not even going to get into the green right now . I was more focused on the big cat , on big seed .
So are you a ? Are you a Kings fan at all ? Because the Harrison Barnes and watching his games a little bit , or just more how he plays as a player .
Yeah , it's more . I kind of only watch him because I can kind of relate my game to him or I kind of try to pick up things that he does to put in my game .
Yeah , so who would you say is the number one ? I know this is kind of a loaded question because everybody's got a different skill set out there on the NBA , although it seems like everybody jacks threes now , so it's good that you have that in your game . But who would you say , overall , is the number one ? Best player in the NBA right now ?
Right now I probably have to say honest . I mean honest .
Going Greek .
Yeah , I love the Greek . I mean he's got it all . I mean he can dribble now . His charge is getting better . He's running . He runs at dunk set , oh man .
All right .
Can't really stop that . I mean , he's a- .
I love his style of games . He's everywhere . He's long and lean strong . I love his game yeah .
I mean I got to see him play in person too Nice , Because I went to a Pacers versus a Milwaukee game , so it was cool to watch him play and kind of see what he does . I mean he's booming on everybody , oh yeah , and they couldn't really stop him on defense or offense .
So oh , boston doesn't have a problem stopping him , but that's another thing .
Sorry , Greek . One last question for you on the NBA . What are your thoughts on the Miami Heat ? Like that team at all . Not really no , Sorry , Ted .
Ted .
That was for my friend .
We have like a die hard , die hard he's a big Heat fan and he's just waiting for them to get Dame Lillard , Because that's been the big talk in the off season and we just got news today that they're not going to trade him , so he's a little upset about that If you could pronounce the guy's name on Boston right now , I would be so impressed .
¶ European Basketball Players in the NBA
Go ahead , paul Gaspar . I can't do it . I was on YouTube but again I forgot , isn't it ?
Oh , I forgot about that . C C S V I Z Z .
Oh , you got the first name , the last name's like it's last names , like M Y H Z T U V . Oh , I got to pronounce that .
I think ever since Denver won the championship , the Celtics said okay , we got to get as many European players as we can because of Yokecitch .
Well , I'd like to say one thing about basketball and the Europeans , the Joker and Luca . Why are they so good ? Let me tell you why Because they slow down . They slow down when everything's going fast and everything's high speed and everything's got to be down the court Quick . We're going to shoot the three .
They just slow the game down , play a little old school Joker's more inside sometimes , but they just slow it down and they look unathletic , but they're not old . I think Luca's a good athlete . I think they're both good athletes . They look like they're not , but that's just the way you got to do .
You got to control the pace of a game and slow it down and just throw people off . They do that well and I just want to make that point .
I'm a big believer that at the end of this season we're all going to see that the best player in the NBA is Jason Tatum .
Wee , let's go . What about Jaylen Brown ? How ?
about that nice sidekick . He's gonna do great this year . This is it , man , this is the year season two , just two murders , talking hoops , this journey to June . I already called it the end of season one . This is the year they get over the hump , and I get what you're saying about Marcus . We all love Marcus .
I love Marcus , but I Feel like he might have been a little bit of a cancer in the in the locker room , and I think it was time that his voice they didn't weren't listening to his voice anymore and Fertigin to grow . They need to get him out . I know it's tough for me to say that , but I think getting poor zingas . There's a big if , though .
Poor zingas has got to stay healthy . Obviously , if poor zingas stays healthy , sir , year man .
For us here .
We'll see .
It was a pretty good pickup in my opinion . I mean they probably could have picked something a little better , but I mean he'll get the job done picking pop guy right , he can go down low and he can shoot the three .
He Marcus . I mean , we couldn't really rely on Marcus for the three . He could shoot it , but it just seems like whenever the game was on the line , the ball found his hands and he was shooting it , right , yes , anyway this is awesome , we're gonna wrap .
This has been a first I Real Hooper .
Now we're gonna be following your journey , man , this is awesome .
It's gonna really set off season two and a different for all of this journey where we are the two murders . I'm part of this guy .
It's been great and this is awesome because it's gonna set see , this is our season two right , and it's gonna set it off a little different , where we're gonna be able to check in on your journey as we go along . So really excited for you , man . Good luck out there in Michigan this year . Man , just two mercy behind you .
Yeah , baby , let's go .
¶ Positive Fun-Filled Day With Coach
Well , obviously the way it's done here , as we get to our little outro out of the pod , the coach always takes us out . So , coach , take us out , man , in style , of course .
Man , I woke up this morning , thank God I get some good sleep and I just I do my prayer meditation in the morning . I'm very open about my , my faith and my life and and I had the most amazing day today and I just kept it in the day . I started my day the right way . I went actually into the son before I saw him and did some stuff and drove down .
It's had the best day ever , one of the best athletes I've ever worked with , you know , and we had and I was there . We just kept it in day , had fun . We're like big kids today and and that's it , man . It's helping one another , you know . You know , I'm proven .
Each other improve and grow , you know , and even at 45 years old how old you know , 17 , 17 , he's helping me grow . Iron sharpens iron , as one brother sharpens another .
One more thing . One more thing shout out coach does and Grandville High School . We go to up this here .
Let's go . Oh man , well , we check it out .
Oh , double , double this going down peace , love and the green machine with the big See , the big cap .
Yes , two mers talking hoops . We'll see you in two weeks , beginning of the season , we out .