Ray Allen on Greatness and His Incredible NBA Career (Plus a Tim Legler Draft)

welcome to the old man from 3 with JJ reick and Tommy alter brought to you by 342 Productions this is episode 222 Ray Allen and Tommy yes I'm wearing the exact same suit I wore last week because I'm filming it this week. There are three people in the YouTube comments who notice this and say something. I am using the same. Guys, I'm using the same thing. Just address it. My kids have spring break next week, so I won't be in the studio. record anything so we are just recording the intro and our

draft

king sports book in advance. Tommy, I went to Ray's house in Miami, last week, when he was calling the Heat game, first of all, the guys got a phenomenal setup.

Shout out to Ray. man you did good, you have a phenomenal setup, he does it well. I feel like he's like him, he makes good decisions in life the way Ray Ray still looks like he could play in the NBA. I'm pretty sure he could go. out there and get some buckets, we talk about a lot of things, you know, like always, every time we interview someone, you go with what the guest wants to talk about and Rey is very passionate about a lot of things. and we had a really fun, fun conversation, about the Celtics, specific shots in the series in general, youth basketball, just a great conversation with Rey, a super smart guy, articulate, thoughtful and like I told him, he knows this and you.

I will see it 15 different times in the interview. I had my favorite players as an adult, Tom, obviously I started watching the NBA. I love Duke, it all happened at the same time and the Bulls were winning, so of course I loved Michael Jordan. You know, Michael Jordan. For me in the '90s he was the best player and was on the best team, so of course I rooted for the Bulls when Michael Jordan started getting older and then retired for the second time. I became a little obsessed with Ray Allen. I was going into high school and I legitimately wanted to be and play like Ray Allen, he was like the guy I was, I want to model my game after remembering there was a scouting report my junior year of high school, you know, in In the national rankings it was like you know there are the five best guards in the country and I don't even remember what number I was.

A probably two or three. I think Rashad McCans was number one but they had a competition for every player and I remember one of those national ranking lists was like the Ray Allen competition and I was like yeah doing it right now of course it didn't turn out to be Ray Allen , but you came pretty close, I was poor. Man, I was a pretty close approximation of plumber to r, the good thing is that at least when people talk about Ray Allen, you're usually in the conversation at some point, your name comes up, you and Kyle, your name comes up at some point , yes, me, me, me.

It came close to the Ray Allen version of the Boston Celtics, but of course as we got into this with Ry, the guys had a lot of play and sacrificed a little bit of that play to make Boston work with Paul Pierce and kg um. The other thing about Ray and I just want to say this before we end the sports betting segment. The other thing about Ry. Ry was so good to me, he was so good to me and I tell the stories of what that means, uh, with Ray, but he. he was so good to me, he was aware of how I felt about him and how I saw him, and he was always so good to me, I always appreciated him, uh, Ray Allen, okay, let's get to our sports betting segment on

draft

king from which let's talk. uh, Coach of the Year, something we haven't mentioned at DraftKings sportsbooks at this time.

Mark Dagnal is the favorite to win Coach of the Year. Oklahoma City, of course, has had a fantastic season. It's at -310 as of today. Chris Finch, second. at plus 450 Joe Missoula plus 700 and my boy, thank God, is starting to get some Buzz here in the conversation Jamal Mosley, who was an assistant coach in Dallas when I was there and I only knew Mo for a couple of months . I still talked to him. quite often an amazing guy who has a great year as a coach, you know what happens with coaching and again this goes back to job security with coaching and the perception of coaching, it's largely based on expectations , it is a team that exceeds expectations, it is considered a good job as a coach.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong. I'm just saying that's the general thinking when we talk about the coach's year. I think he's fair, for sure, to Mo in particular, uh. I saw the stat today, the last time Orlando was 12 games over 500 was March 30, 2012, yeah, I was there, um, you know that well, uh, Magic is fourth in defense, 12th in net on the year last, he was 18th in defense, 24th in net. Obviously I've been playing really well recently, gosh, I just think about it, man, that was the lockout year and I mean we had like the third or fourth best record in the NBA up until the time Dwight Howard left the team and he does not. we knew he was leaving the team, he was literally at shootaround, we were getting ready to play the Hawks, he was at shootaround, we get to the arena and he's not there and we find out at some point, whether it's fair before the game or during the game, that he had flown to Los Angeles to have back surgery his back had been bothering him we were like third or fourth we had the third or fourth best record no, we knew he had a back problem He had been absent from a couple of practices he had.

He tried to play, he tried to hold on, you can see it in practice. I remember vividly like I was taking a replay or maybe my team was out or something, but he tried to go up for a dunk vertically and I mean it was against Malik Allen, but he tried to do a dunk vertically and you could see he didn't have elevation and I was like, oh yeah, you know something's wrong with something, something's wrong with Dwight and then he, he. The left went to Los Angeles, had back surgery, he wasn't with the team the rest of the year and we just collapsed and then lost to the Pacers in the first round.

Thanks for mentioning that. Oh, I'm glad I did. Is

incredible

. but it is surprising that statistic that this team you have talked about its Drafting and that you know all that since then, but it is surprising that my question about those four that you named I wanted to mention another name after this one, but with I mean, dagn. and me in particular like we knew what the Celtics were going to be like, this is no shade for Joe Missoula. You know we've had Joe Mou on the show. He's been great, but you knew the Celtics were going to be really good coming into the season.

How much does that matter for teams like this making the jump compared to when you're talking about expectations? Yes, you know it's interesting. I think if the Celtics were 47 and 20, Joe Moula wouldn't get any buzz, the fact is the Celtics would. literally having one of the best regular seasons. I saw this point spread the other day. They have like the fifth best point differential in NBA history, uh, for the regular season, so they're having an all-time regular season, uh, certainly. Not the 2016 Warriors. I don't put them in that category, but they are having one of the best regular seasons of any team in NBA history, so I think that's why they still have Buzz.

Obviously, there is still the expectation component to this. I think he's done a fantastic job, they've been basically top three in defense and offense all season, super creative, particularly with the defensive matchups and how he uses Drew Holiday. He's really leaned toward the curveball, as he likes to call it. Where can we exploit confrontations? How can we best use Porzingis that complements our other star players? I have to give a lot of credit to Joe Missou, uh, dagal, uh, in particular, I think and Mosley have exceeded expectations. Chris Finch to me deserves a lot of credit and I'll tell you why because they make that trade for Goar and I think everyone thought last year that they were going to be amazing.

The cat wastes a lot of time and never really finds time to merge and Mike. Connley comes in and makes it all work Chris Finch is probably facing a lot of pressure internally, yes, and externally, this year and he has built the best defense in the NBA or one of the top two defenses in the NBA. Anthony Edwards has grown as he has progressed. a player who has figured out how to make the cat and Rudy gobear work, has been empowered, I would call him empowered, Nas Reed, has gotten nothing from Alexander Walker to accept his role, just phenomenal work from Chris Finch, uh , and then with Mo I.

I will say this is another example of exceeding expectations that that team last year was 5 and 20, they were basically a 500 team the rest of the year and just picked up where they left off, sometimes there are these huge bursts, you know, and explosion of growth, this feels like incremental growth of Vagner Paulo, obviously, taking another step forward. Jonathan Isaac has been tremendous defensively when he has been on the court, Jaylen Suggs, Cole, Anthony Bing in his role and they are 40 and 28 years old. Wendell Carter has missed a lot of time with injury, yeah, so you know, these four coaches have done a fantastic job this season, they all deserve it.

Can I add one more name before we move on? Yeah, JB disputes staff yeah, he deserves a lot of the credit deserves a lot of credit JB St currently sixth in odds uh over 9,000 uh but JB obviously deserves a lot of credit injuries I mean, oh my gosh, to be where they are, they are one in recording their only game back from the dollars for the two seed with the amount of time those guys have missed is pretty crazy, he absolutely deserved a ton of credit uh okay, this has been our sports betting segment, the NBA season is in full swing and when I can't get enough of the on-court action I spice things up by betting at Draftking Sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NBA, download the Draftking Sportsbook app and use code JJ.

New customers can bet five dollars to get $150 instantly in bonus bets only at Draftking Sportsbook with code. JJ the crown is yours problem gambling call 1800 Gambler or in West Virginia visit www.1 1800 gambler. net in New York call 8778 Hope or text Hope and Y to 467 369 in Connecticut. Help is available for gambling problems. Call 888 8 78977 77 or visit ccpg org. Gamble responsibly on behalf of booill Casino and Resort in Kansas. The age of 21 or older varies by jurisdiction. Void bonus bets in Ontario expire 168 hours after issue C dk.com bball for eligibility terms and deposit restrictions and responsible gaming resources.

Oh, by the way, we also have a draft with Tim Legler, that draft, of course, submitted by our friends at New Era. Come to our conversation with Ray Allen. You weren't a McDonald's All American, no, but I think that was probably more of a blessing than a curse, and you know, even at that time, it was political, because the McDonald's team at the time was in Memphis, uh, yeah I'm not wrong, it was in Memphis and the coach of the team that you know had players that he liked and that, you know, he put them, they were always somewhere around my ranking in the class that year, you know, when we played in different camps, it was always those few guys that were always compared, they compared us to each other and then when the rankings came out, I was like 25A or 25b, you know, it was always like I was an off the list guy, but it was the best of the world to me because when you look back at the McDonald's All-American teams, there are a lot of names that you don't remember, you know, because I think it can almost be a curse for him because those kids think. that they already made it, you know, and every year this year for my team I wrote to all the guys from last year and showed them who made it and who didn't know, uh, what they did in their first few years in college and and how they just because you got so many points in high school you go to college and you have to start all over again and most importantly I think I said congratulations no one here made it that means you're on your way I love it I really do loves. because I think the whole ecosystem around rankings and awards in high school has something in the development of a teenager's mind where too much too soon can be a curse and I think you know Jamal Crawford talked about parents in all the games and tournaments they need Basically, looking in the mirror is a little bit of the parents' responsibility and a little bit of the coaches' responsibility because kids aren't prepared to handle things.

I talk about this all the time, the best players in the NBA like obviously LeBron is, drafted at a young age. A lot of them were second-round picks, a lot of them, like Jimmy Butler, went the Joo route, so it doesn't have to be something as unique as you have to be a McDonald's. -American, you have to be an All-American in college,as the journey to a long

career

in the NBA is so different for everyone. Think about Reed Shepard right now, yeah, he was like a four-star recruit, not a McDonald's All American. I saw Kevin Oconor. because the buzzer had him in his last mock draft at number one as the number one pick if the Spurs get him because of the combination with Wanyama, yeah, and he's been playing well, he's had a great year, you know, until your period, when, when.

You look at a lot of teams and a lot has been said about the formula, like kids come from all over to play on these different teams and they don't practice during the week. All these kids look around and see what equipment they can get and a lot of kids don't really want to practice, you know they want to go to the formula where they can just show up and play and the parents are allowing it and the coaches know that the Parents are allowing it. So they are trying to attract as many players as they can and the only thing I know about you is that you are successful no matter what you do.

Where you play and who you are if you have a passion for doing this it comes like people if you go out there When you do that for a couple of days or a week or a few weeks, people will start showing up and playing because they see you there every day. days, it's not about who's not there, it's about you showing up for yourself and Reed Shepard, you know? Whatever the ranking says, now you have to play with all these kids that are reclassifying, you still have to play with these same guys when you come to college, so if you want to game the high school system and say that now I'm a freshman, but you should be a junior, okay, you're going to beat up some kids who were younger than you, but you still have to go to college, if you go to college, there will be some grown men waiting for you. and you know, looking at Reed Shepard.

For example, I got an interesting story like Kentucky was recruiting me at the time and I was trying to make the difference between Kentucky and Connecticut. My first visit was to Alabama and then to Kentucky and me. I had Wake Forest and NC State and all these schools, but it came down to just these three and then when I made my visit during Midnight Madness to Kentucky, it was amazing and I thought wow, my head flew off and then I had committed to Alabama and then I disengaged because I thought I needed to look at my other visits first and just make a comparison to Kentucky.

I left like, wow, this place is amazing. I thought I love this place too and then I was learning. at a young age, just going through the process and understanding it, getting the information and trying to figure this out and then when I went to Connecticut I was clear about which place was best for me and which one was Connecticut after I came back and understood the environment and then, in the same way, Reed Shepard's father, Jeff Shepard, signed to go to Kentucky and I was like, "Oh, well, well, you definitely know that and I've seen Jeff and I." I played against Jeff a lot all summer at camps and, you know, just what's written on the walls, sometimes your path is laid out for you and it's not about where you get paid, it's nowadays with zero or, you know, how close to home where you can be or where your girlfriend goes to school or you know all these things are short term decisions, they make you for next year so you feel comfortable, but how does that help your long term success? for 8 to 20 years later because you went somewhere with a great reputation that is going to work you to death and make you become your best self right now, we don't know who we are at this stage in our lives, right? preparing ourselves to be great later in life and it requires going somewhere where they push you and yes, it's going to be hard, but you have to be comfortable doing it hard.

I've always appreciated your perspective and your mindset um, there's a bit of relatable OCD I think between the two of us, um, did you have that mindset as a teenager and to what extent did your upbringing guide that mindset? Well, I grew up in the military, so you're traveling. You know, we travel on average every 3 years and we get orders to travel like we were born in Southern or Northern California and then we move to Germany and then from Germany to Oklahoma, Oklahoma, England, England, Southern California and then from From Southern California to South Carolina, so I learned early that people do so many different things.

One of the best lessons for me as a kid was traveling because I'm not stuck in a way I always say the more ignorant people and the ones who are more likely to be racist and this is just my theory so don't hold me to it because You know everyone's always arguing, you can say the sky is blue and they like, well, there's some clouds there and, you know, this is gray. Uh side, but my theory is that people who live farther from airports are more likely to be racist, xenophobic, segregated, but when you think about when you move to a city you want to be closer to the information you want to be closer to. from access to public transformation Transportation uh, being able to travel in and out of the city, so if you travel more you are surrounded by more people who speak different languages, you know that you are eating different foods and you are doing all the things so that you understand globalization of the world where you do business in different time zones and that's what I got as a kid, so now I see these people who, you know, I was probably 16 when it was Operation Desert Shield, so we sing, my mom lived or worked, where we were at the Sher base, she worked on the flight line at the base, so what she did was a, she worked in a kitchen where she, you know, she was like, you know, a cook short lived, you know, my dad was in the military and he was a welding technician, so he fixed airplanes and things, anything that needed to be fixed, my dad could put it together, she would do it.

They saw the pilots, they landed and then they came in, they had lunch, they ate, they took off again, so when it was Operation Desert Shield, they landed, they prepared to take off and fly to the Middle East, they ate at it. at her Café and then took off and landed in the desert before the Army got there and they had to provide air support like that was Operation Desert Shield. I received all this information when I'm 15 or 16, so I'm learning. about all this and how we are protecting our interests in the Middle East, so I understand foreign policy and you know how soldiers move and I used to go to the Base gym every Saturday and on Sundays the races were at 10 in spot.

You had to arrive at 9:45, we would be waiting outside. You have to run to the gym and put your name on the list because if you come at 10:30 now the list is full, like you know the spaces for five, so it's full to the end, you know, 15 20 names, like this that if you get in at 21 or 22 when they get there, the

career

s start to dilute, so I'm playing with a lot of grown men and that was part of my experience, but when Desert Shield happened and then Desert Storm happened, when it went from Desert Shield to Desert Storm, all these men were sent, so now the race started to be, you know no one was in the Base gym because everyone was gone, so that perspective helps.

I understand that there are more important causes at play here. You know life is not about me. Nobody cares about my feelings. There are men going out into the world and we're not even talking, just talking about men going to the Middle East. They're going to uh Asia, you know, they're going to Germany, you know, bases around the world because we're supporting those institutions around the world just to provide support to whatever's going on in the Middle East, so my perspective is always It was very different and older because I understood what it meant to be part of something, so being part of a team is simulated much more easily because you move.

I have to do my job, but in the same way I have to be able to understand what it means to stay in the background, you know I have to do my job so that this person can be great and if he can be great, then he will drag me to him. and then vice versa, you know, the push. and the attraction of being on the team is very important, parents have to understand that this is what we are teaching them as coaches because I coach, you know, in high school and then I help with what we are teaching them that parents they can not. teach them what we're teaching them their teachers can't teach them they're learning a different set of skills with us extracurricular activities and it's hard it's not it's not easy you know and and you have to be able to do things that's what we're asking you to do when we're not telling them. giving homework like teachers do, but we're saying no, don't just play basketball when we practice, work a little, run, you know, jog during the street you get a little extra conditioning because remember great players do things that no one else is willing to do and they are working when no one else wants to work very hard there.

I want to touch on one thing that you just said and that is being part of a team I'm curious what do you miss most about being a player I don't know there was just a rhythm uh to one physically you know your body you know you're what you're working on Paying attention , I never worried about my weight because it stayed the same, but trying to figure out how you can get an advantage, you know, getting in the weight room and knowing what your body's limitations are and you know it's like that. Be Biscuit. mentality like we're always measuring ourselves against um it's one thing to do it against the competition but your teammates you know look at what they're doing well and try to add something to your game and after practice I think I had this more when I played in Seattle because I had younger guys and it was like an experience where I had to learn to be a leader, but after every practice, it was usually in Milwaukee and I would shoot and I always had Michael Red, who was always there.

I was shooting, but in Seattle I had like four or five or six guys because they were younger and they wanted to learn, so it was always like a fun competition, shooting drills and everyone was trying to beat me, everyone wanted to compete and you know, We had a bigger team. young, so we had players that came from abroad, we had players that were trying to make the team and, you know, sometimes you come from the CBA at that time, so they were thirsty to know any information they could. I could receive or learn a drill or you know they wanted to be like me and have a position in the league, so there was always something going on where you were getting sharp because even when I was pushing them, they were pushing me because they were trying to beat me. and I didn't want to be beat, so being in Boston and being in Miami was the same, you know, in Boston everyone was usually shooting and doing their thing and Miami was interesting because LeBron I always wanted to smoke, you know, LeBron always said, come on, We're going to shoot free throws and it was a competition, it was back to the same thing, okay, we're doing it today and that camaraderie and that competition is what I miss because you're always there.

It's like we just practiced for two or three hours, but now the real guys come up, the real guys step aside and say, "Okay, let's put this smoke in and have a couple drinks and move around." . the horn and then the free throw contest starts, you know, and you're here and you know if I'm shooting with LeBron, if he won two or three times during the year, you know, we've done the media there. walk over there with some Swag like you know I just knocked him down today you know he and those are the times he won but you know probably 95% of the time he lost but because it was always me who I would love to compete and hone my skills against everyone and that's what always made me so focused and I'll quickly tell you one of my favorite shooting competitors that I had that got me to such an

incredible

start when I was. in Milwaukee and he was hard to beat, it was like whistles left and right.

I couldn't beat him and he's a name that people don't know. He played at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, but Jeff Nordgard did and you. I know you guys looked for him, but Jeff walked in. I think he was a second round pick and I don't know how long he lasted, but every time we shot it was like this guy was like money and I was struggling to try to keep up. with him at all times and that put me on the right path knowing that yes, I can shoot, but am I the best shooter there is?

Am I the best worker? Am I the best trainer in situations, not in game situations to apply? and so I carried it with me for the rest of my career, so if I heard correctly what you miss most is this, like Search to improve at the margins, it's that constant search to improve and then the team part is interesting to me because you mentioned, I think the camaraderie, I think for me that's probably what I missed the most, is the little competitions that you have, I miss competing, I miss that part of the wins and losses. the feelings you get are the highs.

ForI would come to the bus or the taxi, you know, to shoot in the morning, I had He likes it, man, I can't mess with that, you know, the mini bar is too much money, so it gave me some perspective. I thought, don't mess with a mini bar. The mini bar is what you're going to get, so I learned to get one. doing my routine with those guys early, making my shots and then moving and then they were traded and then for a while I was alone and I started creating my routine without a rebounder because the coaches weren't there early enough and then after a while we started getting the coaching staff and they started bringing these guys in and then the coaches made sure there was someone out there, so no, so I had a coach with me to follow my routine, you know, and I had a rebounder and a lot of times , for the most part, had such a rhythm that the trainer would just bounce around and then become so consistent with what he was going to do and then that was my purpose and this is a sidebar.

I'm playing golf. in Mexico with a couple of friends and I'm standing in front of this wedge shot. I've heard this story before. It's so good, tell it, please. I'm about 90 meters away and I'm sitting here and there's no water. There's nothing and the flag is standing right in front of me and I was like, oh God, I don't even know where this ball is going to go, so I thought about that and I was like wow, this is actually what I do in basketball. . I used to go to the gun range and hit my driver seven times.

I'm ready to go, let's go and I realized that I don't practice these shots. I don't practice the different nuances of golf and then expect to be good at it, you know, I'm like if I can find the cool ball then I could advance it, so I started to to say that I needed to start practicing these marriage shots. to be able to get close to the green and understand what I have to do and I said that's what I do in basketball. I'm not going to go down on the court and make a move where I don't even know what's going to happen. dribbling between the legs crossing and going up in the air and just figuring it out while I'm up there and then I said from that moment on on the golf course, when I play basketball, I'm going to work every single contingency with my game at every angle, every court was tired, so I started running from full court to my CU three, that's what happens in the game, so you imagine all these guys running transition, they come in, shoot a three and it's like they really you were shooting a shot that you don't practice, you know, full court, running deep.

Sprint, there are seconds on the clock and you have to get to your elevator and you have to shoot that ball and there is a six-foot shot running. To you, what is your elevation? GNA. It seems like you have to practice that. That right there. If I see someone, if I walk in the gym and I see someone shooting like that, I'm like this kid here, he's going to have problems because he understands it. but I walk around the gym a lot including the kids I coach and I see them jump so high when we do shooting drills and then when the game starts and we practice you see them jump higher and I said you miss them now.

Shoot the ball over the rim because now you're shooting to a different release point and that's how I found out because I had some pretty good coaches that watched me and talked to me and then just ch

allen

ged me to be consistent in my jump and that's why when I go to the gym I jump the same way every time I don't deviate from that because my percentages have a chance of being higher than me saying you know I'll figure it out as I go because the When you turn on the switch, you'll see a lot of great players who can play a high level, but they cannot maintain consistency.

I'm always jealous. I told Luca that there is a Demar and it is the same way I see it. they warm up and I'm like, man, I wish I could warm up at that pace, yeah, you know, it's just different, man, it's even like Demar, when he does his pregame, he shoots like essentially flat-footed midfielders and then he goes into the game. and he's rising above people and it's like Luca has his own rhythm in his training and it's just different and I've never had that luxury. I'm curious about your uh specifically like Boston Miami um.

I'm going to enter a young man. Ray Allen in a second because I love the highlight montages that appear on social media two or three times a year where you immerse yourself in people, but in the catch-and-shoot version of Ray Allen there just aren't many guys who play that. What did it take to play that way? You mentioned full-court sprints coming into a three. What did a workout look like, say in the off-season? Did you just run? Did you do sprints or were all your basketball workouts? Sprints, you know what I mean by that, yeah, no, because it was, it was, it was half court stuff, like starting with drills and doing little drills where you know you run from under the basket from the sideline and you kind of run across the baseline, you open up, you slow down and you run and you curve around the top and you know, inside foot shot, uh, you elevate and then you go back the other way, you come back and you do the other side, you know, and there's a progression. you do two of those, you do four of those and then once you do two you run the other way and get to the baseline you do the same thing to get used to working at a high pace but in small spaces I know that It's what happens in games, like you train yourself to run and focus on conditioning, but then you have to slow down and then run again, so the conditioning has to be there at a high level, that's why I started riding bicycle.

That's why I've always been a cross country runner, so I ran to do cross training to put my body under stress in different circumstances, you know, to be able to last, you know, fast sprints are one thing, but you know what? I don't. going to the bench during the timeout just panting, you know, trying to catch my breath because I'm already over what this game could throw at me and then I can get to that speed and that elevation without getting tired and I can't get everything back. I think the goal is to be able to recover faster than everyone else on the court, so when you can recover faster now, you can do more now, you can keep running off screens and get to a spot and then. you can fake and get to the hole you can jump in the air and you can dunk on someone you can finish a layup because now that you have it you don't feel the fatigue set in your body because some people can't do it don't have a second jump, you know, some people they get to the paint and I see it a lot in college basketball.

Men and women come to the painting, they made a move and now there's nothing left, you know, they put a tray down. but they didn't explode, that's just training that simply pushes your body to a level beyond your comfort zone and beyond what your trainers could present to you, so it requires you to know that you work on your quads, that's what does cycling. Why cycling is good for you, you can't, you can't replace it, so you have to run on the streets because your legs need to fill your muscles, you know, accepting the stabilization, you know it every time you touch the ground. and then do long distance races where you could sustain yourself for a long period of time, but in the same way we used to do sprints in the field, you know, before the season started, we did stairs, you know, as training just to work in sprints and sustain that. for long periods of time I used to, I probably liked that I had five years left in my career at the time I lived in New York, so maybe it lasted four years and every offseason because I had always done Sprints and then I did Sprints within The training in my shooting drills it was okay and then I started doing basic level races so I gave it a try.

I had a heart rate monitor on and was trying to get to 125 to 135 for about 15 minutes at a time. having a correct V2 baseline and then mixing in, you know, some treadmill sprints or whatever, all monitored, okay, let's try to take it 180, it's like mixing up my favorite exercise because of the way I started doing it. Right when I started playing for the Clippers in the offseason, it was 12 shots and every shot was different and every version of the drill was a little different, but for me it simulated how I played and it was a perfect training tool for me.

So it would look like this, like starting a right, white, right high quadrant. I would do a swing pass, a dribble step, three immediately, run to the right corner, catch and shoot three, kind of jog along the baseline to your point. to the corner speed side shot fake side step three and then I would have another screen or cone Sprint off a wide pin down and I would catch and shoot or turn the corner I would get to my float game there are four shots to the right and I would go back to the upper quadrant right, I would do it again and I had to hit nine out of 12 and if I got N out of if I got nine, it's hard because they're all different shots so that's the thing about practice.

The variability of the VAR for me was a big thing that I didn't take, especially later on, like I stop shooting a lot of threes because I'm like you don't shoot threes, no, you don't do it very rarely. always moving so let's say I got nine for 12. I have to switch sides if I didn't get nine for 12. I had to do it again and that's what all of a sudden you start doing a couple rounds of eight for 12 at the end you're fatigued, that's how I built up, yeah, and that's the pressure you have to put on yourself.

Coaches can't impose that on you, yes, you have to impose it on yourself, but up to that point, it was fascinating. Also when you played in Los Angeles you actually played the same way I played in Boston because you had the doctor, that was Doc's free agent speech to me, it's like you were used the wrong way in Orlando mhm, I want you to play like Ray Allen and I said don't say any more, I just want to be Ray Allen, yeah, and that was because I saw and I thought this is all you made the offense work, yeah, you know, because as much as you be moving you're moving in a way that the team changes we, you and I, more than anyone, I think Kyle Corver was a little bit, had a little bit of that, um, but we were, we were, this, this, you know we don't you must do it.

Compare us to Shaq when I played, he was very demanding with a double team and sometimes a triple team and the defense really changed when we threw the ball, we on the court moved, the defense changed, yeah, you know, a lot of people didn't. I don't understand that movement, how much it had to change because you're moving to help and then everyone else has to shift towards that help and when we open, everyone's open, you know, and that was the reason we did the work for ourselves. . lifting heavy things you know that we are the ones that just with that little bit of movement we open ourselves there everyone says and then bam they shoot and not even we want to shoot, you move it very fast and then now the change happens that they could overcome that change, it is a consciousness constant because, I mean, I had to protect you in two playoff series, it's just a conscience and that takes a toll on me, having to chase you and that, and it takes a toll on the defense because it's because to your point it's like you're coming out of a wobbly screen at the baseline.

I'm chasing and a big baby setting up the screen and kg setting up the screen or benefit setting up the screen and you're already behind him, his man is now engaged. the guard like you when you came out of the loop he's committed you have options now it's just that changing defense I want to go back to the 9 by 12 thing because I coached some guys uh this summer uh a couple of NBA guys this summer and Not really, never I paid you well, it was free, it was free, man, no, I'm not a man Keem, free, it was free, I'm just a free game, man, no, but I, it was interesting because I.

I'm getting through them through these workouts and I realized that was all I did and I built it around you know, like Tai Jerome, for example, he's with the Cavs like he's more of a ball guy, like that. that I built his training around his ability. It was okay, but it was the same kind of concepts and the same kind of rhythm, um, and I realized that everything I did as a player in training had consequences and you mentioned it as the building in the pressure, so like I . I've already simulated that six days a week all summer long for years, which brings me to something you told me, uh, had incredible meaning.

First of all, there are two things you did for me in my career that were incredible. The number one I mentioned. the uh the playoff series 09 Milwaukee um no the 09 When U Celtics Orlando when we beat them you didn't have kg. I'm fine admitting that you guys didn't have kg, but you basically came from Chicago. Series where you averaged 24 games, you had a 51 point game, in the sixth game you shot like 47% from three, so Stan in that series it was like you had no help responsibilities, so if you guys execute a good side pick roll where you are in the corner and Rondo comes to the middle and the profit is rolling you have no responsibilities tohelp you don't have them they never asked you to tag so my job was just to chase you and you didn't shoot well that series and I remember we won in the outfield in the seventh game and it was a big moment for me.

You did two things: you came to me and acknowledged that I had defended you well and then you went to the press conference. You did something not many guys would do. and that's you recognize that I did a good job, it gave me so much confidence that it was like that whole playoff run was the turning point in my career and that moment for me was huge. I just want you to know that the second thing was when I was in Milwaukee and you were in Miami, we played you guys in the first round and I know it happened in Milwaukee, so it had to have been the third or fourth game and you guys came up to me during a shot. free or coming out of a time out and you told me you said something like I see it in your face I see it in your body language it's not you yourself you talked about it a moment ago you said that being the most valuable employee is being the same guy constantly and another time and somehow I had gotten lost, yeah, and I and I was like he was right, did you ever get lost?

By the way, do you ever feel like you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, so I think Skyles was your coach. no, they had fired him or they had mutually separated in January, about a month before I arrived, who coached this Jim bo and that's fine, not the Chicago Bulls, Jim bo and the older one who was with you and in Cleveland, so the thing is, there's no point in you thinking that we're competing with each other like I can pay homage to Greatness, you know, I see people working, I see people loving it, those are the people I want to support, even doing an interview. having a conversation with the media this is not a scolding session, not that you know, it is simply a responsibility in a good way, many times talking to the media is a therapy, so to be able to do that we have this responsibility not only from sharing the game to talking the game parauh, communicate the game, you know, every time a journalist asks us a question like, oh, sometimes it can be a stupid question, just say, can you reward that question?

I don't understand what you're asking me, but even communication. between us like he doesn't have a problem with another guy in the league, he gets paid the same as me and he's trying to win and do all these things and I know there's a fight for all of us, but if you step back In the curtain there's a little kid who is so excited to play this game and just remembers who he loved and how he wanted to get to this moment he's in, so I always had to remember to play for him. You could see that in every child.

I know Slash players as who they were when they first came in, especially if they were younger when they came to the game. I thought I remembered you at Duke and you know the energy and that's why I said that and I've seen it because you wanted to win and you were in such a difficult situation at the time and I had been there, you know, I had been there in places where I I was the victim, I was the villain, I was the one being discarded and I just wanted to remind you that this is the GNA pass, but in this process don't get lost because you still have to do it, you are preparing to be something great for someone in the future and I saw it firsthand because as much as I lost in Seattle and as much as I wanted to stay there when they traded me to Boston in 2007, there was something bigger in store for me and it was because I didn't miss it, it was because I was sitting there waiting to be served. on a plate to something great that I can achieve and take me to the top and that turned out to be, you know, playing in Boston, it was the most incredible situation and then going to Miami and then being in an equally great situation to be able to have the opportunity to win and I was so happy for you when you went to Philly because now you're in that position where you're consistently seeing success, regardless of what happened at the end of the year, you're now in a situation where you're at your best. , you know, and that's what I think people forget with success, it's like the media can't oppress you or hit you, remember where you are, you know because the guys that make it to the NBA have such a woe mentality , it's me you know my life is the worst uh h i i i need to do the and then you make the All-Star team and then everyone says oh well I'm trying to do this and I you know I need to work so you make the Olympic team without No matter what levels you ascend to, you know that getting selected is a great sign of success, but you still did it doesn't mean you have achieved but you still have to keep working to improve and if you ever think you are great, that is the time when you slide and that was always for me, someone asked me, so when did you realize you were cool?

I told him I was never like that. never when you folded, yeah, you know, I never sat down and counted my chip because I was always afraid that if I slipped at some point, someone would catch up with me and the thing is I'm telling everyone what I do working, they can see it, It's documented, can you commit to it? That's what

greatness

gives all of us is the ability to find what you can do well, but can you all commit to it? At the beginning of the year we are going to win the NBA championship, everyone at the beginning of the year wants to make the All-Star team, everyone has these goals until it gets tough and when it gets tough, oh coach, he doesn't like me.

I know I want to be traded, you know this player, you know, screw him, that's what bad teams do and even good teams, when they reach that rhythm of complacency, mediocrity as a struggle, they just talk more, you know, you sit on the plane like you mentioned. Before also some of the times I missed the most because my bank used to be this thick because you're playing poker on the plane. For me it was also Bay like we had all these games going on and Like you gotta make sure you come with some ammunition but those are the times where we got so good and we became a unit because we communicated with each other and we didn't We ran out of separate corners of the plane and simply said "screw it." Not everyone, I said, come on, we lost, let's go get the car game, we talked about it and then all of a sudden we had fun when we got off that 3-5 hour flight, everywhere we went we were at peace with each other. the other one and I knew okay, I'll see you tomorrow, we're going to go in and take some shots, so it was never animosity because we have to do this.

It's too long a time to be mad at someone, you know it like you have to. Being able to get those things off your chest, what you told me in that 2013 playoff series, I think was a very valuable lesson in a different kind of personal responsibility, because at that point in my career I had taken some hits in the face, especially at the beginning in Orlando, and you know I was never a starter in GNA for Stan Van Gundy, right, he didn't see me as leaving. Dwight transferred that year before I transferred to Milwaukee. It was a fun year even though we weren't winning because it was like the first time I got to be a leader, there were no right expectations and it was like the first time Jacqu Von said: yeah, go, move, play and it was like that.

It was kind of fun and then you get trafficked so I took personal responsibility but it was a different kind because I got traded, it's a bit of a shock to the system. In the seventh year, the first time they changed me, it was nothing against me. the city of Milwaukee, the Bucks organization, it was just strange, it was a strange team, it was, it was strange, like Dynamic on the roster, interim coach, nothing against Jim Boy, they just put me in this situation and I got lost for a couple of months and I thought I'm still doing my job, but I lost that edge.

I lost that. No, I'm not going to worry and be victimized here because of the circumstances. I won't let that happen again, it was very valuable that you mentioned going to Boston, everyone talks and you guys have talked a lot about the sacrifices that you had to make and the stage of your career that you were at when you got there, huh ? What does this sacrifice mean? Beyond how many shots per game you get or your usage rate. What did? What was the sacrifice that the three of you have to make? How did that manifest itself?

Beyond just the shots. I remember it because it's quite interesting. because I'm doing this now as a coach, my kids, when they know they're not going to score, they just dribble nice and easy and they just like to pass the ball and I'm like, dude, you. I had to cut harder than that because that really happened to me my freshman year. There's just a play we had where, you know, I go out under a big one that's on the block. I go out, catch it and look. I throw it back and then I cut again and then there's a screen, but the ball is going to go in the opposite direction, so when I did it, I kind of retched through the cut, I wandered over, doctor, it was like You would have to cut harder than that.

And that bothered me a little bit because I had never been pushed in that sense, you know, because offensively I was always the guy and he was always centered around me, but in this situation the ball was going somewhere else and that's how it was. He kind of got into my soul a little bit because I was angry that he went at me, but he was right. I had to be willing to make the cut so someone else could have a chance because I needed to believe. that he was going to get the ball and if he wasn't able to do it then our offense doesn't work and Doc always said that our offense has to work like a football offensive line, you know you have guys that are shooting that are blocking in certain directions and They are doing everything possible so that the quarterback at some point creates a hole for the running back or the receiver has to block the field to know that this play is coming in one direction knowing that they are not going to touch the ball, that is very important when you're playing, especially if you're a guy who scored well somewhere else and now you come to a new team and they ask you to take your place.

To be asked to take less is to be able to win on that team's terms and not on your terms, you know, because the phrase of my game is that you have to throw it out the window, your game happens when you play basketball, you have to Understand it, you can go out with all the kids, by the way, we are losing kids playing 21 in the park where you are experimenting, you know where the hoop is, you feel so comfortable that you have to be able to understand that my game does not exist. in team basketball now you have to be so selfish and selfless, which means do your job, work on your game, work on your shot, be a great free throw shooter, be a great dribbler, so now when the team is assembled and you are in a game situation, You can connect to any of these situations to be able to help a coach be the general to place you in places where he can help you be effective on the team.

If I need you to set a screen and then show up, you're going to set a hard screen and you're going to explode because you can do that and then when you catch it, you're not going to be able to shoot the ball, but you're going to drive as hard as you can if you have a big shot, but then this guy I'll be open to everyone being able to put all these kids in these situations because they're multifaceted with their skill set, it's the most important thing, but are guys willing to make that sacrifice that at the end of the game I'm going to do? make a play where this other guy is going to get the shot, that's what in Seattle I had the ball in my hands 90% of the time, you know, at the end of games and whether I shot the ball or not, I understood who's open and where the ball should go, but I was the scorer, everything was coming to me in Boston, I was somewhere around, you know where I was creating, helping create the action, don't be humble, you made some clutch shots for Boston, I did it, I did it, but but that happens again.

It gets to the point where we actually had a system where I'm running to set a screen for Paul. Kg is burning me and now Paul is driving and he knows that I'm wide open in the corner because now making those plays because he also understood that we wanted to win this is not about, you know, Paul, one of my favorite winners is in Charlotte. Charlotte had our number, they had uh uh, I think Jason Richard was on the team, um, uh, what. was the dunker uh Jared Wallace Jared Wallace, he gave us a lot of fits because they use him as a stretched four and for the most part the kg was always under the basket so when they stretched him on the perimeter he was shooting from the perimeter and he was driving and dunking so I mean every time we played them we had a tough time so we were down at this point and you know hook to thief we ended up coming back and I don't remember if we were down. or two, but they are getting the ball.

Eddie House puts his hand on the ball. Paul leaves the field. Paul receives the ball and Paul doesn't even think about shooting. I'm at the top of Ken. I just spin it and Paul just spins it and throws it and I take it out, the bell rings and then it goes in and then you can see the Charlotte guys just lay down like you know because they played, they played a gameincredible, but we knew how to do it. win and that is the difference between great teams and average teams, not only in the NBA but in all sports and specifically in basketball, you have to make your free throws, you can't lose the ball and you get rebounds and those three points .

They are the points that allow the good team to know how to close the game and finish and we always knew how to do it, but it was always born from the idea that we knew where everyone was going to be and we stayed there explicitly. knowing I'm going to make Paul R operate, but the moment they turn their head, I'm making a layup, bam and everyone knew it. I think the physics is interesting when we start with the physical act of being a decoy. It's a very different experience and I know having played against you, the sacrifice, I think, because I've been thinking about this a lot lately and you guys brought up the topic of my game, mhm, and we're talking about sacrifice, I think it gets overlooked.

One thing when we talk about the NBA and certain players, like when we talk about guys' individual talent or knowing their skill set, it's like we lose what makes a good basketball team work if you and Rondo are on a break with a three on two and the big guy doesn't run to the rim, you won't be open if he doesn't draw that short man in Rondo, he can't give you that kick pass properly, why don't we highlight the rim runs they lead? to open shots every time Luca is in a pick and roll and Derek Lively rolls to the rim and Luca shoots to Tim Hardaway it's a great pass from Luca it's an open three from Tim Hardaway we never highlight the fact that Derek Lively screwed up the defense he has to dunk, now we have tracking where we can track screen assists, why don't we put that in a box score?

I'm serious, no, it's a lot, this is basketball, this is basketball, it's not my game, it's all the things. Like I always talk about, I always talk about an NBA team, a basketball team, it's like an organism, right, yeah, and you have to feed it certain things and all the different parts of the organism have to function properly for it to be an organism. that works in a healthy way, yes. and it's a lot more than just my game and I think this where it all comes down to watching film and being able to be, you know, we're talking about guys that can really train and kind of break down like me, I have kids, uh, that I train, you know , I had to teach them to pick and roll, uh, this. year because a lot of our sets were pick and roll stuff and I told them that a lot of these teams that we play just want to run Zone all day and don't want to teach their kids basketball.

That's why these kids don't go to college and so my kids started, they ran a pick and roll and they stopped because they saw the big coverage coach, the big one was right there. I can not go. I said, I'd say stop doing it again, where's the big one? Show me and he shows me that he is there. I said then what should you do? He said, um, I was like, go around it, I want you to take it, take it out, let's see what. This guard does it if he can come back, so what they started doing is looking big and rejecting the pick and roll and I had to explain to him.

I told him that offensively we're trying to create a rhythm for our offense. I know. Individually you can reject his pick and roll and get to that mid-range and you can shoot, but how does that help our offense? How does that destroy your defense and stretch your defense? You have to get out of the pick and roll and see how. If that big one is going to stay, what if he doesn't stay with you and then the big one, the guard gets caught on the screen and now you're downhill and then someone else comes out, then bam, you swing it and now you have a three?

Over here I said there's so much going on in a pick and roll situation that you have to understand and being a point guard you have to be able to lead the game. I have a child too, you know, I always tell him to play two. The feet play with two feet spreads your opportunities because if you commit the one you're in the air and if the guy is bigger than you he can jump high, that's blocking or you're going to travel or you're going to take a really crazy shot, but if You play with two feet now you can pump the target, you get to the free throw line, you can see your shoes, there's nothing there, so you can swing it back.

The kids wanted to get it the first time. I always say that. They know they want to get it the first time, they can't get it the first time, they have to be patient and see pump fake pump fake pump fake I tell my son that the whole time he was watching the game I told him: look how they played with two feet and they spit back and they swung it and then they got an open shot um so it's coach he's teaching the game he's watching the film he's showing the kids what established what we're looking for the set like I'll do a set I know it works because it I've seen, I watch college games and I steal things from other coaches, it's all I knew, who knows how to run plays, you know, we take things from other people and try to implement it you want, you know, most coaches I tell the guys kids you see K coaches who are really good, they can be great outside of timeouts, you know they could be a flash setting team, you know they could be a great post-up team like you guys, you'll see they know how they operate, so so they have to be able to execute the game plan and play out of a timeout, specifically out of bounds and out of bounds baseline, you know.

We should be able to score or have a chance to score every time, but you guys can't mix things up, you have to be in the right spots, you can't mediate cuts, you have to set up screens like all that. The basic fundamentals are ultimately what makes teams really good: you can score and that levels them up to the next step because if you can't do these things, then you can't score. Let's say they beat us by 1520 every night and that's the first step for that kid to retire from that sport. Very interesting. I want to talk about shooting.

You're a pretty good shot. Steph Curry said that if he were to teach. Someone how to shoot, he would teach Klay Thompson the way. um I wanted to shoot like you, not just like hits and misses, but like I legitimately wanted to shoot a jump shot like you drop the point. I even shot a flatter shot because you shot a flatter shot. When you watch different guys shooting basketball, you're curious about how you learned to shoot that way, why it worked for you specifically, but also how you would teach and I know you've done it with your kids, but how would you teach and who would you emulate? shoot the basketball well again.

I think there's a similar analogy with golf, like if you take someone who can't and has never swung a golf club. He wants golf lessons. The first thing I would say is go play golf, go to the course, hit balls for a couple a week or so and then come back, let me see what your body has developed, now you know what your body can and can't do and now we can work from there because I don't want to try to force you into a position that you can't get to, you know, tightness is like any athletic skill whatsoever, sometimes a guy goes to a golf instructor.

The golf instructor is trying to get them into a space that his body just can't reach, so I'm teaching. I'm watching the kid exactly what he can and can't do based on his physical limitations or you know, his abilities, not everyone can hit a jump shot like you, yeah that's a fact that Joel Embiid is great at , but Joel Embiid is not going to rise, no. 28 to 30 inches off the ground on the shot, it's just not going to happen to him, but what I will do is because I have a problem with my children, so all children at a young age know many times what happens and This me It seemed fascinating because my kids when they were younger and even my 17 year old son now doesn't do it anymore, but he used to push from under his chin so he pushed the ball up like that, why? using their body with force because they don't understand shots and they think that's what they need to throw the ball in the air, so you know we have a trampoline in our yard and the kids are jumping up and down on the trampoline and they have, you know, the hoops on both sides, so, I mean, they're here like their games are always fascinating.

Look out the window, watch them because they will do backflips between their legs like my now 12 year old. man, he's had a dunk contest where he does everything, he spins and dunks and then he shoots and one time I was watching him shoot this basketball, he's got the ball in his hands, he's going with rotation and everything and I was like , then he can shoot. like that with his fingertips, but when he gets a bigger ball, he shoots because now that ball is too big for him, now he lifts it, now he pushes from under his chin, now his form is out of shape, he's just trying to take the ball into the air and the thing is.

Will he be able to continue making shots because he can adjust? He can adapt, so in many cases young children definitely need smaller balls, so it doesn't help them develop the habit of pushing and then when they grow up. He is at the age where he still does the same things. You know, you see a lot of times kids end up doing this and everyone's following was here and I always tell them not to follow with their guiding hand. It's always here, don't do that because that's what they're used to doing from here, so now they evolve to get here and they're doing the same thing, so the first thing I tell all the kids when they shoot is: Look how they hold the ball because a lot of times they hold it in the palm of their hand, so remember that if I and what I do is throw the ball, have a ball, throw it, you never catch the ball down here, you know? then I throw them a golf ball, you don't catch the golf ball like that, you catch it here.

I said when I give you the basketball, don't catch it here, so when you shoot, the last thing that happens is it rolls. Take your fingers off, so now if you're at the free throw line, look at the college, look at the pros that you know. The professionals do it because they're experts at it, they're experts at it, but other guys are really bad at it. Shooters because they leave the ball starts here and then it rolls from here to here and now once it gets here their movement is already here they have no contact and they have to push Josh Hart yeah so it gets here and it's like as if they were pushing with their arm to get the ball out of their hands, it is no longer on their wrist.

It's interesting if we think of the basketball shot not as a push but as a throw, if he were throwing a baseball unless he was trying to throw a ball. Shooting I wouldn't shoot with the palm, not even a football, right, yeah, it's the fingers that are releasing, it's not the palm, obviously there are some shooters, uh, Mike dun leevy, Damen Lillard, that shoot, But I look at them all, some of them shoot. at Palm they have to do this because they really have to release it, they get really adept at being able to do that, but specifically to kids because I always see it and I try to get them to see it and I even stop. my own clips and I don't want everyone to have to shoot like me, but I've been successful because I duplicated those same habits and we're talking about getting the ball out quickly, you know, you're talking about moving your feet.

Receive the ball quickly, so if you look at me at the free throw line, the only thing you'll see is that the ball is always served, so you can run your hand through my uh, here in my palm, and the ball is up here. It's not sitting that flat, what happens is they're holding the whole ball because it's insecure because most people say oh, I'm not going to fill the ball, he's not going to know that I will and then they push the whole ball like that. hand no, we just need you here, born from children at a young age who are not strong enough, they don't work on your wrists and shoot free throws, that's why I said I'm when when when I competed in Three. -Point contest I didn't shoot threes, I went to the free throw line, it's one thing to get up, but another thing is to work on my shooting point and shooting free throws are all shots and I'm working on catching the ball and I feel comfortable with the ball in my hand breathing and feeling all this movement.

Now it's a match. Can I match my lift with my release? That's the trick because once you get to a real game, if you can match that, now you're in. cooking with hot fat is really interesting when I had bad shooting workouts and when you had bad shooting work I guess you did the same thing like I feel man everything is not aligned right now my muscle memory is off I just stop the exercise and I'm going right to the free throw, I'm going right to the free throw line, let me figure this out. The release point is huge.

The shot in the corner on Tony Parker when we were talking earlier about the preparation and the routine, one of the The most famous shots in the history of the NBA Finals One of the most famous shots in the history of the NBA What went into that shot? That day, you think about that series, that's the sixth game, so youI did in just if you think about those six games that I did. that at least 30 to 40 shots before every game and then every shooting routine that you know before practice and in between uh, it was just a um, it was for me, it was a right that I had to be able to follow through on a daily basis. base to be able to move and shoot a shot where I can go to one side and then the ball goes in the air because now what happens is you see kids who don't understand when I yell at them in practice saying faster FAS F Don't you know and you know we're going to shoot spot shots just to get them to work on shooting and then I'm going to put them through drills where they have to run so I have a drill where you start this basket and this basket?

Court C full, so this team there are three guys here, three here, maybe four here and four here on this side, they are on the team, so when they shoot they have to run this way, so on every basket you have to make 15 shots, so if this basket ends with 15 first, then everyone can run there and help this team, you know, shoot their 15 and whoever finishes wins, there are consequences for you in the race, but I told them that what does making this exercise easier for you is the opposite of what you think because if you shoot and choke all the way to the other end, that means that when you get there your rest will be less, so when you get there you're about to have to shoot again. new and you will always be behind.

So when you shoot down here to get more rest, now you have two or three people in front of you, now you can rest and you can rally and you can go straight to your shot, so the Sprint is the magic, that's why you do it. run as hard as you can to rest that's what happens in games and then make your play shot if you can, if you can, practice that to put yourself in situations that you're always used to being able to catch the ball sideways. in the air because remember shooting is just that little space that you have, you can't come from there to a place to here like you're always in a confined space, you know, you watch the guy space out and if you're on the baseline you just get you slide left or right a little bit, you slide right and then you go up in the air and you shoot, so you get a chop chop chop chop in the air, you don't have a chance to go chop, chop, gather and then shoot, yeah, and I think that's the most surprising thing about that shoot, even though it was in such a small space and, honestly, in a limited amount of time too, yeah, like you know about shooting, you shot so many shots in your routine you know where this basket is like I'm aware of the face on the court, yeah, yeah, like I'm sitting on it, I'm sitting on it, what I would do is catch the ball with my back to the basket and jump in the air and Shoot literally like the basket was there, I would be looking over there in the sand and then the guy would be there and he would throw the ball to me right here and as he throws it I would jump up and shoot there, you start to understand where. your relationship is with you and with the basket and it is a very advanced way of thinking about the shot because now you feel very comfortable turning your left shoulder, turning your right shoulder and I will tell you another super important thing because I was telling my son, this because we were playing one on one the other day and I was on a bad shot, but I was like playing with him and every time he was going to shoot the ball like it had to go from here up and I said it now, when you start practicing evolved shots, you have to know how to replace the ball because if you have a good defender with the ball in front of you, you can bring the ball here and then get here.

Can you bring the ball from here and then get here? CU Everyone's comfort zone is going up from right here, so now you have to be able to catch the ball here and then go right here really fast on that shot, if I remember correctly. right you brought it from your left um no I brought it from right here you brought it from love okay yeah cuz he came he got it for me right here and then I put it down you know so it's even like a blur to me because it feels like it happened in slow motion that played it, yeah I mean I saw the ball even as I think about now, I saw the ball and it was like a real movie, it happened in slow motion and I swear it didn't I didn't feel like I had done anything with it, I didn't feel like it was going to go over the edge, um, it just, as I think about it, it just floated right there and then, all of a sudden it was like that and you didn't feel like it when you shot it because we know that, like Shooters, we know that we know a perfect shot, we know that a shot is going to go in, yeah, no, you didn't feel that, no, I didn't have any feeling at all and It was just that I can only compare it to the work that I put into my body.

I knew it was like I was in a position where my body was just saying, We've got this, we've got this, we've been here. Come on, come on, let's take it from here and you know, it was like that shot, like so many winners that I've scored throughout my career, it seemed like you just set yourself up for that shot and then that's it, it was all built up. for that moment, but it's the worst anxiety you can imagine, uh, because even you know when you get to a point where you know I'm shooting over 90 percent from the free throw line.

Now I'm in a position where every time the game is on the line it's a two-point game, everyone is throwing the ball at me, so all this anxiety about shooting, making free throws and being able to pass at the decisive moment. I was like that. I know I don't want to be lucky for me and you had a little more for me. You know, on social media there's a crucial point of pressure that falls on players, like when you don't perform well, like people. your timeline you know directly, you know, um and I didn't have to deal with it, but you always worried about being able to act in those situations, so I was like, "I can't sit back and rest thinking this is going to happen." to resolve itself, I had to be able to put in the effort and be in the situation, so it wasn't about success for me, it wasn't about someone saying I was good, it was about me being able to get ahead. a time when most people don't want that smoke and you did it Ray thank you I appreciate this time you are the best man great big thanks to our sponsor Sofi the official bank of the NBA they are the next generation of banking that joins. the league to help fans get their money right.

I love that Sofi keeps track of savings because you can earn more money on your money up to 4.6% annually on your savings, which is 10 times the national average savings rate in just 5 weeks from the money you have in your savings account. Sofi makes more money than she would in a year with a big bank savings account with direct deposit. Get paid up to 2 days early, pay no account fees, and get paid up to $300 when you sign up with direct deposit terms. apply, visit sofi.com banking for full details Sofi is also running the zero giveaway all season long, each week one lucky fan will win $10,000.

I said. $10,000 added to your bank account thanks to Sofi, simply click the link in the description or scan the QR. code on screen to enter for a chance to win no purchase necessary to enter or win open only to legal US residents 18+ visit sofi.com szo for official rules this ends 23 June 2024 thanks Sofi, okay, let's get to the new era Draft with Tim Legler before we start we wanted to give a shout out to New Era, the official cap of the NBA and now the official cap of the old man of the three, you can support your favorite team wearing the same caps the players wear or show off your personal style with exclusive items, shop hats and apparel and get 10% off when you visit New Era cap.com and use code Oldman at checkout.

That's 10% off your order using code Oldman. Some exclusions apply and visit newera cap.com. om3 if you want to see Tommy and my favorites Tommy, of course, is wearing a beautiful New Era cap, Jack, full-length jacket and jacket. I love it, so he waits. Normally I let Tommy do the draft, but I want to explain this. one is okay, so let's select players from the '90s who would thrive in today's NBA. Okay, with the caveat that you have to do it if you pick a player this is how he played in the '90s, so, for example, you can pick Larry.

Bird because he played in the '90s, but you don't get Prime 84 to 86, you get 92 bird a year, okay, and you're trying to build a starting five, you're trying to build a legitimate five-man basketball team. For a guy like me, Larry Bird is my favorite athlete of all time, that's a reach for me, take Larry, the '92 version of Larry Bird, that's going to be tough, okay, I like him, so you start , I'm going second, JJ, third, we meander. everything I'm going to do I'm going to do right away I'm going to take it obviously give me Michael Jordan I'm going to go Jordan one okay, okay, can we do that?

I think he would just F, he would think it would be fine, he's not going to do it, I mean there's no jokes with that choice, there's no prohibition, he says there's nothing to say, you could, by the way, even if he chose like Wizards Jordan, it's still pretty good, but no, no, I'm going to go with the Jordan that I played against, okay, that Jordan, okay, perfect, okay, fair, I'm going to take a Keem, oh, take it, I need it, wow, man, that threw me off. great pick, what, what, what were you thinking, did you think he was going to be there, there's a good chance I'm taking him with my next second, yeah, okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going with Shaq .

I'm going to go with Shaq and I feel like, man, I feel like I can have enough in terms of guard play later, oh man, so I'm going to go with Scotty going Scottish, you're going to go Scotty one Shack snake snake TR, right? three and four, then we go back, there was a specific year of Shaq or just Shaq in general, well, obviously he went to the finals with Orlando, he was dominant with the Lakers and obviously he didn't win a championship until 2000, but in terms of uh uh , the kind of athletic anomaly that Shaquille O'Neal was, that was the Shaquille O'Neal of the 90s, you next yeah, I'm going to be Reggie man too, yeah, yeah, I think Reggie's game Reggie, he said, said a couple of years ago, he said he had averaged 45 um between those he played, which maybe could be a bit of an exaggeration, but I didn't realize how many threes he attempted with 6.6 per game, yeah, his career , Reggie, it's interesting, 45 a game, interesting, it's a take, man, this is tough.

Because I got some guys and liked the way they played, I was able to use them differently in different spots and actually get more use out of some of their skills than they could in the '90s because of the way they played. it extended the field, that's why this. It's going to be difficult for me. I'm going. Who the hell is going to select? I guess you have a Keem to counter Shack, but hey look, there are other centers he could pick that have to protect him. The Golden Age of centers. I know, but it's I don't know how the game is played now.

I don't know if they would be used offensively. This is the reason. Shaq, obviously, I'm going to select. I'm going to try to do it. Pick a team because I thought you were going to pick Shaq. I'm going to try to pick a team and that's why I picked Scotty second. I need mobile and versatile defenders because Shaq's RNG. Shaq is going to play. Drop coverage, yeah right, I'm not going into it. a situation like going to the playoffs where you're like taking it to space, right? I need guys who can cover ground. I feel very confident with my choice of Scotty, yes, I think that makes a lot of sense, right?

I'm going to go I'm going to put I'm going to put an incredible defensive team. I'm going to go with Grant Hill. I'm going to go with Gr Hill to counter your Scotty Pipp pick. I had that one, so Grant plays. a three, yes, he would. I was hoping Grant would be my next choice. I was only going to play him a point. C 96 Grant, so I got Grant at three. Jordan on two and now I have another choice. He could be a shooter or. I could go big, all right. I'm going to Penny Hardway. I got interesting.

I have great versatility at the moment. I'm going to Penny gr Hill and Jordan. Yes, I will need it. I'm going to need a little more shot. Are you all worried? about durability, like long-term durability with this team, with what team, team I'm picking, yeah, of course, okay, as you know, but you're trying to win a championship for a year. I had the impression. We were picking a team based on their peak level at some point in the '90s because we can have that LEL and we're talking about going through as a Series against each other or as a game against each other.

I am not worried. about this is not my team forever in the future I'm just I'm wondering where your size will come from I guess it's coming it's coming right I'm going um I'm going to GP for my third pick. I need an interesting point guard, very interesting, um, okay, I'm going to get a point guard here too. It looks like we're all going to get our point guards with a third pick. I'm this guy who I really think would kill in today's NBA. game I really think Tim Hardway is here. I have it, I have it.

Tim Hardway was on my short list. Tim HardawayHe's in charge of the space shots and I have a shot. I have another guard in that regard that I don't think I'm going to get. chosen and I don't want to give it away to give you an idea, so I'll tell you at the end that I think you're both going to say: what do you think you think now would make it better? Space Baby Volume Shot Space Volume Shot oh yeah, what's with him? What was his career high around 25 or wouldn't you even say that? He would say he would probably do it maybe maybe 25 Would he do it I was thinking like 2 3 24 Okay, it was where he would do it.

He reached the limit, yeah, he, he, he, he's 20-30 years on this team, yeah, oh, yeah, the way I'm building this team, oh, yeah, yeah, that's a good one, yeah, That is a good one. because you could, you would like to string together three point shots and now that would be something that would be what you would be looking for and then the way the floor was spread out, try to keep that guy 91 92 On The Run TMC, average 23.4 23 yes 23.4 yeah, I like this, I like this um I want a little more shot I want a little more shot I need I need to shoot I'm going to go to Mitch Richmond and I think Mitch Richmond in today's NBA if he grew back with the mentality that he surrounds The volume of three-point shooting becomes it's like he becomes a different level three-point shooter all the time because that's what the legs speak to this guy, the mentality around the volume of shots three point was very different then, oh, completely, of course, yes, yes. you didn't process what it was, you didn't process what was a um, a good shot analytically like they do now, which is pretty much anything, yeah, at any time, they were encouraging you to do it, you just didn't do it, even though you never I felt nothing.

The coach put restrictions on me to take any shot whenever I wanted. This is not how we thought the game would be so free-minded. I couldn't imagine what that would feel like, so I'm building my team. I feel the opposite of legs, I'm going 98 Tim Duncan, it's rookie year, yeah, first team all-NBA, it's good. I wasn't even thinking about Duncan, he's fine, because he just snuck in there, so you go. You're going Duncan Hake, yes, Duncan Hakeem Gary. Reggie at this point I'm just going to say you know Reggie can shoot but you're going to have some shooting problems you're going to have some shooting problems I was worried about shooting problems and I'm not I'm a bit dun I'm Aller.

I'm a little worried about them. I'm also a little worried about wing issues in certain matchups. It's okay, but it's okay. I think it would also provide some tough matchups for someone. It's me? Can I take my gdp? No, no, wait, wait, have you ever seen that happen in the draft? I don't think I've ever seen that happen. Take back my choice. I don't have this guy. I have this guy in my top five.completely BL, call that being part of any draft in anything, go on, go on, okay I'm torn here, I know I need a big, but I want a versatile big, okay or I just want you to know your standard big guy that can go with Shaq I think I'd rather have someone that I think could play Center see he's incredibly athletic God Tim's gon Sean km wow hitting that Sean Kemp wow Andis Chris Mullen 95 Kemp those are my two picks yeah damn now I have MJ Grand Hill Penny Hardaway Sean Kemp Chris Mullen yeah okay yeah JJ is in my head cause I had a pick yeah yeah I know he is.

I had a choice, but I don't think it's his grade. valid, I'm going to go with Glenn Rice, he's my fifth pick, yeah, he had it down, he had it down. I'll add another one, but he can't shoot it, so Glenn's going to close it out, man, that's really disappointing. I'm trying to find I'm trying to find ages here so I can know who you have so far. I also want to know who he picked, that he wanted JJ back, who's on your team, um, yeah, it's just Jack Scotty Hardaway, Mitch Richmond. I don't love it I don't love that collection it's not g GM JJ is a little shaky I just started I had a good start I felt very confident with my Tim Hardway selection I love Mitch Richmond I would Let's just say this is the first time in the history of this draft that really tries to achieve it.

I don't think he tried to do it before you get them, get them an undrafted free agent. Can we know what we are going to do? yeah, you know what we're going to do, we're all going to select six men, okay, okay, okay, that's fair and, in the interest of consistency, I can control this, so I'm going to get three Pi here, okay or two picks, rather, I'm going to go with Kobe. I know he is young. I know it wasn't the Kobe we all know, but I'm going to go with Kobe. Be confident in that and then Kobe. enters the draft 97 96 97 96, so 96, I'll get the third year, Kobe, okay, yeah, and then I'll take Nick Van XEL.

Wow, there's the absolute first outlier pick that I just didn't have, didn't have that on my radar. that on my radar CH the format to be able to cast Nick Van x man yeah that's why you wanted a six man because you wanted to say Nick van, I loved him. I played against Nick on those Lakers teams, man, okay. so I'm my first year, the season was over and as soon as school was over like April, April 25th or whatever, I went to California, one of my best friends, a Duke, lived in Davis, so we passed about a week in Davis and I was getting ready to fly back and my uncle lived in Dallas and he said to me: Do you want to come to the Mavs Kings game?

This was playoffs and I said yes, absolutely, so I flew to Dallas and went to the game he liked I knew a guy who had courtside seats next to Ross Perau, so I went there and that's when Nick was with the Mavs and played that game and I literally remember thinking to myself that I'm never going to play like these guys are so F for their performance. I've never played yeah, yeah, it's a rap that's a WAP, a six-man kickass, yeah, it's cool, okay, I'll close mine. I have to take Barkley, oh my God. I need to I mean it's a serious oversight he needs to be picked like he should have been he should have been in the second round easily playing yeah man are you saying play so we play with the way the game looks now ? behind all that space for him I had it, I had it written down, but I kept saying like undiz to play against these other greats that these other teams have, this is who you would stay with, that maybe it would be him. maybe they're going to have it Dun what has barley, you have Str Gary pton Duncan Glen Rice Barkley, you have a strange team, so I don't know if I'm going with the last big one.

I have written the last wing or the last point. I think I have enough Wings covered in gr Hill Penny Jordan I have enough Mullen I have I have enough Wings The length of your team Sean Kemp's uniform wing type is yes, so give me a total hit I can't imagine how good this guard would be in today's game, the way the league is set up gives me Kevin Johnson, yes he would be nasty in the ball screen offense, he never had to score like big numbers but he was able to do it, former teammate, By the way, that's a great choice. good pick, that's a good pick, that was my reservation if someone picked Jesus Mitch Richmond by the way, I mean I knew he had a career high percentage in '96 and '97, those two seasons he shot about 6 threes a game and I was at 437 and 428 guys, I just got a lot more confidence in my team, so who was Kobe?

I feel like I have a friend. What I got was KOB. Who did you want? You wanted to break the draft. Well, what was the third year? Kobe. Which were? his numbers because that's the best you're going to get, buddy, I know, I know, I know he wants to pick it up again by the way, by the way, by the way, listen, it stops on December 31, 1999, yeah, so even if he had a great second half of that season, none of that is eligible for this. I hope those guys get along well in this game, yeah, exactly right, so in the lockout year, Kobe, that's right, wait a minute, now Kobe averaged 20 a game, uh. five rebounds three and a half assists 3.8 assists 99 2000 so I'm getting a little bit of that uh two months of that kind yeah, I'm getting 22 and a half six rebounds and five assists a game, I think I'm sure the choice is fine, that's great value for round five.

Drexler was my other one, but he couldn't shoot. I have two boys. I want to quickly mention their names. Tell me what you think of Dale Ellis, no. I thought about him, yes. about Chris Weber, yeah, Dennis Rodman, Dennis Rodman, think, think about what Rodman's rebounding numbers would look like with the way he would run like long rebounders with all the perimeter shots, pretty good passer, not a scorer now, but guard, mhm, the energy it would have. spend on defense and rebounding for those other four because everyone we pick who can score can fill it. I also thought about him, okay, okay, I have confidence in my team.

Mark Price was another good player. I thought, oh Mark Price, that's good. one that's good, I think we have to do this every decade, yeah, he's good, he's been great, sweet man, you got it.