IT IS WHAT IT IS - IT'S ABOUT TIME THEY FIRED NICO HARRISON, COOPER FLAGG'S ROOKIE YEAR & THE SAD CASE OF SEBASTIAN TELFAIR!

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Cam'ron & Treasure "Stat Baby" Wilson are here with another one!! On this episode, Maurice Clarett is back on the show to talk about Nico Harrison getting fired by Dallas after their slow start, was this inevitable? Then, speaking of the Mavs, what do we make of Cooper Flagg's rookie season thus far? Next, the biggest surprise so far in the NBA gotta be the Pistons and them being FIRST in the East, did we see this coming and is this sustainable? Last but not least, we discuss the sad situation Sebastian Telfair is going through with him having to return back to his hometown after losing all his NBA Money, what do we make of this situation and why are so many athletes going through these troubles? We end the show with Stephen A Smith responding to former colleagues about him and ESPN! 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 02:59 Ohio State's Football Ranking and Energy 05:55 Mavericks' Management Decisions 08:57 Luka Doncic's Trade Speculations 11:58 Mavericks' Current State and Performance 14:52 Pistons' Surprising Success 17:55 Cade Cunningham's Development and Impact 21:00 Future of the Pistons and NBA Landscape 23:47 Sebastian Telfair's Story 26:55 Closing Thoughts and Reflections 35:51 The Fall from Grace: A Personal Reflection 42:41 The Importance of Environment and Accountability 47:18 Education and Financial Literacy: The Path to Recovery 58:15 Navigating Public Disputes in the Digital Age What do you think? Tell us in the comments below Please Like the video, comment, subscribe & turn on your post notifications for more content. Listen to the show on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/4Brb7BgCw4f4jwgS5v3sXQ?si=811988ecff7b416a Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/it-is-what-it-is/id1719695401 Sign up with promo code IIWII and play $5 to get $100 in bonus funds or bonus entries: https://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-itiswhatitis #UDpartner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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It is what it is. I'm Treasure Wilson, aka Stat Baby, along with your host, Cam. Mace will be back, and today we are joined with our analyst Maurice Claret. Mo, what's up, man?

What's going on, baby? I'm good. How are you, man? Everything right? Everything phenomenal. I told Statt this morning to wake up. Statt, we're about to do a show. We're about to have great energy.

We're here for the people, Statt. I'm up. Let me ask you say, Moe. Because I was traveling, a lot yesterday. I was in like three time zones and one day and made it back to the East Coast.

But I missed a lot of things that I'm catching up on this morning. Is it the college, and I didn't see it on maxing because I see a sweater. Was Ohio State ranked number one when they did the college football rankings? Yeah, we're number one.

We're number one for... Yeah, I know. but I know they're doing the rankings, but I see the shirt, so that's how I figured they're back number one. I know y'all been number one all year, but you know they're doing official rankings now for the playoffs, and it's mighty familiar, mighty coincidental, I should say, that it's a big, you're all in the camera you're not sitting down, Rankers is in, big Ohio State energy. It's all good. Congratulations, man.

I'm looking good this year, though. No, we appreciate it. I take all the compliments and all the praise. And I just don't like my energy when I'm sitting down. I try that. I'm going to still put the suits on. But I like standing up. Would I make you comfortable, man?

Yeah, I'm putting the suits on, but I've seen the show this week. I seen everybody who's traveling. So I did take advantage. I did, you know, put my Ohio State gear on. I was with my guys. So, you know, never hurts to hear that you number one. And so as long as we, number one, I won't talk my shit about it and enjoy it. That's what's up.

Yeah. You deserve it. Okay. So we're going to get to the Mavs because they finally did the thing. So they have fired Nico Harrison. And the former Mavs GM has updated his IG bio to unemployed. So the reveal actually happened via social media and then it was released that way to the public. So do you guys think the Mavs made the right decision, Maurice?

From doing my research, I think it was the only decision that they can make. And I think a lot of it was driven from how the fans were reacting to the slow start of the Mavs. And then from what I read, every time that something was going wrong, they were chanting Fire Niko. And so if you actually go back to it was an interview, I don't know, maybe about three or four months ago, when Mark Cuban has sold the mass majority of the team to the Adelson family or the Merriam family, I think it's two families that have merged together.

He was talking about reluctantly how he hated doing it, and he thought that once they took ownership that things are going to go into a different direction. And even the getting rid of Luca, which I think caused all this stuff, was more so like a vengeful attack

from the family and a middle finger to the city of Dallas because they're a casino family, they're cooperating with the other, I think the parent company is called the Sands Company and they have a bunch of casinos over in Vegas and they thought that this was like some big boy power move to say, fuck you to the city of Dallas

because they zoned or they thought that they were getting a team in an arena and the casino in Dallas and the city of Dallas zoned them but the state of Texas won't allow them to do the casinos that they do in Vegas over there in in Dallas. And so this was looked at as sort of like a vengeful tacked. So I know it was everywhere with my

explanation, but Nico and his whole picture to me is just like the fall guy. And I think he got kicked out of the building because the fan's reception, they needed to blame somebody. They basically blame Nico for the things that went wrong, but there's no way in hell that you as the GM

is about to fire or get rid of Luca on your own discretion. That came from the top up. That's just my opinion on it. Yeah, yeah, Ma'am, you was definitely, he wasn't all over the place. Exactly. Ownership, Mark Cuban saw the majority of the team.

If Mark Cuban was on their team, it's trade when Luca never happens. It just doesn't happen. The owners wanted to move the Mavericks to Vegas. The NBA wouldn't allow it. Owners started acting like babies, kicking throwing the tent and say, oh yeah, fuck that. We're getting rid of Luca. This is billionaire games, niggas, he's playing.

You know what I'm saying? And they put Nico at the front of them. at the front line of this shit now don't get it fucked up Nico had a hand in it as well but this is majority blamed on ownership thing about this if you're a Dallas

Maverick friend and I know it's in hindsight now but before we even get the Luca right and this dude wouldn't have had the same career in Dallas because you're playing Mahal Luca but you look at the success of Jalen Brunson you go saw him for a few

extra million dollars that you could have gave him and kept him in Dallas Now look what the fuck He doesn't revolve the whole New York City And they've been looking for a superstar For however long and you had him On the bench at that Not even starting

Then the Luca situation We just move over to Luca You trade Luca for Anthony Davis Anthony Davis is always hurt Which he's hurt now And then you see They're not doing well

Starting off You know Nico thought he hit the jackpot When these niggas got the number one picker's He's like how Dallas get the number one picks. And they thought Cooper Flagg was going to be the next Larry Bird and come in and do his motherfucking thing. I think he's doing well for a rookie. He's just not the superstar that everybody thought he's going to come out the gate

to beat. And the Mavericks are, I think, at three and seven, three and eight, some shit like that. And this is not the start with they want to have. You know what I'm saying? Then what you do? You flip the channel to see the Lakers player, no LeBron player, Luga average, 107 points, 92 assists, and 58 rebounds. That's what you're looking at.

So we got rid of this nigga. Not only that, Nico wasn't giving time to let other people grow. Look, we had Shamar on the show, Class Act. Shout to my man Shamgarat. And he was discussing how he was disappointed with the Luca Trader. This time he was still in Dallas. He's coaching the Orlando Magic presently right now. But he was, you know, showing his saying how he was really disappointed in it.

And, you know, it made me go look at some stats. When you sit there and think about Luca from GM's point of view, if you're in Dallas, you know, from Michael Finley and Nico Harris, like, you're like, oh, he's not in shape. He's not showing up to Camp early. He's coming in overweight, et cetera, et cetera, right? let's say he is coming and overweight let's say he's not in the best shape right so imagine this

nigger not in the best shape he drinking beer et cetera et cetera et cetera he's NBA first team five years in a row and he's 26 years old your first team on NBA

five years in a row and you're 26 years old the NBA has been around going on 40 years 50 years have a long I know I've been basketball, you know they merged with the ABA, whatever, 60, 70, 70, 80 years. I don't know how many years. Luca, out of the how many decades the NBA has been here, is the number two leader scorer in the playoffs ever.

Ever, nigger. Behind Michael Joy, it's Luca. It's Michael Joyne, then it's Luca. When you're doing playoff average points. What are he talking about he's not in shape? You're talking about he's fat. So what? Maybe that's what he need to get the numbers.

All right. You trade a nigger. You start three and eight. Anthony Davis is hurt. Jalen Brunson is a superstar. Lucas averaging 40. He's exaggerating, of course, he's averaging 30, 40-some points a game. LeBron's not playing.

Now you got this nigga in L.A., and he didn't even want to leave in the first place. You talk about the crowd, boy saying fire Nico, which they was. But a lot of people outside of Dallas don't know that people pay for billboards to say fire Nico. So when you're driving down the highway in Dallas, the fucking billboard is saying fire Nico. Like, you know, all disgusted you ought to be to pay for that? You almost as mad as the nigger that, you know, I ask people this, think about how mad the nigger was that made the nigger was that made the nigger was that made the,

first gun. How man, he had to be. That's how man, these niggas was. Put a billboard up to say fire this nigga. So yeah, he had to go, but ownership plays a big part in this as well, not Mark Cuban's part of the ownership. Yeah. Great takes. And they did essentially give the people what they wanted. And then, Cam, you made a lot of great points, too, that I want to continue to touch on. So let's actually, let's start with Luca first. Because I know usually when like a big trade or something like that happens, everybody's going to say, oh, we'll trust the process. Things can happen in between and we're kind of seeing how that process is going. But now that that trade has happened, do you think for the Mavs there was any upside in them trading Luka?

You asked me if it's any upside. Yeah. To trade in Luka? Yes. what are you talking about you know you tell me that matter of fact give me some of the upside you think it was a training a 25 year old five team first all NBA that leads the NBA

and scoring second second ever give me a little give me something optimistic to say I'm gonna ask you I am an optimistic person I mean for him being the franchise player I'm like in Lucas case

I just think Mazz versus Lakers is for him to be that person for the Lakers is a good upside for Luca. Oh, upside for Luca? Like, however you want to take it, just do you think there is any upside? Oh. Yes, you can finish your shit.

I'll go after you. That's what I would take from that. And then also just the state of the team right now, there is just a lot of uncertainty. It would have been dope to see him play with Cooper Flagg. But like I said, I think people have been looking at other players like BJ Edgecombe and then with 80 being her,

I'm like maybe in hindsight, I still don't think it should have happened at all, but in hindsight, I'm like at least Luca can kind of thrive more with the Lakers, especially with LeBron having that injury and stuff. He's kind of been able to make, I think, a little bit worse drives with, I would say, a healthier team right now than the maps.

That's the upside that I would take from it, if we're going to look for any optimism. If you look at for optimism and upside for Luca, absolutely, Like, don't get me wrong. Dallas is a great city, especially in a sports town. You got the Cowboys there. You got great ownership there. You know, other people look at Jerry Jones and night.

I think more Cuban did a great job. The hiking team is really good there. They are a great sports city. And that did, but L.A. is L.A. You know what I'm saying? So if you're looking at marketing and potential opportunities outside of basketball, yeah, it's great moneymaker for Luka. But Luka didn't want to leave that.

And not only didn't Luca want to leave Dallas, think about this. They get rid of this nigga right before he's supposed to get the max. So y'all fucked his money up too on top of that. That nigga's about to get the max and you're trading right before he get the max. So even in LA, he can't get the money that he's about to get. Now, maybe marketing wives, he could go make some other moves. But you got to think about this, right? And I don't know if LA will change his mind or not.

A lot of these players overseas, man, go back home. So it isn't like, don't get me wrong. You know, we've seen people make L.A. they home. We've seen Kobe Bryant make L.A. and so. We've seen Imagine Johnson make L.A. is home. We've seen Shaq to a certain degree make L.A. home. But those are all Americans. I mean, these things want to go home after the season is over.

Don't want to go race horses and shit, man. They want to go back to Canada. Greek freak want to go back to Greece. These niggas want to go home. They only got a few months to be home. A couple months, depending on far year in the playoffs. They want to go home. So Luca never wanted to leave Dallas now.

Like I said, you look for optimism, opportunities in LA and Edwards. You know, that is a great opportunity. But as far as a basketball standpoint, he didn't want to leave. And don't get me wrong. If anybody's built for pressure, Luca is built for it. But it's not an easy task to go play for the Lakers because of the responsibility it is to play for the Lakers. He didn't ask for that. But he'll take the task on.

It's no big deal. But my nigger, maybe sometime, niggins, maybe sometime. I don't want to play for the historic franchise. Maybe I want to take Dallas and make them a historic franchise. Make them one of them, like the Lakers or the Boston Celtics or, you know, golden state of the San Antonio Spurs or whoever. Maybe I want to turn that into that.

But fuck it, I'm here and I'm going to do what I got to do. So if you're looking at an upside, yeah, for Luca, for Dallas, I don't see an upside and getting rid of a 26-year-old five-time first team all NBA player. Okay. And Marie, I'm... No, I'm with you. Yeah, I like to see both sides.

You never know. Some people say it could be a blessing in disguise. There's that there, so I'm just curious. Okay, so let's get to the game. So the Mavs fortunately lost the Bucks, 116, the 114. The Mabes now have a 3 and 8 record. So Marys, how did you feel about that game? And then, of course, Cam spoke on a little bit,

but how do you feel about the state of the Mavs before we move to this next game? The state of the mass is a developmental process. I think, like, you know, just to piggyback on what he was talking about, I think that they thought Cooper Flag would start faster. I'm pretty sure that somebody wished that AD was healthier. They wished that Kyrie was back. Like, they wished that all these things were in place, but they're not. And so they're on a slower track to developing their team,

so you have to go through all your growing pains. And I'm pretty sure that that hurts watching Luca have success now when you felt like he should be having success with your team. right now. So that's pretty much it. You know, and it's a shitty situation. And from an ownership standpoint, you don't want to lose your fan base in the midst of all this. So you had to make some move to make it seem like we're listening to you and we were going to put a product on a court that's worth looking at or doing something that's worth looking at. And that's my take on it. What's the course about like while lost, what you said?

Well, no, no, no. How did you feel about the bucks win and then just, Obviously, we know the Mavs record now is 3 and 8. So the state of the Mavs and then just them losing to the Bucs in that game. So also the Buc's side as well. I mean, whenever the buck, look, it's early in the season. It's, you know, 10% of the season going. I don't start making rash decisions until about 20 games. I mean, start seeing what's going on.

But look, the Buc should fucking win. You got fucking honest over there. You got fucking Miles Turner, niggins. Guys, they should win. They got the whole Anta Coupo family and that motherfucker. They can get some fucking wings over there. I mean, whatever. I'm not taking a big look at this game and saying what I think about, in my opinion.

Like, I don't really care about this game. But overall, at this situation, is, Matt's, look, when Cuba, let's just get to it. Cooper Flagg, because when he practiced with Team USA, when they went to the Olympics last summer, but he looked really great in their practice. So everybody like, yo, Cooper Flag, Cooper Flag. You know, the NBA players was praising him, coaches was praising him, all this. Then he goes to Duke.

He has a great year in Duke last year. Then the man's get the number one pickups to get rid of Luke. So everybody think of miracle in Dallas is about to happen. Oh, shit, we got the next library. We got the nigga who was killing the NBA players in Olympic practice. Yo, we got the Duke All-American. Not just that. And, you know, I'm not being funny.

I said this on several occasions. It's different from when you have. a white boy and an all-American white boy like Luke is white the joker's white you know it's several great white players in the NBA but is it a great white American player in the NBA what are you know if you consider great I like Austin Reeves he ain't no motherfucking Robbie Byrd just Josh Getty cool he's all right he ain't no Larry Bird you know we're niggins been looking for Larry Bird Australia.

This 90s? Who? Getty? Yeah. Oh, well, my bad. I'm glad you correct to me. He looked like he's American. But more the, yeah, whatever.

More the point, thank you let me know that. But the point being is, ain't no homegrown American nigger that's white, be. And niggas want that. As much as you love, Luke, as much as you love the joke, as much as you love Austin Rees, I know, I mean, I'm okay, most of the reason. All these white players from overseas, you want an American white player. And we just haven't had that.

Like, Larry Bird is considered black. So anyway, I hate to be long wondered about that situation. But no, the upside, you asked me in last segment. Is it an upside on this whole shit? Upside for Dallas is not the trade. The upside, the only thing you got right now is you Dallas, right this right second, It was like, I hope Kyrie hurry up and come back of this nigger make him back soon, man, because this shit looking crazy, man.

You know, I love Jason Kidd. Loved him as a player. I think he's a phenomenal coach. But what the fuck are you doing, bro? You got Cooper Flagg at the point? You're going to start his point guard career in the NBA in this rookie season? What are you doing? Why do you have Cooper Flag playing the point guard, which he's never played the point guard,

and now you say we're going to try it out his rookie season? season while Kyrie is out and he's never played point guard. You got DiAngelo fucking Russell on

the bench start coming off I don't know I don't know what the fuck going down it's a mess over there only upside you

guys is Kyrie coming back that's all I can say. Yeah long story short whole situation is crazy

Anthony Davis we don't know how many games we get if we get if we get 22 games out of him

be happy pretty much whole situation is crazy. It's a whole lot of giving up, but good luck to them. That's all I can give them. So before you go to this next game, real quick, let's get into our underdog picks. So tonight, the Sons will play the Mavs. Underdog has Cooper flag at 16 and a half points. Do you have higher or lower camp? I'm going to go higher.

Okay, Devin Booker is now at 27.5 points. Do you have them higher or lower? I'm going to higher. And Dylan Brooks is at 15.5 points. Do you have them higher or lower? Lower. Okay, make sure y'all download the Underdog app, and you can make your picks too.

So it's time to talk about the Pistons. Keep saying there's a lot of teams that we're talking a lot about that we didn't expect to be at the point that they're at. So the Pistons beat the Wizards, 137 to 135. Cade Cunningham dropped 46 points and 45 minutes, and the Pistons are 9 and 2. Maurice, what are your thoughts on the Pistons? Did you expect this?

And how did you feel about this game? Well, those three things when I thought about this, and I'm going to connect them to football. not all football but I've seen this happen when I was up in Yukon and I think that my man Dan Campbell has reignited

the entire city of Detroit and people think I'm crazy when I say it but I'm being dead serious and when you're a professional franchise and you've seen somebody across the street or wherever they are at in proximity and you're like, yo they didn't took this destitute team and they'd have made this

motherfucker as a championship team or at least the talks of going on championship runs that stuff becomes infectious to the city it comes infectious to other professional players and the way i was uh comparing it to yukon was because i see when i seen the boys win the championship the girls was like yo we got to go ahead and and get our thing going and they end up winning the championship and i've seen Detroit uh this was the first time i became familiar with kay Cunningham last year and i've seen flashes of him and um what's the guy's name down in a, I think he's Brazilian, a kid down in, or with Orlando Magic, the big guard,

or whatever his name is. I'm, um, Apollo, yeah, I'm drawing, yeah, I'm drawing a blank from his name, but I had seen them two last year, right? And then I thought about where J.B. Bickerstaff had basically been released from Cleveland, and he came there with something to prove. And I'm pretty sure, just like everybody else, everybody sees that Boston is down, New York isn't sort of taking that frontrunner position, like we're about to dominate and take to east.

and I'm pretty sure he's giving him a one-foot-a-gipper speech like, yo, if we get our thing together and get moving, Cleveland seems to be like Cleveland, New York, are the only people in the East that may have something going on. And I just think that they've taken on that bad boy mentality, that tough guy mentality. And I think that Kay Cunningham is building on what he's seeing last year. Like when I seen him play a couple times last year,

from them sort of getting like being decent, I was like, yo, this dude is like an impressive dude. I didn't get the chance to see him in college none. But I think this is just pretty much it. You're seeing the team mature, but you're also saying that when you have a city full of winners and people winning, this is sort of what happens. Everybody becomes infectious with this winning spirit, and I think that's what we're watching with Detroit. Yeah, I think I think you hit the nail on the head, Mo. You got to think, Kay Cunning, King, he was another nigger.

That's why I said a lot of times, niggas got to let players develop. He was a nigger that came in, and they thought he was going to be one of the. niggas the first year he got there and he wasn't bad but he wasn't what they thought same thing kind of with cooper flag second year they like er was going on to k cutting him nigga i thought he's going to be like this but he was getting better now he's somebody that you have to pay attention to you know what i'm saying like hold on what the fuck going on you got to think about this detroit comes into this season with this mentality from detrit they went down to the to the wire last year and the playoffs get bumped first

sudden they've been there in the little minute get bumped thinking about we talked about about Detroit a couple years ago they was giving our fucking chicken wings and all that shit to come to the games and all that shit all type of deals you get a free dinner if you come to the Detroit Piston game and all type of shit so for them to make the playoffs last year not only that you got a perennial all-star this is good momentum and I think that they don't want to lose that momentum now with that being said they're number one in the east right now and nine and two see what happens if they can keep this going on. But I do think, you're right,

well, they're trying to build a culture to where this needs to happen every year. Now, back to Caged game, don't get it fucked up. You have 46 points. But the niggins shot 46 times. He had the worst shooting percentage of in the triple doubles. I can get 32 shit if I shoot 45 times,

my nigga. I shoot 46 times. I'm going to get 30, my nigga. So congratulations, but at the same time, you have the second worst shooting percentage for a triple-devil after James Hart and ever, my name. So you made history in a bad way. But I do like, if you got to do what you got to do

to make your team win. I'm not big on stats like that to where I look at the box score to where I be like, yo, this nigga's shooting this many shots. And we won, fuck it. If you lost, that's when you talk to that thing. Like, yo, you did this. you 46 times. But they won. So it is what it is. So let me ask you all this, because I know

you said you're not big on stats, but just given what we're seeing, it's still hard to believe even for me. So looking at the east, right, the pistons are first with the 9-and-2 record, then the Knicks, then the heat. Do you all think that the pistons can keep this momentum, or do you just not fully trust them yet? Maurice, what do you think? I don't know. It's yet to be seen. You know, you don't know if they have enough pieces. You don't know if to have a deep bench. You don't know if they're getting excited and they just off to a fast start. But this is how it goes with everything. I think we talked about this last week when it came to football, right? Where Kansas City stumbled. But they talked about Andy Reed having the championship pedigree and knowing how to write the ship, so to speak. You know what I'm saying? And getting guys used to winning. You know, getting guys. used to winning and not used to losing and sustaining that, the attitude that you have to have that through the entire season, that's a process. I know, you know, it just seems like if you win, you should always win and keep on winning, but learning how to win, learn how to basically,

you know, keep that sustained focus throughout the season. You know, if you get the midseason, you may feel like that this is a victory that you just turned the team around to being better than you were. So it's yet to be saying, you know, I don't know, but I think that's the same conversation that you can have for New York, you know what I'm saying? Can New York get over the proverbial hump, you know what I'm saying, versus Eric Sposter who's been there before or a coach who's been there before and they sort of like know that journey. So I don't know what's yet to be saying. Too early to tell. It's way too early to tell. That's what I will say. I can't say here. I'm not putting a bunch of stock in the pistons right now. It looks good, but it's a way

too early. I got other questions. Where's Paul Georgia? That's what I want to do. Where's Paul George? This is more about where the fuck is niggas at. Where's Paul George at? Where's Joe L&B at? You show it from time to time. Yo, my nigger, where's these niggins at? You know what I'm saying? Where is Jalen Bram at besides rubbing hair die on niggins? You know what I'm saying, like, yo, when I say where niggas at, Paul George re-hurt, I don't even know what he hurt from. You know, he keeps talking he to goat and all

this shit. I don't know, where he's at. I don't want to frown a niggas injury because Paul George had one of the most gruesome injuries and even to come back and walk, let alone play. I get a prospect, you're the goat, where you at? Joe NB, just sit out a whole whole never year instead of playing games, playing this game, playing that game, man. No, I even

talk about Joe and Lee B no more. He's the fucking MVP a year before last. Just, like, just retire and start wasting people time thinking you'll come back. I bring up Jalen Brown because, look, everybody like, oh, he might be better than Jason Taylor. He might be the one without Jake.

Jason Taylor went down that injury. We ain't seen that Jalen Brown since. The finals MVP, the nigger who was saying, well, I'm not on the Olympic team. I'm supposed to be on the Olympic team, $320 million. Where are you at, bro? Where are you at?

Yeah. I don't want to hear you, you know, my niggins. You should be able to have to release the Boston Celtics and the top 8th seed right now. Get number 11 seed to Celtics. For all those niggins, Jalen Brown, Batman and all that shit. I'm not saying he's not in some time when Tate him there because we can see.

But, you know, I alluded to this a couple of shows ago. Scotty Pippen, even when Mike retired them two years before Mike came back, Scottie was like top three play in the league. He's a fucking finalist. for MVP. Where is you at, my nigger? That's what it's more about the me. And these other niggins like,

you know, these niggas bullshit and the Keghan's of the world, the Wimby's of the world, the new nigger Tyrese Maxis in the world. That's like cool, man. I don't know why y'all ain't about them niggins. Anyway, we're here.

That's stay out of too much. We just got to get used to new stars and new people. And that's just the niggas we got to be looking forward to instead of trying to go, say, where's the old superstars and they're not superstars.

three points the game is evolving we used to joke about new hotness the takeover is happening right before eyes whether y'all want to admit it or not it's literally happening and then the people that we love to watch they're just not as durable as they used to be it's unfortunate but it's happening I would just like to see it all in harmony and in unison because y'all know I'm team optimistic and I like to see great things but hey

that's why we got the Pistons we got the Knicks and then we got the heat on the east I don't know what's happening the West got a lot going on but still okay C at the top right now too and again right back to New Hottness

so do what y'all with that information we are gonna go to break we will discuss Sebastian Telfare to have it all then to lose ball. Don't go anywhere. Welcome back. So, breaking story about Sebastian Telfare. that he had to move back to the projects after losing 19 million he made in the league. So he opened up about how he went for making millions in the NBA to having to move back

to Mermaid houses in Coney Island in the first episode of his new documentary. He is currently locked up in Fort Dix with Diddy. And then in August, he publicly pleaded for President Trump to issue him a pardon. So we're seeing clips of what's happening. We're seeing the documentary. We're seeing the things that he's going through currently. Maurice, what do you think of the situation that he's ended up in and then just him now opening up and talking about it? I don't know. It's a lot. I think, you know, I usually joke around and talk a lot of shit on the show just in general.

But when you think about it, there's like, you know, some personal relation to what he's doing. There's some like, you know, the same old athlete story of mismanaging funds and finances. you have, you know, women issues and so on and so forth. But one, I was like, man, it takes a lot to go from everything he was, then to be where he's at, but then to show people that. You know what I'm saying? I commit him for even being that humble or to even be that open to even doing that. And I just thought about when I took my fall and I was in the NFL and got cut and went back to the hood,

I didn't want a camera in my face. I'm not sure. And I would have basically, you know, put people in my business. like that. So I commend him for even being open about that. And I'm pretty sure that it had some connection to business or some opportunity to help him get back on his feet. So I do commend that because he got two twins. I don't know if it's a boy and a girl or two girls or two boys or whatever it was. But, you know, I'm just of the camp to hope that he gets back on his feet because I was somebody who was a prominent player in football. He was prominent basketball. And eventually I got

it right. But my journey was a little bit different because I spent more time in prison. And so when I looked at him, I was like, man, you know, six months. And I hate to say it like this because I don't want to minimize time. But six months isn't a whole lot of time for you to sit down, focus, work on yourself, work on your mind, educate yourself on shit. And at least be around people or within an environment of people who can help you grow. Because when I was in prison, I spent a lot of time reading, a lot of time educating myself, a lot of a long time. And I don't know if six months is enough time in prison for him to, like, reshape his thinking. You'll get around people who wish you well just because there'll be people who know them and know of them.

But he'll need an entire mentality shift, you know, to go from having millions of dollars to go back to being broken then to get out and say, okay, what am I going to do with the rest of my life? I know he qualifies for some pension, excuse me, at the age of 42. So he'll have a couple hundred thousand dollars coming in from that. But I just wish you well because I've been there. I've been through every stages of financial hardship. you know, I got a prison with $400 and, you know, I make millions of dollars every year and I do it now. And so I'm not here to say that it's not possible, but, you know, fuck, I've been out of prison for 15 years and just a building process and who you have to become is just a whole deal. And so I don't know.

I have a lot to say about it, but I don't want to make it all about me. But I looked at his situation, looked at my situation, and I definitely seen myself in that situation before, but I got out of it. But it all came from me, like, taking extreme accountability and growing the fuck up and really separating from where I used to be from and growing into a new environment. Yeah, so it doesn't matter if he's in a basement in Coney Island or if he's in the $20 million mansion in Beverly Hills. He's, and indeed the same as spirit's always the same, always in good spirit. You know, even though I'll be hearing a shit, there's certain shit that's going on and I speak to him.

he'd be all right because he said he's going to figure a way out and like you said more he does qualify for a pension which is always going to be a good thing for him in the future but he's very creative outside of basketball got a lot of other things he wants to do outside of basketball and not only that i think that he'd be great in the podcast space because he has bold takes uh very opinionated you know i don't even agree with a lot of this shit that he'd be talking about basketball a while he'd be he'd be bugging the fuck out in my opinion you know that's a little bro but he'd be bugging the fuck out. And he does have NBA experience.

So we'll see what happens. And hopefully when he gets out, he can put some plays together. And if he never needs my help, I'm here to help him as well. That's super dope. I do have a question for y'all because, and again, to Cam's point,

just like you explaining knowing him as a person and his character and stuff like that, he's been able to remain positive. But that's not basically like the situation everybody kind of has. So when you hear people in these situations who start off with a lot of money and then at some point it kind of starts to fade and slim away, one, like, what's the best financial advice you've been given? And Maurice, I'm going to let you go first. And then how do you kind of keep your spirits high when you're in those situations? Because I know, Maurice, you were

talking about your experience in prison and things like that. So how do you kind of remain positive and are able to turn things around? Uh, for me, I don't think it was a thing of just remaining positive, uh, but you have to get into your brain and literally get to a place and say, man, it is what it is. No, no pun intended. Um, talking about how shit went wrong and talking about who you gave money to and going down memory lane. That's like wasting time. Um, I just remember when I was like, fuck it, it is what it is. I'm here walking a yard. I'm here walking a child. I don't have any money. Like, I got to figure it out. Um, but you can't figure things out just based on hope, like you have to educate yourself. And so I was dumb. I didn't, I knew how to read, but I couldn't comprehend very well, right? And so it literally took for me to sit down with books inside my sale. I used to order shit from this thing called bargain books. And I said, okay, I need to learn about finances. I need to learn about investing. And it was just like a handful of core books that I started reading cash flow quadrant. I understand what

cash flow lost. taught myself about real estate. I read the intelligent investor. Where did the Warren Buffett way. And once I start reading, you just start to get skill. Like anything you do very well or anything that you're trying to master takes a skill, right? Just like he dribbled a basketball. And that's what I was referencing and said that he may not have enough time inside a prison to sit and read through this stuff before you have to get back out to life and start figuring life out.

So you do need to become well-versed in finances. And it just literally comes from reading page to page. And now you have so many podcasts and other shit that you have going on. that you can get better from listening to other people and go on to seminars. But a lot of the stuff is proximity, getting around successful people and just understanding how they operate versus, like, I tell like this, and I don't want to go off the reservation, but I've never, I've been knowing Cam, what we've known each other.

Now, like, with this for two or three years, I've never said, hey, Cam, can I come around you to party or have a good time? I'll sit and watch Kim and how he performs and how he entertains and how he does that. Like, it all comes down to your focus. when you get around people as to what you want to take from on pause. You know what I'm saying? And so just shifting your mind in regards to why you're around people

versus just being around somebody because they're a celebrity and want to have a good time. All that stuff is what Sebastian has to do because he has access to the people, but you'll get different versions of people based upon what you ask for them, if that makes any sense. And I know I kind of was everywhere with it, but I think like that helps you to get your mind ready to, you know, to grow and to do right by your kids and, you know, other responsibilities. you have? Yeah, that was a great take, Moe.

The thing about it is this. You don't, sometimes you don't get one opportunity, let alone too. So if you end up messing up on your first opportunity, you got to take full advantage of your second opportunity, because third opportunity is just about over with. When you're an athlete, when you're a celebrity, when you're in the public eye or whatever, not even talk about regular people with jobs and shit like that,

shit like that when they have a chance to get a raise and maybe fuck the raise up but not living up the expectations so on and so forth so the best teacher sometimes is experience yeah and i tell people that you know you can go to school all you want and study for all this shit but it ain't going to equal up to experience i had a friend of mine not even being You're funny, very well educated, et cetera. He was, you know, it was recession going on and everything else. The nigger went to be a dog catcher. And he went to be a dog catcher.

He went to be a dog catcher. They told him he's overqualified. Had all these degrees and shit. They lay, oh, man, it can't be out of you catching dogs. He said, recession, I need to get some money. you know you got all these qualifications but if it don't matter in the field that you're doing it right now it don't matter like i said stanwick school for journalism is she journalizing shit like that

journalizing is crazy just saying did you out here doing journalism right now i see no motherfucking newspaper saying treasure wilson reports that's not okay wait wait wait wait journalism is just not news like it's media are you doing journalism yes this is journal i ain't my bad i guess maybe i'd be seeing this is included but like i do things cam you do bad shit you do bad shit so you think about it is this

niggas don't get a fucked up stack maybe i should say the new journalins because they're like Kim, you're becoming the outstanding journalist. Niggas tell me that. I'd be like, word. Thanks. You know what I'm saying? I'm a journalist. So I didn't mean it like that. Don't take offense to that. I see no one of them like Norrie journalism,

Joe Button journalism, Camia journalism. I'd be like, where are we really journalism? My nigga, if that's the case, I've been doing journalism. I'm writing fucking raps. That's journalism. Fucking albums and shit. They're writing shit.

You know what I'm saying? So I don't want you taking it the wrong way. I say the new journalism, because all we're doing is really talking to our people, how they can understand it. You understand what I'm saying? Like, when I sit here, using a bunch of words, you know, like I said, I deal with a different character. I can walk in any room and talk to anybody. I can walk in the room with Warren Buffett, talking to Warren Buffett, and I can walk in the room with Sid, and he told me he don't got Apple Pay. You know what I'm saying?

This is what I'm trying to tell you. people are all walks of life. So we're just talking to people how they were wanting to talk to. So I didn't want to offend you. I didn't mean to offend you with that because you're right. People say, I'm doing journalism.

I'm not offended. It's okay. Yeah, people will be like, care of your journalist. And I'm lit. Thank you for the compliment. I really appreciate it. But I don't think I'm doing anything outside of myself but saying when I first started doing any of this shit with the sports,

with my talk shows, any of that. I just say, yo, how can not make my people or not just my people understand where certain things are coming from. Because, you know, like I said, I hate to keep bringing up certain niggins in the hood, right? They'd be like, yo, I'd be like, yo,

you did the due diligence or that? And he'd be like, what's that mean? I mean, like, you know, the research, why can't, why are you just going to say that I do the homework on it? Why you got to use due diligence? How do you said what you said? Why you got to do all that?

Look, man, stat know this shit. Mo, I'm going to keep it on it. Anything, I'm going to keep it a buck. Sometimes stat don't be up to par with the, with the, her journalism, right? I call Stapel over now and say, yo, which philanthropist means? She ain't know like that. On the top. On the top.

It took me a second. Can I, can I? Can I, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm just saying. Can I say something? No, can I say something? I'm battling you in journalism. I'm just saying.

Can I say something? It's not a battle. I knew what philanthropy was. It took me a second. But can I just like explain to you all the range of questions Cam asked me? We went from what's a philanthropist to what is Max B and Rakeem to what is, what else did you say? Not Rokkeen, Rokkeen. Rokin.

To Eric B and Rikim. So what is the. What does the groundhog coming out the ground meet? Like, this is, like, not, like, within the same family. I'm like, yo. Yeah, I was mad when I was mad when you ain't know what groundhog they was. It took me a second. Okay, y'all.

It's a lot of things. I watch the show, stat. Yeah. This is what I'm trying to say. We all come from different walks of life, so I didn't want to be saying wrong to journalism, but back to the original topic, the best experience sometimes is, the best teacher is experienced, you know what I'm saying? Like, give you example, when Mace first came out, you know, he was like, Kim, you should

manage me. I'm like, I don't mean, we just got the game. I don't, I'll do it, but I don't know what I'm doing. What, how the fuck I'm a man is, and this is our first time in the music industry. And it's not like it is now where you could upload your, upload your own music and and Internet and Spotify and iTunes and all these DSPs where you can put your meat

this I have to deal with real people in the record company and records and tapes and CDs and you have to talk real business face to face and ain't no emails and all that. Maybe a fax machine, but I didn't have no experience. I wanted to know what I was doing. Today, if I had the man's mates,

I run rings around meas. Same thing like when you think about clutch sports, when you think about somebody like Rich Paul. LeBron James' original agent, he had Leon Rose. Yeah, Manric and Richardson under the real rows

like this. Yeah. Pepsi. Dunkin' Donas. Piece of a hut. Curve Leon Rose two, three years later and let them handle

everything, but they had to sit there and learn certain things. Not saying that they ain't no street shit or hustling or being a Maryland abroad, but you have to learn. Sometimes the best teacher

is experienced. No, but I'll tell like this. Even when you said that, Now, I said it's in the most serious way. I learned more from hustling, but I just didn't have legal terminology with it. And so I didn't want to really go there with the whole conversation. But I was saying myself when I was in prison, after you hustle, if you can figure out how to formalize this, and I was looking at everything through a hustling eye.

But the experience came from hustling, which is sales at the end of the day. You know what I'm saying? But once you do that, once you can formalize your hustle, the energy and ambition take over. but you just basically at the end day you hustle you putting deals together you create margins on products and services at the end of the day so you're 100% correct I have that reference point I don't know Sebastian life and I don't know one way or another but that's just to clear up and clarify the point one to say you was right but then two not to disparage him in any way yeah those are all

good taste all good advice last thing before we wrap so Stephen A as we know huge sports media voice and he's had miscellaneous I don't want to say issues I don't think issues is the right word but we'll say public conversations with previous co-host

so right now he's kind of going through something with one of the people that he worked with Michelle Beatle which also carried champion co-sign basically in summary she said that she was praying for his downfall after he endorsed a specific

company. Of course, Stephen A was going to defend himself in which he did. So he went on to say he didn't say a word about her in over 11 years. He doesn't know her. You would think there would be some beef going on that has been pervasive throughout the industry, but it's all because of her. So they're having their back and forth. But I use Stephen A as an example, but we've seen this in various industries, various people's lives and things like that. So how do you guys think you should navigate a world where people have normalized publicizing personal issues, whether it be true or false, Maurice. I don't know.

I was hoping that we can even encourage this conversations for people to not feel like if I have something to say, the whole world needs to hear about it. You know, that's my take on it. So two things, I will say I heard Stephen A's take, and Stephen A actually inspired me when he was just talking about. how hard he worked to basically do everything he's doing. And when he was describing all of the hours that he puts in to be the best, I kind of like I was on the trim and I was like, man,

this dude actually puts in a tremendous amount of hours to basically make him into Stephen A. And that's why he's the best in paying $20 million a year, so on and so forth. So thank you for inspiring me, a matter of what you were doing, whatever thing. But I don't like it. I don't like that if you do have an issue with somebody, and we talk about blending generations, I just don't know when it became normal that if I had an issue with somebody

that the whole world had to hear about it, and we felt like everybody had to hear about it. And it was a time when that shit was corny. You know, I mean, if you had an issue with somebody, you just kind of, like, chat it with them with that person. And so I think, like, I always talk about where shame has left America, so has privacy in some regard. And I just think that you should, like, covet that and keep that.

Or we have to somehow recapture it. I don't even know if you can put that G-E back in the bottle, but I don't even think people care if something is true or false. They care about if the people who follow them, they can spit a narrative and spew, whatever they want to spew towards a person. So I just was hoping that, you know, maybe Cam, and I know Mace isn't here, I was just looking for them to talk about it because obviously they're too popular people. They've had shit talked about them. But just hearing their vantage point, if I didn't want to make this a high-roll, low-road conversation, but just wanted to hear their thoughts on it. Yeah, it's, you know, so it's the internet is the new diary. Used to be this thing called a diary where you just write your problems down and nobody ever sees your diary.

You just explain, that was your therapist. That was your internet, that's everything you did. You wrote it in your diary or, you know, the niggins ain't have diary. You know, that's some shit bitches dude used to have batch of the days and hide it. Nobody ever seen a diary. He may talk about this. No, I ever see a diary until you die. He'd be like, oh, shit, all this was going on in their life.

This is the new shit. And what's going on this now? And even more so, you're never going to get it because now a nigger can vent on X. Go to X men. This is a n-da-da-da. Or they can vent on Instagram, when they can vent on social media, any of these platforms. So now they're vending. And like you said, more used to be private, but now they don't care about privacy.

after that what kicked in the alcohol river oh i got hot on venting my problems now hot in the alcohol room and people want to see my gossip then what happened oh i can get paid for this oh shit i got a bunch of problems i got a bunch of niggas i don't like i got a bunch of you killed three birds and one stone i want to vent now vent into my fans or my audience what they're going to have my side. Now I can get paid into it. I'm going to find a reason to vet all the time. And that's what happened moving forward.

I used to look at niggas and be like, yo, why these niggas? There's in their basement talking about niggins all day. They don't even know these niggas. They're talking about niggas. And then I found out, oh, they're getting paid to talk about niggas. Niggis is late to the party. Not saying I do that shit, but I'm just saying,

no, one of these niggas don't go. I used to be watching niggins on YouTube. and shit like that and be like, why are these niggas just in the house? This, for instance, right, you know, we ensure this is the only background you see right here for seven years just talking about niggas.

I used to be like, why? These niggins been getting paid. I'm late to the party. I'm not saying that's my style, but I'm just saying that's what niggas been doing. Back to Steve Reney, I want to touch on that real quick. But, yeah, that was, like you

said, a very motivational, to Stephen A. Smith, what he said, defending himself. And you got to think about the two people who were talking about him. He had issues with Carrie Champion in the past, where she used to be on first tape with Skip Bayless, to where Stephen A had got suspended

before, for a week behind some comments he made with Carrie champion to where she ended up not being on first take anymore, then eventually her exit from ESPN. Then you talk about Michelle Beatle, right? She didn't like Stephen A. Yeah, she didn't like, I'm just giving some background to where, so our audience to know.

So Carrey's Champion and Stephen A. Smith have a background where they got some words before Stephen A. Smith got suspended. Carrie's Champion end up not being on first take anymore, eventually not being on ESPN. Michelle Beatle, you know, doing some history and homework or her. She hasn't been anywhere for a long time. She worked NBC and she worked ESPN, left ESPN, came back to ESPN. Then they come to find out she was on get up and the ratings wasn't doing. well and she says Stephen A can't even come on get up, even though Get Up comes on right before her stay. She didn't want to be in the studio with him. So when she left, Get Up, Stephen A was going

on Get Up to help their ratings get up and they went up. And he said they potentially saved the show. Then the real problem I believe for Michelle Beatle is this, is that. So when she leaves ESPN, Stephen A. Smith goes on the show that she got. I don't want to say. say left, I'm saying fired, because I'm not sure that she's not on anymore. Now, what's the real problem is this, she, if I, I give, I'm not supporting what she says, but she's probably seeing Stephen A. Smith for her nightmares. She just lost her show or not on her show, whatever happened with Sirius XM. And she's not on Sirius XM. And as soon as she be Sirius XM, who comes in? Stephen A. Smith takes her time slot on Sirius Xxum,

which he didn't even know he was doing. And they're going to bust a deal with series X-something. They'd be like, all right, cool, I'm going to record my show. Next thing you know, Michelle Beatle's going, and Stephen A. Smith is in her time. So she's like, oh, he planned this. No, my, man, look. Like, yo, sometimes it just worked like that. I know it may be Grand Horns Day for Michelle Beatles, seeing motherfucking Stephen A. Smith I'm

fucking with. But that's a tribute to his work effort. You know what I'm saying? So shout to Stephen A. Smith. And at the end of the day, for her to eat. even say that publicly. That was, she's like, she said, I'm not a big religion person, but I pray on his downfall. Like, God, damn.

That's crazy. It's crazy, man. Yeah, that was a lot. That's one of those things that's like, it definitely was a sneakness. And I don't know if when she said it, she expected it to get where it got. But it's also like, if you speak on him, especially if he knows you, he's probably going to have a response. But my thing is, yeah, I just feel like not everything needs to say. Everything doesn't have to be said.

I think the world needs more listeners. I think that everybody feels the need to voice everything on a mic. And sometimes it's okay to not do that. I think I know you were like joking about the diaries and I know not everybody's comfortable with that. And I always go back to it. Diaries, therapists, it is okay to not say everything to the people because the internet is going to win every single time, every single time. Even if you think that you're right, maybe she said it and thought like, okay, like, you know, I'm getting my little lick back. But a lot of the time, you cannot decide what the internet decides. So I just think

people need to sit back and just listen for it. That's all. Kim, what were you going to say? I'm going to say you said she tried to sneak this and I don't know what was sneaky about it. No. Very direct. But that was the point. She did it because nobody pays attention to her. So she went out there and she, she, she, like, just think about this, I don't like him, but I'm mentioning his name so I can get the attention. you know what i'm saying to me that is crazy if i don't like somebody i'm just not going to bother with i'm like all right whatever and so that's that's the point i was making where we we seem to just have put everything out in the open and then you don't have a private life and that's to me

the shame and a private life have just gone from uh society i will say though on the opposite end and i'm not saying i agree with this but i'm just thinking if she doesn't like him by saying his name what that's That invites is a party of people who don't like him to party together about not liking him. It's the unfortunate truth, but that's what people do. They're like, oh, you don't like him? We're going to have a don't like him party. I like that shit.

I like, to me, for me, like, for me, I'm talking about when niggas don't like me, and then they get what other niggas that don't like me, that shit turn me on because I know y'all don't even really like each other. Y'all niggas just teaming up because y'all. all don't like me. I laugh at that shit. Look at these two niggas hanging out with these three, four, five, six, seven

niggas hanging out because I'm the common name. They don't like me. Y'all don't even know each other real name. Y'all just be around each other because the topic is y'all don't like me. That should turn me on, poor. I like that. I like, I could drive niggas to hang out

that don't even know each other, that don't even necessarily like each other because they don't like me. I like that. And that's what it is. Okay, y'all. Well, that is all the time that we have for today. Marish, you know, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. Just seeing you most always. Likewise.

All right. Thank y'all for watching. And as always, it is what it is. Hey