The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 71: One-on-One With Jared Dudley

Episode Date: February 9, 2017

The Ringer's Chris Vernon sat down on Tuesday, February 7, with Phoenix Suns forward Jared Dudley to discuss his early years in the league (02:00), adjusting his game to play with Steve Nash (04:50), a different vibe with the Clippers (10:40), moving to Milwaukee (16:40), the young stars on the Phoenix roster today (32:30), the difference between stars and superstars (38:15), learning he was traded on Twitter (48:30), and the most ridiculous purchase he saw a teammate make (50:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Robert Mason, the Ringer NFL show. Even though the Super Bowl is over, free agency, the combine, and the draft are all right around the corner, and the Ringer NFL show will have to be covered bringing everything you need to know. You can subscribe to The Ringer NFL show at iTunes.com slash The Ringer or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me today from the Phoenix Suns is Jared Dudley. Thanks for coming on, man. It's my first time on the Ringer. Is it really?

It is. You have not been on the Ringer before? I have not been on the Ringer. Oh, well, this is so great. I'm so excited. All right. So now you're in Phoenix. I guess first things first.

This season so far for you, this is a little different. You signed here in the all season. Four cities and four years now. But I saw the Players Tribune article you wrote when you were coming back. So you were going to come back home. Has it been what you expected? Yes and no. I knew we would, you know, we struggled a little bit just being on a young team.

I knew that they needed my veteran leadership. But overall, you know, it's been a while since, for me, been on a team that struggled like this, in a sense, even though I play for DC Wizards missed the playoffs by one game. Milwaukee, we made the playoffs. Clippers made the playoffs. So last time it was, obviously, was Phoenix before I left. And before I left, you know, I'm 26 in your prime.

So it's different now. I have 31. But no, it's been great. But overall, I went a month not playing, getting DMPs, trying to still be a veteran leadership. So it's different just because it's never happened. So I'm not going to say it's bad, but it's been a little roller coaster in this last month or so. How hard is that? You know, you're going to be the veteran leader and you're going to try to show young guys the way.

And then you're not playing. That's been tough. That has been tough just because, you know what? I've always been a guy where you get what you deserve in a sense of your production. And I was playing well. And I understood we were struggling. We got the fourth pick and the eighth pick. Understandable.

They got to get reps in time. But as a player, you still have that far. It's not like I'm 36 or 35. I'm on my last year. Okay, I understand. You know, clap it up, wear the suit. For me, it was more, hey, I can help them by playing with them. I can help them in practice.

And I can understand maybe a couple games here and there. I just thought it was a little too abrupt at that time. But overall, you know, and that's what the young generation understands. Hey, this is the business. And for me, it's how you conduct yourself through these bad times, set you up for later gigs in life. So me being professional, helping these guys out even more, that's a true veteran and a true leader on this team. I've heard you say that because everybody's watching. Yes.

When do you start to understand that in the NBA, that everybody's paying attention to the way you're reacting to your current. situation. You know what? That's a great question. When you, when, when I went to the free agent signing, uh, and I was basically, uh, what's his name, uh, the coach from the, uh, from Utah, um, Snyder, is that his name? Yeah, Quinn Snyder. So he, uh, came into my house first night, 12 o'clock at night. He's talking to you, talking to me. He's like, hey, what happened to you and with this instance with this coach? You know, you did, you, you, you set a comment after the game about this. So these GM's, coaches, scout, they remember everything you do. You do. You, you do. You did, you, you, you did, you, you said a comment after the through good times through bad.

And when you're not a star, they don't want those knuckleheads. They don't want person to people to be a distraction. They want even if a guy's better than you, they don't care because they know that, hey, they can find someone similar to you who maybe not be as talented, but you know what?

It's not going to cause a problem. And I figured that out when I left and went to Milwaukee. And I was a good vet. They wanted me to be around. And because I was such a good veteran president, on that team only 29 turning 30 old second oldest player that helped me come back to Phoenix that was a young yeah that was Jan Safori was an all-star Jabari his rookie year they were the worst team in the NBA year before made the playoffs so then now

Phoenix says hey you've done it before you've been a son we want you back so they're watching and so it took me by my fifth year well hey man if you want to play a long time here's me I ever since who could have played but hey if you if you're if you're not that right locker room guy you will be out all right so When you first come into the league, you get drafted by Charlotte and you get traded, not so long after. Second year. Right? So you're there.

And a lot of young guys are actually going to be going through this, you know, coming up on the trade deadline, not that far away. What is that like to be drafted by a team, clearly wanted by a team? And then before you can even finish your second year at that franchise, you're moving on. It's very difficult for me. Sometimes not like that. I was going from Charlotte, obviously a new organization. Michael Jordan just took over his owner to the Phoenix Suns where you have Shack Nash and Amari where to me it's like,

hey, at that time, everybody wanted to play with Steve Nash. So the excitement level for me was like, hey, how can I get on the floor to play with this guy? Because for one, he gets everyone paid. Everyone knows that. Bill will tell you about that. And also, they were winners. They were winning.

They were on TV every night. So for me was find your niche. And literally, I get a draft in December. We fire our coach a month later. So now you have to. This is Terry Porter. Terry Porter. I'm going through three coaches in three months. I'm like, wow, welcome.

You know, welcome. And I just see how they're being played with NASS. I'm saying, hey, this whole summer, the only thing I'm doing is shooting threes. That's all I did that whole summer. Threes, three, threes. I came back with Nash shot over 40%. I went from a 19% in Charlotte to 40 within eight months.

How do you do that? Is it as simple as repetition? Yeah, because, you know, I was a pretty good shooter before. I just had to get used from the college to NBA line. So for me was, yeah, it's repetition, but I went out to Impact with Joe Bounasar in Vegas, and you practice, but now you play games with NBA reps and NBA players. So the reps you have, Chauncey Billups is doing his show. So he does a pick and roll with Jermaine O'Neill.

Those are two all-thirds. Now they help. I'm open game shots, game reps. So it's as simple as that, but you can't. can't just go in gym by yourself and shoot and inspect, okay, hey, now you get in front of 20,000 and someone's 610 closing out, you have to then go against live competition. Did anybody tell you this is going to be, this is going to be the way, this is how you're going to get on the court, you've got to become a three-point shooter?

I remember the coach, where is he at now? He was in Cleveland before his assistant coach. I think he's in Denver. I forget his name. He told me, hey, Jared, if you want to make a lot of money in this league, you have to become a three-point shooter. I remember that. But then going to Phoenix, it just, like, exploded. right in front of you where I hey you can't play I mean hey you got Amari and Steve pick a roll how you're gonna play for me I'm not gonna get layups I'm not Sean Marion it's the three point and Nash just told me you know keep working on it and that's summer I'm telling you I my arms might have fell off as much three as I shot and literally I was getting wide open shots and that's

where I then my third year found my niche defensive rugged guy could shoot threes you can play 12 to 14 years now you knew that that was your niche I knew was my niche because I'm not athletic, I'm smart, cerebral, and then now you add a jump shot to space the floor. That means now, hey, we need him as IQ and is shooting out there all times. Right. Yeah. Okay. So now you're in Phoenix.

Do you think at that point, do you think you've savored 2010? Or do you think at the moment you're still young and think this is just what the NBA is like? I mean, you're getting to play what? 16 playoff games, right? In that, you know, pretty early in your career? I didn't think you were going to be over that. fast. Like, I'm thinking, like,

we were so tight. And now, like I told you, I've been on these teams, I've never been a team more tighter than that. We hung out. We partied together. We ate dinner together.

We watch movies together on our road trips. And literally, it's, the series is 2-2 versus L.A. It took a Kobe Airball, Ronor-Tess layup to go 3-2 and take a commanding lead of the series where I'm thinking,

hey, Boston was in the finals. We beat Boston by 20 both games home and away. I'm thinking we have a chance to win a championship and then rebuild in literally once he's Amari gone. We bring in Turcalu. We trade Barbosa. We get rid of Goron.

I'm like, wow. And then you went from that to the lottery. How did you not resent the sons after that? Well, overall, it was the business decision that Sarva made because obviously Amari with his knee and stuff like that. We were all disappointed. We wanted to go after a year. The resentment was, it wasn't like that. It was like,

wow, I wish we'd had another year. Because at the same time, Nash then you know, it was still there. I signed an extension my first payday. I'm excited about that. And then you're thinking like, man, you know what?

Okay, we add a couple pieces. With Nash, I mean, they lost to Mory had Boris Diaz once the Western Conference final. So I'm thinking, all right, we're not as good, but maybe we can somehow, we still have Channing Fry. We can be a playoff team and then you compete. Yeah. But it wasn't like that.

Everyone got a year older, the system, how it was. And then it went from, you know, Yeah, if that, we fire Alvin. Right. And we bring in Lindsey Hunter. If you say that three times fast, I'll know what happened to you. We bring him in into coach.

So it went from that to the real politics where now you're playing picks, just to play picks. And that's when you really are in an NBA like, hey, man, you kind of grew up. Like, well, you're not playing the best guys anymore. Did you have any idea how unique it was when you talk about that was the closest team? Because you've been on a lot of teams since then. At that time, I did. No. You just thought this is what it's like on winning teams.

On winning teams. I thought that because Charlotte, I remember I'd make an Okraford told me, hey, this isn't the NBA. Like I got Judge DeBuy, this is not how the NBA is supposed to be run. Really? Yeah, it was the first thing he said. And then... How did he know? I'm right.

You would think that, but overall, you know what it is? Because here, is it funny, is it funny thing. I talked to Tyson Chandler. He tells me how Dallas is run. Ronnie Price tells me in Oklahoma City. People know the good organizations from other. They know who's willing to spend money, who has the chefs, who. Who's taking you first class?

I mean, I don't mean by first class flight. I mean first class of every way, how they treat players, how they do it. You know when it's NBA. And that's why, because players talk. Right. Right. Okay. So now you're moving on and when you go after Phoenix, you end up with the Clippers.

And I've heard you talk about this before. Right. This is like a disaster. You know, it's weird how, you know, for me, you know, how God works a mysterious way. I'm from San Diego. You used to be San Diego Clippers. You couldn't have, if you had asked me what team I want to be traded to, it would have been the clippers.

Perfect situation coming and starting at the small forwards. Playing it with Paul? It's not unlike playing with Nash. For sure. I mean, Chris Paul was a better score than I thought. Wasn't as good as passer as I thought he was. He still, I mean, give you 10 assists.

One of the best competitors ever played. But overall, you get spoiled playing with Nash. That ball's there, left hand, right hand, underhand, you know, so you get spoiled with that. But you think he's the greatest. I think overall when it comes, yeah. Like in terms of playing with. playing with by far.

I mean, overall, I mean, his unselfishness, and he was our best score. Yeah. He was, he was Steph Curry, before Steph Curry was at the range.

Right. I know how he did, you know, the 50, 40, 90. But overall, it was weird with the clip, but it's just the vibe. It's like going to a work,

you work for Google. You know, it's one of the top, you know, it's one of the top companies, but overall, it's just something different about this team. What's all?

I just think personalities. I think personally, I think personality, I think people are not clicking. People, you know, where they're in LA, you can't tell me that Hollywood

effect doesn't hurt. You can't tell me that overall. You know, if there's nothing wrong, I've been on good teams when I had Nash, Amari, Shaq.

I mean, when I went to, when I went to L.A., everyone had a stylist. But do you have to be boys to be great? Because when you say that, people are immediately

going to hear that and they're going to go, oh, that's because probably Paul and Blake and DeAndre, they don't, they don't all hang. They ain't all buddy buddies

off the court, right? They're co-workers, as it were, right? But it's not the same. You can even see it. And clearly, in retrospect, I think people look at Durant and Westbrook and they say that now.

Like, they did the press conferences, everything together. But if they were really that tight, right? Like, you know, when you talk about your Phoenix teams, it feels like if Amari and Nash and all them walked in the room right now, everybody give each other hugs and you guys and you guys, you guys, I'd be talking about old times. Right. Friends, friends, friends. There's a difference between me. Do you have to be friends friends with the guys? No, you don't go like, hey, Amar and you see, they weren't best friends.

Right. They didn't hang out all the time. Don't get, don't get a twisted. But, I mean, there's times dinners, we would go out to dinners together. I can't remember one team dinner the whole team went to in that way. Really? I can't remember that. You know what I'm saying?

Maybe they didn't invite you. Right, no, there's been times. There was times, you know, three or four go dinner, they wouldn't invite. That was just their click. Oh, got. And every team has clicked. So take it for granted for that. But overall, I'm telling you, it's just a vibe.

Like, Nash, when he was here, you remember the high five. things he'd give you a thousand, half a five, the positive energy was crazy. And overall, there was a lot of negative energy of we can work together, but how do we treat each other at work? Now, I could tell you you're messing up, but a certain way, you know, certain period, I could cuss at you, or I could, you know, be respectful. And, hey, man, I'm not the only one that said this. And I don't want to beat it over the head. It's happened. And I thought going to L.A. was the best thing for my career, end up being one of the worst. And I thought getting traded to Milwaukee was going to be the worst thing it was the best okay but one of the things about the

LA is the treatment of your injury which I saw you even reference on Twitter the other day yeah and I suppose the clippers have had to come to Jesus about this how far they were behind in injury prevention let's say yeah I mean overall I mean over here it's mandatory and Phoenix Phoenix is mandatory you you don't even have an option hey I don't want to go to the weight room I don't want to go on the table. You're forced. It's the culture. And Phoenix has been ahead of the curve for years with Aaron Nelson.

And it's not like those trainers are bad in L.A. What it was is I never was hurt. I never got hurt. But obviously, I never got hurt because I was always doing stuff beforehand to prevent that. And I show up. And I pulled my back when I was there in August. I had my back problem. Okay, fix my back.

Everything's getting a little bit better. And now my knee, I can't bend it. And I'm like, what is going on? And I'm trying to figure out. I'm flying trainers in from here, paying extra money here. And I'm out there really playing on a knee that's like 60%. I'm telling coaches, I can't move. I'm telling them.

I literally, I don't know what's going on. Hey, they're trying different stuff. I was doing different stuff and my knee would swell up. I was like, man. So at that time, you know, you have your meeting with Doc. Doc, I can't go? He tells me, can you suck it up? Because JJ's hurt.

Matt Barnes is hurt. Hey, I'm coming to L.A. I got Doc Rivers. Yeah, I got you. I go, I play like shit. Happens. Those guys come back. I'm thinking I'm going to get my arrest.

I don't get my arrest. Next thing you know, they bring someone in to replace me, Danny Granger. And to be honest with you, I should have been replaced. It should have been, I should have shut myself down,

got ready, came back 100%. If I'm healthy there, I don't get traded. I know I don't get traded because of how well. I mean, I think I had one of my

worst shooting performance. I was open too. It wasn't like, you know, was like, you know, sometimes you have tough games. I had a tough game. I was open. I was like, oh, I can't get.

You know, your knee for me, I need my balance. I need to get low. I get my shot. You shoot or shoot through your legs. And nobody wants to hear that you're injured. No one's to hear that. Right. They just think that you're falling off a cliff.

They're not, you got paid or whatever. Right. You're playing on this team and you're not as good anymore. For sure. Right. And it's understanding in LA. I mean, they're not going to, you know, take it easy on you. And I didn't want that, to be honest with you.

But overall, when I fail, I like to fail, you know, what, it was my fault. Right. It was on me. I messed up. And that time, it was my body. I wasn't ready for it. And you could see since then what has happened. Milwaukee, Wizards, Clippers. I mean, now back to Phoenix. I've shot over 40 every year. Okay, let's walk through Milwaukee. So you go there, you say this is one of the best things that's happened to.

You're one of the veterans on the team. You said you realized what it takes to be a veteran leader. You kind of like just go into that mode. All right, first things first. At what point and when you're on the Bucks, do you realize that Janus is something extremely special? I think about end of November, I was starting over Janus. Janus was my backup. I was starting small for it. I go into Jason Kidd.

Tell him, hey, it's time for Yonis to start. Yonis needs to go start because of his athleticism defensively. And for this team to make the playoffs, he has to take the next step. What does kids say? kid says, hey, that's what you want. Okay. So kid is old school and effective. You got to earn it.

He wasn't going to give a young guy. Jabari didn't start either. He wasn't just going to put you just because you were the top pick. You got to earn it in practice. Earn it. And I respected that. And Janus wasn't the same player now, but overall, we needed him to grow. And at our time, for us, the backups were the vets.

Zaza-Po Chia at that time. Myself, Jared Bayliss, O.J. Mayo. I'm like, hey, let me play with the vets. yet the young guys go starts off, use their energy, and it worked. Man, after that, man, we won like nine games in a row. This is in Milwaukee. We had a fitzied all-star break before he trade ran a night. When did you, did you know Janus was going to be this good?

Yes. This good. This good. And he's still probably not there. Not there. I mean, his jump shot hadn't got there yet. Overall, the games just slowed down. You knew you can't stop him.

He's in the paint. He's too long. He's too athletic. He can Euro. He can dribble and he can see the floor. The only thing you just needed time and reps, Jabari's going to be the same way. Jabari, and you give Jabari another year,

he's going to average 23, 24. He's going to be an all-star. I loved him coming out of college, and obviously that was a killer, the first year to blow out the knee. Crazy. And you know what? It's crazy how that works.

He blows his knee. I then go to the power forward. Oh, that's right. You end up start playing the Ford. And that sets me up for DC and sets me up of revitalizing my career of being a stretch four who could shoot space to floor,

and now I'm back with Phoenix because of that. Right. Because, okay, so the Milwaukee, everything about Milwaukee was a great experience for you. Great experience. Great experience because they used to be traded you to Milwaukee to forget about you.

You know, hey, you're in Milwaukee. You're not going to be in no TV games. They were worse than Philly the year before. Think about that. Philly was trying to lose. Philly was paying people to lose. It was crazy how that was.

And they were worse than them. They told me the year before they left, they were doing yoga for practice. practices at the end of the season. They said it was done. They said, yeah, man, it was crazy. So I go there. I see what's going on.

Jay Kids like, no, we're changing the culture. I think we can make the playoffs. Trust me. People are jumping on him right now thinking that they are not, they're not living up to expectations, being outside the playoffs. Chris Milton's right now. You lost a 20-point score. Right.

You bring him out. You signed Deladova. You move Yons to the point guard. So then now, you tell me if Chris Milton's not there, they don't have five or six more wins, five or six more wins in the east. You could be from nine to four. Right. So, I mean...

Do you think kids are good coach? I think kids are good coach. And you played for a lot of them. I played for a lot of them. And I play for Larry Brown, Alvin Gentry. I see how it's all been. The thing about him is he taught those young guys how to become stars. He was on their head.

He suspended Janus. You saw him suspend Jabari. He don't play no games. You're going to have to do that. But then after his teaching, watching film with young fellas, Janus is a player he is now because Jason Kidd and how he's taught him Because he was there

You were there, you know I'm seeing it. Hey, they have to do quizzes about history. You think it goes different If he's got a different coach Yeah, for sure. With Yonis. For sure.

I mean, now, is he still going to be potentially also? Yeah, but overall, like, they work with him like no other. I've been on to, I've been on teams to work with like after practice, before practice, film, film on the plane. They're breaking it down from like,

they see it. We were running through Janus. This is before. I mean, and at this same time, Yonnes wasn't our best player when we were at the playoffs. Chris Milton was. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't like Jabari wasn't even playing.

So they always had to work out once Jabari came back. Their best two players were non-shooters. Right. And now Chris Milton needs to be there for the spacing and overall. But if Chris Milton plays and gets back to someone to play or they are, they made the playoffs easy. And then you leave Milwaukee after this great experience. And last year is Washington.

Washington was a great experience. John Hammond looked out for me. He didn't need to trade me. They didn't get anything in return. He did that because of the respect that I gave him when I was there in Milwaukee. He basically threw me a bone. Really? Basically.

Did you go to him? I went to him. What did you say? I was trying to get moved because Jabari was coming back. I just had back surgery. I knew kid was going to put him in. My last year, I opted into my deal. I'm trying to get paid.

I'm trying to go to a good situation. Paul Pierce leaves. I'm calling, we're talking to him. Can you make this deal with Wizards? I don't forget. Did the same thing for Zaza. Send them to Dallas. So overall, that organization.

Oh, so now they know that you're going to run around. You may even come on a ringer podcast and say they do right by you and Bill Warwick. And that will serve them well going forward. And not even that. Like, I don't even think even if they know my personality, even if I didn't give him credit, it's just overall, hey, Jared came here. He was a good vet to our young guys. Jabari's getting ready to take those minutes as it is.

I'm a lookout for him. Right. He did it. Paul Pierce left. I go into that situation. Everything's good for me in that situation. Playing with John Wall, who's like a Nash with speed. You know, his vision, he wants to pass.

He wants to lead the league and assists. Give me the difference between playing with Nash, Paul, and Wall. Nash, by far is the most unselfish when it comes to the pick and roll. He sees the play before it happens better than any other point guard. Chris Paul when it comes to the scoring. I didn't know he could shoot that good and I didn't know he could score that well. And he's, out of all three of them, he has the most hates to lose mentality. Now, they all hated to lose, but his whole thing was he can't hide it.

Chris Paul can't hide it. He's a competitor. He will your team to win. Now, defensively, you can't tell him he can't guard the best guards. And he brought it every night, even. when he's getting his ass busted by Steph Curry the next night we played him, he's trying to lock him up. Right.

John is probably the most naturally gifted when it comes to just athletic ability. He's fast. He had better vision than Chris Paul. His jumpside improved. And defensively, when he wanted to turn it on, defensively, he was a lockdown defender. Now, CP was consistent every single night with that.

Nash struggled defensively. But the thing about John is he can make an average player better than any of them because his speed and transition opened it up so much even more than Steve even if he might have had a little better vision he put so much pressure on you you got you

I'm sure what he's doing for Porter I'm shooting 40 on a bad year I was did you know Porter was capable of what he's pulling off this year I mean this guy's shooting like 46% from three but that's a John Wall effect and the reason why I say that I was 46 45 when I was there and that you're wide

open you're literally wide open. That's because if you don't, he's taking two or three. He's going to make Otto Porter a fortune. Max. Seriously. Overall, I mean, nowadays, you don't got to be a max player to get Max because overall he got Washington and the Haftage. You're going to let him go. Someone else will give you Max.

So you better match. It's like Bradley Bill. Oh, Bradley Bill doesn't deserve Max. It doesn't matter what you deserve. Well, he's having a hell of a year. Right. He's staying healthy. He's got a 40 point.

I mean, hell, he had 40 just against the calves the other night. And that's why we didn't make the playoff. It's only reason why Bradley Bill's health. Because Bradley was. But how hard is that for? for you, right? So like you say you're in Milwaukee, now you're going to be this good servant. You're going to be, you know, you're going to help all these young guys. But then it feels like when you're going to Hammond, you're like, you know what? I ain't ready to just be the clapper.

Okay. Like I do still want to play. So, but then you go back to Phoenix and it's like, all right, I'm ready to be that veteran role model for these guys. Again, it feels like maybe you were, you're in a spot where it's like, you know you're good at helping young guys. For sure. But on the other hand, that does not, you don't want to just be that guy. You want to be a guy that's playing. For sure. And that's why it's a balance of how you had to do it.

When I go there, it's naturally for me to help out young guys. It's natural. Even when I am young, if you ask any of my teammates, one of the most unselfish, I'm big on bringing everyone together. We just went to. Before I met you, we all went to go Central Barbecue. The whole team. And I told us go. The whole team.

Right. So that's just camaraderie. That's just who I am. But when it came to Milwaukee, that was the role I needed. For the Clippers, that wasn't my role. I was just trying to get healthy. There was no young guys. We had one rookie.

We go to Milwaukee. We're all mostly middle-aged vets. Right. So, I mean, for the Wizards. So when I go for that, so overall it's, yeah, I knew Jabbar was coming back. They signed Greg Monroe. This is the whole thing. They're going for, hey, you know what?

I think it's best for me to move on to the situation. So overall, that's me being a little selfish, right? Right. So it's my last year, hey, they're thinking Jared just had back surgery. I don't even know what kind of player he's going to be. So they're probably thinking that too. I'm thinking, hey, I'm playing with John Wall. Paul Pierce is gone.

Oh, I can make this work easy, which I did. And that was the, so was that in your mind, I know you say you're being a little selfish, but are you thinking to yourself as that's going on? I've got to go somewhere. If I can get him and to trade me. Yes. I've got to go somewhere where I can make a contract out of this. Sure.

I know I'm in a contract year And the CBA's opening up For sure I mean hell what it gets you I got you 30 million bucks from Phoenix right Yeah for sure And then also it's I mean You know you got one chance at that

One chance So Wizards was perfect Wizards was the best of playing with John Wall So you'll always look at that fondly Even though it was not a great season You'll always look at it fondly Because it worked out for your career I might owe John Wall Rolex

What's all said and done I still talk to him Steve Nash Hey People understand You never bite the hand That feed you And you never

And you know your role And I know John Wall Makes better players Average players better Better players All-Star players That's just how he is So for me

It's on that situation We should have made the playoffs We had a disappointing year People People said they're surprised Before a year I said that's a top five team I said it on my Twitter

Before because Bradley Bill's that good Bradley Bill, the beginning of the season, last year he came in the best shape. I thought he was better than John Wall. What? When he first came in on training camp, I'm looking at this guy. He was killing it.

He was destroying. He was like 25 the first month of the season before he got hurt. And John was just trying to get back. He just had some problems. He was coming back. He was trying to get in shape. And then John took off December, January. Like, oh, okay.

Here's John Wall. And Brad was hurt. Right. But now they're both healthy. Look at him. Is Wall a great teammate? Great teammate. He is.

He seems like a super likable guy. Man, he's a, I mean, he's a, you know, he's a player. You know, in a way, like, he likes to have fun. He hangs out with you guys. He's a team guy, cracking jokes. So overall, but the thing about him is his maturity's picked up. Coach seems stressed out as hell last year. Every time I saw, you know, he got, you could tell when things weren't going really well for Washington,

you would see these post-game interviews, he'd get to snap in at people with me. For sure. I mean, because, you know, a lot of pressure. Pressure. injuries. I mean, he was out, out of Porter miss, Gortat miss, Alan Anderson played only 10 games of the year. I mean, we had a lot of injuries where you have this guy John trying to carry it on your bag, and we're still right there. It took the second last game of the year. We lost to Detroit to bump us out. That was a second to the last game of the year where we had a chance to actually make the eight seed.

Man, Bradley Bill plays half the games. We're like a six-five seed. If he plays all the games, you don't know what happens, which has happened this year for them. Do you think you stay in Washington? Probably not because Brad takes that max. I'm going to the highest bidder. Right. I'm not, you know, at that time. And they knew that. They knew that too.

It's no, it's no, like, disrespect. But overall, like, I mean, we play this game to obviously win. But overall, the money. Phoenix is the highest bidder? I mean, they were close to them in Brooklyn. But at that same time, I don't mind keeping it reasonable where Phoenix is home. Right. I could be with this organization.

Even, let's just say, two years from now, I'm not with Phoenix. I can always come back and work for that. the sons. You said Utah was that first meeting. Utah was the first meeting. Utah basically we said, hey, we have you and another player we're looking at no formal offer. That only other player, Joe Johnson.

I think they chose right there. They didn't, you know, they got Boris in the trade. They had Trey Liles. But they were looking for another veteran to help all those young guys and Joe's been perfect for that. All right, we'll get right back to it. But first, a few words from our sponsors. Today's NBA podcast brought to you by Casper.

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I want you to tell me, because there's a big article on the ringer today in which you're quoted a bunch by Kevin O'Connor. And it's about like kind of their plan. and what they're doing and kind of being stuck in the middle of, okay, do we flip this? Do we flip young guys for assets or do we just build around this going forward? But let me just go through the young guys on the team and get your thoughts on them. First, Booker. Booker has the potential to be a top two or three shooting guard, the NBA,

where obviously you have Hardin, Clay, C.J. McCullough, Bradley Bill. Those are the top four. you know, and maybe I might be missing one in there. De Rosen. De Rosen for sure. Yes, he is. That's five. Those are the top five right now.

You're right. Definitely with DeRosen. See, the thing about Book is when it comes to offensive scoring ability, he's right there with probably, when it comes to like those bottom three guys. Obviously, Hardens in a different class as is right now. But the thing about Booker is he can score from three levels. And all three of him can't. Like, DeRosen's not a three-point shooter. Booker can shoot from three.

He can post up. He has mid-range. does the pick and roll. Those are three dimensions he has right now. For someone who's not even 21, the physical contact, he punishes people down on that block, which I didn't know he could do.

I knew he could shoot, knew that. His whole thing for him to then become in that group in that elite class, his defense needs to pick up. And that takes time where knowing the league, knowing coverages,

and knowing he's not the most athletic guy like Clay Thompson, playing angles, playing smart. And that's something where you're hoping from year two to year three. That's where usually your defense, your biggest gain happens.

So you think he can be one of the top five shooting guards in the NBA? For sure. For sure. Like a multiple-time All-Star? For sure. The other two that have been drafted, because they're both, I think, would be considered projects. Marquise Chris and Dragonbender? Marquise Chris, potential is a limit.

And when I say limit, when people use the word potential, usually is because of your height, athleticism, and your reach. He's 6'10. He can move loudly with his feet. 40 inch vertical has a nice touch better touch than I had my rookie year when it comes to just shooting he's already hit more threes

than I've had it looks good even though sometimes he might not shoot a great percentage you see that he rolls the basket he can dunk on you for him it's learning the game

which are all for young guys he I think led the league in fouls in college so in this game you're going to foul even more because these guys are more athletic they're sneaky so he then has to

from a mental example where like, hey, how do I stay in the game? So for him, that's something that he has to learn because it was difficult for him in college. So now NBA, where you have more space and these power forwards are animals, trust me, I'm telling you they're athletic, where defensively, he's going to have to live in the film room. Because for overall, it doesn't come as natural. His natural is, hey, I can wake up, I can do a windmill. That's hard to do. Get him in the film room. Film room. So he has to, like, you know what? Young guys. No. When you're 19, 20 years old. But you know what? In Milwaukee.

hockey. It was on that. They were. Yeah. It was forced. Well, that's why you're saying, Janus, they get a lot of credit for his development. Sure, they should. But that's something that, you know, hey, you know, coaches do watch it with him, but it's something in the summertime. Let me go through my games. How good do I want to be? And that, I can't, I don't know that from him. Only he knows inside. It's like book. Like, I know how he is in the summertime. I don't know what book does in the summertime. Like, hey, it's, yeah, you can be in the court. Everyone works out on the court. Right. Are you going to be crazy in the morning? You up at five in the morning?

someone are you watching that film like how good do you want to be so for him sky's the limit but him it's more mental he has a physical tools yeah you know booker it's a little bit different you know well there's a million guys for sure right but not but his physical tools so there's not a million guys that was right no but it's the difference between say oh I don't know a guy I covered forever ago stro mile swift if you could put stroll mile up against any athlete ever right right but it just never clicked right you know on the other side for sure and And those guys, hey, and because of those skills, you can still be a 10-year guy. But do you want to be a 12-to-14-year guy?

A couple-time, All-Star. Instead of making $70 million, you made $250 million. Right. And that's the, if it decides. What about Bender? Bender is, mentally, is ahead of Chris when it comes to knowing basketball. And that's, and you would suspect that he's been a pro-pie since 12. You know how Europeans are.

You know, they are. They go pro at a junior high. So he's done that. He had to sit and watch him a copy. Right. I mean, Bender's like basically seven foot. You don't know how tall he is until you stand up next to him. Yeah.

And he's really young too. He's young too. And the question has for him is he has to know what position is he going to play? Is he a stretch four or is he a three? We've played in both positions. What do you think? That's a good question. I think in today's age, he could be a Tony Koo coach to be a stretch four.

I think that depending on his summer, do you work on your ball handling skills? I mean, like, he can still improve that. He can be a three because defensively, He's actually ahead of Chris and Booker defensively because he's long athletic. He can keep people in front of him. And when he jumps, it's hard to shoot over him. He blocks more shots. He changes his alter shots.

So he's ahead of that. It's offensively where, hey, don't just put yourself in a box of shooting threes. So much of this stuff that you talk about and when you're talking about the young guys, I know there's lessons learned from this long career that you've had and playing with all of these amazing players. What is different about the stars and the superstars? Great question. I would say this.

So the superstars I have played with overall. So John Wall is a star. For him to be a superstar, it's something that you have to do all the little things. So I think now after he's had a couple of surgeries, he knows you have to care of your bi like no other. Like Steve Grant, you know, even CP, you know. You got to take care of your body in a sense of it's not his fault. He's had surgeries, but I'm talking about the weight room. It's got to be your love in a sense of just staying healthy.

You don't got to be swore and all that. You know, Steve wasn't, you know, I mean, he was cut up, but he wasn't someone like in power. He was like Westbrook out there. Right. So that's when it comes to that one. Then you got to think of, hey, what are your flaws? So his is his jump shot, okay?

It was. He's improved it dramatically. Overall, like, you guys. But if he became a 38% three-point shooter. It's over. He's like best player in the elite. stuff. Right. And that's where, okay, so how do you improve that? Like, you know, certain

things of like, those are the superstars. So to me, NASS was a superstar because offensively, he had no flaws. He was the best shooter. His layup package was crazy. He had hookshots, floaters around the back, threes, free throws. He shot

technical foul. His whole thing was defensively, okay, we have to help him out with that. Very much so is Steph Curry. Do they practice more? When you hear all this whole first guy at the gym, last guy to leave, whatever. Have you found that the best players are the hardest working players? Or is that just something we say when it comes to, right?

Like, yeah, of course they're, of course they're the best players, but people don't see that they, you know, so we praise, we say, oh, Kobe Bryant's there at five in the morning when other guys aren't there. He's taking shots while other guys are sleeping or they don't go out and party or do this and this and this. You definitely have those few that do that, Kevin Durant, the ones that's, just love basketball so much for sure that are definitely, everyone works hard. Right.

I mean, I shoot my shooting coach in San Diego, he only works out at six in the morning. So it's nothing like that. So overall, yeah, okay, you should. It's just where do you have to be there. It sounds good to say, I was up at six in the morning. Hey, I wouldn't want to shoot at six in morning. I shoot at 10, but he only does it at that time. So that's when I get my reps in with him.

Dirk Newinsky has his guy. So, yes, there's guys, Dirk. These people have had, they say LeBron's like that now. Overall, yeah, I agree with that. But overall, that's when you're young. and you're trying to become a star, the older you get, it's being smarter with your workouts. Yeah, what does that mean? When you say taking care of your body, that's the thing that John Wall is going to have to figure out.

When to go out, when not to go out? When to ice? You see this bag right here? When do you go out? When do you go out? You know what? You try not to go out before games. A night before a game is a bad idea.

That's a bad idea in the sense of if you're the superstar. If you're the guy. Now, obviously, I'm not saying you can never go out. No one's saying that. I'm saying you got to pick and choose your spots. We have a recovery bag. There's no other team in the league that's right there, right there, inside there. You got the Norma Tech for your legs. You got a foam roll.

You got a Mark Pro, which right there on my desk that helps out through circulation. You got an ICA, all from Phoenix. No other team has that. I'm telling you that right now. I've played on five teams. They have a bag that these trainers have to have that you think it'd be a super every player has this in their room? player has that in their room.

Wow. It's like for people that are listening to this podcast, it's like this huge Adidas bag. It appears to be your luggage. I thought it was your luggage. Right. You think it's the luggage. So every player has that.

Everyone has it in their room right now. So that's what taking everybody throw an hour off. Why would everybody not do that? Right. Some people, I mean, why people have the old school. Remember people, the bench press and squats and clangs? That's over.

No one's doing that no more. Right. It's all, you know, everyone's trying to hire the people from Australia. Right. That's the big thing. It was preventative. Yeah.

You know, your core, your glutes, how to do, how to stay flexible. I mean, that's how it all is. So when you do that where, okay, now you're in here, getting your massages, taking care of your icing, being here, not, chilling, getting your rest, where that's, it's longevity. Right. You know, watching what you eat compared to different things, you know, if you're a drinker, when not to drink, when to drink, what kind of drink.

I mean, Steve, I mean, Steve drank beers and wine, but he wasn't doing hard alcohol and shots you know he'd have a beer after game every blue moon you know there's nothing wrong with that i'll kill you but hey are you are you doing shots of henny at two in the morning you know overall it's just different you know right they'll separate it i'm not saying you can never but you got to pick and choose your spots but at what but at what point the first what how many years of your career are you doing shots of henny at two in the morning i mean you can get away with the 21 22 23 i mean by 25 your body starts changing right 27 for sure i mean overall but i mean look all look how what time went in his first ring i mean you're not winning

and for 25 before 25 who was doing that I mean you better have I mean Kyrie did it he had LeBron right howells Curry Durant has I won it you know it's a reason why young guys don't win right because they got to go through the process all right let me end this was some rapid fire best teammate you ever had Nash easy the funniest teammate you ever had shack hilarious every day man shack my shack my shit like around here butt naked trying to get people all the time he he checked it some of his crazy stuff man he he buy people's suits he looked out for you

Did he ever buy you anything? What did he do Shack ever get me? He got me something Something like a little You know because you know he thinks he's an artist You know your producer I think he got me like a little boom Like a little boom box or something

Man he was he was he was phenomenal Guy you really tried to be friends with But just it wasn't taking Guy I tried to be friends with Who wasn't taking Let me see who were there That's a good question On any of the teams that you like

You like tried to be friends But it just didn't He wasn't down with Jared Dudley. Wow, that's a good question because I'm usually down with everyone. You know, that's the one thing about me is overall... Is there any teammate you've ever really butted heads with? That may be different than the guy you tried to be friends with. That's a man.

I butted heads a little bit with DeAndre on the floor, on the floor. Off the floor, one of my better twins have ever had. Deandre Jordan. DeAndre Jordan. I used to call him bipolar. I've said it to his face overall. Like overall, that dude is so cool off the floor.

On the floor, it's just he wants to win so bad. What he says and comes out of his mouth, sometimes you take it the wrong way. But for him, it comes in a good place. You kind of kind of know people's backgrounds. You ever get in a scuffle at practice? At practice. With any player?

I mean, there's practice scuffles all the time, right? There's nothing crazy. I mean, I think I got into a scolo one time in practice. But overall, hey, for one, we make too much money. to be fighting in the practice. Like, they ain't doing all that. Coach you learned the most from.

Doc Rivers X-N-Os were phenomenal. When I learned how he drew up plays to get people open and his communication skills were phenomenal. But overall, when it comes to just teaching in basketball, Larry Brown. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was phenomenal. I mean, Larry Brown, you're going to be in the gym

eight hours a day. I'm telling you right now, you're going to have arthritis in your knees. but overall, knowing the game, no one knew it better than him. Coach you butted heads with? Lindsay Hunter, but if you want to call him a coach. I mean, overall, he was coached for like three months coming up over overall. I mean... It just didn't work.

It didn't work just overall. I mean, hey, it's got to be a respect factor and how he got the job and how everything went, how it happened and how he took over. It's just, I usually have no problems with coaches. It just, that rubbed me wrong way a little bit. Most fun place to go out on the road. Wow. I mean, between New York or Miami, if you had to ask me.

And then where do we go in Miami? Live on Sundays. You know how that is. Story on Thursday. I mean, I mean, I'm going to be honest with you. You can go in your lobby in Miami. I mean, overall, just being out there. You can go in your lobby.

It's so nice. I mean, Miami's a different beast, man. Miami's a different piece. I mean, that's a road trip you look forward to the most. For sure. For sure. Just because overall, I don't go there in the summertime like that. I mean, New York is New York.

But Miami's just like the weather is warm. because like you're in Milwaukee is negative 30 and then you're going to 80 humidity come on man everyone nice dress yeah best fake name you've used

in a hotel P Diddy a lot of the time sometimes I've been Jared president so every time they call me excuse me Mr. President can we get you any water

guy who talked the most trash to you maybe CP or Blake they talked a lot of trash in practice them too yeah probably It had to be the clippers. They, everyone talked.

DeAndre, C.P. Blake, Jamal Crawford. Those are the most trash talking team. And this is a practice. Practice, yes, for sure, those guys. Oh, they just talked the whole time during practice. Well, I mean, Blake didn't talk the whole time. C.P., Jamal, and D.J. are always talking. But I guarded Blake, so we'd have, you know, we'd all talk trash.

By far the most trash talking team in practice. Interesting. Yeah. But it's cool, though. It was a good, it was a good trash talking. Do you think they get a bad rap for their relationship with officials? No. I think they get the rap they deserve.

It's just, it feels like a culture there. For sure. Doc's freaking out two minutes into the game. You know, you saw where you got to get held back in Brooklyn this year. I mean, like, you know, they think the refs are out to get them. And then everybody, everybody ends up hating the Clippers because they think they whine and flop. I would say this. 60% of time they're right.

They should have got that call. They should have done that. And because of who they are as stars, they might be able to. But if you don't get the call and then you. You think it's exaggerated. And then you mother this, the ref, they're on your head, and you're on the whole game. You think they're going to look out for you? Right.

Yeah, I can look out for you. I got you. The hardest day in your career. Is it a trade? The hardest day in my career was, wow. I figured it either be a trade or a loss. I want to say my hardest day of my career is when I found out on Twitter, I was traded before the Clippers told me. Bullshit.

I swear. You really found out on Twitter? I was done playing pickup basketball on the Clippers facility. And I leave the court to go in the back, take a shower. I'm on my phone. You know, the Wojo bomb and different than this, ESPN, been traded. I'm like, wow. I was like, these guys can't even call.

Send a text. I'm like, you know what? This probably sums up the Clippers organization right here. I didn't have a good, I had a bad season, this and this how it is. just talked to Doc Pye about a couple weeks ago. Hey, Jared, we think you could be our new freezing signing because you didn't have a good year. We think you have a bounce back year.

It's something being said. You're not going to be traded literally about two weeks later. I'm in there. I stayed the whole summer there and want to rehab, workout. Get traded. You found out on Twitter. On Twitter. Then eventually about a half an hour later, they called me into the office.

I already knew. Come on, man. All right. Come on. Were you furious? I would, you know what? Who do you call? Do you call your agent?

Do you call your girlfriend? Yeah, yeah, you definitely got to call your wife. You definitely got to call your wife. You got your family and overall, I was sad because as a player, I never had where I failed. Though I thought I failed organization. I thought I failed the Clippers. Even if it was there, even though they had responsibility, I should have been at that time of my career, I'm not ready to play. JJ Redick did it.

Matt Barnes did it. Their body wasn't ready to play. I should have done that. You just felt the pressure. Too much pressure. For sure. And overall, and that's something a learning mistake. that I have to learn from.

Right. Some I did, and overall through my career, I did. The most ridiculous purchase you've ever seen. NBA players are well known for buying lavish things.

Yeah, what's the most ridiculous thing that you have seen purchased? I mean, we see cars all the time. That's, I mean, that's just how I'm trying to think

most ridiculous. Jewelry, furs. Shack bought that big fur. He had that, I mean, but you know what, when you're someone like Shaq,

like, can you buy something ridiculous? There is nothing. Right? I'm trying to... There's nothing that's shocking. Nothing is shocking. I mean, overall, I think it's just...

Can you ever remember a time where a guy bought something? You're like, what are you thinking? Michael Beasley had about... If you talked to him, he had about seven or eight cars. And he matte blacked every car. They're all with the same color. And every time I saw him, so I don't know if there are new cars, this is this. He would get a car, he'd buy it, and he put Matt Black on it.

He asked him. And if you ask him to his day, I bet you still has all those matte black cars, guaranteed. They all look identical? Well, the color. I mean, so you got a Mayback, you got a Bentley, you got a binge, all Matt Black, all of them. And if you know Matt Black, I mean, like, I mean, they're reset by you. It sounds like he's had a $100 million contract either. Yeah.

I mean, over, you're right. I mean, I tell us to people this, though, too. Overall, you get nine cars. He was the number two picking the draft. Probably, probably made, you know, $15 million off that. Even if nine cars, let's say they added up to $1 million. I don't agree with it. But overall, that's up.

That should make you broke overall. but it just tells you usually the people they'll get those nine cars just probably a lot of stuff to go with you besides that. Yeah. Nine Matt Black cars. Oh, man.

All right. Well, I suppose you would say Adrian Wardenowski possibly, but three people on Twitter that I should follow. You're one of the more active social media athletes that there is. Yes.

I mean, if you just said Instagram, I definitely would have said Gilbert Arenas, for sure. Gilbert Arenas is a must follow. That guy there. He's hilarious. Man, on Twitter? He says some highly controversial things.

Oh, Joel NBee is number one right now. Joel N. Bitt is number one Twitter guy right now. He is the best. He gets it. He has a star presence about him, and he's actually funny. People are afraid of showing personality on that. A lot of people say, wow, I can't believe he said that. He's a franchise.

He knows he's a franchise, and he's bringing Buzz to that city. He's number one for sure. I like C.J. McCullough. C. McCullough got a pretty good Twitter. He definitely interacts with his stuff. famously went after Chandler Parsons two weeks ago. There you go. There you go. See, I like that. I like that where, hey, we live in too much of a politically correct place.

And I understand, yes, you can still not be politically correct, sit your opinions and be professional. That's what I don't understand. And you know what? We're seeing that from a new LeBron. Yep. You see how, you know, you thought that Kobe thing in this year. He's more just secure. Like, you know what? I'm the best. It's my league. I'm going to start just saying how I feel. You started when you saw that story about him firing off at Barclay, what'd you think? I was like, I was like, he's had enough.

He's had enough. And my whole thing is like this, you know, overall, like, it's easy when you're secure. Like, you know, when people have a minimum contract, they're not going to say that. I could be on a minimum contract. Most people wouldn't do this interview. Because you got to tell some stories of what was bad, what was good, what was this? I'm secure. Right.

You're not scared. I'm not scared. But overall, if I had that, I think a lot of these organizations, They respect your professionalism. You don't bash everyone. You understand. In the way, something might have gone wrong, but you can say it professionally away. But also, you're going to get praises too.

I don't got to get praises to Phoenix before I left. I did. But overall, I had a bad ending with Lindy Hunter, but you still, the organization was good. Milwaukee, you got to give it to it how it was. No, the only one you crapped down was the Clippers. For sure. For sure. What if you could trade it to the Clippers?

There would be a debacle after this interview. They would deny that trade easily. There are any too many teams I can't play for it. That's one thing you're not worried about is ever ending up wearing a clipper jersey again? Unless Doc is gone, probably. You know, that's the only way I'd have a slim chance. But overall, be honest with you, eh, I got 30 other teams. I'll be fine.

You think you can be fine. All right, last thing. Jared Dudley, you wish if I went around the league and I asked other players about you, I don't want to do the remember as because, obviously, you're still a current player. But what is the thing you would want other guys to say about you? Well, I mean, want or would. What I want them to say is overall, he was a smart

basketball player that played the game the right way, was a good teammate, was professional. That's what I would want them to say. If you ask most guys, they probably say, hey, Jerry, when it comes down to it, if he's not a GM, a coach or someone high in the media organization,

something went wrong. Because every team I play for, hey, you're going to be involved in this. Hey, are you going to be a gene like that's what they want that's what they see and how my daily and how i'm with you i'm at memphis doing something with the ringer i might be in you know l.A doing something with this overall i think about now i think about the future what do you want to do that's a good question and that's why i do this stuff to give yourself options i mean hey the coaching money's crazy now in the NBA you think you could for sure you could be a coach for sure easy easy just because

overall knowing my knowledge of the game and relating to young guys, the preparation you have to put in, the politics, because people are saying, there's a lot of politics in this game. I know how to kiss the baby. I know how to, you know, mess around and do what you have to do, smile and face, so that. But overall, I like the Chauncy Bills and Jalen Rose gig, what they got going on here. Right. Six months out the year, you got your summers off here and there. You're working a couple days a week.

You're flying in to maybe Bristol, L.A., Memphis, you know, you do that. So I think that when that time comes, four or five, six years down the road, and you pick what's best for you and your family. He is Jared Dudley from the Phoenix Suns. Jared, you're the best, man. Hey, man, I appreciate you guys. Thank you, buddy. Jared Dudley.

That's going to do it for another Ringer NBA show. We will talk to you soon. Anytime.