The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Boston’s Turnaround and the Warriors’ Klay Problem. Plus, Al Harrington Talks NBA Playoffs and His Viral Bag of Iverson.

Episode Date: May 5, 2022

Russillo talks about the Suns’ 20-point victory over the Mavericks in Game 2, Celtics-Bucks, the 76ers struggling down 2-0 in their series with the Heat, and Warriors-Grizzlies tied at 1-1 and what adjustments Golden State has to make going into Game 3 (0:37). Then Ryen talks with Al Harrington about his company Viola Brands, introducing his "Iverson" cannabis strain courtside at an NBA game, stories from Al’s 16-season NBA career, predictions for Warriors-Grizzlies, and more (16:58). Finally Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (51:57). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Al Harrington Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

you can probably guess that today's podcast we're going to talk about chris paul and specifically what he did in the fourth quarter against dallas and looking big picture on that series and the other three not just last night's game with miami Philadelphia. Al Harrington is going to talk playoffs. He's going to talk the viral bag of Iverson courtside and what he's doing in that space, but just tell some awesome NBA stories as well. Great guest and life advice. Enjoy.

Alright, I don't want that laugh to be too intense because it's only the second round and we all still have more work to do. But Chris Paul, Mr. Fourth Quarter, does it again. Phoenix up 2-0 on Dallas. So let's run through some of the important stuff. Luka took a little time.

9-0 start there for Phoenix. A couple minutes in, then it's like, all right, I'm going to take over 10 straight points. He was absurd in the first half. Slight little storyline to pay attention to because Luka runs hot. We know that. And I guess guys were giving it to him and he started talking to people and then we saw that thing

where he's going to the tunnel. He didn't have a very good third quarter. There was theories that that had something to do with it, that maybe he was tired. I think as soon as Reggie Miller said, maybe he's tired, he's doing too much. I mean, he does carry this offense. Reggie Bullock had some moments as well.

Dallas is just going to hit threes, but it wasn't the case because Luka just constantly... I don't know what to do with him. I don't know what to do with him if you're another team. It's absurd what he is offensively. There you go. 30 fouls called

in the first half. There was a man named Dick Harder who was an assistant coach in the NBA, a lifer in basketball. He was kind of like the original defensive coordinator. Maybe there was somebody before him. Dick Harder was around a long time. And he used to have this line about fouling and physical defense. He says, they can't call everything.

That was his theory. Hack the shit out of people because they can't call everything. It's still a product for entertainment. They can't call fouls every single possession. If they do that, it's not a great game to watch. The refs last night did not get that memo because they called everything. There were seven offensive fouls on stretch in Phoenix. And I'm telling you, like every single possession down, there was a really bad stretcher in the third quarter. This is ridiculous. Aiton picks up his fifth foul, nine plus minutes to go in the third quarter. He didn't come back until 545. So we've got Luka going off in the first half. We've got another game where I'll admit every time I watch the two teams play, I just go Phoenix has more options.

And those options, there could be a night where it doesn't happen. But for too many games in this series, Phoenix will show you all the options and the things that they can go to. So we go to the fourth quarter. Chris Paul goes for 14 points on six or seven shooting with a couple of assists. Let's run through it. Paul makes a three. He's going to lay up a pull-up, a floater, a pull-up, and the end one where he started talking shit to the Dallas bench on this one. Sprinkled in there, he had an assist or a cam three, the bridges lob on the fast break. But there was something I thought that was very telling and very Chris Paul.

It wasn't all Luca hunting, although it felt that way at times, because Biambo ended up having to play some of the center minutes. And it's just classic Phoenix with this system that Biambo actually looks serviceable because you have somebody like Chris Paul. And Biambo is at least going to give you effort. And JaVale has been terrific in this backup role, but then he had foul trouble too. So Biambo is carrying them for some of these minutes, not carrying them, but you understand the point. And so if Luka were on Biambo, because they're trying to save Luka and they don't want to have Luka out on the perimeter defensively, Biambo would set the screen. So then Dallas was like, all right, well, let's have Luca on Shamit.

And then Shamit starts to set the screen. And then they actually went back to putting Luca on Biambo. So it wasn't always Biambo or Shamit, Luca's man, setting the screen for Chris Paul, because there were other times where Paul got Kleber. There was a couple moments there with Bullock. The up fake that he had was on Reggie Bullock, who, again, changed the pronunciation of his name, which caught me off guard when I started hearing people say Bullock like some Bond villain. But here we are. Congratulations.

going the way Paul was in this fourth quarter would have given you that absurd step back, heat check three. And Paul knew, okay, they're bringing the pressure way out. They're going out of their way now. The game is probably over here, but they're going out of their way to stop me and keep two with me. And he knew what they were doing. So he went away from everybody else and immediately got it to Shamit who got it to Bridges. And I think Biambo got the layup there. And it was like the perfect Chris Paul heat check where it's like, yeah, I know what you think I might do. And now you're going to freak because I've torched you here for six minutes. I'm actually going to pretend I'm going to put myself in a bad situation in the half court set. And I know exactly what you're doing and I'm already planning on what I'm doing. So I'm going to take you a little bit further away

from everything that's happening. And there you go. Aiton played 18 minutes. And this is what happened. Booker actually, I'm not going to call it a quiet 30 points for Booker because that's not fair. Booker had nine at the half. As soon as the second half started, Booker's like, all right, enough of this shit. He takes over. And then after Paul went out, Booker came in and stuck two threes.

And they actually, I think he got Luka on one of the two. So this one was over. I don't think it's fair yet, but I'm just telling everybody it's going to happen. If Dallas gets, you know, the sweep always sounds worse than losing in seven, but I just don't think the two teams are close. I know that after the trade deadline, it is crazy, and the broadcast reminded all of us of this, that Dallas had the second-best record behind Boston in the NBA since the trade deadline, but as I pointed out,

as their record held up really well, their overall numbers and a lot of stuff didn't match the win-loss, and that was winning a lot of close games. They turned around their clutch performance where there were disasters, and they know they're a better defensive team, but they were 9th and 14th in offensive and defensive rating after the trade deadline, despite having the second-best record. Those things didn't really add up.

But there will be, if this is a disappointing finish, Luka will start to enter that territory after winning a round where you go, hey, wait a minute. How come we complain about Trey Young, but we don't do the same with Luka? How come we do this, but we're not doing it with Luka? It's just the rules, man. I say it all the time.

These are the rules, and this is what will happen. The Harden comps, who I do think the playing style, the heliocentric part of it, the drives and the amazing passing, the ability to shoot. I thought Luka looked a lot like Harden before the draft because of his angles and his driving and going slower and it didn't matter and just riding you and putting his hip on you and there's just you're helpless against it but it's going to happen I don't think it's fair right now but I'm just telling you there you go let's hit three other series because that's all we have real quick uh Boston and Milwaukee even

Jalen's the key for the Celtics I felt that way before the, and I feel even stronger about it after game one and game two, one of the worst games I've ever seen from him. And one of the best games I've ever seen from him back to back days without Middleton. I really think the Celtics should win this series. They're as good as you started to believe they could be, but you're always worried about Giannis, but the Celtics have done a really good job defending Giannis.

He's 20 of 52 overall in two games. He's not in threes, which we wouldn't expect, but he's missing his free throws again. He's at 55%. Giannis is going to get his 30 and 12. How many assists does he get? How efficient is it? And how's the rest of the team going to shoot around him? Because Milwaukee was terrible from three. They were 3-18 in game two. Boston made 23, so plus 17 and threes in game two. You wouldn't expect that to be the trend where one team has a 17-made-three advantage game to game, but stuff happens, and we'll get to that in the summary of all of this. But a lot of it is being shot ready, where I felt like Boston, you know the scouting report, you're going to have a bunch of threes, they're going to

be there for you, just be a little bit more ready. And Jalen going off, obviously. I think the Boston defense is still there. I know Milwaukee's defensive rating is really high, but I felt like going up against Chicago, it's almost like it's not even fair to bake that into the rating there. So we head to Game 3. Philadelphia and the Heat. Heat up 2-0.

No Lowry, and it isn't close. Obviously, Embiid not being there completely changes who Philadelphia is. Philly in game one was 6-34 from three. You're like, hey, 18%. That's not going to happen again. They only shot at 8-30% in game two. They're just slow. They're really slow.

There's all these possessions where I'll watch and go, I know you don't have a chance, and I know you're trying to figure this whole thing out. By the way, the DeAndre Jordan stubbornness, he barely played in game two. It was almost like, hey, he's going to start, but we're actually going to go small. We're going to do some of the Paul Reed stuff. There's different times where you'll have a mix of different heat players at the rim against Bam and some of those lobs. I'm not even going to get on Harden's case for that. What's Harden supposed to do where he's in between

a show and a drop against Bam? It's just not going to happen. You're done. It's toast. Hero was terrific, but Harden offensively, 20 minutes in the second half, one made field goal. Yes, they are trapping him.

His assist numbers were I think he had four in the second half. I also think he has some incredibly lazy passes at times, but they're just overmatched. And I don't know how there's any solution other than the Heat being bored. Hero was great, as you mentioned. And Oladipo, who the broadcast really seems to love Oladipo, and they say he's fought his way back to this playoff rotation.

Well, the reason he's playing is that Lowry's out. And I like the Oladipo story. There's some hints at what he used to be, but over the course of a full game of the season, he's still not there. We know he's missed a ton of time, so I'm not saying, oh, he's washed, he's done, and all these things. I just feel like if you get something good out of him, great, but I don't know that you can be raising your expectations of getting something that's remotely close to not even Pacers Oladipo, maybe even Magic Oladipo. So I don't really know what the solution here is.

All right, latest on Golden State Memphis, Gary Payton II out three weeks. How crazy is it that we have his dad on? And his dad goes, you know, talking about his son. He said, but if he dunked on me or my team like that, where these guys are doing this head scratch thing, where he threw it down on Bain, and then the Warriors bench started giving it to Bain on the inbounds too in game one, GP was like, I'd break his back. I don't know if that's what this Dylan Brooks hit was on Gary Payton in game two, but it was vicious. It was really vicious. Another observation, and aside if you will allow it. We seem to be really bad with leg injuries,

but we have no sympathy towards arm injuries. If somebody blows out a knee or something turns the wrong way in a leg, we go like, oh, why are you showing that? The Kevin Ware Louisville college basketball game. That's the all-timer. We're like, oh, how dare you? How dare you show this? You can't show this. And again, I'm not like an injury porn guy. I'm just telling you sometimes I want to see how bad something is.

I couldn't stand watching the way Gary Payton's arm landed. I don't know how many. I've probably seen the clip 20 times. When it's an arm injury, there's no sympathy. There's no how could you. But when it's a leg injury, there is an observation. Do with it what you will. So as we head into game three, that really Golden State's having a hard enough time with Ja. By the way, the world can't defend Ja.

So we can start there. You can get into some sort of discussion about what you need to do with Ja. Get into him. That used to be my favorite one from some of these elite scorers. Just get into his space. Just get into some sort of discussion about what you need to do with Ja. Get into him. That used to be my favorite one from some of these elite scorers. Just get into his space. Just get into him a little bit. Rough him up. Ja gets the shit knocked out of him for 40 plus minutes,

and he gets up every single time. And yes, I'm worried about it too because I'm worried about the one time he's not going to get up. So he doesn't care. You can knock him around. You can hit him. He just has the first step. He has the handle. He has the body control

that it's like at the top, top tier of basketball players that we've ever seen. He takes off, goes straight up. Everybody's figuring out what he's going to do. He's taking time. A, I'll throw it off at this angle. It's stupid. I don't know that there's really anything you're going to do. Now, if Andre Iguodala, whose status has been

upgraded for Game 3, does he solve that problem? I don't know. As's really anything you're going to do. And so now if Andre Iguodala, whose status has been upgraded for game three, does he solve that problem? I don't know. As I've talked about throughout playoffs for the entire time that I've ever talked about the playoffs, there's a lot of, well, that won't happen again. And we see a result. One team's wins. One team loses.

We find something that's odd and we go, well, that's not going to happen again. Okay. That thing likely won't happen again. That was odd. But that also means that something else will probably happen that we don't think will happen again. Okay, that thing likely won't happen again. That was odd. But that also means that something else will probably happen that we don't think will happen again that could replace that. So sometimes I think it works, but sometimes I think it won't. Because if we look at Golden State right now with Klay Thompson,

he's 23% on 11 three-point attempts per game in this series. Wiggins, by the way, is 17% on six attempts. So if you look at Klay and say, well, that's not going to happen again, and I don't think Golden State's going to shoot it as poorly as they did in game two at memphis as they'll be at home for game three and four i don't think so and but memphis deserves credit for who they've been defensively in the playoffs because we mentioned miami and milwaukee being ahead of them defensively miami hasn't played anybody you know miami's going to be an easter conference finals and i'm still going to be like i'm not sure how good they are milwaukee

if you get to play Chicago and that bakes into your defensive rating, I don't even know that that's a real indicator who you've been in the playoffs. Memphis going up against Minnesota and Golden State for two games and being number three defensively in the playoffs, that to me is like being number one. So they're doing a really

good job. So the other thing as I close here is that Clay just hasn't looked that good. His movement hasn't looked good. They go hunting for him. They're going to hunt for Steph. They're going to hunt for, for pool. Uh, the Warriors have a real perimeter problem here with John. They're just going to have to hope that he doesn't make threes like he has at times, which opens everything else up. Um, and it is that one dimensional stuff that I don't necessarily love, but that was an all-time game two. That's like the playoff lore, legacy-making stuff, what Ja did in game two.

The playoffs are heating up, and you can make every game feel like game seven on FanDuel Sportsbook. An official partner of the NBA. Throughout the playoffs, all customers can place a no-sweat same-game parlay each week. You'll get up to $20 in free bets if you don't win. FanDuel has so many ways to play. And best of all, when you do win, you'll get paid faster than a fast break. All right, don't want to get arrogant here speaking of winning. But same-game parlays, we've been really good in the unders in these Memphis games. So, we do it again.

It's 226. They're shaving this number down a bit here. Memphis is plus 6.5. Let's go another Memphis game under here. All right, so 226.5. And then on some of the same game parlay stuff, if you want to throw it out there, Jalen Brown is one of the better odds on 20

or more points. I do think it's a Jalen Brown series, the way they're going to defend Tatum and Jalen being so good in game two. So he's minus 320 where Giannis and Tatum are minus 4,000 minus 2,500 on some of those. So I'm just throwing a couple things at you here. So if you want to stay

with Boston to score 10 or more points, the only options here, Brooke Lopez, minus 128. He did nothing in game two offensively. Score 40 points. What's available there? Giannis plus 600 plus 680.

So maybe if you just went crazy with Giannis at home and the line, Milwaukee minus two and a half totals 213. So there you go. A couple different options on top of the total in Memphis and Golden State. New to FanDuel, just download the FanDuel Sportsbook app and sign up with the promo code Ryan, R-Y-E-N. Once again, that's promo code Ryan. And if you already have an account, you're all set

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Restrictions apply. See full terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-800-789-7777, or visit ccpg.org forward slash chat in Connecticut, 1-800-GAMBLER, or visit panduel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, New Jersey, PA, Virginia, or 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, 1-800-270-7117 for confidential help.

Michigan, 1-877-8-HOPE-NEW-YORK. Or text HOPE-NEW-YORK, 467-369-NEW-YORK. Tennessee Red Line, 1-800-889-9789. Tennessee, or visit 1-800-GAMBLER.net. West Virginia. Al Harrington is going to hang out with us for a bit, talk some hoops, tell some stories. I'm excited about this. Maybe I'll just

get to it. The big headline was in March with you showing up with a pound to Iverson, the court side for Atlanta at Detroit game. That's probably the best marketing Viola your company has ever done because people loved it. And I started going through the mentions and everything. I mean, obviously you kind of knew what you were doing, but how surprised were you to the reaction? I don't know. It's funny, right? Because I've been doing this for so long and it's like, everything is normal to me at this point, but I wasn't expecting it to go viral, to be honest.

I came up with the idea literally on the way to the game. I just had some, I had some Iverson in the car and I was like, let me see if I could get this in the arena. And when I was able to get it in there, I just put it on the floor and I asked the, uh, actually, actually asked their cameraman to take a picture of me, you know, sitting there with it. And, uh, it went crazy. So it was legit a pound of weed in there. Like you got it through.

Cause I was wondering if it was just like paper towels and then it was cool. You were good to go because I don't want to get in a trouble i don't even know what's the right thing to ask in this and what you're allowed to even do or say right it's funny i don't know how to answer it but uh it definitely had something in there uh but it depends on who's asking right so but yeah we it was some product in there for sure and uh well i was nervous for sure um but you know at the end of the day for sure. Um, but you know, at the end of the day, cannabis is not going to hurt nobody. You know what I mean? And it's adult use. Um, it's funny, we've been talking to a lot of different arenas about different opportunities

in regards to like sponsorship and stuff like that. So cannabis is starting to turn that corner and, you know, hopefully, you know, my goal is to be the first cannabis brand, like, you know hopefully you know my goal is to be the first cannabis brand like you know with a sponsorship on the on the floor for games yeah it isn't interesting you know just dynamic of how like like i'll use an example if a kid came in the league when you were coming to the league and he had tattoos people were like okay openly going i don't know where his like where's this guy's head at and right now it's an absurd thing to even think about. And it's not the same thing, but I at least think the numbness to it, you become more desensitized to just the idea of the conversation that Viola could be an in arena, you know, partner for advertising. And like, are you telling me like you're obviously you've been in this now for years with your

company? How has that changed in just a very short amount of time? I mean, to be honest, I mean, literally four years ago, like it wasn't even a discussion. Like they were like, if I even bought it up, they would look at me like I have five heads on my shoulder. But now, like I said, now is a real opportunity. You know, I've been talking to a couple of different teams about it. Um, markets where we're actually the Viola brand is at and, you know, it's, it's opened the conversation. You know, I brand is at. And, you know, it's opened a conversation. You know, I've leveled up to, you know, talking to the presidents of the organizations and even some of the owners. And, you know, we're waiting on Adam to make his decision in regards to, one, taking it off the banned substance list in general. And I think after that, you know,

I think that potentially this could happen sooner than we think. You know what I'm saying? Having Viola on one of these floors. I was really impressed with the marketing stuff that I got. Tell me about, because you'll explain it better than I'll explain it and asking the question. But like part of the goal here is for 100 black millionaires for diversity in a product that it doesn't have as a bad history with it, meaning the incarceration rates, but also the part of this company that you have here where you're looking to push investments in ways that haven't been open to people in the past.

Yeah, man. I mean, it's levels to it, right? You know, I think that the main thing, one of the things we try to address is the education side of it. So, you know, I actually started my own institute. It's called Harrington Institute, where we have curriculum that gives people a baseline, a foundation of information around the industry and all the different verticals that the industry offers from cultivation, manufacturing, retail, testing, disposable, you know, all those different things, even media. the disposable, all those different things, even media. Then when we talk about creating 100 millionaires, the industry has really grown pretty fast. And I think that last year was a $27

billion industry. We're looking at it to being like $80 billion over the next five years. And the issue that I had as I've grown in the industry was realizing that the people that was mostly affected aren't benefiting like at all. And we've seen this happen before, you know what I'm saying? Other industries, right? Sugar, cotton, alcohol, the lottery, like essentially like people of color started the lottery running numbers, right? And now it's this obviously huge business and there's no ownership or representation of people of color at all. So I'm trying to change that. I'm trying to use my platform to change that by allowing, you know, using my resources to help uplift, educate,

and empower people of color in these businesses and these local entrepreneurs. I always say that, you know, I've been on a board of, you know, companies like MedMen and in some of our meetings, we talk about the LVMH of cannabis guys use the same product that, you know, some of these companies are using, you know, in a legal market. And just because of the bags that they produce, the marketing that they do on their bags warrant a price of $5,000 to $7,000 a pound. You know what I'm saying? It creates line culture. You know, these kids do pop-ups at, you know, Super Bowl weekends and different things like that. And they'll make anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 off of merchandise. You know what I mean? So I say that's the LVMH.

My biggest thing is trying to figure out like how I can onboard them into the cannabis space. You know, I just really feel like until those companies are, you know, at the table, I just don't feel like the cannabis industry is really going to be fully, you know, what it can actually be. So that's what I focus on. And when I think about, you know, those are the people that I want to, that's how I get to that hundred number, honestly, because, you know, every market that I go into, the underground market has a lot of strong support, but these guys just don't have the wherewithal or the resources to actually get licensed to be able to participate in the legal market. So we're trying to fix that.

I want to ask one more question about it. Just the Iverson part of it alone, because I was like, well, he played, you know, against them or whatever. It's not like I thought you were going to put his name on a on a bag and be like, hey, hey, man, how's it going? What was his involvement? What was that discussion like? Yeah, so it was a two year discussion, honestly, because Alan was the same way, you know, just thinking about his brand first. And just like, you know, being affiliated with a cannabis company, how would it affect, you know, some of the things that he had going on? So it took me a while to, you know, educate him, you know, just like I'm talking about this education thing is so important to just the industry as a whole.

And he was a cannabis user early in his career. He used a little bit towards the middle of his career. And pretty much he got a whole cannabis that was pretty much too strong for him. So it made him stop. But we've talked. Was that the video of him eating popcorn? Was it that night? Yeah, he was high off his own strength

when he had the popcorn. But part of that process with him, honestly, was that he wanted cannabis that had a terpene profile that was like champagne. That's one of his favorite drinks. And that's what we were able to accomplish with 96 because it was a great stomper cross

with a secret Cushman's string that had those hit notes of like a great champagne-y kind of taste. And it was something that he could get behind because it was a product that he approved. So you're at that game, and I know you're pretty locked in, so I want to talk to you about the playoffs a little bit.

I can't believe, in my opinion, I can't believe the top-end talent that this league has. We joke about who's top five, and Simmons and I had done this pod where we were like, it feels like there's 15 guys that kind of float throughout this conversation. What do you think about the top tier? And I know dudes don't like saying like, these guys are better than when I played, but I don't even know how it's, when you look at the absolute talent that we have at the very top, how do you see it as a former player?

The league is in great hands. These kids are unreal. The game has just continued to evolve. So for any player to sit and say that these guys aren't better than to these step backs, these one foot shots is just really incredible. And to your point, like with the top players, you're right. It moves around all the time. Right. I mean, and which is really cool. Right. Because I just feel like back in the day, like there was like clear, defined guys that was like the guy. Right. This league now, to your point, it rotates from year to year, right? It's like one year and B's the best big man. The next year, Jokic's the best big man. And it goes back and forth.

And then it goes LeBron and this guy and KD and Kyrie and this guy and Steph Curry. So it's tough to me, to your points, to have a top five that's like, this is the top five and that's it because it goes year by year. You know, these guys, it just seems like they keep adding new things to their game. And, you know, I just feel like, you know, with MB, right, like the way he played this year, like I didn't think he had that in him.

You know what I'm saying? But he's like really taking his game to a whole nother level to the point where it's just like he's super-duper dominant. It's not even close, you know what I'm saying, to what he means to his team out there on the court. Yeah, the last two nights alone, we see what Ja does in game two, and then Luka in the loss.

Who would you rather have to defend? Maybe I'll just ask it that way. If you had to go up against Ja and Luka, how would you handle that? I mean, for me, Al Harrington, I'd rather go at Luka just because he's bigger. I think John's a blur.

That kid is just... What I love about him, he's an ultimate competitor. I think I read his lips when he walked past Steph Curry and said, this is serious now. So, you know, this kid really brings, he's not scared of nothing. And he's like willing to, you know, talk trash to the, you know, to some of the, you know, guys that he should be actually looking up to, as they say.

So, you know, you know, from that standpoint, like the young guys and stuff, the league is in great hands for sure. But I would rather guard Luka out of those two. Yeah, I don't know. Good luck with either one of them. What I like about Luka is that I think for a long time, and maybe it was fair going back to your era, that when the Euros would come over, I can probably guess that you guys would talk about it. All right, whatever. You know, talk and shoot a little, can dribble.

And now I think these guys have more of an edge. Like there's another generation through, it's cycled through through where i feel like a lot of the foreign guys that come in and it's such a foreign league now that they're they're they're tougher they're more acclimated to it they're more ready for as opposed to being in awe what was it like when you played like i mean i'm sure you can share with us maybe you don't have to name the guys but i feel like that era was a little bit more dismissive of some of the players that came from different backgrounds. It wasn't that was dismissive. I mean, it was just, you know, they were just starting to come over here and get their rep, their rep. You know what I mean? I think that like a guy like Dirk, Emmanuel Ginobili, Tony Parker, just guys like this off the top of my head, Peja Stojakovic.

like just off the top of my head, Peja Stojakovic, you know what I'm saying? Those are guys that really like started to make us take notice. Right. And start giving those guys respect. You know what I'm saying? And you're holding them at an elite level in the game of basketball.

Right. I think the main thing too, because back then, like there was limited information on players. Right. So I remember like when I played against dirt the USA game, in high school game, like, I'd never seen him before, heard of him or nothing. Now you got this seven-foot white boy

out here shooting one-leg jumpers with handles and, like, where the hell did he come from? Most, you know, tall white players like that were, like, stiffs, you know what I'm saying? We never seen nothing like it, right? The only other thing I'll say about, like, the league now to like, you know, to your point of like, how will we guard

Luka? Like, I just think that the game was way more physical back then. You know what I'm saying? This freedom of motion is just crazy. Like, I always say like, you know, whatever, I think for my career I averaged almost like 14 points. Like, in this game today, I'd average 19 easily. You know what I'm saying? Just because it was

just, you know, you can't play as physical. You know, but that's why I think that a lot of old players, when we think about life, I had to guard Luke. And this is what I would do. You know what I'm saying? With the rules, it's not the same rules of the game. Right. And to be fair to you, too, your profile was different coming out.

I want to get into some of this stuff. You didn't score a lot in the beginning because I just felt like, okay, what do we have? You know, we're going to take it slow. It's almost like a minor league baseball player with you because when when wings came out of high school and you know i wasn't in the media then just a huge fan love the draft if if i remember correctly it was like bigs are allowed to do what these guys are doing and but people were mad at kobe for coming out like who does this kid think he is and you got a ton of that too like wait okay he's good

but he's not even going to go in top 10 he's not going to go lottery he's going to go in the 20s and this guy like who does he think he is and so there was a lot of like you were given zero benefit of the doubt because it was almost like people were annoyed with you thinking that you should skip college because it wasn't cool to do that in 98. Yeah, it was, it definitely was a seniority thing back then. You know what I mean? It was, it was, you know, it wasn't a lot of players

that even a lot of rookies, even whether high school or not, you know what I'm saying? Like the older guys, you know, they just, I don't want to say they were hating on the younger guys.

You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to say that, but it definitely was a thing like you need to wait your turn. You know what I'm saying? You got to pay your dues in order to, you know, get the minutes or get the recognition that, you know, you think that you deserve. And, you know, to your point, like now that that's completely gone. And, you know, that definitely was starting to happen towards the end of my career, I felt like.

And that's why I like for me ultimately why I retired is just because I felt like the league took a stance where, you know, they just didn't value older guys anymore. You know what I mean? Like you look at like somewhere like Miami, where Udonis Haslam, I think he's in his 19th season and they see value, even though he doesn't play any meaningful minutes anymore, but he's so valuable to the culture, right? He's so valuable to, you know, bringing guys in and helping them transition to the Miami way of living and the way that the structure and everything, you got to respect it because he's been around here 19 years. He's an NBA champion, all these different things. A lot of organizations don't normally operate like that. But I always say, like, when you look

at the teams that have been consistently good for just year after year after year after year, they usually take that kind of approach with value and, you know, the older players. the teams that have been consistently good for just year after year after year after year, they usually take that kind of approach with valuing the older players. That team, your rookie year, or actually fast forward, yeah, the rookie year gives a short season. It's a really good team. I mean, this team's nuts.

Reggie, Smits, Jalen Rose, Chris Mullen, Antonio and Dale Davis, Mark Jackson, Travis Best, Samalen Rose, Chris Mullen, Antonio, and Dale Davis, Mark Jackson, Travis Best, Sam Perkins, Derek McKee is 10th in scoring on this team, Crozier, and then it's Hoiberg and Pope. So, I mean, you got any minutes, man, is shocking. Did Bird end up – go ahead. The way they played us, so me, Pope and austin crozier were like the three guys that we had rotated on the ir list so back then the way they set it up was when you go on ir you have to sit five games before you're eligible to play in

the game again so that's how they rotate us literally like you know i would go on crow would go then pope would go then i would go five game rotations and that's how would go, then Pope would go, then I would go. Five game rotations, and that's how we did it. And then we would just be lucky if there was a blowout within one of those five games. We actually got some minutes. Who was your guy on that team then? Who was the guy that- Man, everybody took me under their wing, but I lived with Antonio Davis, right?

So living with him was interesting. Right. It was like I was I became like in the beginning it was cool. Right. But he had a huge ass house. Right. And I had to down I had to downstairs. So downstairs he had lived in like one of the showcase homes in Indianapolis. So it was like done up to the T bowling alley, everything. Right. So I had downstairs. So I had access to all of that, the movie theater, pretty much everything. Then him and his family were upstairs, the kids and everything. Kids call me baby Al and all this kind of stuff. So after a while, like, as I lived with

him during the, during the lockout. So between the lockout and him kind of looking out for me, because, you know, I had got like, you know, the know, the NBA or excuse me, the Pacers had given me an advance of like just a hundred thousand dollars. So of course, you know, I ran through that pretty fast. How fast did you spend it? What were you buying? I mean, I bought a car. I bought my mom a car. You were paying cash? Yeah, I was trying to live off it. And I mean, then like my financial advisor was trying to give me a live off,

like $2,500 a month. It's just so funny to laugh about it now right so antonio ended up giving me money so i ended up being like his little brother like damn they're like giving me a thousand dollars every couple weeks every week or whatever so i think by the time the season started he was kind of tired of me so when we were So when we were going to road... Were you getting after it, though? Like having people over downstairs in his place, too? No, heck no. It's like I wasn't having it.

Okay. So I would have to go and hang out. I would go to Travis Best's house or Jalen Rose's house to hang out. But during the season, when we were going to road, Antonio would literally be like, do not come by me, period. Like, I see you enough at home. I don't want to see you on the road so on the road um Mark Jackson I used to hang out with Mark Jackson a lot you know what I'm saying he's taking me to a lot of dinners and uh you know just used to hang out with him and I don't know I always tell you all the time

I guess I don't know what he how he viewed, but he used to always make fun of me. But for some reason, I had thick skin and I could handle it or whatever. So between living with Antonio, hanging with Mark on the road, and then my workout partner was Chris Mullen. So you know with Chris Mullen going through his sobriety and everything, the way he gets through that was he works out all the time to keep himself active or whatever. And he would just be like, Rook, meet me at the gym. You know what I mean? So between those three guys, and I always say like, they definitely laid the foundation to me having a 16 year career. You know what I'm saying? Just watching how they, you know, watching Antonio, how he lived at home and off the court. And then Mark giving me a lot of knowledge just from being around the life, you know what I mean? And then Chris Mullen showing me like what it takes to like be great. You know what I'm saying? Like you have to work and stand and stay in tip top shape, those type of things. I mean, the funny thing about you telling me these stories is I got to know Chris a little bit through ESPN.

And, you know, guys would joke with me being like, are you going to be OK? Are you going to be normal around? I'm like, yeah, I'll be all right. I'll be all right. But like the way he carries himself. Yeah. He like there's no bullshit with him. He's as New York City as it gets.

And there's there's an edge to him that he had to have his whole life, obviously, to become who he was, that everybody loves that dude, man. Everybody seems love but then you talk about antonio and he was one of my favorite dudes like i really hung out with him a ton because he was stuck in connecticut all the time right and we had him on all the time he was just like i can just see him as you're telling that story him yelling you at 18 19 years old being like all right you gotta stay away from me he still loves you but it's like no i'm just letting you know today get the fuck away from me right that's exactly how i was so when you were going to like the team is good it's got expectations and then you've got bird on top of it all coaching in the beginning i know about the story about you being late and you got matt did did he eventually come around on you did he like you later on or no? That never happened? Honestly, to this day, I still can't tell, man. Because my second year, I don't know.

I think he did warm up to me, honestly. I mean, my second year, if I didn't hurt my back, you know, I was getting major minutes. Like, they were using me. If you look at my second year, I was the defensive stopper. I prided myself on defense. He used to sick me on everybody um and you know i think that he was starting to trust me or whatever but you know being up and down with my injury or whatever and then you see that year we actually went to the finals you know he definitely had to trust you know the the veteran

guys you know what i mean and i think the only guy younger guy that was able to slip in the rotation during that finals run was was austin crozier you know what i'm saying so um i think that he eventually definitely liked me i mean if i see him now you know he'll give me a big hug and everything but we definitely started off very rocky with me being late i feel like i want to try to get the best story out of this era out of this time because you've got reggie who never shuts up right and you've got bird who who will remind you every now and then again that he's larry bird right you got mullen you've got all these get mark jackson what was that and jaylen who you know is kind of like the right he carries himself as like the rock star every now and then you know but was there ever a time where you're

watching these guys and was there an argument or a story that you shared with your buddies where you were like i can't wait to call one of my friends from home and tell them like man i can't believe what i just listened to these maybe an argument they had with each other i mean it was all of it i mean i will say like i'm you, like that was like the perfect situation for me, like being around those guys young, right? The only guy to your point where, you know, anybody ever had issues with was with Jalen from time to time, just because Jalen was very hardheaded, you know, did things his way. He would definitely do things a little outside of the norm, right? That now's probably the normal with

every athlete now you know yeah by the way it's kind of the way he played too it was always a hard way but he's always been against it he's always been against the grain but it's almost like if you just let him play the way he needs to be played like that's the best version of jaylen as a player like i always felt like he could have been a little bit better but people just didn't know what the hell to do with him right and i And then during that era too, man, it was just like a, you know, it was really that shut up and dribble kind of mindset. You know what I

mean? I remember, I always tell people, that's why Allen Iverson was so impactful, right? Because he was the one that had the platform to really break the mold, which he did, and it allowed, once he did that, then players started to settle in into being comfortable being who they are and being themselves i would say like with that indiana team like you

know they were very conservative right it was a very conservative approach you know what i'm saying these guys did things the same exact way every single day stay out of the way didn't do anything like we were like very heavy on like no billboard material. Right. Like, so monitoring what you say, like you see now after the game, these guys will go to Twitter and say, they ain't going to win another game or, you know what I'm saying? Like,

these are all things that when I was coming up with these guys, it's just things that you never did. So I'm saying all that to say, like, it wasn't like a lot of craziness going on in that, in that locker room. You know, the only things that I always,

that I think back on is just like, you know, especially with, I used to sometimes just think that with Larry and Reggie, because they competed against each other, if some of that still, like, if it still kind of had a place within the locker room, like even practices and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Meaning like days where like we would come in and we had like this full court layup drill

and, you know, we would come in and they would put like, you know, 90 minutes on the clock for practice. And bro, I remember sometimes we would do that thing and it'd be like 45 minutes. And like Reggie and them would be like saying stuff like chirping and larry would just be sitting over there like you know just like whatever just keep doing it you know what i'm saying so i think like is that is it like an underlying thing going on like

you know what i'm saying but it never came to a head they never had an argument that none of that ever happened you know what i'm saying but these are like little things that i would just notice you know what i'm saying and be like i wonder it's like larry making him pay for like a loss back in the day what was your favorite stop after the pacers uh for sure golden state hands down why just because you know us you know us leaving indiana the way we left indiana which was abruptly out of nowhere you know with just the whole thing that stephen jackson had going on off the court with the shooting and all that to go into a warriors team that had not been to the playoffs and i think maybe 14 years when we got there and literally having to win. I think we had to win like something like 15 out of 18 games down the stretch

to get into the 13 out of 16 or something like that to get into the playoffs. Obviously, making the playoffs and then beating the number one seed, Dallas Mavericks, you know what I'm saying, with the MVP, Dirk. You know what I'm saying? So, like, all of that, just that whole vibe,icks, you know what I'm saying, with the MVP Dirk, you know what I'm saying? So, like, all of that, just that whole vibe, just, you know, being a part of that atmosphere, you know, in Oracle Arena during that time, it's just something that, like, just for forever,

like, you know, stick out for me with them, you know, in my career. So do you root for the Warriors then? Would you want them to beat Memphis then? Do you care enough? Yeah, I root for the Warriors for sure. you want them to beat Memphis then? Do you care enough? Yeah, I root for the Warriors for sure. You know what I'm saying? I want them to beat Memphis. I mean, all the teams I played for, I

low-key root for. I've always been a Knicks fan since I was a kid, so huge Knicks fan. Just unfortunately, we just don't have too much to support. There's just always something with us, right? But if I had to rank my teams, I'm a Pacer fan.

Now, I'm a Pacer fan first. Knicks, then Golden State. All right, then what do you think of Golden State in this series against Memphis? I think that they are obviously the better team. The only thing, the thing that's throwing me off

about golden state is just it's like it's clay for some reason i don't know it's like something about him is throwing the team off and just like as me watching the game and me watching the feel of the game it's just something about him that's just throwing it off well first of all you're right i i talked about it the opening of this podcast by myself because I, look, I love this team. I love the whole thing they've done. This run has been awesome. I think Steph's like the best superstar you could ever play with because he's got an ego. You have to have an ego, but not so much that it gets in the way of the team.

He's done some real sacrificial things for this team. But when I watch Klay, like I'd be watching it all regular season. Okay, oh, he looks bad. They're hunting him on defense. Oh he had this game okay here we go we're gonna build on something the Utah regular season game he looked happy again I'm like oh here we go and then a couple weeks it's and then it's back up again and he looks bad in the beginning of the series they're hunting him out I mean to hunt Clay Thompson out on defense and he just doesn't move right and he's in a shot when it out, you can kind of tell he doesn't feel like he's quite like calibrated enough.

Oh, he's 40 shots. Yeah. He forced his shots to your point. They hunt them out on defense. He's just, uh, you know,

he's throwing it off, but I just think that with Memphis, um, I just still think that they're going to be kids for three more games out of this series. That's why they will lose, right? I just think that they're still a little young. They're trying to break through,

but I just think that trying to break through against the Warriors is just going to be tough. You know what I mean? And that's why I think the Warriors, just because of experience or whatever, I think they'll end up winning this series for sure. I was listening to Eddie Johnson, you know, does the Phoenix Suns games, and he's on NBA radio,

and he was talking about Memphis, and he said he wasn't going to share who told him this. I think it was a front office guy. He said, you know, don't buy into Memphis because they celebrate too much. And I thought, all right, that's not why they lost game one. And this was before game two. I've always felt like Memphis, to me, their attitude is a positive.

I agree. Obviously, they're young. I think it'd be the youngest team to ever make it to a finals if that were to happen. But I just feel like they've got an edge and it's kind of that city and they've been connected. And I kind of know exactly who they are. So it's not like they're a playing team running around acting like they're owed something. You know, they're a really good team this year. So I thought that was a weird observation.

And it was somebody telling Eddie Johnson this that he shared on NBA radio. So I don't know if that's something that you think. They're kids, man. I just, you know, like I said, they're kids. To your point, I just think that when you get deeper in the series, you know, it's more pressure. Right. Each shot is more pressure. Each shot, each turnover.

You know what I'm saying? So how do they react to that? And usually it takes experience to kind of get through that, to live. You got to live through those scenarios in order to kind of grow, right? And I think that this will be the first time that they'll be tested at that level. And I just think that with Golden State, especially with having Steph, Draymond, you know, Wiggs, I think he's obviously matured a lot in his career. You know, Poole is still young, so he could be up or down. I hate when they put Iguodala out there now.

He might be coming back, too. Yeah, but I don't see him being, giving them that positive, like the way he did in the past. You know what I'm saying? I think that they're better off giving one of the younger guys those minutes or whatever, but I still think that they got what it takes to get past them.

You know, now they get to Phoenix. You know, we can talk about that later. We'll bring you back on for that. But I think they can get past Memphis for sure. I mean, you got to think about it. I mean, that kid had to have 47 to win. You know what I'm saying? You think he can get 47, three more games?

I almost think he can. But three more games you know i almost think he can but anyway no you're right but he's not getting 47 games you know what i'm saying like we know that you know what i mean they have to come up with a different game plan to guard them and you know what i'm saying i think that they have some guys that can disrupt his game but and you know in the series tendencies about the show you know, in the series, tendencies are about to show. You know what I mean? There's certain things that I'm sure Jha's doing every single time that by game four and five,

they should be taken away. You know what I'm saying? And the Warriors have the athletes to actually take those things away. You know what I'm saying? So we just got this going. You know, it's going to be a good series,

but honestly, I can't see Golden State losing to them. I can't see Golden State losing to them. I can't see it. Okay. Of all the players you hated when you played, where's Chris Paul on that list? I've never hated Chris Paul. See?

Now you can come back on again. We're big Chris Paul. I've never hated Chris Paul. My good friend, his name is Fridge. It's called Circus. He's been a Chris Paul fan I've never hated Chris Paul. My good friend, his name is Fridge. We call him Circus. He's been a Chris Paul fan since he was still in college. I was playing for the Hawks. And he's like, bro, we got to go watch Chris play.

We got to go watch Chris play. So we had bought tickets and went to a Georgia Tech game. And after I watched that game, I became a fan. I was like, this kid is special. So I've always been a Chris Paul fan for sure. I have a couple more things that I want to hit on here. How good would Jonathan Bender have been

had he been healthy? I think Jonathan Bender would have definitely been a 15-year career guy. He had all-star potential. Him and DeMar Johnson are the two players that I always say,

like, if those two didn't get healthy, what would they have become in the game if they didn't have the injuries that they had? And I think DeMar Johnson would have been an all-star for sure, like a probably five-time all-star for sure. Jonathan, I'm on the fence. Even though like all the skill set that he had and all that, but DeMar Johnson for sure. But I know that wasn't a question, but.

No, but that's all right. That leads me to believe that maybe I've been overrating Jonathan Bender for 20 years. Not overrating. I mean, he was good, but to your point, like we never like all I saw, we only saw his brilliance in practice, right? But it was never consistent, right?

It was, you know, here and there. But, you know, when you think about the fact that seven foot, he was like a Kevin Durant-esque kind of play. He just didn't have the handle that KD had. He didn't have the creativity that KD has. But that's obviously as the game has evolved, right? But, you know, that's the person that when I think about like Katie before Katie, Jonathan Bender is the first person that will pop up in my head.

I really appreciate the time, man. This is a lot of fun. And reading about everything you're doing with Viola, like this is, it's very easy, I think, from the surface to be like, oh, what's going on? NBA player selling weed. He's, you know, he's got a weed company. And it's like, no, man, Viola, everything you're doing. So where can people figure out and be more informed on what you and the company are doing?

You can obviously follow me on Instagram, Al Harrington 3, at Al Harrington 3. Our Viola page is at Viola, V-I-O-L-A. So obviously we do a lot of our announcing and all the stuff that we're working on through our social media. Also, our website is violabrands.com. So that's where you can kind of stay up with what we're doing. You know, we got Facebook LinkedIn, all of that stuff as well under the same names. So those are some of the main ways to follow. And then, you know, I'm always constantly, you know, doing different publications and stuff like that that you know from forbes to you know your show different things like that awesome thanks a lot al thanks brother you want details bye i drive a ferrari 355 cabriolet what What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid.

So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life advice. Life advice. RR at gmail.com. We have some good ones long awaited. I know that the boys had a follow-up here, though. I just... Let's go back to the

open real quick. I'm sure everyone was like, whoa, this old coach that you were talking about. Can I get this right? His name is Dick Harder? Yeah. Is that a top five name of all time? You guys like that name, huh? What's the spelling on it? H-A-R-T-e-r dick harter

we lost him 10 years ago dick harter all right yeah that's a that's a tough one gotta be a tough one growing up um there's not a lot of dicks running around anymore no young yeah not a lot of dicks running around anymore. Not a lot of dudes under 30 named Dick. I got to tell you, it's not a name I hear any of my friends naming their kids. Not a lot of Richards, but that pivots into Dick. Dick Pohl, the old baseball guy. That's an all-time name. Of course, they call Rich Hill the pitcher Dick Mountain, but I don't think they call that on the –

I don't think you hear that one. You don't hear that one a ton on the broadcast. Yeah, Dick Carter, Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Yeah. He went to Penn, really smart guy, and he was the head coach at Penn State. He was head coach at Penn, and then he joined the Pistons as an assistant, 83. Pistons, Pacers, Hornets, Knicks, Trailblazers, Pacers again, Celtics, Jim O'Brien, and then went with Jim O'Brien to Philadelphia.

And then I think he was with Jim O'Brien again in the Pacers. So that was Jim O'Brien's guy, Dick Harder. Can't foul, can't call everything was his motto. And he would have puked watching game two last night. Actually, some of these playoff games. Did we cover it? I think so. I'm covered. Just needed to point it out.

I felt like we couldn't let that go unchecked. It just jumped off the page. I agree. I'm glad we could educate you and America on this and down under New Zealand. Australia and New Zealand. Shout out. What's going on? Let us know where you're at.

When you watch Nets games, they go, Brooklyn, where you're at? And somebody would be wearing a Nets jersey in Sri Lanka. It's always a good segment. People always love that. The Martha's Vineyard Times used to do that. You would hold a copy of the Times and you'd be like,

check it out in Cape Town. I don't know. You guys sound fascinated by this. Okay. Why don't we get to the emails? Tons of hot sauce people chiming in. One guy wrote this manifesto on why it was okay and then buried the lead that he does it

all the time. And my point is very simple. Again, if everyone who walked in thought they were entitled to a bottle of hot sauce, then there would never be any. Or you could just buy your own. Who are you people? How are there so many of you? Here's what I would ask too. And I know the pushback on this would be, have you guys brought burgers and french fries home? I imagine a lot of people listening to the podcast have done this. Do you have ketchup in your house? Or do you think that all the ketchup packets are supposed to cover it all?

Because I know that's the difference. You don't have the little Chipotle or Cholula Tabasco. You don't have those little packets to take home the same way you do ketchup packets if you go to a burger place. But my guess would be is that most people still have ketchup on hand at home to add because the packets can get annoying. Sometimes a packet goes bad, especially if you feel like it's a little firm. You go, what's going on with this packet? That means it's turned on. You got to get those out of the mix.

We did it the other day at my place. I feel great about it. I just would just disagree. You take the bottles and you think you're right. There you go. That's insane to me. I can't believe there's so many of you guys out there. I can't believe that you're not, no offense, Kyle,

like a guy that would argue to take the bottle. It's fair game. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I'm an adult now. I mean, I'm sure i'm sure i've walked out of uh the the what's it called the student union with something i should have walked out with before and you know i either don't remember it or or you know shoved it so

far down i i you know it's it's it's uh it's just out of my mind but i'm just as an adult where i'm at now i wouldn't do that that's all i'm saying i think that's were you were you a guy that had like um like like stolen street signs in your apartment in high school and college high school we had like a stop sign we had weed street that was it and then there was a one way that was like everybody signed yeah yeah but uh weed street everyone was always taking weed wait wait wait there was a street named weed street in your town yeah and it was like it was basically like up there putting up the new weed street sign somebody's gonna grab it might as well be us because everybody stole that sign i try to think of a sign that would be stolen more and i don't know that i would because the

guy that would want the weed street sign does not care and he's going to steal it no and there's a line of people that are waiting for the new the town to put the new sign up so they can be the one who has weed street too so it's like i don't think that sign was ever there for very long before somebody stole it again so they must have just had a continualist, like they must have had like a subscription package to the Weed Street sign because it just was like, alright, as soon as you can send the next one, please do it. It's going to be gone. At some point we've got to get a name

change on that. Yeah, I'm trying to think like what would be the best way to do something like something way less popular. Yeah, absolutely. But I don't know. I think it's still there i don't think they changed it i mean this was what 10 11 years ago now like jesse smollett road you're like all right no one's gonna take this i think just like what would be like no i don't weed. I can't believe it. All right, let's go. All right, this is... Is it Jesse or is it Jussie?

I think it's Jussie Smollett, yeah. But you say it fast enough, nobody can tell what you're trying to say. Yeah, all right. No problem. All right. People have been waiting on this one and our basketball hoop guy followed up. We had...

There's been a few hits that we've had in life advice where people just wanted to just make it a community and we appreciate that but our guy finally followed up and i am so happy all right so this is a great way to set the tone especially you guys getting after about thursday because of a holiday that i think corona started pumping up about 20 years ago because i remember when i was bartending and i'm like wait what's with cinco de mayo like people really doing this now like yeah we have signs from corona we're supposed to hang up we had like the corona special and here we are 20 something years later we figured out another day where you could drink during the day and not be judged so shout out that's just what that's just what people kind of want deep down.

All right, here we go. Um, basketball hoop guy here. Here's the followup you asked for. My plan was to listen to your advice and do whatever you suggested, praying that your advice would be to tell him just to leave. Sorry.

Unfortunately, you never got to that point. Dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot.

Friday after work, I come home to 13 kids in my front lawn. Some playing basketball, others riding a scooter up and down the driveway, most just hanging out. I noticed some of the kids are playing with a football that I've never seen before. It looked familiar, so I asked about it. Turned out it was mine. They went into our garage and took the football to play with.

They also grabbed another one of my basketballs. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated, but let them continue playing. We don't get many nice days in Minnesota, so I figured I'd let them take advantage. All right. So the Minnesota thing also factors in here. Salt of the earth, Vikings, less hostile Vikings. Fast forward a few hours and it's past the 7 p.m. deadline and they're still out there. I go outside to ask them to leave and they respond with, we're just finishing up a game and we'll leave when it's done. 45 minutes later and they're still there. At this point, I've had enough

and tell them to leave immediately and that we're done playing basketball here for a while. As you can guess, my football and basketball leave with them. They have since tried to return a couple times and each time I turn them away. I don't feel great about it, but I will not lie. Being able to eat dinner without kids screaming in the background

felt fantastic my house has not been egged yet so i'm hoping they've accepted the decision i guess we'll just have to wait and see p.s i didn't mention it the first time but there's a park with a hoop that's five minutes away oh fuck you okay a five minute away walk come on i realize that this is not as convenient as walking across the street but if a hoop is all they need i feel like that's more than enough pps i also thought about buying them a hoop but i don't think i would should but i don't think i should be financially responsible for providing the kids entertainment just because i opened up my driveway to them a few months ago maybe this makes me a jerk i don't't know. All right. Wow. More details, more facts.

This is your driveway. I thought it was kind of like a cul-de-sac hoop thing that maybe was like in the front. And this is a non-starter. Yeah. Yeah. You got to tell the kids it's over. It's over. They're going in.

They're taking your stuff. They're passing the deadline. You had what sounds like the first quiet meal you've had in months and you loved it so this is over this is over and you shouldn't feel bad about it at all i think it's first of all you check every box of like what you would want out of somebody's character to go i wanted to do the right thing i wanted these kids to have a place to go but you got i didn't realize that you were getting worked like this these kids ran you over and ruthless yeah and this isn't even debatable at this point like fucking they're probably going to be playing video games most of the time anyway so uh walk to the hoops it's five minutes away so yep we're all on your side now i and the fact that it came from a place of such um i don't know

like it didn't appear yeah decency isn't the right word this is like you were trying to do something incredible for these kids and you know they're kids it's a weird age like 13 14 is kind of awesome because you start to like see the beginning of what the adult is going to be like but then you also are reminded that you're like only a couple of years away from being 10. So you'll still have this cocktail of stupid, but mature going on. It's such a fascinating age for dudes, especially where you're like, you're still like a kid. And then it's like, oh, but sometimes you're a little adultish, too. This is weird. But no, I don't think you did anything wrong.

And who knows? I mean, I don't know if your house is going to get egged on. You can't live that way. I don't think you did anything wrong, and who knows? I mean, I don't know if your house is going to get egged or not. You can't live that way. I didn't know they were in your driveway, dude. That was what I pictured the whole time, and this was inevitable when you put 14... You thought it was a driveway, Kyle? Yeah, I did. Oh. And I was like, this is crazy that you're

down to do this, but fine. But this was inevitable because when you put 13 year olds on an honor system, it's like, well, that's not going to last. It's just not going to last. And like, I'm not surprised at all that they went into your shit and started rifling around and probably, you know, got bikes and scooters in your grass and, you know, I'm sure you're gonna have some weird patches in your lawn from where they were doing whatever they're doing. So, yeah, this is, I'm glad that, I'm glad that you got upset enough to not feel like a jerk for wanting your own driveway back. I'm glad that it just took you

getting upset enough to be like, Hey, we're going to be done for a while. And, uh, and then, and then to be able to keep that and turn them away when they came back again, because I think he was worried about breaking down again, but yeah, this was, this was the way it always had to be. So I'm glad it didn't take that long. And I feel like it's good that we got clarity too, because now I feel much better about it as well. The only thing I could think of is maybe that that park five minutes away probably has double rims so there's a good chance it's more than just the distance and they're like oh it's probably a better hoop with this guy's house I'm not saying that's right but I get why a 13 year old would be like dude let's use the better hoop no no brainer

so I don't know I think you did the right thing it sucks sucks, but you know, be a dick. It's fine. I'm going to tell you right now, I'm going to zag on the double rims because just think about the shooters that these kids are going to become double rims. If I had a kid, we'd have fucking triple rims in my house. I had this, uh, I had this guy that I grew up with who claimed that he was the next JJ Reddick because they both grew up with gravel driveways. He's like, yeah, I just, all I do is work on shooting. I don't work on dribbling. So I'm going to be the next JJj reddick i was like okay yeah well you conveniently left

out the fact that jj developed into like an incredible off the dribble pull-up guy like he's also six five great athlete i thought jj was going to be terrific and it was after studying him in the the like i got this one right get plenty wrong but his free throw rate and i go wait there's way more to this guy than just oh he's the outside shooter from duke who's not going to play in the league anyway um i i guess i because he didn't say it was his driveway but kyle you thought it was the driveway thing changes everything and now i'm actually worried we're going to get an email from this guy in six months saying so i'm at my company and 13 people have been promoted that were below me, ahead of me, and now I don't know what to do.

Now I'm worried about you actually sticking up for yourself a little bit more here. So look, problem solved. Maybe somebody will do something in your house. Who cares at this point? That's nuts. You can't have the neighborhood hang. Kids start smoking cigarettes in a year. You don't need that. Anything else on that? I think we're good, you can't have the neighborhood hang. Kids start smoking cigarettes in a year. You don't need that.

Yeah. Anything else on that? I think we're good, right? No, you did the right thing. Just stay strong, pal. Okay. They stole his fucking football, dude. God damn it.

Yeah. Totally. Got an email here saying that, uh, can you settle a hardened curry debate? Six foot 208 36 years old I've let the pandemic in my first child get the best of me in terms of my dad that's fine man still have a wet

jumper though hit five threes in a game oh wait hit five threes in game four of my Sunday pickup game game four game four fuck keep us posted what kind of format are you

guys 2 2 1 1 1 or 2 3 2 back in the day anyway that's not important no it was very important I need you to settle an argument I have a buddy's convinced that you could replace Steph with Harden in the Warriors to be just as good

if not better I don't need to read the rest of the email. Your friend is wrong. Next email. Glad we finished that one up. Yep. Absolutely terrible email. Not a terrible question. Great email. Great email. Five threes.

Game four. You can never trust that friend. I would never take his opinion seriously on anything, on any topic for the rest of your lives. might have to unfriend him honestly yeah i wouldn't if he told you about a stock tip i'd i'd just short it zag nope okay this is uh this is great big fan used to listen to svp and riscilla religiously during my first job after law school back in the day kind of lost track of you no offense that happens busy we got a busy guy over here wow what happened we're still doing stuff yeah it is a little weird every now and then when i'm right what happened to you what are you doing

now i didn't i didn't start i didn't fucking become a cobbler like we're still doing things that from a rather noticeable like it you know this isn't some i don't know every now and then when that happens i'm like that kind of shocks me that you liked me enough to listen to me every day and then you were like oh you are doing a podcast okay no offense no problem none taken recently the life advice bits started popping up on my youtube and i'm hooked again what's the story with that these are all on youtube no no some of them are is it us or is i thought it was a guy or not from the official ring ringer uh youtube i'll say that right so there could be a bootleg thing going on oh but it's how would they audio they would be able to get the video yeah i don't know correct yeah so it's just it's just audio and they're like separating them out and stuff like that.

Levels of knowledge for me. Um, I would say sports is pretty high. I would say when the bond guy comes on CNBC, it goes way down. I still not quite sure what he's saying. There's plenty of financial stuff. I don't know anything about what What we are or don't have for the YouTube thing is like the lowest level of information

that I could ever have on a topic. I just looked it up. It is... I don't want to give the name out. I don't want to... Go to the ringer. There is some stuff there. But there is a bootleg situation happening with just audio.

Okay. All right. All right. All right. some stuff there but there's a there is a boot there is a bootleg situation happening with just audio yeah okay all right all right all right uh what are the parameters for intro height weight you've probably covered this i didn't really know why it even happened we weren't asking for it all right none of that matters okay here's the point on his driver's license now reading the email uh i'm six one which again is accurate but you can say whatever you want in your driver's license. If people give you their measurables, their measurables, are we assuming these to be as close to as accurate as possible? Is there an understanding that most people round up regardless?

Does it change on the extremes, i.e. the 5'6 guy round up as much as he wants? Maybe even 5'8 is acceptable because we know a 5'8 guy is going to at least say he's 5'9. Anyway, put differently, pretend you're me, How tall are you? He says that he's 6'1

and 3'8. Sure, like 6'1 and a half. Everybody's going to round that up. He's going to go second part. I guess that wasn't even the email. All right, whatever, dude. You're 6'2. Congrats. Second part of the email. Am I an asshole

i was on a ski trip with my dad all right this actually leads it good because everybody lies about their height and they lie about lie about 40 times all right i lied about a 40 time once in front of a strength and conditioning coach while i was talking to a girl in my 20s and he destroyed me in the moment ouch i don't even i don't even know why I cared. I don't know why I said it. I probably had a bunch of beers with me and was like, yeah, whatever. And he's like, dude, if you would run that, you wouldn't be talking to us right now. I was like, well, maybe I'm really friendly.

And he's like, there's no way you ran that. And I was like, no, no. And then he's like, there's no way. And I was like, okay, now you're making it awkward. I was like, we don't even know each other that well. I was like, I'm talking to somebody over here. So anyway. The funny thing about that too is, does the average girl even know what a good 40 time is? No, there's not one girl.

There will not be one female ever that goes, you know, I wasn't that sure, but his 40 time was sick. Yeah. I don't date sub 4'8", guys. Yeah, right. Like, he doesn't have much of a job. I think he lives at home, but God, he runs like a 4'6", still. I don't even know why. I think I was just rolling and telling some story.

And then the guy jumped in because there's never, ever been another moment because I actually wasn't like straight line fast. I wasn't like super fast. I was always fast with a ball. If I had the ball, I was fast. If I didn't have the ball, I wasn't that fast. And so I don't even know. I obviously had to do with drinking. Okay. Let's just get to this. All right. Was on a ski trip with my dad

and two family friends, the dad of my high school best friend who was not on the trip and his son, 25 year old, who also played D1 soccer at a big 10 school. Okay. So here we go. So the it's his, it's his, the guy emailing his dad. I just want to make sure everybody follows here. His best friend's dad. The best friend wasn't on the trip, but the younger son was there. All right? So everybody's on the same page. Can I make it more confusing by trying to make it less confusing?

Probably so. We'll call that son Josh. The drinks had been flowing that day at dinner. Josh casually drops. He ran a 4-3-9 in high school, to which I replied, let me guess, hand-timed by your dad? Turns out that was the case case but it came up again and i had no problem explaining to him that he was never in his life as fast as jamar chase who was playing in the playoffs that weekend or the handful of other world-class athletes who were able to run that fast every year at the nfl combine

it didn't stop there though somehow the conversation, whether it was him or his dad, honestly not sure, still proclaiming he had that level of elite speed. Something about, well, those guys carry around more weight. Something about. Simple as that, dude. Simple as that. Right, because No, I'm lean quick, dude. Don't worry about it.

By the way, all those guys that run those times are smaller like every now and then yes this is the freak dn or whatever i mean i get it but like every now and then you'll see an nfl receiver with his pads off you're like i kill that guy you wouldn't but you you see their build um and they're really fast man that's why they make all that money and there's. And there's only so many in the world that can do what they do. But your friend's friend, or I guess your best friend's younger brother used it. All right. So anyway, being honest, I don't remember the exact specifics of the conversation because I blacked out that night. At some point, I called them out hard

enough saying something like, well, hey, what are you doing here with us? Which is a fair rebuttal, blacked out or not. Why are you working for, insert post-college, not sexy starter job? You should be on the Cincinnati Bengals. They need you. I also jokingly challenged him to a foot race that night. It's the dead of winter at a ski resort, so clearly that wasn't ever going to happen.

I could just see these guys hammered at Red Line and Vail being like, all right right from here to the bridge the hallway that's what the long hallways are for in hotels yeah for races i was deaf sorry yeah hallways perfect for 40 times weather controlled climate controlled some would say barefoot back carpet yep barefoot i don't know about that i definitely was a dick about it but i feel like you should be able to handle pushback if you're going to brag about how athletic you were both generally and especially when the measurables you're using are in fact useless turns out josh had a meltdown later that night after dinner awesome arguing and yelling cursing at his dad saying he was going to quit his job. He even booked an early flight home on his parents' credit card.

What? That kid sucks, huh? Yeah, damn. I heard bits and pieces about this over the next few days of the ski trip. We also all skied together and things seemed to be totally fine. Didn't think much about it until a month later, I was back in my hometown and hanging out with my high school best friend, Josh's brother. And he said he heard about what happened. It was pissed off at me. Apparently it was my fault, Josh, in a meltdown. I was out of

line. He heard about this from his dad and his mom who had to deal with the flight situation. He had not talked to Josh about it. I explained what I thought happened, told him I definitely couldn't remember everything and expressed regret that Josh had this meltdown. But I also stood my ground and said, it wasn't on me. We were all adults having an animated conversation over dinner and drinks. I can't predict or control that someone would react that way. I have no idea what was said between Josh and his dad after dinner.

It kind of sounds like there are a lot of other factors and issues at play there. Sure, none of this happens at night. If I didn't reply to his, I ran a 4-3 439 in high school the way i did but that's not how the world works right am i the asshole no dude you're fine you want to start i just think like this he's an adult i think i think your i think the parents should be more concerned that uh the kids 25 throws a temper tantrum and then makes them

purchase a different flight i mean that's that's their own a temper tantrum and then makes them purchase a different flight. I mean, that's their own problem. So, I mean, they're probably projecting a little bit of their, I don't know, anger or displeasure of the situation onto you. And it sounds like they can't say it up to their youngest son there. But, yeah, I don't know. I just would kind of let this go. I wouldn't say much about it. And it'll probably be normal soon. It only been a month so whatever maybe if you want to apologize

to the the parents if you ever see them just be like hey sorry that you know this all ended up this way but i would be very i would i would craft my apology and like sorry about the situation not like sorry i called out your lying son but have to make it sound better than that like i would apologize for the situation if you really like you. You said they're family friends, so I'm sure you like them, but it sounds like they've got their own issues with that kid that they're not ready to address, so I wouldn't be apologizing for all that. Just say sorry for the situation.

I don't even think I would apologize to my friend who wasn't there. Definitely wouldn't be doing that. I could be a little more honest with him than his parents. That's all I got. It sounds like this kid is just insecure about his life, too, I would imagine. He probably struck a chord, and he's like,

maybe I could have been something else. Not saying he's going to play for the Cincinnati Bengals, but maybe he thought his athletic career was going to be better. It didn't work out. Now he's working this job that he doesn't necessarily want, and you really struck a chord. I don't think that's your fault. If he's going to talk all this, talk himself up and say, yeah, we run at three nine.

I feel like kind of got to back that up. But here's the thing too, is he said that in high school, everybody, the three, not like the 40 times in high school are all fake. They're all fake. Like it's,

it's like your coach wanted to pump you up, especially if you're good and you're fast, they're going to make that, you know, faster than it really is. So I don't know. I think this guy, this guy needs a dose of reality.

Did they have your 40 time from high school? If I remember correctly, I ran, I think a four, seven, I was pretty quick. Um, but again,

I don't think that was real. I don't go around telling people I ran a four, seven because you know, in high school I was probably super pumped about, I told my buddies and would probably hold it over their head. But once I stopped playing sports, I just like what, this isn't useful to me in life. I'm not going to go out of job and be like, hey, also, you know, 3.2 GPA.

But my 40 time, 4.7. Don't worry about it. Yeah. See, that's what I do. One of the things I like about Cerruti so much is that he would actually run a decent time, but then would be like, this is not applicable to everyday life. Why would I use this as any applicable to everyday life why would i use this as any sort of like thing it's on his resume yeah yeah yeah cool all right there's another

factor here that we have to discuss you might be a raging dick if you're blacked out yeah i guess so if you started hammering this kid to the point where maybe it is his own insecurity. Maybe it's the younger brother and being propped up and there's other stuff going on that he has the meltdown, booking a flight in the middle of the night, demanding to leave. I mean, that's a weird reaction to getting called out for something that is likely a lie. But there's also a level of like how much of a lie you can call out, right? Does the lie mess with your world that much?

Is it, is it costing you money? Is it, is it messing up your relationship? Like those are the kinds of lies where I think you can go at somebody as hard as you possibly want to, because you're like, now you're fucking with me.

This doesn't really fuck with you. So I don't have any problem with you calling them out. But if you're telling us the email that you don't really remember and you're kind of hinting at that maybe it was a little bit worse than the email summary, which I think you're kind of hinting at here. And if the brother who is your best friend is still mad a month later, it's just really what do you care? Like how much do you care about fixing this?

I actually disagree with you, Kyle. I don't, if it is your best friend, you're right. He should be able to kind of be like, yeah, you know what? My brother shouldn't be going around saying he did a 4-3-9 in the backyard of my dad timing it. But if you care about the relationship, you should probably try to work it out with your best friend. And then you work it out with your best friend. And then the next step is whatever. But there's a version of this where it's way worse

than you think it is. Now, more often than not, it kind of works the other way where it's, oh, it actually wasn't that bad. Nobody really cares. It's not that big of a deal. But for him to freak out and then the family still be this mad at you, you might have just been like relentless.

You know, some guys just... What about his dad, though? Ask his own dad. It was all implied about what he thought. Yeah. I feel just ask his own dad. There was, it was all about what he thought. Yeah. And he, I feel like it's your dad. He's going to be honest with you about it.

And if he says, no, it wasn't that bad. Or if he says, yeah, man, you stepped over the line. That's that.

I would want to know what he thinks on in this situation. That's great. That's great advice. Ask your dad what's going on. And then probably see the, the kid's parents anyway. And if you really feel bad, there's no,

yeah, there's no way he didn't ask his dad though. I wouldn't like his dad would have said something about it. I feel like he would have put that in the email though parents anyway. And if you really feel bad. Yeah. There's no way he didn't ask his dad, though. I wouldn't like his dad would have said something about it. I feel like he would have put that in the email, though. Yeah. So maybe his dad's also said the kids

just sensitive. I don't know. Yeah, that'd be hilarious. The follow up is like, oh, good point. My dad hasn't talked to me in two months. You know, you know, you may be on something. My dad caught an early flight home,

too. I think I think he was mad. Because. Sometimes it is funny to call somebody out for a lie like sometimes it is but think of the number of times in social settings where you'll just be like that's not true like that's definitely not true and you go do do I say something? I mean, most of us won't ever say anything. If it doesn't really have anything to do with you, you're just like, ah, whatever, whatever. But if it was from on their end,

where they just kept talking about the 439 over and over again, I think you were right, especially because you're with friends in a way, right? Like the brother isn't as close, but I mean, you're all on this ski trip together together so clearly the families are close enough to be like let's go on a ski trip together so this isn't out of nowhere um i mean you could also flip it around like what if you told them you could fly are they supposed to just sit there cool no my dad that's amazing yeah all right uh that'll do it for life advice please subscribe and review the ryan rossola podcast ringer spotify thanks to kyle and steve and we'll talk to you with bill and i on sunday to part of it back next tuesday Thank you. you