The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Working With Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, and Bradley Beal: Drew Hanlen, Private Basketball Coach of NBA Stars

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

Russillo kicks off the show with his takeaways from the first NBA scrimmages (01:00) and the media taking the dramatic angle in covering Mookie Betts’s contract extension (10:00). Then, private basketball coach Drew Hanlen joins the show to discuss his journey from hardworking college basketball player to coaching Bradley Beal (18:00), whether Jayson Tatum can be a top 5 NBA player (31:30), and traveling with Joel Embiid (38:15). The show wraps up with some life advice (01:08:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's pod is awesome all right i'm just gonna say it right now and today's podcast the ryan versillo podcast on the ringer podcast network is brought to you by state farm just like basketball the game of life is unpredictable you can hear the excitement of my voice because i finally have something to say in this ad after four-something months. Talk to a State Farm agent and get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected. Like if all of your teammates are 7'5", like the Denver Nuggets starting lineup yesterday.

I watched some scrimmage basketball, and the Nuggets threw out a million dudes. We'll get to that in a little brief Nuggets update for you. So that was unpredictable. Get a teammate who can help you navigate the unexpected. Talk to a State Farm agent today. The plan for today, Drew Hanlon, pure sweat basketball, trainer to the stars of today's NBA game.

He has been around for a lot longer than you think for a dude who I think is like 31. I'm not even 100% sure. Who cares if I round it down and got it wrong? Yeah, wait a minute. That would make sense because if I'm... And then he was at Bel was at belmont yeah yeah i think he's like 30 31 years old and he played at belmont you may have forgotten that part but he trains joel mb jason tatum bradley beal kelly uber zach levine and you know much like when quincy avery came on and you know asked him about being a qb coach to some of the top qbs We're going to do that with Drew as we get ready for some basketball.

And we'll have a little life advice at the end. But I want to start with some quick hitters. I want an awesome title for this. Go ahead and hit us up at Twitter, at Ryan Aversolo, because I've wanted to kind of do this headline-y thing. But everybody, the headlines, the starting five. You know, I don't know. A lot of those titles.

I think I've always prided myself on certain things. I'm going to just go ahead and admit one of my flaws. I think I'm just a bad titler. And it's not something I wanted to admit, but now I just realized, you know what? I'm just a bad titler guy. So, you know, I'm going to try to get better, but I don't know that I'm ever going to be better at that.

Okay. The first thing is that I'm not going to play the result here. Let's not be play the result people here on what the NBA is doing. I'm going to go ahead and give them credit knowing full well that me praising them for what they're trying to pull off could look stupid by me praising them if there's an outbreak somehow and we lose a couple teams and then if it's overwhelming and they can't get this thing done. Because watching the scrimmages yesterday, it already looks 10 times better than i thought it was going to look

and that's just scrimmages to black out everything the backdrop and not be able to see anything beyond and you know the camera angle staying steady so you're not going to go around an empty gym that's really really small compared to an nba arena the aesthetics just the look of it looks better than i ever would have imagined. And that's somebody who would spend some time. Now I haven't been down to the Orlando basketball facilities in a while, but I still like had been in the building five or six years. So I wondered how it would look. And I would say early reaction to it looks terrific. A lot is going to be on the announcers. Once the stakes get a little bit higher,

deeper into the playoffs to kind of set the mood. I don't know what's going to happen with the fake crowd noise. I know people instantly hate everything on social media. And then you just got to kind of ride that wave out and see if it's better because I think some people are already admitting that they like some of the soccer sounds better than the empty Nat sound stuff that we're seeing in the MLS quick shout out for your MLS update on the pod. So I'm open to them trying to figure any of this out, but credit to silver and credit

to just one man and not committees whenever there's an issue this country seems to love committees like hey what's going on here i don't know let's put together like a just a name just let's just 12 guys in a committee you know what i'm saying you know we just spread it around here let's just do this now i don't think college football should have one person just saying hey you know what here's who your four are good luck leave me alone but what the nba did and what the owners did and it wasn't like silver wasn't getting any input but they let one person kind of go ahead and decide give me all the information but if the goal is to try to get basketball back in as safe as way as possible instead of all of these different people arguing over these things, let me just go ahead and do this. And that's what the ownership groups did with Silver and working alongside, at times, a frustrating players association.

I still think some of the things Michelle Roberts said in the very beginning were combative for no point. And I really think the way she characterized some of those things was just terrible. So here we are. This likely, look, if you talk to somebody in baseball, there's some real eye rolling, like, is this really going to work? 60 games. And by the way, the unbalanced schedules and who gets to play who, I was looking at who the Cleveland Indians will play versus who other teams won't play. The Indians may go undefeated. If you look at the fan graph projections of their schedule, I mean, it's unbelievable. And by the way, baseball is trying to find a way to expand the playoffs

with an hour to go before the season starts. And that it's a normal 60-game season with less flying miles, but you're still going to be flying around all over the place, in and out of hotels, hoping young pro athletes that are famous will stay in their rooms, which is not going to happen across the board because that is human nature. So there are more people that look at baseball going, I don't know. And then you have the NFL part of this, which like baseball was trying to figure out all the parameters of a working agreement on the fly, which some of the criticism towards baseball was fair. Some of it was unfair when hockey and basketball had basically

already finished their season and didn't have to figure out kind of a new collective bargaining agreement. Football is facing some of those same issues, but I did talk with somebody from the Players Association this morning. I said, hey, what's the deal? Are you guys really asking for full-blown salaries on full season numbers here, even if there's an abbreviated season? And I was told, quote, it's a lie, that that's not what happened. I don't blame anyone for asking for something they don't think they can get in a negotiation. That's what you should do. Start from a position of,

I probably can't get this, but let's go there. Kind of set the seed there, plant the seed for the other side of the table. You go, what's this guy, what do they think he's going to get? That's just the way negotiations work. That's just the way it is. So to start there,

don't have a problem with the NFL at least asking, but if that was going to be football or no't have a problem with the NFL at least asking, but if that was going to be football or no football based on full salaries for an abbreviated season, that wasn't going to play out well perception wise. And again, the quote was, it's a lie. So back to the basketball part of it, shout out to the players too. So silver ownership, hey, figure this thing out. And the fact that the NBA gave the guys basically a two months heads up, which I didn't think that they'd be able to do. But people were very married to the idea that they wanted to finish the season before Labor Day and considering that football may be delayed. But I don't even

know that the football part of it played a decision. It was just what's the best way to get our players ready. So everybody seems to be happy with the circumstances. Looking at the players, I'm so impressed with these guys physically. The Clippers already look like they're in shape. Now, there's moments and there's guys getting touches that we know in a real regular season game, never mind a playoff game, or putting up some of the Sacramento stuff that I was watching yesterday. I'm like, okay, whatever. We're towards the end of the game. These guys wouldn't even be getting real touches. And even with the Clippers, that was happening a bit there at the end. And Denver's lineup of Bol Bol, Jokic, Plumlee, Grant,

I mean, just giants across the board. And they were kind of laughing about it after the fact. Bol Bol blocks shot, brings the ball up the court, takes an egregious three-pointer from like almost 30 feet, makes it. I couldn't believe he took it. So it went in and that was like a nice highlight clip. But I'm like, is that the kind of stuff

you're going to do in a playoff game? Because that's probably not going to be allowed. Anyway, the players, and this speaks to two things. This generation works out. Now we can make fun of the workout videos and some of the sumo stances and grips of some of you guys out there getting your personal record deadlift where the bar comes up about four inches off the ground. Congrats. But Instagram is FOMO. Okay, that's what it is. Whether it's a tight fit at Coachella and you're upset that you're not there or somebody

in Tulum working out with pieces of wood, there's always a part of you if you're not doing it where you're like, man, that looks pretty sweet. Is everybody actually this hot? I think it's the same thing for NBA players because they see everybody else working out nonstop on social media, so they think that they should be working out. So yes, there are a couple guys here and there, but maybe you're going to look a little bit slower. Could there be a few guys that we know are going to be a little out of shape?

Real basketball is just different than any other kind of workout, but I would say at least the first day, I'm not saying all the basketball was great, but just the guys that you would care about so far look to be in terrific shape. And this league deserves all kinds of credit, and I'm going to give it to them now because it's incredible what they're about to pull off. it like that's that's the opinion now and it's not a well what if guys get sick are you wrong no i'm right now the nba is doing this and trying to get this done and i think they deserve a ton of credit and i'm not going to go wow you know this was stupid if it then turns into something where it doesn't work out because i think they've done everything they can to make this as safe as possible knowing that at any moment there are things that maybe are

beyond their control. A couple other quick hitters here. The KG thing with the Timberwolves, that is really interesting. You know the NBA, I would say, not debatable, the most progressive of the four major sports, but they would love more diversity in ownership. I would love more diversity in ownership. And KG being part of an ownership group with Minnesota Timberwolves makes all the sense in the world, except that he called the current owner, Taylor, a snake for apparently KG's argument was once Flip Saunders died, there was some agreement that KG would be part of ownership. And whenever you have like the famous name athlete connected to the franchise or city to be like, hey, you're part of this ownership group. If you really dig on some of

that stuff, a lot of times that athlete is not putting up any of the money. Maybe a very small amount of money. But if these things are going for a billion dollars now, I don't think these athletes are cutting checks for a hundred million. The Jeter deal may be a little bit different, but even then, I doubt he was doing that. That's really more other finance guys. And then you take the kind of figurehead position. I don't know if KG would be the go-to guy, but if he wants to be part of the ownership group, I'm all for it. But the problem is if you own the team, would you want to sell it to somebody that called you a snake publicly and just trashed you. And you can sit there and say, well, you know, the right thing to do would be to have KG be part of ownership. Yeah.

But if I own the team and I hate the guy, like, why would I sell it to you when I know other people are more than willing to pay just as much? So we'll see how that one plays out. And the final little observation that I have, this was one of the most predictable things that could happen. If you've listened to me, you know that I'm always on this with how the dramatic angle plays into different contract stuff. An example I would give you is with all the stuff that Kyrie's gone through, the perception of Kyrie, the real stuff, the stuff we haven't all heard about,

and just to be nice, a different dude. When he was going to be a free agent, there was stuff going around being like, yeah, there's a lot of front offices that are hesitant to give Kyrie that kind of money. Which ones? The ones with no cap space

that don't even have to make that decision? Okay. Because even with all of Kyrie's flaws, the Celtics still wanted to keep him around, and they were the guys living with him for two years. So I never buy any of that, well, what will Kyrie get? Is he going to lose a little money because he's updating the Illuminati stuff today? No, he's going to make max money.

That's how it's going to work. So now, with the unprecedented circumstances here with COVID, the Mookie Betts contract was something that I just knew everybody was getting wrong. I talked about this. I go, okay, so let me get this straight. Now we have all sorts of people saying, eh, Mookie's probably not going to make as much money as he would have made because of the uncertainty about NFL free agency. Okay. Well, Mookie, as we found out yesterday, Lou Maloney, the first on this, signed a new contract.

So the total money is 13 years, $392 million. The extension, though, is 12 years, $365 million. I don't want to turn this into ripping people in my industry, although I think we all know I'm not necessarily afraid to do that if I think somebody is just saying dumb shit. But there are Mookie takes out there all over the place from just a week ago that are garbage. CBS, well, Mookie's going to regret not taking the 300 million from the Red Sox. ESPN got it wrong. Fox Sports Radio, there's a clip out there. Peter Gammons with The Athletic. This is his quote, meaning Mookie. This is less than two

weeks ago. I thought he was going to make between 350 million to 400 million. That's from Peter Gammons. He'd be lucky to get up to 250 million in free agency this coming winter. It's just the reality of economics. Lesson, whatever number you want to put on it. Stop doing this. Especially for somebody like Mookie, that young, and it's the Dodgers. You think the Dodgers were going to decide to not pay him? Every Mookie negative deal where he actually had to be asked,

like, Hey, do you regret this? And he said, look, uh, the market will be what the market is. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. And he may have already known kind of the parameters,

the landing spot of where this new contract was when he was saying that stuff, not that long ago, but it was just classic like sports writer. Oh, well, you know, the market,

you know, the market's down and COVID and who knows? All these financial decisions that are being made still are not being made in anything other than just projections that none of us understand. We don't know what unemployment really is. Is retail really this strong or have people just been bored? Or is it stimulus checks? Are there real unemployment numbers that are coming that are going to be scary as hell? Are we going to have a second wave where the stock market starts looking more like it did at the end of February and March than it does in this almost full recovery where some places are far beyond their 52-week high that we saw before the crash that wiped out

a third of the stock market's value? So to do this exercise over and over and over again where it's like man you know Mookie probably cost himself a lot of money all of these people were saying it based on what based on we're talking maybe the second best player in baseball in a team that spends more than anybody else and we don't know the economic reality of any of this stuff. And we probably won't understand it, at least when it pertains to sports, for maybe well over a year. Especially in a sport like baseball that does not have a CBA that is based solely upon a revenue split, which has everything to do with how much you can pay players as it pertains to the salary cap. So it never made any sense. And once again, a bunch of these guys are just wrong.

Okay, we're going to talk to Drew Hanlon here in a bit, but first let's talk FanDuel because sports are back and you can find all the action on FanDuel. You got baseball opening day. I can't believe this is the Red Sox starting rotation. Side piece. Side nope. Either one, I don't care, whatever.

NBA is right around the corner. Are you ready for scrimmages? I am ready for scrimmages. Whether you've been with FanDuel for a while or you're new to the experience, FanDuel has two great ways to win that you won't want to miss. First off, FanDuel is adding $10 in free bets

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Well, here's where it gets interesting because we have the Ringer odds boost. And it's going to be Celtics to beat the Bucs on the 31st of July, which has moved the line from plus 164. So bet 100, win 164 is the original line to now this is 100 to win 200. Okay, that's a massive boost.'s the ringer odds boost fan duels hooking it up and please note the final number might vary

slightly depending on injuries and want to make sure that you get on in that because if you're going to get some action um related to sports this means that you're not going to do better than a number you're just not so if you gamble and you're looking for value, that's what you guys talk about all the time, right? Yeah, there's good value. Guys have been in the mix for a while. They don't bet favorites all the time. You know, they kind of make fun of people

that bet favorites all the time. But they also will look at, you know, you'll say like, well, how would you bet that? You're like, hey, it's 7-1 beginning of the season. Those are great odds. I've been enough of those 7-1s. I hit on one of those. Now I'm up instead of having to just expose myself for bad

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Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started and be sure to sign up with the promo code Ryan, R-Y-E-N, so they know that I sent you. That's promo code Ryan, 21 or older, present in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, and Colorado. Offer ends 8-2-20. $100 max refund issued in site and credit expires in seven days. $10 bonus issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires on 8-2-20. Gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER. that expires on 8-2-20. Gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Colorado 1-800-522-4700. Indiana 1-800-9-WITH-IT. And West Virginia, visit 1-800-GAMBLER.net. This is somebody that I've been following a while on social media. I'm really excited. His name is Drew Hanlon. You can follow him at Drew Hanlon. And his company is PureSweatBasketball.com.

He's done some really cool stuff during the quarantine, some dribbling videos, ball handling skill work, and kids have been sending their videos in. Really positive guy and an amazing client list. Jason Tatum, Bradley Beal, Joel Embiid, Zach Levine, Kelly Oubre, more and more. You've got RJ Barrett as well. So let's talk with Drew. Okay, here's your background, so feel free to add to this so people understand kind of your origin. You're from St. Louis, really good high school player,

end up playing in college at Belmont. You had a couple of those tournament games. I know you had that 4-13 matchup in 2011 with that Wisconsin team. You lit it up from three and we know, you know, the scattering report is scrappy, hard work, and all this stuff. How does a guy from that kind of get to where he is? And feel free to kind of give us the full setup. Yeah, definitely. I was the average undersized kid that worked really, really hard and found myself playing college basketball. My big story that kind of started everything for me, both in the basketball training career and my basketball personal playing career, was I used to shoot a thousand shots every morning before school.

So I would get to the gym at at 515 a.m. I'd wake up at 459 a.m., get to the gym at 515 a.m., meet my high school principal there. I would shoot a thousand three pointers before school. And if I didn't make't make 850 out of a thousand, I would redo it again at night. I was obsessive. You know, I gave up sweets when I was 12 years old. I didn't have sweets until I was done playing college basketball at 22. So I can honestly say as a teenager, I never tasted any kind of like artificial sugars, no sodas, no birthday cakes, no Snickers, no anything. And that led me to, you know, in high school,

I won a state championship my senior year, uh, was player of the year. And, um, then I went on to Belmont and played at Belmont. We played in, uh, two NCAA tournaments, my junior and senior year. And my senior year, I shot 48 and a half percent from three, which was good for second in the country. And I think it's still top 30 or 40 all time in division one. Who was number one? I don't know. There was a, there was a kid. Come on.

You don't remember? There was a kid from high point. And it was funny because we were playing in George, we were playing Georgetown in the NCAA tournament. And I was three for five from three at some point in the game. And I remember one of my managers comes over to me and we were down maybe like 12 points and it's like two minutes left or something like that.

He comes over and goes, if you don't shoot, you got the record. If you don't shoot, you won the Division I title. And sure enough, we run an inbounds play with like one and a half seconds left on the clock. And I curl off a triple screen, catch the ball and shoot like a fadeaway three that I think Otto Porter ended up blocking and so it blocks shot counts as a

missed three and because of that I lost by like a 0.02 percent and my managers were like what were you doing just shot fake or step on the line or do something but you know I was just focused on trying to you know lead a little comeback and try to advance us in the tournament but I know I forgot the kid's name but he I think he was from High Point at the time. But he shot like exactly the same percentage on paper, but had, you know, the fractions laid out where he had he had taken the title that year. That is the opposite of the Ray Allen then what you did there. You were like, no, I'm going to get the shot off. I never like Ray's number still would have been great if he had taken a couple half court shots in his career,

but Ray was going to make sure that that was not a thing. All right, so like a lot of college kids, that obsessiveness though, I mean, you can always kind of look back, like as you get older, I think one of the really interesting things is like I can point to every personal behavior that I have where I go, okay, I know exactly where this all stems from.

This happened, so then this is the reaction or this is where I'm at now mentally because something I did or didn't like when I was younger. But the fact that you were that obsessive. I love the fact that your high school, if I had asked somebody in my high school, like, hey, can I come in at 5.30, get a thousand jumpers up?

They would have said maybe outside. That's unbelievable. My high school principal was also a former basketball player and coach. John Clark, he was like, when I first said, hey, is there any way I could get in the gym early? He was thinking like, OK, you know, school starts at 815. He's going to probably want to get there at 730. But when I told him, hey, I want to be able to get to the gym at, you know, at 515 so that I can finish my workout by 630, go home, shower, eat breakfast, and then come back to school. He was like, well, okay, let's do it. You know, let's do it. And so, um, you know,

he was such a great principal, uh, for not only allowing me to do that, but he also used that time to kind of work on everything that the school needed to do. So it was a pretty cool story. And I was glad that a lot of the media outlets that ended up covering my morning workouts gave him some, some much deserved love for, uh,deserved love for being that committed to letting me get in the gym. And he was a big reason why I was able to accomplish some of the things I accomplished as a player. So you're out of school. We realize the NBA is probably not happening. Like a lot of guys after college accepted a much cooler experience. Now what? How do you go from now what do I do to coaching some

of these NBA players? You have to actually flash back. So here's something that a lot of people don't know. So I actually started my training company as a 17 year old. So I was one of those, you know, kind of young entrepreneurs. I did the lemonade stands, cut grass, shovel snow. I used to, believe it or not, I used to burn mixtapes back when Napster and LimeWire were there and I would sell the best. I realized that these MP4 CDs, you could have 110 CD songs instead of just the regular CD, which had 20. And I would sell them for 10, 15 bucks. So I was an entrepreneur by heart. So I wanted to be a referee. Referees made 18 bucks an hour. I think as a 16 year old kid, I mean, 18 bucks an hour is like

a million dollar salary, you know? And so I went to a facility and I asked him if I could be a referee and they were like, you have to be, you know, credentialed and you have to go through, you know, classes. And I said, I promise you, I can do a better job than some of these refs that blow calls during my games. And they said, well, that's great that you think you can do a better job, but you have to be, you know, approved to be a referee. And he said, why do you want to be a referee so bad? I said, 18 bucks an hour. And he said, listen, my son is tired of listening to me coach his team.

Why don't you coach his team? And I was like, well, that doesn't help my financial situation. He's like, I'll give you 18 bucks an hour to coach a team. I was like, all right, no longer am I a referee. You know, I ended my refereeing career before I even started. And now I'm a coach. Well, then when I was coaching, I got access to the facility and there were three courts and there were two games going on and I was on the third court by myself. And I was, I was a relentless

worker. I was drenched in sweat, hands on my knees. And I never forget, George Baker, a parent came over and he started me, put his hand on my back. I kind of jumped back and looked behind him and he said, listen, I've been watching you for the last hour, work your butt off. I've never seen somebody work this hard. My son does not know what hard work looks like. He's like, can I pay you to put my son through that exact same workout that I just saw you do at the exact same pace? And I was like, yeah, I can do that. And he was like, I'll give you 20 bucks. So I was like, all right, no longer am I a coach. I got a $2 pay raise. I'm a trainer. And that's honestly how the training career started. So then fast forward, I started training all these local players. I had 96 kids

in my first ever academy as a 16, 17 year old kid and wrote a book my junior year in high school, a training book. And one of the kids I started training was Brad Beal. And so- And how old was Brad? Brad was in eighth grade when we first started training. I worked him out one time. He almost passed out after about 30 minutes, hated me, told his parents he wasn't going to come back. He didn't come back for a couple of months. And then after his freshman year in high school, his parents were like, we had just won a state championship my senior year. It was his freshman year in high school. And his parents were like, you got to get back with Drew. And so we started, you know,

going every single day, we would actually work out together. Because remember, I'm the player of the year in Missouri, he's, you know, averaging eight points a game as a freshman, we would actually work out together. And that summer, he worked his butt off. And the second season in high school, his sophomore year in high school, he second game or third game of his high school season, he scored over 50 points, I think 52 points. Everyone was like, what did you do last summer? You know, how did you see a big growth? And there were things that happened.

He grew three inches. He was lifting weights with his brothers. His mom had already, you know, built a good foundation in his jump shot. And so we just adding handles, adding step backs, adding moves kind of really took his game to the next level. And, you know, he actually ended up when I went off to Belmont as a freshman, he was a sophomore. They end up winning the state championship.

So we won back to back state championships. Brad and I did in Missouri. But his growth really took my career off because everyone was like, we want the same Kool-Aid that he's drinking. Like, he's training with you. We saw what you could do with him. And so I started training a lot of other players, like nationally at first, that were really highly ranked high school players that saw what Brad was doing. And that led me to train David Lee, who was also a St. Louis guy. And so people don't realize when I was in college, I was probably averaging six and

a half points a game at Belmont as a sophomore. And I was training NBA All-Star David Lee. And I remember when my junior year in college going into senior year, Steph Curry had just signed his four-year 44 million dollar deal and he was actually excited about it because he had ankle trouble at the time yeah that was the ankle injury yeah down in Phoenix and he took us to a cheesecake factory to celebrate uh you know there's no better place to go than cheesecake factory and get unlimited lemonades and good cheesecake for dessert after a meal and um we're sitting there and david goes um hey steph are you gonna go to seth curry's first game of the season and he said yeah i'm actually gonna go you know he's like i'm excited to go and he

said you know they play against drew and steph was like what are you talking about and he's like i didn't know you coached college and i said no no i play for belmont he goes what and he was like david why are you listening to a kid that as a mid-major college, like, why are you taking advice from this mid-major college basketball player? And David said something to me that really kind of motivated me and gave me a lot of confidence. He said, listen, Phil Jackson couldn't beat Michael Jordan. Phil Jackson couldn't beat Shaq or Kobe, but Phil Jackson could help Michael Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe all get better. And he said, Drew can't beat me. Drew's not better than me,

but Drew can identify things that helped me get better and help do workouts that helped me get better. That's why I'm there. So it's not about kind of, you know, his status or his kind of resume. It's about, he's helping me get better. And David, the first four years we worked together average over 20 and 10 every season was an all-star. And so that gave me a lot of confidence. I started working out a lot of other NBA players and the rest is history. Now I've got a bunch of guys based on the results that I've got with previous clients. How come you weren't able to close Steph as a client?

I never really tried, to be honest with you. It's weird. I've never reached out to any of the guys that, uh, that I work with, you know, it's, it's weird how, how the chain kind of goes, but I start working with Brad, which leads me to David, which leads me to Jason, you know, because all three of those guys were from St. Louis. We all played for the same AU program and they all went to the same high school. So that's how those three clients happened. I helped John Jenkins and Festus Azili when they were at Vanderbilt. I was at Belmont. So we were actually playing, you know, against them. It was actually funny because John's, John led the SEC in scoring his junior and senior year at Vanderbilt. And his lowest scoring game was against Belmont when we guarded him because

I trained him. I knew exactly what he was going to do. I knew all their play calls for him because I prepared him. And so we laugh about that all the time. John's like, you were cheating. Like they would run their set where they ran them off a baseline stagger. And I'd be yelling at Ian Clark, my teammate, Hey, he's coming out that side. He's coming out that side. But I helped those guys both move from second round picks to first round picks. John was projected like 45th, end up going 23rd. Vestas was projected like 41st, end up going 30th. Because they both moved up in the draft, I started working with some of Bill Duffy's clients.

And that led me to Andrew Wiggins in the draft, which led me to Joel Embiid, which led me to Zach Levine and Kelly Oubre and et cetera. And so that's what the training world's all about. If you help a guy get results, other people that are friends with them or connected with them, they start wanting to, um, you know, come to you because they want the same exact kind of success or growth that client had. And so, you know, I'm fortunate that Brad gave me a chance early on. I'm fortunate that he, his parents pushed him to come back to me after he hated me

when I, you know, made him almost pass out after that first workout. But now we're just a big family. You know, that's the one thing that I love. You saw the other day in the bubble, you know, Jordan Clarkson, who's one of my clients and Myers Leonard, who's one of my clients doing a, you know, a shotgunning a beer challenge. And to me, I've never even tasted alcohol. I'm 30. You know, again, I have a lot of weird things, never smoked, never drank or anything like that. But I was just proud that my clients are so close and enjoy being around each other so much because they spend all summer grinding together. And so that's what I've been able to establish with my company is just kind of a really family-based, results-driven kind of group of clients that all want to succeed and all want to grow and get better together. Let's start with Tatum because I, and I have receipts for this, you know, going through that draft, but I didn't, I always will remind people though, like whenever I've

talked to NBA people that had access to Fultz and some of those international games, those under 18 stuff, they were like, he was unbelievable. Like if you saw him year comparing the actual college year of Tatum,ultz lonzo i never quite understood why tatum was always behind those other two guys i just i just didn't like that's how much i liked him i know he missed time because of the injury and then what we saw in his rookie year and then the complications of that second year and now to see what he was before the shutdown where he's like 30 a game in february and march and i'm like this is the guy so how realistic do you think it is that someone like tatum becomes, you know, top five is lofty, but let's put it at

top 10, because I think that's what a lot of people, at least that are following Tatum this closely there there's the ceiling for him feels like it's beyond a lot of guys in the league. I'm very biased, but when you said top five is lofty, he'll be a top five player in the NBA one day for sure. And that's something that, you know, we've been talking about ever since he was 13 years old. I think that with Jason, it was a little bit different because he started his quote unquote pre-draft training when he was a 13 year old. And what I mean by that is, let me rewind you back when he was 13. When we started training i actually knew what i was doing at that time with brad brad always jokes around brad's like i was drew's guinea pig you

know we would go i would go watch duane wade or michael jordan you know uh vhs tapes that i had because remember youtube wasn't even really around when brad and i started training and we would just go do whatever they did and some of it was really purposeful. And some of it was just, you know, kind of us doing moves that he would never end up doing. So, but when it got to Jason, I had been in the game for a long time. I had studied the game for a long time. I knew exactly what he needed to do. And so we said, as a 13 year old, Hey, all we're going to do is get really good at your jab. And for the first week that I trained Jason as a 13 year old, all we worked on was his jab step. And we did not shoot a jump shot. Imagine the discipline for a 13-year-old to go a week without shooting.

And we were just watching Kobe Bryant footage, and we were watching Tracy McGrady footage, and watching Michael Jordan footage, and watching even, you know, young Mello footage. And we're sitting there and working on different types of jabs. And then after week one, we were like, all right, now we're going to work on the jab, one dribble pull-up. And then we're going to work on the jab, one dribble pull up. And then we're going to work on the jab, one dribble step back. And then we're going to, and we built his game up in such a progressive manner that you see why he was so polished, which was something that during the draft process, it really confused me because, you know, the teams that came in and we did our pro day, I actually ran the pro days and we, we showed the versatility of him. And I told every single GM, I said, I've never seen somebody more polished skill wise than Jason entering the NBA draft. And they were like, come on, you're being biased, whatever. And I remember, I remember at summer league, some of the other, some of my other friends that were like,

there's no way people are going to agree with you. We were asking like Anthony Davis and we have this all on film, which is pretty funny. It'll be one of those, like, later on in his life when he puts out a documentary, we've got Anthony Davis was like, bro, I don't remember anybody as skilled as Jason. Like, that could post up, that could handle the rock, that could shoot threes as a rookie. Like, you just see him doing different moves.

Now, not saying he was the best rookie ever, not saying he was the most productive rookie ever, just most skilled, you know, most polished, could do everything. But yeah, it shocked us that he wasn't getting the attention that he was doing. And then his workouts, he shot, we have everything on footage. We've got the Boston workout, we got the Philly workout, we got the Phoenix workout. He shot over 80% from three in all those workouts, over 250 shots, all game game shots not just spot up catching shoots we were like how does a guy not get drafted like that and then what you saw his rookie season was what we we thought you know a guy that that that you know exploded in the playoffs and then his

second year it had a lot more to do with personnel than it had to do with the player and and we knew that it was actually going to be good for his growth for him to hit that little wall that he hit his, his, his second season, because he showed up so damn hungry that off season that, you know, we knew it was going to be a different level. And, and, and this year, you know, you saw him just progressively kind of, you know, get back to who everyone thought he was going to be. And then when Kemba went down and he had the chance to shine, that's when he really took that, you know, big step. It was funny because his mom, Brandy and I sat there and talked trash to him before the Philly game. I was in town with my mom and my mom, you know, flew up to Boston. And when

she got there, she said, look, little Jay, I did not come up here to watch you pass the ball I came up here to see you get buckets and have fun and uh you know my mom had been watching Jason even since high school games and Brandy and I just started talking trash to Jason well there's different levels of players Jason doesn't want to be in that tier one where you put the team on your back and carry him he just wants to be you know a nice guy and we're joking around but being serious and um you know that night Jason took off it also helped that all-star was that exact same time you know where he he finally got the monkey off the back he's named an all-star um but man after that you just saw what he was really capable of that swagger came back that confidence came back and now you're

starting to see kind of how good you know Jason, Jason is. And it's funny, during the draft process, the knocks on him were, number one, he couldn't shoot over 40% for his career from three. Now, we did make some changes. But again, we knew he was going to be a good shooter. It was smooth. He actually shot really well the second half of the season at Duke, too. He made a little tweak to his balance at Duke and lowered his pocket at Duke. And everything went well.

So we didn't understand why they just looked at the sample size at the beginning of the season instead of just the, you know, kind of the ending where he was trending. Second thing was that he wasn't athletic. I mean, ask Paul George or LeBron James or all the other guys he's put on posters, if he's athletic enough to play in the NBA. And the third thing was defense. And that's something that Brad Stevens has really helped him out with, you know because and Jay Laranega you know Jay Laranega is his personal uh coach for the Celtics Jay printed out a sheet with all of the kind of NBA legends that he wanted to be like you know the LeBrons the Kobe's the Michaels and he showed them when they first made an all defensive team and all of those guys actually besides LeBron had made it early early on in their career, which helped Jason buy in on defense.

But he's been great at all three of those. He's put people on posters. He's knocked down shots. And he's been a great defender. And so I think that sometimes people overthink during the draft process. Sometimes you just got to ask the old Hubie Brown question. Can he play? Yes or no.

That's how simple the draft process should be. Can he play? How does he help us on the court? How does he hurt us on the court? How does he help us on That's how simple the draft process should be. Can he play? How does he help us on the court? How does he hurt us on the court? How does he help us on and off the court? And that should be it. But most people look at potential too much instead of production. Give me your best Embiid story. Man, I've got a lot of Joel Embiid stories. I've been to Cameroon with him twice. That's been a crazy experience. But I'll give you one kind of like that's more of a practical and one that's kind of a more fun one. So the practical one is I was sitting at summer league.

This was right after he got drafted. I was sitting on the baseline at summer league and I was getting ready to watch Andrew Wiggins play. And Joel comes up and sits next to me. I'd never met him before. And he goes, hey, I've watched some of your videos online and I want to work with you. And I said, hey, I'd love to get in the gym with you. Just let me know when you want to get in. He said, what do you got tomorrow? I said, unfortunately, tomorrow I'm leaving Vegas. I'm going to LA. And he goes, perfect. I'll see you tomorrow in LA. And I was kind of like, all right,

you know, he's probably one of those guys that's just going to talk and say, I'll see you in LA. And I was kind of like, all right, you know, he's probably one of those guys that's just going to talk and say, I'll see you in LA. And then, you know, maybe you'll hit me up later on. And I started getting phone calls from his agent, his manager. And they're like, Hey, what is going on? Joelle tells us he's coming to work out with you in LA. Like what's going on? And they're like, you know, what do you charge? Where should he stay? What is, where do you work out? And I was like, hey, let's just figure all that out. If he gets to LA, let's get in the gym. Here's the gym address.

Tell me when he wants to show up. And he showed up and I was surprised. And he was like, listen, bro, you thought I was joking. I want to be one of the best players ever. And so that was the practical thing where I was just like, okay, that's when I knew he was special. I remember after the first workout, I was like, this guy's gonna be a Hall of Famer, just because he picked up so fast, everything that was thrown at him, like he would do something, he couldn't do it. And he would, he would say, show me again, show me again, he would walk a

circle around me just analyzing everything that I was doing, ask a few questions. And then like, two reps later, he'd be doing at full speed and I was like oh my god this guy picks up stuff so fast he's gonna be so special so that's the practical story the the funny story I mean I've got so many of them but um I guess in Cameroon this was when um you know he had just you know the back injury was one of the things that he was dealing with and we go to Cameroon and we're supposed to be going kind of, you know, taking everything kind of light, you know, maybe spot shooting, just getting him back in rhythm. And we go to his parents' house that he grew up in. And there's a soccer field right next door. Now, soccer field, don't think of an American soccer

field. Think of uphill, bumps, rocks, you know, maybe an occasional dead animal, et cetera, you know, all around the field and two stones for the goals where you have to pass it in. It's not a goal that you're kicking in and there's a net. And Joel said, let's go play. I played soccer growing up, you know, having fun. And I played in high school for a year. I was like, all right, let's go play. Literally the first play of the game, a kid, maybe 15 years old, dribbling the ball up the side. And Joel goes full blown football mode, lowers a shoulder, knocks him off the ball into a wall and steals the ball, passes it to somebody else. They chip it up. And Joel does a bicycle. It ended up all over Twitter and stuff like that,

but does a bicycle and lands on his back. And I just remember thinking like, oh my gosh, when this video gets out, Philly fans are going to go crazy, but it just shows you how competitive he is. I mean, it doesn't matter. I've got a video on YouTube of us playing Monopoly, you know, a while back and he's cheating in Monopoly, but he's just one of those guys that just wants to win. And so, you know, I know he got a lot of criticism last year when people were like, oh, he was crying after the game, et cetera. It's just he cares that much about winning. But, yeah, I mean, think about a 7'2", 285, maybe in the offseason, 300-pound, you know, Joel Embiid bumping a 15-year-old soccer player

into the wall in Cameroon. And that's what you get when you get a competitive guy that wants to win in everything that he does. When you talk about his improvement, that was one of the least surprising things because as I've mentioned, when I watched that freshman year at Kansas, I've never seen a big guy,

especially with his crash course in basketball where he didn't even understand. One of the examples I'll use is he didn't understand swinging it opposite when the double came to him in the post. He didn't even know you were allowed to do that and then all somebody has to do is say hey once the the coverage is here like this is the guy you want to be looking for and as soon as he was like oh I'm allowed to do that and it was one of the most impressive single seasons of a young kid improving from beginning to end and just understanding the game I think the and I know

you're not going to be like these are your guys as your clients and I love his game, but I always wonder like, is there something missing the crying thing? I love that would never criticize somebody for caring too much about that. I thought that was a great sign, but I think there are little moments and I don't know if it's personnel. I do worry about the Horford Simmons combo. I worry about the long term Simmons and bead combo and how well those guys get along together. Is there still a little something missing with him that prevents him from night in and night out being really, I think he should be a guy that should be top five for a good chunk of his career. Yeah. I mean, here's what I would say. I mean, obviously I saw what he did during quarantine. I was up there for five weeks. We missed three days in five weeks. I saw how hard he I've seen how hard he's worked his entire career. I see how much he watches film, you know, how much he, I've seen how hard he's worked his entire career. I see how much he watches film, you know, how much he requests film, you know, that's, that's the other thing. Some people think that all NBA guys work hard. That is not the truth. There's a lot of them that get there and then they just hang on and they enjoy it. You know, I would say half the league, just

they want to get shots up, stay in shape, get paid and move on. Then there's the guys that really grind and work. And he's in that category. I think the thing for him is just getting over that bubble. Once he gets over that little kind of hill, that little hump where he kind of tastes that success, I think you're going to see a dominant version like we saw when Shaq was dominant. And I think that sometimes when you want something so bad, sometimes it actually is your biggest kind of enemy, you know? And so I think that I've seen a lot of people do it, you know, people that fear missing shots, they end up passing up shots that

they should shoot, or when they shoot, they start guiding it instead of just letting it fly. You know, for Joel, I think he wants to win so bad that sometimes he, he kind of tenses up. And so I'm hoping this year is the year or, you know, these coming years are the years where he can really just play loose and just do what he does so well, which is dominate the game when he gets touches. And that's a big thing we looked at last year. Last year he averaged 14.5 shots per game in the playoffs, which is not nearly enough.

That's so low. Yeah, I mean, he's a 20-shot guy. which is not nearly enough. That's so low. Yeah, I mean, he's a 20-shot guy. This year I think you'll see a very different version of Joel in the playoffs. And I just want to let it happen. But, you know, I just think it's just about being aggressive and living with the results.

You know, a lot of people don't realize Kawhi Leonard – let's see if you get this. Kawhi Leonard, how many shots do you think he shot in Game 7? Everybody knows about the ball that bounced up and in. How many shots do you think he shot that game? He a million shots like is it over 30 40 40 yeah it was so many shots one remembers that and so i think that's part of the thing that that i've had to learn as a skills coach is most of the game is mental most of the game is just getting them to realize like hey you gotta you gotta live and die with, some in a seven game series, there's going to be nights where you have off nights and you guys lose and it's because of you, but there's also be nights that you guys win

because of you. And so both Jason and, and Joel and Brad and Zach, all those guys have the team kind of where they have to carry a team. And, um, you know, that's the big things that we're talking about is, you know, be confident enough to live with the results that you get. Trust yourself, even in the, you know, most crunch moments. And the last thing that I've been saying a lot to my guys, all of them, is a skill isn't truly acquired until it holds up under pressure. And I think that that right there, like a player is only as good as they are under pressure. Like, so I think that there's a lot of players that people are like, this guy's amazing. This guy's awesome. And they might be great, but you're really as good as you are under pressure. And so that's the big kind of mantra that I have with a bunch of my guys, because a lot of the young guys I have are really, I mean, I had four of the top 20 bucket scorers in the league, but now can we get you to win when it matters? but now can we get you to win when it matters? And so that's my next step as a skills trainer is helping them get over that invisible hurdle in their mind

where they can be confident enough to kind of put the team on their back when it matters most, take the big shots, and live with the makes or misses. Yeah, that is probably one of the truest things you can say about basketball. And I don't care who you are, if you've ever played and you put some time into it, there are all these things that you work on, but then when you actually have to play, are you comfortable enough to do it? I mean, you know how many times, and you're going to agree

with me here, but I'm talking NBA players that you've seen just sit there, muscle memory, corner threes, and hit 80% of them in practices and then are petrified to even take the shot and they get it and they swing it. It's a really hard thing to do because I feel like everybody kind of has their comfort zone and very few players ever kind of get out of that comfort zone. And that's why you'll see a role player that doesn't put up any production. And if you catch him in some other kind of workout and you're like, holy shit, who is this guy? You're like, well, once it's real, he's just different mentally.

And I think you're so right because I think it's so true for so many, especially the wing guys. You're like, how is this guy a six point a game score he's 680 can shoot he can do all these things it's like yeah but his whole life he just he i don't know it's weird i'll use something so this is there's two things that i always talk about and it's pretty crazy but i've studied a lot of other sports so that i can get kind of sports psychology aspect um but there there was a bunch of interviews with people that blew leads to Tiger Woods when Tiger Woods was in his prime. And they said, you don't understand. We turned a corner to go to the back nine. We had a three stroke lead and we just heard the crowd roaring after every chip that Tiger put on the green, after every putt that he made.

And in our minds, we just knew somehow Tiger was going to catch us. And he was not only that dominant because he was that good, but also the players that had the leads crumbled under pressure because they just assumed that they were going to somehow blow it because Tiger was going to somehow do something, you know, kind of miraculous to catch up. Then what happened is when Tiger lost that edge, I'll never forget Rory McIlmore said in the interview, they were like, how did you hold off Tiger? And he was like, I don't fear Tiger. I don't fear Tiger. Like he's not what he used to be. And everyone was like, Rory's cocky. He's arrogant. But once people heard that on tour, people started beating Tiger. And it was like, oh my gosh, it was kind of like, you know, the, the Mike Tyson, once you got past the first three rounds, you can hang with Mike Tyson.

It was just don't get knocked out in the first couple. And, and that's what you had to do. And so I think that a lot of these young players in the NBA, they, they haven't ever been in that situation to, you know, have to make the shot when you're down, when you're down one, it's a whole different shot than when you're tied or when you're up one, you know, have to make the shot when you're down. When you're down one, it's a whole different shot than when you're tied or when you're up one. You know, because when you're up one or you're tied, if you miss, it's like, oh, man, he could have put us over the edge or he could have done this. When you're down one and you miss, you were the reason why you lost.

And so I think – I mean, I'm fortunate to work with some of the top guys in the league. I think a lot of these guys are going to take big steps forward. But you saw this year, Brad averaged 30.5 points a game and wasn't an all-star. Zach Levine averaged 26.5 points a game and, you know, shot 40% from three and gets no respect because winning matters. And so now for all of these guys, that's what I'm trying to do is just help them be the best version of themselves for their team to help their team win. Because the number one skill that a player can have is their ability to impact

winning. I know that's hard for people that like to compare, you know, eras and people that like to compare stats, but the number one thing that a player can do is impact their team's ability to win. And so, you know, I think that, you know, Joel, Jason, some of those guys, I think that's the next step in both of their games is do they have the ability to put their team on their back when it matters most and take them to the next level? Okay, this is a good transition because I got a couple more things I want to do

before we finish up because of Zach Levine. Now, Zach is, even though I always say Westbrook to me is the most impressive athlete I think I've ever seen play this game, peak Westbrook, there are movements that Zach has that, peak Westbrook. There are movements that Zach has that make peak Westbrook look slow. Zach is off the charts with some of the stuff. I cannot

believe the Twitch change of direction stuff that he has. Now, early Minnesota I think his approach to the game, and I'm trying to be delicate here, was just ugly. It was a way of thinking the game that I'm like, he just isn't seeing it. It's gotten better, but to be the lead guy, especially on a winning team, I know what Zach's

physical abilities are. I don't think there's many guys that are even in his class. I know what the raw numbers are. He's getting better, at least from my eyes of seeing the game, but I don't know that it's ever there enough to be the number one guy. And I'm not talking about a championship contender, because that's such a very small group of players. But can your training, can your approach with him not only impact all that stuff, but get him to think the game the right way?

Because that might be harder than the physical stuff. I tell people all this time, the only guys that I work with are guys that are dedicated. Zach, there is not anyone that, there's no one that's going to outwork him. Him and his dad have put in work since he was a little kid. I mean, if you've ever seen him and his dad, I've seen the videos. Yeah. I've seen them all. Yeah.

I bought into Zach ever since he was really young. A story about Zach. I actually worked out, I was working out John Wall when I was a senior in college. So maybe John was maybe a rookie in the NBA. I was working out John Wall at his camp. He had a camp where he invited these top players. And Zach was not invited to the private workouts at night. And I remember Zach came up to me and asked me, he was like, he was maybe 15 at the time. And was like, hey, what did you guys do last night?

Can you show me what you did and stuff like that? That's when I knew he was going to be really, really good. Then in Minnesota, he showed up. Again, people don't realize that. We have screenshots from a bunch of analysts that were like, why is Zach Levine leaving UCLA? He didn't even play at UCLA. He's going to be in the G League. He's going to look great in a Maine Red Claws jersey. So where Zach's come from has always been play with a chip on your shoulder because he's always been the underdog. He was projected 29th in the mock drafts when we first started our pre-draft training. And then because of an amazing pro day, he jumped up and ended up getting in the lottery. So saying that, guys that have a chip on your shoulder, they're always going

to try to do more than they're capable of doing early on. And then eventually you settle in. The crazy thing is people don't really look at the numbers so like his rookie season he shot 34 from three not great little below league average but after that it was 39 39 i mean it was it was kept going up and so thing that i would say about zach is zach knows that in order to be a complete player he's got to transition from not just a bucket getter, but a playmaker. That's a next step. And then the second thing is he's got to buy into the defensive end. And buying into the defensive end is going to be easy once he's on a team that has a chance to win night in, night out. You know, you look at like Brad Beal a couple of years ago when they were in the playoff hunt.

Brad was locking people up. People were talking about him as a great two-way player. And then this year his defense took a little bit of a hit because he was, one, required to do so much offensively, but, two, sometimes you get disengaged when your team isn't winning and you're not playing for anything. So I think that once the Bulls make that step forward where, you know, whether it's changing personnel, whether it's a new coach that bumps up their level of intensity, et cetera. Once they're competing for a real playoff spot and a real

chance to win games, I think you'll see Zach buy into defense a little bit more, but then also I think he'll develop, I think he's the number one option just because I've seen how gifted he is. I mean, guys don't score 26.5 points a game shooting, you know, the numbers that he shoots. I just think that it has to be he has to take a step forward in the playmaking category and then he has to take a step forward on the defensive effort and once he does those things I think you're going to see one of the best well-rounded players you know around the league you mentioned when Embiid said hey I'm coming to you and then his guys are like wait a minute what's going on what do you charge how's this work how hard is

that part of the job because I know how some of these do, do some of these guys like just think that you're, you should be honored to get to work them out and then they don't want to pay their bills. Honestly, honestly, I do something that's completely different than any other trainer. I never invoice them. I have no set rate. I tell all my clients to pay me whatever they want, whenever they want. And that's it. The reason is I don't want money to come in between our relationship. And I truly care about getting them results. And it's one of those things where I'm confident, cocky enough to know what I'm going to be able to do to help their games that

I just say, Hey, work with me. Let me show you what I can do. And then afterwards, when you get paid, just, if you appreciate the work we've put in, take care of me. And honestly, it's helped me because guys take care of me way more than I actually would charge them because they value all the work that I'm doing. I won't say most. There's a lot of people in my industry that want to be famous and that want to, um, you know, go to the clubs with their players or want to like the, want the lifestyle. Like I said, I don't drink, I don't smoke. I'm a low maintenance dude. I just really like helping these guys. And the reason that I love basketball training is because it combines two things I love. I love helping people and I love basketball and that's what basketball training is to me, but I don't want guys to like, I watch every single possession of every single one of my players.

I send them pregame scouting reports, postgame video analysis reports. You know, we'll go back in the gym late at night and shoot. I'll fly to them. I went a couple of years ago, Kelly Oubre was struggling with a shot. I was in LA during, it was during RJ Barrett's pre-draft. I worked out RJ in the morning. I flew to Washington DC from LA. I worked out Kelly for like four hours at night and then flew back to LA for one workout. And I mean, what would you even charge for a thing like that? But what it was, was it was Kelly needed help. He ended up finishing the season on a great, he went 11 for 20,

I think for the rest of the season, he was real thankful. But the point is, if you're there for your guys, if you truly build a real relationship where your friends long after their career, then it's not a transaction, it's a relationship. And so to be honest with you, I don't have a tough time at all. I just, I take care of them. They take care of me. We rock and roll and you see the NBA salaries.

It's not like any of my guys are struggling. My guys have signed over $1 billion in me. We rock and roll. And you see the NBA salaries. It's not like any of my guys are struggling. My guys have signed over $1 billion in contracts. That's a fact. That's not just me throwing out a number. So they're doing all right. I just think I just take it. I just take a different approach. I don't want to be rich. I don't need to be famous. I just want to help a lot of guys. And I want them to know at the end of the day that, you know, that I played a small part in their development. And the best thing that I have is I have text messages on draft nights from guys like Brad and Jason, we did it. And I immediately respond back. No, you did it. But the fact that they acknowledge that I was a small part of that process and the fact that they

say, thank you. That's, that means a lot to me. Have you thought about maybe taking up smoking just to network more? Trust me, there are some trainers that do network using smoking. Uh, no, I, I, again, I'm, I think that that's why some guys rock with me is because I'm wired differently. You know what I mean? They're, they know how obsessive I am. No sugar thing that no sugar things, the craziest thing you've said at the whole time. Like this is, did you decide like, I don't want to stunt my growth. I've never, I've never tasted. I've never even had a coffee in my life.

Like I'm weird. People are like, how do you have energy? Like you don't sleep, you don't eat, you know, you don't drink, you don't smoke,

you don't do coffee. Like, what do you do? But honestly, I'm obsessed. Like I threw this out on Twitter the other day and people thought I was, people thought I was drunk. Like for the first time,

they're like, he must've had a drink of alcohol, but I've watched every single made field goal from the NBA the last eight seasons that's a lot of possessions that's a lot of made field goals and I have them all organized we're actually releasing so because people started calling me out and they're like there's no way you could possibly do that you do the math it's during the season it's about four hours worth of film during the off season I don't do much film, it's about four hours worth of film during the off season. I don't do much film. So it's about four hours a day that I'm breaking down film,

plus the stuff that I'm doing for my clients. But I can honestly say I've seen every single made field goal over the course of eight years in the NBA. It's just, you don't have time to do much else. And I don't want to ever have, you know, one of my clients say, well, Drew wasn't all in, or Drew didn't give me the best chance at growing. I want to do everything that I can to possibly put them in the best position possible. And then we'll live with the results, you know, and fortunately, a lot of the guys have seen great results. And, and it's been a fun journey, but I'm obsessive, I don't have an off switch. And when I don't have an off switch, it's easy for me to hold them accountable for

being all in themselves. You know, when they I'm writing a book right now, actually, that has nothing to do with basketball, but it's called Stop BSing Yourself. And it's literally the science behind, you know, kind of why people say they're going to do something and don't do it, why people procrastinate when they know they should just do it, why people don't prioritize what really matters most, etc. But I use all of the psychology and all the science-backed kind of fact-based stuff to help my clients do what they need to do when they need to do it so they can get the results that they want in the timeframe that they want. Because that's really what my job is. It's to get them better fast. Because you think about it, if a

rookie gets really good in his fifth, sixth year, they might be on a kind of a minimum contract. But if they get really good in year three or four, now they're going to get a max deal and extension. So not only do I have to get them good at the things they need to get good at, but I need to get them good at the things they need to get good at in a hurry so they can get the contracts that they want and the opportunities that they want. Because the NBA is such an opportunity game. You see guys in the first couple years of their career either go towards stardom or go towards role player, and they kind of get boxed in. And so I have to get these guys good in a hurry so that they can eventually have the opportunities to expand their game and grow their game like they want to. Who would win one-on-one, Embiid or Tatum?

They play. Embiid wins every time. What happens is Jason normally starts out. Joel will try to beat him with skill and we play from the three-point line, check ball. We play from the mid post. We do two spots. We go mid post, mid post, and then we go three from the perimeter. So wings and top of the key. What will usually happen is they'll both do fadeaways and they'll both be doing step backs and Joel's working on his handles Jason's working on his game and then it'll get to like game point where Jason will have a chance to win and then Joel goes straight bully ball mode and just drives downhill puts his shoulder into a bump euro step bump spin move you can actually watch some of it it's got like

a couple million views on YouTube we released one of the games of them on YouTube. But they're competitive, and there's a lot of shit-talking, which makes it very enjoyable. And I am very good at amping up that shit-talking. So Jason hits a fadeaway like, you know, Joel, come on, he isn't nothing. He can't guard you. And then Joel does something. I'm like, come on, Jason's too small.

Take him to the ghetto. Take him to the post, you know. So those games are fun. And the thing that I love about offseason, offseason there's no referees. There's no restrictions. There's no roles. There's no such thing as a bad shot. So you get to see how talented these guys really are.

I've got D1 interns every summer, and these NBA guys are just messing around with them. These D1 guys are going, I didn't realize how big of a gap there is. Like, you know what I mean? There are definite levels. It's not just NBA players are so much better than the casual hooper. NBA players are so much better than the really good college hooper. You know what I mean? Yeah, it is something else when you really

understand what that gap is. Because I still don't know that the public truly appreciates how special it is. Especially when we see a little bit more of the specialist guys or guys hitting threes but i want to close on this interview that i saw you had you know the quote but i want to share with all the listeners here it's that master the role that they want meaning the team want you to play now while working towards the role that you want to have later and it's perfect it's perfect because so many guys want to have this well-rounded game and take shots like i always always feel like that, that sophomore year when it's a lottery pick, you see the

numbers, they give them a few more minutes to give them the chance. And that's kind of where a lot of players careers fall apart. Cause it's like, you wanted to be this guy. The team gave you the chance because they put the draft pick equity into you, but you didn't really have the well-rounded enough skills in real games to execute it all. And then that guy's always on a second team, like his third year. So I think it's a great quote and I really appreciate your time, man. This is great. So let me know, you know, we'll do this again sometime.

Yeah, definitely. No. And masters a role you're in while working towards a role you want. And for fans that can't kind of grasp what that means, think about a guy like Kelly Oubre, who, when Kelly came in the league, during his draft process, he asked me, he said, hey, can you turn me into James Harden? And I said, not now. And everyone was like, wait a second. Like, we thought you were this magician.

I said, no, no, no, no. I can get you better progressively, but I can't make a leap and a jump. And if we go that route, you're going to be like a lot of other lottery picks that end up fizzling out of the NBA because you try to be something that you're not. And so Kelly, three points a game as a rookie, but all we worked on was defense. Be a defender first. Second year, let's just work on just being able to attack closeouts so you can get downhill. Third year, be able to make spot up shots. Fourth year, be able to shoot off the dribble. Fifth year, now start adding different finishes, different little step backs and side steps. And now you see where his game's gone in every single year. Now he's averaging 19 points a game. But if he would have tried to be James Harden as a rookie

and tried to be inefficient and shoot buckets and stuff like that, I don't want to put out some names, but you guys can all think of the lottery picks that we thought were going to blossom and grow that were great college players, et cetera, that fell off because they tried to be bucket getters too soon. And so the best thing that a young player can do, whether it's a high school player that's listening to this, that wants to get college scholarships, whether it's a college player that wants to be in the NBA, master the role that you're in, which means help contribute to winning now for your team. What do they need you to do? Get really good at that and then work towards the role that you want. So eventually when you get that opportunity, then you're ready for it. And Kelly's a great example of it. A lot of these young guys, I say it with RJ Barrett all the time.

I'm going down to Orlando this week to work out RJ and we're going to spend a month together. A lot of people wanted him to be a superstar in year one. It's, hey, let's get you really good at this. Next step is make open shots. The next year off the dribble, the next year, it's, hey, let's get you really good at this. Next step is make open shots. The next year, off the dribble. The next year, he's going to have a very similar growth process to Kelly. And while Knicks fans want to expedite that process, if you try to expedite it too soon, you're never going to get the player that he could be. Whereas if you grow incrementally from attacker to making open shots to now developing into a go-to score, et cetera, that's when you get a polished player in year five, six, and seven, which is what you're really after,

you know, is reaching your full potential eventually. That's a great way to close this out. You did something that's almost impossible and you made Knicks fans feel better. So just that alone right there is inspirational. Drew, thanks again, man. It's at Drew Hanlon. If anybody wants to check out the videos, give them a follow on puresweatbasketball.com. Thanks, thanks again, man. It's at Drew Hanlon. If anybody wants to check out the videos, give them a follow on pure sweat basketball.com. Thanks, bud. Thank you. Let's talk Hawthorne.

Cause I remember my first cologne. It was the green polo 89, 90 lookout. And everybody bought it. Everybody wore it. Our entire hallways just reeked of green polo. Like if you didn't have that and you thought you were going to be in the mix, you weren't going to be in the mix.

Then we had like a little jacquard noir phase. You know, our basketball bags. If you didn't have your cologne, you weren't ready to throw it on. Actually, looking back, we must have absolutely looked like tool bags. The teachers must have made fun of us

all the time. Like everybody came back from Christmas just reeking of musk, different men's musks. So if you want to find a different scent that still feels like you, you need to check out Hawthorne, because I did,

with just a quick two-minute quiz. It's really cool. You go on, find this whole thing out. Great gift idea for some of the ladies out there. Hawthorne will tell you the two colognes that are best for you. One that works during the day and one that works for play. Get it? Their script didn't rhyme. Mine did. Not a rapper. But anyway, it's totally risk-free with free shipping and free return. So

it was cool. Like I got two bottles sent. You're like, all right, what's up? Just going to hang out today. Maybe throw a little of this on. Oh, nightlife. You want a nightlife rye? Okay. Well, we're going to throw this scent on. That not going to happen anytime soon, you know, but look, it's ready to go. I'm just afraid my daytime bottle reserves are going to go down compared to the nighttime guy. But anyway, that's what I love about it because it smells good. The deodorants's just different, man. Just different in a great way. And, you know, I heard a little bit when the shampoo quiz was asking me all the different things that I was looking for in a shampoo. And you were like, I don't know, that the bottle doesn't break.

It's about the only thing I got going on for you. So, the stuff smells good. It looks great. It comes packaged in this amazing setup. And it's a great gift to yourself if you want to treat yourself to something. And it's a great gift for maybe somebody else you care about. So do yourself a little favor. Check out Hawthorne at hawthorne.co.

That's a code, right? Hawthorne with an E, by the way. Use my promo code, Ryan Russillo, to get 10% off your first purchase. That's Hawthorne, H-A-W-T-H-O-R-N-E dot C-O. And use my code R-Y-E-N-R-U-S-S-I-L-L-O to get 10% off your purchase. That's Hawthorne dot C-O. Just a shout out. I don't know if somebody wants to let DirecTV know that basketball started

because that was fun yesterday. Five phone calls with that glorious staff. Last call was an hour 40 while I was missing a scrimmage that I really wanted to watch. Then just magically they hung up on me because that's when that phone line closed. I wasn't thrilled with that provider

yesterday. Somebody could let them maybe just an email to the folks over at League Pass that all of us have paid full price for anyway. Hey, you guys know we're playing these games right now because it says so on the guide. All right, rant over. God, I was pissed off about that. Yep, I'm sorry.

Oh, we have breaking news. This is happening in real time. Washington picks temporary name. Washington to use Washington football team for the 2020 season. You know what? I'm going to let all you guys have that one. Just don't be the 700th guy tweeting, what are they going to call the basketball team?

Washington basketball team? I'm in the wrong business. That shit plays somehow. I don't know. I don't know how, but it does. I haven't looked at one joke about it, and I already know what they're all going to be. A couple will be good.

Most won't. Then a lot will be the same. Okay. All right, let's life advice it. They say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. 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. This one, we can call him Rob. I like that. It's not my real name. Love the podcast. Best content out there. Thank you. This is a live request that is off brand for your target demo, but I hope it will be thought-provoking in your comments instructive. Ooh, he sounds like this guy's smart, so that's intimidating. Early 60s, live in the Midwest, wife, a couple of grown successful kids. By the way, I don't know if I'm going to ever be a parent, but I got to tell you, looking at a lot of kids that are total fuck-ups, it must be amazing to be a parent and having multiple kids that are really successful. And I'm not talking like DiCaprio successful. I'm just saying like, hey, good school, got out, got a good job,

has their stuff together. That's going to be a great feeling as a parent. Now, granted, whatever troubles your kids are going to run into, they're going to blame you later in therapy anyway or in a more aggressive fashion that has nothing to do with a copay. But I would say that's going to be just an aside here, Robert.

I feel great about the fact, you know, grownups, successful kids, not having to worry about them all the time. Although when you're a parent, you're always going to worry

no matter what. All right. I was in management of a successful tech company, retired early, net worth, low eight figures. That's pretty good. Not FU money, but no private jets, but well off by any measure. Just be careful, man. Talking about being successful does not play today. But I love that. You're just giving me the stats. You're giving the listeners the stats. That's good. Net worth, low eight figures. Okay. All right. So we're talking, does that mean 10 million? Does it mean 20 million?

Okay. So what could possibly be the problem? Boredom, a challenge, meaning lifelong sports nut, but I find that my give a damn is broken. I'm done with really, really caring whether or not my team makes the playoffs. Okay. Played golf forever. Got my handicap down to six a few years ago, slipping now, but no longer tie my self-worth to whatever, or to whether I shoot a 78 or 82 today, who really cares? Well said. Played in the World Series of Poker. Got pretty good. Had a six-figure score a few years ago but the game is getting younger and tougher and it doesn't thrill me much anymore are you trying to hang out here dude or what's the problem all right so not really into volunteering gardening home projects etc i love that you mentioned you're not into volunteering but i love this honesty you know this is where i

this i would rather you be real okay some people aren't going to like you as I read this, but you're at least admitting, hey, yeah, I don't want to volunteer, man. I got 20 million in the bank. I'm not looking for any sympathy. Not going to get any. Don't worry. I have the American dream,

but it doesn't seem like enough. How does this look from your seed advice? Okay. Wow. That's easily the most successful entry from Life Advice. But I think I get his point here. Now, people are throwing up the fact that you even sent in an email being like, what's the point of all of this?

But the guess I have here is that the reason you were so successful, and if the golf and poker stat and all that stuff is true, that you find a thing and you are like so intense about it that you become really successful and that's why you're successful in business and that's why you're also bored now. So the way you were wired

that led to all of these great things is why you're like, what now what? Now, basically you're asking me like, should you pick up a hobby? You don't sound like all of a sudden, hey, you know what? People really do love fly fishing. It isn't the easiest thing to do. It's a little elitist at times from guys that are really good at it versus somebody like me that just has gone out a bunch of times and loves it, but knows there's a really good chance I'm not going to catch anything because I don't understand all of the intricacies of, you know, whatever. I mean, look, the cool part about fly fishing, there's a lot of gear to buy, so that should replace some of the border, but that's not what you're asking.

You're not asking for that. Uh, you know, the write a book things probably not going to work out for you. I don't, I don't know that I really have an answer for you here. You can't find the next thing. I don't know what to do with this one for you here. You can't find the next thing. I don't know what to do with this one, Jim. I'm stumped. Sounds like he should be giving life advice. Yeah, right.

Low age figures? What does that even mean? Is that like $30 million? Lower. I mean, I guess it's in the $10 to $30 million range. No, like high would be like 80 or 90. If I ever had that kind of money, I would probably – I don't know. I don't know why I would stop doing a podcast.

I probably want a little more help booking guests, but if I had $30 million in the bank, I'd probably be like, hey, you know what I don't feel like doing is DMing an assistant coach at the Brooklyn Nets five days in a row, asking if he wants to come on. You know what I would do? And I don't know if this is a passion or not. This is just me.

I would find the forever job. You know the old exercise of if you had a million dollars in the bank, what would you do? And then whatever your answer is, that's supposed to be your job. I think they brought that up in the office space. I mean, this isn't some original advice here. But at least for me, I would say, okay, I want to get into real estate, but I want to get into flips, but I want to be able to do it with somebody that I have the same vision of

the architect and do something that's really cool. And you can almost have in these communities, you could have a house or where I live in Manhattan Beach, you see some people do some really cool different stuff on some of these remodels. And then that's the house that's going to be there for a really, really long time. And it's not like, oh, I want some moment. I want some thing that I can point to years later and say, hey, I was the brainchild behind this thing. But it sounds like you need that kind of project for you where you're putting, you're waking up every day for a reason. That's, that's what it sounds like. It sounds like right now you're not waking up with any drive and it's cool that you still, like most guys are going to

listen to that and be like, Hey, the whole point is that you're not supposed to care about any of this stuff anymore that you you've been so successful. You know, who cares about any of this stuff? I think the point is that you need to figure out something that you get excited about waking up every day. And I think it's cooler that you feel the void as opposed to not realizing that there's a void. So for me personally, it would be trying to get with, and probably I'd do it with my brother where I'd say, hey, this is what we're going to do. We're going to do very specific remodels. We're going to put a little bit of our own little flare on it,

whether that's a bat pole or whatever, convertible top, roof deck. But just something like that, where you'd be like, okay, here's a project. Here's where my headset is going to be. I don't know. I think this is the worst advice I've ever given out on the show. All right, so go ahead.

Hit us up, lifeadvicerr at Gmail if you want unbelievable insight. I just puked out for about 10 minutes there. I need to at least make those shorter. If the advice is going to suck that bad. All right. Check with you next week. Thank you.