You Should Know Podcast - WANTING TO QUIT BASKETBALL TO *BEING IN THE NBA* ARMONI BROOKS JOINS THE *YOU SHOULD KNOW PODCAST*

Episode Date: January 7, 2020

YOU SHOULD KNOW PODCAST EP.1 Atlanta Hawks newest signee, Armoni Brooks joins the You Should Know Podcast to discuss:  -How to be recruited in High school  -Playing in the NCAA Sweet 16  -Backlash for declaring for the NBA draft & MORE   FOLLOW ME: @psh8 @thePSH8 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Factor. Make this your best season yet with nutritious two-minute meals from Factor. Eating well has never been this easy. Just heat it up and enjoy, giving you more time to do what you want. Cam, you know me, right? Yes, I do. Do I like cooking? No.

Do I like grocery shopping? No. Is it hard for me to eat healthy? Yes. Guess what's helped all that? Factor. Factor. They deliver meals to your literal doorstep doorstep in a box that says factor yes right and online you can pick what kind of meals they bring to you so i know there's going to be delicious cuisine in that box that i want that is healthy for me that is no prep there's no cleanup i pop

that john in the microwave i'm eating better it tastes good yummy tummy and it saves me a lot of money in time oh my god you're the time is impeccable factor powers your day with satisfying breakfasts on-the-go lunches premium dinners and guilt-free snacks and desserts it's easy to savor more this spring. Factor Meals pack in the flavor with none of the fuss. Get started at factormeals.com slash YSK50OFF and use code YSK50OFF to get 50% off plus free shipping on your first box. That's code YSK50OFF at factormeals.com slash YSK50OFF for 50% off plus free shipping. Now on to the rest of the episode.

There are very few things that you can be certain of in life. But you can always be sure the sun will rise each morning. You can bet your bottom dollar that you'll always need air to breathe and water to drink. And of course, you can rest assured that with Public Mobile's 5G subscription phone plans, you'll pay the same thing every month. With all of the mysteries that life has to offer, a few certainties can really go a long way. Subscribe today for the peace of mind you've been searching for. Public Mobile, different is calling. Hey everybody, welcome to

the first episode of the You Should Know podcast. Here we go. Everybody give me some love, give me some love, give me some love. Give me some love. You know, I'm really excited to get this podcast going. I've been working on it for six months, seven months. And basically what this podcast is, it's a guest-based podcast. So I'll bring on people that I'm interested in and I feel like have a certain type of knowledge on a certain subject that other people should know about. And today, on the first episode, we have the one, the only, the Atlanta Hawks' newest signee, Armani Brooks. How you doing, Peyton? Glad to be here. Hey, man.

Very excited to be a part of your first episode. I really appreciate it, bro. Let's get right into it. How do we know each other? How long have we known each other? Man, we go way back man since I don't even know like fourth grade, fifth grade. Yeah. Man, just playing basketball. What were you on the Pflugerville Heat or something like that? Yeah, something like that. Oh, my God, we were so bad. Yeah, yeah. We were kids. We've known each other, yeah, like 10-plus years. Me and Armani have, you know, grown up playing basketball together. Pretty sure he was on, like, the first basketball team I was ever on. And so it's been great to watch you grow and prosper and pass me up all these years. But let's start with AAU because we played AAU together.

And we, especially when we were older, we ran stuff. Oh, yeah. It was us. You know, THP, Texas Hardwood Prospects, bro. We practiced in the most raggly, broke-down church possible. But all I know is that when it was game time, bro, we was ready to go. We were on. We were on, definitely. So we would – let me get into a little –

the thing I've talked to you about this before, but for everybody else to know, we would play these tournaments and there would be coaches there, obviously, and, you know, I'd have a good game. Yeah. I'd hit, like, five threes, six threes. I'd get some dunks, 20 points I'll be like oh yeah yeah coach is gonna blow up my phone and Armani might be quiet the first half Armani comes in the second

half and drops 40 gets six offers after the game and I'm like well damn nothing I did matters but uh yeah bro you like we would be at these tournaments. And I remember just, like, it was after, like, one week. There would be, like, ten different coaches at every game, D1 coaches, big-name coaches. And THP, our AAU team, wasn't a shoe team. No. We didn't play these big circuit teams. Like, we didn't play these big tournaments.

And you had the opportunity to go play for a shoe team yeah why why didn't you take that um you know well I started off THP my sophomore year and um you know I was kind of I was okay I wasn't really ready to you know start getting recruited by any division one schools but um you know going into my junior my senior year going into my junior year oh you said the backwards but yeah like my last AAU season um you know, going into my junior, my senior year, going into my junior year. Oh, you said that backwards. But, yeah, like my last AAU season, you know, Coach Tim, he passed away. And so I got a call in the middle of class from my dad, you know, just telling me what happened. And I had to walk out of class because I was crying and everything.

You feel me? Yes. So I just, you know, I was thinking about going to play with Texas Pro out of Houston on the Adidas gauntlet. But when all that happened, I was like, no, I can't leave Coach Tim, man. You feel me? He got me my first offer from Sam Houston State. Yeah.

And I just felt like it was my obligation to, you know, come back and pick up, keep going what he left off. And that was probably the best decision I ever made, you know, staying with THP because the memories that I that I made with you guys and all the games and you know all the things that we went through I mean it made me what I am today for sure and that says a lot about your character and a lot about you know loyalty and um there's a lot of kids out here and that's kind of why I wanted you on this podcast is because you don't have the conventional route of somebody who doesn't really know you

and just sees your Instagram post as like, oh, he just got picked up by Washington for Summer League. Oh, now he's with the Atlanta Hawks. They're like, oh, they don't know that route, that you didn't do these two teams. You weren't on Ball is Live. You weren't on ball is life you weren't on doing all this none of that this stuff so for these kids that think oh I need to go be on this shoe team I need to go do this what would you say to them is it important is it necessary and if they were in the same position you were to have the opportunity to go play in these circuits, what should they do?

You know, honestly, I just always thought that if you were good enough, you'll be found. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you were to, if there's an NFL talent quarterback at a Division III school, if he's good enough to play in the NFL, he's going to get found by any means necessary. You know what I'm saying? So I just feel like, you know, everyone gets caught up in playing for certain teams and, you know, playing with hype and playing in front of cameras every game, playing in front of 10,000 people or however many people be at high school games.

You know what I'm saying? But I just feel like if you're good enough, you'll get found. And the talent speaks. Just trust me, bro. You don't have to go play on any shoot teams. You don't got to go to no prep schools. You ain't got to go to no certified training. Just work hard by highlights exactly stop exactly you have direct access to coaches i mean whenever we were coming up and we could do that you didn't obviously have to do that but you know i was kind of like well damn it was getting towards the end and i was like shit i kind of want these coaches to know but

you have direct access to these coaches you can dm a coach your highlights you can tag them on whatever like it I feel like it's so much easier now to get recruited not that it's easy it's obviously hard to get even one offer let alone multiple from any level yeah but you know I don't I feel like I you know I don't have the the the reputation to say oh don't go do this don't go do that but I've witnessed firsthand there were people that did you know leave non-circuit teams and go to circuit teams and just because they get cool shoes and gear and the cool name and ball's life is there and you might see an NBA player on the sideline and then then they get there, and they don't play.

They'll get there and score two points. You know what I'm saying? Definitely on those shoe teams, man, it's a lot of politics that go in those shoe teams. At all levels of basketball, there's some level of politics that goes on that you have no control over. A college coach might know that AAU head coach, so he'll ask you to play a dude a certain amount of minutes so that they can, you know, recruit him and critique him more. So I just say don't fall into the trap.

Go where you're wanted. And if you're wanted, then do that and just play to the best of your ability at whatever level you're playing at. Yeah, and that takes me into going into college. So you obviously had how many – do you remember how many offers you had in high school? Like 32, I believe, something like that. God damn.

I do. But 32, and so you obviously decided to go to U of H. Yeah. So how did that relationship start with Coach Sampson? Well, first off, U of H was, when they were recruiting me, they were at every single game. There was a coach from the staff at every single game. Definitely remember that. You know, just little things like that. And they were my first visit and they literally made, scheduled my visit the first day you could have a visit. And so, you know, just them showing that much appreciation

and attention to me, you know, was really big. And then when I got there, you know, UH, they had been down for a while, hadn't really been winning a whole lot of games. And Coach Sampson really just sold me on a vision, you know, new arena, new style, new system, new players, just everything. So I just felt like going into that, new system, new players, just everything. So I just felt like going into that, it was a great situation to be in. And I really like being a part of, you know, rebuilding things. You know, going into things that are already set on winning, you know what I'm saying?

You know, it's fun to go in there and just win off rip, but, you know, I wanted to go through the trials and tribulations of, you know, losing games that we should win and winning games that we shouldn't have won yeah it just makes you feel so much better about what you're building at that school and at that location yeah but college basketball sucks right it's just bad you're how do you feel about not being paid be honest um because you're doing you're waking up like people don't understand how much work is in a college basketball player puts in yeah you're getting your education paid for, but I mean. No, yeah, I definitely feel like there should be some form of compensation.

You know what I'm saying? Because like literally over the summer, the summer is probably the easiest time to be a college basketball player. You wake up probably 6 o'clock, you got weights for an hour, weights and conditioning in the morning. Freshman and sophomore is normally got to go to class. So you'll go to class for two hours, come back for another workout, an open gym that afternoon around 1. And then you'll get done about 5. And then you go home.

Whatever time you go to sleep, wake up and do it again four days out of the week. And then come season, you know, you're practicing. That season is when it get hard. Yeah. Because, you know know you got class before practice we practiced at 3 okay so we'd be in the film room 3 o'clock it's about 4ish depending on how mad coach got it everybody yeah yeah and then practice is anywhere from three hours three and a half hours of non-stop war basically you know I'm saying?

So you're going in there every day after class, after lifting weights, after whatever's going on in personal life, all your homework and assignments that you've got to do, you've got to find a way to just block all of that out and go into practice with the right mentality. Because if you go into practice with the wrong mentality, you're getting killed. Were you ever not motivated whenever you were at U of H, like just in college basketball in general?

Were you ever just like, man, like, we'll get into you deciding to go leave. But your freshman year, your sophomore year, were you ever just like, man, I don't know about this? Yeah, my freshman year, I almost wanted, I really wanted to quit. You know what I'm saying? Because going in every day, I was getting cooked by Damien. I was going against this guy named Damien Dotson every day. He plays for the New York Knicks now.

Yeah, definitely. And, bro, every day he would kill me, bro. And all the coaches were getting on me nonstop. I just felt like I couldn't even play basketball anymore. I was like, bro, I'm not even good anymore. I just felt like everything about me, my confidence was just non-existent. Yeah. And I had a lot of long nights just thinking about dreading to go to practice the next day

and dreading to even wake up to go do anything tomorrow. Because when your confidence gets that low, bro, it takes a toll on your entire life. For sure. But no, I just found a way to follow through my parents and my my brother honestly they were my motivation you know after the long days at practice they called me or i called them and keep them they just tell me not to give up you know because like my goals were bigger than what was going on at that time so what was the what was the turning point like whenever you're getting cooked every day in practice and uh you know it, it was, you know, messing with your confidence and everything.

Was there a certain moment where your turning point, was it like in a game where you got hot, was it sometime at practice, or was it a meeting you had with a coach? Yeah, so, you know, we would practice probably six days out of the week. So, like, for five of those practices, I would be getting cooked. And, like, the one practice I'd do i do i you know i go back at them and i finally just figured out how to how to win certain battles you know i'm saying so win a possession here win a possession there and once i started winning possessions that's when my confidence like okay i can you know i'm saying i can i can play at this

level yeah so um once that once i saw that and it just kind of started clicking. And then going into my sophomore year, that summer was a huge year for me. I worked so hard. And, you know, any of the coaches will have a testament behind that. And my sophomore year, that's when things started taking off a little bit. Yeah, so let's go into your sophomore year. Y'all made it to the Sweet 16? Round of 32. Round of 32.

Yeah. And so that's whenever y'all lost with the buzzer beater to Michigan. How was that? Because I was watching on TV. That was so tough. Y'all, I was like, oh, yeah, they got it. And then they panned to you on the sideline. Bro, I was like, oh, they got him.

They got him. He's done. I was like, he's going to be a meme. I was like, bro, I texted you afterwards, too. I was like I was like he's gonna be a meme I was like bro I texted you afterwards too I was like bro you're good uh I wanted to joke but I know that was a tough time so I was like yeah no they got him but uh so I know that has to be one of the worst feelings in the world oh yeah we were um I think we were up two we were up two with like five seconds left and um I think one of my teammates that went to

the free throw line to be able to seal the game and um you know obviously you know he missed the two free throws and um but you know we still figured that we had the game won you know i'm saying so most of us are on the sideline kind of celebrating like yeah we about to go to la because that's where the c16 was yeah um and And as soon as he left his hand, we just all, like, obviously we all just looked. And, like, it got close to the rim. It got close to the rim and we all just kind of, and whatever happened happened. And we were like, bro, there's, you know, like, at first I just, like, I just sat on the floor and I was like, bro, what happened? Like, that really, like, you know what I'm saying?

Did he really make that? And then, you know, obviously all the emotion and stuff started happening. Yeah. And, well, a lot of people didn't see was in the locker room, obviously. Oh, what was that like?

I bet that was... It was ridiculous, bro. Like, my teammate who missed the free throws, he was in the bathroom punching the wall. I bet. He was, you know,

they were just, bro, like, you would think that somebody died, like how the locker room was. And all the seniors were just going, like crying like crazy. And we were just all trying to comfort everybody. What did Coach Sampson say to you after that? What could he say after that?

Like, hey, man, that's tough as hell. I really don't remember what he said. That's the crazy part. He stood, like while we were, we sat there in the locker room crying for like 25 minutes. And then I think he walked around, gave all the seniors a hug, told them he loved them. And after that, I really, I don't know if he said anything. I just know that, like, right before we walked out, me and Galen made eye contact and said, we'll be back next year. Yeah.

And. And y'all did. And we did. And y'all made it further. Y'all made it to the Sweet 16. Yeah. back next year yeah and and y'all did and we did y'all made it further y'all made it to the sweet 16 yeah um that you y'all really did change the culture at u of h and y'all set a standard of winning um how was how how is that sweet 16 experience because you know we grow up watching the tournament and we're like that's everybody like hooper's dream is yeah if you play college it's like i want to i want to make it to the tournament. I want to be in the Sweet 16

and lead eight, Final Four. How was that? I know you were shitting on yourself because that's the biggest stage in college basketball. Yeah.

What was that like? You know, just going into the entire tournament, there's only 68 teams who make it. You know, the two play-in games

were four other teams and then the field of 64. So, you know, that whole weekend, you're getting treated like a celebrity. You know what I'm saying? So it's nonstop cameras, nonstop attention. Everybody everywhere wants to ask you questions.

You're getting DMs from people asking, can you leave them tickets that you've never met before? Like, I don't even know who you are. You're asking me to leave you tickets to the game. That's hilarious. Like, I have family. You know what I'm saying? I got priorities. I'm saying I got priorities I don't know you I don't know you and um but yeah man you know just going into that you know it's it's really a surreal moment and

you know my first my sophomore year when we went to the tournament I did not play good in either games so um I couldn't make a shot to save my life so I just tried to find a way you know getting rebounds and um just trying to do anything to help the tried to find a way, you know, getting rebounds and just trying to do anything to help the team win, play defense. But, you know, going into my junior year, I was like, bro, I can't have another show like that in the tournament. You know, that's a huge stage and my team needs me. And so the first game, I think I fouled out, I think, against Georgia State. I had, I think I fouled out. I had like two points or something like that. Played terrible. So I was beating myself up. And the second game we had Ohio State and I played pretty good. I think I fouled that. I had, like, two points or something like that. Yeah. Played terrible. So I was beating myself up. And the second game, we had Ohio State.

And I played pretty good. I think I had, like, ten points, like, seven rebounds. Had a solid game. Yeah. Really contributed to my team's wins. And then, you know, we found out we were playing Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Big time. Yeah.

We wanted to. Bro, we had that game, like, bro, we wanted that game so bad. Yeah, it's a different energy going into it. Yeah, it's a different type. Like, you know, a lot of times we had a real goofy team. So, like, you know what I'm saying? We would joke around all the time. But, like, that week when we were getting ready to play them, bro, it was none.

Yeah. No jokes, bro. Like, we wanted that game so bad. Yeah. And got to Kansas City and we started, you know, getting our minds right, going into the game. And you walk out in the arena and you see all the blue. You know what I'm saying, bro?

It was probably, we played in the Sprint Center. It probably fit like 22,000 people. When I tell you that 18,000 was Kentucky, 2,000 was Houston, and like 2,000 was just random people. What does that do to you? Does that be like, oh, shit, this is like an away game? away game or are you like okay that's motivation or a little bit of both um it's just you know just that our entire season we felt like we were underdogs you know even though we were doing good winning every time all the time um you know we just always kept that chip

on our shoulder so we walk into the arena see all that blue and we like welcome you up it's a road game so let's get our minds right you know what i'm saying because the noise is not going to be for us it's going to be for them every single time yeah whether it's something good or bad yeah and um i think that i think that was the best thing that could have happened to us though you know having that that um mentality because then it just really motivates you to even go out there and silence their fans yeah and so y'all came up short in that game y'all didn't lose by much it was like 58 to 64 something like that yeah it was like a four-point game yeah and um how long after that did you start thinking about uh entering for the draft um were you thinking about it during the

season no during the season i didn't try to think about anything like that because you know i don't want to have any distractions at all because I was completely just bought into my teammates. But probably I'd say like two weeks maybe after the game I was like, I think I just kind of want to test it out and see what's going on. Because, you know, they had made the rule where if you declare by a certain date you could come back. And so I just wanted to test and find out what was going on early in that process.

Yeah. So I was watching Andre Iguodala on The Breakfast Club. We were just talking about The Breakfast Club. But I was watching him on The Breakfast Club. And he was talking about when he told his coaches that he wants to enter for the draft, they told him, you know, they gave him, like, negative feedback, not because he wasn't good enough, but they told him it was because he wasn't good enough. They're like, you're not ready for that, you know, this, that, and the other.

But the whole time it's because they wanted to win a national championship and wanted to keep him on the team. Yeah. What was the coach's reaction? Was there any negative feedback? Was there anything? And not putting anybody under the bus, but be honest. No, yeah.

When I first, you know, when I first declared to go to the draft, I still had my option to come back. So, you know, all the coaches were like, yeah, you know, just, you know, give feedback because that was my initial, you know, thoughts were to go give feedback and um just see what i need to work on for next year and um you know of course you know i wanted i was gonna come back and go and try to help the team win some more games and get further in the tournament and um you know as the process went along i was getting some really good feedback from the teams

and so i was like man i might i might think about staying in it, you know what I'm saying, just to, you know, just take that risk. And, you know, when it got towards the end of the deadline, I started telling Coach, like, I think, you know, I think I'm going to keep my name in the draft. And at first he was, you know, he was really, you know, upset about it because obviously he wanted me to come back. Yeah. You know, and I told him my initial plans were to come back,

and I didn't want to come back. Yeah. You know, and I told him my initial plans were to come back. And I didn't want to betray that. Yeah. But, you know, after, you know, we just really sat down and talked about it, you know, he was encouraging about it. Yeah. And he told me that if that's what I want to do, then, you know, go be the best I could be. I'm always going to be a Cougar.

Yeah. And he texts me nonstop to this day. We always talking, me and all the coaches on the staff, just asking me how things are going, if they have any advice, sending me motivational stuff just to keep me going. Because the NBA is completely different from college. It's day and night. It's completely different.

Yeah, and we're going to get into that. Did you experience any backlash outside of your coaching stuff just randoms on twitter because yeah what what was that like what how did you feel what were people saying um when i you know i sent out my little tweet saying that i was gonna stay in the draft or whatever yeah and um a lot of the comments were really positive saying you know good luck, congratulations or whatever. But there were some people on there saying, bro, like, what the hell are you doing? You're making a dumb decision. Who the fuck do you think you are?

And I'm like, like, bro, who are you? You know what I'm saying? You're mad at me for what I want to do. Like, I get, like, you know what I'm saying? You're a Cougar fan or, you know, whatnot. And I gave Houston my everything for three years you know i'm saying so i don't feel like you should be mad about that yeah and you have the chance to you know make a lot of money yeah and change your family's life your life and i i don't

yeah i'll never understand that and i don't know if it's a selfish thing of them like i want to see u of h keep winning or it's like a thing where they because a lot of you know people from you know parents and older people say like oh go get your education finish it but if i go make hundreds of thousands hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars i can always come back and go get my degree like i'm not always gonna have the opportunity to go to the league. A lot of things can happen, bro. You know what I'm saying?

You can always come back to school. And, of course, I'm going to go back and get my degree. I only have a semester left. So I'm going to go back and get that. But I just felt like it was a great opportunity. And I'm still happy I made that decision. And whatever happens, you know, it might not be the route that I wanted to take, but, you know, that's what I had to do.

And I'm going to make the best out of every opportunity I get. Yeah, and let's go to draft night. So let's go to draft day. What was your feelings, emotions that day leading up to the night? Well, I woke up that morning and worked out because I was just – I couldn't sleep the night before. It was nonstop thinking, just uncertainty, just a lot of different emotions going on. And I woke up when it worked out, and I just tried to spend as much time around my family as possible that day

because obviously they were a big part of me making it. Of course. So the draft comes on. I got some of my friends at the house, my family there, and we just watching it, you know, whatever. I didn't really expect to get picked. Honestly, I didn't expect to get drafted. I knew I was probably going to go undrafted.

But, you know, there was a few teams that had a lot of interest in me that I thought would call my name. So, like, when their names would come up there, I'd be like, okay, this might be it. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But obviously, you know, it didn't happen. And I went undrafted, got picked up by Washington for summer league.

Yeah. And what was – how long after the draft? So, after you saw your name didn't get called, I'm sure it wasn't like, oh, like – I'm sure you're like, damn, I wish I got a call. But were you like – A little bit. Yeah. It wasn't nothing crazy like I was like

oh why didn't I get drafted you know what I'm saying but I was like I wish I would have got yeah what'd you do after that and how long after did you know Washington call you and be like well you know honestly I knew before oh okay but like there was they were like if you if you don't get drafted you're coming with us for Summer League. Oh. Pretty much. Okay, so you had that underlying blanket the whole time. You're like, okay.

So, like, I had underlying security. Yeah. But it's still just the feeling of hearing your name. Yeah, for sure. You know what I'm saying? For sure. But, yeah, so I knew before that I was going with them for Summer League. So that wasn't really, that wasn't kind of expected.

What's the Summer League experience like going out to Vegas? Vegas is a terrible place to be for two weeks, bro. Why? It's nothing but it's heat, gambling, and a bunch of temptation pretty much. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And, you know, being cooped up in a hotel for two weeks is not a great thing. But the summer league experience was cool.

Yeah, what do y'all do? Like, what do y'all do? Because I'll never experience that. The majority of people watching will never experience that. So what is that like? Bro, you literally get to Vegas, and it's just you practice once a day, maybe for two hours, because literally every team's there. So they have to – certain people use certain gyms, certain time periods.

So, like, we would practice from, like, 1 to 3 one day day and then we literally have nothing else to do from 3 to the next day I've won and um so you practice practices aren't that bad you probably scrimmage a little bit do some shooting drills go through plays Mm-hmm. They're not trying to kill you and then come game time It's literally like a almost a you game type So you show up go in the locker room probably like 30 minutes before the game Change get stretched and then you go do layup lines and hoop. And hoop. Yeah.

And, you know, summer league, there's normally so many people on a roster that some games people don't play. Yeah, I noticed that. And then certain games people play nonstop. Yeah. It's basically just a rotation just to give everyone an opportunity to perform in front of every team because um obviously if you weren't drafted by that team they don't own your rights yeah so um any other team could come and you know sign you after summer

league's over and um yeah so it's just a big opportunity for people that didn't get drafted yeah and a chance to showcase what you your abilities yeah how did you end up at at in Atlanta after summer league um after summer league was over um Washington didn't really want to you know continue with the with me and um you know this is a business so I understood it so I just came back home worked out every day for about a month. And then there was a combine in Chicago, a G League combine. Okay. And so I went and did that, and I did pretty well. Yeah.

Got some interest from Atlanta and even Golden State too, but that was – we didn't continue with that one either. Yeah. Because I was going to go out there like September 7th and have a workout with them. Okay. But me and my agent just decided to go to atlanta and so um went and did that and ever since then i've just been flying to atlanta every week to go work out with the team and yeah and just get ready yeah and armani is a superstar like ever since he got

in the league like y'all y'all can't see, but behind the camera he's got a whole posse of 15 people. He's got a publicist here. There's an agent. There's seven people. I'm sure he doesn't even know their name. It's insane. Bro, don't feed into this, bro. No, bro.

He's a superstar. He's league. But how was your first practice at Atlanta? How does it feel to say Vince Carter is your coworker? Vince Carter's been in the league longer than I've been alive. Facts. No, the first time, he really hasn't been there the entire time we've been working out. I'm sure.

He got there last week. But I saw him my first week there. He walked in the locker room and was like, hey, I'm Vince. And I was like, I kind of looked at him like, well, obviously I introduced myself. And I looked at him like, bro, you don't have to introduce yourself. Yeah, we know you. Like, Vince, if there's anyone on this roster, I know it's you. Yeah, for sure.

But, no, it's just crazy to see that, you know, my name on the same piece of paper as Vince Carter. Man, he's a legend, man. And just being able to, you know, say that I walk into the gym every day and I literally see him. Yeah. Just being able to say that I walk into the gym every day and I literally see him. Sometimes it's surreal, but he's my coworker, so I've got to try not to get starstruck by him. Sometimes I still look at him like, bro, that's Vince Carter. Bro, yeah, I would not be – I'd shit myself, bro.

I don't want to mess up in front of Vince Carter bro it's just like in any like say you go to these games and you're like I couldn't imagine like oh that's LeBron on the other bench over there and like I couldn't do that yeah you got to try not to get starstruck by it because you you're gonna see him often yeah you know what I'm saying so you just try to stay calm about it yeah yeah it sounds easy but uh I couldn't do that what's a i've talked to some players that are either playing overseas or any kind of pro basketball g league nba and they say that once you enter for the draft once you you know go overseas it's the hardest part of their basketball career is just trying to stay afloat, trying to stay signed.

What's a big misconception like the general population has about professional basketball players? Because I'm sure they see, oh, he got signed with Atlanta. Oh, he's out of there. Like, that's fun. It is fun, but, like, how hard is it? It's definitely a transition yeah you know coming from college you know i was in we were in a pretty good conference you know we had some really but going into the nba bro you're playing with the best athletes in the world yeah you know i'm

saying you waking up every day going to try to out shoot trey young one of the best shooters you know so it's just crazy to wake up and be like, bro, I've got to mentally prepare myself to go to war with these guys every day. What a lot of people don't realize probably is that it's really time-consuming. Okay. How's that? Wake up in the morning, you know, go lift weights. I'm probably at the gym from 9 to 2 every day.

Yeah. And then from two on I just go home and do what you want to do basically yeah but um you know you got to be dedicated to it you got to be dedicated bought in um and you got to be really disciplined bro yeah um you know you can't do every you can't do things that a normal human could do yeah Yeah. Like, you can't just go and cuss people out at a McDonald's because, obviously, your name's a little bit bigger. Yeah. And you have a little bit more attention on you.

Exactly. So you've got to be a lot more weary of your surroundings and who you surround yourself by. You know, the public eye views you a little different than they would view just a normal person. Yeah, for sure. So you've just got to be a lot more self-controlled and self-disciplined when you're on that platform all the time.

Yeah. And what's a practice like so far? Is it just like just regular just basketball stuff or is it like – I can't decide if like an NBA practice would be like Yeah, I'm I know it's hard. But like if you got dudes that have been there for 10 years I can't see them being like get on the baseline like, you know, I'm saying like I can't I make 30 million dollars like I'm not I'm not running. You know, I'm saying so what's that like? Um, normally we'll go in, you know know we'll have a little individual or small group

workout so it'll be maybe two of us maybe three of us in a group max for like 30 minutes and um there will be like five different groups of those and then they vary from shooting to doing concept drills um ball handling pick and roll stuff, just various things. And then going into the team concept, we'll normally either do some transition defensive drills, you know, basic stuff like three-man weave just to get loose. And then we'll go through our plays, go over our defensive principles, then do a couple of shooting drills at the team.

And most of the times at the end of practice we scrimmage okay so we'll scrimmage for about you know however many games five games and then that'll basically be it that's that's that sounds like a good practice normal day yeah like a regular practice i don't like for us regulars you know we can't imagine what an NBA you know practice would be like um moving topics to not basketball related stuff you are the owner and founder of a clothing company clothing line called uh Modern View yeah why why start that where'd that come from um I've been thinking about starting it in school but um obviously when you're in college well being an athlete you can't own yeah or you know get compensation from something that

that's on your name yeah so um i've been thinking about doing it since my sophomore year uh i just couldn't because i didn't have the time or the money to obviously invest in it so you know i just felt like this was a good opportunity and um basically the entire line is to just encourage you to be different you know i'm saying just to be you be yourself and just don't try to be you know just a stereotypical person yeah um whatever society tries to box you whatever yeah exactly so um yeah just be different be. That's the next couple of months. And hopefully when I get, you know, where I want to be at, then I can get it, you know, where I own a store.

You know, me and some of my friends are talking about starting up our own streetwear store, basically, in Austin. Okay. A shoe store. So, you know, just, in Austin. Okay. A shoe store. So, you know, just trying to take baby steps. Mm-hmm. And hopefully one day it gets to a platform big enough to where people are talking about it all the time, and I see it all the time.

Yeah. What do you do outside of basketball? What's your hobby? What's fun? I watch a lot of anime, for real. That's probably something a lot of people didn't know. Yeah. I watch anime. I like playing video games all That's probably something a lot of people didn't know. Yeah. I watch anime.

I like playing video games all the time. What video games do you play? Obviously, you know, the mainstream Call of Duty, 2K, Madden. This is where I check out of the conversation. I don't watch anime or play video games. Well, you just need to expand your horizon. Bro, okay, let me get into anime real quick, and I'm going to get killed for this, but I don't get it. Preston's laughing because he loves, well, he doesn't love, but he's a fan of anime.

But me, I don't know which one I watch. Even Dragon Ball Z, I can't do it. As a kid, I was watching it, but now I can't do it. They spend 18 episodes on a standoff, and I'm i'm like bro i'm tired of watching y'all look at each other no facts like a lot of the animes are drawn out for no reason like there'll be um episodes where it's literally just a person sitting there talking to itself for 20 minutes but why would you watch that i don't understand like it's the narrative and you know the character build up and um the storytelling and they'd be, bro, if you watch the right anime, bro, they be fighting so hard.

Like, bro, if you really sat there and watched Dragon Ball Z, not even Dragon Ball Z, like, start with Dragon Ball, which is like when Goku was a little kid before he started. You know what I'm saying? They be throwing hands, bro. I see, what is some called my hero academia macadamia nuts is that the one where they in high school and yeah they like yeah that's the one where they got um that's what they got quirks right person i didn't watch that one oh yeah i think they got

quirks um yeah i don't really watch that one that much. Right now I've been watching Hunter x Hunter. What's that? It's about the main characters' names, Goon and Kiwa. And they basically just try to become hunters, which is like a professional hunter, obviously. But it's a lot, bro. You got to watch it.

I just finished it. It's interesting, though lot bro you gotta watch you gotta watch it i just finished it no it's interesting though the character build up everything about it the storyline the plots the fights obviously yeah it's yeah i i can't do it like whenever we were growing up the only anime we watched was a show called hamtaro you know what hamtaro is i don't never heard it's a little hamster and it's it's little miscellaneous ventures as a hamster. I think it was for kids. Was it for kids? Yeah, it was Hamtaro for kids. Yeah, it was a little orange and white hamster.

Yeah, and we had the little Nintendo game of it. That was hard. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, and he had my roommate in my second year of college. He animated 24-7, bro. Like, all day. And I was like... There's definitely been days, like, when I don't have anything to do,

and I would literally sit in my bed and watch it the entire day. Yeah. Like, I wouldn't move. Nah, I'm good. Yep. I might try... What was that called? Hunter x Hunter?

Hunter x Hunter, yeah. My Hero Macadamia Nuts? This guy. What's wrong with this dude? Let's round this off with a little segment I like to call phone topics. Phone topics. Where I screenshot stuff I saw on Twitter. This

pertains to you. The NBA G League will experiment a new free throw rule with the one free throw counts for all the points this season. So like, you get fouled on a layup, you shoot one free throw, for all the points this season so like you get fouled on a layup you shoot one free throw counts as two points you get fouled on a three make the free throw you get three points that's the stupidest thing i've ever heard what do you how do you feel about that um i was actually on my way to the airport when i heard that the rule was

being implemented and i was like bro what like to me it didn't make any sense at all. But they're really just trying to limit, they're trying to cut down the game times, basically, to get them under two hours. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's, you know, I don't know how I feel about it. Yeah, he's got to be politically correct because that's his employer. So he's got to be, yeah, he can't. I don't know how I feel about it. I mean, I guess if you're a good free throw shooter then it doesn't really matter because like then you just go shoot one shot and you get all three of the points or yeah two of the points i can already see so many

problems with this though there's people flopping on three pointers already if you you know how many times i will flop and flail on a three-point shot if I know I'm going to line to shoot a higher percentage shot which will count for three points that's insane yeah and then it could be on the bad end too like if you know hack a shack type stuff exactly so like a person could be 50 percent free throw shooter for instance but you know that means that he's only making one out of every two so if you foul him chances are he gonna miss this free throw yeah and if you keep fouling him I mean he'll eventually make one you make one but I'm saying but i don't know i don't know how i feel about it but i don't even think they believe in their rule because they the rule is like in the last two minutes it's normal yeah um like you know i want you to commit to the rule if you're

gonna have the rule commit to the rule the whole game yeah i don't know we'll see how it works though yeah yeah good politically correct answer. You're media trained? You have to go through media training? No. You haven't yet? No. But your teammate, Trey Young, tweeted.

Have you seen the video with Devin Booker getting mad about the double team? Yeah. So he tweeted, Devin Booker speaking facts. There should be no double teaming in pickup. When you're trying to work on your game and work on the moves and things you do individually in pickup, it's annoying getting double teamed in that type of setting. Just saying.

Hashtag only a few understand. How do you feel about being double teamed in pickup? I've always been an advocate of why would you even do that? You know what I'm saying? If a person is, if I go to the local rec and I get to cooking somebody, he should not just switch the matchup. Okay. Like, you don't, hey, go double team him.

No, I think that's whack. What I'm saying is, like, the gyms, open gyms is basically just to come hoop. Yeah. And obviously, you know, being a basketball player, you aren't going to do the normal things that you would do in a normal basketball setting so you're gonna work on stuff that you feel like you need to work on you know and drills because a lot of times drills don't carry over so you have to have a like a transitional period to where you can work on that to get it to carry over to an actual game and

that's what those open gyms are for yeah and. And if someone double teams it, it's kind of like, bro, what are you doing? Like, if a person comes and double teams me, I'm like, bro, like I really will go home. If they're double teaming, I will just leave. I'm like, bro, I'm not about to sit here and play with y'all double teaming. Yeah. And they'll be like, bro, you're a professional basketball player. I'm like, bro, you're grown.

If you cannot guard me, switch the matchup, bro. Let me be double's advocate for a second. There's a point system at these pickup games, correct? Yeah. Your objective in the pickup game, the actual game, not individually, the pickup game is to win. If man over here is getting 40 balled from half court, yeah, I'm here to win. We're double teaming i'm just saying i can see where it's plausible i can see where it's coming from and if we're

working on game time situations you get double teamed in a game work on the double team bro but a lot of people a lot of teams aren't going double team like how many times have you just seen steph curry get double team that's well i mean that's a different situation you got but still you know i'm saying okay well let's pick like james art okay how many times have you just seen somebody just run and double team that's true i mean because they're not gonna do it yeah you know i'm saying like i just i mean if you, if you don't feel like you can guard that person, just switch. Or if you're not good enough to be at that pickup session, just leave. Damn.

I mean, it's just the truth. Like, if you feel like the pickup session is outside of your skill level, don't play. That's facts. You don't need someone to be like, oh, I got your back, bro. Yeah, I'm going to come double team on you. No. Either you can guard them or you can't. And you sit out or wait until the next game, wait until they lose.

I don't know, do something. But you not – don't double team, bro. I like when he gets in his NBA player bag, that I'm nice bag. Bro, don't double team me, bro. Press, what time are we at? I believe that's in the – we're about to cross 46 minutes. 46 minutes. Yeah, we can go ahead and wrap it up.

Armani, bro. Appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you, bro. I appreciate you, dog. Appreciate you having me. This is big time. The first podcast, I've been working on this for a long time, bro. All this is by me. You saw us setting up.

Yeah. Yeah, it's all us. But, you know, we got a vision in mind, and we just hope it works out. And I appreciate you being the beginning of this vision. Talk to the camera and tell them where they can find you on social media. On Instagram, it's at Sniper Brooks, S-N-I-P-A Brooks. And my Twitter got hacked, so I had to make a new one. So it's not just Sniper Brooks.

It's Sniper Brooks underscore the N. So that's my Twitter and, yeah, Instagram and Twitter. Okay, and Modern View Clothing, where can they buy that? Modern View Clothing, we have our Instagram page and our Twitter page and Facebook. I don't know how many people are using Facebook, but, you know, that's big. Yeah. Modern View, modernvueclothing.com, and go get your merch. Yeah, and you can follow me on Instagram at PSH8 and on Twitter at ThePSH8.

Armani, post this so I can get some damn followers. I got you. I'm like, damn, every time I let you get more followers, I'm over here. I can't even pass 1,000, but we're working on it. This guy. You know what I'm saying? You Should Know Podcast, first episode done. Armani Brooks, Atlanta Hogs, bro, thank you.

No problem. Thank you. Glad to be here. See you next time good work facts