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August 12, 2024 72 mins

Chris Haynes and Marc Stein bring you a new #thisleague UNCUT following the United States men’s basketball team’s gold-medal triumph despite a major challenge from Victor Wembanyama and France. They also welcome in eight-year NBA veteran Quincy Pondexter to provide a first-hand scouting report on Haynes’s performance in a Fresno Pro-Am game … and are treated to a surprising story about Paul George ending up in Philadelphia.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The United States men's national team has won its fifth
consecutive gold medal. Chris Haynes and I we're gonna react
to everything we saw, and then we're gonna take it
all the way from Paris to Fresno, California, where the
aforementioned Chris Haynes. He wound up in a clip guarding

(00:21):
Paul George playing in a pro am game. How on
earth did this happen? We've got a special guest to
help us break that down on this edition of This
League Uncut. Welcome to this League Uncut in the rule
of twenty four hour NBA News. This's you, Lou.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Chris Haynes. It's time, works time, it's so time. This
League Uncut is underway in on fire.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
This should be a good one. Welcome in everyone to
an August edition a mid August edition of This League Uncut.
The Olympics are at last complete, which means, in truth,

(01:14):
our summer suffering has begun. We now have a very
long runway, six long, steamy weeks ahead of us until
NBA training camps open at the end of September. The
good news, though, we probably just were treated to. I mean,

(01:37):
if there's been a better week of August basketball than
what we just saw. I gotta be honest, I'm not
sure I remember it. Tuesday's quarterfinals, Thursday semifinals, the gold
medal game Saturday, just incredible basketball. And look, I know

(01:58):
on this edition of this League you were going to
want to hear from Chris Haynes directly about his experience
this weekend. I'm sure you've seen some of the footage
on social media Chris Haynes playing in a pro am
game in Fresno and more than holding his own, we
are gonna get to We're gonna get to more coverage

(02:21):
of that than you could ever dream of on this
edition of This League Uncut. But producer Ryan Music and
I we insisted to Chris Haynes before we actually turn
the microphones on tonight and we're recording this Sunday night
for a Monday AM drop of this edition of this

(02:42):
League Uncut, we insisted that we were going to talk
about the Olympics first, much to Chris haynes chagrin, But
like I said, the Men's Olympic Basketball Tournament quarterfinal, semifinals, final,
it was that good, and I think we're gonna be
talking about it for a long time Haynes. I know
you were dialed in watching it before you got on

(03:03):
the court Saturday night in Fresno. I mean that, I
mean the semi finals. People are saying game of the Ages,
and even in the finals it took a ridiculous Steph
Curry flurry four threes inside the final three minutes to
seal the United States win over France in France. Just

(03:26):
tell me instant reactions, what were the gut reactions when
you watch the United States win that gold medal?

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Well, first of all, since you put my game on
the back burner, when we eventually get to that, I'm
gonna add a little bit more Fresnel ties. I'm bringing
on Quincy Pondexter on the show. I'm gonna have him
call in and join us. He's the guy who put
the whole game together. But we'll deal with that later.
So now you gotta deal with two Fresno guys later

(03:54):
in this podcast. Now, as far as this Olympic goes,
incredible game, great basketball.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
Steph came through with Steph.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
You know he was he he did what he what
he does in Golden State. One of the clutchest players
we have in this league. He did that hit some
amazing earthly shots. The arch he puts on that ball
to get it up, the flick of the wrists. You know,

(04:25):
it's a shot we've never seen from anybody else before.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, the fourth was a bad shot for anybody except him.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Of course, he's the only one that can pull that off.
And then Lebron James just was steady the whole way
the MVP. I mean, who would again? I said, I
said this time and time to get on the show.
When I went to cover Lebron in two thousand and fourteen,
I thought I was going to be covering Lebron on

(04:53):
the downhill.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
That's what I thought.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
In twenty and fourteen, when I went to go cover
the as a beat rider, I thought I was going
to cover the downhill of Lebron because obviously, after a
decade or so, that's when players drop. We're in twenty
twenty four that was ten years ago, and this guy
is doing this lee before stime, before the Olympics started.

(05:18):
You know who I thought was gonna lead this team?

Speaker 4 (05:22):
It's scoring. I should say, who do you did? I did?
I say that over here? Who do you think?

Speaker 1 (05:26):
I I'm gonna guess and I don't remember who you said.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yes, I thought this was Ant's team. I thought this
was Ant's team. Not to say it's not going to
be his team four years from now, but I thought
it was going to be his team this year. And
it was the old heads that led the way. Lebron James,
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Devin Booker was a great two
way player throughout, you know, had great contributes with Drew Holliday,

(05:54):
Derek White, like this was this was a really tough field,
really tough and they took care of business, had a
few scares here and there, but overall one of the
greatest basketball teams.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
As symbols, Well, I gotta be honest, I mean the semifinals,
just both semifinals, Yeah, both yep. Caught me off guard
because I really Germany sold me that they were the
second best team in this tournament, especially with how well
they played against France in group play. But in France,

(06:32):
France was in group play. France was the disappointment of
these Olympics. They should have lost to Japan. They were
bailed out by some let's just say favorable whistles certainly
had a hand in that escape against the Japanese who
you know, ruy Hatchemura fouling out, Japan's only NBA player

(06:54):
fouls out in very dubious circumstances. Germany shredded France when
they met in group play, but France against Canada in
the quarterfinals, that one game turned everything around, and then
the French were really good in the rematch against Germany
to win that semifinal. I had Germany winning that game.

(07:15):
That was a huge statement for France to win that
semifinal get the chance to play the United States on
their home court. But Serbia. The United States had beaten
Serbia twice previously, and the way Serbia shot the ball
man first three quarters, yeah, I mean, seventeen point lead,
US comes back, Serbia builds the lead back up again.

(07:38):
I mean the United States was on the brink of
just I mean, imagine the venom and the negativity that
would have greeted Steve Kerr and that whole team if
they lose in the semifinals to Serbia after beating them
twice once in an exhibition another time in group play.

(08:01):
I mean, the United States would have been crushed everyone
on that team. It just would have been a failure
that they would have heard about for their whole careers.
But the United States finds a way to escape Steph
Curry thirty six points in that one, and then the finals,
Steph does it again. Ridiculous. Steph only scored twenty nine

(08:23):
points in the first four Olympic Games, shot five for
twenty from deep. The last two games Serbia and France,
Steph shoots seventeen for twenty six from three, score sixty points.
I know Lebron got the MVP, and I understand it,
but Stephan Curry had a strong case himself, and just

(08:47):
I can only imagine how much this means to Steph Curry.
And he's been open about it that even he said
even he saw it as really the only thing missing
from his resume. And he didn't just win a gold medal.
I mean, the United States does not win that gold
medal unless Stephen Curry has a massive role in those

(09:10):
last two games.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
And as it pertains the MVP, Lebron just had a
more consistent turnout from start to finish. But Steph. He
revealed a little joke at Edwards. Anthony Edwards said, you know,
Steph just arrived in Paris a few days ago talking

(09:33):
about this is outbursta of the last few games. But no,
I mean Steph, it was ridiculous. And again for guys,
for Hall of Fame caliber players like that, you know,
accolades matter, you know, when you're.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
Talking about MVPs, all NBA teams.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
All Stars, and if you could add an Olympic medal,
that's even a little bit more harder because now you're
talking about twelve guys opposed to All Star teams, whereas
you know it's twenty four guys, twelve on each team,
so it's a little bit harder to crack that twelve. Obviously,

(10:09):
Steph is one of those guys, and you have to
be healthy when the Olympics come around. So this was
a huge accomplishment for Steph. Team USA Steve Kerr. There
was a lot of controversy in this short time frame
as far as how Steve Kerr and the coaching staff
handled Joel and Bid, Jason Tatum and Tatum for the

(10:33):
most part, So I mean, there are people who argue
that they could have did all this with Tatum. There
are those who would argued, you have to have a rotation,
you gotta play about seven or eight guys, So you know,
I don't know you got that, but at the end

(10:53):
of the day, Team USA, they would have been ridiculed
vitally if they did not come away with the gold medal.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
So mission accomplished in that way.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
And the thing I think it for us from the outside,
like we've been so lucky this summer because you know,
July obviously free agency, Summer League, that keeps us occupied
for the first two three weeks of July. But you know,
we've had this two plus week run of just tremendous

(11:25):
basketball the Olympics. You know, again this week, especially this
past week, quarterfinals, semis and finals just really just really delivered.
But now we've got no, we're in trouble now. I
mean it's again, we got six weeks to get through.

(11:49):
For hoopeeds and people who are truly obsessed with the NBA.
I mean, if you are an NBA obsessive, you got
a long wait now until training camp starts. Because remember
last summer, we had Damian Lillard asking out of Portland,
we had James Harden asking out a Philly. There was

(12:10):
at least the prospect of a Pascal Siakam trade. It
didn't happen until during the season, but there was at
least that chance that mystery. But now that Lowry Markenen
has done his extension in Utah, I guess we could
still see a brand in Ingram trade. But the truth
is there just hasn't been anything close to a trade

(12:31):
market to materialize for Ingram. Again, maybe that changes. I
guess anything is possible, but the signals to this point
haven't been too promising. So you're gonna have to get
through these next five six weeks until camp ramps up,
and you're gonna have to look elsewhere for your NBA
fix or just try to grit through it.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
But stun I think you know, yes, Okay, no NBA
basketball coming up soon, that's fine, But you know what
everyone can do. They can think about what is Team
USA going to do in four years when they don't
have Lebron, when they don't have Kevin Durant, when they
don't have Stephen Curry.

Speaker 4 (13:10):
But then again, shoot, maybe they will.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
Maybe Lebron will be playing at forty four years old.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
He's not gonna be bad.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
Ste I don't know, I play it now.

Speaker 1 (13:23):
I mean, well, Lebron would be forty three in twenty
twenty eight. I know the Olympics are in LA. But
even he has come out and said, don't look for
him to be back in twenty twenty eight. Durant and Steph,
they're always going to be able to shoot the ball
if they really wanted to play in twenty twenty eight.
Something tells me that spots would be found to bring

(13:47):
them on the team. But look, even if those guys,
even if those three are not there, I ain't buying
the talk just yet that the United States would not
be the favorite. You no, I mean, look France, after
a dreadful start in group play, they ended up putting

(14:08):
together an incredible run to go all the way to
the final at home and give the United States everything
they could handle. And look, I think the best news
for Frances. You know, Victor wen Minyama, if a criticism
were to be leveled, and this is nothing he really

(14:28):
had control over. But the reality is in San Antonio,
it's not like he played a lot of high stakes
basketball as a rookie. The Spurs didn't have any high
stakes games. I mean they were just you know, the
team around him was nowhere near ready to compete last season.
So the semi finals against Germany, the gold medal game

(14:49):
against the United States. These really were the most high
stakes games that we've seen Wemby playing to this point,
and in the gold medal game, I mean, he was
tremendous twenty six and seven and just lived up to
the moment. So I mean, if I'm the Spurs, and
obviously now Nicola Batoum, your guy says that his national

(15:13):
team career is over. But obviously France has a lot
of talent coming up through their youth ranks and they
just had the top two picks in the draft and
Nolan Treire, the young guard. They say he's going to
be a difference maker. So France because of Wemby, you
figure they're only going to get stronger.

Speaker 4 (15:33):
But yes, that's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
You know, you don't really think that the United States
is not going to be favored to win it all
on home soil in.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
Twenty twenty eight. It don't matter where is that.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
It can be in Staples, it can be you pick
pick any venue in the United States.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
The venue doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (15:51):
It's the talent. And what I'm saying is there's cause
for concern. There's calls. There's never been you team led by.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
Three guys of this age. We did not expect this.
I expected that Edwards, I expected Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum
was one of one of.

Speaker 3 (16:11):
The main players, primary players that Grant Hill wanted to
get a commitment from, and we've seen with his role
Joel Embii, they really went after him. This is like
this was like probably the biggest, most well documented recruiting
session like tenure we've ever had of a player.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
That was just as much to keep him away from
France as it was to have him on the team.
I mean, Devin Booker, Aunt, Edwards, Jason Tatum, how good
are they all going to be in four years? They're
going to be very good players.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Stein history shows that you're in your prime in your
twenty three to twenty nine range. Again, I'm not saying
that they won't be the favors, but yes, there's cause
for concern because I do believe four years from now
Winby will be the best player in the NBA. And

(17:10):
Nicholas Petuna has been telling us we got to bring
Nick on another time and he can give us the
full details.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
And yeah, I would love to do that.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
On that that on on on the pipeline.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I mean, he had a great line. The other day.
They asked him after the the loss of the United States,
like how crushing is this or how disappointing is this,
or did you expect the team to play better? And
he said, did you see us last week? I mean
that they were a mess. They lost four exhibition games
coming into the Olympics and then we're only two and

(17:43):
one in group play. The way they turn that thing
around was remarkable, and I agree they're got You know,
Wenby is only going to keep getting better. They're gonna
be a force, and some of the other teams are
only going to get stronger. Serbia is still going to
be in the mix. If Jokic plays Luke Doncic and Slovenia,
they will be back on the Olympic stage. They didn't

(18:03):
qualify this time, but I'm sure Luca will get his
country back in the Olympics. But the United States is
going to have plenty of options to fill out a
twelve man roster in four years, even if they can't
bring Lebron, Durant and Curry back.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
Yeah, well, we shall see. I'm not so confident.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
I do believe we'll probably have some players that we're
not that's not even on our radar. That will be
a focal point of the team in four years. But
as of right now, you don't see teams fielding players
that are thirty six and over being the main players.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
What do you think of that sale a dunk on Lebron?

Speaker 4 (18:52):
No, that was ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
That was Sue. That's that was ridiculous. I mean, I see,
I've seen the dunkle. I'll see it. I see somebody
trying to attempt a dunk like that on me in
this pro am game. I played it yesterday, Star and
you know what I did. I retreat it. That's that's
what you gotta do. You have to make a business decision. So,
but that type of stuff happened. But No, that was

(19:16):
that was that was crazy for sure.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Well look, you know how much I love my international hoops.
So I have really enjoyed this last month plus since
Team USA got together for training camp in Vegas right
after July fourth. And we'll have more opportunities down the
road to keep talking about it because I know, deep down,

(19:40):
I know in your heart, I know what you really
want us to be discussing. I know that our loyal
listeners probably saw the Twitter footage from Saturday Night of
Chris Haynes somehow and up checking Paul George in a

(20:03):
gym in Fresno, California. Somebody posted footage of you hitting
a three pointer and tag me in it, So of
course that's how it ended up on my phone. So
let's just let's just producer Ryan. Let's just get to
the topic that that Chris Haynes wanted to.

Speaker 4 (20:25):
All right, let's get to the biggest.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
The biggest basketball game on Saturday was held in Fresno, California.

Speaker 4 (20:34):
Stah, I'm gonna say that again.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
The biggest basketball game yesterday in America, in America.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
Was held in Fresno, California.

Speaker 1 (20:44):
Okay, you might be right on that one. Maybe you
can get away with that last statement. And so we're
going to We're going to bring in some help now
to help us break down, review and properly cover what
actually happened in Fresno, California. We move on to the

(21:10):
other prime topic of this edition of this League Uncut.
If it was up to Chris Haynes, this would have
been the lead topic of this edition of this League Uncut,
and we probably wouldn't have even have spoken about the Olympics.
I insisted that you know, we probably should spend a

(21:32):
little bit of time on the United States men winning
their fifth straight gold medal. But the other big basketball
game Saturday was contested in Fresno, California, and according to
some video that has surfaced online, our own Chris Haynes

(21:52):
actually played in this game that featured several current and
former NBA players. Now, Producer Ryan and I are too
smart to just let Chris Haynes give us his unfiltered,
unchecked recap of the game. So we are grateful now

(22:14):
and honored now to bring in the organizer of the
game himself, a former NBA player, and most importantly, someone
who can give us a completely unbiased scouting report and
skill review of the Chris Haynes performance. And of course

(22:35):
I am speaking of the one and only Quincy Pondexter.
Mister pond Dexter, it is great to have you on
the show to bring to bring some real to bring
some some some credible, incredible report because the only tweets
I've seen were from Chris Haynes' brother. So, like you know,

(22:56):
I mean, I we we we need, we need to
let's just get right to it. I've done enough I've
done enough setting this up. Tell us please how the
event went, and yes, please tell us how our man
fared out there.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Uh uh uh.

Speaker 5 (23:12):
First of all, let me let me say we're playing
to win. When you're playing to win, you got and
get the best. So let's go get Chris Hanes.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
I have to go get him, hold on to I
gotta call let him, let the man speak already, he's
already a couple of effect news.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
I gotta call b s already because I didn't play
until the fourth quarter were the game was already wrapped up.

Speaker 1 (23:39):
That's what he said. We're here to win.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
There you go.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
Sometimes you gotta play your role. Jason Tatum didn't get
the mens he wants to get. We're playing to win.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Tell us tell us more first about the event itself
before we get to the Chris Haynes cameo on the
fourth quarter. What what was the impetus for this event?
And obviously Paul George played and you had some other
Jalen Green played as well. Is that right?

Speaker 5 (24:13):
Uh? Paul and Jalen didn't play, you know, uh for
for a couple of reasons.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
I knew about Paul maybe not playing a couple of
days before. But uh then when it got to it,
it was a shoe issue. He didn't he didn't have
the the gear and that's needed to play. But you know,
he wants to play, and next year he's gonna play
for sure, and I'm very excited about that. But Jalen

(24:43):
Green had know some other issues that that came about,
and so they didn't play. But we also we had
a lot of great players that came out there and played,
Isaiah Thomas, Chimezi Matsu, Orlando Robinson, Rudy.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Kay, Keane Martin, Keen.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
Martin Junior, you know, Mark Bailey, like you know, we
had so many players that came out there and were
Hooper sharing me. Pargo is one of the best hoopers,
like pure hoopers in the world right now. So you know,
I'm just glad those guys came out and supported and
the event started off as you know something last year
where it's it's a program game, but I decided to

(25:22):
do a program game and a give back and so
to be able to give back to my community, to
my city, Forresn, California, which I love so dearly, and
then mix it with what I love is basketball. So
they're getting free gear and free backpacks, free everything, and
then you're leaving with a free basketball game. So you know,
just again, I always say, I'm just so honored to

(25:44):
be in the position to help enrich my community and
just just glad that I got so much love and
support and hopefully continue to build that thing out to
where for years to come, you know, it's going to
keep getting bigger and bigger.

Speaker 4 (25:59):
Hue talk about the turn out.

Speaker 5 (26:00):
Man, man there, man people had been I'm always a
nervous one. I always like joke around like man or
five hundred people in come, like you know, and so
by you know, eight nine nine in the morning, and
I think people started to camp out, like five am
I heard, but there was a line at nine am

(26:22):
around the corner, and you know, it was there's we
had to turn away some people. It was about five
thousand people in the gym that you know probably only
hosts four thousand, but you know, it was like again,
it was unbelievable. You know, I don't even think pictures
and videos do it justice, but when you're in there,
in that in that vironmy, in that building, it is
just such a different feeling.

Speaker 4 (26:45):
And I would say, you know, Paul George and Jalen
Green A J. Johnson.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
They did not play, but they were there. You know,
they were there interacting with fans and everything. So they
still showed up and came and stile. I don't know
if you mean this.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Is this is the who's who a friends no basketball
really and so for all the jokes that we that
producer Ryan and I want to lob at mister Haynes,
I mean, the truth is he is among the who's
who of Fresno basketball, and so he had to be there.

Speaker 5 (27:16):
I had to get some run. Absolutely. He was my
first secure rush spot. You know, you know, I hate
Chris up. I was like, yo, hey, I need you
for this, Like he knew, he knew everything before I
did it.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
And uh again, you you really weren't worried about getting
his yes, though, were you? I mean, I you know, I.

Speaker 5 (27:40):
I was like, who who am I I'm just I'm
just a retired old dude. Now, like this is Chris
Hanes that's on TV every week. He has a huge following.
Of course he's you know, one of the greatest ever
uh from Fresno, California. Now because you know, but you know,
he's a broadcasting he's become broadcasting legend. You can't hate

(28:02):
on it now.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
He is, and he knows, he's just we're just giving
him a hard time. He knows we love to talk
about his basketball ex.

Speaker 5 (28:12):
But let's let's not get his body is short today.
He's say, yes, that's fine, he's doing his body is
tore today.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
I'm I'm okay to admit that I have no qualms
about that whatsoever. You know, nice bath with some EPs
and salt this morning. I mean last night, I should
say I'm good, but I expect that, but it was
it was a great sign.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
I don't know if you saw, you know I play.
You know, I was guarding Paul George.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
I don't know if he saw the sequels I've seen.
I've seen every clip. H.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
I had to let him know. I don't know if
you've seen it, Q.

Speaker 3 (28:52):
But in the layup dress because again I didn't know
what legs I was going because I knew I was
gonna play late in the game, but I didn't know
what legs I was want to have late in the game,
so I said, let me try my legs out.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
During warm ups. Did you see anything any of this
stuff I was doing, doing warm ups. Q.

Speaker 5 (29:08):
You know what, I think you're overqualified to be a broadcaster,
to to do your child. That's why he was above
the rim. It was hanging on that thing. It was unbelievable.
Who else is doing that? Now you're right, you're doing
that from the sidelines. No one, right there, no one.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
There are very few scribes who can dunk a basketball.

Speaker 5 (29:33):
Here're those guys anymore? Unless you could put the ball
in the basket. I don't want to hear you no more.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Look with your starter start. This is why being Q
get along. You're here to see his producer Rise.

Speaker 5 (29:45):
Was hanging on that rim, hanging.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
On One thing I will say, is we gottadmit. We
gotta acknowledge this as well. Q is going to be
a future head coach in college pretty soon. Might may
even be an NBA at some point. But right now
he's an assistant coach at USC. He just took that job.

Speaker 4 (30:07):
Before that. How many years were you assisting at Washington? Q?

Speaker 5 (30:11):
Three?

Speaker 4 (30:11):
Three years? At Washington is alma mater.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
And so one day he's going to you know, Fresle,
You know, one day Fresno State is going to call
one day.

Speaker 5 (30:20):
Oh no, don't.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
He's been through. He's been through. He's been through.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
So you were working with Orange County legend Mike Hopkins
at one.

Speaker 5 (30:29):
Point, I was working with the legend Mike Hopkins, which
one of the best people I've ever come across. And
I love Coach Hope to death. He gave me my
first opportunity and it was weird, man like I I
did it back. I Chris might tell you I can
still play a little bit of basketball, And even then

(30:50):
when I took the job, I could really play basketball.
I could still be a rotational guy and help a
team win. I was at a point, you know, during
COVID there was there weren't many phone calls that were
you know, happening, and you know, I didn't know what
my my NBA, my NBA playing career was going to
be like. And so I just I just wanted to

(31:12):
go through an interview process because I knew I was
going to coach eventually. And I started going through that
with Coach Hopkins, and it was it was like four
to six weeks. It was a long time, and he
offered me the job, and I remember sitting there, I
was just like, Okay, I have to retire from basketball now.
Like they just didn't. I didn't know what was going

(31:33):
on in my head. So I was like, wow, I
have to I have to retire from basketball now. So
he gave me opportunity to start my coaching career. I knew,
I know, my coaching career is gonna be a lot
better than my playing career. But he gave me my
first opportunity, and I just I'm forever grateful for that.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
I mean, he's a big name from my neighborhood. We
were in high school together.

Speaker 4 (32:00):
To day day.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Yeah, he was he I mean he was. He was
the man at modern day. That's correct my good knowledge.

Speaker 5 (32:10):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
So did you play last night as well or because
you were running this whole thing, did you know?

Speaker 4 (32:15):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
I played a little bit. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
He was killing I might need it.

Speaker 5 (32:19):
For MVP last night.

Speaker 4 (32:21):
He was killing, man. I don't know. They didn't give it.
They didn't give an MVP or correct.

Speaker 5 (32:26):
If they did, I might have been up.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
You would you would have got it.

Speaker 3 (32:29):
He would have got you know from you know, from
the first couple of minutes, what players are out there
trying to really do this and win. Q said, he
put this team together and he had to set the
tone for the game. Once we saw how Q was
coming out attacking, we knew, Okay, that's what I knew
first of all, the way he came out of attacking,

(32:49):
that's what I knew. I'm playing late in the game
because I'm like, these brothers are serious. They trying to
win a set tone.

Speaker 1 (32:58):
I got.

Speaker 5 (32:59):
I got, I got lucky and got hot from three
and you know, maybe maybe that's why I do in
my life. But uh, I got lucky, man, and the
balls start going in, and uh, you know, man, I
just I prayed hard all week. Man, I've been working
out for like only six weeks, really hard, like myself
like an NBA player, and uh, I really dedicated, like

(33:21):
to fill in that type of shape, like let's see
what this feels like again to be an NBA player.
And so I really dedicated six weeks of my life
to it. And you know, it felt good to go
out there and play and compete and have fun. Man
Like when you when you don't play and you're retired,
you don't have that moment that feeling too much, and
so when you when you're able to recreate that moment,

(33:44):
it means the world to you and so to go
out there and like feel the environment, feel the crowd,
feel the feel everything. Like I just want to be
in the moment and as much as possible. And man again,
I'm I'm just man, I'm happy it all came how
to be just how my dreams are.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
It was Chris Haynes on your team.

Speaker 5 (34:06):
Absolutely, I told you I recruited the best team.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
And in the fourth quarter he I saw one clip
of him dropping a three. That was the only in
game action I saw. Okay, he was alright during the game.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
I T.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
I T dimed you out for that, right.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
I T he was looking for so, I T. But
I'm taking all behind the scenes. I T was trying
to probe the coach. Hey, listen, get Christener, get Christ's second, second,
third quarter, and I'm like, the game is like going
back and forth, like we we didn't have much separation
at that perio, and so I didn't feel coughing. I'm like, man,
this youngsters, man, they run it like and then I

(34:45):
come in there just all tight and oh, I'm like, no,
I said, get some separations. So when we finally started
the fourth quarter, they say, all right, you getting in
and then I.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
T was in there with me, and Q was in
there as well. I believe, Yeah, I was, I was
I T. I knew he was gonna try to force Phoebe.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
I knew it, and I was like, I gotta be
ready and would my defender left me open for the three.

Speaker 4 (35:07):
I didn't want to shoot a three the first first
first shot.

Speaker 5 (35:11):
It was like a movie. It was like, you know
how that happens, and like he gets the opportunity. It's like,
I just want to see Shaq and Chuck and everybody
talk about this, Like, honestly, I want to fast forward
to the season so we get this is not the
Filipino League anymore. We get the actual footage of NBA
players playing, and he gets to show, you know, knocking

(35:33):
down the corner three defending loose but like he was
hooping out there. He was actually hooping, Like he got
a couple of close finishes at the rim, like he
had a lob attempt that he was gonna dunk. What
happened there down with it? He came down with it.

Speaker 4 (35:49):
I came down I feel I wasn't feeling it.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
He he checked his engine light like halfway through.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
I'm gonna tell you why I was.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
I'm gonna tell you, I play at the Big Three
Celebrity uh game, like two or three years ago, right, Q.
For most of the game, I was a lead scorer.
I was killing. I had Nelly was guarding me. You know,
I was killing Kelly. But Q the last thirty seconds
of the game, and again, I know everybody think the

(36:22):
Big Three is half it's a half court game. Yeah,
it's half court, but it's not the half court you're
used to playing.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
This is an NBA.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, NBA full court. As soon as you score, they
hurt up and check it. So I'm tired. And so
the last three seconds Q of me killing the whole game,
I missed three consecutive layups, like in a row. Yeah, Q,
that's that. They saw that. The whole world saw that,
because that's the clip.

Speaker 5 (36:50):
That was in your head when you went up for
that LIB.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
But I can't exactly exactly. I'm like, hold on, I
haven't hit my first three field goals. First of all,
I was three for three, styned. I ended the game
three for three.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
I'm like, I'm not trying this right now, because ball
is life. They was in the building as well yesterday,
and they're the ones, and they're the ones that put
that out on me.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
On the Big Three, who drew the law? You remember who.

Speaker 5 (37:16):
Threw the lib qu I don't remember.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
Okay, who who? No, it wasn't Pargo, It wasn't.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
Pargo was a constant. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (37:28):
But I guess what what Quincy is really saying here
is that you did us proud. You did this league, uncut,
very proud.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
Last night. I told you I was, I was gonna
be ready once.

Speaker 5 (37:39):
You know, he should be commended for what he did
last He should be commended for what he did last night.
I'm not it's my guy. I'm not gonna hype him
up too much, but he should be commended for what
he did last night. Man, it was. It was unbelievable.
It was epic and uh again.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
That was an epic night. Man.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
Hey, Q, I appreciate you for bringing me on man
that I seen. You know, that's my city, that's your city,
and to play amongst my family, A lot of familiar
faces people I went to high school with my Stein,
my English teacher at Edison High School, miss a Coon,
excuse me, my science teacher. When I was a sophomore
in high school, she came out there, came to see me,

(38:21):
I came to pit. So Man, that was a special
moment for me. Man, So I appreciate you you're giving
me that opportunity. Man, that was really cool.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
Man.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
Man, every two seconds, Man, I'm just so happy. Man.
I have not been this happy in such a long time. Man.
You know, for things like that, that story about your
your teacher and stuff like. That's why we're doing this,
Like that's why we're bringing f Usne together and for
these opportunities, man, And you know, life is too short,

(38:52):
life's too precious, and you got to get back to
your community and for us to all come together and
to see so many familiar faces that we haven't seen
in a while, and just the atmosphere that we were in,
like it was unreal. And I know, I I know
we're talking about it. Like you know, you guys have
probably like seen so many other games, but like that,

(39:15):
that was probably one of the best games and best
days I've ever had in my life as far as basketball,
you know, and I played at every level. But because
it's my community and so you know, you guys might
see the other NBA finals and all these other things,
all like that was my you know, that was one
of our pinnacles, Like that was one of the coolest
things that we've ever seen. And you know, I can't

(39:37):
wait to build it next year. And you know, we
get to talk trash for a whole year because we
got to win. But I can't wait to see what
it turns out to be next year and going forward.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Stein I said, I tweeted it at some point that
this was the biggest game, biggest hype game in Fresnel
history since Michael Jordan used to come to the Rod
Higgins Tyron Bradley camp in the early nineties. We haven't
experienced anything like this and it but it was two

(40:08):
o nine back then. Yes, you're correct. This this this
was bigger because it was a large collection of talent.
You know, even though Paul George, Jalen Green and A. J.
Johnson didn't play, they were there, they were present. President's
never seen anything like that. That atmosphere, like Stein it
was standing in the room, only it was hot.

Speaker 4 (40:27):
It was like a real.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
I'm never like, I've never experienced like the closest Drewlie.
But that atmosphere didn't compare Drewlie, did compare to this like.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
We defeat the Due.

Speaker 4 (40:42):
Yeah, the atmosphere wise, like just you know, I wasn't
I wasn't there at the Drew League when Lebron went
and played.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Maybe maybe it would have been similar, but I'm just
telling you man. Like and it's another thing too, that's
l a those fans are used to seeing.

Speaker 4 (40:57):
That type of talent.

Speaker 3 (40:58):
Like it's a different app musphere when you got a
whole bunch of starving fans who they don't get to
see these type of caliber players on on a on
a on a routine basis.

Speaker 4 (41:10):
So it was just different style. Like it was really
really a special moment. Man. You know how Fresnel.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
You know, I love my city, but you if you're
not from Fresne, will have any times of Fresne. It's
hard to get cats to come to your city.

Speaker 5 (41:24):
Anywore Yeah, you know, you know it's it's hard to
get it because like Fresne has like one of those names.
It's not like, you know, sexy, So like it's like,
hey man, I'm calling people, Hey man, you want to
come to president.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
They're like, hey, what the best hold on cut? We
were on the bench. I forgot who was it was?
It mess he was talking about, like he didn't know
we had some type of restaurant we were talking about.

Speaker 5 (41:48):
He was like, man, I know you had wings stop. Yeah,
Like what kind of city? What kind of city do
you think this is? And so you know, again it's
it's all about educating. Like Isaiah Thomas casing point man,
Me and Isaiah went to college together, and you know
when we're in college together, like you're competing, like you
don't really get to kick it with each other. He

(42:09):
never he never came out to Fresno or anything. And
so I've been begging him for years. I begged him.
I used to have my camp every year, begged him this,
you know, last whatever time, and he was like he
would kind of like throw it off and be like, oh,
it's okay. He he came to Fresno and was like,
I'm coming back every single year. That's dope forever. And

(42:32):
every single player says that. Quinn Cook has said that,
and so many other guys are like, no, no, No, Fresno's
is like the liddest city ever, Like you gotta come,
you know, whether whether it's just you know the basketball
or you know, getting out or whatever it is. You know,
the love that you know, I helped them get or
or you know, make sure that people give them or
they just get organically. It's it's truly special. Man. It's

(42:56):
Fresno's amazing place. Man. It's not far from La it's
not from far from the It's unique. You know. It's
it's a small but big city, and you know, we
have a lot to offer. Man. I love the city.
I always have my main house here and hopefully I
continue to grow. You know, we've had some great basketball
players that come from here, and you know, to continue

(43:18):
to grow the knowledge of you know, Fred.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Chris Hands can bring Edison high without me throwing in
a Bruce Bowen mentioned.

Speaker 5 (43:25):
Oh my gosh all the time. Hey, I got a
real question, Chris.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
I'm listening.

Speaker 5 (43:39):
I might need you to do your like top five,
top ten for Fresno ever tough five now, but like.

Speaker 4 (43:48):
What hold, let me put me on I'll go ahead,
I'll drop it. Now, put me on the spot.

Speaker 5 (43:52):
Now, I'll have do I star past Bruce Bowen.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Surpass him? I q based off for the championships. I can't.
I don't think I can. Bruce has what three.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
Two or three and he led the league in three
point shooting.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
I have to I think you hold on, let me
let me just let me.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
Just say he went to cal State Fullerton, So that
kind of seals it.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
It's kind of heating.

Speaker 5 (44:19):
Because I I debate this to myself. I'm like, is
Bruce ahead of me?

Speaker 3 (44:22):
I'm like, is she because he played with san Antonio?
Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 5 (44:27):
I didn't see that.

Speaker 4 (44:28):
Okay, he did. He was a nice contributor. It wasn't
like he went along the run.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
Also, are we talking there's a difference. Paul George is
not from Fresno, played at Fresno State. We are talking
about guys who are from Fresno.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
Is that? What? Is that what we're doing?

Speaker 5 (44:45):
So this is the hardest thing, like about these whole things.
It's like, do you count their high school? Do you count?
Like what are we counting for criteria?

Speaker 1 (44:53):
And I think you would want to do it as
based out of you played your high school ball in
Fresno five No.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
But he's saying, do you consider your high school career?

Speaker 5 (45:05):
Do you consider their whole You know, maybe maybe his
pro crew is better because.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
Q's high school career is way better than.

Speaker 5 (45:14):
My college college careers better, Like yeah, and then and
then impact of the city and now so like it's
just hard. It's hard to just.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Say impact of the city. Look, impact of the city.
That's you. You're number one. You're going to be a
future mayor of for us all. You're number one. High
school career doesn't compare you. You were on the cusp
of McDonald's All American. Bruce Bowen had nobody knew who
he was. He had to find his way to cal State.

Speaker 5 (45:42):
Let's let's think it. Bris Bowen is a legend.

Speaker 4 (45:44):
No, he is.

Speaker 5 (45:45):
He is like Brice Bowen is, Like I look up
to him so much. I remember my rookie year. I
was like one thing I wanted to do was meet
Bruce Bowen and like Chris Paul and those guys are like,
look at me, like I was crazy, and they were
like I was like, no, I need to like shake
hands or Bruce Bowen and like really show him love,
like that's the guy you know.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
And so high school college you got him.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
NBA he hasn't.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Yeah, he has that multiple All multiple All first Team defense,
all NBA teams, no question, two or three championships.

Speaker 1 (46:19):
Okay, now, where is Jalen Green Because he's I mean
he's from he's from Fresno, right, his high school with Resno.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Correct, Yes, you know his last year he went out,
he went out to the Sacramento area.

Speaker 5 (46:36):
The best, the best player ever from President is Brook Lopez.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
You mean talent, pound for pound talent.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
Brook Lopez has been the best player.

Speaker 3 (46:49):
He's had, He's had the better NBA career. Correct, that's
what you're saying. Well, he's a McDonald's All American as well,
McDonald's All American human Robin McDonald's. You play with Brook
and Robin just so you know, in high school.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
In college like lottery pick nets, all time leading score. Yeah,
he's been the best player ever from Presdent.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
I'll give you that.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
I'm still but I guess maybe my vote is not
as important in this.

Speaker 5 (47:24):
The best player from Fresno ever.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
Okay, okay, okay, hold on, I get you on that,
But let's is there another criteria for the best talent
to ever come out of Fresno, Because then that's when
I think you got to.

Speaker 4 (47:37):
Throw Deshaun Stevenson or even Jalen Green into the mix. Talent.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
What are we tossing in like we're like it's it
gets dicey.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
You know this, like we've only had three McDonald's, all
Americans in Fresno. Lopez No. Four actually Lopez Twins, Sean Stevenson,
Jalen Green. Those are the four I believe all time.
So pound for pound talent, I think it has to

(48:12):
be one of those three Brook, Jalen or Dashaun.

Speaker 4 (48:17):
Tough tough debate.

Speaker 1 (48:18):
You were serious, right, you you think Quincy is the
f is a future mayor of the city of Fresno.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
That was real if he wants, if he if he
lets go of coaching at some point. But no, I
think so he's He's like how Jamal Crawford is to Seattle.

Speaker 4 (48:32):
That's how he is the Presno.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
So he already is the mayor, just not officially.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
Yeah, I guess you could say, man, listen, who can
you guys?

Speaker 5 (48:40):
I can't get much done now in Presno. Man, I
you know, I can't even get interviewed for coaching jobs
or anything.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
See he's had a couple of seats. See this is
this is a petty Q right here.

Speaker 5 (48:50):
He's had a couple of I'm the pettiest person ever,
Like you're just getting to know me. I'm I'm one
of the pettiest people ever.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
Like Fresne status, you'll.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Do great, You'll do great on this show because so
so are all of us.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
It doesn't really affect me. Like a lot of times
I'm just joking and people were like it's like I'm
being petty, and so it's like offensive, not offensive, but
they're like sensitive about it. But again, like I've made
jokes about the president state thing and they're like all
sensitive about it, but like I'm I'm pretty fucking petty man.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
They're going to offer too in the future. It's gonna
be matter if he wants it or not at that time.
So he's going to have multiple.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
That's what's gonna be. I remember, I, you know, when
the season ended, I really wanted the job, you know,
I really wanted I'm gonna lie. My dad just kept
being like he thought he thought so much bigger of me.
He's like, you know, he thinks, I, you know, if
I wanted the job, go take it. But at the

(49:53):
end of the day, like he thinks I should be
at a higher, you know level, and you know, it
just you know, it didn't work and it didn't happen,
and they chose who they chose and you know, I
wish them the best. I'm always going to cheer on
for Fresno. And but you know, maybe one day and

(50:15):
maybe I have Chris Haynes come out there and coach
with me or something. But no, again, I just I'm
just doing my job. I'm just trying to make Presne
a better place. And you know, again spread the love
that the city gives me.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
I got a couple more questions start he Chrissy just
threw something at me real quick. Q. You were a
class of twenty and ten correct going into the draft?

Speaker 4 (50:39):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (50:40):
Okay, so you with all the last remaining one.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
Yeah that's right, the last last player in that two
thousand and ten drafts still playing in the NBA. My
question was when you came out of high school, obviously
you were one of the top high school players in
the country.

Speaker 4 (50:55):
De Fredio State. I imagine they recruited you. But how.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
They did it. I want to give it to me, Q,
give it to me. This is this league una cut
give it to me. Q.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
So so this is so funny man. And again, like
I would meet, my dad is my best friend and we.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
Always and.

Speaker 5 (51:19):
The truth is going into my that that last summer
you know, my my, my ranking skyrocketing and all that,
and I'm, you know, cuss top twenty five player in
the country, and it was crazy. I had gone on
a visit to Yukon, I didn't like it. I went

(51:42):
on a visit to Washington. I loved it. I loved
coach Romar, I loved how he was. And then I
went on to you know, I was just gonna wait
a couple of weeks and then make my decision. My
dad was like, you know, I feel really feel like
Washington is a place for you. And so I was like,
you know, I think, I think that's what's going to be.
And he was like, all right, We're gonna Present State

(52:04):
is going to set up a you know, a butcher
has set up a meeting with them. They had just
got Steve Cleveland as a coach, and so they set
up a meeting. Me and my dad, my mom, we
went over there. In my head on the whole way
there to Present State, which is like eight ten minutes away,

(52:24):
fifteen minutes away from my house, I'm like, I'm about
to commit in this visit. I'm gonna commit in the meeting.
I'm not gonna tell my parents or nothing like I'm
about to commit and the meeting starts off. Mind you,
my dad was a coach at Fresident State for a
little bit. He was a you know, he worked with

(52:45):
hard I go play pick up with those guys every day,
like you know, this is down the street, like I'm
a Fresno guy, and I was I was really really
you know, shy at the time. I didn't I didn't
have personality. I just never wanted to leave home. And
we get in the meeting and the first thing that

(53:06):
coach Cleveland says, the opening statement, says, I haven't really
seen play much. I haven't seen you play at all, really,
but everyone in the city says you're really really good.
And we know, like you know, the media would kill
us if if we say we didn't do our due
diligence and recruited you.

Speaker 4 (53:26):
Damn damn my dad.

Speaker 5 (53:31):
My dad stops the meeting right there and says, well,
I guess this is over with, Like that was his pitch,
and I'm just in my heart. I just sink in
my chair and they were like we end up start
talking about like other kids on our you know, au
roster that he can recruit and and that that was it.
He had no idea like I wanted to commit during

(53:52):
the meeting, and I was crushed. Man. I remember my
first flight to Seattle and my mom was like, you
know when we went out there for school and I didn't.
I never wanted to leave Fresne. Man, I'm such a
presdent guy. And she was like, well, wave by to Fresno.
And I just start crying, like bawling, and like I'm like,

(54:15):
there's no way but to come full circle, man, Like
what happened in the spring. It felt the same exact way,
you know when when they're you know, when you don't
know what you have or what you can get, and
you're just like, oh, we're going to pass on him.
Oh that's or that's not for us, or whatever it is,

(54:35):
or whatever their decision was. And it's like, all right,
I don't need much motivation for much. Again, I'm a
petty king, but you know, it puild like a few
on me, man. And you know, to this day, one
of the reason why I made to leave was because
of that situation when I was in high school. And

(54:56):
one of the reasons why I feel like I'm gonna
be a good coach is because of what happened this year.

Speaker 4 (55:05):
That's deep right there, that's deep.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
I didn't know that that could that could have been
Paul George Quincy pond Rix.

Speaker 5 (55:12):
So so that was betweenty ten.

Speaker 4 (55:14):
No, so you were this, this is crazy six.

Speaker 5 (55:17):
That was two thousand and six. He got eight and
so I stayed all four years in college. So PG
got there in two thousand and eight. We used to play.
I used to come back home. I played, you know,
in the summertime, we'll play against each other. I'm like, damn,
Listen was like, he's like he's trying, He's going against me,
Like but he wasn't. He wasn't six ten. Then yeah,
six and seven. I come back the next summer. His

(55:39):
before it's I'm like, yo, he grew some up. I
better Like, yeah, he's a tough one, Like I'm killing him.
Like it was like it's tough though, and then you
know we're in the same draft class. But it's like dang,
Like those relationships and everything started back then. My one
of my best friends, Jordan Ambers, was a player on
his team at Presdent State, but it beat every year

(56:04):
I tried to transfer back to Present State. No. One
Romar coach Romar knows that because it you know it,
some people like told him, but like I tried to
transfer back to Present State when they had you know,
Dominic McGuire, Paul George dudes, and they were like, is
you really that good? He's only averaging ten twelve in

(56:25):
the PAC.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
Team still disrespectful, man.

Speaker 5 (56:30):
Steel, disrespectful. And so then it got to my you know,
before my senior year, and that's why I always gonna
transfer home that year. But because I knew I was
on like I was on that path like one more
year at college, like you know, you're going to be
an NBA guy. Like I had a really good, you know,
junior year, but not good enough to go to the
NBA yet, And so I knew I was gonna be
locked in. I told coach Romar like, don't me show

(56:52):
me what the NBA is talking about. I need one
more year. Like I didn't, I didn't test the waters,
I didn't do any of that. I was like, show
me one more year, and I'm going, you know, I
don't want to, I don't want to waste my time
on that, Like no, I'm not playing that game. So
we did that, and he was like, what's one thing
that you want. And I was like, I want to
play at home at Freston State. We begged them to

(57:15):
come back and play, begged him, begged him. Oh and
then the word we got back. Me and my family
and my dad was furious. It was like, we don't
want this to be the Quincy show. We don't want
him to come back back to fresent get forty yea
and our school was like offering, like to do whatever,
like you know, like we're you know how it goes

(57:37):
like we paid teams to come. They're like, we don't
want no money, no nothing, like We're just going to
come and give cure game. They're like coach clintonand was
like no. And after that, like you know, we lost
a lot of respect for him because you know that
definitely did us.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Paul didn't play last night, but just for him to
be back in Fresno and the star obviously the star
level he's at that, what was that like, just Paul
George really the star of this summer with his move
to the Sixers in free agency. So just what was
the reaction to him in Fresno being in the gym

(58:15):
last night?

Speaker 5 (58:17):
The reaction to him being in the gym last night
was just the the hype of him coming to Fresno
for the week or forever long I announced. It was
unbelievable He's coming into town. I saw so many twenty
four Paul George jerseys in the in the crowd man
and people begging, you know, just to get a glimpse

(58:37):
of him. What he did yesterday was enough for me,
you know, and I always have love and respect for PG,
for that man, and was as crazy as like, you know,
we talked a lot this summer, but it had nothing
to do with the Fresne program, you know, or you know,
I talked to his people a lot. Was getting Joel

(59:00):
and b to get on the phone with them. Joel
is one of my best friends. And so how Joel
got Paul's number to start trying to pitch it to
him was through me.

Speaker 3 (59:13):
So see, see y'all, Fresne, see a Fresno. People make
big things happen all around the world, continue to going.

Speaker 5 (59:21):
I don't even know how much the Sixers know this,
but quietly, one of the biggest I hate to say this,
one of the biggest pieces, and that was me being
like yo, Pete, Joel, you gotta you gotta keep recruiting them.
You got to try to get him. You gotta get him,
You gotta talk to him, you gotta you know, whatever
it is, and even talk to you know, Joel and

(59:44):
talked to Paul's friends during the time. And you know,
there was a time when Joel gave up. He was like,
there's no ways coming. There's no ways coming to Philly,
there's no there's no chance. I called peace friends and
they were like, que trust he has a great chance.
Like you guys are doing right. Joe was like, for real,

(01:00:05):
called him back. It's like, bro, keep recruiting. This was
like ten days, eight days before free agency.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Maybe, Chris, why didn't we have Quincy on a month ago?

Speaker 4 (01:00:17):
I didn't notice or less.

Speaker 5 (01:00:20):
And he was like for real And I was like, bro,
he's you have a great chance. Keep going. And this
all happened. Man, Like I don't want to take I've
never I haven't said it publicly or anything, but like
people that know, they.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
Know, I apologize for not knowing this backstory. Where did
you and Joel Cross? How did you get close with him?

Speaker 5 (01:00:43):
We had the same agent, you know Joel. You know
he tours and he broke his nartcular bomb, you know,
right before the draft, and that was at the same time,
maybe like two years before that. It was twenty fifteen.
He did that twenty thirteen. I think it was twenty fifteen.
You know, yeah, twenty thirteen. I had broke my navicular

(01:01:06):
bone and I sat out like fifty something games of
the season. So our agents was like, Yo, you're gonna
have to you know, talk to him through it, you know,
be a big brother too, and all these things and
like how to rehab process and all these things, and
you know, we talked about it, and we just he

(01:01:27):
just became a little brother all, you know, right away,
and you know, spend time with each other on and
off the floor, like just mainly off the floor. And
you know, during that two years that he was out,
I was, you know, it didn't change me, like you know,
some people fall off and they stopped being your friend
or all that. Like, it didn't change anything for me.

(01:01:49):
I was, you know, I was still his little brother
and his big brother, and so you know I would
send him clips of players and do things, and our
relationship just continue to blossom. And again he's a little
you know, he's one of the best players in the NBA,
and I'm proud to say that he's, you know, one
of my best friends.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
What did you think of him at the Olympics and
that love affair he had with the French crowd. What
was that like for you as his pal to watch him?

Speaker 5 (01:02:18):
Man, I've had a rough summer of defending him. It's
been it's been a rough summer of defending him, but
because I know what he's going through, you know, like
when you're going through health things, and like he wasn't healthy,
Like he wasn't he wasn't in shape, you know, but

(01:02:39):
he wanted to play and he put his love of
the game on the line for our country. Like but
if you guys know the backstory of he only touched
the basketball maybe a few days before he got out
to Vegas for the train cap, maybe four days. And

(01:03:00):
by the end of it, I was like, you know,
you guys are going to see what you know, what
he is, and you know, he came through huge against
Yo Kic in Serbia and you know, you know, he's
one of the best players the game has ever seen.
At seven foot one, seven foot two, with the skill
set of you know guards, you know, he's one of

(01:03:23):
the best like this. He's just been brittled with injuries
and that he hasn't been the healthiest and that's the
only thing that's stopping him from being one of the
greatest players of all time. But if he gets to
that point where he is healthy consistently, and he'll be
the one of the best players ever.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
Don we got way more than I thought.

Speaker 5 (01:03:42):
Yeah, I'm not even supposed to.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
I'm hold I got one question, real quick qu about people.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
But we've kept this man an hour.

Speaker 4 (01:03:52):
Just so you know, total fifteen minutes.

Speaker 5 (01:03:55):
Yeah, I thought it was gonna be ten to fifteen minutes. Man,
I just start talking. Man, I don't know what they
I'm never doing this again, Chris.

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
I like.

Speaker 5 (01:04:04):
I like being the hidden guy that doesn't do this
ship like.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
I appreciate you. I one thing about Paul, ask for
as much as you can. When did you know that
it would be like that, Paul will start to look elsewhere?
When did you know that was a realistic possibility?

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
You know, you just hear it. It's not like I knew,
like you know, you just hear the rumblings. I think
you know again, I don't think he was happy with
what he was offered and sometimes man, like you you
start to look at your career differently at some point

(01:04:45):
in time, and you're saying, like, all right, what do
I need now? Like, you know, how do I how
do I get that? You know that the new love
feel of a new city, you know, feeling respected in
a new city. How can I get to that championships?
What's missing? And you know, I think I think it's
a perfect marriage. And here in Philadelphia I would love

(01:05:09):
I can't. I'm anxious to see how the season is
going to go because like, you know, to have Paul
George on the wing after all, and you know, the
big spot and like no one could guard him, and
you have Tyrese Maxie who's like dynamic, you know, and
now like how do you get the pieces around them
to win the championship? But if you're starting off with
those three man there's there's not too many you know,

(01:05:32):
big threes in the league, Like especially with how Maxie's
rising and how he works and how he's going to
get better, you know. So I just think it meshes
so much better than you know, other situations that we're
out there for Pete.

Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
I'm gonna say this before I before I let you
go Que, and I'm Stein. May here one last thing
to say, but Que Stein the first time I met Q,
he won't remember this, so I'm telling him this for
the first time. So I'm about six years older than Q.
So I was a senior at high school and I
used to go to I was hearing all this stuff

(01:06:06):
about this young pond Dexter. So at this time Q
is probably if I'm seventeen, he's like twelve or something
like that, twelve or thirteen whatever. I'm hearing all this
stuff about this young pond Dexter because you know, his
pops is his uncle, like they are like legendary basketball
figures in Fresno. So I'm hearing about this young pondexer,
young Quincy Cue. You remember used to go to Dan.

Speaker 5 (01:06:29):
Gambos every day every week?

Speaker 4 (01:06:34):
Yeah, so I used to.

Speaker 3 (01:06:35):
I went to Dan Gambo's probably once every month, but
this first is one time I went. This one time
a month I went. You were there, and he was
this skinny kid. He was a long kid. Like so
at thirteen twelve, he's probably six three you could correct
me if I'm wrong, Q, but six ' four, but

(01:06:56):
he's skinny, and I'm like, I'm gonna see if this kid.
I'm gonna see if this kid he dies. And we
played and we played against us that we played like
we went back and forth. Those courts were small, the
full course they were small. And he gave problems, like
he gave problems, and I was like, man, this kid,
like he really you knew he was gonna get taller, so.

Speaker 4 (01:07:15):
You know, his dad and his uncle and all that,
and I was.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
Like, man, but that was the first time I actually
encountered playing with you. Was at Dan Gambles, which that
gym no longer exists anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
Man, My best memories of playing basketball growing up all right,
Dan Gambles in Fresnel, Man, where you have torell I
Day and all those guys like come back and give
me free game?

Speaker 4 (01:07:38):
Why you run?

Speaker 5 (01:07:39):
How to really play? And uh, you know, my dad
used to sit My dad's crazy. He used to sit
there and just like watch me get beat up by
these grown men every every week and like getting killed,
and and he'd be like, didn't say anything, but what
do you want to eat after? Like I'm like, what
do you I'm like, but it was all like it

(01:08:03):
was a diabolical plan. In the end of the day,
and my Dad's like, I knew you're gonna make it
because of how you responded, how you would be pissed
off to lose the dudes that were, you know, playing
overseas or playing in the NBA or whatever it was.
You would really be pissed, like you would be you'd
be curious, and you know you wanted to like kick
their butts. And it's like that's when he knew, like

(01:08:25):
I had something he would just love to just watch.
He never said anything at the gym. Yeah, there was
one time that he said something after after a game,
but I don't know if we have time for that,
but after a pickup game. But other than that that,
you know, those are the memories. Man, like Fresnoy, you

(01:08:48):
had to be a good player. You knew you were
good if you went to Dan Amil's and you moved
and everyone came together and you stayed on the winners court.
That that was just the game back then.

Speaker 4 (01:09:00):
Daran Gambles, it's no longer anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:09:03):
Years ago, but yeah, I've never told you that, but
that's the that's my first encounter I had playing with you,
you about twelve or thirteen.

Speaker 5 (01:09:09):
Saying I started high school at six foot like six
foot one, six foot two, one hundred and thirty pounds,
like one hundred and thirty five pounds, and.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Like the skinny as hell, Yeah, you know you were.

Speaker 5 (01:09:24):
You know it's part of your journey. Man, I'm happy
as hell.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
Well this was awesome because well, we kept you way
too long.

Speaker 5 (01:09:36):
I'm going to apologize regular.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
I'm a regular now because until today my favorite Quincy
Pond extra story. And I've told Chris this before my
introduction to Chris Haynes, who I did not know if,
like I have so little trust of my memory, but
the way I remember it was Chris was in Cleveland

(01:09:58):
covering the Calves, but he broke news of you. I
don't know if you signed with Memphis or you went
to Newark. Like I said, I don't remember what the
transaction was. But this guy in Cleveland broke a Quincy
pondexter story on Twitter, and like I said, it was

(01:10:19):
Memphis or New Orleans, it was, but it had nothing
to do with the Calves. And I'm like, who is
this guy and why is he beating me on a
Quincy pondexter signing? And That's when I first saw Chris Hayes.
I didn't know, you know, I didn't know that you
guys were you know, I didn't know the whole Fresno connection.

Speaker 5 (01:10:38):
Man, Hey, we're ganging Fresno. Man, don't you don't want
to mess with us.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
But the new favorite story is today. This was awesome.
I'm so glad you put this game together because we
got a lot of good We got a lot of
good tales out of this. Now serious, all jokes aside.
Congrat I'm sure putting together an event like that is
a monstrous undertaking and a huge challenge. And congrats to

(01:11:08):
you for getting all those luminaries back home to what
they now call the five to five.

Speaker 5 (01:11:15):
Nine wait for all people.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
Yea, I will, okay, I will happily do it. I
have not been back to that part of the world
in a bazillion years. I mean when I started college,
Presno was in our league. It was the PCA. I
mean that was a long, long, long time ago. Ron
Adams was the coach. But I will just to watch

(01:11:41):
Chris Haynes hoop it up with every big name in Fresno.
I will happily come to that game.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
That done well, Q.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
I appreciate you, brother, nothing beloved for you, man. Congrats
again on the gig assistant coach at USC You're gonna
kill it over there, man. I know you have greater
heights going forward. Man, and uh you're for your forever
for him man. So anytime you ever need me, or
even need Mark Stein for that matter now because now

(01:12:12):
he's an official member of the five five nine, just
just let us know.

Speaker 4 (01:12:15):
But brother, thank you for coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:12:17):
We appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:19):
Yes, that man, that was Quincy Pops that you want.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
This League on Cuttage and iHeartRadio production.

Speaker 5 (01:12:36):
Christ Haines and Mark Stein

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