October 12, 2022 • 41 mins
On this week's episode, KJ chops it up with Lynwood High-School Boys Basketball Head Coach Jason Crowe Sr. KJ and Jason discuss his philosophies on developing an athlete, team building and trust, and how he gets his young team to buy into his program. Jason also gives us some insight into what he's looking for in a college basketball program for his son, Lynwood HS 2026 PG Jason Crowe Jr. #fsrweekends #allball
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallie and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment industry. Now here's Chris Johnson. I'm back kJ Live
(00:22):
in the building. I hope y'all are good out there.
Another fire episode on the way. Today's guest on the show.
He's a former professional basketball player, the guy that has
made a huge difference on the southern California basketball scene
for the last twenty years through mentoring working folks out,
(00:46):
developing players, and influencing kids in the right way. He's
now the head boys varsity basketball coach at Lynnwood High School.
Please welcome Jason Crow Senior to the show. What ut
j Crow? Are you feeling? Are you feeling thanks for
having Jack? You know, feeling good? Man. I had a
(01:08):
chance to come out on Sunday to the League presented
by Compton Magic out at Westminster High School. Man got
a chance to check out your crew, the latest iteration
of Lynnwood High School. Jason Crow Jr. In the building,
Chase Holly and others. Uh, the team is extremely impressive.
(01:29):
You're extremely young. Let's talk a little bit about this season,
the preparation that has gone into it and what you're
looking forward to out of this group in twenty two. Yeah,
you know with this group you said, Um, we're relying
heavily on five freshmen. I'm really close to starting all
(01:51):
five of them. Yeah, we they played. You know, it's
because we started it with the men. Took with these
guys and the training and I got enamored by the
unity of these guys of how they work. It wasn't
it's not their talents, it's their desire to get out
(02:12):
there and do whatever you ask them to do. And
me coaching this my coaching experience having a group that
like when you say, look, give me twenty miles, they
take off. I'm like, hold, I'm just playing, like you
know what I mean, Like, they don't the trust the trust,
(02:34):
you know, And that's what I've learned and coaching that
from them. My experience with them has shown me that
the trust is the most important ingredient because they do
trust me. And so I tried to be prepared. I
tried to give them as much as I can. I
try to uh do that. But as far as our
goals for this year, uh, you know, we want to
come out there and want our leave. We we're gonna
(02:56):
be in five double A, so you know, like we
we we gotta go try to win it. I mean
anything less would I believe would be disappointing. I mean
this this year, we they changed our league model, so
now we have an upper and lower league. So, uh,
the pandemic, we should we shut down. So but what
(03:20):
happened was we was d one, so we shut down.
But what happened was three teams wanted up their playoffs
standing and they gave us forfeits, knowing that we called
off the season. But they registered forfeits. Okay, so I'm
looking like, okay, they want to pull this stunt. But
what it did, so it dropped us all the way
back in divisions because of that thing. Because last year
(03:41):
I knew come out of pandemic, said I got these
five freshmen, I'm gonna throw them in. I don't care.
So I didn't do any type of like wherever the
school had come on the pandemic. You know, we were
like we were guys were like our practice last year
was like so basic and just trying to build confidence
and enjoy the game. It was. Winning wasn't discussed, you
(04:03):
know what I mean? It was all about giving your best.
So we end up being in this position because of that.
So now the so now our league is Fireball when
the lower division with Fireball guard Warren, Um, Bell Flower
and Norwalk. Okay, yeah, we need to win that. Like
we're not trying to be all like this is we're
(04:25):
gonna do our best. No, we need to win that. Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely.
When you talked about trust, and it sounds like like
you know, when you're building a team, when you're building
a squad, you put a lot of thought, you put
a lot of take everything into consideration, you look out,
you know, you're you're you're planning ahead for the future.
(04:48):
But when you talk about trust in the hearing and now,
how do you build that with a unit with so
much youth and not a lot of senior leadership? You know,
think it comes from building their relationships. Um, with all
those kids, I have a personal relationship, you know, and
(05:10):
it's a different relationship. So I coach every kid. I
see people say some people have philosophy, I coach all
the kids the same. I don't think that's possible. I
coach everybody different. I coach everybody to what I believe
is their goals that they said for themselves and the
standard that I believe they can meet like I can't
because I ask different things of different players, So how
(05:31):
can I treat you the same when I'm asking different
things of you? So I think just building those relationships
and having and where you're showing them that you're invested
in them as well, because I care about down the
road for you, So I'm trying to prepare you for that,
and I'm with you, but I'm not trying to tell you.
I'm trying to get you to understand this is your
(05:53):
career and I'm just here to help you as far
as your career and your relation and your relationship and
be and be a piece for you to rely on.
You know. So now when it comes to us on
this basketball team and what we're trying to complish together
and how we prepare you know, we're gonna do it
my way while you're in the space working in the
space for this time, We're gonna do everything my way.
(06:16):
How how much uh this kind of a two sided question,
How fun satisfying has it been coaching J two Jason
Crow Jr. Watching him come up? And then how much
of a challenge has it been to kind of told
the line between father and son. We've seen a lot
(06:38):
of father and son coach player relationships in the past,
some workouts, some don't. I wanted to get your opinion
on on that aspect well as far as uh, you know,
you got to make adjustments along the way, just like
a father would. So a lot of people I've heard say, well,
you gotta separate. Well, no, I'm not separate. That doesn't
(07:01):
mean we come out there with daddy this. We're not
that age anymore, like you know what I mean. We're
not We're not teeing it daddy. We're not. We're not
that age anymore, you know what I mean. So I'm
not separating that i'm as father or even when he's
in practice, because I'm a coach as well. So now
I'm coaching and my demands of him are gonna be
whatever they are that I expected. I'm not going to
(07:22):
lower him and I'm not gonna you know, but what
I learned that as a you have to grow just
like a parent. You have to grow as a coach
and how you deal with each player. This is a
unique situation. So I have to grow that and its
something It's on me. If I'm the leader, it's on
me to let him know. You know, look, you're wrong here,
but I understand you know, when I'm wrong, I'm gonna
(07:45):
announced it. I shouldn't, you know, because you have certain
things something you're like, look my fault. I mean, you
gotta come back home like my fault. You know what
I mean. But as far as the thing with the
game and coach them as rewarded because he wanted this,
you know, and he wanted to learn from me because
I was already coaching it. Some people that see us
(08:07):
now they think that I am so younger this that
I started coaching with him. Oh, he's a product of
the gym. He's a product of seeing players, of seeing
the shackle for the saying behind me, how kids is
seeing these guys coming in Bourbon day to where I'm like, look, man,
you can shoot on the side courts, and he had
the side courts. Then you look up and people are
(08:29):
telling you, like, man, did you see him make fifty
with verse laps in the road. I'm like looking over
there and he's like five years old. He got everything English,
both fans, I didn't you know what I mean? That's
him wanting to be a part of it. So that's
how we started, and that's how we're going to keep it.
Like our ladship with the game is our love, you know,
(08:50):
Like if I saw him, like I come downstairs, he's
watching Dr Jack, you know, so remind me of me
as a kid is searching, you know, and then he's
a And it's still like we still have our one
on one battles in the backyard. So it's still that.
It's still that relationship, y'all. Still can you can he
(09:10):
get you? Can he beat you consistently? Or are you
not allowing that? Are you hacking? Are you fouling? Or
you are you putting on the extra defense? And me
talk to me, Jake, Well, I'm gonna tell you this
right now. I mean the three dribbles is keeping us,
keeping me, but I let them get uh the limited
dribbles is all these these jerks and closing and start
(09:33):
stop um, you know. But the backyard I got walls. Yeah,
don't play the walls in the backyard. So right now,
for right now, I've been letting them were in the
backyard with it. I'm still I'm still king in the backyard.
But in that in that gym with all that space
and all that stuff to cover because he's a tough cover,
you know, and then you know, I'm not I'm not
(09:54):
active like the player against him. You gotta be actually
working in the game because if you miss, you know,
he can go off. So you gotta you know, but
it's good like that. We still have that relationship. Like
a morning I played one on one. It was fun, yeah,
and it shows. I mean the thing that I think
that stood out to me because I was my first
(10:15):
time had seen him at this age and you know,
after he's you know, been starting on the seventeen and
Compton Magic and all that, you know, all that all
that stuff. The thing that jumped out, man, was the strength.
So there are a couple of plays on Sunday. You know,
he's driving to the length, driving driving to the rack.
Dudes were really trying to lock up. They were trying
to strap up there down in the stands, chesting up,
(10:36):
and he just yah, yeah yeah, and just work dudes
all the way in. You know, ref call it. We're
barely missing the and one that's what stood out that
looked like he'd been playing against a dog on serious wiry,
grown man strength. Having defender all his life. It reminded
me of me playing against my dad growing up. Right,
we're in the front yard man, and the block on
(10:56):
the block in the post. So when I got when
I got out there, and when I got it out
into the real world against dudes my age regularly. So
you already said, you already know. I see it. Not afraid,
not at all. Once you go through, once you go through.
And then the thing about the pops, we don't want
to relinquish the crown. It's not that thing because we're serious.
(11:20):
So we're not gonna give you the That's a boy,
I get out the way. I don't. You can't beat me.
I don't you know what I mean? Like, if you
beat me, you have to earn I'm not. You're not
trying to like all that's fool your kid and thinking
he can beat you and all this. No, you want
him to go to hard route. You want him to
go to hard route so he's fully prepared for whatever
(11:40):
he sees. Jake, when you're coming up man, growing up
out here in l A. The competitive nature of your character,
the person you are. Where did you develop that? Where
did you get that competitiveness to where you compete at
just about everything there is. I think, uh, just you know,
(12:02):
I was somebody asked me that, and I think it
was just I wanted to impress my dad, you know,
I wanted to get favor from people anywhere I go.
I always wanted to. I guess it would being an
only child, I always had to go somewhere else, right,
So when you always have to go somewhere else, then
you're outside looking in, right, because they have their little favorite.
(12:24):
You're coming in. They don't pick you, so you always
have to prove no, you're gonna pick me, you know
what I'm saying. And you have to earn that. That's
where I come. I come from playing everywhere, going all
outside of my area, finding game and and doing that
and and you know, and I think that's the element
right now, that that I learned that I have to
(12:47):
create for these guys, Right, I think when you see
them play, you see that in them, right, Because you
see guys that that some of the guys, if you
see them what they're working with, they've been psyched into that.
You're gonna be strong and prepared to compete. You know.
The skills will figure that out. But first things first
(13:09):
you know, we're gonna be out here to compete. We're
gonna find the way, we're gonna run faster to the ball.
We're gonna out think we're gonna compete. And that's a
skill right now, that's hard to teach because of the
fact that you know, we're we're, we're, we're circling all that.
This changed. I don't wanted to be a hater, but
times have changed, right Like, when you think about it,
(13:32):
there's no playground games Like I grew up catching the
bus to Audubon to stay out there. They're out there.
I'm going to fochet, you know, I'm going to different
places in l a middle school's outdoor by myself to
hope that doesn't exist. And when you go to those places,
you have to win. If you don't win, you're not
allowed to play. You can shoot around on the other
(13:52):
side baskets. You want to get into the game, you
have to win, and then when you lose, you have
to wait. And if you're young, you're not. You do
not have next, No, you don't. You can't with nobody's asks.
You don't have next, can't play right they got you
can't play on his team and know everybody needs to win.
(14:13):
So you think about how it's going now, and like
I said, it's changed. I'm not trying to be but
the kids are learning skill before the competitiveness, so that
they put kind of like, you know, they learned that
skill first, but then you have the game is five
on five to win, so it's it's kind of like
it's not fair to them. They're missing that step. Fox
(14:35):
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
s R to listen live. Who is it on one?
Whose responsibility is that ja to teach these kids competitiveness,
to instill some heart into these dudes. And from what
(14:55):
I see, and we're not being haters, it's different. There's changed,
But there's also a solution. There has to be a solution,
Like these kids just they can't just grow up without
heart or being competitive, Like what about it? Because I
see them on their video games, so I see how
competitive they are. Uh my son in particular, how competitive
(15:16):
he was with video games, So why can't it carry
over you know in the sport? I guess you know
what it is is each one teach one because I
was thinking, like it's hard to do a mass covering.
But one of the problems we have is that the guys,
the guys that that I really hurts my heart is
(15:37):
that guys that have played the game and then they
have kids, then they do the bs, they do all
the like not being a leader to your son, not
keeping it real. Not see we're not we're not We're
we're we're not being reality with love. See I believe
in that it's reality with love. I gotta be able
(15:57):
to coach you, right, Yeah, So that's truth teller, truth teller,
truth teller, each one teach one in the area. We
have to be able to do that. We have to
be able to be responsible for our areas. Everybody has
to govern their part. And I think that's what we're
not doing. Like you know, you have certain people, but
like I'm gonna do it. You can't play for me
(16:19):
without without this you You're gonna quit the conditioning, the
mental the toughness. I'm but I'm there to love you.
I'm there to be there, you know. I Like I said,
I give I spend time development each relationship with the
kids that I have. I know all the kids. I
know their problems, I know their strengths and o their weaknesses.
That takes investment. That's why I don't even look. And
(16:39):
I said, I don't want to blame everybody because I
know the requirements of what I'm trying to get accomplished
to help these guys. So everybody might not have the time, energy,
or or the willingness, but we can start off by
being truth tellers and that to help. Right now, we're
making it seem like you don't have to do that,
(17:00):
you know, you know we can bypass that. You know,
it's okay, Okay, I find it. I find it interesting
now in today's in today's era that, um, there's just
so many non truth tellers. It's almost like the truth
(17:20):
or someone's real opinion is now taking his hate or
you know, some type of agenda. I just want to
know where did when did our basketball culture become so
extremely sensitive? Because when I was coming up, Jay, you know,
I was a big guy, so I was a little overweight, etcetera.
There wasn't a basketball coach, There wasn't a person that
(17:41):
didn't tell me I needed to lose weight if I
wanted to be know, be good in this gay and
achieve my top partitution. But you tell you tell a
kid that nowadays, and you know, you may get canceled
or you may be accused of being a bully or something.
We have two voice. Damn, that's what it is, right,
because what you're about to say is that you tell
a kid that now, But look who's gonna Who's gonna
(18:04):
get an intervene in that situation? The parents, parents, So
the parents voice. Back in the day we played, the
parents had zero voice. Your father are all time great,
should be in the Hall of Fame. He has a voice.
Why because Hall of Fame Lebron James father has a voice.
Why he's Lebron James. He's greater than the coach, you
(18:30):
know what I mean. So now everybody wants to be
like LaVar. Lavarre came out and did this thing, and look,
you can't knock him, but it made everybody think, like,
like you know what I'm saying, Like Lavoire was no
great player. Now he had some opportunity. But all these
voices of parents, they're prominent, they're on social media and
(18:51):
they have influence today. Right, you want to run your program,
this one has the funding funding. I think that like
the life blood of video and say, now you compromise
one thing. You compromise one thing, you'll compromise another you don't.
And that's what ended up happening to a lot of
the coaches. They don't have the voice. They don't want
(19:14):
to they don't have the voice, you know, because there
they're sometimes these jobs to value on them has gone up,
and the parents have a great voice now that they
didn't have before they came. And was fully supporting the
coaching situation. If your kid didn't play, you know, your
kid didn't play, then you went and talked to him. Maybe,
(19:35):
but a lot of times it just was like, which
you good? Another I was like, man, I want to
go to Videss. He was like he was like, he
was like, of course you do. You're weak. Yeah, yeah,
(19:56):
that was my dad, you know what I mean? So like,
of course you want to run pump? Well what I'm
looking for the Yeah, let's get you going. No, no,
you know what I'm saying. So and he was right,
he was right, he's what I'm saying. That was the
(20:16):
thing that he could have been. We're living in a
different era. He didn't have to probably use that terminology
or whatnot we can, but he was a hundred percent correct.
And that's why me and my father blameship. It's so
tight to the thing because all that stuff I didn't
I thought of. Realizing that more and more that ye
me for everything. Yeah, you gotta appreciate your pops or
(20:36):
or your father figure mentors in your life when they
keep it one hunted. They don't just let you do
what you want to do because they want to stay
cool with you and be buddy buddy. I think that's
one of the finest lines. And being father's son and
mentor and even big brother man, it's like having those
real conversations, telling that telling those real troops man makes
(20:58):
which makes you look at yourself, uh in the mirror
and really then you'll be able to accept and move on.
Let me ask you this, I wanted to get your
your perspective on, like the n I L deals and
and all this new sort of stuff that we're seeing
not only in college, but now it's kind of cascading
down to high school. Nike just announced they signed Brownie
(21:19):
James and Juju Watkins and d J. Wagner a bunch
of other people. How does the n I L as
as a as a coach, and as a parent, because
you have an interesting perspective on this. Okay, does the
does the N I L situation excite you? Or does
it give you anxiety? No? No, you know what I said,
(21:41):
But that is I've been in the business too long,
and so one of the things that I understand about
the business of basketball, right we're talking about the business now,
is that you have to adapt. We've been on places
you play, you seeing guys look at the contract on
that team and you're like, I'm three times better than him.
So what you're gonna do? Quit? You know what I mean?
(22:02):
You sign yours now? You now you can not have
a better understanding of what you need to do and
who you need to talk to. Why of this player?
Oh okay, here, you got the big screens in your apartment,
write that into the continent. Okay, sleep. So you have
to be able to adapt. You can't like so for me,
But my whole thing on the N I L is
(22:23):
it's beneficial, right, but you have to understand where you are.
So so for a lot of guys, you know, they
haven't reached that thing because all these little smaller deals,
I think they're cool. If if their deals that you like, right,
But when you talk about Ronnie, like, yeah, he's Lebron
(22:45):
James Son and he's and he's a he's dunking on
people on on your thing. He's going viral and then
you can hate if you want. It's not about being
the best player. It's about it's about the phenomenon. It's
a different thing. It's name, image and likeness. The same
way that in football, everybody kept complaining because Baker Mayfield
getting all those commercials. Right, He's not the best quarterback,
(23:08):
he's not a Pro Bowl quarterback. He dominates your TV screen.
I mean, and we know why he's he He came
out he was a number one pick at quarterback, so
that that meant that he that lined him up for deals.
That's just how it goes. I mean, you know those
guys will get deals. But as a as a parent,
the parents, I'll tell them, your folkus got to be
(23:29):
the basketball. The deals you get what you get out
this game, you know because of the basketball. So you
so a lot of times you have to just keep
evaluating the basketball. Basketball. Basketball. Now, once you get to
that status where you have the status and you know
it and you know when you got it. You know,
when you got you know, you're gonna ask with some
(23:51):
extra cheese on the on the you know what I mean.
You don't know that, and then you don't know life
like be quiet, you know what I mean, Let me
deal with what I got. I'm hanging in there or no,
I'm that guy. I need extra on everything. Right now,
I'm killing You know. When you reached that plateau, that's
the time to start understanding. And you have to know
(24:11):
that because you have to know your value. So it's
really hard for parents because parents are That's what I'm
saying there now there now don't know where to get
their true expertise. The social media has created a form.
Like you said, when did it change? I think it
changed because I started. It was one way. It wasn't
a social media heavy thing. When I started, it wasn't
(24:34):
social media was out, but the whole notion of entertaining
all this basketball stuff on social media was not the
pro game was. Then everything you started coming down. We
started doing middle school rankings, third grade rankings, we started
doing all that kind of stuff. It started being more
energy towards these things. I think in the last seven
(24:56):
or eight years you know, it's really changed it to
to that. So now the parents they're gonna suffer and
they're gonna deal with that anxiety because they're not gonna
understand who to trust in this in this mark, because
you're gonna have coaches. Just like what I said earlier,
I said, look, I want to go to Venice. The
thing is my mom, my mom would have if I
didn't have my dad. My mom would have roll with me.
(25:18):
She loved me, my baby. So I'm telling her suddenly such,
I'm bearing to him now now she's moved me around.
I'm looking for the n I like, so I can
just sympathize with people. So as a parent, you really
have to get people who have a history. I don't
understand people go and people can. They can doctor stuff
(25:39):
up on social media too to make it look like something.
I look at people stuff on social me. I'm like,
that would have got me if I didn't know, If
if I didn't know you, yeah, I would buy you
know what I mean because it's you know, it's what
happened since the beginning of time. Salesman, it's what they
if they call them back in the day. But people's
(26:01):
ability to market themselves and sell folks. A dream is
something I like to put it, like, typically the best
at what they do are people that are really gonna
ask some value to you. They don't They aren't the
best at marketing themselves. They kind of just go through
life having these skills understanding what their ability is. But
(26:21):
they might not be necessarily the greatest at promoting. But
sometimes you get the promotional aspect where everything all that
glitters ain't going it looks great, Oh bills and whistles,
shiny man, that was dope. Then you go and get
it and it's kind of like, you know, March, I'm
not gonna lie to you though, and I don't know
if he's gonna asset, but I'm just go ahead and
put it out there, like, uh, Atope is one of
(26:44):
the guys like I've seen the Ryan Silver and all
that stuff. I've seen all that. Now Atope is the
guy that I saw that. I I was like, Okay, I'm
gonna step out the weapon like me because now I
can do the basketball because you know, he got you know,
because a lot of guys they're doing all this other
(27:05):
stuff like this, but we're looking like he has a
he has a niche of understanding enough about the basketball,
enough about the basketball, and about relationships and the marketing
and promotion side. That actually very unique for us on
the West coast, staying us on the West coast, if
(27:27):
you look at what he's done with that brand, and
I saw it with my son having a year on
in the program, so you know, by me running a
program at that level, being a competitor of his, you
know what I mean, they're saying like, if I want
this done right, let me go over here and then
let me do that that way for you know, a
tope h a I one of the most impressive dudes
(27:50):
as far as in that space, still doing it today. Um.
Balance the balance of what you mentioned, the relationships, the
ability to promote market things, and then actually having the substance.
That's what I'm saying. He put all, you know, brings
everything together, man, And I saw that. I saw that
(28:14):
in them, and and that's a rare. We don't have
a lot of guys like that. They think they they're
trying to put it on like that, you know what
I mean, But they don't really have those relationships. Because
even when you look at the guy rest in peace,
man in the Hill, and that video that you see
circulating when he's talking to at That's real, man, that's real. Now,
(28:36):
everybody else they did this for this guy. They did
that for that guy. Where's the video? Get me here
from him? We hear from you, let's hear from them.
See how they see how they feel about the person. Yeah. See,
that's what I'm saying, and that and that, and this
is after I already been there. But that's just what
I mean by that, Like he had those relationships are real,
(28:59):
and then he the business he's doing is real, and
so that's a good He's probably what I've seen on
the West, you know. So that's what made me say, Okay.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. And now, haven't
(29:22):
been through this process j A that J two is
going through now as far as a you and the
college recruiting process is about to start to ramp up
a little bit. What do you feel or when you're
looking at a program, when you're thinking about the future
for your son, what are some of the most important
(29:43):
factors in a basketball program and institution, a college institution
that you would look for your son to experience. WHOA
I want somebody that needs him, you know, whatever situation
that needs him. You know, my job is he'll be prepared.
(30:08):
You know, I know enough about him to understand if
he's fourteen now and he won't be fifteen until next year,
and he's ready to go, and he's not afraid, and
and and the kid can face the competition now when
he's when he's seventeen, he's coming into college. He'll be
ready then. So who needs him? You know, That's the
(30:31):
first thing I think. People we think about what we want,
but we gotta think about this is a system of value.
You do better off where you need it, you know.
So I think that's the first thing that has to
come to mind. And then I'm gonna look for for
the basketball, I'm just gonna look for a style because
(30:55):
you know, I'm not gonna have the One thing about
him is that you could ask him to do whatever,
but you're not gonna You're not gonna play a style
that doesn't benefit point guards. Right. You might have, you know,
he's not He may like them. You may you may
want him to just run that flex, you know what
I mean, and get that thing on. But you have to.
(31:19):
I think I think U c l A like when
you think about LaVar when he were Alonzo. I think
that was the perfect situation. He played a game that
suited his game and he was needed right because his game.
He had the guys with him too, the shooters, he
had rim runners, he had screening rollers, and he was
(31:41):
able to create pace and create a threat from You
didn't know what he was gonna do every possession, so
you had to get your defense set. If you didn't,
he punish you. So you know, from the basketball standpoint,
I'm not saying my son is line. I'm not, but
I'm saying I just like how that situation it worked out.
I don't know if he looked for that, but it
worked out perfectly in arms up. It was a style
(32:01):
that that suited lines of being beneficial to the school
and the players, and the thing being beneficial to promoting him.
So I like a situation where we're needing and can
play and then you know, you just you just want
to have the support on the staff. I think it's
important to have a support on the staff. I'm still
a young man. You want to have somebody that is,
(32:23):
what is their track record of making sure that that
the kid is that they're checking on them. Some kids
that is and don't check on you. Some schools they
do a great job, you know, like when you had
Tony Bland and Jason Hard at usc M took off.
Now we know, I'm not trying to, you know, put
(32:44):
down Andy, he's a teacher. He's no. No j Hart, no,
Tony Bland. Cut the hope, he's not still here properly
what I'm saying. But having Jason, to me, Tony Bland
allowed them to compete with U C l A in
this market. When you ce l A already the powerhouse
(33:07):
to this to that, but when you got Jason Hard
and Tony Bland, what you had is people that can
go into your living room, look you in the eye,
and then you believe what they were saying. Super unique
to have two guys l A guys cut from the
cloth that they are on one staff recruiting kids in
these homes for parents in that generation of my generation
(33:29):
and y'all generation of the in the generation before us.
I mean, it's almost it was almost a perfect storm. Man.
That's it's hard to say no. When you got j
Hart just is man, there's a familiarity there and you know,
shout out Tony Bland, Jay Hard, Jay Hard. Now with
the G League, I nite Tony Bland St. Bernard's you know,
heck of a program over there. But to your point,
(33:50):
j Um, that stuff is important man nowadays. So that
that relationship with a coach, somebody on that staff that's
gonna actually give two ships about your well being on
a day to day basis not like that, you know
that other type of stuff. Yeah, they just want you
to hope and if you're not good, come on, man,
give me somebody else. Man, I can't win with this.
(34:12):
And and then guys are truth tellers. Yeah that's what
you want. You wants my tey. That's not cutting it.
And it's not about me having a relationship calling in, hey,
how's he doing. No, it's not that. It's he's with you,
you know what I mean. He's in your house now.
When he was at my house, Now he's in your house,
you know what I mean. So it's not for me
(34:33):
to be checking up. I need to be let him go.
I need to be coming up watching the game and
you know, bringing food whatever the you know, a parent
that situation needs to do and I'm apparent fully you
know absolutely absolutely what as far as your your emphasis
moving forward with Jake two? Um, I know it's a
(34:56):
it's it's a day to day, daily grind and probably
have it all planned out, but like, how do you
keep him grounded? He's getting a lot of accolades, he's
getting a lot of attention, a lot of people are
talking about him, He's getting put in situations where typical
fourteen year old basketball player on this level doesn't get
put in. How do you keep him working, grounded and
(35:19):
his head on straight if you will? Well, because we
haven't accomplished anything yet. You know, you have to always
look ahead, and I think that you always get better
and you always stay focused until you stop. So I
always preached that to him, you know, is that enjoy
(35:39):
the journey, have fun, have fun with the game. You know,
but since he was young, you know, the we're putting
into him is the love the work and the training,
because that's what if you don't love that and you
don't have a passion for that, the process, Yeah, you
(36:01):
have to have a passion for this and you have
to keep growing and I think every step of the
way you get results. You get your results, and then
you have your things. Okay, I need to go back
and address this. And I think his desire, he has
a desire as a basketball player to master this game.
You know, I see that in him. I see that
(36:21):
in him. You know, he has a strong desire to
like really his passing, Like he just wants to master
if he's not doing something, he gets to a game
and something it's not going the way he likes it.
He wants to understand. Okay, the's horns, what's going on
with this? You know what I'm saying. So I think
I think you're you're you're you have to you have
to try to get a a desire to learn. You know,
(36:44):
if you can't get a desire to learn, then you're
gonna you're gonna think you made it? Are you gonna?
But no matter how good you get, there's always a
desire to learn because competition is constantly coming around the corner. Yeah,
it's it takes a level of self checking, self accountability
and where you are too as a player, Like you
can't think you just the man or you know it
(37:05):
all you got all the game, you gotta be willing
to add study and implement pieces, uh, just because you
know that you're not and you will never be a
finished product. But no, man, you you keep with this
big I love the big picture approach that you have
to coaching and to parenting as well, focusing less on
(37:27):
you know, getting in the weeds of things and and
focusing on stuff like the process. You know what I mean,
falling in love with the process. I mean, that's a
hell of a a nugget to to sort of embrace
as as other young coaches are out here program building
and try to develop people. I think the way you
viewed things, and I've always noticed it working with you
with the Truth and being up at Lynnwood early on
(37:49):
when you when you first got the gig, I always
noticed how you would think about things, and it will
always strike me as something like, man, that's that's a
unique way of looking at it. But then as I've
gotten older, it's you were you were pretty advanced. J
So keep doing what Keep doing what you're doing, man,
you know serious for real though, Keep doing what you
yeah for sure for sure, and keep doing what you're doing. Um,
(38:11):
I know you gotta run, man. I appreciate you taking
the time today too, brother, I know you got a
busy schedule, man, and it's always nice to chop it up, bro.
And you keep changed, keep changing lives, keep affecting people's
lives for the better man, and best of luck with
lynn Wood man, and we all go be watching J
two's uh progression moving great man. When I'm gonna tell
(38:32):
you too, I love having you, know, I want to
love having you around the game. You know, Uh, that's
what we need. We need guys like you around the
game because just even you there, it's like your statue,
you're like, you're like, it's really at the high school level,
at this level right here, what you've accomplished in your
(38:54):
in your view. You know, you're like, this is a
big g that comes back. You're able to. But you're
able to because people don't understand the eyes and then
his eyes right, there's different sets of lenses, right, like
all these glasses. But the Gucci once cost more than
(39:14):
for a reason. I mean, so we need we need those.
We need. It's good man, to have guys like you
around and being able to get perspective. I think it
just helps the game. It helps the game. And you know,
everybody gets a chance to hear what you say. You
know what I'm saying, because that's what that's that's what's
kind of like holding us up. It's not enough for guys.
(39:35):
Just this is what we feel, this is it, this
is the guy, this is the thing, this is what
I saw. You know what I mean, Because we're getting
everything with everybody else, but it's like, no, we need
to hear from We need to hear from the guy
that was winning championship, dominating on these floors. What does
he have to say? You want to be a great actor,
(39:58):
you start hearing Denzel got something to say and stuff
like that. Or you can listen to the people with
the Ecademy Awards, to the voters and this, and but
when Denzel, you know what I'm saying, cause that's who
lists to right now. We gotta listen to the and
that's part of the business. I'm not but the real
guys want to hear from Denzel and Samuel. We want
to hear those stories, you know, you know, we from
the horse's man. We want to hear from the horse's mouth. Yeah,
(40:20):
those perspectives from those guys. What you know what I
mean about? You know what I mean so so it's
good to see you around the game though. Man, whenever
every time you get when you free man and see
you run the game, it's just a blessing for each other. Man. Yeah, man,
I love being around it. Man. It always reinvigorates me. Man,
and I always feel like my happiest ever when I
when I attended them and the gym. So, mane you
(40:41):
be seeing me more, brother, I'm gonna come over the
little one, Bro, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna fall through.
I'm gonna check it out, man, and we're gonna be
uh yeah, I'll definitely be at the real one when
the Classic against Long Beach Polly. Uh yeah, I'm definitely
gonna be at that batch up to watch you. I
love it for the season, man, it's great. You know
you get a chance to play against you know, a
(41:01):
team of Polly while they're young and their guys experienced.
They went all way to the I watched Pollies run
they lost the St. Bernards last year in the UH
state playoffs. Yeah you know what I mean, So that
I watched that. That was you know, those are good.
That's a good opportunity for us to grow right before
leave so for sure, yeah, for sure. Well knt wait
j Man. I appreciate you, brother, thank you for coming
(41:24):
on kJ Live, Ladies and gentlemen. Jason Crow, Senior, one
hund
This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallie and Chris
is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and
entertainment industry. Now here's Chris Johnson. I'm back kJ Live
(00:22):
in the building. I hope y'all are good out there.
Another fire episode on the way. Today's guest on the show.
He's a former professional basketball player, the guy that has
made a huge difference on the southern California basketball scene
for the last twenty years through mentoring working folks out,
(00:46):
developing players, and influencing kids in the right way. He's
now the head boys varsity basketball coach at Lynnwood High School.
Please welcome Jason Crow Senior to the show. What ut
j Crow? Are you feeling? Are you feeling thanks for
having Jack? You know, feeling good? Man. I had a
(01:08):
chance to come out on Sunday to the League presented
by Compton Magic out at Westminster High School. Man got
a chance to check out your crew, the latest iteration
of Lynnwood High School. Jason Crow Jr. In the building,
Chase Holly and others. Uh, the team is extremely impressive.
(01:29):
You're extremely young. Let's talk a little bit about this season,
the preparation that has gone into it and what you're
looking forward to out of this group in twenty two. Yeah,
you know with this group you said, Um, we're relying
heavily on five freshmen. I'm really close to starting all
(01:51):
five of them. Yeah, we they played. You know, it's
because we started it with the men. Took with these
guys and the training and I got enamored by the
unity of these guys of how they work. It wasn't
it's not their talents, it's their desire to get out
(02:12):
there and do whatever you ask them to do. And
me coaching this my coaching experience having a group that
like when you say, look, give me twenty miles, they
take off. I'm like, hold, I'm just playing, like you
know what I mean, Like, they don't the trust the trust,
(02:34):
you know, And that's what I've learned and coaching that
from them. My experience with them has shown me that
the trust is the most important ingredient because they do
trust me. And so I tried to be prepared. I
tried to give them as much as I can. I
try to uh do that. But as far as our
goals for this year, uh, you know, we want to
come out there and want our leave. We we're gonna
(02:56):
be in five double A, so you know, like we
we we gotta go try to win it. I mean
anything less would I believe would be disappointing. I mean
this this year, we they changed our league model, so
now we have an upper and lower league. So, uh,
the pandemic, we should we shut down. So but what
(03:20):
happened was we was d one, so we shut down.
But what happened was three teams wanted up their playoffs
standing and they gave us forfeits, knowing that we called
off the season. But they registered forfeits. Okay, so I'm
looking like, okay, they want to pull this stunt. But
what it did, so it dropped us all the way
back in divisions because of that thing. Because last year
(03:41):
I knew come out of pandemic, said I got these
five freshmen, I'm gonna throw them in. I don't care.
So I didn't do any type of like wherever the
school had come on the pandemic. You know, we were
like we were guys were like our practice last year
was like so basic and just trying to build confidence
and enjoy the game. It was. Winning wasn't discussed, you
(04:03):
know what I mean? It was all about giving your best.
So we end up being in this position because of that.
So now the so now our league is Fireball when
the lower division with Fireball guard Warren, Um, Bell Flower
and Norwalk. Okay, yeah, we need to win that. Like
we're not trying to be all like this is we're
(04:25):
gonna do our best. No, we need to win that. Absolutely, Yeah, absolutely.
When you talked about trust, and it sounds like like
you know, when you're building a team, when you're building
a squad, you put a lot of thought, you put
a lot of take everything into consideration, you look out,
you know, you're you're you're planning ahead for the future.
(04:48):
But when you talk about trust in the hearing and now,
how do you build that with a unit with so
much youth and not a lot of senior leadership? You know,
think it comes from building their relationships. Um, with all
those kids, I have a personal relationship, you know, and
(05:10):
it's a different relationship. So I coach every kid. I
see people say some people have philosophy, I coach all
the kids the same. I don't think that's possible. I
coach everybody different. I coach everybody to what I believe
is their goals that they said for themselves and the
standard that I believe they can meet like I can't
because I ask different things of different players, So how
(05:31):
can I treat you the same when I'm asking different
things of you? So I think just building those relationships
and having and where you're showing them that you're invested
in them as well, because I care about down the
road for you, So I'm trying to prepare you for that,
and I'm with you, but I'm not trying to tell you.
I'm trying to get you to understand this is your
(05:53):
career and I'm just here to help you as far
as your career and your relation and your relationship and
be and be a piece for you to rely on.
You know. So now when it comes to us on
this basketball team and what we're trying to complish together
and how we prepare you know, we're gonna do it
my way while you're in the space working in the
space for this time, We're gonna do everything my way.
(06:16):
How how much uh this kind of a two sided question,
How fun satisfying has it been coaching J two Jason
Crow Jr. Watching him come up? And then how much
of a challenge has it been to kind of told
the line between father and son. We've seen a lot
(06:38):
of father and son coach player relationships in the past,
some workouts, some don't. I wanted to get your opinion
on on that aspect well as far as uh, you know,
you got to make adjustments along the way, just like
a father would. So a lot of people I've heard say, well,
you gotta separate. Well, no, I'm not separate. That doesn't
(07:01):
mean we come out there with daddy this. We're not
that age anymore, like you know what I mean. We're
not We're not teeing it daddy. We're not. We're not
that age anymore, you know what I mean. So I'm
not separating that i'm as father or even when he's
in practice, because I'm a coach as well. So now
I'm coaching and my demands of him are gonna be
whatever they are that I expected. I'm not going to
(07:22):
lower him and I'm not gonna you know, but what
I learned that as a you have to grow just
like a parent. You have to grow as a coach
and how you deal with each player. This is a
unique situation. So I have to grow that and its
something It's on me. If I'm the leader, it's on
me to let him know. You know, look, you're wrong here,
but I understand you know, when I'm wrong, I'm gonna
(07:45):
announced it. I shouldn't, you know, because you have certain
things something you're like, look my fault. I mean, you
gotta come back home like my fault. You know what
I mean. But as far as the thing with the
game and coach them as rewarded because he wanted this,
you know, and he wanted to learn from me because
I was already coaching it. Some people that see us
(08:07):
now they think that I am so younger this that
I started coaching with him. Oh, he's a product of
the gym. He's a product of seeing players, of seeing
the shackle for the saying behind me, how kids is
seeing these guys coming in Bourbon day to where I'm like, look, man,
you can shoot on the side courts, and he had
the side courts. Then you look up and people are
(08:29):
telling you, like, man, did you see him make fifty
with verse laps in the road. I'm like looking over
there and he's like five years old. He got everything English,
both fans, I didn't you know what I mean? That's
him wanting to be a part of it. So that's
how we started, and that's how we're going to keep it.
Like our ladship with the game is our love, you know,
(08:50):
Like if I saw him, like I come downstairs, he's
watching Dr Jack, you know, so remind me of me
as a kid is searching, you know, and then he's
a And it's still like we still have our one
on one battles in the backyard. So it's still that.
It's still that relationship, y'all. Still can you can he
(09:10):
get you? Can he beat you consistently? Or are you
not allowing that? Are you hacking? Are you fouling? Or
you are you putting on the extra defense? And me
talk to me, Jake, Well, I'm gonna tell you this
right now. I mean the three dribbles is keeping us,
keeping me, but I let them get uh the limited
dribbles is all these these jerks and closing and start
(09:33):
stop um, you know. But the backyard I got walls. Yeah,
don't play the walls in the backyard. So right now,
for right now, I've been letting them were in the
backyard with it. I'm still I'm still king in the backyard.
But in that in that gym with all that space
and all that stuff to cover because he's a tough cover,
you know, and then you know, I'm not I'm not
(09:54):
active like the player against him. You gotta be actually
working in the game because if you miss, you know,
he can go off. So you gotta you know, but
it's good like that. We still have that relationship. Like
a morning I played one on one. It was fun, yeah,
and it shows. I mean the thing that I think
that stood out to me because I was my first
(10:15):
time had seen him at this age and you know,
after he's you know, been starting on the seventeen and
Compton Magic and all that, you know, all that all
that stuff. The thing that jumped out, man, was the strength.
So there are a couple of plays on Sunday. You know,
he's driving to the length, driving driving to the rack.
Dudes were really trying to lock up. They were trying
to strap up there down in the stands, chesting up,
(10:36):
and he just yah, yeah yeah, and just work dudes
all the way in. You know, ref call it. We're
barely missing the and one that's what stood out that
looked like he'd been playing against a dog on serious wiry,
grown man strength. Having defender all his life. It reminded
me of me playing against my dad growing up. Right,
we're in the front yard man, and the block on
(10:56):
the block in the post. So when I got when
I got out there, and when I got it out
into the real world against dudes my age regularly. So
you already said, you already know. I see it. Not afraid,
not at all. Once you go through, once you go through.
And then the thing about the pops, we don't want
to relinquish the crown. It's not that thing because we're serious.
(11:20):
So we're not gonna give you the That's a boy,
I get out the way. I don't. You can't beat me.
I don't you know what I mean? Like, if you
beat me, you have to earn I'm not. You're not
trying to like all that's fool your kid and thinking
he can beat you and all this. No, you want
him to go to hard route. You want him to
go to hard route so he's fully prepared for whatever
(11:40):
he sees. Jake, when you're coming up man, growing up
out here in l A. The competitive nature of your character,
the person you are. Where did you develop that? Where
did you get that competitiveness to where you compete at
just about everything there is. I think, uh, just you know,
(12:02):
I was somebody asked me that, and I think it
was just I wanted to impress my dad, you know,
I wanted to get favor from people anywhere I go.
I always wanted to. I guess it would being an
only child, I always had to go somewhere else, right,
So when you always have to go somewhere else, then
you're outside looking in, right, because they have their little favorite.
(12:24):
You're coming in. They don't pick you, so you always
have to prove no, you're gonna pick me, you know
what I'm saying. And you have to earn that. That's
where I come. I come from playing everywhere, going all
outside of my area, finding game and and doing that
and and you know, and I think that's the element
right now, that that I learned that I have to
(12:47):
create for these guys, Right, I think when you see
them play, you see that in them, right, Because you
see guys that that some of the guys, if you
see them what they're working with, they've been psyched into that.
You're gonna be strong and prepared to compete. You know.
The skills will figure that out. But first things first
(13:09):
you know, we're gonna be out here to compete. We're
gonna find the way, we're gonna run faster to the ball.
We're gonna out think we're gonna compete. And that's a
skill right now, that's hard to teach because of the
fact that you know, we're we're, we're, we're circling all that.
This changed. I don't wanted to be a hater, but
times have changed, right Like, when you think about it,
(13:32):
there's no playground games Like I grew up catching the
bus to Audubon to stay out there. They're out there.
I'm going to fochet, you know, I'm going to different
places in l a middle school's outdoor by myself to
hope that doesn't exist. And when you go to those places,
you have to win. If you don't win, you're not
allowed to play. You can shoot around on the other
(13:52):
side baskets. You want to get into the game, you
have to win, and then when you lose, you have
to wait. And if you're young, you're not. You do
not have next, No, you don't. You can't with nobody's asks.
You don't have next, can't play right they got you
can't play on his team and know everybody needs to win.
(14:13):
So you think about how it's going now, and like
I said, it's changed. I'm not trying to be but
the kids are learning skill before the competitiveness, so that
they put kind of like, you know, they learned that
skill first, but then you have the game is five
on five to win, so it's it's kind of like
it's not fair to them. They're missing that step. Fox
(14:35):
Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation.
Catch all of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot
com and within the I Heart Radio app search f
s R to listen live. Who is it on one?
Whose responsibility is that ja to teach these kids competitiveness,
to instill some heart into these dudes. And from what
(14:55):
I see, and we're not being haters, it's different. There's changed,
But there's also a solution. There has to be a solution,
Like these kids just they can't just grow up without
heart or being competitive, Like what about it? Because I
see them on their video games, so I see how
competitive they are. Uh my son in particular, how competitive
(15:16):
he was with video games, So why can't it carry
over you know in the sport? I guess you know
what it is is each one teach one because I
was thinking, like it's hard to do a mass covering.
But one of the problems we have is that the guys,
the guys that that I really hurts my heart is
(15:37):
that guys that have played the game and then they
have kids, then they do the bs, they do all
the like not being a leader to your son, not
keeping it real. Not see we're not we're not We're
we're we're not being reality with love. See I believe
in that it's reality with love. I gotta be able
(15:57):
to coach you, right, Yeah, So that's truth teller, truth teller,
truth teller, each one teach one in the area. We
have to be able to do that. We have to
be able to be responsible for our areas. Everybody has
to govern their part. And I think that's what we're
not doing. Like you know, you have certain people, but
like I'm gonna do it. You can't play for me
(16:19):
without without this you You're gonna quit the conditioning, the
mental the toughness. I'm but I'm there to love you.
I'm there to be there, you know. I Like I said,
I give I spend time development each relationship with the
kids that I have. I know all the kids. I
know their problems, I know their strengths and o their weaknesses.
That takes investment. That's why I don't even look. And
(16:39):
I said, I don't want to blame everybody because I
know the requirements of what I'm trying to get accomplished
to help these guys. So everybody might not have the time, energy,
or or the willingness, but we can start off by
being truth tellers and that to help. Right now, we're
making it seem like you don't have to do that,
(17:00):
you know, you know we can bypass that. You know,
it's okay, Okay, I find it. I find it interesting
now in today's in today's era that, um, there's just
so many non truth tellers. It's almost like the truth
(17:20):
or someone's real opinion is now taking his hate or
you know, some type of agenda. I just want to
know where did when did our basketball culture become so
extremely sensitive? Because when I was coming up, Jay, you know,
I was a big guy, so I was a little overweight, etcetera.
There wasn't a basketball coach, There wasn't a person that
(17:41):
didn't tell me I needed to lose weight if I
wanted to be know, be good in this gay and
achieve my top partitution. But you tell you tell a
kid that nowadays, and you know, you may get canceled
or you may be accused of being a bully or something.
We have two voice. Damn, that's what it is, right,
because what you're about to say is that you tell
a kid that now, But look who's gonna Who's gonna
(18:04):
get an intervene in that situation? The parents, parents, So
the parents voice. Back in the day we played, the
parents had zero voice. Your father are all time great,
should be in the Hall of Fame. He has a voice.
Why because Hall of Fame Lebron James father has a voice.
Why he's Lebron James. He's greater than the coach, you
(18:30):
know what I mean. So now everybody wants to be
like LaVar. Lavarre came out and did this thing, and look,
you can't knock him, but it made everybody think, like,
like you know what I'm saying, Like Lavoire was no
great player. Now he had some opportunity. But all these
voices of parents, they're prominent, they're on social media and
(18:51):
they have influence today. Right, you want to run your program,
this one has the funding funding. I think that like
the life blood of video and say, now you compromise
one thing. You compromise one thing, you'll compromise another you don't.
And that's what ended up happening to a lot of
the coaches. They don't have the voice. They don't want
(19:14):
to they don't have the voice, you know, because there
they're sometimes these jobs to value on them has gone up,
and the parents have a great voice now that they
didn't have before they came. And was fully supporting the
coaching situation. If your kid didn't play, you know, your
kid didn't play, then you went and talked to him. Maybe,
(19:35):
but a lot of times it just was like, which
you good? Another I was like, man, I want to
go to Videss. He was like he was like, he
was like, of course you do. You're weak. Yeah, yeah,
(19:56):
that was my dad, you know what I mean? So like,
of course you want to run pump? Well what I'm
looking for the Yeah, let's get you going. No, no,
you know what I'm saying. So and he was right,
he was right, he's what I'm saying. That was the
(20:16):
thing that he could have been. We're living in a
different era. He didn't have to probably use that terminology
or whatnot we can, but he was a hundred percent correct.
And that's why me and my father blameship. It's so
tight to the thing because all that stuff I didn't
I thought of. Realizing that more and more that ye
me for everything. Yeah, you gotta appreciate your pops or
(20:36):
or your father figure mentors in your life when they
keep it one hunted. They don't just let you do
what you want to do because they want to stay
cool with you and be buddy buddy. I think that's
one of the finest lines. And being father's son and
mentor and even big brother man, it's like having those
real conversations, telling that telling those real troops man makes
(20:58):
which makes you look at yourself, uh in the mirror
and really then you'll be able to accept and move on.
Let me ask you this, I wanted to get your
your perspective on, like the n I L deals and
and all this new sort of stuff that we're seeing
not only in college, but now it's kind of cascading
down to high school. Nike just announced they signed Brownie
(21:19):
James and Juju Watkins and d J. Wagner a bunch
of other people. How does the n I L as
as a as a coach, and as a parent, because
you have an interesting perspective on this. Okay, does the
does the N I L situation excite you? Or does
it give you anxiety? No? No, you know what I said,
(21:41):
But that is I've been in the business too long,
and so one of the things that I understand about
the business of basketball, right we're talking about the business now,
is that you have to adapt. We've been on places
you play, you seeing guys look at the contract on
that team and you're like, I'm three times better than him.
So what you're gonna do? Quit? You know what I mean?
(22:02):
You sign yours now? You now you can not have
a better understanding of what you need to do and
who you need to talk to. Why of this player?
Oh okay, here, you got the big screens in your apartment,
write that into the continent. Okay, sleep. So you have
to be able to adapt. You can't like so for me,
But my whole thing on the N I L is
(22:23):
it's beneficial, right, but you have to understand where you are.
So so for a lot of guys, you know, they
haven't reached that thing because all these little smaller deals,
I think they're cool. If if their deals that you like, right,
But when you talk about Ronnie, like, yeah, he's Lebron
(22:45):
James Son and he's and he's a he's dunking on
people on on your thing. He's going viral and then
you can hate if you want. It's not about being
the best player. It's about it's about the phenomenon. It's
a different thing. It's name, image and likeness. The same
way that in football, everybody kept complaining because Baker Mayfield
getting all those commercials. Right, He's not the best quarterback,
(23:08):
he's not a Pro Bowl quarterback. He dominates your TV screen.
I mean, and we know why he's he He came
out he was a number one pick at quarterback, so
that that meant that he that lined him up for deals.
That's just how it goes. I mean, you know those
guys will get deals. But as a as a parent,
the parents, I'll tell them, your folkus got to be
(23:29):
the basketball. The deals you get what you get out
this game, you know because of the basketball. So you
so a lot of times you have to just keep
evaluating the basketball. Basketball. Basketball. Now, once you get to
that status where you have the status and you know
it and you know when you got it. You know,
when you got you know, you're gonna ask with some
(23:51):
extra cheese on the on the you know what I mean.
You don't know that, and then you don't know life
like be quiet, you know what I mean, Let me
deal with what I got. I'm hanging in there or no,
I'm that guy. I need extra on everything. Right now,
I'm killing You know. When you reached that plateau, that's
the time to start understanding. And you have to know
(24:11):
that because you have to know your value. So it's
really hard for parents because parents are That's what I'm
saying there now there now don't know where to get
their true expertise. The social media has created a form.
Like you said, when did it change? I think it
changed because I started. It was one way. It wasn't
a social media heavy thing. When I started, it wasn't
(24:34):
social media was out, but the whole notion of entertaining
all this basketball stuff on social media was not the
pro game was. Then everything you started coming down. We
started doing middle school rankings, third grade rankings, we started
doing all that kind of stuff. It started being more
energy towards these things. I think in the last seven
(24:56):
or eight years you know, it's really changed it to
to that. So now the parents they're gonna suffer and
they're gonna deal with that anxiety because they're not gonna
understand who to trust in this in this mark, because
you're gonna have coaches. Just like what I said earlier,
I said, look, I want to go to Venice. The
thing is my mom, my mom would have if I
didn't have my dad. My mom would have roll with me.
(25:18):
She loved me, my baby. So I'm telling her suddenly such,
I'm bearing to him now now she's moved me around.
I'm looking for the n I like, so I can
just sympathize with people. So as a parent, you really
have to get people who have a history. I don't
understand people go and people can. They can doctor stuff
(25:39):
up on social media too to make it look like something.
I look at people stuff on social me. I'm like,
that would have got me if I didn't know, If
if I didn't know you, yeah, I would buy you
know what I mean because it's you know, it's what
happened since the beginning of time. Salesman, it's what they
if they call them back in the day. But people's
(26:01):
ability to market themselves and sell folks. A dream is
something I like to put it, like, typically the best
at what they do are people that are really gonna
ask some value to you. They don't They aren't the
best at marketing themselves. They kind of just go through
life having these skills understanding what their ability is. But
(26:21):
they might not be necessarily the greatest at promoting. But
sometimes you get the promotional aspect where everything all that
glitters ain't going it looks great, Oh bills and whistles,
shiny man, that was dope. Then you go and get
it and it's kind of like, you know, March, I'm
not gonna lie to you though, and I don't know
if he's gonna asset, but I'm just go ahead and
put it out there, like, uh, Atope is one of
(26:44):
the guys like I've seen the Ryan Silver and all
that stuff. I've seen all that. Now Atope is the
guy that I saw that. I I was like, Okay, I'm
gonna step out the weapon like me because now I
can do the basketball because you know, he got you know,
because a lot of guys they're doing all this other
(27:05):
stuff like this, but we're looking like he has a
he has a niche of understanding enough about the basketball,
enough about the basketball, and about relationships and the marketing
and promotion side. That actually very unique for us on
the West coast, staying us on the West coast, if
(27:27):
you look at what he's done with that brand, and
I saw it with my son having a year on
in the program, so you know, by me running a
program at that level, being a competitor of his, you
know what I mean, they're saying like, if I want
this done right, let me go over here and then
let me do that that way for you know, a
tope h a I one of the most impressive dudes
(27:50):
as far as in that space, still doing it today. Um.
Balance the balance of what you mentioned, the relationships, the
ability to promote market things, and then actually having the substance.
That's what I'm saying. He put all, you know, brings
everything together, man, And I saw that. I saw that
(28:14):
in them, and and that's a rare. We don't have
a lot of guys like that. They think they they're
trying to put it on like that, you know what
I mean, But they don't really have those relationships. Because
even when you look at the guy rest in peace,
man in the Hill, and that video that you see
circulating when he's talking to at That's real, man, that's real. Now,
(28:36):
everybody else they did this for this guy. They did
that for that guy. Where's the video? Get me here
from him? We hear from you, let's hear from them.
See how they see how they feel about the person. Yeah. See,
that's what I'm saying, and that and that, and this
is after I already been there. But that's just what
I mean by that, Like he had those relationships are real,
(28:59):
and then he the business he's doing is real, and
so that's a good He's probably what I've seen on
the West, you know. So that's what made me say, Okay.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. And now, haven't
(29:22):
been through this process j A that J two is
going through now as far as a you and the
college recruiting process is about to start to ramp up
a little bit. What do you feel or when you're
looking at a program, when you're thinking about the future
for your son, what are some of the most important
(29:43):
factors in a basketball program and institution, a college institution
that you would look for your son to experience. WHOA
I want somebody that needs him, you know, whatever situation
that needs him. You know, my job is he'll be prepared.
(30:08):
You know, I know enough about him to understand if
he's fourteen now and he won't be fifteen until next year,
and he's ready to go, and he's not afraid, and
and and the kid can face the competition now when
he's when he's seventeen, he's coming into college. He'll be
ready then. So who needs him? You know, That's the
(30:31):
first thing I think. People we think about what we want,
but we gotta think about this is a system of value.
You do better off where you need it, you know.
So I think that's the first thing that has to
come to mind. And then I'm gonna look for for
the basketball, I'm just gonna look for a style because
(30:55):
you know, I'm not gonna have the One thing about
him is that you could ask him to do whatever,
but you're not gonna You're not gonna play a style
that doesn't benefit point guards. Right. You might have, you know,
he's not He may like them. You may you may
want him to just run that flex, you know what
I mean, and get that thing on. But you have to.
(31:19):
I think I think U c l A like when
you think about LaVar when he were Alonzo. I think
that was the perfect situation. He played a game that
suited his game and he was needed right because his game.
He had the guys with him too, the shooters, he
had rim runners, he had screening rollers, and he was
(31:41):
able to create pace and create a threat from You
didn't know what he was gonna do every possession, so
you had to get your defense set. If you didn't,
he punish you. So you know, from the basketball standpoint,
I'm not saying my son is line. I'm not, but
I'm saying I just like how that situation it worked out.
I don't know if he looked for that, but it
worked out perfectly in arms up. It was a style
(32:01):
that that suited lines of being beneficial to the school
and the players, and the thing being beneficial to promoting him.
So I like a situation where we're needing and can
play and then you know, you just you just want
to have the support on the staff. I think it's
important to have a support on the staff. I'm still
a young man. You want to have somebody that is,
(32:23):
what is their track record of making sure that that
the kid is that they're checking on them. Some kids
that is and don't check on you. Some schools they
do a great job, you know, like when you had
Tony Bland and Jason Hard at usc M took off.
Now we know, I'm not trying to, you know, put
(32:44):
down Andy, he's a teacher. He's no. No j Hart, no,
Tony Bland. Cut the hope, he's not still here properly
what I'm saying. But having Jason, to me, Tony Bland
allowed them to compete with U C l A in
this market. When you ce l A already the powerhouse
(33:07):
to this to that, but when you got Jason Hard
and Tony Bland, what you had is people that can
go into your living room, look you in the eye,
and then you believe what they were saying. Super unique
to have two guys l A guys cut from the
cloth that they are on one staff recruiting kids in
these homes for parents in that generation of my generation
(33:29):
and y'all generation of the in the generation before us.
I mean, it's almost it was almost a perfect storm. Man.
That's it's hard to say no. When you got j
Hart just is man, there's a familiarity there and you know,
shout out Tony Bland, Jay Hard, Jay Hard. Now with
the G League, I nite Tony Bland St. Bernard's you know,
heck of a program over there. But to your point,
(33:50):
j Um, that stuff is important man nowadays. So that
that relationship with a coach, somebody on that staff that's
gonna actually give two ships about your well being on
a day to day basis not like that, you know
that other type of stuff. Yeah, they just want you
to hope and if you're not good, come on, man,
give me somebody else. Man, I can't win with this.
(34:12):
And and then guys are truth tellers. Yeah that's what
you want. You wants my tey. That's not cutting it.
And it's not about me having a relationship calling in, hey,
how's he doing. No, it's not that. It's he's with you,
you know what I mean. He's in your house now.
When he was at my house, Now he's in your house,
you know what I mean. So it's not for me
(34:33):
to be checking up. I need to be let him go.
I need to be coming up watching the game and
you know, bringing food whatever the you know, a parent
that situation needs to do and I'm apparent fully you
know absolutely absolutely what as far as your your emphasis
moving forward with Jake two? Um, I know it's a
(34:56):
it's it's a day to day, daily grind and probably
have it all planned out, but like, how do you
keep him grounded? He's getting a lot of accolades, he's
getting a lot of attention, a lot of people are
talking about him, He's getting put in situations where typical
fourteen year old basketball player on this level doesn't get
put in. How do you keep him working, grounded and
(35:19):
his head on straight if you will? Well, because we
haven't accomplished anything yet. You know, you have to always
look ahead, and I think that you always get better
and you always stay focused until you stop. So I
always preached that to him, you know, is that enjoy
(35:39):
the journey, have fun, have fun with the game. You know,
but since he was young, you know, the we're putting
into him is the love the work and the training,
because that's what if you don't love that and you
don't have a passion for that, the process, Yeah, you
(36:01):
have to have a passion for this and you have
to keep growing and I think every step of the
way you get results. You get your results, and then
you have your things. Okay, I need to go back
and address this. And I think his desire, he has
a desire as a basketball player to master this game.
You know, I see that in him. I see that
(36:21):
in him. You know, he has a strong desire to
like really his passing, Like he just wants to master
if he's not doing something, he gets to a game
and something it's not going the way he likes it.
He wants to understand. Okay, the's horns, what's going on
with this? You know what I'm saying. So I think
I think you're you're you're you have to you have
to try to get a a desire to learn. You know,
(36:44):
if you can't get a desire to learn, then you're
gonna you're gonna think you made it? Are you gonna?
But no matter how good you get, there's always a
desire to learn because competition is constantly coming around the corner. Yeah,
it's it takes a level of self checking, self accountability
and where you are too as a player, Like you
can't think you just the man or you know it
(37:05):
all you got all the game, you gotta be willing
to add study and implement pieces, uh, just because you
know that you're not and you will never be a
finished product. But no, man, you you keep with this
big I love the big picture approach that you have
to coaching and to parenting as well, focusing less on
(37:27):
you know, getting in the weeds of things and and
focusing on stuff like the process. You know what I mean,
falling in love with the process. I mean, that's a
hell of a a nugget to to sort of embrace
as as other young coaches are out here program building
and try to develop people. I think the way you
viewed things, and I've always noticed it working with you
with the Truth and being up at Lynnwood early on
(37:49):
when you when you first got the gig, I always
noticed how you would think about things, and it will
always strike me as something like, man, that's that's a
unique way of looking at it. But then as I've
gotten older, it's you were you were pretty advanced. J
So keep doing what Keep doing what you're doing, man,
you know serious for real though, Keep doing what you
yeah for sure for sure, and keep doing what you're doing. Um,
(38:11):
I know you gotta run, man. I appreciate you taking
the time today too, brother, I know you got a
busy schedule, man, and it's always nice to chop it up, bro.
And you keep changed, keep changing lives, keep affecting people's
lives for the better man, and best of luck with
lynn Wood man, and we all go be watching J
two's uh progression moving great man. When I'm gonna tell
(38:32):
you too, I love having you, know, I want to
love having you around the game. You know, Uh, that's
what we need. We need guys like you around the
game because just even you there, it's like your statue,
you're like, you're like, it's really at the high school level,
at this level right here, what you've accomplished in your
(38:54):
in your view. You know, you're like, this is a
big g that comes back. You're able to. But you're
able to because people don't understand the eyes and then
his eyes right, there's different sets of lenses, right, like
all these glasses. But the Gucci once cost more than
(39:14):
for a reason. I mean, so we need we need those.
We need. It's good man, to have guys like you
around and being able to get perspective. I think it
just helps the game. It helps the game. And you know,
everybody gets a chance to hear what you say. You
know what I'm saying, because that's what that's that's what's
kind of like holding us up. It's not enough for guys.
(39:35):
Just this is what we feel, this is it, this
is the guy, this is the thing, this is what
I saw. You know what I mean, Because we're getting
everything with everybody else, but it's like, no, we need
to hear from We need to hear from the guy
that was winning championship, dominating on these floors. What does
he have to say? You want to be a great actor,
(39:58):
you start hearing Denzel got something to say and stuff
like that. Or you can listen to the people with
the Ecademy Awards, to the voters and this, and but
when Denzel, you know what I'm saying, cause that's who
lists to right now. We gotta listen to the and
that's part of the business. I'm not but the real
guys want to hear from Denzel and Samuel. We want
to hear those stories, you know, you know, we from
the horse's man. We want to hear from the horse's mouth. Yeah,
(40:20):
those perspectives from those guys. What you know what I
mean about? You know what I mean so so it's
good to see you around the game though. Man, whenever
every time you get when you free man and see
you run the game, it's just a blessing for each other. Man. Yeah, man,
I love being around it. Man. It always reinvigorates me. Man,
and I always feel like my happiest ever when I
when I attended them and the gym. So, mane you
(40:41):
be seeing me more, brother, I'm gonna come over the
little one, Bro, I'm gonna come, I'm gonna fall through.
I'm gonna check it out, man, and we're gonna be
uh yeah, I'll definitely be at the real one when
the Classic against Long Beach Polly. Uh yeah, I'm definitely
gonna be at that batch up to watch you. I
love it for the season, man, it's great. You know
you get a chance to play against you know, a
(41:01):
team of Polly while they're young and their guys experienced.
They went all way to the I watched Pollies run
they lost the St. Bernards last year in the UH
state playoffs. Yeah you know what I mean, So that
I watched that. That was you know, those are good.
That's a good opportunity for us to grow right before
leave so for sure, yeah, for sure. Well knt wait
j Man. I appreciate you, brother, thank you for coming
(41:24):
on kJ Live, Ladies and gentlemen. Jason Crow, Senior, one
hund
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.