August 10, 2022 • 46 mins
Brad Calipari, a former 3 year player for the University of Kentucky Men's Basketball team.
Brad, son of legendary coach, John Calipari, walked on for his dad's team at Kentucky from 2016-2019. Played 2 seasons at Detroit Mercy from 2019-2021 before taking a Graduate Assistant Coaching position at Kentucky during the 2022 season and is now the Special Assistant to the Head Coach at LIU Brooklyn.
In Part 1, Brad and Noah talk about:
- If Coach Cal forced him to play hoops
- Core values Coach Cal instilled in him growing up
- Dynamic of being coached by his Dad at a school like Kentucky
- 13 former Kentucky teammates in the NBA
- What bothers him most about being known as Coach Cal's son
- Expanding his basketball knowledge & seeing different styles of play
- How he's taken advantage of the opportunities Coach Cal has given him
... and so much more! More on Part 2, coming next week!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, Walkie Tuckies gang, Welcome
(00:28):
into Walkie Talkies Podcast. You're listening to w t Z
E fifteen and if you don't know, that's our radio
code for Walkie Talkies Podcast Episode fifteen. I want to
thank you all for choosing w t Z fifteen. Today.
We're here on the College Athletes Network, featured on I
Heart Radio, and I'm your host, Noah Bono. Now, today's
episode is another two part format featuring Brad Calipari, who
(00:49):
was a former basketball walk on at the University of Kentucky,
former graduate assistant coach at Kentucky, and is now the
special assistant to the head coach at l i U Brooklyn.
So there's so much different conversation throughout the two parts,
so I will try to be brief and summarize quickly
before getting into the interview. You, Uh, you can expect
to hear a good amount about Brad being coached by
his legendary dad, coach John Calipari, the values that his
(01:12):
dad instilled in him and his older sister's, the worst
moment that his dad yelled at him during practice, talk
a lot about Brad having thirteen former Kentucky teammates who
are currently playing in the NBA, and you know, we
get into all of that, and Brad was really open
about what it's like growing up being the son of
a legendary public figure and specifically a legendary basketball figure,
and how he's been able to navigate through all of
(01:33):
that and kind of keeps striving just to make a
name for himself outside of his father's you know, huge name,
you know, and with that comes, you know, how hard
Brad has still had to work to maintain the opportunities
he's been given was playing at Kentucky and then most
recently being a graduate assistant coach on his dad's staff. There.
You know, Brad's now ventured off, as I mentioned, after
(01:53):
one year on staff of Kentucky, is now the special
assistant to the head coach at allow You Brooklyn, And
he touches on what his role is like. They're his
different style and coaching from Coach Cow, the importance for
him to kind of get out and see different brands
of basketball from different types of coaches. Just a lot
of cool stuff all throughout the episode, and it's kind
of why I had to split the conversation up into
two parts, and part one really is only roughly forty
(02:14):
two minutes if you don't include the commercials, So I
hope you guys enjoy it. I did not give a
full summary. Man, there's a ton of things that I
left out of this intro that we are going to
talk about that are super cool and super fun to
hear about from Brad. So I hope you guys you know,
enjoy part one and choose to come back for the
second half of our conversation next week. And before we
get into it, I do want to just ask for
(02:35):
you to please make sure if you like what you're
listening to, to subscribe to Walkie Tucky's podcasts. Those downloads
go a very long way for us. And lastly, if
you'd be so kind to leave the show a review
on whichever ap you listen to your podcast on, those
reviews go a long way as well, and I would
really really appreciate it. So with that being said, let's
get into my full conversation with former Kentucky walk on
and graduate assistant coach Brad Calipari. First of all, uh,
(03:00):
was it decided for you that you were gonna who
right when you were born or you know, did you
go to your dad and hey, you know, I want
to play baseball and your dad was like no, no,
like you're playing basketball and how did how did that
come about? Like were you always a hooper? Yeah? For
the most part. Um, Like even when I was like
really young, I always had a ball in my hand,
and that's probably like part of his dream too. But
like as I got older, there were times like I
(03:21):
played baseball, I played golf like other sports where you know,
like I was probably better at golf than I was basketball.
But he was never like, oh, you have to play basketball.
It was never like that, which I think helped me
develop more of a love for it anyway more than
I already had because he wasn't forcing it on me.
So it was more of this is actually what I
love to do, and I wanted to keep doing it
(03:42):
no matter you know what it is, Like I played
baseball to like seventh grade and then just like forget it.
You know, I'll stick with basketball, and the same thing
with golf. Really, but I probably should have stick with
golf more than I did basketball, just because I probably
would have a better career. But you know that that
is what it is. Yeah, I think that's funny too.
I always say, like maybe I should have just kept
being a baseball player done maybe that athlete anything but basketball. Um,
(04:09):
so you're pretty good high school player, went to a
prep year? Was it a no brainer for you to
go to Kentucky out of high school? Was that like
that always in the cards for you, no matter what? No?
Not really, Um, there were a couple of plays that
could have gone outside of that, which you know, it
may have been fine. But for me, like going into
it and our prep school league, like we played against
and played with like a bunch of high level players,
(04:31):
which is like that was what I was used to
being around. And like for me in my development, I
got lucky because like I walked on, but I was
in practice every day. It's like some walking on they
don't have the luxury being in practice every day and competing.
I got lucky through each year I was able to
be in the all the live stuff and practice every day,
where you know, I was really able to get a
(04:53):
lot of development off that and then by myself, and
that was ultimately what I wanted to get, was like
the development against the best players, which is essentially why
people go to UK. You want to play against the
best and see what you can do. Right, So, how
much of you know, I put you on the spot here,
how much of you you know, getting those live reps
and you know, being around all that kind of talent
(05:13):
and still being able to insert yourself and play. How
much of it had to do with your own ability
and your dad just being like, yeah, come on, like Brad,
you're gonna play. Of course, like he would he would
never do that. If if I was slowing down practice,
he would like he wouldn't even gave me a chance
to get on because how he moves, he doesn't care.
He doesn't care, Like if it was like that, he
would have played me way more than what he did,
(05:34):
Like he does not care at all. So it was
a lot of that, like and probably was my own
ability to just be able to keep up and maintain
with guys in practice and actually make a competitive Yeah,
and how long do you think, you know, was it
a probably a steep transition from where you were at
getting into you know, a gym with nothing but five
star talent. How long do you think it took you
to kind of adapt to be comfortable and like stick
(05:56):
around on the court without him saying, you know, you're
slowing us down. Definitely, my second year was much more
valuable to me and like what I was able to
do and accomplish my second and third year, and then
after my third year, I felt like, you know, I
am actually competing at a higher level with these guys.
Now let me leave and go do this at a
(06:18):
different school at a little lower of a level. So ultimately,
you know, you do three years there. You're a part
of eight wins on those three years. In those three years,
you go to two Elite eights, two time SEC tournament champs.
Like you you really got to see the full, the
full glimpse. You know, you didn't get to a final four,
win a national championship, but I think most of us
would say, like you got to do enough. Yeah, pretty
(06:41):
clean resume for you. So you know, you ultimately do
three years, you graduate, and I think you read shirted
that third year before transferring, so you saved some eligibility.
So did those pieces come together um as the years
went on or did you kind of know, like utilize
this development and then transfer, Like where did that plan
come into play? If I could redo it? I would
have read shirted my freshman year. I just didn't think
(07:04):
about it because I mean that year, like you had
Isaiah Briscoe, de Aaron Fox movie, come on, you had
a lot of guys that were, you know, I'll draft
at NBA like whatever. So if I could have redone it,
I would have read started that year and then developed
to that summer that year and been fine, and then
it probably would have given me a little bit more
of an advantage my last year. But I mean, it's
(07:27):
the path that I chose, and you know, it was
kind of nothing was like, oh I'm gonna do this,
this and this. It kind of just like I worked
my pass off for the last three years. So now
I'm at this point. Now I need to move from here,
and how am I going to operate from this? And
what am I going to do to put myself in
the best position right, Because you know, coach cow your dad,
like he was probably pretty realistic with you with what
(07:49):
your you know, potential was on the team. I'm sure
that if you were worthy of a scholarship or he thought, like,
you know, he can help the team win, like that
would have been the case. Or even if you would
have just been like, you know, one of the lower
scholarship guys. I'm sure that would have been enough for you,
or maybe you can tell me maybe it wouldn't have
been enough for you, but you were clearly looking for
something more to kind of go and show, like you know,
(08:09):
after these three years of development with all of these talents,
all of this talent, I'm around like I'm good enough
to go to a mid major or a low major,
which is what you ended up doing, played two years
at Detroit Mercy Um, Like is that what you wanted
to do all along? Or what did it? Kind of
like reel back in, it was like I don't really
have much of a choice, like this just makes the
most sense for me. So like for me, like after
(08:30):
after my first year, I was on scholarship my sophomore junior,
and then yet that was it. So the first year
I wasn't on scholarship, second and third year I was
like it was it's clearly yes, it's nice because like yeah,
because like I got this in this right. But for me,
like the ultimate goals, like you constantly hear stuff like oh,
like you shouldn't be doing this, you shouldn't be here, blah, blah,
(08:52):
you're not good enough. So now like for me, it
turned into like I don't really care what anybody says,
like I've proven to myself, like I can compete at
a higher level, So I'm going to go do this.
I only to show others but mainly myself, Like because
all you hear is the same thing, Like I said,
you're not supposed to be here, you're not good enough.
So now I hear that so oftense, like sometimes you
(09:14):
don't want to believe it, but like you hear it
so much, like sometimes you start to doubt yourself. But
it's like as much work as I put in, like
throughout the years of summers whatever, it is like now
I gotta show myself and I gotta take that jump.
I gotta take the risk to see, like look, can
I do this myself or you know, and am I
really not good enough? So now I put myself in
a position like if I fall, I fall, but you
(09:37):
know if I jump and I make it, I'm good.
Like you know, it's it's something I had to take
a risk on which you know, I bet on myself
even though as a lower level it is what it is,
but you know I was good with what I did
and you and you don't regret that you would have
done that part of it over again, like you know,
go to Kentucky and then ultimately try to you know,
just prove to yourself like the work I put in,
I trusted I'm good enough. Like you end up playing
(09:59):
what twenty seven games at Detroit Mercy started in six
of them, and I think the following year you didn't
play much. I don't if you got hurt or you
had some COVID stuff going on, but ultimately you had
I'll let you touch on that. I just want to
finish this question. Because you had that COVID year, you
had a six year of eligibility essentially, and you didn't
use it. So break that down for me and the
listeners and what happened there. No, so the COVID here,
(10:19):
I just felt like I would have been too old,
Like I read shirted already and then like you know,
I was already your head because I read shirt and
I was like, you know what, like either I'm gonna
try to play overseas or I'm gonna get right into coaching.
And ultimately, um, I was just like, you know, I'll
get right into coaching because it just I felt like
for me that was the best path to take in
(10:39):
this ultimately what I wanted to do anyway. But no,
like Detroit was a good experience. We had a solid team,
like we meshed well. The first year we struggled, but
like the COVID, y're you know, we had a little
bit of a better team, and you know, you had
games where you had forfeits and teams can't play, so
it was it was up and down where you know,
guys had to really you know, buy into each other
(11:01):
and like the opportunities we had for games, like you
really have to step up because now you have less games.
Now you have too it's more pressure to win games too.
You'd be in conference tournament because if you didn't hit
X number of games, you didn't even get into the
conference tournament. So like there was much more pressure on
those games where posted to the last year, it was
a little rougher, but you know, you didn't have a
(11:22):
certain number you had to get to right, so, you know,
kind of taking it back to the Kentucky walk on
days you said you were on you were walking on
the first year and then you actually got put on
scholarship those following two years. When did that happen? What
was was it just ultimately like conversation between you and
your dad. I don't know how many people knew that,
and not that it's a big deal or anything. I
just always was under the assumption like I just walked
(11:43):
on there. But like like I said to you, you
know when we got on the call, was like your
dad is a coach, and anybody who works at the institution,
like their kids, you get free tuition anyway, So really
you were always on scholarship. And how did it come
about that conversation come about for you guys to put
you on scholarship. Um, it wasn't. It's nothing like crazy.
It just after like that year in the summer, like
(12:04):
he knows like how much I would be in the gym,
the amount of hours I would put in, and you know,
he saw that I was really taking it serious and
like this is what I want to do, and like
I'm trying to be the best version of myself that
I can be. And you know, after he probably developed
that like all right, you know, like this is what
he's gonna do. He probably felt more comfortable like all right,
(12:25):
we have a scholarship. Like I'll put you on, and
you know, it was more just like I gotta call,
like I'm put you on scholarship this next year, semest
or whatever it is, and go from there more than anything. Yeah, So,
so explain what the dynamic of being a walk on
was there, Like every school gives off its own vibes
towards walk ons. You had already kind of alluded to
(12:45):
that and how some walk on don't get the you know,
the privilege to practice and get live reps. Like what
did it feel like for you to be a walk
on on those high caliber teams that your pop also
happened to be the head coach of. What was that
whole dynamic like for me, like I said, is as
much different because I've seen, like even before I was around,
there are times when there are more guys in and
(13:08):
some of the walk ons don't get to practice, you know,
they just kind of stand on the side do their
own thing. You know, it is what it is. They
help with drills. But for me, like I said, I
was lucky I was able to be in the live
reps in five on five and all the like basically
and everything. I was in every practice every day, and
I think that helped a lot in my development and
how much I was able to get better throughout the
(13:29):
year on top of individual workouts or whatever it is,
because in each practice you're going against the best guys
in the country, so inevitably you're getting better regardless if
you're working out or not, because if you're actually competing
at a high level, you're getting better naturally. And you know,
like I said, I was really just you know, lucky.
It was more so I didn't have to do nothing
(13:49):
all day like I was actually you know, having to
go at it. Yeah, okay, let's have a little fun
with it. Then. So, was there a worst thing that
you can remember happening to you because you were a
walk on or anything that maybe floats around It's like,
you know, nothing, No, not really, not, not off the
top of my head. I never really had any bad experience.
(14:10):
All the players I was with were all good. They
everybody treat each other with respect, even the some of
the other guys that were on the on the team,
and you know, everybody got along. There was never any
animosity or anything like that. All right, how about anything
in specific about being a walk on that you found
to be the hardest thing during those year two years,
(14:31):
however long it was that you had to walk on
title like you know, was it sitting at the end
of the bench knowing you're never going to get in
the game, like what or maybe something deeper than that.
That was just hard because you had that walk on title. Um,
probably just the part where you're not playing as much
and you know that happens. You know, it is what
it is. And some games you get into, some games
you don't. And then um, like my second and third year,
(14:53):
Like my second year, I played like some significant minutes.
Like at times I was, you know, getting in playing
and other times I didn't. And you know that's what
I signed up for. Like you said, my dad up
to the buck with me is like, look, gonna be
times you don't play it, maybe times you play. And
I'm not gonna tell you you're gonna play and tell
you're not gonna play it. Just know things happen, Guys
getting foul, trouble, right, I gotta go in and guys don't,
(15:15):
Guys are rolling, guys are playing better. You're not gonna
get on you know, it just is what it is.
And if you're gonna be a part of and that's
like something that makes UK special is the guys. They're
always good teammates. So whatever your role is, you've got
to be really good in your role, whether it's I'm
not playing this game because guys in front of your
playing better, so I'm cheering, or you know, guys are
struggling so you gotta support them. And everybody's really there
(15:38):
for each other, right, And a lot of that has
to do with just how your dad has cultivated, you know,
that culture or the last what fifteen years that he's
been there, um and people just you know, coming there
and embracing what it is that he is about what
he embodies as a coach. But the last part of
that little three part or with your walk on stage,
even if you when you were in a walk on,
what is the worst moment you've had with your dad
(16:00):
coach cal yelling at you during practice or a game
that maybe you were Holy ship, that was bad? Okay,
that answer is coming right up after this quick break.
Plus all the stuff that Brad has had to deal
with because of who his dad is, as well as
the values that coach Kyle has instilled in Brad and
his older sisters. Brad's also going to talk a little
bit about his goal is to be better than his
dad and not succumbing to the pressure. Really cool stuff.
(16:22):
You don't want to miss it coming right up, And
in the meantime, click that subscribe button and leave the
show a review. I really appreciate it, and don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back. Yeah, we're back here on part
one of w t Z E fifteen. Let's get right
into Brad's answer on that worst moment that coach Cali
yelled at him. Um, So, there was one practice my
second year, and when my dad coaches in practice, his
(16:45):
mind moves really fast. So sometimes he will either say
the wrong thing and then you do what he says,
but he really meant something else, so he goes crazy.
But like there's times what I happened. So one of
the times he told me to do something, I did it,
and he whatever it was, he was irritated that day,
I don't know, lost his mind and I told him,
I was like, you told me do this, and then
(17:06):
he just lost it, said shut the f up and
get the fut out the gym. And I'm with Hamio
right next to me. He was on defense and he
just started bust out laughing, and I'm trying so hard
not to laugh because I'm like if I laugh, like
he's throwing me out of practice. So I'm like, I'm saying,
you're trying to keep it together, like all right, Like
(17:27):
that's that, Like I'm not saying nothing else, like I'm good. Yeah.
It had to be crazy though, because like you know,
he's your dad, and I'm sure that like behind closed doors,
like you'll talk back and you'll have your your arguments
and your debates, and in that moment, like it was
probably hard for you to swallow your tongue and not
be like Dad, what the funk? Man? Like you know,
I don't know, like I feel like you know, the
Italian blood and you like I would have I would
(17:48):
have said something back to my dad, don't, like you know,
just would have been second nature. There's times where like
I don't really talk back to him often, but like
there's times where I like, you told me do this,
and then in your mind you're thinking you told me
do something else. So I was like you told me,
like go this way, and that was that. And then
when he started tweaking on me, I was like, all right,
I'm good I'm I'm not getting in the middle of that,
(18:11):
not in the middle of practice nothing, So I just
had to let that go. I'm like, you know, it
is what it is. Was it a frequent occurrence or
was it kind of rare when you would get reamed
in practice? No, I mean it was not frequent, but
like I didn't really get in like I was a
higher i Q player, so I didn't really have much
like issue either is the correct way or you know,
(18:34):
but you know, he was harder, like he was hard
on me like he was everybody else. It wasn't like, oh,
he doesn't say anything to me because you know, that's
my dad. Like there was times he was much harder
on me than he was other guys. Just know, probably
sometimes to make a point to other guys in the
gym that you know, I don't care who he is,
Like he's my son. I don't care, you know. Like
I said, there are times where you know he's going
(18:55):
at me him. You know, it's fine, It's what I
signed up for. So yeah, seriously, And I mean it
would be weird, you know if he has his kid
there and and you're just being pampered and catered to
and It's like, you know, I would if I were
you and that was a case I'd feel uncomfortable of,
like can you please scream at me and coach me?
You know? But I really didn't when I even before
I asked you, I really didn't expect that to be
(19:15):
the case. Like I you know, I figured he had
zero problem getting on you and the same way he
was getting on you know, Malik Monk and Briscoe and
all these superstars he coached. You know, obviously you said
that he gave you a fair chance and an opportunity
and in practice and the scout team to hoop and
ultimately get better. But you know, was there a mutual
understanding and like agreement between the two of you for
you to get better? You know around all that four
(19:37):
and five star talent like a you know, Brad, if
you're not doing this and that, like it's gonna be
hard for me to use you. And if you do,
then you know, you won't have any problem. Like was
there that conversation leading up to going to Kentucky and
then ultimately when you were there? You know about that
kind of stuff? Not that I remember, because I never
had an issue working hard, And I think he knew that,
(19:57):
so it was never like, you know, if you're not
doing this, like I'm not, Like I think it was
kind of it didn't have to be said, like you know,
like I've been around it enough to where I knew
like it didn't need to be said like if I
wasn't doing what I was supposed to do, like it
was gonna be a lot harder, Like if I was
doing what I do, it was gonna be hard about
to be able to maintain. So I think growing up
in that and understanding like, you know, this is the
(20:20):
best of the best, and you know you can't shy
away from it. You can't like if you're if you're
not working hard, like you still got to look yourself
in the mirror and be like, all right, like I'm
not doing enough, Like you know, I can't look myself
in the mirror and be like, oh, I'm doing enough.
In reality, I'm not. Right. A lot a lot of
accountability on your side, and you know, as all of
us young kids need to have. But um, you know,
(20:41):
I think the dynamics of you being coached by your
dad are super interesting and obviously, like from a spectator
in a fans position, like myself all these years of
just like the legend of you know, coach cal Perry
and just like what he means to basketball and college basketball.
You know. Overall, um, it's super cool. And I don't
want to bring up the legend a ton of your dad,
you know, because I'm sure when people talk to you, man,
(21:02):
it's it's probably all they mentioned, like you know, you're
your coach cow song. You know, it's like, yeah, I'm
Coach kwis son, but I'm also me, Like I'm also
you know, Brad the human being, like got my own life,
got my own stuff going on. Like I said, cool
from an outsider's perspective, no doubt, but like for you
to hear about it all the time, like it's got
to get annoying, right right. I Mean there's times where
it's like you just get used to and this like
(21:23):
all right, I mean like one of the there's one
thing I don't really like this Coach kaw song. Like
I don't mind if you like this is Brad, Yeah
he's coach kyw song, but it's like, all right, this
is just coach kW So I like that is something
that kind of bothers me. It's like that that introduction
of like just coach cow yeah, exactly exactly where it's like,
come on, like wait, finish what you were when I
(21:44):
interrupted you. I'm sorry because, like I was talking yesterday,
it's funny with with Rod Strickland's daughter, Tanner. I've known
Tanner since she was four or five years old, and
she was saying the same thing. She told me. She
was like, yeah, people introduced me to people as Rod
Strickland's daughter, and I'm like, no, I'm Tanner. I just
started laughing, I said, I said, I love to hear
that as the best. Yeah. Um. And you know, it's
(22:08):
also got to be hard having people in a sense
maybe if it's you know, just in their own heads,
or even if you know, the public figures like people
within the media do the same thing automatically kind of
placing you in the shadow of your dad without even
fully letting you grow and you know, developing your own self,
like you twenty five, giving you a fair chance to
everyone else who you are too. And I think that like,
(22:28):
you know, stepping away from Kentucky and you're playing days
and going somewhere else and kind of you know, showing
that you can and you're not just like, you know,
always by him, always meeting him, because you don't, I mean,
like you're an adult kind of thing. But do you
feel like that happens a lot with you or not
too much, where like people are just automatically placing you
in that shadow. I think they do automatically place me
(22:49):
in that shadow. But part of the reason why I
left playing and then also like as well as coaching,
like was to show, like, you know, like I'm going
to do this on you know, my own path. I'm
gonna have my own name, I'm gonna do this my way,
and I'm gonna be great at whatever I do. So
I think part of that is to show, like, you know,
(23:09):
I don't always have to be by his side doing
you know, things with him or whatever it is. And
it's like, obviously it's great to be coached by him,
and it's great to coach with him because he one
of the best to ever do it. So it's like
you can't pass up opportunities. But at the same time,
it's like I've grown up in and around that, so
I also need to expand my knowledge on who I'm
coaching with or who I'm under whatever it is, just
(23:31):
to see different styles of play, how they coach, whatever
it is, because I'm accustomed to one to three ways
that you know they've been successful. But you know, everybody's
different and I'm going to be a different type of
coach and my dad and you know, we're not the
same personality type in some aspects where you know, there's
times where he's more fiery. I'm not his fiery like
(23:51):
when he was younger, he was crazy. I don't see
myself like that. But at the same time, I'm in
a head coach yet, so I'll flip may or something
may flip and I'm just like, you know, that's how
I am, but I have no idea yet. So I
think that's just really just showing, like, you know, I'm
gonna have my own path and do this my way. Yeah, absolutely, man,
And I think that will be the most special thing
(24:12):
for you, is like just making that name for yourself. Uh,
you know, because there's like you know, you mentioned it
a little bit earlier about just like not caring about
the noise and like letting some of that stuff seep in.
But at the end of the day, like while you
were growing up, it had to be a lot harder
to eliminate that noise and all that chatter because you're young,
you're immature, you don't really know. You know, you're insecure.
(24:33):
We're all insecure when you're younger. So you know, I,
like I said, you've probably learned to tune it out.
And obviously people look at you, I think from my
perspective and just hearing your name around the basketball world,
like I've been a walk on for five years and
it's like, ah, you know, he's only got it, you know,
because of his dad. And it's like, don't you think
it's funny? Like you know, it's like when people say that,
I always laugh because I'm like, bro, if your dad
(24:56):
was your coach or if your dad was a coach,
like what, yeah, wouldn't you want Let me let me
rephrase that, like like if you had a son you
wanted to play for you boom and like I played
with Antoine at Detroit, you know, Kelvin Sampson and sons
with him, Like there are so many instances where you know, right,
I mean, you have buddy behind the bay him at
(25:17):
Syracuse exactly like Antoine was committed to Houston before Detroit
and then when his dad got the job, at Detroit.
He wanted to play for his dad, and that's that
is what it is. It's like all right, like this
is what I want to do. And it's nothing like
people can say, oh, nepotism, blah blah, like like okay,
like you know that's fine. But you know, if anybody
(25:38):
in their right mind, like they had a son that
was playing and they had an opportunity to coach them,
they'd want to coach, like come beyond my team. It's
it's a no brainer. He wanted his he wanted his
kid around. It's like, you know, if I could coach
my son in basketball, gonna coach my son. And like
I think it's never Yeah, he had never coached me ever,
Like he didn't really worked me out like when I
was younger, Like he never coached me in high school,
with middle school, I like nothing. So I had never
(25:59):
ever really been coached by him. I've just been at
his practices and everything, Like I would always work out
with any pain I worked out with roud when I
was younger, like a lot of guys were, you know,
he was never doing the workouts with me. It was
just kind of like, you know, I'm there watching his
practices yeah, and you know, it's just annoying because like
some people can't wrap their mind around the fact that, like,
(26:20):
you know, there there is this I don't know what
it is. I mean, like why you were picked for
it. It It doesn't matter why, you know, it's just like
that's you're you're the son of that man. That man
accomplished these things, and so therefore, like it's no different
than you know, him coaching you in Little League or
like any dad coaching their kid in Little league, Like
you just so happened to have the privilege to be
(26:40):
coached by him at one of the best universe, like
you can only have There's only gonna be so many
of those cases, like we said, like you had you know, uh,
the bay Himes at Syracuse. You have Johnny Dawkins kid
at you see if there's a there's a Doug McDermott
and his poppet at Creighton, Like there's there's a couple
of cases where like there's a couple of kids where
it works out for you know, like why why is
there this like you know, like you said, nepotism, There
(27:04):
is just this like it's it's just jealousy, man, like
and I just think it's funny because like I know,
like where I come from, Like if anybody in my
family had the same opportunity to the same thing, it'd
be as it would be a literal no brainer, like yeah, no,
Brad's gonna come play on my team right away. Now,
it's gonna play my team right away, like and you
and you would want to. So you know, I guess
what I'm trying to ask with that, And like you know,
(27:25):
people looking at you like, oh, Brad, you just had
it sweet he just walks into the door in Kentucky, like, um,
you know, we all have struggles on a day to
day basis. We all have adversity, and I have the
awareness to understand that, Like just because you're Brad cal Perry,
John cal Perry's son, you are not excluded from that.
Like you deal with your fair share of adversity. Maybe
your adversity is better than others, but like you still
(27:47):
got problems, you still got shipped you gotta deal with.
And so it's like how do you handle you know,
a lot of that noise that you know, once upon
a time probably hit you a little bit more since
you were younger, but now being older, like how are
you handling it now, it's like a lot of it.
So I have two older sisters, and my older sisters
are very uh they're ten and seven years older than me,
if that says anything. So they would like when I
(28:08):
was younger, they would pick on me and like, you know,
beat me up whatever, like not let me do things.
So like when I was younger, developing tough skin from them,
like help because I mean they still give me a
hard time till this day, Like it doesn't matter. They're
going to give me a hard time untill they die.
And you know that's gonna be what They're older sisters,
and you know that helped in some aspect of it.
(28:28):
But at the same time, there are things like when
Twitter got big, right, I'm like twelve, thirteen years old
and I've made a Twitter. I've like grown men talking
to me about like like dudes are like thirty fourty
years old, Oh, your dad's a cheater? Or your families?
Do your family like I'm in seventh grade, like what
you like? Like what's going on? Like I don't know
(28:51):
who you are? And like that was just like constant
for like years, like there be games, something happened, you
have fans tweeting as you're the same thing with my sisters.
People do that to my sisters as well, but like
I never had the luxury of being able to say
any thing back, Like my sisters will go back with
people if I say something back, like I was on
the team by then, like I couldn't. You know, you
(29:11):
have to have your social media be clean and professional
and all that, so like you always just have to
like either just eat it like whatever, just let it
go like it is what it is. And you know,
as you get older, it begins to hit you, like
you realize people are jealous and it's like I'm not
taking away the fact that like I was blessed for
(29:32):
the position I was put in. It's like what people
don't A lot of people don't understand. Like my dad
growing up was broke, like he had nothing, so like
everything he built he built from the ground up. He
didn't build it from the ground up to make it
harder for myself, my sisters, and then if I have kids,
like when I like he's trying to make it generational,
and people like they'll be mad at you because like,
(29:55):
all right, some people don't have that opportunity. It's like
all right. Then if you don't have that, then it
starts with you. But if you're not going to take
the initiative, is is different. So people are mad because
he took the initiative and was successful and worked way
hard and everybody put himself in a position to succeed.
Now he's making it an easier path, even though there
are some things that are hard. He made it a
slightly easier path for myself and my sisters, even though
(30:18):
my sisters are in a completely different realm. Like my
oldest sisters is a scientist, and people think, like my
dad helped. My dad has no idea anything to do
with science, not the first thing. He's a basketball scientist,
but not a scientist. And like people understand. They're like, oh,
like your dad. And she's like, my dad watches the
(30:38):
History channel, not like like what are you talking about?
Like she had a something where she was speaking and
she asked him aster she was like, did you understand
anything that I was talking about? He's like, nope, exactly.
And then my other sister is a vegan pastry chef.
Do you think he has no like vegan is the
furthest thing he's gonna like. Ever, he will never come
(30:59):
close to eating anything vegan like he had. People just
think like oh, like they're completely different paths and they
still think like, oh that has something to do it,
Like wos don't care? Like in science, people don't care, like,
oh you're you're dad. Coaches, they don't They probably don't
even know sports, like most of the time, like their
focus is something completely other than her dad, like her
(31:19):
dad like my Like they don't care and like like
it's their profession, Like okay, I just so happened to
do the same professional as my dad, Okay, whatever, Like
that's just what I love. Science is what my older
sister loves. Cooking is what my other sister loves. Okay,
that's you know, that is what it is. You know,
people got to put it in a proper perspective of
like what do you want from the kids? Like they're
(31:41):
not they can't do it. They were they didn't ask
to be born into it. They also, you know, kids
in Africa that are starving don't ask to be born
into that. Like you don't get to pick and just
because you know your stack of cards maybe is a
little bit better, Like there's just too much, Like you know,
we've said the word jealousy and envy a couple of times,
like and that's really what it comes down to, instead
(32:01):
of just being like happier than a man, like your
father created an easier path for you, guys, because it
isn't that the goal. Isn't that the goal to grind
it out and like give your you know, your offsprings
an easier path than what they had to endure. You know. Yeah,
But what I think upsets people is with the opportunities
that I have, I take full advantage of them because
my foundation growing up was you have to work harder
(32:24):
than everybody. You have to do more, regardless of what
position you're in, because if you're not, you're not going
to be successful. No matter what positions I'm going to
give you, you could open the door and not walk
through it. So he's given me opportunities. I'm taking full
advantage of them by doing more, doing more than what's expected,
and putting myself in a better position to not just
maintain but take whatever legacy it is to another level
(32:46):
because I can maintain it and be fine and you know,
be complacently that I'm doing, but I'm not because that's
not how I was raised that's not how my mom
my dad taught me. How you know, this is how
you're supposed to be. Like, no, you're no better than anybody.
You carry yourself a certain way, you do more, you
work harder, and that's why you know he is who
he is, and my sisters and I were going to
be what we are and whatever professionals were in. Yeah,
(33:09):
and you know it always comes back down to like
your upbringing, how you were raised. And obviously, like you know,
coach cow takes with him, you know, his mentality and
that we see the public sees on the court and
with his players, you know, to a different level to
his own blood and family. And you know, obviously he's
gonna raise you guys the right way. And and you know,
(33:29):
obviously he's smart enough man to know the position that
you and your your sisters were in while you were
growing up and understand the magnitude of that, and um,
you know, kind of giving you guys a blueprint on
how to navigate it. Like I always think about, you know,
someone currently going through it in the mixes Brownie James,
like he's in that position of like he's a high
(33:49):
major talent, he's a Class three so he's gonna be
you know, he's starting to get some offers and like
it's it's he's cracking the window of like, you know,
I'm I could be an NBA or like or maybe
I'm not going to be as good as my dad.
Maybe I'm gonna need three years of college and my
dad needed none. And there's gonna be you know, there
already is, but there's gonna be a million more comparisons
for this kid. You gotta think he's been hearing that
(34:10):
since he was two years old. And it's like or
that to be something like you have to endure, Like
I get that because like people thought, I'm supposed to
be like the next greatest basketball player ever and not
like just because my dad could coach. Like Okay, let's
look at my daddy's five ten, my mom is five three.
What the next do I have to be a freak
athlete or like people like I've come on like that's
(34:31):
not what it is. But like for me, like there's
always going to be that pressure of oh, your dad's
this great coach, and there's the times where like, oh
am I gonna be like just regular or whatever, But
like my goal, like I'm I want to be better
than him. I want to do more than him. I
want to make more of an impact than him. And
that's something like when there's that pressure, you either succumb
(34:52):
to it or you go at it and it doesn't
really turn to pressure anymore. So like when you have
those type of barriers put in front of you and
you have the mindset of like I'm to be great,
it doesn't matter what's happening, like this is what I'm
doing this, It's gonna be the same thing for Brownie,
Like he's probably thinking of the gym, like yo, Like,
I don't care who he is. I'm gonna be the
(35:13):
best version of me. And if I end up being
better at him, I end up being better at him.
Like that's my goal, Like I'm trying to do more
than what he's done. You know, I think one thing
that people are probably thinking, you know that I was
I started to think about when you said, you know,
my dad has nothing to do with my sister being
you know, a vegan chef or my other sister being
a scientist, is that people will always just bring it
(35:34):
back to the money and like, well, he can give
you a hundred thousand dollar loan and it's like yeah,
but like again, you're gonna shoot on me for that,
like if you could get a hunter, you know what
I mean. Like there's always these weird twists that are
like they're always gonna inevitably be unfair to you, to
Brownie James, like, oh, well, Bronnie James gets to work
out with lebron or Bronnie James gets to work out
(35:56):
with you know, Keian Anthony gets to work out with
Chris Brickley. And it's like, choose that as he has
the luxury of being around the best, so his dad's
gonna put him in the best position to beat the
best person who can beat And you look at look
at like a kid like Michael Jordan's sons, like they
didn't pan out. They didn't they didn't do anything. No
knock on them. I don't even know their names. I
just know that they didn't end up, you know, utilizing
the resources and the foundation that Mr Michael Jordan's gave
(36:19):
them to really do you know anything crazy in the
basketball world. So there's you know, countless people that are
you know, son the kids of basketball or just legends
within the world that yeah, like you have to give
props to Brownie and Bright's boat to like this is
what they want to do, Like they know the pressure
that's been around and they're going at it like they
(36:39):
have a chance to be really good, Like they're going
right at it. They don't care that they know there's pressure,
but they're just saying, you know, it is what it is,
like I'm doing me, like I don't care what people
have to say, Like you know, like that takes a lot,
especially like a young like Duse are like seventeen fifteen
years old, Like you know that's at that age, Like
that's a lot, Like especially with how books media stuff
(37:00):
is now, it's like you hear it more like more
at this age than probably what I did, and you
know I heard it at so like they have a
much bigger platform than what I did at that age,
Like that is what it is. But you know to
hear all that like constantly, like that's again wears on you.
And for them to be able to do what they've done,
like that's impressive. So you know you say, it wears
(37:22):
on you, and it wears on you in one way,
like you're sitting in your room, hundred thousand Instagram followers
getting toasted in your comments or something like what you know,
you're like, oh, I'm depressed. It sucks, Like what do
you sitting there? Like you know, like obviously you'll let
some of it seep in. It's like, oh, that won't
hurt or why are these people being mean? Like what
you know? What I mean? Like what is that? Like?
(37:43):
All right, last quick break everybody, and we'll get right
back into Brad's answer and so much more in the
home stretch of part one, So stay with us. We'll
be right back and we're back here on part one
of episode fifteen of Waukie Talkies podcast with Brad Calipari.
Let's get right back into Brad's answer. I mean, I
wouldn't say it's most of the time, just like do
(38:05):
these people are crazy? Like what do you guys like
talking about? Like there will be times after games people
DM me like, oh you fucking suck. I'm like I
didn't play that game, Like what happened? Like I'm like,
I don't I didn't have anything to do. And you
know there's times like most of the time now, like
I just like I am completely off Twitter because Twitter
(38:25):
is just like toxic. People just say whatever they want
on there and then Instagram like if I don't like
if you don't follow me or whatever, like you can't
comment on my stuff, So like I have it like
limited where like I don't see that because like at
first everybody is just like you have people say whatever
they want on it. You know, people want to talk
to they talk ship. But now it's like I've limited
(38:46):
that to where now like if I see it, like
I don't go on there as much like I don't
really follow anybody, so it's like I don't see other
people's stuff. And now it's like if I post something
like get off, like it is what it is. But
before where it's just like you're sitting there and you
see stuff You're like why are you like what? Like
what's wrong with people? Like why are you like for what?
You know? It's not really a like oh that hurt,
(39:07):
it's just like what are you doing? Like why are
you like for what? Like I didn't do anything. I'm
sitting here chilling talking ship for no reason. And you
also probably wanted to respond that sometimes, but like you said,
like you were attached to a team and you needed
to keep everything professional and there were times where I
says like I would say something back. Would never like
anything crazy. It's just like, you know, there are times
where it's like certain things you gotta say stuff back,
(39:28):
and it's like come on, like I've gotten one one
glimpse of that. Yeah, it was like early in like
n I L was recently passed and like I was
starting this podcast, and like the Washington Post wrote this
little article about me. They didn't really portray the things
that I said to them over the phone the correct way,
and it made me, you know whatever, I didn't really
like the portrayal. But I'm reading the I'm reading the comments,
(39:50):
and I'm like this is insane. Like I gotta I
gotta stand up for myself. I gotta say something to
these clowns like that's literally not true. You sound stupid.
But I didn't. I didn't end up say anything. I
didn't care. That's that's the hardest part. You can't even
look at the comments because most of the time people
in the comments just say absolutely anything. And yeah, well,
it was just my first little small moment of like
people like seeing my name and I was like, what
(40:11):
do they got to say about this story? And so
I checked it out now and everybody was like, well
that was your that was your first mistake. You should
have never looked. And I was like, yeah, well, um
so yeah, I think all that's really interesting and like
you guys have a you know, a different seat in
the world that is just like something to embrace. Man,
there's really like you can't ask out of it. You know,
(40:31):
there's no way out. You can, you know, emancipate yourself
and change your last name and you know, get a
different hairt whatever you can do if you want to detach.
But it's like that's not the case. Like you're just
embracing this life that you were given and doing what
you can with the cards you were dealt, just like
everybody else is, and and trying to make your own path.
And um, I just think it's interesting, man, Like just
see like there's so many young kids now who's like
(40:52):
dad's played in the NBA and now they're about to
do the same thing. Like and it's just funny because
it's like they should play in the NBA. If that
kid wants to play basketball and their dad was in
the NBA, they should play in the NBA. Like they
you know, they do it. They not like they need to,
but like if they want to like by all means
like like you're saying, work hard, put your put all
your chips into that basket, and see what happens for you.
(41:14):
Like you look at Curry, you look at Clay Thompson. Look,
they're just like it goes down the line, like of
course those guys are the way they are. Um, And
so I just think it's interesting. Man. I'm glad that
you were, uh, you know, willing to open up about
some of that stuff because obviously those stigmas exist. They
probably will never go away. It's always gonna be there.
But you know, just take life for what it is
and you keep it pushing. So the transition I want
(41:36):
to make from there is just like you know, you
being around the Memphis environment, the U Mass environment, the
Kentucky environment all while you were growing up. And and
I want to talk about start off with just your
knowledge of the game from the early stages of your
life all the way up to college, like you know,
throughout playing a you middle school, high school, transitioning into college,
(41:58):
Like how like you were around the game so much?
Like how advanced did you feel like you were how
much do you feel like you know, when you got
to Kentucky there were certain things that you hadn't picked
up on that once you got there you did pick
up on um, but just being like just talk about
that knowledge that you were able to get ahead of
over you know, someone like me who didn't pick up
(42:18):
on certain things once I got into the college system,
like because you were exposed to all of it, you
know at such a young age. Um, Like there are
certain things just like being around it being a practice
that from like a young age, I will pick up
naturally and you don't realize it until like somebody says
something and you're like, oh, like I knew that, and
(42:38):
that's just something that like comes naturally. Well, certain things
like certain spots you're supposed to be in, certain actions,
Like there are things that you just pick up naturally.
You know what reads to make, what place to make.
You know, there are certain things that you know really
stand out that you know, not everybody sees in real time.
And for me, like as I was growing up, like
I always felt more advanced, like what guys are supposed
(43:03):
to be doing and what spots are supposed to be in,
and some guys didn't understand that, so it was harder
for me, Like do I not say anything, or do
I say something, because like you know, the coach also
needs to say something that's like maybe that's not my
place right now. So that was like something for me
to where I had to figure out, like there's time
and place to be correcting guys or certain ways because
(43:26):
you know, whatever the coach is saying, like that's ultimately
what needs to be done. So if he has a
different opinion than what I'm seeing, then you know he
needs to whatever he needs or whatever he sees, that's
what's gonna happen. And like when I got to UK,
was that a lot of high school stuff for you?
Was that like that that example was more of you
(43:47):
being in high school? And like when I got to UK,
there are certain things just because I've been around drivel
drive like my whole life. Like I knew the actions.
I knew a lot of them, but the only thing
that was hard for me getting used to was the
pace of it. So like the pace and the timing
of it was a little more school. I wouldn't even
say difficult, but like it just took a little like
a small adjustment period. Like I knew the actions emotions
(44:11):
that were supposed to be in play, like the reads
you can make out of it, but the certain timings
and you know Sirtain reads in real time. We're just
like a shorter adjustment period, and it is for everybody
because it's such a fast pace, right, And um, you
know you obviously you jumped into a tier of pace
(44:31):
that was completely different. Like we've said numerous times, you're
around five star talent. And you know, thirteen of your
past teammates are currently in the NBA, and I'm gonna
rattle every single one of their names off. You've got
Bam out of Bio, Hommy Diallo, Dearn Fox, Malik Monk,
s g A, Kevin Knox, Nick Richards, PJ. Washington, Emmanuel Quickly,
Tyler Hero, Keldon Johnson, and Isaiah Briscoe is in and
(44:51):
out of the league. But we all know that he's
you know, he's a motherfucker too. So, um, you know
you're around all of that talent, you're competing against all
of that talent. At what point around those guys were
you able a kind of step in and be like,
you know, obviously you're their friend, but also give them
a little bit of mentorship because of like your background
(45:12):
and like man like of course I know this. Of
course I can help you out with this, Like, at
what point was the respect and trust level earned, you know,
with them where you could go up to them and
give them some pointers or just like a quick tip
that maybe a coach gave to them in a you know,
a more obnoxious, screaming version and you just went to
them with the friend version. You know, things like that,
like when did you get to that point with guys
(45:33):
like those? Those guys? All right, I know we were
all having a blast. But we will rap part one
of w t Z fIF Team right here and pick
back up with Brad's answer to that question I just
post next week on part two. We'll also touch on
next week who Brad thinks his best teammate at Kentucky was,
Who the best in the Kentucky dribble drive offense was,
who he was frying in one on one and post
(45:54):
practice runs, and more of the coaching side of what
Brad is currently doing at l i U Brooklyn right
now and his time at UK as a graduate assistant.
So much more to come. I do want to thank
you all for tuning in, and I hope everybody enjoyed
and does remember to subscribe and download the podcast. You
don't miss out on part two next week. Otherwise, what
are we doing here? You're gonna You're gonna miss even
(46:15):
more juice anyway. Also, if you guys can leave us
that review at the bottom of the show page on
Apple podcast and towards the top of the show page
on Spotify. Part two is coming in hot next week.
You don't want to miss it. I hope to see
you guys there, Walkie Talkies. This a production of I
(46:40):
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, Walkie Tuckies gang, Welcome
(00:28):
into Walkie Talkies Podcast. You're listening to w t Z
E fifteen and if you don't know, that's our radio
code for Walkie Talkies Podcast Episode fifteen. I want to
thank you all for choosing w t Z fifteen. Today.
We're here on the College Athletes Network, featured on I
Heart Radio, and I'm your host, Noah Bono. Now, today's
episode is another two part format featuring Brad Calipari, who
(00:49):
was a former basketball walk on at the University of Kentucky,
former graduate assistant coach at Kentucky, and is now the
special assistant to the head coach at l i U Brooklyn.
So there's so much different conversation throughout the two parts,
so I will try to be brief and summarize quickly
before getting into the interview. You, Uh, you can expect
to hear a good amount about Brad being coached by
his legendary dad, coach John Calipari, the values that his
(01:12):
dad instilled in him and his older sister's, the worst
moment that his dad yelled at him during practice, talk
a lot about Brad having thirteen former Kentucky teammates who
are currently playing in the NBA, and you know, we
get into all of that, and Brad was really open
about what it's like growing up being the son of
a legendary public figure and specifically a legendary basketball figure,
and how he's been able to navigate through all of
(01:33):
that and kind of keeps striving just to make a
name for himself outside of his father's you know, huge name,
you know, and with that comes, you know, how hard
Brad has still had to work to maintain the opportunities
he's been given was playing at Kentucky and then most
recently being a graduate assistant coach on his dad's staff. There.
You know, Brad's now ventured off, as I mentioned, after
(01:53):
one year on staff of Kentucky, is now the special
assistant to the head coach at allow You Brooklyn, And
he touches on what his role is like. They're his
different style and coaching from Coach Cow, the importance for
him to kind of get out and see different brands
of basketball from different types of coaches. Just a lot
of cool stuff all throughout the episode, and it's kind
of why I had to split the conversation up into
two parts, and part one really is only roughly forty
(02:14):
two minutes if you don't include the commercials, So I
hope you guys enjoy it. I did not give a
full summary. Man, there's a ton of things that I
left out of this intro that we are going to
talk about that are super cool and super fun to
hear about from Brad. So I hope you guys you know,
enjoy part one and choose to come back for the
second half of our conversation next week. And before we
get into it, I do want to just ask for
(02:35):
you to please make sure if you like what you're
listening to, to subscribe to Walkie Tucky's podcasts. Those downloads
go a very long way for us. And lastly, if
you'd be so kind to leave the show a review
on whichever ap you listen to your podcast on, those
reviews go a long way as well, and I would
really really appreciate it. So with that being said, let's
get into my full conversation with former Kentucky walk on
and graduate assistant coach Brad Calipari. First of all, uh,
(03:00):
was it decided for you that you were gonna who
right when you were born or you know, did you
go to your dad and hey, you know, I want
to play baseball and your dad was like no, no,
like you're playing basketball and how did how did that
come about? Like were you always a hooper? Yeah? For
the most part. Um, Like even when I was like
really young, I always had a ball in my hand,
and that's probably like part of his dream too. But
like as I got older, there were times like I
(03:21):
played baseball, I played golf like other sports where you know,
like I was probably better at golf than I was basketball.
But he was never like, oh, you have to play basketball.
It was never like that, which I think helped me
develop more of a love for it anyway more than
I already had because he wasn't forcing it on me.
So it was more of this is actually what I
love to do, and I wanted to keep doing it
(03:42):
no matter you know what it is, Like I played
baseball to like seventh grade and then just like forget it.
You know, I'll stick with basketball, and the same thing
with golf. Really, but I probably should have stick with
golf more than I did basketball, just because I probably
would have a better career. But you know that that
is what it is. Yeah, I think that's funny too.
I always say, like maybe I should have just kept
being a baseball player done maybe that athlete anything but basketball. Um,
(04:09):
so you're pretty good high school player, went to a
prep year? Was it a no brainer for you to
go to Kentucky out of high school? Was that like
that always in the cards for you, no matter what? No?
Not really, Um, there were a couple of plays that
could have gone outside of that, which you know, it
may have been fine. But for me, like going into
it and our prep school league, like we played against
and played with like a bunch of high level players,
(04:31):
which is like that was what I was used to
being around. And like for me in my development, I
got lucky because like I walked on, but I was
in practice every day. It's like some walking on they
don't have the luxury being in practice every day and competing.
I got lucky through each year I was able to
be in the all the live stuff and practice every day,
where you know, I was really able to get a
(04:53):
lot of development off that and then by myself, and
that was ultimately what I wanted to get, was like
the development against the best players, which is essentially why
people go to UK. You want to play against the
best and see what you can do. Right, So, how
much of you know, I put you on the spot here,
how much of you you know, getting those live reps
and you know, being around all that kind of talent
(05:13):
and still being able to insert yourself and play. How
much of it had to do with your own ability
and your dad just being like, yeah, come on, like Brad,
you're gonna play. Of course, like he would he would
never do that. If if I was slowing down practice,
he would like he wouldn't even gave me a chance
to get on because how he moves, he doesn't care.
He doesn't care, Like if it was like that, he
would have played me way more than what he did,
(05:34):
Like he does not care at all. So it was
a lot of that, like and probably was my own
ability to just be able to keep up and maintain
with guys in practice and actually make a competitive Yeah,
and how long do you think, you know, was it
a probably a steep transition from where you were at
getting into you know, a gym with nothing but five
star talent. How long do you think it took you
to kind of adapt to be comfortable and like stick
(05:56):
around on the court without him saying, you know, you're
slowing us down. Definitely, my second year was much more
valuable to me and like what I was able to
do and accomplish my second and third year, and then
after my third year, I felt like, you know, I
am actually competing at a higher level with these guys.
Now let me leave and go do this at a
(06:18):
different school at a little lower of a level. So ultimately,
you know, you do three years there. You're a part
of eight wins on those three years. In those three years,
you go to two Elite eights, two time SEC tournament champs.
Like you you really got to see the full, the
full glimpse. You know, you didn't get to a final four,
win a national championship, but I think most of us
would say, like you got to do enough. Yeah, pretty
(06:41):
clean resume for you. So you know, you ultimately do
three years, you graduate, and I think you read shirted
that third year before transferring, so you saved some eligibility.
So did those pieces come together um as the years
went on or did you kind of know, like utilize
this development and then transfer, Like where did that plan
come into play? If I could redo it? I would
have read shirted my freshman year. I just didn't think
(07:04):
about it because I mean that year, like you had
Isaiah Briscoe, de Aaron Fox movie, come on, you had
a lot of guys that were, you know, I'll draft
at NBA like whatever. So if I could have redone it,
I would have read started that year and then developed
to that summer that year and been fine, and then
it probably would have given me a little bit more
of an advantage my last year. But I mean, it's
(07:27):
the path that I chose, and you know, it was
kind of nothing was like, oh I'm gonna do this,
this and this. It kind of just like I worked
my pass off for the last three years. So now
I'm at this point. Now I need to move from here,
and how am I going to operate from this? And
what am I going to do to put myself in
the best position right, Because you know, coach cow your dad,
like he was probably pretty realistic with you with what
(07:49):
your you know, potential was on the team. I'm sure
that if you were worthy of a scholarship or he thought, like,
you know, he can help the team win, like that
would have been the case. Or even if you would
have just been like, you know, one of the lower
scholarship guys. I'm sure that would have been enough for you,
or maybe you can tell me maybe it wouldn't have
been enough for you, but you were clearly looking for
something more to kind of go and show, like you know,
(08:09):
after these three years of development with all of these talents,
all of this talent, I'm around like I'm good enough
to go to a mid major or a low major,
which is what you ended up doing, played two years
at Detroit Mercy Um, Like is that what you wanted
to do all along? Or what did it? Kind of
like reel back in, it was like I don't really
have much of a choice, like this just makes the
most sense for me. So like for me, like after
(08:30):
after my first year, I was on scholarship my sophomore junior,
and then yet that was it. So the first year
I wasn't on scholarship, second and third year I was
like it was it's clearly yes, it's nice because like yeah,
because like I got this in this right. But for me,
like the ultimate goals, like you constantly hear stuff like oh,
like you shouldn't be doing this, you shouldn't be here, blah, blah,
(08:52):
you're not good enough. So now like for me, it
turned into like I don't really care what anybody says,
like I've proven to myself, like I can compete at
a higher level, So I'm going to go do this.
I only to show others but mainly myself, Like because
all you hear is the same thing, Like I said,
you're not supposed to be here, you're not good enough.
So now I hear that so oftense, like sometimes you
(09:14):
don't want to believe it, but like you hear it
so much, like sometimes you start to doubt yourself. But
it's like as much work as I put in, like
throughout the years of summers whatever, it is like now
I gotta show myself and I gotta take that jump.
I gotta take the risk to see, like look, can
I do this myself or you know, and am I
really not good enough? So now I put myself in
a position like if I fall, I fall, but you
(09:37):
know if I jump and I make it, I'm good.
Like you know, it's it's something I had to take
a risk on which you know, I bet on myself
even though as a lower level it is what it is,
but you know I was good with what I did
and you and you don't regret that you would have
done that part of it over again, like you know,
go to Kentucky and then ultimately try to you know,
just prove to yourself like the work I put in,
I trusted I'm good enough. Like you end up playing
(09:59):
what twenty seven games at Detroit Mercy started in six
of them, and I think the following year you didn't
play much. I don't if you got hurt or you
had some COVID stuff going on, but ultimately you had
I'll let you touch on that. I just want to
finish this question. Because you had that COVID year, you
had a six year of eligibility essentially, and you didn't
use it. So break that down for me and the
listeners and what happened there. No, so the COVID here,
(10:19):
I just felt like I would have been too old,
Like I read shirted already and then like you know,
I was already your head because I read shirt and
I was like, you know what, like either I'm gonna
try to play overseas or I'm gonna get right into coaching.
And ultimately, um, I was just like, you know, I'll
get right into coaching because it just I felt like
for me that was the best path to take in
(10:39):
this ultimately what I wanted to do anyway. But no,
like Detroit was a good experience. We had a solid team,
like we meshed well. The first year we struggled, but
like the COVID, y're you know, we had a little
bit of a better team, and you know, you had
games where you had forfeits and teams can't play, so
it was it was up and down where you know,
guys had to really you know, buy into each other
(11:01):
and like the opportunities we had for games, like you
really have to step up because now you have less games.
Now you have too it's more pressure to win games too.
You'd be in conference tournament because if you didn't hit
X number of games, you didn't even get into the
conference tournament. So like there was much more pressure on
those games where posted to the last year, it was
a little rougher, but you know, you didn't have a
(11:22):
certain number you had to get to right, so, you know,
kind of taking it back to the Kentucky walk on
days you said you were on you were walking on
the first year and then you actually got put on
scholarship those following two years. When did that happen? What
was was it just ultimately like conversation between you and
your dad. I don't know how many people knew that,
and not that it's a big deal or anything. I
just always was under the assumption like I just walked
(11:43):
on there. But like like I said to you, you
know when we got on the call, was like your
dad is a coach, and anybody who works at the institution,
like their kids, you get free tuition anyway, So really
you were always on scholarship. And how did it come
about that conversation come about for you guys to put
you on scholarship. Um, it wasn't. It's nothing like crazy.
It just after like that year in the summer, like
(12:04):
he knows like how much I would be in the gym,
the amount of hours I would put in, and you know,
he saw that I was really taking it serious and
like this is what I want to do, and like
I'm trying to be the best version of myself that
I can be. And you know, after he probably developed
that like all right, you know, like this is what
he's gonna do. He probably felt more comfortable like all right,
(12:25):
we have a scholarship. Like I'll put you on, and
you know, it was more just like I gotta call,
like I'm put you on scholarship this next year, semest
or whatever it is, and go from there more than anything. Yeah, So,
so explain what the dynamic of being a walk on
was there, Like every school gives off its own vibes
towards walk ons. You had already kind of alluded to
(12:45):
that and how some walk on don't get the you know,
the privilege to practice and get live reps. Like what
did it feel like for you to be a walk
on on those high caliber teams that your pop also
happened to be the head coach of. What was that
whole dynamic like for me, like I said, is as
much different because I've seen, like even before I was around,
there are times when there are more guys in and
(13:08):
some of the walk ons don't get to practice, you know,
they just kind of stand on the side do their
own thing. You know, it is what it is. They
help with drills. But for me, like I said, I
was lucky I was able to be in the live
reps in five on five and all the like basically
and everything. I was in every practice every day, and
I think that helped a lot in my development and
how much I was able to get better throughout the
(13:29):
year on top of individual workouts or whatever it is,
because in each practice you're going against the best guys
in the country, so inevitably you're getting better regardless if
you're working out or not, because if you're actually competing
at a high level, you're getting better naturally. And you know,
like I said, I was really just you know, lucky.
It was more so I didn't have to do nothing
(13:49):
all day like I was actually you know, having to
go at it. Yeah, okay, let's have a little fun
with it. Then. So, was there a worst thing that
you can remember happening to you because you were a
walk on or anything that maybe floats around It's like,
you know, nothing, No, not really, not, not off the
top of my head. I never really had any bad experience.
(14:10):
All the players I was with were all good. They
everybody treat each other with respect, even the some of
the other guys that were on the on the team,
and you know, everybody got along. There was never any
animosity or anything like that. All right, how about anything
in specific about being a walk on that you found
to be the hardest thing during those year two years,
(14:31):
however long it was that you had to walk on
title like you know, was it sitting at the end
of the bench knowing you're never going to get in
the game, like what or maybe something deeper than that.
That was just hard because you had that walk on title. Um,
probably just the part where you're not playing as much
and you know that happens. You know, it is what
it is. And some games you get into, some games
you don't. And then um, like my second and third year,
(14:53):
Like my second year, I played like some significant minutes.
Like at times I was, you know, getting in playing
and other times I didn't. And you know that's what
I signed up for. Like you said, my dad up
to the buck with me is like, look, gonna be
times you don't play it, maybe times you play. And
I'm not gonna tell you you're gonna play and tell
you're not gonna play it. Just know things happen, Guys
getting foul, trouble, right, I gotta go in and guys don't,
(15:15):
Guys are rolling, guys are playing better. You're not gonna
get on you know, it just is what it is.
And if you're gonna be a part of and that's
like something that makes UK special is the guys. They're
always good teammates. So whatever your role is, you've got
to be really good in your role, whether it's I'm
not playing this game because guys in front of your
playing better, so I'm cheering, or you know, guys are
struggling so you gotta support them. And everybody's really there
(15:38):
for each other, right, And a lot of that has
to do with just how your dad has cultivated, you know,
that culture or the last what fifteen years that he's
been there, um and people just you know, coming there
and embracing what it is that he is about what
he embodies as a coach. But the last part of
that little three part or with your walk on stage,
even if you when you were in a walk on,
what is the worst moment you've had with your dad
(16:00):
coach cal yelling at you during practice or a game
that maybe you were Holy ship, that was bad? Okay,
that answer is coming right up after this quick break.
Plus all the stuff that Brad has had to deal
with because of who his dad is, as well as
the values that coach Kyle has instilled in Brad and
his older sisters. Brad's also going to talk a little
bit about his goal is to be better than his
dad and not succumbing to the pressure. Really cool stuff.
(16:22):
You don't want to miss it coming right up, And
in the meantime, click that subscribe button and leave the
show a review. I really appreciate it, and don't go anywhere.
We'll be right back. Yeah, we're back here on part
one of w t Z E fifteen. Let's get right
into Brad's answer on that worst moment that coach Cali
yelled at him. Um, So, there was one practice my
second year, and when my dad coaches in practice, his
(16:45):
mind moves really fast. So sometimes he will either say
the wrong thing and then you do what he says,
but he really meant something else, so he goes crazy.
But like there's times what I happened. So one of
the times he told me to do something, I did it,
and he whatever it was, he was irritated that day,
I don't know, lost his mind and I told him,
I was like, you told me do this, and then
(17:06):
he just lost it, said shut the f up and
get the fut out the gym. And I'm with Hamio
right next to me. He was on defense and he
just started bust out laughing, and I'm trying so hard
not to laugh because I'm like if I laugh, like
he's throwing me out of practice. So I'm like, I'm saying,
you're trying to keep it together, like all right, Like
(17:27):
that's that, Like I'm not saying nothing else, like I'm good. Yeah.
It had to be crazy though, because like you know,
he's your dad, and I'm sure that like behind closed doors,
like you'll talk back and you'll have your your arguments
and your debates, and in that moment, like it was
probably hard for you to swallow your tongue and not
be like Dad, what the funk? Man? Like you know,
I don't know, like I feel like you know, the
Italian blood and you like I would have I would
(17:48):
have said something back to my dad, don't, like you know,
just would have been second nature. There's times where like
I don't really talk back to him often, but like
there's times where I like, you told me do this,
and then in your mind you're thinking you told me
do something else. So I was like you told me,
like go this way, and that was that. And then
when he started tweaking on me, I was like, all right,
I'm good I'm I'm not getting in the middle of that,
(18:11):
not in the middle of practice nothing, So I just
had to let that go. I'm like, you know, it
is what it is. Was it a frequent occurrence or
was it kind of rare when you would get reamed
in practice? No, I mean it was not frequent, but
like I didn't really get in like I was a
higher i Q player, so I didn't really have much
like issue either is the correct way or you know,
(18:34):
but you know, he was harder, like he was hard
on me like he was everybody else. It wasn't like, oh,
he doesn't say anything to me because you know, that's
my dad. Like there was times he was much harder
on me than he was other guys. Just know, probably
sometimes to make a point to other guys in the
gym that you know, I don't care who he is,
Like he's my son. I don't care, you know. Like
I said, there are times where you know he's going
(18:55):
at me him. You know, it's fine, It's what I
signed up for. So yeah, seriously, And I mean it
would be weird, you know if he has his kid
there and and you're just being pampered and catered to
and It's like, you know, I would if I were
you and that was a case I'd feel uncomfortable of,
like can you please scream at me and coach me?
You know? But I really didn't when I even before
I asked you, I really didn't expect that to be
(19:15):
the case. Like I you know, I figured he had
zero problem getting on you and the same way he
was getting on you know, Malik Monk and Briscoe and
all these superstars he coached. You know, obviously you said
that he gave you a fair chance and an opportunity
and in practice and the scout team to hoop and
ultimately get better. But you know, was there a mutual
understanding and like agreement between the two of you for
you to get better? You know around all that four
(19:37):
and five star talent like a you know, Brad, if
you're not doing this and that, like it's gonna be
hard for me to use you. And if you do,
then you know, you won't have any problem. Like was
there that conversation leading up to going to Kentucky and
then ultimately when you were there? You know about that
kind of stuff? Not that I remember, because I never
had an issue working hard, And I think he knew that,
(19:57):
so it was never like, you know, if you're not
doing this, like I'm not, Like I think it was
kind of it didn't have to be said, like you know,
like I've been around it enough to where I knew
like it didn't need to be said like if I
wasn't doing what I was supposed to do, like it
was gonna be a lot harder, Like if I was
doing what I do, it was gonna be hard about
to be able to maintain. So I think growing up
in that and understanding like, you know, this is the
(20:20):
best of the best, and you know you can't shy
away from it. You can't like if you're if you're
not working hard, like you still got to look yourself
in the mirror and be like, all right, like I'm
not doing enough, Like you know, I can't look myself
in the mirror and be like, oh, I'm doing enough.
In reality, I'm not. Right. A lot a lot of
accountability on your side, and you know, as all of
us young kids need to have. But um, you know,
(20:41):
I think the dynamics of you being coached by your
dad are super interesting and obviously, like from a spectator
in a fans position, like myself all these years of
just like the legend of you know, coach cal Perry
and just like what he means to basketball and college basketball.
You know. Overall, um, it's super cool. And I don't
want to bring up the legend a ton of your dad,
you know, because I'm sure when people talk to you, man,
(21:02):
it's it's probably all they mentioned, like you know, you're
your coach cow song. You know, it's like, yeah, I'm
Coach kwis son, but I'm also me, Like I'm also
you know, Brad the human being, like got my own life,
got my own stuff going on. Like I said, cool
from an outsider's perspective, no doubt, but like for you
to hear about it all the time, like it's got
to get annoying, right right. I Mean there's times where
it's like you just get used to and this like
(21:23):
all right, I mean like one of the there's one
thing I don't really like this Coach kaw song. Like
I don't mind if you like this is Brad, Yeah
he's coach kyw song, but it's like, all right, this
is just coach kW So I like that is something
that kind of bothers me. It's like that that introduction
of like just coach cow yeah, exactly exactly where it's like,
come on, like wait, finish what you were when I
(21:44):
interrupted you. I'm sorry because, like I was talking yesterday,
it's funny with with Rod Strickland's daughter, Tanner. I've known
Tanner since she was four or five years old, and
she was saying the same thing. She told me. She
was like, yeah, people introduced me to people as Rod
Strickland's daughter, and I'm like, no, I'm Tanner. I just
started laughing, I said, I said, I love to hear
that as the best. Yeah. Um. And you know, it's
(22:08):
also got to be hard having people in a sense
maybe if it's you know, just in their own heads,
or even if you know, the public figures like people
within the media do the same thing automatically kind of
placing you in the shadow of your dad without even
fully letting you grow and you know, developing your own self,
like you twenty five, giving you a fair chance to
everyone else who you are too. And I think that like,
(22:28):
you know, stepping away from Kentucky and you're playing days
and going somewhere else and kind of you know, showing
that you can and you're not just like, you know,
always by him, always meeting him, because you don't, I mean,
like you're an adult kind of thing. But do you
feel like that happens a lot with you or not
too much, where like people are just automatically placing you
in that shadow. I think they do automatically place me
(22:49):
in that shadow. But part of the reason why I
left playing and then also like as well as coaching,
like was to show, like, you know, like I'm going
to do this on you know, my own path. I'm
gonna have my own name, I'm gonna do this my way,
and I'm gonna be great at whatever I do. So
I think part of that is to show, like, you know,
(23:09):
I don't always have to be by his side doing
you know, things with him or whatever it is. And
it's like, obviously it's great to be coached by him,
and it's great to coach with him because he one
of the best to ever do it. So it's like
you can't pass up opportunities. But at the same time,
it's like I've grown up in and around that, so
I also need to expand my knowledge on who I'm
coaching with or who I'm under whatever it is, just
(23:31):
to see different styles of play, how they coach, whatever
it is, because I'm accustomed to one to three ways
that you know they've been successful. But you know, everybody's
different and I'm going to be a different type of
coach and my dad and you know, we're not the
same personality type in some aspects where you know, there's
times where he's more fiery. I'm not his fiery like
(23:51):
when he was younger, he was crazy. I don't see
myself like that. But at the same time, I'm in
a head coach yet, so I'll flip may or something
may flip and I'm just like, you know, that's how
I am, but I have no idea yet. So I
think that's just really just showing, like, you know, I'm
gonna have my own path and do this my way. Yeah, absolutely, man,
And I think that will be the most special thing
(24:12):
for you, is like just making that name for yourself. Uh,
you know, because there's like you know, you mentioned it
a little bit earlier about just like not caring about
the noise and like letting some of that stuff seep in.
But at the end of the day, like while you
were growing up, it had to be a lot harder
to eliminate that noise and all that chatter because you're young,
you're immature, you don't really know. You know, you're insecure.
(24:33):
We're all insecure when you're younger. So you know, I,
like I said, you've probably learned to tune it out.
And obviously people look at you, I think from my
perspective and just hearing your name around the basketball world,
like I've been a walk on for five years and
it's like, ah, you know, he's only got it, you know,
because of his dad. And it's like, don't you think
it's funny? Like you know, it's like when people say that,
I always laugh because I'm like, bro, if your dad
(24:56):
was your coach or if your dad was a coach,
like what, yeah, wouldn't you want Let me let me
rephrase that, like like if you had a son you
wanted to play for you boom and like I played
with Antoine at Detroit, you know, Kelvin Sampson and sons
with him, Like there are so many instances where you know, right,
I mean, you have buddy behind the bay him at
(25:17):
Syracuse exactly like Antoine was committed to Houston before Detroit
and then when his dad got the job, at Detroit.
He wanted to play for his dad, and that's that
is what it is. It's like all right, like this
is what I want to do. And it's nothing like
people can say, oh, nepotism, blah blah, like like okay,
like you know that's fine. But you know, if anybody
(25:38):
in their right mind, like they had a son that
was playing and they had an opportunity to coach them,
they'd want to coach, like come beyond my team. It's
it's a no brainer. He wanted his he wanted his
kid around. It's like, you know, if I could coach
my son in basketball, gonna coach my son. And like
I think it's never Yeah, he had never coached me ever,
Like he didn't really worked me out like when I
was younger, Like he never coached me in high school,
with middle school, I like nothing. So I had never
(25:59):
ever really been coached by him. I've just been at
his practices and everything, Like I would always work out
with any pain I worked out with roud when I
was younger, like a lot of guys were, you know,
he was never doing the workouts with me. It was
just kind of like, you know, I'm there watching his
practices yeah, and you know, it's just annoying because like
some people can't wrap their mind around the fact that, like,
(26:20):
you know, there there is this I don't know what
it is. I mean, like why you were picked for
it. It It doesn't matter why, you know, it's just like
that's you're you're the son of that man. That man
accomplished these things, and so therefore, like it's no different
than you know, him coaching you in Little League or
like any dad coaching their kid in Little league, Like
you just so happened to have the privilege to be
(26:40):
coached by him at one of the best universe, like
you can only have There's only gonna be so many
of those cases, like we said, like you had you know, uh,
the bay Himes at Syracuse. You have Johnny Dawkins kid
at you see if there's a there's a Doug McDermott
and his poppet at Creighton, Like there's there's a couple
of cases where like there's a couple of kids where
it works out for you know, like why why is
there this like you know, like you said, nepotism, There
(27:04):
is just this like it's it's just jealousy, man, like
and I just think it's funny because like I know,
like where I come from, Like if anybody in my
family had the same opportunity to the same thing, it'd
be as it would be a literal no brainer, like yeah, no,
Brad's gonna come play on my team right away. Now,
it's gonna play my team right away, like and you
and you would want to. So you know, I guess
what I'm trying to ask with that, And like you know,
(27:25):
people looking at you like, oh, Brad, you just had
it sweet he just walks into the door in Kentucky, like, um,
you know, we all have struggles on a day to
day basis. We all have adversity, and I have the
awareness to understand that, Like just because you're Brad cal Perry,
John cal Perry's son, you are not excluded from that.
Like you deal with your fair share of adversity. Maybe
your adversity is better than others, but like you still
(27:47):
got problems, you still got shipped you gotta deal with.
And so it's like how do you handle you know,
a lot of that noise that you know, once upon
a time probably hit you a little bit more since
you were younger, but now being older, like how are
you handling it now, it's like a lot of it.
So I have two older sisters, and my older sisters
are very uh they're ten and seven years older than me,
if that says anything. So they would like when I
(28:08):
was younger, they would pick on me and like, you know,
beat me up whatever, like not let me do things.
So like when I was younger, developing tough skin from them,
like help because I mean they still give me a
hard time till this day, Like it doesn't matter. They're
going to give me a hard time untill they die.
And you know that's gonna be what They're older sisters,
and you know that helped in some aspect of it.
(28:28):
But at the same time, there are things like when
Twitter got big, right, I'm like twelve, thirteen years old
and I've made a Twitter. I've like grown men talking
to me about like like dudes are like thirty fourty
years old, Oh, your dad's a cheater? Or your families?
Do your family like I'm in seventh grade, like what
you like? Like what's going on? Like I don't know
(28:51):
who you are? And like that was just like constant
for like years, like there be games, something happened, you
have fans tweeting as you're the same thing with my sisters.
People do that to my sisters as well, but like
I never had the luxury of being able to say
any thing back, Like my sisters will go back with
people if I say something back, like I was on
the team by then, like I couldn't. You know, you
(29:11):
have to have your social media be clean and professional
and all that, so like you always just have to
like either just eat it like whatever, just let it
go like it is what it is. And you know,
as you get older, it begins to hit you, like
you realize people are jealous and it's like I'm not
taking away the fact that like I was blessed for
(29:32):
the position I was put in. It's like what people
don't A lot of people don't understand. Like my dad
growing up was broke, like he had nothing, so like
everything he built he built from the ground up. He
didn't build it from the ground up to make it
harder for myself, my sisters, and then if I have kids,
like when I like he's trying to make it generational,
and people like they'll be mad at you because like,
(29:55):
all right, some people don't have that opportunity. It's like
all right. Then if you don't have that, then it
starts with you. But if you're not going to take
the initiative, is is different. So people are mad because
he took the initiative and was successful and worked way
hard and everybody put himself in a position to succeed.
Now he's making it an easier path, even though there
are some things that are hard. He made it a
slightly easier path for myself and my sisters, even though
(30:18):
my sisters are in a completely different realm. Like my
oldest sisters is a scientist, and people think, like my
dad helped. My dad has no idea anything to do
with science, not the first thing. He's a basketball scientist,
but not a scientist. And like people understand. They're like, oh,
like your dad. And she's like, my dad watches the
(30:38):
History channel, not like like what are you talking about?
Like she had a something where she was speaking and
she asked him aster she was like, did you understand
anything that I was talking about? He's like, nope, exactly.
And then my other sister is a vegan pastry chef.
Do you think he has no like vegan is the
furthest thing he's gonna like. Ever, he will never come
(30:59):
close to eating anything vegan like he had. People just
think like oh, like they're completely different paths and they
still think like, oh that has something to do it,
Like wos don't care? Like in science, people don't care, like,
oh you're you're dad. Coaches, they don't They probably don't
even know sports, like most of the time, like their
focus is something completely other than her dad, like her
(31:19):
dad like my Like they don't care and like like
it's their profession, Like okay, I just so happened to
do the same professional as my dad, Okay, whatever, Like
that's just what I love. Science is what my older
sister loves. Cooking is what my other sister loves. Okay,
that's you know, that is what it is. You know,
people got to put it in a proper perspective of
like what do you want from the kids? Like they're
(31:41):
not they can't do it. They were they didn't ask
to be born into it. They also, you know, kids
in Africa that are starving don't ask to be born
into that. Like you don't get to pick and just
because you know your stack of cards maybe is a
little bit better, Like there's just too much, Like you know,
we've said the word jealousy and envy a couple of times,
like and that's really what it comes down to, instead
(32:01):
of just being like happier than a man, like your
father created an easier path for you, guys, because it
isn't that the goal. Isn't that the goal to grind
it out and like give your you know, your offsprings
an easier path than what they had to endure. You know. Yeah,
But what I think upsets people is with the opportunities
that I have, I take full advantage of them because
my foundation growing up was you have to work harder
(32:24):
than everybody. You have to do more, regardless of what
position you're in, because if you're not, you're not going
to be successful. No matter what positions I'm going to
give you, you could open the door and not walk
through it. So he's given me opportunities. I'm taking full
advantage of them by doing more, doing more than what's expected,
and putting myself in a better position to not just
maintain but take whatever legacy it is to another level
(32:46):
because I can maintain it and be fine and you know,
be complacently that I'm doing, but I'm not because that's
not how I was raised that's not how my mom
my dad taught me. How you know, this is how
you're supposed to be. Like, no, you're no better than anybody.
You carry yourself a certain way, you do more, you
work harder, and that's why you know he is who
he is, and my sisters and I were going to
be what we are and whatever professionals were in. Yeah,
(33:09):
and you know it always comes back down to like
your upbringing, how you were raised. And obviously, like you know,
coach cow takes with him, you know, his mentality and
that we see the public sees on the court and
with his players, you know, to a different level to
his own blood and family. And you know, obviously he's
gonna raise you guys the right way. And and you know,
(33:29):
obviously he's smart enough man to know the position that
you and your your sisters were in while you were
growing up and understand the magnitude of that, and um,
you know, kind of giving you guys a blueprint on
how to navigate it. Like I always think about, you know,
someone currently going through it in the mixes Brownie James,
like he's in that position of like he's a high
(33:49):
major talent, he's a Class three so he's gonna be
you know, he's starting to get some offers and like
it's it's he's cracking the window of like, you know,
I'm I could be an NBA or like or maybe
I'm not going to be as good as my dad.
Maybe I'm gonna need three years of college and my
dad needed none. And there's gonna be you know, there
already is, but there's gonna be a million more comparisons
for this kid. You gotta think he's been hearing that
(34:10):
since he was two years old. And it's like or
that to be something like you have to endure, Like
I get that because like people thought, I'm supposed to
be like the next greatest basketball player ever and not
like just because my dad could coach. Like Okay, let's
look at my daddy's five ten, my mom is five three.
What the next do I have to be a freak
athlete or like people like I've come on like that's
(34:31):
not what it is. But like for me, like there's
always going to be that pressure of oh, your dad's
this great coach, and there's the times where like, oh
am I gonna be like just regular or whatever, But
like my goal, like I'm I want to be better
than him. I want to do more than him. I
want to make more of an impact than him. And
that's something like when there's that pressure, you either succumb
(34:52):
to it or you go at it and it doesn't
really turn to pressure anymore. So like when you have
those type of barriers put in front of you and
you have the mindset of like I'm to be great,
it doesn't matter what's happening, like this is what I'm
doing this, It's gonna be the same thing for Brownie,
Like he's probably thinking of the gym, like yo, Like,
I don't care who he is. I'm gonna be the
(35:13):
best version of me. And if I end up being
better at him, I end up being better at him.
Like that's my goal, Like I'm trying to do more
than what he's done. You know, I think one thing
that people are probably thinking, you know that I was
I started to think about when you said, you know,
my dad has nothing to do with my sister being
you know, a vegan chef or my other sister being
a scientist, is that people will always just bring it
(35:34):
back to the money and like, well, he can give
you a hundred thousand dollar loan and it's like yeah,
but like again, you're gonna shoot on me for that,
like if you could get a hunter, you know what
I mean. Like there's always these weird twists that are
like they're always gonna inevitably be unfair to you, to
Brownie James, like, oh, well, Bronnie James gets to work
out with lebron or Bronnie James gets to work out
(35:56):
with you know, Keian Anthony gets to work out with
Chris Brickley. And it's like, choose that as he has
the luxury of being around the best, so his dad's
gonna put him in the best position to beat the
best person who can beat And you look at look
at like a kid like Michael Jordan's sons, like they
didn't pan out. They didn't they didn't do anything. No
knock on them. I don't even know their names. I
just know that they didn't end up, you know, utilizing
the resources and the foundation that Mr Michael Jordan's gave
(36:19):
them to really do you know anything crazy in the
basketball world. So there's you know, countless people that are
you know, son the kids of basketball or just legends
within the world that yeah, like you have to give
props to Brownie and Bright's boat to like this is
what they want to do, Like they know the pressure
that's been around and they're going at it like they
(36:39):
have a chance to be really good, Like they're going
right at it. They don't care that they know there's pressure,
but they're just saying, you know, it is what it is,
like I'm doing me, like I don't care what people
have to say, Like you know, like that takes a lot,
especially like a young like Duse are like seventeen fifteen
years old, Like you know that's at that age, Like
that's a lot, Like especially with how books media stuff
(37:00):
is now, it's like you hear it more like more
at this age than probably what I did, and you
know I heard it at so like they have a
much bigger platform than what I did at that age,
Like that is what it is. But you know to
hear all that like constantly, like that's again wears on you.
And for them to be able to do what they've done,
like that's impressive. So you know you say, it wears
(37:22):
on you, and it wears on you in one way,
like you're sitting in your room, hundred thousand Instagram followers
getting toasted in your comments or something like what you know,
you're like, oh, I'm depressed. It sucks, Like what do
you sitting there? Like you know, like obviously you'll let
some of it seep in. It's like, oh, that won't
hurt or why are these people being mean? Like what
you know? What I mean? Like what is that? Like?
(37:43):
All right, last quick break everybody, and we'll get right
back into Brad's answer and so much more in the
home stretch of part one, So stay with us. We'll
be right back and we're back here on part one
of episode fifteen of Waukie Talkies podcast with Brad Calipari.
Let's get right back into Brad's answer. I mean, I
wouldn't say it's most of the time, just like do
(38:05):
these people are crazy? Like what do you guys like
talking about? Like there will be times after games people
DM me like, oh you fucking suck. I'm like I
didn't play that game, Like what happened? Like I'm like,
I don't I didn't have anything to do. And you
know there's times like most of the time now, like
I just like I am completely off Twitter because Twitter
(38:25):
is just like toxic. People just say whatever they want
on there and then Instagram like if I don't like
if you don't follow me or whatever, like you can't
comment on my stuff, So like I have it like
limited where like I don't see that because like at
first everybody is just like you have people say whatever
they want on it. You know, people want to talk
to they talk ship. But now it's like I've limited
(38:46):
that to where now like if I see it, like
I don't go on there as much like I don't
really follow anybody, so it's like I don't see other
people's stuff. And now it's like if I post something
like get off, like it is what it is. But
before where it's just like you're sitting there and you
see stuff You're like why are you like what? Like
what's wrong with people? Like why are you like for what?
You know? It's not really a like oh that hurt,
(39:07):
it's just like what are you doing? Like why are
you like for what? Like I didn't do anything. I'm
sitting here chilling talking ship for no reason. And you
also probably wanted to respond that sometimes, but like you said,
like you were attached to a team and you needed
to keep everything professional and there were times where I
says like I would say something back. Would never like
anything crazy. It's just like, you know, there are times
where it's like certain things you gotta say stuff back,
(39:28):
and it's like come on, like I've gotten one one
glimpse of that. Yeah, it was like early in like
n I L was recently passed and like I was
starting this podcast, and like the Washington Post wrote this
little article about me. They didn't really portray the things
that I said to them over the phone the correct way,
and it made me, you know whatever, I didn't really
like the portrayal. But I'm reading the I'm reading the comments,
(39:50):
and I'm like this is insane. Like I gotta I
gotta stand up for myself. I gotta say something to
these clowns like that's literally not true. You sound stupid.
But I didn't. I didn't end up say anything. I
didn't care. That's that's the hardest part. You can't even
look at the comments because most of the time people
in the comments just say absolutely anything. And yeah, well,
it was just my first little small moment of like
people like seeing my name and I was like, what
(40:11):
do they got to say about this story? And so
I checked it out now and everybody was like, well
that was your that was your first mistake. You should
have never looked. And I was like, yeah, well, um
so yeah, I think all that's really interesting and like
you guys have a you know, a different seat in
the world that is just like something to embrace. Man,
there's really like you can't ask out of it. You know,
(40:31):
there's no way out. You can, you know, emancipate yourself
and change your last name and you know, get a
different hairt whatever you can do if you want to detach.
But it's like that's not the case. Like you're just
embracing this life that you were given and doing what
you can with the cards you were dealt, just like
everybody else is, and and trying to make your own path.
And um, I just think it's interesting, man, Like just
see like there's so many young kids now who's like
(40:52):
dad's played in the NBA and now they're about to
do the same thing. Like and it's just funny because
it's like they should play in the NBA. If that
kid wants to play basketball and their dad was in
the NBA, they should play in the NBA. Like they
you know, they do it. They not like they need to,
but like if they want to like by all means
like like you're saying, work hard, put your put all
your chips into that basket, and see what happens for you.
(41:14):
Like you look at Curry, you look at Clay Thompson. Look,
they're just like it goes down the line, like of
course those guys are the way they are. Um, And
so I just think it's interesting. Man. I'm glad that
you were, uh, you know, willing to open up about
some of that stuff because obviously those stigmas exist. They
probably will never go away. It's always gonna be there.
But you know, just take life for what it is
and you keep it pushing. So the transition I want
(41:36):
to make from there is just like you know, you
being around the Memphis environment, the U Mass environment, the
Kentucky environment all while you were growing up. And and
I want to talk about start off with just your
knowledge of the game from the early stages of your
life all the way up to college, like you know,
throughout playing a you middle school, high school, transitioning into college,
(41:58):
Like how like you were around the game so much?
Like how advanced did you feel like you were how
much do you feel like you know, when you got
to Kentucky there were certain things that you hadn't picked
up on that once you got there you did pick
up on um, but just being like just talk about
that knowledge that you were able to get ahead of
over you know, someone like me who didn't pick up
(42:18):
on certain things once I got into the college system,
like because you were exposed to all of it, you
know at such a young age. Um, Like there are
certain things just like being around it being a practice
that from like a young age, I will pick up
naturally and you don't realize it until like somebody says
something and you're like, oh, like I knew that, and
(42:38):
that's just something that like comes naturally. Well, certain things
like certain spots you're supposed to be in, certain actions,
Like there are things that you just pick up naturally.
You know what reads to make, what place to make.
You know, there are certain things that you know really
stand out that you know, not everybody sees in real time.
And for me, like as I was growing up, like
I always felt more advanced, like what guys are supposed
(43:03):
to be doing and what spots are supposed to be in,
and some guys didn't understand that, so it was harder
for me, Like do I not say anything, or do
I say something, because like you know, the coach also
needs to say something that's like maybe that's not my
place right now. So that was like something for me
to where I had to figure out, like there's time
and place to be correcting guys or certain ways because
(43:26):
you know, whatever the coach is saying, like that's ultimately
what needs to be done. So if he has a
different opinion than what I'm seeing, then you know he
needs to whatever he needs or whatever he sees, that's
what's gonna happen. And like when I got to UK,
was that a lot of high school stuff for you?
Was that like that that example was more of you
(43:47):
being in high school? And like when I got to UK,
there are certain things just because I've been around drivel
drive like my whole life. Like I knew the actions.
I knew a lot of them, but the only thing
that was hard for me getting used to was the
pace of it. So like the pace and the timing
of it was a little more school. I wouldn't even
say difficult, but like it just took a little like
a small adjustment period. Like I knew the actions emotions
(44:11):
that were supposed to be in play, like the reads
you can make out of it, but the certain timings
and you know Sirtain reads in real time. We're just
like a shorter adjustment period, and it is for everybody
because it's such a fast pace, right, And um, you
know you obviously you jumped into a tier of pace
(44:31):
that was completely different. Like we've said numerous times, you're
around five star talent. And you know, thirteen of your
past teammates are currently in the NBA, and I'm gonna
rattle every single one of their names off. You've got
Bam out of Bio, Hommy Diallo, Dearn Fox, Malik Monk,
s g A, Kevin Knox, Nick Richards, PJ. Washington, Emmanuel Quickly,
Tyler Hero, Keldon Johnson, and Isaiah Briscoe is in and
(44:51):
out of the league. But we all know that he's
you know, he's a motherfucker too. So, um, you know
you're around all of that talent, you're competing against all
of that talent. At what point around those guys were
you able a kind of step in and be like,
you know, obviously you're their friend, but also give them
a little bit of mentorship because of like your background
(45:12):
and like man like of course I know this. Of
course I can help you out with this, Like, at
what point was the respect and trust level earned, you know,
with them where you could go up to them and
give them some pointers or just like a quick tip
that maybe a coach gave to them in a you know,
a more obnoxious, screaming version and you just went to
them with the friend version. You know, things like that,
like when did you get to that point with guys
(45:33):
like those? Those guys? All right, I know we were
all having a blast. But we will rap part one
of w t Z fIF Team right here and pick
back up with Brad's answer to that question I just
post next week on part two. We'll also touch on
next week who Brad thinks his best teammate at Kentucky was,
Who the best in the Kentucky dribble drive offense was,
who he was frying in one on one and post
(45:54):
practice runs, and more of the coaching side of what
Brad is currently doing at l i U Brooklyn right
now and his time at UK as a graduate assistant.
So much more to come. I do want to thank
you all for tuning in, and I hope everybody enjoyed
and does remember to subscribe and download the podcast. You
don't miss out on part two next week. Otherwise, what
are we doing here? You're gonna You're gonna miss even
(46:15):
more juice anyway. Also, if you guys can leave us
that review at the bottom of the show page on
Apple podcast and towards the top of the show page
on Spotify. Part two is coming in hot next week.
You don't want to miss it. I hope to see
you guys there, Walkie Talkies. This a production of I
(46:40):
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Noah Buono
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