April 10, 2025 - Former Fresno State Bulldogs Basketball Player Tyler Johnson

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, all right, all right, we got the pot today.
I got I Johnson with me. NBA Vets one of
the best coldest white boys I've.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Seen him creating league in my era, at least than
when I found out you went to President State.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I was like, no dogs, good things ahead, welcome to
the show.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah, appreciates you having me bro.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
First things first, I feel like playing football.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
There's always that debate where certain guys think that there
are Hooper's.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
At a certain caliber.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
And obviously that's fun in games like pool, basketball, maybe
at the wreck, things of that nature.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
But you yourself, growing up, at what.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Point did you know, like, okay, I could really become
like a professional slash d one hooper.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Like what was the trigger point for you?

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Right? You know?

Speaker 4 (00:45):
I think growing I just had the passion for it.
I think that's that takes you, that can take you
up to a certain level, just having a passion for it,
and then wanted to get better. And then I tried football,
got hit on special teams one time, knew that career
was over and.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Uh wait, so the rumor's true, like football does big
basketball players?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
I think anybody who tells you different was probably lying
a little bit if they played at all.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, I have one of my best friends with that
exact same thing happened too.

Speaker 4 (01:09):
The plays on the other side of the field and
somebody comes in and just completely blindsides me. I was like,
I don't want to be awareness like this all day.
So yeah, it definitely made me a basketball player.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Right away, and it worked out clearly. That's a blessing
in disguise.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
No, definitely, I gotta think that guy Studdyville micro shout
out to whoever hit me on that special teams play
because you made a hooper.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
The league is full of first and second round dudes
and going undrafted. And the reason I'm thinking of this
right now is because the NFL drafts coming up. My
brother's about to go through this process, the undrafted.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Journey and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
What was your initial like uphill battle feel internally once
you said, Okay, I didn't get drafted this year, How
am I going to zigzag my way into the league?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Right? Well, you know, I got I was.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
I think it was honestly a blessing being undrafted, because
when you get selected in that second round or or
you know, maybe late first, then you're jumping into a
situation where you don't really have as much control over.
When you're undrafted, you guid and can see where you
fit in and on a team, and hopefully you can
I mean, if if there's interest there, you can jump

(02:19):
on a team that has the need for your position.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
So that's what happened to me. I you know, I.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Jumped on UH with the heat going going into Summer
League and they had a need for a backup too
at that time, and so I knew I was going
in and I could compete for a spot. And I mean,
you know, you're an athlete, like once you get in
those lines, all that other shows out the window. Like
I could give to if you were a you know

(02:44):
five exactly, you get it out of being a competitor.
So so once we get in the lines, I knew
that I had prepped myself in a way that I
could be free too. There was no expectations if you
you know, if you fail, yeah, if you fail, like
you know, Nony thought you were gonna do it anyway,
So you can kind of go out there and just.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
You know, throw a caution into the wind. And that's
what happened.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
And you know, I just started playing well and went
to building that confidence you know, you know that that
that just took over and I got bleffed.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Man, once you let it hang.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
I mean, like you said, one of the best things
you could do as an athlete, especially at a high caliber,
because I.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Feel like growing up, when you're in you know, junior
high things like that, you're usually the best in your class,
best in your league. You're out here doing whenever you want.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
You get to high school, some people are gonna tight
you up a little bit. But you hit that point
where like, yeah, I'm sure you were an early guy
on varsity early in your career to where like by
the time you were a senior, the game slowed down.
And then once you get that college level, like again,
it takes a little bit of a couple reps at
least to like get the game speed down and you realize.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
That margin of skill level. Everyone's good at a certain level, right, right, But.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
When you have the ability to just be like, hey man,
I'm gonna play as loose and free as you possibly can,
at least as I think, you know, like a wide receiver,
as a pitcher, as certain elements, certain positions in sports,
you really can excel where you getting your own brain,
getting your own head too much, Like you really be
double thinking should I be driving to the hole?

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Should I take this shot? Should I pass this shot? Like?
Tell me about you know, what you did to get
to your peak in confidence while playing ball?

Speaker 4 (04:21):
You know, So when you're talking about getting on varsity earlier,
I was actually cut. So I was cut my sophomore
year from varsity. Yeah, a couple of a couple guys
who I love very much, but I thought I.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Could have been up there playing.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
They ended up making that team and making that varsity
team who were the same age as me. And actually
it was more that feeling of somebody not believing in you.

Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, that stuck with me.

Speaker 4 (04:44):
And I was like, nobody will ever be able to
say that ever again. You know, you better buy stock now.
That's how I felt at the time. Now, whether it
was true or not, I probably wasn't prepared at that
time to make that jump, sure, but that's what kind
of stuck was, was people not necessarily believing that I
could have this dream that I always had come true.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
You know, I mean disrespect, it's just gasoline on the
fire of wanting to prove everybody wrong.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
I'm saying the haters is a huge element of things.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
I dude, my recortment story at Freenslo State, I went
to a camp and like if you won one of
the position groups, one of the drills, like there's forty
yard dash, shuttle vert, all that stuff, like you got
to shake hands with the coaches after the camp. There's
four hundred kids of the camp and I won the shuttle,
so I got to shake the hands and I go
up to this, to the then wide receiver coach, I'm like,
my name is Frank Atlanta.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
I sent you a bunch of my highlight tapes. Blah
blah blah.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Myhl I take was stupid, but I was a five eight,
one hundred and forty five pound white boy at this time,
and I had an American flagcast song because I broke
my hand like three weeks before that.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
He comes up to me and he's like, yeah, senior team.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
I said, you're a good player, but you know, we
got this guy named Devanta Adams right now.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
He's gonna be really hard to and I'm just like
I'm sitting here like sure enough, have a good season.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
This guy leaves, you know, he comes back and the
special teams coordinator gives me an opportunity to walk on.
I'm like, great, I'm not gonna name names. Like he said,
you'll never play here, verbata, never play here. I'm at
his house five months later for the wide receiver barbecue
we had in the summertime.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Like I'll never forget instances like that, and certain coaches
you know they shouldn't pop off.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
I feel like, like I don't understand why you would
shut a kid down like that so hard and so fast,
And then sometimes you need that reality check, right, like
you need that, like, hey, bro, listen, like you run
a five two forty.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
You didn't play this year, like you're not gonna play.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
But I think there's certain things where it's like, yo,
who if you did tell me I can't do right?

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Right?

Speaker 4 (06:41):
And usually that comes from, you know, somebody's inability to
do it themselves, and so they you know, they got
to keep some other guys down. But you know, I'm
with you. I don't think there's any benefit in trying
to just completely destroy a kid's confidence, right because life
starting gonna do that, you know what I mean, Like
life's gonna come at you fast anyway. So like if
you're good enough, like they'll there'll be a point where

(07:03):
somebody realizes that. And it's probably not up to to
whoever that was to do that, but I'm sure how
did that feel then, going in oh to the wide
receiver barbecue and seeing his face again, to the same.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Guy who told you that he I don't know, I
wonder if he remembered. I could never get that memory
out of you. And that's okay, that's all right, And
you know, maybe that's the internal fire I needed at
that point in my life to do it. I've always
been a hungry dog, but like it is what it is.
I'm not saying I won, he lost, But you know I.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
Keep proceipts as you should, as I should.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Right, speaking of tough coaches, you mentioned the Heat you
had one of the harder coaches, like known for being
one of the tougher coaches in the league with with Spolstra, like.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
Take me through getting introduced to Miami Heat basketball.

Speaker 4 (07:51):
Well, so when you say tough, are you saying tough
as far as like the expectations of the of that
group or you or just him as a coach.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Him from an outsider, it seems like expectations are high right, yeah, no,
and they are.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
I mean, especially when you got pat Riley and the
you know of course in the in the in the
office right there. Playing for a guy like that is
easy if you're a basketball junkie. So if you're a
guy wants to come in and get better, it's really
not that hard, you know what I mean, because you're
gonna be you're gonna be in the gym, and you're
gonna be getting coached up by guys who had just
went to the finals four years in a row and

(08:29):
just came off of coaching your favorite players, every single
one of them. So from that perspective, it's not hard.
But they they make sure and they say that that
the Heat culture is not for everybody. And what they
mean by that is, you know, you're in Miami, so
your distractions are there. If they're there, they're around, they're around,
they walk by every day, so you know they're around.

(08:50):
And and the problem the problem is is you can
get lost in that and if you do, like they're
on it, they know exactly what you Oh yeah yeah,
if you're in Tootsies, they know you're in tens man,
Like they got the pis on you for sure.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
And Uh.

Speaker 4 (09:04):
So the thing is is if you're just about the workpiece,
it's it's really not that hard. And that's why some
of those those undrafted guys or late second rounders or
guys who are kind of on the end of their
career end up going over there and thriving and having
their best year because it's like you buy into the
workpiece of it, you're gonna get the checks right. Spell

(09:24):
doesn't give it if you're the fifteenth guy. I mean,
that's how when I when I was a rookie, we
had a Shabbaz Napier who was who was the guy
they had drafted, and randomly one game he threw me
in and I mean I wasn't expecting to play. I
had conditioned earlier. I'd just run sprints with the with

(09:44):
the strength and conditioning guy, and he just threw me
in and uh, just to see if I would what
I would do and popped off had a great game,
and uh that's kind of where things just started. Like
we were talking about building momentum, that's kind of where
we're at.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, I don't know why, it's kind of I've been
interviewing a lot of New England Patriots and you think about,
like from football in respective that Patriot way, Bill Belichick,
not a lot of guys wanted to play in New England.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
Because they did summer conditioning, They did a little bit
more stricter on the way inside of things.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
It felt like the standard was higher there, and realistically,
obviously Tom Brady helped keep that standard high and that's
why they won so many championships. But spol sounds like
he he kind of wants to take that Belichick approach.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
You hear about like Nick Saby like that.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
There's all kinds of coaches throughout the coaching tree, you know,
of history that they want to have. It's really about
that edge, you know, because at the end of the day,
every single NBA program is going to be They're gonna
do some sort of practice, They're gonna do some sort
of conditioning, they're gonna do some sort of film work
and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Like, what are you doing to have that edge on
the other teams in the league.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Do you talking about all the body weight and body Yeah, man,
that's a normal thing and the heat culture like the coaches, Yeah,
they're not they're.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Not playing around coaches how to check their weight and bodies.
Now they didn't have to.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
I'm just saying, like, you know, I saw them in
there working out everything, so I don't know if they
were held they were got to be held to some
kind of standard of like, you know, we're here to
work and we need we need everybody in their best
you know, physical condition to be able to do that.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, dude, when Tedford came in, like we have you know,
you got all the generic saying on the walls, like
you know, we're gonna be this standards, that the standard
is a standard, hold the rope, things like that. Like
our best seasons is when not just the team was
doing it, not just the coaches were doing it, but
like the water girls, the equipment staff, Like we had

(11:40):
trainers who would be taping our ankles every morning and
being like, yeah, we're gonna go get a max deadlifting
in the weight room and I'm a brick. You're like why,
Like someone's got to uphold the standard around here.

Speaker 1 (11:51):
It's like that's what we need here, man. So is
that the is that just because of the language of it.

Speaker 4 (11:56):
I Mean, everybody's kind of on the same page and
you're kind of just around it all the time. So
you feel like, man, if I'm really slacking off. You know,
I think you're only one. I do believe you are as.

Speaker 1 (12:06):
Strong as your weakest link. I really do believe in that.
You gotta trim the fat. You know how it is.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
You've been in the locker rooms.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
What I'm saying is you really could trim the fat.
Every locker room has someone who's cancerous. Where they're talking,
I'm not getting ough playing time, blah blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Niff that in the butt. We're supposed to get ten reps,
senually getting seven.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
When coaches looks the other way, bro, Like, that's not
that's not doable any When players could keep other players accountable,
that's when you've got a championship level program. Right when
you got other people getting you in trouble and you're
trying to protect him, It's.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Like, but you're not gonna win like that. Like you might.
Raw talent will take you to a certain extent without
a doubt. But I've seen five stars.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
You've seen all Americans come in where they just don't
have that internal want to.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
Be the best.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
It's just raw talent, and that will catch up to
you one of these days. So I gotta aspect the
body fat thing. So you came in, did they say.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Like, yo, ty, we we got got we got.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Tightening for what I'm lean muscle'd be like, I didn't
mean it, I didn't need I didn't. But there's other
guys like, for example, we had Hassan Whiteside, who was
I can't what was We had like two forty some too,
fifty seven foot and he's.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Five percent that's crazy, yeah, five percent body fat. I
don't think people realize how tight.

Speaker 4 (13:26):
It's absurd. I mean now they are doing a different
scale right now. Everybody would say it was it was
a little bit skewed, but I mean gives an incredible shape.
And that was just the standards, so it didn't really
matter across the board. If you were playing or not playing,
you're gonna you're we need you under eight one hundred percent.
But really it's like we're not going to accept anything

(13:46):
under seven. Yeah, don't matter how big you are, two
fifty two sixty and intense. That makes me think about
a guy like Luca right now.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Like oh yeah, they I mean, but they would get
on him the same way. And that's the thing.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
They kind of hold that standard across the board and uh,
I think I don't.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Think that's why if Luca went to the heat right now,
the first meeting would be like, we need you to.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
Trim so here.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
So I don't I don't know exactly how they would
go about that, because when you got when you got Luca,
like you can let Luca do his thing. I don't
know where the slippage is, you know what I mean? Like,
I don't as a coach or as ay, I don't
know where I left it. Because the dude's first team
All NBA and you can say, oh, he's not in shape,
he's not this, but can year after year after year.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
In the most critical moments.

Speaker 4 (14:32):
Who's the guy who not only who's the guy plans,
who's the guy taking the shots to play? It's he's unbelievable.
So I don't know where I would draw the line
in a situation like that.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Truthfully, it's very interesting, bro, it's very interesting.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
I think Jokic, that's another like, that's another guy's not
I mean, where do you draw the line as far
as you know, this guy just can hoop. He just
played basketball flat out and he's better than everybody else.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Who's well, we just brought up two cold white boys.
Now you're starting five all white boy team in the
NBA history.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
NBA history. Okay, that's a one. Come on, now, are
we are we going? Are we putting? Are we trying
to you know, are we trying to win a championship?
Or are we just we need.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
People in the seats championship?

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Because my I'm going back and forth between j Will
and Steve Mansh okay, and because I'm one's gonna put
one's gonna bring, you know, bring the noise and bring.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
People in to put people in the seats. The other
one's gonna.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
Delegate in a way where I feel like we have
a chance to win a championship.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
You could have a six man? How about that?

Speaker 2 (15:33):
You could have a six you got one bench pumper?
If because I feel like you're in a buying right now.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
I'm in a little bit of a buying.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
But I don't know where I want to use this,
uh this six man?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
I mean, are do Europeans count as what?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
I'll put Europeans in as white I'll put Europeans. Okay,
well then I mean, yo, Kitch is my five?

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Okay, we got yell Kitch Dirk is my.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Four respectfully as my three, dude.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
Maybe Brett Berry, Chris One. Yeah, I'm trying to think
place put in place style, because I mean, crazy is gonna.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
You're gonna probably play PG.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
I know you can shoot about the ball, but gonna
have the PG, you know, kind of probably put them
on with the two. And then I guess my three
is gonna.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
Maybe it's Larry Bird not making this list.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
I just missed Larry Bird, That's.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
What I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
You get that was like that was my first You
get put on the spot like this, and that's the
I guess that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
You get put on the spot and your mind just
kind of goes blank.

Speaker 4 (16:33):
I just forgot the obvious, the almost obvious piece I
thought it was.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
I got Larry Bird, and I forgot you.

Speaker 4 (16:42):
And it's even worse that I was gonna put Brett
bart for for Larry Bird.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
And and then now that's why I get fired.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
You're when I'm fired as the GM of my own team,
which is unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
So you know, I get it. I'm embarrassed. Keep it in.
I'm embarrassed.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Right, we're wrong Larry Larry.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Obviously, then we're good.

Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yeah, I'm gonna go Dirk, I'm gonna go Jokic at
the two, maybe Jerry West.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Does that team win an NBA championship this year?

Speaker 4 (17:10):
Yes, yes, I mean if you yeah, but the quality bench,
solid bench.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yes, I love that.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
Wait and then I just hey, we're gonna have to
let me redo this, Okay, okay, Luca is my two,
Luca's my two, Larry is my three.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
Dirk Yo Kic?

Speaker 1 (17:28):
And then do you well, then do you slide? Do
you slide? USh?

Speaker 4 (17:33):
Just out, Yeah, you're gonna have to slide Luca to
the one? Do you slide?

Speaker 3 (17:36):
Look at to the one?

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Is John Stockton?

Speaker 3 (17:38):
Is that?

Speaker 1 (17:38):
My am? I going too far back for John stocks.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
I love John Stockton.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I would say he's not He's not in that. He's
a good seventh face. Man.

Speaker 4 (17:44):
If you're gonna match now you got guy Luca up
against John Stockton.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah, you can't do that.

Speaker 4 (17:50):
You can't do it respectfully, respect and that's respectful. Dude's
a Hall of Famer respect respectfully. I mean, I don't
I don't know. I don't have any korms. Shout out
to Spokane, Washington, by the way, too. So you know what,
all I've realized in the last five minutes. Is that
I have absolutely no deal a team or it's hard.

Speaker 3 (18:12):
I need to get in you know what, I'm a
player development guy. You can get in there with that,
you know.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
But first thing or doing a check body fat, you're
gonna take that? No, no, no, I don't know. Yo.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
I just I just said the two that I would
let slide. So now you know, I don't even have
standards for my program. So maybe we'll do the beep
test or something, the pacer test. Old school getting the
pacer test. Okay, So you know it's crazy is that
you're gonna have to put smarter people around me to
make the decision. So obviously you're hired because we already
got you on the coach speak. We already figured it out.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Speech.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Give me one minute, so boys run through a rick wall.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Baby, I'm already knowing that underdog fight story. I'm getting it.
I got you.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
And then so yeah, we're completely off topic now, so
we're gonna go Luca, who's my tube? I just like Mono,
so I'm like, I'm just a huge monitor fan. And
then i gotta go Larry Derk.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Yok, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
That's a solid five. Well, we clip this. We'll make
sure we get that part right there. It just get
that part.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
The rest is like, oh, like someone's probably fill it
up gas listening.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
To this, watching this. But now we're back, and now
it's like we could continue.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
All right, So what what was your like welcome to
the league moment?

Speaker 4 (19:22):
Welcome to the league? It was actually it was pre
season and I was guarding Mana and it happened right
away because I think I was still I'm still in
shock that I'm there, you know what i mean.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
So I get on the court and.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
I'm like just get caught kind of just staring, trying
to like in a in a way where it was like,
you know, I've watched this dude growing up and you know,
be so successful, and I mean two seconds into this
inner monologue, I get back hut, you know, and then
these scores. So I'm like that just went really really fast,

(19:58):
and I'm gonna be out of here and That'll be
only moment. So I would say that one is one
that sticks out as far as a guy just absolutely
torching me where I didn't feel like I had a chance.
It was Lou Williams put up thirty where I was like,
I'm trying my hardest. I'm really trying my hardest to
get a stop, and he just plays at his own pace.

(20:19):
He's just super methodical and you can't speed him up.
And you know, I think the more he scored, the
more I'm trying to get a stop and try to
do the right thing. So I'm playing harder and that's right,
and then you know he just pump fakes. I'm jumping
jump right in and now I'm just sitting on the side,
like you know, so lou Will Jamal Crawford, he'd put

(20:40):
up a thirty ball where I was like the primary defender.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, that one hurt a little bit, especially playing with Mal.
So who's the toughest player you've had a guard?

Speaker 3 (20:47):
It's a good question.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
Well, so if we're gonna go, if we're just gonna
list the best people I've ever guarded, we're just gonna
see Steph and Kyrie and and and those guys. But
as far as somebody who was like, uh god, it
was Kimball Walker in Charlotte. He was the shift. He
was the fastest, shiftiest guy. I had no idea where
he was going. Dame Lillard's up there too, I don't know.

(21:09):
I think those guys were guys that I was like
more of a primary guarding primarily Steph, Like they're gonna
delegate that to j Rich or you know, whoever the
number one was, but you had to be on staff
at time to time.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Did he ever have a I can't believe you just
shot that from that far moment on him.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
I mean he had a couple.

Speaker 4 (21:29):
I don't think he really had anything that was like
unbelievable where I was just you know, I've.

Speaker 3 (21:34):
Obviously seen it.

Speaker 1 (21:35):
I've watched.

Speaker 4 (21:40):
I've watched it, But as far as when we were
playing like the another guy, another guy like that was
when I was with the Heat, who was obviously unbelievable,
but like Yannis, he he struggled against the Heat because
that was I mean, they're packing the paint, you know,
and they had.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
A good game plan for him.

Speaker 4 (21:58):
So like I've watched, I'd watched him score fifty do
unbelievable things all the time. And not to say he
didn't do that in those games, but it wasn't like
but yeah, I would say I would say Kimba had
some of those moments it in Boston had some of that.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
He put up fifty.

Speaker 4 (22:12):
Yeah, as far as me being the primary guy, yeah,
both of your guys.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
In certain sports, you gotta have that next play mentality.
You know, here's you strike out, you got to burn
that man. You can't let that lead into the next
at bat.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
You drop a ball, you can't let that affect your
next play because you'll drop another ball, right, You'll start
moment gets too big in basketball, like what's your next
play mentality?

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Tracker? Because I feel like it just happened so fast
in basketball. Yeah, I mean you just you almost kind
of just got to.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
Develop it or you won't last very long, right, you know,
if you're worried about missing a shot or or you know,
blowing it an assignment. It's like it happens so much
because it's so it's sports a right, Like if you don't,
those guys just kind of get weeded out pretty early.
But it is something you got to develop, you know,
over time, And I think over time you just kind

(23:01):
of get to a place where it's like, you know,
I'll make up for it, but it doesn't have to
be this very next play, right you know, And being
now kind of taking a step back where I'm not
playing all the time and I'm watching it, watching it
a little bit more, you kind of realize, like, those
moments aren't that big.

Speaker 1 (23:17):
No, really don't matter that, like you know.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Whatever, Yeah, miss looks out like, yeah, people aren't just
sitting over here.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Like I'll say, the only time people feel that is
if it's towards the end of.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
The game and people have money on you. That's the
only instances, right, people really get pissed off like that. Right,
Let's let's dabble in a little march matters real quick.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
Yeah, do you make a bracket? I didn't make a
bracket this year. Every year I make a bracket. I
did not make a bracket this year.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
Though people say they can make more than one bracket.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
I think you allowed one bracket, one bracket, and you
better off old school seventh grade. Print that child and
write it in with your handwright. You have to write right, tall,
work all the way. Well, are you okay?

Speaker 4 (23:53):
So if I think if you're betting and you're putting
your money up, you can make multiple brackets, I.

Speaker 2 (23:58):
Just think, like, okay, you everyone talks about, uh, there's
there's the bracketology out there, right, So you make your bracket,
you probably go through like CBS or ESPN or something
to do something with your friends, do something maybe for money,
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (24:10):
You do that bracket. But then you look on your
sports book and you're like, Okay, what do I like today?

Speaker 2 (24:14):
Because bro, I like I had, I had UC San
Diego winning one of those games.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
It was a great bet. They covered like all that,
but I had them moving on so they lost.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
But now it's like, all right, I'm not gonna not
bet on that seed. I got my sweet sixteen wrongs Like,
I'm not gonna not bet. I'm still gonna look for something.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I have Arkansas. I have Arkansas winning tonight against SETUS Tech.
I did not have Arkansas making it this far. But
I'm still gonna.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Now that we're here.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
But now that we're here and I need a little
action on profit X using code BTJ, I'm going to
do it right. That's just natural. I'm my man. I
need some I need some action that.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
Does That's the action on that they battered in the
first five or first ten dollars when we got going
with that for the promo code.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
They're they're they're so the whole thing right now is
you to set your own odds. Okay, So instead of
being like minus fifteen minus one fifteen, you could be
like plus one fifteen plus one twenty things like that.
So the first thing we're doing is you get to
set your own odds, which is kind of a little
bit of action.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
And there's no minimum on bed because I know some
dudes it depends on what your unit is. You know,
some dudes have thousand dollars units. I'm more of like
a march madness.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
I'm a ten dollars unit guy because I want to
I want to bet fifty bets.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
But these parlays are you putting together straights o states?

Speaker 2 (25:28):
I love parlays, profit aces all straight bets though, But dude,
like there's some juicy action out there, like like uh
nickne State, you hit that d you know a little
free Chipotle Brino off that man if you'll buy me
another bottle of Hennessy.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Man is doing big things, but you're still hustling like
a walk.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
You should go to hold Off Jewelers and ask for Max.
They've been in business for seventy years. But still like
you got to keep them chop wood, carry water. We
stand it all the time, man, Like just keep don't.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Don't just because you got the rolex, don't think you
could bet one hundred dollars all of a sudden keep
that ten dollars slicing enticing. Anyways, I think one bracket.
Although I thought I had, I had ukon beating Florida.
I mean, you conon March. You never like, that's a
great they've won. That's a great pick.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
They could have won that game could have.

Speaker 3 (26:19):
It's a great pick. Not mad. I wouldn't be mad
at that. But I think Florida, I've watched.

Speaker 4 (26:25):
Them a couple of times that I think they're too stack.
They just they I don't know.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Do you think today's day and age of ni L
a guy like Cooper Flag who's arguably the undistriated first overall,
probably is there any conversation he needs to have internally
with his family whether or not to go pro or
take a bag.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
No, go pro, not even close.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Now if he did go back, I mean he probably
I don't know what it what it is for the
for the number one overall pick, what that money is,
but I'm sure that I'm sure they could match it, yeah,
or probably exceed it for one year.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Well that's the only reason I'm thinking, like, Okay, let's
say it's let's say it's twenty million.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
A Duke comes and says, we'll give you thirty millions.
Now you've got a conversation. But that's also if I
go to Duke.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
If I come back to Duke, god forbid, because I
hate using the analogy, something happens. Okay, now you've just forfeited. However, yeah,
many million for ten more. Maybe I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
The goal growing up was to go to the league,
and obviously you can't go shout out of high school anymore.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
So you gotta play your one year. He did his
one year. It's time to go, and I mean he's
gonna put it.

Speaker 4 (27:42):
They're gonna put themselves in a position to win a
Nashally And then if you do that, then what right?

Speaker 1 (27:47):
Like what there's no yeah, pack, you went back to back,
right right? I think that kind of the age is over.

Speaker 2 (27:54):
Yeah, it's a one and it's one and done. Who's
gonna be here a guy like that?

Speaker 3 (27:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (27:59):
Do you think with the transfer portal, I saw that
statistic where FI used three best players from last year
are all.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
On teams in the sweet sixteen right now, So.

Speaker 2 (28:09):
Nil's ruining the Cinderella stories for like the tournament?

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Is there any truth that you think.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
I think you could argue it. I mean, there's just
no rules right now. So it's just the wild West.
And and so I mean, what a time to be
a mediocre basketball player, right You're gonna pay five hundred
thousand to just be okay?

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Like like, that's good bread.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
I would good bread.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
I mean, gee, like what we're talking about. That's CEO
money bro.

Speaker 2 (28:38):
I tell people all the time, like, I'll think you
realize how hard it is as a standard American male
in the workforce that's not in athletics to.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Make a hundred grand.

Speaker 2 (28:50):
You got to be at a managerial role, like in
a good institution.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
And we live in Cali. So you make one hundred
grand in Cali, you're taking home what just call fifty?
I think that's the that's the good I would be.
I would I just cut it in half at this point.
Maybe it's like fifty three fifty five, But.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
That's that's just cheese on top. We'll just take that.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
We'll take that's just the dressing on top.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
You just got kicked in the teeth like eighty five
times and so one gives you a little dixie cup
of water, like, oh.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
Yeah, here you go.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
Yeah, pick yourself up exactly, Brope.

Speaker 2 (29:23):
Speaking of getting kicked in the teeth, I understand that
you had a game where a tooth came out.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Couple couple, yeah, and you continue to play.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
Yeah, what's it like losing a tooth in that instance,
I was barely getting haircuts at the time, Like, I
don't know what to tell you.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, I just don't give And it also kind of
adds to the aura.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
It's like, you know what I mean, It's like rocking
note no front too, yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
It's gonna buy my ear off, right.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
And the thing was is I think for the last
three months of my my third year, I didn't get
a haircut, So I'm rocking note tooth.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
No, not shaving the beard. It's patchy, it's all down.

Speaker 1 (30:02):
It starts to just grime me guy. Yeah, yeah, you
know I wouldn't go that far.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
I didn't take it.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
I didn't take it all the way there, you know.
I but I was I was the closest thing to it,
you know. I still kept hygiene.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's just yeah, a little
speck for yourself.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
But uh, you know, just a little essential things. But
uh but uh for sure was rocking no tooth. But
and that really came down to I gotten him knocked
out in college. Okay, I'm talking from here to here,
all broken. Uh dove on the floor. Former teammate Ned Glubovich,
He dove on the floor, bite into the court, lose

(30:44):
all of them. I'm have like serious dental surgery. And
then then I'm playing the pistons. I get one knocked
out by Caldwell Pope. Then I go to summer league
and I break my jaw.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
I broke was breaking the hand of the mandible. I
broke right here, and it came out right here. Okay,
I didn't break right here. I got smacked right here,
and I broke right here, and I said, smacked, and
you put your fist up right here.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Leads me to believe me. I think where you might
have been in a little bit of a tussle.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
I got no, no, no. I was in a football game in.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
High school and uh, long story short, last play of
the half, hail Mary's happening.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
I'm playing safety. I go to we cover the dude.
So the quarterback's running.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
A tight end, ran an out, so he's off the field.
So I'm running this way and I have the player
coming towards me. So I'm using the sideline as my friend.
At this point, my radar. I have no reason for
think someone's gonna come crack block me.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
So I'm coming in. Got to smack this quarterback. And
some dude comes back off the sideline here, ran out
of bounds. It just underneath me. I got the wind
knocked out of me, broke my jaw.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
Do we got the film on then or I don't know.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
I don't know if there's some huddle on that. Honestly,
I've seen it one time. I don't know if they
buried it.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
And I was a sophomoree high school bro and I
had blood running down my face.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
I drove myself to the hospital. My mom was in
the passenger seat.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm like with the with the Valley children, I'm like,
I've just got my license. Definitely concussed, And but I
and I wanted to play because it was like last
game we were playing, Sanger.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Did you finish? Did you finish the game? My mouth
was just like a river of blood.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Right, they actually wouldn't let me play because I had
blood all over my jersey and that was the initial reaction.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
And then I could have put my helmet on because
my my mouth is onr Yeah, fair enough.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Anyways, my I have a pretty sick uh x ray
though it's like it looks like a giant it just
looks like a crack.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
All the way up.

Speaker 2 (32:35):
But it goes into this canine And I said I
was supposed to lose it or something like that.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, because it went through the root. It ain't fun
breaking your jaw, not at all, not at all. But
you got the nice teeth now.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Of course you gotta pay for those.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Of course, what's was it always like? Yo, we're actually
eating it for years once time zone? No, No, I
mean I just didn't.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
I guess I didn't really have a choice, yeah, you know,
and I kind of put it off for so long,
and like you know, even even these ones, like I
just keep running into this is where my teeth. I
break my teeth. It's doing dumb. Yeah, but veneers was
not always an option. But the heat were so adamant
about me doing that that I eventually.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Had to get I had to get it. They made
you do it.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Basically they didn't make I mean, they're not going to
make me.

Speaker 4 (33:22):
Conversation came up so frequently like hey, can we please
just get something done with this? They pretty much called
you Yeah, like okay, well, I mean I had just
signed a big contract, you know, and it was like,
we can't put this dude on any billboards or you know,
I mean any posters like dude the grinds not in
his haircut, you know. So I like, you know, I
think from that perspective, they had just invested, you know,

(33:45):
a chunk of money into me, and so it was like, hey,
can we just clean it up a little bit, it'd
be great.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
You know, this isn't the image you were trying to portray.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
That's okay, I mean, I mean he's ad though, you know,
I'm Tyler.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Johnson, like I'm just put some respects for that fun.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
But yeah, I think that's more or less where it
was coming from. Well, in that period, you also ripped
a mask. Had you had a mask at one point? Right,
you never have rocked the mask.

Speaker 3 (34:10):
Never rocked the mask? Well, I broke it.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
So I broke it in the Summer League, and then
they were gonna wire my jawsh yet but there was
another option to cut in and put place in. So
but the downside to doing that is all the nerves
and they'd cut all through all the nerves in your mouth.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
Your face would just be like hanging there there.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
Well you just yeah, you just wouldn't be able to
feel like the touch of you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (34:33):
But I liketed to do that.

Speaker 2 (34:34):
So you mentioned that contract, I understand, like take me
through the contracts and the negotiations, you signing it and
just kind.

Speaker 4 (34:41):
Of the mental side of once that was what took place.
So that summer was it was just a good summer
to be a free agent. Nobody was up, but there
was a huge influx of money coming in from the
TV deals and and you know, just the cap going
it goes up year to year, and so there was
just not really anybody up. And I found myself in
a position where I'd played well, averaged like nine a

(35:04):
game my second season, and yeah, there was the money
was just there. So the original offer my my agent
before I ended up switching agents go with my guy
Austin Brown at CIA. But before my agent Pedro, he
had asked me, Hey, would you be okay with like
three years fifteen when you know, when he come to

(35:25):
the negotiating table, like yes, yeah, and so then I
remember getting on with Austin and he was like He's like, no,
that's that's not even that's not even close to being
in play. So I'm like, you know, okay, we're not
even going through the moment, so I'm still playing, okay, whatever,
and then we actually get to the negotiating table, and
then it just if the numbers just started jumping, jump

(35:46):
from twenty five to thirty five, yeah, to forty. And
then Sacramento comes in and I was under the arena's provisions,
which basically, I believe if your second round are undrafted
and you only play those two years your first two years,
you can only max out at about sixty. And Sacramento
throws out that number, so I didn't think. I'm thinking,

(36:07):
is that's not you know, that's not real, right, And
I'm telling I'm telling my agent take the twenty five,
you know what I mean, because I feel like somebody's
gonna take it away and now I'm gonna be stuck
with nothing. So these numbers just at getting like super overwhelming.
I start getting like super hot in that room and
I had to step out and all of a sudden,
I'm in the in the hallway of the office just

(36:28):
start throwing up. Couldn't handle it. It was just too much. Yeah,
I just got hot, and it was like uncontrollable talking
about like I'm cool with a million dollars, is you
know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
I mean, that's that's very unbelievable healthy amount of money.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
Unbelievable, right, I mean, now, I know people stick their
nose because they get it in nil money now, but
it's like, you know that was to me was it
was a lot, absolutely, and coming from you know, everybody
has their story of you know, it came from nothing.
But when you really have no thing, you actually don't
really know it because most people around you are like
kind of in the same same position. So you're like

(37:05):
got kind of all in it together. So you do
have something. You have the camaraderie.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Boys, we're all yeah, we're all you know, we're all
in this moment.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
So you know, coming coming from a situation with my
mom being a single mom at the time, and and uh,
you know, not having much, I got it took pretty
much anything.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
And I'm playing in the league like that's the dream
that was.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
That was more or less where where my passion came
from playing in the league. It wasn't to get to
the league, makes make money, right, that just happens to be.

Speaker 1 (37:37):
Something that comes along with it.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
It's nice, Yeah, it's arm.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
They weren't in my arm to take it, but you
know that that was all I was thinking about. And
so then we actually so we knew that d Wade
was gonna end up leaving that year. You know, there
was some things that had that had happened. As far
as you know, he had sacrificed a lot. I'll get
it to it too much, but he had sacrificed a
lot during the Big Three era. And then after I

(38:05):
think he even talked about her recently, he was supposed
to get paid and they ended up signing a couple
other guys first, and then there was like this is
kind of just what's left over. You know, it's still
great contract, but for what d Wade meant to that
to that that team I think felt a little slided
and ended up going to UH ended up going to Chicago.

(38:26):
But we kind of had the inside track that that
might happen, and so we knew there was a chance
that I might end up back in in Miami, and
in Miami would match.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
But that was ideal I was. I was happy going back.

Speaker 1 (38:40):
You wanted to stay in Miami.

Speaker 4 (38:42):
I wanted to because just you know, familiar with Alarity
and those guys had invested so much time into me,
and uh, yeah, I definitely wanted to go back, but
I was also realistic with the idea.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
That I wasn't going to go back.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Yeah, you know, that's tough.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Yeah, we worked out