Ja Morant From Unknown to NBA All Star & Joined by Celebrity Trainer Mo Wells

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find From unknown and unranked to NBA All-Star, Memphis Grizzlies Point Guard Ja Morant joins The Pivot to share his journey to stardom, his family's influence on success and what his goals are for this upcoming NBA season personally and for his team. Sitting down with Ryan, Fred and Channing, the conversation spans everything from family to basketball to legacy. Ryan opens the conversation, inquiring about Ja's father, Tee Morant and his influence on Ja's career. Known for his infectious energy and continuous encouragement court side during Ja's games, the Morant Family is no stranger to the public eye. And with the increasing spotlight, comes increasing scrutiny...which Ja attributes to navigating by keeping his circle small and being loyal to the ones who've been with him from the start. Getting into basketball talk, Ja reflects on his accomplishments this past season which include NBA All Star, Most Improved player, post season semi finals but also acknowledges falling short of his two main goals- winning Most Valuable Player and the NBA championship with his team. Focusing on staying healthy and being available for the season, especially as it gets into the postseason is most important for Ja who is joined by his trainer Mo Wells. The two discuss how they are using this offseason to maximize his availability, overall health and continued focus on being the best player on the court. From transparency about the NBA’s competitive environment to the inspiration Ja receives from his fellow brothers in the league, Ja doesn't hold back opening up about his go hard and ask for forgiveness later mentality as well as the trash talking he does to keep himself and teammates in their opponents heads. Foreshadowing to the game against the Warriors on Christmas Day, Ja says his gift came early and that playing on Christmas is every NBA player's dream and to have this match up again is everything his team is looking forward to. Join our new DraftKings partnership, get ready for football talk and sports conversations throughout the coming months and for us to bring you some can't miss opportunities to make free money by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook App and checking out the special offers using the promo code PIVOT. Don't forget to like and subscribe to our youtube channel and check out https://www.thepivotpodcast.com. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY) 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/LA/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/KS/NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), visit OPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA). 21+ (18+ NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/LA(select parishes)/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Void in ONT. Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min $5 wager. $200 issued as eight (8) $25 free bets. Sponsored by DK. Ends 9/19/22 11:59 PM ET. Eligibility restrictions apply. See T&C at sportsbook.draftkings.com/footballterms. #1 Rated Sportsbook App based on Eilers&Krejcik (2Q22). Product Analysis: Testing, Scoring, and Ranking U. S. Sports Betting Apps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 5:55 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 0:49Ryan Clark?

  What up, bro?

• 0:50Speaker 02

  What up, what up?

• 0:52Ryan Clark?

  You good, man?

• 0:52Speaker 02

  I'm all good.

• 0:53Ryan Clark?

  Yes, sir.

• 0:54Speaker 02

  This is the moment I've been waiting on, bro.

• 0:58Speaker 02

  Man, that's crazy, bro.

• 0:59Ryan Clark?

  What up, Doc? Did he talk that talk? What up, bro, RC?

• 1:02Speaker 02

  It's Mo, dawg.

• 1:03Ryan Clark?

  That's crazy, bro.

• 1:04Fred Taylor?

  That nigga dunk on anybody. Got me by two inches, I can't dunk on nobody.

• 1:10Ryan Clark?

  Good, man?

• 1:11Speaker 02

  I'm all good, man.

• 1:13Ryan Clark?

  How the offseason been, bro?

• 1:14Speaker 02

  Good, good. Getting back into the groove, man. I'm on it.

• 1:18Ryan Clark?

  Y'all boys play so long, though, dawg.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  Eighty-two plus.

• 1:23Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, sixteen was different, right? You play one, you got the rest of the week. Get yourself together, go again. Y'all got back-to-backs, traveling.

• 1:33Speaker 02

  Five and seven.

• 1:34Fred Taylor?

  That's usually the time you get back in it, though?

• 1:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, close, yeah. But now I set up like runs, like pick-up runs with the team in September. So like, we get like three weeks before training camp start. Get in shape and then, you know, once training camp start, you right in the preseason. We got like three days and then you got your first preseason game.

• 1:53Fred Taylor?

  Most of the guys show up?

• 1:54Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:55Ryan Clark?

  And they don't get on y'all about, uh, about running outside the facility?

• 1:59Speaker 02

  Nah, not too much.

• 2:00Ryan Clark?

  Getting in the pickup game? Because I be seeing them damn pro-ams and all that.

• 2:03Speaker 02

  Yeah, they like, they allow it, but... You know, most people, they don't be, well, I know for Grizzlies, I can't speak on other teams. Yeah, yeah. They don't, they don't care so much. They love us being in the gym, honestly, so.

• 2:15Ryan Clark?

  But see though, that's the thing that's different about basketball, too. It wasn't fun to train for football.

• 2:20Speaker 02

  Hitting the bitch in the head all day.

• 2:21Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, like you weren't feeling, we weren't feeling like, "Ay, y'all, let's go play throw up tackle." You know what I'm saying? Pick him up, bust him. You know what I'm saying?

• 2:28Speaker 02

  Hell, no.

• 2:28Ryan Clark?

  It's cool to go hoop.

• 2:52Ryan Clark?

  Well, shit, man, welcome to the Pivot, bruh. It's an honor for us, for sure. We have different milestones on this show that I think we all, we all remember. We sit around, talk about our favorite, favorite shows. But when we first got together, we started talking about guests and guest lists. And shoot, man, your name was so high on the list, and we'll bring more Wells in. Later, your trainer's one of my best friends. I've been hitting him from the beginning. I've been like, "Shoot, man, I'll, I'll gritty to Memphis." You know what I'm saying? If it mean that he'll do the show, but Chan, man, Fred, we just, we honored to have you sit down. Listen, if you follow us already or you're subscribed to us, we appreciate the support. YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, make sure y'all continue to keep up with us.

• 3:36Ryan Clark?

  We appreciate everything, especially from the way that we've grown from the start of this in January to now. It's on with an upper. And like Fred always says, anybody can podcast, but not everybody can pivot. And that's what we gonna keep doing. We gonna keep pivoting, and having somebody like you on is a huge part of that. You know, what we like to do on this show, bro, it's not like, like, everybody knows you can hoop. Hell, if you got eyes, you can see that. We're more into what made someone the way that they are. What put the dog in you? Why, why you say, "Yeah, I wanna dunk on Bron." "Yeah, I can beat Mike, one on one." But I think you gotta take it back to your pedigree. I think you had a grandfather and uncle that were big league baseball players. Moms, two sport athlete. Your father, T, who everybody loves, you know what I mean?

• 4:21Ryan Clark?

  Who everybody loves. You know, he hooped. What was, was, was growing up like for you?

• 4:28Speaker 02

  Pretty much outside, man, running around with the fam, whatever it was. Baseball, football, basketball. Just find, you know, different ways, whether we playing, you know, manhunt. Just, you know, we was outside running around, you know, pretty much all day. Then I, you know, I got into basketball, you know, obviously from like my, my pop's side. My mom's side was pretty much baseball, softball. So I had a taste of, you know, both sports. Obviously, I chose basketball. I felt like that, I felt like basketball, you know, was pretty much for me. So that's pretty much it, man, just with the fam 24/7.

• 5:11Speaker 02

  Whatever we decided to do that day is, you know, pretty much what we did.

• 5:14Ryan Clark?

  Obviously, I follow you on social media. If I do see different faces around you, it seems like the same faces. It seems like a very small group, you know? When I see the pictures of like all the big time hoopers, like somewhere together, Ja's not there. When you see some of these superstars that's continuously posting and they taking these vacations, Ja's not there. And, you know, there was some talk about your pops just being the way he is at the game. And, and, and for me, it was refreshing because I got his son, right? And that's how I support him and that's how I want to be. Talk a little bit about his influence on you and his support for you throughout your life, but also how it's created this false, small family atmosphere for your homeboys.

• 5:58Speaker 02

  You know, growing up, me and, you know, my friends was around my pops and his friends. So, you know, pretty much old souls and, you know, just seeing how they came to the house pretty much every day, the same group of guys and just cheer, whether they watching football on Sunday or coming out to the back and watching us play. It was pretty much the same guys and, you know, my parents have always preached to, you know, keep your circle small and, you know, be loyal to, you know, the people you love. That's pretty much, you know, why you see me with the same people, you know, 24/7. Not saying like I don't, you know, interact with other people, but I just, you know, I keep it in the family.

• 6:38Channing Crowder?

  I love T. I love your daddy, how, you know what I'm saying? But we, we a different type of people. RC always says sometime, we meet somebody, be like, oh, he like us.

• 6:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:47Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? So I love it, but does everybody love your daddy? Cause there's some criticism of him, just how, how supportive he is, I call it.

• 6:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 6:55Channing Crowder?

  Some people say it's over the top sometimes.

• 6:59Speaker 02

  I feel like there's nobody in this world who everybody just love. I feel like there's more people who love my pops than people who hate him, but I don't know whether it's how they grew up, or, you know, is it me that just make them hate him? Or I don't see why you get backlash, you know, for being a, you know, a supportive dad to, you know, your child or whatever. But regardless of the fact, he always told me, you know, you tune all that stuff out and you continue to be you. And pretty much, you know, that's why you see him still doing the things he do today.

• 7:33Fred Taylor?

  But it's a trip though, right? How they can paint that narrative, but then on the flip side, say, especially in our communities, that dads aren't present.

• 7:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:42Fred Taylor?

  So it, it, you see how that can be crazy.

• 7:44Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 7:45Fred Taylor?

  So I don't get it.

• 7:45Speaker 02

  Boo's lose situation pretty much for us. But, you know, for me, I can say, you know, that's why I'm jod today, why who I am, because I had the support system. But not only my dad, from my mom, and you know, the rest of my family. They always held me accountable, pretty much, you know, don't let me, you know, we can curse on here.

• 8:08Channing Crowder?

  Say the hell you want.

• 8:09Fred Taylor?

  You want to say it.

• 8:10Speaker 02

  Bullshit around and stuff, you know, they, you know, kept it, kept me, you know, locked in and, you know, focused on the main goal. So pretty much, you know, preaching that, you know, tunnel vision to me at a young age.

• 8:22Fred Taylor?

  Hey, them Usher tickets hard to get in Vegas. You think T can get me right?

• 8:25Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, man. Get him a column right now. There's probably only one person in the world outside of Usher family who he answered the phone for every time, man. It's probably my pops, man.

• 8:37Ryan Clark?

  A lot has been made, we see it all the time, like the Steph Curry high school photo. You know, the whatever, the no power five offers, whatever, two star, all of those things. And I think that comes because he's now become the most famous small hoop recruit, right? Like, he's the guy everybody points to with, you know, four championships, two MVPs, finals MVP now, kind of that legacy. And they always show that picture. But to me, you've kind of done it the same way. You've revolutionized the position in a way for a small guard that went to Murray State, that wasn't necessarily recruited highly as your talent or that your career now says you should have been. When you were going

• 9:22Ryan Clark?

  through those things, seeing homeboys get power five offers, playing AAU ball and all those things, how would you just stay the course and say, you know what, wherever I have to go, whatever I have to do, I understand who I am and I'm gonna be that and I'll get to where I need to go?

• 9:37Speaker 02

  Man, I can say it was hard. You know, it was definitely, you know, frustrating, definitely, you know, you know, make you get down on yourself when, you know, I'm playing against these guys and killing them. And then I'm watching them getting all these, you know, big time offers and still, you know, no offers for me. As far as, you know, staying, you know, level, I can, you know, give credit to my parents. You know, they always tell me, you know, don't worry about it. That, you know, basically cream always rises to the top. And I felt like, you know, it was easy for them to say. It was easy for me to listen. But as far as, you know, actually doing it, it was, it was pretty tough. And, you know, I did it, man. And my pops always told me, you know, once you

• 10:22Speaker 02

  get your foot in the door, kick it down. So I had opportunities where I was in front of scouts at the CP3 camp, in front of scouts at Murray my freshman year for, you know, previous players. And that's pretty much, you know, when I took advantage of my opportunity.

• 10:38Speaker 02

  Got my Murray State off him.

• 10:40Channing Crowder?

  Speaking of man, speaking of his dad, he keep bringing up his dad and I say, I love your dad, man. I'm gonna get me a happy dad.

• 10:47Ryan Clark?

  Bruh, it's early, yeah.

• 10:49Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, man, you still gotta train, ain't it?

• 10:52Speaker 02

  Let me get, let me get.

• 10:53Ryan Clark?

  He gotta work.

• 10:53Speaker 02

  Is that beer?

• 10:54Channing Crowder?

  Hard seltzer.

• 10:56Ryan Clark?

  I'll take one. Man, Ja gotta work, more than Ja gotta work out, man.

• 10:59Channing Crowder?

  I done seen Ja drinking now.

• 11:01Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:02Channing Crowder?

  That's not act like Ja don't drink, man.

• 11:06Ryan Clark?

  Ja, man, when, when you think about, about where you are now, right, and the way, the way life has changed, you know what I'm saying? Like, in order to get the scrutiny that your father gets, if you were a scrub, it wouldn't matter. Right? You know what I'm saying? Like, if you weren't ballin', like, if you weren't a guy that the cameras were always on, nobody pay attention to him. It's a lot of dudes that got dads that supportive that sorry as hell. You know what I'm saying? Don't nobody tell them nothing, right? But when you, when you yakin' on Malik Beasley, you know, when you putting your balls in Kevin Love face, like, people gonna draw that, you gonna draw that type of attention. What has that change been like for you? Because you have that, that small school upbringing, you know, not necessarily being a high recruit,

• 11:49Ryan Clark?

  and, and now you, you can't post a pic without hundreds of thousands of people paying attention to it, right? You, you can't bang your knee up, you can't strain a muscle. Has it been difficult adjusting to fame?

• 12:02Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. I feel like for me, you know, for the most part, uh, it's definitely been tough because I wasn't used to it at all. Um, now it's like, man, all my privacy out the window. And as far as me and my family go, you know, we like going to do stuff as a family, being able to go out freely. And I can't do that now. So, you know, I have to watch every move. I gotta watch everything around me, watch what I post. All because of, you know, the player I am today and, you know, the fan base, you know, that I got behind me now. So it's definitely been tough. Made me a, pretty much a homebody. Um, I just sit in the crib with the fam.

• 12:40Speaker 02

  We play whatever game, whether it's Madden, uh, I go play Warzone with the friends, uh, just have fun while we're in the house.

• 12:48Ryan Clark?

  Chad, you can't run with him then. He said he don't run.

• 12:51Channing Crowder?

  He run.

• 12:52Ryan Clark?

  The man just said he play games.

• 12:54Channing Crowder?

  No, he don't just play games. Like he said, the social media's out there. That man have a drink, good looking young man. I don't know if you got a lady or nothing, but I know, I know you ain't, it ain't hard to get a date for you. Come on, Najee. You ain't struggling to get a date.

• 13:09Speaker 02

  Nah, it ain't, man.

• 13:10Channing Crowder?

  To the same point of the fame, of the fans. Now you gotta watch.

• 13:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:14Channing Crowder?

  Everything, every aspect, like including the women.

• 13:17Speaker 02

  And that's pretty much kind of been my mom's side of the, you know, informing me on stuff. She always tell me, you know, you gotta watch them. Now, you know, I can see it, whether it's just how they carry themselves as soon as they get around, if they want to be extra.

• 13:33Fred Taylor?

  But you're a country boy, but you got big city drip though, like, you know what I'm saying? You flashy, you very confident, and you got a daughter.

• 13:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 13:42Fred Taylor?

  Does that allow you to help put things in perspective and, you know, how to approach or treat women?

• 13:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, for sure. Not even just my daughter, like, I have a little sister, who's a senior in high school now, and I got my mom, so knowing how, like, I want them to be treated, watching how they've been treated, you know, pretty much my whole life, and now having my daughter and how I want her to, you know, be treated and how, well, now she's a little too young to understand, but as she get older and I'll be able to tell her. Definitely, you know, pretty much helped me with women.

• 14:17Speaker 02

  Feel like, you know, everybody can tell you that even when I'm around, I still be chill. Like, I don't press nothing, I just sit, lay back, you know, whatever comes to me, it just come.

• 14:26Fred Taylor?

  You can see a difference in yourself from before she was here, your daughter, to now? How has she changed?

• 14:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was in college, man.

• 14:34Ryan Clark?

  Me too.

• 14:35Speaker 02

  Feel like everybody had their college experience.

• 14:39Speaker 02

  So now, it's like, I got a daughter, man, so, you know, I'm chilling.

• 14:43Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 14:43Speaker 02

  Chilling.

• 14:44Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you know, you look at the Grizzlies this year, and y'all became everybody's darlings. I think it was two-fold. One, obviously you, right? But y'all brought back like that high school, college feel. You know, us against the world, almost seemed like y'all lived in dorms, like everybody jam type. You know what I mean? I think that was the thing that drew people to the Grizzlies. And also, like, it's Memphis, is, you know, not since Zach Randolph and those guys have you truly been in contention to win it. You end up getting hurt late. Right now, we're at the Collective. This is where you train with Mo Wells, who I mentioned earlier. What are you focusing on right now, though?

• 15:27Ryan Clark?

  To, one, play at the MVP level you were playing at, right? You don't, you don't miss those games. I think the, at least the conversation for MVP involves you more. But, like, I know you want to win. Right, like, I can see it. Like, people, nobody plays the way you play. That's not focused on winning first.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:45Ryan Clark?

  How do you take the next step in your career? And how does that help the Grizzlies?

• 15:49Speaker 02

  Number one on my list is being available. Pretty much, you know, every season, uh, in my three years, you know, I had a injury that, you know, took me away for, you know, a while. And obviously, like you just mentioned, you know, late in the playoffs, that injury took me, you know, out of the series. And I felt like, you know, me personally, that, and my teammates, we were the favorites, you know, in that series. And I feel like, you know, it was pretty much our year, but that injury caused me to be out. And now you have to change lineups and, you know, God's playing without me. And I feel like that's the most frustrating part for me. You know, being out there and not being able to compete, you know, with my teammates. So, number one is just, you know, being available

• 16:34Speaker 02

  and, you know, still working on my body to get stronger. And, uh, on the court wise, you know, I still work on all areas of my game, but pretty much being way more consistent with shooting the ball so I don't have to, you know, go to the rack and absorb all that contact and, you know, hit the floor every time. So, um, that's pretty much what I'm focused on now. And I feel like, you know, as long as I'm locked into that and, you know, keep working on that, that, you know, it'll help us as a team.

• 16:59Fred Taylor?

  RC mentioned, you know, being unranked, uh, not highly recruited. Murray State, they retired Jersey. Congrats on that. NBA Rookie of the Year, NBA All-Star. You know, you're here. You know, a lot of people probably didn't believe in you early, but, um, what can I say? God did. So, uh, for real, though, man, like, you're a star, bro. Like, you're really a star. But some people would question whether you would ever reach that superstar status being in Memphis. And that we're talking about Memphis, you know, that, that's where that question comes from. Because I haven't seen a superstar, you know, the brons of the world, those guys that are in the bigger market, uh, areas.

• 17:41Fred Taylor?

  Do you plan on re-upping when it's time to be in Memphis? Or do you have to go somewhere else to be that superstar?

• 17:48Speaker 02

  I just did.

• 17:49Ryan Clark?

  They just made him super duper rich.

• 17:51Fred Taylor?

  I'm drawing the blank, I'm tripping.

• 17:53Ryan Clark?

  How much he gotta re-up for?

• 17:55Fred Taylor?

  Well, I'm tripping, my bad. Can you be a superstar in Memphis?

• 17:59Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 18:00Fred Taylor?

  I missed that.

• 18:01Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. I didn't either.

• 18:05Channing Crowder?

  I watched the dude's pockets.

• 18:07Ryan Clark?

  Hey, what they gave him?

• 18:10Fred Taylor?

  Hey, at least you keep us on the go, bro. He work in that world, so he gotta see it, and we always moving.

• 18:17Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, it's like, remember when Devante checked me and was like, nah, it's 140, 140 million point 275. Ja, what was it, 193?

• 18:28Speaker 02

  193. But I ain't just going for that one, though.

• 18:32Channing Crowder?

  Well, hit him again.

• 18:33Speaker 02

  I got an opportunity to get that 231, so.

• 18:36Fred Taylor?

  That's what it's about, so, but being a superstar, can you change that whole outlook? Because some people say small market, you know, guys can't reach that upper echelon. Can you break that down?

• 18:47Speaker 02

  Hundred percent, you know, I feel like I improved every year. I feel like now, you know, I'm starting to get more recognition from this, you know, this past season, you know, making All-Star, Most Improved Player. So I think, like he said, you know, I'm focused on winning. As long as I continue to win, I win championships and I, you know, I stay at the level that I'm playing at and improve, I feel like, you know, I definitely can be, you know, a superstar in Memphis.

• 19:13Channing Crowder?

  And we talk about Murray State, you talk about watching the dudes that you yamming on, get scholarships or not, just that underdog mentality.

• 19:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:19Channing Crowder?

  Is it still there?

• 19:20Speaker 02

  Always, always.

• 19:22Ryan Clark?

  You was in the MVP race. How can you be an underdog if you the Most Improved? With 193?

• 19:28Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 19:28Speaker 02

  I wasn't the favorite.

• 19:29Channing Crowder?

  You still don't think folks respect your game?

• 19:32Speaker 02

  Nah, I do, but I feel like now, like, just because I'm me and I, you know, I speak on whatever I want to and say what I'm feeling at the time, that some people don't like me. So that's why I bust they ass.

• 19:44Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I wanted to ask you, when you come around that damn pick at the top of the key, do you even, are you ever concerned of who's under that rim?

• 19:51Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 19:52Channing Crowder?

  You don't even think about it?

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 19:53Channing Crowder?

  You just, you rising up?

• 19:55Speaker 02

  Straight like that.

• 19:56Channing Crowder?

  If Jesus was down there, he gonna have to get it.

• 19:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, see, I apologize and pray after.

• 20:04Fred Taylor?

  I don't want him to send me downstairs, man. Keep me up there, man.

• 20:09Ryan Clark?

  I know, it's crazy. We're sitting down with Ja and then we interrupt you. But we wouldn't interrupt you unless it was important because we gotta talk about DraftKings. Yeah, the NBA season's gonna come around, but right now it's all about the pigskin. We just finished Week 1 and it was absolutely phenomenal and DraftKings threw you the alley. You like that? I brought it back to Ja. But tell him about the fire for the 200, Chan.

• 20:32Channing Crowder?

  We watch out for y'all. Y'all love what's going on with Ja and it's gonna get 10 times better. But listen, new customers of DraftKings, you bet $5 or more, we getting you $200 of free bets. We giving you great content, free game, and now 200. All you gotta do is use the promo code PIVOT when you go to DraftKings.

• 20:53Fred Taylor?

  Make it happen. And if you don't have it, go to DraftKings Daily Fantasy. Use promo code PIVOT, make it happen.

• 21:01Ryan Clark?

  Now remember, everybody can live the fantasy, but only the pivot can live the dream. Back to Ja Morant. Hopefully we'll be seeing him in the show.

• 21:09Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Wanna make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake up call at 5:55 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 21:43Ryan Clark?

  Take us through, right? Because we're football players. Right. You know, I don't know if Chan and Fred hoop in high school, but you know, like, every football player think he can hoop. Yeah. Because I played basketball. I won state, I thought I was really doing it. You know what I mean? Then I got to college and I would go run with the hoopers and then I realized, ah, this is kind of out of my league. Yeah. And they weren't even that good. You know, so I don't, some of this I don't understand. Can you kind of take us through, what is it? It's late in the third quarter, you're down to Minnesota. There's some back and forth, you know, in that series. Cat talking, like, it was a lot going on. But y'all down, I think, double digits. You know, you turn the corner. Late in the third, Malik Beasley's under the rim.

• 22:28Ryan Clark?

  It came to mind because he said, if Jesus is under there, this is how, like you said, he gotta get it to.

• 22:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:35Ryan Clark?

  What's the mindset when you turn, you see him, and you go into the rack?

• 22:41Speaker 02

  Go finish. However, I gotta do it. I prefer to dunk them to embarrass them, but however I got to. So in that series, you know, I turned the corner, basically rejected a ball screen, and I seen a guard being a rim protector. I know there's not too many guards in the league that can jump as high as me, so the rest was history.

• 23:03Ryan Clark?

  You guys get to the next round. I believe Golden State beat y'all the first game. I believe you come back. I think Steph says it's gonna be a hell of a series or something like that.

• 23:13Speaker 02

  He said, "We gonna have some fun."

• 23:14Ryan Clark?

  We have some fun, right. And you say, you come back and say the same thing the next time. Now, you and Dre going at it, which I love. When the Christmas, when the Christmas schedule comes out, you're like, "Hey, we got, we got what we wanted."

• 23:29Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:30Ryan Clark?

  Why was that so important to you? That you guys got that game against that team on that day?

• 23:36Speaker 02

  I feel like, you know, every NBA player, you know, pretty much wants to play on Christmas. And as far as that matchup goes, we had our back and forth, you know, during the series. We had our back and forth after they won the championship, when they, you know, brought up the situation with Jaren. And then it's like, "All right, we brought up the Christmas game, and we got the Christmas game." So all the, you know, back and forth we was doing on Twitter, you know, we, we got what we wanted. We got the matchup we wanted. He said, "The champs don't go on the road." So, "All right, we'll come to, to the Bay. We gonna come out there." And, you know, we pretty much got that matchup. So it's now, it's like, "All right, we got what we wanted now."

• 24:21Speaker 02

  It's nothing else, else to say.

• 24:23Channing Crowder?

  Is, is NBA beef real? Because I see the dudes always talking and bumping their chests against each other, but like...

• 24:31Ryan Clark?

  They don't fight.

• 24:31Channing Crowder?

  I'm gonna say you have competitive battles, like, but is the beef real?

• 24:36Speaker 02

  I feel like it's more competitive, competitive than actually beef. Because me personally, like...

• 24:45Speaker 02

  Draymond got my pops number like he been said Christmas coming for dinner. So they blew that up like he was talking trash like when we already had that discussion already. And as far as the Timberwolves series, all the back and forth that was going on after. It's still respect being shown. After that series, still respect being shown, but when you got competitors like that who pretty much don't care as like me and Draymond. You know, that's what happens. It's not no beef like, oh, when I see him, I'm gonna punch him or something like that. Nah, it's respect at the end of the day. But once you inside those four lines and that ball go in the air, it's no more friends at that point.

• 25:25Fred Taylor?

  So with that, you know, you're talking about Draymond, those guys, they've won all the rings, you know, in the past decade. They've been obviously the best team, right? Going back to your rookie year, you know, coming in, you've seen some of these guys ready to compete against them and knock them down. You ever have that, that starstruck moment for a player to player? You know, like you're a fan of guys, you know, and that ideal jersey swap like your rookie year, was it anyone in particular you wanted to get their jersey?

• 25:53Speaker 02

  Uh, Bron. Hell, yeah. Bron. And I actually got Bron and AD jersey on the same, after the same game. So that was pretty much, you know, a big time moment for me. Obviously, my rookie year, man, you know, playing against all the top guys was pretty much like a, you know, starstruck moment like, wow, like I was just watching this, watching him on TV a couple of years ago, even last year when I was at Murray, watching him play. And now I'm actually, you know, lacing up and going back and forth with him. I feel, I can say my first starstruck moment was that Kyrie matchup. Before the tip, man, the ref bringing the guard, the ball, you know, you get to choose.

• 26:36Speaker 02

  And normally, like, when I go, I just grab the ball, I dribble it once, pass it back. And he grabbed the ball and just started doing hella crossovers and shit. And I'm just like, god damn, like, alright, the game ain't even started yet. And I'm like, this my matchup today.

• 26:51Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 26:52Speaker 02

  He just start, ha, ha, ha, and I'm like, oh shit.

• 26:56Fred Taylor?

  How'd it go?

• 26:57Speaker 02

  Ah, we won.

• 26:58Ryan Clark?

  It went crazy.

• 26:59Speaker 02

  We won.

• 26:59Fred Taylor?

  How'd you do?

• 27:00Speaker 02

  I think it was my first 30-point game.

• 27:03Ryan Clark?

  I remember that.

• 27:03Speaker 02

  Like, third game of the season. I blocked them to send it to overtime. And you can tell, because I pretty much could have got the ball, we could have called a timeout, had some time on the clock to, you know, pretty much end the game. But I blocked the shot. And once I blocked it, I ain't even looked for the ball no more. I just went down the court talking shit.

• 27:21Fred Taylor?

  Listen, I got a, I got a mint tin Ja Morant rookie card. I ain't got no ink on it, though. I'm gonna shoot him a shot.

• 27:29Speaker 02

  I got you, man.

• 27:31Fred Taylor?

  Keep it real, bro.

• 27:32Speaker 02

  I got you.

• 27:33Fred Taylor?

  I'm gonna shoot him a shot, dawg.

• 27:35Channing Crowder?

  This ain't the time or the place.

• 27:38Ryan Clark?

  Because it's a show.

• 27:39Speaker 02

  Huh?

• 27:39Ryan Clark?

  Because it's the show.

• 27:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 27:41Ryan Clark?

  Ja, you mentioned, you know, you mentioned, though, the, the moment against Kyrie. And I think, outside looking in, from a fan's perspective, I see all of y'all like that. Right? You know, one of those things, the, the respect of talking about the 12th man on the NBA bench in a regular gym. I know what it looked like. You know what I'm saying? I, I understand what it looks like.

• 28:02Speaker 02

  Why they give you buckets?

• 28:03Ryan Clark?

  They don't miss, like, legitimately, in pickup games, y'all don't miss. The ball just goes in every damn time. But you're talking about the Kyrie matchup, or getting Bron and AD's jersey. When you come up the way you do, there has to be the moment where you like, oh, I'm supposed to be here.

• 28:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:21Ryan Clark?

  When was that moment for you?

• 28:28Speaker 02

  I can say that game versus Kyrie, obviously it was my first, you know, the, my first rodeo, first 30-point game.

• 28:39Speaker 02

  Man, that's tough.

• 28:42Speaker 02

  It's a lot of moments, but I can say, you know, that play-in tournament in the bubble, you know, battling with Dame, CJ,

• 28:51Speaker 02

  was like a moment where like, uh, we here now, like, you know, we was a game away from the playoffs then. Then I'm coming to my second year and first game went for like 40 something. And it's like, alright.

• 29:05Ryan Clark?

  It's so funny, you mentioned Dame and CJ, and I'm a sports geek, but very similar travels for those three people, for you, Dame, CJ McCullough, right?

• 29:17Speaker 02

  I always said Dame, CJ, and Steph pretty much paved the way for guys like me. And then it, it was me. And now, you know, you still see other guys coming along from, you know, that mid-major, or, you know, under-recruited, coming out and proving themselves, so.

• 29:35Ryan Clark?

  You know, Derrick Rose, so I am, I pick, I pick favorite, I don't have teams. I pick favorite players, right? I grew up in the, uh, the Michael Jordan era, right? So I was a Bulls fan. And then when Mike was gone, I was a Kobe fan. I was a huge Derrick Rose fan. You know, just, I thought he was a dog, he was quiet, but he was explosive. He went at everybody's neck.

• 29:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, that was crazy about me, like, how he was killing.

• 30:03Speaker 02

  And to not say a word, like, he don't even, like, he didn't even talk. And it's like, alright, just run back. Dunk on somebody, alright, just run back. Like me, like, nah, I can't. I gotta let you hear about it.

• 30:18Ryan Clark?

  I bring up D-Rose because we talked about it a little bit earlier. You said being available, right? The best ability is availability. And we're here at The Collective. You know, I've mentioned Mo a couple of times and, you know, we're gonna bring him in and kind of, I think the part of what the world wants to know is how does this story become different? Right? How are you not in dress clothes shining on the sideline when y'all got an opportunity to unseat the team of this era? The Golden State Warriors. So he could duck under this light anyway. We know that him coming in, it ain't gonna... Yeah, we ain't gotta move nothing. Ain't nobody... What's up, baby? Don't walk on your...

• 31:03Ryan Clark?

  Y'all give Mo a hard time. One, you can tell you trade people... And you can tell people... Let's jump him. You can tell you trade people like Ja. Because like when I train, I wear Lululemons, I wear On Clouds, right? I wear team apparel.

• 31:17Speaker 05

  Hundred percent.

• 31:18Ryan Clark?

  I wear team apparel. My man come out, ice out, man.

• 31:23Ryan Clark?

  So how long have you been working with Ja?

• 31:27Speaker 05

  So I met 12 in passing. We both got to IMG at the same time, IMG Academy. So that's when I was going from MJP in Dallas over to IMG in Bradenton, Florida. So he was there, had some new stuff going on, so he wasn't doing too, too much. But then after his Rookie of the Year season, that's when we were reacquainted. You know, I worked with his other two trainers.

• 31:50Ryan Clark?

  Damn track.

• 31:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, hundred percent. His first workout with me was on the track. That's tough. That's tough. Y'all know I was doing out there.

• 31:56Ryan Clark?

  Were you coming from the streets the night before though? Or were you prepared? Nah, nah, nah. I was locked. Okay.

• 32:02Speaker 05

  It was definitely locked.

• 32:02Ryan Clark?

  I was locked, but I wasn't prepared for that.

• 32:04Speaker 05

  Definitely locked. Definitely locked.

• 32:06Ryan Clark?

  You in Florida.

• 32:07Speaker 05

  Hundred percent.

• 32:07Ryan Clark?

  Human, sun out, on the track, man.

• 32:11Speaker 05

  We on the track, we had to run rockets. We had a casualty out there. Unc went down. You know, Unc works out with me. He don't work out with all the superstars. I work out with the fam. Unc went down, pulled a hand me. You know what I'm saying? He was...

• 32:20Ryan Clark?

  Wait, he said Unc?

• 32:21Speaker 05

  Hundred percent.

• 32:22Ryan Clark?

  Real life Uncle?

• 32:23Speaker 05

  Hundred percent.

• 32:23Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so like my fam work out with me, so.

• 32:27Speaker 05

  So I always tell him, if we gonna start the workout, we gonna do the whole workout.

• 32:33Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 32:33Speaker 05

  So, yeah, but we met that year, started off small and obviously grew up until this point, working in the season, off-season, you know, working hand-to-hand with the Grizzlies. So just trying to perfect the process for him. You know, it's pretty individual, you know, you don't, you wanna have a tailored programming, you know, for an elite athlete of this caliber. You wanna have something that's tailored to him, you know, and that take time. You know, it takes time to figure out, okay, how do we respond to this workout? How do you respond to this stimulus and X, Y, and Z, all the big words, stuff that he just lets me and Eric handle.

• 33:06Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, that's your foreign language.

• 33:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, so, it's just, it's just an ongoing process for that, but it's, it's beauty in it, man, it's beauty. And obviously, we wanna get as close to the 82 as possible, so I think we're gonna make great strides this year, you know, and just keep him on course to whenever he wanna stop playing.

• 33:24Fred Taylor?

  Hey, Mo, you're not that big, but you the big dog in that space. You got a lot of people hating or chasing you.

• 33:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, 100%.

• 33:30Fred Taylor?

  What's the secret sauce?

• 33:32Speaker 05

  Um, you know, one thing, one of the, not even the secrets, well, yeah, the secret is keeping it secret, you know, so, keeping it secret. So you'll never see me really posting online his whole workout plan or posting a whole lot of what anybody else is doing, so I don't have to get the criticism. You know, so I know what works for my guys, I know what works for 12, I know how we gonna keep going. So if they don't know, all they can look at is the hype videos, the outfits, you know, the locations, where we at, what are we doing? So you can only, you know, and you see the results, cuz that's what matters. You know, you see the results, you see the, you see what's going on in the game, and these guys are already Maseratis, you know, I'm really more so fine tuning, you know,

• 34:14Speaker 05

  blessed to be in that space, but, you know, keeping him jumping high, he jumps 47 max vert, I gotta keep it up there.

• 34:20Fred Taylor?

  Say that again?

• 34:20Speaker 05

  I said if he jumping the 47 max vert, I gotta, I gotta keep him up there.

• 34:24Speaker 02

  I think for y'all to get that 47, I get the happy that.

• 34:29Fred Taylor?

  I'm still stuck, wait, wait, wait, I'm still stuck, cuz... In the NFL, I mean, what, 41, 42?

• 34:36Speaker 05

  Well, see, you get the standing. Max, max. Different basketball, you get a step. But he still jumps higher than any football guy I've ever had.

• 34:45Channing Crowder?

  Moss was a 40.

• 34:46Speaker 05

  He'll jump over Moss.

• 34:47Fred Taylor?

  But I can't do nothing. He's 6'2".

• 34:49Speaker 05

  6'3".

• 34:50Fred Taylor?

  That's ridiculous.

• 34:52Channing Crowder?

  Appreciate you with the happy dad, because I, you know, I was sleeping on mine for a second. But as an elite Superstar, you the best friend. Everybody know they don't know more well. You the dog. But you dealing with young men like Ja. You gotta give him some time to party, and I know he does. I would love to party with y'all. I'm not running no goddamn track.

• 35:09Speaker 05

  100%.

• 35:10Channing Crowder?

  But like, do you be like, hey, okay, Ja, you got these four days.

• 35:14Speaker 05

  Well, you know, you plan it out. You plan it out. I know what, most time I'm on the trips with him, so he's one of two athletes, and soon as he'll be the only one that I travel with, you know, for a lot of stuff. So with that being said, as long as you get the work done, you know what I'm saying, we map out what you gonna do in the offseason. Okay, this week I'm going to this city, this week I'm going here, and you get your work done, you know what I'm saying, you gonna enjoy it, you know? You owe me a carnival, dawg. Yeah, you gotta wake up. You see, if you wanna turn up, we gotta take that. See, I'm on my happy dad right now.

• 35:45Speaker 05

  In a couple minutes, I'm gonna be out there throwing weight rounds. You know, so you gotta be able to balance, balance it all, you know what I'm saying? I think he does obviously a great job with, and will continue to get better because, man, when I was 22, you, actually, you weren't telling me anything. When I was 22, at LSU, I was trying to, you know, get to it. I don't have, I ain't had 193. You know? College days once again. You know, so, but obviously, yeah, it's always a constant discussion, you know, and we getting better and better as we go. But you wanna enjoy it, you know what I'm saying? I always try to tell you, enjoy while you retire, man, I wanna have some fun while I'm still functioning, you know, a little bit too, you know? You know, we're gonna have fun all throughout.

• 36:29Fred Taylor?

  Mo mentioned like...

• 36:31Ryan Clark?

  Keeping it secret is the secret. You had a saying, like, "When in the dark." You know what I mean? And it talks, because even looking at like your story, you know, it talks about tires and planks and all the things like your pops actually did with you. And the ways he trained you, you know, before you could afford more wells. Like, you've been somebody that understood the work, though. How does that upbringing and being that type of dude help you now? Because so much now, I, I, I train athletes. I know they want the videos, they want the pictures, they want the pretty stuff. Like, it ain't really about the grind for a lot of them. However, you continue to say, "I'm gonna do my, I'm gonna do my work in the dark, and then I'm gonna shine when the lights are the brightest."

• 37:16Speaker 02

  Pretty much like you mentioned, my dad, it's this funny story, man. Before I was locked into working out, me and my homies used to be on the game 24/7. And like, one day, you know, we actually pulled an all-nighter playing the game. So by the time my pops went to sleep and woke up, we were still playing the game. And he was like, uh, basically just sending the message. At that, at that time, you know, we didn't understand. But he was like, "While you playing the game, somebody else playing the game." And then he like, "Let me know what that mean by the time I get back home." When he got back home, we were still locked in, playing the game. He was like, "Y'all know what that mean?" We were like, "Nah."

• 37:58Speaker 02

  He was like, "While y'all in here playing video games, somebody actually out there working on their game." And then, since he put that message, said that message to us, he had to start begging us to come from outside, to come in the house to eat. So I pretty much, you know, been day in and day out working on my game. I can have school, basketball practice, I come home, work out with him. Now, I got Mo, I got my other trainers training JT, pops for the basketball side, hold me accountable, you know, I gotta put the work in, so.

• 38:34Ryan Clark?

  Do you still have like your Michael Jackson jackets and stuff when you used to perform for the family?

• 38:38Speaker 02

  Nah, man, I wish I had the glove and all.

• 38:43Ryan Clark?

  So wait, they, they used to just be like, you know, because you know, this is what black people do. If, if you got a kid with a certain talent, you pretty much force that child-

• 38:51Speaker 02

  To do it in front of everybody, you know.

• 38:53Ryan Clark?

  So that's what they would do, you'd be like, "Hey, Ja."

• 38:55Speaker 02

  Cookout party. They play the song, "Come on, Ja." His favorite line right there. And then, you know, my mom hype it up. I used to have to go get dressed, put on my little jacket, the glove, and come out. You know, and then now I don't do it no more.

• 39:09Channing Crowder?

  Chris Brown by the same man? Can't give us three more seconds? Just a little.

• 39:15Ryan Clark?

  Aiden Hutchinson just gave us Billie Jean in Detroit.

• 39:18Speaker 02

  That was my favorite artist though. I had like his T-shirts and all, so. At that time, you know, being a young kid, I couldn't tell my mom that and them know then.

• 39:28Fred Taylor?

  So what would you say to this guy? Who I kinda agree with, well, I do agree with. He went on Twitter and he started this shit. He said, uh, Chris Brown is more talented than Michael Jackson.

• 39:41Ryan Clark?

  And I never lied.

• 39:43Speaker 02

  That's a lie?

• 39:44Fred Taylor?

  And I don't disagree with that, and we talking talent. I'm talking talent, so I don't disagree with him. But you were Michael Jackson fan, fan, so I'm trying to hear what you gotta say to that.

• 39:56Ryan Clark?

  So was I.

• 39:58Speaker 02

  I don't know if I can agree with that.

• 40:00Ryan Clark?

  That's what I wanted to hear.

• 40:01Speaker 02

  CB tough though. It was, it was, I had my Chris Brown dancing days too.

• 40:08Speaker 02

  So I ain't gonna say I'm not a fan, but I still got Mike. I've got Mike.

• 40:14Ryan Clark?

  I mean, you know what? I accept it. I was walking through the halls at ESPN.

• 40:19Speaker 02

  I really became a fan of CB, like a real big fan, when he did the Michael Jackson tribute.

• 40:25Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 40:26Speaker 02

  And that showed me, so now I can, talent wise, cause he pretty much looked exactly like Mike when he did it.

• 40:33Ryan Clark?

  That's all I'm saying.

• 40:34Channing Crowder?

  You, so you got Michael Jackson there and Chris Brown down. When you out in the club, you dancing the club.

• 40:40Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 40:40Channing Crowder?

  You gotta dance in the club.

• 40:42Ryan Clark?

  Hundred percent.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 40:43Channing Crowder?

  Get him dance in the club.

• 40:44Speaker 02

  I just be.

• 40:46Channing Crowder?

  Nooo. Man, you get a little of that oil in there.

• 40:50Speaker 02

  I get that, that's, when the oil get in there, that's, you know, that's different. So I ain't, I ain't Ja, I ain't no, whoever that is that day, don't, next day, don't bring it up.

• 41:03Speaker 02

  Don't even bring it up to me, I don't know what happened.

• 41:05Fred Taylor?

  See, be nice on the court. If he said, "Ja, let's lock up, one-on-one", what you would do to that boy?

• 41:10Speaker 02

  Chris Brown?

• 41:11Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 41:12Speaker 02

  Hey, come on, man. This is a different animal.

• 41:16Fred Taylor?

  I already know, I'm just, I like to let you say it, bruh.

• 41:19Speaker 02

  He nice, though.

• 41:19Fred Taylor?

  Nah, he is nice.

• 41:21Speaker 02

  But, he got to stay on that celebrity game.

• 41:24Ryan Clark?

  He regular people nice, Fred.

• 41:26Fred Taylor?

  Nah, he's nice, nice. He probably the best.

• 41:28Speaker 00

  College football is back. So Hilton called to me, the superstition concierge, to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching band wake-up call at 5:55 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for the stay.

• 41:59Fred Taylor?

  Celebrity, singer rapper, you know...

• 42:02Speaker 02

  Singer rapper?

• 42:03Fred Taylor?

  You know, because he does rap, man. He rap. But he probably the best of the best of all of this.

• 42:07Ryan Clark?

  He playing against Jack Harlow.

• 42:08Channing Crowder?

  Could Chris Brown tackle you?

• 42:12Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 42:12Channing Crowder?

  So how the hell is he gonna guard Ja?

• 42:15Speaker 06

  He don't play basketball either!

• 42:17Fred Taylor?

  Come on, bruh. I just wanted to know what you would do to him. I don't care about all that other stuff, man.

• 42:21Speaker 02

  What I do to everybody else, man.

• 42:23Fred Taylor?

  See, it's simple. It's just simple, bruh.

• 42:26Ryan Clark?

  Mo, how do you guys adjust for Ja having one arm that's way longer than the other one?

• 42:32Speaker 02

  Hey, you know my secret. See, I thought we was keeping a secret a secret, man. What happened is, keeping a secret is a secret.

• 42:39Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I do a lot of...

• 42:40Speaker 02

  I do. That's for everybody in the league, your scouts, whoever got the Grizzlies when y'all play us. Yeah, I do got a longer arm, it's the left. I mean, y'all not gonna stop it, but... Since the secret out now, there you go, my left hand bigger as well, so...

• 42:55Ryan Clark?

  So wait, it was a trampoline accident?

• 42:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, I broke my arm with a trampoline, man. My older cousins got me. Now you do the double jump.

• 43:04Speaker 02

  At that time, I probably about 73 pounds.

• 43:10Speaker 02

  I just shot off in the air, man. I was coming down head first. And I went to try to break my fall on the trampoline like the railing. And it just, I didn't even, honestly, I didn't even feel it when it happened. Just like it just did, my elbow was pretty much up here. My cousin was looking like, ugh, and I'm like, what? And I looked and I seen like a little knot. I thought it was just like a knot. Like, nah, you broke your arm. Started yanking it. It was coming down. It got about, pretty much about right above where my elbow is supposed to be. And he like, we gotta go tell Auntie. We gonna run in the house. Went in there, she locked my arm, put the ice on it. Called Pops. He was actually on the way home from work.

• 43:54Speaker 02

  My, she probably stayed probably at least, probably like 20, 25 from us. And he probably got there in like 10 minutes. I don't know what he had, where he was driving. Where he got there about 10 minutes. So then after that, like the pain started kicking in once my adrenaline started wearing off. So I was in the car. I was just chilling. He's pushing it to the hospital. My grandma actually worked in the hospital. My cousin, who actually did the double jump with me, Pops was working in the hospital. So, now we got there and they pretty much had to unlock my arm. It basically was locked. And then that's when the pain kicked in right there. So it was stuck and they had to straighten it out. And we all got weak stomachs. Like, we don't like seeing none of those.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  My pops had to walk out and it was painful, but I felt like I was more disgusted than anything through that process. But now I got the longer arm, bigger hand on this hand.

• 44:52Ryan Clark?

  So you, so that's why you finished so good left?

• 44:55Speaker 02

  Left, that's why. I dribble with my left hand. I'm able to control the ball better.

• 44:59Ryan Clark?

  When you look at Mo... When, because I, I, I get it, right? Every Sunday, my nerves are bad.

• 45:05Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 45:05Ryan Clark?

  Because you're, I'm watching people who I've invested into.

• 45:09Speaker 02

  All, literally all my.

• 45:10Ryan Clark?

  Into their careers. And you know, it's so crazy. Every time something happened to him, I text you.

• 45:15Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. And he texts me.

• 45:16Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. I'm always like, hey Mo, you alright? You know what I mean? Oh, no, I gotta hit him up. You always, I gotta hit 12. When, when you're watching those games, man, and you see somebody under the rim and he, right? Because for some reason, he ain't got to the point that Mike ended up getting too late in his career, where it was just disjoint. You know, Mike would just jump. Yeah, you just, I just gotta put it in there, right? He's still, he's still back here with it, no matter who's under the rim. You ever hit him up like, hey, man? Like, you ain't gotta show him all the work on one play.

• 45:46Speaker 05

  No, we actually haven't gotten to that point in, in the career yet. Uh, it'll come later on down the road, but for that, you know, I get scared every time. Every, actually, anytime. If Javante fight, he go to dunk. Lenny, I don't worry about Lenny. Lenny's just a.

• 46:02Speaker 02

  A menace.

• 46:04Speaker 02

  It's a menace.

• 46:05Speaker 05

  But, I'm like, I can.

• 46:06Speaker 02

  He's a menace.

• 46:06Speaker 05

  But that's why my main, primary job is to support those actions. You know, it's not always, if I have a McCole Hardman running 4-2, make him run 4-1. A lot of time is just maintaining the 4-3, right? Or just making sure that when he lands, he can handle that unilateral, bilateral landing. Or if we got, if we got L spine, C spine problem, T spine problem, making sure that the back is strong enough, you know, to withstand the force. When you land on the ground, it shoots up the whole body, right? And if you're landing incorrectly, a lot of times, if you're not loading properly, it's gonna shoot up and that's where you're gonna feel the radiating pain somewhere else. So with that, I had, just have to make sure that, okay, I'm, he's gonna be, you know.

• 46:51Speaker 05

  Making sure that.

• 46:52Speaker 02

  Now you see why I don't be in these conversations with him.

• 46:54Speaker 05

  He can just be prepared for it.

• 46:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 46:55Speaker 05

  You know, but not every time, every time. It, and everybody be, oh, the dunk. I'm looking at the ground like, please, please. Every time I take, y'all were taking contact. So every time he hit the ground, dude, we had the little camera situation on the ground. I was shook. You would thought I was a parent, man. I'd be, man, I'd be stressed out.

• 47:12Ryan Clark?

  So, so there, so here's my other question, right? I've played a long time in the league. Uh, I've worked TV a very long time. I don't sit courtside a lot, Mo. Um, you know, and a lot of times.

• 47:25Speaker 02

  Time out, time out, time out. Is you shooting your shot right here?

• 47:29Ryan Clark?

  No, no, we good.

• 47:30Speaker 02

  I was about to say, we about to get him.

• 47:32Ryan Clark?

  No, we good.

• 47:34Speaker 02

  I got you, but. I was like, okay, where is this going?

• 47:37Ryan Clark?

  I can buy it. It's good. I just work a lot.

• 47:40Ryan Clark?

  I just work a lot. But, but, oh, man, you know, like, you know, most trainers, you know, they go to the game and they're like, represent, they're like, the place that they train and they want everybody to know that they're a trainer. You basically just look like a short hooper.

• 47:53Speaker 05

  100%.

• 47:54Ryan Clark?

  Iced out, you know what I mean?

• 47:56Speaker 05

  Feel me?

• 47:58Speaker 05

  More buckets. I be trying to tell him, Trey Draper, Jonathan, I be trying to tell him, really a bucket. They be hatin', but nah, I'm just... See, first of all, I'm short, so I have to like, you know, put a little drip on and be like, damn, he's short, but he clean.

• 48:11Speaker 02

  He clean.

• 48:12Speaker 05

  He clean.

• 48:12Speaker 02

  He's so handsome.

• 48:15Speaker 05

  Don't even know my name no more. They keep calling me handsome. Like, he's just, he clean.

• 48:20Ryan Clark?

  So, like, at the parties, you just talk to the, when you with them, you talk to the girls that like, short dudes?

• 48:25Speaker 05

  No, I like tall girls.

• 48:28Ryan Clark?

  How you like tall girls?

• 48:29Speaker 02

  He likes telling them phone books.

• 48:32Speaker 02

  He gonna climb that tree. All the style in the house.

• 48:37Ryan Clark?

  So, you looking... Cause you trying to breed? Cause you don't, you don't want a short kid?

• 48:42Speaker 05

  Well, I got the little, I have a little kid and he ended up being, if I'm 5'6", he ended up being 5'2". Oh, you gotta be at least my, cause you know, the kid's always taller than the mom. So, if she at least my height or better, we got a shot.

• 48:57Ryan Clark?

  To do what? If she 5'6"? You 5'5"?

• 49:00Speaker 05

  It gonna be fast. If he got, if he got all these uncles and if 12 teaching him how to hoop, Leonard teaching him how to run the ball, Javonte teaching him how to box.

• 49:12Speaker 05

  RC teaching him how to play DB. I got another running back, some, he gotta be good at something.

• 49:18Ryan Clark?

  Job, man, when you look at, you know, we kind of fast-forwarded to Christmas, right? We talked about it when you first sat down. It's 82 games, though, right? Like you said, what'd you say, what? Five and sevens sometimes, back-to-backs, the grind of the playoffs. With the way you've started your career, that's gonna be your every year. It's gonna be the 82, it's gonna be the grind of the playoffs. When you just think about year to year, now we looking at 2022, 2023. Who the Memphis Grizzlies gonna be?

• 49:53Speaker 02

  A better team with that same mindset we had this previous season. I feel like, you know, we made a lot of people mad with how, you know, we beat them and then all jumping the camera after a press game and, you know, pretty much talk shit. But I feel like, you know, this year, I feel like we're more locked, you know, me being pretty much, you know, the head of the snake, you know, seeing these guys in the gym every day. The younger guys, the new rookies we got in the gym, whether they texting, seeing, you know, Dez, for example, you know, have the rookies out to his house, you know, pretty

• 50:34Speaker 02

  much just, you know, tells us, you know, as a team, you know, how close we are, you know, how we want to make sure everybody's comfortable and everybody's on the same page. So as far as, you know, that goes, I feel like, you know, we're a better team, but still that same, you know, underdog killer mindset.

• 50:53Ryan Clark?

  You got personal goals, though? I used to, and this is probably stupid now, every year at training camp, I wouldn't bring a TV, right? So I'd just bring books and I would write down my goals and I'd stick them in my bible, right? And I would just pray on them, pray on them, but pray on them. And when I was younger, because I wasn't, because I was an undrafted dude, like those goals would change every year. It'd be like, make the team, then it'd be like, start, you know what I'm saying? Get a contract, like all of those things. And once I became that, I was like, okay, I want five picks or whatever. And then in like 08, 07, I got sick and it just became like, man, like play every play, like it's your last and then you figure it out from there. But do you have personal goals that you've set that you want to meet?

• 51:38Ryan Clark?

  And if so, what are those?

• 51:40Speaker 02

  Number one, win the championship. I feel like, you know, that's the main goal for me, even though that's a team, team goal. I feel like winning is the most important thing. Like I can, zero points, whatever, as long as, you know, I'm out there, we get a win, I'm. Happy with us getting the win, but as far as my play, obviously, you know, nobody. But I feel like winning is the most important thing.

• 52:07Speaker 02

  And you go down the list to, you know, obviously, if we win a championship, you know, finals MVP, MVP of the league, being an All-Star, you know, it's pretty much the same goals, you know, I pretty much had, you know, each year. Obviously, I achieved the All-Star, the Most Improved. You know, I had those on my goals this past season, and I actually achieved those. MVP was on it. Obviously, I had my first injury, and that took me from number four in the race to 11, just because I wasn't available.

• 52:44Speaker 02

  And as you see, as far as MVP in this league, most of them play pretty much 75-plus games out of the 82, and you know, that MVP level. So, you know, that's definitely being available is on my list as well.

• 53:04Fred Taylor?

  Ja, you talk about your personal intermediate goals, immediate goals. In our sport, there are a lot of great number 12s, from Joe Namath, Broadway Joe, Randall Cunningham, obviously, Tom Brady, the GOAT, Aaron Rodgers, right? In our sport. In your sport, I can only think of Stockton, Jalen Stockton. Then here we have you. Do you aspire, from your immediate goals, do you aspire to see that 12 hanging in the Raptors someday?

• 53:36Speaker 02

  Yeah, not only with the team I played for either. Like, around the league, you know, that's the goal, to, you know, have that big of an impact on the, you know, NBA to where I'm represented by not only the team that I played for, but all the teams as a whole. So, as far as, you know, being the best number 12, you know, that's definitely.

• 53:59Channing Crowder?

  It's like it's through the roof. You're young, you're the future of the NBA, that's what people call you, the future of the NBA. Do them old dudes get hot with you? Because like you said, and we see you on TV, you say, well, I run up and talk shit. Like, yeah, if I do something to you, I'm gonna let you know, just like, because there's an older class right now in their late 30s that they know you're the future. Do they, do they accept that, or they be like, young boy, take it easy, young boy, like?

• 54:22Speaker 02

  I feel like it's pretty much a balance. You have some of them who don't, don't even say nothing, so like, I don't even have fun with that. Like, I like talking to people who gonna say something back, like, you know, interact with me. And you got some guys who, who do, but you can see, you know, throughout interviews, when, you know, those players who respected the superstars get asked about me, you know, they give me my credit. That's pretty much why, speaking back from earlier, I feel like it's not too much beef in the NBA for real. Like, nobody ain't gonna fight, like, everybody just, is just talking, pretty much.

• 55:01Speaker 02

  And then after a while, for me, like, I don't, like, I'm gonna talk to you, but if you go that way, all right, we can, like, I don't have no problem with that. Like, so, I'm pretty much talking to you anyway to get under your skin. Because my pops told me at a young age that the mental part of the game can affect you as well. Soon as you playin' mad, you, you're not gonna be yourself. So, I'm gonna talk trash to you to try to get you out your game to give me the advantage. But some people don't like it, and they try to take it to another level, which I'm fine with. I don't care.

• 55:36Speaker 02

  I don't care, but, um, as far as, you know, the older guys in this league, like, they pretty much talk too. It's a lot of guys in the NBA that people don't think talk trash, but they do. You just don't see it. They just don't be pretty much like as open with it or showing it like I do. It'll be something slick, or... You know, you cover the mouth real quick and say something like this. You know, the refs, pretty much, you know, you gotta watch that too. It quick to take you up, so you don't wanna be giving back money.

• 56:07Fred Taylor?

  You, um, you come from an amazing background. I just love the support from your dad, T, and everything he's instilled in you. You know, you had to take a, a long road to get there, unrecruited, unranked mostly, um, not recruited heavy. And, you know, you grind through, I love your mentality. But I always gotta ask on this show, you know, to our guests, your greatest pivot, your biggest pivot in life?

• 56:36Speaker 02

  Well,

• 56:43Speaker 02

  I can say it's not mine, it's pretty much my pops. But I feel like what he did is both our, you know, biggest pivot, where, you know, he stayed back and raised me instead of pursuing his opportunity to, you know, be a professional. And, you know, just hearing that story for me, you know, pretty much made me go harder. Uh, cause I know he had that opportunity. But he didn't do it to raise me, be in my life, which the support comes back into play. But, you know, just hearing that from our background, you know, knowing that it's a lot of people who didn't have father figures in their life. But my pops did that for me.

• 57:28Speaker 02

  Um, I can say that it was pretty much like my turning point and pretty much made me locked in, you know, on my goal. As I was still under recruited, you know, not ranked. But like, I feel like that's what made me, you know, pretty much lock in on, all right, basketball is what I wanna do. Basketball is, you know, my favorite sport, you know, what I love to do and I wanna be at the highest level. Yeah. Say that it.

• 57:54Ryan Clark?

  Shit, I've been trying to get that since the show started. I mean, I felt like you, I kept, I felt like I kept throwing it up by the rim. I was like, I know it's 47, he ain't dunk it yet. Like, we had been waiting on it. I have, I have one question. Like, I, I looked up to certain-

• 58:09Speaker 02

  I was just holding the ball in the air, man. I was just throwing, trying to see what dunk I was gonna do, man.

• 58:14Ryan Clark?

  You know, like, we're all fans of players growing up, but you mentioned, you know, people, you know, that inspired you, or how it was to meet Bron, play against Kyrie. You know, I think for all of us who are good enough, we model our game after somebody, or we like players for certain reasons. And obviously, your father had such a huge influence on you. Were there any players, though, like, when you were coming up? Because like, I always loved Russ. Like, people, I know people don't like Russ. I just thought he was mean as hell, and he was going at your neck no matter what.

• 58:46Speaker 02

  That's me.

• 58:46Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I always-

• 58:48Speaker 02

  AI, Russ, obviously Derrick Rose, but I feel like, for the most part, AI and Russ. Like I said, Derrick Rose was cooking you and was just quiet, like, no facial expression, no nothing. But I feel like AI was pretty much, you know, my number one. Then I became a big Russ fan, and like I said, we gonna let you hear about it. And we coming straight at you, no matter who you is, so.

• 59:16Ryan Clark?

  I mean, I think that's, I think that's the perfect place to end. We coming straight at you, no matter who you are. Mo, we know, we sorry, right? We know y'all gotta get out and, and work.

• 59:26Speaker 05

  We right on time. We right on-

• 59:28Ryan Clark?

  Ja, man, we appreciate you, though, bruh. Like, for us-

• 59:30Speaker 02

  Appreciate y'all, man.

• 59:31Ryan Clark?

  And I talked about it a little bit earlier, man. Like, we three former football players who have, you know, decided to get into, into this space. And, you know, we wanted to get you on the show. We understood how big it would be for us. But I think the other part of what we do is we want to tell stories about the humans, right? About the people that, that we admire, you know what I mean? Hopefully, someone looks at this, sees Ja Morant a different way. And hopefully, the other people that watch see your father and your family and the way you were raised a different way, and understand that-

• 1:00:02Speaker 02

  For sure.

• 1:00:03Ryan Clark?

  That it's all love, and that more people wish they grew up with that sort of support.

• 1:00:08Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:00:09Ryan Clark?

  So, man, this is the pivot, bruh, and we appreciate you.

• 1:00:11Speaker 02

  Appreciate y'all.

• 1:00:13Speaker 05

  Appreciate you, boy.

• 1:00:14Ryan Clark?

  I've been trying to throw to Ali, dawg. I was like, Ali!

• 1:00:16Speaker 02

  I was just up to wait, dawg.

• 1:00:19Speaker 06

  USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks, or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usaa.com/bundle. Restrictions apply.