Keeping Football Outside, Travis' Hoop Dreams & Jayson Tatum Goes From Duke to NBA Champion | EP 131

30:55You are the anomaly, dog. What's like one of the most random nicknames that you've gotten? Maybe not even on Twitter, just like growing up or like in the park or wherever. A lot of my close friends, they call me Taco. Taco? Taco. I wasn't expecting that one. Is this because you like tacos? What is the, why Taco? What's the connection there? That's my favorite, my mom, my favorite thing that my mom used to make when I was growing up. I used to eat tacos all the time. Shout out mom for making some banging tacos. We going corn tortilla, flour tortilla? What we going with? I'm a real simple guy. Hard shell, ground beef.

31:33Hard shell. That's what I'm talking about, man. I'm a hard shell guy too, man. And some sauce that I don't need much. Okay. All right. After one year at Duke, you were drafted just at 19 years old. I don't know what the fuck I would be doing if I was a professional at 19, let alone a professional NBA player. What was, you got to tell us, what was the silliest thing you bought with your first like NBA check? Did you do anything crazy? Did you like go out and grab something insane like a fucking human sized hamster ball or some shit? To me, I would always tell people that the best part or the best part of, I guess, experience and, you know, having money for the first time at such a young age, I could go to the grocery store and just buy whatever I wanted.

32:22Everything. thing i could go to cvs and i could get 10 bottles of soap um you get a lot of tacos you get a whole lot of tacos with that that's good shit right there that was like it wasn't anything crazy expensive it was just like i remember going to the grocery store with my mom and you know having a budget to get one of each and we go to the grocery store we get what we want the pantry's full you know it man i remember when i was 19 xbox was like the big thing and halo and all them games were still popular, but you couldn't really play online. Like they had just started to do that. So you have to do, they used to call it the LAN connection.

32:59Did you ever have to do the LAN connection where you would link them with an Ethernet cable? This might even be before. This is how old we are, Travis. People don't even know about the LAN, the LAN connection anymore. Jason, you're insane. This is all people talk about is Ethernet cable. Go ahead, Jason. All right, whatever. Either way, we would rig them through the dorms up and through the ceilings so you could play with each other in different dorm rooms. anyways that would have been what i would have done i would have rigged up the most dope setup of xboxes i could have figured out jason turned 19 and found out he was eligible to go and get a loan out so then he could then buy a tv to play video games on that was bigger than the tv he already had so that's what we were doing we were nice but stuff in the pantry definitely does it man that had to be that had to be fucking crazy are you a fan of the um the one and done rule Like the year at Duke, did you think it like made you that much better and prepared for the NBA?

33:51Or do you think you might have been able to be one of those guys that just jumped straight to the NBA? Good question, Trav. Man, people ask me that all the time. I would like to think I would have, you know, still figured it out. But I benefited so much from going to college in the sense of like when I got to college, that was my first time playing with, you know, other really good players. Right. I went to Duke. I was, we had a number one recruiting class and we had Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard. Like we had like seven pros on our team. So it was the first time learning to like play off the ball, play with other really good players.

34:27Yeah. Being in those environments, lift weights, condition, learn about nutrition. I would do it all over again. Like I would go back knowing what I know now. I learned a lot and it prepared me for when I got to the NBA. Yeah, for sure, man. It's, uh, It's cool to hear, though, that it gets your professionalism. It makes you understand how to be a pro, especially at a program like Duke. Yeah, with Coach K and everybody. I'm sure you saw the prestige of it, and you were like you bought in immediately. Let's talk a little March Madness. Jason, you want to hit it? Yeah, let's talk college. While we're on college, we'll stay where we're at.

35:09Right now, we're in the best time of college basketball that there is. March Madness in full effect. God. Did you fill out a bracket? Yeah, I mean, it was pretty easy for me. You knew it was just a straight line for Duke all the way to the championship. You knew McNeese was going to be Clemson.

35:31Knew it. I mean, the final of my bracket every year is the same. This is the best I've felt about my bracket in a very, very long time. I'm sure. Yeah, I don't know. What do you think so far? Who's in your final four outside of Duke? Obviously, we're pulling Duke. Who else did you think is going to get there? Just go all number ones or what? Two of my final fours are out. I'm screwed. I'm out of this thing. Houston, Florida, and Michigan State. I got Michigan State and Duke in there. My man. Jason went Michigan State. It's all about physicality, toughness, good coaching. That's what it's about, Travis.

36:05You just hyped this man up more than you could ever imagine you just did. this is coming from a guy that literally just looks at what school would beat up the other school in a fight and that's who he picks that's what a basketball game is fight to get the ball through the team i like them in a fight for sure right detroit or i should have said the men not yeah yeah i got dude going all the way man cooper flag's been an unbelievable player um he's he's got a lot of hype i know you were playing uh against him a little bit in the uh the usa practices the The first time I saw him play live was this was two summers ago.

36:45I hosted my first JT elite camp. So I had like the best 20, 25 players in the country, you know, that were sophomores and juniors or whatever. So it's been cool to see like hanging around those guys there for a weekend. And a lot of them are in a tournament now. And, you know, the first impression I had of Coop was just how hard he played, how he competed. You know, in high school, it's rare to see a guy that wants to guard the other best player, trying to block every shot, rebounding. And he just plays the right way. He has a great feel for the game. He knows how to set a screen. He knows when to cut.

37:20He likes to get his teammates involved. And, you know, it's been on full display all season. And a big reason why, you know, they have a chance to win a championship. Heck yeah. I love it. One of the things I love doing now that I'm older, players watching young guys, sometimes it's the way they move. Sometimes it's their mentality. But you pick up on things, and it's just fun seeing a young player that, man, I really think there's something in that kid. And then all of a sudden, this kid's the best player in the country. And I'm sure that has to be awesome for you, especially playing for Duke.

37:49It's a brotherhood. It has to be, man, yeah. Everybody who ever played for the program, whether they're 10 years older than me or 10 years younger, like whenever we see each other, it's always love. I always go back and work out with the team and play pickup with them and stuff like that because that's what happened when I was there. Jabari Parker came back, Jaleel Okafor, all these guys. So it's just – it's a part of the program. It's the pride that comes with it. And you just – you want to help push it forward. And, you know, I'm always rooting for them. And, you know, I hope they cut the nets down this year.

38:22Not only is it a brotherhood, but it's also a sisterhood. You just donated shoes to the Duke's women's team. It's a whole family over there, man. I sent – actually, I sent both the programs some shoes. But Kara Lawson, she was an assistant coach with the Celtics my third year. The year the pandemic happened, we went to the bubble. Oh, nice. A week into the bubble, she got the, or it might have been like two days, she got the head coaching job at Duke. So we spent, I spent like six months with her. Unbelievable person, unbelievable coach, love it to death. So anytime that I can, you know, support them and help that program out, I try.

38:59Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Nice, man. They gave a walk-on some minutes in the first two games. I mean, that's pretty good. When you're giving walk-ons minutes. Walk-ons are getting in. Like, Duke's playing pretty good basketball. Belt to ass. Belt to ass. I hear it. I hear it. Hell yeah. That shit's got to be electric. Every time I used to go to the UC basketball games and the walk-ons would get in, man, the crowd knows which guys are in. And it just gets fucking nuts in there if they can get a shot off or at least make a bucket. Yeah. Yeah, and it's probably the same like with the guys on the practice squad.

39:32Like you guys, they spend all this time with you, you know, in the practice squad and film and workouts every single day with you. And then, you know, they finally get opportunity, even if it's at the end of the game, right? You just, you're really happy for them because you understand, you know, they wish you every step of the way, but they might not always get the opportunity or the recognition. But they're just as much as part of the team as, you know, the rest of the guys. For sure. Was it always Duke? Was Duke like the top team for you? Did you always love them growing up? And did you always see yourself going there?

40:06Who was on JT's leaderboard growing up? Or what jersey did you have on growing up? I had an Evan Turner, Ohio State jersey. Oh, my gosh. E. Turner, yeah. Okay. Okay. I mean, you grew up in St. Louis, so there's a little bit of Big Ten country, Midwest. A little bit. Area and Ohio State was at the top of the charts for quite a while around those years. For sure. And football as well. So, like, I played football for, like, seven, eight years when I was younger. What? What position? What were you playing? You playing wide out? What were you playing? Time out. We're not getting off of this yet. Yeah, we're not going off of it.

40:45I played quarterback for the first six years and then wide receiver my last two. So, my last year I played was eighth grade. So, I was going to play in high school. But then, you know, my parents was like, I think we're going to focus on that. You might be drafted in only four more years. We should probably stick to this. Yeah. But we went to Florida twice. I won a JFL National Championship in Florida. Lost one year. I'll never forget. We played this team called the Delaray Rocks. They were like green and white. What made them unforgettable? Belt to ass. Yeah. 50 to zero. Looked like they had grown men on the field.

41:26For sure. Dallas Carter and what is it, Friday Night Lights? All those guys. That's too funny, man. We all played against a team like that, especially in middle school, man. We used to play a team down the hill called Kirk. Yep. And they were right there in East Cleveland, man. It felt like they had kids that were 18 years old. I mean, I had never been ran the fuck over like that at that age ever in my life. I was always one of the bigger kids. Shaw was the high school. Kirk was the middle school. Kirk was bad too because a lot of the kids were held back I wrestled a kid with a beard in middle school that was, talk about intimidating you're an 8th grader, you just started getting pubes and all of a sudden this guy's got a full beard across from you, I was like what is going on right now I won, I got him so if it wasn't Duke who were you thinking about going to Ohio State was on the list or so I was a big Ohio State fan like growing up even when they had Terrell Pryor, Tegan Jr.

42:23I used to love the football teams. Those football teams were crazy. Basketball team. You know, when I got older and I got to high school, it really came down to, so I only took one official visit. Like, I only took one official visit to Duke. And I knew right away when I was there, I was a junior in high school, and I was like, this is where I want to be. A long shot, my second choice would have been St. Louis University, just because. Hometown? I thought I might have been homesick if I left. So there was a part of me that like, man, I think I might want to stay close to my family. Yeah. You know, after I took my visit, it was really like, you know, this is if I want to get to that next step, this is going to be the best place for me to go.

43:02Before we get out of this March Madness stuff, what's your first memory of March Madness? Like, what can you take me back to being in St. Louis and having the love for basketball, following the tournament, one of the biggest moments growing up? um honestly i would have to say i vividly remember in 2010 brad steven's probably not gonna like this but i remember but i remember watching butler play against duke and and gordon hayward shooting a half-court shot yeah in the backboard and running out um and actually ironically i was cheering for butler at that point i didn't hate duke but i didn't i never envisioned myself right i never thought coach k would come to my house and and recruit me so So Duke just seemed kind of like out of the realm or the possibility.

43:50So that was my earliest memory, just watching Butler and Duke play in the national championship and just envisioning myself like, man, one day, you know, I'm going to play in March Madness. And, you know, it came true. Oh, yeah. We can't talk about Duke without talking about Coach K. What was it like playing for Coach? It was quite the experience for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to tell us, man. No, man. Coach, that's my guy. He's an unbelievable person, somebody that I still talk to, obviously, you know, pretty frequently to this day. He still always checks up on me. That's awesome. A leader amongst men, right?

44:26He's just his ability to motivate guys, to get you to buy in, to get you to run through a wall. And you guys know being in college, like being coaching 18 to 21 year olds and getting them to believe in something bigger than themselves. I think he was unbelievable at that. He was great at making you uncomfortable in ways that he knew that it would make you better. Nice. Being at Duke and playing for Coach K, it definitely prepared me for the next level. It wasn't always great moments. He cussed me out a lot and things like that, but it was well-wanted in those moments. That's what I'm talking about.

45:08I love some good tough love, man. You got to have it sometimes. It made me criticize myself more, and that's how I ended up getting better. to start criticizing myself on everything. Whenever you have a coach who's really trying to push you, you're going to have those moments. I know I've had it with every great coach I've ever been with and every great teammate. Like, if you're always just comfortable around people, you're usually not testing those extremes to make each other better. That's just the reality of it. I've been cussed out by my dad in football. I mean, everybody's giving it to me.

45:37So it's part of the territory. For sure. Oh, man. That just reminded me one of dad's best – one of his best rules. He never was a basketball guy. And I ended up like gravitating towards basketball around like elementary school and middle school. It really took off for me in high school. I took it serious. And he always told me, he said, if you're, if you're not getting three, at least three files a game, you're not being aggressive enough. You get five, you get five. That's solid advice. We're being honest. That's solid advice. For sure. And until you get three in the first quarter, you're just like, fuck.

46:12All right. All right. I need to get it together. It really is. He's like, you're going to be an intimidator. Oh, I was going to ask you, John Shire, man. Coach Shire, was he there when you were there? Yes. John, he's the guy that actually recruited me. Is that right? What? He was going door to door trying to get guys to come to Duke? I joke with him all the time that, you know, he should thank me that he is the head coach. I let him know. I let him know. But no, John, I talk to John every single day. That's awesome, man. That is, that's my guy. He's done an unbelievable job. He was recruiting Luke Kennard out of Akron.

46:55We had a tournament. I think I was a sophomore. I might have been a freshman, freshman or sophomore. And we had a tournament in Milwaukee. Kennard was supposed to play on the court next to me, but I don't think his game started yet. So I think John was waiting on his game to start. and he just happened to sit down and watch our game. And I tapped one of my teammates. I'm like, yo, he worked at Duke. And we had like 10 minutes left. And I was just like, I just got to it. Yeah. That just worked. He's like one of the greatest shooters ever at Duke. He is. He just came back to the next game and the next game.

47:29And then, you know, eventually got a call that Duke had offered me a scholarship and, you know, never looked back. I remember Shire chucking threes during his times at Duke. In his prime and your prime, at Duke only, who was a better shooter? I mean, he going to see this. At Duke. He going to see this. I love the preface.

47:53I'll give it to John. When I was at Duke. I hear you. He was a better shooter at Duke. There you go. There you go. So you're in your eighth season. Do you finally feel like an NBA veteran? You know, I mean, obviously you came in at 19. Now you've championships. You've been in for a while now. Like, I mean, how's it feel differently than your rookie year? What have you learned most from your rookie season? Oh, man, I could write a book. Yeah, I'll write it. We'll be looking for it. You can catch it on Audible. Shout out. Do I feel like a vet? No. Like, I just turned 27. You guys probably know. I feel like I got drafted yesterday.

48:33I remember what it felt like. But year after year, it's like when the rookies come in and you'll see their comments or interviews at the draft and like, you know, who did you model your game after? And now I'm starting to be one of the guys that they looked up to and they watched more. And that transition is like, whoa. You're still in your 20s, man. I remember looking up at KD and Tyler. You looked up to me? I just got here. What are you? I guess I'm transitioning to an NBA veteran just because, you know, I've been in playoffs every year. I play over 100 playoff games. So basketball terms, yes.

49:15But, you know, I just turned 27, so I still feel just as young. Well, speaking of other guys looking up to you, who are the vets that you looked up to? Who did you model your game after? Oh, man. I mean, Kobe was my idol. That was my favorite player. You know, kind of like why I fell in love with the game. guys that I really studied. Katie would be at the top of that list. Melo, Paul George. Then I get to the league, and you guys probably understand this as good as anybody. Al Horford, from a professional standpoint, like somebody that came to work every day, had a routine, had a plan, whether it was a practice day, a game day, or an off day, that was so beneficial to me of like, you know, when I was young, I just think I could show up, put my shoes on, and get on the court.

50:02Of course. And Al really showed me not even by telling me just by like watching him go through his routine. And now he's in. Absolutely. I was in year 18 and still a vital part of a championship team. I learned so much from him of, you know, what it is like to have a routine and create your own and what works best for you. I think that's so important for for any young guy coming into the league is like you need a routine. You need a plan every day and your plan is going to look different from other guys. But every single day you should know what you need to attack, what you need to do to get yourself ready for, you know, whatever it is to come up.

50:39I love what you just said, because it's so true. Everybody has players you look to growing up and that's the end product that's on the field or on the court. And of course, you want to do things that they're doing out there. But once you get there, whether you start learning it really in college and then the NFL, you see guys that are getting an edge or preparing away. and you're like, hey, I really like what he's doing there. I'm going to start doing that. Or, you know, this guy gets the most out of the meeting room because he's taking notes. Or, you know, how does he do that? And you're drawn from all these guys.

51:11So I think you're right 100%. Like, that's really what ends up making the biggest difference is how you prepare for game day. You ain't lying. Game day is a manifestation of all the preparation that went into it as well as all the God-given talent. I'm telling you, keep having those conversations with the guys that are out of the league that, you know what I mean, are later in their career because I'm still learning from guys. I'm taking shit that my brothers told me. I'm taking stuff from – You've never told – I've been telling you for – I told you last year, get out of them cleats, and you didn't do it one time.

51:41You told me literally to wear the special – You're ridiculous. I know, it didn't work. No, but he – I still take notes from a guy like Tony Gonzalez or a guy like Unk, Shannon Sharp. I'll hear what these guys, you know, say they did towards the end of their careers that helped them get the best out of their body week in, week out. And it's like, it's just a nonstop cycle of trying to better yourself. And I can see it right now, the way Al Horford plays the game, his alertness, his attention to detail. He's always in the right spot, always ready for the moment. I can see that definitely being somebody you could look up to, man, or at least take notes from like that.

52:20Your profile picture is actually you with Kobe Bryant. And we were talking about how he was the guy that kind of got you into, you know loving the game of basketball a little bit or at least you know you idolize and uh we all idolize at some point our in our lives is it weird playing against the or playing for the celtics against that guy who is literally at the top of the lakers uh did you did you always kind of envision yourself maybe playing in a laker uniform or yeah we don't gotta answer it we don't They had the second pick. So there was a part of me that's just like, man, my dream of being in the NBA is about to come true.

52:59And then like my real dream of playing for the team that, you know, I grew up a fan of, you know, I was it was so close. But it made me appreciate it a lot more. Just like I remember I remember the first day I walked in the Staples Center, like the first time we played the Lakers. And I was in disbelief or just like, man, I watched so many of his games in this building. and now like I'm on the same floor. In that moment, it bridged the gap of like me and my favorite player. Like I got to share the floor, you know, of the place that he helped build. That's pretty fucking epic. And man, that's what sports is about.

53:35Like you guys understand our responsibility is to motivate and inspire the next generation. Somebody inspired you guys, he inspired me and you guys have inspired millions of kids to be the next Jason or Trav. And it's cool about what we do is, you know, somebody watching us that's going to grow up like, man, they really helped me, you know, motivate me, even if we never met them before. Right. They help motivate the next kid to chase their dream. And, you know, that's one of the coolest things about, you know, what we do, in my opinion, for sure. Hell yeah. Unbelievably well said. 100 percent.

54:12I think everybody remembers when they were a kid looking up to somebody. when you see kids come up to you that's one of the bright spots of being an athlete right you get to see that innocence and just like that genuine pleasure of like interaction is just incredible and kobe even for he came and talked to us we were a full-on nfl team in 2017 he was from philly but the year we won the street boy came and talked to the team and even then like still motivating there were guys that took more away from that conversation than they had taken away from anybody in the football world and how he prepared, how he got ready, how his process in getting better.

54:53Like it was phenomenal. So I'll never forget that. He was great. Probably one of the best people we've ever had talk to the team since I was in the Eagles. It was great. What was your impression of Boston fans initially, or at least before you got to Boston? To be honest, like before I got to Boston, I didn't know much or really pay attention. I grew up a Laker fan. So I didn't really like the Celtics and I wasn't aware of, you know, the Boston sports culture. Uh-huh. For sure. Yeah. Patriots beat the Rams. So just growing up from St. Louis, like the Red Sox beat the Cardinals, like St. Louis, you just don't really like Boston.

55:30Yeah. Yeah. OK. Whether it's a TNT game, it's a preseason game or a league pass game on Mondays. We always sell out majority of the time when we go on the road. So like every game is road trip. It's been three straight games. We hear let's go Celtics chance throughout the arena. Like our fans has traveled so well. They show up early and often. It was a relief and it was a special moment to win a championship in front of them. And then, you know, you guys have been on a parade. It was the best two hours of my life. And having 2 million people in green and white outside, you know, cheering you on and expressing and their joy for what we accomplished.

56:13It was special for sure. Of course. What's it like playing for Joe? You enjoy that? Joe is crazy. He seems like quite the character. We actually talked about you. We played Portland the other day, and I got a tech. The game was basically over. I ended up getting a tech with like 30 seconds left. Yeah. I'm always here for a good fourth quarter tech. Right. So Joe, he comes up to me after the game. He like, so if you get like 16 or 17 texts, you get suspended for a game. So Joe like, he's like, yo, can you just get four more so you can get suspended?

56:54I'm like, Joe, I think I'm done. He like, I would much rather you just come punch me. I want to fight. He's like, you see, when Travis Kelsey ran into Andy Reid, do that to me. I love it. Keep it in house. Keep it in house, baby. Keep it in. Yeah, that's right. Shout out to Coach Reed for being the man, for not getting too riled up. But no, that's too funny, man. You can tell Joe does it the right way, man. He seems like he has you guys enjoying what you're doing. And that's always, I think, the hardest part as a coach in any of these professional leagues is making it serious, intentional, but at the same time so loose that everybody feels comfortable being themselves and making it, you know, a fun thing or an enjoyable process.

57:46You know what I mean? He seems like he's got that all figured out, man. I don't think coaches get enough credit for that because, I mean, you guys got 60 people on the team. I have no idea how you guys do that. You know, there's only 15 or so of us, but Joe does an unbelievable job of just managing all the personalities and the ups and downs throughout the season and getting us to buy in. Thank you. That's really important. It's a mark of a great coach. I'll tell you what, man. You just mentioned there's like 60 guys on our team and you guys got just 12. Do you know everybody on your team? Yeah, of course.

58:21I mean, obviously there are like the handful of guys on the practice squads and everything. They come in and out per week. We'll have a transition and a switch in and out every single week of just development guys. But for the most part, I know everybody. If I don't know you, I'll go up to you and say what's up. Like, you want to be able to at least, you know what I mean, keep it and make everybody feel like they're a part of it. You know what I mean? What's the – he's on the D-line, Tershon? Yeah, he's a St. Louis guy. I played football with him. No way! Tersh just got a big contract. I think Carolina.

58:58I think he went to Carolina. Just got a huge contract. We played on the same football team. We grew up in the same neighborhood for like five years. I just made me think about that. He's a tough son of a gun, too, man. That's one dude I am not fucking around with. And he's been like that, too. He's a hell of a competitor, man. I've seen him actually hoop. At least he tried. I'm not going to say he's a bad hooper or a great hooper. He's like, he's just going to compete his ass off, though. So he's playing good defense, basically, is what you're saying? You ain't lying. If he's guarding me, I'm uncomfortable.

59:29If he's guarding me, I'm uncomfortable. He is the epitome of an NFL guy playing defensive basketball. Dude, we got to get on that. Do you think an NFL player could play in the NBA? Oh, my God. So, you know we had to ask. We got to ask all of – come on. I would venture to say no from both standpoints. Like, the guys that get on TV and be like, you could just take this guy from the NBA and throw him in the game this Sunday. there it's like no it does not work like that I mean it might no it does not well you mean to tell me Russell Westbrook can't go out there and give you some points give me give at least play special teams not on a week's notice and I love Russell I hear you on that I hear you on this I do you actually you're making a great point I hear what you're saying I think there are a handful of guys that played in the NBA that if they had an entire like summer or a year to train and prepare, could they make an impact?

1:00:31For sure. But like just drop a guy from the NBA and throw him in the game. No shot. Are there any NFL guys that could train for a year and go play in the NBA? So listen, I have so many.

1:00:45Don't crush my dreams. Don't crush my dreams. I'm 35 and I still got hoop dreams man i got so much respect for you guys and what you guys do it's so true it's just we all know nothing's funnier than watching football guys play basketball oh man and how funny is it when people like impressed with something that an nfl guy does on twitter and as a basketball player he's gonna be like come on guys like this is really what we're like oh wow yeah he can play in the nba he just dunked yeah that's for sure that's all it takes

1:01:19that's hilarious that's it that is typically yeah yeah it's like he just did a wing hill he can do it he can play in the nba what are we talking about there's always a video that comes up on twitter of somebody in the nfl their high school highlights and yeah when they were and stuff and it's like yeah he could have been it's like yeah no i think they chose no i think it worked out all right you were you were mentioning uh terrell prior growing up i'm what i'm i'm telling you right now i think terrell prior's best sport was basketball in high school i played against him on the court and i always looked at him and other guys that were like in my grade like all the camps that i went to and stuff and i'm like man this dude he just he's a different type of athlete man and he definitely had uh he had offers to go d1 in both sports and just decided he wanted to be a quarterback.

1:02:10It's an interesting name you brought up because Terrell was definitely athletically, he was ridiculous. Man, when I tell you with the ball in his hands too, he was fucking special. So I think at that point, like in high school, if you – It's a different conversation. Depends on which direction you want to go. If you decide, like, all right, instead of football, I'm going to go give my all to basketball, then yes. Then I definitely believe in that. But just like, oh, you've been focusing on football for the last 12 years and now, no. And vice versa. I just don't think it worked like that. I hear you on that.

1:02:44Well, glad we got that out the way. That was actually pretty good. I mean, you're right. I feel everything you're saying. Kind of got sidetracked there. I got one. Yeah, shoot. Hit us one. Hit us. What do you got? So this is my first year playing fantasy football. Oh, gosh. Okay. All right. All right. So I was in two leagues. Who was your tight end? Mark Andrews. Oh, Mark was a good one, though. So, Mark, he finished strong. He probably helped you out in the playoffs for short. He finished strong with a bunch of touchdowns. I had two leagues. So, in one league, I had Pat. I didn't understand all about fantasy football.

1:03:20I'm just like, oh, shit. You took a quarterback first? There you go, yeah. Got to go running back. Got to go running back. Got to go running back. Yeah, yeah. Should have gone Saquon. Yeah. Should have gone Saquon. I'm like, oh, shit. Let me go get the best player in the league. Let me go get Pat. and nothing but respect for you and Pat. It didn't work out. It didn't work out. It was a different year for us. Yeah, it was a different year for us. I won everything 18 to 12. It was like, ah, it wasn't coming for me. You got to get the running quarterbacks or the – you got to get – Jalen's a great one because he's going to get you like 15 tush pushes into the end zone.

1:04:01Lamar, Josh. Lamar's a great one. I had Lamar in my other league. But Lamar is unbelievable, obviously, in the real game, but in fantasy football, too. Yeah, he's perfect for fantasy. I mean, he's pretty perfect for regular football as well, but fantasy in particular. He's got it all covered. One of the most insane things, we were in a joint practice with the Ravens, and I'm not going to say nobody's name, but he did a juke move in a tag-off. Like, you're not even supposed to tackle, right? You know how hard it is to juke somebody? Who's just trying to tag you? Who's just supposed to, like, tag.

1:04:31You're playing tag, essentially. This dude just has to get within a seven-foot wingspan of touching this guy. Completely falls over. I mean, it was insane, the move he put on this, to the point that both teams, Eagles and Ravens, just erupted in the middle of this practice. It was so, it was right then and there. I was like, oh, this guy's way different. This guy's way different. He's not fucking around. Should he have won MVP, or do you think they got it right? God damn. They both had great cases for MVP. The only reason I tend to think they got it right with Josh is because I think Josh, a lot of the times the MVP comes down to expectations.

1:05:09And I think the Ravens' expectations were high from the get-go. And I think Josh losing some of the guys that they lost, they didn't really have a lot of other star power. I think they overachieved, and he had a season that was unexpected, which is why he got it. And I think that narrative a lot of the times ends up being the one that wins. But both of them had merits of winning. And that's the reality is like most years, multiple people are up for it. So they both could have got it. But I do think that right there was the reason why I think Josh did end up getting it. But if they would have given it to Lamar, I wouldn't have been like, Hey, he deserved it too.

1:05:45Yeah. There's no wrong answer. I believe. Let's get to some no dumb questions. All right now. Hey, we always ask our fan base, the 92 percenters to send us their questions. And there's no dumb questions, just two dummies answering it and then the anomaly. So would you still want to be 6 '8 if you were bad at sports? That's a great question. It's a lot of inconveniences that come with that height. Like how bad? Like you're not even getting picked at the rec. Yeah. Last pick in dodgeball. Yeah. I love being 6 '8. I ain't even lying. Fair enough. I respect it. Not being able to find shoes that fit is an inconvenience I can deal with for being 6 '8".

1:06:37I love it. Pretty sure. If you had to play an entire game wearing flip-flops, how many points are you realistically dropping? You still finding a way to get some space? Flip-flops? And you at least catch in – you can sit in the corner and catch, you know. I just played my ankle last night wearing basketball. Yeah, that's a great question. Let's pass that one. Who's on your Mount Rushmore of basketball players? Mike, Bron, Kobe. This is where it gets tricky. Right? I would say Kareem. Kareem? You're going Kareem. The hook shot. Kareem. Okay. I respect it. I respect it. Listen, man, do you think his hook shot would still be as unstoppable in today's game?

1:07:20I mean, like the short answer would be no, but would he adapt and still be effective? Yes. The game is not played like that today, but he was so talented and skilled that he would have found other ways to score the basketball for sure. That thing was unstoppable. I love watching highlights of that thing just, woo! That was the last fist fight Travis and I got into. He just kept doing this dumbass hook shot in the backyard, and I couldn't stop it. I got a full-ass fight. I was, dog, JT, I was nice in the paint. I was only 6 '5", but I was nice in the paint. I believe it. I was utilizing all five of my files early.

1:07:57All right. Why is it called a field goal? In basketball. Yeah, that's actually very interesting. It makes zero sense, right? I feel like back in the day, they might have called the basket a goal. That part makes sense. The field part is never really thought about that. It's on a court and it's not a goal, but it's still called a field goal. This is why I think it's called a field goal. This is why I think it's called a field goal. Here we go. I think they used to only have scoreboards made with the FG field goals. So they just started calling them field goals because that's what the scoreboard had, and they had to call it a field goal.

1:08:34No, it doesn't make any sense. I'm not buying into any of this shit. I'm surprised nobody asked, growing up in St. Louis, was I a Kansas City fan? I was about to say, man, hold on, hold on. You already mentioned the Rams once. You already mentioned the Rams once. I'm trying to think of what eras those would have been for you. Like the Steven Jackson era? Like, yeah, who was your team? Sam Bradford, Steven Jackson. Yeah. So they won a Super Bowl in 2001. They lost in 2002 or 2003. And then after that, they didn't make the playoffs. It was a little bit of a drought. For like 15 years. At least they didn't make the playoffs the rest of the time they were in St.

1:09:15Louis. So I was a Peyton Manning fan. That was my favorite player. I loved it. You went north. You went north. Sheriff. Right down the street. But ironically, like, when the Rams left, the older people in St. Louis just became Chiefs fans. They did, 100%. We gathered everybody in Missouri. Pretty much. When they left, I wasn't like, all right, I'm a Chiefs fan now because, like, I don't know, St. Louis and Kansas City just kind of always had this, like, cardinals. A little bit of a rivalry. Oh, yeah. It was like a little rivalry. Cincinnati and Cleveland had a very similar thing, especially with the two being sports rivals in the AFC East or the AFC North, I mean.

1:09:55No, we definitely completely agree with that. We ended up going to Cincinnati, so we ended up getting kind of love from both cities and having that love for both cities. So when they moved to L.A., did you go to L.A. with them? No.

1:10:14And this is why you play fantasy football. You're just a fan of the league now? I don't have a team. I appreciate players. I appreciate, like, not to bring it up, but, like, when you guys played the Eagles this past, you know, Super Bowl, it was like, you know, Eagles, great team, great story. But me just winning the championship and, like, damn, we trying to win our second one. You guys trying to make history and win your third. Like, I appreciate it, you know, potentially watching, you know, history being made. um so i i appreciate you jumping on and being and i'm sorry um that you had to endure that nah man that's uh i respect it for sure how do you guys feel like it's been trying to defend that championship like how how tough has it been throughout the year and i mean you guys are getting everybody's fucking best shot right now and i'm sure it's a it's a lot different playing 16 games than it is playing 82 regular season games, trying to like navigate week in, week out, different lineups, different.

1:11:19You know, you guys are going to have to probably play a few games without you in it. Like how difficult has it been? Joe talks about it all the time. He said, expect it to be tougher than you think, right? None of us have been in this position besides Drew. Drew won a championship with Milwaukee, but the rest of us, It's like we don't know what it's like coming back after you just won a title. You think it can go one way, and there's good stretches. And then there was a stretch where there was a 12-game stretch where we won one, lost one, won one, lost one. And we're playing against teams, and they have a guy that is a 30 % three-point shooter, and that night he had 11 threes.

1:12:02Yeah, everybody's getting hyped. They play you guys. Everybody's excited to play you. You're getting everybody's best shot. And then, you know, dealing with injuries and certain guys being out, it was tough and we had to, you know, come together and get closer. But I would say, you know, we 22 and four in our last 26 games, right? So we've definitely hidden our stride at the right time. And, you know, with 10 or so games left and getting ready for the playoffs, you know, this is when you want to feel your healthiest, want to feel your best, want to be the most confident, understanding that, you know, what's ahead and, you know, how tough it was last year, expected to be tougher this year.

1:12:44Yeah. That's what we're trying to do. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Well, nice, man. I think that does it for our no-dumb questions. Get into our last segment, man, get you out of here. We appreciate you having fun with it, JT, man. Yep, absolutely. This is our last segment. We close out all the convos with a segment called We Gotta Ask, but you don't have to answer. You can tell us to fuck off and kick rocks, or you can have fun answering some of these silly questions, man. What was your welcome to the NBA moment? Ooh, my first two games. So, man, we get Kyrie. Our first game of the season was back in Cleveland.

1:13:20So Kyrie's first game back, we playing LeBron. It's on TNT. I'm still 19 years old, and this atmosphere is unlike anything I've ever been a part of. I can't even fathom this for you right now. Oh, my God. I'm playing it cool, going through my routine. I go. Just play it cool, man. Just play it cool. I remember I go off for our individual warm-ups and I just look down the court and it's Dwayne Wade warming up. It was just like, wow, I'm really here. Oh, yeah. Then I put my uniform on. We go off for layup lines and I'm cool. I'm laying the ball up. Cleveland hasn't ran out yet. After like two minutes, they run out.

1:14:03And I, and, and Bron runs out last. And I was like, oh shit. Like, this is, this is real. First shot, first shot attempt I got, he blocked that shit to like the fifth row. And I was like, yeah, this is, this is what it's about. All right. Man, that's a great fucking story. Made it. Nice. I don't know if you saw this. Did you see George Nyang talking a little bit of trash the other night with Quentin Grimes? Did you see that? Yo, I love George Nyang. He and you both. He and you both. That's my dog. Yeah. All right. And shot the three at home. Yeah. Yeah. Is the psych out still? Like, did you ever watch basketball growing up?

1:14:47I did. I haven't seen it in a long. It's been a while. So what about the psych out? to trying to psych somebody out who's about to shoot a ball? What's the best strategy? Whether you're playing horse with them, what's the best thing somebody said to you or something that you found that you can say to somebody else right away to get them off their game? Say something to them or just all the antics that guys do? I would say either or, whichever one you want to go with. Are you an antics guy or are you a verbal? Yeah, there's different. I don't really talk much when I play. Like, I really, like, we have to have a relationship, like, Bam Adebayo.

1:15:24Like, I've known Bam since eighth grade, Donovan Mitchell. Like, guys in my draft class, like, if I know you, like, you know, we'll have friendly trash talk or whatever. But, like, I'm not just, like, if I score on you, like, I'm not going to say, I'm just going to run back on defense. But always having other teams' best defender guard you throughout the years, seeing the different things that guys, like, you know, will do to try and get you off your game.

1:15:54It's funny. I remember one time playing against Patrick Beverly when he was with the Lakers. Oh, man. He is the king of this. Go ahead. I love Pat Bev. I love how he competes, talk trash with the best of them. But I don't say much. So I remember it was one game we was playing with the Lakers, and they was waiting to take the ball out of bounds. And he, like, started, like, tickling me. all right I like smacked his hand he was like you got stronger you got stronger

1:16:29but just like as a defender any little thing that they can try to do pull your sock down untuck your jersey at the free throw line I wear an armband people pull my armband down to my hand all the time oh man these are all great moves yeah back to back of your neck just like all type of things that, you know, is part of it. And I'm pretty sure there's things like that in football. No, I love it. I love all that little stuff. Anything you can do. Get real cheeky. Your childhood friends with the beaut, as they call them in hockey, Matthew Kachuk. That's right. He's a beauty, man. Him and his brother were recent guests of the show as they represented USA in the Four Nations Tournament.

1:17:11That was fun seeing them throw their hands and fight for the USA in that regard. You guys recreated this old photo of you both after – because you guys grew up around each other, huh, in the St. Louis area. We went to school together from seventh grade to tenth grade. So, yeah, two years in middle school, two years in high school. And then after our sophomore year, I think the rules are different for hockey. He ended up leaving and going off professional or whatever. Playing juniors, yeah. Yeah. Me and Matt, we had classes together. That picture that we took, I think we was going on a field trip at like Chicago or something.

1:17:46Nice. Yeah, we had projects together. So it's just cool to, you know, see both of us. We won a championship in the same year. Wow. That was fucking awesome, man. Great dude, man. Unbelievable person. He was a hockey player. His brother is amazing too, and he comes from a great family as well. So couldn't be happier for him and his family. Hell yeah, man. Did you ever get on the ice? No, no, no. No? Ever got on the ice? We would play hockey in gym class, but in the gym, I would try to be goalie because I was the tallest kid, but that's your name. It's a good reach. Goalie? Fuck, man. Jason used to force me to be the fucking goalie.

1:18:28He'd be like, no, I'm taking shots on you, and he would just rip them from 10 feet away. I'm like, come on, man. This is fucked up. We got two champions in their respective sports, but there's a third guy hanging out in the back of this picture right here. I don't know if it's the same kid or is he the third? That's the homie? I was about to say. Has he won any championships? I don't think so. He's another kid in our class named Jacob. He wasn't a sports guy, but he was cool. The Cardinals end up flying them in. I think he lived in San Diego or something. They end up flying them in so we could recreate the picture.

1:19:09That's so funny, man. Shout out to Jacob. Here we go, Jacob. Your seven-year-old son, Deuce, is always courtside. Are you going to be able to play in the NBA long enough to maybe play with your son? Get the Celtics to draft him? A lot of things got to go right for that. Yeah. Sounds cliche to say. I never forced him to play basketball. Obviously, he's always been around it. And even at home, I would just want him to naturally, if he wanted to play basketball, then we can. So I would say in the last, man, like the last like six to 10 months, he's really like fell in love with the game and been more attentive at the games.

1:19:51He asked questions. He, he's, he plays basketball now every Saturday. And I can honestly say like, I haven't ever had more fun in a gym than going to his peewee game Saturday morning. It's like, it's the most fun I've ever had in a basketball gym. That's awesome, man. You can see him go crazy. Is he chucking it? He shoots every time. That's what I'm talking about. Keep chucking it, Deuce. You're like, huh? Yeah. No, I'm – Why would I do that? It's way more fun to shoot this thing. I'm watching you doing it. Yeah, exactly. For sure. Did you ever get a follow back from LeBron? Did he ever follow you back?

1:20:34Still waiting? We got the old tweet from back in April of 2012, man. King James follow back is Larry Hughes, nephew from St. Louis. Shout out to Larry Hughes, man. Cavalier for a while. I definitely was rocking with him for a while. But that's pretty cool, man. I wanted to have an uncle or someone like Larry in the league already. And, yeah, did you ever get the follow back? Yeah, Brian ended up following me back. It was funny because they brought this tweet up when we played him in the conference finals my rookie year. Oh, shit. So he finally leaned in once you guys were in the Eastern Conference Finals together.

1:21:12Yeah, he followed me back up on Instagram after that. Nice. Many battles against each other and been on an Olympic team. And Bron is a great friend of mine and somebody that I got a really good relationship with. But I made that tweet. That was like when I first got Twitter. Oh, listen, you already know. Somebody like me, you bring out my 2012 tweets. Right. You're going to have a fucking field day. I can't even spell shit. I would have spelled cousin with no O. There was no autocorrect back then. Nice, man. Glad you got the follow from Bron. And that, man, you're chasing your second ring, big dog.

1:21:50And appreciate you coming on here and chopping it up with us in the 92 %ers, man. Everybody, Jason Tate. Yeah, baby. Appreciate you, dog. Thanks for all the time, too, man. Much love. Get that ankle right. And, yeah, I might have to catch you courtside at an Eastern Conference Finals game, man. Catch you against Cleveland again, man. That was their last year. Yeah, it was just the end. It was like the end of the season. That was last year. That was in the regular season. Yeah. Wishing you nothing but the best, man. Go and get you another one, big dog. Appreciate you guys. You know it. All right, now.

1:22:28Well, that does it for our interview with Jason Tatum, man. Yeah, baby. I love talking to champions, man. The guy, you could tell why he is a champion. You know, the guy just has such a professionalism about him. It's a good time talking to highly successful people that have dedicated themselves to being the best in the world at something. Take a quick look at the leaderboard of the New Heights March Madness Challenge. We have zero perfect brackets left after the first weekend in both our men's and women's brackets. Current New Heights men's bracket rankings. Brandon did you guys put this in there just because you want us to say that you guys are ranked above me and Travis right now yeah is Jason ranking is higher than mine yeah how is that possible in terms of points yes Jason's got you beat right now how is that I have two final four teams out how is that possible sure it just your total score that you could end up with is much much lower than Travis's but currently right now you're in the lead you got more in the first two rounds correct than he did you just are dead in the water for the eight in the forest, basically.

1:23:29So I got to really hope, Trav, who's your final four? Duke? Yes. St. John's, who's out of it? Michigan State? No. Auburn? Auburn and Florida. So I got to hope Auburn and Florida takes some L's. Otherwise, I'm screwed. I'm not sure if that's how it works. But Jake and Brandon do, and Brandon and Jake are both at the - They're winning. They're doing well. In both brackets because they cheat and they just give themselves extra points, I'm sure. But what we do know is that Travis is in last place. Gosh, I just don't understand. Because he just doesn't know basketball. That's what I keep trying to tell him.

1:24:08I thought I did. You think it's about points and stuff, and dude, it comes down to toughness.

1:24:17Yeah. I also took Akron over Arizona. I'm a dumbass. So did I. go Mac I don't know why I put Akron so high it was the dumbest thing in the world I just saw an Ohio team in there I'm like yeah they're fucking doing it let's go Akron they're tough rubber bull you shitting me I did the same thing oh man you were idiots you did call it with those silver spills to stop it sorry yo sorry yo that's not that was uncalled for dude I did input all of my women so the way I did my women's bracket I did Yukon and South Carolina I forgot about Dawn staley south carolina's who i had winning it uh shout out to dawn staley philadelphia zone uh i but everybody else i just did based on roster average roster height of the top five it took me legit a full day to calculate the roster heights of every single women's team in the uh march madness okay all right so this is proof this is he's citing his sources that he did it um currently it's not panned out i am in third place yeah i'm glad you had it all documented to show us how bad you are i tried searched so long to try and find this information and i just gave up i was like you know what i'm just gonna do it myself there you go that was a good uh waste of time hopefully everybody's having some fun uh watching these games i know i am jason what's your favorite part of March Madness so far?

1:25:48My favorite part of March Madness is as much as it hurt watching St. John's lose. Cause I had them going all the way to the championship. Well, I didn't, I had them losing to Michigan state, but I had them going all the way to the final four. I was happy for Calipari. I think, I mean, listen, it's a, it's a matchup against two coaches that back when I used to watch college basketball a lot were two of the premier coaches in college basketball. Still premiered. And obviously still are. so I think having that connection and watching those two guys go at it as well as those two teams and it was a great game yeah that was probably the highlight what do you got um my highlight calling drake calling the drake I mean yeah that was dope unfortunately they lost to uh texas tech uh did you have them beat texas tech I did I had them beating tech um and pat made sure to let me know that I was an idiot for doing that but um they're obviously a fun team to watch I have nothing but love for the tech group.

1:26:46And, man, my favorite one so far, I don't know what it was, but I just love a buzzer beater, man. That Maryland game the other day and seeing, you know, Maryland, what I didn't realize is coming into it, they only have four losses and they were all at the buzzer. It was crazy how, like, they finally in their next close game at March Madness, they went on a buzzer beater. that team right now is they they're bigs are physical you know they control the game or they they control the tempo of the game uh because they they play inside out and i just right now i love i love that team man they kind of just like grab me and they're like the terps are they're fun to watch man i think everybody's kind of on that bandwagon right now and that's why i really screwed up when trying to figure out this bracket i should have leaned into one of my best resources yeah don't even look at my bracket scott van pelt really could have just let me know all this stuff the mcneese game i called and was telling everybody i'm a fucking genius that you even hit me and asked me how the fuck i knew that one yeah no i um i don't know much but i if you pick enough now i get it this is how you play roulette you just play enough numbers and then all of a sudden it hits and you're like yeah see i told you it was going to be red seven gm he also said it was going to be all those other numbers too.

1:28:04Look where I had most of my chips. It's brilliant. You just got to play the neighbors. Just play the neighbors. That is a funny way to pick out brackets is to just pick all the underdogs. I literally picked fucking every one of them and I could just be like, knew it. Drake knew it. McNeese knew it. What about Grand Canyon, Travis? I thought I knew it. They got fucking smoked by 40. hopefully you know duke finds a way to to make it all the way and uh and take the cake so i look at least somewhat intelligent um it's looking like they're going to but i say we wrap this thing up man shout out to jason tatum appreciate you brother yeah baby that wraps up another episode of new heights make sure you're subscribed on youtube to the new heights channel follow new heights on the wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts you can listen to new episodes of New Heights early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

1:29:04Once again, New Heights a Wondery show produced by Wave Sports and Entertainment and brought to you by Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. That's right. Fucking sweet-ass jacket. Reese's got me. You! You! That is dope. Yeah, all right now. Shout out to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Follow the show on all social media for fun clips throughout the week at New Heights Show with 1S. and thanks to our production and crew for always making us look way better than where we are. 92 %ers, we'll see you guys next week. Good luck in your brackets.