- Yo, yo, yo, we live on location. We down here to bayou and we Black. We had to make a real special trip. Come down here, come down
South to come meet up With this Midwest Swing with- - Two point gazer. - You feel mid range Maestro, one of the best combo guards
out here in the league. - You know it. - El presidente of the
NBA Players Association and we got our young homeboy,
CJ McCollum in the building. He ain't that young no more. He one of OGs but he still with us. - Straight up man. - First off man, we appreciate you bro, coming through we in the Orleans. Came to get some of that good
food and everything come see, do your thing man. - No problem at all. - [Narrator] Presented by Hennessy. - When you first got to the league, who was the first person to bust your ass? I remember you got- - Ginobili, Jamal Crawford, Lou Williams. So start with Ginobili, Ginobili he watched him
play back in the day, he'd be talking, first
of all, he be speaking in a different language all of the time, probably talking like I'm, he
can't mess with me type stuff but they call like angle,
like angle and flat like end quarter. So Ginobili called angle,
he dribbles to half court and turns his back to me. First of all it's like mad disrespectful turns it back to me. But whatever, he turns his
back comes at me full speed, Euro layup. - That's what he do. - Next play, Euro layup and one. And then he sent me to step back. It was seven, nine. He scored about damn
near ten in a row on me, which was like wow, I didn't play. Basically I was coming out. Coach was like yo. Like he do this to
everybody, what you expect? - Yeah, you all were. - Blue, same thing but he
was just drawing fouls. So couldn't touch him. You
know, you young in the league they talking about ball
pressure, ball pressure. So I'm trying to hand check, ah, ah! - Yeah, you putting on your own. - All of that. So it was wild and then ninja Jamal, just, bah, bah, bah, pull up
,bah, bah, bah to the cup behind, behind hesi so I took my wounds and
then went back to the lab. - Ken Ohio, like Ken
Ohio, you Ohio boy, man. Is a lot of boys come
outta Ohio that's dogs too. - He part of Midwest Swing, you know, that's Midwest Swing up in here. - [Man] Oh yeah. - Different water out there, man. - Different, right? Your brother Eric, he played before you, he was older than you, right? - Mm hmm, three and half
years older than me. - So that's the one that
you seen, that you watched, that you studied, that you
came behind to see him hoop? So how was that? Tell us about your brother, Eric. - Yeah, that's my best friend to this day. And I always say I wouldn't
be where I'm at without him, he was the one that had the vision for how our life should be played out in terms of- - Step-by-step. - Step-by-step, get good grades,
treat people with respect. You know what I'm saying? Carry yourself a certain way. Treat the janitor the same
way you treat the CEO, all of that stuff. But then on the court
you have an alter ego. You do whatever you want on
that court within the lines, be respectful to the game, but be disrespectful to your opponent if that's how you feeling that day. And that's how we worked. 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 500
shots in the morning, 500 shots at night, sneaking into the gym. Really understanding
that we didn't wanna see our parents work forever. We knew that if we could
apply a certain type of skill to this game, be able to score is something
that everybody can't do. Being able to shoot off the dribble is something that everybody can do. If we could do that better than most, we'll get paid more than most. And that's kind of how we approach it. And my brother now good
enough to be in the league but makes a lot of money in Europe. I think he's number two and he might be number one
all time in Euro Cup scoring number one in performance index rating, which is our PER efficiency. He gets to it. He's just like me, just a little smaller but everything that I do on the court is basically predicated
on studying his game, his moves, still watch each
other's games to this day. I still get to Europe in the summertime. - Did he have the height
before you had the heights? You know how your growth
spurt was like late. Did he already have the height and you by behind him? Or he was small too? - He was small too, but taller than me. So I was 5'2 freshman year 5'7, 5'11. I committed to Lehigh at 5'11. I signed my letter of intent at 6'1 at when I got there, I was 6'3. He was 5'7, 5'10, 6 foot, 6'2. So he was a little the earlier. So he was beating me for a
long time and it's funny, he used to always joke and
even when I went to college, he went to a D2NAI and I
used to spend my spring break in Goshen, Indiana. Goshen College in the middle of nowhere. And we would just play ones and I'd work out and
just kind of get better. And he used to always say,
when you could beat me, you'd be ready for the league. And he was right. - So, you whooped that ass. - I was like it's time for
me to get to the league. - So tell me this, how
old were y'all when he, when y'all began the 6:00 AM 7:00 AM and all of that stuff
and sneaking in gyms, how old were y'all doing that? - I mean, we've been getting up at 6:00 AM since we were 10 years old, so. - What? That was his idea? - Hey, I hated it. I hate, he was so
disciplined in methodical. I didn't see the vision like
off the court, real estate, every business, like he
knew what he wanted to do. We own restaurants. He knew like that he had this vision of how he wanted his life to be. And he was like, I'm gonna learn from all my mistakes and make
sure you don't make those, you know what I'm saying? He wrote out my bios to send to college. He sent them out to a
hundred Division One schools, my points per game, stats,
with film, everything. He was really determined to help me become who I am today. And I thank him for it. And I tell him there's no amount of money that can ever repay the
love that you've showed me. And it's just gratitude
that I have for him that he has for me, but it was his idea. I hate, I couldn't stay the
night at my friend's house. without him coming to get me,
like we still gotta work out. Don't think you're getting away from this. - Did y'all used to do a
lot of one dribble pull, two dribble pull, like from all that was most of y'all
base of y'all workout on the shooting side? - Everything started
with that triple threat into a pull up, triple threat pull up. - Your triple threat and your
pull up game is so crazy. Like you remind me of the guys, you always got a guy in the hood or guy somewhere that
got that one, two pull that you can't. 'Cause then when you try to push up on him and try to stop him, you going straight to the hole and laying it up. And that's one of the most
dangerous stop to have that mid range, like, so, I can see you doing that all the time because that is a layup to you. - Tell me this, when you were, we all seen a little viral
picture you being microscopic, when you were little
as hell playing against the college dudes. Well, high school dudes, what was your brother's
message when you were going out there in that situation? 'Cause you was like so small, it was jarring for people to see, right? So did he try and instill
that confidence in you that you go out there and do it? - Yeah, I always had a
unbelievable amount of confidence. Even when I was small, I
would fight bigger dudes. I was a troublesome kid, you know? - That boy was scrappy, dude, you was little in you . - Swinging first type, I tell you. I used to get it- - It's always the little ones. - It's always the little ones. - I got us into a lot of trouble with people we shouldn't
have got in trouble with. He was having to fight fights he shouldn't have had to fight, but it was just always my mentality. And it was like I fear no man. He put his shoes on the same way I do. And his life ain't been as hard as mine, even if it has been like in my mind, he ain't 5'2. He don't know what it's to try to create a shot out here. He don't know what it's for his mom to have to work single parent household. He don't know what this is like. He don't want it as bad as me. He can't want it as bad as me. He not getting up at
6:00 AM at 10 years old. - Straight up. - He not shooting a thousand
shots a day by 2:00 PM. Like you know what I'm saying? So it was just like I worked so hard. It was like there's no way these kids, these kids can't fuck with me, right? I work way too hard. And if I don't succeed, it's cool. We get back to the lab
and we figure it out. But I knew I was gonna grow. My dad graduated high school at 5'8 and my dad was a big
component of hard work. Just like my mom. It was like you wanna be successful, you gotta really work on your craft and we can't pay for your college. So you either gotta get a 4.0 or you gotta be really good at basketball or you get a three, five and be solid. So you can get the scholarship. And I just worked on like you said, the fundamentals was the
foundation of everything. Triple threat, have
footwork, have a handle. And as I got taller and stronger, I had to create less space. - Yeah, it got better. - Yeah. - Oh, I got weapons now, I'm a super hero. - I'm shooting step back at 5'2 now am 6'3, 6'4. It's I don't see you at all. - You know, you missing. - So take me through that. What that transition is like when you start off at 5'2 then you get to the point to
where all of that hard work that you don put in, all
of them hours you done log like now you seeing the fruits
of that labor and you like, you already said you was cocky. So where were you at, at that point? - I mean, I was probably
hard to be around for sure. - Folks saying he's a . - Yeah, that's the word people used. - We all had that one moment in my career where we
could have went this way or that way. - Yeah, but it's just I work so hard against everything, right? Like he's only 5'2 schools
that didn't wanna recruit me, no, he's not good enough. He's not this, he's not that, he can't do this, he can't do
that. And then I sure do that. Now what, like all the
things you said I can't do, I'm doing. - But you ain't forget, . - I'll never forget because so many people who try to box you in, right? And it's the same thing I talk, tell kids at my kids camps
and my ministry programs. It's like never let anyone box you in because if I were to really
listen to the negative hate, I wouldn't be able to
have CJ's Press Pass. I wouldn't be able to have
CJ McCollum Dream Centers and all these different types of things and vehicles that where
I'm lifting up kids. I'm giving opportunities
because it's so many haters out there and people
that wanna see you fail because they can't do it. And it's like just 'cause you can't do it don't mean it's, that's not my life. I'm gonna really work. And the chip is still there. Chip has always been there. But I think it stems
from it was a test to see like can I really make it? Sometimes you don't really believe it. - Yeah, you definitely don't. - It's just too much like
can I really do this? Right, I'm 5'2, 5'2 averaging
20 and three quarters on JV playing two quarters varsity 'cause Ohio had the five quarter rule. I get to 5'7 they bring me off the bench and promise me I was gonna start. Booster Club came in, Sun transferred in, they bring me off the bench. I average six points a
game I wanted to quit. My junior year, my brother said, you gotta make a decision. you either really gotta want this shit or you gotta put this down and go really, be good at being a student, decide what you want. My mom was like I ain't
raising no quitter, son. you gonna figure this out. And that's like, my mama
the type of person that after the games, I might score 28. She like damn, you missed two free throws. Coulda had 30. Like that's the energy
that I get in my household. And I needed that. So when I decided to
really turn up, I changed my alarm clock, right? This
is going to my junior year, my alarm clock was no longer the sounds you hear. It was me talking to myself, a positive affirmations
about how I'm gonna average 20 a game, I'm gonna get
a Division One scholarship after this season. And I'm gonna break all the school records that was before me. I went from averaging
six points a game to 25. My first career start, I told
my dad I was gonna score 50. I scored 54. I hit eight threes and I
broke the school record. And that's how I spoke
this into existence. And then I went and worked for it harder than anybody could work because I knew if I average 25, I'm getting a Division One scholarship because I'm gonna get to
6'2 and they can't stop me at 5'10 so what they
gonna do with me at 6'2? And that was my mentality. - Yeah, but some people take, I just gotta say, I never knew this. And I'm extremely impressed at the fact that you, you know what I'm saying? All of this stuff, you
changed your alarm clock. Like what high school
teenage kid is doing this? Like your brother, your
both of y'all I'm impressed. Your other getting y'all up, getting both of y'all up
at 10, 11, 12 years old. You can't stay the night
at your friend's house 'cause he make you come get this work. That's a level of discipline
that is rarely seen from teenagers, especially
single parent homes and all these different
things where you got ways you can wiggle. So that's a huge saluting commend, I can't even talk right now but I'm thoroughly impressed with it, bro. That's super salute to y'all boys for having that type of discipline and that type of just
strong will to do that. That's crazy. - Yeah, I tell people all the time that sometimes they say
you being an asshole or you being this and sometimes they take you being so confident in yourself, you know what I'm saying? The only way that you can
make it to where you at is for you to be absolutely
that confident in yourself. I used to tell people
like long as I had my mom that was confident in me, I'm the most confident
motherfucker in the world. You know what I'm saying? That's how I got to where I got to, because I had to be that
confident to play against other motherfuckers who
was just that confident. You know what I'm saying? But it be like that. - I wanna ask him when
you went after that 54 what was the rest of that season? Like after you picked the first start and you told your pops
what you was gonna do 'cause we, to be able to sit there and tell somebody you gonna
do something like that, then literally go do it, what was your swag and
your confidence after that? - It was very high, but it was funny because
I had to convince myself that it wasn't fluke, right? 'Cause it's like I just
averaged six a game. So I was just paranoid. I'm still paranoid to this day
like you gotta do this right. You gotta do that right, you gotta be consistent
with your approach. So I just fall in love
with the process, right? I tell my mom, I tell my wife to this day, now I just show up for work. I don't worry about the
result because I done did everything I can to be
successful up until 7:00 PM. So at 7:00 PM, it's the
most relaxing time for me. The hard part is 6:00 AM. The 8:00 AM workouts, I'm
lifting, I'm boxing at this time. That's the hard part. That's the sacrifice. Now I get to enjoy the fruits. So after I scored that 54, come home, my mom is like that's good. Now you gotta consistently do this if you wanna be great, like the great ones consistently do this. And she's like the double
team's gonna be coming, big bro calling me now we gotta work on how to score when
the double team comes. Now we gotta work the
boxing one in high school, now I started, after that
I was getting boxing one every night. So 54, 45, 36, 28. Then I get the boxing one from hell and I score 11 points and
I'm going home all right, I got more work to do. And I needed that failure, right? Because it told me you're
not a finished product. You still gotta sharpen your tool. You gotta sharpen your blade every day or you gonna get dull. So that's kind of what my approach was. I was always sure, myself confident. And I think that my
confidence instills confidence in others, but I tell people all the time, my teammates can speak
to that past and present, like CJ is consistent every
day, he cocky, but he works. He has a reason to be cocky. He's sure of himself, but he's smart. He's sharp and he gonna tell you it is even if you don't like to
hear it or wanna hear it, but I'm always gonna keep
it a hundred with you. - Play the right way. - And I've always done that my whole life. And I think people have
respected me for that. And the mentality just
stems from lie you said, I was so thirsty to get that
Division One scholarship that I was gonna do whatever it took and I was gonna work harder and like shoot so much you
got blisters on your fingers. You know what I'm saying? That's the mentality that I had. You gotta be, your jumper gotta be so wet that they surprised when you miss. You know what I'm saying? - And that's how I felt
when I first seen you and stuff, seeing that pull up that how you two dribble, one dribble, how you coming off and just pulling up 'cause a lot of guys don't do what you do 'cause that's an old school
mentality of what you do. But you mastered that, that's one of the most dangerous things. That's what Michael Jordan did. The gold of this shit, mid range kill all this. And that's what you do. I definitely like that. - Tell me about the remainder
your of senior year, 'cause you clearly was killing. How did you feel about
the recruiting process? - Yeah, I still was angry about the recruiting process, right? I go from 5'7 to 5'11. I average 25 five and five basically. And Lehigh sends me a letter
the day after I scored 54, I had never heard of Lehigh. I didn't know. I was like Lehigh, let
look this out on Google. Talk to me, all right, Patriot League, you know what I'm saying,
I'm going down to roster and this one, the video game is out. So I start playing with
Lehigh on the video game, take him to the NCAA tournament. Go through that as a kid, I swear to God, I go through that as a
kid, that whole process. And then I start getting
letters, Michigan, Notre Dame. - [Darius] While you in school? - Bowling Green, yeah, I'm still hooping though, Bowling Green, Fairfield, University of Farming. And in my head, I was like I'm a Division One player but now I'm a high level
Division One player like North Carolina should
be sending me letters. That's the school I
wanted to go to, Kansas. - Also North Carolina is the one. - North Carolina is- - That was on your map. - But they never recruited me. I even sent them stuff. So I would send it my brother, we send stuff to schools that I like big like high-major, mid-major and low-major and we would target all of
them depending on locations, horizon, league, Mac, whatever. We're going down the list just
to kinda gimme some variety. - That's great. - Y'all sending them stuff? - Sending them my stuff, my
film, my GPA, my ACT score, every, my brother had a bio, everything with disk of my film. - That's crazy, I've never,
ever heard that, like. - He sent it to every school, over a hundred schools he
sent it to and remind you, I'm still playing, right? Finished my high school year. I played for All Ohio Red. I didn't play much, I was pissed. And then I played for
King James, Bron's team shot out to my guy, Bron. I played for his AAU
team and I never forget, I tell this story all the time. I played in AAU Tournament. I played against John Wall first. John was the number one player
in the country. John was- - Crazy. - Like that, I had 25 at
five and five and five against the number one
player in the country. So I'm like, all right, bet
I'm gonna take this film. This is John but everybody
gotta see this shit. - We definitely do. - We definitely do, nothing against him. - John's still my guy, he's still cool. - So that was good film for
me, still didn't really get no play, so what I did was
I played in a tournament I served and I lied. So I told them. - Here's that lie. - You know how like rivals or whatever, come up to you after the
game who recruiting whatever. So I lied and said I had
three scholarship offers. I named three schools and
Lehigh had already offered me. So I said, Lehigh, somebody else, somebody else I got 10
offers the next week. So I had 10 like small, mid-major offers, but I was still pissed
'cause I was a Ohio kid. My teammate Kosta Koufos
went to Ohio State and that never recruited me. Xavier never recruited me. Cincinnati never recruited me. All of these schools,
I'm in your backyard. - Backyard. - Never recruited me. So I kind of waited around and my mom, my dad, my brother was
like, look, you gotta go where you're wanted, where you're needed. You gotta, my dad would always say, don't miss the boat son. My mom would say, you wanna
be somebody first option or somebody's second option? Like you wanna be somebody priority. - [Man] Straight up. - Coach Reed drove during
a tornado to my house. We sat in the kitchen with candles 'cause our lights was out, powers out, trees in the street, GPS went out. This is back in the day where
you had to garments and stuff. And he basically was look,
you are our priority. You come here, you'll be
able to do what you want. Get a great education. You can make the tournament,
whatever, whatever. I commit to Lehigh before
my senior year at 5'11 played my senior year out. I'm better. - 6'1. - I'm 6'2 now. I'm dunking in games like. - Now it's on. - Man, I was just, I was
5'2 like four years ago. So people was looking, I average 29, eight in like four, Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year runner up Mr. Basketball to Jerry Salinger in Detroit Burkin and was
running, running in Columbus. And I'm looking cause I had told my mom, I was like Mom, I'm about
to average 30 this year. And I think if I do that, then I'd be able to go to a big school. She was like but you gonna
be going to a big school as somebody second or third option. I also wanted to go to Penn State. Penn State never offered. So I play that out. I average 30. I go to Lehigh, I show up I'm 6'3. They looking like, this ain't the same kid like this is the kid that committed. 'Cause I did my visit at 5'11. They didn't see me the whole year. The rest is history. I got there and I said, all right, how many, I used to tell my brother, how good do I have to be
to get to the league early? 'Cause I don't wanna
be here for four years. - From being that small, how was the first dunk in game dunk? I know how hype you was. - Super hype. You had
the little weak one too where you're like. Oh, you was on the joint. - On that joint. - Then I start doing the
AI joints only in practice throw it like that. - Oh, throw it over. Go get it, all of that. That was my go-to and warmup blinds, ah. That was like the best
feeling in the world. Better than hitting 10 threes is dunking because it was the transformation
of he not athletic. He not this, I'm going, I'm
getting eight rebounds in game. What you mean here am not? I'm out here banging with sinners. - Yeah, yeah, you going down there, you make sure you boxing out now. - And I'm giving you 35 a night. - So you get to Lehigh and you go crazy. You the rookie of the year
and the player of the year. What was that first year
like for you when you, like you already got your own
expectations for yourself, but then you kind of burst
onto the scene like that. What was that like? - Oh, it's funny 'cause
I joke with Coach Reed all the time and Coach Logan
who recruited me there, they promised me I was gonna start. They brought me off the bench
and I was like, disrespect, come here and like I'm
a NBA player coming off the bench at Lehigh, like
that's of my mentality. Like irrational probably but I was right. I am who I said I was. So they brought me off
the bench for two games. And I remember calling home like this ain't what I signed up for. You know what I'm saying? Like they lied to me,
told me I was gonna start coming off the bench and
I was calling it, right? I was low key about to transfer,
looking in Shaka was at VCU and I knew Shaka since I was a kid. So I was looking around
I'm coming of the bench, I'm coming off the bench. - Was you killing before, like? - I was killing. - You was murdering the whole practicing and everything all the
way to the first game. And you, I know at the
end he gonna be yeah. - And I don't start. - You looked on the board like. - Talk about that moment right there. 'Cause we all had that moment. - That was like. You aint even watching what, they even watching these last two months? - Tell me, talk about that, 'cause that's like, we all done been there when we go through,
whether it's in the league, you go through a training
camp or whatever it is, you know you and your
partners on the team, you like yeah, yeah, I did my, I earned my keep being the coach come in, he won't talk to you or he won't give to, you know talk, I'm talking about. You like why you coming
to me with this talk? You supposed to be over
there with that talk. - Telling him he's sitting there like, and here's the reasons why. But now I was hurt bro,
like that really hurt me. And that just, I was back in the gym. I like was damn, am I
not working out enough? You know what I'm saying? That was my mentality
but I used to call home and I'm like soon as buddy get
in foul trouble, it's over. He got in foul trouble twice. He got in foul trouble game one. I had like 15, we played against Richmond, Richmond University game
two, we played against Rider, one of the Thompson brothers was there and they was whooping our ass. They was up like 17 to two. Buddy in front of me,
shout out to Rob Keefer. Rob Keefer's the one in
front of me, nice guy. He picked up his second foul again and I'm just laughing like
ah, he done messed up. 'Cause I'm not looking
back when I come in here I'm to the cup. I'm AI crossing. I'm hitting three, we down I'm, all that like this is personal. I gotta get to the league and y'all done costing
me two games of film. - Straight up. - Next game, first career start 26 at the career, school record most points in the first career start. I'm out here killing. I'm dunking, I'm yelling there's nobody in the stands. I'm yelling at nobody. And like it doesn't matter. Like and got to where I'm at today just internal motivation, make it fun, make it, pretend it's 20,000 here. So then when I get to the
tournament, it's really 20,000 I'm going for crazy. 'Cause I've been envisioning
what this is gonna be like and feel my whole life. I watch Duke on TV. I watch Carolina, Kansas. They got they own dorms. They got chefs. They getting per diem. - The Js. - They got the Js - They got the Jordans on. - Team playing, they flying private. We flying by the toilets. - Yeah. - You know what am saying? - You smelling the toilet
the whole ride to the- - I'm taking ice baths in trash cans, you know what I'm saying? Like I'm angry. You know what I mean? It's not their fault. But I needed something
to create in my head to make it so that when I
gotta workout at 6:00 AM, I'm working out with a purpose. I'm not just doing this for
this now, this is personal. Because when I play against
this kid who had it easy, that don't mean growing up easy. I mean like he was silver,
he was a silver spoon kid once he got to where he's at. He don't know what this grind is like. He don't know what it's like-
- It means more to you. - To hike this mountain in this snow. - Every time you step between them lines, it means more to you. I be telling the kids now, nowadays, because you see some of these
kids don't give the effort. They don't care. They out there too cool. They just out there
getting 30 or something, they get a dunk and have eight points and they swag it's they
had 30 at 15 or something. And I be like, man, when I
stepped between the them lines and it reminds me of you too, how hard you go when you
step between them lines, it means too much to me not to go hard. It means too much for me not to run fast or hustle on defense and play hard. That's what it's about. - Take me to your junior year. After you three time all conference. You done won players of the
years, rookie of the years, y'all didn't want the
titles in the conference, but you decided to go back for a year. You was a hot, you was a
prospect for the league as a junior, but you came back. Why didn't you go back? - I had never experienced
what it was to be the man going into a season, right? I was a very good mid-major player. They knew I was good in Bethlehem. Some of the other cities,
we played Navy, Army, American, Colgate, but the
world didn't really know like he's the man. And I wanted to go through
that from the beginning, preseason All American first team. I went to CP3 skills, KD skills. I'm at all the Nike events, killing, playing against all the
best college players. I'm gonna use the air
quotes again, all the best, high-major players in the country. And I wanted to experience that. But I also, so I love college. I didn't think I was
gonna like it that much. I was like this is fun. Like I wanna get to the money
and take care of my family but one more year of no responsibility, just hoop, go to class. I could go to my frat homies place. I can go to sororities. I had met my wife. So I was in a place where
I was just really happy and content and comfortable. And although I knew change was coming, I wasn't necessarily ready yet. And I told my mom, I said, if I leave, I'm not coming back. I said, once I get to the money I don't think I would be
able to go back to school. And I had promised her I would graduate and I was making the dean's
list and I was doing so well. I just felt like all those things and I heard I was gonna
be mid to late first. And I was like ah, if they see me if, if they think I'm mid to late first off that one game, wait until they come in every night to watch. - See a season a real put up.
- And they can really see. And people were well you gonna, are you sure you wanna be evaluated? I said, I'm not running from nothing. I want them to see every part of my game because it's not a lot of flaws. I'm the college kid that
can score all three levels. like what you want, like
what more do you want? And I wanted to get back to the tournament 'cause I felt I was good then, but I felt I was better, I
was smarter, I was sharper and I really understood the preparation that goes into getting through a 30 game season conference tournament, and then going to play the big boys. And I wanted all that smoke. And I had lined up, I had a list of teams I wanted
to play gave 'em to my coach. They was all running from us. Shout out to Tom Izzo, he would play us. We played against Tom
Izzo in my junior year. But mostly of the teams,
Syracuse, I can name 'em. They all was running from us. They said, we'll play you when CJ leaves, every school that didn't
recruit me in Ohio, I wanted to play 'em, Ohio
State wouldn't play us. Cincinnati wouldn't play us.
- This boy had a hit list. - Every school that was close to me or that I wanted to go to, Notre Dame, Penn State, Penn State played us my freshman year, wouldn't play us again. Dayton played us, I had 42 or no, Ken State played us, I
had 42 my sophomore year. They was we're not playing y'all no more. Akron, they wouldn't play us. So I had a list and
they was running from us but more of the story is Iowa State they would play us when
they had Royce White. Like some of those types of
schools where Pittsburgh, I was happy to be able
to go play those teams. And then, this was the
first time in my life I'm showing up to practice and
it's 10 credential NBA teams watching me practice in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. - Boy, that was when you started seeing. - I was looking who is that? And then I'd be asking our meeting guy yo, who watching today? What team is this? Oh, they need a guard? Oh, y'all need a guard, huh? - He don't even know about scouts coming to high school games for him, they was at his high school. - That's wild. - They came to check me outta high school. I mean college practices. He
come his high school game. He aint really- - That's wild. - Know that nobody asked what's going on. He just had the hearsay. He seen the team. - Did you know it was gonna be Portland? Or did you think it was
gonna be somewhere else? - Honestly, I thought I
was going to the Kings. The Kings promised me at seven days like if you there, we gonna take you. They actually called me
back for a second workout and I hit my agent and I was like, I don't really wanna work again. I'm tired. I done went through I rehabbed my fracture foot right into the pre-draft. I was like I'm tired, I just wanna chill. - How many workouts did you do? - I only did 10. - See y'all blessed. - I only did like 10, but I
worked out for them twice. Its basically all lottery teams. - That's what I'm saying, y'all blessed. You only did two and you said-
- No, I didn't do no two. - What you do? - He did three. - I did like six. - Okay, I know he listen, 10
and under is y'all blessed. - The process was great for
me. I'm not gonna lie to you. It was cool, but I thought
I was going to the Kings then I thought I was going to do Detroit because they had Joe Dumars and
he was a small school guard. I said he might mess with me. You know what I'm saying? - Might see division. - They took KCP.
- YC6. - Nah, he didn't see the vision, nah he Minnesota Timber Wolves, I
can't remember who they drafted. I think they took Trey
Burke and trade him to Utah. Tim Dam had texted me and he was like I think we're gonna draft you. And then my phone died
when pick seven or eight, he was uh-oh and then my phone died. And then. - How the hell your phone die draft day? Just was doing too much and- - I on Twitter scrolling. - So did you know Dam
already before the draft? - Yeah, we had talked my whole senior year after I broke my foot. We talked one of our
mutual friends connected us and I was just asking
him about the league. - That's random hell. - We was friends before I got there. I was asking him about
the league, workouts, what I should be doing. He broke his foot and we kind
of went through that process. And then I met him during
draft lottery in person. - That's great. - So I knew him before I got drafted. - I never knew that.
- So you already had trust. - So we had been texting for seven months and then I got and then draft lottery and then he was like,
he was telling me that yo, you're gonna be a lottery pick. I'm like what, I just broke my foot. He's like yo, I'm looking
at the board every day. Like I go in there and
they got you going lottery. And I was like for real? - True story, you having that board. Well, you know now. - Yeah, now I know. I
didn't know what it meant. I was like what? See the board, what board? - Yeah that's- - But yeah, we knew each other- - I didn't know that y'all knew each- - We knew each other
before I got to the league and it was during his rookie year, I was asking about
workouts and I was watching his license at looking all of that and- - [Quentin] That's crazy. - He text me and was uh-oh
and then I got drafted by Portland. - Yeah, tell me this it's you
and Dam have been together what, nine years?
- [CJ] Nine and a half years. - And so, I mean, obviously over the years been all these rumors and this and that had y'all talked about if
a trade possibly happened and what, you know how y'all
'cause I know you said, I mean, I know from D. Wright that y'all is like really tight like that, you know, so, I knew y'all really rocked each other. Did y'all get hands to chop it up and talk about what could happen before the trade ultimately happened? - Yeah, we had been talking, I joked about it for years for three or, I've been in trail members. - Long time. - Yeah, forever. - So trust me since
I've been in the league, but the last few years we really kind of talked about it, talked around it like bro, I might really be outta here you know what saying? Like those types of conversations, like just so you know,
you what I'm saying? He was always kept it a hundred with me. We actually FaceTimed three days, four days before I got
traded and I just called him. I was like yo bro, I'm just
feeling you in on some stuff. Wat you hearing type conversations. And I'm just telling him look, I'm having great conversations with Joe, Joe our GM, shout out to Joe and we're gonna work something out to where it's best for everybody. I said, I'm just letting you know I'm probably gonna be outta
here in the next two weeks just so you know, so
you can kind of prepare I've been with you a long time. You've been with me and he was like, I told him basically like
I'm not gonna be pretending I don't know nothing. You know what am saying? - Straight up. - That's the real.
- Like how a lot of- - Lie I aint gonna be pretending like. - A lot of bitter stuff be going on. - He said, I told him I
ain't gonna be pretending I don't know nothing. YC is my guy, so if y'all
coming to me asking me about stuff or telling me stuff,
I gotta go tell it to him. And they was like. - Salute, Dam Dollar,
right here, right now. - We respect that. And we talking to CJ directly, so you don't have to do that. And he was like, I said I'm
talking to them directly. - Straight up. - Live and direct. So I appreciate the
candidness, not just from him, but the organization was great to me and they don't always handle it like that. So I'm thankful that they
handled it like that. I felt it was a great split. It was like bad divorces out there. And we all had bad breakups,
I presume in our life. And that wasn't one of them. That was one where I left on great terms. I gave them all I had. I gave you all I had,
you gave me all you had and you sent me somewhere
that I wanted to go, somewhere I can be successful, somewhere I can be the
best version of myself. I can help build this community. I can help build up this team and play alongside some young dogs. So thank you. I really appreciate that
and like my wife told me, she was like CJ this is an opportunity where you are really loved. They really gonna love you. Especially when they
see how you really are they got glimpses of me in Portland, but just watching games like
I'm really gonna be out here. Like I'm out here like when I hoop, I really care about this game. I care about this community of players. And the fans are starting to see that they like oh he nice. Oh, he really nice. You know what I mean? It's like I am, I really work. - I'm excited for you man, to see, get your opportunity to do you, be you, be a leader and
come somewhere and just, and man put your love on the
city of how great you is, man. That's definitely some dope stuff. I'm excited to watch you,
especially you and Brandon Ingram. - Yeah, the one thing I though, the way that you and Dam were,
you know what I'm saying? Cause like you say with a lot
of those rumors and stuff, it's, I mean I could assume that from the outside looking in, cause y'all always stayed down, but to hear you say and reaffirmed it the way y'all communicated
with each other throughout, that really shows, you
know what I'm saying? Y'all rock with each other and that's the way it should go down. But we all know that it doesn't
always go down that way. Like when he said the
whole I'm not gonna act I don't know nothing. Like that's happened a lot of times where it's just like I don't know, but you know and it's
like that really shows that y'all some real dudes
and y'all rock with each other a different way. And that's refreshing to hear, 'cause I could talk to him any kind where I slap outta him and we still gonna be cool tomorrow, you know? - Right, but y'all built
that sweat equity together like y'all got a abnormal
amount of respect for each other and it's not like that. - You know this is my oldest boy. I've been beating his so long, you know that's my oldest boy I love him, you know? - And it's funny that you say that because I see these teams and obviously
I know how the league works. I know how it works very well
the position I'm in today, but a lot of guys act they don't know. And it's like, if you the
best player on the team and the highest paid player, you know who's getting traded. - Thank you. - Especially if they
think y'all that cool. - Time out. - You know ho's getting
traded and you know when they're getting traded and you who they're getting traded for. - Yeah. - Well, I said this.
- It's just funny it's like. - Message.
- You can't play a play, baby. My grandad used to say you can't be slicker
than the cat all night. - Yeah, it feel like jumping in the bushes, message. - Moves that started a movement. You're not the first to go from a mid-major
and go to the league. But now it's a lot more guys and they looking for a lot more guys, instead of just looking at the big college and you played for a back
court that was all mid-major. You know what I'm saying? Just talk about that in general. I feel that's a move to start movements. Talk about that in general, the mid-major guys that's coming out and just making their move to the league. - Yeah, I've grown very
fond of mid-major players because of the circumstances
that they gotta go through. You know it's different. The scrutiny that you face is not the same as the high level kids, you
don't get so many opportunities to play on the big stage. And you judged solely on that performance. If you play poorly, they're
like he's not ready. He's no, he's a mid-major. He not, he can't- - And you gotta win the
tournament to get out. - And you gotta win a
tournament to get out. Like not the regular season joint. You gotta win the one where I'm playing at Bucknell
and they cheat and cheat. You know what I'm saying? So it's like I have a greater appreciation for that to struggle. And then just to see the
success that came before me like Steph Curry, George Hill, Jimmer, all those guys and BYU
is not really mid-major. They had 17,000 at the games. But all those players that came before me, if they would've failed,
if they wouldn't have, Eric Maynor, if they didn't play well, they don't take that chance on me. E. Maynor was super nice. - He was nice. - We hit that game when he was in Duke. I said, I gotta beat Duke too.
- He was nice. - But you know what I'm saying? It's like and I tell, like I told y'all the same thing. I was like bro, keep the door open. But, and that just means hoop. Don't come here, messing around or come here taking this game for granted. Remember what you came from to get here and lead the door open for the next guy. And I think we all,
somebody stuck their arm in, put their foot in some walking
in, you know what I'm saying? - It's a little bit more
wide open than it used to be. - And now they taking
more chances on guys. - Nah, that's what am talking about. - Because of our success. - Y'all put the spotlight
to where now it's nah, nah, we can't let these stones be unturned. We gotta look everywhere. These boys is out here. And y'all really made it like that. - But it started with the
guys that came before us. I'm thankful because if
they wouldn't have handled their business, I might not
be here talking to y'all. - What was it like for you that the year that y'all lose, they lose Little Marcus and it's the time for somebody step up. You know what I'm saying? And you stepped up and like nah, ain't just gonna be Dam here. It's gonna be Dam and me, you stepped up. What was that year like for you? - Nah, it was similar to my
high school experience, right? Didn't play a lot. Is he good enough? Can he score this level? Can he create? And I just needed a real chance. I got drafted to a, it was lottery pick drafted to a team who was second in the West. We had Mo Williams, Chris
Caymen, Deep Wright, Nico West, LA, Robin Lopez. Like we had a squad, Steve Blake. - That playoff team. - We had 10 legit NBA
players like 10 years, like 10 guys playing 10 years. So I got, I was a guy lottery pick just on a team with a bunch of vets. Then I got hurt. There was no minutes for me. Coach didn't wanna play a
young guy over those guys that understood it. And he used to tell me,
he was my guy at MCW, Michael Carter Williams was
11th picked to the Sixers. I was a pick away from going to the Sixers and he was getting triple
doubles and he's killing. - Rookie of the year. - Rookie of the year. - And my coach is like if you were in a different situation, you'd be running for rookie
of the year, but you're not. And I'm like thanks. But I get what you're saying. And I appreciate the conversation because in your head as a young player you're like is like what's wrong? Like why I'm I not playing? - Yeah, you feel like
you're missing the year, you missing time? - I missed two years.
- You know what I'm saying? - How was it mentally
for you when they said you gotta go play in a D league? - D league, so that was tough,
but I was coming off injury so I wasn't really tripping. 'Cause it was just like I gotta rehab. first I was nah, I don't wanna do it. Nah, they can to try, leave me down here. I was like they gonna leave me in Idaho. - I don't think I could have did it. I don't think they, if they would've said, I don't think they could. - I did three games. I did a back to, I think I did a back to back, a day off game and then I flew back, but I was coming off a broken foot and it was my second foot fracture and I was on a minute restriction. So it was cool. Once I got
there, I was this is cool. I don't wanna do this
all year, but it's cool. And it just gives you a
different type of appreciation. I got, I was back to
seeing how good I got it. You get a glimpse of that and you come back to the
league and full the circle, the story coming for a circle
was I played 14 minutes a game my second year of league. And then they trade Nico
on draft night, LA walks. They're not gonna resign West, West gets like 74 million in Dallas. - [Quentin] In Dallas. - And they CJ, we're going to start you at shooting guard and you
can play back point guard. And I was like start me at shooting guard. I was like it's like 34 minutes. Yeah, you gonna play about
32 to 35 minutes a night. I said what? - Out of 48? - Call home I said, I'm about to kill. I'm about to kill. They about to gimme the, they about to, you gonna let me run the second unit. I'm about to be playing against, playing against backups
with the ball in my hands? I'm about to kill. And they
like just go do what you do. And that summer I was like this is just how it was in high school. It went from not playing a lot to getting a chance to play. I was like don't blow
it by not being ready. If you blow it any other way that's cool. But it ain't gonna be
'cause you wasn't ready. So I made sure I was ready conditioning. I'm running on track. I hate running, I'm running on turf. I'm running up the hills. I go back home like back to old school, McKinley monument, all of that. Back to my homegrown training, like how I got to where I'm at. I went back to all of that and I was like this is how I know I'm gonna be successful 'cause this is what I've
done forever, mornings 500, night 500, sneaking into
the gym, all of that. Then you get the NBA, they got the finger scanner
2:00 AM can't sleep. Somebody always available. My guy Johnny always available. - That's that's Paul LA right there. You walking, you just put
that fingerprint right there. You know what am saying? They been doing that since 0 something. - I ain't know about that when I was with LA, after I left LA and went on the greener pastures 'cause Donald Sterling wasn't
putting no funds into us. We probably the LA Southwest College bro, junior college in the hood, shout out to all y'all
out there, LA Southwest. And you know what I'm saying?
We was with our people though. But after I got up out there
Phoenix was nice and decent. And you already know
New York City is nice, you already know they doing big out there everywhere else I went, I get all that access whenever
I want to go to the gym. But LA we couldn't even take showers after practice, bro. - Did you and Dam used to talk about like y'all being the best backcourt? 'Cause I remember when like they used to put other people backcourts above y'all and then by the end of the season or as time went by, y'all
was arguably the best or if not the second
best backcourt of 'em all of all the people they named. Did, y'all used to talk about that? 'Cause y'all always thing
I loved about y'all so much it seems no matter who it was, y'all accepted that challenge. Like oh no, we coming in here we going there, whether
y'all ready to play or not like we in this biz. - No, we wanted all to smoke for sure. I think when we were younger we cared about that stuff
but as we got older, it was just like I don't
care what they think. I'm about to go out here and try to serve, play to the best of my
ability and the fact that we went from not
really being mentioned, to being mentioned,
that show to the growth and the strides that we had
made to where one, two, three, didn't matter. We was just trying to win, man. I think that was it. It was like if we win, who cares? - Mentally in 2015, 16, now you that year, that's your breakout year. You start averaging 31 minutes a game, you know what I'm saying? You average a Doug after that season, well, during then after halfway through and after, how was you feeling mentally? Like now this is what I've
been trying to get to. And now I'm finally getting, like what did that feel
to be in the league, you just averaging, you play
80 games, almost all the games. And then you averaging
a Doug in the league and you now, what did that feel like? - It felt like the work
had come full circle. I think that was the biggest thing for me. It was like this is
what you always wanted. I always prayed for a chance. I never asked for outrageous thing. I usually just pray just gimme a chance. All I need is a chance
and I won't blow it. I'll take full advantage. And I finally got a chance
and that's all I needed. And it was just reassuring
to be able to see the work that you put in as a
kid 10 years old, 15, 20, 22. And it was just like wow. If you really do work and
do things the right way, have the right approach,
you're a good human being, great things happen for you. And you just gotta be patient. 'Cause I think as a kid,
and even as a young adult, you want everything right away. You're thinking that you
ripping what you sew right away. It's like no, you gotta plant a seed and let the seed take it's time. - You gotta stack them
gears, stack them days on up. - Stack those days and understand that you gotta keep watering your plant for your plant to grow and
it's not gonna grow right away. You might come back from a road trip and your plant just like your kid, right? I've been away from my son and he looks different than he
did when I left six days ago. You know what I'm saying? It's just like you gotta be patient and understand that when it's
meant to be, it's gonna be. And I'm just thankful
that I had the patience. I'm thankful that the organization had the fortitude to
withstand some injuries, to withstand me not playing. And then knowing that, they
seen me behind the scenes, they seen how I worked,
they seen my approach. They knew I was gonna be good. So I don't think they
were surprised 'cause they seen me and my
teammates, they seen me. I think the rest of the
league just didn't know. - [Darius] Didn't know. - To win the most improved that year, what is that like? 'Cause that's an award. I don't care what award it is, if you win an award in the
league and that went to be, most improved is a sign of your work. That's a nod directly to
you working and improving. What did that feel like
to earn that award? - No, it was cool. 'Cause it's funny at first it was talking about most improved and I was like, in my head I was like, I've been good, you know what am saying? No, you get what I'm saying like? - I do, I do.
- I feel you. - Like no just saying. - Think about a younger
version of yourself and you're like, I've been nice.
What is they talking about? I just played 32 minutes,
run the ball now. But when you look back
at it as it progressed, it was cool to just kind you said before, how far I've come as a player, as a person from a maturity standpoint to a understanding of
what it takes to be a pro, my understanding of a
business of basketball, everything has grown so much and it just be recognized in that manner is a testament to like
you said, a hard work, opportunity matters but a lot
of people get opportunities and they blow 'em and they not ready, so. - Who when you grew up like, I know you worked out with your brother and that was the person
that you was watching, but who was some of the NBA guys or maybe even the college
guys that you took a move here or something there from, you was like, man, that was my guy right there and that's who I want to play like. - I watched a lot of the
Kobe, may he rest in peace, I watched a lot of Kobe like interviews, everything just because of
I seen the air balls, right? I wanted to watch guys that failed before they succeeded. I wanted to see how they handled it. And what type of work they
put in to be successful. So a lot of Kobe, a lot of AI to crossover watched the documentary everything, because he was small, he had the chip, but he was a dog. I watched a lot of Rich Hamilton 'cause I played off the ball. So being able to just live
in the mid range, right? I gotta be able to come off pin downs. How do I re-get my feet set? I watch a lot of Sweet
Ray like catching shoot, beautiful jump shot, played in the Js. Like he got game, you
know what I'm saying? Jesus, so I watched a lot of them play, but then it was just more so just, I'm just doing film
breakdowns on everything. Like who's good at dribbling, right? Steal something, who the shooting,
not just off the dribble, who's a catching shoot
like foundational player? I will watch the balance,
watch all of that. And then it was like, who do I play like? It was like I wanna take some of that, I wanna take some of that,
I wanna have a light, a little mid post, I wanna be
able to get to the left elbow, the right elbow. And I would just steal. I still steal to this day. I watch Kyrie. I'm watching Clay's footwork. I'm watching Steph. I'm watching everybody that's nice. They all nice in different areas and I am stealing their moves, I'm adding, I'm watching DeMars too and mid post game. I'm watching the pump fakes. - Ridiculous.
- All, like I wanna see it and then in the summertime, I will pull up like I will pull up to get some work in. I want, I'm stealing everything. I need to get better and I
think that's a sign that, that's a sign of growth, maturity but also that I still love this game because I'm on League
Pass, I got the iPad, I got my phone, TV. I'm watching three games
and I'm FaceTiming. - Speaking of that, 'cause I
was just while finna to ask you these days, these guys play basketball but they don't watch it. We grew up watching, I
mean I used to go to the, my high school girls games. I used to just anything that
was pertaining to basketball, I watch everything. - That's who we are. - But these guys don't watch basketball. How important is it is to watch basketball because I watch League Pass so much when I walked in the gym, I already knew the scouting
report and what they did because I already, I be watching
three, four games a night. How it important is it
to just watch the game and just to see the game? - It's super important and I talk to CP about this all the time. And I watch the sons a lot too. I love watching him in book, it's like- - Yeah, one of my favorite right now too. - It's like the purest form of
basketball watching the play. But I never understood why
guys didn't watch basketball. It gives you the answers to the test. - Gives you the test. - Like we played Memphis, right? Memphis is on a back to back, they're about to go play Portland. I bet you four outta those 15 players was probably watching the game, the other eight or nine didn't watch. It's like they, you about to see the plays that they're gonna run. How they gonna guard pick and
roll, who sits in the drop? The pace of the game, the
flow of the game, tendencies. I just never understood it. But you said, I'm a hoop junkie. I really love basketball. CP really loves basketball. Like everybody don't
really love it, they don't. - It's weird to me though. 'Cause for me to be, I've always been this and he like this, most of my tightest partners
we are the same way. So when I, I remember when I was working in director of player
development for Detroit Pistons and I remember I'm not gonna say who, I remember going to
somebody's room and I'm like everybody, I play 2K, I
play video games and shit but my TV always on the games,
you know what I'm saying? Like if it's some ESPN,
TNT games or whatever, I remember coming to the
room and I'm like man, you ain't got the game on, man, you got your, you got the game hooked up to the game TV. I'm like nah bro, what you doing, man? And that was like when
I was really realizing y'all boys don't even
watch basketball, man. - They don't. - That's why you don't know what you, who you guarding about to do against you. If you just watch the game like bro, we wasn't like bro, Catino Mobley, Paul
Pierce, all these people, I gotta go, I know every
move you doing now. I just gotta learn how to stop it. But I know what you about to do. I've seen it too many times. Y'all don't even watch hoop bro. Like that that's foreign to me. I don't understand how like, all right, if its summertime and no hoop, I get sick when it come to the time where it's baseball and soccer on my TV screen and tennis or something
when it ain't no hoop on, I be oh man, what? You know what I'm saying? Like what is we gonna do? Yeah, but I don't understand people that hoop and don't watch basketball. That's foreign. - It's wild and it's a younger
generation like you said. And I think it just stems
from how we was wired. We wired differently we really watched, I wanna to see how the
ref is reffing games. - Damn. - I wanna know. - I wanna know what's going on. - What they calling,
what they not calling. - Who can't talk to Joey,
I ain't talking to Joey. - Who calls the legal screens? Who does it? Who I can push off and they're
not gonna call my push off. - Y'all don't even learn, these young boys don't even learn these
referees officials names. Like that was one of the
first things our OGs taught us when we got in the league. - When we got in the league, we used to- - Go in there and look at, go the training room and
go look at the pictures and the names so you can go speak to 'em when you go out there. - Yeah, that man, just
the little stuff, man. But everybody not built like that. - Tell me is this true, you know, I heard you missed the bus
coming on to New Orleans when you first got traded. Tell us all about that story. - How sway. - Listen, listen how they forget you? - Listen, so trade gets confirmed, right? I'm packing, I had probably
already started packing if I'm being honest. So I'm getting everything ready like the week of, I'm about to get traded. Tell my wife like yo, we're
gonna have to leave soon. I'm gonna have to leave. You know what I'm saying? This is how the transition gonna go. I ain't never did this
before, but I've seen it. Ima have to go to the
city, whatever, whatever. - Then you come. Then you come through, whatever, whatever you bring a little man, we gotta get a dog sitter for our dog 'cause flying, Fiona
ain't coming right away and whatever, whatever I'm like then, they call me, they're hey,
when do you wanna come? I'm like ASAP like Rocky. But I got a doctor's
appointment for my little man since one month and I don't wanna miss it since I'm gonna be gone. So can we leave at four o'clock? They're like yeah, we can
leave at four o'clock. Bet, call my agent. I'm leaving at four o'clock tomorrow. Whatever, whatever the
little man got an appointment at 12, it's an hour there an hour back. We're gonna be there for about 45 minutes. Cool, I packed the night before, everything's ready, bags by
the door, car service ready, whatever I'm taking my time. Eat lunch with my wife,
my kid saying my goodbyes, take a picture with little man. Get in the car and I'm doing
the Player's Tribune article for like by Portland, on
my way to the airport. I get to the airport, I get to the gate. And the driver's reading the tail number. And I don't know the tail
number, I don't know nothing. I know that Mrs. Benson sent a plane and that I'm leaving at four o'clock. Lady like that plane left. I'm on the phone. I'm on the phone, she's
like the plane left. I'm like what? Hold on, I'm gonna call you back. I hang up the phone and the driver's like, she's saying the plane left. I said, read the tail again. So he reads it out to her and she says, I'm looking at the plane,
the plane is over Boise, the plane already left. - It's over Boise, it's just gone. - It's gone, gone. I said, pull the car
around and go to Aviations. So he pulled a car around,
going into Aviation. And I asked the lady, 'cause
I fly private on occasion, it's way too much money
but I've done it before. So I know the lady there. She like yeah, that plane
left lik 35, 40 minutes ago. I said, who was on the plane? Who was on the plane? - I'm the main train. - She like, I said was Tony on the plane? She was I think so, I said
was the tall black guy? She was like yeah. I text Tony, I said, did you leave, bruh? Did you leave me, bruh? Tony got a Blackberry. If you know about the Blackberries, they don't work on planes. So the no response I called my agent. I said, I hit Ashley from my agency. And I said, yo, I think the plane left. I hit my wife, she's like
what, does that mean, my wife said does that
mean you coming back home? I said, nah. I said, nah, they gonna need to send another plane, whatever. So they called whatever. They're so sorry, there
was a miscommunication, whatever, whatever, long short, I don't think that pilot has a job anymore but I see Tony and I'm like
bro, what's up bro like? He said, honestly C,
I was up, he got kids. I was with the kids all night and I just got on the
plane and I went to sleep. He said, and I ain't see you and I thought that you left me. I said, so when you seen
that I wasn't on a plane and you thought that I left you, you didn't think to call me? He said, bro, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. They woke him
up while he was sleeping, said we gotta turn around and go get CJ. They turned around. - They hit the U in the sky. - I went by the pool and waited. I wasn't mad like guys playing I'm just thankful that I'm in a position to where like these are
first world problems. They gotta turn it jet
around and come get me. That's the problem. - Was that a legal U-turn in the sky, man? 'Cause they done did a U-turn
in the sky and came back. - The lady was like yeah, the plane look it's turning. Oh it made a circle, it's turning around. - So you mentioned that you know, that the team Portland worked with you and got you to a place where you, so to speak one, wanted to go. So what was it about New
Orleans now that you here you know, you had your
couple games under your belt. What was attractive about this, your situation for you? - I think it was a combination of things. The culture, the city,
the people, the love, you could feel it, you
know what I'm saying? And I felt it from afar like playing here, we got swept by the Pelicans when drew and AD was here,
but just the atmosphere. And if you do what you're
supposed to do in a town, in a city like this,
you'll be loved forever. - Forever. - And if you embrace them the same way, that they embrace you,
you can become legendary. It's not even necessarily about that, I wanted to be where I was
wanted, where I was needed. There's a lot of culture here. A lot of diversity, the food is fire and they got a lot of young talent. They got a lot of really
good basketball players, coached by Willie Green, former player, they got Trey as the GM,
they got Griff, Zion, BI, JV. You know what I'm saying? D. Graham, Herb, there's a
lot of talent on this roster. And I think I can get the
most, not only outta my career, outta my situation, outta my development, but also out of the guys, I
know what it takes to win. I've seen it, I've done it.
I've played in Portland. I've played alongside one of
the top 75 greatest players of all time. I know what it takes to be
successful consistently. And I can not only tell you about it, but I can show you because I've done it. And I think that, I'm
just what they're needed. They're just what I needed especially at this stage in my life. And I think there's no better
time for me to be ready. I'm 30 years old. I've been into playoffs
eight straight years. We gonna try to make it nine. - Hey listen, 2016, 2017,
that was a beautiful for year for you, July 27th when you signed that four year extension,
what was that like? Like that was beep, beep,
beep, baby, what's that? That's oh, that's the bricks truck pulling into the driveway. Don't worry about that. What did that feel lie? - That was July? - July 27th. - Time is flying. - 2016, that's how, see how, hey, public service announcement. This how you act when you get used to it and you add on to the little money that you had got when you first
got it, it was a big deal. He like that's what it was? - Nah, I almost cried. If I'm being honest, it's funny. I remember going through negotiations and seeing what guys were signing for and like you know, I always say comparison is the thief of joy. So I never compare myself to people, but contract is a contract, right? So you kind of looking around,
see what guys are getting. And you're like happy. I'm never envious, happy for people. I wanna see everybody get paid. Especially people that
come from circumstances like the ones in which we come from. So I was happy to see guys get paid and I knew my payday was coming and it actually was in Vegas. My now wife was my girlfriend at the time, we was in Vegas and I think
it was for Summer League and I was about to fly the
TBT to watch my brother play. He was playing in that
TBT tournament every year. They won it four times shot out my- - Exactly. But I was
about to fly to Philly. I had a plane ticket to Philly. I think this was when I was
still flying emergency exit row. And I had an emergency
exit row ticket to Philly to go watch my brother playing the TBT. My agent was like where are you? I was like I'm in Vegas. I was like I fly to Philly
tomorrow to go see my brother. He was don't get on the
plane. I was like why? He's like I think we're
gonna have your deal done by tonight and I was like, oh, we getting it done that fast? Like free agency kind of just started. I'm thinking I got some
time. He said don't leave. And he's like don't hoop
for the next few days. 'Cause I was working out in Vegas. He's like don't hoop, I
don't want you getting hurt. I was like all right, I'm in Vegas, can't leave, can't hoop. - What I'm gonna do? - Guess I'm gonna play Blackjack. So I take my little $50 and I go play $15 hands at Blackjack, I'm cheap. And he calls me and he was like yeah, I think we're gonna get the deal done. And I was like how many years? He's like it's four year one, four years, I was like four years, okay. He was like 106 million. I said 106 of what? - Ooh woo! - I was like, I almost threw up. - Was like, this is a big one. - For me? - He was like yeah, 106
million, blah, blah, blah. He's like congratulations, it'll be done, he's like we'll sign the papers tomorrow. I said, I can sign the papers right now. Tell 'em DocuSign, what they be using? Sign now. I said, look, we can just do this now. Nah, we do it in person. You gotta do it physical,
whatever, whatever. He was like when can your family make it to the press conference? I said for 106 million, they can make the press conference whenever. - On D wave. - I'm about to sit down and
wrap myself and bubble wrap. Just wait till y'all get the paper. You gonna make sure don't
nothing happen to my son. - Yeah, we went out that night. It was a good night, came back,
flew to Portland, smiling. I'm riding bikes around Portland. Riding bikes around downtown
Portland just smiling, people looking at me like
what's wrong with him? Like they have no idea. - Hey, so that leads me
straight to my next question. I always like to ask what,
like now you got a big bag, you got 106 tickets. What did CJ do to treat
himself after all this, all this hard work and everything you did? I ain't talking about what you did for mom or nobody, talking about
what you did that you- - That was me. - This was all me and I
probably won't do it no more 'cause you older and more mature now. But like I wanna hear something reckless. If there's anything reckless. - Nah, it was nothing crazy. I had bought, I bought my mom a car, I bought my dad a car, nothing crazy. My dad's car, we actually
didn't buy him one until 2018. I think second deal. 'Cause he's, he already
had a nice little Benzo. - He was already, you know what am saying? - He was already whipping. - Pops worked 30 years, he was good. Mom's had a nice car too, but I wanted to take care of her first. So we took care of her first, but I didn't buy nothing crazy, I bought a chain, not these ones. I bought a bigger cross that I still wear which was like 10 racks, which was a lot. And then I bought a suite. I like to go to Browns games, right? So I like sporting events. I like to create moments
that I can remember forever. I remember as a kid,
watching the Browns on TV, now I can go to football games. So I got a suite for like a
bunch of my friends and family. That was a lot. That was a bigger ticket, like 30 racks but that's all I did. I didn't do nothing crazy. I was back to the, I signed the contract
out in between a workout. I signed a contract,
I went and worked out. I drove my little baby Benz home. They called my Benz, the baby mama Benz 'cause it was a small one, not the big one but I was just like a. - So how long before you
traded in the baby mama Benz to like a big boy Benz? - I still got the baby mama Benz but what I did do was, I
did get a deal with Chevy the next year. So I was driving in the Chevy for free. Like I was, I always
thought bigger picture. Wasn't gonna buy a car until
it was the car I really wanted. So I had a deal with Chevy and then I gotta deal with Mercedes. So I ended up the first
like really nice car, I bought a Aston Martin, but that wasn't until 2000. - Going James Bond style. - You still got the baby mama Benz? - I still got the baby mama Benz. - Who the baby mama Benz? - So anybody that comes to visit me, they get to drive to baby mama Benz. - That's the- - The kick around car.
- That's the kick it car. - Come in town. - The homies get it's a candy red, candy apple red, tinted
windows on the back instead of it saying something,
something, something AMG, it say CJM3 AMG. - All right, so now if y'all
see the baby mama Benz, make sure y'all toot that horn now. - Toot that horn. - You said it supposed to be a what? - It's a CLA45 AMG, but it say CJM3 AMG. It's a small four door coup. - I know what it is. - The baby mama Benz. - CLA that is, baby mama, come on man. - That's what I bought
myself my rookie year. - See this let's me know that
he weigh too frugal in life. And he's one of those guys I ain't look. He said, you gotta listen to the contest. Cause he said, I got a Chevy
deal where I got free car. He said, I got Benz deal
where I got a free car. So he ain't dealt with
a lot of money for lat- - Nah, I mean I got a Maybach.
- I respect it though. - I got a Maybach. - Oh whoa, let me bring
that back, Maybach, oh okay. - Maybach Music. - Oh okay. - 84 bottles at the bubble and you had to keep your room at sixty. - What the hell? - 84 bottle of wine, you had to keep your room
temperature at under 60. - That sound I got a
problem. Here's the thing. - [Quentin] That does sound crazy. - It was more than- - You in Florida, you down there with us. We aint gonna lie
though, it's hot as hell. - I sleep with pajamas and a hoodie like with a hoodie on. But here's the thing though like, I enjoy certain things, real
estate, wine, stuff like that. So I save my money for
those types of investments, but the wine was more
so I have my own wine. McCollum Heritage 91. So I actually brought 300
bottles into the bubble, but I dispersed of them. I gave them away to staff,
players from all the teams, because it was a case study to
see if they really liked it. It wasn't like a forced situation. It was more pop, people that really wine, I wanted to make sure they tasted my wine so I could get honest feedback you. - Well, I would love to get a bottle. - I got you. - He wine, my wife the wine person. - My rose comes out next
month, so I got you. I put you in the mailing list. I have it sent, Ashley's gonna this interview. So I'll make sure that she
sends you a nice little, little care package. - Appreciate that. - I had a lot of bottle,
but Mellow like wine like JJ Redick, we drinking
with a bunch of wine heads. So we exchanging wines. I'm gifting wines to staff. So I gave away 300 bottles. - So what's the feedback
that you get from? - People really mess with my
wine. It sells out very fast. - That what's up, man, that's what's up. - So did I, I read that you just bought like a wine place, a farm where you- - 318 acres. - Yeah, 318 acres out there in Portland, you know all about the Portland wine. My C Frizz with China fry
out there in Portland. - Shannon my guy, yeah. - Doing this thing. So tell me about that. What's going on with
that, with the 318 acres? - So I've been working
on this for a while. Like you asked me what I do, I hoop, but I'm also a business man. I'm a business oriented person. - Well, I'm a business man. - I think about the future. I think about my life when I'm no longer hooping
and how I want it to look and what I wanna pass down to my now son and however many more kids we have. I wanna make sure that my parents' life was better than their parents. My life is better than my parents and I want his life to
be better than mine. So that's what I really
been thinking about the next generation. And I created my wine label. My wife actually introduced
me to wine in college. I created a wine label. I put the flower her
favorite flower on the bottle and kind of did all that stuff. And now the next step was to learn about the business of wine the last five years and to purchase a vineyard. So I purchased a land
to build out a vineyard and I'm actually starting to plant now. I plant my first seven acres next month. My farm manager, shout
out to my guy, Simon. They're doing great work. And this is a business where
I thought about the future. I don't need to be
there to run a business. Just like the whoever owns McDonald's, Waltons or whatever, they
not in all the McDonald's. You hire competent people
to run your business. And that's where I'm at now to where I'll eventually plan out 150 to 200 acres. I'll have a nursery, 18
acre nursery on the property where we'll sell flowers,
things of that nature. I'm gonna eventually build out trails for horseback riding and stuff like that. There's a lot of different
attractions I'm gonna have on the property, farm to table. I
wanna do all of that stuff, but it's a slow build where
I'll start with the wine first. And then the next two years
I'll lay out master plant and it'll be a year and a half build out for my vineyard and Airbnb. - Three- - Man, me and Miles, man, you
gonna have to pull up on you and see what that be like, man. You see what the whole situation. - Yeah, for sure. It'll be like we in 2022, I'll be producing wine
for my actual vineyard. Right now I have grape
contracts with Apple Simon, some of my partners,
I'll be producing wine from my actual vineyard, probably in 2025. it'll be like from my soil. And then my actual build
out will be done 25 or 26. I say three years, I'll
be three years from now my vineyard should be
like y'all could pull up. - Straight up, that's what's up. - That's crazy. - Yeah, three, I give it three and a half 'cause I'm gonna take my time. - In the bubble room on 60, did you have it on your
hoodie right before you walked in your room? 'Cause I knew it was- - Hood up, hood up for sure. - Why you take a shower in there though? - I sleep with beanie
on and all of that like. You sleep with a scully? - Sometimes I sleep with a scully like. - How long was y'all there though? - Midwest kid like 60 days, 55, 60 days. - Y'all was there two months and you slept in your
hoodie the whole time? That's crazy. - Yeah I was sleeping in a
hoodie PJ. I got long-sleave PJs. - The bubble was savage
for a lot of folks, folks who . - It was tough out there, man. It was a, I told her it
was like it was cool. - We was 10 minutes from y'all, I wasn't coming nowhere near you. 10 minutes, we stayed 10 minutes from Disney in Orlando, bro. We ain't want no parts of that. - It was a good time though. - We used to ride by
look at them over there. Yeah, they all over there. - It's like a AAU, it's like big AAU. - It's the biggest AAU
tournament in the history hoops. - It was cool like, imagine
you play a game, right? And you go to another hotel
and you like kicking it by the pool and it's just a
bunch of guys playing cards over here, sharing drinks over there. Like Kevin was with the Celtics. I'm like that's one of my guys, I'm like yo, I'm gonna bring some wine, bring some wine, we kick it. Like it was just a really good vibe. Like although we was away
from our families and stuff, it was tough. It was the safest we had
probably felt in years. Peak COVID we all tested
three times a day. - Yeah, damn. - Tell me about being elected
to President of the NBPA. You know, how did that,
what does that entail? And how you like.
- It's a lot of work. - El presidente. - It's a lot of work, but I think for me, I talked about it being the next step in my maturation process was to figure out how to make it better for all of us as a whole going forward. And I'm thankful for how the
game was when I got there, but I wanna leave it better
than when I found it. And by that, I mean education, I mean the business side of basketball, I mean really teaching young players you out came to high school
financial literacy is huge. How to budget, how to
hire the right people. We're in a position now that
where we make a lot of money, but we don't come from money. Most of us don't, we don't come from people who
know how to grow your money. We don't come from people who know how to hire a financial advisor. I didn't even like, coming out like, I need a financial advisor,
you know what I mean? Like you don't know these types of things and I wanna make sure we're
teaching our guys, but also instilling on the importance of education not just going to college, but really learning about certain skills that you wanna apply to your life. Like what do you wanna do when you retire? All right, let's work
on post-career work now while people still mess with you. Because when you retire, it's different. - Hey, you gonna be a
conversation until it's too late. - [Quentin] Walking example. - You can put yourself in the hole, now it's a conversation to do it when you can go on ahead and do it early, our families don't come
from financial literacy. I be telling people
you sit down at a table with your mom, dad,
brothers, sisters, whoever, and you not have one conversation
about like communication about real conversation, about
life and stuff like this. How you supposed to pay a bill? How you supposed to do this? How you supposed to do that? - I can remember having a conversation, this was when I was with the magic toward the end of my career,
me, we were on a plane, I can't remember plane, bus,
whatever going somewhere. Me, Jamir Nelson and JJ
Reddick were talking. And to hear JJ's perspective
after he got drafted and to hear me and Jamir's
was totally different. Like you know, sure you know we like yeah, man, we
gotta try and do this and that try and get pops and them a crib. - Take care of mom. - Like we try and take care of the family. And he, JJ looking at us
like nah, I didn't have, nah, my pops was telling me
to do this and do that. I didn't have to get them a house. I didn't have to get them a car. - But they do. - Like none of it just, like you say, we don't come from the
same type situation. So it's not even the same
type type of situation we going through when
we do attain that money, we don't have the same type
of knowledge being put into us or telling us like you know, hey, you do this or that,
you do this or that. It's like so we gotta find our way a lot, a lot of times more so
than a lot of other people that don't come from the
same scenarios as we do, so that definitely stands out. - How was it for you to
interview the commissioner of the NBA? Like we all, we seen, we
came in with David Stern, we see David, we see Adam, we shake hands, but we really don't have
the time to interview them. We never, nobody, none of
the players really interview the commissioner and
especially interviewing while you playing, you
know what am saying? In the league. So how was that for you? - I have a very good relationship
with Adam and it stem, I've known him since draft night, but obviously before he
became the commissioner I knew him before he was Adam Silver. And I think we have an
appreciation for each other in the past we've taken
to get to where we are. Obviously I started off as a
rookie, you know what I mean? And I've kind of evolved into now a well known NBA player,
president of the PA and all that stuff. And I think I obviously
what he's been able to do, having to maneuver some tough situations with COVID and a lot of
stuff that we've had going on these last few years, he's
done at admirable job. And I think for me, I
don't generally get nervous about a lot of things but just trying to make the interview interesting while covering topics that are important, things that are happening in our league, things that are happening in our society, figuring out how to balance
all of those things. I think it's been cool. And now it's just like
having a conversation with anybody at this point to where you're just really comfortable, but I have a good relationship with him and the rest of the NBA. And I think for us, the
biggest thing as a player is to really understand
what we wanna accomplish, what do we want to get out
of these, on the court, off the court and how do we
maximize that for our players? And I'm just thankful
to be one of the voices of the guys in the league. And like I said before, I'm here to help and make
things as easy as possible. And CP has done a great job
of helping me transition. And he did a great job with our league, especially getting benefits
for retired players. And a lot of things he was
able to do during his tenure. Michelle was fantastic. And someone that I still
talk to to this day, Michelle Robertson, she
did a tremendous job. And now we're transitioning with of Tamika who's huge in finance. Who's huge in the business background and comes from Deloitte,
where she not playing no games and she understands what we
wanna accomplish as a whole and how sharp we wanna be
going forward as a union, as a league. And I tell the guys all the
time like we are CEOs, right? And we are responsible for
generating billions of dollars. We need to act like it. We need to be on time to meetings. We need to be showing
up to stuff that matters because the owners
aren't missing meetings. - [Darius] No. - They not. And they're always on the same accord. And I think we gotta get
to that point and we will. - Well we all on the same face, man, well, I commend you man. Like man, that's a big
responsibility, man. Congratulations and man, thank you for even accepting
that responsibility 'cause it's a bunch of
players and a lot of, a lot of 'em ain't this,
like I accept that, but that's big for us 'cause we know it's taking another step
in the right direction. - Well listen man, this been real. I'm enlightened. I come away from this, I got
a bigger appreciation for you. - [Darius] Definitely, bro. - A bigger respect for you
and how you go about things the way you came up and everything, man, we appreciate you coming, pulling up on us out here to bayou, man. We got very special to everybody. - [Darius] Special delivery. - Look at that y'all on the Zoom, man. You know them boys on the
back, you know what I'm saying? That's very special and very, it's a collectible edition. You got the NBA, and you
got them boys on there. Them knuckle heads, man. - So I appreciate you. - [Quentin] We appreciate you pulling up. - Thank you brother. I appreciate y'all having me man and I'm looking forward to this.
