00:00Who would you guys come to the NBA to build your dream of Big 3 team?
00:04I would go s**t, I would go s**t, and I would go s**t.
00:15The season's starting up soon, June 14th.
00:18And the big twist, of course, coming to the Big 3 this season,
00:21is the location-based model with the trilogy calling the DMV home base.
00:26How does that model sort of help build a following and sort of fan engagement for the league?
00:30I think it's beautiful. First off, thanks for having me.
00:34I just feel like, you know, anytime you can start building this model more similar to the NBA
00:38and be more hands-on with the communities and the cities that we're playing in
00:44and make them feel like they're a part of it, I think that's always the right recipe.
00:49Designating teams to certain cities, a lot of these cities that's been supporting the Big 3 since it started,
00:54I think it gives them a sense of pride and it makes them feel like they're a part of Big 3,
01:01having a Big 3 team actually in their city.
01:03So I think it's a great step to where the league is going, and it's a positive step as well.
01:09Certainly, and it's really cool to see a DMV team representing Unbeefed and D.C. myself.
01:14Could you talk a little bit about your relationship with the area, with the city?
01:18And I know at least one of your players has DMV ties.
01:21The DMV has always been special to me. People don't know, when Mike Beasley was a teenager,
01:26I was out there, you know, coaching him and doing a lot of stuff when Mike Beasley was a kid.
01:31So the DMV is a nice area of mine. I used to go out there. I worked a lot of Tank Davis fights.
01:36And one of my close friends, we actually have the same name and the same birthday, is actually from DMV as well.
01:42But the city is a basketball city. It's a grind type of city. It's a city that works hard, that plays the game hard.
01:49And my team and me, we represent that. So I think Lamp planting us in the DMV was perfect, and we're going to represent them well.
01:56And I understand the draft was just a couple weeks ago.
01:59How do you feel about the additions that the trilogy made, and how they sort of mesh with, you know, kind of the existing players and roster?
02:06Yeah, with my team, I'm always basically set, you know. I'm the only coach to win back-to-back championships, and the only organization with three.
02:15My team is basically set. We have an identity, right? And Isaiah Briscoe and Earl Clark basically show their identity.
02:24But being able to get a guy like Isaiah Austin was big for us. He's experienced in the league.
02:29He's the big guy that can really stress the defense and shoot the ball and put it on the floor.
02:33And the way Isaiah Briscoe plays, we need a lot of spacing with guys like Dwighton coming in the league, so they won't help as much on his ISOs.
02:41But I think adding Summers and Frank Nitti, two guys that are very experienced in this league, have played, know what it takes, know what the physicality is like,
02:50and guys that are still hungry and that play all year round and that's going to show up in shape, that's the type of guys I want on my team.
02:57And I was lucky to get those two guys in the draft.
02:59Yeah, and it sounds like you said you have a defined kind of archetype for the player that you want on your team.
03:05You've had a lot of success in the league.
03:07Can you just talk about a little bit about the physicality that kind of like you hit on there is needed to succeed,
03:13especially in sort of the close quarters, you know, format such as this?
03:17Yeah, so the way the NBA plays now in the playoffs, in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Finals,
03:22that's how we play all year round, right?
03:24A real physical ball, you can bump people, you can do all kinds of stuff.
03:28And the big three was built off that.
03:30And I was one of the guys that helped set that tone the way the game is supposed to be played.
03:34And it's only one way to play the game to me.
03:36That's hard.
03:37And I want guys that's going to play hard.
03:39I want guys that want to win.
03:41I want guys that respect the game.
03:42And all the guys that I have on my team need to play overseas, play here in the States,
03:48and play all year round and stay in shape.
03:49So if guys want to win and want to continue to get better and compete every weekend,
03:54then they're on the right team.
03:55And you said the level of physicality, intensity, you know, what it is right now in the NBA playoffs,
04:01it's like that in the big three all around.
04:02Beyond kind of the obvious, how does the game differ, you know,
04:07you having experience as a player and now as a coach from the NBA to the big three?
04:11I just think, you know, the biggest thing for me is just the half court.
04:16You know, the rules are still the same.
04:18The talent is still high.
04:20It's a high level of talent out there.
04:23I just think with the NBA right now, you know, with this load management and all this stuff,
04:27like the game is getting a little softer.
04:29The pride and the respect for the game is leaving.
04:31We died.
04:32We did everything we could to play 82 games when I was in the NBA.
04:36Now these guys don't mind taking a month off.
04:38So I just think the respect of the game is gone.
04:40But I think with the big three, you still get a taste of that.
04:44You still get a respect of the game.
04:45Guys want to play hard.
04:46Guys trying their best to embarrass the other guys.
04:48Not personal, but this is the way the game is supposed to be played.
04:51And I think the big three is still holding on to that.
04:53Kind of in that same day, and I saw an interview,
04:55Clyde Drexler said the kind of one game a week format,
04:59he called it like a basketball festival.
05:01How would you sort of characterize the environment at the game?
05:05Well, I think it's a beautiful environment.
05:06And, you know, you get four or five games.
05:08But I think the thing for me was that that allowed me to play four more years after the NBA.
05:15You know, just one game a week.
05:16You know, we used to play four or five games a week.
05:18One game a week is nothing.
05:20So not with saying that, a lot comes with it.
05:23You have one week, one game a week.
05:25There's no reason for you not to bring maximum effort.
05:28There's no reason for you not to be prepared when it's just one game a week,
05:30when you're coming from the league where you play four or five games a week.
05:33So it's a cushion for some guys, but it also is no reason to not be ready to play.
05:38And you've been with the league since the beginning.
05:41How have you sort of seen it grow?
05:43And where do you see it going heading into year eight and beyond,
05:46as I think it seems like momentum just kind of keeps growing?
05:49Sky's the limit for this league, man.
05:51Continue to get more owners, continue to grow.
05:54As you see, more and more retired professionals are coming into the White Howard, Montrez.
05:59You've got all these guys coming into the league now, which is going to be great.
06:02Joe Johnson coming back, which is real big for the league.
06:05I just think the respect is going higher with these owners
06:08and designating teams to different states and cities.
06:11I think that is big for the league too.
06:13So as time passes, Cuban Jeff is doing a great job of keeping this league
06:18with the right sponsors and having the games televised every year.
06:22I think it's going in the right direction as long as we continue to get support from our peers
06:28and other leagues and they don't have to go worry about other leagues.
06:33Backstabbing Q just because he's a black man with a professional league.
06:36And you mentioned respect there.
06:38I'm kind of curious how you and Ice Cube and kind of the infrastructure of the league
06:43kind of go about continuing to gain and earn that respect in the larger sports world.
06:49When you have an owner like Q, I think the respect comes with that, right?
06:54He's so well-respected.
06:55You know, he's a stand-up guy.
06:57But then again, it all comes from the product, the product that you're putting out there.
07:01And that's why I preach to my team like, yes, one game a week,
07:05but this league will only go with how you guys play, you know?
07:09And regardless of what goes on in the stands, how much I talk and all the other coaches talk,
07:14those guys got to go out there and put on the show.
07:16And it's my duty and every other coach's duty to make sure those five guys on that team
07:21understand that the league is on their back.
07:23And every time they go out there and play, they got to put on the show.
07:26If you could take any three players from NBA history, they could be teammates,
07:29they could be before or after you played,
07:31who would you last from the NBA to build your dream of your three team?
07:36I would go Joker.
07:37I'll go Kevin Durant.
07:38And I'll go Ron Artest.
07:41I got one of the best scores ever.
07:42I got one of the best defendants ever.
07:43And I got one of the best, might be the best, all-around player ever.
