How I Gained 1M Subs in a Day: My YouTube Journey | The Professor DSH #864

There's a lot of good players, don't get me wrong.

They're all like pretty good that are on, but it's a myth that and like some people, it depends who you ask, right?

Some people think and one players were like better than NBA players, others will say like they weren't even good at all.

But the truth is, like it was, it was actually pro and like we would mix it up with the NBA players and run all the time and like you might not even be able to tell who's in the league and who's not.

And one is a super high level.

Ladies and gentlemen, street ball legend here today, the professor.

Thanks for coming on, my man.

Hey, humble, man.

Appreciate it.

Thanks for having me.

I haven't seen you in six years, dude.

Yeah.

That is crazy.

Wow, is this?

I didn't even think it was six years, but like...

Yeah, I was 21 when I met you.

That's right.

I remember you were young.

Yeah, I was just starting out.

To see your growth, too, it's been awesome, man.

Thanks so much.

Growing up, now you're appearing in movies.

Appreciate that, man.

Are you getting into acting pretty heavily this year?

You know, actually, I moved to LA.

I had a lead role in a movie 2006.

And

I was always doing acting stuff throughout my career, but it was more just like opportunities that came directly to me.

So now I'm trying to like put one foot into acting and kind of like pursue it a little bit more.

Because I mean, if I look back now, I've probably been in like three or four movies,

maybe 50 to 100 commercials, you know, tons of YouTube stuff, been in front of the camera.

So it was something I always enjoyed doing, but I never really like pursued it full-time just because basketball made most sense, you know, all his advice.

Yeah.

So I'm actually trying to release that movie I did in 2006, though, right now.

It's called All Don't Lie.

Yeah, trying to put it out on Amazon.

Wow.

So you filmed it 20 years ago?

20 years ago.

It had like an A-list cast and everything.

Yeah, but it never released.

How calm?

They held out for like, they were trying to hold out for like a big box office release, which at that time was like over 3,500 theaters.

So it got tons of DVD offers, tons of small theater releases.

It was actually supposed to be the first ever movie on Amazon Prime.

Wow.

In 2009.

But remember, we were talking about how like, we didn't think anybody would watch a movie on the phone.

You know what I'm saying?

Back then.

Little did we know.

So, um,

they held out, and I think, like, producers got busy.

The guy, the guy who produced is pretty successful, he's got a bunch of films, so like it just got deprioritized over the years.

And then here we are trying to bring it out.

I love it, man.

And you were in that movie with Sandler recently, right?

Yeah, hustle.

That was dope.

Adam, yeah.

What was that like, man?

It was dope.

Uh,

Adam's just a cool guy.

Adam's reputation in hollywood and just amongst all his peers that he's super down to earth uh loves basketball

like when i first met him like he wouldn't even let me give him props like he was just telling me how much he loves my youtube channel wow yeah which i was just like not expecting at all you know that's unreal man to get that from him yeah we had a mutual friend who wanted to put us on the phone uh who i hadn't talked to in years but i guess he worked for adam and then you know we ended up talking for like an hour or two and he's just talking about basketball and then he told me he's writing a film you know in a couple years He wanted to write me a role.

And I was like, oh, let's get it.

You know what I mean?

And sure enough, hustle.

That's legendary.

Could he hoop?

Yeah, Adam could hoop.

I mean, there's levels to hooping, right?

So I think, like, it depends who you ask, right?

It's kind of subjective.

Like, if somebody plays pro or like really balls, like their brow of like what's good is like way higher.

But I would say like Adam's solid, you know what I mean?

Like presumably, like you go to Ellie Finnis and pick him up.

He'd be solid.

Okay.

Yeah, I've seen a couple of jump shots from him.

Yeah.

He's got that jumper.

Well, he's like a passer.

He's a good passer, too.

Okay.

Yeah.

And you played at a high level growing up, right?

College, high school.

Yeah.

Well, actually,

I always had a high skill level, but didn't necessarily play at a high level until I got on the An1 mixtape tour.

So I always looked like I was 10 years younger than I am growing up.

So by the time, like I always had skills, like in fourth grade, I mastered the Iverson crossover.

Fourth grade?

Fourth grade.

Damn.

I'm like this tall, you know what I'm saying?

But I could cross over like grown adults with that move.

And I had a trainer.

he taught me like in and out across tim hardaway crossover iverson crossover all these handles so i always had a high skill level but then by the time i got to like my junior year and high school i got cut from the varsity team how come i was on the j uh just because i was like so small i think like

the way my coaches played it was about being physical and being like very defensive and like they favored like big man offense and i was all like like guard

you know with like handles and stuff didn't favor the way we played it was more like hoosier style of basketball or like systemized, right?

Right.

You know, motion offense.

It's kind of like just a different style.

So they didn't really like trust my game.

And then I transferred schools.

I had a good senior year.

I got like second team all stayed at this small Christian school I transferred to.

Then in Juko, I got cut from three community colleges, finally landed a spot as a redshirt.

A couple people got injured.

Then I ended up suiting up and I only played three minutes a game.

But I was actually good.

And then, but I just didn't get that opportunity.

And then after that freshman year, I improved like 300%.

Like I hit the weights.

I was doing three a days.

Like I already spent my life practicing, but I practicing more now.

Damn.

And I improved, I literally improved like, I was three times as good by the end of that like spring, summer after my freshman year in 2003.

And then I went to try out for An1.

And it was just like this, my idols just became my teammates in one.

It was like a movie.

You know what I mean?

Wow.

Three a days.

I've never heard of that, man.

I've heard of two a days, but three a days.

Three a days.

Yeah.

I was like, I was like, wake up, 5 a.m., make 500 jumpers, go to class,

open gym, 2.30, hit the weights, and then come back and work on my game again in the evening.

That is crazy.

What were the N1 trials like?

And one trial is more just like whoever came, like, hop in this run and do your thing, and then, like.

Figure out who stands out and then pick some guys.

And you think your dribbling kind of really stood out from everyone else?

Yeah, yeah.

I went out there and,

you know, like, I was going as a fan i was actually just going to watch the game you know saying i was like culturing and one in high school like if you look at my uh my mixtate from like my high school years i have on like and one sneakers wow so i'm just going to watch my idols play figured i had nothing to lose so i hopped in the run and uh shook a few dudes up and people started going crazy but it was my look you know i forever just don't look like a hooper you know what i mean like look like an underdog and so the crowd took to that and then um next day i know i'm playing against my teammates that's so future teammates at that time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think people want to root for the underdog, right?

You were smaller than everyone.

You were white, obviously.

And like, you were like, who is this kid?

Yeah, I think, well, I think that's timeless, right?

People always root for the underdog.

So favored me for sure.

Do you think something like Anuan can ever come back in today's kind of social media world?

I heard rumors they were actually trying to bring the tour back, but

I don't know.

I guess.

Nothing's impossible, right?

So I think if it had a great TV show,

like if you brought it back and you just had its own YouTube channel, like I don't know how much that could really go off just because

like there's a million great basketball videos on YouTube.

And like at that time, it was the first time streetball was like,

you know, being put out to the world.

You know what I mean?

Mainstream.

Yeah, streetball on the East Coast.

They knew it at like Rucker and like different parks like that, like big cities on the East Coast.

So

yeah, it was more mainstream and people were anticipating those moves and the fan excitement was crazy.

It aired on ESPN literally like sometimes like 30 to 50 times a week.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, because ESPN at that time only had like five shows, you know, it's like poker, Sports Center, like a game,

and one, and maybe like something else, but like it might air all night as like that filler show.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, and then there's only like 50 channels at that time, right?

50 to 100 channels.

I remember those days, man.

So think about the view count.

Like think about YouTube.

We know how many.

Views like YouTube videos get like this is say my channel, right?

Yeah.

But think about there's only like 50 to 100 channels in the united states

so like think about what the view count was on those tv shows probably tens of millions right yeah so like the fan anticipation by the time you go on tour is like insane right so to recreate it today

you couldn't use the youtubers though right like

the youtubers there's a lot of good players don't get me wrong they're all like pretty good that are on but it's not like a pro level it's like college level or a lower tier pro level right you know what i'm saying like and one

it's a myth that and like some people, it depends who you ask, right?

Some people think and one players were, like, better than NBA players.

Others will say, like, they weren't even good at all.

But the truth is, like, it was, it was actually pro, and like, we would mix it up with NBA players and run all the time.

And, like, you, you might not even be able to tell who's in the league and who's not.

I didn't know it was that high level.

Yeah, and one is a super high level.

A lot of guys had NBA talent.

They may, they may have had things that held them back from making the league, but a lot of guys had NBA talent.

So,

I don't know, to recreate it, I think, would be tough, but nothing's undoable.

If you have an entertaining TV show, maybe it could be remixed and done differently somehow.

Did you see the downfall coming at all?

Were there signs of it?

Or did it just abruptly happen one day?

It kind of abruptly happened.

There were signs now, but that's like a hindsight, you know, hindsight's 2020 viewpoint.

We got bought out, right?

So that's already a sign, right?

But when I was, you know.

When Antwin ended, I was only 25 or 24 years old.

So I wasn't able to assess what that even meant, right?

We had a buyout.

A lot of the same employees stayed, though, even though there was a lot of new faces too.

But we still like did the tour, but I think they tried to fulfill their, either their production contract or their contract with the ESPN.

So we still did it for two or three more years under the new ownership.

So we're thinking like, oh, we still got our jobs.

You know what I'm saying?

We're still touring.

The TV show is still spending quite a bit.

But every year it was like a little bit less and less.

And then they put less money into the tour.

And you could, I could see it now looking back, but at the time, we we were still massively popular and like we were getting paid more yeah i think like as time went on they felt like they owed us more

so uh at the time we didn't know it was very abrupt but there were there were signs now looking back yeah so 08 at the end of the 08 uh season it just ended yeah that was it because back then you had to be in the nba to make money hooping that was like a rare thing right to do content yeah and you know We we had our, we were optimistic, though.

We were thinking like Anwin was so big, like you would think another company would do it or another TV show would start or like somebody else pick it up, but it just didn't.

Wow.

No one even tried to do that?

A couple people tried.

You know, from 2011 to 2015, there was a whole new regime.

It was called Ball Up.

And I was on that.

We toured, but

for that, the marketing.

The marketing wasn't on point.

It was like at a show on Fox Sports, but like nobody really watched Fox Sports for no like basketball reality, nothing.

And then digital was becoming the new thing, right?

As far as how to market your thing.

And like, we had a YouTube channel and an Instagram, but like it was just, you know, like kind of like whatever.

Yeah.

So like, I think it missed the wave of digital marketing, or at least maximizing on digital marketing and kind of was slated like old school, like looking for that hit TV show on cable.

Yeah.

And right then the times were changing.

So yeah, it didn't work out.

I feel that.

So it wasn't great events, but it just wasn't.

It's not Ant one, you know?

Yeah.

When did you make that shift to YouTube?

Because I feel like you've done the best at maintaining relevancy from the end one days.

Like you are still known to this day.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I actually was aware of YouTube like early, like when it started.

You know what I'm saying?

People were ripping our highlights from the ESPN show and making fan compilations.

So there was like a hot sauce mix, a main event mix, a professor mix, and they all had like tens of millions of views.

And like YouTube is like empty at that point.

I remember one point, if you search basketball, my mix would pop up on YouTube.

Yeah.

So like

i realized there was something to that because fans would uh approach us and you know show love and as habit i would always be like you know thanks for watching the show you know what i'm saying but some people would be like oh no we saw your stuff on youtube and so i was like youtube you know what i mean so i looked into it so when 2006 and seven rolled around i was actually having a homie make edits to put on youtube to kind of like flood the market for like marketing uh but AdSense hadn't rolled out.

So then when And one ended in 08,

I noticed AdSense sense or excuse me and one ended 08 and then 2009 ad sense came out so i started my own page in 2009 wow but i was using youtube for bookings really because i didn't know you could make real money i didn't know that was gonna be the top streaming platform in the world i knew it was there was something to it it was growing but i didn't know to what level

so you could get a dm on youtube back then so i was getting like bookings uh primarily internationally because and one kind of died out in the states so i would you know get these bookings for my videos And then I think at that point, it was in like 15 countries or 10 countries.

So that was like free TV.

I'm knowing it's free TV.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

But then 2013, I had a video go viral and I got a million subs in one day.

Was that the Spider-Man one?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So then it became a business like overnight, but I was still under these endorsement deals.

So I had like an old school endorsement deal up until 2016.

Oh, they had 360 on you?

Pretty much.

Damn.

Full exclusive.

They would let me do my YouTube and they didn't really know much about it.

They, like I said, they were a little bit behind on that whole like wave of like seeing digital go to the forefront of marketing.

But

yeah, but life was good.

I was still doing my tour thing.

I would do YouTube when I was home, but I could never be a full-time YouTuber like I wanted.

And I was making three times as much on YouTube as I was my endorsement deal per month.

Crap.

I know.

And I was decent on the endorsement deal.

But

yeah, so when it ended, it was cool.

Got to go into it.

But I think to answer your question more specifically, it's just like,

just like trying to stay ahead of the the trends of like

different ways to edit what platforms are going off uh how to maximize on you know business wise on certain things and just hanging around a lot of young people and really just

trying to be a consumer of it too not only a creator yeah you know what i mean i think those things help you were like the first basketball creator on youtube i feel like yeah i was actually the best first basketball influencer that's nuts ever yeah oh gee now there's so many of them yeah it's crazy i know um

it's funny.

Yeah, I was just doing it as a means to figure out what's next.

You know what I mean?

I knew that was marketing, so I was like, can't be bad.

You know what I'm saying?

And then a fan actually taught me how to edit.

One of the dudes who was making the fan compilations, I hit him up.

He lives in San Diego.

And he actually showed me how to edit.

So I was making my own edits on YouTube.

So you edit your own videos?

Till this day, I'll only edit it if I feel like it's like.

a banger that I can't really convey the vision to somebody else.

I try not to, though.

Yeah.

Are you shifting your content?

Because I know you had that major injury and you're getting older.

Do you have a shift in content for the next few years?

I've done videos where I don't hoop, but people still want me to hoop.

So I can't say I've really came with a solution to like, how do I, you know, turn my content a different way that's still massively appealing.

Cause you can do a bit.

Like,

as time goes, you know,

your bill spend might change and also like your standard for what you consider as a good video might change.

So a lot of people might be content with like 100K, 150K.

I'm like bummed though, you know?

Really?

With 100K?

We try to do a million.

Damn.

You got Mr.

Beast standards out here.

No, I mean, we've been at 20 years.

You know what I'm saying?

So I look at it like, well, Mr.

Beast, he's trying to get 100 million.

That's true.

You know what I'm saying?

So it's different, though.

You know what I mean?

So think about him.

He's at the top of the YouTube food chain.

Yeah.

He'd be bummed if video didn't get 100 million today, right?

Does over 100 million every video, correct?

Yeah.

At least least 50.

i've looked at it in a while i think over 100 though it's over 100 yeah yeah so so you know yeah i'm like a video's success if it gets a million if it doesn't it's all good because you can't you know you can't win on every video but you want it to go off so

i could turn the content and get a hundred to 100k view i think i'd have to like probably like lower my standard and try to like rebrand if that's the case but my goal is to hoop till i'm 50.

wow i'm trying to hoop till 2034 damn 50 years old that's impressive well i don't don't know if I'll make it, but that's, you know, that's my...

It's a good goal.

They say, shoot for the moon, land amongst the stars.

Yeah, you might have to get some stem cells, but you could probably make it with all the technology these days, right?

Hopefully, hopefully.

I mean, like I had that Achilles injury you mentioned.

Yeah.

I was able to recover 100%.

100%.

100%.

You don't feel like that lost a step or anything?

No.

Wow.

Because KD had that one and people said he was done.

And he looks like he's back to normal, too.

Sports rehab is going a million miles an hour.

You know what I'm saying?

Sports rehab is getting better and better and better, like, like every day.

And it's kind of like unspoken about because

people don't like to think about injuries.

So if you say you tore your Achilles, a lot of people don't even know what that is.

You know what I'm saying?

They'll think it's like your knee or something.

Like ACL, Achilles, MCL.

It's all like the same.

Yeah.

So, like, I think people don't really talk about it.

You don't really know what the injuries are until you get them.

Like, I remember I got hernia.

I had like two hernia surgeries, but I tell people that they don't even know what it is.

So I think it's just an unknown thing that sports, sports rehab, sports therapy, treatment, and all that is like going to the moon.

You can almost recover from anything.

You know what I mean?

I mean, granted, you know, bad replacement, hip replacement, bad back, those things are going to end you from playing at a pro level.

Yeah.

But a lot of things you can recover from that we couldn't before in the 80s.

Like Shaq, Isaiah Thomas,

was it Chauncey Billips?

A lot of these people retired off the Achilles tear.

Damn, I didn't know Shaq Torjo.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's what ended up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

They say that's the worst one, right?

It's the worst basketball injury, like single injury you could get, you know.

I guess outside of like a bad back, right?

Like Larry Bird retired with a bad back.

He probably still would have had to retire current day.

Yeah, I'm saying

the back is a confusing one, but

yeah, it's getting better all the time.

Absolutely.

Do you watch the NBA pretty heavily right now?

So funny enough.

I'm actually kind of a casual when it comes to the league.

I think like

I still keep up with it like on sports i watch a little bit of sports talk a little bit of ig narrative watch a game every now and again i'm in la so i support the lakers uh i try to go to like three or four games a year try to sit coreside so one of my favorite things to do so i guess yeah i keep up with it but not as much as i did in years past just because you know when you're on your grind like it's hard to Really binge watch or keep up with anything.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A fact.

So when I was a kid with all the time in the world, I would watch almost every game.

Yeah, same.

Like I could name everybody on the roster.

When I was a young, then I collect like basketball cards, I could name everybody on the roster of every team.

Damn, that's impressive.

Yeah, but then, you know, as you get older, I think as I get older, I follow like less and less.

Even now, I follow less than I did five years ago.

Just, I don't know, you get busy, priorities change.

Yeah, what do you think of the game?

Because when you played, it was more physical, right?

Like you said, and now it's like you touch someone, it's a foul.

Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing?

That's a good question.

Um,

I think it has its pros and cons both ways.

Yeah, I think it has its pros and cons both ways.

I think

when it was more physical, like it's, I mean, it's better for the defense.

And then I think it creates a tougher mentality, like just for the average player.

I think when you can't touch somebody like today, it's probably better for entertainment, maybe the business side of the game.

Part of me wishes I could play.

I feel like I never get that, right?

Because I play street ball.

So like there's not a referee.

You know what I'm saying?

So everybody's fouling.

And then like when we played on an one we actually could foul that's the crazy part they tried to they tried to make it like a streetball game in the park even when we played an arena

and they kept it really loose so I felt like I felt like that was a conflict of interest a lot too because like we would go in there and try to entertain and try to put on this amazing show in front of thousands of people yeah but like A lot of times I'll play a dude that outweighs me by 100 pounds, 50 to 100 pounds, and he's like fouling.

So it was always like very difficult.

Like something I've always had to battle.

That's like the hardest thing I had to battle in trying to put on a show.

It's like people are always fouling.

So like when I see the league and how they play and you can't really touch nobody, I'm like, man, that would be nice.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

You could put on a show.

You'd think, yeah.

I just saw a clip of, was it Alan Iverson?

Yeah, Shaq asked Alan Iverson how much you'd average right now if you were in the league and he said 43.

Yeah, because he was like, I average, he said 33, he averaged.

So he said 43 today.

I mean, it'd be easier for him, whatever it was.

You know what I mean?

I think for him to average 43, he probably to shoot more threes but i think you know the game always changes if alan iverson was coming up today yeah he'd have been more of a three-point shooter right because that's more of the trend like how people play he barely took any when he played so could he average 40 probably yeah if he's one of my favorite players growing up oh yeah that was your favorite well with the handles right and that was a dope interview i watched that whole thing same that was a great interview man it's cool to see these players starting their podcast actually because you never got their perspective growing up you never like realized what they're like outside of the court and how they think right right Like Draymond Green, that's a great one.

Paul Pierce has one now.

It's really interesting, man.

Yeah.

KG, Paul George, yeah.

I love that shit.

You said you were a big AI fan.

Do you think he had the best handles of all time?

They were, it's funny.

They asked him that, right?

Yeah.

And he said, Kyrie.

But I think,

yeah, I think he made.

I think they said it right.

Kyrie has a deeper bag of more moves,

but AI probably had the most effective move, right?

Like that cross.

I don't know if, I don't think Kyrie has a good a move as that AI crossover.

You know what I'm saying?

And he's not as quick on any move as AI was on that move.

But yeah, I think Kyrie's handle is retarded, right?

Yeah.

Probably the best handles all time, but I think it's like Shaq, he said Jay Will, right?

Shaq said Jay Will.

Yeah, Jay Will.

This is a good argument, right?

Yeah.

It's a good argument.

I think a lot of it's subjective, too.

There's a lot of guys who had an amazing amazing handle.

Yo, Steph Curry has a nice handle.

Jamal Crawford

had a great handle.

CP3, a lot of guys.

Absolutely.

Now, I noticed when you play, you actually don't talk that much shit.

And I thought that was interesting because in street ball, that's common.

And I watch your videos, people are trying to get in your head.

You don't even respond most of the time.

Yeah.

And I think

you don't really need like, here's the thing also is like a lot of people when they play ball they take it like really personally Yeah, I don't know I've never been like that, you know I'm saying like like taking the game that personally, but also I've played it a lot higher level than like when I play at like Venice or like I play dudes on the street so like I don't view it as that highbrow of a game like I always feel like I'm gonna win you know me so like they're taking it super personally I just feel like the game's gonna do the talking the truth is but I actually do talk trash but it's more in a sarcastic way you know what i'm saying like i'll like i'll like cross somebody up and go by i'll be like oh thanks appreciate you you know what i'm saying That probably pitches them off more.

Yeah, or like I'll shoot you and be like, oh, thanks for making that so easy.

It'd be more on that tip.

But

for me, it's more fun.

It's not like personal.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

And I just think you don't really need to anyway.

So I just, it's just about fun.

I agree, dude.

I go to these runs at lifetime on the weekends in Vegas where I live, and people get so personal, man.

There's always a fight.

And I'm like, dude, let's just have some fun.

It's the weekend.

We're not working.

Like, come on now.

Basketball, like the most egotistical sport.

Yeah.

For sure.

And I hate to like generalize, but a lot of the times it's the shorter guys.

I don't know why.

I don't know if it's like a height thing and they feel some type of way.

A small man complex.

Yeah.

Who knows?

I mean, you go to the league, though, you got you know, legendary, you know, crap talkers, you know what I mean?

Gary Payton and even Jordan, you know what I mean?

So it just depends.

Absolutely.

You ever let the talking get into an actual fight?

Um,

Maybe when I was younger, yeah, a few times, but not,

I don't know.

I feel like I'm not that confrontational i think like sometimes like if i embarrass people

people think like somebody should fight me or whatever but i think you kind of you receive the energy you give out right so like when i go to the court

we're there to make a video have like a camera crew and security so like

you don't want to make people feel ultimately victimized you know what i mean so if i'm trying to embarrass you on the court i try to big up everybody and show them love and like it's more about fun within the sport and i think they get that vibe for me so people don't come as like hostile Yeah.

Well, I mean, we had, I've had a lot of situations.

You know what I mean?

One time I was in China and like, it was playing the CBA, right?

It's like their NBA.

It's like a preseason game.

So I came down on a dude and like I faked up, did it in and out behind the back, dude slipped.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, did the splits and I hit the shot.

So now the crowd was going crazy, but it's like his home crowd.

And we, we, we had a little momentum before that, too.

And so a couple plays later, I come down.

I tried to go off the easy, like, you know, off the dome.

Pro game, you know what I'm saying?

Try to go off his head, but he, like, moved.

So, like, it hit the side of his head, you know what I'm saying?

And then it, like, I messed it up.

Yeah.

And so I tried to like kind of like get it back, but I got it back in an ugly way.

So, like, he didn't know it was a move.

I think he got confused or whatever.

He didn't even speak English.

Yeah.

So he couldn't communicate.

So he's like, picked me up and he, like, threw me.

He threw me like five feet.

And then, like, both benches cleared.

It's like big brawl.

You know what I mean?

Damn.

It was all sports center.

Yeah.

He thought you were throwing the ball at his head, right?

Yeah, I guess.

I don't know what he thought.

And he was, he was mad from the plays before he didn't like it yeah it was crazy i'm surprised because those asians don't usually scrap you know

yeah but you know they're mad physical though some some american players think they like cheap over there like their play style

i mean you can't generalize right you can't make a yeah i don't want to generalize but i'll speak on this because i'm asian so like asians tend to be not as athletic so i think they have to make up for it by being

Sometimes being physical, right?

Or cheap.

Yeah, I think Americans have said that.

But a few times American teams have gone to play Chinese teams and like it's broke out in like a big old fight, cleared benches.

Yeah, you can like look at on YouTube, there's at least three or four.

Damn, mine was one of them.

That's surprising.

Yeah, well, they don't like to lose.

I know that.

I think there was something with Georgetown over there, like a few, was it five, seven, maybe ten years ago?

Wow, it goes by fast.

You played in uh 40 countries when you were at Anwan.

Do any of those countries stand out to you?

Like, you still remember?

When I was in Anwa, I probably did 25 or 30, 40 is like how many I've been since then.

Um,

Yeah, I had great cultural experiences a lot of places.

Because, like, not, it wasn't always a vacation, right?

Like, you might go to an amazing place, but you really just do your promo tour, have a little fun, play the game after party, and then you're like out.

You know what I mean?

So you don't always get to see the place.

But I spent a lot of time in Australia.

We had like long tours over there, and that was really cool.

Dubai, my last An1 game under contract, like 08 was like in Dubai.

That was pretty cool.

Going to the islands and stuff was always like really dope, you know, vacation vibes.

I went to Costa Rica.

I really enjoyed that.

Our highest crowd energy games that we ever went to was in Tokyo, Japan.

Wow.

Which we played there probably like seven or eight times.

We did Japanese tours.

And then we went to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

That might have been the most popping game ever played in.

There was like 20,000

sold to join out.

The energy was so crazy.

I remember dribbling up the court and like, I just did like behind the back at half court and they freaking out.

Like the

yeah, it was different.

I think when you go overseas, it's more of like a, they know you're not going to be over there that often.

It might be the only time you ever come over there.

So it's like a bigger deal.

Yeah.

But I remember we sold a game out there like on a Wednesday and then they paid us extra and asked us if we wanted to stay till Sunday and do another one.

Damn.

And so we like stayed again.

It's awesome, man.

So that was dope.

But I mean, it's really hard for me to say like one spot that stood out amongst the rest i think i had amazing cultural experiences in uh india mumbai uh africa went to um

angola and i went to uganda

so a lot of cool places yeah it's cool to see you play everywhere you also played in some prisons i saw played against the prisoners playing a prison in uh nebraska wow yeah that's cool man

yeah it's cool to see basketball is such a universal thing now it's cool to see you bring it together like that thanks bro yeah it's crazy i was I was looking at a stat.

I actually had a ball handling program 10 years ago.

And I remember when we were doing it, we were looking up stats on like what the worldwide fan base of basketball was.

And I remember on Google, it was like 400 million.

And then I was recently.

Looking at the global fan base of what basketball is now, and it's actually 900 million.

Holy crap.

Yeah, so it's grown.

Like if you look at the top sports in the world, basketball at one point, I don't even know if it was top 10 or it was like closer to 10.

Yeah.

I think now it's more middle of the pack.

It's like five or six, but it's you know, doubled in fan base.

I could see that because the U.S.

seems like it's no longer like the number one.

Like we used to be by far.

Now it's debatable if we're the number one.

You know what I mean?

We just lost in the last world,

what was that, world championship or whatever.

Oh, you're saying, yeah, like, well, if we put our best team up there, right?

It's different.

But yeah, I mean,

the world's getting nice at basketball.

They're catching up.

They were always really good, though, too.

That's unfair.

I think, like,

our dream, our first two dream teams were, like, so good and, like, probably played more team basketball.

So, like, they separated.

I think there was always hoopers everywhere, to be honest, but I do think the skill level is improving globally also.

Absolutely.

I mean, if you look at even the NBA, the top five players right now, I think three or four of them are from Europe.

Pretty crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

The game is getting so global.

It's insane.

And I think that's one thing I learned too playing with Anwon.

I never went anywhere where there wasn't at least like some decent hoopers, like decent pro-level hoopers.

Like, I swear, you could go to like Malaysia and there'll be like some big old dudes that play or Eastern Europe.

I played, there was some pro team that was like younger dudes, like 20 to 25.

I went to Eastern Europe and they were like, here, you play these the young dudes.

And I get over there.

These dudes is all like.

Not one dude was shorter than 6'6.

And I'm like playing one-on-one versus these dudes.

But like, they were all decent, you know what I'm saying?

Pro-level players.

That's like the young, that was like a D3 pro team.

So

it's good hoopers everywhere.

Absolutely.

Dude, it's been a blast.

Anything you want to promote or close off with?

Oh,

yeah, man.

Well, I appreciate it.

Check me out on YouTube, Professor Live, all other platforms.

It's the Professor.

Also dropping a ball handling program, something called Crossed Up University.

If you go to crossoverspelled out in number5.com, you get a free video right now.

Five steps to the perfect crossover, and you'll be notified when my program drops.

Boom.

In the video, let's go.

Yeah, thanks for coming on, man.

Hey, thanks for having me, man.

Thanks for watching.

See you guys tomorrow.