GOOD FOLLOW - New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones Talks Season Standings, The Met Gala, Life After Basketball & More

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Hey, what's up, Good Follow Show?

It's your girl, Rosgold, on Woody, and today's episode is coming to you from Brooklyn in New York City.

We are at Bart Clay Center, and joining us is one of the best basketball players in the world.

Also, a very dope human being and person.

Thank you.

A WNBA champion with the New York Liberty, was last year's finals MVP, has been a WNBA MVP, a five-time all-star, and repping for the Bahamas.

John Quaul Jones.

What's up, JJ?

What's going on?

How you doing?

I'm so good.

You know, I always like to have some special time with you and kick it.

Yeah, man, I appreciate that.

Thank you for joining the show.

Thanks for having me.

Literally just got here coming from practice.

Can you imagine that?

I mean, it's such a rare occasion for the Liberty these days.

I know.

Actually, it's been crazy.

The season has been...

It's just been going, going, going.

So it's been, it's nice to actually be able to get on a court and work on some things and kind of iron out some of those kinks.

How bad does the team need practice?

We need it badly right now.

We have people that are coming back from injuries.

You have Emma who's just joined our team and was kind of thrown into the fire.

So it's just, like I said, a lot of different kinks and things that we have to iron out, but also opportunity for us to kind of sharpen the tools that we have and get everybody familiar with what's going on.

Yeah, you know, when you just think about what it takes to run back a championship, it's really hard.

And especially this season, something's out of your control.

Like when you think about all the injuries that have happened to the team, also just to you

how would you reflect on the way this season has kind of rolled itself out so far for you yeah i mean always when you're coming into the season you kind of think about it as there's going to be like you know ups and downs ebbs and flows um highs and lows and um you're kind of prepared for that and as a as a vet it's something that you really expect but coming into the season of if anybody had told me that it was going to be the way it has been for us in terms of injuries, I would have said that they were lying.

Like I just wouldn't have believed it because it's just been a lot.

But ultimately, I think we've done a good job of staying together as a team,

you know, really just figuring it out and understanding that sometimes it's just going to be a little bit tough with the situation that we're in.

Yeah, and the situation that you're in, you know, defending champs, full stop respect.

But at the moment, I feel like it happened so quickly.

You sit at the five seed in the standing.

Yeah.

Like, how do you feel about that?

I mean, obviously, we understand that we're not a five seed in this league, obviously.

But at this point, it's just about winning basketball games.

It's about stacking the wins,

doing the things that we can focus on the things that we can control so that we can win basketball games.

But it's been tough, man.

Like I said, so all now there's so much parity in the league.

There's so much, you know, good competition.

And any given night, anybody can beat anybody.

And so we've seen that firsthand.

And now we understand that it's going to take a high level of consistency effort, all of the little things, but also making sure that we have enough bodies to be able to keep up that level of play, too.

And I think that's been the biggest thing for us and what about the rebounding side of the ball oh it's going to be huge it's a big emphasis for us i think um a lot of times us playing the five odd offense like it's good for our spacing but um it kind of causes us not to have as many people you know hitting the boards and so there's an emphasis now you know for me and a lot of the other players to really just focus on that aspect of the game and um i think we did a good job of doing it the last game against connecticut we just got to carry on yeah you know the way i look at the team is i'm the one calling your games and watching you each night I kind of feel like you have the most upside right now if that's the way I'm looking I agree actually.

I completely agree with you.

You know what I mean?

I completely agree with that.

Because you don't even, we don't, you may not even, y'all probably don't even really know what is the full potential of dangerousness that you have because you have not put all the talent together enough.

Yeah.

Like, so Emma Miseman joined the team.

Stewie's back.

So what is the potential of that group, especially y'all three on the court, even if you're sharing the court together at times.

I mean, obviously the potential is to be able to win.

And that's world-class athletes.

And luckily, we had the opportunity to be able to play together overseas.

In Russia.

In Russia, yeah.

So

we're used to playing with each other.

We understand tendencies.

We understand the strains of each other.

And so now we just have to put it together in a new system under a new coach and bring Emma into the fold.

Honestly, if I'm any team in the playoffs, I don't want to see us in the first round.

I don't want to really see us in the playoffs because I feel like we just, like you said, haven't really realized our potential yet and haven't had the opportunity to put our full roster out there on the court.

Yeah.

And to your point, I think the familiarity will go a long way.

I think everybody's very high IQ on this team.

Yes.

Very versatile.

And for me, you're very unselfish.

And that's going to go a long way in bringing us together.

I got one more characteristic for you that I didn't say.

Okay.

You're also a sniper, okay?

So at six foot six center, you are leading the league.

You've been leading the league in three-point shooting percentage.

I mean, what is the pride you take in being able to do that at your size and position?

Yeah, I mean, I've always felt like

I kind of had like a later growth spurt in life and all that stuff.

And so because of that, I was a guard for a long time.

And so a lot of like guard skills kind of transferred over to me and I just got the height and was able to add other aspects to my game.

But

I take a lot of pride in being able to shoot and make the open open shots and

worked a lot on like my three-point shot, obviously, just getting more shots up, getting more reps up to be consistent

and it's showing.

And so, again, that's the upside of the five-odd offense is that you're going to be able to shoot a lot of threes.

And my teammates, my coaches trust me to make that shot.

So I'm excited that I get to do it here.

Are you finding that most defenders won't come out there with you, that you have that space, or are they coming out tight for you?

No, I think it's a little bit of both, right?

So sometimes you have, you may have Sabrina and Stewie on one side of the court and they're playing in the two-man action.

And so now they're thinking like, okay, we have to help because it's Sabrina and Stewie on that side.

So then I get the, I get the open shot.

And then I start hitting and now they're like, oh, we can't leave JJ.

So it allows Stewie and Sabrina to have more space to be able to get downhill, play in their spaces.

And so it's kind of like a give and take.

And I think that's the good thing about a versatile team is that no team can take away everything.

There's going to be something that they're going to have to give up.

And it's just our job out there to kind of exploit that um understand the mismatches what we want to go to um and then play from there it sounds like a fun simple game like it can be it can be right if it all could be so simple yep um

so you guys won the championship last season winning the championship it it comes with a lot of perks so y'all went as the championship team to the met gala

okay so this is the fashion stage of all stages it was you stewie Sabrina Clara Wusai

I want all the teeth like I want to know about the experiment and and I also specifically about your hair and your fit how it came together you stole the show in some way yeah yeah yeah yeah I agree with that statement

you felt like you were the best dress I honestly do feel like I was the best dresser tell us why yeah I mean I just felt like I felt like my hair was a statement piece like I already um command like a lot of attention because of my height when I walk into a room so then to have my height and then have even more height with my hair just

just people were just when I walked in the room just all eyes are on me I think Sergio Hudson and Courtney Mays did a really good job of tailoring my outfits and making sure that I felt comfortable like I think that was the most important thing for me is that I wanted the outfit to represent me and like how I carry myself through life but I also wanted to be able to move through the matte gala with a level of confidence and comfortability and I think my outfit did a really good job of doing that because I didn't I didn't feel uncomfortable I didn't feel like sometimes you know when you're wearing things and like things are shifting or moving you can kind of worry about that and it kind of takes away from your confidence a little bit and I think they did a really good job of just making sure everything was tailored well fit well the different materials

the accessories from like what was on my suit kind of you know flowed up into my hair so it was just a lot of different things and um and then my hair of course uh they did a really great job of just making sure that it was centered structured so even though it was like really high up um i never felt like it was gonna like tip over or anything like that i didn't get a headache it was just all really well done

so how tall were you with the pony the hairstyle no i didn't maybe maybe seven feet i don't know i feel like it gave me at least six at least six eight what was there a rod inside of it to keep it up yeah so when the hairstylist and she did my hair what she did is that so she put my hair in the ponytail first um and then she took like like some of my locks from like the inside of the ponytail and she made like a like a structure with it So she like kind of held it up in like hair ties and then she wrapped it with like a wire to keep it to give it that structure on the inside and then she used more of my hair on the outside to kind of cover it up and then shape everything the way she wanted to and then we just from there We just looked at different accessories and say oh, let's just play around with it Let's put this hair put that there and see what we like and what we're feeling It's so cool and it wasn't heavy not at all It was perfectly centered like it didn't feel heavy at all.

Oh wow.

I mean hardest part was like trying to walk through doors and stuff just like tipping my my head like this, trying to make sure I don't knock my ponytail over.

Did you coordinate with your teammates and Clara or you guys did your own thing and just pulled up?

So when we

had like discussions with Courtney and Sergio, which is so cool, by the way.

That was amazing.

These are some heavy hitters.

Big time heavy hitters.

We all kind of individually talked about like what we, what we liked, what we didn't like.

They kind of gave us some options.

And then I think it was their job to then tie everybody's look into each other a little bit.

But obviously, the Med Gala has a theme anyway.

And so there's going to be a little bit of similarities regardless because dandyism was a theme.

I think you smashed dandyism, by the way.

I think so, too.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then what's the overall experience of like being there with all of these other celebrities, some celebrities outside of the sports world, just entertainment celebrities?

I even heard you met Anne Hathaway.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

She actually came up to me.

It was crazy.

So like I was I was just kind of like mingling and I made I made like a conscious effort.

I'm like, when I get into the Met Gala, I'm not going to like hold the wall.

I'm not about to just sit in one spot and like not mingle, not talk to people.

So, at the cocktail reception, I was just walking around the room talking to everybody, just like, just being myself, you know, and um,

um, I don't know what happened, but I was kind of walking back towards like where Stubi and Sabrina were.

And Anne Hathaway walks in at the same time at the cocktail reception.

Um, and as she walks in, she sees me, she's like, oh my God, like, and I'm just like, and I don't, I don't i don't think you know me but i'm gonna accept i'm gonna accept the love like you know she's like oh my goodness how are you doing she's like

i'm like okay like what's up girl i'm like hi i'm jj from the new york she's like i know you i'm just like okay my bad so we started talking and i'm just like you have to come to a game like we want to see you celebrity role and all this stuff just giving my little you know my little pitch to kind of get her to come to one of our games and she said that she would be interested in it and try to you know contact her team but it was just an amazing moment for me because i just i grew up watching her princess Diaries, all the movies, like, you know, so

to kind of get that embrace tomorrow was amazing.

That is so cool.

And she, she was like, I'm like, okay, we besties now.

Right.

Okay.

Was everybody doing this?

I've never been to the French kids.

Nah, it was just her, but everybody else was just super cool.

Like, I don't think I met anybody.

that night that made me feel like I didn't belong to be there or that they were too like bigger than me or anything like that.

Like it was a really good night and everybody was super cool.

And I met so many people, Simone Biles, Serena, serena

um coco jones i was just talking to everybody and a went to her i i had a good conversation with her really i just went up to her i'm like so what does it take to like put on the met gala like how long i'm really i had all the questions i was really interested and she was like you know she was just telling me how the um the black dandyism and the theme for that year that they had been planning it since before covet and so that's how long it takes to kind of get the met gala and everything together so i thought it was super interesting and how special that you guys got to represent and really steal the show in the way that you guys did yeah i think it was amazing i think it just shows that the league is growing um and that you know we're entering the spaces that we should have been in all along and so um i know we won't be the last wnba players to be there so i'm excited to see how that goes in the future for sure i got another role that you star in okay

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Auntie JJ.

So.

Everybody knows about this.

What is going on?

Listen, the streets are talking.

But this is a beautiful representation of you.

So I heard you're an amazing auntie.

And you have a 16-year-old nephew, David, who just to fill y'all in has been here mostly all summer staying with John Quel in New York and even traveling with the team.

Yeah.

I heard having work experiences, shadowing executive staff.

How did this come about where you wanted to present such a meaningful opportunity to your nephew?

And like, why was it important to do that?

Well, it was important for me because I just understand that like in the Bahamas, sometimes the opportunities really aren't there.

And

the representation really matters in terms of like the kids getting to see that there's so many different avenues that you can take

to kind of find a career that you want to kind of professionalize yourself in or whatever.

And so

for him, I think he loves, he loves basketball.

He loves sports.

He's grown up watching me play.

It's a big part of his lifestyle at home.

Like, he plays basketball and all that.

And I think he wanted to kind of understand, like, what were the different ways that you could kind of be around basketball, be in basketball without necessarily being an athlete.

And I thought it was really important for him to kind of come here and really, really be able to have the opportunity.

And so he came.

And when he first came, he had a three-week internship.

So

the first week, he shadowed the business front office.

Second week, it was the basketball front office.

And then he did equipment management and everybody that's like in our locker room for the third week and so he was able to kind of really get hands-on experience with everything and really just understand how things are working I think the first day he went to work with the business front office he came back he's like yeah we had we had a meeting about LE and we were talking about marketing and all this stuff and I'm just like that's so cool like how many 16 year olds consider they sat in on a meeting like that

but I mean, other than him being here and me being able to provide that opportunity for him, I think it's also

hats off to like the New York Liberty and them being willing to open up that door for him and for my family.

And I think it shows that what we're doing here is really just building something that's bigger than basketball.

Like

it's about making sure that this actually feels like a family environment because a lot of teams and a lot of organizations like to use that term of, oh, this is a family.

But it's not until you start doing things like that that you really get to see how much an organization cares about you and the well-being of the people that are around you.

Yeah, just another example of like, honestly, the Liberty being really A1, you know, and what an incredible experience for a 16-year-old.

I know.

He may have a future in sports business.

No, he is.

He is.

He definitely, after he left, like, what, two days ago, we went to Atlanta.

So he stayed with my sister in Atlanta.

And then he flew back home to the Bahamas.

And he was like,

me and him were talking and I was just kind of letting him know, like, you have all these resources now.

Like, you know, I went to GW, Serena went to Oregon.

Kennedy went to UCLA.

Like, there's people that, you know, we can kind of talk to to kind of help you, you know, further your education in college and all that stuff, too.

So don't feel like, you know, you don't have these resources.

Use your resources and understand how important it is.

And he was just talking about how he wants to go into sports management and study sports management and college and all that stuff.

So it's definitely opened his eyes to all the opportunities.

And I'm excited to see what he does in the future.

You are an incredible auntie.

Auntie JJ is the best.

Thank you.

And also,

you really have a great vision.

It could lead to something like a reoccurring, you know, summer internship program that you might might even sponsor.

Or like, you know, it started with my nephew, but I do this summerly and we take on one or two.

I mean, I'm just, you know, I've been

too big, but it's, you can make an impact in that.

I agree.

I agree.

I didn't think about it like that at first, but the more I've been talking about it, I'm like, this is such a great opportunity and experience for kids his age and anybody to be able to.

Can I be your next intern?

That sounds amazing.

For real, next one, they could actually spend time with me.

You can go.

Yeah, they could.

Absolutely.

Okay.

yeah little media stuff they could see that side too

not us putting things together yeah yeah um but i'm actually really not surprised that you do think that big um because actually and first of all i just want to excuse myself i have misnamed you the entire interview

sorry um

Dr.

JJ.

You made me nervous.

I'm like, that I'm not hearing you misname me.

We're talking to Dr.

JJ, Dr.

John Quill Jones.

You know, you received right before the season an honorary doctorate degree of humanities from your alma mater at George Washington University.

And you were also the speaker, the commencement speaker at the ceremony, which is incredible.

And, you know,

I was just like, dang, that's a long way to come when you even reflect back and think about where you've been growing up in the Bahamas,

your life experiences, and then here you are at the ceremony as the commencement speaker, and you're looking out into the faces of future graduates, leaders of society.

How does that make you feel?

And what was the message that you wanted to get across?

Yeah, I mean, it made me feel honored, obviously.

It definitely made me very like reflective, just even like all the moments and all the preparation leading up to the moment of giving a commencement speech and also receiving my honorary doctorate.

But

the message that I wanted to send to them was just that the journey isn't linear.

Like there's going to be ups and downs.

There's going to be times when you kind of feel like you're not making progress, but the consistency is the most important thing.

Trusting the people that are around you and trusting in your foundation is going to be important.

And then also having fun while you're going, you know, along that journey, because I think a lot of times we feel like we're supposed to just like, oh, when we get there is when we're going to enjoy it.

Or when I get this is when I'm going to be happy.

And when I get that, I'm going to be happy.

Whereas it's the journey to getting those things that that oftentimes have like better memories than actual than the actual things that we want to achieve and the success that we want to have and it's the people that you meet along the way that that kind of matter and that kind of shape you into the person that you want to be so just understanding that you know we all have things that we want to achieve but um

it's the people around you it's the way that you go about um going down that path and really just enjoying it, having fun and living in the moment.

Yeah.

I mean, sheesh, what a year it's been for you.

All of these different

huge stages that you've prepared for on top of winning the championship.

I mean,

you sound like the type of person who might have already given it thought or is putting steps towards it.

Like, what could you even imagine for yourself after basketball?

Oh, man, after basketball, and uh, okay.

Okay.

I mean, I think about this a lot.

Um,

I think the first thing for me is just to continue to

build my real estate portfolio so that like I don't have to work if I don't want to.

That's the main thing.

And then

even bigger than that like in a perfect world if I could get the right amount of investment

and the right people the people that have the same vision as me is for me to like I really want to like go back home to the Bahamas and and build like the infrastructure to get especially basketball players but not just basketball players all athletes the facilities the training

And I said before, the infrastructure to really get them to be able to stay home in the Bahamas, develop their games, and not have to leave leave home at such a young age like I had to do.

So I left home at like 13, 14.

So I missed a lot of family dinners.

I missed a lot of birthdays.

I missed a lot of nieces and nephews growing up.

And so like I sacrificed a lot for this game and it's given a lot back to me.

But I think now we should, as the new, you know, the role models and we have so many NBA players now.

I'm in the WNBA.

We have so many professional athletes that are doing amazing things and Olympic gold medalists and track and field and all this stuff.

And

I think it's our duty now to just make sure that our kids can stay at home and be able to do all of that at home and not have to leave at such a young age.

So I think that's the big thing for me too.

Absolutely.

That's a beautiful way to pay it forward and to give back to young people like yourself coming up where they don't have to be exported out.

Yep.

You know, and can be homegrown and still live.

pursue that career, but also live full lives on their homeland.

You were quite impressive.

I thought you were, I thought I was impressed because you could shoot the three ball well as a 6-6 center.

but like it's way beyond that with you.

Thank you so much.

And I truly appreciate the time and you joining us here at Good Follow Show.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay, I'll see you about that, Court.

I'll be in the next game.

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Oh my gosh, welcome back, guys, to Good Follow Show.

That was so awesome to have that quality time and a chance to have an exclusive sit-down interview with Jonquell Jones, finals MVP of the reigning WNBA champs New York Liberty.

We so appreciate her time.

And actually, now we are at the point of the show where we're running out of time.

So we got to get some quick hits, some headlines.

And you know who got it for us?

Our girl, Logan Hackett.

Logan, what's up?

It has been a big week in other women's sports other than basketball.

But y'all, I want to start with Alex Ayala.

She became the first female Filipino player to win a main draw match at the U.S.

Open, and she is the people's sweetheart.

It's almost like the treatment that Emma Rajukanu got when she won the U.S.

Open a few years ago.

Everyone loves her.

She's a sweetheart, giving handhearts to the crowd.

If you haven't watched her, please go watch her.

It is amazing.

I love how we like find different players and personalities to fall in love with and like stories through these tournament runs.

Yes, and it really helps with her on court interviews after.

She is just so for the fans.

But another really exciting thing is Lisbeth Ovaye broke the record for the largest transfer deal going to the Orlando Pride.

So we're staying kind of local for $1.5 million.

The one before this was just a few months ago, Olivia Smith, who is actually from Ontario, Yeago, Livia.

But she went to Arsenal for $1.4 million.

Year by year, the price just keeps on going up.

Remember, we were just talking about a milli for Germa, and like, there's been three and nine months.

And before that, it took 18 years for the last one.

Like, all of it, the game is changing.

Yep, and we love to see it.

And actually, with Elizabeth going to Orlando, they actually did have someone dip out.

And that's Barbara Banda, who was a key player for them.

She's out for the rest of the season with a hip injury.

Really sucks to see, but hoping she can come back better than ever next year.

Absolutely.

Full recovery.

And the last one we have is the Women's Rugby World Cup is going on.

There's a lot of blowouts, but England beat USA 69 to 7.

69 to 7 is crazy, but I'm still USA, USA.

Well, thank you so much, Logan, for coming through with the quick hits and headlines.

And actually, that will do it now for this episode of Good Follow Show.

We thank all of y'all for rocking out with us.

We drop Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Wherever you get your podcast, subscribe, subscribe.

Let's get these numbers up.

Okay.

We're presented by DraftKings.

And we also want to give a big shout out to John Quill Jones for joining our show.

Such a big show for us and interview today.

And that'll do it for this one.

We'll catch you next week.

Bye, y'all.