Inside Will Riley, Shaedon Sharpe and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's development with UPlay Canada's Dwayne Washington

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign [00:00:03] Speaker B: welcome to the Canadian Basketball show, your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on Canadian basketball. I'm your host, Lee Ban Osmond. On this week's episode, we're joined by a man that has left a huge impact on Canadian basketball. Some call him the architect. He's played a pivotal role in a lot of Canadian NBA stars we see in today's game. From Shay Gilgis Alexander, shout out to Shayden Sharpe, Will Riley and many more. So you play founder Dwayne Washington. Welcome to the show, brother. How you doing? [00:00:36] Speaker A: I'm doing great, man. Thank you for having me. [00:00:38] Speaker B: The last time I saw you, it might have been on draft night back in June, if I'm correct, you, Francis Skipwell, were chatting ahead of the draft, laughing a bit that whatever team passes on Will Riley will be regretting it. And now I'm just looking at his stats in February. 14.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 47% from the field, 37.5 from 3 point. How do you feel now? Just like a month away from his rookie season coming to a close. How much are you laughing now? [00:01:17] Speaker A: Well, I wouldn't say laughing, but I've done it so many times and for so long, it's. It seems obvious to me that when someone has all the tools, three level, score, height, pass, score, shoot, make plays, that eventually, you know they're going to be a standout in the league. So I wouldn't say laughing, but some of the GMs, they know me very well and I'm really shocked that they passed on them. [00:01:40] Speaker B: Are people hitting you up now being like, damn, Dwayne, you were right? [00:01:43] Speaker A: Absolutely. I could name seven GMs or seven teams that hit me up and said, you're right again. You know, we're gonna listen next time. But, you know, it's just, it's good to know that, you know, that we have an eye. I have an eye for it. And it's good to know that, you know, people can be wrong even if they did top of the game. [00:02:03] Speaker B: I followed Will for a few years just from like the AU scene college draft process and getting to know him. It was easy to figure out how obsessed he was with basketball. And I don't know if I've seen a player that obsessed in a while, at least from like, the Canadian system. When did you realize he was kind of like a psychopath when it comes to, like, basketball dedication, the love. And I'm guessing you have so many stories about, like, dragging him out the gym that We've talked about. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Absolutely three years ago when he, he had a major accident and he was supposed to rest for two weeks, you know, stay out the gym. He sneaks in the gym, walks to the gym, no car, walks there, he's shooting with one hand. From there I realized this guy's totally different and we have to do something to harness that energy. But it was three years ago I realized that he had something in him that you couldn't teach and that was that desire. [00:03:02] Speaker B: What was that moment like, watching him get drafted and you've been in the groom a few times. Cool moment for the family. What was that moment like, seeing his name get called? [00:03:12] Speaker A: It was, it was satisfying because all the hard work that he put in, but he left school a year early. He's supposed to become, he was supposed to come out next year's draft. He's supposed to be coming into college now, so I didn't think his body was ready. However, it felt really satisfying that us doubling up on the work allowed him to get to that, that, that point. It was a major, it was a roller coaster for him. In that first year at Illinois, he was on the bench. He's had a great first game up and down. They said he was too skinny. He was too, his defense wasn't good. It was all these, too many things. But I tried to tell him, let's focus on what you do well and be the best at that. And I spoke with the coaching staff and did what I do and he was able to get the opportunity at the end of the year and he was able to get drafted. He has a long way to go. But let's just say his passion and desire, his burning desire that he has to be great makes everything easy for [00:04:05] Speaker B: a guy that's been in the business for years. What's the tell for you when you realize certain players might be cut different? And it's like this is the one that has the potential to, you know, like, will get drafted in the first round, like Shay, become an MVP caliber player, win an mvp, win a championship. [00:04:25] Speaker A: When. [00:04:26] Speaker B: What's your tell? [00:04:27] Speaker A: Well, I would say the common factors that these guys all have is they are intrinsically motivated and they have a really good core support system. When I see that, then I'm able to do my job, which is navigate the waters, open up lanes and help to implement the skills that are needed to be successful. So for me, when I see that motivation come from within and not external, it allows me to know they're going to be doing the right thing. When no one's watching. And that's how you become the best version of yourself. [00:05:02] Speaker B: Yeah. For Will, it's so. I remember him telling me one story, like he'd be in the gym at illinois till like 5am at points, you know, like that stuff was just so used and people dragging him out the gym. Like you talked about. Where do you see his game going? I'm thinking, I'll be honest, I see all star potential. [00:05:21] Speaker A: I'm crazy to say it. People thought in four years he will be either. He could be either an all star or his name could be. If someone gets injured, he would be there. I expect in three years his name to be in conversation, given the opportunity to play on the ball 40% of the time and off the ball the other 60%. But it's all about opportunity and it's all about, you know, the environment that you're in. Because there are a lot of good players who don't get the opportunities. But if he gets the opportunities, his skill set, his height, his feel for the game, his creativity, I know what's inside of him mentally, in his mind and his heart. I think in four years he has the potential to be an all star. Yes. Yeah. [00:06:04] Speaker B: I'm just thinking because he's so young, he's still 20, you know, just the trajectory he's gonna be, it's gonna be insane. I want to go through your journey. For a guy that grew up in the Bronx, I don't know if many people know that in Canada, moving, studying and teaching here, founding uplay and now watching and working with a ton of the star talent. How would you describe your journey? Just like from the Bronx to Canada, what was that like? Was it a culture shock coming here and what was it like growing up in the Bronx? [00:06:35] Speaker A: Well, growing up, it was a lot of fun. You dodge a lot of, you know, harms that you don't think was gonna be permanent. I thought it was. It was a lot of fun back home. Running from people and chasing people and doing a lot of stickball and basketball. I look back now, very dangerous. But you don't know. When you're coming up in the late 80s and you know, you don't know, but I loved it. It made me who I am. I know I'm very tough minded and resilient and no one can tell me what I can't do. And you know, I try to put that into everyone I work with. But it wasn't a culture shock coming here. The difference was I didn't know how much talent was Here, but I knew it was untapped. There were people doing a great job and I came and did my part, obviously out of Hamilton and beyond after that. But I realized that people just needed an opportunity. So as Americans, we can't think we're the best, but we gotta understand that we have the opportunity because the game is played on our land. So it's easy when you go next door. So when I realized it was someone in Congo or someone in Jamaica, someone in Canada was just as good as someone back home, I realized, oh, I just have to open up, you know, put the ladder down so they can come up. Because a lot of times people pull a ladder up because they want to be gatekeepers. But my journey has been one of trying to pass the baton and let the ladder down. That's what I think. I said, what if this was my son? And I don't have a son, but what if I had a son? How, how would I want someone who had the power, the connections, the know how to treat them if they had the skill set and they were, you know, pleasant to work with? Because for me, I kind of only work with people who I feel like they want self growth, but they also have to be humble enough to understand, hey, don't be entitled. Entitlement really bothers me. That's my pet peeve because I'm someone that comes from pretty much nothing and I was able, able to have a great life by treating people right and opening doors. So when I see that in other people, whether they have basketball talent or not, I'm always going to be there to help them, to know if I can, to accomplish their dreams. [00:08:41] Speaker B: What was it like growing up in the Bronx and that basketball environment? Here's so many stories. Growing up back then, what was that like? And living during that era and the talent. And then I'm guessing you come to Canada, like God damn, yeah. [00:08:55] Speaker A: So the talent in the Bronx at that time, I'm from the class of 95, so that's Marbury's age. That's a year before Kobe. Vince Carter is my year. So you have a lot of guys that came up in that time, which was, in my opinion, some of the best basketball players in the world in the country, more so in the East Coast. New York was on fire, so I was used to excellence. I was used to don't lace up your shoes and go on the court if you're not ready to kill or be killed, for lack of a better term. There's no just playing around. You're going out there to prove a point. You're going out there to test your manhood. You might get hit in the face with an elbow. That's not a file. So I was taught where there was no files, you gotta have tough handle. You have to be able to finish. It was all about winning. So there was no, let me get my jump shot off and my sidestep off. I lost by 30. But I'm happy because if you lose, you're going to be on the side waiting for three more hours to get a run. So there's, you know, we didn't have indoor courts that we got to play at all the time. So I felt like it helped me to understand that don't you gotta take advantage of the opportunity because another one may not come. It may not come. And growing up, you feel like, hey, you don't know sometimes when your next meal gonna come. Honestly, you don't know if there's gonna be another paycheck. You don't know if you can be evicted and be in the shelter. You know, growing up, I had to a lot of different houses. It made me who I was. I grew up. Really how I grew up, you'd be surprised. People think that how they see me now, they think that I grew up with a silver spoon. I grew up in the worst neighborhood. Probably at the time it was like a new Jack City. But I loved every minute of it because everybody was in the same situation. And when you get out of situations like that, you know, that's how coals be. Coal become diamonds, you know, I'm saying. So for me is I realized I had a lot to pass on. And you know, the new generation right now you have a new generation that sometimes things come faster, they get judged quickly on social media. And so you want to let them know that it's all about how you think of yourself. Self thought is very important. So you could be from the hood, but not of the hood, or from the streets, but not of the streets. And so when people realize that you can define who you are going forward with your actions, I think that's what keeps me going is the hope, the hope that, that you can put into other people or that you can help people's hope to become fulfilled. And that's why I do it. If I could do it through soccer or do chess or do whatever, I would do. But basketball is a thing that really speaks to a lot of the kids that grew up like me. And in a lot of cases that look like me. [00:11:15] Speaker B: What brought you to Canada and Then specifically Hamilton. Yeah, became your pocket. [00:11:20] Speaker A: Specifically Canada. I came here because I ended up going to University of Toronto and then I had my wife at the. My wife is from Canada as well and, you know, came here with my family. Well, I didn't have a family then, but my wife. And then I end up staying and going to UT and Hamilton is. Because I would go back home to the Bronx a lot. And that was when I would go there. On the weekdays I come to school and I go back home. So for me, it was. It was just a midway between heading out to the border to go back to New York and also going to ut. I didn't want to stay in Toronto because I wanted to be able to get out the city. So that's what happened. I was. I was going to leave. Then I met an individual named Von Daly who said, you know, why don't you stay here and start a program and help in coach at my old school, which was McNabb University, McNabb High School. And I'm coaching at McNabb and staying in Hamilton. I'm glad I did because, you know, there's so many players that come. Came through the program. Had I left, who knows what would have happened? [00:12:25] Speaker B: What was your first impressions of Hamilton? Because, let's be real, I didn't think a basketball talent would come out of Hamilton. But then seeing what you guys did over there, complete unique, complete trailblazing. [00:12:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:12:40] Speaker B: What was Hamilton like when you first got there? And then one was like, hey, I can work with this. [00:12:46] Speaker A: Well, Hamilton, I love Hamilton because Hamilton is a gritty city. That's the underdog that people overlook. And if you think about it. But when I first came in, they had a lot of great players had left. Ma, Jac, Martin, Ajai, some of the best players to ever play. Andrew, I coached his brother. But a lot of guys had just left. So when I was coming, there was Tyrone Watson, there was Dwayne Harvey, guys that were born from the 1990 class, they were 90. And when I was coming in, the players were good, but I knew that some of the best players in the history come from towns that are outside of the city. For example, Michael Jordan is not from Charlotte. He's from Wilmington. That's not a big city. LeBron is not from Cleveland. He's from Akron. Larry Bird is not from Indianapolis. He's from French Lick. Magic Johnson is not from Detroit. He's from East Lansing. So some of the best players ever played a game. They are parents who kind of move out of the city. To get a better life. And they instill some of that into their kids and they push their kids. So, because I knew the history, I knew that if you're gonna do it, it's gonna be a city that's an underdog. Because in Toronto, when you're like a top seventh grader and you're grabbing the rim, all due respect, a lot of grown men are telling you the best thing in the world. And it's a lot of pressure. So when you don't have to deal with that, it's much easier. So I think I had a easier time because I was dealing with a lot of people from the west who felt like Toronto, they were overlooked, whether it was national team, whether it was to play with grassroots at the time, who was the big time program, et cetera. So I thought it was a benefit because I have your attention, because there's not 20 teams trying to say, hey, play for you. And I was the only coach of, you know, African descent that was running my program. And so a lot of people gravitated to me because they felt like, hey, that's an educated guy who kind of looks like me. They didn't know my knowledge base was very high, but they knew that, you know, I was a teacher and I cared about them. So to me, it was easier out of Hamilton. And it's really not, you know, where you're from, it's where you're going, how [00:14:43] Speaker B: did you play become a thing? Tell me the origin stories. Because people now look at you guys and, like, I have a question later on, but how could these prospects get on you plays where they're playing? [00:14:55] Speaker A: I'm going to tell you why. You look left, you look right. If you're someone who don't have an inferiority complex or someone who's not a crab in the bucket and you want people to stand on your shoulders, you're going to assume they're going to be twice as good as you. So when you want people to be twice as good as you, you're going to make sure you do everything to do that. So the questions you're asking are questions for people who think inside the box. But, you know, who would have thought that we would have an MVP out of Canada who's probably not the most athletic, but he's the best player, probably one of the best players ever played in the NBA, And I'm going to tell you that. Not because I'm biased. He's one of the best players to probably ever play in the NBA because he took a team that everybody wrote off that whole franchise when they traded Paul George and everyone and. And he took that young group, youngest group to the finals, became MVP. And he's only 27. So in my opinion, without the fanfare, without the media in the market that nobody cares about. So in my opinion, he's number one to play the game. You know, clearly I'm biased, but if you look at all the analytics and tangibles, if he was an American guy, he would have a much bigger story. So that's just me. But in terms of Hamilton, I didn't think that was an issue. I just felt like I could do all my work in. In. In. In quiet, in silence, because I'm about being in the gym. I'm about taking a player from head to toe and breaking down what he's good at and what he's not and maximizing what he's good at and making him feel like no one's better than him, understanding that he's not better than anyone else, but no one's better than him. That what that does. It puts you on an even playing field. It doesn't matter if you're in Toronto, New York, DC, LA, Shanghai, doesn't matter. When you realize that your actions determine your outcome, you don't have to worry about it. If you're too short, too black, too small, too white, it doesn't matter because you focus on getting 1% better every day. And once you do that, you don't. It doesn't matter if you're from Canada or, you know, or from Detroit. It doesn't matter. [00:16:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Origin, time with origin. [00:16:56] Speaker A: You play, you play. Started with a guy named Vaughn Daly, who was from Hamilton. And he. We met through a friend, Loren Clark, who ended up being Blake Griffin's manager out of Hamilton. And he heard that I was going down to the gyms, you know, helping out kids at Central Memorial Rec center. And he said, you know what? He always had this dream of starting a team for kids in the city. A grade 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 3 teams. And it was his idea. Then he left. I ended up starting making the whole name. And I got together with Martin Valancourt, who was a French coach at acmt. And by the time Von came back, us three were able to kind of, you know, get that program running. And that program initially was to help kids get to NAI Division 1, but it was to give them a better life because most of the kids had come over from Congo, was a lot of Jamaican kids coming over from Toronto, and it felt as if they didn't fit in. Mainly because in Hamilton, it's, you know, it's. There's not a lot of people from those backgrounds there. And so my job was to make sure, until their dads came over from Congo or Belgium, whatever they were from, to make sure these kids didn't get in trouble, but made sure they were in the gym working on the right stuff. And it was a trick because I was a teacher, right. And I was able to use the education part to help them to advance. And it went really far. Before you know it, the kids started going back to their other clubs and they said, you know what? We want to stay with you. We're like, no, it's just a, you know, a spring summer thing. And then one thing led to another. I ended up going to McNabb High School and I was able to have a gym full time. And then the program just took off because everyone started transferring to the school full time. Development Shay. That's 180 school days, times how many years. It's a lot of development. And so the development aspect allowed me to help these kids to not only get to the level where people were supposedly better than them in Toronto or Detroit, the closest bigger cities, it was allowed them to pass them by really pinpointing this strengths that they had. So it's really. I use a lot of analytics, I use a lot of body movement, I use a lot of player comp, you know, and it really helped them to be the best versions of themselves. We didn't just put everybody in the gym and do the same thing. So that's the origin of it. It started with a guy named Von Daley, Martin Valancourt and myself. If you go to Uplay Canada, ig, we have a page there that shows who the founders, the city, etc. Etc. [00:19:28] Speaker B: I saw a post on IG recently. How many Uplay alumni are playing in the NBA? Nine players. Which is more than NBA players from Germany? From Serbia. [00:19:39] Speaker A: Correct. [00:19:40] Speaker B: Producing a lot more than some countries. [00:19:42] Speaker A: Correct. [00:19:42] Speaker B: Which is kind of crazy. What's it like to see the program, like, have an impact like this and help create a pathway for a lot of pros? [00:19:52] Speaker A: Honestly, it feels like we just started 20th year, starts in August. First is our 20th year that we started the program. And it just feels like we just started yesterday. It doesn't feel like we've done anything, you know, it. It felt. It feels like there's nothing to sit our hat on yet because we don't have a fund, we don't have our people. Putting money into a fund to help people who didn't make it to give them no interest loans or. We don't have a building yet or a gym that's a. You play gym that people's cousins and sisters who want, who want to come in and get some internship, we don't have that. So until we have that for the other 99% from the 1% that we created, it feels incomplete. It's great that we're helping to create players and, you know, helping to help people accomplish their dreams, but the biggest thing for us to have our own building, our own institution and our own database of, you know, of connections where people can go and get jobs, loans, et cetera, because that's the biggest thing I know that's a scary thing in Canada because it hasn't been done. We're supposed to be the AAU guys, which is code word. When you hear aau, that's code word for the brothers. Okay, let's be. Let's keep it a buck, you know, But I know that all the coaches who are out there sacrificing their time, money, time away from their children and families, I know what they're really doing. So people try to put us against each other, the craps in the bucket, we're not going to fall for it. It is a trick, you know, but the biggest thing is to make sure everyone who comes in our path leaves better for it, whether they become NBA player or executive or not. So you want to know what's inside of my head? My head is it's great to have, you know, so many players in the NBA, but nothing's really accomplished until their sisters and their cousins who can't play can utilize our platform to excel in life. [00:21:46] Speaker B: Leaving a legacy. [00:21:47] Speaker A: Legacy not just for myself, because when I'm gone in two gen and two, two generations, people forget about you. But it's what you, what you leave on. That's why I say passing that baton, you might not get to the end, but if you start that journey past the baton, that fourth person is going to cross that line. And so you had something to do with that. You can't run the whole race yourself. If you do, you're never going to make it. So my job is to run my few feet past the baton, even if it's the inception, and make sure whoever's at the end understands that there's a legacy that came through and there's a lineage, and that's what we're trying to create. [00:22:26] Speaker B: First time you met Shay, what was that? Interaction, like, what do you remember young SGA at the time and what stood out about him at that age? [00:22:37] Speaker A: I remember that his mom and his brother, amazing people. I wanted to help Shay because the support system. I said earlier that the support system and being intrinsically motivated are two things that attracts me. When I saw his mother, who's a former Olympian, his brother's probably the most creative guy. He's gonna be a billionaire. He's one of the smartest creative guys. What Shay is on the basketball court. Tomas, he is off the court. He's a genius, works hard, charisma. He could be the prime minister. I mean, this guy's special. Shay is like that in his own way. So when I first saw it, I saw a family of grace. I saw a family of hard work and determination. And that really attracted me to kind of say, what can I do for these people? And to this day, you know, I'm really good friends with the mom. The kids are doing great. But when I first saw him, I saw somebody who was really motivated. Any little detail you give him, he wouldn't just glance over it. He would take it and study that detail till he knew it. That was part of the fiber of his being. Like, he would take it so personal. He was intentional. And so, you know, I would say passionate on being the best in every step. You give him, say, make 10 layups, he'll make 12. He's always doing extra. But that comes from within. And I'm sure it comes from his mom and his dad, but that's what I saw when you. I'm attracted to people who want to be great. If you want to be great, I want to help you be great, but I can't want it more than you. [00:24:01] Speaker B: What was his workout routine like? People that are obviously saying, how can I get to that level? [00:24:05] Speaker A: Well, first of all, there's going to be no shade. You're not getting to Shay's life. You could probably be the best version of you. You could be the best Jamal Jenkins or whoever, but you're not going to be Shay. No. So let's just stop that now. [00:24:17] Speaker B: But they can work hard, right? [00:24:18] Speaker A: As working hard should be. If you have breath in air and you wake up and you can you see the sunlight, you should be working as hard as. Until your. Into your heart stop. Yep. You shouldn't be motivated by. [00:24:28] Speaker B: See, I want to get your thoughts on this. Then we'll come back to that question. I don't feel like Canadian players work hard enough like. Or just like players in general. Maybe this new generation, what's your thoughts on that in terms of just like, do you feel like there's a hunger? [00:24:42] Speaker A: I think so. I think every generation before is the people saying, your music sucks. [00:24:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:24:47] Speaker A: Or. Or you're not. This. In my day, we walk eight miles up the 22 ways. Guys have more resources. They don't need to work as hard. They can work smarter. Yep. So it's about being efficient because you could work hard and ruin your knees and have a six year career, or you could work smart and efficient and have a 20 year career, I. E. LeBron James. So what I'm telling you is that let's not be the old guy, say, get off our lawn. Let's evolve. And let's say, what do they have that we didn't have? Because for every hour we had to go to the gym, these guys can go on YouTube and learn how to do a step back. So I'm somebody who, even though I'm older, my mind is very young. So I'm thinking, what are young people doing? So I think they. I think it's easier for guys now with all the access. And I think there are dogs. I think it just comes in a different form because back in my day, the dogs were like the Knicks or the Pistons hitting you in the head. That was pretty primitive, you know. So my whole point is, let's see how you give this canvas to this kid. He's gonna make his own version of Mona Lisa. But it might be Beyonce in the picture, it might not be Mona Lisa because we're in a different time. So I would say we gotta see what they're doing because we passed the baton. They don't need to do what I would race is. But yes, some of these kids are hungry. I know some of the kids, all they do is think, eat, sleep, basketball. There's a kid named Nice Bakari. You talked about Will Riley. These guys, whatever happens in their careers, I know that these guys want it more than, you know, life itself, for lack of a better phrase. [00:26:17] Speaker B: I'll ask you about Nice Bakari later on in the show. The workout for Shay, what did it look like? Give me, like, what was Shay's high school routine like? [00:26:28] Speaker A: I will give you a framework, but I would never give the formula to Kentucky Fried Chicken or Coca Cola. I'm not trying to get put out of business, but what I can tell you is that it was very intentional. It was built on an 8020 principle. And that principle of, you know, of the 80% was, what do I need to do to stay on the court and be better than everyone else. And the other 20% was predicated around what is to come and how can I be prepared when it comes, I. E. The mid range. Coming back when Steph Curry was telling everybody to shoot threes and coaches said no mid ranges. So by the time it came back, you're already right on time. So I can say that it was intentional. It was daily. There were no days off. There was sick, messed up ankle. It may be laying in bed, shooting free throw, whatever it is. There was never a time where it was an excuse. Well, I got tomorrow because there might not be a tomorrow. So I can't give. I would be a fool to give a breakdown what I can say. There's a lot of ways to skin the cat. And you have to know your body, but you also have to have navigators around you that can guide you when you get off the track. Because even Einstein had a teacher. You understand what I'm saying? Even Muhammad Ali had a trainer. Everybody had someone. So I would say the kid gets all the glory, but more importantly, the work ethic and listening to the experts without trying to go around and get too many voices. So too many voices can make you paralyzed. And I know that Shay was able to really block it out and focus on the road ahead. [00:28:09] Speaker B: As a coach, how do you instill this killer mindset in players? Because some people look at Canadians and they're like, oh, they're more reserved, all that kind of stuff. [00:28:20] Speaker A: Stop the Canadian things. Canadian guys will destroy you. Of course I'm American. And I'm gonna tell you, don't mess with Canada. Yeah. Do not. Don't play them like that. Because that's some old school stuff from the 80s. That's not true. I'll take a team of Canadians anywhere. Somebody's gonna get destroyed. It's not gonna be Canadian, so let's keep it a buck. And I'm from the Bronx, 100%. So how you build that in them? If you help people to create their version of Spider man to a Peter Parker or your Bruce Wayne to Batman or Denzel in Training Day to Denzel the Family man, you don't. Off the court, you'd be the quietest, nicest guy in the world, I. E. Andrew Nemhardt. But when you get on the court, you gotta create that, you know, that Persona that you want. You have to become that character for that 48 minutes or 40 minutes, whatever the game is. And you have to make sure when you're on the line you leave it out there. So how you do that. And I'm not gonna give everything away because people never ask me. Other people, they never ask me. It's. We're getting it done. Like, I'm gonna be honest. So how you do it is you have to spend a lot of time with the kid and you have to show them examples of why you should do this. But it takes a long time. It's like a relationship. You can't come in on Christmas and say, daddy's home. You have to be the other 364 days and you. And then you know you can't do it one day. So if it's a lot of time commitment and making sure that they can see their little steps that they make is going somewhere. Because I always equate everything to the stock market. If everyone right now just invest in Koch C O K E and you just because Warren Buffett does it, and you'll see it goes up 0.3, down 0.1, up 1%, down 0.5, eventually it's going to staircase. If you just sit back and just put the work in. When you look back a year later, it's going 80%. But if every day you're looking on it saying, it's going to mess up your psyche. So in order for you to relax and become the best version you need, you got to know, you got to start with the end goal. I want to be here. Work backwards, and now you can see where you're going. Most people are walking without knowing what's ahead of them, so they're taking ginger steps as opposed to say, I know how it ends. I know how the movie ends. So let me come back here and now dissect each element so when I get to the end, I'm more prepared. It's easier said than done because I come from an education background, so I really know how to teach. And I teach very well. Not just tell people what to do, but I actually can still get on the court and show you. So a lot of these things these kids are doing, I can show them even though I'm older. It's hard to do is sitting down. Right? So I think the best thing you can do is not to trick kids if you don't know something. Say, I'm going to bring in a specialist. Stop trying to be the mom, the dad, the firefighter. Just say, hey, I'm going to. I'm the mom. I'm going to bring in someone else to do it. When you're able to, like, show Your limitations, the kid understands. Listen, there's a team of five guys. I just gotta be the best at this right now. Because when you lie to kids, they're not gonna believe anything you tell em when you tell them you could do it, you go NBA, they're gonna be like, man, you don't even believe that. So here's the first thing. Be honest with yourself for good or for worse. So when you're teaching the kid they can understand. You know what? He can't show me how to do this. He's gonna bring someone in. A lot of times we kind of insulate kids and when they get to Chicago, D.C. they're not ready. A lot of kids go to the States, they come back because someone didn't tell them that the coach is gonna put a size 12 medium in your ass and then you're going to run back because all your coaches told you were the best thing in the world. And so I would say being really hard on kids early is really good. And then scaling it back. And I'm sorry to everyone that's listening. If you play for me, they know how hard I am. [00:31:56] Speaker B: How would you describe yourself as a coach? [00:31:59] Speaker A: I'm a, I'm a nut job. Okay. These glasses, I look really put together when it comes to competition. I'm going to kill you, man. Like I'm going to. You're in trouble. You know, this is how everybody that plays for me thinks. When you see these skinny kids, big feet, in their mind, they think they're Mike Tyson. They think they're Mike Tyson because their leader is like that. And it's real, it's not a fake toughness. Not that I'm going to beat you up, but it's like you are not. You're going to have to kill me to beat me to go. I'm not going to do it. And so that mindset every day creates a toughness where you could be 18 as a rookie like Shay was and go out there and play against LeBron James and give him the business when he was with the Clippers and people like, well, I didn't even think he'd do well at Kentucky because you have a low self esteem. If you have a low self esteem, you probably shouldn't be helping kids out. You should probably put him with people who actually have a high sense of self worth. And if this hurts your, this is, if this hurts your feelings, you can't make great players, you can't cheat success, you can't lie to people, they're gonna find out you ain't the goods, man. So my thing is, if you're not the goods, find somebody that is the goods. And so these kids, I'm telling you, in their minds they're thinking that they're just as good as LeBron when they're 18. The people around them might be like, get a, get a, you know, get a, you know, get an autograph. But at the end of the day, I know how these kids think. So when you say Hamilton and all that, it doesn't matter where you're from, man, because Luka Donchi came over here and smacked people around. Shay went down to America and look what he did. So when you have that mindset, it doesn't matter if you're 6 foot tall, I. E. Ryan Emhardt or 611 Miller, it doesn't matter. Or somewhere between like Shade and Sharpe. The mindset is I don't care where I'm from, I don't care if I have two car garage and you grew up somewhere else. We're on the court and my Persona is I'm going to destroy you. So that's the mindset that you put, that's how you put into people. But you, it has to be consistent and you have to be unapologetically a jackass. Yeah. [00:34:09] Speaker B: Shane Sharp, you mentioned another guy. I feel like you breed a lot of under underdogs or people that are hidden, you know, before they're seen. Right where sort of intentional too. I think we've talked about it before. Shaden became an instant, like jumped to number one in the ESPN rankings. It seemed like it was overnight. But the work, talk about the work that people don't know because people are just like, oh wow, another Canadian guy. But talk about the work that you saw behind the scenes where the coaching, the development that went into it. [00:34:43] Speaker A: Nothing is overnight. It's only overnight to you because you weren't paying attention or you didn't see. Nothing is overnight. All these musicians that come out all the time, nothing's overnight for him. What helped him was that Covid happened so he was able to be in the gym. I know people, a lot of people don't know this is a school in Royal Crown for the local people. I started the program and at that time Covid happened. So we would have SGA come in in the morning. He would shoot around with Nathaniel Mitchell. Great trainer, shout out. Nathaniel did a lot for Shay, still works with him to this day. But at that time we had all of the guys that's now in the NBA. We had Caleb Houston in there. We had Josh Primo in there, we had Shaden Sharp in there. Nobody knew who he was. People say yeah, he was good in sixth grade. Okay, everybody gotta stop this. You know, it was a lot of work. So he was able to get in the gym every day. His mom and dad would drive him two hours from London and he would work out two hours with me and then go back every day and there [00:35:39] Speaker B: I forgot what the car was. I remember doing a story back in the day. [00:35:42] Speaker A: Dedication and the support system. Those people, what they did for their son. No, I don't many people wouldn't do a major sacrifice. That sacrifice they didn't have. They could have just been like, oh, they're good enough to find you, they're good enough to find you. But if you have the tools to be found to get the work in so when they find you, you're ready, you might want to use it. And that family did that. And I'm telling you, had they not done that, things would have been different. So he was able to get the package of how to become a three level scorer, how to become a killer, how to have handle. Because he was always can jump and always can shoot. But a lot of people can do that. But how do you put it all together? Become one of you know, 4900 ever in the face of the, in the history of the world to ever play in the NBA. 4900 people, that's not a lot of people. So how do you become one of those? You have to do things differently. And he was able to really want to do and he's a calm guy. And the development process for him was very detailed. It was, it was just trying to make sure that he can get his shot off the dribble and making sure that he could use his strong lower body to create enough separation to get that shot off. And you know, with his first step, how to get to angles. It was very scientific. It wasn't rah rah, just knock the guy over. Big, strong. It was very cerebral I would say. And so now you can see he's the leading scorer in his draft class at 21 points a game, more than Paolo, more than Chet. Highest scorer in his class, didn't play a lick of college ball. [00:37:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it's crazy too because he was supposed to be in the draft class. Wemby, Scoot, Henderson, all that kind of stuff gets drafted, I think was the seventh overall. Seventh overall. Can you do me a favor though after this? Can you call Shaden after this? Tell him to save the dunk contest because I am tired of this league needs it at this point. Well, I know it's probably beneath him at this point because he's probably watching when you. [00:37:35] Speaker A: You got injuries, you're tired, you know, you go in there, listen, everybody has to do what they want to do. It's his career. But, you know, I hopefully. Hopefully he does it. But like I said, you push him, you push it. I would love for him to do it, you know, but like I always said, you have to make your own journey. There's people that I help get to levels where I don't speak to them much because they grew up as men in their life, and they got to create their own legacy the same way. I probably don't talk to all our coaches that I work where they didn't get me help to get me to the next level. But at the end of the day, people go in their path in life and, you know, they circle back around when they get past 30. All of our guys, the oldest guy we have in the NBA is 27. These are babies, man. They haven't even. I mean, they don't even have a kid going to school yet, you know, going to high school. So they're. They're grown in their life. But, yes, I would love for them to do the dunk contest because I'm a fan, you know, I'm a fan. [00:38:27] Speaker B: Was there a moment that, like, shocked you maybe early on during the process where he took off and you're like, I haven't seen this type of athleticism in a while. [00:38:37] Speaker A: Yeah, it's probably about 20 times. I think every time he does something, I was. I was surprised because I'm a fan at the end of the day, because every time I've trained him, and everyone knows this, I never let anyone dunk in any workout I have. I've never even. Sometimes I don't even think I knew she could dunk until the game came, and I'm like, what? And then they said. And I, oh, yeah. The reason I do that is because I know you can jump high. So when I'm training you, I want to use the time wisely. So I took away what you do best because I know you already have an A plus in that. So we're going to work on the C, the D, the B stuff. I've never even let him touch the rim ever, in hundreds of workouts. And then when the game comes, he's doing his stuff, because when people dunk or do something that they're good at all the time. Remember Vince Carter? I don't want to dunk anymore. [00:39:22] Speaker B: Yeah, as long as you remember that. Because he tries to do a little bit religious history, acting like he never said that. [00:39:26] Speaker A: He said it. But here's the thing. I did it on purpose because I didn't want to spend time with him, Duncan. I wanted to spend time on what he needed to be able to play basketball for the next 15 years. Because my time is limited, too. I don't have infinite time. I still have daughters. I still have things. I get sisters. So for me, it's like, if I'm going to get in the gym, we're going to carve out every moment of your workout so that when we're done, we can measure the growth. All right? The growth of your, you know, performance in terms of how well you are moving along the chain to get closer to KD Kawhi. Because when I. When I do my training workouts, I'm not aiming to just make you the best. I'm trying to get you caught up to the people who are supposedly better than you. Back then we used to use Toronto guys because there's a lot of good Toronto guys that used to be on gta, hoops, something, some kind of site when I was. [00:40:21] Speaker B: I'm forgetting the site. [00:40:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it was a site before Twitter and all that stuff. And I didn't know these people, so I just said, go. He's supposed to be going, he's great. So we always match up. And when we passed those people, then we started saying, well, you gotta be better than Chauncey Billups. You gotta be better than this. And we use that as just trying to measuring stick. And it really helped a lot. [00:40:40] Speaker B: What, what does a typical, like Dwayne Washington training session, you kind of teased it without giving too much of your secrets. But what is a typical training session look like? Obviously focusing on the stuff that you're like, yeah, stop. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Don't. [00:40:53] Speaker B: Don't. What is dunking gonna give you? [00:40:55] Speaker A: There's four components. The first is I always watch video to show you what it should look like at the end. [00:41:00] Speaker B: Will matches mentions that I feel like in every interview I've watched him. How much film has helped him process the game and doing stuff that he's doing on the court. Now continue. [00:41:09] Speaker A: So film always starts with the first 10 minutes so that you can see how it looks. There's nothing worse than saying, somebody do this and you don't know how it's supposed to look. So we start with the film and Then we go into. We go into finishing at the rim stuff mid range and then deep. And within all of those, we work on the side of the floor. So today we'll pick the left side of the floor. We'll work at the 45, we'll work in the corners and we just try to attack either closeouts, stampedes, shimmy moves, and then we do off the bounce four dribbles trying to be able to score, whether it's a quick closeout or. Or you got to create your own shot and trying to cut down angles. So what I would do is say you got to assume that help side is so strong because you're such a great player, so you only have this much room to navigate. Can you keep your body and manipulate your defender? Once you get a half step on him to make two play one. So now you can either score or pass. If they two doesn't play one, you go. If two play one, you got to be able to make all of the passes. I remember with Shay at McNabb, I would literally do passing drills with him for like 45 minutes. We would drive from five spots, you know, corner, corner, winging point, and we would just drive in and be able to make every pass from the right hand on all these sides and then left. We didn't do a lot of shooting trails because you're going to pass more than you can shoot. You're going to have a lot of time to work on your shooting. But once you become a great passer, just like Luca and Shay is as well, then people have to respect that you can get people open. And now you can work in your ISO game. So even setting up a game, and I'm sorry, Will, we talked about this yesterday, but I'm going to tell a little something. [00:42:43] Speaker B: I love it. [00:42:44] Speaker A: Will's going to end up being the point guard. He's always been the point guard. It's just because he grew. Okay, fine. He's still going to be point guard. [00:42:49] Speaker B: Can you, can you. Can you squash the rumors before you get inside what you talked about? How tall is he? [00:42:54] Speaker A: Because Will is. Will is six, nine and a quarter. I thought he grew 6 10. [00:42:58] Speaker B: I'll be honest. [00:42:58] Speaker A: I see he says he's 6 10. [00:43:00] Speaker B: I believe it because I see him at the combine. [00:43:02] Speaker A: Yeah, he's tall. [00:43:03] Speaker B: And then I seen him from the hoop summit. Was it the last time I saw him? [00:43:06] Speaker A: I think hoops. [00:43:07] Speaker B: It might have been around that time. He looked completely other. [00:43:09] Speaker A: This guy grew. No, I know they have met 6:10. And that's good. The reason I say 6, 9, because I want him to still have the ball in your hands. When they say six double digits. Yeah. Then they put you as a power forward. [00:43:19] Speaker B: So continue. What's the conversation? [00:43:21] Speaker A: So you have to be able to be aggressive early so you can get in the paint with two feet to make. People have to stop you. And that's how you become a playmaker. If you can't beat your guy, you can't make plays. So what a lot of people do, you pick and roles. But what if you know it's a switch? You still gotta beat the next guy. So you can use a 50 picking roles. So you gotta learn how to manipulate a guy to get them shifting. If you get them shifting left or right or going backwards or coming up or standstill, you have options based on what they do. So my job is to know what to do when they either move or don't move back up or come up. And that takes a lot of time. If I had a dollar for every minute that I put into helping a kid understand that concept, I would have a lot of money. I would be rich as hell. But the end of the day, that is, you know, how you become a playmaker. So that's how I would my training session go. Video. Attacking the rim, different angles, inside hand, the Ross Strickland package that I learned. And then mid range stuff because that's the most important shot in the game because people will protect the basket and then be able to create your shot off the three. Catch and shoot, catch on the hop. One, two, step. There's so much. I have a book, just like Nas has a book of rhymes. I have a book of crazy drills. I'm old school, so I can't really. Somebody can see my drills, but it won't matter because that wouldn't be the thing for the player they're working out because it's individual for that player and how they move and what they need to work on. [00:44:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I feel like Will's footwork is [00:44:49] Speaker A: another level that's 90% will. So will has really good footwork because Will likes to make people look silly. You know, it's like a combination of when I was a little bit younger and you guys were younger, the. And one mixtapes. You had the hot sauce and all that. Yeah, that was. That was kind of crazy. But when you take some of those elements of shifting what I said, going backwards forward, and you include that into something that's really structured, it looks really cool and it's effective, you know, this is what I would say. If you're a young coach or somebody's trying to get to that level, just have your kids play tag and have them play dodgeball. [00:45:27] Speaker B: Oh, the dodging. [00:45:28] Speaker A: Yeah. And then put a ball in their hands and then understand the movements are gonna be the same. You're trying to make when people go one way, or you're trying to sell opposite with your eyes, with your hips. It's all the same way. We've all had those movements as little kids. When we get to basketball and everybody has to slide this way. No, you can karaoke slide backwards. You can hop slide, you can cross step. There's a defense and offense. There's different movements, it's different packages. If you're going to teach defense like this, but that means you're going to teach basketball like Bob Cousy. It doesn't work that way. So we. You can have a flare of the game if that's who you are. Remember the alter ego thing I talked about? Will is a quiet guy, but on the court, you wouldn't tell because his game is loud. [00:46:10] Speaker B: And I heard he talks a lot of trash. [00:46:12] Speaker A: He talks a lot. [00:46:13] Speaker B: Talks a lot of trash. [00:46:14] Speaker A: Shay's a very quiet guy, but he's a killer. On the court, you wouldn't. He's a nice guy, you know, great person. But on the. Andrew Nemhardt, these guys are the nicest guys in the world. These guys, I trust him with my kids. That's how much. But on the court, they're gonna kill you and your cousin. You know what I'm saying? So it's okay to be able to distinguish those two and, you know, compartmentalize that. But the movement and how the body moves to avoid evade and set up, it doesn't change because you have a ball in your hand. Or football, Basketball or football doesn't matter. So once you're able to use those concepts that you learned from 3 years old in basketball, you go, wait, this is not that difficult. But it looks silly when you're doing it. And a lot of people want to look cool. The best thing people can do is it's okay to look really silly. You have to look silly, make mistakes to be great. If you want to be Mr. Cool Guy, you're not gonna make it nonchalant. [00:47:09] Speaker B: I like that because I've never heard it, like, described that way. Like tag, dodgeball, a lot of gems. Because, like, the movement, the dodging, the weaving, like, people don't. That's a lot of gems right there. I remember being at An EYBL session. And I was interviewing, I think, for a story for Will at the time, probably ahead of the draft combine, and Durant's pops, Wayne, comes up to us, and out of nowhere, he hears what we're talking about, and he's like, yeah, Will killed us. And this was a game on the session. What do you remember about that game and what Will did? I think that's. I think he missed, like, one shot. [00:47:46] Speaker A: He had 42 points. I think 44. He was going for 50. I was on the bench. And what he did was he started. He was really aggressive. He started hitting threes, getting to the mid range, getting to the rim, and all of a sudden he just started feeling it. So with step back, it was against triple team, double team. It was a game that we have on our site on uplay uplaycanada.com and it was something that I probably never seen before. I mean, he was scoring from all different levels, hand in his face. It was phenomenal. The funny thing is, he's gonna have several games like that in the NBA because they have 82 games. And when people see it, it's gonna remind him of some T. Mac stuff. It's gonna remind him of a lot of different things. But again, that Canadian thing, we got to throw that out the window because Jamal Murray set the tone. You know, Corey Joseph won the championship. It doesn't matter what club you started from in Canada, a lot of people have paved the way. There's some dogs. And truthfully, there should have been more guys that made it, but the platforms weren't there, and the. And, you know, the. The pathway wasn't clear. I think it's a lot clearer now, [00:48:52] Speaker B: and some trial and error people have to go through. [00:48:54] Speaker A: It's trial and error. I'm glad I came on the heels of people already, you know, doing it because I. I didn't come and start anything. All I did was come in Hamilton and do my thing in Hamilton. And, you know, we were in the right place, right time, eybl, et cetera. But my knowledge base is very vast. I gotta admit, I am a nerd when it comes to basketball, and I'm relentless. But a lot of people are. Sometimes you gotta have opportunity, you gotta have opportunity, and I was able to have opportunity, but we haven't done anything yet. Like, in my opinion, we're probably 10 years away from saying, oh, we did something in 10 years. I'll say, yo, we did something. But right now I just feel like, you know, we're in the fifth grade and we gotta go to 12th grade to graduate. [00:49:34] Speaker B: Any similarities you see with Will, Shaden, Shay, that you're like, wow, this is [00:49:39] Speaker A: the only similarity I would say with all of them to respect what Shay has accomplished so far and shading averaging 21 and Will's just starting, he has a long way to go, is that they all have a unique talent of dominating the other, dominating the other nine guys on the court, like being the best of the guys. And that's really a mindset. Obviously physically they all have different traits, you can see that. But in terms of the mindset I can say that when they decide to be the best player in that arena, they can do it. And that's something self belief, training, work ethic. Because remember confidence comes from your work. You can't be confident really and you didn't put the work. And I'm going for a biology test, I didn't study. I could come in with my chest out like this. I'm up in here, I'm going to fail. But when you put the work in, that's where real confidence comes from. That's why you don't see me around. I'm not in gyms recruiting little kids. No. People don't even know who I am. They don't even know. You know why? Because I'm in the lab, okay? It don't take me eight times to see a player. I see a player once on a clip. I can tell I'm fortunate to have that ability. However, you know, that's just something I'm good at. But I'm in the lab. So my confidence comes from putting in the work, making sure that my players that I work with have the edge over players that they're going to play against. [00:51:06] Speaker B: NIL has been a big thing with players in the high school, college world over the last few years. How has that like affected your advice when it comes to players? What is like this is what you should watch out for. This is what situation like, you know, it's a lot of now like money being thrown at players. [00:51:24] Speaker A: The NIL hasn't changed me because a person that helps to create players, you don't have to change anything. What it has brought a lot of people who don't really care about the journey and the end goal. See what did I tell you earlier? I said we want to see how you want it to end and work backwards. I want it to end where you are a grandfather and all your kids have what they want and they don't have to struggle. Like maybe your grandparents Did. So when that's my end, I can't think short term, which is why I believe a lot of our kids are going further, is because we're really thinking long term. Not that it's better or worse than anything else. We all have our philosophies. But that's something that I feel like I take pride in, is saying, hey, how do you want this movie to end? Every movie have different realities. All, you know, have different versions. And so when they decide what version they want, we kind of work towards that. Because at the end of the day, what you going to do? Have $8 billion and have a nicer casket than the next guy? At the end of the day, the journey, the process is the. Is the product. Like, because you can't get to 80 years old and say, I got a million dollars in the bank, but your life was crap. So you want to make sure that you enjoy each day. So when you become 80, 75, you look back because they're going to forget about you. Toronto mostly forgot about Vince Carter. A lot of people who. Vince, who? So you will be forgotten, but will not be forgotten is relationships you build with people and that time and how you accomplish. Why people get up, why Bill Gates, Warren. But all these guys get up in the morning even though they're billionaires, is because the sense of accomplishment is a drug. You can accomplish things that other people think, oh, you should be done, go on the island. No, I want more. I want to do more. Because accomplishing things help you to stay alive. When people get goals to accomplish, they perk up, they sharpen, they focus. So even when these guys are done with basketball, they're going to have family goals, they're going to have business goals, they're going to have, you know, I'm going back to my country, where my mother's from, and I'm going to do fix that. This is just one chapter and it's going to end very quickly. Everybody who's listening to this, just think about when you were in second, third grade. It seemed like yesterday. So when you snap your fingers, that's a generation. How are you going to tell your story that you were great, you made a great, lot of great layups because a lot of people forgot about Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic freaking Johnson, one of the best players ever, Larry Bird. So no matter how great you are, is about the stories that's going to be told when you are with people that you love, care about in the journey. So with the nil, the NL is just a distraction. Is a distraction. It should have came a long time ago because it's fair. But it's a distraction when people want to focus on the short term. You know how many times people have done things short term for money and then they see that person eight years from now and then it's like, I don't even know what I did with that money, but my relationship is effing screwed. You got to live with that. So my whole thing is, if you're going to work with kids, be prepared to know your why. We always tell kids, know your why. Know your why as an adult because you listen. Nobody has to listen to what I say. All they got to do is check a resume. Just check the resume. Over time, your actions determine who you are. Over time you're going to have some ups and downs like the stock market. We talked about Coke. It's going to go like this, but eventually you wouldn't end up up here. I promise you you're going to have bad days. I promise you every day you're going to do something bad. I promise you you're going to miss a shot. I promise you you're going to miss a lab. Shooter ball, Steph Curry. That doesn't mean you stop shooting. Get better the next possession, get better the next day, get better the next relationship. Because really all these things are transferable across life. Basketball is the metaphor for life. You don't get one dunk and then you win the championship. Some of the teams that start eight and no in the beginning of the season, by the end of the year, they're breaking up the whole team. You know what I'm saying? So I do put this in the kids heads. I do it quote, unquote, religiously because I want. When I stop breathing and people forget about me in 60 years, I want to be able to pass that baton. [00:55:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Talking about passing the baton, you launched Ask Coach dw. [00:55:50] Speaker A: Yes. [00:55:50] Speaker B: Basketball consulting Service. [00:55:51] Speaker A: I'm excited about it. [00:55:52] Speaker B: How did that come about? Giving people an opportunity to book a session with you and figure out sort of like also their why and then like how they can navigate their future and figure out what. What they want. [00:56:03] Speaker A: I wanted to shrink the world in terms of making it smaller so people have access to information that is going to help them get to where they want to be. There's always been a lot of fake people out there that you say, how do you. How do I get? I'm gonna get. I'm ask you something that one of my best friends told me do you know how to get to my house? [00:56:24] Speaker B: If you give me the address. [00:56:26] Speaker A: Do you know how to get there right now? [00:56:28] Speaker B: No. No, I don't. [00:56:28] Speaker A: Okay, so how can you tell someone else how to get there? [00:56:31] Speaker B: Give me the address. [00:56:32] Speaker A: Even if I give you the address? [00:56:34] Speaker B: Oh, instructions, Directions. [00:56:36] Speaker A: Okay. [00:56:37] Speaker B: Turn left in the gardener. [00:56:39] Speaker A: So we have directions from people like LeBron James. We have people to say, this is how you do it. Listen to your coach do all this. People don't do it. So you can have all the directions, and people still don't do it. [00:56:48] Speaker B: 100. [00:56:49] Speaker A: So my thing to you is you have to know who you are, because this journey is an art and a science. The art is how your natural essence and vibe goes within the structure. Because I can give you a math problem, and I can give him a math problem he can solve to get the same answer. But he doesn't have to show his work because he just knows how to do it in his head. You have to show every step. So the point of this is that when you did. When I did that, Ask Coach DW is to show people a roadmap based on where they are starting, their mindset, their support system, because they might not even have a boat. You might need to take a boat to my house, but you don't have a. You don't have a boat. So how are you going to get there? You're just going to say, I'm not going. [00:57:25] Speaker B: I'm going to swim on what if [00:57:27] Speaker A: you can't swim, You're a brother. [00:57:30] Speaker B: I can swim. [00:57:31] Speaker A: I can't swim. My name is Washington. There's a lot of us. You know, it was a big Washington, I guess. But my point is, I did the Ask Coach DW because I wanted parents. I wanted coaches and kids to be able to ask questions unbiased, where they can get answers to where it may lead, whether that's scholarship, nil, NBA. I want to be able to clear the path for as many people as possible because this is where I get my motivation. And my reward comes from seeing other people achieve because I have family members, friends that didn't make it. You know, they're not breathing, you know, because we're coming from hoods and things have happened. And I look back and I look at some of these kids, and I see my cousin, I see my uncle, I see my friend. I'm like, yo, that's. And I feel like I'm still here. They're literally been 6ft deep for 18, 25 years. Like, real talk. So I'm like maybe I can help this kid. And how I can help kids is through education and basketball. Those are my things. So when you blend the two, you get that. So ask coast dws to help anyone from any walk of life, from Serbia to Pakistan to Canada to Beijing, doesn't matter. I can help to answer their questions, to make the road clearer for them. Why? Because that's what I would want if someone was in my position that can do that for me. And all you got to do is help one people, each one, teach one. But I was able to help a lot of people and I'm still going to do it. I people project what they would do when they get to a position that they think I'm at because they think that's the end goal. But there's always a tomorrow. Even if you tomorrow you hit the lottery. What are you gonna do? Is he gonna sit down, eat ice cream all day? [00:59:06] Speaker B: I'm gonna invest, get back. [00:59:08] Speaker A: That's good. [00:59:09] Speaker B: Podcasts will have. [00:59:10] Speaker A: That's what you would do. And you will help a lot of people. Right, but other people can do what they want. [00:59:14] Speaker B: Everyone's on payroll. [00:59:15] Speaker A: Yeah, but my point is, I've helped people that said, hey, when I get there, this is gonna happen and it changes and that's fine. My point is you get to decide what you want to do, but you gotta opportunity my job with, with launching ask coach [email protected] you can go to the IG, you can go and book a session. And it's not cheap sessions because if you can do something really well, it's more, I'm going to Real Madrid, I'm going to teach them, I'm going to go to Barcelona, going to talk to them. You don't do it for free. I've done a lot of things for free for a long time, but now you have to be able to, you know, I'm getting older. You got to be able to do what you do in the comforts of your own home. So that's why I launched it, because it's not just a Canadian thing. Because sometimes the people in your own backyard will take you for granted until someone else co signs you. You know, that's facts. [01:00:03] Speaker B: Ask coachW.com I seen you're also working with Nice Bakari. We talked about it. Mentioned him earlier. Out of bc, committed to California. You've been working with him. I remember you telling me about him years ago. What excites you about him? He's another player that's sort of again under the radar. Yeah, Just like how you like it. But people are starting to take notice. [01:00:25] Speaker A: What excites me about him is that he's from British Columbia because I think in Ontario and this happened in New York City too when Telfair came out, when he went to the NBA. When somebody or a few people make it from your area, everybody, certain people start to think it's going to always happen. You know, it's like getting a big paycheck and thinking it's always going to be the same. And so I think that I like other people in other provinces to get the same opportunities because I think sometimes we get spoiled as human beings when things seem to happen around us. Now it's not happening to you, but everybody in New York that they thought they were going to be 50 cent in Jay Z. Yeah. So we know it's not going to happen. But I like, I want to expand what we're doing to show that we're helping people from all over Canada. Now. Bakari is a very unique kid because he has, he has a kind of a shade and sharp type of athleticism and body, et cetera. Shot making. Yeah. He is somebody that didn't get to handle the ball a lot. So now you can see we're working on that and I'm kind of putting it out there so people can see the journey because I have so much video with Shay and Shade and all these guys. But we don't put it out there because we don't wanna. Sometimes if you have a lot of success, a lot of people don't wanna see that. [01:01:32] Speaker B: It's an evil eye. [01:01:33] Speaker A: They don't like that. And that's human beings from the beginning of time. Genghis Khan or whatever. Right. Napoleon, doesn't matter. So it's not really anybody's fault. It's just how we're wired as human beings. There's four types of people in this world, you know, there's takers, there's givers and there's two in between that I don't wanna get into because that would take too long. But let's just say some people don't like to see other people happy because of what happened to them or their personality. So, yeah, so with Nice, I really want him to do well. He is one of the next up for sure. And there's a few other guys who I really like. But I'm working with him specifically because he is somebody that is able to, that I've known for a long time. I like underdogs. When people are turning away from You. And when people don't believe you can do it. That's what I like. That's what I like. Because that. It makes it more fulfilling. Everyone can jump on with LeBron and say, hey, you know, everybody knows gonna be one of the best ever. But when you work with somebody who no one's looking, that seems to be more motivation. I hope that makes sense. But look out for him. He's going to Cal. There's a few other guys. You know, Xavier, really good player that come out. There's Yousef. There's a lot of guys. But nice is somebody I'm working with because. Just because you're in, you play. I don't. I don't get to work with you because people come in with their trainers, their coaches, and everyone. But there's a few people that I work with based on how it works out. [01:02:55] Speaker B: Yeah. How's preparation for AAU season? Right around the corner, too. What does that look like for people that don't know getting that kind of situated? And I know you're really behind the scenes with all that kind of stuff. [01:03:07] Speaker A: Yeah. The club season's coming up, so you have the All Canada game, which is the same weekend, I believe, as the national team tryouts. After that weekend, we start practice second weekend of April, and we have a very deep squad, as always, all three age groups. There's going to be some guys in the next five years. You're going to be talking about them on the couch saying, hey, there's some guys. There's some guys. I just hope that the support systems and the bad recruiting tactics, because you can recruit against other people but not disrespect them. Especially if you disrespect people in a way and lie about them, people are going to Google and say, no, this guy does this. So I want everybody in the ecosystem to recruit, but not take it to that level where you're making the families and parents feel like they have no faith in the community because everybody's badmouthing. So I would say our team is really, really strong. We have some players that's going to play basketball for a really long time and make a whole lot of money. But again, the end goal is to create that ecosystem and that fraternity by which it feeds in itself and helps everyone around it. And so we're going to keep doing what we do. I love competing. I'm a competitor. But I also like to see people's journey go from underdog to champion and then to give back the full circle. [01:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah, we got to say to give back more often, I feel like. But it's starting to happen, you know. What's the most rewarding part for you? When I talk about helping players development, seeing the progression from like maybe a guy that couldn't dribble with his left hand and then now is he like, what's your. What's your favorite part? Just about or most rewarding part about this? [01:04:53] Speaker A: That's the best question I ever been asked. And I've done a lot of these. I could. I'm going to be honest, the most rewarding part is to see someone accomplish something that they didn't really think they could do it because it might be your uncle, your mom, you're gonna make it. You're gonna get a scholarship. You're gonna. But they don't. They never really done. They don't know. They just trying. Everybody thinks that little Johnny's the best thing in the world. If every parent was right, there'll be a million lawyers, there'd be 29 MBAs, there'd be 85 NFLs. You know, everybody would be a billionaire. But when people accomplish things through hard work, trust in the process of skilled navigators and keeping their support system tight and respecting and taking care of the people that's been around them for a while and not getting too big, you know, and staying humble, that is something that really is rewarding. Seeing somebody go through the process but not be tainted and not forget where they came from. You know, I'm saying that, to me, is something that money can't buy. Because some of the happiest people in the world are in places, the poorest places in the world. And some of the most miserable people are the people that have the most resources that we as humans say is supposed to be valuable. There's nothing that can replace a hug from a grandmother or someone that you love. You can't pay for that. There's people that would pay a million dollars for that, but they can't do it. So when we realize that, you know, resources are tools to help advance things and not the end goal is when you would have true happiness. You know, you need those sources, but that can't be the end goal. Because I've seen people make so much money, you know, not in basketball, that they're still miserable. You hear the stories, but I've seen people just going to work for 30 years, opening the doors in the 60s and 70s. Happiest people, grandkids love them. They got the barbecue, they're doing the bus stop, the electric slide. They're having a ball. You know, that's where real wealth comes from. It comes from the respect and appreciation of your loved ones. Because guess what? When they bury your black ass. Okay. When they bury your black ass, you want to make sure that the stories that people are telling is like, you know what? He looked out for me. Nobody knew but he did this. Nobody want to hear you at the funeral talking about he was a dick. I'm glad he's out of here. So that's what you. That's the end goal. You understand? Yeah. [01:07:16] Speaker B: Before I let you go, you've had talked about it. Uplays produce so much talent. I gotta hear the starting five. The all time starting fight. This might upset some people. [01:07:28] Speaker A: I don't give a damn. [01:07:30] Speaker B: What is your. You play all time starting five. [01:07:32] Speaker A: Number one is the sga. Sga. Number one. Number two, swingard. RJ Barrett. Okay, I'm putting RJ Barrett. [01:07:44] Speaker B: Yep. [01:07:45] Speaker A: As like a love him. [01:07:46] Speaker B: He's gonna get to the rim. [01:07:47] Speaker A: R.J. barrett. Yeah. [01:07:50] Speaker B: Oh, this is where it gets interesting. [01:07:54] Speaker A: Oh, Ryan Himhart. [01:07:56] Speaker B: Ryan. So he was. So who's point guard? [01:07:59] Speaker A: No. This is a new age all star. This is no position. [01:08:01] Speaker B: No positions. [01:08:02] Speaker A: Ryan freaking Nimhart. [01:08:05] Speaker B: He would love small for position. [01:08:06] Speaker A: I love that guy. He's never lost the comp. Ryan was with us since eighth grade. He's never lost a head to head battle. Wow. Ever in the history of uplay. Wow. I. I can't say Andrew because he, he had that last year. He didn't play. So those three. Then I would go with. There's people not going to know some of these guys, but those guys are NBA so it looks cool. I would go with, oh man, this is hard. Yeah. [01:08:34] Speaker B: Who's at your fourth position? [01:08:36] Speaker A: I would say Tyrell Edwards. Okay. People don't know him. He's coaching his own program. He's probably the most athletic player to come out of our program. And yes, that includes Jaden Sharp. [01:08:46] Speaker B: Yeah. What was he like? [01:08:48] Speaker A: He was a killer. He was like a little run out test mentally but on the court he was like J.R. smith. But you need that can shoot it dunk everything. The first player to ever attend Huntington Prep. [01:09:00] Speaker B: Wow. Who's a five for you? [01:09:02] Speaker A: Hug. All right, number five would be. I'm gonna say shade and sharp. [01:09:10] Speaker B: Shade and sharp. [01:09:11] Speaker A: I'm gonna say shade and sharp. [01:09:12] Speaker B: Shade, Sharp. [01:09:13] Speaker A: I'm gonna. Because Shaden Sharp embarrassed people. He had LeBron Carmelo. Everybody coming to the games now everybody knows I don't give a damn. So all the players know how I get it because I'm a real dude. I go at him. I've been, I put. I'm. I've been so hard on my players. They know. But those would be the five that I would say and for a lot of different reasons. But those would be my 5 all time in a you play uniform after what they do is totally different. But that's my five. [01:09:42] Speaker B: Any honorable mentions? [01:09:44] Speaker A: Yes. Honorable mention. Will Riley. Will Riley and Will, you're younger, so that's why I didn't put you on. Yeah. [01:09:51] Speaker B: You're like, hey, Will. [01:09:52] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:09:52] Speaker B: Let's a few years. We'll give you some. We know what you did. [01:09:56] Speaker A: Will Riley from Francis Kipway. Yeah. Daniel Diazarski, Emmanuel Miller, Nolan Narain. Yeah. [01:10:05] Speaker B: Shout out to Francis. [01:10:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Emmanuel. I felt bad for him. He was like, we put him on every best player he game winners. But he had R.J. andrew, Tyrese Samuel. He had like A.J. law. Everybody was on his team. [01:10:16] Speaker B: So what was the best team you ever coached? You play. What was the best team? [01:10:21] Speaker A: The best team I ever coached was, oh, man. The best team I ever coach. Well, that is tough. I can't really answer that. [01:10:39] Speaker B: Or your most fun. Or you're just like, wow, this is [01:10:41] Speaker A: the most fun team I ever coached. Was a team that was one of the first uplay teams. It was the kids born in 95. They had Francis Kipway, Daniel Diazarski, Nick Burke, Jordan Tello. And I can't remember who i5 was, but that team was my most fun because all those guys ended up going to McNabb High School. I had them every day in gym class. And I had him, you know, one in the science class. And those guys were such underdogs. This was before the eybl. This is before all of that. That was my most fun team. Those guys were so appreciative. In Hungary, one's a police officer, one in finance. Francis works in NBA. So that's my. And a lot of people don't know everybody wants to hear the NBA stuff. But there's an origin of that. [01:11:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:26] Speaker A: The people that passed, they passed the baton. So that there is, you know, a Will Riley, that there is a Tristan Beckford. They passed the baton. So my thing is never forget your ancestors that made the sacrifices to get you where you are now. There's probably people who left their families at 12 years old, 13 years old, so that they can leave, and their parents probably made them leave their country, whether it was Ghana or Congo or, you know, Haiti, whatever, you know, Afghanistan. And because of those 12, 13 year olds came. They're the great grandfathers of people that we look up today. So that's why you never want to forget quote unquote, where you come from. Not because it's a cool catchphrase, but because without those forefathers and grandmothers and people that's making sacrifices, that's doing jobs and washing people's clothes, who calling them the N word or whatever, that you can be here owning a big mansion, don't forget that, because without them, there is no you. [01:12:18] Speaker B: Dwayne Washington, the architect. I like that. That game's wavy. I'll be honest. Tap in with Dwayne. You play ask coachw.com basketball consultant services can't thank you enough for coming downtown. I know I don't know was the last time you're in downtown. [01:12:34] Speaker A: Two weeks ago. [01:12:35] Speaker B: Two weeks ago. But I feel like you're never in the same. I'm everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. So Dwayne, can't thank you enough. [01:12:42] Speaker A: My pleasure. Podcast I love what you're doing. I support you 100, you know that. [01:12:47] Speaker B: Appreciate you. The Canadian Basketball show your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on game basketball. I'm your host Lee Ben Osman. My guy Dwayne and we out.