Basketball season is upon us. It was a quick turnaround, so we sat down with former player Jay Warren to talk about his experience playing overseas for well over a decade. We also look at the Dallas Mavericks draft picks, roster moves around the NBA, and what we expect to see this upcoming NBA season.
Enjoy episode #91 and other episodes of Hustle and Pro in our archives.
Show Notes
[01:02] Quick Hits with Jay Warren[03:27] Jay’s Player Experience & Family
[07:35] Mavs draft pics: Josh Green, Tyrell Terry, Tyler Bey
[14:40] NBA roster moves and looking forward to Christmas day with the Mavs
Resources within this episode:
- Jay Warren: Instagram @askjaywarren
- Dallas Mavericks: Website | Instagram @dallasmavs
- Kelly Walker: Bio | Instagram @kelly_walkertexas | Twitter: @kelly_walker_TX
This episode is sponsored by: 
Xscape Pain: Website | Facebook @XscapePain | Instagram @XscapePain | Twitter @XscapePain | LinkedIn
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco:
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This episode is sponsored by XscapePain and FASTer Way To Fat Loss: Certified Coach, Claudia Montanari. Increase energy, gain lean muscle, improve sleep, decrease inflammation, and change your body with a six-week program. It starts on January 11th and includes 12 sessions in the whole body light pod, meal guides and grocery lists, targeted workouts and one-on-one accountability sessions. Plus, incorporate carb cycling, intermittent fasting, and tracking macros to fuel your body. Spots are limited. So, go to xscapepain.com and register today. That’s X S C A P E pain.com.
Welcome to Hustle & Pro, Season 2, talking sports and Frisco from youth to pro. Now here’s your host, Kelly Walker.
Welcome to today’s episode of Hustle & Pro. So, basketball off season came and went really fast. So, we’re jumping back in. So, we’re going to talk about the start of the NBA season coming up here on the 22nd. And we’ve got Jay Warren in here to chat basketball with us. Hey, Jay. Welcome. Hey, thank you for having me. Yeah. All right. Let’s- off the top. Let’s start with a couple of quick hits, ’cause I want to know a couple of your sports favorites and things. Who’s your favorite athlete of all time?
Oh, that’s MJ, the GOAT. Yeah. MJ is definitely my favorite player. I mean, I, I mean, yeah, I would put him on top of everybody, just, in my lifetime. I know all the younger people are talking about LeBron. And I respect his greatness; but, definitely MJ.
Oh, that’s a whole ‘nother- okay, I’m going to write down. Let’s talk LeBron in a minute once we get talking because that’s a whole ‘nother thing. ‘Cause here as we record, LeBron just extended his Lakers contract. So, we can tell, we can talk about that for 20 minutes. Um, all right. So, uh, I just did an episode on sports movies and I asked all my guests, what was your favorite sports movie? What is yours?
Oh, recently, it had to be The Last Dance. Um, uh, that, right there, gave the insights, the, you know, back scenes. You know, we were, we were talking about it off-air. I mean, that was- I would definitely put the last dance up there now. Yeah, for sure. So good. Yeah. It was really good.
I was watching it, just amazed at, like, I’m thinking, “How did they get all this footage and hold onto it this long?” Right? Like, how did they not release something earlier? Which, I’m sure, I mean, I’m sure that’s a whole fascinating thing just to hear about that.
Yeah, MJ definitely had something to do with that.
It’s crazy. It was awesome. It was, and then it’s like, how did they also know we’re all going to be home?
Well, they didn’t know that part, I don’t think. But, it was perfect timing when they released it. But, I know prior to that season they were talking about, you know, cause they said in the documentary, like, “This is gonna be the last dance.” So, they wanted to record everything. Yeah. I mean, I didn’t know, was going to be 20 years later before we going to be able to experience it.
Right. It’s just, like, you can’t recreate that. So cool. All right. So, my last question I used to ask on my first year of this show: what, how far did people travel for sports to watch sports or to play sports? And I’m resurrecting the question for you because it’ll bring us into talking about your basketball career. So, what’s the farthest you’ve gone to play sports?
Oh, that’s a- so, to play, so, I’ve played in China and I played in Australia. I have no idea which one is farther. I have no idea which one’s further- Me neither. Yeah. But, they’re both far. I know the farthest flight was from Sydney to Dallas and that was like a 15, 16-hour flight. Wow. Straight. Yeah. Straight flight where you fall asleep, you wake up, and you’re still on the plane.
You, you hope you were just dreaming and that you were already home.
Yeah. You know, you try to sleep some of the time away and you look at it. It’s like been 30 minutes. Yeah. It was one of those flights. Yeah.
All right. So then, tell me about your, your career as an athlete. Um, I’m also curious what, like growing up, did you play lots of sports? But then, take us through your, like, your professional basketball career and where’d you play, and when did you play.
So, football was my first sport. Um, you know, I played, you know, I guess- do they say, still say pee wee? I don’t know if they say pee wee or not. I do. But it’s- okay, there you go. I’m telling my agent when I say “pee wee.” Um, you know, through middle school- uh, firstly, I think my high school is when I basically stopped, but, like, through middle school I was playing both sports. But, I didn’t grow, you know, like big, like a football player. But, I was really fast. So, I was like, “Let me go ahead and give basketball a try.” Um, and, on a side note, I was thinking during that time, ’cause, I mean, I wanted to be professional, I just didn’t know how. And I was thinking, uh, you know, football, and still about the same to the, to this day, like football players’ careers about three years. Basketball is like six, seven years. So, I was like, “Let me just go down the basketball route ’cause I wanna, I want to play longer.” Um, so, um, basically did, you know, the high school/college thing. And then played pro. Uh, met somebody actually here in Dallas who, uh, basically, made a connection with me. And then there was a guy that I played in college with in college. He was a Puerto Rican and I went down there ’cause, you know, I didn’t get drafted. I graduated the same year, talking about LeBron – it was 2003, you know, ’cause I went to school a little later and me and my brother joke about it all the time. We say, “Uh, yeah, good thing we didn’t enter that draft because that was LeBron. That was the Dwyane Wade. That was Carmelo Anthony. That was, uh, Chris Bosh. So, yeah. It was definitely- that’s hall-of-fame class. So, we weren’t getting drafted.
Um, but, you know, I mean, when I talked to the guy that I went to college with – uh, I went down to Puerto Rico and that’s kind of where it took off. That’s where my career kind of took off. You know, played around the world. You mentioned Australia and China. Yes. So then how long were you playing? Uh, I played 13 years. 13 years. 13 years, yeah. So, I started in South America and then just moved, moved East. So, I went South America, played some countries down there. Argentina and Venezuela where my longest stance. And then I started going, uh, East. Played in Europe, Poland, uh, Serbia, Montenegro, played a little bit in Finland. And this continued to go East, uh, and then into my career and, uh, the Philippines, actually. Wow. Yeah. It’s a lot of places. It’s a lot of places.
That’s great, though, right? It’s great exposure. I mean, basketball exposure, right? As a player and training and just different experiences, but also just to live like as a young man to get, to go see other parts of the world. You would never, right, ever been able to do that.
Well, I mean, so, uh, I guess on a side note, when you, you know, you talk about dreams and stuff like that and run your goals down, I’ll always knew I wanted to travel the world. I just didn’t know I was going to do it through the, the vehicle of basketball which is pretty cool.
Yeah, one way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, do you have basketball in your family?
Uh, yes I do. Um, my, uh, my dad was actually drafted by the Knicks in 79, uh, first Panamanian ever drafted. So, uh, he’s like a big rockstar. He’ll never admit it, but he, you know, I found out when I was playing for the national team that he’s a big deal down there. Awesome, what’s his name? Uh, Edward Warren. And then, um, my brother, uh, he played 14 years, so he played one more year overseas than I did, so. Oh, my gosh. So, yeah. And now we’re, uh, preparing his, his son, my nephew, um, he’s nine years old right now. So, um, he’s, he’s, he’s leaning towards soccer right now, but, uh, he’s good, but he’s good at basketball.
As you know, I mean, at 9, it’s great to see talent already. But at, at nine, like so much is going to change. They can go down a whole ‘nother path of a sport because they haven’t even hit those middle school years, yet, when they’re going to get exposed to different, different teams in school. And then, like you said, depending on when they grow is when they’re on different teams and, you know-
Yeah, and he’s tall. He’s a tall, my nine-year-old, too, which is, you know, I mean- cause I didn’t grow until after high school. I was like, “Man, you’re sprinting. You know, you’re nine and you’re tall as some of these, you know, 7th-graders.”
Yeah, that’s awesome. All right. So, you mentioned the draft. So, man, we had a different draft this year, right? Um, completely different and it was quick, right off the heels of the championship. And it was such a weird year. Um, so, I want your input from, well, what you think overall of this draft. But, then also just as a player, thinking back, like, when you were hoping to, you know, maybe be a part of the draft, um, like, what, what’s going through these guys’ minds and your, your overall thoughts on this draft.
Um, so, you know, like, uh, I, like, knowing that class in draft, I just knew that I wasn’t going to ever experience the draft. But, uh, you know, looking at this draft, the- was it, I don’t know if it’s considered 2019 or 2020. Um, I think it’s 2020, whatever. Um, the kid that, uh, has the Ball Family, I was wondering when he was going to go, LaMelo. Um, the one that got drafted, number one, I think Anthony Edwards, I think his name was, was he said basketball, not even his first sport. And, um, you know, that’s just pure talent, basically. Getting drafted, number one off pure talent. So, I think it’s going to be, um, I don’t think there’s, um, franchise-changing draft.
Right. It didn’t seem like a Zion or anything, right? It didn’t seem like that to me. And maybe I just wasn’t as tuned in or something, but it didn’t feel like I was hearing as much about marquee guys.
We didn’t see the March Madness either this past year. So, you know, that’s kind of where you, you know, you start seeing a lot of these players play and, you know, with the bright lights and the lights on and stuff, or how they perform. So, that’s where you can kind of see, cause that’s where, you know, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, when you start seeing those players and you’re like, “Oh man, you know, they like, they really, uh, you know, they, they can really play it. They know the game.”
Right. That’s kind of when they get called out, right? Yeah. When you hear their names during the, the tournament, you do start hearing those names early. So, yeah. I didn’t even think about that. That’s why I’m probably not hearing as much. I mean, like, the couple of names you mentioned is one thing, but a lot of that’s just the family marketing and the hoopla around-
He does a great job. Yeah, he does. He does. He definitely does a great job about that, so.
So, what are your thoughts on, um, who the Mavs got? Yeah. Josh Green. Josh green. Yeah. 18th, um, pick. So, do you know much about him?
I just, I know he played for, uh, I think he played for the Australian national team.
Yes. So, he was born in Australia. And, um, one thing I learned about him is that both of his parents played.
Yeah, that’s usually the case.
So he’s got, he’s got a basketball in his family, too. Um, I think he’s 6’6”, 210.
Yeah. That’s, that’s definitely a great size to, you know, at 18,- was he 18, 19?
Right. Like, unusually big and built already as you enter the league, right?
Yeah, he definitely, I mean, that’s, those are the NBA bodies that, you know, 18, 19 with the talent that he has, that you’ll, you’ll get an opportunity, uh, for sure. And, you know, I mean, ’cause, you know, Australia, that league is, is really strong and they have a lot of Australian players playing – you know, Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut, uh, those guys, you know. If Kev came over here, um, Joe, Joe Ingles, too, the left hand guy from Utah, yeah. He’s from Utah. But uh, because he played, he played in Europe, uh, against my brother in Spain. So, that’s how, that’s how I’m familiar with him. Um, but yeah, I mean the Australians have a lot of players over here because they played on that, uh, that national level, the feed and stuff like that. So, I think, uh, I think he went to Arizona, Josh green, right? Is it Pac-10 or Pac-12 to Arizona. I don’t know. Do you know if it’s Pac-10 or 12? Okay. I think 12, I don’t know. That’s my guess. I know they changed. I know they changed one of them, like the Big Twelve, the Big Ten or something like that. And teams move around just to play. Yeah. I know. I know he went to Arizona and I know that he, um, is Australian and exposed to that, uh, national team exposure. How tall are you? Me, I’m 6’4. I’m 6’7 in the league. If I was in the NBA, I would’ve been 6’7.
And then another guy that Mavs got, um, was Tyrell Terry. So, this guy’s interesting to me just because I was just, um, talking to you about him. This- he’s out of Stanford. He, he wanted like, he wanted to go somewhere where he was going to get a really good education. He’s really smart. This guy broke the record for the draft IQ test.
Oh, wow. I didn’t, I was- do you know what the draft IQ test is? No. But, whatever it is, he’s smart, right? Yeah. Well, he went to Stanford. Yeah.
Yeah. But, like, he was like, “Yeah, the test didn’t seem particularly difficult to me.” I’m, like, “Well, all right, then.”
Yeah. That’s probably the entry, entry thing just to get into Stanford.
Yeah. But, I mean, so, whoever he is, he’s smart. So, um, he’s uh, known for his shooting. So, what we’re talking about with him is how good- coupled up with Luka, um, he likes, like, his, getting no-look passes and shooting off the pass. And so, um, he was talking about getting drafted and he didn’t want to get a phone call before the draft. He wanted to watch it on TV and hear his name called and, like, get the authentic reaction and feel like what it feels like to hear your name called by a team, which is kind of exciting. Kind of old school and cool. But, then Mark Cuban calls him and Donnie Nelson calls him. And then he said a few minutes later he gets a text from Luka, like, saying he’s excited.
That’s probably exciting for him, too.
Yeah. I just thought that was really cool. Like, how fun for some young guy to, to go through that cool experience even though the draft is so different and he’s not on a stage or somewhere in a green room doing the hoopla, that he still got to go through that.
He’s with his family, though. At least he was as a family. So, yeah. That’s, that’s pretty cool. Yeah. We’re definitely gonna need shooters since we got rid of Tim Harda Jr. uh, uh, not Steph, but Seth Curry. Yeah.
Yeah. I feel like he’s kind of the replacement for Seth. I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but that’s what my mind is telling me.
Oh, I mean, I think, I mean, he has to. I mean, me and my brother talking the other day, you know, it’s like, “if Curry’s your last name, you know, you can shoot.” So, for us to lose him and bring in another shooter, I think that’s, you know, that’s gonna be, that’s gonna give him a lot of opportunity.
Yeah, for sure. So, I’m excited to see what Tyrell Terry does. And then Tyler Bay. So, he was part of the Seth trade, actually; part of that, getting that pick for, for Tyler. I think I wrote down he’s 6’7”, 215. Oh, wow. From Colorado. How old is he? I don’t know. I don’t know, but I made a note. Um, so he’s a defensive player like his whole, you know, that’s his whole thing. And um, his coaches, his Colorado coach that he has, he’s quick with a fearless attitude as a defensive player. So, I think that’s a major hole the Mavs had had to fill this off season.
Yeah. I mean, in the playoffs when we needed to get stops, we weren’t able to do that. Like, uh, I think, you know, we were, uh, efficient in a great offense, especially with Luka running the offense and his high basketball IQ. It just, when you, you know, especially in the playoffs where everything slows down, we’re going to need people to get stopped. So, I haven’t seen him play, but if he, if you know, his job is to play defense, then you know, that’s, that’s, that’s good for us.
We need it, right? Yeah. All right. So, what NBA roster moves caught your eye? I mean, we didn’t have much time to have a whole lot of movement. But, even as we sit here and record this in early December, there’s still stuff happening, still teams announcing people that are, you know, extending contracts and still making trades and moving around. So, what, what’s notable to you?
Well, um, obviously the Lakers; they’ve got better. You know, it’s very rare, um, where you see a team, you know, improve that drastically, in my opinion. Because you know, when you, when you’re a champion, you know, there’s always moves being made. But, I think the Lakers went from being one of the favorites last year when they accomplish that goal to, you know, THE favorites and everybody else was playing catch-up. So, their roster moves were, um, you know, they were, there’re obviously people were keeping an eye on that. I think that the recent trade, I don’t think it’s gonna matter as far as playoffs, but the recent trade with John Wall and Westbrook, that one was, uh, you know, kinda eye-opening, too. ‘Cause I know since Westbrook said he wanted to leave Houston, you know, that, that was going to be, that’s something to keep your eye on. Um, the one that everybody’s thinking about coming up is the where’s-James-Harden-going-to-go, uh, with Brooklyn. You know, I mean he wants, he’s saying that he wants to go to Brooklyn. But, I think there was a report saying that, uh, Golden State reached out to him after. So, we’ll see. You know, we’ll see ’cause Golden State has an influence.
When do we see? When do we have to know that?
Um, so even though, uh, and this is just my perspective, but, so, even though he’s the man of the trade and the players are empowered now and they can kind of dictate where they want to go, I think that it’s going to be, you know, like, since Houston still has his contract and if they don’t get, you know, they don’t get the, uh, equal, uh, value trade for him, They’ll just keep them until they do because he’s still under contract with Houston. So, um, but with that Westbrook trade that just happened, maybe it happens a little faster than we expect. So, why, I guess we’ll kind of, we’ll see with that. But if he goes to Brooklyn, that that may give the Lakers a run, I think in the West. You know, people are saying the Clippers. I think the Mavs are, you know, the Mavs in Denver really have a good shot. Um, you know, ’cause we have, you know, not just Luka, but Porziņģis. Um, and I’m waiting, I’m waiting ’til- if Giannis doesn’t sign anything, I know that Dallas is trying to go after him. I know, so.
So, I thought that was official that he’s staying in Milwaukee. Is that not official?
Well, he hasn’t signed anything, yet. I know Milwaukee is doing everything they can to make sure that he stays. But until he signs, um- but I mean, it don’t even mean anything anymore, I guess, because, um, I know, and I’m not- you know, I’m a Giannis fan, you know, I would want him to stay in Milwaukee ’cause he wants to stay in Milwaukee ’cause he wants to be like the Kobe and the dirt, you know, one organization for his whole career. But I won’t be mad if Dallas got him. I won’t be mad at that at all. Right. Like, stay there unless you come here. Don’t go to Miami or Golden State. Come to Dallas.
Don’t go anywhere else. You mentioned the Nets, right.? Um, KD and Kyrie stay there. And then Steve Nash joined them. Yeah. I don’t know when that was- happened, but I don’t know if it was off season or not.
It’s right after that. Yeah. It was like right after the finals. So that’s new. What do you think about that? Um, I think that that was, that’s a great opportunity for Steve Nash to fall into. And I mean, the thing is, I mean his basketball IQ is, you know, really high. Um, I mean it’s, it’s the same thing. Like, you know, there’s a lot of people making a big deal out of it. But, Jason Kidd, when you’re a point guard in the league, you’re basically a coach on the court. So, for, you know, so basically, you just changing, you’re just going from the court now to, you know, the, the bench. Drawing up the plays on the side. Yeah, yeah. Instead of you know, which, you know, coaching, you know, that’s why I think Jordan and, uh, Magic weren’t successful at it. Because, like, you don’t have, as a coach, you don’t have control of the players. It’s like, it’s like playing video games and your controller don’t work. That’s, kind of, the analogy I like to use.
Yeah, that’s good. Because yeah, you really, you can’t make the players do anything. Yeah. You can make them- you can hope that you’ve said something that connects with them and turns on something in them to react to you and pull together and do what you’ve now said out loud to them, right? But, you can’t. You can’t make them do it.
Nope. I mean you, as a coach leading, you know, leadership drawn up, you know, high basketball IQ, you know, Steve Nash, you know, even Steve Kerr going to say, like, they’re, you know, really Popovich, you know, they, they’re, there’s something there that they get the best, especially Popovich. You get how you get the best out of your players with that, you know, that San Antonio roster that have since Tim Duncan. I mean, that’s just, that’s great coaching. And so, um, I’m interested to see what Steve Nash going to do with these group of guys. ‘Cause I know that they’re the ones that kind of picked them. They’re the ones that, like, “Hey, we want you to coach us.”
That says a lot. So, yeah. That could be a fun, a fun thing to watch. All right. So, we got through that odd 2020 bubble season. Um, what do you think we’re looking at for this, this next season? I mean, we know there’s no bubble. And there’s this like, whatever, hundred seventy-something page document on COVID protocols, NBA. But the same time, like, there’s not really a lot of set-in-stone, tight restrictions on if-cases-get-to-this-we’re-stopping-play or whatever. It’s sort of strange how they’re doing this and it might come back to bite’em. But um, like, do you, do you think we’ll see fans in stadium, in arenas? Do you think, like, what do you think is going to look like?
Um, I guess it depends on the state because you know, different states have the different rules and stuff like that. So, I think, you know, some will. It’s just, like, I guess kind of like the NFL: some will, some won’t, some will have a certain percentage, maybe someone has 50%, maybe some has 25, maybe someone has 10. So, but I think from a business standpoint, they’re going to have to have fans because, you know, that’s a lot where the revenues come from. I know it comes from, you know, the marketing, TV dollars, and stuff like that. But, yeah.
They want people in there, too. I mean, yeah. Like, you said, it’s like NFL. The Jerry’s of the world are saying, “We need to have people here for their own good.” And then, you know, the California States of the world are saying, “You can’t. Like, even if. You can’t play here right now.” So, yeah. Um, that’ll be interesting to see how that unfolds. Um, so December 22nd, start of the season. Mavs got Christmas day, Christmas night, prime time game, I think like a 7:00 PM game. So, they’re, they’re going to shoot for a 72-game season starting, um, Mavs starting on Christmas. So, um, here’s your chance to let me know who you see. I know you said Lakers while ago. But who you see making it, make it to the finals? Let’s do that.
Uh, from the east and the west? Sure. Um, I mean, I guess it’s hard to say. Like, right now, with the season starting, I would say, you know, the Lakers coming out the west. And then the, I mean, I got to see how KD’s played before I can say the Nets, you know? ‘Cause I think Brooklyn can definitely come out the East if KD is, you know, if KD’s KD. But, if KD’s not KD, then I would have to choose between Miami and, um, Milwaukee again. ‘Cause Miami, they, they brought their core people back just from that experience that, you know, they’re probably hungrier, especially the way they lost in special. They went out, they’d probably hungrier now than, than before. But, yeah. I would say, I mean, as much as I would love to say the Mavericks, I want them to prove, you know, everybody in Dallas wrong and themself right. I mean, yeah.
Sure, I mean, you’re home, you’re on. Always want to say your team, but realistically, like, something miraculous would have to happen for them to get up there or something. Or, like, Luka just said, “The team that’s going to go the deepest is the team who manages the virus the best, too,” because you never know. Like, that could have completely affect so- that could affect a lot. I mean, I don’t want it to come down to that, obviously. Like, I, you want a good season, the best talents out there. I mean, you never know. You never know what happens. Hopefully Luka 3.0 is as good as everybody wants him to be. And KP is back soon. Um, JJ is back. So, there’s some, you know. And then these new young guys coming up. So, maybe we’ll at least get deep into the playoffs and have a good one.
I think we’ll- I think we can shoot for the Conference Finals. I think that would be a successful season. I mean, as an, you know, an athlete you shoot for, you know, there’s goals. Like, I don’t know if they thought they were going to be in the seven seat last year. Maybe they thought they’re going to be higher. I don’t know. It got knocked out by, you know, the Clippers. But, I would say maybe, you know, two more rounds is a successful season for them. Because if they have a quarter team coming back, but losing, like I said, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Seth, that’s, those are tough. I mean, those are tough losses. And I mean, good thing to go in. Well, I know Seth went to the East. I forgot where Tim Hardaway went. Um, but they’re not, they’re not the same conference, though. So that’s, that’s good. Right. They’ll lose the points, but they might not be playing against them. All right. Just twice a year.
Well, thanks for your time and your input. I always think it’s interesting to hear from somebody who’s lived through, lived through it a little and, and been on the other side. So, I appreciate your time.
Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. This is fun.
And I know we’ve chatted before. So, we have other topics we could talk about, too. So, we’ll have you back and we’ll do this again. Absolutely. All right. Thanks, Jay. Thank you. And thank you for listening to this episode of Hustle & Pro. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts and we’ll see you next time.
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