Why Hard Work Always Pays Off, Athleticism vs. Skill, and More with Juice Made Hoops

Foreign. Welcome to the Visenger Battle training podcast. Thank you guys all for tuning in. Very special episode today. I think this is episode 31, if I'm. If I'm not mistaken. And today we have our first guest. Super excited to get him going. Actually. I learned about his channel a couple weeks ago. He commented one of my videos. So I went over, checked out his, his channel, thought it was dope, really cool what he was doing, the type of content he's talking, he talks about a lot of stuff that I've kind of touched on, but I haven't gone quite as in depth as he has with it. And so I wanted to, you know, reach out, kind of try and get him on, just to kind of get his. You on a couple of things. And you know, obviously this being mostly a solo podcast, I think there's a lot of times I'm always kind of focused on that basketball training sort of, sort of, sort of category, but I think there's a lot of stuff outside of that too that, that we can talk. Today's episode will be a little bit different, but I still think very, very valuable. So I want to welcome my guy Hassan from Juice Made Hoops to the podcast. Appreciate you being on, bro.

Thanks for having me, man. This is definitely cool. Like I, I found your channel about a couple weeks ago too. And then I was like, he kind of talks about and looks at the same things that I look at when I'm looking at players and stuff. And I was like, got a collab or something, man, you know?

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah. So first of all, guys, and I'll of course I'll mentions too as well. If you guys are on YouTube, I'll have a link to Hasan's channel as well. Juice Made Hoops. And so his, his focus is really a lot on like the high school game, like, and kind of highlighting those players and which again is something that I've talked about a ton of you guys watching in high school or will be in high school. And so of course I'll link down to that. So go ahead and check him out. But there's a lot of stuff I want to talk about, but before we get into that, you know, we were talking a little before, but Hassan, how about you give them a quick kind of intro on you, you know, your kind of background, basketball, athletic related, and then obviously, you know, kind of what you're doing now, your channel and all that stuff.

So pretty much my channel is called Juice Made Hoops. It sucks on basketball. I started about like last. Last year of 2019, February. And since then, I've just been grinding doing that. But just like, a little bit about myself. Like I said, I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. Grew up in Fort Worth my whole life. I grew up playing basketball. But once I got to, like, middle school, high school, that's when I started focusing more on track. Just because, like, I'm shorter. And I just know how harder it is, like, if you're a shorter basketball player, like, trying to make it to college, NBA, stuff like that. And then once I got to around 11th grade, that's when I just. I just completely stopped playing basketball. And that's why I just started focusing on track. I ended up going to state my senior year. But like I was saying in my Q and A, like, I honestly regret quitting basketball just. Cause, like, you know, you're never gonna get those memories, like, ever again. You know, you're never gonna get those memories, like, ever again. You can't go back and make memories and stuff like that. So, yeah, I wish I went to play basketball again. But then once I got to college, that's when I started focusing more on YouTube and then just been grinding. Now here I am.

Yep, gotcha. Yeah, no, you're right. Like, there's. There's nothing like high school basketball like, college basketball. It's fun. Like, so, you know, I'm out say college. So I go to Penn State basketball games now. We're not really the cream of the crop in the Big ten, so, like, we don't get that many people at our games, but, like, even still, like, the atmosphere is awesome. And NBA games too, like, they're awesome, but like, high school games where, like, you're packed into a small gym, obviously, with COVID like that. Not anymore. But when you're all packed into a small gym and it's like, you know, you're just playing, like, all your friends are in the stands, this your whole community that, you know, like, it's just something real special about that.

Yeah, but you got your team, your classmates just cheering you on.

Yeah.

Yeah. Like, there's just something about the atmosphere. Is people just. I don't know, it's just cool. Going to away games and setting the crowd up and stuff. It feels like so much better, honestly.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm with you on that one. So kind of going along with that. And I mentioned this before we started recording here, but. So you said. So you were a big tracker. So what did you. What did you run in track?

I was a 400 meter runner. So pretty much just like one lap around the track. That's what I did. And then I ended up going to. Like I said, I made it to state my senior year, and then I ended up going to run at Tarleton State. I don't know if you guys heard of it. It's a D2 school in Texas. Ran there, ran my freshman year. And then after, once I started my sophomore year, that's my. Tore both my hamstrings. And then I transferred to the school. I'm unt right here. Transferred there. And then just. First I was going to practice stuff like that, and then I kept getting hurt and I just had to just stop, bro. I just had to stop. I couldn't do it anymore because that was just too much on my body.

Yeah, no, it's. It's. Yeah, it's. It's weird how that stuff works out too. Like, you know, with like. For me. So I wasn't. My sore. Wasn't as much injuries, like, you're. Obviously, you had that injury. But for me, like, basketball was like my whole entire. All I did throughout high school. My first year after I was. I was gonna play Division 3 basketball going into my. My freshman year of college. Ended up just taking a gap year because that whole thing sort of fell through. And then I was trained that whole year to get back the next year. And I had actually, by the end of that year, I had more offers to play at the D3 level and I had some juco opportunities. And then that ended up just being not an avenue I was going to take. And then at that point, it's like, man, what are you going to do? But then, like, you know, I was training a couple guys just like, you know, I was coaching a basketball team, so I had a couple parents asked I could train their. Their kids. I was doing that. And then I had someone tell me. They were like, hey, man, you should like, you should start posting stuff like on Instagram or on YouTube. Like, that's like, you know, know you might be able to get more people to train with you. That was originally how I started it. And then I was like, wait a minute, I can reach so much, like, so many more people doing YouTube and Instagram. Like, I can. I can literally have thousands of people watch my stuff. Millions of people watch my stuff. And I can reach. I can reach everybody through that. So it was. It was cool. It goes from like, you have your first dream, right, of like, doing this. I'm sure you were like, you wanted to go to. You Wanted to go to the national state. Yeah, of course you want to reach the highest level. But then it's like that, like things change and like, I look at where.

I'm at now, I'm like, different.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, you know, that's kind of. That's kind of, you know, where I'm at. So you're still in school right now?

No, I actually just graduated from unt. About my degree and everything.

Okay, got, you got.

Just touching up on, like, what you're saying. Like, that's why I just always look at everything as a blessing. You know, everything happens for a reason. You know, if I got hurt, you know, I can be mad about it, but I know that God has like a. A better plan for me in the future. So that's just how I look at everything. So I'm not really like tripping on getting injured and stuff like that. Of course I wanted to reach those goals, but, you know, I'm happy where I'm at now, honestly.

Yeah, yeah, that's facts, man. So kind of touching on, on track, which. So would you say, like, would you say that running track? So obviously you said you didn't play, like for your team in high school, but just, you know, when you're out playing, you know, pickup or whatever, like, do you feel like your experience training for track, doing that, do you feel like that affects you basketball wise, like, positively or negatively?

Yeah, I think it affects you positively. Like, I genuinely believe every single basketball player should run to run track. Like, if you don't want, if you don't want to go to the meets, running meets, at least go to the practices because it helps you with your footwork like this. The stuff that we train for, it helps you with your jumps. We work on explosiveness to come off the blocks, which allows you to jump higher. In basketball, it increases your stamina. Like track, I feel like, is something that everybody should run. Not even if you're just basketball, like football, gymnastics, softball, like any sport, like track is only going to benefit you. I don't know how it would impact you negatively. So, yeah, I definitely feel like it helps me a ton. Like every time I play pickup basketball, like I open gyms or anything, I'm always someone that's like, just never tired. I'm faster than everybody, I'm quick. So, yeah, I would definitely, I feel like everybody should definitely, definitely run track. For sure.

Yeah. Yeah, that's. That's. And that was onto. What I expected you to say about that. Um, and I feel like with, with track There's a lot of people, there's a lot of studies that are done on, like, athletes kind of specializing in a sport really early. So, like, a lot of kids, especially now because things are so competitive, like, everyone's playing AAU by the time they're 10, 11 years old, so everyone's playing basketball year round. So a lot of kids will just not play other sports. Like, for me, like, I played football until I was, I think I was like eighth or ninth grade. And like, so I was playing a couple of different things at once. I got to high school, then I really stopped. And I do kind of wish that I would have done some other stuff, but I just. For me, it was like, I was just so basketball focused that, like, I couldn't commit to doing anything else. But, like, I know there's a lot of players who all get questions from. They're like, hey, like, is it bad if I play football too? I'm like, no, like, it's not bad.

I think people, kids should do multiple sports. Like, I feel like each sport helps you in a different sport in a specific sport that you're trying to focus on. Yeah, I would definitely recommend everybody to just do as much sports as you can. Be smart about it at the same time, like, make sure you're still focusing on your main sport, but just trying out different things. You know, like, at the end of the day, it's going to help you out.

Right. I think too, like, a lot of times people talk about, like, overuse injuries and stuff like that, because kids will play, especially at a young age, like, they'll be playing the same sport from the time that they're 10 years old. And that's all they do. So all they do is train for that sport. All they do is play that sport. So kids are like, having these major injuries when they're 16 years old, like 15, 16 years old, because all they do is one sport. So their body's taking that same stress over and over and over again. So kids are, you know, having these major injuries really, really early on when they're barely even in high school. And it's like, is it possible that that can be avoided by, you know, playing a different sport? Or I think if you're, if you work with a good, like, performance trainer, like a guy who knows what he's doing, who's like, okay, how can we, how can we switch up your training to make sure that we hit a ton of different injury prevention stuff? A lot of people ask me, like, it's so funny because People ask me about vertical jump all the time. And like, I'm like, guys, like, I probably, honestly, probably multiple times a week I'm like, guys, you've never seen me jump. Like you don't know if I can jump or not. Like I might be the worst jumper on earth. You just. I'm a basketball guy, right? So he has to go to dunk. No, that's, that's not how it works. So I always recommend a guy, PGF performance. I don't know if you've heard of him before.

Um, I don't think so.

Paul Fabers, he's like one of the, like, he's probably one of the main guys with like performance training with basketball. And he's like, in my opinion, he's, he's maybe the best at it.

Um, and like the vertical stuff.

Yeah, yeah, but it's like. So he has a program called the Vert code and it's called that, but it's really more of like an overall athleticism sort of thing. So like you're working on force, absorption, deceleration, the. They're, they're obviously your verticals impacted, but it's more so like all the other aspects of it because kids will just think like, oh, I'll just go jump as much as I possibly can and that'll just make a better jumper. For some people that works, but for other people it's like, that's one aspect of basketball, right? Like, you also have to be able to move like change directions quickly. You have to be able to take impact. People talk about like Derrick Rose when he, when he kept getting hurt, it was like, it wasn't even about his, his cuts or like his jumping, but it was about how he landed from those jumps. So like, are you able to absorb that force when you land as well? So that's why it's a really all encompassing thing, which actually I'm doing right now. So when players ask about that, I'm like, I just refer them to him because I think there's so much that goes into being a good athlete and it's, you can't have like a small, like a narrow sighted focus on what it actually takes. Like, oh, I want to jump higher. So I'll just, you know, I'll do a million death jumps every single day. But it's like, is that, is that really going to be the healthiest going, going forward for you? That's, that's always kind of my, my thought on that. But.

So, yeah, I look at it the same thing, but I will say, like, I would only focus on one sport if, like, you're really, really good at it. Honestly, like, if you're like, maybe top 100 in the nation or something, that's the only time I would say focus on one sport. Honestly, other than that, then I think you should just play other sports too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It all goes back to training, too. Like, what you're saying with jumps and stuff. Like, at the end of the day, like. Like, you just have to focus on. Focus, make practice, game. Like, you know, like, maybe Derrick Rose did get hurt because he wasn't training hard enough on. On landing the right way, you know, doing those power clean, specific things that will make him, you know, be able to take the contact whenever he's falling down. But there's just different things you can do.

I feel like, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think. I think that's a major thing. But that was. That was. So when I watched your video about, about track, I was like, this is awesome because, you know, guys are so focused and like, I was like, this guy's so focused on basketball, basketball, basketball. But it's like, there are other ways that you can develop yourself and, and become better player. Because I think athleticism has such a major impact on basketball and like, all. So, like, when I'll listen to coaches talking, like, I'll talk to other coaches and they'll be like, listen, like, you know, there are guys who are really, really skilled, but the first thing we have to make sure of is, is he a good enough athlete to compete at our level? Like, if you aren't a. If you aren't the D1. And there's so many kids I know like this that I played with. Like, I'll even say, like, of the top five players I've played with in my life, put with or against, the top three of them are playing D1 right now. So one's at Princeton, one's at Delaware, and one's at St. Francis. Then the next two are both D3 guys, and there are D1 guys that I played against that are lower on the list than those guys. Like, skill wise, There are some D3 guys that are absolute hoopers. But it comes back to the athleticism portion of it. Like, are you athletic? Those top three guys, what, two of them actually just, like, incred, like, the most skilled guys I know. The other guy is really, really skilled, but he's a crazy athlete, but the best athlete I've ever seen. So, like, you have. It'll be like, you know, guys will they're so focused on the training aspect of it. And I feel like so much has to do with your athleticism as well, because coaches are going to be like, listen, can this guy play defense at our level? Can this guy, like, run the floor? Can this guy box out? Can this guy, like, move well enough and then worry about, oh, can he shoot, can he dribble, can he pass? Can he make good decisions? I think it all bases from your athleticism, which you would develop, like you said, in a sport like track, where you have to be able to move quickly. Especially, like, you know, you ran the 400, but also like, you know, you run the 100 or you 200 or you like high jump, long jump. Like, I knew some guys in high school who were triple jumpers and just like, because they, that was what they were focused on. Like, they were, they were the best athletes in the team because they were, they were doing stuff like that.

Yeah, I feel like coaches, like, they generally look at the eye test like the eye test is definitely important. And I feel like they honestly recruit at a potential as well. And I feel like, like you said, if you're just plainly athletic, if you're six six, you're crazy athletic, they might take a chance on you, you know, And I feel like people should just try to just try to get more athletic in general and just try to, I don't know, just, just, just pass the eye test. Like, just make it like, looks matter. Like, people say it doesn't matter, but I genuinely feel like that doesn't matter 100%.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's, that's, that's exactly what it is. Like the eye test. Like, coaches are going to see, like, can this guy compete at our level? And then it's like, then you're, then your skills come into play. So guys are so focused on one aspect of it, but I think, you know, for the most part, you've got to be able to say, okay, I'm taking care of my skill work. Like, I'm working on this stuff, but, like, also I got to take care of the other side of it as well. I think that's, that's super, super important. So kind of my next, my next point. And this is kind of what I, what I garnered because a lot of your videos are like, breaking down players, like, looking at, okay, what does this guy do well? What does he not do well? Kind of your overall view on him. So this is something I do all the time. I mean, I post film breakdowns on my channel almost Every week just depending on the week. But I mean at least I probably posted five or last six weeks have been skill workouts but. Or breakdowns I should say. So I kind of want to get your, like your process. Like how do you go about breaking down players? Like do you, do you look more at like the mixtapes you try and find like full games and when you, when you do that, like what are you looking for in a player or does it matter? Does depend on the position on, on you know, what they're doing. Just kind of hold your, your whole process with that.

Yeah, first of all, I don't like mixtapes. You cannot judge a player off of mixtapes. Like I always say that 100%. Like there's so many players that I see on bars life who mixtape that I'm like this guy is not as good as they're hyping him up to be, you know, and, and people should not focus too in on mixtape. And I'm sure even college coaches, they, they don't care too much about that. They're looking at the little things and looking at the full games. And that's why I always, I always try to find, of course I'll watch a mixtape to get a gist of how they play, but then I'll try to find their full game highlights. If it's on YouTube, if it's on Google, just try to find something and also look at how other people look at them, look at their scouting reports, player breakdowns. And then that's when I start to take notes, take look at the little things like how they do the pick and roll, if they can shoot the ball efficiently, how their form is, if are they playing hard on defense or they just trying to look cool. Little things like that. And then like I said, I write down all the notes I need to do and then that's when I just start recording. I just write my script and just start recording from there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you. Yeah, I think. And there's a couple things we'll touch on from that. But I'm glad you said that about mixtapes because we'll get into that for sure. But. But to kind of touch on that a little bit more. How do you. Because I see this a lot of times this is something that I had to get better at too. Is like, is trying to find weaknesses as well. That can be difficult, especially when you're looking at players who are really, really good. Is being able to find like what can they do better? Like what is it that's going to take their game to the next level. And I feel like once you watch enough film, you start to be able to kind of pick that up. So how do you kind of approach finding strengths or its weaknesses and kind of balancing that, that whole thing? Is this something that, that you find kind of easy or do you, do you, would you say that when you're, when you're bringing us home? Are you looking more for strengths or are you looking more at weaknesses and what this player needs to do better?

I feel like it's easy for me to look at weaknesses. Like, it's not really hard because I know everybody has a weakness no matter how Good you are. LeBron has weaknesses. Like, he's not an efficient free throw shooter. You know, every player has a weakness. As good as you may think they are, they have a weakness. So for me, it's not really hard to find their weaknesses. I don't really focus too much on one side of it. I just, like I said, I just watch the game film and just see, like, I always try to find the little things about each player and that, you know, other YouTubers probably aren't looking at. And yeah, like, it's not, it's not hard for me to do these breakdowns really, because I just feel like I have a good knowledge of the game. I. I'm sure you see some things that I see as well, like the little things, like how they do the pick and roll, are they cutting? You know, are they giving the best effort, like each play, just little things.

You know, so kind of going with that too when, when you're looking at a player and I don't, I don't know how, if you thought about this all that much, but like, when you look at guys who, you know, for example, like, maybe in high school, like, they were big time, right? And then they get to, they're, they're expected to be, to be something really, really big at the college level. When they get to the college level and they kind of fizzle out. Or maybe they were at the high school level, they were really good college level, they were really good against the NBA and they fizzle. Or maybe you see a player who was really good at high school, really good in college, and then also ends up being really good in the NBA or maybe even a kid who, like, wasn't, like, was kind of, you know, mid level in high school, pretty good in college against the NBA and blows up. When you look at guys like that, like, do you notice patterns with them? Do you notice, like, what what's the difference between those guys who, who end up making it long term and guys who really kind of hit their peak at the high school level?

I feel like a lot of stuff is like misconceptionalized. Like a lot of top players in high school, like they're really not the top players in high school. They're just hyped up to be the top players. So for me it's not really surprising whenever they don't make it far in college or pretend to be NBA just because they're not really fundamentally sound like they're just athletic. There's a lot of players in high school that literally can just dunk the ball and they think that's gonna take them far. You know, in the NBA everybody can dunk the ball. Everybody's super athletic and NBA, they're game planning against it, you know, so they have to be able to adjust to, you know, coaches game planning against them if they can figure out other ways to score the ball, you know, just playing their role on their team. And yeah, I generally feel like people that are in high school or college, if they know the fundamentals, I feel like that's super important if you can work hard. There's, there's just like few differences in my, each player but I generally feel like I, I know like who's gonna be good and who's not going to be good. The only player I feel like I was just completely wrong about was Andrew Wiggins. Like I thought he was gonna be like a superstar, but yeah, because he was my favorite player. Like I was telling everybody he's gonna be the guy, he's gonna be the guy. But unfortunately he's still a good player. He's just not hyped up as like how everybody thought he was gonna be.

But yeah, yeah, and it's funny you mentioned that too. I don't know if you know Drew Hanlon or not. He's a one like a pretty, pretty big time trainer and he worked with, with Andrew Wiggins to like back when he was in car. Yeah, back, back when he was like get. I think he might have still been in high school and he was the record. So it's like, okay, this is working. Drew, Drew works with Jason Tatum and who was, oh, Bradley Beal. Like he works with some guys who are really, really good. And like you see the progression. Like you see how Jason Tatum gets better every year. Bradley Beal Average averaged 30 a game this year. And like no one talks about him. And like this dude is like getting better every Single year. And so you kind of expect the same from, from Andrew Wiggins. And then he kind of just, he kind of just fizzled out, fizzles out with that. But it's funny you mentioned that because I think it's such, that's such a big key with, with players. Like, for example, I remember back when I was in, you know, seventh, eighth grade, and I'd look at like the rankings and like there'd be the top five would be all kids who were like 6, 10. I'm like, well, of course you're in the top five because you're 610 and we're 13 years old. Like, obviously you're going to be better than everybody else. And actually I did a video. So I don't think I've ever talked about this in the podcast before, but before I was doing vision driven basketball, like my first year out of high school, when I was still like trained to play college. I was doing a lot of like, I called it NBA Universal side, a YouTube channel where I kind of broke down like different basketball topics. And one of the topics I talked about was I took a look at the number one recruit from the last like 10 or 12 years. And then I like followed them along and see like, how many of them became all stars in the NBA. So the guy who was the number one recruit in their high school class, how many of them went on to be NBA All Stars. And I think it was like, I think it was 12 or 13 classes. I looked at, I think like three of them. One was LeBron, one was Dwight Howard. And like, I maybe make a video on that. I did make a video on that.

Yeah, I was watching that.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's like one of my. That's like probably the first video on my channel, honestly. But that was because there's so many guys who like just maintain that number one spot. And. But it's like, because they, when they were in sixth grade, they were bigger, more like, than everybody else. But then like, people catch up to them. I think one thing with that too is like, players will I actually talk about this last week on my, on my podcast, but I know so many coaches. So I worked a lot of coaches over the last two years and a lot of them have been good, a lot of them have been bad. There's been a couple division one for former D1 and former pro players who are coaches now that I've worked with who are just. They're awful. Like, they're not good coaches at all. They make like this to the point where they make their teams worse. Because they were, in my view on is they were better than everybody else. Like they were in high school, they were better than everybody in college. They're better than everybody and they made it to the pros. Right. Or even if you only made a D1, like you're better than everybody in high school. Like you're the best player your state in high school. That's how you went to the D1 level. And so now they get, they come work with players who aren't that and they have no way to relate to them. So they, they're like, oh, you're not like, you, you, you aren't doing this well enough. Like, what's wrong with you? But it's like you can't, you can't just view your experiences as everybody else's because you were better than everybody. So, like, it's easier for you. I think that's part of it too. Like, players who, who are better than everybody at a young age, they don't have to work the same way as the guy who isn't that. Right. The guy who's undersized and doesn't maybe grows late. Right. Anthony Davis is a great example of that. Right. He was a point guard till he was, you know, freshman sophomore in high school, and then by the time he's a junior, he's like 6 foot 10. So now he has all those guard skills and he's now at this point, seven footer. So now he, he becomes that, that, that top guy. Right. But I think players who have to kind of go through that, which is why, like, I think being overlooked can be a really, really good thing at times.

Yeah. I mean, no matter what people say, there's always going to be a guy that's going to come out later. You know, like you said, Anthony Davis, he came out his junior senior year. Like, there's literally a guy in the 2023 class that nobody's talking about right now that's going to come out of nowhere and be that guy. So like I said, people just need to just keep working, just focus on themselves. Don't worry too much about rankings. Rankings matter. To a certain extent, it does get you that look by college coaches to check you out. But at the end of the day, you know, you just have to keep working on yourself, just working on little things, just trying to get better each and every day and just not focus too much on that. So, yeah, your time will come as long as you just keep working, staying patient and just praying To God, like, you'll be straight to me.

Yeah. Facts so kind of touched on that too. I think it's so funny how, like, social media has kind of taken over in terms of, like, the high school game, especially now. Like, I remember when I was. How old are you?

I'm 22.

Okay. I'm about to be 21. So we're pretty similar in age. I remember back in the day, like, it was so much different than it is now with, like, Guy. I mean, I don't know if this is true or not, but I think Mikey Williams has made, like, millions of dollars. Has he not? Like, I think. I think he has, like, and like, back in the day, like, no one, no one could ever do that at that age, just, just being a basketball player. But, like, at this point, like, guys are able to make, like, insane amounts of money and, like, get millions of followers just because of high school basketball, which is crazy. But I think, you know, that kind of my. I just want to. Want to get your thoughts on, like, the kind of state of high school basketball. Like, celebrity. Basically we have celebrities as high school players now. Like, what are your, what are your thoughts on how things have trended and like, where you kind of see things going from here?

Man, I feel like. I feel like it kind of those popular players, it kind of takes away from, like, I can't judge people, but, like, outside looking in, it kind of. I feel like it does take away their passion away from the game of basketball, knowing that they're given a lot of things and they don't. Like, they're not gonna work as hard as somebody who is under, underdog, you know, like, Michael is making millions or thousands of dollars, however much he's making. Bronnie, same thing. And, you know, like, if LeBron grew up in the Tay day and age, he'll be the same thing. And I don't know, like, it's, it's, it's. It's a tricky. It's a tricky thing. Like, is this crazy to me that people can really make a lot of money just posting, just giving shout outs on their Instagram and Twitter, But I don't know. The high school game is definitely evolving, though, in my opinion, like, it's going towards a better direction now you're saying we're seeing different types of players coming out each year because of boss life and who makes tape and all these other basketball channels. So I feel like it's going in the right direction for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, like, I think you're Right. Like the really good thing about that is that players, like basketball continues to grow and how popular it is. And at this point, like there's so much basketball content out there. Like there's really no excuse for players to not have a plan going forward. Like if you want to be good, like you can be, but it really is just about you going out and being able to do like a 13, 14, 15 year old kid today has so much access to training that they, they wouldn't have had like when I was their age. Like even though that wasn't that long ago, like thing, there's so much more stuff out there now because of how popular basketball is. And I think players, players got to take. Yeah, exactly. The players got to take advantage of that. Like for sure.

There's no excuse for nothing. Like I just tell people, just, just set up and just work harder and like there's no excuses. There's people in other countries who don't have the same opportunities that you have. So you have to take advantage of, of what you have, what you have. Like there's. Everybody is in an equal playing field. Just. Matt, it just depends on who's going to work harder. Somebody's gonna work harder than the next man. You know, if you're not working hard today, somebody's working hard today, somebody's working harder than you. So like I said, just set up and just, just work harder. That's all you have to do with no excuses. To me, there's no excuses for nothing. Like just from where I'm from, like from Africa. I've seen like they have no opportunities there from where I'm from. So people here in the States, like there's just no excuses. Just, just work harder, really, you know.

Were you, were you born in Africa?

No, I was born here, but literally everybody else besides me and my other two brothers were born in Africa. But I've been there.

Okay, what, what country?

It's called Ghana.

Ghana, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So my dad actually is from Malawi. And so. But he came over and it's like what you said, like he came over, he was 19, right. And like was going to college, but it's like he didn't have any money. Like he didn't. Like he was in a whole new country, right? And like he's been able to kind of build up to the life he is now with the family and all this stuff like where you kind of have to go from nothing to something. And like so now it's like I'm born with all that like, that work has gotten me to this point. Right. And. But that's, that's not what I always talk about, like, with hard work is. I, I had a video, maybe I talked about a podcast. But, like, hard work always pays off. And the reason that it is is because you might not get to your goal. We already talked about this. Like, I worked my whole life to play college basketball, and it didn't happen. Right. You worked to excel, make it to the Olympics, like, be. Be that guy running track, and it didn't happen for you. But, like, I think developing that mindset of working hard is really the most important thing. Like, even if you don't achieve what you want to, because now, like, you know, whatever with whatever we're doing now, like, for me, like my training or YouTube or whatever else and then all stuff you're doing, like, we've developed that. That ability to work hard because it's a skill like anything else. Like the skill to get up every day and work hard at something. Like, you have to fill that. That's not just something you. Some people might have it naturally, but a lot of people don't. And if you don't use it, even if you have it naturally, like, it might go away. So you like being able to kind of have that ability. That's why I say hard work will always pay off. You might not reach your goal right away, but eventually down the line, that skill you have is going to pay off for you in some sort of area.

Yeah. As I always tell people, like, live by three things. I said it earlier in the podcast. Just take action, stay patient, and just pray to God. If you have those three things in your mind, like, God will take care of the rest. Just keep working hard. I just hate when people just complain too much. They don't have the resources, they don't have ladders, they don't have basketball, goal to go. Like, there's. There's no excuse, you know, you have to just use what you have in the moment, just try to elevate from there. And I just don't like when people just talk about what they want to do in life, but they're not taking action towards those things. You know, you're not going to get to that point if you're yourself not. Are not taking action to get to that point. So nobody's going to do it for you. So, yeah, you just got to just work hard. Like, that's, that's the main thing. If you're not going to take action, you're never going to get where you want to be at. So.

Absolutely, man. Yeah, that's. That's really what it all. What it all comes down to is, like, I think. I think it's so much about personal responsibility, being able to say, like, I'm going to take this upon myself to do it, and not allowing outside circumstances to kind of dictate anything. I had a podcast talking about being a leader, like, how to be a leader on the court. And one of the biggest things is being able to take responsibility instead of being a guy who tries to live by accountability. So basically what all that means is like, I, as a leader, I'm gonna take responsibility when things go wrong, right? When my team messes up with my teammates in the wrong position, like, that's on me, because I gotta. I gotta make sure he's in the right spot next time. Like, I can't let him. Like, if he's out of position, I didn't say anything to him. It's as much on me as it is on him, as opposed to me saying, like, hey, you. You were out of position. Like, it's on you now. So for me, it's like, I think it's the same thing. We talk about hard work that you have to be able to say, like, okay, if I don't get up and go work out today, then that's on me. It's not because, like, it wasn't perfect. Like, I didn't have, you know, for whatever reason. Like, you said, like, you know, I'll. Players who will be like, hey, coach, you know, I like, I can't. Like, I'm really sore today, or, like, my, like, upper body sore today. So I can't. I can't do my workout specifically. There's a couple guys who, like, will always, like, DM me and say stuff like that. And I'm like, okay, well, then do something else. Like, there's something else you can do. Then maybe you do legs today, right? Maybe you go for. Maybe you run some sprints today, right? Like, there's something else you can do. And I think that, that. That kind of mentality of, like, take responsibility and just finding a way to get it done is that's what you develop through. Through athletics.

You have to do something literally every single day to reach your goal. Like, there should not be a day that you do not. You're not doing something to reach your goal. And I feel like another thing that's very important is overcoming obstacles. Like, people think things are supposed to happen in a week. You know, people think they're supposed to be able to dunk in a week or two. It's not working, then they just stop doing it. It's. Everything is a process. You know, a lot of people can't overcome that obstacle failure because they're not patient enough. That's where it goes back to just staying patient and just go. It all goes back to working hard, you know, just if you, like I said, if you have those things, every, everything will be okay.

Yeah, like, bro, it's like YouTube, like, I'm sure. You know, I think you're at what, like 12,000 subs? Like little of that. So like, you weren't like, you didn't, you weren't at 10,000 subs after your first video. Like you had. You got to keep, you got to keep going. And like a lot of people will see like where you're at now and, or where I'm at now, and then they'll be like, oh, like, you know, he's lucky that he's there. It's like, no, man, I spent, I spent so many hours, so many hours doing this stuff. I spent so many hours recording. There's been multiple times, two or three times I've recorded a podcast and like the recording like, was messed up and I had to redo it and I'm like. So like, I got to take the amount of hours that you got to put into something. Like, you see with like guys who are the best of their sport too. Like, we don't, we don't get to see that. That where we see their Instagram posts of them working out, but we don't see like, we don't see their actual day that they're getting up at five o' clock in the morning to go work out. Then they're going to come home, then they get some recovery, they're going to eat, then they're going to go watch some film, then they're going to go back, they got another workout, then they're going to get some more recovery stuff and then go home to whatever they got to do. And then they're going to go home, they're going to go a third time and get some more stuff done. Like we see them on game day, right? We see Damian Lillard hit those, those big time shots. We see Luka Doncic, best point guard. Yeah, actually, honestly, I think I'm with you on that. It depends though. Would we consider Luka Doncic as a point guard?

No, I don't.

Okay.

He's a small four that plays point guard, but he's not a true point guard.

Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So if that, if that's the criteria, like, if we're not, if we're not considering Luca, is that then. Yeah, I'm with you on that. Unless, unless Steph comes out and he goes crazy this year, then, then we'll have a debate. But like, for now, I think I'm with you on that day point. But yeah, that, that's the thing. Like, we don't see the word that goes into it. And, and these guys having to overcome, like, these guys who have to overcome these injuries. Right? Like, everyone's playing hurt. And I still remember Kristaps Porzingis played like two games in the playoffs this year against the Clippers with a torn meniscus. And like, we don't, we don't see, we see the, the money, we see all the stuff these guys have. But, like, you don't see the actual awful part of it too. Like, the really, really difficult part that guys got to go through as well.

There's a lot of things that like everybody, everybody goes through their own set of problems, you know, and like, for me, it took me, it took me what, a year and a half to get to where I'm at now. There was sleepless nights, I was writing scripts at three in the morning. I wasn't hanging out with my friends. Even now, like, I'm taking sacrifices because I know where I want to be at. I know where it's going to take. You know, I'm not going out to parties right now. I'm not doing none of that type of stuff. I'm just focusing on this YouTube stuff because I have a goal, I have a vision where I want to be at at a certain time. And yeah, it takes hard work to get where everybody's at. So, yeah, people don't see the behind the scenes, man. It's. It's definitely tough.

Absolutely, absolutely. So kind of pivoting off that point. This is something that it's funny to even be talking about it. But so obviously, I think over the past, really, I think it's the past year, maybe a little bit longer. At least for me, it's been over the past year. Like, we've seen the kind of increased prevalence of like the whole one on one matchups with like these basketball YouTubers and all that sort of stuff. And so the big one now is Devonte, Friga and Dev in the lab, which. Which is going to be a really, really interesting matchup. I think it's December 13, but I watched your video on it. And so just, just for, you know, for those of you guys who haven't, what are your thoughts on, on this whole, on this whole match, what do you see? What do you see happening?

I. Well, I generally, first of all, Dev in the lab is like my all time number one favorite YouTuber. Like, I grew up watching that 10,000 hours. That's actually what inspired me to do what I'm doing now, honestly. Like, I want to impact people, help them, you know, get better at the game of basketball. So he definitely helped me a lot on that. And he's also definitely like the best trainer to me as well. And as far as the one on one, I generally have, I think devonte Free is going to win. Like, everybody's saying Devin's gonna win, but devonte, he's played some good one on ones. Like, he's played some actual competition that I feel like could honestly beat Devin as well. And just because he has that experience, just because he has that, he can shoot the ball like lights out. I don't know if you've seen his one on ones, but he can shoot the ball even with hands in his face and everything. So it's gonna be a tough matchup for sure. But I think devonte is going to end up taking it for sure. And I've seen people also complain about having to, having to pay the $10. I don't know if you really support them. Like, you will pay the $10 in my opinion. Like, I paid the $10. You know, I support Devin. Like I said, he's my favorite YouTuber, so it shouldn't be a problem. It's. It's really only $10. That's what, like two chick fil a sandwiches? Like, come on. It's just how you look at things. So.

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm, I'm with you on that. And that was a point I wanted to get to do is like the whole like pay per view thing with this. I'm like, listen, guys, like, because I went on, the reason I even like wrote this down as a topic is like, I was, I was looking at, I was on YouTube and I saw that Devonte posted something on his community tab about this. And like, it was like the flyer of it. It was talking about how it's like a $10, like buy in for the live stream. And dude, the comments were crazy. It was like every other comment was like, oh, I'm unsubscribing. And they're like, oh, like, I was like, dude, like, what? Like, come on, like, it'd be one thing if it was like, 50 bucks. Okay. You know, that would be a little bit much, right? But I'm like, this. It's 10 bucks. Like, you gotta say, like, Devonte is flying out to Los Angeles. They're both putting up 10. Like, they're both putting 10 grand on the game, right? And I believe the body said if he wins, he's donating everything anyway. So, like, at this point, like, to me, it's in. The crazy thing is, like, I understand, like, for like, some younger. Some younger kids who, like, that might be more of a. Of an issue, though. To me, it's like, if I. If I was 13, 14 years old, I'd be like, hey, dad, here's 10 bucks. Can I get this? Like, that would be what I would do, and. And it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but that I literally see, like, grown men, like, commented, like, oh, I can't believe you're trying to charge us, bro. If you. If you don't have $10, like, get off YouTube and go get a job, bro. Like, come on. Like, you're.

In so many ways.

So many ways, dude. Like, we're talking $10. Like, go walk somebody's dog or something. Like, you're too old to be complaining about this stuff. But, like, that. That was my thought. I'm like, listen. But you can't be doing that sort of stuff. But I'm with you on the whole. On the actual match of, like, I think that. I think devonte win it. Like, I. It's tough because I could. I think I'm playing the best of five. Like, I. I don't see, Like, I don't see Dev getting swept, but I don't. I don't know.

I'm not gonna lie. I wouldn't honestly. Wouldn't be surprised if he does. Honestly.

Yeah.

Devonte's that. That good, Jimmy?

Yeah, he is. And I think he posted a couple other. He was. I think he's played some G league guys the other day on it, and I saw some stuff on Instagram with that. Like, I think. I think devonte will win. Dev is good, but I just think as an athlete, that's where, like, there's a big. Like, we already talked about this. Like, the. The athletic, like, the athleticism portion of it. I just think it's like, they're not even comparable, like, as athletes. Devonte's younger. Like, he's. He's in his prime. He's playing the best basketball he's ever played. And I didn't watch his video, but I think he's gonna go play pro basketball this next year. So I'm like this, who's a pro? These dude is going to get paid money to play, but to play basketball, that's a whole different level of being able to compete. So like, I'm interested to watch it. Like, I'm for sure going to. It's not like, I mean, five games, so you're paying $2 a game. I'm like, it's. It's really not. It's really not that big a deal.

I didn't even look at it like that, but that makes sense. But yeah, I think Devonta Devonte, like, he's in his prime right now. I don't know if you've been seeing his recent videos and his recent one on one's like, he's honestly better now than he was months ago, you know, and the. Devin's gonna have to really, really go hard these next couple weeks to like try to even compare to him. So. And, and I made a recent video on the, on the two as well. Like, Devin, he's not like, he's not like a defender like that, honestly. And devonte might be too fast, he might be too strong. I think he's stronger than Devin. So it's gonna be tough for Devin. I honestly don't know why I think people are saying Devin's gonna just like kill him. Just solely on the fact that they see those, those one on ones though. King. King of the courts that they show that Devin posted on his channel. But the thing is like, Devin doesn't show his misses, honestly. He kind of just shows his make. So that's why I feel like people think he makes every shot. But if you really know he's not making every shot, honestly. So I think devonte definitely is gonna take this one for sure.

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know if you saw a few months ago, do you know, you know Jay Jones on YouTube?

Yeah, yeah.

From K Genius. Yeah, yeah. So like I saw somebody try and say that because devonte lost to Jay Jones, he's gonna lose to Dev. And I'm like, no. Yeah, first of all, that was months ago. But also Jay Jones, I. I think J. Jones is a way better athlete than Deb is. Like, I don't think, I don't think it's comparable. Like, and not to say that I don't think Deb is more skilled than J. Jones is. I think he probably. I think he is at least as a ball handler. But I mean, again, it's just like, guys who are good athletes can't compete with anybody. Like, if you're good, if you're really, really good athlete, you're really quick, you're really strong, you can compete even if you're not quite as skilled. That's why I think I'm with you on. I think, I think devonte was it. But I think the other point to make with that is what I'm really interested is to see how this sort of pay per view format ends up working. Because if this, if it ends up being something that really is profitable for both of them, like, obviously someone's gonna have to pay $10,000, meaning somebody, like, if, I mean, they get, you know, they get a thousand people to tune in for it. I mean, you're making. They're making that money back. You get 2,000 people, and then you're both getting 10 grand off this. Like, all of a sudden, like, here's an avenue where, like, guys can start making some, like, real money doing this sort of thing. And so to me, like, I support it because I want this to be more like, I'm all for guys, like creators getting paid for stuff like this. Like, I'm all for, like, I want. I want YouTube. I want this stuff to grow. Obviously, I'm. You and I both are part of this. So, like, we. That it affects us, but not, not right now, but, like, the more that, like, the more popular stuff like this becomes, like, I think it's better for everybody who's kind of in the whole content creating community.

Yeah, I agree. Like you said, we're both on this platform. That's why I'm turning. I want to turn my channel more into like a business basketball page. Kind of like what you're doing and, you know, making these courses, like how to grow on YouTube or like ball handling courses, just little stuff like that. Like, I don't know, I'm just trying to make this like a career type thing. So, yeah, I don't, I don't blame them for, for doing what they need to do. They got to put food on the table. Just like everybody who's watching this has to put food on the table. So you can't really knock people's hustle. It's not like they're doing something illegal or not like that. They're just asking their supporters to support them at the end of the day. So that's really what it is.

Yeah, bro, that's facts. That's facts, man. So kind of Just my last. My last thing that I wanted to get to is talking about. I was watching your channel a little bit this morning and you're talking about Hoot mixtape. And it got me thinking. Like, I remember back in the day when I was 12, 13 years old, 14 years old, and like, dude who mixtapes were everything. Like it was all about who mixtapes. Like that was all. That was all people were talking about. Like. And so I want to get your thought on this and I think you might have mentioned the video, but I don't remember what your. What your answer is. Answer was what. What would you say your favorite who mixtape is? Like the. The original. Like who makes it? What would you.

Your favorite one is my favorite all time who mixtape?

Like for me, I'll give you like mine. Mine would say. I would say my favorite is seventh Woods. I think seventh Woods. Yeah. But like Marcus Levette has a great one. Akil Carr has a couple good ones. Malik Monk, Kyrie Irving, Austin Rivers. Like there are a lot. There are a lot of real songs, but I say the seventh was one. It's probably my. Probably my favorite one.

I think. I think I would say mine's the Kill Carlin.

Yeah, that's my second for me.

I feel like everybody used to watch that and just go play a game. Like that would just hype them up so bad. He's like crossing everybody up. Like he's my height. I'm only 5 8. So like I would just go out there and try to play like him and I don't know that. Yeah, that's definitely. I feel like that's my favorite one. That one or Clay Parker when that one's good too. Shaquille Johnson. That one's a good too. Yeah, there's a lot shout out to who makes tape. I honestly like them more than Boz Live. I feel like their tracks, their audio and everything was just better. But I like Bob's life too. They're code too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. I. I know because it seems like nowadays like everybody has a mixtape but like back then it was like not everyone got mixtapes. Like it was like the guys who like. Oh. And not everyone had a popular mixtape. Like if you had a mixtape, it was cause it was a good mixtape and like because you. You could hoop and these is like. Feels like there's so many channels that post them now. So it's like you don't know like who is legit, who is not.

Blessing. It's a blessing and a curse, honestly, to. Because if Like a cute car and all these people. Now you're in the. In the viewer's eyes. Everybody thinks you're, like, one of the best people in the country. You know, then like I said at the beginning, beginning of this podcast, like, they go into college and they ended up being bused. Like, they're not the player that everybody helped them up to be because now everybody's watching their full games in college. And it's like I said, it's a blessing and curse. They can either help you, like, once you get to that, once you have everybody's eyes on you, then that's when you start to turn it up even more, or that's when you're just going to get exposed. And unfortunately, that happens to a lot of the people, the players. So that's a blessing and a curse.

Yeah. Yeah, no, it definitely is. Well, listen, I appreciate you tuning in and hopping on for this episode. It really, again, like, a lot of stuff that I got to talk about that I've been thinking about for a while, but it's like, now I've got someone who can. Who can kind of go back and forth with me on this sort of stuff. So I appreciate you taking the time and then and tuning in. Before you head out, just let everyone know where they can follow you. If anything else you want to promote, go for it. Like, let it. Let them know.

Yeah. Go subscribe to my channel link in the description Juice May Hoops. Follow me on Instagram at Hasan Guy underscore or Jeez, my hoops. You can find me on there. Shout out to Vision Driven Basketball. Thanks for having me, man. Like, it's cool, man. Appreciate it.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'll have. I'll have all. All your links posted in. In the YouTube description, so make sure.

Yeah, I forgot to get that one on one into that bro. Videos.

Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, bro. Yeah, I. Man, I think the thing, like, I hope, like, eventually I'll be able to travel obviously with COVID Like, it's hard to do stuff now, but, like, I want to get to a point where, like, I'm big enough where, like, I can. I can get out and like, host things other places. Like, I can run, like, you know, weekends, clinics or like, just go, like, run workouts in different places. Like, I would love to get out, like, different parts of the country. I've been out to Texas in, man. It's probably like 10 years, dude. It's been so long. So, like, I do. I want to. Like, it's funny because all these guys Are moving from like, you know, Joe Rogan.

Yeah, okay.

Like guys are moving from California out to Texas. I was like, oh yeah, Texas is the place to be now. Like Texas, like this is like the spot, bro. So I got to get out there. For sure.

If you did, if you come out here, we can definitely collab, play one on one or if you want to have like a camp or something, I'll definitely come for sure. But yeah, we definitely got to get that one on one. I was seeing a couple of your videos and. And that's the thing. Nobody's seen me hoop, so nobody knows how good I am. But yeah, yeah, y' all gonna see, man. I can see.

Hey, that's fact, bro. We got to get that, we got to get that footage on there soon. I got, I gotta, I gotta know what I'm. I gotta know what I'm getting myself into. I gotta know like what I gotta prepare for, you know what I mean?

Yeah, I don't know if you know Matt, you know Matt be great. He's also a high school basketball channel. Matt be great.

I think I've heard of him.

I think I've heard he has like 80000 like me him may play a one on one. So y' all may see that soon.

Okay.

Yeah, you're gonna be surprised.

Alright, alright, I'm with it. All right. All right, man. Well, again I appreciate you guys, you tuning on. Shout out to everybody who also has tuned in. If you guys are on Apple podcast, Spotify, you guys are on Apple podcasts right now, would appreciate you gonna scroll down, leave a review. Helps me grow, helps everybody out, which is what we want. Right? If you guys are on YouTube, go ahead and hit that subscribe button. I think I'm probably gonna hit 10,000 this week. So let's get one step closer right here. So click the subscribe button. Like drop a comment and let me know what you think. And of course make sure you guys go check out my guy, like I said, links in the description below subscribe to his channel. I'll see you guys soon. Peace.