WANTING TO QUIT BASKETBALL TO *BEING IN THE NBA* ARMONI BROOKS JOINS THE *YOU SHOULD KNOW PODCAST*
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Hey everybody, welcome to the first episode of the You Should Know podcast. Here we go. Everybody give me some love. Give me some love. Give me some love. You know, I'm really excited to get this podcast going. I've been working on it for six months, seven months. And basically what this podcast is, it's a guest-based podcast. So I'll bring on people that I'm interested in and I feel like have a certain type of knowledge on a certain subject.

that other people should know about. And today, on the first episode, we have the one, the only, the Atlanta Hawks' newest signee, Armani Brooks. How you doing, Peyton? Glad to be here. Hey, man. I'm very excited to be a part of your first episode. I really appreciate it, bro. Let's get right into it. How do we know each other? How long have we known each other? Man, we go way back, man, since I don't even know, like,

Fourth grade, fifth grade. Yeah. Man, just playing basketball. What were you on, the Pflugerville Heat or something like that? Yeah, something like that. Oh my God, we were so bad. Yeah, yeah. We were kids. We've known each other, yeah, like 10 plus years. Me and Armani have, you know, grown up playing basketball together. Pretty sure he was on like

Yeah.

And we, especially when we were older, we ran stuff. Oh, yeah. It was us. You know, THP, Texas Hardwood Prospects, bro. We practiced in the most raggedly, broke-down church possible. But all I know is that when it was game time, bro, we was ready to go. We were on. We were on, definitely. So we would, let me get into a little, I think I've talked to you about this before, but for everybody else to know. We would play these tournaments, and there would be coaches there, obviously. Yeah.

And, you know, I'd have a good game. Yeah. I'd hit like five threes, six threes. I'd get some dunks, 20-something points. I'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Coach is going to blow up my phone. And Armani might be quiet the first half. Armani comes in the second half and drops 40, gets six offers after the game. And I'm like, well, damn. Nothing I did matters. But, yeah, bro, you like –

we would be at these tournaments and I remember just like it was after like one week there would be like 10 different coaches at every game D1 coaches big name coaches and THP our AAU team wasn't a shoe team no we didn't

play these big circuit teams like we didn't play these big tournaments and you had the opportunity to go play for a shoe team yeah why why didn't you take that um you know well I started off THP my sophomore year and um you know I was kind of I was okay I wasn't really ready to you know start getting recruited by any division one schools but um you know going into my junior my senior year going into my junior year oh you said the backwards anyways

But yeah, like my last AAU season, you know, Coach Tim, he passed away. And so I got a call in the middle of class from my dad, you know, just telling me what happened. And I had to walk out of class because I was crying and everything, you feel me? So I just, you know, I was thinking about going to play with Texas Pro out of Houston on the Adidas gauntlet, but...

When all that happened, I was like, nah, I can't leave Coach Tim, man. You feel me? He got me my first offer from Sam Houston State. Yeah. And I just felt like it was my obligation to, you know, come back and pick up, keep going what he left off. And, um.

That was probably the best decision I ever made, you know, staying with THP because the memories that I made with you guys and all the games and, you know, all the things that we went through, I mean, it made me what I am today. For sure. And that says a lot about your character and a lot about, you know, loyalty. And there's...

A lot of kids out here, and that's kind of why I wanted you on this podcast, is because you don't have the conventional route of somebody who doesn't really know you and just sees your Instagram posts. It's like, oh, he just got picked up by Washington for Summer League. Oh, now he's with the Atlanta Hawks. They're like, oh, they don't know that route, that you didn't do these two teams. You weren't on Ball is Live. You weren't on doing all this stuff. So for these kids that think...

oh, I need to go be on this shoe team, I need to go do this, what would you say to them? Is it important? Is it necessary? And if they were in the same position you were to have the opportunity to go play in these circuits, what should they do? You know, honestly...

I just always thought that if you were good enough, you'll be found. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you were to, if there's an NFL talent quarterback at a Division III school, if he's good enough to play in the NFL, he's going to get found by any means necessary. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I just feel like, you know, everyone gets caught up in playing for certain teams and, you know, playing with hype and playing in front of cameras every game, playing in front of

10,000 people or however many people be at high school games. You know what I'm saying? But I just feel like if you're good enough, you'll get found. And the talent speaks. Just trust me, bro. You don't have to go play on any shoe teams. You ain't got to go to no prep schools. You ain't got to go to no certified training. Just work hard by yourself. And if you're good enough to go play at the level that you want to play at, you'll get found. And trust me, they'll find you quick. Yeah. And...

I feel like now more than ever, it's so much easier to get recruited because of social media. Oh, yeah, for sure. Everybody posting their highlights nonstop. Exactly. You have direct access to coaches. I mean, whenever we were coming up and we could do that, you didn't obviously have to do that. But, you know, I was kind of like, well, damn, it was getting towards the end. And I was like, shit, I kind of want these coaches to know. But you have direct access to these coaches. You can DM a coach your highlights. You can DM.

tag them on whatever. Like it's, I feel like it's so much easier now to get recruited. Not that it's easy. It's obviously hard to get even one offer, let alone multiple from any level. Yeah. But you know, I don't, I feel like I, you know, I don't have the, the, the reputation to say, Oh, don't go do this. Don't go do that. But I've witnessed firsthand that,

Yeah.

score two points. You know what I'm saying? Definitely on those shoe teams, man, it's a lot of politics that go in those shoe teams. At all levels of basketball, there's some level of politics that goes on that you have no control over. A college coach might know that AAU head coach, so he'll ask you to play a dude a certain amount of minutes so that they can recruit him and critique him or

So I just say don't fall into the trap. Go where you're wanted. Yeah. And if you're wanted, then do that and just play to the best of your ability at whatever level you're playing at. Yeah, and that takes me into going into college. So you obviously had how many – do you remember how many offers you had in high school? Like 32, I believe. Something like that. I do. But 32, and so –

You obviously decided to go to U of H. Yeah. So how did that relationship start with Coach Sampson? Well, first off, U of H was – when they were recruiting me, they were at every single game. There was a coach from the staff at every single game. Definitely remember that. You know, just little things like that. And they were my first visit, and they literally scheduled my visit the first day you could have a visit. And so, you know, just showing –

just them showing that much appreciation and attention to me, you know, was really big. And then when I got there, you know, UH was a, they had been down for a while, hadn't really been winning a whole lot of games. And Coach Sampson really just sold me on a vision. You know, new arena, new style, new system, new players, just everything. So, yeah.

I just felt like going into that, it was a great situation to be in. And I really like being a part of, you know, rebuilding things. You know, going into things that are already set on winning, you know what I'm saying? You know, it's fun to go in there and just win off rip. But, you know, I wanted to go through the trials and tribulations of, you know, losing games that we should win and winning games that we shouldn't have won. It just makes you feel so much better about what you're building at that school and at that location. Yeah. But college basketball sucks, right? It's bad. It's bad.

How do you feel about not being paid? Be honest. Because you're waking up. People don't understand how much work a college basketball player puts in. Yeah, you're getting your education paid for, but I mean... No, yeah, I definitely feel like there should be some form of compensation. You know what I'm saying? Because literally, over the summer, the summer's probably the easiest time to be a college basketball player. You wake up, probably 6 o'clock, you got weights for an hour, weights and conditioning in the morning.

Freshman and sophomore is normally got to go to class. So you'll go to class for two hours, come back for another workout, an open gym that afternoon around 1. And then you'll get done about 5. And then you go home. Whatever time you go to sleep, wake up and do it again four days out of the week. And then come season, you're practicing. That season is when it gets hard. Because you've got class before practice. We practiced at 3. So we'd be in the film room 3 o'clock to about 5.

four-ish, depending on how mad Coach got at everybody. And then practice is anywhere from three hours, three and a half hours of nonstop war, basically. You know what I'm saying? So you're going in there every day

after class, after lifting weights, after whatever's going on in personal life, all your homework and assignments that you got to do, you got to find a way to just block all of that out and go into practice with the right mentality. Because if you go into practice with the wrong mentality, you're getting killed. Were you ever not motivated during, whenever you were at U of H, like just in college basketball in general? Were you ever just like, man, like...

We'll get into you deciding to go leave. But your freshman year, your sophomore year, were you ever just like, man, I don't know about this? Yeah, my freshman year, I really wanted to quit. You know what I'm saying? Because going in every day, I was getting cooked by Damien Turner.

I was going against this guy named Damian Dotson every day he plays for the New York Knicks now. Yeah, definitely. And, bro, every day he would kill me, bro. And coach, all the coaches were getting on me nonstop. I just felt like I couldn't even play basketball anymore. I was like, bro, I'm not even good anymore. Like, I just felt like, I felt like everything about me just, like, my confidence was just non-existent, bro. Yeah. And, um...

You know, I had a lot of long nights just thinking about, you know, dreading to go to practice the next day and dreading to even wake up to go do anything tomorrow. Because, you know, when your confidence gets that low, bro, it takes a toll on your entire life. For sure. But, no, I just found a way to follow through. My parents and my brother, honestly, they were my motivation. You know, after the long days at practice, they called me, or I called them and they just...

tell me not to give up, you know, because, like, my goals were bigger than what was going on at that time. So what was the turning point? Like, whenever you were getting cooked every day in practice and, you know, it was, you know, messing with your confidence and...

and everything. What was, was there a certain moment where your turning point, was it like in a game where you got hot? Was it sometime at practice or was it a meeting you had with a coach? Yeah. So, um, at, you know, we would practice probably six days out of the week. So like for five of those practices, I would be getting cooked. And like the one practice I do, I, you know, I go back at them and I finally just figured out how to,

how to win certain battles, you know what I'm saying? So win a possession here, win a possession there. And once I started winning possessions, that's when my confidence was like, okay, I can, you know what I'm saying? I can play at this level. So once I saw that and it just kind of started clicking and then going into my sophomore year, that summer was a huge year for me. And I worked so hard and, you know, any other coaches will have a testament behind that. And

My sophomore year, that's when things started taking off a little bit. Yeah, so let's go into your sophomore year. Y'all made it to the Sweet 16? Around the 32. Around the 32. Yeah. And so that's whenever y'all lost with the buzzer beater to Michigan. How was that? Because I was watching on TV. That was so tough. I was like, oh, yeah, they got it. And then...

They panned to you on the sideline. Bro, I was like, oh, they got him. They got him. He's done. I was like, he's going to be a meme. I was like, bro, I texted you afterwards, too. I was like, bro, you're good. I wanted to joke, but I know that was a tough time. So I was like, no, they got him. So I know that has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. Oh, yeah. We were, I think we were up two. We were up two with like five seconds left. Yeah.

I think one of my teammates that went to the free throw line to be able to seal the game. And, you know, obviously, you know, he missed the two free throws. But, you know, we still figured that we had the game won. You know what I'm saying? So most of us are on the sideline kind of celebrating like, yeah, we about to go to L.A. because that's where the C-16 was. Yeah. As soon as he left his hand, we just all like, obviously, we all just looked.

and like it got close to the rim it got close to the rim and we all just kind of and it whatever happened happened and we were like bro there's no like at first I just like I just sat on the floor and I was like bro what happened like that really like you know what I'm saying did he really make that and then I you know obviously all the emotion and stuff started happening yeah and um well

What a lot of people didn't see was in the locker room, obviously. Oh, what was that like? I bet that was... It was ridiculous, bro. Like, my teammate who missed the free throws, he was in the bathroom punching the wall. I bet. You know, they were just, bro, like, you would think that somebody died, like how the locker room was, you know?

All the seniors were just going, like, crying like crazy. And we were just all trying to comfort everybody. What did Coach Sampson say to you after that? What could he say after that? Like, hey, man, that's tough as hell. I really don't remember what he said. Yeah. That's the crazy part. He stood, like, while we were, we sat there in the locker room crying for, like, 25 minutes. Yeah. Like, we just, and then I think he walked around, gave all the seniors a hug, told them he loved them. Yeah.

After that, I really don't know if he said anything. I just know that right before we walked out, me and Galen made eye contact and said, we'll be back next year. And we did. And y'all made it further. Y'all made it to the Sweet 16. Y'all really did change the culture at U of H, and y'all set a standard of winning. Yeah.

How is that Sweet 16 experience? Because, you know, we grow up watching the tournament. And we're like, that's everybody, like, Hooper's dream. Yeah. If you play college, it's like, I want to make it to the tournament. I want to be in the Sweet 16 and lead eight, Final Four. How was that? I know you were shitting on yourself. Because that's a...

biggest stage in college basketball. What was that like? You know, just going into the entire tournament, there's only 68 teams who make it. You know, the two play-in games were four of the teams and then the field of 64. So, um...

You know, that whole weekend, you're getting treated like a celebrity. You know what I'm saying? So it's nonstop cameras, nonstop attention. Everybody everywhere wants to ask you questions. You're getting DMs from people asking, can you leave them tickets that you've never met before? Like, I don't even know who you are. You're asking me to leave you tickets to the game. That's hilarious. Like, I have family. You know what I'm saying? I got priorities. I don't know you. I don't know you. And, um...

But, yeah, man, you know, just going into that, you know, it's really a surreal moment. And, you know, my sophomore year when we went to the tournament, I did not play good in either games. So I couldn't make a shot to save my life. So I just tried to find a way, you know, getting rebounds and just trying to do anything to help the team win and play defense.

But, you know, going into my junior year, I was like, bro, I can't have another show like that in the tournament. You know, that's a huge stage, and my team needs me. Yeah. And so the first game, I think I fouled out, I think, against Georgia State. I think I fouled out. I had like two points or something like that. Played terrible. So I was beating myself up. And the second game, we had Ohio State.

And I played pretty good. I think I had, like, 10 points, like, seven rebounds. Had a solid game. Really contributed to my team's wins. And then, you know, we found out we were playing Kentucky in the Sweet 16. Big time. Yeah, we wanted to. Bro, we had that game, like, bro, we wanted that game so bad. Yeah, it's a different energy going into it. Yeah, it's a different type. Like, you know, a lot of times we had a real goofy team. So, like, you know what I'm saying? We would joke around all the time. But, like, that week when we were getting ready to play them, bro, it was none. Yeah.

No jokes, bro. Like, we wanted that game so bad. Yeah. And got to Kansas City, and we started, you know, getting our minds right, going into the game, and you walk out in the arena, and you see all the blue. You know what I'm saying, bro? It was probably, we played in the Sprint Center. It probably fit, like, 22,000 people. Yeah. When I tell you that 18,000 was Kentucky. Yeah. Yeah.

2,000 was Houston and like 2,000 was just random people. What does that do to you? Does that be like, oh, shit, this is like an away game? Or are you like, okay, that's motivation or a little bit of both? You know, just our entire season we felt like we were underdogs. You know, even though we were doing good, winning all the time,

You know, we just always kept that chip on our shoulders. So we walk into the arena, see all that blue, and we like, well, it's a road game. So let's get our minds right. You know what I'm saying? Because the noise is not going to be for us. It's going to be for them every single time. Yeah. Whether it's something good or bad. Yeah. And I think that was the best thing that could have happened to us, though, you know, having that mentality. Yeah.

because then it just really motivates you to even go out there and silence their fans. Yeah, and so y'all came up short in that game. Y'all didn't lose by much. It was like 58 to 64 or something like that. Yeah, it was like a four-point game. Yeah, and how long after that did you start thinking about entering for the draft? Were you thinking about it during the season?

No, during the season I didn't try to think about anything like that because, you know, I didn't want to have any distractions at all because I was completely just bought into my teammates. But probably I'd say like two weeks maybe after the game I was like, I think I just kind of want to test it out and see what's going on. Yeah.

Because, you know, they had made the rule where if you declare by a certain date, you could come back. Yeah. And so I just wanted to test and find out what was going on early in that process. Yeah. So I was watching Andre Iguodala on The Breakfast Club. We were just talking about The Breakfast Club. But I was watching him on The Breakfast Club, and he was talking about when he told his coaches that he wants to enter for the draft, they told him, you know, they gave him, like, negative feedback. Mm-hmm.

Not because he wasn't good enough, but they told him it's because he wasn't good enough. They're like, you're not ready for that. You know, there's that and the other. But the whole time, it's because they wanted to win a national championship and wanted to keep him on the team. Yeah. Well...

What was the coach's reaction? Was there any negative feedback? Was there anything? And not putting anybody under the bus, but be honest. No, yeah. When I first, you know, when I first declared to go to the draft, I still had my option to come back. So, you know, all the coaches were like, yeah, you know, just, you know, get feedback because that was my initial, you know, thoughts were to go get feedback and just see what I need to work on for next year. And, you know,

You know, of course, you know, I wanted, I was going to come back and go and try to help the team win some more games and get further in the tournament. And, you know, as the process went along, I was getting some really good feedback from the teams. And so I was like, man, I might, I might think about staying in it. You know what I'm saying? Just to, you know, just take that risk. And, you know, when it got towards the end of the, you know, the deadline, I started telling coach, like, I think, you know, I think I'm going to keep my name in the draft and, you know,

At first, he was, you know, he was really, you know, upset about it because obviously he wanted me to come back. Yeah. You know, and I told him my initial plans were to come back. I didn't want to betray that. Yeah. But, you know, after, you know, we just really sat down and talked about it, you know, he was encouraging about it. Yeah. He told me that if that's what I want to do, then, you know, go be the best I could be. I'm always going to be a Cougar. Yeah. And he texts me nonstop to this day. We always talking, me and all the coaches on the staff. Yeah.

You know, just asking me how things are going. You know, if I have – if they have any advice. Yeah. Sending me motivational stuff just to keep me going because it's a complete – the NBA is completely different from college. Yeah. Like, it's day and night. It's completely different. Yeah. And we're going to get into that. Did you experience any backlash outside of your coaching staff, just randoms on Twitter? Because, yeah, what was that like? How did you feel? What were people saying?

When I, you know, I sent out my little tweet saying that I was going to stay in the draft or whatever. And a lot of the comments were really positive saying, you know, good luck, congratulations or whatever. But there were some people on there saying, bro, like, what the hell are you doing? You're making a dumb decision. Who the fuck do you think you are? Yeah. And I'm like...

Like, bro, who are you? You know what I'm saying? You're mad at me for what I want to do. You know what I'm saying? You're a Cougar fan or whatnot. I gave Houston my everything for three years. You know what I'm saying? So I don't feel like you should be mad about that. And you have the chance to make a lot of money and change your family's life, your life. And I'll never understand that. And I don't know if it's a selfish thing of them like,

I want to see U of H keep winning or it's like a thing where they... Because a lot of people from parents and older people say like, oh, go get your education, finish it. But if I go make...

hundreds of thousands hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars I can always come back and go get my degree like I'm not always gonna have the opportunity to go to the league a lot of things can happen bro yeah you know I'm saying you can always come back to school and of course I'm gonna go back and get my degree I only have um a semester left okay yeah I'm gonna go back and get that but um I just felt like it was a great opportunity and I'm still happy I made that up you know that um that decision and um

Whatever happens, it might not be the route that I wanted to take, but that's what I had to do. I'm going to make the best out of every opportunity I get. Let's go to draft night. Let's go to draft day.

What was your feelings, emotions that day leading up to the night? Well, I woke up that morning and worked out because I was just – I couldn't sleep the night before. But, like, I was – it was nonstop thinking, just, you know, uncertainty. A lot of – just a lot of different emotions going on. And I woke up when it worked out. And I just tried to spend as much time around my family as possible that day because, obviously, you know, they were a big part of me making that decision. Of course.

the draft comes on i got some some of my friends at the house my family there and um we just watching it you know whatever i didn't really expect to get picked yeah honestly i didn't expect to get drafted i knew i was probably gonna go undrafted but um you know there was a few teams that had a lot of interest in me that i thought would call my name so like when their name when their names would come up there i'll be like okay this might be it yeah you know what i'm saying but obviously you know it didn't happen and um

I went undrafted, got picked up by Washington for summer league. Yeah. And what was – how long after the draft? So after you saw your name didn't get called, I'm sure it wasn't like, oh, like – I'm sure you're like, damn, I wish I got a call. But were you like –

A little bit. It wasn't nothing crazy. I was like, oh, why didn't I get drafted? You know what I'm saying? But I was like, I wish I would have got drafted. What did you do after that? And how long after did Washington call you and be like, you got to sign? Well, you know, honestly, I knew before. Oh, okay. But they were like, if you don't get drafted, you're coming with us for summer league, pretty much.

Okay, so you had that underlying blanket the whole time. You're like, okay. So, like, I had underlying security. Yeah. But it's still just the feeling of hearing your name called. Yeah, for sure. You know what I'm saying? For sure. But, yeah, so I knew before that I was going with them for summer league. So that wasn't really, that wasn't kind of expected. What's the summer league experience like going out to Vegas? I don't know.

Vegas is a terrible place to be for two weeks, bro. Why? It's nothing but... It's heat, gambling, and a bunch of temptation pretty much. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And, you know, being cooped up in a hotel for two weeks is not a great thing. But, um...

The summer league experience was cool. Yeah, what do y'all do? Because I'll never experience that. The majority of people watching will never experience that. So what is that like? Bro, you literally get to Vegas and it's just you practice once a day, maybe for two hours, because literally every team's there. So certain people use certain gyms, certain time periods. So we would practice from 1 to 3 one day, and then we literally have nothing else to do from 3 to the next day at 1.

And so you practice. Practices aren't that bad. You probably scrimmage a little bit, do some shooting drills, go through plays. They're not trying to kill you.

And then come game time, it's literally like almost an AAU game. So you show up, go in the locker room, probably like 30 minutes before the game, change, get stretched, and then you go do layup lines and hoop. And hoop. Yeah. And, you know, summer league, there's normally so many people on a roster that some games people don't play. Yeah, I noticed that. And then certain games people play better.

Yeah. Non-stop. Yeah. It's just, it's basically just a rotation just to give everyone an opportunity to perform in front of every team. Yeah. Because obviously if you weren't drafted by that team, they don't own your rights. Yeah. So any other team could come and, you know, sign you after summer league is over. Okay. And...

Yeah, so it's just a big opportunity for people that didn't get drafted and a chance to showcase your abilities. Yeah. How did you end up in Atlanta after Summer League? After Summer League was over, Washington didn't really want to, you know, continue with me. And, you know, it was just a business, so I understood it. So I just came back home, worked out every day for about a month. And then there was a –

a combine in Chicago a G League combine okay and so um I went and did that and I did pretty well yeah um got some interest from um Atlanta and even Golden State too but that was we didn't continue with that one either yeah I was gonna go out there like September 7th and have a workout with them okay but um we me and my agent just decided to go to Atlanta and so um

Went and did that. And ever since then, I've just been flying to Atlanta every week to go work out with the team and just get ready. Yeah, and Armani is a superstar. Like, ever since he got in the league, like, y'all can't see this, but behind the camera, he's got a whole posse of 15 people. He's got a publicist here. There's an agent. There's seven people. I'm sure he doesn't even know their name. It's insane. Bro, don't feed into this, bro. No, bro. He's a superstar. He's league. But, uh...

How was your first practice at Atlanta? How does it feel to say Vince Carter is your coworker? Vince Carter's been in the league longer than I've been alive. Facts. The first time, he really hasn't been there the entire time we've been working out. I'm sure. He got there last week. But I saw him my first week there. He walked in the locker room like, hey, I'm Vince. And I was like...

I kind of looked at him like, well, obviously I introduced myself. And I looked at him like, bro, you don't have to introduce yourself. Yeah, we know you. Like, Vince, if there's anyone on this roster, I know it's you. Yeah, for sure. But, no, it's just crazy to see that, you know, my name on the same piece of paper as Vince Carter. Man, he's a legend, man. And just being able to, you know, say that I walk into the gym every day and I literally see him. Yeah. You know, sometimes it's surreal. But, you know, he's my coworker, so I've got to.

Try not to get starstruck by him. Yeah. Sometimes I still look at him like, bro, that's Vince Carter. Bro, yeah, I would not be – I'd shit myself, bro. Like, I don't want to mess up in front of Vince Carter, bro. It's just like in any – like, say you go to these games and you're like – I couldn't imagine like, oh, that's LeBron.

On the other bench over there. Like, I couldn't do that. Yeah. You got to try not to get starstruck by it because you're going to see them often. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So you just try to stay calm about it. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds easy, but I couldn't do that. What's a... I've talked to some players that are either playing overseas or any kind of pro basketball, G League, NBA, and they say that once...

You enter for the draft. Once you go overseas, it's the hardest part of their basketball career. It's just trying to stay afloat, trying to stay signed. What's a big misconception the general population has about professional basketball players? Because I'm sure they see, oh, he got signed with Atlanta. Oh, he's out of there. That's fun. It is fun, but how hard is it?

It's definitely a transition. Coming from college, we were in a pretty good conference. But going into the NBA, bro, you're playing with the best athletes in the world. You know what I'm saying? You're waking up every day going to try to out-shoot Trae Young, one of the best shooters in the league. It's just crazy to wake up and be like, bro, I've got to mentally prepare myself to go to war with these guys every day. What a lot of people don't realize probably is that

It's really time consuming. Okay. How's that? Wake up in the morning, you know, go lift weights. I'm probably at the gym from 9 to 2 every day. Yeah. And then from 2 on, I just go home and do what you want to do, basically. Yeah. But, you know, you got to be dedicated to it. You got to be dedicated, bought in, focused.

And you got to be really disciplined, bro. Yeah. You know, you can't do things that a normal human could do. Yeah. Like, you can't just go and cuss people out at a McDonald's because obviously your name's a little bit bigger. Yeah. And you have a little bit more attention on you. Exactly. So you got to be a lot more weary of your surroundings and who you surround yourself by. You know, the public eye views you a little different than they would view just a normal person. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

So you just got to be a lot more self-controlled and self-disciplined when you're on that platform all the time. Yeah. And what's a practice like so far? Is it just like just regular basketball stuff or is it like – I can't decide if like an NBA practice would be like – yeah, I know it's hard, but like –

If you got dudes that have been there for 10 years, I can't see them being like, get on the baseline. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I can't be like, bro, I make $30 million. Like, I'm not running. You know what I'm saying? I feel that. So what's that like? Normally we'll go in, you know, we'll have a little individual or small group workout. So it'll be maybe two of us, maybe three of us in a group max for like 30 minutes. And there'll be like five different groups of those.

And then they vary from shooting to doing concept drills, ball handling, pick and roll stuff, just various things. And then going into the team concept, we'll normally either do some transition defensive drills, you know, basic stuff like three-man weave just to get loose. And then we'll go through our plays, go over our defensive principles,

Then do a couple of shooting drills at the team. And most of the times at the end of practice, we scrimmage. Okay. So we'll scrimmage for about, you know, however many games, five games. And then that'll basically be it. That sounds like a good practice. It's a normal day. Yeah, it's like a regular practice. I don't know. Like, for us regulars, you know, we can't imagine what an NBA, you know, practice would be like. Yeah.

Moving topics to not basketball-related stuff, you are the owner and founder of a clothing company, clothing line, called Modern View. Yeah. Why start that? Where'd that come from? I've been thinking about starting it in school, but obviously when you're in college or being an athlete, you can't own or get compensation from something that's on your name. Yeah.

So, um, I've been thinking about doing it since my sophomore year. Uh, I just couldn't because I didn't have the time or the money to obviously invest in it. So, you know, I just felt like this was a good opportunity. And, um, basically the entire line is to just encourage you to be different. You know what I'm saying? Just to be you, be yourself, and just don't try to be, you know, just a stereotypical person. Yeah. Um. Whatever society tries to box you in as. Yeah, exactly. So, um.

yeah just be different be you that's the whole motto behind it that's why i spelled view so we're different and weird v u e dude's an artist i didn't even put two and two together this guy's tough this guy what what's your plan for it like how what do you want it do you want it to be in stores what do you what do you want it to be overall goal i don't know if i want it to be in stores i plan on you know expanding it a lot in the next couple of months and um

Hopefully, when I get where I want to be at, I can get it where I own a store. Me and some of my friends are talking about starting up our own streetwear store, basically, in Austin, a shoe store.

So, you know, just trying to take baby steps. And hopefully one day it gets to a platform big enough to where people are talking about it all the time and I see it all the time. What do you do outside of basketball? What's your hobby? What's fun? I watch a lot of anime for real. That's probably something a lot of people didn't know. I watch anime. I like playing video games all the time. What video games do you play? Obviously, you know, the mainstream Call of Duty games.

2K Madden. This is where I check out of the conversation. I don't watch anime or play video games. Well, you just... You need to expand your horizon. Bro, okay. Let me get into anime real quick and I'm going to get killed for this. But I don't get it. Preston's laughing because he loves... Well, he doesn't love, but he's... Yeah, he's a fan of anime, you know. But me...

I don't know which one I watched. Like, even Dragon Ball Z. I can't do it. Like, as a kid, I was watching it. But, like, now, I can't do it. They spend 18 episodes on a standoff. And I'm like, bro, I'm tired of watching y'all look at each other. No, facts. Like, a lot of the animes are drawn out for no reason. Like, there'll be episodes where it's literally just...

a person sitting there talking to himself for 20 minutes. Why would you watch that? I don't understand. Like, it's the narrative and, you know, the character buildup and the storytelling. And they be boxing. Like, bro, if you watch the right anime, bro, they be fighting so hard. Like, bro, like, if you really sat there and watched Dragon Ball Z...

not even Dragon Ball Z, like, start with Dragon Ball, which is like when Goku was a little kid before he started, you know what I'm saying? They be throwing hands, bro. What other, I see, um, uh, what is some called? My Hero Academia? Academia Nuts. Um, um, is that the one where they, in high school? Yeah, they like, yeah, that's the one where they got, um, that's where they got quirks, right, Preston? I didn't watch that one. Oh, okay, well, yeah. I think they got quirks, um,

Yeah, I don't really watch that one that much. Right now, I've been watching Hunter x Hunter. What's that? It's about the main characters' names, Goon and Kiwa, and they basically just try to become hunters, which is like a professional hunter, obviously. But it's a lot, bro. You got to watch it.

You got to watch it. I just finished it. It's interesting, though. The character build-up, everything about it, the storyline, the plots, the fights, obviously. Yeah, I can't do it. Like, whenever we were growing up, the only anime we watched was a show called Hamtaro. You know what Hamtaro is? No, I've never heard of it. It's this little hamster, and it's little miscellaneous ventures as a hamster. I think it was for kids. Was it for kids? Yeah, it was Hamtaro for kids. Yeah.

Yeah, I was a little orange and white hamster. Yeah, and we had the little Nintendo game of it. That was hard. Yeah, my roommate in my second year of college, he animated 24-7, bro. Like, all day. There's definitely been days like...

When I don't have anything to do, I would literally sit in my bed and watch it the entire day. Yeah. Like I wouldn't move. No, I'm good. Yep. I might try. What was that called? Hunter X Hunter? Hunter X Hunter, yeah. My Hero Macadamia Nuts. This guy. What's wrong with this dude? Let's round this off with a little segment I like to call phone topics. Phone topics. Where I screenshot stuff I saw on Twitter.

This pertains to you. The NBA G League will experiment a new free throw rule with the one free throw counts for all the points this season. So, like, you get fouled on a layup, you shoot one free throw, it counts as two points. You get fouled on a three, make the free throw, you get three points. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. How do you feel about that? Um...

I was actually on my way to the airport when I heard that the rule was being implemented. And I was like, bro, what? Like, to me, it didn't make any sense at all. But they're really just trying to limit, they're trying to cut down the game times, basically, to get them under two hours. Yeah. I mean, I don't think it's, you know, I don't know how I feel about it. Yeah, he's got to be politically correct because that's his employer. So he's got to be, yeah, he can't. I don't know how I feel about it.

I mean, I guess if you're a good free throw shooter, then it doesn't really matter because, like, then you just go shoot one shot and you get all three of the points or all two of the points. I can already see so many problems with this, though. There's people flopping on three-pointers already. You know how many times I will flop and flail on a three-point shot if I know I'm going to line to shoot a higher percentage shot, which will count for...

for three points. That's insane. Yeah, and then it could be on the bad end too, like if you know, hack-a-shack type stuff. Exactly. So like a person could be 50% free throw shooter, for instance, but you know, that means that he's only making one out of every two. So if you foul him, chances are he gonna miss this free throw. Yeah. And if you keep fouling him, I mean, he'll eventually make one. He'll make one, but... You know what I'm saying? But I don't know. I don't know how I feel about it, but... I don't even think they believe in their rule because the rule is like, in the last two minutes, it's normal. Yeah, um...

Like, you know, I want you to commit to the rule. If you're going to have the rule, commit to the rule the whole game. Yeah. I don't know. We'll see how it works, though. Yeah. Yeah. Good politically correct answer. You're media trained? You have to go through media training? No. You haven't yet? No. Oh, yeah.

But your teammate, Trey Young, tweeted. Have you seen the video with Devin Booker getting mad about the double team? Yeah. So he tweeted, Devin Booker speaking facts. There should be no double teaming in pickup. When you're trying to work on your game and work on the moves and things you do individually in pickup, it's annoying getting double teamed in that type of setting. Just saying. Hashtag only a few understand. How do you feel about being double teamed in pickup?

pick up? I've always been an advocate of why would you even do that? You know what I'm saying? Like, if a person is, if I go to the local rink and I get to cooking somebody, he should not just switch the matchup. Okay. Like, you don't, hey, go double team him. No, I think that's whack. What I'm saying is like, the gyms, open gyms is basically just to come hoop. Yeah. And obviously, you know, being a basketball player,

You aren't going to do the normal things that you would do in a normal basketball setting. So you're going to work on stuff that you feel like you need to work on, you know, and drills. Because a lot of times drills don't carry over. So you have to have like a transitional period to where you can work on that to get it to carry over to an actual game and...

That's what those open gyms are for. Yeah. And if someone double teams it, it's kind of like, bro, what are you doing? Like if a person comes and double teams me, I'm like, bro, like I really will go home. If they're double teaming, I will just leave. I'm like, bro, I'm not about to sit here and play with y'all double teaming. Yeah. And they'll be like, bro, you're a professional basketball player. I'm like, bro, you're grown. If you cannot guard me, switch up, match up, bro. Let me be double's advocate for a second.

There's a point system at these pickup games, correct? Yeah. Your objective in the pickup game, the actual game, not individually, the pickup game is to win. If man over here is getting 40 balled from half court, yeah, I'm here to win. We're double teaming. I'm just saying I can see where it's plausible. I can see where it's coming from. And if we're working on game time situations...

You get double teamed in a game, work on the double team. Bro, but a lot of people, a lot of teams aren't going double teamed. Like, how many times have you just seen Steph Curry get double teamed? That's... Well, I mean, that's a different situation. You got Klay and now... But still, you know what I'm saying? Okay, well, let's pick, like, James Harden. Okay. How many times have you just seen somebody just run and double team him? That's true. I mean, because they're not going to do it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I just...

I mean, if you don't feel like you can guard that person, just switch. Or if you're not good enough to be at that pickup session, just leave. I mean, it's just the truth. Like, if you feel like the pickup session is outside of your skill level, don't play. That's facts. You don't need someone to be like, oh, I got your back, bro. Yeah, I'm going to come double team on Wednesday. No. You can guard them or you can't. And you sit out or wait until the next game, wait until they lose. I don't know. Do something.

But you not – don't double-team, bro. I like when he gets in his NBA player bag, that I'm nice bag. Bro, don't double-team me, bro. Press, what time are we at? I believe that's in the – we're about to cross 46 minutes. 46 minutes. Yeah, we can go ahead and wrap it up. Armani, bro. Appreciate you, bro. Appreciate you, dog. Appreciate you having me. It's big time. The first podcast – I've been working on this for a long time, bro. It's all this is by me. You saw us setting up. Yeah. Yeah, it's all us, but, you know –

We got a vision in mind, and we just hope it works out. And I appreciate you being the beginning of this vision. Talk to the camera and tell them where they can find you on social media. On Instagram, it's at SniperBrooks, S-N-I-P-A Brooks.

And my Twitter got hacked. Oh. So I had to make a new one. So it's not just Sniper Brooks. It's Sniper Brooks underscore the N. So that's my Twitter and, yeah, Instagram and Twitter. Okay. And Modern View Clothing, where can they buy their things? Modern View Clothing, we have our Instagram page and our Twitter page and Facebook. I don't know how many people are using Facebook, but, you know, that's big. Yeah. Modern View, modernvueclothing.com. And, yeah.

Go get your merch. Yeah, and you can follow me on Instagram at PSH8 and on Twitter at ThePSH8. Armani, post this so I can get some damn followers. I got you. I'm like, damn, every time I let you get more followers, I'm over here. I can't even pass 1,000, but we're working on it. You know what I'm saying? You Should Know Podcast, first episode done. Armani Brooks, Atlanta Hogs, bro, thank you. No problem. Thank you. Glad to be here. See you next time. Good work. Facts.

Oh.

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