Neal Brennan interviews Blake Griffin (NBA Rookie of the Year, 5-time All-NBA, Amazon Prime announcer) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something's wrong - and how he is persevering despite these blocks. ---------------------------------------------------------- 00:00 Intro 1:45 Retirement 12:00 Mentoring 16:10 Clippers 19:50 Are NBA Players happy? 23:03 Sponsor: CookUnity 27:38 Coachability / arguing / Competitive 34:20 Clippers 47:40 Announcing 51:46 Survey 53:00 Sponsor: Huel 55:19 Luka's shape 1:05:40 Positive visualization 1:13:30 General racial ambiguity ---------------------------------------------------------- Follow Neal Brennan: https://www.instagram.com/nealbrennan https://twitter.com/nealbrennan https://www.tiktok.com/@mrnealbrennan Watch Neal Brennan: Crazy Good on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81728557 Watch Neal Brennan: Blocks on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81036234 Theme music by Electric Guest (unreleased). Edited by Will Hagle ([email protected]) Sponsors: This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at https://www.betterhelp.com/neal and get on your way to being your best self. Go to https://www.cookunity.com/NEAL for 50% off your first week. Thanks to CookUnity for supporting the show! Take our audience survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/blockspodcast New customers visit Huel.com SLASH NEAL today and use my code NEAL to get 15% off your first order plus a Free Gift. Sponsor Blocks: https://public.liveread.io/media-kit/blocks ---------------------------------------------------------- #podcast #comedy #mentalhealth #standup Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: How did Blake Griffin experience retirement and life after NBA?
I didn't know if I was supposed to be quiet. No, it's fun. It's fun when people intercede. All right, well, here's a question I have. Having spoken to you for a long time about just your life and being an NBA player, Were you happy with your life change from being full-time NBA player to being retired and having a lot more free time? And it seemed like you may have enjoyed the more anonymity.
Yes. I consider myself – it's actually a question that I get all the time and people are – They're always a little bit weird about that question. They're like, oh, yeah, how are you enjoying retirement?
Well, it's like a death.
Like, oh, your fame died. See, because that was not what it was for me. I looked at it as like, this is awesome. This is like a whole new life that I have never experienced.
Because the truth is, yeah, you're good at basketball, which is very valuable anywhere, let alone Oklahoma, where they got nothing going on. But you're good from eighth grade?
Yeah, I mean, I played basketball my whole life. I don't know when I was good, but it became very, very serious for me. Yeah, like eighth, ninth grade. But I'm saying you get a lot of status from it.
yeah yeah eighth grade ninth grade like started to get more i always tell people like you just like high school you become sort of like a local city like you name and then you become a state name and then you go to college and people know you're in college and you just sort of you sort of keep like growing in that like i didn't have like an overnight like thing like maybe when it came to the nba you become more of a name globally
uh but like it came in increments for me so there was never a moment where you're like okay this is a little this that was a that was a very big jump that was hard to deal with they're not like hard to deal with i just i do remember uh my rookie year we played against the knicks and i had like two or three dunks that were they kind of went like viral back when twitter was you know young
And I remember that was kind of like a time where I was like, wow, it's never really slowed down since then. And it just went to the moon. But like I said, I was sort of prepared for it. I'd been prepared for it since my ninth grade year, when you start to get a little bit of that. And you learn how to handle it at each level.
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Chapter 2: What role does mentorship play in Blake Griffin's post-playing career?
And it's so much easier when it's, hey, so-and-so NBA player wants to do this. I think I told you that. Take advantage of it. Everybody will take a meeting. And when you retire, it's a little different. But like I said, I started these relationships early on. So that's an example of something I tried to pass down to guys. And then other stuff is on the court too.
And sometimes it's just being somebody who – like a guy comes out of the game, he's frustrated. Sit down next to him, let him vent. And then you just give him maybe a different perspective. Or you get to know guys. Like over the course of my career, I think what I really learned about being a leader is like –
You have to first, especially when you first get to a team or you get a new teammate, you have to invest in time to get to know how they operate, what makes them laugh. Maybe one of my strengths was knowing guys' sense of humor. So if a guy's frustrated or something, I'm going to let them vent, and then I'm going to figure out, okay, I can say this, or I can say this, just to break the tension.
Yeah. that's like part of being a leader. It's like investing time in guys, not just being like that guy. When did you start doing it? I started doing, I really started doing it more when I left the Clippers or maybe sort of when our team sort of, with the Clippers sort of broke up and kind of went their separate ways. That's when I sort of took more of a leadership role because
there was a period where i felt like i was a leader but like we were it was like it was the same team for the most part it was chris paul jj right deandre jordan matt barnes you know jamal crawford yeah we all just kind of knew each other we knew how to operate we we were we were a good team never won a championship and you and chris always seem you seem younger than them yeah we we me and deandre were yeah like they're all they're all four or five years older than yes uh so it seemed like how who are you gonna tell
yeah i mean those and those guys were all like i mean you know look at chris paul jj reddick jamal crawford like those were those were like yeah the guys i played with the most yeah on that team like they were all we all just kind of had they were adults yeah yeah adults families like they were they were already so like locked in that it wasn't really like we'd have rookies and stuff but it wasn't it wasn't quite the same as when i got older
And then, yeah, there's those guys around you can't really talk to rookies because it's like, hey, go talk to J-Dragon. He's old. He'll have some good wisdom for you. I don't know anything.
I was like, hey, you know, you just got drafted. Next year you're going to play 38 minutes. It's just not relatable at all.
Yeah, you'll probably be rookie of the year. Yeah, that's what I always wonder about. So you think most of it is just like empathy, right? Yeah, empathy, 100%. You're doing what every girlfriend I've ever had has wanted me to do. And probably you too, which is just listen. The problems are so much more interesting when they're about basketball.
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Chapter 3: How did Blake Griffin's competitiveness affect his NBA career and relationships?
There's a lot of people that are counting on us right now.
It was that. It was also competitiveness. Adam Devine has season tickets.
Do you not see Billy Crystal? He's right there.
Some of it was just immaturity, too, on my part. I just didn't know how to navigate talking to a ref yet. What's the right way to do it? Is there a right way to do it? Yeah, you give them a break on little things and then you maybe wait till the next play's over, dead ball, whatever, go up to them, hey.
you just do me a favor just watch watch that or you go up and it made a call that you thought was wrong like there's no way or just like have a con have that like one-on-one conversation they don't want to be yelled at in front of yeah exactly just like we don't want to be like anybody nobody wants to be yelled at and that's what i got better at as i as i got older but still there's moments where even when i was older i'd like i'd be like
what do you do now blake says hey he grabbed me he interlocked with me and he goes to the official jtr and he has proof on a little ipad there and some of that is showmanship and some of that is like you're trying to kind of like jockey a little bit for position and you're trying to but i definitely took it overboard sometimes
So all the refs out there, very sorry.
Okay, so you feel like some of it was just unavoidable immaturity because you are 20-something.
Yeah, for the height of our Clippers days, I was 21 to 27. Yeah. yeah it's not very old no yeah that was like the clippers team and then i was i was in detroit at like 28. yeah you know like yeah and then you know like by the time i was 32 i was like the elder statesman yeah so old and do you look at guy and yeah i guess the guy if a guy says i looked up to you when i was nine
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Blake face with coachability and team dynamics?
He'll just bring that up sometimes apropos of nothing. He'll be like, they'll go, can I get your order?
I've had nine surgeries.
I'll take the number nine. And also, funny about the number nine. Anyhow. Look at it. And he'll lift his shirt up at a restaurant. No, no, no, no. Get in here. Look at this. It's off-putting. I got scars. Physical and emotional. Yeah. Well, okay. And how did you find, so it's, it's a high stress job. Would you say it's a high stress job? Yeah. I mean, yes.
With the caveats of like, it's not real high stress jobs.
Like I said, it's a, it's a game, but yeah, it is stressful to like, if you have a bad game to hear everybody talk about it for a long, long time.
Well, it's funny. Does it inflate your ego? in a way that makes it easier to pop. Do you know what I mean? Like, the more praise you get, the more praise you're used to getting, and then any sort of, there was, I remember Malcolm Gladwell did a study, and I think I told you about it, where all the guys that were getting technicals were max players.
It's all based on like, off the court, these guys,
get no they don't get any fouls called on them like interpersonally on the street nothing they can't so when you get called a foul it's like more it's me i'm sorry do you know who you're talking to basically yeah i mean it's a it's a great point i think like the more inflated and the easier it is to inflate that ego the easier it is like where like one small thing can be like
what yeah total humiliation yeah yeah i i yeah i honestly have never thought about it like that but yeah 100 i think that's 100 right and did it did your parents were always your parents are super regular they're very regular painfully regular i'm just like guys what can i just get can i what are you my parent like my mom drives a nissan
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Chapter 5: How does Blake Griffin view happiness and mental health in the NBA?
Luke is so good. I don't think he's in like, could he be in better shape? Yes. But there's certain guys who are never going to look like they're in good shape. Right. That's what I mean. Like, he's just not a guy who's just gonna be, like, ripped and, like, it's just not him. It's also not his game either.
He's so big and he uses his body so well that, like, I don't know, I would be, if I was the GM or the coach or whatever of his team, I would be like, you're just keeping him healthy. Just keeping him healthy. And I don't know the inner workings of what was happening in Dallas, but clearly there was some disconnect.
But, yes, like, I wouldn't say – like, when you say medium shape, like, I don't know what, I guess, medium shape means. Well, what would you call – what's Jokic – what kind of shape is Jokic in? For Jokic – like, when Jokic came in to now, or, like, especially, like, championship season, like, he's in good shape.
But he doesn't have the kind of body that looks like he's in good shape. But you can tell, as someone who's had to guard him or been guarded by him, like – like one of these things where you're out of breath and you're like, he's in pretty good shape.
Oh, no, guys, you guys are actually all wrong.
This guy's running circles around me. Yes, he's in good shape. He just doesn't have that body that's ever going to look like he's in... I think what we're saying is white.
I think we're just saying these guys are just white, and that's terminal.
Zach Randolph's a good example. He was so strong, and he was a little bit bigger, but you just have to get guys to what they feel best at, what weight, or you just have to get them to put themselves in the best position to be successful, and that looks different for everybody. It can't be a one size fits all.
So Luka, like, when it comes to – I don't know that it was as much about him being, like, in shape, like, looking like he's in shape. It wasn't really about that, I don't think. I think it was maybe – it had to be something more than that because who cares how a guy looks? The guy's unbelievable. Yeah. He's 25 years old and he's averaging –
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Chapter 6: What insights does Blake share about transitioning to announcing and post-NBA life?
Chapter 7: How does Blake manage physical fitness and mental health after basketball?
Chapter 8: What are some memorable moments and stories from Blake Griffin's NBA career?
Well, it's funny. Does it inflate your ego? in a way that makes it easier to pop. Do you know what I mean? Like, the more praise you get, the more praise you're used to getting, and then any sort of, there was, I remember Malcolm Gladwell did a study, and I think I told you about it, where all the guys that were getting technicals were max players.
It's all based on like, off the court, these guys,
get no they don't get any fouls called on them like interpersonally on the street nothing they can't so when you get called a foul it's like more it's me i'm sorry do you know who you're talking to basically yeah i mean it's a it's a great point i think like the more inflated and the easier it is to inflate that ego the easier it is like where like one small thing can be like
what yeah total humiliation yeah yeah i i yeah i honestly have never thought about it like that but yeah 100 i think that's 100 right and did it did your parents were always your parents are super regular they're very regular painfully regular i'm just like guys what can i just get can i what are you my parent like my mom drives a nissan
I don't know what kind of car it is, but they're just like, and I love them so much for that. You don't even keep up with the Nissans anymore.
Huh.
They grip the wheel and do all that. Turning signals. I thought it was just green screen that whole time. Wow. Yeah, like your parents, is your brother's regular?
My brother was like the person that always kind of like, you know, if I really like did something where I messed up like in a game or whatever, if I got that call from my brother and he's like, That one hurt the most. That conversation always hurt. Would you argue your case? No. Well, no, no. You just knew. By the way, most of the time, I usually already knew that I was wrong.
Immediately after a game, if I got a crucial tech or I did this or did that, you know right away. I wasn't walking away being like, can you believe that? I told him to F off. I was like, yeah, I probably should have. But again, in the heat of the moment, I was like two very different people on the court and off. Very different people. So intense on the court and so competitive.
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