Chapter 1: What was it like for CJ Watson to guard Kobe Bryant?
Was that, like, the toughest matchup you've ever had to guard? Him or Kobe. Kobe for sure, yeah. Kobe. Kobe was just like, I don't know what I was doing. I was calling for a double team. Yeah, one-on-one against Kobe, what are you going to do? Yeah, yeah, you got to ask for help, so. Yeah. I don't know why Coach Nelson asked me to guard him. Well, you were known as the defender, right?
Yeah, but I was still a small point guard. You know, he was 6'6", 6'7", so a lot different.
All right, guys, got CJ Watson here, Vegas local, former NBA player, children's author, children book author, right?
Yeah.
Yeah. What's new with you lately, man?
Nothing, man. Just getting ready for school. I got three kids, so they're about to start school again. So that time is coming around again. What grades? One's about to be a senior, fourth grade, and then pre-K. Which age range do you think is the toughest to parent? Right now, I'm a teenager. What makes teenagers so difficult? They just talk back. They think they know everything.
You can't really tell them anything, but they'll come back eventually, hopefully.
I feel like that's a rebellious phase for a lot of people, right?
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Chapter 2: What challenges did CJ face transitioning from college basketball to the NBA?
Yeah, for sure. I wonder what the science is behind that, honestly.
uh that's a good question yeah yeah i just even myself i just started talking back a lot to my mother at that age yeah i mean i think as a teenager you're trying to get independency so you think you're you know you know everything and just trying to go into it and yeah i think you know everything about the world which you don't so it's a lot to learn was basketball your main focus at the teenage years that's why yeah for sure yeah yeah basketball and just yeah just having fun with my friends so you knew very early you wanted a hoop
I knew I wanted to go to college. I knew I wanted to help my parents on the financial side for not having to pay for college. So that was my whole focus of getting into basketball and just getting good grades and stuff like that. Okay, so college was your ceiling? Yeah, for sure. So you didn't even think NBA? All my dad's friends, when I see them now, they said I did, but I don't remember it.
I just remember just having fun, playing basketball, and then wanting to go to college. But I think once I got to college, I figured out that NBA was close. So I was like, hey, I'm going to take it serious. Was that transition from high school to college pretty tough? No, not really.
I think it was just more so just learning the game, learning the speed of the game, and then learning the ways I can score, you know, ways I can, you know, get to my spots on the court and also help my teammates out. Nice. What about college to NBA transition? Very tough.
It was more so on the business side, I think, just trying to figure out, you know, how to have a long career and not just, you know, have a two- or three-year career, but have like a 10-, you know, 12-year career. Right. And back then when your era, they valued the vets, right? So they would trade them over the new guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vets were always playing. The rookies were never playing.
So it was very hard as a rookie to get on the court unless you went to a terrible team when they knew you had a lot of playing time. Now I feel like it's the opposite, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, there's no vets hardly.
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Chapter 3: How does CJ Watson view the evolution of the NBA?
There's no coaching, no one to really show you the game or give you the wisdom or knowledge. The stuff that they learn, I feel like you got to go out and search for it. Right. I feel like there should be a middle ground there. Yeah, there should be. I definitely think there should be more vets because, like I said, it makes the league better. It makes it last longer.
It makes guys play for another four or five years. But also, just like I said, just learn from others' mistakes. I think that's a good thing about life.
I wonder if the NBA is going to head towards a shorter career span like the NFL is right now. I hope not. Just based off the current, like, because now you need to be athletic. You need to shoot. People are getting injured.
Yeah, a lot more. I think they got to figure out the injury stuff. You know, it may be short in the season, you know. A lot of games being played, a lot of back-to-back. But I doubt that the back-to-backs at least will ever change. You don't think so? I don't think so. It wouldn't make sense for the calendar, I guess, right? Yeah, yeah.
I think they can shorten the games a little bit, but not the back-to-backs. You know, they got to make money.
Yeah. I think, what, eight ACL tears this year?
Yeah. A lot of big-name players.
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Chapter 4: What insights does CJ share about life after the NBA?
Yeah. I think they all wore number zero, too, which is crazy.
I know. We don't have to get conspiratorial, but zero and pink shoes. Were they all wearing pink shoes? Yeah. That's crazy. Crazy, right? Yeah. I don't know. I didn't know about the pink shoes. Yeah. Gilbert wore zero, too, and he used to get injured a lot. Yeah, that's crazy. I don't know, man. Don't wear pink. Yeah, can't wear pink. What did you think of the playoffs this year?
Did you watch them?
Yeah, I watched a lot. It was great. I mean, it's great basketball. I definitely didn't see OKC going that far.
Oh, really?
Not that far, at least. Even the one seed? Yeah, I thought Denver would have upset them. OK. So I thought Denver was a more experienced team. But, you know, youth is a great thing.
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Chapter 5: How does CJ Watson balance fatherhood and his professional pursuits?
And when you got one of the best players on the planet, you know, and Shea, it shows a lot. Yeah. His team just rode with him.
well mpj was injured he announced it after yeah um he couldn't even shoot or something yeah yeah right it's tough yeah it happens you know it's a long season grueling season and just gotta make sure your body's up for it my trainer said during that series whoever wins that series is winning the chip yeah that's what i said too yeah but nobody listened
you you like the you think you could play in the game right now though uh like today no like if you had your talent in your peak like oh I think so yeah I think it all transfers I think I was a player who did I didn't I wasn't really good at uh one particular thing I was decent in a whole bunch of things so I definitely think it would have transferred I would have figured it out yeah I always wonder because people compare errors right now it's just yeah it's such a different game than when you played
Yeah, a lot faster. I think I definitely would have thrived in the one-on-one system and shooting the threes and getting to the foul line and stuff like that. But yeah, I think it would definitely have been fun to play in this era because it's all offense, really. Did you see it turning into the way it is now? Did you see that while you were playing at all?
I wouldn't say I saw it, but I saw Golden State was coming up at that time. They were really one of the only teams that were just run and done. Everyone tried to kind of copy what they did, but every team is not built like that. So it was definitely fun to be able to kind of see that era kind of start and transcend.
yeah and you played with stuff right young stuff yeah yeah young stuff yeah no one would ever thought that he would be you know this big of a player superstar right changed the game like he did but you saw the work ethic you saw the tenacity the the will to be great and stuff like that that's what i hear even from his former teammates are like they had no idea yeah yeah i mean it just happens man he just it just happens he has he's had a lot of ups and downs too so you know it comes with the territory just for anybody so it's just a part of his story yeah
I think his mindset is underrated. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Because he had all those ankle injuries early on, like you said. He could have probably retired younger.
Yeah, given up and quit and all that kind of stuff. But he stuck with it and got healthy. And now he's one of the greatest players ever. Crazy.
You think Golden State will get another one while he's there? No, I don't think so.
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Chapter 6: What is the mission of the Quiet Storm Foundation?
But not with the team they got.
What do you think they need to change? Because I think they could still win with Steph, though, right?
I think they could still win with Steph. They need another star who can dominate the ball. Jimmy is a star, but he's not a dominant offensive player. He gets the buckets, but not to the way Steph does or KD or somebody like that. And they need a big. They don't have any bigs to protect the rim. Draymond can only do so much.
That's what happened to my Lakers, man. No big.
Yeah, no bigs.
I think with a good big, they would have won. Yeah, yeah. You think Aiden's going to be the... Not right. Let's be honest. Glad you said it, not me. I mean, like, just... I like playoff history with players, and the mindset's important to me. I don't know if Aiden... He has to prove himself still. For sure, yeah. I think Bron can bring that out of them though. You never know. Yeah.
I mean, some players you've probably experienced this are just really consistent in the regular season. But I think when it comes to the playoffs, the mindset kicks in, right?
Yeah. The mindset, the pressure, the lights, you know, it's a different pressure when you're in the playoffs because, you know, it's win or go home. So if you don't do well, it all rides on you.
Yeah.
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Chapter 7: What are CJ's plans for his children's books?
Which playoff series that you played in you still think about?
The one with Philadelphia when I was with the Bulls. Yeah. Yeah, we lost that. We should have won right when D. Rose got hurt the second year. Yeah. If you won that one, you think you would have won the chip that year? I don't know if we would have won the chip. I think we would have beat Boston and went to the Eastern Conference Finals again. Yeah.
But, yeah, I mean, without Derrick Rose, I mean, we're not going to go too far. Yeah.
i can only take you so far what was it like playing with him and just learning from him it was cool man it was cool just to see um him grow as a player um seeing him before i knew i knew a little bit about him but didn't know how good he was um just seeing his mindset his uh his tenacity um just the way he worked yeah he put in a lot of work if he didn't get injured it's one of those what if videos right yeah yeah his ceiling was
It was crazy, yeah. I seen a lot of all-star players, you know, kind of say they were sick because they didn't want to guard D-Rose that night. Crazy, man. So, yeah, I'm only naming any names. He was relentless. Yeah, he was crazy that year. The MVP year was like nothing I've ever seen before. And you knew he was taking it to the rack every time. You couldn't stop him.
You knew he wasn't going to shoot a jump shot. He was either going to go to the rim, shoot a floater, or dunk it. You think he was just so much faster than everyone? What do you think it was? It's just athletic ability, just the will to get to the rim. You know I can't really knock this jumper down, but I'm going to get there somehow, some way. And he had, like, all the moves.
He was super fast, super quick, especially, like, on the speed of a dime.
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Chapter 8: How does CJ Watson feel about the current state of youth sports mentorship?
Like, he can stop on a dime and change directions like no other. Right. A lot of players say he could have been the greatest point guard of all time if he didn't get injured. Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah. I mean, he's still a great dude, still had a great career, you know, doing well in life. So, you know, it just happens to the best of them.
It was cool to see him develop a jumper later on in his career too. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
The jumper, you know, he was more talkative, I feel like.
Yeah, I mean, I think as a person and a player, you grow over time as you get older. So it all happens to the best of us. Yeah.
You still think about the Pacers-Heat rivalry, too?
Yeah, yeah, that was a good rivalry. Once again, a guy named LeBron and his team beat us in the playoffs, so we couldn't get past them. But it was fun just to kind of play those games and be in that atmosphere and be close to being in the championship series.
yeah did you ever talk to braun on the court get in his head try to get inside i didn't talk to him but you know i just talk trash here and there yeah my daughter still doesn't like him to this day because he fouled me hard one time oh really yeah i mean she didn't like that so he's not really like that though like no no it was just like you know in the heat of the game it wasn't like you know bad or anything like a flagrant it was just like a hard foul but he's like two three times the size of me so yeah he was different in the playoffs man yeah yeah yeah man he just had to switch yeah especially in miami it was like it was crazy yeah it's athletic ability
Was that like the toughest matchup you've ever had to guard? Him or Kobe.
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