 Welcome to the first episode of a brand new series. Two years ago I did a Michael Jordan series. We did 23 Michael Jordan videos in 23 days. Now we are doing LeBron James. Instead this year we are doing 23 LeBron James videos in 23 weeks. So get ready, sit back, relax, get your popcorn. This is the first episode. This is asking 30 of LeBron James' teammates their thoughts on the true LeBron James. If you are excited for this series be sure to let me know down below in the comment section. Let me know by hitting that like button. Let's aim for 5000 likes for the next LeBron James episode dropping next week. Be sure to hit that subscribe button if you are ready for this series to continue on. And remember that all footage and credits are on the screen right now so be sure to check them out in their entirities. They are also linked in the description box down below so you can watch these clips in full. And also a massive thank you to today's sponsor C-Geek but more on them later. Well I knew he was the real thing when he came in. You did. It was just a matter of time to when he was going to pick up and when he was going to actually learn the game. He was still young but he was still a little nervous, still kind of feeling his way. But you know he had a lot of hype to live up to and it was tough to live up to that hype. Then the TV games just televised and I'm like okay he's making a surprise and he is to talk to the town. Scott Williams who played with Michael Jordan was like I asked him I said yo is he better than Michael Jordan? Right now at this age I mean like a 23 year old Michael Jordan like a 24 year old Michael Jordan. He's like yes. I said how about like a 25, 26 Michael Jordan. He's like yes. I was like how about like a 28, 29 and he's like you know what he's still got some more time for that. LeBron James who was my teammate my final year in Cleveland in 2005. And me being his teammate and being able to get the information from Scott Williams who won two championships with Mike you can kind of start seeing like yo he is different but we had we were just fortunate enough to see it every day where we got used to it the outside world wasn't used to it. And I think he has handled himself extremely well as the face of the NBA and I couldn't be more proud of the player and the man that he is. You had to know Brian was going to be great man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Not only with the guy giving the ability like the talent like his physical like how he looks when he walks in the room. Yeah. Like his brain. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? His brain like early on we would, I can remember taking flights and trips and everything and he would go and talk to everybody on the team but he wants to know what it takes to make this guy successful and eighth man and seventh man and so on and I just knew he'd be you know be successful from that just using his brain man because you know the NBA it's it's physical but if you can't think like you you won't last. So I would do this thing with players like the younger person I was in Cleveland and we would go to the each arena we would have to I would be like okay name three or four of those retired jerseys up top. And LeBron can always do it, he can always do it. So I wouldn't even be talking to him most times and then he would come and say oh that's such a such you know because that's just who he was. And just watching him you know what I'm saying just you can watch the highlights today and just see how locked in he is. He walking past people who don't even know who it is. He's just walking to the to the sideline to sit down and wait for the time out to be over so he can go back out and get back to work. We used to always say it like like he got a chance and what that meant was like he got a chance to be one of the best if not the best to ever play like we were saying it at a young age like he got a chance young fellow got a chance and we all knew what that meant because it was like you know this this is different. Right. This is different. This is special. I actually sat next to him like five seasons right next to his locker was my locker and I used to ask him like how you don't feel pressure. How you how you get 30 every night. And we all know that all the teams are trying to stop you from from getting 30 and he's like pressure. I don't feel pressure like he when you say that word like he he he don't exist to him. There's no pressure. There's no pressure at all. I've been getting pressure since I was 10 years old. Like he's he's so tough mentally that's amazing. Amazing. His prime example of great basketball player of the court and on the court. That it's amazing. LeBron was an outstanding teammate. He was an outstanding father outstanding friend outstanding teammate. Absolutely loved my time with him in Cleveland. He brought out the best of me especially at that point in my career when I was kind of on the downturn dealing with injuries couldn't play a lot of minutes but I had a great role as a three point shooter and a stretch foreman and we had a great season winning 66 games. So LeBron is a joy to be with as a person off the floor as his teammate and also obviously on the floor he makes everyone better. He's a big ass kid though. He has a lot of fun but you would never know that by seeing him operate. Clip of me and LeBron on the sideline. It was like in the middle of the game which was stupid. I didn't realize what was going on and it's kind of disrespectful to other team. Yeah, it's a real thing that comes around every once in a while. And I learned the hard way as a rookie turnoff is like you can't do with the vets do you can't be on the sideline dancing and stuff like that. Did LeBron ask you to dance with him in that clip? It's a so I was the only rookie there and it wasn't like a question of anything. Like they didn't ask me anything. They would tell me to do a lot of things and you know I was dancing on sideline and we did the pictures before you know Brian's little birthday pictures or whatever the camera and they would pose pregame and part of it was during the halftime or a timeout or something music was going and he was dancing and of course they know I used to do that shit. So they're like rookie better get out there get your shit going like so it wasn't really much of a question. It was like, Rook get your ass up there and start doing doing what you do. So that's just how he operates and every night he's his magnifying glass is the biggest one in the world. The world. I try to give as much flowers as I can but there's not enough flowers in the world to give what he's accomplished. I had the opportunity to play with him for two years and it was the first time in my career where I didn't have to leave. I saw a young kid that was a great leader. He's a great leader to everything the right way to play the game the right way. I wish I could have got there two or three years earlier. Thank you to C-Geek for sponsoring today's video. I'm sure by now that you've heard of C-Geek, everybody that watches the NBA knows about C-Geek. C-Geek are the reason why many people can afford to go to these games and have the best experience there. If you don't know by now or you haven't been around on this channel for a while, I am obviously Australian. But my plan is to go to America in this upcoming season. And when I'm there, I obviously want to go to watch an NBA game. Hopefully I'll be able to see LeBron James. LeBron doesn't have long on his career. Well, we've also been saying that for the last 10 years. But we can assume that his career is coming to an end at some point in the next few years and I want to get a chance to watch him live. I know that I'll be able to do that with the C-Geek app. With over 28 million downloads, C-Geek is the number one rated ticketing app. And if LeBron isn't available to play, there are more than 70,000 events on the C-Geek app. And they include concerts, sporting events, live shows and much more. And obviously with the NBA season in full swing, there are plenty of players that I can see outside of the king. So I'm excited for that, too. But just to recap on what C-Geek does, they put all the tickets across the web in one place to make sure that you were getting a good deal. Each ticket is rated on a scale from one to 10. So look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad. Every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And C-Geek is the only site that lets you return your tickets ahead of the event with swaps, which means safe and secure. So if there's a player that you really want to go and see, or maybe your favorite team is coming to your city or a music artist is there, use the code NSNBA for $20 off your C-Geek purchase. That is code NSNBA on the screen right now for $20 off your C-Geek purchase. So make sure that you click the link in the description to download the C-Geek app and I hope you guys enjoy your event and also the rest of the video. It was better in practice than I thought he was in the games. What? When I saw him in practice, it was a separator for me of good to great to goats. You cannot do the things that he did and how he did. And so. So we take it for granted. Of course. Of course we do. I've watched this guy and I see him take care of his body. I see him own it 100 percent. But I also know that guys can roll their ankle and be out for weeks. I've seen this guy roll his ankle and come back and give you about 20 in the fourth quarter. I'm talking about a bad roll ankle. And I'm like, oh, he done. He come right back. I'm out four weeks with this roll ankle. He come right back for a score to score 20. It's the. It was like when when God made him, he was like, I'm going to give you all this. We all have our dreams of how things are going to go and how your career is going to be played out. And I mean, to actually watch him do it, I think, one, we're not going to appreciate it until until he's done playing. And it's going to be a dangerous new norm for any other player who wants to be the goal. He was able to go from, like I said before, that point where you don't know how to get it done and then you do. That second year, yeah, I think he was he was on another planet. Yeah, it became he was he was very, very motivated to be successful. That time we could put him off the ball, have him working off of cuts. And now it's all about sustaining. And I mean, you know, you look at his production, you look at his physique, his body and just the way he's going out there and competing every night. It's not stopping. Playing with him is it's it's an unbelievable experience. I mean, he's first of all, he's good as a team. It is he is about as a player and he lifts everybody in that locker room. So like, you know, having that opportunity to play with him, most importantly, put me was able to put me on a stage that I always wanted to be on. I wanted to see if I'd puke on the big stage or if I'd make shots. Right. And so, you know, every every kid on the playground or when they're in the gym is thinking about playing on that stage in the NBA Finals. And he allowed me to live that out, along with D Wade and Chris Bush and Ray Allen and UD. So just an unbelievable experience. But ultimate dude, man, he's he's the best. I've seen this man work on a move. One damn practice for 10 minutes. And the man used the damn move against the Knicks in like the first or second when I came in, the man used the damn move against the Knicks about 10 times like he had been doing his whole life. And it was boom, every time he scored, it was come across the lane, going to his left, coming off his right foot, shooting that jumper. Man, the man worked on them for 10 minutes. And the man told the people to ask up with the same move against the Knicks in the first round. And ain't nobody stopping that man. Now, at the end of the day, you you can sit there and be like, OK, I can try to make like contain right or whatever you want to try to do. But you ain't going to stop him. You know, if he choose to go for it, he's going to go for it. But yeah, he is a very unselfish basketball player. He's a very intelligent basketball. Yes, can't be a person that doesn't have be able to approach the game mentally. You know what I'm saying? He don't he don't go for that. That drive brawn crazy. You don't know the game. You can't keep up with him mentally. That's it. It was times where brawn will come in and we'll be going down the court and he'll say, don't worry about that. Don't look over there. Just look at me. Don't look at Spoe. There was no disrespect to Spoe, but we out here. I got it. Just look and follow me. He would guard Derrick Rose some nights. Tony Parker, some nights. And then other nights, Kobe, Brian and Kevin Durant. And then all other nights, you know, Kevin Garnett, you know? So, you know, he he that's crazy. I was like, you know, that like when you when you hear it all out, I was like, damn, Tony Parker one night and Kevin Garnett. But imagine, imagine Cole was there. Yeah, I know he was there watching it up close. Yeah, I saw him at the guard. You know, I remember who was playing the Celtics and sometimes Ray John Rondo would give us this. And so we would go to a bigger lineup and we would put LeBron on Ray John Rondo. You know, in the fourth quarter, we'd be like, all right, it's Kevin Garnett. That same game when he was going round or sometime he got to guard, you know, Kevin Garnett. And then you got, you know, who we played. When we played disperse, sometime he would, you know, had to guard, you know, Tim Duncan sometime down here. So, you know, he's one of the guys that, you know, he's one of the few guys that, you know, in his prime that can guard, you know, multiple positions at a high level. Because a lot of guys can like, quote unquote, guard. But when you started talking about guarding at elite level, LeBron and his prime, he was definitely one of those dudes. How old were you when Bron came back? 22, 23? 22, 23. With what you know now at 30, do you do anything differently during that period? We could stay here for hours. We could stay here for hours going through the details, combing through it. But I think the greatest thing I would tell the youth is superheroes need help. You know, the leader of the team doesn't always have to take on the burden. And Bron took on crazy burdens. He still amazes me, you know, every time he does something amazing, you know, he's always compared to someone else or, you know, other performances, you know, he does unbelievable things. I'm watching Bron. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no, this is what this is how we win. So my mentality completely changed. I was so insecure of my game. I didn't really want people to see, you know what I'm saying? I didn't want them to see the insecurities that I had of me, Mr. Shot. We all have them. Yeah, so we all have them within our game, because that's our craft. We love it so much that that's, you know what I mean? That's what it is. And he helped me on, like, bro, that's the reason why you hit. It's reasonable. This is why we hit. So when we get to those moments, you'll miss those shots. You know what I mean? And he and he pounded that shit in my head so much. Shoot it, shoot it, shoot it. And I just think it puts him at ease when he's able just to know, like when I'm open or sometimes when guys are even not close enough, just let it go. He's the only one on the team that has the ultra green light. That's my man. Like his work ethic and his drive changed my life. It was something that I've never seen before. Like literally, and I catered a lot of that to Bram, because his work ethic and his drive is ridiculous. It doesn't matter if you're the 15th man on the team or the second man on the team. He'll work out with you. He's going to get shots of what you. He's going to talk to you, communicate with you, like what's going on, what do you see, whatever. And for me, once I really got around that winning mindset, like, no, this is our expectations. What do you expect to win? All I got to do is play defense and spot up. Easy. Braun doesn't go with, like he doesn't see the game, how you see it. And it's like, it's literally what makes him special. Braun knows every scheme, knows every coach. Know where everybody's supposed to be. Know the other teams, coaches, playbook, style of coaching, how his ball club's going to play. Knows every player. He knows players in college. You know what I'm saying? Like when we talking about shit like this. His mindset of how X's and O's work is special. And when you're like playing with him, it's cool because most people with LeBron's skill set and his mind, either they can't communicate it to you or they ain't fit to, because they don't want you to be nothing like them. They're like, this is why I'm me and you stay over there and be you. He has to share basketball knowledge with people. Like he's, it might be his biggest superpower, his ability to get everybody on the same page. Braun is like, all right, you can't do it this way. I can show you this way. He can just, he can explain this game forward and back. All right, think about it like this. Like he would do stuff like being a game and he the first player I ever played with where it's like, A.G., we finna go in here, buddy ass, he's shading over here. Like he's shading on me. He's like, I'm not open. He's like, no, you gonna be open. He don't mean to do it, but he'll be like, J.R., hand. Like he'll just throw it to the hand, snatch it, palm it. He'll like be in a post-up and he'll be like, no, no, no, Shump, don't stay right there, don't move. Shump, if he move, if he move, cut, cut right behind him, if he move. And he'll start his dribble. Don't move. Now Tristan, you dive. Tristan, cut, cut, take it with you. If he tags you, I'ma throw this right to Shump. Like he'll say it. And everything he's saying, you just watch it happen. It happens. If that man don't tag, he gon' dunk it. If that man tags, he gon' shoot a three. Which one you want for a timeout? And the moment that man flinch, I'll sprint behind it, catch dump. Now if a man could do that with his back turn, sitting right here with the ball, palm, talking to the crowd, doing all that like the man, you see what I'm saying? I'm like, that's a different type of scary for me. I think what makes LeBron successful is his brain. In some ways, he's chasing ghosts. In some ways, he's creating barriers that he wants to not only break through, but explode through. So his, he always says strive for greatness. I mean, I've seen it firsthand. You know, in the way he takes care of his body. You know, what he does when he's in practice, the tone he sets, always trying to get better. I mean, he never stopped. You know, he obviously expects a lot from you. I think the greatest players in the world do, or the greatest players ever do. And that was something he knew that I was going to have to sacrifice. I didn't know how, what that meant when I got to Cleveland, but it was the best thing, the best move that, you know, I ever made was to be a part of something special and a winning team like that, and to be a part of that team with LeBron as well. And I'll always, always, always have his back. The Lakeland era has begun in LA. Forward 6-8 from St. Vincent, St. Mary, Ohio, number 23, LeBron James. Bron come in. It's a whole different mindset change. I mean, you could just tell, obviously, LeBron in the gym is just a different field, you know, just off bat. But way more attention to detail, like our practices were way different. It was just literally night and day, man, night and day. He's definitely a tough force to get a stop with. One guy can't stop LeBron. He makes teammates better. And it's crazy thing, we were in the bubble. This goes back to the bubble, me and Bron were in the bubble watching the game. I think it was Miami and Boston again. And we were sitting in the room watching the game and like I said, it went down to the wire. So Bron's like, if we get Miami, I got the bowl. And if we get Boston, you got Brad. So that was kind of our mindset is like, it wasn't like, oh, we're going to beat the heat or we're going to beat the substance. It was more so, if we can outcoach or, you know, if we can outcoach or outplay the coaches on that staff in particular, which two guys we felt that we knew pretty good, we were going to win. And that's how I started to kind of unfold it. LeBron, he put in the work. He's always working. He always has Mike with him. He's always doing whatever he needs to do to stay right. So I'm not surprised at all. He just got the whole package. He can pass, he posts up, he's big. He's like Magic Johnson on steroids. We know what you're going to get out of LeBron. LeBron's like Captain America. For real, real shit. That's like LeBron. So LeBron is always, he want everybody to be around, you know what I'm saying? He want to have fun. He want to dance before the game. He jokes around a lot. He's always laughing, dancing, you know, just doing funny shit. And, you know, I think that's the cool part for sure. He's like, he's a little kid, man. Like he's like, you would think that, like, but he is like a grown man. And he's like this like alpha and he's like this like super serious person. But like, like he's like 18 year old too at the same time. You know what I mean? And I just feel like that's the best part about him. Cause like you understand, like, that we hold like celebrities and we hold people of figures to a pedestal. But like in all reality, everyone is the same person. You know what I mean? He acts like a damn kid. He acts like he's like 18. You know, I'd never really seen him in a bad mood. Always joking, laughing. You know, having a good time. And for someone that, you know, you put on a pedestal because he's done what he's done for him to just be so personable. Like, you can talk to him about anything. You can have good conversation with him. You could joke around, like I said. And, you know, as, like I said, his best, the best thing about him is he comes to work every day happy. How do you expect he will approach season 21 compared to the first 20 seasons? Um, the same. I mean, he puts in a lot of work. Like you say, he takes his nutrition very seriously. He takes his body very seriously. His work ethic is unmatched. And, you know, obviously, as you get older, your body starts to wear down. So he's in overdrive now on every many games he's going to play. He's going to be ready. But knowing the competitor that he is, I know he's going to, you know, play all 82 and do everything he can to help the team win. And I hope you guys enjoyed the video. If you did, let me know by hitting that like button. If you'd like to see the next episode, be sure to hit that subscribe button. Here are two new videos that I think that you will also enjoy. And a massive thank you to C.G. for sponsoring today's video.