Ja Morant saga shows benefits of strong inner circle, teammates

On the latest episode of Hustle Play, Alvin Williams and Chris Boucher discuss the importance of players having people in their lives who will help them make good decisions.

Video Transcript

- And ask that question because of what you said about Thaddeus Young, right?

CHRIS BOURCHER: Yeah, facts.

- All I was saying is that I think it's pretty important to have some good veterans around you. And with that being said, you know, Ja Morant came back into the lineup, right? And he's out there.

He's balling again. But that whole situation, right? I wanted to know what your thoughts about that were-- are, Chris, because I know-- and you've joked around before on other podcasts saying, you know, stay out the streets. Just kind of be quiet and to yourself. But when you heard about that situation-- I'll come to you after Alvin, but what was going through your head when you saw that?

CHRIS BOURCHER: It's an unfortunate-- unfortunate video. Obviously, that video went wild. And I mean, we don't know what he's dealing with it deep down. You know, obviously, I could be here and be like, what was he doing?

What was he thinking? But you don't know, obviously. Like-- and like, I'm the last person that's going to be like, hey, life is-- you know, life is what you see.

Like, it's-- for some people, what we see is not even close to what they're dealing with. So, like, I don't know what he was dealing with. Obviously, clearly, he knows he could have done better. He-- I'm sure that whatever apology and whatever he did, you know, I mean he clearly saw that, you know, it wasn't right.

People are looking into him or whatever. So I'm not even going to go deep to that. I'll say that it would have been-- back in the day, it's probably, knowing at that time when I talked to the guys like that and whatever, that probably would have never happened. You know what I'm saying?

Like, with a guy like Oaks on a team, you're not going to do that. You know what I'm saying? Or you know, like I said, the vendor and shit, like, Thad, he got lucky that he got good vets and he kept that culture and brought it.

But it's not all the vets that does that. Some people are just, OK, I'm on my way out of the league. Let me try to chase those last two contracts. And that's it.

I don't care what you are or what you do or what you need to learn. Thad is not one of those guys. Know what I'm saying?

That's the good thing about it is that you see some guys that are-- their heart is pure, and everything they learn about the game is pure, and they want to teach this to other people.

And there's other guys that are just on the way out, and they don't care no more. And that's the difference. And obviously, during that time, I'm sure-- because every story I hear about back in the days, yes, it was rough.

Yes, it was physical. Yes, you couldn't mess around that much. But the love and the family, the family energy, was always there.

If you was my teammate, I got you. No matter-- I might-- you might not like the way I'm going at your practice and how I'm physical with you, whatever. But after when it's all over, I got your back. And I feel like that is something that's kind of lost in the league now.

- So yeah, I mean, I completely agree with you there, right? Like, we don't know what this guy is dealing with, and we don't want to make excuses for him. But at the end of the day, that's just the reality, right?

And Alvin, like we mentioned you've been there. You've done it, right? What is your opinion on it when it comes to making good decisions? He's still a pretty young guy in this league, right? But what's your take on it?

ALVIN WILLIAMS: Oh, it was just like Chris said. He made a decision. He's making decisions.

But you saw-- you start seeing things trending, right? Like, things happening. And the crazy thing is how the media and how everything is put out after one after another after another, and it builds up a story, right?

These are things that's there that if I'm somebody, if I'm in his circle, if I'm-- I'm looking at certain things like, dog, let's rap for a minute. Like, I'm concerned about some of these things because at the end of the day, this is real life situations. Like, if you see somebody with a gun or you see somebody-- accusations of a gun and this, this, or people you're hanging with-- because at the end of the day, if you're hanging around some real dudes that's in those situations, ain't nothing going to happen to him.

Something going to happen to one of those people, and he's going to get tied to it. Then you're costing yourself potential freedom, going to court, making statements, taking a stamp, just putting in a light of something that's real serious that he don't need to be in them situations. Bail money, spending money, your face, everything-- you've got to realize you're part of-- you, like, our face of the NBA.

So, somebody definitely needs-- a veteran needs to grab him, make him understand that. It's hard for a young person to understand all that. Like, it's hard for a young person to understand their actions affect a lot of people around them until you get your back against the wall. He got a smack on the wrist.

So now, hopefully, he'll be like, all right, he can get scared straight. I've been in them situations. I came from a two family household.

Mom, pop-- the one thing my pop gave me, man, just awareness. He taught me how to be aware in a lot of different situations, right? I went to private school.

I ain't grow up in Philly, quote unquote, the hood. But I was privy to all of that. Like, every single thing, any environment, I could adapt to any environment.

I could observe and get about out of there. And I start realizing as I got older my actions are affecting everybody around me. And the one time I did get in some trouble and I saw the way my mom was crying, I said, no, no, no.

This ain't the life. And I've seen friends around it that's been in them situations. So, somebody like me that was well-off and doing things but still making dumb decisions or capable of making dumb decisions that could cause my life or cause my family heartache. So he just has to get set straight.

But hopefully, it's somebody in his circle that'll keep him tightened up. He just got to button up. He got to button up.

And he's young. He's 23, man. This man is 23 with all the money in the world, all the recognition, crazy game.

Like, he got a lot. So it's how he's going to handle it. And it's not easy, man.

It's not easy for these young athletes, these young men, to handle the things that if we were in them positions, we would do the exact same-- maybe not everything, but we would have the same struggles because it's new to us, man. We can't frown upon these young men and look and judge them for their mistakes. We just can't do it because we always in the positions.

CHRIS BOURCHER: I mean, this is where it was really good at making you feel unstoppable too. I mean, when you're on top, you're on top. You feel like you could do whatever.

And I said, like, one thing that I realized about Ja's situation is how many incidents happened that we didn't hear about until that came out, until the video came out. So basically, the first time, the whatever first thing happened, we didn't hear about it.

So he got away from it. Another thing happened, we didn't hear about it. So if you do four or five things and nothing comes out, you feel at the point where I can do whatever I want.

And then that video was the one strike that couldn't go further. And then after that, well, guess what? That video?

OK, he was wrong for that. Know what I'm saying? But the other five other things, now we're all, is it true? Is it not true?

And where is that coming from? Because we didn't hear about it until that. You know what I'm saying?

And that's the thing is, I mean, he's probably been dealing with stuff for a long time as, like, a player, going, needed help, asking for help. You know what I'm saying? Like, some people don't know how to ask for help.

But you could tell that they need help, right? And then we would have never knew that Ja was dealing with anything. Like, he went to therapy and all that, right?

- Yeah.

CHRIS BOURCHER: OK, so we would have never knew about that and seen it if he didn't do that video. You get what I'm saying? And like, that's kind of ways that you can see that people are dealing with stuff that you don't know. Until they make it-- they tell you or you see it, you'll never know.

And we're quick to judge. We're quick to say, hey, he should have never doubted. He got all the money in the world.

OK, well, money don't save everything out there right now. Like, money will help you on a lot of stuff. But, like, mentally, if you're crushed mentally, your bank account could look nice.

But if you're not happy when you wake up, there's a lot of stuff that you could do. There's a lot of stuff, thoughts that you could think about that are not even close to what you should be doing. And that's going to mess up your money.

ALVIN WILLIAMS: No, and that's the fact, man, because there's a lot of players that go through so much. And that's what I talk about, the media. Like, that-- if we're really tapping into mental health, that ain't supposed to be highlighted.

I don't need to wake up every day seeing my name in a negative light if I'm going through something mentally-- like, really going through something mentally-- and people in there debating about it, what should happen. Oh, he shouldn't play again. They should suspend him 50 games, or he's stupid.

What's up with his Pop? My family got a little-- like, you bringing all these things. This is real life.

Like, this is real situation. So I let you through through the NBA, through the media, everything, and help-- what, he's suspended eight games or something like that?

CHRIS BOURCHER: Yeah, yeah.

ALVIN WILLIAMS: I got mental health. I got issues, man. No, that ain't going-- that ain't-- that ain't going to work.

That ain't going to work. I need a reoccurring therapy. I remember I had all of the-- most times I was most upset and going through things, I had the most money I ever had in my life. And I was the most upset.

First time ever I was not sure about something-- career finished, my knee, everything. I'm at home struggling. Everything-- basketball was everything.

It made sure I went to sleep. It made sure I got up. It made sure I ate the right way.

It made sure I interacted with certain-- without basketball, I was like, damn, what the-- I'm going through a-- I'm going close to a divorce, kid, everything all at one time. And I couldn't turn to nobody because everybody think, oh, you got money, strength.

- Nobody can see it, right?

ALVIN WILLIAMS: I mean, you can see it, but you ignore it because you got money. He chilling. He living the life.

He-- all that stuff, man. It's like-- it's like, man, like, nobody really knows. And then you think about it.

Like, do you really care? You're highlight in my troubles. I mean, you're highlighting my struggles.

CHRIS BOURCHER: Just make sure you get my parlay right.

- Yeah, that's an interesting point.

ALVIN WILLIAMS: Yeah.

- Now that you bring--