- On this episode NBA star Mason Plumlee stops by.
(hip hop music)
- [Gary] You ask questions,
and I answer them.
This is The #AskGaryVee Show.
Hey everybody. This is Gary Vay-ner-chuk
and this is episode 251
of The #AskGaryVee Show.
Pretty excited about this because I'm a huge NBA fan and
we have a real life NBA player here with us.
Mason Plumlee is here.
I'm gonna give him a second to tell everybody about himself but
you also are noticing no phone today.
We've decided to go old school on The #AskGaryVee Show.
I put out a tweet.
We got some questions.
Andy K, it's your chance to finally be India.
I'm happy for you.
This is something you've wanted for three or four years.
I've seen the notes back and forth.
You know, DRock showed me a text a couple years ago.
Said something like, "What the fuck?
"Why does India always get to do this?"
So this is a big moment for you as well, my friend.
I'm happy for you.
- [Andy] Thank you. - You're welcome.
Alright, Mason, why don't you tell the Vayner Nation
a little bit about yourself. - Yeah.
You know, obviously I play basketball.
From Indiana originally,
went to high school and college in North Carolina.
Spent my first two years with the Brooklyn Nets.
Two years, year and a half with the Portland Trailblazers and
then I was traded to Denver February this season.
So, you know, I'm going into restricted free agency this
off-season so I'm looking forward to that.
Basketball's my passion, it's what I do.
It gets me out of bed in the morning.
I don't have to think about it.
I just love it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
So, that's my story and that's how I'm here.
- Couple things.
Tell me about, so first of all, being able to do what you love
is like the greatest, right? - Yeah.
- What outside of the basketball?
When we start going into the Mason's sphere of interests
that's out of that. - Yeah.
- Entrepreneurship, sci-fi, food.
Give me some context here and the viewers at home.
- Two things that I've really been drawn to,
one being real estate.
I've enjoyed different real estate projects that
I've done with partners.
Did a couple here in Jersey when I lived in Jersey.
And then some in Washington state when I lived in Oregon.
So real estate has been very interesting to me.
- You have like an awesome
business model figured out, right?
I play in a new market, buy up. Right?
- Yeah.
- You want to get traded and do stuff in free agency just to
build your real estate empire.
- No, honestly, you always want to be the player that's Kobe.
One franchise your whole but if it doesn't happen why not take
advantage of being all over. - Pretty cool.
So real estate has been interesting to you.
- Real estate's been interesting.
- And fruitful. Right? - Yeah.
- I'm thinking about your career and how long
you've been in the league.
The real estate market has been really
strong during those years. - Yeah, for sure.
- So what? You buy things and rent out?
- I've done rehab projects.
I've invested in other people's projects but then also just
starting to explore development with a partner that I have.
To me it's I've always wanted to take advantage of like I have a
window where I know I have contracts
and money coming in but
NBA you can't play until you're 60.
- You're not golfin'.
- Right, so there's a finite time to a career and I want to
take advantage of the earnings that I have during this time and
put aside some assets for when I retire.
- And not just earnings, right?
I mean here we are sitting.
Obviously, we got connected through the inner weavings of
our organization but you're obviously thinking about,
look, 40 million people email this place,
"I want to be on the show."
Obviously, not only the dollars and what you can deploy but
having the platform of the NBA itself--
- For sure. - that gives you opportunities.
How are you thinking about the leverage
of just the awareness of brand?
Are people willing to say yes to things
while you're in the league?
I think one of the things that I always tell players,
I started a sports agency we're starting to rep players.
My brother AJ's running it.
Today's a big day.
We may have one of our first players ever get drafted.
I tell them, look, I remember this vividly.
I told a kid right to his face, I go,
"Look, the only reason I'm sitting with you
"is you're a New York Jet." - Right.
- And the Jets are like my heart and soul.
I'm like, "If you're a Bronco tomorrow,
"I'm gonna lose your number."
And I actually meant it.
Not like to razz him because I was tell him
he was acting like a dope. - Yeah.
- And he wasn't taking advantage of all the things he could be
taking advantage of. - Right.
- You also, it's funny you said North Carolina.
You went to Duke, right? - Yes.
- (blows raspberry) It's one of
the most popular colleges in the world.
There's just hundred and thousands of people that are
ruling the world that are willing to meet with because you
went to that university. - Yeah.
- The access is insane. - Yeah.
And I had great veterans when
I came in as a rookie in the league.
Kevin Garnett told me, he's like,
"Look, you can pretty much sit down or
"meet whoever you want to."
He said, "You just have to take the initiative to reach out to
"'em and they'll take your call or whatever you want to do,
"they'll at least listen to you."
- Did he then punch you in the face?
'Cause he seems like that kind of character.
- No, yeah but he was right.
And into that point too he also made the point that he's like,
"Once you're done playing," he's like,
"they probably aren't picking up.
"You might not get to sit down.
"You might not get the return call, whatever."
But he was like, "Don't wait until you're 40."
He was playing with me when he was 38 years old but he's like,
"Don't wait 'til you're 40 to pick up the phone,
"to take advantage of the platform that you have."
- You know it's funny you just said that.
One of the things that would be interesting is to think about
not only the real estate arbitrage when you're in a new
markets but the social graph, right?
So like, it's kind of interesting, right?
Like who are the 5 to 25 men and women that you
want to meet when you're in Portland.
Literally when you get traded to Denver like is one of the
processes, and this is for all the aspiring athletes out there
or actual athletes.
You know, okay, now I'm in Denver.
Like literally, who are the 15 to 25 business or cultural
leaders of Denver that I want to meet and you pull it off.
- Yeah. - It's interesting.
Okay. How was Duke?
- Duke was great, man. I enjoyed it.
I stayed all four years.
Guys don't do that anymore.
I enjoyed it enough to stay.
- You're like a unicorn. - I know, right?
But no, it was a lot of fun. Had a great experience.
- Fan base is ridiculous, right? - Fans are the best.
- What about when they're pissed at you?
- Yeah, that's hard.
- When they were pissed at you, were they tough or were they
kinda fully bought in and they won so much and
you guys have a such a winning.
I always think that
winning organizations are soft, really.
- Yeah. - You know?
Like they're winning often, they could only get.
When I get mad at a Jet player, I hate them with all my heart
because we haven't won ever. - Right, right.
- And so I'm like I'm really fucking pissed at you, dude.
Like I want to win.
Whereas with the Yankees when I won a bunch,
I'm like yeah, I'm mad at you but
we won so many championships.
Like no big deal, bro.
- Yeah, well, you know they had a rough stretch before I got to
school and then the group I was with my freshman year we won the
championship so it was a good--
- You started off on the right foot.
- And then it was like the next three years you're trying to get
back to that and it never happened so you have to enjoy
the moment and take it for what it is 'cause it's not guaranteed
to happen again.
You go there one time in your freshman year and you're like,
"Oh, this is just what happens."
That's not the case.
- Knowing a lot of my fan base is a mix,
I think some of them may not know a lot about you.
Tell them a little bit about the family dynamics that I think are
really intriguing with you.
- Yeah, so I have two brothers who play in the NBA as well.
I have a little brother with the New York Knicks and then I have
an older brother with the Charlotte Hornets.
We all had one year together in high school,
one year together in college but those are my best friends.
I think I've alway benefitted from watching my older brother
go through the same process that I'm about to embark on.
And then I've been able to help my little brother,
too so it's been a great dynamic for me.
And then also I have a little sister who,
she plays volleyball at Notre Dame.
And now I'm just like a cheerleader 'cause I don't know
anything about volleyball.
But I'm happy for her.
- Dude, are your parents like
the greatest athletes of all time?
- No, they were athletes.
They weren't the greatest but they would tell you that too.
But we grew up-- - It's crazy to think--
- Yeah.
- like forget about even having the DNA,
the parenting. - Mhmmm.
- The serendipity. - Yeah.
- The great fortune. - Yep.
- To have three boys in the NBA is so mind bending.
- Yeah, I mean you see a lot of brothers,
a lot of twins.
- [Gary] Yes. - But,--
- [Gary] Three is--
- we're happy that Marshall joined the NBA family.
- [Gary] Yeah. - Yeah.
- The three thing, how often has that happened?
Three brothers in the league.
- One other time. - Which was?
- I think it was the Barrys. - Right. And their dad played.
Right, right. - Yeah, so.
- That's just insane. - It doesn't happen that often.
- Do you guys think that eventually you'll go on the road
like when you're retired and you'll be all about,
there's something really there.
- Yeah. - [Gary] I'm serious.
- No, we could definitely do something fun.
We've always talked about, the best part about it is spending
our off-season together and working out together.
So I have my little brother here,
like I said with the Knicks.
My older brother likes New York too so--
- You guys are setting up camp here this--
- Yeah. Pumblee--
- Who's the best player? - Me. We all say that. So...
- But what's the true answer? - Me.
- It is, right? - Yeah, yeah.
I would tell you the truth. - Yeah, I believe you.
Alright, Andy let's do this.
This is your big moment. - [Andy] My big moment.
- What's the first question?
- [Andy] Jason Crocker asks,
"Dude dropped 40 points on me in high school.
"How early did you decide to go all-in on basketball and
"commit you life to that pursuit?"
- Well, now I have a new career high in high school.
I didn't know I had 40.
- Do you know what your career high in high school is?
Of course you do.
- Honestly, I really don't. - You're that good?
Fuck. (group laughter)
If my career high was like 17,
I'd be like, seven. I would know everything.
I'd be like, yeah, this kid, I crossed him over.
- I have to give a shout out to Christ School.
I love my high school.
It was a all-boys boarding school in North Carolina.
But we had such a good group of guys.
Our first five all went and played in college.
So it was such a fun team to be on.
Our goal every year is like, can we go undefeated.
We never got it, but--
- You weren't one of those guys
that came up in high school where
you were the guy dropping 64?
- Yeah.
That's funny you asked that.
But I didn't have 40 in a game, but anyway.
For me, it was a passion early on.
In Indiana, everybody plays basketball.
- Sure, it's religion. - Yeah, it is, it really is.
Like Texas and football. - Are you a Colts fan?
- I am, yeah.
Not a Pacers fan, but Colts fan.
But growing up--
- Oh, why not a Pacers fan?
- You know what, when I first started watching the NBA,
it was always Utah and Chicago in the finals,
so I love Chicago.
I watched Jordan all the time.
- So you're a bandwagon Bulls fan?
- Yeah.
I was northwest Indiana, though, so I was close to Chicago.
- That's how you decided to justify that?
- And they were winning.
- I know what they were doing.
Alright, so was it from birth, you were all in?
- No, I mean, when I was young
and just playing at recess on the playground
with my brothers--
- Were you always ridiculously tall?
- No, I wasn't always tall.
And I think that's, in the NBA,
not the NBA but in basketball,
you get the guys who are tall,
so they're like, "Well, I'll play basketball.
"I'll put this to use."
But it was always a passion of mine from when I was little.
It's not something that I decided to do
because I ended up being tall.
- So when did you go all-in?
- All-in?
Honestly, to me the first, I would say,
business move concerning basketball
was when I decided to leave my home
and go to a boarding school.
Because up until then, I loved it.
I would just go and play for the fun of it.
- And when was that?
- I did that my sophomore year high school.
- You have a big freshman year?
- I didn't have a big freshman year.
I played varsity in JV at my hometown high school.
- Did you grow in that summer like a machine?
- No, I was like 6'7", 6'8" in my freshman year.
(Gary laughs)
- I love that he's like, it's your own reality, right?
He just hangs out with seven footers all day, I get it.
- Yeah, but to me I was going all-in
because I didn't, basketball was for fun.
And that was the first sacrifice made toward the career.
- [Gary] Let's move on.
- [Andy] Ottawahoops asks,
"how can student athletes use social media
"to monetize their brand?"
- I'll jump in on this one.
I think the NCAA is
ridiculously difficult to navigate.
And I have real venom towards it.
And I don't know every detail.
I have real venom towards it
because I also grew up in the wine business,
where the laws are ridiculous and not practical,
and are archaic,
and then it gets even worse when you really look
under the underbelly of why the rules sit there.
So I think student athletes have to be careful
because they can lose that eligibility, right?
Like, were you always scared like that?
It was always like a bad cloud, right?
And Coach K was like, "Don't fuck up!"
- Right, now, you don't want to mess up his program.
He's not gonna like that.
But that's the thing.
The regulations and the rules,
you shouldn't be trying to monetize yourself
because they're gonna hit you over the head
with the suspension.
- That's why I have an answer.
What your job to do, is to really build,
if you care about that, if you're that entrepreneurial,
and if you're javelin and you're in volleyball,
there's no women's professional volleyball league
that's gonna pay your sister
the kind of money the boys made.
So if she's thinking about the entrepreneurial level,
what you do while you got that attention,
or, if you're the 11th guy at Indiana State
and you don't think you're going to the NBA,
what I think when you have that attention is,
you build a fan base.
You don't monetize it, you build the platform.
The way to do that,
whether you're a superstar player
or the 11th guy on Indiana State, is to engage.
Now, if you're a superstar player,
and you're going to Duke,
you're probably worried about your class,
you're worried about the program,
so you probably have less time.
If you're 11th guy at Indiana State,
you probably have more time.
And so you've gotta just pull levers.
But it's about engagement.
Again, I'm hot on this because it's a Larry Bird reference,
I didn't want to use Indiana.
Like it was, I thought it was funny.
So if you're Indiana State, 11th guy,
every single person that references
your game on Twitter is something you can engage with.
Maybe you didn't play,
but it would be really funny if Tyler was like,
"You guys sucked tonight."
And you jump in and like, "Yo, bro."
They'd be pumped because they actually watched that game.
That context building, now all of sudden
you leave school with 80,000 followers
where you would have had maybe 1500
if you didn't give a crap.
And now all of a sudden you are tweeting out,
looking for opportunities this summer.
That's where you're at your height
because you just went through the program,
and six or seven leads come in,
and away you go.
That's really the only way within the rules of the NCAA.
Agreed, move on.
- [Andy]Rodney.
- Rodney, Rodney Pete?
- His handle's DJ Drive.
- Do you know who Rodney Pete is?
Just yes or no.
Do you know who Rodney Pete is?
- [Man] No. - Rodney Pete?
- [DRock] No.
- Rodney Pete, Rodney Pete, Rodney Pete, Rodney Pete?
Sorry, Rodney.
USC quarterback, went to the Lions,
had a nice career.
These youngsters don't know, Rodney.
- Maybe you should know the Lions, come on Trick.
- [Trick] My family's from Michigan.
- You're a big disappointment, man.
- [Trick] I've been through all that.
(Gary laughs)
- Let's move on.
- [Andy] Rodney asks, "What did
"the NBA teach you about basketball that you can apply
"to marketing or branding on social media?"
- So, the first thing they do
is they sit you down and show you
what you can get fined for. (Gary laughs)
But surprisingly, a lot of the stuff,
because I was watching what guys got in trouble for,
all that stuff created such buzz
and got them all (laughs)--
- You're like the arbitrage was worth it, yeah.
- Too much shocked and awe, but anyway.
To me, the best advice that they gave us was be yourself.
Don't make every post about a product pitch.
Right away, as soon as you come out of the league,
or as soon as you finish university,
then you can accept money for,
Then you can start-- - Sneakers.
- Monetizing, right.
Right away you're gonna have people,
"Hey, tweet this. Pitch my product.
"Whatever, I'll pay you."
- Sports cards.
- It's good and well,
but you don't want your social media
to be flooded with that.
You just want to be genuine, be who you are.
I think it's also good to share,
don't just reply to tweets and whatever after wins.
Be the same person, wins and losses.
Don't go into a whole, depending on the situation.
- Be careful who you're responding to and how.
- Be genuine, be authentic, yeah,
always respond to real people.
I think there are a lot of people
hiding behind different accounts out there,
stuff like that.
- Yeah, Dunk. (laughs)
Kidding, I'm kidding.
Talk to me about the biggest thing you learned
in your first season of the NBA.
Nothing to do with marketing, just macro learning.
You know, this has probably been on your mind
as a little kid, then definitely got more serious
after your freshman year of high school.
Here it is, this is it. You're in the league.
What's the biggest thing you learned in year one?
Kevin obviously sat down and gave you some good advice.
You had some good bets on that team
that you stumbled into.
- Great bets, yeah.
- Like macro.
- To me, the biggest thing I took away is,
there's so much,
I came from a college where there was stability.
Coach K was my coach every year,
I had, for the most part, similar teammates every year.
The NBA and, you know, I talked
to my friends with other jobs,
there's so much turnover,
there's so much unpredictability.
Like, I went into practice one morning
and they said, "Hey, GM wants to talk to you.
"Hey, you're going to Denver."
Okay, cool.
You can't control your situation.
- I'm gonna do that to DRock tomorrow.
I'll be like, you know what?
You've been traded to the Chattanooga office.
But that's crazy, right?
You have to pick up your whole life.
There's a lot of great things
that comes along with professional sports,
and I'm sure the veterans tell you,
once your family kicks in. - Right.
- Your daughter loves her school in Denver,
and now you're in Sacramento.
- Yeah, so I think the best piece of advice
that I got from those guys,
and I watched it happen on that first team,
is no matter what's happening around the game,
have the same work habits,
have the same approach to practice, to the games,
to shoot around, to film session.
Have an approach that you believe in,
that you can stick to-- - Everywhere.
- That's not gonna change regardless of--
- And have you done that? - Yeah, I have.
I mean, I'm only four years in.
- But you're on three teams in four years.
- Three teams in four years.
Four different head coaches.
I feel like I have found a routine
in something that I believe in
that I can continue to grow and get better,
regardless of the situation.
- Was it easier to walk into the Denver locker room
after experience being the new guy
in the Portland locker room?
- Yeah, for sure.
- Was that weird and scary?
- Everything's, I would say, unpredictable.
You don't know what to expect.
I was telling them, well, actually, funny,
when I went into the Denver locker room,
they started playing a rap song.
I did a rap song,
so everywhere I go people make fun of me for it.
Which is fine, I have fun with it.
You know, that lightened the mood.
And also, the NBA, you know players on every team.
- In high school, in college, things of that nature.
- Right.
- Right, cool, Andy K?
- [Andy] Cody Wheat asks,
"What do you think people get wrong
"about professional athletes?
"What do you think is the biggest misconception?"
- I can tell you the thing that bothers me the most
is when people talk about
athletes are stupid or dumb or whatever,
and they go broke because they don't know what they're doin'.
I don't know anybody,
all the players that I know are still in the league,
but people have gone broke
or they've lost what they made out of,
I could see it happenin' more from generosity
- That's exactly right. - Than from bad business moves
It's not-- - I'm so glad you said this,
I apologize for cutting you off.
I am stunned by that variable
as we just recruit our first class.
You're exactly right.
It's not that they're dumb, it's that--
- They wanna do so much for everyone.
- Their inner circle,
and listen, there's a lot of cliche,
lower-middle class, poor,
and it's like they wanna help.
They've been praying
to get through the system to this moment.
Being rich you can get injured.
Coming from tough places you could get into trouble.
I think that's exactly right, my man.
They're tryin' to do good,
so much so, I don't know if you've seen this,
I've already seen this,
some of these kids
have to go through the very difficult decision
of actually cutting off their world
because literally all that's happening is there's,
I saw a kid with his cell phone
and in 30 minutes,
get asked for tens of thousands of dollars
from 11 different people. - Right.
And it happens all the time.
- And it's not,-- - I'm glad you went there man.
- People are so quick to say,
"Bad business move, bad restaurant,
"bad this bad that."
The most generous people I've ever met
have been teammates in the NBA, without a doubt.
- Now, there's also Antoine Walker,
who's out of his mind.
- Yeah. (group laughter)
- And by the way, on that note,
I'm making that joke 'cause I wanna give him a compliment.
What he's doing right now
for kids that are coming out of the league,
it takes a lot of humility.
Listen, I'm sure there's economics with it,
I don't know him but,
I'm sure he's getting paid
and it doesn't hurt to get the money,
but he's goin' in there and sayin'
"Look at me.
"Look what happens."
Man made hundreds of millions of dollars.
Oof. Andy K?
Andy felt that one.
- [Andy] Sam asks,
"How are you able to stay positive
"when working towards your goals and ambitions
"without seeing improvement on a regular basis?"
- To me that's one of the hardest things.
I think whether you do-
- What part of your game was toughest for you,
if you said at a macro,
the thing that was hardest for you to develop in your game,
that you can rewind to now,
we're goin' very macro basketball now,
what would that be?
- Last summer
I wanted to change the way in which I shot the ball,
my form and-- - Period?
- Period, yeah. - Well that's a little crazy.
- Yeah, well it's crazy. - It's hardcore.
- I always felt like this:
Tiger Woods broke down a swing that had won Masters,
and then he re-worked it.
I wasn't breakin' down a shot that works.
(laughing)
I was breakin' down a shot that didn't work.
- I love it.
- I wanted to change my form,-- - And?
- There were a lot of times I didn't see progress,
I got with the coach and we were in the gym every day,
and it was frustrating, stuff felt awkward,
you have muscle memory and habits that are hard to break
if you've been doin' em wrong for so long.
So that was somethin' that I fully committed to last summer--
- And?
- Like the question said,
there were a lot of times where you--
- But where are we right now?
- I feel very, I'm still,-- - In it.
- I'm still in it, I'm still on that journey,
I'm very happy with where my form is.
I hit more jump shots this year
than I have any year in the league,
and now I feel like I have a base and a form that I can--
- Build on top of. - continue to improve.
- Andy, you should,
your jump shot has been struggling lately.
Where are you right now with your game?
- I haven't been playing that much.
- Me neither. Dunk?
How you feelin' about yourself?
You're very athletic.
- [Dunk] I always feel good about my game.
- Yeah but blindly.
How's the actuality of it? - Good.
- You playing well?
Jake?
- [Dunk] I just haven't played in a while.
- [Gary] Jake, how you doin?
- No basketball.
- [Gary] No basketball. (laughter)
- [Dunk] I mean, if we go up against Mase-
- Yeah listen I'll give you a preview,
you're gonna lose.
- [Trick] Mase, you gotta tell 'em about Yoda.
- Oh yeah, nah it's--
- Tell me.
- Like I said, I found a shooting coach, he's--
- Yoda's the name of a dude who's a shooting coach?
- Tell 'em why he's called Yoda, though.
- Oh, 'cause you have to do all sorts of weird stuff
like close your eyes and shoot backwards
while you elevate and eating Jello?
- No, it's just more he's like a bald little,
you know how you get the gray hair goin' around here.
- [Trick] He has the record for most--
- Yeah, so he didn't have like,
there are shooting coaches in the NBA.
- Of course.
- This guy had no NBA.
- Right, he's an unofficial kind of Yoda.
- [Andy] He's an old, white little Steph Curry.
- But I watched him,
and the guy he made like 1503 free throws in a row,
so I was like,
"Hey, I wanna work with you."
(laughing) - You saw that on YouTube?
Or you were sitting there tying your shoes
and watchin' an old white dude hit 1503 free throws?
Just curious.
- He had the film of it.
On the spot, if you walk into the gym
he'll rip you off 100 in a row, and I was like,
"That's so incredible." - So awesome.
- And we call him Yoda 'cause he's little and bald and wise.
- I love it. - Good dude.
- Mase, I'm glad you stopped by man.
- Thanks for havin' me.
- You get to ask the question of the day.
You get to ask any question you want,
macro, micro, basketball, life, entrepreneurship, interests,
anything you want, you'll get thousands of answers,
there might be some good insight.
Fire away.
- Anything. - Anything.
- Man.
What's the best thing to do in New York over the summer
that people don't know about?
And don't tell me Hamilton,
'cause you can't get tickets to that.
- Why can't you get tickets?
They pay well in the NBA.
- They do, but--
- So buy some fuckin' tickets, Mason.
- Alright, I'll buy some tickets.
- Okay, good.
- What's the thing to do in New York in the summer
that people don't know about that you just have to do,
how 'bout that?
- Love it. My man, thanks for stoppin' by.
You keep asking questions,
we'll keep answering them.
(hip hop music)
No comments:
Post a Comment