The SchuZ Show: Denver Nuggets Two-Way Guard Tamar Bates Joins the Show

The SchuZ Show: Denver Nuggets Two-Way Guard Tamar Bates Joins the Show

Let’s get it. What’s going on everybody? Welcome to the Shoe Show. I’m your guys’ host, Zach Shoes, Shoemaker. With that being said though, I’ve got a very special guest that’s going to be joining me today. He’s a man that was on the show right after he committed to Texas all the way back almost 5 years ago. He’s now in the NBA, signed with a 2-way deal with the Denver Nuggets, and that is Tamar Bass. Tamar, appreciate you for taking time to come on day, man. Yes, sir. I appreciate you having me. Uh, good to be on here five years later as we’ve both grew in the areas that we uh trying to be great in. So, it’s good to see you, Zach. Absolutely, Tom. Well, I’ve got to start with one thing, man. When we go back, you know, we’re talking five years ago now. You’re committed to Texas. Obviously, you don’t end up playing there. So much stuff’s happened since that standpoint, but I’m curious when you look at how life’s gone over the past almost five years now. Has it gone as you had planned at that point in time? Has it gone a little bit worse, better? How would you kind of look and overview of the past five years for yourself? I mean, it definitely hasn’t gone as planned, right? I mean, attesting to what you just spoke about in terms of me being signed to test Texas, Coach Smart leaves and, you know, for one sec. One sec. It’s cutting out for some reason. I can’t hear you right now. It’s muted you for some reason. Let me see what’s going on. Here. One sec. I’m going to go quick commercial break. See what’s going on. All right, welcome back. So, as tomorrow we’re saying midway through that point, obviously a lot of stuff’s happened, but how would you kind of overview the past five years then? I mean, it’s definitely it hasn’t went as planned, but my journey has allowed me to be ready for the opportunity that’s in front of me right now. So, I mean, from having to transfer and, you know, figure out a new city and a new system, um, all while being a father, um, you know, is definitely prepared me for the journey that I have ahead in the NBA. you know, when you talk about these ups and downs, and we’re going to go in depth in it very shortly, but when you talk about the ups and downs, how much has that helped make you into the person, the father that you are now today? I mean, it it’s it’s made me be a lot more adaptable, a lot more intentional. I’m intentional with my time, intentional with the way that I work, intentional with the way that I speak, um the people that I spend time with, the examples that I set for my daughter because kids, um as soon as they get to about um especially now, her being three, but that two, three, four age, they watching everything. They watch everything like your entire life. Uh and I can speak to it in terms of the way that I looked up to my parents. Um, but it just made me uh have a tremendous amount of a attention to detail in every area of my life. So, I mean, it’s definitely um helped me grow as a man, as a basketball player, and um 100% as a father. You know, I want to dive real quickly into the father aspect. You being a father now, going throughout college, how have you learned to still be such a great father amidst, you know, all the ups and downs, the craziness of basketball, the life that comes with both now the NBA lifestyle of college beforehand. How have you still been such a great father in midst of that? I mean, it’s pretty easy to separate the two simply because when it’s time to go to work, when it’s time to go to practice and and go play a game, I’m a basketball player. Like, you know what I’ve been my entire life. And then when I go home, it’s an entire different world, but it’s kind of a reset from everything that I’ve been doing away from my baby girl. So, I mean, it’s um definitely been easy to be a really good father. Um again, like just the way that she looks looks up to me. Um the way that she um pays attention to what I do, like now we don’t have to get inside the gym for her to know that we at the gym as we getting closer and pulling up. She’s with me so much and she pays attention so much that she knows exactly where we’re at and what daddy’s going to do. So, um, you know, for me, I’m just trying to continue to set a good example and when I’m home, not on the road, I’m just spend as much time with her as possible. I do also want to ask about the way that you flip your switch because I’ve known you since you’ve been all the way back in high school. And one part I’ve always loved about your game that you’ve kept since high school has been your intensity. When you step on that court, you’re always going to be one of, if not, in my opinion, the most intense player when it comes to defense, offense, whatever it might be. How do you balance and just flip the switch that when you know you’re on the court, you turn into the type of Tamar Bass that we see you like the way you play on the court? I mean, for me, I’m an everyday guy. So, what you see on the court is what my teammates see in practice. Um, it isn’t something that I’m just turning on and it’s like, oh, he just gets up like this for games. Like, this is me every time you see me. So, I mean, given that that was how I was taught to play the game, it’s how always approach the game. Um it’s it’s easy to come into every game with the amount of intensity and that I do. Let’s go back to where we left off tomorrow. That’s you committed to Texas. Obviously all is going great. You can plan on playing for Shaka Smart and then he also takes the Marquette job’s open and obviously that puts you in a very tough predicament at that point in time. Walk us through that because like I said you were committed to Texas when you came on last. That’s a massive shift when your recruitment. How did you take that news initially though? I mean initially because like being in high school like you don’t really know what’s going on in the college world and right what jobs are available what coaches are moving around who the candidates are so when it happened it was just kind of like oh like you know obviously I got to request my release of my NLI from Texas and then just move from there and obviously I was pretty close to following coach and just going to but you know things went how they did um I I I liked what coach Wilson and his staff presented. I thought I had a good opportunity and I did. I mean went there for two years, won a lot of games, went to two NCAA tournaments and uh you know I was able to I feel like grow as a man during that experience than I did as a basketball player which allowed me to be be able to have the success that I did at Missouri. But um but yeah, my initial reaction was just I was in shock cuz I I was like a I was pretty much a a fan at that point cuz I knew what Coach Smart was doing, but like that’s a that’s a little out of my like I wouldn’t say pay range, but like that’s not a a conversation that I’m involved. That’s not that wasn’t my world at the time. Now, if I was already a freshman at Texas, like those guys, I’m sure they knew, but you know, being a high school recruit, it was a little different. All right. I love how you approached the way you kind of take away from Indiana. Cuz obviously, I’m sure it didn’t go exactly according to plan. I think you wanted a lot more minutes, opportunity, as you probably deserved, but you just said something interesting. You looked at and said, you know what, I grew a lot as a person. I grew a lot to help prepare me for my years in Missouri. What led to that mindset? How were you able to kind of come to terms with that and say, you know what, there were benefits. even though it didn’t go as planned, there were benefits in those two years there. Well, I looked at it at all as a um or it was beneficial for me because I didn’t point any fingers at anybody. I didn’t blame coaches. I didn’t blame any my teammates. I didn’t think that it was anybody’s fault um but mine. And then and then again, no matter how it’s looked at, obviously I would have liked to play a lot better for the fans and for the for my teammates, for the whole in institution, but I was playing college basketball at a high school in the Big 10. Um, playing high major basketball. like when you look at it from a a gratitude standpoint and just being grateful for your opportunity to be there. Um knowing that there are thousands of other players that would have loved to be in my position. Um I just had to be grateful. Um and I was able to, you know, have my success that I did over the past two years. Um because I didn’t blame anybody. You know, I I just looked at myself like you got to get better. um you got to make it undeniable for coach to put you on the floor. And um it could have been a mixture of me being younger, having to mature at Indiana, and I wasn’t ready for everything that it took to be a heavy minute guy in the Big 10, right? But um just learning what it took to be an everyday guy, showing up to practice every day with the right intensity, the right attitude. Um paying attention in scout and walkthroughs group go before you. Like you might not get to walk through the plays because you in the third group, but you still got to pay attention because you might get thrown in the game, you make a scouting mistake, now you sitting down maybe for the next two, three games, right? So, um, that attention to detail, um, and just the way that I grew in other areas before we even stepped on the court is what allowed me to just continue to grow. You know, I’m curious about this, Tamar, when you talk about the way that you’ve always been very mature. I go back to remember you in high school, you’ve always had a very mature, you’re always your shoulders, above everything above your shoulders have always been very wise. Has that been credited to yourself to just kind of develop that over time, your family, parents, or what kind of brought you to be such a mature overall athlete and person? That’s a credit to my parents, my family, and just the coaches and mentors that I’ve had around my entire life. Um, I’ve played for some tremendous coaches at every level dating back to middle school. Every coach I played for has has played an instrumental part of my life. And all of those coaches were present at my draft party um because of how important they are to me. So, I mean, yeah, I could try to take the credit, but it wouldn’t feel right because it’s just not true. You know, I’ve just had so many great people around me. My village is uh very elite to at least to say. All right, so let’s go back to that recruiting process in high school. All of a sudden, you know, you’re you’re a free agent essentially again. You have an open recruiting process. You were saying something interesting, though. You said that you’re considering going and following Shaka Smart to Marquette. What was that recruiting process like and why did you ultimately choose to go to Indiana? I mean, being young, 18 years old, you don’t know what you don’t know, right? You know, when you build a relationship with somebody the way that I did with Coach Smart, um if I could go back and do it again, I would have just followed him and went to my because we um were so tied in that entire year, my whole senior year, he we knew each other pretty well. Um, but you know, I just I made a decision at the time that I felt was best for me. And at the end of the day, you know, I wouldn’t change it just because I learned so much. You know, if I go to Marquette and let’s say I’m a one and done, two and done, leave my sophomore year type of guy, then I don’t go through the storm that I went through and learn as much as I did. So then the adversity that that hits that’s gonna hit in the NBA, I wouldn’t be ready for it. It’d be new to me. But now when I face the adversity that’s coming, I’m going be calm, you know, cuz I’ I’ve seen this before. You know, this is it’s not going to be anything that’s foreign to me. So, I’m I’m extremely grateful for my journey and still got a great relationship with Coach Mark. Okay. Um, you know, every every time I see him, we chop it up. He still, you know, stays in touch with my parents, always tells me to tell them hello. So, you know, it’s always love. Was this mindset always there throughout all the time at Indiana or did it take a little bit time, you know, maybe the past year or so till you realize, you know what, going through that storm helped prepare me now for my next journey at the NBA? It definitely when I stepped away from it, when I left, was when I kind of came to the realization that my experience at Indiana did nothing but help me. M um when you in it, it’s kind of hard to see it because it’s it’s literally like when you in the middle of a storm, you can’t see anything. Yeah. But when you get out of them rain clouds and you you can turn the windshield wipers off, it’s clear again and you can kind of think and you don’t got to, you know, your mind’s not over stimulated. So Mhm. Yeah. I mean, when I left was definitely when that realization came. Um yeah. All right. So, let’s hop into your first year of college basketball. You’re at Indiana coming in as a fivestar ranked recruit. Obviously, I know in the back of your mind you want to go out there and play a lot more, but how was that first year of of college basketball like? And what did you say? What would you say the biggest thing you learned from that year? The biggest thing I learned from that year, I would say, is just stay ready. Um because it would be as soon as we hit conference play, it’s probably about 10 games straight where I play a little bit in the first half and then didn’t play the second half. Mhm. But then after that, I played a little bit more. Obviously, we had the NCAA tournament coming up, the conference tournament, and there would be moments in the game where my skill set or ability was needed within the game. Whether it be because coach wanted to play me or somebody was in foul trouble. Um just got to be ready, you know. Can’t be on the bench feeling bad for yourself cuz then when you do get an opportunity, if you sitting over there just being extremely negative, you’re not going to be able to perform. It’s just not possible. So, all right. So, the modern college landscape is quite interesting. It’s constantly changing. Even now you moved on now you have shared revenue in place now starting July 1st but you were a part of so much just termination overall so much stuff going down throughout college basketball that’ be NI be the portal becoming more and more popular for yourself like you said you gave Indiana two years then you did the portal route but for so many guys you know you go through through one tough year they’re going to want to get out right away they’re going to do different moves whatever it might be what’s your advice what’s your advice to somebody going through a freshman year things don’t go as planned what’s your advice to them I would say if you feel like your issues aren’t away from the court like and it’s just there’s somebody there that’s older than you, you know, already been in the program and the coaches are um clearly showing you their development plan. uh where they see you um playing going um your trajectory in terms of playing professionally, then stay like stick it out. But if it’s, you know, some stuff that you feel like is outside of the lines and you know, it’s just uh it was a, you know, they showed me one thing in the recruitment process when I got here. they were totally different people away from basketball to hell with was going to own a court. Like if it’s, you know, if he gets away from basketball and that’s a reason why you’re not playing, um, then you could probably consider leaving. But I mean, everybody’s situation is different. Um, there’s always different things going on behind closed doors that don’t nobody really know. But I feel like if the reason you a kid didn’t play is within your control, u I mean, at least that’s how I was raised was just to tough it out. You know, don’t run from a hard situation because you only going to grow and get better from it. And with how good players are and always have been, transferring, especially if you want to stay high major, isn’t going the talent isn’t going to be any less. Mhm. So, at the end of the day, like if you feel like you have to get better, uh, then stay stick it out and and make and listen to the right people. Cuz a lot of the times players are transferring because they listening to they their mom and dad, their uncles, their friends, they cousins, they calling, “Why you not playing? Coach tripping.” You got to hang up on them because they gonna tell you what they want, what you want to hear, not what you need to hear, right? And at the end of the day, you know, it’s like I said, if it’s within your control, you know, you got to point the fingers at yourself and get better. So, let’s talk about the NIL aspect right now because it’s obviously been changing drastically. When you got in there, just really the introduction into the NIL era. Now, it’s been shifting. More and more laws are coming in place. It’s still up in there. Who knows what’s going to happen there? But when you look at it, the financial business aspect of college basketball, do you feel like it’s in a good place? Is there more structure needed in place? What’s your thoughts overall on that situation? I think with time it’ll get more structure. Um I think it’s in a pretty decent place right now, but everybody has their own opinions on NIL. I’m all for players getting paid. Um obviously the numbers are crazy and growing every year. But um like with anything, with time things get better and you know we a system gets found that works. So, you know, I just think with more time, it’ll be a little bit more structure and um a lot easier to to just just to handle it. All right, let’s head into that freshman year again. And obviously, your coach at that point is Mike Woodson. What was your relationship like with him? At the time, I mean, even now, cuz I just saw him at summer league and we chopped it up a little bit, but um had a great relationship with Coach Woodson. Um, obviously being a freshman anywhere the coach is going to be hard on you um because they understand where you at in your development. Um, you transitioning, you’re trying to find your way on the court. So, Coach Wilson is is has always been very professional. Um, and even coming from the NBA, he still had that professional mindset and was trying to um, continue to build pros and just kind of help guys understand what it takes to make it at that level and the attention to detail. So, uh, love Coach Woodson. Still got a great relationship with him and it was really good seeing him in Vegas. All right, let’s hop into your sophomore season. You end up getting a lot more minutes that year overall, having a little bit better year. What was that second year of college basketball like for yourself? I think um at that time I was a lot more comfortable because I had a season under my belt, right? We brought the entire team back and just added our four freshman and um eventual lottery pick Jaylen Hood Shafino. So that year was super fun. Like like I said, like won a lot of games, but that year we were four seed, end up coming up short in the tournament to Miami who went to the final four. But um sophomore year was great. Felt like I uh improved and you know it was just just about me getting more comfortable uh in college basketball. All right. So this is now when a big change happens in your life. You ended the sophomore season. You decided to go in the transfer portal. We know where you end up going to. That’s Missouri. But just walk us through this process. At first what led you to say, you know what, it’s time for me to move on. I want to go look at the transfer portal. What what led to that original decision? It was kind of just a a mutual thing between myself and the coaches. Just felt like it was, you know, time for us to go our separate ways. And they told me in my meeting that they knew that my best basketball was ahead of me. Um, you know, they just wanted me to have a opportunity to go and play cuz obviously they had recruits coming in that year and they wanted to see me continue to grow and excel. So, it just made sense for the both of us. At that point, had that conversation not had, like did you already have the initial belief that, hey, I want to go back to Indiana, I’ll play one more year, or did that conversation kind of say, okay, this is going to push me in this direction now? Um, I mean, going into the meeting and just before I made my decision, it was a thought in my head that I would go back, but I mean, the staff just kept it real with me and like I said, it was just a a mutual agreement. All right. Well, then you entered into the transfer portal and we know we end up going with Missouri, but was that the school all along that separated themselves? Were there other schools heavily in the mix for yourself or what brought you to Missouri? Yeah, I really didn’t talk to too many schools just because that was my third time going through the recruitment process and I knew what I was looking for. Um, and during my whole sophomore year being a Kansas City guy, always keep up with Kansas, K State, and Missouri. And um it was coach Gates’s first year and they was rocking the SEC and just making a lot of noise and and and ended up getting a seven seed in the tournament. So I knew there was something good going on in Colombia. And when my AAU coach LJ Goulby called me when I was in the portal and told me that he thought Missouri was a really good spot for me, it was a it was like and that was the only school that he like recommend that I talk to and and pushed me to really have a conversation with Coach Gates. It was pretty it was pretty much a done deal cuz he’s somebody that I you know that’s really important in my life and it’s it’s one of those people that I was speaking to in terms of my village being as elite as he is. All right. So, that whole process, obviously, you had to go back home. Now, obviously, you’re from Kansas City, Kansas, but it’s very close to home. How special was it to be able to represent your hometown essentially and be so close to home to play? It was, it was extremely special just because I was around so many people who’ve known me my entire life. Um, whether they were from the Missouri side, from Kansas, and they was driving up. Um it was just amazing to be a lot closer to home to my family and just um you know as we’re playing I’m continuing not only inspire my family and close ones and loved ones but all the kids back in Kansas City. All right. So that very first year you end up starting the final 25 games. But I want to ask about the team as a whole because it was a little bit of a down year. Eight and 24 record overall. That’s the first time knowing you that you really had a losing record. How did you handle that knowing that you are one of the biggest competitors, a guy that always wins basketball games? How was that year for you from a mental standpoint? I mean that year I just tried to give every bit of effort and leadership that I could. Um, you know, seeing that the team morale was starting to turn to, we just didn’t believe that we were good enough to win a game, to win a game. And it’s crazy because we didn’t really get blown out much the entire year, right? Every conference game we was in the game. But for me, that entire season made me look at myself. No matter how many people try to tell me I played good and I average however many points, I didn’t think I did enough for the group. Um, from a leadership standpoint and just just trying to get the the most out of them. I mean, in the moment, I feel like I did what I what I could, but I just always look back at that situation as I could have gave him more. And coming into my senior year, uh that was what allowed me to be the leader that I was. And that season like really made like me realize what leadership is, what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like. um just holistically it just made me a better basketball player, just made me enjoy the process a lot more. I want to dive into that aspect a little bit more there because that’s something that from the outside looking in, you know, we look at it and you can see a team not performing well. You can see the morals kind of down overall, but you said you’ve learned from that. You learn what went wrong that junior year. So if you were to be implementing back into that junior yourself, what would you do differently? How do you keep a locker room even if there’s a lot of losses starting to pile up? How do you keep the moral up high? How do you keep the belief high that you guys can still go out there and win games? saying going back, I would one try to really just get the guys to spend more time together as a team away from the practice facility, away from the arena and um just be a lot more like just a lot more tougher on the entire group in practices cuz I feel like when I spoke to enjoying the process and really being a lot more intentional after that year. It was because I felt like we were losing games or part of it was because or it was all before we even stepped on the court. Um, our preparation wasn’t good enough and it had nothing to do with the coaches. It was all just our buy in as players because coach Gates and his staff, the way that Coach Gates handled that year, I don’t I still don’t know how he was able to be as mentally tough as he was and continue to show up every day. But that the way that he carried himself inspired me and made me show up the way that I did every day. But yeah, if I could go back, I would have just, you know, made sure the guys and myself were preparing a lot better and um spending time together. So would you say this is an accurate assessment that then that the culture of a team, the moral of a team is almost more so established outside of the court, outside of practice, outside the weight room, it’s more so established outside of those areas and that ends up translating the most almost in a sense to what happens on the court. Yeah, for sure. I mean, obviously culture is built in a multitude of ways, but I think knowing the guys that you playing with, um, spending time together and having a certain set of experiences that you can talk to and laugh about and just make you really play hard for the guy next to you is what helps make a culture a lot stronger. like when you enjoy um being around the people that you playing with it, it makes it a lot easier to just play as hard as possible. All right. You touched up on coach Gates and I have to dive into that because he had a great first year at Missouri. The second year we just talked about and so many people were for some reason having rumblings saying, “Hey, this is going to be on the hot seat. This, that, and the third.” Obviously turned that around and that’s no longer a discussion. But he’s a special coach. I’ve always been a very high fan of him going back all way well before Missouri days. How special of a coach is he? He’s just different. Like the way that he carries himself, the way that he runs practices, the way that he communicates to his players. I think that’s the one thing that makes him as special as he is. The way that he’s able to communicate and convey a message, whether it be to the coaches, um, or the players, the support staff, the boosters, just the way that he, you know, runs a program and and conducts himself. He’s he’s just a special human being which makes him an even better coach. Um so I mean and I’ve seen it just from the players that he’s gotten to commit and who we had last year on the team and who they have this year and coming next year. I tell people all the time like if you get on a Zoom with him, it’s really hard to tell him no. Like you’re not coming to Missou sit down and have a conversation with him and the entire staff. Because when you meet him and just see how he’s wired, you’ll know the entire staff is elite because of the way that his mind works and his hiring process and the type of men that he wants around him. So, all right. All right. So, you are coming off of a incredible season now and like you said, he’s just landed some of the top recruits ever. I think it’s just either the number one or the second one behind Michael Port that just landed in the in the transfer or in the recruiting process. He’s got a bright future I feel like, but you know exactly what he’s like day in and day out. How bright is Missou’s future with him at the helm of this of the team? Coach Gay is going to end up winning a national championship. Okay. like uh the way that he runs a program and the belief that he instills in the team when he gets all 158 of the guys there that are completely bought in. Obviously things got to go right. Um team got to stay healthy. All all those things might have might have to have a little bit of luck, you know, at a tournament go for sure. But Coach Gates is gonna be a national champion. He’s gonna be a Hall of Fame coach. Like it’s there’s no doubt in my mind. All right. I love that. All right. So, I have to ask you then, you’re going throughout that season, your junior year, and obviously I said up and down year overall, but what’s the biggest thing you’d say you learned from that year? From my junior year. Junior year. Yep. Um that I just learned how important preparation is, right? um seven, eight months before the season start, seven, eight hours before the game. Um, everything that you do leading up to when the fans are in the stadium is all extremely important from how much you sleep, um, your diet, the way that you work out, the way that you take care of your body, um, the things that you watching, who you listening to, um, how good of shape you in. just really made me pay a lot more attention to the process because this is the part of the game that I’ve always gotten a rush from like just getting better and seeing how much better I can get over time if I just consistently work. But it made me be a lot more intentional with it. That that that was definitely the main thing I learned from um my junior year. All right. All right, we’ll have to ask you one more question about Coach Gates, and that is when you reflect back on your time together, what is your favorite memory that you created with him? Favorite memory? Um, I would say at Florida when we won, it was his birthday and after the game in the locker room, obviously we was dancing, throwing water on. It was just like it was just a great moment for him and his family cuz I mean going on the road being the top five team on your birthday as a birthday present or one of them because I’m sure his wife took care of him. Um that’s you can’t you can’t write a story that better, right? Better than that. So that was definitely a great moment celebrating with him and the team in the locker room after that game. All right, so let’s head into you preparing for your senior year. And the very first thing I have to ask about this that you guys landed a lot of great pieces obviously coming to this team, but one specifically is Mark Mitchell. I’ve talked about before. I know you two have known each other for a long time. I’ve done multiple interviews with the two of you guys before. When you know that Mark’s coming, just take us through the whole process. What was it like getting him onto this team? I just knew when we on the same team, like there was no doubt in my mind that we was going to be a top team in the country. Um, on top of the the other pieces that we had, the guys that are returning, Aunt Robinson, Trent Pierce, Caleb Grill, myself, um, we had Aiden coming back. Who else is all back? We had even to our walk-ons, Danny, JV, right? Seven. We had seven returners. I want to I think it was just us five that came back. But anyways, yeah. I mean, y’all know I got that done. Like no other coach in the country had a chance when Mark was in the portal. Like it none of them could recruit him better than me. It wasn’t it wasn’t it wasn’t going to happen. I don’t know who else was calling but it it wasn’t going. You know that’s why I figure it was going to be the story there behind that. So you’d say that you knew well before anybody asked that Mark was coming to Missou then? Oh 100%. As soon as he went to portal he called me. Okay. Yeah. It was over with. I seen all these reports um all these schools have reached out to Mark Mitchell. I’m like y’all wasting your time. Yeah. Go ahead. Move on to the next guy. Mhm. You know, I remember going back to when you guys were in high school, I talked about would you guys ever consider teaming up? And obviously so much stuff happens and whatnot, but push comes to stuff. At the end of the day, you guys get experience one year together. How special was that knowing that you guys have grown up together? You guys have known each other for so long playing college basketball for a year together. How special was that? we had to maximize that opportunity. I mean, like that year, that’s something that we gonna tell our kids about. All the pictures we have, um, all the games that we won, the the atmospheres that we were able to create and play in, it was it was a special year. And regardless of how it ended, the fans, that team, the coaching staff just remembers how it felt like how special that year felt like and the memories of the wins, even the losses, the way that we responded from losing. Uh just a special year and I’m just extremely grateful that me and Mark were able to team up. You know, I think when we go back in history, you had have been there to experience it because a 22 and 12 record is not necessarily a record type year overall record-wise, but people don’t won’t always remember. The SEC was probably in my opinion the most stack commerce we’ve ever seen. So that 22 and 12 record, if it’s this year or any other year, we’re probably you guys are probably losing five games maximum in my opinion. That’s the type of season you guys have at the SEC. But I have to ask, you know, you’re preparing for the season. You’ve already gone through three years of college basketball. Did you know that this team had a chance to be as special as they were? I did because we believed in what we had in that locker room before anybody knew what we were putting out on the floor. And obviously because of the season that we had prior, nobody respected Missouri, right? Like when they seen us on their schedule, nobody really thought anything of it. Just thought it was, oh, it’s another win. And to begin the season, that fueled us. that fueled the way that we worked, the way that we communicated with each other, um the way that we competed with each other. So, and then as soon as the world knew, it was too late. Like it was too late for everybody to adjust. Like, no, we know that we’re a good basketball team. So, definitely um hell of a year. All right. There’s one day I have to ask you about. I’m sure there’s a lot of great games. You already talked about Florida game. That was special as well. But how about that Kansas game? Obviously, we’re talking about somewhere where you’re going back home. A school that know recruited you were going all the way back to your high school days when you went out there. You guys, you have probably your best game of your entire career. How special was that day for yourself? It was so special just because I was able to share with my entire family. Um, look up. They didn’t come down when the court got stormed because the students got down there too fast. But um just to share that moment with them, you know, we we just went back to the house and rewatched the whole game and just sat in the living room and just enjoyed each other’s company. But, you know, I’m a family guy. Like, I’m in the gym. My daughter’s here right now. Two of my best friends. Um former coach. I’m at my high school. This is where I play. So, um, you know, that that entire day was amazing, you know, especially cuz the game was so early and then we was able to really enjoy the rest of the day. Um, definitely um, fun game and something that the fans will never forget. Is that your favorite game of your entire college basketball career? Um, I really like road games. I at Indiana we went to Purdue. We beat them. That was a fun game. At Florida was obviously crazy. Um at Bama or no, Bama at the crib this year was insane. Mhm. But uh just given the rivalry and just all the the chatter leading up to the game, I I would probably say that was my favorite game of my college career. All right. So, I talked about the SEC this past year. I think it’s going to go down as the greatest conference we’ve seen in regular season and overall college season in college basketball history. And I know it’s a big claim to make, but I think it was stacked top to bottom. When you look back at that, how special was it being a part of this wild SEC year last year? I mean, literally what you said, like we were a part of it. Like all these other schools and conferences were just hearing all the media talk about how good the SEC is and Missouri was a top five team, top four the entire year. So, we was just great. I mean, obviously grateful to be a part of such a elite conference and yeah, I really don’t see another conference putting together a season like that. and it being considered the best year conference has had ever, especially with Florida winning it all. So, it was definitely a special year. Just grateful that we were part of it. Absolutely. Well, obviously it leads us to up to present day almost now. And you end your season, you graduate, everything moves on. Now, it’s time to start your professional career. And you have one of the most remarkable draft processes that we see. I think every year there’s about one or two guys that do it. You’re this year’s story. You start off with Portsmouth Invitational. You have to move all the way up to G-League, move to the main combine, so on so forth. When you were first ending the season though, and you knew, okay, you’re gonna have to work your way to this position that you know you belong in. What was going through your mind? Just about taking everything a day at a time, you know, not getting too far ahead of myself um and just maximizing every opportunity I had and not thinking I was too big or too good to be playing somewhere or in a certain event. It was just you here, you got the jersey on, let’s hoop, right? U so just took advantage of every opportunity and was able to play good enough to continue to get invited to every pre-draft event and you know I’m proud of the body of work that I put together. Now I know that is a very hectic time span though. You’re talking about going from one event to the next over and over again then you’re stuck in Chicago for about I think it’s about 10 15 days whatever it is somewhere in between there. That’s a very crazy standpoint. When we look at you on the court, you were phenomenal the entire time your stock was rising. What was it like from just trying to balance and still stayed locked in even though as tiring as it probably was for that month or so span? It was mentally draining, but I was fueled by what I knew was on the other side of the work that was being put in. you know, obviously after that, I mean, I had um 13 workouts total. So, flying from city to city and being drained from the travel, I I didn’t care because I knew what I wanted, where I wanted to be, and how long I want to be here. So, you know, it’s going to be a long, grueling process throughout my career and just continuing to work my way up and in. That was just the first step and I’m glad that I was able to, you know, again, put together the body of work that I did. All right, so we fast forward now to draft night. I know you’re having a big party. I saw lots of videos about that. Just that first portion though, being able to be have be surrounded by so many people you grew up with, family, friends, coaches, so on so forth. What was that experience like? It was just a testament to how I got here. um the people that I’ve had around me like it’s it’s no coincidence why things like this happen um when a community when a a family when a city pours into a kid that you know wants something for himself as much as the people around him want it for him like it’s it’s bound to happen at some point it just a matter of when so I was just grateful that everybody that was there with me to share that moment with me able to make it and you know we definitely created a lot of good memories. All right. So now the backstory behind this you know you go into this draft process and typically that last 15 or so picks is very chaotic. A lot of agents are negotiate different deals whether that be to purposely go on undrafted and sign two-way whatever the case may be. You’re in this situation I think that was probably where you’re in kind of slotted in for. How did you go through it from a mental standpoint of not getting your name called signed the two-way deal just that entire wild situation there? How what was that like and how did you deal with that? I mean at the time when when they called me I was in like kill mode cuz I’m like all these team pass up on me. Okay see y’all in Vegas. But then like I and I said in the interview before the draft started I was like no matter how the draft goes at the end of the night myself and Caleb girl gonna be NBA players. M so after when I was with all my friends and then next day and just looking at it from a bigger picture standpoint of no matter it don’t matter who gets their name called cuz then it didn’t even take years and a few months weeks nobody’s going to remember who got drafted where it’s about what you do when it’s time to go play ball. So I was just grateful that I was able to say that I’m part of the National Basketball Association. So you know at that moment in time it’s like oh they want me like but then it’s like hell with that the one team cuz you only need 10 teams can’t pick you only one right. So instead of looking at it from a standpoint of all these team passed up on me I looked at it from a standpoint of Denver wanted me. M like this team um saw me as somebody that they wanted to invest in and I can continue to help their organization um grow and and continue to win championships. So I was just grateful that Denver um you know saw me as somebody that they wanted to bring in. You put pencil to paper, you signed your first NBA contract. What’s going through your mind? Dude, again, the same thing that yeah, I’m in NBA like it it it’s still it’s starting to set in like now and it has a little bit more over time, but it was just it it it’s been crazy just because of how fast and how long the the draft process was and then in NBA playing summer league, got a little time off and then going right back to Denver. It’s like been a roller coaster, but I’m I’m nothing but grateful. All right, let’s get into this team now because you’re heading into a Denver Nuggets team. Obviously, the NBA contenders. This is a great situation for yourself. Lots of great people to learn from. When you look at this and you know that in the next few weeks, next couple months, you’re going to be able to be playing and learning from guys like Jamal Murray, Joic, Bruce Brown, so on and so forth, Cam Johnson. What goes through your mind in that aspect? um just that I’m going to be in a great locker room and be able to learn from so many veterans, champions, um and so many guys that can just teach me how to be a pro and what it means to be a professional. So, I’m just grateful that um a championship organization decided to, you know, bring me in and allow me to be a part of their team. There’s one guy I want to ask you about. Somebody that actually always thought you play very similar to at least could have certain roles. I’m not someone likes to always compare because everyone’s different some way, shape or form, but they signed Bruce Brown back. Obviously had an incredible run with the championship run. He has a lot of internal that you bring that are very similar. How excited to be able to learn from him? Is that a a guy that you see yourself being able to take a lot of pieces from and almost take that idea and what his role is in the NBA and replicate that? Yeah, 100%. And it’s crazy because throughout my pre-draft workouts, like I would be playing almost every position and like I’d be setting the ball screen and little short roll. Oh, they hit me on the show. I shoot a little floater and say Bruce Brown every time cuz that was the same shot that he was shooting with Brooklyn when he was there with them and in the playoffs and um obviously made a living off a lot of other things but when he had to kind of be a small ball for um around KDI and James he was able to still be effective and then coming to Denver and one year championship. So he’s a Swiss Army knife type of guy. Um, he’s a pros pro and I am just extremely excited to be able to pick his brain and and continue to learn from him and everybody else in the locker room. I’m not sure if you had the opportunity to do it yet, but when the time does come and you’re with Nicola Joic, you’re with Jamal Murray, if you could ask both those guys one question, one thing that you want to learn from them that you could bring into your life, implement into your career, what would that question be? I mean feel like I ask a lot of questions by nature and everything always kind of happens organically just through a conversation. But if I had to ask them one question, I mean, obviously I’m asking for a bunch of like tips and tricks, but sure. I don’t know. I mean, probably ask them something about, you know, how they take care of their bodies throughout the 82 game season or just what advice they would give me in terms of you know, how to obviously because their careers went different, but just they’ve played with a lot of really good role players. So, you know, how to really maximize a role um and complement a superstar and be somebody that they trust and the coaches trust. You know, what would they, you know, kind of recommend I do on a daily basis? All right. So, that kind of leads me exactly to one of the last questions I want to ask you tomorrow and that is about your role. obviously know you’re on two well you probably get a lot of experience playing with the G-League team also being up with the big guys as well but when you talk about what you want to develop into what are you going to bring to Denver what is what can people expect from the fan base the coaching staff what is tomorrow Bates bringing to Denver just a tremendous amount of energy um a great attitude and just somebody that can be reliable to be the same person every time you see him whether that’s in practice or in the game And obviously, you know, I can make shots, I can defend. Um, I want to continue to grow, be able to be a secondary ball handler and be somebody that can relieve the point guard of his duties when needed. But from an immediate impact standpoint, just want to be somebody who can change the the the energy of a game with the energy that I play with when I check in. So, just going to continue to pride myself on being an everyday guy, continuing to improve and um just keeping the game simple cuz playing in the NBA, especially in a position that I’m I don’t have to do eight, nine different things really well, right? Um but playing with Nicole Yogic, I really only got to do two things well. Make shots and guard my butt off. Mhm. I do those two things and obviously be able to play without the ball, know when to cut, what spots to be in, but that’s a whole different conversation. But just simplify it. If I make shots and defend, I think I’ll be just fine. I love it. Well, tomorrow I’ve got one final question for you. It’s the question like wrapping up every single interview with, and that’s talking about your legacy. Obviously, your career is just getting started at the NBA level, but one day, you know, you’ll put the ball down, you move on from basketball. when that does happen, what do you want the legacy of tomorrow Bates to be for what you brought both on and off the court? I would say I just want people to remember me as being a a great human being, somebody that always treated people the right way, always had a smile on his face, and you know, just carried himself like a professional no matter where he was at. because people are going to remember what I do on the basketball court, but I want people to kind of remember me for the type of person that I am and just, you know, the way that I treat the people around me and even strangers, people I don’t know. I love that. Well, tomorrow, congratulations, man. I signed the NBA deal. I cannot wait to see what God’s got in store for you. And I appreciate you for taking time to command again, man. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Of course. Always welcome on, man. God bless. So, I appreciate you guys all for tuning in to that interview. I’ll have that clipped up, edit out, and then posted on my YouTube channel very shortly. I’m actually going to be switching over to my boxing show momentarily. So, I’ll be back live in about 2 minutes. So, I’ll see you guys on the other end of that. Go ahead and join that show. But, if you just tune in for basketball show, I hope you guys have an incredible rest of your guys night. May God bless you guys all and I will see you guys soon. God bless you guys. And with that being said, shoot is out. See you guys later.

The SchuZ Show: Denver Nuggets Two-Way Guard Tamar Bates Joins the Show

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