The Underdogs Podcast with Jordan Daly, Mike Taylor, and Craig Smith

Thomas Scott joins Jordan Daly and NBA vets Craig Smith and Mike Taylor for Episode 15 of the Underdogs Podcast. Hear the story of how the son of 3x NBA Champion Byron Scott created his own role in basketball.

After starting in the media room as a video coordinator for the New Orleans Hornets in 2006, Thomas Scott discovered his true career path in the NBA.

Soon after his time as a video coordinator, Thomas Scott became a coach's apprentice, and shortly after became a player development coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

By 2011, Thomas became the lead assistant coach for the G-League's Leagues Canton Charge in their inaugural season. This is where he truly learned all that goes on behind the scenes of a professional basketball organization.

When 2014 came around, Thomas accepted a position as an assistant coach of his hometown team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Shortly after, Ice Cube decided to create a 3-on-3 basketball league, later named the BIG3, in which Cube personally hired Thomas as the Director of Basketball Operations.

This past year, Thomas was also hired as an assistant coach for the new and exciting G-League Ignite team - the team that is meant for future NBA stars.

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Andre Miller is an absolute LEGEND that deserves more respect.

After not being able to play his first year in college, Andre carved himself a role in a successful University of Utah basketball program, leading his team to multiple deep NCAA March Madness tournament runs, including the Finals, where they lost to Mike Bibby and the Arizona Wildcats. In that time, he became the fourth player to ever notch a triple-double in the NCAA tournament.

After consistently proving himself, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted him with the 8th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, a pick that would work out well for both sides as Miller was named to the All-Rookie first team.

Miller had an outstanding career with the Cavs, Clippers, Nuggets, 76ers, and 5 other NBA teams. In the third year of his career, he led the league in assists.

Miller is also known for being an Iron Man, playing in 632 games straight, only losing the streak due to a questionable suspension. In fact, he only missed 3 games in his entire 17-year career - an unheard-of stat.

Miller also made history as the player that was traded to the 76ers for the Nuggets to acquire Allen Iverson.

Andre Miller is the only player in NBA history to have at least 16,000 career points, 8,000 assists and 1,500 steals without an All-Star nod.  

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From riding the bench in high school, to being recruited at a Taco Bell to play JuCo ball, Cedric Ceballos was able to end up having an All-Star NBA career, becoming a household name by winning the 1992 NBA Dunk Contest with his famous blindfolded dunk.

Chaniel Smiley, commissioner of the world-famous Drew League,  joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 12 of the Underdogs Podcast.  

Chaniel starts off the episode by talking about her early life, and what it was like being the daughter of former Drew League commissioner, Dino Smiley. We talk about what it was like growing up around the Drew and its famous athletes. We also ask about life growing up in South Central Los Angeles and the struggles that came with surviving inner-city life as a kid.

From there, Chaniel tells us how she learned to fall in love with basketball through the Drew, playing through high school herself. We ask about growing up around pro athletes in the Drew and how that affected her personally. She also walks us through her first job within the Drew - in-game DJ!  Chaniel then tells us about the Drew League's rise to popularity, especially during the NBA's 2011 Lockout year - which brought guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and countless other NBA stars to the courts of the Drew League.

This led us into talking about how the Drew League is a breeding ground for underdogs. We talk about the success of some players coming out of the Drew, such as Frank Nitty Sessions - a former T-Mobile employee turned pro hooper thanks to the Drew. Frank Nitty has now won overseas championships, finds success in the BIG3, and in other influencer duties after growing a large social media following.

We then talk about how her transition to commissioner happened and what that was like taking over for her father. Chaniel then goes into surviving during the COVID shutdown years and how they are now built for the future and ready for this season to kick off.

We close out the episode by having Chaniel give advice to all of the young girls out there that have big aspirations in life!

This episode's main theme is that you can't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. If you find a barrier - break it.

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Support our guy and past guest Jumaine Jones by getting his book!

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NCAA Champion, 14 year NBA vet, and overall basketball legend Mike Bibby joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 11 of the Underdogs Podcast.

Bibby starts of the episode by talking about his early life, and what it was like being a son of a former NBA legend and champion, Henry Bibby. He then goes into winning a high school championship in Arizona and why he chose to play at the University of Arizona.

From there, Bibby takes us through his time at Arizona, which includes winning a National Championship. He tells us why he decided not to go into the draft after his freshman year championship season. He also talks about his Draft Night experience and how he almost went 1st overall to the Clippers, but instead was drafted 2nd by the Vancouver Grizzlies - a team he told in the pre draft that he did not want to play for them.

Then, Bibby takes us step by step through his NBA career. He talks about his start to his career in Vancouver, and how it all built up to his trade to the Sacramento Kings. He walked us through the whole trade process, and why he asked to be traded to Sacramento.

This led us into talking about that first year with the Kings, where they achieved an NBA best 61-21 record, taking the first seed. We couldn't talk about that season without asking about the infamous 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Kings and the Lakers (with Kobe Bryant and Shaq!).

Bibby walked us through his Game 5 game winning buzzer beater. We then looked into some documents that claimed that Game 6 of this series was rigged in favor of the Lakers in order for the NBA to get more ticket sales and ad revenue. In game 6, the Lakers had 18 free throws in the 4th quarter alone, more than the Kings had the entire game. Bibby confesses that he still cannot watch this game over again. NBA refs have come forward and admitted to the fact that this game was rigged to extend the series. Bibby says they were the best team that year, and that everyone knew it - Bibby was robbed of an NBA championship.  

We then ask Bibby about how he felt about never getting an All-Star nod (even though his stats were better than some other All-Stars during his years) and how that made him feel.

We close out the episode by talking about Bibby references throughout the culture, coaching, his shoe collection, and being a member of the first Jordan class.

This episode's main theme is that you need to define your own success, and not let anyone else define it for you.

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NBA Champion, 12 year NBA vet, and sports analyst Dorell Wright joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 10 of the Underdogs Podcast.

Dorell starts by talking about his early life in California, being a two-sport athlete (baseball and basketball), and making the tough decision to skip college a go straight to the NBA. He also talks about his Draft Night experience.

From there, Dorell takes us step by step through his NBA career. He talks about his first few years with the Miami Heat - including winning an NBA Championship in 2006 being the youngest player on the roster. He continues to tell us about how winning a title early on helped him shape the rest of his career as a team leader.

Dorell then talks about signing with the Golden State Warriors. He goes into detail about how he saw firsthand the passing of the torch from Monta Ellis to Stephen Curry. He continues to praise Curry for how much work Curry put in early on in his career.

Dorell closes out the episode by talking about his transition away from playing.

This episode's main theme is that everyone runs their own race, and not to feel rushed by someone else's progress.

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Chris Copeland (Knicks, Pacers, Bucks) joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 9 of the Underdogs Podcast.

In this episode, Chris takes us through his unprecedented career.

Copeland starts by talking about some tough early life experiences he faced. He then talks about his high school career, and how he came to choose Colorado for college ball. He then talks about his college career at Colorado and what his draft preparation and draft night were like - going undrafted.

From there, Chris talks about starting his professional career in the NBA D League but soon chose to go overseas. He talks about his experiences playing overseas in multiple different countries.

Chris then talks about how he ended up being signed by the New York Knicks at 28 years old with no NBA experience - something that was unheard of at the time. He then talks about his four-year NBA career with the Knicks, Pacers, and Bucks.

To close out the episode, Chris talks about going back overseas. The guys then ask Chris about the potential of playing in the BIG3.

This episode's main theme was that faith trumps all.  

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10 year NBA vet and sports analyst Ryan Hollins joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 8 of the Underdogs Podcast.

Often misheard and disrespected, Ryan Hollins sets the record straight by talking about all of the hard work and grind he had to make it to the NBA and becoming a sports analyst.

Ryan starts by talking about his rough early life in California, being cut from his high school basketball team, committing to play for UCLA in college, and his NBA Draft night experience.

From there, Ryan takes us step by step through his NBA career. Starting his career with the Michael Jordan owned Bobcats, and then becoming a journeyman in the league, Ryan talks about the mental health struggles he faced. He also talks about how hard it is to constantly change teams, learning new schemes, and forming professional relationships with other players, coaches, and team staff.

Ryan then talks about how playing overseas after the NBA was a humbling experience for him. This brings us into talking about his experiences playing in Ice Cube's BIG3 basketball league.

To close out the episode, Ryan talks about his grind to become a sports analyst/reporter, and sets the record straight on a few things...

This episode's main theme was to always have faith in what you are doing.

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(If you made it this far, we had no luck finding any video of Ryan's missed dunk attempt!)

Two-Time NBA Champion Mario Chalmers joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor on the Underdogs podcast!

NBA Hall of Famer Jumaine Jones joins Jordan Daly, Craig Smith, and Mike Taylor for Episode 6 of the Underdogs Podcast.  In this episode, Jumaine walks us through his career and talked us through how mental health was a big part of it.

Jumaine starts by talking about his rough early life in Florida and Georgia, committing to play for Georgia in college, his dominant NCAA career, and his NBA Draft night experience.

From there, Jumaine takes us step by step through his career and how each team impacted him as a person in different ways. Starting in Philadelphia with the Sixers, Jumaine talks about his experience playing with Allen Iverson and being thrown into the starting lineup of the NBA Finals to guard Kobe Bryant. Jumaine also talks about then teaming up with Kobe in LA with the Lakers.

Jumaine then gets into how pro athletes are affected by mental health and opens up about his personal journey with his mental health.   To close out the episode, Jumaine talks about his experiences overseas and tells us his 2022 BIG3 plans.

This episode's main theme was that everyone is going through their own battles, regardless of fame, money, popularity, status, etc...

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