The Sevan Podcast - #458 - Gary Chivichyan

Episode Date: June 20, 2022

Gary Chivichyan is known as the "Armenian Sniper" and plays in the NBA G League. Sign up for our email: https://thesevanpodcast.com/ ------------------------- Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://www.hybridathletics.com/produ... - THE BARBELL BRUSH https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS https://www.vndk8.com/sevan-podcast - OUR OTHER SHIRT https://usekilo.com - OUR WEBSITE PROVIDER ------------------------- Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Beautiful. Gary, what's up? Cotton, cotton. Cotton, Gary. Cotton, cotton. Cotton, Gary. cotton cotton cotton gary chavikian chavikian chavikian you almost got it chavikian chavikian and i and i claim to be armenian what a joke what a joke i am we did it oh we did it we're here we're here i know i know it took a couple tries a couple extra texts but hey as long as we're here uh i see you you see me uh it looks like

we're ready to go so many places to start this you know how i came across you i was i was interviewing i don't know if it was brian battle or someone but it was a ufc fighter and i was looking at a picture and he was on my podcast and i was talking to him and i pulled up a picture of him and he said he went to uh he trained his the best place he ever trained and he said the word word, right. And he was trying to say highest on Academy. Okay. And I already could imagine it. And it's some gym on the East coast. And he starts telling me about how the guy who owns the place has now moved to LA, but he's like one of the greatest martial arts legends who ever lived,

but you've never heard of him. You can't even imagine this dude. And I was like, okay. So I look him up and his name's uh gocor right is that his name yep yep that's my dad and then from there i'm like this fucking guy's got a armenian son that's going to they could be going to the nba i'm like what this is crazy and and i reached out to your dad does how's your dad's english is your dad's english good? It's okay. He speaks it pretty fluently. I mean, he has that Armenian accent, though. Hey, you even got that from doing eight years of Armenian school. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, I went to Armenian school all the way until the eighth grade. So I read it. I write it. You know, I might have a little bit of an accent. If I do, that's great. Yeah. I mean, you don't sound like you're American born. I mean, you sound like you've been in the country for like 40 years and you're not even 40

years old but you still got a little hint of that armenian accent you got that oh i love it i love it i love it that that shows my real my true colors you know i i'm uh they at home my mom and dad spoke armenian and i don't, maybe it was around four or five, English really started dominating. And then by six, when I was in kindergarten, I started almost exclusively speaking English. And my Armenian has gone to shit. But I know it shaped who I was for it to be my first language, how I see the world, how I treat people. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, no, I mean,

it's huge. I mean, even for me, just going through today and growing up here in Los Angeles, everything was a lot of Armenian for me, a lot of Armenian people, a huge Armenian surrounding. It wasn't really until I moved out of Armenian school for high school, started in ninth grade at Alameda, when I started really being around all types of people. Some blonde-haired, blue-eyed people. Yeah, some blonde-haired, blue-eyed people. All different kinds. actually a big step for me in propelling my career was, you know, entering and seeing the world, really, you know, all colors, all races, all, you know, all types of people from different backgrounds, it really, really opened my eyes. Because all I saw for my whole life

was just Armenians, Armenians, Armenians, all the way until I was like 14, 15. Everything I did, sports related, school related, family related, it was just Armenians. And then in the ninth grade, it was just like, boom, I'm in this different world now and these different people. And, you know, I started adapting there. And, you know, that was one of the biggest steps of my career. I want to go way back i want to talk about how your mom and dad um ended up coming to this country and how they met each

other but before we do that can you tell me what the g league is so yeah so the uh nba g league is it's the second division of the nba um every um every team every every NBA team also has their NBA G League roster. So they are, they work intertwined, you know, we practice in the same facilities. And we have guys that go up and down, sometimes on a night and night basis. So, you know, a guy could come in and play, you know, the G League game, and then fly out the next day and be playing with the NBA team. You know, it's basically the second best basketball, professional basketball league in the world. You know, pretty much everybody who's in the G League already has NBA experience or they're literally going back and forth already. So coming in this year, you know, I learned just what a level, you know, the NBA as a

whole is. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's serious. So, so are you attached to a specific team and is that team, the Clippers? Yes, exactly. So I'm signed with the Los Angeles Clippers and I've been assigned to their G League roster. So it's really like a super deep bench. Yeah, you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. It basically is. I mean, if a guy goes down, you know, guess who's coming up, you know. So or if a guy hasn't performed well for two to three weeks, that guy on that G League roster is busting his ass to move up. You know, so it's competitive and it's, you know, it's an unbelievable league, to be honest with you.

Can another team draw from the Clippers G team? Yes, they can. Yes, they can. They can. Yes, they can. They can. Okay. Yeah. So we actually had this year, we had two players be pulled from another team. So why wouldn't they get pulled from their team?

Why don't they pull from their G League team? Well, it matters what the what each team's looking for. Right. So so Dallas pulled Moses right from our clippers g league team because dallas needed um a five man who needs to be on a two-way contract boom he's in there uh chris dunn former nba player first round draft pick um he was he was on our he was on our roster this year on the clippers g league and two months in he was pulled right up to the Portland Trailblazers. He signed a 10-day contract.

The 10-day contract turned to more than what it was. There he is now, signed with Portland Trailblazers again, back into the NBA. Do you go by Gary or Cotton? Yeah, so my first name is Karn. My middle name is Gary. And since I started playing basketball at Alamany i've been known as gary worldwide um so uh everybody calls me gary but i really really do like my first name karen you know sometimes i wish that stuck but you say karen you say karen is how do your parents say it do

they say my parents will say gotten gotten yeah yeah so when i talk to you know general public and they ask me though i don't say gotten because then they're going to ask me how to pronounce it 30 times so i just say karen and it flows nice and easy you know karen gary trevichian but in armenian or if an armenian like a close friend or my family would would call my name it would be gotten if you got a nose that's made to be broken then it's cotton there you There you go. That's a hundred percent. Cause cause my, my whitey friends, I'm a Tosian, but to my Armenian friends, I'm a Tosian. See, there you go. That's how, that's how it usually happens, man.

When I, when I, when I look at professional sports up close, pretty much regardless of what they are there's a danger factor in all of them like big men moving really fast putting a shit ton of demand on their joints and their and their ligaments and collisions and um and and you you alluded that there's a huge step up when you go into the G League, when you start playing with NBA players. Is there a component of, wow, all of a sudden you're on a freeway with the slowest cars doing 120? Like there's just this kind of almost element of danger to it?

Oh, I mean, yeah, there's danger involved in any professional sport, I would say for sure. are involved in any professional sport, I would say for sure. At the NBA level, you know, we see a ton, a ton of specific training and physical therapy to kind of decrease your chances of injury. You know, luckily we have, you know, new technology and new science and and a lot of things that are that are assisting players. But, you know, sports, you can't go out there with the thought of, oh, man, it's dangerous. Or if I stop like this, what may happen? Because then you're not playing the game. You just got to go out there. You got to you got to let your body flow and take what you get you know you might have some aches and pains but you really just got to manage your body manage yourself and

man basketball's a safe game man i grew up here watching my dad and my brother you know fight and and get bruised and get kicked in the face and and really they did all the kicking and beating, but, uh, I mean, you know, just watching some of the MMA guys, even at our gym and my dad's gym, uh, you know, going in there and watching their training and then thinking about, you know, what trainings we do with, uh, at the clipper facility, uh, you know, I'll take, I'll take that any day. Yeah. Yeah. There, um, you said in an interview, I'm going to keep going forward until God stops me. And a few days ago, I don't know what I was doing. I was like in the shower or something.

And I realized, man, my life has, oh, no, I was in the backyard and I was hearing some wind blow from a couple blocks away through some eucalyptus trees. And then like 10 seconds later, the wind blew through my yard. And I was like, nothing's that wind has no plan B. Yeah. And I have no plan B. Yeah. And then I'm watching Gary. He has no plan B. He's like, it's just going, I'm just going like Forrest Gump, put my head down and really I'm going to kind of die in this or that. I'm just going like the wind. Absolutely. Yeah.

So you know what? I was in high school. I was a ninth grader. I was in Alamany just first year being around, you know, high level basketball players, to be honest with you. And I put my head down and all four years, they said, no chance. This kid gets a division one basketball scholarship. It's just not possible. He's too skinny. He's not athletic. You know, it's not going to happen. Senior year. I had a really, really good year in a really, really good high school. Got no scholarship. Went to prep school one year, busted my ass off.

Finally got a division one scholarship to Idaho State. They said that was impossible. They said there's no chance. The chances of getting a Division I scholarship already are under 1% for anybody. I'm not even talking about Armenia. So there is that. I got to Idaho State, had a really, really good experience there, a brutal experience, but a really good experience in terms of development.

A brutal experience, but a really good experience in terms of development. Graduated Idaho State, was the fourth in history in three-point field goals made at that school. Graduated, went to University of Pacific, who was coached by current Celtics assistant coach, Damon Stoudemire. Had a really good year there. We had a record year, 23 wins. I was a second-leading scorer on that team, drawing a lot of attention, a lot of buzz, right? And the year ended. I signed with an NBA agent. His name is Aro Hartanyan. You know, the media is going wild. The press is going wild. The community is going wild.

And, you know, there's all this can he, can he not. Right. Because my first dream was to be a Division one basketball player. Now, when I signed with my agent, my agent said, hey, he said, we could get you into the NBA G League and you have to go in there and you got to kill and you could have an NBA career. And they said there is no way he could get into the NBA G League. They said, first of all, they said there's a 0.1% chance that he could get into the G League. It's not happening. Just take them overseas. Just go play professional basketball. So that was an opportunity at that point just to go overseas? Absolutely. Absolutely. I could have gone and signed some contracts and made a ton of money, but this isn't about the money. And that's what people didn't get at the time.

And, you know, they told my agent it's not possible. And they told me it's not possible. Just like they said Division I was not possible. But sure enough, 2020 comes by. COVID hits right after my season. And all my NBA workouts were canceled. My meetings, my training camps, it was all canceled, everything. And sure enough, you know, the talk was, we were right, man, he, you know, he messed up his career. And everything was downhill in terms of the notion. And guess what I did in 2020,

I put my head down. I didn't go to a single party. I didn't see a single family. I didn't see a single friend. You could ask them if nobody believes me. I was in the gym every single day. And I knew that my day would come, that I will be drafted into the NBA G League. And sure enough, 2021 rolls around. First Armenian ever nominated for an espy's award first armenian drafted into the nba g league um and here we are today so my going back the reason i'm telling you all that is going to your coat um read the code out again no plan b yeah no i'll keep i'll keep going till god stop you this was your i thought a few days ago fuck

i have no plan b and fuck a plan b and then i heard you say in an interview i'm going to keep going forward until god stops me i said yeah me too me too yeah no i say that because that's the truth um i feel like i'm on a spiritual um upbringing um i'm doing things that never were even thought were possible. And this is just the beginning of the story. And, you know, it's all related to God. And, you know, I'm all the glory must always go to him. Because when you when you beat the odds of the 0.1%, you know, there's something bigger there than than than just hard work and just consistency. You know, there than just hard work and just consistency. There must be something going on here that's going to be so big and so worldwide. And I know it's coming and I'm working towards it. There's going to be bumps on the road, but I'm going to go until God stops me.

I know Cotton can't say this, but I'll say this for him. Not only did he achieve all those accolades that he mentioned at Pacific and at Boise State. Idaho State. Sorry, Idaho State. But both of the coaches when he was there received Coach of the Year awards. And you don't get those unless you have good players. And so call it a coincidence or not that he was at one school and the coach got Coach of the Year, and then he switched to another school and that got coach

of the year but you got to give the players a lot of credit for that too it's pretty it's pretty amazing um i know i wanted to ask about your dad but you opened up this door but why why was idaho you said it was brutal why was it brutal it was brutal because i was an 18-year-old who moved out of the house, who was babied his whole life. Yeah, me too. Yeah, yeah. You had a good Armenian mom. You had a good mom, huh? Oh, a great mom.

The best mom ever. She would do everything for me. Yeah. And now I land in this third-world country-looking place, you know, in L.A., you know, and I'm on my own, you know, I got I got no friends, no family, nobody that I know. And I'm 18 years old, I came off that plane. And I'm like, what do I do now? I think I got to get an apartment, you know, you know, and had to figure it out. And of course, my parents and my family were behind me and anything that I needed. And of course, my parents and my family were behind me in anything that I needed.

But, you know, it was just the journey of getting there as a little kid and going through those brutal growing pains year after year after year and slowly getting better every year at it. You know, just being an adult, living on your own, taking care of your things the right way, you know, being an adult living on your own taking care of your things the right way you know being on time being responsible and you know it was difficult for me at first but as the years went on you know I started figuring it out I really had it figured out at Pacific already when I got to Pacific I felt like a but I felt real mature and in control of what I needed to, you know, what I needed to do, but Idaho man, negative degrees weather. Um, my head coach, Bill Evans, he was in my face 5.00 AM yelling at me, cursing me out, you know, all love to Bill Evans, by the way, I love that type of, I'm not sensitive. I appreciate it. His, his brutal energy every morning. But, you know, as a young kid, you know, that's tough, man, tough.

And I had to go through it. And, you know, that's where family, good family comes in support. You know, my brother, who's been such a pivotal part of everything that's happened. You know, he's been on the phone with me, mentoring me. Do this, do that. Don't be down on yourself. He's really given me the elite mindset to be able to withstand all of this. Because if it wasn't for my brother and my family who supported me, you know, there were some brutal, brutal times that I just couldn't personally take.

But because of their strength, their support, their mental push for me, you know, I was like, you know what? I got this. When you say brutal, you mean just low? Was it loneliness? No, it wasn't loneliness. It was, it was, it was just figuring out, um, how to do things, you know, on your own, because that's what was so so tough like I had a ton of friends over there um my teammates were great you know I met them throughout the years but you got a schedule every day you got school on top of it you got therapy on top of it it's negative degrees it's snowing I've never driven in the snow I was sliding and almost crashing almost every day. You know, everything was just so like, I don't know, brutal is not the word for it because it was such a great experience in total.

And there was a lot of fun times. It was just brutal because you're a young kid and you've got to figure everything out. Yeah. Why didn't you get into, um, when, when I, when I ran, got out of the nest, I started chasing girls and smoking weed and drinking. How come that didn't happen to you? You know, I'm just, I'm so focused on the planet. I was focused. I was focused on weed and girls and beer. I was super focused.

Oh, man. Hey, at least you had your fun, man. I did have fun. Oh, man. Hey, at least you had your fun, man. I did have fun, but I just I don't understand how you at 18 that you didn't fall into that trap. Yeah. You know, look, as a young kid, you leave the house and you go out to college, you know, you're gonna have some outings, events and things that you want to go out and have fun with. But the goal was one thing. And that was to be the best basketball player that I can be. That's why I'm in Idaho. I didn't come here to Idaho to meet girls and party.

I came to Idaho because I want to be the best basketball player that I can be. And, you know, I was figuring out how to, how to do that. And, you know, God willing, week after week and month after month and year after year, I slowly got my hands around it. Yeah, I guess I didn't know what I wanted. I was just following the playbook at the time. Graduate from high school, go to college. I was just following the playbook.

Absolutely. And I think that's why it brings a very key point to younger kids growing up. time graduate from high school go to college like i just was just following the playbook absolutely and i think that's why it brings a very key point to younger kids growing up you know it's it's it's having that goal and purpose so you don't just kind of flow um into um the world you just kind of do what you need to do um how did your parents end up here how did how did your dad and your mom and dad end up in los angeles so my dad was actually invited here from the uh usa olympic team to come here and do um trainings and workouts and things of that sort where was he living was he living in armenia yeah he was in armenia yeah yeah he was in armenia um he was a young kid he was 16 years old when he moved in over here you know so it's been the U.S. Olympic team invited him when he was 16 yeah to the junior

Olympics absolutely yeah and was your mom uh so he met your mom in the United States so I think they knew knew each other over there but they just kind of got kept things going over here and got married really really you know shortly after they got here so what's your mom's name cotton mom's name is nareen nareen nareen nareen and your dad's name is go go car go so did they marry before they were 18 i think they were married before 21. Okay. So they've, and are they still together? They're still together. Dang.

I know. Dang. Right. Yeah. No, right. Yeah. It's,

um, it's, uh, but it's, but it's, it's, it's worth it. I,

I, when I think of the crowning achievement of my life and I've done a lot of amazing things, uh, my relationship with my wife is like my crowning achievement. I've been with her over 20 years and I'm like, I'm like, I'm so proud of it. That's amazing. No. Yeah, no, I value that as well. I mean, I'm definitely, you know, hopefully God willing,

looking forward to get married and do what you did, Sevan. Yeah. So sitting back and watching great, kids like you man you're fucking killing it okay so so your dad comes here at 16 and do they want him to be on the the u.s olympic team and for what sport so it was for judo um he came in here a young kid and i think because of some citizen stuff that occurred here he actually wasn't able to compete in the Olympics. But he went on a spree and, you know, went world tours, championship after championship, European championship, multiple national championships in judo, wrestling, sambo, boxing, kickboxing. in judo, wrestling, sambo, boxing, kickboxing.

Even as he got older, he was going and doing what was called at the time no holds bar. Have you heard of that? I have heard of it, yeah. No gloves, no rules. Their team bets money, our team bets money. So he would go in constant as hell, bet in whatever amount of money anybody wanted, and he would finish fights in under a minute no matter who was in front of him so he was a bad bad man

um even till this day he's almost 60 years old we got young professional fighters at our gym that he's tossing around left and right you know six years ago he went and won another national championship five years ago he put the won another national championship five years ago he put the gi on and said hey uh sign me up i'm ready everybody was like go for you sure you're like 56 years old it's like sign me up and sure enough he won another championship he's never lost um is it intense being around that do you think that's, that's basically your work ethic is just straight off your dad? You know, I wouldn't say straight off my dad. I mean, it has to, I definitely do have that, you know, legend blood in me. I know that for sure, because he was one of them, you know, he was, he was a special fighter and still is till this day.

But, you know, my, I think my work ethic comes from not sure what it comes from. Maybe maybe maybe it comes from God, because, you know, as hardworking as my family is, and I'm sure that rubs off on me. But, you know, my my will, my will comes, you know, from God, because it's for me, it's all about him. You know, look, our time on this earth is short. Okay. You could have all the money you want. You could have all the girls you want. Everyone's life is short.

You know, everybody. Because this thing goes by like this. You know, ask people who are six years old. Ask them if it was quick till 60. They'll say very quick. You know, someone asked me, I graduated high school almost nine years ago. I'm thinking, man, nine years really isn't much time. So, you know, for me, you know, I work hard because, you know, I got to do what my purpose here on earth is before my time comes, you know, and

I got to go hard and I'm going to go hard. I'm going hard every day and I'm going to have some fun along the way as well. You know, it's not just work, work, work, work, work. Anybody who knows me on a personal level knows that I am a very, very social and outgoing guy. I like to go to parties. I like to sit with Armenian people and do Khodovats. You know, I'm a true Armenian. So I'm going to have fun. But no fun, no person, no nothing could get in front of the path that is to become the best version of myself. That's what it is. You know, you could talk about MBA, you talk about money,

business or whatever. But for me, it's the best version of myself. I got to be the best version of myself. That's what's key. And, you know, relaying that energy on to the kids and to parents and families to really just focus on that. Just focus on being the best version of yourself and see what happens. See what happens. Instead of focusing on all these other factors, oh, I need this. Oh, I need that. Oh, I'm trying to do this. Just become the best version of yourself. And now you're going to get the things that truly belong to you. This spiritual component, this God component, this sort of like life path, did something happen that put you on that? Did you have like some sort of near-death experience or where did you cultivate this? So nothing at all, no trauma in my life. I live a very healthy life and, you know, had supportive family. And, you know, I have this spiritual guidance in me. And, you know, that's just what it's,

that's what I'm kind of who I am as a person. You know, I'm dedicated. You know, I'm dedicated to, um, to fulfilling my purpose as, as a basketball player, as a son, as a brother, as a friend, I'm dedicated to that. And, um, you know, I, I got to, I got to do what I have to do every day to, to, to be that good son and good basketball player and that good friend and that, you know, so on and so on. And maybe father one day. And maybe father, God willing. Absolutely. I have three little boys, two five-year-olds and a seven-year-old.

That's amazing, man. And I saw you in it being interviewed with your brother sitting next to you and they asked your brother a question and he's this big, strong man and it rocked him to his core like i could tell me like it made him really emotional about you for a second and he started crying um what what do you think it is how your parents raised you what advice do you have for me my sons are really close now and i'd like to see them continue that along that path what uh what did your parents do that kept you and your brother close? Oh man. Uh, I mean, you know, there is no mine or his or yours or our, it's, it's just, what's yours is his, what's his is mine. Um, we, we love to see each other succeed.

You know, we thrive to see each other succeed. And that's always something that comes from, you know, the parents who, who always kept treated us as one, you know, there's no, Oh, he's winning and you're losing. It's he's winning. We're winning and we're losing, you know, it's we're one unit. We're not separate people. So with me and my brother, you know, let me tell you something. When all this stuff happened with the SBEs and the draft and all this stuff, my brother was way, and I'm telling you, it would be impossible to match it, way more excited than I was. And I was freaking excited. more excited than I was. And I was freaking excited. I'm telling you, my brother's excitement level was, couldn't be, couldn't be matched by any human being on this planet. And I see that with my boys. When they go to jujitsu, they do jujitsu three, four, five, six days a week. They do tennis and they do skateboarding. And if like, if someone drops in, the other two will run over

and hug them, even though they're only five and they're like, you did it, you did it. Or, or at a tournament when they win, the other two will run over and hug them, even though they're only five and they're like, you did it, you did it. Or, or at a tournament when they win, the other two will run over and hug the one who won. It's crazy. And that's amazing. Yeah. I see that. That comes, that comes from you too as well though. You know, just keep it tight. Yeah. I give, I, the other day I gave one of them like this, uh, peanut butter bar and he immediately gave it to the older brother and goes, break it, break it, break it. Yeah. He goes, break it to the older brother and goes break it break break it yeah

he goes break it in the three okay so i'm on the right path oh man yeah no you're doing great you're doing you're doing unbelievable uh sp what's the sp award for what's the nomination for um it was uh outstanding uh uh it was outstanding college basketball player of the year no shit yep it was honorary yeah it was an honorary award so it was it was amazing how how bad were you your freshman year in high school were you were you i mean i wasn't bad but because i never had trained appropriately you know in armenian school and uh armenians uh you know an armenian environment um i was pretty bad freshman year um i i wasn't did you start did you start no i i didn't even i didn't even play oh shit okay i wasn't even on the varsity team i was on the jv team and i didn't

even play okay so it goes to show you i had had talent. Don't get me wrong. I had the ability. It was clearly, it was clearly visual in me. That's the reason I went to the school in the first place, but I didn't have the proper work ethic. I had no clue what work ethic even was until I got there. And I started seeing some of these kids coming into the gym, working out hard every single day. They're working on one move a million times and I'm sitting there and I'm watching and saying hmm you know maybe maybe that's what I gotta do you know maybe that's that maybe maybe that's what I gotta do and I slowly started developing my work habits as I saw some of these, you know, African-American kids and some Mexican kids who

were on the team and, you know, the environment, the coaches, the coaches were, were, were the way they coached and the intensity that they had, you know, they didn't take anything. You know, you, you better run hard as you can. You better dive on on that floor you better go and get your face bloody i don't care you gotta go and bless you and thank you you know this was this was kind of the the amazing things i learned when i got to albany was you know there's more to the game and there's more to the madness you didn't see that from you i mean you you trained martial arts for 17 years right you you i mean i mean let's face it your dad your dad knew how to do all that but for some reason you didn't pick it up off of your dad why is that just because i guess maybe people don't learn that

stuff from their dad directly kind of need some outside teachers look my what i got from my dad was was the the belief system that anything is possible okay um but under that there comes these pillars of experience that you have to that you have to develop right so while my dad's thought process that he was mentoring me as I was growing up was, you could do anything. You could do anything. But like I said, the pillars of experience I didn't have yet. That's what I really needed was the experience. Trust me, my dad, my brother, my mom, they let me go through it. They wanted me to to, you know, go hard and win and lose and try and fail.

They wanted to see that because they know that that's a part of the pillar to success. And truly knowing that you could do you could become anybody you meet, you know, John down the street, Peter over there. Anybody could become anything. You know, it just the street, Peter over there, anybody could become anything. You know, it just takes the right mindset and then the consistency, of course. Do you think that, do the other men on your basketball team know how dangerous you are physically? Do people know that? Yeah, they know that I've trained till 17. So, you know, they know that if I get angry, you know, it's game time. And, you know, I'm not scared of smoke with anybody.

Yeah. On that basketball court, you know, I'm a whole different animal. When we go back to the locker room and we're eating or whatever, you know, I'm real goofy, funny, you know, real chill guy. But when we're on that court you know i'm uh i'm i'm a whole different whole different personality so they know that yeah all the martial arts guys i know um and and you know i don't know anyone maybe of your dad's caliber but but my kids coach is the first uh heavyweight champion of the world in brazilian jiu-jitsu to go over there to brazil and win it first white guy ever to do it. And there's a calmness to him. I mean, he probably knows your

dad too, actually. His name is Garth Taylor. Um, but there's a calmness to this whole group of like of killers. Absolutely. But then when you're out there, even though you're, when you're out there, I, I, and I know the rest of us men who don't perform martial arts. We feel it. We know the guy with the cauliflower ears who's like never fucking loses his temper and is calm all the time. He's very dangerous. Don't sit by him in the bar. Literally, though. Yeah. I wonder how much confidence that gives you on the basketball court that it doesn't matter that someone's 12 inches taller than you and 50 pounds more. matter um that someone's 12 inches taller than you and 50 pounds more than if if this thing goes outside to the back alley he's fucked i wonder how much oh yeah absolutely i mean it brings a ton of confidence because they could be as big as you want you get into that chokehold you're done

yeah i yeah i noticed that my kids martial arts training, um, he takes it everywhere with them, even when he's on the tennis court. Oh, it's, it's, it's so important. So important. I mean, like my dad had me and my brother training when we were five, boom, first things first, you know, judo, grappling, boxing, um, you know, because even going through middle school and preschool as an even as a child, you know, you love having that experience of of training martial arts. And as a kid, it brings you confidence. And, you know, you have confidence at a young age, like five, six.

You know, that's that's your that's that's showing positivity for the future you know so that just goes to show you how much martial arts has a positive effect on um you know both the mental and the physical it's actually when my brother my older my older brother which is um arthur arthur he actually runs an institute directed to this. He's targeting youth, youth in the area. And what he's doing is he's collecting youth. He's introducing them to different forms of martial arts, military training, strength training, mental training and educational training. Kids, you know, mental training, and educational training. Kids,

you know, five to 20 years old. And it's funny because the reason he started this business was because of me. Because he did that with me when I was growing up, you know, he instilled that military mindset. He instilled that, you know um, you know, um, mental strength aspect, which is so important for any career, any child, any man, any woman. And, you know, when things worked out with me, he said, man, I told him, I'm like, Arthur, this is the, this is what you, this is what your purpose is. Said you open up up that institute you could help a million kids just like me what's it called it's called elite something right yeah elite institution elite institution.com um it is a special special part of our family um and a very special part of um who i am as well you know because I have the knowledge of the elite institution in me and I have the training of the elite institution in me.

And, you know, kids now they're all he's you know, he's flooded with the younger generation. And hopefully, you know, more people attract to him because he really has all the information that he needs, that the youth needs, you know. Is this it here? Yep. That is it right there. Yeah. It was a very interesting, you know, way of teaching. It's different from what's average school is and what average education is nowadays, you know? So for anybody with a child or, or, or, or youth and assistance, you know, this is, this is where you go. This is where I went. So this comes from training from my dad and my family, but really Arthur Chevichian is the Prince of this family. You know, I'm,

I'm always said it.'m i'm i'm the machine he's the mind i just i just i just go he just he's the mind though you know you're the product of this system oh yeah oh yeah absolutely absolutely it's stapled all over me where's headquarters for this this occurs out of um hyacin MMA Academy. Um, and there's a new. In which state? In which state? Uh, Los Angeles, California in North Hollywood. Okay. Yeah. And there's actually an expansion coming, um, moving to Northridge. So. Man. Hey, is, is, is there, is there,

is there a book that changed your life early on? Man. Hey, is there a book that changed your life early on? To be honest, I haven't read many books except the Holy Bible. Wow. Okay. Fair. Yeah. I have been starting reading some books recently, though. And I know that I do need to increase my knowledge as I get older. So I'm reading Breaking the Habit of, I think his name was Dr. Joe Dispenza, something of that sort. Don't quote me on that. Breaking the habit of you. I'm reading that right now. Um,

and I'm also planning on reading, um, to a couple of Tim Grover books. I started this book today. It's called how champions think. That sounds pretty interesting. It's written by Bob Rotella. Okay. He was LeBron James's three point coach. And I guess when he met LeBron, LeBron was shooting 20, 29%. And he tells a story in there about how LeBron said, Hey, people would just talk shit or just

talking shit to me telling me like hey we can leave you alone out here all day you can't make shit and he also was the coach of all three women i don't know shit about golf so i may say this wrong who are the only three women ever to shoot 59 in a competition on golf on the golf course and i guess that's a really i guess that's a really low score. And he talks about, and I just started the book, but in the very beginning, he talks about this guy who's on the PGA Tour. I don't know if you know how the PGA Tour, but they only let 125 guys on the tour.

And like, so if you're at the bottom, you could like fall off, right? And some new guys come on. That bottom's kind of like always jockeying for position. But if you're one of those 125 guys, you get to travel with the tour. And a guy came up to him and said, hey, can you be my head coach? And Bob said, what's your goal? And he said, I want to make sure I stay in the top 125. Oh, wow.

And Bob said he hated that. He wanted to hear the guy say, I want to be the best in the top 125. Oh, wow. And Bob said he hated that. He wanted to hear the guy say, I want to be the best in the world. And that way, if he fails, he's still in the 125. But like, dude, dude. And the way he made it sound is like, you kind of can't teach that. And, you know, like I said, I just started the book. That's the part you can't teach.'s the book can it be called again the book is called um i'll i'll text it to you okay great no that

sounds that sounds super because dr bob rotella how champions think i heard i had like a ufc champion or someone on the other day who told me oh maybe it was the guy i can't remember but i had someone on and they're like hey man i read this book and it fucking knocked my socks off so so i started reading it today oh yeah i'm definitely gonna take a look at it that sounds good i'll add it to my list of books but but do you but does that resonate with you like to to shoot for the stars and that way i yeah that's like maybe that's a line from some rap song shoot for the stars so you land on the moon. No, it's true.

I mean, it can't get more accurate. It's an accurate statement. Because if you shoot for 10 and guess what? You're going to, let's say 100 is the max. Let's say you shoot for 10. You're only going to put an effort to reach 10 because you know you just need to get to 10 right so if you put your goal at 100 and now you know oh my goodness i got to do so much more to get to that 100 you know and you fall at 84 that's a lot better than 10 right so i mean it just to the point of the book, I mean, it's truly how the great ones think. The greatest of them all, they didn't just become the greatest because by chance or of, you know, some magical potion.

They became the greatest because that was one of their goals. That was one of their ambitions. And, you know, some people are crazy enough to think that, you know, I'm going to be the greatest ever. And people go, come on, man, you're not going to be just relax. Let's be, but guess what? The only ones that are the greatest ever, they believe in that first. And that's what I was wondering. So you don't become the greatest ever unless you think that. And of course,

every, and of course, everyone's going to say you can't do it. And,'t do it and they're and you know like you can't blame them for saying that shit either absolutely no it makes sense it makes sense because look the the you know the people from the outside they're not the man in the arena you know people from the outside they that's their job to critic people who are the man in the arena you know and it's all natural it's part of human nature you know they're watching somebody go and you know they have opinions of how they should have done it

or what they should do and you know that's what makes a celebrity a celebrity is when you know and that's what makes some people the greatest ever is the argument of how what why it's you know it lifts And that's what makes some people the greatest ever is the argument of how, what, why. It lifts up the people who truly believe that they could be the greatest ever. Gary, that year that you locked yourself in a room, metaphorically with Gary, Gary locked himself in a room with Gary.

What are some of the things you do that you just, that other people just can't like fathom? Like, like, did you do anything? Like make sure you shot 300, two, three pointers a day. What are some of the, do you, have you done any, like I made my kid run a mile every day at five years old for a hundred days. Well, he came up with it. He said, I want a go-kart. And I said, okay, run a mile every day for a hundred days. And it sucked because I had to run that shit with him, but he did it. Did you, did you do some crazy shit like

that? Where you're like, I don't care if it's 10 o'clock at night and I haven't shot my 400 shots, I'm going out there and doing it. Oh man. You i did i i made sure made sure every single day i got a minimum of three two-hour workouts a day three two-hour workouts minimum minimum and tell me what what that would look like what time do you have to get up to do that so i would my schedule during that time by the way uh coach b ken from USA, he's a trainer out of there, was doing this with me. He was the one pushing me as well. And we would wake up at 8. All gyms were closed.

We had to rent some gym in downtown LA. We would get there at 9. 9 to 11, we would work on just shooting. 11, we would be finished. I'll go eat. I'll go home, shower, roll out, stretch, watch some TV, back at it at 2 o'clock, 2 to 4. 2 to 4, just shooting off the dribble, defensive slides, defensive moves, conditioning, things of that sort. We'd leave, go eat, come back at 8.

8 o'clock, now we got a light, just touch practice, you know, work on some, you know, alternative workouts, different things. And after that, go home, shower, sleep, right back at it the next day. I made sure I did it because I couldn't live life with the fact that I have not touched the NBA yet. I needed to get into G League. After 2020's college basketball year was over, it was set perfectly. The NBA agent called me. I signed. Workouts are set. The hype is real. Damon Stoudemire was my coach. We won most games of the year. I mean, in history, I had a buzzer beater shot.

Everything was great. Everything got canceled. And I was so defeated because I'm like, man, everything I just ever worked for from high school till college just just got wiped out like this so the nba shut down for a year because of covid well they went into a bubble they went to a bubble and they didn't allow pretty much anybody else who wasn't already in the nba to come in so it was pretty much closed off i mean maybe a fraction of people who weren't there entered, but you know, it was, it was already, it was already shut down and closed when, when the, when my time came. So nightmare, nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. But I knew I couldn't break down there. That, that, that was the point of life or death, I said, man, I'm going to work every single day and I'm going to trust God's plan. And sure enough, you know, it right now today, I'm exactly where I wanted to be in,

in a little, even a little bit more ahead. So you are, yeah, God willing, you know, how much better did you get that year? I got a lot better. I got a lot better because I turned from a college athlete to a pro. I turned into a real pro because, you know, in college, you don't have a lot of free time to to to work on your true skills and your true self. You're always being told what to do. Right. Go to class at this time. Be here at this time. We got a meeting at this time. We got practice at this time. But when you're done with college, suddenly you got all this free time. into a professional basketball player or you turn yourself into a non-professional basketball player because a high do you next thing you know you're a high school basketball coach i don't mean to knock that but there you go there you go you already know how it is yeah um in in In the sport of – is your brother Arthur doing something innovative?

Is he doing something new? He is. He is. He is. I think what he's doing is some of the most important things on this planet right now. Why? Because if you look at our youth right now, for the most part, not all, but for the most part, I feel a little, they're a little troubled because just of how society works nowadays with social media and TikTok and, you know, society norms and things of that sort. I think we have a youth that is not confident. I think we have a youth of men that are low on testosterone.

It's an, it's an epidemic. Everyone knows it. Um, I think we have, um, youth and young adults who don't have a purpose. Um, and they're just trying to figure their way out and, and, and, and mental health. Look at, look at mental health is, is spiraling, spiraling out of control. I mean, and Hey, and no one's coming to help anyone with that by the way like like if you like if you if you have mental health issues you better you better get your shit together and start an exercise is great for that but yeah yeah everything you're saying i couldn't agree with more by the way that's like most of my shows are about that yeah i mean it's it's mean, it's crazy to see what's going on.

And when I was young, I kind of saw it coming. But right now, I have younger cousins. I have friends 20 years old. And they have family members who are six, seven years old. And they tell me what's happening at school. And I'm like, dude, you guys are seven years old. What are you talking about? You know what I mean?

I'm like, are you serious? Like, you know, like it almost catches me off guard. And it's a little worrisome because that's the next generation. That's the next generation. So what Arthur is doing and has been doing these last five years is, is not only, you know, bringing the elite institution inside me, but also into the youth. And, you know, I really wish more parents and more families, you know, acknowledge what he's doing because, you know, that knowledge and that, that wisdom and that passion to the change of youth,

it shouldn't go overlooked. You know, it should, it should be, it should be something, um, you know, pivotal of what we do in today in our society. I'm going to send you a link to this book and I'm going to send you a link to this other book that this man that this man wrote his name's thomas so well he's 92 years old and i i want to give mad um kudos to noreen and uh go core go core yes i say right uh because the leading correlate for everything in society is not skin color it's not sex it's it's not it's it, did you have two parents at home? So if you look at the people in jail, they'll be like the majority of men in jail are black. Actually, the majority of men in jail don't have two parents. The majority of men who kill people are black. No, actually the majority of them don't have two parents at home. The majority of people

who get cancer are fat. Well, no, actually the majority of them didn't have two parents at home. Anything. You can start looking at anything and ask, did you have two parents growing up? And when the answer is yes, those kids turn out okay. Wow. When the answer is no, yeah, it's the leading correlate for everything. It's fucking amazing. Man, I need to look into that. I'll send you that book, too.

It's an amazing book. It's an amazing book. I'll send you that book too. It's an amazing book. It's an amazing book. So they'll say to you, they'll present to you some facts like white men make more money than black men. But if you look at white men with divorced parents against black men who had both parents, the black man makes more money. And you start looking at the world like that instead of color or gender or race. And the whole picture changes.

People need love at home. Yes, yes, absolutely. They need love at home. Great point, man. Great point. I'm definitely going to look into those numbers. That's very interesting. And to your point, I mean, that is so true.

It's not about black, white, Asian, tall, skinny, short. You know, there's a determining factor that matter more than just the outward appearance of somebody. Yes. Just because he's tall or he's white or he's black doesn't mean anything. There is determining factors way before that, that is scientifically proven as you're saying, you know, to, to either cause great success or great downfall. Yes. Well said. Man, that is huge. And, you know, I think that's huge for me as well. Who's trying to, um, you know, help you with, along with my brother to understand that that two parents is a really important thing

yeah and and although my parents were divorced i come up in a very strong armenian culture where my uncles love the shit out of me my aunts love the shit of me someone was always holding me or pinching me or squeezing me or putting me on their shoulders. And, and I still got that, you know, my, my whole Armenian village loved me. They loved all the kids to death. The kids were the heroes in the Armenian village. It goes to show like, even let's say in the unfortunate situation that there is divorce in the marriage, there's still tons of opportunity for people to step in and love and, and fill the void and, and, and, and really have that success factor because of it. So it's so important. Just, just, just,

just loving one another and, and, and, and respecting one another, you know, it's, you know, I never understood why anybody would want to bring somebody down or or or or or talk bad about somebody i i never did it i don't get it you know i respect people i feel horrible when i do it i don't do it very often but when i when i treat people badly when i get angry and treat people i feel horrible i never feel better i'm not like yeah i got him back i feel great now you feel bad i feel like oh man i can't believe i'm not like yeah i got him back i feel great now you feel bad i feel like oh man i can't believe i just did that yeah i shouldn't have done that no one wins no one wins

no one wins yeah you know sometimes it happens you you you we're all human right we have emotions and you know we we explode and do things of that nature but you know in the totality of things the more love we can spread, man, to one another, to our friends, to our family, assist one another, you know, it's, man, everybody just want, you know, sometimes just wants to, you know, uh, compete with each other, but realizing that assisting each other, you know, you both went. So how much better do you feel when someone cuts you off when you cut someone off and they flip you off and instead of flipping them off back, you roll down your window and go, sorry, dude, he just flipped you off and you say sorry, dude, to him. And he all of a sudden feels like, oh, shit.

And then he waves. It's cool. And you get that shit is so much better than both. You are flipping each other off, man. That's so funny that you bring this example up. This is hilarious. Yeah, that is hilarious. Yeah. That is actually,

that has actually been one of my pet peeves when I'm driving and somebody flicks me off. Yeah. That throws me into such like heat. Yeah. But you're so right, man. To your points, you know, in that scenario. Hey, dude, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't be mad. I'm sorry. Yeah. I'm sorry sorry don't be mad i'm sorry yeah i'm sorry

don't be mad i'm a jackass i know it i was texting your sister i was asking you i was talking to your sister on tinder sorry that is exactly what i'm gonna do next time so i appreciate that man um now here's the question, the real question. Is there room in basketball? Will we see innovation in basketball, in the players? This is a sport that's been around so long. You see people that come along. I'm going to show my age, like Michael Jordan,

or I think it was John Stockton had that weird shot. You know, I'm not a huge basketball fan, but I've watched enough. And then and then there's this guy now a few years ago and he's playing now on the Warriors. I forget his name. He's the three point guy. I should know I'm in the Bay Area. Who's the great three point shooter on the Warriors? Steph Curry. Steph Curry. Or'm in the Bay Area. Who's the great three-point shooter on the Warriors? Steph Curry. Steph Curry. Or Klay Thompson, either one. Right. Is that innovation? Is there room in this sport for innovation? And what would that look

like? And do you have to steal that from God? Do you know the story of Prometheus went to the heavens, got fire from the gods, and brought it to man like okay how what would what would innovation look like in this sport and if you could do that yeah yeah so i mean if you like is that what you pray for at night dear god absolutely i mean it's really something i pray for is just the the evolution of kids and and young adults as well i mean if you look look at the NBA and you look 20 years, 30 years, 40 years back, you'll see that there's been a ton of evolution, a ton of, ton of growth in the game that people are faster, stronger, you know, jump higher, shoot from way further distances, you know, and so the game has evolved. It's evolving and it will continue to evolve. But before, you know, I think where the most important thing is, you know, is not to focus

on the evolution of the NBA because the NBA already has it figured out, right? The staff, the players, the the organization they know what they're doing they know how to continue to improve and get better they got that figured out but i think the important part of evolution for basketball is young kids growth from a young age um bringing in that knowledge and understanding to youth. And when you do that, that's where you see the results that you want to see generation after generation and generation. And it is happening. You know, there are a lot of trainers right now who are starting to bring in, you know, high tier information to these youth. You know,

it's something that i'm interested in doing even during my career i have a camp here on july 9th and august 5th um i'm running um the second annual armenian sniper nba youth camp um i'm featuring some very special guests one of them being phil handy from the lakers he's an assistant coach he's a three-time nba champion works with players like lebron um he is known as a absolute legend in the league i'm bringing in jim clements um jim clements here's a picture of phil handy three-time nba champion um to the left of that we got jim clements right here jim clements is a 10-time NBA champion. To the left of that, we got Jim Clemens right here. Jim Clemens is a 10 time NBA champion.

Crazy. This guy has coached Michael Jordan. This guy has coached Kobe Bryant, both of them in their primes. This guy has won championships with the greatest basketball players of all time and this guy is coming to glendale california it's cool to teach and work with the kids um you know this is something that these are people that i have access to i worked out with jim clemens pre-draft in 2021 before the draft he evaluated me and I became great friends with him

because he saw my passion. He saw my drive. And I said, I told him at the time, and I talked with him with my agent. I said, I said, I said, I said, coach, I said, you would be doing both me and the Armenian community and the minority community here in Los Angeles. A huge blessing. If you could just come down here, work alongside me, we, you know, we hold each other's hands and we teach these kids the right way. Not, not, not the wrong way, which, which you see so many times. And, and, and, you know, that's why these kids grow up and, you know, they, they have hopes of professional careers and college basketball careers, but it doesn't happen because they never had the right knowledge the right access the right

mindset and you know i'm gonna make sure i do the best i can during my career and after my career and still that what's it look like to do it wrong do you know do it wrong is when you're egotistical when you think you're working hard but you're really is when you're egotistical, when you think you're working hard, but you're really not. When you're surrounding yourself around people that you know that are super, you're just super comfortable all the time. It's supposed to be the opposite. You're supposed to throw yourself in discomfort every single day. So you develop and grow. You're supposed to throw yourself into a spot where these guys are

so much better than you you're like oh now you elevate your mindset now you elevate your work ethic now you elevate your motivation you know but if you're just comfortable and you're egotistical i'm the best ever but that's not going to take you anywhere. And, uh, you know, high, high end professionals will, will agree to that. In the G league, your peer group, do they all have your same drive? Man, you know, what's crazy, uh, from high school, the division one basketball use. When I got there, when I got to division one throughout i noticed that guys work

harder than you there were some guys who worked harder than you no no no one ever worked harder than me okay that's impossible they just worked so so where so what were you going to say when do they work harder so so they worked harder like in general as a oh okay as you got to high school players right okay yep makes sense okay and then when i got to the g league i was even more surprised to see how hard these guys work because now i'm like wow like this is like like these guys are here two hours before practice they're here rolling out stretching doing therapy getting shots up practice is done these guys are still getting shots up they go and get a lift now i'm like hmm i was working really really hard i think i could work a little bit harder you know what i mean and yeah you know like oh and that's when it comes to when you're you you adapt your environment you know that's

the truth you know when i got to the g, and I'm a guy that grinds, I saw some guys in there that were going super, super hard, super focused. Now I'm thinking, man, I've got to go harder than this guy because this guy is killing it. This guy is in the gym every single day, morning and night. But he's been a pro for five years,'t forget and this is my first year so you know that's where you got to pick up the ropes a little bit um are is this is this season for you over now season's done um we report back into the clippers facility um probably like sometime in September,

and then training camp will be in October. So right from now to then, it's just preparation, preparation, preparation, and nothing else. And, of course, you know, it's summer. You know, I'm going to go lay out by the pool and, you know, have some fun and enjoy myself when the time's right. Because, man, you've got to enjoy life too. You can't just pedal to the metal all the time.

You've got to breathe sometimes, relax, and get back to work. So I'm trying to get a good balance in. Any sport you play or anything you like to do besides basketball? Well, I'm trying to think I like, I'm a, I'm a, I'm really big on marketing. Um, I actually own my own company. Um, my company's called fame fast. I work with, um, private celebrities, private brands. Um, I own a couple of businesses in the Beverly Hills area, uh, relating to area relating to plastic surgery and things of that sort. So, you know, I'm also a businessman as well. But, you know, that stuff is is is nothing to me.

It's just basic work just so I could have enough money to feed my family, feed myself and feed my freedom. But in reality, man, money is last on my list of importance. For me, it's being the best guy, best version of myself. You know, am I going to be perfect? Of course not. Absolutely not. I'm going to make mistakes. I i'm gonna have obstacles but at the end of the day you know if you do a lot more good than bad then you you'll be fine you know if you do 80 good and 20 bad you're great you do 90 good and 10 bad you're you're golden so you know it's just a matter of of of trying to do all the right things. And, you know, I know a lot of people in today's day, they're focused on trying to make millions of dollars

and, you know, be this rich guy or maybe even not a millionaire. You know, their focus is on money. And I get it. You know, you need money to survive and thrive and feel well and money's important. But it's so far in my list of of um of things that i truly truly you know want to do in life before money man

do you have kids you don't have kids no no okay when you said take care of your family you mean sort of your extended family are you even you're? You're not married either, right? No, I'm not married either. No, no. When I say take care of my family, I just mean, you know, get my family, anything I want them, whatever I want, you know, cover my own expenses so that, you know, I don't feed off them. And, you know, I'm old enough now where I got to take care of everything on my own. You know, you got to, you got to, you got to make sure as a man that you do that, especially coming close to a potential proposal to my girlfriend. I don't know when it's going to be, maybe in 12 months, maybe in six, maybe in 24. But, you know, after the proposal, there's a wedding, you know,

houses here in LA cost about 1. five mil for a five hundred square foot house. Five hundred square foot shitbox will take two million, please. How did you find a woman who is a partner who is compatible with your focus and your dedication? Oh, man, this was really tough, actually. I always said, because I know how my career was going to go, right? And I always, man, I went on a million dates, a million different girls, white, Armenian, whatever. I mean, you name it. A million dates. Never once did I say, I'm going to make this girl my girlfriend.

I think she could be my wife. But with this particular girl, about a year and a half ago, mutual friends introduced us. And the day I saw her, I was like, yeah, she's the one. Wow. Sure. Wow. And that's coming from a guy who was brutal. I mean, like I was brutal in the sense of like, man, I don't need love.

I'm not getting married till I retire when I'm 34. I'm going to focus on my career. I'm going to focus on my money. I'm going to focus on my purpose, blah, blah, blah. Like I was a tough guy, you know, like, like I don't need that stuff. Like all that stuff, man, I'm good, blah, blah, blah. But, and to be honest, I wouldn't have gotten a girlfriend if I didn't feel that she was truly the one. So, you know, that that worked out really well. And a year and a half into my career, she's been amazing.

You know, she lets me work. She lets me put my energy and my focus onto my career because I've explained to her how important this is. You know, I always tell her, I'm like, look, I know you may not see me as much as you want to see me right now, but don't worry about it because everything I'm doing now is going to be so that we could rest in the future comfortably and well. And, you know, she's so understanding and super supportive. so understanding and super supportive. Um, and, um, you know, um, I'm really, really, uh, excited, uh, you know, bring her and make her a very important part of my life. If you, if, and this is kind of a message to all the people out there who want to date someone great, you want to be with someone great. If you see a bald Eagle soaring,

doing all that bald Eagle shit shit whooping ass on other birds getting trout taking taking fish away from bears like you're a bald eagle you do what you want if you want to be with a bald eagle and you cage that bald eagle every aspect that you were in love with is now gone absolutely and so that's the trick of loving a bald eagle. You have to let it be a bald eagle. And so it sounds like she's come to terms with that. She loves you for who you are, and she cannot cage you. But there will be a day that you slow down,

but right now you're building the nest, and you're collecting trout, and you're keeping bears off the property, and you're just doing shit. And she off the property and, and you're just, you're just doing shit. And she's like, yeah, that's the fucking, I'm hanging with this. I'm hanging in this area with this Eagle. It's the same. It's say it can go either way, man or woman. But if you, it's the same thing. You go to the zoo and you look and there's a lion in a

cage. Don't kid yourself. That's no lion. A lion sits on a hilltop and like has like 20 chicks around him. And he's like, and if you're not doing lion shit, then you're not a lion sits on a hilltop and like has like 20 chicks around him and he's like and if you're not doing lion shit then you're not a lion so absolutely absolutely no it's huge i mean look i'm supportive of her and whatever she wants to do with her career as well and yeah you know uh look you can't play basketball till you're 75 years old right so right i plan on playing till i'm about 35 and 25 now um So, and, and I'm going to try to accomplish as much as I can in my 10 year basketball career. You know,

last year was my first, my professional, at least my first professional basketball year. But I had 10 years before that five years in high school, five years in college. This was my 11th year playing organized basketball. And it will be my second year in professional basketball. So she understands.

That's fast, man. You did a lot fast. Fast. And it was fast, and it was a lot of experience and growing pains. But it pays off, man. Hard work always pays off. And, you know, going back to, you know, having a supportive girlfriend, man, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's important. So. Is she Armenian? She is. Yeah. Oh, your parents must be so happy.

Yeah. Yeah. She's Armenian and, um, you know, her, I love her family as well. So it's, it's going to work out great. Oh, that is nice. And do they like you? Oh yeah. They love me. Yeah. I i i mean i at least i hope they do no yeah we have a pretty good relationship so um cotton how do you feel do you think about your chances of getting um into nba games or do you push that out of your mind and just work as hard as you can or do you think oh shit if I don't do it in the next two years, the window is going to start closing or do you have any like anxiety or what's, what's like the, how do you, how do you,

how do you process your age versus your skill versus where you are with where you want to be? Yeah. So, um, kind of like going back to what I said from, from, from, in high school, you know, my only dream was to play division one basketball and then and then my agent said hey we got to get to the NBA G League it's gonna be tough now I'm in the NBA G League now it's can he get to the first division of the NBA we didn't believe he could even crack into the NBA but can he get to that first division? Can he get on the big floor? And, you know, in my mind, when I think about this question, I immediately revert back to what I've done my whole life.

And up until this point, which has worked so well, which is work as hard as you can every single day. Stay as focused as you can every single day. Stay as focused as you can every single day. Only focus on today and tomorrow. Only focus on today and tomorrow. And most importantly, you know, no matter what happens up, down, left or right, I always trust in the plan of God that he has set out for me in my life. And that brings me the most comfort with my career and my destination,

because even if things don't turn out, let's say the way I want them to, I'm comfortable in my heart if and only if I gave it my true best effort, because then I know I gave it everything. best effort because then i know i gave it everything like if i did it to the nba g league in 2021 um i would have been okay with it in a sense because i truly gave it my all for a year and a half i i locked those doors and i told myself hey if it doesn't happen you won't have any regret because you gave it everything you got everything and sure enough 2021 comes around the draft happens and now we're here so moving forward so you got you got drafted into the g league yep first how exciting yeah first armenian ever yeah did you think you'd be drafted or were you just kind of just sitting there like

just like fuck who knows so prior to the draft i got five nba workouts with the organizations so i went to um i went to the lakers for two weeks first then i went to houston then i went to the warriors then i went to uh sacramento uh then i went to the clippers so ironically i finished off my pre-draft workouts. The draft is on October 23rd, 2021. I wake up in the morning anxious because, you know, this is make it or break it. I'm either going in or, you know, it's done, you know, and I wake up anxious. I can't, I couldn't even sleep. I look at my phone a.m draft starts at 10 i'm calling my agent i'm like hey did anybody call what's going on like are they gonna say my name

like i don't know man like to be honest you know they're showing interest but with these things it could go any way and ironically um in the second round the seventh pick right before i get a call minnesota timberwolves hey um we're drafting you into our g league uh we're about to pick you and then and two more picks it's us we're gonna pick you i turn off the phone i call my agent i'm like all right i'm like minnesota called me he's like minnesota i'm like yeah minnesota we didn't even have a pre-draft workout over there yeah yeah which was which was which was ironic but i go there for two weeks uh so so the draft happens you know we're static how did they get your number they just have a roster with your number is that is that protocol to call the athlete do they tell you hey have your phone on

and be ready that day yeah because because the coaches might call you and ask you a question usually they call the agents but it's potential that you get a call too okay um so so yeah i mean um there was there's only 200 people who were um eligible for the draft okay so i was one of those 200 so i think think only like, I don't know. I don't know what the number is. I want to say maybe 90 people got picked. I'm not sure. Don't quote me on that. But yeah, they called me. And then I went to training camp there for two weeks.

And then, you know, process went. Trade happened with the Clippers. And then I was playing with the Clippers G League team this year. Wait, so were you tripping were you tripping when you came back to la were you kind of like fuck here we go i'm going to minnesota it's kind of like bittersweet right oh man it was actually kind of wild because um you know g league the the the g league games right and typically they don't get um you know big audiences there isn't 20 30 000 people

filling up their arenas right so the first the first um first day that i signed you know the news went off fox news uh la weekly blah blah blah our gary chevichian first armenian draft of the nba is playing at the toyota center so uh the the president of the the which i'm good friends with of our organization his name is justin dunn um he was he was he was blown away by the ticket sales in the first two games uh just because you know you know how armenians are yes yes yes they came in with the flags and and the the little uh uh drum type yeah the Yes, yes. professional jumper in minnesota no in in la oh because by then you'd come to the clippers yeah i was already okay okay i signed and then there we had the first two games okay that makes sense so we're just all over the place and you know i really i love the support man you can't

you can't love armenia enough and armen. You know, that's one thing I love about Armenians is like even throughout history, look at us. We're always sticking together and supporting one another. And that's why Armenia is, is, is such an amazing culture. Is it hard keeping us? How do you play it when you go out onto the court and the fucking, the brothers are losing their shit, the Armenian brothers and sisters do you keep it cool or do you wave um you know the first game uh i was a little nervous yeah family there yeah you know all this stuff and and i was so i'm like

i think back i'm like you're so stupid yeah i literally did not say hi to one person. You know, I just stood in the zone and I knew everybody where they were sitting and I saw a couple of familiar faces and I saw the flags, but, um, you know, I, uh, I, I was just trying to stay in the moment, but as time went on, I kind of got super comfortable and it came normal. So now I was starting to say, you know, what's up guys take pictures with people like even during halftime or whatever i was really loose and and comfortable you know and that comes with experience obviously you know first time doing anything especially at that level you're gonna be a little nervous i think your voice muted. No, I didn't say anything. I was just taking a long dramatic pause because I'm old and my brain moves slowly.

When I was a young man, I was very proud to be Armenian. And I was taught about all about the Armenian genocide. And part of my identity became that the Turks slaughtered the Armenians. And as I'm older and I Armenians. And as, as I'm older and, and, and I, and I, and I want to say wiser, and I liked having that Armenian culture and that Armenian identity. I identified, I never even like now that all this gender talk comes up, I don't even understand that. Cause I don't even really identify with being,

I never think I'm a man. I just think like, I don't know what I think I am, but I just, I'm, but I do think I'm Armenian. But as I got older and wiser, I'm realizing that I'm nothing. That I'm a vehicle for an unknown spirit that you call God to do good on the planet. No, I agree with you, Sev. I mean, look. Do you think that you'll come to that too or how like it's been hard for me i don't want to see turks as turks anymore i don't want to see

armenians as armenians anymore i can't help it i see your last name and i fucking get all warm and fuzzy i think about your parents raising you and i love my little armenian jew boys i'm raising my wife's a jew and i but but part of me wants to let it all go and just be like, and just be in love with everyone. Yeah. I just want to be. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No, look, um, as supportive as I am of, of Armenian people. And, um, I think I'm talking about Armenians because I'm Armenian, who was the first ever, but in reality, everything I've learned away from my family, everything that I've experienced has been with whites, blacks, Mexicans, Asians, different cultures who've shaped me into who I am today as well.

When I was in Alamany, I wasn't with armenians when i was in idaho i wasn't with armenians when i was in uh when i'm in um what i'm doing now with all the people that i'm doing it you know in the nba the only armenian that that i that's in there is my agent who's of course the ar money guy is Armenian. You know, Aro Bartanyan, he's my Armenian brother in the NBA. And hey, why not, right? Armenian help another. But, you know, to your point, we're all one. We're all human. You know, we all bleed red blood.

And, you know, we all experience the same emotions the same love the same hate the same we experience the same things that this universe has to offer and you know um while i have great respect and great happiness of being an armenian you know i love so many things that i see in some of these other traditions and there's so much more out there that could be learned as well. You know, every culture, every race, every man, every woman, there's the good and the bad. Right. And you just have to look for the good in all things. You know, and and pull, take the good, take the good. And that's what I've done you know i've uh i i remember

i was 16 years old i was in alamany i went to uh i went to uh i had a i had a um i had a friend um we were close together you know we're crush crush high school um you know friends and um i would go to her house and she was peruvian. And I would sit there with her Peruvian family and go to her Peruvian get togethers. And, you know, I'll be like, wow, like, you know, they have such amazing culture. And there's so many amazing things about, you know, the Latina Latino culture and in all cultures, man, like there's just so much to be learned and it's, it's detrimental to only look for the good in your own race or culture because there's, you know, there's so many knowledgeable, um,

traditions and techniques and, and, and wisdom that comes from Egypt and Africa and Europe. And you know what I mean? Like it's a limiting, limiting factor for a man to say, hey, this is my culture. I'm going to stay here and only look here. Of course, you know, you've got to understand your culture. You've got to fill into your culture, but you also want to be open to this oneness that you talk about,

which truly is we're all one. Gary Chavichan. You got it. Cotton Gary Chavichan. Thanks brother. Hey, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here speaking with you. You know, you're a legend in your own way. And, you know, hopefully we could keep spreading good knowledge, good information to your viewers and as well as the world. Because, you know, it's a time in the world where we got to we got to really, really speak up and help one another.

Awesome. I couldn't agree more. I have your phone number. I have you in my Google Alerts. I'll be watching closely. I know you're going to think this is funny as you look at this 50-year-old man, but my mom and dad will be so proud that I had an Armenian man of your success on my podcast. Oh, great. So tell your mom and dad hi. Tell your brother on my podcast. Oh, great. So tell your mom and dad, hi.

Tell your brother I said hi. And I know our paths will cross again and we'll chat soon for sure. Absolutely. God willing. Thank you.