The Last Shot (2017): Season 1, Episode 2 - Home-Court Advantage - full transcript
The rookie team tries to bounce back from a loss, and a team of local legends can't get into a game. The star of the mercenary team finds out he's in serious trouble.
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I really want a contract.
Right now,
I have the opportunity
to make something of myself.
I have a wife, and I have
a 6-month-old son.
I have a mortgage.
Sacrifice and reward.
I was not expecting this.
I feel like Kobe, Lebron.
You see how big them
guns are, though?
This is par to the nation, dude.
Try and get to the bus station.
All right.
No español.
We trained all our lives
for this.
We should destroy everyone.
**
Let's just shake this shit
all out of us.
We're from fucking USA, y'all.
If you play ball, you win
a tournament, you get paid.
We cut a deal,
so we going to split it.
If you like.
- We have to let them win.
- We going to lose.
We going to split
everything down the middle.
This is the politics of Mexico.
Anything goes.
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We was in cahoots with the other
team, so we had to let them win.
Way everything is happening,
you know,
some people will think
it's strange, but it's Mexico.
This how shit usually goes, man.
We call it mercenary
ball down here.
Woo!
I'm, like, pissed off
at my teammates
because we're playing like shit.
No, no, no!
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I wasn't informed until, like,
in the middle of the game
I'm just supposed
to let them win.
I'm just too competitive
to just...
Muchas gracias.
...give up and just
let somebody win, you know?
This is a competitive sport,
and I feel like whoever
got the most heart
and whoever played the best
is supposed to win.
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I guess it's something
I got to get used to
if I'm going to be
playing in Mexico.
The Mexicans, they do all their
talking amongst each other.
They come asking,
am I all right with it?
And shit, it was straight
with me.
Didn't I tell you about it, bro?
Nah. You told me in the middle
of the game.
I was pissed.
I'm like, "What the fuck?"
Yeah, yeah.
I was like,
"What the fuck
is you doing?"
Playing hard as hell.
I told him late, but it ain't
nothing bad, though.
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We could do better than what
we played last night, man.
I wasn't surprised how it
went down, in a way,
because that's what happen
when a lot of Americans
come out here.
Pride, American pride, like,
we coming to another country,
like,
"I'm American, you know, that's
where basketball was born.
We going to walk
through this."
And I'm not mad that we lost.
I'm mad the way we played.
I was embarrassed,
and I was ashamed.
They was laughing.
They was on the sideline
laughing at us, man.
Like, right now, we going
on a four-tournament run,
and at the end of the day,
hopefully,
one or all five of the guys
are in a contract.
But it's hard to get
the opportunity
if they don't adjust well.
It's going to be a problem.
You know what I'm saying?
We came out lackadaisical,
like...
Yeah, I saw that.
You know, as a pro player,
you can't --
you can't come out like that,
you got to come out
and whip some kind of
dude's ass or something.
I'm trying, man.
Last night's game
was something else, man.
It's crazy.
You come down here,
hoping to make big bucks
off of basketball.
Yeah. Ain't no way we was
supposed to lose that bad, man.
I came here to handle business.
I'm trying to win.
But down here in these
tournaments,
if you don't win,
then you don't get money.
I'm not coming back home
to New York
and making $14.50 a hour.
I see so many people wake up
miserable every day to go work
for someone else and make
another company richer.
The fuck is that?
Lot of times,
I'm at home, I'm like,
"Why I don't have a contract?"
I wish I had the right exposure.
I wish I knew the right
people, you know.
Just give me a chance, and I
know it would be good, you know?
I did some research.
They said out of all of the
collegiate basketball players
there are, only 2 percent
of them make it pro.
Only 2 percent of them
make it pro, 2 percent.
That's tough, man.
You got to look at the reality
of things, man.
Like, I got to be able to make
a dollar and take care of myself
and my family
and stuff like that.
Hello?
Hello, Mom.
Man, it's been on and out.
This hotel ain't even got
no thermostat in here, man.
We had to sleep with the
windows open and the fan on.
And your birthday
tomorrow, too, man.
It's in the mail.
It's on the way.
How much it is you say?
Four or five hundred dollars?
I wouldn't have had no problem
if we won the game.
We lost yesterday.
You could have got you
two wallets then.
Tell them I'm their
number one fan.
All right, man.
I'll holler at you, Mom.
Love you, too, man. Bye.
Bye.
I put this on us more
than it was the travel
and we didn't
really know anybody.
We didn't go out there and play,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, it was bad, you know?
So we're going to have
to get in the gym,
get some shots up and stuff
so we can be more ready.
Sounds good to me.
For them, it's about trying
to get a contract.
But for me, I'm not
out here just for show.
I'm out here to try to win money
and help family members
back at home, cousin,
brother, sister, friends,
somebody that really need it
and don't have it.
We can't lose anymore games.
We ain't losing no money.
That's the most
important thing for me.
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Right now, Durant, like,
is in a bad spot.
There's no jobs.
There's no opportunities.
It's not a good situation.
I knew I had to leave Durant
to get the opportunity
because I would
have never got it
if I would never left Durant.
When you go and play
in these tournaments,
you can make $1,000 in one day,
you know what I'm saying?
So if you can get these twice
or three times a week,
look how much money
you bringing in
just doing
tournament basketball.
I think he could have went
farther than what he did.
I think there's a lot...
a few things happened to him
like he got hurt
and stuff like that.
And I think if he had more
people behind him, you know,
give him courage to,
you know, what he can do...
I wanted him to go to pro.
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I wanted him to do that,
but since that didn't happen,
he's trying to help somebody
else to do better, you know,
because, see,
that's what people --
that's how people do better,
when they got a leader
to lead them, you know?
I'm proud of what he doing.
I'm very proud of what he doing.
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It's like us against
the world, man,
and we can't lose
any more games.
And Tony going to mess
it up for everybody.
Who?
How I owe some money?
I fucked up with some people,
you know.
They can always pull up on me,
kidnap me or some shit.
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- Victor, what up, man?
- Hey, what's up, man?
Hey.
Your friends?
Who's your friends?
Right now, we talking
to Victor Mariscal.
He's, like, from the top
league in Mexico.
The reason he got us
to come down
is try to get a contract
with somebody.
They got to do it through
tournament basketball,
so it's important just to come
see what they're playing for.
This is the arena,
and the top league in Mexico,
LNBP...
My first year here, champion.
My second year, champion.
1997 and 1998.
But now, I'm co-owner
for the team.
Yeah, I saw
1,000 Americans come here
and 18 Mexican
mercenary tournaments.
It's easy, you know,
it's different.
And the NBA they have
their rules,
illegal defense
or something, you know?
Here, you're moving.
They don't call or something,
and you need to be careful,
your body; it's very dangerous.
Very dangerous.
If you want to play
in professional league,
you need to work a lot.
A lot.
You're rookie.
You need to work more.
Every time you are in the
tournaments, you know what?
People's watching you.
I really want to play
in an environment like this.
I have so much passion
and love for the game,
I done seen people
make millions of dollars
off of some things
they passionate about.
I want to design a lifestyle
that I want to live,
to have the people
chant my name.
It's a opportunity
most people don't get.
You don't need to be
in NBA or in Europe,
South America -- no.
You can be a spectacular
player here in Mexico.
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What?
They got Trump down here
in Mexico?
I guess he affect everywhere.
The president affect everywhere.
He don't affect me, though,
because no matter what happens,
my lifestyle still
going to be the same.
Yeah.
Government only really
affect motherfuckers with money,
like, it affect everybody,
but the way my life going,
whoever the president,
it's going to be the same shit.
The only way that shit affect me
if he start a draft or something
and make me go to the war,
you know what I mean?
Other than that, you know,
right now, shit,
I'm just living.
It don't really matter to me
who the president is.
I'm just trying to get by.
Basketball is the only
thing I know how to do.
It ain't a lot of money,
but, shit,
I'm out there trying
to do something, you know?
Ain't no nigga laying
on the couch
trying to get high
asking for $10.
That's a part of being grown,
getting out, getting your own.
Right now, man, I'm fixing
to send my kid some money.
Back home, like,
I got three kids.
We made 6,000 pesos yesterday,
so that's, what, $200?
And, shit, I got to keep 100 for
myself to live off of,
but I still got to buy
own food and stuff,
so I'm going to send 100
to them and keep 100.
**
Here we go.
Watch out.
Watch out.
Watch out, y'all.
When I met Rashad,
I was playing hard to get.
Really, I did like him,
but I just didn't want
to let him know.
You know, we have kids together.
I end up being with him
on his journey
through his basketball career,
dealing with him and also,
you know, encouraging him.
I come from a background
where we win,
so I want him to
come out as a winner.
And everything he did,
I supported him even through
the goods and the bad.
When we heard that
he was going to Mexico,
it was more about
the finance part.
So, we wanted to make
sure that, you know,
that everything he was doing is
going to benefit us as a family.
Because it's hard being home,
you know, taking
care of the kids.
Dealing with, you know,
finance that's never consistent.
And as the kids grow and as,
you know, bills come along,
things get difficult.
My biggest fear is him
not coming back.
Rashad can be his worst
critic, and also he can be,
you know, the most
sweetest person,
but it's, like, you just never
know what you get from Rashad.
So at the time, it can be,
you know, breathtaking.
Look.
Look at stars.
At the end of the day, you know,
who knows what can happen?
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In Mexico, they have
a tournament
for every festival they have,
and things can change quick.
You never know what might be
going on,
but I'm just going to
take it easy
until the next tournament
when we really got to play.
What's up, amigo?
Que paso?
No...
I'm going to negotiate
every time.
Four dollar tattoo.
Yeah.
Damn.
I represent a lot for my
hometown, and I'm getting...
The state flower is a magnolia,
so I'm getting a magnolia.
State champs, was that
high school or college?
No, that's high school.
I was number one in the state.
I got MVP at a championship
game, Mr. Basketball.
And then the one below it
is my son's name, Rashad Jr.
You got a junior?
Yeah, man.
When I take my shirt off, you
going to know my whole story.
I want to do a lot of shit
with my kids and shit, man,
I want to be able to do
what I want to do.
And then when you can't do
what you want to do,
and when you can't do a lot,
motherfuckers think
you ain't doing nothing.
And I don't want nobody
to feel like
I don't love my kids
or trying to do...
Nah, man, just being
able to provide.
Right.
That's the main thing.
What's you going to do
at the basketball, though?
You supposed to have
a plan, you know.
I don't know, bro.
I want to do something.
Like I said, I ain't no bum
or no shit like that.
I got a degree.
It's just...
I don't want
to settle, my nigga.
I'm not going to work
in no Wendy's, bro.
I'm not going to work
in no restaurant.
I don't want to work
in no bullshit.
I didn't go to school
to do that, you feel me?
Sometimes you got to...
you got to settle,
but I done did too much
to be settling for shit.
Yeah.
I don't want to be average.
That's another thing that drives
me to try to keep doing so much
because, I mean, who don't
like getting accolades?
I done fucked up a lot
of different things,
a lot of different places,
but I always end up
getting another chance.
That's how I know, bro,
I destined for something else.
I do so good with people, bro.
I'm a genuine dude,
so I'm going to be who I am.
I can't be nothing else, shit.
**
It's like us against
the world, man,
and we can't lose
any more games.
It's going to take
playing together,
and Tony's going to
mess it up for everybody.
I need water bad.
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The first thing we going to do,
we just going to go in,
jog around the court
for a little bit,
working on a little
dribbling skills,
defensive slides,
jump shots, penetration
just so we can get a sense
of how we all can gel together.
This location right here
in the good courts
and the good goals
and the good basketballs,
but the one we going to after
this is going to be a challenge.
The courts are slippery,
maybe don't have nets,
but if we get the repetition
in and stuff like that,
I think we'll be fine.
The hole is still the same.
All the basic stuff
still the same.
Four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, forty.
One, two, three, four. Good.
After that first game,
I still can't sleep at night.
I'm just ready to get to work.
This is what we
came out here for.
Yeah.
Come on, man.
Good hit!
Come on, man, weak-ass move.
The reason why they come down
is try to get a contract
with somebody.
That's the whole reason.
By playing in tournaments,
if you can showcase your talent
in front of some people, that is
your way of getting contacted.
So you've got to play every game
as if it's a championship game
because you never know who's
in the stands watching.
Nice.
Hey!
If they can't get it together
this next tournament,
then somebody might lose their
chance of getting a contract.
**
There you go.
That's it, Tony.
Tony, by him being 16,
he's, like,
the easiest target to get a job
because everybody
wants his height.
Good shot, boy.
There we go.
Five in a row.
I see you.
I see you, five in a row, Tony.
Come on.
But he plays a little
softly at times.
Out of shape.
Eight, nine, ten.
One, two, three, four, five.
Most of the guys here
aren't as big as him,
or maybe as powerful,
so he could just dominate.
But conditioning our bodies
to this type of environment
is going to take a little while.
Tim.
Tim, I need water.
Water?
Bad.
All right.
Some of these guys are
a little bit younger than me,
so, I mean,
they have that energy.
I have to work twice as hard.
You know, I'm 30 plus.
I don't want to say my real age,
but I'm not where I need to be
to do what I want to do,
so I've just got to
make it my priority,
my focus, instead of,
like, going out,
hanging out, chilling,
chasing tail and all that BS.
I'd rather make this
my focus here,
which I could do.
Come on, put me
in the game, Coach!
That's it.
Put me in the game, Coach.
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My goodness!
If you going to play basketball,
everybody need to be
on the same page
and get comfortable
with each other.
The main thing I want them to do
is play with a little fire
and play as a team together.
Chemistry is the most
important part
because it's going to be
needed, man, on the court.
Real deal.
Man, that thing big, dog.
It's the first Sunday,
so it's communion Sunday, bro.
It's communion.
This why I feel like
it's very important for us
to get out together to have
fun and stuff like that.
You gel together off the court,
you going to gel
together on the court.
Y'all want to find
somewhere to eat?
Yeah.
I don't know if y'all ever
ate tamales before, but...
No.
Well, for me, it's like
cornbread, really,
with chicken inside of it.
She said, "Taste it."
I feel great. I feel like I'm in
a great atmosphere.
I feel like I hear people
playing music,
enjoying their families
on a Sunday.
She play basketball, too.
You play basketball?
Yes.
Back in the States,
you think of Mexico,
you think of some
dangerous people,
but, again, I didn't expect
the lovely vibes
that I'm getting
from the people here.
I feel like Chris Paul.
Not Lebron James yet.
Once I get a win, I'll be
Lebron, but right now, I'm Paul.
Hey, hey.
Where is Tony, man?
Hey.
We can't keep up with
the biggest person on the tour.
I know, man.
He just be dipping out.
I kind of realized that, like,
Tony was a little antisocial,
like, a loner, kind of.
He didn't really want to --
It seemed like he didn't really
want to be around the group
the whole time, you know?
It can affect the team,
man, and it does.
Why did he even come?
He's kind of spoiling it.
When you don't talk and you
don't really say much
and you just drift off a lot,
nobody knows, you know?
Hey, you guys voted
for Donald Trump?
No.
No, we don't like him.
No Donald Trump, man.
Man.
Fuck Donald Trump.
Yeah-ha!
They always talk about
a real gentleman
don't talk about
his political views, you know?
He is our president.
Hey, you guys more than welcome.
Viva Mexico!
That's right.
You don't need no passport here.
You don't need that green card.
Fuck the green card.
I never understood why there
was such a separation,
and we're right next door,
but we have such a diverse
nation that we live in.
This is a real
eye-opener for me.
If anything, we should be
connected more than,
you know, building a wall.
You can say racism.
You look at blacks,
like, "All right.
Maybe something bad
is going to happen."
That's not the case.
It's the same way they portray
it for them down here
as being Mexican, as coming
into the U.S., take...
That's not true, man.
These people are beautiful.
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Who?
How I owe some money?
The cartel, they can
always pull up on me,
kidnap me or some shit.
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What's up?
Where you at?
I'm going to come over there,
and then you can just show me
where to change the money,
all that, because I got USD.
I need to get some pesos.
Where you want to meet at?
By the church?
There's only one church, right,
because you know y'all got,
like, 12 churches in one city.
How long it going to
take you to get there?
25 minutes?
That's the whole TV show.
Damn. I ain't going to have no
Wi-Fi, so I got to go.
You know I ain't going to be
hard to pick out, though.
My homegirl, when I first
got down here
and I met her,
she helped me get some gigs.
She got me a couple
tournaments and stuff,
but, you know, she just really
helped me when I got here
because she could speak English.
She looked out for me is all.
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Get them kissing.
It's a good city.
You don't have too many cities
like this in Mexico overall.
So Oaxaca is one
of the places to go
when you come to
Mexico, you know?
A lot of people go to Cancun
and Acapulco and shit like that.
You know, you could come here
and get the real taste of Mexico
and still have some
Americanized shit.
Shit!
Boy, look at that pig head.
That's a fucking pig head, bro.
That's a motherfucking head.
That's a motherfucking
head, bro.
What the fuck?
My God.
**
There go another one.
Look at the teeth.
That's a big church.
Coral.
How you doing, girl?
Hey, I'm good.
How are you?
All right. All right.
All right.
Show me where
the money thing at.
Yeah.
I think it's that way.
Come on. I'm following you.
Okay.
You better stop
acting brand-new now.
Hola, amigo.
Exchange-o peso.
Cuantos?
Look at this.
This say, "Fuck Trump."
This say, "Dump Trump."
Ha!
I like that.
That's how we feel down here.
50 pesos.
50?!
Cincuenta?
Si.
Boy, hell no.
You know, I can
tell you a con man
because you got gold
teeth in the front.
Bro.
100 for two.
Bro, I been here in Mexico
un año.
Si, si.
Mi no stupido.
No -- But I like you.
You hustling, so I'm going
to give you 100,
and we going to call it a day.
What?
Who?
How I owe some money?
What people?
What people?
Yeah.
I had got into some shit
at Guerrero
at a little tournament
or whatever, and I...
I heard about that.
We ain't got...
We ain't gotta --
I don't want to go in detail.
Yeah.
We ain't got to do all that.
Okay, you don't want to go in
detail. That's fine.
But it's a misunderstanding,
you feel me?
It wasn't my direction.
Yeah, okay.
But anyway, I just want to
keep it safe and keep it 100.
I was supposed to go
to Guerrero on the 28th
for a little meeting
to take care of it,
but until that meeting happen,
I don't really want to
talk about it right now.
Okay.
You got me?
Yeah, I got you.
All right, buddy.
All right.
Bye.
I ain't take no drugs
or no shit like that,
but when you playing
on people money,
you know, that touch home.
I was doing the shit to try
to provide for my family,
try to have a family,
try to keep my family.
They'd probably kill me,
you know, if they really
did get hold of me, you know.
Honest to God, like...
**
My out was basketball.
Is this what you not want?
Is this what you came to see?
The cartel, they know
I'm going to be...
If I'm here, I'm going
to a tournament.
They can always pull up on me.
You know, shit like
that is serious.
- What you do?
- $1,300 ain't worth my life.
It could be $5, my nig.
Money is money.
They cut balls off and shit
like that just because,
just to set a example.
If something happen to me,
I'm glad we recording this.
Going to know my story.
I really want a contract.
Right now,
I have the opportunity
to make something of myself.
I have a wife, and I have
a 6-month-old son.
I have a mortgage.
Sacrifice and reward.
I was not expecting this.
I feel like Kobe, Lebron.
You see how big them
guns are, though?
This is par to the nation, dude.
Try and get to the bus station.
All right.
No español.
We trained all our lives
for this.
We should destroy everyone.
**
Let's just shake this shit
all out of us.
We're from fucking USA, y'all.
If you play ball, you win
a tournament, you get paid.
We cut a deal,
so we going to split it.
If you like.
- We have to let them win.
- We going to lose.
We going to split
everything down the middle.
This is the politics of Mexico.
Anything goes.
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We was in cahoots with the other
team, so we had to let them win.
Way everything is happening,
you know,
some people will think
it's strange, but it's Mexico.
This how shit usually goes, man.
We call it mercenary
ball down here.
Woo!
I'm, like, pissed off
at my teammates
because we're playing like shit.
No, no, no!
**
I wasn't informed until, like,
in the middle of the game
I'm just supposed
to let them win.
I'm just too competitive
to just...
Muchas gracias.
...give up and just
let somebody win, you know?
This is a competitive sport,
and I feel like whoever
got the most heart
and whoever played the best
is supposed to win.
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I guess it's something
I got to get used to
if I'm going to be
playing in Mexico.
The Mexicans, they do all their
talking amongst each other.
They come asking,
am I all right with it?
And shit, it was straight
with me.
Didn't I tell you about it, bro?
Nah. You told me in the middle
of the game.
I was pissed.
I'm like, "What the fuck?"
Yeah, yeah.
I was like,
"What the fuck
is you doing?"
Playing hard as hell.
I told him late, but it ain't
nothing bad, though.
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**
We could do better than what
we played last night, man.
I wasn't surprised how it
went down, in a way,
because that's what happen
when a lot of Americans
come out here.
Pride, American pride, like,
we coming to another country,
like,
"I'm American, you know, that's
where basketball was born.
We going to walk
through this."
And I'm not mad that we lost.
I'm mad the way we played.
I was embarrassed,
and I was ashamed.
They was laughing.
They was on the sideline
laughing at us, man.
Like, right now, we going
on a four-tournament run,
and at the end of the day,
hopefully,
one or all five of the guys
are in a contract.
But it's hard to get
the opportunity
if they don't adjust well.
It's going to be a problem.
You know what I'm saying?
We came out lackadaisical,
like...
Yeah, I saw that.
You know, as a pro player,
you can't --
you can't come out like that,
you got to come out
and whip some kind of
dude's ass or something.
I'm trying, man.
Last night's game
was something else, man.
It's crazy.
You come down here,
hoping to make big bucks
off of basketball.
Yeah. Ain't no way we was
supposed to lose that bad, man.
I came here to handle business.
I'm trying to win.
But down here in these
tournaments,
if you don't win,
then you don't get money.
I'm not coming back home
to New York
and making $14.50 a hour.
I see so many people wake up
miserable every day to go work
for someone else and make
another company richer.
The fuck is that?
Lot of times,
I'm at home, I'm like,
"Why I don't have a contract?"
I wish I had the right exposure.
I wish I knew the right
people, you know.
Just give me a chance, and I
know it would be good, you know?
I did some research.
They said out of all of the
collegiate basketball players
there are, only 2 percent
of them make it pro.
Only 2 percent of them
make it pro, 2 percent.
That's tough, man.
You got to look at the reality
of things, man.
Like, I got to be able to make
a dollar and take care of myself
and my family
and stuff like that.
Hello?
Hello, Mom.
Man, it's been on and out.
This hotel ain't even got
no thermostat in here, man.
We had to sleep with the
windows open and the fan on.
And your birthday
tomorrow, too, man.
It's in the mail.
It's on the way.
How much it is you say?
Four or five hundred dollars?
I wouldn't have had no problem
if we won the game.
We lost yesterday.
You could have got you
two wallets then.
Tell them I'm their
number one fan.
All right, man.
I'll holler at you, Mom.
Love you, too, man. Bye.
Bye.
I put this on us more
than it was the travel
and we didn't
really know anybody.
We didn't go out there and play,
you know what I'm saying?
Like, it was bad, you know?
So we're going to have
to get in the gym,
get some shots up and stuff
so we can be more ready.
Sounds good to me.
For them, it's about trying
to get a contract.
But for me, I'm not
out here just for show.
I'm out here to try to win money
and help family members
back at home, cousin,
brother, sister, friends,
somebody that really need it
and don't have it.
We can't lose anymore games.
We ain't losing no money.
That's the most
important thing for me.
**
Right now, Durant, like,
is in a bad spot.
There's no jobs.
There's no opportunities.
It's not a good situation.
I knew I had to leave Durant
to get the opportunity
because I would
have never got it
if I would never left Durant.
When you go and play
in these tournaments,
you can make $1,000 in one day,
you know what I'm saying?
So if you can get these twice
or three times a week,
look how much money
you bringing in
just doing
tournament basketball.
I think he could have went
farther than what he did.
I think there's a lot...
a few things happened to him
like he got hurt
and stuff like that.
And I think if he had more
people behind him, you know,
give him courage to,
you know, what he can do...
I wanted him to go to pro.
**
I wanted him to do that,
but since that didn't happen,
he's trying to help somebody
else to do better, you know,
because, see,
that's what people --
that's how people do better,
when they got a leader
to lead them, you know?
I'm proud of what he doing.
I'm very proud of what he doing.
**
It's like us against
the world, man,
and we can't lose
any more games.
And Tony going to mess
it up for everybody.
Who?
How I owe some money?
I fucked up with some people,
you know.
They can always pull up on me,
kidnap me or some shit.
**
**
- Victor, what up, man?
- Hey, what's up, man?
Hey.
Your friends?
Who's your friends?
Right now, we talking
to Victor Mariscal.
He's, like, from the top
league in Mexico.
The reason he got us
to come down
is try to get a contract
with somebody.
They got to do it through
tournament basketball,
so it's important just to come
see what they're playing for.
This is the arena,
and the top league in Mexico,
LNBP...
My first year here, champion.
My second year, champion.
1997 and 1998.
But now, I'm co-owner
for the team.
Yeah, I saw
1,000 Americans come here
and 18 Mexican
mercenary tournaments.
It's easy, you know,
it's different.
And the NBA they have
their rules,
illegal defense
or something, you know?
Here, you're moving.
They don't call or something,
and you need to be careful,
your body; it's very dangerous.
Very dangerous.
If you want to play
in professional league,
you need to work a lot.
A lot.
You're rookie.
You need to work more.
Every time you are in the
tournaments, you know what?
People's watching you.
I really want to play
in an environment like this.
I have so much passion
and love for the game,
I done seen people
make millions of dollars
off of some things
they passionate about.
I want to design a lifestyle
that I want to live,
to have the people
chant my name.
It's a opportunity
most people don't get.
You don't need to be
in NBA or in Europe,
South America -- no.
You can be a spectacular
player here in Mexico.
**
**
**
**
What?
They got Trump down here
in Mexico?
I guess he affect everywhere.
The president affect everywhere.
He don't affect me, though,
because no matter what happens,
my lifestyle still
going to be the same.
Yeah.
Government only really
affect motherfuckers with money,
like, it affect everybody,
but the way my life going,
whoever the president,
it's going to be the same shit.
The only way that shit affect me
if he start a draft or something
and make me go to the war,
you know what I mean?
Other than that, you know,
right now, shit,
I'm just living.
It don't really matter to me
who the president is.
I'm just trying to get by.
Basketball is the only
thing I know how to do.
It ain't a lot of money,
but, shit,
I'm out there trying
to do something, you know?
Ain't no nigga laying
on the couch
trying to get high
asking for $10.
That's a part of being grown,
getting out, getting your own.
Right now, man, I'm fixing
to send my kid some money.
Back home, like,
I got three kids.
We made 6,000 pesos yesterday,
so that's, what, $200?
And, shit, I got to keep 100 for
myself to live off of,
but I still got to buy
own food and stuff,
so I'm going to send 100
to them and keep 100.
**
Here we go.
Watch out.
Watch out.
Watch out, y'all.
When I met Rashad,
I was playing hard to get.
Really, I did like him,
but I just didn't want
to let him know.
You know, we have kids together.
I end up being with him
on his journey
through his basketball career,
dealing with him and also,
you know, encouraging him.
I come from a background
where we win,
so I want him to
come out as a winner.
And everything he did,
I supported him even through
the goods and the bad.
When we heard that
he was going to Mexico,
it was more about
the finance part.
So, we wanted to make
sure that, you know,
that everything he was doing is
going to benefit us as a family.
Because it's hard being home,
you know, taking
care of the kids.
Dealing with, you know,
finance that's never consistent.
And as the kids grow and as,
you know, bills come along,
things get difficult.
My biggest fear is him
not coming back.
Rashad can be his worst
critic, and also he can be,
you know, the most
sweetest person,
but it's, like, you just never
know what you get from Rashad.
So at the time, it can be,
you know, breathtaking.
Look.
Look at stars.
At the end of the day, you know,
who knows what can happen?
**
**
**
**
**
**
In Mexico, they have
a tournament
for every festival they have,
and things can change quick.
You never know what might be
going on,
but I'm just going to
take it easy
until the next tournament
when we really got to play.
What's up, amigo?
Que paso?
No...
I'm going to negotiate
every time.
Four dollar tattoo.
Yeah.
Damn.
I represent a lot for my
hometown, and I'm getting...
The state flower is a magnolia,
so I'm getting a magnolia.
State champs, was that
high school or college?
No, that's high school.
I was number one in the state.
I got MVP at a championship
game, Mr. Basketball.
And then the one below it
is my son's name, Rashad Jr.
You got a junior?
Yeah, man.
When I take my shirt off, you
going to know my whole story.
I want to do a lot of shit
with my kids and shit, man,
I want to be able to do
what I want to do.
And then when you can't do
what you want to do,
and when you can't do a lot,
motherfuckers think
you ain't doing nothing.
And I don't want nobody
to feel like
I don't love my kids
or trying to do...
Nah, man, just being
able to provide.
Right.
That's the main thing.
What's you going to do
at the basketball, though?
You supposed to have
a plan, you know.
I don't know, bro.
I want to do something.
Like I said, I ain't no bum
or no shit like that.
I got a degree.
It's just...
I don't want
to settle, my nigga.
I'm not going to work
in no Wendy's, bro.
I'm not going to work
in no restaurant.
I don't want to work
in no bullshit.
I didn't go to school
to do that, you feel me?
Sometimes you got to...
you got to settle,
but I done did too much
to be settling for shit.
Yeah.
I don't want to be average.
That's another thing that drives
me to try to keep doing so much
because, I mean, who don't
like getting accolades?
I done fucked up a lot
of different things,
a lot of different places,
but I always end up
getting another chance.
That's how I know, bro,
I destined for something else.
I do so good with people, bro.
I'm a genuine dude,
so I'm going to be who I am.
I can't be nothing else, shit.
**
It's like us against
the world, man,
and we can't lose
any more games.
It's going to take
playing together,
and Tony's going to
mess it up for everybody.
I need water bad.
**
**
The first thing we going to do,
we just going to go in,
jog around the court
for a little bit,
working on a little
dribbling skills,
defensive slides,
jump shots, penetration
just so we can get a sense
of how we all can gel together.
This location right here
in the good courts
and the good goals
and the good basketballs,
but the one we going to after
this is going to be a challenge.
The courts are slippery,
maybe don't have nets,
but if we get the repetition
in and stuff like that,
I think we'll be fine.
The hole is still the same.
All the basic stuff
still the same.
Four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, forty.
One, two, three, four. Good.
After that first game,
I still can't sleep at night.
I'm just ready to get to work.
This is what we
came out here for.
Yeah.
Come on, man.
Good hit!
Come on, man, weak-ass move.
The reason why they come down
is try to get a contract
with somebody.
That's the whole reason.
By playing in tournaments,
if you can showcase your talent
in front of some people, that is
your way of getting contacted.
So you've got to play every game
as if it's a championship game
because you never know who's
in the stands watching.
Nice.
Hey!
If they can't get it together
this next tournament,
then somebody might lose their
chance of getting a contract.
**
There you go.
That's it, Tony.
Tony, by him being 16,
he's, like,
the easiest target to get a job
because everybody
wants his height.
Good shot, boy.
There we go.
Five in a row.
I see you.
I see you, five in a row, Tony.
Come on.
But he plays a little
softly at times.
Out of shape.
Eight, nine, ten.
One, two, three, four, five.
Most of the guys here
aren't as big as him,
or maybe as powerful,
so he could just dominate.
But conditioning our bodies
to this type of environment
is going to take a little while.
Tim.
Tim, I need water.
Water?
Bad.
All right.
Some of these guys are
a little bit younger than me,
so, I mean,
they have that energy.
I have to work twice as hard.
You know, I'm 30 plus.
I don't want to say my real age,
but I'm not where I need to be
to do what I want to do,
so I've just got to
make it my priority,
my focus, instead of,
like, going out,
hanging out, chilling,
chasing tail and all that BS.
I'd rather make this
my focus here,
which I could do.
Come on, put me
in the game, Coach!
That's it.
Put me in the game, Coach.
**
**
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**
**
**
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**
**
My goodness!
If you going to play basketball,
everybody need to be
on the same page
and get comfortable
with each other.
The main thing I want them to do
is play with a little fire
and play as a team together.
Chemistry is the most
important part
because it's going to be
needed, man, on the court.
Real deal.
Man, that thing big, dog.
It's the first Sunday,
so it's communion Sunday, bro.
It's communion.
This why I feel like
it's very important for us
to get out together to have
fun and stuff like that.
You gel together off the court,
you going to gel
together on the court.
Y'all want to find
somewhere to eat?
Yeah.
I don't know if y'all ever
ate tamales before, but...
No.
Well, for me, it's like
cornbread, really,
with chicken inside of it.
She said, "Taste it."
I feel great. I feel like I'm in
a great atmosphere.
I feel like I hear people
playing music,
enjoying their families
on a Sunday.
She play basketball, too.
You play basketball?
Yes.
Back in the States,
you think of Mexico,
you think of some
dangerous people,
but, again, I didn't expect
the lovely vibes
that I'm getting
from the people here.
I feel like Chris Paul.
Not Lebron James yet.
Once I get a win, I'll be
Lebron, but right now, I'm Paul.
Hey, hey.
Where is Tony, man?
Hey.
We can't keep up with
the biggest person on the tour.
I know, man.
He just be dipping out.
I kind of realized that, like,
Tony was a little antisocial,
like, a loner, kind of.
He didn't really want to --
It seemed like he didn't really
want to be around the group
the whole time, you know?
It can affect the team,
man, and it does.
Why did he even come?
He's kind of spoiling it.
When you don't talk and you
don't really say much
and you just drift off a lot,
nobody knows, you know?
Hey, you guys voted
for Donald Trump?
No.
No, we don't like him.
No Donald Trump, man.
Man.
Fuck Donald Trump.
Yeah-ha!
They always talk about
a real gentleman
don't talk about
his political views, you know?
He is our president.
Hey, you guys more than welcome.
Viva Mexico!
That's right.
You don't need no passport here.
You don't need that green card.
Fuck the green card.
I never understood why there
was such a separation,
and we're right next door,
but we have such a diverse
nation that we live in.
This is a real
eye-opener for me.
If anything, we should be
connected more than,
you know, building a wall.
You can say racism.
You look at blacks,
like, "All right.
Maybe something bad
is going to happen."
That's not the case.
It's the same way they portray
it for them down here
as being Mexican, as coming
into the U.S., take...
That's not true, man.
These people are beautiful.
**
**
**
**
**
Who?
How I owe some money?
The cartel, they can
always pull up on me,
kidnap me or some shit.
**
What's up?
Where you at?
I'm going to come over there,
and then you can just show me
where to change the money,
all that, because I got USD.
I need to get some pesos.
Where you want to meet at?
By the church?
There's only one church, right,
because you know y'all got,
like, 12 churches in one city.
How long it going to
take you to get there?
25 minutes?
That's the whole TV show.
Damn. I ain't going to have no
Wi-Fi, so I got to go.
You know I ain't going to be
hard to pick out, though.
My homegirl, when I first
got down here
and I met her,
she helped me get some gigs.
She got me a couple
tournaments and stuff,
but, you know, she just really
helped me when I got here
because she could speak English.
She looked out for me is all.
**
**
Get them kissing.
It's a good city.
You don't have too many cities
like this in Mexico overall.
So Oaxaca is one
of the places to go
when you come to
Mexico, you know?
A lot of people go to Cancun
and Acapulco and shit like that.
You know, you could come here
and get the real taste of Mexico
and still have some
Americanized shit.
Shit!
Boy, look at that pig head.
That's a fucking pig head, bro.
That's a motherfucking head.
That's a motherfucking
head, bro.
What the fuck?
My God.
**
There go another one.
Look at the teeth.
That's a big church.
Coral.
How you doing, girl?
Hey, I'm good.
How are you?
All right. All right.
All right.
Show me where
the money thing at.
Yeah.
I think it's that way.
Come on. I'm following you.
Okay.
You better stop
acting brand-new now.
Hola, amigo.
Exchange-o peso.
Cuantos?
Look at this.
This say, "Fuck Trump."
This say, "Dump Trump."
Ha!
I like that.
That's how we feel down here.
50 pesos.
50?!
Cincuenta?
Si.
Boy, hell no.
You know, I can
tell you a con man
because you got gold
teeth in the front.
Bro.
100 for two.
Bro, I been here in Mexico
un año.
Si, si.
Mi no stupido.
No -- But I like you.
You hustling, so I'm going
to give you 100,
and we going to call it a day.
What?
Who?
How I owe some money?
What people?
What people?
Yeah.
I had got into some shit
at Guerrero
at a little tournament
or whatever, and I...
I heard about that.
We ain't got...
We ain't gotta --
I don't want to go in detail.
Yeah.
We ain't got to do all that.
Okay, you don't want to go in
detail. That's fine.
But it's a misunderstanding,
you feel me?
It wasn't my direction.
Yeah, okay.
But anyway, I just want to
keep it safe and keep it 100.
I was supposed to go
to Guerrero on the 28th
for a little meeting
to take care of it,
but until that meeting happen,
I don't really want to
talk about it right now.
Okay.
You got me?
Yeah, I got you.
All right, buddy.
All right.
Bye.
I ain't take no drugs
or no shit like that,
but when you playing
on people money,
you know, that touch home.
I was doing the shit to try
to provide for my family,
try to have a family,
try to keep my family.
They'd probably kill me,
you know, if they really
did get hold of me, you know.
Honest to God, like...
**
My out was basketball.
Is this what you not want?
Is this what you came to see?
The cartel, they know
I'm going to be...
If I'm here, I'm going
to a tournament.
They can always pull up on me.
You know, shit like
that is serious.
- What you do?
- $1,300 ain't worth my life.
It could be $5, my nig.
Money is money.
They cut balls off and shit
like that just because,
just to set a example.
If something happen to me,
I'm glad we recording this.
Going to know my story.