Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hi and welcome to Hustle and Pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. We're here at Comerica center in Frisco, Texas. Today we are talking to Texas legends and Dallas Mavericks two way player, Jay Zion Gortman. Enjoy this episode.
All right. Jay Zion, Jay Zen Gortman. Did I say it right?
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Okay, good.
What are some nicknames, though? I bet your teammates don't call you that. What do they call you?
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Well, one. One that I've been getting recent is Jazz.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: Gord. Jay Gord.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Jay Gord.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: Or probably just J.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Just Jay. Okay. I figured no Jay Z. Nah, no Jay Z.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: That was my cause growing up, my name has never really been pronounced right. So my first teacher actually used to call me Jay Z. Like my first school teacher first.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Let's. I want to talk about a lot of things. But you're from South Carolina.
[00:00:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: So growing up, were you a Hornets fan or who were you watching play basketball growing up?
[00:00:58] Speaker B: My auntie. She played in the wnba.
[00:01:01] Speaker A: No way.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: For a couple years.
Other than that, I didn't really have a favorite team growing up.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: I sitting here thinking, okay, when you're growing up, you're probably watching like Steph and LeBron and Katie and AD and Giannis. And then I'm thinking maybe Dirk too. And then you say you're auntie. I love that. That's cute. That's great. But did you also watch those guys too?
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, well, I. When I was younger, I said I watched more of like hoop mixtape basketball. I didn't start getting to like NBA basketball until I say middle school, high school around there.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Before then it was more of just hoop mixtapes.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: I love that. Okay, so I know that you've talked about your pops and how he's like, helped instill some of this play your heart out kind of talk. So take me back to when you were like, when you were a kid and growing up. Like, were you playing sports all over, all kinds of sports all the time, or was it always basketball only?
[00:01:55] Speaker B: No, I grew up playing all type of sports. Played football for two years, soccer for three years, played baseball for a year, and that was it. Actually. Yeah, I played all four sports.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Makes a better athlete, right?
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah. When?
So let's talk about the timeframe when you obviously you got serious by the time you were in high school, because then you make a decision to go pro from high school. So walk me through that.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. So I think I want to say it was my end of my 11th grade year or maybe. No, it Was the middle of my 11th grade year.
Overtime elite had just been.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: It just came out like forming, like starting. Yeah.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Just having format for a minute and I would talk with my friends about it. I didn't really think it was something serious at first, but I just remember like days after I was joking on the situation, I just, you know, started really, just thinking about it and I started getting like thoughts of me just not really wanting to go to college. It's just like, I mean, I want to be a professional, you know, I want to be a professional. So I like, how does OTE sound? So I thought about it with myself, did some research on it, talk with it with my parents. And first my dad was like, nah, we're not doing that. You're going to college.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: It's a risk. Right. It's a gamble.
[00:03:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: It could be a great one that pays off quickly. Right. Or it could be tough and not work out for you.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: Yep. So he was just. He. He was. That's where he was with. It was like, no, you know, he had. Cause by the time I made the decision to go to overtime, I had already had 35 plus offers.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: So I was for college.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I was well on the.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Yeah, you could have done that. Sure.
[00:03:45] Speaker B: Yeah. But I just getting to know those people at OTE and talking to them, having conversations with them, the conversation was more so, okay, these are the things we can. That, that we can do for you to help you become a better professional. And we know that's a long term goal for you. So these are some of the things we can do. These are some of the things we have implemented in our system for you guys to become pros.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Yeah. It's such a different focus. Right, Than going the college route where you're going to get minutes and time and playing and learn their program, but they're not focused on getting you to the next level. Right. You're there as a student athlete first and that kind of thing. So you brought your family into it, obviously. And then at some point, everybody's on board and says, let's go try this out.
[00:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: So when did you.
Did you finish your senior year of high school or did you move on earlier now?
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Well, my senior year was at ote.
[00:04:38] Speaker A: Okay, so that is your senior year.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Okay, so you did junior year high school, and then moved over to ote?
[00:04:44] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: Okay. All right. And so you have some teammates though still that you played with at OTE that are still playing with you now, right?
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:04:53] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:04:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's real Cool. Yeah.
[00:04:54] Speaker A: That's fun.
So so far, your time in the G League and in the NBA, what parts, what aspects from ote helped you and then what hadn't, what didn't. What surprised you so far that you're like, really adjusting to.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: The schedule?
Similar. Very similar. The schedule we were on, the LTE and the schedule that we're on now, Very similar.
A good thing about the mental part of the game of kind of thinking next play mentality, next shot mentality, that was a big thing that I learned at overtime because growing up, I never really missed too many shots, so I never was really on the side of, you know, missing shots.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Having to move on.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Yeah. You know.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: So what's the hard part?
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Hard part?
I wouldn't say anything is hard. I mean, there might be some challenging things, but, you know, that's life.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
Nothing major. That surprised you that you're like, dang, I did not expect this yet. So that's good then. You're adapting. Adapting? Well, like tactically with the Mavs, especially because you've been playing with the Mavs since like July, maybe. Yeah.
Do you feel like you were drinking from a fire hose there, or do you feel like it's chill and calm and you've got it all under control?
[00:06:18] Speaker B: I mean, it was kind of like just me knowing what position I was in before. Well, even after the two way, but before the two way, it was me knowing the position I was in, just, you know, always keeping my head down, working, and it's good for me because that's the type of person I am.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: So it's like, if I have to work for it, I feel like that's easy for me because I'm a hard worker.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
So what do you mean knowing the position you're in? Was that up in the air and you like, when you didn't know that? What do you mean by that?
[00:06:51] Speaker B: So despite. Because I was on the E10 originally when I came and it was the. We had one more two way spot open, and then AJ Lawson was moved to the two way spot, so everything was just still up in the air as far as like, yeah, if I'm gonna be with the Texas Legends or whether I'm gonna be playing with the Mavericks. It just. I didn't know.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: You didn't know your. I got you. You didn't know your position in the organization.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:16] Speaker A: If you could write the script for the rest of this basketball season, what.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Is it for you, me personally or like the Legends, whatever you.
[00:07:23] Speaker A: However you see it yeah, either.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: First and foremost, man, it's. Get this championship, man, for the Mavs.
[00:07:31] Speaker A: Exactly. First and foremost. I like that.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: First and foremost, we're very capable of doing so.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: And we have a great group of guys, man. Everybody's a great teammate. We all talk to each other on. Off the court, help each other with different spots on defensive, offensive floor, offensive end. So that's the main goal for us as far as the Mavs.
[00:07:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, so just pause for a second. I mean, I'm a local. I've always grown up. I'm from Waco, so I've always grown up around here and been a Mavs fan my whole life. I know you aren't. You haven't. But you're here now. I know you're so. You're into it, but, like, the fact that you're playing with who you're playing with, like, is that not like a pinch me moment, or are you just so used to it because you've. You've played with a lot of players already in a couple different places.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: Well, yeah. When I first got in the.
Well, I say the day. The two days right before training camp, because that's when Kyrie and Luca got there.
[00:08:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: And I had been watching Kyrie for a long time. Just.
[00:08:32] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Like, not even, like, well, studying him yet, but just watching him in, like, an amazed.
An amazed feeling, you know, Just like, man, this is amazing. This man is doing everything.
[00:08:47] Speaker A: So just before you were here playing with him. Yeah.
[00:08:49] Speaker B: So, you know, just him coming in those two days before training camp, he came, and it was just seeing how you play so free, it was like, wow. Like, this is amazing. Same thing with Luca.
[00:08:58] Speaker A: Right. I mean, Luca and Kyrie and now Clay. Right. Like, there was a lot of support for you. You're talking about getting that position, getting a spot. Like, I've seen people in some of your post game, like, pressers rooting for you, and you have 75,000 followers on Instagram. And so just, like, tell me about your support system and, like, why is everybody rooting for you? What is it about you?
[00:09:20] Speaker B: I don't know. I just try to be a good person, man. My family, I think, is my biggest support system, though. They've been with me through everything. Ups and downs, turnarounds, the fake up and backs, everything.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Yeah, the actual high. Go up, get called up. You mean call ups and stuff. That's emotionally tricky, right?
[00:09:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it could be for some people, but, you know, me understanding, you know, how a lot of the things go in life and how a lot of things just, you know, you're not gonna always be in a position to where you're getting everything you think you want or you think you, quote, unquote, deserve. So you have to just stay in the mindset of that. Okay? I'm just here to work. I'm here to, you know, get whatever I can get out of this. And I'm here to get, you know, the best out of it. Always bring 110% to the table. And I feel like you should always be good with the results that come after that, if you put forth that effort to it.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Yeah. What are you doing when you're not playing basketball?
[00:10:23] Speaker B: I read some books. I actually just finished reading the Alchemist two weeks ago. Two weeks ago? I know. It's a book everybody pretty much read.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: I haven't read it.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: Are you for real?
[00:10:33] Speaker A: Not yet. Nope.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Oh, well, when I tell a lot of people, or when I was telling people I was reading the book, I read that. I read that.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: I guess I need to.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: It's a real good book.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: I need to add it to my list.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: I'm picking up a book from the library tomorrow. The Anxious Generation. I don't know if you've heard of that one. I'm so excited to read that one. I'm going to pick it up. If you haven't been to the Frisco Library, here's a plug. It's the coolest library around. You wouldn't believe it.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Gotta go check it out. If you're a reader, it's really cool. Do you game?
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Yes, I play 2K.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:00] Speaker B: Call of Duty. Yeah, that's really it.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: 2K.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: I love it. Very cool. Well, it was nice meeting you and thanks for your time and have a great season. Good luck. I'll be watching you. So you're double zero both places?
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Okay, cool.
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Enjoy.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: Thank you. Nice to meet you. You too.
