recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and , the popular podcast co-hosted by Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, has been a major part of the success story. It is one of the most authentic shows in the space and was well ahead of the curve as athlete-driven shows have become more ubiquitous with each passing day.
The former Los Angeles Clippers teammates, along with head of original content Ashly Robinson, spoke to about their show as it enters another season.
Sports Illustrated: You two have known each other for a long time but was the genesis for the podcast you both telling your individual stories through ?
Darius Miles: Q did a Letter to My Younger Myself that got big reviews. About two years later, I dropped mine. A lot of former players reached out to both of us and were happy that we told our stories because they know how hard it is for us to open up and tell a story about your struggles, your mental health or about whatever it is you went through.
Quentin Richardson: It was one of the few times in my career where it was my voice. People were hitting me saying they could tell that this was truly my words and they could hear me in the story and stuff like that. I was letting D know that whenever he was ready to tell his story that I had the right place for him to do it at. Where he would be comfortable, it would come out how he wanted. I rode shotgun on his article and they got a chance to see our chemistry in real time and how we really rocked. They said . Then we came up with this.
SI: What do you think the show means to ?
Ashly Robinson: I honestly believe that the show means whatever your core foundation is. Whatever the fabric and the cloth you would want your entire being to be made of, that's what the show is. as a whole to me is that fabric and that foundation. It's a reminder of why Derek Jeter started this company and I don't think anyone envisioned that we could create a show like this that could mean so much to the world. In that sense it's the foundation, the fabric, the core values of the company. It's more than just numbers to us at this company because you find that—and we experience it a lot with our written side—athletes come in and they are able to express themselves in a way to unlock that secret that they haven't felt comfortable sharing. We've found a way to do that with the podcast.
SI: What do you remember about the first time you recorded together?
QR: Chaos. It was right on my patio. It was myself, D-Miles and Drew Gooden. We learned a few things from that. The first thing was to ration the alcohol that we are intaking while doing this at the table. That is kind of why it became chaotic. Also in that, us and the producers, we got a chance to see that even though this was like a practice run, you could see that once we sat down and once we engaged, real stories and good stories was coming out of it. We left from there and we started on our thing trying to get some guys to sit down with us. I guess you could say that we found out that it was really fun and cool to do. That's the biggest thing I took away from it. It's a privilege.
AR: I wasn't at the recording for the first episode but the producers who were the lead on the ground at that time brought it to me for the first listen. I remember that episode feeling very raw but you could feel the joy immediately. Jimmy Butler was the first guest and he was perfect because there was a Chicago connection at the time. It was that playground joy where the person across the table knows what I've been through and more. It was the most unguarded conversation that they've had.
SI: When did you realize you might have something special?
DM: Really after the first season and when Kobe reached out and said that he liked what we were doing. Kobe, he really didn't mess with a lot of players. We never had a relationship, we were always competitors. We would play against each other and go about our business but for him to reach out and say that he wanted to be a part of what we were creating. After that first season and him being our first episode of season two, that was the moment where I was like, .
QR: When we would call and talk to our people from our hometowns and we heard they were playing it in the barbershops. For me that means you're touching the community. If they're going to put it on in a barbershop it's going to stay on. Nobody's coming in sayingor that means something where we come from, getting that type of love.
AR: When you listen to it you feel like these athletes are talking to a family member or someone who is in their trusted circle. When athletes are interviewed there are different levels of comfortability. And you can almost sense it in the first answer that you get or even that first handshake. As soon as Darius says that first question it's like the athlete might be looking around thinking It's so familiar what they bring. When I listen to it, because I played basketball, I'll always say that I was born to produce this pod because I grew up with two older brothers that are literally Q and D reincarnated in my mind. It's like I was prepared for this in a way I didn't expect. The joy that you feel when you play pickup ball at the playground or in the gym is the joy that's coming across in the pod.