Take 22 with Anton Watson (episode 1): A transcript

Anton Watson’s new podcast, “Take 22,” made its debut at www.spokesman.com on Tuesday. Alongside co-host Theo Lawson, a reporter at The Spokesman-Review, Gonzaga’s versatile forward broke down action on the court, talked about growing up in the northwest, and offered some rapid-fire fun in their closing “catch-and-shoot” segment.

Catch the entire first episode here. It’s also available on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Google podcasts. Find future episodes every Tuesday.

Following is a transcript.

Theo Lawson: Welcome to the first episode of the “Take 22” Podcast with Anton Watson, presented by The Spokesman-Review. I’m Theo Lawson, a Gonzaga beat reporter for The Spokesman-Review. I’m here with…

Anton: Anton Watson.

Theo: Anton, how’s it going?

Anton: It’s going good you know a little light day, nothing too much today but just chilling right now.

Theo: What does a light day look like for Anton Watson in the middle of a basketball season?

Anton: Just a couple classes, some weights and practice, usually, and that’s basically my light day.

Theo: Sounds good. This is our first episode. This is going to be a weekly episode taped on Monday. We’re coming to you Monday night. We’re taping this Monday night from The Spokesman-Review Tower, the fourth floor, so expect us to come to your doorstep, all your podcast avenues on Tuesday morning. You can find us at iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts and we’re going to just kind of be recapping some games, previewing the next week of games and, hopefull,y have some of Anton’s teammates and some other guests on, right?

Anton: Yes sir.

Theo: We’re going to kind of get to know Anton today in the first episode, talk about last week’s games against Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s, preview this week’s games against USF and BYU. We’re also going to just do a little recap of the season. Now we’re kind of coming to you guys late in the season, but it’s all about peaking for March, right?

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: You guys know all about that, right?

Anton: Most definitely.

Theo: Quickly, we’ll go over Gonzaga’s games last week. We’re going to start out with an 88-70 win over Santa Clara in Spokane. The Zags beat Santa Clara. Santa Clara played you guys really close down there. Kind of needed a late 3-pointer from Nolan Hickman to kind of rescue you guys and come out with the win down there, but I think you guys really started to kind of turn the quarter defensively in that game, only gave up 24 points in the first half to the Broncos, who have a really good offensive team, led by Brandin Podziemski. And I believe that was your lowest point total conceded in the half since the season opener against North Florida. Just talk a little bit about your guys’ defense and kind of how you feel about that side of the ball right now.

Anton: Yeah, so we’ve been focused on defense for the past couple months, you know? I think that was just our main focus and first half, we came out with some energy and you could just tell by everyone on the court that the bench was bringing energy, the fans, and it just kind of felt like a different vibe that game. But we definitely brought it first half, and then that kind of carried the momentum for us going into the second and we kept that lead. They got a couple of tough buckets in the second half and they were scoring a lot more, but that first half helped a lot by slowing them down and slowing their flow.

Theo: What do you think is making the difference on the defensive side? You know, Coach Few’s talked about rotations, closing out on 3-point shooters, just kind of doing assignments. Is it that simple on the defensive side of things for you guys right now, and where do you see the most improvement if you had to pick one or two things?

Anton: Yeah, I’ll just say everyone buying into the defense is the biggest thing. Just picking up for a man when he gets back cut or something, or diving on the floor for a ball, just all the little things. I think one area we clean up, just as a team, bigs and guards, is just defensive rebounding. I’m not giving them second-chance points, but overall I think our defense is collectively getting better.

Theo: We’re going to talk about your stat line from that game real quick. Eight of 8 from the field, didn’t miss a shot from the field, tied your season high with 18 points. I believe your career high was 23, so didn’t quite get there, but we’ve got some time still the rest of the year. Five rebounds, four assists, no turnovers. You’re actually averaging 63 percent from the field on shots in conference games, that’s leading the WCC. Do you want to take a guess on who’s No. 2 on that list right now?

Anton: Probably Drew.

Theo: True to Drew. Yeah, 54%, but you’re the only player in the conference making more than 60% of your shots, and I think you talked about this after the game on Thursday. I know a lot of attention goes to Drew in these games. What else are you doing within your own game to to be more efficient this year?

Anton: I think just being aggressive. I put in so much work over the summer and even the days before the games. I go and get extra shots, so all that work is just giving me the confidence to go in the game and shoot the shots that I can shoot, and get to my spots, get to the hook or even knock down some 3s. So, I think my confidence on the offensive side just keeps getting higher, and I think that’s just helped me a lot in the long run.

Theo: We’re gonna flip the page to Saturday’s game against Saint Mary’s – 78-70 overtime loss to the Gaels down in Moraga. It moved you guys to 19-5 and 8-2 in conference play. I felt like you guys really set the tone coming out of the gates in that game. That’s a hard thing to do against Saint Mary’s because they play such a slow pace. You talked about it after Thursday. It’s kind of like watching a pickup game, right? It’s kind of the old-man game, and I think that’s a compliment to Saint Mary’s. That’s what you meant, but you guys came out and I didn’t really feel like you guys had many issues on offense and really dictated what was happening in that game. Can you take me through the first half of that game and how you guys felt going into halftime?

Anton: Yeah, we knew it was going to be physical and just a high-energy game. We came out fighting and we got a lot of defensive stops, which definitely helped, kind of like the Santa Clara game. That gave us the control of the game for a little bit, and the offense was flowing. We were getting good possessions on offense and no turnovers. So yeah, the start to that game was, I think, it was one of our best all year.

Theo: I want to ask you about one sequence in that game. You get blocked on one on the floor. Logan Johnson gets stuffed by Hunter Sallis, he chases him down. One of the better blocks I’ve seen covering this team. Chased on blocks at least and you get the ball back up top and dunk it. Take me through that sequence and especially Hunter’s defense in the first half. What did you see from him on that side of the ball?

Anton: Yeah, that just is one of the things that Hunter does. He’s definitely one of our best defenders, and you know, to do something like that just brought energy to our whole team, especially in an environment like that where everyone’s yelling at us, so you can’t really hear nothing. That kind of silence, the crowd, and got me just a wide open dunk. So yeah, plays like that, it just brings the most energy, and that’s what we need from him and from everyone.

Theo: Really, all right. Moving on to the second half of the game. A little bit different. The Gaels start to close the gap down the stretch, led by Aiden Mahaney. I believe he had 13 points in the final 6:25 of regulation and really just made some incredible shots and you guys used a handful of different defenders on him. … Hunter had his time on him in the first half, you played him in the second half, what changed late in that game that allowed him to get going?

Anton: I just think he just had all the confidence after making a couple buckets, and he wasn’t passing the ball after that. After he made some tough 2s, he definitely had his mindset that he was getting to the cup, and he’s a tough, tough player, like for a freshman, that’s tough to do … I tried to get a stop, he made a layup and then we really didn’t know what to do in the middle of the key, and we just kept our eyes on him. So credit to him, but yeah. We got some cleaning up to do for sure on that, on that side of the end.

Theo: Is there anything you can do when he’s making some of those just insane kind of scoop shots off the glass,? I think you played him on a few of those possessions about as well as he could have without fouling him or barreling into him. He just made some some great rainbow shots, and a lot of shots that might not go in on another night. He had a pretty crazy bank shot 3 that really helped them. Just tell me about the kind of shots he was making and do you feel like you could have done anything better, or is it just a case of you know, ‘hats off’ to him for making those shots?

Anton: I probably could have done a little bit better. Maybe be more physical with him and attacking him on the offensive end because he had four fouls. But once he gets like that, once he gets hot like that, there’s not much you can do and he starts banking in 3s. It’s just tough, especially in overtime. It’s a long game, and you see a banked 3 going in and you’re like, “damn.” Like yeah, you really can’t do much about that. 

Theo: I do want to ask about Drew Timme in that game. I know you guys don’t like to talk about personal records after a win, let alone a loss. it’s all about the team, but Drew did move up to No. 2 on the all-time scoring list past Jim McPhee, and he also managed to tie the school career record for field goals in a career with his 800th field goal, tying Frank Burgess. Frank Burgess obviously has the all-time scoring record that Drew is still going after, on pace to break as long as he kind of continues this streak that he’s going on. Just tell me a little bit about what it’s like to see someone you came to Gonzaga with just climb up the history books, and he’s No. 2 right now in all-time points.

Anton: It really is, honestly, crazy just to see him achieve all these records and he’s just playing the game really, like he’s not even trying to do that. I’m super proud of him, being his teammate from freshman year, like I’ve seen the growth and seen how much work he’s put in, so you know, it’s all deserved for him and it’s that’s not an easy thing to do, for sure. Like those records seem untouchable, but he’s going to be the leading scorer of all-time of GU basketball. So you know, I’m proud of him.

Theo: There’s been a lot of great scorers to come through Gonzaga, so to make it at the top of that list, you know you have to have some longevity and consistency and he’s had both things. Do you guys ever talk about those those records, or is it kind of like talking about a no-hitter in baseball, where you don’t want to talk about it and then maybe afterward you can reflect on it?

Anton: Yeah, we don’t talk about it too much. He doesn’t really bring it up, so it’s like yeah, he doesn’t really pay attention to that, but everyone sees it. Everyone notices it, and you know, he should be proud of that. To hold something like a record like that, yeah, it’s pretty cool.

Theo: Like I mentioned you guys are 19-5 overall and 8-2 in conference play. Dropped to 16 in the AP poll today. I know a 5-loss Gonzaga team is kind of not what you guys are used to. A lot of fans are a little startled and I know there’s some overreacting that happens when Zags lose more than one or two games in a season, but you know there’s 16 teams in the Top 25 that have lost at least five games.

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: Decent chance one of those teams makes a run and wins the national title. So, what’s your perspective right now about where you guys sit? You guys aren’t used to having five losses, but it’s also a year in college basketball where it feels like any team can lose. You guys have beaten the No. 3 team in the country and played some close games with teams like Baylor and beat Xavier, who’s No. 13 right now. How do you feel about where you guys are, generally speaking?

Anton: I think we feel pretty good as a team, as a whole. I feel good about us. Those losses are definitely tough, especially the close ones by like two where you feel like you could win the game and something goes wrong and we lose. So those definitely hurt, but overall, I think we just continue to keep getting better. I like our ceiling, it’s so high that we just need to focus on ourselves and not listen to anybody else. Not listen to outside noise. Just keep focusing, keep working, practice, just keep getting better, and I think we’ll be fine. Like people don’t understand that we don’t really care what people think right now. It’s about the end of the season, where we finish, so I think we’ll be alright.

Theo: Just looking ahead real quick, you guys have two more games coming up this week. WCC play starting to kind of wind down here. San Francisco on Thursday, BYU on Saturday. These are two teams that probably felt like they should have beaten down at their places. San Francisco gets really hot late, has a nice little put back there at the end to win that game. BYU, everyone talks about Julian Strawther’s 3-pointer to win the game, but you also made a key defensive stand on the other side of the court to kind of clinch that game. What do you guys expect from the Dons and the Cougars? I imagine it’s going to be similar to when you guys play LMU for the second time, play Saint Mary’s for the second time, you’re going to be hungry to beat those teams, and I imagine it’s going to be the same for USF and BYU this week.

Anton: Every team in WCC wants to beat us, especially on their home court, so I think they’re going to come out fighting. San Fran’s a good team, obviously. They gave us a fight, they just gave Saint Mary’s a fight. Like, they’re a good team, so we gotta take them seriously. I think we’ll be prepared for that … BYU’s also a good team. That’s just a rivalry. Every time we play them it’s a hard game no matter who’s ranked, who they have, like they’re gonna play their hearts out to beat us, so we gotta lock in for both those games this week because these are two big games coming up for sure.

Theo: That’ll be the last game against BYU, at least in the Kennel as a conference rival, you guys could play them in the conference tournament. Is there maybe some more meaning to that game knowing that it’s going to be the last, potentially your last game against them and potentially Gonzaga’s last game as a conference opponent?

Anton: Yeah, probably a little bit. I didn’t really think about that.

Theo: You guys think about it?

Anton: Yeah, I don’t really think about that too much, but yeah, anytime I play BYU, I know I gotta put my hard hat on and it’s gonna be a battle every time. My approach really doesn’t change. We know what they’re gonna bring every single time we play them.

Theo: Right now we’re going to get to know Anton a little bit more. I think in the future we’re going to have some guests on during this segment, get to know some of Anton’s teammates, friends, maybe some family members … Anton actually grew up in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. People probably don’t know that quite as much. I think everyone kind of associates you with Spokane now, but you grew up in Coeur d’Alene. Your mom’s side of the family is actually from Mullan, Idaho. I’ve been to Mullan, Idaho, but I do want to explain what Mullan’s like for some people who’ve never been there.

Anton: Man, Mullan is definitely different. Not that many people live there, but it’s a special place for our family. Like anytime we go up there, it’s super fun. It’s kind of peaceful. We used to go there for holidays, my grandma used to live there, so we’d go there every Christmas, Thanksgiving. It’s definitely a special place and if you’ve never been to Mullan, you should definitely drive through there. Maybe go out on Lookout Pass, something like that, but I like Mullan, it’s cool.

Theo: Yeah, it’s really pretty country up there, it’s a mining town and I think you probably get a little bit of your toughness from the Mullan side of the family.

Anton: Definitely, yeah. The Hegblooms. That’s my mom’s side of the family. She got four brothers and four sisters, so yeah, they definitely taught me a little something about being tough. Yeah.

Theo: Shout out to the Hegblooms. We did a story on you a couple years ago. It was during the Final Four in Indianapolis and I believe you have some older fans over there. You signed some basketballs for some older woman, who kind of still follow you. What’s it like to know you have that support and you have your fans at Gonzaga Prep in Spokane, but you also have this whole other section of fans in Idaho?

Anton: Oh yeah, it’s awesome. Anywhere I go, they really pop up and they’re like, “Oh, I’m from Mullan.” There’s not that many people from Mullan, so it’s cool to see people from out there and they probably know all my family out there because it’s so small. Anytime I go up there, it’s a good time and it’s fun. 

Theo: We’re gonna get a little bit into your roots with basketball. What’s your first recollection of picking up a basketball and just for background, your father Deon Sr. played basketball at the University of Idaho. I’m a Vandal. Also, I have to put the ‘V’ in front there. He was a great player there and made it to the NCAA Tournament with the Vandals, so you have some basketball in your family. Tell me a little bit about your first experience playing basketball and and when you kind of got hooked on the game.

Anton: I would say my first experience was probably like since I was born, really. They put a basketball on my hand. I had a little Fisher-Price hoop, you know I was on that every day, and then that eventually evolved to the big hoop outside in our front yard – my big brother, big sister and I, we used to always play against them and then they played AAU. I’d just be at their practices, at their games, just on the side hoop and get my shots up. So, basketball has definitely been one of the biggest things in my life, and it’s never really gone away. Like, I’ve always had a basketball around, or in my hand.

Theo: Tell me about the household games with your brother Deon, your sister Haile, what did that look like when you guys were kind of scrapping the driveway together?

Anton: It definitely got competitive, couple fights sometimes, you know smack talk, definitely. My sister likes basketball, but she was more of a volleyball player growing up. But me and my brother would go at it a lot and he kind of just bullied me, really. Beat me every single time until I got to the age where it was like he can’t really do that anymore. But my sister, too, she could hoop. She did that until I got to like middle school and I was like, nah, I’m not losing no more.

Theo: What age was that when you finally got your brother in a basketball game 1-on-1?

Anton: I don’t know, maybe like freshman year in high school or eighth grade. He’s actually a good hooper, like people who don’t realize that. He could have played basketball in college somewhere, but he decided to go the football route. But he’s actually a hooper, so it took him a while for him to let me win a game.

Theo: Were you guys competitive at pretty much everything you did, whether it was sports or board games? Anything you guys liked to do as kids that got pretty heated aside from basketball?

Anton: Yeah, video games, anything really, like chores. I’m like, ‘I’m better than you at this.’

Theo: You got competitive with chores?

Anton: Yeah, so like it was really me and him just going at it, but also at the same time, I looked up to him as a role model. I wanted to be like him so that probably annoyed him a lot. I was always by his side, doing everything he did. So that probably caused a lot of competitiveness, too.

Theo: What were the chores in the Watson household growing up. Was it just who can sweep the floor fastest? Is that how you guys got competitive with chores, or who’s washing the dishes better?

Anton: I honestly didn’t mind doing some chores, like outside chores. You know, I’d be like I’m gonna get this done before you. Something like that, but we also shared the same room, so you know how that goes. If you have an older brother and you share the same room, it’s kind of tough …

Theo: You also played baseball. You were on a 13-U team in Coeur d’Alene that nearly made it to the Little League World Series. You did make it to the California Regional. Tell me about Anton Watson, the baseball player.

Anton: Yeah, I was man. (laughing) I wasn’t bad, I ain’t gonna lie. I was a pitcher, I played first base.

Theo: I was gonna guess that at your height, pitcher and first base are the only two positions that are natural right?

Anton: Well, I could play wherever. I played shortstop a little bit, third base, centerfield and then I was the four hitter. I was a cleanup so anytime I got to the play it was either a home run, double or pop out, really.

Theo: Maybe a triple, everything.

Anton: Yeah, maybe a triple every now and then, yeah. But yeah, the baseball days are super fun. Like, those hold a lot of memories and still like a lot of those dudes growing up with, I spent a lot of time with them. If you know baseball, you practice like four hours, and a lot of it’s not even running or anything or working out, it’s kind of just standing there and spitting out seeds. So, the relationships I built through baseball were super cool, and you know I was glad I got to experience that.

Theo: Best flavor of sunflower seed, just the original or we’re gonna go with?

Anton: I like cracked pepper. Dill pickle not bad, too, but cracked pepper is my favorite.

Theo: Tell me about your pitching style, or go-to pitches, or how hard could you throw it? What were the batters looking at?

Anton: I think I threw about 70 miles per hour. I had the two seam, that was probably my best pitch and then the four seam. I had a little change-up and then I had one curveball, but I only brought that out a couple times.

Theo: A couple times a game?

Anton: Yeah, I didn’t want to mess up my shoulder, but the curveball was nasty, too.

Theo: What was that ride like with that 13-U team and how close were you guys to actually getting to Williamsport?

Anton: It was crazy. It was nothing I really experienced with sports. We stayed in San Bernardino, and if you’ve seen the complex, I don’t even know how to describe it, but we were rooming with the Hawaiians, and I’ve never really met that many Hawaiians at once and it was probably the coolest experience I’ve had just with any type of sport, just hanging with them off the field and seeing them playing stuff, and meeting new friends. That was one of the craziest experiences. I think we played Montana and we lost a walk-off, but we would have played Washington. I think they went to Williamsport, and they had a good squad, like they’re super good, but yeah I think we lost to Montana on a walk-off.

Theo: That’s tough, yeah. Kind of shift into basketball. Growing up, you eventually moved to Spokane, started playing sports in Spokane, played on an AAU team coached by a point guard – some people might know John Stockton – played on John Stockton’s team. Tell me about that experience, how you end up on an AAU team with John Stockton, and what was that like learning from you know, one of the best to do it.

Anton: Oh yeah, so I grew up playing with my Coeur d’Alene friends. My mom and dad were the coaches for a long time, then I started the shift over to the Spokane area and started playing with some of the club teams over here around eighth grade. Then after my eighth grade season, it was a good season. Like, I was dunking … I got a couple of my first dunks.

Theo: And tell me about your first dunk? I know every player remembers that first time.

Anton: I think my first dunk was in seventh grade, and it was a middle school game. So the team you played was just terrible, but all my teammates were like, “you gotta dunk in this game.” I was like “alright,” like, I’m gonna get one this game and everyone in the whole gym was just shocked. They’re like, especially from Idaho, no one’s ever seen that in Idaho. So yeah, that was definitely a cool experience, just being able to dunk it at that age. It was cool.

Theo: Did you learn any ball skills from from John Stockton? You’re kind of known for being a big man who can handle it along with Drew, but playing under a guard like that, do you kind of learn how to become a guard even though you’re a big man?

Anton: No question. The way we practiced, he didn’t really care what position you played. I think we all did the same thing, all the same drills: ball handling drills, passing drills, it didn’t really matter. If you were big, you got to do the same drills as the point guard, so that definitely helped me a lot. Then, his IQ of the game is like, crazy, just to sit in the room and listen to him talk about basketball. You would be amazed at just all the things that he thinks of while he’s playing. So I definitely picked up so much from him, and it’s helped me to this day with the game of basketball.

Theo: I’m sure a handful of the listeners followed you at Gonzaga Prep, but I want to hear especially about your 2017, I believe it was the 2017-18, season. Your junior year, you guys go 27-0, win the state title. I’m just going to read you some of the guys that were on that team. You know him, but for the listeners, Liam Lloyd playing at Northern Arizona. Originally played at Grand Canyon, yourself, Carter Sonneborn, who played at Washington State as a walk-on and went to Whitworth after that, AJ Few, Devin Culp, UW football player, Sam Lockett, WSU football player. That has to be the most athletic team in Eastern Washington in history, right?

Anton: Yeah, we have some dogs on that team and if you watch us play, like we play with that energy like defense, we weren’t letting people score on us at all and we were dunking. Everyone could dunk. We were just kind of smacking teams really. It’s the most physical team I probably played on growing up.

Theo: Some of these scores, 71-35, 71-26.

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: So you’re definitely doing it on both sides of the floor.

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: Any memories of that season that stick out to you? I’m sure the state title is one of them, probably at the top of the list.

Anton: That was the year we played Richland, and that was probably one of my best games in my high school career. I mean I dunked it twice on the big fella and then I hit the game-winner, so that was probably one of the best games I played ever. You know that team was really a brotherhood. Everyone loved being around each other, and we kicked it on and off the court like every day, so you know our team was definitely special.

Theo: We’re going to talk a little bit about your decision to go to Gonzaga, but first I want to know, when did you start following Gonzaga’s basketball program? Any specific games that you remember being kind of the first game or first few games that you watched?

Anton: I watched them a lot growing up, and then I think one of the first times I really started like locking in on Gonzaga, it was probably when I was like third grade. Austin Daye, he pulled up to one of our park and rec games, and I was like, I really didn’t know who he was. I was just a youngin’. I used to be fans of anyone – I was low-key kind of bandwagon when I was a younger. So he pulled up to the game and he was like 6-10. I was like, who is this, everyone’s going crazy, so I got to meet him and got his autograph. I was like, yeah, this is pretty cool. Like, just to see someone local, someone close, and he’s just out here supporting us. That’s the first time I really started liking the Zags.

Theo: Would you say he was kind of your Gonzaga idol growing up, if you had a favorite player maybe, or was there someone else that kind of became the guy that you looked up to?

Anton: Yeah, I’ll say he’s one of them, and then obviously Morrison. He was that guy when he played, so I definitely was like, yeah, he was tough. And then Gary Bell. I don’t think he gets enough love. When I watched him play, he played against my brother I think in high school because they’re around the same age … my brother’s playing club, and my brother said like he was one of the toughest players he’s ever seen. GB, yeah, he was super tough, and he knows that, too. He’s still tough. He’d be playing pickup with us like he’s still getting buckets.

Theo: And then just moving on to Gonzaga, when did you know that Gonzaga is the school I want to go to? You committed pretty early, you know, hopefully we can have Coach Few on the podcast to talk about recruiting you, but it would have to be the shortest recruiting trip. You guys have recruited everywhere in the world: Japan, Australia, all over Europe. Driving a mile down the road to G-Prep probably isn’t too bad.

Anton: Yeah, it was a pretty easy decision. I think I committed my sophomore year, but yeah, I think it was a good decision for me to make that early. I got to hang out with the dudes, worked out with Rui a couple times. I got to see the process. I was so close, I got to go to most of the games, and just seeing that environment was super cool. It was special. I could tell then, just the family atmosphere, that they hold is different from any other college, and I think a lot of people can say that.

Theo: Yeah, we talked about your basketball career, we talked about your baseball career. I have a Twitter submission from a family member who is telling me to ask about your time running cross country in elementary school. Do you have any recollection of running cross country, placing first?

Anton: Who was that?

Theo: It’s an anonymous source. You can ask later.

Anton: Yeah, it might have been my mom, but yeah, cross country. I did that a lot. First grade, second grade. I think I won districts, but yeah I was a running machine. Like, I’d wake up early in the morning, just go run and it kind of faded away. It wasn’t my favorite thing, but I was competitive, so like any type of sport, I was trying to win at it. And cross country, yeah, I was pretty good at it.

Theo: I’m sure there’s got to be some carryover between running cross country and playing basketball. You’re running up and down a court for two hours. I’m sure that helped little bit even though it was a long time ago.

Anton: Yeah, I think it helped in the long run for sure.

Theo: We’re gonna move on to our catch-and-shoot segment. A couple quick hitter questions with Anton before we get out of here … This is going to be themed every week, so this week we’re going to say you know if you had to do one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? So, I have a few questions here for Anton. So, we’re going to start out, if you had to wear one basketball shoe for the rest of your life in games, what would it be and why?

Anton: I’ll probably say the Kobe 8s. I had worn a pair of those and like they’re probably my favorite shoe, like most comfy, and I like the low cuts, so yeah. Those are my favorite shoes. It kind of sucks because they’re so hard to get, but yeah, they’re super nice.

Theo: What’s the color?

Anton: I had the red and black ones. I think the whole team got the red and black ones, but I wore those like every single game, every practice, like I wish I could get another pair right now.

Theo: If you had to listen to one musical artist for the rest of your life? Only get one.

Anton: That’s tough. I’ll say Drake, can’t go wrong with Drake.

Theo: Yeah, can’t go wrong.

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: One pregame song, and I’m sure you have a list of pregame songs that you listen to before every game, but if you have to listen to one on repeat for an hour before every game, what’s it gonna be?

Anton: Man, I don’t know, that’s a tough one. I listen to so many different songs before a game. Right now though, if I had to choose, it would be ‘Just Wanna Rock’ by Lil Uzi.

Theo: That’s a good one, yeah, yeah. Everyone’s played that before. I know that, too.

Anton: So yeah, that’s my song.

Theo: One dinner course you have to eat every day for the rest of your life?

Anton: Pasta. It don’t really matter what kind of pasta. I’ll say just any kind of white sauce, red sauce, like that’s my favorite thing to eat.

Theo: Anything on it? Cheese? Any kind of meat? Maybe some parmesan?

Anton: Yeah, some meat in there. I can’t go wrong with that, right?

Theo: Yeah, one breakfast item?

Anton: Bagel. Actually when I was growing up, I used to eat bagels like every single day before school with some cream cheese, or just butter, but like that’s my favorite breakfast.

Theo: Just a plain bagel, cinnamon raisin? I’m just playing maybe.

Anton: Maybe a cheesy bagel.

Theo: And the last one, I know you’re a big FIFA guy. I’m a FIFA guy myself. I’m a soccer guy. You have to pick one FIFA team to play with for the rest of your life and you can’t choose PSG because I think that’s cheating right now.

Anton: It’s Real Madrid, Real Madrid. That’s my squad. You know I really just started watching soccer about three years ago, but yeah that’s my squad.

Theo: That’s a good choice, you can’t get wrong with Real Madrid. Yeah that’s all them, Barcelona, there’s probably a number of teams you can choose.

Anton: Yeah.

Theo: But alright, that’s gonna do it for our catch-and-shoot segment. This is the first episode of Take 22 with Anton Watson. We’re gonna be doing this for the rest of the season. I think we’ll have one postseason show, too, so stay tuned every Tuesday for the rest of the year, and that’s it. Thanks, Anton.

Anton: Yes sir, It’s a wrap.