Alex Karaban: Dan Hurley Saga and Being Back on Campus

Alex is back to talk the rollercoaster of the week that was the Coach Hurley Lakers talk, what it’s like being back on campus, starting to practice with the team, summer plans, and more.

I think we could call this the uh the first episode of season 3 of the of the podcast back with Alex so Alex welcome back I hope hope you’re enjoying being back on campus so far no it’s been awesome I’ve been so happy being back this can be season three season two kind of had a crazy ending to it so we can move on from that yeah hey we kick off season 3 with some fireworks too uh so uh we’ll have some fun we’ll get into everything that’s been going on the past couple weeks but but let’s start with this I know after you made the decision to uh to come back to kind of got to go home and relax for for a little bit how was that before coming back to campus it was good it was a good short two three-ish days I’d say I was home before I got campus so no it was good just to spend some time with family spend some time with friends uh me and my boys we went to the Celtics game one game which was a lot of fun and um it was just good I just tried relaxing as much as possible before I headed down back for our summer workouts I’ve got to ask because you get this question tweeted as aot how are the dogs doing at home they’re doing fine my mom she’s obsessed with them so um they’re doing they’re doing just fine we got three of them now so they’re kind of you know they’re a mad house in the um they’re just going crazy in the house now which is it’s a lot of dogs yeah yeah three three is definitely a lot there I guess guess I goty make up for you not being in there right no exactly I guess so so you get back to campus what it like getting to come back back in and C aone kind of like for the first time after you made that decision getting to be back with the team and the coaches and everyone it was exciting just because um I wanted to be back there and I was just I wanted to be with the team just get to know the guys at least that’s what’s important about the summer is just trying to build that chemistry and um it was important to get out there and just start playing against each other and it’s good I mean the team’s been really good we have a lot of Talent on this team which you know is great for us and I truly think something special could happen this year and all the guys on the team are great it’s just super easy to talk to all of them was it tough getting back into a uh a hurly run practice after you kind of had a few days off at home and been doing some of the NBA workouts yeah definitely just because you know Hurley Hurley he’s always on another level so um definitely my first day back was a little bit of an adjustment but after that I was good from there so um yeah I’d say so it was a little different after getting coached up at like the NBA Combine and then you go to Hurley which is definitely definitely different for sure all right we obviously got to talk about about Coach early a little bit because as was the the big news of of the past couple weeks uh give me your initial reaction when you first heard the news about you know what he had been possibly looking into with the Lakers yeah I seen it was at like 7 AM or something so I was just I was opening my eyes reading I seen Dan hurly ESPN notification I was like whoa um no um I I was happy for him just because you know I love him as a person love him as a coach and for him to you know be able to consider an NBA job such as the Lakers I mean it’s a huge blessing so obviously I was happy for him but at the same time I was definitely nervous because I wanted him to be my coach for this season and you know I feel like our time wasn’t up yet with you know you know the player coach relationship that we have so um definitely excited for him and happy for him at the same time nervous that’s kind of how I was and I think that was kind of what the rest of the guys were too just super excited for him to consider it and we wanted him to consider it but at the same time we obviously selfishly wanted him back as our coach yeah uh I know the the fan base was an emotional roller coaster over the the few days while it was all going on what was it like for for you and and your teammates kind of definitely being a lot closer to this situation than a lot of us are yeah I mean um it was helpful that coach talked to us on Thursday that you know he was going to consider the job and kind of you know just to trust what he’s saying and Trust what he’s feeling with the other coaching stff telling us to just to you know don’t don’t read into the media and don’t talk to the media at the time just because the media I mean you saw so many different sources that were true or untrue and there were just so many things that were like I don’t know they found out about our team meetings they found out about our practice schedules all that stuff and it was just crazy but um the team we met and we just you know we just had to say together and that you know just use it as a time to really just be stronger together and you know whe whatever decision happened we just had to stick together and you know just make sure that you know we we know what that he wants what’s best for him and we want what’s best for Coach too and then um if he does come back or does um you know go then we just got to stay together I think one thing that was really interesting I don’t think anyone really knew about it until he did his media availability the other day was was the fact that he gave you a phone call to uh to talk it through what what what’s going through your head when you see calling you that night I was surprised I didn’t expect I didn’t expect a phone call from him just because I knew he was busy enough so I didn’t think you know he’d want to call me and talk to me about it but I mean it just speaks to the relationship that we have it just you know I mean I was just I’m just thankful that he called me and that’s such like an important decision for him and his family that he was willing to talk to me about it it’s I mean I’m just beyond thankful for that and it was a great talk I mean we were just open about it he was expressing you know his concerns about you know Lakers job and you know possibly coming back to Yukon too and just trying to get my thoughts on it and you know he just wanted to ask me just because I went through such a similar process too obviously two different positions but um you know whether I wanted to go to the NBA or come back and he just tried to get in my thoughts and we just talked it all through yeah I you said you were playing 2K you end up winning that game afterwards no I lost that game too and I was getting up after I played I was getting up dinner like to go pick up my food and then I when I pick up my phone I seen coach Earley calling me I was like whoa I got an answer were you playing as the Lakers that night no there were no I was not playing as the Lakers and I was definitely not playing against the Lakers I couldn’t I didn’t want to play the Lakers that day so by the time you got off the the phone with him did you get any sort of sense of of his decision or was it really not until Monday when you guys had that meeting that you realized what was happening it wasn’t until Monday um you know he’ kind of he was he expressed both sides of the situation on the phone call with me but he still told me that he was going to decide and like he still needed the night to think about it so um I didn’t know it was happening until the team meeting and that’s when really everybody found out because I think he said like um he told the media before and like we were in the film room for like 20 minutes early so like Twitter knew about it and um he was talking to us about it the same time so um it was good to it was good to hear from him because we wanted to hear from him instead of you know W or someone who would tweet it out yeah I I assume the reaction everyone was really excited when he said it super excited we were super excited had a lot of energy and practice later that day and it was just a huge sigh of relief just because you know we all wanted him back and it was just it was just awesome to he decided to come back yeah the last question I’ve got on this whole whole news story of the past week or so is it seemed like coach’s wife has a pretty big Sway in the decision-making process and seemed like she’s pretty involved with you guys in the team I don’t think we necessarily hear as much about you know what you guys you know your level of interaction with her is like but it seems like it’s a pretty big relationship there what’s it what’s it been like getting to you know kind of be around Andrea and what she brings to you guys she’s the best I mean she writes us poems oh she like gives us like her and a coach gives like a candy before like the game on game day and like she writes a poem for us like every every game she’s written us a poem and I mean every time we go up to their house for team bonding activities she she’s always welcoming and just you know she just gives us a lot of love and it’s just nice to have that I mean we’re away from our families all the time so for her to do that and for Coach to allow us to you know kind of be a part of their families too off the court it’s special and I mean she’s the best she’s the best I mean she’s everywhere with us during the team bonding activities and I mean just the love that she gives us and the support that she gives us I mean it truly means a lot to us when we’re away from home for so long it’s got to be team bonding time really now right as as you’ve got this summer and trying to you know really start to interact with each other and build that off the the court chemistry what’s it been like so far it’s been a lot of fun we got we got a couple good personalities on the team so it’s good seeing you know that and um it’s a lot of fun I mean the returners we definitely have the connection on already but the new guys they fit right in perfectly and it’s it’s been great we’ve obviously went to the Red Sox yesterday and then we’ve done other team bonding activities too so it’s been great and you know that is what the summer is for Yeah you mentioned you got a couple personalities on this team outside of yourself who who are the other big personalities on this team uh Aiden Aiden and ter have a funny relationship that he their roommates you kind of get to see that friendship off the so that’s that’s been a good one Ahmad ahmad’s definitely out there and then Isaiah and Liam are kind of like the Cal like not so Liam’s more like the calm laidback type of personal z z could Z and Amad could kind of fit in like you know the outgoing type of people too all right did you end up deciding on a roommate situation or you got the place to yourself I got the place to myself right now for the Su I don’t know what’s I don’t mind that I’m G take I’m G take a single um during the fall I’m not too sure yet but if I got to have the room to myself for this season I’m I’m fine with that too yeah there you go enjoy uh summer is here and if you want to be champion of the grill make sure you’re serving the best hot dogs around I’m talking about Martin Rosal our friends in New Britain have been making their small batch gourmet hot dogs for four generations using Martin’s original recipes from 1928 so if you want to dominate your cookouts just like the huskys dominated the tournament be sure to grab some Rosal dogs at your local grocery store or pay a visit to their retail store on Grove Street in New Britain as always go support a Yukon fan-owned business and now back to the episode no uh your old roommate Donovan was back on on campus the other day was it like getting to see him around there again no one knew he was coming he didn’t tell anybody maybe the coaches knew and that was it so like I was just out in the gym early yesterday and I seen him walk by I was like whoa so um no I mean it was great to see him I missed him a lot and you know know he’s got big things coming up for him later this month so um it was just great to see him I I did miss him a lot everyone else missed him a lot and he’s just such an easy person to be around so yeah it was good brought back some memories being being with him and you know I can’t wait to see where he lands in some ways it feels like it was like so long ago but then at the end of the day it was like three months ago or whatever so it does feel it does I know what you mean but it does feel it does feel so long ago yeah as you’ve been starting to get to to practice with this group outside of like just getting to bond and stuff like that what what has the things what what have things been like on the court so far in these practices with this new group yeah it’s just been a lot of playing I think we just we just try to compete every day and just go you know at each other just live segments and it’s been great I mean just trying to understand the offensive Concepts understand defensively what the coach and staff wants us to do and just start building building what we’ve been doing the past two years specifically so uh it’s been good it’s been challenging just because you know it’s hard to learn everything it’s hard to adjust to coach’s pace and intensity right away so it takes time for sure but I think the groups they’ve been getting better every day with it and you know we we’ definitely been seeing progress yeah uh what’s impressed you so far about this group that you have as you I know it’s only been what a week of practice maybe but what’s impressed you early on here I think it’s just a talent we have so many different guys that one through 12 really I mean anybody could go off any night it seems like and just the talent level is incredible and it’s going to be good for us this season just with the depth we know how important depth is during the March Madness run and um you know if someone’s not having a great game or week of practice there’s always someone that you know next man up that could take your spot so it always makes you you know got to go every every time you step out there for practice every time you step out there for the game and knowing that you know anybody could take anybody’s spot this year I I know coach Harley mentioned the other day during the media that that uh got a a more bulked up Samson what’s it like seeing more bulked up Samson out there it’s been great seeing him more bulked up Samson I mean he’s really improved just what I’ve know is just his post moves already and just like the touch shot that he has and he’s really starting to expand his game and just be he’s definitely a lot stronger out there and you could tell so uh I know that was something important for him just trying to improve his body as well and and he’s done a great job of that I mean he’s a hard worker everyone knows how hard he works so you know I’m just glad that the results are paying off now all right well well we talked about some other big news this week but let’s talk about what the the real news of the week was and that was your first pitch yesterday so uh let’s get into that a little bit or first off are you a big baseball fan or not really I’m gonna be honest I I never played baseball growing up I I don’t like watching baseball I’m GNA be honest I I don’t know I’m not a big b type of fan so but I do Follow the Red Sox so I I do try to support them so like if they are in the World Series I might watch a little bit of it but you’re bandwagon fan bandwagon fan no no no no no Mom Boston through and through for sports bases so um gotta support them if I have an MLP team even if you’re not a baseball fan I feel like getting to go on the field at Fenway get to step on the mound there still had to be pretty cool right oh it’s so cool I mean just going yeah going out there going in the middle of the field it’s awesome and it is a blessing it is a dream come true just because you know not the biggest baseball fan but you know like how historic Fenway Park is and you see the green monster you see Wall-E you see all of them there so it’s super special and I mean I never I was there at Fenway for like field trips going up during school but like not on the field so it was definitely super cool yeah how how did you prep for the pitch did you actually like do some practice for it I did um Thursday when like it got closer to the day I went out to Elliots the baseball field here and started throwing it from the mound because that’s what I wanted to do and it was either a strike or it was going to be historically one of the worst pitches first pitches so I needed to practice more Friday I was like I’m gonna go practice didn’t practice so I’m like all right and then Saturday I’m like I gotta practice today’s the day I got to throw a baseball I practiced in the morning and and worth so it didn’t really help me out um it it went well and then I practiced after practice after our team practice and like everyone was watching coaches were watching there were people shooting around and stuff they were just seeing me throw the baseball and not GNA lie it was probably like every 10 pitches two of them were good the rest of them were God awful so coach was more more so nervous heading into the first pitch then I was able to warm up beforehand and then I got my the teammate my teammates had my back when we stepped there so that’s all the confidence I needed yeah and you you had to be pretty pretty satisfied with the pitch you actually threw there it’s pretty good oh I’m taking that based on based on how I was practicing and based on you know Coach Murray was trying to give me tips too I don’t know if I followed through on that during the first pitch but you know I’mma I’mma take that um Pitch any day of the week how’s the arm feeling today it’s still feeling pretty good or or you got to ice it down a little bit might have to ice it down the shoulder you know after the heat that was thr on that ball I might have to ice it see James later today or tomorrow I didn’t see anyone get the radar gun on that we gotta get the speed on on that one I think yeah I don’t know what the speed of that was I’m not expecting it to be high but you know um I I am curious about that too yeah don’t you guys do the uh the team softball game right so you got to you got to check another one there we’ll we’ll bring out the radar gun and see what we get yeah I also got to I lost that game last year so I got to construct a better team this year me and Donovan did a PO job of that last year just another reason you had to come back right you had to avenge the the softball loss exactly gotta finish off the softball win wh while you were there did you get to interact with any of the the Yankees or Red Sox players yesterday um I want to say a couple of the Red Sox ones I mean me Stewie and Aiden we had to go to the bathroom so they let us in the bath with a Red Sox Locker which was pretty cool so we we were able to see what they were doing there but um not not as much just kind of let them focus and get ready for the Rivalry game yeah you get a chance to catch a glimpse of Aaron judge because he’s one of those guys who looks like he should probably be playing basketball too no I know he’s he’s jacked I mean um he um we watched until like about like the sixth inning and like every time they they said his name was up at plate like to hit hit a ball like we all like stopped what we were doing just like watched like we knew we knew how great of a player he was so um it was it was definitely super close to him up and close yeah well I’m a Yankees fan didn’t go quite their way but but at least you uh I guess you brought your red suck a little bit of luck there so congrats on that one exactly thank you uh speaking of Boston teams I know you’re a big Celtics Guy game five how you feeling heading into that one uh I’m feeling good feeling confident hopefully they could you know get Championship done in Boston if they do end up losing on Monday then I’m going be I’ll be pretty damn nervous so um you know hoping they finish it off in game five once that happens in game five I can get Liam a nice little Celtic shirt for him to wear the next day and that would be a great end I was gonna ask because I know he’s a mad you guys been going back and forth on that we have been and then now that it when it was 3 and when it was yeah when it was 3 I kind of just let him let him be just you know and then yesterday when we were in Boston I reminded him that this is where the 2024 NBA champions reside so um you know take a take a good you know look at the city and um but um no we’ve been and then when I was at the game game one I was texting him like some porzingis gifs and stuff when porzingis was going off so definitely a little smack talk between us and then he did some smack talk when he was in Fenway yesterday just chanted Mavs in seven so um you know he’s gaining some confidence back yeah all right we’ll see what happens uh game five uh see if it gets a little more heated uh what’s kind of the rest of the summer like for you now that you’re you’re back on campus yeah it’s just workouts um I know we got a couple um dinners I know we have a dinner coming up on Wednesday yeah and um yeah just team bonding activities summer workouts and then when we get the time off I’m taking the time off I’m trying to I might plan a trip with my friends somewhere tropical hopefully um in the mix of that right now but um no we do have like the week off in between sessions and after summer too I’m GNA need to take time off just after the process I’ve been through and definitely the hurly workouts so um I’m looking forward to my rest times coming up go enjoy it when you can uh go go somewhere sounds nice uh tropical Cape Cod somewhere it might end up being Cape Cod because then we’re going to see the money add up we don’t want to spend that much money so we’ll probably be Cap Cod hey you just got to do some niil the next couple weeks and you’ll be good to go right exactly why not um Alex I I always appreciate the time I know it’s been a really crazy past uh couple months and uh excited to kick off season three of this this podcast uh hope we nice and smooth from here on out and uh have some fun stuff to talk about as the year goes on there should be no more distractions hope hopefully so um you know I’m glad that we get to get rolling now and see how good this team becomes yeah awesome well Alex thanks so much and we’ll talk later on this summer appreciate you thank you for having me