Malin and Lucas Morrison are the mother-and-son ownership team behind Red Rose Thunder, a professional basketball organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They purchased the franchise in 2020 and have built it into a respected program that has competed in professional and pro-am leagues while helping players pursue opportunities around the world. Malin, who grew up playing basketball in Sweden, serves as the team’s head coach and became one of the first women to lead a team in The Basketball Tournament. Lucas became the youngest general manager in TBT history at age 20, overcoming the challenges of autism and Crohn’s disease to build a career in the sport he loves. In 2026, the Morrisons will help lead Red Rose War Ready, a partnership between Red Rose Thunder and Auburn alumni team War Ready, as it competes for TBT’s $2 million winner-take-all championship.

On this episode Mike talks with Malin & Lucas about the details of owning the Red Rose Thunder, a professional basketball team. They delve into their remarkable journey, from acquiring the team in 2020 to navigating the challenges of the TBT (The Basketball Tournament). Malin, as a pioneering female head coach, and Lucas, the youngest general manager in TBT history, share insights on overcoming personal adversities and achieving success in a male-dominated arena. The episode underscores the significance of teamwork, resilience, and the pivotal role of analytics in shaping their strategic approach to roster building and game preparation as they join forces with the Auburn alumni of War Ready for TBT 2026.

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Take a few notes as you listen to this episode with Malin and Lucas Morrison from the Red Rose Thunder.

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I'll never forget after all the hard work of getting into TBT and everything it does.

I'll never forget looking at the scoreboard and seeing our logo on the scoreboard and the video on the thing and I start like getting a little emotional.

I had to log back in because we got a game to win.

But that moment is one of those moments you'll never Forget.

I'll be like 80 telling my great grandchildren or grandchildren about seeing the logo on the TBT scoreboard.

Malin and Lucas Morrison are the mother and son ownership team behind Red Rose Thunder, a professional basketball organization based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Malin, who grew up playing basketball in Sweden, serves as the team's head coach and became one of the first women to lead a team in the basketball tournament.

Lucas became the youngest general manager in TBT history at the age of 20, overcoming the challenges of autism and Crohn's disease to build a career in the sport he loves.

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Take a few notes as you listen to this episode with Malin and Lucas Morrison from the Red Rose Thunder.

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads podcast.

It's Mike Cleansing here without my co host Jason Sunkel tonight.

But I am pleased to welcome from the Red Rose Thunder, Malin and Lucas Morrison.

Malin and Lucas, welcome to the Hoop Heads pod.

Guys, thank you for having us.

Thank you for having us.

Excited to be here?

Yes, we are excited to have you guys on.

I'm just really interested to learn more about what you guys do, how you do it, and sort of the genesis of how you guys got started in this, this world of the TBT and professional basketball.

And then obviously it's a unique duo with a mother and son working together.

Yes.

In professional basketball, it's not something that you see or hear about every day.

So I'm curious to, to get the full story.

Marlon, let's start with you.

Just kind of give me your background and how you got into basketball as a kid.

What sort of led you down the road of becoming a basketball coach?

Okay.

As a kid, I grew up in Sweden.

I played in Sweden.

Is different.

We don't have school teams as much as you do here.

I played for a club team, was one of the youngest players on our club team.

We found out there is such a thing as a basketball high school in the south of Sweden.

My coach for my younger team, I still played with my own age.

And then with the women's team, she went with me to the tryouts.

I got selected to one of eight players that got selected that year to attend basketball high school.

So I left home at 15 and from there basketball has been the center of my life.

Well, until Lucas.

I think she threw that in there for you.

Lucas, I would have felt, I would have felt bad for you if she.

Didn't throw your name in there.

So Malin, when you, when I think about basketball in Sweden for young women during the time when you were growing up, were there a lot of other girls playing basketball at the time or were you kind of unique in your era of playing of, of playing as much basketball as you did.

I think from where I was from, it was more unique.

Basketball is not a big sport in Sweden, but I was also from a small town up north in Sweden, so.

And I was more hockey and soccer and know, curling even, to be honest.

But it was what I fell in love with and it's what I wanted to do.

So I got a lot of support, you know, from the town and, and from my coaches.

When you left home, what was that like as a 15 year old girl to leave home and, and go and live somewhere else and just kind of focus on basketball?

Was it something that you had always kind of dreamed about and thought about?

Was there any homesickness involved?

Just what was your mindset?

You were just excited to be there and be able to do basketball all the time?

I was excited to leave home.

No.

I was very independent at a young age.

So for me to be alone and live alone was not a new concept.

So, I mean, I had my own apartment when I went to this high school and took care of everything, but it was just, you know, every day for me.

What was the highlight of your playing career?

When you think about, and it doesn't necessarily have to be something on the court, but when you think about yourself as a player, what's one of your favorite memories from your time as a basketball player?

To get to represent Sweden in the world championships in Turkey.

We played in izmir, Turkey in 91.

So to wear, you know, your country's colors and to walk out and, you know, to be representing the country, that was probably the biggest moment.

While you were still playing, were you thinking at all about coaching?

Because I always say there's two different routes to the coaching profession that I hear most coaches usually fit into one or the other.

There's the person who was playing and the whole time while they're playing, they thought about being a coach.

They were the one that was always drawing up plays on a napkin.

They were always trying to coach their teammates.

They kind of always knew in the back of their mind that they wanted to coach.

And then there's the other person who was just focused on being the best player that they could possibly be.

Never really thinking about the coaching side of it.

And then suddenly their playing careers over and they look around, they're like, I still want to be involved in basketball.

How can I do that?

Well, let me get into coaching.

So I don't know if either one of those roads to coaching better describes you.

I think for me it went more hand in Hand.

I think because of the big role my coaches played in my life, it was always something I wanted to do as well, because they helped me so much in so many important, you know, crossroads in my life that I wanted to pay that forward.

And I knew that even when I played, you know, after school, when I played in the women's series and stuff, I still coach the younger teams.

Yeah.

To be able to get into coaching and always feeling like that it was something that was important to you.

I can see where that transition was a natural one for you.

What did you take to coaching right away?

What part of it did you most enjoy when you first got the opportunity to coach those younger teams?

Was there one part of it that really stood out to you, that you're like, oh, yeah, like, I love this part of coaching.

I love the part when you are able to show a player who don't really believe in themselves, to really show them what they truly can do.

And then when they see it, when that switch goes on, I think that's more rewarding than anything.

Absolutely.

I think that's something that.

When I think about the ability to.

To teach.

Right.

Because coaching is teaching.

And when you see a player that is trying to get it, Is trying to get it, is trying to get it, you're demonstrating something or you're showing a particular move or you're working with your team on a particular set or whatever it is, and then finally it clicks for them.

I think that's one of those moments, right.

As a coach where you kind of.

You take that step back and you take that deep breath, and you're like, all right, it feels good that they got it.

And you know, that the player or the players or your team appreciates those things.

And those are the moments, I think, that we.

That we live for as coaches is the ability to be able to have our players learn from what it is that we're teaching them.

And.

Right.

It's that old John Wooden saying of, you haven't taught unless they've learned.

And so I think as coaches, that's where we really see that gratification is getting.

Getting the opportunity to be able to, you know, to be able to teach our players and to have them learn something from.

From what it is that.

That we've experienced both as.

As players and coaches.

Tell me a little bit about coming to the United States and when that happened for you, why it happened for you.

And then Lucas will bring you into the conversation here momentarily.

So nothing about our lives are normal.

I was the trainer for An American football team in Sweden, like the physical trainer, and they had two Americans on the team.

And, you know, for fun, we will play pickup basketball together.

Like, Marlon, you can really play.

You ever thought about going here?

I'm like, yeah, but I'm older now, you know, but I know somebody, and we send film, and, you know, a couple of months later, I was here playing at Wilmington College in Delaware.

It's funny how that stuff works.

What was the experience like coming and living in the United States?

Just culturally, athletically, socially?

How did you adapt and adjust?

It took me a while.

There's a lot of changes in Sweden.

I'm so used to walking to everything, so I still walk to school because I didn't live far from the college.

I lived off campus, but not far away.

And people will look at me like, why is she walking?

But to me, that's what you did.

Certain food, things were different.

It was hard.

You know, you're coming in as a new, and players are defending their position, but that's.

That's everywhere.

Absolutely.

I think that that's always an adjustment for anybody who goes to college basketball.

Right.

Is the idea of competing with your teammates.

I think that's one of the challenges.

Right.

As coaches.

And I'm sure that both of you can kind of attest to this, that you want to have that internal competition within your team.

Right.

You want your practices to be super competitive, and yet at the same time, when the practice is over and it's time for the game, you want that group of players who have been competing with one another as hard as possible.

You now want them to come back and fight together as one and not be fighting with each other.

And sometimes that's a fine line to walk as coaches.

So how do you guys handle that situation?

How do you try to make your.

Your practices with your teams as competitive as possible and yet still have them come together as a group?

And Malin, you could take that, or Lucas, you can jump in.

Obviously, you're helping to put together the players.

And we'll talk more about the Red Rose Thunder here as we go along, which is, how do you build that competitiveness and yet still keep the team together as one trying to meet that greater go.

You know, it's.

It's difficult, especially, you know, as, like you said, we'll go into it more, especially as we've, you know, progressed.

And you've got in these guys who, you know, majority of Our team are 10 years overseas, pros that are making a lot of money that, you know, they Come in with an ego, and they come in with, hey, I'm here, you know, to do this.

I deserve this.

And, you know, when someone is in their position ahead of them, you know, at this.

At this rate, you have 12 guys that all think they should be the star.

That does not work.

So you gotta make sure those players that you bring are players that, like you said, will fight in practice, but as soon as practice is over, their family.

It's players who will respect players that do that.

For example, one of our players from last year that we played against, that we hated playing against because of how he was, he joined us, and he's perfect.

Tavares Ledge will make sure we bring him up later.

He'll be back with us again this year.

But, you know, just somebody who will get in everybody's head will, you know, sell a little contact, will, you know, just disturb you as a coach and as a player.

But having him on your team is different, you know, when everybody buys into a goal.

So having the right people behind the players is very key to that, because at the end of the day, when the moments get close, the people shine through, not always the talent.

Absolutely.

I think that that is something that is criminally underrated when it comes to putting together a team is putting together not just the right players on the floor and the right skill sets, but you also have to have the right people that have the right mindset to accomplish what you're trying to accomplish as a team.

So, Lucas, we got a little bit of your mom's background in terms of how she progressed from being a player to getting into the coaching profession.

So just kind of walk us through your background with your mom and how you kind of went through the game of basketball to get to the position where you are today.

Yeah.

Starting off having a mother who played basketball her whole life, I was.

I mean, there's pictures of me 8 months holding a little stuff.

Basketball, I didn't really have a choice.

But, you know, growing up, whenever they started doing basketball camps, I was there.

I always enjoyed basketball, but it was never like, I looked forward to playing every day, playing outside, you know, played basketball.

And I played up until, I want to say, till right at.

Until eighth grade.

And, you know, a lot of, you know, my favorite things, like, I'll never forget, in eighth grade, we went and scouted a team that we played.

We're playing just my mom and I'm.

And mom wasn't the coach at the time.

We just went and scouted one of the teams we played and that was like my favorite memory of playing that I have ever.

And I wasn't even playing.

So, you know, take kind of taking that away, and I'm like, huh.

Then seventh grade year actually got started because Coach was helping with a.

Was coaching at a Christian school here in Lidditz, Pennsylvania, the varsity team.

And I was doing the stats for the varsity team and, you know, always looked at the game differently than a lot of people.

I noticed, and I enjoyed that.

Then I played 8th grade year, and then in the off season between my eighth and ninth grade year summer, someone asked us, hey, do you want to coach an effort of Thunder?

It's a semi pro team in effort of Pennsylvania.

I looked it up.

It's like, ABA coaches make $40,000 a year.

I'm like, oh, we're set.

They do not make $40,000 a year.

That article, whatever I read lied.

So then, you know, I got started and I was just supposed to be stat guy.

Then the owner there loved me and, you know, wanted me to be involved with everything.

And then unfortunately, he stepped away and we ended up buying the team December of that year.

And since then, it's kind of just been us running it for six years, taking it from the aba, then to the ECBL the next year, and then, bro, I love pro AM in Philadelphia.

We're gonna put all of our focus into TBT.

It's very cool.

And we're gonna dive into all the machinations that made that happen.

And again, just how unique the two of your situation is.

I want to just circle back, Lucas, to something that you said, because it's something that I didn't really know in all honesty, before I started the podcast.

I guess maybe in some small recess of my mind, I understood it to some degree, but it certainly crystallized for me over the last eight years of doing the podcast with the number of coaches that I've talked to.

But growing up as a kid and Marlon, I was somewhat like you in that again.

From the time I was very young, I was always a basketball player, right?

And I went and I played in high school, and I was fortunate enough to play in college, and basketball was always a big part of.

Of my identity.

And I always thought that the people who coached the game were more often than not players.

And I really didn't think about it in any other way.

I always thought that the background of coaches was they.

You went from playing to coaching.

And then as I got into the podcast and I got a little bit older, I came to realize the number of people who got into the game who maybe they stopped playing in high school and then they became a team manager, or they were a manager at the college level, or they were somebody that was interested in statistics and they started doing studies of this, or they were watching film and they love basketball, but they just loved it in a different way than I did as a player.

And so I always find it fascinating, Lucas, like someone like yourself who, again, when you think about a traditional basketball playing career, right, that wasn't your path to getting into a life of basketball.

And for me, again, as someone who played back in the day, it was always kind of a foreign concept to me of how someone who didn't play could get into coaching or get into being a general manager or get into whatever it is in the basketball space.

And yet I've come to realize and understand how much love there is for the game.

You don't just have to play the game in order to be able to have a tremendous amount of success in your career in the game, because there's lots of different ways that the game can be loved.

And I think your story, as we get into it, is going to tell that that you don't have to have played the game at a high level in order to be able to have a very, very successful career in the game of basketball.

So let's circle back to the genesis of again, Lucas, maybe dive in a little bit more to the story of how you first get involved with the semi pro team.

Tell us that.

And then again how you two combine forces to eventually buy this team and what that looked like.

Yeah, really.

Like I said, it was, you know, season started in September.

So at that point, I'm 15 years old, you know, about to start ninth grade, and, you know, here we are hosting semi pro tryouts on a random Saturday.

So it was definitely an interesting experience.

And then going from tryouts to eventually training camp and getting to know players, you know, first year was definitely interesting.

We didn't really know what to expect at all.

But the more we learned, the more.

The more we learned, the more we.

I don't know how to really put it, but the more it went on, the more we learned.

We'll.

We'll put it that way and just at different stages.

And I'm not gonna sit here and be like, we did terrible.

We were 14 and 6 our first year, not knowing anything, what to expect.

So, you know, we're top 25 out of like 160 some teams.

But you know, the first year really started with Lucas stat manager and I had stat program up, same one that I used in the high school.

Then it turned into more of me coaching and running things behind the scenes as well with players and different things like that.

And you know, I'm 15, talking to players who are 35 and you know, they're respecting what I'm saying and you know, like, hey, this kid actually knows what he's talking about.

Which is, you know, really meant a lot.

The players that have trusted us over the last six years, especially in the beginning, has really meant a lot because, you know, we were definitely an unusual combination and you know, now the experience speaks for itself and what we do and you know, what we know.

But in the beginning, really starting out and getting the feet off the ground and doing what we did in the aba and there's so many great memories from that year.

We hit a.

There was a game winner, buzzer beater, down by two in the corner in Maryland.

You know, I'll never forget our first win, the first game at home.

Like, there's so many like core memories I remember from rest of my life just being with a group of guys who just wanted to play basketball that weren't very talented but, you know, fought hard and they, they were coachable.

I want to say they're not very talented.

They all played like high level D3 D2 college.

But it's a, it's a little different between the players then and the players that we have now.

But it's, you know, really looking back at how quick everything has progressed, it's astonishing.

You know, we.

It was a situation where the owner basically texted us, hey, the, the season's going to be canceled.

And we're like, how much to buy the team?

And we got the legal things from the league and we bought the team.

First game as owners was a week before Christmas.

So it was our Christmas present.

And we played a team from West Virginia and beat them by 50.

So it was a good first game as owners.

And then, you know, from there we were hoping to continue at the playoffs and then COVID ruined everybody.

Of course.

It was, it was not.

It was not.

It was Not a pretty time without.

Without question.

So, Malin, walk me through the.

The story from your perspective, right, of how Lucas gets involved in it, what your role is or what your role was in that moment of.

Of making the decision to get involved there.

Just kind of take us through the steps from your perspective.

Like Lucas mentioned, I was a coach at a Lititz Christian high school.

I worked with both the girls and the boys teams.

And one of the trainers we had come in who helped out, it was like a specialty trainer.

He had the connection.

And after watching me coach, he's like, marlon, you would be perfect for this.

We got to get you to coach this team.

So it was really Tony that made that connection.

And for me, it was very, you know, people was like, you know, how do you feel, you know, coaching, not women.

You're coaching men.

But even in college or after college, I always played in the men's leagues.

I was one of very, very, very few women, often the only one in every league.

So for me, it was like, that's what I was used to.

I was used to that physicality, that mentality, the speed of the game.

So it was an easy transition to go back to in a way.

So this is a question that I think men always get asked when they coach on the women's side is what's different about coaching on the women's side than coaching on the men's side?

So I'm going to flip that question around on you.

When you start coaching, and obviously, as you said, you had experience coaching at the high school level, coaching on the boys side, what's different about coaching men versus coaching women in your mind, or is there no difference?

Sometimes people say it's.

It's basically the same.

I think there's a difference.

I started coaching the girls at the high school.

The boys coach walked by the locker room when I had a stern talk with the girls.

It's like, we need you with the boys.

And I think that's the difference.

Depending on level.

I'm very to the point.

There's no fluff.

This is the way it is.

And to me, it's easier not having to worry about, you know, being nice about how I say things.

What made the opportunity to get involved in, at the time, semi pro, but now pro basketball?

What made this particular opportunity attractive to you, Malin?

That.

And what did the conversation look like between you and Lucas when you guys were trying to decide whether or not this was something that you wanted to take on?

So I think the way Lucas and I do things, we Kind of just go with the flow.

Like, there's so many things that happen to us so quickly, and we just go with it.

Obviously, we wanted to be part of basketball.

To me, it felt like a step up.

And since then, everything we're doing is the next step up.

Like, we don't go backwards.

And I think we do.

And it's just, yeah, we talk about it, but it's never like, ah, maybe we shouldn't.

It's more like, let's do it.

And we do.

Lucas, what was the vision when you guys first bought the team?

If you were looking out at that time, if you were to look out five years from now, when you were thinking about, hey, where do you see this?

Or where did you see this going at the time?

Did you see it going the direction that it did or at the time, was there a different idea of where this might end up?

You know, I think it was, you know, and I always say this.

It's like, it's kind of funny.

There was an exact moment where it shifted and it became five year plan.

This is what needs to happen.

10 Year plan.

This is what needs to happen.

And.

But, you know, really, year one and, you know, majority of year two was just like, hey, this is a great opportunity.

Let's enjoy this.

You know, like a lot of owners in these semi pro and minor leagues, you think you're gonna get money, you think you're gonna break even, you think you're gonna get people to all people looking to own a team in these leagues.

I promise you, you are not like, unless you're one of, like the two that can do it, right?

With youth clinics and your own venue, there's very, very rare examples.

But, you know, it's very, very difficult.

So, you know, we were in the beginning, I think we're going to get hundreds of people each game.

And, you know, that was just not the case.

But then it became something that I could enjoy with my mother and, you know, truly enjoy being around the game of basketball and feel like home, you know, like that.

I keep saying over and over that first year, there were a lot of ups and downs.

You know, learning and navigating and players leave and, you know, looking back on it, the different decisions you could have made.

But, you know, that phone call, random phone call in May when we found out about the opportunity has changed both of our lives forever.

And we had no idea where it would go or how it would go.

You know, back then I wanted to be a, a medical scientist.

That was my goal.

I was Going to go to school to be a doctor and try and get a medical science degree.

You know, that was my long term goal.

And then I got involved in basketball, my game.

I'm not leaving.

And it's just kind of been our lives ever since.

It's very cool that you took an opportunity that maybe a lot of people wouldn't have seen the.

The opportunity in front of them.

Right.

In terms of what this could be.

And obviously, you two are a very unique duo.

Unique tandem.

Malin, I'll pose the same question to you that I just posed to Lucas.

When you first did it was the vision of where you thought it would be and then where you guys are today, were those visions close to being aligned in your mind, or were you originally thinking you're going to take it one direction and it shifted to another way?

What.

What was your perspective during that time that, that Lucas just described?

I think when we started, to me, you know, it was just smaller step.

The first goal was obviously to make it to the playo and we wanted to, you know, try to win everything that year.

Then Covid, you know, changed the direction of some things.

Then we started trying different venues.

We had a pro combine and made connection and ended up going to Vegas for an event and learned a lot from that event.

You know, what not to do and you know, you know what kind of people you can run into and these kind of situations.

So there's been bad experiences that, that I'm so glad we went through because we learned so much.

You know, you learn what to look for that you don't want to do again.

And I think that made us better as people and as coaches.

What's a tough situation that you guys went through that you can describe on the podcast that you feel like you learned a good lesson from that you've taken moving forward in.

In some of your decisions.

And Lucas, you want to ask.

Yeah, no, I would.

Or I go with this one.

There's a lot.

But I would say the main thing that, you know, has kind of been the turning point.

Ah, shoot, this is gonna be rough.

My apologies.

So this was after our third year in semi pro bascule, second year in ECBL, and we are in the summer in the Broly Love Pro Am, which is a Pro Am in the city.

Um, and, you know, that year after.

After that year, my main goal was let's do tbt.

We felt like, hey, wasn't the year.

Let's you know, go around, travel, like prepare, you know, Pro Am ended up being a great opportunity to, you know, play against some higher level pros and, you know, really see what we can do.

And there was a situation in a quarterfinal game where, you know, we were really counting on a player and, you know, he was going to be a part of the team.

Unfortunately, he was unable to make it to the game.

And we're like, you know, we'll be, he'll be at the next game.

And unfortunately we ended up losing that game, so he wasn't at the next game.

And I felt like there were a couple of things I could have done differently from a standpoint of scouting, from a standpoint of different little decisions we made throughout the game.

And I really held that for, you know, the next two, three months.

That loss bothered me, like barely sleeping.

Like it really bothered me.

Then unfortunately, September that same year, that player who missed that game unfortunately passed away in a motorcycle accident.

You can see him and the Flyers behind coach there.

So he never got another opportunity in a red rose jersey.

So, you know, it's always about, you know, no matter what happens, you never know when it's going to be your last opportunity to do something or to do it with somebody.

So, you know, always give everything you, you have a hundred percent and never say, I wish I could have done this, I wish I would have done that, because those are the worst situations.

Yeah, that's a really good lesson to learn and obviously again, my condolences to you guys for, for that loss.

And you know, clearly that when you take something like that and have something like that happen, if you can, if you can take some, and find some solace in, in something that you can learn from that and hopefully move forward to be able to, as you said, understand that opportunity can be fleeting and just put your best foot forward no matter what the situation is that, that you may be put in.

Tell me about putting together a roster for a minor league professional basketball team, what that looks like.

I can only imagine what the challenges are to try to get guys to sign on for what you're trying to accomplish.

Obviously, guys are playing all over the world at different places and then you're trying to bring them together for a group with a goal, in this case right now with the tbt.

But just one or both of you take turns telling me about the challenges of, of putting together, first of all, just scouting and putting together the roster and then we can all.

And dive more into you with the coaching, with the coaching piece of once the Roster is put together,.

I'll start and Lucas can finish.

People, I think a lot of people think that, you know, a couple of weeks before the tournament, you have a tryout and then you pick players and then you, you're going to play in these games.

We don't stop scouting like ever.

We spend like from last year CBT until now, we go to every event, every game, everything we can.

And we try to see as many players as we can in person.

So we spend, you know, our Decembers, right.

The last two Decembers we've been in, in Orlando for the Winter Showcase for the G League.

We go to tournaments, we go anywhere we can.

There's, you know, there are really no limits just to get to know the players because like Lucas mentioned before, it's so important that we put together the right group of people.

So Lucas, you want to finish that?

You know, I think, you know, even going back years before, before TBT and you know, the minor league, it's so different getting players to play for a three month season compared to play for TBT.

You know, obviously pitching players to play for TBT for a million dollars.

Now this year, 2 million is a little bit easier than getting players pitched for a three month season for limited amount of money.

But you know, this year, and we'll get farther into that TBT looked like it was a very, very low possibility of happening for us.

And like I said, we'll get more into it.

But you know, last year's TBT was $15,000 to enter.

We got the phone call in October that it's going to be 150,000.

Ended up going down to 125.

But you know, I'm not sitting around here with an extra $125,000.

Just sitting around, you know, kind of heard a quote a couple months ago.

It was, you know, you can either have a TBT team or you can buy a 42 foot boat.

So you know, it was something that wasn't really in the cards and it was something I would say like 1 to 5% chance.

But I'm like, just in case this happens, we need to prepare.

So we're at, you know, Winter Showcase in Orlando.

Like coach mentioned December.

Great event, favorite week of the year by the way, outside of tbt, favorite week of the year is going to those games from not 10am to 10pm every day in Orlando.

But you know, still scouting, still talking to people, you know, if this happens, you know, working 110, 120 hours a week myself to make sure hey, if this happens, if there's a situation where it comes close financially, making sure this is a possibility, you know, it goes back to what I was just saying about, you know, really doing whatever it takes to make sure you have the right players and you have the right people no matter what the situation is.

Because, you know, there may be a situation.

For example, there's a player, I'm not going to reveal anything, but there's a player we've been talking to for three years about playing and you know, it finally ended up hopefully working out.

It's still like 95% haven't been official yet.

Hopefully this is the year where it ends up working out.

You know, there's a player last year that we were trying to get that was literally we're texting him at like 11pm and the deadline for a roster is midnight and we're trying to get him signed while he's in summer league and you know, hopefully this year that will work as well.

So it's always those little connections from, you know, years ago.

This person knows this person that you really never know when it's going to come back and you know, result in good things.

So the more you can be a good person to other people and make connections will also increase the player pool and the opportunities you'll get just, you know, in anything, not just basketball.

What's the sweet spot for the type of player that you're looking for that you need in order to be able to compete at a high level and have an opportunity to win at the tbt?

In other words, if I'm thinking about the level of player that you're trying to put on your roster?

Are you looking at players who have had long successful careers in Europe?

Are you looking for the young guys who are in the G League who maybe are trying to break through to the NBA?

Are you looking for any and all.

Is it.

What's.

What's the specific Again, as specific as you can be with the level of.

Obviously you'd like to get the highest level player that you can, but where's the.

Where's the.

Where does the sweet spot lie for who's actually gettable for your roster?

The so the only legal restrictions they can't be currently on an NBA contract.

That's the only thing is two ways do count.

So if they're on a long term, two way unfortunately aren't eligible.

But it's really a combination of both because I'm just going to give an example.

Last year, for example, we played a team Magic show they spent $125,000 up front on players with names just to try and beat us.

Didn't work because they just got names that don't fit.

So you want to get, you know, two to three Europe guys.

You want to get two to three young guys that are athletic and will, you know, space the floor well.

You want to get two to three guys that will just fight and dive for every loose ball, and we'll rebound.

I know we got two.

Two to three of those already, so I know, you know, our dogs are good, but the biggest thing are you and I have point guards, and we got point guards, so.

And, you know, you want to have bigs, and we got bigs.

You want to have athletic wings.

We have athletic wings.

So, you know, like, in terms of the positions that we look for and the positions that are very important in tbt, I'm very comfortable with who we have, you know, would like to have somebody who's a, you know, you give the ball to and the, you know, someone, you know, hey, when it came down to the fourth quarter in the Knicks spurs series and Knicks had the ball, we all knew who the ball was going to.

At the end of the day, you want a guy who, you know, especially with the way TBT is formulated, at the end of the games, you want somebody who you can get the ball to and say, hey, we're running an action for him to get a shot, and we're living what shot he takes.

And this year we got five of those, so we're ready.

Once you guys have put together a roster, talk to me about how you, as a coach, tried to take that group of individuals that you guys have put together, and now you see all the names on paper.

You now have a roster, but you don't yet have a team.

So how do you turn that roster into a team?

And not necessarily from an X's and O standpoint, but just from a culture, personality, camaraderie, putting it all together so that those guys are all playing together for the same purpose of winning as a team.

And, yeah, they want to excel and do well individually, but ultimately, you have to get them to buy into the team concept.

What does that look like in the time period that you have to prepare a team for the tbt?

I would say that's the hardest part.

That is why it's so important that I feel like we know them as people, even if it's just a little bit before we put them all together.

So I know how we're talking to one Player versus another player.

I know what they might need more of, what they might need less of, or how they react.

Certain things after that, we get them all together, and we often share.

We share our story, we share what we give.

We focus on the family concept because from the time we first stepped on that court together, all as one, those guys right there, that's our family, and that is 100%.

And we will give everything to them, but we also expect them to give everything to us.

Does that always work?

No.

We've had many games when we come out and we feel like we're prepared.

Lucas has a scam report that's phenomenal, but we're all not still on the same page, and that shows during the game.

So that is.

It's a learning curve.

And I think we always strive to get better and do better, and I think each year we're putting a better and better team together from that aspect.

Now it's just the talent of the players.

We're putting together a better team every year.

Last year, if we wouldn't have lost that game that we lost against Maryland, we have the team.

We have all the pieces to win every game, without a doubt.

Has it gotten.

Has it gotten easier to identify the type of player that can excel underneath what you guys have, which is obviously, again, unique.

There are very few women coaching men's professional basketball.

There are very few general managers at the age that you are, Lucas, and especially someone who's a general manager and coach with their mom as the coach.

It's clearly a unique situation that I'm guessing that not every men's professional basketball player would necessarily be open to the kind of opportunity that you guys have.

So have you guys gotten better at being able to identify the personality types, the individuals that you feel like can thrive in your environment?

And obviously, over the course of time, as you said, scouting, as we all know, is a very, very inexact science.

No matter how much you think you have understood who that player is and what they're about, until you get them on your team and in your gym, you never know for sure.

But has it gotten easier to figure out who are the people that can thrive in your environment?

Yes, I think we.

Like I said, I think we learned.

I think we are growing as coaches, and I think we're getting really good at spotting it quickly.

Like, yeah, no, that's going to be a problem.

That's not going to work, Lucas.

No, I think, you know, obviously we've gotten better, but also, I think, you know, even going back to 20, 24.

You know, we'd spent a lot of time, you know, two years preparing for this and be making sure we had the right pieces together, you know, in pro ams and minor leagues, you know, making sure we had the right pieces that all bought in together.

And you know, first game, a lot of teams struggle, especially a lot of first year teams struggle because they don't understand what it takes for tbt.

They don't understand the type of players you need.

You know, we were underdogs in our first game and at halftime we were up 30.

So it's not like we really came in an adjusted period.

Like everything didn't go well the first year.

You know, year one, we're up 30 at halftime, we end up winning that game.

I thought we should have won by like a lot more, but that's, yeah, a whole nother thing.

Then second game, we win by 25.

You know, it wasn't like a really.

Like we had this here and it went up, it was like.

And then we just kept going.

So, you know, from the beginning, it was always about making sure we had the right pieces.

I would say year one, when we started the third game, didn't go that well.

And then the personalities that didn't fit revealed themselves.

But truly, when we were playing the first two games all together and everything, that team would have been dangerous against anybody, just from the fact that we were all bought in together.

So, you know, I think from the beginning, because of how much effort we put into this and because of how much experience we had, even though it wasn't tbt, but on a similar level, in a similar environment, we understood what it needed to be done and what it took from everybody involved.

Tell me a little bit, Marlon, about the working relationship between you and Lucas.

In terms of what are the conversations like?

How often are you sitting down and talking?

What are the things that you guys talk through?

Just give me an idea of sort of the behind the scenes conversations between the two of you.

When it comes to philosophy, when it comes to player scouting, when it comes to finances, when it comes to everything.

What, what, what is the working relationship look like?

I'm laughing because.

Finances, we'll get to that.

I wanna, I wanna, I want to,.

I want to ask you a little bit about that, but we'll, we'll get there.

Now, the working relationship that, you know, people think we have a life, we really don't.

Most of our conversations on a day to day basis are about players, about what we're going to do, how we're going to find the money to do it, where we're going to go next and what we're going to do next.

Like I would say 90% of our conversation on a day to day basis is about basketball.

Yeah.

Like we don't do much else.

Like we work a lot.

Yeah.

Save up money for this and you know, we see family every once in a while.

Better than that, it's all basketball.

Like our life is very streamlined and as Lucas is getting older, obviously when he was younger he didn't have as many responsibilities.

But I've always pushed Lucas to be independent, to take on more responsibility and to be in charge of different things.

That's always been my goal for him to do that.

And honestly he has surpassed me in his knowledge of the game, especially of the statistical side of things with the numbers and the scouting and the players where I'm getting older and I'm starting to forget a lot of names.

I've learned now I don't need to remember any names because I have a walking computer right next to me and I rely on him a lot.

I think very few players see it.

The players who are with us, they see it and they trust him 100%.

And it's often, even during a timeout, there's often I'm like, look us here, you take the board.

This is your time to drop the play we need.

And I know he's going to do the right thing.

The players know he's going to do the right thing.

He has a mind for this that is just well beyond most.

Kiss.

How do you feel about again, the relationship with your mom in terms of what you guys are talking about day to day?

Obviously she described all the conversations that you guys are having are mostly around, around basketball.

But how does the working relationship go from your end of it?

You know, it's, it's definitely different.

And you know, this year has also been a different experience in the fact I'm working a full time job in Delaware.

You know, last year now, you know, last year I decided I'm going to graduate a four year degree in two years.

So I was at home doing college all the time.

But you know, this year I'm working a full time job in Delaware which is about two hours away from me.

So I get up at 5 o' clock in the morning, drive two hours to Delaware, get in work eight to 10 hours, drive two hours home and then I'm normally working in our five to six when I get home.

So, you know, being away for so long as well, is.

It's a little difficult, but I'm at work, especially now that I have my MacBook.

I can get my little text on the screen.

Um, and we're texting about different players in TBT and you know, what we're gonna do and how, you know, financially and figuring out hotels and figuring out travel situations.

You know, last couple days have been about hotels a lot and travel and figuring that out the last couple days.

So I'm at work and working at landscaping and site management job.

And meanwhile I'm looking at flights from.

To Vegas.

Just can't let anybody know it's on my computer.

But.

But no, it's.

It's.

It's a great opportunity, like I said from the beginning, to be able to do this with my mom.

I wouldn't want to do it with anybody else.

So it's different in that aspect.

But, you know, at the end of the day, once that.

Once the game starts, when we're in the practice environment, it's no longer mom, it's coach.

And, you know, it's treating.

Not going to treat her any differently than I would anybody else in the sense of, hey, if I have an opinion, I'm going to share it.

I'm gonna be very vocal.

We know that.

But it's also a situation where we've had people who are like, I don't like her.

She leaned on Lucas too much.

We were in China.

That's why.

That was a little broken English.

But, you know, I'm like, they're like, you know, that's how we do it.

That's the way we are.

You know, it's not just a one and a two.

It's not one plus two.

It's one and two, if that makes sense.

You know, we do everything together.

We make all the decisions together.

You know, she has this a.

When it comes to coaching, I have to say, when it comes to player manage, like player scouting and different things like that, but focusing on, you know, the budget aspect, you know, it's not like we've ever, you know, came from.

There's a quote two years ago by somebody at TBT that said, you know, a lot of our TBT teams, that target demographic is people who can either buy a second vacation home or a TBT team.

And this was back when it was eight times cheaper.

You know, that's never been us.

You know, we've been the people who have been fighting for every dollar to make to get through.

Now we're getting.

Fighting for every dollar to get through, plus pay For TBT team?

Um, you know, if you looked at, like, the finances, any.

Everybody who knows us is like, are you insane?

I'm like, yes.

But, you know, there's.

There's nothing I'd rather do right now.

And, you know, TBT is a unique opportunity.

So.

So what's the plan for funding that entry fee for tbt?

How do you strategize around making the finances work so you can make it worthwhile and feasible for yourselves to do that and also for your players and.

And to provide that opportunity?

Are you going out?

And I know you have some sponsors that you have that you work with, but just what's the strategy financially, both around the TBT and kind of, again, before you got into that, how does it work?

How do you guys manage that?

You know, I would say now this year is a little different because we are partnering with another team, and I want to make sure I mentioned them because they've been great partners for Partner War Ready, which is Auburn alumni and their general manager named Matt.

This is another situation.

We get the call from TBT that it's a possibility to do this partnership, and we figure out all the financial situations.

Wednesday, Friday, they're playing in a tournament in Tampa Bay with three to four of their players.

So we're like, okay, well, so we booked flights to Tampa Bay.

Friday night, we're out of there, and, you know, we're there Friday night to, you know, watch and get to meet everybody, get to meet him, get to meet the three players, you know, especially before we spent $125,000 as a group.

And, you know, he's never missed a basket in TBT history.

You know, I think.

I don't know.

I think he's three or three, but, you know, just a great guy, a great supporter of what we're doing and what we're trying to build and, you know, but from our side of the money, because it's still a lot of money, no matter how much, how well you split it, because it's not just the 125.

It's another 30 to 40,000 expenses as well.

You know, it's a lot of the money that I saved up just in case this happened.

I said, hey, I want to get to this number in case this happens.

You know, for whatever reason it is, whether it's, you know, I need something for a future job, whatever, unlike.

Let's get to this number just in case, case a scenario happens.

I got to about 8, 000 higher than I wanted to, which was great, which is why.

More why I felt comfortable.

And then we took a loan for the rest, to be honest.

So, you know, if we are not.

If we don't win, tbt, and this is my motto, and I'll put this out publicly.

If we don't win, TBT will be 45 grand in debt in total.

And, you know, second place gets zero, first place gets 2 million.

So it's not like if you get top five, you get some of the money back.

Nope.

And it's just more expenses the longer you make it.

So, you know, that comes to a situation where it's insane, but it's also a situation where I know, hey, no matter what happens, I'm going to work to make sure this is a possible situ.

A possible scenario, and it's an opportunity that doesn't come around to be able to do it with family, to be able to.

To partner with a alumni that's as rich as Auburn, not in terms of money, but in terms of the history of the school and the history of the program.

So it just.

It.

It doesn't happen.

So it was an opportunity that I felt we had to do.

And.

Yeah,.

Here you are.

Yeah, here we are.

All right.

Where does the name come from?

Red Rose Thunder.

Who came up with the name?

What's the history of the name?

Okay, so we live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

It's the City of the Red Rose.

So when we bought the team, it was called the Effort of Thunder.

So we kept the Thunder part, moved it to Lancaster, actually played a game.

When we officially announced the name, we played a team from York who is called the City of the White Rose.

So we had to wore the roses and handed out roses and did a big deal that way, so thereby the red rose.

So we're representing our little part of the world.

Yes.

And it's also my favorite kind of.

Nice.

Nice.

Very, very, very cool.

All right, walk us through what it's like to bring a team into the tbt.

Obviously, the pressure of any one particular game.

Right.

And it can all be over very, very quickly.

All the prep work that you guys do, all the effort that you're talking about, all the blood, sweat, tears, money that go into it, and then you.

And then you get to the tournament, and it can all be over in the blink of an eye.

What does that look and feel like as coaches, as people who are as invested, literally and figuratively in your team and in the result, as much as you guys are.

Malin.

What, what does that feel like to coach in that environment?

As soon as I'm on the court and I'm in my environment, I'm good.

That none of that matters.

At that point, the money doesn't matter, the time doesn't matter, how much we put into it doesn't matter.

We're playing basketball and we're representing what we stand for and we're there with family.

So to me, it doesn't get better than that.

Luckily not.

Luckily.

Thanks to all the hard work we have put in, you know, as a first year team, we made it through the Sweet 16, the first round.

Nobody expected that, but we kind of did.

As second year, we expected to go a lot further, but there wasn't a question that we were going to win that first game.

We believe in every player and every person we have with us.

And that goes, you know, that's just not the players.

We believe in everybody.

We select, you know, trainers, photographers, you know, videographers.

And we have family with us.

Our biggest sponsors are family.

Like, literally.

Yeah, so it's, it's home.

Basketball has always been my safe place, so I get to be where I feel at home.

Just as you put together the roster, right, and then you're on the bench and you're helping to coach the team, what does that feel like for you in that moment?

It's, it's a surreal experience.

I'll go, I'll go back to year one in tbt and we're playing the Brown Ballers, as they were called.

They were India Rising and they pulled off a big upset against Dayton the year before at Dayton University.

And, you know, everyone kind of expected them to win that game.

And we come in and it's 15 to 4.

And I'll never forget after all the hard work of getting into TBT and everything it does.

I'll never forget looking at the scoreboard and seeing our logo on the scoreboard and the video on the thing.

And I start like getting a little emotional, you know, I had to log back in because, you know, we got a game to win.

But you know, that moment is one of those moments you'll never forget.

I go be, I'll be like 80 telling my great grandchildren and or grandchildren about, you know, seeing the logo on the DVD scoreboard, you know, but on the preparation side, you know, once the Money is figured out and where we're gonna be once I get to a number we're, you know, kind of comfortable with, it's, hey, we're locked in from there.

We're ready to go.

At the end of the day, TBT is a unique opportunity in terms of, especially for me being so young, you know, I think I deserve an opportunity outside of tbt.

But it's so much about who you know, your resume, what you've done in the past and things like that.

You know, TBT is not about that at all.

It's about, hey, do you have the money?

And then after that, it's about, hey, what can you do to help your team win?

And how good are you at putting together a roster?

How good are you are coaching?

And when you do, when it comes down to that, there's no two people in the same conversation as us that's ever been in TBT in terms of just talent and being able to help teams win.

So when it comes to that, I'm not worried.

So now, there was a situation happened last year.

Should we beat everybody by 20?

Yeah.

I said last year, there's no reason we shouldn't win three out of five.

Three championships the next five years we lost.

Did not expect TBT to go from 64 to 14 teams.

It's fine.

That just means we got win three out of the next four.

But it's a situation where there's a certain level of confidence that has to be had, especially when you're spending this amount of money.

But it's also a belief in my mom's abilities and also my abilities that, hey, we deserve to be here because of who we are and what we've done.

And no matter what happens, they can't take that away, no matter what happens.

So, I mean, the last game, you know, even coach said, you know, we believed that was also a very stacked team.

Talked about how much money they had, how much time they had.

And I told coach before the game, I'm like, if things go really bad, no matter what happens, I'm really glad to be doing this with you as we're leaving our Airbnb in beautiful Virginia.

But, you know, it's.

There's a certain level of confidence, but there's also a certain level of gratefulness for the opportunity that TVT provides us that is not provided elsewhere right now in Maskwell.

I think that's a hard.

Yeah, it's really thing to explain.

People like, buy tpt.

I'm like, because there's nothing like it and if you don't know about it and you're here, yeah, it's another tournament, but it's not.

It is so much more.

So that's hard to explain for somebody who's on the outside, really, why we pretty much sacrifice everything for this.

Yeah.

I do think that the format, obviously is unique.

When it came on the scene, I don't think people really knew what to make of it or what it was going to actually kind of morph itself into.

And it's become something that has become a lot more mainstream and a lot more people are aware of it, I think, today than if you go back five, six years ago when it first started, you know, people really had no idea exactly what the thing was, and they're playing for this big prize money and how does that work and whatever.

And now I think there's a lot more people in the basketball world that have an understanding of it.

And I want to talk to you a little bit about the preparation.

Once you have the roster in place and you're actually practicing and preparing for the tbt, how do you put together an offensive and defensive philosophy for your team?

What does that look like?

Is that something that you're basing it off the talent that you have on the roster?

Are you trying to find players that fit the style of play that you want to play?

Just what's the process for figuring out what your team is going to look like offensively and defensively?

I don't know if Malin, if you want to take that first and then Justin or Lucas, you can jump in.

Of both of what you just said.

Obviously, first we're selecting players who we know will fit in with what we want to do, our style of basketball.

Then once we have all those pieces now we're putting together the right plays, the right defenses, you know, that we know will make them be able to play at their best so they get the opportunity to play so they can be successful and we can win games.

And then we add the scattering report from the other team into it and we base it on.

That's where Lucas comes in.

I don't know if I have one.

His scouting report from the first game last year.

Oh, you do?

Nice.

I do.

Very nice.

I do.

Don't show how.

Don't.

Don't give anybody some secrets, but it's like 48 pages.

Holy cow,.

Team.

So I have all the information I need.

And then from there, now we're starting to see what we should do to make sure we can find and show their weaknesses and Just, yeah, all comes together, and then most of it comes together, thanks to what I just showed you right there.

But we build it from the team.

I don't say I'm gonna do this because this is how I want us to play.

I put together the plays and the actions and everything based on what we have on the court.

And it also depends on the lineups.

Different lineup, do you know, different offenses, different sets and defense, different plays.

It all depends on, you know, who we have out there.

In a limited amount of time, you have to prepare.

How do you prioritize?

What's the most important things that you have to have in.

In order to be prepared to play the games?

Because obviously you don't have unlimited practice time.

So how do you prioritize?

What are the most important things that you need to get in to be able to play at your best with your roster?

We all need to be on the same page, especially rotations, because we watch so many games when there are so many players that get lost in the rotations defensively, and the other team gets too many easy points just because of that.

So we try to make sure we all know how we expect.

Expect everybody to move.

So try.

There's still going to be moments, but you try to eliminate that.

And we're all on the same page, and we all work together and we all communicate.

You will go through plays and we'll draw a place, but that's just a baseline.

They got to know each other.

They got to, you know, know they're not going to get to know each other, you know, 100%, but they get to know strengths and, you know, what they like to do and where they like to get the ball.

Just a little things.

Lucas.

Lucas, how much of that scouting report that you put together?

Obviously, you and Malin are looking at that and utilizing it to be able to sort of formulate your strategy for what to do with your team.

How much of that scouting report gets shared with the players on the roster in terms of what's important for them to know versus what's important for the two of you to know as.

As the coaching staff?

All of it does get shared up.

Print out a copy for a team, and it is worded in a way that is formulated for players, if that makes sense.

So it's very, hey, this guy doesn't like this.

He gets uncomfortable when you do this.

He's best defended by someone who does this, this and this on.

On defense.

He might be 7 foot, 260, but he's gonna flop and you know, he doesn't like a lot of contact.

One of my, our assistant coaches looked at us, he was like, him, he doesn't like contact.

I'm like, just trust me.

And then he flopped on our 5, 10 point guard when he was setting his screen.

I'm like, really?

I looked at him, he's like, yeah, you're right.

I'm like, but, you know, a lot of this, you know, even before this call, I just spent three and a half hours getting our scouting reports ready because I'm going to have all five team scouting reports ready before we play our first game.

So they will be locked and loaded, you know, ready to go.

So it's not a situation where I have to prepare 30 hours of scouting into one project in between a day, an off day for a game.

It's a situation where, hey, I'll take a couple hour refresher, see how teams are playing, what lineup strategies they'll do, but then have it ready to go.

So off day, we can review it as a team, we can talk about as a team.

And you know, the players that have been with us for year, a couple years now, you know, last year I would go up and it was a couple weeks before I handed one of our players a packet with Smiley.

He's like, lucas, really?

Already?

I'm like, yeah, come on.

But, you know, it's.

Scouting is an art in the way of you never know how players are going to play, you never know what teams, how teams are going to rotate.

You never know how teams are going to play together.

Expect in, especially in TBT when you're bringing in 15 guys who've, you know, never met, you don't really know.

But I always like to say if a guy randomly developed a jump shot three weeks before, before TBT in a random island on Hawaii, training with a private trainer, somehow I will find out and I will be ready for him to take threes from the right wing.

If there's a player who posts on Instagram, he's only looking to pick and pop because he doesn't want to get his body hurt.

I will know.

Shout out that player.

We all know, we both know who that is.

He was talking about that yesterday.

But you know, those little things, that's, you know, part of scouting that people don't understand.

It's the things that you don't see on film.

It's the things you don't see in numbers.

It's getting to know them as people to prepare for what they're going to do during the Game that, you know, is something I look at differently than a lot of people.

A lot of people nowadays, especially in the NBA, it's very analytical based and it's very numbers based.

And I love analytics.

I love numbers.

But at the end of the day, when it's crunch time and someone needs to score, your human emotions, your tendencies are going to take over, over whatever the numbers say.

And at the end of the day, like the Cavs coach said, they were up analytically, up to one.

It doesn't matter what analytics say.

The only thing that matters is who wins at the end of the game.

You know, I'm not going to want to say analytically.

Won $2 million.

No, we lost.

So, you know, we're here to want to make sure the players are the best prepared and whatever that looks like.

You know, a lot of players don't want to be overwhelmed with information they don't want to know.

They just want to see stats where they played.

So front page is just a picture of them, little quick information and then stats from the last three teams they played with.

And then it goes into strengths and weaknesses overall and then little blurbs.

So, you know, it is very varied for different players.

But in the terms of both of us, we want to know everything we possibly can.

So if a situation comes up, hey, who do we feel is the best defended by this person?

And we might know from five years ago, one of our players played against him in a game in Bosnia and he did really well against him playing this way.

So it's little things like that that no other TBT team is thinking about right now.

That will hopefully be the differences.

Winning $2 million this year, please, for the financial health of our bank accounts, please.

But no, it's definitely.

It's definitely I.

And I love it.

Like, scouting is part of my favorite thing to do.

I could do, you know, for me, I'm not going to say it's worth 125k, but, you know, the last couple of days I've been able just to scout a lot of the day, and I spend Sunday scouting for like 14 hours.

I love it.

So, you know, it's just a.

It's just a great opportunity to be able to.

To do what I love.

So at this stage in the preparation, are you mostly scouting individual players so that you have an understanding of, hey, this guy's going to be on this roster?

So we're looking at what his tendencies are, because obviously the rosters change year to year.

So until you actually see the team on the Floor, then you can start to scout the team.

Once you get into the second round and third round and they've played a game or two or, you know, again, teams are doing exhibitions and whatever.

But are you mostly scouting individual players at this point?

Exactly.

And my always thing is everybody, I would say not everybody, but if you played 10 years overseas, if you coach 10 years anywhere, you can diagnose a team game plan and say, hey, this is what they do, this is who they like to go to.

But I'm not as worried about them.

I'm worried, hey, if the 12th man off the bench comes in and they give him five minutes because they need to, what is he going to look to do?

You know, we had a situation year one, and this was something that I really took personally where there was a situation where their 11th man off the bench, Eric Williams, went to Oregon, played in the G League the year before.

None of our players knew what we were, who he was or what he did or what he did well, so we weren't guarding him.

Right.

I'm like, guys, this is this.

And you know, so I made it a point of, hey, these teams are so deep and so talented.

Two games doesn't tell a story.

You know, an NBA team, you can tell who an NBA team's identity is after 82 games.

You know, watching a TBT team for 12 games, you never know.

You might have a guy that was recovering from an ankle injury that you didn't really know about, that all of a sudden he's a starter and he scores 30, and you had no idea what to do because you didn't see him on the first two games.

So tbt.

As we get deeper now, if we're in the championship, we're five, six games in.

It will be more team stuff.

Hey, this team likes to do a lot of high picking roles.

This is their main options.

These are their stats, leading scorers, rebounders, all that, but especially for game one.

And that's why I feel like we've had so much success in game one is because I've been able to predict, hey, these are who they're going to go to.

These are their main options.

These are, these should be their main playmakers.

So I can almost.

I almost know the other team better than they know themselves from a standpoint of knowing what to expect from them.

So it's definitely different because you don't have game film from a preseason, from scrimmages.

You know, a lot of these teams get two to three practices before tbt and that's it.

So it's a lot about personalities and, you know, how they've played the last 50 games of their season in Europe, G League, Japan, where they work.

Yeah.

To be able to understand personnel, I think especially like you said, going into the first game sort of blind from a team standpoint.

Right.

Of understanding what team tendencies are going to be.

And, you know, there are.

Sure there are some rosters that are.

Are similar from year to year and have the same coach.

So maybe you can glean something from that.

But I can totally see the value in having a great understanding of the personnel on a roster.

And if you're putting in the kind of time like what you're describing to be able to understand what each individual player's tendencies are, well, now you can start to see how that might fit together into a team, and then that can give your players the advantage of being able to have an understanding of what their opponents are going to do.

So I can clearly see where the amount of time that you're putting in, in preparation, as you said, leads to success in that first game where everybody's kind of looking around going, we don't know what to expect from our opponent because, again, we haven't seen them play together as a group.

And so to be able to.

To have that as an advantage, I'm sure is a.

Is a huge piece of it.

As you guys are.

Are kind of heading towards, you know, heading towards TBT 20, 26.

What.

Beyond just putting together the roster, what's the next most important thing that you have to do in preparation to have your team ready to compete at the highest level?

Once you have the roster in place, what's the next.

What's the next biggest priority, Marlon, that you see for your team and your organization?

The next biggest thing is getting them all out there a couple days before and we can start bonding.

We need to spend as much quality time together as possible.

Obviously, we're gonna, you know, have training camp, we're gonna have practices, but outside of that, we need to spend time together.

We need to get to know and off the court because that camaraderie is going to help them play better together.

So we make sure they're comfortable, that, you know, they have good places to stay, sleep, eat, and we take care of them getting there and just make sure they spend time and have some fun.

Too controlled fun, but fun.

Not too much fun.

It is Vegas, but.

So you're talking about getting guys together for meals, hanging out off the floor is what you're talking about to Be able to get them to know.

To know one another.

For you guys to get to know them.

Right, or for them to get to know you.

Exactly.

Yes.

That's a big part of it.

Perfect.

All right, I want to ask you, collectively, one final two part question, and I think it'll wrap up kind of everything that we've talked about into a neat little package.

So the first part of the question is, when you look ahead to this year's tbt, what do you see as being the biggest challenge?

So that's the first part.

I'll have you answer that, and then I'll come back with the second part.

So you can each take that.

Maybe you have the same answer, maybe you have a different answer.

But, Malin, why don't you take it first, and then, Lucas, you can take it second.

What do you see as being the biggest challenge heading into this year's tbt?

The biggest challenge, I think, I feel, is that it's so hard to plan this year because nothing is set yet for our side of the bracket.

We don't know the format.

We don't know what day we play.

We don't know how many games we're going to have or so I like to plan.

I like to know everything, and I don't.

And at this point, it's out of my control.

I have to wait until they decide to give that information because they're trying to do something completely new and completely different.

And, you know, it takes a lot of preparation, and I'm.

I'm guessing it's taking a lot more preparation than expected.

That's why everything is, you know, being put together very late in the game, and that is affecting my preparation.

So that's stressing me out a little.

Spoken like a true coach.

All right, Lucas, what do you see as the biggest challenge?

I would like to.

I would say the biggest challenge this year is going to be, you know, right now.

Now I'm confident in our abilities.

I'm confident we're going to put the right team together.

But the biggest challenge is we have so many options of great players.

You know, you have two programs that come together that have had success, and also, you know, the money has doubled, so there's outside players as well that are looking to get opportunities, and there's so many players.

It's making the right decision and bringing in the right, you know, as we've talked about the whole time, the right people, not just the right players.

So, you know, finalizing those last couple of spots, you know, and making sure those Last two to three guys are going to be people who you can trust if they're on the court, but if they're not on the court, are going to be 100% with the family.

And last year we had that.

And, you know, we want to make sure we have the same thing again, where everybody, 1 through 12, 1 through 13, whoever we end up bringing, however many we end up bringing, are all bought into the same goal.

And, you know, talking to a lot of the players that Auburn already has, not worried about that from any of them, but, you know, there's a.

Also probably a list of 35 players who I could get that could probably are all talented enough to start on many TBT teams that, you know our options right now, and it's about making sure we pick the right ones.

And we have, you know, two and a half weeks, and that's where our jobs get to be fun.

So.

That is definitely not easy to get the right guys for the back end of your roster.

Right.

You want guys that you feel like can contribute on the court, but you also want guys who, if they don't get as many minutes as maybe they hope for that they still are team first, guys who are going to pull for their teammates and keep rolling the boat in the same direction.

And that, again, is key.

But it's hard to sometimes figure out who those guys can be until you, until you get them in your gym.

So I have a lot of confidence with the prep work that you're putting in that you're going to make, you're going to make the right decision.

So the second part of the question, we'll flip it around.

Lucas, we'll let you go first with this part.

When you guys think about what you get to do every day with the Red Rose Thunder, just working together with, with, with, with each other, what brings you the most joy?

So, Lucas, you go first.

What brings you the most joy about what you get to do every single day?

You know, at the end of the day, it's being able to do it with family.

I mean, I love basketball.

I love, you know, I love waking up and having a purpose at the end of the day.

I always say, like I said in the beginning, my goal when I was younger to be a medical scientist.

I feel like I have.

The way my brain works is very unique.

And it just.

Something just clicked as soon as those around basketball and the coaching aspect that we look at it differently.

But even if I wasn't talented, I would still love to do this.

I get to do it with My family, you know, there's, you know, a third person that, you know, has been.

Remained anonymous throughout this, but they're just as important as, you know, anybody else within the organization.

I didn't.

Wasn't sure if they were going to be able to be a part of it, but they were.

So, you know, those, like, the three people in my life that are, like, truly, truly family, I couldn't do this without.

And being able to do this one more time with everybody involved, you know, it's.

It.

It's all I could ask for.

You know, if three months ago, you would have told me this was an opportunity, I would have said I would have gone in a debt, million dollars, one care.

Whatever money was, I'll throw it out the door.

We'll figure it out later.

So whatever it is, you know, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to be doing with the people that are truly family.

Well said.

Marlon, your turn.

I don't know how I say anything different.

To me, I mean, it's just I. I get to do what I love with, you know, mainly Lucas.

Obviously, as a mom, I'm gonna be beyond proud of, you know, how far he's come.

He has so many obstacles that, you know, some people know, some people don't.

Yes.

You know, two major medical things that he battles every day.

And, you know, there's so many things, but he literally does whatever it takes to make sure that we are going to be successful.

And I. I couldn't be happier to do it with him and to have, you know, I. I think one of the biggest things for me is the last couple of years, I've connected with a bigger part of my family in Sweden, and now we have their support.

Now my.

Even my Swedish family has extended, and they are 100% supportive.

You know, they are one of our main supporters.

Human8 is a company.

Yes.

Human8 Foundation.

Human8 clothing as well.

Yes.

For neurodivergent people in the world, just like Lucas.

And I couldn't be more proud.

Again, well said.

And it goes along with the entire conversation that we've been able to have tonight.

It's clear how much the two of you appreciate the opportunity to work with one another.

And again, it's such a unique situation, and I'm very thankful that I got the opportunity to have a conversation with the two of you and learn more about it.

Before we wrap up, I want to give you guys a chance to share.

How can people find out more about what you guys are doing with the red rose Thunder?

Whichever one of you wants to jump in and share social media website Lucas it looks like it's you.

Give us the social media.

Give us the social media.

Give it all.

Give it all to us.

It's red rose thunder on Instagram Facebook.

Main thing is always is Instagram these days.

Also official team name this year I should say is red rose war ready with the combination.

If anybody wants red rose war ready merchandise it's going to be red rose war ready all one word.my shop shopify.com for some beautiful merch created by me.

Might be a little biased but I think the merch is beautiful.

You know, help us not be in so much debt.

Everybody pick up some merch but no red rose Thunder on all platforms will be announcing players and announcing you know filling out announcing coach as official head coach even though you know everyone kind of assumes but and follow along to this journey to $2 million hopefully.

Lucas and Marlon, I cannot thank you enough for coming together and joining us tonight and giving of your time.

Really appreciate it.

And to everyone out there, thanks for listening and we will catch you on our next episode.

Thanks.

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