by Jimmy Tsai
Welcome to the first installment of a series we call Other People’s Lunches, where we sit down with some of our favorite entertainers at local dives in and around L.A. in order to discuss a topic they’re supremely passionate about. It’s not their chosen professional or their trade. It’s not their last project out or the next one gettin’ ready to drop.
It’s all about basketball.
In this inaugural edition, we’re sitting down to authentic Mexican-style tacos (the kind that fit in the palm of your hand; not the lettuce-tomato-cheese garden variety at Taco Bell) at Taco Azteca in Glendale, and our special guest is none other than Justin Lin, director of Better Luck Tomorrow as well as the latest editions of the Fast and Furious franchise: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious.
We’re both having a variety of tacos, including pollo (chicken) and carne asada (beef). Justin’s venturing out a little further by also trying out the buche (stomach) taco as well, but I’m sticking with the carnitas.
OPL: What is your own personal history as far as playing basketball—your basketball career? Middle school, high school? All that stuff.
Justin: Basketball has changed my life. It really did. When we moved to the States, I was like the shy kid who went to the Boys’ Club, and it was in a rough area. Being an Asian American kid, being the only immigrant kid, it was tough. But, one day, this guy Bob, I remember he put me and my brother on this junior high team. I was in third grade. And we just sat on the bench the whole season. I didn’t know how to play, but he just wanted us to be part of something, you know?
Justin: We didn’t know how to play, how to dribble; I didn’t know how to do anything, but I was fascinated by it. And then, the last game of the season, it was a blowout. So he put me and my brother in. And I still remember this: I was running down the court, I didn’t know what I was doing. This guy—they inbound the pass—he was sloppy and he dribbled it off of his foot, and it just rolled right to me. And the whole bench is screaming for me to just shoot it. I threw it up, and it went in. And I was addicted.
Justin: Next school year—this is back when everybody played AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization); they played soccer—I didn’t give a crap. The whole school year, I just practiced basketball. And the next year I went back, and I was a starter. It just changed me. It did so much for me because it opened me up to be able to communicate. And as a kid, if you’re into sports, people don’t f*** with you; they respect you. All those things, those social perks that you get from being really good at sports. So I had my growth spurt. I was getting recruited. I remember in sixth grade, I was playing on club teams and getting free shoes and–
OPL: Oh really?
Justin: Yeah. There was this team, “Orange Crush.” It was like the Orange County-exclusive team, and you go to Vegas and play. I don’t know how my mom and dad—this is the scary thing now that I’m a parent—they didn’t even know these guys that recruited us. Free uniform, free shoes, free balls, and everything. And we would travel and play in all these tournaments around the state.
Justin: Junior high was awesome. I was really about the same height as now. Actually, my sophomore year was probably when I was dominating.
OPL: So what middle school team did you play for?
Justin: I played for Orangeview.
OPL: What is that, in Orange County?
Justin: It’s in Anaheim.
OPL: And what is the team name?
Justin: The Orangeview Warriors.
OPL: Okay. The Orangeview Warriors. And you played what position?
Justin: I played small forward/shooting guard. But imagine, in sixth grade, I was the center. I was like the Hakeem Olajuwon because I was the coordinated big kid. And then junior high, I was playing small forward/shooting guard. It was so much fun. We were dominating, you know?
Justin: And then when I went to high school, I ended up going to point guard/shooting guard. But I was always more of a shooting guard, I think.
OPL: High school team name?
Justin: Cypress Centurians.
OPL: And you played every year in high school?
Justin: Yup.
OPL: Starter?
Justin: Yeah. I was a starter. And varsity. Sophomore year was probably the most fun, I think. ‘Cause by the time I hit my senior year, we had a guy—Jerred Rice—he was a big time scorer, and so I shifted my game to just playing “D.” That’s all I did. But sophomore year—that was my big year because I was averaging 22 points.
OPL: Wow.
Justin: It was fun.
OPL: Did you ever harbor any ambitions as far as playing college ball?
Justin: Yeah. I actually talked to a couple of places. One was up—I forgot—it was like Chino or something upstate. Part of it was that one of our coaches was a big star at LaSalle and he actually was just retiring from professional basketball. He was one of those journeymen that played in Europe and everything. So a lot of the opportunities or offers that were coming my way, I don’t know if it was necessarily because I was all whatever—All-Star. It was just because he knew a lot of people. You know, when I got offered the contract to go play in the Philippines–
OPL: You had a contract to play in the Philippines?
Justin: Back then, it was the late eighties, you know? The only Asian American players were in Westminster, in Little Saigon. They had some Asian American players. And there was this one other guy who played for Artesia, who was this 6’8” Asian. But he was super-soft. I actually felt bad for him. We literally would have team meetings, [where we’d say] “Anytime you go by this guy, you elbow him. You just throw him an elbow because he’s just soft.” I felt really bad for him when I was throwing my elbow at him, but—
OPL: [laughs]
Justin: —there weren’t a lot of Asian Americans. And so, I think, this guy was scouting for the Philippines, and he thought—‘cause I was like 5’4” and I could play really good—and he thought that having an Asian American in the Philippines would be awesome. And it was like eighteen grand. You’d technically be working for this “company,” but you’re [really] playing ball for eighteen grand.
OPL: [laughs] Wow. That’s actually pretty interesting. This may be the first place this story is reported. That’s awesome.
Justin: We had a conversation about it, but I wanted to do other [things] by then. I loved the game so much, but I knew that I wanted to do other things.
OPL: You played intramural, I imagine, when you were in school, though–
Justin: Well, the cool thing was I went to UCSD for two years. They’re Division III, so their intramural is really active. They’d have rankings in the school paper.
OPL: Oh, wow. A’ight.
Justin: I was playing in this league, and we went to the championships my freshman year. And then sophomore year, we won the whole thing. It was really competitive. It was kind of cool to play.
If I had to rank my skill level—when I was in UCSD, that’s probably when I was actually at my best. Because, for some reason, I was still young in high school. Physically, I was just in such good shape, but mentally, I didn’t catch up to it yet—
OPL: Because you didn’t have the understanding—
Justin: Yeah.
OPL: Okay, so now the readers know that you have a lot of basketball experience and stuff like that. So now we just chit-chat basketball.
Justin: All right.
OPL: So, do you still play every once in a while?
Justin: [Dead-pan] No.
OPL: [laughs]
Justin: I wish.
OPL: Yeah, you wish. I got it.
Justin: I want to, though. I’ll get back to it.
OPL: Yeah, I feel the same way, too. Eventually. All right.
OPL: Either when you were a kid—or currently—what was your favorite basketball commercial, whether it was a shoe spot, Gatorade, whatever? Do you have a favorite commercial or campaign? ‘Cause I know, for me, it was “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood”—
Justin: Well, I liked the Charles Barkley—
OPL: Oh! The “I am not a role model”—
OPL: Oh yeah! I forgot about that one. That’s a good one.
OPL: What’s your favorite sneaker? Not brand, but specific sneaker, like the Jordan III or the original Michael Chang Reebok Pump, etc.
Justin: Two words: Air Force three-quarter top.
OPL: And then who’s your favorite player, teams growing up? And are they the same now or do you have new favorite players and teams?
Justin: I’m forever a Laker fan. I grew up in the eighties—they were the team. Magic is the guy. He made everyone else better. When he was screaming at them, you knew he was doing that out of love and positivity. It was awesome. He’s been such a big part out of my life, I think. I was very lucky to grow up in the eighties with him.
OPL: A big fan of Showtime—
Justin: Yup.
OPL: –James Worthy, Abdul-Jabbar, all those guys.
Justin: Yeah. The ‘82 season was when we—me and my brother—fell in love with the Lakers. That’s when they beat the Sixers. Then ‘83, Sixers came back and won. ‘84, they should’ve won but Worthy threw away that inbound pass. They lost two championships they should have won in the eighties. The best team, actually, in the eighties didn’t win the championship.
OPL: You talking about the ‘84 team?
Justin: No. ‘84 they lost. ‘85 they won. ‘86 they lost. ‘89—it was that team when Magic went down. They had actually the best team. By far. They swept all the way, and then, I think, him and Worthy got hurt.
OPL: And so you’re still a Lakers fan.
Justin: Yeah. You know, I went through the Shaq years, which I hated. They were talking about triangle, but they weren’t running the triangle because he’s so horrible. If you’re born seven feet tall and can move like a six-footer, you should f***ing work on your game. The guy got by on his talent. I just can’t stand that. Especially coming from a little Asian American guy, you know?
Justin: And then I hate f***ing people—I remember I was arguing with these guys, and all they were doing was defending Shaq, like “Oh, well, his hands are so big. It’s hard to shoot free throws.” Well, then how do you explain Yao Ming shooting f***ing 85 percent? How do you explain Kareem shooting high 70 percent? Stop making excuses for this guy. He should be averaging 30 points and 20 rebounds his whole f***ing life. He should be averaging that when he’s 40 years old; he’s that good.
OPL: Yeah. Right. Now, he was dominant. But that’s how much more dominant he could’ve been–
Justin: Could’ve been. I mean, Wilt Chamberlain had a horrible free throw—I saw him play a little bit in archival stuff—but at least the guy was trying. He had moves. Shaq? The reason why his game has gone to s*** is because it was all based on motion. He was a young guy. He has no fundamentals. You look at Hakeem, you look at David Robinson, Yao Ming. Those guys know how to take advantage of the fact that they’re big. Shaq is just big, running around, and—ugh! It’s horrible.
Justin: That was when Better Luck Tomorrow hit and I got to go to all these free games. And they were the worst games to watch. Because they’d talk about the triangle, but basically what it was, was just a triangle adjusting to Shaq. And there was no flow; he was f***ing with the flow. Now the Lakers are fun to watch.
OPL: So, not a big fan of the Kobe-Shaq era but the current incarnation–
Justin: Kobe-Pau is pretty badass. They’re in sync. That’s motion triangle. That’s f***ing—mind-f***ing s***—they’re running right now.
OPL: They’re dominating opponents—
Justin: Yeah, because what’s happening is, we’re always growing up to very offensive-minded sets where you set screens, you create space, you create angles. But what’s brilliant about the triangle is that they just keep passing the ball around until the defense exposes themselves, and then they attack. So how do you then defend against your own weakness? That’s the brilliance of the triangle when it’s working, you know?
OPL: In your estimation—I assume you’re going to say Lakers—but who’s going to win it this season?
Justin: Lakers.
OPL: Against?
Justin: I want it to be Atlanta. I’m surprised by Orlando. Because Stan Van Gundy, I think, gets you extra wins. He’s such a good coach, you know?
OPL: So are you going to go with a repeat of last year’s finals? Lakers over Magic?
Justin: No. I don’t think the Magic are going to make it.
OPL: Okay. So you’re going to go with–
Justin: Lakers…I have a feeling the Celtics are going to claw their way into the finals—
’cause the NBA’s gonna rig it.
OPL: [laughs] And how many games is it going to go?
Justin: It’ll go six games.
OPL: All right, so Lakers in six is your prediction this year.
Justin: Yeah.
OPL: Now, let’s talk fantasy basketball. Obviously, you and I know, but for all the readers out there: you and I run what we both know is the most competitive and awesome fantasy league, because we don’t just play regular—we play roto league with salary cap and all these other rules. But let’s talk fantasy basketball. First of all: how many teams and leagues do you play in?
Justin: Just one.
OPL: Oh, so just ours is the only one?
Justin: Yeah.
OPL: So let’s think of a regular league: who would your favorite fantasy players be? And what is your strategy and fantasy philosophy as it pertains to regular fantasy leagues—not ours because we have specific (and different) rules?
Justin: I think, overall, I hate to say it, but it’s the boring players—the big guys who shoot three’s—
OPL: Like Bargnani, Nowitzki–
Justin: Bargnani, Okur, yeah. Those guys help you. And so you go those guys, and then you go with point guards who shoot three’s. Because (Tony) Parker’s not good.
OPL: Who would be your, say, top three-to-five fantasy players? In general?
Justin: Obviously LeBron. Because that guy touches the ball so much; he does everything. Granger, I think—I love Granger even though he f***ing went down. Uggghhh.
OPL: We both got bad luck. But my luck is even worse than yours because, at least–
Justin: But we can’t complain compared to Collard[1]. That guy has five inj—Harris is gone. Courtney Lee was gone.
OPL: But they’re coming back now, aren’t they?
Justin: Yeah, but he lost so many guys. He’s like 50 games behind.
OPL: But I lost Greg Oden for the entire season. I mean Granger—you’re going to hold onto him, right?
Justin: Eh…
OPL: I mean, you know he’s going to come back in four to six weeks, right?
Justin: Yeah. It sucks. I have to make some changes.
OPL: Okay, so you got LeBron, you got Danny Granger. Who would round out your top five?
Justin: I haven’t thought in regular fantasy terms–
OPL: It’s still got to be CP3 (Chris Paul), right?
Justin: CP3, yeah.
OPL: And then you going to go with, like, a Nowitzki?
Justin: God, it’s so hard…
OPL: Kobe? Dwyane Wade?
Justin: Dwyane Wade, maybe. But Wade doesn’t shoot a lot of three’s. It’s so hard because all I play is our own league. So I go with the salary.
OPL: Okay, so just for our readers out there who are interested, our fantasy league obviously runs with a salary cap as well as keepers, so it changes up the dynamics. In our league, the players that you want are the Kevin Durant’s–
Justin: People on their rookie contracts, yeah–
OPL: In that case, who are you thinking is the best right now? It’s got to be Durant.
Justin: Durant. By the way, D’Auria[2], man, he built his team in one year. Built it into a powerhouse.
OPL: I know. He drafted–
Justin: Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry–
OPL: Well, I wanted DeJuan Blair, who was the guy who got away from me, that [D’Auria] drafted. Right before—he was only like three draft picks before I was going to take DeJuan Blair.
Justin: So, Durant…
OPL: Channing Frye’s got to be a big–
Justin: Yeah. Yup, yup. And the guy that I drafted for someone else is Chris Douglas-Roberts, who is less than a million dollars.
OPL: He’s huge in our league.
Justin: Right. Who else can I think of? Who’s on my team? I’m blanking right now—Oh! The guy that I f***ing wanted that D’Auria got was Brandon Jennings.
OPL: Sure. But who could’ve predicted–
Justin: I screwed up this year.
OPL: I think I got one of the best picks, as far as keepers, in Tyreke Evans who I picked in the first round.
Justin: Yeah. I think you and your brother kind of set the tone. Because in the past, rookies didn’t go until—Rose didn’t get drafted until fourth or fifth round last year. I thought, “Everyone’s going to wait.” And you just shifted everything by getting a rookie in the first round. It really threw me off, and I held off on Jennings. And I shouldn’t have.
OPL: But I’m still in the middle of the pack. I mean, as of today, you’re on top, right?
Justin: Yeah.
OPL: You’ve won second place twice in a row. And you’ve been first—was it once or twice?
Justin: Once, I think.
OPL: Once.
Justin: F***ing Sal[3] the Machine. I can see him; he’s creeping up again.
OPL: I know! I was looking; he was third for a little while. And then he’s always in that third to sixth place right now.
Justin: And then you look at his team and it’s not that good.
OPL: I swear, he’s got some kind of spreadsheet that he just plugs numbers in. Seriously. And that’s how he drafts.
OPL: All right, so going back to something we talked about earlier. Do you know the name of this column, Other People’s Lunches—do you happen to know where the phrase “other people’s lunches” comes from? Venture a guess?
Justin: Other People’s Lunches…
OPL: It’s pretty random…
Justin: Is it like OPP[4]?
OPL: Umm…almost. Okay, I’ll give you the scene, some of the lines from the scene, and then you can tell me:
All right, so it’s this one big guy holding up a fat, little kid.
“Are these all your lunches?”
Kid shakes his head.
“You mean you eat other people’s lunches?!”
The kid nods.
“Stop it!!!”
Justin: …
OPL: No?
Justin: [still thinking]…Kindergarten Cop?
OPL: Yes! [laughs] The follow-up question is: what is your favorite Arnold movie and, if you have one, your favorite Arnold quote?
Justin: Oh—it has to be “It’s not a tumor.”
OPL: From the same movie. Okay.
Justin: Favorite movie…
OPL: So that’s just your favorite line, but Kindergarten Cop isn’t your favorite (Arnold) movie?
Justin: No, no. At the time—because, again, it’s a lost era, a romantic look back—I remember we had to wait in line for, like, a day to see T2 at the Cinerama Dome in Anaheim—
OPL: Okay, okay—
Justin: —and when it was happening, the crowd was going nuts. So in the context of that, that’s probably one of the best movie-going experiences. You know, the liquid nitrogen and all that s***.
OPL: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Fair enough. Well, I think that’s all the questions I have.
And that’s the inaugural edition of Other People’s Lunches. Stay tuned when we bring you several more segments to discuss basketball with some of your favorite artists.
Suggest your favorite celebrity lunch. Holla at OPL: insert email address
[2] Another friend and member of the fantasy league.
[3] Sal Gatdula, producer of Finishing the Game, friend and defending champion of the fantasy league.
[4] OPP refers to the title of a rap song from the 80s that talked about “Other People’s Property.”
nice kick off! look foward to reading more OPP and seeing where you eat!
Dude, Justin, you are a psychic….LA over Celts in 6? Who do you like this year?
Yes well!