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Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black

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Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome

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Speaker 1: back man, season two of All the Smoke. We got

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Speaker 1: a real special guest. What's up with your Brode with

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Speaker 1: the virtual headshake. I'm gonna tell you something that I

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Speaker 1: never told Nobo. I want to smoke. Welcome back to

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Speaker 1: another edition to All the Smoke. Jack, what's up with you,

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Speaker 1: my brother? What's happen the Hey? Congratulations to boy. Congratulations mate,

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Speaker 1: you're talking to me? What you meant? Yeah, I'm talking

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Speaker 1: to you. Yeah. Man, I just saw the show the

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Speaker 1: show Time on our way, Bro, we'll you're on our way.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate that. Appreciate that. Man. We got a great guest today. Man,

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Speaker 1: it's not about me to dance about our next guest.

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Speaker 1: Someone I played on the same team, but he got

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Speaker 1: hurt at the very beginning of the year, so I

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Speaker 1: never got to experience actually playing with him. But uh,

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Speaker 1: someone that I came bobby dunked on both of us. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean someone I came in the league with. I

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Speaker 1: knew right from the jump this was a bad motherfucker man.

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Speaker 1: So everyone, welcome brother. I'mora Stottmeyer to the show the

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Speaker 1: man Child, Man Child, what's up with you? Man? How's everything? Man?

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Speaker 1: I can't I can't call him everything good. I'm glad

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Speaker 1: to hear that. So what's been like for you, roller coaster?

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Speaker 1: You're obviously for the country. You accept the job as

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Speaker 1: a as a coach for the Brooklyn Nets families healthy

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Speaker 1: talk to me? Yeah, man, it was crazy, man, I

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Speaker 1: mean the initials, the initial started out with me um

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Speaker 1: playing overseas. Uh, So I went over to China for

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Speaker 1: a few months, then went over to Israel. Uh, finished

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Speaker 1: up over there. What a championship? Right? You won a championship? Right?

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Speaker 1: Yea MVP over there, got the finals MVP, and then happened,

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Speaker 1: appreciate it. Corona happened. And then I moved back to Miami,

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Speaker 1: and so I was I was hearing Mimi for a while.

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Speaker 1: Then I end up getting the job over the Nets.

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Speaker 1: So it's been a pretty it's been a pretty uh

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Speaker 1: pretty good. Yes, so far from me? Did you think

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Speaker 1: or do as it's something you always want to do

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Speaker 1: with was to get into coaching and player development or

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Speaker 1: to kind of come out of left field? Came out

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Speaker 1: of left field. I never thought about coaching. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously I got my youth programs in Florida, so I've

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Speaker 1: been involved in grass roots with Nike since two thousand

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Speaker 1: and five. I'm like trying to develop young players. Always

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Speaker 1: had my Skills Academy camp every year also with Nike

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Speaker 1: throughout the year. It's always kind of been in that

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Speaker 1: player of development space. But never thought that I would

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Speaker 1: be like a culch you're working with with with the

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Speaker 1: NBA team. High excited that you to be back working

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Speaker 1: with Steve Man. It's it's it's a fun atmosphere, bro

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Speaker 1: like like honest with you. You know, Steve and I

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Speaker 1: got a relationship that we built back in Phoenix and

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Speaker 1: so and so now to be kind of back with

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Speaker 1: Steve and seeing him loud as a coach and being

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Speaker 1: back in the locker room with him reminds me of

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Speaker 1: like the times we had in Phoenix. So it's a

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Speaker 1: great It's a great atmosphere for the both of us.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna joining Yeah, y'all have some great times and

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Speaker 1: Pens will definitely get to do that later. Um. Your

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Speaker 1: transition obviously from just finishing up playing to now coach,

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Speaker 1: what is kind of your excitement level as a coach

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Speaker 1: now because you're coaching both of them. To see a

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Speaker 1: healthy Kyrie Irving and a healthy Kevin Durant on the floor,

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Speaker 1: you've been able to coach them. Yeah, you know what, man,

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Speaker 1: it's been exciting bro watching these boys and training camp,

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Speaker 1: how they get after it, the way they compete, both

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Speaker 1: of them playing a high level, both of them healthy. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I've really never seen two players this good before.

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Speaker 1: And I've experienced a lot of players. I played with

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Speaker 1: a lot of players. I've been arounding the game for

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Speaker 1: a long time, but I don't think I've ever seen

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Speaker 1: two players as good as Kyrie and kd M. I

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Speaker 1: feel that definitely sure that what's it like? What's the

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Speaker 1: energy and the vibe? Like what you guys have a

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Speaker 1: good mix now of you know, two championships superstars with

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Speaker 1: a great core young group. What's that mixture and chemistry

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Speaker 1: been like? Although you know short uh in training camp

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Speaker 1: so far, well, you know what, man, I kind of

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Speaker 1: leave it. I kind of leave with the steed to

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Speaker 1: kind of have a you know a lot of those uh,

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Speaker 1: a lot of those player player development courses and situations

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Speaker 1: going on with the with the team. But when I've

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Speaker 1: what I've experienced so far as that everyone has great chemistry,

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Speaker 1: everyone has great vibe. Everyone's like focus on on the goals. Um.

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Speaker 1: And I'm just doing my part by just being kind

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Speaker 1: of that vocal guy as well, and happened them out

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Speaker 1: with development and guys need to help along the way

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Speaker 1: far as improving their skills. I'm always available for that.

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Speaker 1: I'm always giving them game, you know, whether it's on

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Speaker 1: the court game or off the court game. Um and

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Speaker 1: so and so, they appreciate it. Both are needed. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: you played for the Knicks. Now you're on the Brooklyn side.

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Speaker 1: I know you've been hearing a lot of chitter chatta

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Speaker 1: talk about that. Yeah, you know what playing for the Knicks. Man. Um,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm always gonna be a Knicks guy, you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Like far as like, you know,

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Speaker 1: the time of my time playing with with with the

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Speaker 1: Knicks was uh was a moment of history for me

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Speaker 1: that I would never forget. You know, But then life

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Speaker 1: goes on and experiences happened. Then you know, opportunity comes

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Speaker 1: along the way. You can't really you can't really not

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Speaker 1: take advantage opportunities when they come your way. Brands, it

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Speaker 1: may not never happen again. Um, And so when two

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Speaker 1: Times got the job with Brooklyn, Uh, you know, I

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Speaker 1: reached out to him and said, hey, now here if

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Speaker 1: you need me for your support, whatever that may be.

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Speaker 1: And that's that's how I kind of, you know, got

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Speaker 1: involved with the Nets. Mm hmmm. Uh. It was a

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Speaker 1: quick turnaround obviously, just finishing the season a little bit

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Speaker 1: over for the champions, about seventy seventy seven days, seventy

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Speaker 1: plus days removed from the bubble. Now we're in a

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Speaker 1: space where, um, we're just gonna have to put a

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Speaker 1: lot of trust in players and organizations to keep themselves

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Speaker 1: as safe as possible. Have you guys discussed or even

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Speaker 1: thought about what it's gonna be like moving around now,

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Speaker 1: because obviously you lived a certain way as a player,

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Speaker 1: and it was you know, we moved around so freely.

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Speaker 1: Now as a coach, you know, we kind of have

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Speaker 1: a lot of restrictions on the type you guys talked to.

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Speaker 1: Have you thought about what it's gonna be like traveling

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Speaker 1: now and having so much responsibility to try to keep

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Speaker 1: yourself as safe as possible. Yeah, Man, if the main

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Speaker 1: part is being safe and following on the guy lives

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Speaker 1: possible to keep yourself away from from COVID. Uh. So

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Speaker 1: obviously staying sanitized when your masks, keep your social distancing,

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Speaker 1: and then traveling wise, Uh, it's you know, it's it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be a different scenario. I'm sure you're gonna travel

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Speaker 1: with less staffing. Um, I'm gonna try to figure out

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Speaker 1: ways to to to stay safe while on the road. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, we have we have a code

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Speaker 1: of conduct that kind of keeps us, you know, in

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Speaker 1: line with what the rules going forward far as COVID concerned.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. Um, you're upbringing a Florida boy. Um, bounced

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Speaker 1: around a lot from school to school. Talk to us

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Speaker 1: and tell us what your childhood was like. Man, it

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Speaker 1: was a struggle, bro, My child, My child was a

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Speaker 1: major struggle man. Uh my mom, my mom. You know

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Speaker 1: it was always you know, she was always getting locked up,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So she was in and

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Speaker 1: out of jail basically all my childhood life. My dad

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Speaker 1: died when I was twelve. My brother was a gangster.

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Speaker 1: He was always in this treats and get locked up

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Speaker 1: and selling drugs. Um. And so I had to pasically

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Speaker 1: raise my little brother on my own at times, UM,

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Speaker 1: and so I went to when I played you know, basketball,

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Speaker 1: I didn't play organized basketball to I was fourteen, but

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Speaker 1: I played at the parts all the time. I was

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Speaker 1: always going to the parts and playing basketball and then

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Speaker 1: so um and even up until I got into the NBA. Man,

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Speaker 1: my mom still get locked up, you feel me. So

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Speaker 1: it was always a struggle I had to make, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, adult decisions at a young age. I went

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Speaker 1: from I went to six different high schools trying to

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Speaker 1: trying to make sure I make the right decision. H

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Speaker 1: high school was different because they saw how good I

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Speaker 1: was and trying to take advantage of the opportunity. And

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Speaker 1: I was on game enough to know that I weren't

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Speaker 1: trying to get for nest by any of those situations.

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Speaker 1: And so it forced me to transfer to school from

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Speaker 1: school to school to try to find the right situation

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Speaker 1: for me. But then once I got to the n

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Speaker 1: b A, I was able to find a sense of like, uh, consistency,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. When I found that consistency,

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Speaker 1: I was able to not focus on the game of

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Speaker 1: basketball and just kind of go from there. What did

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Speaker 1: you hold onto or what inspired you or helped you

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Speaker 1: get through you know, I mean, as a fourteen year

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Speaker 1: old started to play basketball, you're you're becoming a man.

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Speaker 1: But there's so much up and down and like you said,

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Speaker 1: inconsistency in your life. What was the thing that kept

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Speaker 1: you on track? Because I think at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, you only really you only really got a

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Speaker 1: chance to play what two years of high school basketball? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I played. I first played organized basketball the four team,

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Speaker 1: and I was draft of the eight team. So it

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Speaker 1: was a quick turn around. But you didn't really get

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Speaker 1: to play. You didn't really get to play that whole

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Speaker 1: four years though, right, You didn't really missed some seasons

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Speaker 1: in high school? Right, Yeah, so on one exactly right,

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Speaker 1: only played two years of high school basketball. Yeah, So

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Speaker 1: to think about you were the number nine pick in

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Speaker 1: the draft after playing basketball for just two years, Like

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Speaker 1: that ship is fucking crazy. Yeah. And then I went

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Speaker 1: on to get rook there you're the first to ever

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Speaker 1: get rookie. You're the high school yeah, two thousand three

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Speaker 1: rookie of the year. What was it like, I mean,

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Speaker 1: like you said, you finally found some stability, some stability

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Speaker 1: and you know, a normal routine and you were able

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Speaker 1: to just focus on basketball. How good did that feel?

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Speaker 1: Obviously your player on the court showed you won rookie year,

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Speaker 1: first team All Rookie, But how did that feel inside? Like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I think you know I made it. I know what

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Speaker 1: I'm doing on this now that I just focus on

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Speaker 1: who you know what? What kept me grinding throughout the

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Speaker 1: whole process, My child is man. Always always stay locked

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Speaker 1: in the God. You know what I'm saying. I always

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Speaker 1: said my presers every night, you know, so my mother

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Speaker 1: always and stepped at me. They always seen my present.

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Speaker 1: Really stay focused on God and always you know, pray

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Speaker 1: for knowledge. Wasn't an understanding, so I will always like

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Speaker 1: focus on on that. That kind of kept me focus.

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Speaker 1: It kept me humble, and it kept me like it

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Speaker 1: kept me being my own person. So I never really

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Speaker 1: felt down the leadership qualities of of the wrong crowd,

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Speaker 1: never got involved in that space. So it kept me

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Speaker 1: locked in. And once I got to the league, that continued.

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Speaker 1: But then now I got like veteran players I can

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Speaker 1: talk to. At the time, it was pinning all the

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Speaker 1: way Stephen Marbury tonguable out, Uh, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: So I was I was just soak in a game

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Speaker 1: from them, and they helped me kind of, you know,

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Speaker 1: learn how to become a man with the NBA space.

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Speaker 1: How did a you play a role in your development

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Speaker 1: and exposure? You know, A you you was was key

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Speaker 1: for me, man, because when I first started playing basketball,

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Speaker 1: I was like not known the state of Florida. Then

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Speaker 1: I started playing you basketball, I became like top one

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Speaker 1: hundred my freshman year and then every summer when we

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Speaker 1: hit that circuit, you know, say you're gonna play against

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Speaker 1: players from different parts of the United States and you're

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Speaker 1: seeing a talent and it's hype behind these guys. You

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Speaker 1: got so and so top five in the country. You

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Speaker 1: play against him and you you know, saying you're balled

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Speaker 1: out that game, and now your rankings go off from

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Speaker 1: the top one hundred of top ten and you played

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Speaker 1: against the No. One playing the country. You you know what, say,

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Speaker 1: you bought him out? You know who's some of the

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Speaker 1: number one and not to cut you off, who were

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Speaker 1: some of the number one players that you overcame by

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Speaker 1: the time you took the number one spot, uh your

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Speaker 1: senior year. My my freshman year, it was a guy

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Speaker 1: named Antonio Lawrence from Jackson Gillforta. It was like it

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Speaker 1: was like it was like a freaking nature man six

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Speaker 1: seven point guard bounced, crazy bounce windmill. All that freshman

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Speaker 1: year it was crazy um and then my and then

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Speaker 1: alone the way it was like it was like shading

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Speaker 1: the Randolph was top five, Rage Felton was top five,

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Speaker 1: Carmelin Antnue was top three. You know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: You had Chris Bosh it was top ten. Um and

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Speaker 1: then and then class afternoon was Lebron. James Lebron was

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Speaker 1: already top top two, top three, and he was a

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Speaker 1: year under us and in the year before. So you

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Speaker 1: had Tyson Channeler was top with number one in the country.

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Speaker 1: You had Eddie Curry was number number two in the country.

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Speaker 1: Carmy Brown was top five. So every time I saw

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Speaker 1: any of those guys, I played against all of myself

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Speaker 1: le Braun, but any time I saw them on the circuit,

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Speaker 1: I was at their head with no know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: like because I wanted I wanted to reach that number

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Speaker 1: one spot killer be killed. So two thousand two McDonald's

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Speaker 1: All American Game at Madison Square Garden, you get a

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Speaker 1: chance to play with mellow what was that like? Oh, man,

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Speaker 1: you know Mellow and I go away Batman's from a basketball,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So, you know, for us

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Speaker 1: to be in the McDonald's game, we're hanging out, you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like like like homeboys, dude, We're

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Speaker 1: just kind of were kicking there, having fun and joining

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Speaker 1: the time and joined the experience of New York, you know,

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Speaker 1: playing the Manasicon Square Garden as seventeen year olds, We're like, man,

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Speaker 1: this is you know what I'm saying. We're in heaven,

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Speaker 1: you feel me? So it didn't playing playing with him

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Speaker 1: in the game. You know, I saw the talent from

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Speaker 1: Mellow when he was in high school offensive juggernaut. He

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Speaker 1: already had the same pull up game he had to

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying at that time, high school

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Speaker 1: three points shooting from the three. He still had the

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Speaker 1: handles and all that even back then. Uh And so

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Speaker 1: it was fun playing with him. Who who was recruiting

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Speaker 1: you in coming out of high school? What colleges were

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Speaker 1: recruiting you? Um? And I got North Carolina, UM, Memphis, Florida,

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Speaker 1: all the Florida schools, UM NC State. But everybody knew

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Speaker 1: I was going to high school. Everybody know I was

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Speaker 1: going to the NBA, and then a lot of a

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Speaker 1: lot of colleges also a little bit skeptical of me

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Speaker 1: because I had a trouble in background. You know, saying

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Speaker 1: one that I when I was getting in trouble is

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Speaker 1: the fact that my family was always in the trouble.

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Speaker 1: The film saying was always inconsistency with me growing up.

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Speaker 1: You feel Me. So a lot of the schools were, yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: so a lot of schools were a little bit kind

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Speaker 1: of skeptical about about it. And I was going to

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Speaker 1: the league. Anyways, when did you make that decision? When

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Speaker 1: did you know that it was lead bound? I was

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Speaker 1: trying to get to lead from from my from my

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Speaker 1: freshman year high school. He said, I'm going man, listen, man,

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Speaker 1: I was trying. I was trying to get out the hood,

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Speaker 1: bro like I was always like, my mind set was

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Speaker 1: already sent on NBA. You Feel Me? And then I

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Speaker 1: had an I had a broad model too. I never

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Speaker 1: really spoke to when I was in high school, but

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Speaker 1: I kind of watched him from Afar. Tracey McGrady, you

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying to Mac team mat from the

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Speaker 1: same hood. He's from like a few a few cities over.

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Speaker 1: But when I saw Matt go out to high school,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, Si, I can do the same thing. You

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Speaker 1: feel me. So so I'm like my freshman year, I

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Speaker 1: was locked up going out of high school, and so

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Speaker 1: I just kept pursuing that throughout my entire high school career. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you just you just answering my next question. I was

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Speaker 1: gonna ask you, did you have identify to KG, Kobe

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Speaker 1: and team Matt going to yourself? Following that the footsteps,

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Speaker 1: and you just answered that question. Yeah, man, Matt, Mac

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Speaker 1: for sure, Mac for sure one of the Poke Counties finest.

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Speaker 1: What I'm saying watching I watching Matt play. He went

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Speaker 1: to my zion. I went to my zion. But then

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Speaker 1: you also got like, you know, obviously KG came out

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Speaker 1: of high school, Kobe came out of high school. You

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Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, you know, and so all those

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Speaker 1: high school guys, I felt like with a fraternity man,

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Speaker 1: you know, but a few of us and the guys

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Speaker 1: can't do it no more unfortunately. But for the guys

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Speaker 1: who were able to go to high school, that's a

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Speaker 1: group in the history that can never be duplicated. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: very few players come straight out of high school and

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Speaker 1: make an impact, Um, the way you do. Well, what

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Speaker 1: was it like? You know what means? Like I said,

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Speaker 1: you jumped literally from a few years of just playing

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Speaker 1: basketball in general too, to being a Rookie of the

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Speaker 1: Year in the NBA. What was that first year? Like? Man, Listen,

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Speaker 1: when I got to the NBA, there's a lot of terms.

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Speaker 1: Did I to understand? I didn't know what up and

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Speaker 1: under was. I didn't know what to you know what

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Speaker 1: I'm like, you dribble, left, euro stat all that. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm said a lot of those terms. You know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't quite understand what they were because I was I

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Speaker 1: was a high school player and I only played to

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Speaker 1: a high school basketball And when I was in high school,

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Speaker 1: my coaches just like, just go and play because you know,

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Speaker 1: I was just dominant. So they didn't really coach much

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Speaker 1: and try to teach me the game. Um. And so

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Speaker 1: my rookie year, I was learning game by game, practice

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Speaker 1: by practice, different terms, how to shoot, how to dribble,

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Speaker 1: how to you know what I'm saying, all these different

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Speaker 1: things I developed when I was in the league. And

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Speaker 1: so it happened to somewhere critie my game and watch

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Speaker 1: film after every game, every practice to improve each and

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Speaker 1: every day. M hm. Who are some of those people

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Speaker 1: you looked up to as you were learning? Were their

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Speaker 1: players in the league, maybe teammates who helped you with

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Speaker 1: that learning curve being so young. Yeah, my teammates for sure.

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Speaker 1: You know, my teammates for Shure help helped along the way. Um.

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Speaker 1: And then I also had some as some pretty cool

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Speaker 1: young guys that was with me too, Man Me, Joe Johnson,

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Speaker 1: uh Shaw, Maryan Uh. We had my man out to

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Speaker 1: four at the time, so we had we had a

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Speaker 1: nice group of young guys who we always had our says,

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Speaker 1: accountable and trying to get better. So we'll play one

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Speaker 1: on one every day at the practice and we'll stay

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. We just stayed locked in

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Speaker 1: on trying to improve. Uh. And then we had a

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Speaker 1: family bund off the court. You know, my mom, his mom,

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Speaker 1: our family all got along, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: So we all hung out to have barbecue and cookouts. Uh.

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Speaker 1: So we had a fun five mm hmm. Rest in

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Speaker 1: peace that I only out to Ford Man. I was

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Speaker 1: the homy man. My brother Man blessed memory. Man. Absolutely. Hey,

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Speaker 1: two thousand three, we got a chance to play against

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Speaker 1: y'all in the playoffs, in the first round of playoffs.

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Speaker 1: You know, talk talk about when you got your chance

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Speaker 1: to battle against Duncan. I remember you hit that back

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Speaker 1: boys shot the senate the overtime. Uh. Actually, they told

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Speaker 1: me to clothe. They told me to show and get

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Speaker 1: back and let Dave come back to you because they

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Speaker 1: said you wasn't gonna shoot it. And we all know

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Speaker 1: it took Dave two hours to get from one end

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Speaker 1: of the court to the other end of the time,

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Speaker 1: so you know, so you know he wasn't closing out

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Speaker 1: on the three pointer. So I showed Matt. I did

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Speaker 1: everything I was supposed to do because you know, Pop

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Speaker 1: take me out for farting. So I went over there

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Speaker 1: and I faked to him and I went back to

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Speaker 1: my man and Mary shot it out the glass. Talk

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Speaker 1: about that first round, man, Yeah, it was incredible. Man.

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Speaker 1: It was my first time in the playoffs. Was my

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Speaker 1: rookie year, and it was always a battle between who

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Speaker 1: was when the rookie of the year, between me and

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Speaker 1: y'all men and y'all mean y'all men was an incredible

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Speaker 1: talent man six eight player from China, a major, major

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Speaker 1: hype behind him and so um in that game. Playing

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Speaker 1: against the Spurts planting shot in the playoffs, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to try to establish myself as like the next young

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Speaker 1: dominant four man. You know what I'm saying. I'm playing

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Speaker 1: against Tim Duncan and David Robinson, which I got a

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Speaker 1: chance to like really like set myself up properly, and

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Speaker 1: so when I shot at when the shot came to me,

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Speaker 1: it was no hesitation for me. Man, I shot it,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. That it went off the glass,

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Speaker 1: and when it's overtime, and I think step end up

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Speaker 1: winning the game and overtime with a game when the

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Speaker 1: shot later on that game from a half court from

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Speaker 1: half courter off of miss free throw. But even though yeah,

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Speaker 1: we we beat you out for four games. In four games, Bro,

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Speaker 1: you were dominant that series. You're the only person we

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Speaker 1: didn't have an answer for. And what was special was

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Speaker 1: at the beginning of that series, my Barry was killed

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Speaker 1: La Tony Park, right, I mean kill. We had Speedy

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Speaker 1: classon another New York guard to come in and kind

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Speaker 1: of keep up with Steps, so that saved us. But

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Speaker 1: you if step would have kept getting off, we probably

399
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Speaker 1: went seven games. We probably woul the one that series,

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Speaker 1: but you definitely was dominant. I appreciate it. Appreciate that

401
00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,640
Speaker 1: the two The next season, a lot of injuries. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Mike D'Antoni takes over. You guys missed the playoffs. What

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Speaker 1: was the new philosophy and energy did? What did it

404
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Speaker 1: feel like? Because you guys kind of started building there.

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Speaker 1: Obviously Steve uh Nash came, But what was it like

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Speaker 1: with that new era basketball? Did you guys took over?

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Speaker 1: You know, it was it was similar to what we

408
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Speaker 1: did and go in the state a few years before,

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Speaker 1: but you guys kind of took it to that next level.

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Speaker 1: What kind of excitement did he bring to your guys team? Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, we uh we traded. We traded like six players,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. We tried to Steph Penny

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Speaker 1: Google's we traded like six guys, man, and so we

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Speaker 1: finished that season, you know, playing this season with like

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Speaker 1: eight players, you know what I'm saying. So we were like, man,

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Speaker 1: we gotta do something. We had our court group between myself, Shaw,

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Speaker 1: Mary and Joe Johnson. You know what I'm saying. We

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Speaker 1: had some young guys with with Leonji Barbosa, so we

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Speaker 1: had a nice little young squad. We just needed some

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Speaker 1: more veteran players and we needed a point guard. And

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Speaker 1: I was my deal. I wanted to we needed a

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Speaker 1: point guard, and so I was just I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: expressing that to like the management in the front office,

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Speaker 1: that we gotta get a point guard. With the point guard,

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Speaker 1: someone who control the game. And so we brought my dad,

426
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,320
Speaker 1: Turning came on board as head coach, and then we

427
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:29,280
Speaker 1: brought Steve, and both of those guys had a similar

428
00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:34,040
Speaker 1: philosophy for us, like offensively driven. So um, it happened.

429
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,200
Speaker 1: It happened naturally, man. Uh. Steve and I never did

430
00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,800
Speaker 1: like time, just like putting in a crazy amount of

431
00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,719
Speaker 1: time of learning how to do pick and rolls together,

432
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:46,159
Speaker 1: it just happened naturally. Might the Turning offense when he

433
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,720
Speaker 1: put the offense in. Um, everything just happened to flow.

434
00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: And then with a with a natural with a natural flow,

435
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,439
Speaker 1: and that's how we got out to a great, you know,

436
00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:56,359
Speaker 1: a great start to following year. We one like I

437
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,720
Speaker 1: think sixty some games and we're just you know what

438
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,359
Speaker 1: I'm saying, we hit the ground running. A Yeah, what

439
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,320
Speaker 1: was it like building chemistry with Steve on the court,

440
00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:06,240
Speaker 1: on and off the floor? Excuse me? You know on

441
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: the court, man, it was it was easy, bro. I mean,

442
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,280
Speaker 1: it was an easy deal for us because Nash and

443
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,480
Speaker 1: now you know, it happened organically, you know what I'm saying.

444
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 1: Nash is the past first point guard, and I was

445
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,240
Speaker 1: a player who wanted to set the tone and try

446
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: to dominate every chance I got, you know what I'm saying.

447
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:30,000
Speaker 1: So anytime any time Nash dropped the ball off to me,

448
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,840
Speaker 1: I'm catching flight and flight range, know what I'm saying.

449
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,080
Speaker 1: So and I'm and I'm attacking the rim. So it

450
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 1: wasn't like I'm going in there and trying to draw

451
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 1: fouls or shoot floats, lay the ball up. Nah, you

452
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 1: weren't that. I'm attacking the rim. And so every time

453
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 1: Nash drop him off, you know, it's like it's like

454
00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,240
Speaker 1: an easy combination between him and nine. So when you

455
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:55,639
Speaker 1: got that type of combination going, and then teams got

456
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,280
Speaker 1: to respect that, and you surround that with some shooters

457
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,239
Speaker 1: and a few playmakers, you had a great formula. And

458
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:02,920
Speaker 1: off the court, all of course, Steve was one of

459
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,440
Speaker 1: the homies, man, Steven, Steve going to the clubs. Guys,

460
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 1: we've been the clubs. You know, we go to the

461
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,720
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying to the vibe clubs. You

462
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:15,920
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying with hold on Steven Stevens. Steven's

463
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 1: comfortable in there. Steven. A lot of people don't know.

464
00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 1: Steven's coolest fun. Steve got some Steve got something Steve. Yeah.

465
00:22:25,119 --> 00:22:27,919
Speaker 1: So yeah, helped that help with the team chemistry too, man,

466
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,920
Speaker 1: Like we saw Steven spots when we got got that

467
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:31,960
Speaker 1: and he came hung out with us and kicked the

468
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:33,720
Speaker 1: win us for a little bit, and then the next

469
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 1: day on the court, we're like, man, listen, we got

470
00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 1: even a better, stronger Bard now, so became more of

471
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: a family atmosphere. Yeah. Well that leads me to my

472
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 1: next question. How fun was it once everybody vibed? Obviously

473
00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,680
Speaker 1: you're a Steve's was the effort listening and most important.

474
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 1: But like you said, you got you know, Sean Mary

475
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 1: and Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson Barbosa. You guys got a

476
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,080
Speaker 1: real squad. Whenever we played, y'all, we knew we were

477
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,159
Speaker 1: in front of motherfucking track meet war. But what was it?

478
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 1: How how fun was it playing with that group of guys? Yeah?

479
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:03,679
Speaker 1: For short, every time he played, y'all go to state boy,

480
00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: we had we had to messure you strap up. Yeah

481
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 1: I did, I did. I did. Give y'all that thirty

482
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: point triple double. Remember they tried to put it, but

483
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: they tried to put us on him. All had to

484
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:21,879
Speaker 1: go on the more. But let me I remember this though,

485
00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,840
Speaker 1: so look, this will happened, right, So they got they

486
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,119
Speaker 1: started a Donald foil right, so some kind of thing

487
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: happened on a fast break where you dunked on the

488
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: Donald so bad Nellie. Nellie didn't play him no more.

489
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:37,160
Speaker 1: Just let me and Matt deal with you the rest

490
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: of No, he didn't even play him no more. That

491
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 1: was like at least Filing the biggest guy there. At

492
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 1: least Filing ended this time. Yeah, like you had a

493
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 1: lot of fun, man, Man, I was taking that was

494
00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: now no mercies, bro I was with no mercies. Man.

495
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,600
Speaker 1: The thing is, you know what I'm saying, We just hey,

496
00:23:57,880 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: we ready to attack. Man. He was always an attack

497
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:02,320
Speaker 1: more you feel me? And so you know anytime we

498
00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,960
Speaker 1: get an open court, man, everybody had to had had

499
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,360
Speaker 1: the green light to attack and shoot when they open

500
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 1: and then met the game. A lot of phone force

501
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 1: out there. Mm hmmm. So two thousand five, that playoff year,

502
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 1: you guys are the top seed in the West. You

503
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: beat Memphis, you beat Dallas, Joe Johnson fractures his eyebow

504
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,719
Speaker 1: on the game too, Mrs. The rest of the series,

505
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:23,960
Speaker 1: and then you guys run into the Spurs in the

506
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: Western Finals. Yeah, yeah, I stuck, man, because the Spurs,

507
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:33,440
Speaker 1: the Spurs um have a system that they run, and

508
00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: so when it comes down to the postseason, they they experience.

509
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,399
Speaker 1: The experience is what kind of prevailed, you know what

510
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,840
Speaker 1: I'm saying the playoffs, and for us with such a

511
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: young team who were still trying to three, that experience

512
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,399
Speaker 1: out and so we even though it was like stacked

513
00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,680
Speaker 1: up against each other almost evenly, it's just that the

514
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:54,159
Speaker 1: experience of them knowing how to play, nor where to

515
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,119
Speaker 1: get their basket when it's like how to close our quarters,

516
00:24:58,119 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 1: how to execute down the stretch, how the small ship

517
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 1: that matters, Yeah, side of bounce plays, all these things.

518
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 1: They make sure they took care of all those and

519
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:07,879
Speaker 1: so it was tough to beat them. Man, we couldn't

520
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 1: we couldn't get over with hunt that year. Next season,

521
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,040
Speaker 1: cartilage damage, you get micro fracture, and that's a scary

522
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: surgery back in those I mean, it's still a scary surgery,

523
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 1: particularly back then. Uh you know, that's one of those

524
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: serious surgeries where a lot of people don't actually get

525
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 1: the blood circulating back to their knee and it could

526
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:28,040
Speaker 1: be a rap. You came back, played all eighty two

527
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:32,760
Speaker 1: games in average twenty. How challenging. How hard did you

528
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 1: put yourself to rehab to be able to come back

529
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:41,159
Speaker 1: like you didn't miss a beat? Name a robot, everybody, everybody,

530
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: everybody always said that, like all the surgeries just motherfucker

531
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 1: that he went through and he come back still dunking

532
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:52,439
Speaker 1: and some people couldn't dunk when they got dragged. Yeah, man,

533
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,359
Speaker 1: I was you know, it was tough. Honestly, I was

534
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: coming to place. I was come to play retirement. You

535
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, because you know, it was excruciating pain.

536
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,760
Speaker 1: I was feeling at times. I go out there the

537
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:07,840
Speaker 1: court and I tried to push through the pursuit of,

538
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:09,240
Speaker 1: you know, to come back, and it was like my

539
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: knee would feel great one day and I feel like

540
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,239
Speaker 1: it's about to fall off. The next I was like, man,

541
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: there's just too much to deal with, and so I

542
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: just persevere. I stayed with it. My family kept giving

543
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:21,000
Speaker 1: me encouragement, you know what I'm saying, and so I

544
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: kept like pushing through and pushing through. And then once

545
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: I got over the hunt where I started feeling better, um,

546
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,440
Speaker 1: and then you know, I was like, man, I'm back.

547
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 1: And so I was doing a lot of cardio, I

548
00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:35,280
Speaker 1: was training, I was listening to all my training staff

549
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,920
Speaker 1: about proper sleep, about how to exercise properly and using

550
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: proper technique, and so I was doing all that, you

551
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,400
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And then so when I came

552
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:47,240
Speaker 1: back that following year, I got first Team All NBA,

553
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:50,440
Speaker 1: got back to the All Star status, and I was like,

554
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 1: I was on from there. I mean, you touched on

555
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,439
Speaker 1: something that and that was well spoken on. I got

556
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: a chance of experience. But how great that medical staff

557
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: over Phoenix was. Yeah, they were top notch, man, Yeah,

558
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:05,760
Speaker 1: they were cutting there because a lot a lot of

559
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: things that we're doing now far as like uh, you know,

560
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,359
Speaker 1: from the technology of the equipment that we have now

561
00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: and been using, like the corrective exercise is to kind

562
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,399
Speaker 1: of get your body warmed up and work on certain

563
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: muscles that triggered certain areas. They started that whole movement.

564
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And so Aaron and Aaron and where was

565
00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,120
Speaker 1: a cowboy? Who them do? And the was Aaron Nelson,

566
00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:31,880
Speaker 1: Mike Elliott, those guys. Yeah yeah, good crew matched out

567
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,280
Speaker 1: that crew out man. So but you come back, like

568
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: the thing when I when I was reading over this

569
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: stuff today with tripped me out. As you come back

570
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: and you played eighty two games after a micro fracture.

571
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,960
Speaker 1: Then we've been talking, you know, throughout our time on

572
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,200
Speaker 1: this podcast, like eight two used to be a badge

573
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: of honor, Like that's what everyone wanted to play. No

574
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 1: one was trying to sit out for any reason. And

575
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,639
Speaker 1: the fact that you came off of microsactor surgery and

576
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,880
Speaker 1: played eight two games just spoke to what it used

577
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 1: to be like in the goal we used to aspire,

578
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 1: Like everyone wanted to play at two games back then, right,

579
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,159
Speaker 1: Absolutely not not not no more. They hang out too

580
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 1: late and they gotta hang over headache and that last

581
00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,399
Speaker 1: two days they're not gonna play. Ship is changed for

582
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:10,520
Speaker 1: short change, bro, Like back then, we're like eighty two

583
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: games and you write so badge on them. And I

584
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:13,960
Speaker 1: played every game, you know what I'm saying. I was

585
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,280
Speaker 1: in the battlefield every night. I ain't taking no days off,

586
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: no time off. It's like we're getting active every tingle

587
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,440
Speaker 1: night and the rest and none of that now in

588
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,640
Speaker 1: today's game. So old, it's an old it's an old

589
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 1: different situation. Now, boy, they want to take days off

590
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,560
Speaker 1: and rest of recovering, time management, load management and all that.

591
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:32,439
Speaker 1: Like in the day, it was like who's getting active,

592
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 1: you know, regardless get out, whether whether you felt like

593
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 1: it or not. You know, I mean, it was just

594
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:41,440
Speaker 1: that whether you whether you was hungover or not, whether

595
00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: you was hurt enough to still play or not. Like

596
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: you just played regardless. You might sweat that out that

597
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: one that ain't mad that one game you want to rest,

598
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: that same motherfucker thent of the bench they've been dying

599
00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:54,280
Speaker 1: to get out there might take your minutes in one game.

600
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,960
Speaker 1: You never know, man, Come on that that next dog

601
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,760
Speaker 1: is always waiting. Two thousand seven, Uh, second seed. You

602
00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 1: guys end up making a strong push, um and run

603
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: into San Antonio again. Talk to us about man, Man,

604
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: We see we saw the spurs allway. Come here and

605
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 1: I'll snip having nightmares. Like man, every ye read into

606
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 1: the Spurs, man, and they always were like again, they

607
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: always were like well ORed machine, Bro. They knew what

608
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 1: to do, they knew how to handle business, they knew

609
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 1: how to how to prepare themselves. The veteran guys, they

610
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: were like on point where everything they made pop made

611
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: the proper adjustments down the stretch um. And so again, man,

612
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 1: we had a hard time to know the hunt with them.

613
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,520
Speaker 1: But y'all had to me. I mean, y'all had a

614
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: good chat. That was the series. It was too too

615
00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,120
Speaker 1: that Robert Ory ended up hit checking Steve into the

616
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 1: thing you and I think Boris get suspended for a

617
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 1: game for just stepping over the line, which was some

618
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: bullshit ship And but I felt you guys had a

619
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 1: real chiff. I thought that would have definitely went, you know,

620
00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,640
Speaker 1: couldn't change the whole momentum of the series without those suspensions. Yeah, man,

621
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 1: question bro, no question, because you know when when that

622
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,880
Speaker 1: happened with Robert Horry, when he when he kind of

623
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,200
Speaker 1: chinned check Steve Steve, I don't know if he flopped

624
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 1: or what, but when I saw him flying into the scoreboard,

625
00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,520
Speaker 1: I haven't never seen the light that before. So I'm like,

626
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm looking, I'm walking to the court, like

627
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: what's going on? Like what is he? Like? What happened?

628
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:32,680
Speaker 1: Like you know what I'm saying. And so we had

629
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:36,280
Speaker 1: no idea that that would lead to a suspension, you

630
00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And so we sent that way

631
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: on went on stut Jackson to make the call or

632
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 1: whether we're gonna play or not for Game five, and

633
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, it's the playoffs. Man, for sure we

634
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 1: would get a warning almost some almost for certain that

635
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: would not to get suspended, like it would be a warning.

636
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 1: Is the first time we ever did this. And he

637
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 1: came back with a suspension call. I'm like, what you know,

638
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 1: it's a crab crazy man, I mean, I come, I

639
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: went out the side of Mars downtown, the restaurant across

640
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:05,920
Speaker 1: the street from the arena, you know what I'm saying.

641
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 1: So I went over there and took the firing over

642
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: there and we watched because we we want allowed to

643
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: go to the to the arena to watch the game.

644
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:14,480
Speaker 1: So I just went to the restaurant across the street

645
00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 1: and I watched the game in there, and I saw

646
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: we had a chance to win. Game five was Beau

647
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: was a close game, but we end up losing. Man,

648
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: I was, I was. I was heartbreaking, absolutely, I know

649
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: that was hard. I mean two of your your your

650
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: front court. Boris was a monster. Boris was an underrated

651
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 1: monster for sure, And I mean, obviously should you already

652
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:35,200
Speaker 1: know what you was doing? So fast forward two eight

653
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 1: lose Spurs. So that's when Pal goes to the Lakers

654
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 1: and they make a run at it. Two thousand nine. Um,

655
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:44,600
Speaker 1: isn't when I had an opportunity to play with you,

656
00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:46,760
Speaker 1: But I remember was it was it training camp that

657
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: uh you got you gotta detach right now. I thought

658
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: your eyeball, like literally, I thought your ship was gonna

659
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: come out. I remember that day. Yeah, man, I was

660
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,840
Speaker 1: a training camp bro. It was like, uh, we had

661
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: a scrimmage that day. We had a scrimmage. We weren't

662
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: even at the facility. We of somewhere and scrimmaged. You

663
00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:03,560
Speaker 1: guys are going for a loose ball in the corner.

664
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: Who who? Who? Who poked your eye? It was boards, boards,

665
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: d yes. When I hit the ground, I was like, man,

666
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,640
Speaker 1: what's going on. I'm like, I'm telling the training staff

667
00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 1: like I can't open my eye, just can't open it.

668
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 1: And he's like a mard relaxes, your eye is open.

669
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 1: And that's when I panicked, Wait my eyes open, hold

670
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,720
Speaker 1: hold hold on. Say that again. So when I so

671
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: when I hit the ground, I'm sitting there like I

672
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,600
Speaker 1: can't open my eye. I can't open it. And then

673
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 1: the training staff was like a marve, relax, year, I

674
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 1: is open. So that's that's that's when my heart dropped

675
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,600
Speaker 1: because I couldn't see that one speck of light. I'm like,

676
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, what my eyes open, but I can't

677
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: see anything, you know what I'm saying. So I was like,

678
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 1: oh man. So like they're like, don't panic, don't panic, relax.

679
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,280
Speaker 1: I'm I can't see. I can't see. And so they

680
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: dropped like I dropped in there, and then you know,

681
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,920
Speaker 1: gave me like five minutes of soul Tim and his

682
00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:04,400
Speaker 1: past by starts seeing like a little bit of light.

683
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:07,959
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, cool, it's getting better. And then

684
00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:10,840
Speaker 1: I saw some more like five tennutes later, and then

685
00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 1: then it eventually got back to a blurry state, and

686
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: then it got back to like a pent eventually. Um

687
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 1: and then so I went on and played like half

688
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,800
Speaker 1: the season, and for some reason, my I was feeling

689
00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,560
Speaker 1: like a little bit like a little lazy kind of

690
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 1: before the game. And we played the Clippers that night,

691
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: so I went out. So before the game, I went

692
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 1: to the training staff, I say, listen, I want to

693
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:35,040
Speaker 1: you know, I want to get my eye checked out.

694
00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:37,640
Speaker 1: And I get back to Phoenix and so I get

695
00:33:37,680 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: in the game play the Clippers. I got forty five

696
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,920
Speaker 1: that night, I'm saying, So going back to Phoenix, I

697
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:46,480
Speaker 1: go see the ID doubt. That just feel like a

698
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 1: routine check up. He comes to me and said, Mari,

699
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 1: you gotta have an emergency procedure. You have a detached retina.

700
00:33:55,880 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 1: What I'm like, man, hold on, what's the retina? What

701
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: do you mean emergency procedure? We got a game, We

702
00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 1: got a game Wednesday. He's like, your season is over

703
00:34:08,280 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: like what I had forty five last night? What you

704
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 1: mean my season is over? Like? So that's then, and

705
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,920
Speaker 1: then I had to go through that surgery, and then

706
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,799
Speaker 1: in order to recover from that, I had to put

707
00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,160
Speaker 1: a gas bub in my eye to keep the retina attached.

708
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 1: So in order for Twister, in order for that gas

709
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: Bob to stay on the Retina to reattach It at

710
00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,399
Speaker 1: the leaf, face down for twenty two hours a day

711
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 1: for ten days straight. Remember that ship. Damn that was

712
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 1: some real ship. Needless to say, our best, our best

713
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,520
Speaker 1: player goes down. So we we missed the playoffs that year.

714
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,160
Speaker 1: Uh but now I remember that eye injury. Bro, Like

715
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 1: we was twenty two hours a day down, down and

716
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: listen to time was like, all right, you got a

717
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,239
Speaker 1: doctor poement today. I'm like, yes, I getting I can

718
00:34:58,320 --> 00:34:59,959
Speaker 1: look at how I can go outside. I look around.

719
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:01,960
Speaker 1: I don't like I'm about the going. I was going

720
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 1: to disney World or something. Man crazy two thousand and

721
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,920
Speaker 1: ten Western Conference Finals, Lakers. You was battling with Kobe?

722
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:12,399
Speaker 1: What was that like? You know, we all we miss

723
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,520
Speaker 1: we missed Code. We lost Kobe this year, but a

724
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:16,480
Speaker 1: lot of people didn't get a chance to battle with him.

725
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:20,240
Speaker 1: Y'all had some good battles in the playoffs. What that's like? Yeah, Code,

726
00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,040
Speaker 1: Code was a forcedb be reckoned with Man. I bought

727
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,400
Speaker 1: a Kobe my whole career. Basically, when I first got

728
00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:30,320
Speaker 1: to Phoenix, it was Shack and Kobe, and then it

729
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 1: was then they brought in consulting them. So in two

730
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 1: thousand and ten, you know they had growing our tests

731
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:39,800
Speaker 1: at the time Metal World Peace. Uh, and so that

732
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:42,719
Speaker 1: had a solid team, you feel me, and so we

733
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: did too. But every time he played cold, Cobe always

734
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: pulled around after Hatt. Man, you always do some spectacular

735
00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:54,839
Speaker 1: man the chance, I'm like, hold on Man, it were

736
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 1: sent double teams at him. He faded, he turned away

737
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,880
Speaker 1: from the double team, fade in the base line. You

738
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:05,200
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, hesitation, split two dunk one time,

739
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:07,640
Speaker 1: like hold on Man, it's crushed time, Like we gotta

740
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: stop Kobe, Like Grant, I'm telling Grant, I'm telling grand

741
00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 1: here Man, hey Man typened up man. But when you

742
00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 1: do what no we can do Man cold cold with

743
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 1: special bros. Like, it's like I ain't never seen nothing

744
00:36:21,840 --> 00:36:25,719
Speaker 1: like it. Mm hmmm. So that ends up that that

745
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,400
Speaker 1: that ends your time. Did you knew? Did you have

746
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:30,759
Speaker 1: a feeling with it in the air? Did you have thoughts?

747
00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously there was trade talks when you decided

748
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 1: to take your talent to the Knicks. How did that

749
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 1: come about? Yeah? You know what, there was there was

750
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:43,319
Speaker 1: some trade talks in the year prior. And I'm like man, listen,

751
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:47,080
Speaker 1: we we we only want we if Cobe shot a

752
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: corner air ball run our test caught the ball and

753
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 1: scored at the buzzer. You know what I'm saying. And

754
00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:57,800
Speaker 1: we were right there. You know, Western Conference Finals. I

755
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: got a chance to go to the final. Is we

756
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 1: only one game away? And so I'm like, listen, I

757
00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,040
Speaker 1: just bought a crib in a bit more area. I'm

758
00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: looking to set up shot. My family's here, you know

759
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I spent my summers in Phoenix. I'm

760
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 1: always here. I'm doing everything for the community. I'm like,

761
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,560
Speaker 1: I'm locked into Phoenix, you know what I'm saying. And

762
00:37:20,640 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 1: so I get into I get into the negotiating meetings

763
00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 1: and negotiators. Then goal is playing, you know what I'm saying.

764
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,800
Speaker 1: And so I'm like, hey, man, you know it is

765
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: what it is that you know, like, well, I got

766
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,879
Speaker 1: guys that can replace you tomorrow. I'm like, man, you're

767
00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 1: talking like that to me? Who said who said that?

768
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:43,759
Speaker 1: This is What's I was saying. I do Turky Lout,

769
00:37:44,960 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 1: you do Lott and Josh Children. I say, man, you

770
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:51,799
Speaker 1: gotta be kidding me. Man. So I end up going

771
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: I went to the next man Jack Jack Jack, He's

772
00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: a clown. I mean you you heard, I mean, I

773
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 1: funk with funk with he funk with heto and and

774
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,200
Speaker 1: and but come on, man, like cut it out. But

775
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 1: but the fact, but the fact that he but I'm saying,

776
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: the fact that he's talking to his franchise player like

777
00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,000
Speaker 1: that just shows what kind of clown is. And then

778
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,840
Speaker 1: some some suckers, some suckers ship he said about me

779
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 1: when I left, got back to me. That's why I wasn't.

780
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:22,520
Speaker 1: The year after I win, or maybe two years lay

781
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:24,960
Speaker 1: I got fined twenty five thousand were telling him to

782
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,719
Speaker 1: shut the funk up, for I smacked the shift out

783
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 1: of him, right. I think he was right in front

784
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: of his wife, but I wasn't even talking to him,

785
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:31,600
Speaker 1: and he was over there in the corner chirping, and

786
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 1: I already didn't like him. I already didn't like him.

787
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,359
Speaker 1: So he started talking crazy and I turned around off

788
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: the felt like, I'll come over there and slap the

789
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: ship out of you right now. The playoffs he I

790
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,040
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, listen, man, you got if you can,

791
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 1: sir with anything from a physical standpoint, you're not having

792
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,239
Speaker 1: faith in your training sad. The trains STA have the

793
00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:00,840
Speaker 1: best in the league. It WNNA makes you guys stay healthy.

794
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:03,920
Speaker 1: And you got a hell of a combination with Stat Nash.

795
00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,160
Speaker 1: You you want to break that up? You were going

796
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 1: to break that up, right. You gotta let that ride,

797
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,120
Speaker 1: Ye what I'm saying literally, you gotta let the wheels

798
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,040
Speaker 1: fall off of that until they do. Yeah, because Nash

799
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:18,799
Speaker 1: Nash started his mid thirties, you know what I'm saying.

800
00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:21,839
Speaker 1: I'm in my I'm like mid to late twenties. Even

801
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,200
Speaker 1: if you played another five years together and Nash we

802
00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,919
Speaker 1: started retiring and whatever happens from there, but you gotta

803
00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: you gotta see what we can do at least when

804
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:31,879
Speaker 1: that when that didn't happen, Now, I went to New

805
00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: York and we got a popping up in New York. Yes, sir, uh,

806
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: When you decided to go to New York, was it

807
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 1: a process where you would talk to anybody else about

808
00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: possibly coming with you or were they telling you that

809
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 1: they were going after anybody else? Yeah? I mean, I mean,

810
00:39:46,320 --> 00:39:48,640
Speaker 1: I mean when I when I when Fredncy hit, it

811
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,360
Speaker 1: was like it's a big freatency that year, you know

812
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Everyone was everyone Lebron. Everybody was like

813
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,399
Speaker 1: a fridge in that year. And so, um, Miami heat

814
00:39:57,640 --> 00:39:59,759
Speaker 1: was the first thing that called me. Pat called me.

815
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,600
Speaker 1: We talked on the phone. I talked to the Rockets.

816
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 1: I talked to the Nets at the time of the

817
00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 1: Jersey Nets at the time you know what I'm saying, Um,

818
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 1: And so I talked to I talked to the few

819
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: teams and in the Knicks, and so I spent a

820
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:14,279
Speaker 1: lot of time in New York and my child years,

821
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,520
Speaker 1: I was raising Port Jervis, New York, and so I

822
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,759
Speaker 1: was always like, you know what I'm saying. Always I

823
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:20,719
Speaker 1: had a love from New York. Maybe though I was

824
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:22,560
Speaker 1: a Boys fan. My I was an m J fan

825
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 1: growing up, but still had had love for the Knicks

826
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 1: and the bull in New York growing up. So when

827
00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 1: when when my D'Antonio was there in New York and

828
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:32,600
Speaker 1: some of the coaching staff that I was with here

829
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,920
Speaker 1: in Phoenix was already there, and like this might be

830
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 1: a nice fit for me to just go there and

831
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,120
Speaker 1: kind of pick up while left off. And so that's

832
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,439
Speaker 1: when I that's when I decided to go to New York.

833
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: And you know, and and yeah, I want to bring

834
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,640
Speaker 1: some guys with me. I talked about bringing CP, I

835
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 1: talked about bringing Tony Parker. I talked about bringing Mellow.

836
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:52,120
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I end up bringing Mellow

837
00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 1: to New York. You know what I'm saying. Like I

838
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,480
Speaker 1: was already on that, like bringing players in to the

839
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:00,279
Speaker 1: city to make things happen here. Um, you know, so

840
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:06,600
Speaker 1: that was an old mission's What was it like becoming

841
00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,799
Speaker 1: the Nick though? Like what was that experience? Like? Like, well,

842
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:11,439
Speaker 1: like a lot of people want to play in the garden,

843
00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:12,839
Speaker 1: A lot of people want to play for the next

844
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 1: just that experience of playing the Madison Square Garden. It's

845
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,239
Speaker 1: one thing being that watching the game, watching Spike and

846
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: all of but actually being a player for the New

847
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,279
Speaker 1: York Knicks, one of the best players coming out of

848
00:41:21,320 --> 00:41:23,279
Speaker 1: the locker room every day, dealing with the media and

849
00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,319
Speaker 1: all that. What is it like actually being a New

850
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 1: York Knick player? Enjoydan Man? I really did? I think

851
00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:30,839
Speaker 1: at that time the front office was like on point.

852
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:33,520
Speaker 1: We had we had we had we had you know,

853
00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:36,440
Speaker 1: solid GMS. We had Dunney wasahs there, we had Glenkwood,

854
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,480
Speaker 1: we had you know, Dunney Walston doing the heck with job.

855
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: That's my guy. He was doing a heck of job

856
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:43,880
Speaker 1: in New York and everything was running perfectly from an

857
00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,719
Speaker 1: organization standpoint. And then so when I was there with

858
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,840
Speaker 1: the Knicks, it was like, you know, um, everything is

859
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,880
Speaker 1: top notch. Everything. You got the Rockets performing a halftime,

860
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,719
Speaker 1: you got you got Taylor Swift during the pre game

861
00:41:57,840 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: like a pregame. Uh um intro for the Knicks. My

862
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: family meeting there, their favorite artists. Everything was ranked class A.

863
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,960
Speaker 1: Broadway shows. I was going to the net galls in fashion.

864
00:42:11,000 --> 00:42:12,400
Speaker 1: I was one of the first guys to go to

865
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,479
Speaker 1: the fashion shows and city. You know what I'm saying,

866
00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: sit in front rower and the win Tour. I was

867
00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 1: going to the to the operas. You know what I'm saying.

868
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,240
Speaker 1: I put on the tuch seed on go to the opera,

869
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:22,560
Speaker 1: and you know what I'm saying, Like I was doing

870
00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: all that New Year's Brown Man shit. I love I

871
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 1: love hearing about that off court because although it wasn't

872
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 1: the championship type team, it's still you guys made the

873
00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,040
Speaker 1: playoffs obviously, but it's still New York, you know, similar

874
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:35,440
Speaker 1: to l A, Like there's no experience like being a Laker.

875
00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,000
Speaker 1: But then that experience like being the nick is right there,

876
00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:39,640
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, because in New York is

877
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: obviously live. So it's dope to hear like all the

878
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:43,600
Speaker 1: ship off the court that came with it, because you

879
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 1: guys are doing your job on the court. Yeah, and

880
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:50,880
Speaker 1: nobody was doing that. I'm like, listen, man, right they

881
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:58,879
Speaker 1: was in white plain, white player, man. Listen. I found

882
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,200
Speaker 1: me a penthouse in the city, you know what I'm saying.

883
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I'm gonna enjoy New York and also

884
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,120
Speaker 1: hold myself accountable to being a player I need to

885
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,600
Speaker 1: be to make this team a playoff team, you know

886
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:10,680
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But yeah, it was definitely a vibe.

887
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:15,040
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. So despite a big season, you guys, uh

888
00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:19,280
Speaker 1: go down to Boston, uh and come across an injury

889
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:21,879
Speaker 1: in two thousand twelve, and after that it never really

890
00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,719
Speaker 1: seemed like you were No one's really paying for you,

891
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 1: but you were injury ridden the rest of your time

892
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:31,399
Speaker 1: in New York. Yeah. I was struggling, man, I had

893
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:35,960
Speaker 1: a I was after like this like third year, I

894
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:39,240
Speaker 1: started having like you know, some my minor little injuries

895
00:43:39,280 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: that were added up, and I was trying to get

896
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 1: my step together, but I couldn't find the right proper

897
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:47,239
Speaker 1: technique with the training, with the training situation, and so

898
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,560
Speaker 1: I was having some knit not situations, like going through

899
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:52,640
Speaker 1: that whole process, and I couldn't really get it figured out.

900
00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 1: And so for like two and a half years I

901
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,239
Speaker 1: was written with like a little small, little injuries. It

902
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,560
Speaker 1: was effective, but it also felt positive about it because,

903
00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:04,840
Speaker 1: you know, bringing in melow No, I was able to

904
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:06,680
Speaker 1: someone carry the load, even though it was tough for

905
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: him to be by myself, but he was still able

906
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 1: to carry to load and try to do what he

907
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,320
Speaker 1: could to make sure the team was still being successful

908
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: while his big dog was still trying to get himself together.

909
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:18,799
Speaker 1: So you know, it was definitely a tough stretch there

910
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,960
Speaker 1: in the last two two years or so. We'll go

911
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: into a little bit obviously of how mentally tough that is.

912
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,719
Speaker 1: I mean, you were a rising superstar, uh, multiple time

913
00:44:29,800 --> 00:44:32,240
Speaker 1: All Star. You know, if it wasn't for the Spurs,

914
00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:35,000
Speaker 1: would have definitely touched the finals, possibly want to ring,

915
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:37,399
Speaker 1: but then just not to be able to contribute when

916
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:39,920
Speaker 1: you're playing on the biggest stage. I mean Masson Square Gardens,

917
00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:41,480
Speaker 1: the mecca you know. I mean you you spoke on

918
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: how fun off the court was because you guys are

919
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: doing your job on the court. How mentally tough was

920
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 1: it being able to get over those hurdles knowing that,

921
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: like God damn, like I know how good I am,

922
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,399
Speaker 1: I just can't do what I'm supposed to do because

923
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:54,839
Speaker 1: I'm hurt. Yeah, it was tough. It was tough, man,

924
00:44:55,120 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 1: I mean it really was. I mean it took it

925
00:44:56,560 --> 00:44:59,200
Speaker 1: took a lot of mental mental strength in order to

926
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,160
Speaker 1: understand and had had a mentally get over to get

927
00:45:02,239 --> 00:45:04,640
Speaker 1: over the hump. I mean, I went. I was trying everything, bro,

928
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,600
Speaker 1: I went vegan for four months, trying to make sure

929
00:45:07,719 --> 00:45:10,080
Speaker 1: he properly makes my body gets opt him on my

930
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:14,120
Speaker 1: opportunity to heal and get healthy. Um, I was doing

931
00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: it all, but I was trying to keep myself and

932
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,120
Speaker 1: know what I was getting proper rest and everything. Is

933
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,800
Speaker 1: trying to do whatever I can and to not be

934
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: able to you know what I'm saying, to get out

935
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,840
Speaker 1: there and perform on certain nights. It was tough for me,

936
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:27,840
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. With My family kept me

937
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 1: kept me focused. I'm saying. My children, my babies kept

938
00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:32,719
Speaker 1: me locked in Like when I go home and see

939
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:35,239
Speaker 1: the smiling and hugged me no matter what. That kind

940
00:45:35,239 --> 00:45:36,840
Speaker 1: of that kind of brought me back to a humble

941
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:40,120
Speaker 1: of humble experience. Um so that helped me along the way.

942
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,480
Speaker 1: When did the red wine bath recovery routine begin? And

943
00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:48,359
Speaker 1: does that ship really work? Hey? Listen, man, I was, man,

944
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:51,320
Speaker 1: I was, I was, I was. You know this this

945
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:55,320
Speaker 1: female friend I was, I was, you know, talking with

946
00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,840
Speaker 1: she gave me a gift, right, and she gave me

947
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:00,600
Speaker 1: a gift and to give was to go to this

948
00:46:00,719 --> 00:46:04,320
Speaker 1: ancient bath place and you go in there, it's like

949
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:11,919
Speaker 1: it's like very romantic. You have like the hot tub, sala,

950
00:46:12,480 --> 00:46:15,400
Speaker 1: the cold plungs, you got all this. And then the

951
00:46:15,560 --> 00:46:17,800
Speaker 1: gift for me was like to take this wine bath,

952
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:21,960
Speaker 1: like a wine bath. I'll take a wine bath for

953
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:25,359
Speaker 1: so I go in there. You know what I'm saying,

954
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:27,560
Speaker 1: take the wine. Get I get into the bath. It's

955
00:46:27,600 --> 00:46:31,160
Speaker 1: like half wine half water. It's like ninety eight degrees

956
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:33,319
Speaker 1: a hundred degrees in the bath. They bring your ice

957
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: water and also they bring your glass of wine and

958
00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:38,359
Speaker 1: just relax. So I was doing it. Man. I took

959
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 1: a little selfish shot and it went viral. You know

960
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:44,239
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But yeah, anytime I had a day off,

961
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:47,520
Speaker 1: I go there and all the all the baths, right,

962
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:50,320
Speaker 1: the salt bath which us with body protroven nation, the

963
00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:54,560
Speaker 1: cold pluns, contrast between cold and hot. You know I'm saying,

964
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:56,480
Speaker 1: I jump in the wine bath. It was like a

965
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: nice little day of recovery for me. And so that's

966
00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: what I was doing. You started doing that as a

967
00:47:01,280 --> 00:47:04,359
Speaker 1: regular routine. How much with one of those wine bass costs?

968
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:06,840
Speaker 1: Because you said, you're only you know, you only soaking

969
00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 1: the finest of wines. Me, you gotta you gotta cut

970
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,120
Speaker 1: the check, baby, you gotta cut the check. Yeah, so

971
00:47:15,120 --> 00:47:17,840
Speaker 1: I'm saying, so how much? How much? How much with

972
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: the wine bath cost? I need to know. I'm a

973
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 1: I'm a port drink of my marks that I love

974
00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,000
Speaker 1: drinking ports. That's my thing. Ports. I love, Paul. Yeah,

975
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:31,000
Speaker 1: so we sitting on a cal I want to know

976
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:36,680
Speaker 1: what was your most expensive wine bath? Most expensive wine bath? Yeah, man,

977
00:47:37,920 --> 00:47:40,600
Speaker 1: I asked some zeros to that. Yeah, because you're a

978
00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:45,040
Speaker 1: bit you you big, big motherfucker. So it's gonna take

979
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:50,759
Speaker 1: a lot of bottles. Actually, you know what about the

980
00:47:50,800 --> 00:47:53,360
Speaker 1: tub six for people. So it's like I've seen it.

981
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,400
Speaker 1: I've seen the thing you did on ESPN. Yeah, so

982
00:47:56,520 --> 00:48:01,880
Speaker 1: that was bigger ship. Yeah yeah. So from uh, you

983
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,920
Speaker 1: leave the Knicks in two thousand fifteen, signed with Dallas. Uh,

984
00:48:06,520 --> 00:48:08,760
Speaker 1: bounce around a little bit, then you head off to Israel.

985
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:12,279
Speaker 1: What what what made you choose Israel? Did you feel

986
00:48:12,320 --> 00:48:14,080
Speaker 1: like your time in the NBA was up, you wanted

987
00:48:14,120 --> 00:48:16,440
Speaker 1: a new challenge, something different? What what what made you

988
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:18,880
Speaker 1: go over the water? Yeah? I found I went from

989
00:48:18,960 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 1: Dallas to Miami. I played one year with the Heat

990
00:48:22,080 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 1: and then um, then I went to Israel. So so

991
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,400
Speaker 1: the team in Jerusalem I became part owner of in

992
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,880
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, and so I figured I figured I

993
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:33,359
Speaker 1: might as well go over there and just helped raise

994
00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:36,200
Speaker 1: the equity of the team and also and also learned

995
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:38,400
Speaker 1: while I'm over there, you know what I'm saying, And

996
00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:40,080
Speaker 1: so that's what that was part of the process of

997
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:42,480
Speaker 1: While we decided to go over to Israel, is for

998
00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:45,920
Speaker 1: both reasons to to learn and also to try to

999
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:48,640
Speaker 1: raise the act of the other team. Michael Jordan, I

1000
00:48:48,719 --> 00:48:51,360
Speaker 1: played for the team I owned. How were you embraced?

1001
00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:55,680
Speaker 1: You mean, obviously NBA superstar uh, goes over there and

1002
00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,200
Speaker 1: plays for the team he owns. What was that fandom like?

1003
00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 1: Because if you I never got the chance to play overseas,

1004
00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:02,840
Speaker 1: but I just when we went over When we go

1005
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,480
Speaker 1: over there in the preseason or you see other sporting events,

1006
00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:08,120
Speaker 1: European fans are over the top. So I'm sure the

1007
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:11,120
Speaker 1: love was crazy for you out there. Man. It was crazy, bro,

1008
00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:14,239
Speaker 1: it was crazy. I mean, I have my own song,

1009
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:18,279
Speaker 1: had my own chance. Um. It was crazy, man, every

1010
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:22,360
Speaker 1: every every game, it was like fans outside waiting force.

1011
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 1: When I traveled to Europe, we went to different places

1012
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,520
Speaker 1: over Europe as fans, there were you know, posters and

1013
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:32,440
Speaker 1: cards for autographs and photos. Um. And then I won

1014
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:34,719
Speaker 1: a championship that year over there, my first year over there.

1015
00:49:34,760 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 1: Also it was like you know what I'm saying, it

1016
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 1: was incredible and it was. It was a great experience.

1017
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:45,400
Speaker 1: M hmm. Once you won the championship overseas, you a

1018
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:47,880
Speaker 1: god to them. I won a championship in the in

1019
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:53,920
Speaker 1: Dominican Republic. Was that nine And I still get texting

1020
00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:56,920
Speaker 1: DM them asking me to come back. They they carried me,

1021
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:00,360
Speaker 1: Matt from the arena. So I live enabled, which is

1022
00:50:00,400 --> 00:50:02,640
Speaker 1: called Pueblo and the weather was like five blocks from

1023
00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:05,600
Speaker 1: the arena. They carried me in my uniform from out

1024
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:09,840
Speaker 1: the arena five blocks down to my house. This this

1025
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:12,400
Speaker 1: so they that I'm just saying to say, overseas, they

1026
00:50:12,520 --> 00:50:14,480
Speaker 1: really appreciate the game and their fans. A law, you

1027
00:50:14,560 --> 00:50:16,680
Speaker 1: win the championship for them, they love you forever. I

1028
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:19,520
Speaker 1: think I think they did that Jack texting you and

1029
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:20,920
Speaker 1: ship still because they want you to come back and

1030
00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:25,359
Speaker 1: check on your kids you left over there. But I've

1031
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:27,560
Speaker 1: never met in denial, you know what I'm saying. I

1032
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:31,520
Speaker 1: was eighteen nineteen. I've never seen that many beautiful women.

1033
00:50:31,760 --> 00:50:33,080
Speaker 1: You might have one of the time. I might. I

1034
00:50:33,200 --> 00:50:36,319
Speaker 1: might have one to tell you. That's why they still

1035
00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:38,520
Speaker 1: d M and you and texting bad numbers like man,

1036
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:40,680
Speaker 1: mother Funker had a kid here ninety ain't seen him

1037
00:50:40,719 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: since I let me. I let me They probably eighteen

1038
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:55,719
Speaker 1: so good. So you decided to convert to uh Judaism?

1039
00:50:56,560 --> 00:51:01,120
Speaker 1: When did that? Uh? What? What inspired that? Yeah? So

1040
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 1: I grew up in Israel LIKEE you know so so

1041
00:51:03,640 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 1: so I was always kind of engulfed in like the

1042
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,080
Speaker 1: biblical understanding, and I was always like in tune with

1043
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,359
Speaker 1: uh with with with the Bible, you know what I'm saying.

1044
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,279
Speaker 1: So what I wanted to do is learn more details

1045
00:51:16,000 --> 00:51:18,040
Speaker 1: of what you know, what I'm saying, what the Bible

1046
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:20,239
Speaker 1: is really saying. And then and then, and so what

1047
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,120
Speaker 1: I was able to do is really get engulfed in

1048
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:26,000
Speaker 1: like the learning from a deeper magnitude and all the

1049
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:30,440
Speaker 1: details of like the intricate learnings. And so once I

1050
00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:32,880
Speaker 1: realized as a structure of that, once I realized is

1051
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,759
Speaker 1: a way that you can really like learn all the

1052
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:38,479
Speaker 1: blessings and how to build a closural insup with God.

1053
00:51:39,920 --> 00:51:41,759
Speaker 1: This is where this is where I need to be.

1054
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:45,040
Speaker 1: And I realized that, you know, the ideal of like

1055
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,680
Speaker 1: you know, obviously Judaism, but obviously like just being a

1056
00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 1: Bible scholar, the idealist is to be able to to

1057
00:51:51,719 --> 00:51:54,200
Speaker 1: live like the profits lived and how to really how

1058
00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 1: to connect yourself with a total with a total aspect

1059
00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:00,080
Speaker 1: of righteousness and how do you do that with as

1060
00:52:00,120 --> 00:52:01,520
Speaker 1: I was searching for that, you know what I'm saying

1061
00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:03,920
Speaker 1: for a long time. And so that's that's kind of

1062
00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 1: what led me to like going through the conversion um

1063
00:52:07,440 --> 00:52:11,719
Speaker 1: in his room. So it sounds like a special place

1064
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:14,000
Speaker 1: you man, you got over there and got to finish

1065
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:16,200
Speaker 1: playing your career with the championship in the m v

1066
00:52:16,320 --> 00:52:18,560
Speaker 1: P and then you know, convert to something you've always

1067
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:21,440
Speaker 1: been interested too. So that kind of ties me in.

1068
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:23,719
Speaker 1: I mean, you were someone I mean if you don't

1069
00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:25,440
Speaker 1: get it, like people see you on the court as

1070
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,480
Speaker 1: like a monster and the killer. But when it comes

1071
00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 1: to details and and and and and art and and

1072
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:36,279
Speaker 1: all these in wines and that the sophistication fashion you're

1073
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:38,600
Speaker 1: into all that. Where did you pick up just all

1074
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:42,080
Speaker 1: the nuances of life? Because because could you live it good?

1075
00:52:43,120 --> 00:52:45,000
Speaker 1: You know? It's funny, man, you know, to be honest

1076
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,440
Speaker 1: with you, like even my trouble and childhood growing up

1077
00:52:47,880 --> 00:52:50,680
Speaker 1: and having to move to run from the police, you

1078
00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:52,399
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, from one step to the next

1079
00:52:52,840 --> 00:52:54,480
Speaker 1: and all that, But I was I was able to

1080
00:52:54,560 --> 00:52:58,439
Speaker 1: kind of somewhat um learn from different cultures on where

1081
00:52:58,480 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 1: we moved to, you feel me. So we moved from

1082
00:53:01,680 --> 00:53:05,840
Speaker 1: like Florida to New York, from New York to Atlanta,

1083
00:53:06,600 --> 00:53:09,360
Speaker 1: from to North Carolina, you know what I'm saying. So

1084
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:11,760
Speaker 1: I'm in, I'm in the mixt of all these different

1085
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:15,520
Speaker 1: cultures and learning from all these different vibes to where

1086
00:53:15,800 --> 00:53:17,719
Speaker 1: you know, as I've become, you know, a young man,

1087
00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:21,200
Speaker 1: all that that I experience is still instilled in me,

1088
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,240
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, So as I come across

1089
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:27,799
Speaker 1: those experiences again later in life, just because naturally kind

1090
00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:30,200
Speaker 1: of reconnect to all those different elements that I was

1091
00:53:30,239 --> 00:53:33,319
Speaker 1: already somewhat you know, somewhat experienced when I was younger.

1092
00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:37,960
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. So your journey as a player comes to

1093
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:41,880
Speaker 1: an end the same year your new journey begins. How

1094
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 1: are you excited? Are you for this next chapter? Uh?

1095
00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:49,200
Speaker 1: And what's going to be an amazing book of your life? Yeah?

1096
00:53:49,239 --> 00:53:51,800
Speaker 1: I'm excited, man, I am excited. I think you know,

1097
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:54,520
Speaker 1: the opportunity now is just not like I'm in business

1098
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:57,200
Speaker 1: school right now, so I'm going from my master in business,

1099
00:53:57,560 --> 00:53:59,200
Speaker 1: so I'm locking in on that and just trying to

1100
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:01,439
Speaker 1: really trying to get myself in a position well maybe

1101
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:05,160
Speaker 1: they're like, really have a career outside of basketball. Um,

1102
00:54:05,520 --> 00:54:08,240
Speaker 1: and then this journey with like into the coaching space

1103
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:10,759
Speaker 1: or to the front office space, whatever that may lead to.

1104
00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:13,759
Speaker 1: You know, It's it's an interesting moment in my life

1105
00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:15,680
Speaker 1: at the moment to be able to like really capitalize

1106
00:54:15,719 --> 00:54:19,200
Speaker 1: on there and then build relationships with the players, um

1107
00:54:19,280 --> 00:54:20,880
Speaker 1: and be to help school then on how to be

1108
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:24,080
Speaker 1: successful on and off the court, um and So I

1109
00:54:24,120 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: think it's it's a great transition from playing because I

1110
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:29,080
Speaker 1: played last year. I just played like three months ago

1111
00:54:29,239 --> 00:54:31,560
Speaker 1: with that MPP of the finals, and I got to

1112
00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:34,000
Speaker 1: a contract on the table to go back over and play.

1113
00:54:34,440 --> 00:54:36,440
Speaker 1: So I could still be very well playing right now

1114
00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:39,520
Speaker 1: professional basketball. But I but I'd rather just kind of

1115
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:43,200
Speaker 1: come in and really start my after playing career sooner

1116
00:54:43,239 --> 00:54:47,520
Speaker 1: than later. It's fun. Hey, I tell you, Matt that

1117
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:50,799
Speaker 1: I plan on going back getting my business degree. Man,

1118
00:54:51,080 --> 00:54:52,759
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be calling your phone so you can walk

1119
00:54:52,840 --> 00:54:54,080
Speaker 1: me through that, because you know, neither one of us

1120
00:54:54,120 --> 00:54:55,800
Speaker 1: been to college, so that's gonna be down. I know

1121
00:54:55,880 --> 00:54:58,120
Speaker 1: that was a step, that's that's a step in the

1122
00:54:58,239 --> 00:55:01,000
Speaker 1: focus you got really locked in. So I definitely plan

1123
00:55:01,080 --> 00:55:03,040
Speaker 1: on taking that stage, bro. So I'm gonna need your

1124
00:55:03,040 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: advice on that, sure. I mean my thing, My thing

1125
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:07,880
Speaker 1: is always have like someone you can study with, like

1126
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,239
Speaker 1: a tutor, or somebody who probably already have been there,

1127
00:55:10,360 --> 00:55:14,200
Speaker 1: or someone who's like into business already and already like

1128
00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:16,640
Speaker 1: involved in that space. So that way you can always

1129
00:55:16,719 --> 00:55:19,080
Speaker 1: like to learn with them and they can help you

1130
00:55:19,239 --> 00:55:20,719
Speaker 1: along the way because a lot of that stuff I

1131
00:55:21,320 --> 00:55:23,920
Speaker 1: never heard before, a lot of terms, a lot of

1132
00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 1: situations within that, within that schooling process that I need

1133
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:28,880
Speaker 1: to help with. And so I have a tutor that

1134
00:55:28,920 --> 00:55:30,560
Speaker 1: I kind of studied with and we both kind of

1135
00:55:30,640 --> 00:55:33,239
Speaker 1: learned together, and it helps me kind of learn as

1136
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:36,600
Speaker 1: we go. If you can tell a story on your career,

1137
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:41,960
Speaker 1: what do you want to be remembered as, uh your

1138
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:47,640
Speaker 1: NBA legacy? I mean, honest with you, I mean I

1139
00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:51,000
Speaker 1: was I was a fierce error player. You feel me

1140
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 1: like I got tacked the rim and every by any means,

1141
00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:55,640
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. But I think I think

1142
00:55:55,680 --> 00:55:58,680
Speaker 1: the ideal of my career is that I was able

1143
00:55:58,760 --> 00:56:02,520
Speaker 1: to persevere, you know, not only not only through life

1144
00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:06,640
Speaker 1: as we talked about earlier, but also through like yeah,

1145
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:12,000
Speaker 1: and also through like the injuries of my career, being

1146
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:15,040
Speaker 1: able to persevere and still come back play any two

1147
00:56:15,120 --> 00:56:18,160
Speaker 1: games and then become first of all NBA and then

1148
00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:20,800
Speaker 1: still you know, it's six times All NBA and still

1149
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:26,360
Speaker 1: play eighteen years of professional basketball despite all that. So

1150
00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:30,160
Speaker 1: the perseverance, you know, is kind of where it's sat.

1151
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 1: As far as a basketball player, I mean, i've I've

1152
00:56:34,520 --> 00:56:36,239
Speaker 1: I was a part of an evolution of the game

1153
00:56:36,760 --> 00:56:39,560
Speaker 1: with the Suns. We we we we kind of, you know,

1154
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:42,920
Speaker 1: somewhat change the game in the way we kind of

1155
00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:46,279
Speaker 1: evolved the game and push the game forward. Um. And

1156
00:56:46,360 --> 00:56:49,920
Speaker 1: I think that's very important in in NBA history for

1157
00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:51,879
Speaker 1: the guys who are able to push the game forward

1158
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,799
Speaker 1: and change the game in the positive way, It's important. Um.

1159
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:56,920
Speaker 1: And then when it comes when it comes to like

1160
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:00,880
Speaker 1: Poster and guys were attacking the rim, I mean, I

1161
00:57:00,920 --> 00:57:03,520
Speaker 1: ain't something. Only a few guys that can think of

1162
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:06,919
Speaker 1: that that attacked the rim. You know what I'm saying

1163
00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:08,640
Speaker 1: with more force than I did. You know what I'm saying,

1164
00:57:08,640 --> 00:57:11,160
Speaker 1: only a few guys I can think. So, you know,

1165
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:14,279
Speaker 1: you know, I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish. Man.

1166
00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:16,439
Speaker 1: I thank God for allowing me to play eighteen years

1167
00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:19,320
Speaker 1: and still be able to maintain a career and provide

1168
00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:22,760
Speaker 1: my family. UM. So it was a success for me.

1169
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:28,000
Speaker 1: When you look back on an eighteen year career, anything

1170
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:36,840
Speaker 1: you change, um, I mean it's not too I look

1171
00:57:36,880 --> 00:57:38,800
Speaker 1: at I look at us. If I've made the right decisions.

1172
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:42,320
Speaker 1: I mean, my idea situation was Evan was to play

1173
00:57:42,400 --> 00:57:45,840
Speaker 1: with the Sons all the way through a man Steve

1174
00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:48,360
Speaker 1: kind of rock out until we both retired. That was

1175
00:57:48,440 --> 00:57:50,720
Speaker 1: that would have been an idea situation for me. But

1176
00:57:50,880 --> 00:57:53,360
Speaker 1: I don't take that. The experience I had in New York,

1177
00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:56,400
Speaker 1: it was like I could never duplicate that again in

1178
00:57:56,480 --> 00:57:59,360
Speaker 1: my life. It was something that was amazing, amazing experience.

1179
00:57:59,760 --> 00:58:02,160
Speaker 1: So I can I can't really change anything because it all,

1180
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:03,920
Speaker 1: it all made me who I am today. You know,

1181
00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:06,000
Speaker 1: all right, man, we're coming down to home stretch. You go,

1182
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:09,959
Speaker 1: quick hitters. Uh. Top five artists any genre of music.

1183
00:58:10,160 --> 00:58:15,320
Speaker 1: Top five artists any genre music, tupac to core. Uh,

1184
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:26,760
Speaker 1: Marvin Gaye, m yes, Frank Sinatra mm hmm um. Let's

1185
00:58:26,800 --> 00:58:35,320
Speaker 1: see man, we got um artists right between my artist

1186
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:40,080
Speaker 1: Andre three thousand. Oh what was that was that for?

1187
00:58:41,120 --> 00:58:46,280
Speaker 1: Mm hmm? And then and then I'm going with I'm

1188
00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:51,959
Speaker 1: going with Michael Jackson. Yeah. Uh, well rounded lists, little

1189
00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:55,040
Speaker 1: rounded list. What teammates you play with that gave you

1190
00:58:55,160 --> 00:59:01,360
Speaker 1: some memorable career advice? Shock that showing my teammate who

1191
00:59:01,440 --> 00:59:04,680
Speaker 1: gave me the most advice from a christa point, whether

1192
00:59:04,680 --> 00:59:11,680
Speaker 1: it was business, um, whether it's entrepreneurship, whether it's basketball terms. Um,

1193
00:59:12,600 --> 00:59:14,560
Speaker 1: you know, I think shock shocking when that gave me

1194
00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:17,200
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of polity advice, Um to

1195
00:59:17,320 --> 00:59:20,720
Speaker 1: help me out a lot. Hey, I've been wanting to

1196
00:59:20,800 --> 00:59:23,160
Speaker 1: get Shock bad on the phone or on the show,

1197
00:59:24,080 --> 00:59:26,360
Speaker 1: just to talk about the ship he would do in

1198
00:59:26,440 --> 00:59:29,240
Speaker 1: our fucking locker room. Bro. Remember what kind of wild

1199
00:59:29,320 --> 00:59:34,400
Speaker 1: as ship he would be doing every fucking with lou Now, Jack,

1200
00:59:34,480 --> 00:59:37,400
Speaker 1: you have no idea what kind of ship this motherfucking

1201
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:43,560
Speaker 1: Shock was on in the locker room, Bro. Unbelievable, crazy

1202
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:45,800
Speaker 1: at fun, there was no rules, like, there was no

1203
00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:48,240
Speaker 1: like are you serious? Like the nigger had no filter

1204
00:59:48,320 --> 00:59:53,720
Speaker 1: when it came to playing games. It was unbelievable. And uh,

1205
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:56,840
Speaker 1: pick up game at the best park in the world.

1206
00:59:56,960 --> 01:00:00,160
Speaker 1: Who are for other players? You're taking with you? Pick

1207
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:05,960
Speaker 1: up game, Steve, Uh, pick up game for sure, for sure,

1208
01:00:06,000 --> 01:00:11,200
Speaker 1: Bright Nash For me, Um, it was like like random

1209
01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:14,880
Speaker 1: random players were like, Yeah, anybody, anybody you want, Man,

1210
01:00:14,920 --> 01:00:17,560
Speaker 1: I'm bringing I'm playing. That's black top in the world. Man,

1211
01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:19,840
Speaker 1: I'm bringing my I'm bringing, I'm bringing. I'm bringing a

1212
01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:21,680
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of legends I played with. I'm

1213
01:00:21,720 --> 01:00:25,640
Speaker 1: bringing Jonathan Harket, you know what I'm saying from v A.

1214
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:30,880
Speaker 1: I'm bringing my man. Uh m hmm, I'm bringing my

1215
01:00:31,040 --> 01:00:40,200
Speaker 1: man Tyrone Sally. Y'all ain't never heard this cash man. Yeah.

1216
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:42,880
Speaker 1: And then if you go NBA, man, if I bring,

1217
01:00:43,040 --> 01:00:44,960
Speaker 1: If I put Shock and MG on the court, we

1218
01:00:45,040 --> 01:00:49,320
Speaker 1: could m hey two two of them nick names still

1219
01:00:49,320 --> 01:00:59,600
Speaker 1: got a house. Money played at West Virginia, both Man

1220
01:00:59,880 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: of Sally. I played the Mountainsion with. Both of those

1221
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:05,040
Speaker 1: guys had like a forty five inears vertically point guard

1222
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:09,680
Speaker 1: Trown settled like six eight win player. They both played

1223
01:01:09,720 --> 01:01:13,800
Speaker 1: college basketball. Mhm, shout out, shout out to the brothers.

1224
01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:16,480
Speaker 1: Name one player you always wanted to play with. I

1225
01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:20,160
Speaker 1: wanted to play with Lebron m I felt like I

1226
01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:23,120
Speaker 1: felt that Brian and I have a similar similar mindset

1227
01:01:23,160 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 1: when new comes, like trying to dominate the game. You

1228
01:01:25,880 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It being able to have like

1229
01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:30,000
Speaker 1: that killer instinct on the court, you know what I'm saying,

1230
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:33,880
Speaker 1: and applying leadership in ways that not only vocal leaders

1231
01:01:33,880 --> 01:01:40,520
Speaker 1: ship but also like you know, example leadership. And so yeah, man,

1232
01:01:40,640 --> 01:01:42,160
Speaker 1: I wanted to play with Lebron because I saw a

1233
01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:44,840
Speaker 1: lot of similarities in the country of those attributes with

1234
01:01:44,920 --> 01:01:49,760
Speaker 1: me and with myself. Uh. Five dinner guests, dead or

1235
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:59,080
Speaker 1: alive for another conversation. Five dinner guests. Uh Muhammad Ali, Um,

1236
01:02:01,560 --> 01:02:12,360
Speaker 1: Malcole Max mm hmmm um. Two parts are cool? Um

1237
01:02:13,160 --> 01:02:19,360
Speaker 1: was that? Three? Mm hmm straight? Um Abraham Lincoln mm

1238
01:02:19,480 --> 01:02:29,240
Speaker 1: hmm mm hmmm um. And I'm probably gonna go with Man.

1239
01:02:29,960 --> 01:02:37,440
Speaker 1: The fifth one, I'll probably go with Uh, Maya Angelo,

1240
01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 1: May Angelo, nice, it's nice. Five. Next question, your answer?

1241
01:02:45,640 --> 01:02:48,840
Speaker 1: You have to help us. What's your answer? Okay? What

1242
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:51,280
Speaker 1: guests you want to see on our show? What guests

1243
01:02:51,320 --> 01:02:53,040
Speaker 1: want to see on all the smoke and probably will

1244
01:02:53,680 --> 01:02:55,200
Speaker 1: I would love to see catching the mall and all

1245
01:02:55,240 --> 01:02:59,520
Speaker 1: the smoke? Oh? Ok do you hear that k dot?

1246
01:03:00,040 --> 01:03:04,760
Speaker 1: You gotta line? Okay, that you gotta line? Okay lately, man,

1247
01:03:04,800 --> 01:03:06,520
Speaker 1: I know he's cooking up something and laugh. I know

1248
01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:09,280
Speaker 1: it's gonna be h It's gonna be scary. I can't

1249
01:03:09,280 --> 01:03:11,080
Speaker 1: wait to hear with all this ship going on, you

1250
01:03:11,160 --> 01:03:15,120
Speaker 1: know here, man, I can't wait thinking Tupac coming Man

1251
01:03:15,720 --> 01:03:19,600
Speaker 1: facts all right, Mark started mind. Man. We appreciate the time.

1252
01:03:19,800 --> 01:03:23,280
Speaker 1: Thank you, very much. Good luck this season with the

1253
01:03:23,400 --> 01:03:30,040
Speaker 1: nets and in your next chapter of life. Many fellers

1254
01:03:30,080 --> 01:03:32,120
Speaker 1: man must success. Keep up the good work, fellos. We

1255
01:03:32,160 --> 01:03:35,880
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Man, we're respected. Thank you, Bro, appreciate it.

1256
01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:38,240
Speaker 1: Stat I appreciate you. And we got to get together

1257
01:03:38,240 --> 01:03:39,600
Speaker 1: and get on one of these parts man, when you

1258
01:03:39,640 --> 01:03:43,880
Speaker 1: get some time. Absolutely absolutely for sure. Alrightm o hey,

1259
01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:46,640
Speaker 1: that's a wrap. All the smoke. You can catch us

1260
01:03:46,640 --> 01:03:51,880
Speaker 1: on Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the Heart platform Black Effects.

1261
01:03:52,200 --> 01:03:54,360
Speaker 1: See you all next time. This is all a smoke,

1262
01:03:54,760 --> 01:03:57,280
Speaker 1: a production of The Black Effect and our Heart Radio

1263
01:03:57,600 --> 01:03:58,920
Speaker 1: in partnership with Showtime