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Speaker 1: Welcome to The Draymond Green Show. This is episode seventeen,
Speaker 1: and boy is it a big one. We've been processing
Speaker 1: this with for a while. I hope you clocked the wordplay,
Speaker 1: processing it, trying to make it happen. Schedules collide that
Speaker 1: and it happens all the time. East coast travel, West
Speaker 1: coast travel sometimes can be hectic to put it together,
Speaker 1: but we got it done this week and I am
Speaker 1: excited to welcome m VP candidate five time All Star
Speaker 1: the Process Joe L. M B to the show today.
Speaker 1: Uh he would be our guests and this interview man
Speaker 1: was it a good one? And I mean, what would
Speaker 1: you expect though, It's Joel who talks a bunch of
Speaker 1: shit to everybody and anybody, and then it's me who
Speaker 1: like to talk from time to time, and it's us
Speaker 1: having a conversation. So I thought it was great. I
Speaker 1: hope you all enjoying it and take away from it, um,
Speaker 1: some of the things that I took away from it.
Speaker 1: I thought it was an incredible interview. But before we
Speaker 1: get to that, let's cruise around the association a little bit. Uh,
Speaker 1: starting off with my return. Sure, it was incredible, um,
Speaker 1: but it was a blur. I mean I was like,
Speaker 1: if you watch when when I checked into the game,
Speaker 1: I actually didn't process that welcome back, and ovation I
Speaker 1: didn't process it at all. I was nervous and ship
Speaker 1: like if you if you see me, like go back
Speaker 1: and watch the clip and look how like watch how
Speaker 1: fast I'm like ripping my pants off and taking my
Speaker 1: shirt off. I got turned and then I just had
Speaker 1: straight for the free throw line and Ruey said something
Speaker 1: to me next to me, He said, man, I thought
Speaker 1: they were cheering her at me, And I was so
Speaker 1: out of it I started laughing, like, yeah, hey, where
Speaker 1: and I'm like, wait a minute, oh that was funny,
Speaker 1: Like I mean the nerves that I was feeling, um
Speaker 1: and getting back out there. You know what, when when
Speaker 1: coming off an injury, you're just never you can just
Speaker 1: never be too sure how it's gonna go. So it's
Speaker 1: that on top of not planning for a couple of months,
Speaker 1: on top of planning with with Stephan Clay for the
Speaker 1: first time in one thousand and five days. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it's all of that in one and it was a blur,
Speaker 1: like it just was moving way too fast for me.
Speaker 1: Like I mean even with the ovation, like most people
Speaker 1: would like stop and like waver like acknowledge. I didn't
Speaker 1: even realize that. Like it took me to get home
Speaker 1: last night. Check my phone. I went to Twitter and
Speaker 1: like my first my first response to the ovation if
Speaker 1: you go look at my Twitter page, I think I said, like, wow,
Speaker 1: that's the first I had really even heard of it,
Speaker 1: Like I had no idea. And by the way, it
Speaker 1: was to three am by the time I saw it,
Speaker 1: Like I had no idea that was the case. And
Speaker 1: so I most importantly I want to say thank you
Speaker 1: to dub Nation. Um, I mean that was incredible. It
Speaker 1: was something that I would remember for the rest of
Speaker 1: my life of what I do remember of it, but
Speaker 1: I mean just to be welcome back like that. I
Speaker 1: can't think thank our fans enough. It was incredible. It
Speaker 1: was such an amazing night steph birthday. To come back
Speaker 1: on steph birthday so obviously incredible. I said the other
Speaker 1: day in one of my interviews, like, now this this
Speaker 1: should be a very memorable birthday for him, like he
Speaker 1: scored forty seven, it's our first time playing and in
Speaker 1: one thousand and five days. Because thirty four sucks, like
Speaker 1: like you're turned thirty four, Like that's no fun. It's
Speaker 1: like I turned thirty two last week. I thirty two,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's just one of those birthdays and so
Speaker 1: and in thirty four is even worse. Like thirty four.
Speaker 1: You're like right on the cusp of having a big
Speaker 1: thirty five but not quite there. And so it's like
Speaker 1: in reach but not quite there. So it's boring as hell.
Speaker 1: But I think the birthday turned out great, Like it
Speaker 1: was an incredible night. Step dropped them boys off of
Speaker 1: forty seven, which was beautiful to see. I wish he
Speaker 1: would have could have gotten fifty, but we came out
Speaker 1: the game the last minute and a half, and I
Speaker 1: have no doubt in my mind that he would have
Speaker 1: gotten fifty if we were selling in the game. But man,
Speaker 1: it was just it was such an amazing night. I
Speaker 1: felt great for the most part. I think once I
Speaker 1: got to the end of my lads, like the end
Speaker 1: of my six minutes stretch, I got, you know, my
Speaker 1: win and get a little challenging. Ever, for the most part,
Speaker 1: I felt pretty good. Um, a couple of times I'm
Speaker 1: dribbling down the court and I like, just lose handle
Speaker 1: little ball like it's a field thing. And so I'm
Speaker 1: still getting my fieldback. I feel like I'm at about
Speaker 1: seventy seventy seventy five per cent or something like that.
Speaker 1: And I got I have a month to get ready
Speaker 1: for the playoffs, and I have no doubt in my
Speaker 1: mind that I'll be back um where I left off
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. But overall, I thought it was pretty good.
Speaker 1: I thought, you know, we did some really good things.
Speaker 1: Is on the offensive end. I thought we did some
Speaker 1: really good things on the defensive end. And like I said, uh,
Speaker 1: some of the moments that felt great to me. Number
Speaker 1: One Steph putting me in the position as soon as
Speaker 1: I checked into the game um to catch the ball
Speaker 1: and the post and hit him was incredible because as
Speaker 1: soon as that happened, which was the very first player
Speaker 1: I was in, as soon as that happened, I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: like I felt normal after that, Like I felt like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm fine. Like once that first thing is think that
Speaker 1: first thing happens, then from that point it's just kind
Speaker 1: of like all right, like now it's just basketball. And
Speaker 1: so him putting me in that position was extremely important
Speaker 1: because you start to run up and down the court
Speaker 1: a few times, three, four or five times and nothing
Speaker 1: happened with you, and then that that nervousness just starts
Speaker 1: to build and build and build and build, and it
Speaker 1: gets a little hectic. So I was extremely appreciative of that.
Speaker 1: And then I think it was just such a moment
Speaker 1: like and and so that moment really stood out to me.
Speaker 1: And then also the another moment that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me was the the back door cup uh dime
Speaker 1: for Clay in transition. That moment was beautiful to me
Speaker 1: because it was Steph and Clay right on top of
Speaker 1: each other, and then it was myself and so that
Speaker 1: play kind of involved that play kind of involved all
Speaker 1: of us, and so I thought that was like, those
Speaker 1: were the two moments, like two plays in the game
Speaker 1: that really stuck out to me that um that that
Speaker 1: moving forward, I'll remember those plays in that game. It
Speaker 1: was such a beautiful thing. So right in the four
Speaker 1: game win streak, which I think is great, especially off
Speaker 1: of that stretch of games that we had that I
Speaker 1: think we lost nine out of eleven, and so to
Speaker 1: see how to squad this bounced back from that and
Speaker 1: you know, pulled out some very tough wins. By the way,
Speaker 1: I thought. I thought that was a beautiful I thought
Speaker 1: that was a great show of character and resilience because
Speaker 1: the reality is this team, this team has not really
Speaker 1: gone through much. And you know, I know most people say, oh, well,
Speaker 1: they got championship experience. We got four guys with championship
Speaker 1: experience and then eleven or twelve guys with not much
Speaker 1: playoff experience at all, and so trying to get them
Speaker 1: to understand what it takes to win at this time
Speaker 1: of the season and moving forward, it's something that you
Speaker 1: have to really teach, and I think that's something that
Speaker 1: we needed to go to in order to figure it out.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, we we definitely showed that
Speaker 1: we're capable of figuring it out and and putting it
Speaker 1: back together. So that's been beautiful to see. But yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I mean, and just wrapping up about the comeback, I mean,
Speaker 1: it was it was incredible. As I said in my
Speaker 1: press conference last night, I'm very thankful for Rick, Celebrati
Speaker 1: and all the work that we put in to get
Speaker 1: back here. Man, it was not an easy role. Like
Speaker 1: four weeks ago, I could barely run, Like two and
Speaker 1: a half weeks ago, I was like super excited dunk
Speaker 1: of basketball, like literally too dunk the basketball, and and
Speaker 1: so like what I had to go through to get
Speaker 1: back to that court, especially in the time that I
Speaker 1: did it was it was hard. It was, I mean,
Speaker 1: super challenging, but very rewarding to know the work that
Speaker 1: I put in that Rick and I dedicated ourselves too,
Speaker 1: to know that it brought me back here to do
Speaker 1: what I love with the guys that I love to
Speaker 1: take the court with every single night. And like I said,
Speaker 1: for the first time in the thousand and five days,
Speaker 1: like that's insane, And I could have never imagined that
Speaker 1: that would be our reality. But that is our reality.
Speaker 1: And you know the band is back together. And like
Speaker 1: I said last night, to seed three, seed seventh seeds,
Speaker 1: I don't give a damn. We went in the championship
Speaker 1: and that's that also not quite around the association, but
Speaker 1: in the basketball world. I know you may see I
Speaker 1: have on my Michigan State Spartan sweatshirt. This is not
Speaker 1: a coincidence. Um. As you know, we have one show
Speaker 1: a week, and so this show has to live for
Speaker 1: the Michigan State David Davidson Wildcat Game seven ten match up.
Speaker 1: My Spartans kind of let go the rope a little
Speaker 1: bit down the stretch and ended up as a seventh
Speaker 1: seed when three weeks ago we were number one in
Speaker 1: the Big Ten. We end up as a seventh seed
Speaker 1: and tournament. And so that's the story for another day.
Speaker 1: But My Spartan Dogs is going into Greenville, South Carolina,
Speaker 1: which is essentially a home game for Davidson, and we
Speaker 1: are going to destroy Steph Curry's Davidson Wildcats, and there
Speaker 1: will be some good bets. There would be a monetary bet,
Speaker 1: there would be a better Steph Curry walking into the
Speaker 1: game in the Sparty costume. No, no, no, and not
Speaker 1: not just my jersey, not just a Michigan State T shirt.
Speaker 1: He will come to a game as the Michigan State
Speaker 1: Spartan mascot Sparty. That's what it's gonna be. So I'm
Speaker 1: looking forward to that game. And so I had to
Speaker 1: wear his shirt just to let it be known. My
Speaker 1: Spartan dolls is March. You know what they called time
Speaker 1: is so Mr March. You know how he gets it
Speaker 1: done at this time of year, and I don't think
Speaker 1: it's any different now this year. Now, the second round
Speaker 1: matchup that we have is Duke and you know what coaches,
Speaker 1: oh say, you give me the first game with the weekend,
Speaker 1: I'll get you the second one. And I have no
Speaker 1: doubt in my mind that he's going to give me
Speaker 1: the second one. I've actually never lost in the second
Speaker 1: weekend of in the second game of the weekend. That
Speaker 1: is his thing. You give me the first one, I'll
Speaker 1: get you the second one. And he delivered. So goodbye Davidson,
Speaker 1: coach K I got nothing but love for you, man.
Speaker 1: We want to go medal together. Incredible, great great run.
Speaker 1: Congratulations to the legendary the great coach k such An honor.
Speaker 1: I had to play for him in the two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen Olympics. But Coach K, you must enjoy retirement
Speaker 1: after round to my friend, because my Spartans, we're getting
Speaker 1: it done, baby, That's what we do. Coach. But it's
Speaker 1: been a great run for you, coach, and I am
Speaker 1: upset and sad that it has to end at the
Speaker 1: hands of my Spartans Coach K. But it has to.
Speaker 1: And to all the Dukie Blue Devils out there. J
Speaker 1: t um Seth, I can go down the list, Kyrie,
Speaker 1: like I can go down on this list for days.
Speaker 1: Bet the money my Spartans taking y'all down. So let
Speaker 1: me know what it is. All you Dookey Blue Devils.
Speaker 1: All you guys who zion, All you guys who showed
Speaker 1: up for the coach k retiring game. Queenn Cook, by
Speaker 1: the way, I absolutely thought that was incredible. Of how
Speaker 1: everyone showed up like that was amazing. Kudos to the
Speaker 1: to the Duke program now was spectacular. But all you guys,
Speaker 1: I'm taking all the bets Michigan State round two after
Speaker 1: we crushed ste Curry, Davis and Wildcats. How about me?
Speaker 1: I need those bets, you know. I'm always rolling with
Speaker 1: my spartans. Man. As I told you all that this
Speaker 1: this next guest, it is one of the guys I'm
Speaker 1: most excited, uh to speak with. I think when when
Speaker 1: we're done playing basketball, we'll probably have a show together.
Speaker 1: Um and it's gonna be the number one radio basketball
Speaker 1: show in the world. I'm just throwing that out there.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the big fellow take debate. But man, I'm extremely
Speaker 1: excited to welcome five time All Star m v P
Speaker 1: front runner candidate this year and was an m VP
Speaker 1: candida last year arguably could have been m v P
Speaker 1: last year as well. But really excited to welcome this guy. Man,
Speaker 1: guy who I'll be locking up that always me by
Speaker 1: eighty pounds, got me about six or seven inches, Joe,
Speaker 1: L and B. Welcome to the Draymond Green Show, my brother.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you coming on. How you doing, I'm good,
Speaker 1: I'm good. How you doing? I can't complain, Man, first
Speaker 1: game back, I'm feeling great. Bro. I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: be back out there on the floor. Man, I've never
Speaker 1: you know, I've never been through and and I know
Speaker 1: you are. It's someone that definitely understands it even more
Speaker 1: than I do. I've never really been through an injury
Speaker 1: that kept me out that long like I've been out.
Speaker 1: I was out for eleven weeks. Like I've had some
Speaker 1: injuries that I needed to rehab, but they were all
Speaker 1: over the summer, and so I've never been through an
Speaker 1: injury that kept me out that long in the season. Man,
Speaker 1: it's brutal. Yeah, it sucks. I mean when you think
Speaker 1: about it, and I missed my first within my first
Speaker 1: three years because of injury. Obviously you know that that
Speaker 1: all that also kept me at longer than you know,
Speaker 1: he was supposed to, just because they wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure that I was right. But it sucks, can't you?
Speaker 1: I mean for you you said it was eleven weeks
Speaker 1: for me really three years. So yeah, especially coming out
Speaker 1: of college, so you lose, you know, those first three
Speaker 1: years of experience that you can't get uh in that time,
Speaker 1: and it does suck, Yeah, now for sure. Man. I
Speaker 1: it gave me a totally different appreciation for what guys
Speaker 1: like yourself went through, um, what Zion Williamson is going through,
Speaker 1: what Clay Thompson went through. Like, it gave me such
Speaker 1: a deeper appreciation week too. I'm like, all right, man,
Speaker 1: like this, this is crazy, Like what we're here six
Speaker 1: hours just in the weight room doing like car strange,
Speaker 1: Like what are we doing? Man? It's crazy. So at
Speaker 1: some point, at some point it doesn't make sense because
Speaker 1: you're going every single day. Obviously you do a bunch
Speaker 1: of of exercises every single day, but sometimes the same
Speaker 1: thing and like it's just like it gets annoying. Like
Speaker 1: I remember my first my first year, so I was
Speaker 1: doing berialub all the time and then uh, you know
Speaker 1: that had me. You know, they wanted me to sit
Speaker 1: on the bench and travel with the team and all
Speaker 1: that and all that stuff and um and we were
Speaker 1: that was at the time where you know, we were
Speaker 1: losing a lot every single game. So like I had
Speaker 1: to go through that that you know, having to go
Speaker 1: through you know, we are met with single single thing. Mentally,
Speaker 1: he is already tough, and then you gotta sit on
Speaker 1: the match and watch the losing going into the game
Speaker 1: and knowing that you don't have like your team doesn't
Speaker 1: have a chance to win the game, so you're probably
Speaker 1: gonna watch losses after losses. Like he was like, mentally,
Speaker 1: you gotta be extremely strong. Absolutely, I think I think
Speaker 1: for me, Um, I hadn't said on the bench most
Speaker 1: of the games. I was like, maybe I said on
Speaker 1: the bench one game and two games the entire time
Speaker 1: that I missed. Obviously, you know we have a much
Speaker 1: better team. But I think what people don't realize when
Speaker 1: you're going through rehab, you're on a totally different schedule
Speaker 1: than the team. To to to you're their way earlier
Speaker 1: than them because you need to get your rehab in
Speaker 1: before they come in, prepping for the game or prepping
Speaker 1: for practice or whatever it is. You're then their way
Speaker 1: later than them. And to two then ask a guy like,
Speaker 1: by the way, we want you to sit on the bench,
Speaker 1: that's your whole day gone. Yeah, for sure. And so
Speaker 1: I thought like for me, that was a big thing
Speaker 1: where they didn't make me sit on the bench. Um
Speaker 1: and and it was good for me. But and speaking
Speaker 1: of your injury and essentially missing the bulk of your
Speaker 1: first three years and then UM and then following following
Speaker 1: those three years, you didn't go on and signed a
Speaker 1: five year, one hundred and forty eight million dollar rookie extension.
Speaker 1: What did that tell you that the team was willing
Speaker 1: to bet on you like that? And you probably had
Speaker 1: played all the forty fifty games leading up to that. Man,
Speaker 1: I remember when my agent at the time, Uh, I
Speaker 1: don't have an agent anymore, but my agent at the
Speaker 1: time was Leon mos He came out to me. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't wanna, you know, resign you that want to
Speaker 1: give you, you know, five year hundred or whatever that was.
Speaker 1: I was like, what are you talking about. I haven't
Speaker 1: played basketball, Like, I played thirty one games in three years,
Speaker 1: and we're talking about you know, a Max Dill like
Speaker 1: and I only played thirty one games. And then he
Speaker 1: started going over it. He's like, yeah, but they want
Speaker 1: to put you know, all these protections and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: like this amount is gameted. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: don't care how much he's guaranteed. I'm signing whatever because
Speaker 1: this is insane. Like they're giving me a hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty million after playing thirty one games. I was like, Yo,
Speaker 1: they gotta be crazy, like And that was still at
Speaker 1: the point where like, brother, that was my fourth year
Speaker 1: or fifth year playing basketball, really my really, but when
Speaker 1: I started playing in the NBA, and that was really
Speaker 1: my you know, second year because I had missed you know,
Speaker 1: those three years so you know, at that point, I
Speaker 1: never really believe in myself at that point where like
Speaker 1: you know, people always saw something different in me, uh
Speaker 1: than I did. Like at that point, I was like, alright,
Speaker 1: I'm not even that good, Like I don't know what
Speaker 1: they're saying in me. But like if they're gonna give me,
Speaker 1: if they're gonna give me this amount of money, and
Speaker 1: I'm not from here, I'm from Camro, Like, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: glad it's still it because I don't know what's gonna
Speaker 1: happen in the future. Like, you know, I I just
Speaker 1: missed two years and you know, everybody's talking about he's
Speaker 1: never gonna play the end. Yeah, like he's already missed
Speaker 1: two years. They're talking about you know all the you
Speaker 1: know bus uh you know in past history and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. You know, all these bad stories coming out,
Speaker 1: you know about me, whether it was the weight and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. And it was at the wrong time too,
Speaker 1: because I was at the time when I just lost
Speaker 1: my little brother, when I had to go back to
Speaker 1: kem More so you know, all that stuff was like
Speaker 1: it was crazy. And you know, when you know he
Speaker 1: came up to me, it's like, yeah, this is the deal.
Speaker 1: You know they're gonna gonna get into this amount of money.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, I don't care like they're grant
Speaker 1: to I'm taking it because I don't know what's about
Speaker 1: to happen. Like I'm like reading into like what all
Speaker 1: these people are saying about me, Like I don't even
Speaker 1: believe in myself. I don't know how good I am
Speaker 1: and how good I'm gonna be. So I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: like I'm not I don't even want to fight it,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, just do whatever you have to do.
Speaker 1: That's incredible, man. I have a couple of questions follow
Speaker 1: ups on a couple of things you just said. Number one,
Speaker 1: talk to me about not believing in yourself because from
Speaker 1: what we've seen, um is And it's funny that you
Speaker 1: say that. And I have interests in this because I too,
Speaker 1: you know I am I am. I'm not bashful at all,
Speaker 1: just like yourself. Like if I have something to say,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it like yourself. And I think one
Speaker 1: thing you you exude confidence, Like when anyone see you,
Speaker 1: you exude like like we know like Joel, not only
Speaker 1: is Joel good, but Joel think he's gonna bust your ass,
Speaker 1: like no matter who you are, But to then go
Speaker 1: on to say you didn't believe in yourself, Like walk
Speaker 1: me through that journey for someone as confident as yourself
Speaker 1: to to then lose confidence and say, like, give me anything.
Speaker 1: I don't believe in me, so give me whatever. Whatever
Speaker 1: they're gonna give me, I'll take it. So I'll take
Speaker 1: you to the town line. So think about so your
Speaker 1: whole life. Uh, you know I went to you know,
Speaker 1: obviously it's cool. I was really good at school. I
Speaker 1: never really thought, Yeah, I didn't stop playing basketball until
Speaker 1: I was sixteen. So before that, I was playing you know, soccer,
Speaker 1: I was playing volleyball, so and I was actually out
Speaker 1: of one, you know, sixteen years old. I was about
Speaker 1: to actually go to France to try to become a
Speaker 1: professional volleyball player until Luke came back to look bad mute.
Speaker 1: He came back to Cameron. Then he had a campaign, which,
Speaker 1: you know, a camp I didn't even want to go
Speaker 1: to because I had just started playing basketball like three
Speaker 1: months before. That's how I was like, yo, I'm not
Speaker 1: good enough. Like you know, these guys have been playing
Speaker 1: basketball their whole lives, and like there's no way I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get picked for his camp. And then I went
Speaker 1: over there and you know, like I said, like people
Speaker 1: always saw, you know, something different, and I saw it
Speaker 1: myself and he ended up giving me that the portrait.
Speaker 1: It so I get to I get to the US.
Speaker 1: I went to more Overt Academy that whole year. Like
Speaker 1: I was practicing with the JV team and the senior team,
Speaker 1: but I was playing j V. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you've seen the clip of me, uh, I don't know
Speaker 1: if you look at it, that's a funny clip. So
Speaker 1: that and then I just run out of bounds, like
Speaker 1: thinking O the world, like I didn't even know where
Speaker 1: I was. Like that was my first year in America.
Speaker 1: Like that was like you know, seven months you know,
Speaker 1: playing basketball and you know, I was playing g V
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and I didn't really get the
Speaker 1: chance to really show what, you know, like what I
Speaker 1: could do, if I could even do anything, you know,
Speaker 1: my Greenie year. So I had to transfer to another
Speaker 1: school to basketball, and that was still in Florida. And
Speaker 1: then I get there. I got the opportunity and then
Speaker 1: people started recruiting me. I get to Kansas. The first practice,
Speaker 1: it wasn't really a practice. It was like a scrimmage
Speaker 1: that we had. We had you know, I was a freshman.
Speaker 1: We had to rig black. It was like a senior
Speaker 1: transfer from Memphis. Uh. You know, people were watching the
Speaker 1: woman's he was watching it. Dunked on me so hard.
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm not ready for this, Like there's
Speaker 1: no way. So I go to cool stuff off face.
Speaker 1: I'm like, coach, like I can't do this, Like I
Speaker 1: need to rushur like and I was at the time.
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna be in college for like,
Speaker 1: you know, five years, and like I really didn't think
Speaker 1: I had the potential to be in the end because
Speaker 1: my whole girl come into America was to use this
Speaker 1: basketball opportunity to try to get a degree and make
Speaker 1: something out of my life and go back home and
Speaker 1: you know, make money of my family and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So I never believed that, you know, I had any
Speaker 1: chance in basketball or whatever. So I told him and
Speaker 1: then he's like, you kidding me, You're gonna be the
Speaker 1: number one pick in two years. And then I'm like, uh,
Speaker 1: I've always like before I got to college, I was
Speaker 1: always told that, you know, coaches lie all the time
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, he's dude, he's just lie. He's
Speaker 1: just lied to my No way, I've not been living whatever,
Speaker 1: Uh he's saying. So we go on. Obviously I went
Speaker 1: to school Eggs and Uh. One thing, one thing that
Speaker 1: people don't know is that I'm always gonna be so
Speaker 1: thankful for him because when we went to college, he
Speaker 1: has so much height and so much attention, like he
Speaker 1: was crazy that people were like, he's pretty good at
Speaker 1: what he does, but at that time they were like
Speaker 1: he's the next of all James, like he's gonna be
Speaker 1: better than them, so like he has so much hype,
Speaker 1: and everybody just minded to come watching, like scouts, like
Speaker 1: we always had so many scouts, and I was I
Speaker 1: guess I was kind of also using that a portrait
Speaker 1: it to show them, you know, what I could do.
Speaker 1: So when they would come in the gym, like I
Speaker 1: would be randomly walking on you know, a keen dream shake,
Speaker 1: and I show them that, yeah, I got it, and
Speaker 1: you know, they started saying that in me. And then
Speaker 1: obviously you get to the league and you know, the
Speaker 1: food injury, you gotta miss a couple of years and
Speaker 1: and like I'm mentioned, the stories are coming out and
Speaker 1: my brother died, so like I've really lost all the
Speaker 1: confidence because I'm like, I I can't I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do. Like I even thought about like giving
Speaker 1: up a basketball because I, you know, my brother died
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and you know, but going back
Speaker 1: to your question, is like the first moment that I
Speaker 1: thought that I had a chance wasn't answered. I stepped
Speaker 1: on the basketball NBA floor for the first time my
Speaker 1: third year against Okay, See, I stepped on the floor.
Speaker 1: You know, Steven Adams was guarding me and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: I you know, I was called a bucket, my first bucket.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, it's easy. We ended up
Speaker 1: losing the game, but like that's where like the culture
Speaker 1: completely change in filling like all these losing years before me,
Speaker 1: and there was so much excitement. People were like going crazy.
Speaker 1: They were like it's about to change. And then I
Speaker 1: was like, well, like the attention that I'm getting, and
Speaker 1: you know what I was, I was like, I think
Speaker 1: that's called like twenty two points and like twenty six
Speaker 1: minutes of my first game. I'm like, I was on
Speaker 1: many restrictions the whole year, but I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: this is easy, right, I can't do this. And then
Speaker 1: that's where, like, you know, you know, back in the
Speaker 1: day when I used to be going crazy on Twitter
Speaker 1: and all that stuff and talking but the guys, that's
Speaker 1: where I felt it because I'm like, you know, like
Speaker 1: it's easy, and like, like my personality is also that
Speaker 1: I like to talk. I like to talk trash like
Speaker 1: I like to I showed that I'm better than you know,
Speaker 1: everybody else, and you know that's why I you know,
Speaker 1: I was going crazy on Twitter or whether I was
Speaker 1: playing against you know, whether it was stalking trash or
Speaker 1: you know, kicking the ass on the ford like it
Speaker 1: was fun. But that's where I really find out that, yeah,
Speaker 1: like it's easy, I gotta chanse so so for so
Speaker 1: for those of y'all out there, let me take you
Speaker 1: into the mind of these superstars and and it's filled
Speaker 1: with irrational confidence, which is what it ends up making
Speaker 1: these guys superstars. And if y'all didn't hear him, he
Speaker 1: scored his first basket and then in his mind, from
Speaker 1: the first basket on, it's been easy ever since. And
Speaker 1: the reality is it has been But there's only a
Speaker 1: select few of guys in this league that can really
Speaker 1: reach that type of irrational confidence. And so when you
Speaker 1: go around the league, you see certain guys being called
Speaker 1: superstars and they're not. Like the reality is, there aren't
Speaker 1: a bunch there. There aren't more than ten superstars in
Speaker 1: the NBA, Joel being one of them, and that and
Speaker 1: that's ten is probably a bit strong, and that term
Speaker 1: gets tossed around so loosely. But to take you guys
Speaker 1: in the mind superstar, because I've had the opportunity to
Speaker 1: play with a few of them, it's it's like irrational confidence.
Speaker 1: Like I scored one time and then at that point
Speaker 1: it was easy to me. And so I just want
Speaker 1: to make sure y'all understand the mindset of these dudes
Speaker 1: and how insane it is. And that's why it's only
Speaker 1: a few of those guys. But and going back, so
Speaker 1: so you go through that entire journey. Um, you go
Speaker 1: to the seventies sixers, and I thought you did one
Speaker 1: of the most you made one of the most genius
Speaker 1: moves when it came to Philadelphia as a city and
Speaker 1: when it came to the seventies sixers as an organization,
Speaker 1: and all these teams has something that they go by.
Speaker 1: Some slogan that they're kind of where their season is
Speaker 1: or where their team is that they're going to build
Speaker 1: on throughout the years. Ours has been strengthened. No version,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. And the seventis was the process, embraced
Speaker 1: the process. You then took that name and made it
Speaker 1: your nicknames. I'm the process. What made you do that?
Speaker 1: Because I thought that was genius and I and and
Speaker 1: to me it felt like once you did that, everybody
Speaker 1: else in that city, everybody else in that fan base,
Speaker 1: everybody else in the organization was like, oh, there's our
Speaker 1: guy right there. I thought that was genius. What made
Speaker 1: you do that? There was a couple of things. The
Speaker 1: first thing was obviously I got drafted by Sam Pinky
Speaker 1: um and you know he's the reason why, you know,
Speaker 1: we weren't able to whether us draft me or have
Speaker 1: these mini pigs and all that stuff. Um, you know.
Speaker 1: And then I got to the league and my second
Speaker 1: year it was basically full stop by I don't wanting names,
Speaker 1: but you know my spoken so I said, uh, by
Speaker 1: the NBA. Uh, I would say, I don't know, but
Speaker 1: I think that's what it was. Um. And then um,
Speaker 1: you know that that that pissed me up because I
Speaker 1: felt like, yeah, sure there was a lot of losing,
Speaker 1: which I wasn't part of because that was before I
Speaker 1: started playing, but I knew that eventually once I started playing,
Speaker 1: it was gonna change, which he did, so they're basically
Speaker 1: forced him out and I didn't like it. And then
Speaker 1: during the time in the process didn't actually stopped with me,
Speaker 1: but I was like, you know what, around that time,
Speaker 1: the league did not like the process because it was
Speaker 1: a bunch of losing, like they saying it was like tanking.
Speaker 1: You know, they were losing on purpose, which in the NBA,
Speaker 1: like no one to lose his own purpose. That you're
Speaker 1: not gonna put NBA players out there and tell them
Speaker 1: not go lose a basketball game, like they're gonna go
Speaker 1: out and they're gonna do their best. And sometimes most
Speaker 1: of the time like if you're not talented enough in
Speaker 1: the NBA, you're gonna freaking loose if you play the
Speaker 1: games you know, more talented plays, So you're not gonna
Speaker 1: put guys out there and tell them that you're gonna lose.
Speaker 1: So to me, they weren't losing on purpose. So I
Speaker 1: got paste off because you know, there went Sam Mickey
Speaker 1: out of town and I knew that that didn't like
Speaker 1: the process, all the losing stuff, and then I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm gonna pasch some people off, like
Speaker 1: giving them on the team. Like there was a bunch
Speaker 1: of people I didn't like that world. Like I remember,
Speaker 1: like I wan't say names, but I used to get
Speaker 1: calls about like he you please, stud you will not
Speaker 1: to mention you know, the press name, like we're trying
Speaker 1: to move on from me, And I was like, I
Speaker 1: watch watch this. So that's why I started pushing the
Speaker 1: agenda about like you know what, I'm gonna support my
Speaker 1: man's because he drafted me. He had you know coming
Speaker 1: out of college before I got drafted, like he believed
Speaker 1: in me. I was hurt, but they still believed them.
Speaker 1: Miss I was like, you know what, I'm not a
Speaker 1: supporting too. That's why I too call you know, that
Speaker 1: whole process thing to try to you know, try to
Speaker 1: keep what he was doing that really show them that
Speaker 1: like yeah, like we got powered, Like it doesn't matter
Speaker 1: if they don't want to talk about the process or
Speaker 1: if they want to forget about it. Like players, you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot of power when they spit and
Speaker 1: I started understanding that. That's why I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna keep pushing that and that's why
Speaker 1: it stuck. Wow, that's incredible and not surprising that you
Speaker 1: picked that to piss people off, because that's what you do.
Speaker 1: Um what I'm not surprising at all. But and speaking
Speaker 1: of the process and speaking of you pissing people off,
Speaker 1: because that's what you do. And you and you even
Speaker 1: mentioned in yourself you were going crazy on Twitter, like crazy.
Speaker 1: One of the things that you did to me that
Speaker 1: stood out the most, and like you were one of
Speaker 1: my favorite followers when you were going ape ship on
Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram. And one of the things that I
Speaker 1: absolutely love that you did was when you would do
Speaker 1: the location and the location was whoever you had just
Speaker 1: dropped off that night. And one that really stood out
Speaker 1: to me because people people look at the NBA today
Speaker 1: and they tend to forget like how stuff has turned over.
Speaker 1: And at that time, Andre Drummond was a starting center
Speaker 1: in the NBA. He was an All Star center in
Speaker 1: the NBA. UM, y'all were in the same conference and
Speaker 1: you're just now starting to make your name and you
Speaker 1: put Andre Drummer's head. And then your your caption was
Speaker 1: like our own real estate in your hair for free
Speaker 1: or something like that. You said like, and I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: this dude is out of his mind. And then that
Speaker 1: kind of started this this this like this beef amongst
Speaker 1: you and Andre Drummond. But by the way, by the way,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a beef. I was always you know you,
Speaker 1: we want the same team and all that stuff. I
Speaker 1: always kicked this ass like you never had any chance,
Speaker 1: Like like you never had any chance. So check this though.
Speaker 1: When he decided that he was gonna come to your team,
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, huh. And then I saw
Speaker 1: the video. Then I saw the video of him arriving
Speaker 1: at the arena at the facility once he signed, and
Speaker 1: you kind of turned and shook him up and kind
Speaker 1: of went back to Wars. And I was just thinking
Speaker 1: to myself, like, what is going through his head right now?
Speaker 1: Is he really feeling like I owned this man right now?
Speaker 1: Like you just came to back me? What was going
Speaker 1: through you? I have to know. I need to know
Speaker 1: what was going through your when he decided he was
Speaker 1: going to side with y'all. I mean it, reality hasn't
Speaker 1: helped his career because he's revitalized his career and backing
Speaker 1: you up and not going to Brooklyn, and he's playing
Speaker 1: incredible basketball in Brooklyn. So it worked. But what were
Speaker 1: you thinking, Well, I said this thing, So I think
Speaker 1: I think most of the time, like you know, I
Speaker 1: talked trash or in the past, when I usually when
Speaker 1: I used to like really go out it with, you know, anybody,
Speaker 1: whether it was Whiteside or Druma or whoever, um, you know,
Speaker 1: to me, like he's never been you know, serious to
Speaker 1: the point where I like, i don't hate anybody, Like
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm doing this for fun. Like people get
Speaker 1: that feeling is hurt that he's on that like that
Speaker 1: has nothing to do with me. Anything that I said
Speaker 1: and anything that I do. I literally I'm not I'm not.
Speaker 1: I'm not kidding. So let's say, whenever I'm about to
Speaker 1: send a twig, before I even said a tweet, I'm
Speaker 1: in my kitchen on my livel just die because I
Speaker 1: know that people are gonna go crazy, whether they're gonna
Speaker 1: take it seriously or whether they're don't think that it's funny.
Speaker 1: I'm already so done. And then when I sent the tweet,
Speaker 1: I'm like, yo, I'm like crime because I'm like that's
Speaker 1: why people love or whatever. But at that time, like
Speaker 1: I was like when he sounded with us, I was
Speaker 1: happy because I'm like, you know, like when you look
Speaker 1: at you know, the previous years, like you know, every
Speaker 1: single time that I went off the floor, we always
Speaker 1: lost leaves. You look at Game seven against Tamano when
Speaker 1: we lost that series, Uh, I play, you know for
Speaker 1: the what for these six minutes, for the six minutes
Speaker 1: we were what plus three or whatever when I was
Speaker 1: on the floor, and then in the two minutes that
Speaker 1: I said, we were minors stand so like to me
Speaker 1: and my mind, I was when we signed my I
Speaker 1: was like, I just need like a competing like someone
Speaker 1: was not gonna come after it was not gonna come
Speaker 1: on the floor and just lose leads. So I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, if it's you know what we need and
Speaker 1: and I was found with it. But you know, if
Speaker 1: you look at that, if you're looking at the video
Speaker 1: that you were talking about, it was really enoughing. I
Speaker 1: was just you know, walking out, I was lifting, doing
Speaker 1: my thing, and I greeted him, I said, you know,
Speaker 1: welcome to feel it. But then again you know in
Speaker 1: my mind, I could never forget, you know, the old days,
Speaker 1: you know when I used to go out. Then I
Speaker 1: remember posting that video and dancaying after I gave I
Speaker 1: was after the game, so about our story. So we
Speaker 1: go before that game, we go to Detroit. I had
Speaker 1: like we lost that game, but I had like thirty
Speaker 1: and ten uh, and then he ended up getting ejected
Speaker 1: or whatever. But after the game he was talking crazy.
Speaker 1: He's like that man is out of ship and run.
Speaker 1: I'm like, like, what are you talking about, bro, No,
Speaker 1: you just won't. But I just had dirty on you
Speaker 1: and I'm out of shape. Watch one, Watch one. I'm
Speaker 1: about to do to you. So I'm like. The next
Speaker 1: meeting was a couple of weeks later. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: don't know what's coming. So in that next meeting, I
Speaker 1: had like thirty two in the first half. I was
Speaker 1: gone and he was in fire trouble. I was going.
Speaker 1: I was like, bro, I had thirty two in the
Speaker 1: first half. I was like killing them. It was about
Speaker 1: a lot and all that stuff. That's why I remember
Speaker 1: you texted me after the video that uh that I posted.
Speaker 1: You were like, yo, you're crazy, and that's what I
Speaker 1: do like I had a location like crazy, like you know,
Speaker 1: like I owned a lot of real estates, you know
Speaker 1: that stuff. But that's me. Like for me, it's fun
Speaker 1: like he's never he's never like serious. Went to the
Speaker 1: point where I'm like I hate this man, like I
Speaker 1: don't want of you around this man. Like I'm like,
Speaker 1: I never take it personal. Like I'm like, oh, he
Speaker 1: stays on the court, And I said, after we get
Speaker 1: off the court, if you wanna, you know, talk to
Speaker 1: me or whatever, unless you say something disrespectful to me
Speaker 1: other than not like I would never be disrespectful to anybody,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, going overboard and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So I know where to draw the line. But other
Speaker 1: than now, like it's funny to me, Like I just
Speaker 1: I just go with the Bobe man. I just I
Speaker 1: just love it. That's incredible, man, I I um, I
Speaker 1: appreciate that about you because I'm the same way I
Speaker 1: talked a bunch of jobs. It's never personal. You know,
Speaker 1: it was personal when you were talking to Paul Pish.
Speaker 1: That was that actually was like right off the top
Speaker 1: of the dome, man, because I'm gonna tell you what happened.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you what happened with that. So we're
Speaker 1: playing and at that time Doctors obviously with the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and we're and you know, for us coming up, like
Speaker 1: you know, the NBA going wave. So the Clippers when
Speaker 1: we were really young, the Clippers were supposed to be
Speaker 1: the next team out the West, you know, like they
Speaker 1: were the next young guys coming, and we're like, hold on,
Speaker 1: we don't really believe in them. We got something to
Speaker 1: say about this, and so it kind of you know,
Speaker 1: this this rivalry start button against two young teams, Us
Speaker 1: against them staff again CP and like at that time, Blake,
Speaker 1: it's the guy, you know, like Blake is like are
Speaker 1: they they trunk? They're hyping black face of the league exactly,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, like I'm clamping that, like I
Speaker 1: ain't feeling that. And so then you know, me and
Speaker 1: Blake had our situations. We had one where we had
Speaker 1: half court. He grabbed my side of elbowed him in
Speaker 1: the throat. I get kicked out the game. He go
Speaker 1: back in the game, bowling got him a second tech,
Speaker 1: he got kicked out, and like all of this stuff
Speaker 1: keep happening every time we played him, right and and
Speaker 1: so then Pierce come over to the team that towards
Speaker 1: the end of his career last two years. I think
Speaker 1: of whatever it was, and now me and Blake Griffin
Speaker 1: already got a thing, like it's a thing, yeah, And
Speaker 1: Pierce yells from the bench, go at him, be g
Speaker 1: he too little, go at him, be g too little,
Speaker 1: he can't guard you. So I'm like, out of here,
Speaker 1: go back down the court. Whatever we come back down,
Speaker 1: they're going at me again, go out and be g
Speaker 1: he can't guard you, too small. So now I'm like right,
Speaker 1: and he like shot fake. I go flying trying to
Speaker 1: beat the ship, and I followed him. Number one, Why
Speaker 1: am I going for Blake Griffin pump fake? Like Blake
Speaker 1: shoot the ball now, But at that time Blake wasn't
Speaker 1: shooting the ball like that. That's what I'm like, Why
Speaker 1: am I and going for Blake? So now on fuel
Speaker 1: because I just picked up a foul and a pump
Speaker 1: fake I had no business going for And I really
Speaker 1: went for this pump ake because you over there talking
Speaker 1: and like, I'm trying to beat this shot so I
Speaker 1: can say something of you. And I filed and I
Speaker 1: got really pissed, like, wow, you just made me file him.
Speaker 1: So I'm walking back to the bench and I mean
Speaker 1: I'm walking to the free throw line and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: b G, I told you he can't guard you. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, Bro, I had enough. And that's
Speaker 1: why I'm like, hey, bro, you you're chasing this farewell
Speaker 1: tour like you're not Kobe, Like why are you doing this?
Speaker 1: If you retiring? If you if you retire and go home, like,
Speaker 1: ain't nobody doing no farewell tour for you? And like
Speaker 1: making this whole like Kobe different, Bro, Like that's Kobe,
Speaker 1: like the way did that's the way, Like you had
Speaker 1: a great career, Hall of Fame career, but stop, bro,
Speaker 1: like you ain't getting no no tour. And so it
Speaker 1: just came right off the top of the dome like bro,
Speaker 1: you think you Kobe like you ain't no farewell to
Speaker 1: shut up. I was really I was really feeling. But
Speaker 1: I tell you what, man, I never expected that when
Speaker 1: I said that to take on the life that it did.
Speaker 1: Because there's a lot of young kids that remember Paul
Speaker 1: Appierce more for that moment then what Paul who Paul
Speaker 1: Appiers really was the reality. It's unfortunate he was the truth,
Speaker 1: but he didn't get that. He didn't get that nickname
Speaker 1: by mistake, like he was the truth. But a lot
Speaker 1: of young kids, a lot of people remember him for
Speaker 1: that moment, and I think it was such a big moment.
Speaker 1: I'm one of the microphone called it, but it was
Speaker 1: involving Kobe. And then you know, like God rest Kobe.
Speaker 1: So once Kobe passed away and like what happened to
Speaker 1: everybody how to shook the world, that that statement never
Speaker 1: rained more true, Like when Kobe passed away, everybody starts
Speaker 1: blowing my Instagram up like all then, like Kobe Anniversary
Speaker 1: and stuff like my Instagram blow up often from that moment,
Speaker 1: Like it never rained true because I mean look at that,
Speaker 1: like like we all know the reaction, we all know
Speaker 1: how it affected all of us, and so the story
Speaker 1: never rained more true. Yeah, one thing after that I
Speaker 1: didn't mention Kobe is the reason why I started playing basketball.
Speaker 1: So really, yes, I was watching uh you know, uh
Speaker 1: that was about fourteen, and I was watching the finals,
Speaker 1: uh Lakers against Boston, and I standing up wearing that
Speaker 1: serious That's the first time I watched you you know,
Speaker 1: NBA basketball and all that stuff. And then I was like,
Speaker 1: Kobe was killing. I'm like, I want to be like him,
Speaker 1: like this is crazy. Like and then but at that time,
Speaker 1: my dad didn't want to let me play basketball because
Speaker 1: he thought it was too physical, which nowadays it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense because I travel, you know, being physical and
Speaker 1: showing my physicality against what I'm playing against. And then
Speaker 1: it was like no, no, no. And then one of
Speaker 1: my uncles has to you know, you had to start
Speaker 1: like trying to convince him to let me play basketball.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's how I started watching the Lakers and Kobe.
Speaker 1: That saw was such a big you know, Kobe fan,
Speaker 1: and it hit me hard, you know when when that happened. Absolutely, man,
Speaker 1: it was tragic for sure. But I want to ask
Speaker 1: you this question, and I more so want to ask
Speaker 1: you this question, you know, and me doing this media thing.
Speaker 1: One thing I hate about media. It's how they try
Speaker 1: to stir controversy. I think it's unnecessary. I think it's pathetic.
Speaker 1: But I want to ask you a question about this situation,
Speaker 1: um for my own personal sake. Uh. And what I
Speaker 1: want to ask you is with the Bend situation, I
Speaker 1: feel like at times we get thrusted into this position
Speaker 1: of like where you're almost defending the team. And and
Speaker 1: I feel like some of that happened to you in
Speaker 1: the Ben Simmon situation. Because the reality is this, I
Speaker 1: think some of it happened in the Russ KD situation.
Speaker 1: Like we see it often. It's not like it was
Speaker 1: just you and Ben. It happens all the time. And
Speaker 1: the reality is I think we lose sighting ultimately, like
Speaker 1: what you and being like you you you you expressed
Speaker 1: your dismayed with the situation. You expressed like get him
Speaker 1: out of here. Then like you expressed all of that,
Speaker 1: but there was a point never never, I never said
Speaker 1: that to get him out of that. Aren't just I
Speaker 1: just didn't understand what was going on, honestly, like I didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't understand like what happened. And you know, while
Speaker 1: laying on to that whole situation to this day, I
Speaker 1: don't understand. I mean even you know when you look
Speaker 1: at and I don't have any pounds with him. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know, like I said, like obviously we didn't
Speaker 1: win the championship together, but you know in the regular
Speaker 1: season we went down every single season fifty win seasons,
Speaker 1: Like I always believe that, you know, we had a
Speaker 1: chance to win together, Like I always believe it, even
Speaker 1: to this day. I believe that we had a chance
Speaker 1: to win, and uh, you know what we were able
Speaker 1: to accomplish. Obviously winning matters the most, but I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, we had a chance. And that's why I
Speaker 1: don't get I don't understand, you know, what was going on.
Speaker 1: Let's see what cause you know him to want to leave.
Speaker 1: I understand, you know, his explanation. Uh, but you know
Speaker 1: a lot of things don't make sense. Do do you
Speaker 1: think you're pressed conference after Game seven? And was it? Um?
Speaker 1: Do you think that had any effect on it? I
Speaker 1: don't think it did, because but this is why, you know,
Speaker 1: you're a member of the media and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: But this is what you know, this is what you
Speaker 1: just mentioned. You know that they're always gonna try to
Speaker 1: pick up a little stuff just to make them, you know,
Speaker 1: look right, or just to cause like controversy and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. If you look at the whole press conference,
Speaker 1: they asked me a question, you know what happened? You
Speaker 1: know what happened, like why caused this loss? And then
Speaker 1: I literally mentioned a bunch of events that happened. I mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know where it really started, and you know, I
Speaker 1: was mading notice like we all like me and you like,
Speaker 1: you know, I said what I have, what I want
Speaker 1: to say, and I'm not I'm not gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: just hold myself just because I gotta, you know, make
Speaker 1: people feel better and feel like I didn't hurt anybody's feelings,
Speaker 1: you know, I mentioned, I was like, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: the pastor that I didn't even mention that. I said,
Speaker 1: you know, we just we missed an opportunity, and then uh,
Speaker 1: and then then I actually called our batist for missing
Speaker 1: the free though, and then I was like, I didn't
Speaker 1: call out by his name. I was like, we missed
Speaker 1: the free though. And then I called out a bunch
Speaker 1: of events that happened after we had you know, we
Speaker 1: found a three point shooter and then I turned I
Speaker 1: I mentioned me turning the ball over when we went
Speaker 1: down full at that point, and I ended up calling
Speaker 1: in the fast point, which you know, pushed the lead
Speaker 1: up to six points. I mentioned a bunch of other
Speaker 1: events where we made a mistake. I mentioned myself, but
Speaker 1: you know, the media has gone in the media that
Speaker 1: all that as you know, that one part where I
Speaker 1: said we passed up you know, a layup and we
Speaker 1: missed the freeto and other said, which doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: So I didn't call anybody specifically. I just listened a
Speaker 1: bunch of events that happened that led to scars. At
Speaker 1: that point, we the skull was tight or we went
Speaker 1: down by one at that point, uh when you know, uh,
Speaker 1: we missed the free through. And then I called out
Speaker 1: a bunch of events that happened after and but that
Speaker 1: just had to pick you know, that one part where
Speaker 1: it seemed like I was calling someone out when I
Speaker 1: wasn't real it too, and I was talking about like
Speaker 1: the sequence of you know, events that happened, for sure.
Speaker 1: And I think as as a leader, one of the
Speaker 1: things that I do respect is you calling out yourself
Speaker 1: and saying I had too many turnovers and especially that
Speaker 1: one down a stretch. Like as a leader, you have
Speaker 1: to be able to do that, and I and I
Speaker 1: have the utmost respect for that because I think that's
Speaker 1: very important. And it's also very important that you can
Speaker 1: talk about your teammates as well, like like we all
Speaker 1: well shod we are doing. He's never personal, like even
Speaker 1: this year, like you look at you know, my press conference,
Speaker 1: retire whe is like when he's not taking shots, so
Speaker 1: he's missing shots or he's not taking wind open shots.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yo, I'm calling him out. I'm like, like,
Speaker 1: you gotta be better. But like as teammates and because
Speaker 1: we're so closed off the court, he understands that that
Speaker 1: I want him to be better not just for me,
Speaker 1: but for the whole team and for himself because I
Speaker 1: I understand, I don't you know what it takes you win.
Speaker 1: I have him one, but I feel like I have
Speaker 1: an idea of what it takes you win. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: I've lost, you know on the buzzer meter when we
Speaker 1: had a great team and you know, who knows we
Speaker 1: could have had a chance to win the championship. But
Speaker 1: play you guys in the finals? Vat youe? Uh? So
Speaker 1: Like I feel like I have an idea of what
Speaker 1: it takes you win, but I haven't gotten there. So
Speaker 1: like and as you know, you can't win a lot,
Speaker 1: I can't win one on fire, like that's impossible. Like
Speaker 1: I need my teammates up. So like when I'm calling out,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, matisso Tom Greeze like Dan know
Speaker 1: that he's not personal. They just know that I just
Speaker 1: care about that. Man, I want to win so bad that, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I just want them to be better and
Speaker 1: understand that. And you know it's never personal. And I
Speaker 1: must say something to you. We've had this conversation on
Speaker 1: the podcast before where I was speaking about winning and losing,
Speaker 1: and you you don't know what it takes to win
Speaker 1: a championship because you haven't won a championship. You know
Speaker 1: what it takes to win because simply just because it's
Speaker 1: hard to win a championship, man, Like, people don't realize
Speaker 1: all of the things that has to go right in
Speaker 1: order to win a championship. Like it's not just about
Speaker 1: who got the most talented or who had the best year.
Speaker 1: It's so many things that have to go right. And
Speaker 1: so I would love to correct you here. And you
Speaker 1: know how to win. You've won since since you've been healthy,
Speaker 1: one like, you know how to win. Winning the championship
Speaker 1: is a different thing that takes a bunch of things
Speaker 1: to align in order for that thing that actually happened.
Speaker 1: And the guy who I was talking about was Chris Paul.
Speaker 1: Because people say Chris Paul is in the winner funk
Speaker 1: out of here. Chris Paul is a winner. Chris Paul
Speaker 1: is one of the better winners in our game. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul just has not won a championship, but Chris Paul
Speaker 1: has one over and over and over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. And you've done the same thing and you're
Speaker 1: still very young. So don't get caught up in that hole.
Speaker 1: I think I know where to take. You know where
Speaker 1: to take to win. You've done everything it does to
Speaker 1: take to win. And the reality is this, y'all lost
Speaker 1: on one of the most impossible buzzer beaters in NBA
Speaker 1: history to go to the NBA Finals if I'm not mistaken,
Speaker 1: the second one, second one to go to the conference finals.
Speaker 1: And then y'all would have faith who been walking. That's
Speaker 1: that's a matchup that could go either way, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And and that that's also not the
Speaker 1: Milwaukee with Drew holiday Um. That's that's a totally different
Speaker 1: Milwaukee team. And and so it's it's the margin for
Speaker 1: errors this small, Like it's not like like you really
Speaker 1: were right there. And then say you do get through Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: because that was the same Milwaukee team and now you're
Speaker 1: playing a beat down Golden State Warriors. Like it's so
Speaker 1: it's really that small. And I hope you don't get
Speaker 1: caught up in I have not won a championship and
Speaker 1: I'm not winning. That's bullshit. It's hard to win the
Speaker 1: championship in this league. And so don't get caught up.
Speaker 1: And I understand that. I understand that because I've gone
Speaker 1: to the second one, you know, so many times, and
Speaker 1: you know, like, and you gotta be so strong mentally
Speaker 1: because if you're not, I've gone to the second one,
Speaker 1: you get to like game four, you're like, like you
Speaker 1: still like you still got like conference follows and follows,
Speaker 1: you got another couple, get like freaking fifteen games that
Speaker 1: you gotta play on whatever. Like, I'm like, you gotta
Speaker 1: be mentally strong because the playoffs are training. Even in
Speaker 1: the second one that I've got it, I'm like, man, like,
Speaker 1: if I don't, you know, keep doing all. If I
Speaker 1: don't take care of my body, like, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: make it. Absolutely absolutely, it's one of the most important things.
Speaker 1: And by the way, the whole taking care of your
Speaker 1: body thing, it takes time to learn that. The way
Speaker 1: you take care of your body it maybe differently than
Speaker 1: what I need to take care of my body. Right,
Speaker 1: It takes time to figure that and time and so
Speaker 1: like it's all coming together for you, bro. And I
Speaker 1: can sit here and talk to you for another hour,
Speaker 1: and I would love to, but in respect for your time,
Speaker 1: I've just asked a couple more questions and let you
Speaker 1: go out. Know you got a game, okay, but okay,
Speaker 1: And and speaking of the ben trade and with Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: y'all brought in James Harden, a James Harden who a
Speaker 1: lot of people has rode off and said, um, he's
Speaker 1: out of shape and he's declined, and he's no longer
Speaker 1: than James Harden that we once knew. Only to see
Speaker 1: him reignite or come in with you guys, um and
Speaker 1: looked just like the James Harden we all knew before.
Speaker 1: How how is that? And I've seen that you said, man,
Speaker 1: I get more open shots than I've ever gotten, Like,
Speaker 1: how how is that partnership been working out for y'all?
Speaker 1: And where do you see y'all as far as duos
Speaker 1: in the NBA? Where do y'all rank? Well, that's not
Speaker 1: that's not uh, that's not on me to figure it out,
Speaker 1: you know, where we ranked and all that stuff like
Speaker 1: at this one like really like I'm really just focused on,
Speaker 1: you know, finding ways out to you know, get better
Speaker 1: every single day. And then obviously since we had him,
Speaker 1: we added them like you just provide, you know, something
Speaker 1: that we've really never had since I got to feel it.
Speaker 1: So that's a welcome site. And he's been great, and
Speaker 1: I think all of us and especially him, he is
Speaker 1: still trying to figure it out, you know, how to
Speaker 1: help everybody. But uh, you know it's James hard. And
Speaker 1: I told him, like I don't care what anybody says,
Speaker 1: you just be yourself, like freaking go scared the ball,
Speaker 1: be a playmaker. He's been a lot, he's been you know,
Speaker 1: trying to play make a lot by that times, Like
Speaker 1: I also wanted to be aggressive, uh and look for
Speaker 1: his own shot and all that stuff. But I mean
Speaker 1: from all the stories that you hear, how that is,
Speaker 1: you know, it's completely different. I mean, fun guy to
Speaker 1: be a my uh you know, positive energy always uh
Speaker 1: you know, since he died here, uh you know you
Speaker 1: feel like you know, uh and like you said, it's
Speaker 1: all about timing, and you know, some situation are different
Speaker 1: than others. I don't know what happened over there. Uh,
Speaker 1: maybe it wasn't the best situation. Uh And I would
Speaker 1: imagine that he put a lot of thoughts into, you know,
Speaker 1: really making that decision because you live, you're living, you know,
Speaker 1: a team with freaking Kevin Durant, like you know Kevin Douet,
Speaker 1: like you playing with him, you know how good he is,
Speaker 1: and you know, I always say that, you know, like
Speaker 1: I really believe in myself as far as like, you know,
Speaker 1: talented and what I can do on the basketball flow,
Speaker 1: especially skills when it comes to you know, my size
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. Like if there's one guy that
Speaker 1: I think, you know, for the size and you know
Speaker 1: what you know we're able to do on the floor,
Speaker 1: that's the one guy that I'm like, yeah, he's more
Speaker 1: talented than maybe because the guy is seven feet and
Speaker 1: he can do everything on the basketball code and even
Speaker 1: better than I can't. Uh So, but you know, James
Speaker 1: has been great. I think we got a chance to, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe meet you guys in you know, in the finals,
Speaker 1: but we got a long way to go. We we have,
Speaker 1: We're not where we're supposed to. We're still walking on
Speaker 1: a lot of things that we got to correct, whether
Speaker 1: it's defensively and then offensively, trying to find you know,
Speaker 1: trying to make sure that we all succeed and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But ultimately, I think, you know, we got
Speaker 1: a couple of games and to really get on the
Speaker 1: same page and we'll be fine, no doubt. I think
Speaker 1: it's been I think it's been beautiful to watch as
Speaker 1: a just for me as a fan of basketball, like
Speaker 1: to watch y'all two out there together, and and young
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxie who has has been amazing mm hmm. And
Speaker 1: I feel like his growth to me, he's kind of
Speaker 1: like a wild car for y'ard, Like, you know, still
Speaker 1: really young. So it's hard to get a consistent from
Speaker 1: a guy in his second year in the NBA, Like,
Speaker 1: that's a very hard thing to do. That's that night
Speaker 1: to night, that's be the most improved player this year.
Speaker 1: So I respect that. I respect that, but I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll see. But I like how it's coming together for y'all.
Speaker 1: And then obviously I think, you know, doc Is is
Speaker 1: one of the better coaches in our league, and so
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see and hopefully we will meet you
Speaker 1: all in the finals because as you know, like nobody
Speaker 1: else in this league, I'm locking that ship up. So, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 1: that's why you need a double team. And we thought
Speaker 1: we played all that's crazy. I never asked for a
Speaker 1: double team. That's that's not even in my makeup myself
Speaker 1: to be double every single every single time I play
Speaker 1: against Hey, if you want to duck in like shock,
Speaker 1: you get too fitting to pain. The double team gotta come,
Speaker 1: big fellow like me. At that point, you gotta go
Speaker 1: for what you know, you know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: I mean, if you say that, you just you know
Speaker 1: that good of a defender. I mean, I've never asked
Speaker 1: for a double to him in my life, so that
Speaker 1: anan I think I'm a pretty good defender, especially when
Speaker 1: I'm on. So I mean, when when when we when
Speaker 1: we put you in every pick and roll and they
Speaker 1: bring you up to blitz because you can't get it.
Speaker 1: You know, you're just like blitzing because you can't get
Speaker 1: up the floor. That's kind of like asking for a
Speaker 1: double team and you're gonna double staff. You want me
Speaker 1: to play, You want me to play drop against Steph Curry. No,
Speaker 1: you don't gotta be dropped, but you ain't gotta blitz it.
Speaker 1: I wasn't. I wasn't blessing last time. I was just
Speaker 1: trying to make sure we got the ball out of
Speaker 1: this make place because you can't shoot the basketball, but
Speaker 1: I make every other play and leave me open down
Speaker 1: the stretch. I'm a but with I wather make Steff
Speaker 1: core or you beat us. I take you any single day.
Speaker 1: Man Many many has sucked him to that, to that money, said,
Speaker 1: brother many that mindset? Hey, no, no what I check
Speaker 1: this out. I would be remissed if I didn't talk
Speaker 1: to you about um the m v P conversation with
Speaker 1: you and Joker right up there at the top. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a wrong answer, But how how
Speaker 1: are you feeling about that? Where do you feel like
Speaker 1: you're at right now? And what do you think has
Speaker 1: to happen for you to close it out this year?
Speaker 1: I mean, first of all, Uh, your kidches Uh is amazing.
Speaker 1: I see if Is is a master, Uh you know,
Speaker 1: only play against him twice a year, but you get
Speaker 1: to play against him, you know, four times a year
Speaker 1: even more in the playoffs. That's a potential matcher for
Speaker 1: you guys. You know how good it is. And I
Speaker 1: know good issue because you know I'm also happy that
Speaker 1: big guys are dominating the league when you look at
Speaker 1: whether it's me, I be honest, Uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: good to see. Uh not nothing against you guys, you Americans,
Speaker 1: but it's also good to see for people you know
Speaker 1: coming you know, Americans, you just dominate you guys at
Speaker 1: your own sport. So that's that's good to see. But
Speaker 1: he's a he's a monster. But I did a lot
Speaker 1: of you know, campaigning for myself for MVP last year,
Speaker 1: which you know, I could have gone either way, like
Speaker 1: if I would have stayed healthy and you could have
Speaker 1: gone either way. But I was also happy that you want,
Speaker 1: uh you know, and you know this shot, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, I took my game to even
Speaker 1: higher level then I did last year. And the knock
Speaker 1: on my last year was, you know, I didn't stay
Speaker 1: healthy for enough games, which you know they're probably go
Speaker 1: and use that against you too when it comes to
Speaker 1: defensive here. But you know, this ship one more can
Speaker 1: you ask? You know, I production went higher, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I stayed healthy and you know, and we had a
Speaker 1: lot of drama, but you can sit out about a
Speaker 1: lot of teams, but you know, that whole situation was
Speaker 1: it was extremely draining. Uh, he was, No, it was
Speaker 1: it was tough to go through it, especially you know,
Speaker 1: every single day, being asked by the same questions at
Speaker 1: the same such subject all the town. Like like he was,
Speaker 1: it was very he was very annoying. But like I said,
Speaker 1: like you know, everything just speaks for myself. You know,
Speaker 1: like you said, there's no right the wrong answer. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, he's a master. Uh you know, but I
Speaker 1: feel like I've also put myself in a position to
Speaker 1: you know, when I deserve it and it is my time.
Speaker 1: But like I said, it's up to you guys, you
Speaker 1: the media. I don't got I don't got that kind
Speaker 1: of vote. I wish I did have that vote, possibly
Speaker 1: no better than some other folks, but I got that
Speaker 1: vote yet. But but I'm saying, you media friends, you
Speaker 1: know what deserves it's gonna win it. Uh. But you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know, winning the championships matters to me a lot.
Speaker 1: So uh if I went to not win it and
Speaker 1: win the championship, even better. But then again, but then again,
Speaker 1: you know, we all have eagles like you want to
Speaker 1: You want to win a bunch of defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year in your career, just like I want to
Speaker 1: win a bunch of MVPs and Defensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year in my career. I at some point like, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: like like it would be cool to you know, do
Speaker 1: both two, especially at the same time. Hey man, you
Speaker 1: ain't winning a defensive players you're bliss and stuff their
Speaker 1: own bliss with Rudy Gobert, hold on, hold on, hold on,
Speaker 1: or that's why Steff always fucking chills them playing because
Speaker 1: you cannot play drop against freaking Steph Curry. And by
Speaker 1: the way, we and we had that conversation about you know,
Speaker 1: you know, out of figured out who's a great defender
Speaker 1: and who's not. So like me, it's like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know who's the favorite to win Defensive Player
Speaker 1: of the Year this year. I'm not sure. I agree, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree? So what what would be your criteria to
Speaker 1: figure it out? You know, who wins that was, let's say,
Speaker 1: defensive Player of the year. You gotta have what the
Speaker 1: top ten difference, right at least? I think you definitely
Speaker 1: have to have a top ten defense. Sure, Like you
Speaker 1: it's like, you can't win m v P and you
Speaker 1: got a bottom five offense. I think you got you
Speaker 1: gotta have a top ten defense the full seas or whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I think you you gotta have a you gotta
Speaker 1: have a top ten defense, but you also have to
Speaker 1: pass the eye test. Like just because you have a
Speaker 1: top ten defense doesn't necessarily means like, hey, this guy
Speaker 1: is a defensive player. Yeah. I think sometimes that gets
Speaker 1: skewed at times. But like I said in my press
Speaker 1: conference the other day, I think there's no debate through
Speaker 1: thirty four games, which was what I had played before
Speaker 1: I got hurt. We were eight and six through thirty
Speaker 1: four games play. I don't think there was any secret
Speaker 1: that I had to solidify. Okay to follow that, I
Speaker 1: don't see who solidified themselves since then. And so my
Speaker 1: thing is, if if nobody solidified themselves in these thirty
Speaker 1: four games since I went out, and I have had
Speaker 1: it solidified thirty four games in, then how can I
Speaker 1: not still go on to be the defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year because I didn't play enough games. Because I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play, I'm gonna end up playing forty eight games.
Speaker 1: I think I've seen people win it and play fifty
Speaker 1: and fifty one and fifty two. So in my two games,
Speaker 1: short of being able to win it, Like, I think
Speaker 1: it's been proven. You know what my defense does for
Speaker 1: a team. But if I win it this if not, whatever,
Speaker 1: if I didn't win the VP last year missing games,
Speaker 1: you can't win defensive fail the year either. That's true.
Speaker 1: But the only thing is where they going at you
Speaker 1: is they're they're really counting against you your prior history,
Speaker 1: because missing twenty games is not like out of most
Speaker 1: guys only gonna play a max is seventy anyway for sure,
Speaker 1: and so missing twenty games is really not that much.
Speaker 1: I think what they was counting against you, what's your
Speaker 1: past history? So they can say, oh, but he's always hurt, right,
Speaker 1: and you the reality is hurt like that in five years.
Speaker 1: I agree, But you know how it goes, these narratives.
Speaker 1: These narratives take on the life of their own and
Speaker 1: then that's just kind of what it is. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I do, I do agree with you. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're definitely gotta pass the eye test. And yeah, obviously
Speaker 1: you guys defense is the freaking best in the league.
Speaker 1: So I guess he's not up to us, He's up
Speaker 1: to the voters to go to uh to make I
Speaker 1: want to mention something like to me, it's like, yo,
Speaker 1: like I don't understand that you can be a defensive
Speaker 1: player in the year if you don't carry at least
Speaker 1: top five or top ten defensity in the league. That
Speaker 1: doesn't that that would not to me, that would not
Speaker 1: make sense. Uh Like given me, Like I feel like
Speaker 1: I've gotten so good offensively that you know people forget
Speaker 1: about the defensive start still like yeah, sure, Like it's
Speaker 1: hard to like play, you know, freaking thirty six minutes
Speaker 1: every night and do everything offensively and defensively, Like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have my mom as well. Yeah, we all we
Speaker 1: all have like our moments. Well you're gonna slip up
Speaker 1: here and then and all that stuff. But like keeven
Speaker 1: in those conversations, I hate like going like when I
Speaker 1: started in the league, my first goal, I was like,
Speaker 1: I want to win Defensive Player of the Year. That's
Speaker 1: what I want. I never cared about m v P
Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and I was always I gotta
Speaker 1: win defensive Player of the Year. But I just hate
Speaker 1: that because I my offensive game, as you know, Garante
Speaker 1: one on the level that you forget that, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm still right there, like, you know, still caring the
Speaker 1: top ten defensive team, you know, averaging you know one
Speaker 1: point once it or whatever, one point five blocks, Like
Speaker 1: it's just knowing to me. But then a game got
Speaker 1: a control what you can absolutely if you win enough,
Speaker 1: then you're gonna get your respects. So he's all about
Speaker 1: winning absolutely, man, last question, how I let you go
Speaker 1: um and also paying how muche to uh one of
Speaker 1: the guys who come before you from from from your homeland,
Speaker 1: UM came a larger one. I know coming into the
Speaker 1: league you would always say like I wanted you wanted
Speaker 1: to pattern your game after he came a LaJuan, No
Speaker 1: disrespect to the to the great came the dream because
Speaker 1: he is incredible. But I think with the way you've
Speaker 1: expanded your game to just say it's he came, Alijah Wan,
Speaker 1: I think is doing it's not to me, it's not
Speaker 1: quite accurate. Now, granted you do have some dreaming. You
Speaker 1: got to shake the footwork all, you know, the MIDI
Speaker 1: all of the stuff that the dream had. But like
Speaker 1: the way you push the ball in transition, the way
Speaker 1: you shooting the three, the way you mixing the guy
Speaker 1: step back three, that's different to me, And so I
Speaker 1: just wanted to act for you in your mind, is
Speaker 1: it still came for you or has that expanded? Man,
Speaker 1: this is a spending two everybody. I just uh, I
Speaker 1: just I'm a willing learner and I want to learn everything. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know. To give you an example, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: my first two years uh in the playoffs, I've really
Speaker 1: struggled because I was just supposed to play. It was
Speaker 1: easy to double me. I couldn't shoot off the dribble
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. So me and True Handling my trainer,
Speaker 1: we were like, we gotta figure that out, like I
Speaker 1: can't be easily guardess. So we had the found ways
Speaker 1: out to like add, you know, something new to my game.
Speaker 1: That's when we started watching you know, whether it was
Speaker 1: Kobe like Kadi uh, you know, like dirt and all
Speaker 1: that stuff, like basically any legends that that has come
Speaker 1: to the game and that you know, had whatever particular
Speaker 1: move on that they added to the game that everybody uses.
Speaker 1: So we were like that's where we walked down. We
Speaker 1: were like, I gotta be unpredictable, like I like, people
Speaker 1: can't know that I'm just gonna post up. I gotta
Speaker 1: be able to take the ball, push it and push
Speaker 1: it in transition dual has it put up like Katie
Speaker 1: or far away like Kobe or a July. So we
Speaker 1: just decided that, like we needed to spend the game
Speaker 1: my game. And yeah, but to answer your question, Yeah,
Speaker 1: at this point, like it's not a kid is a
Speaker 1: bunch of you know, every like a lot of superstars
Speaker 1: that I've come in into the game and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: and uh, we had this conversation at All Star. Obviously
Speaker 1: you know I feel about you know, old school players
Speaker 1: and you know how they're being raided and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: So I don't even want you don't even want to
Speaker 1: get me started as I can. You can you imagine
Speaker 1: you know, that's cute level that we have nowadays, or
Speaker 1: let's see me doing that back in the freaking six days.
Speaker 1: That would have probably put me in jail. I would
Speaker 1: have been the greatest player ever. Absolutely, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Like it's crazy, And we had that conversation and sometimes
Speaker 1: you just like it just pisses me up. Hey man,
Speaker 1: if anybody get it, I get the skill level today,
Speaker 1: it's like so far ahead of what it was back then,
Speaker 1: which is why I don't understand the whole nbas But
Speaker 1: I don't understand. And there were some names on it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, like that that put the hoglight on it.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, you know, I wanted someone droople like one,
Speaker 1: this is crazy. Uh, I'm way better than this. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I don't know what you guys I said, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't have the resume yet. Um, like, I don't have that.
Speaker 1: But when you talk about the skill level and like
Speaker 1: if I'm actually better than a lot of those guys
Speaker 1: that I don't know, like and if you don't agree that,
Speaker 1: we can't talk basketball because the skill level nowadays compared
Speaker 1: to you know, back in the day, I don't know,
Speaker 1: that would have probably shot us back then if we
Speaker 1: were doing all this stuff. Absolutely, it's crazy, man, Like,
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's impossible that you can say some
Speaker 1: of those guys on that list part of the seventy
Speaker 1: five best players to play and it's like, come on, man,
Speaker 1: that it's it's something something that's off with that list.
Speaker 1: You know, I respect all the accomplishments and stuff, but
Speaker 1: you know, man, absolutely that's another conversation for another day.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of names on not least well,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know what you guys talking about
Speaker 1: but there's no way but stop it. Like stop, hey man, Joe,
Speaker 1: Joe Brother, I in my heart believe you're gonna be
Speaker 1: on the one Hunter. I don't know how they're gonna
Speaker 1: be now you that. I don't know how they're gonna
Speaker 1: be deny I hope. So man, we'll see you gotta man, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, brother, but I will tell you this
Speaker 1: before we go. I'm also not sure how they're gonna
Speaker 1: deny you m V p um with with And like
Speaker 1: I said, that's no disrespect to Joker, who is incredible.
Speaker 1: That's no disrespect to any other other other guys that's
Speaker 1: in the running. Um. You know, the mar has been incredible.
Speaker 1: John Moran has been incredible. Like I think there are
Speaker 1: guys who are definitely deserving to be in that conversation.
Speaker 1: But with what your team dealt with this year, for
Speaker 1: you to keep that team right up there the one
Speaker 1: seed most of the year, to see like for I mean,
Speaker 1: for you to do that missing an All Star like
Speaker 1: it wasn't like the trade happened right away and there
Speaker 1: was another All Star there. You're missing all Star for
Speaker 1: sixty games and to still carry that team the way
Speaker 1: you did with guys in and out of the lineup.
Speaker 1: I don't know what else you gotta do, my brother,
Speaker 1: whatever are you doing it? But you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys you know that can be
Speaker 1: mentioned that. You know, I have a lot of respect
Speaker 1: for all of them, especially your Kish because I'm so
Speaker 1: happy that you know, eggs are taking over and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. So European biggs not to be mixed up
Speaker 1: with your American big bigs. Whatever happens. I was. If
Speaker 1: I win it great, you know, if he does so, allright, listen, listen, y'all, Joe,
Speaker 1: Joe is going for the European bigs, for the African
Speaker 1: bigs and for Joannice the African descent European big that's
Speaker 1: what we roll over, my brother. I appreciate you coming
Speaker 1: on man. As I said, I could do this for
Speaker 1: another two hours. Thank you so much for taking the time, Bro,
Speaker 1: Really appreciate it.