Speaker 1: My next guess. I've always wanted to talk to this
Speaker 1: guy because he's just so talented, and I just want
Speaker 1: to get into his head and find out when he
Speaker 1: found these natural gifts outside of athletics, which is acting.
Speaker 1: My next guys is a film and television actor, businessman,
Speaker 1: retired basketball player, and e sports franchise owner. He played
Speaker 1: in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 1: storied franchises, winning three NBA titles. Hey, you know you're
Speaker 1: doing one when three you got to be doing? Summer Please,
Speaker 1: welcome to the Money Making Conversations, Rick Fox, Hello, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you very much for having me. Hey, Rick, this man.
Speaker 1: You went to North Carolina? Right, Okay, so tar Hell
Speaker 1: tar her baby doing your thing back then? Now where
Speaker 1: did where did the acting pop up with your degree at?
Speaker 1: What your academic training and drama or something when it's
Speaker 1: acting pop up? What would your degree? Playing in North Carolina? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was in college from nine and at that time
Speaker 1: I started off as an econ major for a season
Speaker 1: and it was very taxing, and I did well enough
Speaker 1: that semester, but I realized I didn't have between, you know,
Speaker 1: basketball practices under Dean Smith and academics at Carolina, as
Speaker 1: well as a social life. It was something that I
Speaker 1: knew was gonna be hard to manage all three. At
Speaker 1: the same time, I was starting to blossom as a
Speaker 1: an NBA player potentially, so finding you know, what I
Speaker 1: would do in my career after basketball, I knew I would.
Speaker 1: I knew I'd be in the NBA, and so it
Speaker 1: was an opportunity to look at what was that major
Speaker 1: that I could take that I could transition out of
Speaker 1: the career in sports into. So I figured, you know, look,
Speaker 1: radio television, emotional pictures was something from an entertainment standpoint
Speaker 1: I'd be able to use as a broadcaster. That's someone
Speaker 1: that would be maybe involved in television in some capacity
Speaker 1: in the future. So I studied radio television, most pictures
Speaker 1: from the communication standpoint, And in my senior year, I
Speaker 1: took a couple of classes because I was ahead, I
Speaker 1: was head. You know, you don't hear that a lot
Speaker 1: senior year. Yeah, years in college man graduated. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: I come from the air where you didn't really leave
Speaker 1: school unless you were Michael Jordan's and then you didn't
Speaker 1: even leave until after your junior year. So I took
Speaker 1: a drama class, which was a part of the elective
Speaker 1: as a radio television and most picture, I took an
Speaker 1: art class. And it was in that moment when I
Speaker 1: took those two classes, I realized that there was an
Speaker 1: artist in me, a creative side that I didn't know existed.
Speaker 1: And if I hadn't taken him my senior year, I
Speaker 1: probably would have my degree probably would have been in drama.
Speaker 1: But I finished and graduated, and I knew at that
Speaker 1: point I wanted to explore some more. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: as I started my NBA career, about the second year
Speaker 1: into my career, an opportunity to audition for a movie
Speaker 1: came up until I went I went in that direction
Speaker 1: and made an attempt to try and be hired as
Speaker 1: an actor. We have my friend, um, you know I have.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking to Rick Fox of uh NBA Champion. We're
Speaker 1: not the word reformer. He's an NBA champion, three time
Speaker 1: NBA champion. He's on the show to talk about One
Speaker 1: Fine Christmas with premiers nowhere for fifteen at nine pm
Speaker 1: Eastern and Pacific and a pm Central own own Own network,
Speaker 1: that's Oprah's network. Um, before we get into that in
Speaker 1: more detail, you had that sweet jumper, a sweet jumper,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, your three point shooter. Just looking
Speaker 1: at the game today, you know, because you know, you
Speaker 1: get slapped for hitting mid range jumpers nowadays it seems
Speaker 1: you know about hit you in the back of your
Speaker 1: heat and the coach might throw a basketball and back
Speaker 1: of your head nowadays. So what do you say to that?
Speaker 1: Is that is that smart basketball? Or or is that
Speaker 1: just the way the game is nowadays? It's the game today.
Speaker 1: I come from a different era. We you know, we
Speaker 1: did that. We shot threes, but we didn't shoot you know,
Speaker 1: fifty four threes in the game. Strategic three, strategic three. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Today today's game is just a different brand of basketball.
Speaker 1: And it's not to say that it's not um the
Speaker 1: way to play the game. I don't. I choose not
Speaker 1: to really judge this era's basketball. It's something that's not well,
Speaker 1: I'm judging it, Rick, I'm judging r Sean McDonald judging it. Man.
Speaker 1: If you guys, man, these guys the stepping behind it
Speaker 1: back and have a nice Lottle eighteen seventy foot jumper,
Speaker 1: they step back. Yeah, I know, I know. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's put it this way. Taken me a lot of
Speaker 1: years to to to tune in uh and accept that
Speaker 1: as as you know, the brand of basketball that I
Speaker 1: would I would coach, or I would I would want
Speaker 1: to play. Um, it must be fun, I'm sure, and
Speaker 1: very rewarding financially two guys, because statistically you can see
Speaker 1: that they can put up a lot of statistics volume, volume, point.
Speaker 1: But is it winning? Isn't winning? Is it winning basketball?
Speaker 1: In some cases, it's been winning basketball for some teams.
Speaker 1: But I think when you have thirty teams trying to
Speaker 1: do the same thing, not every player is capable of
Speaker 1: shooting from the range that we see step shooting from now,
Speaker 1: or that we even see one or two big men
Speaker 1: shooting from. But everyone you like, you're passing the ball
Speaker 1: on the other side of the court, he's shooting. Yeah,
Speaker 1: can you get the ball my era, in my area,
Speaker 1: you can take a shot from that distance. They don't miss.
Speaker 1: You were sitting on the bench the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean crazy. You know, I'm based in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Basic doesn't always have interesting stories because I always remember
Speaker 1: Game seven when I used to lost the Golden State.
Speaker 1: They missed like twenty seven three pointers in a row,
Speaker 1: something like something incredible. You know all that you just
Speaker 1: driveed to go, just drive it to go, just up,
Speaker 1: just determined to hit three points in law. It was
Speaker 1: just the most the most tragic thing I ever saw
Speaker 1: in my life, because you know, that was that was
Speaker 1: a series where Chris Paul was his handy and I
Speaker 1: had six seven Charles Boor to tell you, you know,
Speaker 1: and live and die by the by the by the
Speaker 1: jump shot, the teams. I've seen teams that have the
Speaker 1: teams insistently and it really is. And so so now
Speaker 1: let's go over to the active because I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about that a little bit because I became a
Speaker 1: fan and you know, when you look at people, you
Speaker 1: you see the talents and you're a good looking guy
Speaker 1: and then you talent athlete. When you made your you know,
Speaker 1: I knew the first appearance in acting, it really caught
Speaker 1: my eye was ours, you know, use good show. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, man, you I was like you, you
Speaker 1: look like you look like a basketball player that needed
Speaker 1: to be in jail. Yan you right, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, because you know, Antana a great cast of
Speaker 1: actors in that in that TV series, they kind of
Speaker 1: broke the cable mode, unlocked cable television for its grittiness.
Speaker 1: I mean, we need to watch cable the day you
Speaker 1: see and here you know, his nudity is language, the
Speaker 1: graphic content, and they pushed, they pushed the boundaries. And
Speaker 1: Oz was pretty much that first show some twenty something
Speaker 1: years ago that did that. And uh, I didn't know
Speaker 1: it at the time, but I was a part of,
Speaker 1: you know, something iconic and and it was, it was.
Speaker 1: It was amazing to work with the talent, talented actors
Speaker 1: that if you look at the roster there that went
Speaker 1: on to man today. There they started some of the
Speaker 1: top movies and TV shows out there. Well, you know
Speaker 1: when I look at that character, you know, I always say,
Speaker 1: is that if I say the character in real life,
Speaker 1: that the character was the form or in New England
Speaker 1: Patriots Tiny and Aaron Hernaniez, you know, because he was
Speaker 1: just he was just out of control, just out of
Speaker 1: control is his peer group would just let him do
Speaker 1: whatever you want to do. And guess what when you
Speaker 1: have nobody protecting you, And that's what it all comes to.
Speaker 1: And I look at stories that are well crafted like
Speaker 1: an Os and You've been a part of that and
Speaker 1: I'm seeing you playing that role to It's such a
Speaker 1: realistic moment, you know, because your character can tell you nothing.
Speaker 1: And I remember one the character said something about what's
Speaker 1: your options now? What you gonna do now? And you
Speaker 1: had no response because brother, this is your life now.
Speaker 1: You know. That's Uh. There's been a number of athletes
Speaker 1: wanting to think of the last twenty years, like you know,
Speaker 1: you weren't able to handle the success or the money,
Speaker 1: or the or the power and made decisions that landed
Speaker 1: them in position. The person that was originally supposed to
Speaker 1: play the character Jackson Hue was Anthony Mason. Anthony made
Speaker 1: and got into a situation literally leading up to the
Speaker 1: captain of that that that TV series where he got
Speaker 1: in trouble for you know, raping uh fifteen year old girl.
Speaker 1: I think it was. You know, Anthony Mason is no
Speaker 1: longer with us, um, but I remember the opportunity popping
Speaker 1: up because at the time, I'm very adamant about Anthony
Speaker 1: Mason not participating in this in that show that Toime
Speaker 1: Fontana was looking looking to happen to play the character.
Speaker 1: Were really allowed you to establish your skill set and
Speaker 1: it's been coming back. When we come back, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: getting more detail. One Fine Christmas, which premiers Friday and
Speaker 1: over fifteen and nine pm Eastern and Pacific on amer
Speaker 1: Rick Fox, you got a lot of things happening to franchise.
Speaker 1: He you know, got a podcast. He tried to be
Speaker 1: like me. Of course, you know, he looks better than me.
Speaker 1: He always look he'd be laying, he's coughing. He's gonna
Speaker 1: look better. Just here right now, my man, my next guest.
Speaker 1: As I said earlier, you know as a film and
Speaker 1: television actor, businessman, retired basketball player, and e sports franchise owner.
Speaker 1: Before we go into the movie. Now, I'm a fan
Speaker 1: of Green Leaf. Okay, now, they do not use you enough. Rick,
Speaker 1: You know, do I need to do what I need
Speaker 1: to do? Man? Do I need to over there? They
Speaker 1: need to do some social media posts or something like that.
Speaker 1: You know that that story that's store right there is crazy.
Speaker 1: But that's an amazing world. It's a great show to
Speaker 1: be a part of, the great cast. I've been honored
Speaker 1: the last two years. And in this season here uh
Speaker 1: Darius character various character takes up a bit of a
Speaker 1: a side car to uh to know are coming back,
Speaker 1: uh the the first boyfriend to great screen leaf and so,
Speaker 1: you know, so to set up that is happening, and
Speaker 1: then I Am Darius returns for the final season. So
Speaker 1: it'll get it'll get heated again. But yeah, let's let
Speaker 1: me pick up that I just saw the last episode.
Speaker 1: You know that, you know, like you know Charissa crazy
Speaker 1: Charity realized that Judy, you know, the you know, the
Speaker 1: Pat Tolder told my man feel that, hey, you want
Speaker 1: to you want to run this church? You got married
Speaker 1: Judy and Judy and so he went and told coach
Speaker 1: coach Charity, hey, you take their ring off your finger
Speaker 1: because I'm not married. She told her to get out
Speaker 1: of that. And then Home Girl was told by a
Speaker 1: man uh Lamar Rutgert character. He found out, you know,
Speaker 1: she's sleeping with Fernando, and Fernando just gave her a
Speaker 1: wheel to let him know that, Hey, mom, Paul meaning
Speaker 1: my man, my girl. A lady may and her husband
Speaker 1: or former husband or whoever you wanna call. He's still
Speaker 1: living in the same house. They may have killed a
Speaker 1: lady who lived in the house before that, that's why.
Speaker 1: So so you're telling me I won't get this right
Speaker 1: now because I gotta put because I'll be waiting on you. Man,
Speaker 1: I'll be waiting on because you're my boy. Okay, So
Speaker 1: so so the next few episodes, I'm gonna be seeing you,
Speaker 1: that's what you're telling me. Well, I don't, uh, well,
Speaker 1: the season that comes, I think maybe I don't know
Speaker 1: when it comes back quite yet, but uh in in
Speaker 1: the season. Uh and I'm not sure which episodes there
Speaker 1: are now, but season season five will be you'll see
Speaker 1: me back in. Okay, she's right now. Season four is Aaron,
Speaker 1: So season five, I'm gonna see you, Okay, cool, don't worry, brother,
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be pushing you on social media. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna push you so much. Man, you don't
Speaker 1: get an Emmy nominee, at least the image of I'm
Speaker 1: because I love you to death. Now let's go over there. Man,
Speaker 1: why what they what? They set this up so they
Speaker 1: won't be mad at me talking to all this stuff.
Speaker 1: They say nothing about this movie. Now you've got a
Speaker 1: chance to work with uh your daughter and uh I
Speaker 1: know that specially I have a daughter, man, and uh,
Speaker 1: she's twenty two, she's in college and she loved my life.
Speaker 1: Talk about talk about that experience, my man. Uh, my
Speaker 1: daughter's grown up in the nineteen Now she's at a
Speaker 1: university for a film and television herself at Chapman University
Speaker 1: and here in Orange County, and her career is just
Speaker 1: taken off in front of the camera as well at
Speaker 1: the same time learning how to be a filmmaker. And
Speaker 1: I got the call about being on this in this movie, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, one one one from Christmas, and and then
Speaker 1: I and my daughter had been booked the role and
Speaker 1: hadn't told me, and and said that she was working
Speaker 1: with Vanessa Williams. I thought she met her mom and
Speaker 1: and then I you know, she's growing up on sets.
Speaker 1: She grew up on set her entire life. I mean,
Speaker 1: she was in The Baby, she was in her first movie,
Speaker 1: and she's been on the stage of the Oscars performing
Speaker 1: and he's got a lot in the industry along the way.
Speaker 1: But this was her first opportunity to act in the movie.
Speaker 1: And and then to get the talk because I've worked
Speaker 1: with the producers before, and then they get to call
Speaker 1: myself to play Roger opposite us Vanessa. You know, there
Speaker 1: was fortunately one scene that we had together Sasha and
Speaker 1: I and it was a proud moment, as a proud
Speaker 1: moment to see her be so professional and to know
Speaker 1: what she was doing on set into the acting. We know.
Speaker 1: The thing I like about that is that you know,
Speaker 1: because we know we've been on the set. You know,
Speaker 1: you've been in a professional world, and you know, and
Speaker 1: and when you when as a young kid it comes
Speaker 1: around an environment they didn't and they get used to,
Speaker 1: they get comfortable around, they see things differently, they see
Speaker 1: the possibilities that they can achieve. And that's why I
Speaker 1: think that's what you really you know, they call it nepotism,
Speaker 1: they call it what its chronism, whatever they want to
Speaker 1: call it, but it's being able to be in that environment,
Speaker 1: to be able to see it and allow to experience
Speaker 1: and say I can do this. And that's what that's
Speaker 1: what you're telling me when you said she's been at
Speaker 1: the OSCAR, she's been here, she's been on stage, she's cameras,
Speaker 1: don't bother her anything, her mom anything, Her mom and
Speaker 1: I have tried to hold her back and have her
Speaker 1: just focused on school and then she she obviously is
Speaker 1: a grown but she's a woman now, and so you know,
Speaker 1: she pursues her own duties and those after things, and
Speaker 1: she's uh, she's also a model and works for Serena
Speaker 1: Williams's s line and Kardashian's skims line, And these are
Speaker 1: all things that I'm being told she's doing. It's not
Speaker 1: like the one trying to trying to get her higher.
Speaker 1: It's it's that she's the one ready to start her
Speaker 1: her working career. And so she's pretty she's pretty, pretty
Speaker 1: comfortable working and pretty confident having been around these environments
Speaker 1: her entire life. I always equated to like a Steph
Speaker 1: Curry who grew up rebounding for NBA players at the
Speaker 1: arena dad, you know, being a part of that world
Speaker 1: to where it's second nature. So they're a to be
Speaker 1: comfortable being on stage, being on set, being you know,
Speaker 1: in the press, talking to the media. It's something that
Speaker 1: they've been around their entire life. So it's just second nature,
Speaker 1: it really is. And I think that's important that we
Speaker 1: expose our children to that opportunity, that ability to walk in,
Speaker 1: especially when your people of color, you know, we don't
Speaker 1: have that opportunity as often, and so when we walk in,
Speaker 1: we can push ourselves back and going should I should
Speaker 1: I speak up? Can I? Can I direct? It's not enough?
Speaker 1: Who would listen to me? You know, you can often
Speaker 1: question your talents before your talents are even uh been
Speaker 1: have been? Have been criticized? You know, you can hold
Speaker 1: back to your own natural abilities and so so getting
Speaker 1: on this set, So do you tell us what the
Speaker 1: movie exactly is about? One fine Christmas was the premier
Speaker 1: is Friday? No, we're with fifteen not PM Eastern and
Speaker 1: Pacific on own. Tell us what the movie is about? Well,
Speaker 1: it's alway movie and uh, you know at this time
Speaker 1: of the year, you know, you can't get I personally
Speaker 1: can't get enough of them. Big fan here, bro, big fan,
Speaker 1: big fan. Yeah, you know, set in the tone of
Speaker 1: family being the most important thing, and as you know,
Speaker 1: you know, getting together at the holidays is not always
Speaker 1: the easiest thing to do. It brings brings families together,
Speaker 1: but it brings up a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: feelings and emotions amongst and around yourselves. Um, in this case,
Speaker 1: you know, if you stop and really just you know,
Speaker 1: take in those that are loved and those that are
Speaker 1: around you. I play a character, Roger, who gets stuck
Speaker 1: in in in the city, who's who's doing it has
Speaker 1: a business relationship with Susan, the character that that is
Speaker 1: the mother of Sasha's character Haley, Haley's home for the holidays.
Speaker 1: Her mom is one of those go getting, NonStop working
Speaker 1: individuals that isn't is watching the holiday season passer by
Speaker 1: because of her her inability to stop and and and
Speaker 1: be present with her family and incase three storylines and
Speaker 1: my storyline with Susan and Haley are just just the
Speaker 1: element of the romantic potential relationship during the holidays that
Speaker 1: comes together and played by Vanessa Williams, not my wife,
Speaker 1: former wife, but the other Vanessa Williams that she's always
Speaker 1: had to explain that throughout her acting career, by the
Speaker 1: way they both yeah and uh. But it was nice
Speaker 1: to meet her and work with her, I think because
Speaker 1: I've obviously followed her from her work as well, and
Speaker 1: it was it was a bit of an inside joke
Speaker 1: for us all beyond set and at the same time,
Speaker 1: you'll be working with uh, Sasha's other moms. It's really
Speaker 1: interested in looking at your brand now, e franchise owner.
Speaker 1: I was looking at The Bowlers, which is on HBO,
Speaker 1: and they had one of the characters was going in
Speaker 1: that direction being an e franchise e owner. What exactly
Speaker 1: is that Rick, the professional sports owner. I think of
Speaker 1: owners that own the Lakers or Celtics. UM have a
Speaker 1: protein traditional sporting team. You you you may be a
Speaker 1: fan of UM. This generation is has grown to a
Speaker 1: level where the technology is unlocked the opportunity for a
Speaker 1: global a global presence around video games, whether it's the
Speaker 1: viewing of them and the introgon of watching them and
Speaker 1: watching people playing them, or your desire to actually compete
Speaker 1: at the highest level and making a career yourself. Now,
Speaker 1: because that's how this special over sixty minutes they was
Speaker 1: talking about. You know, they got a it's like a
Speaker 1: little team, you know what, they're in the house. They
Speaker 1: gotta practice, they gotta you know, they gotta train over
Speaker 1: and over and you gotta try to recruit the best
Speaker 1: players for your team. Is that's high set up for
Speaker 1: you as well? Oh yeah, now this is this is
Speaker 1: pro pro sports and UH, you know I got into
Speaker 1: UH five years ago where you know, the initial investment
Speaker 1: with my partners was a million dollars and was in
Speaker 1: a short for from just and you have the sports
Speaker 1: brands UH and teams that are valued at four under
Speaker 1: million dollars. You know ours hasn't reached that. Would you
Speaker 1: what you say, I need to slappy? What do you say? Man? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I know they get the what did
Speaker 1: you call money making conversations? Four five years ago? You know?
Speaker 1: Did I be happy with your brother? And I know
Speaker 1: I could have got us for million franchise tag because
Speaker 1: that's what I do, brother, That's what I do. But well,
Speaker 1: let me tell you the gaming industry at large, the
Speaker 1: massive industry. It's it's larger than the end of it's
Speaker 1: the largest, you know industry entertainment, it's it's quite doubles
Speaker 1: music and TV and movies. So so when you think of,
Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities in the sports community, around video
Speaker 1: games in general at large, you know, the possibilities are endless.
Speaker 1: And so we grew up, as you know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: we grew up in the put down the video game
Speaker 1: controller and get out of the house generation. You tell,
Speaker 1: you tell a kid die in this generation, he'll just
Speaker 1: leave the house and go to his phone and play
Speaker 1: video games on his phone. Absolutely. Because my daughter, she's
Speaker 1: in the game design, she's in game design. She said,
Speaker 1: she went to school mechanical engineering and now she's a
Speaker 1: she's a national honor so side the deans of student
Speaker 1: in game design. So I, my man, I know what
Speaker 1: you're doing is is not only cutting age with moneymaking
Speaker 1: and so I just want to get you the call.
Speaker 1: First of all, tell you I'm a fan of your
Speaker 1: your skill, you're You're a fan of you, what you've
Speaker 1: done with your career and what you are doing with
Speaker 1: your career from not only from an acting educational, from
Speaker 1: a from a parent and proud I'm proud Papa too, brother,
Speaker 1: So I know where you're coming from. I know the
Speaker 1: smiles on your face. And when my daughter gave me
Speaker 1: an honor at the University of Houston and put it
Speaker 1: around my neck, I knew that was a proud moment
Speaker 1: for me. So again, one fine Christmas premieres Friday, you
Speaker 1: know with my fift on Own nine pm Eastern and
Speaker 1: Pacific Own Network. My man, I appreciate you calling the
Speaker 1: show and and anytime you need to Rick Rushan McDonald
Speaker 1: be there for you anything that you do. You need
Speaker 1: me to promote your franchise, just let me know I'll
Speaker 1: do it for you. Okay, thank you, appreciate I appreciate it,
Speaker 1: thank