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Speaker 1: dot in West Virginia. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Trademond Green Show. As you notice, is season two
Speaker 1: and I am honored to have this next guest as
Speaker 1: our first guest of season two. Um a brother of mine,
Speaker 1: of a mentor of mine who needs no introduction. He
Speaker 1: actually has a memoir coming out January seventeenth. To make
Speaker 1: sure you go preorder that and check that out as
Speaker 1: I am extremely excited. It is called Straight Shooter, That
Speaker 1: No More Mercy Podcast with Stephen A. Smith. First take
Speaker 1: host co host, I say, the Starter show. However you
Speaker 1: would like to refer to him, you do yourself, but
Speaker 1: I'm honored to have this next guest. Thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on the show. My brother Stephen A. Smith was
Speaker 1: going on, what's up big time? How you doing, man?
Speaker 1: How's everything? I'm fantastic. How about you? I'm doing great man.
Speaker 1: I want to applaud you, man, because you know, you've
Speaker 1: always been a great brother. I mean, usually you got
Speaker 1: cats like Lebron with the shop of the show. They
Speaker 1: run for somebody like me. They don't want me on,
Speaker 1: you know, but but Draymond broke me on. You know. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm just playing. What's going on? Man? What's up? Man?
Speaker 1: Nothing much? It's funny that you say that. I was
Speaker 1: just gonna say, I'm nervous as hell for this interview.
Speaker 1: I've probably done more preparing for this interview than I have.
Speaker 1: And I and and and the reason being, I think
Speaker 1: you respect greatness and when when someone is great at something,
Speaker 1: you you only want to bring your best to that.
Speaker 1: And so I understand and and appreciate you as as
Speaker 1: the goat. And and when I say the goat, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's from a different perspective than most people will
Speaker 1: look at it. I think when you when you think
Speaker 1: of sports media, you're right up there at the top
Speaker 1: of anybody. But I personally think you have created a
Speaker 1: lane for your that that only you live in. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I've watched other people try to
Speaker 1: come in that lane, and to me it honestly, it
Speaker 1: doesn't look as genuine. But when I say the goat,
Speaker 1: I look at someone who's who's went about staying true
Speaker 1: to themselves and yet creating a lane like you have.
Speaker 1: And I think my first question would be, um, how,
Speaker 1: how how did you and coming into this business, and
Speaker 1: especially coming in in the nineties, when you came in,
Speaker 1: how how was it almost impossible or hard, I would say,
Speaker 1: to stay true to yourself and extending to the greatness
Speaker 1: that you have. Oh, no question, it was very, very
Speaker 1: difficult to see. What happened is that there was no
Speaker 1: social media, so there was no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok
Speaker 1: or anything like that. To be a person that would
Speaker 1: ultimately have a license to express your opinions, you had
Speaker 1: to work through a mind field. In in media, you
Speaker 1: had to write, you had to report, you had to
Speaker 1: break stories, you had to cultivate contacts and resources, and
Speaker 1: then after you did all of that, you had to
Speaker 1: hope and pray that there were bosses, editors, et cetera
Speaker 1: that was supportive enough to want to elevate you. One
Speaker 1: of the things that I told people all the time
Speaker 1: is that you know a legend like Mike will Bond,
Speaker 1: the true legend in our business, who've been around for many,
Speaker 1: many years along with various others. The reason why Mike
Speaker 1: Wilbon was such a legend as because Mike will Bon
Speaker 1: was one of the first to ever get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to express his opinion. You know, guys like the late
Speaker 1: Ralph Wiley, God rest his soul, and others had you know,
Speaker 1: relate Brian Burwell who was a friend for USA today.
Speaker 1: They were pioneers because they were put in a position
Speaker 1: where they got a license to express their opinion. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, Dre I became a general sports columnist.
Speaker 1: Columnists is the highest title that you can have because
Speaker 1: it's the license to give your opinion, not just report.
Speaker 1: I was the twenty first African American in American history
Speaker 1: to get that time. That means there was only That
Speaker 1: means there was only twenty before me. Now you can
Speaker 1: look at it and say, wow, that's a great accomplishment.
Speaker 1: But there's a negative to that. That means in two
Speaker 1: thousand and three, as recently as two thousand and three,
Speaker 1: throughout American history, American never saw a fit but twenty
Speaker 1: other black people to be to have a license to
Speaker 1: express their opinion. So understanding that I always wanted to
Speaker 1: express myself, which is why when guys like you and
Speaker 1: others came along later and took full advantage of the
Speaker 1: ability to express yourself, I was like, hold up, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold up, I think I got a problem with it.
Speaker 1: This is what I wanted. I want you to express
Speaker 1: the stuff. I want you to have that freedom. I
Speaker 1: don't want you to feel because you couldn't control the message.
Speaker 1: Back then, you had to hope and pray that you
Speaker 1: could cultivate a relationship with somebody well enough to express
Speaker 1: so they could express themselves on your behalf. You don't
Speaker 1: have to do that today, And I'd like to believe
Speaker 1: I had something to do with helping that happen. I
Speaker 1: definitely think so. Um. You know I, over the course
Speaker 1: of the years you've been want to welcome to banter
Speaker 1: You've you've been you know, the candor, that's something that
Speaker 1: you've always welcome. Where where do you think that comes
Speaker 1: from the that come from growing up in New York
Speaker 1: um or or does that just come from you know,
Speaker 1: your makeup and your building media. It's a combination of both.
Speaker 1: I'm from the streets of New York City, bro Um.
Speaker 1: You know, on my best day, I can never ball
Speaker 1: like you. You know, step as an idol, you know,
Speaker 1: Lebron and somebody I bodolize. I'm an m J dude
Speaker 1: all day every day, you know. I mean, the list
Speaker 1: goes on and on. But you know, you talk in
Speaker 1: sports and you gotta remember and I often tell people
Speaker 1: this when it comes to the world, when it comes
Speaker 1: to the world of sports, everybody thinks they're an expert.
Speaker 1: That's what people don't realize. See what news and politics
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. We're deferential to people because you
Speaker 1: might know things about policy that I might not know,
Speaker 1: you know, legislation, all this stuff we don't know. That's
Speaker 1: the fear that people haven't getting involved because you don't
Speaker 1: want to open your mouth and be completely ignorant, because
Speaker 1: you know, you don't know what's going on the Capitol Hill,
Speaker 1: right But in sports, nobody can tell you anything. If
Speaker 1: you're sort of dude play and he shot through for
Speaker 1: twenty then he shot through with twenty and so so
Speaker 1: so so to me, my aspiration was always to be
Speaker 1: a commentator slash columnist. The reason why is because I
Speaker 1: knew that the news was the news. Okay, here it is.
Speaker 1: And then if you had enough, if you cultivated enough sources, alright,
Speaker 1: fine you could you could put that out to everybody.
Speaker 1: But people want to know how you feel in the world,
Speaker 1: in the world of sports because they want to They
Speaker 1: want one or two things. They want to know that
Speaker 1: you agree with them, and if you don't agree with them,
Speaker 1: they want to know why so they can argue with you.
Speaker 1: You play your four time champion and you have people
Speaker 1: that will come to you and literally try to tell
Speaker 1: you what's going on with the go to State Warriors,
Speaker 1: even if you're the want of the lock rom and
Speaker 1: you don't want to stays and all of this stuff
Speaker 1: that they're they're not asking on you're asking. They're literally
Speaker 1: telling you, not that being this is what's going on,
Speaker 1: and they have no clue. And so for me, I've
Speaker 1: offered it. I knew that I was never that way.
Speaker 1: I always brought it myself, and being a guy that
Speaker 1: was an instigator and a provocateur of of dialogue. I'm
Speaker 1: the guy that got you talking about what needed to
Speaker 1: be talked about, as opposed to people who wanted to
Speaker 1: create narratives to escape what really needed to be talked about.
Speaker 1: That's what I've always proud of myself to doing, and
Speaker 1: I've been that way since I was young. I think
Speaker 1: that's incredible because I think over the years, Um, one
Speaker 1: thing that I've watched with you um on TV is
Speaker 1: when you've brought other athletes like myself on and in
Speaker 1: a Kendrick Perkers, Matt bons Um, Patrick Beverly as of
Speaker 1: recent JJ Reddit You you don't. You don't go on
Speaker 1: and claim to know more about the game of basketball
Speaker 1: than JJ Reddick or uh sit there and and try
Speaker 1: to discuss an X and no with Patrick Beverley. You
Speaker 1: don't do that. I've almost watched you take a back
Speaker 1: seat on television to those guys when they come to basketball,
Speaker 1: now never shying away from the dialogue and the debate
Speaker 1: and your point of view, but yet not quite arguing
Speaker 1: the xs and ohs of it. And and I've seen
Speaker 1: that on TV UM with with quite a few guys
Speaker 1: and it and it doesn't make sense to me. Why
Speaker 1: has that been your approach, um, and and going about
Speaker 1: it in your career because it's the right thing to do. Um.
Speaker 1: The fact that the matter is on far too many occasions,
Speaker 1: athletes are not appreciated to the greatness that exists within y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about mentally, UM, the hard work, dedication, and
Speaker 1: the knowledge that comes with doing what y'all do. It's
Speaker 1: stupid to want to refree y'all from doing from expressing that.
Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two is respect. You know, JJ
Speaker 1: Reddit comes on the air and there's a lot of
Speaker 1: athletes that have come on the air and they expected
Speaker 1: a confrontation, and I'm like, the confrontation is real, but
Speaker 1: not volatile. I want you to know I'm challenging a
Speaker 1: specific point you're making, but that doesn't mean i'm challenging you.
Speaker 1: I know that you know more than I do. I'm
Speaker 1: just challenging this point that we're debating about because that's
Speaker 1: what it's about. Number Three, I'm coming from a place
Speaker 1: of journalistic integrity because that's my foundation, right, So I'll
Speaker 1: tell an athlete, you know, the difference between me and
Speaker 1: I'm just you know, it's it's what I know, just
Speaker 1: based on what I see, not that I've ever had
Speaker 1: this conversation with my contemporaries, so I'm not throwing anybody
Speaker 1: under the bus or anything like that. But you have
Speaker 1: people who think they know and they want to show
Speaker 1: the world they know what you know when God's come
Speaker 1: on first Take or they talked to me. One of
Speaker 1: the reasons I could be so hardcore in my opinions
Speaker 1: is because I'm saying, you have every opportunity to talk
Speaker 1: to me, dre who don't have who can't get ahold
Speaker 1: of my number if they wanted, who can't you can't
Speaker 1: feel to reach me, if they want to reach me,
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. So so my point is that if you
Speaker 1: know how to reach me, and you know I'm gonna listen,
Speaker 1: it ain't my fault. If you don't want to talk,
Speaker 1: that's your problem. But if you do want to talk,
Speaker 1: here's what I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna challenge your
Speaker 1: information as much as I'm going to challenge whether or
Speaker 1: not you're telling us everything we need to know. So
Speaker 1: if J. J. Read It comes on the air, or
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley comes on the air, somebody, I'm like, wait, wait,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, now, you know. And that's to me saying, oh,
Speaker 1: you know more than you're saying, or you got more
Speaker 1: to say that you actually saying. Give it to me.
Speaker 1: It's my job to bring the best out of them,
Speaker 1: not to make them look foolish. And that's what I
Speaker 1: don't try to do that. I don't try to outdo
Speaker 1: them or be right. I believe I have an opinion
Speaker 1: that's better. Sure, I'm gonna bring it, there's no doubt
Speaker 1: about that. But at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 1: and that's why JJ Reddick was a colleague that's now
Speaker 1: become a friend. And the list goes on and on
Speaker 1: for football players and basketball players. Because I want First
Speaker 1: Take to be that kind of conduit. I want casts
Speaker 1: to know, oh the door, the door is open. Here
Speaker 1: you go, you wanna sit, you wanna sit across from me.
Speaker 1: You got sent to say, let's go. And that's what
Speaker 1: it's all about. And hopefully, you know, a lot of thankfully,
Speaker 1: rather a lot of them have gotten that message. Of
Speaker 1: not all of them that have come on First Take.
Speaker 1: I haven't had one single problem with anybody that has
Speaker 1: ever come on First Take or sat down and have
Speaker 1: been interviewed by me, because that is a message that
Speaker 1: I make sure that they received that is coming from
Speaker 1: a place of respect. I might be challenging this point,
Speaker 1: but I'm not challenging you. Is it different? I think
Speaker 1: that's incredible and it actually leads into my next question. So,
Speaker 1: my wife is an actress, and as she's continued to
Speaker 1: go deeper and deeper into a craft, I've watched her
Speaker 1: like drop into these moments to like, you know, just
Speaker 1: get into these certain mind spaces that she need of
Speaker 1: being for a particular scene or audition. And my question
Speaker 1: to you is, in debate TV, um, is there ever
Speaker 1: a point where you personally feel attacked or disrespected? And
Speaker 1: does it ever like, does it ever really get heated? Um?
Speaker 1: And in those conversations. So obviously we just had the
Speaker 1: discussion about you with other basketball players and about basketball,
Speaker 1: but that's not that's not all you debate about. You
Speaker 1: don't just debate with basketball players, and it's and it's
Speaker 1: definitely not just about basketball. Is there ever a point
Speaker 1: where it really gets heated? Because I've been watching some
Speaker 1: Debate TV in which we'll get into it about and
Speaker 1: to me, it looks like at times there could be
Speaker 1: some acting number one and at times it truly does
Speaker 1: get personal and really heated to where once those cameras
Speaker 1: go off, there may be some words exchanged. Well, I
Speaker 1: would tell you this. I wouldn't go as far as
Speaker 1: saying when the camera went off, there's there's an exchange
Speaker 1: of words because I'm gonna say what I have to
Speaker 1: say on camera, since you wanted to say what you
Speaker 1: had to say on camera, I ain't gonna wait till
Speaker 1: we get off the air. If you say something order air,
Speaker 1: all right, you want to bring it okay? Here I
Speaker 1: am UM for better or worse. UM. I would tell
Speaker 1: you that there have been instances Jay Williams and I
Speaker 1: have gotten any heated discussions, but it's never a fact
Speaker 1: that our relationship because we're pretty tight. I love my
Speaker 1: brother and it's cool. Will Kin, who used to be
Speaker 1: on ESPN and is now on Fox News, we got
Speaker 1: in a lot of heated discussions where we were very
Speaker 1: very serious about what we were saying, but it never
Speaker 1: extended to off the air because I understood that he
Speaker 1: was different than me politically, political maker was different than
Speaker 1: mind anyway, So I expect that those heated discussions. I
Speaker 1: remember the one time where things almost got this is
Speaker 1: the one time I almost almost lost it when t
Speaker 1: O came on the air and said that Max seemed
Speaker 1: blacker than me. Now I I addressed it on the air,
Speaker 1: but we have almost got dicey. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that hasn't been involved with t O over the years,
Speaker 1: and it took everything in me not to go all in,
Speaker 1: not to really like like, you know, because let's be
Speaker 1: very very clear, I'm sorry if it offends anybody or
Speaker 1: anything like that. When it comes to what I do
Speaker 1: for a living, which is television and debate and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, drowned gonna lie. I think I'm the best
Speaker 1: on the planet. I just do. I just do. I
Speaker 1: I don't. I literally don't worry about a human being
Speaker 1: when it comes to debate. I just don't, especially on
Speaker 1: my platform. It's like, you got to be kidding me.
Speaker 1: And so when he walked into that lions then I
Speaker 1: had to remember my humanity. I had to remember listen,
Speaker 1: I'm a brother, this is a brother. I disagree with him,
Speaker 1: I don't like it, you know, etcetera, etcetera. And there
Speaker 1: are things that I could have brought up, but I
Speaker 1: couldn't bring myself to do it. But that was the
Speaker 1: closest that I had ever come to like getting medieval
Speaker 1: and and and there's a different element that was about
Speaker 1: to come out of me, but I stopped myself. That's
Speaker 1: that's I think that self control, especially in what you do,
Speaker 1: like I think it it teeters that line right of
Speaker 1: like you know, like you said, I'm not quite disrespecting you,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna go at you. But the flip side
Speaker 1: that I think people don't realize this. There's another human
Speaker 1: being involved in and and that have actual feelings. And
Speaker 1: these are real people talking and you don't know how
Speaker 1: they may feel. So although you you may be so
Speaker 1: grounded and your emotions and how to control those emotions,
Speaker 1: how to stay in that space of debating and it's
Speaker 1: just that, but you know, you don't necessarily know how
Speaker 1: that other person may feel and how do you come
Speaker 1: back that person? Well, for me, you gotta remember for
Speaker 1: takes my show, I mean, mole Dy Karen works with me.
Speaker 1: She does a phenomenal job. But I'm the start of the
Speaker 1: the show and now I'm the executive producer and everybody
Speaker 1: and thank you and everybody that's come on the show
Speaker 1: been hand picked by me. And so what happens. Is
Speaker 1: what I do, dre is. I make sure I spoke
Speaker 1: to every single person on the show before they come on.
Speaker 1: This is what the show is, this is what it
Speaker 1: needs to be. I'm gonna challenge you. I want you
Speaker 1: to challenge me and gonna make fun of each other
Speaker 1: and we go laugh. You don't have a good time,
Speaker 1: And I said, when shots to five, shots to five,
Speaker 1: it's all in fun. And you know, and when you
Speaker 1: make sure that you you couch, you know, debates with
Speaker 1: that not on an every day Basically, I said, there's
Speaker 1: only one conversation with these folks. But they know, they
Speaker 1: know when I come on the air, listen, I've been blessed,
Speaker 1: I've been fortunate. I've been very successful in the ESPN.
Speaker 1: They know I'm trying to make them successful. They know,
Speaker 1: you know, j J knows I wanted him call a game.
Speaker 1: Richard Jefferson knows I wanted them calling games. You know,
Speaker 1: when Kimberlee mar and Ormanica mc nut beautiful females to
Speaker 1: do a phenomenal job for us, they know I want
Speaker 1: them doing what they do for the for the league.
Speaker 1: Janell bomackay in the job and she's doing an NBA
Speaker 1: today phenomenal. You know, Matt Bond doing this thing. Kendrick Burkers.
Speaker 1: I know y'all had y'all issues all that stuff. They
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, but that's my man. I love
Speaker 1: him and and I want him to do great three
Speaker 1: just like I want you to do great things I
Speaker 1: want Molly to do. And when you have somebody that's
Speaker 1: in front of you that's in my position, that's not
Speaker 1: just rooting for you, but telling you and showing you
Speaker 1: I'm rooting for you and putting you in a position
Speaker 1: like you gotta remember there were times in the past,
Speaker 1: on many occasions, whether it was with Skip Bayliss, who
Speaker 1: was with Max Kellerman or anybody else. Dre I could
Speaker 1: have touched on issues, but I left it to them
Speaker 1: because America needed to hear from them, not me on
Speaker 1: that particular issue. It's television, but you also got to
Speaker 1: think about the audience. You gotta think about who that
Speaker 1: audience is and what kind of message you want to
Speaker 1: send and who's best to send it, and so all
Speaker 1: of those decisions are made in real time. And when
Speaker 1: you have somebody that's the catalyst, like myself on first tape,
Speaker 1: that's letting you know, look, I'm gonna disagree with you
Speaker 1: our opinions and our phony. It's authentic. We're giving the
Speaker 1: audience what they want without giving them the vitriol, without
Speaker 1: giving them the animosity or the hatred or nothing like that.
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley comes on, first, get up and first take heat,
Speaker 1: going off on CP three. Patrick Beverley, my man, like
Speaker 1: a little brothers. I love Patrick Beverley. No know him, no,
Speaker 1: his mother, no, everybody know for years. But I know
Speaker 1: he's not CDP three, and I know that you can't
Speaker 1: talk about CP three like he subscribe. You can't do
Speaker 1: that's just the whole fame. But what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: You know? So in other words, so I had to
Speaker 1: sit up there and challenge him on that without disrespecting him,
Speaker 1: because I understand part of it is their history together.
Speaker 1: It wasn't him just talking. They have animosity towards one another.
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying, And that's the difference. It's
Speaker 1: understanding that, and then it's pulling them to the thought
Speaker 1: and saying, look, bro, you gotta future here. Don't waste
Speaker 1: your time being dominated by that issue. You can talk NBA,
Speaker 1: you don't have to talk CP three those are the
Speaker 1: kind of things you're helping them because I want him
Speaker 1: to be successful when it's playing careers old. So I
Speaker 1: think about that, and I just shared that knowledge because
Speaker 1: to me, that's my responsibility. I think that's why I
Speaker 1: can appreciate that. Um. Before I get into my next question,
Speaker 1: one thing I want to say is number one is
Speaker 1: just listening to you name all that list of people
Speaker 1: that you just named, and like all the careers that
Speaker 1: you've touched already, and quite frankly, I thought myself into
Speaker 1: that bucket. All the help and knowledge that you've given
Speaker 1: me over the course of these years, I appreciate and
Speaker 1: I thank you because I think you know a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't see that. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't see me have a rough moment and you
Speaker 1: call like, hey, man, I know you're going through this.
Speaker 1: Hare's here's a way you can think about this. Here's
Speaker 1: a different way, never saying Draymond go and say X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z, but here's a different way you can
Speaker 1: think about this. And here's how the voice or the
Speaker 1: era of America may hear this, you know, and and
Speaker 1: just giving me a different perspective, you being someone like
Speaker 1: I said, who's teetered dot line of controversial absolutely opinionated, right.
Speaker 1: I think most of the times people I wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 1: say controversial, I would say very opinionated. And people confuse
Speaker 1: opinionated with controversial, and I don't think that. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're the same thing. We know controversial. That's someone
Speaker 1: that's going out there to to make hot takes, and
Speaker 1: they're making their hot takes just to create controversy, not
Speaker 1: what you do. And I don't think a lot of
Speaker 1: people will understand that. And so, uh, this is me
Speaker 1: number one. I just want to give you your flowers
Speaker 1: and say thank you, not only for myself, but also
Speaker 1: for that group that you just named. A lot of
Speaker 1: that group that you just named, I have a lot
Speaker 1: in common with, whether it's athletes, whether it's your African
Speaker 1: Americans trying to continue to break into this space, you know,
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be. And so I just
Speaker 1: want to say thank you for who you've been to myself,
Speaker 1: for who you've been all of us, and how you've
Speaker 1: trail blazed the path but continue to give back to
Speaker 1: everybody who has a question to you. Thank you. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you. I appreciate that man, thanks a lot. That
Speaker 1: means a lot because that's what I want to do,
Speaker 1: and I really believe it's my responsibility if I wasn't trying.
Speaker 1: You know what, I've often said this. I remember sometimes
Speaker 1: people have asked me questions. You know, athletes come at
Speaker 1: you and people dislike you or whatever the case would
Speaker 1: be here, and I said, they said, why would you change?
Speaker 1: I said, there is no athlete that can ever look
Speaker 1: at me and say I was somebody who wished they failed.
Speaker 1: You can't find one that is a lot. Anybody ever
Speaker 1: says that about me. It's a lot because I want
Speaker 1: everybody to see I want everybody to eat. But when
Speaker 1: you're coverage sports, they're all winners and they're all losers.
Speaker 1: There are those who are elite, there are those who
Speaker 1: are not. There are those who struggle, there are those
Speaker 1: who don't, and you gotta chronicle that story while still
Speaker 1: allowing them to maintain their humanity. I understand that better
Speaker 1: now than I did when I was younger. But I'd
Speaker 1: like to believe for the most part throughout my life,
Speaker 1: I've always tried to go to walk in that bad
Speaker 1: I think it's incredible. Uh, just and just moving forward
Speaker 1: and everything that you've done in your career with this
Speaker 1: new background. Now for everybody out there, we're recording this
Speaker 1: and I'm the first to see this background, just so
Speaker 1: y'all know. However, however, y'all won't be the first to
Speaker 1: see it, because there's no way I would debut this
Speaker 1: background before the debut is on No Mercy podcast. I
Speaker 1: have way too much respect for you for that. But um,
Speaker 1: no mercy, Uh, no mercy, No Mercy. It's definitely a
Speaker 1: play on words. They're explained. Can you explain to us
Speaker 1: where the where the title, the name and of your podcast?
Speaker 1: Who came up with that and how did you come
Speaker 1: with that? Well, my team came up with that, Terry
Speaker 1: Fox for Sean McDonald, uh, you know, and of course myself,
Speaker 1: although I have other folks working for me, it was
Speaker 1: primarily those two. And I loved it because it was
Speaker 1: a double intnsdric borche Um. When no Mercy n O
Speaker 1: is warranted, I'll be in that mode. When King n
Speaker 1: o W No Mercy is warranted, I'll be in that mode.
Speaker 1: And so I look at it from that perspective, because
Speaker 1: you know, you have people who genuinely make mistakes, who
Speaker 1: do some things that they regret, and that's k n
Speaker 1: o W. Then you have some people who have no compassion,
Speaker 1: no sensitivity, no mercy, no thoughtfulness, no anything, and they
Speaker 1: require n O You see what I'm saying. So I
Speaker 1: looked at it from that perspective. And it's not a
Speaker 1: sports podcast. Um, it's not something that's that's via ESPN.
Speaker 1: It's owned and operated by me. I own it, I'm
Speaker 1: responsible for it. I'm in control of the content that
Speaker 1: appears on this podcast and adventures. It has no limits.
Speaker 1: I talked politics, I taught sports, I talked pop coach
Speaker 1: and entertainment. I talked social justice issues. I do interviews.
Speaker 1: I do stuff by myself. Um, the list goes on
Speaker 1: and on. I've interviewed politicians. I've interviewed the CEO of
Speaker 1: the Anti Defamation League. I've had Snoop Dogg and LLL
Speaker 1: who j on. Uh. You know, I'm gonna have some
Speaker 1: folks on in the future. And I just want to
Speaker 1: be in a position where, you know, just like I've
Speaker 1: made a difference in the world of sports, I want
Speaker 1: to make a difference in the world beyond sports. And
Speaker 1: I want my voice to be something that resonates. So
Speaker 1: significantly that if you want to do a podcast and
Speaker 1: you want to make sure you get a message out,
Speaker 1: you think about coming through no mercy to do just that.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of impact that I've always aimed to have,
Speaker 1: and that's the kind of impact that I expect to
Speaker 1: have with this and you've been doing that. And speaking
Speaker 1: of no mercy, Um, I'd be remiss if I didn't
Speaker 1: ask this question. Um, a guy who I don't think
Speaker 1: people will ever be able to separate y'all names just
Speaker 1: because of the history. On first take, UM, Skip Bayless
Speaker 1: recently made some comments and when and when speaking of
Speaker 1: no mercy recently made some comments about Damar Hamlin and
Speaker 1: the comments that he made live during the game, I
Speaker 1: think everyone knew immediately in that moment they were wrong, Like, Uh,
Speaker 1: this guy just passed out. We just watched CPR be
Speaker 1: administered on live television, and you say a game should continue.
Speaker 1: That's no mercy, that's not having any number one phil,
Speaker 1: I think the field there is just all but no. Uh. Secondly,
Speaker 1: that to me, I always speak about how how people
Speaker 1: view the athlete, and that's having no mercy at all
Speaker 1: for just the athlete, for the mindset you know, when
Speaker 1: when you think of today's day and age and everyone
Speaker 1: the awareness around mental health and all of these different issues.
Speaker 1: And to say that someone who you know, Steph Curry
Speaker 1: is a brother of mine, like Clay Thompson is my brother.
Speaker 1: You you you you blood, sweat and tears with these guys.
Speaker 1: You experience some of the highest highs in life with
Speaker 1: these guys and some of the lowest of lows in
Speaker 1: life with these guys. And to say that you can
Speaker 1: just witness that number one as a player, Let's not
Speaker 1: even look at it from Damar's standpoint in his life.
Speaker 1: Let's just look at it from the standpoint of players
Speaker 1: athletes in general. To say that Josh Allen can witnessed
Speaker 1: that and then just go call to play and throw
Speaker 1: a football, Like, what about the compassion for the athlete? Now,
Speaker 1: I don't even want to go to the compassion for
Speaker 1: DeMar and his family because that's a totally different thing,
Speaker 1: and that, I mean, that really goes to an entirely
Speaker 1: different category. So I'm really just trying to keep his sports.
Speaker 1: But when speaking of no mercy and someone that you've
Speaker 1: worked with, what was your opinion and thoughts on skill?
Speaker 1: And then to double down and say, oh, no, I
Speaker 1: stand on that, even after knowing the condition that he's in.
Speaker 1: I guess for me, I can respect you're saying you
Speaker 1: stand on your opinian. I can't respect that, But at
Speaker 1: the same time, it feels low. First of all, let
Speaker 1: me get this out of the way. Stick was wrong,
Speaker 1: play simple if we want first take together, and he
Speaker 1: wasn sitting across from me, totally was rude. Um, there's
Speaker 1: no doubt about that, and that needs to be said
Speaker 1: at that particular moment in time. You can use a
Speaker 1: phrase feeling the rule. You can use whatever other phases, do,
Speaker 1: whatever other phrases that you want. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, it reached a point where it was
Speaker 1: not about football, It was not about games. It was
Speaker 1: about a man's life, being a young man's life being
Speaker 1: on the line. So there is no there's no defending that.
Speaker 1: And I agreed with Shannon Shaw's position on that. Having
Speaker 1: said that, what I will say and I had and
Speaker 1: there were people that wrote articles that Stephen Ay came
Speaker 1: to the defense. No I didn't, but I did explain
Speaker 1: what I mean by that. Is number one, It's important
Speaker 1: that I preface any comment about skip veyleas uh. In
Speaker 1: terms of saying this, Draymond, I'm not here today if
Speaker 1: it were not for Steep Bass. Skip Veyless is the
Speaker 1: one that brought me on first sip, and I will
Speaker 1: never walk around like I don't owe that man a lot.
Speaker 1: But I disagreed with him after I owed them that
Speaker 1: on first sake every day, So why can't I disagree
Speaker 1: with him that? And why wouldn't I disagree with him
Speaker 1: in the future. I'm sure he would disagree me. I
Speaker 1: promise you he disagree with what I'm saying right now.
Speaker 1: That comes with it. But remember when I talked about
Speaker 1: attacking what someone does as opposed to attacking them. I've
Speaker 1: known Skipped for twenty years. I know people who despise him.
Speaker 1: I know people who think the worst of him. I
Speaker 1: know all of these different things. I'm not one of
Speaker 1: those people, and I will always have love for my maid.
Speaker 1: I think he was wrong, but I also knew what
Speaker 1: mistake he made. Dre. He's looking at the game, and
Speaker 1: here's what he's thinking about. He's seen Jack Tatum paralyzed
Speaker 1: Darryl Steeley. He saw Michael Irvin on the turf at
Speaker 1: veter Stadium in Philadelphia, believably paralyzed. He just recently saw
Speaker 1: a two or tongue of below and get carried off
Speaker 1: the same field Instincinnati by ambulance and was concussed. I
Speaker 1: mean his body stick stiffing up like it had a
Speaker 1: rigor mortist like rigor mortis kicked in and throughout NFL history,
Speaker 1: which Kip Bayless has been covering since the seventies, he's
Speaker 1: seen the game continue and a lot of times people
Speaker 1: are not taking that into account. You can say we're
Speaker 1: living in a different time. That is true, We're all
Speaker 1: living in a different time. You also have others who
Speaker 1: hold on to a certain culture. Now, sometimes they hold
Speaker 1: on a certain cultures. In the world of politics, we
Speaker 1: don't like that, were the news, don't like that, So
Speaker 1: to justice issues were damn sure, I don't like that.
Speaker 1: But in the world of sports, there's tens of millions
Speaker 1: of people who hold onto the way things used to be,
Speaker 1: which is what the new media, as you like to
Speaker 1: call yourself, like to like to bring up how you
Speaker 1: got cats that hold onto it. What I'm saying you
Speaker 1: a mind, Well, that's who you're talking about. That's the guy,
Speaker 1: the guy that is like this is the way that
Speaker 1: things were done. This is what customarily happened. So he
Speaker 1: wasn't tweeting like that, hell with this God's well being
Speaker 1: or help or anything like that. I know Skip Baylor's
Speaker 1: enough to know that he cares whether or not that
Speaker 1: the more handling lives or dots, and people that extended
Speaker 1: themselves to accuse him of that I think are totally wrong.
Speaker 1: But was he guilty of Okay, well, this is what
Speaker 1: was serious. Stuff has happened before, because remember, we don't see,
Speaker 1: we don't know how. We know it's serious. We know
Speaker 1: they're trying to resuscitate him, but we don't know the particulars. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: they're gonna take him out in the ambulance and then
Speaker 1: the game is going to continue. I know a lot
Speaker 1: of people who felt exactly that, but not necessarily because
Speaker 1: it's should They're saying it because that's been the history
Speaker 1: of the NFL. But times have changed. And I would
Speaker 1: have said to him fair enough, thinking that he believed
Speaker 1: what I just articulated. I would have said fair enough,
Speaker 1: but you know better, And that same tweet could have
Speaker 1: been put out twenty four hours later and it would
Speaker 1: not have been treated with the same vitriol as it was.
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, UM, he didn't have someone in his ear
Speaker 1: to tell him that. And you know, it is what
Speaker 1: it is. As I can honestly sit here and say,
Speaker 1: I'm not one to shy away from an opinion. As
Speaker 1: you know, I don't like Skip Bayless. I'm not a
Speaker 1: Skip Bayless fan at all. Um, I don't think Skip
Speaker 1: Bayless is smart enough to have got me to see
Speaker 1: another side the way you just did. Either way, you
Speaker 1: just got me to see the side that he could
Speaker 1: have possibly been seen. Um. Especial in itself, but it's
Speaker 1: also it needs to be heard because if I'm being honest,
Speaker 1: I didn't see that side at all. I did not,
Speaker 1: not one bit. And I thank you for that because
Speaker 1: number one, that will help me continue to grow in
Speaker 1: this space. But I think, like I said, the world
Speaker 1: needs to hear that because and I think another thing
Speaker 1: that I really didn't appreciate was even after the fact
Speaker 1: on on Undisputed the next day, it still wasn't this.
Speaker 1: It was like I stand on that and that it's
Speaker 1: just like and and and that's where I think that's
Speaker 1: that's when we're allied. Because see, I was more disappointed
Speaker 1: in the next day only because alright, this is what
Speaker 1: everybody's feeling. You see what I'm saying. It's like, listen,
Speaker 1: because I was saying, I know you, you know you,
Speaker 1: you you know you better than that. You see what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, regardless of what anybody else want to believe.
Speaker 1: I know size of him, I've seen, and I know
Speaker 1: he's better than that. It's like, YO, just just give
Speaker 1: it up. You know, I shouldn't have said that text
Speaker 1: last night. You said that wasn't the time and to
Speaker 1: play to do it, that's all. But you know he
Speaker 1: I can assure you. Some people think that it's a
Speaker 1: prideful thing where he can't admit that he's wrong. I
Speaker 1: take you the step further. I don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: he thinks he was wrong at all. I think he
Speaker 1: was right what he what he was telling Shannon the
Speaker 1: next day, you know, And and usually I don't have
Speaker 1: time to watch it because I got my own show
Speaker 1: to do. But they came on a half hour earlier
Speaker 1: and I knew what it transpired the day before, so
Speaker 1: I had to see if it was all right. And
Speaker 1: you know, then I then I reached out to him.
Speaker 1: I said, if you need to talk, I'm here, but
Speaker 1: he hasn't reached back. And I understand he's going through
Speaker 1: a lot right now. Yeah, that and that and you
Speaker 1: being on the other side of that table and sitting
Speaker 1: in Shannon's spot. Um, you know, like you said, Skip
Speaker 1: brought you onto the show. So at one point, you know,
Speaker 1: at one point I would believe he probably had more
Speaker 1: say in the show than you did. Then you kept
Speaker 1: totally totally. I always deferred to him, dre because even
Speaker 1: though I got there and my star had ascended, and again,
Speaker 1: he had been beyond that point of going to games.
Speaker 1: He had done that for thirty so years or whatever.
Speaker 1: He wasn't doing that anymore. You know, me, I love
Speaker 1: going to games. I love being inside that lot. I
Speaker 1: can't as much as I used to because I got
Speaker 1: the dag On show to do and my obligation. But
Speaker 1: any time I could show up to the game, I'll
Speaker 1: show up just so brothers could see me and talk
Speaker 1: to me. But but but but with him, you know,
Speaker 1: so my star was ascending, but I was always mindful
Speaker 1: he brought me here as his show. That's his show
Speaker 1: and I and I never never once took that away
Speaker 1: from me. So do you think a part of a
Speaker 1: part of Shannon. It was that way now, whereas like
Speaker 1: I could see that Shannon felt disrespected. I could see
Speaker 1: that Shannon was kind of hurt, and you could just
Speaker 1: see that it was so personal to him, being that
Speaker 1: he's been on that same football field. He's been tackled
Speaker 1: that same way for fifteen years. Um. But but I'm
Speaker 1: asking more so from the grand schame. Like, so, Shannon
Speaker 1: took the day off, right, and Shannon spoke about why
Speaker 1: he took the day off. But do you think Shannon
Speaker 1: is more handcuffed, that Skip has more saying the show
Speaker 1: and that he has to suppress a little bit more,
Speaker 1: or do you think that's just grow I think that's natural.
Speaker 1: I think that's natural. I think that anybody in Shannon's
Speaker 1: position would feel that way. But what I would tell
Speaker 1: you is this. You know, listen, I've been blessed and
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to for first take, We've been you know,
Speaker 1: we arrived, Um, I arrived in the spring of twelve.
Speaker 1: We've been number one since I've been number one for
Speaker 1: eleven years. Uh, and Shannon and Skip have been the
Speaker 1: competition for the last six Let me be very very clear,
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying I don't know Shannon that well.
Speaker 1: We've spoken a few times over the years. I have
Speaker 1: a lot of respect from Shannon Shaw. I know it's
Speaker 1: not supposed to be popular to say because he's the
Speaker 1: competition man, damn all of that. He's a brother, UM.
Speaker 1: I got love for him. I respect the hell out
Speaker 1: of him. Um. And every time I see him, I
Speaker 1: agree him very fondly. And I will remind everybody he's
Speaker 1: one of the greatest titans in the history of football,
Speaker 1: as he the Hall of Famer. This ain't some scrub
Speaker 1: like I was. This brother was something special, okay, And
Speaker 1: so to watch him in this business trying to do
Speaker 1: what he's doing, UM, I respect the hell out of him,
Speaker 1: and I can only imagine um the kind of position,
Speaker 1: uh that he found himself in in light of Hamlin's injury.
Speaker 1: The only thing that I would say, if if if
Speaker 1: Shannon had come to me and asked my advice. For example,
Speaker 1: here's the only thing that I would say, that's your chair.
Speaker 1: You don't give it up for nobody as yours, sim saying,
Speaker 1: I don't give a damn if you were in the
Speaker 1: chair and had nothing to set, you don't miss sitting
Speaker 1: in that check because there's an audience out there that
Speaker 1: expected to see yes. But I understood him. Like every
Speaker 1: single NFL player present and former that I've spoken to,
Speaker 1: Parks was in the right place, going through a lot.
Speaker 1: I remember that time Kenny Smith, during the whole social
Speaker 1: justice movement, walked off the set of T and T
Speaker 1: because he didn't feel it was a good idea for
Speaker 1: him to be there. You remember that when Kenny Smith
Speaker 1: got right, Well, Kenny Smith will tell you. I called
Speaker 1: him and I said to him, my brother, I love you.
Speaker 1: You know, that's my queen's brother. His brother, Vincent Smith
Speaker 1: used trained me for crying lorst Italian Hall in New
Speaker 1: York City when I was trying to be half to
Speaker 1: play at Kenny to just Smith brother. Hey idolized Kenny
Speaker 1: Smith and I love him like a brother. And I
Speaker 1: called him and I told him, which he would tell you.
Speaker 1: I said, brother, you shut that was the right decision.
Speaker 1: And he's like stephen A. I just felt like it
Speaker 1: was the right thing to do. I said, I get
Speaker 1: that with that chair matters. We need to see you
Speaker 1: and I often I often think about that when I
Speaker 1: think about myself. When you turn on first take, it's
Speaker 1: one thing on my phone, vacation, I got a day
Speaker 1: off or something like that. But when some real stuff
Speaker 1: hits you turned on first take, you expect to see
Speaker 1: Stephen that and Stephen They're gonna show up. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: show up. And that's what I would encourage Shannon, Kenny
Speaker 1: Smith or anybody shock Bark with anybody else. We fought
Speaker 1: for stitcheries to have a voice. You got it, you
Speaker 1: don't get it up. That's Michael. Absolutely. And we've been
Speaker 1: here for forty one minutes. Honestly, I can sit here
Speaker 1: and ask you a questions for two hours. I know
Speaker 1: you all the time in the world for you, bro
Speaker 1: we go. I appreciate you, but I do want to
Speaker 1: ask a couple more questions before I get into the basketball.
Speaker 1: Outside of things. Um, Number one, your your memoirs coming
Speaker 1: out January seventeen, Straight Shooter. Uh, can you can you
Speaker 1: tell us a little more what we can expect when
Speaker 1: I open that cover and I read through. What What
Speaker 1: can I expect to read and learn? Um? About you,
Speaker 1: about the business, Uh, just about your perspectives. What can
Speaker 1: we expect from your memoir straight Shooter Man? My life,
Speaker 1: my trials and tribulations, my relationship with my dad, my
Speaker 1: relationship with my mom. Uh, my career, the trials and tribalations,
Speaker 1: getting fired, getting rehired, you know, the cynicism, the controversies
Speaker 1: that I've been in, whether it's Ray Rice and domestic violence,
Speaker 1: whether it's showing or Tani and the Asian American community
Speaker 1: and Asian and Asian community. Um, Steph Curry, I Easa Curry.
Speaker 1: Wait till you read about that chapter. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: a chapter about about Mrs Steph Curry in my book. Um,
Speaker 1: you'll you'll know it. You'll be very familiar with the
Speaker 1: story once you once you read it, all of those
Speaker 1: things and and of course Skip Bayless, Max Kellerman, the
Speaker 1: history of First Take, my career, ESPN. Quite frankly, the
Speaker 1: list goes on and on. I've been involved with a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff over the years, and there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things that you couldn't say because you were working
Speaker 1: for the World Wide Leader and it involved them. But major,
Speaker 1: major props to them, because while I'm still working for them,
Speaker 1: I wrote what the hell I wanted to write, and
Speaker 1: I showed it too. I showed it to them ahead
Speaker 1: of time, and they were like, okay, and they gave
Speaker 1: me no push for at all, and I'd admit I
Speaker 1: was kind of shocked by that because I expected push
Speaker 1: back they gave me zero. And so, um, it's long overdue. UM.
Speaker 1: I would have written it years ago, but I promised
Speaker 1: my mother I would never write the book until she
Speaker 1: passed away. She never wanted me to write the book
Speaker 1: while she was alive because she knew that there were
Speaker 1: certain truths that I was going to uh tell, particularly
Speaker 1: as it contained in my relationship with my father and why,
Speaker 1: and she did not want to be alive when that happened.
Speaker 1: So I promised two years ago that I would never
Speaker 1: do it until she passed away. So when she passed
Speaker 1: away in seventeen, I waited a few years and then
Speaker 1: I finally decided to do it. And they said, say
Speaker 1: it might be best. They said it's a best seller already.
Speaker 1: They said pre sales, I've already sold over ten thousand
Speaker 1: and eleven thousand books something like that. Um, And they expected,
Speaker 1: they expected to be on the best seller list. So
Speaker 1: we'll see. That's incredible. So this so this book is
Speaker 1: also like it's also therapeutic for you, like you're getting
Speaker 1: some stuff off your chest. Also by the way before
Speaker 1: we go into that, I ain't taking no stuff Curry
Speaker 1: and Asia slander. Now, Stephen that you let me tell
Speaker 1: you something. I'm ashamed at how much I love Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: I'm ashamed. And you know me, I would never ever
Speaker 1: ever come close to disrespect to somebody's woman. I would
Speaker 1: never do that. It's just a story that directly involves
Speaker 1: that had an indirect effect on me. And that's where
Speaker 1: that comes from. Okay, I'm interested in reading that, you know,
Speaker 1: But so so this book is is also some some
Speaker 1: therapy for you though you're getting some stuff off your chest.
Speaker 1: And also as someone who's got planned on doing that
Speaker 1: one day as well, and as someone who has had
Speaker 1: dad issues in a way, I would say, um, and
Speaker 1: so as a part of this sharing your story and
Speaker 1: also understanding now that other other guys may be going
Speaker 1: through that same things. I know as I started to
Speaker 1: talk about my dad issues more, I realized you start
Speaker 1: talking to someone and you like, man, I wasn't the
Speaker 1: only one going through that, but you feel like you
Speaker 1: were when you're going through it. Is it some of
Speaker 1: that and and this, of course, of course it is
Speaker 1: because you know, when I was going through the issues
Speaker 1: I was going through with my dad, my brother Basil,
Speaker 1: God rest his soul, he passed when a car accident
Speaker 1: in two but he was there for me. And so
Speaker 1: you know, I'm the youngest of six. That was my brother,
Speaker 1: um and he helped me out like that. So what
Speaker 1: happens years later Alan Irison's of the world and various
Speaker 1: other cats along with the Draymond Greens of the world,
Speaker 1: and others who come to me talking to me, even
Speaker 1: Shock and others. You know, I'm you know, y'all may
Speaker 1: be bigger, but I'm older, so so so it's like
Speaker 1: you know, so so my experiences and just being able
Speaker 1: to help in any way I can. And once again
Speaker 1: that's where a part of my defiance come from. Where
Speaker 1: I can stand up told a told with any athlete
Speaker 1: and have a discussion because I know, I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to hurt nobody. I'm doing my job. Yes, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be fair mindy, yes, but off the wrecket, off the court.
Speaker 1: What do you need? You see what I'm saying, whatever
Speaker 1: you need, I can help you. You know, for example,
Speaker 1: a guy like for example, I just put out that
Speaker 1: guy like the Markets cousins. He can't stand me I
Speaker 1: don't know why. I don't. I don't know why that,
Speaker 1: but listen, he hates me. I don't know why. But
Speaker 1: the point is that what he never realized rave when
Speaker 1: I came to talk to him in the locker room
Speaker 1: and he refused to talk to me that one time,
Speaker 1: when we were all in Philadelphia, I was coming to
Speaker 1: offer him an opportunity to be an animalst I watched
Speaker 1: him do an interview and I liked them, and I
Speaker 1: went to the bosses and said, if they don't do X,
Speaker 1: y Z and the playoffs, we could use that guy. Literally,
Speaker 1: that's what I was coming for. But you know, he
Speaker 1: put me off, So okay, you know, opportunity loss, and
Speaker 1: that's the way it goes. But the point is, you
Speaker 1: bring names like that up, along with various other athletes
Speaker 1: that I've had issues with from time to time throughout
Speaker 1: the year. Is not many, not nearly as many as
Speaker 1: people think, because blind large, I get along with most
Speaker 1: of y'all. But the point is that I want y'all
Speaker 1: to do great. If I have nobody that I can
Speaker 1: point to that I helped, I didn't do my job.
Speaker 1: I didn't do my job. You had an obligation to
Speaker 1: give back, and you got cats that really really want
Speaker 1: to be in this business and they have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to I went to t O years ago. Yo, bro,
Speaker 1: you realize who you are, your top three receiver on
Speaker 1: the planet. You could be making millions doing this. Let
Speaker 1: me talk to these cats. He brushed me off. Mh.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm like, okay, I'm saying okay. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: like I mean, it's like I'm not asking casts to
Speaker 1: come along for free. I'm looking I'm looking at because
Speaker 1: I'm watching, you know me, I'm looking at God. I
Speaker 1: watched the way they articulate this l was to watch
Speaker 1: the way they project, see what they bring to the table,
Speaker 1: and then I'm like, imagine if you had the right
Speaker 1: platform to do it, imagine what you could do. And unfortunately,
Speaker 1: far often than not, they don't see that opportunity, and
Speaker 1: you're just you're looking at them and you're saying, guys,
Speaker 1: think about the big picture. Let's wake up, because those
Speaker 1: who are successful sort of big picture before the rest
Speaker 1: of us. For a guy like DeMarcus um, who I
Speaker 1: think you know, I have a relationship with um below
Speaker 1: in the league, so excuse to him not to be
Speaker 1: an NBA, no excuse. I think that's a no brainer.
Speaker 1: Like when I even look at some guys in NBA,
Speaker 1: and there's no disrespect to any NBA player, any any
Speaker 1: guy you see in the NBA can play basketball like,
Speaker 1: no disrespect to any But there's a lot of guys
Speaker 1: in the NBA that is not as good as de
Speaker 1: Marcus Cousins. Absolutely true. Like every still to this day,
Speaker 1: everybody thinks I'm crazy. I think I think the Nets
Speaker 1: could use him. A lot of teams could, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I'm I'm talking about he could be the difference for
Speaker 1: a championship because he's not a jumper, we know that,
Speaker 1: but he can bang, he can move bodies. What are
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn that's lacking girth? Yeah, that's what I think.
Speaker 1: But you know, hey, what you gonna do. We had to.
Speaker 1: We had to adjust our game plan last year in
Speaker 1: the playoffs to guard him in the second unit with Denver,
Speaker 1: And I think I think people don't when you're still
Speaker 1: adjusting your defensive game plan for someone in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: not many people get like you don't make adjustments in
Speaker 1: playoffs for many people. For instance, I go back to
Speaker 1: the podcast after we lost Game one, we didn't make
Speaker 1: any adjustments. Uh, we didn't make any adjustments for our
Speaker 1: horror or or even Marcus Smart. Those are like damn
Speaker 1: good basketball players. I'm not taking anything away from there,
Speaker 1: but there are some things that you just have to
Speaker 1: be be willing to live with in in a basketball game.
Speaker 1: And so, um, we adjusted for DeMarcus Cousins still because
Speaker 1: he was hurting us that much. You can't tell me
Speaker 1: he don't belong hunting the NBA team. There's no excuse,
Speaker 1: there's no excuse. I mean, we got but but there's
Speaker 1: also a lesson. And I don't know the particulars, and
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to pretend that of ship and I'm
Speaker 1: not even talking about him when I make this next statement.
Speaker 1: It's a lesson for any aspiring athlete or even a
Speaker 1: moning day athlete that not just your skill matters, additude, relationships, Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: all of these things play a role, and a lot
Speaker 1: of times they don't tell us, but when we see it,
Speaker 1: we have an obligation to promote second chances. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Whatever you feel about the markets that,
Speaker 1: like I just told you, I have no relationship with him.
Speaker 1: I don't want this brother out there unemployed, not having
Speaker 1: an NBA job when he deserves it. I mean, what
Speaker 1: did he do that he doesn't deserve to be in
Speaker 1: the n b A You know, I mean I think
Speaker 1: about that because even though you find yourself at time
Speaker 1: looking at certain athletes and how they may act, you know,
Speaker 1: even you know me with Kyrie, with the whole you know,
Speaker 1: Karie and I wish no harm and that brother. I'm
Speaker 1: proud that brothers spectacular. We may never speak again in
Speaker 1: life because our differences are between us. Nobody here. They
Speaker 1: will never hear from me what to differ. He knows
Speaker 1: what the hell happened. I know what happened. But the
Speaker 1: point is what you go hear from me is he's
Speaker 1: a superstar. This brother's spectacular. He's a champion. And guess what,
Speaker 1: as long as he showed up to work, he deserves
Speaker 1: his money because you walk through the turnstyles to see
Speaker 1: that brother play. He's some especially, yes he is, and
Speaker 1: I think we're seeing that, uh within that season and
Speaker 1: their turnaround. By the way, what what the what the
Speaker 1: markets do you? Is there ever a chance to to
Speaker 1: mend that um that moment in that locker room with
Speaker 1: the Marcus Cousins that moment in that locker room. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh please, he's the one with the issue. I ain't
Speaker 1: got no issue with him. If the markets Cousins came
Speaker 1: to me and said he needed me, what you need?
Speaker 1: What you need? Bro? Is that simple to me. I'm
Speaker 1: not that guy, you know what I'm saying. I really
Speaker 1: am not that guy. Life's too short. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: he hurt might even hurt me and hurt my family.
Speaker 1: He didn't do something, you know, he didn't do something unforgivable.
Speaker 1: I'm cool. It's not a problem, and I don't have
Speaker 1: any issue with him. I don't know what his issue
Speaker 1: is with me and don't really care, but I can
Speaker 1: assure you I have no issue with him. I've had
Speaker 1: been a plethora of players throughout NBA history, Hall of famers,
Speaker 1: had a problem and then come to me years later, Stephen,
Speaker 1: They really cool, man. You know, I was just I
Speaker 1: just felt this way at this particular moment in time.
Speaker 1: But I'm alright, Glenn, big Door Robinson. For years we
Speaker 1: have problems because I didn't like the fact that Randy
Speaker 1: has got fired the way that he did. I felt
Speaker 1: that cats like him just just did the wrong things.
Speaker 1: But then it got too far. It's like you got
Speaker 1: people wondering whether or not we were gonna try to
Speaker 1: do something to each other and stuff like that. Whoa
Speaker 1: wa what? But then I saw a son, and I
Speaker 1: saw a son of the game, and I walked up
Speaker 1: to his son and I said to him, I want
Speaker 1: you to know, whatever beef your father and I had
Speaker 1: is my fault. I said. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I'm the one sitting in this chair, and I could
Speaker 1: have quelled all of that, and I did it. Regardless
Speaker 1: of what our difference is, how valid they may have been.
Speaker 1: The bottom line is, I'm older, I'm the professional journalist.
Speaker 1: I'm in this position as a level of maturity I
Speaker 1: should have showed. And I want you to know that
Speaker 1: because I don't want you walking around thinking that, Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, you gotta watch the little thing you do.
Speaker 1: Because stephen A is here and he hates your dad. No,
Speaker 1: I do not hate you, dad. I said, I was
Speaker 1: angry about something. He was angry about something. But the
Speaker 1: second I see him, I'll apologize to his face. Don't
Speaker 1: you ever worry about nothing like that with me? And
Speaker 1: I told her. I walked up to his son in
Speaker 1: Houston and voluntarily had a game in using and I
Speaker 1: voluntarily told him that because I just felt bad, Like Dan,
Speaker 1: this is his son, and Lord knows what he's thinking
Speaker 1: because me and his father is beating. Let me put
Speaker 1: an end of that right now and assure him. You
Speaker 1: don't ever have anything you know your dad now Ever,
Speaker 1: I respect your father was a hell of a player.
Speaker 1: I just didn't like something that happened in Philadelphia. But
Speaker 1: the bottom lines, I could have squashed all of that,
Speaker 1: and my immaturity contributed to how it regrets. I have
Speaker 1: to own that. That's being a human being man, and
Speaker 1: it's the right thing to do. And I'm certainly not
Speaker 1: right all the time. But when I am wrong, I
Speaker 1: will not hesitate to apologize and to try and make
Speaker 1: him I would not expect that. I respect that. That's incredible.
Speaker 1: That's something that's something honestly I've been learning over the
Speaker 1: last few years of my life. My wife actually been
Speaker 1: helping me a lot with that. It's just seeing like
Speaker 1: when you're wrong, it's okay to say sorry. I think
Speaker 1: we all grow up in these environments where it's like no, like,
Speaker 1: for instance, what I was speaking with Skip, like I
Speaker 1: gotta stand on everything that I do and saying like
Speaker 1: I gotta stand my ground, and like you're made up
Speaker 1: of that. And it takes for us, some a lot
Speaker 1: of us to go through life and realize, like, no,
Speaker 1: it's okay to apologize, like actually being a bigger man,
Speaker 1: but I apologize. But also remember you never lose when
Speaker 1: you do that, because either you're right or you learn
Speaker 1: and you're edified because you learned about what you were
Speaker 1: wrong about. And so when you have that kind of attitude,
Speaker 1: it's never the case. I've known you for years. One
Speaker 1: of the reasons, one of the one of the reasons
Speaker 1: you were one of my favorite people. Like I, I
Speaker 1: mean to me, I go back with look Man, I
Speaker 1: was tight with Oakley, I was tight with with with
Speaker 1: Derek Coleman. I was typing raw strictly that people like that,
Speaker 1: you know. And these were cats who could play, but
Speaker 1: in the same breath would be quick to slap somebody
Speaker 1: upside the damn head. They ain't like too many people,
Speaker 1: but they loved me, and I loved them because they
Speaker 1: were real brothers. And I and I said something or whatever,
Speaker 1: and and you rolled right up for me in the
Speaker 1: locker room. Come on, Stephen. Come on, Stephen, I mean,
Speaker 1: come on now, And you quoted me and I was like,
Speaker 1: damn bad, my bad. You know what's that? And I
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, it's that simple to me. If I
Speaker 1: did something wrong, tell me what I did wrong. If
Speaker 1: I think you If I think you're wrong, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say so. But if I know you're right. And by
Speaker 1: the way, if I apologize, I'm not gonna say something
Speaker 1: publicly and apologize projectly. If I did it publicly, I'm
Speaker 1: apologized publicly. And you'd be surprised how many people they're like,
Speaker 1: what the hell you apologize for? Why you let folks know?
Speaker 1: Because you let folks know about something that was wrong?
Speaker 1: So why is corrected? How corrected? And I think that
Speaker 1: I think it's incredibly important, particularly in this day and age,
Speaker 1: because even with social media and the reach that y'all
Speaker 1: have and stuff like that, the bottom line is you've
Speaker 1: got a lot of cats that feel done wrong, but
Speaker 1: they make the mistake of not having anybody to talk to.
Speaker 1: Like when I think about when I think about Russell Westbrook,
Speaker 1: for example, Man, you see the stuff that Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: is doing in the community from the own business. I
Speaker 1: mean that's dude. He's a special dude man. But he
Speaker 1: walks around, but he walks around with this big attitude
Speaker 1: a lot of times, and he looks at media and
Speaker 1: he doesn't. I believe that a mistakes like that somebody
Speaker 1: like him makes is what Lebron doesn't do. Russ walks
Speaker 1: around like a lot of people are the enemy, not
Speaker 1: giving the people enough people a chance to see his
Speaker 1: greatness and his contribution to our community. Because he's from
Speaker 1: a different cloth, y'all. He cares about our community. It's
Speaker 1: about loss, and so he does the for us and
Speaker 1: he thinks along those lines and is unapologetic about it.
Speaker 1: But so many people don't know whereas with Lebron Lebron,
Speaker 1: through the brilliance of Maverick and and and and and
Speaker 1: Rich and everybody else, people have no choice but to
Speaker 1: learn about the greatness of Lebron James on so many levels.
Speaker 1: And that's the difference I think. I think that's incredible
Speaker 1: and and and definitely obviously no, I'm very fine to
Speaker 1: both of those guys and everything that they've done, so
Speaker 1: am I, even though I still stand by the fact
Speaker 1: that damn it. Think listen, Russell Westbrook's the future, whole favor,
Speaker 1: phenomenal player. I just wish he ever worked on the
Speaker 1: jump shot. That's all. That's all, nothing else this year.
Speaker 1: That's right here to listen. I think I swear if
Speaker 1: I could, you know what, Russell Westbrook might be my
Speaker 1: leading candidate for six man in the year at that listen, man,
Speaker 1: you see this come with the bench and do what
Speaker 1: he does and the role that he has accepted. We
Speaker 1: talked about his ego, we talked about his stubbornness, We
Speaker 1: lamented all of these things. We never dream he would
Speaker 1: do this, and look what he's doing, his phenomenal and
Speaker 1: and and Lebron just speaks for Lebron sea, I'm done.
Speaker 1: I'm done. Lebron is so great. I ain't giving him
Speaker 1: no hedge over Jordan. Now, I ain't doing that. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm not doing that. But Lebron is so great. I
Speaker 1: almost think it's it's it's it's damn Blastphemy to be
Speaker 1: talking about him doing the regular season. He's like he's
Speaker 1: like turned the right to have a discussion about him
Speaker 1: at Avil because there's so many things he's done. From
Speaker 1: I told with to Apo, it's just it's just the truth.
Speaker 1: It's just the truth and step is on that level
Speaker 1: to step cry yes he is, Yes he is. Steph
Speaker 1: has definitely reached that level. I think it's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 1: This is a great segue. Before we get out of here,
Speaker 1: I just want to ask you a few basketball questions.
Speaker 1: So obviously, like I said everyone to, everybody will here
Speaker 1: this next week. But today the first returns for the
Speaker 1: All Star balloting voting came out, and uh, Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: is not starting. What do you make of Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: not started being a starter initially and All Star? That's insane.
Speaker 1: Who would you remove out of the three guys that's
Speaker 1: in front of him? Who do we have? We've got you, honest,
Speaker 1: We've got A and and k D. I would are
Speaker 1: you ready for this? I'm ready for this. I think
Speaker 1: I need to hear this one. I would have to
Speaker 1: remove k D and and let me And I'm saying
Speaker 1: a lot for me because I think when Katie's help,
Speaker 1: he's the best on the planet. And I think he's
Speaker 1: the leading candidate for m v P. Here's why I
Speaker 1: would remove him. I can't remove Joel and b because
Speaker 1: they're in the center on the planet. As far as
Speaker 1: i'm concerned better than him, not particularly he's the conference.
Speaker 1: I can't remove Janice because that's your power forward, who,
Speaker 1: by the way, as a champion and a two time
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year and the balling our averaging
Speaker 1: forty seven and seventeen over the last six three to
Speaker 1: six games or something, right, I can't do that. Here's
Speaker 1: where I can pick Tatum over k D similar stats,
Speaker 1: but at a better record. And by the way, the
Speaker 1: last time we saw y'all two against each other, Tatum sweat.
Speaker 1: That's why m hmm, that's why I want to hold kyree.
Speaker 1: Thing played into that. I know I said it, but
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we'll listen. What have I said when you
Speaker 1: and I have had conversations, What have I said to you?
Speaker 1: Drest I said, excuse me, um, I ain't expected no
Speaker 1: damn points from you as good when you give me points.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the rebounds and assist I'm looking at
Speaker 1: your defensive prowess. But more importantly, I'm looking at your leadership.
Speaker 1: M In other words, when the leadership at thing, when
Speaker 1: things run a rock, I'm looking at you because you're
Speaker 1: that guy that galvanizes them. You're the guy that allows
Speaker 1: Step to be Step because Step don't have to be
Speaker 1: preoccupied with a bunch of stuff, and Clay don't have
Speaker 1: to be reoccupied with a bunch of stuff. That's what
Speaker 1: you do, right, So if you're not doing that, then
Speaker 1: that's problematic. When I look at the Brooklyn nets, I
Speaker 1: love Katie, I love him as a player and a person.
Speaker 1: I love Katy, and I love Mama Durant as well.
Speaker 1: You got swept and the distractions that no longer exists
Speaker 1: for not right now. Give them credit what credit is due,
Speaker 1: but the distractions and everything else, all of that happened
Speaker 1: on your watch. Yeah, so I gotta hold you accountable
Speaker 1: for that if I gotta pick between you and Tatum
Speaker 1: right now. But here's a question, though, there's a question,
Speaker 1: and Kevin has said this himself. Everyone expects Kevin to
Speaker 1: be this this big leader in the sense of like
Speaker 1: like he if I remember correctly, I don't want to
Speaker 1: misquote him, but I think he said in Rolling Stone,
Speaker 1: I am not good at saying hey, everybody, come on,
Speaker 1: follow me. That's never been who I am in my life.
Speaker 1: So why does that have to be so synonymous with
Speaker 1: who he is? As a basketball player, because everybody's just
Speaker 1: not a natural born leader. And again, I'm not taking
Speaker 1: those shot at k but he himself has said, that's
Speaker 1: not kind of my strong shoot. Why is his basketball
Speaker 1: game judge based off of that? And he himself has said,
Speaker 1: it's not like I'm not strong there. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna challenge you on that, because I don't you're
Speaker 1: not accurate because he's a league MVP and League VP
Speaker 1: and a two time champion, so clearly and the finals
Speaker 1: MVP twice and we'll deserved and y'all would have three
Speaker 1: p You have swept Toronto. Get me started with that.
Speaker 1: You took a mask, Okay because of k D? All
Speaker 1: right with the rest of the group. What I am
Speaker 1: saying is way I'm challenging gu is that he wanted
Speaker 1: to lead it in. Nobody blamed him for it. We
Speaker 1: still praise them, we still recognize the greatness. We're recognizing
Speaker 1: the greatness now. But you asked why Tatum instead of him?
Speaker 1: That's entirely different than not appreciate the greatness of k D.
Speaker 1: We know he's great, we know he's phenomenal, we know
Speaker 1: he's unmatchable. You can't guard him the Brothers on another
Speaker 1: level and he's the league MVP candidate. But right now,
Speaker 1: halfway through this season, the consistent team has been the
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the Boston Celtics, and
Speaker 1: this does the fight of their drama. He man, you
Speaker 1: dope and all of that. Who it is that all
Speaker 1: of that comes into play. And if you have to
Speaker 1: choose between k D and Tatum for the starter's nod,
Speaker 1: that's where that would come from. That's not throwing shade
Speaker 1: on k D. It's simply pointing out that's what it is. It. No,
Speaker 1: by the way, I understand, you might not be that dude,
Speaker 1: fair enough, there's a lot I might not be. There's
Speaker 1: a lot that you might not be. But when it's
Speaker 1: costing us the chick, whatever our definition of the chip,
Speaker 1: well of a sudden, you gotta modify. You can't be
Speaker 1: married to what you eat and don't even try to
Speaker 1: beat something more just because that's not you. You gotta try,
Speaker 1: you gotta keep pushing, and that's what I would challenge
Speaker 1: k D to do. And that's throwing the jade on
Speaker 1: them because I got mad love and respect to Katy.
Speaker 1: You know that, absolutely, I respect that and if I'm
Speaker 1: being honest, by the way, I'm not making an argument
Speaker 1: against j T, because if I'm being honest with you,
Speaker 1: I think j T is probably top two, maybe three,
Speaker 1: and m v P voting no Lord and three a
Speaker 1: week ago. One. Yeah, and like he's definitely so he's
Speaker 1: definitely should be a starter, I think with and we'll
Speaker 1: see how it plays out, Like none of us know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna play out yet. Well, I think we'll
Speaker 1: see that over the next few weeks of how it
Speaker 1: actually plays out. But I think that's a that's a
Speaker 1: very interesting take on no especially after the first road
Speaker 1: and return Katie come back the leader. I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone's going to expect or would have expected that. You
Speaker 1: would have said Katie would be the one to get
Speaker 1: stuffed out. Nobody would have because I believe with when
Speaker 1: Katie healthy, he's the best on the planet. But I'm
Speaker 1: talking about this year and the conditions spaced by both
Speaker 1: of them this year. Until two weeks ago to three
Speaker 1: weeks ago, the Nets were struggling to be a father
Speaker 1: of the team. Yeah, that's a fact. Jason Tatum and
Speaker 1: Boten has been more consistent. That's a fact. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: agree with that. Hey man, that's a that's a tough one.
Speaker 1: But before we get out of here, um a couple
Speaker 1: more questions. Number one is all said and done with
Speaker 1: forty two almost halfway through the see reason once we
Speaker 1: get to the end, who do you think ultimately and now?
Speaker 1: And answering this question you have to take into account,
Speaker 1: still gotta half a season ago. You have to take
Speaker 1: into account, injuries could possibly happen, Whose injury pro who
Speaker 1: hasn't made How to take all these things into account?
Speaker 1: Who do you think is going to walk with the
Speaker 1: m v P Award at the end of the year
Speaker 1: when it's all setting down. I want to say Tatum,
Speaker 1: But I witnessed the drop off and I'm seeing the
Speaker 1: elevation of Janice. M hmm. I don't know how he's
Speaker 1: going to be stopped. Johannese is a special breed, and
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about his ability. He wants it. He
Speaker 1: wants it all. He wants it all. He wants it all.
Speaker 1: He's not playing the nights off that K D and
Speaker 1: JT may attention to make unintentionally or occasionally take even
Speaker 1: a Joel and B. That ain't you honest? Joannice might
Speaker 1: have a bad shooting Knight. That is not all but
Speaker 1: the energy, the tenacity, the once it factor that's with
Speaker 1: him and Middleton's questionable Hell, put's yo honest in a
Speaker 1: position where Janice is like, give me the ball, man,
Speaker 1: I gotta take over because Middleton's missing one game, Drew
Speaker 1: Holidays missing another man. He's on the court last night
Speaker 1: with the grace and Allen's of the world and Carter's
Speaker 1: of the world, and people in West Matthews won't be
Speaker 1: like and he is destroying people. That is going to
Speaker 1: be hard to agnew. I would tell you Tatum still
Speaker 1: got a shot, but Tatum has to return to being
Speaker 1: what he was a couple of weeks ago, and there
Speaker 1: can be no drop off. Otherwise Janice is gonna get
Speaker 1: the nod and taking it to the end of the year.
Speaker 1: Who do you got in the finals? The start of
Speaker 1: the season had y'all to go to State Warriors versus
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Nets. Um My prediction, I don't think it's
Speaker 1: looking that bad right now. See, I'm not worried about
Speaker 1: you all the way everybody else sits. And to my
Speaker 1: attitude is if you can win at home, you'll figure
Speaker 1: out how to win on the row, but that damn
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson. And I say that, damn Clay Thompson because
Speaker 1: you know I love me some Klay Thompson. I think
Speaker 1: Claytoms one of the top five shooters in the history
Speaker 1: of basketball. And this brother, you know, all of these
Speaker 1: that not over the last three games average with twenty five.
Speaker 1: He looks like the Clay I know at LVE. I
Speaker 1: don't know what the hell was going on within the
Speaker 1: previous seventeen eighteen games. I'm like, what the hell is up?
Speaker 1: You know, Jordan Pool, I believe in him. I expected
Speaker 1: more from Wiseman. I expected more from Commanda and Moody.
Speaker 1: Um the fact that those are question marks. I think
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies deserve the nod over y'all right now.
Speaker 1: And I'm not sleeping on the Pelicans, but I say
Speaker 1: that with this caveat, if Clay Thompson and Steph Kirry
Speaker 1: get gun, I don't give a damn who goes up
Speaker 1: against y'all. Y'all taking them out, y'all taking them out,
Speaker 1: and and and and Boston is the most complete team
Speaker 1: that a better team I think Brooklyn would beat Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: I don't know. If they beat Boston, they gotta get
Speaker 1: a big body to deal with the likes of the
Speaker 1: Robert Williams of the world. They gotta get a big body.
Speaker 1: But hey, d Kyrie should even want to not be
Speaker 1: Seth Curry. I mean, Patty Mills. These brothers are marksman.
Speaker 1: And I'll go as far as to say this, I
Speaker 1: think y'all at y'all best as marksman. I think the
Speaker 1: only team that would have a shot to beat y'all
Speaker 1: at your best is a Brooklyn Nette's team at their
Speaker 1: best because they can shoot two. It will take that
Speaker 1: in order to knock y'all off. I would tell you
Speaker 1: Boston and Memphis deserved the nod today, but I'm holding
Speaker 1: off the deal life to my preseason prediction, you all
Speaker 1: versus the Brooklyn Nets. I think that's I think that's
Speaker 1: a strong preseason. But you think Memphis is ready? You
Speaker 1: think Memphis is ready to take that jump to them?
Speaker 1: Are you ready for this? I think Memphis. I think
Speaker 1: Memphis is ready, and I think it's your fault. Why
Speaker 1: is it my funt? Because you know you're whooping it
Speaker 1: up with the crowd and Memphis you get up going
Speaker 1: and you stand what I'm saying, you got that going.
Speaker 1: You know, Josh, your boy, but you like talking to him.
Speaker 1: Y'all like talking back for because they like talking. They like.
Speaker 1: Throughout my life of covering sports, the one thing I've
Speaker 1: always paid attention to are those truly knocking at the door.
Speaker 1: M hm, Memphis is knocking that door. Now. I know
Speaker 1: there's a part of y'all that believe Job getting hurt
Speaker 1: it was she. It was more difficult of an adjustment
Speaker 1: for yall because y'all know what they were gonna throw
Speaker 1: at you once y'all got hurt, which is why they
Speaker 1: blew y'all out and Game five before y'all game in
Speaker 1: won Game six and end of the series. But Job
Speaker 1: is something to behold. And by the way, I want
Speaker 1: to throw him in the m v P conversation as well,
Speaker 1: because he deserves to be in there. And I'm here
Speaker 1: to tell you something right now, This brother John Moran,
Speaker 1: if he's healthy and he's going against y'all and they
Speaker 1: got home court advantage and you got a game seven
Speaker 1: in Memphis, right, that's a tall cat. That's a tall task.
Speaker 1: And yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree, But I'm just
Speaker 1: saying I'm not sleeping on them. Bro, I'm not sleeping
Speaker 1: on them. They are Memphis, and they can shoot. They've
Speaker 1: got athletes. They ain't scared, They're aggressive. They go forward.
Speaker 1: They go forward. See New Orleans to me is the
Speaker 1: new Memphis. Memphis is knocking at the door. They're tipping
Speaker 1: at y'all heels. So I'll tell you how I see that,
Speaker 1: because I think Memphis is knocking at the door as well.
Speaker 1: Um and I and and I think, uh, I think
Speaker 1: there are to be reckoned with. Like I don't look
Speaker 1: at them and be like that's nothing, Like, No, we
Speaker 1: we gotta deal with them. I know that we will
Speaker 1: deal with them, but we have to deal with them.
Speaker 1: But the thing that that Memphis the problem that they're
Speaker 1: gonna have. And I'm gonna say this because it's my
Speaker 1: little brother and I say it to him every time
Speaker 1: I see him, Jared gotta stop following. They can't. They
Speaker 1: cannot compete in the playoffs series, especially with us. If
Speaker 1: Jaron does not stop folloing. Jared can't end up in
Speaker 1: File Trouble five of the six games and he has
Speaker 1: to be on the floor because there was gonna be times.
Speaker 1: Steven Adams, who who's incredible, plays his role better than
Speaker 1: anybody in the NBA. There's going to be times, just
Speaker 1: in this NBA where you have to take Steven Adams
Speaker 1: off the floor. It's just gonna happen to watch ups
Speaker 1: Steph Curry get going on the screening roll and you're like, ah,
Speaker 1: we gotta get big Steve Oh out right. The person
Speaker 1: who may be able to defend that and is Jared,
Speaker 1: but he's always in file trouble. Number one, you can't
Speaker 1: play aggressive, and number two, you can't play at all.
Speaker 1: You you're on the bench because you're always in fil trouble.
Speaker 1: So I think the key to them really being able
Speaker 1: to compete at that level it's actually not Joh. Like
Speaker 1: we know who Jill is, we know what y'all gonna do.
Speaker 1: And like you said, quite frankly, if we had that
Speaker 1: team figured out last series, if John didn't get hurt,
Speaker 1: I think we beat them. And I know we beat
Speaker 1: them in five because they was figured out, no problem.
Speaker 1: But the key is not jaw Jos, j'ab jobs. That's
Speaker 1: like saying the key to the Warriors winning it's Steph Curry. No,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry is not the key. We know we're gonna
Speaker 1: get from Steph Curry. Now, Steph Curry has to be
Speaker 1: Steph Curry and John Morene has to be John Morent.
Speaker 1: But the key to making it all happen and like
Speaker 1: to giving them a jitimate chance to compete, it's Jaren Jackson.
Speaker 1: If Jared can stop filing, then they can really contend.
Speaker 1: But if Jared can't stop filing, Jarre's your second best
Speaker 1: player on that team. If your second best player can't
Speaker 1: stay on the floor, they're not gonna be able to win.
Speaker 1: So that's my challenge to them. That's my challenge to
Speaker 1: my little bro, my spartan dog, Jared. He has to
Speaker 1: stop filing. Going to have a chance to win, no disagreement.
Speaker 1: I have no disagree with that, but I think he will.
Speaker 1: I don't know, Jared, You're also gonna hear this. I
Speaker 1: caused I called. I caused us a championship with the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. I stand on that. I'm gonna live
Speaker 1: with that for the rest of my life. Jared cast
Speaker 1: us a national championship at Michigan State because he couldn't
Speaker 1: stay out of foul trouble. You can't keep having the
Speaker 1: same problems. Six years later, you're pro on the verge
Speaker 1: of being an all star, win healthy, you can't keep following.
Speaker 1: So that's just my challenge to Jared, and I hope
Speaker 1: to see that from him because like I love that competition,
Speaker 1: Like see young guys not gonna have to don't. Let's
Speaker 1: get it. So I love that. But man, I've held
Speaker 1: you for hour and fifteen minutes. I know you're the
Speaker 1: businessman show based last my last question before we get
Speaker 1: out here, what is some advice that you would give
Speaker 1: to your younger self about this business or in this business,
Speaker 1: or just about life and your career. Appreciate what you
Speaker 1: accomplish along the way, um, because there's always going to
Speaker 1: come a point in time when you have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to reflect on what you've accomplished, and you're one of them,
Speaker 1: you're gonna want others to have the same reflection that
Speaker 1: you had. But because you waited so long to truly
Speaker 1: appreciate it, just internally in the prophecy of your own
Speaker 1: mind and thoughts and it really lavishing it, it passage
Speaker 1: you by and then you feel like there's this itch
Speaker 1: that you constantly have to scratch because when it was scratched,
Speaker 1: you didn't appreciate it, you ignored it. You gotta make
Speaker 1: sure you don't do that. You gotta make sure that
Speaker 1: you understand Tomorrow's and guarantee to any of us. We
Speaker 1: just learned, thank God, that Handlets survived, but my God
Speaker 1: were scared that he wouldn't and he was twenty four
Speaker 1: years old. The one thing we seem to forget or
Speaker 1: take for granted as human beings is that you know,
Speaker 1: God doesn't promise us tomorrow, never did none of us,
Speaker 1: and we walk around like tomorrow's guarantee. We gotta get
Speaker 1: beyond that because when you do, then you'll appreciate it
Speaker 1: today's more. And if you appreciate it today is more,
Speaker 1: then you'll appreciate everybody that you've been around today and
Speaker 1: you'll celebrate them more than you'll do anything else. The
Speaker 1: truly truly happy people in the world, take, for example,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry. Look at his wife, look at his family,
Speaker 1: look at the stuff that he chooses to do and
Speaker 1: doesn't do. You never look at Steph Curry and see
Speaker 1: a guy that you think is missr Ever Ever, I've
Speaker 1: never seen it, because he's lived his life in a
Speaker 1: way that doesn't for him and the people around him,
Speaker 1: and so by virtue of the people being around him
Speaker 1: seeing all of that, they're usually happy because they're with him.
Speaker 1: That's the kind of effect that he has. And I
Speaker 1: think that when you look at guys, the great guys
Speaker 1: like Lebron and so many others that we see in
Speaker 1: this game and throughout the world of professional sports, look
Speaker 1: at their family and loved place, look at what they
Speaker 1: surround themselves with, look at the support base that they had.
Speaker 1: They're happy. They're good for the most part. Nobody's perfect
Speaker 1: and vite flawless. Everybody has bad moments, but for the
Speaker 1: most part, they're living a good life. It ain't because
Speaker 1: of riches and fame and wealth and money is success.
Speaker 1: It's because they surrounded themselves with the right people and
Speaker 1: they know how to enjoy everything they had. And that's
Speaker 1: the key. That's a fact. Man. I appreciate that. I
Speaker 1: think that's one thing, uh we all can learn from.
Speaker 1: I think that's one thing we all have to take
Speaker 1: into consideration. You know, you get it. You get in
Speaker 1: these moments sometimes and you forget to live in them.
Speaker 1: You know. It's one like I always when I go
Speaker 1: to concerts, one thing I hate to see is somebody
Speaker 1: who's recording the concert the whole time on their phone
Speaker 1: and they're looking at the concert through their phone, and
Speaker 1: it's like, Hey, you're actually missing the moment. You know
Speaker 1: you're missing, Like you're gonna go back and be able
Speaker 1: to watch all this on your phone and realize I
Speaker 1: didn't even get a chance to watch this in person
Speaker 1: because I was so busy trying to show everybody else
Speaker 1: where I was and what I was doing, as opposed
Speaker 1: to being in that moment. So I think that's something
Speaker 1: we all can learn from stephen A. My brother, I
Speaker 1: can't thank you enough for your time, but like I
Speaker 1: said at the top of the show, your mentorship, your brotherhood,
Speaker 1: and what you've given to sports as a whole, not basketball,
Speaker 1: just sports and entertainment as a whole. Future Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: if not in Hall of Fames already the goat. Like
Speaker 1: I said, my brother, I can't thank you enough. I
Speaker 1: appreciate you, bro, much love, always, much love to you. Man.
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work. Man, Go there and hand
Speaker 1: to your business and get another championship for the Warriors.
Speaker 1: You know I'm always here you whatever you need. Man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Yes, sir, We're gonna do that much
Speaker 1: love bro, all right,