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Twenty one plus age varies by jurisdiction, void 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.400 in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:29.080 hours after issuance. See dkang dot com slash bball for 0:01:29.400 --> 0:01:37.480 eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.240 What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show, Snana. 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:46.479 It's always honored to have a guest, but win. 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:51.440 When you have a Hall of Famer NBA champion, one 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.800 of the goats, you can't help but be thankful and 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:55.360 be honored. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.520 And today I have the honor of being joined by two. 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.880 Time NBA Champion NBA Finals MVP in nineteen ninety, the 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.440 year I was born. Such a great year, incredible year, 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:11.480 nineteen ninety baby, twelve time NBA All Star, three time 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.280 All NBA First Team, two time All NBA Second Team, 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:20.200 and his number eleven is retired by my hometown, my 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:25.280 home state, I should say, Detroit Pistons, Isaiah Thomas, d 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.280 Isaiah Thomas zeke to go. 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.239 Welcome to the Draymond Green Show, my friend. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:32.880 Thank you, and it is an honor to be here. 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:38.600 Awarded shirt just to represent us and we represent for 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:42.880 the state of Michigan and appreciate you and thank you 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.400 for inviting me on your show and proud to be 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:51.280 here with you are your talent, your executives, and mom 0:02:51.320 --> 0:02:55.040 who stepped in in the background earlier right on New. 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.800 Media, Yes sir, new Media baby. 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.560 By the way, for those of y'all out there listening interview, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.080 my mom just stepped to hoped on here for a 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.160 second before we started. Zeke is my mom's favorite player, 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:10.280 obviously growing up in Saginaw, Michigan. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.320 Her teams the Detroit Pistons. 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.399 Growing up, Zeke comes and brings us hope, him, Joe Dumars, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:17.280 the bad boys. 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:17.760 They come. 0:03:17.800 --> 0:03:21.959 They bring two championships to the state and my mom 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.200 ever since I can remember, you know, everybody grow up 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:27.560 talking about who their favorite player is. Ever since I 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.880 could remember, my mom talked about Isaiah Thomas. 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.200 So this this is huge, This is this is big 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:33.480 for me. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.120 But before just getting into it, man, how long have 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.400 you been working in the NBA. Because you've obviously been 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:45.680 a player, you have obviously done TV as you're doing now, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:49.120 you've been front office, you've been a coach. How long 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:53.560 has it been that you've been working in the NBA ron. 0:03:53.640 --> 0:04:00.480 That's a great question, you know, I I was nineteen 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:03.240 when I came in, and actually I played my first 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:09.560 games I was twenty, so like maybe forty three years. 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:14.440 You know, I'm basket you know, rather playing front office, 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.960 own and managing TV. I've been a part of the NBA. 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:23.200 I'm on my third commissioner now. I started with Larry 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.120 O'Brien and you're familiar with the Larry O'Brien trophy, and 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:30.640 I went to David Stern now Adam Silver. So I've 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.880 seen a lot and being a former president of the Union, 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.120 so I've I've been around a long time. And not 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:40.200 only have I been around a long time, but I've 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.040 seen the growth and the changes that have occurred. And 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.839 I would encourage you and all of the young fellas 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:54.440 are who are coming out. You know, basketball, this career, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.640 it can last a long time. It doesn't end when 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.599 you stop playing. Now, your second career starts and you're 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.400 on you know you're doing that now. You know you're 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:09.320 you're being basketball forty fifty years and that's the goal, 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:11.719 you know, that's the goal for all of us. You know, 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:16.680 not to play and then lead, but play, stay and 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.320 extend and give the knowledge on to the next. 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:22.960 Generation being that you've seen. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:24.919 And number one, I thank you for that advice. 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:25.240 Uh. 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.600 You know, like you said, obviously, I want to set 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:29.440 up my path so that I can be a part 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:32.479 of this league for a long time. You know, the 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.760 NBA has done such an incredible job. I think of 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:40.120 creating these different avenues that we as players who obviously 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.159 do our part in growing this game. And I think 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:46.320 it's a beautiful thing when you have these different avenues 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.040 that we can continue in when we're done playing. Because 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.040 the reality is, you know, for a lot of us, 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.279 all you know initially is the NBA. You know, you 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.800 come out of college, you come into the NBA, and 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:00.839 that's all you know. And when you get out of that, 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.760 so many guys struggle because you don't know anything else. 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:07.800 You don't know And I say air quotes, you don't 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.200 know the real world, you know. I always say, like 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.960 we do like real work and we have real responsibilities. 0:06:15.000 --> 0:06:18.479 But the NBA always says a fantasy land, like you 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.279 get to play basketball every day, you get to hang 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.920 around great people. It's not always that way. I've been 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:27.720 fortunate enough to be on one NBA team, but the 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.280 you know, the travel, the hotels, all of these different things, 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.080 they are greater. And so I always say like it's 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.680 a fantasy land for us. So, you know, just to 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.800 your point of staying in this, I think that's an 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:38.520 incredible thing. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:39.200 Yeah. 0:06:39.200 --> 0:06:42.240 Absolutely. And and I got some I got some good 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.520 advice at a very young age. And it actually came 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.479 from Kareem Abdul Jabbar. It was, you know, our first 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:54.560 All Star game and he was sitting there reading a 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:59.400 book and nobody you know, was coming up speaking to 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.520 him or anything. And you know me, I'm I mean, 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:06.920 you know me, right, I'm like, hey, So I wound 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.479 up to it and I just you know, trying to 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.720 gain some knowledge, you know. I said, if you can 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.360 give me any advice you know, coming into this, you 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.040 know NBA, you know career that I'm getting ready to start, 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.720 what advice would you give me? And I still hold 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.600 on to it today. He said, as best you can, 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:30.200 try to stay normal, wash your own clothes, iron your clothes, still, 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.800 do the dishes, still take out trash, you know, do 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:38.040 do the things that normal regular people in society do. 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.640 Because as you just explained, Draymond. It's a fantasy world. 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:46.160 It's a fantasy land in NBA. And when you come out, right, 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.760 you ain't gonna be on the private plane all the time. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.120 You may have to go to the airport. You know, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:52.920 you may have to stand in line, You're gonna have 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.120 to get your bags out of baggage claim and everything 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.920 everything that regular people do, right, that's what you should 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.000 keep trying to do. And and the second thing I 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:05.880 would say along that journey what I figured out, you know, 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:09.080 And I think the reason why you know, your mom 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.680 would say I'm a favorite player, not because of what 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.520 I did on the basketball court, but what I did 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.600 off the court, just by showing up in the neighborhood, 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.760 just by talking to people, just by being regular, right, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:25.320 you know, being an AWFU person, Uh that that carries 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:27.880 a lot of weight. And the thing that you can do, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.360 you know, I would say, for yourself and for others 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:37.000 who are listening, former players, current players, hey man, just 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:41.360 just to try to stay amongst the people, not above 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:44.880 the people. Always be one who are amongst the people 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:46.360 and never above. 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:48.839 Man. That's wonderful. 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.280 Coming from the West Side of Chicago and then getting 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.440 drafted to the Detroit Pistons. Uh do you do you 0:08:57.520 --> 0:08:59.840 think that kind of helped your transition in the sense 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.400 of Detroit being a similar type of city at Chicago 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.880 and you know, the people being similar, you know, just 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.920 kind of having that that that's that feel of being 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:13.360 at home when you got. 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:14.160 To the city of Detroit. 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.080 You know, I'm you know, I'm like you in a 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:21.360 lot of ways. We were raised very similar. You know, 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.160 we didn't we didn't travel outside of our state. We 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.800 didn't have no money to do it. So, uh, you know, 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:30.800 when I first got to Detroit, I knew nobody, and 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.040 but my mom, just like your mom, had made some 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.520 phone calls and it was like, hey, they keep my 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.319 son when she when he when he gets there. And 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.880 one of the people that she called that I had 0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.439 no idea that she even had this type of cloud. Right, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.200 she called Mayor Coleman Young and said, when my son 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.160 gets there, I want you to look out for him. 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.560 So when I get to Detroit, I get a welcome 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.840 back from from the mayor, you know, from Coleman, and 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.640 then you know, he he introduced you know, a Rita 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.480 and everyone. So I always felt and I still feel 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:11.280 like this today that I feel like in Michigan, I'm 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.960 everybody's cousin, brother, brother. I feel like I'm a family 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.560 member of everybody, like, and everybody treats me that way. 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.320 I go back home to Michigan and you know, it's like, hey, 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.079 I try to check out at the hotel. They say, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.000 you don't have to pay. I try to. I try 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:33.840 to buy some food in the restaurant. Manager come out 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:37.000 say no, that's a me. So it's being from the 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.600 West Side of Chicago, but then coming to Detroit and 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.720 feeling in love and being embraced by everybody in Detroit, 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.839 and still today it is. It is no place on 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.400 earth that I get treated better than than when I'm 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:52.960 in Detroit. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:59.640 Man, that's so incredible. That's so incredible. You a lot 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:05.400 like myself. I've had the so far had the pleasure 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:11.040 and honor of being with one team like yourself. And 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:15.160 obviously I'm still playing, but you know, our ownership group 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:19.120 has been absolutely amazing. Like I couldn't have asked to 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:22.120 play for a team with a better ownership group. And 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.880 since you've been a Detroit Piston, that's changed. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:28.000 How have you how? 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:32.000 How how is the reception and like you're treated how 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:33.520 you're treated by franchises. 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:36.239 Is that the same? Is it different from. 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.520 You know, the owner being who was the owner when 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.240 you were playing there, Bill Davison and now the owner 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.720 being timed girls Like, it's that same olive branch still 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.880 extended to you the way it was when the previous 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:49.640 owner was there. 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.880 So the olive branch is extended as a as a guest. 0:11:56.200 --> 0:12:02.440 You're always welcome as a guest. But I'm not. I'm 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:06.480 not inside the organization, right and and it's okay because 0:12:06.520 --> 0:12:09.240 they have work, they have managers, and they have to 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:14.760 do their thing. But from from a knowledge standpoint, what 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:19.720 I what I think a lot of organizations miss, which 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.200 now that I'm in corporate America, they never miss. They 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.880 never let knowledge and brains walk out of the door, 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:34.199 right they they have advised us, consultants, board members, everything else. 0:12:34.720 --> 0:12:39.559 That historical institutional knowledge never gets to walk out of 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.120 the door. What happens in the NBA for former players, 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.440 that knowledge base, it gets to walk out of the 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:52.560 door and it goes someplace else. And uh, that's the 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.880 That's the one thing that I think like owners do 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:00.559 miss in this space. They don't recognize that the instruitutional 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.640 knowledge that has been built up over years, and they 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.440 let it walk out of the door. Now case in point, 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:14.320 Joe Dumars leaves the floor. I left the floor, and 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.920 I was the first owner, part owner of a team 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.360 to Toronto Raptors that started in Toronto, first international team. 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.319 So I left the floor transition right into management, right 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:32.440 into ownership of an expansion. Joe Dumars leaves the floor 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:37.320 with that same Detroit Pistons institutional knowledge and he goes 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:43.040 into the front office and they win a championship, you know, 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:48.120 with with Ben Wallace, Chauncey Ripped, you know, Rashid that group, 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.679 and so they kept mister d kept that institutional knowledge inside. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.199 New owners they come in and everybody wants to make 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.680 a splash and they wants to, you know, input, imprint 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.480 their own name on the team. So they always bring 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.640 in new people. Well, when you bring in new people, 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:09.360 it takes you know, you lose twenty thirty years of 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:13.920 institutional knowledge that walks out of the door. Most corporations 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.839 don't do that. 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:18.520 That's interesting. 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:20.880 I didn't even think about it from that perspective, but 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:26.960 I think that's a great perspective because you're right when 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.080 I look at some company, it's like, Okay, this guy 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.800 is the CEO. Now he's the chairman. You know, so 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.600 you know Phil Knight, for instance, we'll go Phil Night, right, 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.080 like Fiel Phil Knight, founder of Nike, was the CEO 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:43.080 for so many years. Then he became the chairman of Nike. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.640 And so you're still sitting in the board meetings. Maybe 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:49.760 you're not making the final call. Although if you're still 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.280 sitting there, you have some say in the final call, 0:14:52.800 --> 0:14:55.320 and you're not trying to replace all those things. And 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.800 I think that's a brilliant thing that more NBA teams 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:01.880 need to need to star are taking into account, especially 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.240 with this younger generation of guys that's coming in, because 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.880 they come in, you know a lot of these young guys, 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.320 they come in not being fans of the NBA. You know, 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.000 like when we came up and I sound like I'm 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.000 way older than I am, but you know, when we 0:15:17.000 --> 0:15:19.960 were coming like, we were huge fans of the NBA, 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.880 you know, like a huge fans of this player. You 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:25.760 knew who that player was. You know, we have some 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.160 of these young guys now don't. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.560 Know who World be Free is. We say, World be 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:31.600 Free they're like, who. 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.120 We had a young guy a few weeks ago and 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:36.320 Chris Paul was talking about world be Free and he 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:38.160 like world what is that? 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.120 And CP started telling him about world be Free? 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:44.960 And he comes back like, yo, he averaged this amount 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.320 of points, like this is crazy. But they don't know 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.920 that these days. And I think that that's obviously just 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.040 a small part of it. 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:55.320 Right, that's a small part of it, but that's a 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.920 huge part of it. And now I'll take you back 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:04.200 to the Union, right because as a as a former 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:07.800 president of a union and now a past president, but 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:12.080 we always try to ensure is that you know the 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:17.160 next man up at institutional knowledge and then your generation 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.320 changed that a little bit. Right. But when you look 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.920 over across the across the aisle at the NBA, I 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:30.240 mentioned Larry O'Brien, underneath him was David Stern who took over, 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:38.640 and then underneath David Stern who took over. So they 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.760 never let that knowledge walk out of the door, whereas 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:46.480 in the Union we always let this guy come out. 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:49.480 We'll get a search committee to find that has the 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.720 NBA ever had has the has the owners ever had 0:16:52.760 --> 0:17:04.000 a search committy? Sorry, but it's like we we we 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:07.760 constantly let it walk out of the door. And you know, 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:11.160 there's an old African proverb that says, each one teach 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:16.639 one and we don't teach. We don't, we don't pass 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.280 on the knowledge to each other. As a matter of fact, 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:25.600 we get separated. And the the okay, I'm gonna call 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:30.480 you new media, but old media, right was was was 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:34.159 a lot about pitting us against each other, making us, 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.240 making us not like each other, making us not communicate 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.800 because then it was best for the audience that they 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:46.720 were serving. But new media coming along, insiders who have 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:51.960 like yourself, you know, who like you know, Matt Barns 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:55.840 and and that crew, I mean y'all making everybody now 0:17:55.960 --> 0:18:00.159 communicate and talk. And because we're communicating and talking and 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:03.879 guess what we're doing, we're teaching and with spreading knowledge. 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.720 And that young fellow who just found out about world 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:12.760 be free. Right, that's not nobody else's fault except ours, 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.000 because we're not talking to each other. They make us, 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.879 you know, don't like each other for some other reason. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:24.000 But I agree facts, I agree one hundred percent. I 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.840 remember when I first came into the league, maybe like 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.280 my second year in the league, I want to say, 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.320 could have possibly been now, I'd say my second year, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:36.680 at least the summer going into my second year, we 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:40.280 were going through the search committee. We were about to 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:45.040 replace at the time Billy Hunter as the NFL, NBA 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:53.679 PA executive what is it, executive president, executive executive directed. 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.760 And I remember you were in the room and you 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.520 were in a sense trying to go for the job. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.840 And if I if my brain, if I can jog 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.720 my brain correctly, it wasn't taken very seriously at all. 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.000 It was almost like guys were fighting against it, if 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.640 I remember correctly, Uh, did. 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.480 You kind of get that sense when you were trying 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:19.560 to do that? And what's that? 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.040 The reasoning behind it is what you're speaking to now 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.480 is about that knowledge and being able to pass that 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:29.160 knowledge down, being through three commissioners and kind of understanding 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:29.960 the layer of the land. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.480 Yeah, you've kind of righted the ship now because you 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:38.560 got Andree running your reunion. So now now you got 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.280 a chance to course correct. So that day you're talking about, 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:51.000 if you remember myself, Spencer Haywood and I'm not sure 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.920 if Oscar Oscar Robertson came that day, but we were 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.040 we were all trying to meet with y'all just to say, hey, 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.959 here's a history lesson that you need to be aware 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:06.320 of before you, before you, you know, go down this track. 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:11.040 Let us tell you where where, where we've been so 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:13.680 you can make the correct decision, or at least involve 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.439 us in decision making. And I'll never forget David West 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:22.200 in that meeting, Love love what he do? You remember him. 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:26.880 Groop economic roof economics, economy group economics. 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.119 Absolutely, yes, so much so. 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:33.560 About fifteen minutes into it, he kept saying that they 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:34.199 were ignoring him. 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:35.800 D West got up and walked out. 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:43.200 Yes, and and and what what happened that day? 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:43.760 Did I? 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.640 Did I get upset? No? I didn't get upset because 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:52.000 I understand the game that they play with y'all, and 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:55.879 my goal and my job has always been, is to 0:20:55.960 --> 0:20:59.800 inform and give you the knowledge right. And people on 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.760 the outside they get mad at me, and they spread 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:05.840 a lot of rumors or stories about me, and they 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:08.560 don't want y'all talking to me because they're like, well, 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:10.680 he gonna he gonna tell you this, he gonna tell 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:14.000 you that. Don't believe this, don't believe that. And before 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:18.040 you know it, you've got disconnected from the information. And 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.280 because you get disconnected from the information, they can take 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:25.359 advantage of some of you, not all of you. But 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.320 as you know, we got some players who are still 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:31.280 getting taken advantage of. And my goal as a as 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:35.240 a former president was always spread the knowledge and to 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:39.400 give information. And you're you should ask the guy who 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:43.280 represents you how he got into the business. 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:46.400 I know y'all got that connection. 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:51.199 And Andres from Springfield for Chicago, I definitely, I definitely 0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:53.000 know a relationship. 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:54.200 Oh Rich Paul. 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.359 Ask him one day to tell you the story of 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:01.560 how he into the business. 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:05.679 Okay, all right, I'm gonna have to come back to y'all, 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.320 Draymond Green show listeners with this one. 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:10.560 I have to come back to y'all with this one. 0:22:12.320 --> 0:22:16.240 But speaking of the richest mentors to get him. 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:20.919 Started, I respect that well. I tell you this. 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:25.399 I appreciate you because he's been incredible for me, the 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:28.920 knowledge that he's been sharing with me the business. 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:32.800 He's helped me sign some great contracts. 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:36.359 And when I say great contracts, I don't mean just 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.439 the money, because it's not all about the money. 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:43.119 The devil is in the details, and the. 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:47.840 Details in my contracts I am so pleased with because 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:51.600 it ends up being worth more than just the money 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:54.840 the dollar amount that you see when you start adding 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:58.760 in kickers and payment schedule and all of these different things. 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:01.960 It ended up being worth more than just that dollar. 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:05.440 You see that flash across the ticker. So I'm gonna 0:23:05.440 --> 0:23:08.240 say this for you right here. I appreciate you because 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.560 that man has helped me a tone. But speaking in 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:16.760 terms of pitting players together. In twenty twenty, and I 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:19.840 know you've heard this lot, in twenty twenty, were all 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.240 sitting at home watching the Last Dance with nothing else 0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:26.920 to do, and I was just wondering, Number one, did 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.640 you watch that? And if you did watch it, what 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.320 was your experience like watching that, being that you were 0:23:32.359 --> 0:23:36.119 such a huge part of the Last Dance and or 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.160 just the bulls becoming who they became as a whole. 0:23:40.080 --> 0:23:42.199 Did you watch that and if you did, what was 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:43.679 your experience like in watching it? 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:44.680 Yeah? 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.840 I watched it, and I watched it with you know, 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.440 my It was doing COVID, So so you know, the family, 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:54.719 we gather around and you know this is this is 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:59.639 going to be great because for me and you understand this, 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:04.520 I say this being a champion, right, the first time 0:24:04.560 --> 0:24:10.000 I really got a chance to peep behind the opponent's kurtain, right, 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:14.760 And no one else could understand that, right, but you 0:24:14.800 --> 0:24:18.760 would understand. It's like, okay, now we get ready to see, 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:24.040 like what's behind the curtain. And and and I and 0:24:24.119 --> 0:24:25.040 I must say that. 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:27.119 I was. 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:31.960 I was disappointed at what I saw. And here's why 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:38.720 I was disappointed. You you have you had Bob Myers 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:43.960 there as your as your president GM. The Chicago Boys 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:49.640 had Jerry Krouse as their president. The way they treated 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:55.800 Jerry Krouse, in the disrespect that they showed for him, 0:24:56.160 --> 0:25:02.080 I was blown away, totally blown away. Now can you 0:25:02.119 --> 0:25:07.240 imagine Bob Myers getting on y'all championship bus and y'all 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:11.200 dogging him and calling him out his name and everything else. 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:18.679 You can't even fathom that. So we were thinking, you know, 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:25.000 in our era, these were the dudes. Jerry west read 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:32.240 All Back, Jack McClosky, Wayne Embry, Jerry Crops, those were 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:38.280 the dudes. And to watch how they treated him and 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:41.280 the disrespect and lack of respect that they gave him 0:25:41.320 --> 0:25:45.920 as a person and as a man, it was cringe 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:49.760 worthy watching that. I cringed for him and his family. 0:25:50.359 --> 0:25:53.080 And then the man you know, he was dead, right, 0:25:53.240 --> 0:25:57.439 so they it's going off on him in the dock now. 0:25:57.440 --> 0:26:01.280 In terms of Jordan and I, as I said, my 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:04.679 little nephew lived with Jordan, lived with him for like, 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:09.720 you know, five years, and and then was a ball 0:26:09.760 --> 0:26:14.280 boy for the Chicago Bulls, and so my my whole 0:26:14.320 --> 0:26:17.119 family was like, you know, we were all interacting and 0:26:17.160 --> 0:26:22.720 everything else. The All Star Game, Michael Jordan's last All 0:26:22.720 --> 0:26:28.520 Star game. I coached his last All Star game. Vince Carter. Yeah, 0:26:29.160 --> 0:26:33.600 Vince Carter had won the starting spot. It's Michael Jordan's 0:26:33.640 --> 0:26:38.359 last All Star game. I took Vince Carter aside and 0:26:38.400 --> 0:26:41.760 I convinced him to give his spot to Michael Jordan. 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:46.119 He said why, I said, because I gave mine to 0:26:46.240 --> 0:26:50.440 doctor j when Doctor j was voted on that. That's 0:26:50.440 --> 0:26:54.159 how it goes, right, Vince Carter gave up his spot 0:26:55.320 --> 0:27:00.480 Michael Jordan. You know, we interacted everything else. I never 0:27:00.560 --> 0:27:04.399 knew this dude felt the way he felt until the 0:27:04.520 --> 0:27:09.920 last Dand wow, really, I'm like, all these years you've 0:27:09.960 --> 0:27:14.600 been standing behind a tree, throwing stones and letting somebody 0:27:14.600 --> 0:27:18.159 else take the fall for it. I never knew he 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:24.760 had dislike an anger for me. Had I known, Okay, 0:27:24.840 --> 0:27:27.840 you know, I'm grown man. I ain't got no problem. 0:27:28.040 --> 0:27:31.000 You know, we come from the same place. You know, 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:32.640 at one point in time in my life. I used 0:27:32.640 --> 0:27:37.399 to fight really really good, and I know I can't 0:27:37.400 --> 0:27:45.520 do that. I used to not but but we wouldn't 0:27:45.520 --> 0:27:47.719 throw hands or anything. But I'm just saying, had I 0:27:47.800 --> 0:27:51.399 known you felt that way, I definitely would have treated 0:27:51.440 --> 0:27:56.399 you differently. But I was very gracious to him, not 0:27:56.480 --> 0:28:00.159 only in Chicago but everywhere we went. I never I 0:28:00.200 --> 0:28:04.000 never thought there was any type of you know, he 0:28:04.280 --> 0:28:07.720 ahmad and I when I stopped playing, we went out 0:28:07.760 --> 0:28:11.040 to dinner several times. So I never knew, like until 0:28:11.040 --> 0:28:14.640 the last dance, like this dude really felt this way 0:28:14.680 --> 0:28:17.560 about me. Now some people will say, oh, Isaiah, you 0:28:17.600 --> 0:28:20.880 should have known. How could you not know? I only 0:28:20.960 --> 0:28:24.040 know how people are with me when they treat me, 0:28:25.119 --> 0:28:27.640 Like when you and I to talk, it's like it's love. 0:28:28.119 --> 0:28:30.840 Right now you walk away and you like dogging me. 0:28:31.000 --> 0:28:34.520 I don't know that. I only know how we interact 0:28:35.160 --> 0:28:38.640 and when you and when and I interacted was always good. 0:28:38.800 --> 0:28:41.200 So now some people will say, well, why didn't you 0:28:41.200 --> 0:28:45.800 shake his hand? Let me give you all a history lesson. Okay, 0:28:48.200 --> 0:28:53.840 the champions and I went to every NBA finals, Boston Celtics, 0:28:53.880 --> 0:28:59.720 the LA Lakers, Philadelphia when they were all competing. At 0:28:59.720 --> 0:29:04.080 the end of the game, they always left the court 0:29:05.200 --> 0:29:09.720 and they would let the other team celebrate, and then 0:29:09.760 --> 0:29:12.800 they would come into your locker room after the game 0:29:13.600 --> 0:29:18.440 and shake your hand and say congratulations. Larry Bird and 0:29:18.520 --> 0:29:22.560 Magic Johnson. Y'all find me the tape in the video 0:29:23.360 --> 0:29:27.600 that showed them shake the hands at the end of 0:29:27.720 --> 0:29:32.640 their championship wins or losses. Showed me the tape, showed 0:29:32.680 --> 0:29:35.160 me the video where they all like chicking. Heck, where 0:29:35.200 --> 0:29:37.920 Larry Bird and Magic Johnson taking air. I want to 0:29:37.960 --> 0:29:42.960 see that now. In the locker room, you walk out, 0:29:44.280 --> 0:29:46.640 then you come back and you shake hands and you 0:29:46.680 --> 0:29:49.200 congratulate their back in the locker room. So when the 0:29:49.240 --> 0:29:54.360 Boston Celtics walked off the floor on us, we understood 0:29:54.720 --> 0:30:01.960 the program. You would see afterwards. See Jones, Jimmy Rogers, 0:30:02.320 --> 0:30:04.760 a couple of the players. They came into all locker 0:30:04.880 --> 0:30:11.240 room and they congratulated us. Okay, that's how it goes. Chicago, 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:17.720 they're the only champion that still cries about somebody not 0:30:17.760 --> 0:30:18.400 shaking the hand. 0:30:22.080 --> 0:30:28.719 Interesting, So I asked you that question. I appreciate those facts. 0:30:28.720 --> 0:30:33.120 I got a couple questions for you. Number one, do 0:30:33.200 --> 0:30:36.280 you regret like the way that that all played out 0:30:37.200 --> 0:30:40.320 with it almost being like, I mean, you were essentially, 0:30:41.520 --> 0:30:43.560 for lack of a better term, demonis for that. 0:30:44.000 --> 0:30:48.600 It was like, oh that was Isaiah, Isaiah ducked. It 0:30:48.640 --> 0:30:49.920 was all Isaiah didn't want to. 0:30:49.920 --> 0:30:52.600 Shake their hands because he got a thing against MJ. 0:30:54.040 --> 0:30:56.920 Do you regret that now in seeing how it all 0:30:56.960 --> 0:30:58.240 played out? 0:30:59.000 --> 0:31:03.840 Of course, the way it all played out, right, have 0:31:04.040 --> 0:31:08.000 we known that this would be the impact? Of course 0:31:08.040 --> 0:31:11.480 we all stopped the shit, do shake your hands? But 0:31:11.480 --> 0:31:14.800 but nobody was thinking like that back then. It wasn't 0:31:14.880 --> 0:31:19.720 like that. It really wasn't a theme til they made 0:31:19.760 --> 0:31:23.960 it a thing. Yeah, and we're sitting here, what is 0:31:24.000 --> 0:31:28.360 it almost thirty years later and they still making it 0:31:28.400 --> 0:31:28.680 a thing? 0:31:31.480 --> 0:31:38.240 Sure, almost forty years later now, No, listen, I get it. 0:31:38.800 --> 0:31:41.920 But I have also a question when when you didn't 0:31:41.960 --> 0:31:44.360 make the Dream Team, as I all think, I think 0:31:44.400 --> 0:31:46.280 we all would agree you should have been on a 0:31:46.360 --> 0:31:50.400 Dream Team, did you not think in us like that 0:31:50.400 --> 0:31:55.080 that possibly came from MJ, like that MJ would have 0:31:55.160 --> 0:31:57.400 that type of power, so that you don't make that team. 0:31:57.520 --> 0:32:00.000 Did you feel like that then or at any. 0:32:02.080 --> 0:32:05.600 When I didn't make the team, my first reaction was 0:32:07.080 --> 0:32:11.520 why did not make it right? And and and that 0:32:11.640 --> 0:32:13.640 was the first time I had never made the team. 0:32:13.760 --> 0:32:18.840 You know, you yes, when you tried for a team, 0:32:18.880 --> 0:32:20.520 and remember they used to write your name up on 0:32:20.560 --> 0:32:21.160 the wall. 0:32:21.000 --> 0:32:25.680 You made it right. My name was always on the wall. 0:32:27.360 --> 0:32:31.040 I was always always made the team, right. And so 0:32:31.080 --> 0:32:33.520 that was the first time I didn't make a team. 0:32:33.800 --> 0:32:36.680 And so of course I was like, I was hurt. 0:32:37.600 --> 0:32:38.840 But at the same. 0:32:38.680 --> 0:32:44.120 Time, it never done on me that I didn't make 0:32:44.160 --> 0:32:49.440 the team because Michael Jordan didn't like me. That that 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:53.280 that thought never crossed my mind. I went to the 0:32:53.320 --> 0:32:56.760 selection committee and John Stockton is a is a is 0:32:56.800 --> 0:32:58.760 a personal friend of mine and it has been a 0:32:58.760 --> 0:33:02.080 personal friend of mine for a long time. Jeff Hornisack, 0:33:02.320 --> 0:33:05.000 you know, his dad coached me in high school, right, 0:33:05.080 --> 0:33:08.840 So so when you look at my relationships, you know 0:33:08.960 --> 0:33:12.640 with with Hornorsack Stocked and you know we we've known 0:33:12.680 --> 0:33:16.760 each other for years. So when I never thought like, okay, 0:33:17.800 --> 0:33:20.560 I wasn't gonna make the team. But when I looked 0:33:20.600 --> 0:33:23.200 at the com you know who they picked. You know, 0:33:23.520 --> 0:33:26.960 it's like, okay, well they picked this guy, they picked John, 0:33:27.080 --> 0:33:31.440 they picked this now. And then then I started thinking, okay, well, 0:33:32.120 --> 0:33:34.040 and you know you always want to make the team. Okay, 0:33:34.080 --> 0:33:37.880 I'm like, okay, but Larry hurt, Magic ain't even in 0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:43.840 the league no more, right, you know, stocked and injured. Okay, 0:33:43.840 --> 0:33:47.720 I got a chance. It never crossed my mind that 0:33:48.080 --> 0:33:50.960 I wasn't gonna I wasn't on a team because Michael 0:33:51.040 --> 0:33:54.200 Jordan didn't want me on a team. And by the way, 0:33:54.640 --> 0:33:58.680 at that time, you're not thinking like somebody would have 0:33:58.920 --> 0:34:04.400 that much power because that was that first championship. Now 0:34:05.400 --> 0:34:08.439 I had I had won two, should have won three. 0:34:09.880 --> 0:34:13.120 Magic and Bird I think had five. Magic had five, 0:34:13.280 --> 0:34:17.960 Bird had three. I had two. We had won the 0:34:17.960 --> 0:34:23.040 most championships in that era. So I didn't I was 0:34:23.160 --> 0:34:27.359 I wasn't thinking like, it just wasn't crossing my mind. 0:34:27.520 --> 0:34:30.400 Some people will say, oh, Isaiah, you should have known it, 0:34:31.280 --> 0:34:34.160 But that ain't how I operate. That ain't how I think. 0:34:34.480 --> 0:34:37.879 I wasn't like going to you know, oh, this guy 0:34:38.600 --> 0:34:40.560 didn't want me on the team. That's why I'm not 0:34:40.680 --> 0:34:44.160 on the team. And then it started coming out weeks later, well, 0:34:44.440 --> 0:34:46.960 Jordan don't like Isaiah, he didn't want him on the team. 0:34:47.520 --> 0:34:49.919 And then Michael Jordan did an interview or he did 0:34:49.920 --> 0:34:52.040 a made a quote and he said, Hey, I had 0:34:52.080 --> 0:34:55.279 nothing to do with Isaiah not being on the team, 0:34:56.000 --> 0:34:59.279 So why wouldn't I take him at his word? That's 0:34:59.280 --> 0:35:04.160 what he said. Last dance said, Oh, this dude been 0:35:04.239 --> 0:35:05.840 lying for a long time. 0:35:10.160 --> 0:35:10.360 You know. 0:35:11.000 --> 0:35:16.400 That's when now now you see me like wait a minute, okay, 0:35:16.400 --> 0:35:19.000 because now I'm like, okay, I'm pushing back now. But 0:35:19.040 --> 0:35:21.279 it really wasn't nothing to push back on at that 0:35:21.400 --> 0:35:25.359 time because I didn't make the team. Robmin didn't make 0:35:25.400 --> 0:35:28.200 the team, Robin was three times Defensive Player of the Year. 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:32.759 Joe Dumars didn't make the team. Joe Dumars was you know, 0:35:33.800 --> 0:35:40.480 eighty nine NBA Finals MVP. I was ninety Finals MVP. 0:35:41.320 --> 0:35:45.320 We're the only backcourt that's ever been back to back 0:35:45.960 --> 0:35:51.720 NBA Finals MVP's. So Joe wasn't on the team, Robin 0:35:51.800 --> 0:35:54.640 wasn't on a team. I wasn't on the team. So 0:35:54.760 --> 0:35:57.880 now we're like, oh, well, the League hate us. We 0:35:58.000 --> 0:36:03.120 never said Jordan hate us. He's like the League hate 0:36:03.200 --> 0:36:05.360 us David Stern because we was fighting with David Stern 0:36:05.520 --> 0:36:08.879 in the in the NBA. Ever since I got into 0:36:08.920 --> 0:36:13.160 the NBA, that's been all fighting, right right, So but 0:36:13.400 --> 0:36:20.080 I never I never went to George, But now I am. 0:36:20.440 --> 0:36:23.800 I respect that is where is your relationship at today? 0:36:23.840 --> 0:36:25.560 And is that salvageable? 0:36:26.440 --> 0:36:26.760 Dude? 0:36:26.840 --> 0:36:29.480 No, not salvageable? Now we. 0:36:31.640 --> 0:36:36.360 The only way this is salvageable. This dude got on 0:36:36.480 --> 0:36:43.719 national television, international television and called me an asshole somebody 0:36:43.840 --> 0:36:48.120 who has been really good to him. And until he 0:36:48.400 --> 0:36:55.760 apologizes on international television, we you know, conversation. You can't. 0:36:55.920 --> 0:36:59.440 You can't apologize and have a private dinner when you 0:36:59.760 --> 0:37:06.759 and me publicly. If you didn't mean it, say it publicly. 0:37:07.400 --> 0:37:11.120 Now if you meant it, let us stand. I'm good 0:37:11.160 --> 0:37:11.400 with that. 0:37:12.480 --> 0:37:18.400 M h. I respect that. And switching gears. 0:37:18.640 --> 0:37:21.520 Uh, you know, we always talk about the drastic styles 0:37:21.560 --> 0:37:26.560 of play and or drastic changes, I should say, to 0:37:26.640 --> 0:37:29.560 the style of play from when you guys played even 0:37:29.640 --> 0:37:34.680 to the early years of say Lebron and Kobe you know, 0:37:34.719 --> 0:37:39.440 and those guys the early two thousand Shack Duncan and 0:37:39.800 --> 0:37:42.600 to you know, twenty tens and to where the game 0:37:42.760 --> 0:37:47.319 is today. Uh, it's totally different. It's officiated differently, rules, 0:37:47.360 --> 0:37:51.040 some rules are different. But I think we all know 0:37:51.440 --> 0:37:55.480 and see the changes to the offense. And there's been 0:37:55.520 --> 0:37:58.880 some recent reports coming out that the NBA is looking 0:37:58.880 --> 0:38:02.960 about looking at shifting back to some of the rules 0:38:02.960 --> 0:38:05.359 that you guys played with, possibly being able to hand 0:38:05.440 --> 0:38:08.319 check again. Uh, being able to play a lot more 0:38:08.360 --> 0:38:11.399 physical on the defensive end as you have been able 0:38:11.440 --> 0:38:13.759 to in recent years. It's kind of tilted a bit, 0:38:13.960 --> 0:38:18.479 so it seems to favorite offense. What are your thoughts 0:38:18.560 --> 0:38:20.439 on that? Do you think that's good for the game? 0:38:20.520 --> 0:38:24.080 Do you think that's needed? Or like do the offense 0:38:24.120 --> 0:38:26.960 get way too too much freedom of movement and all 0:38:27.000 --> 0:38:28.000 of those things nowadays? 0:38:28.000 --> 0:38:29.920 Well, what are your what is your sense on that? 0:38:30.880 --> 0:38:36.640 I think that well, yes, it definitely has changed and 0:38:36.680 --> 0:38:43.880 it has shifted, and I would say skill wise, skill 0:38:44.800 --> 0:38:49.400 you have more skilled players on the roster and on 0:38:49.600 --> 0:38:52.680 the team than we had back then. Now what do 0:38:52.760 --> 0:39:00.120 I mean by skill? Mhm, everybody can shoot everybody. I 0:39:00.160 --> 0:39:04.520 mean you can't leave nobody. I mean everybody can shoot. 0:39:04.560 --> 0:39:09.319 And then the three point line in the distance in 0:39:09.400 --> 0:39:13.840 terms of where guys are shooting from, is is mind blowing. 0:39:13.960 --> 0:39:21.000 It's it's remarkable. Now in terms of the defense swinging 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:23.640 back to where it was. I think we think we 0:39:23.760 --> 0:39:27.520 have to be careful because we can, we can all 0:39:28.400 --> 0:39:31.640 have these thoughts of how it should be, but it's 0:39:31.680 --> 0:39:37.640 really gonna come down to the officials. Now. Back then, 0:39:37.840 --> 0:39:42.680 all officials knew like okay and check in, you know, 0:39:43.640 --> 0:39:46.640 being physical with you know there. They could have called 0:39:46.640 --> 0:39:50.680 a foul on every single play, but they were selective 0:39:50.719 --> 0:39:52.880 in terms of what plays they would call on. And 0:39:52.920 --> 0:39:56.560 we knew as players, you know, kind of how the 0:39:56.640 --> 0:39:59.200 game was gonna go. They would set the table early 0:39:59.640 --> 0:40:02.719 in terms, okay, these are the rules. This is how 0:40:02.760 --> 0:40:05.960 this game's gonna be played. Now Tomorrow night games may 0:40:06.040 --> 0:40:10.880 be different, right, like we knew like like Magic Johnson 0:40:11.640 --> 0:40:13.840 has a and by the way, I watched all the 0:40:13.880 --> 0:40:17.000 Olympics and I rooted it for the US. But I 0:40:17.120 --> 0:40:20.040 but there was there's a scene in there with Magic 0:40:20.160 --> 0:40:23.160 and Larry. I taken a picture with Michael Jordan and 0:40:23.280 --> 0:40:25.400 Magic goes or you can't get too close. You know, 0:40:25.440 --> 0:40:31.560 they gonna call the five right that lot so yeah, 0:40:31.600 --> 0:40:34.919 so you just know, like, I don't know if these 0:40:35.000 --> 0:40:42.120 officials today can really control the game the way those 0:40:42.200 --> 0:40:45.560 officials back then were able to do. So when you're 0:40:45.600 --> 0:40:49.440 talking about changing the rules and everything else, you know, 0:40:49.560 --> 0:40:53.080 you have to take into account the temperament and the 0:40:53.160 --> 0:40:58.400 personality of the officials who are going to be officiating 0:40:58.440 --> 0:41:04.320 the game and that mhm. I okay, So I'm watching 0:41:05.000 --> 0:41:09.600 I'm watching some players like, okay, you you take a 0:41:09.840 --> 0:41:12.600 you take a look at Okay, let's use Kevin Durant 0:41:12.680 --> 0:41:18.040 and Steph Curry right now. Ever since they've been talking 0:41:18.040 --> 0:41:23.080 about you know you you we're gonna we're gonna let 0:41:23.120 --> 0:41:26.839 you hold in hand check a little bit. I'm watching Steph. 0:41:27.480 --> 0:41:30.919 I'm watching Kevin, and these guys are getting held now 0:41:31.239 --> 0:41:33.200 away from the bar. And I'm sure you're watching too. 0:41:33.239 --> 0:41:35.880 I mean, they you know, they they have an arrestle 0:41:35.960 --> 0:41:38.440 and they they getting beat up. I don't know if 0:41:38.480 --> 0:41:42.919 that's really good. But this generation, now fall generation, we 0:41:42.920 --> 0:41:46.080 were used to it, right, so we were used to 0:41:46.160 --> 0:41:48.200 you know, you put in on our show, you you're 0:41:48.200 --> 0:41:50.640 hacking us, you're hitting upside to head. But if you 0:41:50.800 --> 0:41:55.799 just go drastically into it, now, you know, some some 0:41:55.840 --> 0:41:59.120 of your best players are really gonna get hurt by it. 0:42:02.640 --> 0:42:06.680 And speaking of Steph, how do you look at the 0:42:07.120 --> 0:42:10.439 how do you look at the all time great point 0:42:10.440 --> 0:42:14.160 guard conversation? Like, obviously you're right up there, Obviously STEP's 0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:17.160 right up there, obviously Magic's right up there. But how 0:42:17.160 --> 0:42:19.879 do you look at that debate or do you even 0:42:20.160 --> 0:42:22.600 think like those should be debates. 0:42:22.960 --> 0:42:26.400 They they should be debates because they're good for basketball 0:42:26.760 --> 0:42:29.440 and it's good for you know, we always want the 0:42:29.480 --> 0:42:32.399 general public to be interested in what we're doing. Good 0:42:32.440 --> 0:42:32.719 of that. 0:42:33.800 --> 0:42:39.880 Absolutely, So when you when you when you define the 0:42:39.920 --> 0:42:45.000 position of point guard, you know, this isn't an era 0:42:45.120 --> 0:42:47.879 where they say we are positionless. 0:42:48.320 --> 0:42:52.919 But but then you want to say, okay, well he's 0:42:52.960 --> 0:42:55.399 a point guard. He's not a point guard. So let 0:42:55.400 --> 0:42:57.520 me let me just tell you what the way I 0:42:57.560 --> 0:43:03.879 think about point guards and the Golden State Warriors. You 0:43:03.920 --> 0:43:08.719 are the point guard. You you you have more assists 0:43:08.719 --> 0:43:13.919 than Steph. You, you bring the ball up, you, you 0:43:14.000 --> 0:43:18.160 initiate the offense, you set the defense. You you you 0:43:18.280 --> 0:43:22.759 run the show. Steph comes off screens, he catches, and 0:43:22.760 --> 0:43:25.359 he shoots, and he's one of the greatest shoots shooters ever, 0:43:26.320 --> 0:43:29.480 and and what he's been able to do for this 0:43:29.560 --> 0:43:33.120 generation of play and the way he's one with it, 0:43:33.400 --> 0:43:36.279 Key Worrid, the way he's won with it has been 0:43:36.320 --> 0:43:39.359 different than anybody else has ever tried to do it. 0:43:40.120 --> 0:43:43.040 I won a different way as a point guard. I 0:43:43.120 --> 0:43:45.600 led my team and I may be the only one 0:43:45.880 --> 0:43:50.200 who's done this as a point guard where I've led 0:43:50.200 --> 0:43:56.520 my team in scoring and assists to back to back championships. 0:43:57.719 --> 0:44:00.160 I don't think Magic led his team and scored and 0:44:00.480 --> 0:44:04.200 assists in back to back championships. He may have led 0:44:04.239 --> 0:44:06.640 them and assists. He may have led them in scorn. 0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:11.040 I'm the only one who's done it in both categories. Now, 0:44:11.239 --> 0:44:14.120 what Steph? When I look at Steph, I look at 0:44:14.160 --> 0:44:19.319 Steph when he talks about the people that he's emulated. 0:44:20.080 --> 0:44:23.280 He talks about Reggie Miller, he talks about Ray Allen, 0:44:23.920 --> 0:44:27.840 he talks about you know, guys coming off catching and shooting, 0:44:28.600 --> 0:44:31.960 and he by far has taken it to another level. 0:44:32.960 --> 0:44:36.640 But when you talk about the point guard position, the 0:44:36.719 --> 0:44:39.759 way I was taught and the way I think of it, 0:44:40.480 --> 0:44:45.680 not today's point guard, but I would I would say 0:44:45.680 --> 0:44:49.880 that the Michigan State point guards right, So Eric Snow 0:44:49.960 --> 0:44:55.440 had Alan Iverson, right, Alan Iverson is not the point guard. 0:44:55.840 --> 0:44:58.200 Eric Snow was the point guard. They'd never want to 0:44:58.200 --> 0:45:00.719 give Eric Snow the credit for being point guard. But 0:45:00.760 --> 0:45:05.160 that's who ran the team for the Golden State Warriors. 0:45:05.320 --> 0:45:08.880 You're the point guard, and that's okay. Now, what Steph 0:45:09.160 --> 0:45:13.480 is Steph is. Steph has been able to do something 0:45:13.600 --> 0:45:18.120 at his size that no other player has ever been 0:45:18.160 --> 0:45:22.239 able to do, so he really does have his kind 0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:26.480 of own category, just like I think I have my category. 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:29.840 But if you want to say who's the best point 0:45:29.880 --> 0:45:33.440 guards between us, it all depends on what era you 0:45:33.520 --> 0:45:38.200 want to put us in. Now, I think Magic Johnson 0:45:38.320 --> 0:45:42.719 Oscar Robertson, because of their size, they always have an 0:45:42.800 --> 0:45:48.439 advantage over me and Steph in a real basketball game, right, 0:45:49.400 --> 0:45:55.680 and Magic could score, he could run the show, and 0:45:55.719 --> 0:45:57.799 he to me, he's the best to ever do it. 0:45:58.440 --> 0:46:02.440 Second best is Oscar Robertson. And I would say, in 0:46:02.560 --> 0:46:04.200 terms of the way I had to do it in 0:46:04.200 --> 0:46:08.759 my era, the little guys don't nobody compete with me. 0:46:09.800 --> 0:46:12.919 But I would also say with Jef Curry, the way 0:46:13.000 --> 0:46:17.760 he has done it, nobody could compete with him. Alan 0:46:17.840 --> 0:46:22.880 Iverson was the closest small guy to come to doing 0:46:22.920 --> 0:46:27.560 it the way Steph is doing it, you know, but 0:46:27.840 --> 0:46:33.680 he by far is in a different category. So point guard, 0:46:34.440 --> 0:46:37.319 shooting guard, whatever you want to call him, you know 0:46:37.600 --> 0:46:41.440 that the assists number for the point guard is always 0:46:41.480 --> 0:46:46.839 what we We were like, okay, can you do this right? 0:46:46.920 --> 0:46:49.240 That's what really what you were judged on. We weren't 0:46:49.320 --> 0:46:53.080 judged on how many points we scored. We were judged 0:46:53.120 --> 0:46:56.000 on how can you help your teammates score. 0:46:58.600 --> 0:47:01.400 I can apprec shit that answer because I was gonna 0:47:01.400 --> 0:47:02.399 sit here and argue with. 0:47:02.320 --> 0:47:04.240 You by my point guard. 0:47:04.440 --> 0:47:07.239 But then you said he's in a whole different category 0:47:07.239 --> 0:47:08.520 and how he goes about things. 0:47:08.680 --> 0:47:09.680 I can accept that. 0:47:10.040 --> 0:47:13.800 But I also do think like when we were playing 0:47:13.800 --> 0:47:17.600 for Mark Jackson, Steph had the ball more, he led 0:47:17.600 --> 0:47:20.720 the team and assist and all of that. Once Steve 0:47:20.800 --> 0:47:23.440 came in, it's not quite the offense, you know, like 0:47:24.120 --> 0:47:27.080 the offense is. It's all, you know, swinging the basketball, 0:47:27.200 --> 0:47:29.920 move the ball to the next guy. Ultimately, I remember 0:47:29.920 --> 0:47:32.600 when Steve first was implementing his offense. We're like, man, 0:47:33.520 --> 0:47:35.560 like you keep telling us and swinging the ball, You 0:47:35.640 --> 0:47:37.880 keep telling telling Steph to pass the ball and then 0:47:38.000 --> 0:47:41.640 pin down like Steph's supposed to get these shots man. 0:47:41.840 --> 0:47:44.640 And I remember Steve telling us like, you guys are 0:47:44.640 --> 0:47:47.880 looking at me like I'm crazy because I keep telling 0:47:48.080 --> 0:47:50.200 this guy to swing it and Clay to swing it, 0:47:50.200 --> 0:47:51.600 and they should be pinning in. 0:47:51.520 --> 0:47:52.839 Too, he said. 0:47:52.840 --> 0:47:55.640 But I'll tell y'all, the shots are going to find 0:47:55.680 --> 0:47:57.359 the guys that they're supposed to find. 0:47:57.440 --> 0:47:59.520 I can promise you that. You just got to trust it. 0:48:00.080 --> 0:48:00.560 You trusted. 0:48:00.680 --> 0:48:02.680 I promise you the shots will find the guys that 0:48:02.719 --> 0:48:06.000 they're supposed to find. And so I do think, you know, 0:48:06.080 --> 0:48:08.279 like the way our offense run and me having the 0:48:08.320 --> 0:48:11.560 ball a lot and initiating some of the offense, I 0:48:11.640 --> 0:48:14.400 do think you know that is also kind of a 0:48:15.440 --> 0:48:17.080 product of our system as well. 0:48:17.200 --> 0:48:20.320 You know, where Steph isn't going to dominate the ball. 0:48:20.400 --> 0:48:22.520 You know, he's not going to have the ball all 0:48:22.560 --> 0:48:25.600 the time, making play affter play after play, because it's 0:48:25.680 --> 0:48:28.919 just not like if Steph did do that, Steve would 0:48:28.960 --> 0:48:32.640 lose his mind, Like Steve would go ape shit if 0:48:32.680 --> 0:48:35.960 Steph just sat there and like, what's trying to make 0:48:36.000 --> 0:48:38.680 every play like he just had a We were lanning 0:48:38.719 --> 0:48:40.719 the next the other day and I was trying to 0:48:40.760 --> 0:48:43.759 wave Moses through to get Steph coming off the pen down. 0:48:43.840 --> 0:48:45.880 He pulled me to the side. He's like, yo, just 0:48:45.920 --> 0:48:48.040 swinging to Moses, Like like, stop trying to get the 0:48:48.040 --> 0:48:50.640 ball to Steph. Like it'll find Steph. You got to 0:48:50.680 --> 0:48:52.640 swing that ball to Moses. And I'm like, all right, cool, 0:48:52.680 --> 0:48:55.359 I got you. But I think Steve will lose his 0:48:55.520 --> 0:48:58.239 mind if Steph was trying to lead to you know, 0:48:58.280 --> 0:49:00.560 if he was putting himself in a position to lead 0:49:00.600 --> 0:49:03.279 the team and assists or do it that way. I 0:49:03.280 --> 0:49:06.440 don't think it would necessarily work for the way Steve 0:49:06.520 --> 0:49:07.799 wants us to play either, you know. 0:49:08.920 --> 0:49:12.360 Yeah, So now'm gonna give you a history lesson. Okay, 0:49:13.680 --> 0:49:17.560 the offense that you run. I played for the guy 0:49:17.600 --> 0:49:20.920 who invented it. His name was Bob Knight. 0:49:21.800 --> 0:49:23.000 And absolute money. 0:49:24.080 --> 0:49:28.600 Yes, I won championships at Indiana University as a student 0:49:28.880 --> 0:49:33.319 under Bob Knight. When I got into the NBA, I 0:49:33.360 --> 0:49:36.120 had never ran a pick and role in my life. 0:49:38.280 --> 0:49:40.960 I has never ran a picking role in my life. 0:49:41.400 --> 0:49:44.560 I played passing game in high school. I played passing 0:49:44.680 --> 0:49:47.600 game in college. When I got to the NBA, and 0:49:47.680 --> 0:49:49.759 they gave me a playbook and told me I had 0:49:49.760 --> 0:49:55.960 to remember the plays. I'm like, what play seventy two played? 0:49:56.040 --> 0:49:59.640 Thirty two down fifty two US seventy What the hell 0:49:59.719 --> 0:50:09.440 is this? So what you're describing and in terms of 0:50:09.480 --> 0:50:15.680 your style of play in Steve Kurr's basketball philosophy, that 0:50:15.840 --> 0:50:20.239 passing game, read and react, move the basketball, set screens, 0:50:20.760 --> 0:50:25.719 that comes from coach Knight's philosophy and how offensive basketball 0:50:25.800 --> 0:50:29.279 ship be played. And by the way, your team is 0:50:29.440 --> 0:50:32.880 very successful with it and have been successful with it. 0:50:33.160 --> 0:50:36.680 And that's what makes Steph Curry such an anomaly because 0:50:37.440 --> 0:50:41.920 he You guys don't really have a point guard. You 0:50:41.960 --> 0:50:47.360 don't have traditional one two, three, four five man. You 0:50:47.840 --> 0:50:50.719 don't post up, you know, and put it in the boat. 0:50:50.480 --> 0:50:55.000 You move, re, react, backcut, dribble, handoff. You force the 0:50:55.080 --> 0:51:03.120 defense to play every single action m hm. And if 0:51:03.120 --> 0:51:06.959 that defense isn't on the stream, it only takes one 0:51:07.040 --> 0:51:10.400 man to break right. And if that defense isn't on 0:51:10.440 --> 0:51:14.719 the stream and they don't understand how to defend down screens, 0:51:14.960 --> 0:51:20.480 cross screens, flare screens, dribble handoff, you know, split cuts, 0:51:20.640 --> 0:51:23.479 if they don't understand how and they not tight enough 0:51:23.480 --> 0:51:26.040 to defend all that, then guess what you're gonna get 0:51:26.040 --> 0:51:30.880 a layup. I'm gonna go one step further, right, You 0:51:31.000 --> 0:51:34.120 know that I've gotten to know Kevin Durant extremely well. 0:51:34.239 --> 0:51:39.279 Now he's one of my favorite dudes. Now, right now, 0:51:39.320 --> 0:51:44.880 I understand why Kevin Durant left OKAC to come to 0:51:44.960 --> 0:51:48.920 Golden State. It had nothing to do with you know, 0:51:49.760 --> 0:51:54.320 I don't like this. Gotta Kevin Durant being as subvant, 0:51:54.440 --> 0:51:59.560 as smart as he is. You Steph clay moving reading 0:51:59.640 --> 0:52:05.320 reaction plan that that's the way he wants to play. 0:52:05.680 --> 0:52:09.120 That's the way we all want to play. Steve Kerr 0:52:09.760 --> 0:52:15.319 brilliant enough and he trusts y'all enough and keyword that 0:52:15.320 --> 0:52:19.600 I'm getting ready to say, he trusts his teaching enough 0:52:20.520 --> 0:52:26.280 that he gives you the freedom, the freedom to play. 0:52:26.920 --> 0:52:30.520 So therefore, you never know if Steph is gonna start 0:52:30.520 --> 0:52:32.439 in the corner, if he gonna start on the wing, 0:52:33.280 --> 0:52:35.560 if he gonna start on the box. You know, you 0:52:35.920 --> 0:52:41.840 never know. So the perfect randomness of play that Bob 0:52:41.960 --> 0:52:46.000 Knight invented that I came up in that I won 0:52:46.120 --> 0:52:50.400 championships at Indiana. That's the way you play, and that 0:52:51.040 --> 0:52:56.600 makes it so difficult so yeah, it's a beautiful thing. 0:52:57.120 --> 0:53:01.280 What I appreciate that history less and I'll be honest 0:53:01.280 --> 0:53:05.439 with you, I can go well speaking to Kevin Durant, 0:53:06.400 --> 0:53:09.839 I'm happy to hear you say that because I've known 0:53:09.880 --> 0:53:10.760 this all alone. 0:53:10.960 --> 0:53:13.000 Right, Like he wanted to come here. He loved the 0:53:13.040 --> 0:53:13.760 style of play. 0:53:15.000 --> 0:53:17.640 He would always say like, yo, I just wanted to 0:53:17.640 --> 0:53:19.240 play basketball the right way. 0:53:19.320 --> 0:53:21.920 Like I haven't played the game of basketball. 0:53:21.480 --> 0:53:23.960 The right way and I don't know how long, and 0:53:24.000 --> 0:53:26.400 I just want to play the right way. When he 0:53:26.480 --> 0:53:28.359 was coming here and there was this whole you know 0:53:28.480 --> 0:53:32.080 Uproar Trademond was recruited in this that and he no, 0:53:32.200 --> 0:53:34.640 dude wanted to play the game the right way. And 0:53:34.719 --> 0:53:39.200 so in saying that, probably didn't make the right decision 0:53:39.239 --> 0:53:42.080 in leaving, because not many teams play like that. 0:53:42.160 --> 0:53:43.480 It's going to be hard to find that. 0:53:43.600 --> 0:53:47.160 Although I think with Book, you know, Book likes to 0:53:47.160 --> 0:53:50.040 play the game the right way, and so I think 0:53:50.040 --> 0:53:51.760 they're finding some of that in Phoenix. 0:53:52.160 --> 0:53:54.479 But it's never quite going. 0:53:54.440 --> 0:53:57.279 To be this because I think we do play a 0:53:57.320 --> 0:53:58.640 different brand of basketball. 0:53:59.120 --> 0:54:00.680 But before we get out of. 0:54:00.640 --> 0:54:04.279 Here, before you come wait, let me make let me 0:54:04.320 --> 0:54:08.960 make a both here yes, sir, and I hope this 0:54:09.000 --> 0:54:13.120 don't upset you, but because I'm saying, I'm giving you 0:54:13.160 --> 0:54:20.400 our compliment. Before Kevin Durant arrived in Gopen State, Golden State, 0:54:22.400 --> 0:54:27.359 y'all were on the verge of and being and being 0:54:27.440 --> 0:54:30.560 remembered as the team that wins seventy three and nine 0:54:32.280 --> 0:54:37.120 and lost to a Cleveland Cavalier team in the finals 0:54:37.600 --> 0:54:41.720 three to one. You up three to one and probably 0:54:41.719 --> 0:54:46.879 one of the biggest collapse in NBA Finals history from 0:54:46.960 --> 0:54:52.440 the seventy three and nine historical team. Kevin Durant comes 0:54:53.440 --> 0:55:00.120 that summer and really saves y'all basketball legacy and and 0:55:00.640 --> 0:55:04.960 you win two championships after that, and now you're the 0:55:05.000 --> 0:55:08.239 Golden State Warriors dynasty that you're going to go into 0:55:08.320 --> 0:55:11.200 the Hall of Fame own and everything else. It is 0:55:11.320 --> 0:55:17.840 cemented because if Durant don't come that summer and you 0:55:17.960 --> 0:55:21.200 guys are remembered as the seventy three and nine team 0:55:21.880 --> 0:55:25.759 that lost three to one in the NBA Finals, all 0:55:25.800 --> 0:55:31.759 of your legacies are different. So all of you with 0:55:32.000 --> 0:55:38.560 Kevin Durant, y'all, are you know right? And that was 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:42.760 that was a powerful moment in sport that he should 0:55:42.800 --> 0:55:46.960 be rewarded for, but also your team should be rewarded 0:55:47.040 --> 0:55:51.799 for accepting a juggernaut like that and being able to 0:55:51.840 --> 0:55:55.360 incorporate it. And what y'all did was beautiful. Man, it 0:55:55.480 --> 0:55:58.480 was beautiful. So I hope that didn't hurt you in 0:55:58.520 --> 0:56:02.600 any way, but I did want acknowledge him and y'all 0:56:02.640 --> 0:56:03.840 for that beautiful moment. 0:56:04.600 --> 0:56:05.960 Yeah. No, it didn't hurt me at all. 0:56:06.800 --> 0:56:09.560 I've actually gone public and said before, like, yo, K 0:56:09.760 --> 0:56:13.960 coming here opened up a totally different thing, Like, you know, 0:56:14.040 --> 0:56:19.759 we were destroying everybody. The most feared action in the 0:56:19.880 --> 0:56:24.560 NBA was a Steph Curry Draymond Green pick and roll 0:56:25.360 --> 0:56:30.520 twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. It was the most devastating action 0:56:30.640 --> 0:56:34.280 you can get to an NBA. During that time, teams 0:56:34.280 --> 0:56:37.040 started figuring out how to guard it. When teams started 0:56:37.080 --> 0:56:39.040 figuring out how to guard that, you know what we did. 0:56:39.800 --> 0:56:42.279 Kevin Durant came in, It's like, oh, you figured that out, 0:56:42.560 --> 0:56:44.759 all right, Well, let's go see you figure this out. 0:56:44.800 --> 0:56:46.560 Now, we're gonna get a ball to this dude. He 0:56:46.640 --> 0:56:47.480 gonna go score. 0:56:47.920 --> 0:56:50.680 And if you dare sent a double team, you're only 0:56:50.719 --> 0:56:54.239 gonna double off me. You're never leaving Steph, you're never 0:56:54.320 --> 0:56:58.160 leaving Clay. So if you sent a double team, you're 0:56:58.200 --> 0:57:00.440 only helping off me. Well, now we got to to 0:57:00.480 --> 0:57:02.880 that too. You go double off of me. I'm a 0:57:03.000 --> 0:57:05.040 catch and if I'm not shooting, I'm handing off to 0:57:05.080 --> 0:57:07.319 one of these guys and they shooting your eyeball off. 0:57:07.560 --> 0:57:08.959 And so we came up with counter. 0:57:09.080 --> 0:57:11.680 So all of that and I think, you know, I 0:57:11.719 --> 0:57:15.160 am never one that's going to be like yo, k't 0:57:15.160 --> 0:57:19.040 got championships because because he came here, Like no, he 0:57:19.040 --> 0:57:21.800 helped us get championships. Now, what I will say is 0:57:22.120 --> 0:57:24.600 he never gets a championship if he doesn't come here, 0:57:24.960 --> 0:57:27.840 because I just don't foresee that happening anywhere else or else. 0:57:27.880 --> 0:57:31.120 We would have saw it again, happened somewhere else. But 0:57:31.200 --> 0:57:34.040 it was a match made in heaven. You had us 0:57:34.080 --> 0:57:36.120 in the way we played our brand of basketball and 0:57:36.200 --> 0:57:38.920 him wanting to play that style of basketball. You have 0:57:39.400 --> 0:57:41.880 a face of a franchise and Steph Curry who's so 0:57:42.000 --> 0:57:45.480 secure in himself that he's not worried about another jugger 0:57:45.560 --> 0:57:48.080 not coming over and what that does to him or 0:57:48.080 --> 0:57:51.200 his legacy or how that you know, makes him where 0:57:51.320 --> 0:57:54.000 his standing is in a franchise, and so all of 0:57:54.040 --> 0:57:58.520 those things coming together. I agree with you like it was. 0:57:58.600 --> 0:58:02.440 It was absolutely insane. What I will say is definitely 0:58:03.040 --> 0:58:05.000 blue three to one lead. No one likes to talk 0:58:05.040 --> 0:58:07.240 about me can suspended Game five with them boys was 0:58:07.240 --> 0:58:09.440 about to get a gentleman sweet No one likes to 0:58:09.480 --> 0:58:11.840 talk about that, And it's okay. I'm cool with that. 0:58:11.960 --> 0:58:16.200 I don't mind. It's totally fine. But I am not 0:58:16.360 --> 0:58:18.760 one of those people who's on the bandwagon of like 0:58:19.640 --> 0:58:22.720 Kevin didn't do nothing. Kevin doesn't deserve them rings, like 0:58:22.760 --> 0:58:25.920 you don't win two finals MVPs if you don't deserve rings. 0:58:25.960 --> 0:58:28.600 That's just kind of a dumb thing to say, you know. 0:58:29.440 --> 0:58:33.200 Yeah, so I'm with you. I'm gonna hit you with 0:58:33.240 --> 0:58:37.720 this right because they always talk about the Lakers and 0:58:38.200 --> 0:58:41.520 when they repeat it, but they never mentioned they got 0:58:41.520 --> 0:58:43.760 their phantom foul. So that that. 0:58:44.840 --> 0:58:54.480 Gentlemen, absolutely. 0:58:56.040 --> 0:58:58.320 Isaiah Thomas, we should have been the first one to 0:58:58.400 --> 0:59:01.320 three pete in all air. The other thing I do 0:59:01.440 --> 0:59:04.080 want to I do want to give Steve Kurr some credit, 0:59:04.440 --> 0:59:09.880 you know, because the brilliant mind and the way he's 0:59:10.680 --> 0:59:13.840 he molded and got all of you to trust and 0:59:13.920 --> 0:59:17.920 believe that this was a great way to play. You know, 0:59:18.120 --> 0:59:20.960 so all the things that you said, I do want 0:59:21.000 --> 0:59:24.760 to add Steve Kurve on top of that because coaching 0:59:24.840 --> 0:59:28.080 really does matter, and he was the coach. 0:59:30.320 --> 0:59:31.120 Steve was great. 0:59:31.600 --> 0:59:33.400 One more question before we get out of here, because 0:59:33.400 --> 0:59:34.520 I could talk to you all day. 0:59:34.640 --> 0:59:38.040 I'm sitting here, I'm learning and this is great. 0:59:38.680 --> 0:59:42.360 Just one last question is this guy was born in Saginaw, Michigan. 0:59:42.400 --> 0:59:46.840 Popsters from Saginaw, Michigan. Obviously he didn't grow up in Saganow, 0:59:46.920 --> 0:59:50.320 but he got that Saganaw water somewhere in his veins, 0:59:50.320 --> 0:59:52.240 and so he is the way he is, I would 0:59:52.280 --> 0:59:55.280 like to think because he got that Saganaw blood. But 0:59:55.400 --> 1:00:00.360 Kenya Martin Senior once took Karl Malone out of a 1:00:00.440 --> 1:00:05.280 game and said he did that elbowed him because he 1:00:05.400 --> 1:00:06.840 cost you fourteen stitches. 1:00:06.880 --> 1:00:09.360 How have y'all ever talked about that moment? So how 1:00:09.360 --> 1:00:10.440 did that make you feel? 1:00:11.680 --> 1:00:16.800 I called him up and said thank you and actually 1:00:16.960 --> 1:00:21.760 gave me you know, you know, I'm going to supposedly 1:00:22.160 --> 1:00:24.760 hard guy. So I took forty two stitches in the head, 1:00:24.880 --> 1:00:29.960 not fourteen, right, But but and this is what I 1:00:30.000 --> 1:00:33.520 want to say to you, right, you you never know 1:00:33.680 --> 1:00:36.520 who you touch him, and you never know who that 1:00:36.600 --> 1:00:39.640 little kid is going to grow up to be. I 1:00:39.680 --> 1:00:46.640 had no idea that I had impacted Kenyan Martin, you know, 1:00:46.960 --> 1:00:50.800 NBA player Final, you know, in the NBA Final. I 1:00:50.840 --> 1:00:54.800 had no idea that I had impacted his life from 1:00:54.920 --> 1:00:59.000 Saginaw that way. I had never met him, didn't didn't 1:00:59.040 --> 1:01:01.640 didn't know it. And when I when I when I 1:01:01.680 --> 1:01:06.240 heard the story, right, you know, it's like right on, 1:01:06.560 --> 1:01:11.200 of course, I'm happy for that. But the fact that 1:01:11.360 --> 1:01:17.360 we in Michigan to this day, I don't care young 1:01:17.520 --> 1:01:23.800 or old. If it's a fight or get back, I'm down, right, 1:01:24.200 --> 1:01:28.520 I'm down. We were coming and it's like when you 1:01:28.640 --> 1:01:30.720 when you got in your little dust up. I call 1:01:30.880 --> 1:01:33.240 Rich I don't know if he said the first call. 1:01:33.360 --> 1:01:36.720 I was like, hey, man, tell Draymond, I'm here. 1:01:36.760 --> 1:01:38.840 You know, absolutely, I'm here. 1:01:39.080 --> 1:01:43.480 I mean that that that's the community in the state, 1:01:44.080 --> 1:01:47.240 that in the bond of basketball that's been formed there. 1:01:47.920 --> 1:01:50.680 And you know, it made me feel good that, you know, 1:01:51.120 --> 1:01:53.880 he got him back because I wanted to get him back, 1:01:53.920 --> 1:01:56.000 but you know, I want big enough to get him back. 1:01:56.040 --> 1:01:57.320 So I'm glad he got him back. 1:01:59.040 --> 1:02:02.040 Shout out the man. Kmart has some gray years in 1:02:02.080 --> 1:02:05.520 this league and was a dog. Shout out to him. Hey, 1:02:05.520 --> 1:02:08.320 but og Zeke, I appreciate you man, Thank you. You 1:02:08.480 --> 1:02:10.800 always welcome here. You want to talk about something, you 1:02:10.840 --> 1:02:14.160 want to drop some more knowledge the Draymond Green Show 1:02:14.680 --> 1:02:18.640 listeners and obviously myself can't thank you enough. 1:02:18.720 --> 1:02:20.680 We would love to have you any time you want 1:02:20.720 --> 1:02:21.080 to come. 1:02:21.480 --> 1:02:23.680 But also I just thank you for what you've been 1:02:24.440 --> 1:02:27.040 to the state of Michigan and the presence that you 1:02:27.120 --> 1:02:29.280 and Joe d and your guys brought to the state 1:02:29.280 --> 1:02:34.520 of Michigan as far as basketball goes, like I don't 1:02:34.560 --> 1:02:37.240 take that for granted, being a kid that grew up 1:02:37.280 --> 1:02:39.640 watching that you know, and for all that you've done 1:02:39.640 --> 1:02:42.160 for the game of basketball, being a legend that you are, 1:02:42.720 --> 1:02:43.840 the gyms you share. 1:02:43.880 --> 1:02:45.640 As far as business like, people don't. 1:02:45.640 --> 1:02:48.000 We didn't even get the chance to talk about all 1:02:48.040 --> 1:02:50.280 the things that you're doing in the business world. 1:02:51.000 --> 1:02:52.320 It's absolutely amazing. 1:02:52.360 --> 1:02:56.560 So from myself but also other players like we thank 1:02:56.600 --> 1:02:58.680 you for being who you are, what you've meant to 1:02:58.720 --> 1:03:00.360 this league, and what you continue. 1:03:00.160 --> 1:03:04.440 Me well, we love you and we're very proud of you. 1:03:04.480 --> 1:03:07.120 And you know you keep doing your thing, brother, because 1:03:07.200 --> 1:03:13.040 you you're changing the world, and you inspiring a little 1:03:13.120 --> 1:03:16.880 kid somewhere that's never met you. But one day we'll 1:03:16.960 --> 1:03:20.680 tell the story about how Draymond Green inspired him. So 1:03:21.480 --> 1:03:22.240 keep doing your. 1:03:22.080 --> 1:03:25.440 Things, yes, sir, well do. Thank you so much. I 1:03:25.480 --> 1:03:35.360 really appreciate you.