Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another episode of All the Smoke. Fam Oh,
Speaker 1: I see you're giving me pans now because you probably
Speaker 1: got some sweaty as hands anyway, not today. We got
Speaker 1: our brother man Paul George in the building. Man, appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. Just finally got you here. We were trying
Speaker 1: to long overdue. We've been trying to grab him since
Speaker 1: last season, but we got him here. Man, how are
Speaker 1: you in the family doing. I'm good. I'm good. I
Speaker 1: heard you just question. I'm ready. It's time, man, I'm thirty. Wife,
Speaker 1: you just turned thirty. I mean it was time. We're
Speaker 1: going into a new phase, new chapter in our lives.
Speaker 1: So you know, that's that's what I was waiting on.
Speaker 1: She ain't know I was waiting on that momentum of
Speaker 1: us turning thirty. But you know, I just I just
Speaker 1: realized it um, and it's it's dope. When you get
Speaker 1: to that maturity level where you you recognize when you
Speaker 1: do need to grow your ship up and take it
Speaker 1: to the next level. So we're in a good space.
Speaker 1: I'm happy to see that meat because me. I've been
Speaker 1: preaching because I made a lot of mistakes with women,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And I've been preaching, especially
Speaker 1: young black men, to find him a woman and build
Speaker 1: with that woman because all the baby mama ship that
Speaker 1: can end and all the money you can spend that
Speaker 1: can ruin your life easily. And we worked too hard,
Speaker 1: so hard to get to this point. So I commend
Speaker 1: you on taking that step because I'm preaching that to
Speaker 1: more young black men. Relations How is uh COVID been
Speaker 1: treating I mean, you're kind of an isolated person. You
Speaker 1: like to chill, so probably COVID really hasn't affected. Everyone's
Speaker 1: stayed healthy. You've been just chilling and working out in
Speaker 1: your Yeah. I just you know, a game man. I'd
Speaker 1: be on the game. I chop it up with the homies.
Speaker 1: We on you know, party, chats on the game all day.
Speaker 1: Jack thinks he could play the game too. CLD. I
Speaker 1: see that. I see that We're gonna have to connect
Speaker 1: on you. But you know what I mean, I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm a laid back, chill, low key person. Um, that's
Speaker 1: just how I been. You know, I ain't really the
Speaker 1: one to be in the scene and be out, I
Speaker 1: kicked back, I chill. I got little ones now to
Speaker 1: to to post up with. So that just be my vibe. Now,
Speaker 1: what's fatherhood like. It's dope. It's dope, man, especially my
Speaker 1: oldest is six. Baby girl just turned three, uh about
Speaker 1: two weeks ago. Um, so you know, I'm a I'm
Speaker 1: a girl dad full lou. It's dope to see yourself
Speaker 1: in you know, a little a little girl version of Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's it's it's just a different world, man.
Speaker 1: It's a different joy of different excitement to be able
Speaker 1: to be in the fatherhood. Uh. You know, I grew
Speaker 1: up with two parents. My my my dad was in
Speaker 1: my my life, my whole life, um, you know, and
Speaker 1: so it's it's just dope to have to remember those
Speaker 1: moments you had with your pops and then be able
Speaker 1: to create moments with your little ones and didn't find
Speaker 1: the similarities in between it. So, um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's an awesome experience. That's what's up. Um the bubble.
Speaker 1: How I was someone who from the beginning, just like yo,
Speaker 1: we're taking and people they make a bunch of money,
Speaker 1: they'll be fine. But I was just thinking about the
Speaker 1: human aspect. We're taking people during a pandemic, during a
Speaker 1: crazy racial field president fueling fires left and right, but
Speaker 1: we're putting you guys in the isolated bubble, something that's
Speaker 1: never been done. How offing the NBA for making sure
Speaker 1: you guys were safe first and foremost. But what was
Speaker 1: the experience, the human side of it outside of playing
Speaker 1: games and everything, because you were one of the people
Speaker 1: who actually spoke on the mental aspect, and how tough
Speaker 1: it was for you at times being in that bubble,
Speaker 1: isolated from your family in the world. Right, it was hard.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna lie. It was hard. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: up until this point ten years in. You know, you
Speaker 1: used to the you know, five star hotels. You used
Speaker 1: to um, you know, like people would be like, man,
Speaker 1: you used to living in the hotels. But it's it's
Speaker 1: just not the same like you used to being able
Speaker 1: to step out and go get you a nice dinner,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're on the road. Like so it
Speaker 1: was just a different environment. And then too because where
Speaker 1: we stayed we had no no balcony, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Are are we? I think we was only
Speaker 1: we was the only hotel that didn't have outside balconies.
Speaker 1: The other two uh um hotels that the other teams
Speaker 1: were staying on, they all had outside balcony so they
Speaker 1: can step out and get fresh air. For us to
Speaker 1: step out and get fresh air, like you had to
Speaker 1: like go see Milwaukee. You gotta go see the Lakers,
Speaker 1: like we all in the same and so I ain't
Speaker 1: I ain't like I ain't the one to kick it
Speaker 1: with others, like you're trying to win a championship, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Like and so for us to
Speaker 1: step out and and to do that, like you had
Speaker 1: to see other cats on the campus, and um, it
Speaker 1: was just hard. Like you face time and your your
Speaker 1: family at home, you face time and your kids. It
Speaker 1: just at at some point you start to break and
Speaker 1: it's like man, what am I doing here? Like this
Speaker 1: ain't it right here? Like I understand we're trying to
Speaker 1: win a championship and that's the focus, but it's just
Speaker 1: everything got to line up for this to happen, right,
Speaker 1: and um, you know to to to you know what
Speaker 1: it is. I give I tip my hats off to
Speaker 1: the Lakers for being able to accomplish that. Um, but
Speaker 1: myself I struggle with it. I had a hard time
Speaker 1: with it. Doctor's gone. T lewis in, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: me playing for that team and still being close to
Speaker 1: some people on the on the business side of it.
Speaker 1: You know, you hear there was some rumblings in the
Speaker 1: locker room and stuff was a little rougher than we
Speaker 1: thought it would be. Um, you guys seem to make
Speaker 1: it work and put it together as much as you can.
Speaker 1: What do you guys feel like, obviously with the letdown
Speaker 1: of last season, what do we eat the store for
Speaker 1: this upcoming season? Personally from you, but from a team
Speaker 1: as a whole. For me, you know, because a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of people like I don't know. I
Speaker 1: work out and I trained hard every summer. Right. This
Speaker 1: was the first summer I wasn't able to do that
Speaker 1: because I had this past summer going into last season
Speaker 1: was the first summer I wasn't able to do that
Speaker 1: because I had shoulder surgery. So I'm in the whole
Speaker 1: summer of training. Um, And so when I came back,
Speaker 1: the team was already you know what I mean, rolling,
Speaker 1: They already got you know what I mean. We didn't
Speaker 1: start off. We started off okay, but we didn't start
Speaker 1: off as well as we wanted to, but I feel
Speaker 1: like they already had a little chemistry going. Um. And
Speaker 1: so when I came into the mix, I'm I missed
Speaker 1: a whole Like I missed that time in the summer
Speaker 1: of playing pickup ball, hooping, getting a rhythm, getting the flow,
Speaker 1: working on my game, the timing right. So when I
Speaker 1: came back into the league and started playing again, and
Speaker 1: I just fell off, like I didn't feel like a
Speaker 1: part of the team. And then you know, the way
Speaker 1: I was being used, I felt like I was you know,
Speaker 1: Doc was trying to play me as like a Ray
Speaker 1: Allen or like a JJ Red all pinned downs all
Speaker 1: like I could do it. But that ain't my game,
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean. I need some flow,
Speaker 1: I need some mixes and picking rolls, I need some
Speaker 1: post ups, just different touches, you know what I mean. Um.
Speaker 1: And So it was just, you know that last season
Speaker 1: was just hard overall. But I think for this year,
Speaker 1: you know, we everybody's starting off on on a healthy page.
Speaker 1: We're starting off on the same page. UM. Me and
Speaker 1: Kauaire gonna get some time together working out. Um. I
Speaker 1: think everything is just not rushed going into this season.
Speaker 1: I helt last year everything was kind I think it
Speaker 1: happened for a reason. I think you're gonna benefit from
Speaker 1: that because going through the wars, with the wars and
Speaker 1: the struggles and ups and dimes I went to in
Speaker 1: the bubble. Now you're coming out to start agett with
Speaker 1: a new coach, with a fresh amount of coach, with
Speaker 1: a guy who probably y'all probably could communicate more with
Speaker 1: because he's more close to our age and we kind
Speaker 1: of you know what I'm saying, we come from that
Speaker 1: same era. But at this I think y'all benefit from
Speaker 1: those those hard times. Y'all come together more this year
Speaker 1: because y'all started from scratch being in training camp together.
Speaker 1: It makes a big difference. Bro. It makes a big
Speaker 1: difference for our team going together. And once you'll get that,
Speaker 1: I think you'll be fine, right, And I just think
Speaker 1: the understand I mean, you gotta think, for the first
Speaker 1: time the Clippers were picked to win the championship, when
Speaker 1: was the last time you ever heard that? A lot
Speaker 1: of added pressure on that, and then, like you said,
Speaker 1: not being able to gain that chemistry from the jump,
Speaker 1: and people can say what they want, chemistry is the
Speaker 1: key to championships. What nobody says, the chemistry has got
Speaker 1: to be there, you know, at least why you're playing,
Speaker 1: and to not have that was tough, you know, But
Speaker 1: I was someone who picked you guys. I think I
Speaker 1: thought you guys were built to beat who we thought
Speaker 1: was going to be in the West Finals. And I'm
Speaker 1: sure you felt the same way. How tough was it,
Speaker 1: you know, going in and having that lead on Denver
Speaker 1: and then seeing them walk y'all down and walk y'all
Speaker 1: out pretty much, Yeah, it was. It was tough because,
Speaker 1: like you know, we was confident. We felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: we was. We went up three one, We felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, we're gonna win the next one we lost,
Speaker 1: were like, cool, we are three to we're gonna win
Speaker 1: the next one we lost. But during that, during that
Speaker 1: whole process, like we we never worked on adjustments, We
Speaker 1: never worked on what to do differently. We just literally
Speaker 1: having the same ship happened over and over again. So
Speaker 1: it was it started to play a trick on you, like, man,
Speaker 1: like what's going on? Like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: we're talking amongst each other, like the conversation is like
Speaker 1: we're gonna be all right. The conversation should have been
Speaker 1: like no, we need to change this. Yeah, we need
Speaker 1: to switch this up. We need so it we we
Speaker 1: wasn't like at the end of the day, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't think we deserved it. We wasn't prepared enough
Speaker 1: going into it from you know, um just us making
Speaker 1: adjustment standpoint. We wasn't prepared. We didn't put the work
Speaker 1: into it. It was kind of just like, Yo, we
Speaker 1: got PG, we got quiet, we got little trash like
Speaker 1: we we're gonna be straight, We're gonna figure it out.
Speaker 1: All that ship on paper looks good, you know, like
Speaker 1: and I and I related to like, we didn't practice
Speaker 1: during this the whole year. Um, And it's that's hard
Speaker 1: to do when you're putting a fresh new group of
Speaker 1: guys because the problems you have during games, those ships
Speaker 1: can get iron out in practice, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: You're gonna bump heads and practice, but you're gonna come
Speaker 1: out of that practice like better. Okay, I understand this, dude.
Speaker 1: I know where he's coming from. When it happened during games,
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna rub a little differently. Be hard to
Speaker 1: come back from that doing it. It's hard to come
Speaker 1: back from that, especially in the playoffs. Right right, and
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, that's that's what he on, So all right,
Speaker 1: I got you. And that's just kind of how the how,
Speaker 1: how the team, you know what I mean, that's just
Speaker 1: kind of how we was, how how we went about
Speaker 1: it after stuff starts, you know, unfolding it and wrapping
Speaker 1: some sort of islands. That's how it happened on little
Speaker 1: Dramond and Katie. They didn't win it, and that could
Speaker 1: have been a big, big part of it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, not being not been on the same page.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about your upbringing, palm deal um, your
Speaker 1: mom falls ill stroke as a child. How old were
Speaker 1: you at that point? I was. I was nine years
Speaker 1: old when I happened to my mom. Talked to us
Speaker 1: about that time and what you were thinking, Man, I didn't,
Speaker 1: to be honest, I don't know what was going on.
Speaker 1: I was I was literally outside in the front yard
Speaker 1: playing hoops um, and then uh, I see an ambulance
Speaker 1: struck pull up to the house and I'm like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm still like, I'm thinking they're just about to pass us,
Speaker 1: Like they're about to pass my house up, keep going.
Speaker 1: They put up and they stopped literally like right in
Speaker 1: front of the court. So I'm like, yo, what's going on? Then? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, they rushed in the house, they grabbed my
Speaker 1: Mom's like, I see my mom's getting carted out on
Speaker 1: the stretcher. So I'm like, man, what And I'm nice,
Speaker 1: So I don't know what's going on. It's like to
Speaker 1: be honest, like my first time seeing an ambulance truck
Speaker 1: like up close right here. So you know, I'm asking questions.
Speaker 1: You know, my dad trying to keep everybody calming and collected.
Speaker 1: He's like, you know, mom just got a little sick.
Speaker 1: At this time, they don't know what what happened. Um.
Speaker 1: So you know they're doing the whole diagnosis to testing
Speaker 1: and I'm noticing, like all right, it's been like a
Speaker 1: day now, moms and came back home where she at
Speaker 1: like and so, um, we get the phone call. You know,
Speaker 1: she had a stroke, She had two blood cloths. Um.
Speaker 1: At one point she was pronounced dead. Um. So you
Speaker 1: know at nine that that shake your whole world up.
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, like what what what is like? Please
Speaker 1: give me answers to what's what's going on? Um? So
Speaker 1: after that, we go visit my mom. We go see
Speaker 1: her and it was crazy seeing my mom like as
Speaker 1: a baby. She couldn't talk, she couldn't like nothing, she
Speaker 1: couldn't move. She's just looking at us and her eyes
Speaker 1: is telling us everything. She couldn't communicate. It was like
Speaker 1: she was a baby, a vegetable. And you know, I
Speaker 1: like froze up in that moment. And I you know,
Speaker 1: I spent just so much time as a family. We
Speaker 1: just spent so much time just sleeping at the hospital,
Speaker 1: staying at the hospital. Then uh, you know, this was
Speaker 1: like months moms was at the hospital. Then they finally
Speaker 1: allowed her to come home. She still was, you know,
Speaker 1: hospitalized in the hospital bed inside our home. I used
Speaker 1: to sleep right by my mom's We put in the
Speaker 1: living room every night. I'll sleep right there by my
Speaker 1: moms make sure she was all right. Um, but it
Speaker 1: it did a lot for me. It kind of motivated
Speaker 1: me and and really like lit a fuse to like
Speaker 1: I knew I always wanted to be a ball player,
Speaker 1: but that's what like kind of put me on that
Speaker 1: path to like I don't got a choice, like I
Speaker 1: would want to, Yeah, I gotta do this, And so
Speaker 1: it just it motivated me as a kid, um growing
Speaker 1: up Kobe was a big fan of yours. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: my bad just had a moment real quick. Rest in
Speaker 1: peace to our brother man. So Kobe was obviously idle
Speaker 1: of yours any memorable moments obviously growing up you know,
Speaker 1: kind of on the outskirts of l A, you got
Speaker 1: to see him and winning his rings. Uh you know
Speaker 1: someone you modeled your game after. What was What was
Speaker 1: it about Kobe that drew you to him? It was
Speaker 1: just as a coach, Um, Like I was actually talking
Speaker 1: to somebody today about Um, you know I loved him
Speaker 1: growing up. My household was was Lakers. Uh you know
Speaker 1: recipes my grandmother, My grandmother was the biggest Lakers fan,
Speaker 1: biggest Kobe fan. Um. So it was just always on
Speaker 1: at the house and I just love like, you know,
Speaker 1: he he didn't care. Like his approach to the game.
Speaker 1: Remember quote he said, uh, like good players are supposed
Speaker 1: to make you look bad, like that's their job. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take that challenge, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: They're supposed to make me look stupid out here. And
Speaker 1: that always like resonated with me, Like I don't care,
Speaker 1: like if I get crossed, I get cross if I
Speaker 1: get dunked, on, I get dunked one, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: take that challenge. It's fun no very And I remember
Speaker 1: I was, I was going it was my senior years.
Speaker 1: First time I've seen Kobe play. It was my senior year,
Speaker 1: going to be a freshman in college. Um, I went
Speaker 1: to Staples to go see t Mac and Kobe square off. Uh.
Speaker 1: T Mac was was on Kobe's ass. T Mac gave
Speaker 1: Kobe everything. I think he finished with like thirty something.
Speaker 1: I think that Houston won that game. But but really
Speaker 1: what's stood out was Kobe was guarding t Mac. T
Speaker 1: Mack wouldn't guard code and that stood out to me.
Speaker 1: That was one thing that like, I got to see
Speaker 1: because Tea Mac is my my second favorite player, so
Speaker 1: I got to see t Mac in his you know,
Speaker 1: his element. I saw. I saw a t mac um
Speaker 1: you know, a raish stuff that I wanted to work on.
Speaker 1: I got to see t Mac live doing it. But
Speaker 1: what stood out to me it was like, man, this
Speaker 1: dude Kobe, like he taking that challenge, He's trying to
Speaker 1: check him. Uh And from that day on, it was like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's my guy. That's my guy. Any memorable stories
Speaker 1: once you got a chance to get in the league
Speaker 1: and play against him, or any battles that come to
Speaker 1: mind when you're thinking, yeah, yeah, A couple, man, a couple.
Speaker 1: I remember the first time I got to play him,
Speaker 1: and we had b Shaw as an assistant and in Indiana,
Speaker 1: in Andy and like b Shaw talking ship from the bench,
Speaker 1: Egg and cob on he you know, code, young fellow
Speaker 1: on you, young fellow on you code. So there's one
Speaker 1: play we're down on the end right in front of
Speaker 1: the Lakers bench. Kobe hit me boom, you know, his
Speaker 1: little shimmy. He gave me an elbow boom. Felt it.
Speaker 1: I'm this this is my what second year, so I'm
Speaker 1: like to twenty, I'm light. He gave me an elbow boom.
Speaker 1: I felt it. Gave me the pump. I go for it, right, pump, go,
Speaker 1: try to block the ship. He ended up scoring. He
Speaker 1: run down. He looked at b Shaw. He said, Yo,
Speaker 1: tell the young feller check checking for feathers. Yo. I'll
Speaker 1: right here next to you. But you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: it was it was, you know, after the game, he
Speaker 1: showed love, you know, he you know, showed me mad love.
Speaker 1: You know, gave me words of motivation, keep me keep
Speaker 1: me uh, you know, motivated to keep going. Um. But
Speaker 1: that was most memorable. And then the opportunity, you know,
Speaker 1: I played him his last go around, played him in
Speaker 1: l A and when he came to Indy. Um, that
Speaker 1: was you know, moments that of stand out. And I'll
Speaker 1: never forget getting to play him in Indy his last
Speaker 1: go around, getting a win on him on his last
Speaker 1: go around. Um. And then we had an intimate moment.
Speaker 1: You know, he was going through his whole tour. After
Speaker 1: the games, he'll come chop it up, you know, me
Speaker 1: in the locker room with with everybody, and it was
Speaker 1: just me and him. Um, he came to the locker
Speaker 1: room and it was just me and him, just had
Speaker 1: a moment and UM, it was awesome, man, it was
Speaker 1: It was dope to share that moment. But year was
Speaker 1: that for you? Let me see, not it's your six, Yep,
Speaker 1: it's your six. Um when did you know, like you said,
Speaker 1: you found out at nine or you told yourself at
Speaker 1: nine when your mom got sick. But when did that
Speaker 1: start becoming a reality that you actually had a chance
Speaker 1: to become an NBA player? I think in uh, in
Speaker 1: middle school, Um, I felt I had a chance. Um,
Speaker 1: just because I knew I was unique. I was in
Speaker 1: my middle school, I was playing point and I was
Speaker 1: by far the tallest kid. Um. Everywhere we played, I
Speaker 1: was the tallest kid and I was playing the point guard. UM.
Speaker 1: And I knew then like I'm different from what all
Speaker 1: these kids are and uh, you know, and I just
Speaker 1: came from me watching Team mag watching cold big guards.
Speaker 1: They was inspiring me. And that's that's kind of when
Speaker 1: when I knew, you know, I got a chance at this.
Speaker 1: So you end up going to Fresnel State, turning down
Speaker 1: places like Georgetown, Penn State. What was the overall the
Speaker 1: factor that just made you decided to go to Fresnel State.
Speaker 1: It was basically me just being a family first, hid
Speaker 1: um and my parents were super supportive. They literally went
Speaker 1: to every game. So it was basically making it easier
Speaker 1: on them the trip that they can catch me, you know,
Speaker 1: catch all the games they want to. UM. That's that
Speaker 1: was the only factor that came down. UM. At that point,
Speaker 1: I've probably only been out of state maybe one one
Speaker 1: or two times, so it was like, man, I would
Speaker 1: have been uncomfortable being far away from home. It was
Speaker 1: the closest UM. So It's like, Man, if I can
Speaker 1: make it here, let's do it. Almost a year to
Speaker 1: the day your jersey was retired, hung in the Raptors.
Speaker 1: How they make you feel? It was dope? Man, it
Speaker 1: was awesome. A lot of great moments experiences there. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I think it was more so what I
Speaker 1: did in the league than than what I did and Fresno,
Speaker 1: be honest, I didn't do as much as I wanted
Speaker 1: to in college. So um, it was just dope though
Speaker 1: for them to honor it. Um, to be the first person, uh,
Speaker 1: to be hung up basketball player, to be hung up
Speaker 1: in the save Mars Center, which is a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't know. Man, it's like an NBA arena. Um,
Speaker 1: So it was dope to be get my jersey hung
Speaker 1: up in there. So tense picking the draft, You're going
Speaker 1: to Indiana. Any memorable draft nights stories or leading up
Speaker 1: to the draft that that's stuck with you, Uh, just
Speaker 1: the whole the whole process. Um, because you know, I
Speaker 1: got called to be in New York, um for a
Speaker 1: draft night, and uh, that was my first time. That
Speaker 1: was the first time my grandmother got on the plane.
Speaker 1: It was the first time my dad flew on the
Speaker 1: plane first time my mom flew on a plane. Um,
Speaker 1: and so they flew from Cali to New York. Um,
Speaker 1: so just the whole experience like it was, it was
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm a small town kid. So for
Speaker 1: for my parents to experience the stuff we experienced going
Speaker 1: through that process was you know, it was it was
Speaker 1: the world to me like that was that was the
Speaker 1: draft right there. We won at that moment um. So
Speaker 1: just you know, having new memories was was awesome. Callie
Speaker 1: to Indiana, What was that like for you personally? Jack
Speaker 1: played out there, Jack Nova, Yes, that almost everything off.
Speaker 1: Shooting ship, ship up and the stands all kind of ship.
Speaker 1: I love. As far as the organization though, I have
Speaker 1: to say this, Donnie Washing is my guy because a
Speaker 1: lot of people tried to bury us and they had
Speaker 1: out back, you know what I mean. For that side
Speaker 1: of it, the organization was solid. But the city it's
Speaker 1: a lot of haters out definitely, It's a lot. It's
Speaker 1: a lot. And it was different. Going from Cali to
Speaker 1: Indie was different. Um, the weather, the people, the city,
Speaker 1: restaurants like it was. It was just a different experience. Um.
Speaker 1: It opened me up to a lot of stuff. I'm
Speaker 1: happy I went to Indie as a rookie UM because
Speaker 1: it allowed me to really like just lock in as
Speaker 1: a player work on my game. It was nothing else
Speaker 1: to do, UM, you know, and and it was just
Speaker 1: a good like switch up for me to be out there. UM.
Speaker 1: That's all I'm gonna say. On Indie, I ain't really
Speaker 1: you know, vibe with a lot of the front office
Speaker 1: people after they made the change, UM and Larry kind
Speaker 1: of stepped off and stepped away from the team. Different
Speaker 1: management took over. UM. And at that point I understood,
Speaker 1: like the business business partners you guys, you guys had
Speaker 1: some sort of a falling out on your exit, right.
Speaker 1: I remember you said something you would say one day
Speaker 1: what happened? And I think you might have spoke on it.
Speaker 1: But what I did, I didn't hear what happened, Like,
Speaker 1: what happened? What was the falling out? Well, it was,
Speaker 1: it was so and I took a lot of heat
Speaker 1: for it. But it is what it is. UM. So
Speaker 1: we do Uh. It's a it's a softball game that
Speaker 1: we do in Indie. UM. It's for you know, the
Speaker 1: raise awareness for UM cancer UM in Indiana, and so
Speaker 1: we we do this every every year and a lot
Speaker 1: of people like Roy used to be the face of it.
Speaker 1: He got traded away. So then I took it over
Speaker 1: um with Robert Mathis. Um. Yeah, so we took it
Speaker 1: over and I and I joined, you know, part with
Speaker 1: him to kind of keep that game in that tradition going. Um.
Speaker 1: So we did that. I got interviewed and they like,
Speaker 1: you know, PG, do you want to stay here? Like
Speaker 1: what's your plans? And at that point, that's where like
Speaker 1: I grew up a Kobe fan. Kobe stayed in l A.
Speaker 1: That's all I knew. I want to stay with the
Speaker 1: organization and drafted me and see what happens there, Like
Speaker 1: I want to I wanna Indie didn't have a championship
Speaker 1: that they still don't, but I wanted to be the
Speaker 1: first one to bring that to him. Um. So you know,
Speaker 1: I go through the whole press after the event, say
Speaker 1: I want to stay here, like this is home, this
Speaker 1: is this is where I want to win. On that
Speaker 1: Then that night and before we get to that point,
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff happened. I had you know that
Speaker 1: that season, Uh, let me, I'm backtracking, But that season
Speaker 1: before we got to that, that summer that season. Uh,
Speaker 1: my name came up in trade talks. So I had,
Speaker 1: you know, the front office meet me in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: It was All Star weekend in New Orleans. I had
Speaker 1: the front office meet me in New Orleans, chop it
Speaker 1: up with him, Like, my agent come down, like what
Speaker 1: is these trade talks? Like am I am I? Y'all guy?
Speaker 1: Or am I not? Like let me know? So they're like, no,
Speaker 1: we're not moving you. We're not touching you, like you know,
Speaker 1: you our future, like you're our centerpiece. Like so they're
Speaker 1: telling me all the good stuff. Literally, right before trade deadline,
Speaker 1: my agent get calls again like yo, pgs on like
Speaker 1: they're saying pgs on the markets teams like asking about
Speaker 1: them and they're having conversations. So that was like strike two,
Speaker 1: strike three, you know what I mean. All the other
Speaker 1: stuff was then moving other pieces around me. That was
Speaker 1: like my brothers and just moving them. I'm waking up,
Speaker 1: you know, getting messages like hey, this person is traded
Speaker 1: this and I don't have no like it's cool. I ain't.
Speaker 1: I ain't in the front office. That ain't my job,
Speaker 1: that stair job, but let me know please, Like so
Speaker 1: that was like strike ones and twos. And now when
Speaker 1: I hear my name and trade talks that strike three. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, especially after you tell me we could, right,
Speaker 1: we just had a we just had a lunch about this.
Speaker 1: So fast forward to the to the moment where we
Speaker 1: do this game. I get interview still saying I want
Speaker 1: to be here, this is my home that night, and
Speaker 1: and and mind you, I think I said, uh, we
Speaker 1: had a top three player in the league at this time.
Speaker 1: Power forward. That was that I was trying to get
Speaker 1: to come to and he wanted to come. I bring
Speaker 1: it to the front office. They ain't do They debt
Speaker 1: at it. Did you ever say who that was? It
Speaker 1: was a D D ME and a D talk um
Speaker 1: ad wanted to come to Indy close to Chicago. He
Speaker 1: was like, man, it's perfect. Y'all got something going over there,
Speaker 1: so imagine that. So right, So I bring that to
Speaker 1: the front office. They debt at it. We can't do
Speaker 1: a small market, la la lata. I'm like, man, all right.
Speaker 1: So then that night, go back to after we did
Speaker 1: the baseball or yeah, the charity game. That night, they
Speaker 1: called me up like you know, I got we got
Speaker 1: this player and we're looking at that player and these
Speaker 1: two players. Is we're not winning with these two guys
Speaker 1: that they named. So I called my agent, like, man,
Speaker 1: what what am I doing here? They don't want to
Speaker 1: win like they in my it and what I think? Honestly,
Speaker 1: I don't want to bash the organization because it was
Speaker 1: wonderful people there, but in my opinion, I think it's
Speaker 1: an organization that just care to be competitive. They don't
Speaker 1: care to win. They got pressure from the from the
Speaker 1: city of Indiana to be competitive and that's where they hang.
Speaker 1: They had on um They just want to be a
Speaker 1: team that can compete and their chance of winning it
Speaker 1: they're gonna have to do it in the draft building.
Speaker 1: That's gonna take forever. So I called my agent, like, man,
Speaker 1: get me out of here, like they don't want to win.
Speaker 1: I'm wasting time here. I came off of surgery, Larry
Speaker 1: trying to give me to play BEFOD coming back like
Speaker 1: it was just a bunch of stuff. I just I
Speaker 1: threw the towel in and um man, I just asked
Speaker 1: to get out of there. And that's how that hall
Speaker 1: all that kind of transport. After getting drafted, getting to
Speaker 1: the NBA, what was your welcome to the NBA moment. Welcome, my, my, my,
Speaker 1: my real welcome to the NBA moment was the first
Speaker 1: time I've seen Boston play and they had Rondo, Ray,
Speaker 1: Paul p KG and shot and all them casts on
Speaker 1: the floor at the same time. That was that was like, legit,
Speaker 1: my first welcome to the NBA moment right there, he said,
Speaker 1: this is like the monster. It was like I'm watching
Speaker 1: from the bench, like wow, like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: people were watching these dudes, idolizing these dudes, and now
Speaker 1: I'm I'm that close. I was in a suit and ship,
Speaker 1: but in my mind, I'm like, I'm that close to
Speaker 1: get in there. Uh So it was just a dope.
Speaker 1: It was a dope moment to see it and to
Speaker 1: be able to witness that you didn't experience immediate success.
Speaker 1: How did that keep you focused and grinding, being all
Speaker 1: the way away from home and then not really being
Speaker 1: able to get off right at the beginning? How did
Speaker 1: you stay locked in? Uh? It was you know what
Speaker 1: I hated the dude? It was our coach, Jim O'Brien.
Speaker 1: Hated Jim O'Brien. Yeah, uh, yeah, exactly exactly. But you
Speaker 1: know what, the one lesson it made me better. Um,
Speaker 1: he was the reason I stayed locked in. He would like,
Speaker 1: and I get it, head coach, they don't want to
Speaker 1: talk to the too directly to the star players. But
Speaker 1: it'd be a little shit like we'll watch film and
Speaker 1: I'll be in at that game and he'll point out
Speaker 1: ship that He'll call my name out, like you skinny prick,
Speaker 1: like you see, this is what you gotta do. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm in a suit, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like what did you coming at me for? But I'm
Speaker 1: a rookie song like, man, i gotta take it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. I gotta take it on the chin.
Speaker 1: And he would just do little stuff and practice, He'll
Speaker 1: call me names film, he'll call me out, and like
Speaker 1: I said, it'd be stuff that I ain't had no
Speaker 1: parts of. He kept me locked in like alright, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm gonna show your ass. Yeah. So every practice I
Speaker 1: used to be on that like the vanscuse be like man,
Speaker 1: real like chill out, exact exactly every we was on
Speaker 1: them every practice. It was a scout team. So we
Speaker 1: had to mimic the Lebrons, we had to mimic the
Speaker 1: d ways. We was on a who was some of
Speaker 1: your events on that team? I had cool MANU Grange
Speaker 1: and James Posey, t j Uh, Jeff Foster, Um, don't leave.
Speaker 1: But you know how good Danny Grange would have been
Speaker 1: if he didn't get hurt. I tell people this all
Speaker 1: the time I played with and Grange was a bucket man.
Speaker 1: Grange was a bucket. He could do it with the
Speaker 1: best at all, get to the money at all. He
Speaker 1: just knew how to score. He you know, it was
Speaker 1: no skill work, but he knew how to play. He
Speaker 1: knew how to get a bucket. Uh. And I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from Danny, you know what I mean, just
Speaker 1: sitting back and observing. He's solid, too strong, you know,
Speaker 1: just a good all around dude. UM. So you know
Speaker 1: I have some good vests to be around Big Roy.
Speaker 1: Roy took me on this wing early, some cool people
Speaker 1: to be around you. Uh. You hit, you hit. You
Speaker 1: ran into Miami's Big three right when Indiana started to
Speaker 1: experienced some success in the playoffs. In two thousand and twelve,
Speaker 1: you guys lost in the second round and then thirteen
Speaker 1: and fourteen Eastern Conference finals in games one year, six
Speaker 1: games another What year was the year you dunked on
Speaker 1: Chris Anderson. That was that was my first year. That
Speaker 1: was you gave them the most problems when you you
Speaker 1: gave you was the nuisance to my Yeah, yeah, it was, man,
Speaker 1: it was just you know, it was an opportunity, and um,
Speaker 1: we was the underdogs. Nobody expected nothing from US. Coach Vogel.
Speaker 1: Shout out coach Vogel. He gave me really the keys
Speaker 1: to just go. And I wasn't scared battle. It was
Speaker 1: like we they had the pressure on them, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. We Uh, we had a culture where
Speaker 1: we played hard and that that translates like playing hard
Speaker 1: was was was a skill, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And we had that. Um, so we wasn't gonna back
Speaker 1: down regardless of who we played. You know, I just
Speaker 1: wished I was more experienced when that time came around.
Speaker 1: Like looking at it now, you know, I wasn't where
Speaker 1: I needed to be from maturity level. Um take that challenge,
Speaker 1: But I knew I wasn't scared for the moment. First
Speaker 1: and foremost, that's the most important. Who were up Some
Speaker 1: of your favorite teammates in Indiana, oh Man, mante mate
Speaker 1: cool cool Man country is hell to two times. Oh
Speaker 1: We'll tell you one time, just quick story. We got
Speaker 1: and what year was at the Was that the week
Speaker 1: re least season year year I got there, We got
Speaker 1: the last game of the season, but I think it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was the last record game. We got a tattoo.
Speaker 1: We got him tattooed with my tattoo arts. You got
Speaker 1: the same little cross on his arm. This mo Funer
Speaker 1: came back next summer with more had no tattoos. He
Speaker 1: had more than all of us next year back like
Speaker 1: one summer. Boy took a lot of people none when
Speaker 1: we got there, zero none zero still took bathe two
Speaker 1: times like that. That's my guy. Yeah, it's but monte
Speaker 1: g Hill, uh roy uh Lance the West craziest. I
Speaker 1: played with Crazy Hill. But you know, like people don't understand.
Speaker 1: It's like he wanted motherfucker's you. You love to play with,
Speaker 1: hate to play again. I played with We got so
Speaker 1: we got traded for so me and Doc got into it.
Speaker 1: And that's how it was the first trade of the
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Like I got traded at twelve o two
Speaker 1: at it because I was about the whoop Docks asked.
Speaker 1: So I got traded for Lance that season and then
Speaker 1: we ended up playing together because they traded for Jeff
Speaker 1: Green from Memphis to go to UH to the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and they traded Lance to me. So that was my
Speaker 1: first time playing with Lance. Just real misunderstood, like great hill,
Speaker 1: a great heart, great intentions, burnt out a little bit,
Speaker 1: but just like really wanted to win. I really fun
Speaker 1: with Lance, say, first team all burnt. He's somebody that
Speaker 1: that that he definitely gotta get because because he is
Speaker 1: misunderstood a lot of people understand. He one of the
Speaker 1: most down the earth like cool dudes. Man, like take
Speaker 1: pictures with anybody, show love to anybody, just on the court.
Speaker 1: Like you understand his his his upbringing. His mindset was
Speaker 1: just to kill on the court. So he's gonna do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes. But off the court man one of
Speaker 1: the most laid back, coolest dudes, as funny as hell. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got story. I've had it for like three or
Speaker 1: four months that they have some stories and videos and baggage.
Speaker 1: Um August first, two thousand four teens walk us through
Speaker 1: the moment leading up to man something I dam shed
Speaker 1: a tear four seeing yeah, so uh you know it was.
Speaker 1: It was just crazy because the whole like I felt
Speaker 1: good that morning. Everything was was solid, everything felt normal.
Speaker 1: Then we're going through the shoot around. I'm hitting like
Speaker 1: this is before the scrimmage. So you know, we're shooting around,
Speaker 1: I'm hitting everything falling. I feel good the ball like
Speaker 1: you you knowing you in that moment where the ball
Speaker 1: you just feel connected with the rock, feel like that
Speaker 1: in high school, go ahead. So I just felt like,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, I'm about to destroy. And
Speaker 1: then I'm coming off of that the second time playing Miami,
Speaker 1: and I felt that much closer, like I was in
Speaker 1: a good place. I felt like I was ready that
Speaker 1: next year to take over UM and be able to
Speaker 1: upset and and go at Brown real for real, for real.
Speaker 1: So I felt good in coump Usa camp. I felt good,
Speaker 1: and that shoot around game comes around exact opposite. I
Speaker 1: could make a shot, uh Like I just I just
Speaker 1: everything that I felt in that shoot around, like it
Speaker 1: completely was gone. I couldn't buy a bucket. So now
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, I gotta do something to to
Speaker 1: just leave an in print. That's how I play, like,
Speaker 1: I gotta leave a print on the game. So and
Speaker 1: it's a scrimmage, I could have just let James, go
Speaker 1: take the bucket. In my mind though, I ain't making
Speaker 1: no shots, like I gotta do something and make it
Speaker 1: back in this game. So I see James, he get
Speaker 1: the breakaway. Oh, get on the horse, try to go
Speaker 1: catch him, try to go get it, end up missing.
Speaker 1: I think I filed him. Then I hit the stanching
Speaker 1: and I didn't nothing. I didn't feel nothing at that moment.
Speaker 1: I remember I'm on the ground though, and I tried
Speaker 1: to get up and I'm like wait, hold up, and
Speaker 1: then I it was crazy because if everything happened in
Speaker 1: slow mode, I can hear the crowd, like like I
Speaker 1: can hear the gas. I'm looking like as I'm trying
Speaker 1: to stand, I noticed I can't stand, so I I
Speaker 1: like just look back, can see like my surroundings. I
Speaker 1: see phones and ship coming out. Like I'm like wait,
Speaker 1: So I look at my leg and by the time
Speaker 1: I look at my leg, you know, shout out the trainer.
Speaker 1: I forget. I forget. Yeah, he came through the towel
Speaker 1: on it and he like he as I'm trying to
Speaker 1: get up, he like hold my chest down, like yo,
Speaker 1: just relax, You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay.
Speaker 1: So then that's when the panic hit, and still I
Speaker 1: didn't feel it, like just so much adrenaline was going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: my body and shocked. So I just that's why I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm laying there and I'm I'm like this, I'm not
Speaker 1: really understand what's going on. So I see my mom's
Speaker 1: come down, I see my pops come down, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're like, you're gonna be okay, son, You're gonna be okay, son.
Speaker 1: And the part where it started to hurt, when the
Speaker 1: stretcher came and they had to move my leg and
Speaker 1: pick it up to put it on, that's when I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, but I'm still in shocks. So it's
Speaker 1: like I feel it, but I don't feel it. M
Speaker 1: Then they carted me off, you know, I go into
Speaker 1: the ambulance. My mom goes inside with me, you know,
Speaker 1: and the whole time she's still like, you're gonna be
Speaker 1: stronger for me. She will be okay from this um,
Speaker 1: you know. And it man, it was it was what's
Speaker 1: that next hours? Like, did you go immediately into surgery
Speaker 1: right under? Yeah? I think I was like within the
Speaker 1: hour I was, I was in surgery. Yeah, as soon
Speaker 1: as I got to the hospital, they took me in
Speaker 1: right away. If you wait, the swelling won't let you yep. Um.
Speaker 1: So they was like, you know, it's best that we
Speaker 1: just take care of this. We handled it right away.
Speaker 1: As soon as I got to the hospital, I was
Speaker 1: literally they you know, gave me the stuff to to
Speaker 1: knock me out. I went right under. I woke up, um,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just was like sore, I was
Speaker 1: hurting um, but was uplifting was though, just everybody reaching out.
Speaker 1: It was so many phone calls, I had so many
Speaker 1: text messages, tweets, d n It was just it was
Speaker 1: just a bunch of of and so that's that's kind
Speaker 1: of what what kept me cool through that moment. Being
Speaker 1: said a lot about you though, Bro. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like it's it's certain it's especially niggas. Niggas
Speaker 1: go through ship that don't even be that dramatic and
Speaker 1: give up. You know what I'm saying. You had this
Speaker 1: could have been a career ending injury like you could
Speaker 1: have you could have shut it down going through all
Speaker 1: that for the world to see during the USA Games
Speaker 1: like that was big boring, Like as basketball players, like
Speaker 1: he said, I felt it and he cried because like, Dog,
Speaker 1: that's that's the last thing we wanted to see see,
Speaker 1: the last thing we want to see somebody we love
Speaker 1: watching play basketball. And then then again, he's one of
Speaker 1: our brothers, you know what I'm saying. So that's the
Speaker 1: last thing we want to see. But I command you
Speaker 1: both from fighting back and being better than you was
Speaker 1: before that happened. Dog, I salute you for that, doctors,
Speaker 1: because we always tore down when that happened. And I
Speaker 1: took a lot from from from your page because I
Speaker 1: don't know if you remember, uh, Josh Corbille and Cary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so as a rookie, they was like they used to
Speaker 1: rave about you because they're like, man, we had Jack.
Speaker 1: Jack will get hurt and he would practice through it.
Speaker 1: He would play through it like he never complained, He
Speaker 1: never set out so that that that was like, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I gotta do to I'm gonna carry that
Speaker 1: towards you know what I mean. Um, So I command
Speaker 1: you for for inspired me to just you know, push on.
Speaker 1: That's why it's like now at this moment when I
Speaker 1: see cats like and I've been taking a lot of
Speaker 1: heat through playoffs, performances and all that. I've been injured.
Speaker 1: I get hurt, but I'm gonna play through it, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And it's just funny like certain
Speaker 1: situations cast some hurt. They're sitting out and it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm gonna play through that. My motherfucking bones
Speaker 1: coming through my leg exactly. Un less something is broke,
Speaker 1: they won't tell a lot of people don't get that though.
Speaker 1: I don't get it right what you just said. You
Speaker 1: know you really felt like coming off the second loss
Speaker 1: of Miami, it was time for you to take that
Speaker 1: big step. How what was your mental thought process knowing
Speaker 1: that you're the best player you've ever been in your life,
Speaker 1: playing the best you've ever played, and then to have
Speaker 1: an injury in the scrimmage game, what was that mental
Speaker 1: process to kind of digest that and and be that
Speaker 1: driving force for you to get back and try to
Speaker 1: be where you were before? You know what? The only
Speaker 1: thing like the I was I had my faith that
Speaker 1: I was gonna put the work in and I was
Speaker 1: gonna come back better, And like that part, I wasn't
Speaker 1: worried about the only thing that hurt in that moment
Speaker 1: was the window that was closed because you could just
Speaker 1: see it. You know, the life was taken out of us.
Speaker 1: When I showed back up to Andy, you could just
Speaker 1: see it on d West face. You can say Roy face,
Speaker 1: g Hill face like like that windows closed to make
Speaker 1: you a power forward, right yeah? And that yeah, that
Speaker 1: following year, Larry, and I'm like, bro, I don't even
Speaker 1: know if I can hoop a small forward again, like
Speaker 1: you're gonna play uh thirty pounds forty pounds like guard
Speaker 1: cast that got weight advantage on the side, advantage on me.
Speaker 1: And you know it that that bothered me like as
Speaker 1: well coming into a new season where I'm with a
Speaker 1: new team now really got traded away. The West was gone,
Speaker 1: Uh g Hill was gone, like it was a new
Speaker 1: crossing that he trying to make me play another position
Speaker 1: with um. So you know that that bothered me going
Speaker 1: into that season. What was your journey like to actually
Speaker 1: get back on the court. And it talked to us
Speaker 1: how tough rehab was, how if you ever doubted or
Speaker 1: any anything crept in your mind, like ship, am I
Speaker 1: gonna be who I was before it? I had? You know,
Speaker 1: through injuries like that, You're gonna have your good days
Speaker 1: and then you're gonna have your bad days. Um. I had.
Speaker 1: I had some bad days where I used to just
Speaker 1: be like, man, like what what why are we doing this?
Speaker 1: My ship? My ship broke, like just let it hill
Speaker 1: and we could do this rehab ship later, Like just
Speaker 1: let it hell first. Um. But thank god them trainers,
Speaker 1: was like they knew what they were doing. Um. They
Speaker 1: knew that in order for that bone the hill, it
Speaker 1: had to take some contact, that had to take some pressure. Um.
Speaker 1: And so I just followed the plan. But I was
Speaker 1: definitely I definitely had some dark days where I was
Speaker 1: just support system. Was important, was every time? Was everything? No,
Speaker 1: I needed people in my corner to push me through
Speaker 1: it because it's the first injury I ever had, so
Speaker 1: I just didn't know how to deal with it. It
Speaker 1: was a space that I was unfamiliar with. So having
Speaker 1: a new normal injury either bro at all, Yeah at all.
Speaker 1: So having people in my corner was they was the
Speaker 1: one that got me through it. I had a minor
Speaker 1: meniscus tear in two thousand ten, and I just know,
Speaker 1: speaking from my experience, the hardest thing to do coming
Speaker 1: back was trusting my knee, even though it was healed,
Speaker 1: even though the doctor said it's good, it didn't hurt.
Speaker 1: Did you have that process of really trusting your leg
Speaker 1: once she was back, like taking off on my leg
Speaker 1: or coming down for a rebound like that ship would
Speaker 1: scare the ship out of me. The fact absolutely, And
Speaker 1: what people don't know is so I broke it in August.
Speaker 1: I was back practicing with the team. In January, I
Speaker 1: didn't play. I didn't debut playing until April, though, so
Speaker 1: and in April I still looked like I was playing
Speaker 1: off one leg. But I was practicing like full on
Speaker 1: contact with the team in like January February. Um, and
Speaker 1: so you know I was literally out there like dragging
Speaker 1: this motherfucker. But you know, I'm listening to the trainers
Speaker 1: that like, you know, you have to you know, trusted
Speaker 1: to trusted, you have to put pressure on it. You
Speaker 1: have to like learn these movements again. UM. So it's
Speaker 1: easy to say when you didn't just exactly exactly. And
Speaker 1: that's when I was having moments like, man, they tripping
Speaker 1: like you know what I mean, they tripping like they
Speaker 1: see I'm not I'm playing off one leg, like they're
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna mess around and mess this. Um. But
Speaker 1: you know, it helped in the long run going into
Speaker 1: the next season because I knew what I could do.
Speaker 1: I knew what I was capable of. I had games
Speaker 1: under my feet, um playing that that season, So when
Speaker 1: I went into the next season, I knew what I
Speaker 1: needed to work on to be a hundred percent again.
Speaker 1: But yeah, like people don't understand, like I played in April,
Speaker 1: but I was back with contact and practicing in January
Speaker 1: six months after. Yeah, six months right after I was
Speaker 1: back in in practice rotations. So your time is up
Speaker 1: in Indiana. Um, off to Okay, see what was that
Speaker 1: two year experience? Like uh teaming up with rust did
Speaker 1: Mello Mellow Mello came the first year? What was that? Okay,
Speaker 1: see experience? Like you know what it was? It was
Speaker 1: it was a special bond um that that was created
Speaker 1: with Russ m I saw y'all on and off the
Speaker 1: I mean off the court a lot. Yeah we're just
Speaker 1: talking about before we saw y'all at the fourth of
Speaker 1: July thing and noble with your with your families and
Speaker 1: everything like y'all really created it was. It was a
Speaker 1: genuine bond like and and you know Russ is another
Speaker 1: person that's like people like misunderstand. That's why we love y'all.
Speaker 1: We thought, is there anything about rusted with knowing him
Speaker 1: as well as you do, why he's misunderstood. I kind
Speaker 1: of just think he doesn't give it me. He's comfortable.
Speaker 1: He definitely gotthing he ran out. Yeah, yeah, he don't.
Speaker 1: And I love that outside looking at Russ is just
Speaker 1: comfortable with him who he is. He don't care what
Speaker 1: you think. He don't care what you say. Nothing's gonna
Speaker 1: phase him. Like you know what I mean, I know
Speaker 1: who I am. And when you get to that point,
Speaker 1: your mother, Yeah, and when I step on this court,
Speaker 1: I might not beat you, but I'm gonna be the
Speaker 1: hardest playing motherfucker on this court every night if you
Speaker 1: like me a night every night telling you. And that's
Speaker 1: what I love. Honestly. It's the reason why I had
Speaker 1: the best season of my career playing with him, because
Speaker 1: you know, I can play with somebody that I don't
Speaker 1: care like people say, oh, he can't do it, he
Speaker 1: can't do that. I can play with the motherfucker that's
Speaker 1: gonna leave it on the floor every night. I pushes me,
Speaker 1: It challenges me to play hard every night. I love
Speaker 1: that about him. He didn't care what people said. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he never got tired, Like his energy level
Speaker 1: was crazy. I used to just be admired by it,
Speaker 1: like literally being a game, like wow, this he did this,
Speaker 1: like he could do that. Like I used to just
Speaker 1: admire that ship. So you know, I'm I'm a forever
Speaker 1: being a rust corner, Russ's man brother for life. It
Speaker 1: seems like it's what you needed though, coming out of
Speaker 1: coming out of Indiana. It seems like you needed that
Speaker 1: motherfucker that was gonna be a battery not only for
Speaker 1: you but for the team. He said it was your
Speaker 1: best career. It was a season of your career because
Speaker 1: at that point I felt like I was like I
Speaker 1: felt good about who who I was as a player,
Speaker 1: Like I feel like I was here, but to see
Speaker 1: somebody else it was it was dope to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're going to showed me how to get to here.
Speaker 1: His energy, like his his effort, his work, his work ethic,
Speaker 1: like he showed me a different part um that you know.
Speaker 1: I looked at it and I was like, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: there's room for improvement for me. So we've only heard,
Speaker 1: we don't really know, but we heard that Kauai wasn't
Speaker 1: going to the Clippers unless you came with him. Is
Speaker 1: there anything I knew that ahead? I can show you
Speaker 1: takes messages, I knew. Yeah, but we weren't on the show.
Speaker 1: We weren't doing the show then, yeah we were. We
Speaker 1: wasn't talking. We wasn't. We didn't know, We didn't, we
Speaker 1: did not. We did not get to the point where
Speaker 1: we was on called Kauai and we did never got
Speaker 1: to that point. No, we didn't. We never got to
Speaker 1: because I was on TV when I said that about
Speaker 1: that cool though, Yeah, that's family. But why the fun
Speaker 1: hasn't been on the show yet? That's a good question.
Speaker 1: He don't be on nobody show. He don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't even know. Y'all could get talk
Speaker 1: to us about that experience though, you know, being in Okay, see,
Speaker 1: being comfortable where you're at, really fucking with rust and
Speaker 1: then an opportunity to come back home. Yeah. Man, the
Speaker 1: whole the whole way how it came about was just
Speaker 1: crazy how everything lined up. Um, and I'm gonna be careful,
Speaker 1: is I don't want to you know? Okay? See was
Speaker 1: awesome partners that made it did happen. So I don't
Speaker 1: want to, you know, throw anything out there that's gonna
Speaker 1: put them. And you know, Sam Presty was just that
Speaker 1: my guy, one of the best CM ANDTIO partners to
Speaker 1: work with. Um so oh man. After that season, UM
Speaker 1: and quiet, them just wanted I text him like, Yo,
Speaker 1: congrats bro, like you know what I mean? Yeah, showing love,
Speaker 1: like because we talked about playing with each other a
Speaker 1: while back. UM, So I'm you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm just like, you know, congrats bro, like you know,
Speaker 1: good ship, you did your thing, like you know, let
Speaker 1: them know, you know that it was love on this end. Um.
Speaker 1: And I'm at dinner and so he hit me. He
Speaker 1: called me. Now He's like, oh yo, good looking bro,
Speaker 1: good looks. So he liked, what you're gonna do? I'm like,
Speaker 1: What'm I mean? Okay, see I'm on the contract. I
Speaker 1: just re up, Like what you mean. He's like, no,
Speaker 1: what you're gonna do? So I guess some stuff leaked
Speaker 1: some some some you know stuff was getting out there
Speaker 1: that you know, trades was possible, and you know somebody
Speaker 1: was looking to get moved. Um, and so he liked,
Speaker 1: you know, what you're gonna do? So now my eyebrows
Speaker 1: go up, Like I called my agent like man kaway
Speaker 1: saying this and now like what what's what's what's going down?
Speaker 1: So my agent do his you know, due diligence. He
Speaker 1: chopping it up with okay, see come back to actually
Speaker 1: that the stories I was being said what was true.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, okay, well about you before you even Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'm like that if he know, like it's out there,
Speaker 1: it's time for me to go like if this is
Speaker 1: what's going on. So that's basically like to wrap it
Speaker 1: all up. That's kind of how it how it happened.
Speaker 1: And I went to Vegas. Man in was on the
Speaker 1: clock on an hourly clock, like, Yo, what's what's they're
Speaker 1: saying on that sign? They're saying this on my side
Speaker 1: Like so we were just hip to hip with with
Speaker 1: what was going on. Um everybody my side, his side,
Speaker 1: working together um to where ultimately, man, they we was
Speaker 1: able to pull it off. We made it happen. Were
Speaker 1: there any rumors or truth to the rumors that you
Speaker 1: also had a chance to go to the Lakers and
Speaker 1: you decided not to or was that just rumors? Now
Speaker 1: it was it was I had an opportunity. Um, I
Speaker 1: had an opportunity because you know, it's my free agency,
Speaker 1: and I stayed in Okay Seed because Mellow came aboard,
Speaker 1: and you know, being a loyal a real one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I will sign a bone, I will
Speaker 1: sign the extension for Russ are for Mellow to come
Speaker 1: to okay See. So that's how I gave up my
Speaker 1: free agent opportunities and locked in with okay See because
Speaker 1: that was the only way to get Mellow for them
Speaker 1: to trade for Mellow. So I'm like cool, like you know,
Speaker 1: and and I still thought it could have worked. We
Speaker 1: only was wanting together one year. Like, So that's how
Speaker 1: I was locked in. Um, I was supposed to, you know,
Speaker 1: take my free agency, be able to listen to everybody
Speaker 1: at that moment, I was looking to go to l A,
Speaker 1: but you know, it was just like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I messed with Russ. I want to see this all
Speaker 1: the way through. Fine, Like, I'll signed then extension to
Speaker 1: get Mellow here. Yeah, let's see what we can build.
Speaker 1: I was just you know, it just sucked that it
Speaker 1: was short lived. We only got to play one How
Speaker 1: was it playing with him though? Too? Because we've been
Speaker 1: big advocates for Mellan and we thought he got the
Speaker 1: raw end of the stick to and he finally got
Speaker 1: he got a chance to redeem itself and show his
Speaker 1: worth improve a lot of people wrong. But you were
Speaker 1: playing with two guys that were really very similar from
Speaker 1: the aspect of being misunderstood as players. But when you
Speaker 1: talk to their counterparts of former teammates, they all loved them.
Speaker 1: Mellow is a real one. And I got to spend
Speaker 1: time with Mellow with team Essay. So that's where our
Speaker 1: relationship really, you know, our bomb you know came. Uh,
Speaker 1: Mellow was a real one. Like what people don't understand,
Speaker 1: Mellow sacrificed. Mellow wasn't the issue Mellow because what happened
Speaker 1: was me and Russ got traded there and literally Billy
Speaker 1: had you know all of this, There is no excuse,
Speaker 1: but Billy had a plan for me and Russ. Then
Speaker 1: literally like right at the last minute is when we
Speaker 1: got Mellow. So now like Billy like like I don't
Speaker 1: know how to incorporate incorporated, y'all. Was my two guys
Speaker 1: like Mellow just gonna have to find this way like
Speaker 1: and so I give I tipped my hat for Melo
Speaker 1: Melo was one hunt at the whole time. He let
Speaker 1: me and Russ run the show. Um. His only thing
Speaker 1: was like, cool, it's the team, Like I can be
Speaker 1: used more though, Like don't just have to be a
Speaker 1: spot up player. Play y'all can play through me sometimes too,
Speaker 1: which we understood. We agreed, like we could play through
Speaker 1: Mellow a little bit more. That's that wasn't the plan
Speaker 1: that you know, they want to go forward. Um, So
Speaker 1: we just we really just missed out on an opportunity
Speaker 1: of us three being able to play together. So you're
Speaker 1: in l A, what's your first thoughts? You have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to come home and literally come home and play.
Speaker 1: It was you know again, it it just came down
Speaker 1: to family, Like, uh, because my parents would travel everywhere.
Speaker 1: My mom, you know, with her disability, it was tough
Speaker 1: on her go for warm cities to cold cities. Um.
Speaker 1: And so honestly, it was the first thing I thought of, like, man,
Speaker 1: moms get to watch every game. Yeah, they get to
Speaker 1: come to every home game. They don't gotta leave no more. Um.
Speaker 1: Then it was like, man, I don't gotta miss thanksgivings.
Speaker 1: That's small. That's that human ship that people for we
Speaker 1: think we're changing Thanksgiving the family day. Yeah, yeah, no
Speaker 1: more thanksgetting family damnly day. I got to spend family
Speaker 1: Day with folks, um. And I mean they would, they
Speaker 1: would come, they would, they would mix it up because
Speaker 1: I got sisters and stuff, so it'd be ha are
Speaker 1: for everybody to travel. So sometimes they would come down
Speaker 1: for Thanksgiving sometimes or for Family Day. Sometimes they wouldn't.
Speaker 1: So you know, it was just you know, knock and
Speaker 1: enjoy holidays with my folks. My kids enjoy holidays with
Speaker 1: our whole family. Um. So it was it was honestly
Speaker 1: bigger than basketball. Every athlete dreams are playing in their
Speaker 1: home state. You know what I'm saying everybody. I wish
Speaker 1: the Rockets would have signed me for a year or
Speaker 1: something like that, so I know the feelings be able
Speaker 1: to come back and say, you're playing your home stately
Speaker 1: three weeks. It's a good thing. That ain't happening. It
Speaker 1: was a great thing. It wouldn't work. So but you're
Speaker 1: coming in. So you're coming. But you're coming back home
Speaker 1: off off a shoulder surgery. Like you said, you're at
Speaker 1: a rhythm because I've seen you in the summer and
Speaker 1: your fucking monster something not to be able to have
Speaker 1: that come back without that summer under your belt. But
Speaker 1: then also the pandemic hits and that stops, you know,
Speaker 1: because to me, the whole thing, I was saying that
Speaker 1: they gotta hit there. They're gonna hit a rhythm, you
Speaker 1: know post All Star March April, when normal teams hit
Speaker 1: their rhythm, especially new teams, and you guys didn't have this.
Speaker 1: You guys get three months off with the new team
Speaker 1: and then get thrown in the bubble. I know that
Speaker 1: was a big that fun you guys up to me
Speaker 1: and my point. I still believe in you guys, but
Speaker 1: I was just like, when are they going to get
Speaker 1: their chemistry and their timing? And you kept saying it.
Speaker 1: I kept saying that, man's like, if they don't get
Speaker 1: their chemut I was still riding for y'all. I still
Speaker 1: gotta do some coushups after the show, so I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do them. But you know that that was my whole thing.
Speaker 1: I'll saynds like they need to get their chemistry in
Speaker 1: their rhythm down and this, like I said, you're not
Speaker 1: coming in healthy from the beginning. And then the pandemic
Speaker 1: hitting was going to be an issue for you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So what was crazy is we ended before the pandemic hit.
Speaker 1: We play ended this season like playing well. It was
Speaker 1: we just got Reggie, we just got Marcus. Like we
Speaker 1: was coming together, We was figuring it out. We was
Speaker 1: learning how to play with everybody. Now everybody was healthy.
Speaker 1: Pat was healthy, now, uh Kauai was healthy. I was healthier. Uh.
Speaker 1: Like we had a complete team, and then the pandemic hit.
Speaker 1: Um and you know, at that point, it was like
Speaker 1: man like, we didn't know what we was gonna get
Speaker 1: out of the team. At that point, we wasn't connected,
Speaker 1: We wasn't around each other. We we kept we got
Speaker 1: a group chat that we was, you know, messaging, making
Speaker 1: sure everybody was staying on this stuff. But it just
Speaker 1: wasn't the same. Um. And then, like I said, when
Speaker 1: we got into the bubble, our our energy like it
Speaker 1: we we wasn't practicing how we should have been practicing,
Speaker 1: and we wasn't working like we should have been working.
Speaker 1: And you can feel it. You can feel it. You
Speaker 1: can feel it. And our crutch was we got this,
Speaker 1: we got that person, we got we got that paper.
Speaker 1: That paper got good, look good on the benches side,
Speaker 1: like we we had that as a crutch, and that's
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, that's what we just
Speaker 1: kept leaning on, leaning on. That's what we was putting
Speaker 1: a band aid on everything. Um, and it just you know,
Speaker 1: it don't work out like that. I tell everyone coming up.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was fortunate enough to play at u C.
Speaker 1: L A and play for the Lakers and Clippers, but
Speaker 1: playing in l A is so much more than basketball. Uh.
Speaker 1: Now you're and you guys are in a situation for
Speaker 1: the first time in the history of the team favorites
Speaker 1: on winning a championship. So what was that outside media pressure?
Speaker 1: Like one kind of a two tier question? And then
Speaker 1: the social media part of it as well, because you took,
Speaker 1: like you said earlier, you took a lot of heat
Speaker 1: for the way you played at times and just constant
Speaker 1: ship talking to to the point where I can see
Speaker 1: your energy through the TV and I hit you up like, bro,
Speaker 1: you good, like what's going on? And you kind of
Speaker 1: told me where you're at mentally. But how much of
Speaker 1: a toll did that take on you? Well? It was
Speaker 1: different because you know what I mean, in the arena,
Speaker 1: you it's it's a certain like regardless of how you
Speaker 1: feel going into that game. When you see fifteen thousand,
Speaker 1: eighteen thousand people, whatever you was feeling, you're gonna be
Speaker 1: all right. You it's in you there. It's it's intensity
Speaker 1: there when you're going into the bubble. And mind you,
Speaker 1: you're seeing these cats at the hotels, you're seeing them
Speaker 1: on your walks to this place, that place, some a
Speaker 1: you like. And then you get to the bubble. It's quiet.
Speaker 1: You can hear you can hear Doc screaming. You can
Speaker 1: hear it like and then that's that's like I caught
Speaker 1: myself after every play looking at the bench. I don't
Speaker 1: ever do that, but because I can hear everything going
Speaker 1: on every bucket, I'm looking over yeah right right. So
Speaker 1: so it just I just noticed little things that just
Speaker 1: wasn't like it didn't it didn't feel right like I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't have that fire that I usually have going
Speaker 1: into matchups. Like going into the games, I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to destroy cats, but it was just because of
Speaker 1: the environment, like like this is what you want right here.
Speaker 1: It wasn't like playoff times at all. It didn't feel
Speaker 1: like playoff time at all. And that's why you had
Speaker 1: like role players having the best games of their lives.
Speaker 1: There was no pressure. There's no pressure, so it just
Speaker 1: and for the star players is all the pressure. Um.
Speaker 1: So it just it was different. It was complete one
Speaker 1: eighty like of of hoops that you usually normal, like
Speaker 1: that's usually normal to you. She was just different. And
Speaker 1: like I said, I just I couldn't adjust to it.
Speaker 1: I couldn't find my way. And and then it ship
Speaker 1: just started dinning on me. It's like I'm thinking about
Speaker 1: it going into the games, like damn, how can I
Speaker 1: trick myself into like creating the environment. And I just
Speaker 1: started being in my head now at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then so we ain't got ship else to do
Speaker 1: but be on the phone, be on social media. So
Speaker 1: I'm I'm seeing everything now and it's like that I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about that ship going into games, like all right,
Speaker 1: I gotta find it. I gotta find it now I'm
Speaker 1: going I'm getting deeper and deeper into my head. So
Speaker 1: I just like when I when you hit me, I
Speaker 1: was like, man, big bro, I can't like I'm struggling,
Speaker 1: like I don't know how to get out of this um.
Speaker 1: And it was just it was just tough. It was
Speaker 1: a different experience for me. You know, when you hear
Speaker 1: you're to the point now where you're you're possibly hear
Speaker 1: in trade rumors about yourself again, much more experienced, obviously
Speaker 1: confident in your ability. But does it still trickle back
Speaker 1: in your head the way it trickled in Indiana? No,
Speaker 1: because now I understand, like it's the business part of it,
Speaker 1: like whatever, it could be some truth to it, or
Speaker 1: it could just be rumors because of somebody wants to
Speaker 1: touch on me playing in the bubble and they want
Speaker 1: to touch on and have fun with that. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's it's it's like it
Speaker 1: could be some truth to it. Like I understand, like
Speaker 1: this ship is a business. I can be traded like,
Speaker 1: so it don't bother me now, it is what it is. Um,
Speaker 1: I just you know, I just keep it going. I'm
Speaker 1: still a big believer in still riding for y'all. But
Speaker 1: for everyone who was doubting you and talking ship, that's
Speaker 1: your solo camera right there. What can they expect next
Speaker 1: season from? I'm ready, I'm coming back. I'm gonna translated
Speaker 1: after the advantage. This is like I'm back with my trainer.
Speaker 1: I'm back with my trainer that I had my m
Speaker 1: VP season. I'm back with him. I get a summer
Speaker 1: to train to work on my game again going into
Speaker 1: a season. Um Un, I'm locked in, like as locked
Speaker 1: in as you can be. I'm motivated. I listened to
Speaker 1: Kobe on a daily basis. I just pull up Motivational
Speaker 1: Kobe and maybe like fifteen eight minutes long, but I'm
Speaker 1: I just I put that on when I'm working out.
Speaker 1: That's like I don't listen to a soundtrack. I put
Speaker 1: that Kobe motivational speech it on and I just listened
Speaker 1: to him talk while I'm lifting, while I'm on the court.
Speaker 1: And that's where I'm at right now. So I'm back.
Speaker 1: I'm back motivated, I'm as healthy as I've been in
Speaker 1: a long time, and I'm in position to do it.
Speaker 1: So I'm on motherfucker's asses. And I translated He didn't.
Speaker 1: He just used one convert at the end at all. Oh, okay,
Speaker 1: give me your ship then minus set back for the
Speaker 1: major comeback. Okay, you beat you shout out snoop uh
Speaker 1: on a lot of note big time gamer, you Xbox
Speaker 1: PS five and do you have a plug for either?
Speaker 1: I'm right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I kid what you need. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm all ps shout out to PlayStation's shoutstation. So we
Speaker 1: got the shoes. Yeah, yeah, we got to collab. We
Speaker 1: can work on that. But I'm on a game heavy.
Speaker 1: I'm on the game now. This dude is dope. People
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, I hit him up. Man. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was like two or three years ago, and this
Speaker 1: dude has just been sending shoes to the Twins team
Speaker 1: like they go crazy when that a p box the
Speaker 1: world somewhere. Man, you know what I mean? For you
Speaker 1: to take time and I hit you on bro, the
Speaker 1: shooting decides this good. It's just I really appreciate that
Speaker 1: because I know how much it means to the boys.
Speaker 1: I mean, I told them how they're interviewing today and
Speaker 1: they wanted to skip a little fucking online school and
Speaker 1: come hang out. I was like, no, we do some
Speaker 1: ship in there, you see. I tell him. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, man, we're coming down the stretch Man. Toughest
Speaker 1: player that you've had to guard to date. Toughest player,
Speaker 1: uh Man, Katie and Mellow Katie and Mellows top of
Speaker 1: my list of the toughest guys I matched up with
Speaker 1: people don't understand. I'd say Mellow too. I think Paul
Speaker 1: Pierce gets left out sometime. But Mellow was someone when
Speaker 1: he was on his ship that there wasn't a hole
Speaker 1: in his game. And you knew he didn't want to
Speaker 1: pass that bit. And when he got it, you better
Speaker 1: be ready to guard. I knew, you knew you had to.
Speaker 1: Everything had rest, you had to, like after games, you
Speaker 1: got a ice down. Yeah, because I caught him. I
Speaker 1: caught him the first time when he was in Denver,
Speaker 1: and then when he got traded. Yeah, and so he
Speaker 1: was bully ball, miss it, go get it, missy, go
Speaker 1: get it like and you know I was, I was.
Speaker 1: He He had me on weight, so he was as
Speaker 1: strong as him. He was the toughest cover I have
Speaker 1: got to match up with. And then Katie, man, it's
Speaker 1: nothing you can do that. I don't even know what
Speaker 1: he can do. We just hope he missed. Remember with
Speaker 1: that Golden State team that was a Katie's rookie year
Speaker 1: in Seattle. Remember, we just tried to bully and but
Speaker 1: we both said when we did a good job of
Speaker 1: bullying him too. But we just like this motherfucker's gonna man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so long and he was so agile. Favorite NBA game
Speaker 1: he played in favorite NBA game probably, Uh, probably we
Speaker 1: played Miami. I think it was like game five or
Speaker 1: game five ye in Indye. Um we was like down.
Speaker 1: There was up three one, Um, we was down. I
Speaker 1: think going into the second half I had I started
Speaker 1: to to you know, I had a steady game. Um,
Speaker 1: but I finished the game with thirty six. But I
Speaker 1: had like twenty one in the fourth and uh it
Speaker 1: was elimination and you know it just they couldn't do
Speaker 1: nothing with me one straight and I was just in
Speaker 1: my bad Ye off the bounce. What's the fast food
Speaker 1: place you could have it your way? Is that Burger King? Yeah?
Speaker 1: That's probably my most memoral soundtrack to your life for
Speaker 1: what you started at to where you're at. Now, give
Speaker 1: me three songs. It would be in rotation to summarize
Speaker 1: your life, my life. I probably started off with some
Speaker 1: old school Sam Cooke change gonna you got me right there? Uh,
Speaker 1: then he'll probably switch to uh to some Drake started
Speaker 1: from the bottom. They were here and we're looking for
Speaker 1: you the boy. We're looking for your boys. I say that,
Speaker 1: I say to close it out, man, it's got to
Speaker 1: be something, nil Man. It's got to be something Neil. Yeah,
Speaker 1: man's gonna be upset if you didn't. Can't be from
Speaker 1: the West Coast. It's gotta be something, nilp Man, just
Speaker 1: because where I'm at, my headspace, my growth. Um, I
Speaker 1: don't stuck in the ground grind stuck in the ground,
Speaker 1: grind yea all my life. Yeah, that's how to close
Speaker 1: out Top five video games of all time, of all time.
Speaker 1: I know one. You're gonna say two ks in there,
Speaker 1: shout out to k K madness in there. Um, let's see,
Speaker 1: I'm a shooter. So Call of Duty is in there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course, mark uh double O seven that's early that's Nintendo. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: in five, come on with it, Come on with it now.
Speaker 1: It's two years too. I'm upset that you missed that
Speaker 1: I missed. Yeah, I'm thinking what did I miss? I
Speaker 1: don't know, I don't know what I mean Techmobile and
Speaker 1: double dribble, double dribble, double doubt words, double dribble ma
Speaker 1: that was I mean, the whole Nintendo had That's that
Speaker 1: was my error. Techno Bowl I wasn't. I was a
Speaker 1: little too young. I started playing the Maddens like the
Speaker 1: early early Maddens, But damn double dribble. I'm mad I
Speaker 1: missed that. Yeah, I was gonna throw like fight night
Speaker 1: and there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't get me started. I
Speaker 1: had five dinner guests that are alive. This is our
Speaker 1: favorite question, favorite question five. Top five dinner guests m
Speaker 1: J for show. Which one both okay, Mike Jackson and
Speaker 1: my Joy Okay, okay, Um, Will Smith, Nice, Um, Kobe
Speaker 1: h and my fifth. I can't. I never got a
Speaker 1: chance to meet him, so I gotta throw Brock in there. Everybody,
Speaker 1: everybody got out. That's nice. Five. Okay, who do you
Speaker 1: want to see on all the Smoke? But before you answer, yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna rely on you to help us get this
Speaker 1: person on the show. Okay, who I want to see? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I think I think, man, you're gonna get a a
Speaker 1: ship a ton of great content. Man. And we talked
Speaker 1: about him. You gotta get Lance on here. Yes, y'all,
Speaker 1: we got to it. I'm with that. I'm that we
Speaker 1: recorded song. He'll wrap, he'll do what they don't know
Speaker 1: what they can do it all. I'm gonna heart to jokes.
Speaker 1: Gotta y'all got something to comment? What you cant Lance
Speaker 1: with both ladies men, and I'm gonna bring it back U.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that though. I'm gonna bring it back a
Speaker 1: segment though that we haven't done. Jack. We're gonna bring
Speaker 1: back here banging segment. This motherfucker got pss uh two
Speaker 1: k's Nike. What you need, what you need. You see
Speaker 1: why the begging segment has kind of died down. I've
Speaker 1: just been DM in Motherfucker's. Yeah. I gotta wait for
Speaker 1: the camel camera mother with me. That then we're good. Yeah.
Speaker 1: You know, it's always loved, man, It's always love, always loved.
Speaker 1: Last question, when it's all said and done, what do
Speaker 1: you want your legacy in the NBA to be? You
Speaker 1: know what, it's championships like that's that's that's what everybody wants.
Speaker 1: Um at the end of the day, man, I just
Speaker 1: you know, I want people to understand. Man, I came
Speaker 1: from nothing, and you know, being in Palm I don't
Speaker 1: know if I mean you've been in l A. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've been down to Palm Dell driven
Speaker 1: through it on the way to Vegas and I was like,
Speaker 1: it ain't nothing in Palmdale. Um. So I'm a kid
Speaker 1: that came from nothing, man, and I'm living out my dreams. Um.
Speaker 1: What inspired me and what I want to be my
Speaker 1: name to be left on is this kid came and
Speaker 1: he brought everything he had, UM on both sides, on
Speaker 1: both sides of the refreshing to see to us, and
Speaker 1: I just I want that because it is a lost start,
Speaker 1: like kids don't look at it the same way, um,
Speaker 1: and I want that to be something that that resonates
Speaker 1: with kids going forward, like it's okay and you know,
Speaker 1: shout out the Lake code. He is the reason why
Speaker 1: I played the game the way I play it, and
Speaker 1: I want that to be what kids look at. It's cool,
Speaker 1: Like don't worry about like getting dunked on part of
Speaker 1: the game. It's part of the game. It's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: Like take that challenge though, like live up to the moment.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I don't got no regrets. I got to
Speaker 1: play against the best I've seen the best. You are
Speaker 1: one of the best. Appreciate it, but it's there's no
Speaker 1: shame ever and whatever you leave on that floor, it's
Speaker 1: all that needs to be said, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And that's just what I want my name to be.
Speaker 1: You know, if nothing else is respectable, make that respectable.
Speaker 1: And he isn't man. His word reached that to him.
Speaker 1: It was doing the game. Needed a jersey. I got
Speaker 1: the jersey faed X two days later, So I appreciate you. Bro. Signed.
Speaker 1: That's to wrap another episode. Thank our guests, Paul George
Speaker 1: catch us on Showtime Basketball YouTube in the I Heart
Speaker 1: platform Black Effects. Ever, next week we could keep naming
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of sponsors. Hey, we got some more sponsors.
Speaker 1: I mean we got some more money. You see y'all
Speaker 1: next week. This is all a smoke, A production of
Speaker 1: The Black Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: Showtime