WEBVTT - Chris Bosh 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.760 Hello, Welcome to another edition the Club Sha Shay. I 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.720 am your hole. Shannon Sharp, also the proprietory of Club 0:00:05.760 --> 0:00:08.440 Sha Shay, the guy that stopped by the bar today 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:11.640 to have a drink with me, is two time champion, 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:16.520 NBA Champion, eleven time All Star, and Mister Basketball in 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.080 the State of Texas in two thousand and two, Chris 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:24.160 Bosh all my life, grinding all my life, Sacon fights, 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:29.080 custle pack price, one slice, one got the swath all 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.159 my life. I've been grinding all my life, all my life, 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:36.160 and running all my life, Sacon fights, custle bag price, 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.360 one slice got the dice, sware all my life. I've 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.800 been grinding in all my life. Chris, how are you 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.600 doing today? Bro? I'm good man. That's a that's a 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.919 good one. You hit me with a throwback on that one. Well, 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:53.040 we're gonna take off in a different direction. Normally, when 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:56.200 I talked to athletes, we started talking about their athletic career. 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.400 But we're gonna talk about your music career that you 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:03.040 started after you finish with the NBA. You're producing music. 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:07.920 What made you go into music after your NBA career? Well, 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.280 I mean, first off, like I kind of got It 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:13.680 felt like I got thrown out of a car going 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.840 two hundred miles an hour. I was playing basketball. I 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:21.160 felt that I was gonna get that second win in 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:25.520 my prime into my twilight years, like most of your heroes, 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:30.760 like you see time and time again, every year, it 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.479 didn't happen, and I just kind of found myself trying 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.400 to figure out, you know, like what am I gonna do? 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:41.520 I never really thought about that. It was always basketball, 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:44.160 a lot of people say. And then it was funny 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.200 because everybody was like, oh, Chris, you're smart, you you 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.440 know stuff, and you'll be fine. And it's like, I 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:50.880 don't know what I want to do. You guys have 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.280 a mistaken In order to even do what I'm doing, 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.120 I had to give my whole life to this thing. 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.840 So there was never anything else. You know, you make 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:04.440 grades so you can play basketball, you know. So I 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.320 just kind of I found myself trying to search for something, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.040 and manny thing I knew. I had a guitar in 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.799 my hand. I'm making new friends, talking about different things 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:20.320 and and aspiring to do different things, and and you know, 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.320 it was just all a lot of passion, a lot 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.239 of love. So That's how I got there, and I'm 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.919 start meeting some great people along the way. So you're 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.040 on the you're producing or so you're producing music, you're 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.280 writing music. Are you gonna actually do Are you gonna 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:41.720 actually be in front of the microphone? No, sir, No sir. 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.640 You know, I leave that to the pros. I just 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:48.520 enjoyed the collaborative effort that it takes, really, like, you know, 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.880 seeing songwriting. I was blessed to see songwriting at the 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:56.080 professional level. I was pretty much like the kid going 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.639 to a pro game and seeing a pro game get played. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.400 And I only did I get to see it, but 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.800 they're like, hey, yo, kid, have a shot, you know. 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:09.799 And I ended up getting a placement really quick with Gucci, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.600 Gucci Maine and a good friend of mine, Rico Love, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:15.880 and it just happened, you know. And and I said, man, 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.760 if I if I don't continue going down this path, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.359 I'm a fool. So that was that was like four 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:24.440 years ago. So I'm I've been, you know, steady working, 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.680 putting that time into something else. You you mentioned Gucci 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.640 Maine and you did a song with him in twenty seventeen, right, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.400 you did? You did? You did a collab or something 0:03:34.440 --> 0:03:37.760 with him. So yeah, So Rico and I wrote a 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.960 song together. And you know, you write music all the time, 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.480 you just kind of get into the flow. It's almost 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:48.280 like practice. Like I equate everything to basketball now, you know. 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:50.960 So it's a metaphor for me. So it's like, all right, 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.640 I'm going to the gym. Okay, I'm gonna hit the weights. Okay, 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.720 let's go get some shots up. All right, let's you know, 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:00.040 just making sure you get to work in if you 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.200 want to accomplish your goals. And that just came through. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.720 Rico is a good friend of mine. We're just hanging out. 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.680 I played music for him, he writes to it, and 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:15.600 it ended up getting on Gucci's album Mister Davis back 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.920 in twenty eighteen or early twenty eighteen, and so that 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.760 was kind of that was kind of the hook for me, 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:24.800 you know, just to be like, all right, that's that thing, 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:30.160 you know, let's let's go that way regardless of you know, 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.560 it's it's the feeling. It's knowing the spirit is there 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.440 and following that. You know. So have you all have 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:39.400 you always been musically inclined? I'd like to say so. 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:45.520 My My family is a very musical family. I have 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:49.800 cousins that are classically trained. My father can sing. We 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.560 we always had to like join choir back in the 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.960 day at church and stuff like that, you know, So 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.640 it was it was more so, uh, just something you're 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:02.120 always around and I always enjoy in music. I have friends, 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:06.800 Like I continuously was trying to make beats, like when 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.400 I was in high school. Then I think when I 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.039 was in the league, I start trying to like early, early, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.560 I start trying to learn to play the piano. It 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:18.520 was these incomplete you know, this other world that keeps 0:05:18.560 --> 0:05:22.159 calling you that you never go to, and it becomes 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.760 when you're not You're good at basketball, so you can 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.120 fit that down for a month or two, pick right 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.200 back up and be good at it. But when you're 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:32.200 not good at something, you have to fully devote all 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.520 of your time, all of your energy, of your effort 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.560 in order to become good at it. So if you're 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.120 trying to learn to play the piano and you do 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.720 it in four or five month increments, that's not gonna work. 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.080 Not gonna work, and you have to get over yourself 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:48.200 being bad. I mean right, yeah, you know, it's just 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:50.560 a part of the process. That's been one of the 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:56.080 things that I've really learned because people will you know, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.200 I only know that because I started playing, you know, 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.440 my music for people, and not that it was bad, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.200 but they were looking at me like, oh, I thought 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:05.440 it was gonna be whack. Man, I thought it was 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.719 just gonna be okay, you all right? Yeah? Right, And 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.880 I said, okay, So usually okay, you have to continue 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.480 to you know, just like anything, homework on your craft, home, 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:20.400 your craft. Just keep going, keep doing stuff, and it'll turn. Man. 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.000 I mean that's just how I believe. How hard was 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:25.400 it because like you said, you know, you have to 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:26.919 get over the fact that you're not good at it. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.240 But you were always good at basketball. So basically, so 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.200 everything that you've really ever done, you've been really good 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.720 at it. And so now here you are starting from 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.320 the bottom, and you know, you're not one of these 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.919 top upper echelon songwriters or producers and you're basically starting 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:47.640 from scratch. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a crazy thing, Shannon. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:52.600 I mean, it's like you you feel immortal for so long, yes, 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.360 you know what I mean, Yes, I mean, boys, so 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:00.360 long you just and then all of a sudden, like 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:04.080 all right, cool. You're taking the kids to school, You're 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:08.640 packing lunches. You know, you have to pick up new skills. 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.320 I'm in the house like a few years ago. When 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:13.360 I was first retired, I had to learn how to 0:07:13.400 --> 0:07:17.480 fix everything. I know. That just goes into being a dad. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:23.560 Like my dad fix it And I'm just like you. 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.920 I got brought back into my skin so quickly, you know, 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:30.160 So you have to go back to the work. That's 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.240 the thing. That's the only thing that I remember, regardless 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.040 of what happened in the NBA and in my career, 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.560 I put the work in. You know. I know that 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.280 I was, you know, in the gym all the time. 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.680 So if I want to be good at something or 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.960 if I want something to happen, you gotta put your 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.080 time in. And yeah, but when when I when I 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.240 think of athletes, I think of athletes, let's just say 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.080 a basket in your case, a basketball player. Okay, he's 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.320 gonna stay close to the game. He's either want to 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:01.480 he wants to be Scott, he wants to be a 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.040 player personnel. He wants to be a general manager. He 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.520 wants to be a coach. He wants to own the team. 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.680 You went totally away from basketball. This is as far 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.239 as you can get from basketball if you possibly can imagine. Yeah, 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.400 it is, and you know, I know basketball will be there, 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.880 but that kind of the music, that that's kind of 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.480 what drew me towards it because it was so crazy 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:28.120 and like I say, it was just a field. Man. 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.920 I can't even describe it. It's like, yeah, I should 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.360 be doing that, and and I told myself I was 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:38.120 gonna follow my heart, so you know, to be honest 0:08:38.120 --> 0:08:40.360 with you, that's kind of what gave it, you know, 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.800 more allure because the game is there. I still watch 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:48.199 every game I watch, I know, the Salary Cat, the CBA, 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:52.679 I watched the guys, you know, but this is just 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.960 it offered me a way to get in touch, you know, 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.960 more with myself and kind of find out other things 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.920 that I like, I know, we hooped right whoa man, 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:05.840 We did it. My dad. We took me to every practice, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.960 hours and hours and hours of it, you know, and 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:12.320 it will continue one day. But you know, right now, 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:15.320 I just want to really really pursue this endeavor and 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.520 it's quite it's it's a lot, man, you have to 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.080 learn a lot. It's more than just creatively doing things 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.360 you have to as you know, you know how it 0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:28.440 is when you know you're taking those meeting meetings with 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.280 the accountants and the agents and the managers and the lawyers, 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:36.120 all those things fall into place too. What is it 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:41.040 about basketball players? Probably more so than any other athlete? 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.920 In music? You get Dame, you get Dame Lillard, Dame Dollar, 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:47.240 you get him on Shrumpfort, you get Shot, you get 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.959 Aaron Gore, and you get metal world peace. Even Allan 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.240 Iverson tried to do something with the rap Coobe tried 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.800 to risk his soul? What is it about basketball players 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:58.800 in the music industry? Man? You know, that's a really 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.600 good question. I think I think, for one, there's a 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.320 lot of idle time. So when you're going on those 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.080 bus rides, there's a lot of bus rides, there's a 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.640 lot of practice. It's a lot of downtime with your teammates. 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.440 If you're out of town for a road trip. You know, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.439 if you're in summer league, you're gonna be with your 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:20.920 boys and there's gonna be a hotel room and it's 0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:23.480 the summer and you guys are hanging out, and I mean, 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.560 rap was just so influential. I mean I remember from 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:31.079 the minute I was listening to music, rap was everywhere, 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:36.000 you know, so it had a huge influence on our life. 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.480 And like, to be honest with you, you don't see 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.920 you didn't see any black men at that time successful 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.160 and much else. You know. So it's it's like, you know, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.920 unfortunately in those times, which is much better now, but 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.160 in those times, yeah, you I mean they write rhymes 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.920 about it, but you know, you either play basketball or 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:58.160 you were a musician, rapper or something that people you know, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.760 wanted to aspire to. And to be quite frank, it 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.840 was cool. I mean the people that you wanted to be, 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:07.560 like Tupac. Everybody wanted to be Tupac. And if you 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.920 look at it, it's and also the flip side. You 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.040 look at the rappers, you look at the entertainments, You 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.000 look at Jay Cole, you look at you Change, you 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.720 look at the game Nelly. You look at all these 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.880 guys and they you know, yeah, they love football, but 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.760 if there's something about the Lord of basketball that attracts 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.880 them and vice versa, yeah, I think football. Football is 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.320 like one of those things you find out pretty quick 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.240 if you can or can't do it, you know what 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:35.880 I mean, Like you find out real quick man basketball. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.800 You know, you can talk noise, you can sit up there, 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.280 you can shoot at the park, you can play money 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:45.280 if you want to. You know, you have some sort 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.840 of connection with it, and it's you know, it's it's 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.120 a little closer. You know. Even when we were in 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.160 high school and in college, the guys would come to 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:55.319 the games, you know, coming to the games where it 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.760 were a good time and and it kind of really 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.160 starts that connection. And you know a lot of people playball, 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:03.640 like I know J Cole and two Change for sure, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.800 they played u you know at a high level of basketball, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.960 so they understanding it's a good feeling, you know, you 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.520 know hooping, you do that with your friends. Those are 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.959 summer days. It's a lot of memories that go with that. 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:21.320 And Master p almost almost made a basketball man p Man. 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:26.240 You know the legend guys, guys who are always playing 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.160 and it's just it's just ingrains so deep into the culture. 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.160 You know that people were doing that really before. I mean, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.200 I know my dad we would go with friends and 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:38.960 you know, playing pick up the same guys or musicians 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:40.960 or something like that. The same dudes who around We 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:45.160 all if you play ball, go play pick up at 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.640 the park. You know you're gonna if you want to 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.800 find a game, you'll find a game. You're even play 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:51.520 with your friends. You know, it's just one of those 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.760 social things too. So who are some of your obviously 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.600 you if you're doing raps, So who are some of 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:59.840 your favorite some of your favorite artists, some of your 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.680 favorite rappers? Are are you not necessarily are you writing 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:04.920 for some of not just rap? Are you writing for 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.520 R and B? Are you writing for other genres? Or? Yeah, 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.920 we do it all. We do it all. You know, 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.679 we don't discriminate. Okay, Yeah, I mean, you know, music 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:18.320 is music I grew up on. I mean even you 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.800 know country music. I love country music. I love pop music, 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:27.440 R and B. You know, Oh, I mean really everything, 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.360 seventy soul. It's just so many genres of music. I 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.960 never really try to limit myself creatively, and especially now 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.000 with the way things are going, you kind of don't 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.600 want to. You don't want to put a cap on 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:43.439 yourself or what you could do. You know, I've worked 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.640 with some with some great artists and songwriters, and the 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:52.640 things that you get when you cross pollinate work with 0:13:52.679 --> 0:13:55.679 people you you never think you've worked with. The things 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:58.560 that you get are kind of brand new. So that's 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.319 kind of one of the things I love doing, and 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.959 I never try to put a cap on on what 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.600 it is. Do you know we rap quite a bit? Yes, 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:11.320 we do, you know the artists that I work with, 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.040 but we always challenge ourself to make timeless music that 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.960 people want to listen to ten twenty years from now. Right, 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.040 what what are some of the artists that you listened 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:25.600 to before the game? For me, I couldn't listen to 0:14:25.720 --> 0:14:28.640 rap because it got me too amped up, and so 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.400 I hadn't Actually, I had to listen to the opposite. 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.840 I needed something to settle me down because I'm hot, 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.400 strong to begin with, and so I was almost about 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.000 to pass out before the kickoff? Where where you listen 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:45.000 to I'm eager to listen to Sean Day, Maxwell, Michelle 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:50.720 and Cello, you know something like that. I needed to 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.880 slow it all the way back, man, I was, you're 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.000 ready to go? Huh man Scott bringing down just enough 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:02.480 to be like, all right, let's do it. Yeah, listen 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:08.040 to two Pocket Biggie was having me about to pass 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:12.240 out before the kickoff? Hey man, you gotta find That's 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:14.120 what I love about it, you know, I was. I 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.760 was kind of like that. It's funny like people would 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.960 always listen what do you listen to before a game? 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.240 It kind of goes in ways. I kind of get 0:15:21.280 --> 0:15:23.040 amped up, you know, in the regular season, and you 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.120 gotta you gotta find that thing. Playoffs. Yeah, I need 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.440 to be calmed down and I need to think about 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:31.560 what I'm doing. So I would listen to a lot 0:15:31.560 --> 0:15:35.520 of classical music, okay, you know, because it's it's almost like, okay, 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:37.840 two hours before tip off, I don't want to be 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:40.720 talking to nobody. I kind of want to get in 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:44.600 my head and just think about what's about to happen 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.240 so that I can do my job correctly. You know. Yeah, 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:50.960 getting amped up that got that was like a that 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:53.680 was a young guys thing. Yeah, but with Chris, I 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.280 can understand you needed to get amped up because you're 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.120 playing eighty two games. You playing every other night or 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:02.920 every set night. So after a while, I'm only playing 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.520 once a week and I know somebody trying to you know, 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:07.760 I'm already pumped up because I know somebody trying to 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.000 tear my head off. For sure. It's physical. It is physical. 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:14.800 I couldn't imagine, man, I couldn't imagine. I have so 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:18.320 much respect for football, man, I don't know how you 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:23.240 guys do it. Man, So you were all so did 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.960 you Were you always the tallest kid in school? Or 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:30.120 did you grow It was a little bit of both. 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.040 So I was always the tallest kid, and then I 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:35.960 kind of leveled off around seventh eighth grade. Okay, I 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:40.200 was pretty tall, but not the tallest, right, not abnormally 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:46.280 tall right. Then between ninth and eleventh grade, I probably grew, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:51.720 man about ten inches, what yeah, about nine ten inches 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.440 in three years, and I went from you know, okay, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.640 basketball player, like yo, this kid might be something. I 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.080 played a couple of games on varsity, even in my 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:07.720 freshman year too. You know, man, he's a he's a prospect. 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.880 So it happened pretty quickly. Okay, So you played against 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.000 perk Kendrick Perkins in high school. Your team was forty 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:19.560 and old. How many did you drop on perk? H? Man? 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:23.680 About twenty if I'm not mistaken, I had twenty three points. 0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:28.760 Twenty three points, about twelve or thirteen rebounds, few blocks. 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.280 Because you guys, you guys went forty and know that year, 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.440 and you were you you were the number one team 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.000 in the country, right, yeah, Yeah, it was like it 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.399 was like the hood version of Friday Night Lights to 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.440 be switchy. Man. It was we were not losing that game. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.159 You know, it was a really magical run. That was 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.400 like that that was I mean, you know, I talked 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.080 about it all the time with people I had a 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.800 I was we were very blessed to have a magical 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.639 run in my high school uh senior year. You know, 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:01.480 we we were a public school that got ranked number 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.640 one in the country. Uh you know one they said, 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.439 they called it the mythical national Championship. So that was 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.440 pretty cool. But we were you know, we were from 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.800 South Dallas. Man. We we didn't know much else. We 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:17.320 were just playing ball. Did you guys, So, did you 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:20.239 guys have recruits? Were you like this IMG Academy or 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:22.960 Oak Hill? Were you one of those schools? No, sir, 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.960 basically everybody that was on your team actually went to 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:28.920 that school. You didn't have guys coming in just obviously 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:34.399 just to play basketball. No, from citywide in a city 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:39.040 kind of feel kind of, but not on not on 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:43.000 Oak Hill's level. No, No, not in that kind of context. Yeah, 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.240 we were not a privately funded school. This was Dallas 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.399 Independent School District. You can look it up in Lincoln 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.760 High School. You can look it up if you get bored. Obviously, 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:55.639 at six eleven you win the state. You missed the 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:58.600 basketball in the state of Texas. So obviously you had 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.480 your pick. You didn't choose the blue blood. You didn't 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.800 choose Carolina. You didn't choose Kentucky, you didn't choose cans. 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:11.000 You chose Georgia Tech. Why tech Man For one, they 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:14.560 had an African American head coach, black head coach. I 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:19.399 was very into that. I was drawn to that. It 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.560 was great. Yeah, Paul Hewitt, he was running a great program, 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.960 turning the program around. It was very young, it was youthful. 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.919 The blue blood programs were there. It just it just didn't. 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.720 It just didn't. It just didn't attract me in that 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.200 kind of way. And we really had a really great 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:42.440 class and a lot of guys started getting picked up early. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.840 I believe North Carolina had three McDonald's, all Americans from 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:52.680 our class, but they had Raymond Felton, Sean May I'm missing, 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:57.160 George Williams, and Rashad McCants. I was in two years. 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.800 They had four McDonald's, three from my class. So that 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:05.240 was gone. Duke has Sheldon Williams, JJ Reddick, Daniel Ewing. 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.320 You know, it just seemed to kind of all be 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:12.760 uh going uh. You know, two guys that were very 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.080 very good, very early, and they know where they want 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.440 to go. For me, you know what, I had Florida 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.720 and Texas and I just I don't know. I wanted 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:25.040 to play in the ACC because I felt it get 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:26.760 it gave me a better chance to make it to 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:29.800 the league. So like in my mind, I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:20:29.840 --> 0:20:32.399 I'll go to Georgia Tech. Because if I want to 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:37.760 go to the NBA, the ACC they don't have they 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.760 there's an avoid at THEFORDA. They need to feel I 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.720 can go play there. You know, people later told me said, dude, 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:47.440 you were gonna play anywhere you went, right, But I didn't. 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:50.719 I didn't have that awareness of myself at that time. 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.199 So who would be your top five players to come 0:20:54.240 --> 0:21:02.240 out of State of Texas in high school basketball? Man? 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.760 I mean me, of course. Okay, that boy, you only 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.320 got four more to go. Gotta put big Perk in there. Okay, 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:15.520 gotta put TJ Ford in there. Oh man, it goes quick. 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:24.119 I gotta put LJ in there and Rishard Lewis. Wow, Okay, 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.040 I know I'm missing some people. I know I'm missing somebody, 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.040 but that's those are the biggest Texas. Texas is really 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:35.879 not known for basketball. You are football mecca, and guys 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:40.280 football the guys that really run fast in the for sure, 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.880 all day every day. But you know, that was one 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:47.760 of the best things that happened. I think, well, yeah, 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.560 I'm just not thinking about it too even in my class. 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:52.800 I know I'll get a lot for that, but I 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:55.480 gotta put the Will and LaMarcus Altars in there too. Okay, 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.760 but we were playing against each other. You know, those 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:01.120 are my good friends, and you know it kind of 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.160 not that it was overtaking basketball, but it was like 0:22:05.280 --> 0:22:08.160 in Texas if you were a sports junkie, if you're 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:11.119 a high school sports junkie, that's like the perfect place 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:15.040 for you. You follow careers, you get your information in 0:22:15.119 --> 0:22:18.399 the papers, you go and you go see every game 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.280 because a lot of the times, the best football players 0:22:21.320 --> 0:22:24.840 the best basketball player too throughout a team. So you know, 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:29.480 just the school spirit and just continuing sports just all 0:22:29.520 --> 0:22:31.840 through and then it'll tide you over the track and 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:34.280 field man. Then you just keep it going all year. 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.000 You're good to go. So you go to Georgia Tech, 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.879 you play in the ACC. What was it like playing 0:22:40.920 --> 0:22:43.480 those teams, because even though you chose not to join them, 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.200 you felt the ACC gave you a better opportunity or 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:49.120 a better pipeline to the NBA. So that meant you 0:22:49.160 --> 0:22:52.879 had to play well against the Dukes, against the North Carolinas. 0:22:55.000 --> 0:22:59.280 It was very humbling because despite how good I did, 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:01.680 we were still getting crushed as a team. Just as 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:04.640 a team, I wanted to win. You know, you want 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:09.439 to win. You have a you have a certain uh 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.280 fixation on how this season is gonna go, of how 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:16.040 the school is gonna go. None of that happened for me. 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:20.639 And you know, we we we you know, had had 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:23.800 a couple of great moments, but it was just a 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:29.040 tough year. Adjusting the college was really hard, you know, 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:32.320 being away from home, going from Dallas to Atlanta. I 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:37.040 undert it did, but let me tell you, brother, it 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.160 did have it going on. That was not a good thing. 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:41.800 I didn't have any money in my pocket, and you 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:45.199 quickly learned how much competition it is for a pretty 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:49.199 pretty young lady. And you know, in Atlanta. You know, 0:23:49.240 --> 0:23:52.080 it's like, oh damn, you know, I don't have none 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:54.720 of that stuff, you know what I mean. I was 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:57.720 striking out left and right. So it was very humbling. 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:01.720 So when you went to when when you went to Tech, 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:04.880 did you know that you were like, I'm wanting done, 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:06.840 or did you think that, you know what, I might 0:24:06.840 --> 0:24:09.159 stay a year, I might stay two years. Or was 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:13.880 it because the evaluation that you got like I gotta go. 0:24:15.000 --> 0:24:18.600 It was because of the evaluation. I didn't know until 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:24.360 later in the season, around the time about February, late February. 0:24:24.520 --> 0:24:26.680 That's when I was aware, because people tell you being 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:29.679 in Atlanta, people gonna tell you, you know. So I 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:32.480 was just keeping my head down and working right, you know, 0:24:32.560 --> 0:24:34.800 people start finding me and telling me that information, and 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:37.360 my intent was to do two years. In my head, 0:24:37.400 --> 0:24:40.119 I said, okay too, and I'm gonna be man, I 0:24:40.119 --> 0:24:43.199 can have a shot. And it was kind of it 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:45.840 was hard to take because I honestly, I wasn't ready 0:24:45.840 --> 0:24:49.400 to hear that. You know, I'm just man, We're losing 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.040 and we not what are we doing wrong? And I 0:24:52.119 --> 0:24:55.000 have to get better and I'm thinking about the things 0:24:55.040 --> 0:24:58.600 to do to get better and then you know, people 0:24:58.600 --> 0:25:02.280 were telling me like, well, yeah, you can go number five. 0:25:02.520 --> 0:25:04.880 I remember that and number five, and I was just 0:25:05.640 --> 0:25:08.960 I didn't understand, you know, nah nah, not yet. It's 0:25:09.040 --> 0:25:14.240 like nah, because that meant you had to go I 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.760 know what that means. I'm like, I'm just now starting 0:25:17.800 --> 0:25:22.960 to get used to Atlanta and college looking good. You don't, oh, man, 0:25:23.080 --> 0:25:26.840 the sun was shining changed up. Man, It's just you know, 0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:31.679 that stink of the season was off. Yeah, it's just 0:25:31.840 --> 0:25:33.760 next year we were Brent, which the guys went to 0:25:33.800 --> 0:25:35.800 the final, they competed for a national championship. We were 0:25:35.840 --> 0:25:38.160 looking around and saying, man, we might be we might 0:25:38.200 --> 0:25:41.639 be all right. But you know, it just it just 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:45.080 came up and it was quicker than I anticipated. The 0:25:45.119 --> 0:25:49.119 two thousand and three draft, Lebron was regarded as universally 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:52.760 He's going number one. Did you think you Carmelo Anthony's 0:25:52.800 --> 0:25:56.399 in that draft? Dark Darko Milichick is in that draft 0:25:56.440 --> 0:25:59.240 in d Wait though the most the high profile. Did 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:00.760 you think you had a chance to move up to 0:26:00.800 --> 0:26:03.280 maybe number two, number three? I thought I could move 0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:06.080 up to number two. I wanted to play in Detroit 0:26:06.080 --> 0:26:08.280 because I have I have family in Detroit, Okay, And 0:26:08.400 --> 0:26:10.399 at the time, you know, you're young, you don't know nothing. 0:26:10.920 --> 0:26:14.439 But I'm like, man, they're taking dark Old, maybe I 0:26:14.520 --> 0:26:16.920 get if I work out for him. So I actually 0:26:16.960 --> 0:26:19.159 worked out for him, but they were taking dark Oh 0:26:19.240 --> 0:26:21.280 was a grown man at that time. They were. They 0:26:21.280 --> 0:26:25.000 were taking one through three. Pretty much was solidified. I 0:26:25.040 --> 0:26:27.280 didn't even I think I worked out for Denver, but 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:30.560 that was pretty evident that they were gonna take Carmelo. 0:26:31.680 --> 0:26:34.240 I played Carmelo that year in college. They beat the 0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:38.520 crap out of us. They were pretty good, man. But 0:26:39.240 --> 0:26:42.800 you know, with with Lebron and Dwayne not not Lebron 0:26:42.880 --> 0:26:45.439 and Carmelo, I had never seen basketball players like that, 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:50.040 so you knew they were going really and with Dwayne, 0:26:50.240 --> 0:26:53.800 nobody really knew. I didn't even hear of him until, 0:26:54.400 --> 0:26:56.359 you know, you hear a couple of things. I didn't 0:26:56.400 --> 0:27:00.200 really just like, no, no, until that Kentucky game at 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:05.800 Me had with the triple double four. Yeah, and it's like, oh, okay, 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:09.640 but everybody thought he was gonna be lower mid and Miami. 0:27:09.920 --> 0:27:14.280 Miami worked them mount and they knew. But you know, 0:27:14.840 --> 0:27:18.119 after after after three was pretty much kind of like 0:27:18.160 --> 0:27:21.240 the question mark at the time. So so you didn't 0:27:21.240 --> 0:27:23.480 play any of these guys au ball, you play, you 0:27:23.520 --> 0:27:28.800 didn't go against Lebron? You yeah, Lebron actually, Uh it 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:32.000 was ABCD camp in two thousand and one and too 0:27:32.119 --> 0:27:34.879 next New Jersey. He was, he was, he was the 0:27:34.960 --> 0:27:39.040 first team, well the first guy I played again. So 0:27:39.080 --> 0:27:41.399 it's kind of like they take three hundred kids from 0:27:41.440 --> 0:27:44.400 all over the country, right and divide him in the teams, right, 0:27:44.440 --> 0:27:46.399 And you just played like two games a day for 0:27:46.480 --> 0:27:51.680 a week. And the first game we played was Lebron 0:27:51.720 --> 0:27:55.760 And I remember Washington play like, yo, who is this guy? Oh, 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:58.720 this is Lebron? Okay, I've heard it. Okay, I've heard 0:27:58.760 --> 0:28:00.720 this guy. Haven't heard his name, you know, I have 0:28:00.920 --> 0:28:03.760 not heard his name since. And then like we played 0:28:03.760 --> 0:28:10.640 each other a couple more times uh that year. Yeah, 0:28:10.840 --> 0:28:13.120 so yeah, we played each other. That was. And then 0:28:13.160 --> 0:28:17.040 I played with Mellow actually at USA Basketball and Venezola 0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:21.080 back in two thousand and two. So watching Lebron played then, 0:28:21.600 --> 0:28:23.720 did you know he would turn out to beat this 0:28:25.960 --> 0:28:27.800 or he even better than you thought? He would be 0:28:28.720 --> 0:28:30.800 definitely better than you thought it would be. But like 0:28:30.880 --> 0:28:33.760 when when you know when your kids, right, this is 0:28:33.960 --> 0:28:36.280 you're just a it's a friend, right, you know, it's 0:28:36.320 --> 0:28:41.280 like yeh man, what's yeah. You were at the camp, right, yeah, yeah, okay, 0:28:41.320 --> 0:28:44.000 and then you're at the draft and then then all 0:28:44.000 --> 0:28:46.680 of a sudden, it's like, okay, but right before that 0:28:46.760 --> 0:28:48.960 it was chosen one. I'm like, oh shit, you on 0:28:49.040 --> 0:28:53.920 the cover of sports. It was damn. But I remember 0:28:53.920 --> 0:28:56.720 when I got to Georgia Tech for my freshman year. 0:28:56.760 --> 0:28:58.920 They played on the ESPN in high school and that 0:28:59.000 --> 0:29:03.240 was kind of like, damn, that's crazy. And then it's like, boy, 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:08.560 he's been hitting the weights. He looked, he took that 0:29:08.680 --> 0:29:12.040 next leap, and then you know, you don't see him 0:29:12.080 --> 0:29:13.880 for a year, and then the next time you see him, 0:29:13.920 --> 0:29:18.440 he's just transformed. So we knew right away that okay, 0:29:18.480 --> 0:29:21.240 he's gonna be the number one pick. But to be honest, 0:29:21.320 --> 0:29:24.360 you don't really think that far into it. You just 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.520 you know, you it's all of us. This is cool. 0:29:27.800 --> 0:29:30.400 I went right into you know, trying to be great 0:29:30.480 --> 0:29:33.400 myself and for my you know, pouring all my stuff 0:29:33.400 --> 0:29:36.520 into the game. You get drafted number four overall, you 0:29:36.600 --> 0:29:39.880 go to Toronto. What were your expectations and what was 0:29:39.920 --> 0:29:44.400 Toronto like? I ma'am. I didn't have any expectations for 0:29:44.480 --> 0:29:46.880 Toronto because it was it was kind of shocking. Man. 0:29:46.920 --> 0:29:50.400 It was a culture shock. It was moving to a 0:29:50.440 --> 0:29:53.040 different country. I knew I was playing with Vince Carter. 0:29:53.560 --> 0:29:56.080 You're excited to move, You're excited to get it going. 0:29:56.240 --> 0:30:01.000 But then just that professional pace is very He's slow, man, 0:30:01.160 --> 0:30:05.440 and then you know, boom, You're you're throwing into the pan. 0:30:06.240 --> 0:30:09.160 You know, I really struggled when it got cold. When 0:30:09.160 --> 0:30:12.239 it started getting cold, that's when I started, you know, 0:30:12.320 --> 0:30:16.880 getting home sick. You know, I'm twenty five thirty games in, 0:30:17.640 --> 0:30:20.840 I'm getting smashed every day by grown man. The league. 0:30:20.880 --> 0:30:23.840 The league was a little, you know, a little different, 0:30:24.440 --> 0:30:26.800 a little different than it is now. You know, you 0:30:26.840 --> 0:30:30.320 could guys it was more physical and and you know, 0:30:30.400 --> 0:30:34.160 I'm like two two ten, two fifteen. I mean, I'm 0:30:34.200 --> 0:30:36.680 just getting my ass handed to me every day. So 0:30:37.880 --> 0:30:40.400 I was it was a struggle. It was a real struggle, 0:30:40.440 --> 0:30:42.080 and we weren't doing too good as a team. It 0:30:42.160 --> 0:30:44.680 was it was, you know, just an adjustment getting used 0:30:44.720 --> 0:30:49.120 to the NBA life. And and then socially, I was 0:30:49.200 --> 0:30:51.760 calling my friends every day back at Georgia Tech. They're 0:30:51.800 --> 0:30:55.040 going to the final four. I'm just like God, man, 0:30:55.320 --> 0:30:56.800 did I make the wrong I don't know if I 0:30:56.880 --> 0:30:59.200 made the right decision. Now I was going I was 0:30:59.240 --> 0:31:01.560 going through that in my head. But right you know, 0:31:01.640 --> 0:31:03.720 you know everybody has to go through it. We all 0:31:03.760 --> 0:31:05.880 have to go through it. And you know those are 0:31:05.920 --> 0:31:09.120 my years. Man. Did you ever think about bringing family out, 0:31:09.240 --> 0:31:11.360 maybe your mom, your dad, or someone that you're very 0:31:11.400 --> 0:31:14.480 familiar with, your close, close with to live with you, 0:31:14.560 --> 0:31:16.440 to be there to give you that sense of home. 0:31:16.960 --> 0:31:19.840 I had that. I did have that. I had a 0:31:19.840 --> 0:31:25.440 tremendous support at the time, always had someone with me. 0:31:26.200 --> 0:31:28.400 It's just they're not with you in that huddle, you know, 0:31:28.600 --> 0:31:32.800 and I with you on those road trips. Yeah, it's 0:31:32.840 --> 0:31:37.040 just just the grind of the season. It sounds a 0:31:37.040 --> 0:31:40.520 lot cooler playing on the road than it actually is 0:31:40.560 --> 0:31:43.360 when you first start. You gotta get used to it. 0:31:43.080 --> 0:31:47.200 It's a lifestyle adjustment you have to make. And being nineteen, 0:31:47.360 --> 0:31:50.360 let's say, being nineteen in the league full of grown guys, 0:31:50.440 --> 0:31:53.000 it's it was. It was a struggle, man, it was 0:31:53.040 --> 0:31:56.960 just different. Uh, Chris, I hate to bring bring this up, 0:31:57.040 --> 0:32:01.120 but January twenty second, two thousand and six, you happen 0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:04.440 to be on that team in which y'all COVID rest 0:32:04.480 --> 0:32:08.400 your soul again. Yeah, dropped eighty one. Everybody talks about 0:32:08.480 --> 0:32:11.040 Jalen Rose and you kind of get and you don't 0:32:11.080 --> 0:32:13.840 ever mention it, So you've done a great job. I'm like, hey, 0:32:14.080 --> 0:32:17.880 ain't nobody. Don't anyone remember that I was on the squad, 0:32:18.080 --> 0:32:22.600 So I ain't gonna break it up. I brought it 0:32:22.680 --> 0:32:24.520 up a couple of times, you know, just a couple 0:32:24.520 --> 0:32:27.040 of times, not a lot. It's more like a trivia thing. 0:32:27.560 --> 0:32:29.920 And then people say, oh, that is you. Oh you 0:32:29.960 --> 0:32:32.520 can watch the game and maybe not even notice me 0:32:32.560 --> 0:32:34.440 because I look a little different. I was pretty young. 0:32:34.480 --> 0:32:37.680 I was like twenty two, yeah, twenty two, twenty three 0:32:37.720 --> 0:32:40.120 at the time. Yeah, that was That was embarrassing, man, 0:32:40.360 --> 0:32:43.840 So what do you do? What do you remember about 0:32:43.920 --> 0:32:46.600 that game? And then when he got it going, did 0:32:46.640 --> 0:32:50.000 you ever think he would get to that plateau? No? 0:32:50.440 --> 0:32:55.000 I didn't, Okay, So like all I remember, I just 0:32:55.040 --> 0:33:01.080 like I remember halftime and a lot of people don't know. 0:33:01.200 --> 0:33:04.560 But he scored fifty five points in the second half, right, 0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:08.480 that's like the stat that's like, that's the stagger. That's 0:33:08.480 --> 0:33:11.560 what's because you know what I mean, they think it 0:33:11.640 --> 0:33:15.240 was like okay, forty forty nah, yeah, fifty five. You know, 0:33:16.240 --> 0:33:18.560 I just remember we were up. We were in a 0:33:18.640 --> 0:33:21.920 very good team, but you were all big big, were 0:33:21.960 --> 0:33:26.280 up about fourteen sixteen points, and on the road, we're 0:33:26.320 --> 0:33:30.280 feeling great. He's got twenty six points, right, so I'm like, ah, 0:33:30.320 --> 0:33:33.720 you know, hey, Kobe can have fifty, don't matter as 0:33:33.760 --> 0:33:38.040 long as we win by you know. Man, I just 0:33:38.080 --> 0:33:41.800 remember he came out. It's like he couldn't miss it. 0:33:41.960 --> 0:33:44.720 I don't know, it's it's it's like you just start 0:33:44.800 --> 0:33:47.480 watching him play because he started doing stuff you never 0:33:47.480 --> 0:33:50.320 see anybody do. Nobody was pulling up for three Steph 0:33:50.400 --> 0:33:54.360 Curry started pulling up for threes again. Nobody saw that 0:33:54.440 --> 0:33:56.960 back then. He was pulling up from that far, you know. 0:33:57.160 --> 0:33:59.400 And and the game the second half just started. It 0:33:59.480 --> 0:34:03.520 just the second half. He just come out shooting bo Okay, 0:34:03.560 --> 0:34:05.400 he hits like four threes in a row if I 0:34:05.440 --> 0:34:10.520 remember correctly, and that's like twelve points. And then then 0:34:10.560 --> 0:34:13.960 he just start hitting everything. And we were bad defensively already, 0:34:14.000 --> 0:34:16.719 so it wasn't like there was a bunch of resistance. 0:34:16.760 --> 0:34:19.560 So It's like it was that perfect storm. Off. He 0:34:19.680 --> 0:34:22.440 hit every three, he hit every shot, and he shot 0:34:22.440 --> 0:34:26.000 a lot of free throws. Right. It was really the 0:34:26.040 --> 0:34:28.440 perfect storm. Oh it was a perfect storm. Man. He 0:34:28.800 --> 0:34:31.319 gave it to us, man, and that was That was 0:34:31.360 --> 0:34:33.440 a tough one, man. That was. And it was kind 0:34:33.440 --> 0:34:37.000 of like I just remember running back and forth, just like, yeah, 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:39.000 this can't be real. You kind of get stuck in 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:42.239 a dream, all right, you know, like, can we stop this? 0:34:42.360 --> 0:34:45.800 I don't know. He just hit this fade away from 0:34:45.840 --> 0:34:50.200 over there. I've never seen that before. You just kind 0:34:50.200 --> 0:34:52.960 of get like, no way, Bob, my god, dang, this 0:34:53.040 --> 0:34:56.200 dude is killing. So the horn goes the horn goes off, 0:34:56.600 --> 0:34:59.080 and you look and you look up and it says 0:35:02.600 --> 0:35:05.200 eighty one. Did you like, is that a myth? Prier? 0:35:05.200 --> 0:35:07.040 Ain't no way, this man had eighty one points in 0:35:07.120 --> 0:35:09.279 big shan. I didn't even have to look. I just 0:35:09.320 --> 0:35:12.200 walked off. I knew, I knew what he had this 0:35:12.440 --> 0:35:14.719 last two free throw free throw, and then they took 0:35:14.800 --> 0:35:16.839 him out and I said, man, let's just get off 0:35:16.840 --> 0:35:19.440 the court. Let's just get out of here as quickly 0:35:19.480 --> 0:35:25.719 as possible. Man. That was a Sunday afternoon yes. Let 0:35:25.760 --> 0:35:28.560 me ask your question. When Toronto won the title last year, 0:35:29.160 --> 0:35:31.760 what were your emotions, because you did start in Toronto, 0:35:31.840 --> 0:35:35.960 although you had your greatest success, greatest team success in Maamn, 0:35:36.200 --> 0:35:38.640 what were your emotions were you excited? You like, Okay, yeah, 0:35:38.640 --> 0:35:41.120 I played for that team. I'm happy for oh man. 0:35:41.160 --> 0:35:42.920 I was so happy. I was so happy for the 0:35:43.040 --> 0:35:46.680 city because nobody ever would have thought that would happen, 0:35:46.760 --> 0:35:50.279 that they even have the opportunity, just because that was 0:35:50.320 --> 0:35:53.279 the stigma for so long, and especially when I was there, 0:35:53.320 --> 0:35:55.680 that was the stigma that you would fight like, I 0:35:55.680 --> 0:35:58.239 don't know, man, can we compete for a championship here? 0:35:58.680 --> 0:36:00.640 And then it would start to kind of see through 0:36:00.640 --> 0:36:03.280 the city. But when I went, I got the chance 0:36:03.320 --> 0:36:06.560 the opportunity to work with the finals for Canadian Cables 0:36:06.680 --> 0:36:09.120 in up there, and so I went to every game 0:36:09.600 --> 0:36:11.880 and just to see the excitement. That's one of the 0:36:11.880 --> 0:36:15.279 things I wish I would have got more of was 0:36:15.360 --> 0:36:20.880 to see playoff basketball in Toronto. Phenomenal fans right, and 0:36:22.120 --> 0:36:25.160 to see their spirit and for them to experience that, 0:36:25.280 --> 0:36:28.279 not only experience it, but win it. I mean, I 0:36:28.400 --> 0:36:30.320 was so happy for those guys. I mean, I still 0:36:30.360 --> 0:36:34.120 know the trainers, the coaches, you know, the staff, the 0:36:34.160 --> 0:36:38.560 front office. The first thing they say when they see me, like, Yo, 0:36:38.640 --> 0:36:41.600 can you believe it? I'm like, I know, that's just great. 0:36:41.840 --> 0:36:44.799 I was just I was so so happy for those guys. 0:36:44.800 --> 0:36:49.080 And that was one of the times I really really enjoyed. 0:36:49.120 --> 0:36:52.040 I got to go back and see all the old guys. 0:36:52.080 --> 0:36:54.279 You know, on those days I wasn't working pre game 0:36:54.360 --> 0:36:56.279 too much. I would go back to the locker room 0:36:56.280 --> 0:36:59.000 and in the equipment room and talk to my old 0:36:59.040 --> 0:37:01.920 equipment manager and the trainers and just you know, have 0:37:01.960 --> 0:37:03.719 a couple of beers and shoot the ship, you know, 0:37:03.920 --> 0:37:07.080 have some fun, and just to see those guys and 0:37:07.160 --> 0:37:09.799 that city have that opportunity and win it and have 0:37:10.000 --> 0:37:13.840 that forever. It's nothing like it. Obviously, Kawhi was a 0:37:13.840 --> 0:37:17.560 big part of that team in Toronto. Last year he 0:37:17.680 --> 0:37:21.760 moved on to the Clippers. Is there what was different 0:37:21.880 --> 0:37:24.839 between Kawhi last year in Toronto and Kawhi this year 0:37:25.360 --> 0:37:28.799 in LA Because it seems he had more talent in 0:37:29.040 --> 0:37:32.240 LA that he had in Toronto, but he didn't enjoy 0:37:32.360 --> 0:37:34.759 the same level of team success. Why do you think 0:37:34.800 --> 0:37:37.400 that was? You know, and I think it's the motivation. 0:37:37.560 --> 0:37:41.440 I think you can get to a complacent place as 0:37:41.480 --> 0:37:44.400 a team, It's it's not easy. And with those guys, 0:37:44.440 --> 0:37:48.319 they had to have the gap in between shutting down 0:37:48.320 --> 0:37:51.319 a season and the bubble, so there could have been 0:37:51.320 --> 0:37:56.080 many miscues there. But I think, you know, that kind 0:37:56.080 --> 0:37:58.080 of they kind of let that take them out of 0:37:58.120 --> 0:38:01.799 their rhythm and it's a hard lesson learned. I mean, 0:38:01.920 --> 0:38:05.759 you know, hopefully those guys can learn from what transpired. 0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:08.439 But all in all, they still have the talent. They'll 0:38:08.480 --> 0:38:11.640 still be a championship contender. It will be harder next 0:38:11.719 --> 0:38:14.360 year because you know, you got guys like Golden State, 0:38:15.840 --> 0:38:18.320 who they're gonna you know, they got the Splash Brothers 0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:22.040 rested up, Draymond rested up in a high pick, you know, coming, 0:38:22.160 --> 0:38:26.560 So we'll see how that goes. But you know, I 0:38:26.600 --> 0:38:30.560 think it wasn't as much urgency. You know, they didn't 0:38:30.560 --> 0:38:32.880 play with the urgency. They didn't play with the edge 0:38:32.920 --> 0:38:36.239 that they needed one to put Denver Away into to 0:38:36.400 --> 0:38:44.920 really sustain their great play two thousand and eight. You guys, 0:38:44.280 --> 0:38:48.080 it's dubbed the redeem team because in two thousand and 0:38:48.120 --> 0:38:50.040 four they had lost the gold medal. Not only did 0:38:50.040 --> 0:38:53.759 they Uh, yeah, because they say, you know, you don't 0:38:53.760 --> 0:38:56.120 win up silboy, you win Lebron if you lose gold. 0:38:56.480 --> 0:38:59.880 They lost the golden medal they got, they got the broun. 0:39:00.160 --> 0:39:03.399 If I'm not mistaking, Argentina won the gold medal back 0:39:03.480 --> 0:39:07.319 year behind Manu yep in two thousand and eight. What 0:39:07.480 --> 0:39:10.480 was your focus? What were you guys focus going in 0:39:10.760 --> 0:39:13.640 to try and bring the gold medal home? Because you're 0:39:13.680 --> 0:39:16.919 not a basketball started in America, so we should never 0:39:17.000 --> 0:39:21.200 lose in basketball. Man. It was embarrassing, man. And like 0:39:21.520 --> 0:39:26.560 I didn't get the opportunity to play on the team 0:39:26.560 --> 0:39:29.280 in Athens, but I played in Tokyo in two thousand 0:39:29.280 --> 0:39:32.719 and six. We didn't win that either, you know. So 0:39:32.960 --> 0:39:36.239 it was getting to the point, you know where it's like, man, 0:39:36.360 --> 0:39:39.640 this is embarrassing. Yeah, we're supposed to be the world 0:39:39.719 --> 0:39:45.319 leaders in this MJ and those guys never lost. So 0:39:45.400 --> 0:39:47.400 we've got to We've got to fix this and we 0:39:47.520 --> 0:39:49.799 definitely can't lose in a way. It was just a 0:39:49.920 --> 0:39:54.399 very very serious atmosphere, I mean not only for basketball, 0:39:54.480 --> 0:39:56.960 but just the spirit of a nation. I mean, we 0:39:57.080 --> 0:40:01.879 talked to we talked to veteran people who were disabled 0:40:01.960 --> 0:40:07.200 or disabled lost their eyesight, re enlisted back into the military, 0:40:07.520 --> 0:40:10.640 you know, to fight for their country. Talking to two 0:40:10.680 --> 0:40:14.960 and three star generals, you know, it was it was. 0:40:15.040 --> 0:40:19.239 It was super super patriotic, super heavy, and I mean, 0:40:19.440 --> 0:40:21.799 Coach K I really want to say Coach K left 0:40:21.840 --> 0:40:24.560 the charge on that one because he knew the moment 0:40:24.600 --> 0:40:27.560 and how serious it was, not only as a leader 0:40:27.640 --> 0:40:32.080 in basketball and setting the precedent with that, but just representing, 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:34.799 you know, the United States of America, having pride in 0:40:34.880 --> 0:40:39.080 that and not letting anybody kind of take that away 0:40:39.120 --> 0:40:41.680 from you. You know, just just wear it with pride. 0:40:41.719 --> 0:40:44.919 And we played pretty hungry. We were. We were ready 0:40:44.960 --> 0:40:46.520 to go that year. It was a lot of fun. 0:40:47.000 --> 0:40:49.120 So what are some of your best memories about the 0:40:49.120 --> 0:40:51.759 O E team? Obviously you're around some of your around 0:40:51.880 --> 0:40:55.480 d Wade Mellow, Lebron. You guys came in in the 0:40:55.480 --> 0:40:58.160 same draft in OH three, so you're very familiar with 0:40:58.200 --> 0:41:01.120 each other. Kobe was on that team also, Kobe was 0:41:01.520 --> 0:41:04.400 CDP three. So what are some of your best memories 0:41:04.480 --> 0:41:07.600 about that Besides winning? Obviously that was the greatest memory 0:41:07.640 --> 0:41:09.800 of winning. Yeah, but what are some of your behind 0:41:09.920 --> 0:41:16.360 the scenes memories hanging with Kobe. Of course going to 0:41:16.480 --> 0:41:19.799 the We went to the village quite a bit, I 0:41:19.800 --> 0:41:21.719 want to say, every other day. We had built this 0:41:22.320 --> 0:41:25.400 thing where we would play. The next day we practiced 0:41:25.440 --> 0:41:27.120 and then go hang out at the village. But just 0:41:27.160 --> 0:41:30.040 to hang out at the village, see the spirit of 0:41:30.080 --> 0:41:33.240 the games, talk to the people, you know, eat eat, 0:41:33.640 --> 0:41:36.960 eating the mess hall, you know, eat the same food now, 0:41:37.200 --> 0:41:42.240 and like seeing how big Kobe was, because you know, Lebron, 0:41:43.000 --> 0:41:47.080 Lebron is you know, Kobe's Kobe's the guy, and Lebron 0:41:47.160 --> 0:41:49.160 and he's like, okay, he's the guy you can touch. 0:41:49.280 --> 0:41:52.640 You can't touch Kobe, right, Lebron you can touch kind of, 0:41:53.080 --> 0:41:55.640 and he's on his way and like he's one of 0:41:55.640 --> 0:41:57.800 the best in the world. But then Kobe was around, 0:41:57.800 --> 0:42:00.759 and it was it was just I mean, the way 0:42:00.840 --> 0:42:04.600 people reacted to that guy was crazy. But just getting 0:42:04.600 --> 0:42:06.600 to see some of that, getting to see how hard 0:42:06.640 --> 0:42:08.920 he worked, how much he put into the game, how 0:42:08.960 --> 0:42:13.680 good he how good he really is or was, and yeah, 0:42:13.800 --> 0:42:15.719 just hanging with the guys. Man, we had a good time. 0:42:15.840 --> 0:42:18.479 It was It was a lot of a lot of fun. 0:42:18.560 --> 0:42:20.239 I had a lot of fun on that trip, you know, 0:42:20.280 --> 0:42:22.040 I think, yeah, I was twenty four years old. We 0:42:22.040 --> 0:42:25.080 were all yet. Bron was twenty three, Mellow was twenty four, 0:42:25.239 --> 0:42:28.080 d was twenty five. We were just just some you know, 0:42:28.160 --> 0:42:31.600 young guys hanging out when you guys are at the 0:42:31.600 --> 0:42:35.680 Olympics and oh eight, did you know that there was 0:42:35.719 --> 0:42:39.760 a possibility that you, d Wade and Braun might link 0:42:39.880 --> 0:42:44.600 up later that ever, I did not know. I'm sure 0:42:44.640 --> 0:42:48.920 Broun knew. I'm sure he knew because there, you know, 0:42:48.960 --> 0:42:52.160 he's a very calculated person. I was just happy to 0:42:52.200 --> 0:42:55.160 be one be on Olympics. I was trying to play right. 0:42:57.200 --> 0:43:00.120 I was just trying to give more minutes and and 0:43:00.239 --> 0:43:05.799 I was so concentrated on making Toronto a destination that 0:43:05.920 --> 0:43:08.640 was like my goal and focus as a franchise player. 0:43:08.680 --> 0:43:13.799 I truly truly believed that we could compete for a 0:43:13.920 --> 0:43:16.400 championship one day. I just had to keep doing what 0:43:16.480 --> 0:43:19.640 I'm doing, and you know, I was just fully into that. 0:43:19.880 --> 0:43:25.719 I really didn't start thinking all the way about free 0:43:25.760 --> 0:43:28.480 agency until I think it was that was it that summer, 0:43:28.600 --> 0:43:31.080 I think the summer before. Yeah, in two thousand and seven, 0:43:31.200 --> 0:43:33.759 we all signed our deals, So it was kind of 0:43:33.760 --> 0:43:36.279 out of my mind for whatever reason, I wasn't. I 0:43:36.360 --> 0:43:39.799 was just kind of kind of just compartmentalizing and just 0:43:39.840 --> 0:43:42.719 thinking about things that were in front of me. So 0:43:42.840 --> 0:43:46.080 how did so how did that come together? So how 0:43:46.080 --> 0:43:49.279 did you guys? You d Wade Lebron, Are you on 0:43:49.320 --> 0:43:51.640 the phone? Are you in a room? And you're like, 0:43:52.160 --> 0:43:57.200 obviously they're not coming to Toronto, so play. In order 0:43:57.200 --> 0:43:59.680 for you to play play to Lebron, you're gonna have 0:43:59.719 --> 0:44:01.560 to make moved to the state. So how did this 0:44:01.640 --> 0:44:04.880 come about? So it kind of started out all cloudy. 0:44:04.920 --> 0:44:11.399 You know, free agency is crazy, but you know it 0:44:11.520 --> 0:44:16.560 was known that Miami was making moves to get enough 0:44:16.640 --> 0:44:18.680 cash space. That's pretty much what it came down to. 0:44:19.680 --> 0:44:22.920 Once the cash space was made. Yeah, a couple of 0:44:22.920 --> 0:44:26.239 phone conversations, you know, I mean, we're friends, we see 0:44:26.239 --> 0:44:29.560 each other, and at that time it was still just possibilities. 0:44:29.560 --> 0:44:33.279 Nobody really thought because you know, I believe there were 0:44:33.320 --> 0:44:35.399 still moves to be made and all that stuff. So, 0:44:36.200 --> 0:44:38.200 you know, it was just kind of a pipe dream 0:44:38.239 --> 0:44:41.120 at the time, but it was on the radar. And 0:44:41.200 --> 0:44:45.759 you know, my agent, the late grade Henry Thomas, me 0:44:45.880 --> 0:44:48.160 and him at me and Dwayne at the same agent. 0:44:48.320 --> 0:44:53.360 You know, so I kind of everybody put me in 0:44:53.360 --> 0:44:56.719 a position where it's like Chris, if you come, for sure, 0:44:56.719 --> 0:44:59.680 we're going to get one of it. You know. So 0:44:59.719 --> 0:45:03.560 that's like New York, New Jersey, Chicago, that's what they're 0:45:03.600 --> 0:45:05.160 telling me. In like for me, they were putting me 0:45:05.200 --> 0:45:07.320 in the middle of it. And I mean so in 0:45:07.320 --> 0:45:09.319 the other words, you were the man. You you were 0:45:09.320 --> 0:45:11.240 the one that was going to connect the dots because 0:45:11.280 --> 0:45:13.279 if you come, one of the other was definitely coming. 0:45:13.400 --> 0:45:15.279 That's that's what they were trying to sell me on. 0:45:15.480 --> 0:45:17.960 Never believed it any any part of the day and 0:45:18.120 --> 0:45:21.480 like guys, I don't know, but they that's definitely what 0:45:21.600 --> 0:45:24.040 was being sold to me quite a bit. But you know, 0:45:24.120 --> 0:45:26.759 it was just it was a slow burn. You know, 0:45:26.800 --> 0:45:32.720 the free agency period happened once I heard the possibility. 0:45:32.840 --> 0:45:34.840 I mean, it was pretty evident to me. I was 0:45:34.880 --> 0:45:39.200 on board the welcome when the Heat had their welcome 0:45:39.239 --> 0:45:41.400 party and you guys are on stage and it's the 0:45:41.480 --> 0:45:44.520 power of techniques are going off and they're probably fifteen 0:45:44.600 --> 0:45:48.960 thousand people in Heat arena and lebron is saying not one, 0:45:49.120 --> 0:45:52.000 not two, not three, not four? Are you like, hop bro, 0:45:52.520 --> 0:45:56.200 Let's hold this thing. Let's get it and then we'll 0:45:56.200 --> 0:45:58.759 get to two to three to four. What's going through 0:45:58.800 --> 0:46:01.960 your mind when you hear him say that's right, that's right. 0:46:02.680 --> 0:46:10.359 Tell him, Oh yeah, I was taking yo, give me 0:46:10.440 --> 0:46:13.959 all the gas. Wasn't even thinking about how that would look. 0:46:14.560 --> 0:46:17.480 It wasn't even aware. I mean, it was just everybody 0:46:17.560 --> 0:46:21.080 was having so much fun, to be honest, man. And 0:46:21.400 --> 0:46:25.160 it kind of not that it did. It didn't get flipped. 0:46:25.760 --> 0:46:28.279 We definitely should have been smarter. It was just like 0:46:29.120 --> 0:46:33.040 in the context the question was asked, and then he said, 0:46:33.040 --> 0:46:36.640 we're not here to win, not one, but of course 0:46:36.680 --> 0:46:39.040 you gotta hey man, they're gonna pick up. They're gonna 0:46:39.080 --> 0:46:41.919 just nudge that over, pick that part up. And yeah 0:46:41.920 --> 0:46:44.279 you did. Kind of we did. We were all there 0:46:44.400 --> 0:46:46.759 counting all the way up to ten or whatever. Yeah, 0:46:46.960 --> 0:46:52.799 I mean, we were feeling so good man. We had 0:46:52.880 --> 0:46:55.600 no idea and at the same time, like we weren't 0:46:55.640 --> 0:46:59.200 seeing the aftermath of the night before, right, you know, 0:46:59.280 --> 0:47:02.080 we went straight to parties and stuff, So we were 0:47:02.200 --> 0:47:05.719 totally least on my end, I was totally unaware of 0:47:06.640 --> 0:47:09.120 the perception and how it was taken. So yeah, we 0:47:09.480 --> 0:47:13.560 if we would have known that, and how good and 0:47:13.600 --> 0:47:16.799 how hard it is to win a championship. Yeah, we 0:47:16.880 --> 0:47:19.799 might would have We probably would have said some some 0:47:19.880 --> 0:47:22.719 different stuff, you know, and you come on. The crowd 0:47:22.880 --> 0:47:27.839 was like they had gass. Oh we were gas yea. 0:47:29.200 --> 0:47:30.600 By the time he got the eight, it was a 0:47:30.600 --> 0:47:35.960 standing ovation. But you you mentioned you didn't see the 0:47:35.960 --> 0:47:39.040 backlash that had happened the night before because once you 0:47:39.080 --> 0:47:41.120 guys said once you guys did you did? You went 0:47:41.200 --> 0:47:45.760 straight the parties. But you go, you your beloved Lebron 0:47:46.120 --> 0:47:49.640 was beloved d Wade, and now you guys combined and 0:47:49.719 --> 0:47:52.840 you're the most hated team and all maybe in the 0:47:52.960 --> 0:47:55.840 history of basketball outside of the Bad Boy Pistons. But 0:47:55.960 --> 0:47:59.400 you go from beloved to hate it overnight. That's what 0:47:59.520 --> 0:48:01.200 kind of that's what kind of threw me off. And 0:48:01.239 --> 0:48:04.080 that's what kind of that was my naive nature at 0:48:04.080 --> 0:48:07.879 the time, just being a younger guy. Everybody loved me 0:48:08.080 --> 0:48:12.320 in Toronto. I was not threatening. I'll give you twenty 0:48:12.360 --> 0:48:14.920 and ten to night. You know, we may get the 0:48:14.960 --> 0:48:18.560 ape seeds, seventh seeds. We'll get you guys out of 0:48:18.560 --> 0:48:21.360 here in five man. Chris, you boy, you can play, 0:48:21.560 --> 0:48:24.520 you know, and and and and it wasn't threatening. And 0:48:24.680 --> 0:48:27.680 you know, prior to that, I want to say, yeah, 0:48:27.719 --> 0:48:30.279 two thousand and nine, you know, and I tell you, 0:48:30.320 --> 0:48:33.080 everybody was so nice because free agency was coming up, 0:48:33.800 --> 0:48:37.279 and so you kind of get in this mode of 0:48:37.880 --> 0:48:41.280 just thinking, oh, yeah, they're my friends or yeah nobody, 0:48:41.360 --> 0:48:44.799 not even putting yourself in their position and saying, oh, yeah, okay, 0:48:44.800 --> 0:48:47.640 they're a fan and they're a Bulls fan. So if 0:48:47.680 --> 0:48:51.880 you don't go to Chicago, they're not gonna like that. So, 0:48:51.920 --> 0:48:54.120 I mean, you know, I think for everybody, for all 0:48:54.120 --> 0:48:57.759 of us, we kind of Dwayne and Lebron had some 0:48:57.880 --> 0:49:00.799 experience with it. I had none, So I was just 0:49:00.840 --> 0:49:04.200 steadily playing catchup and and you know, just catching those 0:49:04.239 --> 0:49:10.320 straight bullets. Man, how difficult was it because, as you mentioned, 0:49:10.320 --> 0:49:13.160 you go from being a twenty ten guy, a guy 0:49:13.200 --> 0:49:16.200 that they're running the offense through, to all of a sudden, 0:49:16.360 --> 0:49:20.320 it's Lebron, d Wade, d Wade, Lebron, not Chris. Okay, 0:49:20.480 --> 0:49:22.600 here's a little something for you. How difficult was that 0:49:22.640 --> 0:49:25.600 for you? It was very difficult, to be honest with you, 0:49:25.640 --> 0:49:31.120 because in my mind I thought, I said, man, I'm 0:49:31.120 --> 0:49:33.600 gonna get my touches here, and they're gonna be making 0:49:33.640 --> 0:49:37.080 plays for me because Dwayne and Lebron can pass so well, right, 0:49:37.080 --> 0:49:39.680 I'm gonna be the leading scorer. Man, I'm gonna average. 0:49:39.719 --> 0:49:43.040 My game is gonna continue to go up. I average 0:49:43.040 --> 0:49:45.680 twenty five last year twenty four point who I probably 0:49:45.680 --> 0:49:49.800 have twenty six at least. Yeah, it wasn't like yeah, 0:49:51.880 --> 0:49:54.400 it's not like that. And then and then even in that, 0:49:54.560 --> 0:49:57.040 we're trying to figure it out as a team. I'm 0:49:57.120 --> 0:50:03.319 running a whole different playbook. I don't like nobody. I 0:50:03.320 --> 0:50:05.719 mean we're getting when it's knew, nobody likes it. And 0:50:05.760 --> 0:50:08.600 then we're trying to figure out how to play with it, 0:50:09.000 --> 0:50:11.720 like yeah, with each other. And then like it's so loud. 0:50:11.920 --> 0:50:14.600 Every game is like a playoff game. So learning on 0:50:14.640 --> 0:50:18.200 the fly it's not really working. So we're going back 0:50:18.239 --> 0:50:21.560 to old habits. It was bad, you know, it just 0:50:22.640 --> 0:50:26.040 it just kind of snowballed into this situation where we said, okay, 0:50:26.280 --> 0:50:28.479 as a team, this is what we have to do. 0:50:29.040 --> 0:50:32.480 And to be quite frank, man, I mean they were 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:35.399 so they were so amazing. Just said what they did. 0:50:36.160 --> 0:50:38.839 I said, all right, cool, you know they I mean 0:50:38.880 --> 0:50:41.520 I would see Lebron get a block, get the rebound, 0:50:41.680 --> 0:50:44.640 push it, kick it up and and cast alley. Oh 0:50:44.680 --> 0:50:49.200 my god, Okay, I can't do that. D Way doing 0:50:49.200 --> 0:50:52.000 all those Euros steps and getting the steels in the 0:50:52.000 --> 0:50:55.600 back court. They they just did things that I could 0:50:55.640 --> 0:50:58.440 not do. So I pretty much it was pretty evident 0:50:58.480 --> 0:51:00.439 as far as like how I would affect the game 0:51:00.960 --> 0:51:04.520 and where I would fit in with that team. You 0:51:04.600 --> 0:51:07.680 guys don't get off to the best start at seventeen 0:51:07.760 --> 0:51:11.040 games in you're nine and eight. Yeah, how much truth 0:51:11.200 --> 0:51:16.120 is it that d Wade and Lebron wanted spoil Gone 0:51:16.360 --> 0:51:19.000 and pat Riley to come down? We were you in 0:51:19.120 --> 0:51:22.160 on it? Nah? Yeah, never was never a thing that 0:51:22.280 --> 0:51:24.680 was just that was so it was getting so crazy, man, 0:51:24.680 --> 0:51:26.359 to be honest with you, that was one of the 0:51:26.400 --> 0:51:30.759 things that we didn't, you know, expect coming because you know, hey, 0:51:30.840 --> 0:51:32.600 we gave us full a rough time. Don't get me wrong, 0:51:32.640 --> 0:51:34.640 I'm supposed to give your coach a rough time in 0:51:34.640 --> 0:51:40.560 this situation. Nobody's happy, right, But yeah, the fans in Miami, 0:51:40.640 --> 0:51:42.920 they started it started at the home games, if I 0:51:42.920 --> 0:51:46.840 remember correctly, people were just like, we want Rayles Riles 0:51:46.880 --> 0:51:49.560 pretty much had to We had to have a whole 0:51:49.880 --> 0:51:52.360 team meeting about that and just like, hey, I'm not coaching, 0:51:53.200 --> 0:51:55.960 you know, this is our team. And him doing that, 0:51:56.400 --> 0:51:58.960 we knew that. Okay, this is what we're working with. 0:51:59.480 --> 0:52:02.320 It's not gonna be any any kind of wishy washy 0:52:02.440 --> 0:52:06.440 kind of stuff over here. He's the coach. He's ready. 0:52:07.000 --> 0:52:10.560 You know, We're good to go. How difficult was twenty 0:52:10.600 --> 0:52:14.480 eleven because you guys were a favorite to beat the 0:52:14.520 --> 0:52:17.520 Mavericks and it does not go. You win Game one, 0:52:17.840 --> 0:52:20.160 you're up by fifteen at one point in time. In 0:52:20.280 --> 0:52:23.280 Game two, they go on a twenty two and twenty 0:52:23.280 --> 0:52:25.640 two two, They go on to twenty two five runs 0:52:25.719 --> 0:52:28.359 something like that. Yeah, so they win and they end 0:52:28.440 --> 0:52:31.640 up winning the game and win that series. Yea? How 0:52:31.680 --> 0:52:34.800 difficult was that? And what would the off season like? 0:52:35.680 --> 0:52:40.399 The off season was long because it was the lockout year, right, 0:52:40.880 --> 0:52:43.200 So not only did we lose, but it's like, damn, 0:52:43.280 --> 0:52:45.560 we are we even gonna get another chance to even 0:52:45.600 --> 0:52:50.080 redeem ourselves? Probably, I don't know, we'll see. But it 0:52:50.200 --> 0:52:54.839 was embarrassing. It was hard. We were shameful, I mean 0:52:55.040 --> 0:52:59.160 every what we're wrong, what we're wrong. We just weren't ready, 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:02.520 We just weren't read. They were better than us. We 0:53:03.000 --> 0:53:10.320 didn't Psychologically, we didn't play well. Our offense was stagnant. 0:53:11.160 --> 0:53:15.520 Lebron didn't play well. I didn't play well. Nobody played 0:53:15.520 --> 0:53:18.200 with a coaching staff hell or the popcorn. Man. I'm 0:53:18.239 --> 0:53:20.600 sure he was like, I didn't get them the popcorn 0:53:20.680 --> 0:53:24.319 like I you know, but it just, you know, one 0:53:24.320 --> 0:53:27.359 thing I learned from that you have to gain experienced 0:53:27.400 --> 0:53:30.640 as a team and then as an individual. And unfortunately 0:53:31.120 --> 0:53:36.799 sometimes that requires pain. And we understood as soon as 0:53:36.800 --> 0:53:40.840 we lost how important it is to pay attention to 0:53:40.880 --> 0:53:44.640 the small details, to play with that, to play with 0:53:44.640 --> 0:53:46.399 that pain, you know what I mean. And you get 0:53:46.440 --> 0:53:48.719 into the moors, and you got to give credit to 0:53:48.719 --> 0:53:52.560 the Maverige, to Jason Kid, Jason Terry, Dirk Navinski. They 0:53:52.560 --> 0:53:55.319 were very steady, and they picked us apart, and they 0:53:55.320 --> 0:53:58.359 were always a step ahead and as far as like 0:53:58.680 --> 0:54:00.960 what we were doing, so we were always catching up 0:54:00.960 --> 0:54:03.960 to them. And I mean, they seized the moment. Man. 0:54:03.960 --> 0:54:05.920 You gotta give them credit. They played well and we 0:54:06.000 --> 0:54:10.480 did not. Did you feel like, Okay, Lebron obviously is 0:54:10.520 --> 0:54:13.160 the best player, but he goes to d wade home. 0:54:13.360 --> 0:54:15.480 It's kind of like, look, I don't understand I might 0:54:15.520 --> 0:54:17.439 have more money than you, but when I'm in your home, 0:54:17.480 --> 0:54:20.840 I need to act accordingly. Feel that Lebron was holding 0:54:20.840 --> 0:54:23.520 back because he was in Miami and this was d 0:54:23.680 --> 0:54:26.680 Wade's castle. Oh yeah, for sure, that was that was 0:54:26.719 --> 0:54:28.440 all of our things. I didn't want to step on 0:54:28.560 --> 0:54:32.399 their toes. Lebron definitely didn't want to step on these 0:54:32.480 --> 0:54:36.279 toes because he had developed his pretty much developed his 0:54:36.400 --> 0:54:40.560 style of play at the time. So you know, that's 0:54:40.560 --> 0:54:43.160 a ball dominant style, to be honest with you, So like, 0:54:44.239 --> 0:54:46.120 I know for sure he didn't want to. You know, 0:54:46.280 --> 0:54:48.680 it's like, yo, this is d Wade, He's the franchise guy. 0:54:49.040 --> 0:54:54.040 It took them having a conversation to pretty much say, 0:54:54.080 --> 0:54:57.719 hey man, you know you do your thing. We're you know, 0:54:57.880 --> 0:55:01.640 we're we're we're in behind, We've got your back. We're 0:55:01.680 --> 0:55:04.080 going to allow you to be the best player in 0:55:04.080 --> 0:55:08.319 the world. And that pretty much was the conversation. It 0:55:08.400 --> 0:55:11.440 was off and running. After that, you had this epic, 0:55:11.600 --> 0:55:16.000 these epic battles with the Celtics. You're down, I mean 0:55:16.040 --> 0:55:18.919 you would go up to oh they win the next three, 0:55:20.120 --> 0:55:23.400 walk us through game six? What would because you had 0:55:23.440 --> 0:55:26.359 just lost the previous year to the Mavericks, right, you 0:55:26.360 --> 0:55:29.879 can't lose. You can't lose again. Oh my god, it's over. 0:55:29.920 --> 0:55:35.200 If you what what would your mindset? What was the 0:55:35.320 --> 0:55:38.640 Keys mindset? And did you know Lebron was gonna have 0:55:38.840 --> 0:55:41.480 an epic night? I didn't know he's gonna have an 0:55:41.480 --> 0:55:45.439 epic night. Oh mind from my mind, I was hurt, 0:55:45.719 --> 0:55:48.880 you know, I had a torn growing. I could play, 0:55:49.120 --> 0:55:53.880 but I knew I couldn't give much, so I just 0:55:53.920 --> 0:55:56.359 wanted to give as much as I can give. And 0:55:56.400 --> 0:55:58.200 I was coming off the bench. I think I was 0:55:58.239 --> 0:56:00.280 our plan. I was gonna I knew I was probably 0:56:00.280 --> 0:56:02.960 gonna play eighteen twenty minutes, right, So that was my 0:56:03.280 --> 0:56:06.600 you know, focus is playing with this pain and hopefully 0:56:06.640 --> 0:56:08.880 something could come out of it. Because you got the 0:56:08.880 --> 0:56:11.759 first series right against Indiana. You missed the first series. Yeah, 0:56:11.840 --> 0:56:14.200 I came out. I probably played six minutes and missed 0:56:14.200 --> 0:56:17.600 the whole series and then missed the first five games 0:56:17.719 --> 0:56:22.480 of this particular series with Boston or first four, and 0:56:22.520 --> 0:56:25.680 I came back game five and then we lost. But 0:56:25.800 --> 0:56:29.720 I mean it was just kind of one of those 0:56:29.760 --> 0:56:32.640 things where we just kind of had to believe. Man, 0:56:32.719 --> 0:56:35.040 you had to believe we weren't really thinking too much 0:56:35.080 --> 0:56:40.760 about the possibilities. It was more so just like, all right, cool, Boston, 0:56:41.239 --> 0:56:43.440 we're going to Boston. Let's get it done. You just 0:56:43.680 --> 0:56:45.920 I'm gonna eat dinner, I'm gonna do shoot around, I'm 0:56:45.920 --> 0:56:49.160 gonna do this. I you know, That's all I was 0:56:49.239 --> 0:56:51.840 focused on. And then about midway through the first quarter, 0:56:52.080 --> 0:56:55.359 end of the first quarter, I noticed Bron like, God, 0:56:56.840 --> 0:56:59.000 he hasn't miss am I tripping, you know, And then 0:56:59.239 --> 0:57:03.120 just say we're playing well. And then okay, man, he's 0:57:03.200 --> 0:57:05.640 hitting everything. We're not even running in any place. You know, 0:57:05.719 --> 0:57:08.760 I can just focus on defense. Right, we get some stops, 0:57:08.760 --> 0:57:10.840 he's gonna take care of the rest. That's great. That 0:57:10.880 --> 0:57:13.759 makes it easy on everybody. And then we were just 0:57:13.800 --> 0:57:16.680 in a good rhythm defensively as a team. You know, 0:57:16.840 --> 0:57:18.959 the couple times that he did get off the ball, 0:57:19.000 --> 0:57:23.240 we scored and you know, we were able to get 0:57:23.280 --> 0:57:26.120 out of there. But like I mean, it was it 0:57:26.120 --> 0:57:28.640 was a crazy experience. I mean, before you know, I'm 0:57:28.640 --> 0:57:30.320 sure you've been in one of those games right where 0:57:30.360 --> 0:57:33.360 you could just hear a pin drop. You know, it's nothing. 0:57:33.640 --> 0:57:36.160 It was nothing to say. There was no hype speeches. 0:57:36.320 --> 0:57:39.000 It was It was just you know, let's go out 0:57:39.040 --> 0:57:43.040 here and go and then you know, it's just one 0:57:43.080 --> 0:57:47.480 of those moments. Gosh, it's like, man, this dude is 0:57:47.560 --> 0:57:50.640 hitting everything. Are you man? Are you when we're up twenty? 0:57:50.880 --> 0:57:53.960 It's kind of like a good dream, but like every dream, 0:57:54.040 --> 0:57:56.320 like am I in Boston up twenty right now? Are 0:57:56.320 --> 0:57:59.320 we about to get out of here alive? Okay? Cool? 0:57:59.360 --> 0:58:02.520 And that kind of gave us, you know, some it 0:58:02.600 --> 0:58:06.440 reinvigorated us for a game seven. You mentioned that was 0:58:06.480 --> 0:58:09.760 game six. All that did was promise you another game. 0:58:10.160 --> 0:58:12.560 You still weren't out of the woods because you have 0:58:12.720 --> 0:58:15.480 Game seven and it's in your building, which would have 0:58:15.520 --> 0:58:18.200 been even worse had you lost Game six, because you 0:58:18.240 --> 0:58:20.640 would have got the l in your building for sure. 0:58:20.680 --> 0:58:22.919 It didn't even Hey, once you get there, it doesn't 0:58:22.920 --> 0:58:24.920 even cross your mind. It's like, hey, we're at the crib. 0:58:25.000 --> 0:58:27.040 It don't matter. We whoop your ass on the moon. 0:58:27.240 --> 0:58:35.000 Let's go. So you you play, Okay, see you lose 0:58:35.120 --> 0:58:39.520 the first game, you win the second one. Okay, what's 0:58:39.560 --> 0:58:41.680 going through your mind at the beginning of the series, 0:58:41.720 --> 0:58:45.120 And did you like, okay, we got we've gotten drolled. 0:58:45.120 --> 0:58:48.040 Now we're going home for three games, and we're not 0:58:48.120 --> 0:58:50.920 coming back to okay See. Oh yeah, I definitely, I know. 0:58:51.000 --> 0:58:55.240 I felt that in my spirit. We didn't play particularly 0:58:55.280 --> 0:58:59.439 well Game one. We knew that we turned the ball 0:58:59.440 --> 0:59:03.120 over a line, and when you get when you get 0:59:03.160 --> 0:59:05.280 that far, you don't freak out. You don't get that 0:59:05.320 --> 0:59:08.440 far just to freak out over one game. You recognize, 0:59:08.480 --> 0:59:11.520 we recognize the mistakes that we were making as a team, 0:59:11.560 --> 0:59:15.440 and we knew we could play much better, and you know, 0:59:15.440 --> 0:59:18.160 knowing kind of trying to get in okay See's head. 0:59:18.200 --> 0:59:21.200 They were all in their early twenties. I know how 0:59:21.240 --> 0:59:23.480 I was. When we won Game one. I thought we 0:59:23.480 --> 0:59:26.120 were gonna win it, so naturally you're gonna have a 0:59:26.200 --> 0:59:28.120 let up in game two, just that little bit of 0:59:28.200 --> 0:59:31.680 let up or change the ties a little bit. We 0:59:31.760 --> 0:59:34.600 kind of knew that, so we said, okay, let's get 0:59:34.640 --> 0:59:37.000 game game two, and then once we get that, once 0:59:37.040 --> 0:59:39.080 we got that game, I said, Okay, we're not coming back. 0:59:39.120 --> 0:59:41.200 I mean, that's just how I feel. We were a 0:59:41.240 --> 0:59:43.640 tremendous home team, I think one of the best home 0:59:43.640 --> 0:59:46.960 teams in the league, and we were just totally confident 0:59:47.000 --> 0:59:50.320 at home. So going back, we just knew we had 0:59:50.360 --> 0:59:54.040 a chance to run them all off. And you didn't 0:59:54.040 --> 0:59:57.240 know this at the time, but you beat a team 0:59:57.280 --> 1:00:00.200 that would later go on to have three regularly the 1:00:00.280 --> 1:00:04.280 MVPs and a guy that won two finals MVP crazy. 1:00:04.440 --> 1:00:07.720 We knew they were good, and you know, it was 1:00:07.840 --> 1:00:11.720 kind of you know, playing them was very difficult. You know, 1:00:11.920 --> 1:00:14.920 even back then early twenties, it was like and and 1:00:14.960 --> 1:00:19.480 I think Westbrook put on like fifteen pounds after that series. 1:00:19.720 --> 1:00:24.040 You know, they took it to another level. Individually. We 1:00:24.160 --> 1:00:25.919 knew that they were gonna be a problem. We knew 1:00:25.960 --> 1:00:29.920 there were a problem coming into that series. You know, 1:00:30.040 --> 1:00:33.720 everybody didn't really get used to the hardened thing until 1:00:33.840 --> 1:00:39.760 Houston right doing that with okayc you know hard and yeah, 1:00:40.040 --> 1:00:41.800 I think he was sixth Man of the year. But 1:00:41.960 --> 1:00:44.560 did you know Harden would be this? I mean, it's 1:00:44.560 --> 1:00:46.640 one thing that's okay, yeah, he would be good. But 1:00:46.760 --> 1:00:49.640 to beat this, I got an average thirty six, I 1:00:49.640 --> 1:00:52.280 got a averages thirty five, he leads the league, gonna 1:00:52.320 --> 1:00:56.120 see us, but got I mean the fifty point fifty 1:00:56.160 --> 1:01:00.680 point triple double. Did you know he could beat this? No? No, 1:01:01.240 --> 1:01:04.000 we knew. It's like, yo, he's gonna be he's cold, 1:01:04.040 --> 1:01:07.080 he's bad. He can be a franchise player somewhere else. 1:01:07.120 --> 1:01:09.440 But if they stay together, you can fill in the blanks. 1:01:09.760 --> 1:01:11.800 And then when he went to Houston, oh man, he's 1:01:11.800 --> 1:01:14.400 gonna be pretty good. But yeah, what he's uh, the 1:01:14.520 --> 1:01:16.960 things he's been able to do, I mean, he's inspired, 1:01:17.520 --> 1:01:20.720 he's he's done a whole other thing with the game 1:01:20.720 --> 1:01:23.880 of basketball nobody else has seen before. Yeah, I don't 1:01:23.880 --> 1:01:26.800 think anybody saw that coming. I think he gained his 1:01:26.920 --> 1:01:31.400 confidence and then with whatever that crazy creativity that he's 1:01:31.440 --> 1:01:34.760 gotten his brain, he started figuring things out and it's like, 1:01:34.800 --> 1:01:38.800 oh wow, I can do this. And he's almost he's 1:01:38.840 --> 1:01:42.439 almost unguardable with that step back three. So I don't 1:01:42.480 --> 1:01:45.600 know how you you defending. Yeah, you don't know either. 1:01:45.640 --> 1:01:47.680 You're just in the whole game. How do we defend 1:01:47.720 --> 1:01:52.720 this guy? And so you win that one and then 1:01:52.920 --> 1:01:57.240 the next year you go the Spurs, you lose game one. 1:01:58.560 --> 1:02:02.840 Tony Parker hit that miraculous shot lebron got indeed, up 1:02:03.080 --> 1:02:06.360 shot clocks wid it down somehow he throws it up, 1:02:06.720 --> 1:02:09.240 it rolls around and it falls in. You guys lose. 1:02:09.800 --> 1:02:12.439 What's going through your mind? You're like, oh my goodness. Yeah, 1:02:12.440 --> 1:02:15.920 it's like, oh my goodness, it's cool. But that's not okay. 1:02:15.960 --> 1:02:21.680 See now that's not duck in the parking nobly. Yeah, 1:02:21.680 --> 1:02:23.480 I'm not saying you don't want to. You want to 1:02:23.560 --> 1:02:27.120 lose it, but you don't allow yourself to. It's like, okay, cool, 1:02:27.120 --> 1:02:31.720 we lost that one, all right, Hey we cannot lose 1:02:31.760 --> 1:02:34.520 game too. That's just and and you know, we start 1:02:34.600 --> 1:02:37.960 identifying the problems and what we need to fix right away, 1:02:38.240 --> 1:02:40.440 and we were able to have a great game. But 1:02:41.040 --> 1:02:43.080 you know, in that particular moment, you just try to 1:02:44.200 --> 1:02:45.920 you know, in the finals, you have to have a 1:02:46.040 --> 1:02:50.080 very long outlook on the series. So you know, not 1:02:50.160 --> 1:02:54.160 that it gives you peace, but just saying, okay, hey, 1:02:54.320 --> 1:02:57.480 this is what we need to do. We identify these mistakes, 1:02:57.600 --> 1:03:00.520 we correct them, let's have a better game next game. 1:03:02.120 --> 1:03:04.360 You still you get one game, and because you got 1:03:04.480 --> 1:03:06.640 to get one in order you to come back to Miami, 1:03:06.880 --> 1:03:08.880 you get the one game you come back three two. 1:03:09.680 --> 1:03:12.640 Talk to us about game six. What's your mindset? What 1:03:12.720 --> 1:03:17.600 are you feeling going in the game six? When it 1:03:17.600 --> 1:03:20.560 it's nothing, I mean, it's kind of you have to 1:03:20.560 --> 1:03:24.600 fight that deja vu kind of feel because we were 1:03:24.600 --> 1:03:30.960 in the same situation with the Mavericks. We knew our 1:03:31.000 --> 1:03:33.720 backs were against the wall. We didn't expect it, did 1:03:33.800 --> 1:03:38.120 not expect it at all, you know, but we're here 1:03:38.320 --> 1:03:43.760 and so you know, winning two games at home or 1:03:43.960 --> 1:03:46.360 just winning one game at home it was the focus. 1:03:46.400 --> 1:03:49.600 But we never lacked confidence. It was always you always 1:03:49.640 --> 1:03:53.200 want to approach that situation with confidence. You you know, 1:03:53.320 --> 1:03:56.960 being beat down after being in San Antonio and and 1:03:57.200 --> 1:04:00.280 dealing with that home crowd, with their home crowd for 1:04:00.400 --> 1:04:02.960 a week and a half. You know, being away from 1:04:02.960 --> 1:04:06.440 your home, it's a difficult thing, but you know it 1:04:06.560 --> 1:04:09.400 refreshed this and you know, you just get ready for 1:04:09.440 --> 1:04:11.320 the battle. Man, That's all you can do. Get your 1:04:11.320 --> 1:04:13.480 mind right. It's not about the exs and those you 1:04:13.520 --> 1:04:15.680 go through those things, but it's not about that. It's 1:04:15.680 --> 1:04:18.160 just about the preparations. It's about doing what you do 1:04:19.000 --> 1:04:21.800 and going out there and competing at the highest level. 1:04:22.480 --> 1:04:25.280 You start the fourth quarter of game six, you're down 1:04:25.360 --> 1:04:29.880 ten are You're thinking, like, man, this San Antonio. We 1:04:29.960 --> 1:04:33.520 know they're gonna execute demonstration. This is not a young team. 1:04:33.600 --> 1:04:36.440 They're well coached. They're gonna be where they're supposed to be. 1:04:36.680 --> 1:04:40.160 They're gonna execute their offense like they're supposed to do. 1:04:40.240 --> 1:04:42.800 You allow yourself to like, damn, how did we get 1:04:42.800 --> 1:04:46.000 ourselves in this situation to gets that team? Na, we 1:04:46.160 --> 1:04:48.680 were good at throwing away the situations. I mean, we 1:04:48.680 --> 1:04:52.919 were probably the best fourth quarter comeback team by far 1:04:53.320 --> 1:04:56.000 in the league that year. So we had confidence. I mean, 1:04:56.600 --> 1:04:59.000 we didn't want to be there, but you know, not 1:04:59.240 --> 1:05:03.640 all is law, right, and you know, our second group 1:05:03.640 --> 1:05:08.520 with Lebron, they played amazing basketball. They always got us going, 1:05:09.280 --> 1:05:11.080 even in the regular season. So it was just one 1:05:11.120 --> 1:05:14.080 of those things where you trust your guys. You trust 1:05:14.120 --> 1:05:18.520 the second group la by Lebron. You know that they're 1:05:18.560 --> 1:05:20.680 gonna get you back in it. And once they get us, 1:05:20.760 --> 1:05:23.200 once we get back in and we've we've got to 1:05:23.240 --> 1:05:27.080 either sustain it or overtake the lead. And that's the 1:05:27.480 --> 1:05:29.400 But that's one of the habits that we had built 1:05:29.480 --> 1:05:31.720 up all year, you know, having that faith in each other. 1:05:32.240 --> 1:05:37.280 Right you're down and if basically it's come down to this, 1:05:38.120 --> 1:05:43.760 a misshot and a rebound, see Lebron pulls up. You're 1:05:43.800 --> 1:05:47.960 tracking the ball. What's going through your mind? The ball 1:05:49.040 --> 1:05:52.080 fill your mind with watching the ball, man, I mean, 1:05:53.360 --> 1:05:57.400 if you watch the play of slow motion the way 1:05:57.440 --> 1:05:59.560 that they played at Tony Parker read at the play 1:05:59.560 --> 1:06:02.560 and he on top of my screen boris d I 1:06:02.720 --> 1:06:07.440 did not see him. They both went and contested lebron 1:06:07.560 --> 1:06:12.160 shot that allowed me pretty much a free pass to 1:06:12.160 --> 1:06:14.560 crash the boys, and I watched the flight of the 1:06:14.600 --> 1:06:17.560 ball so with no Kim Duncan because Pop had made 1:06:17.560 --> 1:06:22.480 it kejic effort strategy to take Duncan out of the game. Yeah, 1:06:22.520 --> 1:06:24.640 and you know that's always a what if thing, but 1:06:24.640 --> 1:06:27.160 they have been doing that all year. You know, that's 1:06:27.280 --> 1:06:29.080 this is their late game package. This is what they 1:06:29.080 --> 1:06:32.880 always do. But that allowed me a free run to 1:06:32.960 --> 1:06:36.240 the basket while I'm watching the ball. And so any 1:06:36.280 --> 1:06:38.960 rebounder can tell you if you get to watch the 1:06:39.000 --> 1:06:42.080 flight of the ball and nobody hits you nine times 1:06:42.120 --> 1:06:45.320 out of ten, you're gonna know or your instincts are 1:06:45.320 --> 1:06:47.320 gonna take over and you're gonna be able to be 1:06:47.440 --> 1:06:50.400 there when the ball is there. You know. Great rebounder 1:06:50.440 --> 1:06:53.840 told me, Hey man, it was old schooler too. He's like, 1:06:53.880 --> 1:06:56.920 hey man, trick the rebounding is getting there before the 1:06:56.960 --> 1:07:03.800 ball gets there, right, Yeah, you're right with you track 1:07:03.920 --> 1:07:07.440 the ball, you grabbed the rebound, with the with the 1:07:07.880 --> 1:07:11.040 arena as loud as it is, How do you know? 1:07:11.800 --> 1:07:14.280 Did you know Ray was gonna be back there? How? 1:07:14.360 --> 1:07:17.160 And even if you didn't know you he said, Chris 1:07:17.240 --> 1:07:19.919 or seebe whatever he'd called you, how did you hear that? 1:07:20.200 --> 1:07:22.040 I heard him, man, That's the only thing I heard, 1:07:22.080 --> 1:07:25.640 to be honest with you, and they're crazy, Yes, the 1:07:25.640 --> 1:07:30.040 only thing I heard. I didn't hear anything else. And 1:07:30.240 --> 1:07:32.000 in my mind it went a line slower. But when 1:07:32.000 --> 1:07:34.400 I watched it on replaying, there's no way I could. 1:07:34.760 --> 1:07:38.200 I don't know, but I distinctly heard him, and I 1:07:38.240 --> 1:07:42.440 could see his eyes and his facial expression running back 1:07:42.640 --> 1:07:47.439 like backpedaling, and so you know, just the body took 1:07:47.480 --> 1:07:50.640 over then what it needed to do, and and his 1:07:50.720 --> 1:07:53.600 took over and shoot and we were able to live 1:07:53.760 --> 1:07:56.840 to play another day. Man, we still had to play 1:07:56.880 --> 1:07:59.720 over time after right. You know, they were crushed, you 1:08:00.040 --> 1:08:03.000 you know they were crushed for sure, they were for sure. 1:08:03.080 --> 1:08:06.160 That's that thing, like we let's move in right now 1:08:06.200 --> 1:08:09.320 and win this game. And then that's like then you 1:08:09.560 --> 1:08:12.000 still got game seven to play after that. So it 1:08:12.080 --> 1:08:16.400 was that's what Ray Allen hit the greatest shot forget 1:08:16.520 --> 1:08:21.040 the you know the that's the greatest shot given the circumstances. 1:08:21.439 --> 1:08:24.519 And how does how does he backpedal? He does not 1:08:24.560 --> 1:08:26.800 look if you look at Ray, he never looks down. 1:08:27.120 --> 1:08:31.479 He has to, like trade. He trained himself that he backpedal. No, 1:08:31.720 --> 1:08:34.759 I'm far enough back, I'm not gonna step out of bounds. 1:08:34.960 --> 1:08:37.600 Let that shot go. And it's pure for sure. I 1:08:37.600 --> 1:08:39.679 don't know him. If you ever had that moment in football? 1:08:39.720 --> 1:08:42.439 Have you ever had that just moment where after the game, 1:08:42.520 --> 1:08:46.880 you're just like it could be hours, it could everybody's gone, 1:08:47.080 --> 1:08:51.880 You're still in your uniform, just stare just like, you know, 1:08:52.120 --> 1:08:55.479 what just has happened? Yeah, what just happened? And me 1:08:55.600 --> 1:08:58.000 and Ray were just kind of like that, and you know, 1:08:58.200 --> 1:09:02.200 and I said, man, do you practice that shot? He said, oh, yeah, 1:09:02.200 --> 1:09:05.719 I practice that And ever since that day, I practiced 1:09:05.720 --> 1:09:08.599 that shot every day every day. That became a part 1:09:08.640 --> 1:09:12.360 of my routine, practicing craziest shots because you never know 1:09:12.400 --> 1:09:14.200 when you got to break the glass and use it. 1:09:14.760 --> 1:09:16.719 And that's what I tell and that's what I tell people, 1:09:16.800 --> 1:09:19.519 is that when you see these guys take these shots, 1:09:19.840 --> 1:09:22.439 they practiced them. Steph Curry just did all of a 1:09:22.439 --> 1:09:28.680 sudden start pulling up from the timeline. Everybody shooting these 1:09:28.680 --> 1:09:31.880 logo shots now they become routine. Whereas Chris, when you 1:09:31.960 --> 1:09:34.960 first got into the league, you only attempted that shot 1:09:35.000 --> 1:09:37.360 the end of the shot clock or the end of house. 1:09:37.640 --> 1:09:39.960 Not the only time you attempted that for sure, for sure. 1:09:40.160 --> 1:09:42.479 Or he's shooting that shot now with eighteen seconds on 1:09:42.520 --> 1:09:47.360 the shot. It's like the backup, like whoa young cello? 1:09:50.720 --> 1:09:54.439 So you're two times, you went two and three years, 1:09:54.880 --> 1:09:59.000 you go back twenty fourteen doesn't end like you wanted. 1:10:00.080 --> 1:10:05.360 Lebron makes his decision, he goes back to Cleveland. What's 1:10:05.400 --> 1:10:08.639 your feeling. Did you feel that Miami was a total 1:10:08.680 --> 1:10:11.839 success or did you feel like you guys got cheated 1:10:11.920 --> 1:10:14.360 or you left something on the table? Oh, we definitely 1:10:14.479 --> 1:10:16.840 left something on the table. I mean in my mind, 1:10:17.000 --> 1:10:19.200 I you know, I will always feel like it's an 1:10:19.240 --> 1:10:23.120 unfinished story. But sometimes the best stories are unfinished. You know. 1:10:23.360 --> 1:10:26.880 It was it was a four year just shooting star, 1:10:27.240 --> 1:10:32.720 you know, and we wanted to continue it, and you know, 1:10:33.400 --> 1:10:35.439 we've I've had a lot of time to think about it. 1:10:35.479 --> 1:10:37.840 I've even talked to Pat about it, and we both like, 1:10:38.000 --> 1:10:40.599 you know, I couldn't imagine if my hometown didn't like me. 1:10:42.040 --> 1:10:44.759 I couldn't you know, I couldn't imagine that at the time. 1:10:45.200 --> 1:10:48.360 You know, feelings hurt. You have to get over the 1:10:48.360 --> 1:10:53.240 fact that it is free agency, right. He didn't demand 1:10:53.280 --> 1:10:56.920 the trade, he didn't fill his obligation. Yeah, for sure, 1:10:56.960 --> 1:10:59.320 and it's like, Okay, it kind of hurts, but you know, 1:10:59.360 --> 1:11:02.200 it's just like him. You get used to playing a 1:11:02.240 --> 1:11:05.040 certain way and and you know, be Frank. I mean 1:11:05.080 --> 1:11:07.200 to be Frank. You know. Man, he's fun. He's a 1:11:07.240 --> 1:11:09.559 great dude. We've been knowing each other since we're seventeen 1:11:09.640 --> 1:11:15.920 years old. The team dynamic was great. It's Lebron James. 1:11:15.920 --> 1:11:20.080 You're playing with the greatest player, and it's it's a 1:11:20.080 --> 1:11:22.839 lot of fun. And I knew that things were gonna change, 1:11:23.439 --> 1:11:27.680 But then I think it reinvigorated everyone. I think for 1:11:27.760 --> 1:11:31.280 me it was able. You know, I was able to 1:11:31.479 --> 1:11:35.120 you know, just move forward as my career, you know, 1:11:35.240 --> 1:11:37.280 or what I thought my career was going to take 1:11:37.280 --> 1:11:40.800 off too. It kind of gave me a fresh kind 1:11:40.800 --> 1:11:42.640 of outlook on the league and what I could be 1:11:42.720 --> 1:11:45.519 and as well as Dwayne and the organization too, and 1:11:45.640 --> 1:11:48.720 for him, I mean, and it kind of hurts too, right, 1:11:48.760 --> 1:11:50.960 I mean, you're going over there, kay Love over there 1:11:51.040 --> 1:11:53.679 and they just got kay Love Kyrie. I'm like, damn, 1:11:53.720 --> 1:11:59.160 they're pretty good. They're pretty good. So you know, you 1:11:59.200 --> 1:12:02.559 feel a certain type away. But you know, we we 1:12:02.640 --> 1:12:06.320 had plenty of conversations since then, you know, and more 1:12:06.360 --> 1:12:09.760 than this was also gonna be your opportunity to go 1:12:09.880 --> 1:12:14.720 back to being Toronto Chris Bosh. Yeah, sure a guy 1:12:14.760 --> 1:12:17.280 that's gonna be twenty and ten. And then all of 1:12:17.320 --> 1:12:20.559 a sudden, you get the diagnosis at the All Star Game. 1:12:20.600 --> 1:12:23.479 You're on vacation with your wife, you're vacationing, and you 1:12:23.560 --> 1:12:26.320 get these blood clots. What's going through your mind? And 1:12:26.360 --> 1:12:28.000 at that point in time, did you say, you know 1:12:28.080 --> 1:12:30.600 what this thing might be career ending? Or did that 1:12:30.640 --> 1:12:33.400 thought never crossed your mind? It never crossed my mind, 1:12:33.400 --> 1:12:35.120 but we knew it was there. I just thought I 1:12:35.160 --> 1:12:38.360 was gonna beat it because twenty fifteen had happened, and 1:12:38.360 --> 1:12:41.240 then twenty sixteen had happened at the same exact time 1:12:42.880 --> 1:12:45.479 with no pain this time. The first time I was 1:12:45.560 --> 1:12:48.280 just out. I was in the hospital for two weeks. 1:12:49.200 --> 1:12:51.840 I was bed ridden. I had surgery. It was really bad. 1:12:52.680 --> 1:12:55.599 The second time was just yeah, you have blood clots 1:12:55.600 --> 1:12:59.560 and that was it. And you know it was psychologically 1:12:59.560 --> 1:13:01.280 it was just super tough to deal with. We were 1:13:01.320 --> 1:13:03.120 I think we were number two, second or third in 1:13:03.160 --> 1:13:06.280 the East at the time, and we were kind of 1:13:06.320 --> 1:13:08.240 and I talked with Pat about this too. We were 1:13:08.320 --> 1:13:13.840 looking around like, man, yo, we I think yo, I 1:13:13.840 --> 1:13:16.200 think we can make a run for one. We're hitting 1:13:16.240 --> 1:13:20.800 the marks. If we after All Star break, we can 1:13:20.920 --> 1:13:22.960 we can if we can lock up this two seed 1:13:23.000 --> 1:13:26.519 and hopefully we can lock horns with the calves. I'll 1:13:26.560 --> 1:13:28.760 take I'll take that any day, and just you know 1:13:28.880 --> 1:13:31.000 just how cool that is, that how great of a 1:13:31.000 --> 1:13:34.120 storyline that would be. That was my motivation every day. 1:13:34.120 --> 1:13:37.360 And like you were saying, being having that Toronto spirit 1:13:37.400 --> 1:13:40.280 about me and leading the team, I was. I was 1:13:40.320 --> 1:13:43.000 all for that. It was me and Duane. But you know, 1:13:43.000 --> 1:13:45.360 it's just one of those things that just wasn't meant 1:13:45.400 --> 1:13:48.400 to be. Man. So when the doctors tell you, say, Chris, 1:13:48.920 --> 1:13:52.800 it's over. Yeah, we recommend, and that's normally how they 1:13:52.840 --> 1:13:55.880 give it to you. If you were if you were 1:13:55.960 --> 1:13:59.160 my son, I would advise you not to do this anymore. 1:13:59.520 --> 1:14:03.120 Consider the ramifications that could possibly come along with this. 1:14:03.560 --> 1:14:05.479 So when you and your wife sit down and you 1:14:05.600 --> 1:14:10.120 finally come to the ultimate decision, what what, What's what's 1:14:10.160 --> 1:14:12.320 going on? What's going on? I mean, how difficult of 1:14:12.360 --> 1:14:14.800 a decision was that it took a couple of years 1:14:14.840 --> 1:14:18.360 to get there. I tried. I tried my hand in 1:14:18.560 --> 1:14:22.800 finding a way to play again for a while, and 1:14:24.000 --> 1:14:26.880 I just ran out of gas. You know, you're trying 1:14:26.880 --> 1:14:30.680 to find a doctor to tell you would be okay, yeah, 1:14:30.800 --> 1:14:34.400 pretty much. You know, I'm looking for that one please, 1:14:34.560 --> 1:14:37.720 and I'm just going different places. And you know, we 1:14:37.880 --> 1:14:40.200 fought because I felt, I mean, there was nothing that 1:14:40.360 --> 1:14:43.320 was you know, physically, there's nothing physically you can't see. 1:14:43.640 --> 1:14:46.920 It's not it's not the key leads, it's not a 1:14:47.760 --> 1:14:50.920 torn anything. It's something. It's an invisible killer. That's what. 1:14:52.080 --> 1:14:54.960 I'm pretty good. We can play, you know what I mean, 1:14:55.080 --> 1:14:58.879 breathing great. There was no uh, there was nothing happening, 1:14:58.920 --> 1:15:02.320 no pain. It just really messed me up, man, And 1:15:02.320 --> 1:15:04.559 and I just kind of, you know, I tried and 1:15:04.560 --> 1:15:07.000 I tried, and it just eventually I had to come 1:15:07.040 --> 1:15:10.920 to the realization. And you know there wasn't a singular conversation, 1:15:11.040 --> 1:15:13.240 but just to be honest with you, when I saw 1:15:13.280 --> 1:15:19.080 Gordon Hayward dislocate his ankle, R took whatever fight I 1:15:19.200 --> 1:15:21.839 had left in me, it was gone. Because remember Dwayne 1:15:21.880 --> 1:15:24.240 and Lebron were played in that game, right, Yeah, So 1:15:24.520 --> 1:15:26.880 I hadn't watched basketball any of the year before, and 1:15:26.920 --> 1:15:29.160 I said, yo, I'm playing this year. Let me get 1:15:29.200 --> 1:15:33.000 back connected with the game. First five minutes that happened. Yeah, 1:15:33.040 --> 1:15:35.920 so you know I knew right then, like, ah, yeah, 1:15:35.960 --> 1:15:37.960 I mean that can happen to me. Man, I can't. 1:15:38.000 --> 1:15:41.000 I'm not gonna play anymore. And heaven forbid that happen. 1:15:41.120 --> 1:15:44.840 You know, you're worse. You spent four years playing with 1:15:44.960 --> 1:15:47.760 Lebron and you're watching him do what he does in 1:15:47.840 --> 1:15:50.920 year seventeen. How do you think he's been able to 1:15:50.960 --> 1:15:53.200 maintain this level of play because we've never seen a 1:15:53.240 --> 1:15:57.160 guy played this well this late into their career. We 1:15:57.240 --> 1:15:59.639 can debate Chris, we can debate who's the gold, who's 1:15:59.640 --> 1:16:02.120 had the seasons all we want to, but we can't 1:16:02.120 --> 1:16:06.000 debate this. Nobody has ever played this well this late 1:16:06.080 --> 1:16:10.559 into an NBA career. You know, what man, He puts 1:16:10.600 --> 1:16:15.360 so much into his body so early. Everybody is just 1:16:15.439 --> 1:16:20.760 now being able to kind of see the benefits that 1:16:20.800 --> 1:16:25.160 he's reaping. But he's put in the work. He was 1:16:25.200 --> 1:16:28.479 stretching twice a day, had a trainer, was doing all 1:16:28.479 --> 1:16:30.720 the things when we were in our early twenties. I 1:16:30.800 --> 1:16:34.879 remember seeing him and he has a guy that stretches 1:16:34.960 --> 1:16:38.040 him and they're doing tissue work and all this kind 1:16:38.040 --> 1:16:40.880 of thing. Even if I wanted to do it, I 1:16:40.880 --> 1:16:43.360 don't even know where to start, right, you know. So 1:16:43.520 --> 1:16:48.120 just his foresight back then to take care of his body, 1:16:48.560 --> 1:16:52.639 do the right things, invest in himself. Now he's reaping 1:16:52.640 --> 1:16:57.000 the benefits. Now he can combine that want and that 1:16:57.160 --> 1:17:00.800 drive with physically actually being able to do it and 1:17:00.840 --> 1:17:04.280 compete for championships. And you know, Mike Jordan, man, he 1:17:04.479 --> 1:17:06.400 you know, we it was all real to us, Mike 1:17:06.479 --> 1:17:09.120 Jordan and Kobe. They were playing very well at thirty six, 1:17:09.200 --> 1:17:12.919 you know. So he's thirty five. I know he's like, okay, 1:17:13.479 --> 1:17:16.280 at least until thirty six plus one more. I'm sure 1:17:16.280 --> 1:17:19.240 he wants to play this way until he's thirty seven 1:17:19.280 --> 1:17:22.400 and this sewer he's had after that. But I mean 1:17:22.479 --> 1:17:24.400 he's put the time in, he's put the work in, 1:17:25.240 --> 1:17:28.040 he's made the sacrifice, and now he's able to, you know, 1:17:28.160 --> 1:17:30.600 keep playing bat ball at that level. What do you 1:17:30.640 --> 1:17:38.280 think Lebron's greatest actribute is his longevity, his durability. Never 1:17:38.280 --> 1:17:41.760 seen anything like it. Play like a guy that plays 1:17:41.800 --> 1:17:46.760 every night. Every night he plays, you know, and just 1:17:46.920 --> 1:17:49.600 that has allowed him to be able to do the 1:17:49.600 --> 1:17:51.519 things that he does. I mean, you know, obviously we 1:17:51.520 --> 1:17:54.559 can talk about talent, we can talk about the things 1:17:54.560 --> 1:17:56.639 he can do, but unless you're out there on the court, 1:17:57.320 --> 1:18:01.040 you can't do it. He's he's on a tremendous job 1:18:01.439 --> 1:18:04.479 and taking care of himself and really dedicating himself to 1:18:05.120 --> 1:18:10.519 the stretching, the treatments, the weight room, uh, you know 1:18:10.600 --> 1:18:13.040 those other things you don't see eating the rest of 1:18:13.120 --> 1:18:16.679 the eating. You know, all of those things that allow 1:18:16.760 --> 1:18:20.080 you to perform on the court, but nobody sees. People 1:18:20.120 --> 1:18:23.920 always talk about his basketball IQ. Explain to people what 1:18:24.040 --> 1:18:26.840 basketball IQ wheels, because there are a lot of guys 1:18:26.880 --> 1:18:28.240 that can play. And I don't want to get into 1:18:28.280 --> 1:18:31.320 the name, but you, like Bruh, you have no idea. 1:18:31.600 --> 1:18:33.200 You can just put the ball in the hoop, but 1:18:33.280 --> 1:18:37.040 you don't understand angles. You don't understand game time situation. 1:18:37.520 --> 1:18:39.560 You don't file a guy, a guy that's struggling to 1:18:39.560 --> 1:18:41.120 shoot the ball. You don't find him on a three 1:18:41.160 --> 1:18:43.479 point shot. Right, you don't give the guy, you don't 1:18:43.520 --> 1:18:45.840 give up the faceline to the right head. The guy 1:18:45.880 --> 1:18:48.760 on the right side thinks of that nature. So talk 1:18:48.800 --> 1:18:52.160 about Lebron's basketball IQ, Well, I mean he's he's made 1:18:52.160 --> 1:18:55.720 that commitment to to mentally dive into those things that. Okay, 1:18:56.160 --> 1:19:01.439 this particular player he's really good at, you know too, dribble, 1:19:01.479 --> 1:19:04.320 pull up, going left, make sure you force him right, 1:19:04.800 --> 1:19:07.559 and then you store that in your brain because you're 1:19:07.560 --> 1:19:10.600 gonna play these guys. If I'm playing Bradley Bill, I 1:19:10.680 --> 1:19:13.479 need to be able to call on a drop what 1:19:13.600 --> 1:19:18.400 his best move is, right to dribble, dribble, step back, 1:19:18.760 --> 1:19:22.800 watch the film, dribble left, step back three, that's his move. 1:19:23.240 --> 1:19:25.439 You know. So you get to a level and then 1:19:25.520 --> 1:19:29.799 you start just dissecting guys quickly and you keep storing 1:19:29.840 --> 1:19:33.120 that information. Then you get to the team. Okay, now 1:19:33.120 --> 1:19:35.240 you get to the coach. Yeah, this coach runs this 1:19:35.400 --> 1:19:39.760 set these kind of plays. Okay, this you know this situation, 1:19:40.200 --> 1:19:43.559 you know, just storing information and just recalling it quickly, quickly, 1:19:43.600 --> 1:19:46.439 and like, I was always envious of Lebron because for 1:19:46.520 --> 1:19:49.360 his whole career he's had the ball in his hands. 1:19:49.360 --> 1:19:53.240 He's six eight and he can see over everybody, you know, 1:19:53.360 --> 1:19:55.320 so he's like, has the ball in his hands and 1:19:55.360 --> 1:19:59.760 he can watch the offense move right. I'm a post guy. 1:20:00.200 --> 1:20:03.479 It's always something behind somebody behind you. Somebody's behind me 1:20:03.560 --> 1:20:06.120 that I can't see, so you know, Lebron might be looking. 1:20:06.560 --> 1:20:08.040 I don't know what's behind me. You know, I gotta 1:20:08.080 --> 1:20:10.800 watch films, so, you know, just him being able to 1:20:10.840 --> 1:20:13.400 do that for his entire career and combining all that 1:20:13.479 --> 1:20:16.439 information and just living in it. You know, of course 1:20:16.479 --> 1:20:19.320 you're gonna you know, you're gonna be a sure you 1:20:19.640 --> 1:20:22.800 are you surprised that he's playing this well this late, 1:20:23.120 --> 1:20:26.040 and that he had the Lakers one game away from 1:20:26.080 --> 1:20:28.559 being world champs. Oh no, not at all. I mean 1:20:28.560 --> 1:20:31.360 as soon as he went to LA I figured they 1:20:31.400 --> 1:20:34.240 would have a shot at it. As soon as they 1:20:34.280 --> 1:20:37.040 got a d they were you know, they were my 1:20:37.080 --> 1:20:39.400 favorites to win it. I mean, you know, just combining 1:20:39.439 --> 1:20:42.800 those tremendous talents and then building that team around it 1:20:42.920 --> 1:20:47.000 and having guys like Frank Vogel, guys like Jason Kidd, 1:20:47.160 --> 1:20:51.000 you know, guys like Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee with their 1:20:51.080 --> 1:20:55.719 championship and finals experience, you know, coming in and leading 1:20:55.760 --> 1:20:59.639 that locker room. I mean, you knew that they were 1:20:59.680 --> 1:21:03.360 gonna be prime to win one. Uh, they have a chance. 1:21:03.360 --> 1:21:05.040 They're on the press because of it. Now. They just 1:21:05.080 --> 1:21:08.240 got to finish it and we'll see if they're able 1:21:08.280 --> 1:21:13.200 to have a run. D Wade said. Anthony Davis is 1:21:13.280 --> 1:21:17.280 Lebron James all time best teammate. Do you agree or disagree? 1:21:17.479 --> 1:21:22.360 I disagree he's being humble, I you know, but not 1:21:22.479 --> 1:21:24.320 the best, not the best. And I mean, you know, 1:21:24.360 --> 1:21:27.439 and and I only say that because what I watched 1:21:27.920 --> 1:21:30.720 Lebron and Dwayne do. I haven't seen anything since it 1:21:30.800 --> 1:21:34.880 was It was entertaining. You know, it's they're throwing lives 1:21:34.920 --> 1:21:38.240 off the backboard, They're doing stuff you played nerfball with 1:21:38.760 --> 1:21:41.679 with your friends in the little league. You know. Just 1:21:41.760 --> 1:21:45.120 the effect that they had on the culture of things 1:21:45.640 --> 1:21:48.559 and on the game and the way that they were 1:21:48.680 --> 1:21:52.599 able to combine their styles on it doesn't really make 1:21:52.640 --> 1:21:58.080 any sense. They're too most of the ball dominant dominant 1:21:58.280 --> 1:22:02.080 D look. Actually, Lebron and a D are better fit 1:22:03.240 --> 1:22:06.439 because d Wade and Lebron were both ball dominant D. 1:22:06.600 --> 1:22:09.920 Wade had to sacrifice more than a D ever did 1:22:09.960 --> 1:22:13.160 because Lebron is really starting the offense through a D 1:22:13.320 --> 1:22:15.600 now for sure, absolutely, and he's doing that and they 1:22:15.640 --> 1:22:17.759 can run a screen and roll with AD. We never 1:22:17.840 --> 1:22:21.080 ran screening rolls until late with you know, with Lebron 1:22:21.080 --> 1:22:23.479 and D. But like just the way that they were 1:22:23.560 --> 1:22:26.840 able to combine their forces and figure things out. I mean, 1:22:26.920 --> 1:22:29.120 I just feel that they that was that was just 1:22:29.160 --> 1:22:31.439 a great compliment and it was entertaining and just so 1:22:31.560 --> 1:22:34.719 much so fun to watch. You It was just all good, 1:22:34.840 --> 1:22:37.000 you know, it was. It wasn't gonna be anything in 1:22:37.040 --> 1:22:39.439 the media, it wasn't gonna be anything on the court. 1:22:39.840 --> 1:22:44.600 You were just gonna watch some amazing basketball. Does it 1:22:44.800 --> 1:22:48.879 help that d Wade and Lebron were such good friends? 1:22:49.920 --> 1:22:53.200 Lebron and A D are such great friends. Does that 1:22:53.280 --> 1:22:56.240 really help with how well they mentioned how well they played, 1:22:56.400 --> 1:22:59.320 because they they can say things to one another that 1:22:59.439 --> 1:23:02.559 another team may probably would be unwilling to say and 1:23:02.720 --> 1:23:05.360 not say. Because they talk about how D Wade Hill 1:23:05.439 --> 1:23:09.040 Lebron accountable Lebron Hill d Wade Accountable vice versa with 1:23:09.080 --> 1:23:12.280 Ada and Lebron. Do you think that that type of 1:23:12.320 --> 1:23:17.800 relationship helps, Oh yeah, of course. I mean you have 1:23:17.840 --> 1:23:20.720 to you have to respect the person that you're playing with. 1:23:20.880 --> 1:23:23.519 You have to be a friend. I mean, you have 1:23:23.600 --> 1:23:26.760 to care because let me tell you when it's when 1:23:26.800 --> 1:23:29.280 when it's like game six or something and you're dead 1:23:29.320 --> 1:23:32.160 tired and you have nothing left to give and there's 1:23:32.200 --> 1:23:38.360 still two quarters left, and there's a loose ball. Matter 1:23:38.360 --> 1:23:41.080 of fact, Lebron through the loose ball. And if if 1:23:41.080 --> 1:23:44.400 I don't like him to a certain degree, you through that. 1:23:44.400 --> 1:23:49.679 BRONA get you know, I didn't throw it. You gotta 1:23:49.720 --> 1:23:52.400 go get it, man. And and you have to be 1:23:52.520 --> 1:23:56.360 able to sacrifice for each other, and you know, you 1:23:56.400 --> 1:23:58.599 gotta stay that. That's a huge part of being a team. 1:23:58.680 --> 1:24:01.360 You have to come together as a team. You gotta 1:24:01.439 --> 1:24:05.040 be that solid unit and you know, you just have to. 1:24:05.560 --> 1:24:07.599 It helps when you like each other because yeah, you're 1:24:07.640 --> 1:24:11.080 gonna have to have some uncomfortable conversations some days, and 1:24:12.120 --> 1:24:15.000 yeah you might have to tell your teammate, yo, you 1:24:15.040 --> 1:24:18.360 need to play better, right, And you're not given I 1:24:18.439 --> 1:24:21.680 need more, or you're not that was bull or you know, 1:24:21.800 --> 1:24:24.799 just to just to keep people accountable. I think that's 1:24:24.880 --> 1:24:28.080 hugely important. And if you like them, it's it's it 1:24:28.120 --> 1:24:31.840 makes it easier. What would a fourth ring for a 1:24:32.000 --> 1:24:36.160 third team do for Lebron James? Oh, it would be great. 1:24:36.240 --> 1:24:39.920 I mean, he you know the way I see it, 1:24:39.920 --> 1:24:44.080 it's it's a story still being told. You know, I 1:24:44.280 --> 1:24:47.360 have a little bit of experience with championships. I know 1:24:47.439 --> 1:24:50.400 you just want to get there. So actually winning another 1:24:50.439 --> 1:24:53.680 one would be of course, anyone you get as tremendous 1:24:54.200 --> 1:24:59.120 winning it this year in particular r Ip Kobe, you know, 1:25:00.040 --> 1:25:03.880 and winning it for the Lakers, that's a whole you 1:25:03.920 --> 1:25:07.920 know other thing. Yeah, it's just I mean just Brian 1:25:08.040 --> 1:25:10.080 has a whole and this is just me talking. It's 1:25:10.080 --> 1:25:12.920 not him. He just has a whole other outlook on 1:25:12.960 --> 1:25:15.680 the game. He's thinking of it as a totality, not 1:25:15.840 --> 1:25:18.720 so much as a city, a person, a place or 1:25:18.760 --> 1:25:22.839 a thing. He's like, oh, man, I want with the Lakers, Wow. 1:25:22.960 --> 1:25:25.040 And then with the Heat backed it back. Oh, and 1:25:25.040 --> 1:25:28.439 then brought one to Cleveland. I mean just it's it's 1:25:28.560 --> 1:25:30.960 it's a whole body of work and and I know 1:25:31.080 --> 1:25:33.519 he's he probably has a number in his head that 1:25:33.560 --> 1:25:37.200 he could get to. That's possible because he were ahead. 1:25:37.439 --> 1:25:40.439 But Chris, you you heard what they said. Lebron went 1:25:40.479 --> 1:25:44.080 to the Lakers to retire, spend his last couple of years. 1:25:44.080 --> 1:25:47.040 He wanted to be close to Hollywood. He wanted to act. 1:25:47.280 --> 1:25:49.400 He didn't want to be Michael Jordan. He wanted to 1:25:49.400 --> 1:25:54.760 be Michael B. Jordans. He wanted to You heard it all. 1:25:55.080 --> 1:25:57.320 You heard it all. This is what they saying about 1:25:57.360 --> 1:26:02.400 the man. He came to retire, the historic season that 1:26:02.439 --> 1:26:04.919 he had just put up, coming off the NBA Finals, 1:26:05.120 --> 1:26:08.160 he said he going to LA to retire. Nah, I 1:26:08.160 --> 1:26:11.800 don't think so, not that he'll won't retire in LA. 1:26:12.040 --> 1:26:16.000 But if they win this fourth one, uh, that's the 1:26:16.080 --> 1:26:18.920 start of a run. And you know he's in his 1:26:19.000 --> 1:26:22.800 mind they're going to do this, uh you know until 1:26:22.880 --> 1:26:25.760 I mean contract. You know, obligations are one thing, but 1:26:26.400 --> 1:26:28.840 you know, if they can sign a d they're definitely 1:26:28.920 --> 1:26:34.160 gonna try to really really capitalize on on on their situation. 1:26:34.240 --> 1:26:39.479 So I see him continuing to compete for a few years. 1:26:40.400 --> 1:26:43.320 Everybody asks you this, You played the game, you didn't 1:26:43.320 --> 1:26:45.080 get it. I don't think you've got an opportunity. You 1:26:45.160 --> 1:26:47.400 might have played. You might have called Jordan, you called 1:26:47.400 --> 1:26:55.880 George last in the year after, Yeah, yeah, yeah. You 1:26:56.000 --> 1:26:58.679 saw the last dance, the last I mean the last 1:26:58.760 --> 1:27:00.840 dance you played with Lebron on you played in the 1:27:00.840 --> 1:27:03.960 air with Lebron. When it's all said and done, who's 1:27:03.960 --> 1:27:07.960 gonna be the goat? Man? Really? Man, that's just a 1:27:08.000 --> 1:27:12.000 tough situation. I mean, you know, you can't really quantify it. 1:27:13.680 --> 1:27:17.400 What Lebron has done, it's in its own category. But 1:27:17.560 --> 1:27:23.840 Kobe did with Jordan, Kareem Bill. I mean, it's really 1:27:23.880 --> 1:27:30.200 hard to really kind of you know, people get very selective. 1:27:30.200 --> 1:27:33.559 Well he only did oh well, and well these are 1:27:33.640 --> 1:27:37.000 feats that I feel that never will be. I don't 1:27:37.000 --> 1:27:39.839 think everybody, nobody will be six and on the finals. 1:27:40.160 --> 1:27:44.920 It just ain't gonna happen, right, that's crazy ten finals 1:27:46.280 --> 1:27:49.720 and counting, you know, I don't think nobody's gonna do that. 1:27:49.800 --> 1:27:52.800 They both have a bunch of MVP, They've got all 1:27:52.840 --> 1:27:56.400 the trophies, you know, those guys Kobe and everybody's talking 1:27:56.400 --> 1:27:58.439 about the goat. I'm just trying to get in the building, 1:27:58.600 --> 1:28:01.840 you know what. I mean, it's gonna be. It's gonna 1:28:01.840 --> 1:28:04.280 be a lot to be said if he win finals MVP. 1:28:04.920 --> 1:28:08.040 He has four finals MVPs with three different locations, which 1:28:08.040 --> 1:28:11.679 means he would have led three different teams to the ultimate. 1:28:12.120 --> 1:28:14.040 It's gonna be. It's gonna it's gonna be tough to 1:28:14.040 --> 1:28:17.280 hold him out that conversation. Let me tell you something, man, Man, 1:28:17.400 --> 1:28:21.080 it will be scholarly debates over this for decades. Yes, 1:28:21.360 --> 1:28:22.640 you know what I mean, and you know I know 1:28:22.720 --> 1:28:25.760 Lebron wants it that way. He Jordan was our hero. 1:28:26.120 --> 1:28:29.360 You know, we all watched Jordan. We all know that. Okay, 1:28:29.400 --> 1:28:32.200 I mean, this is what I'm up against, and man, 1:28:32.320 --> 1:28:34.679 it is what it is. But for him to actually 1:28:34.720 --> 1:28:38.679 create a lane for his own self and then they say, hey, man, 1:28:39.479 --> 1:28:42.280 he is arguably the greatest of all time, it's nothing 1:28:42.280 --> 1:28:45.920 else to talk about, Chris Man. I really appreciate it. Broth, 1:28:45.960 --> 1:28:48.759 thanks for sitting down with me and sharing your thoughts 1:28:48.760 --> 1:28:53.360 about your career and your new music career. Congratulations on 1:28:53.479 --> 1:28:56.719 back and when you win that Grammy for Best New Producer, 1:28:57.439 --> 1:29:00.760 Best New Saul, come back and visit your boy for sure. 1:29:00.920 --> 1:29:03.120 For sure, I appreciate that, man. Thanks a lot, Thank 1:29:03.160 --> 1:29:06.400 you brother. All my life and running all my life. 1:29:07.040 --> 1:29:11.360 Sacrifice Hustle Bay The Price Wanna Slice, got the broller 1:29:11.439 --> 1:29:14.000 dice to swap all my life. I've been running all 1:29:14.000 --> 1:29:17.040 my life, All my life and running all my life. 1:29:17.720 --> 1:29:22.040 Sacrifice Hustle Bay the Price Wanna Slice, got the broller 1:29:22.120 --> 1:29:24.639 dice to swap all my life. I've been running all 1:29:24.680 --> 1:29:27.240 my life.