Speaker 1: What up world, Welcome back to all the smoke from
Speaker 1: Las Vegas. A legend suite. Pagro was good ship you man.
Speaker 1: We killed him this week. This is a big episode.
Speaker 1: Big brother to me, I really appreciate him because when
Speaker 1: the Big Three started a lot of people didn't believe
Speaker 1: that what I could do and basketball and didn't appreciate
Speaker 1: my game. And my big brother made me captain pulled
Speaker 1: me in. I was just punishing boars, upon punishing knew
Speaker 1: he made a mistake. No, I was punishing boys. I
Speaker 1: was punishing boys. But now we got our big bro
Speaker 1: on the show to day coach of the Portland Trailblazers,
Speaker 1: Big Shot Johnson Billips. Like you said, we've been trying
Speaker 1: to line this up for a minute. I know. I'm
Speaker 1: happy we got it. All about timing getting ready for
Speaker 1: you too. How are you feeling what's going on? Man?
Speaker 1: I'm excited for real. Man. Like year one was rough,
Speaker 1: it was really rough. Um. I was really excited obviously
Speaker 1: about the opportunity, and things changed really quickly. You know,
Speaker 1: Dame was hurt the whole time. C J punctured his lunge.
Speaker 1: I mean it just was a lot. And then we
Speaker 1: ended up, changing gears, making the moves we made, and
Speaker 1: we just took some lumps, bro like crazy. So I'm
Speaker 1: so excited now that we didn't kind of build the
Speaker 1: team the way that I like. Dudes, I let you
Speaker 1: know how I like tough play, both sides of the ball,
Speaker 1: share the basketball, play together. So we made some good moves.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I'm really excited. Dang's back healthy. The young
Speaker 1: boy aunt Simon as he really his ascension was beautiful
Speaker 1: last year. He cod as much as you don't want
Speaker 1: to see c J. Leave Simmons is nice. Yeah, ye know,
Speaker 1: I'm all about develop let him rock each showed the
Speaker 1: world that a nice So I'm excited about your two
Speaker 1: for real. What kind of identity you trying to implement
Speaker 1: with this team. I mean you were someone who won
Speaker 1: your championship of a defense, like you said before, sharing
Speaker 1: the ball, So it's similar identity for this team, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and y'all too notice like the game has changed so much,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, the best of
Speaker 1: the best, it's all the same. You gotta play hard,
Speaker 1: you gotta compete, you gotta share the ball. You know,
Speaker 1: you gotta be good teammates. You gotta sacrifice. None of
Speaker 1: those things I've ever changed. Now. You know, the concepts
Speaker 1: and principles they're changing a little bit, but the best
Speaker 1: teams and the way that they win that has never
Speaker 1: changed at all from the generations before us too. Now
Speaker 1: the best teams that you see, bro, they play together,
Speaker 1: they play defense, they compete, they talk about the three
Speaker 1: ball and all of that, which is really prevalent right now.
Speaker 1: But everything is all the same. So I see the
Speaker 1: game the way that I played the game. You know
Speaker 1: we're gonna compete, We're gonna be We're gonna be hard man.
Speaker 1: I like bones out there, key new pieces. Obviously, Simon
Speaker 1: signs his deal. You pick up Jeremy Grant, who's a
Speaker 1: nice two way player, shading sharp. I like him. He
Speaker 1: didn't he played one got hurt. But the one move
Speaker 1: he made, he's that baseline fadeaway shot. That's a pro move.
Speaker 1: That was It sounds like this kids are pro seeing
Speaker 1: that move. He's got talent. And then one of my
Speaker 1: favorite players in league, Gary Payton, the second someone who's
Speaker 1: had to grind every step of the way, and you
Speaker 1: guys rewarded him with a nice contract. So I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: Like you said that, you've got guys that the kind
Speaker 1: of fit your mentality, and that's important. How important is
Speaker 1: having someone like Dame Obviously he was hurt most of
Speaker 1: the year, but not only just what he can do
Speaker 1: on the court, but the leadership because you guys have
Speaker 1: a fairly young team. Yeah, yeah, we do. I mean,
Speaker 1: Dame is just I think y'all all see it. And
Speaker 1: he's really he's always honest in his interviews. He's just
Speaker 1: a real one. You know, he's loyal. Obviously y'all know that.
Speaker 1: But he he's really from a generation before that he's
Speaker 1: playing in. He's one of them. He's from that that cloth,
Speaker 1: you know. So having him healthy, um, having them to
Speaker 1: just pouring into you know, and and having Nerk back
Speaker 1: and little g P who we talked about, he just
Speaker 1: he might kind of do you know, he's gonna play
Speaker 1: the right way at all times. Jeremy Grant bringing him
Speaker 1: on board and having that athleticism. You know, every in
Speaker 1: the game today, a lot of people switch everything at
Speaker 1: least one through four. You can go out all that.
Speaker 1: He can switch stuff. He can take advantage of, you know,
Speaker 1: small matchups when they switch, you know, with him and there.
Speaker 1: So well, we'll have a lot of opportunity to do
Speaker 1: a lot of different things this year. So what do
Speaker 1: you see? I mean, I know it's earlier, is it is? It?
Speaker 1: Is it? Dame Simmons assignments. Uh, the young rookie grant
Speaker 1: and you're big fellow back three open? Yeah, no, the three,
Speaker 1: the three is open. But I kind of see it
Speaker 1: right now. Like another kid that really made a jump
Speaker 1: for U slash until he got hurt, was not there
Speaker 1: a little played really well. He was hoping. He was hoping.
Speaker 1: He's really athletic, he can shoot the three, he can guard.
Speaker 1: So I see you know him, Josh Hart. We got
Speaker 1: who's who's bawling too? I see them in that you
Speaker 1: know cop three spot. But a young boys shading. He
Speaker 1: got tense to be special. He got some talent, he
Speaker 1: got a but got a lot of talent. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: had another question. Uh, we was talking about how rough
Speaker 1: year one was. Do you take because being a player,
Speaker 1: do you take the same lups and the ups and
Speaker 1: downs of the season the same way as a coach
Speaker 1: as you as a player? Yeah, yeah you do. Man,
Speaker 1: it's almost probably worse. That's probably a lot worse. You
Speaker 1: know as a point guard, and when I played, I
Speaker 1: really kind of I took home more than anybody. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking the whole after the games, I'm fried because
Speaker 1: I'm really thinking about any way that I can get
Speaker 1: on top. And I'm thinking about how I can make
Speaker 1: you better. You better get sheet, this shot, get that.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about all of that. So I'm not even
Speaker 1: physically burnt atter the game. I'm really mentally that way. Now.
Speaker 1: It's all mentally. I'm not physically doing nothing, obviously, but mentally,
Speaker 1: like you gotta prepare for so much. Every single game.
Speaker 1: You're preparing for everything and sometimes those things never happened.
Speaker 1: But if you're not prepared, you're gonna get exposed. It's
Speaker 1: a lot, it's a lot, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1: But I love it and it's just hoop at the
Speaker 1: end of the day. You know. Um, it's beautiful. I
Speaker 1: love it. Man, I'm glad. I did it talk about
Speaker 1: growing up in Denver, Colorado? Yeah, so I'm from Um
Speaker 1: it's funny like I'm from Denver and everybody like when
Speaker 1: I used to go to a tournaments and all that,
Speaker 1: everybody be like, damn, man, you you ride horses and ship.
Speaker 1: Are you ski? And I'm like, nah, that'sh It costs money. Man,
Speaker 1: you grew up in the city. You can't do that
Speaker 1: unless they're doing free stuff for the is. But man,
Speaker 1: I had a great child, you know, I grew up. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm one of the only dudes in my in the
Speaker 1: whole neighborhood have had mom and dad in the crib
Speaker 1: that both worked, you know, and we didn't really for real,
Speaker 1: we ain't really had them, but we was cool. You know,
Speaker 1: it was cool. But my neighborhoods called park Hill. I'll
Speaker 1: take a lot of pride in it, and got that
Speaker 1: tat on me early when I was really young. Um,
Speaker 1: And it's just like any other inner city, you know,
Speaker 1: it's gang violence, drugs, everything, you know, everything is the
Speaker 1: hood everywhere, and I'll take a lot of pride and
Speaker 1: where I'm from, not a lot of people made it, Um,
Speaker 1: out of my neighborhood. There's a few, but not really
Speaker 1: not a lot. So you know how it is when
Speaker 1: we make it, the whole hood make it, and you
Speaker 1: you you carry that with you, you know throughout you
Speaker 1: carry the flag the whole way through. So it's been beautiful,
Speaker 1: you know, I love it. I go home, um all
Speaker 1: the time. My parents still lived there, my wife is
Speaker 1: from there, My wife is from our neighborhood. So it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: That's do when the basketball coming and Max when he's
Speaker 1: growing up. I first played football, and I loved football position.
Speaker 1: You know, at that age you're playing both, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, quarterback and safety. Yeah, that was my
Speaker 1: very first love. And the funny thing is I only
Speaker 1: played basketball. Started playing basketball because you need something to
Speaker 1: do in the season. I mean, idle time for any
Speaker 1: of the inner city is some one off. It ain't good.
Speaker 1: So I started playing basketball and I played all the
Speaker 1: way and played both all the way kind of through
Speaker 1: middle school. And I remember one day meeting with up
Speaker 1: not mean, but just kind of sitting down talking to
Speaker 1: my mom My. My my dream is the only go
Speaker 1: to college. I didn't think about no pro or nothing.
Speaker 1: I just want to go to college. Nobody ever my
Speaker 1: family ever been to college. And so talking to my
Speaker 1: mom one day, she was just like asking me that
Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 1: And she was like, well, that would be good, but
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna have to get a scholarship because I can't.
Speaker 1: We can't afford them. So at that point I had
Speaker 1: to make a decision football basketball. I like football better,
Speaker 1: but I was better in basketball, so I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: if i'm better, I'm probably can get a scholarship. I
Speaker 1: quit playing football and just kept hooping. So it worked
Speaker 1: out growing up. And then who did you adolize playing basketball?
Speaker 1: And who was just like patting your game out? You know?
Speaker 1: I was a mad I've always been a magic. Magic
Speaker 1: was one all time favorite player. And again, like there
Speaker 1: was like some dudes in my neighborhood that was high
Speaker 1: school players, and I was like, man, I want to
Speaker 1: you know, I want to be like them. But like
Speaker 1: big picture, Magic was I wasn't a Laker fan, but
Speaker 1: I was a Magic guy because it just always seemed
Speaker 1: like he was having fun out there. Like he was
Speaker 1: doing a lot of winning, but he was having fun,
Speaker 1: he was sharing the ball, like I just always really
Speaker 1: admired the way the Magic I just went about everything,
Speaker 1: not just hooping. So he was out of my guy.
Speaker 1: Mr Colorado and basketball three times to looking to the
Speaker 1: McDonald's game. It didn't play What was the McDonald's experience
Speaker 1: even though you didn't play man. That was crazy because
Speaker 1: I just like that was my goal in college was
Speaker 1: to make it to the you know, that was all
Speaker 1: of our goal McDonald's, to make McDonald's. And I felt
Speaker 1: like we had maybe the best class ever in before us.
Speaker 1: Name some of them, Name some of them. You got
Speaker 1: one right there behind the cameras, Liney McCoy myself. But
Speaker 1: then you can have the big dogs like KG, Stephen
Speaker 1: Marberry streep up to Raheen, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Ron Mercer,
Speaker 1: Sham God, Antoine Jamison. We was deep. We had we
Speaker 1: had a unit. We had a unit. We had a
Speaker 1: unit for sure, um tractor trailer. God. We a lot.
Speaker 1: We had a lot. So for me to make it
Speaker 1: to that was everything, you know, especially coming from themmer
Speaker 1: ain't nobody. We ain't got nobody. In high school basketball,
Speaker 1: you listed Mr. Colorado and all that that was. That
Speaker 1: was really easy to get. It wasn't a lot of players.
Speaker 1: I ain't from where you are from. So my real
Speaker 1: season was summertime. Hey you, I'm I'm looking for y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm looking for I'm looking after I get my name up.
Speaker 1: And so I took that summer very very seriously, and
Speaker 1: that's how I was able to be lucky enough to
Speaker 1: be a McDonald's All American. But in the playoffs that
Speaker 1: year in high school, I had just located my shoulder,
Speaker 1: so it put me out, so I didn't get to
Speaker 1: do it. But it was in St. Louis. I went
Speaker 1: to it, had a good time. It was It was
Speaker 1: an awesome time, so it was all worth it, even
Speaker 1: though I didn't get to play in it. Um. I
Speaker 1: think it was Ryan Robertson. Ryan Robertson. He ended up
Speaker 1: going to Kansas. My room man was Joe Brown. You
Speaker 1: decided to stay home, uh and go to Colorado with
Speaker 1: or any of the schools that Glani said he was
Speaker 1: your roommate? You us, Yeah, not bad bad roommate, McCoy.
Speaker 1: He confused you with a six TI. I might be
Speaker 1: wrong about my room right, wrong about my roommate. I
Speaker 1: ain't gonna. I was on the West, so he might
Speaker 1: not have been my roommate. That's funny. You decided to
Speaker 1: stay going home and go to Colorado with any of
Speaker 1: the schools you considered. You know what's funny about it, man,
Speaker 1: is Colorado wasn't even in my top five at the
Speaker 1: time when I narrowed it down. It was Georgia Tech,
Speaker 1: Arizona at u C l A UM had Michigan. Man,
Speaker 1: I ended up like I went to a few visits
Speaker 1: and in my senior year, I lost my grandma and
Speaker 1: my grandfather, right, and so every time I went on
Speaker 1: the visit, I came home. I could tell that my
Speaker 1: mom was like happy that I went, but she was
Speaker 1: really kind of sad. So I was like, fucking, I'm
Speaker 1: about to let I called the press conference like the
Speaker 1: next week and I just announced that I was going
Speaker 1: to because they didn't even know everybody, but they was
Speaker 1: recruiting me hard. And the dude that was recruiting me
Speaker 1: who became my coach with Carlo Patton, came one of
Speaker 1: my big biggest mentors. He was going hard. But you know,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to trying to do the thing, but man,
Speaker 1: I just felt. I just felt. I just felt right,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And I just had the
Speaker 1: press conference. They ain't even know I was about to
Speaker 1: do it. Now, So I was going to Colorado. What
Speaker 1: was that love like? Because you, I mean you was
Speaker 1: at hometown. He stayed home. That with a love on
Speaker 1: campus was crazy, Yeah, it was. It was. I wish
Speaker 1: they had the n I l back then, could have
Speaker 1: got some money. Lay in school boy, I could have
Speaker 1: got you. But he used to have hair back then,
Speaker 1: you could have got your hair nice part. Yeah Johns
Speaker 1: had hair back then. Y'all didn't know you had a
Speaker 1: good Yeah you had a good run. Yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: had a good man. Say so two years you make
Speaker 1: the turning for the first time since NAT because not
Speaker 1: all American eighteen six and five up your career. What
Speaker 1: was the best part about that two year run? The
Speaker 1: best part was that none of it was easy. Man.
Speaker 1: My first year we was like five hundred. It was.
Speaker 1: It was funny because my first year was the last
Speaker 1: year the Big Eight and then my second year was
Speaker 1: the first year to Big twelve. And uh man, I
Speaker 1: had a heck of a year my first year, but
Speaker 1: we was weak. Man. We just didn't have a lot
Speaker 1: of talent and we was as you just said, we
Speaker 1: was a bad team for a long time. Changed the coach.
Speaker 1: We really didn't get no more big recruits, but we
Speaker 1: turned it all the way around. We went from like
Speaker 1: second to last in the Big Eight to second and
Speaker 1: the Big twelve. And uh I had a obviously a
Speaker 1: good year, but we had a good team. So like
Speaker 1: just the beauty of just that transformation was it for me.
Speaker 1: And then we go to the n c A A
Speaker 1: tournament and I felt like we should have been a
Speaker 1: hard seed. So I was playing with that chip anyway,
Speaker 1: and we ended up playing Indiana Bobby Knight. They had
Speaker 1: all set up where if North Carolina would have won,
Speaker 1: but what if they win two games in the tournament
Speaker 1: that was Dean Smith's, They're gonna break the record. So
Speaker 1: they tried to set it up when it was gonna
Speaker 1: be Bobby Knight against Dean Smith. Fued it all up.
Speaker 1: I wasn't having that ship having that, so we so
Speaker 1: we ended up playing Indiana. We boned them, We smoked him.
Speaker 1: And then we ended up playing Vince Carter and Twine
Speaker 1: and and they was so much better than we were.
Speaker 1: But um, we was up one at the half in
Speaker 1: North Carolina for him to break the all time record
Speaker 1: of all his players. Came back. We up one at
Speaker 1: the half. I ain't gonna tell you what happened. The
Speaker 1: rest stepped in hut. I'm gonna I ain't even gonna
Speaker 1: tell you what happened. But anyway, they was better than us.
Speaker 1: They should have been us anyway, but they shouldn't have
Speaker 1: been this like that. So the third pick in the
Speaker 1: nineties seven draft, which was a heavy draft stack, was
Speaker 1: in it. Duncan t mac best memory about leading up
Speaker 1: to the draft, whether it be workouts or conversations with people,
Speaker 1: anything that stick out in your mind. Man. You know,
Speaker 1: I left left Colorado and I went My agent was
Speaker 1: in Connecticut at the time, so I went and trained
Speaker 1: to Connecticut. Man, I just locked in, Man, I just
Speaker 1: really locked in. And at the time when I left,
Speaker 1: I was supposed to be like between nine and fifteen,
Speaker 1: you know, in the draft, and I'm just looking on
Speaker 1: the board and I'm saying, like the dudes that they're
Speaker 1: saying it's in front of me, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: just want to get in front of them, that's all.
Speaker 1: I just want to get in front of him. And
Speaker 1: I I didn't get an opportunity too, because I only
Speaker 1: had one workout and just kind of invited everybody to
Speaker 1: the workout, and um, it obviously went' good. But like
Speaker 1: I just remember like really just locking in, man, and
Speaker 1: really getting myself in tiptop shape and the very first
Speaker 1: time in my life that I ate well, um and
Speaker 1: did the things that was really necessary. And man, it
Speaker 1: worked out, Like I didn't think I would be the
Speaker 1: third pick, but it worked out into the draft right
Speaker 1: after that. It was tricky, but you know, but it
Speaker 1: was cool though. You get traded to Toronto, talk about that, Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it was. It was weird. Man, Um, you know, you're
Speaker 1: the third pick in the draft and you feel like
Speaker 1: you're gonna be there, like at least for a year
Speaker 1: or two. It's a bad team, you're the third pick.
Speaker 1: Most guys they just get the ball, but they lived
Speaker 1: with which they just lived of your mistakes and until
Speaker 1: you develop. And I didn't really get that opportunity. But
Speaker 1: in all honesty, like it wasn't like no coach hating,
Speaker 1: it was none of that. Like I just really wasn't ready.
Speaker 1: It was the first time that I'm playing against dudes
Speaker 1: as bigger, stronger, better than me, you know, smarter, and
Speaker 1: it just took a while to make the adjustment. I
Speaker 1: was playing pretty good and I was playing for Ripportino
Speaker 1: at the time. There was a lot of pressure on him.
Speaker 1: I remember, like the day he traded me, came into
Speaker 1: my hotel room. We was on the road. It was
Speaker 1: just like, look, man, I think you're gonna have a
Speaker 1: good career. You know, y'all heard this all before because
Speaker 1: they there's all the same and uh. But he was like,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of pressure on me. And I've always
Speaker 1: been a big fan of Kenny Anderson's and I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, that's cool. And it was like we got
Speaker 1: a chance to get him. So it was a three
Speaker 1: way trade. I went to Toronto, Dames starting Mind went
Speaker 1: to Portland, and Kenny A went to Boston. So just
Speaker 1: the fact that I was in the trade with these
Speaker 1: these dudes, these dudes is oh, like they the dudes,
Speaker 1: so that you know, that was cool. But I was
Speaker 1: really ready to get out of there because it was
Speaker 1: like a it was some days, bro Petino, Man, it
Speaker 1: was it was something I was like, I w was
Speaker 1: trut to stay in school. Man, this's crazy. We're pressing
Speaker 1: from the start of the game like it was crazy.
Speaker 1: But that college energy don't transfer, man, happen for a reason.
Speaker 1: That was all good. It's crazy. It's crazy. Look at
Speaker 1: your career. High ended to say that you started your
Speaker 1: first four seasons playing for four different teams. Talking about
Speaker 1: that it was tough in the moment a lot of
Speaker 1: times because I worked my ass off like I never
Speaker 1: was like the dude that like I wasn't working or
Speaker 1: like you know, I wasn't focused. You'll know, I don't
Speaker 1: drink smaller. I'm living right like I'm doing everything that's necessary.
Speaker 1: Maybe you needed to have a guy right right, right, Man,
Speaker 1: I should have been hanging with you a little more up.
Speaker 1: But now, man, it was it was I wouldn't trade
Speaker 1: my my my flight for nothing for nobody, you know,
Speaker 1: to be able to come in, fall all the way off,
Speaker 1: you know, and then get off the mat and then
Speaker 1: scrap all the way to the top, like I wouldn't
Speaker 1: trade it for nothing. Like it made when we won.
Speaker 1: It made it so much sweeter for me, you know,
Speaker 1: because I always believe that that's what I could do,
Speaker 1: and now I proved it to everybody. So it was
Speaker 1: it was a beautiful journey. You're a big brother to
Speaker 1: me and a lot of others. Who was your old
Speaker 1: gs when you came in, you know, when I came in.
Speaker 1: And it's funny it ties back into the last question.
Speaker 1: Like one of the reasons while my career ended up
Speaker 1: actually changing is when I went to Minnesota, I got
Speaker 1: the chance to be there with two people, Sam Mitchell
Speaker 1: and to real Brandon. And Sam was so big for
Speaker 1: me just in terms of like everything, like this dude
Speaker 1: used to be you know, we was young. We were young.
Speaker 1: We want to be in the club. We're kicking it.
Speaker 1: He'd be dressing up, going to these lunch meetings and
Speaker 1: all of them like, yo, what you're talking about in
Speaker 1: these meetings. So Sam was a vet at this time,
Speaker 1: not a couple. No, he's just the old hit on
Speaker 1: the team. So he was like one day he was like,
Speaker 1: you need to come with me and just don't even
Speaker 1: say nothing, just sit down and just see what's going on.
Speaker 1: And man, it just taught me so much, Like about
Speaker 1: the transition. I'm like, this dude was a really a
Speaker 1: grown man like this, you know what I'm saying, talk
Speaker 1: how to dress to all of that. He taught me
Speaker 1: so many of them things. And then basketball wise, being
Speaker 1: able to learn behind Drell Brandon, who was the craftiest, smoothest, smartest,
Speaker 1: like he was incredible. So learning how to watch film,
Speaker 1: learning how to study my opponents, learning, you know, just
Speaker 1: breaking down everything. The dude took so much time with
Speaker 1: me and it changed my life. It changed my career.
Speaker 1: So them them dudes, I own a lot of respect
Speaker 1: and credit then was my ol gs. It's funny because
Speaker 1: we've had a chance to talk to a lot of
Speaker 1: former players this trip, and and something Jack and I
Speaker 1: have been talking about as the lack of vents in
Speaker 1: the league. And it wasn't even so much too. You know,
Speaker 1: some are on the court, some weren't, but they were
Speaker 1: teaching these life lessons. They were teaching you how to dress,
Speaker 1: they was teaching you how to move, They was teaching
Speaker 1: you life after And you know now that roster spot
Speaker 1: is so valuable for every team that that's our thirty
Speaker 1: three now, not thirty seven, thirty eight like when we
Speaker 1: came in. Yeah, and the game really changed when they
Speaker 1: took that out of because, like you said, it didn't
Speaker 1: even become about them playing. Now, man, you look at
Speaker 1: you know what Miami's done with you you know, um
Speaker 1: and he just raising there are guys every single year
Speaker 1: into that culture on them count a big deal, huge,
Speaker 1: a big deal, and they kind of took that away.
Speaker 1: So now now as a coach, I understand what that is.
Speaker 1: So now I'm playing, I'm wearing so many different hats
Speaker 1: with the little dudes. You know what I mean, like,
Speaker 1: I'm that guy. You hired people around you that could
Speaker 1: be that guy like you just you have to find
Speaker 1: a way to like to make it that way because
Speaker 1: we need it. Yeah, for sure in Minnesota the first
Speaker 1: year as you make the playoffs. What was it like
Speaker 1: playing with kg Man, that dude, as y'all know, like,
Speaker 1: just never I've never seen nothing like it. You know
Speaker 1: what what you see on TV, what everybody sees on
Speaker 1: TV is ever running around cussing and going crazy all
Speaker 1: the time. The intensity the investment that he has into
Speaker 1: it is every single day practice shoot around, we're hooping
Speaker 1: five on is. I've never seen nothing like it. I
Speaker 1: really never seen nothing like it. So it was fun
Speaker 1: to be able to play with him. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: I thought he made me better, you know, by way
Speaker 1: of just how he how he led the squad. We
Speaker 1: had a good connection, man, We had a good little thing.
Speaker 1: And that was at a time where my career was
Speaker 1: really kind of hanging in the balance. So it was
Speaker 1: an important part of my career being there with with Tick.
Speaker 1: So I'm thankful that's my that's my man. Summer vote
Speaker 1: to five year deal to go to Detroit. What made
Speaker 1: you choose Detroit. I really wanted to stay in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, because my career really kind
Speaker 1: of changed, and Terrell Brandon was hurt, so that's how
Speaker 1: my opportunity came. Well, he was about to get back
Speaker 1: healthy and m tired of bouncing around. Yeah, man, I
Speaker 1: just felt like Detroit was on They was on the
Speaker 1: up at that time. They had just went to the
Speaker 1: second round of the playoffs. They had been who was
Speaker 1: just got defensive Player of the year, Corlas just got
Speaker 1: six Man of the year, where Carlisle got Coach of
Speaker 1: the Year. I just felt like they needed a point guard.
Speaker 1: They had stack at the time, but I knew, you know,
Speaker 1: we ended up trading and getting ripped. But I just
Speaker 1: felt like there was kind of a point guard away
Speaker 1: and I was finally ready to lead. I was finally
Speaker 1: I learned all I needed to learn. I've been through
Speaker 1: that ship and it was beautiful. Joe d was obviously
Speaker 1: the go the head man and charge and learned up
Speaker 1: and learn from him was killer. So I just felt
Speaker 1: good about it, man, And once I got there, when
Speaker 1: I was ready, never look back a new level. I
Speaker 1: think you hit on something important right there, because a
Speaker 1: lot of us get into the league, and a lot
Speaker 1: of fans don't understand this. Younger players maybe playing and
Speaker 1: getting minutes, but when do you your life turned down?
Speaker 1: What's that you're five year six for you? It takes
Speaker 1: a good three, four or five years to really understand
Speaker 1: the NBA game. And people understand that you can get
Speaker 1: thrown in the fire and play well here and there,
Speaker 1: but understand the intricacies of the game. It takes a
Speaker 1: handful of years. Well it does. And and the irony
Speaker 1: of it is, say, say when I went to Boston,
Speaker 1: they just threw me the ball and just let me
Speaker 1: hoop right like they do a lot of people. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I would have got numbers, I would have got bad
Speaker 1: I would have got all of that. But when you
Speaker 1: have to get on the team and you've got to
Speaker 1: learn how to like actually play with other good players
Speaker 1: and know what it takes to win, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a totally different deal. So I was forced to kind
Speaker 1: of do that. Most top picks that go to tough
Speaker 1: or bad teams, they don't really learn how to win.
Speaker 1: They don't learn what it takes to be a real
Speaker 1: winner in the game. But you know, I was lucky
Speaker 1: Carlisle gets fired and No. Three despite finishing the number
Speaker 1: one seed, coach Larry Brown comes in. What change when
Speaker 1: he came in? Larry is so funny. One of my
Speaker 1: college coaches told me back in college, like, you need
Speaker 1: to play for Larry Brown one day, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know what that meant. And I always just heard about tough.
Speaker 1: This dude being really tough on point guards Man Man
Speaker 1: Man and Larry Man. I love him to death, I
Speaker 1: really do. But I lost a lot of sleeping with
Speaker 1: Larry Man. Straight up. I lost a lot of sleep.
Speaker 1: I usul to come back from trips. One time. One
Speaker 1: time I came back from a trip. My wife was
Speaker 1: in to be a sleeping I wake up them like babe,
Speaker 1: tired as hill, right, I said, but I gotta talk
Speaker 1: to you. So I started talking. I'm going right, I'm
Speaker 1: just talking about him, man, what I'm going through. I
Speaker 1: look over. She knocked the funk out right. I just
Speaker 1: kept talking, bro, just yeah. But this dude, man, Larry Like,
Speaker 1: he taught me so much. He may so demanding, he's
Speaker 1: relentless and um, but he cares though, he really does care. Um.
Speaker 1: And he made our team into what it was. Uh.
Speaker 1: But I learned a lot from him, but it was
Speaker 1: it was tough. It was some some real tough lessons,
Speaker 1: but I'm grateful for him. The guard position in the
Speaker 1: two thousand's, I mean d Way, Kid, Iverson, Baron g
Speaker 1: p CP three, nash Um Gilbert, who was some of
Speaker 1: the funder matchups you look forward to. Man, all of
Speaker 1: those dudes were so good. They was all fun because
Speaker 1: it was all different, you know, Like I would say
Speaker 1: my toughest Matt's was probably well one of them was
Speaker 1: Chasing Ai. He's just I mean, he's just a nightmare
Speaker 1: because you could hear him like, you know, I'm physical.
Speaker 1: You can hit him as hard as you're gonna keep coming.
Speaker 1: He ain't never gonna lay down, you never get tired.
Speaker 1: He was just he was. He was a beast. But
Speaker 1: then you got guys like like gil who was as
Speaker 1: big as me, but he's fast like AI, and he
Speaker 1: shoot from where they're shoot him from now, and he
Speaker 1: don't got no conscience given you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like he asked you like he don't care. So he
Speaker 1: was tough like obviously d Wade and Stephen Marbury was
Speaker 1: always really tough. B D nightmare you know like it
Speaker 1: was was a problem. Bro b d was incredible and
Speaker 1: he could guard though like both sides, so not a
Speaker 1: lot of dudes was really as strong as me. He
Speaker 1: was and he was athletic. There was a nightmare. Every
Speaker 1: night was crazy. It was crazy. So initial thoughts, Detroit
Speaker 1: has a number two pick, you got a chance to
Speaker 1: get Carmelo Anthony. We talked to him about this ship
Speaker 1: and he his whole energy chains. The thought of what
Speaker 1: would have happened if I would have got drafted by Detroit.
Speaker 1: You guys take dark Oh obviously took a chance. Didn't work,
Speaker 1: but you guys had a hell of a team. But
Speaker 1: imagine that team with Carmelo Anthony. Oh my goodness, man,
Speaker 1: what was your guys initial thought process? Though? When it happened,
Speaker 1: we all thought we was taking Melow. We all was
Speaker 1: on deck and we was always on board. We all
Speaker 1: thought Mellows, mellow, mellow. We excited. It was perfect. U.
Speaker 1: Obviously we had a team. We took Tashawn a year before,
Speaker 1: but they would have been perfect six man, he didn't
Speaker 1: do whatever you know, um so I thought we was
Speaker 1: perfectly built to have Melo. Um So what you're starting
Speaker 1: lineup would have been if Mellow would have came, Mello
Speaker 1: would have been at the three um richeously ripped myself
Speaker 1: being we didn't have sheet at the time. Later season, yeah,
Speaker 1: during the by the end of the season, so it
Speaker 1: would have been she been Mellow and rip with Tayshawn
Speaker 1: coming off the bench doing everything. It would have been crazy.
Speaker 1: Here's the here's the interesting question. I say this all
Speaker 1: the time. So if we do get Mellow, when was
Speaker 1: Brown gonna ever take over? Because people forget Mellow was
Speaker 1: neck and neck with Bron rookiev rookie season. But now
Speaker 1: we're in the same division. But he has you, you
Speaker 1: have a he has a way better support system with y'all.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying. Now heat now he gonna get
Speaker 1: raised right in the game. His whole directory of his
Speaker 1: career changes narrative on him, his legacy. So I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Bron is Bron and we all know he's incredible on
Speaker 1: the Mount rushmore, but when was he ever gonna beat
Speaker 1: and better than y'all with Mellow? You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's a it's an interesting question. Yeah, but yeah,
Speaker 1: we all thought we was. We all thought it was Mellow.
Speaker 1: We was taking Mellow. Damn who was the gym at
Speaker 1: the time, Joe Dumars Damn, Joe d Yeah, yeah, that's
Speaker 1: tricky up. I guess go ahead, Jack, two thousand four finals,
Speaker 1: the old world say you didn't have a shot. No,
Speaker 1: y'all wasn't thinking that. What was that? What was your
Speaker 1: training thought? We're here, it's funny, man, but we thought
Speaker 1: they didn't have a shot. M hmm, like for real though,
Speaker 1: not even know nothing cocky though, Like we was just
Speaker 1: we felt like the way that they played and the
Speaker 1: way that we played, we was a team dog like
Speaker 1: we knew that, yeah we can't stop Cold, we can't
Speaker 1: stop Shock. Then they're the best two players in the
Speaker 1: whole series. But our game plan was gonna be thorough,
Speaker 1: and we knew that they couldn't stop picking rows with
Speaker 1: me and they couldn't stop rip on in downs. So
Speaker 1: we knew that we had two things that no way
Speaker 1: that they could stop it. We can get a good
Speaker 1: shot anytime, and we knew we was just gonna trap
Speaker 1: the hell out of Colde and we was gonna play
Speaker 1: Shock straight up and try to stay out of foul trouble.
Speaker 1: We was gonna be fine. I really really felt like
Speaker 1: there was no way that they could beat us in
Speaker 1: the series. I said, and told my wife that before
Speaker 1: the series. She laughed at me. She even laughed at
Speaker 1: me like, man, what Yeah. Ham was sitting here earlier
Speaker 1: today and he just said he felt like something was
Speaker 1: off with them, a little bit between their big they're
Speaker 1: big two, and you guys seen it and just went
Speaker 1: to work on it. Yeah, we played into that, like
Speaker 1: for instance, like I'm sitting there, like we we know
Speaker 1: that we could beat them. It wasn't a talent thing.
Speaker 1: We didn't have the best talent in the series. We
Speaker 1: had the best team and we did play on that.
Speaker 1: You know, at that time Cod had one finals m
Speaker 1: v P. It's always been shocked. We knew they had
Speaker 1: their little thing, and we really played into the you know,
Speaker 1: we really did, Like we we trapped Code. Code was
Speaker 1: really frustrated with us trapping him. We played shock Man
Speaker 1: and man shot getting thirty five and eighteen. But we're
Speaker 1: keeping them on the floor because we going at you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, like our game plan was really good.
Speaker 1: It played in today's Psyche. They didn't really let g
Speaker 1: P or the Karl Malone. They didn't throw them the ball.
Speaker 1: They didn't let them do nothing. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: You know what the triangle was. So we had to
Speaker 1: worry about code, worry about shock everybody else. We just
Speaker 1: stayed close. They don't have no freedom. We just had
Speaker 1: too many weapons. We had too many weapons, and we
Speaker 1: just had we played faster. We was just a better
Speaker 1: basketball team. You have a twenty one five shot, four
Speaker 1: to seven percent from from three, and want to find
Speaker 1: his m v P big shot, she said, his whole
Speaker 1: life flash when the buzzer sounded. Talk about that knowing
Speaker 1: you were a champion. Yeah, yeah, that that was obviously
Speaker 1: my shoting moment in my career. She would say the same,
Speaker 1: riprote everybody would say the same, because that's how we
Speaker 1: played for you know, for the win. You know, that's
Speaker 1: that's how I grew up in the game. Is you
Speaker 1: talked about going against other guys and competing against other
Speaker 1: guys and all those names you listed. The only thing
Speaker 1: as a point guard that matters is winning. So if
Speaker 1: I win. So you you got and twelve, I got
Speaker 1: eighteen and eleven, but I won. I want to match him.
Speaker 1: That's how I'm built though, what I mean, So like
Speaker 1: all I cared about was winning, and I always felt
Speaker 1: like I could lead. I always felt like I could
Speaker 1: be a great player, and so in that moment, I
Speaker 1: validated that for not only for myself, for everybody. So
Speaker 1: it was it was my shoin and it was my
Speaker 1: shining moment. It was the best moment, you know, my
Speaker 1: best sports moment in my life as being able to
Speaker 1: win it. I didn't even care about the finals MVP.
Speaker 1: I would wasn't gunning for that. I just want to
Speaker 1: be a champion. I wasn't gonna for that at all.
Speaker 1: I didn't care about that. I wanted to be know
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't care about that. I want to
Speaker 1: be a champion. So that was the That was the
Speaker 1: best feeling in the world. It was. It was the greatest.
Speaker 1: She said. They stayed up and ran the damn all night,
Speaker 1: back and forth all night all night. I still didn't drink.
Speaker 1: You know what's crazy is I told the funniest thing
Speaker 1: I told. I promised See that I would smoke with
Speaker 1: him if we won, and I promised bending them that
Speaker 1: I drink. Didn't do either. So we won, right, I
Speaker 1: was like, I ain't doing it because you know why,
Speaker 1: I don't want to forget about nothing that happened tonight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's gonna you know what I'm saying. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be too. I don't want to be nothing. So
Speaker 1: it was just from until the next morning was just
Speaker 1: straight had watching everybody be crazy, laughing at everybody. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's crazy. Give me uh. I had to actually this too,
Speaker 1: But malice in the Palace? Yeah, what was going on
Speaker 1: through your mind doing all that? That shup? It was sad, man,
Speaker 1: It was really sad because it was just unfortunate, bro,
Speaker 1: because it was it wasn't really a good game at
Speaker 1: the time. I mean, y'all cracticue y'all was playing with
Speaker 1: a different little chip than we was at the time.
Speaker 1: And I say this all the time, like it wouldn't
Speaker 1: have if if Ron would have just fought to do
Speaker 1: they wanted to fight him, it wouldn't have been no malicson.
Speaker 1: We gave to people what they wanted, just fight to
Speaker 1: do that grabbed you on your neck. If we just
Speaker 1: did that, we wouldn't be talking about it this year.
Speaker 1: We've just been like, damn that they boys got at it.
Speaker 1: That's it, that's it, which was what the league used
Speaker 1: to be anyway. But if that didn't happen, you know, um,
Speaker 1: And it was really unfortunate because what most people don't
Speaker 1: know is that even though when were in the battle,
Speaker 1: it's on, but we all friends, homies, that we work
Speaker 1: out in the summer, like we all cool. So that's
Speaker 1: what the world don't know. And what the perception is
Speaker 1: that we was fighting, y'all. The reality is none of
Speaker 1: us fought at all. It was the fans fighting, y'all,
Speaker 1: and it was everybody else like wait, hold on, but
Speaker 1: you know, perception is everything, you know, But it was unfortunately.
Speaker 1: Remember getting back to our locker room and Larry Brown,
Speaker 1: our coach, was sobbing crying like somebody died. And when
Speaker 1: he finally came to, he was just like we gave
Speaker 1: the game a black eye, know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: like it was just sad man. My my daughter who's
Speaker 1: in here right now, my my wife, my two two
Speaker 1: dollars at the time now three. But they was there,
Speaker 1: the Hans boys was there, everybody crying. It just was crazy.
Speaker 1: So it was unfortunate, man, it really was. Unfortunately. Blockbuster
Speaker 1: Trade was an eight involving you for Alan Iverson. What
Speaker 1: was your first reaction to the trade, I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I was surprised because, um, you know, they told me
Speaker 1: I wasn't going nowhere again again for like a fifth time.
Speaker 1: Especially you know, you kind of believe it at that moment,
Speaker 1: and for what all I did for the you know,
Speaker 1: for the organization for the city. So I was surprised.
Speaker 1: I was Remember I was in Charlotte. We was four
Speaker 1: and oh at the time started season. I was getting dressed,
Speaker 1: um for shoot around. My wife called me and she
Speaker 1: was like, what's going on. I'm like, what you mean?
Speaker 1: She was like, turn on Sports Center. That's how I
Speaker 1: found out I got traded from the Troite bro going across.
Speaker 1: You were in the locker room. No, I'm in my
Speaker 1: hotel getting ready for getting ready for shoot around in
Speaker 1: the morning. So that's how I found out, which you
Speaker 1: know how you yeah, it was. It was. I was
Speaker 1: really surprised by it. Broke up a lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, we was ripped still. Everybody was still. Dan
Speaker 1: was gone, you know. But um, yeah, I was really
Speaker 1: surprised by I was hurt by it too. You know,
Speaker 1: I love the Troy. You know, that's that's where that's
Speaker 1: what it is. You know, I got I got a
Speaker 1: huge affinity for that city, for the organization, but you know,
Speaker 1: business happens. You know, business happens. And I then kind
Speaker 1: of just readjusted my lens when I went to Denver.
Speaker 1: It was really it was just chuck for me, you know.
Speaker 1: And Um then was all my boys too, Kmar Bird,
Speaker 1: Mellow Swiss Jr. So much my guys, but they had
Speaker 1: never won more than one game in a playoff series
Speaker 1: in like seven years, and I'm like, why all this talent?
Speaker 1: So I just looked at it as a great challenge
Speaker 1: for me, um to really just kind of put my
Speaker 1: ism on the situation. But home on top of it though,
Speaker 1: and I'm at the house. I'm at home. It was
Speaker 1: just a beautiful thing, even though I never wanted it
Speaker 1: to happen. So I just want to take full advantage
Speaker 1: of it and see how far we could press it.
Speaker 1: What's it like playing now? You get your chance to
Speaker 1: play with Prime Mellow. You guys both make the All
Speaker 1: Star Game in the first year together. What was he like? Man?
Speaker 1: It was so much fun. I feel like at the
Speaker 1: time I was like thirty two into my prime. Still good,
Speaker 1: but I can't really carry the team but he could
Speaker 1: carry it every night, and so I really needed him,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, I really needed him. And
Speaker 1: he was unstoppable. Don't understand he could give it to
Speaker 1: you on three levels however you want it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was incredible. This dude was the most talented dude
Speaker 1: I ever ever seen, ever played with UM, and I
Speaker 1: needed him after that time in my career, and he
Speaker 1: obviously needed me too. So it was a perfect was
Speaker 1: literally perfect. And he listened and Mellow he never missed
Speaker 1: a practice, He practiced hard. He come to work every day.
Speaker 1: It was beautiful. I just was like, damn, what why
Speaker 1: they can't get over the hump? But then you know,
Speaker 1: you start, you start to just make people refocused. And
Speaker 1: I come in you know how I come, You know
Speaker 1: how I am anyway over every day with it. So
Speaker 1: I think they kind of understood, like damn, it's a
Speaker 1: little shriff, like we gotta we gotta square up a
Speaker 1: little bit. And it was, man, it was. It was
Speaker 1: so much fun. It ended up being one of my
Speaker 1: most fun seasons. Um being able to turn that help
Speaker 1: turn that thing around two thousand nine, the number two
Speaker 1: seeds in the West, Mellow Jr. Kmart nay name. You
Speaker 1: guys are really I feel like you guys have a
Speaker 1: chance to win the championship. Yeah, you guys run into
Speaker 1: Code in the Western Finals. Talking us about this series. Man,
Speaker 1: that series was so good. It was so good. I
Speaker 1: felt like, um, I felt like the winner of that
Speaker 1: series is gonna win it all. That was the finals.
Speaker 1: That was it. That was it, And we did a
Speaker 1: good job. We stole one of the games, one of
Speaker 1: the first two games. The really good job. And it
Speaker 1: was crazy because even the game a couple of the
Speaker 1: games that we lost where it was on the line. Man,
Speaker 1: it was like end of the game, I can't get
Speaker 1: the ball and bounced type situation right two times Tom
Speaker 1: Trevor stole it one tim of Hello Lamar deflected in
Speaker 1: and so like it. Man. It crushed me, man, because
Speaker 1: we we would have we would I feel like we
Speaker 1: would we would have smacked Orlando that series. Um that
Speaker 1: next series, just like the Lakers did. But yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it was seeing mellow and and Cole really go at
Speaker 1: it has fun. It was fun to be a part
Speaker 1: of that. It was really fun to be a part
Speaker 1: of that and see that was history. Because Cole was
Speaker 1: he was so determined to win the championship without shock.
Speaker 1: I mean he was literally when they when ate it
Speaker 1: was game six, the game got away, bom. You know
Speaker 1: how to check the starters out to the fans can
Speaker 1: so they're checking us out, so you know, go up
Speaker 1: to him, tell him good luck, good job whatever. He
Speaker 1: was crying, bro crying, like tears crying. He was so
Speaker 1: happy to be going to the finals and he was
Speaker 1: he was crying. I was like, the dude is different too, man,
Speaker 1: That's that's incredible. Traded to the Knicks and eleven with Mellow.
Speaker 1: Kmart felt like if Mellow had went, although he's a
Speaker 1: big piece and they were able to keep you, you
Speaker 1: guys still had action in Denver. Did you feel the
Speaker 1: same way? Yeah, I agree, I agree, um, because we
Speaker 1: still had a lot of talent. We played a lot
Speaker 1: of games without Mellow that year. He had got hurt
Speaker 1: a few times, and I think we went like twelve
Speaker 1: and one or something without him, but we still was good.
Speaker 1: Little Ty Lawson was was the reok. He was just
Speaker 1: trying to raise him and he was tough at the time,
Speaker 1: you know, and he stopped a little dude. So I
Speaker 1: do I agree with came are like we still would
Speaker 1: have had a really good team because we have won
Speaker 1: the championship. Probably not, but we would have been a
Speaker 1: problem though. Spent two season in l A. That that
Speaker 1: that young Clipper team that was trying to find an identity.
Speaker 1: Tell your achilles there. But we had so much talent.
Speaker 1: What do you think was our biggest issue or are
Speaker 1: a few of our issues? We did have so much talent,
Speaker 1: Matt and we have vets. I think our biggest issue
Speaker 1: there was um our young guys, which was Chris was
Speaker 1: kind of young but not much but like DJ and Blake.
Speaker 1: So those are those those was are that was the franchise,
Speaker 1: those three guys. I don't think that they were mentally
Speaker 1: ready to win. You know, they were still young. They
Speaker 1: were still like needing to get paid and All Star
Speaker 1: wars everything, and you can't when you're trying to win.
Speaker 1: You can't worry about stuff like that. As we know,
Speaker 1: you can't worry about it, even though that matters. You
Speaker 1: gotta be chasing the chip, not All Star. And that
Speaker 1: was always a little bit of dissension between Chris and
Speaker 1: Blake and DJ. You know, it was Blake and DJ
Speaker 1: show and then Chris comes in and everybody's Chris Paul everything,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's tough. And I saw what
Speaker 1: I mean, when I saw what I saw DJ start
Speaker 1: getting better too. So now he wasn't Now he was
Speaker 1: competition too. You mean, first it was Live City with
Speaker 1: Blake and Blake's all over all the commercials all start
Speaker 1: his team, CP comes in, CP helps DJ take his
Speaker 1: game to the next level. Now DJ's All Star consideration,
Speaker 1: Olympic Team, Defensive Player of the Year consideration. So it
Speaker 1: was it was really the accolades amongst them three. It's
Speaker 1: an interesting take, yeah, yeah, but they were man so
Speaker 1: good when we when we were on when we were
Speaker 1: on point, though, unbelievable, right, unbelievable. I enjoyed that time, man,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed the two to like I heard, I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it. You called the kids quits, and what was it?
Speaker 1: The time factor? You just knew it was time snack.
Speaker 1: I just didn't have nothing left, man. You know when
Speaker 1: I told my achilles um, I wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that I just went out on my own. But I
Speaker 1: was never the same. I mean it was seventeen years.
Speaker 1: I gave it all I had, you know, and I
Speaker 1: felt that way when it was time. I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just time. I ain't got nothing left
Speaker 1: my my goal to They in front of me. I
Speaker 1: can't get away what I'm saying. They blocking my pull up.
Speaker 1: I'm weak. I'm weak, Like I gotta it's time to go.
Speaker 1: It's time to go. You know, you gotta know when
Speaker 1: you nasty idea, But you gotta know when you gotta.
Speaker 1: You gotta just get on out the way. Some people don't.
Speaker 1: These dudes is fast. I can't stand in front. I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, I'm gone. When did you buy your first windows?
Speaker 1: And how many do you own? So? I retired at
Speaker 1: fourteen in team um uh man, I am so lucky
Speaker 1: to have business partners. I have in Junior Bridgeman, who
Speaker 1: is uh, anybody don't know who Junior Bridgeman is. Homework
Speaker 1: through your homework. This dude became one of my biggest mentors.
Speaker 1: Um and I just learned so much from this guy.
Speaker 1: Used to fly to Louisville, Kentucky, which is where his
Speaker 1: headquarters is, like three summers in the row to just
Speaker 1: like be a fly on the wall. Just learned. We
Speaker 1: ended up buying and getting so were on thirty one
Speaker 1: wend these restaurants now, probably gotta do another three or
Speaker 1: four in the next few year or two. But um, yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I'm lucky to be in that little situation. I learned
Speaker 1: so much, you know, from him, And I love being
Speaker 1: in in the franchise and business and fast food business,
Speaker 1: being able to give a lot a lot of people
Speaker 1: jobs that the whole world deemed, you know, different. So um,
Speaker 1: I'll take a lot of pride in that I got
Speaker 1: five daughters plus the bonus daughters. You got three girls.
Speaker 1: How does it feel being a girl? Dad? I love it.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. I really don't. So
Speaker 1: proud of my girls, man. Um My one is twenty four.
Speaker 1: My oldest is twenty four. She's just got her masters
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago. Um, she's off working for
Speaker 1: the Bucks now, doing a great job. My middle daughters
Speaker 1: twenty one, she just got her bachelor's from UFC a
Speaker 1: couple of months ago. She's a professional dancer now. And
Speaker 1: my youngest is sixteen, so she's a junior um in
Speaker 1: high school. And I'm just proud of him. Man, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm proud of him. My wife did a great job.
Speaker 1: I know you know, I'm on the road tasting greatness
Speaker 1: my whole life, you know, day, whole life. So to
Speaker 1: have my wife be able to step up and do
Speaker 1: her thing, and I did all the best I could do,
Speaker 1: you know, but I'm proud. I'm really proud of him.
Speaker 1: For sure. We're gonna go on the quick. Here's five
Speaker 1: Dinner Guest Dead Live. Mm hmm. I want Malcolm X
Speaker 1: and Martin Luther King at the table. I won't pocket
Speaker 1: at the table. You're gonna fox something up. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be on. It's gonna we're gonna talk about some real
Speaker 1: red and we're gonna have a real rap. Who else?
Speaker 1: I miss my grandpa man, A lot of my grandpa.
Speaker 1: That makes for real, for real, I say, I would say, uh,
Speaker 1: Nelson Mandela nice. We gotta help with dinner. I gotta
Speaker 1: I don't know where we're going dinner. H an album
Speaker 1: you can listen to with no skips. Man, I'm going
Speaker 1: right now. Kendrick's new Joint. It's tough, heavy, talking about
Speaker 1: some heavy, heavy, heavy, relevant things in the albums incredible.
Speaker 1: What do you bro say? Don't say you don't like it,
Speaker 1: just say you don't understand. Man, it's incredible. I ain't
Speaker 1: skipping nothing. I'm taking my time with him. Top five
Speaker 1: point guards of all time, damn obviously magic Zeke. This
Speaker 1: one gets tricky, man, Jay Kid, I'm going Jay Kid GP.
Speaker 1: That fish spot is always tricky. J Kid g P. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't I don't not there yet. No, No,
Speaker 1: he's there, but I don't see him as a point
Speaker 1: guard though. I think he's the greatest combo guard to
Speaker 1: ever play the game. He spends most of the time
Speaker 1: off of the ball screens, but he plays the position,
Speaker 1: so let's just we'll keep it official. He plays the position,
Speaker 1: so you gotta give it to him. But the greatest
Speaker 1: combo guard of all time, of all time. He's in
Speaker 1: his own like there's there's nobody else you can He's
Speaker 1: in his own lane. You know what I'm saying, A
Speaker 1: starting five of your former teammates, you're the point guard.
Speaker 1: So who you got at the two, three, four and five?
Speaker 1: M You know, I really just picked my Pistons team.
Speaker 1: That's how we get it. Actually, Yeah, you're the best
Speaker 1: five and live longest man Ron suspended. Oh man, we're
Speaker 1: cracked saying we only add one. You see what happened?
Speaker 1: You know, you have. Y'all have one crack at us,
Speaker 1: But you weren't on the team we beat. Huh No,
Speaker 1: y'all beat him year before. I wasn't on that team.
Speaker 1: Lucky you. Yeah, yeah, I wasn't that. No, y'all was good,
Speaker 1: you know what, for real, for real, y'all was nice,
Speaker 1: really nice coming now. But y'all ain't menally. Y'all were
Speaker 1: ready it. That was too wild. We had everything. We're
Speaker 1: gonna play in it that all day. Yeah, step point you,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit you. You're gonna hit us. Best check
Speaker 1: you out. You know what I'm saying. Two games If
Speaker 1: it ain't for that, y'all wanted, y'all got, y'all got
Speaker 1: have doing the chip. Yeah, that's a big piece though,
Speaker 1: that's the main piece. That's the main piece. Goons, skill
Speaker 1: everything smart. Y'all had all that firecrackers though you have
Speaker 1: too many, too many fires fire crackers. Brother, never gave
Speaker 1: you niggas money. First thing you're doing the morning, last
Speaker 1: thing you're doing night. First thing out doing the morning. Um.
Speaker 1: But I usually get up on just kind of sit
Speaker 1: on the side of my bed and just kind of
Speaker 1: think real quick, you know. Sometimes I pray, sometimes I don't,
Speaker 1: but I just sit there and just kind of think,
Speaker 1: you know, like what what's ahead of me? You know
Speaker 1: what I got today. Most of the time, the last
Speaker 1: thing I do, I'll take a shower and just go
Speaker 1: to sleep. But in the morning I usually just sit
Speaker 1: the side of my bid and just thank for a
Speaker 1: few minutes. Man, you know, just just thankful, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, just what I got today? Like what's
Speaker 1: going on? That's that's kind of how it starting ended.
Speaker 1: If you can see one guest on all the smoke,
Speaker 1: who would it be? But you have to help them,
Speaker 1: help us get your answers on the show. I'd like
Speaker 1: to give you a request if you don't mind, Well,
Speaker 1: we got Junior Bridgeman. I want to have him. We
Speaker 1: have no contact with him, so that would be heavy.
Speaker 1: I could probably get think. I think I think the
Speaker 1: world would really suak that up. Man. One of the
Speaker 1: brightest minds that people don't even know who he is.
Speaker 1: He is. He really is funny, man. I wish I
Speaker 1: would have did this earlier because he was just here.
Speaker 1: We just he was just weak golf yesterday morning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's flewing on his plane. We played we went to
Speaker 1: Bobblaneers Memorial and then because he played with him for
Speaker 1: four years, played golf and left. But I'll come together.
Speaker 1: I'll put it together. Close it out, bro, you introduced
Speaker 1: us close it Out. Thanks my bro, Big Bro Shimes
Speaker 1: for being on the show Man. We'll appreciate you. Know,
Speaker 1: we always look up to you. You know, me and
Speaker 1: you have some other stuff going on. But to be
Speaker 1: a coach now Wright, what we thought you should be
Speaker 1: are running the team. You know, we knew you belong
Speaker 1: somewhere in that category. But yeah, but nothing but loving
Speaker 1: success to you. We appreciate you coming on show, taking
Speaker 1: time broo out. You already know, I already know. We
Speaker 1: got we got some goodies, we got some legends and
Speaker 1: all the smoke collap for you. Yeah, appreciate man. Well
Speaker 1: that's a rap. Chauncey billups all the smoke shot. Summer
Speaker 1: League two. You can catch us on Showtime Basketball YouTube
Speaker 1: and the I Heart Platform Black Effects. See y'all next
Speaker 1: week