1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,280
Speaker 1: First off, O'd like to thank you for coming and

2
00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:04,120
Speaker 1: rocking with us.

3
00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:04,520
Speaker 2: Man.

4
00:00:04,519 --> 00:00:07,320
Speaker 1: You part our history, part our memory. One of the

5
00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:10,240
Speaker 1: reasons that we play this game. We watched you. You

6
00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,280
Speaker 1: one of the reason I feel the lane, the way

7
00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,639
Speaker 1: I ran that flow, like like trying to be like

8
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,479
Speaker 1: you running that flow. But we definitely appreciate you, you

9
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:20,800
Speaker 1: coming down and rocking with her.

10
00:00:21,239 --> 00:00:23,840
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure, man. You know, thanks for reaching back.

11
00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:28,200
Speaker 2: You know, it's always uh, it's always nice to recognize,

12
00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,920
Speaker 2: you know, those that came before you. I know, brothers

13
00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:34,160
Speaker 2: that came before me. You know, I got a chance

14
00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,440
Speaker 2: to say hello and thank them and share some memories.

15
00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,159
Speaker 2: And it's always it's always nice to be appreciated to

16
00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:42,400
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, It's nice to be here. Man.

17
00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:44,600
Speaker 1: When you first got to the league, who was the

18
00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,199
Speaker 1: first person to bust your ass?

19
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,880
Speaker 2: First person to bust my ass was Alex English? Okay,

20
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,440
Speaker 2: don't don't, don't fall asleep on some of the old

21
00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,640
Speaker 2: oh geez. Then after that it was a brother named

22
00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:02,760
Speaker 2: pervery short Purval short step back. Alex English playing up

23
00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,399
Speaker 2: in Denver. He had a little advantage because, as you

24
00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,480
Speaker 2: guys know, until the first four or five minutes. You

25
00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,440
Speaker 2: just you just playing catch your adjusting. Uh. He moved

26
00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,679
Speaker 2: without the ball. They had a passing game, and he

27
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,920
Speaker 2: released the ball on the way up. It was weird.

28
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:22,400
Speaker 2: You couldn't stop it when it got hot, so Alex

29
00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,840
Speaker 2: things I dropped. I think he dropped like maybe like

30
00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,399
Speaker 2: forty and then uh, and then the iceman was uh.

31
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,200
Speaker 2: The iceman was just the flip. He really meant it

32
00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:39,520
Speaker 2: when he said everybody can dunk. Everybody can't. Everybody can't.

33
00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:45,280
Speaker 2: He wouldn't say finger, he say Fanger fer roll, give

34
00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:45,679
Speaker 2: it to you.

35
00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,600
Speaker 3: Boyd yo yo yo. We live on location. We came

36
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:52,040
Speaker 3: all the way out the La la lamb.

37
00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:52,240
Speaker 2: Man.

38
00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:53,960
Speaker 3: We had to come out here because this is some

39
00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:57,120
Speaker 3: legendary ish just going on. We had to pull up

40
00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:58,720
Speaker 3: on the legendary one.

41
00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:00,080
Speaker 2: You ain't se each.

42
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:05,040
Speaker 3: Apples, the one of the four founders of championships in

43
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,520
Speaker 3: one of the one of the Lakers forever.

44
00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:09,560
Speaker 2: Y'all can take them out this big game.

45
00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,160
Speaker 3: I left the HollyHood to come see the big gang James,

46
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:17,600
Speaker 3: and look, man, he blessed us today. Man, I ain't

47
00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 3: have my goggles, but listen, y'all tap in. This is

48
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:25,640
Speaker 3: greatness right here. Championships m vps and look this is greatness,

49
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:27,040
Speaker 3: the Lake Show in the building.

50
00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,600
Speaker 4: North Carolina. You grew up in North Carolina.

51
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:48,359
Speaker 2: Could have been.

52
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,360
Speaker 1: Anybody else, was it? Almost anybody else except for the

53
00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:52,359
Speaker 1: toy Hills, you.

54
00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,280
Speaker 2: Know, not really. You know, I went to the basketball camp

55
00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,680
Speaker 2: in the ninth grade, and I was in love with uh,

56
00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 2: you know, North Basketball. Yeah, that was the first one

57
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,120
Speaker 2: ever ever went to. You know, I was just old enough,

58
00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:11,600
Speaker 2: like maybe nine years old to remember h Charlie Scott

59
00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,120
Speaker 2: coming to U and C. He was the first black

60
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,200
Speaker 2: to come to the A C. C. And like Dean Smith,

61
00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,440
Speaker 2: caught hell for that, you know, down south and had

62
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,040
Speaker 2: never happened before. They hated that man. And so that

63
00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:30,760
Speaker 2: always grew on me as I got older, you know.

64
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,519
Speaker 2: So I fell in love with North Carolina and Phil

65
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:39,280
Speaker 2: Ford and Walter Davis, you know, and you know, so

66
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,880
Speaker 2: that was it. But Dominique Wilkins was also from North Carolina, right,

67
00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,240
Speaker 2: so I think had he chosen to go to North Carolina,

68
00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:50,480
Speaker 2: I was going to go to U C. L A.

69
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:56,160
Speaker 2: Because a country boy had had a visit to California.

70
00:03:56,280 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 2: Never blew me away, you know what I mean. The

71
00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:05,080
Speaker 2: championship man the banners, the weather, the weather. You know,

72
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,040
Speaker 2: you know, he's a he's a country boy. Ever seen anything,

73
00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,960
Speaker 2: you know, like palm trees? Different, didn't they? The palm trees,

74
00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,120
Speaker 2: the diversity of ladies all over the place. Man, I

75
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,760
Speaker 2: was like, it was crazy. I also visited Michigan State.

76
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,120
Speaker 2: I knew I wasn't going there, but I had to

77
00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:26,520
Speaker 2: meet Magic Johnson because no, back back in seventy nine

78
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:29,120
Speaker 2: eighty eighty one, you just you never heard of a

79
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:33,679
Speaker 2: six ten foot guard. So you had those visits. How

80
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:35,760
Speaker 2: was that when you went there and got to meet Magic?

81
00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:36,160
Speaker 3: Man?

82
00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:40,000
Speaker 2: I had to meet him, and uh, he picked me

83
00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:41,440
Speaker 2: up in a deuce in the quarter.

84
00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:47,279
Speaker 3: Man had a big young folks, don't know what that

85
00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,120
Speaker 3: means right there, That's all right, though.

86
00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:52,240
Speaker 2: He had a big old afro, and he was you know,

87
00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,960
Speaker 2: at that moment, I was like, I don't know what

88
00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,599
Speaker 2: he's gonna do. He'd probably be a great basketball player,

89
00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 2: but I thought he's gonna be like the next Dog

90
00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,320
Speaker 2: Corneers or something. He had it something. So as soon

91
00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 2: as you got in the car, he would lean it

92
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:08,360
Speaker 2: over like this. Man. You know, I thought it. I

93
00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,279
Speaker 2: thought I was his date for a second. He was like, yeah,

94
00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,520
Speaker 2: you know you come here next year. You know me

95
00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,800
Speaker 2: and you Javis, I say, Magic already heard you getting

96
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:18,240
Speaker 2: up out of here after this year. Man, I just

97
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:20,960
Speaker 2: wanted to come and spend the weekend with you. But yeah,

98
00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:23,920
Speaker 2: North Carolina was it though. You know Dean Smith and

99
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,560
Speaker 2: you know Phil Ford was a big, big favorite. So yeah,

100
00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:28,919
Speaker 2: that that was That's where I had my mind about

101
00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 2: ninety eight percent coming out.

102
00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:32,960
Speaker 1: So was it the North Caroline line of guys that

103
00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,279
Speaker 1: gave you the vision of like, man, it was the

104
00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,120
Speaker 1: first guys you've seen it be like, man, I want

105
00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,320
Speaker 1: to I want to play basketball.

106
00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:38,960
Speaker 2: I want to do that.

107
00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:42,200
Speaker 1: Who gave you the vision or who you've seen that

108
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,640
Speaker 1: was like, man, I want to play basketball.

109
00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,040
Speaker 2: It was the It was my older brothers used to

110
00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,760
Speaker 2: have the babysit so going around with them. My older

111
00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:52,279
Speaker 2: brother was my first coach. But I was a skinny kid.

112
00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,359
Speaker 2: I didn't like sports. It wasn't when I was small.

113
00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,800
Speaker 2: It was probably when I started to watch back then.

114
00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:03,279
Speaker 2: It was the Baltimore Bullets, okay, and they had a

115
00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:08,480
Speaker 2: brother named Bob Dandridge, and Bob Daners had that ten

116
00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,760
Speaker 2: foot range game and he could shoot, and so I

117
00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,239
Speaker 2: was young. I was like eleven twelve, and I was growing,

118
00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,120
Speaker 2: you know, and I was a sorry ass football player.

119
00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:24,119
Speaker 2: Baseball I was just but basketball I wasn't really good,

120
00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:26,480
Speaker 2: but I loved it, you know what I mean. So

121
00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:30,160
Speaker 2: I started watching the Baltimore Bullets and they had West Unseale,

122
00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:34,120
Speaker 2: you know, guys like that, and that's kind of when

123
00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,960
Speaker 2: I started to fall in love with the game. You know.

124
00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,640
Speaker 2: I didn't know anything about you know, professional or whether

125
00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,320
Speaker 2: I was going to play in college. And then I

126
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,479
Speaker 2: found out about a scholarship. One day at the boys club.

127
00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,120
Speaker 2: I was hanging out and mister Perry was talking to

128
00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:53,240
Speaker 2: some older guys. I was like twelve and these other

129
00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,120
Speaker 2: guys were like sixteen seventeen. So he was talking to

130
00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:59,320
Speaker 2: them about scholarships going to college, you know, you can

131
00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,719
Speaker 2: get a football. I was like, I was like, you know,

132
00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,160
Speaker 2: I'm an okay student, but I'm not smart enough to

133
00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,719
Speaker 2: get no you know, but he's talking about an athletic scholarship.

134
00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:11,560
Speaker 2: I never heard no athletic scholargship. So that motivated me

135
00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,200
Speaker 2: right there. So from there, I just you know, did

136
00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,520
Speaker 2: the work with the camps, you know, played the game

137
00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,720
Speaker 2: like like we all did, you know, make a few

138
00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,320
Speaker 2: sacrifices here and there, and yeah, that's that's that's why

139
00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:24,000
Speaker 2: we're sitting here at the.

140
00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,320
Speaker 4: Tame High School. When did you know that she was elite?

141
00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,160
Speaker 1: Like when it was like junior year, when you know

142
00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,920
Speaker 1: you was a leading you know, they was mentioning your

143
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,440
Speaker 1: name with other names around the country.

144
00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:35,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it was. It was a it was a

145
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,280
Speaker 2: back then. It was a McDonald's pard All American Parade

146
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:42,000
Speaker 2: all that. You remember that. Yeah, you know, I was

147
00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,960
Speaker 2: six eight in the eighth grade. I was six eight

148
00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:47,880
Speaker 2: in the eighth grade. I was almost about the height

149
00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,400
Speaker 2: I am now. I grew like one inch after that.

150
00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,200
Speaker 2: So when you start getting like letters, you started blowing

151
00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,160
Speaker 2: your mind, you know, you know, oh, I got a

152
00:07:56,240 --> 00:08:00,240
Speaker 2: Lettleana and uh. And then you know, in high school,

153
00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,920
Speaker 2: we got the chance to play the matha high school Mathea,

154
00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:10,320
Speaker 2: which exactly we never had a Wittenberg and Low and

155
00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:12,960
Speaker 2: some other good players, you know, and so because our

156
00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:15,120
Speaker 2: high school was ranked in the top twenty five, but

157
00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,240
Speaker 2: we wouldn't have never gotten to play them, you know,

158
00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:20,680
Speaker 2: if it wasn't all the noise around All America being there.

159
00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:22,800
Speaker 2: So you know, I guess it's around the tenth grade.

160
00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,800
Speaker 2: You know I knew I, you know, had something because

161
00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:27,800
Speaker 2: you know when you start getting those letters, you start

162
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:29,440
Speaker 2: freaking out, you know, like you teen.

163
00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,920
Speaker 3: So so wait a minute, at what point did you

164
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:34,319
Speaker 3: hit the gross spurt.

165
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,040
Speaker 2: To be sixth sate in eighth grade? Like it was

166
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:37,520
Speaker 2: it seventh sixth grade?

167
00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,320
Speaker 3: Like was it like over us like a summer or

168
00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,440
Speaker 3: was it two years and you went from like six

169
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:43,680
Speaker 3: feet to six It was.

170
00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:49,840
Speaker 2: A summer from transitioning from the seventh grade to the

171
00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,400
Speaker 2: eighth grade, I was like sixth one because I grew

172
00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:56,760
Speaker 2: from sixth grade to the seventh grade a few inches.

173
00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:00,280
Speaker 2: Then from seventh grade to eighth grade there was like

174
00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 2: maybe five inches that came. What did your parents do,

175
00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:07,200
Speaker 2: Like what did they say about clothes and everything? Like

176
00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:10,679
Speaker 2: I was I was actually my dad for a pair

177
00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,360
Speaker 2: of shoes like every two three weeks, to the point

178
00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,360
Speaker 2: where he went out and bought a lawn more and

179
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:22,640
Speaker 2: he said, boy, there, your shoes are right there. You

180
00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:25,760
Speaker 2: turned me into a little entrepreneur man. But yeah, I

181
00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:27,880
Speaker 2: was growing out of clothes. I was eating everything. You know,

182
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:30,440
Speaker 2: same thing you guys eating everything in the house. You know,

183
00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,160
Speaker 2: awkward moments and you know when you're tall, and you

184
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:36,440
Speaker 2: know everybody looking at you like you know, but it was,

185
00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,480
Speaker 2: it was, it was, it was. It was an experience. Man,

186
00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,480
Speaker 2: I'm not going to shape who you are now.

187
00:09:42,520 --> 00:09:46,760
Speaker 1: You wearn you wearing that tall Hiel blue and Dean

188
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,959
Speaker 1: Smith is your coach and you know you got all

189
00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:51,880
Speaker 1: these guys that you're playing with. How was it when

190
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,559
Speaker 1: you when you first got on campus and you got

191
00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,240
Speaker 1: to plan for Dean Smith and just seeing his philosophy

192
00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:59,400
Speaker 1: and you know just how he structured.

193
00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:02,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, the play thing was different. He was you know,

194
00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:04,559
Speaker 2: he was by the book. People don't believe me when

195
00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,760
Speaker 2: I say that he wasn't. You know, it wasn't no,

196
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,440
Speaker 2: wasn't no money involved. You know, he you know you

197
00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:14,160
Speaker 2: you know, he gave Michael Jordan the science and the

198
00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,600
Speaker 2: theory of the game that he needed. And so that's

199
00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,000
Speaker 2: what you you know, you walked into. Everybody was treated

200
00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,560
Speaker 2: the same, from the Tower Boy to to anybody. You know,

201
00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,920
Speaker 2: he believed on being on time. Didn't allow you to swear,

202
00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:34,240
Speaker 2: he didn't swear. It was he was old school, old

203
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:38,160
Speaker 2: school discipline, and you know, if you were willing to

204
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,080
Speaker 2: lay your ego down and create that team, he really

205
00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 2: taught it. He taught you how to be a team

206
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,840
Speaker 2: person and you know, and really prepare you to be

207
00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:50,240
Speaker 2: a citizen. You know, he used his platform as a

208
00:10:50,280 --> 00:10:52,800
Speaker 2: basketball course to kind of lift you up. And the

209
00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:54,280
Speaker 2: way you can tell you know, you know, you got

210
00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 2: the Sam Perkers and the mjs and me and the

211
00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:58,480
Speaker 2: Vince Carters and all them brothers. But then you look

212
00:10:58,480 --> 00:10:59,960
Speaker 2: at some of the brothers that didn't make it, they

213
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:00,720
Speaker 2: doing okay.

214
00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:04,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, so she kind of said he kind of prepped.

215
00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:08,280
Speaker 2: You for getting ready for life, and you know, uh so, yeah,

216
00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,400
Speaker 2: I always appreciated that about coach Meth And he was

217
00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,880
Speaker 2: always conscious away from the court, like he was. He

218
00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,439
Speaker 2: didn't believe in you know, innocent you know, brothers on

219
00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,280
Speaker 2: death roll. He fought for a lot of different things,

220
00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,080
Speaker 2: which made him you know, much respected from the players

221
00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,520
Speaker 2: who played for him and then people out outside the

222
00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:29,320
Speaker 2: program as well.

223
00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:31,720
Speaker 1: When did you first start wearing the goggles and when

224
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:36,360
Speaker 1: did you get comfortable with when I went to the NBA, Right.

225
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got an eye injury one time in college. Right,

226
00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:42,440
Speaker 2: I got a thing in the eye blurry for a

227
00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:44,480
Speaker 2: couple of days and think not of it when young,

228
00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:50,160
Speaker 2: But I got another one in eighty four, I believe

229
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,280
Speaker 2: eighty three eighty four, I think, and that one was

230
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:55,760
Speaker 2: that one was bad. It was like somebody's half a

231
00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,200
Speaker 2: finger went up in the socket. I was out for

232
00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,000
Speaker 2: like two weeks with a past show my eye, right.

233
00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,840
Speaker 2: So when I came back after being out a week

234
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,480
Speaker 2: or so, I was, you know, I used to go

235
00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,160
Speaker 2: through the hole real strong, and I was going and

236
00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,840
Speaker 2: then I would get to the contact area where the guards,

237
00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,320
Speaker 2: you know, the guards started reaching and I would get

238
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:18,480
Speaker 2: there and I would ease up a little bit and

239
00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,840
Speaker 2: shoot some bullshit, you know, some floater. And on the

240
00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:26,520
Speaker 2: other side of the block was Kareem who also wore goggles,

241
00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:29,920
Speaker 2: and he saw it and he knew exactly what was

242
00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,079
Speaker 2: I was experiencing because he had experienced the eye injuries,

243
00:12:34,360 --> 00:12:37,400
Speaker 2: you know. So he said, yeah, you I know, you're

244
00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,600
Speaker 2: thinking about getting hit again, and I was, and he said,

245
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 2: you know, put the gargles on and you know you'll

246
00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:44,960
Speaker 2: you'll be protected. And that's why I wear them. And

247
00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,800
Speaker 2: so I started wearing them, and you know, they fog

248
00:12:47,920 --> 00:12:50,160
Speaker 2: up a little bit and you have to take them

249
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,080
Speaker 2: off and wipe him up all the time until our

250
00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,000
Speaker 2: trainers poke some holes in him drill some holes in

251
00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:57,800
Speaker 2: and let them kind of defog. Then I really got

252
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:00,200
Speaker 2: used to him to the point where I could and

253
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,880
Speaker 2: I couldn't play with that, But it was Kareem who

254
00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,480
Speaker 2: turned me on. And you know I did get hit again.

255
00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:07,840
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't get hit in the eye, just

256
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,280
Speaker 2: got lost some skin, you know, from theles because they

257
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,400
Speaker 2: were all plastic. Now they're you know, they're they're they're

258
00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:15,240
Speaker 2: so much better.

259
00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:19,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, you played in the third ever McDonald's game. Yeah,

260
00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:24,600
Speaker 3: and you had Isaiah, Saiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins, Byron Scott,

261
00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:25,920
Speaker 3: Ralph Sampson.

262
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:26,720
Speaker 2: How was that like?

263
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,360
Speaker 3: What was that like to be you know, honored like

264
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,240
Speaker 3: that in the playing a game like that? And then

265
00:13:31,400 --> 00:13:32,960
Speaker 3: you know what was it like for you? Was that

266
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,439
Speaker 3: your first time seeing all of those different guys, playing

267
00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:36,600
Speaker 3: against them or playing with them?

268
00:13:36,679 --> 00:13:38,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I never I never really went to too

269
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,880
Speaker 2: many camps, Like there was a lot of camps around.

270
00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:45,440
Speaker 2: I pretty much stayed in the state. But McDonald's, they

271
00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,839
Speaker 2: they bought the best. So that was when you think

272
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,280
Speaker 2: about it. The names you you mentioned, you know, there's

273
00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,320
Speaker 2: some you know, crazy Dominiqus Hall of Famer, Isaiah's a

274
00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,200
Speaker 2: Hall of famer. You know, Sam Boy was in that class.

275
00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,080
Speaker 2: You know. Uh, like you said, Ralph Samson, there's some

276
00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:07,920
Speaker 2: other guys like Packson. You know, Pa. You know when

277
00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:13,600
Speaker 2: you were the first time you leave your little small town, yeah, right,

278
00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,800
Speaker 2: and you go somewhere like Washington, d C. All the

279
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 2: whole nation on looking at you. You know, if you're from

280
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,320
Speaker 2: the city, New York, you're used to that. But I

281
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,200
Speaker 2: was like I was, I had a little bit anxiety,

282
00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:28,080
Speaker 2: you know, and the mine, you know, it was like,

283
00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,320
Speaker 2: you know, it was like the guys were good too,

284
00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,680
Speaker 2: you know, and so once you get over the jitters,

285
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:36,240
Speaker 2: you know, you you know, you always feel like you

286
00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:38,360
Speaker 2: got something to proved. But it's cool to be amongst

287
00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,840
Speaker 2: the best. And you know, some some great relationships with

288
00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,160
Speaker 2: Developer because we Byn Scott and I talk about it

289
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,600
Speaker 2: all the time. You men, we were staying in the

290
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:49,160
Speaker 2: in the highest hotel, you know, d C Vogbe. You know.

291
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,600
Speaker 2: So it's like relationships that that you that you build.

292
00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:56,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're a bucket guiller when you go to different levels.

293
00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:01,840
Speaker 1: You dominated the championship game because Georgetown, But when did

294
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:04,040
Speaker 1: you so solilify in the world. You felt the world knew

295
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,200
Speaker 1: that she was like a real bucket killer.

296
00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,400
Speaker 2: I think it was maybe the Georgetown game or that season.

297
00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:13,640
Speaker 2: I my ankle my freshman year, I didn't get to

298
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 2: play in the tournament. Yeah, came back with pens in

299
00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:18,520
Speaker 2: my ankle. My sophomore year a little bit of a way,

300
00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:23,560
Speaker 2: couldn't move, had arthritis achilles, you know, tend nightis. But

301
00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:26,640
Speaker 2: in my junior year I was healthy and we had

302
00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,160
Speaker 2: big Sam Perkins. Michael Jordan was a freshman, you know,

303
00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:34,640
Speaker 2: coming coming along with the science of the game. And

304
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:38,440
Speaker 2: it was my turn, you know, in college a senior

305
00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:46,320
Speaker 2: were graduating. You know, I wasn't a senior yet, but

306
00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,160
Speaker 2: I knew I was the guy that could you know,

307
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:53,960
Speaker 2: score along with Sam so uh doing that Georgetown series. Man,

308
00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:57,920
Speaker 2: you know, we lost to Indiana the year before. Dean

309
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:02,200
Speaker 2: Smith had never won NCA championship. He'd been to the

310
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,560
Speaker 2: final four, probably more than anybody, but he never won. So, man,

311
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,720
Speaker 2: we were tired of that. So we lost in Indiana

312
00:16:10,240 --> 00:16:13,720
Speaker 2: in eighty one. Got back to campus. Our captain Jimmy

313
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,320
Speaker 2: Black from the Bronx, he said, Man, we gotta take

314
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,520
Speaker 2: responsibility and win, you know, for coach Man, you know,

315
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,440
Speaker 2: he's he's done all he can do is up to

316
00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,560
Speaker 2: us now, and so we were motivated and I knew

317
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,840
Speaker 2: I had to step it up. So, you know, sleepy Floyd,

318
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,880
Speaker 2: it's the only reason I haven't won a championship. I

319
00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:35,960
Speaker 2: never won every level.

320
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:37,520
Speaker 3: That's what I was going to ask you about that

321
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,360
Speaker 3: in high school, so he messed up to every level.

322
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:41,040
Speaker 2: He messed it up.

323
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:43,400
Speaker 3: One of the few guys that got it at every

324
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,920
Speaker 3: single level because he got you.

325
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,480
Speaker 2: He got me in high school. So I also had

326
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:53,160
Speaker 2: revenge on my How much did you relist from the

327
00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,720
Speaker 2: same time, go to the same church sometimes that's crazy,

328
00:16:57,840 --> 00:17:00,880
Speaker 2: the same you know rec centers. You know, this was

329
00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,840
Speaker 2: bragging rights. I could picture all my homeboys in the

330
00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,359
Speaker 2: barber you know what I mean. So I had to

331
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,040
Speaker 2: get I had to get him. And it was some

332
00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:13,720
Speaker 2: get back, get back, And we didn't have Patrick Ewan

333
00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:18,800
Speaker 2: Big a freshman he was. He was a monster. He

334
00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:21,639
Speaker 2: protected this freshman year. He was a monster even as

335
00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,080
Speaker 2: a freshman. You know, you're a freshman, you don't really

336
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,960
Speaker 2: know what you're doing. Wow, mean and devil and he was.

337
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,040
Speaker 2: And they had like eight deep. We had like five,

338
00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,680
Speaker 2: you know, So it was a struggle. But I knew

339
00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:38,960
Speaker 2: there was nobody. You know, Sam could get some buckets

340
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:43,080
Speaker 2: and mj was elevating. He was elevating. He had some

341
00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:45,679
Speaker 2: big buckets in that game. But as a freshman, you know,

342
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,840
Speaker 2: when you're a junior, you always think as a freshman.

343
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,120
Speaker 2: As a freshman, yeah, and I was like, I got

344
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,040
Speaker 2: to keep us close. That was the only thing I

345
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,720
Speaker 2: was thinking that gott to keep us close enough that

346
00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:56,520
Speaker 2: we can have a chance at the end. So I

347
00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:58,160
Speaker 2: was like, let's go.

348
00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:01,080
Speaker 4: What was your first impress of Mike.

349
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:07,359
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan was he wasn't arrogant, but man, was he confident.

350
00:18:08,119 --> 00:18:12,040
Speaker 2: He was confident right, Like he came in talking like

351
00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:15,880
Speaker 2: he came in like, you know, just talking crap all

352
00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,240
Speaker 2: the time, Like after practice, you know how the college

353
00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,520
Speaker 2: practice are. When they're over, you ready to get off

354
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,560
Speaker 2: the court, you know. And so I would be walking

355
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,560
Speaker 2: off the court after about two and a half hours

356
00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:30,840
Speaker 2: of practice and here comes Michael, a freshman, you know,

357
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,240
Speaker 2: bullying me, you know, pushing me back on. Okay, where

358
00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,720
Speaker 2: you going, young fella, calling me, young fellow? Where you going?

359
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,920
Speaker 2: You know, let's you know, let's play, let's play a

360
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:43,280
Speaker 2: game to fire. Because he always wanted to measure where

361
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:46,000
Speaker 2: he was who against the best, and at the time,

362
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:48,520
Speaker 2: I was I was the best. You know, I don't

363
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,760
Speaker 2: know if you guys saw his documentary The Last Dance,

364
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,240
Speaker 2: you know I made a statement, I said, you know, shit,

365
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,320
Speaker 2: I was better than Michael Jordan for about three weeks.

366
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,119
Speaker 2: You know, I remember, man, So, I mean, he hated

367
00:19:01,119 --> 00:19:03,720
Speaker 2: to lose the brother just it would be a game

368
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,000
Speaker 2: of backgammon if he lost, shot out the back game.

369
00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:12,280
Speaker 2: I played that with my mama. You just listen, you

370
00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:14,560
Speaker 2: hear it. Bring it back like war and you you know,

371
00:19:14,680 --> 00:19:18,960
Speaker 2: and real top. But he was a winner. He was

372
00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,640
Speaker 2: a winner. He hated to lose, and he was overly competitive.

373
00:19:24,359 --> 00:19:27,320
Speaker 2: Whether it was on the basketball court or whether it

374
00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,439
Speaker 2: was in the dorm talking ship, it didn't matter. He

375
00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,240
Speaker 2: was competitive. In twenty four hours.

376
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,560
Speaker 1: Was that championship game what solidified you like, yeah, I'm

377
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,400
Speaker 1: not gonna go my senior year, I'm gonna go pro.

378
00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 1: Like I then did this against Georgetown, like champ we

379
00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,280
Speaker 1: won a championship. I'm the best player on the team.

380
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:50,680
Speaker 1: Like did they give you some confidence? We be like, yeah,

381
00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:51,480
Speaker 1: it's time for me to go.

382
00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,840
Speaker 2: It was? It did. It was. It was perfect timing

383
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,679
Speaker 2: to have an NCAA playoffs, like I did, you know,

384
00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:04,399
Speaker 2: a few weeks. But the reason that I was able

385
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:11,320
Speaker 2: to leave was because Ralph Sampson decided to stay his

386
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:15,240
Speaker 2: senior year in Virginia. Because if Ralph had come out,

387
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:17,600
Speaker 2: he would have been a number one pick, hands down,

388
00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:23,920
Speaker 2: And the Lakers had that pick with Magic and Kareem

389
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:30,600
Speaker 2: and like, you know, I know, it'd be like you

390
00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:33,960
Speaker 2: know him, anybody get to play with that. And the

391
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:37,159
Speaker 2: Lakers had made a trade like in nineteen seventy six

392
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:43,199
Speaker 2: to Cleveland, and Cleveland in return gave the Lakers the

393
00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,800
Speaker 2: pick the pit because the Lakers had won two out

394
00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,280
Speaker 2: of three championships. They just won a championship the year

395
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:51,200
Speaker 2: they drafted me. They had that pick because Cleveland fell

396
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:53,959
Speaker 2: straight to the bottom, so Ralph decided to stay in school.

397
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,920
Speaker 2: The Lakers didn't need a prolific score like Dominique. They

398
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 2: had Kareem, Jamar Wilkes, they had Magic, they had Norm Nixon. Uh,

399
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 2: Terry Cummins shot town, shot town. Yeah, call him past

400
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:16,439
Speaker 2: the c Tcuh. He was probably a better overall player

401
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,520
Speaker 2: than me, definitely a better rebound, stronger, strong you know.

402
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,119
Speaker 2: He had that little fifteen footer where he couldn't he

403
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,679
Speaker 2: couldn't feel the lanes like you know, he can run, yes,

404
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 2: So and so they were looking for him, and you know,

405
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,639
Speaker 2: they were looking for somebody like you know I. You know,

406
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:34,800
Speaker 2: usually when you're the number one draft pick, you going

407
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,560
Speaker 2: to the worst team. You the man, you get a

408
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:41,480
Speaker 2: chance to drop whatever, drop five. Being a Dean Smith guy,

409
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 2: they wanted somebody that would be cool if not starting,

410
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,600
Speaker 2: you know, understanding system, wait his turn, blah blah blah.

411
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,399
Speaker 2: And you know, so I was like cool. I was

412
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,920
Speaker 2: cool with that. But I, you know, also walked in

413
00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,440
Speaker 2: to camp with a lot of confidence. Right. So I

414
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:01,199
Speaker 2: walk in the gymnation, I'm looking around. I'm looking for

415
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,439
Speaker 2: a spot because I'm thinking, shit, I can start, you know,

416
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,480
Speaker 2: for this time. So I see Kareem, I see Magic,

417
00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 2: I see Jamal Wilkes, who still you know, still got it?

418
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 2: No Im Nixon. And then I see Kurt Rampis and

419
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 2: Kirk Ramis got these these thick glasses on with duc tape.

420
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,320
Speaker 2: You know, he got all these apparatuses on his elbow

421
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,640
Speaker 2: to keep you know, he smell like Ben Gay and shit,

422
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,800
Speaker 2: you know, can't jump, He's slow. I'm like, I'm gonna

423
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:36,159
Speaker 2: get that spot in my mind. I'm like, I'm getting

424
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 2: that fucking spot right there. So within like fifteen to

425
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 2: twenty minutes of practice and we started scrimmaging. Kurt Rammans

426
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,080
Speaker 2: showed me what a real power for it was in

427
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 2: the NBA, like an NBA power forward. It was nothing

428
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 2: like a college power And then I thought about it.

429
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 2: Then I thought about, damn, there's Kurt, then there's Maurice

430
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 2: Lucas I started naming all these power forwards. I was like, man,

431
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:06,680
Speaker 2: I gotta accept my head all little strong wait for

432
00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 2: because I just I wasn't equipped. You find that a

433
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,320
Speaker 2: lot you might signs down. But yeah, it was different.

434
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,240
Speaker 2: It was different, but but I fit in pretty good.

435
00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:17,960
Speaker 2: Bob McAdoo was on the matter.

436
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 3: The Macca MCCA dude, that was my coach in Miami.

437
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 3: And Bob will still shoot your fucking face off right now,

438
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 3: and then he's gonna celebrate with the you.

439
00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,120
Speaker 2: Same vote, and he'll let you know it. He ain't

440
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,480
Speaker 2: gonna stop talking. He ain't gonna stop talking. He's he's

441
00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 2: one of my mentors, man, Bobby.

442
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,479
Speaker 1: To see these guys winning championships, you know, before you

443
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 1: get there, and to come in and Kareem is on

444
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 1: the team, like Kareem is like the god, the number

445
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,080
Speaker 1: one guy, like for you to be going and you

446
00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: know it's already the magic show, but for Kareem, because

447
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,840
Speaker 1: a lot of guys don't really give Kareem his props. Man,

448
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,240
Speaker 1: they should, but for me, Kareem that's the He's the first.

449
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,400
Speaker 2: I was a kid man watching because we didn't get

450
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:11,400
Speaker 2: a lot of West Coast games on the Southwest every

451
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 2: now and then, Uh, those of you might remember the

452
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,440
Speaker 2: wide world of sports was the might show a U

453
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,480
Speaker 2: c l A game and you might get you might see.

454
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,720
Speaker 2: I remember seeing Kareem when I was maybe in seventh

455
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 2: eighth grade, when he was at U c l A.

456
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:32,360
Speaker 2: Couldn't play varsity, had to play JV his freshman year.

457
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 2: They didn't allow freshmen to play varsity. And the intramural game,

458
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,800
Speaker 2: the JV team beat the varsity team. And that's when

459
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 2: they quit that they stopped that, you know, I herd

460
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,240
Speaker 2: Charles Barkley say Lebron getting ready to break Kareem record,

461
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 2: rightfully so, but he was saying that Kareem was forced

462
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,160
Speaker 2: to stay in school for four years. Right I could

463
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 2: imagine Kareem could have come out. It was he might

464
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,480
Speaker 2: be ten fifteen thousand.

465
00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,000
Speaker 4: Because he could have went straight out of high school.

466
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 2: Not that he could think it was. I'm just he

467
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 2: was good. He was good that he could have high school. Yeah,

468
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 2: you know, could he have come out It just it just.

469
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 3: Was even still he probably would have came out earlier.

470
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 3: And even if you didn't go straight out high school,

471
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 3: he could have left u c l A early.

472
00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was, Uh was Spencer Haywood who.

473
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 4: Was suit went to whose case which is the Supreme Court.

474
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,959
Speaker 2: But yeah, but a lot of people haven't seen his

475
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,399
Speaker 2: full body of work. Yeah, like in college he was

476
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 2: it was just unstopped. His first twelve years in the NBA.

477
00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 2: I mean it was just poetry to his his body

478
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 2: of work. I mean, he he played, you know, he

479
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 2: went through wil Chamberlain and West Sun said Nate Thurman,

480
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 2: and then he got the younger you know generation and

481
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,120
Speaker 2: ate them up early Patrick Ewing and Kim olaja Wan

482
00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 2: then I keep Lajwan obviously came on. But and then

483
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,159
Speaker 2: his consciousness. You know there's a photo you've seen it

484
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,919
Speaker 2: with he and Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown and yeah,

485
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:12,040
Speaker 2: and you know Kareem met seven feet only child at

486
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,479
Speaker 2: a Catholic school. He he you know, he's probably one

487
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:19,719
Speaker 2: of the most misunderstood people and he's recognized that, you know,

488
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 2: he's recognized his you know, and reconciled with that. So

489
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,840
Speaker 2: he's one of my favorite people. Yeah. Uh, he's a

490
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 2: jazz connoisseur. If you want to talk about basketball, he

491
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 2: might not give you much, but if you bring up

492
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 2: history or jazz or anything that. Like, he's really a

493
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:42,320
Speaker 2: novelist and that's why he's getting all these activists awards.

494
00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 2: So yeah, man, he was. He was a great player, unstoppable, unstoppable.

495
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,439
Speaker 2: When people say who's your who's the greatest player, for

496
00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 2: a while, I always said Kareem because I've seen his

497
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,280
Speaker 2: body at work. But when you think about what Lebron

498
00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 2: and Michael, you know, you can argue.

499
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,399
Speaker 4: Yeah, you've seen a lot of basketballs.

500
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, these young guys, Man.

501
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:07,919
Speaker 1: To see that jump hook, because you don't see you

502
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 1: don't know the jump hook. To see the hook, I

503
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,359
Speaker 1: hate this is call it a jump hook. To see

504
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 1: the sky hook in live and in action, like, this

505
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:20,199
Speaker 1: is a shot that nobody has history done. And this

506
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:26,480
Speaker 1: is probably the number one deadly is that nobody does

507
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,040
Speaker 1: and the number one player ever the first our first goal.

508
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying him, he don't want to

509
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,240
Speaker 1: do this shot to see it in person?

510
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:36,000
Speaker 2: How is it?

511
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,359
Speaker 4: Because he went in games with this at center.

512
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 2: It was it was you know, he was going to

513
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:43,959
Speaker 2: go to it, but you couldn't stop, and that I

514
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 2: was on the other block. Yeah, so I was like

515
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:49,560
Speaker 2: sometime I forget, will forget I was in the game,

516
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,919
Speaker 2: I just be washing it. He practiced it since high school,

517
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 2: I think because you couldn't dunk, you know, you couldn't

518
00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 2: dunk until nineteen seventy six for dunct in college. So

519
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 2: he developed so he Thoms David Thompson never done in college.

520
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 4: A lot of David Thomas on top of the backboard.

521
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,240
Speaker 2: But you know, it was more to it. That's why

522
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,120
Speaker 2: no one has ever used it, because it was more

523
00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,880
Speaker 2: than just roll it in there. It was so much

524
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:23,639
Speaker 2: technique to that shot. At the top of his peak,

525
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 2: his foots, his footwork, his pivoting, and his shoulders would

526
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 2: really square up to the point he was shooting, and

527
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 2: his eye contact he would catch it and he would

528
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 2: look the defense off if and he could drop dimes

529
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 2: if you look at you know, his record, he's he

530
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 2: was a dime dropper if you're cutting, you know, but

531
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,400
Speaker 2: he used his eyes and then he would drop his

532
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 2: foot at the same time and before you knew it.

533
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 2: And the one thing that protected it is when he

534
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,480
Speaker 2: came through. If you wanted your face to be reconstructed,

535
00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 2: came with it and it was just you couldn't stop it.

536
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 2: And he could jump off of that one leg. But

537
00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:07,040
Speaker 2: it was more to it, like you know, like a

538
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 2: triple jumper in track, there's like a technique to it,

539
00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 2: and he had there was more to it than just

540
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 2: catching it rolling and most guys catching they think they

541
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:16,840
Speaker 2: can just rolling there. Now you got to you got

542
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,080
Speaker 2: to create space by making sure that defense don't hit

543
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,600
Speaker 2: you quick enough, keep them you know, palls for just

544
00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,880
Speaker 2: a second, and then when you knew it was coming,

545
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 2: they were I remember Robert Parrish and the Celtics, they

546
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 2: were just loading up on that on that right hand

547
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 2: killed the whole game. And so maybe once or twice

548
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,520
Speaker 2: a month he could set you up. He would set

549
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,800
Speaker 2: you up and then he would just drop step with

550
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:49,240
Speaker 2: a lazy with a lazy left. He never really drop step,

551
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 2: but he knew when to do it. Uh really one

552
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: of the smartest people that I've ever met.

553
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,440
Speaker 3: Tell me this, how did you feel when you got

554
00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 3: when you got drafted? Like you know what I'm saying, Like,

555
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,080
Speaker 3: once you declare and you go through all that and

556
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 3: you for go your senior year and you like you

557
00:30:04,520 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 3: about to go, Like how what did it feel like

558
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 3: to hear your name called and you like you said

559
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,840
Speaker 3: you the first because because of the you know, they

560
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,239
Speaker 3: traded that pick, but they dropped it became to them

561
00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:17,440
Speaker 3: more pick. Like, how does it feel to know you

562
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:22,240
Speaker 3: going to the championship Showtime Lakers with magic who you

563
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,800
Speaker 3: had just met on the visiting rings, sitting there, you

564
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:26,200
Speaker 3: got the captain waiting on you.

565
00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:27,520
Speaker 2: That's crazy? What was that? Like?

566
00:30:27,560 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 3: What was your thought process? Because that's never happens, the

567
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 3: number one pick going to the championship team.

568
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:38,280
Speaker 2: It's crazy. You know, when you get drafted for a moment,

569
00:30:38,960 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 2: it feels like they've called you out for the most

570
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 2: valuable player. You know what I mean? You know you

571
00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:47,640
Speaker 2: you've been used to that little that little routine, right,

572
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,480
Speaker 2: you know, so it happens. You talk to the press

573
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 2: a little bit, but then it's not till you get home.

574
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 2: You know, your family, you know, and then it might

575
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:00,480
Speaker 2: be later on at night when you find only set

576
00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 2: it down and then you got just just you you

577
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 2: know what I mean. Then you then and then you

578
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 2: think about you know, when when you first started playing,

579
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 2: you think about it, just your whole ship just runs

580
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,520
Speaker 2: through you. And then you start thinking about you know,

581
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 2: all I wanted was a college scholarship, so my mom

582
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 2: and dad wouldn't. I had two older brothers, so they

583
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,240
Speaker 2: were working hard to put them through some small black colleges,

584
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 2: and so they worked all the time, you know what

585
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 2: I mean. So I was like, I'm gonna get a scholarship,

586
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,240
Speaker 2: so that it's all I wanted. It's all I ever wanted.

587
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 2: But when you're when you're sitting there, lying there, you

588
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:40,280
Speaker 2: just then you're like, I'm about to make some paper.

589
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 2: A lot of stuff started coming to your mind. You know,

590
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 2: if you pull out a job, yeah, if you go up,

591
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:46,720
Speaker 2: you're not much.

592
00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 3: You know.

593
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,960
Speaker 2: I always thought we had enough, We didn't have, you know, anything,

594
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 2: but my mom and dad was home some biscuits in

595
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,320
Speaker 2: my lasses or something, you know, and so but then

596
00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 2: it just run through you. You just it just run

597
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:02,200
Speaker 2: through you. You know, maybe I can buy my mom

598
00:32:02,240 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 2: a house, you start thinking about stuff and so and

599
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 2: then you just you feel like it's a your God

600
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 2: got his hand on you from blessing, you know, and

601
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 2: then you just you go from there.

602
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 4: You start getting the niche with Max.

603
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,880
Speaker 1: You start getting a connection that you had when you

604
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 1: kind of figured it out, Like, all right, I know

605
00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,600
Speaker 1: my spots. Now the team is confident in me. They

606
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:29,479
Speaker 1: looking for me to score more buckets. Now, I know

607
00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: every time magic get it, get it to them. Let

608
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: me feel the lane to get it right back. I

609
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,720
Speaker 1: know where I get my shots at. I know where

610
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 1: I can succeed that. When did that start? You start

611
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: feeling yourself in that my.

612
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 2: Rookie year, chemistry came right everywhere. And now it didn't

613
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 2: come right away, you know, because I'm coming from college.

614
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,920
Speaker 2: These brothers been playing together and winning championships for you know,

615
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 2: five six years, and it's it's it's basketball, but it's

616
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 2: it's it's a different to prove yourself. It's different, you know,

617
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 2: and you know the game it's changed a little bit

618
00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,320
Speaker 2: since then. But you know you have to get used to.

619
00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:12,640
Speaker 2: Like for me, like my body never played more than

620
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 2: thirty three games, right, So you come into the NBA

621
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,480
Speaker 2: thinking in a way, it's going to be harder than

622
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 2: what coach Smith doesn't put us through. Seventeen suicide, kurtfuse

623
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,360
Speaker 2: all this shit, But it is hard, right man. You

624
00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,520
Speaker 2: get coming here and I don't care how many four

625
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,800
Speaker 2: seasons of rich causing you stay in. It gets old quickly.

626
00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 2: You realize, you know, then you're sitting there with you know,

627
00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:44,040
Speaker 2: you're sitting there with yourself. You know, you know, and

628
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,239
Speaker 2: then what you're gonna do now you done made it

629
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 2: so but then you still got the rest of your life.

630
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 2: But I realized around February that I was clicking with Magic.

631
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 2: I realized that, you know, because I always wanted to

632
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 2: show my speed, get out on that break roll, and

633
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,600
Speaker 2: all of a sudden that ball apart. Damn. He said,

634
00:34:03,600 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 2: you got to look up. You got to know, cause

635
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:10,680
Speaker 2: he could get you from five anywhere. Yeah, so you

636
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 2: learn how to calculate, you know, him running sometimes you

637
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 2: just couldn't run as fast as you could. You had

638
00:34:17,000 --> 00:34:20,720
Speaker 2: to kind of pace yourself down. So with the defense

639
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 2: react he could he was the.

640
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,360
Speaker 1: Outrun was it also part of him learned That's what

641
00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: I had to learn when I got to the league.

642
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:30,840
Speaker 1: I had to slow I was instantly hidden, hiding the

643
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: fifth gear of the lane, and I'm gone, yeah, but

644
00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:36,239
Speaker 1: I used to have to gone get out there. But

645
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,840
Speaker 1: then by about half courts kind of slow down and

646
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 1: let it all catch up.

647
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 2: You do, you know, because you have to let you

648
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,680
Speaker 2: have to let the defense do what yeah to the ball?

649
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:51,360
Speaker 2: Uh And then you got your slashes, you got your Yeah.

650
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,040
Speaker 2: But if you get out there and I used to be,

651
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,560
Speaker 2: you know, down there so quickly nothing to do, I

652
00:34:57,600 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 2: won't know.

653
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,319
Speaker 3: You think it took a little longer because you came

654
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 3: from North Carolina where everything was so fundamental, But then

655
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 3: you got there and you got magic, you know, like

656
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,440
Speaker 3: you said, it's coming from wherever it's coming. How we're

657
00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 3: running like it's not necessarily like because I had I

658
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 3: played for coach Brown, Larry Brown, I don't know, he's

659
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,359
Speaker 3: a everything was run with. It's not a whole like

660
00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 3: he didn't want to see it like you said, not

661
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 3: a lot of boogey. He want to see straight line

662
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,320
Speaker 3: drives and it ain't gotta be our list and what

663
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 3: you say. That's where you kind of developed, like your

664
00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 3: Statue of liberty and your finger roll, because everything was

665
00:35:29,080 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 3: always quick, straight through, like it. Like one of the

666
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 3: things that sticks out of me when I think about

667
00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:36,440
Speaker 3: about Coach Brown is he would always tell us to

668
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 3: run run with like run through it, like lay it

669
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:42,520
Speaker 3: up and go like and that's that's kind of like

670
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:43,320
Speaker 3: what what.

671
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:45,680
Speaker 2: You are a figure of? Like the dunk, even.

672
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,560
Speaker 3: With the statue lit be is a dunk, straight, straight

673
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:51,200
Speaker 3: hand dunk. It's a layup. Like you think, is that

674
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 3: where that kind of.

675
00:35:51,880 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 2: Developed that it did because you know, the only person

676
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 2: that ever held Michael Jordan the fourteen points was coach Smittt.

677
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 2: There you go, right, So we had a system, we

678
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,319
Speaker 2: didn't have a twenty four second shot clock, and we

679
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 2: were still running four corners at the time where we

680
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 2: stalled the ball. You know, if you didn't want to

681
00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 2: come out of that zone, you know, rap Sam Samson

682
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:15,920
Speaker 2: to sit back in that zone. We had a score

683
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,760
Speaker 2: like twenty to seven one time at halftime. It was boring.

684
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 2: But coming to LA gave me a chance to just

685
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 2: burst out of my bubble. I always wanted to run

686
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,880
Speaker 2: and dunk. And from watching you know, doctor j and

687
00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,360
Speaker 2: you know you know uh some of the NBA players,

688
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:36,960
Speaker 2: Uh the way the ABA at the time was still

689
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:40,600
Speaker 2: getting it, getting to getting their groove on. So coming

690
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,960
Speaker 2: to LA really just enhanced all of that. I was

691
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:48,160
Speaker 2: happy that we're gonna be setting up a lot. Of course,

692
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:51,480
Speaker 2: we had the skyhook and we had some other With

693
00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:54,600
Speaker 2: your game, it elevated my game, something I've been wanting

694
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 2: to do. My high school coach was very conservative, you know,

695
00:36:58,239 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 2: high low, you knowing three passes and all this crap.

696
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 2: But Magic changed. He changed the whole dynamic, you know,

697
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 2: of the way the NBA started to flow and you know,

698
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,239
Speaker 2: the pace of the game.

699
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:16,120
Speaker 1: We ain't seen back to back champions since the Celtics,

700
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 1: I think the early seventies, right them two seasons explained them.

701
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:25,680
Speaker 1: Two seasons of y'all going back to back and going

702
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:27,920
Speaker 1: back to the championship that that third year.

703
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,880
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, Well, you know, the Lakers had already succeeded

704
00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:39,840
Speaker 2: at they won in eighty Magic first, eighty four, eighty five,

705
00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 2: so they were used to winning, you know, and the

706
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:49,439
Speaker 2: Celtics were the last team to win back to back

707
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:52,800
Speaker 2: and it hadn't been done in like nineteen or twenty years.

708
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 2: So when we won in eighty seven, we were having

709
00:37:57,239 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 2: like a pre media thing and pat Row and we

710
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 2: stood up there and we're all hungover, you know, and

711
00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:07,799
Speaker 2: you're ready to go on vacation and celebrate and at

712
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:09,840
Speaker 2: least take a month and you know, we won a championship,

713
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,279
Speaker 2: you just get fat, you know what I mean. You know,

714
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 2: and he stood up there and he said, and next year,

715
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 2: I'm guaranteeing that we would do it again.

716
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:22,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, I remember that, and I was like the crowd

717
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 3: went crazy.

718
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 2: God damn, what did he just saying? You know, because

719
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,279
Speaker 2: you know, that's an automatic target on your back. But

720
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 2: we knew that we had to do it because we

721
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,479
Speaker 2: had done all the you know, we won a few

722
00:38:34,440 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 2: and that was a big challenge. And he knew exactly

723
00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:40,359
Speaker 2: what he was doing because he wanted to see, you know,

724
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,840
Speaker 2: how you respond the greatness. It was the greatness there not,

725
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 2: you know, and it motivated us. You know, we usually

726
00:38:48,719 --> 00:38:50,719
Speaker 2: take a month and a half off, guys, to two

727
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,560
Speaker 2: weeks off. We was calling each other, that's mediate to track.

728
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:55,919
Speaker 2: You know. We we went, we started running the track,

729
00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:58,440
Speaker 2: you know, two hundreds full we started because we know

730
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,959
Speaker 2: it's going to be a track race. And it wasn't

731
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:02,840
Speaker 2: easy getting out of there, you know, because you know,

732
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:07,000
Speaker 2: look carmelone and stockedon starting to Marder coming, Mark Orguire

733
00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 2: and they got Verdonne Blackman down in Dallas and it

734
00:39:10,680 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 2: was tough getting out of here. Yeah, but that motivated us.

735
00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:19,480
Speaker 2: Boy said that, Yeah Portland, Yeah, Buck Williams and those guys.

736
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 2: It wasn't it wasn't easy, but he knew he had

737
00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:24,040
Speaker 2: to do something because he was actually not that he

738
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:28,560
Speaker 2: was running out of motivational speeches, but he was getting close. Yeah,

739
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,759
Speaker 2: he had to do something different and that that did

740
00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:33,759
Speaker 2: it for us. How was this though?

741
00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 1: Because I seen the other day that y'all had a

742
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,000
Speaker 1: practice that y'all ain't practiced together. That team they practice

743
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,200
Speaker 1: together in like like twenty five years.

744
00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 2: What do you call it a practice? It looked good.

745
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:49,560
Speaker 2: I walked through, like you see, y'all don't stand on

746
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,239
Speaker 2: the court. I don't even care of the ball, just

747
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:51,759
Speaker 2: do a round.

748
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: But just to see that team on faces, all you

749
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:56,959
Speaker 1: guys alive and well and you know what I'm saying,

750
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 1: and looking good? How was that to just being at

751
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 1: gym with with just everybody, Yeah, the whole crew back again.

752
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:06,520
Speaker 2: You guys been out how long? Oh?

753
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:08,799
Speaker 4: I've been out thirteen years now?

754
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,600
Speaker 2: See you know, you know the relationships that you developed

755
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 2: on the teams or the teams that you played on.

756
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:20,640
Speaker 2: But when you win together, it's special, you know. Uh.

757
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 2: And you know, pat Riley was good at creating, creating

758
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 2: you know, good camaraderie. You know, you had to you

759
00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,160
Speaker 2: had to be able to take some some constructive criticism.

760
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:36,800
Speaker 2: You had to go ahead and let it be that.

761
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 2: You had to be willing to like, you know, suck

762
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 2: it up for the team. Uh. But it was. It

763
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 2: was tough, man, but we you know, we got through it.

764
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:51,440
Speaker 2: You know. Riles was he was he was all about preparation, preparation, preparation, preparation.

765
00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 2: Then he had that damn video boy, that video machine.

766
00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:59,320
Speaker 2: But but yeah, man, that's yeah. The team, Yeah, we

767
00:40:59,440 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 2: held together.

768
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: I'm talking about for y'all to get together and just

769
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:06,200
Speaker 1: be together. What's that? That was like eighty nine was

770
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:10,879
Speaker 1: the last that's what. Yeah, retired in eighty nine. We

771
00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: won in eighty seven, eighty eight we beat Detroit and

772
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,279
Speaker 1: then y'all lost and then we lost to Detroit in

773
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:17,799
Speaker 1: eighty nine.

774
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:19,160
Speaker 2: That was Kareem's last year.

775
00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 1: So y'all that team haven't been together around in the

776
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:27,640
Speaker 1: same building together, take a photo together in thirty years.

777
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:30,719
Speaker 2: Some of us like I see magic from time to time.

778
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:32,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm talking about but it's different when you see

779
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,760
Speaker 1: the total. But I'm talking about the whole group is together.

780
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:37,880
Speaker 2: And you know, man, there was there were you know,

781
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,440
Speaker 2: there were there were guys there that that that I

782
00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:45,320
Speaker 2: didn't play with, like Spencer Haywood yeah, and Jim Chones

783
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:50,040
Speaker 2: Brewer yeah, and you know, and the guys that the

784
00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 2: guy that's ready to play, like my boy Larry Spriggs,

785
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 2: Prayer Howard, you know he never got to play, but

786
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,440
Speaker 2: boy he bust my ass in practice. Make sure. So

787
00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:01,440
Speaker 2: those are guys as I used to hang with. You know,

788
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,320
Speaker 2: after the game, you got memories and you know, you

789
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 2: got you know, you share tears with these guys on

790
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 2: the bus man about certain things in your life, you know,

791
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 2: and so uh, some of them you hadn't seen in

792
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 2: twenty five thirty years. But when you walk in that

793
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 2: lobby right when we were there, it's like, you know,

794
00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:25,000
Speaker 2: seven feet five Chuck Nevitt, you know, crazy, my man,

795
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 2: my man, Wes Matthews, you know who was vital and

796
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:32,480
Speaker 2: keeping us, you know, keeping our spirits up, you know,

797
00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 2: and so you remember all that that shit on the bus.

798
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:38,720
Speaker 2: You know that brother you sit by on the plane.

799
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:40,919
Speaker 2: You know, you remember all that the guy that lived

800
00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:43,400
Speaker 2: across there was across the hall from you in the hotel,

801
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 2: and what y'all went through, and you know the conversations

802
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 2: that you had and the trials and tribulations you went through. Man,

803
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 2: its just right there, all that energy. Bob McAdoo my

804
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 2: mentor from North Carolina, you know, and so it was special. Man,

805
00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:02,239
Speaker 2: the magic and pyriody put that together, you know. And

806
00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:04,759
Speaker 2: I would advise if you can do it, man, trying

807
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:08,680
Speaker 2: to do it. Man, it's uh, it's spiritual and it's uh,

808
00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 2: it's growth. You know. You see all these people and

809
00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,640
Speaker 2: you have all these memories something. You know, some guys

810
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:19,080
Speaker 2: you left, you know, you needed to reconcile something. You

811
00:43:19,120 --> 00:43:24,239
Speaker 2: see them you be like, you know, yeah, I can't

812
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:30,440
Speaker 2: believe we went to you like they realized. So but yeah, man,

813
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 2: I advise it just like any like high school re unit.

814
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 2: If you can, if you can do because NBA it's

815
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:38,240
Speaker 2: a special fraternity. Man, it's unique.

816
00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,480
Speaker 1: You always want a nickname. You always like when you

817
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,600
Speaker 1: get in this league, you want a nickname. When was

818
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:46,320
Speaker 1: the first time you heard big game?

819
00:43:47,600 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 2: Man, it was doing the playoffs because always my percentages

820
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:58,920
Speaker 2: always went up doing the playoffs. So Chick hearn the

821
00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 2: voice of the Lakers for since nineteen sixty one until

822
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 2: till he passed. He was he had all these isms.

823
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:10,800
Speaker 2: He had a lot of them. Uh you know, eggs

824
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 2: are cooling, the lights are out in the refrigerators, jiggling,

825
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 2: all this stuff. And so he recognized that my scoring

826
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 2: average went up. Shoot percentage was way up. He was like,

827
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,799
Speaker 2: you know, after after any particular play, he might come

828
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 2: up with something new and I don't know, he slam

829
00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:34,600
Speaker 2: dunk whatever, and then I made a play and he's like,

830
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 2: big game, James, A big game, and it's stuck. And

831
00:44:39,280 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 2: then Pat O'Brien took it from you know, local and

832
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 2: he put it on national TV. Yeah, he's got a

833
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,600
Speaker 2: big being. So that's it, man. My corporation is big game.

834
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 2: I go through the airport, that's what I get. And

835
00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:55,239
Speaker 2: it tickles me, pink man.

836
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:03,240
Speaker 4: See the kids and see the fans call you big game.

837
00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:07,360
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying like that, especially the kids,

838
00:45:07,680 --> 00:45:10,160
Speaker 2: you know now they got the smartphones, they got the cars.

839
00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,560
Speaker 2: Their grandparents and told them, you know, straight up, that's

840
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:16,399
Speaker 2: a big game. It's cool, That's what I mean. I mean,

841
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:19,120
Speaker 2: I love it when I'm at the airport and you know,

842
00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:21,879
Speaker 2: the guys that work at the airport or the guy

843
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 2: that might be shining the shoes, he's like big game.

844
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:29,800
Speaker 2: You know. I'm like, all right, okay, you know, everybody

845
00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 2: got a nickname whatever. But that was kind of that

846
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,279
Speaker 2: kind of sticks outside of Los Angeles, and yeah, it's cool.

847
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:35,879
Speaker 2: It's kind of cool.

848
00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:38,759
Speaker 3: How cool was it for you to go from you know,

849
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,800
Speaker 3: obviously winning the championship in u NC and being declaring

850
00:45:42,880 --> 00:45:44,239
Speaker 3: being overall number one pick?

851
00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:46,759
Speaker 2: But then you get there and in a couple of.

852
00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:50,600
Speaker 3: Years now here you are you're part of the showtime

853
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:53,560
Speaker 3: Lakers and y'all winning the championship what like? And like

854
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 3: that's a different type of top of the top. Like

855
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,920
Speaker 3: what was that like? Winning the championship with that team

856
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,560
Speaker 3: here in l A and being the you know, the

857
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:02,960
Speaker 3: crim della cream of the league.

858
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:05,319
Speaker 2: What was that? Like? It was tough, man. I mean

859
00:46:05,360 --> 00:46:07,759
Speaker 2: the first few years, my rookie year, I broke my

860
00:46:07,880 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 2: leg in April, so I didn't really get to play

861
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 2: in that year. That Philly one faux Fox four with

862
00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:17,839
Speaker 2: Moses and I don't know if anybody could beat them.

863
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:19,799
Speaker 2: That year, they were good. But then I came back

864
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:24,440
Speaker 2: my second year and we lost to the Celtics nineteen

865
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:28,240
Speaker 2: eighty four. Man I made we won Game one, thirteen

866
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:31,759
Speaker 2: seconds left. I make this air pass. We should have

867
00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,360
Speaker 2: had that one. That was still a nightmare to me.

868
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:39,759
Speaker 2: But then in eighty five we redeemed ourselves. So I

869
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:44,480
Speaker 2: think that championship in eighty five was the most important

870
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 2: one because the Lakers had never beaten the Celtics. Ever.

871
00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:50,160
Speaker 2: I think the Celtics beat then like a seven times.

872
00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 2: So that's when I kind of knew, you know, I

873
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:54,800
Speaker 2: had arrived and you know I was making an impact.

874
00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:58,640
Speaker 3: In my opinion, one of the biggest, biggest and long

875
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 3: living rivalries sports is the Lakers and Celtics. Talk to

876
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,640
Speaker 3: me about being a part of that, Like to me,

877
00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 3: I look at it, it's like it's more. It's so

878
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 3: much of a rivalry even now, like me moving to

879
00:47:12,040 --> 00:47:14,680
Speaker 3: you know, retirement and working for the Magic and like

880
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:16,800
Speaker 3: I watch you you work for the Lakers.

881
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:19,400
Speaker 2: I watched you go back.

882
00:47:19,200 --> 00:47:22,560
Speaker 3: And forth with Cornbread Maxwell with the Celtics, and y'all

883
00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 3: are beyond playing day. Y'all in the studios doing the

884
00:47:26,400 --> 00:47:30,839
Speaker 3: same thing. Tell me about how true and tried that

885
00:47:31,120 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 3: rivalry and how real it is with the Boston Celtics

886
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,960
Speaker 3: in the Los Angeles Lakers. It's real. It's real because

887
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:40,400
Speaker 3: I feel like we experience it. Every time we get it,

888
00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:42,280
Speaker 3: we get a little get a little.

889
00:47:42,080 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 2: Taste of it. Whether it's like you say, with you

890
00:47:44,280 --> 00:47:47,520
Speaker 2: Boston is tough on everybody. But uh, and you know,

891
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:49,640
Speaker 2: I grew up a Centric. My actual fan, one of

892
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,400
Speaker 2: my favorite people man when he played at u NCC Charlotte.

893
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,280
Speaker 2: So we're good buddies and we go back and forth.

894
00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 2: But you know, the Laker Celtic rivalry, it was unique

895
00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 2: and it was special because Boston had that platform for years.

896
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:12,040
Speaker 2: They were in Boston Celtics right. Nobody could beat there.

897
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:15,600
Speaker 2: And you know, the ABA came along and Doctor j

898
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:18,040
Speaker 2: and all the all the players, all the brothers was

899
00:48:18,080 --> 00:48:20,879
Speaker 2: going to the NBA that read right and blue ball

900
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:23,800
Speaker 2: and they were like damn, you know, so they marriage.

901
00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 2: But the Celtics have always been that team. They beat

902
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 2: the they beat the Lakers. I think seven times. Jerry

903
00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:33,080
Speaker 2: West would never go back to Boston when we played

904
00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:35,279
Speaker 2: all those series. He would never go back. He just

905
00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:38,640
Speaker 2: was too painful. You know Bill Russell rubbing in too.

906
00:48:38,680 --> 00:48:41,320
Speaker 2: You know, Bill let him know I got ten rings

907
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:43,160
Speaker 2: and one on my toe. You know, he got lefl

908
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:49,799
Speaker 2: But what made the Lakers Celtic rivalry so unique was

909
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:53,200
Speaker 2: it happened with the sixties. But I think it really

910
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:59,200
Speaker 2: evolved when Magic and Barry came in, right, Okay, So

911
00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 2: you got the Celtics kind of a blue collar city,

912
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:07,839
Speaker 2: the old style of basketball. They ran a little bit

913
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 2: with Coozzy and those guys and Bill Russ. I'm not

914
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,319
Speaker 2: gonna say they didn't run, but not like when when

915
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:15,799
Speaker 2: Magic came on. So you had that. You know, you

916
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:20,640
Speaker 2: had Boston, you had a radical component. You had a

917
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:26,279
Speaker 2: racist city that was full of like hate and you know,

918
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:28,920
Speaker 2: busting was a was a big thing. And then you

919
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:33,000
Speaker 2: had Magic on the West coast, you know, sun and

920
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:37,839
Speaker 2: shining surfing. It was up and down the court. It

921
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:40,719
Speaker 2: was fast paced. You know, Magic was doing stuff that

922
00:49:40,880 --> 00:49:45,040
Speaker 2: was yeah, you know, dunking on people, alley ooping, Cooper looping,

923
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:49,600
Speaker 2: sky hooking. You had Doctor Buss, who was you know,

924
00:49:49,680 --> 00:49:52,840
Speaker 2: he knew what his brand was. It was Hollywood and

925
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 2: he was the first one to put floor seats on

926
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:56,680
Speaker 2: the floor. You know, you had like he was the

927
00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:59,040
Speaker 2: first one to have like Laker girls. So it was

928
00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:03,880
Speaker 2: people didn't want to accepted, and so that rivalry was

929
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:06,400
Speaker 2: like stirred up again. It went away for a while,

930
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:10,440
Speaker 2: but it was stirred up and all that came up again.

931
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,719
Speaker 2: I actually, I actually was a Jojo White fan back

932
00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:18,520
Speaker 2: in the day all styles. I was a pull for

933
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:22,239
Speaker 2: the Celtis, you know. Uh. Sam Jones went to the

934
00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:24,520
Speaker 2: same college my brother went to. I was a little younger.

935
00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:27,719
Speaker 2: But but but that that rivalry had a lot of

936
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:32,120
Speaker 2: components to it, you know, magic versus bird, black versus

937
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:36,759
Speaker 2: White kind of thing. You know, history versus you know,

938
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:42,400
Speaker 2: we'd never beaten them. I remember playing four exhibition games

939
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:47,200
Speaker 2: my I think it was my rookie year. They were

940
00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:49,960
Speaker 2: trying to stir that up because I only had commission

941
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:53,279
Speaker 2: O'Brien for one year. And then Commissioner String came in

942
00:50:53,760 --> 00:50:57,239
Speaker 2: and he's like light buds went off. He said, I

943
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 2: see something here. He got a huge television contract for

944
00:51:01,480 --> 00:51:07,360
Speaker 2: the first time with CBS, and it was on. He

945
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:11,480
Speaker 2: had something he could promote, and we were in the

946
00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:15,120
Speaker 2: playoffs a lot, and it was just you know, that's

947
00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:17,719
Speaker 2: how that Robert you know, jump started itself up again,

948
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:20,439
Speaker 2: but it was it was tough going into Boston. Man.

949
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 2: You know, there wasn't no air condition in there, no

950
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:26,279
Speaker 2: heat in the winter time.

951
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,959
Speaker 3: Talking about the cold showers after the games because still

952
00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:30,359
Speaker 3: going on.

953
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:32,600
Speaker 2: We got to the league. Yeah, the shows were like

954
00:51:33,160 --> 00:51:36,800
Speaker 2: you know, six feet tall Max. You go into the hotel.

955
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:39,960
Speaker 2: We stayed at copt the Square. You tell the operator

956
00:51:40,040 --> 00:51:42,399
Speaker 2: that you didn't want any calls. They would just keep

957
00:51:42,440 --> 00:51:47,040
Speaker 2: them coming. And fans, you know, it was bad, you

958
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:49,480
Speaker 2: know it was they were some bad fans. You hear

959
00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:51,719
Speaker 2: all kind of stuff. And you know, we had the

960
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:54,960
Speaker 2: option in the old Boston Guard. This guy's been in

961
00:51:54,960 --> 00:51:56,719
Speaker 2: the older Yes, that's what I'm saying. When we first

962
00:51:56,719 --> 00:51:58,719
Speaker 2: got in it was still the old one. I don't

963
00:51:58,760 --> 00:52:01,120
Speaker 2: know where they let you guys off off in the bus,

964
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:02,680
Speaker 2: but you had the option to go all the way

965
00:52:02,719 --> 00:52:05,719
Speaker 2: around the city through traffic and come up with this

966
00:52:05,760 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 2: big wooden ramp they had. I don't know if they fixed.

967
00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:12,160
Speaker 2: You could be let off if you wanted to save time.

968
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:15,759
Speaker 2: You could be let off with a train. But where

969
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:17,640
Speaker 2: everybody else is getting off. This is how we used

970
00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:20,239
Speaker 2: to roll. No bodyguards, no nothing. You could get off

971
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:22,480
Speaker 2: where the fans are coming in and there was just

972
00:52:22,520 --> 00:52:24,960
Speaker 2: one little elevator you could catch to go down to

973
00:52:25,000 --> 00:52:27,759
Speaker 2: the floor levels for players. But while you were standing there,

974
00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:30,360
Speaker 2: they was coming off that train and they would just

975
00:52:30,360 --> 00:52:31,480
Speaker 2: be letting you have it. Man.

976
00:52:31,560 --> 00:52:31,840
Speaker 3: Ah.

977
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:35,320
Speaker 2: We used to walk from the Dallas Reunion. I'm going

978
00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 2: I'm going off in Dallas at the reunion, there were

979
00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:41,040
Speaker 2: the Hyatt was right across the street, so you could

980
00:52:41,080 --> 00:52:43,960
Speaker 2: catch the early bus to go over. You could walk over.

981
00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:47,040
Speaker 2: We used to always just walk me Magic Ring and

982
00:52:47,120 --> 00:52:50,319
Speaker 2: they got they got, they got. They got used to

983
00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:54,799
Speaker 2: us walking about two football fieldings to the arena, to

984
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:57,319
Speaker 2: the point that they started having parties there. So soon

985
00:52:57,320 --> 00:52:59,200
Speaker 2: as we come out the door, they'd be, ah, they

986
00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:01,600
Speaker 2: let you have it. Nobody guards, no nothing. We just

987
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:04,000
Speaker 2: walked across the street wait for the lights. So that's

988
00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:06,400
Speaker 2: where we used to roll. Man. But but the Celtics

989
00:53:06,400 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 2: had probably the most vicious fans and it was a

990
00:53:10,920 --> 00:53:14,000
Speaker 2: tough place to play. It was you know that that

991
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:16,480
Speaker 2: arena looked great on TV, but it was it was.

992
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:18,280
Speaker 2: It was pretty shitty on the inside.

993
00:53:18,360 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 3: How sick was it when you when y'all beat him

994
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:23,160
Speaker 3: for your first time? Like like they had already, like

995
00:53:23,200 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 3: you said, it was already rival going off when you

996
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,600
Speaker 3: got the championship, old that said, the first one.

997
00:53:28,040 --> 00:53:31,040
Speaker 2: What was that like for you? The only championship won

998
00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:34,480
Speaker 2: in that building outside of the Celtics. We got one

999
00:53:34,520 --> 00:53:38,280
Speaker 2: in there, and you know, we knew we were representing ourselves,

1000
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:42,360
Speaker 2: but we also knew we were representing like a hurtful city.

1001
00:53:43,640 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 2: You know. Elgin Baylor history, J West, shout out, Elgin

1002
00:53:47,600 --> 00:53:50,800
Speaker 2: Baylor man, that was our GM with the Clippers.

1003
00:53:51,040 --> 00:53:54,560
Speaker 3: He drafted us and he never really was labeled the

1004
00:53:54,680 --> 00:53:58,600
Speaker 3: GM unless it was bad stuff going on. And like

1005
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:02,240
Speaker 3: him and his wife, like I got the most utmost

1006
00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:04,640
Speaker 3: respect for them, Like no matter what was going on

1007
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,840
Speaker 3: with all that, they were always the most kind and

1008
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:10,440
Speaker 3: generous people to all of the player not just me

1009
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:12,160
Speaker 3: and my family, but like I wouldn't have stayed with

1010
00:54:12,200 --> 00:54:14,520
Speaker 3: all of my teammates and everybody was dead through our time.

1011
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:16,640
Speaker 2: Elgin and his wife were two of.

1012
00:54:16,600 --> 00:54:20,879
Speaker 3: The nicest individuals the entire time throughout and even after

1013
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:23,120
Speaker 3: I left and came back when he was still there

1014
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,759
Speaker 3: and all that. So you know, shout out to you know, God,

1015
00:54:26,760 --> 00:54:29,640
Speaker 3: bless his dead recipes, elgend But his wife was was

1016
00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 3: awesome and was there as well.

1017
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:34,120
Speaker 2: I'm glad you said that, man, because you know elgend

1018
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,319
Speaker 2: Bela was. If you want to take a page or

1019
00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:40,120
Speaker 2: pages out of someone's book and put it to yours,

1020
00:54:40,120 --> 00:54:44,400
Speaker 2: he's that guy, ultimate gentleman. You know his wife would

1021
00:54:44,400 --> 00:54:47,880
Speaker 2: cook meals and you know he would put an apron

1022
00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,799
Speaker 2: on and clean off the table and wash dishes and

1023
00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:53,840
Speaker 2: do all this stuff in front of everybody. Jerry West

1024
00:54:53,840 --> 00:54:56,839
Speaker 2: came to the Lakers in sixty when they was yeah,

1025
00:54:56,920 --> 00:54:59,839
Speaker 2: sixty one, and it was Elgin Baylor who took Jerry

1026
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:04,240
Speaker 2: his wing and had him adapt to being around some brothers,

1027
00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,640
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, and brought him in. But

1028
00:55:06,719 --> 00:55:08,719
Speaker 2: he was he was a great man. Man. It was

1029
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:10,960
Speaker 2: an awesome time. But I knew when we beat the

1030
00:55:11,000 --> 00:55:14,600
Speaker 2: Celtics that year, we were representing all those guys who

1031
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:16,520
Speaker 2: never won, So it was it was pretty cool to

1032
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:17,520
Speaker 2: be able to do that.

1033
00:55:17,600 --> 00:55:22,160
Speaker 3: Thirty six, sixteen and ten, he was MVP of an

1034
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:23,400
Speaker 3: NBA finals.

1035
00:55:24,120 --> 00:55:25,399
Speaker 2: Tell me what, like.

1036
00:55:25,600 --> 00:55:27,600
Speaker 4: That's the bus and ass.

1037
00:55:29,239 --> 00:55:32,440
Speaker 3: That's the highest level of the biggest stage, the biggest

1038
00:55:32,520 --> 00:55:35,040
Speaker 3: performance you can have, and you walked away with that

1039
00:55:35,360 --> 00:55:38,200
Speaker 3: with both trophies, Like, tell me, how did that feel

1040
00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:42,080
Speaker 3: like that's like we the world champions. I'm the MVP.

1041
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,640
Speaker 3: One could surmise it. I'm kind of like the best

1042
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:47,600
Speaker 3: player on the planet right now. Like I would have

1043
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:49,759
Speaker 3: walked away like that. I don't know about you, but like,

1044
00:55:49,760 --> 00:55:52,120
Speaker 3: how did you feel after that in eighty eight? And

1045
00:55:52,160 --> 00:55:54,279
Speaker 3: that was out the back to back finals too, because

1046
00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:55,760
Speaker 3: y'all won it set eighty seven.

1047
00:55:56,000 --> 00:55:58,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was special, man, Like I had

1048
00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:02,280
Speaker 2: that top of the world status thought coming to the Lakers,

1049
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:05,000
Speaker 2: because when you're the number one draft pick. If I

1050
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:07,440
Speaker 2: had gone to the Clippers, you know, I would have

1051
00:56:07,480 --> 00:56:11,160
Speaker 2: been the guy, you know what I mean. But when

1052
00:56:11,160 --> 00:56:14,880
Speaker 2: you come to the Lakers. I always felt like not

1053
00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:18,040
Speaker 2: that I had to prove that I could play, but

1054
00:56:18,120 --> 00:56:21,279
Speaker 2: I had to prove my value to a team that

1055
00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:25,040
Speaker 2: was already loaded, you know what I mean. And I

1056
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:29,520
Speaker 2: was always that that commodity that they could trade, you

1057
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:33,680
Speaker 2: know what I mean? Every year, Mark Aguire, it's gonna

1058
00:56:33,719 --> 00:56:37,840
Speaker 2: be this. I always felt like I always got to

1059
00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,879
Speaker 2: prove till I've proved it, you know what I mean.

1060
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:43,480
Speaker 2: So I had a great year in eighty seven. It

1061
00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:46,440
Speaker 2: was that was our best team ever, I think, But

1062
00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:48,960
Speaker 2: Koreem was getting a little bit older, you know, and

1063
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:51,439
Speaker 2: he can still He was still throwing it in eighty eight,

1064
00:56:51,600 --> 00:56:54,680
Speaker 2: but he retired in eighty nine. So I saw that

1065
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:59,920
Speaker 2: he was slowing down a little bit. So two years

1066
00:57:00,040 --> 00:57:03,960
Speaker 2: prior to that, pat Riley had a conversation with Magic

1067
00:57:04,480 --> 00:57:06,480
Speaker 2: and said, you need to step up. You're scoring a

1068
00:57:06,520 --> 00:57:09,360
Speaker 2: little bit. We need you to score more. So Magic

1069
00:57:09,440 --> 00:57:12,720
Speaker 2: was MVP in eighty seven. He was scoring the same

1070
00:57:12,719 --> 00:57:15,960
Speaker 2: thing happened to me when Kareem was slowing down a

1071
00:57:16,000 --> 00:57:20,280
Speaker 2: little bit. I knew it was time. I was like, okay,

1072
00:57:20,360 --> 00:57:22,920
Speaker 2: so I gotta be a little bit more aggressive. I

1073
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:26,480
Speaker 2: know I can play, you know, step it up, and

1074
00:57:26,680 --> 00:57:28,200
Speaker 2: you have to do that in the NBA. You gotta

1075
00:57:28,200 --> 00:57:31,560
Speaker 2: you gotta step up or step out. And we were

1076
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:35,160
Speaker 2: on the stage against the Pistons, and I said, I,

1077
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:37,520
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't know what the outcome was gonna be,

1078
00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:42,120
Speaker 2: but I knew mentally that, you know, you just when

1079
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:45,040
Speaker 2: you grinding it, you know, ain't nobody gonna touch you

1080
00:57:45,080 --> 00:57:47,240
Speaker 2: on a particular nights when you feeling it like that.

1081
00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:54,160
Speaker 2: And that was my night, you know. Uh, you know,

1082
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:57,200
Speaker 2: I only got one triple double only that was it,

1083
00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:03,320
Speaker 2: and the biggest game was special man against against Isaiah.

1084
00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:07,080
Speaker 2: I got him back for beating me in college. Was

1085
00:58:07,160 --> 00:58:09,600
Speaker 2: sleepy I got back from high school. You got a

1086
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:13,000
Speaker 2: lot of man, Man, I forget.

1087
00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:20,040
Speaker 1: When you heard you from the be fiftiest Greatest Players,

1088
00:58:20,800 --> 00:58:23,360
Speaker 1: like you've been. You was named as one of the

1089
00:58:23,400 --> 00:58:26,600
Speaker 1: fiftiest greatest players with some of the names that you've

1090
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:28,880
Speaker 1: seen come before you that you looked up to, and

1091
00:58:29,120 --> 00:58:31,320
Speaker 1: some of your peers that you done came up along

1092
00:58:31,360 --> 00:58:34,400
Speaker 1: the way and seeing them grow too, how was that?

1093
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:38,880
Speaker 1: And them jackets and stuff, and then just that whole experience.

1094
00:58:39,840 --> 00:58:41,280
Speaker 4: We just say we just seen the.

1095
00:58:41,240 --> 00:58:45,120
Speaker 1: Seventy anniversary, but I remember the first one, Yeah, that.

1096
00:58:47,720 --> 00:58:50,960
Speaker 2: Evening, Like how was that? You know? Man? For somebody

1097
00:58:50,960 --> 00:58:54,960
Speaker 2: that only one of the college scholarship broke my ankle

1098
00:58:55,040 --> 00:58:58,640
Speaker 2: in college broke my leg. You just never think about

1099
00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:01,720
Speaker 2: you you want to win a chat? Now you do

1100
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,080
Speaker 2: think about that, even if you not playing a lot

1101
00:59:04,080 --> 00:59:07,760
Speaker 2: of minutes. You know, practice time, the contribution, you think

1102
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:11,480
Speaker 2: about that. But top fifty and I know being a

1103
00:59:11,560 --> 00:59:16,440
Speaker 2: Laker and winning and being on that platform helped a

1104
00:59:16,480 --> 00:59:18,560
Speaker 2: little bit. But then I had to pull my weight

1105
00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:23,800
Speaker 2: at the end. But it's it's a trip it's you know,

1106
00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:28,720
Speaker 2: because at the time I was like, well, like Bob mcado,

1107
00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:32,880
Speaker 2: not on on that first fifty. You know, it's hard

1108
00:59:32,920 --> 00:59:35,440
Speaker 2: to choose that there was a couple of brothers I

1109
00:59:35,440 --> 00:59:37,880
Speaker 2: probably like age and that they wasn't on there. I

1110
00:59:37,920 --> 00:59:43,240
Speaker 2: know Ad you know, he came before me. But because

1111
00:59:43,280 --> 00:59:47,200
Speaker 2: of winning and you know, maybe being a Most Valuable

1112
00:59:47,200 --> 00:59:50,680
Speaker 2: Player in eighty eight and being on elevated with the

1113
00:59:50,760 --> 00:59:52,760
Speaker 2: Lakers all the time and being one of their three

1114
00:59:53,360 --> 00:59:56,640
Speaker 2: helped a lot. Because there's a lot of memories there.

1115
00:59:56,680 --> 01:00:02,000
Speaker 2: But I just think about man, you know, you always

1116
01:00:02,240 --> 01:00:07,600
Speaker 2: go back to you know, like coach Bird, you go

1117
01:00:07,720 --> 01:00:10,280
Speaker 2: back and you think about all them you know, they

1118
01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:12,640
Speaker 2: keep you out of trouble when you're getting ready to

1119
01:00:12,640 --> 01:00:15,240
Speaker 2: get in trouble, or when you're get in trouble, they

1120
01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:18,200
Speaker 2: pull you to the side. You think about all the

1121
01:00:18,760 --> 01:00:20,520
Speaker 2: stuff you could have done, you know what I mean.

1122
01:00:20,640 --> 01:00:23,640
Speaker 2: But you just be if you feel blessed and you

1123
01:00:23,720 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 2: knew you did something right, you know, So it's it's

1124
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:30,160
Speaker 2: like it's like a bookending, you know what I mean.

1125
01:00:30,280 --> 01:00:33,760
Speaker 2: It makes you proud. You know, you remember what your parents,

1126
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:35,640
Speaker 2: you know, taught you, and you try to live up

1127
01:00:35,680 --> 01:00:38,120
Speaker 2: to that. The best you can. You think about a

1128
01:00:38,120 --> 01:00:39,800
Speaker 2: lot of things. What do it mean to you to

1129
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:42,600
Speaker 2: be a Laker? You know, like you you're a part

1130
01:00:42,640 --> 01:00:45,840
Speaker 2: of the history. Now these these these yeah you want

1131
01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:50,240
Speaker 2: the ultimate Lakers. Now, these these young cats that's coming

1132
01:00:50,480 --> 01:00:54,440
Speaker 2: and trying to put that that perplein go along like

1133
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 2: you were one of the legends that they look up

1134
01:00:57,720 --> 01:01:00,640
Speaker 2: to and they and they watched your career and set

1135
01:01:00,640 --> 01:01:02,880
Speaker 2: the bar and try to be like you.

1136
01:01:02,960 --> 01:01:06,000
Speaker 4: So what what does it mean to be a Laker?

1137
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:08,640
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's I've only been a Laker. I

1138
01:01:08,720 --> 01:01:10,640
Speaker 2: never played for anybody else. So that's all I know.

1139
01:01:10,800 --> 01:01:13,120
Speaker 2: I mean, I know what it's like to be like

1140
01:01:13,320 --> 01:01:16,240
Speaker 2: you know, like I talked to Robert or all the time.

1141
01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:18,440
Speaker 2: You know, he's like San Antonio, I'm like, I thought

1142
01:01:18,480 --> 01:01:21,160
Speaker 2: you was a Laker. I was also a spur so,

1143
01:01:21,440 --> 01:01:24,760
Speaker 2: but so I'm you know, I'm invested, you know, that's

1144
01:01:24,840 --> 01:01:27,760
Speaker 2: all you know. So it feels good to be able

1145
01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:33,440
Speaker 2: to have accomplished something and it be remembered and they

1146
01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:38,440
Speaker 2: still talk about it, like like before every Laker game,

1147
01:01:38,480 --> 01:01:41,840
Speaker 2: they got the big billboard. There's one play that I'd

1148
01:01:41,920 --> 01:01:44,600
Speaker 2: had against the Celtics where I dove on the sideline.

1149
01:01:44,600 --> 01:01:47,640
Speaker 2: They show up before every game. So these kids, you know,

1150
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:50,480
Speaker 2: like who have no idea, they you know, they know

1151
01:01:50,560 --> 01:01:53,880
Speaker 2: that quick. So when you work for the Lakers, you know,

1152
01:01:54,040 --> 01:01:58,560
Speaker 2: you guys work for Perspective, you know, youth Foundations and

1153
01:01:58,600 --> 01:02:01,440
Speaker 2: stuff like that. You get connected, yeah, you know, to

1154
01:02:01,520 --> 01:02:05,080
Speaker 2: the community. So I wear that with pride. You know.

1155
01:02:05,160 --> 01:02:07,280
Speaker 2: Then I might walk up to somebody who's been a

1156
01:02:08,480 --> 01:02:11,520
Speaker 2: ticket season holder for forty years and they know my

1157
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:17,000
Speaker 2: entire life, everything up, every art, They remember everything, everything, man,

1158
01:02:17,480 --> 01:02:21,680
Speaker 2: So that's always special. Over time, you guys are getting that.

1159
01:02:21,800 --> 01:02:24,680
Speaker 2: Now you're getting away from the game and people come

1160
01:02:24,760 --> 01:02:27,080
Speaker 2: up to you and I'll tell you something, You'll be like, yeah,

1161
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:30,960
Speaker 2: I remember that. Man. I became friends with like bail

1162
01:02:31,120 --> 01:02:35,240
Speaker 2: captains at certain hotels, I know, charling them by name,

1163
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:35,920
Speaker 2: you know what I mean?

1164
01:02:35,960 --> 01:02:39,000
Speaker 3: Does it ever amaze you or blow you away? Because

1165
01:02:39,120 --> 01:02:41,400
Speaker 3: like I don't know about it. I follow you on

1166
01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:43,920
Speaker 3: social media, so I see like you were just like

1167
01:02:44,360 --> 01:02:47,280
Speaker 3: in Italy or something, Just like, does it ever blow

1168
01:02:47,280 --> 01:02:49,600
Speaker 3: you away that people walk up to you just hanging

1169
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:51,800
Speaker 3: with your family and having it, you know, chill time.

1170
01:02:51,880 --> 01:02:53,320
Speaker 3: You know, you might not even have any lake and

1171
01:02:53,360 --> 01:02:56,640
Speaker 3: stuff on but people recognize you and they want to

1172
01:02:56,640 --> 01:02:58,720
Speaker 3: take pictures and they want to tell you about these

1173
01:02:58,720 --> 01:03:01,840
Speaker 3: memories or these moments like does it ever like just

1174
01:03:02,240 --> 01:03:04,720
Speaker 3: every blow you away, like, yo, this is like I'm

1175
01:03:04,760 --> 01:03:07,040
Speaker 3: one of those Lakers that is, I'm a staple and

1176
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:10,040
Speaker 3: never will you know, I'm part of Laker Nation all

1177
01:03:10,080 --> 01:03:11,040
Speaker 3: the way through and through.

1178
01:03:11,120 --> 01:03:15,640
Speaker 2: It's global. I mean, the Lakers are obviously one of

1179
01:03:15,680 --> 01:03:18,880
Speaker 2: the bigger brands. You know, Chicago did their thing, Miami

1180
01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:21,840
Speaker 2: came in won with you know, so there's certain brands

1181
01:03:21,840 --> 01:03:25,120
Speaker 2: that are they're just global, and the NBA is global.

1182
01:03:26,640 --> 01:03:30,760
Speaker 2: But it's really, you know, kind of weird when you're like,

1183
01:03:31,160 --> 01:03:33,680
Speaker 2: you know, in Italy and a small town and no

1184
01:03:33,880 --> 01:03:39,520
Speaker 2: to or somewhere, and someone you're walking and you know,

1185
01:03:39,600 --> 01:03:44,479
Speaker 2: you're just chilling with your gelato. You know, you didn't

1186
01:03:44,480 --> 01:03:47,680
Speaker 2: have some washing, you know, some cappuccino. You just you know,

1187
01:03:47,720 --> 01:03:51,000
Speaker 2: you know, you're in your vacation. You know, nobody knows,

1188
01:03:51,280 --> 01:03:53,000
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden you'll walk by somebody and

1189
01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:56,360
Speaker 2: they'll be like, oh my god, who God is JAMESE.

1190
01:03:56,440 --> 01:03:58,680
Speaker 2: Royds my line and they'll be like from Big Game, Yeah,

1191
01:03:58,720 --> 01:04:01,520
Speaker 2: that'd be from another country. For the trial, and like,

1192
01:04:02,040 --> 01:04:06,080
Speaker 2: so it is cool. You know, uh, NBA has grown, man,

1193
01:04:06,240 --> 01:04:09,480
Speaker 2: and it's a privilege to be a part of that fraternity.

1194
01:04:09,520 --> 01:04:12,280
Speaker 2: But it's also nice. I'm sixty one now, and so

1195
01:04:12,800 --> 01:04:16,200
Speaker 2: it's kind of cool to be, you know, recognizing that

1196
01:04:16,280 --> 01:04:19,800
Speaker 2: the NBA still, you know, sees you as a valuable

1197
01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:22,320
Speaker 2: asset and as they do all their players. You know,

1198
01:04:22,360 --> 01:04:24,080
Speaker 2: we you know, we got it. You know, we got

1199
01:04:24,080 --> 01:04:28,160
Speaker 2: the insurance now, you know, over over time. So it's

1200
01:04:28,200 --> 01:04:30,560
Speaker 2: it's a great fraternity to be a part of. Man,

1201
01:04:30,800 --> 01:04:32,640
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm just happy that I can be an

1202
01:04:32,640 --> 01:04:33,840
Speaker 2: ambassador for the game.

1203
01:04:34,280 --> 01:04:36,680
Speaker 1: How was the icing on the cake? You heard that

1204
01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:39,520
Speaker 1: you're going to be a Hall of Famer? Like, how

1205
01:04:39,640 --> 01:04:42,040
Speaker 1: how was that for you? And you know, you get

1206
01:04:42,040 --> 01:04:44,920
Speaker 1: your statue, your own statue, you get this whole ceremony

1207
01:04:45,080 --> 01:04:48,920
Speaker 1: based around you and the other Hall of Fame inductees, Like,

1208
01:04:49,000 --> 01:04:50,760
Speaker 1: how was that experience for you and your family?

1209
01:04:50,800 --> 01:04:53,440
Speaker 2: It's crazy, man, I did have my family there with me.

1210
01:04:53,680 --> 01:04:57,040
Speaker 2: It's kind of like, you know, it's like the bookend.

1211
01:04:57,320 --> 01:04:59,400
Speaker 2: You know, you what else can you do after that?

1212
01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:02,640
Speaker 2: You know, I got denied the first couple of times.

1213
01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 2: You just don't know what the Natesmith Hall of Fame.

1214
01:05:06,560 --> 01:05:09,080
Speaker 2: Uh but when, but when you get it, when you

1215
01:05:09,120 --> 01:05:13,920
Speaker 2: get it, it's like, you know, you think about I

1216
01:05:14,480 --> 01:05:17,440
Speaker 2: always think about I want to be a good teammate.

1217
01:05:17,840 --> 01:05:20,080
Speaker 2: You know that that was my That was my biggest thing.

1218
01:05:20,800 --> 01:05:23,040
Speaker 2: I want to be a good teammate. I want to

1219
01:05:23,120 --> 01:05:25,280
Speaker 2: I want to love my teammates. I want us to

1220
01:05:25,320 --> 01:05:28,560
Speaker 2: be so I think about all the relationships when you're

1221
01:05:28,560 --> 01:05:32,440
Speaker 2: standing at the podium. I think about the coaches who

1222
01:05:32,680 --> 01:05:34,840
Speaker 2: you know, who would pull you tother side and say, look,

1223
01:05:34,840 --> 01:05:36,320
Speaker 2: you don't need to be hanging. You don't need to

1224
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:38,280
Speaker 2: be smoking a weed. You need to be you know,

1225
01:05:38,320 --> 01:05:40,919
Speaker 2: you need to go to class. You know, you think

1226
01:05:40,960 --> 01:05:45,080
Speaker 2: about those people in your life when you're standing at

1227
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:47,520
Speaker 2: the Hall of Fame because that embodies a little more

1228
01:05:47,560 --> 01:05:50,840
Speaker 2: than just the play. Obviously, you gotta you gotta have

1229
01:05:50,880 --> 01:05:52,880
Speaker 2: the play to go with it, but there's a lot

1230
01:05:52,960 --> 01:05:56,120
Speaker 2: of people that that lifted you up and kept you,

1231
01:05:56,120 --> 01:05:58,600
Speaker 2: you know, kept you straight. You could have gone different

1232
01:05:58,800 --> 01:06:01,600
Speaker 2: different routes. So I think about those that That was

1233
01:06:01,640 --> 01:06:02,400
Speaker 2: what I thought about.

1234
01:06:02,640 --> 01:06:05,720
Speaker 1: I tell my kids all the time, like, man, it

1235
01:06:05,760 --> 01:06:08,080
Speaker 1: took a village for me to get here. So many

1236
01:06:08,120 --> 01:06:10,439
Speaker 1: people helped me along the way, and I was like, man,

1237
01:06:10,480 --> 01:06:12,480
Speaker 1: embrace the people. It's a lot of people who love

1238
01:06:12,520 --> 01:06:14,400
Speaker 1: and care about you, that want you to succeed.

1239
01:06:14,560 --> 01:06:16,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, so embrace it. And when you get older, you

1240
01:06:16,800 --> 01:06:18,360
Speaker 2: know we get older, you can make it. You can

1241
01:06:18,400 --> 01:06:21,120
Speaker 2: make this. Do what you want to do. I'm not

1242
01:06:21,160 --> 01:06:23,120
Speaker 2: trying to tell people what to do what not to do,

1243
01:06:23,520 --> 01:06:26,840
Speaker 2: but when you're fourteen, you're fifteen, you know you kind

1244
01:06:26,840 --> 01:06:29,160
Speaker 2: of need that. Yeah, you know, you kind of wild

1245
01:06:29,240 --> 01:06:31,480
Speaker 2: and trying to beat the life you're conforming you. You

1246
01:06:31,520 --> 01:06:33,439
Speaker 2: kind of need somebody to pull you to the side

1247
01:06:33,440 --> 01:06:34,600
Speaker 2: and say, yoall hey tell me this.

1248
01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:38,000
Speaker 3: Like you was a person that really got to see

1249
01:06:38,680 --> 01:06:42,840
Speaker 3: MJ come into college right then you left and you

1250
01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:45,120
Speaker 3: got to go to the NBA and you you big

1251
01:06:45,160 --> 01:06:48,320
Speaker 3: dog and winning chips, winning this and doing that. What

1252
01:06:48,440 --> 01:06:52,360
Speaker 3: was it to see the young freshman MJ coming to

1253
01:06:52,480 --> 01:06:54,880
Speaker 3: the league bug and you passoring you by one on

1254
01:06:54,880 --> 01:06:57,960
Speaker 3: ones and didn't see him coming to the league and

1255
01:06:58,920 --> 01:07:02,640
Speaker 3: become Michael Jordan aka his airness and all of it.

1256
01:07:02,760 --> 01:07:05,080
Speaker 3: He's become. Like what was it like to witness that?

1257
01:07:05,360 --> 01:07:07,640
Speaker 3: You know, it was like a meteoric rise. Like what

1258
01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:09,840
Speaker 3: was it like for you who knew him already, and

1259
01:07:10,280 --> 01:07:13,240
Speaker 3: you know, had some sentiments about what he had going,

1260
01:07:13,320 --> 01:07:15,120
Speaker 3: But like, what was it like to see that whole

1261
01:07:15,400 --> 01:07:17,520
Speaker 3: just development of Michael Jordan.

1262
01:07:17,960 --> 01:07:20,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, we called him Mike when he first came, it

1263
01:07:20,400 --> 01:07:23,840
Speaker 2: was Mike, and then he evolved into Michael. And I knew,

1264
01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:27,000
Speaker 2: I knew he was gonna be good. You know, I

1265
01:07:27,080 --> 01:07:31,520
Speaker 2: knew he was gonna be an All Star. You know,

1266
01:07:31,640 --> 01:07:35,400
Speaker 2: I had already played you know, against Clyde Drexler and

1267
01:07:35,440 --> 01:07:38,000
Speaker 2: you know some other you know, top guards. I said,

1268
01:07:38,040 --> 01:07:43,000
Speaker 2: Michael's gonna be good. I had no idea, right, I

1269
01:07:43,080 --> 01:07:47,080
Speaker 2: really didn't. I only played you know, four months, five

1270
01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:49,680
Speaker 2: six months of college with him, and we playing pick

1271
01:07:49,760 --> 01:07:52,800
Speaker 2: up games in it in the summertime, and he was

1272
01:07:52,840 --> 01:07:54,760
Speaker 2: still learning the game. Man. He was kind of like

1273
01:07:54,800 --> 01:07:56,880
Speaker 2: a late bloomer. He was, you know, he got once

1274
01:07:56,920 --> 01:07:59,200
Speaker 2: he got that science down in the theory, he didn't

1275
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:03,560
Speaker 2: have to you all his energy and Coach Smith helped

1276
01:08:03,600 --> 01:08:07,160
Speaker 2: him with that. And then he got the Chicago tried

1277
01:08:07,200 --> 01:08:09,360
Speaker 2: to do it all hurt, his foot got delayed a

1278
01:08:09,400 --> 01:08:13,400
Speaker 2: little bit. Then he started to continue because he's always

1279
01:08:13,400 --> 01:08:18,360
Speaker 2: been like his mind just won't stop. And he figured

1280
01:08:18,360 --> 01:08:20,360
Speaker 2: it out and I started to see I was like,

1281
01:08:20,520 --> 01:08:23,680
Speaker 2: it was maybe like his fifth year. I was like,

1282
01:08:25,560 --> 01:08:29,320
Speaker 2: he's elevating, Like it wasn't no peak yet. I said,

1283
01:08:29,320 --> 01:08:33,600
Speaker 2: he's steady. Yeah, late later than most. You know, I

1284
01:08:33,680 --> 01:08:35,519
Speaker 2: had mine in college and you know, came to the

1285
01:08:35,640 --> 01:08:40,720
Speaker 2: NBA and sustained it. But he was still elevating, and

1286
01:08:40,760 --> 01:08:44,120
Speaker 2: I was like, he is going to be, you know,

1287
01:08:44,520 --> 01:08:48,439
Speaker 2: multiple All Stars, MVP. I started thinking MVP candidate, stuff

1288
01:08:48,479 --> 01:08:50,680
Speaker 2: like that, and he surpassed all of that.

1289
01:08:50,920 --> 01:08:53,120
Speaker 3: When it came to the point because I remembered visically,

1290
01:08:53,200 --> 01:08:55,960
Speaker 3: I was sitting on my front room floor watching when

1291
01:08:56,040 --> 01:09:01,040
Speaker 3: y'all played in the finals. What was it like experiencing that,

1292
01:09:01,240 --> 01:09:04,360
Speaker 3: to know where he had come from, to see him, Okay,

1293
01:09:04,400 --> 01:09:06,760
Speaker 3: now he's about to conquer it and get to the

1294
01:09:06,760 --> 01:09:07,400
Speaker 3: top of the mountain.

1295
01:09:07,439 --> 01:09:10,639
Speaker 2: What was it like seeing that? Well, I know Michael,

1296
01:09:10,720 --> 01:09:14,519
Speaker 2: and I know when he gets his mind set, you know,

1297
01:09:14,640 --> 01:09:19,600
Speaker 2: he's he's committed. And we won game one, right, I

1298
01:09:19,720 --> 01:09:23,400
Speaker 2: remember I literally pushed him in the mouth, real tears.

1299
01:09:23,400 --> 01:09:25,680
Speaker 2: I cried and we limped in. I'm not I'm not

1300
01:09:25,760 --> 01:09:27,800
Speaker 2: saying the outcome would have been different, that we'd have

1301
01:09:27,800 --> 01:09:29,240
Speaker 2: been healthy, but it would have been nice to have

1302
01:09:29,280 --> 01:09:32,519
Speaker 2: been healthier. You know, Magic went down. Buying was hurt.

1303
01:09:32,520 --> 01:09:35,640
Speaker 2: I came in from the Portland series with a you know,

1304
01:09:35,880 --> 01:09:39,200
Speaker 2: olympy ankle, but I was grateful for it all. But

1305
01:09:39,320 --> 01:09:41,439
Speaker 2: that's not why we lost. You know, they were I mean,

1306
01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:45,360
Speaker 2: you know, you know Horace Grant, you know, you know Pipping,

1307
01:09:45,439 --> 01:09:48,720
Speaker 2: you know they had you know bjsh Yeah, you know

1308
01:09:48,840 --> 01:09:50,519
Speaker 2: Harper they had. That was like the year when we

1309
01:09:50,640 --> 01:09:54,280
Speaker 2: came and I was like, but I could tell Michael

1310
01:09:54,479 --> 01:09:59,080
Speaker 2: was thirsty. Man, he was thirsty, and you don't want

1311
01:09:59,080 --> 01:10:03,040
Speaker 2: to see him when he's real thirst and because Detroit

1312
01:10:03,120 --> 01:10:08,519
Speaker 2: had just killed him for years, had Jordan rules and

1313
01:10:08,640 --> 01:10:10,519
Speaker 2: he just it was just hardly. But once he got

1314
01:10:10,560 --> 01:10:14,560
Speaker 2: past them, uh and then you know he's getting a

1315
01:10:14,600 --> 01:10:14,960
Speaker 2: chance to.

1316
01:10:14,880 --> 01:10:17,680
Speaker 3: Play the Lakers and get your first one to get

1317
01:10:18,200 --> 01:10:20,599
Speaker 3: against Magic franchise.

1318
01:10:20,320 --> 01:10:22,639
Speaker 2: I was like, he don't need no more extra motivation.

1319
01:10:22,800 --> 01:10:25,960
Speaker 2: But you know, they were successful and you know, but

1320
01:10:26,000 --> 01:10:28,120
Speaker 2: they had a really good group of players. You know,

1321
01:10:28,160 --> 01:10:30,960
Speaker 2: Michael was obviously the head of that snake, but they

1322
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:33,040
Speaker 2: really had you know, they were good.

1323
01:10:33,320 --> 01:10:36,439
Speaker 1: Start bench trade. You got a trade person, you gotta

1324
01:10:36,479 --> 01:10:42,840
Speaker 1: start one. You gotta bench one. Iceman, doctor j Larry.

1325
01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:46,280
Speaker 2: Bird who do I start? Who do I bench? And

1326
01:10:46,320 --> 01:10:50,280
Speaker 2: who do you trade? Who do I trade? Okay, so

1327
01:10:53,960 --> 01:11:00,040
Speaker 2: Iceman is buckets anywhere on the floor. I told you

1328
01:11:00,120 --> 01:11:05,520
Speaker 2: I had one of my best defensive games ever against Iceman,

1329
01:11:05,600 --> 01:11:08,760
Speaker 2: and the sister coach, Bill Burker, came up to me

1330
01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:14,200
Speaker 2: and he's like, best defense ever against Ice. I've never

1331
01:11:14,240 --> 01:11:18,320
Speaker 2: seen anybody play defense against Ice like you did. You

1332
01:11:18,400 --> 01:11:21,120
Speaker 2: got through every pick, your hand was in his face,

1333
01:11:21,439 --> 01:11:24,720
Speaker 2: you were physical with him, You did everything. And I

1334
01:11:24,760 --> 01:11:27,160
Speaker 2: looked at Coach, I said, I said, Coach, he just

1335
01:11:27,240 --> 01:11:29,559
Speaker 2: dropped forty seven on my ass. What you're talking about?

1336
01:11:29,840 --> 01:11:32,040
Speaker 2: He said. Don't worry about the points, he said, don't

1337
01:11:32,040 --> 01:11:34,240
Speaker 2: worry about the points, just worry about the all right.

1338
01:11:34,680 --> 01:11:35,880
Speaker 2: So I gotta keep.

1339
01:11:35,760 --> 01:11:41,200
Speaker 4: Iceman, Ice starting Doctor jail Bird, but doctor.

1340
01:11:41,040 --> 01:11:48,200
Speaker 2: J Fan, you know, glide through the air aba days solid.

1341
01:11:50,200 --> 01:11:57,720
Speaker 2: But I gotta keep Larry because Doc didn't really have

1342
01:11:57,920 --> 01:12:02,920
Speaker 2: the outside shot. He could get to the bucket. Ice

1343
01:12:02,960 --> 01:12:07,559
Speaker 2: could do it all from anywhere. Larry could just flat

1344
01:12:07,600 --> 01:12:12,320
Speaker 2: out score and give you numbers and be talking shit.

1345
01:12:12,400 --> 01:12:14,559
Speaker 2: That's all about that. I won't want time.

1346
01:12:14,600 --> 01:12:17,639
Speaker 3: I got to follow up to that, like, was Larry

1347
01:12:17,760 --> 01:12:19,400
Speaker 3: really telling you what he was.

1348
01:12:19,360 --> 01:12:21,240
Speaker 2: About to do to you before he did.

1349
01:12:21,280 --> 01:12:24,000
Speaker 3: I've heard so many different stories, like what type of

1350
01:12:24,040 --> 01:12:27,240
Speaker 3: trash talk was you was y'all getting from Larry Bird?

1351
01:12:28,680 --> 01:12:32,360
Speaker 2: You know with the Lakers, he wasn't at his top

1352
01:12:32,400 --> 01:12:35,200
Speaker 2: of his game, but like Atlanta and teams like that.

1353
01:12:35,760 --> 01:12:39,040
Speaker 2: But there were times where he would come out of

1354
01:12:39,040 --> 01:12:40,840
Speaker 2: a time out. I remember this one time. He might

1355
01:12:40,880 --> 01:12:42,760
Speaker 2: have heard this before, because he did with a lot

1356
01:12:42,760 --> 01:12:46,960
Speaker 2: of people. I had to guard him, you know, the

1357
01:12:47,000 --> 01:12:49,200
Speaker 2: players coming, but he would tell you what was coming.

1358
01:12:49,920 --> 01:12:54,439
Speaker 2: He told you to play, you know, with DJ handling,

1359
01:12:54,720 --> 01:12:58,280
Speaker 2: Robert's gonna Michael's going to set a flash a pick

1360
01:12:58,360 --> 01:13:01,960
Speaker 2: for for Robert. But Robert, that's only to free him

1361
01:13:02,040 --> 01:13:04,960
Speaker 2: up to come and see the pick for me. And

1362
01:13:05,040 --> 01:13:10,479
Speaker 2: he says, if you trail, I'm on the trail into

1363
01:13:10,520 --> 01:13:15,040
Speaker 2: the lane, and she was a little floater, and he said,

1364
01:13:15,479 --> 01:13:17,360
Speaker 2: if you fucking pop, he said, if you try to

1365
01:13:17,360 --> 01:13:19,439
Speaker 2: get over the top, he said, I'm gona pop to

1366
01:13:19,479 --> 01:13:22,160
Speaker 2: that corner and bust a jumper on your fucking face.

1367
01:13:22,600 --> 01:13:27,040
Speaker 2: I'm like, fuck you, I'm all up on it. You know,

1368
01:13:27,160 --> 01:13:29,920
Speaker 2: I got his shirt tail, I'm holding it. You know,

1369
01:13:30,400 --> 01:13:34,639
Speaker 2: you know where I'm from. I'm from Gastonia. He sure enough, man,

1370
01:13:36,040 --> 01:13:38,880
Speaker 2: the ball comes in, DJ takes a couple of dribbils.

1371
01:13:39,439 --> 01:13:42,760
Speaker 2: I'm quick, I'm quick enough. I think I can get

1372
01:13:42,800 --> 01:13:46,519
Speaker 2: over the top. I get over the top. I get

1373
01:13:46,560 --> 01:13:49,240
Speaker 2: out there. But he pops to the corner and I'm running.

1374
01:13:49,280 --> 01:13:54,639
Speaker 2: He kind of waiting, you know, waiting. He was an asshole,

1375
01:13:55,560 --> 01:13:57,640
Speaker 2: but I would have to keep him, and you know,

1376
01:13:58,680 --> 01:14:00,400
Speaker 2: I have to keep Doc off the break. You know.

1377
01:14:00,439 --> 01:14:02,599
Speaker 2: He was one of my favorite players growing up, running

1378
01:14:02,600 --> 01:14:04,719
Speaker 2: the lane. But when you got a three point shooter,

1379
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:06,639
Speaker 2: you know, Larry Birry used to at the All Star

1380
01:14:06,720 --> 01:14:11,439
Speaker 2: Game for a few years. He would go into the

1381
01:14:11,479 --> 01:14:15,320
Speaker 2: locker room and all the contestants would be over there,

1382
01:14:15,520 --> 01:14:18,200
Speaker 2: three point contests. All the three point contestants would be

1383
01:14:18,240 --> 01:14:21,439
Speaker 2: sitting in there about to go out, and he would

1384
01:14:21,439 --> 01:14:23,360
Speaker 2: walk in. He did this for like three or three

1385
01:14:23,439 --> 01:14:27,200
Speaker 2: years in a row, and he was like, which one

1386
01:14:27,240 --> 01:14:29,360
Speaker 2: of y'all's coming in second? And then he would just

1387
01:14:29,400 --> 01:14:33,000
Speaker 2: walk out and win the damn thing. He was that good.

1388
01:14:33,040 --> 01:14:34,240
Speaker 2: I didn't like it, but he was.

1389
01:14:34,360 --> 01:14:36,400
Speaker 3: He was like he walk off with that one finger

1390
01:14:36,479 --> 01:14:39,439
Speaker 3: up on your finger before we get you up out

1391
01:14:39,439 --> 01:14:41,760
Speaker 3: of here. I would be remiss if We didn't ask

1392
01:14:41,840 --> 01:14:44,720
Speaker 3: you because I kind of know the story. I want

1393
01:14:44,720 --> 01:14:47,000
Speaker 3: to hear you tell it to everybody. Was number forty two.

1394
01:14:47,720 --> 01:14:50,599
Speaker 3: I got a cousin wore that. Rico Hill he wore

1395
01:14:50,680 --> 01:14:54,280
Speaker 3: forty two because James Big game. James had to had

1396
01:14:54,280 --> 01:14:57,160
Speaker 3: the sports illustrated on the wall, like he was one

1397
01:14:57,200 --> 01:14:59,639
Speaker 3: of the reasons why I respected and loved Joe game

1398
01:14:59,720 --> 01:15:03,240
Speaker 3: like that. Why did you choose jersey number forty two?

1399
01:15:04,120 --> 01:15:06,519
Speaker 2: You know? It was, it was, it was, It was

1400
01:15:06,560 --> 01:15:09,800
Speaker 2: really weird. I wore number fifty two my whole life, right,

1401
01:15:10,000 --> 01:15:12,240
Speaker 2: And when I came to the Lakers, Jamal Wilkes was

1402
01:15:12,280 --> 01:15:16,040
Speaker 2: fifty two. And you know, silk, you know, you can't

1403
01:15:16,080 --> 01:15:20,040
Speaker 2: you can't even first original stretch four. You can't even

1404
01:15:20,320 --> 01:15:23,040
Speaker 2: you know what was this movie? I can't think of

1405
01:15:23,080 --> 01:15:26,280
Speaker 2: his movie, but he was. He was drinking orange orange

1406
01:15:26,320 --> 01:15:28,920
Speaker 2: sodas in a movie back in the day. But anyway,

1407
01:15:29,520 --> 01:15:31,519
Speaker 2: corn Bread, earl and me check that out.

1408
01:15:31,640 --> 01:15:35,840
Speaker 3: Okay, right, Lawrence Fitzbrian, I'm a movie guy.

1409
01:15:36,240 --> 01:15:39,120
Speaker 2: Yeah go do y'all read? Sorry, young foul, But anyway,

1410
01:15:39,160 --> 01:15:42,840
Speaker 2: he had Jamal had fifty two. So I was just

1411
01:15:42,880 --> 01:15:45,000
Speaker 2: talking to my dad one day, you know, I had

1412
01:15:45,080 --> 01:15:47,080
Speaker 2: I hadn't arrived in LA yet. I was still in

1413
01:15:47,160 --> 01:15:49,360
Speaker 2: Chapel Hill, and I was like, well, Dad, you know,

1414
01:15:49,560 --> 01:15:51,519
Speaker 2: fifty two has come to an end. I think I'm

1415
01:15:51,520 --> 01:15:54,240
Speaker 2: gonna get forty forty. You know, I don't know. I

1416
01:15:54,240 --> 01:15:55,760
Speaker 2: didn't care. I just like, you know, I don't get

1417
01:15:55,800 --> 01:15:59,680
Speaker 2: something fifty four. I didn't. And my dad was a

1418
01:15:59,760 --> 01:16:04,400
Speaker 2: huge old Negro League baseball fan and up until the

1419
01:16:04,479 --> 01:16:07,360
Speaker 2: Jackie Robinson days, and he's like, he just said, what

1420
01:16:07,360 --> 01:16:10,200
Speaker 2: about Jackie? And I was like, at the time, I

1421
01:16:10,200 --> 01:16:12,760
Speaker 2: didn't know he was talking about Jackie Robinson. And I

1422
01:16:12,840 --> 01:16:16,280
Speaker 2: was like, who's Jackie. I said what we were talking about?

1423
01:16:16,280 --> 01:16:19,719
Speaker 2: He's like, yeah, Jackie. Then it hit me Jackie Robinson,

1424
01:16:20,800 --> 01:16:23,559
Speaker 2: and so I said, it's forty two available. I called

1425
01:16:23,640 --> 01:16:26,200
Speaker 2: him man, and he said yeah, So I got forty two.

1426
01:16:27,280 --> 01:16:29,920
Speaker 2: And then it picked up why did I choose forty two?

1427
01:16:29,960 --> 01:16:31,880
Speaker 2: And I started to tell the story. I started to

1428
01:16:31,880 --> 01:16:33,600
Speaker 2: get a little bit more respect because I knew that

1429
01:16:33,680 --> 01:16:36,840
Speaker 2: Jackie Robinson history, you know, I knew how great he

1430
01:16:36,920 --> 01:16:39,559
Speaker 2: was and all the you know, the sacrifices he made,

1431
01:16:40,240 --> 01:16:43,479
Speaker 2: and so people thought it was cool that I bore

1432
01:16:43,600 --> 01:16:47,200
Speaker 2: with Jason Jackie. Yeah, so I wore that with honor.

1433
01:16:48,120 --> 01:16:50,680
Speaker 3: That's a that's a definitely a salute man. This is

1434
01:16:51,560 --> 01:16:56,880
Speaker 3: big man. We got the old man some goggles up

1435
01:16:56,920 --> 01:16:58,479
Speaker 3: in his piece with you know what I'm saying, We

1436
01:16:58,520 --> 01:16:59,400
Speaker 3: got him in the building.

1437
01:16:59,400 --> 01:17:02,559
Speaker 2: We ad hey, man, we appreciate you the papers many'll

1438
01:17:02,800 --> 01:17:05,320
Speaker 2: y'all keep doing what you're doing, man, keep connecting, keep

1439
01:17:05,439 --> 01:17:09,760
Speaker 2: conversating and you know, bringing history from way back to

1440
01:17:09,880 --> 01:17:13,160
Speaker 2: now and it's a nice blend. We appreciate it. Appreciate

1441
01:17:13,160 --> 01:17:13,720
Speaker 2: what y'all doing.

1442
01:17:13,920 --> 01:17:16,720
Speaker 3: Definitely somebody who we grew up loving and learning the

1443
01:17:16,800 --> 01:17:18,800
Speaker 3: game from, and it's awesome for us to.

1444
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:20,439
Speaker 2: Be Definitely the reason I used to run.

1445
01:17:20,640 --> 01:17:24,720
Speaker 3: I was like, Yo, pops, Pops, I was sitting here

1446
01:17:24,720 --> 01:17:27,880
Speaker 3: with a big game, James, you feel me like real

1447
01:17:28,000 --> 01:17:31,360
Speaker 3: talk like this. This is special man. We appreciate y'all.

1448
01:17:31,400 --> 01:17:31,840
Speaker 3: Tap in.

1449
01:17:32,000 --> 01:17:34,200
Speaker 2: Tell all your uncles and grandfathers, everybody.

1450
01:17:34,280 --> 01:17:43,200
Speaker 3: I said, Yo, yeah, I want to thank y'all for

1451
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:46,280
Speaker 3: you'll continued support of the Knuckleheads podcast. Be sure to

1452
01:17:46,280 --> 01:17:48,880
Speaker 3: give us two taps by writing a reviewing rating five

1453
01:17:48,920 --> 01:17:51,640
Speaker 3: stars wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure to

1454
01:17:51,720 --> 01:17:54,200
Speaker 3: hit that subscribe button so you don't miss an episode.

1455
01:17:54,600 --> 01:17:56,880
Speaker 3: You can also watch all the episodes on the Players

1456
01:17:56,920 --> 01:18:00,400
Speaker 3: Tribute on YouTube page. Follow us on social media at

1457
01:18:00,479 --> 01:18:04,960
Speaker 3: Knuckleheads podcast enjoined our Knuckleheads Facebook group for exclusive content.

1458
01:18:05,120 --> 01:18:07,200
Speaker 3: Thanks again and all of our guests and fans. This

1459
01:18:07,240 --> 01:18:08,760
Speaker 3: wouldn't be possible without y'all.

1460
01:18:14,360 --> 01:18:20,400
Speaker 2: The Players Tribute dot com