Speaker 1: If you thought four hours a day, minutes a week
Speaker 1: was enough, think again. He's the last remnants of the
Speaker 1: old Republic, the sole fashion of fairness. He treats crackheads
Speaker 1: and the ghetto gutter the same as the rich pill
Speaker 1: poppers in the penthouse. The clearing House of Hot takes
Speaker 1: break free for something special. The Fifth Hour with Ben
Speaker 1: Maller starts right now as we are in the ale
Speaker 1: everywhere the vast and powerful and ever growing podcast empire
Speaker 1: here at I Heart Media. This is a spinoff show
Speaker 1: from the Overnight. You know that by now you downloaded it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, hopefully you have subscribed to the podcast and
Speaker 1: and give us a nice review that would help us
Speaker 1: out as well. As it is now eight days a week,
Speaker 1: this is being Friday, and sports back now, Basketball, baseball,
Speaker 1: and hockey all back converge. All the things are lining
Speaker 1: up for us. We're getting our sports back during the pandemic.
Speaker 1: And we do this podcast because four hours are not
Speaker 1: at off and management believes that we need to have
Speaker 1: the wisdom of David Gascon, who is right right over there.
Speaker 1: He's said yes, uh, and this is an interview podcast,
Speaker 1: so the rules are in an interview podcast you're not
Speaker 1: supposed to talk too much. At the beginning, I reclaim
Speaker 1: my time, Ben Mallery, I reclaimed my time. Is that
Speaker 1: how we do it here? How is that? Is that
Speaker 1: how that goes? So? I don't know. I was just
Speaker 1: taking notes from earlier in the week when we had
Speaker 1: congressional hearings with our Attorney general. Oh yeah, that was
Speaker 1: that was That was very enjoyable, very very stimulating. Uh uh.
Speaker 1: But before we tell you who we're talking to, you
Speaker 1: probably already know that if you looked at the podcast
Speaker 1: before you down about it. Most people do, but some
Speaker 1: people don't, so you'll be in for a surprise. You'll
Speaker 1: be in fir surprise. But follow us on social media.
Speaker 1: If you want to contribute to the podcast content, you
Speaker 1: can do that. If there's something you want us to
Speaker 1: do a rift about, you can email the show and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I'd like to hear you guys yap about so and
Speaker 1: so and so and so, etcetera, etcetera, and the the
Speaker 1: show email if you want to be part of it.
Speaker 1: Is the Real Fifth Hours Real Fifth Hour at gmail
Speaker 1: dot com, or you can hit us up on social media.
Speaker 1: I am available on Facebook page. We use a lot
Speaker 1: In fact, We actually post every Wednesday for content for
Speaker 1: the mail bag. Now are we coming up on Sunday?
Speaker 1: And it's Ben Mallor Show on Facebook. You can follow
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Speaker 1: is at Ben Maller and cameo if you want to
Speaker 1: personalize video message. It's not free, but it's not that expensive.
Speaker 1: Get a birthday bar mitzvah, wedding or you just want
Speaker 1: me to rant about something there, Uh, you can get
Speaker 1: that if you you would like that. Cameo dot com
Speaker 1: slash Ben Mallory. What do you got? Scon? On? How
Speaker 1: can people reach on Twitter at David Jay Gascon? Cameo
Speaker 1: at David Jay Gascon. Instagram is at Dave Gascon. And
Speaker 1: if we do connect, I will send you the finest
Speaker 1: pictures of all the food throughout the south Land. It's
Speaker 1: uh quite commendable. Yeah, well, I'm sure we'll get to
Speaker 1: that at some point in another podcast. What kind of
Speaker 1: loser Gascon is? And uh, you know, some people look
Speaker 1: at beautiful women, Guestcon looks at cheeseburgers. That's that's what
Speaker 1: he looks like. But let's get to it. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited we have one of our teammates, so our Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio teammates. You hear him on the weekends and
Speaker 1: contributing to shows calling in during the week Katino Mobley
Speaker 1: a long career in the NBA, mostly with the Rockets
Speaker 1: and the Clippers, and as as you know, I'm a
Speaker 1: Clipper apologist, and he was part of a very important
Speaker 1: era in Clipper basketball when they finally won a playoff series.
Speaker 1: The Clippers moved from Buffalo to San Diego and came
Speaker 1: the Clippers in the late nineteen seventies. And after that
Speaker 1: they had to walk around while they were playing with
Speaker 1: paper bags on their head. They were so terrible. They
Speaker 1: hadn't won a playoff series. And then, uh, it wasn't
Speaker 1: until Coatino Mobley arrived as a big free agent signing
Speaker 1: and joined forces with a couple of other guys that
Speaker 1: the Clippers had. In the O six playoffs, they beat
Speaker 1: Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets and that was the
Speaker 1: first time the franchise had ever won a playoffs. There's
Speaker 1: now the Clippers are one of the top teams. So
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta ask Aatino about that. But they
Speaker 1: had been in California for like twenty five years, over
Speaker 1: twenty five years, and they had never won a playoff series.
Speaker 1: But it listens big time. NBA is back and all
Speaker 1: the worlds are converging as far as activism in sports. Uh,
Speaker 1: but we welcome in now Coatino Mobley to the Fifth
Speaker 1: Hour with Ben Maller and David Guescon So Cotino, why
Speaker 1: don't we start with this? Sports are back, the NBA
Speaker 1: is back, but the pandemic is still going on. So
Speaker 1: how does this change the for you? Um? I think
Speaker 1: what it does is it changes your mindset. Right. You
Speaker 1: know you're not really focused on one thing. You have
Speaker 1: other distractions, whether it's basketball, baseball, right, different sports or
Speaker 1: different things that you're doing. Um, this second surge has
Speaker 1: put people back in the bubble right as far as
Speaker 1: like their own house and can't really do much. But
Speaker 1: at least you have, you know, some sports and other
Speaker 1: things to take your mind off of like concentrating on
Speaker 1: one thing, right, because sometimes when you you know, uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's like it's like the little kid in
Speaker 1: the room where it's dark. Right, if you keep staring
Speaker 1: at something, your your imagination, your mind is going to
Speaker 1: go crazy. Uh and and hopefully luckily we have sports
Speaker 1: now back so your mind doesn't go crazy sitting around
Speaker 1: not focus or anything, but all this so crazy stuff
Speaker 1: that's going on besides sports. Well, and then I mean
Speaker 1: continue the obvious follow up question would either you know,
Speaker 1: I get email from from guys that are very upset
Speaker 1: because it's like all of all of boards people do that.
Speaker 1: You're right, people tune in to kind of get their
Speaker 1: mind off stuff. And then a lot of these leagues
Speaker 1: are now including the NBA which is back now this weekend,
Speaker 1: are fully embracing the the activism while playing. Is how's
Speaker 1: this gonna go over? Continue? Are you played in the
Speaker 1: league for a long time in the NBA, I think
Speaker 1: this will this will work. And what kind of blowback
Speaker 1: is the NBA facing. Well, I don't think it's no
Speaker 1: blowback at all. I mean, listen, if you ended the day, uh,
Speaker 1: if you if you don't talk, if you if you
Speaker 1: don't use your platform, when do you use it? Right,
Speaker 1: You've got to use it when people are sitting there
Speaker 1: glued in. So it doesn't mean they always told us
Speaker 1: when we were younger. You know, if you go out
Speaker 1: of ten kids you know, maybe one or two of them,
Speaker 1: you can change their lives. So it's not saying that
Speaker 1: because you pay Black Lives Matter on the on the ground,
Speaker 1: or because it's just peaceful protesting or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: that everybody's going to change right away. That's not how
Speaker 1: it works, right, But you still have to make it
Speaker 1: a point, right, You have to you have to make
Speaker 1: it a point. You have to keep it in there.
Speaker 1: The ears of you. You hear about all these different
Speaker 1: types of struggles, whether it's uh, you know, black and
Speaker 1: brown people or Jewish people back when it's the Holocaust.
Speaker 1: You you constantly keep hearing all of those different things.
Speaker 1: And when it does is a build awareness. And that's
Speaker 1: what I think we need to have. It's to be
Speaker 1: able to build awareness because I think we can multitask
Speaker 1: as as a society and say, you know what, we
Speaker 1: can have fun, and while we're having fun, we have
Speaker 1: to stay aware that these things are happening. So once
Speaker 1: I'm finished having fun, let me go to this part
Speaker 1: and say, let me help a friend of mine that's
Speaker 1: um Jewish struggle, or help a friend of mine that's
Speaker 1: black and brown that's struggle. To help a friend of
Speaker 1: mine that's you know whatever that's struggling. Like I think
Speaker 1: we can all do that, but you know, I don't think. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, not putting those things out there is helping either,
Speaker 1: because you know, out of sight, out of mind. And
Speaker 1: that's the big problem when it comes to the the
Speaker 1: systematic racism and all these different things like, oh, that's enough,
Speaker 1: racism was back slaving way back. That's not always true, right,
Speaker 1: two things can be true. It was slavery was before,
Speaker 1: but it's still racism. It's still these different things. It's
Speaker 1: still all these things that are going on if we
Speaker 1: just ignore them. Right, we sit in our households and uh,
Speaker 1: it's uncomfortable for the parents to explain. How do you
Speaker 1: get it through? You have to always say this in life,
Speaker 1: You've got to put yourself in an uncomfortable position in
Speaker 1: the beginning, so later on, when things are uncomfortable, you
Speaker 1: are comfortable. You have to understand things in life. It's
Speaker 1: not just because I'm Italian, or because I'm black, or
Speaker 1: because I'm right, because I'm agent. That's some thing I
Speaker 1: told focus on. You should focus on humanity as a
Speaker 1: whole and try to, you know, put profession on those
Speaker 1: who don't want us to be together. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch live editions of The Ben Miller Show weekdays at
Speaker 1: two a m. Eastern eleven pm pas Effect on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Well, and
Speaker 1: it isn't I can really understand that. But I get
Speaker 1: email all the time from from people you know that
Speaker 1: are saying their forties or fifties or whatever that love
Speaker 1: sports and grew up. And I think we can all
Speaker 1: agree that sports has really tried to on the court
Speaker 1: or on the field, stayed away from that and tried
Speaker 1: to be a uniting place. And there's people now that
Speaker 1: are like, hey, I'm I'm not gonna watch and I'm
Speaker 1: out of it, and and so what what would you
Speaker 1: tell the people listening to this podcast that? And we
Speaker 1: have many of them continue They're like, hey, I love sports,
Speaker 1: but I can't watch if they politicize sports. What do
Speaker 1: you say to that person? I mean teachers, all, uh,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know what to tell you. Right,
Speaker 1: If listening to those types of people, what are you
Speaker 1: doing when you're not watching the sports? Are you finding
Speaker 1: for great causes for women rights that you do for this?
Speaker 1: For that? Are you doing those type of things because
Speaker 1: of the they're sitting, you're saying, I just want to
Speaker 1: watch sports. Cool, watch the sports. Right. It's it's not
Speaker 1: like when Lebron James shooting the three that they're saying
Speaker 1: black lives matter after shoot the three, Like, let's not
Speaker 1: get this twisted, right, Like because they maybe meal or
Speaker 1: on together in the very beginning of a game back there,
Speaker 1: then the game starts baseball, basketball, whatever, and when football
Speaker 1: comes whatever. But to say you don't want to see that,
Speaker 1: I think that's just that's it's defensitizing, right, It's insensitive
Speaker 1: as a person, right, I just don't Again, each his own,
Speaker 1: They could be whoever they want. I would love to
Speaker 1: do evaluation on them about their lives and how they
Speaker 1: they you know, how they run their lives. Uh, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter to me. They're not paying my mortgage or
Speaker 1: I'm not paying there, so they can they can say
Speaker 1: and do what they feel like doing. But I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a right thing for humanity, right, a right
Speaker 1: thing for humanity. So that's just my opinion. I mean,
Speaker 1: people have different opinions on it, and you know there
Speaker 1: are the views say, you know it sports people too,
Speaker 1: and they don't want all that they just want to
Speaker 1: watch the game and all that. Man. My advice Katino
Speaker 1: had been like, if you don't like that, they just
Speaker 1: tune in right when the game starts. Then you don't
Speaker 1: have to see it because most of the show's gonna happen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna happen before the game two hours. You might
Speaker 1: get five minutes or something. So you focused on the
Speaker 1: five minutes, you could tell about their mindsets. If you're
Speaker 1: focused on five minutes opposed to two hours of basketball. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm right, I'm right there. I mean listen as far
Speaker 1: as the what I'm gonna do, I don't know. You know,
Speaker 1: tune in right when the game starts and uh and
Speaker 1: you know you played in the NBA. The NBA isn't
Speaker 1: really doesn't. Games don't really get going until the game progresses,
Speaker 1: right the early parts kind of a feeling out process usually,
Speaker 1: and then you kinda then you kind of get going
Speaker 1: on that as well. Uh now, now what about this
Speaker 1: just the bubble concept, Coatino is we'll talk about the
Speaker 1: actual basketball part of I guess in the in the bubble,
Speaker 1: which doesn't sound that bad. I've looked at some of
Speaker 1: the videos and some of the images and it seems
Speaker 1: like it's a pretty good it's a Mickey Mouse resort
Speaker 1: there in Orlando. These guys are not exactly roughing at Gatino. No,
Speaker 1: these guys have taken ride there and you know, listen,
Speaker 1: there's no there's no waiting in the line to get
Speaker 1: on rides. I know that much. You know, guys are
Speaker 1: hanging out, having fun to comaraderie. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: a you camp, you know, five Star Nike camp, you know,
Speaker 1: all these different types of camp, but you just secluded
Speaker 1: right and the televised so you know where. We've been
Speaker 1: used to this since we were little kids, being confined
Speaker 1: within our own little group and playing blah blah blah blah. Listen.
Speaker 1: It won't last forever but for right now, and that's
Speaker 1: what it is, and we just have to deal with it.
Speaker 1: Continue jumping in here on this. I guess the one
Speaker 1: question to have with regards to the bubble is this
Speaker 1: is if you are if you're talking to some of
Speaker 1: these college prospects that either had limited time or their
Speaker 1: seasons were wiped out. Obviously the n C Double A
Speaker 1: tournaments canceled this year, what advice do you give them
Speaker 1: if they're thinking about you know, foregoing an extra year
Speaker 1: going to the G League or potentially getting drafted next year,
Speaker 1: do you tell them to sit out? Because obviously we
Speaker 1: don't have a vaccine yet, wenna have a cure yet.
Speaker 1: So like, what would you tell someone that's on the
Speaker 1: outen up that could be potentially a freshman or just
Speaker 1: a sophomore at a at A Kentucky or a San
Speaker 1: Diego State or us A. Like, what kind of advice
Speaker 1: do you give them given the fact these circumstances still
Speaker 1: we have no end in sight yet. Well, listen, there's
Speaker 1: there's nothing more serious. See again, some people may think
Speaker 1: I'm insensitive when I speak about this at the moment,
Speaker 1: but I'm a I'm a proven in fact of I
Speaker 1: came into an NBA uh and my first physical it
Speaker 1: was adoptining Anthony Specifical. He was a cardiologist, one of
Speaker 1: the best in the world. He was in Houston, and
Speaker 1: in Houston Rockets had him um as a retainer or
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. Um and um. You know,
Speaker 1: there was of misreading in my heart. It was you know,
Speaker 1: athletes heart, it was you know, it was you could die.
Speaker 1: This is a little strange. What's going on? I monitor you,
Speaker 1: I believe in you. How do you feel you're asymptomatic? Okay,
Speaker 1: you don't let you play. He could have said, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm so scared you can't play, but I'm
Speaker 1: giving a decision to yourself. How do you feel do
Speaker 1: you trust yourself? I said yes. From then on them
Speaker 1: were really close. And do you know Contino movie through
Speaker 1: this day right now? Because of that. So I say
Speaker 1: that to say, you just gotta trust yourself, take your vitamins,
Speaker 1: exercise your zinc, your waters, try to be as disciplined
Speaker 1: as you can as an individual. But don't live in fear.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a good thing, right, And don't
Speaker 1: overthink When you do something, commit to it and there's
Speaker 1: trust the process and thens live with the results. That's it.
Speaker 1: So on that note, then would you would you recommend
Speaker 1: these young prospects to stay in college an extra year
Speaker 1: or do you feel like taking that jump and even
Speaker 1: if you're not getting drafted, like going to the G
Speaker 1: League right away? Do you feel that's an adequate approach
Speaker 1: compared to staying in college ball? Now? I don't. I
Speaker 1: know they will have the opportunity to go to find
Speaker 1: but I think college is a great situation and a
Speaker 1: great experience for a lot of the young kids, right, Like,
Speaker 1: don't rush so much to be a grown up. It's
Speaker 1: not the coolest thing in the world. Right, So if
Speaker 1: you could stay in college and have fun and then
Speaker 1: grow as a human beings, then do that. But to
Speaker 1: go out there and and and try to fight for
Speaker 1: and do something as far as going to the league
Speaker 1: in NBA, it's only four and eight seven something NBA
Speaker 1: players in the world, right and then G League is
Speaker 1: a certain level. Like I don't to each his own,
Speaker 1: I don't know everybody else's pockets. I don't know how
Speaker 1: their family's structure is and whether they need money, and
Speaker 1: this little bit of money can help for right now,
Speaker 1: I have no clue, But what I say is for
Speaker 1: you know, just whatever you choose that follow through. You
Speaker 1: know what I've learned, especially my son, of my old
Speaker 1: son right now, a lot of his age back from
Speaker 1: like that twenty something years old down. If something doesn't work,
Speaker 1: they quit that team, then they're going to go to
Speaker 1: another team, and there that coach is not cool. He's
Speaker 1: not playing me in the parents of this last and
Speaker 1: then they go to another team. It's just like too much,
Speaker 1: quitting too much. Um, this is not perfect. I need
Speaker 1: to go somewhere else. That's not how I was raised.
Speaker 1: You fight through these different things right to figure out
Speaker 1: understand your character faster in a younger age. So you
Speaker 1: want to go through all these bumps and bruises the
Speaker 1: older you get. So you know that's just my Why
Speaker 1: do you think kids are giving up so much these days?
Speaker 1: But I have options? Right, everybody wants to sugarcoat and
Speaker 1: everybody deserves the trophy. Uh, mom wants to step in,
Speaker 1: the dad wants to say that, you know, my kid
Speaker 1: needs to play, and it's that whatever and all this nepotism,
Speaker 1: and you know this kid's father is this or you
Speaker 1: know I need to go do this, and you know
Speaker 1: I can play you over here. You don't want to
Speaker 1: play over there. It's not helping build character, a strong character.
Speaker 1: So you know, Michael Jordan's for a rookie years joining
Speaker 1: it is safe for your options. So if you've got
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of options, then of course you're gonna
Speaker 1: just right. If I only got one pair of brown
Speaker 1: shoes to wear for my suit, I'm not gonna sit
Speaker 1: here and be staring at my class for five and
Speaker 1: two minutes. So I figure out, we'll kind of shoot
Speaker 1: them where I'm gonna wear the brown peer. That's it.
Speaker 1: But if I got five or six different brown peer,
Speaker 1: not a figure out. Okay, that was with a tassel.
Speaker 1: That's just a slip on. This is a tie. This
Speaker 1: is cutting this too much, too much, especially a young
Speaker 1: age trying to make a decision, critical thinking, it's just
Speaker 1: too much. Yeah, I'm right there, and this time we're
Speaker 1: around the same age, Contino. I think we might be
Speaker 1: the same age. So I was raised similarly. Hey, when
Speaker 1: you have adversity had overcoming? More importantly, though, we heard
Speaker 1: was that was that a phone? Or it seemed like
Speaker 1: maybe a pet was behind you or something. We're like
Speaker 1: a clicking sound. Was there any ambient noise behind you
Speaker 1: that you noticed, Contino? Is there an animal there or
Speaker 1: some kind of odd thing in the room? No? No, no, ok, alright,
Speaker 1: my dogs, but there's there's literally laying down sleeping. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard, I heard the noise that it might have
Speaker 1: been something. But all right. Nonetheless, so you mentioned earlier
Speaker 1: your your heart condition and that eventually led to your
Speaker 1: NBA career ending. I believe. How how is that going
Speaker 1: for you. How how has that changed? Has it changed
Speaker 1: your life dramatically just living day to day? Is it?
Speaker 1: Are you past that now? And and how's give us
Speaker 1: the update on that. Well, it was a misdiagnosis, but
Speaker 1: it did change my I guess you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: think about it was my ninth year, uh, because I
Speaker 1: was at twelve thousand points in nine years, I was
Speaker 1: one of the top of my class as far as points, rebounds, assists, everything.
Speaker 1: So you know Paul Pierce and those a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys, you know, they got to play another ten
Speaker 1: eleven years or whatever it is. And a couple of guys,
Speaker 1: you know one you know, championships, Dusan Whisky and you
Speaker 1: know Page ship Acumage went over there, and you know
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd, and you know, I missed those opportunities. So
Speaker 1: as far as changing my my history at basketball, that
Speaker 1: changed that because I could have done more. But as
Speaker 1: far as my life, like it was a misdiagnosis so
Speaker 1: far of my life, I still work out, I still play,
Speaker 1: I still do everything normal. So be sure to catch
Speaker 1: live editions of The Ben Maller Show week days at
Speaker 1: two am Eastern Pacific. There you go, let's go. So
Speaker 1: they got it wrong, all right, And and now you
Speaker 1: were on that Clipper team. You were there kind of
Speaker 1: in a transition when the Clippers went from terrible to
Speaker 1: to a good team. That that Elton brain. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: you wasn't name transition when I got there, named Sanpatha
Speaker 1: and I put us in the playoffs. That's it. So
Speaker 1: I I changed it. Well, the transition part, I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I wasn't near what they was losing. So you were
Speaker 1: not you were not in that I thought you The
Speaker 1: first was the first year was the first year wasn't bad?
Speaker 1: They were good right away? Okay, so they were good
Speaker 1: right away. My year when I first got there, when
Speaker 1: I signed what I came from Houston to Sacramento and
Speaker 1: then I signed a free agent with the Clippers was
Speaker 1: oh five oh six. And that's when we went to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, that's true. And that was the team that
Speaker 1: beat the Nuggets in the in the play That was
Speaker 1: the first first. That was the first time the Clippers
Speaker 1: had ever won a playoff series. Uh uh, that was why.
Speaker 1: And now, now, Katino, when you look at the Clippers
Speaker 1: before you got there, they had kind of a stigment.
Speaker 1: You were responsible for them turning it around in that period,
Speaker 1: and now now they're now they're one of the favorite
Speaker 1: How weird is it to see the Clippers who were
Speaker 1: the the laughing stock for so long when you first
Speaker 1: got into the league, and now they're considered one of
Speaker 1: the top teams. It's it's an odd juxtaposition from where
Speaker 1: they had been. Do you have some pride in that
Speaker 1: as a guy that was there when they started becoming
Speaker 1: a good sure? No, for sure, I definitely have pride
Speaker 1: in it. Um. There was friends that guys who ever
Speaker 1: looked up to me or was my peers at that time,
Speaker 1: uh that said, you know what, this is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I mean we are in l A and we can
Speaker 1: be able to fight and have fun and blah blah
Speaker 1: blah and compete. Uh and and and that for me,
Speaker 1: it uh yeah, that makes me feel a lot better
Speaker 1: because now it's the It's the cool thing to do
Speaker 1: now is to go play for the Clippers. So you know,
Speaker 1: I took that chance being a top three agent back
Speaker 1: in oh five or six, Um, and I trusted in
Speaker 1: my up, my ability. I trusted that up in brand
Speaker 1: and court macgetty, I can help them, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and uh you know when I had sand Fazel, one
Speaker 1: of my close friends come with me. You know, it
Speaker 1: was just from from the older. It's just what it
Speaker 1: is now. I was out covering. I covered the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and I started at the sports arena, the mausoleum there
Speaker 1: and then the transition to Staples Center. But I know
Speaker 1: everyone always had stories about Donald Sterling, the now infamous owner.
Speaker 1: You played, you played when he owned the team. I
Speaker 1: I I had heard stories from guys, you know, weird stuff.
Speaker 1: Did anything odd happen when you were playing while Sterling
Speaker 1: on the team? Is there anything you can share with
Speaker 1: us that you recall That was kind of like, wait
Speaker 1: a minute, what's going on with this guy? Yeah? You
Speaker 1: know what I wished I could, but that was he's
Speaker 1: never done anything wrong, bad or anything to me strange.
Speaker 1: So anything to me strange. So for me, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't even have a story. He was really nice
Speaker 1: all the time. Um, you know, so I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't really make up a story on something that she like,
Speaker 1: there's there's people have other experiences, whether it's landlord or
Speaker 1: tickets that can give people and blah blah. I've never
Speaker 1: experienced anything back. Okay, all right, well let's go because
Speaker 1: I've heard some some crazy stuff and I don't know
Speaker 1: how much of that's embellished and how much of that
Speaker 1: is just based in in reality uh and all that.
Speaker 1: So uh as far as the clips in general, you know,
Speaker 1: because you're one of your former teams, they're I feel
Speaker 1: like they're built for the bubble. Having Kauai, you know
Speaker 1: some of these guys you know from playing in the
Speaker 1: in the league that some players really feed off the
Speaker 1: crowd and need that to energize them, like I don't.
Speaker 1: Kauai is one of those guys. So, uh, you know
Speaker 1: our player is gonna be exposed here. Did you know
Speaker 1: the guys that need the crowd to fire them up?
Speaker 1: I would think that would be the case. How do
Speaker 1: you think this is gonna go down? Well? No, I
Speaker 1: mean we listen, we don't use crowds. And summertime, we're
Speaker 1: working out and we're in our you know, we're in
Speaker 1: our zones, we're in ours old so uh, the crowd
Speaker 1: would be great. Well, we you know, we work in
Speaker 1: a lab by ourselves. Anyway, we don't have a crowd,
Speaker 1: so you know, um, when that time comes for the crowd.
Speaker 1: Did it happened? But right now we're used to playing
Speaker 1: in uh secluded Jim's continue when you look at it
Speaker 1: and how that things are broken down right now to
Speaker 1: Obviously everyone's making a big deal of the Clippers, the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and Ben's a huge Clipper apologist, but out of the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference with Milwaukee have given the fact that had
Speaker 1: so much time off, would you be surprised if they
Speaker 1: didn't get there? No, I wouldn't be surprised. Best love
Speaker 1: of rhythm sport. And at the moment it's it's it's
Speaker 1: weird because of the pandemic and then shut down and
Speaker 1: then back and before this all happened, those guys wasn't
Speaker 1: It wasn't a consistency of all the guys on the
Speaker 1: floor at the same time. So, I mean, but just
Speaker 1: because you have I mean, let's in Portland, trouble is
Speaker 1: in early two Thousand's had a monster team. Things happen.
Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings had a monster team. Things happens because you
Speaker 1: have the best talent and the best guy. That doesn't
Speaker 1: mean it's still a unit. So someone has to suffer.
Speaker 1: It's just that's what it is. But they have the
Speaker 1: pieces to win the championship. So you know, we just
Speaker 1: have to see how how fast they gelled together. And
Speaker 1: it's it's not just about the talent, man, it's it's group.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of luck that goes involved in a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff. So I guess, anybody at the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: is there anyone that you like in particular where to go?
Speaker 1: Milwaukee to start, and then potentially Boston and maybe Toronto, Like,
Speaker 1: is there a pecking order in the East that you
Speaker 1: you feel more inclined to go with as opposed to
Speaker 1: another yob you hit it on the head, right, there's
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee's, there's the Boston's, this Toronto, there's Miami heat.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a Sixers And that's what idea of
Speaker 1: the top five right there there there the five horsemen.
Speaker 1: So you know, again, like I said before, if that
Speaker 1: ball don't bounce in on Kawhi Leonard, the Sixers of
Speaker 1: being the Eastern Conference finals, right, So I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know Toronto, you know, I just it's all the
Speaker 1: guessing games and in the playoffs it's it's matchups. So
Speaker 1: it's not like Toronto dominated the Sixers. They won with
Speaker 1: you know, two, one, two three for a bounce ball
Speaker 1: in Boom series is going right like it's not like
Speaker 1: a you know, it's not a domination, so it can
Speaker 1: go either way. Speaking of guessing, for the life of me,
Speaker 1: I just can't understand the love affair with being in
Speaker 1: New York with the Knicks and Tom Thibodeau has now
Speaker 1: agreed to jump on board for five years. Does he
Speaker 1: fix this organization or they need to complete overhaul, new
Speaker 1: ownership and everything shopped from the top down. I think
Speaker 1: they need a new ownership. But he an amazing coach.
Speaker 1: He was my coach in two thousand and four with
Speaker 1: the Rockets, So I think they need new ownership. Uh,
Speaker 1: or give him the keys to run everything and Bland
Speaker 1: just hides in a you know where bear sleep at
Speaker 1: but uh, you know what I mean, So I don't again,
Speaker 1: I I'm not a fan of Dolan because he's one
Speaker 1: of the reasons, um while I wasn't playing. But you know,
Speaker 1: as far as the organization, you don't have that many
Speaker 1: great players and you know, you guys can't get it,
Speaker 1: can't get it together. Be sure to catch live editions
Speaker 1: of The Ben Maller Show weekdays at two am Eastern Pacife. Well,
Speaker 1: and continue, I'll go back to the to the bubble thing,
Speaker 1: and the popular opinion has been in the NBA, the
Speaker 1: hardest thing about the NBA Playoffs are actually related. It's
Speaker 1: the it's the travel, and then as it relates as
Speaker 1: it relates to that, it's the home court advantage and
Speaker 1: having to go on the road and and win in
Speaker 1: a a game late in the series. So with no
Speaker 1: home court advantage and no travel other than from your
Speaker 1: hotel room to the arena in Orlando, how much does
Speaker 1: this change the variables in the NBA playoffs this year?
Speaker 1: Is it now truly a level playing field for everyone?
Speaker 1: Even the bad teams have have more of a chance
Speaker 1: now because of the setup. Yeah, well, you know what
Speaker 1: it's called. I think it favors the veterans, truthfully, more mentally, mentally,
Speaker 1: truthfully more um, it would favor the veterans more rest,
Speaker 1: you know, and things like that. So you know, I
Speaker 1: don't again, it's it's it's a very tricky situation where
Speaker 1: you're dealing with this, because that can concentrate a lot
Speaker 1: more than the younger guys. Younger guy needs more stimulation
Speaker 1: unless you're you know, young Kobe Bryant where you never
Speaker 1: went out and these guys are not like that, you know,
Speaker 1: or taking care of your body rest in the right way.
Speaker 1: Even if you're in the room and you're hanging out
Speaker 1: on the on the bubble, doesn't mean you're really getting
Speaker 1: the proper rest that you should write. Some people just
Speaker 1: go crazy. They can't sleep, They need to go out,
Speaker 1: they need to do this, you know, lou Williams of
Speaker 1: the world needs to go get some chicken wings, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, some people just do stuff
Speaker 1: like that. So yeah, you know, I would give the
Speaker 1: apprehensive e vets because they understand it more and they
Speaker 1: you know that that window is closing, so they want
Speaker 1: to take the full advantage. Yeah, and then continue I
Speaker 1: would ask you about the officiating because they has always
Speaker 1: been this great debate about, you know, NBA officiating. The
Speaker 1: star players get the calls and all that, but there's
Speaker 1: also and I've I've read studies on this over the years,
Speaker 1: that the officials feed off the crowd that oftentimes home
Speaker 1: court advantage or home field advantage, a lot of it
Speaker 1: is the officials kind of sighting if it's a fifty
Speaker 1: fifty call with the home crowd and again, I go
Speaker 1: back to what I said there there is no home crowd.
Speaker 1: There's no crowd at these games in Orlando. Do you
Speaker 1: think this is gonna change the way games are officiated
Speaker 1: in the NBA? How do you think that's gonna go down?
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I know I think. Um, when
Speaker 1: you're looking at the teams now, players now, referees now,
Speaker 1: they're a little younger, it's a different mindset. When I
Speaker 1: was younger, the referees honored hustle. Right, if you're working hard.
Speaker 1: If you're not working hard, then you know it, Rochelle. Nowadays,
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't really know that the nature of
Speaker 1: these referees um. And I'm not saying anything bad about them.
Speaker 1: I just don't, you know, not anything right, I will
Speaker 1: it change it because the fans, uh will influence it?
Speaker 1: Maybe right? It may be, but you gotta think about it.
Speaker 1: The referees are human, so they have favorites, regardless to
Speaker 1: They think they're neutral, that I'm neutral and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: not for anybody. That's not true. That's not true. They
Speaker 1: have fans, they have they're fan themselves, right, So you're
Speaker 1: you're referee, but you don't like basketball of course you're like, well,
Speaker 1: what do you like about basketball? I like the players? Okay,
Speaker 1: what players are you like? They can't tell you that
Speaker 1: because of the conflict of interest, but they have their favorites, right,
Speaker 1: That's just what it is like. You can't say you
Speaker 1: don't like something but you're involved in it. That just
Speaker 1: doesn't make sense. Well, exactly mean people, Yeah, people are
Speaker 1: buying whatever I mean because of how you grow up
Speaker 1: or whatever and the people around you. That obviously sets
Speaker 1: the tone. When you were playing though back in the day,
Speaker 1: did you guys have conversations in the locker room about
Speaker 1: about this topic? Did this come up in the locker room?
Speaker 1: You're talking about the officials and going into a game
Speaker 1: what you thought mine or might not happen. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it was referees that you stay away from, and then
Speaker 1: there was there was re freeon that you stay away
Speaker 1: from the Joe Proffers of the world, right because he's
Speaker 1: not having it, you know, Holland to Holland's you know,
Speaker 1: he's just certain. But then you had to dig Prevetas
Speaker 1: and you know, all those guys like that were amazing
Speaker 1: and beautiful. But again, it's just it's just knowing the
Speaker 1: referees personalities and respecting them and they respect you did
Speaker 1: anyone when when you were you played in your career.
Speaker 1: I imagine Tim donnighe the the infamous official. Uh, he
Speaker 1: probably officiated some of your games somewhere along the way there.
Speaker 1: Did you have any evening, any inkling that something might
Speaker 1: be going on in the game you played in that Donnie,
Speaker 1: he was the official, Katina, I didn't. I didn't. I didn't.
Speaker 1: I truthfully, I was so engaged in the game and
Speaker 1: I'll try my best time to keep you take them personal,
Speaker 1: you know, but I didn't even think anything. I mean,
Speaker 1: if I go back now and see questionable calls, you
Speaker 1: can do that and just you know, go crazy. But
Speaker 1: it is what it is that happens. Yeah, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I I've actually wanted I want to ask you.
Speaker 1: But you played on the Rockets when you came into
Speaker 1: the league, right, I believe you were on the team
Speaker 1: with Barkley and Pippen right in that in that time frame.
Speaker 1: I believe that to be correct. So yeah, I was Barkley,
Speaker 1: pip Yeah, I mean legend legends, legends of the game,
Speaker 1: and that team had such high expectations. Why why didn't
Speaker 1: that dynamic work of team right, and it's not what
Speaker 1: do you mean, no, but but but he's nine hundred pounds,
Speaker 1: he's forty something we're talking about. Well, no, but there,
Speaker 1: but the media had built up I remember the media
Speaker 1: is all it doesn't that doesn't matter what the media said.
Speaker 1: STI Piper was still in his his bag where he
Speaker 1: could have contributed. He went the next year to Portland's.
Speaker 1: Those guys did well, but they had too many players.
Speaker 1: You need about eight to nine guys. They had too
Speaker 1: many players, so that's probably why they did. It worked well.
Speaker 1: But Scotty was a real form. It was just that
Speaker 1: you know, at that point in time. Do you think
Speaker 1: about it's not like the offenses now, those guys are
Speaker 1: clogging to paint right, one guy's on one side, the
Speaker 1: other guys on the other side. There, well, you have
Speaker 1: old superstars. Is very hard to play with, very hard
Speaker 1: because they think they can do the same things they
Speaker 1: were doing way back in the day. That's how it works, Katina.
Speaker 1: Do you think the game obviously it's drastically different from
Speaker 1: those years, But do you think the game is better
Speaker 1: now than it ever has been before? No? No, I
Speaker 1: don't you're taking away too many different things in basketball,
Speaker 1: the mid range, the post ups, right, aggressiveness, taking me
Speaker 1: too many things. I don't think it's better than it was. No,
Speaker 1: Is that because you know the Steph Curry effect and
Speaker 1: what he did at Davidson? Or do you feel like
Speaker 1: the game from college has just gotten away from the
Speaker 1: fundamentals and now everything is perimeter shooting from now on? Well? No,
Speaker 1: I mean you have these M I. T. Guys that's
Speaker 1: never played basketball in life that come with these statistics.
Speaker 1: You know, it's crazy stuff. You know, they can't even
Speaker 1: get two points in the gym by themselves, but yet
Speaker 1: the set they want to pull up and everybody is
Speaker 1: all about these different types of status and its cycle.
Speaker 1: You know. Again, I have my I have my own
Speaker 1: beliefs about that, but I think basketball, you know, you
Speaker 1: should be scoring from all different levels, and a lot
Speaker 1: of the players don't do that. Fox Sports Radio has
Speaker 1: the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all
Speaker 1: of our shows at Fox sports Radio dot com and
Speaker 1: within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
Speaker 1: to listen live. Yeah, when you you played with the Lija,
Speaker 1: when he said he was at the end of his
Speaker 1: he is there is there a place for a guy
Speaker 1: like Elijah One now? And as you said, the NBA
Speaker 1: game has seen so much that they don't want they
Speaker 1: would want Elijah One shooting three pointers now right if
Speaker 1: he was playing in the NBA. It's it's it's odd.
Speaker 1: This era is so much different. But do you think
Speaker 1: a guy like Elijah One could have made it even
Speaker 1: with all this jump shooting and just stand outside and
Speaker 1: a couple of passes three point shot? Could he have
Speaker 1: made it in this type of basketball? For a fact?
Speaker 1: I mean he was agile, he was fast, and you know,
Speaker 1: he had moves. I mean he was amazing. He was amazing,
Speaker 1: especially in his his his other years. Did he teach
Speaker 1: you any of those moves? I know he was obviously
Speaker 1: a big guy. But the dream shake, right, that was
Speaker 1: his favorite. I got my post up from him. Are
Speaker 1: you taking? You always just say, oh, you need a
Speaker 1: little bit of separation, and it works every single time.
Speaker 1: Is he that you played with a lot of different
Speaker 1: stars in the end, it was he the biggest guy
Speaker 1: that you I guess it was Barkley pipping you said
Speaker 1: they were at the end of their career in Elijah,
Speaker 1: But was Elijah Wan the biggest name, like the guy
Speaker 1: that you respected the most, that you played with. Who
Speaker 1: was the biggest star? No, Scotti, Tipper was tipping? Yeah,
Speaker 1: what was he? Were you a fan of the Bulls
Speaker 1: in the in the nineties? Oh yeah, I love Scott
Speaker 1: was my favorite and it's just so happy. And I
Speaker 1: had his wallet, his his twitcher on my wallet before
Speaker 1: I got to the pros. And then I get drafted
Speaker 1: to Houston. But he was my teammate every single day
Speaker 1: I'm with him, and then I retired, he retired that
Speaker 1: he lives around the corner for me right now. Oh,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it's just kind of like destiny
Speaker 1: type of thing. That's nice. And and then, uh, I
Speaker 1: assume you watched the last dance right in the Big
Speaker 1: Star of the Pandemic here? Is that? A? It was? That?
Speaker 1: Was that? Did you watch you? Or no? You didn't
Speaker 1: see it? I watched all of them? Okay, good? So
Speaker 1: was this was this an accurate description of NBA life?
Speaker 1: Did that remind you? Did you say that they got
Speaker 1: it right? That's kind of when they were doing the
Speaker 1: behind the scenes stuff in the plane. I can't say
Speaker 1: that because I don't know. I wasn't I wasn't in
Speaker 1: the nineties. I was in high school in college, so
Speaker 1: I don't know how accurate that was at that point
Speaker 1: in time. Right, we're walking to to locker rooms, I
Speaker 1: mean to hotel rooms. What Michael Jordan was saying, it
Speaker 1: was partying with cocon on again. That was you know,
Speaker 1: guys was smoking cigarettes and drinking beer at half times
Speaker 1: in the early seventies and eighties, right, yeah, sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I don't I don't know. I got you, and
Speaker 1: it just it just changes. Yeah, obviously it did. All right,
Speaker 1: So you're now a media guy. You work at Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio, you're a teammate here at Fox Sports Radio
Speaker 1: and also your TV guy. And how how's the transition
Speaker 1: been from player to media Gay, Oh, it's fun. I
Speaker 1: mean it's fun. Listen, my body don't hurt. Yeah, but no,
Speaker 1: it's just fun. Man. I just just kind of getting
Speaker 1: the hang of it. And you know, the funny thing
Speaker 1: is it's like it's you see more sensitive and maybe
Speaker 1: it was back then we didn't have a platform with
Speaker 1: social media so much, but you see more sensitive players
Speaker 1: when you're speaking about things that you see, you know,
Speaker 1: from behind the scenes or right. So a lot of
Speaker 1: guys they get a little more sensitive when you criticize
Speaker 1: or say something that's factual or maybe it's just your opinion,
Speaker 1: right whether kid get Kendrick Perkins and Lou Williams or
Speaker 1: Ken Drick and Kevin Durant or me and Kevin Durmant.
Speaker 1: You know, it's always a backlash and what we say
Speaker 1: or or we sell out or this that, whatever, it's like.
Speaker 1: You know, you just give me your opinion on what's
Speaker 1: going on at the moment because you're you're not on
Speaker 1: according anymore. You're seeing it from a different perspective. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't mind. I try to be as
Speaker 1: fair as possible and I try to tell as much
Speaker 1: truth as I can. Continue. Have you ever had the desire?
Speaker 1: I mean, media is for right now, but have you
Speaker 1: had the desire or would you wanna have you ponder
Speaker 1: the thought of getting back into the NBA and some
Speaker 1: kind of capacity where it's coaching, management, something of the nature. Um,
Speaker 1: right now, you know what, I'm just really focused on business, um.
Speaker 1: And and the radio of the TV is great because
Speaker 1: it's it's flexible, but for right now, you know, I
Speaker 1: this is where my my heart sat just trying to
Speaker 1: figure out all these this one uh situations and opportunities
Speaker 1: that present themselves in the business business world, and then
Speaker 1: you can always listen. I can be fifty years old
Speaker 1: and go back to coaching, what I mean, But you
Speaker 1: can't be fifty trying to learn different business situations that's
Speaker 1: going on out there in the world. Yeah, I only
Speaker 1: ask because I you know, socially, you know, social media
Speaker 1: and whatnot. I'm still looking at your jumper and it
Speaker 1: looks like you can still shoot from anywhere on the
Speaker 1: court right now. You won't that Wi'll never leave you,
Speaker 1: that's right. But yeah, it's also a Katino like your
Speaker 1: style of playing. You know, shooting was a big thing
Speaker 1: when you were playing, but now this is like this
Speaker 1: type of basketball would be perfect for a guy like you,
Speaker 1: don't you think, I mean you were if you had
Speaker 1: been like ten years later, you would have flourished in
Speaker 1: the current set up in the I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: it's just no brainer. It's definitely a no brainer, you know,
Speaker 1: to how they now considered to how I played, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'm I'm mid range, I'm posting up. I'm
Speaker 1: mixing it up. A lot of these guys, a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys don't do all those things. You know.
Speaker 1: I love the Devin Bookers of the world because he
Speaker 1: does a lot of all of that. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he reminds me of throwback kind of two guards, you know,
Speaker 1: Bradley Beals to throw back two guards, where you can
Speaker 1: post up, where you can pick and roll, where you
Speaker 1: can run for you shoot three, your spot up and
Speaker 1: doing all those different things. So I love that versatility
Speaker 1: of those guys. And you know, if if I was
Speaker 1: playing now, Dave, I was twenty five playing nowadays, I
Speaker 1: would definitely give me about easy every night, a game
Speaker 1: awesome and coatino. Thanks to your time, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Continued global domination in the media business at Fox and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you. Thank you all right, Thanks, thanks,
Speaker 1: appreciate