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Speaker 2: all the Smoke, New York and why Jack has been
Speaker 2: a good run.
Speaker 3: It's snowing out here. We got. We got a good one.
Speaker 3: My brother.
Speaker 1: First of all, before we even shout him out, he's
Speaker 1: got some water that he's partnering with drink r X
Speaker 1: fire Water Man.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show, Tim Thomas, appreciate you t ninety
Speaker 3: six in this motherfuckers six. Yeah, nigga, that was just that?
Speaker 3: Is that? Is that the double shot? I'm just yeah,
Speaker 3: it kicked in instantly.
Speaker 4: You mean.
Speaker 3: Ninety six is bit.
Speaker 1: Jack ninety six All jokes aside, ninety six is arguably
Speaker 1: one of the best classes you know, the league has seen.
Speaker 1: When did you first hear about Tim Thomas and see
Speaker 1: him in person?
Speaker 2: Good question, man. I first heard about Tim Thomas in
Speaker 2: the tenth grade.
Speaker 3: I was just the first time.
Speaker 1: You're in the tenth grader, second time, first this, first time,
Speaker 1: the first time, first time, you always I love it
Speaker 1: the first time, and I was doing a lot of
Speaker 1: Nike accounts, but I was getting the chance. I got
Speaker 1: an opportunity to go play at the DDAs and well
Speaker 1: to go, not even play, just to go. And that's
Speaker 1: why I've seen all the players that was ahead of me,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I seen, I knew Jermaine,
Speaker 1: but I got Chancey, Tim, I got Chaancy, Tracy, I
Speaker 1: got saying, see Kobe, I got Chancy, all these people.
Speaker 2: You know what I said before I actually played against him,
Speaker 2: and I went home with my confidence shot. I can't
Speaker 2: lie because you know they was sixteen bringing the ball
Speaker 2: to court, windmill and crossing over.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I'm working on my back and getting my handle together
Speaker 2: at sixth eight, So you know they was he was
Speaker 2: just he was just one of those guys that him
Speaker 2: and Jermaine o'nill and Kobe like those guys were guaranteed
Speaker 2: to go to the NBA and they probably could have
Speaker 2: went out the eleventh grade.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Tim, obviously your versatility, I feel like it was ahead
Speaker 1: of its time. Your game was ahead of its time.
Speaker 1: But before we even get to that, was you getting
Speaker 1: nil before n I.
Speaker 4: L Yeah, I mean to be honest, if you look
Speaker 4: at you, it's like all of us back then had
Speaker 4: either some type of deal shoe brands, right, So it
Speaker 4: was either I was Adidas baby, so it was either
Speaker 4: Adidas or Nike. Wherever you went camp and you killed
Speaker 4: and stuff, you had some type of deal, you know,
Speaker 4: with that brand. So for me, I was Adida's baby.
Speaker 4: My high school was sponsored by Adidas, So when you
Speaker 4: look at it in hindsight, it was you know, but.
Speaker 1: Outside of that was you because I mean, I know,
Speaker 1: obviously going into college and now it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: nil and it's tokay to pay players. But there was
Speaker 1: money floating around back then. Where you getting like money
Speaker 1: money or was it just product?
Speaker 3: Nah?
Speaker 4: So I went to a Nike school. Okay, So I
Speaker 4: went to Novah. That's a Nike school. So I've we
Speaker 4: all had that that was at that level, had offers
Speaker 4: where we could have win places and got you know,
Speaker 4: different bags of money, you know, to go to that university.
Speaker 4: But that was one of the reasons why I also
Speaker 4: chose Over. They allowed me to play the three, and
Speaker 4: it was nothing tricky about it, you know what I'm say,
Speaker 4: because I already knew I was a pro. I was like,
Speaker 4: you know, and we had guys before us that we
Speaker 4: had a chance to see the Chris Webbers and stuff
Speaker 4: like that. When you get in trouble at the university
Speaker 4: is gonna you know, cover their own ass, you know.
Speaker 4: So it was the last six eleven three guard six
Speaker 4: eleven three guard two.
Speaker 3: You're talking about small four maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Kevin, I'm trying to think who whoever played three now?
Speaker 3: But back then? Who was mellow?
Speaker 4: Mellow?
Speaker 3: Mellow six? That's my height.
Speaker 1: That's normal to be the wing though, But you're normally
Speaker 1: your height height is the four. But your versatility right
Speaker 1: right right? Had you have the two or three?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: Where? Did I mean talk to us about your upbringing?
Speaker 3: It about your game? And I know you you grew fast.
Speaker 1: Like you was a big motherfucker early talked us about
Speaker 1: your upbringing in the whole game and just you know,
Speaker 1: as you continue to grow, your game continue to grow.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So I grew up in Passed, some New Jersey.
Speaker 4: We had guys like Roy Sparrow, DW. White, Wilbur James Scott,
Speaker 4: James Hargrough, bunch of guys before me that you know,
Speaker 4: played you know, big time high school basketball and then
Speaker 4: went on to play college basketball, so Roy Sparrow. So
Speaker 4: I had a chance to watch them, right and then
Speaker 4: any opportunity I got a chance to be around them.
Speaker 4: I was trying to find those guys. They was at
Speaker 4: the wide, they was playing in the projects. Whoever I
Speaker 4: was going, you know to the point where I kind
Speaker 4: of aggravated them. So we had to, like, you know,
Speaker 4: get me in the mix.
Speaker 3: How were you with this age? Like I was?
Speaker 4: I was eleven twelve, and you know, yeah I was.
Speaker 4: I was a short. I had a growth spurt like
Speaker 4: seventh eighth grade.
Speaker 3: So you went from what to what?
Speaker 4: I went from probably like probably about five nine to
Speaker 4: like six two, and then I jumped from like six
Speaker 4: two to like six seven. And then at that point
Speaker 4: I started drinking coffee. I started going to dunk the
Speaker 4: donors to get coffee to stump my growth.
Speaker 3: You don't want to so you didn't want to be telling.
Speaker 4: Cause I had it. I had everything.
Speaker 3: You want to say. That part typical, so.
Speaker 4: To speak, really exactly, I started going getting coffee, and
Speaker 4: then it.
Speaker 3: Was like this mother was trying not to be Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's real. Ship.
Speaker 4: I got a family full of people that drink coffee,
Speaker 4: so they got different you know, pinions.
Speaker 3: About it growing. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: So I started drinking coffee. Man, try to stop my
Speaker 4: growth a little bit. I was like, no, we're gonna
Speaker 4: keep going. I just kept going and I kept the game.
Speaker 1: With me, right yeah, right, speak to us about Sunny Vicarro.
Speaker 1: Was that your Adida's guy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Sonny was Sonny. Sonny was that guy. So I
Speaker 4: was part of that that crew of babies that all
Speaker 4: went to Adidas. You know that was you, mac Me,
Speaker 4: Matt Cole, Uh, I'm gonna blak. Jermaine was first there.
Speaker 4: It was a bunch of us Man, Antoine Walker and
Speaker 4: so many different guys.
Speaker 1: Sonny's a great dude. I mean Sonny early on, and
Speaker 1: then I saw the Air movie where he kind of
Speaker 1: started with Nike and his vision to get MJ and
Speaker 1: all that, but to speak to the to the person,
Speaker 1: because I don't think he necessarily gets his flowers. It's
Speaker 1: kind of a pillar for high school basketball and what
Speaker 1: he does for guys. And then obviously you know what
Speaker 1: he done in the Indushoe Ran Man. He's like the
Speaker 1: godfather of it all. You know, if he spoke about you,
Speaker 1: that meant everything stamped.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So he can tell, you know, a college coach, he
Speaker 4: could tell the NBA, you know, Scout Yo two years,
Speaker 4: three years, you know, Steven Jackson three years and it's
Speaker 4: a done deal, you know. And then on the on
Speaker 4: the flip side with the business stuff. Obviously he did
Speaker 4: the Jordan stuff, the Nike stuff, so he was way
Speaker 4: ahead of his curve with you know, finding talent. But
Speaker 4: you know, for me, man, that was that was everything.
Speaker 4: Being able to go to you know, a B C.
Speaker 4: D can't play against the top, you know, guys, you know,
Speaker 4: get a chance to see him, figure out what you
Speaker 4: gotta you know, go develop on, you know, develop the
Speaker 4: game with a little bit more to kind of catch
Speaker 4: them or whatever the case may be. But it was everything.
Speaker 3: We had a relationship with all of us.
Speaker 2: Like I'm gonna go tell you how great crazy relationship
Speaker 2: was I come out of We graduated ninety six. They
Speaker 2: he go to college, some of us go to the league.
Speaker 2: But I bounced around a little bit when I first
Speaker 2: get back to the NBA. As soon as I get
Speaker 2: in the league, I get a call from Sonny. We're
Speaker 2: giving you a six year Adidas deal. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I fell off the map for a minute,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. But he don't forget his people. Now, Sonny,
Speaker 2: don't forget his people. Have you guys had Sonny up here? No,
Speaker 2: we gotta get him, Yeah, we gotta get him. M Yes, sir,
Speaker 2: We got to ask the question. Say we have a
Speaker 2: question that.
Speaker 4: That's gonna be. Look being a businessman, I am. I
Speaker 4: got to get in on that. Yeah. But listen, I
Speaker 4: know the people were wanting.
Speaker 3: You know, they gotta hear a story.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, espefter seeing air and then everyone everyone. I've
Speaker 1: always talked to the hit Sonny Is put his hands
Speaker 1: on There's always nothing but spoke well about son.
Speaker 3: Son of a Carrol, not Sonny Hill. Whoa nah? He
Speaker 3: the reason why I lost the All Star Championship.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I remember McDonald's.
Speaker 3: Philly.
Speaker 4: Got to get to know o g is good. People
Speaker 4: did wrong Philly. Philly is like my second home. That
Speaker 4: was that was big for me though I understand. Yeah,
Speaker 4: that was big.
Speaker 3: And he screwed. He took the m v P from Yeah,
Speaker 3: he was his guy.
Speaker 4: That is doll.
Speaker 3: That's his baby that was in the house. Yeah, that's
Speaker 3: his baby.
Speaker 4: I can't be by his you know, SHOs you know
Speaker 4: doing this thing. That's my brother in Jersey. You know,
Speaker 4: have a good game. You know what's funny? Was you
Speaker 4: know we talked about it. Yeah, we asked.
Speaker 3: We asked Cold Coke thought Jack on the m v P.
Speaker 4: He should have He should have.
Speaker 2: Cold was second person. I was right and and but
Speaker 2: that's the that's the top two players in our class.
Speaker 2: That said that, though not thirteen to fifteen, it's the
Speaker 2: top two.
Speaker 3: Players in my class. That is sad, y'all.
Speaker 4: I mean, let me let me since we on that,
Speaker 4: let me let me go to something that a lot
Speaker 4: of people have been trying to ask me of late
Speaker 4: about that game, right, So if you remember the game, right,
Speaker 4: it was it was you know, everything now is opinion based, right,
Speaker 4: So it was like, yo, if you like Burger King,
Speaker 4: I like, you know, chick for like whatever. So when
Speaker 4: it comes to one and two with that opinion with
Speaker 4: me and Cole, right, I obviously KG just came out
Speaker 4: and said something about I was the I was fit
Speaker 4: already coming out of high school to be you know,
Speaker 4: to go pro, right body and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: So that year, obviously when I got hurt at ABCD Kobe,
Speaker 4: you know, took over a number one rank, which was
Speaker 4: well deserving of, right, but I wanted to show that
Speaker 4: I was just a tad bit at that point, tad
Speaker 4: bit ahead of everybody's going on, you know, just in general,
Speaker 4: like it's me then down, you know what I'm saying. Yeah,
Speaker 4: So if you remember the first maybe five six minutes
Speaker 4: of that game. You go back and check it out.
Speaker 4: I just destroyed. I just destroyed. You know what I
Speaker 4: was playing on doing. I was playing on announcing that
Speaker 4: I was gonna go pro. Right if the scouts would
Speaker 4: have changed their mind within that five six minute really,
Speaker 4: because history would have been changed, because I would have
Speaker 4: been I would have been right that year the high
Speaker 4: school guys that was coming out, me, Cole and Jermaine O. Now,
Speaker 4: I was gonna be the first one picked at thirteen,
Speaker 4: which would have been Charlotte.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: I didn't go Cod went thirteen. Charlotte made the trade
Speaker 4: laking for life all. You know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 4: history would have been wow, yeah, just a little something.
Speaker 1: So what so I mean, let's elaborate on that further.
Speaker 1: So what you did your thing obviously that first five
Speaker 1: six minutes? What what made you go to Villanova? What
Speaker 1: made you decide to let me take one more year
Speaker 1: under my beltfore I make this jump.
Speaker 4: But once I got the first sub in the game,
Speaker 4: my my guy went over and asked the scouts like,
Speaker 4: does that anything? Does anything change or shift? And it
Speaker 4: was like, you know, right now everyone's saying thirteen.
Speaker 3: So you wanted to be higher than that.
Speaker 4: I wanted to be top ten. I wanted to be
Speaker 4: to look, ah, that's what I was. That was my
Speaker 4: goal to be top ten.
Speaker 1: I'm not top ten enough. I'm gonna go to school
Speaker 1: for a year exactly. I want to be top ten.
Speaker 2: And I'm just gonna say this, just my opinion. You
Speaker 2: were the best person, best player in class in ninety six.
Speaker 2: Kobe ended up being better than all of us and
Speaker 2: have a better career, but in ninety six, you were
Speaker 2: the best player in our class.
Speaker 3: Dog by far j.
Speaker 2: Always close because he could do a lot at seven foot,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But you were the best player in our class.
Speaker 1: Dog.
Speaker 2: It wasn't even close to me six guard. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: can do everything we was doing.
Speaker 3: Yep, yep, you got a curly top two Na.
Speaker 4: It was it was dry.
Speaker 3: It was some pretty good.
Speaker 4: It was dry. It looked like that, but it was dry.
Speaker 4: It was I remember, Brom, I'm from Pasting, New Jersey.
Speaker 4: You don't have good hair like that, but it was. Now,
Speaker 4: that was the thing. We always rocking and fro Man back.
Speaker 3: Then high school coach. Now, I don't want to butcher
Speaker 3: the name.
Speaker 1: How you say the school name, Paramus Catholic. Paramus Catholic
Speaker 1: heard you are kind of kind of going through it
Speaker 1: right now. But what what is that experience like to
Speaker 1: give back and be a part of encouraging and motivating
Speaker 1: this next generation.
Speaker 4: I've been doing it for twenty seven years, you program.
Speaker 4: So I coached in a small school in California for
Speaker 4: three years after retiring. Where was that at Faith Baptist
Speaker 4: right there, that's in the valley. Yeah, you know, I
Speaker 4: used to living in Heading Hills. I didn't know that
Speaker 4: I was hitting Hills Quiet, that's hill.
Speaker 3: Bro You never know what?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know, I know you was at Yeah, I
Speaker 4: was Jack, you know exactly like Yo, can you come
Speaker 4: to dinner with Brot? But yeah, So I coached out
Speaker 4: there for three years, and obviously with my AU program
Speaker 4: being around the teaching, when I had the chance to,
Speaker 4: it was just like second nature, you know, wanting to
Speaker 4: get involved being back home, so you know, I dove
Speaker 4: into that game as far as you know, coaching high
Speaker 4: school ball. It's been tough for us this year because
Speaker 4: my thing is this, right, we come from an era
Speaker 4: where we always trying to find who the big dog
Speaker 4: in that room. I'm gonna go after them. That's our error.
Speaker 4: Like these kids now, it's like they don't want to compete,
Speaker 4: you know, to put a stamp on their own name,
Speaker 4: like they wanted to be kind of giving. Right, So
Speaker 4: you got all of the Camps au World and all
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff. The elite is always going to
Speaker 4: stand out, you know. But for me, with the young
Speaker 4: group that I got, I put them in the toughest
Speaker 4: situation possible, right, So we we scheduled all the top
Speaker 4: teams in the state of New Jersey and New York,
Speaker 4: you know, and we even played a tough team from Canada.
Speaker 4: So they're going through that process now of learning how
Speaker 4: to compete, you know, learning how to just trust each other,
Speaker 4: you know, and just jail you know, how it is
Speaker 4: as a team, and get to the point where it's
Speaker 4: like this is second nature. We know this person likes
Speaker 4: to do this, he likes to do this. This is
Speaker 4: what's going to make us go, this is what's going
Speaker 4: to hold us back, all of those kinds of things.
Speaker 4: So once we get to that point, we got a
Speaker 4: young crew, you know, a bunch of juniors. We got
Speaker 4: two seniors on the team. So when we get to
Speaker 4: that point, where they fully understand it. Maybe another summer click, yeah,
Speaker 4: we'll be We'll be good. We'll be right where we
Speaker 4: want to be in the future. We're always waiting for
Speaker 4: the who's next.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Tim Thomas players, that's something you've been you said
Speaker 1: twenty seven years in counting. Why was it important for
Speaker 1: you to or the AU program?
Speaker 4: When I was coming up, I had a chance to,
Speaker 4: you know, start traveling because of the game of basketball
Speaker 4: at the age of like ten, you know, just playing
Speaker 4: in different events, different camps, all of those kinds of things.
Speaker 4: So for me, once once I you know, have some
Speaker 4: success with the game, being able to you know, give
Speaker 4: back was everything, and that was part of it.
Speaker 3: I had.
Speaker 4: I had the Adidas deal and then you know in
Speaker 4: the summers, they'll give you after your season with any contract,
Speaker 4: they'll give you a certain amount of merchandise that you
Speaker 4: got to spend through your friends, family or whatever. So
Speaker 4: I had like three hundred K merchandise that had to
Speaker 4: spend each summer. So I didn't know how to give
Speaker 4: it away fast enough. So I was like, you know what,
Speaker 4: let's just start, you know, a program. And I started
Speaker 4: the program and it has been successful.
Speaker 3: So any pros come through there, twenty eight.
Speaker 4: Of them go on to Instagram, Tim Thomas players, twenty
Speaker 4: eight pros, twenty eight pros, twenty mc donald's all Americans,
Speaker 4: and sent about fifteen thousand kids off the college over
Speaker 4: again the game in basketball.
Speaker 3: I don't get discussing that. That's at all, bro that's
Speaker 3: dope for.
Speaker 4: That for sure, That's been blessed and blessed.
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Speaker 2: This one thing that people don't know about the McDonald's game.
Speaker 2: We had a practice and saying you remember this, and
Speaker 2: we all just happy to be there. But this goes
Speaker 2: to Kobe. Brian just goes to talk about Kobe. Bro
Speaker 2: We're supposed to be going through a walkthrough, walk a
Speaker 2: walk through, key walk through. They passed Kobe the ball.
Speaker 2: He rips through on Rib Hamilton Dog and we all
Speaker 2: just really standing there.
Speaker 4: And Boom was under the basket. It's a walkthrough, Bro,
Speaker 4: I was under I almost kind of took it. Person
Speaker 4: I'm like, Bro, it's a walk through. I'm flying, like,
Speaker 4: what are you doing?
Speaker 3: It's a walk through, bro. He's like, now, we like
Speaker 3: to read the game tomorrow.
Speaker 2: He he was dead serious out to the point where
Speaker 2: we end up scrimmaging.
Speaker 3: It's supposed to be a walk through, we end up playing.
Speaker 3: But I feel like that walked that that. That scrimmage
Speaker 3: was probably more popular. Scrimmage was fire.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 3: Really take it personal in practice.
Speaker 2: Well because it was him and Jail matched up. It
Speaker 2: was Ripped and Uh and Kobe, it was me and
Speaker 2: Jerl Brown, it was Ed Colder and Shaheen matched up,
Speaker 2: and it was Jail and Voss. I think, if I'm
Speaker 2: not mistaken by said Lauren was one of them. Yes, yeah, so,
Speaker 2: but the scrimmage is crazy, Yeah.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 4: It was tough.
Speaker 2: We knew we was gonna beat the West. I'm sorry
Speaker 2: just going to say that.
Speaker 3: Bro. We had the top three players on our team.
Speaker 3: How could we lose?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: We had Kobe, Jermaine and Tim bro. It was no
Speaker 2: way we was losing that game. We end up winning
Speaker 2: by twenty. Clo wasn't even close. I let the game
Speaker 2: of scoring because they was watching them three right around
Speaker 2: team on the West. He was hitting him with the
Speaker 2: in and out every time. He Mike, Mike, don't want
Speaker 2: to talk about that, but it's on film. He came
Speaker 2: down every play in my line and was the ship
Speaker 2: out of Mic every play, every play. And that's why
Speaker 2: it looked like he won every because he was fucking
Speaker 2: Mic up.
Speaker 4: Shot was difficult. Shot was difficult. I had to play
Speaker 4: against him in high school, you know, where he had
Speaker 4: just free reign. Like actually we just played his high
Speaker 4: school last night. Lost to his high school last night.
Speaker 4: Saint Pat shout out to them. But he was vicious man.
Speaker 4: He was a dog. And that's why all of his
Speaker 4: his college teams played just like him. They have that
Speaker 4: that personality, and that's what I'm trying to you know,
Speaker 4: still in two kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely was what exactly is the greatest team ever assembled,
Speaker 2: Tim Kobe Vincent ripped a team a.
Speaker 4: You oh yeah, by far? I mean, listen, I was,
Speaker 4: you know, just trying to establish myself, right. I had
Speaker 4: no chance. I had know, like real thought that you know,
Speaker 4: Rip would come up from Philly to play with me,
Speaker 4: a guy from Florida and e Vince Carter will come
Speaker 4: up to Jersey to play with me. A guy by
Speaker 4: the name of Kobe Bryant would come to Jersey and play.
Speaker 3: With him and rivals.
Speaker 4: Yeah, a guy by the name of Kevin Freeman, you know,
Speaker 4: would come by, right, you know and play with me.
Speaker 4: We had Edmund Saunders. We had Anthony Perry that went
Speaker 4: to he went to GEORGIAWN but he went to he
Speaker 4: played at St. Anthony's. So we had a we had
Speaker 4: a bunch of studs, right and you know, there's a
Speaker 4: clip I got to send it to you guys. But Kobe,
Speaker 4: you know, he mentioned it were beating people bout fifty
Speaker 4: sixty points. Weird. The reason why, like now, when you
Speaker 4: go to like some of these AU events or some
Speaker 4: of these high school events that they're playing in college
Speaker 4: you know, gyms and stuff like that. We won. We
Speaker 4: won back to back AU national championships and we was
Speaker 4: playing at you know, universities Florida, so down. Yeah. Church
Speaker 4: real was that there was nobody on the East Coast
Speaker 4: that could do anything that was good. It was good,
Speaker 4: don't they was good. I'm not gonna say.
Speaker 3: Those names right there.
Speaker 2: You want to tell them what was on the church,
Speaker 2: the him, But I'm just the greatest team though. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but that on the same time, same years. There's the document, you.
Speaker 4: Can look it up. It's still there. We're still on
Speaker 4: the list.
Speaker 3: It's number one. There was number one. But that Church
Speaker 3: team was scary too.
Speaker 4: That there was a lot of great teams like that
Speaker 4: that you know, salute to all of them. But you
Speaker 4: got just think of the times, like think about what
Speaker 4: you've seen with Vince. Vince was I was. I was
Speaker 4: witnessing Vince doing that early. Yeah, the world calling on later? Yeah,
Speaker 4: yeah like that. We was like, how when he came
Speaker 4: up to play with us?
Speaker 1: How can you see the stuff you see like all
Speaker 1: the little mixtapes that have now if there was a
Speaker 1: social media era back when.
Speaker 3: That team was together.
Speaker 4: Crazy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I'm still seeing his old old mixtapes, Like
Speaker 1: can you imagine this in high school? Rount see nothing
Speaker 1: like this in high school right now? No, I don't
Speaker 1: even see it like in college and barely in the pros.
Speaker 2: Parent told the story about Kobe wanted to kill you
Speaker 2: doing a game when you were sixteen. You know, we
Speaker 2: all know Kobe had to kill this and you definitely
Speaker 2: was on there. Jay A was on there, Rip was
Speaker 2: on there.
Speaker 4: Did he ever talk to you about that now, I mean,
Speaker 4: I know the game that that Rip was talking about.
Speaker 4: So that was our junior year. I went back because
Speaker 4: baseball was my first love before I started growing. So
Speaker 4: my junior year I went back and played baseball. I
Speaker 4: did the Michael Jordans went back and played baseball cole
Speaker 4: that year. Cob and Rip went back to play with
Speaker 4: the Philly team. And right, so obviously you meet in
Speaker 4: all these different circuits. So I told the guys, I said,
Speaker 4: we're both us in in this, in this one circuit together.
Speaker 4: So I said, listen, if you guys make it to
Speaker 4: the championship game, I'll dry down now and play. But
Speaker 4: I'm still in baseball season. So they made it to
Speaker 4: the championship game, and it's just so happened to be
Speaker 4: Cob and Rip. And that's the game that Cod I
Speaker 4: mean that Rip is talling about. So the game was
Speaker 4: in Maryland at the University of Maryland. I just told
Speaker 4: you we was playing at these these colleges. The game
Speaker 4: was there, So I drove from Jersey to Maryland. I
Speaker 4: got there the end of the first Cob already had
Speaker 4: like fifteen right, so now I'm behind the eight ball
Speaker 4: with an assassthing like that, what are you gonna do? Right?
Speaker 4: So I'm already behind the eight ball, right so I
Speaker 4: walk in like Sheppard, like, I'm just right out the car,
Speaker 4: Like I walk right in right from the car. Right there,
Speaker 4: I'm right on the court. So I'm playing ketchup. So
Speaker 4: Cole probably finished the game with forty something. I probably
Speaker 4: finished the game with thirty something. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: that's how the game went. They won the game. That's
Speaker 4: how it went.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: So we don't play the same position, right, so the
Speaker 4: matchups were probably never going to match up against each other.
Speaker 4: And then our senior year in high school, because we
Speaker 4: was both number one, number two in the country, two
Speaker 4: hours away from each other, everyone was trying to make
Speaker 4: a game, you know, that high school game and asg
Speaker 4: wanted it at the time, the Meadowlands where you played,
Speaker 4: they wanted it. In the university would have took it.
Speaker 4: You know, we just couldn't make the game. You know,
Speaker 4: Cole played, he played Saint Anthony's in Jersey more than
Speaker 4: he would. I never played against him my high school,
Speaker 4: but he played Saint Anthony's I think twice or three times,
Speaker 4: you know, from.
Speaker 2: And you see how these high school games being televised.
Speaker 2: These they just had Thomas Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 4: So you know, mellow, mellow and Lebron was the first ones.
Speaker 4: I would have been probably me and Cole ok Okill.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I had the same type of feeling when I saw
Speaker 2: you and I saw you playing like he in high school,
Speaker 2: the same age and he doing that. E Jail even
Speaker 2: has said that when he saw you, who was it
Speaker 2: anybody that when you first seen him being most people
Speaker 2: being all when they see you at your size, and
Speaker 2: have you ever seen somebody like damn, I ain't like
Speaker 2: playing when you first got an NBA Like, Damn, I ain't.
Speaker 4: I thought I was tall first in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when she first got in the league.
Speaker 4: Hey, listen, my my my first game, my first preseason
Speaker 4: game was against MJ at at Carolina. So that was
Speaker 4: like that was a thrill for me, you know because
Speaker 4: Scotti was my og so high school, Scottie would they
Speaker 4: would come to town, Scotty, would you know, send for me
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. So I was around all of
Speaker 4: those Knicks Bulls rivalries, you know that the Bulls nets games,
Speaker 4: all of that kind of stuff with Kenny A and
Speaker 4: Derreck Coleman and all those guys. Yeah, so I was.
Speaker 4: I was around that as a youngster, seeing all of that,
Speaker 4: you know. So when I first got to the league,
Speaker 4: it was like, obviously you're around all your your your
Speaker 4: role models, right, you know, guys you look up to,
Speaker 4: and now you you you in it. So it's like, yo,
Speaker 4: I'm I feel like I'm a part of this. I'm here.
Speaker 4: I've been blessed with the talent, so you know, now
Speaker 4: signed to you know, get after it, you know what
Speaker 4: I mean. So yeah, I mean you was in all
Speaker 4: my first game against those guys, you know, seeing my
Speaker 4: idol on the court and stuff like that, like with
Speaker 4: MJ and you know, obviously playing against Pip that meant
Speaker 4: the world to me. And then my second game was
Speaker 4: against my New York Knicks. You know, I grew up
Speaker 4: a Knicks fan. So now I'm in NASA all playing
Speaker 4: against Pat Ewing and and Alan Houston and Spree, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. So it's like, hey, I'm in now.
Speaker 1: New Jersey. Basketball has never been anything to slop chat.
Speaker 1: Maybe overlooked at times, but the greats of you know
Speaker 1: yourself shocked Kyrie Irving, kat j R. Smith talk about
Speaker 1: just the pedigree. You mentioned the Ogs before you, but
Speaker 1: since then, you know the talent that's come out in
Speaker 1: New Jersey.
Speaker 2: Oh, let me get my two Earl Clark, Isaiah Brisco. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I can't forget to back to back champs. To go
Speaker 2: to Jersey too, Jersey boy too.
Speaker 4: Now yeah, now, man, I mean we just listen, We're
Speaker 4: we're top ten in the country in states right that
Speaker 4: produced the most NBA you know, pro I would go
Speaker 4: put higher and yeah, right, Texas up there, Cali is
Speaker 4: up there. You know, we're right next to New York.
Speaker 4: So a lot of times we don't get the proper respect.
Speaker 4: You know that's due because obviously you know your city. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. It's the you know, the media,
Speaker 4: you know, capital or whatever. So but overall, man, we
Speaker 4: have some talent. Man, And obviously I'm gonna be biased.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think Jersey basketball players are better, right,
Speaker 4: shoot the ball. Do you know some of the same
Speaker 4: things that they can.
Speaker 3: Do, but they shoot. That's the difference. You have to shoot.
Speaker 3: That's what all due respect.
Speaker 4: But I mean it's just like, listen, we we have
Speaker 4: to get out of just do as Jersey they can't
Speaker 4: keep just talking about New York. We're right here, fifteen
Speaker 4: minutes apart from each other, Show Us Love not for real,
Speaker 4: Show some.
Speaker 1: Love Everybody one and done at Villanova. The number seven pick,
Speaker 1: So you wanted to be top ten, you got that.
Speaker 1: You're drafted to the Sixers. That's a team with Stackhouse,
Speaker 1: a young AI, Larry Brown's first year coaching. What was
Speaker 1: your welcome to the just the league? You know, obviously
Speaker 1: being the top dog in high school one? Did you
Speaker 1: think in college now you're playing with the likes of
Speaker 1: Alan Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse who was a dog, and
Speaker 1: then you know, a legendary coach and Larry Brown.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I was playing for a real, real
Speaker 4: old school coach, Yarry. He just was on the rookies
Speaker 4: all day, all night, you know. So it was more
Speaker 4: of the mental part of it. I had to get
Speaker 4: through with him. Talent wise, obviously, I was blessed with
Speaker 4: that right, So I wasn't really concerned with that. Playing
Speaker 4: with Ai, obviously I was able to run the floor
Speaker 4: and do those things. I was able to keep up.
Speaker 4: Stack House was a monster as well. I was comfortable
Speaker 4: because we also have Derek Coleman on that team, who's
Speaker 4: the power forward? But I was small forward. Was guys
Speaker 4: that I figured I can I can leat it out.
Speaker 4: Who was came later? At that time you had Horace Grant,
Speaker 4: brother Harvey Grant. You know, guys was a little older.
Speaker 4: So you felt like, you know, at some point it's
Speaker 4: gonna be mine.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So he was comfortable with being the power forward.
Speaker 4: Then I was comfortable going in at the four and
Speaker 4: and the and the three, you know, so because of
Speaker 4: the skill set, right. So, but the the the mental
Speaker 4: games was was the stuff that you know when you
Speaker 4: play for an old school coach that's basically trying to
Speaker 4: run you through a wall, and you're not gonna give up.
Speaker 4: You know, they just keep going and going and going.
Speaker 4: So it was more the mental stuff. Me and a
Speaker 4: I always talk about that every time we talk. It's like, man,
Speaker 4: I hate what hell he did to you, but you
Speaker 4: know you're coming from the city, You're coming from the
Speaker 4: hood that that.
Speaker 1: I mean, you spoke to the mental side, and I
Speaker 1: feel like once you get to leave them mental side,
Speaker 1: is it period? How long do you feel like you
Speaker 1: had a grasp Was it through your first year, first
Speaker 1: two or three years? Like when do you feel like
Speaker 1: you got a hold of the mental side of the game.
Speaker 4: I would say I would say probably like twenty games
Speaker 4: into the season. Okay, so it came quick, yeah, because
Speaker 4: for me, obviously, what LB like I was, I was
Speaker 4: working out forty minutes before practice practice to two and
Speaker 4: a half hours. That was back when real practice. Yeah
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying, I'm ready to go. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you practice, you know too, two and a half or whatever.
Speaker 4: And then when practice over, guys are shooting around working
Speaker 4: on different stuff they want to work on. They got
Speaker 4: me still doing drills, you know. So my days was
Speaker 4: like I was just draining basketball. So once I got
Speaker 4: like in tip top shape, you know what I mean,
Speaker 4: which is really after your third day, because we was
Speaker 4: going real two of days, and so after that third day,
Speaker 4: it's like you see vets like, yo, I'm taking it easy.
Speaker 4: I'm not scrimminging today, blase bla, and I'm just going
Speaker 4: through this scene cycle where this guys trying to you know,
Speaker 4: run you through a wall. I'm like, all right, you know,
Speaker 4: after that that first taste of you know, getting in
Speaker 4: the game and feeling you know, how strong other guys are,
Speaker 4: how fast they are you know their skill set because
Speaker 4: you're still trying to, you know, figure all that stuff out,
Speaker 4: probably twenty games in.
Speaker 3: I was I was.
Speaker 1: Cool trade the Milwaukee in the middle of your second year.
Speaker 1: Your initial reaction to the trade hated it.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm not the only one that died and came back
Speaker 2: to life when I left Milwaukee.
Speaker 4: I'm not. I'm not staying about the city. I mean,
Speaker 4: they love you out there. By the way, I was
Speaker 4: out there. I gave him the name Trilwaukee. It wasn't
Speaker 4: a city, it's the team that was Scott Scott. It
Speaker 4: wasn't the city. The city is, but you Thatt was
Speaker 4: Scott Scot. I dealt with him in Chicago. I understand that. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I understand that.
Speaker 3: Definitely not tri Milwaukee.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I understand that. Okay, okay, yeah, But for me,
Speaker 4: I hated the trade because I was I was seeing
Speaker 4: my pairs and situations where they was able to go
Speaker 4: establish themselves, you know what I mean. So like I'm
Speaker 4: seeing Vince, I'm seeing t Matt, I'm seeing Jamaine, you know,
Speaker 4: come out of his situation. So I'm like, you know, yes,
Speaker 4: this is a good team. Everyone wants to win a Championship.
Speaker 4: So when when you're young, you ain't thinking of them,
Speaker 4: you ain't thinking like that, right. So I'm like, man,
Speaker 4: I'm seeing these guys doing they thing, and I'm like,
Speaker 4: I don't want to play behind big Dog who's the
Speaker 4: All Star. I don't want to play behind Ray Allen
Speaker 4: who's trying to establish hisself. I don't want to be
Speaker 4: with a two time NBA champion in Sam causel you know,
Speaker 4: not thinking you young. So I actually I actually try
Speaker 4: to get traded to Indiana just during the same period, right,
Speaker 4: because you know, they gave you that twenty four hours
Speaker 4: and you get traded to get to the next city.
Speaker 4: I was actually trying to get traded to Indiana, but
Speaker 4: they loved our young boy, Alan Hamilton. They was like,
Speaker 4: now we got Alan Jonathan Mender, so we don't want
Speaker 4: to make the trade. But I just looked at it
Speaker 4: as that like I was just being young, you know, immature,
Speaker 4: and was like, I want my own thing or be
Speaker 4: a part of something. And I thought the Philly thing
Speaker 4: was perfect because you got to remember they traded Stackhouse
Speaker 4: mid season. So now I'm looking at it like I'm
Speaker 4: a score chuck the score. You know, we don't play
Speaker 4: the same position, so we're not gonna clash, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean. So the Milwaukee thing, I was kind
Speaker 4: of set back a little bit. But once I realized
Speaker 4: like what George was trying to do and the team
Speaker 4: that we had and the possibility of winning, I was
Speaker 4: locked in. At that point.
Speaker 3: It said that you guys, you and Big Dog win
Speaker 3: at it.
Speaker 4: Yeah a few times. That's my guy. I love Big Dog.
Speaker 3: I know that matchup in practice.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah. So again, me being young, I want my
Speaker 4: own situation whatever whatever as a start or whatever. Obviously,
Speaker 4: you know how it goes in the league. The money
Speaker 4: guys is gonna play before the talent, even if the
Speaker 4: talent is you know better, whatever, whatever. I just felt
Speaker 4: like that right, obviously Big Dog was I got right.
Speaker 4: We had to lean on him for twenty some points
Speaker 4: again whatever he was averaging. But that was just the
Speaker 4: youngin in me just bringing it out, like, yo, I
Speaker 4: gotta show these guys that I belong right. So everybody
Speaker 4: had big threes and all that, Nah, this ain't a
Speaker 4: Big three situation. It's Big four. Who got clue to
Speaker 4: you got he got it? He got a clue tt
Speaker 4: on this one. Yeah, That's what it was. They respected
Speaker 4: me and the reason why we was clashing because we
Speaker 4: was competitive the same position, competitive, you know, and I
Speaker 4: wanted that time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I.
Speaker 1: Talk about that team though, I mean, again, that's a
Speaker 1: younger Ray Allen. People forget who was cold as the motherfucker,
Speaker 1: no matter what Jack says, a young you a young
Speaker 1: or no not a young, but big Dog who's obviously
Speaker 1: the vet on that team. And then Sam, I am,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a hell of a team right there.
Speaker 1: And then George Carl's braining around there a team you
Speaker 1: guys obviously found your mark, hit your chemistry and made
Speaker 1: it to the conference finals. And Big Dog missed that
Speaker 1: shot at the buzzer.
Speaker 2: It's okay to tell our audience I cooked a lot
Speaker 2: of them niggas, definitely, okay. I want you to tell them,
Speaker 2: like I'm passing myself on the back all the time.
Speaker 2: Why won't you tell her, I'll I bust a lot
Speaker 2: of your niggas.
Speaker 1: That's okay, tell talk that ship, but talk about that
Speaker 1: whack old jacko some things.
Speaker 4: Never since forever, my dog.
Speaker 1: That conference final is a no one though. You know,
Speaker 1: Big Dog misses a shot at the buzzer, that's your
Speaker 1: guys opportunity against Philly against Chuck. How tough was that
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 4: It was? It was tough because you know, anytime you
Speaker 4: get traded from a team, and obviously you want you
Speaker 4: go back. You want to showcase, you know, your talent,
Speaker 4: and you know, it's like breaking up with a girl.
Speaker 4: You want to show them what you got, you know,
Speaker 4: what you had, what you're missing, all that kind of stuff. Right,
Speaker 4: But it was tough, man, because that's when I obviously
Speaker 4: had Newchuk. I know it's talent and everything, but that's
Speaker 4: when I really like had an opportunity to like soak
Speaker 4: it all in on how great that dude was, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean, because.
Speaker 3: That team wasn't very talented that he had.
Speaker 4: It wasn't a talented team. It was not a town.
Speaker 4: And with George right, you know, when George was in Seattle,
Speaker 4: he was a defensive minded coach. In Milwaukee, we changed
Speaker 4: him into an offensive mining coach.
Speaker 3: Because the weapons.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so what killed us was the fact that we
Speaker 4: had an older saying that couldn't keep up with Ai.
Speaker 4: We had a bigger ray that you know, it took
Speaker 4: a lot out of him to play both ends right,
Speaker 4: you know, so you want them to score. You can't
Speaker 4: have him chasing, you know, big dogs. Just wasn't quick enough, right,
Speaker 4: So there's pictures that I was sending that guess who had.
Speaker 3: To go to AI six eleven, six eleven.
Speaker 4: Ten times?
Speaker 3: Good luck with that, right, So he came.
Speaker 4: Down to that and then, like just to talk about
Speaker 4: his greatness, it's like he was scoring and you know,
Speaker 4: now they say all three levels. He was scoring all
Speaker 4: three levels. He was getting to the basket. He was
Speaker 4: shooting short, little faded ways that was almost like post ups,
Speaker 4: like he'll drive the one spot and just pull up,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean. So that was almost like
Speaker 4: a post up, like a Kobe fade or MJ fade right,
Speaker 4: and then he was hitting the three ball right and
Speaker 4: then and then the other thing was he was always
Speaker 4: going to the basket, so he was getting to the
Speaker 4: flow line. So a lot of people they talk about
Speaker 4: that series and say, you guys should have won, but
Speaker 4: the NBA cheated y'all because they got to the free
Speaker 4: throw line as many times as they did. But when
Speaker 4: you go back and look at it, it's like, Yo,
Speaker 4: that guy was going wherever you wanted to go. And
Speaker 4: get a shot off. You're gonna follo him what you're
Speaker 4: gonna score.
Speaker 3: I think there was a better matchup. That was a
Speaker 3: better matchup for the finals foot Lakers too. Yes, that
Speaker 3: year I would have gave him up his problems. Who
Speaker 3: was your center? Yeah, girl, John's e J right ever
Speaker 3: John Scott Williams.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were solid Bason, but there was definitely that
Speaker 1: whisper that that that the league wanted iverson first shock
Speaker 1: and Kobe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, you gotta think about it. That year
Speaker 4: a I was m v P, Aaron Mcki was six
Speaker 4: man a year, uh, like Brown's Coach of the Year,
Speaker 4: and but Tumbo was defensive.
Speaker 3: A lot of accolades. So that stage, it's already set,
Speaker 3: and Milwaukee's.
Speaker 1: A smaller media market. Yeah it was, so it was
Speaker 1: like not to take nothing away from Philly. But I
Speaker 1: definitely remember that, and it's funny he even said it
Speaker 1: before I even asked it.
Speaker 4: So yeah, and then that year, to go back to
Speaker 4: what you was saying, Jack, like that year, we swept
Speaker 4: the Lakers. That year, really we swept the Lakers. So
Speaker 4: that that was because we George knew how to double shot,
Speaker 4: so we you know, most most people double on the
Speaker 4: catch was double when it was in there. Yeah, when
Speaker 4: it was in there, go get them.
Speaker 3: You might catch your elbow, but go Yeah.
Speaker 2: But but then again, you gotta think though, when they
Speaker 2: switching out of rotation. They got a six nine and
Speaker 2: big dog a six elevens bro, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: They got big motherfuckers rotated. That's what I'm saying. Young,
Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, playing you know on the East
Speaker 4: coast in the city, you know how to kind of
Speaker 4: close out because everybody's attacking the basket. So that's like
Speaker 4: second nature to you know, all of us up this way.
Speaker 2: Nicks, the Knicks, can you dive into the fat Joe
Speaker 2: visit fifty cent Beef? I know you, you know you
Speaker 2: real cool with fifty I'm really cool. I'm really cool
Speaker 2: with Joe. But men fifty and had men fifty and
Speaker 2: had some conversations not bumping to one on the plane.
Speaker 2: He's somebody me and Matt look up to, somebody we
Speaker 2: want to have on the show because you got the
Speaker 2: contact on him too. Yeah, but talk about talk about
Speaker 2: getting caught up in it.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, was I mean obviously again with you know
Speaker 1: alliances amongst the team with the beef that's in the
Speaker 1: streets of New York, Like, did that draw?
Speaker 3: Did that divide the team or was there any kind of.
Speaker 2: Funk before you start though, and me and you both know,
Speaker 2: this was real beef. This wasn't no beef for y'all
Speaker 2: get on songs to talk about each other. Na these
Speaker 2: This was real beef. Dog, This is real beef. Where
Speaker 2: you was hoping that day didn't bump into each other? Yeah,
Speaker 2: me let me take a swig first.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let me get some of my some of yourn drinks. Yeah,
Speaker 4: let me get some of my vodka.
Speaker 3: Our X go get it sometimes on water or drink
Speaker 3: or X. Yeah, drink or X. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So so that that was that was real.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: It was like for me, right, I played for Fat
Speaker 4: Joe and the Rutger squad, Right, Me and stuff grew
Speaker 4: up together and all of that. So I was I
Speaker 4: was already had a relationship with most of everybody from
Speaker 4: Terror squad, you know, because obviously you see him in
Speaker 4: the park and stuff like that, right, and shout out
Speaker 4: to everybody you know the team. But you know, back then,
Speaker 4: like fifth was my guys. I was rocking with Fifth
Speaker 4: So they had the office directly across the street from
Speaker 4: the garden. Yeah, so instead of some nights, instead of
Speaker 4: going out to eat, I would just he would have
Speaker 4: food already go over there and eat, you know, just
Speaker 4: chill out whatever whatever. So those was my guys which
Speaker 4: just clicked right. So not knowing like you know, how
Speaker 4: the ship you know, start and how you get.
Speaker 3: Involved or whatever. Politics.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you know, in the rap world is what
Speaker 4: it is, right, So when it hit man, it was
Speaker 4: it was kind of weird because you don't really know
Speaker 4: the ins and outs of it all, but you could
Speaker 4: just start feeling like different vibes around people that you
Speaker 4: grew up with, like me and Steph, like we you know,
Speaker 4: were cool and talking of late, but we're on the
Speaker 4: team together and I'm rocking with you in it and
Speaker 4: he's rocking with Terrist Spots. So you know, it wasn't
Speaker 4: things like me and him trying to like get that
Speaker 4: each other on a daily basis.
Speaker 3: It wasn't that the.
Speaker 4: Energy was off, like these are two guys that grew up,
Speaker 4: we went to five Star together, all these different camps
Speaker 4: and stuff, like I know, as brothers, you know all
Speaker 4: of that. I even played with Gauchos. A lot of
Speaker 4: peoplen't even know that, Like me and Felipe and Sham
Speaker 4: we all rocked out one time, you know, in the circuit,
Speaker 4: so like there's genuine love dick, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: So but on the court it showed. You know, it'll
Speaker 4: be you know, low passed, I'm six, low pass, late past,
Speaker 4: you know, stuff like that, and then you know what happens.
Speaker 4: Sometimes you gotta take it on your answer. You'll get
Speaker 4: a rebound, bring it up, go do your own things.
Speaker 4: So it showed on the court. So it definitely showed
Speaker 4: on the court with them two with fifth and in
Speaker 4: fact Joe going at it. I mean, it just took
Speaker 4: you know, a spind here in the city. It was
Speaker 4: just everyone knew what.
Speaker 3: It was you saying you had to pick a side.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it took. It took a crazy spind you
Speaker 4: know in the city, and it was like, you know,
Speaker 4: you had certain rappers, you know, trying to pick size
Speaker 4: with you know, with people and stuff just so they
Speaker 4: can kind of stay out of the clayer what they
Speaker 4: was doing at whatever particular time whatever. So yeah, it
Speaker 4: took the spind man definitely took a spind I.
Speaker 3: Mean outside of that, what was it like to be
Speaker 3: you know, although you're from Jersey, what was it like
Speaker 3: to be a Nick?
Speaker 4: It was everything, man, two time Nick, that was everything. Man.
Speaker 4: I remember, like yesterday, shout out to my my brother
Speaker 4: Coatino Mobi you know, Cat my dog. So the first one,
Speaker 4: the first trade I was, I was we was with
Speaker 4: the Clippers and we you know, we had a pretty
Speaker 4: decent team. I had signed with them after playing with
Speaker 4: them with the with the Phoenix. But Cat came out
Speaker 4: with me with that trade. So when we got to
Speaker 4: New York, you know, you go through your your physical
Speaker 4: and stuff, and they found out he had the heart
Speaker 4: murmer and stuff. So he was his career was done.
Speaker 4: So I'm excited on being home. We get traded in
Speaker 4: and he's done. So that was like, you know, that
Speaker 4: was a dull moment right there. But you know, once
Speaker 4: once you get to you know, suiting it up and
Speaker 4: being in that locker room and playing in the in
Speaker 4: in that garden, it's not like it. Man, It's not
Speaker 4: like it, especially for kid.
Speaker 3: You know, in this area.
Speaker 2: Landing with the signs in two in two thousand and six.
Speaker 2: Give us some Steve Nash, Steve.
Speaker 3: One of that that was both he want VP those
Speaker 3: two years, right, you were there, Yes, I was there.
Speaker 4: I was there the second one.
Speaker 3: Second year, he's the one. He's one post to win.
Speaker 4: Well, opinion based? How have you put it?
Speaker 3: Kobe based?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm saying opinion based.
Speaker 3: Now you was on this team to hease stop it.
Speaker 4: How you want to put it?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 4: I love my brother Kobe. I'm just saying, how do
Speaker 4: you want to put it?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 4: It's opinion based?
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, So just let me ask you this. I
Speaker 2: mean to cut your question off. So you think he
Speaker 2: deserved winning the back to back Kobe had the better year.
Speaker 2: We know that, But who's and me and you hell
Speaker 2: do know at.
Speaker 3: We ain't. We ain't vote for.
Speaker 4: But hey, it is what it is.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 4: Some people like numbers, you know, his percentage or whatever.
Speaker 3: He was my vet.
Speaker 2: I love Steve that he was my vet when I
Speaker 2: got drafted. I think he did a lie for me
Speaker 2: as far as because I was getting cut. They drafted
Speaker 2: me and told me I was getting cut. But he
Speaker 2: made me feel like I was a part of the
Speaker 2: team the little short time I was there, and gave
Speaker 2: me a lot of game. But talk give me some
Speaker 2: Steve Nash stories because you had a chance to see
Speaker 2: him at his best.
Speaker 4: One of the funniest stories with Steve. We went back
Speaker 4: to Canada, you know, Steve from Canada, went back to Canada,
Speaker 4: and I think we was there like two days. Normally,
Speaker 4: you know, you in and out, so we had to
Speaker 4: stay over whatever.
Speaker 3: Was this still to this Vancouver Toronto.
Speaker 4: This is Toronto, Toronto, Toronto. So we over there and
Speaker 4: Steve had like I think it was his birthday or something,
Speaker 4: but he had just non stop events or whatever. So
Speaker 4: we're going from restaurants, restaurant, bar to bar, club, the club, whatever, whatever.
Speaker 4: And in the midst of us traveling, we get stuck
Speaker 4: in the elevator. It's like half the team. We get
Speaker 4: stuck in the elevator for like forty five minutes. So
Speaker 4: you know, start getting high, guys start getting you know,
Speaker 4: start feeling it. And Steve was just cool as a fan, right,
Speaker 4: and then all of a sudden, you know, it's cold,
Speaker 4: so everybody got coats on and stuff, so all the stuff.
Speaker 4: He just started coming out of all this stuff like
Speaker 4: and everybody's like, what's going on. He said, Man, I
Speaker 4: can't take it. I can't take it. So you know
Speaker 4: the hair you got right there, crazy, So that that
Speaker 4: was one of the funniest moments when because I always
Speaker 4: seen him on the court just being cool, you know,
Speaker 4: all the time. But nah, Man such a such a
Speaker 4: competitor man he was. You know, I played with some
Speaker 4: great guards, staff Ai sam Be with Steve Man. He
Speaker 4: was a guy that you like, outside of the shock,
Speaker 4: you had to double them. You had the double because
Speaker 4: he was gonna make something happen or he was gonna
Speaker 4: knock it down.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that's my goya. He loved the past.
Speaker 2: Super cool off the court though, if you had a
Speaker 2: chance to hang with him off the court, you got
Speaker 2: a whole different outlook.
Speaker 4: He's a brother. Yeah, he was a brother. That's my brother.
Speaker 2: Brother down three two in Games six visits Lakers, you
Speaker 2: had a clutch three and yeah there winning the series
Speaker 2: walking through that.
Speaker 4: Man. That was contract really well that series though it
Speaker 4: was it was contract year. That was my first and
Speaker 4: only time competing again.
Speaker 3: Show made some money too, motherfucker. He made some bread boy,
Speaker 3: you know, I like that.
Speaker 4: But yeah, that was a contract year for me. And
Speaker 4: then obviously playing against my brother Cole, right so I
Speaker 4: never got a chance to play against him in the playoffs,
Speaker 4: and I just knew the mental warfare that was gonna
Speaker 4: be there. Like Cole loved to play those games with
Speaker 4: those he loved, you know, Yes, you know they'll say
Speaker 4: of you or do something stupid before the game, or
Speaker 4: not even speak to you, you know, just to you know,
Speaker 4: let you know what type of day it was gonna be.
Speaker 4: But uh, that that was, that was that was a
Speaker 4: thrill to be, you know, part of that series, the
Speaker 4: way it was with us being down and fighting back.
Speaker 4: But that that player that you're talking about, it was
Speaker 4: scramble Mold right. So our best shooter, Steve missed the
Speaker 4: first three, right, we was able to get that rebound.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: I think Boris d how you guys are just talking about,
Speaker 4: had all that game. I think he took the second
Speaker 4: three and missed that one, and then Sean Marryon got
Speaker 4: the rebound and kicked it to me. So you know,
Speaker 4: we all know tendencies in the game. So as the
Speaker 4: ball was coming towards me, I seen Kwame Brown running
Speaker 4: towards me, so we know he's going for every pump
Speaker 4: fake possible. So and then I was knocking it down
Speaker 4: so well that series. It was just a small pump.
Speaker 4: Fake was wide open. You know, scramble mold. You gotta
Speaker 4: shoot it, you know you can, and you know, try
Speaker 4: to hold it and look for somebody else. Time's going down,
Speaker 4: so you gotta let it go. So I just shot
Speaker 4: the ball with confidence. Man, I was shooting. Well, that's itious.
Speaker 3: What would he do in today's game? Him, I'll be different,
Speaker 3: he can play one through five.
Speaker 4: I just see myself when I watch today's game. You know,
Speaker 4: it's just guys six ten, whatever skill set.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously a ton of expectations coming to lead
Speaker 1: you have a you know, a great thirteen year career.
Speaker 1: When you get a chance to kind of sit back
Speaker 1: and look at the friendships, the games, the money, the experience,
Speaker 1: the fun, what do you what do you how do
Speaker 1: you bother your career up?
Speaker 3: What do you think about?
Speaker 4: I think I had a great one, Man, I had
Speaker 4: a great one. You know, first of all, to be
Speaker 4: blessed to be in that situation, not to me, of
Speaker 4: us that you know, get a chance to make it
Speaker 4: to that, to that uh, that situation and playing at
Speaker 4: the highest level. So I was I was, you know,
Speaker 4: I was blessed to be, you know, a part of it.
Speaker 4: I had some great experiences with, you know, some great
Speaker 4: group of guys. You know how life is, man, You're
Speaker 4: flying all over the world, flying in the worst weather,
Speaker 4: all that kind of stuff. So you know, you have
Speaker 4: those experiences of you know, being around different guys, different
Speaker 4: teammates six months and all that stuff, competing. You know,
Speaker 4: I wouldn't take it back.
Speaker 3: You have a favorite stop or a favorite team that
Speaker 3: you played on.
Speaker 4: I probably would say, obviously, any time you get a
Speaker 4: chance to play home, man, that's everything. I do wish
Speaker 4: that the Phoenix thing would have would have worked out.
Speaker 4: Thought you were great, Yeah, I do wish that would
Speaker 4: have worked out. But hey man, you know for us, man,
Speaker 4: we played this game to you know, get compensated well,
Speaker 4: and that was the biggest check on the table the business.
Speaker 2: How would that would look you going into the nets? Well,
Speaker 2: that's I mean, what was it like when they when
Speaker 2: you came.
Speaker 4: Out, that came out?
Speaker 3: They had.
Speaker 4: No Sam was there? Sam Pacell was there, Sherman, Douglas up, Kendall, Gill,
Speaker 4: Kerry Kittle, Johnny Newman, They.
Speaker 3: Always there, wasn't there yet. He wasn't there yet. He
Speaker 3: wasn't there yet, No, so I was.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was sick, but I really wanted to play
Speaker 4: for the home team. I was excited about that drive.
Speaker 1: Something you hope that that that young Hoopers take from this.
Speaker 1: Obviously you had a ton of accolades that the were
Speaker 1: earned because it was different back then. You had to
Speaker 1: earn the ship. It wasn't given away on social media
Speaker 1: and with highlight tapes like you earned that had a
Speaker 1: very successful career. Uh, you transitioned into a successful AU
Speaker 1: program who sent a ton of kids to college, the
Speaker 1: McDonald's game in the league, coaching high school basketball. Now,
Speaker 1: what will you hope someone takes from this interview?
Speaker 4: I mean, just you know, obviously, if you're a basketball player,
Speaker 4: follow your dreams, work work hard towards your goals. Obviously,
Speaker 4: you know, get those academics in order as well, and
Speaker 4: just be you know, solid people overall. Clean up your
Speaker 4: social media athletes because they watching, trust me, they watching,
Speaker 4: And get with the guys like us, you know, or
Speaker 4: guys that's not like us that may have played D
Speaker 4: one basketball, any collin college basketball, and go ask those
Speaker 4: guys for some advice we share. We share, you know,
Speaker 4: stop running to the bad trainers, you know, and all
Speaker 4: that kind of stuff because right now we're behind the
Speaker 4: eight ball, you know, to the international game absolutely. You know,
Speaker 4: AU is a rapid thing. You know, we got to
Speaker 4: practice and train more. Kobe was trying to get at
Speaker 4: that a few years back. But we do have to
Speaker 4: practice and train more and play less games. That's what
Speaker 4: they're doing overseas. That's the way we got to get
Speaker 4: our kids better. All right, salute everybody that's doing it
Speaker 4: and keep doing it because our youth need us.
Speaker 2: Let me ask you one question, what would you tell
Speaker 2: because you've been through this, what did you tell the
Speaker 2: player that went that's going through injury and trying to
Speaker 2: get back as you've been through that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, hey, listen, injuries is a part of sports. If
Speaker 4: you don't if you don't want to get injured, don't
Speaker 4: play sports, you know what I mean. So, I mean,
Speaker 4: it's just what it is. So when it happens, hey, listen,
Speaker 4: to setback happens for a reason. You know, you work
Speaker 4: your way to come back and get back into the
Speaker 4: groove and do your thing. And that's in any sport,
Speaker 4: in any sport, because it's going to happen, it's going
Speaker 4: to happen.
Speaker 1: Before we hit quick hitters. Favorite Kobe story. You've known
Speaker 1: them for a long time.
Speaker 4: Man, It's crazy.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: You know, when I got in the league, I bought
Speaker 4: a house in brnmar right, which is five minutes from
Speaker 4: from Villanova. So Lord Marion is right there. I used
Speaker 4: to see his moms and stuff at the grocery store
Speaker 4: and stuff like that. Obviously, we you know, we played
Speaker 4: au basketball together. We had you know, our fun times
Speaker 4: with that. Got a chance competing against each other, you know,
Speaker 4: in the league, in the playoff series, all of that.
Speaker 4: Obviously I lived in Calabasas. The accident happened, you know,
Speaker 4: right there. So I just felt like our connection it's
Speaker 4: always been there, you know what I mean, ninety six
Speaker 4: class all of that. But we had you know, in California,
Speaker 4: it get those spires all the time. So it was
Speaker 4: one of those real bad ones. So we go down
Speaker 4: to New Point Beach with the family, you know, to
Speaker 4: get out of the house, might lose the house whatever.
Speaker 4: That's cold neck of the was. So we pull up
Speaker 4: first night, We're thinking about our house. The whole shebang.
Speaker 4: Full up, go to a restaurant, you know, get some dinner,
Speaker 4: Cob knows the owner. He calls, take care of my guy,
Speaker 4: Bill probably six D seven hundred dollars. I'm getting ready
Speaker 4: to pull a card out. I was taking. Yeah, who
Speaker 4: took care of it? Oh, mister Bryant. Mister Bryant, like, ye, man,
Speaker 4: I don't know, I'm here, how do you know what
Speaker 4: I mean? He was somewhere doing something. And then the
Speaker 4: rest of the time we had to be there, which
Speaker 4: is probably two weeks or so, everywhere I went to
Speaker 4: city and had to pay for nothing.
Speaker 3: Really, he took everything.
Speaker 4: It was.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 4: It was so crazy to the point where like you know,
Speaker 4: you got you got a bunch of homes and so
Speaker 4: he was like, yo, just go stay at the My
Speaker 4: wife wanted to stay at the beach. You know, we
Speaker 4: had a beach front of it. So she's like, let's
Speaker 4: just stay here, but he was like, just go to
Speaker 4: the house. So yeah, I mean, it's stuff like that.
Speaker 3: We do.
Speaker 4: You know, I remember that situation like crazy, because it's
Speaker 4: like it's right there saying you try to drive away
Speaker 4: there and go see what's going on. But it's crazy.
Speaker 4: But yeah, man, it's as you can see, it's tough
Speaker 4: for me. I know, your relationship.
Speaker 3: So quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Five
Speaker 3: new Jersey Hoopers of all time? Put you on the spot. Yeah,
Speaker 3: come on, man, top five of all times.
Speaker 4: You got so many, man, I mean Shock Shack's not
Speaker 4: born here.
Speaker 3: So you, I mean you ain't even gotta be in order.
Speaker 3: Just give me five of them.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go with. I'm gonna go myself. You get
Speaker 4: born in Texas. Mm hmm.
Speaker 3: Shack was born in Texas.
Speaker 4: Shack was born in Texas.
Speaker 3: He grew up in Jersey.
Speaker 4: He grew up in Jersey. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: So I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go myself. Uh d
Speaker 4: J Wagner, I'm gonna go. You gotta put Kyrie in there.
Speaker 4: Mm hmmm. Uh, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3: J R.
Speaker 1: It's gonna get that last oh Man, spot Herring ting Cat.
Speaker 1: There's some names out there still.
Speaker 4: I ain't gonna get no calls. I'm soprano in this state.
Speaker 4: I didn't I didn't bring the road, but they know
Speaker 4: I'm soprano in the state.
Speaker 1: They know that.
Speaker 4: Oh man, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. Isaiah Briscoll
Speaker 4: I'm gonna go.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna say say the truth. I'm trying to tell niggas.
Speaker 3: Ba I did it. I know it. That's one of
Speaker 3: them right there. Thanks, thanks, appreciate you, earl. Earl, you
Speaker 3: Arnor mentioned New Jersey childhood.
Speaker 4: Crush, childhood crush. Man. I got in trouble for this too,
Speaker 4: because my wife went to Georgetown and I had got
Speaker 4: asked this while I was in high school and about
Speaker 4: the prom, like who would I want to go to
Speaker 4: the prome with? Because was going with friend? And I
Speaker 4: said no, I said, uh, I forget her name. I
Speaker 4: don't want to mess her name up. From from the
Speaker 4: Will Smith Show, from Fresh Prince, from Fresh Prince, the Sister.
Speaker 3: Ali Tai.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah that was yeah.
Speaker 4: So I mean I just I just said it because
Speaker 4: obviously you know you're watching the sitcom shows. I'm like,
Speaker 4: she's pretty.
Speaker 3: I got in trouble for that, and you got grounded
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Craziest thing ever offered you in high school?
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 4: University offered me three million dollars uh, a two million
Speaker 4: dollar home, four different vehicles, and they knew I was
Speaker 4: only going to be there for six months, and I said.
Speaker 3: Couldn't do it. God damn can you can you give
Speaker 3: it in my NBA deal? Could you give us a
Speaker 3: school or the cost? What coast was it on east coast?
Speaker 3: West coast?
Speaker 4: It was on the east coasts.
Speaker 3: It was on the east coast.
Speaker 4: I'll give you this hand. I just told you I'm
Speaker 4: soprying on New Jersey.
Speaker 3: So okay, I'll leave it. Keep it there. Dig that
Speaker 3: one thing you wish you was better at.
Speaker 4: One thing I wish I was better at, probably being
Speaker 4: handy man. I'm not. I'm not handed. I don't know
Speaker 4: what us not handy. My wife get on me about.
Speaker 3: That all the time. Had building ship like Christmas.
Speaker 4: Come, I'm like, I'm trying to run away from toys.
Speaker 4: My wife gets on me about that.
Speaker 3: Rick my handy man? H song album or artist to
Speaker 3: play over your career highlights?
Speaker 4: Anything naughty by nature you know those my brother my
Speaker 4: brother so anything anything noughty by nature, anything Jersey you know,
Speaker 4: food Giez, anything Jersey Base.
Speaker 3: One guess on all the smoke. I think you already
Speaker 3: answered it, but we're gonna ask you again because he
Speaker 3: brought up someone else he was close with you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, real one guess that you would like to see
Speaker 2: on all the Smoke, but you have to help us
Speaker 2: get your answer on the show.
Speaker 4: I got to got too, so I'm gonna go. I'm
Speaker 4: gonna go fifty. Yeah. You gotta get up here. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and I'm gonna go Sonny Carol for the basketball.
Speaker 1: To male your calls, but for your call, real Tim.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you, man. We want to make sure you
Speaker 1: know that you were always respected.
Speaker 3: By your peers and we got a lot of love
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 1: And and it really hats off to your AU program
Speaker 1: and what you've been able to do and the blessing
Speaker 1: you've been for so many young men out here, just
Speaker 1: to give them hope and to see it.
Speaker 3: Man. So continue to carry on. Make sure you guys
Speaker 3: get your purified business. Yeah, r X handing your business
Speaker 3: and man, God blessed man.
Speaker 4: Thank you brother, my real brother.
Speaker 3: You can catch this on All the Smoke Productions YouTube.
Speaker 3: We'll see y'all next week.
Speaker 4: I