Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back Man, season two of All the Smoke. We got
Speaker 1: a real special guests. What's up with your Brodie with
Speaker 1: the virtual headshake? I'm gonna tell you something that I
Speaker 1: never told back. I want to smoke. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: another edition All the Smoke, Jack, what's happening? Was good?
Speaker 1: My brother? Man? I can't call it everything good out there? Yes,
Speaker 1: sir man, you look extra comfortable right now. Are you good?
Speaker 1: You don't mean to fall asleep on me? Are you now?
Speaker 1: I just relocated to a more comfortable spot in the crib,
Speaker 1: that's all. I'm not mad at that. Man. We got
Speaker 1: a special guest today coming from Uh yeah. I saw
Speaker 1: this series on HBO before it called Gang Banging and
Speaker 1: Little Rock? Is it that rough out there? Joe Joe Johnson?
Speaker 1: Welcome Joe Johnson to the show. Are they really gang
Speaker 1: banging out a little rock? Joe? Man? They're banging everywhere, man,
Speaker 1: They're banging everywhere and they just a little rocky man.
Speaker 1: We'll welcome to the show. Let's get to it. Man.
Speaker 1: What is what is one thing you took from obviously,
Speaker 1: starting with Kobe early in it was a domino effect
Speaker 1: of just negative ship throughout the year. What was one
Speaker 1: thing you took from and just to cheerish the thing
Speaker 1: that you have more more importantly, Uh, spending you know
Speaker 1: countless hours or you know a time with my kids.
Speaker 1: For me, that was that was it. But I stayed
Speaker 1: in the gym, and I'm with if I ain't in
Speaker 1: the gym, and with my kids Rice versa. Absolutely, how
Speaker 1: many how many kids? And what are the ages? I
Speaker 1: got to My son his name is Gavin, he's fourteen.
Speaker 1: My daughter's her name is Justin, she's seven. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I try to keep him in there. Women, I got
Speaker 1: a seven year old too. It is your son into
Speaker 1: hoping too? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. He's in the hooper man.
Speaker 1: He uh, he trains his butt off, you know. He
Speaker 1: put in the works, so you know it'll come. He
Speaker 1: hadn't hit it, he hadn't hit no spurt yet, no
Speaker 1: gross spurt yet. But you know, it's it's funny to
Speaker 1: kind of see the changes and watch them grow week
Speaker 1: by week, like it's it's crazy. Yeah, my twins or twelve,
Speaker 1: so they're on the same They finally started to want
Speaker 1: to work out in their own so, like you said,
Speaker 1: you see those gradual improvements by the day to day basis.
Speaker 1: I enjoy it personally. Oh man, it's fun. It's fun.
Speaker 1: So in this in this young NBA season, who's captured
Speaker 1: your attention, whether that be teams or individual players? That
Speaker 1: would definitely have to say LaMelo. Man, LaMelo has been
Speaker 1: He's been great. He's been everything that I thought he
Speaker 1: would be. You know, a big, tall point guard who
Speaker 1: has a great feel for the game, and I just
Speaker 1: love to watch him play. Man. The one thing I
Speaker 1: took from him is he just out there playing with confidence.
Speaker 1: And that's what we all we all know, we all
Speaker 1: played a long time. Confidences everything in this league. And
Speaker 1: and and obviously if you get in the league, you
Speaker 1: can play, but the fact that you have the confidence
Speaker 1: in the green light. I love the way he's played.
Speaker 1: He's played like he's been here for a handful of
Speaker 1: years already. So he's definitely been an eye opener. I've
Speaker 1: loved the wet way he's played. Yeah, very poise man.
Speaker 1: I enjoy it, you know, to see how you run
Speaker 1: the show, how he sees the floor like as a PG.
Speaker 1: I mean you couldn't ask for a better player to
Speaker 1: put with that team with all them athletes a gap.
Speaker 1: You look like you're in game shape. You're ready for
Speaker 1: that deadline call. Man, Listen, I stay in game shape.
Speaker 1: Uh honestly, Bro, I I stay in the gym and
Speaker 1: me training and working out. I probably enjoyed that far
Speaker 1: more than you know, hooping. But it keeps me in
Speaker 1: great shape. And anytime somebody calls me and it's an opportunity,
Speaker 1: then yeah, I'll take a look at it. Like I said, Man,
Speaker 1: my kids keep me going, bro. So we go to
Speaker 1: the gym every day, workout, and we stay at it.
Speaker 1: What's up. We'll take us back to where it all started. Um,
Speaker 1: what was your upbringing? Like your childhood? Man, it was
Speaker 1: the only child. It was just me and my mother.
Speaker 1: Uh my dad has two daughters by previous marriage, but
Speaker 1: we didn't grow up close niche. So we're trying to,
Speaker 1: you know, bridge that gap, man. But you know it's
Speaker 1: been it's been a little difficult because we're older now
Speaker 1: and you know, things are you know, they're doing anything.
Speaker 1: I'm doing my thing. But I came up the only
Speaker 1: trial and uh, you know, it's just me and my mother.
Speaker 1: She worked two and three jobs. She did what she could,
Speaker 1: uh to make things working for us to get by.
Speaker 1: And I've seen the hard work that she put in
Speaker 1: day to day. It's just kind of how I applied
Speaker 1: to my My regiment is uh, you know, as I
Speaker 1: got older, the things I started to do, when it
Speaker 1: was training, working out, or taking basketball serious. When did
Speaker 1: you stop playing basketball? Man? I fell in love with
Speaker 1: the game probably about like eight, that's probably like right
Speaker 1: when I started, like seven, eight years old, and from
Speaker 1: that point on, Jack Man, I just I couldn't put
Speaker 1: it down. And still to this day, Bro, I love
Speaker 1: it just as much as I loved it back then.
Speaker 1: That's why it's hard to let go. You know what
Speaker 1: I mean. It's hard to let go, Bro. It's it's
Speaker 1: like that was that was really and truly my first love,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's just hard for me to just throw
Speaker 1: it to the side and be like, you know, and
Speaker 1: I don't want to do it no more. Did you play?
Speaker 1: Do you play any other sports? Growing up? Just basketball?
Speaker 1: Strictly hooper, Bro, This is hey, listen, strictly strictly hooping.
Speaker 1: That was it. I didn't try no other sport, didn't
Speaker 1: want to try no other sport. That's just what it was.
Speaker 1: Who Who are some of the players you looked up
Speaker 1: to um growing up as a Hooper, Some top players
Speaker 1: my idols, obviously Michael Jordan's opinion hard the way Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1: And when I say Kobe, I'm talking the number eight Kobe.
Speaker 1: That's the Kobe. That's the Kobe I felt in. That's
Speaker 1: the Kobe that was planted on my wall, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I competed a lot against twenty four.
Speaker 1: I competed against eight, too, but I competed a lot
Speaker 1: against twenty four, and uh, the number eight is just
Speaker 1: you know, seventeen, eighteen years old out of high school,
Speaker 1: playing in the NBA code, about two three years older
Speaker 1: than me. I felt that to do it, I felt
Speaker 1: it was possible, you know what I mean. I remember
Speaker 1: because we did the same pre draft. You were out
Speaker 1: in l A working with Neilo Shake and I was
Speaker 1: just blowing away at how motherfucking smooth and under control
Speaker 1: this dude, Jack Like, he didn't say a word the
Speaker 1: entire time he was in there. He just killed the
Speaker 1: motherfucker had that handle, the shot, the step backs. Joe
Speaker 1: was just out there doing this thing. I'm like, who
Speaker 1: is this quiet motherfucker over here? He was just going
Speaker 1: about his ship and just steadily how he went out
Speaker 1: through his career. You know, his career was the same way.
Speaker 1: He just went out there and performed. It wasn't no talking,
Speaker 1: it wasn't this, it wasn't that. Joe was just out
Speaker 1: there the hoop. And I got my first introduction to
Speaker 1: him like that, and I think it was was two
Speaker 1: thousand two one. Yeah, I got draft one on the
Speaker 1: person to spent me around in the NBA. I say
Speaker 1: that I get hey, listen, listen, listen. Man. I enjoyed
Speaker 1: every uh. I enjoyed every bit of that, you know,
Speaker 1: the draft process, going to l A working out and
Speaker 1: what y'all gotta understanding. Always my whole career, all way
Speaker 1: up to about ninth grade, I played point guard. I
Speaker 1: wasn't the biggest guy. I was average hYP. I was
Speaker 1: literally I was a strictly point guard. I complain no
Speaker 1: other position. That's how like I was average hype. I
Speaker 1: had always had a decent handle going into ten grade, man,
Speaker 1: I grew like four or five inches, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Now I'm six five and jump balling. Bring
Speaker 1: the ball up the court, like, man, who the tall
Speaker 1: skinny kids happen? That's gotta happen for real. That's the
Speaker 1: same way with you know, I grew I grew probably
Speaker 1: five inches and once something going to the ninth grade.
Speaker 1: Going to the ninth grade. Yeah, alright, these are things
Speaker 1: that I break down to my son. I'll be like, look, man,
Speaker 1: because he be asking me questions like why he can't
Speaker 1: grip the ball, Like, man, you ain't even grow into
Speaker 1: your body at your hands, just coming just you'd be patient,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. He wanted to be Joe now. Man,
Speaker 1: he wanted right now, chill, just chill, It's gonna come
Speaker 1: b But he's in that area too, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like I said, he's fourteen, my kids, or
Speaker 1: twelve now was when people start hitting those spurts. You know,
Speaker 1: miss something, get it early something, get it a little later.
Speaker 1: I got mine at fourteen going into high school as well.
Speaker 1: Was I grew six inches, So he dried on the cusp,
Speaker 1: Like I already know how he's feeling. What was the
Speaker 1: basketball scene back um, like in Little Rock from high school,
Speaker 1: was a lot of competition out there. You want Mr
Speaker 1: Alcosol basketball nine, but was there any good competition out
Speaker 1: there for you? Yeah, man, we had great competition. Uh Man,
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, they don't come really do.
Speaker 1: Back then, you didn't get a lot of McDonald's all
Speaker 1: Americans from down South. I mean, you get a couple
Speaker 1: here and there. But the talent, the talent down here
Speaker 1: is is crazy. And we're gonna help get these guys
Speaker 1: some notoriety, you know what I mean. But by some
Speaker 1: of the things that me and my camp is doing
Speaker 1: to help. He's got to put them on a major platform.
Speaker 1: But no, the talent is great. It was great back then.
Speaker 1: It's still great, and uh we just gotta get some
Speaker 1: notorieties to it. Yeah, that's fast. Because I'm from the South.
Speaker 1: I had to go to Okhill, Joe just to make
Speaker 1: the McDonald's game. I was the same player my junior year,
Speaker 1: but going to Oak Hill, I got a better look.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It's always it's so much
Speaker 1: talent coming out the South. Bro, we just don't get
Speaker 1: them looks. But what's stood out to you? What's what
Speaker 1: stood out to you about your high school career? My
Speaker 1: high school career, Man, I went to school. I went
Speaker 1: to high school with a bunch of guys who I
Speaker 1: knew and grew up with. To be honest, we had
Speaker 1: been playing together since it was about eleven, twive years old.
Speaker 1: A and the majority of us, you know, went over
Speaker 1: to Central, the school called Central Little Rock Central High School,
Speaker 1: the Little Rock nine segregation all that. That's a whole
Speaker 1: another story we can talk about on another day. But
Speaker 1: initially me and my best friend was just going there
Speaker 1: because you know what, coming out of junior high school,
Speaker 1: we wasn't highly red creuded like that. But he's like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go to Central. They weren't about nothing. We're
Speaker 1: gonna go over there and we get to play and
Speaker 1: be something. But then all other guys they kind of
Speaker 1: came over there with us and they chucked us into
Speaker 1: a powerhouse off dump like from the first season. You know,
Speaker 1: Tin Gray was was high school. Nine grade wasn't high
Speaker 1: school then, so yeah, they went I Tink Gray year.
Speaker 1: We made it to the title game and we lost,
Speaker 1: but we should have wanted every year, man, But obviously
Speaker 1: we came up short. Our senior year, you know, we
Speaker 1: ran the table, but it was awesome and it was
Speaker 1: on the best shops of my career as far as basketball,
Speaker 1: because you really becoming to who you think you're gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, as far as then you go off to college,
Speaker 1: but through high school you're still trying to figure all
Speaker 1: that out. And the fact you got to play with
Speaker 1: your people, you know, I mean, that's what makes it
Speaker 1: specially when you get to pay with the people you
Speaker 1: grew up with. Yeah, that was dope. Man. Also winning
Speaker 1: the championship that that high school hadn't won a title
Speaker 1: on a long time prior to us winning one there,
Speaker 1: so that was Yeah, that was fun. What top schools
Speaker 1: were recruited, man, Jack, I had everybody recruit me, but
Speaker 1: I only wanted to be a razor back. Man. I
Speaker 1: came up watching Yeah, I came up watching Corlis Willson, Scott. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I knew he was gonna say Scotti, bro I came up.
Speaker 1: I came up watching them guys. Not only that, I
Speaker 1: was playing pick up with him here and there. So
Speaker 1: I've seen how dominant they was in college, and they
Speaker 1: made you want to be a razor back. So you
Speaker 1: saw them when you see l A ran through them
Speaker 1: in the tournament. Look, look, look, I see I've seen everything.
Speaker 1: You gotta understand when the razor backs played, bro they
Speaker 1: stopped school like were in school. They stopped school like
Speaker 1: we go every class and have it on like we Man.
Speaker 1: It was crazy. Yeah, it was crazy. That's that's that
Speaker 1: small town field. Some games with arkansasin and U n
Speaker 1: l V. Man, those games was classic, bro Man. They
Speaker 1: was really broadling out to them, man, for real. That
Speaker 1: was that was some real basketball back then. Man. What
Speaker 1: was your first meeting like with legendary coach Nolan Richardson
Speaker 1: to mean with me and Coach richard and my family
Speaker 1: was It was awesome? It was everything we expected. I mean,
Speaker 1: we committed right after that. I wanted to commit anyway,
Speaker 1: but you know, him come sitting in my living room
Speaker 1: talking to my mother and my grandmother and my uncle's. Uh.
Speaker 1: That was an amazing feeling. You know, I really feel
Speaker 1: like I had made it. After that freshman year, All
Speaker 1: Freshman Team, All Tournament average sixteen six, two and two,
Speaker 1: led Arkansas to the tournament, lost to Miami in the
Speaker 1: in the first round. What was your first experience like
Speaker 1: in the n C Double A Tournament Because that ship
Speaker 1: is amazing to me and for those of guys that
Speaker 1: like Jack, you know, went straight to the league. He
Speaker 1: didn't get a chance to see what the n c
Speaker 1: Double A tournament was like. What was that first experience
Speaker 1: like for you? It was awesome for me, Uh, the
Speaker 1: competition alone. But I will say this, you know, my
Speaker 1: freshman year was kind of a blur. I didn't I
Speaker 1: was a prop for the eight going to college, so
Speaker 1: I didn't play into January. He's something. So when I
Speaker 1: came on in January, I had everything pent up and
Speaker 1: built up inside of me and I just kind of, yeah,
Speaker 1: lasted out on the court. But man, we was We
Speaker 1: was fifteen and fourteen going into the SEC tournament. We
Speaker 1: weren't making it. No n c A Championship, no n
Speaker 1: c A tournament. SEC tournament. We running the table. We
Speaker 1: played against three top ten teams in the SEC tournament
Speaker 1: to go to and beat him and go to the
Speaker 1: n c A tournaments. I heard the first team the
Speaker 1: only team never win then SEC title. Who were the
Speaker 1: teams you beat on the way through through the tournament?
Speaker 1: The SEC tournament, Man, we had to play l s
Speaker 1: U with stro Smith. Hey, that was Duncan. Strom was
Speaker 1: a Duncan motherfucker. Man, I wish you never got hurt.
Speaker 1: That motherfucker was a Duncan, motherfucker boy man. Dude was
Speaker 1: unreal Outdore. And we played against Kentucky Tashaw Prince Keith
Speaker 1: Bogan's y Yeah yeah yeah. And we played against UH Alban.
Speaker 1: Alban was ranked like number five a year, sophomore year,
Speaker 1: All SEC, Second Team, UH Honorable Mention, All American. You
Speaker 1: got a chance to play thirty games fifteen six and three,
Speaker 1: lost to George down in the n C Double A Tournament,
Speaker 1: and then it's time to go capture walk us back
Speaker 1: to what your college experience like. Obviously, it was a
Speaker 1: dream to go there. You go there for two years
Speaker 1: and then you're ready to take your talents to the NBA.
Speaker 1: It was a scary moment. It was scary because I
Speaker 1: knew that my my dreams was right in front of me.
Speaker 1: So to make that leak and going and have to
Speaker 1: tell coach listen, um, I think I'm gonna enter the
Speaker 1: NBA draft. That was That was tough, but you know
Speaker 1: I went through with it. So two thousand one, the
Speaker 1: tenth pick in the draft to the Celtics. You joined
Speaker 1: up with Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker. What were those Celtics teams?
Speaker 1: What was that Celtics team like your first year. Man. Listen,
Speaker 1: first though, Paul Pierce, they just got his first check,
Speaker 1: like his first big country I think he you couldn't
Speaker 1: tell him ship oh man. And then you know he
Speaker 1: had been you know, Paul had went through you know,
Speaker 1: he had went through a lot, man, you know, and
Speaker 1: you know with everything he went through and he got
Speaker 1: that in twin you know it's won't hey, man, I
Speaker 1: had a great time. Trust me, I know, I know
Speaker 1: he look for a young country boy. Man. You give
Speaker 1: me out damn bousing man. Listen all through that day,
Speaker 1: you mean who were who were who were the some
Speaker 1: of the vets on your team, Tony bat Williams, Kenny Anderson,
Speaker 1: Walter MC. I played with some real events man. Them dudes, Hey,
Speaker 1: they changed my life. Man. I think you touched on
Speaker 1: a good point because the NBA is completely obviously changed
Speaker 1: the way they play. But when we came into the league,
Speaker 1: there were vets, like real vets, like in the age
Speaker 1: vet that thirty three to thirty seven thirty eight range,
Speaker 1: where whether they played or not, they contributed to the team.
Speaker 1: They help young people like you. You know, they were
Speaker 1: ready if they were called upon. But the game is
Speaker 1: different now. And I say that to say, I still
Speaker 1: feel like you can play. I can still feel like
Speaker 1: Jamal Crawford can play. There's guys that can still play.
Speaker 1: But the be A has changed from a standpoint of Now,
Speaker 1: you know, Steph Curry is a vent on the Warriors
Speaker 1: and he's like thirty two. He's the oldest player on
Speaker 1: the team, which is crazy because, like I said, when
Speaker 1: we first came in the league, they were real O
Speaker 1: G O G vets. They were there to do a
Speaker 1: lot of you know, the dirty work and in the
Speaker 1: lifting and helping young guys kind of navigate the crazy
Speaker 1: NBA life. Yeah, well, I mean it's tough now. I
Speaker 1: mean the league is getting younger and younger. You know,
Speaker 1: you got guys, there's so many guys coming one and
Speaker 1: done that you know they're gonna keep a guy based
Speaker 1: off potential as opposed to somebody who's been around, you
Speaker 1: know for fifteen sixteen years, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So that's just kind of how it is. What was
Speaker 1: your welcome to the NBA moment? My welcome to the
Speaker 1: NBA moment's playing against? Uh? What's playing against? So my
Speaker 1: rookie year was MJ's first year back in the NBA
Speaker 1: with the Wizards. Yeah, we played against them. Fourth game
Speaker 1: of the season. I was starting. Will was getting hurt
Speaker 1: the second game of the season, small for so they
Speaker 1: started me. Uh, and I gotta guard m J. Paul
Speaker 1: Paul Piers Like, man, I'm gonna get him in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. I need you to get in the first three. Look,
Speaker 1: I'm like I been so uh man. We got out
Speaker 1: there first off, Twin and m J talking stuff to
Speaker 1: each other on the tip, like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So m J tell Paul, I gotta come all the
Speaker 1: way back to the NBA just just to get a
Speaker 1: pickup game with you, just to get around with you said, hey,
Speaker 1: all going back and forth. But I'm like, man, y'all
Speaker 1: gotta chill. You know what I'm saying, Like I'm the
Speaker 1: one got to guard this man. But uh, it was
Speaker 1: it was a fun moment. Man. I embraced the challenge
Speaker 1: and uh, I had so much fun. But I got
Speaker 1: so many pictures and memories from that moment and even
Speaker 1: the video, like it was crazy. It was on T
Speaker 1: and T like I never forget it. What did he
Speaker 1: do that game? He finished with like thirty thirty two?
Speaker 1: End up getting I had sixteen and tens l solid solid. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm surprised you got I'm surprised you got enough looks
Speaker 1: to get so early in your career. You're traded from
Speaker 1: the Celtics to the Sun for Rodney Rogers and Tony Delkin.
Speaker 1: Oh too, Is that when you realize there was a business? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't realize it was a business
Speaker 1: that I just started. I wasn't want it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like, Uh, I didn't understand that when
Speaker 1: you create a little value for yourself as a young guy,
Speaker 1: then you know, uh, they don't want you to get
Speaker 1: hurt or they don't want you to miss their value up,
Speaker 1: so they're gonna push you to the side a little bit,
Speaker 1: you know. I was. I was asking fourteen points a game,
Speaker 1: playing with them as a rookie, and uh, coach came
Speaker 1: to me straight up and it was like, look, man,
Speaker 1: because we had two other rookies, Joe Forte and Keijick Brown.
Speaker 1: He was like, we gotta give all these guys a look.
Speaker 1: So I sat down. I didn't for like seventeen streight
Speaker 1: game DMPs and then I got traded cold game, cold game.
Speaker 1: So what was it like Head of the Phoenix, obviously
Speaker 1: a great city. What was it like when you first
Speaker 1: got there? Well, when I first got there, it was
Speaker 1: Stephan mar Verry Penny Hardaway, Sean Marrion right away was
Speaker 1: coming off the bench back and those three guys, and uh,
Speaker 1: it was fun. But you know, I was so inconsistent
Speaker 1: early in my years that you know, I didn't really
Speaker 1: I didn't even get to play a lot, to be honest,
Speaker 1: And two thousand to two thousand three we end up
Speaker 1: playing y'all in the playoffs in the first round, and
Speaker 1: around that time you was coming to your own. You
Speaker 1: really was helping carry that team besides Stephan MARII what
Speaker 1: you remember about this series, I just remember being amped
Speaker 1: to play. Man, I'm gonna be honest, like, uh, I
Speaker 1: think we were the a C y'all, the one C Jack. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I knew it was gonna be tough to beat y'all,
Speaker 1: but I know we we we messed around the one
Speaker 1: that first game was Steph hit that buzzer beat them
Speaker 1: oh man from half Hey, Uh I knew that, you know,
Speaker 1: Stephanamari could dominate, you know. For me, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: be honest, man, I just wasn't I wasn't that polished
Speaker 1: to help them dues uh and Sean to help them
Speaker 1: or get on the help that we needed to try to,
Speaker 1: you know, make a playoff push. It took me another
Speaker 1: year or two before I could, you know, understand that
Speaker 1: what changed when Steve Nash arrived the following year. Steve
Speaker 1: could have averaged ten mm, but he chose an average
Speaker 1: fourteen points in thirteen and six. He kept We get
Speaker 1: Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson Q that's my guy with
Speaker 1: me and q uh Q led the league and three
Speaker 1: point three point mates I shot. I shot four to
Speaker 1: seven percent from the three. We're shooting the cover off
Speaker 1: that thing. And Steve made shure man. He made sure
Speaker 1: that we ate. That's what it was. I really appreciate
Speaker 1: it for that man because he could have each and
Speaker 1: every night he could have came out and the average
Speaker 1: at least twenty five. Well, you guys kind of really
Speaker 1: started or not started, because we touched on it with
Speaker 1: Golden State, but you guys really brought that small ball,
Speaker 1: up tempo pace a game to the NBA to stay
Speaker 1: and obviously now everyone plays at that, But what was
Speaker 1: it like that style? Because I mean, at the at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that's the style we all
Speaker 1: want to play. We all just want to get out
Speaker 1: and hoop, run, feel the lane, shoot dunk. But what
Speaker 1: was it like actually getting to do it in a
Speaker 1: real life NBA setting? Man, I don't even know if
Speaker 1: that was d An Tony style from the jump. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna be honest. I'm gonna tell you what happened.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you what I think. I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you what I think happened. What I think happened was,
Speaker 1: like I tell you, I was a little inconsistent. So
Speaker 1: they bring Nash and Q O with for me and
Speaker 1: Q to battle out at the two spots. Because Sean
Speaker 1: at the time of the three, he was an all
Speaker 1: start to three. You who you You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So throughout throughout the whole camp, you know, from time
Speaker 1: to time, me and Q will be up against each
Speaker 1: other sometime we've been on team. But by the time
Speaker 1: again in the first preseason game, he was like, man, Sean,
Speaker 1: you just played the four, mar you played the five,
Speaker 1: Joe and Q two and three. Because I don't know,
Speaker 1: he just he just didn't want to leave nobody out.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm not sure. And from that point on
Speaker 1: we went. We blow through the whole preseason. I'm talking
Speaker 1: about smashing teams, but you know it's the preseason. They're like,
Speaker 1: oh man, with up. Regular season started the same thing.
Speaker 1: So your next the next year, you're having your career
Speaker 1: high seventeen points, get a chance to play all eighty
Speaker 1: two games. You guys win sixty one games. What was
Speaker 1: it like, kind of finding your footing? Because on the
Speaker 1: outside looking in, that's kind of when you really started
Speaker 1: fighting yourself. What was it like to kind of finding
Speaker 1: and come into your own in that situation? It was
Speaker 1: fun for me because I played backup point guard, even
Speaker 1: though I started at the two or the three. Rather
Speaker 1: I backed up Steve Nash when he went out of
Speaker 1: the game, I played the point, and I always I
Speaker 1: always loved playing the point because I love making plays
Speaker 1: and making guys better. So I always took that challenge
Speaker 1: and uh and have fun with it. Cod Antony, trust
Speaker 1: me enough man, and put the ball in my hands
Speaker 1: through Uh. You know, in tough situations, crunch time, and
Speaker 1: I just tried to deliver. You had a nice run
Speaker 1: with Phoenix UM two thousand five, you signed as a
Speaker 1: restricted free agent. Oh yeah, so excuse me, a sign
Speaker 1: and trade. You got your first nice piece of money,
Speaker 1: ching ching. You feel like your time was up in
Speaker 1: Phoenix or just you wanted a fresh start in Atlanta
Speaker 1: the way it was set up, you know, like if
Speaker 1: Phoenix scared everybody off from trying to sign me, then
Speaker 1: they can lowball me and come back with some bs.
Speaker 1: So I had to tell them, look, let's due to
Speaker 1: sign and trade. I don't want to come back. I
Speaker 1: had to if I didn't being out of cane back
Speaker 1: for peanuts, you know what I'm saying. So I had
Speaker 1: to make a tough decision. Yeah, I had to make
Speaker 1: a tough of shooses. That sounds like some Robert sarvership
Speaker 1: over there. Yeah first year Actually yeah he was. He was.
Speaker 1: He was a bum. So we understand where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: What did you see for yourself in a t l
Speaker 1: Like when when you got there? What did you see?
Speaker 1: I mean other than the city? You know, I liked it.
Speaker 1: I loved the city. Uh you know, I had been
Speaker 1: in Atlanta a few times, but I knew the Hawks
Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't a playoff team. But you know, I
Speaker 1: was like, look, man, maybe you know, in a couple
Speaker 1: of years, we can get this thing rolled and turn
Speaker 1: this thing around, because I thought that the city deserved,
Speaker 1: you know, a playoff team, a title contending team, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he was able to turn around. And when
Speaker 1: I first got to Atlanta, man didn't even feel like
Speaker 1: the NBA like we we non seriously, we literally had
Speaker 1: about maybe three or four hundred people at the games.
Speaker 1: It was it was bad, man. It was so depressing,
Speaker 1: Like to the point, well, I ain't even want to
Speaker 1: go out to eat, hangout, I ain't wanna do nothing.
Speaker 1: Like it was bad. From two thousand five to two
Speaker 1: thou ten. You ever run a five straight seasons averaging
Speaker 1: twenty points a game? What were once you? Guys? You
Speaker 1: were able to change the climate and the culture. They're
Speaker 1: um getting into the playoffs two thousand tho thousand and twelve,
Speaker 1: you have some re memorable matchups, you know, running to
Speaker 1: the Celtics team oh eight, Lebron's MVP two thousand ten
Speaker 1: team Derrick Rose. What were some of your more memorable
Speaker 1: playoff moments with that team? Man? Probably, you know, to
Speaker 1: be honest, I had to say the Celtics series against
Speaker 1: KG and Paul took him to seven, right, You took
Speaker 1: him to seventh, didn't you. Yeah, we took him to
Speaker 1: seven games. We were the A seed, they were the
Speaker 1: one seed, and they just couldn't beat us in the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Man. Atlanta, the fans really came out and gave
Speaker 1: us that that six man that we needed because we
Speaker 1: was kicking their butt in Atlanta, but they was roasting
Speaker 1: us in Boston. We didn't have a chance. They have
Speaker 1: at hey, listen, man were mopping the people in the
Speaker 1: eight Man, but we could do nothing in Boston. Tough, tough, tough.
Speaker 1: Who were some of the people you were closest to
Speaker 1: on the Atlanta scene, Guys like Josh Smith, you know
Speaker 1: ST's got this is you know, someone who I talked
Speaker 1: to still the day and I mean he's my neighbor,
Speaker 1: Marvin Williams. Uh when we got a Jeff Little, Jeff
Speaker 1: t Josh Childress. You know, all those guys were young
Speaker 1: in age and uh, you know, not far apart from me,
Speaker 1: at least two three years far apart from me. So
Speaker 1: you know, all those guys are cool. Was Jamal there
Speaker 1: with you with all Crawford? Yeah, I played with Jamal
Speaker 1: Crawford for two years. Man, they're doing there as a clown.
Speaker 1: He take the all time? Man? What wrong with this dude? Man?
Speaker 1: Bro with it. He don't have to say a word
Speaker 1: to you. Man, he just walked up to you start tackling.
Speaker 1: You know, you said he with them fingers, they'll poke,
Speaker 1: right they do. Man, My boy though, no boy, shout
Speaker 1: shout out Jamal. We gotta get Jamal on the show. Man.
Speaker 1: I can't leave absolutely. So what led to you making
Speaker 1: the move from Atlanta to Brooklyn? I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: maybe timing. Uh, you know, I got a phone call.
Speaker 1: They asked me. He's like, man, would you think about playing,
Speaker 1: you know with the Brooklyn this? And at that time,
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn it's been to be a first year So
Speaker 1: I was like, whatever, it's New York. Whatever, And uh,
Speaker 1: two three days later, I was traded. It's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: So you're trading for Jordan Farmer, Anthony Morrow, Petro, Deshaun Stephenson,
Speaker 1: and Jordan Williams for a first round pick. Um. What
Speaker 1: was that experience like? Obviously a new Brooklyn team, Like
Speaker 1: you said, you're in New York. What was that experience
Speaker 1: like there's nothing like no other. I had a great
Speaker 1: time playing in New York. It was it was awesome.
Speaker 1: I never thought I'll be playing in New York. And
Speaker 1: I thought Brooklyn was a great franchise. It still is,
Speaker 1: um and I just enjoyed it. I enjoyed the whole process.
Speaker 1: I had great teammates, you know, I would I wish
Speaker 1: we could have, you know, done something special, but we didn't.
Speaker 1: It was but it was fun. I got chat to
Speaker 1: see Darren Williaves at his best, bro and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we lost to him in the in the playoffs. How
Speaker 1: was it playing with him? And how good was he
Speaker 1: at his best? He was great? You know, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, whenever he had his mind, made up man
Speaker 1: to attack and and made guys better around him. I mean,
Speaker 1: you couldn't do nothing with him, because I've seen him
Speaker 1: except the challenge, you know, night in and night out
Speaker 1: against guys who you know, he may have heard whispers
Speaker 1: that was better than him or things of that nature.
Speaker 1: So I've seen him accept the challenges and and you
Speaker 1: know and answer that. Uh so, yeah, I knew he
Speaker 1: was the top point guard. The blockbuster trade of two
Speaker 1: thousand thirteam that brought Paul pierceon Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn
Speaker 1: along with Jason Kidd as the head coach. What was
Speaker 1: the energy like around the city and what was your
Speaker 1: excitement level like to to be able to have these
Speaker 1: guys team. Oh, the energy around the city was crazy,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, the buzz was it was sick.
Speaker 1: We was a title contending team. We was a team
Speaker 1: that was supposed to be Miami and uh And honestly
Speaker 1: I felt that way. I thought that we could have.
Speaker 1: I thought that we really had a team to give
Speaker 1: him a great run. Man. You know, those guys brought
Speaker 1: that pedigree, that championship pedigree that we need it as
Speaker 1: a team to get guys like myself, Darren and Brooke
Speaker 1: over the hump. So they were great. They did their part. Man,
Speaker 1: we just came up short. But the journey was fun, man,
Speaker 1: getting to know you know, KG and getting to know
Speaker 1: Paul on another level. Uh, I mean it was fun
Speaker 1: for me. What was it like teaming up with them
Speaker 1: as teammates. Obviously you got a chance to team up
Speaker 1: with Paul your rookie year, you know, your your several
Speaker 1: years into the league. Now you've established yourself as as
Speaker 1: one of the best players in the league. What was
Speaker 1: it like having those guys around in the locker room
Speaker 1: and what are some of the maybe some of the
Speaker 1: crazy stories you guys had as as a team. Well,
Speaker 1: KG got a story every day, He got a different day.
Speaker 1: Every day. He gonna be in full sweat telling you
Speaker 1: the story too. So I looked forward to I look
Speaker 1: forward to getting practice because he was always the first
Speaker 1: one that practice. You could never beat in the practice first,
Speaker 1: but any time I got there, he always had a
Speaker 1: story for me. So he was definitely one of the
Speaker 1: guys who I used to always, you know it, pick
Speaker 1: and ask some questions. And he's a hell of a teammate.
Speaker 1: He's just, you know, a guy to compete against. You know,
Speaker 1: you probably have problems with, but as a teammate, bro,
Speaker 1: you would love him. Know, we had him on the
Speaker 1: show and I only got a chance to compete again
Speaker 1: us in the whole time. But getting the chance to
Speaker 1: meet him off the court and know him now, it's
Speaker 1: crazy because you would think, like his energy is like
Speaker 1: is that fake? Because that this it is that that's
Speaker 1: the that's the motherfucker you get when the game is
Speaker 1: going and in real life, sitting next to you chilling,
Speaker 1: the same energy, the same kind of talk, the same sweat,
Speaker 1: the same crazy stories. Uh is what you get on
Speaker 1: and off the court with him. So it was fun
Speaker 1: seeing that the energy was great. You know, Jason Terry
Speaker 1: is with them too, so the character, oh my god,
Speaker 1: the energy was crazy. But you know, like I said, man,
Speaker 1: they kept us focus day in and day out on
Speaker 1: what the prize was ultimately what we was trying to
Speaker 1: do and with the title, and uh, we just tried
Speaker 1: to gain their chemistry the whole year. But we dealt
Speaker 1: with so many injuries. Brooke went out for he broke
Speaker 1: gets foot and was out for the whole year, and
Speaker 1: we was playing through Brooke, so you know, now we
Speaker 1: had to switch up the whole scheme and figure things out.
Speaker 1: But we tried to make the most of it. Man,
Speaker 1: those guys were great. They did everything they could for us,
Speaker 1: and uh, I just hate that we didn't even you know,
Speaker 1: at least make it to the Eastern Conference finals or something.
Speaker 1: You know, I just thought that, uh, we had that
Speaker 1: they put that team together for us to really compete.
Speaker 1: Obviously the goal was to make it to the finals.
Speaker 1: You guys felt a little short, but you know, that
Speaker 1: playoff process. You guys had a thrilling seven game series
Speaker 1: against Toronto, but Paul Pierce comes up big with that shot.
Speaker 1: What was the process like trying to get to the
Speaker 1: finals that year, because obviously you guys had the team
Speaker 1: you felt it was good enough to beat Lebron in them.
Speaker 1: What was the process like in the playoffs? It was tough.
Speaker 1: It was up and down because we had we had
Speaker 1: a game in there to where man, we were down
Speaker 1: almost forty points and we came back and tied it
Speaker 1: up and almost one. I think throughout every game we
Speaker 1: learned something that you know, you had to be consistent
Speaker 1: for for eight minutes. And I think for me that
Speaker 1: was probably the most the most thing. That the thing
Speaker 1: that I've seen the most. Like, you know, we put
Speaker 1: together a good half or or three quarters, but we
Speaker 1: wasn't finishing games. And uh, come to the latter part
Speaker 1: of that series, was able to put him away. In
Speaker 1: that seven game in Toronto. We we played unbelievable down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Now you guys are heading into the second
Speaker 1: round with Miami. You know obviously they got their big team.
Speaker 1: You guys got your team. You guys played We played
Speaker 1: them well during the regular season, but in the playoffs
Speaker 1: Lebron went on another level. What was that series? Like?
Speaker 1: He had one of them games, man, to where he
Speaker 1: just you know, locked in and I think he scored
Speaker 1: like forty nine points. But it was it was just
Speaker 1: him being ultra aggressive and just taking everything we gave.
Speaker 1: You know, when he knocking down them them deep jumpers,
Speaker 1: you had, you had his mercy, you know, he was
Speaker 1: he was, he was, but he had he just had
Speaker 1: one of those games and man, were he exploding. We
Speaker 1: couldn't do nothing with him. And that's what it was like.
Speaker 1: They got him over the hump. Yeah, so you guys
Speaker 1: are on the decline. You guys went all and nothing.
Speaker 1: They were Brooklyn the player doesn't work in fifteen sixteen.
Speaker 1: You got to study on the decline. You take a
Speaker 1: buy out. Had the South Beach for a little bit.
Speaker 1: What was going on? What was Miami like? Man, it
Speaker 1: was everything you can imagine class. Listen, they first class,
Speaker 1: first and foremost. Uh and man, you're gonna put it
Speaker 1: in the work. You know, you ain't no cutting no
Speaker 1: corners around now, you know what I mean? Like they
Speaker 1: do waiting body fat every Friday. So if you don't
Speaker 1: make waiting body fat, it's gonna be Hey, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be trouble. So, you know, I looked forward to that,
Speaker 1: and I needed that type of discipline, man when I
Speaker 1: was playing. So I had a great time in Miami
Speaker 1: and I took a lot of things from that place
Speaker 1: that I still used today in my dated life. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's dope. So you went from one hot spot in
Speaker 1: Miami to Salt Lake City, Uh, you know where you
Speaker 1: found your role and played that perfect vet role and
Speaker 1: helping defeat the Clippers in the first round. What was
Speaker 1: it like going from Miami to Utah? It was a
Speaker 1: little bit of a coaching shock, but I made the
Speaker 1: most of it. I enjoyed the process. I knew what
Speaker 1: I was there for and I just wanted to fulfill that.
Speaker 1: You know, at that point, man, I was what I
Speaker 1: was about thirty four. I knew my I knew my
Speaker 1: basketball career is pretty much coming to an industroice planning
Speaker 1: in the NBA. But I wanted to go out there
Speaker 1: and hip those young guys win and we and we
Speaker 1: put together put together a great game plan. You get
Speaker 1: Queen and his and his coaches staff. You know, a
Speaker 1: great great amount of critic because of what they're doing now.
Speaker 1: It does not surprise me. Man. That man is the Jeans. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were been talking to a lot about him. You
Speaker 1: got a chance to play two with the with the
Speaker 1: young Gordon Hayward, who we talked about earlier in one
Speaker 1: of our other shows, who's kind of finding his footing
Speaker 1: again in Charlotte. How good was Gordon Hayward healthy? Uh?
Speaker 1: In you talk? Gordon is great. I mean he's a
Speaker 1: three level score get to the cup, mire range three balls.
Speaker 1: He's good off the good off the bounce, and good
Speaker 1: in picking rolls. He made guys better. I thought I
Speaker 1: thought he was great. I think he's a great talent
Speaker 1: and he's showing improving it now. You Yeah, nickname is
Speaker 1: so Joe. I kind of changed your name, bro, I
Speaker 1: kind of. I kind of switched your name up a
Speaker 1: little busy. People don't know you wanted. You wanted original
Speaker 1: Jarding guys. You know what I'm saying. You want original guys. So,
Speaker 1: so I changed your name is SPECIs. Especially after the
Speaker 1: battle we had in the Championship and after you ran
Speaker 1: through the Big Three, I changed I changed your name
Speaker 1: to air So Joe. Hey, we're hey. When when was
Speaker 1: when when was the name? I'm calling you ask so
Speaker 1: Joe from here on out, But when did the name
Speaker 1: so Joe officially? When? When was the name officially born?
Speaker 1: I don't know when, man, gonna be honest, because when
Speaker 1: I'll be seeing some late game footage, like older game footage,
Speaker 1: I can hear then announced to say I so Joe.
Speaker 1: I just remember really coming to live in Utah, you know,
Speaker 1: in Utah and that uh in the Clipper series. I
Speaker 1: remember hearing it so much, and it's just kind of
Speaker 1: just kind of stuck with it. It seems like the
Speaker 1: rooft your career, you've always been willing to take and
Speaker 1: make the big shots down the stretch. You've always been
Speaker 1: a clutch performer. Has it just always been that way.
Speaker 1: Was a point in the league where you felt like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I could do this or have you always had that
Speaker 1: thought process even coming into the NBA? Man, you know what,
Speaker 1: It's just a knack that I've had since since high school. Man,
Speaker 1: I've in late game situations, I've always been pretty good, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just trying to let my team and coaching
Speaker 1: stepp down uh in those moments, you know, and those
Speaker 1: moments are needing a bucket or needing to stop. But
Speaker 1: but more important is just I just love those moments, man.
Speaker 1: I mean we all have them, you know, we all
Speaker 1: count down, shoot the shot. I just I just love
Speaker 1: being in those situations. Hey, I think, I think so.
Speaker 1: I think I think Matt that with him, with him
Speaker 1: it's a little different because he already like a laid
Speaker 1: back type of cat and and in games he like
Speaker 1: he got that Tim duncan gene. You can't you can't
Speaker 1: rather them, you can't frust them. They always that even killed,
Speaker 1: So Jake, Kobe and Kobe the same way. And the
Speaker 1: guys at the end of the game that said, even killed,
Speaker 1: they're gonna shoot. They shot the same way that at
Speaker 1: the end of the game, the same way that shoot
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. That's that. That's that poison patience.
Speaker 1: That's what that's that's that's that's what I'll be a
Speaker 1: preaching bro poison patients. I teach that to my son.
Speaker 1: I teach that to all my kids who we trained
Speaker 1: and uh, because if you got that, there's nothing that
Speaker 1: can rather of you, just kid, and very few players
Speaker 1: have it. M Are there any shots in your career
Speaker 1: that stand out the most? You've hit a lot of
Speaker 1: big ones. Anyone that you remember like, okay, hell yeah,
Speaker 1: that was it? Anytheam and stands out. I know, you
Speaker 1: gotta go through a lot of game winners. Make it.
Speaker 1: Hey that ship I know one for sure? What was
Speaker 1: you one? The one went in Brooklyn? You too? You
Speaker 1: hit two? You hit two against the Bucks against the Bucks? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a yeah them them? Uh yeah. I would
Speaker 1: say there was probably the most difficult ones because the
Speaker 1: way I caught the ball on the three point of
Speaker 1: the first time, I had to turn my body like
Speaker 1: the obposite wait were like from my shooting hand, I
Speaker 1: had it. So to make that shot to tie again,
Speaker 1: that was tough. And then they come back and over
Speaker 1: time and make the game winning shot pull up at
Speaker 1: the free throw line was Yeah, that was probably the
Speaker 1: toughest one. I would say, seven time All Star. Any
Speaker 1: moments in the All Star Game that stand out to
Speaker 1: you the most? Yeah, my first one, My first one, Man,
Speaker 1: I played. My first one was in Vegas. I didn't
Speaker 1: even get picked for the Alstar Games averaging game. But
Speaker 1: I'm playing with the Hawks. We weren't winning. Jay Kidd
Speaker 1: get hurt, he was playing. He get hurt. And I
Speaker 1: was alternate. I took it just I took it with pride.
Speaker 1: I showed up in Vegas and had a hell of
Speaker 1: a time. Man, that was my first one. Bro. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed that with Man. It was because it was it
Speaker 1: was so unexpected. It was so spontaneous, like we was
Speaker 1: already on the West Coast playing and you had to be,
Speaker 1: you know, in Vegas on like a Friday. It was
Speaker 1: already like Wednesday. So when they told me right to Vegas, Man,
Speaker 1: we had a ball, me and my home. We went
Speaker 1: to add the ball. I was gonna say, that's the
Speaker 1: All Star game that the pac Man Jones got in
Speaker 1: trouble at in Vegas. Right, it was else he got
Speaker 1: to some ship, right, Yeah. Toughest opponents throughout your career,
Speaker 1: toughest opponents, man, the toughest guys that were for me
Speaker 1: to guard with, Guys like Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Rip Hamilton.
Speaker 1: They it was too much for me man chasing off
Speaker 1: them picks. They don't stop my people. Man, Listen. That
Speaker 1: is because look, you gotta spend so much energy defensively
Speaker 1: and take away your offense because you're chasing the whole game.
Speaker 1: That's that's The hardest part that with them the hard
Speaker 1: people to guard. Yeah, people think like, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: it's hard to guard Kobe Lebron, But you know you
Speaker 1: played good defense. They make a shot, alright, cool, But
Speaker 1: to chase, to chase a man around the whole court
Speaker 1: and then had to fight through two and three picks,
Speaker 1: that's the hardest thing. That's when they had the big
Speaker 1: big the big screeners too. That's when Ben Wallace playing
Speaker 1: the Detroit KG was setting picks for Ray, like chasing them.
Speaker 1: Dudes in Indiana said it was funny because we were
Speaker 1: playing Boston in the Eastern Finals and I had to
Speaker 1: chase Ray's ass around. I was going between Paul and
Speaker 1: Ray and I just couldn't get it. So I called
Speaker 1: Reggie Miller just like, yeah, what the fund can I
Speaker 1: do to So he had told me a couple of
Speaker 1: tricks on grabbing and not letting them feel his body
Speaker 1: and it helped. But overall, remember having to chase these
Speaker 1: dudes around picks. You work your ass off, get hit
Speaker 1: with big screens and they still make the shot. That
Speaker 1: ship used to be so frustrating, man, so frustrating. It's
Speaker 1: the hardest thing. Who was your favorite one on one battle,
Speaker 1: My favorite one on one battle. Uh Man. I had
Speaker 1: some good battles with Brandon Roy. Yeah, killer. Then I
Speaker 1: had some good battles with Brandon Roy, playing against Brunn
Speaker 1: and Cleveland a few times that we had some good battles.
Speaker 1: Uh Kobe. I remember going back and forth with Kobe
Speaker 1: once and he came to Atlanta. Lakers came to Atlanta
Speaker 1: and uh Man, probably by like the last fourteen point
Speaker 1: his fifteen points, it was just me and him going
Speaker 1: back and forth, and you know, it's it. And when
Speaker 1: Lakers come to Atlanta, you can see number Laker fans
Speaker 1: in there. Uh Man, it was going crazy. That was
Speaker 1: going crazy. But those are those definitely moments that I remember.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Brandon Roy as one of your favorite matchups.
Speaker 1: What made him so special? I feel like he's someone
Speaker 1: who gets lost in the mix and probably one of
Speaker 1: the greatest what if stories in the history of the game.
Speaker 1: What made Brandon Roy so special? In your opinion, he
Speaker 1: just knew how to play man. He had a great
Speaker 1: pace he had to get He had a great pace
Speaker 1: to his game, and he was an underrated defender. I
Speaker 1: thought he was a pretty good defender, and uh he
Speaker 1: really made me lock in when I played against him.
Speaker 1: That's why I said he was one of the good
Speaker 1: matchups because he he was a quiet guy also, but
Speaker 1: he got it done. Yeah. I thought you guys had
Speaker 1: to have some similarities from a you know, pace of
Speaker 1: play and and never hurried, can play at different speeds
Speaker 1: if wanted, and can definitely get a bucket. So that's
Speaker 1: interesting you brought that up as a matchup because I
Speaker 1: definitely see some comparisons and some similarities between you two. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he was athletic to that boys some sneaky oh yeah,
Speaker 1: dunk on you too? Big three Bro? Big Three? Uh?
Speaker 1: Are you hoping to return to the Big Three? I've started.
Speaker 1: I was in the Big Thie from the start, one
Speaker 1: of the faces, bro, and my three years of playing
Speaker 1: a Big Three, my favorite game. I was honored to
Speaker 1: play against you in the championship. I think that was
Speaker 1: my favorite game by far my Big Three career. But
Speaker 1: I know you're returning as as defended champion. How are
Speaker 1: you feeling about the Big Three and did you enjoy man,
Speaker 1: I'm honestly I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping that
Speaker 1: it comes back. I want to play, uh, and for me.
Speaker 1: It doesn't wonder us. Man. I mean, he gave me
Speaker 1: an outlet. It was a stress reliever from from that
Speaker 1: time through what I was going through. Gave my kids
Speaker 1: something doing the weekend, something fun. But most importantly, I
Speaker 1: got a chance to compete again at a high level,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. So I really enjoy that. Man,
Speaker 1: that that that never that never dies. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like it ever dies in me. You know that that
Speaker 1: competitive nature always wanted to compete and play like I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just me. So it kind of seems like, will
Speaker 1: you ever be at peace with letting basketball go where
Speaker 1: you're gonna be someone that we're gonna see in the
Speaker 1: gym still in ten or fifteen years or busting yourselves
Speaker 1: ass or somehow someway. Well, basketball is always gonna be
Speaker 1: a big part of your life. Yeah, basketball will always
Speaker 1: be a big part. Man. It opened too many doors
Speaker 1: for me. Uh, I love it and I and you
Speaker 1: know I didn't I didn't quit because I have a
Speaker 1: you know, uh, knee surgery, ankle surgery or you know,
Speaker 1: I had an injury period. You know. Uh, it's just
Speaker 1: the older you get. I mean, you guys understand how
Speaker 1: it is or the nature of the business. But you
Speaker 1: know it wasn't that great. You know my last year
Speaker 1: or last year too in the NBA. But I still
Speaker 1: love to play, and like I said, my kids pushed me. Man.
Speaker 1: So yeah, y'all are definitely y'all always see me in
Speaker 1: the gym. You'll always see me work, can out and
Speaker 1: probably see me hooping somewhere. Let me go back right quickly, though,
Speaker 1: but I want you to shout out to Ice Cube.
Speaker 1: I want you to set the stage for a lot
Speaker 1: of people that don't know the Big Three Championship bronze sideline.
Speaker 1: We had all the superstars, all the celebrities. Tell me
Speaker 1: your experience for the Big Three Championship in led State
Speaker 1: with something. It was more than what I expected. I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed it. I think, Yeah, shout out to Cube
Speaker 1: man for for making that happen and uh and getting
Speaker 1: a chance to compete against you. Jack was awesome. Bro.
Speaker 1: I already knew the challenges that was upon myself and
Speaker 1: our team going into that game. I was like, look, man,
Speaker 1: don't y'all go to listen all that Jack gonna be talking. Man,
Speaker 1: y'all get that. Look we stand what he talked about. Man,
Speaker 1: we're gonna compete with this weird So, man, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate that. And then look and I became super super
Speaker 1: cool Frank Nitty uh the TBT together. So a lot
Speaker 1: came from there. Man, I really appreciate y'all. Man, I mean,
Speaker 1: I had a ball. I hope you all enjoyed John
Speaker 1: Sales as well. I did. I did, Bro, because like
Speaker 1: me being around, I know you was going through a
Speaker 1: lot of the time. You had just lost somebody, Bro.
Speaker 1: So so to see you rejuvenate, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: come back to the Big Three and do what you
Speaker 1: said you was gonna do a dog. Not only I
Speaker 1: wanted to win, but the competitor and the brotherhood and
Speaker 1: me was happy to see you win. Bro. To watch,
Speaker 1: I mean, it looked like you hadn't missed a step.
Speaker 1: You opened up a path when you were the first
Speaker 1: player to get a shot from the Big Three to
Speaker 1: the league. Right, if I'm not mistaken with the situation.
Speaker 1: First want to get a job? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah yeah. Some good came from that. The only problem,
Speaker 1: My only problem was I went from playing one game
Speaker 1: a week, two in training camp seven days a week.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Problem Like, you know, I
Speaker 1: worked out and trained during the week during the Big Three,
Speaker 1: but I know I ain't gotta go as hard, you know,
Speaker 1: on the weekend, like man, they put me in the
Speaker 1: training camp and my tender nitus and both my knees
Speaker 1: bro flare it up and which and that ultimately got
Speaker 1: me cut. So it got me cut. But I went
Speaker 1: back to the drawing board and I figured out pretty
Speaker 1: much how to you know, bullet proof you need so
Speaker 1: to speak, or make them stronger. And there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things I really had to dive into deep as
Speaker 1: far as the body and how to train the body
Speaker 1: and keep the body going as you get older, you know,
Speaker 1: as we get older. You know, people think we got
Speaker 1: a tendency to where, you know, we can't hoop, but
Speaker 1: we can't run. We can't do little things like running
Speaker 1: outside in the yard with our kids. But there are
Speaker 1: always But you gotta put in the work, don You
Speaker 1: gotta be discipline. You gotta have some consistency to it
Speaker 1: in order for it to work. So I dove into this.
Speaker 1: I dove into it, and then COVID happened, and I
Speaker 1: just I stayed into what I was doing, which was
Speaker 1: working out, training my body, preparing my body to be
Speaker 1: able to go hoop with no problems. That's basically what
Speaker 1: it was. No, we didn't definitely see you. You're a
Speaker 1: lot more active on the Graham Now look like you
Speaker 1: look like you're trying to be an underwear model. That
Speaker 1: boy's out here trying to get it. Man. We're gonna
Speaker 1: explore all options. You know what I'm sense you know,
Speaker 1: Peter Palm said, try it all man, everybody, everybody out
Speaker 1: here getting themself right? I said, may look, let me
Speaker 1: throw something up here. Man out here, see yeah, I
Speaker 1: gotta catch that way. Yeah, hey man, listen, if one
Speaker 1: thing about it, COVID has told us all to be
Speaker 1: self sufficient and if you don't do nothing else, man,
Speaker 1: just investing yourself. So that's what I'm doing. You're talking
Speaker 1: to the right guy, Matt. Matt is the guy, trust
Speaker 1: me if you want to, if you want to get
Speaker 1: into that leg, Matt, it's the guy home stretched quick hitters.
Speaker 1: You plus four going to the black Top? Who you
Speaker 1: bring it with you going to the black Top to who? Yeah? Anybody? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You plus for plus four? Hold on, So this ain't
Speaker 1: the talking NBA we're just talking period, anybody straight up period.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I'm the holies from around the way. I
Speaker 1: got four people around him. Man, I'm putting against anybody.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be good. We're gonna but what they don't
Speaker 1: know is but what they don't know you brought You
Speaker 1: brought two people from your Arkansas team and won the
Speaker 1: Big Three championship. Right. We played college ball together, Gario Parking,
Speaker 1: Sigario Gibson. We played college ball together. That that was
Speaker 1: another thing. There was another thing that enticed me to
Speaker 1: play in the Big Three. And I remember seeing Q
Speaker 1: with to come by and que like, Hey, look, i'mnna
Speaker 1: tell you right now, but I'll be picking your homeboy. Man.
Speaker 1: I look, I'm picking people who I know it's gonna
Speaker 1: be put themselves on the line. Man for see. I
Speaker 1: knew that, you know what I mean. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: was that was that was fun as well. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was dope. One player you wish you could have played
Speaker 1: with that you didn't didn't get a chance to during
Speaker 1: your career, probably Lebron because I had that opportunity and
Speaker 1: uh I chose to go play in Miami. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: that's the year they came back and wanted Uh they
Speaker 1: were down three one in the finals and wanted yet
Speaker 1: the Warriors. Yeah, you could have been on that team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but see that's the competitor. That's the competitive side of me,
Speaker 1: because it was like, Man, you can go over here
Speaker 1: with d Wade and Miami. Man, y'all can play against
Speaker 1: le Bron and compete. That's that. That's just what I
Speaker 1: had in Man. I was like, Man, I'm going over
Speaker 1: here with the Wade because at the time that he
Speaker 1: was still good. They were they were like number five
Speaker 1: in the East, and I was like, I can help,
Speaker 1: and I think we got up to like three two
Speaker 1: or three, but we ultimately white side. He got hurt
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. Man, we played against Toronto. I'm out
Speaker 1: there playing the five. That's a look. Look look the
Speaker 1: funny part. That's how bits Man got paid. Happy. He
Speaker 1: got paid because he was playing against a small forward.
Speaker 1: Give me your top five clutch players, top five clutch
Speaker 1: h M J cole Lebron. I'm gonna say ai. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the way brod Way solid list that the way
Speaker 1: first championship Man, they may care of the team was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: He was like thirty seven in the finals. I think
Speaker 1: he ever real like that. Uh five five dinner guests
Speaker 1: dead are alive? Five dinner against Bernie Mac rest in peace? Nice, yeah,
Speaker 1: rest in peace, Bernie mad I thinking about that one guy.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Yeah, I five dinner against that
Speaker 1: live you got Bernie Mack. Have to come back to
Speaker 1: that one man. That's a good question. Uh, Bill Clinton, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the first. Yeah, arkosos Bill from from from Yeah,
Speaker 1: of course I definitely put Obama in there. Two more
Speaker 1: so there's two. There's two presidents. I'm sitting down with
Speaker 1: two presidents. Yeah, and and Bernie and Bernie. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have some jokes. Uh yeah, bring my mom
Speaker 1: with me then bring yeah right down right down right
Speaker 1: then right there. I gotta have moms that make it right.
Speaker 1: Who do you want to see on the show? Who
Speaker 1: do you want to see on All the Smokes? But
Speaker 1: before you answer this question, you have to help us
Speaker 1: with the answer. Whatever you're answer is, you gotta help
Speaker 1: us get that person on. Okay, who do I want
Speaker 1: to see on All the Smoke? Yeah, we was talking
Speaker 1: about him earli, y'all gotta get your mom Cromfort on here,
Speaker 1: bro j Carl good call. Yeah, I need to hit
Speaker 1: and tell amen looking at you, man, Yeah, hold on,
Speaker 1: hold on, man, hold on, man, hold on, man, hold on. Matt. Hey, Joe,
Speaker 1: you know you know, I know that Southern Talk hit
Speaker 1: him with the same league on. You just hit this weird.
Speaker 1: You want me to hit them folks? You want me
Speaker 1: to hit them with that same thing? People looking on Yeah, yeah, yeah, man.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you, Doc Man. Thank you Joe for your time. Man,
Speaker 1: thank you. That's a wrap, Joe, thank you for your time.
Speaker 1: You can catch this on Showtime Basketball, YouTube and the
Speaker 1: I Heart platform Black Effects. We'll see y'all next week.
Speaker 1: This is all a Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and Our Heart Radio in partnership with Showtime