Speaker 1: Welcome to this League uncut. Can you rule of twenty
Speaker 1: four hour NBA News. This's you, Chris Haynes. It's so time,
Speaker 1: work's time, It's so time. This League Uncut is underway
Speaker 1: and on fire.
Speaker 2: This should be a good one.
Speaker 3: Hey, everyone, welcome in to a special solo edition of
Speaker 3: this League Uncut. Mark Stein here with you with a
Speaker 3: special treat While Chris Haynes is in transit to his
Speaker 3: next glamorous assignment, I had the absolute tremendous privilege to
Speaker 3: visit with true NBA royalty, the legendary George Gervin, the
Speaker 3: Hall of Famer member of both the NBA's fiftieth and
Speaker 3: seventy fifth Anniversary teams. Man year old Mark Stein is
Speaker 3: pinching himself right now because George Gervin was one of
Speaker 3: the true giants of the game when I began to
Speaker 3: be seduced and mesmerized by the NBA. We're talking mid
Speaker 3: to late nineteen seventies. George has a new book out
Speaker 3: Ice Why I Was Born to Score. It's from Triumph Books.
Speaker 3: He co wrote it with my former ESPN teammate Scoop Jackson,
Speaker 3: So the iceman. He joined me to talk about his
Speaker 3: motivation for doing the book. We got into the genesis
Speaker 3: of his famed finger. Roll couldn't resist asking for his
Speaker 3: take on Victor Webbinyama as Victor Webbin Yama's regular season
Speaker 3: debut draws Near. Talked about how much of the modern
Speaker 3: NBA he consumes and other important historical stuff. I really
Speaker 3: think when you listen, you're going to be able to
Speaker 3: pick up the app solute joy in my voice. I
Speaker 3: can't help it. This is how I get when I
Speaker 3: talk to players from the nineteen seventies. I'm a kid
Speaker 3: again when I get to visit with these guys and
Speaker 3: it's their basketball cards coming to life for me. And
Speaker 3: it really does bother me so much that the history
Speaker 3: of the game pre nineteen eighties has been so poorly preserved.
Speaker 3: And that's another reason why I love talking to players
Speaker 3: from this generation and telling their stories. I mean, we
Speaker 3: talk about this in the interview as well. On the
Speaker 3: last day of the nineteen seventy seven to seventy eight season,
Speaker 3: which was really the first season that I was plugged
Speaker 3: into as a young fan where I really understood what
Speaker 3: was going on that season, George Gervin and David Thompson
Speaker 3: engaged in the greatest scoring race duel this league has
Speaker 3: ever seen. And for me, it's the first memory of
Speaker 3: something special and massive and this big national story that
Speaker 3: I actually remember following. Had to do it all on
Speaker 3: radio at that time, but still I was tracking this,
Speaker 3: and I talk to George about that as well and
Speaker 3: kind of get the explanation from him which I'd never
Speaker 3: heard before. There's no footage of this. You can't go
Speaker 3: on YouTube and see anything of this incredible final day
Speaker 3: of the regular season where David Thompson throws down seventy
Speaker 3: three points and George Gervin answers with sixty three to
Speaker 3: win the scoring title. So we get into all that,
Speaker 3: you guys can tell I'm absolutely giddy here. It is
Speaker 3: my visit with no further delay, my visit with the iceman,
Speaker 3: George Gervin. This everyone is an absolute treat. Nine year
Speaker 3: old me honestly cannot believe this is happening. The Mavericks.
Speaker 3: They open the season Wednesday night at San Antonio. And
Speaker 3: when you think of the Spurs, especially if you live
Speaker 3: in this area, you think of Tim Duncan you think
Speaker 3: of Greg Pots the bitch of David Robinson, of Timmy
Speaker 3: and the Admiral together of Duncan, flanked by Tony Parker
Speaker 3: and Monti Ginobili. And now, of course you think about
Speaker 3: Victor Wembinyama. But before all of them, before all of that,
Speaker 3: For someone like me who fell in love with the
Speaker 3: NBA in the nineteen seventies, the man synonymous with the
Speaker 3: San Antonio Spurs was number forty four, George Gervin, the
Speaker 3: iceman right there with Doctor J and Bob McAdoo, as
Speaker 3: the most feared scorer of his generation, and in no dispute,
Speaker 3: one of the most impossibly cool players we have ever
Speaker 3: seen in this league. He has a new book out
Speaker 3: ice Why I Was Born to Score, co authored with
Speaker 3: my palace Scoop Jackson via Triumph Books. And it is
Speaker 3: a tremendous honor for me to say that the George
Speaker 3: Gervin joins me right now, mister Irvin, the heartiest of
Speaker 3: welcomes to you, sir ah.
Speaker 1: What a what an introduction? Hey, how you doing? Good?
Speaker 1: Good to hear from you, mo man it is.
Speaker 2: It is so good to be with you. And I
Speaker 2: just got the book the other day.
Speaker 3: And you know you last played in an NBA game
Speaker 3: in nineteen eighty six. You played a few more seasons
Speaker 3: in Europe after that. But we're talking nearly forty years
Speaker 3: since NBA fans had a chance to watch you unleash
Speaker 3: the finger roll. So what what made you want to
Speaker 3: do a book now after all these years?
Speaker 1: Well, I was approached, you know, I mean I never
Speaker 1: really considered doing one. But you know a couple of
Speaker 1: my buddies, Mark Thomas Shaw, who's been with Nike for
Speaker 1: for thirty forty years, and Charlie Roseen Fly, you know,
Speaker 1: who worked with the NBA for thirty forty years. They
Speaker 1: was helping me with my documentary. You know, I got
Speaker 1: a documentary also coming out later this year, and they say, uh, I,
Speaker 1: you know, let's think about doing a book also. So
Speaker 1: I disagreed and sat down with Scoop and kind of
Speaker 1: went over some old memoirs. Man. So kind of why
Speaker 1: I just decided to do it.
Speaker 3: I have to ask about the finger roll because it's
Speaker 3: it's rare when an NBA player becomes synonymous with a
Speaker 3: single shot. Obviously Kareem and the Skyhook. Everyone here in
Speaker 3: Dallas knows that Dirk Noavisky with the one legged fadeaway.
Speaker 3: But when if someone says finger roll to me, that
Speaker 3: is George Gervin's shot. Is that something you learned you're
Speaker 3: born with? Like, how did that shot evolve? And what
Speaker 3: age were you when that became like a trustable part
Speaker 3: of your offensive game.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm in the pros. I mean, I didn't really
Speaker 1: do that in you know, high school or college. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's like everything else, I didn't have to
Speaker 1: reinvent the wheel. And if you think about it, Connie
Speaker 1: Hawkins had his own version of the Fanker roll, who
Speaker 1: was one of my guys. I looked up to Doctor
Speaker 1: j who you know obviously had his own version of
Speaker 1: the finger roll. And then wil Chamberlain, you know, had
Speaker 1: his own version, you know, called the Dipper. So to
Speaker 1: be able to study them three gentlemen, and I emulated them,
Speaker 1: you know, that's when I started doing it. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just created my own version, you know, of what
Speaker 1: I saw with them three pros. And wow, like you say,
Speaker 1: I mean it became part of my game. So again
Speaker 1: when you say finger roll, yes, first thing, most people
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna say everybody, they say, oh wow, George Gervin,
Speaker 1: to be proud if fee you know, saw that gentleman,
Speaker 1: you know person do a finger role. So I am
Speaker 1: two shot tshnomenas like you say, a hook shot and
Speaker 1: finger role. Now that's incredible to me because I never
Speaker 1: created it for that type of fame that it game,
Speaker 1: but it's a part of who I am and who
Speaker 1: I was as a player.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: I love though that you paid homage to both Wilt
Speaker 3: and Connie Hawkins, because obviously I was I didn't get
Speaker 3: to see them in their prime, and it's just it's
Speaker 3: a great reminder that you know, there is so much
Speaker 3: history in this game that is forgotten. It's actually one
Speaker 3: of my big complaints. We don't we don't do a
Speaker 3: good job in basketball of recognizing our history. So that's
Speaker 3: why that's why I'm so excited to talk to you today,
Speaker 3: because you know, I'm a child of the seventies and
Speaker 3: the eighties, so obviously I'm more familiar with you than
Speaker 3: getting see those guys. But it's great that you reminded
Speaker 3: the audience of what those two gentlemen were capable of
Speaker 3: as well. Do you like watching today's NBA?
Speaker 1: I do? I mean think about it that I like
Speaker 1: it because I know I'm a part of the foundation,
Speaker 1: you know, the game or anything can't grow without a
Speaker 1: solid foundation. And again you talk about history. You know,
Speaker 1: I don't think that today's analysts talk enough about the
Speaker 1: history and the foundation that make this game what it
Speaker 1: is today. So yes, I enjoy watching it. I enjoy
Speaker 1: watching evolution. I think when Golden State wanted their first
Speaker 1: year from the outside, we saw the evolution of basketball change.
Speaker 1: Because you think about it. When I played in the
Speaker 1: seventies and eighties, the game was played inside out. Not
Speaker 1: a game is being played outside in. So that aspect
Speaker 1: of what I'm seeing with my eyes is fun for
Speaker 1: me to be able to see the game change like that,
Speaker 1: and people still enjoy it, and I still enjoy it.
Speaker 3: When you watch today's NBA, how often do you think
Speaker 3: to yourself, what would my career have been like had
Speaker 3: the three point shot been so accepted the way it
Speaker 3: is now. I mean, obviously you played five six years
Speaker 3: with a three pointer, but in those days still it
Speaker 3: was considered a bad shot and guys didn't shoot it.
Speaker 2: It was a very it was. It was just taken
Speaker 2: a lot less than it is now.
Speaker 1: Well, it's still a bad shot. I mean, probably one
Speaker 1: of the worst percentage shots in the game. For me,
Speaker 1: I like taking good shots. You know, if you do
Speaker 1: any history on me, in my game, I shot fifty
Speaker 1: one percent career, So that mean I took a lot
Speaker 1: of shots that I knew I could make. So that's
Speaker 1: how I looked at the game, you know. So I
Speaker 1: didn't take a lot of three point shots. But see,
Speaker 1: I'm from a league, the ABA that had the three
Speaker 1: punt shot, and they ingraded it in the NBA. So
Speaker 1: I'm going we talked about history. I'm still proud to
Speaker 1: be a part of something that I'm a part of
Speaker 1: the foundation. So you know, for me, the three point
Speaker 1: shot is a good shot. I think they're gonna try
Speaker 1: to come up with a four point shot one day.
Speaker 1: These guys can shoot the ball so deep, but it's
Speaker 1: still entertainment. You know, the game is still entertaining, you know,
Speaker 1: to be able to see like Seth Curry shoot the
Speaker 1: ball that deep, but Kevin Durant shoot the ball that deep. Lillard,
Speaker 1: you know now with Milwaukee can shoot it that deep.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm excited to continue to watch the game,
Speaker 1: and I'm really excited about what we have down here
Speaker 1: this year to see the say five guy play.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you set me up now, because that's exactly
Speaker 3: where I want to go next. Victor Wenbanyama, tell me
Speaker 3: you're early impressive of him, because as you mentioned, you know,
Speaker 3: you you have seen.
Speaker 2: All the greats. You saw Wilt in his prime.
Speaker 3: But I think it's safe to say with Victor webber Yama,
Speaker 3: we have never seen a man of this size move
Speaker 3: the way he does.
Speaker 2: And do some of the things that he's doing on
Speaker 2: the floor.
Speaker 1: You know, we get ready to see another evolution. We're
Speaker 1: getting ready to experience the game changing again with young
Speaker 1: men coming in like Victor. You know, he's special For me.
Speaker 1: I don't look at his size, but I do look
Speaker 1: at his side. But he played not like a guy
Speaker 1: that's steven five. I mean he played like a six
Speaker 1: y nine or six eight guy where he can handle
Speaker 1: the ball, he can pull up and shoot a jumper.
Speaker 1: He stretched over you and dunk. This is an exciting
Speaker 1: time for the NBA, see because you got that boy
Speaker 1: in Oakland. I mean not Oakland, Okay, ce Chat right,
Speaker 1: Chat holder, who's another seven foot that can handle that
Speaker 1: can shoot it, that understand how to play. You got
Speaker 1: some more chihids coming in in college right now. That's
Speaker 1: seven foot that's starting to move like guards and and
Speaker 1: three like forwards and stuff. So we're getting ready to
Speaker 1: see another evolution of the game changing. So I'm so
Speaker 1: proud that we have a Victor, and I'm real proud
Speaker 1: of him because you know, under the pops tootli, you know,
Speaker 1: Pop gonna help him understand his role, you know, not
Speaker 1: just off the floor but on the floor, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think that's gonna be a good advantage for Victor.
Speaker 3: Luka Doncic and what you think about his game because
Speaker 3: obviously Wednesday, that's kind of the feature matchup, even though
Speaker 3: they're not going head to head positionally, two Europeans Victor
Speaker 3: wenman Yama, the Spurs rookie, and Luka Doncic, the MAVs
Speaker 3: superstar from Slovenia.
Speaker 2: What do you see when you watch Luca greatness?
Speaker 1: Luca could play. You know, my son who lives over
Speaker 1: in Stockholm Switeen, you know, had a chance to see
Speaker 1: him when he was young. And I don't know where
Speaker 1: Luca got drafted at, but my son kept saying, Dad,
Speaker 1: he should have been drafted higher because he can flat
Speaker 1: out play. So I already had an introduction to him,
Speaker 1: you know, early on in his career, and he'd improved
Speaker 1: everybody wrong that didn't pick him way up there, you know,
Speaker 1: because he can he know how to play, he can score,
Speaker 1: He tough, you know, he loved a game and he
Speaker 1: want to win. And I think with Kyrie there, they're
Speaker 1: gonna present problems with a lot of teams this year.
Speaker 1: You know now that Kyrie then spent a year down
Speaker 1: or a half a year down there with him, I
Speaker 1: think that that them two guys man gonna really be special. Man.
Speaker 1: So I'm a I'm a big fan of Luke. You know.
Speaker 3: I look at this book cover and it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's the shot from you from the famed Nike poster.
Speaker 3: Anyone my age, we all love this poster of you
Speaker 3: sitting on the block of ice. And I mean, I
Speaker 3: can still picture my first George Gervin basketball card. You're
Speaker 3: dribbling with your left hand against Phil Shineer. I can
Speaker 3: see it. I can see it in my head.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: One of the revelations in your book, you talked about
Speaker 3: how late in your career you had a chance to
Speaker 3: go to the Showtime Lakers. The Spurs basically came to
Speaker 3: you and said we can trade you to the Lakers,
Speaker 3: and you told the Spurs you didn't want to be
Speaker 3: traded to the Lakers. And you know how it is
Speaker 3: now in the modern era, all we do is talk
Speaker 3: about championships. If you don't have a championship, you know
Speaker 3: that that gets thrown in the player's face. But why
Speaker 3: did you resist that? And all these years later, how
Speaker 3: do you feel about that decision?
Speaker 1: I feel great about it, you know. You know, I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be with somebody that beat me. I
Speaker 1: wanted to beat them back, you know. And I had
Speaker 1: that opportunity to play with the Lakers. Jerry Bush called
Speaker 1: Androlo drozers at that time. They would give up three
Speaker 1: first round draft picks with Gerbin to play with Magic
Speaker 1: and them guys. And I said, I don't want to
Speaker 1: play with them. I want to beat them. You know.
Speaker 1: So I'm from an era that I don't join somebody
Speaker 1: to be strong. I felt what I had was good
Speaker 1: enough to beat anybody. The team that was surrounded with me.
Speaker 1: I really felt we could beat the Lakers with artists
Speaker 1: and Mike Mitchell and you know, Johnny Moore than guys man.
Speaker 1: I thought we had a real and still felt we
Speaker 1: had a real good basketball team. On Stein. So I
Speaker 1: didn't want to go and you know, and leave my
Speaker 1: guys and and go and play with the Lakers just
Speaker 1: to win a championship. You know, I wanted to compete
Speaker 1: against the Lakers. I wanted to beat the best. Now
Speaker 1: it never happened, but I still wanted to have that
Speaker 1: opportunity to do it. And that's why I decided to
Speaker 1: stay in San Antono. And I'm glad I did well.
Speaker 3: You did, And like I said, we can talk about
Speaker 3: all those Spurs that I mentioned off the top, but
Speaker 3: no one is as synonymous with the San Antonio Spurs
Speaker 3: as you, George Gervin. It has been an absolute pleasure, sir,
Speaker 3: to speak with you on this show. I wish you
Speaker 3: all the success with your new book. Can't wait to
Speaker 3: see the new doc. I did think of one last
Speaker 3: thing I have to throw you if it's okay, because
Speaker 3: the scoring race with David Thompson in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 3: For me, that's something I remember vividly as a young fan.
Speaker 3: It's one of my first NBA memories. You and David
Speaker 3: Thompson with the scoring race that went down to the
Speaker 3: final day of the season. Does it shock you like
Speaker 3: there's no TV footage of that anywhere. How crazy is
Speaker 3: that that, Like, you can't even you can't even watch
Speaker 3: what happened that day when you and the two of
Speaker 3: you just staged an absolute duo for the ages.
Speaker 1: You know, you think, but then you know, you really
Speaker 1: wonder what happened, you know at that time. I mean
Speaker 1: it was for the scoring race, and David took it
Speaker 1: over early in that afternoon, So you know, it would
Speaker 1: have been nice if we did have some footage to
Speaker 1: show the opportunity that I had. I needed fifty nine
Speaker 1: and I end up getting sixty three in thirty three minutes.
Speaker 1: That it would have been nice to see. But as
Speaker 1: I did research, I found out that I think that
Speaker 1: was the same time have a Check was retiring. So
Speaker 1: if that was the case, then I understand that because
Speaker 1: you know, I always appreciated his game and what he
Speaker 1: brought to the game, So you know, it was one
Speaker 1: of them unfortunate situations. Man. But when we have people
Speaker 1: like you that keep reminding folks that that was one
Speaker 1: of the greatest scoring race in the history of basketball,
Speaker 1: that's enough for me.
Speaker 2: Well, you are absolutely right.
Speaker 3: I was a Buffalo Braves fan and hav the check
Speaker 3: was finishing his career against the Buffalo Braves, so I
Speaker 3: guess that soaked up whatever attention there was. But it
Speaker 3: truly is a shame that you cannot even see a
Speaker 3: single bucket. David Thompson scores seventy three points to take
Speaker 3: the scoring lead. George Gervin answers with sixty three points
Speaker 3: to snatch it back. An incredible end to the seventy
Speaker 3: seven seventy eighteen and George, thanks again so much for
Speaker 3: joining me. This really means a lot to me.
Speaker 1: Hey, I appreciate you, man, and I appreciate your love man,
Speaker 1: as you showed me all these years.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, everyone greatly appreciate you tuning in for
Speaker 3: this special solo interview edition of This League Uncut. Do
Speaker 3: not worry. Chris Haynes and I will be back together
Speaker 3: again very soon for an episode that sets the table
Speaker 3: for the season ahead, season number seventy eight for the NBA.
Speaker 3: Please remember, if you haven't already, please remember to rate, review,
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Speaker 3: fresh helping of this League Uncut very very soon.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it for us. See you next time.
Speaker 2: This League UNCUTTA is an iHeartRadio production.
Speaker 1: Circle locket Chris Hanes and Mark Stein