Speaker 1: This episode is presented to you by DraftKings. The crown
Speaker 1: is yours. Welcome back to all the Smoke. We got
Speaker 1: a nice couple of days out here in La Jack.
Speaker 2: Yes, happy to be back in La La Land.
Speaker 1: And man, what better way to start it been with
Speaker 1: a legend. Legend. We were actually supposed to sit down
Speaker 1: with you, and then the La fires broke out.
Speaker 3: Yes, and everybody's safe.
Speaker 1: We had to reschedule, but thank you for making time.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. Cheryl Miller.
Speaker 4: Hey, she she is also someone When I first came
Speaker 4: in and I did I did T and T once
Speaker 4: or twice, she told me that I would be great
Speaker 4: in doing media.
Speaker 1: She told me it's long, so she started lying to
Speaker 1: you early.
Speaker 2: She told me long to know.
Speaker 3: You know what this is really, this is surreal for
Speaker 3: me because watching you young men, you guys are just
Speaker 3: my baby starting out in the league, and my microphone
Speaker 3: was like kryptonite to summer of y'all. I mean, you
Speaker 3: put that like in your face. But now you guys
Speaker 3: your own show and interviewers, and it's a it's really
Speaker 3: nice to see you guys come full circle.
Speaker 1: Three time Player of the Year, two time National championship,
Speaker 1: two time tournament MVP, first woman to dunk in an
Speaker 1: organized game, go medalist, and that's just a few when
Speaker 1: we sit back your Unfortunately, I don't think the game
Speaker 1: of women's basketball was ready for you at the time
Speaker 1: you came. I think a lot of people say you
Speaker 1: were ahead of your time from a standpoint of there
Speaker 1: was college and then it was it was kind of
Speaker 1: up in the air after that. Talk to us just
Speaker 1: about that, I mean, such a dominant We'll get into
Speaker 1: the high school and actually the accolades. But what was
Speaker 1: it like for you after college? Because now these ladies
Speaker 1: have a path to whether they played in the w
Speaker 1: or go over season and make a career. What was
Speaker 1: it like for you back when you finished college?
Speaker 3: You know, guys, I'm asked question a lot, and it's
Speaker 3: it's forced me to really pause and think about it.
Speaker 3: I have no regrets, I truly don't. Before me, there
Speaker 3: was Anne Myers, there was Nancy Lieberman, there was Lynette Woodard.
Speaker 3: So we are basically all in the same boat. Anyways,
Speaker 3: you know, somebody had to be the first, and as
Speaker 3: far as I was concerned, I was just glad to
Speaker 3: know eventually I wasn't the only girl playing basketball and balling.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm playing at a high level, but it's
Speaker 3: it's been a blessing just to watch the women grow
Speaker 3: and watch the women find their voices, use their platforms,
Speaker 3: and finally get paid. That's that's that's been. If anything,
Speaker 3: the flowers for me is to see their chief growth.
Speaker 4: You recently coached the w BA All Star Game. You
Speaker 4: sposed some time with Caitlyn Clark.
Speaker 3: Best coaching job ever.
Speaker 4: Best the job being around Kaitlin Clark. I was the
Speaker 4: experience why she's such a big star. I mean, this
Speaker 4: guy's limit for her to be around her. Just talk
Speaker 4: about the type of person she is, how much she
Speaker 4: loves the game.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna be honest because it needs to be said.
Speaker 3: I can relate to that young lady, and I felt
Speaker 3: for her. I know what it's like to be hated.
Speaker 3: I know what it's like to be a black woman
Speaker 3: and hated because of my skinned color. I can't imagine
Speaker 3: this young lady. I don't want to use hate, but
Speaker 3: despised and people just having I mean, and look, I
Speaker 3: mean she brought some on herself a little bit because
Speaker 3: she's cocky for a good reason.
Speaker 2: Confident, and I love that about her.
Speaker 3: But to watch the dynamics and the media, they had
Speaker 3: their narrative, and I was pleased and proud to see
Speaker 3: the narrative. Wasn't the truth?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: An angel and her got along so well, and watching
Speaker 3: them practice and yeah, yeah, yeah, just get it out,
Speaker 3: and Kayle's like, just fly, just fly, just fly, and
Speaker 3: watching her pass and I didn't know how talented she
Speaker 3: was and how well she sees the game in a
Speaker 3: three D version, thinker defensively a lot better than I thought,
Speaker 3: and gave her credit for so watching her and just
Speaker 3: spending a little time. And one of the guys that
Speaker 3: I've learned is to step back and let these kids
Speaker 3: be themselves. Look, I speak what I'm spoken to. I'm
Speaker 3: not sitting up there knocking on anybody's door offering my
Speaker 3: advice because I don't know. I don't know what it's
Speaker 3: like to be social media, Instagram this, I don't know
Speaker 3: what it's like to be bombarded and have to be
Speaker 3: the breadwinner in the family and be a brand and
Speaker 3: be worried about what I do or say and everything else.
Speaker 3: In twenty four to seven, being pulled in so many
Speaker 3: different directions, not knowing I mean throwing the fact that
Speaker 3: if I'm insecure, if I've got my own mental issues
Speaker 3: going on, who do I talk to. I don't regret
Speaker 3: being born when I when I was. I'm in the
Speaker 3: right place at the right time. It's just been fascinating
Speaker 3: to watch these young ladies come up and now take
Speaker 3: the baton and take it to a different level.
Speaker 2: She handled it in in a graceful way as well.
Speaker 4: Some of your peers, they like, they will recognize, you know,
Speaker 4: her game, but they won't recognize her impact.
Speaker 2: How can you separate the two.
Speaker 3: It's kind of you know, and I used to and
Speaker 3: you know, Jack, you're absolutely right. And I was like,
Speaker 3: I was like, come on, you big dummies. Is she
Speaker 3: getting hyped? Yes, but she was in the backyard. She
Speaker 3: was putting in the same time, sometimes maybe more than
Speaker 3: you were. I can't fault her for what she was given,
Speaker 3: but you know, I mean, look, as much as she
Speaker 3: was given, you can't tell me if that door would
Speaker 3: have swung the other way where she didn't live up
Speaker 3: to the height. Come on, folks are still waiting for
Speaker 3: the fall.
Speaker 1: Come on.
Speaker 3: So with that being said, you big dummies, you getting
Speaker 3: paid now? Can every I mean everybody now has an
Speaker 3: opportunity to pull up their chair and have a seat.
Speaker 3: So that's that's the only thing. And thank god, I
Speaker 3: don't listen, I don't follow social media, and I can
Speaker 3: really care less because I've been delivered from being a
Speaker 3: people pleaser and what you think about me, me too.
Speaker 3: But I will tell you one thing. I'm just glad
Speaker 3: that these young ladies who are at the upper upper top,
Speaker 3: the upper tier players. I hope and pray that they
Speaker 3: have a solid foundation and they know, they know guys
Speaker 3: who they are, because you know how vicious it is
Speaker 3: out there.
Speaker 4: Do you see any correlation with Caitlin and Angel Reese
Speaker 4: what they've done for them BBA as to what Magic
Speaker 4: and Bird did when they came in at the same time.
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, right, absolutely, And you know, I'm sure that that
Speaker 3: Larry and IRV used to laugh at you know, white
Speaker 3: against Black.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And they loved each other.
Speaker 3: East Coast WINSCA loved each other, loved each other and
Speaker 3: respected one another and understood that this this this rivalry,
Speaker 3: this tension, whatever it was, for the betterment of the game.
Speaker 3: But they never got caught up into it.
Speaker 2: Yea.
Speaker 3: And those two are the foundation of the great stories
Speaker 3: and narratives coming out of the n c a A
Speaker 3: now flooding the Dove, which helps the dove. So that's,
Speaker 3: you know, my main thing. I want to see how
Speaker 3: we as women because again I know they're gonna get
Speaker 3: mad at me for saying this. We can be petty,
Speaker 3: we can be shortsighted.
Speaker 5: No, no, this is my first.
Speaker 2: We can.
Speaker 3: But I'm just hoping that we can embrace one another
Speaker 3: where they're playing for the Dove or you're playing and unrivaled.
Speaker 2: Which I love you wish you could got some of that.
Speaker 2: I know you was going to watch.
Speaker 3: It that like, come on with the cross out of knees.
Speaker 2: Yet come.
Speaker 3: I got nothing?
Speaker 2: Mad love?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: What and and and that whole league, what they've done
Speaker 3: and their mindset and the business aspect and the savviness
Speaker 3: and to get there, you know, to build that infrastructure financially,
Speaker 3: that was the first thought. And when I saw that,
Speaker 3: oh they got this, they got this is about to
Speaker 3: roll up. So and I just hope, again backtracking, that
Speaker 3: we as women can understand and embrace. We all have
Speaker 3: a seat at the table, and it's for the betterment
Speaker 3: of the sport.
Speaker 1: Support support support. I've seen you sidelines at several SC
Speaker 1: games female SC games that I've pulled up to. Juju
Speaker 1: has been blazing her trail at SC and slowly but
Speaker 1: surely knocking on some doors that you put up. What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on her game and just the way
Speaker 1: she's kind of been able to put SC basketball women's
Speaker 1: basketball back to the forefront.
Speaker 3: First and foremost. A tremendous talent and for someone who's
Speaker 3: been skyrocketed into the spotlight, it's not just the spotlight.
Speaker 3: She's playing at USC and you've got the McGee twins,
Speaker 3: Cynthia Cooper, myself, Lisa Leslie, Pina Thompson.
Speaker 1: They're Hall of famersamers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and now you're expected to not just achieve and arrive,
Speaker 3: but you've got to elevate it. You got to make
Speaker 3: your next mark. And to watch this young lady come
Speaker 3: in as a freshman and poised just even kill you know,
Speaker 3: I wanted to see when things got tough, when she
Speaker 3: got the wood laid on her, she was laying on
Speaker 3: her back, and you know who was helping up or
Speaker 3: was she getting herself up? Because I knew she was
Speaker 3: going to catch people by surprise. You know, nobody knew,
Speaker 3: but that middle and certainly the last latter part of
Speaker 3: that season, double triple teams, game plan schemes, everything, How
Speaker 3: was she going to make the adjustments? So I was
Speaker 3: pleased to see that. And I'm always amazed at how
Speaker 3: solid she is as a human being. Certainly a lot
Speaker 3: of that is her foundation, family foundation, But there's something
Speaker 3: very grounded and rooted in her. I'm not quite sure
Speaker 3: where that comes from. If I was to give her
Speaker 3: any advice, and I have shared this with there, just
Speaker 3: make sure she maintainings and finds that that quiet place
Speaker 3: here and here where her family, loved ones, boyfriend, girlfriend, cat, squirrel, dog, whatever,
Speaker 3: she has her quiet place where she can just be
Speaker 3: juju and no basketball, no nothing, and and find something
Speaker 3: that she feels good about doing that's outside of the sport.
Speaker 1: It's important. What are your thoughts on women having to
Speaker 1: wait four years to make that jump? Is that an
Speaker 1: outdated rule? Do you think it suits the game because
Speaker 1: she has to?
Speaker 3: It's a god bless that that rule is there. Yes,
Speaker 3: it needs to stay there until you know the dove finally.
Speaker 3: Financially can why if you are a top five.
Speaker 1: You're making more money.
Speaker 2: In college?
Speaker 3: No? I would. I would really love to, Like now
Speaker 3: that's when you'd see me step out and slap somebody.
Speaker 3: I'm like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: What do you think actually going backwards for them?
Speaker 3: Big time?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Big time? You hurt your brand early to go. You know, wait, wait, wait,
Speaker 3: make this This is your foundation. This is where your
Speaker 3: money is, you know, for right now, right now, it's
Speaker 3: it's kind of backwards. Where for you guys, the regular
Speaker 3: season was where you made your money, but the playoffs
Speaker 3: is where you made your fame. So right now, NCAA
Speaker 3: where you make.
Speaker 2: Your money exactly, the dove is.
Speaker 3: Where you make your fame. That's your legacy.
Speaker 1: Interesting, there's been a movement of late for you to
Speaker 1: gain a later leadership position in the w NBA. People
Speaker 1: have been talking and whispering. I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: actually heard it, but you have since Do you have
Speaker 1: any interest in being a part of any kind of
Speaker 1: leadership structure in the w n B A.
Speaker 3: I thought about coaching, Okay, okay, I'll be honest. After
Speaker 3: after beating Team U s A and all a sudden,
Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, I was like, okay, I'm ready
Speaker 3: to get back in there. But then reality said and.
Speaker 2: I'm like, there's a lot of work.
Speaker 3: That's a lot of work. There's there's drafting, and then
Speaker 3: there's actually communication, and there's getting your staff together, and
Speaker 3: then you've got your president, you've got your GM. And yes,
Speaker 3: that's too much work a lot.
Speaker 1: What about above that, though? What about it?
Speaker 3: Now that you know what, I would love to be
Speaker 3: consultant and a consultant in this respect. Bad decision, you stupid.
Speaker 3: You need to be fired.
Speaker 6: Bye bye, I I'll do that.
Speaker 3: She could play she you know, trade her? What were
Speaker 3: you thinking?
Speaker 2: Okay, that's what the game needs.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 2: There's just now that's like honesty.
Speaker 3: And just you and your feelings. Get old, be quiet.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna pray about you.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's great. Probably that's how gregs to talk
Speaker 2: to us.
Speaker 3: Hey, I just I'm just about you know. Look, I
Speaker 3: just turned sixty one in January.
Speaker 1: Related amazing. By the way, Thank you, thank you smoking there,
Speaker 1: You're lucky. I'm taking.
Speaker 2: Welcome to all the smoke. Welcome to all the smoke.
Speaker 1: We touched on arrivals a little bit. Obviously a league
Speaker 1: that has been put together very well. It allows women
Speaker 1: to not have to go over the world. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: and make money. The ability to get that many stars
Speaker 1: in any sport is incredible. They got the best of
Speaker 1: the best from their league. How do you think the
Speaker 1: w NBA feels about this and what is the future?
Speaker 3: I don't know for sure, but I can only imagine. Initially,
Speaker 3: I'm sure the Dove was in their feelings. But again,
Speaker 3: we've got we've got to learn from our successes and
Speaker 3: our mistakes. I thought the first three years of the
Speaker 3: Dove explosion excitement whatnot. I thought after that they rested
Speaker 3: on their laurels and the laurels they didn't do the
Speaker 3: leg work. They didn't pick up the phones and make
Speaker 3: sure that the same people that are buying these season
Speaker 3: tickets that they're still you know, how can we, you know,
Speaker 3: make our product better? What do you need? You know,
Speaker 3: we stop asking questions and we stop reaching out, and
Speaker 3: you know, it was it was dark days for a while.
Speaker 3: So I'm hoping that they can embrace it and understand
Speaker 3: that that product is just an extension of our product.
Speaker 3: How can we make you look even better because it
Speaker 3: makes us look better the more leave weeks that come out,
Speaker 3: because look, be honest, there's only a certain amount of
Speaker 3: spots a certain amount of teams. Not everybody could play
Speaker 3: so and there's still some really good quality women out
Speaker 3: there that's still and can get tribute, you know. So
Speaker 3: I'm I'm I'm saying there's a lot of leagues that
Speaker 3: are will be sprouting up that I hope the dub
Speaker 3: can sit up there and embrace.
Speaker 2: Let's get to your upbringing.
Speaker 4: You say, well, I'm because I'm just thinking about it
Speaker 4: from the question. I took a lot of als from
Speaker 4: your brother. Uh, I don't even know if I gotta
Speaker 4: win every day we shoot, you know before like women
Speaker 4: up for games. He used to come like three hours
Speaker 4: before us, but he used to come back on warm up.
Speaker 4: I'm probably like maybe forty two and forty two. Brother,
Speaker 4: How did it feel busting his ass and the driveway
Speaker 4: growing up?
Speaker 2: How did that feel?
Speaker 3: Hey? You know what, he suffered a lot of l
Speaker 3: He did suffer a lot of l And when I
Speaker 3: tied shifted, Oh, it was, oh, it's like yesterday. It
Speaker 3: was my freshman year in college, coming home, you know
Speaker 3: for Christmas break and the last time I saw rich
Speaker 3: she was like maybe you know six' one, you know,
Speaker 3: so I still had an inch or something on him.
Speaker 3: He was upstairs. I said, come on, man, let's you know,
Speaker 3: wake up. Come on, let's go play some ball. He said, yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: hold on, I said, come on, man, I got all day,
Speaker 3: so I, you know, went on the court and he
Speaker 3: came out the sliding last door and that mug was
Speaker 3: like six seven okay, all right, all right, he can't
Speaker 3: oh he got a little height. So we're just warming up.
Speaker 3: He's shooting, but I'm noticing that, you know, the court's
Speaker 3: here on the fences back here, and he's dang near
Speaker 3: shoulder and shoulder with the fence. I was like, sorry,
Speaker 3: he got a little range. He's always been. He's always
Speaker 3: been a shooter. And I got the ball. I crossed
Speaker 3: him over, got past them and got him the bike
Speaker 3: and then hit my fade away. I was like, main nothing,
Speaker 3: but oh this is the same. I'm running the shore.
Speaker 3: I was like, give me the ball. Junior, Kim here, Junior.
Speaker 1: And your sister talking.
Speaker 3: Kimmer Ran Kim and Rad Kim and Red you want
Speaker 3: some of this? And I got past some guys. I
Speaker 3: was like, and I was laughing to our come on baby,
Speaker 3: and I hear pended, pended, and I don't know what happened,
Speaker 3: because this is when the whole mental illness things and
Speaker 3: things got blurry and went into slow motion. And I
Speaker 3: remember like landing and then looking back and he's still
Speaker 3: up there, looking down with the ball still pinned, pulled
Speaker 3: it down. He goes, I'm gonna give you another trot.
Speaker 3: And I was like, then I know something happened because
Speaker 3: I heard so the pop and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: I got a hammy. I'm a hammy up hammy. You lucky,
Speaker 3: you lucky, you got tight back here, pulled a hammy.
Speaker 3: Walked in. Mom's like you okay, baby. I said, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'll be all right.
Speaker 2: That's when you knew I was done.
Speaker 3: I was done. Tried to come back the next day
Speaker 3: and play in a stupid game called horse.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I know how that feels.
Speaker 3: Can't blame in anything. But I got a question for you, then,
Speaker 3: what kind of teammate was he?
Speaker 4: I think for me, I played with some you know,
Speaker 4: Tim Duck and David Robinson. But I think he gave
Speaker 4: me the one of the greatest compliments. He told Donnie Nelson,
Speaker 4: I mean Donnie Walshing Larry Bird that he wanted to
Speaker 4: come in to be a success because remember he retired
Speaker 4: the second year. I got that, and they knew they
Speaker 4: would bring somebody into Phillips shoes. I knew I couldn't
Speaker 4: be Reggie will know where close, but the fact that
Speaker 4: he spoke up for me to bring me in. He
Speaker 4: was the best teammate of that team should have won
Speaker 4: a championship. And we all regret that because we owed
Speaker 4: that to Reggie. But the team wouldn't have been the
Speaker 4: team it was, wouldn't have been together and able to
Speaker 4: come back and make it to the playoffs. We made
Speaker 4: to the playoffs still and want to be Boston in
Speaker 4: the first round. That was all because of the teammate
Speaker 4: and the leader your brother was.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I remember you said. I mean, that was one thing
Speaker 1: that Jack definitely said. He's like, that brawl, you know happened.
Speaker 1: It is what it is. But he said, the thing
Speaker 1: they regret the most is that let your brother down
Speaker 1: because they felt like that team was capable of winning
Speaker 1: a championship.
Speaker 3: I remember watching that that that whole thing happened, and
Speaker 3: it was surreal watching Meta run at the time and
Speaker 3: he's on the scorer's table and right, and he had
Speaker 3: that injury. He was hurt and I remember he has
Speaker 3: his hand on his chest and he just for a
Speaker 3: split second and then run's up in the stands.
Speaker 2: The only person wrong listened to was Reggie.
Speaker 3: I remember calling Reggie and I'm not afterwards because I
Speaker 3: had the process that I know that Reggie had to
Speaker 3: process that. And I go, I said, how you doing?
Speaker 3: He goes. He goes, Cheryl, They're gonna they're gonna lower
Speaker 3: the boom. We're going to get a death sentence. He goes, Cheryl.
Speaker 3: He's like, Dean, we could have want this, we could
Speaker 3: have want this whole thing. And to hear to hear
Speaker 3: that in his voice and yeah, that that that was tough.
Speaker 4: Any time you talked to him about it, you can
Speaker 4: see it. You can see it like we had a
Speaker 4: conversation before. You know, we we and we we get
Speaker 4: emotional because we know.
Speaker 3: What does that look? Jackson goes look, yeah, yeah, And
Speaker 3: I'm like, man, man, oh man.
Speaker 4: Every time somebody asks Reggie about me and Ron, though
Speaker 4: he speaks so highly of us like that, he gives
Speaker 4: them the opposite of what every time.
Speaker 3: He gives everybody ample opportunity to like sive you guys,
Speaker 3: but he loved you guys. He absolutely loved you guys,
Speaker 3: because what was the word what was the phrase? He goes,
Speaker 3: he goes those, he goes those guys. Cheryl never broke character.
Speaker 2: Yeah, never broke characters.
Speaker 3: You gotta you have to receive goes. I respect guys
Speaker 3: who they never broke character.
Speaker 4: What was he thinking when you scored one hundred and
Speaker 4: five points in a single game?
Speaker 3: He was happy until he found about about that. But no,
Speaker 3: he's he came home and we you know, because we
Speaker 3: played when I was at home, he was on the
Speaker 3: road with the you know, the boys team, and and
Speaker 3: my dad was like, well, I can't wait till you.
Speaker 3: I don't know how you read how Reggie's going to
Speaker 3: handle it.
Speaker 1: I know you guys are not interrupt You guys are
Speaker 1: two grades apart, right to you, one one grade apart,
Speaker 1: two years apart, one one year, yes, yes, yes, one grade.
Speaker 3: So he came home and he's like, dang, guess what
Speaker 3: I was killing him today? I said, go ahead, what happened?
Speaker 3: He said, Oh, I think he's had something like you know,
Speaker 3: I scored thirty six. I was making the rain everywhere
Speaker 3: everything I was just falling. It was falling, and my
Speaker 3: Dad's just sitting at the count.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, matter, fuck your day up right.
Speaker 3: Reggie goes so and he goes, how'd you go? I
Speaker 3: had a good game? Reg He goes, oh, okay, well,
Speaker 3: you know, because you guys got to understand. He goes, well,
Speaker 3: he started with the number fifty. Well, I had scored
Speaker 3: fifty four before, I had scored sixty one before, I
Speaker 3: had scored seventy seven before. He had a few numbers
Speaker 3: to play with.
Speaker 2: He had a few numbers to play with, so he said.
Speaker 3: What's so, yeah, fifty, I said no, and he looks
Speaker 3: at my dad, and my dad's like, he goes, okay, sixty. No,
Speaker 3: he goes, now, he looks like he said that sick
Speaker 3: feeling like that sick look. He's like, start stuttering, yeah,
Speaker 3: seventy and he goes no. He goes He's like, do
Speaker 3: you know I'm divorcing? I said, because I gotta make it.
Speaker 3: I gotta make it work for the number. And he goes,
Speaker 3: what I said? Uh. He goes, he said, you did
Speaker 3: you say? I said, I said one hundred and five
Speaker 3: and he just lets out this. He's like, mom, I
Speaker 3: can't win. Yeah, when that's not fair. My dad and
Speaker 3: I were just cracking up.
Speaker 2: But yeah, you.
Speaker 4: Think anybody scored one hundred in the w A or NBA.
Speaker 4: I think it happened in the men's game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, right now, we don't know in the women's game.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't.
Speaker 3: I'm waiting for somebody to put up seventy.
Speaker 4: Did you have a play at U c l A
Speaker 4: men's gym? Yes, you heard, we heard you was out
Speaker 4: there busting me and ass in there. Yes, how was that?
Speaker 3: Matter of fact? I oh, that was Remember Mike dunne.
Speaker 2: Yvy coach do Yeah, Mike Dunley.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he would get out there and play a shack
Speaker 3: when he first came in. We get out there, IRV
Speaker 3: all the guys.
Speaker 2: He was out there styling. I was.
Speaker 3: I was holding my I didn't go home with my
Speaker 3: head hanging.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I would have loved to see that.
Speaker 3: But I'll tell you one thing. They didn't make it easy.
Speaker 3: They didn't easy, I can you know, and because oh
Speaker 3: my god, and they would serve it right back up
Speaker 3: to me. And I love that, And you know what,
Speaker 3: to be honest, that's a blessing in itself. And maybe
Speaker 3: that's one of the main reasons why making that transition
Speaker 3: into broadcasting into the NBA that you guys gave me
Speaker 3: so much respect and stuff. You know, so I appreciate
Speaker 3: you guys.
Speaker 2: Because we know you spoke from experience. You really did it, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you really did.
Speaker 3: I did some things.
Speaker 4: Our instrumental was your pops, military guy, to raise two
Speaker 4: competitive athletes great athletes.
Speaker 2: I don't know how y'all wasn't twined. Y'all look so
Speaker 2: much alike, But is he?
Speaker 4: Is he the reason for the competitive competitives and the
Speaker 4: ship talking.
Speaker 3: No, Reggie did that. That was that was already. That
Speaker 3: was that was already. Reggie did that out of necessity
Speaker 3: in the in the household, because you got Reggie Reggie
Speaker 3: growing up, he just physically he was thin. He had
Speaker 3: some physical ailments about him. He was not need and
Speaker 3: he had to have his knees reset and just just
Speaker 3: pop belly bad hair conditioning up.
Speaker 2: You know, how would you explain Reggie's jump shot, the
Speaker 2: genesis of his jump shot throughout the year, because.
Speaker 3: A lot of it was, you know, because I was
Speaker 3: always in his face, so he would almost it would
Speaker 3: almost click. And I don't know how many countless coaches
Speaker 3: tried to change his shot. Then my Dad's like, don't
Speaker 3: mess with the shot. Don't you touch his shot. You
Speaker 3: could work on anything else, but leave his shot alone.
Speaker 3: Because my dad was a firm believer. That's something that
Speaker 3: you day in, day out practice, and that was part
Speaker 3: of it. And there's certain adjustments you can make. But
Speaker 3: the way he shot and it was almost looked like
Speaker 3: he was pushing it, but he wasn't. It was it
Speaker 3: was really really unique. But what my dad did and
Speaker 3: instilled in all of us was if you start something,
Speaker 3: you finish it. There was no quitting and you gave
Speaker 3: your very best, whether it was in basketball, baseball, football,
Speaker 3: ping pong, monopoly, spades, trouble, whatever it was, you just
Speaker 3: you did your very best and there were no excuses,
Speaker 3: no excuses. So we had two older brothers I was
Speaker 3: smack Dad in the middle Reggie, and a younger sister,
Speaker 3: so it was built in competition.
Speaker 1: You led sc to back to back national titles and
Speaker 1: were named tournament.
Speaker 3: I was one. I was one of many on that team.
Speaker 1: Yeah you helped, thank.
Speaker 2: You, Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3: I assisted. I love that I assisted.
Speaker 1: But you were also named MVP both times, so you
Speaker 1: did a little bit more than that. What was the
Speaker 1: environment like back then, I mean, obviously the press. I'm
Speaker 1: a UCLA guy, but always had a lot of respect
Speaker 1: for what SC has always meant in the sports world.
Speaker 1: What was l A like back then?
Speaker 2: For you?
Speaker 3: This is the one thing that did bother me, you know,
Speaker 3: forget you sl A. You know, just the rivalry. What
Speaker 3: really used to mess with all the sisters, like the
Speaker 3: female athletes at SC. Why did all the good looking
Speaker 3: brothers go to U S l A.
Speaker 6: I don't know, real, I don't know, I don't know, Jack, Like,
Speaker 6: that's not just you know, I mean.
Speaker 2: I need to hear this today.
Speaker 3: This is this is why our Liz was like, come on,
Speaker 3: but yeah, yeah, but anyways, I'm just thinking about all
Speaker 3: the guys that used okay, may get me go somewhere Russian.
Speaker 1: Never sure saying huh what was that? I mean, I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, us playing there. We never really looked at it.
Speaker 1: I don't think maybe the school or that the students
Speaker 1: looked at it.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 1: I didn't have an issue with nobody on s C.
Speaker 1: I actually loved SC football because that's back when they
Speaker 1: had Reggie Bush and all those guys. Like, did you
Speaker 1: guys look at it as like f U C l A.
Speaker 1: Or was it just more fun?
Speaker 3: Of it was. It was it was a rivalry.
Speaker 2: USC in the hood, though, ain't it. Yeah?
Speaker 3: Oh back in the day, Oh, back in the day.
Speaker 3: It was like, you know, you get your game on
Speaker 3: like this and then you know, you cross the street.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, I heard yeah, making sure you know.
Speaker 2: In the middle of it.
Speaker 3: It was no joke. You turned down that wrong alley
Speaker 3: if you want to. And that was another thing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we we lived in real Los Angeles.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm more USC than Yah about that.
Speaker 3: But no, when it came to when it came to
Speaker 3: to basketball and Reggie, yeah, I mean I I wouldn't
Speaker 3: wear anything you sel a, but I made sure that
Speaker 3: there was nobody up in the stands that had a
Speaker 3: thought in their mouth.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I love it, do it. This is the same.
Speaker 1: I mean, the same time you're you're winning championships, the
Speaker 1: Showtime Lakers are winning championships as well.
Speaker 2: So what is.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: We were Showtime. Look, our our practices were brutal. I've
Speaker 3: got Cynthia Cooper running her mouth. Tracy Longo, nobody remember
Speaker 3: well she was my height, white girl that could jump
Speaker 3: out the gym, and we battled each other throughout high school.
Speaker 3: You had the McGee twins, and you know, we had
Speaker 3: Ronda Windham, a point guard from the Bronx, so we
Speaker 3: had little bit of everything. So our practices coached just
Speaker 3: basically rolled out the ball was great in allowing us
Speaker 3: to be who we are. Our personalities would step in
Speaker 3: when we you know, got a little twisted. But the
Speaker 3: games were the fun part, practices where we honed ourselves,
Speaker 3: our skills and everything else. We had to check our
Speaker 3: egos at the you know, and that was our captain,
Speaker 3: Juleett Robinson. Check your ego at the door. And once
Speaker 3: we stepped on the floor, it was about business.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 3: And then you had the you know, we had Magic
Speaker 3: and the Lakers and you know them coming in occasionally
Speaker 3: watching us play. And we were playing at the time
Speaker 3: at the Sports Arena. So yeah, we were showtime.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you some names.
Speaker 2: I want you to tell me what you think.
Speaker 1: Debs just like a brother. She was a rebounder, Dennis
Speaker 1: sister right the family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Pam McGee did her dirty in the in the
Speaker 3: championship game because she got in her ear started talking
Speaker 3: to her, say, I can't believe Kim Moulky just missed
Speaker 3: that you were wide open. You had me pinned talking
Speaker 3: to her throughout the gain. Man, I can't believe Kim
Speaker 3: Moulkey just sat Janice Lawrence. Won't you even to pass
Speaker 3: you Out's a high loan and you got me pinned
Speaker 3: behind And then all of a sudden she starts talking,
Speaker 3: why did you give any the ball? Kim? Now there's
Speaker 3: a I mean, so she talented, but she yeah, she
Speaker 3: she had some things going on like.
Speaker 1: Her, like her brother.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 1: Pam McGee one of my former teammates, Mom JaVale McGee's mom.
Speaker 3: Pam hardest working block, the block, hustle, rebounder, will not
Speaker 3: be denied on the boards. Physical funny. Would you know
Speaker 3: she would pause to think sometimes I'm like, are you
Speaker 3: hearing something? But I now know she was just pausing
Speaker 3: the thing, you know. Yeah, great teammate, Great teammates Cynthia
Speaker 3: Cooper who we could not see I to eye on anything.
Speaker 2: Shacking Kobe.
Speaker 3: Oh it was, And I will say she was. She
Speaker 3: was Kobe and I had some shock in her because
Speaker 3: I had I had some shock in me. Where Kobe,
Speaker 3: you can be you, but you ain't gonna tell me
Speaker 3: how to do?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: And I would. I would sit there, I'm like, Cooper,
Speaker 3: do you ever shut up? Let me just add, I
Speaker 3: just do you ever shut up? And older?
Speaker 2: Older?
Speaker 3: And and I was, look, coming out of high school,
Speaker 3: you're hearing you the end all be all. I started
Speaker 3: drinking my kool laid at a very young age. So
Speaker 3: now I got this other mouth who wants to go
Speaker 3: at me. I've got, you know, and I'm look. I
Speaker 3: knew I was good, but I didn't believe I was good.
Speaker 3: So I was I was insecure. So you're gonna challenge me.
Speaker 3: I ain't gonna ain't no punk. I mean live at Riverside,
Speaker 3: but I ain't no punk. So she would come out
Speaker 3: from Wats and she would say that I'm from I'm.
Speaker 2: Like an.
Speaker 3: Taste the same, yeah, the same want you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: And we were sitting I mean, you know, and you
Speaker 3: know the twins are like, sure she's from Watson. That
Speaker 3: with Papa. I don't care, no no, but on the court, simpotico, simpotico.
Speaker 3: But I will say one thing, A couple of things
Speaker 3: about Cynthia, a self made, driven superstar Hall of Famer,
Speaker 3: so well deserved.
Speaker 1: But not least Kim Mulkey oh, coach.
Speaker 3: I used to call her dead of South. You're just
Speaker 3: dead of South. So that South South, brilliant basketball mind,
Speaker 3: tremendous IQ, great floor general, fierce competitor, is the one
Speaker 3: one of the should have been the starter of the
Speaker 3: Olympic team.
Speaker 2: Hands down. Really who was the starter?
Speaker 3: Lee Henry m hmm?
Speaker 2: Interesting and.
Speaker 3: That was Pat's player, Pat Summitt, the late great Pat Summits.
Speaker 3: But Kim Moulkey, hands down, should have been the starter
Speaker 3: because I'm telling you when when she would come in,
Speaker 3: she's like, Miller, I just need you to fly. You
Speaker 3: just fly, I'll get the ball to her. She would
Speaker 3: get that ball. She already knew where everybody was because
Speaker 3: she could play the game with her eyes closed and
Speaker 3: would know what passed when aheaded timing and everything else,
Speaker 3: barking this, knew your position, your cut, where you should
Speaker 3: have been. I can't believe you're still out here, I
Speaker 3: mean everything. So to watch her and to play against her,
Speaker 3: playing against her was a pain. Playing with her a joy.
Speaker 3: No surprise at her success as a head coach.
Speaker 1: Is she misunderstood. She kind of gets a bad rap.
Speaker 2: Now just swagging. She's doing it her way.
Speaker 1: Man, Kim is Kim Kim Kim wait Kim is never broke,
Speaker 1: never broke character.
Speaker 2: Huh. I love that, never broke character.
Speaker 3: What you see is what you get if you don't
Speaker 3: like it.
Speaker 2: Bucket Fresh too.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh yeah, she just you know, she's she's
Speaker 3: the female.
Speaker 1: Libaraci nineteen eighty two, the first woman ever to dunk.
Speaker 1: I don't know if on record. We did a lot
Speaker 1: of research in an organized game.
Speaker 4: So so you just we gotta stop you. Now you're
Speaker 4: gonna take your flowers from us. You've been trying to
Speaker 4: deny him and weave them and all that, and you're
Speaker 4: gonna sit it and take your flowers from us today.
Speaker 2: I'm take them.
Speaker 3: Look, because you guys, they'll fat fat.
Speaker 1: We do a lot of research. We do a lot
Speaker 1: of research, you know.
Speaker 3: But there's no there's a Georgiana Wells, Dylan see Georgiana
Speaker 3: Wells I believe was the first recorded player.
Speaker 1: Is that in the game or just in the game?
Speaker 1: Oh really in the game?
Speaker 3: Okay, Georgiana Wells. Georgiana Wells, go.
Speaker 1: Ahead, we'll google that. Well what did that mean to
Speaker 1: you that day, in that moment to put a dunk
Speaker 1: down in the game?
Speaker 3: Extra, that's kool Aid Baby extra extra sugar tips?
Speaker 2: Was it analine like it was.
Speaker 3: A take flight? What was what? There were dunks, but
Speaker 3: they weren't considered dunks where I would get a tip
Speaker 3: dunk because she just pushed the ball in. And you know,
Speaker 3: back then, it was like they, oh, she just pushed
Speaker 3: the boat.
Speaker 2: It was dump dump.
Speaker 3: And now my dad said, you know, you do know
Speaker 3: you dunk that. I said, but they said, I pushed
Speaker 3: it in. He's like, here you go. But once I
Speaker 3: it was a it was a breakaway still and it
Speaker 3: was one of those you guys have been on those floors.
Speaker 3: There's something about the floor.
Speaker 1: Stanford used to yeah, Stamford, Oh, sacrament to me, no, Stanford, SA,
Speaker 1: Sacramento was like that. Stanford used to have a springy floor.
Speaker 3: Man, Stamford, you kid. Yeah. As soon as I got
Speaker 3: that still and I hit the free throw line, I
Speaker 3: crossed over and I took off where.
Speaker 1: I know him. I'm like, okay, I'm up here.
Speaker 3: Y hit it and I landed and I started running
Speaker 3: back and all my teammates are running over, were high
Speaker 3: five and the stuff and the official I look back
Speaker 3: in the she's just taking a ball in that and
Speaker 3: He's just standing there like.
Speaker 2: Did It's like, what the I was like, that's me.
Speaker 2: That's me, baby, that's me.
Speaker 1: Obviously heavily decorated college career, drafted by several leagues after college,
Speaker 1: including the usb L, which is the men's league. Did
Speaker 1: you ever consider possibly playing with men?
Speaker 2: She grew up. I mean, you know what you don't.
Speaker 3: You don't hang out in the summer at U c
Speaker 3: l A and not get a big dose pointing with
Speaker 3: the big boys of reality, you know. And I certainly
Speaker 3: I didn't have the handles to be a point guard,
Speaker 3: not even close of what that and that's the only
Speaker 3: position I could have played. But physically, like physically no, no,
Speaker 3: I mean it would have been nice to actually try it,
Speaker 3: but by that time I had blown up my knee.
Speaker 3: That was you know, that was the determining factor for
Speaker 3: me in basketball. That's when we parted ways. And that's
Speaker 3: all she wrote.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like, and I mean you if if
Speaker 1: anyone one could have it could have possibly been you.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like, what is the difference outside of
Speaker 1: strength and speed with women being able to possibly cross
Speaker 1: over and play man. Have you feel like there has
Speaker 1: been a woman that could have crossed over and played
Speaker 1: with the men.
Speaker 3: No, no, it is. It is straight a physical barrier
Speaker 3: that just in my lifetime right now, I don't believe
Speaker 3: I'll ever see. I just don't. I don't see because
Speaker 3: you guys continue to get bigger, stronger, and faster. I mean,
Speaker 3: I would have never thought that you'd have a seven
Speaker 3: to seven kid, no shooting threes. You know, shooting threes
Speaker 3: and you know it's just we there. There's that evolution
Speaker 3: gap that will never be closed between a man and
Speaker 3: a woman.
Speaker 1: Interesting. I don't want to butcher her name, but the
Speaker 1: seventh foot sylviet.
Speaker 3: Woman, Juleanna Simonova, woman nova?
Speaker 2: What was she like?
Speaker 1: I mean dominant? You got a chance to come up
Speaker 1: in the same time, all.
Speaker 3: Right, pitcher? Yeah, all mean okay, picture of this, y'all
Speaker 3: mean two inches?
Speaker 2: Is that boy shorts?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 3: They those were like the like briefs.
Speaker 2: They're like yeah, no, no, no, that's that's a onesie.
Speaker 3: That's a onesie. No no, no, no, no, that was
Speaker 3: a separate talk got nothing.
Speaker 4: Like the So she had the jersey top with the
Speaker 4: granny panty bottom. Yes, crazy, yeah, no, no, what the top?
Speaker 2: That's crazy?
Speaker 3: Now, it's not the bell that's the trail on the
Speaker 3: end of the jersey.
Speaker 2: No, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: What was her game like.
Speaker 3: Back to the basket? I mean, what were you going
Speaker 3: to do?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: Didn't have you know, obviously it wasn't tremendous foot speed,
Speaker 3: but at seven to two and could get up the floor.
Speaker 3: But all she had to do was get down the
Speaker 3: floor anywhere and on the block and it's a wrap.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a rap.
Speaker 3: Trying to get past her in the middle, it's a rap.
Speaker 3: What the Soviet team was so great at You had
Speaker 3: eighty year old women who had played together since they
Speaker 3: were in cribs coming out of the cribs. So you
Speaker 3: had a professional team for Daming. They're close to fifty
Speaker 3: years and it was a stranglehold on international basketball and
Speaker 3: their players. The permimeter players were faster, stronger, better shooters.
Speaker 3: They were a machine and then you put that in
Speaker 3: the middle. They were unbeatable.
Speaker 1: When did you feel like you guys caught up on
Speaker 1: the international side, the women?
Speaker 3: It started, matter of fact, in seventy nine. It was
Speaker 3: I wanted to say a few of the members was
Speaker 3: Nancy Lieberman, An Myers Drysdale, Carol Blas Jawski and Lynette Woodard.
Speaker 3: They were in Soul, Korea. I don't know if it
Speaker 3: was the World Championships or the Jones Cup, but they
Speaker 3: finally beat them in nineteen seventy nine, and then we
Speaker 3: got them in eighty six, and after that it was
Speaker 3: a round. Yeah, it was the decline of the Soviet.
Speaker 1: Why do you feel that there's so many European I
Speaker 1: use that as a broad name men coming over and
Speaker 1: having a ton of success, but we don't see as
Speaker 1: many women coming over from there.
Speaker 3: That's a great question, that's a really good question. I'm
Speaker 3: not sure if they're not experiencing the same obstacles we
Speaker 3: did early on because there was such an investment and
Speaker 3: not only the men's college game and AAU and all that,
Speaker 3: but their club teams are far superior internationally, So I'm
Speaker 3: not sure there's been that catch up between a lot
Speaker 3: of great institution college institutions internationally as there is in
Speaker 3: the United States. So I think that's been kind of
Speaker 3: a step, a stepping stone unfortunately, set or barrier for
Speaker 3: for international players. It's gotten better, but it's not the
Speaker 3: influx that you see with the men. The men are
Speaker 3: coming out and they're just tremendous And let me ask.
Speaker 2: You that, Yeah has been ahead of the current. Are
Speaker 2: you gone? He's been getting girls overseas for a while.
Speaker 3: He's been He's been plucking him from the national he
Speaker 3: knows teams. What do you think will there ever be
Speaker 3: an international player that will be the face of the NBA?
Speaker 2: I think so.
Speaker 4: I think I think we're real closer than ever with
Speaker 4: Lebron stepping down. Guys like Anthony l was coming out
Speaker 4: saying they don't want to be the face, Like I
Speaker 4: think it's going to be given to one of those
Speaker 4: international guys.
Speaker 2: I think so. I think I think might be the guy.
Speaker 3: Is that? What's the stigma?
Speaker 1: Or we heard Kad talk about that the other day,
Speaker 1: Like what does it mean?
Speaker 2: What does it mean?
Speaker 1: What does that come with? What is the face of
Speaker 1: the game? Come with a lot of praise, a lot
Speaker 1: of critique, a lot of ship talking, a lot of disrespect.
Speaker 1: And this is a different generation, Like we said we
Speaker 1: kind of in KG always us we had to look
Speaker 1: at this new generation through a new lens and their
Speaker 1: wants and needs and wise are a lot different than ours.
Speaker 2: Work, So how didn't want.
Speaker 3: How different is the game? Since you guys played, honestly,
Speaker 3: what's what's your take?
Speaker 2: I look at it like this. We love the game,
Speaker 2: they love the game, can do form big difference, and.
Speaker 1: I just think too. I mean, obviously, the plan was
Speaker 1: to grow this into a global game, and we came
Speaker 1: in at the end of a really physical era, and
Speaker 1: there was still some physicality in the late nineties early
Speaker 1: two thousand we first came in, and that's kind of disappeared,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I think scoring is at
Speaker 1: the utmost, three point shootings at the utmost, and highlights
Speaker 1: have what been able to me to grow the game,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I have sixteen year old
Speaker 1: twins that are good players, but they don't watch games
Speaker 1: that I'll just watch the recap in the morning on
Speaker 1: my phone, you know what I mean. So it's just
Speaker 1: like it's driven around highlights, and I think, you know,
Speaker 1: that's a huge deeper conversation, but I just don't think
Speaker 1: the Maybe there's just so much other ship to do.
Speaker 2: Now that's it.
Speaker 1: That's lock in and stay focused. I also say too,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just you know, I think that money
Speaker 1: international players are talented enough to be the face, but
Speaker 1: I don't know if they'll ever be an international player
Speaker 1: could be probably deserving, but I don't know if they'll
Speaker 1: ever be one as the face of an American game.
Speaker 4: And international players attitude still is like our attitude if
Speaker 4: we don't show up and play, we're gonna lose our job.
Speaker 2: They don't.
Speaker 4: American players don't feel like that we're gonna get the job.
Speaker 4: The jobs is here for us. But then now in
Speaker 4: the national players that's coming over, it's not a lot
Speaker 4: of them, so they feel like, I got to show
Speaker 4: up and play every night to keep my job, and
Speaker 4: that's that was our attitude.
Speaker 2: Is then in trouble, yes, if they don't get back
Speaker 2: to the competitives.
Speaker 3: From a marketing standpoint, I think so.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say they are because you got to look
Speaker 1: at the just look at the Luca move, Like, look
Speaker 1: what that's going to do to the Luca coming to
Speaker 1: the Lakers. The Lakers are already the biggest brand in
Speaker 1: the world. How much bigger they're gonna get over the
Speaker 1: water now because Luca is wearing that seventy seven jersey.
Speaker 1: I don't know if they'll be in trouble. I think
Speaker 1: they'll be puris to like, how are these you know,
Speaker 1: international players running the game. They'll be frustrated, but I
Speaker 1: still think those guys are coming over and playing real
Speaker 1: good basketball.
Speaker 3: So the NBA survives because of the influx of talented
Speaker 3: and international.
Speaker 4: Players, right, But see that can hurt the league too,
Speaker 4: Like just say Luca become the face of the league.
Speaker 4: You give the faces of the league as somebody who
Speaker 4: doesn't play defense, who doesn't work, you know all the.
Speaker 2: Things they saying about him. So this is the face
Speaker 2: of the league.
Speaker 4: So that's the bad part about it, right, You want
Speaker 4: somebody like, for me, Russell Westbrook should be the face
Speaker 4: of the league. Where he approaches the game. He don't
Speaker 4: get no trouble off the court. Every game he played
Speaker 4: one hundred ten percent. Do we play to the standard
Speaker 4: of defans, No, not every night, but the effort is
Speaker 4: there and he's showing up. That's what you're playing for,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. And people don't understand that
Speaker 4: side of it. We're not just paying to see somebody
Speaker 4: that everybody knows show up in the uniform and really
Speaker 4: not care.
Speaker 2: We know you really don't care. That's that's how I
Speaker 2: look at it. As a player.
Speaker 1: I mean, they say, you know, ratings are down thirty
Speaker 1: plus percent. But they also say that social media it's.
Speaker 2: Never been bigger really, because we're in social media area.
Speaker 1: Social media and the engagement with NBA around the world
Speaker 1: has never been bigger than it is.
Speaker 2: That's what they count.
Speaker 1: But the linear numbers are down, but that's older people
Speaker 1: who sit and watch TV. That's not necessarily the demo anymore.
Speaker 3: I just can't wait for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: There, you got it.
Speaker 4: The business is great business. All they care about, yes,
Speaker 4: all they care about and it's showing. It's showing you
Speaker 4: care more about the business than the actual game. But
Speaker 4: I think that I mean, Adam Silver has some work
Speaker 4: to do. He has some things to figure out, you know,
Speaker 4: what to do with his all star situation, you know
Speaker 4: what to do with that hot Is load management going
Speaker 4: to be something that will always be here? Will guys
Speaker 4: ever be allowed to get back to playing physical defense?
Speaker 4: I mean, I think there are some questions that need
Speaker 4: to be answered, because again, the product hasn't and I
Speaker 4: wouldn't say it's bad again because it's just a different
Speaker 4: type of game, but it's not the standard that the
Speaker 4: NBA has kind of hung their hat on for a
Speaker 4: long time. I feel like these kids now are more
Speaker 4: skilled than ever, but I feel like their IQ is
Speaker 4: a little lower because their training is always one on one,
Speaker 4: head down, like.
Speaker 2: What do I do off the ball?
Speaker 1: And that's why I think your international players come in
Speaker 1: and play well, because they play such a great team
Speaker 1: concept and understand how to play off the ball.
Speaker 4: But I think Grigs probably need to come back and
Speaker 4: explain what low management is because they took the They
Speaker 4: didn't took for what he was using. Oh my god,
Speaker 4: they took it and twisted it to a whole where
Speaker 4: you can just sit out and get paid and don't play.
Speaker 4: That why that ain't why Pop did it. That ain't
Speaker 4: why Pop did it.
Speaker 2: He did it.
Speaker 4: He starts sitting guys in the season going into the
Speaker 4: playoffs because guys played a lot of minutes doing those
Speaker 4: eighty two games. They probably missed one or two games.
Speaker 4: And it was only guys like Tim Duncan, David Robinson.
Speaker 4: It wasn't none of the young guys. You're gonna play regardless,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying. So now you got guys
Speaker 4: who two years in the league low manager, Like, come on, now,
Speaker 4: that's crazy.
Speaker 3: That is it's crazy.
Speaker 2: Pop get a chance to put his influence on the league.
Speaker 2: It'll get back. It'll get back.
Speaker 1: Quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Let us know,
Speaker 1: top five women hoopers.
Speaker 2: Of all time. I'm gonna put you on the spot.
Speaker 2: You in there?
Speaker 1: What top five women hoopers of all time?
Speaker 2: Not gonna do it on top five you've played with?
Speaker 3: Really not gonna do.
Speaker 1: You're not putting in the trick bag.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 3: Now, you know what if you'd asked me that question
Speaker 3: maybe a year or two ago, three years ago, when
Speaker 3: I wasn't trying to be around women's basketball, I'd have
Speaker 3: thrown so many people under the bus. Now now that
Speaker 3: I'm trying, now that I'm trying.
Speaker 1: To everybody, one thing I respected this whole interview is
Speaker 1: every time we asked a question, you kind of sit
Speaker 1: back and take a deep breath first because I feel
Speaker 1: like some ship want to come out. But then you
Speaker 1: give us something like just what you said right now?
Speaker 2: You know what that is?
Speaker 3: That's the Holy spirit?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Alright, Lord, I ain't gonna say nothing Lord like that.
Speaker 2: What's your guilty pleasure? Wow?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: There? There They're on a week day, a week after
Speaker 3: weekday afternoon walking up to Universal Studios and watching a matinee.
Speaker 1: Really, that's dope.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 3: That's it, just walking up there watching depending on the movie.
Speaker 2: That's some of the best sleep have you in the
Speaker 2: movie My God?
Speaker 3: And you know the ones and you know the seats
Speaker 3: ever since?
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's dark and the set failure.
Speaker 3: That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1: I love it absolutely one album, unrepeat.
Speaker 3: Ohio State Players.
Speaker 5: Ohio Players, Love Train, Love Train, five, Dinner gainst Dead,
Speaker 5: are Alive five plus five dead or alive?
Speaker 3: Doctor King, Michelle Obama, Will Chamberlain.
Speaker 2: You get a chance to meet him?
Speaker 3: Yes, the stories I can tell about that in this way,
Speaker 3: Will was a player?
Speaker 1: Play off the course the word I ain't the word.
Speaker 2: Play, I hain't the word.
Speaker 3: We ain't talking about basketball.
Speaker 2: And off the court, off the course, indeed, what am I?
Speaker 3: What am I to?
Speaker 2: More?
Speaker 3: Maya, Angelou and Jesus.
Speaker 1: One message to young female hoopers.
Speaker 3: Don't drink your kool aid.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I don't drink your own cool aid.
Speaker 3: Don't drink your own kool aid.
Speaker 4: Red orange, simple, purple, purple blue. Yeah, we didn't say
Speaker 4: the flavor was yeah, the color. If you can see
Speaker 4: one guest on our show, who would it be? But
Speaker 4: you have to help us get your answer on the show. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean we haven't had your god damn brother yet.
Speaker 2: God damn. I mean, I didn't want to say it. Bro.
Speaker 2: I got down. I hit him for this, he said.
Speaker 2: I didn't talk to him a million times.
Speaker 3: You can't get him on the show.
Speaker 2: We ain't turning us down.
Speaker 1: He just always busy. He's in Milwaukee, he said, this
Speaker 1: weekend or this this run for us him on that
Speaker 1: damn bike.
Speaker 3: Tell the ped.
Speaker 1: Well you you help us and with me and jackill
Speaker 1: continue to work on. We love to sit down with
Speaker 1: your brother.
Speaker 2: That's some story. Now you want some story.
Speaker 3: Oh no, you talking about your story about you? About
Speaker 3: I want to hear about Larry Brown and how that
Speaker 3: wasn't you know, what what was it like to really
Speaker 3: be coached by Larry Bird.
Speaker 2: Brown Bird Bird, I wasn't coached by Larry I know.
Speaker 3: That's what I want to I want.
Speaker 4: He was a great he was a great president and
Speaker 4: gentle amount of team. That's who called me and gave
Speaker 4: me my biggest contract. Like I was in my neighborhood,
Speaker 4: sitting in the corner with my friends, and I got
Speaker 4: a phone call from Lar Bird and put I'm like, y'all,
Speaker 4: Slarry Bird. Everybody got up, start rolling up instantly. I'm like,
Speaker 4: and Larry Bird told me, welcome to the Indiana Paces.
Speaker 4: We're giving you such such contract. And that's that's all
Speaker 4: he had to do for me. I'm in death for life.
Speaker 3: Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait, So he calls
Speaker 3: what were you expecting him to call? For? What reason?
Speaker 4: Or No?
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting him to call.
Speaker 4: I was getting ready to sign with the Pacers, right,
Speaker 4: and I thought, Donnie Washington, my agent, was gonna call me.
Speaker 2: So you got the call, Larry. They told Larry to
Speaker 2: call in my neighborhood.
Speaker 4: You had to be hyped on that one went crazy,
Speaker 4: you know that one of the calls, you get up
Speaker 4: and everybody take off running.
Speaker 1: One of them, one of them phone calls.
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it. Larry Bird called me.
Speaker 3: All right, I had a quick question for you guys.
Speaker 3: Toughest player you ever played against offensively?
Speaker 2: Kobe defensively run a test really by far? This is good.
Speaker 2: He can win MVP at Defensive Player the Year multiple
Speaker 2: years if this was right.
Speaker 3: Yes, best coach you ever played for.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna give you a best and favorite Okay, best
Speaker 4: by fars, Greg Popovich favorite Don Nelson because he believed
Speaker 4: in me, he believed it.
Speaker 1: I would say best, Damn. I played for some great coaches.
Speaker 1: I would say best is probably Phil Jackson because Phil
Speaker 1: and Phil, if you were able to get on that court,
Speaker 1: it is only because he trusted you. So that's why
Speaker 1: he just sat there and lets you let us play.
Speaker 1: Phil didn't do too much screaming and barking and ship.
Speaker 1: He sat on his extended super high chair. And if
Speaker 1: you were able to get on the court for him,
Speaker 1: that means he really trusted and believed in you.
Speaker 2: We both played for some great coaches, Love Brown, Mike Brown.
Speaker 1: Rick Adaman. For me, Stanvean, it was a good coach.
Speaker 1: He just phoned out his mouth every time he talked,
Speaker 1: but he was a good coach.
Speaker 2: Coach.
Speaker 3: All right, My last final question. You're probably not gonna
Speaker 3: answer this, but I'm gonna put you guys on the spot.
Speaker 3: Laziest teammate that could have been great?
Speaker 1: Oh oh oh for.
Speaker 4: Me, laziest teammate that could have been great? David Harrison,
Speaker 4: Remember David, Yeah, he was with us in fight out.
Speaker 3: He was crazy, bro.
Speaker 4: But I'm telling you three hundred pounds with a forty
Speaker 4: plust vertical M hmm, unbelievable. By can catch can run
Speaker 4: all that?
Speaker 2: Just up here? Bro is up here.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't, I don't. I don't want to use the
Speaker 1: word lazy. I would use maybe it was tracted and
Speaker 1: could have been great? Was Baron Davis. I don't want
Speaker 1: to say lazy because I don't really I wasn't around
Speaker 1: at the business all the other ship.
Speaker 3: I think Baron could have been in damn firm or lazy.
Speaker 2: He was lazy, no, no, nois He was lazy.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: All his energy was at the clubs. He used to
Speaker 4: show up to practice with no shoes on because he
Speaker 4: left the shoes in the club. This type of person
Speaker 4: we're talking.
Speaker 1: About, that's crazy. That's crazy. I want to ask you
Speaker 1: one last question for we get you out of here,
Speaker 1: all right. And you didn't give us the women's side,
Speaker 1: so you got to give us this side. Rank these
Speaker 1: three in order your order, m J. Kobe Lebron, you're
Speaker 1: gonna do that one. Come on now, even running all day,
Speaker 1: we let you slide on the other ones.
Speaker 3: Kobe Lebron, No one knows where I live.
Speaker 2: Oh your brother, do though?
Speaker 3: You guys can't get a hold of them.
Speaker 2: So I.
Speaker 3: Gotta go with m J. Lebron and then Kobe, and
Speaker 3: not at all you can because when you look at Lebron, Lebron,
Speaker 3: in my opinion too, it's the greatest phenomenal specimen of
Speaker 3: a specimen of an athlete physically, a physical I don't
Speaker 3: know if we'll ever see a physical marvel of someone
Speaker 3: of his magnitude. And it's just not it's his. You
Speaker 3: got to take that and the longevity everything, Okay, Lebron, MJ.
Speaker 1: Kobe, I ain't mad at that.
Speaker 2: I ain't at that.
Speaker 3: You can talk to me. I've got it. I just
Speaker 3: got from longevity and he is still balling.
Speaker 1: And not to mention all that. I mean, I'll be
Speaker 1: talking basketball all the great shit he does off the
Speaker 1: court as well.
Speaker 3: You know what, This is why these guys are great interviewers.
Speaker 3: Don't give me all these particulars afterwards. Oh, you can
Speaker 3: include this, include that he's a social activist.
Speaker 2: And all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: But you know what, if you put that, then it's
Speaker 3: clearly Lebron of what he does off the court things
Speaker 3: that yeah, I And then okay, now if you're gonna
Speaker 3: add activism to it, then it's gonna be Lebron Kobe
Speaker 3: and then MJ. If you're gonna throw that in there,
Speaker 3: because Kobe has done so much not only for for
Speaker 3: your game, but for women's game and.
Speaker 4: What his daughter g would have a lot of stuff.
Speaker 4: All those guys do don't get highlighted, as I.
Speaker 3: Agree, And that's what I love about about certain athletes.
Speaker 3: You never know what their left hand is doing. Right.
Speaker 3: You may see this, but you never know what their
Speaker 3: left is. And I respect that.
Speaker 4: I respect players that so many old folks, homes that
Speaker 4: in the hospitals that MJ and built in his mom's name.
Speaker 4: A lot of people don't talk about that either, you
Speaker 4: know what I mean. So they all do great things.
Speaker 3: So it's then one, two three better than.
Speaker 1: Any order.
Speaker 2: You see.
Speaker 3: You can't go wrong first, and they're still there's still building,
Speaker 3: building and contributing.
Speaker 2: What y man.
Speaker 1: We appreciate your time and and honor done for the
Speaker 1: game and and and and continue to do.
Speaker 2: We got some thank you the books.
Speaker 1: There got a book and some shirts and.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that, guys, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: That's a wrap that's ours. We got a coffee table
Speaker 1: book that's a wrap. Cheryl Hiller one of the greatest
Speaker 1: to ever do it. A great player, but even better person.
Speaker 1: You can catch this on all the Smoke Productions YouTube
Speaker 1: and the DraftKings Network. We'll see y'all next week.
Speaker 5: Mm hm.
Speaker 2: M hm
Speaker 3: H m hmm