Speaker 1: This episode is presented to you by DraftKings. The crown
Speaker 1: is yours.
Speaker 2: Hmmmm, welcome back all the smoke, Day two in LA.
Speaker 3: It's been a fun run. Yes, Sir Max has been
Speaker 3: out here having a good time. We're going to sit
Speaker 3: down with the legend yesterday. You get to sit down
Speaker 3: with another legend today, gold status. I just want to
Speaker 3: read some accolades real quick for introduce this this person.
Speaker 3: Two time n C double A champion sc won the
Speaker 3: first four w NBA champions.
Speaker 1: How many four? Great? Okay? Make sure was the finals
Speaker 1: MVP of all four chips. How many four? Okay?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Eight time Overseas scoring champ. I mean, and that's
Speaker 3: just some of the accolades. Welcome to the show. The
Speaker 3: one and only Miss Cynthia Cooper.
Speaker 4: All right, I'm excited to be overdue.
Speaker 1: We had to chase you down.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Birthday, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: You do anything fun for your birthday?
Speaker 4: I didn't really do anything fun. Well, I guess I did.
Speaker 4: I couldn't say that because then my son get all mad. Right,
Speaker 4: So I had dinner with my son and kind of
Speaker 4: chilled out. We binge watched some movies and television series.
Speaker 4: I'm really low key like that. You know, I don't
Speaker 4: need to party every once in a while. I enjoy
Speaker 4: being on somebody's island just for you know, working on
Speaker 4: my color.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, work on your color. Ye need that.
Speaker 1: What's what's going on in life today besides that?
Speaker 4: You know, I do training. I trained kids. I actually
Speaker 4: was telling someone I heard my foot the other day
Speaker 4: playing one on one with some twelve year olds.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Man, they didn't get the drill right. I was like, Jad,
Speaker 4: this is the jazz. It's more of a flinch. Do
Speaker 4: it this way. And I was like, you know what,
Speaker 4: check up, you know, just old school.
Speaker 1: Just you didn't hurt yourself with the first jab, did you? No? No, no,
Speaker 1: I heard it.
Speaker 4: Hey, look I heard it on the in and out
Speaker 4: move shot. And then I was going to do the
Speaker 4: runner off the glass. You look like it's still there though, Man,
Speaker 4: it's still there. Bye people. Yeah, I'm still going back. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I just pulling from my bag.
Speaker 1: But sometimes our minds are a lot sharper than our bodies.
Speaker 4: And when I noticed that my foot was like then,
Speaker 4: I was like, you know what, a little too much?
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little too much.
Speaker 6: Let's talk about the current state of the w n
Speaker 6: b A with all the money and all the attention
Speaker 6: is getting.
Speaker 4: I love it. I love the current state. And what
Speaker 4: I love about it is that this past rookie class,
Speaker 4: they were the first rookie class to really bridge the
Speaker 4: gap between the n c a A fan fans and
Speaker 4: the W fans. You know, they brought their fans with them.
Speaker 4: Before there was a disconnect, you know, from you know
Speaker 4: they're playing in March Madness and you know in college
Speaker 4: to them going and playing and performing in the WNBA.
Speaker 4: This past rookie class they were the first ones to
Speaker 4: kind of bridge that gap and bring their fans with them,
Speaker 4: which then brought viewership, sponsorship money, more money, and I
Speaker 4: love it. The other thing that I'm super impressed with
Speaker 4: is it talent. You know, because girls get a chance
Speaker 4: to dream of playing in the WNBA. Now they're preparing sooner,
Speaker 4: so they're getting to the W more complete, their games
Speaker 4: are more balanced, and then they're bringing that talent, you know,
Speaker 4: to the W and now we have the fans and
Speaker 4: people are really seeing how special women's sports are.
Speaker 3: You had a quote it said, one thing I'm proud
Speaker 3: of about my journey is I never got bitter.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, you know, sometimes when you see all this
Speaker 4: money they making and you know you didn't make it,
Speaker 4: and you know they have unrivaled and and and for unrivaled,
Speaker 4: I had to go back overseas and get some money.
Speaker 4: You know, you can become like a little jealous, like
Speaker 4: I wish I was. I wish I was there, a
Speaker 4: little hater. You could become a hater, But not me.
Speaker 4: I love it, like I love everything that they're getting.
Speaker 4: They deserve it. I love the fact that, you know,
Speaker 4: the walking into the arena has become the new red carpet,
Speaker 4: you know. And I love that that they're able, the
Speaker 4: athletes are able to showcase not just the talents on
Speaker 4: the court, but who they are off the court. And
Speaker 4: a lot of times that's what gain fans support when
Speaker 4: you show who you are off the court, when you
Speaker 4: when you demonstrate that you're more than just a basketball player.
Speaker 1: We'll get back in touch on your time at SC,
Speaker 1: but talk to the current.
Speaker 4: That's because you're brewing.
Speaker 6: No, I have no issues with Yeah, I'm neutral, so
Speaker 6: don't get mad with zero zero issues with that.
Speaker 3: But what I want to say is, you finished college,
Speaker 3: is the best player in the nation. What were your
Speaker 3: options in America at that time, none nothing, nothing.
Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, not only did I not
Speaker 4: have options in America, I barely had options overseas. You know,
Speaker 4: you got to remember when I was in college, it
Speaker 4: was the McGee twins. It was the Cheryl Miller show show.
Speaker 4: So Cheryl Miller was that that girl, that player, right,
Speaker 4: and the McGee twins were right there, twin towers.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: I actually came off the bench for the first three years.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 4: Right, So I was a role player. Now I play
Speaker 4: now I finished. I hear some shots now, but that
Speaker 4: wasn't really I wasn't the star. And so you know,
Speaker 4: coming out of college, nobody really believed that I could
Speaker 4: I could perform. And it's funny because while I was
Speaker 4: a role player, in my mind, I was a better
Speaker 4: like in my mind, I was a champion. In my mind,
Speaker 4: I was a go to player. I was just playing
Speaker 4: the role I needed to play on my team for
Speaker 4: us to win a championship. Right. So then when I
Speaker 4: got Overseas, the first thing I did my actually, actually
Speaker 4: my first year was in Spain. I averaged close to
Speaker 4: forty five points average. I was giving them numbers, dragging
Speaker 4: everybody the dog cat everybody. Everybody was to get some
Speaker 4: right because I had to prove myself. I had a
Speaker 4: chip on my shoulder right my first year in Italy
Speaker 4: had averaged forty thirty nine point year giving them numbers.
Speaker 4: Why because they were supposed to be the best league,
Speaker 4: and I just wanted them to know y'all missed out
Speaker 4: right once again with a chip on your shoulder, right,
Speaker 4: So that's kind of that was my opportunity after, you know,
Speaker 4: after college.
Speaker 3: I want to back up real quickly because you said
Speaker 3: something that I think we all grew up having to
Speaker 3: learn is we had to pay our are dudes now
Speaker 3: kids hop in the portal for coach looks that I'm
Speaker 3: wrong or if they if they play bad and don't
Speaker 3: play now they What did you learn from paying your
Speaker 3: dues and kind of riding your time and understanding and
Speaker 3: how did that help you with in the long term
Speaker 3: as a player?
Speaker 4: Accountability? I learned accountability. I learned that if I wanted
Speaker 4: to be great, I had to put work in. I
Speaker 4: learned that I had to I had to work. I
Speaker 4: couldn't blame it on anybody else because at the end
Speaker 4: of the day, coaches don't go out on the court
Speaker 4: Coaches don't come off the screens. Coaches don't have one
Speaker 4: on one on the wings. Coaches don't have to read
Speaker 4: the defense on the court, you know, in real time.
Speaker 4: I learned that I had to be accountable for me,
Speaker 4: for for my training, for my moves to the basket,
Speaker 4: for my shooting percentages, free throw percentage, and how I
Speaker 4: helped my team be better win championships. I had to
Speaker 4: be accountable for that, and so as a result, I
Speaker 4: put in work, like I went to I didn't start
Speaker 4: playing basketball until I was fifteen, so I started playing fifteen.
Speaker 4: By the time I got to college, I had only
Speaker 4: been playing basketball for three years. Now, I might add
Speaker 4: I did average thirty one points as a senior in
Speaker 4: high school. I'm throwing that out there.
Speaker 1: To go ahead and throw that shit.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I had one scholarship offer and I was
Speaker 4: from USC, right, And so I learned hard work will
Speaker 4: get you there, and then loyalty.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: I was loyal. I was loyal to my high school
Speaker 4: for giving me an opportunity. I was loyal to USC
Speaker 4: for opening up the windows of the world to me,
Speaker 4: and because of that, I was able to go overseas
Speaker 4: with another level of confidence. That Okay, Like I wasn't
Speaker 4: the star, but I am a star. Like I can
Speaker 4: be great. I can be great if I'm willing to
Speaker 4: put the work and look myself in the mirror when
Speaker 4: I have a bad game and go get better.
Speaker 3: You're from why there's another young lady coming from WATTS
Speaker 3: currently and kind of followed your footsteps from WATS to SC. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: we all saw what happened to Juju tear her knee
Speaker 3: during the tournament. Any relationship with her and what have
Speaker 3: you thought of her game up to this point in
Speaker 3: her first season and a half.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I shoot her communications and texts and all the time.
Speaker 4: And I just love Juju.
Speaker 1: Hockn you not?
Speaker 4: I mean I love Juju. I love the work she
Speaker 4: put in. I love when she has a bad game,
Speaker 4: she's in the gym working on her craft. I love
Speaker 4: that with everything that's going on around her, she still
Speaker 4: focuses on the game that she loves and that she
Speaker 4: has almost perfected. Right, And I love that there's always growth.
Speaker 4: Right when you see Juju as a freshman and have
Speaker 4: the accomplishments she did, she didn't just settle there for that.
Speaker 4: You know, she came back her sophomore year and just better,
Speaker 4: adding to her bag, adding to her game and constantly growing.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: So I love where she is and I know when
Speaker 4: she comes back from this injury, she's going to be
Speaker 4: better because mentally, you have to be a strong person
Speaker 4: to come out of the inner city, and then you
Speaker 4: have to be an even stronger person to transition your
Speaker 4: mind from Watts to USC, from USC to you know,
Speaker 4: being the best player in college basketball. And you have
Speaker 4: to be able to separate mentally what happens off the
Speaker 4: court from what you're doing on the court. And Juju
Speaker 4: has perfected that, Like she knows when she needs to
Speaker 4: get in the gym and get some extra shots up,
Speaker 4: when she needs to add to her back. So love
Speaker 4: where she is and I love where she's going.
Speaker 6: We and not especially in men's basketball. A lot of
Speaker 6: us come from, you know, the hood and hard demographics,
Speaker 6: and we don't hear too many stories about women having
Speaker 6: to overcome a lot.
Speaker 1: Of ours to come out.
Speaker 6: You come from Watch paint the picture of your childhood
Speaker 6: coming out of Watch.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, the first thing that came to my mind
Speaker 4: is hungry? Are you just hungry? Serp sandwiches?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: Government chief men and and just the fact that it
Speaker 4: wasn't always easy to get to school. You know, you're
Speaker 4: catching a bus. At the time, it was called RTD
Speaker 4: Rapid Transit District and and when you live in wats,
Speaker 4: you know, I had to I had to walk from
Speaker 4: that bus stop home and make it there safely.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: So I grew up in it was very tough with
Speaker 4: seven siblings.
Speaker 1: And where you at in the in the in the hierarchy.
Speaker 4: I'm the middle. I'm kind of the middle.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: My brother Ricky was killed in eighty eighty five. I
Speaker 4: was in college and it was you know, it was
Speaker 4: tough growing up in watch But I wouldn't trade my
Speaker 4: upbringing for anything, because it really taught me how to persevere,
Speaker 4: how to be determined. Like my mom, she raised eight
Speaker 4: kids by herself. She it seemed like she worked for
Speaker 4: twenty four hours. So I didn't always get the hug
Speaker 4: or the nurturing that other people say they need, but
Speaker 4: I did get an example of the dedication and the
Speaker 4: determination that a parent has to not allow their kids
Speaker 4: to start in the same place they did. And for
Speaker 4: that man, I put it. I put into work right,
Speaker 4: and sometimes you know, I remember almost getting a whooping
Speaker 4: because I didn't get a whooping because I'm funny, like
Speaker 4: I have jokes, like three I could tell yeah, man,
Speaker 4: I have three jokes. And we were getting ready to
Speaker 4: go to catch the bus to Disneyland, which takes about
Speaker 4: a day anyway, and my mom told me to not
Speaker 4: put too much vasoline on my head, and I was
Speaker 4: oiling it up. And I walked out there and my
Speaker 4: dog on forehead was shinier than the sun, big old foehead,
Speaker 4: shiny as ever. They're not jail you not to put
Speaker 4: I said, Mommy, my forehead just big and shiny. She
Speaker 4: started laughing. I didn't get a whooping. Disneyland here we come. Yeah,
Speaker 4: But that was my upbringing, you know. I went to
Speaker 4: Locke High School, luc K. Gompers Junior High one hundred
Speaker 4: eighteenth Elementary School, and then my one scholarship offer because
Speaker 4: we want to step the championship my senior year, we
Speaker 4: want to state championship. I was able to get a
Speaker 4: scholarship to us.
Speaker 1: And that came later.
Speaker 3: That came like after the season, after you guys won it,
Speaker 3: you had already had it.
Speaker 4: Oh no, after we won Oh wow?
Speaker 3: So yeah, I didn't have you didn't really know what
Speaker 3: was going on up until yeah, until it came No.
Speaker 4: I didn't. I didn't have an offer until we won
Speaker 4: a championship.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 6: South Central has produced a lot of famous people, athletes,
Speaker 6: artists during your time of upbringing. Did you grow up
Speaker 6: with anybody that you that that made it up?
Speaker 1: We would know.
Speaker 4: I didn't really have a lot of role models that
Speaker 4: had made it out of Watts growing up. But you know,
Speaker 4: the Lakers were really who I kind of. I tried
Speaker 4: to model my game out Norm Nixon was my guy. Yeah,
Speaker 4: man Jamal Wilkes. I didn't like his shot, but it's
Speaker 4: all good, right, I made it work. And I would
Speaker 4: say Michael Cooper's defense, but I ain't really play no defense.
Speaker 4: It was really what not my thing? But I love
Speaker 4: the way he was always that team player, right, the
Speaker 4: glue that kept everyone together. Magic, you know, magic just
Speaker 4: at his size, with everything he was able to do,
Speaker 4: from the shot, from the passing, from running the fast
Speaker 4: break to playing in the post, like he was that
Speaker 4: complete player that you wanted to be, right, And so
Speaker 4: I modeled my game a lot after the Lakers, the
Speaker 4: Laker players, because I didn't have a lot of I
Speaker 4: didn't have any female role models to model my game after.
Speaker 4: And besides, whenever I played pickup, know, I was dragging
Speaker 4: some guy to the rim and his boys was on
Speaker 4: the sideline reaming him out, you know, talking, mess talking. Yeah,
Speaker 4: they were over there. Oh my god, she's killing you.
Speaker 4: I'm like, well you next? Who got next? What are
Speaker 4: we doing?
Speaker 1: What would you do? She was just cooking you. I
Speaker 1: just take it. I'll just take it. Let me tell
Speaker 1: you why.
Speaker 6: My older sister was a tip player in Texas coming
Speaker 6: out of high school, and I took a couple of
Speaker 6: whips from her, so I know what it feels like. Yeah,
Speaker 6: I know what it feels like. It's not the same.
Speaker 6: But as getting be by mail. Let me say that
Speaker 6: it's not the same. It's definitely worse. And she was, Yeah,
Speaker 6: she's gonna remind me to this day.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Yeah, were you into the hip hop scene? You into
Speaker 6: the hip hop scene?
Speaker 4: Never really been into the hip hop scene, you know,
Speaker 4: I will tell you. You know, for me, I'm so
Speaker 4: driven and so focused, and I really had a fear
Speaker 4: growing up that if I veered it too far off
Speaker 4: my path, I would I would lose myself, right, I
Speaker 4: would lose that battle with gangs and drugs and all
Speaker 4: sorts of things happening in my neighborhood. I really wanted
Speaker 4: to stay focused and stay on that path. And I did,
Speaker 4: you know, I remember, you know, growing up, I went
Speaker 4: to uh, my mom sent me to the supermarket. Of
Speaker 4: course I had to walk to the supermarket. I had
Speaker 4: a red scarf on because I had curlers in my
Speaker 4: I had curlers in my head, the pink ones, the
Speaker 4: hard ones that hurt when you sleep. Yeah, those, So
Speaker 4: I had those in my hand, and I had a scarphone.
Speaker 4: And I remember getting ready to walking to the store
Speaker 4: and two dudes, two guys standing right there. They just
Speaker 4: snatched the scarf off and burned it in front of me.
Speaker 4: And I was just like, what, No, what's up? What's that?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 4: I was like, I just come to get some milk
Speaker 4: and cereal. That's and that was. That was an experience
Speaker 4: like that taught me that you can't go too far
Speaker 4: from where you're supposed to be, and you have to
Speaker 4: be cognizant of you know, who's around you and the
Speaker 4: effect that can have on your life.
Speaker 1: Real take a look at this video right here.
Speaker 4: We could not see I to eye on anything.
Speaker 1: Shack and Kobe. Oh it was, and.
Speaker 5: I will say she was she was Kobe, and I
Speaker 5: had some shocking I had. I had some shock in
Speaker 5: me where Kobe, you can be you, but you ain't
Speaker 5: gonna tell me how to.
Speaker 1: Do you know?
Speaker 4: And I would I would sit there like, who.
Speaker 1: Just do you ever? Shut up? And younger than you?
Speaker 5: Older, older, and and I was, look, coming out of
Speaker 5: high school, you're hearing you the end all be all.
Speaker 5: I started drinking my kool laid at a very young age.
Speaker 5: So now I got this other mouth who wants to
Speaker 5: go at me? I've got you know, and I'm look,
Speaker 5: I knew I was good, but I didn't believe I
Speaker 5: was good, so I was. I was insecure. So you're
Speaker 5: gonna challenge me.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna.
Speaker 4: I ain't no punk.
Speaker 5: I mean live at Riverside, but I ain't no punk.
Speaker 5: So she would come out from Watson. She would say
Speaker 5: that I'm from.
Speaker 1: I'm like an.
Speaker 5: Taste the same, yeah, the same wanted you know, I mean,
Speaker 5: And we were sitting there, I mean, you know, and
Speaker 5: you know the twins are like, sure she's from Watson.
Speaker 5: That would Papa, I don't care, no, but on the court. Simpotico, simpotico.
Speaker 5: But I will say one thing, a couple of things
Speaker 5: about Cynthia, a self made, driven superstar, Hall of famer,
Speaker 5: so well deserved.
Speaker 1: Yl.
Speaker 3: You know, you arguably played with the greatest female player
Speaker 3: of all time, and as you talked to earlier, you
Speaker 3: kind of had to pay your dues and fit into
Speaker 3: a role to help the team win. That's not always easy,
Speaker 3: especially with someone as good as you are, and ended
Speaker 3: up being able to kind of spread your wings post college.
Speaker 3: But how was it in college with that team, particularly
Speaker 3: Cheryl and the twins, and in the chemistry and and
Speaker 3: and winning at the same time.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so did I mention I was a little rough
Speaker 4: around the edges when I got to college. I didn't
Speaker 4: mention that. Yeah, I was, you know, straight out of
Speaker 4: the box, like you talking about straight. I was straight
Speaker 4: out of Watts and and so I didn't know what
Speaker 4: I didn't know. And it was hard for Sheryl and
Speaker 4: I to see ida eye mainly be because she was
Speaker 4: up here and I was down here. So I'm like, yo, listen,
Speaker 4: I thought I was the greatest. I thought I had
Speaker 4: it like I was it, And so I had a
Speaker 4: chip on my shoulder, come from the Inner City, you know,
Speaker 4: going to USC and then here comes Cheryl Miller, you know,
Speaker 4: one hundred and five points in the game. I'm like, yo,
Speaker 4: but she ain't. She ain't play against me. They didn't
Speaker 4: want none of none of it like high school. Well, OK,
Speaker 4: they ain't want none of that, right, they ain't want
Speaker 4: none of that. Right. So I'm feeling myself. I'm feeling myself.
Speaker 4: And then we have our first practice and I say, shit,
Speaker 4: they can't. Coop, you got to get better. Like she
Speaker 4: was so great, wow, so so talented, and she played
Speaker 4: so hard. The first thing that came to mind was, Coop,
Speaker 4: she better than you. Damn you gotta do better. I
Speaker 4: went to work after that.
Speaker 1: I went to work.
Speaker 4: You know, I had to talk my ship because I
Speaker 4: didn't have what she had, and I had to work
Speaker 4: and work because she was amazing, especially at her side.
Speaker 4: She was the first at her size to have that
Speaker 4: level of talent. Knock down, the three, get to the rim,
Speaker 4: play defense, that run, the fast break, you name it.
Speaker 4: She could do it. And I was like, wow, I
Speaker 4: want to be like you. So you know, I had to,
Speaker 4: you know, try to punk her because I ain't had
Speaker 4: a game to match up.
Speaker 1: That tactical career, saying, career.
Speaker 4: You gotta get your bluffy in right, I still have.
Speaker 4: I had so much to learn and so much to
Speaker 4: add to my game, and she already had it. I
Speaker 4: was like, oh my god, she's great. I ain't tell
Speaker 4: her that. I did not tell her that. I'm like, yo,
Speaker 4: I'm like, you're on from Wasside, will whoop you? She
Speaker 4: was like, yo, I'm from Riverside. I don't care about
Speaker 4: no Riverside. Just wash up in the building building twins.
Speaker 4: She Yeah, look, she got real tough. I love Cheryl,
Speaker 4: y'all know I love she. She got real tough when
Speaker 4: she was standing behind the McGee twins holding her back. Yeah, Flint,
Speaker 4: Michigan there with the wall between us. No, it was
Speaker 4: great Cheryl. Cheryl was like, she's my goat. She was
Speaker 4: the greatest I had ever seen, and I only wanted
Speaker 4: to be like her. I wanted to raise my game.
Speaker 4: I didn't look at the coaching staff. I didn't look
Speaker 4: at her. I went in a gym. I was like, yo,
Speaker 4: you got to develop a left hand. You got to
Speaker 4: develop a mid range game. You got to not be
Speaker 4: able to shoot the three if you want to slash
Speaker 4: to the basket, your game has to be more complete.
Speaker 4: It has to be like hers complete package, a complete package.
Speaker 4: And she played so dog on hard, y'all. She played hard,
Speaker 4: diving on I'm not diving under the scoreboard. I'm not
Speaker 4: doing that right because I grew up in Watts, right,
Speaker 4: I played outside. Ain't nobody diving outstanding? Come on, now,
Speaker 4: we're not doing that. She played in the gym. I'm
Speaker 4: over here at Venice Beach Memorials, the gym and memorial
Speaker 4: Santa Monica Memorial. I'm out on the black top. I'm
Speaker 4: getting it in. Yeah, you know, I wish they would
Speaker 4: knock me down. I'm coming down on two feet. I'm
Speaker 4: not sliding for nobody. So you know that helped me
Speaker 4: in college, right, that helped me in the pros. I'm
Speaker 4: constantly in balance right on. You ain't bumping me off
Speaker 4: my line, Nope, I'm anticipating that contact.
Speaker 1: I'm meeting you where you yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So now, she was great and she helped me
Speaker 4: be better, and as a result, I became who everyone
Speaker 4: saw in the w n B A because I had to.
Speaker 4: I had to deal with Cheryl Miller, the greatest of
Speaker 4: All Time at a very very early age.
Speaker 3: So Cheryl said, you guys were the Showtime's little sisters.
Speaker 3: Obviously you mentioned that team and that motivation and inspiration.
Speaker 3: Any us stories you remember with those guys, those guys
Speaker 3: magic in particular, or any of them.
Speaker 4: Well not I don't remember a lot of stories, but
Speaker 4: I remember Cheryl was Showtime. You remember I came off
Speaker 4: the bench, y'all. I was in the second five. So
Speaker 4: for me, the McGee twins and Cheryl, they were Showtime me.
Speaker 1: I was.
Speaker 4: I was trying to carve my spot out right. The
Speaker 4: funny thing about my collegiate experience is by the time
Speaker 4: you know, eighty three, by the time we got to
Speaker 4: the championship game, we were the first All Blacks starting five.
Speaker 4: So I went from being on the bench the entire
Speaker 4: season to starting in the championship game and we won that.
Speaker 4: We won that championship against kill Mooch and her crew
Speaker 4: Deborah Rodman, Janis Lawrence. It was great because I ain't
Speaker 4: like them because Kim talked too much. No, she wasn't nice.
Speaker 4: She was a point guard, had those pigtails. Man come on,
Speaker 4: the little braids in her hair and look, y'all, y'all
Speaker 4: ready for this. I took my first and only collegiate charge.
Speaker 4: It was a block all the way, but they didn't
Speaker 4: call it a block. They called it a charge. The
Speaker 4: ball was tapped away. Kim tapped the ball away from
Speaker 4: Kathy and I saw it happening.
Speaker 1: I was like, boom, she goes.
Speaker 4: Tapped it to Janice Lawrence. Janice Lawrence passes it out
Speaker 4: to kill Mochy on the fast break. I sprint back
Speaker 4: and look, y'all. They have been calling charges all game,
Speaker 4: charges all game. So I said, if I try to
Speaker 4: block this girl's shot, they're gonna call the follow me.
Speaker 4: We only yep by two, they're gonna call her phone.
Speaker 4: I said, you know, I'm gonna take a charge. Hey, y'all,
Speaker 4: I ain't know how to take a charge, but I
Speaker 4: knew I had to try to take a charge. Took
Speaker 4: a charge. Boom charge on kill Moke. We going down,
Speaker 4: Cherl picks me up off the floor. She's jumping around.
Speaker 4: She's probably just jumping around because I took a charge.
Speaker 3: That seemed like the scene from Loving Basketball many where
Speaker 3: they got that from.
Speaker 4: They didn't pay me no money though, they ain't give
Speaker 4: me my duke.
Speaker 3: Scene when Monica turned the ball over, it back down.
Speaker 3: They changed it a little bit. But yeah, see yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: come on the show and you heard some money. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna give you a few names. You talked about them.
Speaker 3: But Deborah Rodman.
Speaker 4: A little crazy but greaty look crazy. But you know
Speaker 4: what it was, It was funny. First of all, she
Speaker 4: came by honest, we know her brother, but she was
Speaker 4: just a shot blocking machine, defensive player. She was tough
Speaker 4: around the basket. So you know, I really I enjoyed
Speaker 4: going up against everybody, right because you know, I played
Speaker 4: against guys, so you know, when they let me play
Speaker 4: against girls, I was like, all.
Speaker 1: Right, cool, thank you. How hard was that?
Speaker 3: I'm diverting a little bit, But I was going to
Speaker 3: ask you, playing on these black tops, there's not too
Speaker 3: many women out there, if any, So what was that
Speaker 3: like coming up and kind of earning your stripes, in
Speaker 3: earning respect for the men out there?
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know it was. It was tough at first
Speaker 4: because you have to prove yourself.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: The other thing you taught me was you got to
Speaker 4: be creative and you have to be lethal, Like you
Speaker 4: can't get out there and miss three shots because then
Speaker 4: they start talking. It's a man's game. You ain't supposed
Speaker 4: to be out here anyway, like what you're doing. You're
Speaker 4: a girl, right, So I learned to be fishing. I
Speaker 4: learned to be. I learned to attack, and also I
Speaker 4: learned that when I attack, I'm gonna draw everybody, because
Speaker 4: every guy believes they're better than every girl just because
Speaker 4: they're a guy. And every guy is gonna try to
Speaker 4: beat your shot up when you go to the realm,
Speaker 4: every single one up. So they're gonna go for every
Speaker 4: shot fake, they're gonna go for every time you go
Speaker 4: to the realm because in their minds they getting ready
Speaker 4: beat this up. So I'm dishing off, I'm past my
Speaker 4: and we winning, and were sitting them down and they
Speaker 4: boys talking bad, crazy trash on the sideline to them,
Speaker 4: and I'm loving every minute. Then they start talking to me,
Speaker 4: and now you talk about shit talking, man, I got
Speaker 4: some one liners for your eight Yes, come on, quick,
Speaker 4: precise cut cut right. So that was me, that was
Speaker 4: me learning right, that was me learning my craft. But
Speaker 4: it also taught me how to take contact when I
Speaker 4: played in games, and how to get teammates involved so
Speaker 4: that you balance your game out. And they can't always
Speaker 4: double team you, Right, That's what playing against guys and
Speaker 4: how quick they are and strong and athletic, it taught
Speaker 4: me those things so that when I applied those to
Speaker 4: my games when I played in college, or when I
Speaker 4: played overseas and I got triple teamed overseas, or they're
Speaker 4: playing super physical in trying to keep me from scoring,
Speaker 4: because overseas they don't care you getting paid to score,
Speaker 4: you getting paid to score, you getting paid to win.
Speaker 4: They don't care that they're triple tamu and officials not
Speaker 4: making a call. So you know, I learned a lot
Speaker 4: playing on the black tops in la.
Speaker 6: First ten years overseas, you wont scoring titles of the
Speaker 6: first eight, but the first ten, you could have won
Speaker 6: all ten because you was in the runner is to
Speaker 6: win all ten, but you won eight. Was that in Italy, Spain, Italy,
Speaker 6: Italy and you only made twenty k?
Speaker 1: Talk about that experience.
Speaker 4: Yeah, First, let me let me say this. I only
Speaker 4: made twenty k going over because that was the pay
Speaker 4: skill and I didn't care because I wanted to get
Speaker 4: my foot in the door because I felt like if
Speaker 4: I got my foot in the.
Speaker 7: Door, it would open up more opportunities, right, and so yeah,
Speaker 7: I could have made more stand in America, but I
Speaker 7: wanted to pursue a dream of playing professional basketball.
Speaker 4: And so I went over there and I took a chance.
Speaker 4: I betted on me. I bet it on my skill set,
Speaker 4: on my drive and determination. Right, I I chose you
Speaker 4: know me. And so I went over there, and like
Speaker 4: I said, I'm dragging people. I'm giving them numbers. We
Speaker 4: winning games. I'm not just scoring. We're winning because that's
Speaker 4: just I'm not just a score. I want to win
Speaker 4: in everything I do. I want to be the best.
Speaker 4: And so you know, going over there being scoring champion
Speaker 4: when they when other people were picked before me, right,
Speaker 4: and other people had the names they wanted to rese
Speaker 4: it Edwards, they wanted Janice Lawrence, they wanted other you
Speaker 4: know players, and not me. So I had to turn
Speaker 4: the tie, right, I had to turn that spotlight on
Speaker 4: to me. And you do that by rolling up your
Speaker 4: sleeves and going to work.
Speaker 1: You always talk about it.
Speaker 6: You have mixed emotions about your time overseas, being from
Speaker 6: Watts and going to Italy like that culture shop.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so you know I'm a kid from Watts,
Speaker 4: did I mention I was rough around the edges. I
Speaker 4: go to Watts and I get my first coach over there.
Speaker 4: I'm sorry. I go to uh to Italy and my
Speaker 4: first coach is Antonio Morabito, and all Antonio Moravia wanted
Speaker 4: me to do was shut up now. Cheryl told y'all
Speaker 4: that I talked too much, right she did, She did
Speaker 4: mention that.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: So I'm over here, I'm trying to learn the language.
Speaker 4: They don't speak any they speak broken English. I don't
Speaker 4: speak any Italian. And every time I tried to explain
Speaker 4: something and he would say shot op, shot shot op,
Speaker 4: and I be like no, But I said, finally, I said,
Speaker 4: you know, shut up is offensive. He said, shot top yo.
Speaker 4: I'm ready to tear his head off his shoulders. I'm
Speaker 4: ready to So finally I just bolt out the gym.
Speaker 4: I actually jogged back to my apartments, like five miles away.
Speaker 4: I just run back. That's how hot. I'm packing my stuff.
Speaker 4: I'm ready to get out of there. The president of
Speaker 4: the team comes. He tries to explain. I was like, nah,
Speaker 4: I'm good boom packing myself, remember from Watts, So I
Speaker 4: ain't about to take this anyway, So talk to me
Speaker 4: he talked me down. I go back, we talk it out.
Speaker 4: He ends up being one of my favorite coaches in
Speaker 4: the world. He challenged me, he helped me to be better.
Speaker 4: And then a year and a half later in the language,
Speaker 4: Yeah that's who your father with because a boy can't
Speaker 4: study cha. You asked you to say, I know how
Speaker 4: to get the ball, I know where my money is coming,
Speaker 4: I know when it's late. I can tell you when
Speaker 4: it's late. Yo, Come on now, Yeah, I mess around,
Speaker 4: the care from Watts. I mess around and learn your language. Yes,
Speaker 4: I did in a small city called Parma, Reggiano di Parma. Anyway,
Speaker 4: we'll go there another time. So so, yeah, I learned
Speaker 4: a language. And and all the time, I'm never thinking
Speaker 4: I'm not supposed to be doing this because I'm a
Speaker 4: care from Watts. I'm not supposed to be able to
Speaker 4: learn another language. I'm not supposed to be able to
Speaker 4: go to Italy and average thirty nine forty points. I'm
Speaker 4: not I'm not supposed to that. People people are people
Speaker 4: don't believe I can do this. It never dawned on
Speaker 4: me that I wasn't supposed to do that. I just
Speaker 4: knew that that's what I needed to do, and I did.
Speaker 6: It from overseas. Can you walk us through how the
Speaker 6: w NBA got formed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So I had been hearing about two leagues, the
Speaker 4: a BL and the w n B. A well, at
Speaker 4: the time, they didn't I didn't know what would be
Speaker 4: called the w NBA. They just I just knew that
Speaker 4: there was going to be a team or a league
Speaker 4: created by the NBA. Played in the summer, so I
Speaker 4: was like, you know, that's opposite of my season overseas.
Speaker 4: You know, I get to come back to America in
Speaker 4: my mind. So first team, first people I called was
Speaker 4: the a BL that were the a b L and
Speaker 4: they I was like, yo, I'm Cynthia Cooper. I love
Speaker 4: to try out for one of your teams.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I played at USC and they were like, we have
Speaker 4: enough guards. And I was like, I mean, okay, it
Speaker 4: looks like I'm going back overseas, right, So I'll go
Speaker 4: back overseas. But now I know that it's they're confirming
Speaker 4: that they're going to start a league. The NBA is
Speaker 4: going to start women's league in the summer. So I
Speaker 4: get it together. I get my stat sheets, get the
Speaker 4: stat sheets, I get film vhs at the time, YEP.
Speaker 4: Put it all together and before I send it off,
Speaker 4: I called Renee Brown. Called Renee Brown just to let
Speaker 4: her know that the package was coming. And I called her.
Speaker 4: I said, Yo, Renee, you know, I really would love
Speaker 4: to play in the w n b A. I'm Cynthia Cooper.
Speaker 4: I play in Parma, Italy. I've been over here. And
Speaker 4: she's She's like, I said, yeah, you know, I'm really
Speaker 4: I have this package. I want to say, She's like,
Speaker 4: in Italy, Parma, she said, I said yeah.
Speaker 7: She said, girl, we've been looking for you.
Speaker 4: The top eight. What do we send the contract? I'm like,
Speaker 4: but on the phone, I was like, oh, you know,
Speaker 4: you can send the contract.
Speaker 1: That's the crazy story.
Speaker 4: I had these steps, I had everything together to send
Speaker 4: and she was like, oh, you're on that topic. What
Speaker 4: do we send in the country. I was like, I
Speaker 4: call my mom. I'm yelling. She said, hold on, what's
Speaker 4: going on? Are you You are right? I'm playing the WNBA. Mom,
Speaker 4: I'm coming home.
Speaker 3: Before we come home and talk about that, speak to
Speaker 3: the grind that oversees grind. I mean, it's a lot
Speaker 3: of practice is talk to what that And it's ten
Speaker 3: to eleven months it's a long season two right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's like it's like a ten month season. And
Speaker 4: I think the grind is you know, for me, yo,
Speaker 4: there's no grind harder than growing up in Watts. And
Speaker 4: I ran track and I just was like whatever it takes.
Speaker 4: So for me, I was up for it. You know.
Speaker 4: I wasn't the type to go out to party. I'm
Speaker 4: not partying because I'm gonna drag you tomorrow, So you're
Speaker 4: not gonna catch me in the club. You might catch
Speaker 4: me after, but let me give you some numbers first, right.
Speaker 4: And so it was tough playing overseas. The biggest part
Speaker 4: was being away from your family and your friends. Right.
Speaker 4: You just all all of a sudden gone for most
Speaker 4: of the year. Right, and then you come back, you
Speaker 4: lose touch with friends and you know, people forget you,
Speaker 4: and so it was tough. It was tough, but I
Speaker 4: made tons of friends in Italy. I traveled all over Europe,
Speaker 4: Valencia and then Ference and then I played two years
Speaker 4: on the island of Sicily in Sicilia, in a city
Speaker 4: called Alcamo. So I took full advantage of this kid
Speaker 4: from Watts being over in Europe, right, I didn't just
Speaker 4: sit back and play basketball. I really learned the culture
Speaker 4: and I literally lived as an Italian in Italy and
Speaker 4: that really it was a great time for me, a
Speaker 4: great time in my life.
Speaker 6: First four years, you go four for four? Yeah, was
Speaker 6: it easy the first couple of years?
Speaker 4: Well, it wasn't easy first of all, because when I
Speaker 4: got back, I didn't know that I would be as
Speaker 4: successful as I was. Right, I didn't know that we
Speaker 4: would be that successful because I hadn't played against all
Speaker 4: Americans in a long time. Normally there are only two
Speaker 4: foreign players per team over in Italy, So you know,
Speaker 4: I put up numbers there, but who knew that it
Speaker 4: was going to translate here? So I just went back
Speaker 4: to work, right, I went to add to my bag
Speaker 4: and get better.
Speaker 1: How old were you first year on the W thirty four?
Speaker 4: I turned thirty five.
Speaker 1: And coach was holding you back when he first came
Speaker 1: so he wouldn't lett you lose it.
Speaker 4: He won't let me loose. He wouldn't let me so.
Speaker 4: So I get there and it's show swoops team. But
Speaker 4: she pregnant. I had nothing to do with that. Y'all.
Speaker 1: Offense was built around her and everything.
Speaker 4: Ething we got next was built around Chryl Swoops, Lisa Leslie,
Speaker 4: Rebecca Lobo. They ain't have my name nowhere in there, right,
Speaker 4: But then you give me an opportunity. I remember I
Speaker 4: said same opportunity when I was making twenty thousand dollars
Speaker 4: over overseas. You give me the opportunity, and I'm just
Speaker 4: gonna come in and do what I have to do.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: And so I'm playing and I'm thinking I can do more.
Speaker 4: I can do more. So I have a meeting with
Speaker 4: Coach Chancellor. Coach Chanceller's like, yo, cool, you already mid
Speaker 4: season MVP. You know what I said, Coach, But I
Speaker 4: can give you more, like I can, I can do more.
Speaker 4: He's a kite man. He let me go. And now
Speaker 4: now I'm going to the rim. I'm making players better,
Speaker 4: We as a team get better, and nobody expected us
Speaker 4: to make it to five hundred without Cheryl, and we
Speaker 4: go win the championship. You know, Nike has signed me
Speaker 4: to like a real uh just a regular deal, just
Speaker 4: right out of you know, first year in a w
Speaker 4: they don't know a very basic deal. And then I go,
Speaker 4: I win MVP, then we win the championship, and then
Speaker 4: I'm MVP at of the playoffs, and they were like, uh,
Speaker 4: can we renegotiated, can we can we sign you for
Speaker 4: a little longer? And so they came back to the table.
Speaker 4: So it was just a good time for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Expand on that Nike situation being your own shoe.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so taught us about that, no.
Speaker 4: I you know, when you dream of playing professional basketball,
Speaker 4: you dream of championships, you dream of winning the you know,
Speaker 4: hitting the winning shot of a game. You even might
Speaker 4: dream of being an MVP, but you never dream, or
Speaker 4: at least I didn't of having your own shoe. And
Speaker 4: I was just like, remember you guys, I'm that same
Speaker 4: kid from Watts. You know, I'm the kid at USC
Speaker 4: that was looking up at Cheryl Miller, and now Nike
Speaker 4: is going to give me my own signature shoe. I
Speaker 4: was like, I just felt incredibly honored and I was
Speaker 4: blown away by the opportunity that Nike afforded me and
Speaker 4: and a lot of other female athletes. You know, they've
Speaker 4: always been out in the forefront. And I was like, yo,
Speaker 4: once again.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I went back to my mom, like, Yo, we get some.
Speaker 1: Shoes up in the building.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So it was it was a great moment for me.
Speaker 1: Will come to mind me see that picture.
Speaker 4: Yeah, greatness, you know, I'll just say I'll just say greatness.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: So that that picture was at a Nike event when
Speaker 4: Phil Knight was retiring, and so we were all there
Speaker 4: to celebrate Field Night. Really quick story before that picture,
Speaker 4: I was in a pull up to the hotel. Get
Speaker 4: out the car. I see some Italians speaking, you know,
Speaker 4: people in front of me. I can understand. We get
Speaker 4: there checking into the hotel and they're speaking Italian, bowing
Speaker 4: my check in. We get we happen to be in
Speaker 4: the elevator together. So we're going up and I'm looking
Speaker 4: at this guy and I'm like, I know this guy.
Speaker 4: It's Paulo Maldini from Milan Ace. I'm like, yo in Italian,
Speaker 4: Yosuki say do say Paulo Mountdini. Do say me though,
Speaker 4: he's just looking at me like this black girl in Beaverton,
Speaker 4: Oregon speaking Italian? What his kids are there, his wife
Speaker 4: is there, and they're just all looking at me like
Speaker 4: And then I explained that I played basketball in Parma
Speaker 4: and all that, so they were less alarmed, but it
Speaker 4: was great. And then that picture, you know, Ray Pond,
Speaker 4: my Nike rep at the time, she was like, y'all
Speaker 4: get together, get together. I mean, we didn't know it
Speaker 4: was gonna become iconic. We just all kind of got
Speaker 4: together and took the picture and and then look at it.
Speaker 4: Look at all that greatness in that picture.
Speaker 1: Is that Moses Malone in the back?
Speaker 4: Moses Malone? And look when I see when I when
Speaker 4: they when they posted that picture, everybody was like, who's
Speaker 4: the girl? Like, shoot, besides Michael Jordan, I got more
Speaker 4: championships than anybody. That's who the girl is.
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 6: Anyh Kobe connections both y'all having any I have to
Speaker 6: both have an Italy connection.
Speaker 4: Yeah. So Kobe and I every time we saw each
Speaker 4: other just spoke Italian to each other. We speak Italian
Speaker 4: one we get to practice it. And he's just you know, great,
Speaker 4: just a great, great person. And just so when I
Speaker 4: when I finally had kids and brought him to the game,
Speaker 4: I remember Kobe coming. I was walking in the back
Speaker 4: and he was like he stopped me and he was
Speaker 4: with his daughter, one of his daughters, and he was like, yo,
Speaker 4: this Citia Cooper. She Mito, She's a Mito. The girl
Speaker 4: was like, what does mito mean? I think he means legend.
Speaker 4: So yeah, Kobe and I were close, and I remember
Speaker 4: one time at an All Star game he was he
Speaker 4: was like warming up at half court ball and handling,
Speaker 4: and I was like, you know what you're gonna do
Speaker 4: in the time. I was like, yo, because A like mijora.
Speaker 4: Oh no, He's like, yeah, I'm better than all of them.
Speaker 4: And we're speaking in time. Don't nobody even know what
Speaker 4: we say. He's like, yeah, I'm better than all of them.
Speaker 4: Uh So it was just we've had were at half
Speaker 4: court and you know how much media is around during practice,
Speaker 4: so it was.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mj any relationships.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know. So mj uh is my my goat,
Speaker 4: and he was one of the guys that when I
Speaker 4: was when I was being inducted into the Natesmith Memorial
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame. Hey, you guys, do not judge me,
Speaker 4: but this actually happened. It was natural. So they citia
Speaker 4: Cooper and I get up to walk up on stage
Speaker 4: and Michael Jordan right there. So I just tapped him
Speaker 4: on his butt, like, yo, your girl is in the building.
Speaker 4: I'm like, who Cooper is here? I mentioned I was
Speaker 4: rough around the edges.
Speaker 3: That's funny, Hey, yo, Yo, girls in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: Yo, that's dope. What does that mean? Though? Again the
Speaker 1: girl from Watts Long, I mean, and.
Speaker 3: You did it, you won championships, historic career overseas in
Speaker 3: in the w But when that when that phone call came.
Speaker 4: Yeah, man, I was so nervous because you know, I'd
Speaker 4: only played four years in a w right and I
Speaker 4: didn't know that I would be a Hall of Famer
Speaker 4: because I didn't know if I had done enough. And
Speaker 4: so when that call came, I was so nervous. I
Speaker 4: was like just jumping for joy once again. You dream,
Speaker 4: you know, you can dream of stuff you never quite
Speaker 4: get to. I'm gonna be a Hall of Famer, Like
Speaker 4: they're gonna induct me into the Hall of Fame with
Speaker 4: Michael Jordan and in my class it was Scottie Pippen,
Speaker 4: the Mailman, but doctor Buss was in my class and
Speaker 4: arrest in Peace. It was just it was just an
Speaker 4: extreme honor, and to be honest, I was a little overwhelmed. Right,
Speaker 4: I'm still the kid at heart, My spirit is still
Speaker 4: that kid that everybody said, you couldn't do this, you
Speaker 4: can't go there, you can't accomplish this. They never told
Speaker 4: me what I could do and who I could be,
Speaker 4: and so to be a Hall of Famer. It really
Speaker 4: solidifies that, you know, no matter where you come from,
Speaker 4: if you're willing to stay the course, if you're willing
Speaker 4: to believe in yourself, put in the work and believe
Speaker 4: that you can do it, like have that perseverance type
Speaker 4: of spirit of perseverance. Man, you can, you can. You
Speaker 4: can achieve what you want to.
Speaker 1: That's beautiful graduations.
Speaker 3: What year was that twenty ten? Speak to the relationship
Speaker 3: of the Big Three again? Obviously first four championships in
Speaker 3: the w Cheryl and Tina. What was your guys' dynamic, Like,
Speaker 3: all different backgrounds, all different journeys, landing in one spot
Speaker 3: and you know, making magic happen.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think you know. I will say two people's
Speaker 4: names real quick that help bring us together. One Kim
Speaker 4: Paratt rest in peace.
Speaker 3: How instrumental was you spoke very You've always spoken very
Speaker 3: highly high instrumental she was.
Speaker 4: She was pivotal. She was our glue, our you know,
Speaker 4: she was the one that ran the show. She was
Speaker 4: the soldier. She was the one that was like, yo, Coop,
Speaker 4: that's don't shoot that. I'm not gonna pack, don't shoot
Speaker 4: the next one.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: She was the one that everyone listened to, and she
Speaker 4: brought us all. She brought us all together. She came
Speaker 4: out of a tryout, you know, she came out of
Speaker 4: a tryout, and then she sacrificed a lot of her
Speaker 4: game for the Big three.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: She she scored fifty four points in college. Right, So
Speaker 4: she was a scorer, and she came out and she
Speaker 4: just ran the team and really morphed into whatever we
Speaker 4: needed her to be in order for us to win championships.
Speaker 4: So yeah, and she was. She would dog the ball
Speaker 4: up the court. Look, I think I led the team
Speaker 4: in steels or I was second, because she would deflect
Speaker 4: the ball and I was still it because I was
Speaker 4: in denied. I was always in denying. I was always
Speaker 4: denying the ball. You know why because I ain't really
Speaker 4: want to play no defense. Yeah, man, because if you
Speaker 4: deny the ball and they don't get it the other side.
Speaker 1: But that's what they tell you, though one pass away,
Speaker 1: you should be in denying. How is your help side defense?
Speaker 4: My help side defense was ridiculous. I was in help
Speaker 4: side defense all the time. Time ball got to my side.
Speaker 4: I was denying right now. Remember y'all, I'm denying Kim
Speaker 4: tips it and I steal it.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: Come on, now, that's a life, right. You ain't really
Speaker 4: got to do nothing but stay in the passing lane.
Speaker 4: Make sure your hands are containing contest. Baby, that's my thing.
Speaker 1: But speak to that.
Speaker 3: That that team though obviously excuse me, the Big Three
Speaker 3: because correct me from wrong. Simultaneously, the Rockets are trying
Speaker 3: to build their Big three with Elijah Won and Barkley
Speaker 3: and Drexter at the same time, right, and you guys
Speaker 3: with the team that got it right?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we got to right before we were
Speaker 4: we were different, we were special for a reason. The
Speaker 4: other person I wanted to mention was Van Chancellor. You know,
Speaker 4: he was a good manager of people and helped us
Speaker 4: kind of come together. So there were some tense moments.
Speaker 4: Why tense moments because you know, Tina was young rookie,
Speaker 4: first first ever drafted in the WNBA, and then Cheryl
Speaker 4: was pregnant and coming in and somebody else and came
Speaker 4: in and stole kind of stole her her position the
Speaker 4: way the way I think she saw it right, and
Speaker 4: and now she won it back. So the question is,
Speaker 4: can we play together?
Speaker 1: So me.
Speaker 4: You know, I've done my homework. I didn't know who
Speaker 4: Cheryl Swoops was when I first got back to the WNBA, Like,
Speaker 4: I didn't know who who she was, but then I
Speaker 4: read up on her. You know, won the national championship,
Speaker 4: scored forty seven points. Cat Quick places defense both sides
Speaker 4: of the ball. Like, you know, I did my homework,
Speaker 4: so I know who she is. She comes back and
Speaker 4: my mind, we can work together, right because our games
Speaker 4: aren't similar. She's more of a you know, shooter, she
Speaker 4: plays defense. She's transition me. I'm a slasher. I'm trying
Speaker 4: to get to the room every chance I get. And
Speaker 4: when I don't get to the room, I'm trying to
Speaker 4: get there anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm trying.
Speaker 8: I'm trying to I'm getting closet there.
Speaker 4: That's right, that's right. Don't let her go right. I
Speaker 4: fake left to go right. I jacks have to go right,
Speaker 4: in and out and go back right. Stop me from
Speaker 4: going right. That's my thing. Right, I go left to
Speaker 4: go right. I hit a three pointer to go right.
Speaker 4: I'm just trying to go right. I hit the coach
Speaker 4: telling her they're yelling on it. In and out shoulders
Speaker 4: going this way, the ball going that way, Baby, I'm
Speaker 4: already sho the rim by that time they figured out
Speaker 4: there's a couple of chicks still at the gym looking
Speaker 4: for me right now, right, so you know, you know,
Speaker 4: I believe, I believe we could play together. You know,
Speaker 4: Suyl know Cheryl wants to be the MVP. I'm the MVP.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: The great thing about us three was I was older,
Speaker 4: Tina was young, and Show was right there in the middle.
Speaker 4: So I knew what we had to do in order
Speaker 4: to win. And remember, you guys, I'm well versed at
Speaker 4: sacrificing because I did it in college, right, I did
Speaker 4: it when I played USA basketball, So I know how
Speaker 4: to play a role. But the role I'm playing right now,
Speaker 4: I'm her. I'm her now. Everybody else, line up, get
Speaker 4: in line now. I ain't gonna be here forever because
Speaker 4: I'm older, but right now, this is my role. I've
Speaker 4: earned it, right in my mind, I've earned it, you know,
Speaker 4: and Cheryl's mind she was giving it, and Tina's mine.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna get it like I'm gonna be there, right,
Speaker 4: And that's why our dynamic was so great because we
Speaker 4: were all at different phases and it was unique and
Speaker 4: it worked right because we were willing to sacrifice when
Speaker 4: we needed to sacrifice to win a championship and not
Speaker 4: make each other, yes, not make each other the enemy,
Speaker 4: but come together and make them the enemy, right. And
Speaker 4: I think that was That's a tough thing to do.
Speaker 3: I mean, you explained it very well, but I mean,
Speaker 3: egos are a motherfucker, you know what I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: and that's a hard I think on the men's side
Speaker 3: of particular.
Speaker 1: I can't speak to the women's side. That keeps a
Speaker 1: lot of teams from.
Speaker 3: Getting over that hump that have a ton of talent
Speaker 3: is egos and stuff like that. For you guys to
Speaker 3: be able to somehow put it aside for the greater good.
Speaker 6: It shows even Kelsey said, like women can be way
Speaker 6: more caddier than men.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, trash.
Speaker 4: We are terrible sometimes. But I think for us, we,
Speaker 4: like I said, we had the unique combination that I
Speaker 4: had already played eleven years of professional basketball. So I'm
Speaker 4: in the gym. Yeah, so I'm in a gym. You know,
Speaker 4: we practiced at eleven. I'm there at seven. I'm doing
Speaker 4: my sprints, I'm doing my weights, I'm doing my shots.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm there after we finish, you know, I'm there.
Speaker 4: I grabbed the rookies were playing one on one. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm working on my game. I'm working on their game.
Speaker 4: My game. I'm getting better. And so, you know, for me,
Speaker 4: it was just everybody needs to play their role. Like
Speaker 4: when it was my turn to play my role, I
Speaker 4: did that. Now with somebody else's turn to play that
Speaker 4: role for this time, not forever, for this time. And
Speaker 4: I and I think we had that dynamic, which is
Speaker 4: why we were successful. And then the other thing is,
Speaker 4: you know, we realized everybody was after us. Right after
Speaker 4: the first year there was an influx of the abl
Speaker 4: players that that league folded.
Speaker 1: So now that're coming, have enough room for you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, same league to say, no, they were good, they
Speaker 4: had enough.
Speaker 1: Going Welcome to my world.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, I'm just doing shake them.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was giving them numbers. Couldn't wait till they came.
Speaker 3: Would all due respect what were obviously because it's a
Speaker 3: huge topic now of what women are making. This is
Speaker 3: the inaugural first three to four seasons. What kind of
Speaker 3: money you guys making annually? From the w OH I.
Speaker 4: Think the top players were making. I want to say
Speaker 4: sixty or seventy, maybe sixty thousand, and then the top
Speaker 4: you know, those top four players had additional marketing deals.
Speaker 4: We weren't making a lot of money. But to be
Speaker 4: honest with you, it was it like a summer job, right,
Speaker 4: So it was a summer job. You were making your
Speaker 4: money overseas. You came back, you're playing in a WNBA.
Speaker 4: If you were you know, lucky enough, and you won
Speaker 4: a championship or two, you got a marketing deal on
Speaker 4: the side. I had some you know, some bonuses that
Speaker 4: you received. And to be honest with you, I was
Speaker 4: happy because I'm playing in front of my family, my friends,
Speaker 4: We're having success. You know, h town is in the building.
Speaker 1: Is what you wanted ten years ago?
Speaker 4: Yes, it's what I wanted, you know, ten years But
Speaker 4: you know, can you imagine, Lord Jesus.
Speaker 1: I told them to early.
Speaker 6: I say, if the wild oh well it came ten
Speaker 6: years ago, should have my ten twelve championship.
Speaker 4: Me and the W at twenty five instead of thirty five.
Speaker 4: And my first step at thirty five.
Speaker 3: Was still still a problem.
Speaker 4: Man, a problem. And so but I don't regret it.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't regret laying the foundation. I don't
Speaker 4: I don't regret, you know, bringing my A game because
Speaker 4: I did that purposefully. You know, it was it was
Speaker 4: on purpose that I brought my A game because I
Speaker 4: felt like if I brought my A game, gonna lay
Speaker 4: a foundation of solid foundation, not just a foundation, a
Speaker 4: solid foundation for the next generation. Right, They didn't know
Speaker 4: I was playing because of that, or playing hard every
Speaker 4: single game because you know, I have to show these
Speaker 4: fans that women's basketball is legit. Like I remember, I
Speaker 4: was in New York City. I'm walking down the street
Speaker 4: getting ready to go to Nike Town. I'm getting ready
Speaker 4: to go to Nighttown. I'm just walking down street in
Speaker 4: New York City. Dude hops out of a taxi and goes,
Speaker 4: oh my god, you're sent to you a Cooper. Listen, y'all.
Speaker 4: I made it. Man, if you get recognized in New
Speaker 4: York City, come on now on the street with a
Speaker 4: random dude hopping out a taxi, you made it. Like
Speaker 4: that's that's life. Come on the kid from Watts right.
Speaker 4: And so it just made my day.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: I start, we took pictures. I was gonna get them
Speaker 4: some shoes, Like, dude, I love this. I made it
Speaker 4: in life.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love it well obviously, I still feel I think
Speaker 3: a lot of people feeling you weren't celebrated enough and
Speaker 3: weren't given enough flowers.
Speaker 1: For what you did.
Speaker 3: Everything you just said, you paved a solid foundation, help
Speaker 3: pave a solid foundation for what the game is today.
Speaker 3: And I think, what this is, your twenty eighth of
Speaker 3: the league. We got to do something to celebrate.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm here right, this is a celebration right now.
Speaker 1: We gotta do something bigger than this to celebrate well.
Speaker 4: I will tell you. I will tell you. You know, I
Speaker 4: love to see the success that the w is having
Speaker 4: right now, like I love it. I mean, that's why
Speaker 4: we did what we did, to make the sacrifices you make,
Speaker 4: and you know, keep going hard so that you see
Speaker 4: these players have the success they're having now and you
Speaker 4: see the level of talent grow and grow and grow,
Speaker 4: because now you can dream of playing pro ball.
Speaker 1: Here, you know what I mean?
Speaker 6: And not just for women, like you know, like I
Speaker 6: went through my own little overseas thin growing up, but
Speaker 6: like knowing your story coming out of high school like
Speaker 6: that helped a lot of people, not just women, to
Speaker 6: help men too, just like you can go overseas and
Speaker 6: still you know what I'm saying, still make it happen.
Speaker 1: That's that's your that's your journey. It's not the end.
Speaker 1: And don't think your career is over.
Speaker 6: That you because you're going overseas and you really got
Speaker 6: the NBA dreams, you still can make it.
Speaker 1: So your story up to a lot of people.
Speaker 4: You know, I appreciate that. I really appreciate it. And
Speaker 4: you know what it was. It was real. It was
Speaker 4: the real deal. Like I I didn't cut corners. I
Speaker 4: you know, I did what I had to do.
Speaker 8: And that's all ball down to what you gotta do,
Speaker 8: make the sacrifices, and then and then state of course,
Speaker 8: you know, be a finisher and what you do, don't
Speaker 8: just limp across the finish line.
Speaker 4: You know, be a solid finisher so that you can
Speaker 4: leave a legacy of hard work and a legacy of winning.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm in it to winning. I'm not just
Speaker 4: a participate participating.
Speaker 3: Quick first thing to come to mind, let us know,
Speaker 3: top five women basketball players ever?
Speaker 1: In your opinion?
Speaker 4: Top five women's basketball players ever? Can I can? If?
Speaker 4: Absolutely so, I would say myself.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 4: Cynthia Cooper Diana Tarassi, Maya Moore?
Speaker 1: How mean is that? Three?
Speaker 4: I will say top five Lisa Leslie. I like Lisa.
Speaker 4: This is of all time Shrumler.
Speaker 1: So you Sharyl, Lisa, Diana.
Speaker 4: And Maya Moore to Yukon two US three U s.
Speaker 1: C was cold. She just didn't play a long time.
Speaker 6: She was, she was, she had to shut it down.
Speaker 1: I'm so nice, Yeah she was.
Speaker 4: She was a best. Most underrated food spot in l
Speaker 4: A underrated Papa's Chicken.
Speaker 6: Let me rephrase myself because term when I say l A,
Speaker 6: term say comptonent in l A.
Speaker 1: So do you consider watch l A? Yes, because they
Speaker 1: say confident. We don't. We don't call Compton l A.
Speaker 1: That's the term saying.
Speaker 4: Hey. First of all, I would just tell y'all real quick.
Speaker 4: When I was growing up, Compton was the suburbs.
Speaker 6: Okay, okay, Now they had nice houses, the project, you know,
Speaker 6: nikas and guards and imperial courts.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Then we moved up to over there by Jordan Down.
Speaker 4: You know, we had a little apartment where eight kids
Speaker 4: were in too bad anyway, I'm gonna go there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But yeah, so underrated uh food spot in in in
Speaker 4: Los Angeles. Let's see, let's see, let's see, let's see. Now,
Speaker 4: I'm I'm gonna stick with pop.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Childhood crush.
Speaker 4: Oh Mark Robbins Robins, Yeah, y'all know Mark. He was
Speaker 4: my first boyfriend ever.
Speaker 1: Mark Robin I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 4: Terry Briscoe, Terry Briscoe my you know, you know from
Speaker 4: Valerie Briscoe, her brother anyway, cause I ran track, you
Speaker 4: know anyway. Uh, he took me to the prom. I
Speaker 4: had a Jerry Crow then too, both have curls.
Speaker 1: What could you have a celebrity crush growing up?
Speaker 4: Celebrity crush? No, I didn't. I didn't really have a
Speaker 4: celebrity crush. I didn't really watch TV week.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I was hooping or running track or running from people
Speaker 4: or you know. That's how that's how I got my
Speaker 4: change of direction. I got my change. Come on now,
Speaker 4: I'm running, I'm getting right. I don't I used to
Speaker 4: play tag in the junk yard. Come on, now, you
Speaker 4: right around the card. Don't touch me, not tag direction, baby,
Speaker 4: come on now.
Speaker 1: One word to describe Caitlin Clark.
Speaker 4: Amazing a beast. She is the truth, and I mean
Speaker 4: she she's the truth. And she was a rookie, right,
Speaker 4: not not down the three pointer, get to the rim,
Speaker 4: she can get to the free throw line. She she's crafty, yeah,
Speaker 4: very crafty, crafty. So sometimes she's looked like she's coming
Speaker 4: off for a three point shine and she back doors
Speaker 4: you for a layup. She gets her teammates involved, she
Speaker 4: can pass, she can shoot, man, she is a complete
Speaker 4: basketball player. You know what I want to see. You know,
Speaker 4: so many people talked about Sabrina and Steph you know
Speaker 4: with that three point shooting contest. You know what I
Speaker 4: want to see in the w NBA All Star Game.
Speaker 4: I want to see Sabrina and nesc you shoot against Caitlyn.
Speaker 1: Yeah, me too.
Speaker 4: I want to see that three facts.
Speaker 3: Hopefully it'll be there with it's in Indiana this year, right, yep,
Speaker 3: again that the NBA was there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, one album and repeat.
Speaker 3: Oh Luther anything, Luther.
Speaker 4: Big Luther, definitely, definitely yeah Luther. And my second choice
Speaker 4: would be Yolanda Adams. You know, you know, I'll be
Speaker 4: so many people think, you know, I got this music,
Speaker 4: hip hop music blasting in my headphones before a game,
Speaker 4: and really, you know, I'm between Luther, Whitney and and
Speaker 4: Yolanda because shoot, I'm already hyped for the game. I
Speaker 4: don't need to get.
Speaker 1: More already ready.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, So yep.
Speaker 1: Rate these three names, m J, Kobe Bro.
Speaker 4: MJ is one. I'm gonna have to go with my
Speaker 4: boy Kobe as two that's how I do it too,
Speaker 4: and Lebron three.
Speaker 1: But Lebron is a beast.
Speaker 4: The longevity the game, the pressure he's been under to
Speaker 4: perform every single year, and he shows up and shows
Speaker 4: out every time. Yeah. But when you talk about mentality, though,
Speaker 4: you gotta talk about cob When you talk about just
Speaker 4: the mentality, just the assassin type of mentality, you gotta
Speaker 4: you gotta mention Kobe's name every single time, like how
Speaker 4: he confronted a game, how he confronted practice workouts, and
Speaker 4: you know, I'm with him. People want to know how
Speaker 4: you become a Hall of Famer when you start playing
Speaker 4: basketball at fifteen, is that you put into work right.
Speaker 4: You put in the work when nobody else was looking.
Speaker 4: You put in the work right. And Kobe talks about
Speaker 4: his work ethic all the time, And damn, m J,
Speaker 4: he was way before his time. He just he just
Speaker 4: just nobody can stop him. Like what whatever era he
Speaker 4: played in, he would have been m J.
Speaker 1: Him.
Speaker 6: If you could see one guest on our show, who
Speaker 6: would it be? But you have to help us get
Speaker 6: your answer on our show.
Speaker 1: Wow, set up.
Speaker 4: It is a setup. If I could see anybody, I
Speaker 4: would love for you guys to have juju.
Speaker 1: Yes, great call.
Speaker 6: Program, big fan, Cynthia, thank you very much.
Speaker 3: Do we have We don't have our bag. Where's our bag? Okay,
Speaker 3: it's upstairs. Okay, well so yeah, we got gear for you.
Speaker 1: Everybody else normally get bags. This is.
Speaker 4: No just kidding. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6: Now, Thanks for coming even though we got a whole
Speaker 6: standoff right next door going on. If we want to
Speaker 6: apologize to that, we didn't think it would go down
Speaker 6: and yeah, goddamn this is he I guess so.
Speaker 3: But thank you. We appreciate you very much. Continued success. Again,
Speaker 3: we need to tell your story more on a deeper level.
Speaker 3: Let's work on that.
Speaker 4: Let's work on it.
Speaker 1: Pleasure.
Speaker 6: You know a lot about a story, and I'm honored,
Speaker 6: big fan, coming from Texas, so to have you on
Speaker 6: the show, it's definitely.
Speaker 1: Honor for me. Thank you.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Cynthia Cooper, all the smoke you can catch your son
Speaker 3: all the Smoke Productions YouTube, and the DraftKings Network.
Speaker 1: We'll see y'all next week. M