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Speaker 1: Draymond fourth episode. Exciting weekend sports. A lot of things
Speaker 1: going on. We're talking awards, we're talking possible records being broken,
Speaker 1: and this week's guests will have Metal World Peace, which
Speaker 1: I am extremely excited about. Incredible player, hell of a defender,
Speaker 1: but more importantly a trailblazer in our sport. And we'll
Speaker 1: speak more on that with Metal, But first, as we
Speaker 1: talk records being broken, I am extremely excited about this
Speaker 1: week in sports because of a record that's about to
Speaker 1: be broken in which I have watched. Of the two
Speaker 1: thousand and six hundred and some odd threes that has
Speaker 1: been made, I've probably seen about two thousand of them
Speaker 1: actually be made, and it's incredible us. You know, we're
Speaker 1: talking Steph Curry about to break Ray Alan's record. I
Speaker 1: think currently today he is fifteen threes away. And it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful theme. Man. I remember coming into the NBA
Speaker 1: and number one Steph Curry was not Steph Curry as
Speaker 1: we know today. You gotta remember this is ten years ago.
Speaker 1: We're talking Steph Curry coming off injuries. We're talking Steph
Speaker 1: Curry that I'm in here doing a workout just in
Speaker 1: the off season, and Steph Curry shows back up in
Speaker 1: Oakland and the owner of the team is watching, our
Speaker 1: general managers, watching coach, watching five other people in the
Speaker 1: front office are watching him do an individual workout. Individual workout.
Speaker 1: Season has not started yet. We're just ramping up, starting
Speaker 1: to get into the floor of things and starting to
Speaker 1: prepare for training camp, and they're watching his workout like
Speaker 1: a hawk. And then we go into training camp and
Speaker 1: you know, his workout was great. I watched him shoot
Speaker 1: that day. It was incredible. But then we rolled into
Speaker 1: training camp and there's kind of questions about whether Steph
Speaker 1: Curry will get paid or not. It's he worth the
Speaker 1: extension with his ankles hold up the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1: He went on that same preseason to sign a four
Speaker 1: four year, forty four million dollar deal, which ended up
Speaker 1: being one of the biggest discounts in NBA history because
Speaker 1: after he signed that four year, forty four million dollar deal,
Speaker 1: that very year, he got set up to All Star
Speaker 1: and if I'm not mistaken, the following year, I think
Speaker 1: he made it. But that's when Steph Curry started to
Speaker 1: take off and became the Steph Curry as we know. Obviously,
Speaker 1: those are the first two years of my career. My
Speaker 1: third year, we won the NBA Finals, which is he
Speaker 1: signed an extension. It is the second year of a
Speaker 1: forty four million dollar extension. He's making eleven million dollars
Speaker 1: a year. He's not even the highest payer person on
Speaker 1: our team. I don't even think he was the second.
Speaker 1: I don't even think he was the fourth highest played
Speaker 1: player on our team. He goes on to win m
Speaker 1: VP that year, we win the championship, and he's making
Speaker 1: eleven million dollars a year, and the rest of that
Speaker 1: is history. But what I do want to talk about
Speaker 1: is Steph Curry breaking that record. And obviously the record says,
Speaker 1: the record says that he's the best shooter we've ever
Speaker 1: seen body amount of threes, and he'll be number one,
Speaker 1: But what the eye test tells us, it's totally different
Speaker 1: than what the record tells us, because the reality is
Speaker 1: records can be broken, and you know, it's just how
Speaker 1: the cookie crumbles. For instance, Steph Curry's three point record
Speaker 1: will be broken, and from the time he's done playing,
Speaker 1: it will probably only take someone five or six more
Speaker 1: years to break that record, if that reason being. Trey
Speaker 1: Young comes into the NBA attempting probably six or seven
Speaker 1: three pointers a game. Uh, Donovan Mitchell comes into the
Speaker 1: NBA attempting probably six or seven three pointers a game.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry came into the NBA attempting to three pointers
Speaker 1: a game. Because it's just a totally different ball game.
Speaker 1: Two or three three pointers. Again, it's a totally different
Speaker 1: ball game and part in large part due to Steph
Speaker 1: Curry and Clay Thompson and the way those guys shot
Speaker 1: the basketball. I can even think back to the beginning
Speaker 1: of the championship run where everybody from Charles Barkley too,
Speaker 1: you know, all the people in the media, Santa jump
Speaker 1: shooting team can't win a championship. They'll never win their
Speaker 1: jump shooting team. They won't win a championship. Those guys
Speaker 1: shoot too many threes. Mark Jackson made a comment of
Speaker 1: Steph Curry ruined the game of basketball with the way
Speaker 1: he plays, and at the time it was totally blown
Speaker 1: out of proportion. It was, and it was blown out
Speaker 1: of proportion obviously because Mark Jackson had just been here
Speaker 1: as our coach, and everybody's taking it as a slight.
Speaker 1: The reality is Mark Jackson, who is one of the
Speaker 1: best basketball minds I've ever been around, was spot on
Speaker 1: with his comment, and what he meant by that comment was, nowadays,
Speaker 1: you have guys shooting threes that shouldn't attempt the three,
Speaker 1: to say their life, and the types of threes that shooting.
Speaker 1: You got guys coming off the dribble shooting threes. That's
Speaker 1: not good shooters at all. And you have kids trying
Speaker 1: to shoot the NBA three, throwing it from their shoulder
Speaker 1: and throwing it from their hip to shoot an NBA three,
Speaker 1: And it's all because of Steph Curry. So when Mark
Speaker 1: Jackson made that comment, Steph Curry ruined the game of basketball.
Speaker 1: That's what he was getting at, and he couldn't be
Speaker 1: more He couldn't be more accurate with his statement before
Speaker 1: anybody else realized it's because it totally changed changed the
Speaker 1: way the game is played, just by the way Steph
Speaker 1: Curry and Clay Thompson has been playing the game all
Speaker 1: this time. And I think when I look back on
Speaker 1: it's actually the ten years now that I've been here,
Speaker 1: most people, especially in the analytical department, didn't think Steph
Speaker 1: Curry shot enough three. To this day, they still don't
Speaker 1: think Steph Curry shoots enough threes. And so that just
Speaker 1: goes to show you where the game is going and
Speaker 1: why his record will be broken probably within five to
Speaker 1: six years of him finishing playing the game. However, forget
Speaker 1: the record being broken, the fact that he is breaking
Speaker 1: this record and he's doing it in almost half the
Speaker 1: amount of games that Ray Allen Uh did it. It
Speaker 1: really just speaks to who Steph Curry is, the type
Speaker 1: of talent that he is, the shooter that he is.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most incredible things. And I've had
Speaker 1: the pleasure of being able to watch most of these threes,
Speaker 1: and I think the most incredible thing about it is
Speaker 1: some of them are off pin downs, a bunch of
Speaker 1: them come off pen downs, a bunch of of them
Speaker 1: calm off spot ups, but the majority of them probably
Speaker 1: comes off the dribble. And I think that's what's so
Speaker 1: special about it is you're talking a guy not not
Speaker 1: you're You're not talking a guy who's spotting up and
Speaker 1: shooting and just catching and shooting. By the way, no
Speaker 1: disrespect to the guys that do catch, spot up and
Speaker 1: catching shoot, because for those grades that does do that,
Speaker 1: come on. I'll take the lessons. But the way Steph
Speaker 1: Curry shoots the basketball, and the variety of shots that
Speaker 1: he's taken, in the type of shots that he's taking,
Speaker 1: the variety of defenses that he's facing. Steph Curry doesn't
Speaker 1: go into a game and not face a double team,
Speaker 1: no matter who we're playing against. At some point throughout
Speaker 1: the game, he's going to face a double team, and
Speaker 1: the fact that he's still able to make the amount
Speaker 1: of threes that he's made is impressive. But what's even
Speaker 1: more impressive is that he's able to get up as
Speaker 1: many good attempts as he's able to get up. And
Speaker 1: I think that is a testament to his ball handling,
Speaker 1: but I think it's even more so a testament to
Speaker 1: his understanding the knowledge of the game, and how he
Speaker 1: continues to move and find open spots. You know, he
Speaker 1: see a situation, he see the setup of a play,
Speaker 1: and he sprints from one corner all the way through
Speaker 1: all the way to the top of the floor, but
Speaker 1: taking the longest route possible. Number One, the discipline that
Speaker 1: it takes to guard that not many people that have
Speaker 1: that type of discipline. Number Two, the effort and conditioning
Speaker 1: level and stamina that that takes. It's absolutely insane. And
Speaker 1: number three, the mindset that you have to have in
Speaker 1: order to be okay shooting the bar. That many times
Speaker 1: when you shoot the bar, that many times, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have some bad missus. You're gonna have some bad games.
Speaker 1: And one thing I've never seen with Steph Curry is
Speaker 1: his confidence confidence waiver. I've seen Steph Curry missed his
Speaker 1: first six three pointers and heat checked the seventh one
Speaker 1: from thirty three feet out, like as if he just
Speaker 1: knocked down four or five in a row and he's
Speaker 1: heat checking. It's the most incredible thing. And I think
Speaker 1: that is the biggest testament to the shooter, to the
Speaker 1: record that he's breaking, is the confidence that he has
Speaker 1: and never waivers. And I am honored to be his teammate.
Speaker 1: I am honored to be alone in this journey with him.
Speaker 1: I am thankful and appreciative that I've been able to
Speaker 1: witness such greatness. Not not every day do you have
Speaker 1: the opportunity two be around greatness or witness greatness. Some
Speaker 1: people don't win, don't actually witness greatness in their life.
Speaker 1: And when I say witness greatness, I mean especially to
Speaker 1: be around someone who's the best ever at something. You know,
Speaker 1: you're talking the likes of Jeff Bezos Uh, Elon musk Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, all of these guys who are the best
Speaker 1: ever at what they do. That's Steph curt He's the
Speaker 1: best to ever shoot a basketball. And I think the
Speaker 1: most interesting thing about it is we can all debate
Speaker 1: whether Elon Musk is a better CEO than Jeff Bezo
Speaker 1: or the Elon must create a better company than Jeff
Speaker 1: Bezos or the Mark Zuckerberg create a better company than
Speaker 1: Jack Dorsey. Like, you can debate that and you're gonna
Speaker 1: get several different answers from different people. When you debate
Speaker 1: who's the greatest shooter ever, you get one consistent answer,
Speaker 1: and that's Steph Curry. And I think that is the
Speaker 1: most incredible thing because when you're talking the greatest ever
Speaker 1: at something, it's it's not really fact based. Like we
Speaker 1: can say, you know, Ray Allen has the most threes,
Speaker 1: but some people would argue that Reggie Miller was a
Speaker 1: better shooter than Ray Allen, you know, and yeah, and
Speaker 1: so that would be a situation on where you say, well,
Speaker 1: it's not fact based just by Ray having more threes
Speaker 1: than Reggie. Now, granted, Ray Allen, it's great, and I
Speaker 1: don't think anyone's really arguing that, but just as an example,
Speaker 1: but with Steph Curry, Ray Allen won't even argue that
Speaker 1: Reggie Miller won't even argue that. All of those guys
Speaker 1: say Steph Curry is the best, And I think it
Speaker 1: is absolutely incredible. I mean, you're talking to a guy
Speaker 1: who when he shoots the ball from half court you
Speaker 1: think it's going in. It actually goes in quite quite
Speaker 1: quite often, but it's unheard of. And like I said,
Speaker 1: I am blessed and honored to have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: go to work every day with someone like that who's
Speaker 1: that great at something. And man, I am looking forward
Speaker 1: to possibly tomorrow Steph Curry breaking this record. I was talking.
Speaker 1: I was having a conversation with our general manager, Bob
Speaker 1: Myers earlier today, and he said, so, what are you
Speaker 1: expecting tomorrow? Like, are you expecting number thirty to shoot?
Speaker 1: I said, well, I'm honestly, I'm honestly I'm expecting him
Speaker 1: to shoot thirty three tomorrow. He's like, really you think?
Speaker 1: So did he say that? I said, he didn't say
Speaker 1: a word. And he's like, oh, so, so he's not
Speaker 1: thinking about it. I said, is he not thinking about it?
Speaker 1: I don't. I can't say he's not thinking about it.
Speaker 1: I think that's tough not to think about. But what
Speaker 1: I can tell you is he he would never come
Speaker 1: out and say, oh, I'm shooting thirty threes tomorrow. But
Speaker 1: I told Bob. I said, Bob, I'll know right away
Speaker 1: from the very first possession what type of time here
Speaker 1: if he trying, if he's legitimately trying to break that
Speaker 1: record tomorrow, or is he just gonna gradually keep getting
Speaker 1: there And just played again Aim and do and he
Speaker 1: was like, but we can't lose the game. I said,
Speaker 1: we won't lose the game, Bob, We'll be just fine.
Speaker 1: He won't do that, but I am expecting him to
Speaker 1: shoot thirty threes tomorrow. So if Steph Curry come out
Speaker 1: to shoot thirty threes tomorrow or even you've heard it
Speaker 1: here first on the Draymond Green Show, because that is
Speaker 1: my take, that's what I'm guessing. And I think Steph
Speaker 1: Curry will be bombing threes against Portland tomorrow and don't
Speaker 1: count them out because there's an outside chance that he
Speaker 1: could break that record tomorrow. So I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker 1: I think it's absolutely incredible that he's going to be
Speaker 1: breaking this record, But I also don't think no better
Speaker 1: person to do it, because the way he's changed the
Speaker 1: game of basketball, and not just at this level, but
Speaker 1: at every level of basketball. I think it's a beautiful
Speaker 1: thing and him breaking this record. It's just like a
Speaker 1: stamp of like, you know, I did change the game
Speaker 1: with basketball, but just it just stamps at all we
Speaker 1: all already believe he's the greatest shooter ever. That's the stamp,
Speaker 1: and I am thrilled and happy to see it. I'd
Speaker 1: also be remissed if I didn't talk about Kenneth Walker
Speaker 1: being Kenneth Walker to third, being snubbed as a Heisman candidate,
Speaker 1: not attending the Heisman ceremony, I think it's absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a guy who's dominated from start to
Speaker 1: finish of the season, a team that's had a great
Speaker 1: years in the New York as in a New Year's
Speaker 1: six Bowl. And by the way, don't tell me, oh this,
Speaker 1: this guy had this or this team was winning. C
Speaker 1: J Stroud, no complaints. C J Stroud deserves to be there.
Speaker 1: You also have Bryce Young, no complaints. Bryce Young deserves
Speaker 1: to be there. Aidan Hutchinson, I'm not a scum guy.
Speaker 1: So as a defender, I have the utmost respect acting
Speaker 1: love for them putting a defensive guy up there, because
Speaker 1: that never happens. And and as defenders, you you rarely
Speaker 1: get any recognition, and so I do have an appreciation
Speaker 1: for him being a defensive end and being in the
Speaker 1: Heisman and and the and the race for the Heisman.
Speaker 1: But then we also have and I'm drawing a blank
Speaker 1: on his name right now, we also have the quarterback
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh, Kenny Pickett. We have Kenny Pickett, who's the
Speaker 1: quarterback of pitt Pittsburgh who's actually playing in the same
Speaker 1: bowl game as US. They're playing against US Michigan State.
Speaker 1: And so if if your excuse Kenneth Walker not being
Speaker 1: in the Heisman race and not being one of the
Speaker 1: finalists for the Heisman, if your excuses, oh, we didn't
Speaker 1: make the playoff, shame on you because c J. Strouss
Speaker 1: in the same position and Kenny pickettson the same position.
Speaker 1: And it's actually ridiculous. You you you have two quarterbacks already.
Speaker 1: You you you add a third quarterback. But it also
Speaker 1: just it just goes to show the flaws in the system.
Speaker 1: But college college as a whole is flawed. The business
Speaker 1: of college is flawed. And I know everybody's like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're allowed, they're allowing guys to be paid now, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. That's garbage. All the money you You're now
Speaker 1: seeing all these coaches get paid, and yet the n
Speaker 1: c a A still aren't paying players. So college is
Speaker 1: flawed as a whole. The host, the n c A
Speaker 1: is flawed, the Heisman voting, and the Heisman candidates is
Speaker 1: obviously flawed. The player. The college football playoffs system is
Speaker 1: ridiculously flawed because it's not winning get in, you know
Speaker 1: you have. The Georgia Alabama game ends up meaning asolutely
Speaker 1: nothing because Georgia loses, and since they were undefeated coming
Speaker 1: into the game, that doesn't drop them out of the playoff.
Speaker 1: The only way it matters is Alabama would have lost. Well,
Speaker 1: guess what we all knew. Alabama wasn't losing that game,
Speaker 1: and so it's not a win and get in. It's
Speaker 1: not you controlling your own destiny. If Georgia had a
Speaker 1: fallen out, I think Notre Dame's five or yeah, Notre
Speaker 1: Dame's five in Ohio State six. Notre Dame lost their
Speaker 1: game early in the season. I think they lost their
Speaker 1: game a week one or two and they're still sitting
Speaker 1: there at five. And so the whole system is flawed.
Speaker 1: College as a whole is flawed. It's ridiculous. It's outdated.
Speaker 1: There are several things that need to change, and Kenneth
Speaker 1: Walker not making the Heisman, It's just goes to show like,
Speaker 1: who's who's deciding this stuff? Because Kenneth Walker, we beat
Speaker 1: Ohio State and Kenneth Walker's the Heisman winner. We lose
Speaker 1: so high stating Kenneth Walker is not even a Heisman finalist,
Speaker 1: and so I just think it's ridiculous. I think it's
Speaker 1: absolutely flawed, it's pathetic, and a lot of changes need
Speaker 1: to be made to college as a whole, especially with
Speaker 1: the changes that that are being made in these professionals leagues,
Speaker 1: with the G League and the new rules. If college
Speaker 1: wants to survive, there's a lot of things that needs
Speaker 1: to be changed. And the latest is their Heisman voting.
Speaker 1: Because there's no way that Kenneth Walker, the third should
Speaker 1: not be a Heisman finalist. It's absolutely ridiculous, it's pathetic.
Speaker 1: But I'm over it, and I think it's time to
Speaker 1: move to what I think it's going to be the
Speaker 1: absolute best part of this segment because I am thrilled
Speaker 1: about it. I couldn't be more honored to have a
Speaker 1: guest who I have the utmost respect for. And although
Speaker 1: his appreciation in basketball as a whole isn't where I
Speaker 1: know it should be. And that's coming from me as
Speaker 1: a peer who played against this guy. Know what he
Speaker 1: did to the game, know what and know how hard
Speaker 1: he made it for other teams on the offensive end
Speaker 1: and the and more and even more so on the
Speaker 1: defensive end. I couldn't be more thrilled and honored to
Speaker 1: be welcoming Metal World Peace to the show. I am
Speaker 1: honored today UH to have a guest who I have
Speaker 1: the utmost respect for, UM, A guy who I had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to play against UH, thank god for only
Speaker 1: two years. UM being one of the strongest guys, if
Speaker 1: not the strongest guy that I ever played against, one
Speaker 1: of the better, the best defender that I've ever played against,
Speaker 1: one of the toughest guys to come through the league,
Speaker 1: guy who I had the honor of growing up watching
Speaker 1: play UH and had tremendous respect for Helen from Queen's
Speaker 1: Bridge by way of St. John's onto the league cause Havoc.
Speaker 1: One of the toughest guys. As I said, a Metal
Speaker 1: World Peace man, thank you madam for coming on to
Speaker 1: the show. It's an honor to have your own brother here. Man,
Speaker 1: it's an honor to be here. I've remember seeing you
Speaker 1: when the finals and UM in Cleveland and had a
Speaker 1: chance to sit down and just like watch you speaking
Speaker 1: after the championship. I remember that I wanted to kind
Speaker 1: of soak that in just as a fan. And I'm
Speaker 1: just so impressive what you bring to the table. Man,
Speaker 1: it's incredible. Thank you, thank you know. Uh so I
Speaker 1: mean in kicking this off man, obviously, uh you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've said publicly I'm the greatest defender ever. And
Speaker 1: you know when I said that, it caused it caused
Speaker 1: a lot of commotion and more so amongst other defenders. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I enjoyed the commotion that caused because obviously
Speaker 1: in order to be a great defender, you have to
Speaker 1: have that intensity, you have to have that mindset. And
Speaker 1: so once that once it came out like that, I'm like, hell, yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted it to come off like that. But as
Speaker 1: a guy, um, who I respect as a defender and
Speaker 1: everyone you played with respect as a defender. What what
Speaker 1: was the key for you and defending the garden the
Speaker 1: way that you did. I mean, the thing was like
Speaker 1: when I grew when I was growing up. I want't
Speaker 1: to score, you know, so the only way I could
Speaker 1: win was on defense. And I used to hate losing.
Speaker 1: So I learned how to make the game ugly since
Speaker 1: I was a kid. Like even when we when we
Speaker 1: lost to the Pistons in the in the game six,
Speaker 1: get the score was deefinitely one of sixty seven. You know,
Speaker 1: every film that I've ever lost, like, the score is
Speaker 1: always low. Even when you lost in the Lakers in
Speaker 1: game seven, Um, the score was eighty nine to seventy, like,
Speaker 1: you know, like I always like to make it ugly. Deflections,
Speaker 1: you know, I always knew like deflections, uh elite. I
Speaker 1: always like, I always like to leave my team and
Speaker 1: deflections and different things. But um, the the other thing
Speaker 1: was just being competitive. And since a kid, I've been
Speaker 1: you know, I want everywhere, you know, in New York City,
Speaker 1: everywhere played. But one of the things I did was
Speaker 1: a lot of people up, and I always thought like
Speaker 1: that was the best. I always thought I was the
Speaker 1: best player on the floor, even without scoring, you know.
Speaker 1: And with that being said, you know, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to try to shut my opponent down, just to be
Speaker 1: the best player on the floor, even though you might
Speaker 1: have you know, a really good offensive game. But I
Speaker 1: just wanted to shown for sure, and I think I
Speaker 1: think for us, Um, the most respect you can get,
Speaker 1: uh as a player is from your peers. You know,
Speaker 1: when your peers respect you, that goes way beyond what
Speaker 1: this newscaster may say, what this analysts may say. When
Speaker 1: your peers respect you. And one and one of the
Speaker 1: guys that we know that we all respect obviously is Kobe.
Speaker 1: And he always said that you were as tough as
Speaker 1: challenge and part of the reason why was because you're
Speaker 1: always switching your stands up. Can you walk me through that? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's a lot of people that I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from. Um. But you know, with that being said,
Speaker 1: defense is always a constant adjustment. And with that being said, UM,
Speaker 1: you never wanna you know, you know, your job has
Speaker 1: never done on defense. So what I always like to
Speaker 1: do is the angles. Would always like to keep it's
Speaker 1: my center of gravity, like um, kind of in front
Speaker 1: you know of europe mid section and then also you
Speaker 1: know in between, you know, your legs. And I was
Speaker 1: always just moving with the angles, you know, UM, And
Speaker 1: I just I was I was on two sixty sixty
Speaker 1: five when I played, so I couldn't really stay in
Speaker 1: front of these sewall guys, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I always had to use the angles, you know,
Speaker 1: to my advantage. That's crazy that the fact that you
Speaker 1: were to sixty two sixty five moving the way that
Speaker 1: you did. I think the one thing that when I
Speaker 1: first came into the league, I was at three. For
Speaker 1: those that don't know, I wasn't playing the four really
Speaker 1: and I never played the five. When I first came
Speaker 1: into the league's at that time, it was like Zebo
Speaker 1: and Mark gasol Um, Tim Duncan and Thiago Splitter, Paul
Speaker 1: Kassol Andrew bund him like you had Dwight Howard. You
Speaker 1: had real big playing the four with seven foot guys
Speaker 1: playing the playing the fourth spot. And one thing that
Speaker 1: I noticed when I when you when you guarded me
Speaker 1: a couple of times at the three, you were just
Speaker 1: rooting into the ground like couldn't be moved one. Like
Speaker 1: I said, one of the strongest guys when I when
Speaker 1: I came out, it was only you and stack Jack
Speaker 1: that was like that, Like nobody else was moving like that.
Speaker 1: And to think that at one point you two guys
Speaker 1: were on the same team and you guys had a
Speaker 1: could have possibly won a championship, and then things happened. Um,
Speaker 1: do you have any regrets in leaving Indiana when you left,
Speaker 1: because I personally think that team could have won a championship. Yeah, big,
Speaker 1: big regrets. You know, I was young and dumb. I
Speaker 1: always tell people, don't request trades. I always tell people
Speaker 1: it's not it's not always greener on the other side.
Speaker 1: You know, as a basketball players, you know, we it
Speaker 1: goes in phases, and we all are entitled players at times.
Speaker 1: And I was a very like entitled player. So when
Speaker 1: I don't get my way, I request trade. I wish
Speaker 1: I would have soared through, you know. I wish I
Speaker 1: would have had, you know, the ability and the and
Speaker 1: and the strength to understand that you know, things get better,
Speaker 1: you know if you just you know, have a little patience.
Speaker 1: But at the three year old, I wasn't looking at
Speaker 1: it like that, and we I definitely regretted. I tried
Speaker 1: to get back to Indiana. Actually, um, right before I
Speaker 1: got to the Lakers, I was trying to get back
Speaker 1: to Indiana. Um, but you know, so much happened. They
Speaker 1: did any want to back. That's that's interesting and obviously,
Speaker 1: uh that that leads what what sparked that was the
Speaker 1: Malice at the Palace. I actually had the opportunity of
Speaker 1: playing with Jermaine O'Neil my second year in the league,
Speaker 1: one of my old g s, and he told us
Speaker 1: a story. We're obviously we're all asking about the Malice
Speaker 1: at the Palace. As a kid growing up in Sagging All, Michigan,
Speaker 1: I remember that like it was yesterday. I'm watching the
Speaker 1: guy I knew guys on the Florida type of stuff,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, you know what's going on. But I
Speaker 1: was talking to Jermaine and he said, Man, one thing
Speaker 1: I loved about our team was we was really a
Speaker 1: bunch of crazy motherfucker's. Like that's how Jermaine. Jermaine explained
Speaker 1: it to me, Like we were a bunch of crazy
Speaker 1: mother fucker's. He said. We had stack Jack and we
Speaker 1: had run. He said, after after the brawl, we walked
Speaker 1: into the locker room and Ron come in and say, yo,
Speaker 1: y'all think we're gonna get suspended? He said, y'all, y'all
Speaker 1: think we're gonna do you remember that? True? I remember that,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just saying like if somebody you know,
Speaker 1: you're getting the fight, it's like over because you know,
Speaker 1: especially if you didn't start the fight. You know, I
Speaker 1: did everything in my power. I remember that day, um
Speaker 1: trying to do everything in my power to not get
Speaker 1: in any trouble because even three years into the league,
Speaker 1: I was getting ejection and suspensions, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: just want to have a good season. I just want
Speaker 1: to like, you know, continue this legacy. And so I
Speaker 1: didn't expect to get in that brawl that day. I
Speaker 1: expected to come out of the clean, you know, And
Speaker 1: when I get to the locker room, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: is this really happening? Like I just couldnt believe it.
Speaker 1: You know, I go to the scorer's table, I lay down,
Speaker 1: you know, I've been just throwing his headbands. I'm like
Speaker 1: just sitting there and I'm just what's gonna And then boom,
Speaker 1: this guy throws a cup of bear and I just
Speaker 1: snapped right and just like what just happened with him?
Speaker 1: Like what five ten minutes? Like maybe eight minutes. That's interesting.
Speaker 1: It's funny because I had I had a situation, um Man,
Speaker 1: about five five six years ago now back in East
Speaker 1: Alansta and I was telling some friends of mine. I said, Yo,
Speaker 1: I've been in a lot of situations, and whatever happened
Speaker 1: in the situation, I probably caused it a little bit
Speaker 1: with my attitude. I said, but this was the one
Speaker 1: time I actually held it together. This time like I
Speaker 1: held it together. I didn't do anything. I retreated, went
Speaker 1: back the next day saying, guy, come at me again,
Speaker 1: like I did everything in my power, and that's the
Speaker 1: one day that it actually goes wrong is the day
Speaker 1: that I try to hold it together. It's funny to
Speaker 1: hear that, but so that that transpires, you you get
Speaker 1: suspended for the rest of the season, and then everything
Speaker 1: happens with Jamaine gets his suspension, stat gets his suspension.
Speaker 1: We never get to see the true potential of that
Speaker 1: team realized. You you move on a couple of stops
Speaker 1: and then and then you end up with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and I think that's where, if you tell me, but
Speaker 1: I feel like that's where your career really took a turn,
Speaker 1: where you were respected also all of those things. But
Speaker 1: then you get to the Lakers playing with Kobe explained
Speaker 1: that journey to me and how everything changed for you,
Speaker 1: especially perception wise of Ryan Art test Metal World Peace.
Speaker 1: Once you went to the Lakers. Well, you know, it
Speaker 1: actually started out with Sacramento. So when I got the
Speaker 1: sack after Indiana and I was gonna retire actually like that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I put in my papers. So then I get the
Speaker 1: Sacramento I go to Coach Otleman, I'm like, yo, Coach
Speaker 1: Pounds right now, I'm really not intu and playing. I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't want to make a big deal
Speaker 1: out of this, but if you can somehow, you know,
Speaker 1: keep me on the bench and you know I'll be there,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to ease my way out of this thing, right.
Speaker 1: So he was like, he said, Ron, and I'll try
Speaker 1: to go way out right. So he was like, he said, run,
Speaker 1: We're gonna go as far as you take us. And
Speaker 1: you plan to go into it, we gonna go as
Speaker 1: far as you take. That's what Coach Adaman tells me.
Speaker 1: So were in the last place in the West. So
Speaker 1: so I go home that night and I started think
Speaker 1: about it, put in perspective. I come back next day
Speaker 1: and I said, you know what, We're going to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and like media laughed or whatever. We go to the
Speaker 1: playoffs almost be the Spurs and the playoffs and then um,
Speaker 1: but that right there, really you know, got got the
Speaker 1: love back. And then just being around coach Adam and
Speaker 1: he's like a father thing, So being around coach Adam
Speaker 1: and you know, I was able to just like kind
Speaker 1: of get the love and kind of respect the game more.
Speaker 1: And then I wanted to play for him again. In Houston. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of played pretty well there and
Speaker 1: my game was coming back because I had a couple
Speaker 1: of years where I wasn't even I got suspended. In
Speaker 1: the next year, I got suspended again by the team.
Speaker 1: Nobody want to realize that I spend it again for
Speaker 1: three months. Really yeah, but I was suspended for the
Speaker 1: first few months of the season and the next year
Speaker 1: so wow. Then I didn't play no more for the Pacers.
Speaker 1: Then I went to a Sacramento So that's like two
Speaker 1: years of like, you know, I was in shape right
Speaker 1: before the bro you know, I was like so you know,
Speaker 1: it was when I got to Houston. Then I was
Speaker 1: like prime and I was average five and the playoffs
Speaker 1: against the Lake and I was I was back to myself.
Speaker 1: Then I go to the Lakes the next year in
Speaker 1: my prime, I was twenty nine. But I'm playing with
Speaker 1: the greatest and I'm playing with pal right. So with
Speaker 1: that being said, my average going from drop to like
Speaker 1: six and that was like that was all she wrote,
Speaker 1: you know. But the thing but I really love about
Speaker 1: that moment was I was able to take away the
Speaker 1: entitled runout tests and sacrifice for the team and I
Speaker 1: just did everything I had to do. I was spotted up,
Speaker 1: you know, plenty of time just not touching the ball,
Speaker 1: but I tried to do everything the right way and
Speaker 1: I was that was the most proud of I was
Speaker 1: in my career because you I accepted, you know, something
Speaker 1: I'm not used to when I started everywhere I went,
Speaker 1: you know, I was like, don't you guy all this stuff?
Speaker 1: And then I had to accept the role and I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, now I'm in trying. I realized right
Speaker 1: then and there, that's that's beautiful. It's it's important too.
Speaker 1: I think people don't realize in order to have a
Speaker 1: championship team, like guys are going to have to sacrifice
Speaker 1: because the reality is if you don't have guys that
Speaker 1: has to sacrifice something on the championship team, you don't
Speaker 1: have good enough players and you won't win anyway, I
Speaker 1: think we we you know, we had a similar thing
Speaker 1: with with Andrea Gudala, who's obviously back, thank god. Um,
Speaker 1: but where he's in the problem of his career and
Speaker 1: it's Steve Kerr asked him to come off the bench.
Speaker 1: A lot like yourself. Um, he goes on. He you know,
Speaker 1: he goes on to win the finals, m VP and
Speaker 1: that finals, but a lot like yourself. You you you
Speaker 1: take a back seat and then the person who has
Speaker 1: to hit the big shot in game seven is you.
Speaker 1: And if you don't take on that role, those moments
Speaker 1: never happened. Lakers never win a championship. So it's it's
Speaker 1: interesting to see the maturity absolutely, man, that was one
Speaker 1: of my proudest moments, Like the maturity side. I got
Speaker 1: a chance to actually see, you know, what it is
Speaker 1: to be a role play. I've never been a role
Speaker 1: play in my life, but I got a chance to
Speaker 1: experience it. And now when I coached to this day,
Speaker 1: I kind of understand, like, you know, a go to guy,
Speaker 1: a role play. I coached girls also, and just having
Speaker 1: that perspective on it, you know, on the game, I
Speaker 1: understand like if you're really good, but hey, we need
Speaker 1: you to sacrifice and you know what you're gonna it's
Speaker 1: gonna be better for you in the long run. Um,
Speaker 1: And I had a chance to win a title, you know,
Speaker 1: which is like really really big if you can do it.
Speaker 1: So I'm just I'm just so grateful for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: It's as as definitely life changing. And it also, like
Speaker 1: like I spoke on the peers before, it also changes
Speaker 1: the way your peers look at you when when you
Speaker 1: when you win that those NBA Finals, Yeah, different for sure.
Speaker 1: But speaking of speaking of Game seven, you've been had
Speaker 1: that moment, you had a huge moment. I'm a fan
Speaker 1: growing up, so as growing up I always would cheer
Speaker 1: for the Lakers because I loved Kobe and Shot. Then
Speaker 1: obviously they split up and I'm like, man, I still
Speaker 1: love Cobe. I love that dog. And then you go
Speaker 1: hid at that moment in Game seven, and one of
Speaker 1: the one of the one of the biggest moments I
Speaker 1: personally think, uh from that moment was afterwards you you
Speaker 1: you said you wanted to shout all your therapists and
Speaker 1: that was a big moment because number one, we had
Speaker 1: never heard um a guy come out and speak on
Speaker 1: his therapists. Let alone, one of the toughest, uh no disrespect,
Speaker 1: one of the most insane guys we've seen in our league.
Speaker 1: And you come out and speak, speak on your therapist.
Speaker 1: What gave you the confidence or made you want to
Speaker 1: speak on that? That's actually you made a confidence because
Speaker 1: at that time your most vulnerable states. One would take
Speaker 1: that for weakness and things like that. And I just
Speaker 1: felt like the strength was in, you know, improving yourself.
Speaker 1: The strength was in being vulnerable, and and that's what's
Speaker 1: gonna help other people, you know that's going through things
Speaker 1: and don't really know quite how to get through it.
Speaker 1: You know, when you're trying to improve yourself, that's big.
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to give credit where credit was due.
Speaker 1: That day in game seven, you know, we're playing against
Speaker 1: the Celtics. Me and Paul got a long history, and
Speaker 1: my whole thing was staying in the game, don't get
Speaker 1: a tech, do not getting give again. Right. So the
Speaker 1: night before that, I called my therapist. He lives in
Speaker 1: Houston and um and and meanwhile I've been in I've
Speaker 1: been ejected from my full playoff series against the Spurs
Speaker 1: against the Laking with the Rockets against the Celtics, Indiana
Speaker 1: against the the Pistons a game to go to the finals.
Speaker 1: I get a flagrant, they hit, they they game is tied.
Speaker 1: They go up for free throws, score and win by four.
Speaker 1: Go to the finals and win. Right, So this is
Speaker 1: like I'm like, how can I gain control over this?
Speaker 1: So I call her up and I say, hey, I
Speaker 1: need you to come in the morning. I just don't
Speaker 1: feel right. And she comes that morning. I go to
Speaker 1: shoot around, I come back home. We have a quick
Speaker 1: session and we just talked about it, like be ready
Speaker 1: for anything and enjoy the game and stay in a moment.
Speaker 1: And then we went to the championship, you know, which
Speaker 1: is like crazy to me. I never thought I'd be
Speaker 1: in a situation on the title after like my career,
Speaker 1: and now I got this championship. I was just like,
Speaker 1: you know what, let me just thinking my side my psychologist,
Speaker 1: I said, psychiatrist. I didn't even know the difference. I said,
Speaker 1: let me think myatrest. And she called me up and
Speaker 1: she was like, hey, hey, Ron, I'm not a psychiatrist,
Speaker 1: I'm a psychologist. I said, okay, cool, Sorry, what what
Speaker 1: for for for those of us that that don't know
Speaker 1: the difference, can you explain that. Yeah, the difference between
Speaker 1: psychology and psychiatry. Psychiatrist or psychiatry, they normally provide, you know,
Speaker 1: medication right on. My psychologist is more therapy talking over
Speaker 1: and talking through something I was doing at that point
Speaker 1: in time. I was doing psychology, which therapy UM, which
Speaker 1: you later went to like sports therapy because for me,
Speaker 1: the game was everything to me, um And how can
Speaker 1: you you know, be effective on the court, I mean,
Speaker 1: I focus, So that's like sports therapy, you know, And
Speaker 1: I think sports therapy for a professional athletes like huge.
Speaker 1: And like I said, it wasn't no no one spoke
Speaker 1: about it before you did that. And I think you
Speaker 1: kind of you you you pull the lid off some
Speaker 1: things when you did that. Do you did you see
Speaker 1: a change in the in the way the league started
Speaker 1: attacking mental health after you did that, or do you
Speaker 1: think it still took a while for the league to
Speaker 1: kind of catch up? You know, I think it took
Speaker 1: a while for them to catch up, you know, in
Speaker 1: terms of making it public that we don't help our players,
Speaker 1: and in terms of the players like I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: help myself and and I'm gonna help others, you know,
Speaker 1: by just saying I'm doing therapy. Just by saying you're
Speaker 1: doing therapy or whatever, I'm not saying forcing on yourself.
Speaker 1: I'm saying if you're doing it, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: really expensive right to get therapy. Um. And also it's
Speaker 1: a stigma chat. So it's just so many different things,
Speaker 1: and there's so many cool things about people coming down
Speaker 1: and saying, you know, yeah, I see a therapist. This
Speaker 1: is okay. You know you're actually helping someone indirectly, and
Speaker 1: maybe they never have to see a therapist because, like
Speaker 1: I said, that's a hundred feet dollars, hundred dollars everybody,
Speaker 1: I got a hundred dollars hour, you know to see
Speaker 1: a therapist. No, No, that's that's interesting. It's also very
Speaker 1: interesting that um, it's it's so expensive. And yet I
Speaker 1: think for most people, like we all go through trauma
Speaker 1: right in life, Like no matter who you are, you
Speaker 1: go through some shorter trauma. Most of the times are
Speaker 1: being unrealized or or undealt with trauma and you kind
Speaker 1: of just learn how to compartmentalize it and continue to
Speaker 1: carry on. A friend of mine has this his this
Speaker 1: art piece, and I'm gonna butcher the saying a little bit,
Speaker 1: but it's right along the same lines, and it says
Speaker 1: something about, uh, why is a funeral so expensive? A
Speaker 1: broke man ain't got no business line, And it's along
Speaker 1: the same lines of therapy. It's like it's so expensive. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we go through all of this, all the all the
Speaker 1: things that we go through in life. And the reality
Speaker 1: is you go through those things, and you go through
Speaker 1: those traumas. A lot of people, especially in the urban community,
Speaker 1: we deal with these traumas and you don't have the
Speaker 1: financial resources to get that therapy. On top of the
Speaker 1: stigma that comes along with the therapy, you don't have
Speaker 1: to financial resources. And now it's really a thing that
Speaker 1: you never see. You never had an opportunity to to
Speaker 1: speak with the therapist to correct those falster to learn
Speaker 1: from those things, to learn how to deal with those things.
Speaker 1: And then you're just stuck living that life right right, right,
Speaker 1: you st living that life and you've probably seeing it.
Speaker 1: We've seen it, you know, with the people we have
Speaker 1: living in our neighborhoods. Right just can't get out of
Speaker 1: that rut, you know, and you you know you're walking
Speaker 1: out your house, mean, you know, you know, once you
Speaker 1: wake up in the morning. Something's bothered you, right, Like,
Speaker 1: how can we you know, change that and give you
Speaker 1: a different perspective on life where you can go on
Speaker 1: with your life, you know. Uh, you know, when you
Speaker 1: get educated, whether you're taking a trade, whether you want
Speaker 1: to build a family, you know, different things like that
Speaker 1: versus having you know, this blockage you know, which is
Speaker 1: kind of mental health issues and mental health and you know, uh, illnesses,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be that's blocking you from you know,
Speaker 1: moving on with your life and your career, you know,
Speaker 1: and different things like that in your family. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, I just think it's very important that I
Speaker 1: came out, um, you know, and and and definitely and
Speaker 1: put some and gave some exposure and release the stigma.
Speaker 1: And speaking of the financial side of it. Uh in
Speaker 1: the two thousand and eleven two thousand and twelve season, Uh,
Speaker 1: you did something special. Uh, being in the position that
Speaker 1: you were in financially, you did something special. Could you
Speaker 1: let everybody know what it is that you did and
Speaker 1: why did you feel the need to do that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's I won the championship bringing I wrappled it off,
Speaker 1: you know, and I wanted to. I could have probably
Speaker 1: raised more money, but we raised a total of six
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy one thousand with the ring that I
Speaker 1: gave all the money away to mental health institutions uh,
Speaker 1: one in Arkansas, one in Cleveland too, in New York,
Speaker 1: l A, Indiana, Nashville, and I just wanted to bring
Speaker 1: awayness to it and let people know, like, you know,
Speaker 1: release the stigma. Uh, you know, improve yourself and you
Speaker 1: know you have just you have support, like we understand
Speaker 1: what you go through. You're not out there alone. Now
Speaker 1: that's it's a beautiful thing. And I want to say
Speaker 1: thank you for having the bravery that you had to
Speaker 1: come out and speak on that. Now. I think we
Speaker 1: have three mental health professionals now on staff. They're in
Speaker 1: at least one of them and at least once or
Speaker 1: twice a week. Uh. And I think it's a beautiful
Speaker 1: thing because you you hear so many people uh in
Speaker 1: our league go through it and so many people suppress it.
Speaker 1: But I don't think people really realize, um, the mental
Speaker 1: strain that it takes to go through an NBA season.
Speaker 1: Like I always tell people, you a guy is saying, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll do this to you in the leagual I'll do that.
Speaker 1: I'm better than you. And I tell people you can't
Speaker 1: even deal with the stress of just a game day,
Speaker 1: like just knowing waking up at nine am, knowing I
Speaker 1: have to get to shoot around. Then after shoot around,
Speaker 1: I have film. Then after film, I'm doing some treatment.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this all the things that lead up to
Speaker 1: going into a game, the stress alone of just a
Speaker 1: game that you couldn't deal with, so happen, the coach
Speaker 1: of but not happening to coach up, gotta play engine
Speaker 1: and not playing engine, and you gotta put in that work.
Speaker 1: And you know when you tie, you you're gonna keep
Speaker 1: pushing it. You're working out it sometime, you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is a lot that goes into it that makes
Speaker 1: a complete player. It's true. People don't really understand. No, definitely,
Speaker 1: So like I said, I just want to thank you
Speaker 1: for that. Um but and and switching gears a little bit.
Speaker 1: Going back to your playing career, which, like I said,
Speaker 1: I have the utmost respect for, especially as a defender.
Speaker 1: Where do you rank yourself, um as far as wing
Speaker 1: defenders go, Like, I know some great ones obviously I
Speaker 1: mentioned stack Jack who YouTube strong as hell, Tony Island,
Speaker 1: where where do you rank yourself among those wing defenders. Well, um,
Speaker 1: it's like, so when I was doing my prime, I
Speaker 1: definitely thought I was the best. Um you know, Um,
Speaker 1: I mean I wanted defensive Player of the Year and
Speaker 1: I probably would have won more, I guess. You know. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I can't argue about the woman I got suspended.
Speaker 1: I don't know what would have happened that year. The
Speaker 1: next year I got left in the end. I don't
Speaker 1: know what had happened that year. But you know, with
Speaker 1: that being said, Uh, it's something I'm really happy about.
Speaker 1: I really love talking about it. You know what I'm
Speaker 1: saying something only a few people could talk about. But
Speaker 1: as I look back at it and I was doing
Speaker 1: my research, especially when you came out to your comments,
Speaker 1: I actually looked at um a lot of different wing defenders,
Speaker 1: and I think Dennis Robin is probably the best wing
Speaker 1: defenders that we've seen. You gotta go watch his take,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I was looking at it and
Speaker 1: I'm only familiar with him from the power forward position,
Speaker 1: but the way he started Jordan and pipping, I was
Speaker 1: just like, oh wow, this guy's might be a better
Speaker 1: way defended than me. I've never thought he was a
Speaker 1: better one differend than than me. You know. Um, but
Speaker 1: I gotta I mean, Reggie Miller thought I was probably
Speaker 1: the best. Um besides myself saying that I was the best.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of media probably never gave me
Speaker 1: the credit because you know, I just want to keep
Speaker 1: my name out of them out then I want to
Speaker 1: give credit with credits, dude. Like for example, it's crazy
Speaker 1: like once once. I mean, it's just so many times
Speaker 1: people left me off. I'm like, come on, I'm not
Speaker 1: even gonna argue with that. But with that being said,
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't hold people to zero a couple
Speaker 1: of times in their crime, you know, which is really
Speaker 1: difficult to do. You know. Um, I got a lot
Speaker 1: of d MPs, people not showing up, not showing up
Speaker 1: to play. So I mean, I gotta put that all in. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I gotta put that in, my baby. But
Speaker 1: what that means that I would say, top seven maybe
Speaker 1: something like that, top in the top seven. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of people out there that's really good. Um. And
Speaker 1: with you, when you came out with your comments and
Speaker 1: it was interesting, it happened quick, right, so it was
Speaker 1: a shot up when you came out of I mean,
Speaker 1: you are so versatile. You should put yourself up there
Speaker 1: because if I did what you did, I for sure
Speaker 1: with us having number one, I mean you can played
Speaker 1: the five, you played the three. You got championships to
Speaker 1: back it up. You know what I'm saying. Many people
Speaker 1: could say they're good, but you got championships and you
Speaker 1: It's not like he was averaging thirty, right, and you
Speaker 1: did have thirty five in game seven and agains the calf,
Speaker 1: so you know you can, right, I don't I remember
Speaker 1: that game like this was this doctor score two? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean you should definitely put yourself up there.
Speaker 1: Obviously you got robbed me and you got um, you
Speaker 1: got Bill Russell. It's it's difficult to say you number one,
Speaker 1: but you got championships. So you know, I think what
Speaker 1: it's all said and done it we should do something
Speaker 1: on ourselves because so much, so many times the offensive
Speaker 1: player is getting get the pub and as a defensive player,
Speaker 1: I want to I want some pub. I just feel
Speaker 1: about that, you know what I mean, Like I want
Speaker 1: some puls Like so if I feel we should do
Speaker 1: something on that, we should be talking about that, like
Speaker 1: who are the best win differenders who are the best
Speaker 1: defenders and really do something on it to bring light.
Speaker 1: Like I spent all months in my career before I
Speaker 1: was before. When I would practice the floor, I would
Speaker 1: pick up a ball. The first forty five minutes was
Speaker 1: running by myself, nobody in the gym. That's what I was.
Speaker 1: I was a gym sliding doing my defensive slides, like
Speaker 1: putting in that work. I wasn't just a good defender.
Speaker 1: I actually had the train for it. And with that
Speaker 1: being said, I take pride in that you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, and I was happy when you came out that.
Speaker 1: I was like, yes, like somebody's talking about defense. Findal least.
Speaker 1: I was like, I think I tweeted that I only
Speaker 1: be so, but I was like, really appreciative, are you
Speaker 1: coming so? Yeah? Absolutely no, I UM. A part of
Speaker 1: the reason I did say that was I think people
Speaker 1: think I talked a lot, which I had my times
Speaker 1: where I talked. But I'm very calculated and so when
Speaker 1: I when I say something, I've already played out how
Speaker 1: the response is going to be. Who's gonna say what?
Speaker 1: Obviously you don't know exactly what someone's gonna say, but
Speaker 1: like it's gonna cause us uproar, Like I'm already aware
Speaker 1: of that. And when I said it, do I really
Speaker 1: think I'm the best defender to ever play the game basketball?
Speaker 1: Of course, not like we all get in situations that
Speaker 1: may not be good for us as far as your weakness.
Speaker 1: Like I definitely feel like I think, I definitely feel
Speaker 1: like I'm the best defender in my era. But I mean,
Speaker 1: like a guy who I have a ton of respect
Speaker 1: for is Kauai Leonard, right, Like I think Kauai is
Speaker 1: an incredible defender, but Kauai also doesn't guard the post,
Speaker 1: you know, like Kauai is on the he's on the
Speaker 1: premieres chasing guys around. You move the ball in front
Speaker 1: of him, He's going the other way. Utmost respect for
Speaker 1: Kauai Leonard, Rudy Gobert is a good defender, but like
Speaker 1: for me, Rudy Gobert, he protects the rim, you know,
Speaker 1: Like he's not guard in the wing on you know,
Speaker 1: he's not switching on to a point guard. He's not
Speaker 1: switching onto a wing Uh if a point guard is,
Speaker 1: it's getting off. His coach doesn't come to him and say, hey,
Speaker 1: you take Dame Lillard, you know, or hey, you take
Speaker 1: Chris Paul. You're starting the game on Chris Paul. And
Speaker 1: so you know, those are are definitely some guys that
Speaker 1: I respect. But you know, I respect Avery Bradley, who's
Speaker 1: a ball you know, like never got the credit he
Speaker 1: deserved a ball hawk and pssible to screen, Like for
Speaker 1: myself as a screener, he's impossible to screen, and like,
Speaker 1: I respect that. And so I think it's something that
Speaker 1: you know, when I speak up on defense, and I
Speaker 1: continue to speak about it because I, like you said,
Speaker 1: we deserve credit too, Like, all right, so you may
Speaker 1: you may not be scoring the ball as much as
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, right, but we all have an impact on
Speaker 1: the game. And I always speak on people don't talk
Speaker 1: about defense because you actually have to understand the game
Speaker 1: of basketball to speak on defense, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I can look at a guy and say, oh, man,
Speaker 1: he was guarding such and such one, he was on him,
Speaker 1: he ripped him, or um, you know, he was pressuring
Speaker 1: the ball. But I can also put that guy on
Speaker 1: the back action and watch him miss every tag that
Speaker 1: he's supposed to get on that big rolling down the lane,
Speaker 1: and then you can run and say, oh, he's a
Speaker 1: great defender because he's on the ball. No he's not,
Speaker 1: because I can put him in a position that he
Speaker 1: mess up y'all the entire defense. And so when I
Speaker 1: said that, um, I was more so standing from the
Speaker 1: standpoint a to spark a conversation. Let's get talking about
Speaker 1: these great defenders, because now when I say I'm the
Speaker 1: best defender, now we're talking about matters. Now we're talking
Speaker 1: about around our test. Now we're talking about Scottie Pippen defense.
Speaker 1: Now we're talking about Dennis Rodman. And let's let's make
Speaker 1: sure these flowers are being given to who they should
Speaker 1: be given to and not just someone who scored a basketball.
Speaker 1: And so that's how I always take it on the
Speaker 1: defensive end, and I speak on it because I don't
Speaker 1: think enough is said about it. And you, as you
Speaker 1: and I both know, if you don't have a defense,
Speaker 1: you can score as many points as you want. We
Speaker 1: watched it with the Warriors for years, where they'd be
Speaker 1: right up there at the top of the scoring in
Speaker 1: the league and and would be bottom five in the
Speaker 1: West because they didn't have a defense. And so I
Speaker 1: always try to speak on that number one to start
Speaker 1: the conversation. But it's also to pay respect and get
Speaker 1: and get these names. Pumping to these guys who I
Speaker 1: respect on the defensive end, that should be spoke about
Speaker 1: yourself being one of them. I agree. And the team
Speaker 1: defense is also important, you know, those those concepts and
Speaker 1: you know, tagging and doing everything the right way, you know,
Speaker 1: not coming out the corner when the coach told you
Speaker 1: for the hundreds of time, you know, don't help out
Speaker 1: the corner, and and filling and sinking on time. And
Speaker 1: I mean it's beautiful, you know, I really, I truly
Speaker 1: enjoy it, you know, And uh, it's something that I
Speaker 1: try to, you know, teach to this day. I respect
Speaker 1: for sure. No, I appreciate it, man, and I don't
Speaker 1: I don't want to take up too much your time.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you coming on. But before I let you go,
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you about X versus X, which
Speaker 1: is a sport platform that you're involved in. Can you
Speaker 1: explain that that to us and what what it can
Speaker 1: bring to the game for players? Yeah, for sure. You know.
Speaker 1: So when I retired, I didn't really want to retire.
Speaker 1: I don't wanted to play so I said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: build an app for myself so I could travel with
Speaker 1: the world and play basketball because I always wanted to
Speaker 1: travel to the world, pay basketball something. What I was
Speaker 1: gonna do is rather than give people my number and
Speaker 1: say hey, let's meet at this gym or whatever, you know,
Speaker 1: just signed to this app. He played basketball. I never
Speaker 1: have to see you yet. And you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So as I was building this app, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to world play basketball is like, oh wow, it's a
Speaker 1: bigger opportunity here. There's also an opportunity for to help
Speaker 1: people get exposure that you know will not have the
Speaker 1: opportunity to get exposure because when you take a basketball
Speaker 1: ten to two, it's like our basketball. I was, we're
Speaker 1: gonna go to work, We're gonna you know, summtime, we're
Speaker 1: gonna play ball, We're gonna lift. But not everybody had
Speaker 1: those with some people gotta work, not five. So how
Speaker 1: can you give someone working at Target to Starbucks an
Speaker 1: opportunity to still play, you know, and to still get exposure.
Speaker 1: So that's what experts X is. You know, it gainst
Speaker 1: basketball players an opportunity to connect other basketball players. You know,
Speaker 1: play basketball on any time and build you know, a
Speaker 1: local community and a local audience, you know, and and
Speaker 1: show that you can play the game, you know, on
Speaker 1: many different levels. And we got a lot of great stories.
Speaker 1: Some people are gonna see a couple of our players
Speaker 1: in the g League, you know, and it's very empowering.
Speaker 1: So it keeps me around the game. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: coaching a lot, you know, I'm running some games. I'm
Speaker 1: coaching some games, practicing with some of the players you know,
Speaker 1: we probably have. We're in beta right now, so we
Speaker 1: got about ten thousand people in beta, and when we
Speaker 1: come out of the beta, will probably be one of
Speaker 1: the biggest basketball organizations in the world. You know. With
Speaker 1: that being said, it's just like, keeps me around the game.
Speaker 1: I love the game of basketball, and I'm so grateful
Speaker 1: that I'm able to find something to do that keeps
Speaker 1: me around the game. So I'm not really excited about it.
Speaker 1: That's beautiful and um when as a basketball head uh
Speaker 1: and huge basketball fan, when when can we expect uh
Speaker 1: for this to be readily available to myself and everyone
Speaker 1: else that's not a part of the beta? Yeah? Absolutely, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So right now we're in a we're in the live
Speaker 1: beta because you can't go into a basketball company and
Speaker 1: you have you know, your CTO test the game, like
Speaker 1: you gotta get that information from basketball players. So it's
Speaker 1: live right now. We're in a live beta, which is
Speaker 1: risk because people will take your ideas. But this is
Speaker 1: the type of company that you have to be in
Speaker 1: a live beta and you you can download the app,
Speaker 1: upload basketball content, uh, you know, create your own games,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna try to you know. Uh. Really, what
Speaker 1: we're doing is empowering, so digitizing competition and turning athletes
Speaker 1: into digital assets, using all the new innovation that's out
Speaker 1: there for an athlete to not only get exposure, but
Speaker 1: to also monetize, you know, your own brand and your
Speaker 1: own skills. So that's so what we're doing. Really excited
Speaker 1: about it. And a lot of nice little nice tech
Speaker 1: people involved, you know, from Elie Times invested in our company,
Speaker 1: you know to see you Busmobile also involved, and we're
Speaker 1: trying to actually create a platform that's very very empowering,
Speaker 1: you know, just in case you know, you're not a
Speaker 1: part of the politics. You can't get into a college
Speaker 1: you want to get into, you can't get into that
Speaker 1: team in the NBA. You want to get into you know,
Speaker 1: so you come to actual sex and we kind of
Speaker 1: help you, you kind of work through that. But I'm
Speaker 1: just really grateful for it. That's beautiful man. Congratulations uh,
Speaker 1: and and good luck with the platform. I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to testing it out. Now. One more question a lot.
Speaker 1: I know I said i'd let you go. I'd be
Speaker 1: remissed if I didn't ask this question. Um, as as
Speaker 1: a fan of yours and also as a as a
Speaker 1: fan of Ben Wallace, who's also like a big brother
Speaker 1: to me. Uh. A little while back up, a photo
Speaker 1: came out of you guys, of you and Ben, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was a huge moment because I can relate,
Speaker 1: and the reason I can relate is not quite the
Speaker 1: same situation. Obviously there was a broad area. UM, but
Speaker 1: I had something that happened public as well, publicly as well,
Speaker 1: uh with myself and Kadi, And you know, you go
Speaker 1: through these public moments and number one, UM, you may
Speaker 1: want to talk to someone, you may want to have
Speaker 1: a relationship someone, and the pressure that you're getting from
Speaker 1: the public about this moment doesn't really allow We're not
Speaker 1: to take place right and so um, whereas you and
Speaker 1: been I don't know how long y'all had gone without speaking,
Speaker 1: But then this picture comes out and it sparks this
Speaker 1: whole conversation. I thought that was a huge moment because
Speaker 1: for us as, especially for us as as young African
Speaker 1: American men, and you know, it goes back to Queensbridge,
Speaker 1: like it goes back to Saginaw, Michigan. It goes back
Speaker 1: to red Dirt Row, Alabama, for and Wallace, where we
Speaker 1: grow up. We beef with the guy around the corner
Speaker 1: or the guy around the way, and we never settled
Speaker 1: that beef. And the only way it ever really gets
Speaker 1: settled as by killing, by fighting, guys fighting over and
Speaker 1: over again, and all of a sudden some guys goes
Speaker 1: to prison or something, and that's how the beef settled.
Speaker 1: But you never really see the beef settled. You never
Speaker 1: see a photo coming out where two guys are standing
Speaker 1: there and you're like, man, that's beautiful to see, or
Speaker 1: a conversation um with myself and Kevin where everybody can see,
Speaker 1: like man, those two guys are in the in the
Speaker 1: room talking it out, Like man, I think that's a
Speaker 1: great a great picture for our young especially for our
Speaker 1: young black men to see. Yeah, definitely. You know that
Speaker 1: that picture happened by action. I actually spoke to Ben
Speaker 1: through direct messaging. Uh. I was trying to actually do
Speaker 1: a podcast with him right before he became a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. But uh, you know, but with that being said,
Speaker 1: I thought it was big. I never had a problem
Speaker 1: with Ben. You know, Ben I found in He he
Speaker 1: got sad, he pushed me. That's basketball, that happens, man. Um.
Speaker 1: The only issue me in Ben had he was like
Speaker 1: the best two defenders in the league for absolutely years.
Speaker 1: That was like, and if you're Ben Wallace, you want
Speaker 1: that award if you meet you know, I want that
Speaker 1: a war too, And he got falls and I got one.
Speaker 1: So I have a huge issue with that. But right
Speaker 1: that's like the only issue other than that. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love Ben like he's an amazing defender. Um, you
Speaker 1: know he's writing about Adet. It's like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm like, what's they'd not love about Ben? He's he's
Speaker 1: never been in like trouble, He's a he's a great teammate. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it's nothing that I loved Ben person. But
Speaker 1: he got four Defensive Play of the Year wards and
Speaker 1: I got one, which which I understand. As someone who
Speaker 1: also has one, I understand how hard it is to
Speaker 1: get that a war So I get the frustration. It's
Speaker 1: happened to me a couple of times, like I feel
Speaker 1: like Kawai Leonard got one of my awards sitting on
Speaker 1: his man to at home. I feel like Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: got one of my war are sitting on his mental
Speaker 1: at home. So I definitely understand. Hey, but no matter again, man,
Speaker 1: I just want to say thank you for coming onto
Speaker 1: this podcast, for sharing your life. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: think you're a beautiful You're a beautiful person, You're an
Speaker 1: incredible basketball player, and most importantly, you're a leader. And
Speaker 1: the way you've led, uh for for for guys like
Speaker 1: myself coming behind you raising awareness that that you raise,
Speaker 1: putting your money where your mouth is and not only
Speaker 1: starting out awareness because I think so many times, UM,
Speaker 1: people will start to raise awareness on something and then
Speaker 1: they don't know how to carry the message through. Like
Speaker 1: once you've raised awareness, now it's time to put the
Speaker 1: action to the awareness and carry the message through. And
Speaker 1: you've done that. Um, Like I said, from my I
Speaker 1: say this for myself, uh and for other guys. That's
Speaker 1: in the lead today. Thank you for leading away the
Speaker 1: way you have. We are truly appreciative for of you
Speaker 1: and you you really set a path and this NBA
Speaker 1: for guys to attack the things that they need to attack,
Speaker 1: and we appreciate you. Now. Thanks a lot, man, I
Speaker 1: really appreciate being on you was Honna and you know,
Speaker 1: just from and I just want to say, like, I'm
Speaker 1: really proud of what you guys been doing over there,
Speaker 1: just from a basketball perspective. You know, I don't know
Speaker 1: a lot of you guys off the court. I watched
Speaker 1: the games and very very impressive, very mature, and I
Speaker 1: mean y'all changed the way the game UH should be playing.
Speaker 1: You're changing with people thinking about the game, you know,
Speaker 1: and so you know, kudos and you guys over there,
Speaker 1: I don't know how it happened, and you guys are
Speaker 1: just like incredible way. He's still back, so you know,
Speaker 1: much much much luck to you guys and success to
Speaker 1: you your families and anything. Thank you, Thank you, brother,
Speaker 1: and again good luck with X versus acts. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to you on the platform. Appreciate you. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, sir.
Speaker 1: Once again, thanks to matter for coming onto the show.
Speaker 1: Uh and sharing all of the stories and the gems
Speaker 1: uh speaking on his bravery and speaking out about mental
Speaker 1: health long before it was even a thing. Obviously we're
Speaker 1: all aware of it now, but long before it was
Speaker 1: a thing. You're talking a guy in the biggest moment
Speaker 1: of his life, on the biggest stage, speaking on his
Speaker 1: therapists and the and the work that he was doing.
Speaker 1: And so I was extremely grateful of his interview and
Speaker 1: and just his transparency and sharing those stories because I
Speaker 1: think it's it's needed. We all need to hear it
Speaker 1: and understand um the dynamic around athletes as a whole,
Speaker 1: and and how much of a strain it is on
Speaker 1: your life. And no, granted, and I don't take it
Speaker 1: for granted all it's a very special job to have
Speaker 1: you you're doing what you're what you love for a living.
Speaker 1: But just like anything else, it does have his challenges
Speaker 1: and that that's gonna be a rap for this week's
Speaker 1: episode of The Draymond Green Show. At extremely excited about
Speaker 1: next week as well. A guy who met her and
Speaker 1: I actually spoke about and I mentioned being one of
Speaker 1: the two guys, the strongest guys that I have faced
Speaker 1: my first couple of years in the league. Extremely excited
Speaker 1: to be welcoming one half of All the Smoke to
Speaker 1: the show, Stack Jack Stephen Jackson. We're going to have
Speaker 1: the honor of hearing some of his stories, uh here,
Speaker 1: talking about his path, hearing about All the Smoke, all
Speaker 1: of that next week. Tune into the Draymond Green Show
Speaker 1: This week. It's a rap. Thank y'all.