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Speaker 1: Truth plus media.

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Speaker 2: Lest of an all night behind the back from the

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Speaker 2: West Cook on a smile.

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Speaker 1: There's the young dynamic point guard. Cut the book even

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Speaker 1: he was going who that was sweet.

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Speaker 3: The number one reason right now is because James Harden,

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Speaker 3: to me, is the most consistent third scoring option in

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Speaker 3: the NBA.

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Speaker 4: Well, I guess I will, and I guess I'll talk

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Speaker 4: to Kevin Durant. You're sure you're only twenty three.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm twenty three, and I'm just so happy. My

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Speaker 3: mom gets to watch me every single game, my brothers,

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Speaker 3: all my friends.

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Speaker 2: I'm just blessing now.

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Speaker 4: I congratulate you, Kevin. You've had a great run and

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Speaker 4: I hope it continues for you in the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 4: There are your Western Conference champions heading to the NBA Finals,

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Speaker 4: the Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 2: Thunder Mark.

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Speaker 1: What is up? Family? Welcome to Forgotten Seasons. This is

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Speaker 1: your host, Dylan Dreyfuss. The team that we're covering today

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Speaker 1: does not need much of an introduction. We're going to

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Speaker 1: OKC and reliving the thunders twenty twelve season. We got KD,

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Speaker 1: we got Russ, we got hardened. This is the trio's

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Speaker 1: last season together before Harden gets shipped off to Houston.

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Speaker 1: So really, the last moments that we got from these

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Speaker 1: three superstars joining us today to help us relive this

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Speaker 1: season is mister carry on. The teams starting center Kendrick Perkins,

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Speaker 1: Big Perk, was traded to OKC from Boston the year

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Speaker 1: before this, and he was pretty upset. You'll hear him

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Speaker 1: talk about Boston was his home of eight years, but

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Speaker 1: soon enough he found himself right back at home and OKC.

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Speaker 1: He was in awe of the work ethic that was

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Speaker 1: brought to the court every day by K D, Russ

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Speaker 1: and Harden, and Kendrick was a big part of the

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Speaker 1: team's success. So this was a loaded one. Just an

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Speaker 1: incredible and fascinating team. I hope you got enjoy it.

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Speaker 1: Remember to rate and subscribe to the pot if you

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Speaker 1: haven't already. Thank you guys for your continued support. These

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Speaker 1: type of interviews would simply not be possible without you, guys.

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Speaker 1: So hope you guys enjoy. We're going to get into

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Speaker 1: it now. Forgotten Seasons with Kendrick Perkins on the twenty

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Speaker 1: twelve Thunder begins right now. Welcome everybody to Forgotten Seasons.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Big Perk, Kendrick Perkins Perk. How you doing today? Man?

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Speaker 2: What's going on? My brother? I appreciate you having me

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Speaker 2: on Dylan. What's happening.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we're excited to be here, excited to talk about

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Speaker 1: talk with the king of the sports media world right

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Speaker 1: now and talk to him about a very special team.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Hello, what's going on?

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Speaker 3: I know you a Knicks fan, right, and I get

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Speaker 3: all that, But what's up with the timberwooves at today?

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Speaker 2: I'm not understanding this shit.

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Speaker 1: Hey, I'm paying homage to your old teammate Kevin Garnett.

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Speaker 1: You know, we're getting we're getting in the zone today.

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Speaker 1: I did a few like head bumps against the wall

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Speaker 1: before this started, so we're ready.

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Speaker 2: Oh okay, cool.

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Speaker 3: But look, I don't know if the Temple Wolves and

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Speaker 3: KG is actually you know, a hum is actually the

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Speaker 3: right word with their relationship.

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Speaker 2: But I get what you're doing though, go ahead, do

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Speaker 2: what you can carry. Hey.

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Speaker 1: I like Anthony Edwards too. They got a good thing

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Speaker 1: going on.

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Speaker 2: But but yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: Nonetheless, nonetheless, today we're going to be going to Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 1: We are going to be going back to twenty eleven

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Speaker 1: big perk, that roster, I mean, just to start it. Off,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Big Perk is is

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Speaker 1: this thunder trio the biggest? What if an NBA history?

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Speaker 1: One of them? To you, what is it? What does

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Speaker 1: it rank? For you?

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Speaker 2: It is?

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Speaker 3: I mean you know it ranked it ranked top five

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Speaker 3: for sure, like what if they would have stayed together.

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Speaker 3: But what people have to realize is that those guys

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Speaker 3: did something special.

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Speaker 2: You know, they didn't win it, We didn't win the championship.

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Speaker 3: But you have to realize that the time all of

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Speaker 3: those guys were under the age of twenty five and.

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Speaker 1: Twenty two, twenty three.

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Speaker 2: That's what I'm saying.

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Speaker 3: So when you look at it and you look at James,

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Speaker 3: you look at Russell Westbrook, you look at Kevin Durant,

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Speaker 3: you look at all those guys at that point the

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Speaker 3: time of their career, they were still they still had

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Speaker 3: a long way to go, and they were still trying

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Speaker 3: to find their identity right, meaning they had individual things

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Speaker 3: that they wanted to accomplish. Guys wanted to get max contracts,

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Speaker 3: things to that nature. So to look to go back

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Speaker 3: now that I think about it, when I go back

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Speaker 3: in time and think about how those guys sacrificing, how

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Speaker 3: they made it work, how those guys went through the battle,

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Speaker 3: including myself, but those guys in particular, to make it

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Speaker 3: work on the court, to get past the San Antonio

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Speaker 3: Spurs and Greg popa visual Tim Duncan, to get beast

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Speaker 3: Kobe Bryant with the Lakers, and to actually make it

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Speaker 3: to the finals at that age with something special.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't happen. If you go back in NBA history,

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Speaker 1: you're looking at teams in the finals for their three

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Speaker 1: best players to all be twenty two to twenty one

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Speaker 1: years old. Simply doesn't happen. Before we get into the

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Speaker 1: days in Oklahoma City, I want to start at the

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Speaker 1: at the trade deadline of the year, before you're in

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Speaker 1: Boston and you get traded to Oklahoma City. How does

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Speaker 1: that go down? What do you remember from that day

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Speaker 1: and what were your initial feelings when you were told, Hey,

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Speaker 1: big perk, you're going to Oklahoma Now?

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Speaker 3: Well, well, I kind of had a feeling, you know,

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Speaker 3: like at the start of the season of Danny Ainge

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Speaker 3: and the Celtics had Awfu of Milk contract extension. At

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Speaker 3: the time, I was making like five million dollars a year,

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Speaker 3: but as a starting center. You know, the race was

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Speaker 3: between like from nine to like twenty million a year, right,

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Speaker 3: So I knew I was under value, but I knew

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Speaker 3: the Celtics couldn't pay me so at the time because

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Speaker 3: you know, you had ray Allen Paul Pierce of KG,

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Speaker 3: and you had a guy like Raygeon Rondo and just

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Speaker 3: made All Star Games or whatever coming up and was

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Speaker 3: going to get a.

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Speaker 2: Big payday or had already got a big payday.

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Speaker 3: So with that being said, I was coming off of

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Speaker 3: ACL injury, and I remember in the off season that

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Speaker 3: when got shocked, we when got shocked, we went and

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Speaker 3: got jer Maine O'Neill, and the team was winning and

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Speaker 3: they were having success. And so that was at the

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Speaker 3: time that the Big Three was formed in Miami. And

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Speaker 3: so sometimes when the team is having success, when you're hurt,

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Speaker 3: sometimes organizations could be blinded about and blinded of the

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Speaker 3: fact of what you actually bring to the tape, right

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Speaker 3: the comaraderie, the togetherness, the perk KG tandem on the

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Speaker 3: defensive bend, the way we ankle the defense together.

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Speaker 2: So with that being.

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Speaker 3: Said, I felt like just because they were doing so

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Speaker 3: good with Shaq and Jermaine O'Neill, that they kind of

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Speaker 3: took me for granted and was like, hold on, we

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Speaker 3: really don't need perk.

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Speaker 2: With Shaq and j O split minutes.

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Speaker 3: Maybe we could go out there and get a wing

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Speaker 3: and we possibly could lose perk anyway, so let's get

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Speaker 3: rid of But they never told me this, right, I'm

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Speaker 3: just thinking now that I'm retired, this is how things

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Speaker 3: worked out.

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Speaker 2: And so what ended up happening.

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Speaker 3: Was I had taught I had strained my MCL on

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Speaker 3: my left leg, the opposite knee of my ACL injury.

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Speaker 3: And I remember I was in we were in Denver,

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Speaker 3: and I remember waking up and it was on sports

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Speaker 3: It was like Blockbuster Alert trade Kendrick Perkins is going

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Speaker 3: to Oklahoma for Jeff Green. So I always went to

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Speaker 3: sleep with my TV on ESPN all the time, like

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Speaker 3: I always watch Sports Center.

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Speaker 2: I just I just, you know, because at that time,

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Speaker 2: I wasn't in social media.

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Speaker 1: So it didn't exist.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, everything I needed to know about the sports world,

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Speaker 3: I had to watch it on television. So I see

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Speaker 3: it go down, and now I grabbed my cell phone

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Speaker 3: and I see I got miscalls for my agent, Danny Ainge,

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Speaker 3: and my hotel phone rings and it's my agent. He's like, Perk,

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Speaker 3: wake up, you just got traded. I'm like, what, hold

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Speaker 3: on talking about?

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Speaker 2: I just what.

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Speaker 3: He's like, yeah, You're going to Oklahoma City. And I'm like,

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Speaker 3: hold on, man, we need to stop this trade. At

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Speaker 3: least let us finish the season. I was like, these

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Speaker 3: are my brothers. So I called Danny ainge. He like, Perk,

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Speaker 3: I hate to do it, but we traded you, man.

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Speaker 3: We traded you to a great organization. So I'm like, Damny, no, man, no, man,

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Speaker 3: we cannot do a dog like, just give us to

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Speaker 3: the end of the season. You could do whatever you want.

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Speaker 3: I promise you I'll do a sign and trade you

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Speaker 3: know how make it happen. He was like, Perkins already done.

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Speaker 3: Sam pressty Go be calling you man. You know I

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Speaker 3: got love for you. I drafted you, this, that and

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Speaker 3: the other. So I'm like, damn, so I get traded, right,

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Speaker 3: So now I gotta go hollered all my brothers right

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Speaker 3: there in their hotel rooms, and so I go higher

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Speaker 3: at KG, me and him talk. He breaks down in tears.

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Speaker 3: He's like, what what the fuck? You got traded the

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Speaker 3: fuck out of here?

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Speaker 4: Man?

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Speaker 2: So he go crazy, right, He go crazy. I go

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Speaker 2: how that Ray.

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Speaker 3: Ray like, yeah, Perkins, all good, It's part of the business.

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Speaker 3: He was kind of nonchalant about it. Go howlled Paul,

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Speaker 3: and Paul like, man.

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Speaker 2: Big fella, it was a break eight and a half years. Man,

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Speaker 2: you know, but you're.

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Speaker 3: Gonna be You're gonna be all right. So I'm like,

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Speaker 3: all right, cool, I go hire that Rondo. Rondo messed up.

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Speaker 3: He's like, man, forget this man, what they traded you.

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Speaker 3: I ain't gonna just trade you.

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Speaker 2: Man, Like what?

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Speaker 3: Because you know me and Rondo called ourself the other two.

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Speaker 3: So then I go high that Doc and I have a.

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Speaker 2: Meeting with Doc.

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Speaker 3: He like pers I hated, You're gonna have a great

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Speaker 3: time in Oklahoma City. And I'm just like, man, He's like,

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Speaker 3: Scott Brooks is great. They got a nice young cars,

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Speaker 3: gonna beat up for you. So I get traded there.

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Speaker 3: I'm pissed off, right. I don't know what to expect.

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Speaker 3: H I don't know, you know how these guys are

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Speaker 3: gonna be because this is my brothers. This is all

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Speaker 3: I knew for eight and a half years. The only

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Speaker 3: thing I knew was the Boston Celtics. So I get

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Speaker 3: traded there and I get to Oklahoma and before I

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Speaker 3: even play a game one game, they signed me to

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Speaker 3: a contract exte So Danny h actually looked out for them.

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Speaker 3: He traded me to a place that really wanted me,

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Speaker 3: and he knew I was going to get paid. But

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Speaker 3: then I found out the story later on of how

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Speaker 3: it all went down, and what happened was was that Doc, Paul, Danny, KG,

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Speaker 3: Ray and Rondo was all in the meeting and Danny

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Speaker 3: proposed to them and said, we have an offer for

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Speaker 3: Jeff Green right now, do y'all want to make the

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Speaker 3: trade and trade perk? We got Jamaine, we got shot.

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Speaker 3: So KG and Rondo like hell no, fuck no, we

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Speaker 3: ain't hearing that shit right. Well, Ray and Paul signed

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Speaker 3: off on him. He was like, yeah, trade the man.

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Speaker 3: We could use Jeff Green at the wing position, Go

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Speaker 3: ahead and trade Park. So this is the story that

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Speaker 3: I got. And then the Doc was like, well, if

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Speaker 3: y'all to agree, I mean, I hate to do it,

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Speaker 3: but if y'all think Jeff Green, go help us get

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Speaker 3: past the heat and be that guy the wing position,

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Speaker 3: and go ahead and do it.

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Speaker 2: And that's how it happened.

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Speaker 1: Damn, that's a crazy two sided story. Well, we know

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Speaker 1: how it worked out for the Celtics. They never got

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Speaker 1: past the heat. They actually after they traded you, they

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Speaker 1: finished that season like thirteen and twelve or something like.

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Speaker 1: They did not finish strong that twenty eleven season. So

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Speaker 1: then you're going to Oklahoma, different from Boston in many ways, right,

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Speaker 1: small town Oklahoma City from a constructural roster standpoint, Right,

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Speaker 1: you're one of the younger guys on the Celtics, and

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Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, you're the OG in Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: So I know that you're battling injuries at that time,

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Speaker 1: and I believe when you get to Oklahoma you're not

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Speaker 1: playing right away. You're nursing your injuries when you're sitting

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Speaker 1: on the bench and you're in practice. Bring us back

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Speaker 1: to those first few memories in Oklahoma City, when you're

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Speaker 1: there and you're observing a young Ross KD and James Harden.

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Speaker 1: What are you thinking to yourself as you're watching those

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Speaker 1: guys and as you're immersing yourself in that locker room.

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Speaker 3: Well, when I first got there, they were on the road,

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Speaker 3: So they were playing the Orlando Magic and they were

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Speaker 3: on the road on the back to back that I

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Speaker 3: forgot the team that they played before, but they played

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Speaker 3: the Orlando Magic and they were flying back. So I

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Speaker 3: was at the facility, you know, going through my physical

253
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Speaker 3: and things to that nature, meeting people, you know, around

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Speaker 3: the organization. I remember walking into the gym, they old

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Speaker 3: facility that they made. There was an old skating ring, right,

256
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Speaker 3: So I walk in and I'm just looking around, like

257
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Speaker 3: the hell going on?

258
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Speaker 2: You know, like this is not NBA type shit.

259
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Speaker 3: And so I remember Kady was the first person to

260
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Speaker 3: reach out to He send me a text, was like, hey, hey, bro,

261
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Speaker 3: happy to have you on the squad.

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Speaker 2: You know what I mean.

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Speaker 3: Hey, looking forward to to to getting on the court

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Speaker 3: with you.

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Speaker 2: All right.

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Speaker 3: So they get back and I'm thinking that they about

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Speaker 3: to have a day off because in Boston, if you

268
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Speaker 3: have a back to back, the next day is an

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Speaker 3: automatic day off.

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Speaker 2: We already knew this.

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Speaker 1: The old dudes got to ice up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we got ice up or whatever the case

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Speaker 3: may be. Not with these young guys. So I go

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Speaker 3: in the next morning, they back. They get in late

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Speaker 3: that night. The next day, I get in early. I'm

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Speaker 3: getting some treatment and getting my workout in. Guys are

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Speaker 3: coming in. I'm meeting guys. So I go meet coach

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Speaker 3: Scott Brooks. So Coach Brooks like, perk Man, we happy

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Speaker 3: to have you here. I just want you to know

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Speaker 3: we call this Oklahoma you. And I said Oklahoma you.

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Speaker 3: He was like yeah, man, these guys love the game

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Speaker 3: of basketball. It's like a college yill. They work out

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Speaker 3: no stop. So I'm like, okay. So I get to

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Speaker 3: meeting all the guys, dabbing them up, you know, shaking hands,

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Speaker 3: shooting the shit with them, and practice start.

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Speaker 2: Now.

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Speaker 3: Mind, I tell you, they coming off of back to back,

288
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Speaker 3: and man, when I tell you, they have a full out.

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Speaker 2: Intense practice and they're scrimmaging, going at each other.

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Speaker 3: And I'm sitting up here saying, hold on, y'all just

291
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Speaker 3: coming off of back to back. Y'all got in at

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Speaker 3: two o'clock in the morning, and y'all out here really

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Speaker 3: getting it in at practice.

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Speaker 2: And so I'm watching the practice. I'm watching James, Russ,

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Speaker 2: kd Serge Ibaka all go in it, and I'm like,

296
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Speaker 2: hold on, these guys are different practice ends, and I'm

297
00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:51,040
Speaker 2: watching Kadie and Russ and James at different baskets getting

298
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Speaker 2: full out individual workouts in like you almost had to

299
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Speaker 2: kick them out the gym. So KG sends me a

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Speaker 2: text and me like, man, miss your big fellaw. How

301
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:04,640
Speaker 2: you liking it over there? How them young boys is

302
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Speaker 2: And I had to call them, like, say, bro, these

303
00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:13,200
Speaker 2: dudes right here different. Like I'm watching KD work out

304
00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,000
Speaker 2: and he has like three or four coaches working him out,

305
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,600
Speaker 2: and he's working on scoring over double teams, triple teams,

306
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,800
Speaker 2: getting the ball at half court, going crossover, heasy pull ups.

307
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Speaker 3: I'm watching James on the other end working on drip ahead.

308
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Speaker 3: I'm like, hold on, these dudes are different. They love

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Speaker 3: for the game. It's different. So now I'm starting to

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Speaker 3: I'm sitting on the bench in this game time, so

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Speaker 3: I'm starting to watch these guys when they come out

312
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Speaker 3: and play, and I'm like, hold on, KD is a

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Speaker 3: walking bucket. I'm looking at James coming off the bench,

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Speaker 3: I'm like, this dude not normal.

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Speaker 2: And then I'm watching Russell Westbrook. I'm like, oh, I.

316
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Speaker 3: Didn't like After about five games, all the depression I

317
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Speaker 3: had from leaving my brothers in Boston had win straight

318
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Speaker 3: out the window because I knew I was in a

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Speaker 3: great situation with a great group of young guys that

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Speaker 3: actually looked up to me and loved the game of basketball.

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Speaker 1: That's dope. And then so this year, twenty ten to eleven,

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Speaker 1: they end up losing, you guys, to the MAVs, who

323
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Speaker 1: end up winning the championship, and then the lockout happens,

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Speaker 1: and it's a long offseason and a lot is being

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Speaker 1: written about, you know, this season preview. But at this point,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Thunder were good. Everybody recognized it, but

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Speaker 1: they were starting to get like murmurs. I'm actually gonna

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Speaker 1: read you an excerpt from a preview. They said, well,

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Speaker 1: Miami will emerge as one of the more impressive regular

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Speaker 1: seasons we've seen in decades. Fifteen hundred miles away in

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Speaker 1: Middle America, Kevin Durant and the Thunder will be coming

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Speaker 1: into their own. The Thunder have all the elements of

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Speaker 1: a great team, and Durant's the catalysts that will make

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Speaker 1: them great because he's that good, better than that, even

335
00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,040
Speaker 1: because he's not just a great player now, he's historically great.

336
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:04,439
Speaker 1: Just people haven't caught on. So as you hear that

337
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:07,720
Speaker 1: in your picturing that offseason, I want to start with

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00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:11,760
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, right, a player that now in the media

339
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:15,000
Speaker 1: He's all over the place on social media, But who

340
00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,679
Speaker 1: is Kevin Durant Back then, twenty two year old in

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 2: He actually was the same Kevin Durant. He just wasn't

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Speaker 2: outspoken in the media. Right. This is the guy who,

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Speaker 2: out of all the guys that.

345
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Speaker 3: I've been around while I was playing in my fourteen years,

346
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Speaker 3: and I played with a lot of Hall of Fames,

347
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Speaker 3: Kevin Durant was different. Kevin Durant. Don't give a damn

348
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Speaker 3: about jury. Kevin Durant, don't give a damn about cars.

349
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Speaker 3: Kevin Durant, don't give a damn about nothing that the

350
00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:54,080
Speaker 3: NBA has to offer outside of basketball. Kevin Durant is

351
00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,840
Speaker 3: what you call a pure out hoop. He just won

352
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,879
Speaker 3: a whop. And when I orted to realize that was

353
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,359
Speaker 3: when you know, people get on KD about oh man,

354
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,080
Speaker 3: you don't brush your hair. People, you may see KD.

355
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,199
Speaker 3: He just pull up in a sweat suit. Lord, he

356
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,000
Speaker 3: may pull up to appearance. He got shots with a

357
00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,240
Speaker 3: T shirt on and some flip flops, some Nike and

358
00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:18,480
Speaker 3: flip flops. Like, he don't give a damn. The only

359
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,840
Speaker 3: thing he cares about is the love of the game.

360
00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 3: So I'm watching this man, and you know, I'm watching

361
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,480
Speaker 3: him go for thirty right, and I'm watching him as

362
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:32,159
Speaker 3: complete package. And I'm just leaving a team where I

363
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,920
Speaker 3: was on the squak with KG Paul ray Allen, and

364
00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,960
Speaker 3: I'm like, this dude is scoring the basketball with Eves.

365
00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:41,320
Speaker 3: I'm watching him pull up shots and I'm like, man,

366
00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:44,280
Speaker 3: this is a bad damn this a bad fucking shot.

367
00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,879
Speaker 3: But it's not a bad shot. This dude really gets buckets.

368
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,000
Speaker 3: And so I'm watching him improve and he kept telling me,

369
00:19:52,600 --> 00:19:55,240
Speaker 3: I'm still I still got to get better. So I'm like,

370
00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,320
Speaker 3: what you mean, you got to get better? Like you're

371
00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,920
Speaker 3: getting buckets. He was like, now I gotta be afishing.

372
00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:02,639
Speaker 3: And his biggest thing, and I remember him telling me

373
00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 3: was that he was like, man, I got to be

374
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,359
Speaker 3: a fifty forty ninety guy, Like that's my thing. And

375
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:15,560
Speaker 3: watching him, watching his workouts, watching him behind the scenes,

376
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,680
Speaker 3: what he does on the court, it doesn't surprise me

377
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,440
Speaker 3: because he works on everything that he shows the outside world.

378
00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:25,840
Speaker 2: He does it behind the scenes.

379
00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:29,160
Speaker 3: Like we were literally laying in NBA Cities the day

380
00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:31,920
Speaker 3: before a game and we were landing at about five

381
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 3: or six o'clock.

382
00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:33,840
Speaker 2: KD.

383
00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:37,359
Speaker 3: Would have a gym reserve for about eight o'clock to

384
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,640
Speaker 3: go get his work in, Like this is how much

385
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,800
Speaker 3: he loved who. And the KD that we seeing right

386
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:49,240
Speaker 3: now outspoken is the KD that he's always been the same.

387
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 3: But what people have to realize is that the Oklahoma

388
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 3: City Thunder was almost trying to mimic the San Antonio Spurs.

389
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 3: Sam Preston was raised in that culture. You get what

390
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 3: I'm saying, Dylan. So when you look at that coach

391
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,640
Speaker 3: in San Antonio, those guys are quiet. You never heard

392
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:13,600
Speaker 3: Tim Duncan or Tony Parker, Mono Janobili speak out a

393
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:16,600
Speaker 3: last shout at the media here. It's hard to even

394
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 3: get words out of Greg Papa bitch. And so with

395
00:21:20,119 --> 00:21:25,000
Speaker 3: that being said, while KD was in Oklahoma, he really

396
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:29,000
Speaker 3: couldn't be Kevin Durant, you know, like because we were

397
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:32,159
Speaker 3: being monitored so much of what we could do and

398
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 3: what we couldn't do. This is how we do it

399
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:37,359
Speaker 3: over here. We do it the Okay Sea Way. And

400
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,119
Speaker 3: I think once he got away from Oklahoma, he was

401
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:42,560
Speaker 3: able to be himself.

402
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,560
Speaker 2: And that's what we're seeing right now.

403
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,359
Speaker 1: Well, on the flip side of that, the second half

404
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 1: of the Thunder Duo, of course, is Russell Westbrook, who

405
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,800
Speaker 1: is different from Kevin Durant, I would say, from an

406
00:21:55,800 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 1: outside perspective in a bunch of ways. Right, KD is

407
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 1: like civilization, RUSS is like chaos. KD is the steady metronome,

408
00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:12,520
Speaker 1: soft smoking, and Russell Westbrook is like that thrashing guitar solo. Right.

409
00:22:12,960 --> 00:22:15,440
Speaker 1: Those metaphors come from a book called Boomtown. So I'm

410
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:21,160
Speaker 1: not just coming up with this on the spot, but regardless, yeah, yeah,

411
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, but regardless, Right, what's so fascinating about

412
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,720
Speaker 1: it is that you have KD. You know who's KD,

413
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,919
Speaker 1: and then Russ is just like everything everywhere. He's unlike

414
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 1: any player we've really seen at the point guard position,

415
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,280
Speaker 1: he is just go, go, go go. So I'm just

416
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 1: wondering about what that dynamic was like between KD and

417
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,520
Speaker 1: RUSS because they really are opposites on the floor. I

418
00:22:46,560 --> 00:22:49,120
Speaker 1: don't know them personally, but I'm curious to hear how

419
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,600
Speaker 1: that went. You heard so much about it over the

420
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,280
Speaker 1: years to this day. They didn't hate each other. It

421
00:22:54,400 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 1: was a you know, big brother, little brother relationship. So

422
00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,399
Speaker 1: from the inside, from the locker room, What was Kevin

423
00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 1: and Russ's relationship?

424
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 3: Like, well, people try to make it that way because

425
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 3: Russe was a rest of point guard.

426
00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 2: He was a scoring point guard at the time. And

427
00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,000
Speaker 2: we have to remember, Russell.

428
00:23:14,640 --> 00:23:21,440
Speaker 3: Westbrook was still trying to put his imprint, his fingerprints

429
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:25,119
Speaker 3: on the game of basketball, meaning he was still trying

430
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,920
Speaker 3: to establish who he was and his identity. So people

431
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 3: would say, oh, man, you got Kevin Durant, but you

432
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 3: got Russell Westbrook, who will take twenty two shots, but

433
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,639
Speaker 3: who give a damn because Russell Westbrook. It's a reason

434
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:46,639
Speaker 3: Kobe Bryant blessed Russell Westbrook with the Mama mentality because

435
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,119
Speaker 3: Russell Westbrook was a guy. And I always say this,

436
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,919
Speaker 3: right outside of Kevin Garnet, he gave you a different

437
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 3: type of swabber. I'm talking about your team. Like he

438
00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 3: had a different type of confidence that rubbed off on everyone,

439
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,080
Speaker 3: like including Scott Brooks. And you ask him Scott Brooks

440
00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:09,120
Speaker 3: this to this day. Russell Westbrook gave the thunder swagger,

441
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,360
Speaker 3: you know, like that tenascity, that mindset he played with.

442
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:18,960
Speaker 3: People just couldn't understand. And here's the thing. People always say, oh, man,

443
00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:23,320
Speaker 3: KD and RUSS. They were just too different. They couldn't

444
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,440
Speaker 3: work out and things to that nature. KD won four

445
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 3: scoring titles playing alongside Russell Westbrook. So the shit worked, Okay,

446
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,439
Speaker 3: all right, I get it. They didn't end on good terms.

447
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 3: They blew a three one lead to the Warriors. Shit happens.

448
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean they didn't work. If you go back

449
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 3: and just look at the number of games that they

450
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 3: won together, the playoff series that they won together, like

451
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 3: it was the time, and I don't want to be wrong,

452
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,800
Speaker 3: but I believe it was a time where like KD,

453
00:24:55,359 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 3: KD probably had forty fifteen and seven assists and RUSS

454
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 3: had forty twelve and twelve, Like they were dominating in

455
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,959
Speaker 3: that type of form where you never really seen a

456
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,440
Speaker 3: duo like that. Right, you can look at Kobe and Shaq, Yes,

457
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 3: maybe d Wade and Braun, I get that, But when

458
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 3: you talk about two guys that were out there giving

459
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 3: you forty a piece on the same night, both gonna

460
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:27,200
Speaker 3: get double figure rebounds, both almost touching double figure assists,

461
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,359
Speaker 3: like affecting the game, like we had a sin.

462
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 2: I had a saying to both of those guys.

463
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 3: Look in the first, second, third quarter, it's your job

464
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 3: to get everybody else involved, meaning me, Serge Ibaka, Taba,

465
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 3: whoever else was on the team. Fourth quarter, y'all to

466
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 3: take it over. Everybody else watched the hell back and

467
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,200
Speaker 3: we're gonna run a two man game with Russell Westbrook

468
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 3: and Kevin Durant and you try to stop and you

469
00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,640
Speaker 3: just couldn't. But man, I just get tired of everybody

470
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 3: saying and oh man, they just couldn't work off.

471
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 2: KD left because of RUSS. KD didn't leave because of RUSS.

472
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:13,040
Speaker 2: KD left because KD couldn't be himself in an organization

473
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,440
Speaker 2: and KD wanted something different. It had nothing to do

474
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 2: with Russell Westbrook. It had everything to do with Kevin Durant.

475
00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:22,840
Speaker 2: Couldn't bet Kevin.

476
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 3: Durant in that organization, the same reason Kawhi Leonard left

477
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 3: the San Antonio Spurs. Some coaches just some culture, coaches

478
00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,840
Speaker 3: and organizations just don't fit that blab.

479
00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:43,240
Speaker 1: I mean, hey, you can't blame him. And it's it's

480
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: great to hear that it's it's not because of Russ,

481
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: because I think anybody that knows basketball probably knows that.

482
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 1: But to hear that reassurance is refreshing the next guy

483
00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: who is the first player to Thunder ever draft He

484
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,919
Speaker 1: might be the best player to ever come off the

485
00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: bench for a whole season James Harden. Before we get

486
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:08,199
Speaker 1: into his play style and his personality, I'm wondering, this

487
00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,240
Speaker 1: is about the time when that beard starts really really

488
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,639
Speaker 1: coming into his own. And you got a big beard,

489
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,960
Speaker 1: but I don't think it compares to what Harden's got.

490
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:18,800
Speaker 1: What do you guys say, and as he's growing out

491
00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:20,879
Speaker 1: and what is his reasoning? Is it just like you know,

492
00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:22,159
Speaker 1: it's who I am, It's me.

493
00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:26,040
Speaker 3: It was just him. It was his personality. I mean,

494
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 3: it was just something that you know, it was his identity.

495
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 3: Like I said, at that time, you have to understand

496
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,479
Speaker 3: those guys, what twenty two years of age and they

497
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 3: were still trying to establish themselves in a personal brand.

498
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 3: So that's who James was at the time.

499
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: I heard stories that in practice James Harden would be

500
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: on some Jimmy Butler in Minnesota shit where he would

501
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,040
Speaker 1: have the second unit going and they would actually be

502
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 1: beating the first unit in practice, and like him and

503
00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: Rush and Kevin would like clash and not on some

504
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,560
Speaker 1: my personal but their competitors. Do you have any stories

505
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,000
Speaker 1: remember those days in practice when James taking the second

506
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 1: unit up.

507
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 3: Well, all those practices were like that, especially with James,

508
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,880
Speaker 3: Like James used to go at our neck, and when

509
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 3: I used to watch, I used to say to myself, man,

510
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 3: like this dude is special, and like all our practices

511
00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 3: used to be like that. It was to the point,

512
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,960
Speaker 3: like I remember one practice in particular, we were in

513
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,239
Speaker 3: Oklahoma and we were scrimmaging and we were going up

514
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,520
Speaker 3: and down, and it got so intense between the first

515
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,320
Speaker 3: and second unit that we played an extra two quarters

516
00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 3: and we wanted to play again because like, that's how

517
00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,719
Speaker 3: competitive it was between those guys, and James used to

518
00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 3: go with them KD and Rush used to go back

519
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 3: at him like it was like I really wanted to

520
00:28:54,800 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 3: sell myself out just to watch the show. And it

521
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 3: got to the point where Scott Brooks was like, note,

522
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 3: we're done, We're fucking done. Practice over saving for tomorrow,

523
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 3: and it would carry on. Well, it was so intense

524
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 3: that after games we would talk shit in the locker

525
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 3: room and say, all right, Blue, we're gonna get at

526
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:20,680
Speaker 3: White tomorrow and practice, boy, we can't wait. That's how intense.

527
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 3: It was at practice. That's how much we went at

528
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 3: each other at practice. And this is no cap, this

529
00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:27,720
Speaker 3: is all facts.

530
00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: Well that practice trans translates to success. You guys start

531
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:37,560
Speaker 1: out the season sixteen and four. Describe the energy inside

532
00:29:37,600 --> 00:29:39,840
Speaker 1: the Thunder Arena. I forget what it was called. Is

533
00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: that the loudest best environment you've played in your career?

534
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, Chesapeake, it was.

535
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 3: It was electrifying, and you have to realize it was

536
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 3: the only sports team in time, so everybody came. I

537
00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 3: mean it was sold out. Tickets were sold out, like

538
00:29:56,880 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 3: if they were released, they were sold out in three hours,

539
00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 3: like season ticket holders and everything. And it was so

540
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 3: electrifying you couldn't help but get fired up to.

541
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 2: Play in front of that crowd. And man, we used

542
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:12,080
Speaker 2: to put on a shovel.

543
00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 3: I mean just think, like you know, whether it was

544
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:20,160
Speaker 3: Katie making a move, crossing somebody up, hitting a turnaround,

545
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:23,280
Speaker 3: fade away, Russ driving down the lane, snatching the screws

546
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 3: out the fucking rim, or James coming in off the

547
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 3: bench and running off ten straight points of some shit

548
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:29,520
Speaker 3: like that.

549
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 2: Like it was just fired up.

550
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,800
Speaker 3: Boston crowd was great, but Boston fans were a little

551
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 3: different because yes, they would get loud, but they were

552
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 3: a little cutthroat, meaning they have no filter. But Oklahoma

553
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 3: City just was loud. Like it was loud. It was

554
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,760
Speaker 3: called loud City. Chesapeake Arena was rocking, it was packed,

555
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 3: it was great energy.

556
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: Who were the guys in the league, the big man

557
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,280
Speaker 1: that you would call your toughest matchups at the time.

558
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 2: Obviously going against Memphis right.

559
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 3: Having a battle big Ce Bowl and Marc Gasol, and

560
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,880
Speaker 3: then even the Lakers when I had to go against

561
00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 3: Andrew Bonham and Paul Kassol, and then you would have

562
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,320
Speaker 3: to go against Tim Duncan and whoever else they would

563
00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 3: put alongside of him.

564
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 2: It really didn't even matter.

565
00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 3: It's just the fact that you had Tim Duncan to

566
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 3: deal with at that point of time.

567
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 2: Those were the Those were the bigs that that I had.

568
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:37,000
Speaker 3: To really strap my boots up, because you know, my

569
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,760
Speaker 3: job was to guard the thunder brought me in, they

570
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 3: traded for me to actually help them get past the Lakers.

571
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 3: Tim Duncan in the Western Conference and then you can't

572
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 3: leave out dirt, right, So in the Western Conference along

573
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,320
Speaker 3: it was stacked with versatile bigs that could play, so

574
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 3: you know, every almost every game when you're playing in

575
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 3: the West, you had to strap your boots up because

576
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 3: if you're playing against Memphis, if Zack had it going,

577
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,880
Speaker 3: then I have to go go on Zach. But then

578
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,280
Speaker 3: if Zach didn't have it going, Marcasol may have it going,

579
00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 3: I have to go guard him on the low block.

580
00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 3: So it was all those matchups, and then when you

581
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 3: face the Twin Towers, you already had to worry about

582
00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 3: how we was going to try to stop Kobe Bryant

583
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 3: in a pick and roll off, how he's going to

584
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 3: trap him. And then you got Paul Kasol who seven

585
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,680
Speaker 3: to one, along with Andrew Bynumu seven to one, both

586
00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 3: of them talented. His hell, you had to worry about that. So,

587
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 3: I mean the Western Conference, Alan was stacked up in deep.

588
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,000
Speaker 1: We didn't get a chance to talk about your front

589
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:45,280
Speaker 1: court mate or one of them, Serge Ibaka, who I

590
00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:47,240
Speaker 1: went back and looked at his stats, like the dudes

591
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:51,040
Speaker 1: averaging like four blocks a game, like legit. And he's

592
00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,280
Speaker 1: also young, twenty two to twenty three years old. What

593
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:58,400
Speaker 1: do you remember from a young Surge.

594
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 3: Well, you know what Surge was known at the time

595
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 3: for knocking down the fifteen foot, being athletic, being able

596
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 3: to sprint the floor, and being a hell of a

597
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 3: shot blocker.

598
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 2: So Surge also was.

599
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 3: Trying to be in the mix of things of you know,

600
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,680
Speaker 3: he wanted to make an All Star game, and rightfully so,

601
00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 3: Like if you know, you come into this game and

602
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 3: Surge is one of the most he's one of the

603
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 3: most hardworking guys.

604
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,520
Speaker 2: I hadn't been around, like you had to kick him

605
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 2: out the gym.

606
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,160
Speaker 3: But what we used to do, and I had to

607
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 3: go to Russ and Kate and Katie and telor even

608
00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:37,160
Speaker 3: Scott Brooks. Listen, let's run the first play for Surge

609
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:41,400
Speaker 3: all the time. Let's get this Surge going offensively, because

610
00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:44,520
Speaker 3: as a big man, if you get a couple of buckets,

611
00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 3: now you're gonna do everything else that the team need.

612
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:51,400
Speaker 3: Joe has to do. So we would get Surge going

613
00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 3: and this man would damn it. We would look up

614
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 3: and this man would have seven, eight blocks, ten blocks,

615
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 3: and I'm like what the fuck? I was like, Yeah,

616
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 3: we gotta keep him going, keep his confidence going. Russ,

617
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 3: you come off of this pick and roll with Serge.

618
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,359
Speaker 3: You know he's popping to this elbow, YO, pull up

619
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 3: his death, but you could get George man feed Surge

620
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 3: because he's gonna give us some shot blocking. So what

621
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 3: I started to realize was that I started to get

622
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 3: on the same page with Surge like KG and I

623
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,720
Speaker 3: was on the same page. And so what I started

624
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,480
Speaker 3: doing was I knew I had this guy behind me

625
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:32,319
Speaker 3: that was sending shit to the stands. So I would

626
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,960
Speaker 3: guard the best post player. I didn't care if it

627
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,799
Speaker 3: was Dirt Zach, whoever it was, whether they tried to

628
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 3: pull me out from the outside and isolate me or whatever.

629
00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 3: I would just crowd them and do enough to hold

630
00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,800
Speaker 3: him up so that when they shot the ball, Surge

631
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,120
Speaker 3: was coming out of know what's sending that shit to

632
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,800
Speaker 3: the bleachers, right, And I would call him the Wild African.

633
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 3: When he would get nine or ten blocks his name was,

634
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 3: I would call him a Wild African and we would

635
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,040
Speaker 3: just so once we figured out the recipe to get

636
00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:10,360
Speaker 3: Serge gone, he started taking off and start. Man, he

637
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:12,760
Speaker 3: was just one of the best defenses in the league.

638
00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:16,399
Speaker 1: It time you're listening to Forgotten Seasons, we'll be right back.

639
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,800
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640
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:23,359
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641
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642
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650
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Speaker 1: stay under the salary cap, and see how your team

651
00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 1: stacks up against the competition. Feel the NFL action never

652
00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,759
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653
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654
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:11,560
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655
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:16,360
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656
00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,760
Speaker 1: So the season finishes out, you guys win forty seven games,

657
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,040
Speaker 1: but it's the lockout year. You're the number two seed.

658
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:27,720
Speaker 1: First round. You guys got the Mavericks, the defending champs.

659
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,720
Speaker 1: I think what people fail to realize about these thunder

660
00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:34,080
Speaker 1: teams is that in these playoffs you beat the defending

661
00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:37,600
Speaker 1: champs and then you beat later the Spurs, who would

662
00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:41,399
Speaker 1: go on to win two championships. So you guys are

663
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 1: just like lighting things up real quick. What do you

664
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 1: remember from that mav series going against the defending champs?

665
00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: Is there any doubt in your guys's mind that you're

666
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 1: gonna wax the floor with them?

667
00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 2: What I made it, well, we didn't have done.

668
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:56,919
Speaker 3: And if you go back and look at Game one,

669
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:00,319
Speaker 3: I picked the fight with Dirk me and Dirk got

670
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:02,359
Speaker 3: into it, and I also got into it with Rick

671
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 3: Carloud just to show them that.

672
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:06,799
Speaker 2: We wasn't backing down and we wasn't.

673
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,600
Speaker 3: For the bullshit. So I did it on purpose to

674
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 3: set the tone. And once they saw that, once they

675
00:37:14,280 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 3: saw I was getting in the dirt, the crowd got

676
00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,359
Speaker 3: behind us. The worst thing that could happen for the

677
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:23,319
Speaker 3: Maths was that we got home court advantage. And when

678
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 3: we got home court advantage, and we set the tone

679
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 3: because we established The great thing about it is that

680
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:36,440
Speaker 3: we established home court throughout the except well we was

681
00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 3: one of the top teams, but we established our identity.

682
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 2: So that our home court.

683
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 3: It was hard to go into Oklahoma, so as a

684
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 3: basketball player NBA player, you always knew them cities where

685
00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 3: you was like, man, don't let these fans get involved,

686
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 3: because boy, it's gonna be hard to win in this motherfucker.

687
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:59,320
Speaker 3: We already established that shit when we was in okc

688
00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,680
Speaker 3: and so the best thing about it was that we

689
00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:05,919
Speaker 3: had home court in the first in the second round,

690
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 3: so against the defending champs, I'm like, you know what,

691
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:11,399
Speaker 3: I'm about to go in in and set the tong

692
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 3: I'm about to muck it up. I'm about to get

693
00:38:13,800 --> 00:38:16,879
Speaker 3: physical with dirt. I don't give a fuck. It is

694
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,520
Speaker 3: what it is. And if he wanted to do something

695
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:21,799
Speaker 3: about it, like I was just on one and then

696
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:23,200
Speaker 3: set the tone from.

697
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:27,200
Speaker 1: Nim Yeah, you set the tone. You guys sweep the maps.

698
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: Then you guys go to the Lakers, who you end

699
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,919
Speaker 1: up beating in five. This is actually Kobe's last time

700
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, so the thunder sent him packing. But

701
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:37,800
Speaker 1: that series, there was a few things that I always

702
00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,920
Speaker 1: found interesting. One that's year that our guy Metaworld Peace

703
00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,799
Speaker 1: had the elbow to James Harden. Harden probably still has

704
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,000
Speaker 1: a dent in his head to this day. What do

705
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 1: you remember from that series against the Lakers, against Kobe,

706
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 1: against those Twin Towers and big wrong.

707
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:55,120
Speaker 2: Well, it was just different.

708
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,360
Speaker 3: But but what I remember was was that we just

709
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,319
Speaker 3: did give a damn like we didn't care who was

710
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,359
Speaker 3: in front of us. And we I remember we had

711
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,359
Speaker 3: a back to back We played a.

712
00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 2: Back to back bro in that game in that series.

713
00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 3: Because of because of the lockout season, so we think

714
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,960
Speaker 3: I think it was game three and four.

715
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 2: Maybe we played back to back in La. It was

716
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,839
Speaker 2: a back to back game in LA.

717
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're right, yeah, And.

718
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 2: I just remember that.

719
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 3: All I kept saying when you're in the playoffs, we

720
00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 3: just wanted to get one on the road, and I

721
00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:40,040
Speaker 3: think we ended up getting two on the road, if

722
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:41,040
Speaker 3: I'm not mistaken.

723
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:49,160
Speaker 1: Game two, you guys, Yeah, you guys win the first

724
00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 1: you guys win the first two games, lose Game three.

725
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 2: And we went and got Game four on the road.

726
00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 3: And once we got Game four, I knew, Yeah, it

727
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 3: was a rap, but you know it was just man

728
00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:06,799
Speaker 3: to be honest. When middle World piece elbow James, that

729
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 3: was the worst thing that he could have done, because

730
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 3: that actually lit a fire on us and the whole

731
00:40:12,719 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 3: time that young core. All they was missing was a

732
00:40:16,719 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 3: big brother in forsa like myself to know that, hey,

733
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:23,080
Speaker 3: fuck them, because that's what that's what That's.

734
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:23,919
Speaker 2: What I used to say.

735
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:26,880
Speaker 3: Look, if you're not winning, okay, see on your chest,

736
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 3: fuck them.

737
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,560
Speaker 2: And that's how we approached these games.

738
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,680
Speaker 3: And that mindset with Russ and KD already being killed

739
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:36,920
Speaker 3: us along with James, it just took us to another level.

740
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,839
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Will you guys go into that next level?

741
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: Then you guys get the Spurs number one seed in

742
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:44,640
Speaker 1: the West. They're eight to zero in the playoffs heading

743
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,680
Speaker 1: end of this series. Again, this is the pretty much

744
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 1: the same Spurs team that after this year goes on

745
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:55,239
Speaker 1: to go to two straight finals. So again I think

746
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:57,440
Speaker 1: that this is one of the most interesting series of

747
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,120
Speaker 1: the past ten years. You have the Spurs right of course,

748
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,920
Speaker 1: Manu Duncan and Tony and the young Kawhi, the old

749
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,319
Speaker 1: guys who have been around for a decade plus, and

750
00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: then you got the young guys coming in. You got

751
00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: Harder and Genobili like the two lefty shooting guards. There's

752
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:17,080
Speaker 1: a lot of history in here and you guys battle

753
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,239
Speaker 1: it out. It goes through a tough six games. Other

754
00:41:20,360 --> 00:41:24,360
Speaker 1: than one of those games, Uh, they're all really close.

755
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 1: So again, like, what is it like preparing and what

756
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: is the messaging in the locker room when you're heading

757
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:31,280
Speaker 1: into the Spurs series?

758
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:35,279
Speaker 3: What the thing is is that it's always you know,

759
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,680
Speaker 3: you look at the Spurs like how people used to

760
00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:42,279
Speaker 3: look at the Patriots every year and Belichick and you're

761
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 3: like fuck Like so, including myself, we actually went into

762
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:52,480
Speaker 3: San Antonio and we had doubt, like we had doubt

763
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:56,439
Speaker 3: and we could not stop them. We went down old

764
00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 3: too in that series, and man, we came back and

765
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,279
Speaker 3: we was too. And I remember when we got back

766
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,359
Speaker 3: to Oklahoma the next day at film room, we all

767
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:10,000
Speaker 3: was fucking depressed. Everybody had their head down. I remember

768
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,520
Speaker 3: I went back and watched the game and Steve Kerr

769
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,879
Speaker 3: was talking shit, talking about, man, they need to see

770
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:18,239
Speaker 3: Kendrick Perkins. He can't guard the pick and roll.

771
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:18,480
Speaker 2: Right.

772
00:42:18,520 --> 00:42:22,080
Speaker 1: This is when he was the analyst, So.

773
00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 3: I remember them saying him saying that, and so that

774
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,279
Speaker 3: lit a fewel under me. So we couldn't figure out

775
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 3: how we wanted to guard the pick and roll like

776
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 3: we was in the drop. We was up and they

777
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:35,880
Speaker 3: was just picking us apart, and we knew with the

778
00:42:35,880 --> 00:42:39,560
Speaker 3: Spurs that you had to guard them for twenty four seconds.

779
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:42,360
Speaker 3: You had to guard them for twenty four seconds because

780
00:42:42,400 --> 00:42:43,279
Speaker 3: they were gonna run.

781
00:42:43,320 --> 00:42:44,400
Speaker 2: They sets.

782
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 3: So we get back and were like Scott Brooks like

783
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 3: fuck it, Perk Serge. We switching everything. And when we switch,

784
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:57,240
Speaker 3: I want you to guard Tony Parker. Put your stick

785
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 3: hand up, guard them, give them space and make him

786
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:04,080
Speaker 3: take a contested two uh contested three point shots saying

787
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 3: with Genoba and I remember Game three at home. I

788
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,759
Speaker 3: switched out on Gerobili. I said, let me see it

789
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,480
Speaker 3: got down. He tried to shoot. I blocked this shot,

790
00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:17,080
Speaker 3: came back down, switched on Tony Parker. He tried to

791
00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 3: shoot over me and he airballed. The air balded.

792
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:22,439
Speaker 2: We go on the run. They called the time out,

793
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:23,600
Speaker 2: and I remember I.

794
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:26,040
Speaker 3: Was talking shit to Steve Curry was sitting on the

795
00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:27,120
Speaker 3: sideline over there.

796
00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,560
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, what's that bullshit you was talking about? Motherfucker?

797
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,640
Speaker 2: And I was throwing up this because I was locking

798
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 2: the ass up in the pick and roll.

799
00:43:34,719 --> 00:43:38,600
Speaker 3: And so after that, once we figured out that we

800
00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 3: could do it, we got it done.

801
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 2: And then KD.

802
00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:45,640
Speaker 3: Russ and James was gonna take us home anyway, once

803
00:43:45,680 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 3: they found they rhythm. Once we started putting those guys

804
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,200
Speaker 3: in picking rolls and we said you, we said they.

805
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 3: So our strategy was we knew that Tim Duncan was

806
00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,920
Speaker 3: in a drop coverage, so we started backing the picking

807
00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:02,840
Speaker 3: roll up some. And so whether I was said in

808
00:44:02,840 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 3: the screen for Kde Russ or James, what I was

809
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:10,719
Speaker 3: doing was was coming all the way up setting a pit.

810
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:14,200
Speaker 3: I wasn't even rolling to the basket. I was holding

811
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 3: the screen forcing them to switch. And now they was

812
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:21,680
Speaker 3: coming downhill attacking Tim Duncan, and they was just either

813
00:44:21,760 --> 00:44:23,799
Speaker 3: the pull up game or getting all the way to

814
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:24,279
Speaker 3: the red.

815
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: Yeah was it? I mean, Timmy was still great, but

816
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:31,520
Speaker 1: it wasn't the Tim Duncan of Tank years ago. Tim Yeah,

817
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:35,680
Speaker 1: sort of separate. But I remember those later Thunder teams,

818
00:44:35,719 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 1: like in twenty fifteen sixteen, your guys identity seemed to

819
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 1: just be that you were bigger and stronger than every team,

820
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 1: like when you played the Warriors or when they played

821
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:47,839
Speaker 1: the Warriors, Like when did that identity sort of come

822
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 1: into its own in the Thunder Like that you guys

823
00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:54,040
Speaker 1: were just bigger and more physical than the other team.

824
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,160
Speaker 3: Well, we had been that way since the time that

825
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,840
Speaker 3: I got there, and I feel like we he established

826
00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:05,640
Speaker 3: that identity that we're gonna because we were always even

827
00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:08,319
Speaker 3: before I got there, the Thunder was they were those

828
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,120
Speaker 3: young guys were still a top ten team defensively, and

829
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,720
Speaker 3: when I got there, we was the top five team

830
00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:19,520
Speaker 3: defensively in every category. So we established our identity. Then

831
00:45:19,560 --> 00:45:23,240
Speaker 3: we drafted Steven Adams, who's one of the strongest guys

832
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,799
Speaker 3: I ever been around in my life, right, Aquaman, I mean,

833
00:45:27,000 --> 00:45:28,279
Speaker 3: identity was there.

834
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,000
Speaker 2: We already established the culture.

835
00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:33,799
Speaker 3: But Nick Collinson was one of the guys, right, the

836
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:37,880
Speaker 3: ultimate guy. We called him mister Thunder himself because he

837
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:41,280
Speaker 3: was that real leader, that allsong leader in the locker.

838
00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 2: Room that never said a word but led by example.

839
00:45:44,840 --> 00:45:47,800
Speaker 3: So as long as you had Nick Collinson on the bench,

840
00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 3: that identity and that coacher was always going to be there.

841
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:54,200
Speaker 1: Was he the guy? Because I know you guys also

842
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:56,279
Speaker 1: had Derek Fisher, who is the guy in the locker

843
00:45:56,360 --> 00:45:59,200
Speaker 1: room when things did get tense, like you said, when

844
00:45:59,239 --> 00:46:02,279
Speaker 1: you're down, oh too against san Antonio, who's the guy

845
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:05,720
Speaker 1: that you guys sort of banned around and pulls everyone.

846
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 2: Oh well, both of us both said things.

847
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 3: So I will say my pregame speech in the hallway

848
00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:15,720
Speaker 3: and deep Fish would say he is. So we both

849
00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:19,520
Speaker 3: took did our part of leeding because we both were

850
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:23,640
Speaker 3: already battled syste We both had won championships, we both

851
00:46:23,680 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 3: had been to the Promised Land. So anytime those moments happened,

852
00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 3: we would never get too high and never get too low.

853
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,800
Speaker 3: We would always keep a steady We always be steady

854
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 3: that way because we always knew that those other guys

855
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 3: were looking up to.

856
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:43,640
Speaker 1: Us, right right, So San Antonio, you guys win six

857
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:46,399
Speaker 1: hard fought and then of course you guys got the Heat.

858
00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:52,480
Speaker 1: No surprise. There like a few days. There's a few

859
00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:55,760
Speaker 1: days between the conference finals and the finals. There's that stretch.

860
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,879
Speaker 1: What's the mindset, what's the messaging? How are the thun

861
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:01,239
Speaker 1: going to beat the Heat?

862
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,840
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, it was hard man, and I

863
00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:08,840
Speaker 3: knew the challenge was gonna be tough because after we

864
00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:13,080
Speaker 3: beat the Spurs, you could see guys kind of get relaxed.

865
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:16,880
Speaker 3: And you know a lot of people don't realize is

866
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:19,240
Speaker 3: that it's an honor just to.

867
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 2: Go to the finals.

868
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:24,959
Speaker 3: And people don't realize that a lot of casuals don't

869
00:47:25,080 --> 00:47:28,080
Speaker 3: understand that. They just think about winning it. But when

870
00:47:28,120 --> 00:47:31,399
Speaker 3: you win your conference and you know, you hold up

871
00:47:31,440 --> 00:47:37,600
Speaker 3: that Western Conference Championship trophy. I could tell that a

872
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,440
Speaker 3: lot of our guys were kind of like relaxed, like

873
00:47:40,719 --> 00:47:43,680
Speaker 3: we had done it. We won the West, were going

874
00:47:43,760 --> 00:47:48,160
Speaker 3: to the finals, and so everything that comes with the finals,

875
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 3: the media attention of everything. It's the biggest stage of basketball, right,

876
00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:57,160
Speaker 3: And so I knew we were going to have our

877
00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:01,200
Speaker 3: hands full because we were facing a veteran team, a

878
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 3: hungry Lebron James that had just lost the year before,

879
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:07,120
Speaker 3: so they had already been there.

880
00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:11,239
Speaker 2: They knew embarrassed, right, embarrassed. So they had already been there.

881
00:48:11,640 --> 00:48:17,040
Speaker 3: And you got guys like Mike Miller, James Jones, those

882
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:19,839
Speaker 3: type of bets on your bench are going against our

883
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:20,640
Speaker 3: young corps.

884
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 2: You know, it's kind of hard to go.

885
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:25,480
Speaker 3: In there and actually win the championship with guys that

886
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:27,440
Speaker 3: got a chip on their Showldren.

887
00:48:28,560 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you guys win game one. Does the energy

888
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:31,880
Speaker 1: shift after that?

889
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,680
Speaker 3: Well, we win game one, and we was really a

890
00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:39,040
Speaker 3: Lebron James file away from winning Game two. They didn't

891
00:48:39,080 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 3: call when Kadi drove basically. But okay, the series tied

892
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,600
Speaker 3: one one and all of a sudden we get to

893
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:49,879
Speaker 3: Miami and South Beach get a hold to us right

894
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:54,760
Speaker 3: South Beach, right, James Harden disappeared completely off the face

895
00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:58,120
Speaker 3: of the earth when we needed him the most. His numbers,

896
00:48:58,160 --> 00:48:59,879
Speaker 3: that I mean, his numbers in the.

897
00:49:01,360 --> 00:49:04,160
Speaker 1: Mind, bog, that's what the That's what everyone said is that.

898
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 1: I mean they said that he was too young. So

899
00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:10,680
Speaker 1: was it not that it was that south I don't.

900
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:13,040
Speaker 3: Know what it was, but I just know he wasn't there.

901
00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 3: And so when you go back and even look at

902
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 3: KD and RUSS numbers like they delivered. So but you

903
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 3: needed we needed James to be able to be that

904
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:29,080
Speaker 3: beak three in that series because going against Fosh, Wade

905
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:32,880
Speaker 3: Braun and then you had all those bets around them.

906
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:36,320
Speaker 3: We needed James to be the best version of James,

907
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 3: and he just wasn't.

908
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, he fitting up.

909
00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:44,080
Speaker 1: He shoots thirty seven percent from the field. RUSS and

910
00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:47,799
Speaker 1: KD averaged thirty one and twenty seven. So they're there, right,

911
00:49:48,080 --> 00:49:50,560
Speaker 1: But that third piece is missing.

912
00:49:50,920 --> 00:49:54,080
Speaker 3: That third piece was missing, that third piece and you

913
00:49:54,120 --> 00:49:58,600
Speaker 3: know the way that we had already established who we

914
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:02,200
Speaker 3: were as a team. We got hads on that big

915
00:50:02,239 --> 00:50:06,239
Speaker 3: three getting the job done offensively. This is who this

916
00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:08,399
Speaker 3: is who we are, This is who we were the

917
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:12,560
Speaker 3: entire season. So we really didn't have room for one

918
00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 3: of those guys to slip up. And James actually slipped up.

919
00:50:17,320 --> 00:50:20,280
Speaker 1: I mean it happens, right, You're a young team, you guys,

920
00:50:21,040 --> 00:50:26,520
Speaker 1: you're losing five. But then like that offseason before James

921
00:50:26,520 --> 00:50:29,080
Speaker 1: gets traded to Houston, like you know he has one

922
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:31,360
Speaker 1: year left on his deal, there's that talk about the

923
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:35,040
Speaker 1: contract extension. But throw all that out, like you would

924
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: win a championship in Boston. You know what it takes,

925
00:50:37,160 --> 00:50:39,239
Speaker 1: you know, the construction of a team that's necessary to

926
00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:42,480
Speaker 1: win a championship. Is there down your mind that Thunder

927
00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:45,279
Speaker 1: team is going to go back to the finals, not one,

928
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:46,560
Speaker 1: but multiple years?

929
00:50:47,520 --> 00:50:50,120
Speaker 3: It wasn't. It wasn't a doubt. I was like, oh,

930
00:50:50,320 --> 00:50:53,759
Speaker 3: this is just the beginning. If we are able to

931
00:50:53,880 --> 00:50:57,280
Speaker 3: keep the team together, Like if you if you're able

932
00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:02,520
Speaker 3: to keep James russ Kdi surge and still have myself

933
00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:04,919
Speaker 3: in the mix along with Nick Coleson, I'm like, shit,

934
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:09,239
Speaker 3: we about to run it back. And things happen and

935
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:13,120
Speaker 3: this is why I say having a young team, having

936
00:51:13,200 --> 00:51:17,200
Speaker 3: guys who still have individual things to achieve in the

937
00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:18,719
Speaker 3: basketball world.

938
00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:20,520
Speaker 2: It's hard, man, it's hard.

939
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:25,360
Speaker 3: And even looking at the James Harden situation, because you

940
00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:27,880
Speaker 3: got to remember, all three of those guys went to

941
00:51:27,920 --> 00:51:32,440
Speaker 3: the Olympics that year after the finals, all three of

942
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:36,160
Speaker 3: those guys went to the Olympics, right, And so I

943
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 3: think James was a later edition, if I'm not mistaken.

944
00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:45,720
Speaker 3: He was a later addition. And everybody was telling James

945
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:49,560
Speaker 3: at the Olympics, hey, man, you need your own team. Man,

946
00:51:49,600 --> 00:51:52,480
Speaker 3: you too good man to be under the shadows Russ

947
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 3: and KD. And so when James got back, when we

948
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,480
Speaker 3: got back to training camp, you could kind of feel

949
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:02,520
Speaker 3: it because you have to realize the Oklahoma City off

950
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:06,160
Speaker 3: off the Thunder offered him around sixty five million dollars.

951
00:52:06,239 --> 00:52:08,239
Speaker 1: It wasn't the max that it wasn't the most they

952
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,640
Speaker 1: could have offered him, though there was there was a

953
00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:13,080
Speaker 1: little bit. It was like nine or ten million more.

954
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:16,200
Speaker 1: I think that they eventually did, but at first they didn't.

955
00:52:16,719 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, they didn't.

956
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:20,120
Speaker 3: But but at the end of the day, it was

957
00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 3: more so about keeping the whole team. And you know,

958
00:52:24,560 --> 00:52:28,120
Speaker 3: what I mean, so to run it back. But it

959
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:32,360
Speaker 3: wasn't about the money. It was that James actually wanted

960
00:52:32,440 --> 00:52:37,360
Speaker 3: his own team, and James showed us why he deserved

961
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:38,200
Speaker 3: his own team.

962
00:52:38,640 --> 00:52:41,960
Speaker 2: At first, I knew James was really, really good. I

963
00:52:41,960 --> 00:52:44,000
Speaker 2: didn't know he was going to be great.

964
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:45,839
Speaker 3: Like I knew he was going to be a guy

965
00:52:45,840 --> 00:52:49,439
Speaker 3: that made some All Star games, but I didn't think

966
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:50,960
Speaker 3: he was a guy that was going to be an

967
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:52,479
Speaker 3: MVP type guy.

968
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:53,799
Speaker 2: I didn't think he was.

969
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:56,399
Speaker 1: Going to do so when he goes to Houston, Lady

970
00:52:56,440 --> 00:52:58,520
Speaker 1: gets traded and then like the first game, he scores

971
00:52:58,560 --> 00:53:01,880
Speaker 1: like I don't know what or what forty forty five

972
00:53:01,960 --> 00:53:04,880
Speaker 1: and sixteen. What is like as you guys are watching

973
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:06,440
Speaker 1: that in the Thunder locker room, is it just like

974
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:07,319
Speaker 1: holy shit?

975
00:53:07,520 --> 00:53:09,840
Speaker 2: Like we do it was? It was it was like

976
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:10,520
Speaker 2: what the fuck?

977
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:14,160
Speaker 3: Like we went to Houston and completely turned the whole

978
00:53:14,200 --> 00:53:18,880
Speaker 3: franchise around, like from day one, and I watched James

979
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:21,680
Speaker 3: in big moments, like you know, in the close out

980
00:53:21,719 --> 00:53:24,239
Speaker 3: game against the Mavericks when we beat them, when we

981
00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:26,600
Speaker 3: went to the finals, I think he had like twenty

982
00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:29,359
Speaker 3: four in the fourth quarter. I watched James do out

983
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,359
Speaker 3: that season when we played against the Phoenix Suns, come

984
00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:35,200
Speaker 3: off the bench and score forty, right, So I knew

985
00:53:35,200 --> 00:53:38,520
Speaker 3: he was capable of putting up buckets, but I didn't

986
00:53:38,560 --> 00:53:43,720
Speaker 3: know he was capable of doing everything else like the buckets, yes,

987
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:47,160
Speaker 3: but going and delivering in great fashion. And I didn't

988
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:49,560
Speaker 3: know he was capable of doing it on his own.

989
00:53:49,680 --> 00:53:53,279
Speaker 3: Because it's easy to score buckets when you also got

990
00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 3: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. But when you were able

991
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:58,520
Speaker 3: to go do it without having those two on your

992
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,560
Speaker 3: team and go take up franchise, you got to be

993
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:02,960
Speaker 3: a special type of dude.

994
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:05,080
Speaker 1: I mean, say what you want about him. He gets

995
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:06,879
Speaker 1: a lot of hate for his play style, but there's

996
00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:09,920
Speaker 1: no denying he's one of the best offensive players of

997
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:13,680
Speaker 1: all time ever. I know that we got to wrap

998
00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:16,520
Speaker 1: up soon, but I want to just get like, you know,

999
00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:19,279
Speaker 1: a few minutes of just like reflection, like when you

1000
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,240
Speaker 1: think back on these early days for you and okay,

1001
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:24,600
Speaker 1: see like what comes to mind? And I guess, is

1002
00:54:24,640 --> 00:54:27,200
Speaker 1: there anything that you learned from that as a professional?

1003
00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:33,279
Speaker 3: You know what it was? It was just about embracing

1004
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 3: the moment, right, And I have no regrets because I

1005
00:54:37,200 --> 00:54:40,880
Speaker 3: feel like I touched each one of those guys individually

1006
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:46,120
Speaker 3: on and off the court, whether that was Russ, Surge,

1007
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:50,799
Speaker 3: James and even KD and I have no regrets. One

1008
00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:54,400
Speaker 3: thing I will say is that it's this Oklahoma City

1009
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:57,120
Speaker 3: ran by Sam Presty and Troy We've been at the

1010
00:54:57,160 --> 00:55:03,440
Speaker 3: time mister Clay Bennett first as organization they practice facility

1011
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:06,520
Speaker 3: now is one of the best in the NBA. They

1012
00:55:06,560 --> 00:55:10,560
Speaker 3: have a great medical staff and Donnie led by Donnie

1013
00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:14,799
Speaker 3: Strap and man, when I tell you they over like

1014
00:55:15,239 --> 00:55:16,960
Speaker 3: they pull money back.

1015
00:55:16,719 --> 00:55:18,120
Speaker 2: Into their plays.

1016
00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:21,360
Speaker 3: One thing about Okay, see, you're gonna be in great shape,

1017
00:55:21,520 --> 00:55:24,799
Speaker 3: You're gonna eat healthy, You're gonna make sure everything They

1018
00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:27,759
Speaker 3: do everything possible to make sure that they put you

1019
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:31,319
Speaker 3: on the court to put you in position to be successful.

1020
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:34,680
Speaker 3: And that's one thing I will say about Oklahoma City

1021
00:55:34,719 --> 00:55:37,880
Speaker 3: is that first class organization from top.

1022
00:55:37,640 --> 00:55:39,000
Speaker 2: To bot m.

1023
00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:42,000
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're in Oklahoma, you gotta be a

1024
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:44,319
Speaker 1: good organization or house. People are gonna want to go

1025
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:49,759
Speaker 1: to somewhere else. But Perk, I appreciate you for hopping on.

1026
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:53,040
Speaker 1: This was a fun time reliving it. Everyone out there,

1027
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,560
Speaker 1: I don't have to say look out for Perk because

1028
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:58,080
Speaker 1: you're gonna see him on your cell phone on your TV.

1029
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:01,280
Speaker 1: But he's got some cool stuff in the in the works,

1030
00:56:01,480 --> 00:56:04,640
Speaker 1: so definitely look out for that. But Perk, just thank

1031
00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:06,880
Speaker 1: you for being on and we really appreciate it.

1032
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:10,840
Speaker 2: Hey, Hey, Dylan, I appreciate it. And guess what, carey on?

1033
00:56:11,640 --> 00:56:15,919
Speaker 1: Carry on? There we go, Thanks Perk, Take it easy, man, man,

1034
00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:18,319
Speaker 1: that was dope. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you

1035
00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:21,200
Speaker 1: to Big Perk for hopping on today. I could talk

1036
00:56:21,239 --> 00:56:25,040
Speaker 1: with him about this Thunder team forever, such a special, interesting,

1037
00:56:25,200 --> 00:56:27,960
Speaker 1: dynamic group and we never got to see them in

1038
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:32,239
Speaker 1: their full form, all developed, but nonetheless happy that we

1039
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:35,080
Speaker 1: got to do this deep dive into the twenty twelve season.

1040
00:56:36,080 --> 00:56:39,120
Speaker 1: You guys can find more Forgotten Seasons on Instagram and Twitter.

1041
00:56:39,160 --> 00:56:41,680
Speaker 1: We are also on YouTube now making a push there,

1042
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:45,000
Speaker 1: so if you haven't subscribed, please do. We're gonna have

1043
00:56:45,040 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 1: some exclusive content coming out there soon, and you can

1044
00:56:48,200 --> 00:56:51,040
Speaker 1: visit truth plus media dot com for more of these

1045
00:56:51,080 --> 00:56:54,239
Speaker 1: great stories from NBA history. We will be back soon

1046
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:57,720
Speaker 1: with more Forgotten Seasons, so stay tuned. Thank you guys again,

1047
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:00,600
Speaker 1: and be good. Got Hot