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Speaker 1: live in Ohio. What's up everybody? Welcome back to The
Speaker 1: Draymond Green Show. This next guest, I'm honored to have
Speaker 1: a guy who I'm actually able to call a teammate
Speaker 1: now but two time world champion hell and from Queens,
Speaker 1: New York where grew up in Queens, New York, New
Speaker 1: York City point guard, which we're gonna talk something about
Speaker 1: New York City point guards in this interview you. But
Speaker 1: I'm honored to have of Kenny to Jeff Smith, my brother,
Speaker 1: thank you for absolutely man looking forward to I mean,
Speaker 1: let's get right into it. I mean just speaking on
Speaker 1: growing up in New York, Um, what did that do
Speaker 1: for you and in your basketball career, but also just
Speaker 1: in life like I think, you know, we grow up
Speaker 1: in in in the environments that we grow up in
Speaker 1: and they shape who you are as a person. What
Speaker 1: they're growing up in New York City do for you, Well,
Speaker 1: you know, definitely dre it's different era now, but what
Speaker 1: you know in terms of from a personal standpoint, you
Speaker 1: you're you're antennas of life up quicker, so you you're
Speaker 1: able to read situations by people's body language, by body movements.
Speaker 1: Because there's such good people in New York and there's
Speaker 1: such bad people in New York and so you have
Speaker 1: to be able to really at an early age figure
Speaker 1: out who as whom And for me that was that
Speaker 1: helped me as a person. Um it helped me stay
Speaker 1: focused because my my dad could always point and my
Speaker 1: mom could always point to say or do you want
Speaker 1: to be like him? Or do you want to be
Speaker 1: like him? Or do you want to be like him?
Speaker 1: Like the people that they were talking about, it's such
Speaker 1: a melting pot of people trade that everyone's right into
Speaker 1: your neighborhood, Like did the guy five blocks from you
Speaker 1: makes a million dollars and the guys flop blocks back
Speaker 1: from you doesn't make a dollar? And have all these
Speaker 1: melting box pots of cultures mixed in. The craziest thing though,
Speaker 1: was food. You know, we didn't even like when I
Speaker 1: went to the University of North Carolina, right, I was
Speaker 1: at breakfast the first time we go to team breakfast,
Speaker 1: I said, let me have some bagels and locks and
Speaker 1: they were like, and what are you talking about bagels
Speaker 1: and locks? I did not know that bagels and locks
Speaker 1: was in Jewish food because I just grew around. I didn't, like,
Speaker 1: I really know pizza was ethnic. It was like Italian.
Speaker 1: I didn't know Jamaican making, but I did not know
Speaker 1: like it was just oh, that's a dollar fifty, that's
Speaker 1: two dollars. I never associated with ethic goose so like
Speaker 1: things like that. Growing up in New York, you have
Speaker 1: a like to me, I had a good spread of
Speaker 1: wealth of like just being around rounded person. That's a
Speaker 1: very interesting thing. I'll tell you something funny about me
Speaker 1: growing up in Sacking On, Michigan. I didn't And Jewish
Speaker 1: is a religion, but it's it's also it acts almost
Speaker 1: as a race. Like it's a religion, but it acts
Speaker 1: almost as a race. I actually I actually didn't know
Speaker 1: growing up in Sacking all like that there were Jewish people,
Speaker 1: like I just thought there were white people and like
Speaker 1: black people, like growing up in Sacking, I never knew
Speaker 1: that was a thing till I got to college and
Speaker 1: and so you could see the drastic difference. And like
Speaker 1: growing up in a place like New York City tough
Speaker 1: as nails, but bigger, more diverse, you're kind of exposed everything.
Speaker 1: Me growing up in Sagina on a place that's tough
Speaker 1: in a totally different way than New York City. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was. I did not know anything. Yeah, I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. Like even because the crazy part, like you
Speaker 1: see all of the Mafia stories, there's so many of
Speaker 1: their kids that were all my basketball teams that I
Speaker 1: didn't know that that's what their dads did. And I
Speaker 1: was like, I just would not. I had no clue
Speaker 1: because Queens, for some reason was a nexting ground for
Speaker 1: those guys in those in those eras. So all of
Speaker 1: that they said to all their kids to Catholic school,
Speaker 1: private schools. I went to a pap Catholic high school,
Speaker 1: and that people would be like, oh, don't mess with
Speaker 1: don't mess with Billy. Why not, Like now I just
Speaker 1: don't mess with Billy, don't mess with. And then by
Speaker 1: my senior year, I understood who that dads were and
Speaker 1: what they were doing because I started seeing them on
Speaker 1: the front page in New York papers. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 1: this is food Billy's that wanted to the city because
Speaker 1: of that. Because you think about this, like most of us,
Speaker 1: we grew up in the hood, Like all the guys
Speaker 1: in our neighborhood were doing bad or doing dirt, so
Speaker 1: to speak. They're like, okay, Drake, we're about to do something.
Speaker 1: Get out the way. We don't want you. We know
Speaker 1: that you have a future in basketball, right, well, you
Speaker 1: have a future to go to college. I had the
Speaker 1: same thing, but then you compile that with I had
Speaker 1: the mafia's families, the Jewish families that were in positive
Speaker 1: or negative. So everyone collectively in New York City was
Speaker 1: looking out for me. I could walk through New York
Speaker 1: City and skate through the city and I never felt
Speaker 1: threatened at all because of that is what basketball did
Speaker 1: for me. Do you still feel like that today when
Speaker 1: you walk through New York City without questions like New
Speaker 1: York Yeah, I joke around. I'm like, my name is
Speaker 1: not Kenny, It's Kenny, and why so I'm like I
Speaker 1: could walk around because literally the I told you, we
Speaker 1: had those guys at our school. The head of the
Speaker 1: police chief came from my high school New York City,
Speaker 1: so I had the chief police chief, who becomes the
Speaker 1: ultimate police chief. The guy was doing doing all the dirt.
Speaker 1: I live in a neighborhood that's got all of the
Speaker 1: different things with eighties and nineties babies, so we cracked
Speaker 1: babies and all of that time, you know people around us,
Speaker 1: So we got that going so every sink. But then
Speaker 1: most of the guys from my high school we worked
Speaker 1: on Wall Street as well. So when I go, so
Speaker 1: you got Wall Street, you got drugs, you got money,
Speaker 1: you got every element. And there's nowhere in New York City.
Speaker 1: I don't know anyone. It's it's impossible for me to
Speaker 1: walk anywhere not know anyone. That's impressive, man, That's that's impressive.
Speaker 1: It actually was fun. It was fun growing up in
Speaker 1: New York for me, even though it's danger, but it
Speaker 1: was fun. It was fun. And and speaking of New
Speaker 1: York City and growing up there, uh St. John's is there?
Speaker 1: You chose to go play at North Carolina for Dean Smith?
Speaker 1: Why North Carolina over St. John's now, I would never
Speaker 1: play for St. John's only because my high school I
Speaker 1: had to take the bus by St. John's. So I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm not getting on the same bus to
Speaker 1: go to college. I am not. There was no way
Speaker 1: I had. I could fathom having a bus pass to
Speaker 1: go to college. I just couldn't. I was like, there's
Speaker 1: no way. And Lou Kona Second, who was there at
Speaker 1: the time, like he is a New York icon, Like
Speaker 1: he still tweeted me like I was in New York,
Speaker 1: like I was one of St. John's guy. When he
Speaker 1: saw me, he'd see me, Hey, Kenny, how you doing. Hey,
Speaker 1: we got some stinkers. Give Kenny some stinkers if you
Speaker 1: want to run. And he just knew. I wasn't ever
Speaker 1: gonna transfer from North Carolina to State John's, but he
Speaker 1: just was. He was there epitome of the New York
Speaker 1: basketball grandfather. And St. John's was our I went to
Speaker 1: Maloit High School, which was the subsidiary of St. John's,
Speaker 1: So St. John's was the same diocese of priests that
Speaker 1: went there to my call school. So like people taught
Speaker 1: at St. John's taught at my high school, or vice versa.
Speaker 1: So we had a real coach connection with St. John's University.
Speaker 1: But I was never gonna take a bus to that school,
Speaker 1: bro Never no chance, no no chance. I wanted to
Speaker 1: see what that look like. You know the movies with
Speaker 1: the frat houses, you know, with Michigan. I wanted all that.
Speaker 1: I wanted all that, the proper college experience. I always say,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure I would want would have wanted to
Speaker 1: go to school in New York, UM or go to
Speaker 1: school in l A. Like college And because the experience
Speaker 1: that I had at Michigan State in East Lansing, Michigan,
Speaker 1: you can't get that experience as a college player in
Speaker 1: New York. You can't get that experience as a college
Speaker 1: player in l A. And and that's always been my thing,
Speaker 1: is like even if you do great in l A,
Speaker 1: CE l A can do great, U c l A
Speaker 1: has done great, UM USC can do great. They've done
Speaker 1: The Lakers are still there, like the New York Knicks
Speaker 1: are still in New York City. If you win a
Speaker 1: championship the same year that the New York Knicks went
Speaker 1: in championship, they may not even have a parade for you.
Speaker 1: Like that's how drastic they sell for St. John's, you know,
Speaker 1: because I know Mark Jackson's my guy. That's my guy.
Speaker 1: I know they're gonna be like, oh, he's killing say.
Speaker 1: What they sell is New York is your campus. They
Speaker 1: say your campus is New York City. And that's how
Speaker 1: they sell to people who aren't there. They're like, your
Speaker 1: campus is New York City. And for me, I was like,
Speaker 1: I lived there my whole life. It's always been my campus.
Speaker 1: Some called and I'm gone, it's been my campus, my
Speaker 1: old Like, I don't need it no more. The restaurants
Speaker 1: in New York City they still cost the same if
Speaker 1: you go to St. John's, right, No, I'm meeting this
Speaker 1: way because you're on the front page back then, before
Speaker 1: social media, you're on the front page of the newspaper,
Speaker 1: back page of the newspaper. You're not paying for nothing.
Speaker 1: If you go to St. Johns and you're Walter Berry,
Speaker 1: you're Mark Jackson, and you're Chris Marlin, you're not being
Speaker 1: nothing in New York City. But everybody that's three guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, but no, I'm talking about the whole St.
Speaker 1: John's team. Those guys have. They did have some really
Speaker 1: great privileges to being in St. Johns I would say that,
Speaker 1: I would say that some privileges. Okay, what that works then,
Speaker 1: because if I if I'm a college shoot and nowadays
Speaker 1: n I L. It's different, and we'll we'll talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about that. But if I'm a college student
Speaker 1: in New York City and and and I'm not getting
Speaker 1: those privileges, then then then you're essentially like living a
Speaker 1: life of a peasant because we don't have any money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're broken and even you know what else, D like,
Speaker 1: what you always want is you want to feel appreciated,
Speaker 1: even more than getting a dollar or n I L. Deal.
Speaker 1: It's like you walk on campus and things stop because
Speaker 1: of what you're doing and how much work you're putting
Speaker 1: in on the campus and how much notoriety you bring
Speaker 1: it to the school. If you don't have that, it
Speaker 1: is it's a bad feeling. And I would never want
Speaker 1: that feeling. That's where you know, when I went to
Speaker 1: North Carolina and I'm walking around with Sam Perkins and
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's and I'm walking around and I'm seeing with
Speaker 1: these guys and how they being entertained just by just
Speaker 1: at presence. I was like, like Drake when we used
Speaker 1: to go, oh, Duke is a duke was out rival
Speaker 1: well that school and Durham, North Carolina and Central sits
Speaker 1: in the middle hbc U, So if you want to
Speaker 1: get your hair cut, you're going to North Caroline Central.
Speaker 1: They got the best barbers, they got their whole student union.
Speaker 1: So this was showed that we were better than them
Speaker 1: at this time. When we came in there dre they
Speaker 1: would shut down the barber shop and no one could
Speaker 1: come in the shop. And I never forget this. Johnny
Speaker 1: Dawkins comes and trying to get a haircut as and
Speaker 1: he's a duke player at the time, who's now the
Speaker 1: head you know, a basketball coaching college basketball, and they
Speaker 1: wouldn't let him in. Join It was like if you
Speaker 1: open that door, we will never come back to get
Speaker 1: a haircut. And they didn't let him in. I was like, yes,
Speaker 1: we had to hurt, had to hurt. They didn't let
Speaker 1: him because they used to shut it down for them
Speaker 1: or for us. So when when we were in there first,
Speaker 1: they mind, now we're here, don't throw that door for them.
Speaker 1: So all the kids and knock Outie sent you and
Speaker 1: a little they would come and just look at us
Speaker 1: getting here because we were like because there was no
Speaker 1: NBA teams. We were rock stars. It was rock star
Speaker 1: status in North Callina. Probably it's absolutely rock star status.
Speaker 1: That's a that's incredible. And speaking of speaking of Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: want to roll into your North Carolina days? Um, you
Speaker 1: go to North Carolina Dean Smith's to coach the legend
Speaker 1: Dean Smith r P. What was it like going to
Speaker 1: play for a coach like Dean Smith? And at that time,
Speaker 1: like so now we all look at Dean Smith like
Speaker 1: the legend. At that time, did it have that same
Speaker 1: feel of going to play for a legend as it
Speaker 1: has now, like we look at him as the legend?
Speaker 1: Or was he just kind of still going through making
Speaker 1: him making his name. No, he he was a legend
Speaker 1: for sure. Me being a New Yorker, I was about
Speaker 1: I was a pro basketball family while I was a
Speaker 1: college basketball fan, so I knew, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: until I got there. And there's so many things which
Speaker 1: is interesting, Drake, Like, I just finished writing a book
Speaker 1: and it's called it's called Talker Champions and what it is.
Speaker 1: It's a tell all book about everything I learned great
Speaker 1: from people, oh only so And each chapter is named
Speaker 1: after a Pacific person and everything. I learned great from them,
Speaker 1: and I wish I could, and I've been stowing that
Speaker 1: onto my kids in the world so that you could
Speaker 1: have it early and get it all together. But if
Speaker 1: I knew it all that one time, man, it'd be crazy.
Speaker 1: So when with Dean smept the most unique thing. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of great things about it, but one of
Speaker 1: the most unique things that he could have done to
Speaker 1: recruit me and got me to sign instantly. I got
Speaker 1: down there, I had no idea. I knew what Charlie
Speaker 1: Scott was because he played in the NBA. He was
Speaker 1: an NBA All Star at the time, but I didn't
Speaker 1: know he was the first African American player in the
Speaker 1: A c C. And I didn't know the first. And
Speaker 1: he played for North Carolina and Dean Smith recruited him
Speaker 1: and said he's the first. If you walk into any
Speaker 1: African American home and said I recruit the first African
Speaker 1: American basketball player to ever play at the University of
Speaker 1: North Carolina or the a c C, you know, everyone
Speaker 1: would go, oh, I'm coming to your school. There's not
Speaker 1: even I'm not even there's no debate. And I asked him,
Speaker 1: I said, why didn't you ever tell me that? And
Speaker 1: he said, I didn't recruit African American Charlie Scott. I
Speaker 1: recruited Charlie Scott. Wow. And and from then he said
Speaker 1: the second thing, he says, now that you're here, this
Speaker 1: was when a part time was going on with with
Speaker 1: all of the things in Africa. We had the shanties
Speaker 1: on the on the on the campus, and it was
Speaker 1: protests about Mandela. And he goes, now, the second thing, now,
Speaker 1: as an African American student, what are you going to
Speaker 1: do that is not related to basketball with this I
Speaker 1: didn't even know what a part time was at that time.
Speaker 1: I'm coming out of high school, not really into politically smart,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And that was the first
Speaker 1: two things he said to me. I was like, that's
Speaker 1: a different individual, without question. So yes, it was for
Speaker 1: me was an out of boutics experience. It was like
Speaker 1: playing for Mandela's, playing for Mother Teresa, playing for all
Speaker 1: of the Luther King like he it was like his
Speaker 1: knowledge and awareness of self was I had never experienced
Speaker 1: anything like that, and especially from someone who was non
Speaker 1: African American. That was the first time that I ever
Speaker 1: read a white man that ever asked me, what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do for black people like me? That's the
Speaker 1: first white person that ever asked me that question. What
Speaker 1: did you didn't do? I found? I did research. I
Speaker 1: was like, damn, I don't even know what a party
Speaker 1: really is. I just read about it on the headlines.
Speaker 1: So I researched it. Then they had the shanties on campus,
Speaker 1: so we helped build some of the shanties on campus.
Speaker 1: You know, like I just did small things, gave some
Speaker 1: time here and then. But I wasn't aware. He just
Speaker 1: made me aware of something that I probably would have
Speaker 1: asked the athlete didn't could have skated by because you know,
Speaker 1: because at this time, it wasn't like it is today.
Speaker 1: You know, Mohammad Ali was the only one that people
Speaker 1: asked about, you know, what was going on in other
Speaker 1: than his sport. And so for meeting him, for him
Speaker 1: to say that, and and it challenged me as an
Speaker 1: African American young man, and and the and I don't
Speaker 1: even think I had a black coach that ever challenged
Speaker 1: me like that. That's interesting. That's a that's that's very interesting.
Speaker 1: Um you you go on, and by the way, you said,
Speaker 1: I gave a little bit of time for for for
Speaker 1: those listening to this, I don't think you understand what
Speaker 1: given a little bit of time in college means, like
Speaker 1: you don't have time exactly, you don't have time. Your
Speaker 1: schedule is not your schedule. Your life is not your life,
Speaker 1: like you don't have time. So Number one, for Dean
Speaker 1: Smith to ask you that, I think it is incredible.
Speaker 1: Number two for him to allow you to have the
Speaker 1: time to do that, like you don't have time in college,
Speaker 1: you don't. I think that's honorable. Think it's very honorable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a different experience. You joined the team with Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan and Sam Perkins. When you when you arrive and
Speaker 1: you join those guys on that team, obviously looking at
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan. Then no one's saying, oh man, I see him.
Speaker 1: This guy is gonna be the greatest player ever to play.
Speaker 1: But did you see something in him different at that time,
Speaker 1: maybe work ethic, maybe athleticism, something that made you think
Speaker 1: he was special or was it just like no, like,
Speaker 1: that's Michael Jordan's my teammate. He's really good. I think um,
Speaker 1: it was after it was the summers that I noticed it.
Speaker 1: It was his work ethic in the summertime. During the season,
Speaker 1: we're all working the same amount, so no one's getting
Speaker 1: an edge on work ethic, like we're all doing the
Speaker 1: same stuff. But in the all season when the pros
Speaker 1: at that time, you know, we probably had twenty two
Speaker 1: guys who were in the NBA from North Carolina and
Speaker 1: they all would come back and play and he would
Speaker 1: just dominate guys. And these are guys who are NBA
Speaker 1: All Stars and I wanted, like I wanted to get
Speaker 1: their autograph, and he would just dominate Dre in terms
Speaker 1: of like everyone has a day, like I'm sure that
Speaker 1: when East lankson, you had a day or two a
Speaker 1: week ago, but it was every day that he did it.
Speaker 1: And he was the first guy that I saw because
Speaker 1: I'm a trash talking I'm from New York. That's all
Speaker 1: we do. Talk talk talk, so but he was the
Speaker 1: first guy that I saw that could back up everything
Speaker 1: he said. He could back it up, and he was
Speaker 1: the I always said to him, I'm like, yo, you're
Speaker 1: the perfect basketball body. He's like, what do you mean.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're six ft six. She could play with
Speaker 1: the bigs, and you're six ft six and you can
Speaker 1: guard the smallest and you have super athleticism. And then
Speaker 1: in college he had a perfect jump shot. So I
Speaker 1: used to be like, how do you miss your jump shot?
Speaker 1: Your elbows always in you shaid never miss. The one
Speaker 1: thing that I thought we did they didn't have when
Speaker 1: I was a freshman was his ball handling. He was
Speaker 1: very he was good at dotting to the rim tree,
Speaker 1: but he couldn't shake you. So I used to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: I got Mike. I got Mike. And he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're gonna guard me. I'm like, yeah, you can't trouble.
Speaker 1: You can't got back that we stay handed. You ain't
Speaker 1: got no hand due so long story short, be playing
Speaker 1: pick up blah blah blah blah. So next year comes
Speaker 1: and he goes you called me like, yeah, I got
Speaker 1: my right handles ridiculous. He's like, I gotta handle now.
Speaker 1: So even like that, you know, the documentary says he
Speaker 1: thinks of things even when he doesn't. Probably probably don't
Speaker 1: remember saying it. But he came back a year later
Speaker 1: and the first thing he says, well, I gotta handle now,
Speaker 1: and he worked on I'll say this about Andre, he's
Speaker 1: the only bed player in basketball history that the things
Speaker 1: he came in that were he that was his weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Where his strengths when he left the league. His ball handling,
Speaker 1: his shooting, his turnaround jump shot, his post game was
Speaker 1: probably some of his weaknesses. Those were his strengths when
Speaker 1: he left the league. There's nobody else like that, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm telling me Kobe it what did Kobe? Wasn't that
Speaker 1: Kobe's as a rookie. He was of stuff as a rookie.
Speaker 1: It was fast, it was fancy, but I don't think
Speaker 1: it was like like he was doing the long crossover stuff,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't a tight hand. It was couldn't do
Speaker 1: a long crossover when he got to leave. He couldn't
Speaker 1: that that pull back on Brian Russell. He would have
Speaker 1: never been able to do that when he first got
Speaker 1: in the league. There was like no way that I
Speaker 1: would imagine he's doing that move to win an NBA finals.
Speaker 1: That's what I mean. Like that move for Kobe, I
Speaker 1: would still be like, Okay, he likes to do all
Speaker 1: that he could. I would never imagine Mike that would
Speaker 1: be his signature move that like couldn't define his career,
Speaker 1: could could define his career. Like I just think that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Kobe might be that guy, but I don't
Speaker 1: know any other like that. Every weakness was his strength
Speaker 1: at the end. That's impressive. That's so so Mike leaves
Speaker 1: the team. The team once he leaves the team kind
Speaker 1: of becomes yours. You become a consensus all American going
Speaker 1: to be the number six pick by the Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 1: What was your experience like in getting drafted to Sacramento
Speaker 1: because I know for me, like you went from New
Speaker 1: York to North Carolina, that's a big difference. I got
Speaker 1: drafted to go to state worries. I had never been
Speaker 1: out of I had never been out of the state
Speaker 1: of Michigan. So I was homesick going to California. And
Speaker 1: I don't think people people would ask me, like, Yo,
Speaker 1: what's it like out there? I would just say different.
Speaker 1: They're like, what's different? I don't really know how to
Speaker 1: explained different to you, but it was just it's just different.
Speaker 1: And that was a big thing for me my rookie year.
Speaker 1: Then if from being honest with you almost cost me
Speaker 1: my career because I was so homesick, Like I was
Speaker 1: just turned off by all of it. What was that
Speaker 1: experience like for you getting drafted to Sacramento. These tears
Speaker 1: coming down my high. I was ready to cry. First
Speaker 1: of all, I didn't even know him, like they don't.
Speaker 1: They didn't come on TV. They had terrible management and
Speaker 1: ownership at that time. But the one caveat was Bill
Speaker 1: Russell had just taken a job over so Bill I
Speaker 1: had the distinction of being the only player that Bill
Speaker 1: Russell has drafted. I drafted me into the NBA, you know.
Speaker 1: And so the great thing about that experience was every
Speaker 1: day Bill had a rule that I had to sit
Speaker 1: next day on all team planes and all team busses,
Speaker 1: and he said and he I had to hear. I
Speaker 1: heard every Boston Celtics story. I heard every civil rights
Speaker 1: story I heard because he never slept on any of
Speaker 1: the planes or the things. So I had rookie, Rookie,
Speaker 1: you didn't sleep last night, So I heard every story.
Speaker 1: That was a great caveat of that relationship. I became
Speaker 1: very close with Bill Russell, even till this day. I
Speaker 1: still speak to his wife, you know, I mean, like
Speaker 1: really close with him. In six months. The downfall of
Speaker 1: that is the team was terrible and the organization wasn't
Speaker 1: a championship mix so meeting like North Carolina has a rule.
Speaker 1: D swift at a rule if a player calls him
Speaker 1: in the office, he's gonna pick up the phone. Roy
Speaker 1: Williams did it, and I'm sure Huban Davids is doing
Speaker 1: it now. He's gonna pick up the phone regardless of
Speaker 1: he's talking to the President of the United States, unless
Speaker 1: he's talking to another player. That's the only time he
Speaker 1: won't pick up for you. I get drafted. All Draft night, Drake. Hey,
Speaker 1: you get drafted, they give you know how to give
Speaker 1: you the phone you talking. I was at home champ
Speaker 1: so I don't know all that, but you get that
Speaker 1: experience people listing funny. You can remember I forgot about that.
Speaker 1: So you pick up the phone and they go, I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is Kenney Smith. The secretary goes one second, I'm
Speaker 1: on the phone for like three minutes. This is all
Speaker 1: draft night. Right after I get about the stage, she
Speaker 1: gets back, she goes, Hi, Sacramental team Kings may help you.
Speaker 1: I go, this is Kenny Smith. I just got drafted.
Speaker 1: Produ I'm this is Kenny Smith. I'm here to talk
Speaker 1: to Bill Russell. I didn't say drafted yet, And so
Speaker 1: she goes one second, another four minutes, come and go by. Hi,
Speaker 1: the Sacramental Kings might help you. Who's calling? I said this,
Speaker 1: Kenny Smith. I get drafted, So right then I'm turned off,
Speaker 1: Like I'm like, I just got drafted six and I'm
Speaker 1: going to a place that don't value. They don't value me,
Speaker 1: They don't even they don't value what's going on now.
Speaker 1: Obviously coach Russell hadn't been there long enough to change
Speaker 1: the culture. You know, he was a new just like me.
Speaker 1: So the culture was so bad in Sacramento. We used
Speaker 1: to we used to do our own laundry. Guys would
Speaker 1: forget their jerseys dre because they're doing their own laundry
Speaker 1: at home and they're packing their bags. You know how
Speaker 1: the team takes care of you. Stick every team and
Speaker 1: even in the nineties, man teams did that. They you're
Speaker 1: doing all of that and you're trying to play and concentrate,
Speaker 1: and they're like, oh, you want your laundry done, you
Speaker 1: gotta pay a hundred dollars a month, which is nothing
Speaker 1: but the fact that they would make you paid to
Speaker 1: have someone do their laundry to show that they didn't
Speaker 1: care about you. That's all it does because hundred dollards
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt me, it doesn't hurt the team. It just
Speaker 1: shows me that you don't care. That's absolutely I didn't
Speaker 1: like that experience. Going to Houston was like a godsend. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's like a breath of freshman. You go to Houston.
Speaker 1: You're then when her king what what? What's something that
Speaker 1: people don't know about her Kim that made him special?
Speaker 1: Like obviously we all know the footwork was incredible, but
Speaker 1: what was something that he did on the basketball court
Speaker 1: that was more of an underrated thing that people don't
Speaker 1: quite give credit for. That was actually one of the
Speaker 1: things that really made him great. Before I go to basketball,
Speaker 1: I've been blessed to play with great people and be
Speaker 1: around great mentors. That's why I wrote the book. Honestly,
Speaker 1: he's the most honorable man I've ever met in my life.
Speaker 1: Most horrible, Like if a if a key, Like right now,
Speaker 1: if I was stuck on the highway and they gave
Speaker 1: me a cell phone, he said, you've got three people
Speaker 1: to call it, come get you. I'm calling a key.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be one of the three. He's always gonna
Speaker 1: do exactly what he's gonna what he says, what he's
Speaker 1: gonna do. He never variants from what he says. He's
Speaker 1: so honorable and what his word is. Like we all
Speaker 1: we had to saying the New York word is born,
Speaker 1: word is born. Your word is Bob, Like no, his
Speaker 1: word is bond. Well, it is a hundred percent of
Speaker 1: what it is. He means it all the time. Always,
Speaker 1: the most honorable dude I've ever been around. So on
Speaker 1: a basketball court, you're gonna trust it, Yo, Kenny, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be there. I'm coming. Don't worry if he he's
Speaker 1: gonna be there. He said it, he's gonna be there.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be there. So the most underrated thing was
Speaker 1: his word. The second most under as a physical standpoint
Speaker 1: was he would be unbelievable in today's game because he
Speaker 1: could switch one to five and so he could God
Speaker 1: come up the pick and you got the one. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's moving his feet and if you throw the law,
Speaker 1: he's going back to still try to contest the law
Speaker 1: I had. I've never seen a player that could don't
Speaker 1: go in the pick and roll and get back to
Speaker 1: this man on the role and still block the shot.
Speaker 1: He was the most unique athlete in terms of instinct,
Speaker 1: like he just knew when the leave, he knew when
Speaker 1: the state, he knew when to come. I know you're
Speaker 1: a great defensive player, and that's why I kind of
Speaker 1: watched certain things that you do on the pick and roll,
Speaker 1: and it's very okay. Imagine if you were six ten
Speaker 1: and and your athleticism was Blake Griffin, that was a key.
Speaker 1: I mean, Jesus, he's on a defensive end at six
Speaker 1: ten with Blake Griffin young athleticism. That's so he is.
Speaker 1: That's impressive. You know. I heard something about her king
Speaker 1: Um that I think is even more impressive than anything
Speaker 1: he's done about I heard her king owners like half
Speaker 1: of Houston. I heard he's a real estate guru. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true or not. But if
Speaker 1: that is true and he's a real estate guru like that,
Speaker 1: the fact that he is that you don't hear anything
Speaker 1: from him, you don't see anything like and so the
Speaker 1: fact I've heard that, and then corporation is real. And
Speaker 1: the crazy thing is he started it in college. Really
Speaker 1: he he was living in a town home in college.
Speaker 1: He gets drafted by Houston and his first purchase he
Speaker 1: bought the condom that he was in, and then it
Speaker 1: just so on and so on. Then he moved, got
Speaker 1: out kept and it just but it's he is the
Speaker 1: most underrated wealthy man in the NBA. Underrated his wealth.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but just his business savvy and you know,
Speaker 1: to have to have that kind of mindset he's always had.
Speaker 1: I've never walked in the room or to his house
Speaker 1: or to anything and said, man, what is this dude
Speaker 1: doing a ray key? Never that his company that he keeps.
Speaker 1: You're like, man, can I know you? Can I get
Speaker 1: to know who you are? Can I figure out how
Speaker 1: to be next to you? His company was impeccable, Like
Speaker 1: I said, the most honorable person I've ever met. Tip
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Speaker 1: West Virginia. That's impressing and speaking of a king obviously
Speaker 1: dominated with his back to the basket, do you think
Speaker 1: that style will ever come back into the NBA with
Speaker 1: the way the NBA has transitioned to more like I,
Speaker 1: centers in the NBA, maybe even more can't play with
Speaker 1: their back to the basket today. Yeah, he would, He
Speaker 1: would kill He would kill us era only because he
Speaker 1: was actually the king of the mid range shot too.
Speaker 1: So like he his whole thing was I'm gonna face
Speaker 1: you and and like do inside pivots and do guard
Speaker 1: moves as a big we so he and I Vernon
Speaker 1: Maxwell and although we sometimes we shoot at the practice
Speaker 1: and we he would just do all cart moves. He's
Speaker 1: about Kenny. It's the same moves on the box up
Speaker 1: and under his step throughs out front, you know, crossover headving.
Speaker 1: It's the same stuff. I'm gonna do all your moves,
Speaker 1: let's go, let's go. And he does. But then with
Speaker 1: with underrating, he never would take him. But you know,
Speaker 1: I shot a lot of three, so he would always
Speaker 1: get into three shooting contests and he can make five
Speaker 1: out of eight threes from each five like easily. But
Speaker 1: in the game he's like, and I said, Dream, why
Speaker 1: don't you shoot threes? Because you know, he's like, why
Speaker 1: are we going to shoot threes? I only have to
Speaker 1: play three times a year, Patrick Ewey, David Robinson and
Speaker 1: well and shot that's it. Everyone else like Hill. It's
Speaker 1: like he's like, so he's like, no one else could
Speaker 1: call me in. There's them, that's it. I move out.
Speaker 1: And he said, the only time I moved up to
Speaker 1: the block is against those three guys because no one
Speaker 1: else could call me. But he could shoot the three.
Speaker 1: He led the league and steals one year. So defensively
Speaker 1: he was incredible defensive player they year m v P.
Speaker 1: His mid range game was crazy. His his picking role
Speaker 1: lob to the rim would have been Blake Griffin like,
Speaker 1: and he would have shot the three. He would have
Speaker 1: been like I'm trying to think of. He would have
Speaker 1: been able to finish like Clint Canteller compeller on the
Speaker 1: on the lobs because he read that he knows when
Speaker 1: to leave. He would have been defensively six ten you
Speaker 1: and he would have probably been who takes that mid
Speaker 1: range jumper down at the vibe on the point range
Speaker 1: Jay Joel, Joe, he's an athletic Joe, l E and
Speaker 1: B Me and Seth canseell cause Sambo, you know, ask
Speaker 1: my guy. He always puts me on the phone when
Speaker 1: he's on the bus with all his seventy sixes and
Speaker 1: they have this argument about how Dream couldn't be guard Joel.
Speaker 1: He came on Kitty called now tell him Kitty and
Speaker 1: he's an athletic Joel Me like Joel is athletic, but
Speaker 1: he's not. He's more brute strength. But he they play
Speaker 1: a lot of like a lot of like that midrange shot.
Speaker 1: He kind of backs you in. But I just think
Speaker 1: he's a much better defender than Joel. That's it. He's
Speaker 1: just a much better defender and strong enough. He had
Speaker 1: to be strong enough, right he guard shot? Yeah, yeah, shot.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anyone not be outpowered by shock but him.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was because it's his footwork,
Speaker 1: his strength, or just his tenacity like Dre like and
Speaker 1: you'd like him. He's got a lot of that in you.
Speaker 1: Like before he went to debout Muslim Like, it was
Speaker 1: like teams were fearful not only of him as a defender,
Speaker 1: but they were a little bit scared of his physicality,
Speaker 1: you know, and how he would treat you if you
Speaker 1: showed any type of So I had dog had him
Speaker 1: Vernon Maxwell, I was talking, so I was so happy
Speaker 1: I had them dogs around me. Man, those two dudes,
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Unbelievable, unbelievable, my baborite teammate up all time.
Speaker 1: It's probably Chucky Brown just because we vote from New York.
Speaker 1: We have, but Vernon Maxwell and Sam Counsel and Mario Ellie,
Speaker 1: we should just sit on the bus and do this
Speaker 1: all day. Uh dre just just what we're doing. So
Speaker 1: when I'm in, when I'm when I'm on TV, when
Speaker 1: I first got all the used to be like, man,
Speaker 1: you should pay us, should just saying stuff we said
Speaker 1: in the back of the post all of yea, So
Speaker 1: those are my guys. Man, that's incredible. That's incredible. Speaking
Speaker 1: of y'all time. With the Houston Rockets, I hate it
Speaker 1: because I've heard similar stuff like that with our championships.
Speaker 1: Not exactly the same, but along the lines, people say,
Speaker 1: if Michael Jordan's didn't leave for those two years, do
Speaker 1: y'all still win those two championships. Quite frankly, it don't
Speaker 1: matter your Chammian, but it matters. It matters what it does.
Speaker 1: So so what do you feel about that? What do
Speaker 1: you think happens if m j does not leave those
Speaker 1: two years. I'm gonna say this, Michael Jordan is to
Speaker 1: me the best greatest player that I ever touched the
Speaker 1: basketball And I'm actually glad that we didn't play them
Speaker 1: because I love the resume that he has that he's
Speaker 1: never lost in the finals, because as a fan of
Speaker 1: basketball fan, I think that's a great resume. But they
Speaker 1: wouldn't beat us. They would not have beaten us straight
Speaker 1: because of two things. Not because he wasn't the greatest player,
Speaker 1: because Akim was also the number He would have been
Speaker 1: number one or two player in the world at that
Speaker 1: time too, and those championship runs, but they were the
Speaker 1: Bulls were too little. Then people forget they had. The
Speaker 1: reason they lost to Orlando wasn't shock, it was Harsh
Speaker 1: Grant was gone and hards. Grant was there, and they
Speaker 1: lifted Hard ran up after the series because he dominated
Speaker 1: the series more than he's ever done offensively. Because they
Speaker 1: were too little. So all of those guys, and they
Speaker 1: were just too little for Dream Weddington and Phil Jackson
Speaker 1: didn't double team. The next year, we wanted they he
Speaker 1: comes back, they hadn't had Rodman, Robin wasn't there yet.
Speaker 1: There's still too little. So they just would have not
Speaker 1: been able to dominates because in those that first championship
Speaker 1: years when they won I think three in a row.
Speaker 1: You know we're in the East and West. She only
Speaker 1: played him twice. We went six and two in the
Speaker 1: regular season against him. Now it's not the playoffs like
Speaker 1: it's different, but that just shows that like we all
Speaker 1: in three years the only beat them twice. Like wait
Speaker 1: a minute, Like that's that's saying a lot that they
Speaker 1: had trouble with us. Even when they were winning championships.
Speaker 1: They used to come to Houston and get elves so
Speaker 1: and then was because they wouldn't double and then when
Speaker 1: they and then they were too slow on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Because myself, Burning and and and Sam at that time
Speaker 1: we were I was a jet for a reason. I
Speaker 1: could get by people sitting Burning get by people easily.
Speaker 1: Sam could dribble by people. They were just too slow
Speaker 1: with b J, Steve and they on the perimeter, so
Speaker 1: we got we got baskets a little bit more frequently too.
Speaker 1: So now I don't think they would have beat us man,
Speaker 1: I don't. I think they were too little. Now, if
Speaker 1: they had Robman, they would have beat this probably. I
Speaker 1: think I would have been like I didn't know about
Speaker 1: But no, Robin, no, no, Grants were smacking them. Why
Speaker 1: do they beat you all of hey high Rodman, do
Speaker 1: you think robbing would have guard a Dream? Well, it's
Speaker 1: just the second top shot opportunities, Like we were getting
Speaker 1: second shot opportunities. You know, you don't have to like
Speaker 1: Dream is gonna be efficient, but he might not be
Speaker 1: a dominant in one game in the series. Like so
Speaker 1: you haven't eat you get even it out. It's like
Speaker 1: every series. Like okay, when y'all played Cleveland, who'd you
Speaker 1: guard it? Kevin Love? Okay, take you out of there.
Speaker 1: How many rebounds is Kevin Love him? Yet? Hell of
Speaker 1: a rebounder, top three and that era he wasn top
Speaker 1: three powder forward in the game twelve rebounds. You can
Speaker 1: book it. You can book it now, not only rebound
Speaker 1: offensively around putbacks. You're like, no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you don't do a little bit of that. But we're
Speaker 1: shutting some of that down. That's what they could have done.
Speaker 1: They could have shut it down without them. Nah, we're
Speaker 1: wild on the boards, we all. He's all over the rim.
Speaker 1: He's an animal over the It's too much, it was,
Speaker 1: and we're shooting threes and we're the first team to
Speaker 1: shoot threes, Drake, it's too much. We we we created
Speaker 1: the four out one in offense. Nobody was doing that
Speaker 1: and before us we were all everybody else was doing
Speaker 1: to guard fronts. We're the first team to win an
Speaker 1: NBA championship playing four out in one end too much?
Speaker 1: It was too much for so what happens? I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people don't understand from year to year
Speaker 1: championship teams are different. Even if you go back to back,
Speaker 1: it's a different team. Like very seldomly does an NBA
Speaker 1: team come back the exact same from one year to
Speaker 1: the next. And it could be one or two pieces
Speaker 1: that the public may not see and they leave and
Speaker 1: and you know on that team, like, man, we missed
Speaker 1: this guy, We missed that guy. Was there something someone
Speaker 1: that y'all lost after the second championship that changed the
Speaker 1: whole dynamic for y'all? Team I think it was management.
Speaker 1: The belief was that dream and Clyde got it done.
Speaker 1: Uh huh. You know, in the moment, no one's believing that,
Speaker 1: Oh it's a team. Everybody's did they Kenny, you broke
Speaker 1: the NBA record for threes that game. Sam you came
Speaker 1: in and got thirty in game two, and it in
Speaker 1: Mario you e the kiss of death like everybody. Everybody
Speaker 1: remembers that in the moment. Then about a year and
Speaker 1: a half removed, they don't remember that, and they go,
Speaker 1: we can get a guy, we can get a guy
Speaker 1: to do it. I'm gonna go here with you. We
Speaker 1: didn't get a guy to do with Gary Payton. J
Speaker 1: Third does Oh no you can't. Oh no, you can't.
Speaker 1: Now somebody might run into that role. But if you're
Speaker 1: gonna miss it, and you're like, you're gonna miss g
Speaker 1: P three, this role is big with Big two rather right,
Speaker 1: G two, you gonna miss g P two, Like you
Speaker 1: gotta miss this guy. So like I thought that they
Speaker 1: thought we were three point shooting team, and they forgot
Speaker 1: the fact that we were three were able to get
Speaker 1: threes off because if you ran out of us, we
Speaker 1: went by you where Then they brought and other guys
Speaker 1: around dreaming and Clyde that they were just three point
Speaker 1: shoes and so they really couldn't create offense for themselves
Speaker 1: if they if they ran at them like you know,
Speaker 1: you're that Steff, He's gonna go buy you, You're that
Speaker 1: Clay got the two triple pull up, those guys are like, no,
Speaker 1: we're standing in this spot, We're not moving black and yeah,
Speaker 1: And I thought they just management didn't really they took
Speaker 1: didn't take what Sam Consel did. They didn't take what
Speaker 1: Robert already did. They didn't take what myself did or
Speaker 1: married Mario. They kept. But I didn't think they thought
Speaker 1: that the value that the three of us brought was
Speaker 1: just the spacing of the floor. Absolutely, And speaking of
Speaker 1: management question, I actually had that I wanted to ask you.
Speaker 1: A few years back. Your name would constantly come up
Speaker 1: and and and when head coaching jobs will open up,
Speaker 1: your name will come up that you wanted to get
Speaker 1: into coaching. Um, is that something you still want to do?
Speaker 1: And well, let's just start there. Is that something that
Speaker 1: you still want to do? Do you want to be
Speaker 1: a head coach in the NBA? Well? Interested in love?
Speaker 1: I've only once told some I never had an agent
Speaker 1: initially that would even look for those things. I was
Speaker 1: just getting called so like, just like you said, I'll
Speaker 1: be on the set. Literally my phone would ring and
Speaker 1: they were like, Kenny, what you just said makes sense.
Speaker 1: Would you want an interview for the job is coaching?
Speaker 1: So I did like three of those, and I was like, YEO,
Speaker 1: I might need an agent. So I never pursued the
Speaker 1: first three. So I had no idea what even an
Speaker 1: interview would look like. I didn't know what you're supposed
Speaker 1: to come in thinking or anything like that. I think
Speaker 1: I've gotten past the stage where now the phone rings
Speaker 1: and they go, would you be interested in running our team?
Speaker 1: And uh and so because of Dre, I think the
Speaker 1: now I know most to the guys who are presidents
Speaker 1: of teams. I know a bunch of general managers. I
Speaker 1: know a bunch of agents, so it's like my relationships.
Speaker 1: I know a bunch of players. I'm in the gym
Speaker 1: in the summertime in in l A, watching dudes and
Speaker 1: hanging out with dudes and watching dudes because I happened
Speaker 1: younger sons, so I take them to the pickup games
Speaker 1: where k D and Kyrie and and Trey Young and
Speaker 1: all those dudes go, I'm like, Yo, let's go, let's
Speaker 1: go watch. Well, I'm a rude person, so my relationships
Speaker 1: are are real enough where I think they're starting to
Speaker 1: say that. And I've gotten one last year and I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not ready. I just didn't want to. I just
Speaker 1: didn't think that they were ready. And so now I
Speaker 1: think I'm getting those calls about can you help put
Speaker 1: a team together? Because I got my ear into the
Speaker 1: street so to speak. Yeah, absolutely absolutely, And at Turner
Speaker 1: and all you guys just signed new deals, Like how
Speaker 1: much longer do you see yourself doing that? It's been
Speaker 1: twenty five years, which is absolutely insane, insane, Like I
Speaker 1: could do this forever, honestly, because I could watch your game,
Speaker 1: and in the first six minutes of the game, I
Speaker 1: could I could say it's an eight point game. I
Speaker 1: can't say it before the game, but once I see
Speaker 1: the first like six seven minutes and the trend of
Speaker 1: the game, I'm nine percent, right, like ninety percent. At
Speaker 1: the time, I'm like, if they don't do this, it's
Speaker 1: gonna not gonna happen. Because as Golden State you're looking,
Speaker 1: I always sell like I talked to even Bob. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you know you got minds. I'm like I said, the
Speaker 1: teams a lot of times. You guys, as a general manager, president,
Speaker 1: you're you have you're looking at it like this, so
Speaker 1: you only see your hand. My job is to pay
Speaker 1: attention to the twenty seven teams that like the twenty
Speaker 1: teams that have a chance to win it right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna make the playoffs and have a chance to win.
Speaker 1: I gotta pay attention to those. So I'm seeing all
Speaker 1: of their trends. I've seen what they're doing over here
Speaker 1: before you even play him. You might, you might play
Speaker 1: the Knicks once, but I'm watching the Knicks twenty times.
Speaker 1: So I just I just know all the trends in
Speaker 1: the league that I'm not looking at it like this. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 1: And do you feel comfortable, like with the way players
Speaker 1: have changed, because it's been a long time since you've
Speaker 1: had to deal with players and I'm telling you that,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm on, I'm in your left. These young dudes different, man.
Speaker 1: Do you feel comfortable with having to deal with young
Speaker 1: talents coming in because it's just a totally different generation
Speaker 1: and these young dudes different man. And this is saying
Speaker 1: that you know already, like as Draymond's green changed when
Speaker 1: he's gotten you know, these big contracts. As you lead,
Speaker 1: the people around you change. That's the fact I ain't changing,
Speaker 1: Like the one thing I know about you just because
Speaker 1: you come into the studio. You know, guys come in
Speaker 1: and want a regular to our studio, the honesty wins.
Speaker 1: Like honesty, you ain't gotta be brutal and be you know,
Speaker 1: like you don't have to be condescending. But no, like,
Speaker 1: oh this is really what I see, you know, And
Speaker 1: I knew it was different. And I know if if
Speaker 1: this guy took criticism, than anybody could two guys, honestly.
Speaker 1: But Lebron was the first guy I went on tour
Speaker 1: with him when he was when he that movie came
Speaker 1: out about his life. So they asked me to him
Speaker 1: seeing all of his different cities and yeah, that he
Speaker 1: had won the m v P. They didn't win the
Speaker 1: championship that year, but now he's got a movie made
Speaker 1: about his life. So he's talking. We're in the back,
Speaker 1: you know how everybody in the back you start talking.
Speaker 1: It's like, man, what do you you know? Kenny? What
Speaker 1: do you see? And I said Lebron like, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you're gonna hear what I'm saying. He's like,
Speaker 1: what do you mean, I'm not gonna hear what you're saying, Kenny,
Speaker 1: He's like, because I said, because you're the greatest player
Speaker 1: in the world right now, you got a movie made
Speaker 1: about your life that I'm am seeing, and you still
Speaker 1: got holes in your game. And sometimes I said, and
Speaker 1: there's a and I said, there's a saying that my
Speaker 1: dad used always tell me. And he's just saying, it's
Speaker 1: hard to work hard when you're sleeping in silk ropes.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you're sleeping in silk ropes.
Speaker 1: So he's like, no, no, tell me. I said. The
Speaker 1: one thing I see is like, you're back to the
Speaker 1: basket game. It's just averaged. I said, And at times
Speaker 1: you you pass up an open shot for the greatest shot,
Speaker 1: but the greatest shot is your open shot. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he one day out the other
Speaker 1: and he's just it that naturally, but I'm able to
Speaker 1: I'm able to tell him that, and he was able
Speaker 1: to respond to this is the m v P of
Speaker 1: the league at that time. So I'm like, I can
Speaker 1: tell him, man, I'll tell anybody anybody like, like, it's
Speaker 1: not guys. The guys recross real they know what it
Speaker 1: is and they know when they're faking. You're faking it, Dre.
Speaker 1: You know when a general manager or president of team
Speaker 1: walks to you and he's faking this speech facts, you
Speaker 1: know for us to read it, you can see right
Speaker 1: through it. You can see right through it. And you're like,
Speaker 1: I'm not and we're from we're from neighborhoods that we
Speaker 1: have to read people fast. You have to because it's
Speaker 1: like if you go there, that's the difference, right, Like
Speaker 1: there are other people's decisions have consequences, always had life
Speaker 1: for death consequences, So you gotta read fast. I know,
Speaker 1: I'm in a room with Drake. I'm like, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: not faking anything I see or here, and I don't
Speaker 1: but that even that it's not even my nature. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and then do I know damn basketball, I know it
Speaker 1: better than yeah. I don't think there's nobody knows more
Speaker 1: than me that do what I do. So of course,
Speaker 1: like I'm coming to Dre, I'm gonna be like, yo, Drake, listen,
Speaker 1: this altercation you had like there's nobody in the in
Speaker 1: the NBA that's not had a fight. Bro, there's nobody
Speaker 1: in the league. I'm not bringing you guys together. You
Speaker 1: bring you all together and I'll see you along and
Speaker 1: I'm walking out the room. That's it. What am I
Speaker 1: gonna bring you in the room? Have you talk like now?
Speaker 1: You're looking at me like, oh, he's trying to be
Speaker 1: some fake police cop and trying to know Dre. You
Speaker 1: know how, you don't have many we have we even
Speaker 1: in areas where we've had many of this where you
Speaker 1: gotta do have something like that happened and that dude
Speaker 1: ride on the bus s netch to you in school.
Speaker 1: That happens after day in our neighborhoods growing up. It's
Speaker 1: not unusual. It's just unusual. It was on camera. Now
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go, you know what, trade
Speaker 1: you handle him. I'm gonna hand to the media. See
Speaker 1: you later. That's it. How are you gonna feeling that
Speaker 1: you're gonna be like, okay, out of it. That's really
Speaker 1: I'm not faking it. You gotta handle it because number one,
Speaker 1: it's been the ball has just been thrown back into
Speaker 1: your court. What you're gonna do with it? You can't
Speaker 1: felt in that moment, right you shot you all to
Speaker 1: do that because I can bring you all that all day.
Speaker 1: But if y'all don't like each other, y'all don't get it.
Speaker 1: Resolves and he resolved anyway. So what am I doing?
Speaker 1: I'm just yelling, but I'm telling who's gotta handle it,
Speaker 1: and I'm out, But I'm gonna. I know how to
Speaker 1: handle Charles stephen A Smith, Shock, I know how to
Speaker 1: handle Ernie. I know how to handle with everybody on TV.
Speaker 1: I know how to talk to that. I got this,
Speaker 1: I got that speaking of speaking of Shock, Charles, Ernie,
Speaker 1: and I've been up there on the self. I've had
Speaker 1: the pleasure and honor of being on the set with
Speaker 1: you guys. But this is something that I truly wonder.
Speaker 1: Do y'all view that as a team and there's roles
Speaker 1: within that team when y'all step up on the stage,
Speaker 1: because it's an entire production like that show, that show
Speaker 1: has gotten bigger than anybody, like than any one person,
Speaker 1: and it's an entire production, and I feel like everyone
Speaker 1: makes it work in their own way. Do y'all feel
Speaker 1: like it's a team and you have roles and what
Speaker 1: you do up there, Drima said. And the one thing
Speaker 1: that I've learned that and you've learned being my championship teams,
Speaker 1: I'm sure, is that everyone's role is really valuable. Like
Speaker 1: it's I'm not running into a Christmas Street, bro, but
Speaker 1: we need that, you know what I'm saying. Charles is
Speaker 1: not running to the board and break it down and
Speaker 1: put the next dose and going industreet, But we need that.
Speaker 1: Charles is gonna come with an unfiltered filter coffee machine,
Speaker 1: a black coffee and you're gonna taste it. But we
Speaker 1: need that. Ernie is gonna just be the ability to
Speaker 1: understand when to move on to the next segment. We
Speaker 1: need that so like at no point do we ever
Speaker 1: look here it is and I don't know if you
Speaker 1: felt like this, and you can agree. When you're on
Speaker 1: a championship team, I never feel in competition with the
Speaker 1: guy next to me. Never, there is never. I don't
Speaker 1: feel competition with them anymore. I've I've gone past that,
Speaker 1: you know initially and then you get now you get
Speaker 1: you've gone We've gone past that. You know. I'm never
Speaker 1: sitting on the bench hoping Sam cansell miss is a
Speaker 1: shot so I can get back in the damn game.
Speaker 1: I'm like, y'all kill this dude, Sam, You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like, I never feel in competition like and
Speaker 1: that's how I feel on our show. I never feel
Speaker 1: in competition with those guys. Have you ever felt like
Speaker 1: shock shocking and uh, chuck. We'll really get into it
Speaker 1: because I don't think people realize, like some of those
Speaker 1: moments you have up there, like you're still a human being,
Speaker 1: You're still having a pen and at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we're all competitive as hell. Yeah that's my job.
Speaker 1: So that's my job, Like I'm gonna throat gasoline on
Speaker 1: the fire, but I also I know I'm in charge
Speaker 1: of the extinguisher too. So when it gets that point
Speaker 1: and their their egos are here, absolutely absolutely, I know
Speaker 1: my job at time is to take the pressure off
Speaker 1: of it being about chucking him and making about me
Speaker 1: and him, or making it about me and Chuck at
Speaker 1: times two. So it's not where he's just like, it's
Speaker 1: them because they are here and they're ready to come.
Speaker 1: And then five minutes later, that's what I'm saying. Five
Speaker 1: minutes later we're in the back there, they're they're picking
Speaker 1: each other up. Shack is like, I bet I could
Speaker 1: lift you up. I bet I could bench fresh you
Speaker 1: five minutes after they were ready to. Just that's what
Speaker 1: we know. We we we grew up in that, we
Speaker 1: understand that that's not long lasting. But it's real. It's real.
Speaker 1: And in speaking of TV, Um, you, you've done something
Speaker 1: on TV and I have an opinion about it, well,
Speaker 1: not necessarily an opinion, but thoughts okay, and so I
Speaker 1: guess it is an opinion of what I think I
Speaker 1: see personally. Um, you and your ex wife y'all had
Speaker 1: a reality TV show. Did you feel like having the
Speaker 1: reality TV show ultimately affected your marriage in a negative way? No,
Speaker 1: I don't think that was it at all, because d
Speaker 1: I was never all in because and I produced it,
Speaker 1: so I was the executive producer and producer. I went
Speaker 1: to termine because at the time in my household, my
Speaker 1: daughter who's now on n C I L S and
Speaker 1: l A and she's L l j's daughter on the show,
Speaker 1: so she's so she's done like ten and twelve episodes.
Speaker 1: My other daughter just finished a Disney movie, and my
Speaker 1: ex was she wanted to be in in television, So
Speaker 1: I was like, as a as a as a man,
Speaker 1: whenever all of those things are in your household, You're like,
Speaker 1: how could I help? You know? And I was like,
Speaker 1: I was like, look, I don't want to do this.
Speaker 1: I'm doing this for you guys. So I'm just wanting
Speaker 1: to shine light on you guys so it can possibly
Speaker 1: help propel your career. And through that, that show got
Speaker 1: my daughter record deal, got my other daughter of managing,
Speaker 1: So it did move into right directions because I was
Speaker 1: never like, he was never gonna hear like I'm like, biggie,
Speaker 1: I'm old school. I'm like, probably with my wife, don't
Speaker 1: discuss them. Let just I lost someone, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So you're never gonna see any of that.
Speaker 1: And that's why we only did one season because you're
Speaker 1: never gonna see any of that. Um. I think that
Speaker 1: if there was one reason or anyone if you have
Speaker 1: a girlfriend x, a wife ex wife, there's one reason
Speaker 1: why you're not together, you would still be together. There's
Speaker 1: never one reason it's gonna be. It's gotta be a
Speaker 1: multiple multitude of things to end something so big where
Speaker 1: families involved, and you know, friends are involved, her friends
Speaker 1: and your friends. Yeah, it's gotta be a multitude of things.
Speaker 1: They could be a mult to do the small things,
Speaker 1: but then there's a multitude. But yeah, I don't think that.
Speaker 1: Actually that was fun. And I hint you on this
Speaker 1: because my kids would going to college, my older kids,
Speaker 1: so it was the first time that they were back.
Speaker 1: Everybody was in the house for the first time. So
Speaker 1: we were playing board games, so we were telling stories
Speaker 1: that we had forgotten. So that actually helped it goes
Speaker 1: then it probably said it. Probably it helped go longer
Speaker 1: because of that. We we became a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a unit again and so everything. Do you have
Speaker 1: any regrets as far as your marriage goes? Or I
Speaker 1: mean really honestly, because I really believe Trey. Like for me,
Speaker 1: when I hear people from where we come from, when
Speaker 1: you hear about the boys, you hear like, oh he
Speaker 1: was cheating, she was cheating, somebody was fighting, somebody be
Speaker 1: somebody else. When none of those things happened, I'm always
Speaker 1: in the mindset of like, oh, it's still we're still
Speaker 1: gonna work because none of those things where I played.
Speaker 1: So now I'm like I had to get out of mind.
Speaker 1: Queens left frank City mode and saying what this is?
Speaker 1: Why this is not like you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Because Left franc City kitty is different from the kitty
Speaker 1: that was here here. You know what I'm saying, something
Speaker 1: like talking about like what this is? None of this,
Speaker 1: none of that, none of this that way this is
Speaker 1: we're not feeling good about each other. That was that
Speaker 1: was I had to get into, like another space of
Speaker 1: intellect that I probably will help me in the future
Speaker 1: because where I come from, those are the only three
Speaker 1: things that you get. You know, you know me, that's
Speaker 1: not your girl. I'm gonna forget white. That ain't my
Speaker 1: girl because I cheated on we or she's fighting. She
Speaker 1: cheated on me, or fight or we just argued all day.
Speaker 1: That's the only reason. So for me that that level
Speaker 1: of intelligence to kind of come to and have more
Speaker 1: an emotional intelligence about it. Um. But what I always realized,
Speaker 1: dre is in life when you when you this is
Speaker 1: when I feel good about myself. And it wasn't really
Speaker 1: just her, but just in general, when I realized, like
Speaker 1: I'm great for me, I'm good enough for me, but
Speaker 1: I don't have to be good enough for Draymond. And
Speaker 1: when you get it, like it's easy, said than none.
Speaker 1: But when you can accept that, you're like life is good,
Speaker 1: like you walk around smiling all the time, and people like, man, yo,
Speaker 1: you still how you look so young? And now I'm
Speaker 1: like yo, because I smile a lot. Bro, because I
Speaker 1: know I'm okay with not being good enough, just being
Speaker 1: good enough for me. I'm okay with that. I respect.
Speaker 1: I got a few more questions. We've been going for
Speaker 1: an hour. Be conscious of your time now, and two
Speaker 1: of them are advice and then one I want your
Speaker 1: opinion or something because it's something that's very close to
Speaker 1: me and then very close to you, but that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the last one. Number one is what would your
Speaker 1: advice be to me? Someone that's actually I got four
Speaker 1: more questions. What would your advice be to me someone
Speaker 1: that's looking to go into television? Um, when I'm done playing,
Speaker 1: what is something that what would your advice be? And
Speaker 1: what's something that you would have done differently than you
Speaker 1: actually did? For you, I would say that my advice
Speaker 1: for you is the more you win now on your
Speaker 1: way out in the last five six years of his career,
Speaker 1: the more longer your television career will be. So now
Speaker 1: you've established yourself as the guy who we can talk
Speaker 1: to not just about the game, but about politics, about
Speaker 1: social issues. Everyone has already established that you know. So
Speaker 1: now the more you win, it's the more insight you
Speaker 1: have on everything else, because you're gonna have one as
Speaker 1: a young player, you're gonna be one of young as
Speaker 1: a great player, You're gonna learn it as the best player.
Speaker 1: You're gonna let as the best defender. Then you're gonna
Speaker 1: learn you're gonna be at a minimum role how to win.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna be able to talk to about everybody
Speaker 1: and how they feel in the locker room, and nobody
Speaker 1: else will be able to do what you do. So
Speaker 1: the more you win now, so now my focus would
Speaker 1: be let me lock in how do we win more
Speaker 1: championships because my role is so different from when I was.
Speaker 1: Like when you first got there, it's like, yo, Drake,
Speaker 1: don't get twelve rebounds and sixteen points, they might not win.
Speaker 1: Now it's like if you don't like then he became,
Speaker 1: if he don't lock down the guy and get twelve. Now,
Speaker 1: every your role just so you're gonna know what every
Speaker 1: player feels and to me, win more, and the more
Speaker 1: you will, you'll be doing this for thirty years, you'll
Speaker 1: be like he said, twenty I did it thirty like,
Speaker 1: because you have an insight when everybody's talking about something
Speaker 1: that goes no. I think that's one of the values
Speaker 1: that I have right now. I was in high school
Speaker 1: McGonagall American voted top thirty five player ever in high
Speaker 1: school basketball. When you get a ball for that, I
Speaker 1: looked on that ball, I was like shock and KG
Speaker 1: and Kyrie, I'm like, damn, I'm on a crazy ball.
Speaker 1: Right college, I was a college player to year Donald,
Speaker 1: I mean player to year in college and playing out
Speaker 1: a story program one two NBA championships, and then also
Speaker 1: at the end of the career, I was like, oh, damn,
Speaker 1: my role is so diminished. So now I know I
Speaker 1: had never had a DNP until my tenth year in
Speaker 1: the league. Wow, I had never I had never not
Speaker 1: started on a team ever until my ninth year in
Speaker 1: the league. I've never come off the bench high schools,
Speaker 1: college or pro until my ninth year in the league.
Speaker 1: So I used to I got a different appreciation in
Speaker 1: my last year and a half about guys, how they
Speaker 1: come off the bench, how they might not play that night.
Speaker 1: Like I was like, holy gee, this is it. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god. I used to laugh at
Speaker 1: these dudes and ask them why the ain't not ready?
Speaker 1: How did you come in the game and you're not excited?
Speaker 1: I understood it. You're gonna understand what champions state? So
Speaker 1: did that? Did it? Did it really affect you in
Speaker 1: the negative way in the ninth season once? What once
Speaker 1: you realize you were coming off the bench, Like what
Speaker 1: was your attitude? What was your mind set? Initially? I
Speaker 1: thought I could always contribute until it was one you know,
Speaker 1: they say there's one play. It was one play for me,
Speaker 1: Drey when I used to get it steal right, I
Speaker 1: get it still. You know, you take a picture to
Speaker 1: see who's tracing you guys, and I would just see
Speaker 1: guys like and about my knife being the league. I
Speaker 1: saw guys doing this. I'm like, damn, they think they
Speaker 1: could catch me and then they won't catching me, Like
Speaker 1: make it lay up. I have to do where before
Speaker 1: I was just going and I'm dunking I couldn't. I'm like,
Speaker 1: dam I can't dunk it. I can't, I can't break it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's time to get it up, because no
Speaker 1: matter how much money you make the feeling and feeling inferior. Yes,
Speaker 1: there's no value on that. And I was starting to
Speaker 1: feel inferior. And when I feel in fury and anything,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I cannot be part of this. And I
Speaker 1: had another deal to s first called me and we're like,
Speaker 1: you know, you want to come be back up for
Speaker 1: a v. Johnson. I was like, no, I do not
Speaker 1: want to feel inferior. And there was the best decision
Speaker 1: I made because I stayed at TNT so so so
Speaker 1: in your mind, what what Russell Westbrook is during this honorable?
Speaker 1: But I don't takeous but he's playing well and he's
Speaker 1: taking on that role and he and in terms of
Speaker 1: you know, getting to the rim, he still gets there.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he's at that point I think
Speaker 1: and I just said got there where he was probably like, yo,
Speaker 1: I can't get by people like I used to with
Speaker 1: the crossover. You know, Russ is about a year about
Speaker 1: another year away from that. But what he's doing and
Speaker 1: his mental for the two to live in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: be from Los Angeles, and they make every game like
Speaker 1: it's a playoff game. Every play is like a playoff
Speaker 1: play and still have the energy and the excitement to play.
Speaker 1: I've never seen that. No, I don't think I could
Speaker 1: do that. I would be like trading me. I. I
Speaker 1: just couldn't do that in that environment, knowing that and
Speaker 1: see I knowing that the guy in front of me
Speaker 1: I'm better than, Like he really knows he's better than
Speaker 1: the guy in front of him. Absolutely guys in front
Speaker 1: of him knows he's better than him. And I commend
Speaker 1: him for that, I don't think, and that's why I
Speaker 1: actext I don't think people are speaking enough about what
Speaker 1: he's doing, the way people were beating him down about
Speaker 1: when it's not one to come off the bench. Now
Speaker 1: he's accepted and he's playing well, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's not even a story anymore. That be my problem.
Speaker 1: That be my problem when I speak on new media.
Speaker 1: That be my problem with media. It's like that's bullshit,
Speaker 1: Like this man was getting destroyed and destroyed by everybody
Speaker 1: taking hits at his character, which I think he's a
Speaker 1: very high character individual, getting destroyed, and then he does
Speaker 1: exactly what everyone says he needs to do, take on
Speaker 1: that role, playing as good as any six man in
Speaker 1: the NBA right now, and it's not a story. That's
Speaker 1: bullshit because he's a guy. At one time he couldn't
Speaker 1: even yawn on the bench. Yes, now you know how
Speaker 1: when you're on the bench, this happens to every player
Speaker 1: And and and what I realized when about in the league,
Speaker 1: the yawning is from you you're needing oxygen. It is
Speaker 1: not from you being tired sometimes and you know you're
Speaker 1: like you're sitting at the bench up and you do.
Speaker 1: If he did that, it would have been all over
Speaker 1: the muscle breast, foot board with the game like no,
Speaker 1: if you keep a camel. Every NBA player has done
Speaker 1: that and does that all the time. You y'are playing
Speaker 1: four games. If at night you need oxygen and you're
Speaker 1: gonna yawn, and the excitement and the energy of the
Speaker 1: arena makes you yawn. They like that happens. It's not
Speaker 1: only because you're tiring. But he couldn't do it, and
Speaker 1: I recommend him. I think, what what do you what
Speaker 1: do you make of player driven media? I've gotten the media,
Speaker 1: Patrick Braverley, c J mccollor, but a lot of guys
Speaker 1: are starting to do podcasts, a lot of guys are
Speaker 1: starting to do different things. What do you make of
Speaker 1: the player driven media side. Obviously you still have traditional media,
Speaker 1: but what do you make of the player driven media
Speaker 1: movement that's been taking place over the last year. I
Speaker 1: didn't have the mental fortitude to do what you do, honestly,
Speaker 1: because I took things to heart. So when I used
Speaker 1: to go on talk radio and you know, and I
Speaker 1: call in and be like, hey, we want you to
Speaker 1: have you on, I'd be like, I'm not taking callers
Speaker 1: like why because I don't want John from Indiana who's
Speaker 1: sitting in his basement to ask me a question and
Speaker 1: affects my psyche of the game, who has no idea.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you're supposed to be an expert. I like
Speaker 1: this show. I'll come on. You allow yourself to be
Speaker 1: open to guys who do not know basketball, like they
Speaker 1: have no clue, and you answer questions or answer their comments.
Speaker 1: I just I don't have to thick enough skin. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna lie. I just would it would affect me
Speaker 1: in a negative way to where it would affect my play.
Speaker 1: Like for you, I don't know how you and c
Speaker 1: J do it, because neither wanted. C J is still
Speaker 1: getting like you're doing it. I couldn't do that because
Speaker 1: I just felt that people just don't know enough. I agree.
Speaker 1: I mean people don't know. People don't know enough. And
Speaker 1: I speak on that all the time, just how everyone
Speaker 1: thinks they know basketball. Like, but this question I after you,
Speaker 1: Drake is like why My question is you is why
Speaker 1: would you alive? Miles? Miles Davis, jay Z? We all
Speaker 1: that of basketball? We are the your most unique people
Speaker 1: in the world. Why jay Z is not letting somebody
Speaker 1: come in the session and tell them how to run?
Speaker 1: Like you know what I mean? Like, Oh, you're a
Speaker 1: rap fan, but you don't know Cadence, you don't know
Speaker 1: We don't know how to get there. You don't know beach,
Speaker 1: you don't know that. You don't know the percussion. How
Speaker 1: it makes you no no clue? How do you do
Speaker 1: that every day and allow that to happen? I don't
Speaker 1: even do that at T and T, Like, how do
Speaker 1: you do that? I think for me? Um Number one
Speaker 1: is I think for me, it's about what you get
Speaker 1: out of it, right, Like for the most part, I
Speaker 1: get a laugh out of it, Like I think, like
Speaker 1: what I take from it is different lessons of how
Speaker 1: dumb people are. I feel like it allows me to
Speaker 1: operate in my everyday life, because you are very dumb
Speaker 1: if you think you know basketball as well as me,
Speaker 1: If you know basketball as well as you as you
Speaker 1: know basketball, it shows me how dumb you are because
Speaker 1: you think you can watch this maybe two games a
Speaker 1: day or you know, and no one really watched two
Speaker 1: games a day, But you think you can consume basketball
Speaker 1: the little amount that you do, and your understanding of
Speaker 1: what's going on is as good as my understanding. It helps.
Speaker 1: I feel like it helps me in a lot of
Speaker 1: different areas in life because it gives me a perspective.
Speaker 1: Because the thing is, like what most people don't understand
Speaker 1: is I don't care one of the greatest basketball fans.
Speaker 1: In three hours, you you consumed more basketball than they
Speaker 1: will in in three months. Because you've gone to practice,
Speaker 1: you watch film, you've watched the other team, you've watched
Speaker 1: your game, you've lifted, you, you're getting prepared, you're doing
Speaker 1: like nine things consumed about basketball, and they're watching one game.
Speaker 1: So you you in in three hours, you've done more
Speaker 1: than most people have done in three months. I can't
Speaker 1: talk to people like that. I just don't have the patience.
Speaker 1: But that I just don't I could answer like a
Speaker 1: boba shop called, you know, lebron Or or Jordan's. But
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about how do you think Draymond Green
Speaker 1: affects the two? No, we're not We're not getting to that.
Speaker 1: We're not getting to that. Yeah, we're not getting no doubt.
Speaker 1: Before we get out of here, man, I got one
Speaker 1: last question I want to ask you, And like I said,
Speaker 1: it's a it's one that obviously affected me in my life.
Speaker 1: But you know, in the relationship that I still have
Speaker 1: with him, but also you hold a relationship with him
Speaker 1: as well. What do you make that Here we are
Speaker 1: eleven years later, Mark Jackson took a franchise that had
Speaker 1: no success, goes to two straight, two straight playoffs, and
Speaker 1: gets fired. Now you can make what you want of
Speaker 1: him getting fired. Everyone can. That's neither here nor there.
Speaker 1: You got fired, teams move on, and quite frankly, it's
Speaker 1: hard to say they made the wrong decision. We win
Speaker 1: a championship the next year. Now you can you can
Speaker 1: make the argument that, hey, they would have won if
Speaker 1: Mark was there next year too. All right, maybe you
Speaker 1: believe it, maybe you don't, who cares, But what do
Speaker 1: you make of him not getting a job as an
Speaker 1: NBA head coach. It's been eleven years now he's still
Speaker 1: not a head coach. Or well nine since he's been out,
Speaker 1: so it's nine years since he's been out, he's still
Speaker 1: not a head coach. And if I'm looking at this,
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I watched him go with a young
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, young Clay Thompson, young Draymond Green, and if
Speaker 1: he did nothing else, he gave those guys confidence. Well
Speaker 1: guess what, half the teams, half the teams in the
Speaker 1: league needs someone who can go give their guys confidence,
Speaker 1: who can show them the way young guys. You look
Speaker 1: at all these teams and super young guys, and he
Speaker 1: hasn't gotten that opportunity. What do you make of that?
Speaker 1: I just think that there were facts that were lied upon,
Speaker 1: and it were lies that now became facts. So there
Speaker 1: there there's a the message of now each year the
Speaker 1: lie gets bigger and the facts get smaller. So there
Speaker 1: are lies about Mark Jackson right now that I hear
Speaker 1: and they go, yo, hey, your boy did this and
Speaker 1: what your boy said that, And I'm like, now that's
Speaker 1: a lie. I speak to the dude every day like
Speaker 1: I speak to Mark at least once a week, like no,
Speaker 1: like Mark doesn't think like that. He didn't say he
Speaker 1: didn't know, he didn't do that. Oh, this was a fact,
Speaker 1: and then he gets lied on. So now as an
Speaker 1: owner or general manager, they're hearing the lies and then
Speaker 1: not doing the research to find the truth, because the
Speaker 1: truth would you would say exactly what you said. Are
Speaker 1: their coaches that have have done things that you would say, man,
Speaker 1: why did you do it that way? Of course every
Speaker 1: coach you probably could do that with with Steve, But
Speaker 1: then when you add lies to it, there's no one
Speaker 1: to defend a lie. And that's the problem. There's no
Speaker 1: one there to defend the lie on his behalf and
Speaker 1: Marcus choosing not to defend the lie, and I would
Speaker 1: defend the lie. Oh day, I'd be on you see
Speaker 1: me on every stage, I'm like, yo, he's lying, he
Speaker 1: did this and this is actually what happened. And so
Speaker 1: but in terms of coaching and basketball knowledge and seeing
Speaker 1: what he I saw him got out of you and
Speaker 1: Steph and Steph Curry would be what he before he
Speaker 1: got there did not play in the fourth quarters of games.
Speaker 1: They used to play Ellis and they would say Steph
Speaker 1: coundnot play in the fourth quarters because defensively he could
Speaker 1: not handle that. I used to watch the Golden State
Speaker 1: Wars and they used to say that, and he was
Speaker 1: going to be traded. It was definitely he was going
Speaker 1: to be traded until marm Jackson got there. He saved
Speaker 1: not only the franchise, he saved the league. Like you
Speaker 1: think of Steph Curry, it's not. He saved basketball by
Speaker 1: that by making this do what he is and allowing
Speaker 1: him to be who he was. He saved basketball and
Speaker 1: changed the culture of the way we play today based
Speaker 1: on way Steph plays. But someone had to have the
Speaker 1: vision to allow that to happen. He was the vision.
Speaker 1: He was not doing that before he got there. Neither
Speaker 1: were you. There was no undersize power forwards doing what
Speaker 1: you do. Clay Thompson didn't have the free rein Ney too.
Speaker 1: It's a travesty that he's not coaching basketball. I mean,
Speaker 1: I agree, I know what he did. I always tell
Speaker 1: people you can look around the league. You have coaches
Speaker 1: that give God's confidence, and you have coaches that takes confidence.
Speaker 1: And he is somebody that gave us, if nothing else,
Speaker 1: the ultimate confidence. Everybody check us out. I came to
Speaker 1: you guys as game, and he brought me in the
Speaker 1: locker room right he was coaching, and he's speaking to
Speaker 1: the team and he goes, Kenny, I just want you
Speaker 1: to see the team that's gonna be standing in the
Speaker 1: White House. M I definitely remember that. And here y'all
Speaker 1: all the other last week again standing in the White
Speaker 1: House yesterday, and I said, I said, Mark, when you
Speaker 1: when you gave that prophecy, you should have said standing
Speaker 1: in the White House with me to it. That's why
Speaker 1: it still happened. You didn't add to me because when
Speaker 1: he said it, I mom had walked out of it,
Speaker 1: and I was like, these dudes ain't going to over
Speaker 1: they find him honestly said that. In my mind, I like,
Speaker 1: the cut your step, don't shoot like that. Let's dude, Draymond,
Speaker 1: non't defend like that, all this stuff he's telling me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, and here we are. Later, I remember, I
Speaker 1: remember he said and everybody went crazy and he said
Speaker 1: I had the greatest shooting backcourt of all time, and
Speaker 1: everybody like, why would he say that, blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: and he's like, no, I'm telling you, I got the
Speaker 1: greatest shooting backcourt of all time. For someone to say
Speaker 1: that when it wasn't if somebody went on TV to
Speaker 1: prove that nothing, no, not at all. If someone did
Speaker 1: that now just in the TV position and said this
Speaker 1: is gonna be the greatest backcourt of all time, and
Speaker 1: then four I mean and then four four years later
Speaker 1: you're looking at and you're like, Wow, they have a
Speaker 1: job like that just by saying it on TV TV,
Speaker 1: actually coaching that, actually coaching that. So no, man, you know,
Speaker 1: I got mad love for coach Mark Jackson is my
Speaker 1: first coach in this league. But my brother, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you for coming on the show twenty minutes. Bron we
Speaker 1: can do this again. I appreciate you, and we most
Speaker 1: definitely will. Alright, alright, I appreciate you, brother,