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Speaker 1: fan duel sports book makes it easy. What's up, everybody?
Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Draymond Green Show. This is our episode,
Speaker 1: and boy do we have a great show this week.
Speaker 1: Extremely excited about this and I think it's the best
Speaker 1: conversation with the guests that we've had to date. And
Speaker 1: that's obviously no shade to all our guests that we've had,
Speaker 1: because I think it's been incredible. The podcast has been
Speaker 1: getting incredible ratings and views and and just a lot
Speaker 1: of people reaching out and saying that, you know, it's
Speaker 1: been a great listen for them, and it's a real listen,
Speaker 1: So I am thankful for that. I'm thankful to everyone
Speaker 1: who tunes in and listens every week, and most importantly
Speaker 1: thankful to everyone who's taking the time out to come
Speaker 1: on the podcast share their stories. Uh. It's incredible and
Speaker 1: it's always it's always extremely fun for me to do
Speaker 1: and so but this convo was very good, it was
Speaker 1: very insightful, and it was with none other than the
Speaker 1: top NBA Top seventy five player, perennial All Star brother
Speaker 1: of mine gold medalists Dame Lillard uh. And we talked
Speaker 1: about his injury recovery, We talked about the CJ trade,
Speaker 1: and we also talked about his his future in Portlands
Speaker 1: and a lot more. We man, we probably talked for
Speaker 1: about an hour and it was incredible. So I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to everyone um getting to having the opportunity to
Speaker 1: listen to that interview. But before we get to that,
Speaker 1: as you know, we like to go around the world,
Speaker 1: around the association uh and and just share a few thoughts.
Speaker 1: So we'll start today with Obviously, I tweeted last night
Speaker 1: about one of the most respectful statements and I know
Speaker 1: everybody's like, oh man, what is he talking about? And
Speaker 1: when the reason I said one of the most respectful
Speaker 1: statements because as a as a competitor, um as someone
Speaker 1: who's currently in this league. I always say, the most
Speaker 1: important respect you can get, uh, and then when in
Speaker 1: this league is from your peers, it's from other players.
Speaker 1: It's from the guys that you go up against every
Speaker 1: single day. It's from the guys not only do you
Speaker 1: go up against every single day, but also of the
Speaker 1: guys that are in your locker room that you take
Speaker 1: the court with every single day. So that is the
Speaker 1: most respect you can get, which is why I said
Speaker 1: this is one of the most respectaful statements I can take. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we just got through All Star Weekend, which, let me
Speaker 1: tell you, was one of the most incredible weekends, uh,
Speaker 1: the NBA can possibly produce. It was amazing. I mean
Speaker 1: from All Star Weekend being in Cleveland, Lebron James, I
Speaker 1: mean Lebron was essentially Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg hosting
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. That's what Lebron was to this. Uh.
Speaker 1: He and Rich Paul and Maverick, Carter, Randy, that's what
Speaker 1: they were to this this All Star weekend. And I
Speaker 1: don't know most people obviously don't know them personally well,
Speaker 1: but let me tell you they know how to host,
Speaker 1: and not only in Cleveland for All Star, but they
Speaker 1: do it the right way. Maverick has this saying. He
Speaker 1: always says, hey, Dre, He's two things, he say, Dre.
Speaker 1: A lot of people has done it. I don't know
Speaker 1: if any has done it better. He always says that.
Speaker 1: And another statement he always says, is who's having more
Speaker 1: fun than us? Like who's having Like you can't find
Speaker 1: someone having more fun than us? And I agree, um,
Speaker 1: And obviously and being a part of the family, you know,
Speaker 1: you just see all ins and outs and how fun
Speaker 1: it is and and the great business moves that lead
Speaker 1: to more fun and so on and so forth. So
Speaker 1: they were the host of the weekend, which obviously they
Speaker 1: blew it out the water, but just being surrounded by greatness, like,
Speaker 1: you can't script that any better. Now here's where the
Speaker 1: statement comes in that Lebron James and Steph Curry, two
Speaker 1: guys born in the same hospital in Akron, Ohio, goes
Speaker 1: back to Cleveland. Steph obviously played against Lebron uh and
Speaker 1: and NBA Finals Warriors versus Calves. The booze were raining
Speaker 1: there anytime they men should my name or Steph name
Speaker 1: The boozer, raining and all of these things, and then
Speaker 1: stuff comes out of his sixteen threes and go for
Speaker 1: fifty m v P scripted right, Lebron James comes out.
Speaker 1: You know he's doing Lebron. He's dunking a little bit,
Speaker 1: but you can tell he's out there. He's not going
Speaker 1: for the m v P, but he's dunking a little bit,
Speaker 1: putting on the show. But then Lebron James gets the
Speaker 1: ball in the mid posts. We all know what movies
Speaker 1: going to We all know before he even shoots the ball.
Speaker 1: This ball is going in like you just felt it.
Speaker 1: Scripted right, what's Stephen Curry and Lebron James did this weekend?
Speaker 1: What's the exact reason people think they're so great at
Speaker 1: what they do that what they did this weekend further
Speaker 1: let people on to think the NBA scripted And you
Speaker 1: can't draw it up any better than the way it happened.
Speaker 1: One guy goes for fifty, breaks the record, shatters the record.
Speaker 1: He almost had double the amount of threes than the
Speaker 1: previous record was. He probably broke that record with six
Speaker 1: minutes ago in the second quarter. Incredible, I know a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, he broke it early on in the
Speaker 1: third quarter. But you can't write it up any better. Again,
Speaker 1: That's two guys born in Akron, Ohio, which is twenty
Speaker 1: minutes away from Cleveland, goes to Cleveland. One wins the
Speaker 1: m v P. The other who's Cleveland's son, who owns
Speaker 1: that city, who's put that city on the map, who
Speaker 1: brought them their only NBA championship in the history of
Speaker 1: the organization. Um, I mean really almost probably in the
Speaker 1: history of the city. You know, I gotta throw that
Speaker 1: in there. My thing with Cleveland's gonna stay. My thing
Speaker 1: with Cleveland. But a guy who was sought out by
Speaker 1: clear evening they tanked to get him, didn't only live
Speaker 1: up to the hype, but surpassed it, which had to
Speaker 1: be nearly impossible to do. They actually did something that
Speaker 1: made everyone thing again that the NBA has scripted, and
Speaker 1: you couldn't draw it up any better. Like, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but the NBA can script as much as they want.
Speaker 1: You can't script Steph Curry actually making sixteen threes, Like
Speaker 1: you actually have to go hit those shots with people
Speaker 1: running flying at you, um, him shooting it right across,
Speaker 1: Like you actually have to go make those shots. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure how that can be scripted. Lebron jays like
Speaker 1: it was destined. Like when he shot that ball, we
Speaker 1: all knew what was coming. Joel tried to double at
Speaker 1: the last second, no problem. The ball looked like it
Speaker 1: came out of Briant hands so nasty. It didn't look
Speaker 1: like the shot was going in. Of course he cans it.
Speaker 1: You can't script that any better. He actually has to
Speaker 1: make that shot like and so what my statement simply
Speaker 1: was was those two guys are so great at what
Speaker 1: they do that they actually did something to further the
Speaker 1: notion of the NBA is actually scripted. And I was
Speaker 1: there to see it. I was there to witness it,
Speaker 1: and it was one of the most beautiful things. I
Speaker 1: hope everyone appreciated the greatness that was on display this
Speaker 1: past weekend in Cleveland, from top to bottom, uh the
Speaker 1: the top seventy five lists. I hope everyone appreciated the
Speaker 1: greatness that was on display, because I tell you who did,
Speaker 1: I did, and it was amazing. UM. I truly enjoyed
Speaker 1: my role in the weekend with my T n T family. UM.
Speaker 1: I hope everyone checked out the broadcast. Maybe next year
Speaker 1: that would be the number one broadcast but next year
Speaker 1: I'll also be playing, so we'll have to figure that
Speaker 1: out as well. But there are ways, and Craig Berry
Speaker 1: is great and he's gonna figure it out as he
Speaker 1: always does. And I hope everyone enjoyed the telecast as
Speaker 1: much as I enjoyed being a part of it because
Speaker 1: I thought it was incredible. Um. So that's that, And
Speaker 1: I hope you guys again appreciate those two guys because
Speaker 1: they are legends. And no, it does not matter which
Speaker 1: one is better or who did this. They both are legends.
Speaker 1: They're both born and accurate, and they both led you
Speaker 1: on to think the NBA was scripted due to their greatness.
Speaker 1: The three point contests I truly enjoyed. I thought it
Speaker 1: was incredible. It was great to see Cat become the
Speaker 1: first big man to win it since two thousand twelve,
Speaker 1: since Kevin Love, who was also a Minnesota timber with
Speaker 1: at the time. I thought that was incredible. I actually
Speaker 1: chose cather Win um, as you know, because as I
Speaker 1: said before, he's it's not much movement. He does not jump,
Speaker 1: so it's no extra wasted energy. It's literally him picking
Speaker 1: the ball up. Boom boom boom. It's it's no wasted energy,
Speaker 1: and so I actually thought Cat will win. Cat did win.
Speaker 1: Kudos to him. He shoots, He shoots the lights out
Speaker 1: of the ball, and this is the best year he's
Speaker 1: had shooting it. He's shooting it at a career clip.
Speaker 1: But you you saw this coming, like you've seen this
Speaker 1: over the years, uh coming his shot taking more and
Speaker 1: more of him, and the more that he's taking over
Speaker 1: the years, the better his percentages has gotten. So I
Speaker 1: thought that was absolutely incredible. Congratulations to Cat, well deserved,
Speaker 1: incredible shooter. Definitely probably the best shooting big man um
Speaker 1: that we have in the league. And you know, you
Speaker 1: have something specialists and so you maybe can find a
Speaker 1: specialist big that can shoot better than him, but someone
Speaker 1: with the whole entire package like Cat has. Catt'll give
Speaker 1: you a bucket anyway you want to dribble, post three,
Speaker 1: step back your name, and he giving you all of
Speaker 1: those buckets. So he's the best at doing that. You
Speaker 1: gotta give him his credit. He shoot the lights out
Speaker 1: three point champion. Congratulations to Cat. Job well done, my friend,
Speaker 1: and way to hold it down for the biggs. That's
Speaker 1: two for Cat. Now that's Cat got the skills competition,
Speaker 1: and that's also another one for cat three point competition.
Speaker 1: Maybe he'll go to the Dunk Contest next year, which
Speaker 1: is a totally different story. I mean, there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of riff raff and a lot of talk on
Speaker 1: the Dunk Contest. Quite frankly, I thought it was terrible.
Speaker 1: I thought it was bad. I didn't really enjoy it much.
Speaker 1: What I did enjoy was watching Wantu, Scote Anderson compete
Speaker 1: on the biggest stage. And that's a guy who got
Speaker 1: it out the mud, straight from ninety Street in Oakland,
Speaker 1: who did a G League tryout, pay for a G
Speaker 1: League tryout, made the team, continue to work, gets the
Speaker 1: training camp, invide from the Warriors, gets cut, goes back
Speaker 1: to the G League, continues to work, get a call up,
Speaker 1: and obviously we know the rest is history. So to
Speaker 1: see him on that stage and only be one dunk
Speaker 1: away from winning the Slam Dunk Competition, I thought it
Speaker 1: was incredible. And if there was anything that I enjoyed
Speaker 1: from that Dunk Contest, which it wasn't many moments to enjoy,
Speaker 1: it was that Because I thought that was incredible. That's pure.
Speaker 1: That's what we all love. You love to see the guy,
Speaker 1: get it out, the underdog and make it to that stage.
Speaker 1: And so kudos Tawan Tuscano Anderson, congratulations to Obie topping Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the dunk contest has to be figured out
Speaker 1: because it was not it was. I mean, I used
Speaker 1: to be the Marquis event at like there was a
Speaker 1: time where the where the dunk contest was more important
Speaker 1: than the actual All Star Game. Not quite anymore. I mean,
Speaker 1: the three point contest was the mark event isue but
Speaker 1: in the same token of three point shot is the
Speaker 1: most important shot in the NBA. So it makes sense
Speaker 1: of why that would take precedent. You think about the
Speaker 1: NBA back in the day, it's all about slashing, getting
Speaker 1: too the cup, highest flyer, um, tough physical, toughest nails.
Speaker 1: Nobody's really shooting three. That was condemned and everybody talked
Speaker 1: about if you live by the three, you die by
Speaker 1: it three. And so it wasn't a big thing. And
Speaker 1: so the reality is is it makes sense of why
Speaker 1: that was more of the Marque event because the NBA
Speaker 1: is built on three point shooting right now thanks to
Speaker 1: Steph Curry and Clay Thompson. So I get it. But
Speaker 1: something has to happen because it wasn't not great. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. There was many things that took place
Speaker 1: during the dunk contest that got you out of your seat.
Speaker 1: And of course we I saw Kareem Abdul Jabbar infamously
Speaker 1: walking out of the dunk contest mid dunk. So and
Speaker 1: I also told you all Jalen Green was the guy
Speaker 1: who has the most outs and he's gonna try to
Speaker 1: do so much and miss the dunks. I knew it.
Speaker 1: I knew it because he's supposed to win, like all
Speaker 1: the pressures on him to do something spectacular. He do
Speaker 1: normal dunks. He doesn't win, so he has to do
Speaker 1: something spectacular. So I don't know, man, you can see
Speaker 1: it coming. It's kind of the same thing every year.
Speaker 1: The guy who's supposed to win doesn't really win. You
Speaker 1: think back to James White, the hot flyer, dunks from
Speaker 1: the free throw line. Women like those guys. They they're
Speaker 1: supposed to win and they just never win. Zach Lavine
Speaker 1: was supposed to when he did win, but most guys don't.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was very interesting, um or lack
Speaker 1: thereof of interest, But I will see the NBA has
Speaker 1: done a great job of revamping things for All Star
Speaker 1: Weekend to keep the energy going, and I have no
Speaker 1: doubt in my mind they'll figure something out with the
Speaker 1: Dunk contest to make it more interesting. So we'll see,
Speaker 1: and we'll we'll wait to see until next year, which
Speaker 1: is another All Star Weekend that I'll be at who
Speaker 1: I'll be playing this time around. And lastly, before we
Speaker 1: get to the damn interview, because it was a pretty
Speaker 1: long one, so for the sake of time, we'll try
Speaker 1: to keep this open a little shorter. But before we
Speaker 1: talk about the damn interview, I have to say something like,
Speaker 1: it's absolutely necessary that I say something about the Juwan
Speaker 1: Howard situation. Uh, in part due to I hate Michigan
Speaker 1: Wolverines like I'm all the way good on them, So
Speaker 1: any time to see their programs in turmoil is always
Speaker 1: fun for me, because why not, I'm a Michigan State guy.
Speaker 1: I'm sparking through and through. They hate us, we hate them.
Speaker 1: It's no surprise there, it is what it is. So
Speaker 1: any time that happens, and not necessarily the incident with
Speaker 1: Juwan Howard, but any time their programs are in term
Speaker 1: more fire, hard hardball like I enjoy that. Let me
Speaker 1: say that first. Now, Juwan Howard Um. It baffles me
Speaker 1: how no one spoke about the guy grabbed his arm
Speaker 1: as he's walking through the handshake line. It's almost as
Speaker 1: if he walked up to someone and punched him in
Speaker 1: their eye. No words said premeditated. I made up my mind.
Speaker 1: I'm walking up to you and I'm punching you in
Speaker 1: your eye. That's what it almost. That's what the the
Speaker 1: narrative around this thing feels like to me. No one's
Speaker 1: talking about his arm being great. It's the reason Juwan
Speaker 1: didn't apologize. I have the utmost respect for him for
Speaker 1: not apologize. At the end of the day, you did it.
Speaker 1: It's done. It is what it is. If you ultimately
Speaker 1: want to reach out to that guy and apologize to
Speaker 1: him for punching him, totally fine. But the whole he
Speaker 1: needs to get in the press conference right after. He
Speaker 1: haven't had time to process his thoughts, hasn't had time
Speaker 1: to go through and this whole notion if he needs
Speaker 1: to get in the press conference and apologize right away,
Speaker 1: miss me with that, that's ridiculous. You did it. It
Speaker 1: is what it is. You have to live with it regardless.
Speaker 1: If you apologize or not right, then you take it
Speaker 1: on the chain, you continue to move. And I'm so
Speaker 1: happy I didn't go to the University of Michigan as
Speaker 1: I almost did, because the way they're athletic director comes
Speaker 1: out immediately like oh, I reached out to them and
Speaker 1: I apologize, My man, have you even had an opportunity
Speaker 1: to talk to your coach yet? Two you came out
Speaker 1: with the statement within a couple hours of this thing happening.
Speaker 1: I've reached out to them and apologize, like number one,
Speaker 1: war man, you like you're you're not involved directly. Now
Speaker 1: you have to make decisions, but you reach and I
Speaker 1: apologize it. You're almost sad as as if Juwan was wrong?
Speaker 1: Was he wrong for punch of him? Absolutely? Okay, we
Speaker 1: all know you keep a certain level of professionalism blah
Speaker 1: blah blah, But you didn't ask. You didn't ask their
Speaker 1: athletic directed to reach out to you and apologize about
Speaker 1: their head coach been Jowan's aren't. But I reached out
Speaker 1: to them, our presidents reaching out to the chancellor to apologize,
Speaker 1: like stop it, Like how about how that man back
Speaker 1: instead of just throwing them under the bus like that,
Speaker 1: how about coming out and supporting him and saying I
Speaker 1: don't agree with what Jawan did, but ultimately I stand
Speaker 1: in support of our coach. I will handle and we
Speaker 1: will handle and discipline as we see fit. But let
Speaker 1: us further figure out what happened first, as opposed to, oh,
Speaker 1: we apologize already and we can't like stop it. That's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: So I thought that was put theetic. Yeah, it wasn't
Speaker 1: surprising to me because I know how they are up there.
Speaker 1: I'm always rolling with the Spartans, I'm rolling with time
Speaker 1: is though, But the fact that there was no support
Speaker 1: from the people that are supposed to be on his side,
Speaker 1: it's just further validates why I chose the green and
Speaker 1: white and not It's come up the highway, because I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe that. That was baffling to me that their
Speaker 1: athletic director ran out like that, apologizing and not supporting
Speaker 1: his coach. I hope, I hope you wanna say forget
Speaker 1: you all the rest of the season, suspension on out
Speaker 1: of here, you can have. That's That's what I'm hoping for.
Speaker 1: But we'll see, we know how it goes. Whatever I
Speaker 1: thought it was absolutely ridiculous. Also, suspending for the rest
Speaker 1: of the season. Can Can we also know what the
Speaker 1: assistant because see as someone who's been suspended from very
Speaker 1: important things. There's there's also two sides to it. And
Speaker 1: I've been in trouble before for coming into a scrum
Speaker 1: after the fact in the NBA saying you escalated the situation.
Speaker 1: So how does this guy, Joe Krabenhof not get anything
Speaker 1: for coming in and escalating the situation. Obviously you got
Speaker 1: pushing your of face, so you did get something, but
Speaker 1: he gets absolutely nothing for coming in and escalating the situation.
Speaker 1: And the guy who grabbed Jowan runs out scotch free,
Speaker 1: So does he get anything? Like nothing happens for him
Speaker 1: running out and grabbing that man's arm like he's not
Speaker 1: your friend, you're and grab his arm. That's ridiculous. In
Speaker 1: two thousand and twenty two, you can't even grab your
Speaker 1: kid arm without getting in trouble. You're gonna grab the
Speaker 1: arm of another grown man and then he the situation.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, Absolutely ridiculous. So I absolutely hated the way
Speaker 1: Michigan's athletic director came out and did that show no
Speaker 1: support for Juan and coming out and do that I
Speaker 1: absolutely hate the fact that no one is talking about
Speaker 1: him grabbing Jowan's arm, and I absolutely hate the fact
Speaker 1: that no one is talking about grabbing half coming in
Speaker 1: and escal late in the situation and ultimately getting punched
Speaker 1: in his face. But it's not a Michigan state state thing,
Speaker 1: so ultimately it is what it is. I really don't care.
Speaker 1: That's just that We'll move on from that. Good Michigan's
Speaker 1: in turmoil. I love it. But let me welcome in
Speaker 1: my brother, Olympic gold medalists, six times NBA All Star,
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year, cornerstone of the Portland Trail Blazers,
Speaker 1: and NBA Top seventy five performer, Dang dollar Man. I'm
Speaker 1: honored to have this next guest on UM, a guy
Speaker 1: who I've now had the opportunity to play with, win
Speaker 1: a gold medal with, but someone who I have the
Speaker 1: utmost respect for UM that I've kind of built the
Speaker 1: that I have built a bond with. And it's funny
Speaker 1: because it just kind of happened like right at the
Speaker 1: at the combine, and we was in the draft together,
Speaker 1: sixth overall pick of our draft, but just kind of
Speaker 1: had that same underdog coming up and just clicked right
Speaker 1: off the bat, you know, become has become a brother
Speaker 1: of mine. Uh, built the lifelong relationship that will go
Speaker 1: far beyond our basketball years. And I think that grew
Speaker 1: even stronger and getting some hardware together in the gold medal.
Speaker 1: But I'm honored to how you on day and welcome
Speaker 1: to the Draymond Green and show my brother six time
Speaker 1: All Star. First off, First off, man, how are you feeling? Um?
Speaker 1: Obviously we know you're coming off the injury. Well you
Speaker 1: have surgery. Um, you're trying to rehab back from the injury.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling? First off, I should have listened
Speaker 1: to y'all. Y'all told me to do that. I got
Speaker 1: it done, But I mean should I had to. I
Speaker 1: had to do what I had to do. I ended
Speaker 1: up getting that that surgery. Um where our team was
Speaker 1: that they just made sense. I mean, just go ahead
Speaker 1: and corrected him and move forward. But I mean it's
Speaker 1: a it ain't a bad surgery, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It was like, you know, it's an aggressive recovery. So
Speaker 1: I had surgery on on January thirteenth, and on at
Speaker 1: like six am, and then on the fourteenth at six am,
Speaker 1: my therapy, yoga. It was like right away, just like
Speaker 1: get back moving, start attacking it and building that shrimp
Speaker 1: back up and says today it's just been every day
Speaker 1: Bright's rehab all that. So I mean I'm back, I'm
Speaker 1: back on to move now just cutting, spread and jumping
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. That was just a matter of
Speaker 1: you know, strengthening my adepts in that growing area, my
Speaker 1: hips and getting my quarterback strong. But I'm I'm getting
Speaker 1: there equipped broth like I'm moving. I'm just not in
Speaker 1: the rush. You know. That's that's beautiful seeing I obviously
Speaker 1: as you saw I said on I think Instagram like
Speaker 1: this dude finally going and get the surgery and made
Speaker 1: me happy. And I don't think I was a thing.
Speaker 1: To my defense, brother, I didn't realized how hurt I
Speaker 1: was until until now when I'm walking around and I'm
Speaker 1: doing stuff, I realized I heard I was like, I
Speaker 1: knew I was hurt, but I didn't know I was
Speaker 1: hurt like that. It's funny because the reality is we're all,
Speaker 1: like you just said, we're all telling you like, damn,
Speaker 1: get the surgery. Damn with the surgery, and the reality
Speaker 1: is you're you're you're stubborn as hell and you don't listen.
Speaker 1: But what most people don't understand is that's actually what
Speaker 1: makes you great, is that you are stubborn, that you
Speaker 1: do carry that chip on your shoulder. And so it
Speaker 1: wasn't ironic to me that you wouldn't listen to nothing
Speaker 1: else tell you get surgery. Almost did, but I was like,
Speaker 1: I didn't until until I couldn't move. I was like, good,
Speaker 1: it's um. I don't think people really understand. There was
Speaker 1: a lot of talk after the after the Olympics, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know that, don't look healthy this, and then you
Speaker 1: know you you you rehab, you come or you took
Speaker 1: a break, you rehab, then you come in for training
Speaker 1: camp and you having those days still. But people don't
Speaker 1: understand when we were over in Tokyo and seeing you
Speaker 1: not be able to practice and seeing you like, hey man,
Speaker 1: I'm hurting today, but tomorrow it'll it'll loosen up again.
Speaker 1: And now like it'll loosen up again and I'll be
Speaker 1: able to play. Like I don't think people really understand
Speaker 1: what you were going through over there, so like walk
Speaker 1: them through and I can help with that, but walk
Speaker 1: them through what you were going through in the Olympics
Speaker 1: and still continue to fight through, continue to help when
Speaker 1: help us win that gold. Mental I mean, I think
Speaker 1: the number one thing for me, I don't I ain't
Speaker 1: even comfortable with excuses for him. So my main thing
Speaker 1: was like I just gotta find a way to get
Speaker 1: through it. But I think what it came down to
Speaker 1: is and it's been getting worse every sea it you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Like at first, it was like,
Speaker 1: all right, I gotta get treatment and it feel better
Speaker 1: for the next couple of games, and then it'll be
Speaker 1: like bothering me. I get in the cold to up,
Speaker 1: get him a size, and I'll be good for a month.
Speaker 1: Then the next year it was like every week I
Speaker 1: gotta be on the table before and after practice. And
Speaker 1: then the next year it was like I do the
Speaker 1: same stuff, it ain't really helping. And then last season
Speaker 1: it was bothering me the whole season. Like the whole year,
Speaker 1: I'm like struggling, Like in between games, I'm trying to
Speaker 1: walk up my stairs and like my ship is completely
Speaker 1: locked up. So I'm like I started realizing, like I'm
Speaker 1: really hurt. Then I stopped being able to explode like
Speaker 1: vertical when I was running full speed when usually I
Speaker 1: can just pop up there. I'm like, damn, I can't
Speaker 1: run fast and jump, but run fast, change direction to
Speaker 1: go off one foot. So we get to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and during the playoffs, like I was getting so much
Speaker 1: treatment and you know, doing medication and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: where I was able to have a good playoff. We lost,
Speaker 1: and I started getting ready for the Olympics. So after
Speaker 1: a long season and then I kept training, then went
Speaker 1: to Vegas and then it was there for three weeks
Speaker 1: and then went to the Olympics, and the pretty much
Speaker 1: just gave out on me, like it was done bro.
Speaker 1: And the whole time we was there, I was like,
Speaker 1: really scenting experienced I playing. I planned the half on
Speaker 1: the court. It was already like half the experience just
Speaker 1: being there as we couldn't do nothing. So but on
Speaker 1: the court, I'm like, ship, I'm FINNI play with Drey,
Speaker 1: I'm playing with Kade, I'm playing with all these people.
Speaker 1: I'm finding I'm fenning hit eight threes a game. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get some dunks. We're gonna have some fun. And
Speaker 1: then it's like you get there, I can't really move
Speaker 1: my sheet hurt and I couldn't even walk norm So
Speaker 1: I'm like, as long as we're gonna league here. When
Speaker 1: I went in this gold medal, like, I'm cool, Like
Speaker 1: we just gotta win a gold medal. Katie just telling me,
Speaker 1: you know, in between time, I was like, Regis, you're
Speaker 1: gonna need you to hit a big shot. We're just
Speaker 1: gonna need you to do this, do that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: if I can do anything, I'm gonna do that. Bro.
Speaker 1: Like I can't. I mean, I ain't gonna be out
Speaker 1: there playing all these minutes, which I didn't need to,
Speaker 1: but you know, I can have some moments, and you know,
Speaker 1: we we accomplished when we went over there to accomplish,
Speaker 1: and you know, I'm just happy idly when we get
Speaker 1: through it. But after that, it was all dawn litill.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. That's why I said I
Speaker 1: should have just had the surgery, because after the Olympics,
Speaker 1: I took a bunch of time off. But then when
Speaker 1: I came back to training camp, it was like the
Speaker 1: first day we started like moving around. We got to
Speaker 1: the end of the day and I was just like,
Speaker 1: you know, when you know something but you don't want
Speaker 1: to tell nobody. Because you're like, man, I'm I'm fucked.
Speaker 1: You know, it's past the point. Like like I got
Speaker 1: to Kim and I was just like after the first
Speaker 1: day I knew, I knew a training camp, like it
Speaker 1: ain't never been as bad, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I could at least practice a little bit. I
Speaker 1: got out the next day and like it was done. Bro,
Speaker 1: Like it was, it was done. So that was it.
Speaker 1: But I mean, it is what it is. I never
Speaker 1: really had I never really thought a whole lot about,
Speaker 1: you know, what other people were saying, because you gotta
Speaker 1: ask the people who have experienced the injury to really know,
Speaker 1: because it's hard to explain it. So if you don't
Speaker 1: want to be explaining and ship and then sounding like
Speaker 1: you just making a bunch of ship up. So you know,
Speaker 1: I just didn't say nothing, and I'm still not gonna
Speaker 1: say nothing. I just I just handled it so I
Speaker 1: can get healthy. And then when I'm healthy and they
Speaker 1: see me, they're gonna be like, something's wrong, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, When they see how I returned, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be like, damn, you know, like something's really wrong.
Speaker 1: And that's that's all I really care about. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, it's it's being healthy when I know
Speaker 1: I wasn't hire, no no doubt. And I think for me,
Speaker 1: who already had a bunch of respect for you, I
Speaker 1: gained even more respect, you know, and going through those times,
Speaker 1: uh me having to go to coach pop Yo take
Speaker 1: Dame out of practice like he's not gonna come out like,
Speaker 1: you know, like he can barely move, Like just let's
Speaker 1: get him out of practice. At least we can get
Speaker 1: him for the game tomorrow. So I gained a bunch
Speaker 1: of respect for that, or for you and just watching
Speaker 1: you handle that, you know, but and moving forward obviously,
Speaker 1: Uh now can we expect you back this year? Or
Speaker 1: should we expect you back this year? I mean right now,
Speaker 1: I don't. When I first had this surgery, I was,
Speaker 1: I was, you know, more optimistic, like you know, we
Speaker 1: don't see um, but I think where we are right now,
Speaker 1: and uh, what we need to happen for us to
Speaker 1: be able to take full advantage of, you know, the
Speaker 1: opportunity we created with all the moves we may. I
Speaker 1: don't even think, um that's the play that make you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, I ain't a thousand percent sure,
Speaker 1: but I mean at this point I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: much since it made Yeah, and that makes sense, And
Speaker 1: obviously you had the opportunity to use all this time
Speaker 1: to get healthy. I think people don't realize you like
Speaker 1: how much you've been in the playoffs and how the
Speaker 1: told that that takes on your body. So I think
Speaker 1: it's great for you to get this rest. Uh. And
Speaker 1: speaking of the moves that y'all y'all made, and trading
Speaker 1: away Norman Pole and Robert Covington and then of course
Speaker 1: obviously trading CJ a way. And I know I've spoke
Speaker 1: to you about this before, just you and c J.
Speaker 1: And I remember you telling me like you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: c J talk all the time, like we know at
Speaker 1: some point this is gonna happen. It's kind of just
Speaker 1: a matter of when it does happen. Obviously it's happened. Now.
Speaker 1: How how did you feel about the move where? How
Speaker 1: how you feel about what it was for c J
Speaker 1: and him going to New Orleans and the type of
Speaker 1: situation it is for him. But then also what y'all
Speaker 1: got back and where that leaves y'all going forward, I
Speaker 1: mean from back you know, three or four years where
Speaker 1: it's like I remember when we lost in New Orleans
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, it was like, man, we don't don't
Speaker 1: know what's gonna happen. At this point, we just got
Speaker 1: swept as a three seed, Like we don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen, but we knew it was a possibility, and
Speaker 1: you know, I think at that point we started to
Speaker 1: align our contracts up to where we was basically on
Speaker 1: the same on the same time. You know, we're like,
Speaker 1: all right, if someone gonna happen, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like we was already where what the possibilities could be.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what that's what being solid and
Speaker 1: you know, really being partners is about. Whereas like we
Speaker 1: know that there's a possibility, like I'm never gonna be
Speaker 1: like I'm never gonna hang him out there and I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna know something. And and now I go to
Speaker 1: him like look for our things something something might go
Speaker 1: down or whatever. You know, Like two days before it happened,
Speaker 1: We're talked on the phone for hour, you know, like
Speaker 1: just talking about it. So um, you never would like
Speaker 1: if it was gonna be something where I was gonna
Speaker 1: be moved, and you know, see, okay, I knew about it.
Speaker 1: I would never want him to be like, I would
Speaker 1: never want him to tell them like, no, I don't
Speaker 1: do this. You know, I would want to be there
Speaker 1: on the strength of them wanting me to be there,
Speaker 1: as opposed to me being there on the strength of
Speaker 1: somebody making them make me be there. So you know,
Speaker 1: and I know you feel the same way. So um.
Speaker 1: You know, you you get to a point where you know,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe something running his course, you know, you gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta rerape yourself and try to figure out what's
Speaker 1: the what's the best thing, what's the best angle to
Speaker 1: take at this point? And that's where that reached. And
Speaker 1: you know, he went into a great basketball situation, you
Speaker 1: know with e I and Zion and Balantis. And also
Speaker 1: people don't realize how good c J really is. I
Speaker 1: think that's another thing. It's like they don't realize that
Speaker 1: how nice he really is. So um, that ship was
Speaker 1: tough to deal with. But I ain't gonna lie like
Speaker 1: I was. You know, when you know something could be
Speaker 1: coming and you know that as a possibility, but when
Speaker 1: when happened is different, Like and I kind of been
Speaker 1: stuck in that space the whole time, Like I've been
Speaker 1: watching every game in New Orleans like damn, like he
Speaker 1: really ain't coming back, you know, it was over. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of where I've been at. I still kind
Speaker 1: of haven't even really moved plastic because I ain't had
Speaker 1: to play, so yeah, like when I ain't had to
Speaker 1: get on the court and he ain't on the team,
Speaker 1: or it's like it probably take a little bit longer
Speaker 1: to be like, man, this is really over, you know.
Speaker 1: So you know the end of the era, bro absolutely,
Speaker 1: And I think, um, obviously y'all had a great run.
Speaker 1: We met you all in the Western Conference finals and
Speaker 1: in other playoffs series as well. But and looking back
Speaker 1: on these years, I think it's, uh, nine years you'all
Speaker 1: played together eight years, I mean nine years as teammates,
Speaker 1: eight years because of the injuries. But what was your
Speaker 1: favorite moment and playing with c J that you can
Speaker 1: go back to him and be like that was the
Speaker 1: moment that will hold on to forever or it's is
Speaker 1: just the relationship overall, um, I'll say a relationship overall,
Speaker 1: because it was a lot of moments where I was
Speaker 1: just like you know that I think about and I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: but I think the a moment that I think back
Speaker 1: to is um and just because like even when c
Speaker 1: J wasn't playing all the way up until last season
Speaker 1: when Covid hit me and she just sat next to
Speaker 1: each other on the plane. For the first eight years
Speaker 1: we played together. We was like sitting right next to
Speaker 1: each other on the plane. So we used to watch
Speaker 1: film together. We's listening to music right there. We used
Speaker 1: to be watching TV shows like everything. Like we used
Speaker 1: to sit right there and next to each other. And
Speaker 1: when we made the first move when you know, l
Speaker 1: A left and the tune and west and rollo and
Speaker 1: all them. When that team first broke up, c J
Speaker 1: came in and he was like, bro, I got you.
Speaker 1: Like we ain't about to just be trashed, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like we probably were just gonna take time,
Speaker 1: but like I'm gonna I got you. And I remember
Speaker 1: we like sweeked our way into the playoffs that year
Speaker 1: and we end up being like a five seed or
Speaker 1: something like that. Five seed. And two thousand sixteen, it
Speaker 1: was my fourth year, and um, we played the Clippers
Speaker 1: in the first round in the game I think Game
Speaker 1: four CP and Blake got hurt and then we tied
Speaker 1: the series up to two, and then we went to
Speaker 1: to the to l a game five when that one
Speaker 1: was up three two, and then we closed him out
Speaker 1: in game six at home, and I just remember like
Speaker 1: walking off the court and I turned around and he
Speaker 1: was behind me, and he just hugged me, and I
Speaker 1: was like, bro, we just want we just want to
Speaker 1: playoffs series Brothers a year, like we're gonna be all right.
Speaker 1: And I just remember, like I just remember we embraced
Speaker 1: each other, and I was like, bro, we kind of
Speaker 1: like we're about to get some ship done. I mean
Speaker 1: like like I'll never forget that because I was like,
Speaker 1: all right, you know it's real. We really as long
Speaker 1: as we can put it together, like we got a chance,
Speaker 1: so yeah and so and making those moves. I think
Speaker 1: y'all have somewhere around sixty million dollars or something like
Speaker 1: that in cap space. Um, like you're turning thirty two,
Speaker 1: as I am turning thirty two next month as well.
Speaker 1: The one thing you don't have on your side is time,
Speaker 1: and so you don't have like, oh man, I can
Speaker 1: watch this play out for four years or five and
Speaker 1: and grow with It's like y'all have to go for
Speaker 1: it now. Do you feel confident in the team's plans
Speaker 1: and what and what they want to do moving forward?
Speaker 1: That's going to help you get what I ultimately know
Speaker 1: you want to get to, which is winning the championship
Speaker 1: in Portlands, right. No, I think, Um, what we've done, brother,
Speaker 1: is put ourselves in position, in a position we have
Speaker 1: not been in. I don't think you're when we signed
Speaker 1: sign Et, we signed Mode, we signed Chief, you know,
Speaker 1: we just signed it. But myres we signed a bunch
Speaker 1: of people, and we haven't been in position, you know,
Speaker 1: with with talent on the roster already since since I've
Speaker 1: been here. You know, you look at what and It's doing,
Speaker 1: and then you look at what NAS was doing before
Speaker 1: you got hurt, and then you add nerve like Josh
Speaker 1: Hard Joe ingles like, we got some some pieces to
Speaker 1: the puzzle now that we just gotta use what we
Speaker 1: had available to add to that. Um, And it's just
Speaker 1: a matter of us being able to execute that. Bro.
Speaker 1: We in posit, we in play to get to get
Speaker 1: something done, and I trust the fact that we're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to execute it, you know, and we just
Speaker 1: gotta you know, we just gotta see where that land.
Speaker 1: That's where we had that. We just gotta see where
Speaker 1: we land at the end of it. Bro absolutely, and
Speaker 1: I want to I want to talk to you about
Speaker 1: a young young point guard that I have a that
Speaker 1: has earned a lot of gained a lot of respect
Speaker 1: from me. And I know how you are, like lot
Speaker 1: of guys in this league. You really ain't rocking with
Speaker 1: you kind of steady yourself. But I also know you
Speaker 1: do respect guys who get it out to muther another
Speaker 1: mid level, a guy like yourself who played I mean
Speaker 1: major guy like yourself played at the man major level.
Speaker 1: John Moran, what do you make of what he's doing
Speaker 1: with his team, especially at this stage in his career,
Speaker 1: because not many people can really relate to what he's
Speaker 1: going to Like I can't as as much success as
Speaker 1: I had early on in my career, I can't tell
Speaker 1: you what John Moran is doing. And there's other guys
Speaker 1: in this league who's big time that can't either, that
Speaker 1: did it at the level that y'all that you've done
Speaker 1: it at as early in your career as you did.
Speaker 1: And now what he's doing, what do you think about
Speaker 1: what job doing and where he's falling in that pack
Speaker 1: and order a great point guards in the league. No,
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's rising pick, you know,
Speaker 1: and I think a few things when from experience as
Speaker 1: a man major point guard that ends up being a
Speaker 1: top pick in the draft. Being a good NBA player
Speaker 1: is that as a mid major player. But you're playing
Speaker 1: with less talent than what everybody else played with, and
Speaker 1: you're learning, you're learning early how to get the most
Speaker 1: out of that and how to make a team win
Speaker 1: without everybody just being nice. Everybody you know, having the
Speaker 1: same ability that you have. So you gotta learn how
Speaker 1: to lead, and that ain't always scaring all the points
Speaker 1: of getting a budgets since you gotta learn how to
Speaker 1: make people go. You gotta learn how to make people
Speaker 1: like come along with you like and do everything they
Speaker 1: can to do have a part in winning. And I
Speaker 1: think you saw that, like c J think that Kauai
Speaker 1: did that, Steph did that. You know, it was like
Speaker 1: all of us that come from small schools, is like,
Speaker 1: we have that responsibility in college with lesser like, less
Speaker 1: talented players. So when you come to the NBA and
Speaker 1: you plan with more talent and you've got the ability yourself,
Speaker 1: like you know, how to make it happen. You know,
Speaker 1: it's one thing I know how to do, and let's
Speaker 1: make it happen. And I think a big factor in
Speaker 1: the level that you do that at is what are
Speaker 1: you surrounded with. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don't,
Speaker 1: you know, Like I feel like if I had the
Speaker 1: team that I came into the league with for two
Speaker 1: more years, I would I would be a champion already
Speaker 1: if I still if I played my fifth six years
Speaker 1: with Lea, Marvis, Robin Lopez, West, Matthew's, Nick Betune, More Williams. Like,
Speaker 1: if I still had all these dudes on my team
Speaker 1: as a six year player, I would have won one.
Speaker 1: But you know that didn't happen for a long enough
Speaker 1: period of time for me to come into you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, what I was coming into. So for him,
Speaker 1: I think they've got it. You got Jaren Jackson, got
Speaker 1: Steven Adams, experienced center that's gonna set screens, gonna rebound,
Speaker 1: he's gonna talk, he's gonna be the enforcement. And then
Speaker 1: you got Dylan Brooks, and you got Desmond Bang then
Speaker 1: you got a job, and then you got Jones coming
Speaker 1: off the bench, and then you got um the Anthony Melton,
Speaker 1: the Anthony Milton, Like what's the athletic they'd be throwing
Speaker 1: a love to it, Brandy Clark, Like they got it right,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So like they got him,
Speaker 1: but they got everything else right. So now it was
Speaker 1: like he got like he got a he got a shot.
Speaker 1: They just gotta keep the team there, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. So I mean he I got a lot
Speaker 1: of other respectful job. Like the thing, the number one
Speaker 1: thing that I love is when I came in the league,
Speaker 1: like and you was the same way, like people might
Speaker 1: not have liked you like that, Like I don't think
Speaker 1: people dislike me, But when I came in the league, bro,
Speaker 1: I didn't have just no above and beyond respectful dudes
Speaker 1: like that, Like I knew who was who, but I wasn't.
Speaker 1: I wasn't coming in bound down. Like my mentality was,
Speaker 1: like I can I can work with everybody absolutely more
Speaker 1: highly regarded or got a better body of work, but
Speaker 1: like I'm not doing no bound down or nobody like
Speaker 1: And I feel that way until this day. And he
Speaker 1: has that about him, you know, absolutely he has that
Speaker 1: about him like ain't no bound down, And I think
Speaker 1: that's That's my number one favorite thing along man. I
Speaker 1: absolutely love that because the reality is you come in
Speaker 1: and you you bow down to these guys who you know,
Speaker 1: we've put ourselves in a position and now beat those guys, right,
Speaker 1: But you come in and you bow down to those guys.
Speaker 1: Everyone's gonna continue to follow that, or if he gives
Speaker 1: people something else to follow, they're going to follow that.
Speaker 1: And it's funny because I'll be talking to my I
Speaker 1: talked to my fiance all the time, just sitting in
Speaker 1: the crib and I was just talking to be watching
Speaker 1: the game and start talking to her about like the
Speaker 1: games within the game, you know, and or talking to
Speaker 1: my mom. And I remember I was telling my fiance
Speaker 1: the other day about the about the Bengals. I said, Baby,
Speaker 1: the thing about this team is they're young, and they're unfazed.
Speaker 1: When you got when you're young and you're unfazed a
Speaker 1: team go up team, you're just standing there like you know,
Speaker 1: or like they're not even really Uh. They haven't been
Speaker 1: around long enough to even process how big that moment is,
Speaker 1: and so for them it's just like, oh, we're down three.
Speaker 1: What what people don't understand is when the Chiefs are
Speaker 1: up three, the Chief's supposed to win that game. So
Speaker 1: once they go, they get tighter than the other than
Speaker 1: the opposing team. And this in this situation was the Bengals.
Speaker 1: They get tighter and they like loose, like no we
Speaker 1: could like we're just gonna keep playing. And so that's
Speaker 1: a good trade for a young team to have, And
Speaker 1: you only get that by having and in a lot
Speaker 1: of cases actually a young leader because he doesn't process
Speaker 1: what the moment is. And because he don't process what
Speaker 1: that moment is, everybody who follow him they don't process
Speaker 1: what that moment is. And I was telling I was
Speaker 1: telling her the other day, I said, that was us
Speaker 1: my first year, we won a championship in my third
Speaker 1: year playing this fourth year, steps in his sixth year. Um.
Speaker 1: But for Steff his six years, he the first three
Speaker 1: years of his career he missed half of each, wanted
Speaker 1: the seasons. Then four years like yeah, like he don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on either, until y'all into the year.
Speaker 1: Who did they? Who do the Spurs? Yeah? We lost
Speaker 1: to the Spurs in the second round after beating Denver.
Speaker 1: And then that's when it was like, oh man, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. But even then it's like, damn,
Speaker 1: we actually just did that. All right, let's see what
Speaker 1: we can do again, you know. And then we're losing
Speaker 1: seven to the Clippers and you're like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: But then Mark Jackson get fired and so you kind
Speaker 1: of go through that whole thing. But even then we
Speaker 1: get to the to that to my third year, and
Speaker 1: that's when we like we come into the season, we're
Speaker 1: playing well. Steve kerk first year, we're playing well. We're like, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, and then you kind of win a couple
Speaker 1: of games and I remember the one game where we
Speaker 1: knew like, ah okay. That's when we were playing at
Speaker 1: the Clippers and Steph drop CP with the double behind
Speaker 1: the back on the baseline. They were up twenty points
Speaker 1: that game. We came back and we won that game.
Speaker 1: And after that game, that was when like, oh no,
Speaker 1: like we're really supposed to be this good. But but
Speaker 1: you go through that whole year and you're not really
Speaker 1: processing how big those moments are. So we go up
Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals against Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James
Speaker 1: Lebron know how big that moment is, Like Lebron has
Speaker 1: to win that championship because he's Lebron James. We're going
Speaker 1: in there, like, man, what y'all see all these people
Speaker 1: around the THISBA finals and you just you're almost dumb
Speaker 1: to the to what's going on. And I think that's
Speaker 1: where the Grizzlies are right now. And then large part
Speaker 1: due to all of those guys just follow job and
Speaker 1: out there like I don't see none of you all
Speaker 1: in front of me. I'm him, I'm that guy and
Speaker 1: I and I just remember seeing a lot of that
Speaker 1: in yourself because you, I think what LaMarcus have left
Speaker 1: after your second year, after your second, third year, after
Speaker 1: my third, and you took on that team like you
Speaker 1: had really already taken over the team, which is part
Speaker 1: of the reason I felt like he left because he
Speaker 1: felt that switch in the organization, but you had already
Speaker 1: taken on that and then now taken on the team
Speaker 1: by yourself. You know what he's going through. And so
Speaker 1: I think that's a dope thing to watch. Yeah, it is,
Speaker 1: because you know, like when it's infectious, like even when
Speaker 1: it's not on purpose, people have like they start to
Speaker 1: just follow that energy. Bro. Like I came in Portland, Bro,
Speaker 1: I came in here walking did the building, rapping on
Speaker 1: my phone with the instrumental plan, and you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I like I brought something that was that
Speaker 1: felt like confidence and belief, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Opposed to before that it was kind of just quiet
Speaker 1: and I'm almost a little bit like on eggshells. And
Speaker 1: I had that like I didn't give a funk. I
Speaker 1: was just like, I work hard, I do what everybody
Speaker 1: asked me to do. I don't be walking around like
Speaker 1: I run the place. I just do what I do.
Speaker 1: And it was a belief. People had belief in that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So they definitely got that
Speaker 1: going on. But I can see it, I mean absolutely
Speaker 1: know and and so and just speaking of mid major
Speaker 1: guys who at some point obviously will overlook UM I thought,
Speaker 1: I think everybody thought you and you were out spoken
Speaker 1: about it in two thousand and sixteen two thousand and
Speaker 1: seventeen when you were smelled for the All Star Game
Speaker 1: both of those years, um I and obviously you made
Speaker 1: all start every year since except this year due to
Speaker 1: the injury, but and and being snubbed that way, I
Speaker 1: also thought, um, last season you should have been higher
Speaker 1: up like with the seat, with the year that you had,
Speaker 1: you average thirty and eight, you shot from three. I
Speaker 1: thought you should have been hired up and then be
Speaker 1: m v P conversation just just based on what you
Speaker 1: were doing. And you know, when guys, when other guys
Speaker 1: get those numbers, you're talking m v P runner up,
Speaker 1: m v P right away didn't quite seem like the
Speaker 1: saying to you do you feel do you still do
Speaker 1: you feel like you still don't get the respect that
Speaker 1: I personally think you should get or or that you
Speaker 1: think you deserve um in this league and as far
Speaker 1: as what you've accomplished and and how you go about
Speaker 1: your business and what you bring to the table every night.
Speaker 1: I think I think I get the respect I think people.
Speaker 1: I think people respect it. I think is I just
Speaker 1: think that because what I do is not loud. My
Speaker 1: game is loud, like I have sixty and ten and
Speaker 1: seven and we'll win a bunch of games. Like I
Speaker 1: have loud performances, but I'm not loud. I don't get
Speaker 1: on social media say crazy ship, what stuff is happening?
Speaker 1: I don't respond crazy Like every once in a wife
Speaker 1: I feel challenged or somebody like pushing the line on me,
Speaker 1: like they think something like they think something sweet. Then
Speaker 1: I come back, I say something real aggressive, and then
Speaker 1: it'll be like a headline, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But like I'm not out spoken about everything and I'm
Speaker 1: not loud. You know that ain't I don't think that's
Speaker 1: really attractive. Like I don't give him another of a topic,
Speaker 1: you know, to fit only be like because in reality
Speaker 1: is like for example, last season when y'all, who y'all
Speaker 1: lost the Lakers in the playing game, we lost to
Speaker 1: the Lakers, then the Grizzlies, then the Grizzlies. So last year,
Speaker 1: like step going on a crazy run, right steps going
Speaker 1: on like he's going crazy, y'all lose to the Lakers, y'all,
Speaker 1: Louis to Memphis. But there's a significant amount of people
Speaker 1: out there saying he's he should be m v P,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like in my eyes, I'm like,
Speaker 1: he probably shouldn't be MVP, Like he probably shouldn't be
Speaker 1: because what he's doing is that crazy with what he's
Speaker 1: what he's playing with. But for me, I'm averaging thirty
Speaker 1: points eight. This is then there are five rebounds. What
Speaker 1: he said present from the field forty from three ninety
Speaker 1: from the line. C J missed two months, NERD missed
Speaker 1: two months, everybody then being hurt. We get to the
Speaker 1: playoffs and it's like, yeah, they is having a great season,
Speaker 1: but they just stated seven seed, they seed. So like
Speaker 1: I say that to say brother that like I get
Speaker 1: my respect, but people are going to respect what I've
Speaker 1: done and how consistent I've done it when I'm done
Speaker 1: playing more than they will now. And you know, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a thing where like if I when you
Speaker 1: say the truth, sometimes people say you're crying, like you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. When you say the truth, they
Speaker 1: don't line up with what they wanted to be. You're
Speaker 1: crying for all he's saying this or he's saying that.
Speaker 1: But like that's just the truth, bro, Like I've I
Speaker 1: definitely should have been up there and at that nv P. Bro.
Speaker 1: They like when you weigh in, when you weigh into
Speaker 1: like everybody's situation and what you're able to make happen.
Speaker 1: Like for us to get into the playoffs, Bro, we
Speaker 1: had to really come from behind, and I'm coming out here.
Speaker 1: I had sixty against y'all, I had sixty against Brooklyn
Speaker 1: sixty against Dallas, fifty against Spilling, fifty against Denver, fifty
Speaker 1: against the Lakers. fIF Like, Bro, this is the season
Speaker 1: where I'm like player in the league fifty two. I
Speaker 1: literally was averaging fifty two points tennessis and eight rebounds
Speaker 1: and player of the week. Then the following week average
Speaker 1: forty seven points with tennisis and nine rebounds. And it's
Speaker 1: like had that been anybody else, they would have been
Speaker 1: ready to hand them the m v P. But like
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, like this ship is like so for me, Bro,
Speaker 1: I've accepted my place. You know what I'm saying, Like
Speaker 1: when you ask when you act like a lot of
Speaker 1: college players and like young players like who you you
Speaker 1: know who you funked with? Like they funk with me, Bro,
Speaker 1: because because they know I'm solid. I say what I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean what I say. I ain't know hater be jelic,
Speaker 1: but I just do what I do. But I do
Speaker 1: feel like what I do is not it's respected, is
Speaker 1: not appreciated and and value as it should be. Like
Speaker 1: that's just what it is. That's what that's what I see.
Speaker 1: Do you think And I actually agree with that one.
Speaker 1: I think in Steph's case, it could be a little different.
Speaker 1: But I'll ask you this question because I would love
Speaker 1: to hear your opinion. Do you think for Steph is
Speaker 1: viewed a little differently because he already has rings as
Speaker 1: opposed to not. Because, however, I think even in what
Speaker 1: you're saying, there are still other guys in this league
Speaker 1: that don't have rings, but they'll still get that now.
Speaker 1: But I think in Steph's case, it could be a
Speaker 1: little different because he already had the rings. Do you
Speaker 1: feel that Do you think that? Or UM? I mean
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't. UM, I don't think into it
Speaker 1: that deeply. You know what I'm saying for me to
Speaker 1: wait all of those things, like I always tell people,
Speaker 1: you know, like people ask me like, you know what
Speaker 1: about this, like kind of like along the lines of
Speaker 1: what you're saying about step what about this person? And
Speaker 1: I'd be like, have my position. Step is the one
Speaker 1: person that I'm like, you can say what you want,
Speaker 1: like if you say who's who's the best of this,
Speaker 1: who's first? Like this step is the one person that,
Speaker 1: like I can accept coming behind. Because Steph came from
Speaker 1: a mid major, like Steph went through injuries. Steph teams struggled,
Speaker 1: like Steph isn't two time MVP, three time champion, Like
Speaker 1: I respect step you know what I'm saying, Like I
Speaker 1: have no I'll take nothing away from step I respected
Speaker 1: one thousand percent. But like after that, like I ain't
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like I can't. I can't
Speaker 1: take it, I can't take a back seat after that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like in in in our time,
Speaker 1: and I'm not talking about numbers and none of that.
Speaker 1: I'm just talking about lining it up, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And Kyrie too, Like I like people don't
Speaker 1: give Kyrie enough credit because they'd be worried about the
Speaker 1: wrong ship, you know what I'm saying, Like they them
Speaker 1: the ones, so like, um, I don't really like I
Speaker 1: think it is. You know, certain people don't have certain
Speaker 1: things based off of what they've done, you know what
Speaker 1: they've accomplished. Um, But I think you gotta any time
Speaker 1: you start to have these conversations, you gotta weigh in
Speaker 1: the positions that everybody else, everybody's been put in, Like
Speaker 1: look at who, look at everybody who the teammates that
Speaker 1: everybody at the top have had. Yeah, okay, who has
Speaker 1: who has Step played with? Who has Brown played with?
Speaker 1: Who have You played with? Who has a d played with?
Speaker 1: Who has Russ played with? Who has James played with?
Speaker 1: Who has CP played with? Like, if you look at
Speaker 1: everybody at all, these guys that played with, everybody has
Speaker 1: played with with, everybody has played with everybody mm hmm
Speaker 1: and had a chance and they didn't have to leave
Speaker 1: their teams for that to happen. Yeah, So some cases
Speaker 1: might be like, well, you could go and do this
Speaker 1: and go do that, but like in many cases, nobody
Speaker 1: has had to do anything. They've been afforded these opportunities
Speaker 1: to play with the best. I do not mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Do you do you think? Um, well, first off, how
Speaker 1: many All Stars? How you played with one, lamar two, LaMarcus.
Speaker 1: That's it, that's it. That's interesting. LaMarcus was an All
Speaker 1: Star me and LaMarcus was He was an All Star
Speaker 1: in my rookie year and then my second and third
Speaker 1: year we were All Stars together my second and third year.
Speaker 1: After that, I'm not played with a star Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year like men of that. That's interesting. But do
Speaker 1: you but do you think do you think some of
Speaker 1: that has to do with where you play and getting
Speaker 1: guys to come to Portland's I think that's I think
Speaker 1: part of it. I think part of it is that.
Speaker 1: But I mean people going to Oklahoma City right like nose,
Speaker 1: but like people going to Oklahoma City and people going
Speaker 1: to Milwaukee, and you know what I mean, like absolutely,
Speaker 1: like Portland is a better city than both people are
Speaker 1: going places and Portland ain't what people think it is.
Speaker 1: Otherwise I wouldn't have been living here as long. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Absolutely, if I if you just
Speaker 1: couldn't live here, like I wouldn't be living here Islamic.
Speaker 1: So like I think that's part of it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: people are going places. That's like you went there, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like Mellow went to Okay. See Yeah,
Speaker 1: when we was trying to get Mellow to come here,
Speaker 1: as Mellow where he will go and ask him where
Speaker 1: he will go first, I me ing Mellow. I know
Speaker 1: what that act would be like. And not just and
Speaker 1: I say this, Bro, not just because of the living situation,
Speaker 1: but like Bro, people that play with me, Bro, I
Speaker 1: don't play the game selfishly. I don't operate selfishly like
Speaker 1: I want to see everybody getting get having their way.
Speaker 1: I want to see everybody getting to be happy do
Speaker 1: that thing, bro. And even on the court, I don't
Speaker 1: get in the way of that. I know how to
Speaker 1: do me while not getting in the way of everybody
Speaker 1: else having an opportunity. I'm not holding onto the ball
Speaker 1: until i can get an assist or a shot or
Speaker 1: all that. But I'm passing it in. I'm hockey assists
Speaker 1: boom boom. I'm making the right play. I ain't walking
Speaker 1: around the facility and everywhere trying to run everything and
Speaker 1: have everything my way. Bro. I play fair. So like
Speaker 1: when you consider all those things, like come on, man,
Speaker 1: that can't be That can't be the reason. It's like
Speaker 1: it sometimes honestly, it looks like which route is the easiest?
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Oh here they got this dude and that dude.
Speaker 1: So if I go over there and then when they
Speaker 1: get there, it's like I ain't getting my shots, I
Speaker 1: ain't getting my numbers. I can't do me. And then
Speaker 1: you see them going somewhere you like, but you could
Speaker 1: have just came and got with somebody that's going, somebody
Speaker 1: that can meet you there. Like I ain't trying to
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to compete with you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: I know how to win, bro, I know how to
Speaker 1: get along with people and and make it work, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So I don't know, bro, Like,
Speaker 1: do you do you feel like it is going everywhere?
Speaker 1: They do it all kind of places, So that can't
Speaker 1: be the reason. Yeah, yeah, that's true, that's true. But
Speaker 1: tell me this, do you think, um, like, what's it
Speaker 1: made you greater? And who you are? I think you
Speaker 1: have the toughness that you have, like, but you're very silent,
Speaker 1: so you know, if you don't if you don't know,
Speaker 1: you can mistake you for not being the alpha that
Speaker 1: you are. You know, if you don't know because you
Speaker 1: don't say much, like you said, do you think in
Speaker 1: your career that that's maybe hindered you a little bit
Speaker 1: from the standpoint? Uh? Like most guys in your position
Speaker 1: are constantly telling a GM what they should do, you know,
Speaker 1: or Hey, you gotta give me this, or you gotta
Speaker 1: do that, or you need to move this guy like
Speaker 1: that's I don't think that's no secret. Everybody always talked
Speaker 1: about Lebron, like, hey, Bron about to trade you, But
Speaker 1: The reality is guys who are in the in that
Speaker 1: position and you are to face the franchise as you
Speaker 1: do have that power to go to a GM and say, hey,
Speaker 1: I need you to move this guy. I need you
Speaker 1: to go after that guy. You're not quite like that
Speaker 1: just because you're gonna take whatever situation you've given and
Speaker 1: treated like I'm still growing up and and Brooke Field
Speaker 1: and if I can make it out of that, I
Speaker 1: can push through this. Do you think that's hindered you
Speaker 1: in the in the sense of, like, yeah, you you're
Speaker 1: you're always going to get your team. Now you haven't
Speaker 1: been able to get over the hump. And I think
Speaker 1: that's for way more reasons than people are going to
Speaker 1: attribute it to. But do you think that's played a party.
Speaker 1: I think that's definitely played a part in it, because
Speaker 1: you know, I think the solid parts of me are
Speaker 1: like I can't go in there and say do this
Speaker 1: and do that, do that and be you know, putting
Speaker 1: other people's lives and their families and they their situation
Speaker 1: just out like it ain't nothing, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like I've never felt comfortable. I really like that, But um,
Speaker 1: you know before now I reached a point where I
Speaker 1: knew that I can't. I can't ask the team to say,
Speaker 1: you know, give me an opportunity to win and then
Speaker 1: not be willing to deal with them, you know the
Speaker 1: hurt that comes that comes with that, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And I don't mean I'm going in there
Speaker 1: telling them do this, to do that, but I'm telling
Speaker 1: them like, man, if y'all you know, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna tell y'all what to do, like, but
Speaker 1: I'm also not gonna tell y'all, you know, stop y'all
Speaker 1: from doing your job. Like I want y'all to give
Speaker 1: us a chance to win, you know, So like that's
Speaker 1: that's kind of that's my stance, is like give us
Speaker 1: a chance to win. Like, don't feel like, oh we're
Speaker 1: gonna you know, Damon's gonna be mad or anything like that,
Speaker 1: because there's been plenty times, like throughout my time in
Speaker 1: the league where I was like, man, both Williams just
Speaker 1: my guy, Like to this day, we didn't bring in
Speaker 1: back he Robb was my guy. Like these none of
Speaker 1: this stuff goes over easy. So it's just like they
Speaker 1: know where I'll stand, like, give us a give us
Speaker 1: a chance to really win. So I do think that's
Speaker 1: that has played a part, you know, probably in it
Speaker 1: because you just But another thing is, I don't think
Speaker 1: being an alpha to me don't mean um to be
Speaker 1: like the the person the loudest wanted telling everything like
Speaker 1: to be at To me, being in alpha like is
Speaker 1: the presence, you know, the presence of the alpha is
Speaker 1: more known than anything. And um, that's I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody that's been around, like, anybody has been around there,
Speaker 1: they'll know, like, you know this is I didn't know
Speaker 1: he was, Like I didn't know that was there, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, And they know it's until they
Speaker 1: see us there and then they'd be like it may
Speaker 1: it all make sense now? So like that's been my stance.
Speaker 1: But I do think, you know, for a long time
Speaker 1: in my career, I took too much of the stance
Speaker 1: of like, you know, I can't I can't you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. I don't wanna. I don't want to
Speaker 1: see that happen type thing. When it's like, man, you
Speaker 1: know you can't want to win and then also want
Speaker 1: everything to be a peachy you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It don't work like that. No, absolutely, because ultimately it's
Speaker 1: a business and you have to make those decisions best
Speaker 1: for the business. Like I know, for instance, right like
Speaker 1: I to this day, Harrison Barnes, I've actually never spoke
Speaker 1: on this before, but Harrison Barnes, I think to this
Speaker 1: day still don't like me for Katie come here. And
Speaker 1: the reality is, Bro, It's like, I didn't tell him
Speaker 1: to trade you to bring Katie in. Now, the reality is,
Speaker 1: if Katie did come in and you were still here,
Speaker 1: you would you maybe had to come off. You would
Speaker 1: have had to come off the Benship's fucking Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: and like it just is what it is if you
Speaker 1: were sitting here. I didn't tell them to trade you.
Speaker 1: But he took it very personally because of the story
Speaker 1: that came out that I cried to Katie in the
Speaker 1: car whatever. Uh like, he took it very personal at me.
Speaker 1: And so for instance, dude, invite stephanem this way and
Speaker 1: Steph Clay everybody this way, and it sept me, Bro, Bro,
Speaker 1: Bro Studies. Was that the same meeting that I was
Speaker 1: at with Katie. They was all there too, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. However, I didn't take it personally because
Speaker 1: it is what it is, like I wasn't invited to
Speaker 1: your well, now that is what it is. I thought
Speaker 1: it was funny. I thought it was funnier than anything.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was funnier than anything. But in
Speaker 1: that same light, it's like, it sucks that you you
Speaker 1: you got traded, but you went a major money. You know,
Speaker 1: you went and got a great deal. You're still making money.
Speaker 1: But I did get two championships, and again I did that.
Speaker 1: I didn't go in there and ask them to trade
Speaker 1: Harrison Barns. I didn't do that, but I did have
Speaker 1: a conversation with him about how much Kevin Durant could
Speaker 1: help us. What what move happened after that? Ain't my
Speaker 1: job like that ain't really what I do. That's not
Speaker 1: my job. But I do think Kevin Durant could make
Speaker 1: us better. And so it seems like now with with
Speaker 1: with y'all, absolutely with y'all, what y'all current GM and
Speaker 1: a rout y'all going on, that you're you're taking more
Speaker 1: of an approach like, hey man, I'm trying to win
Speaker 1: as opposed and you've always had that approach on the court,
Speaker 1: but now and those just in the decision making around
Speaker 1: the team. Yeah, it's it's just you know, the it's
Speaker 1: like what it's kind of like what you were saying,
Speaker 1: where it's like, man, you you gotta to to actually win.
Speaker 1: It's like you gotta you can't just go on the
Speaker 1: courting and think, all right, I'm just gonna play great
Speaker 1: and it's don't happen because some people just built better
Speaker 1: than than You're a buil know what I'm saying. Like
Speaker 1: I never went on the court one game where I
Speaker 1: was like, we're about to lose. Literally, like we played
Speaker 1: the Lakers New Year's Eve and you know, we had
Speaker 1: eight players out with COVID and they had Brown on
Speaker 1: the run, Russ. They out there, you know, they was flowing,
Speaker 1: and we went out there and we're about to win.
Speaker 1: And night I really thought that in my head we're
Speaker 1: about to win. At night, we get blew out, reaggravate,
Speaker 1: I re aggravate my my ap, my abdomino, and I'm
Speaker 1: like walking off like the way they walked on the
Speaker 1: court when we was about to do the tip, Like
Speaker 1: they walked out there like the champs. We walked out
Speaker 1: there and I'm like, you know, the underdogs. It felt
Speaker 1: like it looked like the underdogs. And at that that moment,
Speaker 1: I was just kind of like, man, I want to
Speaker 1: like it's time for me to you know, had that
Speaker 1: feeling of walking out there and feeling like the champ,
Speaker 1: like we got we we really got it, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like that's what And I remember looking
Speaker 1: at them walking on the court and they was walking
Speaker 1: out there like and they didn't even have a d
Speaker 1: but it was like they walked out there like that,
Speaker 1: and it was to me, it was just like, man,
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta be in a position to win it,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So that I don't mean
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go in there and say, you know, trade
Speaker 1: everybody like I didn't even when we when we made
Speaker 1: the move to the Clippers, I didn't, you know, I
Speaker 1: knew after, you know, like I knew after. But like
Speaker 1: I said, it was the thing of like I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna stop y'all from doing what y'all think is gonna
Speaker 1: make our team better. So um, you know that's that's
Speaker 1: where it's at. Brother, just and now were in position
Speaker 1: to do that. So you know, we just gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta execute that plans to make some ship happen. I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you just said something that really sticks out to me
Speaker 1: because and being in the position I've been into my
Speaker 1: first couple of years, obviously we made the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: then the five years after that we went to the finals.
Speaker 1: You tend to take that for granted, you know. And
Speaker 1: I think for me and all of those years of
Speaker 1: knowing like like you just said, and walking in and saying, yo,
Speaker 1: like we're gonna win today. Like there were times there
Speaker 1: were times during our season, um where we would saying, hey, yo,
Speaker 1: let's let's approach these next three weeks, like the playoffs,
Speaker 1: let's lock in, let's um, let's let's we need we
Speaker 1: were setting needs. We need to hit these things and
Speaker 1: work on these things to get great. And like in
Speaker 1: those three weeks, we'll go eleven one, like twelve and
Speaker 1: two like and and and that's like getting up for
Speaker 1: regular season games. But you know, you get the old
Speaker 1: cliche saying like you can't flip it on and flip
Speaker 1: it all like that ship is that that's saying it's cliche,
Speaker 1: But the reality is for our teams, it was true,
Speaker 1: like we could click it on and off, like hey, yo,
Speaker 1: stop playing, let's go let's go pick them or walk
Speaker 1: into it like yeah, or like walking into arena, like hey,
Speaker 1: we need to send a message to them, And we
Speaker 1: went by twenty you know, it's like and then two
Speaker 1: seasons last year was rough. I mean it's better, but
Speaker 1: two seasons ago and walking in every arena and and
Speaker 1: knowing like, yo, we don't have a chance to win,
Speaker 1: Like it was the most unnatural, mind boggling thing to me.
Speaker 1: I lost love for basketball. So people like, yo, he
Speaker 1: washed up in this I'm like, you want me to
Speaker 1: get excited to go play in this game? We like
Speaker 1: we were seven and thirty nine, bro, Like, how am
Speaker 1: I supposed to get excited and to go play in
Speaker 1: this game? Like I can't begin to even think about
Speaker 1: getting excited if if we win, we are moving into
Speaker 1: a whopping eight and thirty nine, Like you can't possibly
Speaker 1: think I care about this game. And so that really
Speaker 1: stuck just stuck out to me when you said like
Speaker 1: you never felt like like you were gonna lose until
Speaker 1: he was like, damn, like we we can't win, Like
Speaker 1: it's I mean, we're in middal Covid. I'm looking. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I think we're probably six games under five hundred, and
Speaker 1: I'm just like, I ain't healthy, you know, I'm just
Speaker 1: like I'm putting it all together. Like, Bro, I'm really
Speaker 1: like in pain. I just you know, I didn't of
Speaker 1: these courts on shots and I felt good for about
Speaker 1: ten games, just wearing off like I just was sitting there.
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I'm trying to I want to walk
Speaker 1: on the court and look like the team looking at
Speaker 1: us like we gotta be It's gotta be our nights
Speaker 1: night to beat them, you know what I'm saying. So yeah,
Speaker 1: hopefully we can make this happen. Bron. Absolutely uh. And
Speaker 1: I've held you long enough. I could sit here and
Speaker 1: talk to you all day because it's just me talking
Speaker 1: talking to the homie. But moving off the court, obviously,
Speaker 1: you said your rehabbit is going well. We all know
Speaker 1: what you're doing your spread time. Damn dog. You've been
Speaker 1: in the studio a lot. You've got some new music coming, Like,
Speaker 1: what's the deal on that side? Yeah, Bro, I got
Speaker 1: some I didn't. I got a lot of news ship um,
Speaker 1: just stuff that I did. It's some it's some stuff
Speaker 1: that people have heard, some of the stuff I sent
Speaker 1: you in during and maybe some stuff that I still
Speaker 1: ain't put up, and I even did more assisting, but
Speaker 1: I got I got a lot of stuff, all the
Speaker 1: stuff that I'm trying to um put together for like
Speaker 1: you know, post career, in the career, just stuff that
Speaker 1: I want to you know, do the groundwork force. So
Speaker 1: it's already done. So I ain't you know, sitting here
Speaker 1: trying to put it together at the end now that
Speaker 1: I got this time, I've just been you know, playing
Speaker 1: those seeds, getting all that stuff ready that I want
Speaker 1: to do. And I'm also about to get back to uh,
Speaker 1: I'm about to restart. I did this series on YouTube
Speaker 1: during the draft re called License to Litard m hmm,
Speaker 1: and that ship was it was big during that time.
Speaker 1: It was being a lot of people was following it
Speaker 1: out the whole teen years we've been in the league.
Speaker 1: I'll be getting like tweets all the time, like when
Speaker 1: you're gonna start back license to Little So like I'm
Speaker 1: about to pick that ship back up, start putting up
Speaker 1: like out. I think that's gonna be cool. So that's
Speaker 1: probably like the main thing I've been I've been getting
Speaker 1: ready for. And what and what would License to litally
Speaker 1: look like out? Well, that includes your family is it's
Speaker 1: just like hoop is wrappings like everything. Bro. Like, Um,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of stuff that coming from we
Speaker 1: were saved, all that basically making myself known, and I
Speaker 1: think now we'll probably started just kind of reflecting, you know,
Speaker 1: just all the way up to this point, just all
Speaker 1: this ship that then took place that I never kind
Speaker 1: of you know when when you would admit it was
Speaker 1: something you don't really realize how big it is or like,
Speaker 1: so like it would be just reflecting on that stuff.
Speaker 1: Because now that I'm sitting still, I'm just looking at
Speaker 1: and stuff like damn, like I still got like I
Speaker 1: still have I still feel like my absolute best are
Speaker 1: coming in the next three years. Bro. Like I really
Speaker 1: I really feel that in my heart and in my body.
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know how hurt I was, bro, It's crazy,
Speaker 1: Like but just being able to reflect on like all
Speaker 1: that stuff to this point and just going through the process,
Speaker 1: just keeping you know, and just keeping just keeping people
Speaker 1: in the loop's happening in It's gonna be smooth. And
Speaker 1: you you you spoke on what you're setting up post career.
Speaker 1: What does that look like for you? Is it trying
Speaker 1: to make one of your label one of the top labels.
Speaker 1: Is it trying to be a number one charting artists? What?
Speaker 1: What does that? Is that? Some mystery of both? What
Speaker 1: does that look like for you? Post career, post basketball.
Speaker 1: On the music side, it ain't really so much for
Speaker 1: my music. I'm still be recording, but it's more, um,
Speaker 1: create opportunities for others finding artists, Like that's what I'm
Speaker 1: lying and tripping on my own stuff when I'm dumb
Speaker 1: clinting to be just line and other artists up. But um,
Speaker 1: the main thing just putting together to the ease um.
Speaker 1: It's just empowering the youth. Like, I got a couple
Speaker 1: of situations that I ain't that I haven't finished setting stone,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to putting that out there like that.
Speaker 1: But I got some stuff that I'm gonna be doing. Brother,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be different. It's gonna be different, and it
Speaker 1: would be the typical um money grab for show, like
Speaker 1: oh this is what this is. It ain't gonna be
Speaker 1: none of the fiction. It's gonna be authentic. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be something that you know, It's gonna be something for real,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's gonna be truth telling
Speaker 1: like character building type stuff where it's like I don't
Speaker 1: need I don't need nobody's money, like I don't need
Speaker 1: nobody's approval or nobody's validation. I'm telling you the truth.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you the real from whatout knowing what I
Speaker 1: experienced and people that also come from that same angle.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a part of it. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a real thing, bro, I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to that. I think, uh, speaking on things that you've done,
Speaker 1: one thing I appreciated that you used to do, and
Speaker 1: I I think you should bring it back. If you
Speaker 1: do bring it back, obviously you know I would always attend,
Speaker 1: but if I can help with any any way, I
Speaker 1: would love to. But I definitely think you should bring
Speaker 1: back the block party you used to do. I thought
Speaker 1: that was super dope. And I think I think, for
Speaker 1: even speaking for myself, we get so busy, you know,
Speaker 1: and and so into our own lives. You know that
Speaker 1: things like that, like the block party you used to do,
Speaker 1: or like for instance, for for myself, like I used
Speaker 1: to do this camp in my hometown, I haven't done
Speaker 1: it in years now. Because you get busy, right, you
Speaker 1: start having kids, you got a wife, like I got
Speaker 1: a wife, I got kids, you get these two to
Speaker 1: three months off and and people, I don't think people
Speaker 1: really understand how special and precious a day or two is,
Speaker 1: you know, when you have when you have sixty seven
Speaker 1: days off like that one or two day and then
Speaker 1: for the next two eighty or to seventy eight whatever
Speaker 1: eight actually something like that. My mask was off right now.
Speaker 1: But that's not the point. The point is that day
Speaker 1: becomes so much more oppressions because now it's to travel
Speaker 1: and so it's not just that um four hours that
Speaker 1: that the Black Party could be going on, it's everything
Speaker 1: you're doing to set it up. Is getting there to
Speaker 1: day before is you're probably there a day after. Now
Speaker 1: that's three days and sixty seven gone. And so I
Speaker 1: do understand. And I think for myself too, like I've
Speaker 1: been exploring things of what what can I start back
Speaker 1: doing back for my hometown. The reality is it probably
Speaker 1: won't be the camp because I don't have the time
Speaker 1: to necessarily go do a camp like I didn't stop
Speaker 1: doing and I didn't stop doing that because I was
Speaker 1: just like I'm over it, Like oh, you just kind
Speaker 1: of run out of time. And so if that's something
Speaker 1: that that I think that you should do again, and
Speaker 1: I would love it be in office, even like in
Speaker 1: moving over to San Francisco. Like I always tell people
Speaker 1: Oakland his home for me, man Like that's my second
Speaker 1: home I was. I really grew into manhood in Oakland,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So I have a soft
Speaker 1: spot for there. But as you know, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't care what no one saying. Oakland and San Francisco
Speaker 1: are two totally different places, and when you live in
Speaker 1: San Francisco, you're not in Oakland much. Just like when
Speaker 1: I lived in Oakland, I was hardly ever in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: you know. And so I've kind of lost touch over
Speaker 1: there too, and I want to put my hands back
Speaker 1: on that community because I know how special and important
Speaker 1: that community was to me and who I am as
Speaker 1: I want to do that again in my hometown as well.
Speaker 1: So just something I would love to see you do,
Speaker 1: my brother. I thought it was amazing we didn't do
Speaker 1: I think the last two years we haven't done it
Speaker 1: because it because of COVID, But uh, like I'm definitely
Speaker 1: gonna I'm definitely gonna bring it back show because I
Speaker 1: brought it back from when I was a kid when
Speaker 1: they used to have it, bro Like he used to
Speaker 1: had that when I was a kid. That's what made
Speaker 1: me doing anyway, because they hadn't had it since. I
Speaker 1: was like, so, wow, they stopped let us head because
Speaker 1: people start. The last time they headed, it was like
Speaker 1: they started shooting it on type of ship. Bro No,
Speaker 1: no jubt. But I think that's what the power of
Speaker 1: your name, you know. And and then you bring in
Speaker 1: some of your teammates you brought me. That's a different thing,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. That's like one of your
Speaker 1: own bringing something back. People don't come on that same thing,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So it's a beautiful thing,
Speaker 1: bro But I truly appreciate you coming on the show
Speaker 1: man obviously, UH always wishing you a speedy recovery. I
Speaker 1: can't wait to see you get back. I was dying
Speaker 1: this year watching you come out and score fourteen and
Speaker 1: everybody like, oh damn, ain't got it here, And I'm
Speaker 1: just sitting there like, hey man, I get this surgery,
Speaker 1: but like these people are pissing me off talking now,
Speaker 1: and Brotha looked though, like they're gonna always talk like this.
Speaker 1: It's some people that have know the truth and some
Speaker 1: people that don't. Bro, I don't really care. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously we all care what people have to say, but
Speaker 1: you gotta tell you what a grain is salt. Like
Speaker 1: if you know their understanding of what's actually happening is
Speaker 1: so little, then then you then what they're saying and
Speaker 1: their their lands always happening is is understood. Like I
Speaker 1: understand they're used to me scoring thirty points every game,
Speaker 1: and they're used to me blowing by people and dunking
Speaker 1: and step back left, step back right and all that stuff,
Speaker 1: and you don't see it happening. They're like, he washed
Speaker 1: and he came. They ain't missed this that. And I'm like, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm a healthy thirty one. I ain't gonna beat up
Speaker 1: thirty one. I'm a healthy one years old. I've never
Speaker 1: missed games like that, Like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So like, I don't live a hard life, bro, I
Speaker 1: don't be out partying all the time, getting high and
Speaker 1: drinking and all up. But I'll be chilling. I take
Speaker 1: care of myself. So like it only gives it only
Speaker 1: they're only giving me more power. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, because now that I am fully healthy and
Speaker 1: I have not given him a single excuse, like I
Speaker 1: have not given them a single excuse. So now that
Speaker 1: I'm fully healthy, they're going to see and when they see,
Speaker 1: they're don't be like They're just gonna be stupid, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Like they only stupid and it'll
Speaker 1: be like damn like and there nobody gonna tell them
Speaker 1: take nothing back you said this or what about? They
Speaker 1: just don't act like men never happened, Like like they've
Speaker 1: never said a thing in the world took me. They
Speaker 1: canna act like nobody said a thing. And it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we don't. No, man, I definitely appreciate. I've
Speaker 1: never seen a job if people could just make bold
Speaker 1: a statements and not be held a counting before and look,
Speaker 1: let me say this before we go. They had so
Speaker 1: much to say all year, twenty four points, twenty four
Speaker 1: and a half points and seven assists, bro, Like y'all
Speaker 1: hear people in the All Star Game and giving grace
Speaker 1: all these people that have are not even doing that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: how great and how great do I have to be?
Speaker 1: How great am I? That's really what you're know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, like a great cities and all that, But like, Bro,
Speaker 1: what do you you know what I mean? Like, absolutely,
Speaker 1: we're not doing that. So it is what it is, Bro,
Speaker 1: Like we'll see that's facts. Man. Many people have done it,
Speaker 1: not many has done it the way you have, Bro.
Speaker 1: Like from coming from where you come from, the where
Speaker 1: you go about your business, I think people can say
Speaker 1: what they wanted. People on the outside always gonna have
Speaker 1: something to say. I always say, the ultimate respect for
Speaker 1: me and the ultimate um acceptance that I'm that I
Speaker 1: look for and I appreciate is the acceptance of my peers.
Speaker 1: And I don't think there's a guy in this league
Speaker 1: that will have anything to say about you. How you
Speaker 1: go about your business, how you handle yourself would be
Speaker 1: any different than what people see and how you carry yourself.
Speaker 1: It's the same across the board. And I got nothing
Speaker 1: but respect and love for that. Bro. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: coming on the show. Like I said, we're looking forward
Speaker 1: to you getting back healthy. My dog you get healthy too, Bro, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: soon come. That's a rap Dame Dollar Draymond Green show.
Speaker 1: We all