Speaker 1: M mm hmmm mm hm mm hmm.
Speaker 2: Welcome back all the smoke, New York City Jackets, cold
Speaker 2: as a motherfucker and there was some extra lotion on it.
Speaker 2: Keep the ash away, man today we got a good
Speaker 2: one man, one of the ogs in the game, someone
Speaker 2: I've always looked up to. H from afar uh Man,
Speaker 2: Rod Strickland.
Speaker 3: Appreciate having appreciate you, my guy.
Speaker 2: So currently head coach at l I U in Brooklyn.
Speaker 4: How did that come about it? How's that been going?
Speaker 3: It was weird because it came kind of overnight.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, I was working for the NBA G League, uh,
Speaker 3: kind of managing team McKnight, and I was loving it.
Speaker 3: I was there for what two maybe two two.
Speaker 4: An avenue out there on the West Coast.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, I first was here in New York in
Speaker 3: the New York office every day, and then as the
Speaker 3: team transitioned to the West Coast, I went with them,
Speaker 3: and so I was there every day, but traveling recruiting,
Speaker 3: you know, just kind of running the program. And I
Speaker 3: just got a call out the blue and it was
Speaker 3: kind of like if l I you would you be
Speaker 3: interested in Long Island University and coaching had been in
Speaker 3: the back of my mind. But I went to the
Speaker 3: NBA office because I wanted to eventually go to a
Speaker 3: front office RG. You know that that was my that
Speaker 3: was the idea of going there. And so but once
Speaker 3: I got that opportunity, you know, I kind of tried
Speaker 3: to work in like a five year period and kind
Speaker 3: of like, Okay, what am I Where am I going
Speaker 3: to be in five years? And you know, I wasn't
Speaker 3: for sure if I was going to get that opportunity,
Speaker 3: you know, as a GM, so I didn't know, you know,
Speaker 3: how far that could take me. So I knew I
Speaker 3: had this coortunity for five six years, so I said,
Speaker 3: let me, let me go ahead and explore this opportunity,
Speaker 3: had a conversation, sat down with the president, and I
Speaker 3: just kind of jumped on it. But I mean it
Speaker 3: happened within like a week. Wee can have period, right,
Speaker 3: So it was wild because when it happened, I got
Speaker 3: hired like July first. You know, that's unprecedented. You know,
Speaker 3: all the recruiting is gone, everything, No one gets hired
Speaker 3: at that time. So I just kind of jumped in
Speaker 3: the fire. You know, I hadn't been the head coach,
Speaker 3: but I said I'm gonna go for it, and so
Speaker 3: you know, I took the job. You know, it was
Speaker 3: funny because I had to stand in front of these
Speaker 3: like I took the job, Like I said, a week
Speaker 3: we were talking about it, you know, how we were
Speaker 3: going to bring it out. It actually got out early
Speaker 3: and we wanted it to get out. So then I
Speaker 3: had to get in front of it. So I had
Speaker 3: to go in front of these young kids that were
Speaker 3: already on the team with a coach, like just one
Speaker 3: day pop. Now I'm standing in front of them, your
Speaker 3: new coach. Right, So that was weird and awkward for me,
Speaker 3: but probably more for those young guys. So, h that
Speaker 3: was an experience. And then I had to jump in.
Speaker 3: I had to get a staff, uh and you know
Speaker 3: I had to get on the ground running. But you know,
Speaker 3: it's a process, you know, going from I'm like an
Speaker 3: executive in the NBA to like actually being a head coach.
Speaker 3: You know, I was an assistant coach in college obviously,
Speaker 3: but I had never done that and we know that
Speaker 3: next seat is a beast, so you know I had
Speaker 3: to undergo that process. Uh. You know I had a
Speaker 3: struggle first year. Uh, you know, I had a lot
Speaker 3: of young guys, and it was tough on them because
Speaker 3: the top six guys left, you.
Speaker 4: Know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So now I'm playing with guys or or or that
Speaker 3: probably wouldn't have played much. So now I'm there, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm rod Strictland. I'm pushing them like that's like a ghost,
Speaker 3: you know. So like it was even unfair for them. Uh.
Speaker 3: And and we struggled. Uh And so a lot of
Speaker 3: those guys left. I brought in some new guys, and
Speaker 3: you know, we've you know, we've had a little struggle
Speaker 3: this year. Uh. You know, I played a road schedule
Speaker 3: in December, Like we was on the road the whole December,
Speaker 3: you know, playing against U C. L A and uh,
Speaker 3: Miami and Rutgers.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: But the guys are fighting, you know now with two
Speaker 3: and one in conference. We just took a bad loss.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, but we've we've had injuries. Uh. You know,
Speaker 3: like for the first month and a half, we played
Speaker 3: with eight nine players in practice, so you know, you
Speaker 3: have to drive, run, can't get up and down.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Then we got healthy.
Speaker 6: One of the coaches, I went out there a little
Speaker 6: bit a little half court, a little half court on offense,
Speaker 6: you know, but I'm but you know, I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 3: You know, it's a challenge, it's a process. You know,
Speaker 3: the kids are being developed and getting better. You know,
Speaker 3: we got to keep growing. You know, this is a process.
Speaker 3: It's not gonna be overnight. If you're not patient, you
Speaker 3: got to stay over there and let me just figure
Speaker 3: this out. But it's a process and it's gonna take time.
Speaker 2: So I get a chance to coach in the summer.
Speaker 2: I coach my kids AU team. And something I've known
Speaker 2: about this younger this next group is communication is key.
Speaker 2: Like we used to have coaches that would yell, cut screen, whatever,
Speaker 2: and we just did our thing.
Speaker 4: These kids aren't like that.
Speaker 2: What is the biggest difference you feel like in the Hoopers? Jesus,
Speaker 2: I feel like they're highly skilled, but I feel like
Speaker 2: some of them, because it's so much one on one,
Speaker 2: they lack the IQ of the game, Like if they
Speaker 2: don't have the ball in their hands, they have a
Speaker 2: hard time playing basketball.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's where I kind of confused, right, The
Speaker 3: skill in IQ kind of got to go to be
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. And I think so I
Speaker 3: don't know what it is. I think it's kind of
Speaker 3: lacking the skill in the IQ because I think so
Speaker 3: I'll say for me, like I know when I was
Speaker 3: raised as a gaucho, Dave mccollins was my AU coach,
Speaker 3: and I know when I stepped on the court, I
Speaker 3: learned from day one that it wasn't about me, right.
Speaker 3: So I learned from day one, I'll never forget if
Speaker 3: you get if the biggest rebound and he runs the floor,
Speaker 3: you better give him the ball, right. And there were
Speaker 3: just some things that were instilled in me that never
Speaker 3: made it about me. So I played with the gallachols.
Speaker 3: I grew up from ten to whatever he is, and
Speaker 3: I was always one of the best. So I was
Speaker 3: the first, best, second best, whatever. But even when everyone
Speaker 3: felt I was the best, I never knew that, right
Speaker 3: because my coach never dealt with me like that.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: And if I didn't come perform, others performed, and then
Speaker 3: you had to take a seatback, So now you had
Speaker 3: to figure it out and come back and play. So
Speaker 3: me going up the ladder, I never thought I was
Speaker 3: the guy. I always was trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3: We give it too soon now, right, And then sometimes
Speaker 3: I don't think young people understand that you got to
Speaker 3: be able to make others better, to be better, and
Speaker 3: so we give them too much too soon, and we
Speaker 3: tell them there everything. And I've seen it, right, I've
Speaker 3: seen it as even as as working with the G
Speaker 3: League with Team mckknight, just going around and watching it.
Speaker 3: And I've been in college basketball, so I've seen it.
Speaker 3: And you know, I can tell it when I said,
Speaker 3: when you know, you got the surroundings, you got the
Speaker 3: people around you, and everybody's kind of pumping you up
Speaker 3: and they want it to be easy. They want to
Speaker 3: put you in the best situations and cater it to you. Well,
Speaker 3: you got to go through adversity. I went through adversity
Speaker 3: in my whole basketball life period because I always kind
Speaker 3: of felt like I wasn't good enough. Now I got
Speaker 3: to prove myself and so I kept growing. And I
Speaker 3: think sometimes we give it to these young kids too soon.
Speaker 3: Think about it in fourth fifth grade, they think they prosed,
Speaker 3: Like they'll tell you a pro Now, just think about
Speaker 3: that from a young immature mind, like you don't know
Speaker 3: no better and you can get full of yourself easy.
Speaker 3: Well that makes it even worse. But we didn't have well,
Speaker 3: I know my parents, my mother and father didn't come
Speaker 3: see me play till I was I think in eighth
Speaker 3: ninth grade, and then they sporadically came. So even when
Speaker 3: I failed, I had to go back home and no
Speaker 3: one said anything to me. So I had to figure
Speaker 3: it out myself. So if I was embarrassed, I got
Speaker 3: to figure out. Man, I don't want to be embarrassed
Speaker 3: no more, so let me go back out there. So
Speaker 3: it's a whole different agenda in mindset, and even adults,
Speaker 3: you know, think about it. Well. I know when I
Speaker 3: was coming up, the adults that we had that were
Speaker 3: teaching us, they were all about trying to show like
Speaker 3: how good they were. Like I wanted, I'm gonna show up,
Speaker 3: I'm the best coach. But now you got all these
Speaker 3: other entities and some money thing, So now the agenda
Speaker 3: and everything is just different.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, you spoke to five six years kind of your
Speaker 2: playing here, I mean, do you see yourself college, NBA?
Speaker 2: And if you do, is it coaching, is it management
Speaker 2: or still kind of figuring that out.
Speaker 3: I always felt like it's basketball period. Like I love basketball,
Speaker 3: and I think I've had so much experiences, you know,
Speaker 3: I think if you look at my resume, like as
Speaker 3: a player, as a college coach, won a national title.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been around the top players, whether it's Memphis, Kentucky,
Speaker 3: team McKnight.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: Now I'm a coach now, So I feel like I
Speaker 3: feel like I'm geared to do anything in basketball just
Speaker 3: because of the experience and the knowledge and you know,
Speaker 3: just yeah, the experience for the most part, So like
Speaker 3: I think I can touch anything. So I just I
Speaker 3: just want to keep being a part of basketball, to
Speaker 3: keep growing. You know, I feel like I'm you know,
Speaker 3: I'm fifty seven years old, and I'm lucky because I'm
Speaker 3: still growing. Like I'm still having opportunities. That's not easy,
Speaker 3: and I think I've set myself up, even through the
Speaker 3: adversity and everything, I've set myself up to have opportunities.
Speaker 3: And I don't even know if I knew I would
Speaker 3: have these opportunities.
Speaker 4: That speaks to the person you are, though. I mean
Speaker 4: we say that a lot too.
Speaker 7: You know, we wasn't the guys in the league similar
Speaker 7: to you, that was all over the commercials, that was
Speaker 7: winning all awards, but the people we all allowed us
Speaker 7: to be able to still get blessed and be in
Speaker 7: this space. Now you know what I'm saying, So that
Speaker 7: says a lot about the person.
Speaker 3: And I don't mean to cut you up, but you
Speaker 3: know what, I think people understand authenticity, right even if
Speaker 3: you mess up, even if things go I think they
Speaker 3: knew who my core is regardless.
Speaker 7: You know Mitchell Projects, the Bronx seventies and eighties, watching
Speaker 7: Doctor j wal Frasier.
Speaker 4: What was that like growing up?
Speaker 3: Man? It was great. It was a fun time. Like
Speaker 3: it was all about basketball. You know. When I stepped
Speaker 3: foot out of my apartment building, come downstairs, go through
Speaker 3: the park and there's Mitchell gym, and then there's a
Speaker 3: park there, park there, park up the street, and it
Speaker 3: was all about basketball. And I walked in that gym
Speaker 3: and my first NBA player sighting is eight tiny archiball.
Speaker 3: He's in my gym with a little basket, his own
Speaker 3: basket on the side, you know, the little basket where
Speaker 3: you got to shoot it straight in And that was
Speaker 3: his basket. So I get to walk in there and
Speaker 3: be inspired by that. And then I had older brothers,
Speaker 3: my brothers Byron and Steve, like I looked up to them,
Speaker 3: and even the older guys around the neighborhood I wanted
Speaker 3: to be like them, you know, they was they were
Speaker 3: they were, they were hooping and competitive. And then I
Speaker 3: had my guys that I grew up with, but everything
Speaker 3: was about basketball, right, It was nothing else I didn't
Speaker 3: have to worry about. You know, I had a father
Speaker 3: who didn't play, so but I looked up to my
Speaker 3: brothers and they were like hoopers. So that's what I
Speaker 3: inspired to be.
Speaker 7: We had a camera on on our show and we
Speaker 7: was talking about, you know, the top twenty five in
Speaker 7: why Hoopers, point Guards and Zabash tail If. I had
Speaker 7: a lot to say. I can't wait to get them
Speaker 7: on the show, but I have I definitely have you
Speaker 7: in my top five point guard in New York. Talk
Speaker 7: about so much talent and all the stars that you
Speaker 7: know New York was able to produce.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well see, I'm wonder them.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: I respect New York so much, and I respect the
Speaker 3: B ball aspect because I was raised in it, you know,
Speaker 3: on the playgrounds, and it ain't just about the pros.
Speaker 3: I mean those those street ballers and everything. Those guys
Speaker 3: I had to play against every day, like they challenged me.
Speaker 3: So I got my competitive edge because of that. So
Speaker 3: I look at the whole big picture of New York City.
Speaker 3: We've had a lot of great guards, and I just
Speaker 3: think we, you know, got to show some humility, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, Like I look at you. We
Speaker 3: had Lenny Wilkins, Bob Coosey, right, they're a little before me.
Speaker 3: I don't know a whole lot, but I know, you know,
Speaker 3: but I know we got Nate Escape, who's top fifty,
Speaker 3: top seventy five, So let's not forget that, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. And then you got for me, you've
Speaker 3: got the great Pearl Washington, who are idolized and kind
Speaker 3: of patterned in and out throwing the ball out in transition,
Speaker 3: the sliding around the defender, that's Pearl Washington, you know.
Speaker 3: And then you got you know, obviously you've got Action Jackson,
Speaker 3: Mark Jackson, you got Kenny Smith, you got guy's named
Speaker 3: Kenny Hutchison, and Ed Davender. You know, Boo Harvey came
Speaker 3: up with me. And then you walk into the steph
Speaker 3: Marlberry's Kenny Anderson's and skipped him aloud. Then I turned
Speaker 3: on the TV one day and watching Iowa Iowa State,
Speaker 3: and I see Jamar Tinsley, who was that He's nice, right,
Speaker 3: you know, then you got Kimber and call it. You know,
Speaker 3: all these guys and I hope I'm sham guard. Yes,
Speaker 3: so like for me, man, like, I respect it because
Speaker 3: I've been inspired, whether it was someone before me or
Speaker 3: after me. I'll never forget when we were with the
Speaker 3: Knicks and me and Mark Jackson, I think we had
Speaker 3: an exhibition game in Atlanta and Kenny was playing. We
Speaker 3: were like little kids with Kenny Anderson and he was
Speaker 3: a college kid, you know, watching you know, he come
Speaker 3: out of practice. We talking, But like I get excited
Speaker 3: about that, like if I saw Steph or Kenny or Skip,
Speaker 3: like I'm excited about I don't measure myself up there.
Speaker 3: And I'm sorry Shabastons and all that too, but I
Speaker 3: you know, like I don't. I could care less, right,
Speaker 3: I could kill the toughest guard, and just the toughest
Speaker 3: guard when I look at it, to be like quite honest,
Speaker 3: stepping on the court, the toughest guard was Steph Marlber,
Speaker 3: Like I just if you look at his resume, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, Like, let's let's let's honest, you.
Speaker 4: Know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Uh, But you know they got Mark Jackson, who's like
Speaker 3: odds behind his back, you know, Kenny Smith, a champion
Speaker 3: skipped him aloo like rayfauld asted. Come on, man Skip
Speaker 3: Skip went from this B ball uh street ball right,
Speaker 3: and he could have bought into all that, right, but
Speaker 3: he figured a route.
Speaker 4: He wanted to show that street balls can play in
Speaker 4: the NBA.
Speaker 3: But that that that has to you have to give
Speaker 3: him a lit for that. He went this route and
Speaker 3: got to become an NBA player and became to be
Speaker 3: an NBA player, and man Skip was killing like like
Speaker 3: he teams in the championship like you know he was
Speaker 3: he was something yeah uh. And then you got Shamguard
Speaker 3: who has a signature move like who wouldn't want you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. So there's so many things about
Speaker 3: New York guards and Sebastian like his high school career was.
Speaker 3: I just think young fella got little survivors remorse and
Speaker 3: we all do. And I think he'll mature and understand that.
Speaker 3: You know, sometimes you got to reflect and you got
Speaker 3: to figure out what you did wrong and why that
Speaker 3: happened to you. And I think in time, you know
Speaker 3: that'll happen. That you are growing and that's why when
Speaker 3: I listen to him. I'm not listening to who he's
Speaker 3: talking about. I'm listening to him and what he's saying,
Speaker 3: and listening to him you can understand so little survivor's remorse.
Speaker 4: You know, what does Gauchos mean to you?
Speaker 3: Everything jump started everything for me because that was the
Speaker 3: first time that I go outside of New York City.
Speaker 3: And now I become you know, worldwide and worldly and
Speaker 3: see different things and play against different players more importantly,
Speaker 3: and the Gaucho is obviously big time important. But my
Speaker 3: coach of the Gaucho's Dave mccollins. You know he's the
Speaker 3: one because I'm coming from Mitchell Projects. We were the
Speaker 3: Mitchell Bullets and he went to the Gauchos. I don't
Speaker 3: know the whole story, but he wound up coaching the
Speaker 3: Gauchos one night and lou Domita gave him the opportunity
Speaker 3: to be a coach and he told him he couldn't
Speaker 3: be a coach unless he takes us with him. So
Speaker 3: we were like the first generation of the young guys.
Speaker 3: Because Gaucho's had like a I guess junior and senior team.
Speaker 3: So he brought along this ten year old team you know,
Speaker 3: and then you know, the rest is history. But the
Speaker 3: Gauchos is a big part of my basketball history. Dave
Speaker 3: mccollins is probably more important because he taught me how
Speaker 3: to play basketball.
Speaker 7: I think a high percentage of NBA players got that experience,
Speaker 7: got to experience gauchos.
Speaker 4: You know, just just like going to the rucky.
Speaker 7: You gotta play rutty, you gotta play gauchos if you
Speaker 7: are real hooper, you know what I'm saying, especially in
Speaker 7: the summer time.
Speaker 4: Okill Academy.
Speaker 7: I was honored to be able to go there for
Speaker 7: my senior year and become a McDonald's All American. You
Speaker 7: are basically the trend set of Coach Smith. Shout out
Speaker 7: to Coach Smith. He said, everything changed when you showed up.
Speaker 7: And so for me and a lot of everybody else
Speaker 7: that came after you, we owe it to you because
Speaker 7: Okill saved our life. If I went to went to
Speaker 7: OKI on my senior year, I'd have been dead in jail,
Speaker 7: wouldn't graduated high school. And uh and I went there
Speaker 7: for one year just to get my life together then,
Speaker 7: and and that place does a lot for guys who
Speaker 7: have the opportunity to go far in basketball, but don't
Speaker 7: but can't see too much from now, you know what
Speaker 7: I mean. And it gets you there and it keeps
Speaker 7: you focused. So uh, I appreciate you for going down
Speaker 7: there and starting that, starting that for us to open
Speaker 7: them doors. But talk about okay and the experience you
Speaker 7: had and what was the decision in going down there,
Speaker 7: because for me, I didn't want to go.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7: No girls, uniforms, Yeah, uniforms, all that, no tree Like
Speaker 7: I wasn't going, but I.
Speaker 4: Saw the bigger picture.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's when like Sebastian talk about culture, like
Speaker 3: that's culture. You know what I'm saying. I think sometimes
Speaker 3: you got to look at when you start talking. It's
Speaker 3: a different way because like you said, from that, look
Speaker 3: at everyone who's gone to o'kill. Sometimes I don't think
Speaker 3: I'll get enough credit for that, right, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean? That's culture. But Okill I had just won
Speaker 3: the state championship with Truman High School. UH won the
Speaker 3: city and state got MVP, made the last shot of
Speaker 3: the game to win it, UH, and I was looking
Speaker 3: forward to going back to Truman.
Speaker 4: UH.
Speaker 3: I had a backcourt mate named Arno Bernard, who I
Speaker 3: swear to this day, I talked to him. I said,
Speaker 3: that's one of my biggest regrets. I wanted to go
Speaker 3: back to Truman and play with him because I probably
Speaker 3: could have won another state championship. Uh, but my high
Speaker 3: school coach left, Steve Lappis, he got a head coaching
Speaker 3: I mean assistant coaches in job at Villanova. I think
Speaker 3: Villanova thought they.
Speaker 2: Were gonna get me, you know by association.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so he he became the head coach there. And
Speaker 3: so this is the ironic part, and this is my pettiness,
Speaker 3: right because I hold grudget. So I was at Rice
Speaker 3: High School my first year, my freshman year, so going
Speaker 3: into my second year, I wanted to play varsity. So
Speaker 3: back then you could play freshman, you know, when you're
Speaker 3: ninth grade of freshman, tenth grade varsity. That was Catholic
Speaker 3: high school rules. So I wanted to play varsity in
Speaker 3: my tenth year and they wouldn't let me. So they
Speaker 3: moved me up one day because I told them I
Speaker 3: was going to leave, went up there, played well. Then
Speaker 3: the next day they basically said I couldn't do it.
Speaker 3: So I transferred to Truman for my sophomore year and
Speaker 3: then I was there for my junior year. So now
Speaker 3: as I'm leaving, the head coach was at Rice gets
Speaker 3: the job of Truman. So now I'm like, I don't
Speaker 3: want to play for him, you know. So it was
Speaker 3: funny because I had to convince my mom's because Steve
Speaker 3: Lappis told me about OK Hill, and my mother, you know,
Speaker 3: she don't know nothing about that. I'm from the Bronx.
Speaker 3: She an't trying to send me way out to Virginia.
Speaker 3: So I was up like all night, like, ma, I
Speaker 3: gotta go, I gotta go. And then she said, Okay,
Speaker 3: let's go talk to the coach. So we went to
Speaker 3: Truman and spoke to the head coach and he was
Speaker 3: kind of arrogant, right, So I was like perfect And
Speaker 3: when we went out, when we got out of there,
Speaker 3: she was like, dude, you gotta do you know? And
Speaker 3: I went to Old Hill Academy, just got on the plane,
Speaker 3: went to Old Hill, never forget, got off the plane,
Speaker 3: straight to the gym uh and went to work.
Speaker 4: How did that? How did that process happened? Like to
Speaker 4: connect with Okhill?
Speaker 3: That's the Steve Lappis like, I don't know, you know,
Speaker 3: when you're young. You don't know all so I'm sure
Speaker 3: there's more story to it. They need to do an
Speaker 3: Olk Hill story one day. But I'm sure there's more
Speaker 3: to it. But you know, I just know I was
Speaker 3: I was headed Old Hill.
Speaker 7: Yeah that was my au. Coach Josh passioner Da had
Speaker 7: to connect with it. Yeah, but at my symbol, I
Speaker 7: want to state championship. Yeah, junior year wanted to go back,
Speaker 7: but it wouldn't have benefited.
Speaker 3: But the funny thing, you know, Uh, Coach Smith wasn't
Speaker 3: a head coach when I was there. Who was the
Speaker 3: sister called Larry Davids Okay, and I couldn't stand him. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so I'll never forget like you can have Coach Smith.
Speaker 3: Coach Smith was my head coach because I wouldn't.
Speaker 4: Listen to yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so coach would have to like tell Rod like
Speaker 3: I mean, it was seriously like that. I didn't like
Speaker 3: him at all. Coach Smith is the guy though, that's
Speaker 3: my guy. If it one for him, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2: Tell him to run this play not that play.
Speaker 3: Yeah it was it was yeah.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Coach Smit is the guy and it makes sense
Speaker 7: why he took over and had some give me your
Speaker 7: okay'll starting five all time tough. That's super tough.
Speaker 3: That's tough. You know, Uh, that's tough. I'm not even
Speaker 3: putting me in.
Speaker 7: They don't do it. Then, all right, you got to
Speaker 7: it's foreign names that have to be on the list.
Speaker 3: Well it's called mellow Is Durant. I'll put myself. But
Speaker 3: it's hard after that because I gotta think now, like
Speaker 3: I don't know, you got to give me some name.
Speaker 3: I can't like think I know those three right away.
Speaker 3: And I got like, I love Rondo, Like I'm the
Speaker 3: biggest Rondo fan ever.
Speaker 7: You only can go Rondo to me at okill Ron Mercer.
Speaker 7: They was crazy stuff.
Speaker 3: So and then I don't know stack play. Well, that's hard.
Speaker 3: That's like talking about New York, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: And I hate getting into that because I forget guys.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, you know what I mean, so many yourself,
Speaker 3: Like it's just so many.
Speaker 7: I put myself. I put myself like seven to eight.
Speaker 7: I'm real with myself, you know what I'm saying myself,
Speaker 7: like seven eight, yeah, come off, Yeah, to put yourself
Speaker 7: in the top, because because you got to look, it's
Speaker 7: just heat. One of those two of those teams went
Speaker 7: undefeata okill and.
Speaker 4: That was Curtis Steak was in junior borrow on them.
Speaker 7: They went underfeed. You know what I'm saying. So you
Speaker 7: know I'm like that too. They had a lot of success.
Speaker 3: Okay, but you're talking about players though we told individually.
Speaker 7: Yeah yeah, yeah, Dupaus made Sweet sixteen twice two times.
Speaker 7: I waited sixteen two time All American. I know a
Speaker 7: couple of people went to the par but was I'm
Speaker 7: pretty sure it was different from when Quinn Richdon and
Speaker 7: Bobby Simmonson and was there.
Speaker 4: What was it like at your time at DEPA.
Speaker 3: Man, the Paul was Chicago like when I was. The
Speaker 3: Paul was big time, Like you know, I go back
Speaker 3: and I think about it, like we could rival with
Speaker 3: the bulls, like you know, the Paul was it. I
Speaker 3: don't think people remember that. Uh, but the Paul was.
Speaker 3: It was a great time man like that. That was
Speaker 3: the moment I realized I can hoop, Like I mean,
Speaker 3: who get to the next level. I'll never forget. Oh no,
Speaker 3: it might have been the fifth sixth game we playing Georgetown. Uh,
Speaker 3: and I go in the lane and show it. Use
Speaker 3: the next hand, lay up the big and you know,
Speaker 3: Al McGuire was like a star is born, and I
Speaker 3: was like, wow, you know how you ready to go
Speaker 3: back and watch the game. So I'm sitting there and
Speaker 3: that's when I because I never forget joy maya God blessed.
Speaker 3: Just past he brought me in my roommate in Terrence Green,
Speaker 3: and he was telling us how we could be, you know,
Speaker 3: like the best combo that's been here. Like he was
Speaker 3: pumping us up. And I remember walking out of there,
Speaker 3: but I didn't get it right because I was weird,
Speaker 3: like I didn't like look at myself like everybody else
Speaker 3: looked at me. And so when he said that, I
Speaker 3: still felt I had work to do. But then when
Speaker 3: I heard Al maguire say that, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: you know, let's do it. And it was just a
Speaker 3: great time. We went there a couple of sweet sixteens,
Speaker 3: well a few, but I'll never forget this my last
Speaker 3: not my last game, but my sophomore year we played
Speaker 3: against LSU. This was like the turning point for me.
Speaker 3: We play LSU and it's a guy named Daryl Joe.
Speaker 3: I'll never forget his name. I always wish he played
Speaker 3: in the NBA because he embarrassed me so much, like defensively,
Speaker 3: he was like a defensive guy. He was bumping me,
Speaker 3: bullying me, like made me look real bad, like soft.
Speaker 3: And I'll never forget that from that day, from that game.
Speaker 3: The next year, I ate weights like I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm never letting that happen again ever. But I wanted
Speaker 3: to play against him again so bad, like to this day.
Speaker 3: Like you know, that's like the one thing because it
Speaker 3: was on national TV. He walked out of there, talk
Speaker 3: shit in papers, you know and all that, but that
Speaker 3: was that that moment, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 3: De Paul was special?
Speaker 4: Can basketball?
Speaker 3: I can? I can? I don't know, like but I can't.
Speaker 7: Well I'm the reason why I'm asking because I'm thinking
Speaker 7: you have to with all that ball control.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well no, it wasn't that. Like it's so funny, man,
Speaker 3: you know, I watched so much. Was Doctor J. Like
Speaker 3: I was the biggest. It was Doctor J. Magic if
Speaker 3: they played against each other, I was Doctor J. Other
Speaker 3: than that, I'm Magic Johnson. But I always watched and
Speaker 3: George Garfin you know, the flips and all that, and
Speaker 3: I always had that in my in my head and
Speaker 3: I always wanted to be like that and magic with
Speaker 3: the pass and all that. So I kind of just
Speaker 3: study those guys and then you know, back then, right,
Speaker 3: you don't have trainers that are telling you what to do,
Speaker 3: how to move, like what foot to move. You didn't
Speaker 3: have that, So your imagination. So I go out there
Speaker 3: and now I'm on the basket just throwing the ball
Speaker 3: up different angles. Now I get in like pickup games
Speaker 3: and I'm trying different things, you know, And so what
Speaker 3: I saw on TV, I used my imagination and I
Speaker 3: made in mind. But it wasn't like you know, people
Speaker 3: talk about can you teach all that? I don't know
Speaker 3: if you can teach all that, I think I think
Speaker 3: a lot of you look at Kyrie, I think a
Speaker 3: lot out of that is imagination. You got to have
Speaker 3: a certain imagination. If you listen to him talk like
Speaker 3: that's different. It's another little level.
Speaker 2: So Kyrie Irving being your god. Some what impresses you
Speaker 2: the most about his game on.
Speaker 3: The court, I mean his imagination, Like that's I always
Speaker 3: like tell young people that, like you gotta watch things
Speaker 3: and then you got it, like that's that's the Those
Speaker 3: are the best players, you know. But his skill set.
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if we've ever you know,
Speaker 3: I have to go to Isaiah Thomas, But have we
Speaker 3: ever seen someone that can handle the ball like that?
Speaker 3: And then it's a little different because like, like I
Speaker 3: was a ball handler off of instincts, So I come
Speaker 3: at you real hard that I can react, but he's
Speaker 3: playing with you didn't react, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: Like that's different. You know, so it's kind of street ball,
Speaker 3: and but he's but it's a method to the madness,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. It ain't just he's not
Speaker 3: just doing that, you know. And if you listen to
Speaker 3: him talk, you know, his mind is crazy and his
Speaker 3: mind is just different. His imagination, I mean, if you
Speaker 3: listen to talk about anything, his thought process is different.
Speaker 2: How did the friendship with his father come about?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know Dedrick since third grade? Okay, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, like third grade and we grew
Speaker 3: up through the gauchos and all that.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 7: Yeah, did you ever spend time with like Kyrie as
Speaker 7: like as a pro in recent years, like working out on.
Speaker 3: Moves and that's that's like like he was born and
Speaker 3: embedded with that, you know, through Pops and you know,
Speaker 3: like he was there. No, that's all Kyrie is.
Speaker 7: Well maybe maybe I'm saying that because he got so
Speaker 7: much of you in his game and you being his godfather,
Speaker 7: it's hard not to see.
Speaker 3: Well you see it, you can't. I mean, there's inspirations
Speaker 3: like I talk about tiny and all that, like give
Speaker 3: a chance to see to be able to know someone
Speaker 3: was done what you're trying to do. And there's video,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean, So like there's there's that.
Speaker 3: I think people forget about that part of it right right,
Speaker 3: you don't actually have to be there right to inspire
Speaker 3: or to help somebody, you know what I mean. When
Speaker 3: I was coaching in college with with you know, the
Speaker 3: d Rose and the John Wallas, it wasn't about being
Speaker 3: on the court, you know. It was like the conversations
Speaker 3: or what they saw like so it ain't always you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, what.
Speaker 4: Did you see?
Speaker 2: I mean speaking of those two, what did you see
Speaker 2: out of those two at that young college age that
Speaker 2: that that you knew it at that time?
Speaker 3: You like, you know, like people, I don't know, I
Speaker 3: think people take too much credit for people's success, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean, Like they walked in there like
Speaker 3: that that's why, you know what I mean? They walked
Speaker 3: like you don't they you know, sometimes we all I
Speaker 3: did this and that. They walked in like that. A
Speaker 3: lot of times it's the conversation, right, It's helping them
Speaker 3: get from that point to the next point. How do
Speaker 3: you get out of college?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 3: And I remember telling them like, this will be the
Speaker 3: hardest part of your basketball life because you know you
Speaker 3: got caw somebody who's on you. But you're not gonna
Speaker 3: get that in the league. But if you can deal
Speaker 3: with that now, you know what I mean. So it's
Speaker 3: more conversation getting them from point A to point B.
Speaker 3: Like de Rose and nobody teach him, at least from college.
Speaker 3: John wall Ain't nobody teaching him that Tyreek Evans, you know,
Speaker 3: like that's.
Speaker 2: Tyreek Evans cold. I just seen someone in another day.
Speaker 2: I don't know how he cast out the league. He
Speaker 2: was cold and being strong too. He came and got
Speaker 2: Rookie of the Year and just maybe it was being
Speaker 2: in Sacramento washed him out. The euro step, Uh, you
Speaker 2: remember you're in the nineties and getting called for travel.
Speaker 4: They wasn't really ready for you audience.
Speaker 3: Well, we euro stepped and they hit it. I don't
Speaker 3: even think it's I mean I could. I got a
Speaker 3: video of that of US euro Step you know, uh
Speaker 3: you know signing times. Man, it's just errors, like people
Speaker 3: don't know what they don't know, you know, have to
Speaker 3: like what in about for me, probably in about five
Speaker 3: ten years for y'all, probably fifteen twenty years, they're gonna
Speaker 3: forget about off you know what I'm saying, Like they
Speaker 3: don't you know.
Speaker 4: They don't care about history now because they don't.
Speaker 3: Think like that. Like we watched I knew all the
Speaker 3: old players. I knew what they did, you know, the
Speaker 3: Pete marriage is all them, like I knew, But they don't.
Speaker 3: It's what's going on now, and they put whoever's doing
Speaker 3: what they're doing now. But if you go back all
Speaker 3: this stuff, you'll see it.
Speaker 2: The game was a lot different when you first came
Speaker 2: in the game with the hand checks in the you know,
Speaker 2: the freedom of or the lack of freedom of movement.
Speaker 4: What do you feel like you could have.
Speaker 2: Done with the rules where they allowed kind of freedom
Speaker 2: of movement, especially with how creative you were.
Speaker 3: I mean I always I always talk about that. I
Speaker 3: mean the game is wide open. You can't touch anyone,
Speaker 3: So me being an aggressive driver, like I'm gonna run
Speaker 3: up your chest and I'm gonna I'm a free bake game.
Speaker 3: But I'm gonna make baskets with the contact because that's
Speaker 3: what I've grown to be. And then with the IQ,
Speaker 3: if I get in the middle, I'm gonna make the
Speaker 3: right reads.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: And we talk about three point shooting. You work on
Speaker 3: that and you don't have to always be that. Everybody
Speaker 3: thinks you have to be that, but you can make
Speaker 3: an impact John Mors and now the super three point shooters, right,
Speaker 3: So you can make an impact, you know, IQ knowing
Speaker 3: how to run a team score time. You know, we
Speaker 3: forgot about all that. But I just think my skill
Speaker 3: set of just IQ and the fact that I'm going
Speaker 3: to penetrate like I'm getting by you, and once I
Speaker 3: get I'm getting by you. So once I get by you,
Speaker 3: I have the ability to make that right play.
Speaker 4: Yeah, makes me even more dangerous.
Speaker 7: Nineteenth picking eighty eight drafted by the Knicks, d to
Speaker 7: the Knicks, Danny Mann and Rick miss Richmond, Dan.
Speaker 4: Marley, my guy, that was a nice class. Talk about
Speaker 4: the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, decent class. No, I mean I got drafted by
Speaker 3: the Knicks team home team, but I wasn't excited and
Speaker 3: I didn't know, like I was told I was gonna
Speaker 3: go somewhere between seven and fifteen. And the Seattle SuperSonics
Speaker 3: told my agent that if I was at fifteen, they
Speaker 3: were taking me. So you know, I was nervous because
Speaker 3: my my college coach, Jordy Meyer, called me and told
Speaker 3: me I was dropping in draft. So I think it
Speaker 3: was Boston and the Lakers. They always had the last
Speaker 3: two picks, so one of them called them, and so
Speaker 3: I'm like nervous because you know, you get to that
Speaker 3: point you could slip to the second round. I never
Speaker 3: expected the next to draft me. And then they drafted
Speaker 3: uh uh. You know they had Mark from the prior year,
Speaker 3: so I'm thinking, I'm looking at the board and I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm going late. So when they picked me, I was
Speaker 3: surprised and I got booed like in New York, which
Speaker 3: is crazy.
Speaker 2: Not to catch you up that Mark say he was
Speaker 2: mad they drafted him. We had Mark on the show.
Speaker 2: Did he didn he say? Was he yeah like that?
Speaker 4: Yeah? He wasn't fuck with it.
Speaker 3: Yeah he wouldn't say that back then. Mark is my guy.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't like that, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. I'm a rookie and he was. But
Speaker 3: I wish it was too early for that time. Like
Speaker 3: they would put me and Mark in the game. They
Speaker 3: would put us in the game at times, and we
Speaker 3: would turn the guarden out, you know, but at that time,
Speaker 3: two point guards, they weren't doing that. They weren't ready
Speaker 3: for that. I wish we could have done that more
Speaker 3: because we would have been really good. But that was
Speaker 3: a clash, like that was hard, right, and me and
Speaker 3: Mark always held respect for each other. And Mark could
Speaker 3: tell you this. I tried to fight Mark one day practice.
Speaker 3: We talk about it, We laugh about it all the time.
Speaker 3: Like I was mad one day. I just was frustrated,
Speaker 3: and every time he tried to come off the balls screen,
Speaker 3: I was just hitting them like I just was, you know.
Speaker 3: But we talk about it all the time. But Mark
Speaker 3: is my guy, got utmost respectful and what he did
Speaker 3: was he was professional, and I struggled with that right,
Speaker 3: So that was kind of a difference, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean. But I like Mark, Mark the way he
Speaker 3: carried himself. Uh, you know, Mark has the ability to
Speaker 3: make everyone think they're better than they are, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean, Like like, yeah, you see what he
Speaker 3: did as a culture at Golden State, but he also
Speaker 3: did that as a player. So I got like the
Speaker 3: utmost from my guy.
Speaker 5: Then the next like try like two point guards again
Speaker 5: before that with like tiny Archibald who was firing ice.
Speaker 3: No, you're talking about Fraser and Pearl Pearl more so, Yeah,
Speaker 3: they didn't try they did.
Speaker 4: That was it? That was it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, they won the championship like that was that was
Speaker 3: the deal?
Speaker 4: That won't work? But did they keep trying to repeat that?
Speaker 3: Like no, they didn't. They wouldn't. They didn't know that
Speaker 3: was it? Like that was a you know, like outline.
Speaker 3: That was just different, you know. And I think Clyve
Speaker 3: was about six four. I think I think he was
Speaker 3: somewhere around there, which makes it a little different, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean? You know what I mean, made a.
Speaker 4: Little difference point guard and shooting guard.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I made a little Differently. What was the state
Speaker 7: of the league when you arrived. M J was becoming
Speaker 7: a star. Commercial flights, people smoking newports on the plane.
Speaker 3: With no no me too much. Let you do that,
Speaker 3: you know what, you know what you might be right, right,
Speaker 3: my bad. Some resident that.
Speaker 4: Ain't what you might be?
Speaker 5: What's going on?
Speaker 4: When we was flying in Indiana to road games, Donny
Speaker 4: Washington the back of the Yes, yes, the whole team.
Speaker 4: You want to play squares.
Speaker 3: In the air. So I'll take that back. You might be.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you why you're right. So when I
Speaker 3: first got in the league, you know, there was beers
Speaker 3: in the locker roll, so we would we would grab
Speaker 3: a six pas and going to shower after the game.
Speaker 4: You know what I mean.
Speaker 3: You know, if it's after game we're in New York,
Speaker 3: I can go out, you know, and I think Doug
Speaker 3: West had a car accident and down or d u
Speaker 3: I something uh, And then they shut that down, which rightfully,
Speaker 3: but you know, on the plane and everything at that time,
Speaker 3: I don't just you right though, you're right.
Speaker 8: Yeah, cigarettes, we got a little residuce, Yeah, little flipp
Speaker 8: thing on the arm, you can flip the little I like.
Speaker 3: I don't know about that. I ain't gonna gonna take
Speaker 3: that one.
Speaker 2: Hip hop be mentioned in a lot of different songs.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm seeing you, not saying you read you a
Speaker 2: couple of lyrics. Guarantee me guaranteed to make him jump
Speaker 2: like Strickly, I'm not a rapper, bro wou tang straight
Speaker 2: to the whole like Rod Strickland. It was taking a
Speaker 2: toe d m X rest in peace, my man Kelly
Speaker 2: from Garvin Rod Strickland Wu Tang and the plot is
Speaker 2: sticking in on a point like Rod Strickland onyx uh.
Speaker 2: I mean as a hooper, it's the ultimate. You know,
Speaker 2: they mirror each other, hooping, hooping and music mirror each other.
Speaker 2: So what was it like when you started getting shout outs?
Speaker 3: It's crazy, Like if you really go look at it,
Speaker 3: it's a lot of them. It's a lot. And when
Speaker 3: I understood that, I was like, wow, like that's big time.
Speaker 3: And then the ultimate one is you know the Wu
Speaker 3: tang like ending the song. You know, that's forever and
Speaker 3: that's a big time song. So definitely, like aren't it
Speaker 3: blessed and all that, you know, the Wu Tang and
Speaker 3: then one of the greatest songs like with your name.
Speaker 4: Are you related to the street stuff? I'm in the
Speaker 4: street bar of Strickland.
Speaker 3: No, John Strickland, Yeah, yeah, he was, Yeah, he was nice.
Speaker 3: He was funny as I don't know what too, but nah,
Speaker 3: it was nice. Yes, he was IQ, yeah.
Speaker 7: Exactly, c exactly, traded from New York to San Antonio
Speaker 7: two years in. I had my own experience, but I
Speaker 7: know it was different. What was your experience like in
Speaker 7: San Antonio with Dave Robinson and that Brown?
Speaker 3: How can I say that because I got to take
Speaker 3: a lot of heat on that. I mean, they're different.
Speaker 3: You know, Dave Sean were kind of upstanding individuals and
Speaker 3: I probably was the wild child, you know, I know
Speaker 3: that very well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like
Speaker 3: we had a really good team. We were off to
Speaker 3: a really good start, and then I got into an
Speaker 3: incident and broke my hand and that kind of was
Speaker 3: the downfall, you know. I think everything was kind of
Speaker 3: going downhill from there. But I enjoyed, you know, like again,
Speaker 3: there's things if you can go back, right, Like I
Speaker 3: could have made more of that situation and opportunity, but
Speaker 3: I guess just wasn't mature up for that. But but
Speaker 3: playing with Dave Robinson was ridiculous, right because you guard
Speaker 3: whoever they get by you, they got a problem, you know.
Speaker 3: So and then we were fast paced, getting the ball
Speaker 3: up and down. So it was I mean, as as
Speaker 3: a basketball on the court, it was It was great. Uh,
Speaker 3: but you know it got soured quickly. Yeah, Bob Bass
Speaker 3: was there. He couldn't stand me. I couldn't stand him. Uh,
Speaker 3: And you know, things just went by the way.
Speaker 2: You reflect not real quick Jack, before we got on camera,
Speaker 2: and then obviously now and obviously if you could change things,
Speaker 2: when did you kind of look in the mirror and
Speaker 2: realize that some of the issues were because of you?
Speaker 8: Was a post career during career, definitely post career, post career,
Speaker 8: definitely post career, because I was a hooper, right, and
Speaker 8: I always knew I can get on the court hoop,
Speaker 8: So sometimes that was like an excuse or escapegoat, and
Speaker 8: that kind of hurt me because whatever happened on our side,
Speaker 8: I always felt I was good enough.
Speaker 3: As soon as I get on the court, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: shut y'all up, you know. And that was like a
Speaker 3: gift and a curse. And then I always tell people
Speaker 3: like your habits from when you're young to old, like
Speaker 3: they carry with you, right. So I was one of
Speaker 3: those guys, like when we were playing as youngsters, my
Speaker 3: friends had to come get me out the apartment to
Speaker 3: come to the game, or I was oversleeping or you know,
Speaker 3: I was in high school. I was late, right, I
Speaker 3: was chewing in high school. And you know, I'll say
Speaker 3: this now, like I'll go to school at twelve and afternoon,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Like in game days, I like,
Speaker 3: I just had these super bad habits. Right, So people
Speaker 3: think once you get some money or you become a pro,
Speaker 3: like you're supposed to automatically learn how to be professionals.
Speaker 3: I didn't know how to be professional, but I know
Speaker 3: how to who and so that hurt my career, you know, even.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think I could have been a three,
Speaker 3: four or five time All Star, but I think because
Speaker 3: of those habits and the way people looked at me,
Speaker 3: coaches the league like that hamper. Like we talked about,
Speaker 3: I made All NBA's second team, let the league and assist.
Speaker 3: So that means you're telling me I was top ten
Speaker 3: in the league, but I wasn't an All Star. So
Speaker 3: but that, you know, it's like looking back and understanding,
Speaker 3: like I feel I should have been that, but I
Speaker 3: feel I could have been that if I would have
Speaker 3: done it like I should have done it. So that's
Speaker 3: the survivor's remorse, like we talk about.
Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, san Antonio was great for me.
Speaker 7: I played with David Robinson's last year, so I can
Speaker 7: imagine what you've seen a young day.
Speaker 4: I played with.
Speaker 7: Him last year and he still was to help us
Speaker 7: win the championship. So that was experienced me. But I
Speaker 7: understand the culture. Shockup, I was the same guy you
Speaker 7: we was. Yeah, I wasn't didn't know how to be
Speaker 7: a professional around a whole bunch of people that's doing
Speaker 7: stuff right instead of and I want to do it
Speaker 7: my way. Yes, you know what I mean. So, but
Speaker 7: I can't say I learned how to be a professional there.
Speaker 7: If I didn't have those two years of san Antonio,
Speaker 7: I don't think I would have lasted fourteen years. Yeah,
Speaker 7: Game seven, turnover for Portland. Entire game and over time
Speaker 7: he tried to go behind the head.
Speaker 3: Talking about.
Speaker 4: They take us back to that moment.
Speaker 3: Wow, Wow, that moment was crazy. That moment was crazy
Speaker 3: because like if I break it down, like we could
Speaker 3: have beat them and then we would have been playing
Speaker 3: the Sons. I think it was, and we were kind
Speaker 3: of dominating the Sons that year. You know, kJ was
Speaker 3: a beast, but again you had David Robinson back there,
Speaker 3: so that was a big time play. Uh, and it
Speaker 3: was getting caught up in the moment right in New York,
Speaker 3: Like you know, I was wonning them out and I
Speaker 3: just got caught up, you know, and so and I
Speaker 3: knew that because I got you know, they killed me
Speaker 3: about that. But then there's some people tried to give
Speaker 3: me grace and I couldn't even take the grase because
Speaker 3: I'm like, that's on me because I'm point guard. If
Speaker 3: you don't get the ball to the man, that's on you.
Speaker 3: Like I've always believed that. And I know Sean Elliott
Speaker 3: likes to veer out for the shot, yeah right, But
Speaker 3: I also know he can go in. But I know
Speaker 3: he likes to do that. So I get the ball
Speaker 3: and I make I remember spinning or turning and seeing
Speaker 3: him and you know, my instincts is you go to
Speaker 3: the basket. But that wasn't the moment to turn your
Speaker 3: back and make a play, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: So as soon as it left my hand and felt awkward. Right,
Speaker 3: So the bad part was the bad part about it
Speaker 3: was they stole it. They go down and I made
Speaker 3: a file, a breakaway and my last file. So they
Speaker 3: get shots the ball and out the game, I can't
Speaker 3: redeem myself. And that was the worst one. I'm to
Speaker 3: the walk from filing out to the bench right looking
Speaker 3: at everybody, and then from the locking room to the
Speaker 3: plane going past everybody, and then from the plane when
Speaker 3: it landed to the car. It was the longest walks ever.
Speaker 3: You know, you can feel everybody like you looking at
Speaker 3: everybody and like it's like they're talking in your head
Speaker 3: and they're looking at it like idiot, are you dumby?
Speaker 3: Like you can almost no, no, for real, that's like
Speaker 3: that's what I felt. But it was a bad play,
Speaker 3: Like it was a hard I remember Isaiah Magic and
Speaker 3: it was killing me about it. And and this is
Speaker 3: a lesson for like young people like I ate that
Speaker 3: because it came from magic and I got So what I'm.
Speaker 7: Gonna say, vich yeah nice. Everybody know he was nice.
Speaker 7: Y'all had a little on the court situation where you
Speaker 7: gave him a four arm shiver. That's what they want
Speaker 7: to say it. Now, can you explain what happened actually
Speaker 7: happened that day?
Speaker 3: I was hot, like no, because I wasn't guarding him,
Speaker 3: but he was doing little stuff, you know, like he
Speaker 3: was talking. But then you know, that little bumps. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and I just was like one bump too many and
Speaker 3: no because he I think he scored or whatever. But
Speaker 3: I mean, if you watch the play, blatantly just you know,
Speaker 3: bump me. And that whole time after that going down court,
Speaker 3: I had nothing on my mind, like I'm getting him. No,
Speaker 3: I was, it was nothing else, it was nothing. I
Speaker 3: was going straight. You could say I was straight to him,
Speaker 3: you know, you know back then that's how it was. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it was back then. Though. It was different though, because
Speaker 3: you had to always like those little things. If you
Speaker 3: didn't take care of them, you were in trouble.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Right, that was just the league back then, right, I
Speaker 3: mean and Isai one time was on the floor and
Speaker 3: you know me and Stockton, you know, I like back
Speaker 3: back in the day, like you had to you couldn't
Speaker 3: let that happen. Like those were like little things that
Speaker 3: give other people the edge, right if they know you
Speaker 3: can do that, like more than now. Couldn't let it
Speaker 3: like it.
Speaker 7: And people say that about Chris Paul, how he was
Speaker 7: philically dirty. All the point guards, John Stockman, all the
Speaker 7: point guards was like that physical and play like that,
Speaker 7: try to get that edge.
Speaker 3: And I used to say dirty, but I don't even
Speaker 3: know that. I'm like Stockton was doing what he needed
Speaker 3: to do. Like even Isaiah Isaiah, you know, and I
Speaker 3: know he doesn't like to take the bad boy image,
Speaker 3: but Isaiah, it was tough, you know, choke and fight ready,
Speaker 3: you know, and you had to be ready to you
Speaker 3: had to match that or that was their advantage. Like
Speaker 3: that's like I look at like Isaiah and I had
Speaker 3: them on. I was doing a podcast at one time
Speaker 3: and I was talking to him and like I was like,
Speaker 3: embrace the bad boy image, right because y'all were able
Speaker 3: to intimidate people that ain't got nothing to do with y'all.
Speaker 3: That's them, you know if they let you do that.
Speaker 3: Like okay, fine, Like you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Like, who are some of the matchups you enjoyed during
Speaker 2: your run?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: Nobody enjoyed it, but.
Speaker 4: Yeah, like you know.
Speaker 3: Tim Hardaway, kJ had GP and stocked in you know
Speaker 3: you guys like Nick Van Axle who can embarrass you?
Speaker 3: Uh you had my mood. Like there's so many I
Speaker 3: hate to like, like you know, Sam could get hot.
Speaker 3: You know Mark with Mark is so interesting because Mark
Speaker 3: and Stockton could be the dudes that had like ten
Speaker 3: and ten and dominate you and you don't even know it,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean? Uh, I know I'm missing
Speaker 3: some guys, but those are you know. Then you had
Speaker 3: the younger guys coming in, like the Ais and the
Speaker 3: Steps and all them, but they kind of on that
Speaker 3: other side of it. Uh. But it was a lot.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of guys. There's a lot of guys.
Speaker 2: So after San Antonio you had to Portland some turnover there.
Speaker 2: What was the Pacific Northwest?
Speaker 3: Like?
Speaker 4: For you?
Speaker 3: It was good. I enjoyed it, but I think I
Speaker 3: came in on the back end of you know, that
Speaker 3: championship run. I came in that next year and like
Speaker 3: we had a hell of a lineup to start the season.
Speaker 3: I was coming off the bench. They signed me and
Speaker 3: told me, you know, I was coming off the bench.
Speaker 3: So but off the bench it was me, Mario Eli,
Speaker 3: Mark Bryant, and I want to say Cliff Robinson. And
Speaker 3: they had their regular start in five.
Speaker 2: So who was it starting five at that time?
Speaker 3: So it was TP Clyde, Jerome, Curtsey, Duckworth. I might
Speaker 3: be missing somebody. Williams buck Way there you go. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I cannot forget buck I'm tripping my bad buck. So
Speaker 3: so that was a hell of a nine. And then
Speaker 3: Clyde got hurt ear because I think we started out
Speaker 3: like six and oh or something like that, and Clyde
Speaker 3: got hurt and that just he's done that, you know,
Speaker 3: Clyde Drexler.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: And so then Clyde left, Uh, he went to Houston.
Speaker 3: But I enjoyed Portland, you know, I enjoyed Pautland. We
Speaker 3: made the playoffs, didn't really go that far, but I
Speaker 3: enjoyed it.
Speaker 4: How good was Clyde Dressler?
Speaker 3: Ridiculous with one hand.
Speaker 7: Didn't go right the whole game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I think they I think they underestimated IQ,
Speaker 3: you know, his passing and even because he was a
Speaker 3: good a great post of guard too, just ceiling guys
Speaker 3: and angles and he was, like I think, as great
Speaker 3: as he was, I don't think people really understand his IQ.
Speaker 4: I liked Clyde a lot.
Speaker 2: Washington Wizards with the young c Web and Juwan Howard.
Speaker 4: What was that like, man.
Speaker 3: To get there with those young guys.
Speaker 4: Uh, not to catch you out. What year in your
Speaker 4: career was that for you?
Speaker 3: I think that was like ninety seven, So my nine.
Speaker 2: Year or something like that you season by this time.
Speaker 3: Right it was ninety seven right?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Uh No, Sea Webb and Drawn Howard is like super energy.
Speaker 3: I mean you that I'll never forget. We played against
Speaker 3: Steph KG. That was the craziest, like like that environment,
Speaker 3: like the tip off, you can feel intention, you know,
Speaker 3: Steph ready to come at me, kJ ready to go.
Speaker 3: Uh but nah, Sea Web see Web is incredible. Like
Speaker 3: I don't think he gets enough credit, right for whatever reason,
Speaker 3: it's weird. I don't know why. But like you don't
Speaker 3: hear much about see Webb. See Web was special. I
Speaker 3: mean like special. You know we had seawb but I
Speaker 3: was twenty ten five six. You know, steals blocks like
Speaker 3: he did everything past the ball too, And it became
Speaker 3: noticeable when we got rid of them or when they
Speaker 3: traded them, right because now you know you cut off
Speaker 3: the head. You know, we run ball screens, you know,
Speaker 3: throw the ball anywhere, you know, and then he had
Speaker 3: to growl and he just had the intensity. And you
Speaker 3: know Jay Howard the same way.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: But we didn't we didn't stick together long enough. What's
Speaker 3: unseld was the GM. The old school couldn't really understand
Speaker 3: the mishaps of what have you. It's it's it's uh,
Speaker 3: it's funny now because I look at the league now
Speaker 3: and it's more of a players league now. So back then,
Speaker 3: it was like rule with the hand and really didn't
Speaker 3: understand how to maneuver with younger generation, younger guys. Uh.
Speaker 3: But the DC one is like, I wish we could
Speaker 3: have stayed together Ben Wallace there yet. Ben Wallace was
Speaker 3: a rookie. So Ben Wallace walked in the gym. We
Speaker 3: were so we were practicing at Booie State. That's what
Speaker 3: we practiced at when I first got no wizards or
Speaker 3: the bullets, so.
Speaker 7: It was damn sure some residue and we were ping.
Speaker 3: So it's funny. It was like the preseason and we
Speaker 3: just playing pick up. And I don't know all the
Speaker 3: dynamics how he got there or whatever, but I just
Speaker 3: remember being in the gym and you know, I think
Speaker 3: I'm the layup king. I don't think no one's blocking
Speaker 3: my shot. I still yeah, but I'm in there and
Speaker 3: and this dude keeps blocking my shot. I'm like, is he?
Speaker 3: And it was Ben Wallace? And and the funny thing is,
Speaker 3: throughout my career, like he used to do that to me.
Speaker 3: Like when he was with the Pistols, He's it's like
Speaker 3: he tied me, you know. Yeah, but uh yeah, so
Speaker 3: Ben was Ben was ridiculous and Ben was no nonsense.
Speaker 3: Don't mess with that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's person and it's big get bigger by the second.
Speaker 3: He's the coolest dude ever, Yes, but don't take him there.
Speaker 4: A ship.
Speaker 2: Thoughts recently, and it warmed my heart to see the
Speaker 2: Fast five back together. Man, how important is that for
Speaker 2: the culture for basketball, for Michigan to stop bullshit?
Speaker 4: And like, what did you think when you saw that?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: I love it because I know those guys, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean. So to have them all back together,
Speaker 3: like it's it's so interesting because you know, you look
Speaker 3: at the college, you look at how it is now,
Speaker 3: and you just look back and you say, like for
Speaker 3: them to go through that, like you know.
Speaker 2: And the freedom is now, the freedom now in I
Speaker 2: ls now and.
Speaker 3: Always say, like the young guys always get the the
Speaker 3: the raw end of the stick, right, but it's always
Speaker 3: the adults. Like if you look back at any of that,
Speaker 3: who started that? Where did that come from?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 3: And man, that's greatness? How do you like ban greatness?
Speaker 3: For basically what adults did not understanding. How did banner that? Like,
Speaker 3: that's crazy? I mean they changed. I mean now we
Speaker 3: talk about culture again, that's culture. Like they changed. They
Speaker 3: had a whole like revolution.
Speaker 7: That don't happen with jan that coach. Yeah right, they
Speaker 7: could have been brought to that. That don't happen if
Speaker 7: Jawan is not coaching.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying. You know Foster Harbor, wasn't
Speaker 5: he the one who went to WHEB was like, I'm
Speaker 5: gonna get you back on this campus.
Speaker 4: You had to come through the football because he was
Speaker 4: at the games.
Speaker 3: Yeah. No, I love seeing that because Jay Howard and you.
Speaker 7: Know where Jimmy and ray Man, my guys. They deserved that.
Speaker 7: I came out with all them guys. He came out
Speaker 7: with all the guys. They deserved that. I said that, right, Yeah,
Speaker 7: I should have a statue outside the.
Speaker 4: All five of him.
Speaker 3: No, they definitely got it on him.
Speaker 2: The ball Heads, Yeah, swept by the nineties and in
Speaker 2: ninety seven by the sixty nine win Bulls.
Speaker 4: What was Mike like in his focus in that team
Speaker 4: at that time?
Speaker 3: Mike and Mike like Mike and Mike. I remember, I
Speaker 3: don't know if he gave us a fifty piece I think,
Speaker 3: or maybe forty something. And I'll never forget Calbuccini being
Speaker 3: like destroyed and he walked into another room like after
Speaker 3: the game. I was like, man, get out of there,
Speaker 3: Man come on in here, and man good.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: But you know Mike and Mike Mike is Mike Mike.
Speaker 3: Mike was able to dominate, uh when he needed to
Speaker 3: and how he wanted to. And you know, Mike was
Speaker 3: a mismatch. We know that, we know that problem. It
Speaker 3: was a mismatch. And then you had the great Scottie Pippen,
Speaker 3: who probably doesn't get enough credit as well.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: And then even Ron Harper because you think about before
Speaker 3: when Ron Hopper was in Cleveland. I don't know if people.
Speaker 4: Need to lead the League of Steels or something like that.
Speaker 1: He might.
Speaker 3: He would have never gotten injured. He would have run
Speaker 3: telling you was yeah and even tough. Yeah yeah. But uh,
Speaker 3: just think about those three as defenders, you know, as
Speaker 3: a six three guards like you know, because all they
Speaker 3: would do is start gapping you. Right, No, I'm not
Speaker 3: a jump shooter, so now they're gapping you. So I
Speaker 3: had to try to get him in transition you know.
Speaker 3: So yeah, they were they were great. M J was
Speaker 3: really like that on d Oh definitely, and they let him.
Speaker 2: Get away with it, like at the end of the
Speaker 2: game that handslaps.
Speaker 3: But as a defendant, no doubt about it. He was
Speaker 3: a great defender, absolutely, because.
Speaker 4: You see a lot of superstars that don't take that
Speaker 4: pride on defense.
Speaker 3: You know, he definitely him pipping and hot. That's what
Speaker 3: I say. If you've got those three on the perimeter,
Speaker 3: that's tough. It's tough.
Speaker 7: Final year's a lot of stops boiling Miami, Minnesota, Orlando, Toronto,
Speaker 7: play t mac KG.
Speaker 3: Talk about No, no, no, those are like shit, go ahead, I'm.
Speaker 4: Any bright spots in any of those stops. No.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed them all, you know. But it was just
Speaker 3: so as I talked about, like, if you put my
Speaker 3: numbers in the nineties, right, I think I would put
Speaker 3: him with all the point guards. Whether it's a little
Speaker 3: lower or whatever. But it's seventeen almost nine four rebounds,
Speaker 3: almost two steals. But those other years kind of brought
Speaker 3: everything down. So that's why I look at those years,
Speaker 3: right and uh, And we talked off camera the unprofessionalism
Speaker 3: led up to those last five years, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, Because now the last five years, if you
Speaker 3: look at it, I had to sit out and wait
Speaker 3: for teams to like lose enough to say all right,
Speaker 3: let's go get right, you know. So there was no
Speaker 3: plan for me. Right, I'm a feeling so now the
Speaker 3: minutes go down and you know everything. So when I
Speaker 3: look at those five years, obviously great, like all those
Speaker 3: organizations were great, But when I look at it, like
Speaker 3: those were the years that kind of like messed up
Speaker 3: the numbers, you know what.
Speaker 7: I mean, I kind of think of like like basically
Speaker 7: back then about I thought, like back then about I said,
Speaker 7: today's decisions going to affect the future life.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 7: I have thought about that, then I would have made
Speaker 7: the decisions I power to played in the All Star too.
Speaker 7: So I see what you're saying. Those mistakes made the
Speaker 7: beginning of the year thinking of that, it affected.
Speaker 3: At the end absolutely, yeah, because if I was, you know, professional,
Speaker 3: like I may have stayed with other teams. Right, So
Speaker 3: when you're with other teams, you already got a roll, right,
Speaker 3: you know, but now you flip flopping the teams like
Speaker 3: you don't have a role. You just there to really
Speaker 3: fill in, you know what I mean, so that you know,
Speaker 3: now you're playing fifteen minutes, you know, so you go
Speaker 3: from averaging your career average is being sixteen point eight
Speaker 3: eight to thirteen, you know, and then it looks different.
Speaker 3: And I don't think people can get the real feel
Speaker 3: of what you did right because they they're going by
Speaker 3: the end numbers. But like I said, if you take
Speaker 3: those five years out and you go even if you
Speaker 3: want to go to twelve, the first twelve, but I
Speaker 3: know if you go to nineties for the ten years
Speaker 3: and you stack them up to whoever they're gonna be,
Speaker 3: they're gonna be somewhere in the picture.
Speaker 4: They definitely standing there.
Speaker 2: Also, seventeen year career, thirteen years sober, which to me
Speaker 2: is just as impressive as that long run.
Speaker 4: You're on the record saying, do you.
Speaker 3: Know that.
Speaker 2: You know you're on the record saying if you didn't drink,
Speaker 2: you felt like you had an opportunity to be a
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer. Can you explain what that is like?
Speaker 2: Because we all have vices, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: He and I had our vice and it was it
Speaker 2: was smoking. And then you know, every every every day
Speaker 2: we did it we was, you know, on the brink
Speaker 2: of possibly getting kicked out and now it's it's allowed.
Speaker 2: So what you know, it takes us back through that
Speaker 2: mindset and and and you know, pulling yourself out of
Speaker 2: that darkness.
Speaker 3: Like like honestly like and and I talk about the
Speaker 3: professional part, you know, being laid or just that attitude,
Speaker 3: and then you know, obviously drinking and hanging out and
Speaker 3: all that, like your decision making wud comes bad. Right,
Speaker 3: So it ain't even just on the court, you know.
Speaker 3: And I'll reflect back you know, my family, my kids, uh,
Speaker 3: friendships like everything you know. Uh, and then as a professional,
Speaker 3: uh you know, because what you don't really understand is
Speaker 3: that as you're drinking and you're hanging out and you're
Speaker 3: having the ball like you're kind of you're putting together
Speaker 3: a map for people like you kind of how can
Speaker 3: I say it? What's the word I want to use? Well,
Speaker 3: for the lack of like a word. Right now, you're
Speaker 3: showing people who you are, right or you're putting this
Speaker 3: image into people's minds that you don't even understand. Years
Speaker 3: late later years they're gonna hold that against you and
Speaker 3: you don't understand that, right, So the funny thing about
Speaker 3: like me, stop drinking or stop drinking. What I realized
Speaker 3: and John Lucas told me is he said, you're gonna
Speaker 3: have He said three things. I can only remember two,
Speaker 3: but he said, you're gonna have people don't want you
Speaker 3: to change, right because they're so used to having fun
Speaker 3: with you. And then you're gonna have people who are
Speaker 3: never going to accept or let you change. And the
Speaker 3: second one, the latter one, I found out the hard way, right,
Speaker 3: because you know how you can be around people and
Speaker 3: you can think they're with you or they're your people,
Speaker 3: but then when it's time to put you in situations
Speaker 3: to kind of put you in power or put you
Speaker 3: in position, they'll minimize you. And they'll minimize you because
Speaker 3: they they think this is who you are, so you
Speaker 3: can't be trusted or they don't value you or whatever
Speaker 3: it might be. Your friend might even love you, but
Speaker 3: they feel like you know. And the crazy part about that,
Speaker 3: I had to get away from them to get to
Speaker 3: where I'm at now. So y'all know, Christy chin right
Speaker 3: best and best person my family, but she single handedly
Speaker 3: grabbed me and helped me get to where I'm at now.
Speaker 3: Sound just like her right, and she value me and
Speaker 3: she put me around people because she knew who I
Speaker 3: really was right where they think I'm the Rod or
Speaker 3: whatever they think I am. She knew who I was
Speaker 3: and she knew I had more up here than you think.
Speaker 3: So she put me in front of people and helped
Speaker 3: me understand how to deal with people, right, because I'm
Speaker 3: one of those like I'm one of those non trusting people,
Speaker 3: like I don't you know, I think everybody has a
Speaker 3: gender sometimes right, there's phoniness, right, and then when I
Speaker 3: feel that I can't. But I had to learn how
Speaker 3: to get out of that. You get out, get out
Speaker 3: your own way.
Speaker 4: How hard was it?
Speaker 2: Because it's something and I had to do post career
Speaker 2: to almost reinvent yourself. Like you said, you got pulled
Speaker 2: out of an area where they expected you to. You know,
Speaker 2: your reputation whether earned you know earned, is you know,
Speaker 2: good or bad, it's earned, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So to be able to reinvent yourself in a new
Speaker 2: space was that tough?
Speaker 4: Was it gratifying?
Speaker 2: Because I found it gratifying when people would look at
Speaker 2: me and they hear me talk or they're like, oh,
Speaker 2: I didn't know that was you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So I had to humble myself, right, and I had
Speaker 3: to understand well, the first thing I had to realize
Speaker 3: what it was. It wasn't them, it was me.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: I had to get out of that, you know, because
Speaker 3: I want to be mad or whoever, and I really
Speaker 3: shouldn't be mad because whatever happened, I exposed that to them.
Speaker 3: So once I got past that, and then again, you know,
Speaker 3: Chris believing in me and understanding that I'm probably smarter
Speaker 3: or you know, not like they think I Am going
Speaker 3: to put me around people so that they can see me.
Speaker 3: But then I had to open up. I'll never forget.
Speaker 3: I was on NBA TV with Dennis Guy and we
Speaker 3: were doing it and before the broadcast started, I was like, man,
Speaker 3: I'm nervous, like you know, because I get anxieties, like
Speaker 3: I've just been like that all my life, you know,
Speaker 3: in front of people and all that. I've gotten better,
Speaker 3: but I've I've dealt with that forever. And I told
Speaker 3: him that. He said, Man, I'm glad you told me that.
Speaker 3: He said that, that says it all. He said. He
Speaker 3: actually say, you need to tell people that because that
Speaker 3: tells who you are. Because he said you the guy
Speaker 3: will come in the room and go in the corner,
Speaker 3: you know. And I had to realize that too, Like
Speaker 3: I'm being me, but I don't know what kind of
Speaker 3: energy I'm giving off to everyone else. So when I
Speaker 3: walk in the room and I'm like, they may think
Speaker 3: come stand off ish, but I just might be to
Speaker 3: myself right, and there's no disrespect or anything. And I
Speaker 3: had to learn that too, right, And I had to
Speaker 3: that was a big part. But still being myself because
Speaker 3: I don't like what I don't like and I don't
Speaker 3: want to be around. I'm one of them, like I
Speaker 3: feel like you know that we always talk about like
Speaker 3: and I get people like you got to be professional,
Speaker 3: you know, so shake his hand, you know if you don't,
Speaker 3: even if you don't like him. But I'm one of
Speaker 3: them that, no, I think it's good that if I
Speaker 3: don't like you, let's just walk past each other, Like
Speaker 3: let's not play that game, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: So I'm gonna tell you a funny story. I don't
Speaker 3: know if it's funny, but me telling you who I am,
Speaker 3: I never forget. I'm with Team McKnight and we're at
Speaker 3: the Golden State Warriors arena with the G League team.
Speaker 4: In Santa Cruz.
Speaker 3: No, we're at there ring. We're actually playing in their
Speaker 3: round one game, right, it was like our last game,
Speaker 3: what's the what's the Golden State owner?
Speaker 4: Then Goober like him like them, So I.
Speaker 3: Never forget this him and what's my guy from Duke? Uh.
Speaker 3: They're walking right and this is against probably what I
Speaker 3: normally do, but they walk in we're in the stadium,
Speaker 3: but I'm in the stadium, so we're walking past, and
Speaker 3: I felt like it's almost like I say hello, So
Speaker 3: I never forget shaking Joe Lake. You know how you doing.
Speaker 3: I'm Rod Strickland Man. Dude grabbed my hand and almost
Speaker 3: moved it away and was like, I know you are
Speaker 3: God damn, that's why. That's why, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But I never forget that. I'll never forget that.
Speaker 9: On just some bad energy really, you know, and you know,
Speaker 9: like I'm like if you only knew, right, like like
Speaker 9: I'm telling you, yeah, I know you are, and walk
Speaker 9: and walked past you.
Speaker 3: I'm like that you a GM or something one of
Speaker 3: the teams. But it was just the craziest energy, and
Speaker 3: you know that's why.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it really kind of.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 7: This nigga be called taking me off the cliff a
Speaker 7: whole bunch of times.
Speaker 4: All these motherfuckers, I'll be ready to.
Speaker 3: But it was it was the craziest thing. Like it
Speaker 3: was the craziest thing. And I'm like, you know, like, man, man,
Speaker 3: if you was like, wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 2: Mm hmmmmmm.
Speaker 4: That is crazy.
Speaker 2: Who is right outside of coaching in basketball, because we've
Speaker 2: talked about a lot of basketball outside yeah.
Speaker 3: Man, Like, I'm simple, man, I try to stay in
Speaker 3: my lane out the way, uh you know, I got
Speaker 3: my guys. I kind of stick to the to the
Speaker 3: I don't know, I just I don't know, man, I
Speaker 3: stick to myself, you know, I try to you know,
Speaker 3: as far as this coaching, I'm trying to become the
Speaker 3: best coach I can be, trying to improve this program.
Speaker 3: But then outside of that, man, I'm probably just walking
Speaker 3: my lane. Like I don't even know how that there's
Speaker 3: not much to it, you know, I think I've done
Speaker 3: so much in the past, Like I'm real chill, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm particularly where I'm at the places I'm in
Speaker 3: because again, just like what I just told you, like
Speaker 3: I never want to be in the environment that like
Speaker 3: I'm not really welcoming, like I want to be in
Speaker 3: spaces that you know, people kind of a plowed you
Speaker 3: appreciate you rather than you just there to be there.
Speaker 3: Uh you know. I even like even social media. I
Speaker 3: tried to dip and dad with that. That's a rough one.
Speaker 4: That's just crazy.
Speaker 7: To give you your credit. You take on the role
Speaker 7: as being og. Sometimes there's been some conversation that you
Speaker 7: reach out to me that you to help me with
Speaker 7: that we didn't have. So you know, whatever whatever role
Speaker 7: you plan in life, it's beneficial.
Speaker 3: To a lot of people appreciate it.
Speaker 2: But you also know it's it's it's people who've been
Speaker 2: through shit and experience and looked in that mirror and
Speaker 2: understand their flaws in the past and not still blame
Speaker 2: it everyone else to me, not to paw us on it,
Speaker 2: but we have the best advice because we've been there
Speaker 2: at the highest level and we know we fucked money off,
Speaker 2: and we know we fucked situations off and did a
Speaker 2: lot of shit. But now it's just like when people
Speaker 2: look at the way I talked to my sons or
Speaker 2: coach the kids, because other like my family and they're
Speaker 2: just like wow, it's like, not don't.
Speaker 4: Do this because I did it. You know what I
Speaker 4: mean that I did this.
Speaker 2: You don't have to do it so just to be
Speaker 2: able to come back and get but it's first, you
Speaker 2: gotta be able to look at yourself in the mirror
Speaker 2: and see your soul and realize, like, yo, my I
Speaker 2: had a lot of mind, not to not to harp
Speaker 2: on it, you know, but to a point like I
Speaker 2: had a lot.
Speaker 4: To do with this situation. That situation. It was fucked up, definitely,
Speaker 4: but I had a lot to do with it.
Speaker 2: To be able to see your fault, move past and
Speaker 2: forgive yourself and then try to, you know, give your
Speaker 2: blessings to the next generation.
Speaker 3: That's your superpowers. I tell people, like, that's that's your superpower,
Speaker 3: because everybody can't do it right. Everybody can't talk and
Speaker 3: have that conversation and be authentic with it.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: My son, my oldest son, he's with me now, and
Speaker 3: I tell him because he has some bad experiences in
Speaker 3: college with some coaches and the way they dealt with him,
Speaker 3: the way they treated him, And I told him, man, like,
Speaker 3: that's your superpower, Like talk about it. You put them
Speaker 3: on blasts, like talk about it, right, because that'll relieve you.
Speaker 3: And also but you've given you'd be surprised how many
Speaker 3: people have gone through that, right. One thing I've learned
Speaker 3: just from experience is that, like, you can stand in
Speaker 3: front of seven, eight, ten, twelve people and they're judging you,
Speaker 3: and they got so much baggage. So like I'm always
Speaker 3: you looking at me, staring at you, right, because I
Speaker 3: know you ain't perfect, right, So I'm cool with my flaws.
Speaker 3: I know what they are, and I've worked on it
Speaker 3: and I'm growing and still growing. So when I walk
Speaker 3: in front of people like, man, it is what it is,
Speaker 3: you know, keep it over there, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: But I understand that. And even when you know, we
Speaker 3: talk about social media people like I always we got
Speaker 3: this thing where we always judging the person that's being
Speaker 3: talked about. But a lot of times I'm judging the
Speaker 3: person who's talking.
Speaker 4: It says a lot about you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I'm trying to figure out why you why
Speaker 3: you're saying that right when you're blurting certain things out,
Speaker 3: you know, sometimes I say insecurity or that's some stuff
Speaker 3: going on with you. So that's why I don't receive
Speaker 3: all that energy, you know, because it's like, you know,
Speaker 3: even like listening to Sebastian right instead of me like
Speaker 3: all on him. Now, I get it, but that ain't
Speaker 3: about me. So you don't even have to name me
Speaker 3: because that ain't really about you, know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: Your journey. You got to figure that out, you.
Speaker 2: Know, with the journey you've been on as a as
Speaker 2: a as a young man, and a player, and and
Speaker 2: and a coach and in management. Can you see now
Speaker 2: when you're in management or coaching outside ship affecting people
Speaker 2: on the court. Can you see it? Can you feel it?
Speaker 3: Oh, it definitely happens. It definitely happens. But so it's crazy.
Speaker 3: I think my super pause was it didn't affect me
Speaker 3: on the court.
Speaker 4: You didn't allow it to affect you affect me.
Speaker 3: Once I got on the court, that was like everything
Speaker 3: is done away and I used to go back, I'll
Speaker 3: get in trouble and my home crowd is boring me,
Speaker 3: like when I come in to the game. But my
Speaker 3: mom was never like I got nervous or shook on that.
Speaker 3: I was always like I'm gonna do something related forget
Speaker 3: about it, you know. So that was I got up
Speaker 3: but I don't know if that was great for me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, compartmentalized ship.
Speaker 3: It can definitely affect you.
Speaker 4: But I'm no.
Speaker 2: But I'm saying as someone older now who's been through it,
Speaker 2: have you had to pull people like younger g leaguers
Speaker 2: or players to the side, like, hey, what's going on
Speaker 2: your good house home house?
Speaker 3: This? Oh no, No, that's definitely definitely absolutely has happened
Speaker 3: a lot, and it definitely affects, especially to young people,
Speaker 3: especially now. So you think about it when we came out,
Speaker 3: like people just talked around the city whatever, you didn't
Speaker 3: hear it? No, you know, every now and then someone
Speaker 3: to confront you and then you say, but you didn't.
Speaker 3: You know, you get a newspaper article too. But now
Speaker 3: when when you're going through stuff, like the whole world
Speaker 3: is on you.
Speaker 2: Com and it's looking for you. You used to have
Speaker 2: to look for it. Now it's looking for you.
Speaker 3: The whole world is on you. Like. That's that's why
Speaker 3: I say the social media is tough because once you
Speaker 3: get involved in it and you put yourself out there
Speaker 3: and you have to take everyone's energy. Like I'm a blocker.
Speaker 3: As soon as I feel something like something, I'm.
Speaker 4: Gonna cut you out first, then blocking.
Speaker 7: I'm gonna bullshit with you a couple of days and
Speaker 7: joke on you and stay about your life a couple
Speaker 7: of days, then.
Speaker 4: Make you feel stupid. They're lucky. I'm gonna spend your
Speaker 4: time with you.
Speaker 8: That's a lot state of.
Speaker 2: The point guard. I feel like the days of true
Speaker 2: point garden. Whether you know, making your team better is
Speaker 2: how you make yourself better. I kind of feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're in a straight scoring point guard mode.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you know there's a handful of
Speaker 2: guys that still you know, throw them passes around cps,
Speaker 2: kind of the last of a dying breede. But what
Speaker 2: are your thoughts on just the point guard and how
Speaker 2: it's like, I don't know if you want to call
Speaker 2: the vault or just may be changed.
Speaker 3: It's changed. It's changed, and I think like Rondo and
Speaker 3: CP were the last of that, but it's just changed.
Speaker 3: The game has changed, right, everybody's shooting three pointers, so
Speaker 3: you have to be you know, you can't, man, I
Speaker 3: don't even know if you can get a look if
Speaker 3: you can't shoot a three.
Speaker 4: So that's not even the point guard.
Speaker 3: That's across the board, across but even as a guard,
Speaker 3: everybody's looking at shooting percent. So that's what's dominating, you know,
Speaker 3: the kyries and steps.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, even Joel Morant to me is a PG,
Speaker 3: but he's still scored. You know. But the game changes,
Speaker 3: like it'll circle back, Like I even think like eventually.
Speaker 4: The big will come back.
Speaker 3: I think. You know, this game evolved.
Speaker 4: And it's the copycat league.
Speaker 2: So if Denver wins a couple of championships, you got
Speaker 2: to find someone that with the big front line.
Speaker 4: Now you got to go back to the big front lines.
Speaker 3: And I missed the days of where different teams did
Speaker 3: different things. Yeah, you know, now everything.
Speaker 1: Is just.
Speaker 2: And your sleep is what it is. You got a
Speaker 2: chance to play against Mike uh plague a little bit
Speaker 2: in his code. You know, obviously Lebron is having his run.
Speaker 2: How do you look at asking to rank? But how
Speaker 2: do you look at when you think greatest player to
Speaker 2: ever do it?
Speaker 4: Like? What comes to mind for you?
Speaker 3: Uh? I guess domination right?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 3: And when you talk about those three, you know I
Speaker 3: don't in my opinion, you know, Mike is the most dominant,
Speaker 3: you know. Uh, six championships set out two years could.
Speaker 4: Have been eight.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, to be able to to
Speaker 3: win three then sit out and more. Then I don't
Speaker 3: think people understand this, And I don't know if this
Speaker 3: is like a good thing. But like I listen to
Speaker 3: people talk about Mike sometimes and it kind of I
Speaker 3: don't know, it makes me uncomfortable the way they talk
Speaker 3: about it, right, because I almost feel like people were
Speaker 3: scared of Mike, right, I know, like like but and
Speaker 3: I'm not saying that, I don't want this to come
Speaker 3: off the wrong way. I'm kind of probably giving them
Speaker 3: credit for that, right, you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 3: he was able to put fear in people. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, Like that that's a lot right.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know Kobe and Lebron obviously people know who they
Speaker 3: are and respect them and everything. But like the way
Speaker 3: people talk about Mike, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 3: to me, to me, that says a lot like coming
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. Yeah, but you know Kobe's greatness,
Speaker 3: you know, he was he was a reflection of He's
Speaker 3: a mirror of MJ. You know. And then Lebron you
Speaker 3: have to give him something different because he was different.
Speaker 3: He became a combination of Jordan's and Kobe and magic.
Speaker 3: Uh and then his size athleticism, So like, I don't know,
Speaker 3: you have to like there's so many different characteristics. That's
Speaker 3: why whoever you feel is is But like I look
Speaker 3: at MJ, and I just look at the domination and
Speaker 3: because I was in his eraror I know the impact
Speaker 3: he made, chills he gave people, which is crazy, but uh,
Speaker 3: you know, but like if you say Lebron is Lebron's
Speaker 3: had the best career if you just go numbers wise.
Speaker 7: I say that all the time joined the better player,
Speaker 7: Lebron had a better career if you.
Speaker 3: Go numbers wise, it's ridiculous. So you know, and then
Speaker 3: you got that little dude, Stephs. I mean it's like
Speaker 3: he builds the case every year and he revolutionized changed
Speaker 3: the game. Like that's when you change the game. That's
Speaker 3: why is a mirror of MJ. So I always go
Speaker 3: to MJ, you know. And then Lebron is a different being.
Speaker 3: MJ is a different being and Steph is a different
Speaker 3: like they are different. They changed, They changed.
Speaker 4: Things, definite. AI did the same thing basically for the game.
Speaker 3: A little different, though AI a little different. AI changed
Speaker 3: the AI changed the culture. And obviously he was a
Speaker 3: great player. But I think Steph na is different because
Speaker 3: Steph now has young people shooting three pointers now in
Speaker 3: the fourth grade, and he's changed the game to what
Speaker 3: it is now. That's different in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's crazy from a standpoint, Like when
Speaker 2: I work my boys out, we start in the paint,
Speaker 2: get your touch, get you feel. That's so we all
Speaker 2: used to start. But now kids are starting, they put
Speaker 2: their shoes on and start shooting shots from half court
Speaker 2: like this, Like Steph really changed just the outlook of
Speaker 2: basketball and house play.
Speaker 3: And and and just want to like magic change, Like
Speaker 3: you gotta give these guys different the game change. That's
Speaker 3: why I think Magic should be in this conversation. Definitely, definitely,
Speaker 3: no one ever saw nine point guard. You know, that's
Speaker 3: just never happened.
Speaker 2: Lakers in my top five, so do I let's talk
Speaker 2: about our top five.
Speaker 4: So it was I, who's your top five?
Speaker 7: I go first, Okay, Jordan, Kobe Brawn, Shack, Tim Duncan,
Speaker 7: m M excuse me, magic, Tim Duncan.
Speaker 4: So no shot you got by b.
Speaker 3: I have m J Magic Bird, m J Magic Bird, Lebron.
Speaker 3: Then if I got to put a big I'm going
Speaker 3: king can't go wrong with respect to Jabal, But I
Speaker 3: like always like to talk in terms of like what
Speaker 3: I really witnessed.
Speaker 4: You know, mm hmm. That's why I picked him, because
Speaker 4: I said, first.
Speaker 2: Hand, mine is what m J. And then you can
Speaker 2: put two or three whoever you want, cole Bron, magic
Speaker 2: and shot. So I got four lakers of mine too,
Speaker 2: So we got the same one besides Tim and Shack. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I ain't mad at that man, Quick hitters. We appreciate
Speaker 2: your time today. First thing to come to mind, let
Speaker 2: us know one piece of advice you would give young hoopers.
Speaker 3: Study the game. Understand the game. I know that the
Speaker 3: game is over sooner than you think. Take full advantage
Speaker 3: of the opportunities. Be graceful, Be humble. You know, I
Speaker 3: call it kind of cocky humble, but you gotta believe
Speaker 3: in yourself. But you also got to be humble enough
Speaker 3: to take information.
Speaker 4: Got to play the game.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you had a childhood crush Pam Grid.
Speaker 4: She believe.
Speaker 3: Damn Pam Pam Grid.
Speaker 4: Top three ball handlers of all time in your opinion.
Speaker 3: Just off the top, because that's something I gotta really
Speaker 3: think about. But I'm gonna say Kyrie, I gotta say Isaiah,
Speaker 3: and I'm gonna put Jamal Crawford.
Speaker 7: Oh I thought I thought you about saying the other
Speaker 7: Jamal because he and my time. Oh well, I've seen
Speaker 7: him do some stuff in game. One thing you wish
Speaker 7: you were better at.
Speaker 3: That's a tough. One thing I wish I was better at.
Speaker 3: I'm stumped.
Speaker 2: Ask you that one thing I was didn't think. One
Speaker 2: thing I wish I was better at is expressing my feelings.
Speaker 4: That's counseling, right there, y'all.
Speaker 2: Counseling. That's counseling. Communication, expressing my feeling communication.
Speaker 3: Oh no, that's a tough one.
Speaker 7: Helping people understand me, helping people understand you. I got
Speaker 7: to get better at helping people understand me. If that
Speaker 7: makes sense. It doesn't, but I hear you that makes
Speaker 7: sense because I'm so much understood understood.
Speaker 4: That's why I said, because knew what it makes sense.
Speaker 4: That was my disclaimer. One album of song to play.
Speaker 3: Over your career highlights anything jay z anything hole anything,
Speaker 3: jay z h. I did it my way? What's that?
Speaker 4: I did my.
Speaker 2: Best food in New York or best like a duck
Speaker 2: off spot?
Speaker 3: Right now, I'll just say Brooklyn chop house.
Speaker 4: What's that? What kind of food is that?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 3: Stay yeah, fire, Yeah it's downtown and then well they
Speaker 3: both downtown.
Speaker 4: One is lower, but put on the production card to
Speaker 4: try that out.
Speaker 7: One guess you can see on all the smoke who
Speaker 7: would it be? But you have to help us get
Speaker 7: your answer on the shop. So basically it's got to
Speaker 7: be answer this questions. Motherfuckers ain't been feeling the the void.
Speaker 3: But that's what I'm about to tell you. I have
Speaker 3: a hard time. I don't mess with.
Speaker 4: Them up nobody. This question might not apply to.
Speaker 3: Me hard but somebody I'd like to see on christ
Speaker 3: chiin christ.
Speaker 2: It's a good Callack, No, that's she raised all of
Speaker 2: us straight up.
Speaker 3: No, that's a super calls.
Speaker 2: She probably love it to Yeah, Chris, I think she
Speaker 2: does so much and she just knows if you know, you.
Speaker 4: Know, yeah, like that little lady.
Speaker 7: She's everywhere, but like the heart of the guys, like
Speaker 7: I said, the heart of the NBA. If you ask
Speaker 7: any one of us about Christian Chan, we all light up,
Speaker 7: we all speak hoighy about it.
Speaker 2: She's like she's like everybody's mom. Yes, period. Well, Rob Man,
Speaker 2: we appreciate your time again. Always been a big fan
Speaker 2: and getting a chance to kind of peel back some
Speaker 2: layers was dope.
Speaker 4: Man, So thank you for your time. Good luck the
Speaker 4: rest of the season. Man.
Speaker 2: Definitely, that's a wrap All the Smoke. You can catch
Speaker 2: us on All the Smoke production YouTube. Is that where
Speaker 2: we're at now.
Speaker 4: Our own ship?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll catch you out next week, man,