Speaker 1: This is the Wells Cast with Wells, Adams and I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio Podcast. What everybody are we doing out there?
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Weld Cast. Hello about this show is
Speaker 1: it's kind of all over the board, right, it's picking shoes.
Speaker 1: What you're into, what you're not like. Listen. If you're
Speaker 1: a fan of reality TV shows, We've got a plenty
Speaker 1: of reality TV guests. I mean, we just had Vinnion
Speaker 1: last week. Of course, the whole thing started with the Dean,
Speaker 1: Jared and Derek from The Bachelor on the show. So
Speaker 1: if that's what you're into, we got you. If you're
Speaker 1: into musicians, we got Allen Black, we got Chuck Wicks,
Speaker 1: we got Hunter Hayes, we got Macy Gray, we got
Speaker 1: Tyler Rich, we got you. If you're into actors, and
Speaker 1: we got Brian Bumgarder from the Office, we got James Maslow,
Speaker 1: Emily Hampshire from Ship's Creek, Scott Eastwood from Well you Know.
Speaker 1: If you're in the comics, Jack Tone from Glow, Phil
Speaker 1: Rosen thought All from Everybody Loves Raymond and Swell host
Speaker 1: of Somebody Feed, Phil Dave Koyer from Full House, Joe Coy,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest comics out there. And if you're
Speaker 1: into athletes, all right, we got you Victor Oladipo. Why
Speaker 1: not Psha Jennings. Okay? Then also today's guest, does he
Speaker 1: have a championship ring? Yeah? He does. Was he drafted
Speaker 1: in the first round sixteenth plus Chicago Bulls back? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Did you play for the Pacers, the Kings, the Rockets,
Speaker 1: the Knicks and then eventually the team that won the
Speaker 1: championship the Lakers? Yeah he did. Was he on Dancing
Speaker 1: with the Stars. Is he known as one of the
Speaker 1: greatest defenders of all time? Yeah? Did he win Defensive
Speaker 1: Player of the Year back in two thousand four? Okay? Yes?
Speaker 1: Was he named an NBA All Star and earned all
Speaker 1: NBA honors? You know he did? Is he controversial? Was
Speaker 1: he a part of the Malice at the Palace? Yeah
Speaker 1: he was. He's done it all. Very excited for this
Speaker 1: episode because today in the Wells Cast we have meadow
Speaker 1: World Peace or run our test. I guess if you
Speaker 1: have been key paping up with his name change? Stick around, guys,
Speaker 1: This one is uh good one, all right, back in
Speaker 1: the Wells Cast. Uh A little starstruck right now? This
Speaker 1: is kind of crazy, but we've got the man, the myth,
Speaker 1: the legend, champion metal world piece on the show. How
Speaker 1: are you man? Yeah, everything is great. Anything having to
Speaker 1: your show, Yeah, man, I've been a fan of yours
Speaker 1: for a very long time, followed your career around. Sad
Speaker 1: to see that you're not in the league anymore, but
Speaker 1: I guess that's just kind of what happens. We're all
Speaker 1: getting older, unless you're Tom Brady. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm only um, so I think I could have still
Speaker 1: been playing when you're getting older. It just depends on
Speaker 1: the opportunity. And tom Brady's taking advantage of you know,
Speaker 1: being on the big stage, um, having access to the
Speaker 1: you know, some of the best um wellness, health and
Speaker 1: wellness and really, um not take it for granted him.
Speaker 1: Only guys like Lebron James and mis Carta, they're not
Speaker 1: taking it for granted. I read something somewhere that Tom
Speaker 1: Brady has never had coffee, like doesn't eat any sugar,
Speaker 1: And I get it, and that makes sense as to why,
Speaker 1: like he can keep on going the way he does.
Speaker 1: But do you think that's worth it? Like? Is that
Speaker 1: a life to live? I think so? I mean, because
Speaker 1: you gotta pick something, right, I mean you can choose
Speaker 1: a good burger or you can choose a good NFL career,
Speaker 1: you know, and either one is good. Right. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you saw, but Tom Brady, I think finally
Speaker 1: like let loose a little bit recently and was celebrating
Speaker 1: his win. And I gotta be honest with you, like,
Speaker 1: I think it's easy to hate someone that good. You know,
Speaker 1: it was such like a squeaky clean image and him
Speaker 1: looking like he was a bit turned up on a boat.
Speaker 1: I think was the most relatable thing I've ever seen
Speaker 1: of Tom Brady. And I loved it. I thought it
Speaker 1: was great. I've seen a little clip of it and
Speaker 1: I just thought it was great. I mean, we just
Speaker 1: enjoy yourself and I mean, what a what a great time, right,
Speaker 1: what a great time to beat? To be Tom Brady,
Speaker 1: you've won a championship. Would you ever throw the trophy
Speaker 1: from one boat to another? Well, I think it's like
Speaker 1: you do things and you know, spontaneous, right, I probably
Speaker 1: would have. Who knows, Right, You're in the water and
Speaker 1: you want to see like if your teammates can catch it,
Speaker 1: and you obviously have confidence in yourself, you you're definitely
Speaker 1: not gonna drop the football, right, he never has, so
Speaker 1: if anybody's gonna throw football is gonna be time. I
Speaker 1: was reading up on you and I saw that you've
Speaker 1: got kind of a new cool sports app. Tell everyone
Speaker 1: about X verse X. Yeah, versus X sports is a
Speaker 1: way for basketball enthusiastic connect um. If you have any
Speaker 1: gyms and basketball gyms out there, definitely signed up to
Speaker 1: the app. Adget gym. A lot of people think right now,
Speaker 1: because it's Covid, you can't really play basketball, But on
Speaker 1: our app is okay. You can actually market your gym,
Speaker 1: and then when covid opens back up, you canna inflect
Speaker 1: the traffic for basketball players. You can be a recreational
Speaker 1: basketball player or you could be an elite basketball player,
Speaker 1: male or female. Sign up to the app, create your
Speaker 1: own games, invite users in fight friends, and then you
Speaker 1: get a chance to crack the leaderboard and actually see
Speaker 1: if you're the best in your area. What happens if
Speaker 1: you're the best in the area. Well, if you're the
Speaker 1: best in your area is bragging rights. You also get
Speaker 1: a chance to get invited to some of the best games,
Speaker 1: so you can continue to build your record up in
Speaker 1: your area. But it's also showcase games, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people think Showcase Games is only elite basketball players,
Speaker 1: but that's not true. We also have recreation, Showcase games,
Speaker 1: co ed Showcase games, Female Showcase uh, semipro games, pro games,
Speaker 1: m college intramurals, all sorts of levels that fits your needs.
Speaker 1: Are you playing in any of these pickup games? I do?
Speaker 1: I do? I play sometimes. I played a lot early,
Speaker 1: but being a startup basketball tech company, I had to
Speaker 1: take a long break from playing because we're not hiring
Speaker 1: tons of people is being a well startups, So I
Speaker 1: had to take on product manager role and project manager
Speaker 1: role on all sites of all types of other roles.
Speaker 1: So I wasn't able to play for like the last
Speaker 1: few months. You know that copperfeit commercial or like a
Speaker 1: pick up football game and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: Brett Farven Jerry Rice show up and they're like they
Speaker 1: stacked the deck. I can only imagine that's what happens
Speaker 1: if you show up to a pickup game. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I try to be fair, you know, and I try
Speaker 1: to you know, be easy and play according to the
Speaker 1: to the skill level out there, but sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: people want me to do more and do more. I
Speaker 1: can't dunk anymore like I used to, but I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get back, so hopefully in the year I'll be
Speaker 1: dunking the game. So can anyone do this or is
Speaker 1: it just for really good basketball players and just for guys?
Speaker 1: Like how does this work? Is for anyone? Co Ed games?
Speaker 1: When you create a game you want, you can invite
Speaker 1: uh females to coed game if you're a male. If
Speaker 1: you're a female, you can do all women games or
Speaker 1: co ed games five on five. If you want indoor outdoor,
Speaker 1: you just follow the steps. Is really easy invite players.
Speaker 1: And the main thing is got you start the game
Speaker 1: and complete the game. That's the main thing is if
Speaker 1: you want to crack the lead aboard. If you don't
Speaker 1: complete the game, it's only gonna show the game that
Speaker 1: you played. You want to show the game at you
Speaker 1: want also and reds and then how do you denote
Speaker 1: like your skill level. It's all community based, so when
Speaker 1: people go to your profile, is important to post a picture.
Speaker 1: Some people just build a profile and you just want
Speaker 1: to play, post a picture of yourself and then also
Speaker 1: posted video of you playing basketball. And then whoever's making
Speaker 1: up a game, they're gonna go to your profile and
Speaker 1: they're gonna look at you and you can do the
Speaker 1: same thing, so you don't know the exact type of
Speaker 1: players you're playing with. It's pretty smart. I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're a golf enthusiast, but I am,
Speaker 1: and I feel like golf has done this for a
Speaker 1: long time. You create a handicap and people can see
Speaker 1: what your handicap is. It kind of makes it available
Speaker 1: for everyone to be able to play the sport. And
Speaker 1: I think it's a super smart idea for you to
Speaker 1: get on board with this. And there's a park right
Speaker 1: on the street from us in the Studio city, and
Speaker 1: it's always these pickup games and it always seems very
Speaker 1: very unorganized, and there's you know, there's always like one
Speaker 1: fat guy who probably shouldn't be there, and then there's
Speaker 1: like young kids who are just balling out. And so
Speaker 1: this is a smart idea. Everyone needs to go download this,
Speaker 1: especially you're a basketball fan. Apple Store, Google Play and
Speaker 1: it's called X versus X, right, so it's X vs
Speaker 1: X sports. Yes, absolutely. I remember when I first started
Speaker 1: um doing the beta, so I was about three d
Speaker 1: seven pounds. Is like working all the way from to
Speaker 1: fifty when I played into my prime, I got all
Speaker 1: the way down to to seventy just about playing basketball
Speaker 1: right and and building friendships and joining our community. So
Speaker 1: the app is bigger than just you know, getting on
Speaker 1: the leaderboard and also it's very healthy for you and
Speaker 1: it's also helping you build relationships. Did you come up
Speaker 1: with this? Is this like your thing or did they
Speaker 1: bring you on board and knowing they needed you know,
Speaker 1: kind of some basketball star power. Well, just being uh,
Speaker 1: just being inspired by a lot of other tech companies
Speaker 1: and things that's going on. Yes, this is my idea.
Speaker 1: I'm a founder, but I did have a lot of help. Um.
Speaker 1: I did have a lot of help thinking through the
Speaker 1: process on how to build a basketball you know, real
Speaker 1: basketball tech company. Um. And right now we're still in
Speaker 1: the start up phase and I see a lot of
Speaker 1: companies out there trying to do the same thing. They're
Speaker 1: doing a great job. So shout out to everyone in
Speaker 1: the space. But I'm having a really good time. If
Speaker 1: people want to find out more about x verse x
Speaker 1: sports app, where they go, they can go to x
Speaker 1: verse x sports dot com so that's x vs X
Speaker 1: sports dot com. You can also follow us on all
Speaker 1: social media at X versus X Sports, you can direct message,
Speaker 1: So if you want to play in the game and
Speaker 1: you don't really feel comfortable with who you're you're seeing
Speaker 1: or playing with, you can direct message the game host um.
Speaker 1: Each game has its own group chat so you can say, Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have fifty, I'm gonna win, or what's the address?
Speaker 1: How do I get there? So each game has its
Speaker 1: own group chat um. And then you also have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to post on the feed, so each profile has
Speaker 1: a feed. This is a really uh you know, cutt
Speaker 1: and edge, you know, modern innovative social media social component
Speaker 1: basketball enthusiast applications, So please please have fun when you
Speaker 1: download it, free to sign up, and so many great
Speaker 1: things that a lot of celebrities on their professor is
Speaker 1: on their formula, YouTube subscribers, Bone collectors on their um
Speaker 1: seven and some change. He was in the movie with
Speaker 1: Semi pro Will Farrell or seven ft He's in He's
Speaker 1: on there. Chris Staples everybody hates Chris is on there.
Speaker 1: Jim Bandy's on there. A lot of influences on there.
Speaker 1: Actually reach out to the influences because they love to
Speaker 1: play basketball and actually invite mama, do Mama do with
Speaker 1: seven seven? He loves to play basketball. The next thing
Speaker 1: you gotta do is you gotta somehow link it to
Speaker 1: Venmo so they can have money games then have an
Speaker 1: easy way to pay out. Well, if you go on
Speaker 1: the app right now, you'd be surprised if you'll see
Speaker 1: something you just said there some things already you gotta Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't stop people from betting X versus X sports app.
Speaker 1: You can download it now at the Apple Store, Google Play,
Speaker 1: follow them and then X versus X sports dot com
Speaker 1: Is that right? That's right? And challenge me if you
Speaker 1: want all right? This is a great idea. Man, I'm
Speaker 1: super impressed. And anyone who's a basketball enthusiast and or
Speaker 1: just wants to get out there and play and get better,
Speaker 1: they need to download this app. Very very cool. I
Speaker 1: don't know if anyone told you what this show is
Speaker 1: all about, but I'm all about origin stories. I find
Speaker 1: it fascinating to see how people who are extremely successful
Speaker 1: got to where they are. If you've got a couple
Speaker 1: of minutes, I'd like to uh to go back and
Speaker 1: find out where Metal World Peace came from and how
Speaker 1: the hell you got here? All right, quick, bright, we
Speaker 1: come back. Metal World Peace here on the Weals Cast. Alright,
Speaker 1: We're back on the Weals Cast. So excited to have
Speaker 1: metal World Peace on the show. I've been a big
Speaker 1: fan of yours for a long time, so long I
Speaker 1: remember when you went by completely different name. Now, even
Speaker 1: though you can't see metal World Peace playing in the
Speaker 1: association today, you can possibly play against him on a
Speaker 1: court near you with his new app X versus x
Speaker 1: Sports you downloaded at the Apple Store and Google Play,
Speaker 1: and basically it's a marketplace for everyone out there who
Speaker 1: loves to play basketball pickup games to connect and go
Speaker 1: out and play, which I think is super smart. And
Speaker 1: kudos to you for kind of pivoting over from being
Speaker 1: a jock to the tech world. It's probably not a
Speaker 1: super easy thing to do. Yeah, I bet man, you
Speaker 1: know you're not a Silicon Valley nerd. I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: hard to convince a bunch of those guys to figure
Speaker 1: this out, but you did it, so congratulations. I want
Speaker 1: to figure out how the hell you got here, so
Speaker 1: let's go back to the beginning. Where are you from? Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I'm from Long Island City, Queensbridge. I was born in Queens,
Speaker 1: New York City, and I was actually born in a
Speaker 1: New York City hospital. Did you come from a big family?
Speaker 1: Your big family? Ten siblings and we have fortys and
Speaker 1: nephews and uh yeah, really big family. Jesus Okay, So
Speaker 1: where do you fall in the birth order? I'm right
Speaker 1: in the middle. Um. I got three older sisters, one
Speaker 1: older brother, and then one to three younger sisters and
Speaker 1: three younger brothers. He got a count bro Was the
Speaker 1: family a big athletic family? Well, my dad was. My
Speaker 1: dad was a boxing and the ball is a He
Speaker 1: spent most of his time, you know, trying to pursue boxing,
Speaker 1: but a lot of time playing basketball. And he had
Speaker 1: a good right hand. I don't think he had a
Speaker 1: great job, That's what he says. He also he also
Speaker 1: was a strong right driver. He he didn't have much
Speaker 1: of a left hand or he could really shoot. Were
Speaker 1: you all playing basketball like growing up? Yeah? Definitely. I
Speaker 1: started at eight years old. I started taking a serious
Speaker 1: at about ten, but I started at eight. You know
Speaker 1: playing basketball. Is anyone else in your family fantastic basketball
Speaker 1: player as well? Well? Daniel Test is a fantastic basketball player.
Speaker 1: He almost went pro. Um, I thought he was better
Speaker 1: than me at one point. Um, you know, but things
Speaker 1: got to fall into place and then my two sons
Speaker 1: played basketball, Gronau Tests and Ronald Tests. You're growing up
Speaker 1: in Queen's Bridge, New York. You are one of you say,
Speaker 1: eleven kids. Okay, how did it start? Was your dad like,
Speaker 1: We're gonna go play some basketball? Is this is how
Speaker 1: like the whole pickup thing started with you. It started
Speaker 1: about just going outside, so doing to Queen's Bridge. You know,
Speaker 1: a nazis from mom d Roxton Shyn said mc ship.
Speaker 1: All the great amazing rappers are from from this one neighborhood.
Speaker 1: So it started out by like just going outside. And
Speaker 1: then when you go outside, you see people playing basketball,
Speaker 1: you're playing tag, you're playing on the monkey bars, doing
Speaker 1: different things like that. Then when you see the courts,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to make it on the court, especially
Speaker 1: back in nineteen or eighty nine when everyone was outside playing,
Speaker 1: no social media. So you know, when you're trying to
Speaker 1: make it on the court, you just want to have
Speaker 1: a good time, and you take that first shot and
Speaker 1: you dribble the ball and you realize, I'm really bad
Speaker 1: at it. I can't even put the ball through my
Speaker 1: legs and then you start lane. But my dad wanted
Speaker 1: me to continue to play because he thought it was
Speaker 1: a really good outlet for me. So I just kept playing.
Speaker 1: And when I was about eleven and twelve, I was
Speaker 1: actually able to stop playing with the men a little bit.
Speaker 1: I was able to stop fitting in. How tall are
Speaker 1: you at eleven or twelve? Eleven or twelve? I think
Speaker 1: I was about five eleven maybe, maybe about five five
Speaker 1: eleven maybe twelve years old? Probably six ft maybe? And
Speaker 1: how tall are you now? Five and a half? Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're twelve years old playing with grown ass men
Speaker 1: um in New York? How long until you realized I
Speaker 1: should probably focus on this because I'm really good? You
Speaker 1: know what. It wasn't that because I was really good.
Speaker 1: It was just it was fun. You know when you're
Speaker 1: a kid, just find something that you love and you
Speaker 1: just do it. You know, like girls want to do
Speaker 1: dance team, they want to do drill, they want to Chile.
Speaker 1: Guys wanna you know, you maybe play video games or
Speaker 1: you know some guys want to you know, play tennis
Speaker 1: out at early It's just just like what do you love? Right?
Speaker 1: And it was more about just every day, getting better
Speaker 1: shots is going in now. Oh now I can put
Speaker 1: it through my legs. Oh now, I'm a basketball player
Speaker 1: on the basketball court. I'm one of the best on
Speaker 1: this court at my age. And that type of stuff
Speaker 1: is exciting. So you just keep getting better. You just
Speaker 1: keep getting better. And you don't know one day you're
Speaker 1: gonna play against somebody from Ohio, somebody from Germany, right,
Speaker 1: somebody from Brooklyn. You don't you're not even thinking about that.
Speaker 1: You're thinking about your one little area. And then when
Speaker 1: you start to leave your area, it's like, wow, other
Speaker 1: people are really good, just like me. So imagine you
Speaker 1: know when I keep going it so now it's like
Speaker 1: at that point, it's like, okay, I gotta keep getting better.
Speaker 1: So about the age of twelve thirteen, I just kept working,
Speaker 1: kept working. About the age of about the age of fifteen,
Speaker 1: I said, oh, woll I might have a chance to go.
Speaker 1: I just kept working, kept working. Okay, So when you're
Speaker 1: like twelve or thirteen, are you getting recruited by basketball
Speaker 1: camps and boys leagues? How does that work? I felt
Speaker 1: with their team definitely, local teams, local leagues, the best
Speaker 1: basketball camp amps, and you know, and getting invited everywhere
Speaker 1: about that age. Yeah, do you remember some breakout stars
Speaker 1: from back then? But like so from my era was
Speaker 1: I'm forty one and Lebron's thirty six. That's a different
Speaker 1: eraors what he's thirty seven or something. So then IRA
Speaker 1: was like lamar hold him um, oldest step from Marlbury,
Speaker 1: oldest skip to my lotule ray for Austin, the oldest
Speaker 1: sham guard wells um. Then you had I ran across
Speaker 1: passed with Kobe Bryant and Providence Richard Hamilton was on
Speaker 1: that team, I think also, and then I um in
Speaker 1: the Ohio A Nike camp Baron Davis played against Baron
Speaker 1: Davis and the Colline Twins Shake Cotton um. And then
Speaker 1: I played with Elton Brown Lama old him and Eric
Speaker 1: Barkley home in New York City. And then Tracy McGrady
Speaker 1: actually was in our class, but I never played against
Speaker 1: Tracy in high school. I never never seen Tracy in
Speaker 1: high school with the same exact age, same exact class.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, I don't know how we never
Speaker 1: played against each other. Looking back, when you were at
Speaker 1: those A A U camps or whatnot, who did you
Speaker 1: think was going to be like the next Michael Jordan's. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, there's a lot of guys is um. There's
Speaker 1: a guy named Jaren Rush who we don't we probably
Speaker 1: don't know, but his brothers played in the NBA, Kareem
Speaker 1: Rush and Brandon Rush, and a lot of people don't
Speaker 1: know their brother. I thought their brother was the best
Speaker 1: at all the Russias, but they had way along the Koreans.
Speaker 1: He didn't even make it to the NBA, but he
Speaker 1: was really talented. Then you had guys like um Tavares
Speaker 1: Bell from Queens, New York City, who get half. He
Speaker 1: used to get his shoulders over the rim high school.
Speaker 1: It was insane. A couple of guys I didn't making
Speaker 1: like uh like Buggas Smith from Brooklyn, talented player. You know,
Speaker 1: you have Charles Jones who went to Chicago Bulls one year.
Speaker 1: So many, so much great talent that you know, didn't
Speaker 1: quite make it to the NBA, but amazing basketball was.
Speaker 1: So you're playing at like a a U ball. You
Speaker 1: go to let Sal Academy, right were you recruited to
Speaker 1: go play ball there? Losal Academy. So I was actually
Speaker 1: gonna go to mcclancy High School, which was in Queens
Speaker 1: and I played for a guy named Artic Cox who
Speaker 1: was at UM. He was at mcclancy and so when
Speaker 1: he left the clancy in Queens and then I went
Speaker 1: to Then I went to Losal. I was recruited to
Speaker 1: go to Losal Academy, but I was almost at mcclancy.
Speaker 1: And initially UM, I was gonna go to a I
Speaker 1: wanted to go to a public school called Long Island
Speaker 1: City Public School. And the reason was because we had
Speaker 1: so much great talent. It was me Reggie Jesse. Reggie
Speaker 1: Jesse was from my neighborhood. UM went to St. John.
Speaker 1: We went to St John's together same year. And then
Speaker 1: also Eric Chaffield, Eric Chaftfield, I went to high school
Speaker 1: with Eric Chatfield from my neighborhood. We went twenty seven
Speaker 1: and old senior year in high school won the title.
Speaker 1: And then Eric Chaffield's brother Mike Chaffield was the best
Speaker 1: and but he went to jail at the out about
Speaker 1: sixteen years old. So were waiting for him to come
Speaker 1: out of jail. But he didn't come out of jail,
Speaker 1: so we so I had to say average go to
Speaker 1: another school. If he would have been out of jail,
Speaker 1: I probably would have went to Long Island City High
Speaker 1: School to play with Mike Chaftfield, but he later he
Speaker 1: later died um in a bad a drug transaction that
Speaker 1: went really bad. But but an amazing basketball player. You
Speaker 1: went seven and oh at LaSalle, Were you the best
Speaker 1: player on that team? Um? I was probably the best
Speaker 1: player on the team. I was average. Eric Chatfield was
Speaker 1: averaging twenty two and we have maybe one other player
Speaker 1: that was average, maybe eighteen or fifteen. Well, yeah, I
Speaker 1: was probably the best player on that team. And then
Speaker 1: me and Elton Brown we got a player of the year.
Speaker 1: We shared a player of the Year in New York City.
Speaker 1: Take me back to your high school kid, Like when
Speaker 1: I was in high school, was an idiot, But I
Speaker 1: wasn't this completely dominant sports figure where people were telling me, Hey, listen,
Speaker 1: you've got a future in this. You can go you
Speaker 1: can get a free college degree with this, you can
Speaker 1: probably play in the league. It's gotta be hard to
Speaker 1: keep your nose clean knowing all that, Were you cognizant
Speaker 1: of what your future could be and making smart decisions then,
Speaker 1: or you still like everyone else in high school, being
Speaker 1: kind of a diption. I was mostly focused on the court.
Speaker 1: But I wasn't really worried about like not making those days.
Speaker 1: But I was definitely like training hard. All I cared
Speaker 1: about was training hard and just pretty much being true
Speaker 1: to myself. But I was definitely locked there. Now, what
Speaker 1: is your dad saying at this point? You know, he
Speaker 1: was this athlete as well, He's got this kid who's
Speaker 1: a crazy talent on the basketball court. What is what
Speaker 1: are your parents saying at this point? They're like, don't
Speaker 1: screw this up. They didn't really know what's happened. He
Speaker 1: just kept seeing stories in the paper, stories in the paper,
Speaker 1: stories in the paper. Right, But it wasn't nothing where
Speaker 1: they it wasn't trying to say, okay, well I might
Speaker 1: have a son that's going pro. It's time to start
Speaker 1: nurturing him. And they just let me be. I never
Speaker 1: had any issues with my parents over you know, getting
Speaker 1: in my life. Um, you know now that I was,
Speaker 1: you know, taking it to the next level. So you're
Speaker 1: playing with Elton brand lamar Odom and you go twenty
Speaker 1: seven and know is it that your senior year in
Speaker 1: high school? You went to twenty seven and O, yeah,
Speaker 1: senior year. I know, senior in high school. He's twenty
Speaker 1: seven and oh it was one game, and then you
Speaker 1: get recruited to go play at Saint John's. Yes, didn't
Speaker 1: get recruited to go to St. John's. I almost went
Speaker 1: to Miami University. That was actually my first choice, but
Speaker 1: then something happened that day. I got into paper that
Speaker 1: I had lunch. It was really stupid, but I had
Speaker 1: lunch or dinner with a coach and a long time ago.
Speaker 1: They put it out in the paper. And then I
Speaker 1: was scared to go to Miami because I didn't want
Speaker 1: to sit out for a year. So then I went
Speaker 1: to St. John's. So you go to St. John's, what
Speaker 1: are you majoring in? Well, when I was on my
Speaker 1: college visits, visited North of Dame or Miami University, and
Speaker 1: those two schools because they had the best architect program.
Speaker 1: I only wanted to visit was with architect programs. But St.
Speaker 1: John's being in New York City, I mean, they didn't
Speaker 1: have an architect program, but there was things you could
Speaker 1: have done. And then I visited Miami of Ohio because
Speaker 1: there was a guy from my neighborhood that was coaching
Speaker 1: in Miami, Ohio, and Wally Zerbiak was at Miami Gohier
Speaker 1: and I love Wali Zerbiak, and then um Providence was
Speaker 1: because sham Guard Wills was that Providence, so and I
Speaker 1: played with Shamgard Willis in high school, so I almost
Speaker 1: wanted to go play with sham Guard Wills that Providence,
Speaker 1: but Sham actually went to the NBA the next year,
Speaker 1: and then um, I pretty much just went to St. John's.
Speaker 1: But my whole goal was to be an architect. That's
Speaker 1: what I really wanted to do. Um, Notre Dame, they really,
Speaker 1: I mean, I just just Notre Dame as a grade school.
Speaker 1: I only visit there once. I played against them, but
Speaker 1: they really were supportive when I was going there, and
Speaker 1: I was telling them how much I want to be
Speaker 1: an architect, even though I'm not the greatest student, but
Speaker 1: I really want to try. And then the same thing
Speaker 1: with Miami. Miami was probably even a little bit better
Speaker 1: from that standpoint because they took me through the program
Speaker 1: and really took it serious. And when I went to St. John's,
Speaker 1: I was telling them I want to be an architect,
Speaker 1: but um, they didn't really have the program, but to St.
Speaker 1: John's credit, they was trying to make it where I
Speaker 1: can eventually pursue architecture, and they definitely tried their best,
Speaker 1: and they set me out with some really amazing classes.
Speaker 1: But it was just so hard, um, you know, gating
Speaker 1: up at five on the cut to practice and then
Speaker 1: focusing on these architect classes. It was like, really really difficult,
Speaker 1: so I had to drop it. How many years were
Speaker 1: you at Saint John's. I was there for two years
Speaker 1: and then what didn't you go straight to the league?
Speaker 1: Saint John Ali two years and went to the NBA.
Speaker 1: I was about nineteen. I was nineteen when I got drafted,
Speaker 1: played my first game at nineteen, but then I turned
Speaker 1: twenty November third team, so it was cool to be
Speaker 1: an NBA. The nineteen as a nineteen were pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Looking back. Do you wish you had stayed in college
Speaker 1: longer or you think that you made the right decision
Speaker 1: to go. I think I made the right decision. It
Speaker 1: was time. I was playing well, uh and I wasn't
Speaker 1: averaging a lot, but I was playing really, really well,
Speaker 1: so I thought it was the right time. You drafted
Speaker 1: sixteen by the Bulls. Who was drafted above you? Elton
Speaker 1: Brand with number one away for three years you know
Speaker 1: in high school amazing then Number two was Stephen Francis.
Speaker 1: Number three was um Baron Baron Davis, Baron Davis. Then
Speaker 1: mar Olden with number four to the Clippers. Number five
Speaker 1: was UM, I think Sean Marrion. I think it was
Speaker 1: Shawn Marry number five, and then number six was it
Speaker 1: could have been Richard Hamilton's UM or Corey mcgetty one
Speaker 1: of those guys. UM. I know Corey was in the
Speaker 1: top ten. While he was in the top ten, and
Speaker 1: then UM, I think William Avery might have been somewhere
Speaker 1: in there. Then you had Trajan Langdon. You have Trajan
Speaker 1: Langdon was in there, and then you had Frederick Weiss
Speaker 1: from Overseas. He was He went to the next fifteen
Speaker 1: and it was couple. It was like two other people
Speaker 1: that went in front of me. I can't remember exactly
Speaker 1: who it was. I was impressed that you even remember
Speaker 1: that many people. But going back, that was a really
Speaker 1: stacked draft class. I mean it was stacked. I thought
Speaker 1: it was a really good class. Um. The only the
Speaker 1: only thing it wasn't a lot of champion from that class,
Speaker 1: but a lot of class x UM and I played
Speaker 1: with a lot of them in my high school and stuff.
Speaker 1: I thought we was a tough class. You know. I
Speaker 1: thought we could deal with anyone. Obviously, you had a
Speaker 1: lot of great classes, like Michael Jordan, Lebron James. But
Speaker 1: you know we had lamar Odom, we have Elton Brand,
Speaker 1: Baron Davis. You know, we got it. It was a
Speaker 1: tough class. Richard Hamilton's I read somewhere that you like
Speaker 1: applied for a job at Circuit City while you were
Speaker 1: playing for the Bulls. Is that true? Yeah, definitely. I
Speaker 1: thought when I was nineteen years old, it was just
Speaker 1: trying to stay out of trouble, you know. So I
Speaker 1: figured I just try to get a job. And I
Speaker 1: was at my friend was working at Circuit City. He
Speaker 1: was saying with us, and I just did I apply
Speaker 1: for my job? And I thought nothing of it. I
Speaker 1: always like, always like, you know, to try to you know, uh,
Speaker 1: stay as normal as possible, you know. So with that
Speaker 1: being said, I felt like working at Service City was
Speaker 1: something that you know, anyone would do. You know, that's
Speaker 1: something somebody would do it. So I didn't feel like
Speaker 1: I was too good to work at Service City. But
Speaker 1: you were in the NBA. Yeah, I was in then there,
Speaker 1: I was in the air. I was gonna be. I
Speaker 1: had nothing to I mean, I mean I was playing
Speaker 1: video games a lot. I was training. I was training
Speaker 1: a lot. Like you know, I'm at the gym a
Speaker 1: hour or two hours after practice, right, and then when
Speaker 1: you get home, it's just like, okay, what do you do? Right?
Speaker 1: I mean at nineteen years old, you don't really know, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let's go and have lunch, let's go have a dinner,
Speaker 1: let's come home. Right. It's not you're not thinking like
Speaker 1: that at nineteen years old, like this is life. Life
Speaker 1: is supposed to be about just me enjoying the relaxed.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, what's next. Something has to be happening.
Speaker 1: Right now it's PM and I'm doing nothing. Yeah, But
Speaker 1: back home, I was like, I'll be outside, right, So
Speaker 1: back home in New York, I'll be outside my friends chilling, talking, talking, talking, talking,
Speaker 1: and then you go then you go upstairs. Right. And
Speaker 1: that was just like eighteen seventeen years old. So I
Speaker 1: had to I had to figure out something to do.
Speaker 1: So were do you? Were you an actual employee at
Speaker 1: Turgus City. Yeah, I filled out everything. I filled out
Speaker 1: that my employement form. I don't know the gentleman, who's
Speaker 1: the general Marriager. But I filled it out, chucked it
Speaker 1: in and I actually worked one day and that once
Speaker 1: people found out I was working, it kind of got
Speaker 1: a little bit that met around tests working at Surguit City.
Speaker 1: It was on the it was on the Chicago Tribune.
Speaker 1: So I just stopped working. Well, did you at least
Speaker 1: get to take advantage of some like employee discounts for
Speaker 1: that one? Yeah, I got some discounts off everything you buy,
Speaker 1: so DVDs, I just wrapped up DVDs. You played for
Speaker 1: a lot of different organizations. I mean you started with
Speaker 1: the Bulls, but like I feel like I know you
Speaker 1: as a pace here, like that's Michael Keaton is my
Speaker 1: batman and like you to me are a pacer. But
Speaker 1: you played for the Kings, You played for the Rockets.
Speaker 1: Obviously you win your championship here in Los Angeles. I
Speaker 1: think the Knicks as well. Where does META identify with
Speaker 1: the most in terms of my best season? What I
Speaker 1: worked for my whole life? Um, just being able to
Speaker 1: play well, I would say, Um, Indiana, the Yeah, I
Speaker 1: got Defensive Player of the Year, Like as an individual,
Speaker 1: that's what I worked for. You as a champion, obviously,
Speaker 1: the Lakers. You know, I worked, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a champion. Also. I wish I could combined it,
Speaker 1: you know, defensive Player of the Year, champion, Allstar, all
Speaker 1: this stuff in one year. But it worked out. It
Speaker 1: was spread it out, and I'm really grateful him. Who
Speaker 1: was the greatest player you ever played with? The greatest
Speaker 1: player I would played with. I would have to be
Speaker 1: between Kobe and Yaming. I think, um, I you see,
Speaker 1: I played Reggie Miller also, but I played with Reggie Miller,
Speaker 1: but he got older. He was still really good actually,
Speaker 1: but obviously he was like eighteen years or sixteen years
Speaker 1: in the NBA. He was still really good. Um, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I played with him. But I think, like Y'allming, Um yeah,
Speaker 1: Ming was so dominant. I never played with someone so
Speaker 1: dominant like that. It was just really it was just
Speaker 1: really it was just crazy to see, like you can't
Speaker 1: stop him, no one, no matter what you do, you
Speaker 1: can't stop him. And he's so skilled and so smooth
Speaker 1: at three hundred and fifty pounds seven six just like unreal.
Speaker 1: You're kind of known as a defensive guy who is
Speaker 1: like the player that you kind of modeled your game after,
Speaker 1: or like looked up to. I would say, um, um,
Speaker 1: Gary Payne, Dennis Robman, Michael Jordan's. Um, those three guys.
Speaker 1: I used to watch them. How did they play defense?
Speaker 1: And then Gary was both ends. Gary can give you
Speaker 1: twenty five and he can shut you down. He wont
Speaker 1: to call Michael Jordan's and then Michael Jordan could give
Speaker 1: you fifty or forty and shut you down. And I
Speaker 1: was just like, this is how you win. And I
Speaker 1: just watched those guys a lot, and I all often
Speaker 1: try to like play like those guys sometimes. And then
Speaker 1: Dennis Robert, his hustle not necessarily has rebounded because when
Speaker 1: I was a sophomore in high school, I did rebound
Speaker 1: like him. When I got older, I stopped rebounding as much.
Speaker 1: I think mainly mainly because I was guarding the criminal
Speaker 1: a lot. So I'm not I'm not down to get
Speaker 1: rebounds a lot. But his hustle, his passion, you know
Speaker 1: it just I just loved him. You're a quirky guy.
Speaker 1: Dennis Robman is known as a quirky guy. Is there
Speaker 1: some sort of correlation between a personality types and being
Speaker 1: a shutdown defensive guy in the NBA? Now, I mean
Speaker 1: not really, I think Dennis Robbin with somebody that I
Speaker 1: just loved, And I mean it all depends on the idol.
Speaker 1: Like Dennis Robbin, in my eyes, was just the greatest person.
Speaker 1: I still is, you know what I'm saying. And I
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily wanted to be like him in certain ways,
Speaker 1: but I did, but I just did things differently. But
Speaker 1: in terms of basketball, somebody that I really adalyzed, you know,
Speaker 1: it was It was definitely definitely him. Of all the
Speaker 1: teams played on, obviously, the Lakers winning a championship was
Speaker 1: probably the pinnacle of your professional career. But was there
Speaker 1: another team that you played on that you thought was
Speaker 1: that that could have and should have one championship that
Speaker 1: didn't well the pace of team that I got to
Speaker 1: spend it, that was a championship team, I believe on
Speaker 1: that Rocket team. When y'all uh the yeah, y'all mean
Speaker 1: broke his foot in Game three, I thought we had
Speaker 1: a chance to win it. I mean we beat them
Speaker 1: game one, um, and yeah, I mean brix his foot
Speaker 1: of changes everything. It went to Game seven and Tracy
Speaker 1: McGrady didn't even play, you know, so and Tracy plays,
Speaker 1: who knows what happens then we I think that was
Speaker 1: another year, the year we got swept by um the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. I mean they beat us game one and
Speaker 1: we was up seven point in the first one minute
Speaker 1: ago in the game. I thought that was our year also,
Speaker 1: but then they beat us a game one, and then
Speaker 1: they beat us a game to the same way. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're up, so then now we're down, oh to going
Speaker 1: to Dallas. I felt like if it was even even
Speaker 1: if we had one game, maybe things could have been different.
Speaker 1: I feel like that team was a really good team.
Speaker 1: I was really surprised we didn't win it that year,
Speaker 1: but Dallas just played so well and we're callout. We're
Speaker 1: callouts is such a great coach. I mean, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to beat with callout, you know, so almost wishing
Speaker 1: we did, almost wish we didn't play Dallas. So earlier.
Speaker 1: You just mentioned your suspension, which obviously is tied to
Speaker 1: the mouth the Palace, that whole fiasco. You've probably talked
Speaker 1: about that ad nauseum, but I don't really need to
Speaker 1: go into it other than the fact that you received
Speaker 1: the largest suspension in NBA history eighties six games, seventy
Speaker 1: three regg season games, thirteen playoff games. Looking back, do
Speaker 1: you think that that was even close to a justified
Speaker 1: number to put you out? I mean, it's look at
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like I didn't want to
Speaker 1: be out that long, and I didn't want that whole
Speaker 1: day to happen, and it happened. I wish it didn't happen,
Speaker 1: you know. I wish I just wish that they would
Speaker 1: never have happened, because I mean, I wanted to play basketball.
Speaker 1: But you know, it happened for a reason. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it just wasn't meant for me to to
Speaker 1: have a great season. It wasn't meant for It was
Speaker 1: just wasn't meant to be. I wish it was meant
Speaker 1: to be. I wish I wish I could have just
Speaker 1: kept planning. I was average in twenty four point five.
Speaker 1: It was like it was the most I ever average
Speaker 1: of my career. And I was hoping I can keep
Speaker 1: it going, you know, and but it just wasn't meant
Speaker 1: to be. I probably wasn't ready for that moment. But
Speaker 1: when you went to Los Angeles, it was meant to be.
Speaker 1: You won a title. Do you still have the ring?
Speaker 1: Do you wear it like how does that work? I
Speaker 1: don't have the ring because I always wanted to wring
Speaker 1: the ring in Indiana, my friends ring. I always wanted
Speaker 1: it to be at Indiana, So that ring out just
Speaker 1: pretty much Ralph it off for charity for mental health
Speaker 1: institutions and different things like that. I'm, you know, just
Speaker 1: being competitive. You know, I work for something I wanted
Speaker 1: and if I don't get it, I'm just not satisfied,
Speaker 1: which a little bit obsessive. Um, but you know, since
Speaker 1: I didn't win it, I felt like it was a
Speaker 1: failure because I always felt like I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the best. And when you work for something and if
Speaker 1: you set goals and you don't reach those goals, like,
Speaker 1: how do you feel? Do you feel okay with that?
Speaker 1: I don't feel okay. I didn't feel okay that I
Speaker 1: didn't get the ring. How I wanted to get the ring.
Speaker 1: Although it's not that wasn't grateful, because I really was.
Speaker 1: It was just another competitive nature in me that kicked
Speaker 1: in that felt like I didn't accomplish what I wanted
Speaker 1: to accomplish. You raffled off your championship ring. How much
Speaker 1: did you get for it? When we raised six hundred
Speaker 1: and sev dollars, you know, and then so six seventy
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars behind an intern from Nashville to find
Speaker 1: about he went through about a thousand UM institutions, uh,
Speaker 1: to see which institutions will be gonna investing, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're gonna donate to. So then we paid the intern
Speaker 1: I think it made it pay him maybe thirty grade
Speaker 1: or something. UM, a couple of some more paperwork, and
Speaker 1: then uh, the actual platform that we used, gave them
Speaker 1: ten percent, and then the rest of the money went
Speaker 1: to UM program in Cleveland. I went to a program
Speaker 1: in Arkansas, New York City, l A. And Indiana. Yeah, Indiana.
Speaker 1: I wish we had more cash to disperse, but you know,
Speaker 1: we just gave all the money away. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: an amazing story. And good for you for being an
Speaker 1: ally too. To mental health in general. That's just a
Speaker 1: lot of money, and I'm sure it did a whole
Speaker 1: lot of good. I'm running out of time with you,
Speaker 1: but before I let you go, I didn't want to
Speaker 1: know did you enjoy doing Dancing with the Stars. I
Speaker 1: enjoyed it, man, I mean I did enjoy I did.
Speaker 1: I did a lot of different things on television and stuff,
Speaker 1: and Dancing Went to Star was one of my favorite.
Speaker 1: It was really different. It was really hard. You got
Speaker 1: a train for five hours. Um, I can't want to
Speaker 1: do the training. So I was the first one off
Speaker 1: the show. But I had a great time. I'm really
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it that they brought me on. I mean,
Speaker 1: other than developing apps and going on reality TV shows
Speaker 1: like Dancing with the Stars and stuff, what's something that
Speaker 1: you haven't done that you want to do? Well? You know,
Speaker 1: right now, I've done everything I want to do in life,
Speaker 1: I think, Um, for the most part, just continue to
Speaker 1: get better at different things. And I'm really enjoying basketball,
Speaker 1: although like it could be frustrated and doing a new
Speaker 1: startup because there's a lot that goes into it, a
Speaker 1: lot of things you want to see to go go right.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, when you get
Speaker 1: on that basketball court, you bring people together and they
Speaker 1: just out there competing. I'm just so lucky that I'm
Speaker 1: able to be in basketball. I'm so grateful, you know,
Speaker 1: And a lot of it has to do with the NBA,
Speaker 1: because you know, I choose to do what I do.
Speaker 1: But I'm so grateful that I'm down this path in basketball,
Speaker 1: like I couldn't have wrote this any better. And everyone
Speaker 1: can be involved in basketball just going through your app
Speaker 1: with the X versus X Sports app you can get
Speaker 1: at the Apple Store or or at Google Play. Before
Speaker 1: I let you go, you got some time for some
Speaker 1: rapid fire questions. Absolutely all right, rapid fire questions of
Speaker 1: metal world piece, favorite pizza topping, chicken, mushrooms onion. Who
Speaker 1: was your first kiss? Uh? My first, the mother of
Speaker 1: my children, first mother of my children. Good for you man.
Speaker 1: What was the first concert you went to? Oh? Eminem
Speaker 1: concert when I was nineteen years old in Chicago. First
Speaker 1: job you ever had, first job packing bags in Queensbridge
Speaker 1: for thirty five dollars a week after. The first car
Speaker 1: you ever owned was suburban of black, suburban n When
Speaker 1: I went to the NBA. Who's the most famous person
Speaker 1: in your cell phone? The most famous person in my
Speaker 1: cell phone? All my context is gone? Was good. I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened, but um for the most famous
Speaker 1: person in my cell phone? Maybe Elton Brandlam allowed him.
Speaker 1: Baron Davis was the first record cassette or c D owned.
Speaker 1: Probably s w V A. Mary J. Blige, one of
Speaker 1: those two favorite super ear o favorite superhero. Oh, Mr Manhattan,
Speaker 1: we're the superstition you have. I don't really have any anymore.
Speaker 1: I used to when I play, but I have none
Speaker 1: no more. I literally don't have any What's one thing
Speaker 1: that's always in your fridge? I try to keep Nato
Speaker 1: beans Japanese beans. Do you believe in soulmates? Yes? I
Speaker 1: did believe in man When you were younger or single,
Speaker 1: did you have a celebrity crush and if so, who
Speaker 1: was it? Now? I think my celebrity crush was. I
Speaker 1: would say it was Brandy, Demi Moore and Halley Berry.
Speaker 1: I always always like watching when I was when I
Speaker 1: was like a young boy, just watching their movies and
Speaker 1: over and over again. And last one, if you could
Speaker 1: go back in time to play at your peak, your prime,
Speaker 1: and you could play anyone, a dead or alive. Who
Speaker 1: would you want to play against in a one on
Speaker 1: one matchup? Probably Nice because he's just so big and strong.
Speaker 1: Metal World Peace. It's an honor to get to talk
Speaker 1: to you. Been a big fan for a very long time.
Speaker 1: Thanks for taking the time. Everyone out there, go down
Speaker 1: the X versus Sex Sports app, Apple play Store, Google Play,
Speaker 1: People want to follow you on social media where they
Speaker 1: need to go experts, exports. Actually that's my social media platform.
Speaker 1: I'm met a world seven. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking the time. Is there anything else you want to
Speaker 1: talk about and promote before I let you go? Thanks
Speaker 1: for having me to your show, Man much success to you,
Speaker 1: just thanks for having me to your show and giving
Speaker 1: me a platform. Thank you. Yeah, buddy, good luck with everything,
Speaker 1: and try to stay sane in this crazy pandemic world
Speaker 1: we've got going on. I know, say here all right,
Speaker 1: see Bude Living