We'll go back all the smoke Pump Galla twenty twenty five and Jack, we gotta go a Texas More Time All Star Hall of Famer, one of the greatest college basketball players of all time, someone who was way before his time as far as his skill set, and Spencer Haywood said, we got to get this man to not be modest and make him talk his shit. So that's what he's going to do today. Man, Welcome to the show. Ralph Samford, h appreciate you, man, thank you for coming in.
Your game at seven four was something that hadn't necessarily been seen, but you didn't really get to utilize it as much as you would have got to use it in today's basketball. But how did with your size and skill set, how did you develop into some called you like a three man in a five body.
You know when you're growing up in six seven in ninth grade, I mean go back, I hated basketball initially.
Oh really, I.
Mean because you only score sixteen points in a game. I had sixteen points in the first quarter.
So it give me this rule. Talking about this.
You know, and you know you play and you're tall, and you know you got your little coordinated and so when I was coming up, that's the way the roots were. So I played baseball and that was a really good pitcher. But as I grew, I through side arm and the ball would do like this, m nasty grow a little bit and gets black. The ball goes and hits the kid in the head. You know, so you got to
go to first base. My mother like, okay, great, catch the ball with my ungloved hand, like you fool, you need to catch with the glove more the left film like it's the most boring and shit ever done. And so I got up of baseball, got the basketball, and then start to develop the game at that point in time, and then could never get the ball. But I had a lot of cousins and people that played in the neighborhood.
We played there every day in the neighborhood, so you know, you know how to get you're young, and you get older, cousins, you can't play now with the big boys and you're playing the last game. The freaking lights go out and you got to go home. So you know, we did all that. So but I played every day. I couldn't.
I didn't know how to swim. You don't just go to pool sit with my aunt.
Most y'all don't I can get out the water.
I ain't getting the ocean. Ocean.
I got able to stand up when I get tired, exactly, I'm not even to play with that. And I don't need to go to the deep end.
I can run in it. It was all good.
But we did all that where we played every day, and then you got in the game. There was no au. There was five star and go to five star. They playing outside the food not good. I'm not gonna do that. I got food and I got a good competition. Well, we would play, play, play, and then when I got in the in the ninth grade, my coach put me on JV to develop it and they moved me up at the end of the year and we went to the state championship. And so with that, I could never
get the ball. So you dribble it, get it, drive it down, turn it over. So he made me in practice every day against the fastest guy there. If I could dribble and practice, I could dribble in the game. That's where it started.
You played in the traditional game.
We're back to the basket centers, but with the game now with stretch fives, and pace and space. Do you think your game would have been more acclimented for this game or today's game or any era?
Probably any? I mean I love the era we played it because you know, if I played.
In the day there, I came out in middle school, and today's era, I came out middle school, I wouldn't have to go to finish high school.
But when you come in and the league was.
Tough, you know, and you had to have the power forward in the center. And so I knew at one hundred and ninety pounds. So coming out high school, college, I need to go to college and get my way, huh. And I did that about my second year. But I wouldn't ready to play artists Gilmore. I wouldn't ready to play you know, the bad boy the boys, you know. I mean one of my good friends, bat Marie Lucas. He taught me a whole lot about the game, and he was a sweet guy, right, but he would play.
We played against the Lakers, he played on the team. He comes to center court, he'd take his freaking elbow and punched me in the chest. I'm like, motherfucker, you know, we want to fight right there? And then we got to really get a camaraderie over the years, and he said, I couldn't catch you, so I better hit you the first because I'm going to catch you anymore. Right, So, but he taught me a lot about that. Artists was my first NBA game. He taught me a lot. Artists
would pick me up. He would pick a kem up, left hand and this moving.
And what he wanted to do. That's crazy, the strongest.
Human effort, like your freaking hand, right. But you know, you learn from those guys, and so we stayed in and you did what you had to do because she wasn't quite ready for that beating.
And you know, it's not like that today.
Obviously a tremendous gift and opportunity being seven four. But what was the worst part about being so tall as a professional athlete.
I mean, it's just the lifestyle you got to figure out right from the Fortunately my mother was counting at a pants factory.
Okay, getting clothes was hard. Shoe size was hard.
Every year you twelve, you got to twelve, you got to fifteen, you got a fifteen. It grew every year until seventeen. Shirts was okay, but pants and shorts, you know, I think an eyeball. Figure it out. And I college high school because made us wear like pole of shirts and we would wear it and he would make thee wear the color that I had to the game, so we would coordinated. It only had like two or three pair of pants, but we had jeans. My mom made sure I had everything I needed. My dad as well.
But you got to adjust to doorways, beds growing up, great uncles. We had a room and had a regular bed, but you couldn't find a mattress.
Okay, so but my uncles.
Came and made the frame longer, but it was a gap in the end. So my feet at least hangover to do different things what I had to do to do creative.
Harrisonburg Va upbringing, DMV talk about your bringing.
It was fun. So in our family had a farm. It's been a hundred years in the family. So going through the farm was good because you could feel the legacy a family. My grandfather was in World War One, uncles were in World War Two and the Vietnam War. Twelve siblings and my mom is one of those twelve. So that was fun. Family reunions and stuff like that. But the neighborhood, you know, and it was the hood, but it was the neighborhood. I had cousins on every corner.
They could play that, we worked together, whatever, and so we created the hood and nobody came. No Caucasian people would come through the hood back then. They were coming to outskirts and they you know, some guys dating a girl and she would come in through the hood. She'd drive a car so fast up the street that she had to get out the hood. Right, So it was just that way. But we protected everybody, and nobody came and messed with it, right, Not big cousins and all that,
for sure. But coming up was fun in Harrisonburg because the family and friends, high school coaches, and we could go anywhere, Charlottesville, Richmond, we could travel. But that was the best time of my life, really growing up because everybody respected everybody, but we competed. Family is still farming now. I'm doing some farming stuff now. We're still farming, but but my uncle is a little older and you can't farm anymore like you used to.
So we kind of rented out.
But I'm doing some farm stuff in the agricultural world, creating the fun and doing some stuff with the General's farming and hydro product farming as well. So we got to do something body of food here.
Yeah, because we're getting shipp from overseas.
We don't know what it is. You got to go to the store. You got whole foods. Okay, great, that's cool. But then you go to a local markets in the hood, I mean where that's coming from.
But whole food there's something about about whole foods with some of their stuff wasn't as whole as they claimed it to be, No, exactly.
Yeah, and they had some I wanted visitors and there. Yeah, they got some rodents in there for sure. Arguably the most heavily recruited college basketball prospect of your generation appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated six times in four years, which is bananas. When did you start getting recruited and was they offering you that bag?
Back then?
It wasn't a bag looking like what the trash bag.
I like that, like the track, I like the trash bag. I like the Chad bag.
I like the chat big bag.
Yes, that's a big bag, Hemp.
But my mom and dad took care of that. So I know a lot more now than I did back then.
Right, So Sports oil Street was cool.
You know, you don't expect to do that, You just it just happens in that era.
How were you not to cut you off? Howard you the first time you're on the cover of Sports Illustrating.
Twenty six times twenty after my freshman year college. Next year, freshman year, we go to n I T. We beat You're in LV with Sid Green and those guys as well. We beat Kept McHale and Randy Bruin, those guys. If I came out that year, the year Red arc Back came to the house with a million dollars in the briefcase, put it on the kitchen table and said, you can play with the Mighty Boats and Celtics if you come to out this year.
Kevin McHale went it, going.
To the Yeah, you would have changed the course of history for them, but it's every year.
Yeah that if it had changed the next year man Isaiah and there was the first two high school athletes to make a Pan American Olympic team.
And Puerto Rico.
So you go back and look at Bob Knight was the coach and Ca Sheffey was an assistant.
Coach, and so the story is there.
I go early and.
Work out a train and g Sheffey was teaching me how to do the Bob Knight system.
Right.
Bob Knight gets in into the practice and he called me out as a young kid. If you can't make yours, can't make it from the baseline and baseline and back in ten seconds, I'm senior, ass home. I made it in seven. Oh shit, I run. I made it in seven. So he tried to leave you an example. But go back in history you can see it. We did in Puerto Rico. Check us out. Were in Portobeve getting read play a game. We're going to practice and we had the time like one o'clock to be on court. The
girls team with like ten minutes over. So Bobby goes down and talks to the police officer and they got to get off the court. And he's screaming and howling, he's moving his thing whatever and death like this smacks the cop and smacks the cop. So we got to come out of the Olympic village and go get some questioned in a hotel because now we got security and you have to look it up at this everybody, the whole thing, he's smacking smacking people. So man out, they're
trying to figure it out. But going back to the story, but I came on my secondyeary we went to the national title. We got beat by North Carolina. Indiana won the national title that year, the year that Raakan got shot. If I came out that year and Isaiah like, who's coming out? You know we didn't have cell phone, we call had each other's home number. You're coming out, You're coming out. I'm coming out. But he might not have
gone to Detroit. And then next year the same thing with the Lakers and working Wow, but they came out. But if I didn't know, I gotta flip. I'm gonna go to the Lakers. I'm gonna go to Indiana. And we know how the league is, right, how the packet you want to end up in New York, how the Magic end up in the Lakers, and how the Bird end up in.
Celtics, How Lebron and one click Cleveland.
It's a chess game with the league, right, they know they got You got to have those teams, right, you gotta hold those rivaleries. So some people might say it's fixed, and maybe it may not be. I can't say that it is or not. But the league is the best thing in the world basketball, which we know we're knowing love right, and the game is the game.
So you had from you, I mean probably earlier, but starting your freshman year in college. Each year you could have left. What kept you coming back? You just didn't feel like you were ready yet?
Well, first year I wasn't ready. Okay, you know I came in and I came in to college one hundred and ninety.
Pounds, so all and you said, read the airback came to this is supposed to be later, but you already spoke on some might as well just run with it. He came to the hospital a million dollar briefcase.
You just so.
Potentially picking you up. What pick would that would have would have been that they have the number one pick? And so he felt you were ready for the number one pick. You just didn't feel like you were ready. It's the number one pick.
Okay, you're going there with chief pair. Yes, a lot, it's a lot in mL card. My body wasn't ready. I mean today they like they take a guy like and bebe and all that. Okay, you're not quite ready. We're not gonna play you a develop you. We're gonna sit you on the sideline like today.
They didn't care about that red all that suitcase. One of them was gonna stay here, both of yah, just walk both leaving.
Okay, the bridge canes opened right, and there's one hundred dollars buildings, but you don't know what's under it because you want let you touch it. But you know there's pressures of been coming in the house. And you know it had Larry Fitzgerald there. I mean mister Fitzhera owned owned the team as well. But you know, here's what it is. Wow, coming into college one and then after my first year about two or five, so I still would. I gained eighteen pounds between my freshmen and sophomore year.
Then a wait rom every day.
Your era of basketball didn't have au so it was five star and stuff like that. How is it, you know, moving through that to try to be seeing was there any hall of famers that coming up around the time with you?
There was fiveter would I never played, never played bombs Stars.
That was the first one I went to, so I would go to. I went to Kentucky basketball camp at our back was there, et et cetera. But one that we went to first was called Bill croninra That started all the recruiting services. So we go to Millersville, Georgia, and my high school coach drives me to Georgia in the back of his station wagon, you know. So it was he's driving doing this thing. You get there, I'd go to sign in and there's no Ralph Sampson on
the roster. There's the Wayne Sampson, but no Ralph Samsons. All the names were just messed up, right, So check in. We get there and they pull you aside. You go by the rule. They say, well, here are the rules. If you see somebody run across the court and they get the ball, don't mind them, just let them do their thing. So we were then we're in the mental institution, oh ship, and so they have people in the stands and they would go get the ball and just run around,
and I'm like, okay, what were we doing. But between that and the and the sleeping quarters were military barracks.
So you want to go take a dump, It's like, we're sitting right.
Here next to you.
No aggredition, no nothing. So that's the first one.
But the likes of the team were there, James Worthy are there, Thomas, Dominique, Wilkin, Antoine Car, Clark, Kelboll. I mean the list was massive, right, and we all played and we had a union where like everybody don't know Antoine Car with the baddest dunker in the league at that point in time. But he'd do some stupid ship, right and so you know, we got a little heavier, but and he would we do dunk contests. Okay, here one you you you win it, We do it. But yeah,
he had funky stuff. I mean he would, I mean he had. Dominique was good, but he couldn't compete with Cary.
You got a little heavier the same, but yeah, took it off in that level. But he was a bad boy.
What are your thoughts on whole backs in high school and what age did you arrive at Virginia.
He came out of high school and I went I was eighteen, eighteen going to high school, going to Agenda.
So eighteen going to my nineteenth birthday.
You believe in this six year senior ship. Now MONTHU thirty years old, still a freshman just to be good in basketball.
At ju Co rule they changed.
Yeah at four years that come back and go to record school four years you ninety twenty seven, twenty the last year year before one of the college teams was older than the NBA team. A yeah, alb and still lost, still lost.
That's crazy everybody. And your team got kids.
And retirement already and they losing.
In the c A tournament.
That's crazy, bro.
But I mean this the system broken. So you know, I feel sorry for the high school kid. Yeah, that's never go get recruited to make it go.
My son's going through.
It right now.
Yeah, you know what's his name. Platino came out and said, I'm not recruiting. High school kids are not going to help you win. And I'm thinking that's so ass backwards because colleges for young kids coming in trying to figure it a way out, and now you've got twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven year olds. And I don't even blame the players because it's the system that's broken. And I don't blame the coaches because their jobs are on
the line if they don't win. So naturally, you think an older kid is going to help me more than a seventeen makes.
Us think that it's okay, yeah, making that money, but it's still.
Funy giving guys out of college that play sports another opportunity.
The guys.
You know, they got certain guys in jail that got a bad hand and they probably want to need a second chance. I would rather give those guy guys an opportunity. It's somebody forty years old, you know what I'm saying.
Well, I just think the Cats ain't gonna go pro anyway. I think the I think the cap should be twenty four. I think twenty four. I mean that's what six years removed from high school. If you can't figure it out as far as sports goes, go back and get your degree.
And do whatever you want you want to do.
But I mean, I just think college the point of colleges to help develop young kids coming out of high school.
And that's not what I mean.
You know, the high school coaches are not like they used to know.
They're not teaching. So you got gods out there to run the AU teams. I don't know the fun of the game at all, So they wanted they just want to get one to go to pro and right the right way. But the sad part is I did a tournament this year and we had forty two teams from Australia forty two that the Australian government paid for them to come in the States and go to the major tournaments.
They paid the freight, their their chaveel bill was crazy, and then their food bill the tournament was fitty grand. But they want those kids to come over and play with these states.
Yeah, now we got to get kids to go over there to play.
But the money is not that great, right, So it's it's it's reverse and they try to try to put them on it.
Did you go down under? Make Sydney my foot? The first two weeks there though, so chasing kangaroos. Chasing kangaroos went down there instantly.
It wasn't right.
ACC rook of the Year three times, you see player of the Year three time Player of the Year, three times, First Team All American in Virginia, Kyleege.
But you played in in in the heyday of the ACC real a CC.
Jordan, Perkins and Worthy or were at North Carolina. I'm sure there's a lot of other names, but take us back to what the a c C was like when you were coming up.
They were the pro player at least two on every team on every a CC.
That's crazy.
I mean, and the worst team was Clemson, but they are Larry Nance Moose Moose. They had three three pros, but they were they were on the bottom. And then you go to Maryland with the great level. You had Albert King, Buck Williams, Ernie Graham and the boys up there fight every time you go up there.
Were you before Limbys I played against you one year Oka. What was he like?
They had to depleted team, but you could see he had it. Yeah, he had that special thing and you can see it being developed. And the question was cause lefty, you know, take me where you go right, which was really questioned in d C the whole year. But he had that thing.
MJ stories or battles against him at a younger age at the college level.
I mean we played college against each other. Obviously we won some game, they won some games. But the one game we're down in North Carolina and you know, he's in his mode.
I'm in my mode. We're dunk and worthy.
I mean, I'm doing lobs and the whole bring the ball to court. So we we up and I look up and we're down and were playing defense and Michael was now in his Michael mode and defensive mode. So he goes and they need to steal, needed something to change the game. He steals the ball from my point guard and goes down dunks and does want them or whatever, and then they win the game.
So he was in that mode.
But you know, only when they ever stopped Michael from scoring Dean Smith and he could have scored more. But mean, you got Worthy, you got a squad, Jimmy Black, they had top ten guys we could play, right, he had that rule. Yeah, and you couldn't know he didn't want anybody for twenty points. But if you go to North Carolina, the story about you have so Charlie Scott, good friend with the first black player in the a SEC and he got disrespected down there whatever, But Dean Smith took
care of him. So that history was there and everybody saw that. Michael saw it, Worthy saw it, and they all gravitated that cause he broke the cold in the in the southern belt.
Right, Maryland was Maryland.
They players John luc Lynnell Moore of those guys, right, but Charlie Scott's the one that broke that that North Carolina cold, and he he should get a lot of credit for that truth.
About you getting death threats, some dorm incidents. I mean you faced a lot of racism in mind speaking on any of that.
Yeah, I didn't know it until after the fact. Coach Dave Odham years later set me down. He was coaching in South Carolina and we had a long conversations about what was going on. And so when year I was a senior and go back, even when there was stretching still they all the mail that came to UVA. We had a lady secretary to handle all the mail. I never saw it. They handled it. MS Holland did it. They would sign stuff sent back and.
So I could do what I need.
So they was reading all the mail back then, and so one asid that was happening a couple of different things. So I lived on the lawn my senior year. Both be prestigious, but no bathroom. You gotta run down the hall, go down whatever. But you live on Thomas Jeffers lawn. So that's cool. People didn't want a black man to live on the lawn.
Explain what the lawna is for those that don't know.
The lawn is.
When Thomas Jefferson built the school, he wanted to see his university. So he has Manticello, which sits on the mountain where his main house was. He had the toun done so he could see the space. Now even today airspace planes came from came still back today you can't
build anything higher than the lawn. So there was these row houses and they were small rooms that had a sink in and a bed and fireplace, and that was then in the desk, so Edgar Allen poll, I mean all the historical guys lived on the lawn.
And it's still some rooms there that's still old. You could see. So I got awarded. I have to write a paper.
Stuff I got on the lawn from that stamps Press, Tigers, Ralph Sampson. On the lawn, I would change my number number six to number nine and put number nine to number six because I would get somebody knocking on the door all the time, somebody, I guess in the back of the room. Whatever got rached, and so Coach Allen said, you gotta get out because they might try to putting that on you. So we moved out of the city. And then I get there and somebody try gets tracked.
You talk about we talked about the bag of so my car, and my mom still is.
Going to deny it today.
But I had a Conversion van is what I drove for my second year on and you know, I had the seats in and stuff like that, and it had stereo system in it, and they start stealing the stereo system out.
You know.
So we got a alarm on or whatever, and God blessed so one of the famous doctors there say okay, we're gonna stop that. He gave me a three fifty seven magnum and taught me how to shoot and said, if you hear somebody coming in and the seraph for there if somebody coming, and get your card to shoot down through the window and call us. Fortunately I went to sleep the night they did it. And so it was a lot of that in the end that I didn't know. But after my senior year I started to
understand a little bit more. So it was a lot of letters and hate mail from different schools that I didn't know. And so one year that happened, I stayed in Coach Challenge basement and lived in his basement.
But I didn't know what was going on at that point.
Not even your Greatness could stop the hate crazy. When did the Puma deal come about for you go back to the shoe dye.
So Clyde Fraser the first basketball player.
That had a shoot yeah, and then Puma in nineteen seventy six had the three guys that won the relay race and they put the hand up.
Let's started the shoe stuff as well.
So I wore Pro Kids, and Pro Kids was going by stride right at that point in time. So coming into college are like, yeah, I want to wear Pro Kids, and we had the Adidas contract at Uba, and I didn't want to wear a didas lived too hard.
So I wear Pro Kids.
And by the time I got out of the college, my my Pro Kid deal was more than my NBA contract real time five. That's because I got shared in the straw right strive right were the kid's shoes, and everybody, oh, you got an equity in that. But I didn't know that Pro Kids was getting ready to go the business and Stridwright got but so got a little money paid, but it wasn't like it should have been right. So then I'm scrambling. But Puma, a god named Quious Government
has lived here. It was recruiting me hard like.
Anywhere pooma wear poom poom pooma. So it's I'm in the league.
I got my pro kids three weeks before the first game against Allers give More. I didn't have a shoe, so kids came in, I mean, Pooma came in.
They took the pro.
Kids shoe, sent it to Germany, and I had a prototype in two weeks. It was the same shoe I wore sky, but it didn't have any in the sole cushion in it. So it was my first game. I had six press socks on until they got the shoot right. So that started the shoe game. And so we went to that level and I'm actually still I mean a lifetime contract with him.
Now this is what he said. They didn't have a fucking soul in them.
You know that's something you gotta take the sole out because your feet is too big and it's.
Like it was like a's crazy and I had orthotics but it's still tied up. But they went over, took the same shoe, re engineered it and brought it back within three weeks.
When you got to the league, did any big man try to bully every day?
Every day? That was just part of the game back then, every part yeah. I mean if you not even get jass kids exactly exactly. I mean, think about it, Dark Dawkins, He's just gonna try to jump Organ dunk on you. Artists thunder Artists wasn't mean I mean artists. And I was always that artist, the sweetest guy ever. But but it was cambaraderie back then because the guy that felt there really were the NBA players. They wanted to help the young ones. So Artist would play against me and say,
big felt, get a little lower. I mean in a freaking game, get a little lower. It'll only be pushed you out that much in the course of the game. And I say, to day would give m a hug, and he's one of my favorites, right, but everybody would do that, Maurice Lucas, Artists, you know, Moses, everybody would do that, like okay, let's let's play and let's get this done.
Can you speak to Moses Malone's greatness.
You know, he's from Virginia Petersburg and we always are saying God bless him, you know four four or five four four, you know, So he was like that, and I mean he just was. You know, he went to Maryland for about two weeks he said, I can't do this ship. I could go to the league, make it happen. And he deliberately would throw the ball against the glass and get a couple of stats. Yeah, I mean just throw it out.
Get it.
But he was, you know, and and Moses hated Kareem. M I'm gonna just wipe his ass out because he was physical. And so when they won the championship, I was, I just decided to stay in school. I was in Florida. I drew from Florida back and Moses invite me to the to the games because Virginia boys and said, I'm gonna kick his ass. But you know that's just moldings though. But Rebounder to Nation really good guy, great guy, I mean, one.
Of the best, right And so I came up I met him. He was still playing after yard Star playing. He was still coming to Funday in Houston all day and still playing every game.
You know, but you know he taught it, came along on everything, you know, yeah, yeah, everything at Funday. So Kim comes to Funday, comes to mothers tells the story. Kim come to here Niversity of Houston, you know, came with a soccer player. Uh, he gets to Houston and he's got his African gear own and so and so he gave.
Me a card.
Houston and it was convertible, and he didn't know how to put the convertible top up. Now he put it, goes down and it starts to rain, so the converbile gets all wet and most that took him by side. But they played at Fundy every day, every day, and as you know, history, funny every it was a better game than Fundy.
It was a real game. I'm trying to I'll be trying to tell people that.
If you lost, you might have get back to the corn. No, you might not get up to the next week exactly. But everybody played there.
I played. Everybody played there.
I mean everybody would come to Houston and play at Funday and then all you know, everybody remember the Hill, Yes, I remember the everybody ran it. Everybody you running Hill, work out John Lucas and you go play it.
Funny, it was all John Lucas was Ahad and all that. Yeah.
But I was watching y'all playing Funday when I couldn't play.
When I was young, I was going and just watching before I can actually get on exactly.
But when you hang out all day.
Yeah, Rookie of the Year, All Star Rookie season one game, you had thirteen blocks as a rookie.
Coming into the rookie year, you was just confident, ready to go.
I mean, rookie year, you know, you kind of get new to what's happening physicality. Yeah, you know. So so I get drafted one. Rynie McKay craig get drafted three to Sacramento.
Did he go to Sacramento?
No, we went to Houston together. Oh yeah, we had still found it to somebody in the middle. So we leave New York on private jets two, flying to Houston, his Simon one on one. We get to Houston, there's twenty thousand people in the arena, the walk one's there.
We get there and this is pretty cool to go to work.
Let's play because I played Ronnie in Louisville every year for a couple of years, like you know, had Super Bowl Sunday and we beat him in whatever. But he said, well you beat if we know, we go go to the final four because you made us mad and he said, that's the same shit today. But we went there and then we go out, you know, go out, guess, and then we go to the club hangout. We see Calwell Jones, Major Jones, Allen Level and then and they're drinking and
smoking cigarettes. We're like, what the fuck we got ourselves into. We're not using right and so we're like, okay, we're in trouble. So that first year we had to adjust to the lifestyle, lifestyle of the league. And then you know the sweets. I mean, Colboy Jones taught me a lot. But tall guys, slim like singing like me. That would be a case of beer beside his locker. After every game.
He would drink the case, the rehydration case a case.
They say beer is good for rehydration. No, I'm not a case for real. Yeah before the arena for enough arena. But sweet guy. But we had fun that first year and we try to change it the next year. Yeah, Calvin Murphy taught me a lot.
That's my guy too.
You're all talking about Okay, Like, watch Calvin he's playing I played, he played in in in pre season. I'm sitting on the bench, Major Jones sitting there. Watch Calvin still the ball means still a boy. He run right beside the guy. Colvim with tripped the guy still ball go down and play, and then he would go at Bill Fitch because Bill Fitch actually made him retire. Guy nasty, I mean, and and and the big boys knew the cold would fight you. But you learned a lot from
him and Elvin Hayes and all that. So it was it was fun.
Yeah, But it just seems like and obviously we got a little taste of it too, But I feel like what the NBA is missing today is veterans that really cared and helped and and you know, helped you avoid pitfalls and gave you the game, like you said, giving you the game during the game. And I feel like the league desperately misses just another presence they needed every that.
Absolutely, I don't care to see them that because the young ones don't.
Know no clue even today. Yeah, so they.
Would do that, and they would be I think a better team. We got lucky.
Yeah.
The following year, was it? The following year? Number one pick?
Again?
You guys get her King? What's that like? You guys build the twin towers. MJ was in that draft too, and he could have got MJ. You guys went with the King, so you got another big on your side. How did that relationship develop in.
My rookie year and made a statement in the news scraper like you know, you gotta just play so and so and then you know, and like I said, Elvin Hayes looked after me, called Will Jones.
So we planning in.
Kansas City and we got together started then and big Ee was like, but he needed like so many more minutes to get like one hundred thousand.
Dollars and we all know it bonus.
Yeah, And so they came in there, Look, you know we gotta get we gotta get his money.
So I'm playing. But if you planned and then play, get get the minutes.
So first quarters, yeah, you know that's why we took care of you. So come out of the game, Bill Fittz, whatever he played, gets his money. So we did that, but we knew at that point in time we do get the number one pick. And at that point so they came to me and said, we're thinking about this twin tower thing and we want to keep on going to play here with you. I said, cool, because I can go to forward. I don't have to get that beating right.
Your natural position anyway, all out there and do my things.
I loved it right from that standpoint. We had.
We had a crew, I mean myself a keen. Remember Louis Lloyd yep, yep, Lewis Lloyd all now void, and we did our video Mitchell Wiggins. We had Craig Elo was our thirteenth man on twelve man team.
Really he couldn't get Norma.
Craig like gang too, Yeah, gang, I.
Mean were you playing hard? He played hard?
Yeah.
Well, we had Ryan McCrae, Robbie Reid. We was missing the guard and everybody knows the story. Norman Nixon was on the Clippers and we was getting ready to getting norm and they didn't pull the trigger and me Norman Deba, I met him today like I had Norman.
At my house. My mom was there. My mom cooked Norman some.
Fried chicken and they were like whatever. And every time I go to the Clipper game and DeBie like, I want some fried chicken.
You know.
I'm running the point for y'all had been around. Yeah, it's because.
He was ready, you know, revanded with the Clippers and the Lakers, and he had a chip on his shoulder.
What was your relationship like with the king off the court?
We knew of each other. We bonded like the first couple of months, go on lunch, hanging out a little bit on the road. We looked out to each other in different rooms and we made sure we had that coming. And Bill Fitch started that we may have played against each other practice twice, you know, but we had to
build that bond to play. So we built when we started playing against Kareem, so they know everybody want to kill Kareem, and so they would put him on Kareem and me on Rambas and somebody else, and I said, okay, you hold him up and I'll blocked the school.
And you know everybody wants to block the shot. We got it.
A couple of times weren't getting considered because he was always killing people, but we built it that way, and we knew that if I'm out, he's back, and he knew if I'm back, he's out. I got his back. So that started that kind of chat. We had it down for a while.
You and Elijah One, Russ, Tim Doncan, and David Robinson Twins Win.
David Robins still having nightmare, he said, he's still.
That's how I got my guy up, David. But guess what he's still yeah.
He said he still has.
That had been a hell of a matchup too, because they came in and teno.
This is another thing.
That's how serious the Fundy workouts was.
Yeah, Pop son Tim and Day down there did he I was, That's when I was there.
He son us all down there for the season started, son Us all down there. That's how good it was. Bro Tony Parker Ganoda. We all went for four days. That Fundy is nothing like that. Nineteen eighty six playoffs. You and the King be the number one seed defending champions Lakers in five games in.
The Western Conference Finals. What was that feeling like?
It was?
It's crazy? You know we had I mean we were prime ready to go.
We had he was in a growing series with Denver and Alex Ingers and they run and jumped, They got you in that officitude trying to kill you. And so we grew to say it with them went seven games. You had the game win to close up the series. Well that was in the Lakers coming to the Lakers. So were there and fall We won with Elo Jim Peterson. We won with the crew that we had right and we go we went. Now we're going to the Lakers. So we got one day to prepare and we play
the Lakers. So that one day, cool girt they drill us. I mean, he said, well, this shit gonna be easy. We had a meeting, he said, okay, that's one game we got. We have some time to regroup. We made a commitment like we're gonna come back and we're gonna we're gonna kill these dudes. Right from that standpoint, So we did, came back, won the second game, go to Houston and we're gonna went down there anyway. From that standpoint,
got to go back to the Lakers. And then you watched the video for the game hit the winning shot. Were getting a little altercation, yes, yes, indeed altercation more reason the boys whatever, so uh a king and rabbits got into it.
So you look at it.
We all over the over the bench, get off of it, and then I got mad. From that standpoint, they kicked it came out and so it was on me and Robert and the cruise. So we just said let's go. And then we got got to that point and right and the Craig will say, well, you got a lucky shot, but I made the pass. If you look at the Cream played behind me and sit in front, because you know if you played behind me, I'm gonna live up anyway.
So you know you don't have you in practice. You play I want to hit that one shot. We do it all the time. It's not that practice, that same shot, but we had the mentality to do that and we wanted and to goes in.
But that's an incredible shot, though it's over the shoulder.
Was it over the shoulder or was it?
You know?
I knew you know you set up posing, you sit up, you sit up at the box.
Let's know where you are at the box. And once you do it, I'll go in. I'll drive Cream down to the whole. I'm above the box. And you got your position right now. You got them deep.
And to lose a series that way, bro.
In l a here, Well you know I told Magic said, well you know were the one you go get beating in Houston anyway, so you didn't.
Have to travel, say some time, you know they can't a little early heard my boy too, like I still hate you because they had won what one or two before that? They went too in a row before that, A one one okay, so they went back, they went to after that, okay two.
After that they got mad and got in shape and you know it said we need to get this down because they knew we were coming.
I ended up losing the Labrard, the Celtians and six in the finals. He was part of a learnary fight sixty six one guy. He said, which one you can show that one?
Okay?
Good? Jerry's what's how you saying?
Name? Jerry Sitch there gets smacked in them out.
The Celis fans wanted blood after that, though, that's.
Fine, and they tried to get it it. So we so we're playing and I got like fifteen and seven in the first quarter.
Oh yeah, you can so like okay and that and again it's like you're gonna beat this. You're gonna have to beat this ol because you're not gonna beat me on my home court. So you know, I got that point and and Larry had a good game. He had a lucky shot against Rody McCrae. We should have won that game and but we'd have been like even, but.
We didn't do that. So I'm in the post up.
And I'm picking in and for Roddy and Robert and Robert come off, you know, and you pin down, pick down now trying to.
Get the ball. Well, them two little fuckers would come back.
And hit you in the nuts after they run past you from damn d.
Man like okay, ship one more time and I'm jumping and dunking and running and whatever and one too many times, you know, So it just kind of exploded.
And the fighting part.
If you look at that fight, you know, my my at the end of the at the end of the bench right there, you'll see it. My two sisters came off the stands. He's sitting on the side of there.
Was ready to go.
Yeah, we're not gonna take you know. That was it was. It was fun, but you know, you gotta fight sometimes.
Was known to be dirty though. Yeah, he's known to be dirty, bro, But you know that's a draft.
I mean you start guess some of your the on some TV against leg and they you know, go at him as hard as well. And Bill Walton he was there. But yeah, that's just the kind of the way it kind of went down. It was cool to fight back then.
It wasn't a million dollars fine and suspended for the season, none of that.
He played the next game. You didn't get suspended.
Oh my god, I got Yeah, I get it.
So it did get so I got threats.
Okay, so you can them who tackled you Bill?
You see, can't you saw came in there? His part just Dennis Johnson.
Was that Bill Walton that that Okay, he was he was he was trying to make the piece. So he was trying to get some who Bill.
No, he wouldn't. He wasn't. He wasn't wanna make I mean he's making at Yeah, he had one another that.
Rest in peace, the big Bill.
But he would he would hit you and do your thing with dirty little.
Was he good?
Was he good? Bill?
Yeah?
Ye had the game. He was just strong. Yeah, you know, and it's older year or whatever.
I like Bill.
Yeah, we got a good relationship after the fact. Yeah, but you know I didn't want to play against I don't.
Want to kill him.
Yeah.
See that's back when there, I mean in the league has shifted, dramastic draft nice.
Oh yeah, keep it up there.
That was just off the real bang. Rah wasn't playing no games.
Around. You gotta quick look at look at.
You got it?
You know, then you get kicked out.
Yeah, the rock, but you had to have when you came in the game. You had to have that type of fire, right, you had to you get walked over.
And get walked over and beat up and doing it like that too much. It's just hard.
Yeah, hit a couple of times like yeah, enough enough. But then we go to Boston, hm, and so corn Bread he actually hit me to what I did his podcast, you know, a number of years ago. But I get to Boston. While we get there, and then I had death threats from that game, and so I bought in my two way coaches from UVA, both of them like three hundred pounds and weird chefs behind us. We quartered one end of the of the hotel and I had
them in between my room. But then at the game, as you see it in Boston, they had a noose around my neck and a kind of stuffed the version maybe with number and fifty and we're gonna hang him and took it over the bottom of the arena.
And so me and Cornbrack said, that's kind of strange.
Right, So it came from all that, and they were like, that's just the way Boston is. You gotta understand where you are and so that and then if you see the game they want, they wanted a game.
Bill fitz knew what was going on.
He didn't tell us, but he gets us off the court before like two minutes before the game was over because he knew the storm going on to court. So he got all the starters off and then everybel sent in the game and then they get off the court.
The next season, three key players, Mitchell Wiggins, Lewis Lord, and John Lucas all get kicked out of the league drug John Lucas is my guy too, man, ah Lord, what was going on.
Everybody was just they just get fucked up, fucked the game.
So John and are good friends. That's my guy, I mean, my dude.
John recruited me so and I announced I was going to University of Virginia John and left them because I had gone to University of Maryland basketball summer camps with John and so Lefty, I played in the in the in the director's games and the councilor games. Right, but then that was at the camp because that was a recruiter. Yall had me down DC and hang out and have one to whatever meet with people.
Come back.
Playing in the game against lar Boston, Steve Shepherd made and all the big boys there, John the whole dale, right, So that was cool. And it was also the week of my birthday most of the time, so I had a birthday party in the University medal and that was fun.
But John was my dude. And when I get to Houston and we get John.
I had a cousin that was really really good to have some drug issues, and John took care of him and brought him down there and went back to another story for you know, they yea in the passed away. But me and John knew each other. So we come to we come to the Warriors the Coliseum downtown Oakland, right, Bill Fischer, Well, you got John because your good friends, you got John. Okay, I get John because he knew what was going to happen in go to State. We go and that's when John got hit.
You know.
Basically, he went out and did what he wanted to do. And Bill Fitch, I'm on the bus. He's like, bro, if you gotta go get John, gotta go get John. I said, okay, I go back checked on him and he said, I'm coming. So he met us in Seattle and that's when all that happened. But John's tough and if mine set is tough. And he recovered and I told him, I said, man, you fucking coached me, because when I went to the forward, I was that in
twenty five and fifteen or something like that. But guess what John had six or seven because he would throw a lot right, And so that happened. Then Louis Lloyd happened. The Mitchell Wakens happened.
So but Mitchell played Mitchell dd up magic from inline to inline. That's here. I mean, I'm talking about warre him out.
And but you know, but if we had kept their crew together, I would rebounding Lowis Lloyd wouldn't have to go past that sport.
He go dunk on everybody.
That happened into John Luca was blessing disguise because he was able to change so many of our lives, big time and.
Youngsters and players lives. That was what happened to him out there.
You know, I'm saying him going through drugs, you know what I'm saying.
But I'm saying him going through that.
He came to Houston and he really rehabilitated and put so much game in all of us. All everybody's growing up, everybody that coming through Fundy had his respect.
But I'm just saying that that he went through made him the many is no, No, he went through it, but he had to go through that. But he definitely did.
But we knew when John was not right right, John's hyper anyway, you know how John he knew, Yeah, but when he start to get quiet, he was the other side right, you know.
So that's that point. But his wife Golden and got him do all that, and he helped my.
Cousin and he build the center that we all know and love us Today we're hugging this, that and the other.
But he's the best assistant coach in the league right now, doing good. He's good.
What changed with David Stern but came to commission Navy.
You know, so if you see my draft night, it was O'Brien and I was the last one that O'Brien had really came the first, and David Stern, you know, he took the basis of what O'Brien was trying to do, and because it was the league was you know, he wasn't good for a magic burden. I mean they were doing the thing, but it still wouldn't make it as much money Teerior rights wasn't good, just another and O'Brien took it to where he could.
But Stern took it to a whole nother level. I mean of respecting him.
I got to know him over the years, but he started just seeing the vision and created the plan and started having drafted whatever and having players pick, and he started online.
And with the it was the business. It wasn't just a game. It was also a business. So he made it a business.
And I mean between what O'Brien did and with it the pillars of the game, and then obviously it's like it is today. We all wish we could back for I didn't want one contract, one year of a contract, one contract.
Nineteen eighty seven, you got trade to go to State after strength of the strained last ship with a former coach. How was it going from Houston Oakland in eighty seven because Oakland, I know what Oakland was like, and.
They said panthers all kinds of I know, it was massive.
I thought, my my, but then now the worst wife was pregnant with my first child, and you know they give you forty eight hours to get to the next destination. I gotta get her straights first another, and so I took like seven and took three days and get her straight. And then don Nelson went to Jim Manager.
That's our guy and the owner.
He was the owner at the time, Jim Manager and part on it with Fitzgerald. Oh wow, we had a part of the coach. So I get on the plane and now the first game is against the Lakers. I gotta go play Kareema and the boys. I get to the Oakland College and I'm walking down the tunnel and Chris Washburner walking.
Out like this handcuffs, tell me down one.
And I knew press because I had to freedom in college.
Now we're down.
I'm like, oh ship, what happened to him? For the drugs?
Trying to figure out?
Right, So we get there, we played the game, he said, damn we down one. And then it was the same year, so we had like a new Terry tego, you know. He was like and then and then the whole shebang.
Right.
Not too long after that, Chris Mullen goes down leave the team. I'm like, non, we got one of our best players. Where the at But I knew Oakland what it was right at that point in time from playing with John and whatever. So we regrouped. We had Larry Mean and then we had George Carl. So that first year was like, oh, I don't want to be here, I don't want to play no more. They fired George Carl. Don Nelson becomes the coach, so you ain't got no beef with the owner the coach, and you're gonna go to.
Everything. So but but Nell, he's good though.
He was so he started to you know, the uh, lifting people up and putting a new way out of him and like they playing three.
Man game down the bottom, like why what are we doing? The new shooting threes?
And we had fun. But he changed the game. But then he got it and then we got Mitch and Tim and Mully came back and that started that.
Whole whole whole thing. But he knew kind of what he was doing.
Then they ended up selling the team to somebody else and they got out right, So he was smart thenning with the Dallas so the league needed the team.
They went and saved the team. They bought into it, and they made more money selling it to somebody else and then they left.
Do you have any don Nelson stories? We don Nelson was our favorite coach with mine. At least he was your favorite coach, one of them.
Whatever.
Yeah, he allowed us to smoke tree in his house. That's how cool he was. You got any stories about Nelly's good, that's our guy, man. Nelly went to the Hall of Fame together.
Nice.
Yeah, and so we got we'll go back to the store. You know. He got a little crib and Hawaii wife. Yeah, and then Big far just come to Hawaii, would just hang out.
Yeah.
He would drink with you. Yeah, you know, on the plane, do his thing, bite you to his house. Yes, the lady was good, but he was he was a player coach, yes, and he would try anything to win.
Yes, but but he was cool. Yeah.
And you know he had his ways. He had his ways. Yet to get used to him. But he was probably one of the best coaches.
I had me too.
Yeah, sure, it's good.
Injuries in the NBA slowed you down, was it? It was a major knees majority.
Yeah.
So I had left near had a bucking handle tarot and my moniscus and back then they just cut it out.
I should have stayed out for the year and got it rebuilt. Whatever. But like, we're just going to the Finnel like, I want to.
Come back and play, and I came back and did it, but it gets kept pounding pounding, and chip would come out in large and the joint. Then this one happened as well. So two operators on one, one on this one. And so this has very little miniscus in it just has some in it. But he wanted to play and technology wedding like it is today. Right, So it happened.
But I go back to you know, like I look at Winby and all these young guys, right, tall is a little bit different because your leverage is totally different, especially when you're in the post or you're running. And Winby's assistant at the friend of Wally Walker, and so I talked to her a little bit. I've met him Will one day day Will tell him that he needs to watch out for X, Y and Z. And I knew something was off when he couldn't move his arm and I could see it from that standpoint.
So he texts, but your body's not right. But what was going on? I had?
I didn't train and I looked back trained this hard this summer before because agent I had that had. I won't say the name, but you know some of the names I mentioned in this lovely podcast show. I had to go to LA, come to LA and go into office and basically fuck people up, really get all my documents, to get everything.
All my stuff was in shambles. So I did all that.
So I didn't train as hard as I publy should have because I had to go chase fucking horses.
Down and that was I said.
Yeah, that happened, and so it became even more of hate during the season because some players that should.
Have told us what was going on, we went at their ass right, and we had no choice because you could tell us what's happening, and everybody was in LA. So that happened.
So I didn't train as hard as I pite should have. But Maniscus and the doggons said, well, your body was right, but your joints wasn't quite right because of the way you had to push in the posts beating on the back or you slide and set on foot and trying to guard to guard. Right, So like Wemby is like, you're not ready for that pounding yet, right, And fortunately
that they play open basketball. Yeah, but still that age too and if you know, ain't no go bare and play if you want, but you're gonna be at there garden.
Somebody pop did a good job of bringing the big kid from Duke in so when we can be afford more like he was talking about.
But you got to do that. Yeah, you know some people and the young kid of the day, everybody's not ready for that grind.
Very fine.
What did it mean to you to get inducted into the Hall of Fame amount of time?
It's you know, you don't play the being the whole thing. You don't understand it until you get there. I mean like seven different Hall of Fames from high school to Virginia or whatever. And Jerry Clando demand that made that happen. He changed it because the Hall of Fame needed some structure and he needs to be more guarnent, so made that structure. But I knew the politics over it as well.
So the first player to get to have two nominations one for college and one from the NBA the same year me and Chris Mullen, he got both of them, only got one. Then the next year I got the whole thing. So I started to understand the politics at
that point in time to change the game. But all my information trophies of my mother and father solf in case to the wall, I have none of the still still wow, and so it needs more to them than it doesn't because my mom loved it and Chase it, which is more important to me that my mom and her family enjoyed that. So it's a great honor. I'm going back this year, going back just to see what's going on and understanding the game as well.
Vernon Maxwell, friend of the program.
Speaking mout don't say his name, Candy Man and.
He sid and he had a story about how you see you guys see each other in jail.
Do you remember that.
Story?
They just seen each other in jail?
Yeah, no, doubt no, no, got no. So yeah we did. Max did something. I forget what it was, no telling, no telling what he did it.
Max was mad Max for a reason, not even Dom because he you know, he played it. But whatever he did, whatever we saw, I sold an issue that I deal with. And remember the Michael Vick stories. Yeah whatever, But the same prosecutor came after me at that point. And all that did was for my dad signed the name because he didn't signed to buy a car and I put it in the car dealership and they got.
Said mail fraud, mail fraud.
Was like, man, what you what you're doing there?
Oh yeah yeah yeah, but you know you I can't tell the whole thing bound by Yeah. I was there for a minute, yeah, not the whole I mean like two hours, yeah, you know, and then went home and did my thing right.
Yeah, but it was mil fraud and ce Max yeah yeah, yeah. We knew he wasn't getting out what he was in there. But to hoole you overnight, you got to see the judge for you.
I got a game tomorrow, no matter where you'll be there. Time quick hitters. First thing to come to mind. Let us know in your opinion, top five big men of all time.
Chamblain, Oh, fifty three points, thirty rebounds, quadriple double. Everybody disrespects well, he'd have played in the era. And and I love shock like this in shock and we'll go at it. What was strong as fuck?
And I asked athletic too, Oh my god, I'm him here.
And I first got in the league and see him on the beach in Malibille with his short zone and boxes on and they set up in the sunbabe and ball. He pulled me aside to me in the house. He said he didn't like Creamim that much, but he said, I want you to kill everybody. You play that mentality, I mean big enough Toronto And he was.
Cool, right, So he's one of the iconic players to me.
Uh, you know, I used to watch him play a little bit on black and white TV back in the day. But he's hard, but I would love to see him a shot go at that point the most and you guys probably agree, the most iconic.
They always say who's the goat?
I don't think the goat to somebody, that somebody plays it, but they transitioned the game that everybody wanted to be like.
Who is that.
She's a bigger, bigger guard. He's a small forward. His name is doctor Jay. I want to be like doctor Jay. Mike wanted to be like Doctor j Everybody wanted to be like Jeous. And you can go back to any film you want to and see who's dunking on somebody in traffic to Joyous.
So the league should change the logo to Julious.
I would I would love that he got he got a sick logo. He got a crazy sick logo. But everybody, I mean the league was bad. Julius played with the Virginia Squires. I used to go watch you can see it on TV and watch in Virginia.
But he was the bad boy. I love him to death, you know. I texted him every now and then, have your birthday whatever. We see a Joey hugg But he's the bad boy. And then if you're going by championships, you gotta my boy, Bill Russell Bill So Bill sipped me down in college. But then the communicator cast, so he came.
I met him.
He sent me down and gave me a whole lot of dollars, a whole lot like Boston. And every time I see him he called.
Me Ralph Fee.
And when he was a lot of part of his life, he had got inducted into the Hall of Fame again for a coaching whatever it be.
So his wife bought him from Seattle all the way to the Hall of Fame. He went from the Hall of Fame north.
He stopped by my parents house, stayed with us for two days, sitting in the room and had to laugh. Went to see Dominique and Georgia and went back. So we talked all the time. Miss him. Touch his wife every now and then but he's got to be from a championship standpoint, he transitioned the game. So those two are iconic.
Uh.
And I don't think you can have to go you have errors. You know, that area was these five.
It's there with these five, that five, and so everybody from Lebron to Kobe to Michael through small forwards, God of respect, Joria servant. I mean, Mike did his thing. You know, if Straightway would have been in you know a little bit of a different ballgame, right yeah, yeah, right, And you know, and and and I could have gone with David Falk and those guys as well. They wanted me to go, but Nike wasn't Nike, and Mike made Nike. Basically, I love what he's doing, right from that's that we
all do. But and and he had a different gear.
We all know that he got it from watching Georgia Shore.
Well he didn't make his ninth grade team stuff like that, right, So those two, you know, you got you know, the magics of the world.
And I think there don't get enough respect. That was a nasty fucker. Yes, And I mean and and and when we go to those tournaments whenever younger, they didn't want to play him. Ray McCord he was back there. Rave course is better than I there, but he Rave Record did and couldn't take us there. I mean he was, he was treacherous.
A guy named Quentin Daily and out there would wear him out and couldn't. Had some drug issues as well, but out there get some ways more. Respective was one of the better players, absolutely, I think, and Bird as well. So there's that kind of guys. But my five would be I would put it well in. I put Bill Russell on the on the power Forward. I put Joyous there. You know, you got to go with Urban and to
go with Michael. And I love Lebron what he does. Uh, he has transitioned the new generation as far as how to be a pro. Yes, yes, and so I don't they can say, oh, he's scored this man points. I don't care about the points rebounds, but they'll be in the league that long. Yeah, and taking his body that way and there's no bummishes. Yes, wife and kids nothing. And I hate like Steve Nate Smith, all these people,
all this they talked about him and Brownie. I want the other son to go for all of them, the two. If she can't all of them? Why not, because that's that's different. And when you're different, people don't respect you.
People had on that because they can't do it for their kids.
That's the only reason you.
Can do it for your kids. You'll be patting them on the back to give me your son. Don't get in the league, off the show. It ain't your child. So it's a problem.
But we know other people in this world do something for the nobody, says Jack.
All the time, owners and the teams over all kinds.
George Carlson playing NBA, that's it. Kobe karl who right, he was one of the man.
No easy, okay, here you go to score any points? I'm not sure on accident one album you could listen to our repeat.
So I had I had a routine, you know, go to shoot around, you come home, you have your meal.
So back then it was like low jazz and music.
Ah and you know obviously the earth winding fires and Frankie bevery Man whatever. But the most iconic one that I used to have was Kirk Whaling And so we would go in Houston to the west end of the top me came whatever.
We had our own private.
Spot, right and Kirk would just begin it wow and so he jazz got But I had all this stuff and Cole Smar would play that songs right whenever. Then that street's about to calm down. When the game started. You know, nobody had boom boxing. Remember walking in you had to have whatever cassette player. So being from Virginia, you go to trouble Funk and you get your hip hop, pump it up before the game and go from there. So that was that whole era of just built from one.
But then I had to calm back down and go back to jazz. So between you know, all the jazz folks and Kurt and had a whole album collection. You know it couldn't buy couldn't buy clothes because they had them, would to fit you, how to get them made, had shoes playing shoes from that standpoint, but music was one thing and that got me, you know, kept me up to the game time. And I would wear the headphones before the game and get my routine and I would be trouble funking.
Get the rank these three in your opinion, m J lebron Kobe, you.
Know, because I played against Mjay College and pro.
I mean, he's the number one. But what I like about MJ was he you know, he could bounce back. He was a student of the game. He had a he built a mindset that no.
One has ever done pretty much right, and he wanted to win.
And he was putting the situation in the league against the bad boys and what he's trying to kill him against Baltimore's try to kill him. And you see the one against Monty where he's doing his nas on bird and whatever and he's fading. Even then the albumalks toward sixty points the mindset. If you talk about Monset, he's
got the best one. He's got maybe the best game, but he got the best one because if he didn't have the mindset, and Kobe followed that, you know, and I rank him in no order because of their their career, right, and Lebron would be next. And everybody said if Lebron doesn't have the same mindset, well he didn't have to because he's trogging anybody else. He can play with another five years. He canna stay in shade. I'm shooting jumpers six,
but I won't beat anybody else with him. You know, he got to be physical, you know, he gotta be fed I was, so. I hope he goes back to Cleveland win the championship there.
Yesterday they got a squad.
You go back and walking home, win the championship. That's gonna help his legacy. And he keep losing.
Childhood crush messed up. Oh you know, I didn't they I didn't have a high school girlfriend. I don't like that from last time.
But I had god named ed Exton with a friend of mine, Billy Exteon's son.
And I was in New York. I was in I'm playing the Knicks. You know, you gotta go there, you gotta play. He wants to take me the night before to a Whitney Houston concert. Whitney Houston concert.
I didn't go. Oh the next couple of days, she sent me all this stuff parapherneria, you know, Whitney din Yeah, in the house, and I had like.
The stand up thing and I would put it in the front window like somebody at home. And I met her later on, but I think, okay, great, but that is probably I want.
To slip up.
Come on, come on, fill the fire mess, go back and look at the pictures of her. She's beautiful. Okay.
She evolved Okay, yeah, she definitely evolved.
I agree.
I agree that little time, she wasn't always with it.
Which wi which the funniest teammates you ever had? And what team wasn't one man?
Rodney had had a good camraderie. We joked around a little bit in a bad situation with the Warrior Steve Offer. Really now, he wouldn't think he's funny, but he was because he knew he wasn't fast, he could shoot.
He was there and I'm just lucky to be in the league.
But he joked all them and we sit on the plane, we talked, shiped each other like big fun I'm not gonna play much to night anyway, so I'm gonna do all this tuff.
I'm gonna be a coach. He knew it gonna be a coach. So he was probably one of the most funny if.
Guys fall in that category.
Max wasn't on the on the team, said he wasn't on that team at that point in time. But but but Max fild in Houston. I'm done with the Warriors. Okay, Max for school. Max didn't jump at that time. No big fell come on, get some of that. And you had that dirty hook jump up.
He would make it.
And then Bill Switch was the coach, but he taught me a lot as well. But Max kept you laughing. All that's you do. That was the Houston and the sea was there. But Max, I'll call him when I leave her, right, like, Okay, your name came up.
But he's he's but he's solid. Yeah, I mean I ain't no, no no, And he'll go down. He'll go down with I love you, go down with you.
One guess you would like to see on our show, but you have to help us get your answer on the show.
One guest, excuse me, I had.
Mad this time?
Yeah, I mean you got that over three hundred shows, so you had a lot of guests. You had to like the Kareem No, That brother's got a lot of history, a lot of knowledge, and.
We both Muslim, so I want to meet him and talk to hi.
Yeah. We go to a family feud.
And Magic was supposed to go with Kareem and Magic said, I'm not doing that. So I happened to be in La and they called me, what you want to play against Kareem in the family feud? Sure, So they had two weeks call my kids, let's go, go, go, and we go. Steve Harvey's running a little bit late. So we in the green room.
And I don't call him Capital, call him capital this reason.
He's sitting in the corner with the blanket over his head, not talking to nobody, being kareem right, my family's away.
Whatever we do that boom boom all your head.
And I get a question and kind of if you go watch the show, get a question. And they asked, like what animal that bathed itself? And you know this first plas you know, family, Steve up there freaking joking with you, and like I said, a fish and they fucking fish.
Like a cat? Or do heth? And whatever?
So everybody laugh.
Whatever, So we down and then my kids come back and then we beat him and when the money we get the money in your city, in the hospital, we walk him back into the air to leave, and he pulled miss that big fellow, big fellow, two seven foot dude in a bathroom no bigger than a cracker box.
Oh, I need you to uh give the money to my charity, Like fuck you man, I'm not it's going to my thing. I'm not going.
You know, everybody plays you get five grand, but then you get another twenty five grand hit like I'm not doing all that, but he.
Should be, you know, he should be. He got stories.
I'll give you.
My favorite part. I'll be down one.
Ralph Man.
We appreciate you.
Congratulations on the amazing career success, the Hall of Fame life in general.
Man, Thank you.
He was just cool cool. I knew it.
Thank You'll love this.
Thank You's around with you and all the smoke productions in the Draft Kings Network.
See y'all next week. Mm hmmm.
Mm hmmmm.
Mm hmmm
Mm hmmm