Metta World Peace

if that's what you're into, we got you. If you're into musicians, we got Allen Black, we got Chuck Wicks, we got Hunter Hayes, we got Macy Gray, we got Tyler Rich, we got you. If you're into actors, and we got Brian Bumgarder from the Office, we got James Maslow, Emily Hampshire from Ship's Creek, Scott Eastwood from Well you Know.

If you're in the comics, Jack Tone from Glow, Phil Rosen thought All from Everybody Loves Raymond and Swell host of Somebody Feed, Phil Dave Koyer from Full House, Joe Coy, one of the biggest comics out there. And if you're into athletes, all right, we got you Victor Oladipo. Why not Psha Jennings. Okay? Then also today's guest, does he have a championship ring? Yeah? He does. Was he drafted in the first round sixteenth plus Chicago Bulls back? Yeah?

Did you play for the Pacers, the Kings, the Rockets, the Knicks and then eventually the team that won the championship the Lakers? Yeah he did. Was he on Dancing with the Stars. Is he known as one of the greatest defenders of all time? Yeah? Did he win Defensive Player of the Year back in two thousand four? Okay? Yes? Was he named an NBA All Star and earned all NBA honors? You know he did? Is he controversial? Was he a part of the Malice at the Palace? Yeah

he was. He's done it all. Very excited for this episode because today in the Wells Cast we have meadow World Peace or run our test. I guess if you have been key paping up with his name change? Stick around, guys, This one is uh good one, all right, back in the Wells Cast. Uh A little starstruck right now? This is kind of crazy, but we've got the man, the myth, the legend, champion metal world piece on the show. How

are you man? Yeah, everything is great. Anything having to your show, Yeah, man, I've been a fan of yours for a very long time, followed your career around. Sad to see that you're not in the league anymore, but I guess that's just kind of what happens. We're all getting older, unless you're Tom Brady. I mean, you know, I'm only um, so I think I could have still been playing when you're getting older. It just depends on

the opportunity. And tom Brady's taking advantage of you know, being on the big stage, um, having access to the you know, some of the best um wellness, health and wellness and really, um not take it for granted him. Only guys like Lebron James and mis Carta, they're not taking it for granted. I read something somewhere that Tom Brady has never had coffee, like doesn't eat any sugar, And I get it, and that makes sense as to why, like he can keep on going the way he does.

But do you think that's worth it? Like? Is that a life to live? I think so? I mean, because you gotta pick something, right, I mean you can choose a good burger or you can choose a good NFL career, you know, and either one is good. Right. I don't know if you saw, but Tom Brady, I think finally like let loose a little bit recently and was celebrating his win. And I gotta be honest with you, like,

I think it's easy to hate someone that good. You know, it was such like a squeaky clean image and him looking like he was a bit turned up on a boat. I think was the most relatable thing I've ever seen of Tom Brady. And I loved it. I thought it was great. I've seen a little clip of it and I just thought it was great. I mean, we just enjoy yourself and I mean, what a what a great time, right, what a great time to beat? To be Tom Brady, you've won a championship. Would you ever throw the trophy

from one boat to another? Well, I think it's like you do things and you know, spontaneous, right, I probably would have. Who knows, Right, You're in the water and you want to see like if your teammates can catch it, and you obviously have confidence in yourself, you you're definitely not gonna drop the football, right, he never has, so if anybody's gonna throw football is gonna be time. I was reading up on you and I saw that you've

got kind of a new cool sports app. Tell everyone about X verse X. Yeah, versus X sports is a way for basketball enthusiastic connect um. If you have any gyms and basketball gyms out there, definitely signed up to the app. Adget gym. A lot of people think right now, because it's Covid, you can't really play basketball, But on our app is okay. You can actually market your gym, and then when covid opens back up, you canna inflect

the traffic for basketball players. You can be a recreational basketball player or you could be an elite basketball player, male or female. Sign up to the app, create your own games, invite users in fight friends, and then you get a chance to crack the leaderboard and actually see if you're the best in your area. What happens if you're the best in the area. Well, if you're the

best in your area is bragging rights. You also get a chance to get invited to some of the best games, so you can continue to build your record up in your area. But it's also showcase games, and a lot of people think Showcase Games is only elite basketball players, but that's not true. We also have recreation, Showcase games, co ed Showcase games, Female Showcase uh, semipro games, pro games, m college intramurals, all sorts of levels that fits your needs.

Are you playing in any of these pickup games? I do? I do? I play sometimes. I played a lot early, but being a startup basketball tech company, I had to take a long break from playing because we're not hiring tons of people is being a well startups, So I had to take on product manager role and project manager role on all sites of all types of other roles. So I wasn't able to play for like the last

few months. You know that copperfeit commercial or like a pick up football game and then all of a sudden, Brett Farven Jerry Rice show up and they're like they stacked the deck. I can only imagine that's what happens if you show up to a pickup game. Well, you know, I try to be fair, you know, and I try to you know, be easy and play according to the to the skill level out there, but sometimes you know,

people want me to do more and do more. I can't dunk anymore like I used to, but I'm trying to get back, so hopefully in the year I'll be dunking the game. So can anyone do this or is it just for really good basketball players and just for guys? Like how does this work? Is for anyone? Co Ed games? When you create a game you want, you can invite uh females to coed game if you're a male. If you're a female, you can do all women games or co ed games five on five. If you want indoor outdoor,

you just follow the steps. Is really easy invite players. And the main thing is got you start the game and complete the game. That's the main thing is if you want to crack the lead aboard. If you don't complete the game, it's only gonna show the game that you played. You want to show the game at you want also and reds and then how do you denote like your skill level. It's all community based, so when people go to your profile, is important to post a picture.

Some people just build a profile and you just want to play, post a picture of yourself and then also posted video of you playing basketball. And then whoever's making up a game, they're gonna go to your profile and they're gonna look at you and you can do the same thing, so you don't know the exact type of players you're playing with. It's pretty smart. I mean, I don't know if you're a golf enthusiast, but I am, and I feel like golf has done this for a

long time. You create a handicap and people can see what your handicap is. It kind of makes it available for everyone to be able to play the sport. And I think it's a super smart idea for you to get on board with this. And there's a park right on the street from us in the Studio city, and it's always these pickup games and it always seems very very unorganized, and there's you know, there's always like one fat guy who probably shouldn't be there, and then there's

like young kids who are just balling out. And so this is a smart idea. Everyone needs to go download this, especially you're a basketball fan. Apple Store, Google Play and it's called X versus X, right, so it's X vs X sports. Yes, absolutely. I remember when I first started um doing the beta, so I was about three d seven pounds. Is like working all the way from to fifty when I played into my prime, I got all the way down to to seventy just about playing basketball

right and and building friendships and joining our community. So the app is bigger than just you know, getting on the leaderboard and also it's very healthy for you and it's also helping you build relationships. Did you come up with this? Is this like your thing or did they bring you on board and knowing they needed you know, kind of some basketball star power. Well, just being uh, just being inspired by a lot of other tech companies and things that's going on. Yes, this is my idea.

I'm a founder, but I did have a lot of help. Um. I did have a lot of help thinking through the process on how to build a basketball you know, real basketball tech company. Um. And right now we're still in the start up phase and I see a lot of companies out there trying to do the same thing. They're doing a great job. So shout out to everyone in

the space. But I'm having a really good time. If people want to find out more about x verse x sports app, where they go, they can go to x verse x sports dot com so that's x vs X sports dot com. You can also follow us on all social media at X versus X Sports, you can direct message, So if you want to play in the game and you don't really feel comfortable with who you're you're seeing or playing with, you can direct message the game host um.

Each game has its own group chat so you can say, Hey, I'm gonna have fifty, I'm gonna win, or what's the address? How do I get there? So each game has its own group chat um. And then you also have an opportunity to post on the feed, so each profile has

a feed. This is a really uh you know, cutt and edge, you know, modern innovative social media social component basketball enthusiast applications, So please please have fun when you download it, free to sign up, and so many great things that a lot of celebrities on their professor is on their formula, YouTube subscribers, Bone collectors on their um seven and some change. He was in the movie with Semi pro Will Farrell or seven ft He's in He's

on there. Chris Staples everybody hates Chris is on there. Jim Bandy's on there. A lot of influences on there. Actually reach out to the influences because they love to play basketball and actually invite mama, do Mama do with seven seven? He loves to play basketball. The next thing you gotta do is you gotta somehow link it to Venmo so they can have money games then have an

easy way to pay out. Well, if you go on the app right now, you'd be surprised if you'll see something you just said there some things already you gotta Yeah, you can't stop people from betting X versus X sports app. You can download it now at the Apple Store, Google Play, follow them and then X versus X sports dot com Is that right? That's right? And challenge me if you want all right? This is a great idea. Man, I'm

super impressed. And anyone who's a basketball enthusiast and or just wants to get out there and play and get better, they need to download this app. Very very cool. I don't know if anyone told you what this show is all about, but I'm all about origin stories. I find it fascinating to see how people who are extremely successful got to where they are. If you've got a couple of minutes, I'd like to uh to go back and find out where Metal World Peace came from and how

the hell you got here? All right, quick, bright, we come back. Metal World Peace here on the Weals Cast. Alright, We're back on the Weals Cast. So excited to have metal World Peace on the show. I've been a big fan of yours for a long time, so long I

remember when you went by completely different name. Now, even though you can't see metal World Peace playing in the association today, you can possibly play against him on a court near you with his new app X versus x Sports you downloaded at the Apple Store and Google Play, and basically it's a marketplace for everyone out there who loves to play basketball pickup games to connect and go out and play, which I think is super smart. And kudos to you for kind of pivoting over from being

a jock to the tech world. It's probably not a super easy thing to do. Yeah, I bet man, you know you're not a Silicon Valley nerd. I'm sure it's hard to convince a bunch of those guys to figure this out, but you did it, so congratulations. I want to figure out how the hell you got here, so let's go back to the beginning. Where are you from? Yeah, well, I'm from Long Island City, Queensbridge. I was born in Queens, New York City, and I was actually born in a

New York City hospital. Did you come from a big family? Your big family? Ten siblings and we have fortys and nephews and uh yeah, really big family. Jesus Okay, So where do you fall in the birth order? I'm right in the middle. Um. I got three older sisters, one older brother, and then one to three younger sisters and three younger brothers. He got a count bro Was the

family a big athletic family? Well, my dad was. My dad was a boxing and the ball is a He spent most of his time, you know, trying to pursue boxing, but a lot of time playing basketball. And he had a good right hand. I don't think he had a great job, That's what he says. He also he also was a strong right driver. He he didn't have much of a left hand or he could really shoot. Were you all playing basketball like growing up? Yeah? Definitely. I

started at eight years old. I started taking a serious at about ten, but I started at eight. You know playing basketball. Is anyone else in your family fantastic basketball player as well? Well? Daniel Test is a fantastic basketball player. He almost went pro. Um, I thought he was better than me at one point. Um, you know, but things got to fall into place and then my two sons played basketball, Gronau Tests and Ronald Tests. You're growing up in Queen's Bridge, New York. You are one of you say,

eleven kids. Okay, how did it start? Was your dad like, We're gonna go play some basketball? Is this is how like the whole pickup thing started with you. It started about just going outside, so doing to Queen's Bridge. You know, a nazis from mom d Roxton Shyn said mc ship. All the great amazing rappers are from from this one neighborhood.

So it started out by like just going outside. And then when you go outside, you see people playing basketball, you're playing tag, you're playing on the monkey bars, doing different things like that. Then when you see the courts, it's really hard to make it on the court, especially back in nineteen or eighty nine when everyone was outside playing,

no social media. So you know, when you're trying to make it on the court, you just want to have a good time, and you take that first shot and you dribble the ball and you realize, I'm really bad at it. I can't even put the ball through my legs and then you start lane. But my dad wanted me to continue to play because he thought it was a really good outlet for me. So I just kept playing. And when I was about eleven and twelve, I was actually able to stop playing with the men a little bit.

I was able to stop fitting in. How tall are you at eleven or twelve? Eleven or twelve? I think I was about five eleven maybe, maybe about five five eleven maybe twelve years old? Probably six ft maybe? And how tall are you now? Five and a half? Okay, so you're twelve years old playing with grown ass men um in New York? How long until you realized I should probably focus on this because I'm really good? You know what. It wasn't that because I was really good.

It was just it was fun. You know when you're a kid, just find something that you love and you just do it. You know, like girls want to do dance team, they want to do drill, they want to Chile. Guys wanna you know, you maybe play video games or you know some guys want to you know, play tennis out at early It's just just like what do you love? Right? And it was more about just every day, getting better shots is going in now. Oh now I can put it through my legs. Oh now, I'm a basketball player

on the basketball court. I'm one of the best on this court at my age. And that type of stuff is exciting. So you just keep getting better. You just keep getting better. And you don't know one day you're gonna play against somebody from Ohio, somebody from Germany, right, somebody from Brooklyn. You don't you're not even thinking about that. You're thinking about your one little area. And then when you start to leave your area, it's like, wow, other

people are really good, just like me. So imagine you know when I keep going it so now it's like at that point, it's like, okay, I gotta keep getting better. So about the age of twelve thirteen, I just kept working, kept working. About the age of about the age of fifteen, I said, oh, woll I might have a chance to go. I just kept working, kept working. Okay, So when you're like twelve or thirteen, are you getting recruited by basketball

camps and boys leagues? How does that work? I felt with their team definitely, local teams, local leagues, the best basketball camp amps, and you know, and getting invited everywhere about that age. Yeah, do you remember some breakout stars from back then? But like so from my era was I'm forty one and Lebron's thirty six. That's a different

eraors what he's thirty seven or something. So then IRA was like lamar hold him um, oldest step from Marlbury, oldest skip to my lotule ray for Austin, the oldest sham guard wells um. Then you had I ran across passed with Kobe Bryant and Providence Richard Hamilton was on that team, I think also, and then I um in the Ohio A Nike camp Baron Davis played against Baron Davis and the Colline Twins Shake Cotton um. And then I played with Elton Brown Lama old him and Eric

Barkley home in New York City. And then Tracy McGrady actually was in our class, but I never played against Tracy in high school. I never never seen Tracy in high school with the same exact age, same exact class. But I don't know, I don't know how we never played against each other. Looking back, when you were at those A A U camps or whatnot, who did you think was going to be like the next Michael Jordan's. Well,

you know, there's a lot of guys is um. There's a guy named Jaren Rush who we don't we probably don't know, but his brothers played in the NBA, Kareem Rush and Brandon Rush, and a lot of people don't know their brother. I thought their brother was the best at all the Russias, but they had way along the Koreans. He didn't even make it to the NBA, but he was really talented. Then you had guys like um Tavares

Bell from Queens, New York City, who get half. He used to get his shoulders over the rim high school. It was insane. A couple of guys I didn't making like uh like Buggas Smith from Brooklyn, talented player. You know, you have Charles Jones who went to Chicago Bulls one year. So many, so much great talent that you know, didn't quite make it to the NBA, but amazing basketball was. So you're playing at like a a U ball. You go to let Sal Academy, right were you recruited to

go play ball there? Losal Academy. So I was actually gonna go to mcclancy High School, which was in Queens and I played for a guy named Artic Cox who was at UM. He was at mcclancy and so when he left the clancy in Queens and then I went to Then I went to Losal. I was recruited to go to Losal Academy, but I was almost at mcclancy. And initially UM, I was gonna go to a I wanted to go to a public school called Long Island City Public School. And the reason was because we had

so much great talent. It was me Reggie Jesse. Reggie Jesse was from my neighborhood. UM went to St. John. We went to St John's together same year. And then also Eric Chaffield, Eric Chaftfield, I went to high school with Eric Chatfield from my neighborhood. We went twenty seven and old senior year in high school won the title. And then Eric Chaffield's brother Mike Chaffield was the best and but he went to jail at the out about sixteen years old. So were waiting for him to come

out of jail. But he didn't come out of jail, so we so I had to say average go to another school. If he would have been out of jail, I probably would have went to Long Island City High School to play with Mike Chaftfield, but he later he later died um in a bad a drug transaction that went really bad. But but an amazing basketball player. You went seven and oh at LaSalle, Were you the best player on that team? Um? I was probably the best

player on the team. I was average. Eric Chatfield was averaging twenty two and we have maybe one other player that was average, maybe eighteen or fifteen. Well, yeah, I was probably the best player on that team. And then me and Elton Brown we got a player of the year. We shared a player of the Year in New York City. Take me back to your high school kid, Like when I was in high school, was an idiot, But I wasn't this completely dominant sports figure where people were telling me, Hey, listen,

you've got a future in this. You can go you can get a free college degree with this, you can probably play in the league. It's gotta be hard to keep your nose clean knowing all that, Were you cognizant of what your future could be and making smart decisions then, or you still like everyone else in high school, being kind of a diption. I was mostly focused on the court. But I wasn't really worried about like not making those days.

But I was definitely like training hard. All I cared about was training hard and just pretty much being true to myself. But I was definitely locked there. Now, what is your dad saying at this point? You know, he was this athlete as well, He's got this kid who's a crazy talent on the basketball court. What is what are your parents saying at this point? They're like, don't screw this up. They didn't really know what's happened. He just kept seeing stories in the paper, stories in the paper,

stories in the paper. Right, But it wasn't nothing where they it wasn't trying to say, okay, well I might have a son that's going pro. It's time to start nurturing him. And they just let me be. I never had any issues with my parents over you know, getting in my life. Um, you know now that I was, you know, taking it to the next level. So you're playing with Elton brand lamar Odom and you go twenty seven and know is it that your senior year in high school? You went to twenty seven and O, yeah,

senior year. I know, senior in high school. He's twenty seven and oh it was one game, and then you get recruited to go play at Saint John's. Yes, didn't get recruited to go to St. John's. I almost went to Miami University. That was actually my first choice, but then something happened that day. I got into paper that I had lunch. It was really stupid, but I had lunch or dinner with a coach and a long time ago.

They put it out in the paper. And then I was scared to go to Miami because I didn't want to sit out for a year. So then I went to St. John's. So you go to St. John's, what are you majoring in? Well, when I was on my college visits, visited North of Dame or Miami University, and those two schools because they had the best architect program.

I only wanted to visit was with architect programs. But St. John's being in New York City, I mean, they didn't have an architect program, but there was things you could

have done. And then I visited Miami of Ohio because there was a guy from my neighborhood that was coaching in Miami, Ohio, and Wally Zerbiak was at Miami Gohier and I love Wali Zerbiak, and then um Providence was because sham Guard Wills was that Providence, so and I played with Shamgard Willis in high school, so I almost wanted to go play with sham Guard Wills that Providence, but Sham actually went to the NBA the next year, and then um, I pretty much just went to St. John's.

But my whole goal was to be an architect. That's what I really wanted to do. Um, Notre Dame, they really, I mean, I just just Notre Dame as a grade school. I only visit there once. I played against them, but they really were supportive when I was going there, and I was telling them how much I want to be an architect, even though I'm not the greatest student, but I really want to try. And then the same thing

with Miami. Miami was probably even a little bit better from that standpoint because they took me through the program and really took it serious. And when I went to St. John's, I was telling them I want to be an architect, but um, they didn't really have the program, but to St. John's credit, they was trying to make it where I can eventually pursue architecture, and they definitely tried their best, and they set me out with some really amazing classes.

But it was just so hard, um, you know, gating up at five on the cut to practice and then focusing on these architect classes. It was like, really really difficult, so I had to drop it. How many years were you at Saint John's. I was there for two years and then what didn't you go straight to the league? Saint John Ali two years and went to the NBA.

I was about nineteen. I was nineteen when I got drafted, played my first game at nineteen, but then I turned twenty November third team, so it was cool to be an NBA. The nineteen as a nineteen were pretty cool. Looking back. Do you wish you had stayed in college longer or you think that you made the right decision to go. I think I made the right decision. It was time. I was playing well, uh and I wasn't averaging a lot, but I was playing really, really well,

so I thought it was the right time. You drafted sixteen by the Bulls. Who was drafted above you? Elton Brand with number one away for three years you know in high school amazing then Number two was Stephen Francis. Number three was um Baron Baron Davis, Baron Davis. Then mar Olden with number four to the Clippers. Number five was UM, I think Sean Marrion. I think it was Shawn Marry number five, and then number six was it could have been Richard Hamilton's UM or Corey mcgetty one

of those guys. UM. I know Corey was in the top ten. While he was in the top ten, and then UM, I think William Avery might have been somewhere in there. Then you had Trajan Langdon. You have Trajan Langdon was in there, and then you had Frederick Weiss from Overseas. He was He went to the next fifteen and it was couple. It was like two other people that went in front of me. I can't remember exactly who it was. I was impressed that you even remember

that many people. But going back, that was a really stacked draft class. I mean it was stacked. I thought it was a really good class. Um. The only the only thing it wasn't a lot of champion from that class, but a lot of class x UM and I played with a lot of them in my high school and stuff. I thought we was a tough class. You know. I thought we could deal with anyone. Obviously, you had a

lot of great classes, like Michael Jordan, Lebron James. But you know we had lamar Odom, we have Elton Brand, Baron Davis. You know, we got it. It was a tough class. Richard Hamilton's I read somewhere that you like applied for a job at Circuit City while you were playing for the Bulls. Is that true? Yeah, definitely. I thought when I was nineteen years old, it was just trying to stay out of trouble, you know. So I figured I just try to get a job. And I

was at my friend was working at Circuit City. He was saying with us, and I just did I apply for my job? And I thought nothing of it. I always like, always like, you know, to try to you know, uh, stay as normal as possible, you know. So with that being said, I felt like working at Service City was something that you know, anyone would do. You know, that's something somebody would do it. So I didn't feel like I was too good to work at Service City. But

you were in the NBA. Yeah, I was in then there, I was in the air. I was gonna be. I had nothing to I mean, I mean I was playing video games a lot. I was training. I was training a lot. Like you know, I'm at the gym a hour or two hours after practice, right, and then when you get home, it's just like, okay, what do you do? Right? I mean at nineteen years old, you don't really know, like, Okay, let's go and have lunch, let's go have a dinner,

let's come home. Right. It's not you're not thinking like that at nineteen years old, like this is life. Life is supposed to be about just me enjoying the relaxed. It's like, hey, what's next. Something has to be happening. Right now it's PM and I'm doing nothing. Yeah, But back home, I was like, I'll be outside, right, So back home in New York, I'll be outside my friends chilling, talking, talking, talking, talking, and then you go then you go upstairs. Right. And

that was just like eighteen seventeen years old. So I had to I had to figure out something to do. So were do you? Were you an actual employee at Turgus City. Yeah, I filled out everything. I filled out that my employement form. I don't know the gentleman, who's the general Marriager. But I filled it out, chucked it in and I actually worked one day and that once people found out I was working, it kind of got a little bit that met around tests working at Surguit City.

It was on the it was on the Chicago Tribune. So I just stopped working. Well, did you at least get to take advantage of some like employee discounts for that one? Yeah, I got some discounts off everything you buy, so DVDs, I just wrapped up DVDs. You played for a lot of different organizations. I mean you started with the Bulls, but like I feel like I know you as a pace here, like that's Michael Keaton is my

batman and like you to me are a pacer. But you played for the Kings, You played for the Rockets. Obviously you win your championship here in Los Angeles. I think the Knicks as well. Where does META identify with the most in terms of my best season? What I worked for my whole life? Um, just being able to play well, I would say, Um, Indiana, the Yeah, I got Defensive Player of the Year, Like as an individual, that's what I worked for. You as a champion, obviously,

the Lakers. You know, I worked, but I wanted to be a champion. Also. I wish I could combined it, you know, defensive Player of the Year, champion, Allstar, all this stuff in one year. But it worked out. It was spread it out, and I'm really grateful him. Who was the greatest player you ever played with? The greatest player I would played with. I would have to be between Kobe and Yaming. I think, um, I you see, I played Reggie Miller also, but I played with Reggie Miller,

but he got older. He was still really good actually, but obviously he was like eighteen years or sixteen years in the NBA. He was still really good. Um, but yeah, I played with him. But I think, like Y'allming, Um yeah, Ming was so dominant. I never played with someone so dominant like that. It was just really it was just really it was just crazy to see, like you can't stop him, no one, no matter what you do, you

can't stop him. And he's so skilled and so smooth at three hundred and fifty pounds seven six just like unreal. You're kind of known as a defensive guy who is like the player that you kind of modeled your game after, or like looked up to. I would say, um, um, Gary Payne, Dennis Robman, Michael Jordan's. Um, those three guys. I used to watch them. How did they play defense? And then Gary was both ends. Gary can give you

twenty five and he can shut you down. He wont to call Michael Jordan's and then Michael Jordan could give you fifty or forty and shut you down. And I was just like, this is how you win. And I just watched those guys a lot, and I all often try to like play like those guys sometimes. And then Dennis Robert, his hustle not necessarily has rebounded because when I was a sophomore in high school, I did rebound like him. When I got older, I stopped rebounding as much.

I think mainly mainly because I was guarding the criminal a lot. So I'm not I'm not down to get rebounds a lot. But his hustle, his passion, you know it just I just loved him. You're a quirky guy. Dennis Robman is known as a quirky guy. Is there some sort of correlation between a personality types and being a shutdown defensive guy in the NBA? Now, I mean not really, I think Dennis Robbin with somebody that I just loved, And I mean it all depends on the idol.

Like Dennis Robbin, in my eyes, was just the greatest person. I still is, you know what I'm saying. And I didn't necessarily wanted to be like him in certain ways, but I did, but I just did things differently. But in terms of basketball, somebody that I really adalyzed, you know, it was It was definitely definitely him. Of all the teams played on, obviously, the Lakers winning a championship was

probably the pinnacle of your professional career. But was there another team that you played on that you thought was that that could have and should have one championship that didn't well the pace of team that I got to spend it, that was a championship team, I believe on that Rocket team. When y'all uh the yeah, y'all mean broke his foot in Game three, I thought we had a chance to win it. I mean we beat them game one, um, and yeah, I mean brix his foot

of changes everything. It went to Game seven and Tracy McGrady didn't even play, you know, so and Tracy plays, who knows what happens then we I think that was another year, the year we got swept by um the Dallas Mavericks. I mean they beat us game one and we was up seven point in the first one minute ago in the game. I thought that was our year also, but then they beat us a game one, and then they beat us a game to the same way. I mean, we're up, so then now we're down, oh to going

to Dallas. I felt like if it was even even if we had one game, maybe things could have been different. I feel like that team was a really good team. I was really surprised we didn't win it that year, but Dallas just played so well and we're callout. We're callouts is such a great coach. I mean, it's really hard to beat with callout, you know, so almost wishing we did, almost wish we didn't play Dallas. So earlier. You just mentioned your suspension, which obviously is tied to

the mouth the Palace, that whole fiasco. You've probably talked about that ad nauseum, but I don't really need to go into it other than the fact that you received the largest suspension in NBA history eighties six games, seventy three regg season games, thirteen playoff games. Looking back, do you think that that was even close to a justified number to put you out? I mean, it's look at you know what I'm saying, Like I didn't want to be out that long, and I didn't want that whole

day to happen, and it happened. I wish it didn't happen, you know. I wish I just wish that they would never have happened, because I mean, I wanted to play basketball. But you know, it happened for a reason. And uh, you know, it just wasn't meant for me to to have a great season. It wasn't meant for It was just wasn't meant to be. I wish it was meant to be. I wish I wish I could have just kept planning. I was average in twenty four point five. It was like it was the most I ever average

of my career. And I was hoping I can keep it going, you know, and but it just wasn't meant to be. I probably wasn't ready for that moment. But when you went to Los Angeles, it was meant to be. You won a title. Do you still have the ring? Do you wear it like how does that work? I don't have the ring because I always wanted to wring the ring in Indiana, my friends ring. I always wanted it to be at Indiana, So that ring out just pretty much Ralph it off for charity for mental health

institutions and different things like that. I'm, you know, just being competitive. You know, I work for something I wanted and if I don't get it, I'm just not satisfied, which a little bit obsessive. Um, but you know, since I didn't win it, I felt like it was a failure because I always felt like I wanted to be the best. And when you work for something and if you set goals and you don't reach those goals, like, how do you feel? Do you feel okay with that?

I don't feel okay. I didn't feel okay that I didn't get the ring. How I wanted to get the ring. Although it's not that wasn't grateful, because I really was. It was just another competitive nature in me that kicked in that felt like I didn't accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. You raffled off your championship ring. How much

did you get for it? When we raised six hundred and sev dollars, you know, and then so six seventy one thousand dollars behind an intern from Nashville to find about he went through about a thousand UM institutions, uh, to see which institutions will be gonna investing, I mean, you're gonna donate to. So then we paid the intern I think it made it pay him maybe thirty grade

or something. UM, a couple of some more paperwork, and then uh, the actual platform that we used, gave them ten percent, and then the rest of the money went to UM program in Cleveland. I went to a program in Arkansas, New York City, l A. And Indiana. Yeah, Indiana. I wish we had more cash to disperse, but you know, we just gave all the money away. I mean, that's an amazing story. And good for you for being an

ally too. To mental health in general. That's just a lot of money, and I'm sure it did a whole lot of good. I'm running out of time with you, but before I let you go, I didn't want to know did you enjoy doing Dancing with the Stars. I enjoyed it, man, I mean I did enjoy I did. I did a lot of different things on television and stuff, and Dancing Went to Star was one of my favorite. It was really different. It was really hard. You got a train for five hours. Um, I can't want to

do the training. So I was the first one off the show. But I had a great time. I'm really I really appreciate it that they brought me on. I mean, other than developing apps and going on reality TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and stuff, what's something that you haven't done that you want to do? Well? You know, right now, I've done everything I want to do in life, I think, Um, for the most part, just continue to

get better at different things. And I'm really enjoying basketball, although like it could be frustrated and doing a new startup because there's a lot that goes into it, a lot of things you want to see to go go right. But at the end of the day, when you get on that basketball court, you bring people together and they just out there competing. I'm just so lucky that I'm

able to be in basketball. I'm so grateful, you know, And a lot of it has to do with the NBA, because you know, I choose to do what I do. But I'm so grateful that I'm down this path in basketball, like I couldn't have wrote this any better. And everyone can be involved in basketball just going through your app with the X versus X Sports app you can get at the Apple Store or or at Google Play. Before I let you go, you got some time for some

rapid fire questions. Absolutely all right, rapid fire questions of metal world piece, favorite pizza topping, chicken, mushrooms onion. Who was your first kiss? Uh? My first, the mother of my children, first mother of my children. Good for you man. What was the first concert you went to? Oh? Eminem concert when I was nineteen years old in Chicago. First job you ever had, first job packing bags in Queensbridge

for thirty five dollars a week after. The first car you ever owned was suburban of black, suburban n When I went to the NBA. Who's the most famous person in your cell phone? The most famous person in my cell phone? All my context is gone? Was good. I don't know what happened, but um for the most famous person in my cell phone? Maybe Elton Brandlam allowed him. Baron Davis was the first record cassette or c D owned. Probably s w V A. Mary J. Blige, one of

those two favorite super ear o favorite superhero. Oh, Mr Manhattan, we're the superstition you have. I don't really have any anymore. I used to when I play, but I have none no more. I literally don't have any What's one thing that's always in your fridge? I try to keep Nato beans Japanese beans. Do you believe in soulmates? Yes? I did believe in man When you were younger or single, did you have a celebrity crush and if so, who

was it? Now? I think my celebrity crush was. I would say it was Brandy, Demi Moore and Halley Berry. I always always like watching when I was when I was like a young boy, just watching their movies and over and over again. And last one, if you could go back in time to play at your peak, your prime, and you could play anyone, a dead or alive. Who would you want to play against in a one on one matchup? Probably Nice because he's just so big and strong.

Metal World Peace. It's an honor to get to talk to you. Been a big fan for a very long time. Thanks for taking the time. Everyone out there, go down the X versus Sex Sports app, Apple play Store, Google Play, People want to follow you on social media where they need to go experts, exports. Actually that's my social media platform. I'm met a world seven. Thank you so much for taking the time. Is there anything else you want to

talk about and promote before I let you go? Thanks for having me to your show, Man much success to you, just thanks for having me to your show and giving me a platform. Thank you. Yeah, buddy, good luck with everything, and try to stay sane in this crazy pandemic world we've got going on. I know, say here all right, see Bude Living