What up dies your boy Al Harrington and check me out on the Bootleg cav podcast Talking Everything by Yola who check us.
Out Boulet CAV Show Special guests in here, NBA legend grew up watching this guy. Al Harrington is here, bab hey man, good to see you, bro, Thanks for having me Dougs the Cannabis. I would like to we're just telling you off camera, but you're like one of the og guys who really got into the weed game, and like did it the right way. You just celebrated ten
years almost two years ago. Now that's crazy, yeah, bro, So, I mean we've seen a lot of celebrities come and go in the weed space, right, Like I was just thinking about this the other day, Like me and my boy were talking about like jay Z's weed. We're like, what happened to that?
Right?
What happened to jay Z's weed? Like it was an announcement, it was this big deal and then it just went away, right, you know what I mean? But like, I feel like you've done such a great job of just like diving in obviously see being a smoker, coming from the background you come from, like for you, Like, how does it feel to kind of look back, you have a as Your WE'D career almost matched your NBA career.
Almost, bro almost. I'm at I'm at twelve in the week game and I played sixteen. Wow, so I'm getting close. But I think the first thing is like, I never considered my brand a celebrity brand, right, you know what?
I So that's what's crazy is you kind of did do a little diving in to be like, oh, our hiringtens behind it.
It was never led. That was never the intention, right right. The attention was always about my grandmother and really about just you know, the benefits and changing the stigma around.
Your grandma's name. My grandmother's Okay, so that makes sense, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the story goes pretty much. I had she had come to see me play. She was, you know, taking all this medication. Ask so why. She gave me a list of things. One of the things she said was glaucoma. I told her about an article I was reading literally two days before she got there, about how cannabis cured glacoma patients. She asked me, what's cannabis?
I said, maryl want to weed. She laughed so hard, she was like, reefa you're trying to give me to smoke brief And I was like, well grandma, they said doctors. She's like no. The next day she comes I come home from shooting around and she's complaining, saying how she can't see. So I said, look, just try. This would be our secret. I won't tell nobody this, me and you,
just you and me. You know, I was saying, I have my boy go to dispensary, bought some Vietnam cush was the strain that we brought back, had her try it. I took her downstairs.
Where were you playing at the time, I.
Was playing in Denver, going you know what I'm saying. So I took her downstairs. I went to my nap A hour and a half later. I had smoked weed at one time in my life and it was in Phoenix, and I was so paranoid that night. I was like, I never smoked weed again. That ass so like, fuck weed. I don't know why y'all smoke this shit type thing. So I said, to make sure she's not going down to you know, she's not dealing with the same thing.
I go downstairs, knock on the door. I don't hear nothing, so I'm like, well, she must be knocked out, so I knock again, and I just opened the door. But when I opened the door, she's sitting at the edge of the bed and her back to the door. She's looking down. So I said, Grandma, how you feeling? And she she turns around and she's crying to She says, I'm healed. She said, you know, I haven't been able to read the words of my Bible went over three and a half years.
Wow.
So I was like what she was like, everything is so bright, Like God gave me my sight back. So that's what inspired me to learn about cannabis and pretty much, you know, eight months later, I made my first investment. I bought a building in Colorado, and I started growing as a caregiver. So all the patients that I had either had like HIV or cancer, and whatever was left over that we didn't give to them, we sold to dispensaries.
Wow.
And that's how I got started, you know what I'm saying. So it's always been about amazing, It's always been about her. It's always been about the power of the plant for me, you know what I'm saying. Not you know, I still to this day haven't put anything with my image on it, my name on it for sure. For sure, it's all been about the plant.
You know.
Yeah, it's crazy. I didn't. So what are the benefits of like someone has HIV of cannabis, Because I'm.
Just saying it helps with like pain, appetite, you know what I'm saying, because they deal with a lot of appet for you. Sure what I'm saying. Define the appetite is one of the biggest things. You know what I'm saying.
Yo, it's crazy. Tell me. Okay, so you get high in Phoenix because that's where I'm you. Guys played the Suns that night.
So this is the reason, this is the reason why I got hogh bro. So I'm playing for Golden State.
Okay.
So the year before we had just were we believed team. Yeah, we had knocked off Dallas, Right, So the next year we come back better. We think, we really think we're gonna win a championship that year, right. So things that happened during throughout that season, like we had an opportunity to trade for Kevin Garnett, right, and they did not fucking make it. Katie the kid, Brandon fucking the kid that we drafted from North Carolina. They went like a
draft pick. They weren't like young players, right, So it was gonna trade all these players for him. They were nagging the trade we ended.
Up, but the Warriors said no.
The Warrior said no, Bro, So we ended up bringing in Chris Webber. Okay, so Chris Webber comes in. But you know, at this point, Chris was a shell of himself. Ship shout out to the o G.
The injuries really cooked him at the end, Bro.
He ends up playing like twelve games for us, right, and out of those twelve games, we ended up winning like four out of four out of the twelve games. So come down to the end of the season, we need to win all the games to make the playoffs, right, So we last game of the season, we all we had to do was beat Phoenix. We knew we was gonna beat Phoenix because we had Monte Ellis who used to he averaged forty, but he averaged forty on Steve Nash. It was literally like give him the ball and let
him bust Steve Nash the greatest. Like literally, that's how we beat them every game that year. Just gave Monte the ball, let him So we knew we were gonna win, you know what I'm saying. But we needed the Clippers to beat Denver.
Oh so you you even if you won, you didn't control your destiny.
Right, we just need But the night before though, we still so the night before the game, we need Denver. Excuse me, we need the Clippers to beat Denver.
And this isn't good Clippers.
This is not good Clippers. So obviously they lose. So now our season's over. Even if we win the game, it doesn't matter, right, So everybody's frustrated. You know, we thinking we're gonna build off of last year and you know, bearing well, you know, we got a good team, you know what I'm saying. And everybody they just start smoking. So they like, So I'm sitting in there and I'm having a drink. They're like, bro, you gotta smoke, dog, Like,
come on, the season over, Bro, it's over. Like smoke. Yeah, So I smoke or whatever, And like I said, like thirty forty five minutes later, Bro, I'm like, and I'm like, I'm gonna go to my room.
Yeah.
And I went to the room. Bro, I just felt like the room was closing the end of me. I felt like I was here at Sirens. I was just bugget you know what I'm saying. I didn't even go out that night like we go we know, we go out everywhere. I don't even go out. I was like, I'm done. Just so that was my first experienced smoking weed, you know what I'm saying. So I was like, I'm cool.
And obviously you know that was weed from the bay, so you know it was something some real real It was some you know what I'm saying, not for somebody's first time, for sure what I'm saying.
So it just melted your face off and turned you.
Oh I was finished?
So you do you smoke now? I smoke every day. Oh good, I'm at right now to you. Yeah, bro, it's kind of crazy too because like did you see this recent clip of Patrick Beverly saying less than half of the league or no more than half of the league doesn't enjoy playing basketball. They're just in it for the money essentially, right, do you like? I feel like with like your era, it wasn't that way. I don't know, like And also do you like did you see did you see the clips?
I saw it? I saw it.
What do you think about that?
I think he. I mean when you kind of look at what's going on, you kind of believe it, right for sure. I say that is just because the fact that they take all these rest days, just like you know, like to your point, our era, bro, like every game meant something right, every fucking game and something right. You understand what I'm saying, Like our mindsets was like every game determined, playoff, seating, all kind of stuff, right, what kind of contract you might get, Like now guys get
paid when they hurt. They get guys that play, you know, thirty forty percent of the games over three years spin against.
Super still get the super max, you know what, Like shout out the ion eating.
And listen, he's a great player.
When he's playing. He's like the most he might I think offensive. He's the most efficient play in the NBA when he's healthy. I think two years ago he was the most efficient.
Well in China. Shot broken't garden guys like guys literally won't play on the game.
Said people will have like literally you've been in the league for four years and you played thirty or forty percent of your games and they maxed you out, Like.
So now to that point, it's like how do you love the game? You know what I'm saying, Like you like you off your rookie contract. You just made two hundred million dollars, Like what do I care about the rest of my career? You know what I'm saying. It takes special players that are thinking about legacy and thinking about chasing records. You understand what I'm saying that I think that will show through and those will be the guys that will like enjoy throughout the rest of their careers,
especially as being like true hoop fans. You know what I'm saying. But I definitely agree with him. Man, I think that these guys are more and nemor with the lifestyle over the game. Right, Like I said, like back, I was give you one more example, like when I was coming up, like you couldn't get hurt, bro, because you had like a guy behind you.
That was like what they just needed that.
So like if I rolled my ankle, but I got like Jonathan Bender who hasn't played in ten games, but he killing in practice every day. He just I gotta play on a bum ankle, bro, you know what I'm saying. But Jonathan Benue, Yeah, Like so it's just changed now was like you go out, you sit for two months, you come right back your spot right there. Don't matter what the person was doing in front of you, they'll
trade him first. Oh you know what I'm saying. So I have to agree with him, Bro, I think he might be right about that.
Yeah, And I think too, because, like I have two kids that both like play, they love basketball, you know, but there's so much that there's something to be said about, like the AAU shit, and then also like TikTok and Instagram making a lot of these like sixteen seventeen year old kids super famous and rich and rich before they even get to the NBA. So they're like when I watch the draft sometimes and I see like dudes I see as fuck like grabbing their hat. I'm like, bro, hot,
Like what's up with all this jewelry? Like shout out to Scoot Henderson, who I heard is absolute hooper. I heard is gonna be a I heard he's got a generational talent. I heard he's amazing, like and I heard he's got the right mind state. But he was so iced down the whole family. I was just like, what's the like, g Like, bro.
He's been making money for two years because he was he went to the JIT overtime thing. But you know, once he did that, he knew he was never going to college, so now he could do all kinds of deals. You say, he had KUMA ads before he even got you understand what I'm saying. Like, so to your point, because of this name, image and likeness thing, which really means now it's legal. That's what they really should stand for. You know what I'm saying, These kids are gain access
to money. And I mean even like the kid Mikey Williams, Like, for sure, from what I've heard, he's not even an NBA talent, that's what I heard. I never seen him play, and you know whatever, I think.
I met him at ATACA when he was like fifteen.
Bro, he's made already made like fifteen million dollars.
And you know, shout out to him. I know he's dealing with whatever he's dealing with. But you see something like that and you're like, the Internet is the component that might have fucked this kid's career up. Yeah, they're like too much fame, too early, too.
Much fame too early, And that's what you know, and obviously that's where all of this shit is that's what media does, right. He kneels you up to tear you down, you know what I'm saying. So even that perspective of just like you know, TikTok Instagram, like it's making kids famous that aren't even that good. It's just it.
That's what you know. What I really enjoyed was I just watched all the smokes podcasts this morning. I threw on they had an episode of Austin Reeves drop and to see, like his perspective, he purposely didn't want to get drafted. He said that the Detroit Pistons wanted to draft him at forty two, right, but him and his team had a tier of teams that he could fit in, right, And he said, well, once we fall past this number in the second round, it's going to be a two way contract no matter what.
Right.
So when they wanted to draft him, his agent called him and said, well, okay, we have a plan. We want to go undrafted. So he decided he bet on himself, right, because he knew the Lakers had interest, and he said there was two teams that they had as the one tier that he could fit in and like really thriving them as the Bucks and the Lakers, So he really liked bet on him self and like.
But that's smart. I mean second round picks a lot of times, and it's too. I don't fully understand the two way contract thing because I wasn't in when that was right what I'm saying, But when I was in a second round pick, you only got one never really none of these were guarantee, but.
Like, there's no guarantee.
It was really like two years my era, it was really like a two year guarantee. But you think about it, if you got a two year guarantee. I was a first round pick. I had four years guaranteed, so it took me two more years before I could get to some money. Right, So if you're good in your first your first year or two, you'll beat out the guy that was the first round pick, you know what I'm saying, because you'll get you'll get to a contract faster if you bet on yourself.
To your point, sometimes, like when you see certain guys because I look I looked at like, uh, because I've been watching a lot of your older interviews and stuff, and I obviously watched you play. I always thought you were like I would say, like you were like one of those guys who like would play the suns or play like a like a team and you just like
be on sports. You're like, yo, fucking out here anything like forty two tonight, Like you were you, you had like fucking you were a bucket getter, bro, and uh the pay structure now, oh well, you see, Like I think of a guy like Jeremy Grant and the deal he just got. And Jeremy Grant's a good NBA player, but you know he's not an All star, you know, But I think of Jeremy Grant, I'm like, I think he signed for a buck eighty, maybe a buck sixty something like that. God bless him, God bless him. Shout
out to you get that money. But I'm like, yo, you're the kind of guy who in twenty twenty three could have got like a buck eighty.
Oh my god, hands down, bro, Like to your point, like, god, just average twelve thirteen points?
What's happen? It's insane.
They got to spend the money? Is the TV? All the TV all the media stuff is like taking off crazy, you see, Like I think Tatum will be the first guy that's going to get I think my Jaylen Brown Jaylen Brown.
It's Brown.
He about to get seventy million years Jaylen Brown, I think get seventy million a year. That's crazy, you know what I'm saying.
So even like when Dame signed that deal and they were like I was like, wait the fifth or sixty what them? Fuck?
So now like to your point, like now, just being like the tenth best player on your team, bro, you get you guaranteed ten to fifteen million dollars, you know what I'm saying. So the game has changed a lot now. I gotta I gotta pour everything I got into my son's I got two little boys, seven and five. Like, hey, god, I hope we get some of that money.
If one do you make it. We're chilling.
We're chilling.
One man. It's crazy too, because like what I appreciated about you is like you really loved playing the game. And when I look at like your career, obviously you had a very successful NBA career, but at a certain point in time you even like went and played in China, right right.
So that was at the end.
So yeah, but I'm saying, like, you don't go and play a China at the end unless you just love the hoop.
Yeah, I love a game. That's what, Like to your point, Like, as I was coming up, that's all I could think about was Basketballight you know what I'm saying, Like if somebody told me to shut up and Joebil might have listened at that point, I'm saying what I'm saying, Like, I mean, that's how much I love a game. Everything that I did was around trying to get better, trying
to feel better. So that's why I like, you know, a lot of my teammates and a lot of my older friends, like anytime there's like any type of new technology of a surgery or a diet, they always hit me up because they know I've tried, like everything I've always I just wanted to play better. I just wanted to be better. I wanted to feel better. I want to you know, I just want to be the best
that I could be at all times. And you know when I got towards the end, you know, I had a batch knee surgery and I had got a staff infection from the surgery. Didn't know I had it ended up getting my bloodstream, you know, could have died from it. You know, I had to stay in the hospital. Pick line, the whole shit, and you know, it ate away all the articulating cartilage in my knees. So what that is is pretty much like what protects the bone. And you know I'm bone on bone, so I actually need a
knee replacement. I've been able to avoid a knee replacement because of cannabis. You know what I'm saying. I've been able. That's why I.
Smell a lot of helps with all the information and pain.
So you know, I've been able to have an unbelievable quality of life retire. But when the China the opportunity came, it was because of Stephan Marbury, who was who was.
Like a god there. Yeah, people don't understand, like a lot of people. By the way, go watch this documentary.
I bought it.
Stephan Marber is one of my favorite NBA players ever. When I was a kid, I was cold blessed when the Sun's traded for him. I was very excited. But yeah, in China, he was I think they have a statue he.
Got a statue of in Beijing of all places, you know what I'm saying. And you know he called me and he was like, are you done? And I was like, nah, I'm not done. Man, I'm waiting on a couple of teams. You know, Houston. Maybe you know James Harden was trying to get me to Houston and different things like, but he had Mike dan Phony as his coach, so that wasn't going to happen. But uh so it shots fired for sure. But uh he he called me and he was like, yo, I got a couple of teams over here.
You know what I'm saying. So he gave me a list of teams and I was like, what is it. He was like, The one I picked was Fujin, the fujiin Sturgeons. And the reason why I went there was because of the weather and it was close to Hong Kong. So he was just like whenever you get a day off, he was just fly to Hong Kong and eat regular food and then come back to thing. And I ended up being a fifty six days.
I couldn't make it's the future, six nights literally, fifty.
Six days, bro, fifty six days. It was the day when I was flying in, I knew I wasn't gonna make it.
I was just look, you could just tell yeah, I'm sure you're like this ain't I can't do this.
It's just like at the you know, at the end of the day, like I say, all money ain't good money.
Listen, early in my radio career, my first full time job, I did afternoons at a station in Boise, Idaho.
Oh shit.
And as soon as I got there, I said, well, I'm not gonna be here longer than a year. So I said, this shit is cool, but I ain't for me, you know what I'm saying.
I told the general manager, which was this lady named Ricky, who knew nothing about basketball. So I was like, we're not gonna win no game because the other thing about China, which is cool. So you know, I had like a three million dollar contracts only for three and a half months, right, so it's really no time. But you also you get paid a bonus every time you win, and like my bonus was five thousand dollars cash. Every wind that Ricky
literally comes after the game. It gives me cash. And after like the first a couple of preseason games, I was like, bro, I'm not gonna make any extra money. We suck.
Who are these guys on this team?
Like how did you put this team together? You know what I'm saying. So I went to her like maybe after the third game of the season, and I was like, Ricky, I'm gonna give you to a Thanksgiving. You gotta find my replacement, you know what I'm saying. So I got up out of there. I laid it home on Thanksgiving Day. I kissed the ground when I got home. O bullshit, And uh, you know that was my China experience.
Shout out to Dwight Man. Dwights out there shooting threes?
I got some other shit going on. I saw the other today you.
Got I mean, listen man, allegedly because I'm like, you know, you never know with the Internet what's doctored, and you know, so I don't want to put.
That on them, like why they're doing that to my man?
Yeah, I don't want to put that on Dwight because I don't know if that's the thing, because again it's the Internet. I saw the screenshots.
Look it looks crazy.
It does look pretty crazy. And also if that's what he's into, whatever, God bless it. Shout out to Dwight. Uh, I was gonna ask you, uh what was well? First of all, I am a die hard Sons fan. I have well Lebron's might goat. But I have a over mic. Yes, okay, but see I have like a I have son's toys.
I got you, I gotta.
Okay, why did you play for Mike d'antni ever? Was it in New York?
Yeah? New York?
Okay, why Mike Dan? Phony? What was your experience with Mike? Because I have heard very mixed things, mostly very negative things about Mike.
Yeah. I mean, I won't go into hell of detail, but you know it just you know, I just respect coaches that just tell you the truth all the time. You know what I'm saying, Don't talk shit behind my back, don't tell me one thing and then tell somebody else or you know what I'm saying. So that's the phony
part of it. The other thing was like I may be wrong, and like I said, you know, the one thing I say about athletes, you know, we don't have a real concept of reality, right, you know what I'm saying. That's what makes us special. That's the reason why there's thirty million, three hundred million people that played basketball and inspire to be pro three hundred it is only four fifty you know what I You know, that's it's the
reason for that. I just felt like we could have been a better team if we like attempted to play defense. Like we literally never did anything for defense, like nothing, never practice a rotation like nothing. So I'm just like, how do you expect us to win if we can't defend? You understand what I'm saying. And we used to tell him that, and you know, one time, you know, Larry Hughes fell out of the rotation because me and Larry went to him before practice one day was like, yo, coach, listen,
we understand, like defense isn't a priority. But you know, we talked to all the players and we're all willing to come in thirty minutes before practice.
Defense, but we want to fucking win.
Bro in New York, Bro like we like and he like got all emotional and upset and offensive and like you think it's defense, just like talk, you think it's defense. We're like, yes, we can't defend nobody. We don't know rotations, we don't communicate, yes, And he got all pissed off, and you know that that just really frustrated me, and it just made me not like him as much as
a coach. Now obviously I got numbers under him. You know what, I'm saying, which is his style as seven seconds or seven seconds is wide open, is about getting as many shots as fast as you can, which can be considered bad basketball, you know, depending on who you are.
I never want to ring and he's never wont to ring, and that's then it makes for great regular season records.
And then you just keep getting jobs. You understand what I'm saying, like the league and that's what we could cover that another time too. It's just like they keep recycling the same coaches, and what do you think you're gonna get a different result? Why? You know what I'm saying. So that's a whole nother thing. Don't get me started.
So what years were you with the Knicks?
I think I was there two thousand and ten and eleven. I got traded this so I got traded there. I think in two thousand and ten.
Was that like a Mari's first year?
No? Amari came right after me.
Okay, should you Were you on the team with mariy? No?
I never played with or Mellow. I left there, went to Denver with Mellow, and then Mellow got traded halfway through.
The and then you ended up playing with like Landry Fields, and like no I played, it was who was all the random? Nick? Uh?
So?
I played? My era was when I was there. It was like some thimas had came back for a second. Tracy McGrady played with us for a second.
Racy McGrady played on the Nuggets.
The Knicks Nuggets is it was was a very underrated guy. It was Mellow Kenya Martin.
Yeah, but when Melow got traded, you played the year after with with those guys, right with those guys?
Yeah? Yeah, so that was j R. Smith? What's my damn? What's my uh ty? Lawson? Aaron?
What was the light skinned dude that the Knicks traded to the nick or that they traded into the Nuggets. But he was like kind of like borderline like you again, this guy could be an all star fall play for UCLA. I'm talking about there was like a forward? Was that a small forward? He was a part of that Nick Smellow trade?
Oh Gallinari, No, that's who came. Wilson Chandler. Wilson cham okay, okay, yeah that's my dog.
Shouts to Wilson Chanler.
Shout out to Wilson.
Bro what would you consider your because you've been a part of some dope teams obviously shout out to the Pacers. I feel like the Pacers were like one of those teams that when I think of the best teams that never got a ring, I think of the Pacers. I think of them. I think of the Suns, you know,
I think of a couple versions of the Suns. Uh, fuck my life, and then I just you know, but but the Pacers, I feel like legit were like talently if you look at the roster, like one through eight or nine, like the best team in the league a couple of years in a row.
Yeah, man, when I first came into the league. So you know, when I first came in the league, it was the year after you know, Mike did the push off to Reggie and hit the shot, you know, to win that series. So you know, they were so mad. They were licking their wounds. They thought that, you know, we would winning the next year, no bullshit. So it was a lockout year when I came in. So they
were so focused that they had training camp. Training camp started when training camp was supposed to start, because Reggie was like, so whenever the season do start, we'll be in better shape than anybody. So We literally they had us all there. Everybody was there except for I think Jalen Rose and Dale Davis, but everybody to a man was there.
It was Rick Smith's on that team.
Rick Smith was on the team too, so Bro we did doing all. He was in and out of the practice during that time. He had bad feet. So we worked our ass off up until like maybe Thanksgiving, and they were like, we'll look like shit at about to happen. And remember it didn't start until like January or the next year or whatever. But at that time, the league was all about vets, so it was like who had the best vets at that time, you know what I'm saying.
And we just ran into the Knicks and Larry Johnson had that four point play.
Four point play was crazy, you know what I'm.
Saying, And that pretty much knocks us out the box, takes our momentium away. But then the next year, man, we get to the finals, you know what I'm saying. We get to the finals, but we ran into a fucking unbelievable Kobe Bean Bryant and fucking shock that you can't do nothing with, you know what I'm saying. And even we I'm gonna tell you this funny thing about that here we thought we had a a series altering moment when Jay Rose Jalen Rolls stepped under Kobe and made him roll his ankle.
You guys were like we like you guys were kind of excited, like.
Hey, chance, this was old school basket Yeah, sit your bitch aw yes all that Like that was like everybody in the locker room like, yes, we got this motherfucker out type shit and fucking Kobe plays the next game and not only kept it movie had like thirty six or something were.
You would you like, did was that on the on purpose thing? You'll see guys always try to slide under the landing?
Well, Jay Row said, I mean I think he's said it himself. He did it on purpose. M Yeah, like you know, you know, you don't know that you're going to make him roll his ankle, but you hope something happened, you know what I'm saying. And uh, like I said, during that time, it was no hose bars. It was just like Survival of the Fittest, you know what I'm saying. So yeah, I would say that it was done on purpose.
I'm assuming throughout that series you had to have like eventually kind of ended up on Shack by accident. Maybe there was no.
Hours I was about to have back surgery.
Did you ever? Did you ever?
Like I guarded Shack though?
What was it like guarding because because there always he is the most dominant player of all time and peak Shack, I just I just you know, I don't know what you can do, really, bro.
You pray. So when he was in Phoenix, the big Cactus bro he was. He was rolling down the lane and I rotated over to take a charge. And when I got there, he had already made the commitment and I just closed my eyes and I said God please, and he hit me and fell on time of me. But you know, it just didn't hurt. I was like surprised, like boom, And I opened my eyes and he's looking right at me.
He was like, you're look at you from Jersey. Other than that, I would have killed you. He's like looking that on top of me, like you're look at you from Jersey. I was like, thank you, big fella. But guarding Shaq was it was impossible, bro. But you know when I'm guarding him, we got a double team them, So it's just like I'm just holding them holding them up as much as I can. And this is my golden state days. You know what I'm saying.
We play small balls, so that means now he gotta guard me on that.
You're like the big gun on the team.
You know what I'm saying. So but we have success. Like I said, we beat him every time. You know what I'm saying. But Shaq, Shaq was a low bro.
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get back into the interview. What about just like on the perimeter, hardest guy you ever had to defend, where you were just like, give me the hardest guy and then the most underrated guy where you were like fuck this, I don't think people understand how good this guy is.
So my top three I guarded everybody.
I got it.
Kobe, I got it, Brian, you know, I got it. Mike, the old Mike, Mike, Mike. Yeah, that Mike. I got it that Mike. No, that's not that Mike, is it? Yeah?
That's so that's his last All Star game.
Is it? Okay? All right? Yeah? So that Mike so obviously all tough to guard, right, But the guys that, like I was just like fuck Grant Hill before the ankle. So it was like my first two first two or three years before the ankle, Like you knew he was, You knew he couldn't shoot, you knew he didn't want to shoot. You gave him space, and he still could blow by you. He had he had the quickest first step.
Like what I'm saying, like I guarded Mike's Mike was older, but I guarded Kobe's first step like I felt like I could get to Kobe, you know what I'm saying, his ship by you. It just was the quickest shit. The other person for me was Paul Pierce, and Paul was because obviously Hall of Fame, a great player, but it was something about this game that you felt like
we was guarding him. He was always off balanced, so you're thinking like he's like falling, but then he just goes straight up or you think he's falling and he just keeps going straight you know what I'm saying. So it was just and it was tricky. It was like jankie, you know what I'm saying. So that would be two, and then three was Zach Randolph Yo. Z BO was beat Bro and z BO was because when you got done playing against z Bo, you felt like you just had a street fight.
Yeah, he just was he physical.
He on you all game. Like I used to feel like I would be on offense and he's still on me. I'm like, Zbo, rotate Bro, you on defense, Like why do you still while your body still on mind? You know what I'm saying. So those would be the three in my career that I felt like, was this the toughest.
What's crazy too? We were talking about the Pacers. You actually were with the Pacers two different times, so like the second because you came the year after the the.
The Palace.
You were you were there the year after, and I feel like that was the year where because Ron didn't play, And I think I do feel like at a certain point in time, ron ar Test might have been like a top three guy in the league, maybe for like a half a season. Yeah, and then all I mean.
As Stephen Jackson say, I don't know if you ever heard him say this, but Steve says he thinks he's the best two way basketball player ever.
I mean, look, peak ron our Test was very underrated. I don't think people remember it.
The right ro He was so fucking good dog, Yeah, he was so. He was tough like the motherfucker. He did miss games, like he had heart surgery, played a day after played wad towards thumb surgery. They he took the cast off in the locker room played.
And this is all while also kind of trying to have a rap career for people who don't remember, Bro.
He was he exactly like it wasn't It wasn't even like he was just locked in on basketball all the time. He was doing so much other ship and he was that good. But to your point, the year that I left, they traded me for Steven Jackson. Right that team, I think if they didn't have the mouts in the Palace they win the championship, that that's.
The year that That's the year in my head that I think, like, damn, like that team.
Bro, they were going they were gonna win sixty plus games for we had just won sixty games a year before, you know what I'm saying, Like they were about to and and I'm even saying that with me leaving the team, I feel like I was on the team we made even better. But like that that team, they had everything, they had everything, they had every stacked, they had everything. They were gonna win that year.
But can you tell me what's it like to have Reggie Miller as a teammate Because he's supposed to be the greatest smack talker ever him, Gary Payton, Jordan, you know, whatever you want to do. But people say he was kind of like a tough guy, you know, like to play againis in terms that he would just talk about your fucking kids, like he didn't give a fuck, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, I mean he talked shit. But Reggie the ultimate competitor. If you wasn't a pacer, you was like for real to op, like for real to op. Like he had no other friends on other teams. That's amazing, Like he had that mindset first person in the gym, last person to leave for real, not just you know, you hear it. Literally, the first person in the gym I used to have as a rookie, I used to have bring donuts and orange juice, so you know, just say practices at eleven.
If I got there at nine, he was already there, bro, So I had to like try to beat him because he was the one that wanted the donuts. Like, you understand what I'm saying. So I'm like having to be at the gym at like eight thirty in the morning just to kind of get there the same time as him.
You understand what I'm saying. As far as on the court, like you said, like I said, like ultimate competitor, he didn't really really he didn't really talk shit unless you said something or like somebody on the bench said something. That's how all them guys were. That's how Mike was, That's how Kobe was, Like.
Don't if you give me some mammuit shit.
They just want they just you know, like most times, like I always say, like when we're playing games and shit like that, which is kind of dope, Like you know, it could be it's twenty thirty thousand people going crazy, but you don't hear it, it's like a silence that we play with. You understand what I'm saying. But the only thing we do here is what's on the court and what's on the benches. You understand what I'm saying. So Reggie just wait for somebody to hear him take
a shot and be like, Oh, that's off. You know what I'm saying. He like, Oh, it's off. Oh just anything to get them going, you know what I'm saying.
If you ever have like a personal gripe, because I'm real close with a lot of NBA guys and like some of their managers and stuff, so they'll give me like heads up, like like I'll know certain players will never play with each other, right if it's up to them, right, whether it's over a girl or whether it's over something you said, like for example, like I've heard that like because of something Dennis Shrewder said to Devin Booker, he'll
never play for the Sons. Oh wow, And it's it's it's kind of out there, like Devin Booker went and saw him in the locker room and he was on the rockets because he said some shit about his girl. You know, people kind of know about it. But like he'll never be on the suns, right, did you ever have something like that with a guy? And I'm sure you got over it, but like where you just were like, man, I really don't fuck with that dude for whatever reason. Maybe he says some shit on the court.
Nah, I didn't personally, Nah, And you know, and at the end of the day, like you know, if the sons really want they shrewder like they have just come to Amend's right, you understand what I'm saying, Like you could say that as much as you want what.
It feels so weird now because so many NBA guys are dating the same chickstias. And I'm sure it was always we here.
Nah, it wasn't. Well maybe it was we just it was no social No.
I was gonna say, the social media makes it where it's like everyone's falling the same chicks now, so the same chicks getting flown out out and there's a lot of random like background beefs over just girls that are for everybody, right, which is weird. It's super weird.
I was so weird.
Yeah, it's super weird. I was gonna say, obviously, Viola is very successful endeavor, but You've always pivoted outside of just getting your basketball check. I remember when you and Stephen Jackson launched your shoe line, Proteges, and the whole point of it was like to provide like a very affordable shoe, right, like for kids to work.
Yeah, man, I just you know, I think that, like even when you make it, like you can't forget where you come from, right, And you know, I just thought about like when I was a kid, I love Michael Jordan's right, but I couldn't afford to spend one hundred and something dollars for Jordan's right, right, And at the time, Patrick Ewan had sneakers, right that was like half the price.
And chem elajah Wan had the shoes at Walmart, the Spaldings and had some shoes too.
So like I thought about that, and like that I those and I felt empowered. I felt good. I felt I felt dope showing his showing up to school instead of like with jeepers or you know, shit that had no name, you know, and like especially where I come from, and I think where a lot of us come from. Like you get in powered by what you wear. You know what I'm saying, Your appearance it gives you more
confidence and different things like that. So I was just thinking about that, and you know then Stephan Marbury wants to get it. And Steph is like a big brother than me, you know what I'm saying, And he's always I say, I tell people a lot of times like a lot of the swag I got I got from Steph.
You know what I'm saying from early. You know, he like during that lockout, I'll tell me about He let me come stay with him for two months and he you know, I watched some lyft weights and hoop every day, and he showed me a lot of like, you know, what it takes to really survive and if I want to be good. You know. So his shoe had came out,
you know, the deal fell through with Stephen Barry. They did some bullshit and undersold the shoe from and different things like that, and you know, he decided to go to China and everything. So I was like, you know, it's still a void here, you know what I'm saying. And you know me stack in fact, Joe actual Joe
is also a part of it. He had a shoe too, and uh, you know those two of my brothers, they support, you know, all the endeavors, and you know, I just wanted to make something that you know, kids could wear because you know, they just unfortunately everybody can't afford Lebrons and Jordan's right everything. So if other NBA players can come together create a shoe you know what I'm saying,
that they could feel good about wearing. You know, it's more of them than others, you understand what I'm saying. So it was a huge success until you know, once again, a bad partnership. You know, one of the things I learned in businesses you got to know who you get in business with, you know what I'm saying. So I feel like if I didn't have a bad partnership, I think it will probably still be you know in uh who we was Kmart you know.
Yeah, yeah, I remember, yeah, Yo, you you got to have a pretty crazy collection of like pees shoes in terms of just player exclusives. What is like your most coveted pair of kicks where you're like, yo, if I put these on stock X, worst comes to worst. I you know, I could pull a little something.
So I'm gonna be honest, bro, I haven't I haven't seen my shoes and probably about storage there in storage. I haven't but I haven't been to the storage in ten years. Wait.
You had a bunch of shoes and some of them I probably fell apart.
Yeah, they probably. That's why. That's why I haven't went.
To get any like the terror squad or the Tarah squads.
But they but they got some new ones coming. Fat Joe just they called me the other day, He's gonna send me the new ones. Okay, but yeah, I had to I had the patent leather ones with the red ts on them or whatever. Then I think I had to pay with the black ts on them as well. But y'all had those what else? Some of like the dopest pees that like, uh.
Because did you have like a cause, you know, for people who don't know, like a lot of guys do have shoe deals, even if you don't like hear about it, Like could you have like a.
Yeah, I had a Nike contract, but you know they paid me not a lot of money, and you know we would get like an allotment up to like maybe one hundred to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of product every year every year, so you would get your pees mad pees made or whatever. So like for most of my career, I always had like a Nike that was part of like the Force Division called it at that time, and I would have like my own colorway with my you know, with my logo on it
or the logo that I made for or whatever. Yo.
When you were with the Nugget, George Carl was the coach. George Carl is a wild guy on Twitter. God bless him. His Twitter's lit. You know what I'm saying, he don't.
George Carl is a good fuck for people who.
Have not been paying attention. What was it like playing for George Carl because took the Sons to the final?
I fuck with George because he told me because he's exactly who he is. He's not phony. You know, you know, you know what you're getting, you know exactly what you're dealing with. So my first, my first running with him was he had called me in, he had called me into his office and he wanted to talk to me, and he was asking me like, uh, He's asked me like maybe why didn't I rebound at a higher clip? And he had all these books behind him, and like
the one book that stood out to me right. It was like it was like it was called nigger, right, and you know, he had it up there or whatever. So that me the wrong way just reading that right. So then it kind of made my whole conversation with him kind of like I felt little funny but whatever. So it was just in there or whatever, and he's like asking me all these different things and then we you know, so then we start kind of going at
it a little bit. And then what he said to me, he was just like, well, you know, I've won fifty games a year for the last five years. How many games have you won? That was coming from the Knicks, right, So I'm like, shit, win win, But I'm just like, how many games did you play? Right? You know what I'm saying. So I'm saying all I have to say was he was the type of coach where when we won games it was because of him.
When we lost games, it was because of the play. He didn't take any accountability, you know what I mean none. You know what I'm saying, Like that was the type of coach he was.
And I said, even through all of that, bro, like he's actually a friend of mine, Like I actually still like him.
Did you guys?
Ever talk about the book. Never got a chance to talk about the book. I thought it was very interesting that he had it in there like that, and I don't know what it was about, but it was you know, I know.
Yeah, as soon as I'm leaving his office, I'm like, what is this book? Yeah, I know, I should see the cont then we might really have interesting.
I was already mad, and I even think about like looking to see what the what the book said. But uh, but for the most part, like I like George, you know, I mean, he had his run ins with all of us at some point, but you know, I think that his intentions was always to win, you know what I'm saying, which is west what we're all there for, you know what I'm saying. And you know, I would say he was a teacher of the game. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, He taught.
I mean, I mean, you played really good at Dember too.
Yeah, that's what I like. The first year was that year and the next year with Mellow left, is that's when me and him actually became really cool, right. You know what I'm saying was that next year was when we started to jail or whatever. And you know, like I said, you know, if George calls me and say let's go to lunch and then I'll go Okay.
So we got Allen Iverson in the league game. Finally, finally you got the Iverson here. Yes, sir, I kind of saw you a little bit of you guys talking about you, kind of you know, reaching out to him to do this talk about like for you, because you know, I can't think of another player who I'd like to see have a strain than Ai. You know what I'm saying for you though, Like were you an out always close throughout your playing years or was it something where like, you know, you guys got closer after.
So I would definitely say we got closer after. But whenever we saw each other was always love. And you know, I was obviously seeing each other off the court. A lot of times it was in like clubs and you know, shit like that. So you know, you kick it, yeah, you know, have some drinks, talk about whatever was going on, and you know, kind of go from there. But I think that the one thing that I will say is like with Chuck, was that when he came in, he really revolutionized the game, right and.
Cause you came in, he was what two years in when you got drafted or like.
With ninety six ninety eight. Yeah, yeah, so two years in and at that point, bro, he was just changing the game. The jewelry, the tattoos, the braids, the.
Clothes made people buy reboxing.
The cars, you know what I'm saying. Like when we would play, when we would play against them, we all would be sitting on the bus waiting to go down the ramp to see what car Allan Iison drove that dam you know what I'm saying. Like he was like he was you know, he was like showing us like
how you really want to live. Like you know, like when I came in, I'll say, like the Vets was you know, they were all Vets, so they would you know, they were wearing suits on the Tea was on the team, so like you know, they driving, they got like one car. You know what I'm saying. They was just the conservative guy conservative and they weren't making as much money either, you know what I'm saying. That kind of made sense. But so that was the kind of the way that
they saw the world. So when they talking to me as a young guy, that's how they see in the world. That's how they're telling me, and then Alan Irison and it's like, well, shit, i'd rather ball like that.
Did a lot of the Vets like in the league not like him because of that energy he was bringing.
I don't think so. I mean, I never heard nobody say that they didn't like him.
I was just because you know, I feel like, like you said, like back then, it was a different league. It was very like, you know, shit, a lot of the great players played a very long time, and they were I.
Think the I think the Vets they more would talk shit around the contracts, not your personal lifeful like what you did or how you drove, how you dressed. You'll be more like this motherfuck's got a hundred million dollars.
It's almost got eighty million dollars. And you know, you're comparing the stats and it's almost like how I could be I could be a you know, and I'm not gonna say they were bitter, but you know, I get it because they were literally making one two million dollars and then now guys making twelve or fifteen, you know what I'm saying. And you know, I could easily be like, oh, this guy making thirty million dollars, averaged more than that. That was kind of that was more like the way
that they would be talking. You know what I'm saying. But I think for the most part, everybody, I think you had to support Ai because I think that the way he was doing it is the way you really wanted to be for sure. He was like the first person that was really himself, Like, that's what was telling me to fit into a box. You gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta look this way, you gotta walk this way, you gotta eat this, you gotta Alan came in and was like all that.
I feel like it was like him and Steph. That's why I like Steph too, because Steph always had he had that chain with the s on it. Yeah, and one booming you and I used to they.
Went in competition with each other. They were them too.
They definitely were.
Because I love each other. But they was in competition, both of them.
But I would have my rebox and my the and ones were more affordable shouts and one ogn one shorts and T shirts with the like guy holding the rim and ship on the back. Man one was litt I think, and one's still the.
Thing now it's coming back. Well's that, but they're definitely coming back. I'm seeing more ads on like this thing called Clash TV in New York. Right, what I'm saying they pushing.
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promo cod Bootleg. Let's get back to the interview. What was again, Hooper? You love this shit? You did Big Three, and you know, I think Big Three is super dope. I enjoy it. I think I wish the NBA would embrace it more because I do think it's like a really cool office season thing.
You know, Like.
What for you, what was what was it like being? Would you start the season two of it? I did the first two seasons, like though, just because you know, there were some old heads out there, there was some younger dudes couldn't get in the league, Like, like, how serious was the competition level in the Big Three?
So it was? It was. It was pretty serious because remember we all competitors, right, and then in this environment was playing I think, yeah, but in this environment you couldn't get you couldn't hide, right. So, like I'll say this about my career, right, I feel like I could have been a lot better, right if I got a different different opportunities, right, especially when I was younger.
Like maybe if the Spurs or something, yeah.
Or if I was maybe the second go to guy on the team instead of the third or four. You understand what I'm saying. Like, so now when you get to this three on three thing, it's like you can't duck. So it's like, and I'm using Mario as an example, even though like we have no beef or nothing, but it's like, Okay, when I played against Mario and the Suns, he was getting touches. I had it just more guard and I just had to get my open threes. But in this Omar, you gotta guard me now one on one.
So now it was different and I'm gonna bust your ass.
And he wasn't the greatest defensive no, no, no.
Just using him as an example, like he did great, and I'm just using him his example, but I'm just saying, like I could go at him in this environment compared to during the season. I had to fit the mole and play the role because Baron and not the way for Monte had to wait for stack Jack before I could get mine. You understand what I'm saying. So that was the biggest thing that I think even Allen experienced immediately, because it was like he had been busting everybody asked
his whole career. Now he can't high he gotta he got a guard. So album only played two weeks. He stopped playing cause he was like, I can keep letting these dudes go with me. I can't. I'm not.
Everybody was going to him because honestly, like I remember, that was the big grab when Big three, like A, he was the.
No, he was the face of it. It was only him, for sure. He's the reason why Big three is Big three. Yeah, but it was it was ai A. I made the Big Three. You know, he was the number one person, he was the lead person. Blah blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, in that environment, I killed. So like we won the first year, we didn't lose a game we went. We went undefeated and won it
the first champions the first year championship. And then the second year, uh, we didn't play as well we had, Like Rashan mckantz came back as a character forgot about Yeah he can. But the first year all I was telling everybody to hold him.
Like he's trained to make a roster guy.
Yeah yeah, yeah, But Cole and that we were shocking Kobe in the Big Three. That's why I kept calling us shocking Kobe because nobody got.
Us, we talked about some of the What was your favorite coach you played for? Was it played for Larry Bird?
Right, yeah, Larry. So like Larry, Larry got mad at me from the day I met him. I missed my flight for my press.
Conference, so he was just he just already was like.
Yeah, he just he like being like, being late is the worst thing you could do with him. It's being late. He does not play that ship. So literally, the first time I met him walking into the office and he was like, I don't play that late ship. Before he said Hi, happy to have you on the team, He's like, I don't play that late ship. That's some bullshit. And I felt like he always held that against me the two years I was there. But Larry was not a
coach per se. He was a game manager. We had a guy you had you.
Have like like Chris Mullen and all you still.
Got to run plays and all right, right right. He never did that, Like he never wrote in two years, never wrote an X oh really never once. He had Rick Carlile, our offensive coach, great coach by the way, yep, and then we had the coach Brendan Malone.
So he just had like coordinators. Yeah exactly, and he was he just subs. He just turned around like you get this person, That's what he would do. But my favorite coach was so I would say my best X and O coach was Rick Carlile.
Shout out to carl Like, bro, whatever he draws up works every time. You're gonna get an open shot for sure, every time. But he's back in Indiana, right back in Indiana. But my my, my favorite coach that I enjoyed playing for was where I had when we had the least amount of success. Was Mike Woodson.
Mike that was in it. Oh that's right, you were with the Hawks for.
Because I got traded for Stephen Jackson when the Malice in the Palestine. So that was my That was my favorite coach And the reason why I liked him so much was once again, man, I'm just a huge I you know, I'm huge on like integrity and just like just being straight up with people. And like I just felt like the two years I was with him, he never lied to me once. Bro. He told me, whether I liked it or not, you know what I'm saying. He told me what was the truth, and uh, you know,
for that Joe Johnson was on that team. Joe Caine the next year. My first year, No, Joe. First year was like second year had Joe. Second year we had Joe. First year was like me Antoine Walker kept it.
Scoring team bro.
And then we had old rookies. We had like Josh Smith, Josh Childress.
Shout out to Josh Childress Man, one of the greatest frozen NBA history. Uh, Kevin Willis had to be like fifty. But you know he played so long. He played so long, it's crazy.
Yo.
Did Joe Johnson ever like confide in you how he felt about how the Suns did, Because I felt like if we would have kept Joe Johnson, I feel like we might have had a championship. We let Joe Johnson just walk because.
Yeah, I mean, but he came, I mean.
And then he goes to the Hawks and then they become a perennial playoff team.
Yeah, he was one of the most underrated players, you know what I'm saying of his time for sure, But hey, man, I so Joe was a monster.
Did you guys ever trade back and forth about, like later on how much you guys didn't like Mike D'Antoni nah.
I want to say, me and him never had a conversation about Mike, but I might hit him up and ask him.
Though, Okay, so what was it?
What was like did you really hate this guy? Well?
Look, man, obviously the so can you kind of break down because I I don't think a lot of people understand a lot of the business model when it comes to the weed game. I think a lot of people think it's like like we're talking off the air. It's like you're getting the weed game and you just print money, which is not the case. So many companies they they're here for six months, they're here for two years, and then they're gone. Like you said, you're twelve years in
for you guys. Are you guys strictly distro wholesale? You guys don't have a dispensary license, do you.
Yeah, So my company got a bunch of layers to it, you know what I'm saying, because a lot of markets. Yeah, we had a bunch of markets we're in. I think we're in like ten markets total, in a variation of different like ways. Right, So for the Viola brand, you know, we have cultivated or operated in California, Oregon, Michigan, and Colorado. To your point, now, the ustry has changed so much.
I think that as set light approach, which means to what you said, focusing on wholesaling, focusing more on just the branding, you know, the cell through and different things like that is probably the way to go if you're trying to scale a brand, almost like the kind of cookies model. Yeah, but even that's difficult because then you got to have a hell of a procurement team and make sure like the quality control is right, quality control, it's everything right. But you know, so either way, it's
very difficult both ways. Right. We also have started opening up some retail locations through a like sister company that we have called Village. You know, so Viola owns a percentage of Village and all of the Village locations are named Viola.
So we have, yes, do have short fronts. See, yeah, so we have two.
We have two in Missouri, we have two in Illinois's about to open up. We have one in Jersey we're about to open We're about to open one up in Maryland. Uh, you know, we hope to get something going down in Florida and then also New York. Working on New York currently.
Is it crazy for you to go to New York as a kid from the East Coast and see how open the whed? Like, have you been in New York City recently? Of course, it is like the craziest shit I've ever seen.
It's like like people think like it's federal legalization.
People think like California is like everyone's out here smoke.
We No.
You go to New York and you're just walking in the park and there's a bunch of dudes with fold up tables selling drugs.
It's crazy New York cops.
Or you go to the store to buy a juice and a sandwich and the guy behind the back he's got.
All kind of weed and shrooms and it's fucking wide. Yeah, New York and it happened like this. New York is definitely the wild wild West. They decriminalized and everybody, just.
White people just don't care. They're just like, hey, dude.
At the end of the day, is prohibitions great. Yeah, sometimes you gotta you gotta take advantage of the contrast. Yeah, it's crazy, you know, to your point, Like I remember there was a point like you said, you you know, you rode through the city. I mean one time, I had got some weed in New York and I was still playing with it the summertime, and I got pulled over and I just picked up a couple of ounces from somebody and it would have my whole car stinking,
and I was so scared. Yeah, and the cop took my stuff and everything, and you know, I told them it was a new drug, that's why the plate was wrong whatever. And he literally gave me my license and insurance back and was like, stop smoking in the car. I hadn't even smoked. It was just you know what I'm saying. But he could have literally locked me up for it. Yeah, you know what I'm saying to like to your point, now, I could be blazing. He pulled me over, like what's up? You want to hit this?
You know what I'm saying. So it's definitely changed a lot. And you know, I think that the New York program on the legal side is probably gonna be one of the best in the industry. I think because of the way that they are trying to make sure that legacy people that were disapportionately affected by the Warren drugs car like winners and that are participating in the beginning and not in the you know, later like most states, because most states they give all these big companies the opportunity.
Then they say, okay, now we're gonna let you know the people that you know, the poor people get in. And I always say, like I use the comparison, it's like playing against the Warriors and spotting them twenty thirty points and go out and plays just literally what happened, you know what I'm saying. So when New York they're doing it, you know totally, they're doing it the right way. They're rolling it out properly, and I'm excited for the
New York market. I think it's gonna be probably the biggest in the country.
What were Did you ever have to dodge piss tests?
No? In the NBA, No, I didn't. I didn't smoke until, like I told you that one time. And then my last year in the league, I was just using more CBD and stuff like that. I always wanted to keep my record clean just in case, because you know how they say they don't keep tabs on all that stuff, but they do, you know what I'm saying.
And then you get like a stigma on you that's like kind of unfair. Then they talk about it on a sports center. It's like, who cares, it's.
Weeds weed, like, you know, especially now it's now okay. And then you know they allowed it in the bubble out of nowhere, right.
You had one of your facilities be legally raided in Detroit, right, correct? So what can you give me a breakdown what happened there?
Yeah, so pretty much, you know, and how long ago was this? This was I think six years ago now. But what happens is like in all these states, you know, you go through this whole process, right, and at the end of the day, unfortunately, it's still like regular state workers that are responsible for a lot of the information and all that kind of stuff. And like even when I apply for licenses, like, bro, I'm literally giving my every bank account, every lease, every this that like all
these different states, these people have all my information. Bro, you don't see what I'm saying. So you go through that whole process, and you know, you get these permits, you get all these different things to operate, and you know, certain things happen. So what happened for us was, you know, someone jumps off the bridge. Our facility is right next to the Ambassador bridge that goes from Detroit into Windsor, Canada. They're looking for the body. Allegedly, the coastguard comes past
our building. They smell weed. They call the city or the police. The police call the city. The lady at the city who's in charge is on vacation, so they talk to like her assistant, nook sit the paperwork, Oh had I don't have that address anywhere on any files. The gang unit exercises a warrant on the building. The gang unit. The gang unit, they come in. They dress regular. So I'm at home. My aunt calls me and she says, I think we're getting robbed. I look on the camera
and everybody got on regular clothes, bro. So I'm like, oh shit, y'all. So I'm like, you know, you know the procedure, go lock go lock, y'allself in the back. I'm looking on the camera. She's still looking on the camera because the camera's in that back room. Then we see a paddy wagon that comes by. That says Detroit police. So I'm like, oh, Auntie, it's the police. Cool, you got all the paperwork, Just go open the door. At
this point, they're ramming the door. She opens the door before they have to bust it down, and she's trying to give them the paperwork, and all I see on the camera is just an ar go to her face in the paperwork, fall or whatever. So they back her into the door and they all running through the door. They ramming the other door down on the other and just still ramming, ramming and ramming, and then like literally three minutes later, the cameras is cut, So now I
can't see anything. So now I'm nervous as hell, you know, or thinking like what happened? Like you know, I'm still me. I don't want to go to jail. You understand what I'm saying. And long story short man, it was just some mix ups at the city level, and you know, they had to let everybody out.
Did they pay for any of the did they damage your shit?
They've damaged all of our shit. They took all of our equipment. What they did was they put us on the news that night with our address forty four to seventy three West Jefferson Avenue. And they left the warehouse open, so allegedly someone comes in there with equipment that know how to take down lights and know how to take HVAC off the roof and they just completely wiped us out over two days, because it took me two days
to get there. You know what I'm saying. By the time I got there, my warehouse was empty.
Well, you know they say this about Detroit. They will gut a fucking a house out there. They'll take the copper out that motherfucker they'll take. Detroit is known for that shit. It like, if you got a house in Detroit and it's not occupied, good luck.
Bro.
You need but to get all my ship like you need it, ladders, you need it.
Like, oh, it was probably the police, probably like one of the cops cousins.
Oh yeah, Bro, they got us, Bro, So it's probably so whoever out there got our equipment and we started your growing all that. You'll can send us a little thank you of something, man, because you know they got state of the art equipment.
Bro, was like all the equipment being able to suit.
We're in a probably we're in a lawsuit still after all this time, Jesus, and still you know they have like this immunity because they're police. It's just it is all bad, bro, Bro.
How much frustration do you have dealing with weird Listen? Man, the marijuana industry is full of a lot of weirdos, yes, sir, very much. Guys out of the culture, Guys who never were involved in weed in their life, corporate dudes. I mean, I've dealt with it a lot where I'm just like, these are the fucking weenies that are making decisions at
some of these companies. And then that's when you see like certain like brands like fall like fall Off or even like dispensary brands that are like really big brands, but it's like a bunch of weirdo, like you know, VC guys running them. Like like for you being a guy who you know obviously cares about the plant, cares so much about this, like the benefits of weed and
just the culture and all that shit. Like, is it frustrating dealing with some of the weird ship that you have to do because I talk to Burner about the sh all the time. Berner deals with a lot of weirdos.
Yeah, yeah, it's very frustrating, But it's just part of the business, bro. You know, we're still pioneering the industry, and to your point, there's a lot of people that's gonna come and go, you know what I'm saying. But you gotta it's all gonna weed itself out, and you just got to be a part of the process, you know what I'm saying. So yeah, i'd be frustrated, but not that frustrated, you know what I'm saying. I've kind
of gotten used to it, you know. I think that once again, also because of my background being yea so much, I'm a pro exactly, so for me, I guess it doesn't bother me as much. But to your point, yes, there's a lot of weird shit going on in industry, a lot of weird people in it. And like I said, bro, we'll see how long it takes to weed it all out, but it's gonna be a while.
How many shelves are you guys on?
We're in California, in cally On, Cali, So we went to approach like small batch product or whatever. So we're probably about twenty five stores. Okay, Yeah, what's the biggest market for viola right now? It's Michigan, Michigan. Michigan's booming, Yeah, Michigan. And then I would say second is Florida. Oh shit. We did a partnership with a company called Flowery that's booming.
Dope and then, So what I like about what you're doing is like introducing new strands, new partnerships. Have you because I know you had did Berner's Roundtable, No, I haven't done. So you guys, you guys did an interview or something that I haven't set. It's on YouTube.
I watched it, and yeah, did I maybe I dea I smoked that much.
It's just like it was probably like five years ago, four or five years ago.
I did an interview with Berner, not I don't know.
If it was an interview. Was you guys chopping it up?
I've done. I've done some like zoom stuff with him.
During Maybe I'm am I tripping hold on, let me see, because I swear to god, I thought I saw this. I thought you were sitting. Oh, I know what he's talking about. I did at uh right here interviews Al Harrington.
Oh yeah, that was way back in the day. You're right, we did that right here on Sunset. I know I'm not crazy on Sunset. You're right. I forgot. I forgot.
I was gonna say, like, have you got any advice from a guy like Burne in terms of like he's done such a good job of like building out like the franchise model on the on the you know, on the dispensary side, and then obviously introducing the strains constantly. That's why I thought it was dope he did the Irish ship because I was like, oh, that's that makes sense.
Yeah, now yeah, yeah, we talk all the time every time we see each other. Like the last time I saw him, well, I saw him when he did the Rika Bad Thing here in Cali. Before that where we actually got a chance to sit in the trailer and talk for about an hour, was down in Atlanta for the Revolt conference. But yeah, so he's always just you know, giving me his perspective what's going on. And you know, the one thing that I would say, like it's consistent
every time we talk. It's all about the quality of the week always. You know what I'm saying, Like, you find good week, make a cool bag of herself. Yeah, you know what I'm saying, and like kind of keep it simple, stupid kind of so you know, big shout out to burn the big shot, big shout out to what he's done. He's definitely you.
Know, well listen whatever wherever you're at, well, not wherever you're at, but this is I smelled the Irish. That's just gush. Shout out to Viola. I appreciate you pulling up, man and talking and thanks for having me. Congrats on the twelve twelve years.
Twelve years and this ship.
Yeah man, hey, so go support. And then for people who don't know, like, what's the Instagram? Where can people kind of find.
Them with check out? Yeah, our instagram is at Viola you know, we have so have some other tags outside of that, but go to a Viola first. He'll get you there. Viola Brands dot Com is the website. And if you want to get some of this cool ass fire, y'all got real merch, Yeah, go to Viola Goods dot com. We got a bunch of new ship dropping over the next couple of weeks. We got sneakers, We did a collabor we're doing a collab with lambeau Keine on some
merch on some T shirts and hoodies. You know what I'm saying, So go check it out.
Bro boom my guy, Al Harrington, appreciate you pulling up, Yes, sir, thank glad we got to make it happen.
Yes, sir boom Hey.
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