All The SmokeAll The Smoke welcomes The Black Mamba to the show! Kobe and Stack reminisce about the 1996 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. Stack says he should have won the MVP, does Kobe agree? Kobe talks about the team that stopped the Lakers from winning even more championships, Matt getting feisty with Kobe, lack of playing time in his first three years and his break during the NBA lockout that lead to the beginning of one of the greatest careers in American sports.
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This is Matt Barnes. You're listening to All the Smoke before you dive in. If you want to listen to uninterrupted episodes, you can unlock ad free listening right now with the subscription of Black Effects Plus. Just click to subscribe at the top of the All the Smoke Show page on Apple Podcasts.
All these years, we've been building, building and building. Now opportunity do come my way. That's when the magic happens.
Going them to the Endeling household was.
Crazy, depression, anxiety, those are things I had.
I had hater before.
I've just gotten more than that. Legalizing sports gamblin might as well to legalize cookin and crystal mouth. So many people wanted sunny dead. Question is who got to first?
This is all work point, just the part I don't see.
We help people.
Understand football, all right, man.
So ship Normally we shooting Santa Monica or in New York. But today we made a special road trip to go see the one and only, the one and only. Yeah, I mean we had to drive an hour and a half in traffic to see cold It doesn't matter.
We had to drive backwards. I was gonna get some get this house Blacks for these damn shoes. One way enough, that's the first thing you're gonna do.
Cod w How you doing? Look man, I'm looking for It's the shoes.
Called the Undefeated Pack.
We gotta be fresh on the court now.
But I'm excited, you know what I mean. Like some said that he's someone that from the jump, you know him coming to LA when I was in U c l A. You gotta play with the McDonald's game. We kind of saw the early at the beginning, and it kind of just seen him can continued to evolve and continue to be at one point, you know, the greatest player in a in the game and then one of the all time greats.
You know.
So I think to have a chance to sit down and and shop it up and reminisce and see what he's got going on post career now, I think it's just gonna be dope.
Now. Only doing somebody who I you know, probably my favorite player of my time, right but uh, somebody that I grew up with, you know, like I said, maybe able to play McDonald's game with. But last time I saw him was when he was able to talk to my son Okay on his LA on his uh bell weell tour and I never got a chance to tell him thank you. So it's a been a great time to you know, to pick his brain see what he got going on, you know what I mean.
And uh, you know rap with bean Man.
That I think everyone thinks that he and I are enemies or don't fuck with each other cause that shit that happened in Orlando with the ball face. But that's what kind of really he ain't liked it. Nah, That's what really brought us together, you know, That's what n You know, he after that season, he hit me up like, Yo, you wanna be a Laker? I said, hell yeah, and he said, anyone crazy enough to fuck with me is crazy enough to play with me. So I think there's such like when people still you.
Know, Kobe doesn't like you.
You guys, I'm just like, it's it's not even like to be honest with you when you're talking about is what really brought us closer in me and made us become friends.
You know.
So we had battles, but then you know it's teammates.
Man.
We had some some crazy off the court fun ship.
You know what I remember, thog I was this is the first time I ever seen Kobe out. I was in Milwaukee. We played job. Remember I was suspended. We came to the club and you like you called me, like, Bro, I'm going I'm bringing called like man, Kobe ain't going.
I was like, Bro, I'm telling you.
And I walked in the club and Cole was in there.
And I couldn't believe it. Bro, Like, Bro, I'm telling you now, he going out. Bro, I'm telling you coming out with me.
Because I was in my room, you know, I was pre game and I went in to the room, burned one real quick and then I'm like, YOA, what's going on, man, Let's let's do something. And then He's all right, let's go. We went in all cities. We wentever we went to Milwaukee.
Yeah, you called me, Bro, tells me going out, Man, I couldn't believe it.
Now.
We bond the instantly, man, Like I said, on the those the court, you know, and we're both going through some stuff in our personal life. So it was just like on the court we balled, but then off the court we kicked it and we went out and did stuff and you know, rolling with him as a whole other monster.
Man.
Were going to all these black tie events and you see every that's kind of when I started I kind of owe with the code. It's you know, kind of started seeing these uh, these Hollywood women, you know what I mean, and go into events.
With him, and once you open that door for me.
Well, yeah, you ain't gotta you ain't gotta you gottah.
Yeah, I'm walk myself, ma'ma I'm gonna do my thing. So you know, that's kind of like the two thousand when I was separated at the time, the twenty ten times, that was the beginning of something beautiful. Candifory love Man, you already know a Laker, Yeah, and with with the one of the arguably one of the greatest Lakers.
Yep of all time.
Yeah, the teammate on the road, just his folks. It doesn't deter he'll go out and have a good time. It's not like he's gonna go out all that can go crazy. But if it's a situation where he does go out, you know what I mean, The next morning, he's up early and like the schedules you know, hadn't changed. You know, he's someone that you know, insisted on work.
They have a glass of wine every now and then.
The Veno, you know what I mean.
But he'll get out there and still do his early morning pre practice workouts or pre shoot around workouts like he was a He was a beast, you know what I mean. Like he enjoyed hisself, but at the same time, he never let it take away from his craft. And that's what I think. He held people to a standard. You know, you want to go out, you want to go out fun, go do that, but don't let that fuck up. But we got going on the next day. I don't know if he could have handled seeing what the kind of shit we did with that. We believe team though, but like you said, we still came out and did our thing though every night.
But he was in the streets.
Every If we was doing that and winning, he would have respected us because that's all.
He was about it. Right at the end of the day, It's about doing your job for.
What you do off the court. As long as we winning, let's go all the smoke.
I'm looking forward to this obviously. I think our goal is to have a candid conversation and get some shit out of him that he doesn't normally talk about.
This motherfucker, I'm actually enjoyed playing the gainst and enjoy watching.
So I'm actually a fan of this man.
You can ask him about who deserve MVP in the McDonald's game.
Yes, I have to get that answer.
If he stamps you, you're good, because I don't know if I believe it until he because I didn't watch the game. So if he stamps you.
If Kobe stamps that, I should have won MVP in the McDonald's nineties All American Game, somebody needs to send me a trophy.
Y'all heard that. You better said that shit.
I'm excited though. It's gonna be one for the books. All the motherfucker Smoke that.
A break show.
Let go Welcome Back All the Smoke episode eleven ringing in twenty twenty.
My god, eleven, don't.
I don't know how to say that.
I don't know Mexico.
I got it, I got I gotta.
Oh.
We appreciate you, man, Thank you for your time. We've been looking forward to this man. The fans have been asking, you need to get Kobe, you need to get COVID. So we finally got cold man. All right, we appreciate you, man, got it.
So let's get into it.
Man, what is the difference between Kobe Bryant post career and the Mamba, the killer we saw on the court.
Well, I think it's just a lot of the mentality is still the same. Industry just changes, right, So the same focused, same attention to detail. There's even more so now because you know, when you play, you gotta take time off, gotta let your body heal, you gotta do certain things. You know, in business and in creativity, there is no off switch because your brain's constantly working, right, So you know, the similarities are are there. It's the focus, attention to detail, and you try to surround yourself people that are just as monogual as you are about their and the differences are I don't have to put my body through hell every day.
True. True. Some of the things I've seen post career that I love. Or obviously you know, you coaching your daughter and then your new fascination with writing novels, going to detail with those.
Yeah, well, coaching the kids it's fun. Just kind of came out of nowhere because my daughter just decided she wanted to play about two and a half years ago, you know, so started coaching a little bit and then she made a local All Star team, and that's where we met the rest of the girls that are now on the team. And you know, they all started at the real kind of ground level, but they enjoy playing so much. It just kind of grew into what it is now and it's been it's been a lot of fun. And then the novel writing really started just with the kids. The kids can't keep reading stories that have no relation to them whatsoever. And I don't mean just from like, you know, a diversity, like a color standpoint, not only just that, but from the fact that they're athletes and there's no story that kind of speaks to athletes. It's all like princesses and sleep and Prince wakes you up with the kiss. Not trying to read my daughters that you know, you know, we enjoy that stuff, but it's not you know, it's not reality. You're not going to sleep and then wake up years later later and be successful.
You know, you gotta work, you gotta work.
So I wanted to create stories that I could read to them athletes that go through that type of Sime.
Tell me what it's like coaching your daughter, you know, because I coach my boys will be at the same tournament coming up this weekend. What is it like for you being on that sideline.
It's fun because I get a chance to sit and watch and ask questions.
You know.
That's that's really my job and my coaching staff's job is to really ask questions, you know, and let them figure things out throughout the course of the game, and you'll win some and you'll lose some. That way, we probably went a lot more if we felt like we would micro manage how they play the game and call plays and sets and all sort of stuff. But we really just kind of sit back and let them process things and figure things out because we are playing for the long game of them being the best basketball players they can be. But it's fun to sit there and watch them. Who you didn't want to Oscar?
You know, we we have we dream have his dream of winning an Emmy with our show You don't want to Oscar in the Ammy?
What tell me? How did that?
What did that feel like to be able to say, you know, to win the Oscars? You know, of course you wanted to be with six rings with Mike, but you have something that he probably he probably never get, you know what one of these you know what I'm.
Saying I can't get one of these, So how to tell me about that?
Uh?
You know it was. It's different because in competition, you're you're, you're. It's like it's a direct competitive thing. You know who your competitors are. You know who you we got that bad face like you know that, you know what I mean. So it's like, you know, it's a direct competition when it comes to the yards, it's not that you just try to create the best thing you possibly can and then see how you know, in this case, the academy responds to it. So it's very different like sitting there at Oscar night, like there's nothing you can do. I just don't need to be nervous. It's no need to because things are what they are. It's out of your hands. You did the best job that you could possibly do, and then you go from there. But the biggest lesson learned from is you work with brilliant people that see the world the same way, and magical things happen. And that's true across industries. I got John Williams and Glenn Keane, who have never met, but they are both giants in their respective industries, see their craft the same way, and you put them on a project together, and you know, what was.
It like for you coming into this business space overall with all your success you've had in sports, you know, I kind of feel like that next step in life. People either kind of okay, they praise you for what you did and it's eager to work with you, or they're like, oh, it's motherfucker thinks because he won five titles that he can do whatever he wants.
It's a little bit of both, right, So, like I can get any meeting, you know, but then it's the follow up, right. Or I used to get things all the time where it's come in for the meeting for this company that you want to build, these ideas that you want to build. That's all cool, and then you sit down and they're trying to pitch you on being on the show, being in front of the camera. I'm like, I'm not about that, right, right, So it kind of it goes both ways. And so what we've had to do is just build it ourselves because we just got sick and tired of it, you know, trying to go out and partner with people that act like they believe in the vision, but when the push comes to shove, they really don't they just want me in my twenty years.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm trying to put that to bed and build something for the next one is And the best way to do that is to do that ourselves.
Right.
What was our pivotal moment growing up where you developed your desire and the tremendous work. I think I speak on the mental toughness that you have was there early on?
Pick that up. I'm trying to remember.
I mean, we've we had a really competitive household with my cousins and you know, my father and my uncle and stuff like, we was very competitive. You had to really really work to just survive. Like you know, that's what's swimming, that's playing basketball, it's playing video games whatever.
I mean. It was a shit talking family.
Like when you lose, not only lose, but you get embarrassed while you lose, you know what I mean. So I grew up in that kind of environment, so you had to work hard just to just to kind of keep your head above water sort of thing. And I came into the NBA, I was like, man, these dudes really don't work that hard. It was pretty It was kind of an eye opener. It was like, but you started off young, like, you know, we were the same age. We grew up, like you got to kill list at thirteen, I.
Did, and I know we age. I'm glad I wasn't know the damn I'm glad I wasn't on your kill this day. We were the same age coming up.
But it's like that Billy Madison ship, like, yeah, yeah, who was on your kill list at thirteen?
Bro Well, Tim Thomas. Yeah, of course Tim Thomas. Uh uh yeah, because RiPP and I were like both nobodies. Yeah, so he went to Coachfieldsville and law marriage. We were a nobody, so we played on the same AAU team together and so we were really close.
So he might have had a killed list too.
So the killers was well, just people what ranked higher than you ranked.
Higher, because I like, going into my sophomore year, I was probably ranked somewhere in like the top two hundred something like that, and then it kind of went up one hundred and fifty and then by the time was a senior hit number one. But jo Jamaine was up there. Leicester Earl, Cory Ben Holloway, Corey Be Mike Baby, Mike Baby, you know what I mean. You know, last was you know, I tell you what, the first time I ever actually ever heard E forty was at an All American camp. Yeah, you're all hanging out in dorms, and back then it was nothing but Biggie nos stuff.
Right, So they were.
Playing E forty and shooting crafts and I'm like, man, I gotta show me what is what's going on right now?
You know?
It was fun getting to know everybody you know, and then seeing them kind of we're all going since then.
Well, you guys played in the McDonald's game together and Jack, how do you want MVP?
Right? No, MVP?
I should have won MVP. MVP then, see I'm glad you said that. Cod so on MVP Shahane Holloway. He had like ten turnovers too, bro. But you know what got an MVP? Remember the bounce passed Lester l and dunked on Box. I think that was the big play. But I had I led the game in scoring, actually was eight to ten from the field, three for three from the three point line. But our team me you ripped Jermaine O'Neill and gen Ilway.
Crazy starting fire. That's great. I thought you did. No I didn't.
So he loves the fact that you thought he should have.
He said that that's all I wanted. He wanted.
I don't want to about this before He's like, he ain't Holloway went, but Code knows I should have wanted.
I did, He ain't wanted. Damn. It was dope, though. It was a great experience.
Because our team, though you gotta let like me you Jamaine.
Made a long career out of it, all of us, like.
You know what I mean.
Rip has had some videos remember his pops you should travel around with the camquorder all the time. Yes, And so he was showing me some some clips from some of his old footage and watching us knuckleheads walk around.
I posted a picture recently of me you, Mike Bibbie and at the McDonald's game. That's crazy. That's what me and you first met. That's nuts. Yeah, that's we first met. Getting better, we getting better there.
We talked about this a little bit off camera when we were talking about Stephen A. Smith and kind of how the rolls reverse now and he's kind of almost in a player's perspective where he's getting criticized and everything. Was there ever anything as a player that you remember that was said? About you or written about you that really kind of stung and hurt throughout your career.
You know what's funny all all of it? Does you know a lot of stuff said about me or selfishness type of stuff. It's like, bro, you can't win five rings, being self doesn't happen. But I get that's kind of become the Mantra's kind of become the slang or the binacular or the running joke or he doesn't pass and also crap, man, that's okay, you know, but I'll take those five rings, right, I'll.
Take five a lot. I know me and Matt and I know you too.
Like I've been misunderstood and not honestly for like I missed a lot of a couple of All Star appearances due to the brawl. Sure, you know, and I've been misunderstood because you know me, and you know, man, I'm not the person that they labeled me to be after that, after being a loyal teammate. What's the most misunderstood thing about you?
I think it's that, man.
I think it's the it's the selfishness or you know, arrogant, Well maybe not the arrogance.
You have to be.
You have to you have to be, you have to be.
I mean, you know, when I'm playing, it's a different side of it. I think it's the perception of the way I am on the court is the way I am off the court. It's two completely different things, man, two completely different things. I mean, I can be an absolute teddy beer at home with my family, with my kids and enjoying that family time, and I'm really psychotic about having that family time and making sure we're doing what we have to do as a family.
But I'm doing school.
Drop offs and pickups and you know, giving my babies a shower and doing all this stuff. Like I'm making sure I'm there for him as man's possible, right and so. But on the basketball court it's a completely different animal. And I think the biggest thing is, yeah, I see people saying, well, I don't like.
Him, you know, and what okay, I mean, who are you right?
Right?
Right?
Like that sort of stuff. But it's all good. It comes with the territory.
Have you have you have you ever shot an airball from the free throw line?
No?
So, how do you do you feel that you should be If you're a top ten player in the league, you should ever shoot the airball the free throw line.
I'm sure it happens.
You have it.
I never have it. I've never been top ten.
I don't think if you're a top ten player should never shoot a free airball free throw?
Are you referring to something in particular?
Just no people stars, all stars perier, because multiple all stars have done it.
Yeah, I've I can only speak in personal experience, man, I haven't. I've never shot an airball from the free throw line. And okay you haven't.
Okay, no, no, not even with my left not even my left hand.
Right, all right?
This year will be when juvene rolls around twenty years since you won your first title but immediately comes to your mind, crazy right, damn? Really yeah?
Long time? Whoa? Oh man?
Uh shit, No, I remember the just us, you know, being really excited that we got through Portland.
There were times what we had we had Bonzie on Hue. He was telling us about that series.
It was a nightmare.
It was a nightmare matchup for me, man, because he was I was really scrawny in like one twenty soaking wet, and he was just trying to beat this ship out of me in the post and uh him Stacy Augman. They really helped me develop my post defensive presence because that was a weakness. I had to develop that quite a bit. But I remember just going into the Indiana series, we were just ready, We're confident, we knew how we wanted to execute, we knew what we needed to do, and we just try to take him out their sets as much as possible. Man, and then you know, Jalen split his foot, under mine and cast A series go a little longer than it should have, but ultimately we got it done.
Any pregame rituals or superstitions that you had throughout.
You know, I don't have nothing. Just go out there. I go out and hoop, man like it.
Like sometimes you know, like on game day, if I'm tired, I go to sleep.
From that I won't and you never walk around.
I walk around, So a pre game that wasn't essential for you.
Nah, Like if I was tired, I'd go to sleep. I wasn't. I just wouldn't. You know.
Sometimes I'd sleep like for fifteen minutes on the training table before a.
Game, and that's all you need, just to reload.
Yeah, yeah, because I'm already in shape, I don't need to sleep to be in shape ready to go. I could run all day already. My stamina is already where it should be. So like whether or not I'm sleepy or not, like being sleepy and then being fatigued or two different things. I can play the game and be sleepy and not be fatigued.
It's fine.
Interesting lowest moment, Like we know, we had a couple of lowest low moments in our career where you know, the things we control are it was our fault. What was a low moment in your career? I don't really say you haven't nothing. It was a couple of them. Well, losing to the Celtics and or eight was tough.
But before that, like at the beginning of the journey, was not playing so coming in as a rookie and saying, man, if I knew the shit was gonna be like this, I would have went to school interest right, because I felt like my coach Del Harris at the time was trying to make sure he did not show favoritism to the young kid, and as a result, he swung completely the opposite direction and doing things that weren't really fair and I mean not playing you know, So like my first two three years were brutal.
People don't know that. People don't people don't know that, people don't know you went through that your first three years. No, it was tough.
I mean, you know, I sit around and watch all my peers going out there playing thirty five thirty seven minutes, you know, Ai ray Allen. They're all doing their thing. Shreef up, do right. Everybody's doing their thing, and I'm sitting here glued to the bench, getting really really pissed off and ticked off, thinking I should was just going to college. I mean that was the hardest part.
Yeah, what was finally what was that breakthrough when it was okay that your number was called? Did someone get hurt? He finally trust to me?
What was it doing the lockout season?
When the season started, Rick Fox had playing off fast shot at some both feet, but he wanted to play somebody else in front of me, and that person got hurt, and so then he had no choice but to start me, but start me at small forward. And so this is when like small forwards was big small forward, yes, right hand, this is pit. This is like so I started the first whatever of ten games at small four. I think I started like like seven straight double doubles or something like that, and then I've been in.
The start lineup every since, no looking back. But I don't.
I mean, I might have who the hell knows how long when I came off the bench for injury.
So crazy.
It's really really rough, especially too. Like I said, I see, I got a different side because I went to UCLA almost parallel when you came to LA. So I would see you on campus. I would see you working out in the gym, and I would know, like, damn this motherfuckers, why is he not playing? You know what I mean. I looked at it from like a point of view, like I see this dude work out like people don't play, like he looks like Michael Jordan out there, Like I would see he would come in after our Ucla price. I remember one time you had broke your right hand and you came up to UCLA and did a whole workout left handed, like you were a left handed player, and I was just like, what hole fucking Then the next season he came out shooting left handed shots, and people like, oh my god, he's this. I was like, No, he work that ship his whole time. He had this hand in the cast. If you watch all that from you, it was just mad, I'm not playing right.
It's like you're sitting down, you're not playing, and you're watching everybody else kill the league when you know you should be doing that. It still pisses me off to this day because like, ultimately, you know, what numbers would you have put up on right, because everybody wants to go to that Let's go to career. Number's go to career. Somebodyish, somebody would have told me that back then. You know what I'm saying. So you know those three years of not playing and sitting on the bench and just watching frustrating.
To what personal growth did you go through? From three people Shack he's gone until you won your next title with with Power and the.
Crew, I understand how to connect the team more. I didn't have to with shock A. Shaq was the guy that connected everybody and you know, still drove a hard bargain, but he was the jovial one and connected everybody. And so I figure out how to do that do that in my own way, you know, with my sarcasm and you know, dry humor or whatever the case may be, and being authentic with guys, but still being able to build that relationship and understand and this is what it's about. And as a result, we wounded up having the closest team. That was the closest team I've ever played on. Man, it was, but that was the biggest change. What was Matt like as a teammate? You know, I played with him in Golden State as my brother. We've been through a lot of stuff on and off the quarte, our mom's best friend. I was with him during a tough time when he lost his mom.
So our relationship is deeper than basketball. But what was he like as a teammate? Exactly what I thought he was gonna be.
Feisty, yeah, tough, competitive, uh, and not afraid of big moments. You know, That's why I respected the most guys that aren't afraid. You gotta have some co honess and you're playing with me. Ain't got no co honess? Man, I ain't. I ain't.
That kind of leads me to the next thing, because I think people think there's such a disconnect between you all because of this shit in Orlando.
People really think that I wanted him because of what happened.
He's like everybody says, like anyone crazy enough to fuck with me, is crazy enough to play with me, you know what I mean. So it was funny though, because that was just a back and forth game, and that kind of just spoke to both of our competitiveness. You know, the year before, you guys had beat Orlando, so we come back the next year thinking, Okay, we're gonna play the Lakers again. We're getting towards the end of the season. It's a back and forth game. And I tell people when I played you, like I just look forward to it because I mean, everyone knows how fucking good you are, but you mentally attack people too. You do your little code.
Shit where your elbow win and grabbing, knocking and win.
L with me right here, and what you're talking about everything out of me everything, I kind of dunked it.
Ell with me.
I'm just like what the fuck? And I'm the one getting I'm the one to get in teased. So it just came to overhead. But like, man, I might have to fight this dude, you know what I mean, Like, fuck basketball, fuck everything. So the play was crazy because I literally just faked the ball and it wasn't like thought of or anything, and you and I didn't realize how close it came to your face. Obviously you didn't move. But then when I I feel like that ship was I mean, like you just to that ship. This motherfucker might have been the only person on the planet like you flinched just off some regular ship. Like I put a whole basketball in his face after we had really been going through and he.
Just I was.
I was telling a story about we was in San Antonio. This my second time. I turned around shoot jump and you hit my whole arm.
The referees right there don't call that. You take the ball.
Haul the court right, So you know me, I'm always arguing with the ref I'm in the full argument with the ref but I'm guarding you at the same time.
And so you start telling me you better pay attention, motherfucker, you better paying attention. So I'm arguing with the reff trying to listen to you. You shoot the motherfucker from the logo Nick give me a look. Then the referee give me the same look, like I'm like, so, look, this has made the worse. Then pops me right out. Of course a ship you're going for sixty nine. I can't get my get back, and man, I just try to fuck with y'all as much as possible.
I knew if you know, like you know, y'all coaches pop gun, it's crazy awesome, but they're crazy yeah and a little you know yeah, yeah, So I just tried to do what I could to take you guys out of the game, you know, you know, even if it met like your replacement, Yes, I was coming. If you guys did a better job guarding me, yeah, then I'd be comfortable with that.
Just yeah, yeah, let them come in and guard me. They do a much better job than these two guys and somebody else's. And then you wait and wait, and then you roast them. Yeah, you guys over there like the am I doing over here. That's how it happens a lot of long.
But my whole thing with you was, you know, to me, you never a good defense, never gonna stop great office. I just wanted to make you work, you know what I mean. So you know with me there was there was gonna be hard files. It's gonna be no easy layups. If you shot fake me too many times, I'm just gonna find you. I'm just gonna fail you hard, you know what I mean. And that's what I explained to people, like, great offense is always.
Going to be great defense.
You just want to make them work for everything. So you scored thirty points, I wanted you to take thirty shots, you know that kind of thing.
So that was going back and forth and threes and go to states in LA. I made the first like are you serious? Half?
Have you ever sat down and had like a real off the camera conbo with m.
J Oh, yeah, what is that like looking in the mirror. No, it's fun. I mean it's fun. No, we're really different. It's crazy, Like he'll he'll compete to you anything, to you, y'all different, I guess. I mean like he'll compete with any and everything. I won't. I only compete with things that I really am good at. Like, I'm not just gonna compete on something you don't know. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. Everything.
You know, he'll uh, you know, he'll talk basketball all day long and not stopping comp What would have happened if you know my ninety one against your O three and you know, like what this is that?
What would happened in your opinion?
Come on, you can't ask him that, man, I want to know what been complete. Dominance would be a seven game series.
With what he's out of the conversation with was well, I would have destroyed you. You know, listen, I just I just said, listen, just remember who you're talking to. You just started laughing. It was like, I'm just messing with you. I'm just messing with you. And then we just kind of moved on. Dope, But it had been it had been fun.
That's dope, man.
Just to even know that y'all had that conversation is dope. Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
How bad? I remember playing with you. Your whole thing is that you said I want to sit at the table with MJ, meaning you wanted that six ring. What did it mean not to be able to get that? Oh?
It pissed me off, you know, but things are what they are.
You know.
You gotta you you push for a goal, and my original goal was to try to win Eat eight. And you push for it, and you push for and you push for and you do the best you can. But at the end of the day, you can be comfortable with the results and where they landed and where they ended up, and so you know, that's the most important thing. That's why I can be really, really comfortable with the career that I've had because you know, I worked as hard as you possibly could.
That's it.
You and Shack were able to win three together. Obviously there's been back and forth of you know what he was like, which you were like whatever, But if you guys were on the same page connected mentally, how many do you realistic feel like you could have won?
The probably?
I mean San Antonio was tough. They were tough, and so like when the playoffs came around. Wasn't like Shaq and I weren't on the same page when the playoffs came around. We always went on the same page. We just got beat, you know what I'm saying. So like we've you know, the bigger question would should be how many would we have won.
If the Spurs weren't the Spurs, because.
You probably would have ran it decade. He was, he was killing he was by someth that year.
He was lights out, he lights out right, and so the talent, the coaching, everything in San Antonio was kind of a perfect storm. And so if they weren't in the picture, we probably would have run ten in a row. And they probably say.
The same thing about us that's crazy.
You got a lot of young players that's reaching out to you. Now you know your advice to them, like, like what you tell them, like how does that feel?
Depends what they ask me.
Like a lot of them will come and ask about their game and things that they should do and things like that, and I say, listen, you gotta you know the answer to that. I don't know, Like, you know what makes you uncomfortable when you play? I mean, I think that's the biggest thing for kids nowadays, is that they want to rely on coaches too much and work out guys, you know, which is fine to have them help you work out, but you have to tell them what you need.
Right.
You have to be able to say, Okay, I feel uncomfortable with this, and if you don't know, then you're not as prepared as you should be.
Right.
You need to know what your strengths and weaknesses are first, and then you know, I can tell you some of the things, some of the rhythmic things, or some of the exercises of how much repetition you need to be doing on certain things.
But you got to know your game.
Where did that come from? Though? Because you said, I mean, obviously one of the greats, you know, is where you rank. But I really see, you know, with your academy out there in thousand others, like you open up your doors and your arms for players to come in. And where did that come from? That that giving back one from really well.
The guys that came before did the same thing for me. You know.
I've had really end up conversations with Jay West and talking about thinks, same thing with MJ. I've had great mentors, Elijah One. I've had guys all time greats, Bill Russell, and we talked a lot about how to win championships, how to lead, and so I felt like it's my job to try to pass that information onto the next generation and then see the game develop and see it.
Grow, you know what I mean.
It's amazing to look back and see what some of these athletes are doing now right whether it's the generation of James Harden, Luka, Doncics now and some of the players, like, it's fun to sit back and watch the game grow. And that's why I do it.
Who are some of the younger players or players in the league right now that you do follow when you get a chance to watch, you know what's.
Funny, I wind up.
So before Gigi got into basketball, I hardly watched it. But now she's in the basketball we watched on she wants.
To watch it.
It's on every night.
I love it.
It's on every night, and I mean every game.
I mean she she asked me to get the lead pass on her phone and everything. She watches everything, so you know, we'll watch She likes. She likes watching Trey Young a lot. She watches Luca a lot. She watches James, she watches Russ, and she watches bron she watches, she.
Watches who who you would watch?
Watch?
Watches who I would watch?
I guess, I mean, And there's so many young talented players out there.
It's it's amazing.
And when I took it to the Laker game, that's the first Laker game I've been to, I since my jersey retirement. And we just had so much fun because for the first time I was seeing the.
Game through her eyes.
It wasn't me sitting there, you know, as an athlete or a player or something like that, and then you know, it's like about me, and I don't like that. It was her, like she was having such a good time and the players are coming.
Up and saying how to her?
And you know, and Brian was talking about her fade away, and you know it was it was exciting and she has such a great time.
As a father.
You just that's all you wants. Yes, yes, being the father with girls. I have girls, we both have girls. When it's time for that first day, they're gonna get that mom book eighty one point staff, you're gonna get the boy to the stad Like, look.
Bro, I put eighty one on the court.
Don't maybe put eighty one of these on you.
You know, I think it's implied. Yeah, already implied, I think, you know, And I think Vanessa honestly drives a harder bargain than I do when it.
Comes to that really that stuff. Yeah.
Yeah, so you got to get past that line of defense face. Yeah, moms, you know that's national security.
Past that.
Now you have to deal with the real big, big, big dog. Yeah, it's gonna be nice, exactly so, but no, it's good man. We just try to raise our girls to be strong, independent women. You know what I'm saying, hold themselves really high standards, self respect, things of that nature, and you just trust that you've raised.
Them the right way you have been going for twenty years. Yeah, tell me what that. I mean with the heart of your career and who you are. How what's your guy's a secret sauce? Man, nothing's perfect, but you guys haven't seem to make it work.
Just commitment and competitiveness of we are going to succeed, you know. Like we've seen couples that have been like eighty five years old, you.
Know, and you look at you're like, oh man.
Such an old, sweet couple, you know, and all sort this stuff, and i'd go and I talk to them because I want to know what time I go. Yeah, it's great, but I mean she just kicked me out of the bed last night. I'll sleep on the couch last minutes. I'm like, it don't change, man, it don't change. And married, you know, seventy something years, man, it doesn't change.
So it's a.
Constant up and down the ebb and flows of relationships. But that's also the beauty of it. And having the persistence and the determination to work through things, very very tough things.
And we've been able to do that commitment, that commitment.
So last thing before we get out of here, the state of the Lakers with a D and Lebron. I think they've turned the corner. You know, hats off to Rob in the front office, who've kind of orchestrated this team. But what do you think first of them as a duo within the state of the Lakers.
Yeah, well, I think I think people got to uh uh she really seeing Rob's praises.
Absolutely, because I mean they were they were like killing them.
I was one of the people, like I said when I spoke, because you know me, I'm straight from the cuff, you know, even though I know Rob and I've seen him at games that we shook hands since. But I was just like, you know, it looks like a disaster right now, and they navigated through and put parts together that work.
They've seen a big picture when nobody else didn't. But but that's the point though, right being able to stay the course.
And you know, Rob and I have talked about this stuff like we ain't not talk We don't talk about you know, this move with that move. It's more so him as a friend. It's just saying, Rob, you've been there with me. Now it's just you going through it and you know how we handle it is you just stay the course, all this storm's going on and you just stay here, just do your job, do your job, do your job, do your job. But man, I mean what he's done with that team in two years and the contract that they once had and were tied up to to what they have on this roster now. I mean they're the biggest team that I've probably ever seen. Their length, big, tough, tough athleticism, So they look fantastic.
I think the biggest thing for.
Them, and what they really need to invest in is health, making sure the strength training is where it should be, making sure physically they're always where they should be.
They got Judy over there.
Judy, she's the best, and so I think that's the biggest thing for them.
It's just health.
If they're healthy, you know it's gonna you know, it's gonna be a hell of a freeway series here that you.
Feel like it's gonna be Lakers and Clippers coming out.
Of the way.
It looks like it. It looks like it. I mean, you know that that Clippers team is well put together too. They got dogs, man, they ain't scared of nothing.
Before the close on the show previous I sent a shout out.
So me and my sons were trying to find this undefeated pack.
Okay, you gotta stip send me in the right direction, bro, we need them.
The right direction is right here. Yeah, right depends.
As soon as I walked in, the person got dust, the ones off, you got on.
I'm a big time.
Shoe fan of yours, bro, but the undefeated pack, I need them, We need.
This is great new This is Jack begging segment has a segment with tails m J. I need my boxes back. So you were next on the list, man, but we just wanted We really appreciate your time. Man.
I'm having it. Bro. I can't believe YouTube guys are doing media.
Yeah, they're doing it good, doing it great. Yeah, Yeah, that's it.
Man.
That's a wrap episode eleven.
Uh Man.
We hope you guys enjoy it. We can't thank our guests enough of all time. Kobe Bryant, Jack, we did it again. Baby, hands aren't soaking wet. Congratulations, Man, makes you sure you check this out Showtime Basketball YouTube channel and all platform streaming podcast.
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