Episode 4 of Club Shay Shay features two-time NBA Champion, 11-Time All Star and Olympic Gold Medal winner Chris Bosh.
In an insightful and wide-ranging conversation, Shannon and Chris discuss Chris pursuing a career in music after his retirement from the NBA, producing a track for Gucci Mane, his musical influences, the relationship between hip-hop and the NBA, and much more.
Chris also revisits his illustrious basketball career: playing against Kendrick Perkins in high school, attending Georgia Tech under Paul Hewitt, being drafted in the same ’03 class as LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade, becoming an All Star in Toronto, forming the Big 3 and winning two Finals in Miami. He also discusses his 2008 Olympics run & defending against the Lakers in Kobe’s infamous 81-point game.
No aspect of Chris’s storied basketball career and burgeoning musical career is left untouched in this captivating and compelling interview.
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Hello, Welcome to another edition the Club Sha Shay. I am your hole. Shannon Sharp, also the proprietory of Club Sha Shay, the guy that stopped by the bar today to have a drink with me, is two time champion, NBA Champion, eleven time All Star, and Mister Basketball in the State of Texas in two thousand and two, Chris Bosh all my life, grinding all my life, Sacon fights, custle pack price, one slice, one got the swath all my life. I've been grinding all my life, all my life, and running all my life, Sacon fights, custle bag price, one slice got the dice, sware all my life. I've been grinding in all my life. Chris, how are you doing today? Bro? I'm good man. That's a that's a good one. You hit me with a throwback on that one. Well, we're gonna take off in a different direction. Normally, when I talked to athletes, we started talking about their athletic career. But we're gonna talk about your music career that you started after you finish with the NBA. You're producing music. What made you go into music after your NBA career? Well, I mean, first off, like I kind of got It felt like I got thrown out of a car going two hundred miles an hour. I was playing basketball. I felt that I was gonna get that second win in my prime into my twilight years, like most of your heroes, like you see time and time again, every year, it didn't happen, and I just kind of found myself trying to figure out, you know, like what am I gonna do? I never really thought about that. It was always basketball, a lot of people say. And then it was funny because everybody was like, oh, Chris, you're smart, you you know stuff, and you'll be fine. And it's like, I don't know what I want to do. You guys have a mistaken In order to even do what I'm doing, I had to give my whole life to this thing. So there was never anything else. You know, you make grades so you can play basketball, you know. So I just kind of I found myself trying to search for something, and manny thing I knew. I had a guitar in my hand. I'm making new friends, talking about different things and and aspiring to do different things, and and you know, it was just all a lot of passion, a lot of love. So That's how I got there, and I'm start meeting some great people along the way. So you're on the you're producing or so you're producing music, you're writing music. Are you gonna actually do Are you gonna actually be in front of the microphone? No, sir, No sir. You know, I leave that to the pros. I just enjoyed the collaborative effort that it takes, really, like, you know, seeing songwriting. I was blessed to see songwriting at the professional level. I was pretty much like the kid going to a pro game and seeing a pro game get played. And I only did I get to see it, but they're like, hey, yo, kid, have a shot, you know. And I ended up getting a placement really quick with Gucci, Gucci Maine and a good friend of mine, Rico Love, and it just happened, you know. And and I said, man, if I if I don't continue going down this path, I'm a fool. So that was that was like four years ago. So I'm I've been, you know, steady working, putting that time into something else. You you mentioned Gucci Maine and you did a song with him in twenty seventeen, right, you did? You did? You did a collab or something with him. So yeah, So Rico and I wrote a song together. And you know, you write music all the time, you just kind of get into the flow. It's almost like practice. Like I equate everything to basketball now, you know. So it's a metaphor for me. So it's like, all right, I'm going to the gym. Okay, I'm gonna hit the weights. Okay, let's go get some shots up. All right, let's you know, just making sure you get to work in if you want to accomplish your goals. And that just came through. Rico is a good friend of mine. We're just hanging out. I played music for him, he writes to it, and it ended up getting on Gucci's album Mister Davis back in twenty eighteen or early twenty eighteen, and so that was kind of that was kind of the hook for me, you know, just to be like, all right, that's that thing, you know, let's let's go that way regardless of you know, it's it's the feeling. It's knowing the spirit is there and following that. You know. So have you all have you always been musically inclined? I'd like to say so. My My family is a very musical family. I have cousins that are classically trained. My father can sing. We we always had to like join choir back in the day at church and stuff like that, you know, So it was it was more so, uh, just something you're always around and I always enjoy in music. I have friends, Like I continuously was trying to make beats, like when I was in high school. Then I think when I was in the league, I start trying to like early, early, I start trying to learn to play the piano. It was these incomplete you know, this other world that keeps calling you that you never go to, and it becomes when you're not You're good at basketball, so you can fit that down for a month or two, pick right back up and be good at it. But when you're not good at something, you have to fully devote all of your time, all of your energy, of your effort in order to become good at it. So if you're trying to learn to play the piano and you do it in four or five month increments, that's not gonna work. Not gonna work, and you have to get over yourself being bad. I mean right, yeah, you know, it's just a part of the process. That's been one of the things that I've really learned because people will you know, I only know that because I started playing, you know, my music for people, and not that it was bad, but they were looking at me like, oh, I thought it was gonna be whack. Man, I thought it was just gonna be okay, you all right? Yeah? Right, And I said, okay, So usually okay, you have to continue to you know, just like anything, homework on your craft, home, your craft. Just keep going, keep doing stuff, and it'll turn. Man. I mean that's just how I believe. How hard was it because like you said, you know, you have to get over the fact that you're not good at it. But you were always good at basketball. So basically, so everything that you've really ever done, you've been really good at it. And so now here you are starting from the bottom, and you know, you're not one of these top upper echelon songwriters or producers and you're basically starting from scratch. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a crazy thing, Shannon. I mean, it's like you you feel immortal for so long, yes, you know what I mean, Yes, I mean, boys, so long you just and then all of a sudden, like all right, cool. You're taking the kids to school, You're packing lunches. You know, you have to pick up new skills. I'm in the house like a few years ago. When I was first retired, I had to learn how to fix everything. I know. That just goes into being a dad. Like my dad fix it And I'm just like you. I got brought back into my skin so quickly, you know, So you have to go back to the work. That's the thing. That's the only thing that I remember, regardless of what happened in the NBA and in my career, I put the work in. You know. I know that I was, you know, in the gym all the time. So if I want to be good at something or if I want something to happen, you gotta put your time in. And yeah, but when when I when I think of athletes, I think of athletes, let's just say a basket in your case, a basketball player. Okay, he's gonna stay close to the game. He's either want to he wants to be Scott, he wants to be a player personnel. He wants to be a general manager. He wants to be a coach. He wants to own the team. You went totally away from basketball. This is as far as you can get from basketball if you possibly can imagine. Yeah, it is, and you know, I know basketball will be there, but that kind of the music, that that's kind of what drew me towards it because it was so crazy and like I say, it was just a field. Man. I can't even describe it. It's like, yeah, I should be doing that, and and I told myself I was gonna follow my heart, so you know, to be honest with you, that's kind of what gave it, you know, more allure because the game is there. I still watch every game I watch, I know, the Salary Cat, the CBA, I watched the guys, you know, but this is just it offered me a way to get in touch, you know, more with myself and kind of find out other things that I like, I know, we hooped right whoa man, We did it. My dad. We took me to every practice, hours and hours and hours of it, you know, and it will continue one day. But you know, right now, I just want to really really pursue this endeavor and it's quite it's it's a lot, man, you have to learn a lot. It's more than just creatively doing things you have to as you know, you know how it is when you know you're taking those meeting meetings with the accountants and the agents and the managers and the lawyers, all those things fall into place too. What is it about basketball players? Probably more so than any other athlete? In music? You get Dame, you get Dame Lillard, Dame Dollar, you get him on Shrumpfort, you get Shot, you get Aaron Gore, and you get metal world peace. Even Allan Iverson tried to do something with the rap Coobe tried to risk his soul? What is it about basketball players in the music industry? Man? You know, that's a really good question. I think I think, for one, there's a lot of idle time. So when you're going on those bus rides, there's a lot of bus rides, there's a lot of practice. It's a lot of downtime with your teammates. If you're out of town for a road trip. You know, if you're in summer league, you're gonna be with your boys and there's gonna be a hotel room and it's the summer and you guys are hanging out, and I mean, rap was just so influential. I mean I remember from the minute I was listening to music, rap was everywhere, you know, so it had a huge influence on our life. And like, to be honest with you, you don't see you didn't see any black men at that time successful and much else. You know. So it's it's like, you know, unfortunately in those times, which is much better now, but in those times, yeah, you I mean they write rhymes about it, but you know, you either play basketball or you were a musician, rapper or something that people you know, wanted to aspire to. And to be quite frank, it was cool. I mean the people that you wanted to be, like Tupac. Everybody wanted to be Tupac. And if you look at it, it's and also the flip side. You look at the rappers, you look at the entertainments, You look at Jay Cole, you look at you Change, you look at the game Nelly. You look at all these guys and they you know, yeah, they love football, but if there's something about the Lord of basketball that attracts them and vice versa, yeah, I think football. Football is like one of those things you find out pretty quick if you can or can't do it, you know what I mean, Like you find out real quick man basketball. You know, you can talk noise, you can sit up there, you can shoot at the park, you can play money if you want to. You know, you have some sort of connection with it, and it's you know, it's it's a little closer. You know. Even when we were in high school and in college, the guys would come to the games, you know, coming to the games where it were a good time and and it kind of really starts that connection. And you know a lot of people playball, like I know J Cole and two Change for sure, they played u you know at a high level of basketball, so they understanding it's a good feeling, you know, you know hooping, you do that with your friends. Those are summer days. It's a lot of memories that go with that. And Master p almost almost made a basketball man p Man. You know the legend guys, guys who are always playing and it's just it's just ingrains so deep into the culture. You know that people were doing that really before. I mean, I know my dad we would go with friends and you know, playing pick up the same guys or musicians or something like that. The same dudes who around We all if you play ball, go play pick up at the park. You know you're gonna if you want to find a game, you'll find a game. You're even play with your friends. You know, it's just one of those social things too. So who are some of your obviously you if you're doing raps, So who are some of your favorite some of your favorite artists, some of your favorite rappers? Are are you not necessarily are you writing for some of not just rap? Are you writing for R and B? Are you writing for other genres? Or? Yeah, we do it all. We do it all. You know, we don't discriminate. Okay, Yeah, I mean, you know, music is music I grew up on. I mean even you know country music. I love country music. I love pop music, R and B. You know, Oh, I mean really everything, seventy soul. It's just so many genres of music. I never really try to limit myself creatively, and especially now with the way things are going, you kind of don't want to. You don't want to put a cap on yourself or what you could do. You know, I've worked with some with some great artists and songwriters, and the things that you get when you cross pollinate work with people you you never think you've worked with. The things that you get are kind of brand new. So that's kind of one of the things I love doing, and I never try to put a cap on on what it is. Do you know we rap quite a bit? Yes, we do, you know the artists that I work with, but we always challenge ourself to make timeless music that people want to listen to ten twenty years from now. Right, what what are some of the artists that you listened to before the game? For me, I couldn't listen to rap because it got me too amped up, and so I hadn't Actually, I had to listen to the opposite. I needed something to settle me down because I'm hot, strong to begin with, and so I was almost about to pass out before the kickoff? Where where you listen to I'm eager to listen to Sean Day, Maxwell, Michelle and Cello, you know something like that. I needed to slow it all the way back, man, I was, you're ready to go? Huh man Scott bringing down just enough to be like, all right, let's do it. Yeah, listen to two Pocket Biggie was having me about to pass out before the kickoff? Hey man, you gotta find That's what I love about it, you know, I was. I was kind of like that. It's funny like people would always listen what do you listen to before a game? It kind of goes in ways. I kind of get amped up, you know, in the regular season, and you gotta you gotta find that thing. Playoffs. Yeah, I need to be calmed down and I need to think about what I'm doing. So I would listen to a lot of classical music, okay, you know, because it's it's almost like, okay, two hours before tip off, I don't want to be talking to nobody. I kind of want to get in my head and just think about what's about to happen so that I can do my job correctly. You know. Yeah, getting amped up that got that was like a that was a young guys thing. Yeah, but with Chris, I can understand you needed to get amped up because you're playing eighty two games. You playing every other night or every set night. So after a while, I'm only playing once a week and I know somebody trying to you know, I'm already pumped up because I know somebody trying to tear my head off. For sure. It's physical. It is physical. I couldn't imagine, man, I couldn't imagine. I have so much respect for football, man, I don't know how you guys do it. Man, So you were all so did you Were you always the tallest kid in school? Or did you grow It was a little bit of both. So I was always the tallest kid, and then I kind of leveled off around seventh eighth grade. Okay, I was pretty tall, but not the tallest, right, not abnormally tall right. Then between ninth and eleventh grade, I probably grew, man about ten inches, what yeah, about nine ten inches in three years, and I went from you know, okay, basketball player, like yo, this kid might be something. I played a couple of games on varsity, even in my freshman year too. You know, man, he's a he's a prospect. So it happened pretty quickly. Okay, So you played against perk Kendrick Perkins in high school. Your team was forty and old. How many did you drop on perk? H? Man? About twenty if I'm not mistaken, I had twenty three points. Twenty three points, about twelve or thirteen rebounds, few blocks. Because you guys, you guys went forty and know that year, and you were you you were the number one team in the country, right, yeah, Yeah, it was like it was like the hood version of Friday Night Lights to be switchy. Man. It was we were not losing that game. You know, it was a really magical run. That was like that that was I mean, you know, I talked about it all the time with people I had a I was we were very blessed to have a magical run in my high school uh senior year. You know, we we were a public school that got ranked number one in the country. Uh you know one they said, they called it the mythical national Championship. So that was pretty cool. But we were you know, we were from South Dallas. Man. We we didn't know much else. We were just playing ball. Did you guys, So, did you guys have recruits? Were you like this IMG Academy or Oak Hill? Were you one of those schools? No, sir, basically everybody that was on your team actually went to that school. You didn't have guys coming in just obviously just to play basketball. No, from citywide in a city kind of feel kind of, but not on not on Oak Hill's level. No, No, not in that kind of context. Yeah, we were not a privately funded school. This was Dallas Independent School District. You can look it up in Lincoln High School. You can look it up if you get bored. Obviously, at six eleven you win the state. You missed the basketball in the state of Texas. So obviously you had your pick. You didn't choose the blue blood. You didn't choose Carolina. You didn't choose Kentucky, you didn't choose cans. You chose Georgia Tech. Why tech Man For one, they had an African American head coach, black head coach. I was very into that. I was drawn to that. It was great. Yeah, Paul Hewitt, he was running a great program, turning the program around. It was very young, it was youthful. The blue blood programs were there. It just it just didn't. It just didn't. It just didn't attract me in that kind of way. And we really had a really great class and a lot of guys started getting picked up early. I believe North Carolina had three McDonald's, all Americans from our class, but they had Raymond Felton, Sean May I'm missing, George Williams, and Rashad McCants. I was in two years. They had four McDonald's, three from my class. So that was gone. Duke has Sheldon Williams, JJ Reddick, Daniel Ewing. You know, it just seemed to kind of all be uh going uh. You know, two guys that were very very good, very early, and they know where they want to go. For me, you know what, I had Florida and Texas and I just I don't know. I wanted to play in the ACC because I felt it get it gave me a better chance to make it to the league. So like in my mind, I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll go to Georgia Tech. Because if I want to go to the NBA, the ACC they don't have they there's an avoid at THEFORDA. They need to feel I can go play there. You know, people later told me said, dude, you were gonna play anywhere you went, right, But I didn't. I didn't have that awareness of myself at that time. So who would be your top five players to come out of State of Texas in high school basketball? Man? I mean me, of course. Okay, that boy, you only got four more to go. Gotta put big Perk in there. Okay, gotta put TJ Ford in there. Oh man, it goes quick. I gotta put LJ in there and Rishard Lewis. Wow, Okay, I know I'm missing some people. I know I'm missing somebody, but that's those are the biggest Texas. Texas is really not known for basketball. You are football mecca, and guys football the guys that really run fast in the for sure, all day every day. But you know, that was one of the best things that happened. I think, well, yeah, I'm just not thinking about it too even in my class. I know I'll get a lot for that, but I gotta put the Will and LaMarcus Altars in there too. Okay, but we were playing against each other. You know, those are my good friends, and you know it kind of not that it was overtaking basketball, but it was like in Texas if you were a sports junkie, if you're a high school sports junkie, that's like the perfect place for you. You follow careers, you get your information in the papers, you go and you go see every game because a lot of the times, the best football players the best basketball player too throughout a team. So you know, just the school spirit and just continuing sports just all through and then it'll tide you over the track and field man. Then you just keep it going all year. You're good to go. So you go to Georgia Tech, you play in the ACC. What was it like playing those teams, because even though you chose not to join them, you felt the ACC gave you a better opportunity or a better pipeline to the NBA. So that meant you had to play well against the Dukes, against the North Carolinas. It was very humbling because despite how good I did, we were still getting crushed as a team. Just as a team, I wanted to win. You know, you want to win. You have a you have a certain uh fixation on how this season is gonna go, of how the school is gonna go. None of that happened for me. And you know, we we we you know, had had a couple of great moments, but it was just a tough year. Adjusting the college was really hard, you know, being away from home, going from Dallas to Atlanta. I undert it did, but let me tell you, brother, it did have it going on. That was not a good thing. I didn't have any money in my pocket, and you quickly learned how much competition it is for a pretty pretty young lady. And you know, in Atlanta. You know, it's like, oh damn, you know, I don't have none of that stuff, you know what I mean. I was striking out left and right. So it was very humbling. So when you went to when when you went to Tech, did you know that you were like, I'm wanting done, or did you think that, you know what, I might stay a year, I might stay two years. Or was it because the evaluation that you got like I gotta go. It was because of the evaluation. I didn't know until later in the season, around the time about February, late February. That's when I was aware, because people tell you being in Atlanta, people gonna tell you, you know. So I was just keeping my head down and working right, you know, people start finding me and telling me that information, and my intent was to do two years. In my head, I said, okay too, and I'm gonna be man, I can have a shot. And it was kind of it was hard to take because I honestly, I wasn't ready to hear that. You know, I'm just man, We're losing and we not what are we doing wrong? And I have to get better and I'm thinking about the things to do to get better and then you know, people were telling me like, well, yeah, you can go number five. I remember that and number five, and I was just I didn't understand, you know, nah nah, not yet. It's like nah, because that meant you had to go I know what that means. I'm like, I'm just now starting to get used to Atlanta and college looking good. You don't, oh, man, the sun was shining changed up. Man, It's just you know, that stink of the season was off. Yeah, it's just next year we were Brent, which the guys went to the final, they competed for a national championship. We were looking around and saying, man, we might be we might be all right. But you know, it just it just came up and it was quicker than I anticipated. The two thousand and three draft, Lebron was regarded as universally He's going number one. Did you think you Carmelo Anthony's in that draft? Dark Darko Milichick is in that draft in d Wait though the most the high profile. Did you think you had a chance to move up to maybe number two, number three? I thought I could move up to number two. I wanted to play in Detroit because I have I have family in Detroit, Okay, And at the time, you know, you're young, you don't know nothing. But I'm like, man, they're taking dark Old, maybe I get if I work out for him. So I actually worked out for him, but they were taking dark Oh was a grown man at that time. They were. They were taking one through three. Pretty much was solidified. I didn't even I think I worked out for Denver, but that was pretty evident that they were gonna take Carmelo. I played Carmelo that year in college. They beat the crap out of us. They were pretty good, man. But you know, with with Lebron and Dwayne not not Lebron and Carmelo, I had never seen basketball players like that, so you knew they were going really and with Dwayne, nobody really knew. I didn't even hear of him until, you know, you hear a couple of things. I didn't really just like, no, no, until that Kentucky game at Me had with the triple double four. Yeah, and it's like, oh, okay, but everybody thought he was gonna be lower mid and Miami. Miami worked them mount and they knew. But you know, after after after three was pretty much kind of like the question mark at the time. So so you didn't play any of these guys au ball, you play, you didn't go against Lebron? You yeah, Lebron actually, Uh it was ABCD camp in two thousand and one and too next New Jersey. He was, he was, he was the first team, well the first guy I played again. So it's kind of like they take three hundred kids from all over the country, right and divide him in the teams, right, And you just played like two games a day for a week. And the first game we played was Lebron And I remember Washington play like, yo, who is this guy? Oh, this is Lebron? Okay, I've heard it. Okay, I've heard this guy. Haven't heard his name, you know, I have not heard his name since. And then like we played each other a couple more times uh that year. Yeah, so yeah, we played each other. That was. And then I played with Mellow actually at USA Basketball and Venezola back in two thousand and two. So watching Lebron played then, did you know he would turn out to beat this or he even better than you thought? He would be definitely better than you thought it would be. But like when when you know when your kids, right, this is you're just a it's a friend, right, you know, it's like yeh man, what's yeah. You were at the camp, right, yeah, yeah, okay, and then you're at the draft and then then all of a sudden, it's like, okay, but right before that it was chosen one. I'm like, oh shit, you on the cover of sports. It was damn. But I remember when I got to Georgia Tech for my freshman year. They played on the ESPN in high school and that was kind of like, damn, that's crazy. And then it's like, boy, he's been hitting the weights. He looked, he took that next leap, and then you know, you don't see him for a year, and then the next time you see him, he's just transformed. So we knew right away that okay, he's gonna be the number one pick. But to be honest, you don't really think that far into it. You just you know, you it's all of us. This is cool. I went right into you know, trying to be great myself and for my you know, pouring all my stuff into the game. You get drafted number four overall, you go to Toronto. What were your expectations and what was Toronto like? I ma'am. I didn't have any expectations for Toronto because it was it was kind of shocking. Man. It was a culture shock. It was moving to a different country. I knew I was playing with Vince Carter. You're excited to move, You're excited to get it going. But then just that professional pace is very He's slow, man, and then you know, boom, You're you're throwing into the pan. You know, I really struggled when it got cold. When it started getting cold, that's when I started, you know, getting home sick. You know, I'm twenty five thirty games in, I'm getting smashed every day by grown man. The league. The league was a little, you know, a little different, a little different than it is now. You know, you could guys it was more physical and and you know, I'm like two two ten, two fifteen. I mean, I'm just getting my ass handed to me every day. So I was it was a struggle. It was a real struggle, and we weren't doing too good as a team. It was it was, you know, just an adjustment getting used to the NBA life. And and then socially, I was calling my friends every day back at Georgia Tech. They're going to the final four. I'm just like God, man, did I make the wrong I don't know if I made the right decision. Now I was going I was going through that in my head. But right you know, you know everybody has to go through it. We all have to go through it. And you know those are my years. Man. Did you ever think about bringing family out, maybe your mom, your dad, or someone that you're very familiar with, your close, close with to live with you, to be there to give you that sense of home. I had that. I did have that. I had a tremendous support at the time, always had someone with me. It's just they're not with you in that huddle, you know, and I with you on those road trips. Yeah, it's just just the grind of the season. It sounds a lot cooler playing on the road than it actually is when you first start. You gotta get used to it. It's a lifestyle adjustment you have to make. And being nineteen, let's say, being nineteen in the league full of grown guys, it's it was. It was a struggle, man, it was just different. Uh, Chris, I hate to bring bring this up, but January twenty second, two thousand and six, you happen to be on that team in which y'all COVID rest your soul again. Yeah, dropped eighty one. Everybody talks about Jalen Rose and you kind of get and you don't ever mention it, So you've done a great job. I'm like, hey, ain't nobody. Don't anyone remember that I was on the squad, So I ain't gonna break it up. I brought it up a couple of times, you know, just a couple of times, not a lot. It's more like a trivia thing. And then people say, oh, that is you. Oh you can watch the game and maybe not even notice me because I look a little different. I was pretty young. I was like twenty two, yeah, twenty two, twenty three at the time. Yeah, that was That was embarrassing, man, So what do you do? What do you remember about that game? And then when he got it going, did you ever think he would get to that plateau? No? I didn't, Okay, So like all I remember, I just like I remember halftime and a lot of people don't know. But he scored fifty five points in the second half, right, that's like the stat that's like, that's the stagger. That's what's because you know what I mean, they think it was like okay, forty forty nah, yeah, fifty five. You know, I just remember we were up. We were in a very good team, but you were all big big, were up about fourteen sixteen points, and on the road, we're feeling great. He's got twenty six points, right, so I'm like, ah, you know, hey, Kobe can have fifty, don't matter as long as we win by you know. Man, I just remember he came out. It's like he couldn't miss it. I don't know, it's it's it's like you just start watching him play because he started doing stuff you never see anybody do. Nobody was pulling up for three Steph Curry started pulling up for threes again. Nobody saw that back then. He was pulling up from that far, you know. And and the game the second half just started. It just the second half. He just come out shooting bo Okay, he hits like four threes in a row if I remember correctly, and that's like twelve points. And then then he just start hitting everything. And we were bad defensively already, so it wasn't like there was a bunch of resistance. So It's like it was that perfect storm. Off. He hit every three, he hit every shot, and he shot a lot of free throws. Right. It was really the perfect storm. Oh it was a perfect storm. Man. He gave it to us, man, and that was That was a tough one, man. That was. And it was kind of like I just remember running back and forth, just like, yeah, this can't be real. You kind of get stuck in a dream, all right, you know, like, can we stop this? I don't know. He just hit this fade away from over there. I've never seen that before. You just kind of get like, no way, Bob, my god, dang, this dude is killing. So the horn goes the horn goes off, and you look and you look up and it says eighty one. Did you like, is that a myth? Prier? Ain't no way, this man had eighty one points in big shan. I didn't even have to look. I just walked off. I knew, I knew what he had this last two free throw free throw, and then they took him out and I said, man, let's just get off the court. Let's just get out of here as quickly as possible. Man. That was a Sunday afternoon yes. Let me ask your question. When Toronto won the title last year, what were your emotions, because you did start in Toronto, although you had your greatest success, greatest team success in Maamn, what were your emotions were you excited? You like, Okay, yeah, I played for that team. I'm happy for oh man. I was so happy. I was so happy for the city because nobody ever would have thought that would happen, that they even have the opportunity, just because that was the stigma for so long, and especially when I was there, that was the stigma that you would fight like, I don't know, man, can we compete for a championship here? And then it would start to kind of see through the city. But when I went, I got the chance the opportunity to work with the finals for Canadian Cables in up there, and so I went to every game and just to see the excitement. That's one of the things I wish I would have got more of was to see playoff basketball in Toronto. Phenomenal fans right, and to see their spirit and for them to experience that, not only experience it, but win it. I mean, I was so happy for those guys. I mean, I still know the trainers, the coaches, you know, the staff, the front office. The first thing they say when they see me, like, Yo, can you believe it? I'm like, I know, that's just great. I was just I was so so happy for those guys. And that was one of the times I really really enjoyed. I got to go back and see all the old guys. You know, on those days I wasn't working pre game too much. I would go back to the locker room and in the equipment room and talk to my old equipment manager and the trainers and just you know, have a couple of beers and shoot the ship, you know, have some fun, and just to see those guys and that city have that opportunity and win it and have that forever. It's nothing like it. Obviously, Kawhi was a big part of that team in Toronto. Last year he moved on to the Clippers. Is there what was different between Kawhi last year in Toronto and Kawhi this year in LA Because it seems he had more talent in LA that he had in Toronto, but he didn't enjoy the same level of team success. Why do you think that was? You know, and I think it's the motivation. I think you can get to a complacent place as a team, It's it's not easy. And with those guys, they had to have the gap in between shutting down a season and the bubble, so there could have been many miscues there. But I think, you know, that kind of they kind of let that take them out of their rhythm and it's a hard lesson learned. I mean, you know, hopefully those guys can learn from what transpired. But all in all, they still have the talent. They'll still be a championship contender. It will be harder next year because you know, you got guys like Golden State, who they're gonna you know, they got the Splash Brothers rested up, Draymond rested up in a high pick, you know, coming, So we'll see how that goes. But you know, I think it wasn't as much urgency. You know, they didn't play with the urgency. They didn't play with the edge that they needed one to put Denver Away into to really sustain their great play two thousand and eight. You guys, it's dubbed the redeem team because in two thousand and four they had lost the gold medal. Not only did they Uh, yeah, because they say, you know, you don't win up silboy, you win Lebron if you lose gold. They lost the golden medal they got, they got the broun. If I'm not mistaking, Argentina won the gold medal back year behind Manu yep in two thousand and eight. What was your focus? What were you guys focus going in to try and bring the gold medal home? Because you're not a basketball started in America, so we should never lose in basketball. Man. It was embarrassing, man. And like I didn't get the opportunity to play on the team in Athens, but I played in Tokyo in two thousand and six. We didn't win that either, you know. So it was getting to the point, you know where it's like, man, this is embarrassing. Yeah, we're supposed to be the world leaders in this MJ and those guys never lost. So we've got to We've got to fix this and we definitely can't lose in a way. It was just a very very serious atmosphere, I mean not only for basketball, but just the spirit of a nation. I mean, we talked to we talked to veteran people who were disabled or disabled lost their eyesight, re enlisted back into the military, you know, to fight for their country. Talking to two and three star generals, you know, it was it was. It was super super patriotic, super heavy, and I mean, Coach K I really want to say Coach K left the charge on that one because he knew the moment and how serious it was, not only as a leader in basketball and setting the precedent with that, but just representing, you know, the United States of America, having pride in that and not letting anybody kind of take that away from you. You know, just just wear it with pride. And we played pretty hungry. We were. We were ready to go that year. It was a lot of fun. So what are some of your best memories about the O E team? Obviously you're around some of your around d Wade Mellow, Lebron. You guys came in in the same draft in OH three, so you're very familiar with each other. Kobe was on that team also, Kobe was CDP three. So what are some of your best memories about that Besides winning? Obviously that was the greatest memory of winning. Yeah, but what are some of your behind the scenes memories hanging with Kobe. Of course going to the We went to the village quite a bit, I want to say, every other day. We had built this thing where we would play. The next day we practiced and then go hang out at the village. But just to hang out at the village, see the spirit of the games, talk to the people, you know, eat eat, eating the mess hall, you know, eat the same food now, and like seeing how big Kobe was, because you know, Lebron, Lebron is you know, Kobe's Kobe's the guy, and Lebron and he's like, okay, he's the guy you can touch. You can't touch Kobe, right, Lebron you can touch kind of, and he's on his way and like he's one of the best in the world. But then Kobe was around, and it was it was just I mean, the way people reacted to that guy was crazy. But just getting to see some of that, getting to see how hard he worked, how much he put into the game, how good he how good he really is or was, and yeah, just hanging with the guys. Man, we had a good time. It was It was a lot of a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun on that trip, you know, I think, yeah, I was twenty four years old. We were all yet. Bron was twenty three, Mellow was twenty four, d was twenty five. We were just just some you know, young guys hanging out when you guys are at the Olympics and oh eight, did you know that there was a possibility that you, d Wade and Braun might link up later that ever, I did not know. I'm sure Broun knew. I'm sure he knew because there, you know, he's a very calculated person. I was just happy to be one be on Olympics. I was trying to play right. I was just trying to give more minutes and and I was so concentrated on making Toronto a destination that was like my goal and focus as a franchise player. I truly truly believed that we could compete for a championship one day. I just had to keep doing what I'm doing, and you know, I was just fully into that. I really didn't start thinking all the way about free agency until I think it was that was it that summer, I think the summer before. Yeah, in two thousand and seven, we all signed our deals, So it was kind of out of my mind for whatever reason, I wasn't. I was just kind of kind of just compartmentalizing and just thinking about things that were in front of me. So how did so how did that come together? So how did you guys? You d Wade Lebron, Are you on the phone? Are you in a room? And you're like, obviously they're not coming to Toronto, so play. In order for you to play play to Lebron, you're gonna have to make moved to the state. So how did this come about? So it kind of started out all cloudy. You know, free agency is crazy, but you know it was known that Miami was making moves to get enough cash space. That's pretty much what it came down to. Once the cash space was made. Yeah, a couple of phone conversations, you know, I mean, we're friends, we see each other, and at that time it was still just possibilities. Nobody really thought because you know, I believe there were still moves to be made and all that stuff. So, you know, it was just kind of a pipe dream at the time, but it was on the radar. And you know, my agent, the late grade Henry Thomas, me and him at me and Dwayne at the same agent. You know, so I kind of everybody put me in a position where it's like Chris, if you come, for sure, we're going to get one of it. You know. So that's like New York, New Jersey, Chicago, that's what they're telling me. In like for me, they were putting me in the middle of it. And I mean so in the other words, you were the man. You you were the one that was going to connect the dots because if you come, one of the other was definitely coming. That's that's what they were trying to sell me on. Never believed it any any part of the day and like guys, I don't know, but they that's definitely what was being sold to me quite a bit. But you know, it was just it was a slow burn. You know, the free agency period happened once I heard the possibility. I mean, it was pretty evident to me. I was on board the welcome when the Heat had their welcome party and you guys are on stage and it's the power of techniques are going off and they're probably fifteen thousand people in Heat arena and lebron is saying not one, not two, not three, not four? Are you like, hop bro, Let's hold this thing. Let's get it and then we'll get to two to three to four. What's going through your mind when you hear him say that's right, that's right. Tell him, Oh yeah, I was taking yo, give me all the gas. Wasn't even thinking about how that would look. It wasn't even aware. I mean, it was just everybody was having so much fun, to be honest, man. And it kind of not that it did. It didn't get flipped. We definitely should have been smarter. It was just like in the context the question was asked, and then he said, we're not here to win, not one, but of course you gotta hey man, they're gonna pick up. They're gonna just nudge that over, pick that part up. And yeah you did. Kind of we did. We were all there counting all the way up to ten or whatever. Yeah, I mean, we were feeling so good man. We had no idea and at the same time, like we weren't seeing the aftermath of the night before, right, you know, we went straight to parties and stuff, So we were totally least on my end, I was totally unaware of the perception and how it was taken. So yeah, we if we would have known that, and how good and how hard it is to win a championship. Yeah, we might would have We probably would have said some some different stuff, you know, and you come on. The crowd was like they had gass. Oh we were gas yea. By the time he got the eight, it was a standing ovation. But you you mentioned you didn't see the backlash that had happened the night before because once you guys said once you guys did you did? You went straight the parties. But you go, you your beloved Lebron was beloved d Wade, and now you guys combined and you're the most hated team and all maybe in the history of basketball outside of the Bad Boy Pistons. But you go from beloved to hate it overnight. That's what kind of that's what kind of threw me off. And that's what kind of that was my naive nature at the time, just being a younger guy. Everybody loved me in Toronto. I was not threatening. I'll give you twenty and ten to night. You know, we may get the ape seeds, seventh seeds. We'll get you guys out of here in five man. Chris, you boy, you can play, you know, and and and and it wasn't threatening. And you know, prior to that, I want to say, yeah, two thousand and nine, you know, and I tell you, everybody was so nice because free agency was coming up, and so you kind of get in this mode of just thinking, oh, yeah, they're my friends or yeah nobody, not even putting yourself in their position and saying, oh, yeah, okay, they're a fan and they're a Bulls fan. So if you don't go to Chicago, they're not gonna like that. So, I mean, you know, I think for everybody, for all of us, we kind of Dwayne and Lebron had some experience with it. I had none, So I was just steadily playing catchup and and you know, just catching those straight bullets. Man, how difficult was it because, as you mentioned, you go from being a twenty ten guy, a guy that they're running the offense through, to all of a sudden, it's Lebron, d Wade, d Wade, Lebron, not Chris. Okay, here's a little something for you. How difficult was that for you? It was very difficult, to be honest with you, because in my mind I thought, I said, man, I'm gonna get my touches here, and they're gonna be making plays for me because Dwayne and Lebron can pass so well, right, I'm gonna be the leading scorer. Man, I'm gonna average. My game is gonna continue to go up. I average twenty five last year twenty four point who I probably have twenty six at least. Yeah, it wasn't like yeah, it's not like that. And then and then even in that, we're trying to figure it out as a team. I'm running a whole different playbook. I don't like nobody. I mean we're getting when it's knew, nobody likes it. And then we're trying to figure out how to play with it, like yeah, with each other. And then like it's so loud. Every game is like a playoff game. So learning on the fly it's not really working. So we're going back to old habits. It was bad, you know, it just it just kind of snowballed into this situation where we said, okay, as a team, this is what we have to do. And to be quite frank, man, I mean they were so they were so amazing. Just said what they did. I said, all right, cool, you know they I mean I would see Lebron get a block, get the rebound, push it, kick it up and and cast alley. Oh my god, Okay, I can't do that. D Way doing all those Euros steps and getting the steels in the back court. They they just did things that I could not do. So I pretty much it was pretty evident as far as like how I would affect the game and where I would fit in with that team. You guys don't get off to the best start at seventeen games in you're nine and eight. Yeah, how much truth is it that d Wade and Lebron wanted spoil Gone and pat Riley to come down? We were you in on it? Nah? Yeah, never was never a thing that was just that was so it was getting so crazy, man, to be honest with you, that was one of the things that we didn't, you know, expect coming because you know, hey, we gave us full a rough time. Don't get me wrong, I'm supposed to give your coach a rough time in this situation. Nobody's happy, right, But yeah, the fans in Miami, they started it started at the home games, if I remember correctly, people were just like, we want Rayles Riles pretty much had to We had to have a whole team meeting about that and just like, hey, I'm not coaching, you know, this is our team. And him doing that, we knew that. Okay, this is what we're working with. It's not gonna be any any kind of wishy washy kind of stuff over here. He's the coach. He's ready. You know, We're good to go. How difficult was twenty eleven because you guys were a favorite to beat the Mavericks and it does not go. You win Game one, you're up by fifteen at one point in time. In Game two, they go on a twenty two and twenty two two, They go on to twenty two five runs something like that. Yeah, so they win and they end up winning the game and win that series. Yea? How difficult was that? And what would the off season like? The off season was long because it was the lockout year, right, So not only did we lose, but it's like, damn, we are we even gonna get another chance to even redeem ourselves? Probably, I don't know, we'll see. But it was embarrassing. It was hard. We were shameful, I mean every what we're wrong, what we're wrong. We just weren't ready, We just weren't read. They were better than us. We didn't Psychologically, we didn't play well. Our offense was stagnant. Lebron didn't play well. I didn't play well. Nobody played with a coaching staff hell or the popcorn. Man. I'm sure he was like, I didn't get them the popcorn like I you know, but it just, you know, one thing I learned from that you have to gain experienced as a team and then as an individual. And unfortunately sometimes that requires pain. And we understood as soon as we lost how important it is to pay attention to the small details, to play with that, to play with that pain, you know what I mean. And you get into the moors, and you got to give credit to the Maverige, to Jason Kid, Jason Terry, Dirk Navinski. They were very steady, and they picked us apart, and they were always a step ahead and as far as like what we were doing, so we were always catching up to them. And I mean, they seized the moment. Man. You gotta give them credit. They played well and we did not. Did you feel like, Okay, Lebron obviously is the best player, but he goes to d wade home. It's kind of like, look, I don't understand I might have more money than you, but when I'm in your home, I need to act accordingly. Feel that Lebron was holding back because he was in Miami and this was d Wade's castle. Oh yeah, for sure, that was that was all of our things. I didn't want to step on their toes. Lebron definitely didn't want to step on these toes because he had developed his pretty much developed his style of play at the time. So you know, that's a ball dominant style, to be honest with you, So like, I know for sure he didn't want to. You know, it's like, yo, this is d Wade, He's the franchise guy. It took them having a conversation to pretty much say, hey man, you know you do your thing. We're you know, we're we're we're in behind, We've got your back. We're going to allow you to be the best player in the world. And that pretty much was the conversation. It was off and running. After that, you had this epic, these epic battles with the Celtics. You're down, I mean you would go up to oh they win the next three, walk us through game six? What would because you had just lost the previous year to the Mavericks, right, you can't lose. You can't lose again. Oh my god, it's over. If you what what would your mindset? What was the Keys mindset? And did you know Lebron was gonna have an epic night? I didn't know he's gonna have an epic night. Oh mind from my mind, I was hurt, you know, I had a torn growing. I could play, but I knew I couldn't give much, so I just wanted to give as much as I can give. And I was coming off the bench. I think I was our plan. I was gonna I knew I was probably gonna play eighteen twenty minutes, right, So that was my you know, focus is playing with this pain and hopefully something could come out of it. Because you got the first series right against Indiana. You missed the first series. Yeah, I came out. I probably played six minutes and missed the whole series and then missed the first five games of this particular series with Boston or first four, and I came back game five and then we lost. But I mean it was just kind of one of those things where we just kind of had to believe. Man, you had to believe we weren't really thinking too much about the possibilities. It was more so just like, all right, cool, Boston, we're going to Boston. Let's get it done. You just I'm gonna eat dinner, I'm gonna do shoot around, I'm gonna do this. I you know, That's all I was focused on. And then about midway through the first quarter, end of the first quarter, I noticed Bron like, God, he hasn't miss am I tripping, you know, And then just say we're playing well. And then okay, man, he's hitting everything. We're not even running in any place. You know, I can just focus on defense. Right, we get some stops, he's gonna take care of the rest. That's great. That makes it easy on everybody. And then we were just in a good rhythm defensively as a team. You know, the couple times that he did get off the ball, we scored and you know, we were able to get out of there. But like I mean, it was it was a crazy experience. I mean, before you know, I'm sure you've been in one of those games right where you could just hear a pin drop. You know, it's nothing. It was nothing to say. There was no hype speeches. It was It was just you know, let's go out here and go and then you know, it's just one of those moments. Gosh, it's like, man, this dude is hitting everything. Are you man? Are you when we're up twenty? It's kind of like a good dream, but like every dream, like am I in Boston up twenty right now? Are we about to get out of here alive? Okay? Cool? And that kind of gave us, you know, some it reinvigorated us for a game seven. You mentioned that was game six. All that did was promise you another game. You still weren't out of the woods because you have Game seven and it's in your building, which would have been even worse had you lost Game six, because you would have got the l in your building for sure. It didn't even Hey, once you get there, it doesn't even cross your mind. It's like, hey, we're at the crib. It don't matter. We whoop your ass on the moon. Let's go. So you you play, Okay, see you lose the first game, you win the second one. Okay, what's going through your mind at the beginning of the series, And did you like, okay, we got we've gotten drolled. Now we're going home for three games, and we're not coming back to okay See. Oh yeah, I definitely, I know. I felt that in my spirit. We didn't play particularly well Game one. We knew that we turned the ball over a line, and when you get when you get that far, you don't freak out. You don't get that far just to freak out over one game. You recognize, we recognize the mistakes that we were making as a team, and we knew we could play much better, and you know, knowing kind of trying to get in okay See's head. They were all in their early twenties. I know how I was. When we won Game one. I thought we were gonna win it, so naturally you're gonna have a let up in game two, just that little bit of let up or change the ties a little bit. We kind of knew that, so we said, okay, let's get game game two, and then once we get that, once we got that game, I said, Okay, we're not coming back. I mean, that's just how I feel. We were a tremendous home team, I think one of the best home teams in the league, and we were just totally confident at home. So going back, we just knew we had a chance to run them all off. And you didn't know this at the time, but you beat a team that would later go on to have three regularly the MVPs and a guy that won two finals MVP crazy. We knew they were good, and you know, it was kind of you know, playing them was very difficult. You know, even back then early twenties, it was like and and I think Westbrook put on like fifteen pounds after that series. You know, they took it to another level. Individually. We knew that they were gonna be a problem. We knew there were a problem coming into that series. You know, everybody didn't really get used to the hardened thing until Houston right doing that with okayc you know hard and yeah, I think he was sixth Man of the year. But did you know Harden would be this? I mean, it's one thing that's okay, yeah, he would be good. But to beat this, I got an average thirty six, I got a averages thirty five, he leads the league, gonna see us, but got I mean the fifty point fifty point triple double. Did you know he could beat this? No? No, we knew. It's like, yo, he's gonna be he's cold, he's bad. He can be a franchise player somewhere else. But if they stay together, you can fill in the blanks. And then when he went to Houston, oh man, he's gonna be pretty good. But yeah, what he's uh, the things he's been able to do, I mean, he's inspired, he's he's done a whole other thing with the game of basketball nobody else has seen before. Yeah, I don't think anybody saw that coming. I think he gained his confidence and then with whatever that crazy creativity that he's gotten his brain, he started figuring things out and it's like, oh wow, I can do this. And he's almost he's almost unguardable with that step back three. So I don't know how you you defending. Yeah, you don't know either. You're just in the whole game. How do we defend this guy? And so you win that one and then the next year you go the Spurs, you lose game one. Tony Parker hit that miraculous shot lebron got indeed, up shot clocks wid it down somehow he throws it up, it rolls around and it falls in. You guys lose. What's going through your mind? You're like, oh my goodness. Yeah, it's like, oh my goodness, it's cool. But that's not okay. See now that's not duck in the parking nobly. Yeah, I'm not saying you don't want to. You want to lose it, but you don't allow yourself to. It's like, okay, cool, we lost that one, all right, Hey we cannot lose game too. That's just and and you know, we start identifying the problems and what we need to fix right away, and we were able to have a great game. But you know, in that particular moment, you just try to you know, in the finals, you have to have a very long outlook on the series. So you know, not that it gives you peace, but just saying, okay, hey, this is what we need to do. We identify these mistakes, we correct them, let's have a better game next game. You still you get one game, and because you got to get one in order you to come back to Miami, you get the one game you come back three two. Talk to us about game six. What's your mindset? What are you feeling going in the game six? When it it's nothing, I mean, it's kind of you have to fight that deja vu kind of feel because we were in the same situation with the Mavericks. We knew our backs were against the wall. We didn't expect it, did not expect it at all, you know, but we're here and so you know, winning two games at home or just winning one game at home it was the focus. But we never lacked confidence. It was always you always want to approach that situation with confidence. You you know, being beat down after being in San Antonio and and dealing with that home crowd, with their home crowd for a week and a half. You know, being away from your home, it's a difficult thing, but you know it refreshed this and you know, you just get ready for the battle. Man, That's all you can do. Get your mind right. It's not about the exs and those you go through those things, but it's not about that. It's just about the preparations. It's about doing what you do and going out there and competing at the highest level. You start the fourth quarter of game six, you're down ten are You're thinking, like, man, this San Antonio. We know they're gonna execute demonstration. This is not a young team. They're well coached. They're gonna be where they're supposed to be. They're gonna execute their offense like they're supposed to do. You allow yourself to like, damn, how did we get ourselves in this situation to gets that team? Na, we were good at throwing away the situations. I mean, we were probably the best fourth quarter comeback team by far in the league that year. So we had confidence. I mean, we didn't want to be there, but you know, not all is law, right, and you know, our second group with Lebron, they played amazing basketball. They always got us going, even in the regular season. So it was just one of those things where you trust your guys. You trust the second group la by Lebron. You know that they're gonna get you back in it. And once they get us, once we get back in and we've we've got to either sustain it or overtake the lead. And that's the But that's one of the habits that we had built up all year, you know, having that faith in each other. Right you're down and if basically it's come down to this, a misshot and a rebound, see Lebron pulls up. You're tracking the ball. What's going through your mind? The ball fill your mind with watching the ball, man, I mean, if you watch the play of slow motion the way that they played at Tony Parker read at the play and he on top of my screen boris d I did not see him. They both went and contested lebron shot that allowed me pretty much a free pass to crash the boys, and I watched the flight of the ball so with no Kim Duncan because Pop had made it kejic effort strategy to take Duncan out of the game. Yeah, and you know that's always a what if thing, but they have been doing that all year. You know, that's this is their late game package. This is what they always do. But that allowed me a free run to the basket while I'm watching the ball. And so any rebounder can tell you if you get to watch the flight of the ball and nobody hits you nine times out of ten, you're gonna know or your instincts are gonna take over and you're gonna be able to be there when the ball is there. You know. Great rebounder told me, Hey man, it was old schooler too. He's like, hey man, trick the rebounding is getting there before the ball gets there, right, Yeah, you're right with you track the ball, you grabbed the rebound, with the with the arena as loud as it is, How do you know? Did you know Ray was gonna be back there? How? And even if you didn't know you he said, Chris or seebe whatever he'd called you, how did you hear that? I heard him, man, That's the only thing I heard, to be honest with you, and they're crazy, Yes, the only thing I heard. I didn't hear anything else. And in my mind it went a line slower. But when I watched it on replaying, there's no way I could. I don't know, but I distinctly heard him, and I could see his eyes and his facial expression running back like backpedaling, and so you know, just the body took over then what it needed to do, and and his took over and shoot and we were able to live to play another day. Man, we still had to play over time after right. You know, they were crushed, you you know they were crushed for sure, they were for sure. That's that thing, like we let's move in right now and win this game. And then that's like then you still got game seven to play after that. So it was that's what Ray Allen hit the greatest shot forget the you know the that's the greatest shot given the circumstances. And how does how does he backpedal? He does not look if you look at Ray, he never looks down. He has to, like trade. He trained himself that he backpedal. No, I'm far enough back, I'm not gonna step out of bounds. Let that shot go. And it's pure for sure. I don't know him. If you ever had that moment in football? Have you ever had that just moment where after the game, you're just like it could be hours, it could everybody's gone, You're still in your uniform, just stare just like, you know, what just has happened? Yeah, what just happened? And me and Ray were just kind of like that, and you know, and I said, man, do you practice that shot? He said, oh, yeah, I practice that And ever since that day, I practiced that shot every day every day. That became a part of my routine, practicing craziest shots because you never know when you got to break the glass and use it. And that's what I tell and that's what I tell people, is that when you see these guys take these shots, they practiced them. Steph Curry just did all of a sudden start pulling up from the timeline. Everybody shooting these logo shots now they become routine. Whereas Chris, when you first got into the league, you only attempted that shot the end of the shot clock or the end of house. Not the only time you attempted that for sure, for sure. Or he's shooting that shot now with eighteen seconds on the shot. It's like the backup, like whoa young cello? So you're two times, you went two and three years, you go back twenty fourteen doesn't end like you wanted. Lebron makes his decision, he goes back to Cleveland. What's your feeling. Did you feel that Miami was a total success or did you feel like you guys got cheated or you left something on the table? Oh, we definitely left something on the table. I mean in my mind, I you know, I will always feel like it's an unfinished story. But sometimes the best stories are unfinished. You know. It was it was a four year just shooting star, you know, and we wanted to continue it, and you know, we've I've had a lot of time to think about it. I've even talked to Pat about it, and we both like, you know, I couldn't imagine if my hometown didn't like me. I couldn't you know, I couldn't imagine that at the time. You know, feelings hurt. You have to get over the fact that it is free agency, right. He didn't demand the trade, he didn't fill his obligation. Yeah, for sure, and it's like, Okay, it kind of hurts, but you know, it's just like him. You get used to playing a certain way and and you know, be Frank. I mean to be Frank. You know. Man, he's fun. He's a great dude. We've been knowing each other since we're seventeen years old. The team dynamic was great. It's Lebron James. You're playing with the greatest player, and it's it's a lot of fun. And I knew that things were gonna change, But then I think it reinvigorated everyone. I think for me it was able. You know, I was able to you know, just move forward as my career, you know, or what I thought my career was going to take off too. It kind of gave me a fresh kind of outlook on the league and what I could be and as well as Dwayne and the organization too, and for him, I mean, and it kind of hurts too, right, I mean, you're going over there, kay Love over there and they just got kay Love Kyrie. I'm like, damn, they're pretty good. They're pretty good. So you know, you feel a certain type away. But you know, we we had plenty of conversations since then, you know, and more than this was also gonna be your opportunity to go back to being Toronto Chris Bosh. Yeah, sure a guy that's gonna be twenty and ten. And then all of a sudden, you get the diagnosis at the All Star Game. You're on vacation with your wife, you're vacationing, and you get these blood clots. What's going through your mind? And at that point in time, did you say, you know what this thing might be career ending? Or did that thought never crossed your mind? It never crossed my mind, but we knew it was there. I just thought I was gonna beat it because twenty fifteen had happened, and then twenty sixteen had happened at the same exact time with no pain this time. The first time I was just out. I was in the hospital for two weeks. I was bed ridden. I had surgery. It was really bad. The second time was just yeah, you have blood clots and that was it. And you know it was psychologically it was just super tough to deal with. We were I think we were number two, second or third in the East at the time, and we were kind of and I talked with Pat about this too. We were looking around like, man, yo, we I think yo, I think we can make a run for one. We're hitting the marks. If we after All Star break, we can we can if we can lock up this two seed and hopefully we can lock horns with the calves. I'll take I'll take that any day, and just you know just how cool that is, that how great of a storyline that would be. That was my motivation every day. And like you were saying, being having that Toronto spirit about me and leading the team, I was. I was all for that. It was me and Duane. But you know, it's just one of those things that just wasn't meant to be. Man. So when the doctors tell you, say, Chris, it's over. Yeah, we recommend, and that's normally how they give it to you. If you were if you were my son, I would advise you not to do this anymore. Consider the ramifications that could possibly come along with this. So when you and your wife sit down and you finally come to the ultimate decision, what what, What's what's going on? What's going on? I mean, how difficult of a decision was that it took a couple of years to get there. I tried. I tried my hand in finding a way to play again for a while, and I just ran out of gas. You know, you're trying to find a doctor to tell you would be okay, yeah, pretty much. You know, I'm looking for that one please, and I'm just going different places. And you know, we fought because I felt, I mean, there was nothing that was you know, physically, there's nothing physically you can't see. It's not it's not the key leads, it's not a torn anything. It's something. It's an invisible killer. That's what. I'm pretty good. We can play, you know what I mean, breathing great. There was no uh, there was nothing happening, no pain. It just really messed me up, man, And and I just kind of, you know, I tried and I tried, and it just eventually I had to come to the realization. And you know there wasn't a singular conversation, but just to be honest with you, when I saw Gordon Hayward dislocate his ankle, R took whatever fight I had left in me, it was gone. Because remember Dwayne and Lebron were played in that game, right, Yeah, So I hadn't watched basketball any of the year before, and I said, yo, I'm playing this year. Let me get back connected with the game. First five minutes that happened. Yeah, so you know I knew right then, like, ah, yeah, I mean that can happen to me. Man, I can't. I'm not gonna play anymore. And heaven forbid that happen. You know, you're worse. You spent four years playing with Lebron and you're watching him do what he does in year seventeen. How do you think he's been able to maintain this level of play because we've never seen a guy played this well this late into their career. We can debate Chris, we can debate who's the gold, who's had the seasons all we want to, but we can't debate this. Nobody has ever played this well this late into an NBA career. You know, what man, He puts so much into his body so early. Everybody is just now being able to kind of see the benefits that he's reaping. But he's put in the work. He was stretching twice a day, had a trainer, was doing all the things when we were in our early twenties. I remember seeing him and he has a guy that stretches him and they're doing tissue work and all this kind of thing. Even if I wanted to do it, I don't even know where to start, right, you know. So just his foresight back then to take care of his body, do the right things, invest in himself. Now he's reaping the benefits. Now he can combine that want and that drive with physically actually being able to do it and compete for championships. And you know, Mike Jordan, man, he you know, we it was all real to us, Mike Jordan and Kobe. They were playing very well at thirty six, you know. So he's thirty five. I know he's like, okay, at least until thirty six plus one more. I'm sure he wants to play this way until he's thirty seven and this sewer he's had after that. But I mean he's put the time in, he's put the work in, he's made the sacrifice, and now he's able to, you know, keep playing bat ball at that level. What do you think Lebron's greatest actribute is his longevity, his durability. Never seen anything like it. Play like a guy that plays every night. Every night he plays, you know, and just that has allowed him to be able to do the things that he does. I mean, you know, obviously we can talk about talent, we can talk about the things he can do, but unless you're out there on the court, you can't do it. He's he's on a tremendous job and taking care of himself and really dedicating himself to the stretching, the treatments, the weight room, uh, you know those other things you don't see eating the rest of the eating. You know, all of those things that allow you to perform on the court, but nobody sees. People always talk about his basketball IQ. Explain to people what basketball IQ wheels, because there are a lot of guys that can play. And I don't want to get into the name, but you, like Bruh, you have no idea. You can just put the ball in the hoop, but you don't understand angles. You don't understand game time situation. You don't file a guy, a guy that's struggling to shoot the ball. You don't find him on a three point shot. Right, you don't give the guy, you don't give up the faceline to the right head. The guy on the right side thinks of that nature. So talk about Lebron's basketball IQ, Well, I mean he's he's made that commitment to to mentally dive into those things that. Okay, this particular player he's really good at, you know too, dribble, pull up, going left, make sure you force him right, and then you store that in your brain because you're gonna play these guys. If I'm playing Bradley Bill, I need to be able to call on a drop what his best move is, right to dribble, dribble, step back, watch the film, dribble left, step back three, that's his move. You know. So you get to a level and then you start just dissecting guys quickly and you keep storing that information. Then you get to the team. Okay, now you get to the coach. Yeah, this coach runs this set these kind of plays. Okay, this you know this situation, you know, just storing information and just recalling it quickly, quickly, and like, I was always envious of Lebron because for his whole career he's had the ball in his hands. He's six eight and he can see over everybody, you know, so he's like, has the ball in his hands and he can watch the offense move right. I'm a post guy. It's always something behind somebody behind you. Somebody's behind me that I can't see, so you know, Lebron might be looking. I don't know what's behind me. You know, I gotta watch films, so, you know, just him being able to do that for his entire career and combining all that information and just living in it. You know, of course you're gonna you know, you're gonna be a sure you are you surprised that he's playing this well this late, and that he had the Lakers one game away from being world champs. Oh no, not at all. I mean as soon as he went to LA I figured they would have a shot at it. As soon as they got a d they were you know, they were my favorites to win it. I mean, you know, just combining those tremendous talents and then building that team around it and having guys like Frank Vogel, guys like Jason Kidd, you know, guys like Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee with their championship and finals experience, you know, coming in and leading that locker room. I mean, you knew that they were gonna be prime to win one. Uh, they have a chance. They're on the press because of it. Now. They just got to finish it and we'll see if they're able to have a run. D Wade said. Anthony Davis is Lebron James all time best teammate. Do you agree or disagree? I disagree he's being humble, I you know, but not the best, not the best. And I mean, you know, and and I only say that because what I watched Lebron and Dwayne do. I haven't seen anything since it was It was entertaining. You know, it's they're throwing lives off the backboard, They're doing stuff you played nerfball with with your friends in the little league. You know. Just the effect that they had on the culture of things and on the game and the way that they were able to combine their styles on it doesn't really make any sense. They're too most of the ball dominant dominant D look. Actually, Lebron and a D are better fit because d Wade and Lebron were both ball dominant D. Wade had to sacrifice more than a D ever did because Lebron is really starting the offense through a D now for sure, absolutely, and he's doing that and they can run a screen and roll with AD. We never ran screening rolls until late with you know, with Lebron and D. But like just the way that they were able to combine their forces and figure things out. I mean, I just feel that they that was that was just a great compliment and it was entertaining and just so much so fun to watch. You It was just all good, you know, it was. It wasn't gonna be anything in the media, it wasn't gonna be anything on the court. You were just gonna watch some amazing basketball. Does it help that d Wade and Lebron were such good friends? Lebron and A D are such great friends. Does that really help with how well they mentioned how well they played, because they they can say things to one another that another team may probably would be unwilling to say and not say. Because they talk about how D Wade Hill Lebron accountable Lebron Hill d Wade Accountable vice versa with Ada and Lebron. Do you think that that type of relationship helps, Oh yeah, of course. I mean you have to you have to respect the person that you're playing with. You have to be a friend. I mean, you have to care because let me tell you when it's when when it's like game six or something and you're dead tired and you have nothing left to give and there's still two quarters left, and there's a loose ball. Matter of fact, Lebron through the loose ball. And if if I don't like him to a certain degree, you through that. BRONA get you know, I didn't throw it. You gotta go get it, man. And and you have to be able to sacrifice for each other, and you know, you gotta stay that. That's a huge part of being a team. You have to come together as a team. You gotta be that solid unit and you know, you just have to. It helps when you like each other because yeah, you're gonna have to have some uncomfortable conversations some days, and yeah you might have to tell your teammate, yo, you need to play better, right, And you're not given I need more, or you're not that was bull or you know, just to just to keep people accountable. I think that's hugely important. And if you like them, it's it's it makes it easier. What would a fourth ring for a third team do for Lebron James? Oh, it would be great. I mean, he you know the way I see it, it's it's a story still being told. You know, I have a little bit of experience with championships. I know you just want to get there. So actually winning another one would be of course, anyone you get as tremendous winning it this year in particular r Ip Kobe, you know, and winning it for the Lakers, that's a whole you know other thing. Yeah, it's just I mean just Brian has a whole and this is just me talking. It's not him. He just has a whole other outlook on the game. He's thinking of it as a totality, not so much as a city, a person, a place or a thing. He's like, oh, man, I want with the Lakers, Wow. And then with the Heat backed it back. Oh, and then brought one to Cleveland. I mean just it's it's it's a whole body of work and and I know he's he probably has a number in his head that he could get to. That's possible because he were ahead. But Chris, you you heard what they said. Lebron went to the Lakers to retire, spend his last couple of years. He wanted to be close to Hollywood. He wanted to act. He didn't want to be Michael Jordan. He wanted to be Michael B. Jordans. He wanted to You heard it all. You heard it all. This is what they saying about the man. He came to retire, the historic season that he had just put up, coming off the NBA Finals, he said he going to LA to retire. Nah, I don't think so, not that he'll won't retire in LA. But if they win this fourth one, uh, that's the start of a run. And you know he's in his mind they're going to do this, uh you know until I mean contract. You know, obligations are one thing, but you know, if they can sign a d they're definitely gonna try to really really capitalize on on on their situation. So I see him continuing to compete for a few years. Everybody asks you this, You played the game, you didn't get it. I don't think you've got an opportunity. You might have played. You might have called Jordan, you called George last in the year after, Yeah, yeah, yeah. You saw the last dance, the last I mean the last dance you played with Lebron on you played in the air with Lebron. When it's all said and done, who's gonna be the goat? Man? Really? Man, that's just a tough situation. I mean, you know, you can't really quantify it. What Lebron has done, it's in its own category. But Kobe did with Jordan, Kareem Bill. I mean, it's really hard to really kind of you know, people get very selective. Well he only did oh well, and well these are feats that I feel that never will be. I don't think everybody, nobody will be six and on the finals. It just ain't gonna happen, right, that's crazy ten finals and counting, you know, I don't think nobody's gonna do that. They both have a bunch of MVP, They've got all the trophies, you know, those guys Kobe and everybody's talking about the goat. I'm just trying to get in the building, you know what. I mean, it's gonna be. It's gonna be a lot to be said if he win finals MVP. He has four finals MVPs with three different locations, which means he would have led three different teams to the ultimate. It's gonna be. It's gonna it's gonna be tough to hold him out that conversation. Let me tell you something, man, Man, it will be scholarly debates over this for decades. Yes, you know what I mean, and you know I know Lebron wants it that way. He Jordan was our hero. You know, we all watched Jordan. We all know that. Okay, I mean, this is what I'm up against, and man, it is what it is. But for him to actually create a lane for his own self and then they say, hey, man, he is arguably the greatest of all time, it's nothing else to talk about, Chris Man. I really appreciate it. Broth, thanks for sitting down with me and sharing your thoughts about your career and your new music career. Congratulations on back and when you win that Grammy for Best New Producer, Best New Saul, come back and visit your boy for sure. For sure, I appreciate that, man. Thanks a lot, Thank you brother. All my life and running all my life. Sacrifice Hustle Bay The Price Wanna Slice, got the broller dice to swap all my life. I've been running all my life, All my life and running all my life. Sacrifice Hustle Bay the Price Wanna Slice, got the broller dice to swap all my life. I've been running all my life.