Welcome to another episode of Running the Break. I'm one of your host c J Told, joined here by Alex Long, my my co host, Alex. How you doing, man, I'm good listen man. Halloween was was recently and you know, as as I do, as I browse on Instagram, you know, every single day and just increase my screen time, um, and feel terrible about myself by Sunday. Um, you know I saw you. You were out in a boat. You were out in a boat and Halloween, Tell tell the tell the listeners a little bit about what you got up to. Well, yeah, you know, if it hasn't been mentioned enough on this podcast. I have a new son, and you know, Halloween just became a huge holiday again in our lives, and so we decided to not only do a couple's costume, we did a family costume. So one of our favorite movies, Home Alone, my wife and I went as Harry and Marv. I was Harry, my wife was Marv. And then we had to get you know, Conrad's suited it up and we had him as Kevin McAllister. So that was our big first family costume. You know, I think in the past or in the last episode, we're talking about hockey jerseys. Now that's a great costume. Unfortunately, I can't just pull off a hockey jersey costume anymore because I want my son to be proud of me, you know what I mean. No, I love that man. So so you're saying that, uh, you know, having a child in your life has reinvigorated your love for Halloween. Is that Is that correct? DJ? Yeah, because I'm like, I'm gonna have this little kid that's like an excuse to go door to door and ask for candy, you know, for the first few years. And I think this is how raising a child works. They can't eat these you know, full size Snickers bars and whatever. So there's gotta be someone who's got to take care of that, and it's me. So I'm looking forward to it. But um, you know, it's been it's been a fun, you know month with basketball starting, in the holidays starting, I feel like, you know, everything is just like turn full, Like we have stories, outfits are happening. You know, we're talking about Halloween costumes, but these players keep stepping up their game. What what's uh? What are some of the outfits have you noticed? Uh? And the season so far Yeah, I think I think we have to start with Grant Williams in Boston, you know, showing up in the full Batman outfit and then committing to the bid, taking it to the next level in the postgame presser and you know, dressed in full as as you know Batman and you know Jason Tatum. I think at one point it was in the longer room looking at him saying like, what the hell are you doing? Um? And he was speaking and you know, the deep kind of Baretone voice and all that stuff. So I'm gonna give it to Grant Williams because I think, like you mentioned, the NBA is kind of like I think, like at the forefront in terms of like all time Halloween parties and Halloween costumes. Yeah, I gotta give it to Grant Williams this year. C J. I love. I love how there is no team mandate for everyone to participate, so it's just to get Grant Williams just getting what looked like a pretty expensive Batman costume. And then you know, if he's gonna get a pretty you know, high high production costume or high budget, you gotta you gotta commit with a voice. And it's just so great, like he was doing his press press interviews like that and then yeah, like he said Tatum in the background, be like, what are you doing? Man? It was just it was perfect. No, it was amazing. And you know, Pascal ce Alchem here in Toronto did did a great He put on a great impersonation of fifty cent Uh. You know, he was like get rich or died trying era, you know, with the vests and the undershirt and you know he did a little photo shoot with that. So I gotta give him shut off for that. And then Bradley Beale and his whole family showed up as the Flintstones to to a home game, yeah in Washington, and that was amazing too. I always like, Um, I think Malik Beasley dressed up along with his son is like Superman and Spiderman to the game. Uh. This is what I like to cross. Yes, yes, And I think this is up your alley right, Like incorporating the family, incorporating the kids. I think I think at the end of the day, aside from you know, adults like ourselves, you know, still getting a kick of eating Halloween candy. Um, that's what Halloween's a ball, right, Like, Um, you know incorporating just everybody in into the costuming. Well, one other costume that I wanted to mention it was John Wall. Again. I love when it's deep, deep cuts within deep cuts. John Wall went as Martin Lawrence's character in Blue Streak when he dresses up like a pizza delivery guy trying to break into the police precinct. And it's like, I don't know if that's even that popular the movie, but he just like got the costume perfectly. Um And I'm like that we already we saw John Wall play and he looks great. And when I saw costume, I was like, John Wall is back people. No, I love. I love that you mentioned that. And you know, Messiah Jerry to the president of the Raptors showed up to the party as Eddie Murphy's character and coming to America. Well, I feel like we've seen that one. You know, Sargibaka I think pulled that off one time as well. So so we're starting to see, like you know, how we talk about there's like recurring fits, like in the Tunnel, We're now reaching the point of like recurring fits. Uh Dring Halloween, I do have to shout out Heidi klum as well, I know this is not e have you seen her? And then like the brain worm gosh, I'm speaking of committing to the bit, like I'm sorry, man, if we're handing out awards, I'm giving it to her for for this Halloween. Yeah, it's frightening. I've I've stared at the pictures of it. I thought it was better shopped. And then they were like, of all people, Heidi Klum, known supermodel. I was like, what that They like gave me nightmares for people for people that can't see the video stream right now, like C Jay legitimate looks frightened, which is I was scarred. I was like, what is this a joke that they're playing on Heidi? Why would they? Why would But I mean, shout out, shout out to her. You know when you gotta go all out when you when you when you dress up and if you're a known beautiful person to dress like that, it's a brain worm, you said, yeah, I think that's what it's called it whatever it means, creepy and detailed. I mean she was. I saw an interview too, like she was committing fully to the bit, like she was laying on the ground as a worm, like doing an interview and speaking of all that, like, I don't know, man, grand grand prize, grand prize to her, Yeah, grand prize. I also I saw this quote this morning, um, as he said, a lot of these teams have Halloween parties, and Anthony Davis decided to throw the Lakers their Halloween party. UM. Some great costumes. You know, we see a lot of jokers. Um. Joker seems to be a big costume. UM. But there was a great quote from Jordan's not Jordan Poole, from Juan Tascone Anderson, UM, and they asked him what he thought about the Halloween party, and he was like, you know what, I just like hanging out with other rich people. Uh. I think it was like, you know, I'm not gonna turn down hanging out rich people. So just seeing you know, Anthony Davis spent a little bit of that massive contract throwing Halloween parties. You know, I think it's good for the chemistry of the team. And as we know, we saw the Lakers just get their first win. Yeah, you know, I'm not refrain from speaking about the Lakers just to maintain the friendship here. No, no, we gotta we got a really special episode today. I know you have a chance to chat with Robert Uri and listen, man, like growing up, you know, watching the Shock in Kolbe era, you remember all the iconic role players. You know, we're talking about Rick Fox, talking about Brian Shaw, and I mean Robert Ord's resume, like you know, beginning with the two championships in Houston, obviously being part of the three titles in l A, winning another one in San Antonio, like one of the all time most clutch players. And I know you remember Robert ORI's three pointer against the Sacramental Kings at the buzzer in Game four in the Western Commerce Finals. Like you know, how exciting was it for you to to kind of kick it with with with one of the all time Laker grades. Well yeah, I mean Laker grade And you mentioned those other franchises. The fact that you know, he did all of that in a playing career and then we've seen him, you know, have this career after basketball, to which a lot of these other retired players are sort of trying to follow that and in trying to build um careers, uh post career and so I think Robert Dory was such a great example. So um, yeah, we talked a lot about what it took to do that. Um, you know the mindset of playing in l A. But yeah, really exciting conversation is an honor for me as a Lakers fan, as you know. Yeah, no, definitely. So we're gonna take a break and when we come back, c j's interview with Robert or Kobe Bryant on the move against Christie him for the right tips shot at O'Neill tip down to Oria straight on three. The Lakers have one Robert Lori's greatest test tour con tenures, no doubt about us. He's got to be getting a Grammy welcome back to run the break, we have our very special guests. This is such a huge honor and I've loved all of our past guests, but as a Lakers fan, die hard, uh, it is with such great pleasure to walcome the seven time NBA champion Robert Horror to the show. Robert, how you doing? I'm good, brother, how are you? Man? I liked I like the hat man follow through. I like that, Yeah, followed through is my my company had to make a little Lakers colorway because you know, my fandom for the team. So, um, how to represent on this interview. Hey, I'm wearing Lakers too, because I just did an event called Hoops for Troops where the Lakers have the time to do these things for the troops and it's always so fun to get out there and run around the court with him. Yeah. Man, Well, so that's actually kind of the stuff that I'd love to get into in this interview, because you know, I've seen some other past interviews we've obviously you know your incredible career, but would love to just get into like what your days are are like these days as a as a player who's retired but still very much like active in the basketball community. So you describe Hoops for Troops, what the stuff for you doing? You're you're broadcasting now, what are your days filled with? Um? You know I saw of being a husband and father. Um, I'm doing a work for Spectrum. That's how I gotta know, Peter Um doing a Laker television It's something I never thought I would do. Country boy from Alabama with that country slang. I never thought I'd be doing, um, Laker television in a big city, you know, covering the Lakers. But I've been doing that for eleven years now, and that's fun. But I think right now the thing that I enjoyed most is just watching my seventeen ye all about to say sixteens just turned seventeen. I played high school basketball and relieve and relive the glory days through him. So you know, I try to keep my life as simple as possible. Man. You know, as you get up in age, you try to do less things and dedicate your your time and energy to your family. If you're not familiar with running the break, we we cover a lot of fashion in the NBA now, and you know, just from the nineties, you know, that's when I started watching, and we all know, like you guys had dress codes and there wasn't as much of a focus on fashion. So I would love to hear your take on sort of what it was like, you know, off the court, traveling the games. You know, there weren't cameras on you guys walking through the tunnels versus you know, the players. Now, what are your thoughts on that. You know, it's so weird because my first year in the league, we had we flew we flew commercial so you had to be dressed up on the plane. I used to get so mad because I'm like, wow, I'm dressing up. I'man coach because you know, they only had twelve season first class and the rookie is in the back, and so it's it's a little bit different. You know, it's so weird to talk about it because all the new schools think we're hating and when we talk about it, and it's not being as about respecting who you are because it's a business. You know what business? Do you know? Where you know outside? You know, amazonal, Google, where you can go to work and something that's other than the suit. And I think that's just how you represent yourself. I think a lot of guys still like to come come professional and look professional, wear suits and stuff I know as suits. Sorry for everybody. Hell, I played with a guy named Kim Duncan and never was suit. I only think you have a one jacket. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed dressing up because when you look good, you feel good. You know, like Dion Sant said, you look good, you play good. So I think a lot of times for me, I enjoyed wearing a suit just to see, you know, how snazzy I could get. And it was always it's something about putting on a tailor made suit that makes you feel good. You know, anybody can wear baseball jerseys or throw on jeans and stuff like that, but when you got a tailor made suit that's customed vided, it's a big difference on how you present yourself. I love that. And now sneakers to like every there's always segments on shows whether highlighting guys sneakers. We talked about it a lot. I'm a sneaker head. I did a little bit of research and just by my eye test, you know, I noticed you're a Nike guy. You're wearing stuff like the Nike Air Pounds and Nike Maestro's um what was the other one, the Nike Valor Force. So those are kind of deep cuts for sneaker heads. What what was sort of the criteria for you and what type of sneaker you're wearing on court? You know, my my my kids used always a dad your she was ug me. I said, I don't care, I'm about coming. I'm all about com from when you're running up and down the court nine for thirty minutes a game, you don't care how they look. You want your feet to feel good because if your feet feel good, you're gonna make you play good. And for me, I think air pounds were my favorite. I wore them for like three years straight until they stopped making them, and I was so mad at Nike for that, but air pounds was my favorite. And the crazy part is, I'm still kind of sneaker head because you know, as you get old, your feet don't you know, you play some of the years, your feet don't feel as good as they used to. So you can't wear shoes that are hard bottom shoes. You gotta wear sneakers most of the time or something like that. And and for us, uh, even I'm on TV now, I gotta get some sneakers to match my sup in some type of way. So it's still fun to, you know, to kick the sneakers on on TV. And now everybody on the show is kind of doing it too, you know, I know we all bite and steal from each other, but I'm gonna credit the whole show that we're sneakers now on Spectrum, that all stole it from me. Okay, And so like, what are some of your favorite current sneakers. I love this because I've noticed that for watching you guys after the game, you know, for me, I've always been an air Force one guy. Um, because you know a lot of people like, oh they're flat, They're not. They've they've been comfortable with me. I just complain them because they're heavy and when you're not running down the court. I like the looks of I like the way they feel because you know they have night to think. I'm Nike, I d I'm know you're familiar with it, so you can design your own shoot and so that's the fun part. You can put your own coaches and I have red ones that have purples. I have ones that designs if I still play for Alabama, you know, things of that nature. So it's it's it's just fun to like, you know, design, I love I love the Jordan's Um it's I can't read. There's so many. I don't know. It's the retro three or four, I can't remember. Those are the ones I like the most. But they're so freaking hard to get. You gotta be waiting on wine and trying to catch them. I always I get them. No, you didn't get them this time, so you keep trying. So you know, you would think that as long as I wore Nikes, that Nike be like Hey, you want something. We got the inside connected, but Nike, I don't get the inside connection. I gotta get in a line like everybody else. Rob And then that makes me feel great that an NBA legend. Can't you know, it's just as hard to get sneakers. Man. I'm like, if I could just win seven titles, I would have an easier access to sneaker. But you're Nike might be listening. Yeah, come on, that's crazy. I will I will say this. I don't know who it was, but for my birthday, I got a bunch of sneakers that I like and some um sweatsuits from Nike. I don't know who sent it to me. It was no note in there. It was just a big box of Nike swag. I was like, oh, thank you. Well, whoever is here needs just sitting me that I'm saying thank you because I don't know who sent it. Like when you entered the league, I've noticed with a lot of rookies and the first few year players, they're kind of switching up brands. What is you know? Did Nike come to you or do you just like find a shoe that you liked and then Nike you liked you know, a player like yourself rocking their stuff. You know, if you look at my first couple of games and the NBA, I was winning, reboked. That's because we were we were in college. We bought pumps, and um, I was just trying to figure out who's gonna give you the most money? And I'm not even gonna lie about that, you know, at the time, because hey, you know, you know they're not paying a guy like that, you know they are Now, it was like, okay, it was always incentive Lake, and so I said, Okay, who's gonna give me the best deal? Who can give you the most money? So and Niket is the one that stepped up. I love that now. Also, what I love about you and where you've played. You played with the Rockets, the Spurs, and the Lakers, and I feel like each of those organizations kind of have their own identity. You know, the Spurs, I think in the early two thousand's, you know, fans kind of consider them to be born. But then the Lakers, you know, they're showtime. So like, can you talk a little bit about you know, did you yourself ever have to like adjust to the franchises or you know, what was it different playing for each of the organizations, knowing that they had those sort of like characteristics. I think the biggest adjustment for me was going from you know, the Rockets to the Lakers, because, um, when I was in when I was in Houston, I got plays ready for me. And now you go to the like, can I gotta play N for me? You know? So that's the adjustment. You have to adjust your attitude more important, you know, because you know, every athlete has an ego. If you don't have an ego, you're not gonna be in this game. You're not. You might be in the game, but you ain't gonna be on the floor. You have to have that cockness about yourself and believe in yourself. And for me, you know, that was the biggest, you know difference where I'm like, yo, man, I used to get like two or three players a game N from me, get it, you know, get myself going. And now playing on the team like Eddie Eddie and you know Nick and Kobe and Shack and Rick, it was like hey, guys, can I get a pass? Hey? Hey hey? And it was you had to do that adjustment. And I think it's hard for a lot of guys who used to you know, coming out of college getting ten and twelve touches the game and then going to you know, the into a position where you might get ten and twelve touches in three games, you know total. And so I think for me that was the biggest adjustment. But for me, I just like winning. You know, if you're playing the right way, you can score all the points, you can get all the rebound As long as we win it, I don't care. And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Getting that the Yeah, and this is kind of an encore thing. But question, but you know you talked about having those plays ran for you, but then it became the thing like we mentioned earlier, you know, big shot Bob. It's kind of just like being ready, being ready for when that ball hits your hands. So can you talk like, how did that nickname get created? Or you know, was it in practice where like, hey, everyone's gonna be Garden Kobe or Shock or something, so it's gonna be Robert in the corner? Well, was there a specific example of how that happened? And that name came before I even got to the Lakers. You know, it was back when I was playing with the Rockets and we were playing the Spurs and nine and Craig Killborn I think it was on ESPN. I was, you know one, I mean zero for eight and I hit the shot at the end of the game and he was like, oh, big shot Bob. He was doing it as a joke because only make one shot in the game was a game winning and that's what he done. And it kind of just stuck after that, you know, it became big shot Bob open found its Ali Jah want Robert or that's the jumper? What do you want? You have won this fall? He'll spend ass coming here and one another watch games on the road. They are the dream team all the playoffs of nineteen ninety five, especially when it's the only shot you made all game. I have been sitting on what I'm saying to myself, Man, I ain't made a shot all game, you know, I'm like, when you gotta make one and get that zero and goose gotta show that let may finally name well and for me, you know, a lot of people thinks he's robbed, but it's actually started out as Bob and and and it was weird because my mom didn't want him calling me Bob, and that's how some people think it's robbed. But for me, the originator was Craig Killboy and big Shot Bob. So that's why I just go by a lot of times. I don't even think people know my real name. They just said big shot. Yeah. I mean the fact that I never met anyone whose nickname started off as sarcastic, but now it's like, you know, it's his legend, is one of the best names. He I guess he could see the future. Four C confusers, all this dude's gonna be making some big shots, not just in the Rocket uniform, but you know, Lakers and Spurs. So you you played with obviously some big names. Who would who would you say, is like your swaggiest teammate of all time? Oh my goodness. You know what, I've had a lot, you know, you you you go from um. You know, when I first got with the Rockets, Achimolo was always suited and booty um. Then you get to the Lakers, it was pretty much the whole team, you know, shack Um, b Shaw, Derek Fisher, Rick, those guys. And then I got to the to the Spurs, it was nobody but me until Michael Finley got there. It was Michael Finley. That's one thing about the Spurs, Uh, they they were They just came in some jeans. Anybody came in flip flops. Man. They just came to the reading to show up and play. They don't care how you look. It's how as long as they went on the court and perform. So I think you know that was the things you have to respect about the Spurs. There was that team. That's they were hard hack as there was blue collar guys. They need to be suited and booted. They just need to come out and play good defense. And little youth sleep in school buckets. Did you guys ever play pranks on each other? You know? It was the only story that I remember Ruben uh Patterson when we went when I was with the Lakers. He was a rookie. You know, rookie is supposed to bring you don't nuts, supposed to bring you paper, but it's supposed to do this thing. We didn't make him do anything crazy, and Ruben would not do what he was supposed to do. So we told Rudy, who was an equipment manager, bring a bunch of tape to our meeting. So Rudy brought a bunch of tape and so next thing, you know, we asked Ruben do something ruby and one dude he says okay. So Shaq grabbed him and we taped him up. I mean, we put so much tape on him and took him for days to get it off. And we put him on a luggage rack and put him on the elevator, hit all the buttons and he was just going up and down the elevator. And it was the weird part because I remember when he went down to the libby and his elderby later was thinning and so I'm taped up. She was like this looking like old crap. What did I get involved in getting like, I'm sorry, it's just it's just a prank that we're doing a bit. You know. It was fun things like that that we used to do and know and you know we never did popcorn, anybody cars or anything like that. It was I know, we kept it kind of simple and playing. That's the craziest thing we ever did. Well. So I know you're asking this question a lot on a lot of podcasts now on social media, the ages social media and the talking head sports show the goat conversation, right, and the number one leading factor of every goat conversation is the amount of rings. And you know, if that's the math, do you find that disrespectful that your name doesn't come up? Not at all? Because here's here's a crazy part about people talk about the goat factor. I say, three or fours of people who talk about never played the game, so they have no right to say anything about who's the goat, you know, because they never played again them they never had to be out on the court and run them down the court. And how to know how difficult it is? I tell everybody I said this, I said, you want to know who the goat is? You make a list of everything they can do, and every list of everything they can't do. And you look at like Kareem there was nothing he couldn't do. You know, maybe shoot threes, but he had to shoot threes back then. And look at at Michael Jordan's he could do everything. Then you go, you can go down the list of other people who compire the goats they have, they have things they cannot do. And so that's how you figure out who the goat is. You don't go about what they can do is what they can't do. Because when you get to a certain status, everybody can do everything so well. But if it's what you can't do that makes you, you know, the upper echelon. Okay, I still knowing that, have you done that? Oh yeah? Would you consider the you know who who? You know? You know you want to give Michael Jordan to go, But I give Michael Jordan Kareem the goat status because Kareem, you know, the longevity, had the way he had, he had a patent move, you know, and you know, everybody wants to give Michael Jordan go. Don't get me wrong. He is one of the best damn players I ever played again, and I never played against Kareem, but he's one of the best damn players. They played this game too, And I think a lot of times we get caught up with the flashiness. You know, we think about it, like they said in baseball, Chicks dig the long ball, chicks did the dunks, chick did threes. And if you know, if you take the dunk, you take the threes out the game. How many guys are able to you know, have that mid range? You know who, could you know do a flash and go to the you know, that's the part I look at, you know, guys who played the game. They get caught, but oh, Michael jorgan'sill, go oh, Kobe's go oh, Lebrons will go. I don't go about that because there's a lot of things that you know, those certain those players could do on the court. You know, but you look at Kareem and Michael, there was nothing they couldn't do on the court, So that would make them guys to go, that's great. Now, people don't really talk about this, and I feel like you'd be the perfect player to ask uh and the goat conversation. No, it's it's an easy question, I think. But greatest NBA city to play for or visit? What would you say? And like consider the factors of like, yeah, I mean is it l A l A New York? Um? I think those two are the top New York expects to get respects the game in l A is it doesn't like playing l When you look on the sideline, You've got Denzel, you got Selma High, You've got Halley Berry, you've got Jack Nichols, you got all these stars that come watch you play. And then were like even when I made that shot against the Kings when I was with the Lakers, I turned around first person, I see when I'm running back down there is the rock. Think about that. How many places can you do? When you hit the championship, you see the rocks. So that's just how it is, what it the more about pushed about. So you hit the shot, you turn and the rock is sitting there. What do you think? What is going through your head? And then what do you think is going through the rocks? Had? I think for me, it's just pre entertainment. You know, think about Black Adams there before the Black Albam and just like wow, you know it's it's just it's just so it was for me to hit big shots in the Laker uniform and have you know those those celebrities invite you to parties and things like that, invite you for premiers and stuff like that. It was you never think about this when you're growing up. You say, Okay, I want to make it to the NBA. I want to try to win championships. Okay, Wow, I'm playing in l A and I'm playing in the Laker uniform now, and it's just a wonderful feeling to have all these people, you know, admire what you do and appreciate what you do. Because I don't know about you, but I love movies. I love TV and that's all I do. And you know, now to these people I admire from Afar and watch them on the Big Swing on the idiot Box. Now they you know, they talk to me and having a good time. We want to go to dinner with means stuff like that. It's it's it was so fun to play in l A. I tell you, you can't get that naway. Maybe New York and sometimes Miami, but there's no place like l A. Yeah, no, it's it's really special to go to those games and see those celebrities. Now, do you have any specific, uh, you know, memorable moments that like, you know, a celebrity invited you to a dinner party because you're playing for the Lakers. I have a couple. I remember the one was I had a friend come and say, Hey, somebody wants to meet you, and I'm like, who, just come follow me? And I go and I sit at the tables. Whitney Houston, God rest his soul, and I'm like, wow, Whitney Houston want to meet me? And I'm sitting there talking to Whitney Houston. I'm trying to play a coolert hell like, I'm like, okay, this is Whitney Houston. Man, I don't want to be fan be fan bored right now. So that that was a good one. But I think my best is I just came from hitting a big shot in the corner to beat the Portland Trailblazers and I get a phone call. I'm looking at my phone like should I answer this or should I not answered? And it Selma High invited me to a pre her premiere of a movie Freeda, And I'm like at the time, all I can think about was her and dust to Dawn. I'm like, wow, this is Selma. I ain't calling me, man, can you believe? So, you know, she and asked me to, you know, to her premier and I'm thinking, okay, she just invited me. And so when I walk in, she actually comes up to me and hugged me, and I'm like, oh crap. I'm like, she came up me and hugged me and tell me I must sit by her. And I'm like wow. And that's when you know that's and took so many great moments like they had the pleasure of meeting Demi Moore and Michael Jackson at a at a party out here, and you know, I got you know, Meat Puffy and Rosin Sanchez and it's it's one of those things about playing in the Lake or Uniform and get invited to certain parties and all of a sudden you're sitting there with John Stamos and he talked about how much a fan he is. I'm like, the dude, I'm like, you know who you are. You shouldn't talk. I'm supposed to be asking you questions. But I can go on and on and on, man, because you know, when you win, and you win in the Lake or Uniform, so many doors open up for you. Well, that kind of sets up the perfect last question I want to ask Robert. I want to ask you, if you could cast the role of you, who would you pick. Yeah, everybody like, well you gotta here, we all smith to play you, but we'll gonna ask him me old bunny. So I think, you know, it would have to be my son Christian, you know, just like Norm. Some places. Norm, I think my son Christian, who's seventeen right now. He had a basketball background, play. He plays at Harvard West Lake here in l A. So I think it would have to be him. You know, he might he might be mad because he had to shave his hair all. But other than that, I think I'll have you my son Christian or I think you got to get him in some acting classes at the school to get him set up for that, because I that that's perfect casting. Yeah, you know, it's it's weird. I think he would enjoy it, but he is. He's all about, you know, trying to be um. He wants to be a lawyer. He like he would sit here and bat you everything. So I think if he doesn't go, you know, into him to the professional act. As far as basketball, I think, you know, being a lawyers or his next best thing he wants to do. That's amazing. Well, you know, Robert, you've kind of inspired. I have a six month old and we we have basketball. Like the Rulers, we don't want watching any TV. But when the Lakers are on, I turned on. He turns his head and watch a little bit. But you know, I don't want to force them to be a basketball player. But you know, hearing you talk about your son and him, you know, encouraging to become a lawyer or whatever he wants to be. That's that's a really special thing to hear from you. Yeah, but you know, it's weird that I have three boys, and um, first one played rugby, second one played football, and this one is a basketball But I guess third times a charm, right. But you know, they're they're all the best thing about them. They all have their own talent. You know, my oldest one is probably the smartest out of the out of the three, the middle one is probably the most clever. I mean that he got the streets smart with the book smarts. And the youngest one is like a little bit better than to both of them, you know, added together, he's a little mixture. But there's they They're all individuals and that's the best thing about kids, man. You let them be who they are and you just support and love them as much as you can. And I think for me, that's one of the reasons I never wanted to coach. That's one of the reasons that when I retired, I was happy with my retirement because, um, I don't think people on the stand how much time you miss in your family's life by playing a sport, especially basketball and baseball. You know you're going for you know, twelve days at a time. Think about this. If you have a baby and all of a sudden, that's how you say he's six months old, Well, imagine six months old. Imagine if he was on the road playing the game. All of a sudden you come on and your wife comes and like, look, our baby took his first steps and you weren't there for that, you know, because you was on the road. And this little moments like that you can't get back. And I don't think people understand the sacrifice that even though we're making a ton of money, but family is more important than money and when you miss opportunities like that. For me, I think the biggest, the best moment in my retiring was I saw my middle son make his first game winner and then he ran to me and said, I'm just like you, daddy, And you can't if I wasn't there for that, you can't get that feeling back. Man, Just misstioning that gives me chills. And you know, it's it's so important for us to be in our kids life and support them as much as possible. That's beautiful advice. Ball Robert, thank you so much. No, it's I you know, I hope there's you know, people out there listening to us, and I know I'm gonna keep that that advice in my pocket. UM as exciting, you know, like getting to talk to you, getting to talk to other people in the n B a UM and just hearing their experiences. You know, even though you guys are like huge superstars, it's really stuff that I can use. So I really appreciate that, UM, and just thank you for all those memorable NBA moments. And and I'm watching you guys that I'm watching the Lakers every game and just watching you guys react after the games. It's you know, you were a player, but like you really capture the fan emotion, you know. And as we as we go through a rough start here with this Lakers season, I just love how candid you and James and the and the staff has been so like it's really cathartic and seeing you guys break down, um, you know, the team it's been really great. So just thank you for everything. My pleasure. You know, it's it's the Lakers faithful or used to win, and when you're losing, you know, they're not used to that, so especially when you get people like Lebron James and Anthony Davis and Westbrook on the team, they think you should just step into another title. So it's it's it's always fun. And I wish we would have more interaction with fans to see so we can get a field and the post and how they how they reacting to the season, but you know, we have to give them our post and not reaction. Yeah. Well, it's been great and I am confident that we're gonna turn this season around. Robert, thank you so much. Tune into him on Lakers Spectrum, UH Sportsnet, and I've been c J Toldano co host Alex Long that's been running the break and shout out to our producers Kurt Grace and Peter Subscribe and Review. Thank you so much, all right, c J, thank you, brother,

Welcome to another episode of Running the Break. I'm one of your host c J Told, joined here by Alex Long, my my co host, Alex. How you doing, man, I'm good listen man. Halloween was was recently and you know, as as I do, as I browse on Instagram, you know, every single day and just increase my screen time, um, and feel terrible about myself by Sunday. Um, you know I saw you. You were out in a boat. You were out in a boat and Halloween, Tell tell the tell the listeners a little bit about what you got up to. Well, yeah, you know, if it hasn't been mentioned enough on this podcast. I have a new son, and you know, Halloween just became a huge holiday again in our lives, and so we decided to not only do a couple's costume, we did a family costume. So one of our favorite movies, Home Alone, my wife and I went as Harry and Marv. I was Harry, my wife was Marv. And then we had to get you know, Conrad's suited it up and we had him as Kevin McAllister. So that was our big first family costume. You know, I think in the past or in the last episode, we're talking about hockey jerseys. Now that's a great costume. Unfortunately, I can't just pull off a hockey jersey costume anymore because I want my son to be proud of me, you know what I mean. No, I love that man. So so you're saying that, uh, you know, having a child in your life has reinvigorated your love for Halloween. Is that Is that correct? DJ? Yeah, because I'm like, I'm gonna have this little kid that's like an excuse to go door to door and ask for candy, you know, for the first few years. And I think this is how raising a child works. They can't eat these you know, full size Snickers bars and whatever. So there's gotta be someone who's got to take care of that, and it's me. So I'm looking forward to it. But um, you know, it's been it's been a fun, you know month with basketball starting, in the holidays starting, I feel like, you know, everything is just like turn full, Like we have stories, outfits are happening. You know, we're talking about Halloween costumes, but these players keep stepping up their game. What what's uh? What are some of the outfits have you noticed? Uh? And the season so far Yeah, I think I think we have to start with Grant Williams in Boston, you know, showing up in the full Batman outfit and then committing to the bid, taking it to the next level in the postgame presser and you know, dressed in full as as you know Batman and you know Jason Tatum. I think at one point it was in the longer room looking at him saying like, what the hell are you doing? Um? And he was speaking and you know, the deep kind of Baretone voice and all that stuff. So I'm gonna give it to Grant Williams because I think, like you mentioned, the NBA is kind of like I think, like at the forefront in terms of like all time Halloween parties and Halloween costumes. Yeah, I gotta give it to Grant Williams this year. C J. I love. I love how there is no team mandate for everyone to participate, so it's just to get Grant Williams just getting what looked like a pretty expensive Batman costume. And then you know, if he's gonna get a pretty you know, high high production costume or high budget, you gotta you gotta commit with a voice. And it's just so great, like he was doing his press press interviews like that and then yeah, like he said Tatum in the background, be like, what are you doing? Man? It was just it was perfect. No, it was amazing. And you know, Pascal ce Alchem here in Toronto did did a great He put on a great impersonation of fifty cent Uh. You know, he was like get rich or died trying era, you know, with the vests and the undershirt and you know he did a little photo shoot with that. So I gotta give him shut off for that. And then Bradley Beale and his whole family showed up as the Flintstones to to a home game, yeah in Washington, and that was amazing too. I always like, Um, I think Malik Beasley dressed up along with his son is like Superman and Spiderman to the game. Uh. This is what I like to cross. Yes, yes, And I think this is up your alley right, Like incorporating the family, incorporating the kids. I think I think at the end of the day, aside from you know, adults like ourselves, you know, still getting a kick of eating Halloween candy. Um, that's what Halloween's a ball, right, Like, Um, you know incorporating just everybody in into the costuming. Well, one other costume that I wanted to mention it was John Wall. Again. I love when it's deep, deep cuts within deep cuts. John Wall went as Martin Lawrence's character in Blue Streak when he dresses up like a pizza delivery guy trying to break into the police precinct. And it's like, I don't know if that's even that popular the movie, but he just like got the costume perfectly. Um And I'm like that we already we saw John Wall play and he looks great. And when I saw costume, I was like, John Wall is back people. No, I love. I love that you mentioned that. And you know, Messiah Jerry to the president of the Raptors showed up to the party as Eddie Murphy's character and coming to America. Well, I feel like we've seen that one. You know, Sargibaka I think pulled that off one time as well. So so we're starting to see, like you know, how we talk about there's like recurring fits, like in the Tunnel, We're now reaching the point of like recurring fits. Uh Dring Halloween, I do have to shout out Heidi klum as well, I know this is not e have you seen her? And then like the brain worm gosh, I'm speaking of committing to the bit, like I'm sorry, man, if we're handing out awards, I'm giving it to her for for this Halloween. Yeah, it's frightening. I've I've stared at the pictures of it. I thought it was better shopped. And then they were like, of all people, Heidi Klum, known supermodel. I was like, what that They like gave me nightmares for people for people that can't see the video stream right now, like C Jay legitimate looks frightened, which is I was scarred. I was like, what is this a joke that they're playing on Heidi? Why would they? Why would But I mean, shout out, shout out to her. You know when you gotta go all out when you when you when you dress up and if you're a known beautiful person to dress like that, it's a brain worm, you said, yeah, I think that's what it's called it whatever it means, creepy and detailed. I mean she was. I saw an interview too, like she was committing fully to the bit, like she was laying on the ground as a worm, like doing an interview and speaking of all that, like, I don't know, man, grand grand prize, grand prize to her, Yeah, grand prize. I also I saw this quote this morning, um, as he said, a lot of these teams have Halloween parties, and Anthony Davis decided to throw the Lakers their Halloween party. UM. Some great costumes. You know, we see a lot of jokers. Um. Joker seems to be a big costume. UM. But there was a great quote from Jordan's not Jordan Poole, from Juan Tascone Anderson, UM, and they asked him what he thought about the Halloween party, and he was like, you know what, I just like hanging out with other rich people. Uh. I think it was like, you know, I'm not gonna turn down hanging out rich people. So just seeing you know, Anthony Davis spent a little bit of that massive contract throwing Halloween parties. You know, I think it's good for the chemistry of the team. And as we know, we saw the Lakers just get their first win. Yeah, you know, I'm not refrain from speaking about the Lakers just to maintain the friendship here. No, no, we gotta we got a really special episode today. I know you have a chance to chat with Robert Uri and listen, man, like growing up, you know, watching the Shock in Kolbe era, you remember all the iconic role players. You know, we're talking about Rick Fox, talking about Brian Shaw, and I mean Robert Ord's resume, like you know, beginning with the two championships in Houston, obviously being part of the three titles in l A, winning another one in San Antonio, like one of the all time most clutch players. And I know you remember Robert ORI's three pointer against the Sacramental Kings at the buzzer in Game four in the Western Commerce Finals. Like you know, how exciting was it for you to to kind of kick it with with with one of the all time Laker grades. Well yeah, I mean Laker grade And you mentioned those other franchises. The fact that you know, he did all of that in a playing career and then we've seen him, you know, have this career after basketball, to which a lot of these other retired players are sort of trying to follow that and in trying to build um careers, uh post career and so I think Robert Dory was such a great example. So um, yeah, we talked a lot about what it took to do that. Um, you know the mindset of playing in l A. But yeah, really exciting conversation is an honor for me as a Lakers fan, as you know. Yeah, no, definitely. So we're gonna take a break and when we come back, c j's interview with Robert or Kobe Bryant on the move against Christie him for the right tips shot at O'Neill tip down to Oria straight on three. The Lakers have one Robert Lori's greatest test tour con tenures, no doubt about us. He's got to be getting a Grammy welcome back to run the break, we have our very special guests. This is such a huge honor and I've loved all of our past guests, but as a Lakers fan, die hard, uh, it is with such great pleasure to walcome the seven time NBA champion Robert Horror to the show. Robert, how you doing? I'm good, brother, how are you? Man? I liked I like the hat man follow through. I like that, Yeah, followed through is my my company had to make a little Lakers colorway because you know, my fandom for the team. So, um, how to represent on this interview. Hey, I'm wearing Lakers too, because I just did an event called Hoops for Troops where the Lakers have the time to do these things for the troops and it's always so fun to get out there and run around the court with him. Yeah. Man, Well, so that's actually kind of the stuff that I'd love to get into in this interview, because you know, I've seen some other past interviews we've obviously you know your incredible career, but would love to just get into like what your days are are like these days as a as a player who's retired but still very much like active in the basketball community. So you describe Hoops for Troops, what the stuff for you doing? You're you're broadcasting now, what are your days filled with? Um? You know I saw of being a husband and father. Um, I'm doing a work for Spectrum. That's how I gotta know, Peter Um doing a Laker television It's something I never thought I would do. Country boy from Alabama with that country slang. I never thought I'd be doing, um, Laker television in a big city, you know, covering the Lakers. But I've been doing that for eleven years now, and that's fun. But I think right now the thing that I enjoyed most is just watching my seventeen ye all about to say sixteens just turned seventeen. I played high school basketball and relieve and relive the glory days through him. So you know, I try to keep my life as simple as possible. Man. You know, as you get up in age, you try to do less things and dedicate your your time and energy to your family. If you're not familiar with running the break, we we cover a lot of fashion in the NBA now, and you know, just from the nineties, you know, that's when I started watching, and we all know, like you guys had dress codes and there wasn't as much of a focus on fashion. So I would love to hear your take on sort of what it was like, you know, off the court, traveling the games. You know, there weren't cameras on you guys walking through the tunnels versus you know, the players. Now, what are your thoughts on that. You know, it's so weird because my first year in the league, we had we flew we flew commercial so you had to be dressed up on the plane. I used to get so mad because I'm like, wow, I'm dressing up. I'man coach because you know, they only had twelve season first class and the rookie is in the back, and so it's it's a little bit different. You know, it's so weird to talk about it because all the new schools think we're hating and when we talk about it, and it's not being as about respecting who you are because it's a business. You know what business? Do you know? Where you know outside? You know, amazonal, Google, where you can go to work and something that's other than the suit. And I think that's just how you represent yourself. I think a lot of guys still like to come come professional and look professional, wear suits and stuff I know as suits. Sorry for everybody. Hell, I played with a guy named Kim Duncan and never was suit. I only think you have a one jacket. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed dressing up because when you look good, you feel good. You know, like Dion Sant said, you look good, you play good. So I think a lot of times for me, I enjoyed wearing a suit just to see, you know, how snazzy I could get. And it was always it's something about putting on a tailor made suit that makes you feel good. You know, anybody can wear baseball jerseys or throw on jeans and stuff like that, but when you got a tailor made suit that's customed vided, it's a big difference on how you present yourself. I love that. And now sneakers to like every there's always segments on shows whether highlighting guys sneakers. We talked about it a lot. I'm a sneaker head. I did a little bit of research and just by my eye test, you know, I noticed you're a Nike guy. You're wearing stuff like the Nike Air Pounds and Nike Maestro's um what was the other one, the Nike Valor Force. So those are kind of deep cuts for sneaker heads. What what was sort of the criteria for you and what type of sneaker you're wearing on court? You know, my my my kids used always a dad your she was ug me. I said, I don't care, I'm about coming. I'm all about com from when you're running up and down the court nine for thirty minutes a game, you don't care how they look. You want your feet to feel good because if your feet feel good, you're gonna make you play good. And for me, I think air pounds were my favorite. I wore them for like three years straight until they stopped making them, and I was so mad at Nike for that, but air pounds was my favorite. And the crazy part is, I'm still kind of sneaker head because you know, as you get old, your feet don't you know, you play some of the years, your feet don't feel as good as they used to. So you can't wear shoes that are hard bottom shoes. You gotta wear sneakers most of the time or something like that. And and for us, uh, even I'm on TV now, I gotta get some sneakers to match my sup in some type of way. So it's still fun to, you know, to kick the sneakers on on TV. And now everybody on the show is kind of doing it too, you know, I know we all bite and steal from each other, but I'm gonna credit the whole show that we're sneakers now on Spectrum, that all stole it from me. Okay, And so like, what are some of your favorite current sneakers. I love this because I've noticed that for watching you guys after the game, you know, for me, I've always been an air Force one guy. Um, because you know a lot of people like, oh they're flat, They're not. They've they've been comfortable with me. I just complain them because they're heavy and when you're not running down the court. I like the looks of I like the way they feel because you know they have night to think. I'm Nike, I d I'm know you're familiar with it, so you can design your own shoot and so that's the fun part. You can put your own coaches and I have red ones that have purples. I have ones that designs if I still play for Alabama, you know, things of that nature. So it's it's it's just fun to like, you know, design, I love I love the Jordan's Um it's I can't read. There's so many. I don't know. It's the retro three or four, I can't remember. Those are the ones I like the most. But they're so freaking hard to get. You gotta be waiting on wine and trying to catch them. I always I get them. No, you didn't get them this time, so you keep trying. So you know, you would think that as long as I wore Nikes, that Nike be like Hey, you want something. We got the inside connected, but Nike, I don't get the inside connection. I gotta get in a line like everybody else. Rob And then that makes me feel great that an NBA legend. Can't you know, it's just as hard to get sneakers. Man. I'm like, if I could just win seven titles, I would have an easier access to sneaker. But you're Nike might be listening. Yeah, come on, that's crazy. I will I will say this. I don't know who it was, but for my birthday, I got a bunch of sneakers that I like and some um sweatsuits from Nike. I don't know who sent it to me. It was no note in there. It was just a big box of Nike swag. I was like, oh, thank you. Well, whoever is here needs just sitting me that I'm saying thank you because I don't know who sent it. Like when you entered the league, I've noticed with a lot of rookies and the first few year players, they're kind of switching up brands. What is you know? Did Nike come to you or do you just like find a shoe that you liked and then Nike you liked you know, a player like yourself rocking their stuff. You know, if you look at my first couple of games and the NBA, I was winning, reboked. That's because we were we were in college. We bought pumps, and um, I was just trying to figure out who's gonna give you the most money? And I'm not even gonna lie about that, you know, at the time, because hey, you know, you know they're not paying a guy like that, you know they are Now, it was like, okay, it was always incentive Lake, and so I said, Okay, who's gonna give me the best deal? Who can give you the most money? So and Niket is the one that stepped up. I love that now. Also, what I love about you and where you've played. You played with the Rockets, the Spurs, and the Lakers, and I feel like each of those organizations kind of have their own identity. You know, the Spurs, I think in the early two thousand's, you know, fans kind of consider them to be born. But then the Lakers, you know, they're showtime. So like, can you talk a little bit about you know, did you yourself ever have to like adjust to the franchises or you know, what was it different playing for each of the organizations, knowing that they had those sort of like characteristics. I think the biggest adjustment for me was going from you know, the Rockets to the Lakers, because, um, when I was in when I was in Houston, I got plays ready for me. And now you go to the like, can I gotta play N for me? You know? So that's the adjustment. You have to adjust your attitude more important, you know, because you know, every athlete has an ego. If you don't have an ego, you're not gonna be in this game. You're not. You might be in the game, but you ain't gonna be on the floor. You have to have that cockness about yourself and believe in yourself. And for me, you know, that was the biggest, you know difference where I'm like, yo, man, I used to get like two or three players a game N from me, get it, you know, get myself going. And now playing on the team like Eddie Eddie and you know Nick and Kobe and Shack and Rick, it was like hey, guys, can I get a pass? Hey? Hey hey? And it was you had to do that adjustment. And I think it's hard for a lot of guys who used to you know, coming out of college getting ten and twelve touches the game and then going to you know, the into a position where you might get ten and twelve touches in three games, you know total. And so I think for me that was the biggest adjustment. But for me, I just like winning. You know, if you're playing the right way, you can score all the points, you can get all the rebound As long as we win it, I don't care. And at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. Getting that the Yeah, and this is kind of an encore thing. But question, but you know you talked about having those plays ran for you, but then it became the thing like we mentioned earlier, you know, big shot Bob. It's kind of just like being ready, being ready for when that ball hits your hands. So can you talk like, how did that nickname get created? Or you know, was it in practice where like, hey, everyone's gonna be Garden Kobe or Shock or something, so it's gonna be Robert in the corner? Well, was there a specific example of how that happened? And that name came before I even got to the Lakers. You know, it was back when I was playing with the Rockets and we were playing the Spurs and nine and Craig Killborn I think it was on ESPN. I was, you know one, I mean zero for eight and I hit the shot at the end of the game and he was like, oh, big shot Bob. He was doing it as a joke because only make one shot in the game was a game winning and that's what he done. And it kind of just stuck after that, you know, it became big shot Bob open found its Ali Jah want Robert or that's the jumper? What do you want? You have won this fall? He'll spend ass coming here and one another watch games on the road. They are the dream team all the playoffs of nineteen ninety five, especially when it's the only shot you made all game. I have been sitting on what I'm saying to myself, Man, I ain't made a shot all game, you know, I'm like, when you gotta make one and get that zero and goose gotta show that let may finally name well and for me, you know, a lot of people thinks he's robbed, but it's actually started out as Bob and and and it was weird because my mom didn't want him calling me Bob, and that's how some people think it's robbed. But for me, the originator was Craig Killboy and big Shot Bob. So that's why I just go by a lot of times. I don't even think people know my real name. They just said big shot. Yeah. I mean the fact that I never met anyone whose nickname started off as sarcastic, but now it's like, you know, it's his legend, is one of the best names. He I guess he could see the future. Four C confusers, all this dude's gonna be making some big shots, not just in the Rocket uniform, but you know, Lakers and Spurs. So you you played with obviously some big names. Who would who would you say, is like your swaggiest teammate of all time? Oh my goodness. You know what, I've had a lot, you know, you you you go from um. You know, when I first got with the Rockets, Achimolo was always suited and booty um. Then you get to the Lakers, it was pretty much the whole team, you know, shack Um, b Shaw, Derek Fisher, Rick, those guys. And then I got to the to the Spurs, it was nobody but me until Michael Finley got there. It was Michael Finley. That's one thing about the Spurs, Uh, they they were They just came in some jeans. Anybody came in flip flops. Man. They just came to the reading to show up and play. They don't care how you look. It's how as long as they went on the court and perform. So I think you know that was the things you have to respect about the Spurs. There was that team. That's they were hard hack as there was blue collar guys. They need to be suited and booted. They just need to come out and play good defense. And little youth sleep in school buckets. Did you guys ever play pranks on each other? You know? It was the only story that I remember Ruben uh Patterson when we went when I was with the Lakers. He was a rookie. You know, rookie is supposed to bring you don't nuts, supposed to bring you paper, but it's supposed to do this thing. We didn't make him do anything crazy, and Ruben would not do what he was supposed to do. So we told Rudy, who was an equipment manager, bring a bunch of tape to our meeting. So Rudy brought a bunch of tape and so next thing, you know, we asked Ruben do something ruby and one dude he says okay. So Shaq grabbed him and we taped him up. I mean, we put so much tape on him and took him for days to get it off. And we put him on a luggage rack and put him on the elevator, hit all the buttons and he was just going up and down the elevator. And it was the weird part because I remember when he went down to the libby and his elderby later was thinning and so I'm taped up. She was like this looking like old crap. What did I get involved in getting like, I'm sorry, it's just it's just a prank that we're doing a bit. You know. It was fun things like that that we used to do and know and you know we never did popcorn, anybody cars or anything like that. It was I know, we kept it kind of simple and playing. That's the craziest thing we ever did. Well. So I know you're asking this question a lot on a lot of podcasts now on social media, the ages social media and the talking head sports show the goat conversation, right, and the number one leading factor of every goat conversation is the amount of rings. And you know, if that's the math, do you find that disrespectful that your name doesn't come up? Not at all? Because here's here's a crazy part about people talk about the goat factor. I say, three or fours of people who talk about never played the game, so they have no right to say anything about who's the goat, you know, because they never played again them they never had to be out on the court and run them down the court. And how to know how difficult it is? I tell everybody I said this, I said, you want to know who the goat is? You make a list of everything they can do, and every list of everything they can't do. And you look at like Kareem there was nothing he couldn't do. You know, maybe shoot threes, but he had to shoot threes back then. And look at at Michael Jordan's he could do everything. Then you go, you can go down the list of other people who compire the goats they have, they have things they cannot do. And so that's how you figure out who the goat is. You don't go about what they can do is what they can't do. Because when you get to a certain status, everybody can do everything so well. But if it's what you can't do that makes you, you know, the upper echelon. Okay, I still knowing that, have you done that? Oh yeah? Would you consider the you know who who? You know? You know you want to give Michael Jordan to go, But I give Michael Jordan Kareem the goat status because Kareem, you know, the longevity, had the way he had, he had a patent move, you know, and you know, everybody wants to give Michael Jordan go. Don't get me wrong. He is one of the best damn players I ever played again, and I never played against Kareem, but he's one of the best damn players. They played this game too, And I think a lot of times we get caught up with the flashiness. You know, we think about it, like they said in baseball, Chicks dig the long ball, chicks did the dunks, chick did threes. And if you know, if you take the dunk, you take the threes out the game. How many guys are able to you know, have that mid range? You know who, could you know do a flash and go to the you know, that's the part I look at, you know, guys who played the game. They get caught, but oh, Michael jorgan'sill, go oh, Kobe's go oh, Lebrons will go. I don't go about that because there's a lot of things that you know, those certain those players could do on the court. You know, but you look at Kareem and Michael, there was nothing they couldn't do on the court, So that would make them guys to go, that's great. Now, people don't really talk about this, and I feel like you'd be the perfect player to ask uh and the goat conversation. No, it's it's an easy question, I think. But greatest NBA city to play for or visit? What would you say? And like consider the factors of like, yeah, I mean is it l A l A New York? Um? I think those two are the top New York expects to get respects the game in l A is it doesn't like playing l When you look on the sideline, You've got Denzel, you got Selma High, You've got Halley Berry, you've got Jack Nichols, you got all these stars that come watch you play. And then were like even when I made that shot against the Kings when I was with the Lakers, I turned around first person, I see when I'm running back down there is the rock. Think about that. How many places can you do? When you hit the championship, you see the rocks. So that's just how it is, what it the more about pushed about. So you hit the shot, you turn and the rock is sitting there. What do you think? What is going through your head? And then what do you think is going through the rocks? Had? I think for me, it's just pre entertainment. You know, think about Black Adams there before the Black Albam and just like wow, you know it's it's just it's just so it was for me to hit big shots in the Laker uniform and have you know those those celebrities invite you to parties and things like that, invite you for premiers and stuff like that. It was you never think about this when you're growing up. You say, Okay, I want to make it to the NBA. I want to try to win championships. Okay, Wow, I'm playing in l A and I'm playing in the Laker uniform now, and it's just a wonderful feeling to have all these people, you know, admire what you do and appreciate what you do. Because I don't know about you, but I love movies. I love TV and that's all I do. And you know, now to these people I admire from Afar and watch them on the Big Swing on the idiot Box. Now they you know, they talk to me and having a good time. We want to go to dinner with means stuff like that. It's it's it was so fun to play in l A. I tell you, you can't get that naway. Maybe New York and sometimes Miami, but there's no place like l A. Yeah, no, it's it's really special to go to those games and see those celebrities. Now, do you have any specific, uh, you know, memorable moments that like, you know, a celebrity invited you to a dinner party because you're playing for the Lakers. I have a couple. I remember the one was I had a friend come and say, Hey, somebody wants to meet you, and I'm like, who, just come follow me? And I go and I sit at the tables. Whitney Houston, God rest his soul, and I'm like, wow, Whitney Houston want to meet me? And I'm sitting there talking to Whitney Houston. I'm trying to play a coolert hell like, I'm like, okay, this is Whitney Houston. Man, I don't want to be fan be fan bored right now. So that that was a good one. But I think my best is I just came from hitting a big shot in the corner to beat the Portland Trailblazers and I get a phone call. I'm looking at my phone like should I answer this or should I not answered? And it Selma High invited me to a pre her premiere of a movie Freeda, And I'm like at the time, all I can think about was her and dust to Dawn. I'm like, wow, this is Selma. I ain't calling me, man, can you believe? So, you know, she and asked me to, you know, to her premier and I'm thinking, okay, she just invited me. And so when I walk in, she actually comes up to me and hugged me, and I'm like, oh crap. I'm like, she came up me and hugged me and tell me I must sit by her. And I'm like wow. And that's when you know that's and took so many great moments like they had the pleasure of meeting Demi Moore and Michael Jackson at a at a party out here, and you know, I got you know, Meat Puffy and Rosin Sanchez and it's it's one of those things about playing in the Lake or Uniform and get invited to certain parties and all of a sudden you're sitting there with John Stamos and he talked about how much a fan he is. I'm like, the dude, I'm like, you know who you are. You shouldn't talk. I'm supposed to be asking you questions. But I can go on and on and on, man, because you know, when you win, and you win in the Lake or Uniform, so many doors open up for you. Well, that kind of sets up the perfect last question I want to ask Robert. I want to ask you, if you could cast the role of you, who would you pick. Yeah, everybody like, well you gotta here, we all smith to play you, but we'll gonna ask him me old bunny. So I think, you know, it would have to be my son Christian, you know, just like Norm. Some places. Norm, I think my son Christian, who's seventeen right now. He had a basketball background, play. He plays at Harvard West Lake here in l A. So I think it would have to be him. You know, he might he might be mad because he had to shave his hair all. But other than that, I think I'll have you my son Christian or I think you got to get him in some acting classes at the school to get him set up for that, because I that that's perfect casting. Yeah, you know, it's it's weird. I think he would enjoy it, but he is. He's all about, you know, trying to be um. He wants to be a lawyer. He like he would sit here and bat you everything. So I think if he doesn't go, you know, into him to the professional act. As far as basketball, I think, you know, being a lawyers or his next best thing he wants to do. That's amazing. Well, you know, Robert, you've kind of inspired. I have a six month old and we we have basketball. Like the Rulers, we don't want watching any TV. But when the Lakers are on, I turned on. He turns his head and watch a little bit. But you know, I don't want to force them to be a basketball player. But you know, hearing you talk about your son and him, you know, encouraging to become a lawyer or whatever he wants to be. That's that's a really special thing to hear from you. Yeah, but you know, it's weird that I have three boys, and um, first one played rugby, second one played football, and this one is a basketball But I guess third times a charm, right. But you know, they're they're all the best thing about them. They all have their own talent. You know, my oldest one is probably the smartest out of the out of the three, the middle one is probably the most clever. I mean that he got the streets smart with the book smarts. And the youngest one is like a little bit better than to both of them, you know, added together, he's a little mixture. But there's they They're all individuals and that's the best thing about kids, man. You let them be who they are and you just support and love them as much as you can. And I think for me, that's one of the reasons I never wanted to coach. That's one of the reasons that when I retired, I was happy with my retirement because, um, I don't think people on the stand how much time you miss in your family's life by playing a sport, especially basketball and baseball. You know you're going for you know, twelve days at a time. Think about this. If you have a baby and all of a sudden, that's how you say he's six months old, Well, imagine six months old. Imagine if he was on the road playing the game. All of a sudden you come on and your wife comes and like, look, our baby took his first steps and you weren't there for that, you know, because you was on the road. And this little moments like that you can't get back. And I don't think people understand the sacrifice that even though we're making a ton of money, but family is more important than money and when you miss opportunities like that. For me, I think the biggest, the best moment in my retiring was I saw my middle son make his first game winner and then he ran to me and said, I'm just like you, daddy, And you can't if I wasn't there for that, you can't get that feeling back. Man, Just misstioning that gives me chills. And you know, it's it's so important for us to be in our kids life and support them as much as possible. That's beautiful advice. Ball Robert, thank you so much. No, it's I you know, I hope there's you know, people out there listening to us, and I know I'm gonna keep that that advice in my pocket. UM as exciting, you know, like getting to talk to you, getting to talk to other people in the n B a UM and just hearing their experiences. You know, even though you guys are like huge superstars, it's really stuff that I can use. So I really appreciate that, UM, and just thank you for all those memorable NBA moments. And and I'm watching you guys that I'm watching the Lakers every game and just watching you guys react after the games. It's you know, you were a player, but like you really capture the fan emotion, you know. And as we as we go through a rough start here with this Lakers season, I just love how candid you and James and the and the staff has been so like it's really cathartic and seeing you guys break down, um, you know, the team it's been really great. So just thank you for everything. My pleasure. You know, it's it's the Lakers faithful or used to win, and when you're losing, you know, they're not used to that, so especially when you get people like Lebron James and Anthony Davis and Westbrook on the team, they think you should just step into another title. So it's it's it's always fun. And I wish we would have more interaction with fans to see so we can get a field and the post and how they how they reacting to the season, but you know, we have to give them our post and not reaction. Yeah. Well, it's been great and I am confident that we're gonna turn this season around. Robert, thank you so much. Tune into him on Lakers Spectrum, UH Sportsnet, and I've been c J Toldano co host Alex Long that's been running the break and shout out to our producers Kurt Grace and Peter Subscribe and Review. Thank you so much, all right, c J, thank you, brother,