David Robinson Interview | Thuzio Archives

as somebody who watched a lot of basketball when i was asked to do this event you know i thought it was like a trick question uh you know but the thing about david is when i when i think about him and this is particularly true because i watched him as a new york resident and and fan of the new york teams yeah i'm being serious here is that you know there are some things you can't take the calipers to and measure by going on google and looking at stats you know you could see the two-time nba championship you could see the olympic gold medals the mvp the hall of fame all of that stuff but as far as mike ozanian is concerned none of that measures anything about what this man is and if i had to put it in one word as as the late great jim michaels used to say to me all the time he was a great editor at forbes for many years keep it short i would use the word class and that's how i would describe this man right here so uh david it's an honor to be here with you and uh thank you for taking the time yeah thank you this is a pleasure to be here tonight i'm glad we could share and hopefully you guys have some good questions and i can address all the things you guys want to talk about tonight one of the things i i in reading about you that i didn't know was that when you went to the naval academy uh it wasn't to play basketball primarily i mean you're going there for engineering and you kind of had a growth spurt there and in terms of growth yeah you know most people don't grow six inches in college but um yeah now you know i picked navy because it was a great engineering school and that that's that's really what i thought i wanted to do um and yeah i started off i ended up being a civil engineer in the navy for my two years while i was serving uh but uh but while i was there our basketball team got a little bit better and uh the the doors open for uh for basketball so uh it was yeah it was a i was very fortunate to be able to end up as a professional basketball player your dad went to the naval academy no he did he was in the navy and he enlisted in the navy coming out of a high school and he had actually dropped out of college enlisted in uh in the navy and and really had a a a a very good experience in the military i had grown up around the navy bases so so i my grandfather was in the army um and and so uh i i grew up around service military service and and i always had a high regard for what that meant for our country and and so a big part of me wanted to serve so it wasn't like something like you know they forced your dad forced you to go to the academy this was something you really wanted to do no actually my dad was trying to get me go somewhere else because he he knew that i had the uh the service obligation after i graduated and and my dad in high school you talk about somebody with some foresight some vision my dad actually told me in high school he said and i was six seven i weighed 172 pounds and he told me in high school he said you're going to play professional basketball and and you know i said dad you're out of your mind there's no way i'm you know i i couldn't i just couldn't picture myself um in that scenario um but but you know dad always believed that and i and i think that was part of the reason he he didn't push me one way or the other but i could kind of tell he wanted me to go to another school because of the service obligation uh but but i felt like the naval academy was going to be a great challenge academically and i felt like it was going to put me in the best position to be successful in the future what was it like when you got drafted by the spurs wow uh amazing you know you don't it's hard to see yourself in that position i watched the draft you know just just the other day i watched the draft and and and still it doesn't register to me that i i was that guy um it's uh it's incredible honor uh there was that you know coming in as the number one player there's a lot of pressure and you feel like you you know the the team is betting their future on you almost and and so uh you know san antonio had come off some really tough years uh we um i mean the year before i came we were 20 and 6 21 and 61 or something um so yeah there's a tremendous amount of pressure coming in and and i remember my first time coming into the locker room and it was the year before i played and i walked into the locker room and i go to shake hands with everybody and i just got this feeling that everybody looked at me like who the heck do you think you are you're gonna come in here and change things and and so i i felt that pressure almost immediately that hey i'm supposed to have this great impact and i'm just a young kid i'm dumb i don't know anything i've been coming into a league and i i'm just trying to make a difference was there any one player who took you under his wing and sort of said you know follow me i'll show you what to do um you know i i we had guys who were um [Music] you know some some veteran guys um terry cummings had had played on some pretty good teams in milwaukee bucks uh and and so terry really tried to kind of help me get adjusted to the league and and he was a big strong six nine two 260 and just kind of an enforcer and so uh so he took me under his wing a little bit and and and tried to help me figure out what i needed to figure out but you know like i said with that type of pressure on you it's really on you you have to figure it out you have to go into that scenario and and figure out what does this team need i couldn't be every anybody else right everybody's saying oh you should be like michael jordan or you should be like magic or you should be like i can't i'm not those guys and you know with my personality coming from the military they all everybody thought i was this big nerd and i was um and so you know i couldn't try to be something i wasn't i couldn't come in and act like you know i was i was the man i i had to come in and um and kind of figure out how do i put each guy in a position where they could be successful i mean that's what i learned in the navy right you you learn hey you're going to work with a team you're going to put guys in positions where they can be successful that's what you're going to do and so that was the way i approach the locker room how do i make this guy better how do i make this guy better how to help these guys be be more successful i can take all the pressure and everyone's going to either blame me if we lose or whatever but how do i help them and make their situations easier and the spurs back then when you first got there were not the franchise they are today you know the sort of the nba model franchise of teamwork and i mean i believe you had like seven head coaches during your time yeah we went through a little uh transition period uh it's probably my fault i got half of those guys fired um but no i mean we had a lot to we had a lot of issues i mean you you think about it the first year my first team that i was on i think we had three guys that went to prison from that from that team so to say it wasn't the ideal scenario it's probably a little bit of an understatement yeah when would you say was the point where the team started to really turn it around and say you know what we're on the right path uh when we got tim duncan that was a big moment um yeah you know adding talent always makes a difference but but even i could see that first year you could see little signs that the culture was going to change i mean we we we brought in um in 89 was my first year we drafted sean elliott who was another you know really upbeat positive kid and a very team-oriented team-focused kid and and and you could start to see that okay we you know we're we're starting to add those pieces that are going to change the mentality change the culture we were a small market team you think about being in a tough situation we were a small market team we had no free agents wanted to come to san antonio um you know there was a threat that the team was going to move because you know our corporate support was really struggling um and and and we had to build a team from scratch literally from scratch and so my thing was we need to start in this locker room we need to start with culture right we need to get guys to buy in because ownership thought one thing management thought one thing players thought one thing it was a it was a it was a mess nobody was on the same page and and i remember the fur when i first got there the co the ownership was they wanted to increase our ticket sales season ticket sales so they said hey you know david would you go on this little tin city um tour it's a caravan we'll go through you know south texas in in in july are you kidding me am i going on the south texas tour in july but you know me being the i'm thinking sure absolutely i'll go i'll go to all these cities i'll do all the things you want me to do and we'll build the fan base and i went back in the locker room and the guys were like what are you doing man why are you doing that they're not going to pay you for that and i thought well isn't it better if we get more fans and like like shouldn't we help this situation and and the guys were like oh yeah man they're just they're not they're gonna they're gonna use you until you know you're not good and then they're gonna get rid of you so they don't really care about you and i thought you talk about dysfunctional wow this is dysfunctional i'm like well look we got to get on the same page we got to get on the same page with our coaches with our with our management and with our owner and and so that was the challenge over the next 10 15 years is to figure out how do we get everybody on the same page was uh how important was it uh for tim duncan to be on the same page with you in terms of bringing the rest of the team over yeah that was the easy part tim tim is i mean you all saw what he did on the court as a player a phenomenal player but you know be honest with you he's even a more phenomenal man um unfortunately the public doesn't really get to see that side of him as much but brilliant guy tim is he he has one of the quickest learning curves of anybody i've ever seen and um and and he he but he has this humble attitude like he really wants to learn right when you get somebody who comes in and they're like teach me everything what can i what can i learn i mean the kid was already pretty good when when i was in i played on the olympic team in a in uh whether the dream team in 92 no 96 team i played with the 96 team and and so we played exhibition um games against college guys and tim was on one of those teams and so on that 96 team we had me shaq and akima lajwan and so you imagine you're a college kid you're coming out in an exhibition game you got to play against the three of us and tim just went to work i mean tim he had 22 points and 10 boards or something like that but it was it was easy he just made it look so easy and and i thought to myself man that guy is going to be very good he was smooth he couldn't really jump or anything but the guy could he had all the skill set and everything and uh and i thought wow that guy's going to be really good not really knowing that a year later we were going to draft this guy and so we drafted him i just i remember just snickering to myself thinking oh my god people do not know what we just got this guy is going to just blow people away he's amazing and uh and sure enough you know tim lived up to you know every expectation people look at certain sports teams and they say you know like the spurs and you know there are others as well when they win championships they use the term you know they put their ego aside the players you know and focus on team is that something that comes from the players generally or is it top down from the management um well first of all i don't think people put their egos aside ever so that's that's not true um you learn how to work together you know you learn how to you know in order to be a championship team you're going to learn how to help somebody else be successful that's one if you look at lebron james that's where he's grown the most right he used to be he's always been a great player but now he helps he puts those other guys in a position where they can be successful and he's learned how to help them uh and so i think you know it's if you look at that cleveland team you know there's no lack of egos on that team and they managed to win a championship last year um against all odds they were down 3-1 no one gave them a chance to win it and they were able to put it together but but really it it it comes down to how much are you willing to sacrifice right how much are you willing to put everyone else in a position where they can be successful and and that's really you know where golden state fell apart right you you get a guy suspended then the whole series turns around the momentum goes in the opposite direction and then it's hard when you i mean you guys anybody who's played sports or play golf or played any sport you know once things start going against you man it's hard to turn it back around and so you don't want that ball rolling in the wrong direction and they got it rolling in the wrong direction so you know that's what cleveland did better than golden state last year they they put their egos aside enough to to to come together and and that's what any championship team has to do um is to is to is to figure out how to help each other and you know right now golden state's the best in the league at that the those guys enjoy playing together they they put them they put each other in a position to be successful they help each other all the time they're rooting for each other it's just a great environment steve kerr has has has you know taken what mark jackson did and even taking it to another level as you look at how the game's evolved uh since you left the nba what what do you see wow lots of change i mean the game is it's like everything else right in our society you look at how technology is changing our lives so quickly and people don't even know what tomorrow is going to bring and that's what it looks like in the nba right now you're looking at all these young kids coming out of college far too young um well i won't say that that's not fair they're coming out of college it's it's a it's an unbelievable opportunity to play in the nba and and they're taking it earlier than ever before now i'm i've always been an advocate of you know grow up mature you know if you're gonna if you're gonna build your reputation and build your name do it in a safer environment right college is a great if you're a duke stay at duke shoot you're going to play on tv you're going to be you're going to have opportunity it's amazing you're going to make the money don't worry about the money but that's easier said than done right you say don't worry about the money yeah i'm worried about the money it's uh it's an amazing thing so so you know guys are in a rush to get to the league and they're in a rush to get their career started and um and unfortunately you know a lot of those guys their careers are going to be short because they're they're not prepared they're not mentally and emotionally and physically prepared and uh and and it's a big jump i i you know always tell these kids when i talk to them look in high school you were the biggest strongest fastest guy this is simple it was 90 physical then you get to college it starts to even out a little bit and then you get to the pros it's 90 mental everyone is big strong and fast so you have no advantage there now you've got to be mentally tougher than the next guy you've got to own that guy when you step out on the floor i remember my first few games in the league man i come out there and you know carl malone i see this huge elbow flying on my face like whoa hey hey what are you doing you know and carl's like he's like a big dog peeing on his territory he's like he's like who are you young fella you know and and i just remember thinking okay this is a different deal this is not like any other thing i've done i like i now have to i have to assert myself right i have to walk out on the court with a different mentality right i gotta i gotta go out here and i gotta own this court uh because they don't respect me unless i do that and so uh it was a learning experience man it gets it becomes so so mental at that stage and and that's really the challenge so these young kids coming in early they're not it's not to their advantage to you know to leave college or 18 years old and 19 years old and you know you're still a little kid physically and you're a little kid mentally and and and so really that's a challenge and so but the league's going to adjust to that and these young guys it's going to take them four five six years but they'll figure it out just like kobe bryant took him a little while he figured it out you know all these guys kevin garnett took him a few years you know kevin garnett ran up against the wall we were we were playing minnesota we used to beat them like a drum and and so he it took him a long time to figure out what what is it going to take to be successful and uh and so it's not going to be any different for these young kids now it's going to take them a while you know everybody's talking about these guys you know markelle fultz i mean you know it's going to take him a while you know it's it's not that easy you're just there every once in a while you get a lebron james or a tim duncan who immediately makes an incredible impact but most of these kids it's going to take them a few years david the dollars are so big in the nba uh right now in terms of having uh in perhaps encouraging college players to stay in school longer would you advocate something like for instance if not paying them a salary allowing them to perhaps control their marketing rights their endorsement deals while they're in college so at least you know it's not a burden on the school and at least these young guys can can make a little bit of money yeah there's certainly some solution in there um it's it's inherently unfair right because if i go to you duke or kansas that's a different value proposition right and so if you give the kids some or in football if i go to alabama or you know florida state or something that's a different value proposition um even then you know something like you know you go to an a m or or you know purdue or something it's alabama can support you know maybe even paying their their kids some but how many schools can right there's 40 40 50 schools that really make money and then there's a you know 1200 adult and so you know 1200 trying to keep up and running fast as they can trying to figure out the system so it there's there's there's got to be some balance in there where you can allow the kids i mean you allow other college students to go out and make money and if they have an opportunity they go make money they go do what they do best um and and certainly uh you you shouldn't be able to take away um a kid's avenue to make that money and maybe maybe you put it in a trust fund maybe you put it on the side until they get out of college i don't know what the solution is but but there's got to be some medium in there the year you win your second nba title you decide to retire and i think right after that the nba named its award that it gives to the player who has the best community service they name it after you the david robinson plaque he's wondering who told you about it how did you find out and how did you how did it make you feel yeah well david stern told me um told me about it and and that and that's that's it was incredible you know thinking about um you know the honor of having your name on a trophy right like what what would you want to represent right we were at the thing last night it was the bill russell mvp trophy right that's a pretty cool deal right like bill russell and that's the mvp thing um you know in my mind having my name on the community service award is is the best like if i was going to put my name on anything that's what i would put it on i mean i i just think that you know it hopefully it inspires and encourages people to be to look at their communities as a part of their business right a part of their opportunity i played basketball i ran up and down the court and you know dunked a basketball that's that that means nothing to anybody but at the end of the day if i can use that platform to really make lives better if i can use that platform to impact the city of san antonio i mean we over the years you know we we were able to start we started a school called the carver academy and we built we we grew it and here here we are now 18 years later 17 18 years later and we're part of a charter school system we have we're opening up six new schools this fall we'll have 20 new schools 8 000 kids and over the last 12 years we've sent every single graduate to college i mean it's an amazing deal so you know to thank you to to to use your platform in a way that really that truly impacts people's lives i mean this last this last year i went down to the valley we have a 20 schools down in rio grande valley about you know 15 000 students and um and i went to the graduation in san juan and you drive through far texas and the kids that go to this school come from this this little burial and um every single one of these kids walked across the stage and held up their banner on which universe watch university and over half of them were first in their family to go to college and you could see that this was this is a transformative thing right like you're making a difference a real tangible difference in these people's lives and you're giving these kids hope and a new vision that they that they never had and um and it's uh yeah it's amazing that this basketball game gave me a platform to be able to help in that way that's which is tremendous education such a big issue obviously what do you feel especially with this uh experience with carver some of the misperceptions perhaps that are out there about education what makes for a good school what enables kids to graduate and go on and have very successful lives yeah um you know i think um probably you know probably the biggest thing is that um i'd say number one throwing money at it isn't the solution right like what i believe it may not be the truth but what i believe is that character is a big part of teaching and um and so all this when we started carver we started as a faith-based school because i felt like if you kids don't know where you come from if you don't know who you are then why are you doing what you're doing like i'm in the nba i'm watching these guys i'm watching families fall apart every single year because guys making a lot of money don't know how to go on to their wives it's crazy to me that's crazy you got a beautiful wife at home and you don't go home like what are you doing like that's that's the that's the biggest measure of you as a man this is your legacy this is what you're gonna leave behind i got my son david junior here and he's my oldest son and and he is my legacy like he's lived in my house now he's out glad to be out i'm sure um but he's out now and and like for 20 21 years he was there learning from me watching and trying to you know figure out what his path was going to be and what he does is what i'm holding on to right as my legacy that's that's part of who i am like so what message am i sending to my kids when i'm saying yeah well you know me and your wife me and your mom we really tried to work it out but you know it just didn't work like what what do you mean it just didn't work like what what do you mean like you didn't you get married to her didn't you tell her at one point that you were gonna be with her for the rest of your life you made that promise so what good is any word you say to me now you made a promise to her that you were going to be with her for the rest of your lives and you broke that promise what does that mean to me as your child so that's a strong statement right like that's but we don't always see it that way and and so to me character really does matter and and i think that that's the part of education that you've got to have leaders that portray that character the kids have to see it they have to see it in their teachers they have to see it in the leaders of their school they have to hear it every day in in our school it was we have six pillars leadership initiative integrity faith service discipline those things were very important we made the kids memorize scriptures that were associated with each of those scriptures with each of those those pillars and and that just becomes a part of you right integrity the proverbs 10 and 9 the man of integrity walks securely he doesn't look around he's not worried about what's going to happen because guess what i told the truth yesterday chase me down today i don't care because i told the truth so you know the man of integrity walks securely so just teaching these kids about what services and and why that's an important part of every aspect of our lives right leadership what is that right leadership is is is is putting people in a position where they can be successful that's true leadership and so getting them to understand all of these different pillars to me i thought was every bit as important as what we were teaching them in that classroom and and i think that's part of what allowed us to have initial success and then now as a charter school you know we've had to obviously take the the faith component and back it out in after school and surrounding school programs because a lot of the families that came to our school wanted that but in a charter school situation you can't make that a part of your mandatory school day so we still try to provide opportunities for our kids to really grow in that way and to support the families that want that um but but we still have you know our pillars we still have you know our value system that you know these are the important things and this is what you need to know before we get to some questions uh i'd like you to elaborate a little bit please david how you take and took these values and used them in the animal capital group and in your business endeavors yeah to me the the my business career is just an extension of what basketball was for me because basketball was a great avenue and it was a ton of fun i loved playing basketball there's no make no mistake about it was great but but that's not who i am it's is what i did and so i wanted to use that as an opportunity to do great things in the community and and you know we were fortunately able to leverage that and and do some wonderful things but when vasco and my career came to an end i didn't want my capacity to impact communities to come to an end and so you know previously when i was in the military i did construction contract management helped the government you know build facilities on new bases um and and so you know real estate was kind of more of a natural thing for me and and um while i was playing um you know dan vasquez is my business partner he was at goldman um and uh you know he became just a really good partner for me and on the philanthropic side and he had such a passion to increase what we were doing he was a perfect business partner to get involved with and so that's that's how admiral capital came about and basically we tied out of our our returns um you know our investors obviously they don't they don't have to participate but but our owners uh including usaa who is our biggest investor takes do we take 10 and we're committed to using that 10 in the communities where we're investing and so that to me it's a it's just a long-term value proposition that you know just like with the spurs there's a value there right everybody knows what the character of the team is and they know what we're about that's how admiral capital i want us to build to that place where we have the culture and we have you know everyone knows what we are about and and wants to do business with with us or doesn't want to do business with us specifically for that reason

Channel: Thuzio

Views: 1,899

Keywords: David Robinson, NBA, Basketball, San Antonio, Spurs, Sports

Id: DsE5ZTO3M5s

Length: 28min 45sec (1725 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 31 2020