- All right we back, man,
Knuckleheads in full effect. Season three, we're out here on location. Blackest one in the building. We got a very special guest,
very special guest, man. We got "The Truth". - In the building, sup.
- [Darius] Truth. Hall of Fame. - Paul Pierce, P squared in
the building, Hall of Fame. - What up, we in here. - Jersey up in Beantown
rafters, legendary. Tune in, y'all, we 'bout to talk our ish. (upbeat music) - So the first question we ask everybody, that come on the show is the like. When you first got to the league, who was the first person to bust yo ass? - Ah, man, that's somethin'
you ain't gon' never forget. For me, it was Grant Hill. I was like oh, man, I ain't
even gonna even lie to you. - Detroit Pistons. - I swear, I tell the,
Detroit Piston Grant Hill. - Teal jerseys. - Ah man, now listen, dawg. I swear on everything I love, the last five minutes of the game, he came down, he either
scored, I fouled him, or he got an assist for somebody to score. And it was just like, I
felt like I lost the game. I think he had like 38,
15 assists, 12 rebounds, and I'm in the locker room like. - You felt defeated. - I felt defeated, I almost wanted to cry. - Wait, so had anybody ever hit you with a triple double, though? - That was a triple double. - That's what I'm sayin'. - That was the first person I felt. And you know the crazy thing about this, Grant Hill was the player who I idolized. - [Darius] Yeah. - When I was in high
school, I'm lookin' at Duke. I'm like oh, him, Steve
Smith from Michigan State, I'm tryin' to pattern my game after them. - [Quentin] Smitty. - And so I'm ready for this. I'm like oh, you know,
when idols become rivals. (laughing) - Right. - You know what I'm sayin', so I'm ready for it, I'm ready to D up, and I'm like, ah, this shit,
this ain't it right here. I need to get back in
the lab, straight up. - What was it about, was it
the speed or his dribble? - Man, it was just like, you know how you look
at the scouting report. You know he gon' come with the cross. - Yeah.
- First step. - He ain't really have
that three-point range, so you can kind of back off of him, but he's sometimes gon'
get by you every time. - First step was crazy. - He had that first step. And if you don't give him that body, he gon' take off on you. You know what I'm sayin'? - That was that version
of G. Hill, when he was. - So he was like LeBron before LeBron. Like he had the whole
package, this point forward, athletic, had dimes, he had
that unselfish mentality, but could still give you 30,
rebound it at a high level. And I was like. - My coach had this drill. He used to tell me it's
the Grant Hill drill. He was like, you gotta be able to dribble the ball one time past
half court and dunk the ball. He said, I see Grant
Hill do it all the time. - One dribble past half court. - He get the ball at half court, he take one dribble, he
take off and dunk it. So he used to make me do this
drill after every practice. - [Paul] Right, damn. - Like you gotta be able to do this. When you get on yo break, you just need one dribble past half court. - Timeout, and who else
used to make you do that? 'Cause I used to see him do it at TG, Tim Grover used to make us do it. He say it's Scottie Pippen. This what Scottie Pippen do. He was like you need to be, he used to make this man take the ball from the other three-point line, you gotta dunk by two dribbles. Two dribbles, bruh, from
the other three-point line. - You gotta be athletic. - He'll allow you to do
the little throw out one. - Stretch out. - That man throw that thing out there, when I'm lookin' like, boy, that's like eight dribbles for me. - I be feelin' like "Greek
Freak" be doin' that right now. It take one dribble from
like the three and then dunk. - Take off on the Euro, and
end up at the, bangin' that. (laughing) - [Darius] So when you
came out junior high, you went to Inglewood? - Mhm. - Hold up, I didn't know
you was from Oakland. - I was born in Oakland, a lot
of people didn't know that. - Born in Oakland. Drew told me that, me and Drew Gooden was talkin' 'bout that. He was like, he from the town, but then he got the Inglewood mixed. I'm like, I never knew
you was from Oakland. - Yeah, so I was born, I grew up right around the
corner from Gary Payton. So I moved to LA when I was like 10. - Yeah.
- I never knew that. - Yeah, so I moved to LA, 'cause most of my mom family lived in LA. - Yeah. - You know, my uncles and aunties, and so, but I was born
in Oakland, fo' sho. - So you chose Inglewood when you got the, before you chose Inglewood, did you hear about the basketball team. Or, it was somebody there? - Right, you know what, it was just all about
where my mom took me. You know what I'm sayin'? It was just like shoot, we
gon' live over here now, son. So this is where you gonna go to school. This is where you gonna have to grow up. You know, it wasn't like, for me, it wasn't like, when I
first moved out here, I wasn't really into basketball. I played football, 'cause I was a big kid, you know how we grow up, we big, bigger than people in our grade. And I played baseball, but then when I moved to LA, all the kids that I meant that
I was with, they all hooped. So it's like, you know, I'm
gonna go hoop on the weekends. We gon' take the walk
to the school ground, hoop on the weekends, so
I fell in line with that. Just sort of like, around sixth grade, 11, I started really gettin' into hoopin'. - Into hoop, so when you got to Inglewood, who was the best player in the school, when you got to Inglewood? - Oh, man, let me see, when I got there. - Who was that bar you had to get to, to? - It was this cat. Well when I first got there in nine, damn, I'm gettin' that
old, '92, I was a freshman. (laughing) It was, by the way
Harold Miner went there. - Word? - Harold Miner went to
Inglewood High School, so I had a chance to watch him. I used to go over to watch
him when I was in junior high. - "Baby Jordan". - So he was like really the one, he wasn't there when I got there, but he was like the one everybody
looked up to in the hood, like man, Harold Miner, then he made it. It was just like shoot, I
wanna be the next Harold. Everybody, 'cause you know, they was callin' Harold "Baby Jordan". - You know that's right.
- Exactly. - Right, we was like,
we wanna be like Harold. - I used to love how he dunked,
he had swag on his dunk. - Man, then he won the dunk contest. He was like everything for
all the hoopers in Inglewood. A lot of people you don't know. Reggie Theus went there, Ralph Jackson. We got some cats that came out the city. Lisa Leslie went to Morningside,
which is in Inglewood. That's the only major
two high schools, so. Byron Scott, Elden Campbell,
they all Inglewood native. - So, at what point did you start hoopin' against Amit BD. 'Cause y'all met pretty early, right? - Yeah, I met BD when we was like, I was in the 7th or 8th grade, and I played at the Inglewood YMCA. That's where everybody. - He had to be a fat kid. - Nah, let me tell you somethin'. BD was a short, skinny kid. - For real? - He was built like Iverson back then. (laughing) You won't even believe, I
got pictures of this dude. He was skinny, snag a tooth, kid. But he was dominating kids. And I'm like. - And he was just small. - He was just small. So when I got to the 8th grade, I was playing AAU, then
I was playing at the Y. And I was just like,
damn, who is this kid? He runnin' past everybody, layup. I mean taking the ball from
every, he played like Iverson. That's my picture of BD
Williams, lil' fast as hell. Then I was like, man, you
need to come play with us. And so he started on my
junior high AAU team. And out of the Inglewood Y, we had, Andre Miller went there. Now Andre was a fat kid growin' up. (laughing) - Dre. - Andre Miller was dominant at the Y. He like a YMCA legend to this day. (laughing) It's crazy, man. - Dre came to the league with the big boy post up game, though, forever as a point guard. - [Paul] Yeah, Dre was
like that, I'm tellin' you. - He one of them people that
don't get mentioned a lot, but he used to lead the league in assists with a horrible team. - With the worst team in the league. - Worst team in the league,
he lead the league in assists. - Straight up. - People don't even say his name. - Nah he definitely was one of the most underrated players of our era. - And I got to play with
Dre with the Clippers. - That's right. - You know somebody from LA, like the fist big person
I ever heard from LA, high school wise was Schea Cotton. - Oh, man, and I don't even wanna tell you about him growin' up. That was my rival. - Oh so that was your,
y'all was same years. - Man, what? I'm like a year older than Schea. But I'ma tell you what, when my AAU team, when I started playin', I played on the best second
place team in the history. (laughing) We lost to him in every, in the city, we playin' them
in the finals every year. Every tournament, I lost to him every one. Every one of them. I'm talkin' about dude comin' down, they had the fresh, I played for the team called K-Swiss. We was broke, we was the hood team. (laughing) But you know, we got kids from Compton, Inglewood, we just brought out, bro, we was grimy and we was like winnin'. But every time we play them, we gon' lose to them in the championship. It's gon' be K-Swiss
verse, they was called PTI. And then they changed they name. But they had the fresh Nike suits, warm ups, name on the back of the jersey. - Oh, he was the goat,
he was the chosen one, like he was LeBron before LeBron. - He was definitely LeBron. He was dunkin' in 8th grade. - We used to hear about him. - They say he was like, I guess he stayed that
same size from 8th grade. - Could you imagine, it's different now, 'cause kids more athletic, but I'm talkin' about early
'90, when you in 8th grade, everybody was talkin' about
tappin' the backboard. So you look down the layup line, and this kid out here dunkin', he like. He already built like
he ready for the league, and he in the 7th grade. (laughing) That was like nothin' you ever heard of. - Check his pad, check
his birth certificate. - He had so much hype around him. I was like, Schea Cotton
must be that dude. - That was that dude. On a tournament, they flew him in once, and this was when we got to be seniors, 'cause we played against each other since seven all the way up. They flew him in only for the
championship verse my squad. He didn't play none of the other games. He just said I'ma be out
there for the championship, (laughing) which was in Vegas. - And they won. - No but look, we wind up winnin', 'cause this is the year, a lot of people didn't know KG flew out to play with me this tournament. - Oh, okay. - Ah, they brought in "The Ticket". - They brought in the, this where I first met "Ticket". But he come in, now he fly in. He didn't play none of the other games to get to the championship. He come in and give us 25 at the half. And KG like who is this cat right here? (laughing) I'm tellin' you, it's a story
we still talk about today. He got off the plane and just
came, gave us 25 at the half. I don't know what he ended up with, but. - Damn. - And y'all won that, though? - We wind up winnin'. It was the only time, I
probably beat him like. I'm like two and like 50 verse them. - Damn. - This is the last tournament
of my last year playing AAU, and we won the last one. - See people don't understand, that was how that era was. People was really breaking
they neck to fly kids in. I remember the tournament
we was talkin' about where KG came to Chicago,
first time I ever seen him. They had a big tournament
at UIC in Chicago. Wolf, the guy that
coached him at Farragut. He was talkin' noise, you
know it is in Chicago. They gon' talk, somebody talkin', ah, that's all right, I'm ready. Wait til that jumbo jet land. He kept talkin' about, wait
'til the jumbo jet land. Jumbo jet land, he got "Ticket", Robert Traylor, and Albert White. - Oh. - He came with three of 'em. - Oh, so he. - What, and they had Ronny already. See, that's where he was
out, Ronny was there. - Damn, they was like, Ronny
was gon' be the next Jordan. - Yeah, and it was like, so I'm sittin' there as a young boy. I'm 7th or 8th grade, I played, you know, my AAU team
playin' in the other gym. And it's like one of those type deals, where it's all the levels and everything. We over there lookin' like, yo, when they came in, it's like dude. These like NBA players. - Right. (laughing) - 'Cause you know, KG
was for real same height, like 6'11, stupid dumb long and tall. Then you got "Tractor" Traylor, I never seen nobody in
high school big as him. Albert White was like 6'8, dunkin', throwin' that thing, boy. - That's my Micky D boy. - Yeah, so they was like, I was like, I'm sittin' here
lookin' at this, like dawg. It's a whole new level to this. - We gotta step yo shit up. - I'm like it's a whole new
planet to this thing, boy. You know, Ronny used to just
float in air, just stop. Deposit it, throw it over
there like that, for real. - [Darius] In high
school, did you win state? - Nah, we never won state, dawg. I'm tellin' you, we got close. - You didn't win Mr.
Basketball or nothin'? - I was the best player. But we lost to go to
the state championship, my junior year though. And then my senior year,
we lost to Dominguez, they was a powerhouse, Dominguez, but we should've met them to go state. But we won, they did
the tournament to where we had to see them. - Let y'all eliminate each other. - Make us eliminate each other. - The city kids gotta-- - Yeah, that's what they did. You already know how that go. You already know, we shouldn't
have even played them. - We don't need two of
them down there, only one. - You shoulda met them in the
championship or somethin'. - Yup, to go to state. 'Cause our state is South
LA verse Northern Cal. Southern Cal verse Northern Cal. But I missed state by
one game my junior year, and then we didn't even. You gotta win like 10 games
to get to state out here. You know, it's different. - They changed it in Chicago. It used to be how like you said, they used to make the city kids. - You gotta win like damn near 10 games. - The city teams, it used
to be one team out of city. We used to have the city championship, and only the city
champion went onto state. Now like five teams can go
down to state from the city. It's based on like enrollment, and different, double A, triple A, all of this, it's crazy now. - Yeah, so we had like divisions. And so you gotta win yo division, which is like, you gotta win five games, the tournament with
like 30 something teams. You gotta win five games there, win that. Then you advance to the state tournament to where you gotta win
like four more games, then state is like the 10th game. It's like, you gotta go
through a lot, that's hard. - That's California, that's
bigger than a motherfucker. - Yeah, that's California, big as hell. You gotta play so many teams. - There's gotta be one champ. One bad day, you already know. - You chose Kansas to go to school at. - Roy. - When you came up, was there anybody else that almost got you
before you went to Kansas? - Man you know what, I
almost went to Oregon. - Oregon. - It was Coach Green. But I was gettin' recruited
by all the West Coast. - Coach Green, that's
the black dude, right? - No, it was a white coach, but they had the black assistant. He was assistant of Roy back in the day. - Did the Nike influence help-- - No, it didn't have no Nike influence. Mine was like comfortability. Like when I sat down with a coach, I kind of felt if they was
lying to me or somethin'. It was just something I
knew as a high school kid. So, you know, when you
grow up in the streets, you got intuition about, you already know. You know who you trust. - We all can just think to themselves, and know that time when it went from you just being a kid to everybody on you. - Yeah. - And you're like wait a minute. - Right. - So we be takin' it back and be, all right now we goin' to. - Be cautious with everybody. - I gotta size you up. - You might have something. So it was just like I didn't
trust UCLA at the time. SC was all right, but I didn't feel SC. If I didn't go to Kansas,
I would've went to Oregon. I didn't wanna stay in the state. 'Cause as a kid, I was gettin' in trouble. I was Mr. Basketball,
I was the best player. I was goin' to the club, senior year, you know, snoopin' all them in there. I'm in the senior year, I'm
wearin' my Lakers sweater, everybody think I'm in the league. (laughing) I'm in high school. I'm not even old enough to get in. - Soakin' it up though. - I was like, man, if I
stay here, I knew myself. If I stay here, I ain't gon' make it. And I wanna go to the league. So I got out far away as possible, where they ain't nothin' to do. And that's why I went to Kansas. - Lawrence, Kansas. - Straight up, and then
I love the environment. I trusted Roy. He never promised me nothin'. When all the other coaches promised you, like you gon' be the man, you gon' start. Roy was like, you know,
I can't promise you that. I was like all right,
he bein' real with me. - I tell you one thing that
I'll never forget about Roy, that I still to this day
admire and love about him. 'Cause he recruited me hard, like I'd say I was, I
told you how close I was. If it wasn't, he probably
definitely would've been them, but I remember tellin' you like, when we was sittin'
and he was like listen. - And he'd come to ya house, he got all the rings,
and all of that stuff, and he told me, he was like, I know how this is. You know, he talkin' in
that lil' country accent. - Yeah. (laughing) - And he was like, listen, when
I walked through this door, I'm a fan of Quentin Richardson. He was like, I know how this
process goes, and all that. He was like, whether you
come to my school or not, I'm gon' always be a fan
of Quentin Richardson. And every time I always saw
him, it's only been a few times, but he still was still saudy. - Saudy. - It wasn't like no
bitterness or no nothin'. - Right, that's how he is, for real. - And I respected that about
him, like that's a sign. And then you see that, when
you look at all the players, the former players, as recent
as the boy Kobe Whitehead. His relationship is with him, you always get a feel that it's
always a solid genuine bond with him and his guys, so
I always respected that. - He's solid, he's as solid as they come. I'll always love Roy. He pushed me. I'm tellin' you, he made me a player. - What made you stay another year? - So I came out my junior year, but so, I was projected to go between, after my sophomore year, I was projected to go between six, and 17. And so I'm thinking like, damn. - [Darius] Big gap. - You know, mentally I wasn't
physically or mentally ready, and I was like, I'm gonna
come back one more year, learn a little more, and I'ma go try to be the number one pick. I know I'm gonna be
preseason All-American. I got a chance to win
National Player of the Year. And so I said, you know, I'ma come back and be the number one pick. 'Cause me and Chauncey, I remember me and Chauncey, you know, we went to college, he went to Colorado. So we used to talk, and he was like we gon' come out together. Chauncey called me like I'm out. I was like damn, dawg. (laughing) - I ain't ready yet. - I ain't ready yet. (laughing) You know, Chauncey was like top five, he was like the number one or two point guard in the country. He was a sophomore, I was like damn. So I'll stay another year, be the number one pick, dawg, you got it. I'll see you next year. - [Darius] Yeah, and there they go. - Straight up. - When you got drafted, did you think it was gon' be
somebody else than the Celtics? - Man, I didn't even
workout for the Celtics. - That be crazy, man. - I didn't even workout. - You didn't workout for the Clippers. - At all. - You know, look. I was projected to be the number two pick, which was Vancouver, which is
Memphis Grizzlies right now. So the first pick was the
Clippers, Elgin Baylor. So I worked out for them, I wanted to be the number one pick. - That's right, they took
Olowokandi that year, right? Olo swag. (laughing) - I worked out for them, right? I worked out for 'em, I 'm like all right. So I'm like all right, I'm
projected to go number two. I'm thinking I'm locked at the number two. And I call them like man, call my A. Man, give me another workout with them. I want to go home and
be the number one pick. They was like nah. I begged them for another workout. - [Darius] You asked for another workout. - I asked for another workout. - We can show you how it is. (laughing) - Yeah. And then, so, man, I
remember the top 10 teams, top five, 10 players that
went before me to this day. And so when I didn't go in the top five, I started sliding, I was like, damn. So now I'm leanin' back in the chair, like, I don't know where
the hell I'm goin' now. Seven come, eight come, nine come. I'm like, and then 10 come. I'm like, Celtics? You know, I hated the Celtics. I grew up in LA, I'm a Laker fan, dawg. I'm like, the Celtics? So, it was like, you wanna smile, 'cause
you gettin' drafted. - Ha, they got the cameras in yo face. - I'm in the back of my head
like, this some bullshit. (laughing) - Exactly. - Straight up. But you know, stuff happened for a reason. You know what I'm sayin'. - [Darius] Straight up, word. - You just never know where you gon' get pointed in what direction. And shit. - [Darius] You in Boston. - There it is. - You get to Boston, and one of the people that's my OG. We looked up, played against
him, battled against him. Antoine Walker's there. - Oh man. - "Employee Number Eight". - I feel like he's one
of them players too, them unsung heroes that
really don't get the cred of changing the power forward position, and the game, or how he used to play. Speakin' on Toine, like, what he mean? - Toine, dawg, he was my big brother. He just took me under his wing. - Everybody's big bro. - I mean, and I went everywhere with him. Practice, we gon' talk shit to each other. I remember my first practice. He talkin' mad shit to me. I'm like whoa, what's goin' on here? - You ain't seen this
type of trash talk before. He was legendary with it. - So I was like hold on, dawg. Because I wasn't no, I was like, you ain't 'bout to be
takin' to me like this. I'm 'bout to stand my ground, homie. 'Cause we was on opposite teams, and he just pushed you, though. He just like, but I always
came from the playground. You know, I grew up, it
wasn't no, like kids now. I ain't have no trainer work me out. I'm workin', I'm at the playground
everyday or the weekend. I'm like so, this my playground mentality. - You don't even know what a trainer is. - And he got the same thing. We gon' go to the park,
pay against older people. They gon' talk shit to you. And if you bow down, if you curl up, you ain't gon' be able
to play there no more. So you better stand up
or you gon' get ran out, so that's how that was, but I loved him for that. He was on and off the court, man, he don't get the respect. He really like, how these kids play today. He was doin' that back then. - Listen man, all of that, how people, come on bro, he got one of
the most legendary quotes, hey, Antoine, why you
shoot so many threes? Because there ain't no four. - Ain't no four pointers. (laughing) - Like what you talkin' about? You feel me? Don't, and I'm talkin' about and I'm still gon' do it, and I don't care what you sayin' like, I'm boogeyin' everybody. And it ain't nothin' like, come on man. - You know what's somethin' crazy too? So, you know, he had the wiggle. Everybody looked at it like. - "Cyber Toine". - They frowned to that. Like fans, the media, now
that's a normal thing today. - We laughed too, it
was that all the time. - It was like, they lookin'
at him like he a bad guy. - And he just havin' fun. - He out here havin' fun, and nobody liked that be humble, do this. But he's just havin' fun, but now, everybody do
it and it's acceptable. This when it wasn't even accepted. - And now it's like oh, look
at his passion for the game! And he's so, like come on, bro. My man was nothin' but passion, and nothin' but Antoine. I just hate the way the narrative be, because he was legit
a boy the entire time. Like in the whole,
anybody, any of his peers, everybody gon' show their respect. Everybody know like,
it's the outside people, you know, some of the people in the media and what not, and all that. But man, boy, trust me. - "Cyber Toine". - Toine was that dude. - Yeah, cyber "Employee Number Eight". - "Employee Number Eight", boy. I'm talkin' about, I'm tellin' you. - He would just shimmy on
'em after he hit a three. He used the podium, he was a kid. - I used to love that. He really took me under his wing, man. And I love Toine, man. - Y'all chemistry together, the way y'all play together. Y'all encouraged each other. I mean when we first got to the league. And then just seein' y'all play. I liked how y'all squad was put together with Eric Williams and all that stuff. And y'all was goin' through
them battles with New Jersey. With Jason Kidd and all them. I know y'all was fightin'
for them titles them days, but I remember how, what
type of team y'all was, a grimy team, y'all
was kinda way different than the team that y'all
won a championship with. - We just played defense and shot threes. (laughing) Like how they play today. - Right.
- Yeah. I be lookin' like, yeah, Golden State. - Walter McCarty. - They changed the way we play. I was like shit, in 2002, this is, like if you go back and look at our tapes, we had the stretch four, we
had put three around one. And we shot threes like
40, 50 threes a night. And I'm like that's the way they play now. - But it's just funny, like how you say. Everybody, everything is
looked at different now. 'Cause you remember in '05, when we was with Phoenix, when we was lettin' that thing fly. Our games was 17 attempts from three, 19 attempts from three. Lettin' everbody, Joe lettin' it go, Barbosa lettin' it go,
'Trix was shootin' threes. - Y'all, that, let me
tell you about Phoenix. That had to be the fastest team
I ever played against, dawg. Like straight up. If you laid the ball up. - We catchin' it through the net. - You ain't have time
to shimmy, do nothin'. (laughing) - You ain't have time, dawg. I was so tired the first quarter every time we played Phoenix, 'cause they gon' get the
ball out and throw it ahead. I was like damn, it was like
a track meet with y'all. - Nash pushin' that joint. - Every time. - We had big Steve Hunter runnin' fast. Steve's seven foot and Steve used to run like the wind, bruh. - Right. - I know y'all didn't get over the hump, but when Toine got traded, and now it's just you by yourself. - Oh, that hurt. - I remember when like them first, I think it was like two
years or somethin' like that. Two or three years? - Man that hurt, but
then you became superman. - But still this was like, we went to the Eastern Conference Finals. - I feel what you sayin'. - So I thought we was buildin' somethin'. You know, you thinkin' like okay, we not far from a championship. But then it's just after that
conference finals appearance, it was like we regressed. We started losin' players, then he traded Toine, and we went to a whole, I'm
still enterin' my prime. - Now y'all in the draft. - And now we rebuilding. I'm like hold on, what's going on? You know, so, that one
hurt when we traded Toine. I ain't even gonna lie. - Then, you know, you go through them sorrow years of losin'. You ain't never really lost in yo career, but then you get a draft for Ray Allen, and you get "Ticket". Like that summer, and the hype around, you know us NBA players competitive, we be oh shit, them
motherfuckers with the crown now. We gotta look through them. - Oh you know what, look. So look, we put the trade together, and I don't remember a lot. And then me and him, this dude right here, we had our battles. I don't even know, I don't even know where
our shit came from. When we put our team together, I remember a quote from him. They ain't won shit yet. Or something, I remember
this, I don't know why. - I remember that, I remember. - 'Cause everybody was like, we was on the cover of the magazines, and then I heard something from Q. - I already know. - They ain't won shit
yet, this is preseason. (laughing) All right, you know what,
this motherfucker right here. It's always something. (laughing) Me and him. - They gave y'all the crown,
but it was well deserved. Y'all put, what y'all
put together was perfect, and then you get a wildcard in Rondo, and you get all these young guys that's willing to listen to everything that y'all and Doc say. So it was like, yeah, it changed. - It changed the whole
landscape, straight up. - You know how we sit as NBA players, and we sit at home during the off-season, and then it be that one
trade or that two trades, that shit just changed. It was like we was lookin' at the Lakers, and all of a sudden nah,
we gotta pay attention to the Celtics, or the Miami
Heat, or whoever it is. And everybody, antennas
go up when you see that. So with y'all, it definitely did. You know everybody was gon'
give y'all y'all best shot. - Yeah, fo' sho. - But that was symbolic
of what our era was too. You know what I'm sayin'? It's different, we weren't
gon' sit back and just listen, like all right, I was
playin' for the Knicks then, so it's like every single interview, they come in, they talkin' about y'all. (laughing) At the second, like yo man. Fuck they did? They ain't like, man,
listen, go on with that. You know what I'm sayin', but that was the
difference of how we were. We were gon' get agitated
by that and say some shit. Whatever, I could remember
saying the same thing when Miami got together
and I was in Orlando. Like they ain't won shit yet, you know, it's the same type deal. That's just how we were. We were competitive and we
weren't that generation. That's not knockin' this generation, 'cause I'm a fan of all, everything, as long as it's basketball, I'm a fan. But we weren't that generation. I was saying this the other day. I wish that I'da went
through my career like I never would've took the pictures on the court like they do, but I wish I would've got
a lot of dudes jerseys. But I never would've stood
up there and did all that. But I definitely, lookin' back. - Nah, we was too competitive. - We was way too competitive. - Right. - I don't want him to know that he nice. Don't ever think he nice. And then later I'm gon' see you, like I don't want your damn jersey. That was our disposition as
opposed to how it is now. It's more like, they the social media, they be all, you know,
we ain't do all of that. - Right. I can't hate against it though now, but because like what I do
love about this generation, they all boys and they
workout, which is cool, but they do business together too. - Now that's the real solid thing. - I wish that we was more, like you know what I'm sayin'? - Business oriented.
- None of that. - That's what I like about this era. - Our generation, we was gon', if somebody found the secrets, they was gon' say hold on. - And they set the narrative. You know what I'm sayin'? But they got allowed, like this era got more
of a voice too though, with the social media. They don't give a damn. It's more people demanding trades. You know, if we demanded a trade, it was gon' be like oh, he a outcast. - Whole city shut down on it. - A whole article. You know, it's kinda like. Now you could control it now. - [Quentin] You have more of a voice. - But you know back then it
was play basketball, shut up. We pay you to play basketball, so you can't do nothing outside. We don't want you to do a movie or a TV show, or put too
many commercials out. - Yup. - That means you doing
commercials everyday, you not working on your game. - Right. - You know what I'm saying? That's how they kind of had us, but now like you said
with the business thing, I'm definitely happy
that the new generation. - That's what I do love
about this new generation. - When you get KG, I heard
the energy in training camp, from the training camp all
the way the whole season was just different. - Dawg, I've never seen
anyone act like this. - And I know you goin' from
them battles with Toine, then you have them couple losin' seasons, and then you get this
trade during the summer, and then it's training camp that y'all had with a coach like Doc
that's with the shit. - Yeah. From Chicago. (laughing) - How was that, explain that to us. - This was the most intense
thing I ever been apart of. You know, I done been around KG, but at this point, we go to Rome. I'm talkin' 'bout it's
the loudest practice, it's the hardest practice,
and he had the bar everyday. Because when you out there by
yourself, I'm the lone star. - You the only one talkin' shit. It's like you ain't never been around, outside of Toine, I never
been around great players. - Another superstar, yeah. - So I'm lookin' at how he work. I'm lookin' at his intensity
and how it's pickin' me up. And now I'm doin' more and now my mentality go to another roof. You know, so I'm lookin' at this everyday. I'm seein' Ray work. I'm seein' "Ticket" work, and I'm not tryin' to match or better, but we constantly doin' it to each other. So now it's pushin' us to be even better. Like if KG get there at like 8 AM, all right, I'ma get there at 7:30. Then the next day he get
there at seven and beat me, oh nah, I need to get there at 6, like. It was, that's how it was. It was like, but it made us better. - That's the one thing,
like when it come to KG, throughout the whole time
since I got into the league, and when I first got to play against him and see, I always used
to be like, man, dude, this dude, you gotta be
spun, physically spun after every time 'cause
he be so locked in. - That's how he wired. - So intense and it's
like bruh, and it's like, you know how you play against
people, all right, he fakin'. Nah, bro, this is. - You ain't ready for a jump ball? - Every time like you could watch, I remember when he'd be, this was right after
he retired or whatever, he did some type of, he did
something for TNT or something, where he did a hype video,
he was just talkin'. I was like bruh, this man got me ready to go run through a brick wall right now. Just on how he talkin' and how. That's what I used to be sittin'
there lookin' at that like, bruh, how that feel to be
around that every single day? - That's see, this is
how I measure greats. You know what I'm sayin'? So you've got the great
players throughout history, and they probably won, but how do you influence your teammates. That's a big factor in me
when I look at great players. How did you make them better? You could just be great on your own. It's a lot of great players on their own, but how do you motivate the other guys? So just everyday, I knew I
had to be ready mentally. There wasn't no bullshittin'. But I wanted that. I was like now I'm in a
position I got a chance to win. You know what I'm sayin', all these other bullshit years. I'm like man, I'm done with that. I don't even wanna be around this no more. And then we bring in KG, but that was a honor to
just see that everyday. A lot of players, you know, you had a chance to be, y'all had a chance to
be around some greats, and you see how different it was. But it was just, it's a real honor when you can be there to
see this every single day and be a part of it. And you understand they journey. It's a honor. And I wish every player
in the NBA have a chance, 'cause it's not, everybody ain't a great. - You right, everybody don't get a chance to go with a great teammate. - Like you don't get a chance to play with a LeBron, or a Kobe, or, you know, like to
really see it first hand. And to watch it everyday
influence everybody on and off the court, and say I shared it with 'em. That was an honor, straight up. - That's how I feel about Steve Nash, bruh, 'cause it was like, I only played with him for that one year, but for me, that was
my first time playing, he was the MVP that year. So that was my first time,
and just his presence. What he meant, everywhere we went, it was like damn, these people love Steve. Like it was my first time being around like oh, you for real a superstar. - A super superstar. - My first four years I'm
playin' with LO, bro got fans. But nah, we all peers and young boys. Get over there with Stevie, it was like oh, okay. Nah, this is what happens when, then just like you say,
being around that everyday. 'Cause his, to me, it was unbelievable to witness how selfless he was. And how he was able to
navigate all of our egos and be able to keep everybody in check, and still not even worry about himself. - Yeah. - Like nah, he was last every time. I'm cool, like nah, but that was like you
say, that was an honor to be around for real greatness. - To watch it, right. - And to witness it and be like, 'cause you know, his back was, that's why Dallas let him go. They thought he was done. If y'all seen how this
man used to get right. And stayed with the, like you know, with the, this was
before all of the bands, and the medicine balls
and all that was popular. He used to have this dude
come over from Vancouver, or wherever, from Canada. And be in there two hours before, come in. He got sweat pools on
the side of the ball, and he ain't been doin'
nothin' but just movements. Like he just gettin' his
core and everything together. And I used to just have so much respect for how regimented he was with that. And it was, like you say, it was an honor to witness
that type of greatness. - [Paul] Straight up. - The year y'all win a championship, y'all go through LeBron,
y'all go through all that, you finna play against
the Los Angeles Lakers. - Yo childhood team. - The team that you grew
up lovin' and watchin', and like you gotta play the Lakers. How did that moment feel, and after you won it,
what you felt about it? - Dude that was a dream come true. Straight up, even though growin' up, I'm a Laker fan, I wanted to be a Laker. But I'm not a Laker now. I'm on the Celtics, I'm playin' the Lakers
in the championships. Like how ironic is this? - That's crazy. - You know what I'm sayin'? A kid from LA, Inglewood play in Boston, goin' to the
championship verse the Lakers. It was like story book for me. It was just like man,
I couldn't have asked for a better script. Now I'm a part of history. Just matchin' up with them in the finals. This is what got me into basketball, watching Lakers verse Celtics. - [Quentin] Livin' in the rival, yeah. - Watchin' this rivalry, watchin' Magic, Magic
was my favorite player. And so now I'm a part of this, this lure. And to beat them, it was just like man. That was like a dream come true. And get the MVP verse Kobe? Like that was like, man,
you know what I did? So we won, we all go to Vegas, kick it. So I got the MVP trophy. I come back to LA, I live out here. Man, I go to Katana,
right there on Sunset, and I put the MVP trophy
right on the table outside. Boom like 15 of my boys. We in there havin' drinks,
everybody lookin' around. - Big boy status. (laughing) - Oh, I'm feelin' myself right now. - Toast to the town right now. - I'm feelin' myself right now. I'm at Katana outside. You know how the patio's set up. I'm puttin' the trophy right there, oh, they was hatin' that. (laughing) - In LA, what do you do,
you just took it from 'em. - Ah, nah, I'll never forget that, dawg. - That's a feeling right there. - Let me tell you another story. So we lose to the Lakers in 2010. And I'm sittin' at Johnny
Rockets with my boy, and this kid come in Johnny Rockets. He must've heard I was there, went back. Kid come in here with
the biggest Laker flag I ever seen, right? I'm talkin' about the flag, it was a pole. It was a pole, he walked in was like, hey Paul, can you sign my flag? I almost lost it. (laughing) I almost lost it, dawg. I was like ay kid, if
you don't get yo ass. (laughing) Right now, I was tryin'
to be calm with him. - And you bleed green. - Ah, I was so heated, I was like ah, man. - One more thing I wanted to ask too. Rajon Rondo. Like when I went to that training camp after y'all won a championship, you know, we was hoopin'
before training camp started, and I'm lookin' at Rondo, and just how much of a
court leader that he was. How he played, it seemed like it clicked. Especially after that championship year, it's like he really clicked. - Ah, man, he became a beast. - So I'm callin' my homeboys back, I'm like nah, Rondo top five point guards. I'm tellin' you, man, this ain't a fluke. He doin' this every year now. - [Paul] Nah, after that
he turned into a beast. - The mentality and Rondo,
what you think about Rondo? - I think he took on our personality too, 'cause I don't know, KG really
took Rondo under his wing. Like, really. Then after we won, he just
be turned into a monster. He's takin' about. - No longer a big three, it's a four. - 20 assists nights, 15
rebounds, I'm like, dude. We had to give him the keys. It was like, we was OGs, and you know, when you OGs, this our shit. But it was just like, we
gotta give this youngsters, here you go, he gon' have
a set some of these keys. He runnin', you doin' too much. We can't hate on you,
you know what I'm sayin'. Here, dawg, go, do you. We just gave him the keys,
Doc gave him the keys, and he just turned into a monster. He was puttin' up numbers that
you only seen in video games, from a point guard? - Wilt Chamberlain
numbers for a point guard. - 18 points, 18 rebounds? 20 assists, like damn. Where'd this, like for real, like you don't see them
numbers from a point guard. You wasn't seein' them
from point guards in 2009, especially with the rebounds, and even the 18, 19 assists. It was crazy. - Rare. - I just, I wish we could've
got three championship runs out of y'all where
y'all was playin' the Lakers them three years, and we
could've seen a best of three. - Yeah, we got hurt the next year. - With KG gettin' hurt that second year. And then Perk got hurt, but you know, things happen for a reason. We had a good run. When we came together, we was like we wanna get two out of this. That was our goal. We even talked about it, we
can squeeze two out of this. That's what our goal was, but, you know. - And I liked the pieces
that complimented y'all team. The PJ Browns, the Tony
Allens, the Rondos. - E. House, "Big Baby". - You had Eddie. - But the biggest piece, I'ma tell you what the
biggest unsung hero was. - My guy.
- Nah. James Posey. - Posey, I'm tryin' to get his name out. I couldn't get it out, Pose, my guy, Pose. - Especially the year y'all won it. - 'Cause that was the
year, Posey was a beast. He was hittin' big shots. - Big shots, that's right. - And he would go lock up, and took pressure off of me. - Skills in doin', yeah, that's true. - Posey was like one of the big glue guys you ever wanna have. - I've played with guys
that y'all had too. - For real, and he one of
the coolest dudes ever. - Like guys like that, is the guys that'll help you
win championships, for real. - You know somethin', I think the way Pose played, created the way Tony Allen became. - [Paul] Mhm. - You know what I'm sayin', like how, how Tony Allen became more, like it was just like a'ight, I gotta hit a shot and I gotta really lock
up and get out there. - Right, right. - You know what I'm sayin'? - I mean Pose had more of a jumper, but Tony just, he was more grimy. - He brought his presence. - Out of Chicago. - Yeah, Chicago, right. He was our D, our D guy. - Yeah. - And that's why Kobe said he was the toughest dude that guarded him. - [Quentin] Yeah, exactly, ever. - One of the dopest nicknames
in NBA history is "The Truth". - Oh man, I appreciate that. - I always loved yo nickname. I feel like it fits you perfect. What does it mean for the
world to call you "The Truth"? - I think the first part
about is who gave it to me. Shaq gave me the nickname. - Yeah, the big fella. - So it's like damn,
this comin' from Shaq? The prime Shaq sayin' dude is the truth? - I'm the truth? - For real, I'm like for real? You know what I'm saying',
and then it just stuck. - And after playin' y'all, like after. - After I gave 'em a good
40 piece or somethin', he was just like you know, watch out, Paul Pierce, he
the motherfuckin' truth. He said it just like that. And so it was a big article
on Boston the next day, "The Truth", oh, and it just kinda stuck. So I was like, that's
that point, at that point, I felt like all right, I arrived. - Right. - I got a nickname now. And now I'm hearin'
people callin' me that. I'm like okay, that's respect. - That's when you went and
got the tattoo and everything? - Yeah, you know, I got the tat. (laughing) - Straight up. Can't take this away, dawg. - But I'm like oh, I done made it. You know, you get a nickname, you there. - You get a nickname,
you there, straight up. - You made it. That's the thing about today, and I tell people today, they don't have no more
nicknames, it's gone. - It's gone. - Not like the real genuine dope ones. - Yeah. I'm lookin' at all the nice players, outside of the you got "King" James, but what's Kevin Durant's? He should have a nickname. - Yeah, everybody should have a nickname. - Donovan "Spider". He got a cool one, "Spider" Mitchell. And you know it's like Spiderman, but. - Yeah, but I just feel like they not. - They don't got 'em as much
as they had 'em back then. - Yeah, right? Like I ain't seein' the shoes, you know they used to
name the shoes after 'em. I just don't see 'em no more. - Yeah, Like The Answers. - Yeah, like look at The
Answers, look at these T-Macs, or something like. - I wanna talk about your game, 'cause I played small forward and I was matched up with you a lot. Like yo step back. Yo step back was like, I never paid attention to
nobody doin' a step back, until I played against you. Because that was like a patented move. Like oh, if I get the step back
off, this shit is over with. - Right. - Playin' in Portland, I was playin' you, and I was playin' you
good, I had a good game. And Ruben at the end of the game was like nah, I wanna get him. (laughing) - Me and Ruben used to go at it. - So then Ruben Patterson,
he came and got you, right? And it's like, I'm guardin' the other guy, and I can basically just tell him everything that you finna do. - Right. - And you step backed his ass insane. - To death. (laughing) - Like step back, like
where did you get that from? What made you get so comfortable
with the step back move? - Man you know, it was
just somethin' I worked on, and I can't really say
where I really got it, maybe, since I wasn't the fastest guy, like I was strong, so
if I get you on my side, but I was just like shoot. I really patterned, used
my game like jab stuff, and I did it one day, and I remember earlier
I believe I did it in my first year and I was workin' on it. And I was like this is a move right here, 'cause I saw how much space it created. 'Cause you know, when
you learnin' the game, we always talkin' about space. How you gon' create space. And I was like, ain't nothin'
create more space than this. Like I'm gettin' this much
room to get a jumper off. And so I just worked on it, goin' left, goin' left,
goin' right, goin' left, and I did it everyday. Do it everyday, I had a little ball boy, come here, guard this. Boom, boom, I'm doin' it
everyday before practice. And I was like man, this
is lethal right here. - Like yo step back was so good, I'd rather sent you to yo right. - Yeah. - Then it lets you go left. - And I was right-handed. That was the scouting report, you right. - I'd rather send you right, and unless you, even though
you could step back right too. - Yeah, but I wanted to
go left and step back. - But you wanted to go left and step back, and then I wanna talk about this. I'm a dunker. You got bodies. - People don't talk
about, timeout, timeout, let me say this. - Motherfuckers used to sleep on you, and you used to body they ass. - Even to this day, it's two things, with the step back, 'cause I seen you on
The Jump or somethin', and they was tryin' to act like that you didn't, you wasn't
one of the originals. - Yeah, that's what I
be tryin' to tell 'em. - First of all like, y'all trippin'. Like I was watchin' it, like first of all, that's real talk. Like y'all can say what y'all wanna say, but go look at the tapes, they don't lie. Like it's there, this boy come out, was doin' this and doin' it well. And with the dunks, 'cause
they tried you with that too, I was like nah, bruh used to
for real Earth that thing. - This generation when they saw late me, when I was playin',
when I wasn't athletic, but early, yeah, I had a couple dunks. - Nah, you ain't had a couple. - You was in the dunk
contest at McDonald's Game, though, like, you was bouncy. - Out of all the dunks you dunked, through all the people you dunked one, who was that one that you was like, man, that's my favorite one? - I'ma probably say Zo. I caught Zo pretty good one time, dawg. I was like, I caught him
almost like the Vince one. (laughing) We could use CP, but don't believe this. I brought it back right
here, bodied him, and dunked. - [Darius] And boomed his ass. - I remember this. - I was like oh, I just caught Zo. - Nah, look, my big dawg, boy. - And then another one was Yao Ming. - Yao. (laughing) - [Paul] Everybody want to dunk Yao Ming. - Everybody wanna dunk on Yao Ming. - Zo, too though, 'cause
Zo was goin' to get every, that's why everybody wanted to dunk on Zo, and a lot of people did, because you know him and Dikembe,
they went for everything. - You know what's crazy? I was in Miami, playin' with Portland. Went to the hole, and
I could've dunked it, but I didn't feel like Zo, he was old too, I didn't feel like his old
ass was finna get there. - Right. - So he wind up. - Wiped yo shit. (laughing) - Gettin' that bitch, the rim right here, he wind up blockin' that
bitch right here, right? I tried to pearl right there, guess what? He sent me a picture of
him blockin' my shot. He said, hey D. Miles,
thanks for the 1,000th block. - Oh no, it was on you? - Killed me. (laughing) - Yeah, you're welcome. - I hate that shit to this day that I got the 1,000th block. I couldn't be 999. - I got me a, I got a photo of it too. A two handed tip dunk on me. - My 1,000th block Zo,
that's me right there. I own that one. (laughing) - I didn't know that. That's a good one right there, dawg. - Hey look, speakin' on
what you said, right? 'Cause the funniest shit, like when we talk about
me and yo beef, right? Like you look up literally, like, I've been lookin' for
some shit on the internet. Like I'll type my name
in looking for some shit. I done seen stuff pop on the internet like Paul Pierce and Q-Rich beef. Like, it started when they
were at Kansas on this visit. It was with a girl, it was with this. I be like yo, this is crazy. - Oh man, what? - Like it literally, we was hoopin'. This was like summer of maybe, I don't know when, it was
definitely dumb early. In LA, and it continued. We played in the summer in LA. - We played in Chicago, too. - In Chicago and hooped, me, you, and I'm talkin' about me and
him against you and Toine. We talkin' our trash, and that's really what it stint from. - I think that's where it do come from. - Because it was like, all right we competin', we talkin' trash and then it's like, you come from the same type place whereas, like you said earlier, with Toine, hold on, I ain't 'bout to, you either, 'bout to curl up, it's 'bout to be this, so. It was neither one of us backin' down, and it was legit two stubborn. - We was about to be
there to fight so many. - We done got thrown out
of games, bruh, everything. Martin Luther King Day, in
New York, in The Garden. We both like, he say something, I'm like, hold up, I say somethin' then. He go and he just get the ball, foul the hell out of him. - Dawg, we used to go, I don't even know where this come from. - He was like, I'ma get the ball again. He say somethin' and
get double teched then, it was like, he say somethin' then we get teched out the game. - And we in the hallway talkin' shit. - Y'all was bein' violent
on a black holiday. (laughing) - Ah man, when he was in Miami, he'd be ah man, when he was in Miami, I ain't gon' forget this either. I failed or somethin'. - [Quentin] Ah yeah, this the playoffs. - I looked under the bench or somethin', and then he came and stood over me. I was like ah, what the? - KG came, tried to
clear me after the game. I can promise you, I
remember the interview. I'm goin' off, I got my wife
beater on in the interview. I'm already, you know, at
this point I'm off the chain. They over there, they
tryin' to talk to me. I'm sittin' there like. I'm like what? You know what I'm sayin'? The media talkin' he like,
so what was going on? - I'm like I don't know what was goin' on. Why you askin' me? I'm like (laughs), I'm goin' at the media. He sayin' something, I
said I just don't like him. And they know it. (laughing) - Right. - It was like then they went, if you look at the KG interview with KG, he goin' man, I ain't got
nothin' to do with that. I don't know what's wrong with them. (laughing) - We used to go at it. Probably it stint from the
summer of me going to Chicago, you in LA, UCLA runs. I mean I used to always
scrimmage with y'all, with y'all squad when you was with the
Clippers like everyday. When y'all Southwest. - Yeah, Southwest. - We used to be up there. - It's the Southwest College practice. - I used to be up there with y'all. But it was just like, I respected y'all, and I respected you, but it wasn't like fuck him. We were goin' like man we gon' compete. I mean we can get down, but I'ma bust yo ass or you
gon' try to bust my ass. - And that's exactly what it used to be. - That's really what it was. - 'Cause it used to be like
man, fuck you, fuck you. (laughing) And then, like well what's up
then, well, what's up then? (laughing) And like. - When we first got to the league, like I said, man, the love
that you used to show. I remember the first time
I kind of like seen you, you kind of said somethin' too. We was at Magic Johnson's. - That's right. - Magic's, midnight, whatever. - Yo, we played a season. Then that next year, we played a season, you was like man, I like
y'all young boys, man. - Nah, I did, I loved y'all team. - Y'all boys run fast,
I like y'all young boys. Y'all play hard, you know what I'm sayin'? He said I don't fuck
with these other jerseys, but man, I'll get y'all shit though. - I did have, you know
I did have yo jersey. - I was like man, that's love right there. - I first saw you in high
school at the Mickey D's. - In Boston, I played in Boston. - In Boston. - Toine was there, yeah. - I was at the game too. That's where I first saw you at, and I was like he's nice right there. You was dunkin' everything. - Fallin' off the rim, catchin' lobs. I said yo tailbone gon' hurt
in the mornin' after that one. - I fell off the rim. - At Boston, at the Mickey D's game, I went to the game and saw you. - Yeah, I remember that
'cause Toine came down there. - I didn't come after the game, but I remember, I was in
the stands right there, I remember seeing you,
I was like this kid. - That was dope, too, that was
a dope experience in Boston. Ay man, I enjoyed that. - On the Parkay. - Baby told us this story. - "Big Baby"? - Yeah, about the first day
in London in training camp. How he was late, he missed the bus. And y'all was havin' a team dinner. - I remember that. - And he came in with the little kid, like I rode the bike from the little kid. What you remember from that story? - Baby got so many stories. I don't even know what happened that day. - Every day is a story with "Big Baby". - I don't know what happened that day. He said he got a ride, or man, Baby got so many stories. (laughing) But what y'all gotta understand, you know what Baby
study, right, in college? Drama and theater. (laughing) So we used to hear it everyday from Baby. I don't know if I'm gonna get mad Baby, I don't know if I'm
gonna get the love Baby. I don't know what Baby
gon' show up, straight up. - Some Baby gon' come. - I gotta be prepared for all of 'em. Like straight up, man. He gave us the wildest story. Like yeah, I had to jump in the car. I hitchhiked, or I jumped on the bike, so I get to over here. I was like what, what, Baby? (laughing) - Let me ask you this. I wanna know when you first, maybe not, I don't know if you
did it on your rookie deal, or when you first got bread. Tell me something that you bought that was just like, now
you a grown up adult, and you would never need this shit no mo'. - Nah, oh, that I bought
that I will regret? - Not so much regret, but just you looked back on, like I was a young boy. - Like damn, I paid this much for that? - Man, it'd have to be a diamond necklace. Like I got a diamond
necklace, it took a minute. Remember we came up in the era where you gotta get yo jewelry right. - You gotta have your chain. - Iverson was influenced that was heavy. - AI just made everybody, he changed the whole
culture of the league. - Like a I.D. - Let's just call us-- - That's what we say all
the time, like Kobe elite. - AI like, you start, cats
wearin' braids, tatted. Now you got cats chained up. - Baggy clothes. Everybody, that's 'cause
we wanna be like AI. That's straight up, and so when he got the chain, I was like all right, I
gotta get my chain gang. - And look, AI show up in durags, what we was doin'? We was showin' up photoshoots
in durags, cape out. - I think I paid like 150k on a diamond chain that I
don't even wear no more. - You dropped a nice little satchel. (laughing) - Yeah, it been in my safe for years. (laughing) - That's the crazy thing. - When dad put that bitch on. - When dad put this on. - The first, first chains
that we ever bought, bruh, we broke that thing
down like three times. It was the first one, boy had Q-Rich, designs swoopin', with number three. - Basketball with the gold. (laughing) - Basketball stuck in the hoop. Yeah, I'm talkin' about I was like, all right, after a couple years, I'ma just get a Q, had a
big ass Q for the necklace, 'cause it was still big,
and I broke that down. Then I had like a bracelet. - You comin' with stupid jewelry, right? - Big boy jewelry, boy. Hangin' all the way down to your navel. (laughing) - They startin' to come back now. I'm seein' a lot of these rappers do it. - Yeah, it's back, like Quavo and them. - NBA players ain't doin' it. - But nah, you said, the
Quavos and the babies. Like I seen Quavo man, the boy had rings cross his
teeth, and crazy big boy things. - They got all the bust downs. - They wearin' two watches, they wearin' a watch on each wrist now. I said golly. - Big rings. - And you can't tell time
on neither one of 'em. Both of 'em too icy,
ain't none of 'em set, they just big boy (laughs) watches. What time, you ask what time it is, they pull out their phone
like hold on a minute. (laughing) - [Paul] Can't tell or nothin'. - You, Baron, and Andre Miller, like y'all was like that
generation of LA kids, 'cause it wasn't that many kids from LA that was in the league then. - Right. - But you, Andre Miller,
and Baron Davis came, and then you look at the league now, it's like every team got
at least two kids from LA. - LA is runnin' the league right now. - Y'all started LA Unified. - The middle, it was a whole
lot of Midwest and East Coast. - Yeah, right now Cali
is killin' the league. - Cali is killin'. To see from y'all era, from y'all three, to now seein' the Westbrooks, the Hardens, the Paul George, the Kawhis. - There's so many of 'em. - So many. - I can't even name like Darrell White. - But they have, so many
at the top two though. - Yeah and they at the top of the list. Either you feel about, just speak on that
transition then and now, and how do you feel about it right now? - I mean, I feel like Cali ballers didn't really get respect when I came out. - When we was comin' through, it used to be like y'all was soft. - Everybody look at us as
soft, straight up, he right. That was the take on us. It was like, so that's
why I wanted to make sure, especially when I was young
or when I'm in the league, that reputation ain't gon' be on me. They gon' be like nah. And then I wanted the guys
comin' up to see that. So now when you be in a
certain way, they look at that. James Harden, I talked to James Harden when he was in college. You know, Westbrook,
I also been around him when he was a young kid. I wanted to be kind of like that person, that idol that come from the same place y'all come from. Like look we ain't soft out here. Y'all gotta come out here and rep. You know, we LA cats, we Inglewood cats. Y'all gotta come out here and rep. And I just tried to set an example. And I know Baron did that too. And Andre Miller, and so now you seeing it's a different
narrative on cats from LA, when you look at guys
like Harden and Westbrook. These cats is real deal. - Top 10, it's at least
five of 'em from LA. - Paul George, Kawhi,
it's a different narrative on the LA ballers now. - Yeah, it definitely is, I feel like even us being Clippers, we was apart of that era with y'all. - Yeah, you was apart
of LA culture, for sure. - Cats from LA done came up and seen ball, even though we from the Midwest, but I feel like we apart
of this West Coast thing, where you see these cats now, and these cats admire the Baron Davis, y'all, and all that stuff, and came up, and now you see so many of 'em. - So many of 'em. - Trevor Ariza, we used to
go to his high school games. He's a freshman in high school with Hassan Adams and them we used to go to high school game. - [Paul] That's right,
Hassan one of my lil' bros. - And just to see him
have a successful career for him and his family. - Marcus Williams, we used
to be at all them games. - Yeah, oh yeah, them
was all my lil' bros. Marcus, went to UConn, yup. - So like just to see
the new era of LA hoops. - [Paul] I love it. - Is just like a dope scenery. - Yeah, they definitely
changed the landscape without a doubt. So the Clippers got two homegrowns. They got two, Paul George, and Kawhi. To see cats from LA, they go off and have they
careers to come back home, and try to make, not the Lakers, but the unsung heroes a
contender, and bring them a title. What you think about? - I think that's the best
move they could've done, and I'll tell you why. Because, it's a Laker town,
it's always gon' be Laker town. No matter what. But if you could be the
first to do something, like what Kawhi did in
Toronto, you live forever. So then you become a pioneer. They can pioneer the
Clippers organization, if they win a chip. - They just gotta win one. - That's it, then it's like, statue. You be the first one to
do it, you a pioneer. And I thought that was gutsy, and I think they saw that. I mean Kawhi already
did it for a franchise where he's gonna be
immortalized in Toronto. He can do no wrong. One year, I brought y'all a chip, I'm out. I did what I had to do for y'all, but he can always go back there, eat for free, do whatever he want, he gon' get a statue out there. How many people you know play
one year for a franchise. - Eight months. - And go get a statue? He gon' get a statue. - Got to. - Let me ask you this. Can he do it two years in a row? - I think they got a great shot. - I think the Clippers gon' win a championship this year, so. - This is my thing, if
Kawhi win this year, where do you rank him? - Then he'll be the best. - You gotta change the narrative. - He gotta be the best
player in the league. - No, but I'm just sayin' like all-time, we talkin' all-time now. - Oh, all-time now. Ah yeah, he gotta be up there. - Like him and LeBron right now got a chance to be one of, I can't even think of one right now, but could be one of very, very few of players that won a championship with three different franchises. - And the only two that
did that, if they do it. - If they do it. And so now it's like damn, where we gon put Kawhi in history now? - He gotta be up there. - If he go here and win. That was like, you know that was like, when Deion went to Dallas and won. And then he went to San
Francisco the next year and they won again. It was like, and it's like damn. - Next five years, right. If you gotta start one of 'em, bench one, and cut one of 'em between Giannis, Kawhi, and Luka. - Oh. - Start, bench, cut. For the next five years, who would you start, bench, cut, where this is where
everybody's in their prime, and nobody shouldn't be
agin' out of their prime in the next five years. Who you startin', benchin, and cuttin'. And you gotta, what you doin'? Luka Doncic, Kawhi Leonard, and Giannis. - This gon' hurt me to say this, and it has nothing to do
with who I think is better. I think Kawhi is the best
player out of them three. - So you startin' Kawhi. - No. - Oh. - You don't think Kawhi
gon' last these five years. - No, but I'm goin' off of, you said five, next five years. I'm startin' Luka Doncic. Man's 20 years old and crushin'
the league, first of all. I'm benchin' Giannis,
and I'm cuttin' Kawhi, only because he's the
oldest out of the three. But right now, he's the best player. So this ain't a shot at nobody, but you said the next five years. Luka Doncic is averaging 30,
10, and nine, and he only 20. You tellin' me he gettin'
like, who do that? LeBron didn't even do that. - Straight up. (laughing) - Like straight up, dawg. - You played one of my young boys. Now, I'm very proud of his
career right now, Bradley Beal. - Yeah. - I'm a big fan of Bradley
Beal and John Wall. I'm one of the ones that
root for them to succeed. - Them my guys. - 'Cause I feel like
they can do somethin'. That experience you had down
in Washington, with them guys, just talk about just
them two guys in general. - You know, at that point, I
was pretty much past my prime. And so I just was like a leadership role, so I wanted to give them, I watched them the year before, they got put out, I think by Indiana, and I was like, they just
need a little more leadership. I can come in there and
give this team something. I ain't the star no more, but I can give them a veteran presence. I'm still a guy you can
go to to hit big shots. - Game winner when you called game. - Yeah.
- Game, I called game. (laughing) - I wasn't gonna give you, and it'd be certain nights
I can get you 20, 25, but most nights, I'ma give you between
10 and 15 at that point. But that was the most fun I had, for that one year I was there. 'Cause I had a chance to
kind of mold them young boys. They really looked up to me. I showed 'em how to work everyday. I got there early everyday, and then I look up when they, I'm lookin' like yo, I'm 36,
y'all need to be practicin'. Y'all can't sit down today. So I tried to teach them habits, and I feel like whatever they accomplish from this point, from that point on, my one year, I had a little
something to do with it, installing something in it. And I had an influence in it, and so when I see guys that I played with, that I had a little bit of influence on, it make me proud like a big brother. You know, so when I see
Brad make the all-star team, I feel like man, hopefully
I gave him something to help him 'til he reach that point. So it make me feel good when
I see them succeed like that. You had a long career, so for fun, and you get the opportunity to play in LA. Not for the Lakers, for the Clippers, but just to be in LA, and just to get that experience of a'ight I'm coming home everyday. I'm in Staples Center. I never thought I'd actually
be playing in Los Angeles. How did that feel? - You know, that was like, all right, when I was like all right, I'm goin' to the Clippers, it was like I had my mind, like all right, it's time to start lookin' toward retirement. You know, I lived here, that's
the reason I came to LA. 'Cause I had some other
places I could've went, finished my career, but I'm like here, I get to be at home, finish
it off where it started. All my friends and family can come, I can be around them all year round, because when you gone and
you off in these other states for all these years, or the teams, time move past, and you
see aunties and uncles, and friends getting old, or
passing away and you not there. - And you miss so much. - You miss so much. - 100%. - And so I was just happy
to be close to moms, 'cause she's gettin' older. I can be around family and end my career. It wasn't no better way. And then Doc was the
coach, what made it easy. - [Quentin] Yeah, and made it perfect. - That's what made it easy. I got Doc, I got Sam
Cassell, who I played with. All I'm really doin' is chillin' now. I'm just chillin'. - People don't take in the heat of how much time get took out of our life. Like we miss a lot of holidays. - Yeah, we miss a lot of stuff. - We miss a lot of birthdays. We miss a lot of stuff and you miss that, and you playin' a 15 soon career. Your career, is like when
you miss so many years, especially bein' on the whole
other side of the country. - For real. - They seein' you two
months out of the year. You want a vacation, you don't wanna just, but you wanna get, some
people go home a week out of them two months. - Yeah it's so much, and people don't understand the sacrifice, because then even when you home, you start training. - Yeah, you gotta start working out. - So now you like I ain't got
time for shit, I gotta train. - Being regimented for that the entire. - Yeah, that's the one. People say, do you have any
regrets from your career. The only regret I have
is missin' out on like, say, my kid's first step, or whatever I learned, teachin' 'em. Like when I'm gone, they
get up and start walkin'. You know, that's like
missing family stuff. - Your house live, and you just gone, and you missed everything. - That's the only thing, and it's nothing we can control, but we puttin' food on the table. We helpin' a lot of family members, too. - You know what the alternative could be. We very aware of that, so we gon' keep this grind goin'. I want you to talk about how it feel, all us here we hoop,
different levels or whatever, had jersey retired, like for you, to how yo jersey retired
for the Boston Celtics. It's rare for any NBA player
to get they're jersey retired by any organization, period. But for you to get your jersey to go up in the legendary Boston
Garden with the names, and the legends that
has gone up there with. Like talk about how much that means, especially coming from the whole start, goin' full circle, you not
even wantin' to be there. - Yeah, right. - You a Lakers fan, and then. - Man that was, that gave me chills, man. When he called me that summer, when Wyc Grousbeck called me, he was like we wanna retire
your jersey on February. I was like what, already? I was like, you know, this
is something that drove me. You grew up here, you
can't help but to look up. - Exactly. - You see all these damn banners. - As a visitor. - You see all these damn numbers retired. I know everybody number up there, and the player that go with it, and I'm like, I had my eyes
on that from day one though. I was like shoot, I
want my number up here. 'Cause it ain't like no other place. You know what I'm sayin', it's different. - [Quentin] Different. (laughing) - It's different when it's in Boston. And I remember my speech, and I was like, I said, this is exactly
what I said in my speech, when they retired it. I said if I never make the hall of fame, me gettin' my jersey retired
in Boston is good enough. - Straight up. That's prestige, straight up. - I was like that's good enough for me. - So with yo transition, we all are basically in media now. Basically doin' that, like, how was that goin' for you, and what made you wanna do that? - You know what, I didn't even
know I was gonna be doin' it. But like, yeah, you know what I'm sayin'. So like my last year with the
Clippers, I worked the finals. And so I was guest on the whole finals, and I was just like. - Pretty cool. - I was like, I like
doin' this, this is cool. And so after I retired, I was asked do I wanna join the team? And I was like, 'cause I'm
lookin' at it like, shoot. I ain't doin' nothin' but everything I used to
do in the locker room. - What you doin' up, and even if you ain't in the locker room. - At the bus. - For me it was like, I do
this every single day at home. - [Paul] Yeah, we talk hoops. - We sittin' here, whether it's just with yo partners, we sittin' here and we
think and we talk the game different than the average person, so we sittin' there, even with him, even though he's not
per se on TV doin' T-- He can do it. He sit there, we sit there. He like man, what was that? Like we breakin' down
plays and all of that, because it's just second nature to us. - I see what they comin', all right, they about to
run this fade, I see it. Like we do this everyday on
the bus, the locker room. - And we understand the
language, the terms, the terminology from one team to the next, the play-calling, all of that. - It all comes second nature, and I was like so y'all gon' retire me to come out here and do somethin'
I really always do everyday. - 'Cause we, 'cause I was talkin' about. - C'mon man, sign me up. - You wanna know what, I was about to say, it's not many players I know (laughs), that don't watch the game, but we'd be surprised
by this new generation. They'll get to the hotel
and won't turn on the games. - Nah, they don't watch the games. - They'll plug in the video game, and I'm not sayin', I'm a
gamer, I play 2K and all that, but I always watched the games. - Yeah.
- You not a gamer. - Ah, we gonna go to dinner and
watch the game or somewhere. - They don't watch the game. I'm not speaking for everybody, but there are, there's a good selection, I've spent time, you know,
I work for the Pistons. And I've been around different groups, and I'm lookin' like, yo, y'all not watching the game tonight? - You know what, this generation to me, and I don't wanna sound like a hater, but I feel like they do it more for, they don't play for the passion
or the competitive drive, it's more for they brand. - For the clout. - And the clout and the bread. You know, it's just like, if I just go hard and I work
hard, the bread gon' come. - We came in playin' tryin'
to get everybody respect. - Yeah. - Like man, we good
enough to play with y'all. - Yeah, get you some respect. - And like for me, that's
what I love about us, and us having this, you
know what I'm sayin', I feel like the only reason
we can have you come, we can have Kobe come,
we can have whoever come, because we weren't
all-stars or superstars, but you guys knew that every night, like you said, we had what we had, and you a fuckin' hall of famer,
and I'm nowhere near that. - We had to get our rest
verse y'all, I ain't gon' lie. - But that's what I'm sayin'. And it was like, that's
why I can go to sleep. - [Paul] Y'all was young and hungry. - You got internet trolls
and all that stuff, but for me it'd be like, when I'm speakin', I'm just
literally speakin' on opinion. I ain't got no hate for nobody. Even LeBron, 'cause a lot of
people think I hate on LeBron, I'm not hatin' on him. I just, when we venture into the Kobe and Michael Jordan conversation, that's a different conversation for me. So I'ma say certain things about that, that may not be favorable for him, but that don't mean that he's not bar none one of the top motherfuckers in the history of the game, and he doin' stuff that nobody ain't seen. And he's unbelievable, but it's just different when
you talk about them two. But my thing is that we can, me and D can sit across from you, Kobe, even LeBron, 'cause
I played against him, and he to a man, he
know that I'ma show up. And I'm not the caliber
of player y'all were, but god damn it, you 'bout
to go to war tonight. - Right, right. - And you 'bout to know that
you went to war tonight. And I ain't even in the position to shoot as much as y'all gonna shoot or nothin', but I'm with all the
shit, in every which way, and that's how I'm comin' every night. And I can sit, and I'm cool with that, to me that's my trophy. When I see, and I know that I got that respect from my peers. - No, without a doubt. - No matter what level they were, top level, this level, that level, I relate, and I got that respect from 'em, because it's, you and I know,
it's some hall of famers and superstars that don't get
that same level of respect, because they weren't
with it in a certain way. Like they weren't built that way. I find I get my respect knowin'
that I was built that way. That even, no matter what
level somebody wanted to bring, I was with it and they all knew it. - Nah, you ain't seein'
that a lot nowadays though. - That's what I say. - When you came up, who was them players, or who was that player that you was like, man, I wanna be like him, I wanna be like that person right there. - I mean, it was Magic. I mean, I grew up a Laker fan. It was Magic, but I was like, the way I played, I can't go be Magic. (laughing) As I got older, so it was
Grant Hill and Steve Smith. - Steve Smith. - Smitty. - And these are three, 'cause I watched them all the-- and Jimmy Jackson. - Oh, it's Jimmy Jim Jacks. - [Darius And Paul] Jimmy Jacks. - Shout out Jimmy Jacks. - But when he was at Ohio State. - Ohio State. - Them three, I felt
like I can be like them, like play like them, though. Even though I was a fan of Harold Miner, but I was like these three, Grant. - They fit my game. - They fit more of my game, Steve Smith. - Them three are the coolest
OGs, movin' around right now. - Yeah, and Jim Jackson, so them was like. - Jim Jackson. - I couldn't wait when they came on in college or the league, I was watchin'. My eye was close eye on them. - I be with all three of them at Turner. - I don't know if I ever told 'em that, but if they hear this, they gon' know that they was guys that I
really watched growin' up. - How was it for you the first
time you played against MJ? - Man, I was like, that was my idol. - [Quentin] Everybody's. - I had a chance to play against MJ. It started in Chicago. He was playin', thinkin'
about comin' back, and I was goin' out there with Toine. He talkin' shit, hittin' fade aways on us. The next thing you know,
he with the Wizards. I was like man, because
the year I came out of college, got drafted, he retired. - Right. - So I was disappointed,
he just won a chip, so I'm like I'm playin' against MJ. You know, this is my dream. And so then he retired, I was like ah, no. - Crushed you. - That's that one thing, you wanna play against MJ. You wanna see this in person now. And then he came back, but it wasn't the same. - It wasn't the same. I got pictures of the crib from every time I played
against him at the Wizards, but it was like what you said, I wanted to play against
him in that Bulls 23, man. - I wanted that Bulls 23. - That was what I wanted,
too, I'm not gon' lie. - But he still gave me a good 25. - Oh, he was still MJ. - 40 years old averaging 20 in the league, and it still was physical how it was? - Yeah, for real. - Shit, that's amazing. - That is though, but that was a dream, just to be on the court with MJ. - To bounce off of that, it's a shot that you made, I think it was against Al Harrington. - Oh.
- Oh yeah. - You was kinda talkin' trash
to him before you shot it. It's like you told him what
you finna do and you did it. - I'ma just say this. I probably woulda fought you after that. (laughing) Like dead ass, I ain't even gon' lie. - But that's what our era was. Like you don't see that no more. (laughing) - At all. - Finna send y'all home. - And he was talkin' too, though. - Yeah, it's like what's up, then? - And I was like this, you was like this. I said ah, shit. - Think about it, when you watchin' that, that's like oh, okay. - Exactly, I'm at home
like yo, it's goin' down! - This is like, yeah! That to me is what playoffs is. - That's hoopin'. - Yes, it is. - Me and Al, we great friends. I ain't got nothin', but we was competin'. - That's the purest form of competition. - Just like me and you
used to jaw back and forth. That's what the game was then. Like, come on, man. I'm tryin' find the edge out here, it ain't that I don't like you. - I need this. - I need this though, we both
tryna get the dub out here. - I need two of these things. It'd be hard to give up somethin'. - Yeah, I'm like you know what, a lot of people say, and this what I tell people
about me talkin' trash, I did it for me. Because it get me goin',
it's gettin' me goin' now. Like I'm talkin', I'm talkin' trash, and I'm like yeah, I gotta
back this up, though, if I'm gonna be talkin' it. I gotta walk this walk
if I'ma be talkin' it. - Yeah, KG was one of the ones, that when he talked, he didn't talk, he talked to his self. - No, listen, this is what KG would do. He'll be talking to you, but
just be looking this way. - I was 'bout to say, nah, he'll say somethin' to you. - And you right here,
he'll say something to you, and then you be like, what? (laughing) - Nah, that was sorta mean my dawg, like what you talkin' 'bout? - 'Cause it seem like
he be talk to his self, and I used to see him,
like who you talkin' to? - Nah, he'll talk, but like you right here
at the free throw line, he'll say something like. And you be like, ay,
are you talkin' to me? - He used to be so classic. Bruh, like, might dap you up or somethin', but not even, don't
look at you or nothin', just might, I respect you but fuck you. - You know how he be
when he get all sweaty, that when he blow, he's blowin' his spit, but it's not spit, he's blowin' his sweat. And he in yo face, and he done did that to some cats, and they like ready to scrap with him. I'm like dawg, and I'll tell KG, I said KG, if you ever
do that to me again. (laughing) I'm like if you ever do that to me, dawg. - That shit over. - I will put hands on
you, dawg, just know that. Some of the stuff he would do. This is one I'll never forget. He dunked so hard over Andrew Bogut. Andrew Bogut go for everything. (laughing) He dunked it, and you know, it's already enough to get dunked on, but then he dunked him, looked at him, and then shot him a 'bow to his chest. (laughing) I was like, hold on, dawg. You already dunked me, and then was like. (thudding)
(grunting) I was like nah, he did not just do that. - Ugh. - I was like dawg, I said to him there. I said dude, if you ever
did me like that, dawg. (laughing) He had a lot of them moments, like stuff he would do
that I couldn't believe. More people wouldn't fight him. Like straight up, he was like straight up not only embarrass you
and just make you just, I'm lookin' like how's he gettin' away, is everybody scared of Tick like this? (laughing) - He look crazy, he
look hype at all times. - I mean he's so hype that
he might tear yo head off, his intensity's so high. If you don't match that. (laughing) - It's definitely another level, bruh. Ay, bruh, one of the funniest
things I've ever seen is when you hit the
game winner in New York, and went runnin'. - Nate? - Oh, Nate Rob. - Nate Robinson came out
of nowhere and missed you. He dives, that boy said. (laughing) Nate life flashed 'cause he
already got too much hops. He jumped high as hell
and you didn't catch him. - Nah, I didn't even see him. I didn't even know this was
goin' on when it first happened. (laughing) - 'Cause you hype, you in the moment. - I ain't know this was goin' on, so I looked at the tape, I was like oh, he damn
near broke his neck. (laughing) I'm in my moment. - [Quentin] Right, you didn't even-- - You know, I hit the game winner, I'm over here like, I'm in my moment. And then I'm like, I don't
wanna be jumped on like this. (laughing) I'm 'bout to do my. - That boy Nate said, ah! (laughing) Promised at home, on everything I love, I was like look at Nate! - I'm doin' this and Nate fallin'. (laughing) Ray lookin' at him crazy. KG at half court bowin' the head like. - [Quentin] That has gotta be
one of the best things, dawg. - [Paul] This is like my
favorite picture ever, dawg. - All right, man, so you know, we appreciate you comin' on. - What you got for me? We always like to try and show a lil', we got a lil', you know, a lil'
exclusive Knuckleheads box. - The black box. - That's probably the
best thing you gon' enjoy, is the little exclusive,
you know what I'm sayin'. This is the very special VSOP with the boy, got a little stamp. - That's what's up. - Sponsorship has its
privileges, you feel me? - That's what's up. I got that. - Hennessy, Yak. - My dawgs, man. - Yeah, man. - It's good chattin' up with y'all, man. It's all love, dude. Always, you know how we always bro-bros. - [Quentin] That's "The Truth", everybody. - Bro-Bros all day long. - You know what I'm sayin'. It's a fraternity. - All day. (upbeat music) (clicking) (dinging)
