Byron Scott on Kobe's 60-Point Finale, Guarding Michael Jordan, and Showtime Lakers | ALL THE SMOKE - All The Smoke

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hmmm, Jack, Day two just heard good Day one. We
get to start off day two. We're one of my favorites.

(00:31):
Another legend. Yeah, man, I grew up watching these dudes.
Man uh an LA kid. We were talking about this
because we had Coop yesterday. I mean, how many LA
kids get to play for the biggest team in the
city and when championships and just kind of have one
of those historical careers and our guest today got to
do that. Man at home at the crib. Welcome to

(00:52):
the show Byron Scott.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
We we appreciate you, appreciate you, appreciate you all.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
So b you were Stacks coach his rookie season, and
from what I've heard over the years, there was a
little bit of funk at some point. What was the
what was what was what was the I mean we're
here on all the smoke and yeah, yeah, so y'all
are good now, But what was what was the f
I'm gonna start with you, Jack, what was the disconnection
you think will coach at some point your rookie year?

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Well, for me, you know, first, if I said anything
burning the past, I've finished you. I apologize with I've
grown up. I'm a man.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
But at the time, I was hurt because I just
came back out the Rookie All Star Game and I
just fought to get into the league, you know, for
three four years, you know, going through overseas and stuff,
and when I came back from All Star, I just
didn't play, and I never understood. While we never had
a conversation about it, I never understood why, and you know,
not not understanding and being a young guy that was

(01:48):
working to get to the NBA.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Then I make the Rookie All Star Game when I
first get in.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Now I come back and I'm just not playing from starting,
like I didn't know what to think.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
You know, I'm young, so for for for a long time.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
I held so I hed some hate for you because
I felt like, damn, I never got an explanation, like
when I when he gave me the opportunity, like I
praised him because this he gives He's giving me a
chance to start my first game in the NBA, like
I started my like that game, you know, and you
know how I showed you that I appreciated that, you
know what I'm saying, But then to not play when
I came back, I never understood why and I never

(02:21):
got a chance to ask you why.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
And kind of like what you just said.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
You know, Jack, uh, anything I did back in those days,
I apologized as well, because I've grown up and I
was I was a head coach, you know what I'm saying.
And Jack this how this whole thing started from the
get go, just how he made the team.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
We had. We had open runs my.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
First year's coaching Jersey, right, how old are you at
this point?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Thirty six? I wouldn't, Yeah, exactly, I'm thirty six.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Young.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
Yeah, I still player. I still got player of mentality,
you know what I'm saying right now. So we got
open runs and I don't know if Jack remember, right
after two days, I said, Eah, who the hell is that?
He said, Oh, that's Stephen Jackson. I said, where he
come from?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Supposed to be there?

Speaker 4 (03:11):
I've never seen it. He wasn't supposed to be at
the RUMs. The list of names I had, his name.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Went on there.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
So I'm like, where the hell they come from? He said, oh, well,
he came out of high school. It didn't work out.
I think Phoenix or somebody overseas, and so I said,
we'll invite him back. You know, he keeps coming back.
I said, man, we got to bring him to the camp.
He was like, you're serious. I said, hell yeah, bring
him to camp. He started the first game.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
My first evident invite from picking an invite from pickup
games to an invite to start in the first game.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
Now we had a bunch of injuries too. We had
a bunch of guys in the game. Yeah, we have
a bunch of guys were hurt and not taking anything
away from Jack because he started the first game, and
once we came back from the All Star break, those
guys are getting healthy.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Johnny Newman, But as a youngster, you know how didn't
understand that?

Speaker 4 (04:00):
And you know what, as a young coach, what I
should have done? Explain exactly what I should have done.
Jackets took you to the side after the All start
breaking said, look you did. You've done a hell of
a job. You've been playing the treatment well. But I
got to see these guys play because when I was
in VAT I understood it.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
You know you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (04:16):
I got this cause I gotta make changes. I gotta
figure out who's going to be here the next year.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
And who's because are making money too and they making
mine a rookie.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
It was we had Jim mcclvain too. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
Yeah, man, we had so many We had so many guys.
And it wasn't that Rod Thorne, who was our president
of basketball operation, told me you gotta play these guys.
I just knew I had to play. I got to
see what we got for next year. I got to
see who I got to get the hell out of here. Yeah,
Kendall Gill came in. It was Keny your first year,
Kenya's first year. Yep, Kendall Gill came in. When I

(04:46):
had my season meeting with everybody, and you know, like
I said, I should have approached Jackie talk because he
was nineteen twenty years old, you know, so when he
wasn't playing, you know, he would come to practice and
he was pissed and and I understood that.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
You remember, my, my, my, when I first got there,
I went to I went a burn like a little
kid when because I first got that my grandfather.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
Had got I was a kid. Bro I'm still a kid. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
So I mean, you know, as much as you say,
you know things, I could have handled it about a
lot better. But I was youngest ship too. You know
what I'm saying. I was my first year coaching, thirty
six years old as a head.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
That was your first year.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
That was my first year.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
That was so I looked back on it and I said, man,
you know what I should have did, which I did
later on because you learn from your mistakes, is that
I should have took Jack to the side and said, listen,
this is what's going on.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
I gotta find out.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
So you just keep doing your things, keep practicing, keep
doing what you're doing, coming to practice with a great attitude.
And if I would explain that to him, I shut down,
it would have been a lot different. But he shut down.
And Kenyon was the rookie kings like I got him, coach,
I got it. And we had one practice where he
really shut down. I said, Jack, just just go on
locker room out him, and Steph was like this him.

(05:58):
Steph was like that, miss, but you and Steph are
king Steph and keing yeah, oh yeah, button head. So
so Kenyon was, you know, Kenyon was trying to be
the calm one, and you know, ken ain't the calm.
He's trying to be the com one and keep everybody together.
And he was like, I got him, I got I
got Jack, coach, I said, okay. So that that particular
day when I just looked at Jack, I said, Jack,

(06:19):
good ship, don't get out of here. And I looked
at King. He just looked at me, did like this,
and and I didn't. I didn't know I be a
profession of then.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
So it was it was.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
It was a two way street. And uh, like you said,
we both gotten older, We're both grown, you know. Like
I said, my biggest mistake was I wish I could
go back and say, let me take him to the
side and explain the situation.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
And I still hold that appreciation.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Nothing has changed with you giving me the opportunity when
nobody else did and allowing me to start my first
NBA game.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
So I will forever appreciate you for that.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
So that off season Marbury for Jake Kids, and then
fast forward the two thousand and three finals, Nets versus Spurs,
youngy versus old team. What's going through your head as
because like I said, you're on your young bullshit, so
it's it's all paid back in your mind.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
But let me say this, even though it was a
it was two years because the first year I was
on injury list, when I left and the second third
year I played in two thousand and three, so I
had a left I had a left time to grow
in that San Antonio Spurs system.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
For two years, I was learning how to be a professional.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
I was around Steve Smith, I was going to church
with David Robinson, so I was starting I was starting
to grow up a little bit. So that's how I
ended up being in the starting lineup. I was learning
how to be a professional. So I just wanted to
just play well, you know what I'm saying, Yes, your
old team, but I just wanted to play well, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
That's all I was focused on.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
So in your that's your third year coaching, third year coaching,
you find yourself in the NBA finals, Like, what's going
are you?

Speaker 4 (07:49):
When I rock back to back? We went San Antonio,
then we went the Lakers.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Yeah, so you as a player, you've experienced that as
a player. Now your experience is from a coach's point
of view, like with what's your mindset and what's your
preparation and thinking?

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Like in the finals.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Well, you know what, It's funny because I think the
first finals we got to was the Lakers and that
was ugly.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
It was ugly. Man.

Speaker 4 (08:13):
We had Jack, you know, we had no answer for Shaq. Yeah, yeah,
you know, we had guys that could guard Kobe. They
can't stop Kobe, but they could make it tough on Kobe.
And you know he's still gonna get twenty five thirty.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah. I was like, nah, just look at that. I
was like this, and I was at the crib.

Speaker 1 (08:30):
He d on the whole team.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Shaq man man, Shack, Shack was so
dominant it was unbelievable. So I knew he was in
trouble because I told I told the team, you know,
before the game, I said, this is this is something
that you guys have never experienced. So when we come out,
make sure you're focused on the game, you know, because
we had the Staples Center, right, So the guys come out,

(08:54):
be and my coaching staff we walk out about the
three minute mark instead of two minute mark and standing
there and I'm watching our guys warm up, and I'm going, man.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Were about to get a ship beat out of us?

Speaker 4 (09:05):
Because they were like, yes, we're about to get the
ship beat out of us, right, And they went up
about twenty five so fast, you know, for the rest
of the game. We played even but you know, they
swept us in that series. But we we we really
played well for three quarters, three and a half quarters.
We just couldn't. We had nothing for Shack, you know,

(09:26):
and when you know, you guys both know when he
come ready to play, there's nothing you can do. We
double team d we triple team d uh. And it
was just nothing we could do. And we just we
were just out.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Man.

Speaker 4 (09:36):
They just had a much better basketball team. But it
was it was great for me to be able to
take a team back to La where I'm from and
to be in the finals, you know what I'm saying
as a coach.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
So that was a very proud moment for me.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
And then the following year, you find yourself right back
in the finals. Now you're against Tim Duncan in the.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
First against Jack and the Dunk and Tim Duncan and
those guys. Yeah, he was on the mission. Unbelievable season.
You know, probably should have got MVP.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah, to be honest with you, him and Tim was
right there, him and Tim was right there, and we
gave him a fight, you know, but they were again
you know, when you got yo, Jack and GINOBLEI.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
You know, their their wing players were so good. You know,
Tony Park was that Robinsons last year, yep, Dame and
then you got Tim Duncan. He was lights out. Yeah, Tim,
we just we I mean again, you could you could
guard certain guys. You can't stop him. You can make
it hard on as we tried to do. But uh,
you know, San Antonio was such a great team, so
we we knew. You know, there was four to two

(10:36):
in that series. And Pop, who I got so much
respect for, is coach, you know, just unbelievable coach. You know,
he is one of those coaches that still to this
day is still old school in his mentality as far
as discipline, doing ship the right way and if you don't,
you sit down.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
That's what I tell him. I say, Papa is more
of a coach.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
He's more like a leader because he leads the whole
organization into even if the team is not good enough,
you come into that season believing you can, you win
in the championship.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's just to feel around the whole organization that he
started that, right, Uh.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
I mean obviously, all three of us, being former players,
were always for the player empowerment. But my question is,
I think the player empowerment is a little out of
hand at this point from a coach. From you, from
a coaching standpoint, I mean, you came up under Riley
and and and and people like that, and I'm sure
you implemented some of your game and his coaching philosophy

(11:27):
in the year principle. As far as a coach from
the early two thousands to now, how do you think
coaching has changed? Because you can win and still get fired. Yeah,
now you have, you have as a coach in the NBA.
Now you have no authority whatsoever. Truly, that's crazy to say.
I truly relieve that. And and like you guys said,
we've all been former players. Uh, that coach was a

(11:50):
position that you respected and it demanded respect, you know,
and coaches say you do it was that simple, Uh,
And we've all come from that that line, you know,
that old school type mentality. I think the entitlement of
players today to be able to make uh suggestions are changes.

(12:10):
And I don't even call it suggestions. Basically a players said, well,
I don't want them to play with that guy. I
want this guy on my team.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Yo, you got you got the president of basketball operation
or the GM or the owner going to get that player,
you know.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
So I think I think it's totally changed. Uh.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
And I think that's one of the main reasons that
the viewership is down in the NBA. You know, it's
because not only the style of play, because you know,
it's threes or dunks or layups. You know, there's no
mid rais, there's no creativity, there's there's no the movement
offensively is one guy with the ball, you know, center
the time that you stand around and you watch him play.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
That's not attractive for fans to watch.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
And us as basketball players, we would never want to
play that way, right, you know, It's always been about
five guys being able to have a touch of the ball.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
At least Let me touch that.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
You ain't got to shoot it, let me touch it,
you know, let me feel like I'm a part of
the offense of what's going on.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
You know.

Speaker 4 (13:04):
So, I think right now with the way the NBAS gave,
you know, and I'm with you, Jack, I mean, Matt,
I'm with you. As far as player empowerment, you know,
I think that's something that we all, you know, wish
we had at that particular time. But I think now
it's overboard. I think it's going crazy. I think you
know the the you know, the prisoners are running asylum
right now. That's the bottom line.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
And I think you hit it on the head too,
because especially now more than ever, younger kids that kind
of think different but are making so much money. If
you can't get that respect, you don't stand a chance.
You don't stand a chance.

Speaker 4 (13:35):
You don't And I think again one of the reasons
for me at least coaching. You know that, I'm like,
I couldn't coach in this area right now, you know,
because I'll be ready to fight.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
You know, you disrespect me, dog, We're gonna fight.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
And to go what I was saying about touches do
y'all men, when we was playing, the first two or
three players used to go to the big manside, gettaches
early because if the game get the high speed, you know,
he might not get the quarter a couple of times.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
You got to keep him at Let me touch the
ball first, you know, the first two or three players,
like you said, and then let's see how they play it,
and then let's do what we do. But you know,
you know the biggest question, I mean, I had a
guy and I'm not gonna throw him, you know, put
him in blast. But in Cleveland, I was like, we're
doing this today.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
Why?

Speaker 4 (14:19):
I said, First of all, you can't question me. And
this new was like a first or second year player.
I said, I said, that's first of all crazy. First
of all, you can't question I said. Second of all,
this is what we did. And I wont championships.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
I said. Third of all, when you win a championship,
then you can ask me a question. I'll give your input.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah, and I ain't gonna even ask you for your input.
You in your first year, second year, you ain't won ship,
I ain't asking you. You know what I'm saying. So
you know, I mean my last two years with the Lakers,
I had our boy, you know, I had Kobe Bean
Brant you know, and Kobe would come to practice sometimes
and just go off on these guys, and y'all know Kobe,

(14:56):
he would just go off, you know. And then there
were days I was like, man, I don't even come
to practice. We don't you done done everything and seen everything.
Don't need your practice, right, But just the entitlement that
they felt they had to be able to even ask
a question about why we doing this today. I was like, dog,
we you better go over you better go over there

(15:17):
right now. You're better talk to press or somebody else.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
We talked to somebody last night. That's that's coaching and
in this system. And that's one of the things he
said to us. He was like, man, it's hard to
coach these kids because they two sentsenes. They can't really
take it. And that's that's the other thing, Jack.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
You can't you can't get on them, you know, because
they take it as like you said, they call the agent,
the agent called the gym.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
You know.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
I made a changing lineup, you know, when I was
with the Lake Caerus, I said, you know what you guys,
you guys have given been given this position, but you
didn't earn it.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
So I'm gonna make a change. You know, we're on
the road. I got to the room.

Speaker 4 (15:52):
Mitch Cupcheck had called me already. I was like, making
a change because you like, hey, Mitch, are you serious?
You know, so the sensitivity that these guys have that
you can't even you can't you can't teach them. You know,
you can't jump on the ass because they're gonna go
crying to their You know, back in our day, you
jump okay, all right, yeah, now I'm gonna come back

(16:13):
the next day.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
You might want to say, you might want to fight
one of your teammates, but you had to listen to
the That's what it was.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
So it's just it's just it's just a different time,
different But.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
It's a guy over there that's ready to listen, that's
just as good as you, that's ready to come in.
You know what I'm saying, So you better straighten up.
That's what we had them. They don't feel now. They
ain't looking over their shoulder.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
They don't. Everybody getting a hundred million while looking think too.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
A lot of times and practices where you could steal
minutes or compete or the second thing. You could have
a team that's going to the Western, the Eastern Finals,
or even going but that second team is busting the
ass and practice and that's how guys used to get
minutes and steal minutes. But they don't even practice no more.
They don't practice no more.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
My first year, you know, pat Riley would play me
spot minutes, you know, because again I'm coming. I'm coming
to a team that's a championship caliber team. For four games.
I didn't play a lick and Bill Burker he was like,
be just hanging there. I said, Burke, I'm good. You
know this, This practice is my game. I'm gonna come

(17:11):
ready every day, you know, because when I get that opportunity,
I'm gonna be ready for it.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
Right.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
And we had a two game loser, streaking rounds, so
I'm gonna change the lineup. He put me in the lineup.
And when you put me in the lineup for Mike McGee, okay,
put me in the line up. I said, Mike, you
never get this spot back. This ship is mine now.
You will never get this spot back, right, And That's
how I approached it. But you know, I wouldn't cry.

(17:37):
I wouldn't call it my agent. And you know, man,
I ain't played the last woke up. Okay, you take
it like a man was better in the gym strap up.
Speaking of that team, we had your brother Coop on
the show Man. You guys just gathered for his ceremony,
keeping tradition alive.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
What is that?

Speaker 1 (17:54):
I mean, you came up in the era and obviously
we caught a little bit of it, but as far
as teams staying together for the long haul. You maybe
add a piece of here there. But guys are spending
their entire careers, or at least a majority of their
careers on one team. You happen to spend a majority
of your career on a great team, and you guys
follow tradition, and you guys got together with it last summer,
two summers ago, two summers ago. What is that brotherhood

(18:17):
of that that Showtime team mean to you?

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Everything? Everything? Man?

Speaker 4 (18:22):
I mean, you know to this day that that brotherhood
is still strong. You look at some of these other
teams that played back in those eras, they can't stand
each other, you know what I'm saying. I mean, as
great as Chicago was, you got Scottie and you know,
kind of I can't say Michael because Michael ain't said
really nothing.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Scotty been tripping, bro Scotty, Scott went off.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
You know a couple of times.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
I was even like Scotty had been on there smoking
for cho Yeah, what the hell I think he deal?

Speaker 4 (18:50):
But it ain't smoking at But but you look at
you look at our team in those in those in
the nineties and eighties, you know we still tighten. You know,
we had a Showtime reunion, and Magic wanted everybody that
won a championship with him in the eighties to be there,
and that's almost forty people, right, forty players. I think

(19:11):
thirty six showed up, wow, you know, and the fort
it didn't. It was, you know, just reasons they couldn't come,
you know. So it shows how close we still are
as a group, you know, and the majority of us
still live here in La so we still get together
and things of that nature. I just spent your New
Year's Eve and brought in the New Year's with Coop,
you know, him and Von and my wife, and we

(19:33):
had a great time. But it's nothing like having that
type of fellowship and that brothership that we had. You know,
we went the Wars together. Man, We won championships, we
lost championships. You know, we have a history together that
you can't replace, you know. So I think we all
still enjoy getting together and talk about the good old
days and how fun it was, and then sometimes we

(19:53):
talk about this era now we're like, man, these dudes,
it's a trip, you know. But it's just great to
have that type of friendship with the guys that I
played with.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Is it a team that has more Hall of Famers
on it than that Showtime team. Besides, okay, that sounds yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Well my my my rookie year, I played with six
six Hall of Famers. I played with six on one team,
on one team, and that ain't counting roles.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
You know.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
That's not counting the coach. And that's not counting Jerry West.
That's not counting Bill. You know what I'm saying. I
played with Kareem Magic, James Coop, uh Silk, Bob McAdoo.
Mmm on my team my rookie year. It was Hall
of Famers. So I don't know if there's another team

(20:45):
that has that. Man, what heat, brutal we're going after
each other man. I mean, that's that's a great thing
about practice because Cooper guard Magic, and Cooper picked him
up ninety four and talk shit the whole game, you know,
and if if we lost, because it was Gold against Blues,
so Coop was the Blue, that was the second unit,
and you so if Coop's unit would beat us, you know,

(21:08):
and Rouse said, all right, practice over match, Oh hell no,
we gotta go again.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
So we go again. We beat them.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
Now one one rose would leave, we play another one.
We can't go one and one somebody. So our practices
were so damn hard. The games was easy. Games was easy.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
What do you miss as a player? Obviously playing is
one thing, and I think a piece of everybody misses that.
But I always say, like the locker room, the bus rides,
the planes just to kick it in, and talking ship
and you guys had, like you said, you had Magic,
who was a character, and then you had Cap who
was kind of reserved, and then you had you had

(21:47):
such a mixture of personalities. What were some of those
funner times for you guys, like off the court.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, and I was like the class clowns, you know, I.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
Was the one that was imitating people and doing all
kinds of other crazy ship. It was great, man. I
mean we we we hung out together, we went to
movies together. Robs would do these parties for just the
team and the and the wives and everything. So I
missed that more THANINNY. I mean, we all missed the
competition playing playing against some of the best players in

(22:16):
the world. We missed that competition, but I really missed
the camaraderie that we had. You know, like you said,
the locker rooms, the bus rides, me, Magic and Coop
always going to the movies on the road, every everywhere
we went. Uh, the family gatherings that pat Riley would
make it. He made it a family atmosphere, you know,
so that all that stuff matters. That that's what I

(22:36):
missed more than any.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Morning side high your min from the forum.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
Yeah, uh talk about your your young life in high
school life growing up in Inglewood.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Were growing up in Inglewood. If y'all y'all know Inglewood
a little bit, Inglewood wasn't no joke still still ain't.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
You know? Inglewood wasn't no joke. So, I mean we
had to go to school.

Speaker 4 (22:59):
We were walked to school seven eight deep because we
had to deal with the crips and blood, you know
what I'm saying, And if they caught you by yourself
or with you know, one another, you know, one of
the guys something like that, you know, So we we
rolled down, we would pick each other up. And then
as we walked down the hill the morning side, you know,
we'd beat seven eight deep. So most of the time
we didn't even get approached by the gang members, you know.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Uh. The thing that was a trip though.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Once I got to my junior senior year, morning started
high school and we would be walking around. We got
surrounded one day by some crips because one of my
boys yelled blood out, you know, just asshole, and they
turned around and they jumped out the car. Its like
eight of them, six of us, and they you know,
they just kind of got in a little circle, and
we was like we you know, we're gonna throw down
and see what happens.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
You know what we didn't.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
We didn't worry about getting shot, you know, and where
you got, you got yours one another. But one of
the guys said, you know that's the kid to play basketball.
Morning started high school. He recognized you. Yeah, and he's like, yeah, man,
world up, you keep doing your thing. They balanced, no, no,
so so they did back in those days. If you
was an athlete, they was like, man, he could let him,

(24:06):
you know, let him go.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
You know.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
But growing up in Inglewood, you know, it was it
was that type of atmosphere that you had to deal with.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
You know.

Speaker 4 (24:12):
So most of my boys, we all played sports, and
we all thought, you know, this is our only way
out of here. You know, it's basically getting the basketball, football,
baseball scholarship. Uh, you know, but we rolled deep just
to try to protect each other. But we were all
into the sports, so that's all he was into. So
I loved growing up in Inglewood because of the fact
that I had all my boys there as well.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Who any other legendary athletes are so call athletes grow
up with.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
You, Elden Campbell, Lisa Leslie. You know Jay Humphrey. Jay
Humphrey was I was on sixth Avenue and on one
hundred and fourth. He was on eighth Avenue. You know,
So we had some guys in the hood that you know,
they could ball, and yeah, you know, we all tried
to look out for each other.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
You was eighteen years old in the Lakers draft and
Magic was the lake of people. What was what was
it like back then when they first drafted Magic?

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Oh, it was crazy.

Speaker 4 (25:05):
It was soon as soon as he got drafted, you know,
the expectations in LA went went high, you know, because
I think we were just a good team in LA
after that time, because Jerry West and all those guys
that kind of left Will Chamberlain. You know, they won
that one that one year in sixty nine or seventy
two or something like that when they had the three

(25:25):
thirty three game winning streak and they just had a
great team. But when Magic came back. It just when
Magic got drafted, the excitement in LA became real again.
And like you said, Jack, I was at Arizona State.
You're watching them, you know, play at Michigan State against
Indiana State, which is still one of the most viewed
college games ever. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird right, And I

(25:49):
watched this guy and I was like, there's no way
in hell this guy is a point guard at six ' nine.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
But I got to watch him and I was like,
oh my god.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
Nine.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
I was like, I've never seen seen nothing like that,
because back in our day six nine, you playing four,
you ain't bringing the ball up, You're playing down low somewhere, right.
So he brought all the excitement back to LA. And
then obviously his rookie year, the smile, the charisma and everything,
the people.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Just fell in love with him.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, speaking to ask you, you got your jersey retired,
number eleven retired and after thirty seven years, went back
and got your degree.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, how they feel that was one of my biggest accomplishments,
you know, because I had promised my mom I would
do that, you know, and I forgot all about it.
To be honest with you, I thought, you know, I
don't want championships that made a little money.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
You know.

Speaker 4 (26:39):
My mom on her deathbed reminded me, Wow, She's like,
you promised me you were gonna go back and get
your degree, and so.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
I had to go ahead. I had to go do
it online. And did you actually go back to camp
to go online?

Speaker 4 (26:51):
Because at that time, the you know, the pandemic had struck.
So I said, well, this is the perfect time to
do it.

Speaker 1 (26:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
So I went back online classes that were zoom classes
that I had to take and everything, which was a
trip because the teachers would be.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Like, I'll be on the zoom class Jack. Teachers like
so you are you you Byron Scott? Yeah. I was
like yes, yes, ma'am. Okay.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
My husband would go crazy right now, but we got
a class to do, so we gonna do this class.
But yeah, I had promised my mom I was gonna
do it. So thirty seven years later, went back got
my diploma. One of my proudest moments. Hopefully one day
I get there.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
You could do it.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
You gotta start with high school and then college.

Speaker 2 (27:35):
What she means, you know, I got my host, you
got the ge. I don't know about the d I
got it real, I gotta you can do it, bro,
you could do it, man.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
I got a question, though, BB. Was it packed ten
back then?

Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (27:48):
It was pack eight PA when I when I signed
to come there Arizona State. They had just moved there
a year or two prior to that, so it came
to pack ten.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
So but you're the baby face pretty boy back and
I know Arizona State was cracking. And then we're also
getting obviously to the Laker lifestyle. But what was a
su like back then? Because I remember U c l A.
We went and I don't mean my disrespect, but we
went in. The dude named Curtis Millich saw the little
player but just looked like a gremlin. He had like
three bad ones. After the game, I'm like, damn, this

(28:18):
is what Arizona State is like? Like what was the
what was off the court life like? Back of Arizona State?

Speaker 2 (28:23):
It was fun. Let's just let's just keep it in
a good time, right, real good?

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (28:31):
I heard Arizona State was fun.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Man. It was like seven seven girls every guy.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
Yeah, man, yeah, I got my seven plus somebody else's
a couple of other people.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, let's just leave it a Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
I just needed you to stand at as all I needed.
I had a good three years out there, nineteen eighty three,
fourth overall pick. But you're going down south a little
bit more to the to the San Diego Clippers. Your
thoughts with that before you find out you're traded to
the Lakers.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
Initial thoughts was, I was happy, Number one, I'm in
the indo that first off, you know what I'm saying.
I was like, I just wanted to get to the NBA.
That's that's the is I told players later on easy
party is getting drafted. The hardest part is staying in
that league for ten, twelve, fifteen years, you know what
I'm saying. So being drafted by the Clippers, I was like, well,
you know, good thing is it's not too far from home.
You know, my mom and dad, my family didn't come

(29:24):
down the same nigga and watch it me play. So
my initial reaction was like, this is cool.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
I'm good.

Speaker 1 (29:29):
Okay. Had you been prior high school days or even
college days, been to the form to watch the game, Yeah, okay,
So what's the first time like as a Laker now
stepping on that floor?

Speaker 2 (29:41):
Oh, it was.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
It was surreal because again, those were the situations I
dreamed about, you know, playing in the forum. But I
didn't know my first year. I thought four or five years.
My whole plan, to be honest with you, it was like,
I'm gonna get drafted by somebody else because the Lakers
can't drafted. They you know, they winning, so they're gonna
be way down there at the twenty something your level.
So I'm gonna be drafted in that team somewhere in there,

(30:05):
and I'm gonna play for this team, and then four
years later, I'm gonna be with the Lakers.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
That was your plan.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
That was my plans, right, I'm gonnaigning with the Lakers
as a free agent, you know. So to get traded
to the Lakers my rookie year and be able to
put the uniform on and go out on the court,
I was like this, this is unbelievable, you know.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
So it was a dream come true.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
You go to the finals four times in your first
five seasons, Yeah, that's insane. Three and one record eighty four,
lose to Boston in seven, eighty five, beat Boston in
six eighty seven, beat Boston in six and then eighty
eight beat Pistons in seven. Some people never make it
your first five years. You're in there four times, like

(30:48):
what are you pinching yourself? Are you just going out
there and hooping every night? And just like we got
to continue to stack these titles.

Speaker 4 (30:54):
I think it was a little bit of both, you know,
Bob McAdoo, my rookie year, we lost, like you said,
to Boston, you know the game that they closed line,
you know, Kurt Rampis, Kevin McHale took him out, changed
a whole complex. But no, not to cut you off.
No one got even kicked out that right, No, it
was just upo. You know, bench is cleared. Everybody go

(31:14):
back to the bench.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
You know. Rambow went after him, you know, and that's
who pushed him.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
James pushed him.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
James and said, I don't know what the hell I
was thinking. I just pushed him.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
I shouldn't let him go, which he should have, you know,
and then you know, the game you know, starts back.
But we forgot about the game. We we all of
a sudden started thinking about getting his ass back.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
Mental you know, we want to get them back for.

Speaker 4 (31:36):
That physical you know, for the physical cality that they
played at that game at that time, the way he
took him out, we thought that was just a cheap shot.
So we really forgot about playing the game of basketball.
That's why I feel we lost that series. The next
year we came back and we was like, we're gonna
play any style they want to play. If they want
to play physical, we're gonna play that prepared. We were
really prepared, you know, and so much that you know,

(31:59):
at the end of that even middle of that series,
they were talking about how physical we were, and they
complaining that we're doing you know, we're having cheap shots
and all this shit right here. So it was, it
was it was a changing of the guards in that sense.
But the second that second year, my second year, we
win the championship in eighty five, and Bob McAdoo summed

(32:19):
it up perfect. In the locker room we're celebrating, he said,
you a lucky motherfucker.

Speaker 2 (32:25):
You are lucky. I said, why you say that, dude?
You know how many years it took me to get
a champion, you.

Speaker 4 (32:32):
Know, because McAdoo was the leading scoring in the league
and everything, he was putting up numbers. You know how
many years it took me to get a championship. Yo,
ass get one in your second year and you've been
to the finals too straight. And it hit me right
then that he's right, Hell yeah, I'm lucky because my
first two years, I'm in the finals. My next four years,
I'm in the finals three more times. And I realized

(32:55):
that that just doesn't happen to anybody. You know, you
got to be blessed and put in the situation they
even get there.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
And I was. I was there four out of five years,
you know, I was. I was like, like mcadu said,
I was blessed.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
I was.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
I didn't take it for granted.

Speaker 1 (33:11):
Believe Larry Bird legendary player, but legendary ship talker. He
talked to us about talk to us about Larry his
game and his ship talking.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
Look, Larry Bird was first of all, I don't think
we give him enough credit for how good he was,
for how great.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
That that dude was. Man, Larry Bird was the real
ship people.

Speaker 1 (33:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
You know in the story about him telling you know,
Doug MO, you better put a black guy on me,
all that shit's true because he was like, you disrespected
me putting a white guy on me. Ain't no white
guy can guard me, he better put a brother on me.
I mean, that's how he was. And then they couldn't
do nothing with him. He said, only one the only
one that could was cool. He said the coop was
the only one that could really guard him. He called

(33:54):
him the best defensive player's ever seen, right, and that's
that's that's big time. But Larry would talk mucho ship.
He tell you where he's going. You know, he catches
shooting and then you jump and he tells you, man,
you jump up, but you don't.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
You that damn high.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
He was just the biggest trash talking that I that
I've ever seen. But I think in the thirty for
thirty I even said, I said, but I guess I
ain't trash talking if you're backing it up right, fact,
you know what I'm saying. He's telling you what he
gonna do, and he's doing it, So I guess, you know,
he's just it's just him being a prophet and telling
you exactly what he's doing.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
Do one he's gonna do it, you know.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
Yeah, Hey, Larry Bird was, uh, you know, one of
the greatest players I've ever seen.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Where is he in the hierarchy of the game because
I think he said, he's someone who gets looked over
for some reason, maybe because he is white, or maybe
because he wasn't athletic, but he had all the game
in the world. Where is he at kind of in
the hierarchy on the all time list? Top ten team?

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Definitely top ten. You got to be in the top ten,
And I think, like you said, he's overlooked. I think,
you know, just like anything else, you know, time has
a way in just getting the past, making people forget
about the past. And if you if you go and
you ask guys, you know, I'm sixty now sixty three,
but if you go back twenty years now when I
was forty, you asked guys about Larry Bird, they tell you, oh,

(35:09):
you know, and you know, brothers at the barbershop. Oh
that's a bad white boy. They give you cross. That's
the bad white boy right there.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Right.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
So if you go way back, he probably would be
in the top ten. But I think right now today's
game and today's world, the way we're talking about your
players right now, definitely top ten.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
Where did your so Coop said that high socks and
wrist bands came from his grandmother of not really being
able to see him when he finally got to play
in the high school game of the week.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
I mean, who's that damn black?

Speaker 4 (35:42):
I was thinking the same thing. If he whatever colored
uniform he got on, how can you not see him?
I know the games are at night, but damn they're
still in the building. That's pretty lit up, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
So gold uniform and you got to put on white
to be seen. That's crazy cool, that's good. I asked
him the same thing. You wasn't black enough that you
didn't stand out at the first place. Understanding, but okay.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Where'd your biker shorts come come into play?

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Biker shorts came into play because I just thought the
damn shorts were just too damn small.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
I was like, you'll be seeing my ass cheeks up.
I mean, these things just too small.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
So I just started I decided to wear the bike
cheeks the bike shorts because I asked Gary B. I said,
do we got you know, purple and gold? He was like, no,
we only got blue. I was like, well, I'm gonna
wear these, you know, instead of the jock give me these.
I'm gonna wear these. Put my you know, put my
shorts on us because these shorts just too damn small.
Became and start for a minute, and I had the risk.

(36:41):
I had no idea, and I had my wristband right here,
and people after, why you wear the wristband right there?
I said, well, most of the time I would wear
it there just to kind of wipe my face off
from sweat.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yeah, yeah, I said.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
It wasn't like I was trying to make a you know,
trying to be stylish and none there something white but
the but the biker shorts.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
I was like, man, these shorts are too damn small.
I need something to you know.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Motherfuckers that during that era starting to wear the biker
shorts with nothing no shorts on top.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Who did that?

Speaker 1 (37:08):
A lot of Yeah though, come on, man, yeah, everyone
was wearing but they had they had the straight there
was no shorts on top, like the biker shorts was
in and like the mid I remember when I was little,
like mid to late eighties, Like, motherfuckers are just wearing
biker shorts no shorts over the town.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
Crazy.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
Yeah, but they say, there's two things that never lie,
numbers and biker shorts.

Speaker 2 (37:36):
So you wed it.

Speaker 4 (37:39):
With biker shorts, I said, baby, you should not not
you should not have these own, but okay, you do.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
Your back up.

Speaker 3 (37:44):
I see a lot of y'all walking around here with
bodies on looking like restlers.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
Look, shouldn't have moaned some of y'all shouldn't have them.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
It ain't got nobody who told us yesterday about Magic
leader ship ultimate leader. But like your pregame ritual was
with the music and kind of quizzing guys and what
their habits are.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Add to that, like what what what?

Speaker 1 (38:09):
What was that environment like with him and if anyone
else you know, had a prominent voice as well as
far as leadership and kind of just steering the ship
of those teams.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Yeah, it was. It was crazy.

Speaker 4 (38:19):
Our team was so cool because we knew Magic was
the leader. Captain Kareem he was the captain, you know,
but we knew Magic was our leader, but we had
you know, Coop was kind of our emotional leader, you
know what I'm saying. Coop was our guy that you know,
just kind of jumped around and just tried to get
everybody going. And the great thing about Magic being the leader,
Magic had no problem with everybody jumping on him when

(38:41):
he messed up.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
You know, I think that's That's how you are a
great leader. True sign of a leader that you you know, hey,
you you you accept the responsibility as well. You know,
you talk.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
One of these leaders are sitting there saying, you know,
he messed up. But when somebody tried to tell you
you messed up, you looking at them like they're crazy.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
You know.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
He never had that type of problem.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
So we we would always and we were the three
Musketeers meet him and Coop, you know, so I would
be the one normally would jump on Buck Buck come on,
God damn it, let's go you right, be you right,
come on, come on? You know I mean that that
was that we held each other accountable. Uh, but we
also pumped each other up.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
Man. You know, we wasn't a group of guys that
the talk shit to other teams when we played.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
We just played. We talked shit to each other, you know,
to get us scoring against the other team. Maxwell Vernion, Maxwell.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Who I love. That's my dude, right, Mad Max? Mad Max.
He was guarding Magic in Houston. He's like, I don't
need no damn help. I got his ass.

Speaker 5 (39:32):
You know.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
So we was like, okay, so we get to the
third quarter and Magic doing what he's doing.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
He just you know, getting everybody involved, and now we
want to post him up against Max going into the
fourth quarter, and uh, we start posting him up, you know,
and we talked and ship to Max, I say, hey, Buck,
he said, he got your ass. Okay, okay, b okay,
throwing it to him in the post. He starts scoring,
right Max, heymn, y'all need to come.

Speaker 2 (39:57):
Down there and help. That's sixth Nights, you know.

Speaker 4 (40:02):
The first time Magic turned around, no no, no, but
you said you don't need no help, right, And that
was just our team, you know, so.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
We just kept pumping him up. He's like he can
guard you, Buck, he said. So.

Speaker 4 (40:12):
I mean, we just really had a group of guys
and if Cap says something, it was like if hunting
it was long man. If he said let's go get
that at man, we was like Cap ready. So we
just kind of kept each other accountable. But our leadership,
you know, the main guy was Magic, and he was
such a great leader because he was you know, he
was a guy that was tough on you, but he
also showed you nothing but love.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
You know, he wanted you to do.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
What And I also heard him tell say one time
in one of his speed, Like he knew, like you
can't talk to everybody the same way. He knew how
to talk and push buttons with everybody on the team.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
Yeah, he was like I said he was. He was
a coach on the floor, you know what I'm saying.
He knew, he knew all of us. You know, if
we went four or five times down the floor, he
would be like, oh no, I got to get beat
the ball this time. You know, we've been hitting James,
been hitting Cap And he was one of those guys
that like, I get mine, you know when I want
to Matt, you could have average thirty, easy, you could

(41:04):
average thirty. But he knew that that wasn't the best
thing for the team, right. You know, so we knew,
Like you said, he knew the posts of everybody on
our team.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
What are some of the difficulties because we've seen it.
I don't know about your era, but I've seen it
in my era. Guys that come to LA and can't
necessarily handle the pressure of the lights in l A
and and people talk like that, Hey that's a myth.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
It's real, It's really what is it?

Speaker 1 (41:29):
What is this?

Speaker 2 (41:30):
It's the LA lifestyle?

Speaker 4 (41:32):
You know, you come here and you got you got money,
you on the Lakers, so you got everybody tugging at you.
You know, women, dudes are tugging at you for business
deals and this and that and the other.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Uh. It is not a myth, it is it's a lifestyle.
It's something that happens here in l A a lot.

Speaker 3 (41:47):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
We used to love for teams to come here and
have to, you know, play us on a.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
Friday, and they got here Wednesday, Thursday, so we know
when they come to the game's gone dog and then
we're gonna get up and down the floor. So yeah,
it's just it's and you notice Matt and Jack, it's
a mindset when you come to l A. If you
if you've never been to l A for uh extended

(42:11):
period of time, and you're a guy from the country,
and all of a sudden, these women are in the lobby, the.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
Dog, it's hard to resist.

Speaker 4 (42:18):
And magic he was sending women, That's what I heard,
was sending women to the damn hotel.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
The women's in the lobby and then sent to the hotel.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
That wasn't a joke, right, No, dominic Wiggins, He's like, hey,
Dominicque I got got a couple of friends.

Speaker 2 (42:30):
They gonna come.

Speaker 4 (42:31):
He told us about that women. Yeah, until they star players. Right,
So y'all, man, it wasn't it just just how we
rolled in l a back in the.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Right, No, no cell phone cameras and.

Speaker 2 (42:47):
You had to be there, Yeah, you had to be
there live and memoricks. Baby, it's straight up like that.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Why do you feel you got a chance to play
with Cap? And I think also he's another person thin
gets over in the hierarchy of the game. Why do
you think no one else has been able to develop
or mimic because it's a mimic and copycat league. You know,
we saw Kobe emulate might a tee to a t.
Why no one ever tried to emulate arguably the most
unstoppable shot ever created.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
You know what I heard matter is that it wasn't
a cool shot. It didn't look Okay, I said it
didn't look cool.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Scored thirty eight thousand points. Why does it have to
look cool?

Speaker 4 (43:29):
And nobody could stop it he either missed or made
You could do about it. Yeah, it wasn't like you
could your block it and all that. I mean, I
think in all the years that I played with him
all the years that I watched him play before I
got to lead, I saw one person blocking maybe two,
and I think Ralph Sampson was one.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
But it's weak side. It wasn't a guy on the ball,
you know what I'm.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
Saying, almost like, hey, who's upstairs? Oh the wind? Oh okay,
I thought we had some I thought we had some
cush ups.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
So I only saw one guy block it, and that
was from the week side. But you couldn't do nothing
with that shot. So for guys not to even try
that shot, it's just amazing to me, you know, because
I had a guy practice.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
And again, I'm my first year of coaching.

Speaker 4 (44:12):
I'm thirty six, thirty seven, thirty eight, probably my third year, Jack,
you probably was gone. We had a seven foot African
kid in Jersey that we're trying to do it, you know,
trying to bring him into development.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
So some uh you know I'm talking. I can't remember
his name though, yeah, yeah, I got yeah.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
And so he was like, I block any shot. I
was like, I said, I tell you what, I'm six four,
you can't block my sky And I shot this shot
about ten times in practice on it. He couldn't block it. Yeah,
And I said, I'm six four. That's why I don't
understand why it was a shot that wasn't duplicated like
you said over the years. But from what I heard,
gods were like, it's got a cool shot.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
It's a young kid that's coming up in the G
League and he played for the Okay see a little
bit too.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
He he plays it.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
He shoots it every game and it's effective. Like short guy,
but he got a little running hook. But that's his
that's his go to Jack.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
You can't block it, can't do nothing. It's effective. To bro,
you can't.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
I think you get your arm bar out over the top.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
So just imagine being seven foot and having that right
we tamp with seven to women that you you need
to get block it.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Women need to get there.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
I know a dude in the hood named hook Shot Mike.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
Who was.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
That shot Mike Hooks Yeah, Fresno, Yeah, hook shot And
he had a Jerry cur And you couldn't block Iteah
to Jerry Crow, go back real quick dealing. There was
something else I wanted to Obviously, we lost a legend
in the game. And and and Jerry rest rest in peace.
Coop told us yesterday you were one of Jerry's kids

(45:48):
with him, speak to his influence on the game and
his knowledge of the game and emotional speaking about speaking about.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Jerry was.

Speaker 4 (45:57):
The best general man. You're the best assessment of talent
that I've ever seen. And Jerry and I had multiple
conversations about basketball.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
Jerry.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
I always called Jerry my basketball dad because every decision
I made when it came to coach, and I called Jerry,
you know, and Logo would call me right back and
I would tell him I just got an offer to
coach this team. Jersey was the first, and he got
me the assistant coaching job of Sacramento.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
You know.

Speaker 4 (46:26):
He called uh, Jeff Petrie and Rick Adelman. He said,
I heard you guys looking for a coach. Byron Byron Scott.
I think would be a really good assistant coach for
you guys. He wanted to get me with with Phil
Jackson's on the bench with the Lakers, and Phil was like,
I got my own crew, you know. So Jerry was like,
I want you to come in and be a sister GM.
I said, I'm not a suit guy. You know, I

(46:48):
got to be on that floor, you know. So he
made the call to Sacramento. I got that job, and
then when I got offered the New Jersey job, I
called Jerry. I said, Logo, what do you think about
the Jersey? And you called him logo? Yeah, I said
what do you think about New Jersey? And I ran
down the players. We talked for like an hour and
a half. He said, I think that'd be a good job.

(47:09):
I think you could help them, And the same thing
with New Orleans Cleveland. I called him about every job
ever got, you know, so uh you talking about somebody
that was very instrumental in my development as a basketball
player and as a man. I saw how he treated
other players with nothing but respect. But he had no
fear with anybody. He came to the locker room one
game after we played somebody. We played and we won

(47:30):
the game, but Magic didn't play well, and which is
a rarity, you know, when he don't play, you know well,
and Jerry said, you played, like shit, what's going on
with you?

Speaker 2 (47:39):
You know?

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Magic just kind of looked and just kind of walked away.
But he didn't, you know, Jerry West, he's a logo.
He didn't care. So you talk about somebody know that,
you know. He brought Coop he made the trade for me,
you know, he made the trade for Cap. He got
your magic, I mean everybody. He brought that team together,
you know, so we're unfortunately for us, we lost an icon.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Still.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
I think the only the only person inducted into the
Hall of Fame as a player a GM and he's
at like two, two or three times he's been inducted
and he's the only one ever, you know.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
So he you know, he was something special.

Speaker 1 (48:19):
Man.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
You came into the league eighty four in the same
year David Stern came in as a commissioner. Around that time,
James Worthy said the league was too black and too
drug infested. Can't talk about that. When you came in
the league, How was it?

Speaker 2 (48:33):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (48:33):
It was crazy back then because cocaine was running rapid,
you know in the NBA.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Back drug.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Yeah, it's a hell of a drug, is right, obviously,
because it's you. It ruled a whole lot of your
brothers lives, man, and you know, it just goes to
show you get money. Sometimes that money is the worst drug,
you know, because some guys they misuse it, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
So it was running rapid.

Speaker 4 (48:58):
I don't think the part, you know, because the black
I mean, the players that we had was just brothers
that can just ball. What David Stern did come and
do is he brought Uh. He solidified the league as
far as a brand, you know, he made it marketable,
you know, because I know when he got to the league,
there was four teams making money, you know, five years

(49:18):
later and then obviously I still give Magic and Bird
all the due respect because when they came into the
league and he took off, you know, it was watchable again.
You know, the games wouldn't take the lay. I don't
even know if you remember that, because I remember in college,
I'm watching tape the.

Speaker 2 (49:34):
Lay games, championship championship games, not regularly.

Speaker 4 (49:38):
I mean I'm watching games in my dorm at eleven
o'clock at night of the finals. You know, when those
two guys got to the NBA, it changed the whole
complexity of the league.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Every team started making money, you know.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
And and David, as tough as he was as a commissioner,
he was still fair, you know, and he wanted to play.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
He wanted it for the players to do well. You know.
So I love that.

Speaker 4 (50:01):
I love that about you know, David stern that he
was all about the league and the players as well.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
He found a way to market individuals the right way
within a team sport without making it making any division.
Like he knew he had to get some stars. And
as you said, as you know, pushing the pushing, you know,
m j or Exkin me pushing Larry and Magic. And
then along came Michael understanding that hey we had this

(50:26):
is a team sport one thousand percent, but we can
you know, shine a light on stars within that concept.
And that was a concept that I don't think a
lot of leagues still have or understand now.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
He was, he was ahead of his time. David understood
the value of marketing certain guys because it's gonna bring
attention to not only those guys into the league, but
to the teams as well. And I think, you again,
you got to, you know, take your hat off to
him because he was a visionary as well.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
He taught about your overseas.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
You know, bringing the game, making the game global, you know,
so you know, he did an unbelievable job of getting
this lead to where it is today. And Adam Silver,
who I love, I think, is taking it. He's going
to take it to the next level. He was a
perfect guy, but it put in a bad situation when
he took it over.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
I was on that coperate team he had to fire
old board get out to lay. But I also think,
with all the respect because I think he's done a
great job, I think he also has a problem on
his hands, like how do you how do you clean
this game? How do you get this game enjoyable again
and then make it the game that the world loves.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
Absolutely, it's no doubt about it that he has a
problem on his sad and he has his work cutout.
Like I said, when you get viewership down this much,
you know, there's there's a there's a serious issue that
you got to deal with, you know, and it starts
with the players, you know. So we got to figure
out a way to get this game back to where
the viewers love watching it again, you know, because right
now it's not attractive.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
It's not Edge of the cy basketball. No, it's not basketball.
I mean we as players ex players. How many how
many games.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Do you go to? Jack? How many games you go?

Speaker 1 (51:56):
I don't really go to games, but I used to
consistently watch games. I've probably watched forty games thirty five.
I've watched two games this year.

Speaker 4 (52:03):
Jack, I've gone to two games, and I'll probably go
to eight to ten more because number one, my wife
likes going to the games, you know, so I'll go
to the games, but I do not watch an NBA
game until the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
I watched Collage, well women's basketball, that's all I want. Yeah,
now I will watch that because they played because they
played the right way. You know what I'm saying. They
played the right way. So the NBA got a major
problem on their heads as far as that's concerned.

Speaker 4 (52:29):
And most of the time, I won't watch the playoffs
until they get to the you know, conference finals, in
the finals when it so that's when it gets interesting.
So they got, you know, a major problem. Adam is
a guy who I feel is in is in the
right seat and the right guy to take it over
and get it back on track.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
But it's gonna take some time. Yep, agreed, battlely MJ.
What was that like you told you told the story
before about say m I may say B fifty to.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Just like that.

Speaker 4 (52:59):
It was it was most of that, but I would
look look he was he was coming off a bus
and I had hurt my ankle two games prior to something,
and uh, he gets off the bus and he said,
be what's up.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
I said, what's up? MJ said, I heard drink playing
to night. I said, nah.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
He said, what's wrong? I said, my ankle. He said, damn,
who gonna guard me? I said, Anthony Peeler. He said
that rookie fifty.

Speaker 2 (53:25):
This was exact.

Speaker 4 (53:26):
I said, you're gonna give me fifties. I was gonna
give you fifty, but now he said I'm gonna give
him fifty. Then I was like, damn. So I come
to the arena and I said, Anthony, let me just
give you some advice on playing MJ. I said, first
of all, don't be all physical like you always trying
to be in rough with the guy Sai, because he
gonna take that shit personal. I said, give me space.

(53:48):
Make him shot jump shots all night. They challenge you,
I said, and if they go in this, you know
that's that's that's the bottom line. But if you get
up on him, now you're getting to the bucket. He
getting to the free throw line. I said, he already
said getting fifty.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
I got him.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
I got him be I said, oh okay, So every
time m J scored, he looked over the bitch at
me because I was just sitting there like this, right,
he had fifty folk and missed the wide open dunk.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
You know, had a breakaway dunk. Yeah, yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
Heard that game and he did it like was nothing.
Looked at me every time I said nasty. The dude
was a man playing against boards.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
Damn there.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
I mean, he was one of those guys. You know,
I didn't fear anybody, but when I play against himself,
I ain't pissing him.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
Off, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (54:32):
Yeah, that's the only guy I was. I would look
at it. I ain't gonna piss him off. He hit
a shot and be a good shot shot him. I said,
I ain't pissing him off because I've seen him go
for forty fifty like it ain't nothing. Because the guys,
you know, being being aggressive or trying to be overly
physical with him.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
I said, I ain't pissing him off.

Speaker 4 (54:49):
Everybody else I don't give a ship but him, black Jesus,
I ain't messing with him like that.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Who else was? Who else was problems during that era
in the two guard spot that we might not think of.
I mean Obviously Dominique was tough. Yeah, but who else
at that time?

Speaker 4 (55:03):
You know a name that a lot of people don't remember, probably,
but a Rolando black Man. Orlando black Man. I played
against Orlando my sophomore year when we played when Arizona
State we went to Kansas played Kansas State, right, and
just all American guard. My coach is like, you're gonna
get a taste of a real two guard that's an

(55:25):
All American and we're gonna see how you you know,
how you have this? That dude ate me up though,
I was like, damn. So when I get to the Lakers,
I get to play against him when he was Dallas.
You know, I already had mad respect because I saw
him play and played against him. But now I've seen
him in the NBA. You know, the next couple of years,
Orlando Blackman would get buckets. He had game and he

(55:45):
was a good dude, very competitive, but he was tough man.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
If I'm not mistaken, he was married to Jenny Jones
to Talk the talk show host for a while. You
remember Jenny Jones that, right? I remember Jones? Yeah, I
think that I'm not mistaken. All I know is he
was a problem that he was a problem.

Speaker 3 (56:03):
You were critical about JJ Riddick, and when I've read it,
I understand what you meant about it. I don't think
it was critical, But you said JJ has no coaching
experience whatsoever, which at the time he didn't, and it
is hard jumping in that seat for the first time
as a head coach. I agree with you said, I
know what you meant by that, especially being black. JJ black,
so it's it's a tough, tough job, and really even

(56:24):
tougher for guys who have never had any coaching experience.
The reason why I understood that is because I've seen
so many black coaches get putting shit situations and expect
to save teams and they get fired. But I've seen
white coaches be in that same position, don't ship teams
and lose and still keep their job, and they're allowed

(56:44):
to go through that phase where they learning that's learned
to become a great coach, and they can stay keeping
their jobs. Blacks don't have the experience. So when you
said that about JJ, I understand what you meant because
he going into the Lakers, that's a that's a big
job right there, one of the biggest jobs to have,
then you're going there the first time.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
You never had no coaching experience.

Speaker 3 (57:03):
You have to be worried about JJ at some point
if you especially boy like guys, guess that's our homeboy.
So I was worried for him too, because even though
he has a basketball IQ, you've never coached. And every
time I talk to somebody about coaching that's played with
us that's older than us.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Man, Coaching is a hard ass job. We take a
lot of time.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
So I understood that because you talk about what what
you were thinking when you said that pretty.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
Much just what you said. I've been in that seat,
you know, hottest seat in sports. I've been in that
seat numerous of the times. And like you said, i've
been I've been in that seat where I've been put
in a situations where I know i got a team
that ain't got crap. Yeah you know, and they expect
you to make, you know, make something happen without the talent,
and they don't give you that time.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
To do it to develop it.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Right.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
I've been in that situation a few times.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Right, So what I'm saying about JJ is that, listen,
you have no coach at least I went to Sacramento
for two years as assistant coach.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
You have no coaching experience whatsoever.

Speaker 4 (57:59):
You're sitting in the hotes seat in the NBA because
that's the Lakers, right the hot to see in the NBA.
So this ain't gonna be a bet of roses. It's
gonna be tough, it's gonna be hard, and he's gonna
learn on the way. But what I also said was
that good thing he's got Nate McMillan, Scottie Brooks, some
assistant coaches who have that coach experience experience. So now

(58:22):
the biggest thing with him is now you got to
listen to those guys, you know, give him that respect
of being there and doing that. And you know, we
all have our own philosophies on how the game should
be played and how we want to utilize certain players,
but you have to also be able to when you're
in that city, you have to be able to make
adjustments on the fly sometimes, you know, and sometimes that

(58:43):
shit ain't gonna be going like you wrote ridded down
on the board, you know, And when it don't go
that way, that's when it really finds out if you
can coach or not, because if you can't make those
adjustments right away.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
You're in trouble. You're in trouble. But like you said,
I wasn't being negative towards J. J L any thing
like that.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
I'm just saying I'm just stating the audience, which is
the fact that he had no coaching experience. But like they,
like I said, when he got the job, well, the
good thing is he got some guys who have experience.
Now if he listens to those guys, then he'll be
just fine. Normally, truth sounds like hate to people who
hate the truth. Look, look, I don'et been there, done that. Yeah,

(59:21):
I don't have great life. Ain't no reason no hate
on nobody. You know what I'm saying. I'm at that
age right now where I'm like, look, I'm I'm at
I'm at peace with myself.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
I'm people, I'm golfing, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
But I'm gonna speak Yeah, I play golf two three
times a week, having a good time. I'm gonna speak
my mind because that's all I know. I'm gonna be honest,
but I'm not. I'm not, you know, putting down nobody
or anything like that. Because the guy got a job
and all that. I'm like, look, bro, do what you do.
I wish you all of less because for you, yeah,
I've been there, done that. Before we get you out

(59:54):
of here. You had young Kobe as a teammate, and
Kobe at the end talk to us about that journey
as a mentor brother to him early on and then
catching him at the end of his career as as coach.
You know what, Matt, I had the pleasure of seeing
the maturation of Kobe Bryant that that that, you know,

(01:00:20):
it hurts me and it it makes me happy in
the same way, if you know what I mean. You
know what I'm saying because I remember that like it
was yesterday and I was doing this special type of
thing for ESPN Entertainment and Andy Thompson y'all know Andy,
Michael Thompson's brother. He wanted to have a day with
me of going around with Kobe and Shaq and then

(01:00:42):
d Fish and just spend the day just talking about
basketball and life in general.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
So this was one of those days where we're just
done with practice, I'm all miked up, and I said
show Boat, you know, that's what our nickname was for
him at that time. Show bowt come in here, man,
I said, this is my main man. Because we would
sit on the bench together, we would sit on the
bus together. And the thing that was so different about
him at eighteen that he would be sitting there asking
you every damn question about basketball, you know, you know,

(01:01:11):
you know, just you know, how was it guarding this guy?
You know, how was it guarding this And we would
just talk basketball.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:01:18):
And so after like a month and a half or
so of practicing and everything, and he would just he
would go hard in practice. He would be there two
hours before practice shooting. You know, I came to the
gym and I would be going there early. I got
to get my treatment. You know, I'm thirty six years old.
I gotta get my treatment, get loosen up and get
warmed and get ready for practice. He out there shooting

(01:01:39):
and they ain't even got the lights on at the farm.
I was like, Gary, tell them, motherfuckers to put the
lights on, you know, like you know, if he gonna
be out there, tell them to put the lights on
so that they start putting the lights on.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
But sitting with him and being with him his rookie
year and watching how how much he wanted.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
It, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:01:57):
And even in that conversation there I said with him,
I said, you know, what do you want to accomplish
in this league? Said, I want to be one of
the greatest ever. And he didn't. It wasn't like he
said it and he didn't believe it. He was just
saying it for the cameras. He was dead serious, you know.
And I looked at him, I was like, Oh, it
will be because I'm seeing him every day.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
It will work. Yeah, I see your work ethic. You
got the talent.

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
Now all you need is experience, you know, knowing when
to take a game over, knowing when to you know,
defer to somebody else, you know, which he never was
gonna do anywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:02:27):
Companies like I didn't defer to nobody, you know. But
that was him, you know, that was him.

Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
He had a he had an inner confidence about himself
that there was nothing he couldn't do on that basketball court,
and you had to love that. And then having him
the last two years. I tell I've told a lot
of people this. It was my last two years of
coaching and it was two of my most fun years.
And the team wasn't that terrible. We were terrible. We

(01:02:52):
had you know, Jordan Clarkson who was young, you know,
Julius Brand who was young. But I knew they were
gonna be good, but they were young, you know. And
then we had a bunch of other bets that they
didn't give a shit no more, you know. And so
my job, as I told Cove, I said, look, my
job really, because we ain't gonna win a lot of games,
my job really is to get you to Game eighty

(01:03:12):
two in your twentieth season, relatively healthy, so you can
go out the way you want to go out.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
I said.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
So I'm gonna cut your minutes. I'm gonna tell you
what days that you don't need to even be here
for practice. I'm gonna tell you there's some games that
I just need you to show up at the arena.
I don't need you for shoot around. Well'm gonna do
shoot around with you. You know what I'm saying. You
went through everything as far as coverages, what you need
to be here. Just come to the game, look at
the board, how we guarden certain things, and we go

(01:03:40):
from there. So it was it was the last two
years of us reconnecting too, you know, and we had
so much fun just reconnecting, talking each other. He would
call me at five, six in the morning, and I said.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
Don't do that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:53):
I said, I'm just getting up at six. You calling
me a five You fucking up my sleep. Let me
get that last hour in because I'm gonna be up
all night, so doing this and this, and so we
were talk at six in the morning, you know, about
what we're gonna do at practice that day, or about
how we're getting ready for this game, about and it
was just it was just great that we reconnected. And
he was the first person that I told, besides my

(01:04:16):
son and a couple of other family members, that my
mom had passed. He was the first person I told
because we were in the locker room together and I
was like, I don't even know why I'm here. I
just lost my mom. But I know my mom she
would want me to be here. And Cole came in
and gave me a big hug and everything. Then I
had to go out and you know, deal with the media,

(01:04:37):
and they had found out and I said, don't ask
me no questions about you want to talk basketball, Let's
talk basketball. Anybody asked me a question about my personal life.
This interviews over us of course the media, so what
do you I'm out, you know, but it was it
was two of the best years for me as a
coach to spend with him, you know, in his last

(01:04:58):
two years, and that reconnect, the reconnection that we had
was even better than I thought it would be.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Sixty last game. Who goes out with sixty is last game?

Speaker 2 (01:05:07):
Kobe? Hey, man, yeah, Kobe.

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
And if you remember how that game started, he was like,
oh for five Yeah, he couldn't throw it in the ocean.
And I'm standing there, going, this is not the way
I want this in for him. You know, he gets
filed hits, a couple of free throws, basket gets big
as the ocean, you know. And I remember the last
the last quarter, because even at halftime we came in.

(01:05:31):
I said, he ain't coming out. I said, I gave
him six minutes arrest first half. I said, but this
second half, I ain't taken him out. I said, he's
gonna have to play the rest of this game, right,
And five six minutes left in the game, I said,
you know, KB, you got five six more minutes left
in that body. And man, I'm talking about you, talking
about the dude that was tired He was like, yeah,

(01:05:53):
and you know him his will yeah, yea, his mental
his mental capacity to understand that the moment this is it.
It was something I'll never forget.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
Rest in Peaks, quick hitters. First thing to come to mind.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Let us know, craziest image you could share from the
Forum Club.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
And we did and we didn't ask you. Hey, we
didn't ask you no foreign questions because Coop said you
were married at that time. We didn't want to do.
But they got to give us something.

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
The craziest image that I remember from the Forum Club, uh,
where they had a bathroom up there and somebody was
bent over in there and I'm gonna just leave. That
was like the craziest Oh my bad, So I'm gonna
leave that one at that.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
The Forum Club, we had something like it, but it
wasn't to that extent what down down below wasn't down there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Something like it where they were sucking down there. It was.
There was a lot of doing that. There's a lot
of going on.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
You are doing that, Iron Scott's Laker all time, starting fire,
It's gonna be oh, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Uh, somebody,
you gotta leave somebody.

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
Kareem and Wilt and Shack. Oh my god, I gotta
go with cap. I'm gonna go with cap.

Speaker 2 (01:07:25):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
I'm gonna say James Worthing, Elgie Baylor, James put James
at the power forward and bringing Elgin at the small.

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
For he's just six man, Jerry West. Yeah, logo, now yeah,
I said that, now you you Yeah, No, No, I don't.
I don't could being nice.

Speaker 4 (01:07:49):
He you know, he got one championship, he's been there
with four years now, sat year, Saturn. Well if he
can get to ten, if he can get to ten years,
then I would say, and he can get another another
another ring. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. He deserves
statue right now. You got to be ten at least
ten years. I mean, Lakers standards are different, man. You

(01:08:11):
can't look at it. Look at the statues that they
have right now. Everybody's been there ten plus with easy, Yeah,
to multiple championship in that uniform, in that uniform, in
the purple and gold. I don't give you ship what
you did in maroon and gold and white and blue
and all that. It don't matter what what did you
do when you were with purple and gold? If you
got two or three rings. Okay, now we talk if

(01:08:33):
you've been in the league ten plus, now we're talking,
but not the lead the Lakers. I mean we made
it known to Maurice, Maurice Lucas God, God bless him,
rest his soul. We had him from Phoenix and at
that time we were flying you know, American Airlines Delta
whatever is available, right, and they had eight first class seats.

(01:08:53):
He was like, I've been this league twelve years, but
you ain't been with the Lakers, dog, And that's how
we talked you this your first ship with the last dog,
so cool, magic Kareem. We get the first class, start
your ass in the back. And he was pissed and

(01:09:14):
we was like, school to be pissed, but you.

Speaker 2 (01:09:16):
Ain't been with the Lakers twelve years in this league.

Speaker 4 (01:09:19):
So that's how we rolled over him. So you know,
seven years, he's done great. I mean, obviously he's one
of the greatest separate it's no doubt about that. But
when when you come to Lakers standards, he got to
be here three more years and and get another chip
to be to have a statue.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
I agree. Child crush was that who was your childhood crush?

Speaker 4 (01:09:41):
Childhooush childhood crush. Wow, Pam Greer back in the day,
n man, that was my childhood crush. And then it
really crushed me when I when I saw Cap with her,
I said, I'd be damned. Karine was like, yo, yeah
that's my girl.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Was like so yeah, Pam, Grid was crushed.

Speaker 1 (01:10:09):
One album with no skips, one album with no skips
or record or record with no skips.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
Ah, that's a tough one. See, I'm such a huge
brother man.

Speaker 4 (01:10:28):
Who was talking about Frankie listening to Bely Yeah, I mean,
you know, I'm good. I'm gonna just got brother guilty pleasure,
guilty pleasure besides golf, No guilty pleasure. Guilty pleasures. Apple
pile of mold for me an apple pie. That's my

(01:10:50):
that's my I can't do it often, but that's my
guilty pleasure.

Speaker 3 (01:10:55):
If you could see one guest on our show, who
would it be? But you have to help us get
your answer on the show one guest on your show?
Who would it be? Because I love y'all guests. I
saw I saw the Magic Man on here you know
ship you know what would be big game? James was
a good one. I know, big game. But Larry Bird.

Speaker 2 (01:11:15):
Yes, sir, we're trying to contact with him. I would
love to see Larry Bird on because he don't talk.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
Talk just talk to us one time, l B, that's
Larry Bird.

Speaker 4 (01:11:25):
Would be great. I don't know if he does podcast
and everything, but I would love to see Larry.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
I made the connection Good said he's going to come
on the show.

Speaker 3 (01:11:32):
He wasn't ready when we wanted to do it and
All Star time last time, but he said he's definitely
gonna do it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:38):
So I'm excited. Matter fact, I love to see that. Well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
By Man, we appreciate you again. I grew up being
a huge fan and getting to know you over the
years as a coach and a man that's been dope,
getting to play golf with you. Man, So keep being great,
keep uh man, just keep being you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:54):
I will appreciate.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
Like I said, I got to come see wife and
get get my skin together, so tell her me on
the way.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
Yeah, yeah, I would tell. And also I'm I'm gonna
bring something for y'all. Uh, I'm gonna get some. I'm
just you gotta tell me where the son because I gotta.
I got a cannabis company in New Jersey. Oh yeah,
we'll send you my two.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
I gotta, I gotta. I want to send y'all something real.

Speaker 1 (01:12:13):
Quick too before your show and where where they can
find it. You got a show now, so talk about
your show.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
Oh my show, Byron Scott's Fast Break, that's my podcast.
I gotta get y'all on there too, man, y'all gotta
come help you out and bring it. Been on for
three three months and you can get into streaming on
YouTube and everything, but Byron Scots Fast Breaking. It's been
a lot of fun doing that. And like I said,
I love watching y'all show though.

Speaker 3 (01:12:35):
And shout out. Shout out to his son too. I
was basically with his son Tom. We was the same
age and grew up basically grew up together and now
we're still doing bench together with the Big three.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
So shout out his son. That's my boy. I'm a Scott,
my boy.

Speaker 1 (01:12:49):
We gotta get for you, man. We got our little
coffee table book and some some knick knacks and Patty
Wax and some merch.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
So yeah you go, brother, Thank you brother. I appreciate y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:12:57):
Shout out to our partner, Draft Kings the Crown, it's yours.
That's a rap man Byron Scott. You can catch this
on the Draft Kings Network and all the Smoke productions
you too. We'll see y'all next week.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Paz m hm mm hmmm

Speaker 1 (01:13:25):
Mm hmmm,

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Byron Scott on Kobe's 60-Point Finale, Guarding Michael Jordan, and Showtime Lakers | ALL THE SMOKE

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Byron Scott on Kobe's 60-Point Finale, Guarding Michael Jordan, and Showtime Lakers | ALL THE SMOKE