Richard Hamilton | Ep 41 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | #StayHome with SHOWTIME Basketball - All The Smoke

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
From my high school team. We have five guys make
the NBA. We had the County Rocket gets some mecca
of basketball. Here are those who come before us, upon
whose shoulders we stand. It's nothing that you can do
to stop the competitive and that's just in the water.

(00:30):
Welcome back to a special Quarantine edition. We got a
real special guys. What's up with your Brodie with the
virtual handshake. I'm gonna tell you something that I never
told no about it. I want to out the smoke.
Welcome back to a special edition Quarantine edition. Man, we're
still here, man, of all the smoke. Jack's good out

(00:52):
there in Atlanta, My brethren, Man, what's up? My brother?
Walls closing in. But hey, if it wasn't for this show,
I would have been for all the hair that I
have on me out You did what I'm saying. I'm
good now, I'm good now, I'm good. I don't recommend that,
bro You got a good leg right now with your
hair and your like I said, we gotta make a
huge product for your beard. You gotta you gotta run
that ship man. You know what, Spectac yell air man,

(01:16):
I'm salting pebble devil. You know what bro. I was no,
I was leaning towards cutting it. But boys gonna line
him up and keep it rolling. Yeah, keep it moving.
You you're attracting that more you hit that more sophisticated
audience now, like you look like you got something to
say right now. So I mean, I mean I can
go to some of these parties you'd be going to
with you now all the sophistication. Yeah, ok, because you know,

(01:38):
your teeth kind of jump out when you be talking
and ships about the beer. The beer kind of calms
in and brings it back in a little bit. I
knew someone was coming. I knew something was coming. You've
been giving me too many compliments on the last couple
of weeks. I knew something was coming. I knew someone
was coming, you know what I mean? Man, Let let

(01:59):
me get my my ship right Yes, sir, boy product
placement you need to you can send you something you
need it. I got some pretty boy miss already. I
used mine already. Yeah, that's why your ship coming in.
Nice shout out to you. Straight up, Hey man, we
got a special guest today, uh fourteen year NBA vet,

(02:21):
someone you and I had battled against for a long time.
NBA my classmate, my class mate, Yeah ninety six, Mickey
D's all American, uh rip, Hamilton's welcome to the show,
my man, my brother. I kept asking myself what took
y'all so long? Stack? I was about to start calling
you stat like Yo, when is my time to come
on the show? I knew you was gonna say that too,

(02:46):
was gonna say that. I hit him up in his
DMS like, bro, we need you, man, we need we
need you to lock in. So it was cool, man,
We're glad you're able to join us. Yeah, no problem,
happy to be here, y'all. Y'all killing it right now, man,
Just to let you know that much we appreciate it's
guess like you, man, we appreciate it. Yeah. I bother

(03:07):
you enough, trying to get that trying to get you
on that dock stuff with the broad do like I'm
gonna give my bar break for a minute before I
go back ahead. And yeah, I got you though, you
know I got you. I know I can get the
l A. So you know, ain't nobody flying right now,
but we see you real salt and peppered up right now.

(03:27):
Everything good over there, man, I'm going crazy like everybody
else man, Like, you know, the thing is you can't
let nobody touch your face. So Barbera calls me every
every now and then and be like, hey, you want
me come through to cut you and the kids. I'm like, Bro,
like I can't right now, man, I can't take any
chances right now. I'm letting it grow all out and

(03:48):
then you know, after you know we've done quarantine, I'm
just going to ask face man high school day or
I'm gonna go like Jack, Like I told you, man,
just mustache, go go ask space before you go. Just
mustache that Burt Riddles Reynolds right there. Yeah, but I'm

(04:13):
going through it right now. Man. I had to wear
a hat today, man, because you don't want to see
the top. You know, I got to. I got to
the top open the day. Man, So did you did
you did you go to did you get yours? By reality? Man?
He did challenge me, Bro, but I was scared. I
ain't even gonna. I was like, man, at one point

(04:35):
in time, this this cool team thing gonna be over
and a lot of people making memes about certain guys.
So I was like, man, hold up on that one. Yeah, Yeah,
that's tough, man, anyway, man, how are you and the
family holding down right now? Obviously you said it's you know,
it's you and in the house with the family. How's

(04:56):
everything going with that? Man? It's cool man, you know,
you know are a lot of styles. Man. We've been
on the road, you know, for so long since we've
been eighteen years old. So really it's been a long
time where you've been in the house, you know, for
thirty straight days, where you ate everything that out of
refrigerator for thirty three days. No restaurants, no going out,
no nothing. But it's been cool, you know. I know

(05:17):
my kids are sick of tired to hearing my voice
because you know, I'm playing dad. I'm playing you know,
trainer who they don't even think I hoop, so, you know,
anything about telling something in the basketball quarter just goes
out the window. But helping out with school work, which
is tough because sixth grade math ain't like the sixth
grade man we grew up. I'm on fifth grade. I'm

(05:39):
on fifth grade math tripping out. I was on third
grade math tripping out, Like the math is just way
different now it's been years since we did it. Yeah,
so they got me on tilt right now playing chef,
you know, on the grill, cooking for them. But it's
you know, it's a good time, spending time with the family.
Just holding it down, man, just happy. I got a
good situation at home. I saw that throwback real you post,

(06:00):
he said, joined twenty years old with the ice chest
underneath it. Facts. Only the real people that know how
to grill know what that grill is about. That thing
is highly seasoned, right, there's just a smoke, look like
a smoker built in and everything. That's good man. It's
been through rain, snow, you know, sleep, you know a
hundred degree whether I hear in Florida like it's been
through everything. I seen that ship when you post that,

(06:22):
SHI was like, oh that should just beat up. But
I bet you it could cook some goodass food though,
all purpose purpose everything. Absolutely this Hall of Fame two
thousand twenty class. Uh, some are saying the greatest class
ever obviously with your brother co rest in peace, Tim
Duncan KG. Guys that are in your age range, what
are your thoughts on this class? I agree with you man,

(06:43):
this is definitely, uh the best of all time in
my opinion. I mean, three guys that you know all
three of us competed against our whole entire career one
trying to get through rest in peace, Kobe Bryan and
Shaquille O'Neil man. I mean that was the greatest one
to punch that I ever played against. Man, And you know,

(07:04):
uh and when you see him and Tim duncan you
know you know the air that they had with my
new Jenobli and Tony Parker. I mean you knew once
you went to San Antonio and Jack Nos winning the
championship there. Man, it was hard to win in San Antonio. Man,
pop did it the right way. You know, they was
gonna do everything possible to try to beat you up,
frustrate you, trip you, kick you. You know, Bruce Bond

(07:24):
was doing all that crazy stuff backing the day man,
Like you know, he was playing defense on offense during
during that time. But you know, THEMB three guys kg
exceptional career. And the one thing that I love about
all three guys, man, they played hard on both ends. Man.
They just wasn't great offensive players. You know, they was
on the All Defensive team, They made All All Star team. Man,

(07:47):
them guys were animals. They were beasts, man. So you know,
hats off to all them, man, you know, them three
guys were well deserving. Absolutely. Let's stay with Kobe though. Um,
you played in high school and coach Ville. Shout coach Ville.
I remember me all your home watching Coach mcdondad's game.
Shout out to all them, man. Uh, tell us tell
us about that experience growing up in Coachville and plant

(08:07):
against cob in high school. He first, first of all, Man,
you know the guys they you know, they still talk
about you, Jack uh Matt. You know, when were playing
the McDonald's All American game. We played in Pittsburgh, so
they one too far from the crib, right, And this
when I knew Stack was a real last dude, man,
for real man, Like all my homeboys, you know, it

(08:28):
was only an hour or so from from the crib.
They all drove up to the game, you know what
I'm saying, And they all got their little rooms and
stuff like that. And I remember coming to the room
and and and Stack hit it off right with all
of them from the door, right, you know. And they
love Stack at the time. Right. So I come in

(08:48):
the room and it's funky in there. And then when
I say folky, I ain't talking about you know, sneakers
or you know, it's loud in there. It's loud, right,
you know. And and at the time, I'm straight, I'm
straight as an arrow, right, I ain't smoking, I ain't
doing nothing that I'm you know, come from the neighborhood.
And I'm like, bro, I'm I ain't giving myself no

(09:08):
excuses why I ain't making I ain't gonna make it
to the league. And I come in that room and
stacking the fired up right, and I'm looking at and
I'm looking at my homeboys. I'm like, yo, do y'all
can't do that. We gotta We got a game on
national TV. And at the time, you know, back in
the day, you know, young kids weren't playing on national TV.

(09:29):
That was our first time to the limelight. It was
before all the social media area and things like that.
And and jacking there getting fired up. I'm like, yo, dude,
ain't gonna be ready for the game tomorrow. And Matt,
when I say this, dude came out to day. Bro,
I think Stack got m VP of the game like
like he was. He was. He was staring. I want

(09:55):
to cut you out, but you Kobe, you and Kobe
said it. I am happy I didn't win it. Remember
they gave it to Shaheen Holloway they did. Yep, I
should have wanted. I should have won the Clearest Day, Bro.
But but you said that, man, Kobe said it. I
feel like I wanted. I got a trophy. I got
a trophy over here and somebody made me. He says

(10:17):
ninety it says ninety things. McDonald's all American game dog
and I put it up on my trophy. Think for real, Yeah,
I should have won the Thanks bro that man, That's
when I found out my brother was superhuman. I was like, man, dude,
where you like, man, what should be eating? Like? Bro? Like,
so definitely cheet those and bloods that's what he be eating.
Oh man, he was a trans center on that. That

(10:39):
was the first time I've seen someone came out, come
out the next night and killed. But like you said, man,
Cole was like a brother, you know, to to all
of us. Man. He meant so much to myself because
at the time, you know, I was a young kid
in Coachtville, Pennsylvanian, and I thought I was the best
thing since since sliced bread in my area. And this,
like I said. This was before the social media area.

(11:00):
You know, I'm from a town. It's only eleven thousand
people there. You know, we're right outside the coach field,
so you know, you never get an opportunity to see
all the talent outside of that little town. I've never
been on a plane, I've never been on the train.
I grew up in my town. I never leave, right.
So my coach one day he said to me, he
was like, hey, man, you think you you're nice man,
but there's a kid down the street that talented. I'm like, yeah, right,

(11:25):
you gotta be kiding me. Hell no, he was like, Bro,
he's six six, the same high as you. You know,
he probably weighed twenty more pounds than you. He's probably
way more athletic than you, and probably can shoot, you
know from you Yeah, I guess you know from you know,
from a tough town, and you know nobody gets you

(11:45):
props in that area. So I was like, damn, bro,
like really there, break down my self esteem like that.
He's like, nah, Bro, I'm telling you it's a kid
down the street, and I'm not gonna tell you who
he is. But if if we do what we're supposed to,
we can meet up against him in the in the
in the playoffs. So I remember, you know, when we
played against Lord Maryan looking down at the end of

(12:06):
the court, just like the rest of the guys on
my team was right. And you know, I had all
kids on my team from the neighborhood. So you know,
I'm with all the homes that I grew up with,
and half of them dudes, I thought they were better
than me, right and cold team you know, looked like
a private school team. Right. He didn't look like he
grew up with, you know, the dudes that I grew
up with. So I'm like, man, there ain't no way.
But I'm looking at his game and I'm like, bro, like, damn,

(12:29):
he down there doing three sixties. You know what I'm saying.
He doing the inn out double crossover, step back, shooting
three ft behind the point line. I'm scratched my head.
I'm like, damn, this this dude real. Like you know
what I'm saying. I said, not repeat, you know, in
my mind, I'm like, note, can't ain't better than me.
Ain't no way in held na hell na man. Once

(12:50):
that ball was thrown thrown up, man, bro, Look after
that game, I went back home. I looked myself in
the mirror and I said, hey, bro, you and you
through yall went at it up. Y'all went at it.
We went at it. We went at it. You know,
don't don't don't, don't dimn your life to that. Y'all
went at We went at it. But that was the
first time that I played against somebody at my position

(13:14):
right that outscored me and won the game. You know,
I think he ended the game with thirty something. I
ended up with like twenty nine, you know, and he
won the game. So that was a big thing to me, Like,
you're not gonna come, you know, to my hometown, you
know where. You know, I felt like I was the
best ship since sliced bread and make and make me

(13:34):
look not like the best. And he came out and
showcase his game, and you know, right right from there,
that's when me and him start to to to really
communicate and start to get a relationship. Y'all pay you together. Yeah,
So it was a guy, you know in Philly. Because
a weird thing happened. We tried out. I tried out

(13:56):
for a team and it was called the Keystone Game,
and uh, the coach already had, you know, his teams,
you know, made up already, like a lot of times
these coaches have right before guys even try out. So
a lot of the guys that worked out on my
team that played with me in high school all got
cut and he was trying to cut me, so they
ended up firing the coach. Right, a new coach came in,

(14:16):
a guy named Sam Ryan's Right. So say Ryan's came
in and was like, hey, man, bro, I don't know
where you're from. I don't know where you've been because,
like I said, I never got out of my little town.
He was like, bro, but I'm gonna pair you up
and I'm gonna get this kid down the road named
Kobe Bryant. And I was like, oh man, I just
played against that dude like like you know what you know,

(14:37):
like like he can rock out like cool. So he
got me and Coben and gym together, right, And that
was the first time I started to see someone that
had you know, the mindset, you know, killer like like,
I mean, I've been around a lot of great players, right,
but I ain't never been around somebody like him that

(14:58):
just had killed on his mind all day and all night,
like it was basketball seven like like like like I
remember one time we were playing in the tournament and
I was like a code like, uh you know last night,
uh me and my cousins food. You know, there's a
little bar around the corner that they thought we were
twenty one years old, like they let us said right,

(15:20):
and I'm like, yo, let's let's go there after the game.
And he looked at me. He was like, no, I ripped.
You know, I gotta get back to my room and
ice my knees and watch tape. I'm like, what at
sixteen years old when we don't even stretch like at
six seventeen, Jack, you gotta think about it. You're going

(15:41):
the straight and U games and you ain't even a
stretching you just like like we just we just he
talking about ice and his knees down and watching philm
I said, Bro, this dude is I looked at my cousin.
I see you, Bro, this sport. This dude is different.
You know what I mean from day one at like
sixteen seventeen years old. But that told you his mindset

(16:01):
of the game at a young age. That's why you
know a lot of people start to you know, talk
to cob and be around cold once he was Kobe Bryant. Right.
You know a lot of you know, and a lot
of times guys say, oh you know what, uh, you
know the big thing I alwayshould say. Guy start saying, hey,
how many you go to NBA player? You say how
many shots you shoot up a day? And guys like, oh,
I I don't. I don't leave a gym time to

(16:23):
make a thousand. And I'll be like, man, that's that's
food's gold. Not everybody do that. You know, everybody do that?
Like like Cole, when Coke said he was doing something, Bro,
he was actually out there doing it a rip. I
used to tell people about the McDonald's game, like when
he was there, he had a certain aura and a
certain presents about him that we all knew he was

(16:43):
gonna be great. Bro. Like I tell a story, like
everybody has pictures with like group pictures together, but everybody
was taking one on one pictures with Kobe at THECA
game because we all knew. Everybody knew, Bro, I don't
I got picture with everybody, but Kobe is the only
person like the one I want picture with in high school, Bro,
we knew then that this dude was different, bro, Yo,

(17:05):
he he was. He was for real, man, that stack
he was. I mean, like we used to because we
were roommates too, like so all the events we were
roommates and stuff like that. And I remember when he
was talking about on your show, like he had to
kill this, right, and it's and it's funny because you know,
we were in roommates and it was many times at
night that this dude, this didn't want to go to sleep,
You just wanted to talk basketball, right, And we were

(17:28):
about to play Tim Thomas uh and uh TEENick no
and uh in the Trolley Webber Tournament in Maryland, and
Tim Thomas was the number one player in the country
at the time, and Cole was just in the room
all night, like one o'clock in the morning, just pacing
around my bed like, yo, rep, you know tomorrow I'm
gonna kill this dude. And I'm not like I'm like

(17:51):
Tim Thomas. Like, first of all, we don't even play
the same position as him, right, but but Tim played
on the wing at that time too. Like he was
so real at that time, right, because he was a
six nine, can handle the ball, can play inside outside.
He was like, man, I'm gonna kill this dude. Man,
he was like, after after the Morrow, it ain't gonna
be no doubt in anybody's mind who the number one

(18:11):
player in America is. Like they saying, I ain't the
number one player. Watch watch after the Morrow night. I'm like, Bro,
go to sleep, man. You played him early in the morning. Man, like,
let's let's talk about this pre game, but like tonight,
let's go to bed. So from a mentality, uh standpoint, man, dude,
dude was different man. He was definitely one of a kind.

(18:33):
How did he do in the game. After the game, Bro, Matt,
After that game, you can pull up every tabloid or
every little scalone report, and every last one of them
had Kobe Bryant as the number one. Number one after that,
I remember, I remember that he came out he might
have had close to fifty and we won and we

(18:56):
were so no. Like Bro was like like he was
was a killer man. He was. He was. He was
different man, he was, he was totally different. He remember
he told us, uh stories about your pops. Always had
the video camera, so he had a bunch of footage
y'all back there, Uh playing together. I need that he
got that McDonald's footage to tell you Pop to send

(19:16):
me some footage. Man, I know you got all that footage.
I know you know my pop, you know, my Pops
is o g man, like you know, like my Pops
was the only guy that I know that snuck his camera, well,
brought his camera and there's somebody to tell him no
at the abc D camp right like like like like
he didn't like, he didn't care and filmed everything. And
he did the same thing at the McDonald's All American game.

(19:38):
And you gotta know, if you know Kobe uh and
Joe his father, Joe Bryant, you know they're very you know,
uh secretive family. They don't let a lot of people win.
But you know they loved me and my pop and
they allowed you know him to bring in the camera there.
And we were just young kids, man, just you know,
having fun, having a good time. And like you said,

(20:00):
jack I got Jackie and I got Jermaine on there.
And that was the one thing with Cob, he always
wanted the tapes right because by the time I got
to the lead, I used to always mess around with like, yo,
give me the jersey, man signed the jersey, you know,
for me. But that was the one thing I always
had one up on him because I had all the
tape and and I'll be like, Yo, give me the
jersey signing and give it to him here Like, nah, man,
do you give me the tape. I ain't guying signing

(20:23):
ship for you. I need every last one of them tapes.
I know that footage. Nah. So yeah, so he my
my my pop got all the behind the scenes stuff
where you know, at the end of the day, we
were just kids because that's what we were. We were
we were nobodies at the time. We were just trying
to make a name for ourselves. You know. We wasn't

(20:45):
from you know, we're from right outside the Philadelphia, you
know what I'm saying. So it's a big difference. Like,
you know, we're from Pennsylvania and it's you know, it's
probably similar to what it is in l A. Matt Like,
you know, you've got people that's from l A, that
lives in l A proper, and then you've got people
from the valley and we're kids that's from outside the
city of Philadelphia. You look at different. Yeah, people in

(21:06):
the city don't really respect you, right, They're like, okay,
you know they just suburb kid. Nah, bro, Like we
grew up the same way, but we just ain't from
the city, so we had to go there and earn
our respect each and every day. So it wasn't like
something was just given to us. Man, thank you for
sharing those stories. Man, we appreciate that. Obviously. Rest in
peace to Code everyone else lost in that in that

(21:28):
unfortunate situation. Let's transition into college, because you were one
of the great college players of all time and kind
of like the like the changing of the guard that
you know, you're you're the run of your career. Then,
you know, maybe a handful of years after. I kind
of felt like college basketball had lost his essence after that. Um,
but you were nineteen national champion. You guys just had

(21:51):
a twenty year reunion for that team. Correct talk to
us about that. Uh. It was a great experience for
me because, like I said it, like we talked about Code.
We used to always talk about college, but he was
always talking about the NBA, and I was like, man,
I'm ready for that, you know. So I end up
choosing to go to Yukon And it was great for
me because one that I got an opportunity to see

(22:13):
big bro Ray Allen before me. Right, So when when
when I got to the University of Connecticut, you know,
you know a lot of people see me, you know,
coming off pin downs and coming off screens and stuff
like that. But that wasn't my game in high school.
That's that that wasn't who I was. And when I
first got there, Calhoun used to always tell me like,
hey man, you you're not a McDonald's all American. You're

(22:34):
just a coacht field all American. Until you learn how
to use your teammates and understand where your teammates are
on the floor and where you know, uh, the point
guard is going to distribute the ball, how to use
guys as coming off pen downs and things like that,
you will be a very simple player. Right. So he
forced me to go in there and watch Ray Allen
and watch a whole lot of film on him, just

(22:54):
understanding the concepts are coming off pin downs and things
like that. But during that time, the Big East was crazy.
I mean it was ridiculous. I mean, like AI. You know,
before I got to get AI and Georgetown, you had
Carrie Kittles in Villanova, Yeah, you had Ray Allen, and
Connecticut you had Town Wallace at Syracuse like like it
was loaded. So at that time, it was like, in

(23:17):
my opinion, the most physical conference, you know, in college basketball.
And you know, I always looked at the Big East playing,
you know, playing on the biggest stage at Madison Square Guarden.
So I looked at all that and I always told myself,
I never if I never got an opportunity to play
in the NBA playing at the University of Connecticut, will
be playing like on the professional team. Because there was
no professional teams in Connecticut. There was no professional you know,

(23:40):
football teams or anything like that. So everything was all
about men's and women's basketball. So you know, the one
thing that I did was, you know, trust the process,
trust Calhoun, and trust you know what all the guys
you know did before me, the Ray Allen's, the Dan
Yelle Marshall's, you know, the Cliff Robinson's guys that did
it before me. And trust that, you know, Calhoun would
put me in the positions to get me to the

(24:02):
next level. But you know, I had a great group
of guys. You know, I played with Collie Elaman, who
was probably one of the one of my favorite you know,
and basketball players of all time. You know, played with
Ricky Moore, Kevin Freeman and Jake Vosco. But dumb guys. Man. Look,
you know that's when you know money didn't really you know,

(24:22):
it was no egos, right, you know, money wasn't involved.
It was like we were just kids, man, were just
like you know, we were just all about to grind, Like, hey,
you know what we want. We didn't like to lose.
We we wanted to win. And that year was a
very special year because the year before that we went
to the Elite Eight and we lost to a really
good team, uh at North Carolina who had Vince Carter,

(24:43):
Antoine Jamison you know, and yeah they had a mob
like and we played them in North Carolina. And I
thought about leaving after my sophomore year, which I'm happy
I did because I wasn't ready for that. But Calhoun
convinced me to come back. And the one thing that
they all it's told me, it's like, hey, Rip, if
you come back to school for your junior year, you

(25:03):
have an opportunity to be the Michael Michael Jordan of
college basketball. And I'm like, Michael Jordan's college basketball, Like
what you mean? He was like, bro, like you know,
you got an opportunity to come back and not If
you leave your sophomore year, you'll be a top twenty pick.
If you come back your junior year, you'll be a
lottery pick. You got a opportunity to win the national championship.
You'll be fighting for for player to UH of the

(25:25):
Year uh. And you got an opportunity to be one
of the best scores that ever come through here. So
after him stroking my ego for like thirty forty minutes,
he for saying that though he said saying that, yeah,
and all that ship and all that ship came true.
Though all of it came true. Man, You know it
was crazy because Calhoun was a tough ass coach man.

(25:46):
Like you know, I had to I don't know if
you want to call it the luxury, but you know
I had a luxury of being around some tough ass
head coaches. Dudes that didn't that didn't you know, allow
you to take days off, you know what I'm saying,
Like you had to come in, you had to be
about about the grind. They would tell you fuck you
to your face and like you ain't shipped to your

(26:07):
face like you know, I mean, what no kiss asked
like I didn't have kids ass coaches like I had
coaches that was like, hey, bro, like, I'm gonna believe
in you more than you believe in yourself, but I'm
gonna push you to get you to where you want
to get to. And you know, I'm happy I listened
to him because we won a national championship and I
got the opportunity to play in the NBA. That's that
old school love, that old school tough love. You and

(26:28):
Kalid l Am I played with him in and we
both was rookie at the same time. We played in
the Rookie All Star Game together and that was my
guy too. I really loved playing with him. I used
to call him. I used to call him with the
five two point guard, knowing he was he wasn't really
five too. Though he wasn't really five two. I used
to always called I always always say it was five

(26:49):
to call him five too. But tell me about your
relationship with I can't even say his name, Kylie Elmin.
Tell me about your relationship. He was no. Kylie was
a tough cookie man. I mean shouts out to Kylie
in man. People forget Collid was Mr Basketball and in Minnesota.
I mean, he was probably the number one point guard
in his class coming out that year. But when he

(27:09):
came to Connecticut, man, he gave us a sense of
confidence and a sense of cockiness all in the same sentence,
right because Calhoun had you know, he was you know,
pretty much blinders on, you know, straightforward, you know, very structured,
very serious at all time. And Collie it was collid.
He was silly, he was fun Like when coach said, hey,

(27:32):
you know what this picture day to day everybody got
to wear suits and ties. Colleague came in with a
button up T shirt, I mean a button up shirt
with no t you know. So he you know, he
was he was the guy that came on the bus,
you know. And Yale this screaming was like hey, coach,
call when you're ready or what you know, when coach
was very like, hey man, everybody on the bus gotta
be quiet because you know, you gotta stay focused. But

(27:55):
he was probably one of, you know, the toughest point
guards UH ever played with, and his confidence level was
was crazy. Colleague can go one for fifteen, but he's
in the last three minutes of the game. He still
wonted the rock and you know, you never looked at
him in his eyes. Very similar to a guy that

(28:15):
I played with, Chauncey Billups that regard inside. Chauncey shot
the ball when he came to the last couple of
minutes of the game, he's still he's you can you
you can count on him. And College always loved the
the the big the big moments. Uh, you know, we
felt like we were the best badcourt in college basketball.
Like we walked with that, like you know, it wasn't
something that we we shied away from, Like you know,

(28:37):
you put the camera in front of us, We're gonna
tell you, you know, because we were always underdogs, like
nobody really believed in us. Nobody believed that, you know,
we're gon we can win a national championship. When Duke
had Shane Battyer Elton Brand, Corey mcgetty, you know, Trajan
langdon you know, they had four or five guys you
know in the first round, so you know, in our
mind it was against all odds, you know what I'm saying.

(28:58):
But but College was definitely one of the most confident
players that I ever played with. Like I loved him
on and off the court. You know what I'm saying,
I think he you know, he's on his off the
course situation sometimes didn't help his on the course situation.
You know, that's my guy. Got a crazy story. We're
in the Rookie All Star Game. Uh in two thousand,

(29:19):
two thousand and one. We're in the Rookie All Star Game, right,
So we all on the same floor. They got all
the rookies on the same floor. So it's and I
think I think that the sophomores was on the same
floor too, So it's just it's my room is college room.
Were next door to each other, l o is across
from us and next door to llo is um Darius Miles.
We didn't get we didn't popped, all out doors open,

(29:42):
were passing blunts through the hallway to each other when
our doors open, and we all had no plans on
even thinking about what we were doing. Bro. We was
at All Star. We were all happy to be there.
We're all damn never you know, to find all kinds
of odds. Bro. And I remember I remember me and
him being right next door, and I remember walking next door.

(30:04):
We passed and blessed each other at All Star in
the All Star NBA Hotel. But I'm like, man, that
was one of the best times in my life. Bro.
College if you know he is what it is like,
Like Jack, I can tell you a funny story, man,
after we won the national championship and this is before
the social media era that you know, nobody really knew

(30:24):
or talked about. But we just won the national championship, right,
So we're going to uh So we're on campus and
college comes up to me. It's like, a rip, Let's
go to Hartford right to get some gear because that's
where all the hip hop you know, you get all
your hip hop clothes and get fresh. He was like, Yo,
my man, got a store there, you know, Let's go
down there and get some clothes. I'm like, all right, cool,
you know, so we go to the store and get

(30:45):
some gear whatever whatever. Right, So we get back in
the car. Now we on our way back to campus.
So College like, oh man, you know what, man, rip,
let's ride through the hood. You know what I'm saying
from from the people, right. So I'm like I'm like, hey,
let's just get back. Let's get back to the camp.
He's like, no, let's just ride through real quick. I'm like,
a cool, let's do it. So we're riding through the neighborhood.

(31:07):
You know what I'm saying, You know, everybody in the
neighborhood giving us love whatever, whatever, high fi and whatever whatever.
So we stopped by this little project, you know what
I'm saying over there, right in a couple of homies
you know in the neighborhood, you know, New k and
they was like, yo, what's up man, congratulations, No, just
give him love, right, shaking hands, snapping up whatever whatever. Right,
So we're in the car and one dude comes over

(31:29):
and he says a k uh huh man, you know
what I'm saying, and and reaches in the car and
acts like he given him that. But then he pulls
his hand back right, and then the homie was like, hey,
you know what, just give it to him. Man, him
dudes one of the national championship And I don't know
what the hell is that, you know what I'm saying, like,
just give it to him whatever whatever. Right. So then

(31:50):
Ka was like, no, I'm cool whatever whatever. Homies like, no,
give it to him. Boom, game of high five, you
know what I'm saying. And it was two dimebags of weed, right, Kate.
He takes it right, K take it right, put it
in his pocket. Boom right. So now we're in the car, right,
So we sped off. I mean we're going thirty miles

(32:11):
an hour. As soon as we hit the corner, bro,
the sirens go off. Police police come out on foot
sprinting stop down, they ran, they ran stop sign and
they've been speeding or whatever that. I'm like, bro, we
ain't even speed, Like what the hell going on? Like

(32:32):
you know what I'm saying. Once I see police, I'm shook, right.
So then K like, oh man, like damn, like you
know what I mean, I got this on me Like
like you know what I mean. We we got college
kids at this time. You know, marijuana was a big
thing back then. Like like so the cop come out right,
so he like he's put his one cop come take

(32:54):
me and put me in the cop car. They take
him and put him in the cop car. I'm like, yo,
what what the hell is going on? So the cop
car I'm in, the police is like man, rip, like
why why are y'all here? And I'm like, bro, we
just came here to get some clothes, like you know
what I'm saying, Like you know, we just had a
cruise around. Never He's like, bro, you know, we've been
having a sting operation on this project for the last

(33:14):
four months. I'm like, so then I'm like, damn. He's like,
y'all shouldn't be out here. Y'all shouldn't be out here.
So now I'm looking through the police police uh. And
I'm in the back seat. I'm looking through the police window.
So they pulled kindle it out the cart first, but
they separated, and I know what pocket he put the
diamond bags in, and I'm like, bro, like, please don't

(33:36):
go in the pocket right first thing they did. So
they had some mean ass cameras. Man, I don't know
where the where the hell they got this camera. The
first place they checked was inside his sweatsup pocket. He
going to sweatsup pocket, bomb pulls it out. I don't
see what was being saying because I just see a
whole lot of hands because I'm in there. They put
him in the car. They pulled me out. It was like,

(33:57):
what the hell you got in your pocket? I'm like, bro,
I ain't got nothing. They packed me down whatever, whatever,
they check, they check the car, whatever, whatever, and then
they take him right to the police station. So I'm like, yo, like,
what's what's going on? You know, because I'm acting dumb.
I'm like, yo, what's going on? He was like, oh, man,
he had marijuana on him. He's going to jail. So
I'm like, well, well, like yo, like like what about me?

(34:20):
They was like, oh, were you off? Like but he's
going to jail. And I'm like, bro, like like where
we just want a national championship, like like like y'all,
y'all can't let us off like and he like he
like hell nah, like in a police I mean, everybody
in the neighborhood out like, yo, let them kids go.
Let them kids go. So you know, I'm an hour
from campus, man, and I'm like, yo, all right, man,

(34:40):
can you just give me the keys so I can
drive back to the to to to the campus. They're like,
hell no, but we can give you a ride to
the police station. I said, you know what, I walked
back to campus man, And I walked. I walked out
of mind when somebody came and getting picked up, you know,
just before the cell phone here somebody get ride back
to the campus. So that was It's a crazy situation

(35:01):
because Kyle school his sophomore year. That was the same
year that I left, you know what I'm saying, But
he was going to leave that year, but he ended
up coming back for his junior year. Damn because of
that situation. So nineteen nine, you're the seventh pick of
the Washington Wizards. Talked to us about that experience. That

(35:22):
was the hell of a draft class man that was.
But that was Elton Brand, Baron Davis, Steve Francis, l
O Genoble was a second round pick, j Ron Ron Yes,
Sean Marion Genoble. Yeah, it was big. Carolinko. Man, listen
that that draft year was busy. I mean it was crazy,

(35:44):
and you know I can remember especially, uh the night
before the draft and my man b D b D
He came in my room and he was like, yo, man,
you're going to to to to the Wizards. I'm like,
how you know He's like everything? Yeah, man, he was
like he was like, man, I know where you know,
I'm going to Charlotte. Steve frances Is gonna get, you know,

(36:06):
drafted by Vancouver. Like like, I'm like, bro, how do
you know? He's like my agent told me. I said, man,
you you gotta be kidding. I started looking at my
agent wrong crazy because after the draft I end up
firing my agent because of the information that bear that
Bear Day has had in my and my agent. At
the time, I was thinking, like, man, why don't you
know this man? Like how someone how's he coming to

(36:28):
tell tell tell me that that that class was mean? Man.
I mean if you look at the guys that we
had in there, you talk about elm Brand who has
who had a great career, Steve Francis, who was like
all world at the time, took the world by storm,
frances to the league by storm problem and that and
that's the guy that we don't talk about a lot.
Steve frances was. Nobody wanted to guard him. Nobody wanted

(36:52):
to nobody, you know they you know they had that
one thing called one shake to shape three shake in Houston,
yea with him and contin Coatino and uh Mouchie Norris
like you didn't want to get caught on that blender.
But d D and you know l O and you
know we had you know Ron Ron and uh, I
mean you got to think about Genobley was the second

(37:14):
round pick, like second round pick, like which was crazy,
but you know, we we we had one of the
best class in my in my opinion, But were some
of your events with the Wizards that year? Oh man,
my man, you know my vet was Rod Strickler Man. Yeah, Strict,

(37:34):
Strict was my dude man like. He he took me
underneath his wing man like like an O g should
man like. You know, he gave me and Laurn profit
was the Rooks at the time, and he made sure
we were straight. You know, he gives us his car.
You know what I'm saying. If you know we go out.
Everything was on him until one day Laurn Prophet put
diesel fuel in his Mercedes bad and Strict was piste

(37:59):
off be And you know we're kids from the neighborhood.
We didn't know what type of gas and a Mercedes
so proper diesel few so so so Strict Strick was
piste off at him. But Strict was my guy. Because
the thing about it and you and both of you
guys noticed, once you first come to league, especially when

(38:20):
you come on a veteran team, you know, they expect
you to just fall in line when you get there, right,
They don't expect you to be alpha in the locker room.
You can't go into a veteran locker room and saying,
all right, you know what, I'm going out there and
play my game, the same game that I was playing
in college. Like like no, like like they didn't give

(38:40):
a guy, Damn I won the national championship. There was
like that national championship ship. That ship don't mean over here,
you know what I'm saying. So it was guys on
the team that would be like, hey, man, you know,
rip you out there, you know, shooting the ball too much.
And you know, I took a page out of my
man Kobe Bryant because before I, you know, announced that
I was going to leave me and we're talking to
on and I said, hey, give me one piece of

(39:02):
advice that helped you when you when you came to
the NBA. He was like, when you come, you hit first.
I don't give a fun on your team. He was like, man,
you come in if your game is to score, you
go out there and score. You know what I'm saying, Like,
because if you if you come in and you start
trying to fall in line and you start just you
know what I mean, just going out there and just
being a regular role player, You're gonna be a role
player your whole entire career sounds like. I was like, damn,

(39:24):
all right. Cool. So my mentality was coming in like
all right, you know what, ship, I've been a score
of my whole entire life. I'm coming out there and
putting that ball up. So a couple of dudes would
get piste off on the team, Man, why is he shooting?
Don't you know you can't shoot the ball? Whatever? Whatever.
So one time I was like, man, then I ain't
gonna shoot this one game. So I come in the game.
Strict passed me the ball and I passed the back

(39:46):
to him. So after at halftime he came to me, like,
shoot the fucking ball. I said, Strict, there's some dudes
on the team that you know told me you know,
fall in line. You know what I'm saying, You can't
shoot right. So he was like, look real, telling no
motherfucker's you know, if they got a problem with you shooting,
come hollier at me, say no more, bro, you know

(40:10):
what I'm saying. I said to the team, I said, Yo,
if anybody got a problem when me shooting the ball,
talked to my big little homie back here, yea, bro,
you know what I'm saying. I haven't had a problems,
haven't had a problem since you know what I'm saying.
So that that's my dude right there. Strick always said, man,
he was like, how the hell am I gonna get

(40:31):
assist if you always passing the ball? You know? So
that was my dude. That really took me under my
wing and it really showed me the way. Tell me
your rookie year. Who was the one matchup the guy
that you were like in all and that actually busted
your ass. Oh that busted that I was at all
at first. Yeah, like damn, I'm finally playing so so
and they just went to work. Oh my goodness. Uh.

(40:53):
I would have to say Alan Houston, man, forget how
co Alan Houston was, man, man lit this can be too. Hey,
Alan Houston was a problem man, you know what I'm saying,
And especially you know when he was in when he
was in New York, when they had him and Freeway
on the wing, because you know, you know, when you

(41:15):
got both two, when you got two elite scores on
the wing, you can't hide, like you can't you can't
hide because you know at certain games you can go
in and be like, all right, you know what I'm
going against you know, all right, Miami, and I gotta guard.
You know, I'm gonna gainst the weight, but you know
I can You know, Miami didn't have to elite scores,
you know what I'm saying that that d Wade and

(41:37):
then they had posed but Post was in there to
guard the other team's best player, right, So so so
you can take you can on on on the defense,
and you can take plays off because you ain't gotta
worry about this dude just coming the time, you know. So,
so when playing against the Knicks, you had Spree and
you got Alan and they had oh they had a

(41:58):
play where it was called turn to remember turn three.
R were done, but put you on the block. So
them dudes, man like that first year, either Alan Houston
had fourteen points in the first quarter or I had
two fouls in the first two minutes and I was
sitting for the rest of the quarter. So that dude
right there, I couldn't guard him because I couldn't speed

(42:21):
him up. And if anybody knows Alan Houston, he doesn't talk.
You know what I'm saying. You can't speed him up.
He's playing at his own pace. You can't talk trash
and get him out of his game. And that dude
used to murder me night in and night out every time.
That's funny as hell. And you you, uh, you average
nine points your rookie year, then you bounced from nine

(42:42):
to eighteen. You're your second year. What was that process? Like?
It was cool? Man, It was fun because one first
year was hard because you come from a winning situation
and Yukon and you're playing all the minutes and in
the offense is pretty much based around you. The second
year I came in, I'm like, right, you know what,
you know, we're still young. You know, I'm still playing. Uh.

(43:05):
I think at the time. I think Mitch Richmond was
still there at the time because I was playing behind
Mitch and Mr just signed a big deal, so I
had to fall in line, you know, which is a
Hall of Famer, Like, you know, ain't know, I can't
beat you know, at that time, I wasn't gonna beat
him out at that position. But that year, guys got hurt.
And you know, one thing about playing on a bad team, right,

(43:27):
if you're a young guy, you're gonna get a lot
of minutes in the second half of the season. Like
you're gonna get You're gonna get a lot of minutes.
So the second half of the season, even though we
wasn't looking you know, one the team that wasn't going
to make the playoffs, they were playing all the young guys,
so Me, Laron profit Calvin Booth, they were starting to
play us more. You know. I went from playing you know,
only like ten eleven minutes of game to now playing

(43:48):
thirty minutes of game. And once you once you do
that with me, I ain't never looking back, bro Like,
like I ain't I ain't taking my foot off, foot
off the gas. And I think in that second half
of my second year, I probably I think I averaged
like close to like thirty something points a game. So
my scoring average just shot up, you know. And that's

(44:09):
when I was like, yo, I'm here, man, I'm ready,
Like I don't need to take no back seat to nobody,
you know, I just need I just need. I just
need an opportunity. And and that was my opportunity there
in Washington, especially going into my my after my first year.
So you have a you know, obviously make your mark.
You feel like even ribbed your second year, your third year,

(44:30):
MJ comes back, tell me about him coming back first
and foremost, and then the second part of the questions
is do you feel like that's stunted where obviously your
process and your growth at the time, Man, m J. Man,
that was awesome for my career. You know, I always
used to hear a lot of people talk about, Okay,
MJ coming back to a young, young uh, a young team,

(44:51):
and it's gonna stund a lot of their guards, you know,
growth because at the time, you know, it was me
Lron prophet and was a guy Courtney Alexander who was man.
He was he was a problem too. He was a
guy that played on the wing with me that you know,
we both that during that second half of the year
in Washington after my second year, we both average you know,
close to thirty points of game, you know. But when

(45:15):
m J came man, it was it was the goat man.
That's that's that's gold status man as a two guard
coming up and Mike, you know, being your idol growing up,
and now you got an opportunity to lock it up
with him and and and learn and and and get
as much information off of him as possible, because even
my second year he used to come down and practice
with us all the time, right, but he didn't you know,

(45:37):
every now and they had come in and you know,
work out what It's kind of similar what he did
with y'all when he was on the bodycat Jack. You know,
he come down and work out with us and me
and PROV used to play with him all the time.
We used to talk trash to m J all the time,
but it was only certain things that I would say
and you know, profit with sometimes you know, say a
little bit of extra stuff that I would I wouldn't
go there. And I remember one time we were playing

(45:58):
in practice, right and Prof you know, might have hit
a shot on m J. And he was like running
down court, Yeah, you can't guard me with them old
ass knees. And I'm like, oh, stop, time out, time out.
I was like, oh nah, you don't. You don't. You
don't say that to the goat. MJ was heated. I

(46:20):
mean he was heated to the point that when I
went to my exit meeting, uh, because you know he
was he was the president at the time. I went
to my exit meeting, he was like, Okay, Rip, you
know your man, your buddy, you know what I'm saying.
Because he end up training prof that that that he
was like, oh yeah, man, he was like, oh yeah,
he ain't gonna he out of here, he said, but
you wanna be there body. You're gonna be there body yourself,

(46:42):
you know what I'm saying. And you ain't gonna have
your buddy to to co sign and you know you're
gonna be on the island by yourself. Like Man, I
was like, m I don't want no problems, bro, I
don't want no problems at all. I'm your teammate, man,
But I know that telling that trading my ass too

(47:06):
right after we got this. You gotta be careful, you
gotta be careful. But when m J came, man, I
just thought it was a blessing and and uh for
for me as a basketball player, you know, because I
was able to learn so much off of him. Uh
you know it too. It took my game to a
whole new other level, especially even playing with him, because

(47:27):
you gotta remember, when you're playing with Michael Jordan's, all
the focus is going to be on Michael Jordan's. I mean,
traveling with MJ's like traveling with the Beatles back in
the day. Right, So when when playing with him, the
one thing that I learned with playing with Mike was
remember you know, back in the day, they used to
call it floppy, right, you know when two guys come
down and the two biggs come down and we run

(47:48):
them off screens. So I was like, man, screw my bigs.
I'm just gonna run off m J. Why because every
time I run off m J, you know what I'm saying,
my man gonna go to him and his man ain't
gonna be right. So I would get wide open every time,
and m J would come to me after the game
and be like, hey, Rip, I see what you're doing
out there. I see what you're doing out there. I'm like, yeah,

(48:10):
what am I? What am I? What am I supposed
to do? Man? Like ship you the goat like you know.
So he was he was very He was very helpful
for for for my career when when I was in Washington.
And another crazy story is that we just talked about
Alan Houston. Right, So Alan Houston was killing me, like
like I said, he killed me in my first two years, right.

(48:32):
So when m J came third year, now I feel
like I'm growing up, you know, I Mean I grew
some hair on my chest, like I've been through the
war and the battle was a little bit so, you know,
and I got Big Bro, like I got the bully
in the room, right, so you know, I'm a little
bit more confident. So we're playing against New York. We're
playing against New York and Washington, and first half I
go out and I give Alan Houston thirty in the

(48:55):
first half, right, So like like I'm geek. I'm like, Okay,
for all the times this motherfucker's been killing me and
get me in foul trouble, I'm in. I'm in his
ass right now, right, you know what I mean. So
we were in there at halftime, you know, we're talking,
coach talks, does his speech. MJ come up to me.
He was like, hey, man, hey, young fella. You know

(49:17):
you had you had a great half, you know, but
Big Bro gonna take over the second half, so don't
worry about it. I got over second half right at
the end of the game, man, in that second half,
I only had two shots. In the second I had thirty.

(49:39):
I think I might have ended with like thirty two,
you know what I'm saying. I was like I was
at the end of the game. I was like, damn, man,
this was my perfect opportunity to kill this dude. This
dude killed me my first two years. Like you know
what I'm saying. Now, I got you on myself. He
was like, a man, don't worry about it. Man, you'll
get another opportunity at that. But as a young kid,
you don't think that you're gonna get another opportunity. That

(50:00):
was your time. But but Big Bro was like he
tapped me on the should. I was like, hey man,
you didn't know. I was like, in my mind, I
was like, hey nah. But he was like, you know
that the second half he took over, might have scored
twenty six and a second half and we end up
winning the game. But that that all that story always
sticks to me because that was my opportunity to go
out and get fifty. That's funny, especially on someone has

(50:22):
been lighting your gas lighting my ass up. Yes, two
thousand and two year traded UH to Detroit for Stackhouse
six player trade and that's some of They also signed
Chauncey Billups. So being able to be prepairing with chunce
what's kind of the beginning of something specially they're talking
to us about that. Shout out big shot oh Man yeah,

(50:42):
shout out, big shot. You know what, when I was
in Washington, me right when I got traded, Uh, you know,
I was real close with Tyler, right, Tyler was my guy. Right,
So t Lou already had a relationship with Chauncey and he,
you know, he prepped me before I went out to
Detroit and he was like, hey, man, you're really gonna
like Chauncey. And he's very similar to myself, really down

(51:03):
to earth, real cool dude, you know, real thorough brother man,
no ego, you know what I mean. Ain't on the bullshit,
you know what I mean, because you know, playing in
this league, you know you got a lot of players
that bullshit man like, like you know, they always you know,
sneak this in hating everything else that comes with, you know,
being a professional athlete. But he was like, now you
gonna love him. He like he's the mayor, Like he

(51:23):
the best dude. He really they come, Oh my goodness.
So I was like bad. So first when I got
traded to Detroit, I was like, you know, the first
thing I asked my age and I was like, who'd
I get traded for? And he was like Jerry Stackhouse.
I was like oh snap, like Stack like Ships that

(51:44):
was just the NBA's league scored like like they like
Detroit gave up on him, like like I mean like
I'm still a young pup, still trying to figure it out,
Like I'm still trying to figure out my game, still
trying to make a name for myself. So when they
traded for it for Stack, I was like, damn, they
must really want you rip, like, you know, go back

(52:05):
to what Cold told me. And you know when I
first got to the league, you know, come in hit first, man,
like come in there and just be you. You know
what I mean. Don't change change your don't change the
way you play. And then I reached out to Chauncey
me and him started talking you know what I'm saying,
which was great. We got on on the same page
right from the jump. He was he was very similar

(52:25):
to myself. And then Ben Wallace he already set the
foundation right like like he already set the foundation on
what we was about, hard nosed, grid grind, you know
what I'm saying, Like, you know, we was gonna come
to work each and every day, you know, And I
was like, Damn, we got some real lass dudes, like
real dudes, you know what I'm saying. On one team,

(52:48):
you know that that that doesn't that that that don't
always happen. You know. You know, you might have one
guy that you funk with or two guys you funk
with on the team, but when the whole team is
about that teams there was a special ones yes, so
that getting getting an opportunity to go there. You know,
you already had guys on that team that that was
committed to winning, and it wasn't about them, you know

(53:10):
what I mean. It was about the team. Like, Okay,
you know, I'm you know big, Our big thing was
I I am my brother's keeper, like you know, like, uh,
that's my bro. You know what I'm saying. I love you,
you know what I'm saying. And I'm gonna have your
back through thick and thin, and you're gonna have mine.
So you know, it was just it was it was
something very special that uh Joe Dumars put together with

(53:30):
that team, you know, and and then adding Rashid and
once once, once, once Rashid came, it was game over.
I mean it was it was nothing that you can do.
I mean, like I didn't give a damn who you
was because during that time, during that era, was like ship.
Anytime you played against the Lakers, it was always like damn, man,

(53:53):
I gotta go against you know, Shock's big gass in there.
And then Cob he going. Only thing he wanted to
do is overplay everything and force you in there to
ship because they got you know, that's a security blanket,
so he can overplay you on everything to funnel you
into the big fella and then were and then Shackul
put you on your ass too if you start doing
too well. Yes, yes, so that team was ridiculous. But

(54:17):
once she came and I can remember throwing the ball
to him in the post and I cut off of
him and he passed me the ball and I laid
it up. And at the time, you know, in my opinion,
I think she, you know, top three power forward in
the game at that time, by far, by far, you

(54:38):
know what I'm saying. And you had the best, You
had the best power forward game, you know. Yet see
Wheb you had me die, you know what I'm saying.
You had dirt Navinski, you had like like come on,
she was a killer inside out, inside out. Man, I'm
taking foxhole all day long. And I and I threw

(55:00):
the ball to him because me and Challenge used to
always say to Joe like, hey, you know what, we
need somebody. You know, we got the permit on a lot,
you know, I mean that was just our mentality at
the time. You know what I'm saying, But we need
a big that can force the double team. You know
what I'm saying, because every time we're coming off the
you know, chance is coming off the pick and roll
teams were blessing. When I come off a pen down
team's gonna bless me coming off she you can't bless

(55:24):
You can't track because if you do that, she's gonna
make your ass pay. You know what I'm saying. But
you know she was a guy that forced the double
team for us, right, We needed somebody to force the
double team. So when I threw the ball and to him,
not cut off him. He gave me the ball back.
I'm like, ship like, you can score on this dude, anytime.
Next player, I come down and throw it to him again.
He said, Rip, do the same, ship Man, run off

(55:46):
of me again. Boom it gets to him again. And
right then and there and said I said to myself,
oh bro, we're gonna win the championship because this guy
right now can score on anybody, right and he's so
unselfish that he's saying, all right, you know what, fuck
my individual ship, you know what I'm saying, like, it's
all about the team. I'm gonna do with everything possible
for us to get get this team over the hump,

(56:08):
and bro, he's still to this day one of the
most unselfish and one of my favorite teammates of all time.
You got, you got. You gotta think about it. Though
y'all had point guard. You had one of the best,
one of the most clutched, solid point guards ever playing
the NBA. Chance to buildings at two guards. You had
to guard one of the best two guards. Grab your

(56:33):
motherfucking arms, scratching with his nails, come off, the motherfucking
pinned down. Your motherfucker was so he was so for
how skinny, he was so physical and like a little
fucking fearious ass dog when you would touch him. And
then you had on top that you had to chase
his ass around, big ass picks, around Wallace, around Wallace,

(56:54):
around Jason Max Siell like you had big gass screen
setters too. It was a motherfucker the guard Rip man
El Campbell, all them big motherfucker's. Then you had Sheet
at the four. You had you had the best power
forwards ever you had. It was a six and three
guard that can play all three positions, all four positions,

(57:14):
can pack, you can do all. Then you finished with
Ben Wadder's defensive player leg y'all had. Y'all had the
perfect one, two, three, four or five in the league. Like,
that's one of the best lineups as the starting five
ever in the NBA. Bro Yo, man, I'm telling you
like that that that lineup was great, even Tayshawny. You know,
there's a lot of sacrifices that that that tayshawn you

(57:34):
know did from an offensive standpoint. We all know how
greatly was defensively, but offensively, man, he couldn't get cold
in this league if he wanted to know. But that's
what that that that's not what our team you know needed.
Uh So me running around like crazy man, like I couldn't,
you know, get into a physical grudge match with y'all dudes,
Like some dudes would eat me up, Like you know

(57:58):
what I'm saying. You know, Jack play against ryn artists.
Mother elbow, you grab you and everything. So my air
was like it's similar to you guys, was you had
to hit first, like if you allowed it, if you
allowed the defense to hit you first, then ship, they're
gonna be able to throw me around like a puppet.
So I had to use my guy giving gift and
that was my endurance and my speed. So I run

(58:21):
off screens. I would grab the ship out of y'all.
Like Matt said, I'll put I would put my nails
in you. You know what I would. I wouldn't cut
my nails on purpose, bron So just so just think
about it. I got somebody like and all these dudes

(58:42):
trying to beat me up from a full stand was
to bully you. So if you're trying to bully me,
right and I'm putting my nails in you, the first
thing you're gonna do and say, Man, this dude scratched me. Like, man,
I'm not gonna get too close to him, you know
what I'm saying. So right then and there, I felt like, oh,
I got you. You know what I'm saying. Then I
would come off the screen. Then I will bump You'll
hit you with a chief shot. I get you. With

(59:03):
the elbow here and there, and then by the time
you try to give me back. You know, I tried
to play in space. I never tried to play in
the crowd because if I played in the crowd, then
you're able to grab you, able to hold you, able
to hit you know what I'm saying. You able to
get your little chief shots. But if I hit you,
you know, and run and now you hit me in
the crowd, were gonna call a foul every time. That's
how bad. That's how you bade it. Rong. I got

(59:25):
him in that playoffs sta I got yeah, because listen,
during that series right there, that was a tough series, man.
You know what I'm saying. That year, man, y'all, y'all
had a hoof Man, I don't even wanna talk. I
don't even want to talk about y'all team. Your team
was the ship. And going down the stretch of that game,

(59:46):
I knew I was gonna bait him. I knew him.
I just knew because I played against Ryn, you know
what I mean. We had battles with him when he
was at St. John's. You know what I'm saying. I
knew how physical he was, and I knew that if
I hit him with a chief shot, Ron getting way
with it. Yeah, he's gonna let you get away with it.
He gonna get you back. So you know, I watched

(01:00:06):
this documentary. He was like, yeah, nobody's seen when he
got me. Yeah, I got I was trying. I was
trying to do anything to win, you know, like like
I'm doing whatever, I gotta do the win. And I
remember when he hit me with that elbow. He didn't
even hit me hard. I just felt, you know what
I'm saying, And I just laid on the ground like
I got shot. And I remember Germaine O'Neil was just

(01:00:28):
yelling and screaming like Ron, what are you doing? Blah
blah blah, And he was trying to explain to y'all
that he didn't really hit me that hard. But he
really didn't hit me that hard. But I just got
I have a lot of people don't know, like, okay,
people don't know how our relationship, how cool is But
even even to go back like that that happened the
year before I got there with you and Ron and

(01:00:49):
I walked into the ribbing with y'all, and people don't understand,
like those two teams was so talented and was so
at each each other. When all that happened to day
of the bra bro as close as me and you are,
all that went out the window for about five seconds.

(01:01:09):
Facts you know what that square it up? Yeah, it up?
And let me let me tell you bro the ship
and she was so crazy that when I watched it,
I'm like, god, damn, it was me a rip about
the five men. That's my partner. No but but but
but we was all in the morning. We was all
right for our guys. But we ain't never talked about it.

(01:01:31):
But I was telling people how different basketball was then
and now, Like if you was on the team and
you was in that area where you was on the
Pacers team on the Piston team, that robbery was deeper
than basketball. Bro, oh man, it's like said that that
that was crazy and me and Stack was like like this,
you know what I'm saying, Like like like feel what

(01:01:53):
I'm saying. And that Indiana Pacer team was ridiculous because
You'll had everything that was very similar to us. Dogs,
you know what I'm saying, Like you you you need
dogs in the fox and you need pit bulls. You
know what I'm saying. During that era to winning that
when the uh NBA Championship, and if you look at
the match the matchups, like the matchups like like we
we everywhere we matched up, well, it wasn't. It wasn't

(01:02:16):
like okay, you know what, all right, at the power forward, Uh,
we're gonna win that matchup or at the big or
at the goal or whatever whatever. Hell not. Jamal was
a problem, you know what I mean, Stephen Jackson a problem.
You know. Al Harrington ar tests like like Jaman O'Neil
like bro like like we had Reggie still to Reggie too,

(01:02:41):
like that was like bro, like how do you put
that team together? And we knew though, like on our
squad we knew it. We knew it. And when Jack
first got there, you know me and Jack's home, his
first team to do is get on TV and talking about, oh,
you know what, Detroit they were the beast in the
East for the last couple of years. It's it's a
new sheriff in town and stuff. Yeah, Okay, he was

(01:03:07):
on he was he was on his He came on
his I'm like, damn, he ain't even got here yet
and he already talked track. I'm like Okay, so the
arrival right there, you know what I'm saying is starting
to begin where now you know you're looking at two
teams when we match up that we don't even like
each other, you know what I'm saying, Like like we

(01:03:28):
don't even like like even though like I said, like
Jack said, we're homies, we're best friends, we love each other.
You feel what I'm saying. Anything like we're off the
court and we're in adult fight and Jack fighting. Were
all fighting, I'm saying. But during that time, it was
so much built up into this because you got to understand,
we want to get back to the promising. You know what,

(01:03:50):
Indiana already feel like the group of guys that they
had on their team right now, during that time, they
felt like they were better than us, you know what
I'm saying. So it was like a thing was like okay,
it's all about you know who wanted more? You know
what I more? Like like like like hey, like screw basketball,
you know what I mean? Like I know what you run,

(01:04:12):
we know what you run, you know, like like like
like who's gonna out will the other team? It was
all about your will? You know? So that's what I
love about that matchup and during that bro like I
tell people, you know, I never told Jack, I never
told Jack this, But y'all was kicking our hands that game,
like like on our whole court, like like we our

(01:04:35):
team main never been handled like that. We we were
the bully. That's how we felt, you know what. Any
team that we went against, like it was times we
get into the fourth quarter and be down fifteen and
we look at each other and be like, all right,
you're ready to turn on, turn it on. You already
turned on the switch. And she'd be like, all right,
let's do it, and we'll still win by ten. But
playing against Indiana, man, no, hell no. I mean they
had dogs, many dogs. That was but that that was

(01:04:58):
our biggest game, like we had beat everybody, and and
that was our only game with like, hey we beat everybody,
but this is the Eastern Carpet Champions Detroit. We ain't
played them yet, and that was like our biggest game.
We we had put so much into that game and
the motion of them so high and you don't even
know this real At the end of the game, we're
shooting the free throw right, I'm shooting. I'm at the

(01:05:18):
free throw line. Jamal, I make the free throw, and
I go back to give Jamal and run uh five
for making a free throw. Jamal tells, Run, you can
get your file back some some file that being put
on run in the Eastern Conference file. Remember that I
told you you don't forget nothing. I wasn't on the

(01:05:40):
team yet, yes, And he told him to get his
file back. If you remember, I was guarden being I
let being laid up in. Ran came from out of
nowhere and filed him. And that's how all that ship started.
Bro no doubt, no doubt, no doubt. And Ben and
Ben even said, because it's crazy because on earth side,
you know what I mean, Ben, want you to referee

(01:06:00):
a couple of plays before that, and he said to
the referee, is told the referee a man, little bro
Ron out here being dirty hit me with his brother too. Yes,
he was like, hit me, hit me with a chief shot.
He said, if if he if he hits me again,
you know what I'm saying. If you ain't gonna do
something about it, I'm gonna do something about it. And
that's and that's when Ron came over there and hit

(01:06:22):
him aginning. He was already, like I said, he was
already on tilt and that's when the thing went crazy. Yo, man,
I gotta I gotta say this last thing about that ripping.
I want to see what you say. How hard did
Ben pushed Ron in his face? Bro? Oh my goodness, listen, man,
I listened. I know how, I know how. I see

(01:06:42):
him every day. You know what I'm saying that Ben
is not the dude to be messing with, you know
what I'm saying. But on another note, Ron or to
be messing when you got these two. You know, I
mean too, he's too rock with these two rock wallers.
You know what I'm saying. But I know what, It
takes a lot to get being piste off. Yeah, man,

(01:07:03):
and and Ben come from you know, you know his
brothers like he one of the younger brothers like he
he grew up and fights every every day, just you know,
from the standpoint of mom putting food on the table,
and you know, you're the little brother. Sometimes you don't
get the big piece of chicken, you know what. I
so so so Ben from that air. So when he

(01:07:24):
run like that, I was like, oh snap, it's about
to go down. I thought he almost broke his neck.
But that that just lets you know how strong Run
Run is exactly. It was crazy, unbelievable. I love to see, like,
you know, the core pieces of that Brawlson down and talk,
maybe having on the show, but I think it would
be dope to, you know, to get Sheet and ripped

(01:07:46):
to talk about him more, and then and then Ben
and then get you and and Run and Jo to
just sit and talk. I guarantee there's never been you know,
like RiPP just said, I just said something to Jack.
I never told him you said the same thing. There's
so much unspoken ship in one of the biggest pivotal
moments in NBA history. I mean, that was one of
the biggest obviously the biggest brawl in NBA history. Fact,

(01:08:08):
a lot of a lot of rules were made because
of that for all, you know what I mean. So
I think for everyone to sit out and talk. Rev
got mazed. I don't even know Rev got mazed, man, dude.
It was it was a lot going on that time. Man,
it was I thought I broke my wrist because you know,
it was the time when when everybody was running to
the crowd. My whole thing is defend my brother, you
know what I mean, Because I don't know where. I like,
I don't know where Ron is running to. You know

(01:08:31):
what I'm saying, I don't. I don't know anything because
there's so much going on at that time, you know
what I'm saying. Even Ben he thought, okay, Ron is
coming around that way to come So at the time,
I remember I was on the score table when I'm
running to try to jump in there, and Elden Campbell
come and grab me, brought my ankle and I just

(01:08:51):
remember falling on that cement and I thought I broke
my wrist. You know what I'm saying, falling off the
score table at that time. But you know, it was.
It was a crazy time, man. You know, they, you know,
the league definitely try to clean up the game after that.
You know, it was. It was definitely something that you know,
both of us wish we have never experienced, you know,
in a lifetime, you know, but like I said, it

(01:09:12):
was two teams. You know, there's things you do to
try to win the World Championship, man. Like, like the
game was, like Jack said, even though we were best
friends during that moment, all best is off. We ain't talking,
We ain't having no conversation about it. I ain't. I
ain't calling Jack and saying, Jack, what the hell was
you thinking? Like like like like ship like you know,

(01:09:35):
like we're trying to win a championship. We won't do
anything possible to try to get the edge. That's crazy.
Let's take backtrack a little bit though. Uh. You know,
we obviously talked about your team. How you guys are
perfectly constructed. You guys run into a great Laker team
where many teams didn't give you a shot, and you're
playing against you know, one of your high school How

(01:09:56):
many people can say they played like one of their
best friends from high school in the I knows and
then beat him, you know what I mean. Talked to
us a little bit about that was because, like I said,
I don't think many people gave you guys a chance
because of Shaq and Kobe's dynamic. But you guys just
had a deeper, better team man. You know what it was,
Like I said, it was, you know, we were built
on against all odds, like my man of Tupac said, right,

(01:10:18):
you know, we felt we felt like we were misfits.
You know, we felt like teams gave up on us
too early. My situation in Washington Chauncey situation, him, you know,
being on a few teams before he got there, Tayshawn
being the number twenty second pick at that time when
he felt like he should have been a top fifteen pick,
Ben Wallace being moved all around, you know, him not
being respected Rashid you know, uh, going through the stuff

(01:10:42):
that he went through in Portland. So we felt like
we felt like man like to be honest, we were
the better team, you know, but going against l A,
like I said, going against Shaq and Cole probably the
best one to punch of our error pretty much. And
and Old from the from the standpoint of me knowing

(01:11:02):
him as a kid, always been a killer, So I
know that he's gonna come ready, right, So I can
always remember like, uh going to to to Ben in
Chauncey and Sheet and and Tay And I used to
tell him like, yo, man, this dude been. He beat
me for a state championship in high school because that
was our thing. Was always a back and forth thing,
you know, who would get the upper hand. Uh he

(01:11:24):
won there, he won, he got He won the state
championship that year. So when I won the national championship
in college, I called him and was like, yo, bro,
you can have that high school championship. That ship don't
mean none. I got a college. I got a college.
He was like, really, man, in two years, I'm gonna
have two NBA championships. Right. He was like, trust me,

(01:11:45):
two years, I'm gonna have two of them. So that
you know me, that back and forth was was us
since kids. So he was like, man, you know want
I know? So when we got there on that stage
and knowing the history of us going back can fourth
and always competing against each other, I'm looking at chauncing
and I'm like, bro, I can't let this dude beat
me again. Hell nah, Like like I funk that. You

(01:12:09):
know what I'm saying, Like, I can't live with myself
if he beats me on the highest stage, Like bro,
y'all dudes have to have my back. And I can
remember being saying to myself, Bro, what you're talking about
ripping ship? I got shock like stuff I got and
I gotta guard him head up, I said, Bro, I

(01:12:31):
get it, I get it, but I can't leave this game,
this series with with with allowing this dude to beat me.
So you know it was fun man, Uh, Like I said,
confidence wise, we believe that we can beat them, you know,
but we know it's gonna be uphill help hell battle,
just knowing that the roster they had up, they had
set up with Gary Payton and Carmelone on that team also,

(01:12:52):
but we just felt it feels over our year. M HM,
talk to us a little bit. Carmelo Anthony recently spoke
uh Instagram live a d Wade uh a few days
ago talking about if if you oh three you guys
would have drafted, if the Pistons would have drafted him.
He felt like, you guys could have won two three championships,
and on paper that sounds about right. But then you

(01:13:12):
see a few days later Ben Wallace said he just
doesn't know if that would have worked. Uh. You know,
tay Shaun was there, he would have wanted to Mellow
would have wanted to play more sooner. What do you
think would have happened if you guys would actually drafted
mellow Man? First of all, I think that I would
have played at least twenty years in the NBA if

(01:13:32):
wed me, I do I don't. I don't know what
Ben was talking about. I really don't. I love body
to death, but I don't know what the hell he
was talking about when he when he when he said that.
But uh, if cart Mellow Anthony comes to Detroit, man, listen,

(01:13:54):
problem Mellow was at once in a generational type. I
tell people, if Karmelo comes to us, me and Chauncey
talked about it with the narrative been different with Lebron.
James Man talked to him because he's winning, Chad, He's
winning possibly more championships than than than been braught at

(01:14:18):
the time, than the weight at the time, and that's
been the only knock just had he had y'all team
around him. Just think about it, Matt, I don't think
that Cleveland team beats us with Karmel Anthony. N come
on like nobody beata. I think the narrative will been

(01:14:41):
different on Carmelo Anthony. You know what I'm saying. The
biggest I mean, like like the way we were structured
when guys came to our team, like guys falls in line.
Like when I when I came from Washington, I wasn't
a defender, you know what I'm saying. I wasn't a
guy that really strapped up on the defensive end. You know,
But when I out there and seeing big bro Ben

(01:15:01):
Wallace doing the night in the night out and saying,
this is the this is the foundation of what this
team is built on. I gotta fall in line. Chauncey
Bill has gotta fall in line. Chauncy woudn't look at
us no defender before he got the Detroit like you
know what I'm saying. So we all had to fall
in line because of what Ben was beginning to build

(01:15:22):
in Detroit. So now you bring Carmelo to us, I
think the narrative would have been totally different on his
career because the thing we'll be talking about is, okay,
all right, Carmelo Anthony now has three championships already, right
uh now mellows thinking about you know what, can he

(01:15:43):
do this by himself? You know? So that would have
been that that would have been a question mark then
you know, going into that next that next UH negotiation
for his UH for his contract, Like, Okay, I got
three already, you know what, Now maybe I want to
and you're out and see if I can do it
on my own. That would have been a narrative on

(01:16:04):
Carmelo Anthony. Carmelo Anthony would have been a champion So man,
if like I said, if he would have been playing
on our team, me and would have played for twenty
years and now you know, we wouldn't have to to
to carry the load like I wouldn't have to, you know,
play for the messy game. Now. You know, when we're
thirty something years old, it's like hum melo, Carrious, don't

(01:16:29):
take the ball, you know, Yeah, yeah you Carrious like
me and Chance were gonna knock down wide open shots.
Tashawan gonna do what he do. She did a bit
like we didn't care. We had no ego, you know
what I mean. The only thing that mattered for us
was to win basketball games. Yeah, that could have been special. Man.
I don't think anybody, like I said, it'd been scared

(01:16:53):
if you think about it, man, because like I said,
you guys had all and this is no t was
a very solid fifteen sixteen year pro. But like you said,
Mellow is a generational talent throwing in there. And he's
a dog in himself. I mean, so he fit right
into what the funk y'all was doing already. So if
you had a thirty point of games score on that team,

(01:17:13):
nobody could beat You'll, no, absolutely and tay Shan did
everything for us. You know what I'm saying. And it's
not the knock on Tean maybe Carmelo anything doesn't start
like like you don't like maybe I don't start like like.
For us, we didn't care. It was all about us
winning basketball games and we can win and we can

(01:17:34):
put you know, uh something up in the rafters that
said NBA Champions Like we didn't care who got the
glory because at the end of the day, we felt
like we were all gonna get paid and have our
individual success if we win basketball games. If we don't win,
none of that can happen for us. So you guys
have a nice run, uh that that slowly comes to

(01:17:57):
an end. You start meeting up with d Wade and
Chew teams and you know Lebronze teams that he was
carrying through the Eastern Conference at the time. UM, talk
to us a little bit that about the game that
lebron took over against you guys in the playoffs and
catapulted them to their first finals appearance. Oh man, that's

(01:18:17):
a memory that I just I don't want to remin
this at all, but uh, you know what it was.
You know, Lebron was, you know, just about to take off. Man,
we all knew how great he was. You know. We
used to always say, especially when Lebron got to Cleveland's
first couple of years, and we said to herself, like,
when this kid figures figures it out, it's gonna be

(01:18:39):
a problem for us because he's too big, he's too strong,
he's too athletic. He can do so many things on
the floor that you just can't stop. He can dominate
the game without scoring the ball, like you know, like like,
and we felt like if he beats us, he's the
type of guy that you don't allow beat you one
time because if he beat you one time, he think

(01:19:00):
he's gonna do it every time. In that game and
I can remember is you know he scored straight points
against us, right and uh, Flip Saunders was the coach
at the time, Rest in peace, Flip Saunders and flipped
and believe in trapping Lebron at the time. So we
would icing every time. And you know, if you ice

(01:19:22):
Lebron and let him come downhill on the big over
and nothing, nothing that he can tell because he's just
as big as he's just as strong as your Biggs
and he can probably jump hard and you know most
of your bigs and he scored well, when you're playing
the game, you don't realize he scored twenty five straight points. Right.

(01:19:43):
But when we had success with Lebron, we will always switch, right.
We would say, okay, you know we had defensive player
of the Year Ben Wallace, you know, so when they're
gonna pick a roll, why do you switch out on him?
You know what I'm saying. And then everybody else just
man up because we didn't believe in double team, you know,
that was that was our thing. It was like, yo,
you know, man up, you know, especially you know if

(01:20:04):
you if you in a regular season, you know, we
ain't gonna send a double team. So you you got
a man up with it. But once he scored them
twenty five straight points, I remember coming to the locker room,
man and who she was piste off. She she let
let flip sounders at the time, right, And I'm trying

(01:20:25):
to calm him down, you know, because I'm like, yo,
she the serious is not over, you know. But she
was so piste off because he was like, man, we
don't get you don't get opportunities like this, you know
what I mean, like you don't get opportunities like it
don't come every day that you get an opportunity to
make it to the NBA finals, you know, like like
like you know, late in your career, you try to
get on teams to get that, you know, but when

(01:20:45):
you it's it's very rare that you have that in
your in your prime. So he was piste off at
that time. And and I and I can remember going
into the next game, uh, game six, I think we
played against them, and uh, in Cleveland, we we went
in with the game plan the players, which was crazy

(01:21:10):
when you think about it, right, because times we gotta
make our owners. What I'm saying, that should be happening
sometimes more than people realize that because some of these
coaches be on the bullshit and we're out there and
we know better. We yes, yes. So you know Flip
had uh uh he said the next day he said, hey,
you know what, guys, meet meet at the plane. Right,

(01:21:30):
So we were the type of dudes was like, meet
at the plane. Now we gotta get this right, you
know what I'm saying. The Flip was like, now meet
meet at the plane. So we came together and said, hey,
you know what all coaches go to the plane. We're
gonna have our own practice. Yeah, that's dope. So we
we had our own practice. Like we went in there said,

(01:21:54):
bro Lebron ain't gonna beat us, you know, like I'm
a guardian for the first five minutes, Ta Sean, give
you a break so you don't pick up two fouls early,
you know. Then we're gonna bring Lindsey Hunter, and Lindsey
you're gonna come in at the six minute mark, you know, yes,
and then you're harass him in your guard him right
then take Shan. You're gonna pick him up in the

(01:22:14):
second quarter. Which was a great game plan. The only
thing was was that Gibson came out that in Game
six and hit a career high like seven threes. He
ended up scoring thirty. You know, but we took Lebron
out the game, which was, in my opinion, the best
strategy that you can have. But you know, you you

(01:22:35):
can't do things like that, especially when you're trying to
win the championship. Definitely, looking back on your nine years
in Detroit, what are some things that stand out to
you about that. I think the biggest thing to stand
out for me was you know, sharing that floor with
some real ass dudes, man like, with some real brothers.
Man like that time in Detroit, man like Matt, I

(01:22:58):
like like it wasn't basketball, man Like, it was just
bigger it was. It was just fun. It's just like
hanging out with friends you grew up with, you know
what I mean. You know, everybody first thing they do
is get when they get to the league, they bring
all their homies with them, you know what I mean,
because that's you know, that's what you're familiar with. Like
I was playing with my homies. I was playing with
my brothers. Like through thick and through thin, I knew

(01:23:22):
them dudes would have my back right or wrong, you know,
like like because you know in certain situations like I
might be wrong, you know what I mean, because I
might you know, certain games, I would talk trash and
run my mouth and whatever whatever. But I looked at
being and be like, look, motherfucker, you better have my back.
You know. You know what I'm saying, Like like if
if something go down, you better go down with me.

(01:23:45):
You know what I'm saying. And that was the thing
that we had. You know, we was joined by the hip,
you know, So sharing that with my brothers and you know,
having fun with it. You know, like we did everything together.
We hooped together, we eight together, we hang we went
to clubs together. Like we did everything together. So that

(01:24:06):
was the thing that you know, I missed to this day.
You know that the brotherhood that we had amongst amongst
each other. Yeah, we won games. Yeah we want to
the Eastern Conference Finals, one NBA championship with that brotherhood
that we had, getting four, getting four All Stars in
the NBA All Star Games. Should have five with t
Sean that year. But that stuff right there, man, I

(01:24:29):
mean it's hard to come by. Man, It's hard to
come by when you know the dude that you're playing
with really loves you, like like really like really yes,
no doubt, special feeling we had. We had that, although
it was short, we had that and go to State.
So I know exactly what you're talking about, like that
brotherhood where it's more than basketball's family and different ones

(01:24:50):
like that. Get a chance to play with Derek Rose
the year after coming off his MVP season, Um, you
guys are in the playoffs. Mistake me if I'm wrong.
Game in hand, Uh, tips keeps him in, he gets
hurt and never comes back the same. Tell to me
about that experience as a veteran seeing that process happened
to such a promising young talent. Oh man, it was

(01:25:14):
tough because that's the reason why I went to Chicago, right.
I've seen what was happening in Detroit and it was
kind of breaking up that team. And I was like,
all right, you know what, real, you know, maybe it's
your time to go, right, So, like you start thinking,
you start looking at all the different teams. I'm saying,
you know, what is the best fit? Right? I knew
Chicago at the time needed the two guard, right uh

(01:25:37):
and and I and I felt like, all right, you
know what, I can be the missing piece to get
them over the hunt because for Chicago at the time,
they will always meet up against the Miami Heat with
Lebron and d Wade, and they didn't have nobody to
match up with d Wayne Wade. And me and d
Wade had a lot of matchups, you know during my career.
I mean that dudes great, Like that dude right there,

(01:25:59):
push me too too. I mean like it was tough
night and night out trying to guard him, you know,
and also trying to do something on the on the
on the office end, but uh, he was probably one
of the toughest guys that I had to had to guard.
But then going to Chicago and playing against Derek Rose
during that time, man, I was like, bro like, I
played with a lot of great players Derek ros during

(01:26:21):
that time. It was probably the most talented player I
ever played played with. I mean just starting at three yo.
This dude was ridiculous. And I've seen what he was
doing and practice night in the night out, and he
had a great work work, work ethic and he's very
similar to tou k D. Always say, Derek Rosen and

(01:26:45):
UH and k D they're probably the most too humble
superstars I've ever seen in my life, like to give
you their shirt off their back like, and Derek was
that type of guy. So playing against the semi six
or sixers during that time, and a lot of people say, hey,
you know what, why was Derek in the game, And
you know, I would ask the question to like me

(01:27:06):
knowing I won before you know, in Detroit, I've been
you know, on the bench at times where you know,
we had an opportunity to go after that record of
winning seventy games or whatever because we were killing during
one year, and guys like Sheet and Ben was to
be like, man, get Chauncey off the floor, get Rip

(01:27:26):
off the court, or they'll called time out and get
us off the floor, because because we know that it's
bigger than that game. So at that time, you know,
you look back at it now now you can look
back on it. We had that game right and you
asked that question, why is he in the game? You know,
because we already had that game in order for us

(01:27:47):
to win NBA Championship. So I was always looking at
it like, Okay, you know what, once the game, you
got the game in hand, especially in the playoffs, you
gotta get your best player off the floor. You just
have to because it's just so much, you know, especially
you know when you're the focal point of our offense.
It's so much he's gonna have to deal with, especially

(01:28:09):
when you get later and later in the series. Just
from a physicality standpoint, you know, the rest swallowed whistle
a little bit more. You know, they let you hold it,
let you grab a little bit more. You know what
I'm saying. They're not calling the tiki tech fouls that
they might call in the regular season. So you you
gotta know that. And I'm thinking to myself, like, come on, tips,

(01:28:30):
i gotta get him out of the game, you know.
So when that happens, I'm like, oh snap, I'm like,
bro get up, like like get up. And then when
he doesn't get up and he's walking off, man, it
it crushed me. Not because of my own individual you know, uh,

(01:28:50):
you know, me coming there and wanting to win the championship,
but just knowing Derek is a good kid. Derek is
a dude that you know, he got a great work ethic,
you know what I'm saying, very humble, and this guy
right here, man, you know, best point guard in the game,
like like like couldn't nobody mess with the Rose during
that time, you know, So to see him going down,

(01:29:12):
I just felt like, like, you know, our chances of
winning the championship is very rare to none, right, And
like you said, it's more than just the basket because
he's a good dude. Yea. That ship would make it
hurt you though, some dudes they said I used to
ask and that he was Derek Rose. I don't know
him personally. I just know him from watching and reading
stories on him and hear about his up upbringing. He's
a great dude to go along with a very talented player.

(01:29:35):
Listen this little this dude, this dude said one time
in the locker room, win the locker room. He just
signed a two hundred and fifty million dollar deal with Adidas,
another hundred and fifty from the Bulls. She got four
hundred million dollars at twenty what three years old? And
I looked at him in the locker room. I said, Bro,
do you know you just signed for four hundred million dollars? Right?

(01:29:56):
And he like like like like what you mean? You know,
like he didn't even know the impact of of that.
And then I told his brother after, you know, Wrenchie
after the game, like yo, congratulations. He was like, my
brother don't even know what just happened. He called me,
asked me the other day, is it okay if he
buys a Bentley? I said what I said, how many

(01:30:17):
dude you know that that that just made four hundred
million dollars that will call his big bro. I'm like, yo,
was it cool for me to buy a Bentley? That
just tells you what type of DUDEY is hype of
dude not. I don't really like to do hypotheticals, But
the trajectory you saw him on at twenty three barring injury,
where would he rank amongst the greats? If we were

(01:30:38):
ship was fifteen years sixteen years in and d Rose
was just being able to play through with no injury.
Where does he rank in the history Because to me,
he was he was a generational talent as well, but
probably wanted to be most special at at his position. Yeah,
at his position, man, dude, I mean, man, you talk
about the great ones. There's a lot of great ones

(01:30:58):
out there, you know, talk about magic and you know
John Stockton and all the ones that played before us.
But in my opinion, Derrick Rose is definitely top ten easily,
you know, could be top five. Man, this dude like
like I'm telling you, like, I mean, there's a lot
of great players in our game right now. When you're

(01:31:19):
talking about the point guards position, Russell West Coast, you
know you talk about uh CP Kyrie. Listen, none of
them dudes wanted no smoke with I'm telling you right now,
none of them dudes wanting no smoke with de Rose

(01:31:39):
during that time. To believe, yes, Steve ro it was
a problem. Let's talk about on court accessories in the
early two thousands because you had probably one of the
most fashionable statements. You know what I mean. You broke
your nose a few times. You get the mask and
I had to try to play with the mask. Once
I couldn't handle that, took it off. I risked everything

(01:32:00):
other guys couldn't play with. You made that, you know,
like a household. You made that just as householders, you
made your name. Talk to us about that process and
why you decided to keep that mask on. Well what one?
Uh I hated it too, Matt like like ship, I
don't broke my nose three times, and uh you know,
the one thing about it is when you break your

(01:32:20):
nose and you gotta go through the surgery. It was
putting me out like six weeks, like you know, just
on simple fact they had to readjust my septum and
the first time I broke it in like fourteen different pieces.
Uh So And from a team standpoint, Ben and always
been used to always say, man, I can't afford to
lose you when it really counts, right, So I really

(01:32:42):
had to think about, you know, a long term if
you know, if this happens in the playoffs, and I
won't be able to play. So, uh, once I started
wearing it, I tell people it's like, you know, as
a kid going tricker treating, and you know, nobody goes
tricker treating with their mask on for the whole three hours.
It's like you're running from house to house, right, but

(01:33:03):
you only put your mask on and when you were
the do you know. But I had to wear that
thing for a whole entire game. It's getting fog, is
getting clogged up and everything else. But the thing that
I loved about wearing it is, you know, as players,
you know, we don't want to get hit in the face.
So every time you you you you go into the basket,
a lot of times guys tents up like, oh man,
I don't want to get poked in the eye or

(01:33:24):
you know, get my teeth knocked out or whatever whatever.
So once I wore that mask, now and I kind
of became invincible because now as I'm going to the basket,
I don't give a damnf I get hit in the face.
You know, as long as I get two free throws.
That that that was the thing. But once I started
wearing it, wearing it, I started to feel like you know,
all right, this is like my cake, like my Superman Kip,

(01:33:46):
Like if when people come to watch basketball, you know this,
wearing the mask kind of separates me from everybody else.
We got a lot of great talent in our game. Right,
every night you can come watch NBA basketball and you'll
see guys that are elite, that are great, you know
what I'm saying, and have a great brand around him.
And I was just like, you know what separates you
from the rest of the NBA, the rest of the

(01:34:08):
guys in the NBA wearing the mask. So once I
started wearing it, I got used to it, and then
it kind of became like my super Superman cape. And
you know, never took it off ever since. That's dope.
I love that. That's That's that we That's one of
the memorable looks like that. You in the mask fall
in the category with Obson with the with the arts leeve,

(01:34:28):
in the head band, Lebron with the black mask in
Miami mask in Miami. It wouldn't let me wear the
black mask. That was crazy because I thought about it, right,
I thought about it. I said, hey, you know what,
when I first got my mask, then I said, I'm
aware of black black mask in an All Star game,
and they made a big deal about all you can't

(01:34:50):
wear you're gonna get fine, and you know they won't
let you play in the game with it. And then
I turned on the TV and see Lebron James with
a black mask on. Man, I was pissed off. I
was like, what, like, what is going on here? Like
I started this ship? This is motherfucking yes. Yes. But

(01:35:11):
come to find out I heard that he didn't he
didn't let the team know what mask he was gonna wear,
and he kind of just ward, you know, it, came
to the game and just kind of surprised everybody by
wearing the black mask. Two questions for you, even though
the season is not going on, who did you who
did you think was going to the finals? And who
what what young talent you like? And you watch the

(01:35:33):
most Two questions, Oh, man, I think for for me,
who was the team that I thought that was going
to the finals? You might be mad at me, but
I was going with the Clippers. Man. Matt was on
board with me. Yeah, I was. I was going with
the Clips, man. I mean, listen, yeah, you got a

(01:35:56):
D and Lebron right, and I think with them having
with with with with l A having a D. You know,
the Clippers don't have nobody that can guard him. That's
the one mismatch that they do have, you know. But
and it's hard to bet against Lebron James, Like, I'll
never bet I played against this dude. That is something
that I just won't absolutely not not even not even close.

(01:36:20):
I won't do that, right, I won't go on the
record say that. But the Clippers, man, what they have, uh,
you know, they got a bunch of dogs on their team.
And then you look at the bench with Lou Williams
and uh montre Is coming off the bench. They got
guys that can fulfill Rose because in the playoffs, you
need other guys to win you a game. Like you know,

(01:36:42):
you can't depend on Brian and a D to win
you all seven games, all four games. You can't. It's
always another guy that going up that has to win
the game for you. Like even when we have battles
with with with y'all in in Indiana, Austin Crozier one
y'all game one time, you know, like other guys to
win one game for you. And I just think that

(01:37:05):
the Clippers they have too many pieces. I mean, they
got a great coach with DC Rivers, like, you know,
they got the infrastructure, you know, the thing that the
ship that Kawhi Leonard did last year and taking that
Toronto Toronto Raptors team all way to the finals and
winning it and putting that team on his back. It's like, yo, man,
like I'm not human. My new nickname should be Robot

(01:37:28):
because that's what that's what it reminds me of, of
a robot like. But I would have to go with
the Clippers, even though I don't want to bet against
Lebron Lebron James. I. It's a toss up, man, It's
a toss up. He's definitely coming out he had the Lakers.
But yeah, that's what I found. I mean, I think
the safe better to say is coming out of And

(01:37:50):
that's no disrespect to the East, you know. I mean,
I get the East is very talented, but you gotta
you gotta do it. You know, you've got guys who
have done it on this West side. So it's definitely
coming out of l a something to give you problems, Matt.
Who's some of the young talent you enjoy watching these days?
Oh Man, I'm a fan, man, So I love a
lot of these young kids that's coming out coming out.

(01:38:12):
I love John Morant right now. I mean he's everybody
say him first. Yeah, man, he's he's a dog man.
He's a beast man like with him when he when
he was going through it with uh, the whole Andre
Cadollar thing, you know, and Steph said something and he
was like, hey, man, I love you, but I'm coming
at you like like like you love that because you know,

(01:38:33):
you don't want to hear that all the time, especially
you know, in this new era of basketball. You know.
But but he's a guy that you know, I watched,
you know all the time. Another that episode dropped to
cut you off now checking out. Another guy that I
love that he that doesn't get a whole lot of
credit is Devin Booker. I think Devin Booker is a problems.

(01:39:01):
He's just on a bad team right now, you know
what I'm saying. But he he's a dude that I
respect that I love. He can make He can he
can make plays on and off the ball. He can
come off pin downs. You know, he can impact the
game in different ways. You know, just hopefully that you
know they can get their act together in Phoenix and
put him in winning situations. But he's another young young

(01:39:21):
kid that you know, I love to watch. He's because
he's Kobe s to me, He's got some code in
him and he and he plays the right way. And
the thing that I love about him is in the summertime,
he looks for the guys that made All Star Game.
He looks for the guys that are supposed to be
the best guards in the NBA. And when you got
guys like that, man, you I gotta rock out with him?

(01:39:44):
Love it? President President Day player that you would love
to play with? Oh Man? For me? For me, I
would have to say Steph Curry, nice, I do I mean?
Because you know I love what they're doing. Golden statement, Matt,

(01:40:05):
you can you can test this, uh that when you
got a guy like Steph the way he impacts the
game without having the ball in his hand right, can
play on and off the ball. Now you gotta pick
him up, you know as soon as he comes past
half court. You know, I would love to get an
opportunity to play with another guy that moves off the

(01:40:28):
ball similar to myself, because I when I that them
them golden State teams that they had. Now you're playing
against the team that have three guys that can move
without the ball. Uh, you got Steph, you got Clay,
and you got kd. Like, you can't guard that, you

(01:40:49):
can't guard that, you can't trap that anybody on the floor.
So I would have to say, Steph Curry, who should
be our next guest? On all the smoke? Who do
you think should be our next guest? And before you answer,
it's like Jack said, if you give us a guest,
you gotta plug it. We need to plug. Okay, go
if me in my opinion because it's it's who fits.

(01:41:09):
This is my guy, Raschi Wallace, Yes, we got we
gotta get shape. I just I just did him and
Bonds podcast. I just did that podcast shout out the
Buds and Sheet take podcast. But we definitely gotta get
sheet on it. And like Matt said too, I really
think we should all get together and do that brawl
sit down. I think that would be dope. No, that

(01:41:30):
would be dope because now you you hear the back
story on what guys were thinking during that time because
we we all we all seen it and seen it
totally differently. You know what I'm saying like it was
stuff that was going on over there on y'all bench
that I didn't even know what was going on until
I watched it on the highlights on film, or or

(01:41:52):
when they brought us in that room, when they did
that investigation and they brought out all them different cameras
and they showed you, showed everything that was going on.
That would be I definitely think we need to sit down.
You need I think the hardest person to probably get
is gonna be Big Bid. So you were a big
big We're gonna try to get jack side hell down.
If you get big Big, we're gonna make that ship happen.
I got you, I'll work on it. I might have
to come in the headlock and I talked. I talked

(01:42:15):
to being not too long ago, being man being down
with You know, Bid is a one hundred brother dog
man we are and we all come come together. He
definitely down with it. After the quarantine, man, we gotta
make a show time. Bring all you guys out to
l A. We sit out and definitely talk about that.
That would be crazy. That would be crazy. That would
be dope. Um artist a song you gotta repeat right now?

(01:42:36):
Oh man, it's that. It's that Drake right now in
that TUSI slide. Man, crazy, This is crib though. Man,
that's crazy. God, you got the dance down. Man, Listen,
I'm trying. I can't dues man. That's on my that's
on my bucket list right now. I just I just
started to TikTok man. So I'm gonna get out there

(01:42:57):
and try to get out there and try it a
little bit twist be doing that ship. I'm like, I'm six,
they get out of here trying to get me to
do that ship. I'm gonna giving a shot to watch.
I'm a little crazy though. That's what's up? Quarantine? Quarantine?
What you bits watching? Oh man? For me? Uh a
few shows Netflix? Man, that all American show of course.

(01:43:20):
That's been watching that too. That's dope Ozark, yes, and
my and my other one is uh Narcos Mexico. Yeah,
it's crazy. No, that's that's insane right now. Man, I
watched all that in the first two days it came out.

(01:43:42):
I've been watching that. So I got to drop on
Norcos because I worked with someone in another business that
does the merch for Norcos. So Norcos is gonna start
going around the world and kind of making it almost
a franchise for the next Norcos is gonna be. I
can't say it's gonna be so dope, but like get
your mind that it's just Mexico. So they have it
like Norcos or they want to like highlight just the
biggest drug dealers in different parts of the world. The

(01:44:04):
next one they got coming out is about to be cold.
But hey, what a coincidence you have to drop on
our codes I give us. I know trying, you're trying
to be on set. I'm trying to see you see
Quevo and them, got queto on them, got a spot
And that's why I said, I said, definitely, bring me on.

(01:44:25):
I definitely play a little role on I don't even
like to act, but bring me on nor too. Man, Hey,
Jack telling you gotta get us on set. Yeah, we
got got the Amazon there. Last thing, quarantine snack. I
know you like to stay in shape, but what's your

(01:44:45):
what's your bench snack right now? Oh my goodness, man, dude,
trust me, yeah we all do right now. Chocolate cookies. Man,
Oh my god, I made something other that listen, and
they ought to be home made, homemade oh my good.

(01:45:06):
Listen as soon as they get up, as soon as
soon as they get out the oven. Oh man, I
might eat a whole trade of them quite just kept
before they go in the oven. Before they go in
the oven, I have because to mind, man, they always
a one. Jack sent me something dog I can microwaves.
I got you, boy, I'll put him to the test.

(01:45:28):
Last segment right here before we let you go, as
Jack has a begging segment. So Jack, what you want
to ask Rip for? What you want to beg for?
My guy? Man? Uh, you know, I really wasn't prepared
for begging segment today. I was just excided to talk
to my brother, like I wanted to say again, you know,
we had a man. Rip was real real close. Uh.
Like I said, I be can't real close with a

(01:45:50):
lot of his friends. Some of his friends with Coach
Bill still be dm me from deming from time to time.
But it was just good to actually get on get
on the get on the on the show, Get you
on the show, and they talked to you about the
McDonald's games and stuff. Conversation that I always wanted to
have with you, but I can't really wait to have you.
It's on set so we can really dig deep into
some things that you know that we both got in

(01:46:10):
comment from our lives. Dope, dope, I wish I wishot.
It came to the office in l A with y'all. Man,
you say we're gonna get it. I got you, man, Jack.
That's family. Now your family too though all the way
one hunted. Thank you man, well Man, that's a rap.
Special guest Rip Hamilton's on our episode today, Jack, hell

(01:46:31):
of a show. We appreciate your time anytime, any time.
Thank you. You can catch us a showtime, Basketball, YouTube
are all platforms, streaming, podcasts, all of them. It's something

(01:46:55):
about how this place form is a different kind of person.
On my high school team, we have five guys make
the NBA. We had the County Rock Act. You mentioned
Prince Short's County. People know what it's about. It's the

(01:47:17):
meta of basketball. There are those who have come before us,
upon whose shoulders we stand. We're here for this area.
You have to have tough scarre The gym became a
thank you eg County guys provide buckets for America. It's
Prince Georgian tacks a lot of power about of character.

(01:47:42):
It's nothing that you can do to stop that competitive
and we're pushing the community and the culture forward. There's
just in the water. This life was all I ever wanted.
I'm not leaving, not yet. I was hoping. It's say

(01:48:05):
that you gotta hit the streets, make some money. Pable
like us, let's destroy poble like him. Buckle up, get
Showtime free at showtime dot com.

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Richard Hamilton | Ep 41 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | #StayHome with SHOWTIME Basketball

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Stephen Jackson

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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;}Richard Hamilton | Ep 41 | ALL THE SMOKE Full Episode | #StayHome with SHOWTIME Basketball