April 17, 2024 • 41 mins
Part 2 - Vince and Grant Hill continue their conversation, about Coach K's final game, his acting on "Living Single," with Queen Latifah, staring in the NBA as a rookie, dealing with injuries over the years, his role as an owner in the NBA, MLB and MLS, managing Team USA for the upcoming Olympics and his daughter as a young MMA fighter!
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the show Season two. Yeah, we back again,
got the world. Tune in there for social through with
tell of friends, my heart got me on the for
us slam, dump the whinstle. Go on, then kick your
feet up so you can listen to It's the VC Show.
(00:28):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's the v c All right, all right, welcome to
the VC Show. I'm your host, Vince Carter. March madness
has come and gone, but it was fantastic. A lot
of great basketball on the men's and women's side, a
lot of drama and playoff positioning happening in the NBA.
(00:53):
And I'll be discussing that and a lot more with
my special guests. So put your hands together for Grand Hill.
Hold on. You got what they wanted, been signed. You
had the pleasure of calling Coach K's last game too, right.
I don't know if that was pleasure. I don't know
(01:13):
if that was pleasure. No, no, no, but I did.
I mean, I mean's think about this, think about this.
I had the pleasure of calling coach K's last game.
Roy Williams last game. I did Jay Wright's last game. Uh,
(01:33):
there's somebody else. Jay Wright was in the final four
that same final four, which was Coach K's final four.
Jay Wright, they lost to Kansas and then they retired.
I did Roy Williams in twenty one at Purdue and
they lost in the first round. I can't remember who
they lost to. And then he retired shortly thereafter. And
(01:53):
so you know, to be able to see these icons,
these legends, and to do their last game like man,
and like, how lucky am I? Because I have the
utmost respect for all of these guys, uh, including Roy
you know, Roy Williams. But you know, for Coach K,
(02:14):
it was hard. Like it was, it was a hard tournament.
I did all their games, and it's tough because at
any moment it could be his last game. And unlike
with with Roy Williams and Jay Wright, you didn't know
that that was their last game. But in Coach's case,
he had already said this was going to be his
last season. So every game there's an opportunity, you know
(02:35):
that that they could lose, and and so you know
you're kind of wrestling with that and not that you're
emotional or anything like that, but like you want to
you want to do a good job, and you want
to you know, you want to give him, you know,
in case there's that moment where he loses, like you
want to be able to say the right thing as
a former player, and and so obviously then playing Caroline,
(03:01):
you know, of all teams, it was just like, like
you know, it was it was hard. Like even just
going into that game, it was like it was a
hard game. I try to be objective. I try to
be partial or impartial. I try to, you know, like
be fair. I'm not going to run from the fact
that I went to Duke, but calling a Duke game,
(03:21):
I try to like, you know, be you know, call
it as you call it as I see it. And
but once once the game was over, in the finality
of the moment, it was it was hard, Like that
part was hard. And then you know, they brought me
on the set with Charles and Kenny and I got
(03:41):
to sit there and you know, I'm like, I gotta
hear Kenny. But you know what, Kenny was really good
in the moment. And I know we like to go
back and forth and and you know, chirp at each other,
but like I think he understood the significance of the
moment and really paid his respects to k and understood
(04:01):
it was it was, you know, the end of an
era and and so so yeah, I mean it was
it was it was an honor. It was a difficult,
you know, part of me was like, I wish he
had just lost the week before, so you had to lose.
But but but no, I mean he he and like Roy,
like Jay Wright, like they they've been, you know, so
(04:23):
important to the to the game and its success, and
their legacies are are just absolutely incredible. You know what.
Williams was our coach when we practiced against the Dream Team.
He was at Kansas at the time, but he was
our coach and uh, and so we we shared that
incredible moment together. And uh. He recruited me when I
(04:46):
was a sophomore in high school and he was still
an assistant coach in Carolina and he's still you know,
I mean, Roy's a you know, an unbelievable coach. Williams
is an unbelievable person. But he came in my high
school game and we played against Arawford Palmer. I don't
know if you remember that name, Crawford Palmer, who who
ended up playing at Duke. He was a McDonald's All
American and he was on our first championship team. Didn't
(05:07):
play much, transferred after his junior year, but Crawford was
like six ' ten, big guy, and so we played
against them, and I scored the last eighteen points of
the game and brought us back and we won the
game on an ALLEYU. I was doing my Vince Carter impersonation,
(05:32):
and Roy's always like that was one of the best
high school games I've ever seen. And so that's coming
from a Carolina guy. But no, I mean I was,
you know, I was, like I said, I grew up
a Carolina fan and had the utmost respect for Coach
Smith and for Royd Williams. You know, just just icons
like icons of the game. Incredible. Let's move, let's transition
(05:54):
real quick. I want to ask you about this. We
I don't know if we've ever talked about this, but
your acting career, how did that come about? I got
the opportunity to do the Moisha Show. I've been in
a few things, but like you did, living single and
how did that come about? And you know, was that
(06:15):
something you were kind of up for where you you know,
did you feel like you were kind of stepping out
of your shell a little bit? Yes, with one hundred
percent stepping out of my show. So before I did
Living Single, I taped, like a month before, I taped
a segment remember that show Home Improvement with Tim Allen. Yeah,
(06:38):
and so you know that took place in Detroit. You
know it was a Michigan was a Michigan or he's
living in Michigan. Had the show too time or whatever.
So I went on there and I kind of played myself.
I had my jersey on and you know, I had
a segment or whatever. And so I'm thinking, Okay, this
is easy. I get a free trip to LA you know,
like it's cool, I'm on set whatever whatever. So then
(07:02):
they're like, we want you on Living Single. And so
I honestly think, like it's the same sort of thing.
I'm gonna make a cameo. You know, I'm gonna make
a cameo. And so they tape on a Tuesday, and
we had reading, we had the like the table reading
for that week's script on Wednesday, the day after the
(07:22):
taping the taping of last week's show. So I get
in like Tuesday night and they have like the script
waiting for me at the at the hotel, you know,
at the lobby. So you know, I don't really read it,
like I don't know what I'm getting myself, but I
don't think what I'm doing is a whole lot, So
I don't. I don't read the script. But then I
(07:43):
show up the next day at the table reading and
I'm so, I'm we're reading it and we're all reading
our parts, you know, around the table, and I'm reading
it for the first time. And so I'm like, first
I'm like, damn, I'm in. I'm in a lot of scenes.
And then I'm like, oh man, I'm like they got
me flirting with Latifa like her character, like you know,
(08:05):
and then like you know, and oh man, I got
to kiss like all this stuff. Like I was like,
hold up, hold up, like you know, you know, I
didn't want to like punk out or you know, be
difficult because I'm a guest. But I didn't think this
was what I was signing up for. I'll just put
it that way. And so you know, because you were
in the episode, I was in the like pretty much
(08:27):
every scene I was in, and I was you know,
her characters love interests and you know, YadA YadA, YadA,
and so you know, so we had you know, we rehearsed.
We wouldhearse and kind of know where to be and said,
and then we had like a dress rehearsal, but we
never rehearsed you know, the couch kissing scene, and and
(08:50):
so I didn't know where that was going and how
that would go, and you know, I just kind of
went with the flow on that. But anyway, it was acting,
and and she was great, and she was a great
friend and helped me through it. But and people still,
I guess I can tell when when it you know,
(09:12):
when it comes on, yeah, because people tweet me or
people call me or text me and be like, yeah,
I saw you on Latifa or whatever. But yeah, I'll
just say this. I wasn't invited to do any more
after that. So clearly my acting wasn't that good for
you as a as a obviously a superstar. Getting in
(09:35):
college draft, getting drafted, was there a major transition for
you as a rookie? You know, I think, look, I
came in the league, and I mean this sounds maybe
(09:55):
arrogant or whatever, but I came in the league and
I was like I was putting and work from day one,
like day won, I was putting up numbers. Yeah, and
I think like I came in twenty five to ten,
like my first game, and maybe had a string of ten,
maybe twelve fifteen games where I had twenty points or
more right out the gate, and so you know, but
(10:16):
there again, you were you were for year college players,
so you know, you matured and you were kind of
ready for that at that point also as opposed to
one year in college in my opinion, Yeah, no, I
think you're right. I think, you know, I think back then,
I mean, you obviously were the same. Like when you
came out and you were top top five pick, there
(10:37):
was an expectation that you could be the face of
a franchise. There was an expectation that you could be
an all star, a guy that could lift the team,
and you know, like that was what was expected. I
don't know if those same expectations exist, but that was
the case. I think in the nineties. Let me think
about it, you had you know, you had Derek Coleman
(10:58):
in ninety ninety one, you had the Kimba I'm thinking
the number one picks, ninety two, Shack three, Chris Weber
ninety four, big dog. You know, like you're coming in
right away and you're expected to be able to come
in and help a team and put numbers up and
score and be that guy. I think what helped me
(11:18):
and I think when I think the one thing that
I was pretty good at and I could handle the basketball,
and you know, you had big guys before, like Magic
and Steve Smith. Even Jalen did it when he ran
point at Michigan. But you would kind of handle the
(11:38):
ball and back people down and kind of use your
size to get to where you wanted to go. And
I even did that my senior year at Duke. I
played the point my senior year and in the summer,
we're playing pickup ball before I'm heading to Detroit and
we're at Duke and Quinn Snyder, who played a Duke,
had been an assistant coach for Larry Brown. Yeah. He
(12:00):
recruited me. Yeah, me, And then my last year he
was a grad assistant and I think eventually went on
and became an assistant. But like he was like, dude,
you don't have to play like Magic. You can handle
like you handled the ball and and and pick up ball.
You can do that in the NBA, and so when
I got to the league, I don't think there were
a lot of small forwards who are comfortable with somebody
(12:23):
coming at him and like pop pop, you know, coming
at him like that. And so that really helped me
get to where I needed to go. And literally, yeah,
and so you know, I didn't shoot the ball. I
just went to the rim, like and I could get
to the rim, you know, whenever I wanted, I felt,
And so you know, now people adjusted and they get
the sky and report on you. And but I remember
(12:44):
at first, I'm calling my boys up like, man, I'm
killing these folks in the league, like, hey man, they
can't you know. And that was until they figured you out.
But I think the hard part for me was the
off the court, and because you know, in college, even
though you're a celebrity on campus, even though you're playing
(13:06):
for a big time program, there's still an innocence there,
you know, and you're still around other people in college
and people you know, you're trying to go to schools. Yeah, yeah,
especially for Duke. Yeah, dude, I mean you're just Camus
well just I mean we spent a lot of time
at Chapel Hill. I mean, we were over there, but
you know, it was it was there was I don't know,
(13:27):
I just felt like and then all of a sudden,
like people know how much you make, you sign this
big contract, like you know, and you just feel like
a target. And so now it's like you got your
guard up and you just are very and so that
was that was an adjustment for me, just you know,
kind of being launched into this you know, different world
if you will, right, and I think you're throwing you know,
(13:49):
I mean, on top of that deemed you know, the
next MJ and the shoe contract, obviously, you know, FeelA
goes to another level. You know, you become the face
of FeelA with that, Like I can't I can't imagine
because I've been there, but I could. I was just
that's why I was asking, you know, how did you
(14:09):
handle that? I mean, obviously, basketball is basketball, particularly when
you get comfortable and the game slows down. But it's
typically an adjustment for younger players in transition because on
the court, it's like, ah, yes, you're in a safe place,
You're in your place, and then off the court, you
have to adjust living that new life, understanding your popularity
to go with it. Yeah, no, no, no question. I mean, look,
(14:30):
look it took me. You know, I had a lot,
you know, there was a void. I mean, Jordan was gone,
he was playing baseball. You know. I had played one
hundred and twenty sei games at Duke. You know, whether
you liked Duke or hated Duke, you saw us. You
saw us play. And then my game was you know,
kind of exciting. I did things whatever, and so there
(14:53):
was just a lot of attention and I'm trying to
figure the game. I'm trying to figure the league out,
like I'm still trying to understand the NBA game, and
I'm trying to win, Like that was the thing. Like
I wanted to win. I didn't even really care about
all that. I just wanted to like, how do we
you know, we won twenty eight games my first year,
you know, like like that was that was hard. And
(15:13):
so all of this you're dealing with and trying to
process and make sense, and it was it was uncomfortable,
you know, it was uncomfortable because I didn't feel like
I was ready for that. Like I didn't feel like
I earned it or deserved it. I felt like it
was just thrown at me. And eventually I felt like maybe,
you know, year two and I even think the Olympics.
(15:35):
You know, now I'm in the Olympics and I'm playing
every day against Scottie Pippen, and I'm holding my own
and I'm doing you know, like he had his moments,
I had my Like I think by year three, like
I felt like, okay, like I'm I'm supposed to be
here now, you know what I'm saying. And but it
was a whirlwind at first. Man, it was those first
(15:57):
three months in the league. Man, just all the tension,
like that was something that that was I wasn't expecting that.
So you can't like just be a kid and just
like you used to and just kind of just walk around. Yeah,
you get the attention on college campus, but it's kind
of like kind of fades away and you can kind
of just be yourself as opposed to what's world. Yeah,
I mean, you're living with you're living, you're going to class,
(16:18):
you're socializing, like like, you know, okay, that's Vince Carter.
It's a big deal. But you know what, after a while, Yeah,
I see him in class, I see him in the cafeteria.
You know what I'm saying. I see him. I've been
on the dorms, like you know, it's so you know,
I mean, it's it's it's a big deal. I don't
want to say it's not a big deal, but it's
not as big a deal. I guarantee you this. You
(16:39):
being at Carolina and Chapel Hill while you were there
playing was a lot different than vin sanity in Toronto. Yeah,
no question, I could guarantee you that. You know, yeah,
and so I mean yes, and so it's great you're
doing things, but it's also just it takes a minute
to get comfortable with with all that, with with what
(17:00):
that is, if that makes sense. How did you cope
with the injuries after being what I know you were
(17:23):
in Detroit and what everybody obviously knows you were in
Detroit going to Orlando and the injuries with the ankle
and so on and so forth. I know you had
multiple surgeries. How did you cope with that? And the
reason I asked, I think I know the answer to it,
you know, But the reason I asked because for that
young player who's going through that now, whether it's in
(17:46):
high school, but understanding, how did you at the height
of your career and the excitement of you and t
Mac about to play together. How did you handle that
and we're able to still bounce back and still have
a care Yeah. I mean I sometimes ask myself, you know,
how I did that? I think put in Yeah, yeah,
(18:10):
the work I think. I think first of all, being
an athlete conditions you to like think you can do
the unthinkable. You know, you're in a game like the
game against against against Kentucky, like you know, like, Okay,
we come out, we believe we're gonna we're gonna execute
a win. Like you you you you almost have to
(18:31):
be delusional at times, think about like you got to
be delusional sometimes a thing like Okay, we're going against
this number one team, but we're gonna beat them. Like
that's part of competing. That's part of the mindset that
you have to have. And so maybe I was slightly delusional,
but like I felt like like okay, you know, I
(18:52):
convinced myself that like once the ankle heals, you know,
I got I still got tread of the times. You know,
it's not cartilage, it's not something. The problem with my
ankle was it never healed, and so I was trying
to come back it was never healed, and it was
just one thing after another and so we never you know,
(19:12):
we never fixed that. And once we fixed it, it was,
you know, four years later. But you know, I I
and there was you know, there's a lot that went
into that. But I do think I suppressed my feelings
to get through that, which is not uncommon when you
go through something tough. Sometimes people do, you know, suppress things.
And I kept thinking I'm gonna make up for it
(19:34):
on the back end, like I'm gonna play till I'm forty,
like you just I always mentally just kept and emotionally
just kept thinking about, okay, you know, once I get right,
I'm gonna play. But it was hard. It wasn't easy.
And you know, what's what's amazing, and you're you know,
and I bring this up because you're you know, you're
about to go through this Hall of Fame experience. But
(19:57):
once I went through the enshrinement and and the whole
ceremony and I'm in, and then you get away from
it for a couple of months, it got a little
dark because I think those feelings were conjured up and
I started thinking, like, man, I got in the Hall
(20:19):
of Fame just really with a half a career, Like
I didn't even really get a chance to see it through.
I got hurt at twenty seven and was never the same,
Like I said, came back and played and had fun
and enjoyed the end of my career, but like I
didn't get a chance to see it through, and I
got mad, and like I felt like I was dealing
(20:39):
with those feelings and dealing with those emotions then as
opposed to dealing with them in real time in the
early two thousands and so it really you know, I
used to judge everybody who wrote a book, and I
used to say, oh, like anyone cares to read your book,
you know what I'm saying, Like, you know, I was
that guy was so narcissistic to write a book, Like,
(21:00):
you know, that was me being just cynical or whatever.
But that prompted me to write a book and tell
my story. And the motivation was not to be a
best seller, you know. The motivation was to tell what
happened with my injury and get it all out. Yeah,
because I felt like, you know, it was a different time.
We didn't have the social media, we didn't have like
(21:21):
and things were kind of mysterious and people didn't know,
and so like, like I just wanted to tell what happened.
And in the process of telling this, you know, writing
this the book, and then getting out and marketing it,
it was like a little bit little therapeutic, you know,
it was able to deal with that. And it didn't
change anything. I mean, what happened would happened, but I
(21:43):
don't think but it changed the most important thing, and
that was you and your mental moving forward right after
still having this honor, like you just said, like you
just reached the pinnacle in my opinion, of the Hall
of Fame, and you still months later going to this
dark place, right, So you know, I think this satisfact.
Like you said, it was therapeutic. It was therapeutic, and
it just helped bring closure and have peace, you know,
(22:05):
in peace with regards to the career. So I was saying,
you know, I kind of maybe didn't tell the full truth,
but I said, like it validates what you didn't do,
and it does to a degree. But with me, like
I was still I was still harboring those feelings and
got you know, got resentful a bit and got mad
at doctors and you know, trainers and people who I
felt let me down and so like I needed, you know,
(22:28):
And that was the impetus behind writing my book, was
to sort of walk the reader through exactly what not
for sympathy, not for pity. I just needed to get
that out. I needed to tell somebody, you know, I
needed to get that out, and I felt the book
was the only sort of platform to do that. And
(22:49):
I didn't. I don't think I realized that I needed
to do that, but I did. And doing that like okay,
like I feel good, And not that I needed validation
from the public or whatever, but it was just part
of like processing and dealing with all that stuff that
that I went through and not realizing that was still
in there that needed to come out, right, no question,
no question. What's life been like for you as an owner?
(23:13):
And and do you take the same approach? You know,
I'm combining two questions here. You know, what's life been
like as an owner? One? But two you know, and
it started with the Hawks. Do you take the same
approach with the Hawks as you do with Orlando City?
And you know, Orioles as far as how you go
(23:34):
about your your position now, because I think it's different
as a basketball player, you know, because that's what you play.
But now you're doing you're in ownership with another sport.
How do you go about that? And how is how
has life been as an owner as well? I wonder that. Well,
first of all, it's been a dream of mine, you know,
since since even before I entered the NBA, Like, you know,
(23:58):
who are the people who pay these guys all this
money to play? Like I want to be there, you know,
Like that was always sort of in the back of
my mind. And you know, I mean, you played on
a number of different teams, and I always say that
every locker room is different, you know, every locker room dynamics,
(24:18):
and maybe you get traded or you sign in free
agency with a different team, and like you come in
and you got to feel it out. You got to
feel out the personality, the egos, the dynamics, and it
takes a minute to do that. But every locker room
is different. And sometimes from year to year, you can
be on the same team and you lose two players
and you gain two players and it changes things a bit.
(24:41):
And so I say that to say that, like every
ownership partnership is different, you know, and there's a different
dynamic at play and so. But look, first of all,
it's fun. I think they're incredible investments. I'm a big
believer in sport and the power it has in our
(25:01):
culture and society. Uh. And I'm you know, I think
that the upside will will continue to ascend. I'm hoping,
fingers crossed. It's also an investment that's fun. It's something
you can you know. You know, you can invest in
a piece of real estate, you can invest in a stock,
you know, all of which are great investments. But like
a team, Like in following a team and having that
(25:24):
sort of emotional and financial connection to that team, like
it's incredible and you live the ups and the downs
and you feel it in more ways than one, but
you feel it. So, you know, I think I have
sort of different roles in the different situations. The oriole
situation is still early and still sort of developing. But
(25:46):
you know, I think I bring a unique perspective. I'm
not just bringing money to a partnership. I'm bringing experience.
I'm bringing someone who's been in the locker room, understands
you know, the player, player, player dynamics, player coach dynamics.
You know, I can watch us plays, say in Atlanta,
(26:09):
and I can get a sense of what's going on
without necessarily being there or even or even you know,
talking to anybody who's close to the action, and so
you know, but I also and mindful that you know, Look,
I'm not the managing partner, and you know, I have
a voice, but I don't have the loudest voice, and
I'm respectful of that. But it's fun, it's exhilarating, it's tough,
(26:36):
I kind of Actually, the soccer and baseball are two
worlds that I'm not as familiar with, and I've enjoyed
like engaging with our general managers and talking about locker
room dynamics and culture and picking brains and exchanging and
sharing ideas. I can't help with, you know, strategy. You know,
(26:56):
I don't know soccer or baseball like that, but I
know good locker rooms and I know bad locker rooms,
just as you You've been in some good ones and
you've probably been in some bad ones. And uh, and
there's something that separates the two. And you know, when
you have a good locker room, you know, with talent
and health and a series of other variables, but a
(27:17):
good locker room gives you a chance for good results,
and I'm a I'm a firm believer in that. But
the role of ownership is a weird one, like it's
it's it's you know, like you're you're you're kind of
a glorified cheerleader. You know you, you know you you
you know. You hire good people, you give them vision,
(27:38):
uh direction, resources, you empower them, but then you also
kind of got to get out of the way and
let them do their job. And you want to be engaged,
but you don't want to be too engaged. It's a yeah,
it's a weird dynamic, and you know, it's something that
I'm I'm I'm not sure I have fully figured out
(27:59):
and don't know if any you know owner has figured
out you know, the perfect sort of working dynamic. If
you will, well, I'll say this to that real fast.
And I think you know, your voice, your experience truly matters.
And you know I was there when obviously LP. Lloyd
Pierce always said he would love to have you around
(28:20):
just because of your knowledge. You've been around, you played
nineteen years, You've seen it all. You know obviously you
experienced it all. So I can imagine your voice being
just as important in any locker room, you know, as
an owner or otherwise. So no, I appreciate that, and
I mean, look, I think we need more former athletes
in these positions. And just I'm trying, man, I'm trying. Well,
(28:42):
I'm trying. I know, I hear you. I mean. And
the reason for that is, you know, you know, we
we we talk about uh and you know in corporate
America we talk about it. And in any kind of
you know, organization, any group, any team, you know, you
want you want diversity, and we you know, we think
of diversity as you know, gender or or ethnicity, which
(29:03):
which which we do, which which is important? But we
need the diversity of perspective, diversity of thought. And you know,
I always liking it to uh. You know, if you're
going to the park and you're gonna play basketball, you're
not gonna put together a team of everybody that does
the same thing. You know, You're gonna try to find
that point guard, that big guy, maybe a guy who
can guard the other team's best player like you got.
(29:25):
You know, you're gonna you want to put together diversity
in terms of skill sets to ultimately like you're trying
to put together Olympic team well, that's true. That's that's
exactly it. This is weird. But to get to that point, like,
you need diversity of perspective. I think in ownership and
players have a unique perspective that unless you've been in
(29:49):
that situation, you really just don't understand. H I thought,
you know, we've talked about this obviously, but I thought
this summer last summer was a great stepping stone. Obviously
(30:13):
not the results you want, but for the future. And
one thing I tell people all the time is that
at some point, as the stars of today fizzle out
and walk into the sunset, you want to already have
your future stars in the grooming process, particularly when you're USA,
so you want them to have this experience. So to
(30:36):
get to have experience, you have to be put into
the fire to go through it. And you know, you
think back to four h when you know, when you struggle,
you know, as some of the older guys, a lot
of us kind of didn't play, and then you and
you're now you adding Lebron Mellow. You know a lot
of the young stars they had to gain the experience.
(30:58):
So you go through the struggles. Yes, oh we should
out athlete them and all that stuff. I get it,
but it's a different game, as you know in the Olympics.
So I think you know the way you're handling this
and obviously you've heard me say this before. What the
way you're handling giving the experience, uh, you know, giving
to these young stars of today the experience they need.
With that, you're gonna take your lumps. But you know,
(31:22):
some of these young guys who are gonna get to
play with these superstars and now in what I guess
that would be in four more so five years, let's say,
look out because now you're just reloaded. But you don't
have to go through the grooming process again, you know,
with so many guys. So I don't envy you at all. No, no, no,
I mean you you've you've been there, you've been as
(31:44):
a player, and you've been around the game. You understand
sort of the challenge the fever game. I have the
utmost respect for. It is not easy. I think sometimes
in our arrogance, as as you know, citizens of the
United States, we feel like, oh, we're the best in
the word dominant. We should just show up and win.
It's not the case the Dream Team in ninety two.
(32:05):
You know, part of what they did. Obviously they dominated,
but they helped globalize the sport. The NBA right now
is almost I think it's thirty percent international players, and
so the fear that they used to have of you know,
international teams and players of US is gone. And there
(32:28):
have been examples of teams who beat the Team USA
in the last twenty years and so, but last summer
was it was hard because we lost and certainly we
felt like we had a chance to win gold. But
the guys were incredible, like they gave us everything. It
was a long commitment. We were gone for six and
(32:50):
a half weeks. You know, we got all new guys
in the pipeline. Everyone who was on that World Cup
team last summer it was their first experience on the
men's national team. This upcoming summer with the Olympics, and
hopefully at some point here, you know, and in their
future will you know, we'll be able to announce our
(33:13):
our team. But you know, we want we have you know,
we have some legacy guys, guys who've you know, who've
been a part of multiple you know, fever experiences, and
we have some young guys who've expressed interest, and we
have guys who are in their prime and so hopefully
we can pick a roster one and most importantly it
(33:33):
gives us every opportunity to win a gold medal, but
then two that can get representation from every bucket, you know,
the older legacy guys, the guys who are kind of
in their prime, and then the guys now that are
on the come up, who have a chance to be great,
great players in the league for years to come. And
sadly and unfortunately, you know, you can only pick twelve
(33:56):
and we have just some incredible guys, incredible players who
many of whom are worthy of the experience. And so
there's some tough decisions. I know you talk about you
don't be you're not envious, but uh, there's some tough
decisions that we have to make. Uh that's part of leadership.
You've got to make those tough decisions and live with them.
But we're grateful for everyone's interests and guys wanted to
(34:18):
be a part of it. And you know, it's it's
gold or bust. That's that's the expectation, that's the standard.
And you know, we win gold, we look good. And
if we don't win gold, then you know, it's back
to the drawing boards. So but I'm excited. I'm excited
about it. I'm excited about the opportunity. I'm excited about
watching this upcoming team come together. Uh and you know
(34:41):
pursue Uh this this really you know, really difficult challenge
of trying to win an Olympic gold medal. Well, that's awesome,
and I'm putting my bid in not to play, but
hopefully get to be able to call call the games
to watch it, because obviously it's going to be I
think magical, and I think every player. I mean, we
heard a lot of these guys superstars coming forward saying
(35:05):
they want to play. And I'm sure they've talked amongst
each other while you know, echoing their you know, they
want to so it should be fun to watch. And
you know, hopefully I get to call something magical. But
I'm gonna say something to you, like, I want to
ask you this and then I'll let you get out
of here. Uh. It makes me laugh because but you know,
(35:25):
for those who don't know, you've been dealing with your
oldest child in mixed martial arts. Yes, and how have
you been able to deal with that? You know? I
I know her. I've seen her as a as as
(35:45):
a you know, as a young girl growing up and
you know obviously watching the video and I you know,
it's nerve wracking for me. How has it been for
you for those who don't know you, and how you
how you've dealt with some of her fights? Yeah. So,
you know, my daughter is an MMA fighter. She's had
three fights amateur and you know, her first fight was
(36:08):
in and she loves it, by the way, she absolutely
first for it. Yeah. You know, it's funny because when
she first started taking jiu jitsu and sort of announced
that she wanted to do this, you know, my wife
to me and I, we did everything in our power
to like block it, like we gotta tell the story
telling the boxing story was the boxing story, but you
(36:30):
took it to front road to Yeah. So yeah, So
she announced in like the summer of nineteen, she was
getting ready to go into her senior in high school,
and she was like, you know, I want to take
jiu jitsu. I want to pursue something in mixed martial arts.
And my wife and I looking at her like mix marshall,
like you've never been in a fight like mixed martial arts,
(36:52):
like and you know, her like, she's not who you
would pay against a fighter like she that's not really
her personality. But right, take the jiu jitsu. It's good
for self defense, you know, YadA, YadA, YadA. And then
as she got into it, she wanted to go to
a UFC fight. So for her birthday, I took her
to a UFC fighter Raleigh at the P and C Arena.
(37:12):
And it was late January of twenty twenty, so right
before COVID, and you know, my wife was nervous. I said, honey, look,
we got seats right here, front row, like I promise you.
Once she sees this and she sees it up close,
and you know, all that goes into it, she's gonna
want nothing to do with this. And so we go
(37:34):
and we're there and we're there for the under you know,
the undercard, and you know, we were there the whole night.
And then we come home and we get home and
you know, we get in the door and I'm like,
so what do you think, Milin. She's like, Dad, I
could be a champion and my plan backfire, you know,
and if anything, it inspired her. But you know, everything
(37:55):
she's done since that moment, like she has worked at
it incredibly hard. I mean sometimes a little too hard,
Like I worry she she's she's you know, she goes
a little too hard, but you know that's what she
wants and that's what makes her happy. And as a parent,
you know it's you know, it's it does more harm
(38:16):
than good when you try to deter them from doing
something they're passionate about. And so we've come to grips
with it. We consume a lot of alcohol at her fights.
That's the only way we can get through it. And
you know, I heard this clothes the other day, and
you know, it's like, as long as your kids are happy,
you know, you as a parent, you're only as happy
(38:36):
as your sad as kid. And so if this makes
her happy and this is something that she enjoys uh
and she just you know has a passion for, then
then we're happy. So I take it. Lael makes things,
your youngest makes things a lot easier for you and
to me, because it's just I mean not just soccer
(38:56):
because that can be gruesome and brutal as well, but
knowing her personality, she's a bully out there. She's definitely
a bully, but like she has you guys, like traveling
a lot. So I guess that's kind of the other
side of it, you know as well, because it's obviously
more tournaments but not as stressful as my Yeah. Yeah,
(39:20):
I mean, look, you know, I you know, Vincent Golf's
and you know you're not gonna get hurt in golf.
You know, there's there's golf is not. And I'm not
knocking that. I'm just saying, like, but I'm sure it's
apparent you're still stressful, like you're still you know, and
and because you I think nothing gives you more, Like
(39:44):
nothing is more rewarding to see your kids doing something
and having success, and nothing is more like watching them
lose or watching them go through some adversity or pain
or or whatever like it it's harder to take than
it was if you went through it. Yeah, it's like
that's part of being a parent. It's also necessary. I mean,
(40:05):
the good and the bad is part of you know,
it's part of life. But yeah, I mean it it's
exhilar ready, man. I enjoy following them and even if
they weren't in sports, if they you know, we're in
music or whatever, they were in the chess club, Like
that's what they want to do. Then you know, we're
all in it and we'll learn it and support it.
(40:27):
And but I get more joy out of their successes
than I ever got out of my own. And and
so we're there, we're at you know, we're at the
soccer games, and we got our little you know you're
going we're all in. We're all in, man, and uh
and actually, you know what, we're gonna miss it. Man,
we're empty nesters. Like we were talking about it recently,
(40:48):
like when when layos off in college and hopefully playing
in college. You know we're gonna miss you know, those
those games and practices and you know it's such a
part of your life. And so we just enjoyed every
minute of it and try to be supportive parents. Do
it all. I heard that it's nothing like it. And
(41:10):
then closing, I'm gonna say, you still rock the feelings,
you still have anything? You still I got a whole
bunch of you. Yeah, I got I get what size
are you? Hey? Fifteen? We can talk? Well? Great? Thank
you man, I appreciate you so much. Man. I hope
everybody enjoyed this episode, And thank you for granted kind
of opening up and bringing us into his very very
(41:30):
busy world. The VC Show once again will be right
here once again next week, so tune in, let's go.
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the show Season two. Yeah, we back again,
got the world. Tune in there for social through with
tell of friends, my heart got me on the for
us slam, dump the whinstle. Go on, then kick your
feet up so you can listen to It's the VC Show.
(00:28):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's the v c All right, all right, welcome to
the VC Show. I'm your host, Vince Carter. March madness
has come and gone, but it was fantastic. A lot
of great basketball on the men's and women's side, a
lot of drama and playoff positioning happening in the NBA.
(00:53):
And I'll be discussing that and a lot more with
my special guests. So put your hands together for Grand Hill.
Hold on. You got what they wanted, been signed. You
had the pleasure of calling Coach K's last game too, right.
I don't know if that was pleasure. I don't know
(01:13):
if that was pleasure. No, no, no, but I did.
I mean, I mean's think about this, think about this.
I had the pleasure of calling coach K's last game.
Roy Williams last game. I did Jay Wright's last game. Uh,
(01:33):
there's somebody else. Jay Wright was in the final four
that same final four, which was Coach K's final four.
Jay Wright, they lost to Kansas and then they retired.
I did Roy Williams in twenty one at Purdue and
they lost in the first round. I can't remember who
they lost to. And then he retired shortly thereafter. And
(01:53):
so you know, to be able to see these icons,
these legends, and to do their last game like man,
and like, how lucky am I? Because I have the
utmost respect for all of these guys, uh, including Roy
you know, Roy Williams. But you know, for Coach K,
(02:14):
it was hard. Like it was, it was a hard tournament.
I did all their games, and it's tough because at
any moment it could be his last game. And unlike
with with Roy Williams and Jay Wright, you didn't know
that that was their last game. But in Coach's case,
he had already said this was going to be his
last season. So every game there's an opportunity, you know
(02:35):
that that they could lose, and and so you know
you're kind of wrestling with that and not that you're
emotional or anything like that, but like you want to
you want to do a good job, and you want
to you know, you want to give him, you know,
in case there's that moment where he loses, like you
want to be able to say the right thing as
a former player, and and so obviously then playing Caroline,
(03:01):
you know, of all teams, it was just like, like
you know, it was it was hard. Like even just
going into that game, it was like it was a
hard game. I try to be objective. I try to
be partial or impartial. I try to, you know, like
be fair. I'm not going to run from the fact
that I went to Duke, but calling a Duke game,
(03:21):
I try to like, you know, be you know, call
it as you call it as I see it. And
but once once the game was over, in the finality
of the moment, it was it was hard, Like that
part was hard. And then you know, they brought me
on the set with Charles and Kenny and I got
(03:41):
to sit there and you know, I'm like, I gotta
hear Kenny. But you know what, Kenny was really good
in the moment. And I know we like to go
back and forth and and you know, chirp at each other,
but like I think he understood the significance of the
moment and really paid his respects to k and understood
(04:01):
it was it was, you know, the end of an
era and and so so yeah, I mean it was
it was it was an honor. It was a difficult,
you know, part of me was like, I wish he
had just lost the week before, so you had to lose.
But but but no, I mean he he and like Roy,
like Jay Wright, like they they've been, you know, so
(04:23):
important to the to the game and its success, and
their legacies are are just absolutely incredible. You know what.
Williams was our coach when we practiced against the Dream Team.
He was at Kansas at the time, but he was
our coach and uh, and so we we shared that
incredible moment together. And uh. He recruited me when I
(04:46):
was a sophomore in high school and he was still
an assistant coach in Carolina and he's still you know,
I mean, Roy's a you know, an unbelievable coach. Williams
is an unbelievable person. But he came in my high
school game and we played against Arawford Palmer. I don't
know if you remember that name, Crawford Palmer, who who
ended up playing at Duke. He was a McDonald's All
American and he was on our first championship team. Didn't
(05:07):
play much, transferred after his junior year, but Crawford was
like six ' ten, big guy, and so we played
against them, and I scored the last eighteen points of
the game and brought us back and we won the
game on an ALLEYU. I was doing my Vince Carter impersonation,
(05:32):
and Roy's always like that was one of the best
high school games I've ever seen. And so that's coming
from a Carolina guy. But no, I mean I was,
you know, I was, like I said, I grew up
a Carolina fan and had the utmost respect for Coach
Smith and for Royd Williams. You know, just just icons
like icons of the game. Incredible. Let's move, let's transition
(05:54):
real quick. I want to ask you about this. We
I don't know if we've ever talked about this, but
your acting career, how did that come about? I got
the opportunity to do the Moisha Show. I've been in
a few things, but like you did, living single and
how did that come about? And you know, was that
(06:15):
something you were kind of up for where you you know,
did you feel like you were kind of stepping out
of your shell a little bit? Yes, with one hundred
percent stepping out of my show. So before I did
Living Single, I taped, like a month before, I taped
a segment remember that show Home Improvement with Tim Allen. Yeah,
(06:38):
and so you know that took place in Detroit. You
know it was a Michigan was a Michigan or he's
living in Michigan. Had the show too time or whatever.
So I went on there and I kind of played myself.
I had my jersey on and you know, I had
a segment or whatever. And so I'm thinking, Okay, this
is easy. I get a free trip to LA you know,
like it's cool, I'm on set whatever whatever. So then
(07:02):
they're like, we want you on Living Single. And so
I honestly think, like it's the same sort of thing.
I'm gonna make a cameo. You know, I'm gonna make
a cameo. And so they tape on a Tuesday, and
we had reading, we had the like the table reading
for that week's script on Wednesday, the day after the
(07:22):
taping the taping of last week's show. So I get
in like Tuesday night and they have like the script
waiting for me at the at the hotel, you know,
at the lobby. So you know, I don't really read it,
like I don't know what I'm getting myself, but I
don't think what I'm doing is a whole lot, So
I don't. I don't read the script. But then I
(07:43):
show up the next day at the table reading and
I'm so, I'm we're reading it and we're all reading
our parts, you know, around the table, and I'm reading
it for the first time. And so I'm like, first
I'm like, damn, I'm in. I'm in a lot of scenes.
And then I'm like, oh man, I'm like they got
me flirting with Latifa like her character, like you know,
(08:05):
and then like you know, and oh man, I got
to kiss like all this stuff. Like I was like,
hold up, hold up, like you know, you know, I
didn't want to like punk out or you know, be
difficult because I'm a guest. But I didn't think this
was what I was signing up for. I'll just put
it that way. And so you know, because you were
in the episode, I was in the like pretty much
(08:27):
every scene I was in, and I was you know,
her characters love interests and you know, YadA YadA, YadA,
and so you know, so we had you know, we rehearsed.
We wouldhearse and kind of know where to be and said,
and then we had like a dress rehearsal, but we
never rehearsed you know, the couch kissing scene, and and
(08:50):
so I didn't know where that was going and how
that would go, and you know, I just kind of
went with the flow on that. But anyway, it was acting,
and and she was great, and she was a great
friend and helped me through it. But and people still,
I guess I can tell when when it you know,
(09:12):
when it comes on, yeah, because people tweet me or
people call me or text me and be like, yeah,
I saw you on Latifa or whatever. But yeah, I'll
just say this. I wasn't invited to do any more
after that. So clearly my acting wasn't that good for
you as a as a obviously a superstar. Getting in
(09:35):
college draft, getting drafted, was there a major transition for
you as a rookie? You know, I think, look, I
came in the league, and I mean this sounds maybe
(09:55):
arrogant or whatever, but I came in the league and
I was like I was putting and work from day one,
like day won, I was putting up numbers. Yeah, and
I think like I came in twenty five to ten,
like my first game, and maybe had a string of ten,
maybe twelve fifteen games where I had twenty points or
more right out the gate, and so you know, but
(10:16):
there again, you were you were for year college players,
so you know, you matured and you were kind of
ready for that at that point also as opposed to
one year in college in my opinion, Yeah, no, I
think you're right. I think, you know, I think back then,
I mean, you obviously were the same. Like when you
came out and you were top top five pick, there
(10:37):
was an expectation that you could be the face of
a franchise. There was an expectation that you could be
an all star, a guy that could lift the team,
and you know, like that was what was expected. I
don't know if those same expectations exist, but that was
the case. I think in the nineties. Let me think
about it, you had you know, you had Derek Coleman
(10:58):
in ninety ninety one, you had the Kimba I'm thinking
the number one picks, ninety two, Shack three, Chris Weber
ninety four, big dog. You know, like you're coming in
right away and you're expected to be able to come
in and help a team and put numbers up and
score and be that guy. I think what helped me
(11:18):
and I think when I think the one thing that
I was pretty good at and I could handle the basketball,
and you know, you had big guys before, like Magic
and Steve Smith. Even Jalen did it when he ran
point at Michigan. But you would kind of handle the
(11:38):
ball and back people down and kind of use your
size to get to where you wanted to go. And
I even did that my senior year at Duke. I
played the point my senior year and in the summer,
we're playing pickup ball before I'm heading to Detroit and
we're at Duke and Quinn Snyder, who played a Duke,
had been an assistant coach for Larry Brown. Yeah. He
(12:00):
recruited me. Yeah, me, And then my last year he
was a grad assistant and I think eventually went on
and became an assistant. But like he was like, dude,
you don't have to play like Magic. You can handle
like you handled the ball and and and pick up ball.
You can do that in the NBA, and so when
I got to the league, I don't think there were
a lot of small forwards who are comfortable with somebody
(12:23):
coming at him and like pop pop, you know, coming
at him like that. And so that really helped me
get to where I needed to go. And literally, yeah,
and so you know, I didn't shoot the ball. I
just went to the rim, like and I could get
to the rim, you know, whenever I wanted, I felt,
And so you know, now people adjusted and they get
the sky and report on you. And but I remember
(12:44):
at first, I'm calling my boys up like, man, I'm
killing these folks in the league, like, hey man, they
can't you know. And that was until they figured you out.
But I think the hard part for me was the
off the court, and because you know, in college, even
though you're a celebrity on campus, even though you're playing
(13:06):
for a big time program, there's still an innocence there,
you know, and you're still around other people in college
and people you know, you're trying to go to schools. Yeah, yeah,
especially for Duke. Yeah, dude, I mean you're just Camus
well just I mean we spent a lot of time
at Chapel Hill. I mean, we were over there, but
you know, it was it was there was I don't know,
(13:27):
I just felt like and then all of a sudden,
like people know how much you make, you sign this
big contract, like you know, and you just feel like
a target. And so now it's like you got your
guard up and you just are very and so that
was that was an adjustment for me, just you know,
kind of being launched into this you know, different world
if you will, right, and I think you're throwing you know,
(13:49):
I mean, on top of that deemed you know, the
next MJ and the shoe contract, obviously, you know, FeelA
goes to another level. You know, you become the face
of FeelA with that, Like I can't I can't imagine
because I've been there, but I could. I was just
that's why I was asking, you know, how did you
(14:09):
handle that? I mean, obviously, basketball is basketball, particularly when
you get comfortable and the game slows down. But it's
typically an adjustment for younger players in transition because on
the court, it's like, ah, yes, you're in a safe place,
You're in your place, and then off the court, you
have to adjust living that new life, understanding your popularity
to go with it. Yeah, no, no, no question. I mean, look,
(14:30):
look it took me. You know, I had a lot,
you know, there was a void. I mean, Jordan was gone,
he was playing baseball. You know. I had played one
hundred and twenty sei games at Duke. You know, whether
you liked Duke or hated Duke, you saw us. You
saw us play. And then my game was you know,
kind of exciting. I did things whatever, and so there
(14:53):
was just a lot of attention and I'm trying to
figure the game. I'm trying to figure the league out,
like I'm still trying to understand the NBA game, and
I'm trying to win, Like that was the thing. Like
I wanted to win. I didn't even really care about
all that. I just wanted to like, how do we
you know, we won twenty eight games my first year,
you know, like like that was that was hard. And
(15:13):
so all of this you're dealing with and trying to
process and make sense, and it was it was uncomfortable,
you know, it was uncomfortable because I didn't feel like
I was ready for that. Like I didn't feel like
I earned it or deserved it. I felt like it
was just thrown at me. And eventually I felt like maybe,
you know, year two and I even think the Olympics.
(15:35):
You know, now I'm in the Olympics and I'm playing
every day against Scottie Pippen, and I'm holding my own
and I'm doing you know, like he had his moments,
I had my Like I think by year three, like
I felt like, okay, like I'm I'm supposed to be
here now, you know what I'm saying. And but it
was a whirlwind at first. Man, it was those first
(15:57):
three months in the league. Man, just all the tension,
like that was something that that was I wasn't expecting that.
So you can't like just be a kid and just
like you used to and just kind of just walk around. Yeah,
you get the attention on college campus, but it's kind
of like kind of fades away and you can kind
of just be yourself as opposed to what's world. Yeah,
I mean, you're living with you're living, you're going to class,
(16:18):
you're socializing, like like, you know, okay, that's Vince Carter.
It's a big deal. But you know what, after a while, Yeah,
I see him in class, I see him in the cafeteria.
You know what I'm saying. I see him. I've been
on the dorms, like you know, it's so you know,
I mean, it's it's it's a big deal. I don't
want to say it's not a big deal, but it's
not as big a deal. I guarantee you this. You
(16:39):
being at Carolina and Chapel Hill while you were there
playing was a lot different than vin sanity in Toronto. Yeah,
no question, I could guarantee you that. You know, yeah,
and so I mean yes, and so it's great you're
doing things, but it's also just it takes a minute
to get comfortable with with all that, with with what
(17:00):
that is, if that makes sense. How did you cope
with the injuries after being what I know you were
(17:23):
in Detroit and what everybody obviously knows you were in
Detroit going to Orlando and the injuries with the ankle
and so on and so forth. I know you had
multiple surgeries. How did you cope with that? And the
reason I asked, I think I know the answer to it,
you know, But the reason I asked because for that
young player who's going through that now, whether it's in
(17:46):
high school, but understanding, how did you at the height
of your career and the excitement of you and t
Mac about to play together. How did you handle that
and we're able to still bounce back and still have
a care Yeah. I mean I sometimes ask myself, you know,
how I did that? I think put in Yeah, yeah,
(18:10):
the work I think. I think first of all, being
an athlete conditions you to like think you can do
the unthinkable. You know, you're in a game like the
game against against against Kentucky, like you know, like, Okay,
we come out, we believe we're gonna we're gonna execute
a win. Like you you you you almost have to
(18:31):
be delusional at times, think about like you got to
be delusional sometimes a thing like Okay, we're going against
this number one team, but we're gonna beat them. Like
that's part of competing. That's part of the mindset that
you have to have. And so maybe I was slightly delusional,
but like I felt like like okay, you know, I
(18:52):
convinced myself that like once the ankle heals, you know,
I got I still got tread of the times. You know,
it's not cartilage, it's not something. The problem with my
ankle was it never healed, and so I was trying
to come back it was never healed, and it was
just one thing after another and so we never you know,
(19:12):
we never fixed that. And once we fixed it, it was,
you know, four years later. But you know, I I
and there was you know, there's a lot that went
into that. But I do think I suppressed my feelings
to get through that, which is not uncommon when you
go through something tough. Sometimes people do, you know, suppress things.
And I kept thinking I'm gonna make up for it
(19:34):
on the back end, like I'm gonna play till I'm forty,
like you just I always mentally just kept and emotionally
just kept thinking about, okay, you know, once I get right,
I'm gonna play. But it was hard. It wasn't easy.
And you know, what's what's amazing, and you're you know,
and I bring this up because you're you know, you're
about to go through this Hall of Fame experience. But
(19:57):
once I went through the enshrinement and and the whole
ceremony and I'm in, and then you get away from
it for a couple of months, it got a little
dark because I think those feelings were conjured up and
I started thinking, like, man, I got in the Hall
(20:19):
of Fame just really with a half a career, Like
I didn't even really get a chance to see it through.
I got hurt at twenty seven and was never the same,
Like I said, came back and played and had fun
and enjoyed the end of my career, but like I
didn't get a chance to see it through, and I
got mad, and like I felt like I was dealing
(20:39):
with those feelings and dealing with those emotions then as
opposed to dealing with them in real time in the
early two thousands and so it really you know, I
used to judge everybody who wrote a book, and I
used to say, oh, like anyone cares to read your book,
you know what I'm saying, Like, you know, I was
that guy was so narcissistic to write a book, Like,
(21:00):
you know, that was me being just cynical or whatever.
But that prompted me to write a book and tell
my story. And the motivation was not to be a
best seller, you know. The motivation was to tell what
happened with my injury and get it all out. Yeah,
because I felt like, you know, it was a different time.
We didn't have the social media, we didn't have like
(21:21):
and things were kind of mysterious and people didn't know,
and so like, like I just wanted to tell what happened.
And in the process of telling this, you know, writing
this the book, and then getting out and marketing it,
it was like a little bit little therapeutic, you know,
it was able to deal with that. And it didn't
change anything. I mean, what happened would happened, but I
(21:43):
don't think but it changed the most important thing, and
that was you and your mental moving forward right after
still having this honor, like you just said, like you
just reached the pinnacle in my opinion, of the Hall
of Fame, and you still months later going to this
dark place, right, So you know, I think this satisfact.
Like you said, it was therapeutic. It was therapeutic, and
it just helped bring closure and have peace, you know,
(22:05):
in peace with regards to the career. So I was saying,
you know, I kind of maybe didn't tell the full truth,
but I said, like it validates what you didn't do,
and it does to a degree. But with me, like
I was still I was still harboring those feelings and
got you know, got resentful a bit and got mad
at doctors and you know, trainers and people who I
felt let me down and so like I needed, you know,
(22:28):
And that was the impetus behind writing my book, was
to sort of walk the reader through exactly what not
for sympathy, not for pity. I just needed to get
that out. I needed to tell somebody, you know, I
needed to get that out, and I felt the book
was the only sort of platform to do that. And
(22:49):
I didn't. I don't think I realized that I needed
to do that, but I did. And doing that like okay,
like I feel good, And not that I needed validation
from the public or whatever, but it was just part
of like processing and dealing with all that stuff that
that I went through and not realizing that was still
in there that needed to come out, right, no question,
no question. What's life been like for you as an owner?
(23:13):
And and do you take the same approach? You know,
I'm combining two questions here. You know, what's life been
like as an owner? One? But two you know, and
it started with the Hawks. Do you take the same
approach with the Hawks as you do with Orlando City?
And you know, Orioles as far as how you go
(23:34):
about your your position now, because I think it's different
as a basketball player, you know, because that's what you play.
But now you're doing you're in ownership with another sport.
How do you go about that? And how is how
has life been as an owner as well? I wonder that. Well,
first of all, it's been a dream of mine, you know,
since since even before I entered the NBA, Like, you know,
(23:58):
who are the people who pay these guys all this
money to play? Like I want to be there, you know,
Like that was always sort of in the back of
my mind. And you know, I mean, you played on
a number of different teams, and I always say that
every locker room is different, you know, every locker room dynamics,
(24:18):
and maybe you get traded or you sign in free
agency with a different team, and like you come in
and you got to feel it out. You got to
feel out the personality, the egos, the dynamics, and it
takes a minute to do that. But every locker room
is different. And sometimes from year to year, you can
be on the same team and you lose two players
and you gain two players and it changes things a bit.
(24:41):
And so I say that to say that, like every
ownership partnership is different, you know, and there's a different
dynamic at play and so. But look, first of all,
it's fun. I think they're incredible investments. I'm a big
believer in sport and the power it has in our
(25:01):
culture and society. Uh. And I'm you know, I think
that the upside will will continue to ascend. I'm hoping,
fingers crossed. It's also an investment that's fun. It's something
you can you know. You know, you can invest in
a piece of real estate, you can invest in a stock,
you know, all of which are great investments. But like
a team, Like in following a team and having that
(25:24):
sort of emotional and financial connection to that team, like
it's incredible and you live the ups and the downs
and you feel it in more ways than one, but
you feel it. So, you know, I think I have
sort of different roles in the different situations. The oriole
situation is still early and still sort of developing. But
(25:46):
you know, I think I bring a unique perspective. I'm
not just bringing money to a partnership. I'm bringing experience.
I'm bringing someone who's been in the locker room, understands
you know, the player, player, player dynamics, player coach dynamics.
You know, I can watch us plays, say in Atlanta,
(26:09):
and I can get a sense of what's going on
without necessarily being there or even or even you know,
talking to anybody who's close to the action, and so
you know, but I also and mindful that you know, Look,
I'm not the managing partner, and you know, I have
a voice, but I don't have the loudest voice, and
I'm respectful of that. But it's fun, it's exhilarating, it's tough,
(26:36):
I kind of Actually, the soccer and baseball are two
worlds that I'm not as familiar with, and I've enjoyed
like engaging with our general managers and talking about locker
room dynamics and culture and picking brains and exchanging and
sharing ideas. I can't help with, you know, strategy. You know,
(26:56):
I don't know soccer or baseball like that, but I
know good locker rooms and I know bad locker rooms,
just as you You've been in some good ones and
you've probably been in some bad ones. And uh, and
there's something that separates the two. And you know, when
you have a good locker room, you know, with talent
and health and a series of other variables, but a
(27:17):
good locker room gives you a chance for good results,
and I'm a I'm a firm believer in that. But
the role of ownership is a weird one, like it's
it's it's you know, like you're you're you're kind of
a glorified cheerleader. You know you, you know you you
you know. You hire good people, you give them vision,
(27:38):
uh direction, resources, you empower them, but then you also
kind of got to get out of the way and
let them do their job. And you want to be engaged,
but you don't want to be too engaged. It's a yeah,
it's a weird dynamic, and you know, it's something that
I'm I'm I'm not sure I have fully figured out
(27:59):
and don't know if any you know owner has figured
out you know, the perfect sort of working dynamic. If
you will, well, I'll say this to that real fast.
And I think you know, your voice, your experience truly matters.
And you know I was there when obviously LP. Lloyd
Pierce always said he would love to have you around
(28:20):
just because of your knowledge. You've been around, you played
nineteen years, You've seen it all. You know obviously you
experienced it all. So I can imagine your voice being
just as important in any locker room, you know, as
an owner or otherwise. So no, I appreciate that, and
I mean, look, I think we need more former athletes
in these positions. And just I'm trying, man, I'm trying. Well,
(28:42):
I'm trying. I know, I hear you. I mean. And
the reason for that is, you know, you know, we
we we talk about uh and you know in corporate
America we talk about it. And in any kind of
you know, organization, any group, any team, you know, you
want you want diversity, and we you know, we think
of diversity as you know, gender or or ethnicity, which
(29:03):
which which we do, which which is important? But we
need the diversity of perspective, diversity of thought. And you know,
I always liking it to uh. You know, if you're
going to the park and you're gonna play basketball, you're
not gonna put together a team of everybody that does
the same thing. You know, You're gonna try to find
that point guard, that big guy, maybe a guy who
can guard the other team's best player like you got.
(29:25):
You know, you're gonna you want to put together diversity
in terms of skill sets to ultimately like you're trying
to put together Olympic team well, that's true. That's that's
exactly it. This is weird. But to get to that point, like,
you need diversity of perspective. I think in ownership and
players have a unique perspective that unless you've been in
(29:49):
that situation, you really just don't understand. H I thought,
you know, we've talked about this obviously, but I thought
this summer last summer was a great stepping stone. Obviously
(30:13):
not the results you want, but for the future. And
one thing I tell people all the time is that
at some point, as the stars of today fizzle out
and walk into the sunset, you want to already have
your future stars in the grooming process, particularly when you're USA,
so you want them to have this experience. So to
(30:36):
get to have experience, you have to be put into
the fire to go through it. And you know, you
think back to four h when you know, when you struggle,
you know, as some of the older guys, a lot
of us kind of didn't play, and then you and
you're now you adding Lebron Mellow. You know a lot
of the young stars they had to gain the experience.
(30:58):
So you go through the struggles. Yes, oh we should
out athlete them and all that stuff. I get it,
but it's a different game, as you know in the Olympics.
So I think you know the way you're handling this
and obviously you've heard me say this before. What the
way you're handling giving the experience, uh, you know, giving
to these young stars of today the experience they need.
With that, you're gonna take your lumps. But you know,
(31:22):
some of these young guys who are gonna get to
play with these superstars and now in what I guess
that would be in four more so five years, let's say,
look out because now you're just reloaded. But you don't
have to go through the grooming process again, you know,
with so many guys. So I don't envy you at all. No, no, no,
I mean you you've you've been there, you've been as
(31:44):
a player, and you've been around the game. You understand
sort of the challenge the fever game. I have the
utmost respect for. It is not easy. I think sometimes
in our arrogance, as as you know, citizens of the
United States, we feel like, oh, we're the best in
the word dominant. We should just show up and win.
It's not the case the Dream Team in ninety two.
(32:05):
You know, part of what they did. Obviously they dominated,
but they helped globalize the sport. The NBA right now
is almost I think it's thirty percent international players, and
so the fear that they used to have of you know,
international teams and players of US is gone. And there
(32:28):
have been examples of teams who beat the Team USA
in the last twenty years and so, but last summer
was it was hard because we lost and certainly we
felt like we had a chance to win gold. But
the guys were incredible, like they gave us everything. It
was a long commitment. We were gone for six and
(32:50):
a half weeks. You know, we got all new guys
in the pipeline. Everyone who was on that World Cup
team last summer it was their first experience on the
men's national team. This upcoming summer with the Olympics, and
hopefully at some point here, you know, and in their
future will you know, we'll be able to announce our
(33:13):
our team. But you know, we want we have you know,
we have some legacy guys, guys who've you know, who've
been a part of multiple you know, fever experiences, and
we have some young guys who've expressed interest, and we
have guys who are in their prime and so hopefully
we can pick a roster one and most importantly it
(33:33):
gives us every opportunity to win a gold medal, but
then two that can get representation from every bucket, you know,
the older legacy guys, the guys who are kind of
in their prime, and then the guys now that are
on the come up, who have a chance to be great,
great players in the league for years to come. And
sadly and unfortunately, you know, you can only pick twelve
(33:56):
and we have just some incredible guys, incredible players who
many of whom are worthy of the experience. And so
there's some tough decisions. I know you talk about you
don't be you're not envious, but uh, there's some tough
decisions that we have to make. Uh that's part of leadership.
You've got to make those tough decisions and live with them.
But we're grateful for everyone's interests and guys wanted to
(34:18):
be a part of it. And you know, it's it's
gold or bust. That's that's the expectation, that's the standard.
And you know, we win gold, we look good. And
if we don't win gold, then you know, it's back
to the drawing boards. So but I'm excited. I'm excited
about it. I'm excited about the opportunity. I'm excited about
watching this upcoming team come together. Uh and you know
(34:41):
pursue Uh this this really you know, really difficult challenge
of trying to win an Olympic gold medal. Well, that's awesome,
and I'm putting my bid in not to play, but
hopefully get to be able to call call the games
to watch it, because obviously it's going to be I
think magical, and I think every player. I mean, we
heard a lot of these guys superstars coming forward saying
(35:05):
they want to play. And I'm sure they've talked amongst
each other while you know, echoing their you know, they
want to so it should be fun to watch. And
you know, hopefully I get to call something magical. But
I'm gonna say something to you, like, I want to
ask you this and then I'll let you get out
of here. Uh. It makes me laugh because but you know,
(35:25):
for those who don't know, you've been dealing with your
oldest child in mixed martial arts. Yes, and how have
you been able to deal with that? You know? I
I know her. I've seen her as a as as
(35:45):
a you know, as a young girl growing up and
you know obviously watching the video and I you know,
it's nerve wracking for me. How has it been for
you for those who don't know you, and how you
how you've dealt with some of her fights? Yeah. So,
you know, my daughter is an MMA fighter. She's had
three fights amateur and you know, her first fight was
(36:08):
in and she loves it, by the way, she absolutely
first for it. Yeah. You know, it's funny because when
she first started taking jiu jitsu and sort of announced
that she wanted to do this, you know, my wife
to me and I, we did everything in our power
to like block it, like we gotta tell the story
telling the boxing story was the boxing story, but you
(36:30):
took it to front road to Yeah. So yeah, So
she announced in like the summer of nineteen, she was
getting ready to go into her senior in high school,
and she was like, you know, I want to take
jiu jitsu. I want to pursue something in mixed martial arts.
And my wife and I looking at her like mix marshall,
like you've never been in a fight like mixed martial arts,
(36:52):
like and you know, her like, she's not who you
would pay against a fighter like she that's not really
her personality. But right, take the jiu jitsu. It's good
for self defense, you know, YadA, YadA, YadA. And then
as she got into it, she wanted to go to
a UFC fight. So for her birthday, I took her
to a UFC fighter Raleigh at the P and C Arena.
(37:12):
And it was late January of twenty twenty, so right
before COVID, and you know, my wife was nervous. I said, honey, look,
we got seats right here, front row, like I promise you.
Once she sees this and she sees it up close,
and you know, all that goes into it, she's gonna
want nothing to do with this. And so we go
(37:34):
and we're there and we're there for the under you know,
the undercard, and you know, we were there the whole night.
And then we come home and we get home and
you know, we get in the door and I'm like,
so what do you think, Milin. She's like, Dad, I
could be a champion and my plan backfire, you know,
and if anything, it inspired her. But you know, everything
(37:55):
she's done since that moment, like she has worked at
it incredibly hard. I mean sometimes a little too hard,
Like I worry she she's she's you know, she goes
a little too hard, but you know that's what she
wants and that's what makes her happy. And as a parent,
you know it's you know, it's it does more harm
(38:16):
than good when you try to deter them from doing
something they're passionate about. And so we've come to grips
with it. We consume a lot of alcohol at her fights.
That's the only way we can get through it. And
you know, I heard this clothes the other day, and
you know, it's like, as long as your kids are happy,
you know, you as a parent, you're only as happy
(38:36):
as your sad as kid. And so if this makes
her happy and this is something that she enjoys uh
and she just you know has a passion for, then
then we're happy. So I take it. Lael makes things,
your youngest makes things a lot easier for you and
to me, because it's just I mean not just soccer
(38:56):
because that can be gruesome and brutal as well, but
knowing her personality, she's a bully out there. She's definitely
a bully, but like she has you guys, like traveling
a lot. So I guess that's kind of the other
side of it, you know as well, because it's obviously
more tournaments but not as stressful as my Yeah. Yeah,
(39:20):
I mean, look, you know, I you know, Vincent Golf's
and you know you're not gonna get hurt in golf.
You know, there's there's golf is not. And I'm not
knocking that. I'm just saying, like, but I'm sure it's
apparent you're still stressful, like you're still you know, and
and because you I think nothing gives you more, Like
(39:44):
nothing is more rewarding to see your kids doing something
and having success, and nothing is more like watching them
lose or watching them go through some adversity or pain
or or whatever like it it's harder to take than
it was if you went through it. Yeah, it's like
that's part of being a parent. It's also necessary. I mean,
(40:05):
the good and the bad is part of you know,
it's part of life. But yeah, I mean it it's
exhilar ready, man. I enjoy following them and even if
they weren't in sports, if they you know, we're in
music or whatever, they were in the chess club, Like
that's what they want to do. Then you know, we're
all in it and we'll learn it and support it.
(40:27):
And but I get more joy out of their successes
than I ever got out of my own. And and
so we're there, we're at you know, we're at the
soccer games, and we got our little you know you're
going we're all in. We're all in, man, and uh
and actually, you know what, we're gonna miss it. Man,
we're empty nesters. Like we were talking about it recently,
(40:48):
like when when layos off in college and hopefully playing
in college. You know we're gonna miss you know, those
those games and practices and you know it's such a
part of your life. And so we just enjoyed every
minute of it and try to be supportive parents. Do
it all. I heard that it's nothing like it. And
(41:10):
then closing, I'm gonna say, you still rock the feelings,
you still have anything? You still I got a whole
bunch of you. Yeah, I got I get what size
are you? Hey? Fifteen? We can talk? Well? Great? Thank
you man, I appreciate you so much. Man. I hope
everybody enjoyed this episode, And thank you for granted kind
of opening up and bringing us into his very very
(41:30):
busy world. The VC Show once again will be right
here once again next week, so tune in, let's go.
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