November 15, 2024 • 62 mins
Vince gives the behind the scenes stories from his emotional Hall of Fame induction ceremony and his dramatic jersey retirement in Toronto. Vince addresses the Meme of his reaction to his banner going into the rafters for the Raptors. He also talks about the teams he is most impressed with this season so far like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors, as well as the interesting dynamic between LeBron and Anthony Davis on the Lakers.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's the VC.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Show Show Season two. Yeah, we back again. Got the
world tune in there for show. So go and tell
a friend my heart got me on the squad. I
slam Dumpton whistle blow on there. Kick your feet up
so you can listen. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the VC Shows.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Two.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome to the VC Show. I'm your host, VC. I
actually have Hall of Fame bird behind my name. Now
it's crazy to say. Forgive me. I'm still working on that.
But yeah, we're back. Glad to be back. It's uh,
it's been an interesting year so far. A lot going
(00:59):
on that, you know. So we're gonna get right into
that just shortly, so kick your feet up. The VC
Show starts. Now hold on God what they wanted then
signed supreme good people, as you know. A monumental moment
in my life, really in my career, the Hall of Fame.
(01:25):
I'm a member of the Hall of Fame class of
twenty twenty four, which was mind blowing, amazing, just a
very humbling experience and moment in my life. I've I've
always watched the Hall of Fame I'm not gonna say always.
(01:46):
I've watched the Hall of Fame in past years. Obviously,
I watched t MAC, I watched the year before when
Dirk and d Wade went in, and I actually was
asked to attend that ceremony, to just be in the building,
and I wanted to wait, and I was asked a
(02:08):
couple of times. And I'll explain today why I wanted
to wait. I wanted to I wanted the experience of
the Hall of Fame to be an organic experience, not
knowing what happens next, what you do next. And you know,
I gave a huge shout out during my speech to
Grant Hill because he did he prepared me for what
(02:28):
the Hall of Fame is about, I mean, how it goes,
how it runs, what to expect. So I had some
expectations and understood, but like I didn't I didn't know
the run of show. I didn't know what was going on.
It's like, okay, we're going to this next thing, and
it was like, wow, oh this is another cool moment
in and I got an opportunity to really appreciate what
(02:54):
the Hall of Fame is and about, and the feeling
I had during the opening ceremonies of the U of
the Olympics is one of the feelings I had times
ten at the at the Hall of Fame. A lot
(03:16):
of nerves, obviously, a lot of emotions, friends and family, yeah,
you know, just people in general just in the building
that yeah, obviously like listens for instance, Magic Johnson and
the Lakers crew, so all the Lakers crew that was
that was there for for Coop, but also there for
(03:40):
Jerry West, Michael Cooper. That is. I saw these guys
in a room literally the day before, and obviously I
know Magic throughout the years, and I wanted to go
say hello to him and everything. And when I walk
in the room, it's like all of these Lakers legends
and and the greats of the game, icons of the
(04:03):
game worthy, I mean, the list goes on. You saw
the guys that were on that stage, and I walk
in and I just caught myself as a fan in
just a wowing moment, like like I'm in them in
the room with greatness, and these guys are icons. And
(04:25):
the first thing they said, hey, man, welcome to the club.
Congratulations man, Like these guys are saying congratulations to me,
welcoming me to their club if you would. You know,
I mentioned getting the opportunity to walk through the doors
with some of the greats of the game. And I
briefly walked into a small room of greats that welcomed
(04:49):
me with open arms, and it was like wowing. And
I was like a kid in a candy store and
I just said, there was a mag y'all, let's take
a picture. So we take a picture and we're just
sitting there and it's like, man, I'm here, man, like,
this is really real, and this is, you know, unbelievable
(05:11):
opportunity and experience, and it was just and it just
continue each day. I mean, as grueling as it was,
as far as just things to do, it was an
unbelievable experience and moment. So I compare the Another comparison
I have, I should say, is comparing my first All
(05:34):
Star game to the Hall of Fame experience. And what
I mean is just things to do, whether it's promotional stuff,
whether it's just signing stuff, whatever it was needed to
do for the Hall of Fame, I had to do it.
It was just it was a lot. So it was
difficult in the beginning. So let's say today I got
(05:57):
there it was difficult to really understand me. Sorry, take
to enjoy being in the building, being in the moment
it was. It was it was difficult. You just had
some much to do. And then I think jacket and
ring night. So that was Saturday leading up to it
(06:23):
is when it started to sink in because it wasn't
about hey, you just got to do this quick pressor
you got to do this now. It was more so,
now you're going into get that jacket and get that ring.
And I remember just sitting there and obviously waiting. I
(06:46):
was part of the last group that received my jacket
in ring and just being in that building. I'm saying, like,
you've seen guys with the jacket and the jackets on,
and it's who's who Larry Bird. If you guys go
watch the clip of Open Gym, you get to see
(07:06):
some of the behind the scenes and t Max says,
Larry Bird is sitting behind you, Doctor Jay's behind you.
The legends of the game, Grant Hill, Shock the whole,
Michael Jordan, Magic, James Worthy. I mean, the list goes
on and on of all of the greats that have
a that has a jacket. We're in that building and
(07:29):
a lot of Reggie Miller. If you watch that video,
you can you get to see them all come up
to me and just say congratulations and welcome, and it's
just like whoa man like I have a great appreciation
for NBA history and playing the game, and I know
what I've done, and you know my part and my
contribution to the game. But man, I'm amongst the others
(07:51):
that contributed as well. And I've always talked about, you know,
there's guys who are like us who are in the
Hall of Fame, and there's guys who are in that
special room. That's some of the other doors that are
in that Hall of Fame room. And I got to
meet and talk with those guys, and it was it
was unbelievable. And as as the night continued to go on,
(08:15):
sitting Chauncey sitting behind me and just talking and we're enjoying,
like Jay and Donde his speech and some of the
wonderful things he said, just living in that moment, and
just like Wold, and all of a sudden they grabbed
us like hey, in between the commercial or whatever, we
go into we go into the back and I had
my kids up there because I wanted my kids to
(08:37):
present the ring and jacket to me. I thought that
was a special moment for me and them, particularly my oldest,
and it was It was cool because we were back there.
I was obviously nervous as hell. They were nervous and
excited at the same time. And you know, watching my
(08:59):
my young fella boy getting to meet some of the
guys that he's starting to learn. He's starting to become
a sports kid and learning some of the icons like
Doctor J and MJ and Dominique. You know, those are
his guys that he knows. Kobe Steph obviously Lebron like
he knows those guys. But he got to like meet
(09:20):
some of those guys and leading up to receiving our
jackets in like the little VIP room where we're just
sitting around, I couldn't find little Man for a little while.
Llo and behold he and Doctor J chopping it up,
having a grand o time in the corner, having a blast.
And it was just cool to see where he's just
(09:42):
learning who he is. Obviously we all know what Doctor
J means to me and my kid now having a
moment and these guys are best friends to where we're
leaving money fast forward. We're leaving Monday to go home.
He's like that can he called doctor j Man want
to talk to him. Like they had that much fun
Saturday and Sunday together. It's just an unbelievable experience for everyone.
(10:08):
And walking on that stage, standing in front of those people,
like it's crazy. You stand in front of nineteen thousand people,
You play the game, you do whatever you do in
front of people. It was maybe three hundred, four hundred,
let's just say, five hundred people in that room. Nervous,
(10:30):
but a proud moment, I told t mackint I said.
I also mentioned it to Chauncey. I said, when I
put the jacket on, it felt different. It didn't feel
like obviously putting on any other jacket. Yes, save fabric,
(10:50):
you know the best of fabrics and all that, but
it was the meaning behind the color and what that
jacket means to a lot of people and to me
putting it on, I just felt like I powered up
into a new level. And the boy was a special man.
It was special. So wearing it, taking pictures and all
(11:13):
that stuff, you got to see the pictures man as
I as I took that, as I walked off the
stage briefly took a trip down memory lane of what
got me there, the smile, the joy that I had inside,
(11:36):
took me back to the beginning, to the end, twenty
two years of NBA ball, three years of college, the Olympics,
all the things that I spoke about. I took that
trip down memory lane, from walking off that stage to
walking in the back, and it was all worth it.
The ups and downs, makes and misses, injuries, rough days,
(12:01):
all worth it, all worth it. And it was a
great moment which led to Saturday night. Once it was
all over, everybody's fatigued, tired, mentally drained from I mean,
just receiving a jacket, but my nerves heightened because Sunday
was coming and it was speech day, and it was
(12:25):
the official day in my opinion, to forever being tryed
as a Hall of Famer. And you know, I took
my time with the speech, dragged dragged, dragged, dragged along,
started over ten twelve times to finally get to where
I was, and still forgot an aunt, but I slid
(12:50):
that in real cool added some things in there, like
my ending speech is something that came from the heart
about you know, forever calling us a Hall of Famer,
but I didn't even put something in there acknowledging the class,
which I've obviously I wanted to do. But you know,
when you're when you're doing something like this, you're you're
(13:11):
spending so much time on you know, for me delivery,
not leaving out people that are important, recognizing family friends,
obviously teammates. I had two hundred and sixty one of them,
so I knew I couldn't name them all, but trying
to just hit home the right the most important things
(13:33):
while trying to squeeze it in ten minutes, which obviously
I did not do. There was no chance in hell
I was going to make ten minutes. They understood that,
which is, you know, very satisfying when you you know,
with with with the committee and when they say, hey,
there's your clock, it says ten minutes. I was like,
it's like, we understand. You just try to get through it.
Do what you're do it your way. Shut out to
(13:53):
Mark Spears. I also had a conversation with him Saturday,
as well as Grant Hill, and the two things they
the well, the things that the two of them said
to me, it's like, it's your speech, take your time,
do what you do. You know they're not gonna cut
the mic off or anything like that, but you know,
you do what you do, deliver as you need to
deliver it. And for me, adding to that, Mark Spear
(14:16):
said to me, you're the closer, You're the finale. And
I took that to heart all night thinking about it,
replaying the the speech, how I want to deliver it,
making sure I take my time. I knew it was
gonna be emotional. You I saw him in the red
(14:36):
carpet and whatnot, and you know, I'll get into that,
but that I was like, how can I hone in,
get a hold of my emotions and deliver the speech
where I'm like, I'm saying two or three words and
can't get through it, like and Temac help me, because
you know, if you go back and look at the
video off an open gym, he's like, I give you
(14:57):
two minutes and he's over there whispering stuff. So it
kind of put me at ease and in the moment
because I was kind of expecting just that, him just
giving me a hard time, so you know, I'm anticipating it,
which settled me in. But once I kind of got
locked in, it was just kind of getting started was
my hesitation, and then once I got going, I was good.
(15:20):
I delivered the speech that I wanted to deliver. It
was cool hearing you know. And here's the thing. It
was cool hearing people reach out saying they shed a
tear or two or thousands throughout that speech, And that
was not my intentions. But I think everybody felt that
(15:40):
it was from the heart. And when writing it, I
had I never imagined it would affect people other people
like it did, other than the people that I was
thinking and showing my appreciation and gratitude towards. I knew
it was going to be tough, obviously thanking my family
and friends, but you know, I meant when I said
(16:01):
it came from the heart, and I think people felt that.
And I left there feeling good about it and felt
I hit a home run. So yeah, I was asked
why so emotional? Not why so? I was asked that too,
But what the emotions of Hall of Fame, particularly the
(16:26):
red carpet is, which I'm glad I got it out
the way then. But it was my my my young
boy who was very young that when he got to
see me play, but watching him have a great appreciation
(16:46):
for the moment at such a young age, wild me
and my family. And the thing I think that tugged
in my heart so much from him was literally right
before we stepped out of the car to walk in
the carpet. It was raining and whatever, and he puts
(17:09):
his hand on my shoulder and he says, Dad, I
don't know if you know this, but you're going from
an All Star to a Hall of Famer. It's pretty cool.
And this is a kid saying something like this instead
(17:30):
of a parent, uncle, friend or whatever. This young kid
realized the moment, and it just I guess it just
hit harder coming from from him than anyone else. And
as I was talking to Dennis Scott about it, all
of those emotions and appreciation, you know, watching how he
(17:53):
my son looked at me, and how locked in he
was and how focused he was in a moment, hanging
on every word was just tugged at me. Is just satisfying. Man, Like,
why do you know this? Bro? Like why do you
(18:16):
why are you so engaged locked in with you know?
You know I knew My youngest was kind of like, yeah,
I floating dad, you know, proud of you? Love you
when everybody else is saying it, but watching him, it
felt like that was my dad living in the moment
like that. That's what it felt like, a proud dad
and that it was pretty cool. So it tugged at me,
(18:37):
and it was. It was an emotional, emotional time. So
I think just seeing you know, obviously my mom enjoying it,
my family in general, some of my boys like having
my moment with them being proud, was like, Yo, this
is this is it? Like we're here, like we're at
(18:58):
the pinnacle and I get to share it with everyone.
So that was a pretty pretty darn cool moment. I
was asked, it's a silly question to me, but I
was asked, you know what made me choose uh, doctor
j in Mac. But but at the same time I understood,
(19:22):
and I told that's why I made it my point
to acknowledge those guys first, particularly t Mac being there,
the one who I don't want to say believed in me,
but he's the one that said I'm gonna get you
drafted to the Raptors and he's family. But but like
it was just it felt right like you're You're the
(19:43):
first one that believed in me, that wanted me here
and and and been in my corner. Obviously my family
and friends and other people. But it was a no brainer.
And obviously Doctor J being my hero and the guy
was my role model, guy I looked up to, what
brother person to have on that stage having my back
(20:07):
representing the moment in me that Doctor J and Tracy
McGrady and I called Doc. I called Doc and left
h Well, I didn't leave a message. First, Well, I
just say, hey, Doc, I want to talk to you,
give me a call whatever. Didn't hear back from them
for a while. It's like and then I get a
(20:27):
call from Doc. See it. I'm like, oh, man, okay.
Talked to him, SKay man, Uh, I am more than
honored to represent you on that stage at the Hall
of Fame. And I was like, I wish I could
(20:49):
record that. So a guy that I've looked up to,
admired for so long to receive a call saying I
am it is my honor is what he said. Hearing
those words from that man was one of the best
emotion emotion, I mean situations, moments and emotions I've I've
(21:12):
had from from somebody that you look up to, and
just hearing because you know, we all have people that
we look up to. We all don't get the opportunity
to meet our role model heroes outside of you know,
our family, you know heroes, we don't get that opportunity.
We just admire them from afar And I get the
opportunity to rub shoulders with somebody that I respect and
(21:37):
consider a friend as well, you know, And it was
just unbelievable. So I think watching that, I hope you
all you know, and I'm obviously this is some time now,
(21:58):
but I hope you all enjoyed that moment and got
to live with me. I'm not really big on social
media and sharing my friends and family through social like that,
but it was an unbelievable moment in time for me,
and to see them all enjoy it as I scanned
(22:20):
through the crowd while giving the speech, and seeing how
proud my cousin Tiffany and my aunt, and seeing my
mom and family and Sandy and the kids and everybody
up front and Kai having their moment, and then seeing
my boys up top having their moment, and just looking
(22:42):
in the crowd in general, and just seeing people like,
you know, not their friends and associates or people that
I know having a moment it made it all worth it.
Like I said, I had no clue the speech that
I was writing with touch people like it did. But
I'm glad that it happened that way. I'm glad I
was able to deliver it and enjoy that moment. I'll
(23:05):
never forget it. And then we add on to the
wonderful ride of the year comes Jersey Retirement in Toronto.
(23:35):
It all started with just a mere dedication court dedication
refurbishing of the court that I built was a part
of at helped build twenty one years ago ish in
two thousand and three in Dixon Park. The opportunity came
about where I was asked to be a part of that,
(23:59):
and I felt strongly about that because I said it then.
And let me be clear, there were basketball courts around.
There weren't as many, and of course living downtown, being downtown,
you don't see it at all. But at the same time,
they weren't. They weren't everywhere like in our neighborhoods. And
you know, you can walk, you could turn the block
(24:19):
or walk a block to turn the corner. It's a
court here, it's a court there, it's a court there.
That wasn't the case, and I wanted to provide that.
Obviously it was just one community, but provide that for
young kids and hopefully give them the opportunity to dream
big and have some you know, you can't you get
(24:40):
to go watch a Raptor game on TV or listen
to a Rapor game on the radio, and you're inspired,
so you want to go outside and dribble a basketball
to go shoot. So that's where that started. And twenty
one years later, I get the opportunity to refurbish that
same court and ask, you know, my thoughts on it
(25:01):
and excited about doing it. And it led to that
to Masai announcing that the Raptors are going in the
Raptors organization is going to retire my jersey, and the
emotional roller coaster starts again. And it's like the great
(25:23):
appreciation and I've said it before and I'll say it
again about both, you know, those opportunities, the Hall of
Fame and the jersey retirement and just hearing that my
jersey will retired, and the emotions a lot of well,
my emotions mostly came from the appreciation for what the
Hall of Fame means to athletes, what that means you know,
(25:46):
you've hit the pinnacle and some of the greats and
icons are in the game. Like I said, the emotions
of being in you know, being having your jersey retired
and what that means, and you know an organization wanted
to do so how they feel about you, and it's
forever immortalized, you know in that building. You know, like
(26:09):
I have a great appreciation for what those opportunities mean
to me and mean in general. And it was emotional,
you know, because particularly Toronto, because you know, twenty years
of back and forth, ups and downs, frustrations to celebrations,
(26:34):
you name it. That was kind of the ten year
down tenure up of those twenty years. And to hear
Massah utter those words that day on that court was
(26:55):
like music to my ears. And you know, I think
back to twenty fourteen playing with the Grizzlies when I'm
standing on that court and for the first time there
was a tribute video and I got to live in
the moment of seeing highlights of me and a Raptor
(27:18):
uniform in that building. Was the start of some great feels,
great feelings, and ten years later, here we are and man,
I just still to this day, I think I still
(27:41):
don't think I can explain how it really feels. And
you know, I just remember Stay twenty fourteen, setting on
that court in my bubble, watching those videos, and I
said it then I got the chance to watch you
get I get the chance to watch those all the time.
But it hits different when you're watching those videos in
(28:03):
the building where it was created and with that uniform on.
So it was the start of something cool. And then
hearing that was like, I never for probably nine of
those ten years, meaning twenty fourteen to twenty twenty four,
(28:24):
I never really imagine let's just say eight of those
ten years. And the reason I say eight is when
it started. People started, so maybe two years retired, people
starting asking me about obviously Jersey retirement Toronto, and of
course I was like, yeah, yeah, if I'm asked, I
would do it. But it was a thing where whenever
(28:47):
they were ready to do so, it would happen. So
is this the patient's thing? And if it happened, it happened.
If it didn't, it didn't. The crazy easy thing about
it is the New Jersey Nets doing an unbelievable surprising
(29:09):
gesture in announcing they were going to retire my jersey.
I'm not going to use the word mix mixed emotions
because I was like, I was caught way off guard
with that one as well, but truly honored because because
of obviously doctor J and already up there and how
(29:30):
I feel about J Kidd, I was like, oh uh,
but you know, it was what it was, and I
just wanted to give them an opportunity before the Nets
(29:52):
honored me. I want, I asked them, and you know,
just just give me an opportunity to give me some
time and if it didn't happen, it didn't happen. In
between that time of Jersey announcement from the Nets, an
unbelievable gesture from the Raptors happened with my City Edition,
(30:16):
the City Edition, the Raptors City Edition Jersey coming out
with me on the logo the between the Legs done
with the Raptor And it was the craziest thing when
they showed me it and asked me if I was
cool obviously with the logo they were using, I was like, man,
(30:38):
heck yeah. And just the thought of the Raptors will
play a professional game that counts with me on it,
and I consider that equivalent to Jerry West the logo
being on an NBA sock or jersey or backboard or
(31:00):
basketball Like, I'm with him. Obviously, he's obviously the entire NBA.
But when you say, yeah, man, he has his own
jersey on a professional team is mind blowing to me.
And I said in the pressor that I could barely
get through if you guys watch that with the Raptors.
(31:21):
I said, if the jersey retirement did not happen, I
hold this honor of having me my dunk on the
chest of Raptor players in a professional game in the
same regard of being honored with my jersey, Like those
(31:46):
are neck and neck to me, because like I'm gonna
get the opportunity to sit in home like everybody else
and watch them play November twenty one and they have
my jersey. It's crazy hearing it, Like just like Hall
of Fame. You're in the Hall of Fame and your
jersey's retired, but like your jersey is being worn like
(32:10):
it's it's crazy. So it started there with appreciation and
if it didn't happen, like if the jersey retirement thing
didn't happen, like I was, I was in heaven with
that honor alone. Then we lead to the Dixon Park
(32:30):
and this opportunity happens, and I mean, can I be
any higher on any cloud in this world with that honor?
To really hear those words and to kind of try
to envision what I would feel like and what it
(32:52):
would feel like watching that jersey go up, being in
that building, experience experiencing that with everyone like I could.
I couldn't wrap my brain around what that would feel like,
what that looks like. How does everybody accept it? How
does everybody feel about it? Like I couldn't imagine. And
(33:13):
it got to the point it's like it doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter. Live in the moment, and I had
some people telling me like it doesn't matter, they'll fall
in line when they get there. And getting there that
night before going through, oh let me let me also sidebar.
(33:36):
Getting there that night, going into an Air Canada hangar,
and I was told that they're gonna wrap the plane
and tribute to you. But not like that, not like that,
like I didn't know what to expect, but not like that. Man,
(33:57):
that was unbelievable. It was like it was just it's
like one unbelievable moment after another and like I just
I was truly grateful man. And that was Saturday night,
which led to the emotions at the press conference prior
to everything, you know, all of the festivities taking place,
(34:19):
and that was when all the emotions came out of
the moment. It's like, man, listen, like, look at what
has happened over the course of I say twenty let's
just say twenty six years, six years playing there leaving
O four. Here we are twenty twenty four. Look at
all that has happening, the goods, the bad, the ugly.
Now the celebration, and I really never had the opportunity
(34:44):
to celebrate, to be in the moment, to have a
moment in that building with fans like I felt that
we should have. And it wasn't like a primer, it
wasn't a lead up to, it wasn't a pregame. It
(35:05):
just all happened the night that Jersey goes up. So
it was a lot inside of me deep down that
finally got to come come out. And it all started
at the press conference, you know, the motions and asked
about different things. And see, like I said, like I
(35:26):
was asked about what the moment means to me, and
you know every time I was asked that, it's like
like all everything just running through my mind. At the
street of light and there again seeing my kid, my
boy sitting in front row and he's like locked in,
hanging on every word, just watching him. Man, just it
(35:47):
just it just continued to tug, just tug, tug in
my heart for appreciation and gratitude for you know, the gesture,
all of the gestures and in the moment, seeing how
proud he was man Like, like I said, that's like
a proud dad that's sitting there. And you know, I
know my mom was happy and she was to the
(36:08):
through the moon, you know, with with joy and anticipation, excitement, gratefulness,
thankful all that because she was there from the beginning
of the end. You know, she was there going through
everything and down to see little man step into this
(36:30):
and so proud and him watching that jersey go up,
and him sitting at the press conference, him watching me emotional.
I know, he's like, hey, Dad, I ain't never really
seeing you like this, but he's just like whenever I
had my moments, he come tap me on the shoulder,
he come give me a hug, like you're the best dad, man,
(36:50):
you like all of these things were like, this is
coming from you, man, like a young kid, not not
an adult, not my friends who all so were there
obviously living in the moment, but like it was, it
was just it was just crazy. So that's why all
the emotions came from particularly at the prest Well shoot
in general, not not just particularly, every every step of
(37:12):
the way. It's just like me like leaving like the
night that if you would have asked me the day
that I was sitting in front of my mom with
that contract, her telling me to sign this contract, saying that,
you know, if I leave school early to go pro,
I'd come back. If you'd have asked me that day,
you you know about Hall of Fame, about jersey in
(37:38):
the rafts rapped in the rafters forever, about a city
edition uniform with you on the front that the professional
team is going to play on, About having your jersey
Carter fifteen with a signature dunk of yours with your
official autograph on it, then going to autograph it. If
(38:01):
you had asked me, I was like, yeah, right, I hope,
I hope, I you know, can play long enough to
where I considered for the Hall of fame or considered
to have my jersey retired, and the other stuff is
icing on the cake that comes with it. Never would
imagine that, and I wouldn't believe you, So I think
to see it all like right there in my face
(38:24):
was never would have believed anyone. If forty seven year
old vents tells seventeen eighteen, nineteen year old events what
is to come thirty years later, I'd be like, what,
I hear you, But I don't know if I believe
(38:45):
that you know, because you just don't know. And when
it happened, it happened. So one of the most I'm
used I get nervous. I get the butterflies I was
getting even in like my last couple of years of playing.
I always got that that I was that healthy nervousness.
(39:07):
I was always excited to play. Nerves like butterflies. I
had little butterflies as I got older. But I've still
had some nervousness because just I enjoyed playing, you know,
more than anything. But like sitting at the Hall of
Fame for two and a half hours before it's my
time to go, I was uncomfortable. I was nervous. I
(39:28):
don't want to say scared, but my heart was beating
fast when watching that video right before walking up the
steps for the Hall of Fame. Yeah, get up the steps, man,
come on legs, work with me. That was I was.
I was uncomfortable and got to the got up to
the podium, could put my hands on it to hold
(39:49):
myself together. Then I could finally take a deep breath. Yeah,
I was uncomfortable. But guys, let me tell you when
I sitting courtside with miss Larry tannenbaumb with the Tanning
Bomb family watching the game, and I was sitting on
the edge of my seat like I was a fan,
like I allowed myself to be a fan, obviously knowing
(40:12):
what's what's to happen at halftime. Just I'm up there
yelling at the reft coach and trying to help the
guys and what I and when they say, okay, we're
going to the back, I got a little nervous, got
a little jittery. And then once I was in the back,
before I walking out, they were just you know, the
guy who was supposed to escort me, he was kind
of make sure all the other guys were good. Now
(40:34):
I'm standing back there trying to go over this speech
that I kind of wrote last minute, making sure I
remember people, and now my hands are sweaty and sticky,
and nobody around to kind of crack a joke or
just there was no team out there to eat, you know,
to settle me in and lock me in. It was
just all me, and I was like nervous and shaking
(41:00):
a little bit, like dang boy, So go to the bathroom,
squore on my face, use the bathroom kind of just
to get myself together. And he's like, all right, let's go,
Like he was like upbeating generally. I'm like, yeah, let's go.
So walking around and I remember in the tunnel like
right before my name, and he says, go scared to death.
(41:23):
Scared to death, like in my body, Like I was
just like trying to make my body move, like go like,
let's go. This is the moment, like we're here, like
and it goes back to I think what I was
saying about the twenty years of holding emotions in and
never really getting the chance to have that moment and
(41:46):
not knowing like we talk about those organic moments, and
I didn't know how to feel. So I think that
was kind of the anxiety of it. I was like,
and you could feel the build up and see people
hanging up over the bleach looking down let's go vince
and cheering and all of that stuff. And I was hyped,
hyping about it, but hyped about it, nervous, scared, anticipating
(42:12):
the unknown, all that mixed in the one boy trying
to get those first steps, my first couple of steps,
like man walk walking in. I think once I kind
of got in out of the tunnel started to make
my way out of there, I didn't I said to myself,
live in a moment, living a moment, and I remember
(42:40):
walking out, took the deep breath, gave a high five
the Muggsy and high five the t mac, see my
mom standing there, and didn't see much else after that,
And I walked into the middle of the state of
the of the court and it all came out. All
(43:02):
the emotions, all the things that I wanted to feel
for twenty years, I guess, finally just poured out all
at once right there on the court.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
An tired.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
It was. That was just my body taking over, feelings
taking over me, kind of just allowing myself to live,
feel here, embrace, experience that moment which became a meme
and and I'm okay with it, you know, he he
ha ha is the funny party And like my friends
(44:04):
thought that wouldn't happened, they showed it. I've seen a
couple and I get tagged in a few of them.
And I kind of said it to myself when I
was sitting there, because I remember sitting there and I
put my head down. I was like, man, you're about
to be all over the internet as a mean and
I was okay with it because this was one of
the greatest feelings ever and I'm I think I would
(44:31):
put that slightly above Hall of Fame and that feeling
at the opening ceremonies, like that's how great that that
moment fell. And that was me just vibing with the moment,
(44:52):
allowing the good vibes to come out into he received
from the moment. And I was okay with it. Like
I say, like, if if I'm a mean because of
that moment and experiencing that, I'm good with it. Man,
(45:14):
I'm good with it. And I see it that I
laugh and there's some good ones out there, but man,
that was one of the greatest feelings. So I'm okay
with it. I'm okay with it. But to cap it
all off now, allowing that moment to happen, going through
the speech, saying what I had to say, and hearing
(45:35):
the royal crowd with that moment standing in the middle
of the floor, and then walking over there with my
family looking up seeing bind you. Let me say this,
that was the first time I got to see the
jersey and that banner, so I had no clue what
(45:56):
it looked like, what it was gonna look like. And man, dude,
I tell you, the Toronto Raptors did it up. One
of the best I've seen a lot, And like I said,
I haven't seen them all, but they blew this thing
out of the water. And I'm forever grateful to you
(46:17):
Toronto Raptors and everybody involved, Dave Haggith and and he
Chow and everybody involved. But watching that jersey go up, man,
like there again, I knew what it was like, and
I've watched plenty of it, but to watch that thing
go all the way up, and like, that's going to
be there forever, anytime anyone walks in that building, when
(46:41):
I get to walk in that building, it'll be there.
Nobody gets to wear it was crazy, and I remember
looking at my kid and he started to cry and
cheer up, which made me cry. And obviously watching my
mom have her moment because I watched her when we
stood there, I took a step forward and she took
a step back to have her moment. Man, and that
(47:03):
was crazy. And to get to tell her to hey, no,
look at that. We did it and it's forever like
was one of the best feelings ever. And I'm forever
grateful to you. Toronto rap up now that we got
(47:40):
do all of that out of the way. You always know,
when we talk about the VC Show, we want to
talk about basketball. We want to talk about things that
are going on. So let's get into it. The NBA
season is ten plus games in. I've got an opportunity
to call some games, watch a lot of games, and
some of the things that have stuck out to me.
(48:05):
Let's talk about the Cleveland Cavoalleiers. Did you see that
in your Bengo cards? I don't know, but I'll tell
you what. I got to watch them opening night versus
Toronto Raptors, and I was thoroughly impressed with their approach.
Donovan Mitchell's poise and how he approaches the game. Evan
(48:32):
Mobley clearly put work in this summer to get better,
to stretch the floor, to open the floor, which I
think has unlocked so many things for this team. Donovan
allowing other guys to really flourish, getting them involved first,
then he taking over after that in the fourth quarter.
(48:55):
That's what superstars do. You get your guys involved early.
You allow other guys who has abilities to do what
they need to do to take over, which makes the
game easy for you in the fourth quarter. Or if
you're not having a great game, you have other guys
that can go out there and get it for you.
Darius Garland has been playing lights out basketball. They all
(49:17):
are on the same page, so shout out to them.
What about the Golden State Warriors. I think we all said, hey,
I'm not sure what to expect with the Golden State Warriors.
Yeah they have Steph Curry, Yeah they have Draymond, Yeah
they have Wiggins. They have a core group of guys
that has been that have been there, their coaching staff
has been there, they have their style implemented. But we
(49:39):
didn't know that they're gonna be what they're doing. Shout
out to Buddy Hill, my former teammate, you know, who
was going to fill that void, you know, And I said,
it's gonna take a collective effort. There's gonna be multiple guys,
but they, you know, Mike Dunleavy did a great job
of going and getting a guy like a Buddy Healed,
(50:00):
who is a movement guy, who likes to move off
the ball, who likes to play in motion, catch and shoot.
He does the things that fits the mold of what
the Golden State Warriors like to do. So if you're
gonna lose that guy by the name of Klay Thompson
who's having a damn good year this year with Dallas,
you go get a guy like Klay Thompson. And I'm
(50:22):
not similar, excuse me, similar to Klay Thompson in a
Buddy Heels who's having an unreal start, which I feel
like Hiss unlocked this Golden State Warriors and giving them
the opportunity to be this good this year. I'm still
waiting to see who else. Boston Celtics are still as advertised,
(50:44):
you know, you can have the championship hangover, and I
think the best thing to happen, and this is my opinion.
I think The best thing to happen to the Boston
Celtics this year was this summer, meaning Tatum now playing
a lot, having to sit and you can feel how
you want to feel about that. But that was motivation
(51:05):
I think for him, Jaylen Brown not being selected on there,
I think you can feel how you feel about that.
We can say, oh no, whatever, we have to understand.
Derek White was already chosen to be a backup, regardless
of how we feel about it. But I think that
was motivation for Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum because of
(51:26):
what took place this summer, which has given them a
great start and there's no championship hangover those They hit
the ground running. They're playing with purpose. They believe that
they're good and they want to go show all of us,
not just Steve Kerr and not just the Olympic Committee,
(51:47):
that you know they're deserving. I mean, they're a number
two in the East right now with a darn good record,
so they're they're living up to bills. I'm still waiting
to see what the Knicks, what's going to do, how
that works. I still like I like using Kat at
the five in situational basketball, not you know, not a lot.
(52:09):
I think he's great at the four. Obviously, they have
some Robinson, some guys out, So let's see what the
rest of the season looks like. It's still the honeymoon phase,
so I'm interested to see now that they're ten fifteen
games in. But let's see what it looks like twenty
five to thirty five, forty five win, they're settled in,
(52:30):
and see what direction their record and play goes in
the New York media. That's that's a real thing out
there in New York. Milwaukee Bucks. I mean, Giannis has
been out of his mind. He had the fifty nine
point game, and he had the big forty three point
I think it was forty three point triple double. But
(52:51):
he's playing great, but their team is still trying to
find their way. I'm a little surprised because when you
keep your goal, Obviously, Chris Milton out I think is huge. Huge. Yes,
we could talk about the trade and Drew Holiday not
be there, but that just shows how valuable Drew Holiday
is period, regardless of Dame and how we feel about it.
Drew Holiday is a integral part to the success of
(53:17):
a very good basketball team or a championship team. Anywhere
around the around the league. So I'm just interested to
see how things pan out with them seventy six ers.
It is what it is. I mentioned before and I'll
say it again. I didn't like I wish I wish
(53:37):
that Joel didn't announce it, acknowledge the game plan of
what the seventy six ers wanted to do. I think
that brought unwarranted attention to their team. If you're injured,
you have this game plan, keep it to yourself and
let it let us find out by your play or
you're not being on the court, and it keeps up.
(53:58):
I think it keeps a lot of you know, the
outside noise out of your locker room, particularly with him
going down and not playing in PG, going down a
little bit and now uh there there well, just injuries
in general on their team. MAXI also injured right now.
So you keep all of us talk out of your
(54:20):
locker room and you can just focus on yourself. So
I'm interested in seeing that. Okay, C is as advertised,
point blank period. I like what Phoenix is doing, you
know they I feel like they have something to prove
this year. Another year having your guys. You have a
point guard. Now, I love the fact that they have
a point guard because now Booker can be Booker. If
(54:42):
I'm a coach, I want Devin Booker to score first,
and then when you see double teams and loads and
all that, now you make plays for the guys. But
I want him to think score, just like I want
Kevin Durant to be that alpha dog number one. I
want him to think I'm the guy first. Yes, you
have Devin Booker on your team, but I want you
to think now, now me first. Lakers are going to
(55:05):
be Lakers. Man. I know we had a lot of
talk about, you know, with the Bronni thing, but my
concern and what I wanted to see was Anthony Davis
had an unbelievable first three games. How long does that continue?
Obviously we're ten plus games in. He's playing at an
MVP caliber level right now. What I want to see
(55:26):
is will he be allowed hear me out when I
say that, but can Lebron or will Lebron allow Ad
to continue to be the go to guy? Because we
know Lebron can take over. We saw his triple doubles
and you see what he's doing. But Lebron can take
over when he wants to, but you need to empower
(55:49):
Ad to be have that mindset and to be the
alpha dog, the go to guy, give me the ball
when he wants it, such so on and so forth,
because Lebron can do what he needs to do whenever
things are not going well. If Ad is not playing
playing well, and guess what we're gonna feed you until
we need some more scoring, and then we go to
that guy, Lebron. So that's what I like to see.
(56:09):
With that, The Clippers are the Clippers. I don't think
much is needed to be said with that. So it's
been Dallas Mavericks. I want to say real quick, they're
sitting like a tenth tenth the ten spot right now,
somewhat surprised. I think they have everything. I think it's
going to take a commitment. Hear me out when I
(56:29):
say this. I think it's going to take a commitment
from Luca to sacrifice a few dribbles to continue to
keep Clay involved. And I think he's making a conscious effort.
But we're talking about throughout the course of the year. Uh.
Sometimes I think Luke Luca dribbles a little too much.
(56:50):
But there's you know, but but now you have a three,
a big three in Kyrie and and in Clay's ability
to shoot and and open up the floor for Luca
to where I don't think he has to dribble as much.
Especially get the ball, throw it ahead, let him go
if it's not there. Now you get the ball, and
you play in space and pick and roll and post
(57:12):
ups or whatever you want to do. Kyrie can get
a bucket whenever you need him to get. So I
just think i'd like to see more of that from
Luca early, and then if you need to change more
into more dribbles and more isoball, then you can do that.
I think Clay is so important to their success. This
is my opinion. He's so important to their success early
(57:34):
because you want him shooting, opening up the floor for
Luca to be the one on one god that he
is at the end of the day. So that's my
take on the season so far. We'll see what happens
and how it pans out. We'll continue to talk about it,
So keep your eyes open. And might I add, and
(58:08):
I apologize to Victor weinbin Yama, I'm sorry Wemby. Might
I add Wemby's play right now to date has been
top notch. We already know he's going to be an
All Star. He's already made it clear what he's going
to do defensively, and you know told Gobert, yeah, enjoy
(58:28):
that you're not winning another one. But what he is
doing offensively, And I want to give some credit to
Chris Paul and I want to give some credit to
Greg Popovico as well. You know, people were like, oh,
I don't know how they felt about Pop. I thought
Pop was the perfect coach for him. As far as
sticking to the basics. Yeah, okay, you know, let's just
(58:49):
slow down. Let's just get the basics, and then we
will ascend and we will unlock everything. He did that
with Kawhi and then all of a sudden it went
from just holding him back and give him a little
bit to Kawhi being what he is as a player,
not all the other stuff, because I know that's what
you guys gonna say. But what Winby is doing is
(59:13):
top notch man. Chris Paul is a wizard with the basketball,
but he understands what he has on his team and
what he has on the floor. You see picking rolls,
he gets in picking rolls, gets off the ball, Winby
understands once I set the ball, get to space, Chris
Paul will get me the ball. And he is shooting
the lights out of the ball right now. He is
doing it defensively, which we already knew he would. We
(59:35):
know he's gifted with his handle. My concern coming in is, yes,
you're gifted with your handle, but now you get smaller guys,
you're gonna have to keep it tight, keep your handle
tight to do the things that you needed to do.
And he is doing just that. He is playing at
an all star level. And if he considers I mean,
if he continues to do what he's doing, we talked
(59:57):
about ad in the MVP conversation, but we're gonna talk
about him. He's gonna get whispers and talks about. I
don't know if their team is good enough to where
we considered it, but most improved, yes, sir, he's gonna
be up there with most improved. And I'm gonna give
another guy a shout out. I covered him a lot.
We got to give some love to Grady Dick who
with the Toronto Raptor, who is playing unbelievable basketball as well.
(01:00:20):
Right now, he's balling. He's another guy. I think he
will be up for a most improved Player with how
he's playing this year. I always do a upper room
play of the week, but I'm gonna do my upper
room play of the season so far. Can you guys guess?
(01:00:43):
Can you guess? Ah, I'll tell you anyway, Yes, mister
John Moran. John Morant his abilities obviously being out all year.
I know he was excited about getting back on the floor,
but I think he's just more than happy to get
(01:01:05):
back out there with his guys. You know, they're a
close knit group. I would say they lean on him
to be what he is, but man, he is unlocking
his athleticism, and this dude brought out some athleticism. And
usually we're seeing dunks what he's done. We see them
go to the upper room duncking on people. But my
upper room play of the season so far is not
(01:01:26):
a dunk. Is John Moran's three sixty layups. He's had multiple,
He's had the two that we saw in the one game.
So I'm just gonna let this breathe and let you
guys enjoy John Moran.
Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
Everybody Moran off the bout that oh lord sixty spin
and they finished four Marange.
Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
He washed this one up. The spin cycle hang finish
on the other side with the left.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
That is print Team.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Jaron Moran spent that hits again.
Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
No it, Holy cow, John Moran, you run out a word,
subscribe what's going for the crank and then spins hair
the smooth finish.
Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
This is fun, real well. That wraps up another episode
of The VC Show. Is good to be back, man.
It's good to talk about the Hall of Fame. It's
great to talk about Jersey retirement and all the wonderful
things that has happened so far this year. Stay tuned
for more wonderful things that's happening in my life, more
great basketball, great talk. Leave your comments below about what
(01:02:36):
we talked about this week. Obviously will try to talk
about it next week, plus many more. So stay tuned.
Appreciate you all kicking your feet up, kicking it with
your boy. The VC Show signing off, Let's go
It's the VC Show. It's the VC Show.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It's the VC.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Show Show Season two. Yeah, we back again. Got the
world tune in there for show. So go and tell
a friend my heart got me on the squad. I
slam Dumpton whistle blow on there. Kick your feet up
so you can listen. It's the VC Show. It's the
VC Show. It's the VC Shows.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Two.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Welcome to the VC Show. I'm your host, VC. I
actually have Hall of Fame bird behind my name. Now
it's crazy to say. Forgive me. I'm still working on that.
But yeah, we're back. Glad to be back. It's uh,
it's been an interesting year so far. A lot going
(00:59):
on that, you know. So we're gonna get right into
that just shortly, so kick your feet up. The VC
Show starts. Now hold on God what they wanted then
signed supreme good people, as you know. A monumental moment
in my life, really in my career, the Hall of Fame.
(01:25):
I'm a member of the Hall of Fame class of
twenty twenty four, which was mind blowing, amazing, just a
very humbling experience and moment in my life. I've I've
always watched the Hall of Fame I'm not gonna say always.
(01:46):
I've watched the Hall of Fame in past years. Obviously,
I watched t MAC, I watched the year before when
Dirk and d Wade went in, and I actually was
asked to attend that ceremony, to just be in the building,
and I wanted to wait, and I was asked a
(02:08):
couple of times. And I'll explain today why I wanted
to wait. I wanted to I wanted the experience of
the Hall of Fame to be an organic experience, not
knowing what happens next, what you do next. And you know,
I gave a huge shout out during my speech to
Grant Hill because he did he prepared me for what
(02:28):
the Hall of Fame is about, I mean, how it goes,
how it runs, what to expect. So I had some
expectations and understood, but like I didn't I didn't know
the run of show. I didn't know what was going on.
It's like, okay, we're going to this next thing, and
it was like, wow, oh this is another cool moment
in and I got an opportunity to really appreciate what
(02:54):
the Hall of Fame is and about, and the feeling
I had during the opening ceremonies of the U of
the Olympics is one of the feelings I had times
ten at the at the Hall of Fame. A lot
(03:16):
of nerves, obviously, a lot of emotions, friends and family, yeah,
you know, just people in general just in the building
that yeah, obviously like listens for instance, Magic Johnson and
the Lakers crew, so all the Lakers crew that was
that was there for for Coop, but also there for
(03:40):
Jerry West, Michael Cooper. That is. I saw these guys
in a room literally the day before, and obviously I
know Magic throughout the years, and I wanted to go
say hello to him and everything. And when I walk
in the room, it's like all of these Lakers legends
and and the greats of the game, icons of the
(04:03):
game worthy, I mean, the list goes on. You saw
the guys that were on that stage, and I walk
in and I just caught myself as a fan in
just a wowing moment, like like I'm in them in
the room with greatness, and these guys are icons. And
(04:25):
the first thing they said, hey, man, welcome to the club.
Congratulations man, Like these guys are saying congratulations to me,
welcoming me to their club if you would. You know,
I mentioned getting the opportunity to walk through the doors
with some of the greats of the game. And I
briefly walked into a small room of greats that welcomed
(04:49):
me with open arms, and it was like wowing. And
I was like a kid in a candy store and
I just said, there was a mag y'all, let's take
a picture. So we take a picture and we're just
sitting there and it's like, man, I'm here, man, like,
this is really real, and this is, you know, unbelievable
(05:11):
opportunity and experience, and it was just and it just
continue each day. I mean, as grueling as it was,
as far as just things to do, it was an
unbelievable experience and moment. So I compare the Another comparison
I have, I should say, is comparing my first All
(05:34):
Star game to the Hall of Fame experience. And what
I mean is just things to do, whether it's promotional stuff,
whether it's just signing stuff, whatever it was needed to
do for the Hall of Fame, I had to do it.
It was just it was a lot. So it was
difficult in the beginning. So let's say today I got
(05:57):
there it was difficult to really understand me. Sorry, take
to enjoy being in the building, being in the moment
it was. It was it was difficult. You just had
some much to do. And then I think jacket and
ring night. So that was Saturday leading up to it
(06:23):
is when it started to sink in because it wasn't
about hey, you just got to do this quick pressor
you got to do this now. It was more so,
now you're going into get that jacket and get that ring.
And I remember just sitting there and obviously waiting. I
(06:46):
was part of the last group that received my jacket
in ring and just being in that building. I'm saying, like,
you've seen guys with the jacket and the jackets on,
and it's who's who Larry Bird. If you guys go
watch the clip of Open Gym, you get to see
(07:06):
some of the behind the scenes and t Max says,
Larry Bird is sitting behind you, Doctor Jay's behind you.
The legends of the game, Grant Hill, Shock the whole,
Michael Jordan, Magic, James Worthy. I mean, the list goes
on and on of all of the greats that have
a that has a jacket. We're in that building and
(07:29):
a lot of Reggie Miller. If you watch that video,
you can you get to see them all come up
to me and just say congratulations and welcome, and it's
just like whoa man like I have a great appreciation
for NBA history and playing the game, and I know
what I've done, and you know my part and my
contribution to the game. But man, I'm amongst the others
(07:51):
that contributed as well. And I've always talked about, you know,
there's guys who are like us who are in the
Hall of Fame, and there's guys who are in that
special room. That's some of the other doors that are
in that Hall of Fame room. And I got to
meet and talk with those guys, and it was it
was unbelievable. And as as the night continued to go on,
(08:15):
sitting Chauncey sitting behind me and just talking and we're enjoying,
like Jay and Donde his speech and some of the
wonderful things he said, just living in that moment, and
just like Wold, and all of a sudden they grabbed
us like hey, in between the commercial or whatever, we
go into we go into the back and I had
my kids up there because I wanted my kids to
(08:37):
present the ring and jacket to me. I thought that
was a special moment for me and them, particularly my oldest,
and it was It was cool because we were back there.
I was obviously nervous as hell. They were nervous and
excited at the same time. And you know, watching my
(08:59):
my young fella boy getting to meet some of the
guys that he's starting to learn. He's starting to become
a sports kid and learning some of the icons like
Doctor J and MJ and Dominique. You know, those are
his guys that he knows. Kobe Steph obviously Lebron like
he knows those guys. But he got to like meet
(09:20):
some of those guys and leading up to receiving our
jackets in like the little VIP room where we're just
sitting around, I couldn't find little Man for a little while.
Llo and behold he and Doctor J chopping it up,
having a grand o time in the corner, having a blast.
And it was just cool to see where he's just
(09:42):
learning who he is. Obviously we all know what Doctor
J means to me and my kid now having a
moment and these guys are best friends to where we're
leaving money fast forward. We're leaving Monday to go home.
He's like that can he called doctor j Man want
to talk to him. Like they had that much fun
Saturday and Sunday together. It's just an unbelievable experience for everyone.
(10:08):
And walking on that stage, standing in front of those people,
like it's crazy. You stand in front of nineteen thousand people,
You play the game, you do whatever you do in
front of people. It was maybe three hundred, four hundred,
let's just say, five hundred people in that room. Nervous,
(10:30):
but a proud moment, I told t mackint I said.
I also mentioned it to Chauncey. I said, when I
put the jacket on, it felt different. It didn't feel
like obviously putting on any other jacket. Yes, save fabric,
(10:50):
you know the best of fabrics and all that, but
it was the meaning behind the color and what that
jacket means to a lot of people and to me
putting it on, I just felt like I powered up
into a new level. And the boy was a special man.
It was special. So wearing it, taking pictures and all
(11:13):
that stuff, you got to see the pictures man as
I as I took that, as I walked off the
stage briefly took a trip down memory lane of what
got me there, the smile, the joy that I had inside,
(11:36):
took me back to the beginning, to the end, twenty
two years of NBA ball, three years of college, the Olympics,
all the things that I spoke about. I took that
trip down memory lane, from walking off that stage to
walking in the back, and it was all worth it.
The ups and downs, makes and misses, injuries, rough days,
(12:01):
all worth it, all worth it. And it was a
great moment which led to Saturday night. Once it was
all over, everybody's fatigued, tired, mentally drained from I mean,
just receiving a jacket, but my nerves heightened because Sunday
was coming and it was speech day, and it was
(12:25):
the official day in my opinion, to forever being tryed
as a Hall of Famer. And you know, I took
my time with the speech, dragged dragged, dragged, dragged along,
started over ten twelve times to finally get to where
I was, and still forgot an aunt, but I slid
(12:50):
that in real cool added some things in there, like
my ending speech is something that came from the heart
about you know, forever calling us a Hall of Famer,
but I didn't even put something in there acknowledging the class,
which I've obviously I wanted to do. But you know,
when you're when you're doing something like this, you're you're
(13:11):
spending so much time on you know, for me delivery,
not leaving out people that are important, recognizing family friends,
obviously teammates. I had two hundred and sixty one of them,
so I knew I couldn't name them all, but trying
to just hit home the right the most important things
(13:33):
while trying to squeeze it in ten minutes, which obviously
I did not do. There was no chance in hell
I was going to make ten minutes. They understood that,
which is, you know, very satisfying when you you know,
with with with the committee and when they say, hey,
there's your clock, it says ten minutes. I was like,
it's like, we understand. You just try to get through it.
Do what you're do it your way. Shut out to
(13:53):
Mark Spears. I also had a conversation with him Saturday,
as well as Grant Hill, and the two things they
the well, the things that the two of them said
to me, it's like, it's your speech, take your time,
do what you do. You know they're not gonna cut
the mic off or anything like that, but you know,
you do what you do, deliver as you need to
deliver it. And for me, adding to that, Mark Spear
(14:16):
said to me, you're the closer, You're the finale. And
I took that to heart all night thinking about it,
replaying the the speech, how I want to deliver it,
making sure I take my time. I knew it was
gonna be emotional. You I saw him in the red
(14:36):
carpet and whatnot, and you know, I'll get into that,
but that I was like, how can I hone in,
get a hold of my emotions and deliver the speech
where I'm like, I'm saying two or three words and
can't get through it, like and Temac help me, because
you know, if you go back and look at the
video off an open gym, he's like, I give you
(14:57):
two minutes and he's over there whispering stuff. So it
kind of put me at ease and in the moment
because I was kind of expecting just that, him just
giving me a hard time, so you know, I'm anticipating it,
which settled me in. But once I kind of got
locked in, it was just kind of getting started was
my hesitation, and then once I got going, I was good.
(15:20):
I delivered the speech that I wanted to deliver. It
was cool hearing you know. And here's the thing. It
was cool hearing people reach out saying they shed a
tear or two or thousands throughout that speech, And that
was not my intentions. But I think everybody felt that
(15:40):
it was from the heart. And when writing it, I
had I never imagined it would affect people other people
like it did, other than the people that I was
thinking and showing my appreciation and gratitude towards. I knew
it was going to be tough, obviously thanking my family
and friends, but you know, I meant when I said
(16:01):
it came from the heart, and I think people felt that.
And I left there feeling good about it and felt
I hit a home run. So yeah, I was asked
why so emotional? Not why so? I was asked that too,
But what the emotions of Hall of Fame, particularly the
(16:26):
red carpet is, which I'm glad I got it out
the way then. But it was my my my young
boy who was very young that when he got to
see me play, but watching him have a great appreciation
(16:46):
for the moment at such a young age, wild me
and my family. And the thing I think that tugged
in my heart so much from him was literally right
before we stepped out of the car to walk in
the carpet. It was raining and whatever, and he puts
(17:09):
his hand on my shoulder and he says, Dad, I
don't know if you know this, but you're going from
an All Star to a Hall of Famer. It's pretty cool.
And this is a kid saying something like this instead
(17:30):
of a parent, uncle, friend or whatever. This young kid
realized the moment, and it just I guess it just
hit harder coming from from him than anyone else. And
as I was talking to Dennis Scott about it, all
of those emotions and appreciation, you know, watching how he
(17:53):
my son looked at me, and how locked in he
was and how focused he was in a moment, hanging
on every word was just tugged at me. Is just satisfying. Man, Like,
why do you know this? Bro? Like why do you
(18:16):
why are you so engaged locked in with you know?
You know I knew My youngest was kind of like, yeah,
I floating dad, you know, proud of you? Love you
when everybody else is saying it, but watching him, it
felt like that was my dad living in the moment
like that. That's what it felt like, a proud dad
and that it was pretty cool. So it tugged at me,
(18:37):
and it was. It was an emotional, emotional time. So
I think just seeing you know, obviously my mom enjoying it,
my family in general, some of my boys like having
my moment with them being proud, was like, Yo, this
is this is it? Like we're here, like we're at
(18:58):
the pinnacle and I get to share it with everyone.
So that was a pretty pretty darn cool moment. I
was asked, it's a silly question to me, but I
was asked, you know what made me choose uh, doctor
j in Mac. But but at the same time I understood,
(19:22):
and I told that's why I made it my point
to acknowledge those guys first, particularly t Mac being there,
the one who I don't want to say believed in me,
but he's the one that said I'm gonna get you
drafted to the Raptors and he's family. But but like
it was just it felt right like you're You're the
(19:43):
first one that believed in me, that wanted me here
and and and been in my corner. Obviously my family
and friends and other people. But it was a no brainer.
And obviously Doctor J being my hero and the guy
was my role model, guy I looked up to, what
brother person to have on that stage having my back
(20:07):
representing the moment in me that Doctor J and Tracy
McGrady and I called Doc. I called Doc and left
h Well, I didn't leave a message. First, Well, I
just say, hey, Doc, I want to talk to you,
give me a call whatever. Didn't hear back from them
for a while. It's like and then I get a
(20:27):
call from Doc. See it. I'm like, oh, man, okay.
Talked to him, SKay man, Uh, I am more than
honored to represent you on that stage at the Hall
of Fame. And I was like, I wish I could
(20:49):
record that. So a guy that I've looked up to,
admired for so long to receive a call saying I
am it is my honor is what he said. Hearing
those words from that man was one of the best
emotion emotion, I mean situations, moments and emotions I've I've
(21:12):
had from from somebody that you look up to, and
just hearing because you know, we all have people that
we look up to. We all don't get the opportunity
to meet our role model heroes outside of you know,
our family, you know heroes, we don't get that opportunity.
We just admire them from afar And I get the
opportunity to rub shoulders with somebody that I respect and
(21:37):
consider a friend as well, you know, And it was
just unbelievable. So I think watching that, I hope you
all you know, and I'm obviously this is some time now,
(21:58):
but I hope you all enjoyed that moment and got
to live with me. I'm not really big on social
media and sharing my friends and family through social like that,
but it was an unbelievable moment in time for me,
and to see them all enjoy it as I scanned
(22:20):
through the crowd while giving the speech, and seeing how
proud my cousin Tiffany and my aunt, and seeing my
mom and family and Sandy and the kids and everybody
up front and Kai having their moment, and then seeing
my boys up top having their moment, and just looking
(22:42):
in the crowd in general, and just seeing people like,
you know, not their friends and associates or people that
I know having a moment it made it all worth it.
Like I said, I had no clue the speech that
I was writing with touch people like it did. But
I'm glad that it happened that way. I'm glad I
was able to deliver it and enjoy that moment. I'll
(23:05):
never forget it. And then we add on to the
wonderful ride of the year comes Jersey Retirement in Toronto.
(23:35):
It all started with just a mere dedication court dedication
refurbishing of the court that I built was a part
of at helped build twenty one years ago ish in
two thousand and three in Dixon Park. The opportunity came
about where I was asked to be a part of that,
(23:59):
and I felt strongly about that because I said it then.
And let me be clear, there were basketball courts around.
There weren't as many, and of course living downtown, being downtown,
you don't see it at all. But at the same time,
they weren't. They weren't everywhere like in our neighborhoods. And
you know, you can walk, you could turn the block
(24:19):
or walk a block to turn the corner. It's a
court here, it's a court there, it's a court there.
That wasn't the case, and I wanted to provide that.
Obviously it was just one community, but provide that for
young kids and hopefully give them the opportunity to dream
big and have some you know, you can't you get
(24:40):
to go watch a Raptor game on TV or listen
to a Rapor game on the radio, and you're inspired,
so you want to go outside and dribble a basketball
to go shoot. So that's where that started. And twenty
one years later, I get the opportunity to refurbish that
same court and ask, you know, my thoughts on it
(25:01):
and excited about doing it. And it led to that
to Masai announcing that the Raptors are going in the
Raptors organization is going to retire my jersey, and the
emotional roller coaster starts again. And it's like the great
(25:23):
appreciation and I've said it before and I'll say it
again about both, you know, those opportunities, the Hall of
Fame and the jersey retirement and just hearing that my
jersey will retired, and the emotions a lot of well,
my emotions mostly came from the appreciation for what the
Hall of Fame means to athletes, what that means you know,
(25:46):
you've hit the pinnacle and some of the greats and
icons are in the game. Like I said, the emotions
of being in you know, being having your jersey retired
and what that means, and you know an organization wanted
to do so how they feel about you, and it's
forever immortalized, you know in that building. You know, like
(26:09):
I have a great appreciation for what those opportunities mean
to me and mean in general. And it was emotional,
you know, because particularly Toronto, because you know, twenty years
of back and forth, ups and downs, frustrations to celebrations,
(26:34):
you name it. That was kind of the ten year
down tenure up of those twenty years. And to hear
Massah utter those words that day on that court was
(26:55):
like music to my ears. And you know, I think
back to twenty fourteen playing with the Grizzlies when I'm
standing on that court and for the first time there
was a tribute video and I got to live in
the moment of seeing highlights of me and a Raptor
(27:18):
uniform in that building. Was the start of some great feels,
great feelings, and ten years later, here we are and man,
I just still to this day, I think I still
(27:41):
don't think I can explain how it really feels. And
you know, I just remember Stay twenty fourteen, setting on
that court in my bubble, watching those videos, and I
said it then I got the chance to watch you
get I get the chance to watch those all the time.
But it hits different when you're watching those videos in
(28:03):
the building where it was created and with that uniform on.
So it was the start of something cool. And then
hearing that was like, I never for probably nine of
those ten years, meaning twenty fourteen to twenty twenty four,
(28:24):
I never really imagine let's just say eight of those
ten years. And the reason I say eight is when
it started. People started, so maybe two years retired, people
starting asking me about obviously Jersey retirement Toronto, and of
course I was like, yeah, yeah, if I'm asked, I
would do it. But it was a thing where whenever
(28:47):
they were ready to do so, it would happen. So
is this the patient's thing? And if it happened, it happened.
If it didn't, it didn't. The crazy easy thing about
it is the New Jersey Nets doing an unbelievable surprising
(29:09):
gesture in announcing they were going to retire my jersey.
I'm not going to use the word mix mixed emotions
because I was like, I was caught way off guard
with that one as well, but truly honored because because
of obviously doctor J and already up there and how
(29:30):
I feel about J Kidd, I was like, oh uh,
but you know, it was what it was, and I
just wanted to give them an opportunity before the Nets
(29:52):
honored me. I want, I asked them, and you know,
just just give me an opportunity to give me some
time and if it didn't happen, it didn't happen. In
between that time of Jersey announcement from the Nets, an
unbelievable gesture from the Raptors happened with my City Edition,
(30:16):
the City Edition, the Raptors City Edition Jersey coming out
with me on the logo the between the Legs done
with the Raptor And it was the craziest thing when
they showed me it and asked me if I was
cool obviously with the logo they were using, I was like, man,
(30:38):
heck yeah. And just the thought of the Raptors will
play a professional game that counts with me on it,
and I consider that equivalent to Jerry West the logo
being on an NBA sock or jersey or backboard or
(31:00):
basketball Like, I'm with him. Obviously, he's obviously the entire NBA.
But when you say, yeah, man, he has his own
jersey on a professional team is mind blowing to me.
And I said in the pressor that I could barely
get through if you guys watch that with the Raptors.
(31:21):
I said, if the jersey retirement did not happen, I
hold this honor of having me my dunk on the
chest of Raptor players in a professional game in the
same regard of being honored with my jersey, Like those
(31:46):
are neck and neck to me, because like I'm gonna
get the opportunity to sit in home like everybody else
and watch them play November twenty one and they have
my jersey. It's crazy hearing it, Like just like Hall
of Fame. You're in the Hall of Fame and your
jersey's retired, but like your jersey is being worn like
(32:10):
it's it's crazy. So it started there with appreciation and
if it didn't happen, like if the jersey retirement thing
didn't happen, like I was, I was in heaven with
that honor alone. Then we lead to the Dixon Park
(32:30):
and this opportunity happens, and I mean, can I be
any higher on any cloud in this world with that honor?
To really hear those words and to kind of try
to envision what I would feel like and what it
(32:52):
would feel like watching that jersey go up, being in
that building, experience experiencing that with everyone like I could.
I couldn't wrap my brain around what that would feel like,
what that looks like. How does everybody accept it? How
does everybody feel about it? Like I couldn't imagine. And
(33:13):
it got to the point it's like it doesn't matter,
it doesn't matter. Live in the moment, and I had
some people telling me like it doesn't matter, they'll fall
in line when they get there. And getting there that
night before going through, oh let me let me also sidebar.
(33:36):
Getting there that night, going into an Air Canada hangar,
and I was told that they're gonna wrap the plane
and tribute to you. But not like that, not like that,
like I didn't know what to expect, but not like that. Man,
(33:57):
that was unbelievable. It was like it was just it's
like one unbelievable moment after another and like I just
I was truly grateful man. And that was Saturday night,
which led to the emotions at the press conference prior
to everything, you know, all of the festivities taking place,
(34:19):
and that was when all the emotions came out of
the moment. It's like, man, listen, like, look at what
has happened over the course of I say twenty let's
just say twenty six years, six years playing there leaving
O four. Here we are twenty twenty four. Look at
all that has happening, the goods, the bad, the ugly.
Now the celebration, and I really never had the opportunity
(34:44):
to celebrate, to be in the moment, to have a
moment in that building with fans like I felt that
we should have. And it wasn't like a primer, it
wasn't a lead up to, it wasn't a pregame. It
(35:05):
just all happened the night that Jersey goes up. So
it was a lot inside of me deep down that
finally got to come come out. And it all started
at the press conference, you know, the motions and asked
about different things. And see, like I said, like I
(35:26):
was asked about what the moment means to me, and
you know every time I was asked that, it's like
like all everything just running through my mind. At the
street of light and there again seeing my kid, my
boy sitting in front row and he's like locked in,
hanging on every word, just watching him. Man, just it
(35:47):
just it just continued to tug, just tug, tug in
my heart for appreciation and gratitude for you know, the gesture,
all of the gestures and in the moment, seeing how
proud he was man Like, like I said, that's like
a proud dad that's sitting there. And you know, I
know my mom was happy and she was to the
(36:08):
through the moon, you know, with with joy and anticipation, excitement, gratefulness,
thankful all that because she was there from the beginning
of the end. You know, she was there going through
everything and down to see little man step into this
(36:30):
and so proud and him watching that jersey go up,
and him sitting at the press conference, him watching me emotional.
I know, he's like, hey, Dad, I ain't never really
seeing you like this, but he's just like whenever I
had my moments, he come tap me on the shoulder,
he come give me a hug, like you're the best dad, man,
(36:50):
you like all of these things were like, this is
coming from you, man, like a young kid, not not
an adult, not my friends who all so were there
obviously living in the moment, but like it was, it
was just it was just crazy. So that's why all
the emotions came from particularly at the prest Well shoot
in general, not not just particularly, every every step of
(37:12):
the way. It's just like me like leaving like the
night that if you would have asked me the day
that I was sitting in front of my mom with
that contract, her telling me to sign this contract, saying that,
you know, if I leave school early to go pro,
I'd come back. If you'd have asked me that day,
you you know about Hall of Fame, about jersey in
(37:38):
the rafts rapped in the rafters forever, about a city
edition uniform with you on the front that the professional
team is going to play on, About having your jersey
Carter fifteen with a signature dunk of yours with your
official autograph on it, then going to autograph it. If
(38:01):
you had asked me, I was like, yeah, right, I hope,
I hope, I you know, can play long enough to
where I considered for the Hall of fame or considered
to have my jersey retired, and the other stuff is
icing on the cake that comes with it. Never would
imagine that, and I wouldn't believe you, So I think
to see it all like right there in my face
(38:24):
was never would have believed anyone. If forty seven year
old vents tells seventeen eighteen, nineteen year old events what
is to come thirty years later, I'd be like, what,
I hear you, But I don't know if I believe
(38:45):
that you know, because you just don't know. And when
it happened, it happened. So one of the most I'm
used I get nervous. I get the butterflies I was
getting even in like my last couple of years of playing.
I always got that that I was that healthy nervousness.
(39:07):
I was always excited to play. Nerves like butterflies. I
had little butterflies as I got older. But I've still
had some nervousness because just I enjoyed playing, you know,
more than anything. But like sitting at the Hall of
Fame for two and a half hours before it's my
time to go, I was uncomfortable. I was nervous. I
(39:28):
don't want to say scared, but my heart was beating
fast when watching that video right before walking up the
steps for the Hall of Fame. Yeah, get up the steps, man,
come on legs, work with me. That was I was.
I was uncomfortable and got to the got up to
the podium, could put my hands on it to hold
(39:49):
myself together. Then I could finally take a deep breath. Yeah,
I was uncomfortable. But guys, let me tell you when
I sitting courtside with miss Larry tannenbaumb with the Tanning
Bomb family watching the game, and I was sitting on
the edge of my seat like I was a fan,
like I allowed myself to be a fan, obviously knowing
(40:12):
what's what's to happen at halftime. Just I'm up there
yelling at the reft coach and trying to help the
guys and what I and when they say, okay, we're
going to the back, I got a little nervous, got
a little jittery. And then once I was in the back,
before I walking out, they were just you know, the
guy who was supposed to escort me, he was kind
of make sure all the other guys were good. Now
(40:34):
I'm standing back there trying to go over this speech
that I kind of wrote last minute, making sure I
remember people, and now my hands are sweaty and sticky,
and nobody around to kind of crack a joke or
just there was no team out there to eat, you know,
to settle me in and lock me in. It was
just all me, and I was like nervous and shaking
(41:00):
a little bit, like dang boy, So go to the bathroom,
squore on my face, use the bathroom kind of just
to get myself together. And he's like, all right, let's go,
Like he was like upbeating generally. I'm like, yeah, let's go.
So walking around and I remember in the tunnel like
right before my name, and he says, go scared to death.
(41:23):
Scared to death, like in my body, Like I was
just like trying to make my body move, like go like,
let's go. This is the moment, like we're here, like
and it goes back to I think what I was
saying about the twenty years of holding emotions in and
never really getting the chance to have that moment and
(41:46):
not knowing like we talk about those organic moments, and
I didn't know how to feel. So I think that
was kind of the anxiety of it. I was like,
and you could feel the build up and see people
hanging up over the bleach looking down let's go vince
and cheering and all of that stuff. And I was hyped,
hyping about it, but hyped about it, nervous, scared, anticipating
(42:12):
the unknown, all that mixed in the one boy trying
to get those first steps, my first couple of steps,
like man walk walking in. I think once I kind
of got in out of the tunnel started to make
my way out of there, I didn't I said to myself,
live in a moment, living a moment, and I remember
(42:40):
walking out, took the deep breath, gave a high five
the Muggsy and high five the t mac, see my
mom standing there, and didn't see much else after that,
And I walked into the middle of the state of
the of the court and it all came out. All
(43:02):
the emotions, all the things that I wanted to feel
for twenty years, I guess, finally just poured out all
at once right there on the court.
Speaker 4 (43:29):
An tired.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
It was. That was just my body taking over, feelings
taking over me, kind of just allowing myself to live,
feel here, embrace, experience that moment which became a meme
and and I'm okay with it, you know, he he
ha ha is the funny party And like my friends
(44:04):
thought that wouldn't happened, they showed it. I've seen a
couple and I get tagged in a few of them.
And I kind of said it to myself when I
was sitting there, because I remember sitting there and I
put my head down. I was like, man, you're about
to be all over the internet as a mean and
I was okay with it because this was one of
the greatest feelings ever and I'm I think I would
(44:31):
put that slightly above Hall of Fame and that feeling
at the opening ceremonies, like that's how great that that
moment fell. And that was me just vibing with the moment,
(44:52):
allowing the good vibes to come out into he received
from the moment. And I was okay with it. Like
I say, like, if if I'm a mean because of
that moment and experiencing that, I'm good with it. Man,
(45:14):
I'm good with it. And I see it that I
laugh and there's some good ones out there, but man,
that was one of the greatest feelings. So I'm okay
with it. I'm okay with it. But to cap it
all off now, allowing that moment to happen, going through
the speech, saying what I had to say, and hearing
(45:35):
the royal crowd with that moment standing in the middle
of the floor, and then walking over there with my
family looking up seeing bind you. Let me say this,
that was the first time I got to see the
jersey and that banner, so I had no clue what
(45:56):
it looked like, what it was gonna look like. And man, dude,
I tell you, the Toronto Raptors did it up. One
of the best I've seen a lot, And like I said,
I haven't seen them all, but they blew this thing
out of the water. And I'm forever grateful to you
(46:17):
Toronto Raptors and everybody involved, Dave Haggith and and he
Chow and everybody involved. But watching that jersey go up, man,
like there again, I knew what it was like, and
I've watched plenty of it, but to watch that thing
go all the way up, and like, that's going to
be there forever, anytime anyone walks in that building, when
(46:41):
I get to walk in that building, it'll be there.
Nobody gets to wear it was crazy, and I remember
looking at my kid and he started to cry and
cheer up, which made me cry. And obviously watching my
mom have her moment because I watched her when we
stood there, I took a step forward and she took
a step back to have her moment. Man, and that
(47:03):
was crazy. And to get to tell her to hey, no,
look at that. We did it and it's forever like
was one of the best feelings ever. And I'm forever
grateful to you. Toronto rap up now that we got
(47:40):
do all of that out of the way. You always know,
when we talk about the VC Show, we want to
talk about basketball. We want to talk about things that
are going on. So let's get into it. The NBA
season is ten plus games in. I've got an opportunity
to call some games, watch a lot of games, and
some of the things that have stuck out to me.
(48:05):
Let's talk about the Cleveland Cavoalleiers. Did you see that
in your Bengo cards? I don't know, but I'll tell
you what. I got to watch them opening night versus
Toronto Raptors, and I was thoroughly impressed with their approach.
Donovan Mitchell's poise and how he approaches the game. Evan
(48:32):
Mobley clearly put work in this summer to get better,
to stretch the floor, to open the floor, which I
think has unlocked so many things for this team. Donovan
allowing other guys to really flourish, getting them involved first,
then he taking over after that in the fourth quarter.
(48:55):
That's what superstars do. You get your guys involved early.
You allow other guys who has abilities to do what
they need to do to take over, which makes the
game easy for you in the fourth quarter. Or if
you're not having a great game, you have other guys
that can go out there and get it for you.
Darius Garland has been playing lights out basketball. They all
(49:17):
are on the same page, so shout out to them.
What about the Golden State Warriors. I think we all said, hey,
I'm not sure what to expect with the Golden State Warriors.
Yeah they have Steph Curry, Yeah they have Draymond, Yeah
they have Wiggins. They have a core group of guys
that has been that have been there, their coaching staff
has been there, they have their style implemented. But we
(49:39):
didn't know that they're gonna be what they're doing. Shout
out to Buddy Hill, my former teammate, you know, who
was going to fill that void, you know, And I said,
it's gonna take a collective effort. There's gonna be multiple guys,
but they, you know, Mike Dunleavy did a great job
of going and getting a guy like a Buddy Healed,
(50:00):
who is a movement guy, who likes to move off
the ball, who likes to play in motion, catch and shoot.
He does the things that fits the mold of what
the Golden State Warriors like to do. So if you're
gonna lose that guy by the name of Klay Thompson
who's having a damn good year this year with Dallas,
you go get a guy like Klay Thompson. And I'm
(50:22):
not similar, excuse me, similar to Klay Thompson in a
Buddy Heels who's having an unreal start, which I feel
like Hiss unlocked this Golden State Warriors and giving them
the opportunity to be this good this year. I'm still
waiting to see who else. Boston Celtics are still as advertised,
(50:44):
you know, you can have the championship hangover, and I
think the best thing to happen, and this is my opinion.
I think The best thing to happen to the Boston
Celtics this year was this summer, meaning Tatum now playing
a lot, having to sit and you can feel how
you want to feel about that. But that was motivation
(51:05):
I think for him, Jaylen Brown not being selected on there,
I think you can feel how you feel about that.
We can say, oh no, whatever, we have to understand.
Derek White was already chosen to be a backup, regardless
of how we feel about it. But I think that
was motivation for Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum because of
(51:26):
what took place this summer, which has given them a
great start and there's no championship hangover those They hit
the ground running. They're playing with purpose. They believe that
they're good and they want to go show all of us,
not just Steve Kerr and not just the Olympic Committee,
(51:47):
that you know they're deserving. I mean, they're a number
two in the East right now with a darn good record,
so they're they're living up to bills. I'm still waiting
to see what the Knicks, what's going to do, how
that works. I still like I like using Kat at
the five in situational basketball, not you know, not a lot.
(52:09):
I think he's great at the four. Obviously, they have
some Robinson, some guys out, So let's see what the
rest of the season looks like. It's still the honeymoon phase,
so I'm interested to see now that they're ten fifteen
games in. But let's see what it looks like twenty
five to thirty five, forty five win, they're settled in,
(52:30):
and see what direction their record and play goes in
the New York media. That's that's a real thing out
there in New York. Milwaukee Bucks. I mean, Giannis has
been out of his mind. He had the fifty nine
point game, and he had the big forty three point
I think it was forty three point triple double. But
(52:51):
he's playing great, but their team is still trying to
find their way. I'm a little surprised because when you
keep your goal, Obviously, Chris Milton out I think is huge. Huge. Yes,
we could talk about the trade and Drew Holiday not
be there, but that just shows how valuable Drew Holiday
is period, regardless of Dame and how we feel about it.
Drew Holiday is a integral part to the success of
(53:17):
a very good basketball team or a championship team. Anywhere
around the around the league. So I'm just interested to
see how things pan out with them seventy six ers.
It is what it is. I mentioned before and I'll
say it again. I didn't like I wish I wish
(53:37):
that Joel didn't announce it, acknowledge the game plan of
what the seventy six ers wanted to do. I think
that brought unwarranted attention to their team. If you're injured,
you have this game plan, keep it to yourself and
let it let us find out by your play or
you're not being on the court, and it keeps up.
(53:58):
I think it keeps a lot of you know, the
outside noise out of your locker room, particularly with him
going down and not playing in PG, going down a
little bit and now uh there there well, just injuries
in general on their team. MAXI also injured right now.
So you keep all of us talk out of your
(54:20):
locker room and you can just focus on yourself. So
I'm interested in seeing that. Okay, C is as advertised,
point blank period. I like what Phoenix is doing, you
know they I feel like they have something to prove
this year. Another year having your guys. You have a
point guard. Now, I love the fact that they have
a point guard because now Booker can be Booker. If
(54:42):
I'm a coach, I want Devin Booker to score first,
and then when you see double teams and loads and
all that, now you make plays for the guys. But
I want him to think score, just like I want
Kevin Durant to be that alpha dog number one. I
want him to think I'm the guy first. Yes, you
have Devin Booker on your team, but I want you
to think now, now me first. Lakers are going to
(55:05):
be Lakers. Man. I know we had a lot of
talk about, you know, with the Bronni thing, but my
concern and what I wanted to see was Anthony Davis
had an unbelievable first three games. How long does that continue?
Obviously we're ten plus games in. He's playing at an
MVP caliber level right now. What I want to see
(55:26):
is will he be allowed hear me out when I
say that, but can Lebron or will Lebron allow Ad
to continue to be the go to guy? Because we
know Lebron can take over. We saw his triple doubles
and you see what he's doing. But Lebron can take
over when he wants to, but you need to empower
(55:49):
Ad to be have that mindset and to be the
alpha dog, the go to guy, give me the ball
when he wants it, such so on and so forth,
because Lebron can do what he needs to do whenever
things are not going well. If Ad is not playing
playing well, and guess what we're gonna feed you until
we need some more scoring, and then we go to
that guy, Lebron. So that's what I like to see.
(56:09):
With that, The Clippers are the Clippers. I don't think
much is needed to be said with that. So it's
been Dallas Mavericks. I want to say real quick, they're
sitting like a tenth tenth the ten spot right now,
somewhat surprised. I think they have everything. I think it's
going to take a commitment. Hear me out when I
(56:29):
say this. I think it's going to take a commitment
from Luca to sacrifice a few dribbles to continue to
keep Clay involved. And I think he's making a conscious effort.
But we're talking about throughout the course of the year. Uh.
Sometimes I think Luke Luca dribbles a little too much.
(56:50):
But there's you know, but but now you have a three,
a big three in Kyrie and and in Clay's ability
to shoot and and open up the floor for Luca
to where I don't think he has to dribble as much.
Especially get the ball, throw it ahead, let him go
if it's not there. Now you get the ball, and
you play in space and pick and roll and post
(57:12):
ups or whatever you want to do. Kyrie can get
a bucket whenever you need him to get. So I
just think i'd like to see more of that from
Luca early, and then if you need to change more
into more dribbles and more isoball, then you can do that.
I think Clay is so important to their success. This
is my opinion. He's so important to their success early
(57:34):
because you want him shooting, opening up the floor for
Luca to be the one on one god that he
is at the end of the day. So that's my
take on the season so far. We'll see what happens
and how it pans out. We'll continue to talk about it,
So keep your eyes open. And might I add, and
(58:08):
I apologize to Victor weinbin Yama, I'm sorry Wemby. Might
I add Wemby's play right now to date has been
top notch. We already know he's going to be an
All Star. He's already made it clear what he's going
to do defensively, and you know told Gobert, yeah, enjoy
(58:28):
that you're not winning another one. But what he is
doing offensively, And I want to give some credit to
Chris Paul and I want to give some credit to
Greg Popovico as well. You know, people were like, oh,
I don't know how they felt about Pop. I thought
Pop was the perfect coach for him. As far as
sticking to the basics. Yeah, okay, you know, let's just
(58:49):
slow down. Let's just get the basics, and then we
will ascend and we will unlock everything. He did that
with Kawhi and then all of a sudden it went
from just holding him back and give him a little
bit to Kawhi being what he is as a player,
not all the other stuff, because I know that's what
you guys gonna say. But what Winby is doing is
(59:13):
top notch man. Chris Paul is a wizard with the basketball,
but he understands what he has on his team and
what he has on the floor. You see picking rolls,
he gets in picking rolls, gets off the ball, Winby
understands once I set the ball, get to space, Chris
Paul will get me the ball. And he is shooting
the lights out of the ball right now. He is
doing it defensively, which we already knew he would. We
(59:35):
know he's gifted with his handle. My concern coming in is, yes,
you're gifted with your handle, but now you get smaller guys,
you're gonna have to keep it tight, keep your handle
tight to do the things that you needed to do.
And he is doing just that. He is playing at
an all star level. And if he considers I mean,
if he continues to do what he's doing, we talked
(59:57):
about ad in the MVP conversation, but we're gonna talk
about him. He's gonna get whispers and talks about. I
don't know if their team is good enough to where
we considered it, but most improved, yes, sir, he's gonna
be up there with most improved. And I'm gonna give
another guy a shout out. I covered him a lot.
We got to give some love to Grady Dick who
with the Toronto Raptor, who is playing unbelievable basketball as well.
(01:00:20):
Right now, he's balling. He's another guy. I think he
will be up for a most improved Player with how
he's playing this year. I always do a upper room
play of the week, but I'm gonna do my upper
room play of the season so far. Can you guys guess?
(01:00:43):
Can you guess? Ah, I'll tell you anyway, Yes, mister
John Moran. John Morant his abilities obviously being out all year.
I know he was excited about getting back on the floor,
but I think he's just more than happy to get
(01:01:05):
back out there with his guys. You know, they're a
close knit group. I would say they lean on him
to be what he is, but man, he is unlocking
his athleticism, and this dude brought out some athleticism. And
usually we're seeing dunks what he's done. We see them
go to the upper room duncking on people. But my
upper room play of the season so far is not
(01:01:26):
a dunk. Is John Moran's three sixty layups. He's had multiple,
He's had the two that we saw in the one game.
So I'm just gonna let this breathe and let you
guys enjoy John Moran.
Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
Everybody Moran off the bout that oh lord sixty spin
and they finished four Marange.
Speaker 2 (01:01:49):
He washed this one up. The spin cycle hang finish
on the other side with the left.
Speaker 1 (01:01:56):
That is print Team.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
Jaron Moran spent that hits again.
Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
No it, Holy cow, John Moran, you run out a word,
subscribe what's going for the crank and then spins hair
the smooth finish.
Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
This is fun, real well. That wraps up another episode
of The VC Show. Is good to be back, man.
It's good to talk about the Hall of Fame. It's
great to talk about Jersey retirement and all the wonderful
things that has happened so far this year. Stay tuned
for more wonderful things that's happening in my life, more
great basketball, great talk. Leave your comments below about what
(01:02:36):
we talked about this week. Obviously will try to talk
about it next week, plus many more. So stay tuned.
Appreciate you all kicking your feet up, kicking it with
your boy. The VC Show signing off, Let's go
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