November 1, 2023 • 50 mins
Ryan talks with 12 year NBA vet Ricky Davis about playing with the likes of Baron Davis, Dwyane Wade and Rookie year LeBron James. What was it like to face Allen Iverson in the playoffs, Rookie LeBron vs Wemby, following Vince Carter at the 2000 Dunk Contest and his controversial wrong rim rebound in pursuit of a triple-double.
NBA Rookie Life is a production of iHeartMedia and the NBA
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
How's everybody doing this? Your Mary, Ryan Hollins, I'm going
to welcome you into eight. Man. Listen, man, this is
long overdue. Okay, this is long overdue. A very very
special episode of NBA Rookie Life. And this man was
the twenty first spick in the nineteen ninety eight draft.
You and I'm gonna date myself a little bit. I
was in the eighth grade, but this man was so
cold that he was so cold that when I came
(00:26):
around to the league and play, I got to compete
against him. One of my favorite people on the planet,
one of the real ones, a real hoop junkie. Man.
Let's get into it, my man. None that then, Ricky Davis, Rick,
what's going on with your baby?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
What's going on? Ryan?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
The show, man, Man, appreciate you taking your time to
hold on before we get to a slicky Ricky Man?
Was did it just flow? Where did the name come from?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Man?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Was this from childhood?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Man?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Give me the rundown?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Man?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, Man, childhood. You know, listen to the music. My
older brother named me that slick rick the Ruler, you know.
So I was just rolling with it. And then I
got a.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Little bit older and they started calling me tricky Ricky. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So you know, in the beginning of my career, I
was slick rick and then towards the end, I was
tricky Ricky.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
See that gives you the bad name. No, rick Tricky
like we all because you are one of the most honest,
you know, down to earth and tricky people. Hey do
did they give you second looks like tricky Ricky? Like,
hey man, watch your pockets around, like what's going on?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
What's tricky about you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Man, So everybody just named me that just because I'm fun, happy.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Always having a good time.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So uh, I think that's what a tricky came into.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It, all right, No, pretty Ricky, right was the pretty Ricky?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah I wasn't a little pretty Ricky. But you know
my oldest son he stole a pretty Ricky now.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So now, yeah he stole it. I let him have it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Rick, Man, I'll say this, I always like to
give a little bit of like our history. And I
think the coolest thing about me doing the podcast is
that I got to get we never sit down and
like talk hoop. I get to talk hoops with some
of my og some of my favorite people. And I
think I told you about this, Rick, but I remember
you were I was in u c l A and
you you were playing with Bed at the time, and
(02:17):
y'all came down to the city and who and they
was always you was a legend, bro. So it was
always like, oh, tricky and town tricky. In town, we
we out this Sunnen were in the gym, tricky and
the gym like you came with a presence. But I
remember I walked into the u c l A gym
as a young buck and I seen you for the
first time, and I was like, oh, that's a pro.
(02:37):
You came down bing bing, pulled up for j hit
a three, hit a miny hit a pull. I'm like, dog,
Ricky Davis can shoot like and then you came down
somebody threw you alive reverse that thing from half court.
I was like, dog, the NBA is crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It's crazy. It's crazy. And especially in that gym man
at the u c l A. Uh, that's like the
basketball roots history, kind of like the Rutgers type thing
and just growing up in that environment, you know, with Mike,
with IRV and everybody controlling those runs. When when I
first came in at seventeen, eighteen years old. It was amazing.
(03:17):
You know, I was just like you looking at all
the old school Mitch Butler's and everybody.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
From LA from U C.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
L A. Ball and Kobe and Jordan and everybody was
in there.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It was just it was amazing in a dream coming
big bello.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Hold on, Slow down, Slow down. Tell me about this
day when Cole, Cob and MJ sliding there.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I was too young for this one. Tell me about
this story, doog I ain't seen?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, man, MJ.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Kobe, they both came in there a few times. And
you know when Kobe came in there, it was it
was it was action. You know, he was going at
everybody's dome. But I was one of those guys that
didn't back up and didn't back down and came back
at guys. And you know that's kind of how I
got my reputation of going at guys every day. And
you know, I took it serious. I took I took
(04:06):
the summertime as as a time to get better and
never lose that craft and never lose that rhythm. So
for me, that was my game. And at a young age.
You know, working out two three times a day was
fun for me. So, uh, coming up in U c.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
L A.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And then seeing Kobe in there, man, it was it
was amazing. Uh, you know, we was baling, going at it.
H MJ was just you know, hard to stop him
and IRV And you know every time you get down
the game, Mike.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Mike hold on what Mike play on Magic Team? And
where they separate?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No, they were separated at that time, separated. They was
going and you know Mike IRV always had his teams already.
He already had his five. Yeah, he had his five already. Guys,
you know that was gonna cheat that game. Point called
fouls all the time, so it it was impossible to win.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
All right, rick Let's let's get to your career. Man.
How was they We kind of reminisced before the show.
What was it a seventeen eighteen year old Ricky Davis
going into the league? Man, walk me through your draft day?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Man?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
What was it like? Did you have expectations? And let's
actually let's start here. When's the first time you made
up your mind you're going to the league. Let's go
there and then talk to me about draft day. Like
when was it like, you know, like I'm a league, Okay,
I'm and I'm gone, or did somebody make that decision
for you because sometimes you're so good you don't need
to say you going. You just it's natural.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
It just happens. Yeah, absolutely, and ask this a great question.
You know, it all started for me in high school.
You know, my senior year in high school kind of
had a chip on my shoulder. I didn't get invited
to the Maggie Johnson or to the McDonald's game.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
But I got invited to the Maggie.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Johnson game, which was you know, the next to the
magic to the McDonald's. Uh. So they had Tration McGrady, uh,
Dion Glover, everybody you can think of, Baron Greedy, Daniels.
Everybody was in there that was on the top notch,
Tim Thomas.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Everybody was in there.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So when we went and played, I was I got
invited to the game because I.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Knew IRV from playing in U c l A. So
he invited me to the game.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Came down there and I got m VP matched up
with Tracy McGrady and that was the year he was
going to the NBA. So I said, wait, if Tracy
McGrady going to the NBA at high school. Man, I
think I think, I think I could make it. Uh
So that was like my confidence builder right there. That
that kind of took me into going into Iowa. That
(06:49):
I think I was doing one year and done, you know.
So that's where I got my confidence, and that's where
I knew I'm gonna just do one year and I'm out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Okay, taught me to draft day. Man, did you know
that you were going to the Hornets? Were you excited
you get that phone call? Were you tipped off a
little bit? How did that go down?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Man?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Because listen, man shout out Tody Ramers or time told
me I could go ten to fifty. I ended up
going fifty. But it was a lot of frustration between
that fifty. What was your mindset? Two of the first
pick and you already got a mindset. I'm better than
a lot of these cats.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Atally, man. And it was crazy because I had made
my mind up. I left school early. I had Iron
Tell him as my agent. My mom and them flew
me down to LA and I stayed with Iron Tell
them and that's when I started working out at UCLA.
So they really didn't know my game. They didn't know
who I was really from Iowa, you know, small town guys.
(07:46):
So me coming to work out at UCLA kind of
proved my point. Playing against Kobe Bailey and all those
guys that was coming out that year kind of raised
my stakes in the draft.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So I think I worked out for like twenty eight
teams that summer. Yeah, man, I was I was going
like state to state, the state.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
The state, and I mean it was the most exhausting,
but it was fun, you know, because I was bawling,
I was working out, and I was I was in shape,
I was ready.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I had to prove my points. So I was going
to a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Playing against Pat Garrity and Miles Simon and all these
guys that were ahead of me. But I was holding
my own, you know, this young seventeen year old I was.
I was holding my own. So I thought I was
gonna get drafted to Orlando or some other stuff in
the top teen, top fifteen, and I didn't know where
(08:43):
I was going. I kind of thought I was going
second round. But I remember working out for Dave Collins
for Charlotte and they had.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
A whole day. By the way, I worked with Dave
by the way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, sir, oh Man, I love Dave Man, and so
I never got an opportunity to play for Dave either man.
He actually got drafted by Dave and Paul Silas took over,
I think that next year. So I never got a
chance to play with Dave. But I ended up working
out with four big men and no guards, and.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I beat them.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I beat Pat Garrity and a few other posts. I
can't think of the guy's name, but I beat them
all in the post. So Dave Cowens was just like,
I love this guy. He's a guard, he's small, but
he just got hard and I guess that's stuck with him.
And I didn't go to the I didn't go to
the to the draft because I didn't think I was
(09:42):
gonna get.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Drafted first round.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So I stayed home, had everybody invited, over all my teammates,
and you know, the first ten fifteen picks, I didn't
get picked. So I kind of disappeared, walked downstairs, walked
to my bedroom, locked myself in the room, and I
was just like, all what I get myself into and
watching the drafts and the twenty first pick came up,
(10:05):
and they said Ricky Davis and it was just it
was a dream come true. Ran through the house. Everybody
went crazy and it was a beautiful It was a
beautiful night. Man, it was a beautiful night. But it
was hard, man, it was. It was a lot of
It was a lot of hard days, hard nights and
dedication and you know, just trusting the process that day,
that early age.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was tough.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What did that do to you? You know, kind of
the the anxiety because a lot of these young guys
are going through this, are going to have to go
through this, like not knowing if you're going to be picked,
Like how did how did that kind of send you
into Charlotte? Because for me, it wasn't the celebration drafted.
I was steaming bro like I was here, I was happy,
but I was like him, like I had a listen,
(10:52):
what did that?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
What did that do for you?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Could slick you one of the hardest workers.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Man, man, appreciate it. I appreciate it. And that's what
kept me in the game, the hard work, you know,
learning that stuff. My rookie year, coming in with those
type of rookies that I that I came in with,
they instilled that hard work and dedication.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
From day one.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So I learned that from an early age.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
All right, Rick, once you get drafted, you know, we
know you you got game. Ricks. I'm you know, I
need I need Slicky Ricky on the side right now.
Who used to tear you up?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Was there somebody that just gave you that work?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Dog?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Was this somebody that was just a headache for you
to cover? Or you know, some people have an actual
welcome to the League moment where you realize this ain't
college no more, This ain't you know, this ain't the
All Star Game.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, buddy, that this ain't it. And if that person
was Bobby Fields, no rest in peace, Bobby Phiels. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know that guy was like a Mandingo warrior man.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You know, he was cut up, he was swollen, he
had defense offense, and he just wore my little self
out every day in practice, every possession, and I mean
I got tougher. I mean he beat me up and
at the same time, he showed me the mistakes I
(12:13):
was making and allowed me to get better and better.
And not getting drafted put that chip on my shoulder
to come. I mean, you know, not getting drafted ten
or eleven or twelve where I wanted to where I
knew I should have got drafted. You know, it put
that chip on my shoulder to go in there with
(12:33):
that expectation of working hard and you know, trying to
get better. So Bobby feels Man, he laced me from
day one all the way till he passed away, you know,
every day in practice. And you know, my toughest my
toughest guard that year probably was Ai and Reggie Miller.
You know guard, yeah, guard. Those guys man.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Were just virtually impossible.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What what was it like garden Reggie was was it
you know, get your track shoes on? Was he talking
trash to you? Was he you know, like we know, hey,
golly wally, Reggie Reggie Miller like you? Or was he
like was he a killer? Was like like dog Tim Duncan.
Dog Tim Duncan cuts me out on time? Like Tim
(13:21):
Dunkle was so nice to me the first time I played,
cuss me out?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Dog? Like?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
What was Reggie Miller?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Like?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We know Reggie is a killer. Like, but what was
it like you as a young fella having a garden, right?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean it was crazy because you hear it in
the Scout report.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You know, but when you get in the game and
you coming off every screen, you're coming off four or
five screens, pole, pop pop.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
He's moving fast. He's quiet first, you.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Know, Reggie's quiet, he's getting his game on his focus.
You know, as soon as he hits that first shot,
oh man, it's eyeballs. He's talking noise and he was like,
you know, you too late, young fella, or you just
in time foul. You know, he was giving me those
type of stories, so you know, to to guard that
(14:07):
guy and come off screens like that man and chase
that guy not getting shot and come back off the
screen and get it shot. I mean, it was just
it was it was impossible to guard no matter what
kind of health defense you got. And him talking mess
now and got the crowd going. It was a fun
thing to play against and be a part of.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
How about Garden How about Garden Ai? You know a
lot of people we just hit like like relentless dog,
Like walk me through the first time you guarded AI.
Walk me through this one Rick, you know, because a
lot of guys you be messed up from the time
you see that your name on it on the board,
like yo, you got I got him high.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Exactly, and you know you're gonna sub in as soon
as I sub being I'm guarding ai. Oh man, okay,
so we running the same thing. He running off all
those screens, fast, over the loop, top of the loop,
get the ball and all you hear from the sideliners
you on the island, young fella, and he hits you
(15:14):
with that pow pow pole crossover and just curings. For me,
it was like whoa you know, like and I was
(15:37):
kind of a big guard. You know, I'm not that
super fast. I was fast, but I was just looking
at the coach like you need to switch put a
point guard on this guy, Like there is no way.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I can stay in front of him. But man, it was.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was amazing just trying to, you know, catch him first.
But when you called him, he can hit you with
so many moves that it was just impossible. Would to
stay in front of him.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So that that guy was like, by far one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of the hardest guys for me to guard.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
What what what else like to me? Like I give
you an example, like it was harder for me to
guard Reggie Evans than Shack in the sense of when
Reggie worming through screens and hating the lords every time
and rolling hard like you. Nobody wants to guard Reggie,
like when Reggie's in his back, but gardening shack sometimes
you can. You can catch the big fellow chilling. You
can catch you know what I'm saying, depending on regular season,
(16:30):
Like was Ai that relentless like every time? Like or
would you catch him chilling a little bit? Like did
he give you some some moments? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, no, Like I mean, like you said, it's a difference,
like like in KD. You know, KD was one of
those guys you guard, but he can give you that break.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
You know, he might not chase the ball that much,
but Ai, I mean he wants the ball every time.
He's going to get the ball every time, and his
teammates is trying to get him the ball every time.
He was kind of like Garden Steph Curry, but without
that without that uh uh that three point threat. And
(17:20):
you know how hard it is Garden Steph coming off
those screens and putting it down on the floor, but wanting.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A shot every time make or miss.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know, you get some guys you guard him two
three times he missed a shot, Okay, cool, I got
him for a second, you know, but no.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Not this guy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You know he missed one shot. No, no, he missed
another shot. It wasn't a shot he didn't like. And
it was just it was impossible to guard him. You know,
you didn't have enough foules to guard.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Him for sure?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
For sure. All right, Rick, let's get to the film room. Now,
let's get to the NBA Ricky Life film room. This
is one of my favorite segments of the show. We're
gonna have some hoop talk and Rick, man, you were
a part of and I want to ask you. We'll
get to it. Two thousand duck contests. All right's run it.
Let's run the clip here. Let's go it on, Rick,
(18:12):
When did you know that you were going to be
in a duck contest? Give me the story. Was this
something you knew I gotta go do? Did the league
hit you?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Were you sending the film in?
Speaker 3 (18:22):
What? What was it?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
What was this like for you?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Because this is back when the Dunk Contest was a
dunk contest?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It was mostly some of my veterans and you know
Eddie being in the in the All Star Game that
that year. You know, they seen me with all the hops.
They seen me after practice working on my dunks and
all the trick dunks, and you know, I was always
doing a lot of my dunks in the games and practices,
so you know, they seen it and they was like,
(18:50):
young fella, you need to get in the slam dunk contest.
So you know, we sent the film in and we
we we started working from there and they invited me.
And once they invited me, man, and it was just
you know, every day I was working on my dunks
and trying to get better, you know, but that feeling
right there, you can't kind of rehearse.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So it was amazing, Man, it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Okay, okay, okay, did you know when you got there?
Or better yet, let me slow down, befive, get there.
What made that two thousand dunk contests the greatest dunk
contest in history?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Well, I think, you know, with Vince Man, I think
Vince and the guys we had in it, Tracy and
Steve Francis Stack, I think it was a lot of
key guys in there that could really dunk and was
doing a lot of these dunks in the games. You know,
a lot of these guys that play and do these dunks.
They don't do them in the games. So a lot
(19:49):
of these guys that were on there this year with
a lot of game game style dunkers, you know that
can go out there and do the thing. But I
think Vince just took it to another level. We were
seeing dunks that wasn't you know, we never seen before
backwards three sixties and you know everything that that that
(20:10):
we didn't see before that we didn't see Jordan, we
didn't see Dominique, We didn't see those guys doing so.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I think that we we by far had the best one.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Yeah, French corn, this front shot, Let's go home, Let's
go home, Let's go home.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Did you have any idea that VC was gonna do that?
What was it like being in there? Like what like
did you and granted you hadn't done this before, like
did you even know if to expect? Like what like
when you look back, like was it like what was
I doing? Like walk me just through this dunk contest?
Are you looking around? Like hold on dog, Tracy?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Like yeah, it was like it was my nerves were
so crazy. I mean, you know, me eighteen years old,
arena full of sixty thousand people.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It was just and then I wish I could have
went before Vince, you know, because though the arena was
still going, you know, you see.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
That dunk, the arena was still going. It was still
cheering for Vince after we was dunking, you know, so
it was like everybody, Yeah, Jerry went after it and
I went right after that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It was like everybody went and got the popcorn and
waited till Vince came back again, following a very difficult man.
But it was just it was, you know, like I said,
you can't practice this, you can't recite this, and then
(21:53):
you can't warm up like you want to because you
can't go out there and show.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You dunk you want to do.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So you just kind of just gotta go out there
on just you know, pure adrenaline and you know, everything
that you've been doing over the years of your career.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Back they told me I should have had Baron passing
rather than Eddie Jones right there. But for me, but
it was a it was a great thing to be
a part of man, to be a part of this
kind of history, and you know, go down and I
can be able to show my kids and you know,
show you know, hold that legacy of you know that
(22:31):
I was a part of.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Is there anything that we don't know about this dunk contest? Like,
you know, we just watched the highlights. I watched it,
you know on TV. It's a whole different than being there.
What don't we know like that? That's kind of crazy.
I never thought from your perspective, you going to dunk
and they like.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Nce. I mean, it was just it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Man. You people on the floor, I mean it was
just like it was just like a back in the
park type of thing with sixty thousand. I mean, it
was just a drilling rushing. My drilling was rushing so hard,
and then the Seevent's going doing that type of stuff. Man,
it was just kind of like curtains once he was
doing that type of stuff. To see him fly like that.
(23:14):
You know, we already knew what he could do in
the games, but to see that stuff like that was amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So you stitch stuff in the left hand doing all.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
This, man, that's cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It was one of my favorites. I was I was
mad that you didn't show out, Rick, But when I
say one thing, it definitely puts you on the map
like you were you were always the kind of like
you were one of my favorite players from me. I
was like, no, nah, he got bounced like he could go,
like he could play, you know, like I remember, like
I never and then you you were a little younger
something like nah. He resonates with me like, oh, y'all
(23:54):
like that, like like put it on the map, you know,
what would you say? Is it gonna take for the
NBA dunk contests to come back? I think that young
bull Joe and that young bulls Ion. But I think
those two young bulls ois. I think those young those
two young bullsas. That's my opinion, Rick, I don't know
(24:15):
if you agree that's my opinion.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
J I think Joe.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I think everybody would love to see how far he
could really jill, you know, without without the defense, you know,
because he's jumping like that over the defense. So yeah,
exactly right. And with Zion, everybody would.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Love to see that guy dunk so powerful.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Uh, you knows, nobody's been It.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Hasn't been a dunker that that dunkin' like that hard
in a long time.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
All right, Rick, Let's uh, let's let's get to it.
You talked about him earlier. You mentioned him we got
to talk about eighty five. He was eighty five when
I played with him, BD Boom disgel Man. What was
rookie Baron Davis? Like I think history forgets what Baron
Davis was. Do you have a story that might let
people know what Baron was and how Cody was like
(25:11):
fresh into the league.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, Baron was electrifying. You know, Baron was big.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You know, they thought he wasn't fast, but he was
very quick and you know, can get to where he
needed to go, and very athletic man.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And you know b was hurt his knee earlier in
his career, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
So could you imagine if he wouldn't have hurt his career,
you know, his knee early in his career, Yeah, what
what he really would have been doing. So, you know,
he's got the creativity and you know, playing with that guy.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
And I've been knowing barn for a long time.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know, we actually played overseas and AAU back in
ninth grade, you know together. So I've known Barron, you know,
for a very long time and playing with him in
U c l A all the time. And I think
he's underrated as a as a guard, as one of
the you know, best guards in the league, you know,
(26:11):
with his size and athletic ability and you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
His passing game.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
It was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
What was the craziest thing you ever saw from Baron
whether it was game practice or whatever. You was like,
like Doug, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Expect that, man. It was the dunk on kg oh Man.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Definitely didn't expect that, you know, and I'm if you
can see it, I'm trail and I actually thought he
was gonna throw it off the glass, you know, but
he took off and it was one of the best
plays for me right there and in person. And you know,
just seeing that that guy, the way he takes off,
(26:58):
you know, he used to take off, so that was it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I used to love it. Yeah, he took off and
that was it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
How would be the match up with the guards today,
today's NBA with all the spacing and all the speed
and everything, how would how would he match up with
today's guards or today's game.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I think he would destroy it. And now, you know
with guys you can't touch. With that big body getting
in the lane, posting up guards and getting that speed,
you know, he's up and down anyway moving that ball.
I think he you know, he would destroy the league
now with its size and his ability to get to
the rim. You know, like like I said, you can't
(27:42):
touch him now. You can't touch these days. Back in
the days, you can hand check, you know, get guys
off the spot a little bit. And he played through that,
so I can imagine him playing now.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I got guys hang on. So Ricky got a bad rap,
like a rap in the NBA from something that I
think it was little. Some people think it was big.
I think it's nothing. Now today you got to be
the Jett Stay tuned. We'll talk about it coming up next.
(28:24):
All right, I need a story. You're tricky, Ricky. This
is a moment in history. You know where I'm going
with this where you became tricky Ricky. We got to
talk about it. We got to talk about it. We
got clear the Aaron Man, the triple double, dog run,
the clip, the triple double. What was going on? What
was going on here? Give me the story with it, Ricky?
You know, was this in mindset? Was was it one
(28:45):
of your You took the heat for it, but one
of your teammates are like, hey, rick go go go
do this.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know you gotta get it. Rick. Yeah, so man,
it was a story to this.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
It was this was like my third to fourth game
away from a triple double. And this was one of
them weeks where I almost had the forty five, and
two weeks ago I had the forty five. Again, this
was one of them weeks. I think I had maybe
thirty six nine rebounds at twelve assists or it was
vice versus nine assists and ten rebounds, and it was Yeah,
(29:20):
he was doing up. And so this is like the
fourth game man, and I got I It's like six
minutes left in the game, and they yell out, you know,
they get the timeout, they get the stats, and somebody
yell out of the bench, Rick, you need one more rebound.
It's six minutes in the game. And I'm like, ooh bet,
I'm definitely gonna get it tonight, right, So yeah, look,
(29:41):
I look up, it's forty five seconds left in the game.
I can't get a rebound. I had the rebound. Nobody's
mentioned shots shots going in. I can't get a rebound.
So we had a timeout. I'm at the timeout, like,
how am I gonna get this rebound?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm sitting there and I was just I wasn't even
listening to the coach. I was sitting there for two minutes, staying,
how am I to get this rebound? You're gonna throw
it off the glass? Nah, you can't throw it off
the glass. I said, yeah, I get throw it off
the glass. And then I'm talking to myself the whole time.
So I get up.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I say, Okay, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Gonna throw it off the glass, right, I said, I'm
gonna throw it off the glass.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You know in the park you can throw it off
the glass.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Get your rebound, Come on down with.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Hot for it to shine. How best to play? Was
that a rebound for Ricky? They t to rebound? They
needed a rebound for a triple double? Well they live
to that side. Those head cut it off the river gravit.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, and did Shane stevenson't take defense of that? Puts
the hard file on it.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
They don't give him a rebound here or the credit
for that place. What that's a shoppishleg of the If
he knew that he needed that rebound, he had to
know it.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah he had.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yeah, this gutch get out and let it go too.
My man in dire need of a three triple double.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So I get the ball, laying up, get the rebound,
get the ball, and was like I did that one.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Oh man, I've seen the look on everybody's face.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
They come almost tackle me, all found me all hard.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah. Then after the game it went all crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
They went crazy, start blowing up my froze and all
kind of stuff, and yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
But then two weeks later Bobby Sarah does it.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
They don't say anything, you know, so yeah, wow wow, Yeah.
So I was chasing chasing triple doubles. I tell people, Hey,
I was chasing trible doubles. Ain't nothing wrong with chasing
triple doubles.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
No, no, no, we did that. We had similar to Houston.
You know my guy, the ball hit the glass and
we got to ship it off, let him go get it.
I've seen that happen for Chris Paul. Everybody shield it
for Chris Ball to keep that still record. I remember
watching that. Okay, what was the worst thing that happened
from I remember you getting massacred on Sports Center, Bro, Like,
(32:08):
what was the worst thing? He was like, he's sewing professional.
This was a different NBA.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Rick, What what was it like?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
What was the fact that it was tough? The backlash
was tough. You know, I took a lot from it,
and that's what I kind of you know, it was
a testimony for me now because now I can go
out and teach these young guys.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
You know, don't do.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Nothing that can jeopardize your career in the heat of
the moment. You know, don't don't do nothing now that
would jeopardize you in the future, you know, because in the.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Blink of an eye. You know, I was just at
the park.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
You know, I'm sixteen, I'm eighteen, nineteen years old. I'm
just the young kid.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
You know. Just at the park han't fun. But in
this game and this profession, it can't be done. It
shouldn't be done. So I took that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Just hold on, Rick, this really penalized you. Like how
did this carry with you? Like, you know, we're looking
at it and like we're laughing now, Like if somebody did, like,
how did this penalize you?
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Like this sounds like it really stuck.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yeah, it's stuck. It's still stuck. It's still stuck.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And it became bad.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
You know, I became detrimental to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Teams and different kind of teams. He's a loser, he's
not a winner, and you know, they just it just
start kind of trickling from there, you know. And and
and that's what happens when you make mistakes and you
do things at an early age. And you know, but
at that kind of league.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Where the league was at that moment, for sure, for sure,
it wasn't it wasn't no coming.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Back, and you know, you still take the backlash and
you still become these this bad you know guy and
in these guys eyes.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
But you know it's a teaching point and learning point
from me, So it's all good.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
You couldn't be the furthest from it, thog, you could be.
That's what was so crazy, Like I'm sure people getting
there like you're the furthest like from that, like hard worker,
what do we need.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
To do right? Right?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
And they don't know it. And some of them just
read the brook by his cover on what they hear
the wrong way Ricky, you know, so they take that
just automatically. Yeah he's crazy, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So yeah, wow, Hey, hey, I don't know if you
guys noticed or not. Ricky Davis was there when rookie
Lebron came and he has an interesting take on comparing
the young Lebron to Young Wimby. Stay tuned, you'll hear
what Tricky Ricky has to say. What was it like
(34:51):
when the chosen went out there? Walk me to a
slick because you got to see Rookie Lebron. This is
like he's still playing, rick Ricky keeps kN he's still playing.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Okay, he's still man, still going.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Flashback to Rookie Lebron. Was there a moment where you
were like, Yo, this dude is not stupid, Like this
is crazy. I've never seen anything like it because we
knew the hype. And also Ricky, like you are og
you a ve you kind of had your strikes back.
Did you believe in the hype? Did you believe this
dude was what he was supposed to be?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Well, you know, I knew the guy was good the
year before that. I mean, you know when he was
in high school. You know, when I got to Cleveland,
my little brother was almost playing with him in high school.
So I used to go down and watch the guy's practice,
and you know, he played with him for about four
or five games and he ended up going to another school.
(35:45):
But I got to see it. I've seen the guy
was gonna be amazing. But the question was we all
knew right away how hard it is for any kind
of rookie right away to come in to change your franchise,
you know. At the same time, this kid was amazing
and everybody knew it, but it was just for me.
(36:10):
It was a matter of can he stay healthy, you know,
because you see a lot of rookies coming in, you
see a lot of rookies going out, see a lot
of rookies getting drafted. That's really really good. And you
know it's a thing about the NBA. When you're good
and you got a green light, you can be really good.
(36:30):
So this kid coming in, having the size, the body,
the skill set, it was it was an easy transition
for me. I think for him, you know, with his
body size and it's his his IQ, I think is
what put him over the top the best. You know,
(36:52):
he was always in the right spots and I don't
know if that was because he was point guard in
high school. You know, maybe that had a lot to
do with it. That the guy would just always in
the right spots on the right times and making the
right place herery times.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
He had a way there's the first team to jam
of his career.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
WHOA, he's not disappointing me. I'm telling you right now,
he's got ten.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
I mean all the hype I.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Was, I didn't know what to expect, but you know
how to play passing rays. This guy knows in the
open floor, here till you mendous corporate.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Wear and here he again, this time addishes to his
trainer das.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
So he was definitely mature at his age and I
love playing with him.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
How would you how can we compare the hype that
we've just seen with Wimby? Would you say that Lebron's
was more or less? And did you ever think we'd
even see something comparable to Lebron because you you got
to see Lebron before he got there, once he got there?
(37:57):
What was what was talk to me about that?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Like?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
How would you compare the too? You know, how similar
can they be? Because we kind of went through the whole,
the whole deal last year for Winby, you know, the
Winby sweepstakes. What how would you compare those two or
are they even comparable?
Speaker 2 (38:13):
I don't think I think they're comparable, but I really
don't think they're comparable. Just for me, the times that
the the game evolved and the times they came in.
I think the question for everybody with Lebron was he
came in at the toughest time of the NBA. He
came in with when it was some real, real, amazing
(38:38):
players in the NBA. And you know now that the
game's transition, a lot of guys can play in the
league now, but a lot of guys couldn't play in
the league back in the day. And Lebron was one
of those guys that could play in the league then
and he could play in.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
The league now.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
So I think it's a big difference. I think Winby
was He's going to be amazing with his size and
his athletic ability and his IQ, I think is experditas
is putting him up at a at an all time
rate of being successful. Because of his IQ, you know
(39:18):
where to go and where to be.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Rick, I tell you one thing, it's scary watching him.
He's he's lou Au Cinder with wing training. He's lou
Ou center on the wing bro like and it's scary,
like like lou ouls down there. Who can you But
if he was coming down mixing like that's we just
saw him. Rick, He's like that like, and I think physically,
you know, he's gonna have some hurdles, but like like
(39:43):
he's tough, Like he's a lot tougher in there. They're
like working on the correct things with him, like what
challenges or if you had to give some advice to winby,
what advice would you give? And you know, like how
does that differ also from like you said, bron who
kind of just came in seamless, you know, obviously because
(40:04):
of the you know, the physicality or just in also
the league was tough, but it was it was seamless.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Right, I think I think I think he has a great,
great great I don't think he has to really mess
with his physicality too much. You know, because of the
way the league is set up, you can't touch him.
So it's not like you can't go you can't go
down there and Reggie evans him anymore. You can't go
(40:32):
beat him up every play.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
You can't.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
You just can't, you know.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
And yeah, I think he just needs to stay in
shape as best as he can and use those summers
to get stronger and stronger and stronger by playing that game.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
And you know, because you don't have to be that
strong these days. I don't think you know the way
the game is set up and how he moves in
and out and stand limber. I think he's His transition
is going to be great because he can shoot, he
can go inside, he can go outside, he can put
(41:08):
it on the floor.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
It's almost impossible to guard it.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Guys on the drive, no other human being, Bill has
any right to dunk this one.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
He takes off from the other side and makes it
look easy. If he's if he's healthy, what ceiling do
you put on Wimby? I'm putting you on the spot
and now, slick. If he's healthy, what's our what's our
ceiling with Wimby?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Uh? I see him being a.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
I've seen it.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
I've seen about the about the Shack numbers, maybe a
little more. Uh. I don't see him with the numbers,
maybe higher with the assists with Shack. But it's tough
to score.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
That ball year in and year out and get thousands
and thousands and thousands of point. It takes.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
It takes a lot of resilience and.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
A lot of dedication and being in shape.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Every year and every year.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
So I mean the next I think the next three
four years. I think I think we can see where
where he'll be. But right now I think it's got
the sky's the limit. I think sky's the limit right
now for him. But I see him about where those
shock numbers are.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That's Oh, that's good company right there. That's good company.
That's good company. Before I get you out of here, Man,
you played with another Hall of Famer in one of
Lebron's teammates. You know, you're kind of the buffer between two.
D Wade. Man, you got a story for me?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (42:53):
How good?
Speaker 1 (42:55):
How good was Flash? What don't we know about him
behind the scene?
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Well, firstus hands, y'all know how big his hands are.
I think it's uh was his secret weapons. You know
the way he could just move that ball. You know,
because my hand is pretty big, but not so big.
But you know the way he could just grab that
ball and pick it up and it around. Uh.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I think that was the secret weapon that d Wade
was his mix, you know, being able to capture that
ball and just nobody could get it. And of of
(43:47):
course how fast he was, his speeds, his angles, you know,
that guy's plays with amazing angles.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
He was just amazing to play with too. Off the dribble,
I think the angle was just he created that off
the pick snake the pick, you know that would be Wade.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
You know a lot of guys now snaking pick and rolls.
I think he was the one that kind of invented
it to go back.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Against the grain of that pick and roll. And you
can see those plays. He just snaking the pick.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
And roll and going back around and you know he
I think he invented that.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Slick. You had two stints with the Heat. They're still
just pumping out wings and players and winning and like,
like you know what I'm saying, Like, you know Heat
culture better than most. You were a part of it.
What makes it so special?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Why?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Why are they so successful? Why is the longevity there?
Why does it just seem like they take undrapted guys,
wrapped the guys, traded guys. Like what is so special
about Miami?
Speaker 2 (44:56):
The godfather pat Riley, You know, the guy's a genius
and the dedication that he puts in I mean he's
still there. You know, it just speaks volumes on the
dedication he has and the longevity and you know the
(45:18):
loyalty of the staff. You know, it's still the staff
from when I got there. You know, so they're little,
they're all together, they're all on the same page. You know,
it's heat culture. They're bringing in people that, you know
what they know what players want, they know what players like,
and they know what players need. Uh, they know how
(45:40):
to treat them.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
It's just it's a top no organization, uh that everybody
wants to be a part of. But I think it
starts with the godfather, pat Riley that has you know,
he's trained Eric Expo, He's trained all these guys that
just was dedicated.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
I was there when when a Spoe was you know,
in the film room and sleeping on.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
The couches, staying all night. And he was the guy
that was just there every night. And just to see
that guy grow and work, it was amazing to see,
you know, relentless from the coach.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
So hold on, So you said young was sleeping on
the couches, the rebounding for y'all you got you got
a spot.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Yeah, yeah, he rebounding all day.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
He was there.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
You know, they had uh.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Askings. Keith was there all day. You know, it was
it was them guys was there, man, It was you
know when you got your staff working and you know
they in there sleeping and there before you get there.
It's just it speaks values, you know, because you know
all these teams that have these.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
These this pedigree to to breed players and champions. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Well, rick Man, this was long overdue. We're gonna have
to do it again, my brother, Thank you, Thank you
for your time, man. And one thing, Man, you you
blessed us here on the show. You coming and represented.
Man told some some some gold nuggets we're gonna use later.
But rick Man, where can we support you? Is there
any charities, any foundations? Projects? You know you have cooking
(47:26):
that we can look out for, social media tag whatever. Man,
Where can the people come and rock with you?
Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Man, you can check me out on the Instagram. You
can check us out on our foundation. My instagram is
Tricky twelve or the Ricky Davis Legacy Foundation. You can
go to the website, the Ricky Davis Legacy Foundation dot
org where you can find, you know, everything that we
do for underprivileged kids, the youth, communities, the homeless, all
(47:56):
the programs that were running, all the nonprofit stuff that
we're doing in the communities. You know, come support you know,
you can check us out I'm a new head coach
here in Minneapolis in the in the city school, uh
top notche basketball program that that that I'm running over there,
and you know, taking care and just giving those nuggets
(48:17):
back to the youth. You know, I think that's an
important age at that age to be able to tap
into them and teach them everything they need.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
To take for life skills. So you know, you can
come support us at the games, you can come support us.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
On online, or you know, help us with any of.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Our foundations or foundation programs. Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
And I say this, man, when we did Big Three,
for those who don't know Ricky Angels talking, this man
would get there early and was in the streets with
the people consistently. So some cads be like, oh, yeah,
that's the foundation, son. Rick is really in the streets
with the people, dog like I have I have seen.
If you're doing guys, you're doing guys work. Man, love you.
(48:58):
I appreciate you for it, man, and you know, hopefully
the people can come by and support man. But thank you,
appreciate your time, big bro Man. Thank you again, Bro Man.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Ryan for having me.
I appreciate you, man, and thanks for the work you're
doing too, man, letting.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Everybody out here getting that sports talk and getting everything together.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
We need more more people like you putting us all together.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Ryan, appreciate you guys. Love you guys for hanging out
with me here on NBA Rookie Life with Ryan Holland's
cool stuff from my guy Ricky Davis Man one of
my favorite people, one of the good guys behind the scenes.
But guess what, we cannot give this amazing content without
you guys liking, subscribing, sharing the word, and hey, man,
let us know who else you'd like to see on
(49:42):
NBA Rookie Life with Ryan Hollins. Love you guys, and
guess what we're gonna talk next week.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Please zoo
How's everybody doing this? Your Mary, Ryan Hollins, I'm going
to welcome you into eight. Man. Listen, man, this is
long overdue. Okay, this is long overdue. A very very
special episode of NBA Rookie Life. And this man was
the twenty first spick in the nineteen ninety eight draft.
You and I'm gonna date myself a little bit. I
was in the eighth grade, but this man was so
cold that he was so cold that when I came
(00:26):
around to the league and play, I got to compete
against him. One of my favorite people on the planet,
one of the real ones, a real hoop junkie. Man.
Let's get into it, my man. None that then, Ricky Davis, Rick,
what's going on with your baby?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
What's going on? Ryan?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Man?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
The show, man, Man, appreciate you taking your time to
hold on before we get to a slicky Ricky Man?
Was did it just flow? Where did the name come from?
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Man?
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Was this from childhood?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Man?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Give me the rundown?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Man?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, Man, childhood. You know, listen to the music. My
older brother named me that slick rick the Ruler, you know.
So I was just rolling with it. And then I
got a.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Little bit older and they started calling me tricky Ricky. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So you know, in the beginning of my career, I
was slick rick and then towards the end, I was
tricky Ricky.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
See that gives you the bad name. No, rick Tricky
like we all because you are one of the most honest,
you know, down to earth and tricky people. Hey do
did they give you second looks like tricky Ricky? Like,
hey man, watch your pockets around, like what's going on?
Speaker 3 (01:31):
What's tricky about you? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Man, So everybody just named me that just because I'm fun, happy.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Always having a good time.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Man.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So uh, I think that's what a tricky came into.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
It, all right, No, pretty Ricky, right was the pretty Ricky?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah I wasn't a little pretty Ricky. But you know
my oldest son he stole a pretty Ricky now.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
So now, yeah he stole it. I let him have it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Rick, Man, I'll say this, I always like to
give a little bit of like our history. And I
think the coolest thing about me doing the podcast is
that I got to get we never sit down and
like talk hoop. I get to talk hoops with some
of my og some of my favorite people. And I
think I told you about this, Rick, but I remember
you were I was in u c l A and
you you were playing with Bed at the time, and
(02:17):
y'all came down to the city and who and they
was always you was a legend, bro. So it was
always like, oh, tricky and town tricky. In town, we
we out this Sunnen were in the gym, tricky and
the gym like you came with a presence. But I
remember I walked into the u c l A gym
as a young buck and I seen you for the
first time, and I was like, oh, that's a pro.
(02:37):
You came down bing bing, pulled up for j hit
a three, hit a miny hit a pull. I'm like, dog,
Ricky Davis can shoot like and then you came down
somebody threw you alive reverse that thing from half court.
I was like, dog, the NBA is crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
It's crazy. It's crazy. And especially in that gym man
at the u c l A. Uh, that's like the
basketball roots history, kind of like the Rutgers type thing
and just growing up in that environment, you know, with Mike,
with IRV and everybody controlling those runs. When when I
first came in at seventeen, eighteen years old. It was amazing.
(03:17):
You know, I was just like you looking at all
the old school Mitch Butler's and everybody.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
From LA from U C.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
L A. Ball and Kobe and Jordan and everybody was
in there.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
It was just it was amazing in a dream coming
big bello.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Hold on, Slow down, Slow down. Tell me about this
day when Cole, Cob and MJ sliding there.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
I was too young for this one. Tell me about
this story, doog I ain't seen?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Yeah, yeah, man, MJ.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Kobe, they both came in there a few times. And
you know when Kobe came in there, it was it
was it was action. You know, he was going at
everybody's dome. But I was one of those guys that
didn't back up and didn't back down and came back
at guys. And you know that's kind of how I
got my reputation of going at guys every day. And
you know, I took it serious. I took I took
(04:06):
the summertime as as a time to get better and
never lose that craft and never lose that rhythm. So
for me, that was my game. And at a young age.
You know, working out two three times a day was
fun for me. So, uh, coming up in U c.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
L A.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
And then seeing Kobe in there, man, it was it
was amazing. Uh, you know, we was baling, going at it.
H MJ was just you know, hard to stop him
and IRV And you know every time you get down
the game, Mike.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Mike hold on what Mike play on Magic Team? And
where they separate?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
No, they were separated at that time, separated. They was
going and you know Mike IRV always had his teams already.
He already had his five. Yeah, he had his five already. Guys,
you know that was gonna cheat that game. Point called
fouls all the time, so it it was impossible to win.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
All right, rick Let's let's get to your career. Man.
How was they We kind of reminisced before the show.
What was it a seventeen eighteen year old Ricky Davis
going into the league? Man, walk me through your draft day?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Man?
Speaker 1 (05:14):
What was it like? Did you have expectations? And let's
actually let's start here. When's the first time you made
up your mind you're going to the league. Let's go
there and then talk to me about draft day. Like
when was it like, you know, like I'm a league, Okay,
I'm and I'm gone, or did somebody make that decision
for you because sometimes you're so good you don't need
to say you going. You just it's natural.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
It just happens. Yeah, absolutely, and ask this a great question.
You know, it all started for me in high school.
You know, my senior year in high school kind of
had a chip on my shoulder. I didn't get invited
to the Maggie Johnson or to the McDonald's game.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
But I got invited to the Maggie.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Johnson game, which was you know, the next to the
magic to the McDonald's. Uh. So they had Tration McGrady, uh,
Dion Glover, everybody you can think of, Baron Greedy, Daniels.
Everybody was in there that was on the top notch,
Tim Thomas.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Everybody was in there.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
So when we went and played, I was I got
invited to the game because I.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Knew IRV from playing in U c l A. So
he invited me to the game.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Came down there and I got m VP matched up
with Tracy McGrady and that was the year he was
going to the NBA. So I said, wait, if Tracy
McGrady going to the NBA at high school. Man, I
think I think, I think I could make it. Uh
So that was like my confidence builder right there. That
that kind of took me into going into Iowa. That
(06:49):
I think I was doing one year and done, you know.
So that's where I got my confidence, and that's where
I knew I'm gonna just do one year and I'm out.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Okay, taught me to draft day. Man, did you know
that you were going to the Hornets? Were you excited
you get that phone call? Were you tipped off a
little bit? How did that go down?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Man?
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Because listen, man shout out Tody Ramers or time told
me I could go ten to fifty. I ended up
going fifty. But it was a lot of frustration between
that fifty. What was your mindset? Two of the first
pick and you already got a mindset. I'm better than
a lot of these cats.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Atally, man. And it was crazy because I had made
my mind up. I left school early. I had Iron
Tell him as my agent. My mom and them flew
me down to LA and I stayed with Iron Tell
them and that's when I started working out at UCLA.
So they really didn't know my game. They didn't know
who I was really from Iowa, you know, small town guys.
(07:46):
So me coming to work out at UCLA kind of
proved my point. Playing against Kobe Bailey and all those
guys that was coming out that year kind of raised
my stakes in the draft.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
So I think I worked out for like twenty eight
teams that summer. Yeah, man, I was I was going
like state to state, the state.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
The state, and I mean it was the most exhausting,
but it was fun, you know, because I was bawling,
I was working out, and I was I was in shape,
I was ready.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I had to prove my points. So I was going
to a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Playing against Pat Garrity and Miles Simon and all these
guys that were ahead of me. But I was holding
my own, you know, this young seventeen year old I was.
I was holding my own. So I thought I was
gonna get drafted to Orlando or some other stuff in
the top teen, top fifteen, and I didn't know where
(08:43):
I was going. I kind of thought I was going
second round. But I remember working out for Dave Collins
for Charlotte and they had.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
A whole day. By the way, I worked with Dave
by the way.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, sir, oh Man, I love Dave Man, and so
I never got an opportunity to play for Dave either man.
He actually got drafted by Dave and Paul Silas took over,
I think that next year. So I never got a
chance to play with Dave. But I ended up working
out with four big men and no guards, and.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I beat them.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
I beat Pat Garrity and a few other posts. I
can't think of the guy's name, but I beat them
all in the post. So Dave Cowens was just like,
I love this guy. He's a guard, he's small, but
he just got hard and I guess that's stuck with him.
And I didn't go to the I didn't go to
the to the draft because I didn't think I was
(09:42):
gonna get.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Drafted first round.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
So I stayed home, had everybody invited, over all my teammates,
and you know, the first ten fifteen picks, I didn't
get picked. So I kind of disappeared, walked downstairs, walked
to my bedroom, locked myself in the room, and I
was just like, all what I get myself into and
watching the drafts and the twenty first pick came up,
(10:05):
and they said Ricky Davis and it was just it
was a dream come true. Ran through the house. Everybody
went crazy and it was a beautiful It was a
beautiful night. Man, it was a beautiful night. But it
was hard, man, it was. It was a lot of
It was a lot of hard days, hard nights and
dedication and you know, just trusting the process that day,
that early age.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was tough.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What did that do to you? You know, kind of
the the anxiety because a lot of these young guys
are going through this, are going to have to go
through this, like not knowing if you're going to be picked,
Like how did how did that kind of send you
into Charlotte? Because for me, it wasn't the celebration drafted.
I was steaming bro like I was here, I was happy,
but I was like him, like I had a listen,
(10:52):
what did that?
Speaker 4 (10:53):
What did that do for you?
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Could slick you one of the hardest workers.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Man, man, appreciate it. I appreciate it. And that's what
kept me in the game, the hard work, you know,
learning that stuff. My rookie year, coming in with those
type of rookies that I that I came in with,
they instilled that hard work and dedication.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
From day one.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So I learned that from an early age.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
All right, Rick, once you get drafted, you know, we
know you you got game. Ricks. I'm you know, I
need I need Slicky Ricky on the side right now.
Who used to tear you up?
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Was there somebody that just gave you that work?
Speaker 3 (11:29):
Dog?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Was this somebody that was just a headache for you
to cover? Or you know, some people have an actual
welcome to the League moment where you realize this ain't
college no more, This ain't you know, this ain't the
All Star Game.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Yeah, buddy, that this ain't it. And if that person
was Bobby Fields, no rest in peace, Bobby Phiels. Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
You know that guy was like a Mandingo warrior man.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
You know, he was cut up, he was swollen, he
had defense offense, and he just wore my little self
out every day in practice, every possession, and I mean
I got tougher. I mean he beat me up and
at the same time, he showed me the mistakes I
(12:13):
was making and allowed me to get better and better.
And not getting drafted put that chip on my shoulder
to come. I mean, you know, not getting drafted ten
or eleven or twelve where I wanted to where I
knew I should have got drafted. You know, it put
that chip on my shoulder to go in there with
(12:33):
that expectation of working hard and you know, trying to
get better. So Bobby feels Man, he laced me from
day one all the way till he passed away, you know,
every day in practice. And you know, my toughest my
toughest guard that year probably was Ai and Reggie Miller.
You know guard, yeah, guard. Those guys man.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Were just virtually impossible.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
What what was it like garden Reggie was was it
you know, get your track shoes on? Was he talking
trash to you? Was he you know, like we know, hey,
golly wally, Reggie Reggie Miller like you? Or was he
like was he a killer? Was like like dog Tim Duncan.
Dog Tim Duncan cuts me out on time? Like Tim
(13:21):
Dunkle was so nice to me the first time I played,
cuss me out?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Dog? Like?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
What was Reggie Miller?
Speaker 3 (13:26):
Like?
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We know Reggie is a killer. Like, but what was
it like you as a young fella having a garden, right?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean it was crazy because you hear it in
the Scout report.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You know, but when you get in the game and
you coming off every screen, you're coming off four or
five screens, pole, pop pop.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
He's moving fast. He's quiet first, you.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Know, Reggie's quiet, he's getting his game on his focus.
You know, as soon as he hits that first shot,
oh man, it's eyeballs. He's talking noise and he was like,
you know, you too late, young fella, or you just
in time foul. You know, he was giving me those
type of stories, so you know, to to guard that
(14:07):
guy and come off screens like that man and chase
that guy not getting shot and come back off the
screen and get it shot. I mean, it was just
it was it was impossible to guard no matter what
kind of health defense you got. And him talking mess
now and got the crowd going. It was a fun
thing to play against and be a part of.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
How about Garden How about Garden Ai? You know a
lot of people we just hit like like relentless dog,
Like walk me through the first time you guarded AI.
Walk me through this one Rick, you know, because a
lot of guys you be messed up from the time
you see that your name on it on the board,
like yo, you got I got him high.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Exactly, and you know you're gonna sub in as soon
as I sub being I'm guarding ai. Oh man, okay,
so we running the same thing. He running off all
those screens, fast, over the loop, top of the loop,
get the ball and all you hear from the sideliners
you on the island, young fella, and he hits you
(15:14):
with that pow pow pole crossover and just curings. For me,
it was like whoa you know, like and I was
(15:37):
kind of a big guard. You know, I'm not that
super fast. I was fast, but I was just looking
at the coach like you need to switch put a
point guard on this guy, Like there is no way.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
I can stay in front of him. But man, it was.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
It was amazing just trying to, you know, catch him first.
But when you called him, he can hit you with
so many moves that it was just impossible. Would to
stay in front of him.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So that that guy was like, by far one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of the hardest guys for me to guard.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
What what what else like to me? Like I give
you an example, like it was harder for me to
guard Reggie Evans than Shack in the sense of when
Reggie worming through screens and hating the lords every time
and rolling hard like you. Nobody wants to guard Reggie,
like when Reggie's in his back, but gardening shack sometimes
you can. You can catch the big fellow chilling. You
can catch you know what I'm saying, depending on regular season,
(16:30):
Like was Ai that relentless like every time? Like or
would you catch him chilling a little bit? Like did
he give you some some moments? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Yeah, no, Like I mean, like you said, it's a difference,
like like in KD. You know, KD was one of
those guys you guard, but he can give you that break.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
You know, he might not chase the ball that much,
but Ai, I mean he wants the ball every time.
He's going to get the ball every time, and his
teammates is trying to get him the ball every time.
He was kind of like Garden Steph Curry, but without
that without that uh uh that three point threat. And
(17:20):
you know how hard it is Garden Steph coming off
those screens and putting it down on the floor, but wanting.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
A shot every time make or miss.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
You know, you get some guys you guard him two
three times he missed a shot, Okay, cool, I got
him for a second, you know, but no.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
Not this guy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
You know he missed one shot. No, no, he missed
another shot. It wasn't a shot he didn't like. And
it was just it was impossible to guard him. You know,
you didn't have enough foules to guard.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Him for sure?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
For sure. All right, Rick, let's get to the film room. Now,
let's get to the NBA Ricky Life film room. This
is one of my favorite segments of the show. We're
gonna have some hoop talk and Rick, man, you were
a part of and I want to ask you. We'll
get to it. Two thousand duck contests. All right's run it.
Let's run the clip here. Let's go it on, Rick,
(18:12):
When did you know that you were going to be
in a duck contest? Give me the story. Was this
something you knew I gotta go do? Did the league
hit you?
Speaker 5 (18:20):
You know?
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Were you sending the film in?
Speaker 3 (18:22):
What? What was it?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
What was this like for you?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Man?
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Because this is back when the Dunk Contest was a
dunk contest?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
It was mostly some of my veterans and you know
Eddie being in the in the All Star Game that
that year. You know, they seen me with all the hops.
They seen me after practice working on my dunks and
all the trick dunks, and you know, I was always
doing a lot of my dunks in the games and practices,
so you know, they seen it and they was like,
(18:50):
young fella, you need to get in the slam dunk contest.
So you know, we sent the film in and we
we we started working from there and they invited me.
And once they invited me, man, and it was just
you know, every day I was working on my dunks
and trying to get better, you know, but that feeling
right there, you can't kind of rehearse.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
So it was amazing, Man, it was amazing.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Okay, okay, okay, did you know when you got there?
Or better yet, let me slow down, befive, get there.
What made that two thousand dunk contests the greatest dunk
contest in history?
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Well, I think, you know, with Vince Man, I think
Vince and the guys we had in it, Tracy and
Steve Francis Stack, I think it was a lot of
key guys in there that could really dunk and was
doing a lot of these dunks in the games. You know,
a lot of these guys that play and do these dunks.
They don't do them in the games. So a lot
(19:49):
of these guys that were on there this year with
a lot of game game style dunkers, you know that
can go out there and do the thing. But I
think Vince just took it to another level. We were
seeing dunks that wasn't you know, we never seen before
backwards three sixties and you know everything that that that
(20:10):
we didn't see before that we didn't see Jordan, we
didn't see Dominique, We didn't see those guys doing so.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I think that we we by far had the best one.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
Yeah, French corn, this front shot, Let's go home, Let's
go home, Let's go home.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Did you have any idea that VC was gonna do that?
What was it like being in there? Like what like
did you and granted you hadn't done this before, like
did you even know if to expect? Like what like
when you look back, like was it like what was
I doing? Like walk me just through this dunk contest?
Are you looking around? Like hold on dog, Tracy?
Speaker 3 (20:54):
Like yeah, it was like it was my nerves were
so crazy. I mean, you know, me eighteen years old,
arena full of sixty thousand people.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
It was just and then I wish I could have
went before Vince, you know, because though the arena was
still going, you know, you see.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
That dunk, the arena was still going. It was still
cheering for Vince after we was dunking, you know, so
it was like everybody, Yeah, Jerry went after it and
I went right after that.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
It was like everybody went and got the popcorn and
waited till Vince came back again, following a very difficult man.
But it was just it was, you know, like I said,
you can't practice this, you can't recite this, and then
(21:53):
you can't warm up like you want to because you
can't go out there and show.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
You dunk you want to do.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So you just kind of just gotta go out there
on just you know, pure adrenaline and you know, everything
that you've been doing over the years of your career.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Back they told me I should have had Baron passing
rather than Eddie Jones right there. But for me, but
it was a it was a great thing to be
a part of man, to be a part of this
kind of history, and you know, go down and I
can be able to show my kids and you know,
show you know, hold that legacy of you know that
(22:31):
I was a part of.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Is there anything that we don't know about this dunk contest? Like,
you know, we just watched the highlights. I watched it,
you know on TV. It's a whole different than being there.
What don't we know like that? That's kind of crazy.
I never thought from your perspective, you going to dunk
and they like.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Nce. I mean, it was just it was amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Man. You people on the floor, I mean it was
just like it was just like a back in the
park type of thing with sixty thousand. I mean, it
was just a drilling rushing. My drilling was rushing so hard,
and then the Seevent's going doing that type of stuff. Man,
it was just kind of like curtains once he was
doing that type of stuff. To see him fly like that.
(23:14):
You know, we already knew what he could do in
the games, but to see that stuff like that was amazing.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
So you stitch stuff in the left hand doing all.
Speaker 7 (23:22):
This, man, that's cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It was one of my favorites. I was I was
mad that you didn't show out, Rick, But when I
say one thing, it definitely puts you on the map
like you were you were always the kind of like
you were one of my favorite players from me. I
was like, no, nah, he got bounced like he could go,
like he could play, you know, like I remember, like
I never and then you you were a little younger
something like nah. He resonates with me like, oh, y'all
(23:54):
like that, like like put it on the map, you know,
what would you say? Is it gonna take for the
NBA dunk contests to come back? I think that young
bull Joe and that young bulls Ion. But I think
those two young bulls ois. I think those young those
two young bullsas. That's my opinion, Rick, I don't know
(24:15):
if you agree that's my opinion.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
J I think Joe.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I think everybody would love to see how far he
could really jill, you know, without without the defense, you know,
because he's jumping like that over the defense. So yeah,
exactly right. And with Zion, everybody would.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Love to see that guy dunk so powerful.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Uh, you knows, nobody's been It.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Hasn't been a dunker that that dunkin' like that hard
in a long time.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
All right, Rick, Let's uh, let's let's get to it.
You talked about him earlier. You mentioned him we got
to talk about eighty five. He was eighty five when
I played with him, BD Boom disgel Man. What was
rookie Baron Davis? Like I think history forgets what Baron
Davis was. Do you have a story that might let
people know what Baron was and how Cody was like
(25:11):
fresh into the league.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
Yeah, Baron was electrifying. You know, Baron was big.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You know, they thought he wasn't fast, but he was
very quick and you know, can get to where he
needed to go, and very athletic man.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
And you know b was hurt his knee earlier in
his career, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
So could you imagine if he wouldn't have hurt his career,
you know, his knee early in his career, Yeah, what
what he really would have been doing. So, you know,
he's got the creativity and you know, playing with that guy.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
And I've been knowing barn for a long time.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know, we actually played overseas and AAU back in
ninth grade, you know together. So I've known Barron, you know,
for a very long time and playing with him in
U c l A all the time. And I think
he's underrated as a as a guard, as one of
the you know, best guards in the league, you know,
(26:11):
with his size and athletic ability and you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
His passing game.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
It was just amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
What was the craziest thing you ever saw from Baron
whether it was game practice or whatever. You was like,
like Doug, I didn't.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Expect that, man. It was the dunk on kg oh Man.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Definitely didn't expect that, you know, and I'm if you
can see it, I'm trail and I actually thought he
was gonna throw it off the glass, you know, but
he took off and it was one of the best
plays for me right there and in person. And you know,
just seeing that that guy, the way he takes off,
(26:58):
you know, he used to take off, so that was it.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
I used to love it. Yeah, he took off and
that was it.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
How would be the match up with the guards today,
today's NBA with all the spacing and all the speed
and everything, how would how would he match up with
today's guards or today's game.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I think he would destroy it. And now, you know
with guys you can't touch. With that big body getting
in the lane, posting up guards and getting that speed,
you know, he's up and down anyway moving that ball.
I think he you know, he would destroy the league
now with its size and his ability to get to
the rim. You know, like like I said, you can't
(27:42):
touch him now. You can't touch these days. Back in
the days, you can hand check, you know, get guys
off the spot a little bit. And he played through that,
so I can imagine him playing now.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I got guys hang on. So Ricky got a bad rap,
like a rap in the NBA from something that I
think it was little. Some people think it was big.
I think it's nothing. Now today you got to be
the Jett Stay tuned. We'll talk about it coming up next.
(28:24):
All right, I need a story. You're tricky, Ricky. This
is a moment in history. You know where I'm going
with this where you became tricky Ricky. We got to
talk about it. We got to talk about it. We
got clear the Aaron Man, the triple double, dog run,
the clip, the triple double. What was going on? What
was going on here? Give me the story with it, Ricky?
You know, was this in mindset? Was was it one
(28:45):
of your You took the heat for it, but one
of your teammates are like, hey, rick go go go
do this.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know you gotta get it. Rick. Yeah, so man,
it was a story to this.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
It was this was like my third to fourth game
away from a triple double. And this was one of
them weeks where I almost had the forty five, and
two weeks ago I had the forty five. Again, this
was one of them weeks. I think I had maybe
thirty six nine rebounds at twelve assists or it was
vice versus nine assists and ten rebounds, and it was Yeah,
(29:20):
he was doing up. And so this is like the
fourth game man, and I got I It's like six
minutes left in the game, and they yell out, you know,
they get the timeout, they get the stats, and somebody
yell out of the bench, Rick, you need one more rebound.
It's six minutes in the game. And I'm like, ooh bet,
I'm definitely gonna get it tonight, right, So yeah, look,
(29:41):
I look up, it's forty five seconds left in the game.
I can't get a rebound. I had the rebound. Nobody's
mentioned shots shots going in. I can't get a rebound.
So we had a timeout. I'm at the timeout, like,
how am I gonna get this rebound?
Speaker 3 (29:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I'm sitting there and I was just I wasn't even
listening to the coach. I was sitting there for two minutes, staying,
how am I to get this rebound? You're gonna throw
it off the glass? Nah, you can't throw it off
the glass. I said, yeah, I get throw it off
the glass. And then I'm talking to myself the whole time.
So I get up.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
I say, Okay, I'm.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Gonna throw it off the glass, right, I said, I'm
gonna throw it off the glass.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
You know in the park you can throw it off
the glass.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Get your rebound, Come on down with.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Hot for it to shine. How best to play? Was
that a rebound for Ricky? They t to rebound? They
needed a rebound for a triple double? Well they live
to that side. Those head cut it off the river gravit.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah, and did Shane stevenson't take defense of that? Puts
the hard file on it.
Speaker 4 (30:47):
They don't give him a rebound here or the credit
for that place. What that's a shoppishleg of the If
he knew that he needed that rebound, he had to
know it.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah he had.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Yeah, this gutch get out and let it go too.
My man in dire need of a three triple double.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
So I get the ball, laying up, get the rebound,
get the ball, and was like I did that one.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Oh man, I've seen the look on everybody's face.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
They come almost tackle me, all found me all hard.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Yeah. Then after the game it went all crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
They went crazy, start blowing up my froze and all
kind of stuff, and yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
But then two weeks later Bobby Sarah does it.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
They don't say anything, you know, so yeah, wow wow, Yeah.
So I was chasing chasing triple doubles. I tell people, Hey,
I was chasing trible doubles. Ain't nothing wrong with chasing
triple doubles.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
No, no, no, we did that. We had similar to Houston.
You know my guy, the ball hit the glass and
we got to ship it off, let him go get it.
I've seen that happen for Chris Paul. Everybody shield it
for Chris Ball to keep that still record. I remember
watching that. Okay, what was the worst thing that happened
from I remember you getting massacred on Sports Center, Bro, Like,
(32:08):
what was the worst thing? He was like, he's sewing professional.
This was a different NBA.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Rick, What what was it like?
Speaker 2 (32:15):
What was the fact that it was tough? The backlash
was tough. You know, I took a lot from it,
and that's what I kind of you know, it was
a testimony for me now because now I can go
out and teach these young guys.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
You know, don't do.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Nothing that can jeopardize your career in the heat of
the moment. You know, don't don't do nothing now that
would jeopardize you in the future, you know, because in the.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Blink of an eye. You know, I was just at
the park.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
You know, I'm sixteen, I'm eighteen, nineteen years old. I'm
just the young kid.
Speaker 3 (32:50):
You know. Just at the park han't fun. But in
this game and this profession, it can't be done. It
shouldn't be done. So I took that.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Just hold on, Rick, this really penalized you. Like how
did this carry with you? Like, you know, we're looking
at it and like we're laughing now, Like if somebody did, like,
how did this penalize you?
Speaker 3 (33:11):
Rick?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Like this sounds like it really stuck.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
Yeah, it's stuck. It's still stuck. It's still stuck.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And it became bad.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
You know, I became detrimental to.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Teams and different kind of teams. He's a loser, he's
not a winner, and you know, they just it just
start kind of trickling from there, you know. And and
and that's what happens when you make mistakes and you
do things at an early age. And you know, but
at that kind of league.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Where the league was at that moment, for sure, for sure,
it wasn't it wasn't no coming.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Back, and you know, you still take the backlash and
you still become these this bad you know guy and
in these guys eyes.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
But you know it's a teaching point and learning point
from me, So it's all good.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
You couldn't be the furthest from it, thog, you could be.
That's what was so crazy, Like I'm sure people getting
there like you're the furthest like from that, like hard worker,
what do we need.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
To do right? Right?
Speaker 2 (34:07):
And they don't know it. And some of them just
read the brook by his cover on what they hear
the wrong way Ricky, you know, so they take that
just automatically. Yeah he's crazy, you know.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
So yeah, wow, Hey, hey, I don't know if you
guys noticed or not. Ricky Davis was there when rookie
Lebron came and he has an interesting take on comparing
the young Lebron to Young Wimby. Stay tuned, you'll hear
what Tricky Ricky has to say. What was it like
(34:51):
when the chosen went out there? Walk me to a
slick because you got to see Rookie Lebron. This is
like he's still playing, rick Ricky keeps kN he's still playing.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
Okay, he's still man, still going.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Flashback to Rookie Lebron. Was there a moment where you
were like, Yo, this dude is not stupid, Like this
is crazy. I've never seen anything like it because we
knew the hype. And also Ricky, like you are og
you a ve you kind of had your strikes back.
Did you believe in the hype? Did you believe this
dude was what he was supposed to be?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Well, you know, I knew the guy was good the
year before that. I mean, you know when he was
in high school. You know, when I got to Cleveland,
my little brother was almost playing with him in high school.
So I used to go down and watch the guy's practice,
and you know, he played with him for about four
or five games and he ended up going to another school.
(35:45):
But I got to see it. I've seen the guy
was gonna be amazing. But the question was we all
knew right away how hard it is for any kind
of rookie right away to come in to change your franchise,
you know. At the same time, this kid was amazing
and everybody knew it, but it was just for me.
(36:10):
It was a matter of can he stay healthy, you know,
because you see a lot of rookies coming in, you
see a lot of rookies going out, see a lot
of rookies getting drafted. That's really really good. And you
know it's a thing about the NBA. When you're good
and you got a green light, you can be really good.
(36:30):
So this kid coming in, having the size, the body,
the skill set, it was it was an easy transition
for me. I think for him, you know, with his
body size and it's his his IQ, I think is
what put him over the top the best. You know,
(36:52):
he was always in the right spots and I don't
know if that was because he was point guard in
high school. You know, maybe that had a lot to
do with it. That the guy would just always in
the right spots on the right times and making the
right place herery times.
Speaker 6 (37:04):
He had a way there's the first team to jam
of his career.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
WHOA, he's not disappointing me. I'm telling you right now,
he's got ten.
Speaker 4 (37:14):
I mean all the hype I.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
Was, I didn't know what to expect, but you know
how to play passing rays. This guy knows in the
open floor, here till you mendous corporate.
Speaker 5 (37:24):
Wear and here he again, this time addishes to his
trainer das.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
So he was definitely mature at his age and I
love playing with him.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
How would you how can we compare the hype that
we've just seen with Wimby? Would you say that Lebron's
was more or less? And did you ever think we'd
even see something comparable to Lebron because you you got
to see Lebron before he got there, once he got there?
(37:57):
What was what was talk to me about that?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Like?
Speaker 1 (37:59):
How would you compare the too? You know, how similar
can they be? Because we kind of went through the whole,
the whole deal last year for Winby, you know, the
Winby sweepstakes. What how would you compare those two or
are they even comparable?
Speaker 2 (38:13):
I don't think I think they're comparable, but I really
don't think they're comparable. Just for me, the times that
the the game evolved and the times they came in.
I think the question for everybody with Lebron was he
came in at the toughest time of the NBA. He
came in with when it was some real, real, amazing
(38:38):
players in the NBA. And you know now that the
game's transition, a lot of guys can play in the
league now, but a lot of guys couldn't play in
the league back in the day. And Lebron was one
of those guys that could play in the league then
and he could play in.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
The league now.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
So I think it's a big difference. I think Winby
was He's going to be amazing with his size and
his athletic ability and his IQ, I think is experditas
is putting him up at a at an all time
rate of being successful. Because of his IQ, you know
(39:18):
where to go and where to be.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Rick, I tell you one thing, it's scary watching him.
He's he's lou Au Cinder with wing training. He's lou
Ou center on the wing bro like and it's scary,
like like lou ouls down there. Who can you But
if he was coming down mixing like that's we just
saw him. Rick, He's like that like, and I think physically,
you know, he's gonna have some hurdles, but like like
(39:43):
he's tough, Like he's a lot tougher in there. They're
like working on the correct things with him, like what
challenges or if you had to give some advice to winby,
what advice would you give? And you know, like how
does that differ also from like you said, bron who
kind of just came in seamless, you know, obviously because
(40:04):
of the you know, the physicality or just in also
the league was tough, but it was it was seamless.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Right, I think I think I think he has a great,
great great I don't think he has to really mess
with his physicality too much. You know, because of the
way the league is set up, you can't touch him.
So it's not like you can't go you can't go
down there and Reggie evans him anymore. You can't go
(40:32):
beat him up every play.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
You can't.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
You just can't, you know.
Speaker 3 (40:36):
And yeah, I think he just needs to stay in
shape as best as he can and use those summers
to get stronger and stronger and stronger by playing that game.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
And you know, because you don't have to be that
strong these days. I don't think you know the way
the game is set up and how he moves in
and out and stand limber. I think he's His transition
is going to be great because he can shoot, he
can go inside, he can go outside, he can put
(41:08):
it on the floor.
Speaker 3 (41:10):
It's almost impossible to guard it.
Speaker 5 (41:11):
Guys on the drive, no other human being, Bill has
any right to dunk this one.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
He takes off from the other side and makes it
look easy. If he's if he's healthy, what ceiling do
you put on Wimby? I'm putting you on the spot
and now, slick. If he's healthy, what's our what's our
ceiling with Wimby?
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Uh? I see him being a.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
I've seen it.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
I've seen about the about the Shack numbers, maybe a
little more. Uh. I don't see him with the numbers,
maybe higher with the assists with Shack. But it's tough
to score.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
That ball year in and year out and get thousands
and thousands and thousands of point. It takes.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
It takes a lot of resilience and.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
A lot of dedication and being in shape.
Speaker 3 (42:21):
Every year and every year.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
So I mean the next I think the next three
four years. I think I think we can see where
where he'll be. But right now I think it's got
the sky's the limit. I think sky's the limit right
now for him. But I see him about where those
shock numbers are.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
That's Oh, that's good company right there. That's good company.
That's good company. Before I get you out of here, Man,
you played with another Hall of Famer in one of
Lebron's teammates. You know, you're kind of the buffer between two.
D Wade. Man, you got a story for me?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
Man?
Speaker 4 (42:53):
How good?
Speaker 1 (42:55):
How good was Flash? What don't we know about him
behind the scene?
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Well, firstus hands, y'all know how big his hands are.
I think it's uh was his secret weapons. You know
the way he could just move that ball. You know,
because my hand is pretty big, but not so big.
But you know the way he could just grab that
ball and pick it up and it around. Uh.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
I think that was the secret weapon that d Wade
was his mix, you know, being able to capture that
ball and just nobody could get it. And of of
(43:47):
course how fast he was, his speeds, his angles, you know,
that guy's plays with amazing angles.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
He was just amazing to play with too. Off the dribble,
I think the angle was just he created that off
the pick snake the pick, you know that would be Wade.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
You know a lot of guys now snaking pick and rolls.
I think he was the one that kind of invented
it to go back.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Against the grain of that pick and roll. And you
can see those plays. He just snaking the pick.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
And roll and going back around and you know he
I think he invented that.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
Slick. You had two stints with the Heat. They're still
just pumping out wings and players and winning and like,
like you know what I'm saying, Like, you know Heat
culture better than most. You were a part of it.
What makes it so special?
Speaker 3 (44:42):
Why?
Speaker 1 (44:42):
Why are they so successful? Why is the longevity there?
Why does it just seem like they take undrapted guys,
wrapped the guys, traded guys. Like what is so special
about Miami?
Speaker 2 (44:56):
The godfather pat Riley, You know, the guy's a genius
and the dedication that he puts in I mean he's
still there. You know, it just speaks volumes on the
dedication he has and the longevity and you know the
(45:18):
loyalty of the staff. You know, it's still the staff
from when I got there. You know, so they're little,
they're all together, they're all on the same page. You know,
it's heat culture. They're bringing in people that, you know
what they know what players want, they know what players like,
and they know what players need. Uh, they know how
(45:40):
to treat them.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
You know.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
It's just it's a top no organization, uh that everybody
wants to be a part of. But I think it
starts with the godfather, pat Riley that has you know,
he's trained Eric Expo, He's trained all these guys that
just was dedicated.
Speaker 3 (46:02):
I was there when when a Spoe was you know,
in the film room and sleeping on.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
The couches, staying all night. And he was the guy
that was just there every night. And just to see
that guy grow and work, it was amazing to see,
you know, relentless from the coach.
Speaker 1 (46:22):
So hold on, So you said young was sleeping on
the couches, the rebounding for y'all you got you got
a spot.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Yeah, yeah, he rebounding all day.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
He was there.
Speaker 3 (46:34):
You know, they had uh.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
Askings. Keith was there all day. You know, it was
it was them guys was there, man, It was you
know when you got your staff working and you know
they in there sleeping and there before you get there.
It's just it speaks values, you know, because you know
all these teams that have these.
Speaker 3 (46:58):
These this pedigree to to breed players and champions. It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Well, rick Man, this was long overdue. We're gonna have
to do it again, my brother, Thank you, Thank you
for your time, man. And one thing, Man, you you
blessed us here on the show. You coming and represented.
Man told some some some gold nuggets we're gonna use later.
But rick Man, where can we support you? Is there
any charities, any foundations? Projects? You know you have cooking
(47:26):
that we can look out for, social media tag whatever. Man,
Where can the people come and rock with you?
Speaker 3 (47:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Man, you can check me out on the Instagram. You
can check us out on our foundation. My instagram is
Tricky twelve or the Ricky Davis Legacy Foundation. You can
go to the website, the Ricky Davis Legacy Foundation dot
org where you can find, you know, everything that we
do for underprivileged kids, the youth, communities, the homeless, all
(47:56):
the programs that were running, all the nonprofit stuff that
we're doing in the communities. You know, come support you know,
you can check us out I'm a new head coach
here in Minneapolis in the in the city school, uh
top notche basketball program that that that I'm running over there,
and you know, taking care and just giving those nuggets
(48:17):
back to the youth. You know, I think that's an
important age at that age to be able to tap
into them and teach them everything they need.
Speaker 3 (48:25):
To take for life skills. So you know, you can
come support us at the games, you can come support us.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
On online, or you know, help us with any of.
Speaker 3 (48:34):
Our foundations or foundation programs. Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:38):
And I say this, man, when we did Big Three,
for those who don't know Ricky Angels talking, this man
would get there early and was in the streets with
the people consistently. So some cads be like, oh, yeah,
that's the foundation, son. Rick is really in the streets
with the people, dog like I have I have seen.
If you're doing guys, you're doing guys work. Man, love you.
(48:58):
I appreciate you for it, man, and you know, hopefully
the people can come by and support man. But thank you,
appreciate your time, big bro Man. Thank you again, Bro Man.
Speaker 3 (49:06):
I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Ryan for having me.
I appreciate you, man, and thanks for the work you're
doing too, man, letting.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
Everybody out here getting that sports talk and getting everything together.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (49:17):
We need more more people like you putting us all together.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
Man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (49:21):
Ryan, appreciate you guys. Love you guys for hanging out
with me here on NBA Rookie Life with Ryan Holland's
cool stuff from my guy Ricky Davis Man one of
my favorite people, one of the good guys behind the scenes.
But guess what, we cannot give this amazing content without
you guys liking, subscribing, sharing the word, and hey, man,
let us know who else you'd like to see on
(49:42):
NBA Rookie Life with Ryan Hollins. Love you guys, and
guess what we're gonna talk next week.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Please zoo
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!